Some would say that Western society is becoming increasingly more violent. Some will put the blame on violence in movies and on TV. They'll say that we have become numb to violent images. There have been numerous studies on this, all with different finding.
BUT........
Let's say that this is the case. How about we try something different...an experiment if you will. Let's replace the violence with love, affection, and sex. What would happen?
Would people become less violent and more loving? Would more people have sex? Sure, at first there would be cries of outrage...but that hasn't seemed to put an end to violence on TV or in movies. If anything, it's increased in frequency and intensity.
So why not give it a shot? Come on Hollywood! Bring on the love, affection, and sex!!!!!!!!
Thursday, August 29, 2013
The Terrorists Have Won
The terrorists have won...and you can't deny it.
Sure, many of you out there will argue the point, but the fact is, they won. I knew this back in late 2001, the first time I had to show my ID to enter a building. I was downtown, taking a client to a doctor's appointment. There were no government offices in the building. On the ground floor there were a few shops, and upstairs there were offices: doctors, accountants, a photographer, but no government offices. Still, as we entered the lobby, my client and I were stopped by security and asked for our identification just to enter the building.
Of course, I had my driver's license with me...no problem there. My client, on the other hand, had no ID on him. Luckily, I had some paperwork on him and assumed responsibility for vouching for his identification. I remember being confused, irritated and downright angry to be asked for our "papers". I felt like I was in a bad World War 2 movie! "Papers please!", I could imagine hearing some Nazi officer demand.
Here it is, 12 years later. I, like many others, am unemployed/underemployed. Due to the rampant paranoia that this country now exists in, I can't get past a job interview, regardless of how qualified I am or how well the interview goes, without a background check. Yes, I have a misdemeanor for simple assault on my record. My credit is shot, thanks to 7 years of not being allowed to work. (OK, I had a job that I enjoyed for 2 years of that...but our governor cut funding, so that job is gone, gone, gone and crying won't bring it back) Hell, I can't even get hired at McDonald's...and yes, I've applied there. People are frightened and paranoid and will use any excuse to deem others a threat. That's what its come to. Background checks for a weapon make sense. No one wants an angry, unstable person to run around with a gun...regardless of whether or not they think it's their God-given right. If you're trying to borrow money, it makes sense to see if you're able to and/or likely to pay it back. Other than that, background checks are a tool used to divide and conquer. And trust me...this system is far from full proof...or foolproof.
I have to go into various buildings downtown on a regular basis. I am often asked for my ID and often have to walk through a metal detector. This has become commonplace. Hell, a lot of schools have them now. In some buildings, I am also photographed prior to admittance. This photo is then printed on to a sticker that states my name, what time I entered the building, the date, and where I'm going in the building. Can you say overkill? Am I the only one who thinks the world has gone mad?
The police, shortly after 9/11, adopted a paramilitary mindset. Cops used to be pretty much normal guys (and gals), who just happened to have a job that required wearing a badge and carrying a gun. Nowadays, they mostly all have buzz cuts, and are ready to draw their weapon without ample reason. They have become our own little Gestapo. Sure, their job is hard...but no one forced them to become cops. Sadly, these days. those that do become cops tend to be the old schoolyard bullies of days gone by. This wasn't always the case...but it sure seems to be now.
Look around you. Look in the mirror. Chances are you and most of the people you know are scared...scared of something...something you all shouldn't be. You're scared of the threat of the boogey man. I'm sure you'll deny it...but your actions speak louder than your words ever will. Black, white, straight, gay, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Taoist, Mormon, Atheist, Agnostic...it doesn't matter. If someone isn't just like you, there's someone out there telling you to be afraid of those who might be different. And most of you fall for it.
This country has allowed itself to be divided. Obviously, no one remembers what we were taught in grade school: United We Stand, Divided We Fall. The way things are going, the fall is imminent. It's become an Us vs Them mentality...mostly based on fear and hate.
We allow ourselves to believe the propaganda...all cleverly designed to divide and conquer. This side is better than that side. It's all bullshit. Record profits are being raked in, yet the price of everything keeps going up and up. This is reality. Excuses are made but the deal is done.
All it takes now is the mere threat of a terrorist attack, and our collective sphincter tightens. Conspiracy theorists say that it's all by our own design. It doesn't matter. Whoever designed this mess was a genius...because it worked. Diversion after diversion keeps our eyes off of the real problems. Money is being made and it's being made at the expense of our brothers and sisters. Those of us (an ever growing number) who are poor are sometimes called "lazy" and "beggars" and "parasites". I think I can speak for everyone when I say that no one wants to be poor. I spent decades working 60 hour weeks on average. I would love to go back to that. I spend more time looking for a job than most of you probably spend working your job. Do I get any help? No. I'm now written off. I'm no longer even a statistic...and I'm OK with that. I have what I need.
I'm sure that some of you will read this and agree with some or all of these points...but you'll never do anything about it. You won't write your congressman. You won't complain to anyone. You'll sit back, afraid to do anything. Afraid that you'll wind up jobless, poor, and off the grid. You're afraid of the unknown.
The worst part is this: the enemy is in plain sight. It's not the terrorists. They don't even count anymore. They already won. They wanted to scare us...and they did. But something worse has taken their place. Evil, greedy people who want control. They don't even bother to dangle a carrot in front of our eyes anymore. They've found that it's easier to keep us scared. Scared people rarely do much except what they're told to do. What they're expected to do.
There will never be a change. No civil war. Most people are too afraid to act out. The few that even think about it don't bother to think it through. There are the gun nuts who are afraid the boogey man will take their guns, so they post videos of them firing their weapons and hooting & hollering like morons. They're more afraid than anyone...because they fear someone taking away their toys. That's all that is. There are the so-called progressives who rant and rave about doing things that make common sense. But...their thunder is diminished by simply calling them Liberals. "Buncha damned bleeding heart liberals...." Guess what kids...we have become our parents.
Yes, the terrorists won. They won a long time ago. They've become a moot point. A terrorist would need 2 forms of ID to do anything in this county. We have a far worse enemy now. Ourselves.
Sure, many of you out there will argue the point, but the fact is, they won. I knew this back in late 2001, the first time I had to show my ID to enter a building. I was downtown, taking a client to a doctor's appointment. There were no government offices in the building. On the ground floor there were a few shops, and upstairs there were offices: doctors, accountants, a photographer, but no government offices. Still, as we entered the lobby, my client and I were stopped by security and asked for our identification just to enter the building.
Of course, I had my driver's license with me...no problem there. My client, on the other hand, had no ID on him. Luckily, I had some paperwork on him and assumed responsibility for vouching for his identification. I remember being confused, irritated and downright angry to be asked for our "papers". I felt like I was in a bad World War 2 movie! "Papers please!", I could imagine hearing some Nazi officer demand.
Here it is, 12 years later. I, like many others, am unemployed/underemployed. Due to the rampant paranoia that this country now exists in, I can't get past a job interview, regardless of how qualified I am or how well the interview goes, without a background check. Yes, I have a misdemeanor for simple assault on my record. My credit is shot, thanks to 7 years of not being allowed to work. (OK, I had a job that I enjoyed for 2 years of that...but our governor cut funding, so that job is gone, gone, gone and crying won't bring it back) Hell, I can't even get hired at McDonald's...and yes, I've applied there. People are frightened and paranoid and will use any excuse to deem others a threat. That's what its come to. Background checks for a weapon make sense. No one wants an angry, unstable person to run around with a gun...regardless of whether or not they think it's their God-given right. If you're trying to borrow money, it makes sense to see if you're able to and/or likely to pay it back. Other than that, background checks are a tool used to divide and conquer. And trust me...this system is far from full proof...or foolproof.
I have to go into various buildings downtown on a regular basis. I am often asked for my ID and often have to walk through a metal detector. This has become commonplace. Hell, a lot of schools have them now. In some buildings, I am also photographed prior to admittance. This photo is then printed on to a sticker that states my name, what time I entered the building, the date, and where I'm going in the building. Can you say overkill? Am I the only one who thinks the world has gone mad?
The police, shortly after 9/11, adopted a paramilitary mindset. Cops used to be pretty much normal guys (and gals), who just happened to have a job that required wearing a badge and carrying a gun. Nowadays, they mostly all have buzz cuts, and are ready to draw their weapon without ample reason. They have become our own little Gestapo. Sure, their job is hard...but no one forced them to become cops. Sadly, these days. those that do become cops tend to be the old schoolyard bullies of days gone by. This wasn't always the case...but it sure seems to be now.
