“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Vete a Casa!
The last thing we need is a Mexican politician and president lecturing the United States about anything regarding civil rights and the legality and morality of our decisions on immigration.
Why doesn't this surprise Allen? You have a lot invested in Israel being right.
Quirk,
During my many years of posting on this site and others, I have often taken Israel and its politicians and policies harshly to task.
It is not important that Israel appear to be right. It is important that Israel be right.
There is not a shread of doubt that some Israeli politicians have engaged in terrorism.
The problem is that those who castigate Israel here don't happen to know what those acts were. Consequiently, they dream up nonsense and rely upon ignorance to carry their points.
I happen to believe that any Israeli who murders an innocent Palestinian should be hanged by the neck until dead. I also happen to think that Syria and Lebanon are terrorist regimes that will have to be killed. The two concepts are not mutally exclusive.
You do me a disservice, but that seems to be the way of it.
"We're examining any implications especially for civil rights because in the United States of America, no law abiding person -- be they an American citizen, illegal immigrant, or a visitor or tourist from Mexico -- should ever be subject to suspicion simply because of what they look like."
An Arizona utility commissioner said he's willing to pull the plug on Los Angeles if the city goes through with a boycott of his state. In a letter to the city of LA, a member of Arizona's power commission said he would ask Arizona utility companies to cut off the power supply to Los Angeles. LA gets about 25 percent of its power from Arizona. "That is one commissioner who has that idea -- whether he can do that or not is another idea," said LA Councilman Dennis Zine. "They are the ones who have to make the move, not us." The commissioner's power grid play is in response to the city's approval of a resolution directing city staff to consider which contracts with Arizona can be terminated.
Spokesman David Beltran told Fox News that the message didn't even warrant a response.
...
Despite that, the Los Angeles City Council voted overwhelmingly last week to ban future business with Arizona -- a decision that could cost Arizona millions of dollars in lost contracts.
Los Angeles officials were furious with the Arizona immigration law passed last month and joined local officials in cities across the country in pushing boycotts to register their dismay. Critics say the law will lead to racial profiling and civil rights abuses.
"I do hope, however, it goes well for Yon in Bangkok. I know a few who, even today, would return there in a heartbeat from their present posts."
(It's late so I don't feel too guilty posting this although it does tend to ramble)
When I was working over there, after a month or six weeks in China, the company would allow you to make a short side trip on the way home. I missed out on a lot of opportunities while I was working there. A lot of the guys stopped in Seoul (for shopping) and Singapore. I never got to either place.
I usually hit Hong Kong, Hawaii, or the West Coast. I did however get to Thailand a couple times.
An interesting place although you don’t want to get there during the rainy season when the snakes and rats are swimming in the streets. I couldn’t take the heat and humidity for long though. Luckily the bars are air conditioned.
I have a friend who worked for Aramco in Saudi for about 10 or 12 years. They gave him a lot of vacation and he took most of it in Bangkok. I met him there one time so that he could show me the sights. Unfortunately, his interests were somewhat limited and I ended up seeing more of the local color than the local culture.
I did make it over once on my own but it mostly just amounted to sun and booze. I didn’t learn much about Thailand or its people. Both visits were too short and other-focused.
I’ve got a grandson who saw the hat I brought back from PHUKET. He thought it was hilarious. He didn’t know Phuket was a resort area. He just assumed it was a joke and someone had intentionally spelled the words wrong. Kids. You gotta love them.
My friend lives down in Florida now. He’s not married and he still gets over to Bangkok a couple times a year for about three weeks at a time. He stays at the same hotel all the time. They store his luggage for him there until he comes back. He keeps in touch with people over there through the internet.
I would call him to see what’s going on over there but we had a little falling out about a year ago. He’s one of the funniest guys I know. Great guy to drink with. Unfortunately, he can’t take a joke well. In a number of ways he is almost as big an asshole as me.
Just from conversations I’ve had with him this current situation is similar to what’s been going on there for decades. The place could be called the “coup d’état capital” of SE Asia. I think they have had like 15 or 20 of them.
