Let's talk about the human spirit while I speak in broad generalities.
Certain folks from the continent of Africa got a raw deal. Their own countrymen sold them into slavery. Slave traders removed them from their homes and sold them all over the world as though they weren't human. When we hear stories from our own history about slavery we are shocked and can hardly imagine what that era must have been like or how people could be so self-deceived that they justified such things. The heroes in this story are the brave men and women who fled the nightmare of slavery and those who helped them along the way, people like those who created the underground railway.
Similarly, children who are born into the abject poverty of America's urban inner cities. The cycles of poverty, lack of educational attainment, and the influence of drugs and gangs create a situation that seems hopeless and without solution. Yet when a person manages to escape and become successful, we say, "See, America is the land of opportunity." and admire the courage and strength of someone who pulls themselves up "by their own bootstraps". Powerful stuff, right?
Let's talk about Mexico, or more specifically, about Mexican immigrants who are in this country illegally because that is really who is the target of Arizona's new immigration law. That is who we blame for taking American jobs away. It is the growing number of brown faces in our communities that we associate with the "immigration" problem. Think about it though, what have they done after all? By and large, their most prominent crime - the thing that we use to put us on the moral high ground - is that they have broken the law. Yes - Yes - for the last time - I admit it - they have broken the law.
Would we tell anyone trapped in slavery that they should just obey the law? Of course not. Our nation fought over the issue of slavery (tangentially, anyway) and eventually abolished it.
Do we let drug dealers run urban neighborhoods and not provide assistance for people trying to escape?
Maybe it would help to think about illegal immigrants from Mexico in a different way. Let's call them what they are: refugees. Refugees from a broken political and economic system. Refugees from unimaginable, soul-crushing poverty and anarchy created by drug lords run amok. * Who would choose to raise a family in the midst of that if there was a viable alternative? Not me. I admire the courage and human spirit of those who make that very dangerous and controversial decision.
Yes. they broke the law. We get it but, here are three things to ponder:
1. Can I really cast stones?
2. Am I better, simply by virtue of being born in the US and by proxy, is someone less of a person by the misfortune of being born into slavery or poverty or Mexico?
3. Is there a better way to approach this issue besides tougher enforcement?
For me the answers are simple: No, No, Yes.
* See http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_4755.html
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Alabama Rides Again....Campaign Style
By John Archibald -- The Birmingham News
May 19, 2010, 5:25AM
Dale who?
The internet buzzed this week with more political ads from Alabama. Dale Peterson -- a candidate for commissioner of agriculture and industries, as it turns out -- created what some called the best political ad ever!
I don't know about that, but it was memorable. Sort of like David Allan Coe's "perfect country & western song," though it didn't say anything at all about Mama, or trucks, or trains, or prison, or gettin' drunk.
It did have a hat and a horse, a rifle, and a rant by "Pistol" Peterson (see video below) that took on thugs, criminals, illegal immigrants, and the rat finks who stole his political signs.
"We're Republicans," Peterson warns, pulling a rifle from nowhere. "We should be better than that."
He concludes by shouldering the gun.
"I'm Dale Peterson. I'll name names and take no prisoners."
It's awesome. And terrifying, for sign-stealing thugs.
But does it work?
You tell me. Before this week, had you heard of Dale Peterson?
Which is why Alabama's politicos have tried to out-gun each other for years.
A gun-toting Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom ran a beauty in 2006 to beat Mountain Brook's Luther Strange.
"I have two great kids, three dogs and four shotguns," Folsom said, presumably in order of importance. "I never have played tennis at the Mountain Brook club. I'd rather be hunting."
Classic.
Would-be governor Bradley Byrne fired the first salvo this campaign when he armed himself and his sons for a pleasant stroll through the woods. The kids (blam!) asked regular father/son stuff. You know: What's it like, dad, to fight corruption in (blam!) Montgomery?
The gun is so ubiquitous in Alabama politics it should be listed in the minimum qualifications. To be ag commissioner, for instance, you must be 25, a resident for five years, and a gun owner for seven.