Look around you. Look in the mirror. Chances are you and most of the people you know are scared...scared of something...something you all shouldn't be. You're scared of the threat of the boogey man. I'm sure you'll deny it...but your actions speak louder than your words ever will. Black, white, straight, gay, Christian, Jew, Muslim, Taoist, Mormon, Atheist, Agnostic...it doesn't matter. If someone isn't just like you, there's someone out there telling you to be afraid of those who might be different. And most of you fall for it.
This country has allowed itself to be divided. Obviously, no one remembers what we were taught in grade school: United We Stand, Divided We Fall. The way things are going, the fall is imminent. It's become an Us vs Them mentality...mostly based on fear and hate.
We allow ourselves to believe the propaganda...all cleverly designed to divide and conquer. This side is better than that side. It's all bullshit. Record profits are being raked in, yet the price of everything keeps going up and up. This is reality. Excuses are made but the deal is done.
All it takes now is the mere threat of a terrorist attack, and our collective sphincter tightens. Conspiracy theorists say that it's all by our own design. It doesn't matter. Whoever designed this mess was a genius...because it worked. Diversion after diversion keeps our eyes off of the real problems. Money is being made and it's being made at the expense of our brothers and sisters. Those of us (an ever growing number) who are poor are sometimes called "lazy" and "beggars" and "parasites". I think I can speak for everyone when I say that no one wants to be poor. I spent decades working 60 hour weeks on average. I would love to go back to that. I spend more time looking for a job than most of you probably spend working your job. Do I get any help? No. I'm now written off. I'm no longer even a statistic...and I'm OK with that. I have what I need.
I'm sure that some of you will read this and agree with some or all of these points...but you'll never do anything about it. You won't write your congressman. You won't complain to anyone. You'll sit back, afraid to do anything. Afraid that you'll wind up jobless, poor, and off the grid. You're afraid of the unknown.
The worst part is this: the enemy is in plain sight. It's not the terrorists. They don't even count anymore. They already won. They wanted to scare us...and they did. But something worse has taken their place. Evil, greedy people who want control. They don't even bother to dangle a carrot in front of our eyes anymore. They've found that it's easier to keep us scared. Scared people rarely do much except what they're told to do. What they're expected to do.
There will never be a change. No civil war. Most people are too afraid to act out. The few that even think about it don't bother to think it through. There are the gun nuts who are afraid the boogey man will take their guns, so they post videos of them firing their weapons and hooting & hollering like morons. They're more afraid than anyone...because they fear someone taking away their toys. That's all that is. There are the so-called progressives who rant and rave about doing things that make common sense. But...their thunder is diminished by simply calling them Liberals. "Buncha damned bleeding heart liberals...." Guess what kids...we have become our parents.
Yes, the terrorists won. They won a long time ago. They've become a moot point. A terrorist would need 2 forms of ID to do anything in this county. We have a far worse enemy now. Ourselves.
This One's For Me (And You Too, If You Need It)
- Don't give up.
- You're allowed to be angry. Just be sure why.
- Something has to give.
- Bend, don't break.
- Learn to be more humble.
- Never lose your dignity.
- You are loved.
- Suicide is not an option.
- You still have more to lose. Try not to lose it all.
- You have faith. Use it.
- Fight for what's right...but choose your battles wisely.
- Show love, kindness and respect to others.
- Pride is a sin.
- Know the difference between 'want' and 'need'.
- Remember what Gram said about money. ;-)
- Don't stick any beans up your nose.
- There is humor in everything, but it may not be appropriate for everyone.
- Be responsible for yourself first.
- Think before you speak.
- Look before you leap.
- Eat healthily and responsibly.
- Getting drunk can be fun but it's never the answer unless someone asks what you're doing while you're doing it.
- Take your medicine when you're supposed to.
- Today may be bad. Tomorrow may be worse. The sun will still shine...somewhere.
- Do the right thing.
- Say 'please', 'thank you' and 'you're welcome'.
- Stay positive even when you don't want to be.
- If you don't know the answer, look for it. If you can't find it, ask someone else. They might know.
- Never piss into the wind..
- Never spit into the wind.
- There is a time for all things.
- Contrary to popular belief, not all cops are dickheads.
- There is never an excuse for violence.
- Suicide is still not an option.
- Try to smile at least once a day.
- It's OK to cry.
- It's OK to laugh.
- It's OK to feel whatever you're feeling.
- Loving others is a good thing. They don't have to love you back...but it's nice when they do.
- Communicate clearly.
- Be honest. Always.
- She'll be right mate.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
I'm Calling Bullsh*t!
I am so tired of hearing how illegal immigrants get this and that handed to them. It makes me want to scream.
First off, YES, illegal immigrants DO come to this country. Why? Simple: jobs. They can make more working here illegally (and being paid a pittance) than they can at home. They run some serious risks (because let's face it, being shot at is never fun). In the end, many are caught before they cross the border. Many more are caught while here. But there's one thing the Anti-Immigration folks forget to tell you:
They're the ones that hire them.
Face it, rich white folks are the majority of the employers of illegal immigrants. These are also the same people trying to bust unions and do away with the minimum wage and the 40 hour work week. Unions gave us those. Remember that.
Now, as for these alleged handouts that the illegals get, let's take a serious look:
"MYTH: The nation spends billions of dollars on welfare for undocumented immigrants.
FACTS: To the contrary, undocumented immigrants are not eligible to receive any “welfare” benefits and even legal immigrants are severely restricted in the benefits they can receive.
As the Congressional Research Service points out in a 2007 report, undocumented immigrants, who comprise nearly one-third of all immigrants in the country, are not eligible to receive public “welfare” benefits — ever.
Legal permanent residents (LPRs) must pay into the Social Security and Medicare systems for approximately 10 years
before they are eligible to receive benefits when they retire. In most cases, LPRs can not receive SSI, which is available only to U.S. citizens, and are not eligible for means-tested public benefits until 5 years after receiving their green cards.
A 2007 analysis of welfare data by researchers at the Urban Institute reveals that less than 1 percent of households headed by undocumented immigrants receive cash assistance for needy families, compared to 5 percent of households headed by native-born U.S. citizens.
A 2007 analysis of U.S. Census data by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities makes clear that it is the U.S.-born, U.S.-citizen children of undocumented immigrants who are eligible for programs such as Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program
(SCHIP). The analysis found that, between 1995 and 2005, the share of low-income, non- citizen immigrant children (either undocumented or legally present) who received Medicaid or SCHIP dropped from 36 percent to 30 percent. "
(From URL)
Want more?
"
Q: Do illegal immigrants cost $338.3 billion dollars a year? More than the Iraq war?
A: A chain e-mail that makes this claim is loaded with errors and misleading assertions. Published studies vary widely but put the cost to government at a small fraction of that total.
FULL QUESTION
I wonder if much of this is true? Is this on your radar screen?
This chain e-mail has been forwarded to us by readers many times over the past year. The most recent version adds a new angle, claiming that the amount of money taxpayers spend on illegal immigrants would be enough to "stimulate the economy." But no matter the spin, the e-mail is rife with errors.
It also contains several red flags that should tip off readers that this is more bogus than believable. For one thing, the figures given don’t add up to a "whopping $338.3 billion dollars a year" spent on illegal immigrants in the U.S., as the e-mail claims.
The e-mail lists 14 claims about illegal immigrants, all of which were included in a longer list penned by anti-immigration activist Frosty Wooldridge and published on the conservative Web site NewswithViews.com on Jan. 22, 2007. Another NewswithViews columnist, Lynn Stuter, included Wooldridge’s list, with some updated links, in an article posted on April 15, 2008.
The source cited for at least nine of the items is either the conservative Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) or the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), both of which call for more restrictive immigration laws. CIS spokesman Bryan Griffith told us that he had never seen the e-mail but that he suspected something was out there because of occasional surges in traffic that forced him to rewrite Web pages. When told about the e-mail’s contents and conclusion of a $338.3 billion yearly cost, he responded that CIS "never said anything of the like and is not going to comment on a chain e-mail that is in no way scientific."
The e-mail also continually blurs the important distinction between legal and illegal immigrants – a sign of sloppy and untrustworthy work.
