for years i've worked in restaurants and hotels, and consistent hiring policy is get i.d., get a social security #, bingo! he can punch in and get to work. they work for shit pay, doing for-shit jobs that the townies don't want. for 17+ years, my kitchen guys have all been brown and so have 90% of my bussers. they live 6 guys in a 2-bedroom, work 3 jobs and send money back to brazil or el salvador or wherever. alot of them have never had indoor plumbing before landing here, ok?
i share this only to frame the rest of this post. 99% of my guys have stayed out of trouble, but i know illegals who have been sent back and i know quasi-legals who did some illegal stuff and got sent home. i know some mostly-legals who did very illegal shit and got jail-time THEN a one-way ticket back.
much has been made in the news lately about artists being refused admittance to perform in the u.s. because of criminal convictions in their native countries (some simple misdemeanors). others, especially writers and professors, have been denied access because they --GASP!!-- have openly criticized the present administration and/or its policies. (i'll save the free speech rant for later this weekend... it's too late, and i'm already far too angry.)
vincente plays the congas for a kick-ass latin-jazz band. he was born in the dominican, but has lived here almost 40 years. he holds a green card and passport. he is married, has children and grandchildren all born and raised here. about 6 weeks ago, the band was returning from europe, a trip vincente has made many many many times. he deplaned at logan, and for reasons at this time not known, homeland security decided vincente is no longer welcome in the place he has peaceably spent most of his life. he is being held at south bay corrections, in the special homeland security wing.his hearing is in about 2 weeks. it's entirely possible he may be forced to leave behind his family, his friends, his band, his home, his livelihood -- all the passions that have fed his life. for no discernible reason other than "big brother says so."
i am so furious, i want to cry and i to want to scream, yet none of that will help him. casting my ballot in november will not help him. the ballot i cast that LAST november certainly did not undo or slow any of the nefarious doings then already in motion, all of which were exonerated and accelerated. this debasement of everything we as a nation are supposed to hold dear. the foundation of our country, for fuck's sake. jefferson would weep.
bush and his minions have spent the last years dragging us down into a slimy putrid warren in profane opposite-land which seems endless when i hear these sorts of stories. it's tyranny, ok? -- utter and arbitrary disregard for: rule of law, the constitution, the bill of rights, checks and balances, individual rights, states' rights, freedom of information, the geneva convention, sovereignty of nations... AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!!
not long ago, cheney was being interviewed and was asked how he felt that 70% (or whatever it was then) of america was "against the war." he replied: "so?" how's that for a big fat fuck you to the will of the people? then again, our *people* haven't shown much will, have they?
america, you make the call:
"remember, democracy never lasts long. it soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. there never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." ~~john adams
~~OR~~
"the first step in saving our liberty is to realize how much we have already lost, how we lost it, and how we will continue to lose it unless fundamental political changes occur."
~~ james bovard
as asked by icon meatloaf: "what's it gonna be, boy, yes or no?"
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