The “red shirts” are made up mainly of the poor, the new rich, and the farmers from the northeast. They’re arguing for a return to democracy, new immediate elections, and return of the old prime minister, Thaksin, who was booted in the 2006 coup. Thaksin, a billionaire populist, was kicked out by the military after the “yellow shirts”, ex-military and Bangkok businessmen, rioted against his rule. (The Thais are a colorful people.)
Normally, in the past, the king would just step, in settle things down, and the country would move on pending the next coup. People have been complaining that he hasn’t spoken up about the crisis. However, the old guy is getting old (in his 80’s I think). He has also been sick.
(Some people have suggested the monarchy be changed so that it is merely figurative like the UK. A little dangerous since any insult to the monarchy can land you in jail for 15 years.)
So it’s business as usual in Thailand. The “red shirts” are fighting the “yellow shirts”, the corrupt military, and the (some would say) illegitimate political leadership in hopes of restoring the equally corrupt but populist Thaksin.
Am I the only Dumbo out here that doesn't understand how the drug cartels could thrive in Mexico (a country without a "posse comitatus" law) without the support of the Federal Government?
The fleeing of millions of Mexicans to the United States is testament enough to the obvious fact that Mexico is a political, economic and social piss pot.
The audacity that the sewer of a man Calderon, overlord of the failed Mexican state could be feted in our White House by the suspect American President Obama and both use the meeting to criticize legal American citizens for protecting and defending what is theirs and these same two political bastards see and promote rights for the criminal and unilateral assault on the American State of Arizona should be grounds to send one home and the other out of American politics for good.
Obama said that in his meeting with Calderone, "We also discussed the new law in Arizona, which is a misdirected effort -- a misdirected expression of frustration over our broken immigration system, and which has raised concerns in both our countries. Today, I want every American to know my administration has devoted unprecedented resources in personnel and technology to securing our border. Illegal immigration is down, not up, and we will continue to do what's necessary to secure our shared border.
And I want everyone, American and Mexican, to know my administration is taking a very close look at the Arizona law. We're examining any implications, especially for civil rights. Because in the United States of America, no law-abiding person -- be they an American citizen, a legal immigrant, or a visitor or tourist from Mexico -- should ever be subject to suspicion simply because of what they look like."
Good afternoon. Buenas tardes. I want to again welcome President Calderón to the White House. Michelle and I are delighted to be hosting the President and First Lady Margarita Zavala and their delegation for this state visit, and we're looking forward to returning the hospitality -- the wonderful hospitality that we received in Mexico when we have our state dinner this evening.
I've often said that in our interconnected world, where nations and peoples are linked like never before, both the promise and perils of our time are shared. Nowhere is this clearer than among the neighbors -- the United States and Mexico.
THE REWARD FOR BREAKING THE LAW IS TO BECOME A US CITIZEN
people who break the law by breaching our borders being held accountable by paying taxes and a penalty and getting right with the law before they can earn their citizenship.
To fix our broken immigration system, I reaffirmed my deep commitment to working with Congress in a bipartisan way to pass comprehensive immigration reform. And comprehensive reform means accountability for everybody: government that is accountable for securing the border; businesses being held accountable when they exploit workers; people who break the law by breaching our borders being held accountable by paying taxes and a penalty and getting right with the law before they can earn their citizenship. We've been working hard to get this done. There's a strong proposal in the Senate, based on a bipartisan framework, and it can and should move forward.
We also discussed the new law in Arizona, which is a misdirected effort -- a misdirected expression of frustration over our broken immigration system, and which has raised concerns in both our countries. Today, I want every American to know my administration has devoted unprecedented resources in personnel and technology to securing our border. Illegal immigration is down, not up, and we will continue to do what's necessary to secure our shared border.
And I want everyone, American and Mexican, to know my administration is taking a very close look at the Arizona law. We're examining any implications, especially for civil rights. Because in the United States of America, no law-abiding person -- be they an American citizen, a legal immigrant, or a visitor or tourist from Mexico -- should ever be subject to suspicion simply because of what they look like.
"And I want everyone, American and Mexican, to know my administration is taking a very close look at the Arizona law. We're examining any implications, especially for civil rights. Because in the United States of America, no law-abiding person -- be they an American citizen, a legal immigrant, or a visitor or tourist from Mexico -- should ever be subject to suspicion simply because of what they look like."