1. "$11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year."
This item is completely false. The link given to "verify" the claim actually leads to an issue brief by the conservative Federation for American Immigration Reform. But the FAIR brief says nothing of the sort. It says: "Each year, state governments spend an estimated $11 billion to $22 billion to provide welfare to immigrants." That’s welfare payments in 2001 to all immigrants – both legal and illegal – plus households including U.S. citizens if they are headed by a person who was born outside the United States.
The site says the FAIR report was last updated in October 2002, but a footnote credits this statistic to a March 2003 report from the Center for Immigration Studies. CIS began as an off-shoot of FAIR. But the CIS report doesn’t actually say anything about $11 billion or $22 billion. And it explains that its references to "immigrant households" include persons here legally and persons born outside the U.S.
2. "$2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens."
3. "$2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens."
These figures supposedly come from a 2004 report by CIS that estimated the costs to the federal government of households headed by illegal immigrants in 2002. But the CIS report actually put the costs of food stamp, WIC and free school lunch programs to "illegal alien households" at $1.9 billion, not the $2.2 billion claimed in the e-mail. The $2.5 billion figure for Medicaid to such households is quoted accurately, but again, much of this was in benefits for U.S.-born children, who are citizens.
Most interesting is that the CIS report includes a total net cost estimate to the federal government for illegal immigrants of just under $10.4 billion for the year, after accounting for the taxes these immigrants paid. That doesn’t include any potential costs to state or local governments, but it’s a far cry from this e-mail’s cost claim of $338.3 billion.
Even so, the CIS report actually rebuts claims repeated by this chain e-mail:
5."$17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies."
Both links given to "verify" these claims lead to an April 1, 2006, episode of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" on CNN. During the show, correspondent Christine Romans cited both of these stats and attributed them to FAIR. A FAIR research paper from 2005 does include these cost projections, but a closer look shows that the underlying assumptions are inflated or unsupported.
The FAIR report starts with the presumption that there are "1.5 million school-aged illegal immigrants residing in the United States." That figure is attributed to an Urban Institute presentation that doesn’t actually say that. Instead, the Urban Institute said: "We estimate that there are about 1.4 million undocumented children under 18 with about 1.1 million of school age (5 -19)."
The FAIR report also assumes there are 2 million "U.S.-born siblings" of illegal immigrant families. However, the Urban Institute makes no estimates of U.S.-born siblings and FAIR gives no citation for its figure. And in any case, again, those U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants are themselves U.S. citizens and not "illegal aliens."
6. "$3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens."
7. "30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens."
Both of these claims can be traced back to that same April 1, 2006, episode of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" on CNN, in the same segment, with the same correspondent, Christine Romans. But the e-mail misrepresents what Romans said. She gave figures for people who are "not U.S. citizens," a category that would include legal residents as well as "illegal aliens."
Romans said that "according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, 30 percent of federal prisoners are not U.S. citizens," adding that "most are thought to be illegal aliens." Actually, the Federal Bureau of Prisons does not keep figures on illegal immigrants. What solid numbers we can find point to a much smaller figure. A Department of Justice report from 2003 found that only 1.6 percent of the state and federal prison populations was under Immigration and Customs Enforcement jurisdiction, and thus known to be illegal immigrants. Half of these prisoners were detained only because they were here illegally, not for other crimes.
The Bureau of Prisons does track prisoners by offense when information is available. By that metric, 10.7 percent of prisoners in federal jails were incarcerated for immigration offenses in 2009. In 2006, when Romans gave her report, the figure was 10.2 percent.
The "$3 million dollar a day" figure is based on the false assumption that 30 percent of all inmates are illegal immigrants, and thus is greatly inflated.
8. "$90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers."
The link to "verify" this claim is dead. However, we found a transcript of a Lou Dobbs episode on Oct. 29, 2006, in which Robert Rector of the conservative Heritage Foundation made the following statement:
9. "$200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens."
Again, this is from that same April 1, 2006, Lou Dobbs episode. On the show, Dobbs said that "estimates by the most authoritative and recent study put the suppressed wages at $200 billion a year, as a result of immigration, both legal and illegal." The e-mail continues its practice of ignoring any distinction between legal and illegal immigration.
We couldn’t find any study that supported Dobb’s figure.
10. "The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that’s two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US"
This is false. The "verify" link leads to yet another transcript of Lou Dobbs speaking with Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation. This one is dated June 12, 2006, and Rector says, "Hispanics in the United States have a crime rate that’s two and a half times that of white non-Hispanics."
Rector said Hispanics, not illegal immigrants, as the e-mail alleges. Considering there are 45.4 million Hispanics in the country, and an estimated 11.9 million illegal immigrants, the distinction is notable. Rector’s statistic for all Hispanics is correct, according to a 2003 report from the Justice Department.
11. " During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border. "
The link goes to a 2006 report written by the Republican staff of the House Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security. To start, the "19,500" number of "illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries" is nowhere to be found in this report. In fact, the report estimates the number of illegal immigrants coming over the southern border from countries known to harbor terrorists to be in the "hundreds." We’ve seen a similar scare tactic used previously in ads advocating for a border fence.
And the 4 million to 10 million statistic is extrapolated using some imprecise reasoning. The committee report figures that since "Border Patrol apprehended approximately 1.2 million illegal aliens" in 2005 and since "Federal law enforcement estimates that 10 percent to 30 percent of illegal aliens are actually apprehended," that "therefore, in 2005, as many as 10 to 4 million [sic] illegal aliens crossed into the United States." That simplistic math produces a figure starkly different from more widely accepted estimates. The Pew Hispanic Center estimated that in 2005 there were 11.1 million illegal immigrants total, living in the United States. The center also estimated that about 500,000 illegal immigrants a year came to the U.S. from 2005 to 2008.
12. "The National Policy Institute, ‘estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.’ "
No, it didn’t. The National Policy Institute, a group that says it promotes the rights of "white Americans," ironically was citing figures from the liberal Center for American Progress in a report that argued against mass deportation of undocumented workers. CAP said such deportation would cost more per year than the entire Department of Homeland Security budget, illustrating "the false allure of deportation as a response to our broken immigration system."
13. "In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin."
This is another bogus figure. The email’s link leads to the original Frosty Wooldridge article, which in turn cites as its source for this figure a link to a Contra-Costa Times article, which is no longer working. Nevertheless, we were able to find a news release from the Inter-American Development Bank stating Latin American immigrants sent $45 billion in remittances in 2006. But that figure applies to all immigrants, including legal residents.
14. "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States."
Once again, the "verify" link is dead. But a little Internet research found the article cited. An independently published, non-peer-reviewed study did estimate that nearly a million sex crimes have been committed by illegal immigrants over a seven-year period, but it employs some highly creative math and interesting assumptions to get there. The "study" is actually a pretty good case study in bad research.
The author assumes that 2 percent of illegal immigrants are sex offenders after "examining ICE reports and public records," but does not say how that figure was calculated. A bibliography cites miscellaneous Immigration and Customs Enforcement press releases and media accounts of instances of apprehending illegal immigrants who were sex offenders (seemingly manufacturing a "rate" based on anecdotal evidence). The author then makes no distinction between male and female illegal immigrants when estimating the number that are "sex offenders."
As we’ve said before, anonymous chain e-mails making dramatic claims are quite likely to be false. And that goes even for those that may seem to cite legitimate sources. This one is yet another good candidate for the "delete" key.
– Justin Bank
Camarota, Steven A., "The High Cost of Cheap Labor: Illegal Immigration and the Federal Budget," Center for Immigration Studies, August 2004.
Immigration and Welfare," Federation for American Immigration Reform, Oct 2002.
A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border," prepared by the Majority Staff of House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Investigations, Nov 2006.
Goyle, Rajeev, "Deporting the Undocumented: A Cost Assessment," Center for American Progress. 26 July 2005.
Sending Money Home: Leveraging the Development Impact of Remittances," Inter-American Development Bank. 18 Oct 2006.
Schurman-Kauflin, Dr. Deborah, "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants in the United States," Violent Crimes Institute, 2006.
Martin, Jack, "Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools Into the Red," Federation for American Immigration Reform. June 2005.
Fix, Michael and Passel, Jeffrey, "U.S. Immigration—Trends and Implications for Schools," Immigration Studies Program, The Urban Institute, 2003.
"Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: 1990-2000," Office of Policy Planning, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, January 2003.
"Table 169, Current Expenditure Per Pupil in Fall Enrollment in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools, by State: 1969-70 to 1999-00," Digest of Education Statistics 2002, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education."
(From URL)
I spent 25 years working in the human services field. I've worked in residential settings, treatment facilities, and vocational programs. Never once, in 25 years, did I ever work with an illegal immigrant. I worked with a few legal immigrants...but even that was rare.
Eligibility for social benefits, like welfare, food stamps, etc, is tricky in the US. By the time you get the benefits, you've actually been in need for a long time. Rather than help someone before they're in dire straits, the US programs would rather someone lose their car, home, utilities, etc. Sure, some folks know their way around the system and know that to get prompt service, they have to make a lot of noise...but funny, I don't see hordes of illegal immigrants lining up to bring that much attention to themselves. They're too busy working for the same people who complain about them.
If you really want to stop illegal immigration in the US, stop the people who are giving them jobs. Take away the jobs, which is their incentive for risking life and limb, and they'll stop coming. Period.
First off, YES, illegal immigrants DO come to this country. Why? Simple: jobs. They can make more working here illegally (and being paid a pittance) than they can at home. They run some serious risks (because let's face it, being shot at is never fun). In the end, many are caught before they cross the border. Many more are caught while here. But there's one thing the Anti-Immigration folks forget to tell you:
They're the ones that hire them.
Face it, rich white folks are the majority of the employers of illegal immigrants. These are also the same people trying to bust unions and do away with the minimum wage and the 40 hour work week. Unions gave us those. Remember that.
Now, as for these alleged handouts that the illegals get, let's take a serious look:
"MYTH: The nation spends billions of dollars on welfare for undocumented immigrants.
FACTS: To the contrary, undocumented immigrants are not eligible to receive any “welfare” benefits and even legal immigrants are severely restricted in the benefits they can receive.
As the Congressional Research Service points out in a 2007 report, undocumented immigrants, who comprise nearly one-third of all immigrants in the country, are not eligible to receive public “welfare” benefits — ever.
Legal permanent residents (LPRs) must pay into the Social Security and Medicare systems for approximately 10 years
before they are eligible to receive benefits when they retire. In most cases, LPRs can not receive SSI, which is available only to U.S. citizens, and are not eligible for means-tested public benefits until 5 years after receiving their green cards.
A 2007 analysis of welfare data by researchers at the Urban Institute reveals that less than 1 percent of households headed by undocumented immigrants receive cash assistance for needy families, compared to 5 percent of households headed by native-born U.S. citizens.
A 2007 analysis of U.S. Census data by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities makes clear that it is the U.S.-born, U.S.-citizen children of undocumented immigrants who are eligible for programs such as Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program
(SCHIP). The analysis found that, between 1995 and 2005, the share of low-income, non- citizen immigrant children (either undocumented or legally present) who received Medicaid or SCHIP dropped from 36 percent to 30 percent. "
(From URL)
Want more?
"
Q: Do illegal immigrants cost $338.3 billion dollars a year? More than the Iraq war?
A: A chain e-mail that makes this claim is loaded with errors and misleading assertions. Published studies vary widely but put the cost to government at a small fraction of that total.
FULL QUESTION
I wonder if much of this is true? Is this on your radar screen?
This is astounding and infuriating. Why isn’t this in the papers? Please read and pass it on.FULL ANSWER
⬐ Click to expand/collapse the full text ⬏
This chain e-mail has been forwarded to us by readers many times over the past year. The most recent version adds a new angle, claiming that the amount of money taxpayers spend on illegal immigrants would be enough to "stimulate the economy." But no matter the spin, the e-mail is rife with errors.
It also contains several red flags that should tip off readers that this is more bogus than believable. For one thing, the figures given don’t add up to a "whopping $338.3 billion dollars a year" spent on illegal immigrants in the U.S., as the e-mail claims.
The e-mail lists 14 claims about illegal immigrants, all of which were included in a longer list penned by anti-immigration activist Frosty Wooldridge and published on the conservative Web site NewswithViews.com on Jan. 22, 2007. Another NewswithViews columnist, Lynn Stuter, included Wooldridge’s list, with some updated links, in an article posted on April 15, 2008.
The source cited for at least nine of the items is either the conservative Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) or the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), both of which call for more restrictive immigration laws. CIS spokesman Bryan Griffith told us that he had never seen the e-mail but that he suspected something was out there because of occasional surges in traffic that forced him to rewrite Web pages. When told about the e-mail’s contents and conclusion of a $338.3 billion yearly cost, he responded that CIS "never said anything of the like and is not going to comment on a chain e-mail that is in no way scientific."
The e-mail also continually blurs the important distinction between legal and illegal immigrants – a sign of sloppy and untrustworthy work.
Summary
Because we’re gluttons for punishment, we’ve gone through each claim in turn and report on each in detail farther down. But here are a few highlights (or lowlights) of what we found:- The e-mail includes a link to a CIS report that contradicts some of the e-mail’s own claims. The report found that illegal immigrant welfare use "tends to be very low." It also estimates the total federal net cost of households headed by illegal immigrants at under $10.4 billion, a small fraction of what this message claims.
- One "paper" that is cited is a non-peer-reviewed, non-scientific study that essentially fabricates a number for illegal immigrant criminals.
- Five of the links lead to transcripts of Lou Dobbs’ cable television show, which fulminates regularly against illegal immigration and is hardly a neutral source. Furthermore, in all instances, the e-mail then takes the original Dobbs reporting out of context.
The Details
For those who want more, we take on each of the e-mail’s claims in order:1. "$11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year."
This item is completely false. The link given to "verify" the claim actually leads to an issue brief by the conservative Federation for American Immigration Reform. But the FAIR brief says nothing of the sort. It says: "Each year, state governments spend an estimated $11 billion to $22 billion to provide welfare to immigrants." That’s welfare payments in 2001 to all immigrants – both legal and illegal – plus households including U.S. citizens if they are headed by a person who was born outside the United States.
The site says the FAIR report was last updated in October 2002, but a footnote credits this statistic to a March 2003 report from the Center for Immigration Studies. CIS began as an off-shoot of FAIR. But the CIS report doesn’t actually say anything about $11 billion or $22 billion. And it explains that its references to "immigrant households" include persons here legally and persons born outside the U.S.
CIS report: Like the Census Bureau, and other academic work that has examined this question, this report looks at welfare use by immigrant and native households. Households are defined as immigrant or native based on the nativity of the household head. As already indicated, this report uses the terms immigrant and foreign-born synonymously.CIS estimated that welfare payments to illegal immigrant households averaged $1,040 per household in 2001, mainly Medicaid "on behalf of their U.S.-born children." But the report did not attempt to come up with a total for all such households.
2. "$2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens."
3. "$2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens."
These figures supposedly come from a 2004 report by CIS that estimated the costs to the federal government of households headed by illegal immigrants in 2002. But the CIS report actually put the costs of food stamp, WIC and free school lunch programs to "illegal alien households" at $1.9 billion, not the $2.2 billion claimed in the e-mail. The $2.5 billion figure for Medicaid to such households is quoted accurately, but again, much of this was in benefits for U.S.-born children, who are citizens.
Most interesting is that the CIS report includes a total net cost estimate to the federal government for illegal immigrants of just under $10.4 billion for the year, after accounting for the taxes these immigrants paid. That doesn’t include any potential costs to state or local governments, but it’s a far cry from this e-mail’s cost claim of $338.3 billion.
CIS report: Households headed by illegal aliens imposed more than $26.3 billion in costs on the federal government in 2002 and paid only $16 billion in taxes, creating a net fiscal deficit of almost $10.4 billion, or $2,700 per illegal household.Even CIS’ figures have been questioned by other researchers. The Urban Institute reviewed a related 2003 CIS paper and concluded that its "methods overstate the percentage of the population receiving Medicaid and the share of immigrants on Medicaid, resulting in misleading conclusions about welfare use among immigrants."
Even so, the CIS report actually rebuts claims repeated by this chain e-mail:
CIS: Our findings show that many of the preconceived notions about the fiscal impact of illegal households turn out to be inaccurate. In terms of welfare use, receipt of cash assistance programs tends to be very low, while Medicaid use, though significant, is still less than for other households. Only use of food assistance programs is significantly higher than that of the rest of the population. Also, contrary to the perceptions that illegal aliens don’t pay payroll taxes, we estimate that more than half of illegals work “on the books.”4. "$12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English!"
