– Today is the Global Marijuana Liberation March, another great day to go out and sign the petition for I-1068. Ironically, today is also the day for a large pro-immigration reform march downtown as well. I say ironically because ending marijuana prohibition might do more than anything else to reduce the number of people fleeing Mexico’s tattered economy and violent war against the cartels in order to seek employment in the United States.
– A group called Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana (CALM) is taking the lead in putting out absurd arguments in favor of maintaining prohibition.
– Tom Schaller writes about why the Arizona immigration law remains popular, despite the scary reality of what it does and the clear parallels to other police states throughout history. Liliana Segura at Alternet gives the law enforcement perspective on why the law will end up undermining the safety of Arizonans, rather than improving it.
And let’s not forget, what is shaping up to be the largest oil ecological catastrophe ever continues.
Drill, Baby, Drill!
My brother in law is a Mexican American fellow in AZ. He’s gotten very conservative over the years and I’m thinking of emailing my sister and act very concerned about him leaving the house without his birth certificate.
We have to find a way of identifying the illegals and shipping them back to their home countries. Don’t get me wrong, I think illegals are hard little workers. They certainly have a better work ethic than blacks. And look at the growth of our bum population. Others call them homeless, I call them bums. I think there is a direct correlation between the the two. More illegals = more bums.
Breaking into a country is no different than breaking into someone’s house.
Happy May Day. Lets rise up and smash the oppressors!
And don’t forget today is Free Comic Book Day as well.
http://www.freecomicbookday.com/
@3
Homeless people are people without homes. Bums are people who refuse to work, some who also happen to be homeless.
@3
We already have laws against hiring illegals, why not just enforce those instead?
the thing is, you libtards love having massive waves of mexicans pour into our cities. it justifies all you causes….free healthcare, foodstamps, race quotas, minimum wage laws, unions.
There’s not an honest liberal out there willing to say “limited immigration” only.
I would imagine none of you have lived in LA or other town that has an entire separate language and culture.
Or go to Miami and see how English is a 2nd language, or even not at all for many, and how rather than assimilating, they have a distinct and separate identity.
But miami is nothing (because its immigration is not unlimited)…its the 20mm + thing….nearing 10% of our populace, that is going to be our long term problem.
Has your house been tagged yet? How about your nearest overpass? Not yet, hmm , it will happen. In an accident w/ someone w no license, no insurance, no papers…hmmm ok…get ready…
@8
So… All of us that have been call for enforcement of labor laws banning the hiring of illegals are dishonest liberals?
The Arizona bill will hurt a hell of a lot more people than just the illegals and it wont do a single thing to stop people from coming over the border or being employed in he US.
I spent a lot of time in Toppinish when I was a kid. English speaking whities were a minority at the time. Also, grew up around a lot of Slav’s in my neighborhood and come from an extended family that’s japanese-american, native american and black jamaican.
You’ve got this backwards, we’re folks who grew up around a diverse group of folks and had good experiences from it. ;-)
@8
And none of these things are ever done by American citizens! Never, I tell you!
Calm down.
@10: Indeed. It’s frantic about it, isn’t it?
It’s a head scratcher why it bothers to post here — just pathetically pointless and stupid.
It’s mortifying to know we share the same planet and it’s likely it lives somewhere in W Wash.
@11
And he’s forgetting that spanish has been spoken in Florida, Texas, N. Mexico, Arizona and S. California for as long or longer than english has.
For all the righties complaining about frivolous lawsuits and trial lawyers, why no complaints about Kris Koblach? This guy is the architect of the Arizona immigration law. One of the provisions of the law is that citizens can sue if law enforcement doesn’t follow the law to their satisfaction. Koblach’s law firm has offered their services to many communities around the country with similar laws that he helped write, sort of double dipping.
The citizens of Valley Park, Missouri have been taken by this guy to the tune of $270,000.
Farmer’s Branch, Texas has paid out almost $4 million dollars to defend themselves with about $100,000 going to Koblach.
After a bunch of blowback and the threatened loss of the Super Bowl and tourism dollars, Arizona is working on amending the law so it doesn’t appear so racist, like removing “lawful contact” from the language. Legislators realized with that wording, a citizen could sue a city because a cop bought a hamburger at Burger King without asking the guy behind the counter if he had his papers. Now Koblach is pushing the idea that cities could criminalize “cars jacked up on blocks” so as to get around removal of the “lawful contact” excuse.
The Arizona law is just one more example of racism in America by conservatives and those same conservatives profiting off it.
@13:
I knew this was out there about Koblach, but hadn’t seen details.