It is the business of illegal Mexican entrants to the United States that when they defy and break US law, the suspect ones are the Arizonian authorities who are trying to enforce laws ignored by the Chief Officer of the United States?
..."I have a feeling this November isn't going to look like what most thought it was going to look like just a short time ago.
Tea hee. Tea hee."
Political Theater of the Absurd
"The candidate who on Tuesday won the special election in a Pennsylvania congressional district is right-to-life and pro-gun. He accused his opponent of wanting heavier taxes. He said he would have voted against Barack Obama's health care plan and promised to vote against cap-and-trade legislation, which is a tax increase supposedly somehow related to turning down the planet's thermostat. This candidate, Mark Critz, is a Democrat.
And that just about exhausts the good news for Democrats...
There’s been a lot of hand-wringing over Arizona’s attempt to enforce our nation’s immigration laws but not much information about how the federal government has dropped the ball.
Four years ago, legislation to build 700-miles of double-layer border fence along the Southern border was supported by then-Sen. Barack Obama and signed into law by President Bush. Yet, only a fraction of that fencing is in place today.
According to staff at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), only 34.3 miles double-layer fencing has been completed along the Southern border. Most of that fencing, 13.5 miles, is in Texas, while 11.8 miles are in California and 9.1 miles of double-layer fencing are up in Arizona.
The lack of double-layer fencing can be traced to a 2007 amendment that eliminated the double-fencing requirement and allowed the DHS the option to put other types of less effective fencing in its place. It was lumped into a massive, omnibus-spending bill that President Bush signed into law on December 26, 2007.
That’s when construction on the double-layered fence essentially stopped. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress’s investigative arm, reported in early 2009 that only 32 miles of double-layer fencing had been built. That means under President Obama, only 2.3 miles of it has been built over an entire year.
Because I knew the fence wasn’t a priority for the Obama Administration, in July 2009 I offered an amendment to the DHS spending bill to force the President to finish the fence by the end of 2010. It passed easily with 21 Democrats supporting it.
Under pressure from the White House, however, Democrat leaders stripped my amendment out of the bill behind closed doors, during negotiations between the Senate and the House.
Those of my acquaintance - two couples - who'd just come to Bogota from Bangkok shortly after the most recent coup, were extremely enthusiastic about the city, about Thailand, and about the Orient in general. But Bangkok especially they loved. The younger of the two couples, really just starting out in their careers, are hoping to get back at least to the general region, after a mandatory interlude at the Mother Ship. The older couple just retired from the Navy and left no doubt that the happiest years abroad for themselves and their children were spent there.
I've met others who did the odd TDY there and never heard a one complain. Doubtless it has its charms.
I remember in the immediate aftermath of the coup, the government running a banner across the top of the screen on Thai channels, thanking citizens for their calm and cooperation. It was...surreal.
Quirk said,
ReplyDeleteWhy doesn't this surprise Allen? You have a lot invested in Israel being right.
Quirk,
During my many years of posting on this site and others, I have often taken Israel and its politicians and policies harshly to task.
It is not important that Israel appear to be right. It is important that Israel be right.
There is not a shread of doubt that some Israeli politicians have engaged in terrorism.
The problem is that those who castigate Israel here don't happen to know what those acts were. Consequiently, they dream up nonsense and rely upon ignorance to carry their points.
I happen to believe that any Israeli who murders an innocent Palestinian should be hanged by the neck until dead. I also happen to think that Syria and Lebanon are terrorist regimes that will have to be killed. The two concepts are not mutally exclusive.
You do me a disservice, but that seems to be the way of it.
Don't get in high dudgeon about it Allen.
ReplyDeleteNobody takes me very seriously anyway.
Nor should they.
.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fucked up statement:
ReplyDelete"We're examining any implications especially for civil rights because in the United States of America, no law abiding person -- be they an American citizen, illegal immigrant, or a visitor or tourist from Mexico -- should ever be subject to suspicion simply because of what they look like."
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"Yon says Crystal is no Petraeus."
