Why Do We Insist On Being Lazy and Stupid?

Soooo…. why do we insist on simple answers for everything.

I know in my Christian Schooling it was taught to us that GOOD and EVIL were as clear and black and white, right and wrong, Goofus and Gallant.  But most of my teachers, all through High School were more nuanced.  Not all of them.  But most of them.  They taught me to question any absolute other than the overwhelming love that God has for us as evidenced by the life and death of his son.  That was a non negotiable and as absurd as it seems to my non believing  friends it remains a pretty solid non negotiable item for me.

But everything else is on the table.

Law school made this worse.  When I first heard the title “50 Shades of Gray” I assumed it was about the practice of law, rather than… shit, I don’t even really know what the book was about as I didn’t read it, but I don't think it was about the law.  Everything is gray.  Black and white are illusions, over simplified for the control of the masses by the few who rile them up with righteous indignation over…

1. Anything.

2. Our children and the safety of our children and the future of our children.

3. But if children are not available than in our case it is our AMERICAN values and our Constitution which someone (currently an evil black man in Washington) are trampling upon and ruining EVERYTHING for everyone.

A. Freedom

B. Abortion

C. Gun Rights

D. Same Sex Marriage

People, this shit is complicated.  It is complicated by millions (or at least several thousand for Biblical 7 Day Creationists) of years of history and baggage.  Hate and distrust of strangers (anyone who believes differently than we do) is nothing new.  

I know my Old Testament (by virtue of Lutheran School drilling and man named Fred Grundman, may his sharp witted, sometimes sarcastic and always brilliant soul rest in peace).  There is a lot of really good stuff there.  A lot of great life lessons for leading a valued, meaningful, worthwhile and happy life.  There is also a lot of stuff written by fearful men which was might (or might not) have helped the people they were writing for.  I believe scripture is inspired by God but, men wrote it.  I get how eating pork was forbidden and why.  It made a great deal of sense.  It no longer does.

Now I know many faith traditions still hold pork as tref but most of us have moved on in varying degrees.  Anyway, I digress only because so many people use the literal interpretation of certain verses of scripture (while ignoring Christ’s example in the Gospels) as an excuse for not thinking.  We as a country are doing the same thing with the Constitution.

Why do people get so apoplectic about our 2nd Amendment Rights?  I believe our framers meant for our Citizens to have a well organized militia.  At that time, the government could not afford to outfit troops so certainly every man having a weapon made sense.  Perhaps it still does today.  Did they envision the killing power that an individual has in their hands now?  NO.  Satan himself could not have seen that so much power for death could be in one mans hands.  I do not like guns particularly.  I know it is impossible to get shot if you're not in shooting distance of a gun.  I know I have never been threatened by a gun or by gun violence.  I dont want them in my house or around my children. I would prefer no one have them.  But at this point… it doesn't make any difference what I think.  310 Non-military guns in the US according to CNN.  So this is done.  Now we have to thrash around with it and watch the ease with which crazy people and children have access to guns.  There are too many of them.  But it is done.  Lets stop pretending like we are going to do anything about it and lets stop giving the NRA and Gun manufactures fodder for their asinine claims that Obama is going to take away their guns and ammo.  If he could get it done, he would of.  He knows he can’t.  I wish he could of.  No one can.  SHUT UP about it on both sides.  We have made our bed.  I don’t support that we should all have non hunting firearms but so what?  It is a meaningless yet divisive conversation.  Handguns?  I know you can target shoot with them but they are really for killing people.  But so what?

Immigration… again, why can’t we see this is complicated.  Why can't we admit that American Business has been blessed by (insisted upon) an open southern border to provide cheap, easily used up and thrown away labor forever or at least for my life.  So lets not pretend that we have not welcomed and benefitted from these immigrants for a long time.  At a cost!  Absolutely.  Not all of us?  Yes, all of us have benefitted through cheaper food and goods.  Think Tyson, WalMart and each piece of fruit you eat and then shut up about not being part of the problem.  There is also no question that we could seal and control the border.  It would have a huge expense but if you think we could not fence, mine and patrol 3000 miles, than you don't understand AMERICA.  In the meantime we have 50,000 children here from Central America who our own laws say we cannot send back without a hearing (stupid law but the law and since our congress is so dysfunctional it cannot presently be overturned).  So all of you law and order people on immigration need to pay attention to this one too.  Bottom line is that we are not as a nation going to send 50,000 kids back to hell.  As to the 11,000,000 (estimated) illegal immigrants, we literally do not have the:

