(I have) Immigration Issues

Today's biggest headlines: AOL News - Immigration Debate Heats Up in Senate

Immigration? IMMIGRATION!?! We don't need no stinkin' immigration! And so goes the rant of legal and illegal immigrants alike who feel they (the illegals) have the right to walk right across a national border, earn a living without being taxed (and yet being represented), and have the audacity to send the majority of that money right back across the border! So now, faced with a swift end to the gravy train, they are taking to the streets to demonstrate. Gravy train, you say? They work jobs that other Americans won't for slave wages, right? Let's get one thing straight. These workers are sending home their "meager" wages to the tune of 20 billion dollars per year! Guess what Mexico's #2 source of income is? Wages remitted by migrant workers. Second only to oil exports! We're talking free medical care, driver's licenses, small business loans, court appointed lawyers, fire and police protection, minority preferences, education ...it...never...ends! All the benefits of being a citizen without paying taxes or learning the language. As previously ranted about, they'd just as soon you hurry your ass up and learn spanish already. They're tired of not being able to communicate with you! Are you mad yet? No? Well sit back, i'm just getting started.
Guess who is being hurt the most by the illegal immigrants? You? Me? Not even close. That would be the poor, uneducated people who have legally immigrated here and can't find a job! They wait their turn as millions before them have, they learn the language and they pass a citizenship test and for what? No jobs, unaffordable medical care and not a lot of prospects? Welcome to America. All the goodies have gone to the border hoppers. They get all the freebies and you get the shaft. If not for the illegals, you'd have a decent paying job and some benefits. Funny how you thought you would help your own cause and take to the streets and defend the illegals!
Here in America, we have such a good thing going on that people from all over wish to be here more than anywhere else in the world. Anywhere! Damn near every day, our Coast Guard and Navy is patrolling the southern shores, turning away Haitians, Cubans, etc. Even if they get ashore, we ship them right back. (Except for the Cubans. Under the "wet foot dry foot" laws, if they make it to shore, we let them stay. That too should be changed.) In the mean time, we embrace the Mexican illegals with all of the benefits and none of the hardships that come with living here. (NO, I am not saying it is a breezy life to be a migrant fruit picker.) They need to be shipped back the minute they are discovered. People who employ illegals should be heavily fined and regularly inspected. A wall should exist between our countrys. It is to the benefit of EVERYONE to control immigration. This is a national crisis!
Now, for those of you bleeding hearts who feel we should leave our southern borders wide open, let's talk about who all crosses it. Now, i'm not gonna talk about muslims and terrorists. I want to introduce you to MS-13. Who? MS-13! The Most Dangerous Gang in America - Newsweek National News - MSNBC.com They are crossing our border regularly and will soon be bigger in America then our own homegrown Crips and Bloods. They bring drugs, violence and prostitution over the borders faster then we can keep up. So when an illegal immigrant with body armor and an automatic weapon makes your heart bleed for real, DON'T come a bitchin' to me! You've been warned. (Oh yeah...as if that ain't enough, Mexico has a bad habit of dropping off some of their most violent criminals at the border. Aren't you tired of being the carpet under which Mexico sweeps it's crap?)
OK...one more victim of illegal immigration to run under your nose. Are you ready for this? Mexico! The majority of the outlying villages are dying a quick death due to the fact that there's nobody around of working age. The farms are going unworked and the infrastructure is non-existent. All that's left is the very young and the very old. The schools are closing. There is no medical care. The following facts were gleaned from an article in my local paper by Jay Root of Knight-Ridder services; In five states, remittances from abroad now equal 100% or more of the salaries generated locally. There are nine times more people from the town of Joaquin Amaro living in Cicero, IL than are living in Joaquin Amaro itself. Can you believe this? Wait, it gets worse. A woman in the Mexican state of Zacatecas recently went to the immigrant assistance office for advice on how to get her 2 year old daughter (born in the US) back to Oakland, CA for treatment of a hip condition. The agency directors (un)official advice? Hire a smuggler and sign up her US born child for welfare. For the full story, go here. KR Washington Bureau 03/23/2006 Migration of working-age people has devast Mexico is bleeding itself dry as it migrates north to bleed us dry. Like Locusts. How far will we let it go? Write your national leaders. Illegal immigration has become a disgrace and a nightmare. You are inheriting it!

