Attorney General or Bush's Attorney?

Alberto Gonzalez and his conflictive standing with the firing of so many U.S. Attorneys, shouldn’t’ come as a surprise. His subservient loyalty and unconditional support of Bush has been known for a very long time. The present is just a continuation of such attitude.
Take a read at some of the recent past.
This was known in 2003 when Bush nominated Alberto Gonzalez:

Since his days in Texas the new Attorney General was a biased public servant on behalf of the then governor. In 1996 as Bush’s lawyer helped the governor obtain an excuse to avoid serving as juror, because of a previous conviction for DUI in the State of Maine. According to Gonzalez: “If Bush would have served as in a jury, he couldn’t have, as governor, offer a future pardon to the acussed”[USA Today, 3/18/02].

For a long time Senators were allowed to look at certain documents related to judicial nominees. However, in a letter regarding the then nominated Miguel Estrada, Gonzalez told Democrats that the administration would not offer those documents because it would violate executive privileges protecting deliberations regarding the president help. [New Yorker, 5/19/03]

According to Gonzalez many of the decisions of the Geneva Convention are outdated. In a memo from 2002 written by the acting Attorney of the White House, Gonzalez said that “the war on terrorism is a new type of war: and “this paradigm makes the strict limitations of Geneva regarding interrogation of enemy prisoners obsolete”. In the same memo offers his opinion that those Al-Qaeda and Taliban detainees are exempt from the adequate and legal treatment of prisoners. It’s public record that the Bush administration declared that Guantanamo prisoners are not protected under the Geneva Convention [Gonzalez 1/25/02 memo; Newsweek 5/24/04]

As Bush’s legal advisor during his tenure in Texas, Gonzalez also told Bush that he could ignore international laws, in the case of Irineo Tristan Montoya of Mexican origin. Back then Gonzalez sent a memo to Bush justifying the non-compliance with the Geneva Contention. In a letter sent to the Department of State, Gonzalez argued that the treaty did not apply since Texas never signed it. Two days later, Texas executed Montoya in spite of protests from Mexico indicating that Texas had violated the rights of the accused under the Geneva Contention by not informing the Mexican Consulate as required at the time of his arrest [Slate, 6/15/04]

An examination of memorandums from Gonzalez to Bush made by Atlantic Monthly, concluded that “Gonzalez has repeatedly failed to inform the governor about crucial questions in the matters considered such as: wrong counsel, conflict of interest, exculpatory evidence, even evidence of total innocence.” Those memos were the vehicles by which Bush frequently approved executions based solely on the “most superficial explanation of the matters in dispute”. Instead of informing the governor of the conflictive circumstances of each case “This memos seem to be tuned to a radically different position, assumed by Bush since the beginning of his administration, in which he seeks to minimize his legal standing and the moral responsibility for the executions” [Atlantic Monthly, July/August 2003]

As in many other matters related to the Bush administration, wrongdoing and dirt are all over the place. Gonzalez is just another lawyer and a token minority guy who would do whatever it takes to stay within the grace of his master.

We all need a break.

Have a cheap laugh (G.W. can take one more)

Upload Video - Top 50 - Get Video Code

Los Muertos que Vos Matasteis Gozan de Buena Salud (Don Juan Tenorio)

“The Dead You Have Killed Enjoy Good Health”. That’s a line from the well known “Don Juan Tenorio” and it seems to fit the bill perfectly with the results of our foreign and domestic policies on practically everything, from economy, immigration and foreign relations to the present war in Iraq. Thanks to the present policies, we now have destroyed our reputation, most underdeveloped countries enrolled in the leftists movements, our internal economy has suffered, our streets have become less safe than ever and the migration of undocumented workers has exploded in numbers. Hence the comparison with the line from Don Juan where things went tragically wrong for the main character.

Our perennial denial

For too many years, we as citizens of this wonderful country have kept mute about many of the problems the rest of the World face. A state of mind mostly driven by complacency on our part and more often than not plain ignorance of the facts. Since we started kindergarten and all through college, our books and teaching materials kept reminding us how great this country is and all the good things we’re supposed to enjoy as citizens. At the same time, real life in other parts of the planet was presented as anecdotic with colorful images of native people and their habits and costumes. Other times those countries were synthesized in cold statistics, mentioning number of inhabitants, rate of this and rate of that. Very seldom anyone talked about real people. They were numbers, bulk shadows in our minds, as if everything not American took second place. The result is a numbing effect and therefore we are grown to be concerned only with our own problems and social issues from the inside.