5."$17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies."
Both links given to "verify" these claims lead to an April 1, 2006, episode of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" on CNN. During the show, correspondent Christine Romans cited both of these stats and attributed them to FAIR. A FAIR research paper from 2005 does include these cost projections, but a closer look shows that the underlying assumptions are inflated or unsupported.
The FAIR report starts with the presumption that there are "1.5 million school-aged illegal immigrants residing in the United States." That figure is attributed to an Urban Institute presentation that doesn’t actually say that. Instead, the Urban Institute said: "We estimate that there are about 1.4 million undocumented children under 18 with about 1.1 million of school age (5 -19)."
The FAIR report also assumes there are 2 million "U.S.-born siblings" of illegal immigrant families. However, the Urban Institute makes no estimates of U.S.-born siblings and FAIR gives no citation for its figure. And in any case, again, those U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants are themselves U.S. citizens and not "illegal aliens."
6. "$3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens."
7. "30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens."
Both of these claims can be traced back to that same April 1, 2006, episode of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" on CNN, in the same segment, with the same correspondent, Christine Romans. But the e-mail misrepresents what Romans said. She gave figures for people who are "not U.S. citizens," a category that would include legal residents as well as "illegal aliens."
Romans said that "according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, 30 percent of federal prisoners are not U.S. citizens," adding that "most are thought to be illegal aliens." Actually, the Federal Bureau of Prisons does not keep figures on illegal immigrants. What solid numbers we can find point to a much smaller figure. A Department of Justice report from 2003 found that only 1.6 percent of the state and federal prison populations was under Immigration and Customs Enforcement jurisdiction, and thus known to be illegal immigrants. Half of these prisoners were detained only because they were here illegally, not for other crimes.
The Bureau of Prisons does track prisoners by offense when information is available. By that metric, 10.7 percent of prisoners in federal jails were incarcerated for immigration offenses in 2009. In 2006, when Romans gave her report, the figure was 10.2 percent.
The "$3 million dollar a day" figure is based on the false assumption that 30 percent of all inmates are illegal immigrants, and thus is greatly inflated.
8. "$90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare & social services by the American taxpayers."
The link to "verify" this claim is dead. However, we found a transcript of a Lou Dobbs episode on Oct. 29, 2006, in which Robert Rector of the conservative Heritage Foundation made the following statement:
Robert Rector, Oct. 29, 2006: Well, assuming that we have about 11 million immigrants in the U.S., the net cost or the total cost of services and benefits provided to them, education, welfare, general social services would be about $90 billion a year, and they would pay very little in taxes. It’s important to remember that at least half of illegal immigrants are high school dropouts.We checked with Rector, who said he was referring to both legal and illegal low-skill immigrant households (those headed by someone who doesn’t have a high school diploma). His research also looked at many forms of government spending per household, including money spent on parks and transportation.
9. "$200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens."
Again, this is from that same April 1, 2006, Lou Dobbs episode. On the show, Dobbs said that "estimates by the most authoritative and recent study put the suppressed wages at $200 billion a year, as a result of immigration, both legal and illegal." The e-mail continues its practice of ignoring any distinction between legal and illegal immigration.
We couldn’t find any study that supported Dobb’s figure.
10. "The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that’s two and a half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US"
This is false. The "verify" link leads to yet another transcript of Lou Dobbs speaking with Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation. This one is dated June 12, 2006, and Rector says, "Hispanics in the United States have a crime rate that’s two and a half times that of white non-Hispanics."
Rector said Hispanics, not illegal immigrants, as the e-mail alleges. Considering there are 45.4 million Hispanics in the country, and an estimated 11.9 million illegal immigrants, the distinction is notable. Rector’s statistic for all Hispanics is correct, according to a 2003 report from the Justice Department.
11. " During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border. "
The link goes to a 2006 report written by the Republican staff of the House Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security. To start, the "19,500" number of "illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries" is nowhere to be found in this report. In fact, the report estimates the number of illegal immigrants coming over the southern border from countries known to harbor terrorists to be in the "hundreds." We’ve seen a similar scare tactic used previously in ads advocating for a border fence.
And the 4 million to 10 million statistic is extrapolated using some imprecise reasoning. The committee report figures that since "Border Patrol apprehended approximately 1.2 million illegal aliens" in 2005 and since "Federal law enforcement estimates that 10 percent to 30 percent of illegal aliens are actually apprehended," that "therefore, in 2005, as many as 10 to 4 million [sic] illegal aliens crossed into the United States." That simplistic math produces a figure starkly different from more widely accepted estimates. The Pew Hispanic Center estimated that in 2005 there were 11.1 million illegal immigrants total, living in the United States. The center also estimated that about 500,000 illegal immigrants a year came to the U.S. from 2005 to 2008.
12. "The National Policy Institute, ‘estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period.’ "
No, it didn’t. The National Policy Institute, a group that says it promotes the rights of "white Americans," ironically was citing figures from the liberal Center for American Progress in a report that argued against mass deportation of undocumented workers. CAP said such deportation would cost more per year than the entire Department of Homeland Security budget, illustrating "the false allure of deportation as a response to our broken immigration system."
13. "In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin."
This is another bogus figure. The email’s link leads to the original Frosty Wooldridge article, which in turn cites as its source for this figure a link to a Contra-Costa Times article, which is no longer working. Nevertheless, we were able to find a news release from the Inter-American Development Bank stating Latin American immigrants sent $45 billion in remittances in 2006. But that figure applies to all immigrants, including legal residents.
14. "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States."
Once again, the "verify" link is dead. But a little Internet research found the article cited. An independently published, non-peer-reviewed study did estimate that nearly a million sex crimes have been committed by illegal immigrants over a seven-year period, but it employs some highly creative math and interesting assumptions to get there. The "study" is actually a pretty good case study in bad research.
The author assumes that 2 percent of illegal immigrants are sex offenders after "examining ICE reports and public records," but does not say how that figure was calculated. A bibliography cites miscellaneous Immigration and Customs Enforcement press releases and media accounts of instances of apprehending illegal immigrants who were sex offenders (seemingly manufacturing a "rate" based on anecdotal evidence). The author then makes no distinction between male and female illegal immigrants when estimating the number that are "sex offenders."
As we’ve said before, anonymous chain e-mails making dramatic claims are quite likely to be false. And that goes even for those that may seem to cite legitimate sources. This one is yet another good candidate for the "delete" key.
– Justin Bank
Sources
Steven A. Camarota, “Back Where We Started: An Examination of Trends in Immigrant Welfare Use Since Welfare Reform,” Center for Immigration Studies, March 2003.Camarota, Steven A., "The High Cost of Cheap Labor: Illegal Immigration and the Federal Budget," Center for Immigration Studies, August 2004.
Immigration and Welfare," Federation for American Immigration Reform, Oct 2002.
A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border," prepared by the Majority Staff of House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Investigations, Nov 2006.
Goyle, Rajeev, "Deporting the Undocumented: A Cost Assessment," Center for American Progress. 26 July 2005.
Sending Money Home: Leveraging the Development Impact of Remittances," Inter-American Development Bank. 18 Oct 2006.
Schurman-Kauflin, Dr. Deborah, "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants in the United States," Violent Crimes Institute, 2006.
Martin, Jack, "Breaking the Piggy Bank: How Illegal Immigration is Sending Schools Into the Red," Federation for American Immigration Reform. June 2005.
Fix, Michael and Passel, Jeffrey, "U.S. Immigration—Trends and Implications for Schools," Immigration Studies Program, The Urban Institute, 2003.
"Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: 1990-2000," Office of Policy Planning, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, January 2003.
"Table 169, Current Expenditure Per Pupil in Fall Enrollment in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools, by State: 1969-70 to 1999-00," Digest of Education Statistics 2002, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education."
(From URL)
I spent 25 years working in the human services field. I've worked in residential settings, treatment facilities, and vocational programs. Never once, in 25 years, did I ever work with an illegal immigrant. I worked with a few legal immigrants...but even that was rare.
