great comment: Progressives naturally sympathize with undocumented workers because after all, they are oppressed workers, and victims of racism here, and those are among our core concerns.
However that's a tactical-level battle, while the plutocrats are waging strategic class war, and winning.
Citizens have rights. Guests have privileges that can be arbitrarily revoked. People who are in a country illegally have no rights and no privileges. They are ripe for the most disgusting kinds of exploitation. If they protest they can be deported, or worse, put in camps indefinitely "awaiting deportation" while their families are torn apart and their kids are going hungry.
"If you don't like it you can leave" has been the excuse of oppressive plutocrats since at least the end of slavery. Now we see it applied internationally: if you don't like it in your country, you can leave.
The answer to the transnational plutocracy is a transnational movement for workers' rights. Transnational unions, transnational progressive organizations, and so on.
If someone is throwing hostages off a roof, the answer isn't to catch them when they fall or provide a trampoline for them to land on. The answer is to capture and defeat and bring to justice, the hostage-takers who are throwing the people off the roof in the first place.
Trying to provide legal & social services and suchlike for undocumented immigrants in America is like trying to provide a trampoline for those hostages being thrown off the roof. It's necessary but it's not enough, and if it's all we do, there will continue to be more and more casualties: not everyone who gets thrown off the roof will be so lucky as to land on our trampoline.
To fight the strategic-level class war, we must, must, must go after the hostage takers.
Further, we must insist on the right to a job at a dignified wage in the country where each person has their citizenship. Your ability to feed yourself and family should not be dependent on trading the rights of a citizen for the revocable privileges of a guest.
This means strengthening the unions in both Mexico and the US together at the same time, and carrying out coordinated campaigns and work actions in both places.
In Mexico the drug cartels serve as the rock to the plutocracy's hard place, and horrific violence is used to keep people in a state of fear. The solution may have to include citizens being willing to fight back physically against the cartels, even as they fight back using the law and elections against the plutocrats.
And don't doubt for one minute that the situations in Mexico, China, and Russia, aren't being studied by plutocrats in the US for introduction here. The difference is that here there has not been the kind of violent government response to workers' protests that there has in Mexico, China, and Russia. But the threat of foreclosure or eviction, cancellation of medical insurance, and so on, is every bit as effective as clubs and tear gas, at keeping the population cowed. Perhaps more so because the instrumentalities of oppression are diffused and bureaucratic.
We need to get smart, get strong, get organized, and get on our feet. We need to go on the attack, rather than constantly playing defense.
When do we unite and all head to the white house ? 50 million Americans strong united and take the USA back from big business and corrupt government officials ..... Justice and freedom for ALL, good jobs, good wages and benefits... Security in owning our own homes and our retirements ... yeah right .... right after half of us get a super size it Mc Donalds meal deal and watch some more movies on HBO. Were getting soft sorry to say....
Call me please when more the a dozen people actually show up OK !!!!
Jerry whats your plan ? No need to reinvent the wheel ! We all peacefully protest and when they start shooting at us we call in the United Nations to protect the citizens and NATO does airstrikes on the corrupt government forces till we can retake the country !!!! Don't laugh to hard.... it just work for the country of Libya !!!!! :stir: :jerry2::woo:
A quote: President Obama makes a speech Jan 28th 2011.
THE PRESIDENT: Good evening, everybody. My administration has been closely monitoring the situation in Egypt, and I know that we will be learning more tomorrow when day breaks. As the situation continues to unfold, our first concern is preventing injury or loss of life. So I want to be very clear in calling upon the Egyptian authorities to refrain from any violence against peaceful protestors. The people of Egypt have rights that are universal. That includes the right to peaceful assembly and association, the right to free speech, and the ability to determine their own destiny. These are human rights. And the United States will stand up for them everywhere.
So as I read this it becomes clear that Obama is saying Americans also have the right and the ability to determine their own destiny.
What if we protest for a government "for the people by the people" and throw the sold out to big business bums out of congress. Our founding fathers would smile from there graves.
We have the rights but will we as a nation exercise our rights so many before us fought and died for ?
Ok I am done now, Its somebody else's turn to sound off........ and rant and rave !
Jerry it wouldn't be a takeover it would be a take back. The one big problem with this happening is it seems only the older baby boomers remember large protest in USA. The younger generation doesn't seem to understand. Maybe the .com and video games are the only realities the many younger people in USA understand !!!! I was not only exposed to the Vietnam protest but was in the Philippines when the second People Power protest over throw the president peacefully in a few days ! I asked what was going on as it was taking shape and they said its the Second People Power happening and a nation wide protest has been started. Text messaging play a huge part in organizing the protest.
It was history in the making and was amazing how peaceful it was as millions simple stop what they were doing and walked out into the streets where ever they were and brought the country to a stand still. The president resigned within a few days. Many corrupt officials resigned. I told the locals I was amazed at there People Power movement and a few said why ? We learned much from your countries protesting in USA. reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EDSA_Revolution_of_2001
Many people in USA seem to be in denial and want to believe the times will get better soon in the USA. I am not sure that will happen with out big time changes ? Its like we haven't hit bottom yet and much of America is still in denial. To say it can't happen is to ignore history and history has a way of repeating itself.