PS - If I were a business owner and my workforce decided to just skip a day by walking out to go demonstrate in the streets, they'd be looking for a new job. If I were the principal where the kids walked out of school, there'd be detention. Period.

Crime and Punishment! (Of the victim, that is...)

The things I learn never cease to amaze me. Just when I think I have it all figured out, something comes along that changes everything. Apparently. there are still 29 states out there that have "duty to retreat" laws still on the books. What, exactly, does this mean to you and me? Let's keep this nice and simple. Basically, if you are attacked in a public place, (I.E., anywhere but in your private domicile) and you defend yourself to the demise of the attacker, the attacker or (in the event of his/her death) his/her family can sue you , have you prosecuted or both if you did not retreat from he criminal attack. Whuh??? That's right. In these states, if you are confronted, attacked, mugged or carjacked in a public place, you must first attempt to "disengage" the situation by backing away. The idea is to avoid potentially deadly situations. Now, while I understand the spirit of these laws, they are absolutely ripe for abuse. Someone who has been attacked by criminals does not need to be victimized a second time by a second-guessing legal system.

It comes as no surprise to me that the NRA is a staunch supporter of these so called "Stand Your Ground" bills. For once, I actually agree with them. Florida was first to pass them, a year ago, allowing everyday citizens to use deadly force against muggers, carjackers and such. The new laws protect the citizens from being prosecuted should the attacker decide he was "wronged" by picking on the wrong person. Several states are considering similar legislation. It just stands to reason, to me, that if I have the right to kill an intruder in my house that I should be able to shoot a carjacker, instead of jumping out of my car and backing away, hoping he'll change his mind and not take my car or hurt me. I see this as a huge step towards taking back our streets. Along with concealed weapons laws, the citizens are starting to get an upper hand on the criminals who don't live by laws and morals. Naturally, there are detractors.

Zach Ragbourn of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence the proposals "are more acurately called 'shoot first' laws. They allow a person who just feels something bad is going to happen to open fire in public." Well we are not a nation of Bernie Goetzs. I just don't picture a bunch of folks running around looking to be vigilantes. I see criminals wondering of the little weak victim they chose to mug is armed. I see carjackers hesitating to run up to any given window. I see citizens unafraid to stand up for themselves in the face of common street thugs. I personally live in a state which allows for an eye for an eye. If someone comes at me with a gun, I can shoot back. If they come at me with a bat, I can take the bat away and beat the hell out of them with it. If they attempt to take me down with their bare hands, they're gonna get thrashed. I don't have to fear reprisals, provided I don't 'escalate' the intended violence. 'Course, between you and me, I'm a piss poor shot. Like I've been told before, shoot for center mass and claim you were aiming for a leg.