Eligibility for social benefits, like welfare, food stamps, etc, is tricky in the US. By the time you get the benefits, you've actually been in need for a long time. Rather than help someone before they're in dire straits, the US programs would rather someone lose their car, home, utilities, etc. Sure, some folks know their way around the system and know that to get prompt service, they have to make a lot of noise...but funny, I don't see hordes of illegal immigrants lining up to bring that much attention to themselves. They're too busy working for the same people who complain about them.
If you really want to stop illegal immigration in the US, stop the people who are giving them jobs. Take away the jobs, which is their incentive for risking life and limb, and they'll stop coming. Period.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
A few thoughts on nudity...
Well alrighty then! Today, there is supposed to be a "topless" march here in Pittsburgh. Sorry, I don't have all of the information but I'm sure a quick Google search will give you all you need to know.
That said, why is it that most cultures are so damned afraid of nudity? Most people are born with nipples and genitalia. Personally, I have no real desire to see most of humanity's "bits and bobs" but if someone doesn't feel like getting dressed, I don't really have a problem with that either.
I have a belief that most things that are considered taboo, are considered so because someone, way back in our collective ancestry, was afraid that someone might enjoy it. It's the whole concept of guilt. If you enjoy something, it can't be good for you. Hogmuffins!
The more you tell people that they can't or shouldn't do something, the more likely it is that they want it. Case in point: boobs. If a woman wants to walk around topless, let her. Men do it. I, for one, am not likely to become overstimulated and attack a woman just because her tatas are flopping about. Sure, I might pay attention if it's Salma Hayek...but I'm picky that way. I can imagine what some of the women on the bus would look like topless...and trust me, the thought does NOT excite me. But, if, say, it's hot out, and a gal would feel cooler topless, who am I to stop her? If you don't want to see her fun bags, don't look. Pretty simple.
Same goes for TV. If something comes on that you don't want to see, change the damned channel. Our civilization acts as though we would all be struck blind if a nipple, genital, or buttocks were to be shown on television. I've watched enough National Geographic specials to know that this isn't the case. (that said, I DO wear glasses...trifocals to be exact...possible from watching too many National Geographic specials...but more probably due to a genetic predisposition)
It's the 21st century, yet many of us act like it's the 17th century when it comes to nudity. Back then, people covered up because it was more comfortable. Nowadays, we have central heat and air conditioning. It still gets hot. If someone feels more comfortable with their junk hanging out, good for them! It's natural. We were all born naked...and some of us will die naked. What's the big hullabaloo?
If you don't want to show your stuff...fine. Don't do it. If someone wants to show theirs, fine. Let them. If you don't want to see it...don't look! No one is forcing you. I have never seen anyone forcibly dragged into a strip joint against their will and made to look at nudes. I just don't believe that happens, at least not with any regularity. (That said, if it does happen, who pays the cover charge?)
This topless march seems to be some sort of feminist movement sort of thing. Sounds a bit 1960s to me...but...if these gals want the right to go topless, give it to them. Most are conditioned to not do so anyway...and I'd be willing to bet that most would never go topless because they feel they don't live up to the media's ideal presentation of mammarial protuberances. Get over it. The number of people out there who look like super models is pretty low. The average person, male or female (or anywhere in between), will probably never be the centerfold for an adult publication....and so what? People are people. We all do what we have to to get by and sometimes we just need to be comfortable. Why deny anyone the right to a bit of personal comfort?
OK ladies...SHOW YOUR TITS!!!!!!!!
That said, why is it that most cultures are so damned afraid of nudity? Most people are born with nipples and genitalia. Personally, I have no real desire to see most of humanity's "bits and bobs" but if someone doesn't feel like getting dressed, I don't really have a problem with that either.
I have a belief that most things that are considered taboo, are considered so because someone, way back in our collective ancestry, was afraid that someone might enjoy it. It's the whole concept of guilt. If you enjoy something, it can't be good for you. Hogmuffins!
The more you tell people that they can't or shouldn't do something, the more likely it is that they want it. Case in point: boobs. If a woman wants to walk around topless, let her. Men do it. I, for one, am not likely to become overstimulated and attack a woman just because her tatas are flopping about. Sure, I might pay attention if it's Salma Hayek...but I'm picky that way. I can imagine what some of the women on the bus would look like topless...and trust me, the thought does NOT excite me. But, if, say, it's hot out, and a gal would feel cooler topless, who am I to stop her? If you don't want to see her fun bags, don't look. Pretty simple.
Same goes for TV. If something comes on that you don't want to see, change the damned channel. Our civilization acts as though we would all be struck blind if a nipple, genital, or buttocks were to be shown on television. I've watched enough National Geographic specials to know that this isn't the case. (that said, I DO wear glasses...trifocals to be exact...possible from watching too many National Geographic specials...but more probably due to a genetic predisposition)
It's the 21st century, yet many of us act like it's the 17th century when it comes to nudity. Back then, people covered up because it was more comfortable. Nowadays, we have central heat and air conditioning. It still gets hot. If someone feels more comfortable with their junk hanging out, good for them! It's natural. We were all born naked...and some of us will die naked. What's the big hullabaloo?
If you don't want to show your stuff...fine. Don't do it. If someone wants to show theirs, fine. Let them. If you don't want to see it...don't look! No one is forcing you. I have never seen anyone forcibly dragged into a strip joint against their will and made to look at nudes. I just don't believe that happens, at least not with any regularity. (That said, if it does happen, who pays the cover charge?)
This topless march seems to be some sort of feminist movement sort of thing. Sounds a bit 1960s to me...but...if these gals want the right to go topless, give it to them. Most are conditioned to not do so anyway...and I'd be willing to bet that most would never go topless because they feel they don't live up to the media's ideal presentation of mammarial protuberances. Get over it. The number of people out there who look like super models is pretty low. The average person, male or female (or anywhere in between), will probably never be the centerfold for an adult publication....and so what? People are people. We all do what we have to to get by and sometimes we just need to be comfortable. Why deny anyone the right to a bit of personal comfort?
OK ladies...SHOW YOUR TITS!!!!!!!!
Monday, August 19, 2013
Well Vinni, since you asked!
My man Vinni @ Musician's Hotsheet posted his own personal Top 10 of guitarists. I like how he described it:
"This is not a "who's better than who" list. It's a list of players who have influenced my playing and have been my personal inspiration to try harder, learn more and challenge myself as a player. It is in no particular order, other than the first one on the list, who is my personal Guitar God. -- [v]"
While I don't personally think the term "God" fits any mere mortal, let alone a guitar picker, I too have my list of those who inspired me...and why. Unlike Vinni, I'll refrain from using a numbering system...really no need to even passively imply numeric status.
Danny Gatton: Sweet crap on a crunchy cracker! Gatton was amazing. Sure, he could play circles around pretty much anyone. Sure, guitarists the world over are still, 19 years after his suicide, trying to copy his licks. Sure, it's amazing that he played so well with those damned, tiny, little, Vienna sausage-looking fingers! But on top of it all, he was also a nice guy, a gent, and my friend. I also saw him make a mistake once. I was pretty sure the Rapture had begun.
B.B. King: "The Thrill Is Gone" just may be my earliest musical memory. I couldn't have been more than 3 years old, because I remember seeing him on a TV show while we were still living over on Moonstone Dr. I remember thinking that it looked like he was waving when he played guitar. This, of course, was just his insane vibrato. Then, there's that tone! All you need to hear is one note and you KNOW it's B.B. King! And...I got to play through his amp once. Still set at his settings. For an entire set I got to pretend I was him. Life is good!
Albert King: The tone monster his own bad self! When I hear electric guitar, his is usually the first sound I compare with. Somewhere between white hot steel, smooth butter, and a whap upside the head from Muhammed Ali. His bends taught me how to bend. Just simply bad ass.
Albert Collins: Albert, you greasy-fingered SOB, I miss you. If you're a blues fan...real blues, not that watered down SRV crap...then you're probably familiar with Albert Collins. I can best describe his sound as "stinging". He'd attack a note, and his Tele through that big ol' Fender Quad...well, it was like being stung by a giant Killer Bee!!!! But it was so good ya wanted more...and he was happy to oblige. Albert tried to teach me the coolness of open tunings...but I was too dense to get it at the time. I remembered it though...finally sunk in 20 years later.
