esrosedotblog

This is where the Canadians kick our ass every time.

Well, that is not an apt description. But goddammit we are here with plenty of resources to help. We seriously stirred the pots to cause the problem and yet we do nothing.

Syrian Refugees Greeted by Justin Trudeau in Canada

Even Obama seems afraid to take this on.

I suppose there are "priorities". It has been eight long years and I suppose that they are tired. But I did not elect an administration without a heart. Where is it?

I grew up in a kinder gentler, more generous country.

Or at least I thought I did. Perhaps I was naive.

It is not a PR game of course. But if it was, then we would be eating dust.

We should be ashamed of ourselves.

I suppose the Zionist lobbies that run a lot of our country's policies are against anything that helps Muslims.

I say bullshit. This is right way the Israel fixation gets us every time.

Labels: canada, immigration, muslims

We had no idea when we came here that California was so brown. It never occurred to me that so called "racial issues" could be about not blacks and whites but about browns and whites.

I say "browns" and "whites" because this better describes the basic issue. Color of skin is a divider, a sorter, a category maker.

There are not a lot of epithets. Color just is. If you are brown then you are not white. I know. This sounds stupid and at rock bottom it is. But it is a consideration of basic values and judgements.

When we got here I noticed that very few local people had tans. Worth noting. There are good reasons for this. The uv concentration in the desert is pretty high. But it also means that being paler has greater value than being brown. Tan.

This is only my theory. No studies on this one.

But now, there is a lot of data on the changing complexion of California which is thought by many to be the harbinger of national change.

Turmoil Over Immigration Status? California Has Lived It for Decades

Interesting and informative and, as far as I can tell, right on accurate.

You can't see it very clearly but we live right smack dab in one of the most orange areas. Over 15% brown. Tan. Hispanic maybe.

Most of the activities I engage in are mixed. I don't think about it. But be with people that do and it is apparent that it is on the minds of those who segregate themselves. Meaning the whites, the anglos, the pinks.

On the other hand, some people work hard to integrate themselves with what is really the original, the aboriginal, indigenous population. Some people have gone so far as to take up speaking spanglish which I would do if I was young enough but is somehow out of my reach.

The layers of class are stronger. The guys (and one woman occasionally) who clean our house are brown. So are all the gardeners we hire in the condo complex. When they say we have "lived it" out here they are right. But for the most part we don't do a lot about it. All I can do is be a good client to Sergio and the guys. A thoughtful employer when I am acting on the condo board. And never, never, never participate in a conversation that hinges on "those people". And, if possible, express my disagreement with such bullshit. My small part.

Labels: immigration

Where I live, this is a very big deal.

Obama Said to Plan Moves to Shield 5 Million Immigrants

It is something they are thinking about. But I can't help believing that it is a trial balloon. The NYT is practically a house organ of this administration. Is that with a capital? Administration. It ought to be.

I have no way of knowing who is legal and who is not around here. Which is fine with me. The border is porous as it ought to be. Like with Canada.

Although there will be a quick rejoinder to that one. Some believe that Canadians are like us and Mexicans are not.

I do not share that belief. Anymore than I make a distinction between French Canadians and the other kind. Anglo.

Of course there is a lot to do with vote counting here. But it is always about vote counting so why not.

I do know that families are split by the border. Not good.

One of the times I am most aware of the border is when I do interviews for MIT. Kids from Mexico are treated just the same way in our work but they are not the same. They fall under "international" which could be good for them in terms of quotas. Which no one admits to.

A lot of kids live on the other side of the border and come to school on this side. It is allowed. And not just in private school. Where there is a will there will be a way.

I knew nothing about any of this before I moved out here. It was an awakening.

I did not know that some so called white Americans are hostile to Mexican people. It is the same as blacks. They are called ugly names and thought to be dirty and prone to large families and other sins which when you think of it is a lot of uninformed hooey.

Of course, as a bleeding heart liberal I am probably supporting bad elements and betraying my roots.

Which happen to be German through and through. And hillbilly. As well as cunnerman. Don't ask about that last one. It is considered to be a euphemism for poor whites in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. It is based on the long ago family name of "Counterman" who were thought to be, well, you know, cunnermen. When I was a kid that was the local "nigger". Too bad for the cunnermen that had no blacks to pick on. And only one jewish family. I won't get into what they called that kid in school.