Patriot Act - Good for You, Good For Me

Out there in la-la land is a guy (who I won't name because i'd rather not give free advertising) who "invented" a game called Patriot Act: The Home Version. As an Arab civil rights advocate, he bitches and moans about how he feels the act has curtailed American's freedoms. In a blatant rip-off of the game Monopoly (he has enough imagination to think his freedom is in trouble...can't he come up with something a lil' more original?), players basically try to outlast each other. As you move about the board, your freedoms are removed one by one until you end up in Guantanamo, Cuba. (Instead of jail.) The overall aim of the game is to 'poke fun at the historic abuse of governmental powers' by the newly renovated anti-terrorism laws. I'd really love to see the game in person to get a feel for exactly what he is talking about. In the mean time, I'm gonna write out a list of all the things the patriot act has meant to me and my personal freedoms.
1) I have to be at the airport an hour earlier than I used to.
2) If I call an Al-Qaida outpost overseas my call may be monitored. (NOT for quality
assurance!)
3) Flying is safer, ports are more tightly controlled and borders are better patrolled.
4) Ooops! Almost forgot. The government now knows how often I visit porn sites on the
internet. Remember how Google refused to turn over information to the government on
what everybody was searching for during a given week? Well before that happened, pretty
much EVERY other ISP and search engine in America already had without a fight or peep.
Think about that before you go searching again!
Well, I think that's about it. I really feel the Patriot Act has done more FOR me than against me. Obviously the 'inventor' of this game hasn't lost the ability to get his name in the paper. As for my freedoms and privacy, give me a break. Anyone who pays attention knows that we are all monitored in one way or another. Whenever you enter a bank, airport, government office building or casino, a computer somewhere is running your image through a facial recognition program. Everytime you go into a bus station, train station, shopping mall or convenience mart, you end up on video tape. Anytime you pass through a toll booth, border check station, weigh station or most parking garages, a picture is taken of your license plate and you. Oh, and lest I forget, if you use the right combination of words enough times in phone conversations and e-mails, the U.S. Secret Service WILL pay you a visit. (Use your imagination.) The majority of the time, this is done for your protection. These records are being used to prevent and solve crimes.
When they are misused, it is generally by nefarious employees. Something that nothing can prevent. You say you need something to worry about, though? That you just can't sleep unless something horrible could be happening in your life at any given moment? Here, let me help. Identity theft, phishing, drunk drivers, road rage, outsourcing, illegal immigration, racism, the impending tropical storm season and the fact that the average American reads and comprehends at an EIGHTH GRADE LEVEL. (This is not a misprint.)

The article that prompted this rant was printed on page A-2 of my local paper. On page A-3 was an article concerning a man in Afghanistan. He is currently being prosecuted in a Kabul courtroom on a charge of converting from Islam to Christianity. This is a crime against Afghan's strict Islamic laws and he could be sentanced to death. Really. Maybe somebody could come up with a game about that.

Are you paying 5$ a gallon?

You probably are...you just don't know it yet. Am I talking about milk, not quite. (That'll happen when the mad cow scare takes effect.) How about gasoline? Despite ever climbing prices, that time has not yet come either.(At least not in my neck of the woods.) The substance under discussion today is....are youready for this? Water!! Wait a second...water? Water? Damn right, water. If you drink it out of a bottle more than you drink it out of a tap, you are paying between 3 to 5 dollars a gallon. For water. REALLY. Of course, the average price of water coming out of your tap? $.23 a gallon. Twenty-three cents vs. five bucks? Somebody is making a tidy profit here and it sure as heck ain't me. But hey, we all drink bottled water for a reason, right? Let's look at that.

Some time ago, during America's "lets scare ourselves to death" phase, we decided that the ground water was becoming more polluted every day. Chemical companies and commercial farmers would cause us all to have cancer by the age of 30. Back then, bottled water was pretty much a European thing. Perrier and Evian (naive in reverse) represented the bulk of the market and globe-trotting Hollyweird types brought it back to the U.S. as a symbol of wealth and arrogance. Before long, a market developed and the stuff was being sold all over the place. Fast forward to 2006...over 600 brands of bottled water exist worldwide. It outsells soda. Now, if you've ever traveled through Europe, you'd know why they came up with bottled water in the first place. Their water distribution systems are ancient, the plants are a mess and standards non-existent. They needed bottled water. Here in the U.S., most households have reasonably decent enough drinking water. It may not taste great and it may be full of minerals, but it won't kill us. I remember as a child drinking water straight from the garden hose. On a hot summers day, it was like pure elixir. Kids these days would probably choke at the thought as they clutch their sports bottles. Now, the water where I live is so full of minerals I have to literally wash the car with one hand and dry it with the other. If I don't, it'll be ugly and cloudy when it dries. Still, if the water is cold enough, I'll drink it straight from the tap. I also have a refridgerator with water in the door and a filter in the back. Even better. It's only $50 per filter and it lasts several months. Certainly cheaper than bottled. But wait, you say...bottled IS better. Or is it?