The so-call globalization promoted mainly by large corporations and always driven by money in one form or another has created in my opinion many of the maladies we are now starting to confront in our own little world. Issues like immigration, violence, drugs, lack of jobs and down right poverty in our country are becoming a real threat to our idyllic perception of what the American style of life should be. And we are beginning to experience the results of our own ignorance and lack of attention to others in this small planet.

The immigration issue.

Why do we have so many people coming to the U.S., a lot of them risking life and limb illegally? Is it because they really want to be here instead of their own place of birth? Probably not. They don’t think of themselves as conquerors and adventurers willing to leave their families behind just for the fun of it. Instead they are driven by the human need to make a decent living and since their countries are mostly lacking real opportunities our shores are the only ones where they perceive their chances as better.

Now, why, even with the influx of big corporations in their own country, there is not enough for them to feed a family? Is it because they overspend in yet another television set or a new car or is it because the salaries are not enough to support them and their families? Probably the latest. Otherwise it wouldn’t make any sense for these people to cross the border.

Who are then those who profit from this situation? Well, for one, the big companies, getting to produce a lot of goods on the cheap. Second, some corrupted local governments in the respective countries getting kick back money and cozy benefits from the foreign corporations. And don’t forget us! Yes, we benefit too! Let’s face it, we all like to go to places like Wal-Mart, just to mention one of many, and buy inexpensive stuff, from shirts and pants to TV sets and other gadgets. Now, when was the last time you looked at a label in a product to see where it was made? Right, I thought so.

And this is only to mention one sector of the labor and consumer markets. There are a myriad of examples like these that have helped the exporting of our labor on one hand while not providing enough income for the recipients of that benefit in the respective countries on another.

Meantime…in this good old U.S of A. profiteers from inexpensive labor, indirectly encourage immigrants to come here, sometimes covertly, by not paying a decent wage to the American worker, others openly, as in the case of so many growers who claim that they couldn’t survive without foreign workers. And, once again, ourselves, who want perhaps cheap tomatoes or lettuce and look the other way on how this produce got to our tables.

So you see, the chain of events in immigration matters is not so difficult to follow. We want cheap goods. Bid Corp goes to a foreign country and pays a lousy wage. Big Corp sends the product back to us. We are happy! At the same time, in that foreign country, cheap labor still is not enough for the workers and they look at our wages, prompting their exodus to the north. Legal or illegal, here they come.

Twelve million and counting.

According to some statistics, there are roughly between ten and twelve millions people living in the U.S. without proper documents. Congress, as always manned by big influential money, keeps on dancing around the issue trying to please everyone, especially during election years. Amnesty has become a bad word, so now they are considering other options with different labels to solve the problem. But, do they really want to solve the problem, or are they just posturing to make us believe they’ll do something? It remains to be seen.

Opponents of a massive regularization process claim that people who have broken our laws by entering our country without a visa or a work permit, shouldn’t be rewarded with any form of path to legal residency. Technically, they may be right, in practice however doesn’t make sense and it would be unenforceable.

The ones who favor some sort of integration of this impressive number of people into our society, think that removing such a massive amount of people from our country, besides constituting a physical impossibility, could create enormous problems at many local levels, the labor market and wreak havoc among many families. There are not only practical reasons not to expel so many people, but also humanitarian ones.

The realities are such that, in most cases at least, the very survival of countless businesses depend on immigrants, legal and illegal ones. From fast food restaurants to high priced hotels, low cost labor is the preferred option for the moguls, and that cannot go along with the expected pay most American workers desire. Once again, we as consumers have to assume part of the blame for this situation. But mostly the never-ending gullibility of the Corporations striving every year to show more and more profits to their shareholders. One blatant example of this is the construction industry, where foreign workers at a lower rate of pay have rapidly replaced American workers. Has this translated into more inexpensive houses? On the contrary, houses are at an all time high price level! Who then pockets the difference? You tell me.