ReplyDeleteThis gave someone their biggest laugh of the day, Doug.
I do hope, however, it goes well for Yon in Bangkok. I know a few who, even today, would return there in a heartbeat from their present posts.
RIGHT ON:
ReplyDeleteAn Arizona utility commissioner said he's willing to pull the plug on Los Angeles if the city goes through with a boycott of his state.
In a letter to the city of LA, a member of Arizona's power commission said he would ask Arizona utility companies to cut off the power supply to Los Angeles. LA gets about 25 percent of its power from Arizona.
"That is one commissioner who has that idea -- whether he can do that or not is another idea," said LA Councilman Dennis Zine. "They are the ones who have to make the move, not us."
The commissioner's power grid play is in response to the city's approval of a resolution directing city staff to consider which contracts with Arizona can be terminated.
geeze Louise you 'merican's are sounding like Europeans with your State vs State feuding.
ReplyDeleteSpokesman David Beltran told Fox News that the message didn't even warrant a response.
ReplyDelete...
Despite that, the Los Angeles City Council voted overwhelmingly last week to ban future business with Arizona -- a decision that could cost Arizona millions of dollars in lost contracts.
Los Angeles officials were furious with the Arizona immigration law passed last month and joined local officials in cities across the country in pushing boycotts to register their dismay. Critics say the law will lead to racial profiling and civil rights abuses.
Dismisses Warning
That scum of a president (pick either) standing at our White House slandering a country that he does not deserve.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMy comment's gone.
ReplyDeleteShould I check the Lost and Found?
I went back to Blogger and signed out and back in again Trish.
ReplyDeleteAt least it allowed me to delete some of my previous posts (complaints).
I'm going to try putting in another post to see if it works.
Also, printed out the post on WORD first since it is a long one.
.
"I do hope, however, it goes well for Yon in Bangkok. I know a few who, even today, would return there in a heartbeat from their present posts."
ReplyDelete(It's late so I don't feel too guilty posting this although it does tend to ramble)
When I was working over there, after a month or six weeks in China, the company would allow you to make a short side trip on the way home. I missed out on a lot of opportunities while I was working there. A lot of the guys stopped in Seoul (for shopping) and Singapore. I never got to either place.
I usually hit Hong Kong, Hawaii, or the West Coast. I did however get to Thailand a couple times.
An interesting place although you don’t want to get there during the rainy season when the snakes and rats are swimming in the streets. I couldn’t take the heat and humidity for long though. Luckily the bars are air conditioned.
I have a friend who worked for Aramco in Saudi for about 10 or 12 years. They gave him a lot of vacation and he took most of it in Bangkok. I met him there one time so that he could show me the sights. Unfortunately, his interests were somewhat limited and I ended up seeing more of the local color than the local culture.
I did make it over once on my own but it mostly just amounted to sun and booze. I didn’t learn much about Thailand or its people. Both visits were too short and other-focused.
I’ve got a grandson who saw the hat I brought back from PHUKET. He thought it was hilarious. He didn’t know Phuket was a resort area. He just assumed it was a joke and someone had intentionally spelled the words wrong. Kids. You gotta love them.
My friend lives down in Florida now. He’s not married and he still gets over to Bangkok a couple times a year for about three weeks at a time. He stays at the same hotel all the time. They store his luggage for him there until he comes back. He keeps in touch with people over there through the internet.
I would call him to see what’s going on over there but we had a little falling out about a year ago. He’s one of the funniest guys I know. Great guy to drink with. Unfortunately, he can’t take a joke well. In a number of ways he is almost as big an asshole as me.
Just from conversations I’ve had with him this current situation is similar to what’s been going on there for decades. The place could be called the “coup d’état capital” of SE Asia. I think they have had like 15 or 20 of them.
The “red shirts” are made up mainly of the poor, the new rich, and the farmers from the northeast. They’re arguing for a return to democracy, new immediate elections, and return of the old prime minister, Thaksin, who was booted in the 2006 coup. Thaksin, a billionaire populist, was kicked out by the military after the “yellow shirts”, ex-military and Bangkok businessmen, rioted against his rule. (The Thais are a colorful people.)