To avoid potential lawsuits, i'll simply say this. Current FDA standards allow for bottled water companies to fill their bottles from a city tap. Any tap. Use your imagination.

One of the conveniences we arrogant Americans take for granted is that when we turn on the tap, water will come out. Around the world and even in some places here, there are about 1.5 billion people who don't enjoy that privilege. A FRACTION of the money spent on bottled water around the world would solve that problem. Maybe those 600 companies could set aside .05 a bottle for a few months. That is about all it would take. Spend a little profit so people who don't have running water and can't afford bottled water can get a tap in their village. It's the least they can do. It's the least WE could do. There are quite a few organizations dedicated to this cause. They deserve a few of your dollars.

Side Note: Attention enviromentalists! When you are done quoting gas mileage rates for SUVs vs your lil' hybrid and have completed your demonstration against wind farms for the sake of the birds, crunch these here numbers. It annually takes 1.5 BILLION barrels of oil to make the plastic bottles that water comes in. Collectively, we place some 2.5 MILLION plastic bottles per HOUR into our landfills. As they break down, they release toxic run-off that leeches out and causes the landfills to be shut down. At this point, we are closing landfills almost as fast as we open new ones. Just think...somewhere in this world a billion people are going thirsty for want of that problem.

A few final thoughts, if you please. When I lived in the Kingdom of Bahrain in the Arabian gulf, I could buy a 2 liter bottle of water for about fifty cents. The water was manufactured in a reverse osmosis plant and the bottles were all recyclable. This seemed pretty reasonable. I drank it because the water that came out of the taps was barely tolerable for a shower, much less consumption. We had big bottled water in our flat that was delivered for about $1.90 per 5 gallon jug. That was for cooking, drinking and making ice. Damn reasonable. And now for the other end of the scale. The hottest new thing to have in ones hand in Hollyweird is a bottle of "Bling H20." At around $34 dollars per LITER that's a pretty bold statement. If I won the lottery tomorrow, I still think i'd drink out of the hose on a hot summers day. The nostalgia it brings is priceless.

12.5% vs. 87.5%

Tonight's story is the latest in stupidity to arise out of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Victoria Cinna is the Director of the Mississippi Immigrants Rights Alliance. (MIRA) She spent two days before Katrina hit landfall begging the Gulfport, MS tv stations to broadcast evacuation messages in Spanish. She knew that hundreds of Latinos lived along the gulf coast and many spoke little, if any english. The stations finally relented just hours before the storm hit. In her mind, this was completely unsatisfactory. I agree, but with stipulations. We'll get to that in a minute. First, i'll also address a related matter. FEMA apparently neglected to provide temporary emergency housing or shelter to Latinos it mistakenly presumed were undocumented. The Red Cross is also accused of requiring Latino hurricane survivors to show documents proving their legal status before they could recieve aid. This is a violation of the Red Crosses own policies. This is wrong on so many levels that I don't even know where to start. Let's just say that ANY victim of ANY hurricane seeking temporary emergency shelter and aid should get it, regardless of status. But for now, let's fry some bigger fish.

If I'm gonna go live in another country, permanent or temporary, rich or poor, young or old, documented or otherwise, I'm gonna learn a few phrases...be it along the way or once I get there. I'm gonna know the words for fire, i'll learn how to summon the police and how to cry rape or robbery or whatever is pertinent. Ms Cinna was pleading to put out the word over the television which says that these folk had access to them. Now, we all saw the national coverage that this hurricane got in the few days before landfall. I could be a deaf, arab speaking polynesian from central China and I still believe I could figure out what's going on on the TV. I'd at least know that SOMETHING was going on and find someone who could tell me what it was. But there is yet a bigger problem.

