We Are All Immigrants

If you missed it last night, or you've turned your television off like we have, you can watch Frontline: Lost in Detention online (54 minutes). Not for the faint of heart, it shows the abusiveness and insanity of US immigration enforcement.

Because of the likelihood of abuse, a few things should never be privatized. Prisons, health care, and education are at the top of that list. Capitalism is fine. But when it morphs into unbridled greed, as it clearly has done, it can only lead to human suffering, gross injustice, and economic collapse.

Alabama's new anti-immigrant law is already hurting its farmers, because much to the surprise of Governor Bentley, most U.S. citizens really don't want to do farm work. "Jobless resident Americans lack the physical stamina and the mental toughness to see the job through," says Alabama farmer Jerry Spencer. There's a certain measure of desperation, determination, and fortitude required to do that kind of work. Most of us aren't that desperate, determined, or tough. But if the economy and our elected officials continue on their current path, it's likely that our children will be.

All human beings are migrants. We are born into this life, we stay for a while, and then we move on. None of us are permanent residents. In the meantime, we go where we believe we have the best chance to provide for our families. Those who are desperate, determined, and strong enough to do the work that U.S. citizens do not want to do, who see grueling farm work as their best chance to provide for their families, pose no threat to anyone. We need them. And our well-being is tied to theirs.

--TomRW & MaryRW

More from HuffPost: After Alabama Immigration Law, Few Americans Taking Immigrants' Work

And more from the Washington Post/Associated Press: Few Americans Take Immigrants' Jobs in Alabama

If I Could Hug Each and Every One of You Right Now,

I would. I have never in my life cried tears of joy over the results of an election. This is just amazing. I love all of you! Even those of you who voted for McCain! There's more to come, but at this moment I am convinced -- we did it! Thank you so much to all of you who worked so hard on this election, for all of you who voted, for all of you who haven't given up on the USA. If I had fireworks, I'd light them. If I had champagne, I'd pop the cork. God bless America indeed! And God bless each and every one of you!

Neocon Jobs

McCain keeps saying he's for change, and last night he said he isn't George Bush. But the ideology he clings to as though he were a drowning man grasping at a dead weight for support is the same ideology that landed the U.S. (and the rest of the world along with it) in the huge mess it's in now.

McCain flip-flops more than any politician I've ever listened to. He barely says a sentence without contradicting himself. He's going to freeze spending. He's going to pay down the deficit. And he's going to lower taxes. Does he think we're really buying that? Who does he think he is: Houdini?

I am deeply offended by his obvious contempt for Obama. His facial expressions, interruptions, and the rolly eyes trick are petulant to the point of absurdity. If he won't listen to his opponent during the debate, what makes anyone think he would ever listen to any of us?

During the last debate he looked like he was on the verge of blowing a gasket every time he had to shut up and let Obama talk. The man can't control himself, and he can't control the rabble who come to his mob fests. Do we want four years of him appealing to the lowest common denominator, motivating people with hate and fear and preposterous allegations of terrorism against anyone he doesn't like or who doesn't agree with him?

And what does the tenor of McCain's and Palin's rallies say about their leadership? Obama has the good sense to quiet his supporters when they boo McCain. "We don't need any of that," he said. "What we need is to vote." And the crowd cheers and leaves its uglier sentiments behind. Whereas, after McCain and Palin fan the flames of hysteria, fear, and racism, cries from the crowd of "terrorist" and "kill him" pass by with nary a blink nor even the mildest of rebukes. Sure, one day (out of how many?) McCain tries to calm his supporters' fears, but he does it so ineffectually that it just frustrates them. When he said Obama was a decent family man, his rabble actually booed him. Great leadership, that.

And what's with his whining about a "character attack against Governor Sarah Palin" from Rep. John Lewis? Lewis had the temerity to call McCain and Palin out on their blatant appeals to fear and racism, so McCain's response is to paint himself and Palin as victims? Huh? And even though the Obama campaign had absolutely nothing to do with Lewis's remarks, McCain wants him to repudiate them? Huh? Next he'll be saying that his campaign deserves kudos because no one has been using the "n" word. That tactic would be only slightly more transparent than the tactics McCain and Palin have been using. Does McCain think we just don't get it? Does he really think we're just that ignorant? He called Lewis's remarks "beyond the pale." That's just what I think of his appealing to the mob's racism. Utterly beyond the pale.

No way this guy should be in any position of leadership much less in the most powerful position on the planet. Anybody with anger management issues like his shouldn't be trusted anywhere near the red button. And Lord help us if something happened to him and Palin took his place as president. I couldn't agree with Tina Fey more: I'd have to leave the planet, or at the very least barricade myself in the house and unplug my TV and my computer for fear I might catch a whiff of her.

I know there are many who feel that at 72 McCain is too old to be president. I do not. I know there are some who are plenty vigorous and sharp and capable at 72. I wouldn't want to exclude them from running for the presidency or to vote against them just on the basis of their age.

I don't have nearly as much of a problem with McCain's age as I do with the oldness of his hard-line ideology. McCain apparently thinks we won't recognize the Bush doctrine when he spouts it. He apparently believes that we don't realize how much damage the Bush doctrine has done in virtually every area of public life. He thinks we don't get it. But he's the one who doesn't get it. We've been there, we've done that, we've been screwed royally, and we are well aware of what and who has done the screwing. Enough already! No more neocon jobs!