You gotta love Europe! I've only been there once, but now I'm definitely be making plans to go back ASAP. I don't know of anywhere here that beckons you to soak in beer!!!
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Adult Discrimination
So it seems like children can scream and be loud and make a total annoying scene and it's not problem. However, a cop pulls up, sees some people quietly drinking and having a good time and they need to be warned that they'll go to jail if he has to come out again.
OK, so it was a ranger in a state park, not a cop and he totally made us all fearful. But we just had a couple 12er's of beer sitting out, it was late afternoon and we were just setting up our tents. (Same thing happened with a ranger in Yosemite last year, but it was food and bears instead of beers and jail. The ranger got us all freaked out, but we literally left the bear locker open about 3 minutes! They must teach this fear-mongering in ranger 101)
Why do kids get to be loud and obnoxious all they want in the face of the law and if adults do the same, we go to jail?
OK, so it was a ranger in a state park, not a cop and he totally made us all fearful. But we just had a couple 12er's of beer sitting out, it was late afternoon and we were just setting up our tents. (Same thing happened with a ranger in Yosemite last year, but it was food and bears instead of beers and jail. The ranger got us all freaked out, but we literally left the bear locker open about 3 minutes! They must teach this fear-mongering in ranger 101)
Why do kids get to be loud and obnoxious all they want in the face of the law and if adults do the same, we go to jail?
Friday, April 28, 2006
Immigration!
So I haven't gotten riled up for a couple weeks here, but the May 1st boycott and marches scheduled in the name of immigrants' rights has done it. First off, I don't understand how laws proposed to limit ILLEGAL immgration affect LEGAL immigrants. Instead of clouding the real issues at hand, why not discuss a more practical solution than "just give everybody amnesty"? How does that solve anything for the future?
I do support finding a way to legalize illegal immigrants that are here now(whether it be through immediate citizenship or the guest-worker program). I am against punishing private charitable/religious organizations for helping illegal immigrants once they are here. At the same time, I also believe that the US does need to secure the Mexican border to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and to apply that same intensity to any other "holes" in the US border.
The protesters have turned these discussions into a fight for workers' rights and against racism. These issues are legimitate, but separate from illegal immigration. The majority of the protesters, at least according to the media, are "Latinos." I love that term. It lumps anyone with a background from a Spanish-dialect country into one group. Why aren't we seeing large amounts of people from other ethnic groups. They also come into the US illegally. I guess because some of the proposed laws were to build a wall along the Mexican border. So if the laws were targeted towards turning back people in cargo containers and on boats, then those other ethnic groups would be more vocal. Oh wait, people in cargo containers are already turned back to their countries when found. What does it say to the people who find the way to legally emigrate to the US if people who find a way to slip in are allowed to continue? That seems like discrimination to me.
Here are two thoughts I came across in all these debates that made sense to me:
If all the oppressed people in the world could walk/drive here, we probably wouldn't be focusing on the illegal immigrants from our southern countries.
and
These passionate protesters should use their numbers to try to create change in there own countries.
Now, I know that last statement sounds incredibly idealistic. But over the course of history, that is how things are changed. It does take decades. Just like the decades that people have spent illegally living and working here.
I just needed to voice my opinion, being a "Latina" and part of a family full of immigrants (legal).
I do support finding a way to legalize illegal immigrants that are here now(whether it be through immediate citizenship or the guest-worker program). I am against punishing private charitable/religious organizations for helping illegal immigrants once they are here. At the same time, I also believe that the US does need to secure the Mexican border to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and to apply that same intensity to any other "holes" in the US border.
The protesters have turned these discussions into a fight for workers' rights and against racism. These issues are legimitate, but separate from illegal immigration. The majority of the protesters, at least according to the media, are "Latinos." I love that term. It lumps anyone with a background from a Spanish-dialect country into one group. Why aren't we seeing large amounts of people from other ethnic groups. They also come into the US illegally. I guess because some of the proposed laws were to build a wall along the Mexican border. So if the laws were targeted towards turning back people in cargo containers and on boats, then those other ethnic groups would be more vocal. Oh wait, people in cargo containers are already turned back to their countries when found. What does it say to the people who find the way to legally emigrate to the US if people who find a way to slip in are allowed to continue? That seems like discrimination to me.
Here are two thoughts I came across in all these debates that made sense to me:
If all the oppressed people in the world could walk/drive here, we probably wouldn't be focusing on the illegal immigrants from our southern countries.
and
These passionate protesters should use their numbers to try to create change in there own countries.
Now, I know that last statement sounds incredibly idealistic. But over the course of history, that is how things are changed. It does take decades. Just like the decades that people have spent illegally living and working here.
I just needed to voice my opinion, being a "Latina" and part of a family full of immigrants (legal).
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Good Hummer, Bad Hummer
So there I am driving down the street and a bad Hummer goes by. For some reason over the past two weeks, I keep seeing more bad Hummers than usual. There must be a sale or something. Now, you ask, "What is a bad Hummer? Are there really any good Hummers?" Well, everyone has seen the bad Hummer as, pictured here:
Some dork (I'll call him "Bob") has purchased this big, pretty truck so he can impress his silly friends. Does Bob carry around the 15 people it can hold? No. Bob uses it to drive the dog around. Does Bob take it off road? No. Bob's silly wife uses it to go to the grocery store. The website Fuck You and Your H2 has a bunch more about bad Hummers.
Some dork (I'll call him "Bob") has purchased this big, pretty truck so he can impress his silly friends. Does Bob carry around the 15 people it can hold? No. Bob uses it to drive the dog around. Does Bob take it off road? No. Bob's silly wife uses it to go to the grocery store. The website Fuck You and Your H2 has a bunch more about bad Hummers.
Now, being a fan of off-road machines (totally eclipsed by my husband's 4x4 fanaticism), I can appreciate owning a good Hummer. A good Hummer being one that barely sees the pavement and can do all sorts of fun stuff, like those below.
I don't even want to ask Phyllis and Darrel whether they consider theirs a good Hummer or bad Hummer. Guessing by the tires, it's probably good.
My point: Don't buy a Hummer if you're not going to use it off-road! And to the folks who build them... Don't sell Hummers to fools who won't take them off-road!
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