1. Time

2. Resources

3. Desire (see Tyson foods above)

So “send them home”.  Our economy uses them and profits from them.  They use services.  there is a cost.  Saint Ronald made them all citizens but I guess that was his only mistake. We are not going to send 11 million people back.  So there are no EASY ANSWERS.  Although i think Illegal immigration through our southern border has been a great thing for the country I realize that is not a widely held opinion.  How about if we…

Spend the Money to secure the border, make a national investment like the race to the moon.  Announce that we are doing it and announce that when it is complete, everyone here will have six months to begin a process of becoming a citizen.  I know it sounds shitty but there are no easy answers!  SUGGEST SOMETHING BETTER!  I will listen.

Abortion.  Wow.  We had to get there.  I am against abortion.  I think (please focus on the word THINK) that it might be murder.  I really don’t know when life begins.  But it is not unreasonable to think it begins at conception.  I also believe that women who get abortions are often badly damaged by their actions in ways they cannot fully appreciate, in the moment.  On the other hand I KNOW:

1. There are many unwanted pregnancies

2. Some of these pregnancies will be terminated regardless of legislation

3. A women should have say over her body (I realize a fetus has rights too)

4. If we make it illegal, people with means will have safe abortions, people without means

will have to rely on “lesser” options.

5. You cannot legislate morality.

6. We are not taking care of the children who are born and “unwanted”.

7. There is a societal cost to the majority of unwanted children that society has proven

unwilling to bear.

8. The people who tell me every life is sacred have very little interest in stopping the government from murdering people on death row, despite the whole “every life is sacred” thing.

I have no answers to this one.  Life is sacred.  But so what?  Pray a lot.  keep an open heart for people who disagree with you.  Be deeply suspicious of anyone who provides simple answers.  Did I mention, pray a lot.

Same sex marriage.  I saved this one for last.  I have a vested interest in this one, having a gay son.  I understand the people who go to the Bible and pick verses (I believe out of context) to support their pathological hate for this and their support of the sanctity of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.  I know I am small minded on this one so i will be a little more of a prick.  I will try and be kind to you as our children have already made the decision.  This is a clear case of raising people whether intentionally or not, who are better people than us.  Maybe that is something we can be Thankful for.  

***

So, be smarter.  Be thoughtful.  Be reflective.  Be different people.  Fail at it.  Then try again.  I heard Glenn Beck quoting Deutrich Bonhoeffer.  His picture is the one on top. He was truly a great man.  If you don’t know anything about him be lazy and read this.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer

If you want a really good short read, this really improved my understanding of faith and life and purpose.  It is only 128 pages and is a great intro to a great man.

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Together-Classic-Exploration-Community/dp/0060608528

Glenn Beck quoting Bonhoeffer?!  I don’t know whether to he hopeful or horrified but, shit, let’s choose hope.

Missouri Illegal Immigration Problem....Really?

Soooo I guess Missouri has a pretty serious illegal immigration problem. I mean Republicans in State Government have made it a priority to get a bill passed to mirror the recent Arizona law that has everyone buzzing. I am not here to opine on that law. Arizona sits on an uncontrolled border and has a lot of very real issues with illegal immigration. I might not like their approach but I do not deal with their problems, nor do most Missourians. I understand that maintaining a border is an essential part of any country's fundamental duties. I understand that unchecked immigration is a social threat and a terrorist threat and all kinds of threats but we are of course a nation of immigrants and everyone I know who says they are here legally claims it by virtue of birth. Though they might protest that their forefathers came over here "the right way" I would put it to any "birther" to prove it to me. We are here. Many of us pay taxes (a lot of taxes and have for a long time) and we resent the idea of people flooding in here and taking what we got. Politically I get it. As a Christian as I find this paranoia and anger revolting. But this is not the place for that. The fact is that Missouri does NOT have an illegal immigration problem that deserves the limited resources or the even more limited attention span of our State Legislators.