Joe Negri: If there's any one human responsible for motivating me to play guitar and try to play it well, it would be Joe Negri. I remember seeing him on TV as a kid, and seeing him perform a few times. That tone! Those chords! Those arpeggios! And he always looks so damned happy when he plays! I wanted the key to that kingdom! I've met Joe many times over the years and ya know what? He's just as happy when he's not playing. His unique, personal happiness comes through in his playing. Now THERE's a skill!
Les Paul: If you want to refer to a guitar player in mystic tones...Les Paul is that guitar player. Every recorded sound you hear today, you can pretty much thank Les Paul for. His guitar playing was 2nd only to his creative genius. I won't list all of his accomplishments here. If you don't already know, look it up. He played professionally well into his 90s and most cats a third his age can only hope to TRY to play like him.
Link Wray: The Grandfather of Punk. The Daddio of Distortion. The Inventor of the Power Chord. For any rock & roll guitarist past 1958 to not pay their respect to Link Wray simply means they probably haven't heard of him...and that's a damned shame. Link Wray was Rock and Roll. He lived fast and hard. He rocked until the very end. He was what so many "rockers" today like to believe they are. But ain't. Link Wray was a force of nature. And a helluva good man!
Roland Janes: Let me guess...most of you are asking "Who????". At SUN Records, there were 3 guitarists who invented the sound later known as rock and roll or rockabilly. They would be Carl Perkins, Scotty Moore, and Roland Janes. Janes was one of the founders of The Little Green Men, Billy Lee Riley's band who backed so many of the SUN "rockabilly" artists. If all he'd ever done was the guitar part for "Flying Saucer R&R", that would be enough to ensure him an eternity of notoriety. But he did so much more, and even went on to a successful career as an engineer and producer. Look him up! His playing is bad ass and inventive!
Scotty Moore: Guitarist on the early Elvis stuff. His mixture of Travis picking and some bluesy bends were what helped make Rock & Roll a reality. One of the coolest moments of my picking life was when I sat down and worked out the guitar part to "Baby Let's Play House". A true genius!
Tino Gonzales: If you've not heard of Tino, I won't hold it against ya. I remember him 20 years ago, playing at The Decade every few months or so. He had, successfully, managed to mix Latin music with the blues. His playing was (and probably still is) breathtaking. His version of "The Thrill Is Gone" is 2nd ONLY to B.B. King. I hear he's living and playing in Europe these days. I'd love to see him again. He's one of those pickers that just leaves your jaw swingin' while you try to say "WOW"!
Ya might want to go check these cats out...if you're not already familiar.
;-)
"This is not a "who's better than who" list. It's a list of players who have influenced my playing and have been my personal inspiration to try harder, learn more and challenge myself as a player. It is in no particular order, other than the first one on the list, who is my personal Guitar God. -- [v]"
While I don't personally think the term "God" fits any mere mortal, let alone a guitar picker, I too have my list of those who inspired me...and why. Unlike Vinni, I'll refrain from using a numbering system...really no need to even passively imply numeric status.
B.B. King: "The Thrill Is Gone" just may be my earliest musical memory. I couldn't have been more than 3 years old, because I remember seeing him on a TV show while we were still living over on Moonstone Dr. I remember thinking that it looked like he was waving when he played guitar. This, of course, was just his insane vibrato. Then, there's that tone! All you need to hear is one note and you KNOW it's B.B. King! And...I got to play through his amp once. Still set at his settings. For an entire set I got to pretend I was him. Life is good!
Albert King: The tone monster his own bad self! When I hear electric guitar, his is usually the first sound I compare with. Somewhere between white hot steel, smooth butter, and a whap upside the head from Muhammed Ali. His bends taught me how to bend. Just simply bad ass.
Albert Collins: Albert, you greasy-fingered SOB, I miss you. If you're a blues fan...real blues, not that watered down SRV crap...then you're probably familiar with Albert Collins. I can best describe his sound as "stinging". He'd attack a note, and his Tele through that big ol' Fender Quad...well, it was like being stung by a giant Killer Bee!!!! But it was so good ya wanted more...and he was happy to oblige. Albert tried to teach me the coolness of open tunings...but I was too dense to get it at the time. I remembered it though...finally sunk in 20 years later.
Joe Negri: If there's any one human responsible for motivating me to play guitar and try to play it well, it would be Joe Negri. I remember seeing him on TV as a kid, and seeing him perform a few times. That tone! Those chords! Those arpeggios! And he always looks so damned happy when he plays! I wanted the key to that kingdom! I've met Joe many times over the years and ya know what? He's just as happy when he's not playing. His unique, personal happiness comes through in his playing. Now THERE's a skill!
Les Paul: If you want to refer to a guitar player in mystic tones...Les Paul is that guitar player. Every recorded sound you hear today, you can pretty much thank Les Paul for. His guitar playing was 2nd only to his creative genius. I won't list all of his accomplishments here. If you don't already know, look it up. He played professionally well into his 90s and most cats a third his age can only hope to TRY to play like him.
Link Wray: The Grandfather of Punk. The Daddio of Distortion. The Inventor of the Power Chord. For any rock & roll guitarist past 1958 to not pay their respect to Link Wray simply means they probably haven't heard of him...and that's a damned shame. Link Wray was Rock and Roll. He lived fast and hard. He rocked until the very end. He was what so many "rockers" today like to believe they are. But ain't. Link Wray was a force of nature. And a helluva good man!
Roland Janes: Let me guess...most of you are asking "Who????". At SUN Records, there were 3 guitarists who invented the sound later known as rock and roll or rockabilly. They would be Carl Perkins, Scotty Moore, and Roland Janes. Janes was one of the founders of The Little Green Men, Billy Lee Riley's band who backed so many of the SUN "rockabilly" artists. If all he'd ever done was the guitar part for "Flying Saucer R&R", that would be enough to ensure him an eternity of notoriety. But he did so much more, and even went on to a successful career as an engineer and producer. Look him up! His playing is bad ass and inventive!
Scotty Moore: Guitarist on the early Elvis stuff. His mixture of Travis picking and some bluesy bends were what helped make Rock & Roll a reality. One of the coolest moments of my picking life was when I sat down and worked out the guitar part to "Baby Let's Play House". A true genius!
Tino Gonzales: If you've not heard of Tino, I won't hold it against ya. I remember him 20 years ago, playing at The Decade every few months or so. He had, successfully, managed to mix Latin music with the blues. His playing was (and probably still is) breathtaking. His version of "The Thrill Is Gone" is 2nd ONLY to B.B. King. I hear he's living and playing in Europe these days. I'd love to see him again. He's one of those pickers that just leaves your jaw swingin' while you try to say "WOW"!
Ya might want to go check these cats out...if you're not already familiar.
;-)
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Where Did It All Go Wrong?
I am, by nature, a happy person.
I've lived with depression for over 40 years. I accepted that a long time ago. The meds they've tried to put me on scare the hell out of me. I refuse to take them. I've found my own natural ways to deal with it...and they work...so that ain't the problem.
I've never had it easy...and I wouldn't have it any other way. I've always worked hard for everything in my life. I was taught to do that at an early age. If you want something bad enough, you'll work for it. It makes achieving that goal so much sweeter. So then, with all the hard work I've done...where the hell did things go so wrong?
9 years ago, I was on top of the world. I had a great job, was touring the world, and living the proverbial dream. Due to some unforeseen changes at my job, I opted to go self-employed. The money was better, the work was harder, and the only real downside was losing my benefits...you know, health care and paid time off. But ya know, it was still pretty great.
2007 seems to be when things really started to take a notable downward spiral. Due to funding cuts and changes, my business started to dwindle. I still managed to keep my head above water...but barely. In October of that year, my car was stolen. I got it back 2 days later...but had to pay a small fortune to get it back from a rogue towing company who had no right to tow it and impound it at their private lot. Fuckers. Then I had to pay another small fortune to fix the damage to the car. This all left me close to broke. But I persevered.
A couple weeks later, I had my heart attack. No health insurance either. The sight of that $80,000.00 hospital bill almost gave me another heart attack. But I handled it. Then, on my 2nd day back to work, I was physically attacked by a client. I pushed him off of me...and for that reaction of mine, I've been paying every single damned day.