Normally, in the past, the king would just step, in settle things down, and the country would move on pending the next coup. People have been complaining that he hasn’t spoken up about the crisis. However, the old guy is getting old (in his 80’s I think). He has also been sick.
(Some people have suggested the monarchy be changed so that it is merely figurative like the UK. A little dangerous since any insult to the monarchy can land you in jail for 15 years.)
So it’s business as usual in Thailand. The “red shirts” are fighting the “yellow shirts”, the corrupt military, and the (some would say) illegitimate political leadership in hopes of restoring the equally corrupt but populist Thaksin.
The story sounds all too familiar.
.
This Obama disgusts me.
ReplyDeleteAm I the only Dumbo out here that doesn't understand how the drug cartels could thrive in Mexico (a country without a "posse comitatus" law) without the support of the Federal Government?
ReplyDeleteIt appears they are bigger and badder than the government.
ReplyDelete.
The fleeing of millions of Mexicans to the United States is testament enough to the obvious fact that Mexico is a political, economic and social piss pot.
ReplyDeleteThe audacity that the sewer of a man Calderon, overlord of the failed Mexican state could be feted in our White House by the suspect American President Obama and both use the meeting to criticize legal American citizens for protecting and defending what is theirs and these same two political bastards see and promote rights for the criminal and unilateral assault on the American State of Arizona should be grounds to send one home and the other out of American politics for good.
Obama said that in his meeting with Calderone, "We also discussed the new law in Arizona, which is a misdirected effort -- a misdirected expression of frustration over our broken immigration system, and which has raised concerns in both our countries. Today, I want every American to know my administration has devoted unprecedented resources in personnel and technology to securing our border. Illegal immigration is down, not up, and we will continue to do what's necessary to secure our shared border.
ReplyDeleteAnd I want everyone, American and Mexican, to know my administration is taking a very close look at the Arizona law. We're examining any implications, especially for civil rights. Because in the United States of America, no law-abiding person -- be they an American citizen, a legal immigrant, or a visitor or tourist from Mexico -- should ever be subject to suspicion simply because of what they look like."
For Immediate Release May 19, 2010
ReplyDeleteREMARKS BY PRESIDENT OBAMA
AND PRESIDENT CALDERÓN OF MEXICO
AT JOINT PRESS AVAILABILITY
Rose Garden
12:20 P.M. EDT
PRESIDENT OBAMA:
Good afternoon. Buenas tardes. I want to again welcome President Calderón to the White House. Michelle and I are delighted to be hosting the President and First Lady Margarita Zavala and their delegation for this state visit, and we're looking forward to returning the hospitality -- the wonderful hospitality that we received in Mexico when we have our state dinner this evening.
I've often said that in our interconnected world, where nations and peoples are linked like never before, both the promise and perils of our time are shared. Nowhere is this clearer than among the neighbors -- the United States and Mexico.
Here is Obama's civics lesson for the day!
ReplyDeleteTHE REWARD FOR BREAKING THE LAW IS TO BECOME A US CITIZEN
people who break the law by breaching our borders being held accountable by paying taxes and a penalty and getting right with the law before they can earn their citizenship.
To fix our broken immigration system, I reaffirmed my deep commitment to working with Congress in a bipartisan way to pass comprehensive immigration reform. And comprehensive reform means accountability for everybody: government that is accountable for securing the border; businesses being held accountable when they exploit workers; people who break the law by breaching our borders being held accountable by paying taxes and a penalty and getting right with the law before they can earn their citizenship. We've been working hard to get this done. There's a strong proposal in the Senate, based on a bipartisan framework, and it can and should move forward.
We also discussed the new law in Arizona, which is a misdirected effort -- a misdirected expression of frustration over our broken immigration system, and which has raised concerns in both our countries. Today, I want every American to know my administration has devoted unprecedented resources in personnel and technology to securing our border. Illegal immigration is down, not up, and we will continue to do what's necessary to secure our shared border.
And I want everyone, American and Mexican, to know my administration is taking a very close look at the Arizona law. We're examining any implications, especially for civil rights. Because in the United States of America, no law-abiding person -- be they an American citizen, a legal immigrant, or a visitor or tourist from Mexico -- should ever be subject to suspicion simply because of what they look like.
