Having recently seen An Inconvenient Truth and now reading The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight, by Thom Hartmann, I was inspired yesterday to buy a TerraPass. It's not much in the face of the breadth of the problems we are part and party to, but it's something.
Basically, a TerraPass allows you to invest enough in alternative energy to offset the carbon dioxide emissions of your car. You put in the make, model and how many miles you drive a year and they tell you what level of TerraPass to buy.
Their blog is worth checking out too.
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Pondering the Immigration Issue
I've been thinking quite a bit about this issue. I don't like the evidently prominent Dem position that I heard Harry Reid articulate yesterday from the Take Back America conference: just let them pay a fee, learn English, "go to the back of the line", etc. Expand guest worker programs.
I know something about immigrants. I married one once. I taught ESL. I've known more than one who came here under questionable circumstances. I know many people come because US government policies have messed up their countries, and I can sympathize with their plights.
However, I realize we have a problem. It is my conviction that globalizing forces have sought to export as many jobs as possible, and to dilute the labor force here in the US to drive down wages. This doesn't bode well for the future of the middle class in America, and I believe this is why so many Americans are angry about illegal immigration.
If the economy was booming here and we had lots of great jobs, we probably wouldn't care so much about this issue. But it's not, and we don't. And many people in trades such as construction have been tangibly hurt by the government refusing to enforce immigration laws.
I think that Thom Hartmann (see article here) is the most reasonable person I have heard address this issue and I think that if the Dems were smart, they would start here: strengthen enforcement against employers, and a lot of the problem will go away. Reputedly, one of the first acts Bush took upon gaining the Oval Office was to dissolve the IRS group that enforced Social Security number integrity--i.e. they checked the numbers to see if they matched names and other vital statistics. If there was a discrepancy, they gave employers time to correct the error, and then that was it.
I think we should go after the employers: the people who exploit undocumented immigrants. Aggressively. For example, fine them heftily, and lock them up if they persist. And wait and see what happens. Then we can talk about other measures. But unless we start going after the people who offer the jobs and not the people who are desperate enough to take them, I believe the problem will only continue to plague us.
I know something about immigrants. I married one once. I taught ESL. I've known more than one who came here under questionable circumstances. I know many people come because US government policies have messed up their countries, and I can sympathize with their plights.
However, I realize we have a problem. It is my conviction that globalizing forces have sought to export as many jobs as possible, and to dilute the labor force here in the US to drive down wages. This doesn't bode well for the future of the middle class in America, and I believe this is why so many Americans are angry about illegal immigration.
If the economy was booming here and we had lots of great jobs, we probably wouldn't care so much about this issue. But it's not, and we don't. And many people in trades such as construction have been tangibly hurt by the government refusing to enforce immigration laws.
I think that Thom Hartmann (see article here) is the most reasonable person I have heard address this issue and I think that if the Dems were smart, they would start here: strengthen enforcement against employers, and a lot of the problem will go away. Reputedly, one of the first acts Bush took upon gaining the Oval Office was to dissolve the IRS group that enforced Social Security number integrity--i.e. they checked the numbers to see if they matched names and other vital statistics. If there was a discrepancy, they gave employers time to correct the error, and then that was it.
I think we should go after the employers: the people who exploit undocumented immigrants. Aggressively. For example, fine them heftily, and lock them up if they persist. And wait and see what happens. Then we can talk about other measures. But unless we start going after the people who offer the jobs and not the people who are desperate enough to take them, I believe the problem will only continue to plague us.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Merle Haggard and Jackson Browne...
...both have interesting vids on their home pages.
Now, Merle's Rebuild America First is interesting, because he's a country-western dude not particularly known for his wild liberal leanings, as far as I can discern, at any rate. I don't agree with all of his sentiments--I don't believe that we are the ones who are "worst off" and that other countries should be helping us instead of us helping them, at least not precisely as the song states. We give foreign aid that is largely a form of corporate welfare and is often useless to the recipient countries. And we ARE being supported by other countries in the form of our enormous trade deficit and current accounts deficit that is being financed largely by foreign concerns. And I know enough about the "rebuilding" going on Iraq to know that it has also been a corporate welfare project, which has failed to put Iraqis to work in the reconstruction of their own country and has done little to increase good feelings on the part of the Iraqi people, as it has been part of the selling off of their own country under their very noses.