The client's family filed criminal assault charges against me. The county (CYF) investigated and determined the claims against me to be UNFOUNDED. I spent the next 3 years in and out of court. Judge after judge refused to hear the case. Finally, a newer judge agreed to hear the case, I went to court, was found guilty...and then the judge declared a mistrial. The whole mess had to start all over again. Our tax dollars hard at work! Finally, another judge heard the case and even taking in the evidence from CYF's investigation which determined the allegations UNFOUNDED, he found me guilty again. I spent a year on probation. I also found out what a crock of shit our "justice" system is.
Luckily, I'd found a job in my field, that I enjoyed. The pay sucked...but it paid the bills and also came with pretty nice benefits. As much as most people complained about the place, I enjoyed working there. Then another ax fell. Across the board funding cuts, to the tune of 60%. Our site, which was always run extremely efficiently (from a financial viewpoint) was deemed unnecessary and was shut down. I had 2 months to either find another job or spend that time helping my clients find new residences, etc. As it was my job, and I actually cared about my clients, I opted to help them. I've paid for that choice ever since.
I was unemployed for 13 months. No one in my field would hire me. I no longer had the resources to return to self-employment. Finally, unable to take it anymore, I opted to start temping. Now THAT was an experience! Having to sell my skills at cut rate prices, just to be able to pay bills...that was rough. But I managed. Then...on a day off, at 4pm, I received a phone call telling me that my assignment was being cut short. Having to start over again...damn.
I took a factory job. That lasted a month. The job sucked. The pay sucked. And worst of all, I was being physically threatened by an asshole. It was all I could do NOT to beat that little shit within an inch of his life. I finally walked. One assault charge on my record is enough, thank you very much.
I've been lucky enough to get some painting work with a friend....but he barely has enough work to keep him going, so that too dried up. God bless him for helping me out! I've been offered some other painting gigs...but things don't always work out.
Being 47, with a heart condition, no car, no money, and having to continually start over...just really sucks. I'm not complaining. It's just how my life has turned out...but seriously, I just wish I knew how to turn it all around. I'm tired. Exhausted is a better word. Knowing that my former career no longer wants me...hurts. I wasn't just good at it, I was great! A few former supervisors pointed out that I had a gift for the work. It didn't matter how difficult the client or the case, I was up for the challenge! I can honestly say that I loved it.
I dream about my former career at least a few times a week. I dream about former clients. I dream about the work. I dream about the good and the bad parts. In the dreams, I'm always happily working. Then I wake up to my current reality. The reality of knowing that it's going to be another day of starting over....again. It's like a bad dream...a perverse version of the movie Groundhog Day.
I look at my girlfriend. God bless her. She is so unbelievably strong. We get through all of this together...but I can't help but feel that she deserves so much better. She's only 31 and she's attached to a slowly dying man. She really does love me. Why else would she put up with my own little Hell?
Most days, I just grin and bare it. I make the best of every day that I can. But there are days, days like today, when all I can do is sit and think. Sit and try to come up with yet another plan to get through another week of mounting bills and assorted growing problems.
I haven't had a real vacation since 1995. Sure, I took a little 3 day excursion a few years back...but that wasn't exactly a vacation. That was just a getaway. I could sure use one...soon...but that won't be happening in the foreseeable future.
I don't want anyone's pity. There's nothing worse than pity. I don't want anyone to feel bad for me. I'm a grown man. I can handle pretty much anything the universe throws at me...but...today, I feel like this. I just feel like going home. But the home of my dreams doesn't exist anymore. My home is here. I just wish I knew how to turn things around.
I just needed to vent. Thanks for reading.
M
I've lived with depression for over 40 years. I accepted that a long time ago. The meds they've tried to put me on scare the hell out of me. I refuse to take them. I've found my own natural ways to deal with it...and they work...so that ain't the problem.
I've never had it easy...and I wouldn't have it any other way. I've always worked hard for everything in my life. I was taught to do that at an early age. If you want something bad enough, you'll work for it. It makes achieving that goal so much sweeter. So then, with all the hard work I've done...where the hell did things go so wrong?
9 years ago, I was on top of the world. I had a great job, was touring the world, and living the proverbial dream. Due to some unforeseen changes at my job, I opted to go self-employed. The money was better, the work was harder, and the only real downside was losing my benefits...you know, health care and paid time off. But ya know, it was still pretty great.
2007 seems to be when things really started to take a notable downward spiral. Due to funding cuts and changes, my business started to dwindle. I still managed to keep my head above water...but barely. In October of that year, my car was stolen. I got it back 2 days later...but had to pay a small fortune to get it back from a rogue towing company who had no right to tow it and impound it at their private lot. Fuckers. Then I had to pay another small fortune to fix the damage to the car. This all left me close to broke. But I persevered.
A couple weeks later, I had my heart attack. No health insurance either. The sight of that $80,000.00 hospital bill almost gave me another heart attack. But I handled it. Then, on my 2nd day back to work, I was physically attacked by a client. I pushed him off of me...and for that reaction of mine, I've been paying every single damned day.
The client's family filed criminal assault charges against me. The county (CYF) investigated and determined the claims against me to be UNFOUNDED. I spent the next 3 years in and out of court. Judge after judge refused to hear the case. Finally, a newer judge agreed to hear the case, I went to court, was found guilty...and then the judge declared a mistrial. The whole mess had to start all over again. Our tax dollars hard at work! Finally, another judge heard the case and even taking in the evidence from CYF's investigation which determined the allegations UNFOUNDED, he found me guilty again. I spent a year on probation. I also found out what a crock of shit our "justice" system is.
Luckily, I'd found a job in my field, that I enjoyed. The pay sucked...but it paid the bills and also came with pretty nice benefits. As much as most people complained about the place, I enjoyed working there. Then another ax fell. Across the board funding cuts, to the tune of 60%. Our site, which was always run extremely efficiently (from a financial viewpoint) was deemed unnecessary and was shut down. I had 2 months to either find another job or spend that time helping my clients find new residences, etc. As it was my job, and I actually cared about my clients, I opted to help them. I've paid for that choice ever since.
I was unemployed for 13 months. No one in my field would hire me. I no longer had the resources to return to self-employment. Finally, unable to take it anymore, I opted to start temping. Now THAT was an experience! Having to sell my skills at cut rate prices, just to be able to pay bills...that was rough. But I managed. Then...on a day off, at 4pm, I received a phone call telling me that my assignment was being cut short. Having to start over again...damn.
I took a factory job. That lasted a month. The job sucked. The pay sucked. And worst of all, I was being physically threatened by an asshole. It was all I could do NOT to beat that little shit within an inch of his life. I finally walked. One assault charge on my record is enough, thank you very much.
I've been lucky enough to get some painting work with a friend....but he barely has enough work to keep him going, so that too dried up. God bless him for helping me out! I've been offered some other painting gigs...but things don't always work out.
Being 47, with a heart condition, no car, no money, and having to continually start over...just really sucks. I'm not complaining. It's just how my life has turned out...but seriously, I just wish I knew how to turn it all around. I'm tired. Exhausted is a better word. Knowing that my former career no longer wants me...hurts. I wasn't just good at it, I was great! A few former supervisors pointed out that I had a gift for the work. It didn't matter how difficult the client or the case, I was up for the challenge! I can honestly say that I loved it.
I dream about my former career at least a few times a week. I dream about former clients. I dream about the work. I dream about the good and the bad parts. In the dreams, I'm always happily working. Then I wake up to my current reality. The reality of knowing that it's going to be another day of starting over....again. It's like a bad dream...a perverse version of the movie Groundhog Day.
I look at my girlfriend. God bless her. She is so unbelievably strong. We get through all of this together...but I can't help but feel that she deserves so much better. She's only 31 and she's attached to a slowly dying man. She really does love me. Why else would she put up with my own little Hell?
Most days, I just grin and bare it. I make the best of every day that I can. But there are days, days like today, when all I can do is sit and think. Sit and try to come up with yet another plan to get through another week of mounting bills and assorted growing problems.
I haven't had a real vacation since 1995. Sure, I took a little 3 day excursion a few years back...but that wasn't exactly a vacation. That was just a getaway. I could sure use one...soon...but that won't be happening in the foreseeable future.
I don't want anyone's pity. There's nothing worse than pity. I don't want anyone to feel bad for me. I'm a grown man. I can handle pretty much anything the universe throws at me...but...today, I feel like this. I just feel like going home. But the home of my dreams doesn't exist anymore. My home is here. I just wish I knew how to turn things around.
I just needed to vent. Thanks for reading.
M
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