The health market

Given the fact that health costs are enormous by any measure, the health market has seen the growth of a parallel industry, mostly dedicated to low-income immigrants and low-income people in general. Hundreds of small clinics have sprung up in many neighborhoods, mostly Hispanic, where charges are far less painful than that of traditional American entities. Not only their fees are lower but they also provide help without so much bureaucracy as their traditional counterparts, to the point of not requiring in many cases proof of identity or a social security number. Some of the clinics are manned properly and offer quality service; others are just profit driven stores with dubious credentials. Is this the way we want our population, legal or illegal to be taken care of? Health issues affect us all and when we don’t provide adequate care to everyone, regardless of their legal status, we may be endangering ourselves in the process.

Illegals and the taxman

Folk stories tell us that the illegal population is costing us, the taxpayers, millions of dollars. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that many illegal residents don’t even bother to file taxes. For one, some of them are afraid to reveal their legal status and avoid tax filing like the plague, thinking that dealing with the issue openly will prompt a visit from the immigration authorities. The others, the ones who understand how to file and obtain a tax number can usually get back only up to the amount it was taken from them when using a fake number. No special credits, no EIC, nothing over that. So, basically they get if not all, some of the money they paid when at work. Is this unfair? I don’t believe it is. After all, that money, including part of what they’d made as salaries, goes back to the economy in the form of purchases, rent, car payments and what have you. You see, even illegals have to buy food and pay utilities. More than that, all the money they’d paid to social security while working goes to the general fund from which they’ll never see a dime! I’d dare to say that we all profit from illegal workers more than we want to admit.




A racial issue

In general, I believe immigrants constitute a racial issue for those who oppose them and nothing more. I have to admit that some changes in many communities can be frustrating with the massive influx of foreigners of any kind. Different business open to cater their tastes, foods in our supermarkets are aded to please that crowd, strange music and faces are on display and many other indicators that things are “different”. And we all love the status quo, don‘t we?

Personally, I don’t enjoy loud mariachi music when it’s shoved down my ears at 200 decibels, but hey, give me a Cinco de Mayo celebration any time! I neither enjoy noisy rednecks guzzling beer 20 feet from my house, but I love country music and honky-ton. I guess what I’m trying to say is that we can’t have it all.

The Ideal World

In the ideal world of racists they should be free to hire those cheap laborers when they need them and then send them back to wherever they came from. In an ideal world, there ought to be all-white neighborhoods, separate from black people and other colors in between. In an ideal world, Anglos, even though they are the minority, should dictate the rules and everyone else better keep quiet.

In an ideal world we should have the right to buy inexpensive goods, made by some underpaid worker in another part of the planet without having to think about the global consequences. After all this is America, the self-proclaimed better country in the world! As such, we have the God given right to live better at anyone else’s expense. Unfortunately, we all live in an imperfect society and a very convoluted world.


Looking Abroad With Sadness

When considering our relationship with the rest of the World, it seems as if we are now trying to change the culture and the habits of millions of people via the Iraqi conflict. That’s a big mess and a real flop! Not only have we lost whatever prestige we may have had in the past but also we are increasingly making enemies out of people we never heard of until now. In this continent, our recent Latin American policy has been practically non-existent and we have allowed other voices to call the shots. Starting with the failed and stubborn Cuban embargo, where we have potentially lost billions of dollars in commerce and trade driving an entire country more deeply to the left and continuing with the flourishing influence of guys like Hugo Chavez, practically every country south of the border is suffering from our disastrous handling of such population and markets.

While big name corporations are profiting handsomely in most of those countries, the lack of ethics and clear guidelines on how to conduct business properly, increased the poverty and need for most of their inhabitants. The same ones by the way who have little choice but to look to the north for a better life.

In most of Central America and Mexico, crime, corruption and drug trafficking are an everyday thing and we are doing very little to help. As a consequence, we have now in our streets a growing gang problem and the eternal illegal alien situation. Was it worth it? Was having a cheap TV worth the price we are paying now? Was ignoring our neighbor’s plight good policy? Neglected for years, Latin America has become more anti-American than ever before. Can we blame them? Or should we blame ourselves?

For all practical purposes, re-establishing a sound investment policy south of our border should be priority number one for any administration. Never mind Bush and Co. They have done most of the damage they could possibly do single handedly. Soon, a new administration will take over and it’s time to start thinking about a 180 degree change, even though may take a while to get things in order.

It’s also time to establish a reasonable policy with other nations, not telling them what we want but talking with them to find a common ground. It’s time to show the rest of the world that not everything is lost in our soul and we can really communicate with others without having to use our military to impose our views.