I repeat. This is the mind of Obama:
ReplyDelete"And I want everyone, American and Mexican, to know my administration is taking a very close look at the Arizona law. We're examining any implications, especially for civil rights. Because in the United States of America, no law-abiding person -- be they an American citizen, a legal immigrant, or a visitor or tourist from Mexico -- should ever be subject to suspicion simply because of what they look like."
It is the business of illegal Mexican entrants to the United States that when they defy and break US law, the suspect ones are the Arizonian authorities who are trying to enforce laws ignored by the Chief Officer of the United States?
I think we should follow Mexico's laws and actions wrt illegal "tourists."
ReplyDeleteWhat's good for the goose is good for the gander.
Who got the big laugh, Trish, and why?
ReplyDelete"... a visitor or tourist from Mexico..."
ReplyDeleteI heard it was a visitor or tourist that shot the rancher in Arizona.
.
I am going to take a few days off. Whit has some good posts in waiting.
ReplyDeletetrish said...
ReplyDelete..."I have a feeling this November isn't going to look like what most thought it was going to look like just a short time ago.
Tea hee. Tea hee."
Political Theater of the Absurd
"The candidate who on Tuesday won the special election in a Pennsylvania congressional district is right-to-life and pro-gun. He accused his opponent of wanting heavier taxes. He said he would have voted against Barack Obama's health care plan and promised to vote against cap-and-trade legislation, which is a tax increase supposedly somehow related to turning down the planet's thermostat. This candidate, Mark Critz, is a Democrat.
And that just about exhausts the good news for Democrats...
Political Theater
Alice's Restaurant
The Tea (hee) Party. Even when they lose, do they really lose?
.
Finish the Border Fence Now
ReplyDeleteby Sen. Jim DeMint
There’s been a lot of hand-wringing over Arizona’s attempt to enforce our nation’s immigration laws but not much information about how the federal government has dropped the ball.
Four years ago, legislation to build 700-miles of double-layer border fence along the Southern border was supported by then-Sen. Barack Obama and signed into law by President Bush. Yet, only a fraction of that fencing is in place today.
According to staff at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), only 34.3 miles double-layer fencing has been completed along the Southern border. Most of that fencing, 13.5 miles, is in Texas, while 11.8 miles are in California and 9.1 miles of double-layer fencing are up in Arizona.
The lack of double-layer fencing can be traced to a 2007 amendment that eliminated the double-fencing requirement and allowed the DHS the option to put other types of less effective fencing in its place. It was lumped into a massive, omnibus-spending bill that President Bush signed into law on December 26, 2007.
That’s when construction on the double-layered fence essentially stopped. The Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress’s investigative arm, reported in early 2009 that only 32 miles of double-layer fencing had been built. That means under President Obama, only 2.3 miles of it has been built over an entire year.
Because I knew the fence wasn’t a priority for the Obama Administration, in July 2009 I offered an amendment to the DHS spending bill to force the President to finish the fence by the end of 2010. It passed easily with 21 Democrats supporting it.
Under pressure from the White House, however, Democrat leaders stripped my amendment out of the bill behind closed doors, during negotiations between the Senate and the House.
That was a lovely backgrounder, Quirk.
ReplyDeleteThose of my acquaintance - two couples - who'd just come to Bogota from Bangkok shortly after the most recent coup, were extremely enthusiastic about the city, about Thailand, and about the Orient in general. But Bangkok especially they loved. The younger of the two couples, really just starting out in their careers, are hoping to get back at least to the general region, after a mandatory interlude at the Mother Ship. The older couple just retired from the Navy and left no doubt that the happiest years abroad for themselves and their children were spent there.
I've met others who did the odd TDY there and never heard a one complain. Doubtless it has its charms.
I remember in the immediate aftermath of the coup, the government running a banner across the top of the screen on Thai channels, thanking citizens for their calm and cooperation. It was...surreal.
"Who got the big laugh, Trish, and why?"
ReplyDeleteSomeone who's just lukewarm about Petraeus.
"I am going to take a few days off."
ReplyDeleteI was rather expecting that.