Go ahead, call me a racist, but this is America and we speak English here. The title of this entry suggests the 87.5% of us in America who speak English as a first language vs. some part of the 12.5% of America's latino population that doesn't. Throughout the southwest one will see highway signs and restaurant menus in English and Spanish. The announcements in the airports as well as the grocery stores are done in both languages. Indeed it is difficult to get a job as a teacher unless you are bilingual. This is the root of the problem. Lots of folks in this country are shooting for the whole bilingual thing on a national scale. They would like for the 87.5 percent of us to bend over for them. It's not enough to recognize Cinco de Mayo or even to have a Latino history month. They want us to be bilingual from front to back. Sorry, but I refuse and I protest. The more we give in to the demands of the latino community the more they get behind. Having a bilingual teacher in school can help the english as a second language students to understand certain things. I believe, however, that it does more harm than good. The students quickly learn to rely on the teacher speaking what they probably hear at home. In my current hometown(population - 52% latino), we have several spanish TV stations, radio stations and newspapers. Last year a high school student was on the frontpage of the local english language paper complaining that the annual aptitude test was only given in one language. Excuse me? He was actually bitching that he couldn't pass the science portion of the test because he didn't understand the technical terms in english. This, he told us, will surely keep him from his dream of going to law school. No, your inability to speak english will do that. By coddling these kids and not forcing them to learn english they get further and further behind the learning curve. The latino community apparently thinks that going bilingual on a national scale is the solution. I once was waiting to be assisted at a national chain store while two clerks were speaking to each other in spanish. I politely explained that it was rude to speak in a foreign language in front of a customer who didnt speak that language. After one (somewhat) politely explained to me that it was quicker and easier for the two of them to converse in their native language, I said "Well, welcome to America...been here long?" It was then quickly and tersly explained to me that she was born here. As was her mother. She's a citizen of the U.S. and damn proud of it, for crying out loud and how dare I!! And I replied, "Then English is your native language." I've had arguments with other latinos who were happy to inform me that America has no official language...perhaps it should be spanish. Well guess what....the International Association of Airline Pilots have an official language. So does the International Maritime Commission. It's not spanish. It's english and it's become the standard for a lot of things, worldwide. I traveled extensively with the military from eastern Europe to the middle east. Everywhere I went I could find someone who spoke english. Spanish, however, not so much. Except in Spain, of course.

If you can find me another country that bends over as much as we do to make illegal immigrants feel welcome, I'd sure like to know what it is. It's time we had english as an official language. Period. I'm all for education all around, but teaching in spanish is just setting these kids up for failure. A few months ago I watched a special on CNN about some NBA players who went to central Africa to give support and money to food, clean water, housing and education programs. What amazed me the most was not the money grubbing athletes actually being generous with some of their wealth. CNN interviewed a sixth grade local girl from a tiny village with a ramshackle schoolhouse run by volunteers in the peace corps. She spoke better english than anybody else on the program. It's not quality of education sometimes....it's the willingness to learn. Excuses and finger pointing seem to be the norm in America these days. I suspect the problem lies elsewhere.