Can we do it? May be. I sincerely hope we can.

Smart Ass or Simply Deranged?

Many times I wonder why this woman is so popular among the political circles. Republicans seem to love her while Democrats can’t stand her. Besides her views on politics and social issues, to which all have the right to an opinion, the delivery of this foul mouthed blonde is mostly offensive and most of the times wrong in her facts. TV commentators invite her frequently, either to give her yet another chance to promote her righteous views if they are for the Republican side or to blast her for some outrageous comments she’d made if they are on the Democrat’s side. Whatever the reason for so much presence, including a recent tour where she was promoting a printed version of her stupid and vile thoughts, makes little sense to either side. Republicans put themselves in danger of being labeled as deranged as she is by inviting her as a speaker. Yes, she may help raise money sometimes, but at what price? Democrats and those who support them, including the press, giver her a potential halo of credibility when she’s invited to debate and defend, sometimes on camera, whatever idiotic remark she made, and she has made one too many! The latest one being the comment on John Edwards as a “faggot”. Later of course she said, “It was just a joke”.
Ann Coulter in fact is the joke. Her mere arrogant presence, accompanied by her big mouth and constantly shooting from the hip irritates and make people uncomfortable, not for what she says, which is mostly silly and irrelevant, but the fact that many dimwitted individuals on the right are salivating for the smearing of those on the left. It’s sort of the female version of another blotted idiot: Rush Limbaugh, you know, the guy who makes a living badmouthing anything not Republican.
Look at her picture carefully; doesn’t she seem to have a similar look as the once famous runaway bride? Perhaps their mental condition is the same.

Is she my long lost sister?

Read a Book, Have a Pizza

There is much noise nowadays about a program sponsored by Pizza Hut in which children get rewarded for reading, with a free pizza from the corporate giant. Some praise the program, others claim that promotes obesity and the wrong motivation for children to read more.
To me, this is just another example of the poor education system our children have to endure and nothing new in enticing young people to consume fast food. From the toys and gimmicks of McDonald’s, Burger King and others to the impossible contests of Coca Cola and Pepsi to win something hidden under a bottle cap, everyone involved in promotions and advertising for the young keeps on trying to attract a larger consumer base. The problem lies with the never-ending reforms and demands on teachers from so-called experts in education and also with the cozy relationship of book publishers and the education system.
My children are young adults now but I remember distinctly the agony of going to their schools and witnessing overloaded teachers, dedicating perhaps 15 minutes to the class and the rest of the hour to filling out forms and getting volumes of paperwork for the “thinkers” at higher level. Statistics and more statistics seemed to be the call. So, while kids were reading on their own in silence, the teacher became a paper pusher for the School District. If we ad to this the usually large number of kids in every class, it’s very clear that no matter how you cut it, that nobody can really dedicate more than one minute or two at best to every student. At the college level this works perhaps because adults are motivated enough to handle tasks on their own and the teacher is just a guide much like a conductor in a symphony orchestra. At the secondary level though this does not work as well, much less at grade level. Nevertheless, our youngsters are required to carry on their backs large volumes of books, which are open only on occasions and expected to perform some heavy-duty work at home to compensate for that which was not done at the proper place, the school itself. Besides, I wonder how schools expect kids to be motivated after riding a bus for sometimes and hour to get to the place of learning or worst yet, walking a mile or two with twenty pounds of weight on their backs and, once there, the teacher proceeds to give them a few guide lines on what to do, turning his or her back to write endless reports. What’s their motivation? No wonder pizza creates excitement in reading!
I remember, many moons ago, we didn’t have to get new books every year because they were passed on from student to student as they moved up, we managed to use a few pencils or ball pens per year and a couple of ruled notebooks and there were no computers. And somehow, it seems like earlier generations learned more than the present ones regardless of the lack of materials and technology available. What is going on today? School Districts are constantly reinventing themselves with new rules and regulations year after year. Schools without computers are the laughing stock of the community. Fewer students are graduating and those who do have a big surprise waiting when they get to colleges and universities because they lack the proper foundation to be there.
Kids are kids. Nothing has changed there. The problem is the overburdened system and the adults who are messing it up even more. So, why blame the corporate world, Pizza Hut in this case, for trying to make a buck in the name of education? If we had a decent education system there’ll be no need for enterprising marketers to come to the rescue.