Immigration, Part Two

I walked over to the immigration rally in downtown Santa Ana yesterday, about 6 blocks from where I live. It was a much smaller crowd than I expected. Santa Ana has a population of 350,000 with 76% of that Hispanic, so the turnout was a surprise. It was spirited nonetheless. As shouts of "Si se Pueda" arose from the crowd, I continued to mull over my stance on the issue. Feeling that the status quo needs to change, I'm searching for what I feel is going to have to be some give and take on a very complicated issue.

Give: provide legal status for all undocumented peoples currently in the country.

Take: criminal prosecution for anyone entering the country illegally from now on. My landlord is from Holland. She filed the necessary papers, paid the necessary fees, and did some waiting. If she can do it, so can anyone else.

Also: criminal prosecution for companies who hire undocumented workers. I mean, do we REALLY want to have a country where companies are permitted to hire undocumented workers just because they can pay them sub-standard wages, keep them out of unions and not pay them health benefits? It's time for businesses to be held accountable for their part in the immigration mess.

We Need A War

Music by Fischerspooner
Very wry, very prescient lyrics by Susan Sontag

"We Need A War"

We need a war
We need a war to show‘em
We need a war to show‘em that we can
We need a war to show‘em that we can do it
Whenever we say we need a war…

If they mess with us
If we think they might mess with us
If we say they might mess with us
If we think we need a war, we need war

Chorus
We need a war,
If we think we need a war.
We need a war.
If we think we need a war.

A war to make us feel safe,
A war to make‘em feel sorry.
Whoever they are…..

If they mess with us
If we think they might mess with us
If we say they might mess with us
If we think we need a war, we need war

Chorus

Can we do it?
Sure we can.

We need a war.
We need a war.
We need a war.

Immigration, Part One

It seems to happen in cycles here in California, but it certainly appears that the immigration issue is heating up--not only here, but also nationally. Without going into detail in this post (I basically find myself coming down on BOTH sides of the issue), I thought I'd post a question for consideration;

I realize that the overwhelming majority of illegal immigrants come through our southern border, but if one of the rationales for tighter border security is that we live in a much more dangerous, post 9/11 world, then why is our northern border deserving of LESS attention?