We all grow up with it. Sick prejudice based on race, ethnicity, income, and, in my instance, sexual orientation.

It is not hard to identify with a greaser when I am thought of as a fairy, a queer, a homo or a cocksucker. And by some members of my own family! Arthur R., where are you now? I still remember your nasty mouth.

It is all the same thing. The haters are always the same. And they are boring as hell too.

Labels: family, homophobia, immigration

WIN A LITTLE LOSE A LITTLE

The bleating has already started about the immigration legislation now passing along through the Senate.

Uber-liberals and the gay lobby are stunned to find that special LGBT provisions will not be included.

But wait a minute. Are we interested in human rights to the nth degree here or are we interested in a political process working in a bipartisan manner.

Have Dems Sold Out Too Early? Not If They Want Something to Actually Pass.

I am not a special interest. I have special interests and as a gay man want the most out of the system that I can get.

And I want it now.

But, realistically, I know that if there is to be gay justice in the immigration laws, we need a revamped immigration law first.

Get in line guys.

Besides if the DOMA is thrown out we are in the new law. Period. If it isn't than we will go back to the same committee and put it in as needed.

Another instance where we must work from our heads and not our hearts. Hard to do but we are very good at that and have won every time we worked the political magic.

Labels: gay rights, immigration

FREE

This is a stick in the eye of the xenophobes.

Immigrants Released Ahead of Automatic Budget Cuts

Two birds with one stone.

Free the oppressed, caught up in the draconian immigration policies and, at the same time, rub it into the GOoPers for their intransigence with the budgets.

I think we will see more of this kind of stuff from the Obamas.

Three cheers. We need these people. They are us.

Labels: immigration

GUESTS--SOMEONE IS COMING FOR DINNER

Once more, California is out front on a social issue of great importance.

California Eases Its Tone as Latinos Make Gains

When we moved here, we were astonished at the degree of hostility some people had for people from Mexico. New or old.

This played itself out in a kind of hypocrisy about immigrants. Keep them here to do the heavy work. Continue to deport but make it fairly obvious when and where you are going to do it so that people could get a free flight back if they were ready to go back home for awhile. Disparage and rant about the "mexicans".

We, on the other hand were innocents. We figured this land had belonged to Mexicans at one time and they were just coming home. A lefty response to a serious problem. Cover it up with a slogan.

Now, things are much different.

Latinos are everywhere. I mean out in the open. Living a life like anyone else.

They are at the gym, they are in my AA Meetings, they are in the stores. They are eating in restaurants not just prepping the food.

It is rare to hear anything said about the "beaners" or the "greaser".

What happened?

A tipping point happened.

For one thing there are more of them than there are of "us".

Another is that they have attained some political power.

And a third thing is that they have assimilated.

Of the kids I interview for admittance to MIT, at least half are from immigrant families who still speak 100% spanish. They are the ones who will leave to lead a better life.

My new Congressman is named Paul Ruiz. Second generation.

It is the same American immigrant story that has always worked its way through our culture.

Stereotype dissolve when you are working out right next to one of "them". When one of "them" is out of the closet and just another gay man. When you are in recovery with one of them. When you just gave some money to a political candidate who is one of "them". And wins!

Or when you go to high school right along side "them". Especially when they are getting admitted to one of the best colleges in the country. Both my recent admits are from Mexican families.

I am so proud of them.

They are sitting at the table just like the rest of us.

Labels: immigration, Latino

BILINGUAL

Labels: fun, immigration

IMMIGRATION IS FUNNY

This from Kevin Drum.

A Day Without a Mexican

I have written about this before.

I suppose that Texas is like California.

If suddenly all the undocumented workers here were to disappear there would be a catastrophe occur for the documented.

Houses would not get cleaned. lawns and shrubs would go unshriven, most construction would grind to a halt, restaurants would have to close their doors and white people would generally be up shit's creek. Down valley, the agricultural operations woud grind to a halt.

On top of that, the local economy would be in severe trouble because it would lose all the illegal's business across the board. Even the cheap movies in Cathedral City would have to close. There is an entire shopping center there obviously devoted to what I consider the "native Californian".

I say native because these people lived here long before we did. They got shoved south and then had to beg their way back in through immigration processes. But that is long ago.

The hispanic community here in the valley and in most of California approaches and sometimes becomes a majority.