Thanks for the links, don.
What a fucking scumbag racist motherfucker!
@8 “the thing is, you libtards love having massive waves of mexicans pour into our cities.”
Yeah, and you wingnuts are all pedophiles. Knock off the unhinged bullshit already.
@8 “I spent a lot of time in Toppinish when I was a kid.”
@9 I really like Toppenish. I spent some time there in the 1990’s working on their little hospital, which was then run by the Sisters of Providence. There was a small Mexican restaurant on the outskirts of town a Latino friend would take me to where the food was the real deal. Love the murals.
@8 “I would imagine none of you have lived in LA or other town that has an entire separate language and culture.”
Really, man, you’ve got to work on that imagination thing. You’re not too good at it.
“In an accident w/ someone w no license, no insurance, no papers…hmmm ok…get ready…”
What are you, some nasty little fucking Nazi prick? We don’t do, “Show me your papers.” If you hate America so much then just get the fuck out of here.
@ 12 I hadn’t even thought about that, but now that you mention it, I lived in St. Augustine, FL in second grade. I was taught Spanish and English at public school, because Spanish is part of the local heritage. That would have been about 1971. Sad how backward the conservatives have made this nation
Hey Goldie, good post here http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblo.....d-activism on apps for activists, take a gander.
#8, Miami, eh? All of those Spanish speakers from Cuba, who unlike Mexicans are let in freely because they tend to vote Republican. Party first, as long as it’s Prefers GOP Party. We’ll see how they like the teabagger driven Arizona law, and if it effects their behavior at the polls. Any bets? If the Democrats had a spine, your side would be a footnote.
@17 Yeah, when little Elian washed ashore these wingnuts were all for brown illegals taking up residence here. Those freaks birthed a goat when Elian was sent packing.
You guys don’t get it; we need assimilation, not creation of new mini nations in the US. LA w millions of new mexicans is terrible….were the numbers say 1/2 that, it might be ok.
@19
Actually I would advocate the US should form a Schengen like customs and immigration area with Canada and Mexico. Furthermore I think we should extending any such area to cover other members of the OECD, EU, and Schengen area.
Obama: ‘Government Is Us’
In a speech today to the University of Michigan’s graduating class, President Obama nailed it when he said people using “overheated language” to portray government as “oppressive and tyrannical” send a message to extremists that “perhaps violence is … justifiable.”
“What troubles me is when I hear people say that all of government is inherently bad,” said Obama, who received an honorary doctor of laws degree. “When our government is spoken of as some menacing, threatening foreign entity, it ignores the fact that in our democracy, government is us.”
Obama said “Government … is the roads we drive on and the speed limits that keep us safe … the men and women in the military, the inspectors in our mines, the pioneering researchers in public universities.” He said the financial meltdown “dramatically showed the dangers of too little government.”
Meanwhile, only 45 miles away, gadfly half-term governor Sarah Palin was stirring up the teabaggers and gun-toters.
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/.....n/19461318
@19 “we need assimilation”
Assimilation into what? Let me ask you, are you more bothered about the celebration of Cinco de Mayo than say, St. Patricks day? How about Bon Odori? How do you perceive Festa Italiana? Is there a hierarchy of appreciation with how you view these different immigrant groups and their cultural celebrations? Do you wonder about why they don’t let go of it and simply celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fourth of July, etc., with the rest of us red-blooded Americans? You see, America has changed through the centuries through assimilation via immigration, and I believe assimilation to now be one of the biggest wingnut fears about immigration of a people of a different skin color, customs and languages. To say it straight, righton, I believe your “assimilate” comment is just another empty wingnut talking point being repeated here because someone pushed the “fear” button of a simple mind. Like we saw yesterday and we’re seeing again today, you view the world around you in the most simplistic terms imaginable. Alas, that leaves you very easy to control. Sigh! Little wonder you ended up a wingnut.
“half-term governor Sarah Palin”
heh- The “Quitta from Wasilla”.
While you leftist pinheads are screaming about who is a Tea Bag, real news is happening and you fools have no clue…
Puddy was told Odumba was gonna heal the world.
Puddy loves Cinco de Mayo. It’s May Day the Communist Holiday you fools love!
Just like Puddy said above, the world passes HA Libtardos by…
@3 “Others call them homeless, I call them bums.”
So if capitalism is sabotaged by greedy capitalists, putting millions of people out of work, and hundreds of thousands of those people become homeless because of what Wall Street did, you call them “bums”? Yeah, that’s about your speed, dipshit. It’s comments like this that have earned you the disrespect, derision, and contempt of everyone else on this blog.