I am not a radical person ! I am just watching whats going on in the world with people protesting then overthrowing and taking back their governments because there governments have lost touch and have ignored there people needs and wishes.
The USA government in power now doesn't seem to know how to fix the many problems in our economy. Yet they won't give up there power to anyone that can help. The rich get richer and poor get poorer. To ignore what is happening now would be sticking your head in the sand :ostrich: All Across the USA tent cities are popping up and its not all wino's and drug addicts anymore its middle class people that lost their job then their homes and some there vehicles. Watch news video about tent cities growing everyday across USA. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGxKdDinkKk
It took one policeman beating a one street vendor in Egypt to light the fuss and start a revolution to over throw the Egypt President !
What will it take to lite the fuss In USA ? Perhaps the top Banks in USA foreclosing on 1000's of American citizens homes and throwing their families into the streets and then bull dozing the houses to the ground and giving the land to local governments ?
I am not a radical ! I am just watching things happen in USA that I thought would never happen in my lifetime ! wrong !!!! This is real.......flame me if you like ! but do your home work first on the realities happening today in USA.
Buy land in Mexico ? :think: How about rent with option to buy :-) LOL PM me and tell me the details on your lot for sale Jerry... Does your land for sale have water sewage and power to hook up my RV ?
OK, Guys, While I would rather learn more about Rocky Point’s finer attributes and some of its problems, it seems, unfortunately, we have a political rant underway and I have a few questions. Apparently, you want to start a revolution, peaceful, I assume. Let’s say you are successful. What would you do to undue all of these problems? Keep in mind that our current gangs are headed by someone who wanted to “fundamentally transform the United States of America”. How is that working? I keep hearing people with many grievances, and there are many to bitch about, but I haven’t really heard anyone with sure fire workable solutions. Maybe we should just storm the castle, behead the cadre and take everything and give it to the masses. That would be real Power to the People. Of course when all that runs out, we’ll have to find another castle. When the “Arab Spring” turns to Arab Winter, I hope those castle stormers aren’t looking for other castles to storm. When you open the doors to those castles that have been overrun, you may not think the new tenants are everything you had hoped for. In fact, they may have their eyes on your castle. The one fact I know is that power corrupts, always has and always will. I’m lucky, I don’t have many more years left on this earth and you know what, I don’t think that’s all bad. I just fret over my kids and grandkids. God speed to all.
Yeah, anarchy sounds good until you're in the middle of it, then might makes right. If you think it's bad up there now, read some historical accounts of what it has been like in the US in the past for the average person, and I don't mean gloss over textbook writing. The early California bound had to eat each other for dinner things were so bad. The robber baron families from the turn of the last century were greedy thieves stomping all over the workers and are now the rich and famous admired by many, Kennedy, Rockefellar, etc. etc. Read some stuff on early Unions, they got machine gunned by the feds. How about the Dust Bowl days, Tom Jode went walkin down the road, poor boy. Talk about tough times !! Poor medical care? There was none for the first 150 years, except what you got from a barber !
Then when you think that was bad read some stuff about how prisoner's of War II were treated in the Pacific, Jews and gypsies in Germany, watch the documentary The Rape of Nanking if you wanna see what happens when might makes right.
If you think politics in the US are bad today, your really need a good history lesson, but you won't get it from watching a movie or the TV! Maybe it was a good thing that early politicians used to shoot each other!!!
As a former card carryin member of NAACP and CORE I will tell you that the movement was not a walk in the park. All that danged marchin, sneaking around and gettin tonked on the head and tear gassed was no fun. Not to mention meeting up with Southern sheriff's named Bull and having friends disappear! But we were young and naive and just knew it was wrong when we saw adult white men spitting in the face of little children. Then we just seemed to slide through the assasination period and into the Viet Nam mess and those horrible photos (again of little children but burned this time by US napalm) and videos on the telly, so there was more damned sneakin around, marchin, gettin tonked on the head and tear gassed all over again, but we had specific, attainable goals, not just destruction in mind. Having a big crook as President gave us some good motivation.
Problems, yeah, but as I used to tell my kids, average people in the US live better than royalty in most third world countries. Grab your boot straps and move ahead, lots of opportunity to do some good. Maybe you can put some of those jackass banker thieves in jail. I'm hoping they get frog face Murdoch with the goods and put his stinkin butt in jail. Go after Mr. Dick Chaney. Lots to do, so get moving.
Basically the idea is to lift all the boats while protecting our workers...it didn't work because the banksters had the chance to move jobs to Mexico OR China they chose China because they got a better deal.The idea of international labor organizations trying to raise the pay rates in China and help Mexican labor in mexico from being royally screwed by Groupo Mexico/Calderon is a good one.Working on the infrastructure like the Euros did with Spain is good too. China is the cause of a lot of the problems...damn me I still by their stuff
At a time when spending cuts are at the heart of a heated political debate, the last thing the Pentagon needs is hundreds of millions in late fees.
The enormous cost comes from shipping containers that simply havent been returned on time, mostly in use for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Changing terms and an unforeseeably long war have made the containers extremely expensive and hard to return without incurring extra costs. To this point approximately $720 million in fees have been incurred in addition to the initial cost of the containers.
Hey Jer, lets go into the container business !! Ours will be designed to easily convert to housing and simply left there. Cheaper than renting what with the late fees and all.