Open Arms

“ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION is not a new problem...Natives Americans used to call it WHITE PEOPLE”


The above statement is on one of those “ILike” boards on Facebook. And for a reason I have yet to determine, it really makes me angry.

I get the whole “Pilgrims were uninvited and sailed to the New World” thing. I know they nearly died that first winter and but for the Indians Native Americans, would have without help and education. I know we killed the Indians Native Americans, moved them to reservations, blah, blah, blah. I’m completely sympathetic to the damage we caused; and that we’ve never made full reparations. I get all that. I understand that we killed all the buffalo and ruined their land. Okay.

I understand that bad white people from America decided that people with dark skin from other countries would make a good entrepreneurial enterprise by kidnapping, beating and enslaving them then selling them for a huge profit to more bad white people who couldn’t till their own fields or make their own mint juleps.

I realize that these people had no choice in what happened to them. They were invaded upon or robbed of their homelands and caused to live in places they did not choose; in horrible and cruel conditions. We treated them all badly. And we can’t take that back or make full reparations. Ever. We can’t throw money at it or build enough monuments or rewrite the history books. What’s done is done. Let’s move on and try to move forward.

But from my bigoted, racist, hypocritical, whatever-the-fear-of-the-day-a-phobic viewpoint, the illegal immigration issue is completely different. For one thing, these aren’t just immigrants we’re talking about. These aren’t people coming over on boats, passing through checkpoints, filling out paperwork, having their names changed and integrating into our societies; working, owning businesses, paying taxes, paying their own way, educating their children, providing a useful service to their new country. These aren’t people who were stolen from their homeland and made into less-than-human creatures.

These are people who have CHOSEN to come here from MANY other countries and in many cases, taking great risks and paying huge sums of money (probably to more bad white people) to live in this country. And when they get here, they make little or no attempts to follow our laws, be members of the community, respect the country they came to. They chose to come here, but not to live by our laws. Because our laws are too cruel, too mean, too hard to follow.

The new classes of bad white people want them to have paperwork; we want them to hold legal jobs, work hard, make money and pay taxes. We want them to learn our language, read our books and integrate into our society. Because they CHOSE to come here. This was the country they risked it all to enter. And, I’m assuming it’s not because they wanted to immerse themselves in the language or needed a good hamburger and fries. It’s because we have jobs, free medical, education and services for all the down-trodden and huddled masses yearning to be free. And we offer them to everyone; regardless of race, creed, color or whatever. And they couldn’t get that in their country.

We don’t want them here unless they can live under our laws. Don’t bring your drugs, guns, bombs or religions with you and expect us to integrate to your way of life. You chose to come here to our wealth of learning, freedoms and riches. We expect you to give back to the country you chose. We require that you comply with our laws, our courts, our way of life. If you don’t like our laws, our ways, then why did you come?  The laws that you hate are the very reason you have freedom:  including the free benefits of living here.  Laws govern the people and allow freedoms to flourish.  Without them our country would be a place of thieves, murderers and rapists.  There would be no safety on the streets or churches or places to hold up signs stating your displeasure with something.  Exactly like your country -- the country you left.

Man I’m getting tired of this subject. I wish it would go away. But, like anything worth fighting for, it’s not an easy fix. No one wants to be the bad cop in this. We have laws that no one wants to enforce because they’ll hurt people’s feelings or send the wrong message. The only message we need to worry about sending is that we welcome everyone to our country – as long as you follow our laws, pay your dues and work towards becoming a legal, naturalized citizen of the country YOU CHOSE. Embracing takes open arms on both sides. Not handouts and dishonest ways.

You can’t take the gift without accepting the responsibility for the obligation to say thank you. And the biggest thank you our country could receive is for immigrants to come here legally and follow our laws. No matter how hard they are. Because anything worth having is worth the hard work to get there.

