Crossing the Great Divide

Fences

So the big plan to win votes this fall is to authorise spending a billion building a fence.

What a novel idea.

What troubles me is the lack of ingenuity in this bill. We are going to move heaven and earth, well, earth at least, to build this linear, concrete monolith that will run like a snake between Mexico and the US. Um... China draws millions each year to see it's very own monumental monolithic wall... theirs has class.

So let's spend some money on the design. Lets make this thing uniquely American. Let's make it people friendly for people on the move, with information booths, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Subway, Fridays, Starbucks, and maybe even mini-Walmarts built right in. We could have bike and hiking trails on top, or how about rides? Imagine a Disney ride that went the length of the border?

If this is not acceptable, perhaps we can go the other way entirely, rethink sending all our nuke waste to Nevada, and instead use it as contruction material. Who would wish to go anywhere near the border if the thing glows in the dark?

And who will actually build it? If we hire Bechtel, given the Boston Big Dig, we know the thing will leak, even if the area is normally quite arid. If we hire Halliburton, we know the price will be ten times estimate. Of course, they tend to get no bid contracts... so this would have to be no bid.

I'd imagine, given who has authorised this construction, there will be no wage protections... so we'll need to bring lots of folk across the border to build the wall that will keep them out.

I know my opinion stands amongst the minority in America, but... we surely have failed if we have to make our nation into some sort of walled in enclave. Yup, we've failed. And no, the blame does not solely rest with us, plenty of other places around the world have failed as well. We've all failed to help those in need. We've failed to look after each other. Failed to work together for a common good.

Yeah, there are bad guys out there. Always has been. I don't recall a wall being built prior to WWI or WWII. And prior to that, we were too busy taking land from Native Americans and Mexico walls would have to have been on wheels and expandable.

Has anyone heard suggestions from our would be wall building legislators on perhaps inacting measures that improve the human condition, perhaps then mitigating the need for walls? I don't recall mention of such discussion.

Burning flags

I was sorely tempted to title this 'Burning Flags and Banning Fags,' but I've already done the fag as title routine in the past week, and well... we can't be repetitive, now can we?

But really... why don't our dedicated servants of the politisphere roll the flag amendment in with the anti-same sex marriage one?  Both are equally inane, and thus they could have this elephantine package of  affront's to our freedom all nicely packaged in honour and homage to the false god of the radical religious right.

Seriously... we have an 8 trillion dollar deficit... that's 8 million millions; we have troops in harm's way all over the place; the nation is getting hit hard with the increasing scarsity of oil; we need to address education issues; stagflation lurks around the corner; the Gulf Coast area lies in shambles and hurricane season has come back up on nature's speed dial... yet our elected leaders wish to ban fags and burning flags. There... ah used the line!

What exactly does that flag represent? If same sex marriage is constitutionally removed as a potential right to work for, if it is removed from those legally married in Massachusetts... what does that flag stand for?

If our phone calls are monitored for suspicious content... what does that flag stand for?

If the president can do as he wishes, despite laws restricting his power... what does the flag stand for?

If a secret representative of this country can be outed for political payback... what does the flag stand for?

If our email is also monitored... what does the flag stand for?

If we cannot express our disapproval by burning that very flag... what does the flag stand for?

If illegal immigrants cannot have a pathway to citizenship... if we desire laws that will first round them up, all 12 million of them, I assume to be held in detention... internment camps... what does that flag stand for?

If our leaders condone and order torture... what does that flag stand for?

If we fail to provide health care to all... if we fail to properly educate our young... what does the flag stand for?

If we can indefinitely hold people prisoner, with no charges... what does the flag stand for?

If we ignore the world and do as we please where we please... what does the flag stand for?

If our leaders cannot even pass legislation regulating their own conduct... if they cannot even self regulate... what does the flag stand for?

If it is ok for women to be institutionally excluded from our Constitution, and if we resist efforts to correct this egregious error... what does the flag stand for?

If we consider lgbt folk to be sinners, if we move to codify this outlook... what does this flag stand for?

A flag... is symbol, an artist's creation designed to rally those who live within the boundaries of a given space... ideally to noble ideals to which we strive.

America has lost this nobility, lost it in a sea of vindictiveness and hate, and nowhere is this better represented than by demanding allegiance to a piece of cloth, all the while desecrating those very ideals it purports to represent. Way to go.

Inter-community ignorance

Ignorance is one of those things that really nags at my soul. Oh, not someone who is uneducated... the circumstance they live in most often dictate that sort of ignorance, and culpability might lie more with society on that level.

The kind of ignorance I am talking on is deliberate ignorance, a walking away from the truth, refusing to learn about others and their community. Instead, they willingly choose to embrace fear, both as a crutch and as a weapon. Too often they try to project the fear onto others, and the only effective tool to resist is education.

Gays are going to ruin society. Immigrants should be kept out of our country, they will take what is ours. An adolescent with a funny hair cut is evil. When we start drawing these lines, the fear becomes accepted truth, and accepted truth means a group has been marginalised. The climb out of marginalisation is a steep and long one.

We have all seen historical examples of how this works. For women, the climb has been one of 10,000 years. We are more familiar with the spectacular marginilisations, those of people of a different skin colour, of different religions, different ethnicities. Whenever we marginalise and allow it to go on unchecked and unchallenged, bad things inevitably follow.

We see our working for lgbt rights poo poohed by those who have no interest to know a thing about our community... don't flaunt it and I don't care. Meaning, stay closeted and I don't care. Show in public, and laws will be coming to put you back where you belong.

My rant is a day late, due to blogger being unblogged yesterday. It was sparked by a horrid story on NPR on the plight of immigrants held in our detention facilities... if you have interest, you can read and listen here...

The Death of Richard Rust