Black.Smart.Fast

NASCAR Driver Tries to Break Color Barrier

Now here's a black man I can stand behind. After going on and on about a man I can't stand yesterday, here's the guy who should be held up for all to see. It's not groundbreaking and it's not even new. But this guy is setting a fine example. He bid his time and paid his dues. After a couple years in the Craftsman Truck Series and several good runs in the Bucsh Series, Bill Lester is going to attempt on Friday to qualify for Sunday's Nascar Nextel Cup race in Atlanta. Is this a good thing? Yep. Is it ground breaking? No. Black drivers have been in Nascar before. Lester has been driving professionally for years. Heck, Danica Patrick did well in Indy cars long before everyone 'discovered' her after she qualified fourth at the Indy 500. As NASCAR says in a new ad campaign heralding their diversity, "there's room for everyone." There has been for years. As i've previously stated on numerous occasions, the NASCAR color(and sex) barrier has been gone for a long time. The biggest factor between minorities and NASCAR is drive, experience and time. You can't just put people in the driver's seat who don't belong there and haven't earned it. Women and minority drivers have had enjoyed a large presense in Drag Racing for years. But the difference between a drag racer and a oval circuit racer is huge. It takes years of racing from the time a person is too young to get a driver's license and the dedication of a finely tuned athlete. It won't happen overnight. For two years running, NASCAR has provided and funded a minority racing program to help "diversify" racing. It will help, but we need something more.... Here's my suggestion.
Attention Rich Vocal Minorities: I'm putting out challenge part two to the likes of Oprah, Kanye West, Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al and various other minority bankers, investors, hollywood stars, gansta rappers, etc. Quit bitching that not enough is being done and put your money where your mouth is. Build a dirt track. Build a paved track. Start an inner city soap box derby league. Contribute to the program and start being part of the solution and less a part of the problem. Nothing in my mind is sadder or stupider than a bunch of minorities sitting around grousing for "someone" to fix a percieved inequity when the solution was at their fingertips all along. Racing takes time, money, dedication and money. Lots of white drivers don't make it because they lack one of those ingredients. Lots of minority drivers won't make it for the same reason. White folks aren't keeping black folks out of NASCAR. Their parents, friends, teachers, etc are. Popular society is telling our minority youth to strive to be basketball players, hip-hop singers, athletes and thugs. They should be telling them to strive to be scholars, engineers and politicians. The astronauts, race car drivers and fighter pilots will come along on their own. As previously stated, hip hop quashes dreams and re-enforces the negative stereotypes that minorities put on themselves. I'm sick and tired of minorities blaming everyone but themselves for not getting where they want to be. Let's celebrate Bill Lester's achievment, and not cheapen all he's put into it by making a huge deal out of it. He's just another rookie in the field who's earned a right to be there.

P.S. When Lester does start racing regular in the Cup series, and he has that same fat yellow rookie stripe that all the rookies put on their car, he will crash. He will have few friends. He will have a hard time. Like ALL the other rookies who came before him. If he doesn't perform in a reasonable amount of time, he'll be canned. It has nothing to do with color. Welcome to the big time, Bill. I hope you do well.

Black.White.Stupid

This nights entry is about the new 'social experiment' by rapper/actor/director/producer Ice Cube. Let me start this off with the one statement of truth that you would have suspected had I not said it in the first place. I haven't actually watched the show. So, you say, what do I have to say about a show I have not seen? Simply this. I will not watch a show that is in anyway associated with Ice Cube. For the same reason I wouldn't watch a show on race produced and directed by, shall we say, David Duke, I believe his views to be one sided and his motives questionable. For whatever reason, the media lends credit to his controversy and gives him air time in prime time. Sure he's done two (count 'em, two) successful movie series. He's made lots of music. He's a hell of a lot richer than i'll ever be. But none of this removes him from his roots. For example....

Word, but who the *uck has heard?
It's time to take a trip to the suburbs
Let em see a *igga invasion
Point blank for the Caucasian (reprinted w/o permission)

Does this sound like someone who should be on TV? The only people he seems to hate more than white ones are other black ones who don't subscribe to his particular coast of rap style. How we ever came to legitimize a style of "music" so steeped in civil disobedience, self-pity, disrespect for authority and general hatred is beyond me. Can you see a radio station airing a country group singing about going to the hood to blow away some nice black folk? But that's another rant for another day. My point is, that this is simply the wrong guy to be the face of racial understanding. Go to his website...he's handing out guns! His show will go down as simple entertainment that should have never been aired in the first place. Sadly, as previously discussed, racial harmony and diversity don't sell headlines and TV commercials, controversy does. I'll put this show in the same place as Wifeswap, The Bachelor and other "reality" crap. Put on 'Everybody Hates Chris' instead. Now THAT show was funny and worth watching.