But Mark Parkinson of St. Peters is sponsoring a bill to deal with this pressing issue. St. Peters Missouri as most of you know has thousands of undocumented workers flowing into it every day, using public services and taking jobs that real citizens could have...except that they don't. Parkinson appears to be playing to his crowd sponsoring other legislation including:


HB2449
Creates various crimes for trafficking, concealing, haboring, sheltering, or transporting illegal aliens
HB2449 -- (LR# 5481L.02I)

And these equally important uses of legislative time:


HCR76
Encourages every school district in Missouri to promote and include trap shooting as a high school sport
HCR76 -- (LR# 5225L.02I)

and...


HB2131
Requires a $2 deduction each pay period from the Governor's personal pay to be deposited into the Governor Nixon's Federal Scratch-Off, Match-Off Fund to purchase a Powerball lottery ticket each week
HB2131 -- (LR# 4979L.01I)

http://www.house.mo.gov/content.aspx?info=/bills101/spon/spn016.htm

So at least we know the people of St. peters are well represented regarding the illegal immigration menace.

According to Statemaster.com Missouri ranks 34th in illegal immigrants with almost 22,000 people flooding our public schools, and stealing jobs from our valid citizens. That is almost .037% of our population threatening and menacing us with their hispanic horde.

All I am saying Missouri is get a grip. We have serious problems in Missouri and illegal immigration is not one of them. If we are going to protect our borders we have more to worry about with people fleeing Arkansas then Mexico and when Illinois' budget crashes we could have a huge influx of "those people" moving into our State as well. I long for higher Mexican American population so that I do not have to travel so far for good Mexican food (not Taco Bell or Casa Gallardo or even, "gasp" Hacienda). I have never had a person count back change to me in Spanish. My children have never been forced to sit through bilingual education. It is nit an issue here, other then a political issue. Like abortion and gay marriage it is a litmus test issue for the "you are either with us or your against us" people who are controlling the political conversation.

I say lets not play the game. The fact is that hispanics currently make up 14% of our population. They are projected to make up 29% by 2050. A spanish lesson for all of our children might be a forward looking thing to do rather then pass a law for a problem here that simply does not exist.

Erata: Year End

So what is all this bullshit about immigration? You got the Republicans picking this up like it is an issue that America really cares about but it is just another one of those divisive issues that split our country rather then unite us. Seriously... Romney is almost foaming at the mouth when he talks about Huckabee wanting to give tuition assistants to illegals like he was butchering puppies.

We have a country that was literally built on immigration. As Bill Murray said in the movie “Meat Balls” “our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world”. True that. Then we let everyone in so that we could have the labor for our indutrial revolution. Then we started only letting in smart people... and now... we don’t want to let anyone in except throught the right channels which.... post 9-11 will not let anyone in. It is just so silly. “We cant reward these people for breaking the law”. “I just think we need to enforce the laws that are on the books”. “We cannot do this to the people who have gone through the process”. This is the kind of idiocy that comes out of epoples minds when prattling on about this. 12,000,000 people (and that is probably a low estimate) are already here and driving a portion of our economy. We collect tax dollars from them that they cannot legally enjoy the benefit of. they do all of our shit work for less then we are willing to pay people but we want to keep them out. the reason they are here is because our economy cannot run without them. We cannot pick fruit without them. We cannot run huge abominable chicken and cow farms without them. We cannot process anything with them. We need illegal aliens to run our economy and business wants and needs them not just to do the work but as 12,000,000 more consumers. They are NOT going anywhere.

Forgetting about the impossibility of the task of finding and removing 12,000,000 people lets assume they all just tturned themselves in, in a very orderly fashion at the post offices in their local communities. To house, process and transport home each of these folks would take...very conservatively 5k each. 6.6 Billion dollars to send them home. Granted it is not “peace in the middle east” type money but it is more money then we EVER like to spend on anything that does not roll or explode.
We still (despite the Bush administrations best efforts) still live in THE BEST, GREATEST country in the world. Everyone wants to live here. reagan let em all in when he was President and look where that got us? Oh a booming economy...blah blah blah. I am not saying the economy boomed because of that but seriously, they were here, they were not going home and Reagan did the only smart thing. It is still the only smart thing. Then we can work on tightening up our borders but once again... seriously... do we really want walls and razor wire on or borders? You know who had really good borders? The USSR. Where did that get them?