We have never asked if the gardener workers we had were legal. We do not actually know the status of the woman who cleaned for us for many years. It would be rude to ask.

We have never withheld taxes. All cash.

Sure, "they" don't pay taxes although many do now. A lot of bona fide citizens don't pay taxes either. Or find loopholes out.

That compensates for the low pay that they get. Typically 10.00 an hour if they are lucky.

It is so fucked up.

It is routine out here for the Feds to simply ignore the situation. There is a roundup every week at a hiring spot in Indio and a warning is tacked onto a tree. The people who show up there want to be deported so that they can go home for awhile. Free flight. They will be back.

Arizona is nuts because there are so many right wing weirdos there. Not because of the immigrants. They are not taking anyone's job and the claims about crime are bogus. It is racism pure and simple. And so on.

And on.

Labels: immigration

IMMIGRATION MADNESS

I have written about this many times.

Our local economy depends on Mexican participation. Legal and illegal under the present laws (which keep changing).

There is no logic to the many viewpoints about this.

Look. We live with "it" every day. It is not a problem except where there is exploitation and harassment. Which, in turn, comes from the hypocritical structure of the Immigration regulations, enforcement and laws such as they are.

Labels: immigration, republican whack jobs

THE ISSUES

Obama is clearly ahead on most issues, particularly those that count.

Obama Has the Edge on Key Election Issues

It is interesting to note that both he and McCain are down the scale on immigration conflict.

This is an issue that matters very much to me.

I have been worried that it would become a political football in this campaign but it will not.

If anything, McCain is more reviled on immigration reform than Obama. He is viewed as an ideological traitor by the knuckle draggers.

The fact is that he is from a border state and knows way more about the problems and opportunities of immigration than the know nothing racist shit headed bastards who are militantly opposed to either amnesty or any sensible citizenship program.

Labels: Barack Obama, immigration, McCain

JOB MARKET 2009

Labels: immigration

ANJOY

Just for the record, my Anjou pears actually ripened!

Usually, the first of the season are a bit reluctant to do that final step.

So I had two today and they are pretty good.

The really get luscious after the full harvest gets going.

The problem about that out here is the lack of labor.

Let's start a second heading on that because I am rant prone on this subject.

UNPICKED PEARS

Last year about 20% of the fruit harvest went unpicked because of the immigration crack down.

First, less people got over the line and second, a lot of 'illegals' are taking jobs less prone to raids.

This is a reality in California.

You can believe what ever you want to about the rights and wrongs.

In this economy, as in many others around the country, the 'illegals'—undocumented workers who deserve equal rights—do the work that no one else wants to do and without them the work will not get done.

There are no unemployed citizens of any income class or race who are showing up or who will show up for these jobs.

Period.

The pears—my pears—will rot on the ground and I will have to eat fucking bartletts or bosc or do without.

There is widespread ignorance on the facts of the matter here.

For example, I live in an area that requires 'gardening'. Well, we could do without it and do it ourselves.

But we will not.

The gardeners and landscapers depend on 'illegals'. They could not be competitive without it.

We have house cleaners.

They will be largely illegal also.

We could clean our own houses. But we do not and that is not the point.

All the restaurants and hotels in this town use 'illegal' people.

How can this be?

How could national chains such as Hilton and IHOP and KFC and all be using undocumented workers?

They use contractors who take the risk. Or they take their chances.

That is the reality.

So if you have 'ideas' or 'positions' about this issue and you are staying in a hotel or having your coffee or eating out, think twice.

This is going on in every state of the union.

We are in a massive case of denial when it comes to our work force and we had better get our shit together about it soon.

This is a phony issue to distract from the terror mentality that has grown up all around.

Believe me, you are not at risk from some Mexican gardener.

There is a greater risk that some republican flag waver is listening in to your telephone and reading your mail. Or monitoring your purchases on line to say nothing of looking at the stops you make with the bloggers.

Now, do I really believe that this is happening?

No.

They are too incompetent to make that effort.

It is one more measure of the unlikelihood that any Central or South American working for subsistence wages is a danger to the republic.

That is enough.

I am getting a headache.

Labels: food, immigration

IMMIGRATION

I had not been a supporter of tough immigration laws until I saw this video.

Immigration: The Human Cost

Don't miss the crawl along the bottom of the screen.

Labels: immigration, macmansion