Now, for those of you who will acuse me of bigotry, racism and other various crimes, let us sample one more bit of Ice Cube's "music." This from a more recent piece.

But you still in for some danger
And when i'm thru, I take your *itch and finger bang her
But if she looks tossed up, i'll slang her
Beat you like mama dearest with a clothes hanger

Now, if the basis of hip hop and rap is "keeping it real," (to maintain street cred), I fail to see the point of having it in the main stream. If this is what the kids want, it's no wonder we're in trouble. Call me Tipper if you want, but 99% of country, rock, pop, etc is not full of hatred, curse words, racial epitaphs and the general debasement of women. 99% of rap and a good chunk of hip hop is. 'Nuff said.

A Town Without Sin and Gay Adoptions...

Tonight I present polar opposite stories that just serve to point out how utterly stupid some people can be. Now before you jump to conclusions about who I think is being dumb here, READ!
First up, a trip down to south Florida where Tom Monagham (founder of Dominos Pizza) is building Ave Maria University. It's a privately funded roman catholic school with a curriculum of faith based learning. So far, so good. A developer is building a town next to the university with a huge (1100 seat) roman-catholic church at it's center. No problem there. Tom himself and the developer have stated emphatically that ALL (faiths, races) are welcome to live, learn or teach here. Great! The problem comes when word gets out that the founders might request that the town be 'sin free.' By this, as clarified by the founders, they mean adult type businesses are requested to stay away(IE porno shops, adult theaters, topless bars, etc.) and stores setting up shops in the town limits are requested to abide by roman-catholic beliefs by not selling contraceptives and such. (Bring in the lawyers!) Now, according to various pundits and civil rights advocates this amounts to absolute heresy! We are stomping on free speech, free enterprise and the all-american right to buy condoms. And by doing this we are probably telling gays and minorities that they are just not welcome. Gimme a break! Just because someone wants to build what in their mind is an idyllic community does not give anyone the right to assume that it's an underhanded attempt to build an all white, catholic, straight town. We are so quick to judge that the barbs were flying before the newsprint was dry on the page. Of course, I'm certain that if someone were to plan a community based on interracial marriage, gay rights and swing parties, the religious right would jump into full scale 'kill the sinners' mode. Just goes to show that you can't please all of the people ever and some people just don't want anybody outside of their circle of happiness to have their own kind of fun.
Our second story concerns the Roman Catholic bishops of Massachussetts who have asked that the churches' adoption agencies be exempted from state law requiring some adoptive children to be placed with gay parents. (Hands on cheeks in bad imitation of "Home Alone.") Heavens no!!!! Placing children in need with loving parents? MUST.... STOP..... NOW! OK, so the point is that the Pope himself has declared gay adoptions as 'gravely immoral.' The bishops claim that the state law takes away their religious freedom by requiring them to consider gay couples as adoptive parents. This from the bunch who rarely consider the right of young men not to have their booties popped by horny ol' priests. But I digress. Apparently the bishops haven't convinced everyone that they are right. Seven members of the Catholic Charities Board resigned their posts to protest the Bishops' request. It seems the board members think the bishops' position "undermines their moral priority of helping vulnerable children find loving homes." Halleluiah!!! Somebody has seen the light. In a nation brimming with needy, unwanted and unloved children and childless, loving couples willing to devote their lives to raising them, the last thing we need is the moral religious right trying to get out giving everyone a chance at being a loving, adoptive parent. Now, don't get me wrong. I have a great respect for people who stick to their religious guns. However....I don't think this is the time. In a time when adoption in the U.S. has become so restrictive that alot of couples choose to adopt from outside the country, the last thing we need is one more hang-up. Not that I have a problem with the growing trend of celebrities adopting from China and various third world countries. But can't we save a little more charity for home?