@19 “we need assimilation”
No we don’t. We need assholes like you to learn basic respect for other people’s right to be who they are.
24, 25, 26 — Who left the asylum gate unlocked? The inmates got out again.
“Puddy loves Cinco de Mayo.”
Check out Bon Odori this summer during Seafair.
“It’s May Day the Communist Holiday you fools love!”
Yeah, right, Puddy.
Somebody please remind me to wish Puddy a happy Hitler’s birthday when it comes around. I think it’d be a kind gesture of me to try to share one of his celebratory days with him.
Steve,
Happy Hitler Birthday? Hardly Fool!
Unlike your kind who like to hang with communists and socialist dictators like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro… Puddy is not a friend of Nazis. BTW did you forget what Hitler did to Jesse Owens? Or Puddy should say what Jesse Owens did to that Great Aryan Myth… HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!
What an adventure the past 3 weeks.
I missed the highly intellectual comments of Puddy, troll, righton etc.
However didn’t miss the pot-induced blatherings of you LEFTIST PINHEADED KLOWNS a bit.
So, I see Obama is still winning the hearts & minds of Americans–
Monday, May 03, 2010
@32 Would someone please shoot the fucking rooster? I’m trying to sleep. Thanks.
“the highly intellectual comments of Puddy, troll, righton etc”
heh- The funniest thing the dumbfuck KLOWN ever wrote.
Interesting Housing Statistics
I ran across an article with some interesting facts and figures about U.S. housing. Highlights:
About 23.9 million (32%), or roughly a third, of all owner-occupied homes are owned free and clear. About 51.5 million homes are mortgaged. Of these, roughly 11 – 15 million, or about a fourth, are underwater.
The aggregate value of these homes fell from $23 trillion in 2006 to $16.5 trillion at the end of 2009.
Owner equity in these homes fell from 60% in 2005 to 33% in early 2009 and stood at 38% at the end of 2009.
After subtracting equity in the free-and-clear homes from this 38%, the 38 million mortgaged homes that aren’t underwater have about $1 trillion of owner equity or roughly 6% of their value.
Aggregate mortgage debt barely declined between 2007 and the end of 2009, from $10.48 trillion to $10.26 trillion, which means very little mortgage debt is currently being paid down.
In the early years of the last decade, households increasingly relied on taking equity out of their homes for part of their income, in order to support their consumer spending. The percentage of total household income that came from home equity extraction rose from 9.68% in 2002 to 15.81% in 2005.
The main significance of these numbers is that home ownership as a path to wealth-building has shut down for two-thirds of American families. It’s always been a mistake to believe homes create wealth through appreciation. Historically, homes have always appreciated at roughly the rate of inflation, so they’re merely a store of value. Household wealth accumulation from home ownership comes through acquiring equity by gradually paying off the mortgage. If you buy a home when you enter the workforce in your 20s or 30s and pay off a 30-year mortgage before you retire, you will own a valuable asset upon retirement but its net asset value came from acquiring full ownership, not from appreciation. Borrowing against the home to support consumer spending defeats this strategy and prevents you from acquiring retirement wealth.
@32: Why Rasmussen is lousy at polling:
They are biased (I already showed the evidence for this).
They are an outlier even on the most simple polls:
For instance Rasmussen is off by about 10 points from both Pew and Gallup polls for the Obama approval rating.
Approve
04/30/10 Gallup 49.0% 44.0% 5.0
04/30/10 Rasmussen 46.0% 53.0% -7.0
04/29/10 Rasmussen 47.0% 53.0% -6.0
04/29/10 Gallup 49.0% 45.0% 4.0
04/28/10 Rasmussen 47.0% 52.0% -5.0
04/28/10 Gallup 49.0% 44.0% 5.0
04/27/10 Rasmussen 47.0% 52.0% -5.0
04/27/10 Gallup 49.0% 44.0% 5.0
04/26/10 Pew 47.0% 42.0% 5.0
cnr–
WTF?
Your presumption is that Gallup & Pew are more accurate than Rasmussen. History does not bear that out. Rasmussen polls LIKELY VOTERS.
That is what matters in elections….right?
Keep living in denial.
There is a Constitutional Conservative Revolution boiling in America. Can’t wait until November.
And Steve creates useful HA commentary?
Bwaaaa haaaa haaaaa haaaaaaaa haaaaaaaa haaaaaaa haaaaaa HAR HAR HAR HAR HEE HEE HEE HEE HOOO HOOO HOOO HOOO
The phoenix suns also changed their uniform to Los Suns in support of the celebration of Cinco De Mayo .”