Which makes you feel for John McMillan. He's running for that office, but doesn't have cash for TV ads to prove his gun mettle. He relies on a website photo of himself in camo, carrying a shotgun with a scope. Somehow, he still misses.
And remember Matt Chancey? He ran for Public Service Commission in 2008. In one ad, he showed a kid how to shoot as he warned that environmentalists prefer owls and tree frogs to people.
I don't know if he was shooting owls or environmentalists.
Who cares, I guess. Just lock and load.
So you have to hand it to James Anderson, seeking the Democratic nomination for attorney general. His ad shows him brainstorming with ad execs as they try to sell him the perfect spot. It lampoons all the old tricks -- and puts him in front of a NASCAR car with shotgun in hand. It's the down home double whammy.
"But guys," he protests. "I'm a real attorney."
Like that matters.
This is Alabama, after all, where you can keep your snooty qualifications, as long as you're packing heat.
Yeah. You can take the guns from our political ads. But only when you pry them from our cold, dead campaign committees.
John Archibald's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Write him at
jmailto:jrchibald@bhamnews.com.
Archibald: It's how the South was won (with video)
May 19, 2010, 5:25AM
Dale who?
The internet buzzed this week with more political ads from Alabama. Dale Peterson -- a candidate for commissioner of agriculture and industries, as it turns out -- created what some called the best political ad ever!
I don't know about that, but it was memorable. Sort of like David Allan Coe's "perfect country & western song," though it didn't say anything at all about Mama, or trucks, or trains, or prison, or gettin' drunk.
It did have a hat and a horse, a rifle, and a rant by "Pistol" Peterson (see video below) that took on thugs, criminals, illegal immigrants, and the rat finks who stole his political signs.
"We're Republicans," Peterson warns, pulling a rifle from nowhere. "We should be better than that."
He concludes by shouldering the gun.
"I'm Dale Peterson. I'll name names and take no prisoners."
It's awesome. And terrifying, for sign-stealing thugs.
But does it work?
You tell me. Before this week, had you heard of Dale Peterson?
Which is why Alabama's politicos have tried to out-gun each other for years.
A gun-toting Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom ran a beauty in 2006 to beat Mountain Brook's Luther Strange.
"I have two great kids, three dogs and four shotguns," Folsom said, presumably in order of importance. "I never have played tennis at the Mountain Brook club. I'd rather be hunting."
Classic.
Would-be governor Bradley Byrne fired the first salvo this campaign when he armed himself and his sons for a pleasant stroll through the woods. The kids (blam!) asked regular father/son stuff. You know: What's it like, dad, to fight corruption in (blam!) Montgomery?
The gun is so ubiquitous in Alabama politics it should be listed in the minimum qualifications. To be ag commissioner, for instance, you must be 25, a resident for five years, and a gun owner for seven.
Which makes you feel for John McMillan. He's running for that office, but doesn't have cash for TV ads to prove his gun mettle. He relies on a website photo of himself in camo, carrying a shotgun with a scope. Somehow, he still misses.
And remember Matt Chancey? He ran for Public Service Commission in 2008. In one ad, he showed a kid how to shoot as he warned that environmentalists prefer owls and tree frogs to people.
I don't know if he was shooting owls or environmentalists.
Who cares, I guess. Just lock and load.
So you have to hand it to James Anderson, seeking the Democratic nomination for attorney general. His ad shows him brainstorming with ad execs as they try to sell him the perfect spot. It lampoons all the old tricks -- and puts him in front of a NASCAR car with shotgun in hand. It's the down home double whammy.
"But guys," he protests. "I'm a real attorney."
Like that matters.
This is Alabama, after all, where you can keep your snooty qualifications, as long as you're packing heat.
Yeah. You can take the guns from our political ads. But only when you pry them from our cold, dead campaign committees.
John Archibald's column appears Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Write him at
jmailto:jrchibald@bhamnews.com.
Archibald: It's how the South was won (with video)
Monday, May 17, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)