That said, I think this video is important because I think it shows just how lost this war is from the perspective of the American people. The chorus goes, "Let's get out of Iraq, get back on the track, and rebuild America first."
Merle ends his song by saying "You think I'm blowin' smoke? Boys, it ain't no joke, I make 20 trips a year coast to coast."
Jackson Browne's video Lives in the Balance comes at the same subject from a different angle, and has some incredibly difficult-to-watch footage, but is incredibly powerful, in a heart-wrenching kind of way.
Now, Merle's Rebuild America First is interesting, because he's a country-western dude not particularly known for his wild liberal leanings, as far as I can discern, at any rate. I don't agree with all of his sentiments--I don't believe that we are the ones who are "worst off" and that other countries should be helping us instead of us helping them, at least not precisely as the song states. We give foreign aid that is largely a form of corporate welfare and is often useless to the recipient countries. And we ARE being supported by other countries in the form of our enormous trade deficit and current accounts deficit that is being financed largely by foreign concerns. And I know enough about the "rebuilding" going on Iraq to know that it has also been a corporate welfare project, which has failed to put Iraqis to work in the reconstruction of their own country and has done little to increase good feelings on the part of the Iraqi people, as it has been part of the selling off of their own country under their very noses.
That said, I think this video is important because I think it shows just how lost this war is from the perspective of the American people. The chorus goes, "Let's get out of Iraq, get back on the track, and rebuild America first."
Merle ends his song by saying "You think I'm blowin' smoke? Boys, it ain't no joke, I make 20 trips a year coast to coast."
Jackson Browne's video Lives in the Balance comes at the same subject from a different angle, and has some incredibly difficult-to-watch footage, but is incredibly powerful, in a heart-wrenching kind of way.
Saturday, June 03, 2006
An Inconvenient Truth
Just got back from seeing the movie in downtown Seattle...by the end I was close to breaking out crying. I don't know if a movie has ever done that to me before. This was more than just tears sliding down the cheeks. This was the verge of sobbing, held in check only by my social sensibilities!
I had a lot of complex feelings watching Al Gore. I think there was a lot more he could have done while he had the chance, but he was too much of a politician, watching where the wind was blowing. He admits some of that himself in the film. I couldn't help but think, watching the movie, what more could have been done by Clinton and Gore if they were really so interested in the health of the earth--and for that matter, the long-term survival of the human species. I've read that while in office Gore specialized in running intervention for the benefit of corporate campaign contributors with regulatory agencies. I'm glad he's doing what he's doing now. Certainly we would have been better off in some significant ways with a Gore/Lieberman administration...but perhaps we needed Bush to wake us up, I don't know. I hope it's working. It seems like maybe it's working. But there is a lot of work left undone.
I heard on Air America radio last week or so a conversation where they were talking about GWB and how sure he was that he was on a mission from God--and someone (Thom Hartmann?) said, "Well, perhaps God is using George W. Bush--just not in the way that Bush thinks he's being used!" That made me laugh. Perhaps it's true.
At any rate--regardless of the lack of sainthood on the part of Al Gore, I think the movie is a must-see. If you care about the earth. If you care about the future. And don't leave while the credits are rolling, because the message continues nearly till the end. More info about the film here.
I had a lot of complex feelings watching Al Gore. I think there was a lot more he could have done while he had the chance, but he was too much of a politician, watching where the wind was blowing. He admits some of that himself in the film. I couldn't help but think, watching the movie, what more could have been done by Clinton and Gore if they were really so interested in the health of the earth--and for that matter, the long-term survival of the human species. I've read that while in office Gore specialized in running intervention for the benefit of corporate campaign contributors with regulatory agencies. I'm glad he's doing what he's doing now. Certainly we would have been better off in some significant ways with a Gore/Lieberman administration...but perhaps we needed Bush to wake us up, I don't know. I hope it's working. It seems like maybe it's working. But there is a lot of work left undone.
I heard on Air America radio last week or so a conversation where they were talking about GWB and how sure he was that he was on a mission from God--and someone (Thom Hartmann?) said, "Well, perhaps God is using George W. Bush--just not in the way that Bush thinks he's being used!" That made me laugh. Perhaps it's true.
At any rate--regardless of the lack of sainthood on the part of Al Gore, I think the movie is a must-see. If you care about the earth. If you care about the future. And don't leave while the credits are rolling, because the message continues nearly till the end. More info about the film here.
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