Villains In Love?

It was reported on the news today that Hayden Christenson and Kevin Spacey, or their respective characters' names Darth Vader and Lex Luthor, were photographed multiple times holding hands during the Cannes Film Festival. Darth Vader and Lex Luthor. What a conglomeration of evil! This evil can only be stopped by The Ambiguously Gay Duo.

What Else Need Be Said?

I saw this hand-written sign in the window of a van today:

Bush lied
Troops died
Their still dieing

Does this not explain a lot?

Drive American.....But Be Ready To Walk

How many times in our lifetimes have we heard the expression "Buy American"? Be it clothes, cars, or televisions, there is merit to this ideal. For the most part, I agree with that sentiment. Except for the part about tariffs and protectionist tactics, but that's for another discussion. Recently, I heard on the news that a Daimler Chrysler plant in Illinois is not allowing employees who drive products other than those made by Daimler Chrysler to park up front, but forcing them to park in the back. If you do not, your car will be towed at your expense.

That's harsh. I can ALMOST agree with the policy, particularly if the prime parking spaces are viewable from the road, and you want to use the lot as advertising space. Seeing as the company, and all auto manufacturers do this, offer discounted pricing on their products to employees, asking them to show off the product in a visible area makes business sense. But to go to the extreme of towing cars? What if you worked for Mercedes or BMW and you could not afford their products? Take out huge loans to save parking. Food may be scarce, but you'll have a short walk to the door. What if your spouse also works in the industry, and you were able to get a better deal on a product from, say General Motors? Tough. Bring rollerblades. What if its your first job out of college, and it's not your ideal job as you prefer another auto maker, but can't get a job with them? Hope you're in shape.

I'm surprised that one group hasn't made a big deal out of this policy - the handicapped. Doesn't this policy violate The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990? After all, if you have a disability where walking long distances is too big a strain, but you drive a competitor's product, you better bring a scooter. "But they're line workers. They're in fine shape. Heck, exercise may do them some good." I didn't realize that working in a factory also meant that you had to train for a marathon. Besides, not every employee at a factory is a line worker. You have management, engineers, secretaries, etc. Not everyone is going to be young, vibrant, and fully in shape to handle this walk. Whatever happened to first come-first serve? The employee who gets to work first potentially parks the furthest away. It's a stretch, but it sure sounds the same as what happened in the 50's with blacks being forced to sit at the back of the bus. Car racism lives!

I do get the idea of encouraging your employees to use the products they produce. A sort of "pride of ownership" ideal is laudable. But to punish financially those who exercise their right as an American citizen to spend their dollars on transportation any way that they deem fit? I guess the American right of choice in consumerism only goes so far. Maybe the factory parking lots should install half-pipes so you can skateboard into work, and pull off some tricks before you go in.

Lastly, what if you work at a Toyota plant, or some other foreign auto manufacturer? To have better parking, do you buy the foreign car, or do you support the notion of "Buy American'?

Come On In, The Water's Fine

I know it's been a long time since I've written anything, but I wasn't aware that in my absence, some laws just aren't relevant any longer. After all, Democratic Senators can ignore the Constitution and filibuster judicial nominees, ostensibly forcing an unconstitutional 60 votes for confirmation, as opposed to the 50 required as "advice and consent". As it was called in the late 1800's in the House of Representatives, this is simply "The Tyranny of the Minority". As bad as that is, that's not even what I'm talking about. My question on laws is simple. Since when does illegal mean legal?

Despite what many of you think, I am not a blind follower of President Bush and support everything he says or does. On balance, I do, but there have been examples such as the Education Bill (written by Ted Kennedy, in case you forgot) and the Farm Bill. But even more than those has to do with Illegal Immigration. The President, and others, support the notion of illegal immigrants staying in the county, and the granting them of driver's licenses, and allowing them to come in all the time. If I go to Canada and go curling (a truly awesome time), if I don't have proper ID, I won't be allowed back into my country. But these people enter illegally, and it's no problem. Hell, I'm surprised there isn't a guy standing on our side of the border with a sign that says "Welcome to America. Don't worry about those pesky things like identification, or proper channels for application. Busses to the welfare office and the DMV leave every 15 minutes."

I just don't get it. They're entering the country ILLEGALLY! Seriously, if they enter the country illegally, what's to stop them from committing other crimes here? After all, the first lesson taught to them by our judicial system is that violating law is ok. It's even expected. Maybe there should be a government pamphlet on violating the laws and accessing our social systems. Oh wait, one already exists.......

I am trying to understand why President Bush and some Republicans support this politically. I think it's because they think it'll win over Hispanic votes. If so, it's a huge miscalculation as it it'll drive away 2 constituency groups. The first are true conservatives such as myself who believe in LEGAL immigration, application for visas, etc. The second are LEGAL immigrants of Mexican descent. How pleased are they going to be, knowing that they took the proper time and went through all the proper channels to immigrate here, just to see others just waltz in and have the same benefits, but not have to worry about paying taxes and the like since they don't have to get a social security/Tax ID number?

There's even an economic lesson here. Privatization works! (Social Security anyone?) Since the U.S government isn't too interested in actually enforcing the law, the Minutemen down in Arizona and New Mexico have taken it upon themselves to patrol the border and report illegals. Imagine that. Law being enforced by law-abiding citizens. God Bless Them! They are doing amazing work!

I have an idea that could save millions of taxpayer dollars and reduce the Federal budget. Since the Immigration and Naturalization Service does not seem to be interested in tracking down and deporting illegal immigrants, why not abolish the department? It's becoming useless and a huge drain on the budget.