Lets let em in and assimilate the hell out of em and reap the benefits. Thats what I think.

****


So when did things deteriorate to this level? By that I specifically mean this year. Forget about the fact that our national intelligence estimate just told us that THEY (whoever they are but presumably the same people the President gets his info from) believe the Iranians stopped their nuclear weapon program in 2003... four years ago. Forget about the fact that our administration has been beating the drums to go to war with them... forget about that.
No... at year end we need to reflect on the year that was. Sure I was involved in a slight business reversal. Sure I am back to practicing law again full time... for people... for money... but lets set all that aside. Lets focus outside ourselves... for once and lets look at how our contry specifically got to this sorry state. Specifically... looking at the great theme phrase of the year when did we go from the brave strong country who put “Don’t tread on me” on their flags move to a country where the most important phrase of the years is, “Don’t tase me bro”.
Don’t tase me bro? How the hell could this happen here?
****
Romney was on Meet The Press this morning. It is a sign of my dotage that I so enjoy and look forward to watching that on Sunday morning. They have had almost all the cantidates on and this morning it was Romney’s turn. Fresh off of his attempt at being John Kennedy (failed) and explain why no one should worry about his faith. It did not go so well. He has spent tens of millions in Iowa and practically moved there for the last two years figuring he could use the momentum to roll on into Hillary’s New Hampshire. Looks like a failed strategy. Huckabee is leading but will perhaps fail when the hard questions start to be asked but who knows.

Faith of course should not make a difference. Our Constitution is clear that good men can serve whether Protestant’s, Muslims, Atheists, Hindus etc... But Romney has to worry because he has to pander to the radicalized Christian conservatives. That simply cannot work for him. He was on emphasizing the similarities but it just does not sell. What is worth is all the flip flopping he has done to appeal to this base. Gun control, abortion and immigration are three big 180s he has done. A man should be allowed to change his mind and position but all of his moves have been towards one thing and that is appealing to the base that Karl Rove and W put together. It is a failed strategy for 2008.

I know I already called Huckabee the winner of the nomination but these guys could still muddle it enough for a Mc Cain/Huckabee ticket. Stay tuned.

***

Dan Fogelberg died yesterday. Tragedy. He was my Sufjan Stevens. He died after a long losing battle with prostate cancer at his farm in Maine. I just assumed he still lived in Colorado where he made all his great music after fleeing middle Illinois but this guy... this guy from 1971 to 1976 released four brilliant solo CD’s produced by Irving Azoff and Joe Walsh and who had some of the best session players of the age on them. Pretty music with poetry and angst. But for his album Home Free and the song “Stars” I do not think I would have convinced my then 16 year old future wife to fall in love with me.
“Stood out in the rain
Let it soak me down
Before I called you...I called you.
Didn't see me there
Hidden by the rain
Beneath your
window...But I saw
you.
Putting on your face before the
Mirror on the wall
Dreaming that the looking glass
was me...
Catching your fondest gazes
Living through your fickle phases
I love you.
And it's getting easier each day
[ Lyrics found at www.mp3lyrics.org/GZs ]
To weep about you
Harder every night to
sleep without you
How many years must I be driven
By this dream
Of love with you?
Spend my dimes on phones
Trying just to talk but
You don't answer...you let it ring.
Spend my nights alone
Catching falling stars to
Give to you, love,
They're just for you.
For stars fall every time a
lover has to face the truth
And far too many stars have
fell on me.
And as they trail the skies
And burn their paths upon my eyes
I cry.”

Does not get much gayer then that but... I was 15. Cut me some slack.
It all fell apart around 79 when he became arty and pretentious with Jazz flutist Tim Wesiberg. By 81 he had sold out totally with the album “The Innocent Age” which included the sappy “Leader of the Band” and “Auld Lang Syne”. Awful stuff.
According to Wikipedia:
“In No Cure for Cancer, comedian Denis Leary suggests suing Fogelberg and James Taylor for turning him soft in the 70s, based on the legal precedent of the lawsuit filed by the parents of the two kids who killed themselves after listening to Judas Priest.”

Probably in poor taste considering cancer is what killed him on the 16th.

*****