**UPDATE 9/3/2010**   Oh, and BY THE WAY?  It wasn't ILLEGAL "back then" to come to America without paperwork.

Baby Talk

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/243689/jennifer-aniston-no-spin-zone-kathryn-jean-lopez
Jennifer Aniston wants a baby. Jennifer doesn’t have a husband; or at this present time even a viable interested male-type person who is consistently in her life. But, we have all this technology and all this brou-ha-ha over single parent households, same-sex marriages and the obsolescence of gender definition. So why shouldn’t she be able to have a baby using every available method known to human kind?

Argument #1: She isn’t married. So she should get married – an arranged marriage – to have a sperm donor and life-time father figure for said child(ren). I mean, she was married to Brad Pitt and dated John Mayer for quite awhile. We’re going to completely forget about the whole, sad Vince Vaughn incident. I think if she had any plausible alternatives in this category, she would have already done it.

Argument #2: If she was meant to have a baby, she would have had one already the “natural” way. Great; maybe it’s not in God’s plan for her to have a child. And maybe by using medical advances she is overstepping her boundaries in God’s will for her life. But does that mean that married women who don’t conceive naturally are doing the same? God only intends progress to be used in moral ways? I don’t necessarily agree that anyone who wants a baby should be able to pay for and have a baby; but honestly, who decides where the moral line is on this one? If a woman is pregnant and her husband dies before the baby is born – should she be required to give the baby up (or any other children) to a family that is a two-parent household?

Argument #3: Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. This works both ways. Men who are 55 or 60 or 65 or older CAN still create children. But they shouldn’t. However, the news is filled with men who procreate with their fourth (or whatever number) wife or girlfriend at whatever age (mostly celebrities, because who writes news articles about the guy next door that has been married four times and has 12 children – his last at 65). And the general thought is “good for him”. Because it’s obviously not disgusting or irresponsible for a man to create a life at 65 when he won’t be around to raise it, pay for college or walk it down the aisle. But when women around the world have ‘procedures’ to have babies, we all (including ME) scoff and say “she’s too old. She won’t even be around to raise the child. What was she thinking?”

So, although I believe in a two-parent home with a mother and a father, I think that there are worse things than wanting a child as a single woman without a viable male-person in your life. It’s not the easiest way to go, but in all honesty, Jennifer won’t be the one to raise it anyways. The nanny and the housekeeper will probably do more parenting that she will. Maybe she ought to just advertise for the nanny now and not worry about the sperm donor.

Gender

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/243922/making-gender-irrelevant-dennis-prager

I have long wondered when we would reach the point that sex doesn’t matter. By “sex” I mean gender. If we were truly fair then it wouldn’t matter if a person were male or female. But, it’s not possible to be completely unbiased to gender. Because then all kinds of things would change. You could no longer offer shirts that buttoned on one side vs. the other because everyone would expect to button their shirts the same way. “Men’s” Business suits could no longer be tailored for a man’s chest or body type. They would have to be marketed to women as well and tailored individually to fit cup sizes and women’s derrieres.

Women have complained for a long time about the injustice of paying more to dry-clean a women’s shirt than a man’s shirt; or to pay for alterations for a man vs. woman’s pair of slacks. And, why is it that insurance companies cover Viagra because it’s a men’s “quality of life” issue, but had to be sued to cover birth control for women if they wanted it. Birth control ISN’T a quality of life issue?

Department stores would have to change their signage from “Men’s” and “Women’s” to “Shirts”, Shoes” and “Pants”. Little girls could discover the joy of wearing underwear with a handy hole in the front. Men could proudly buy bras for their “man-boobs” without sneaking into the Intimates department at Nordstrom. We’d have to rename the store “Victor and Victoria’s Secrets”.

The female runner who was disqualified from winning the race in Africa because it was discovered that she had male internal organs could be re-instated as the race winner because she could compete in any race she wanted. There would be no more need to translate the signs on restrooms. We’d all have Ally McBeal bathrooms and have to display our privates (or not) to the rest of the public relieving themselves.

And, at some point we’d no longer have to make different colored blankets or diapers to distinguish babies in the hospital. Pink would be fine for football players and no one would think twice about men carrying purses.

The problem with all this gender fairness is that men and women ARE different. We have different parts, different brains, different abilities and different quirks. I’ll tell you what; when WOMEN can create a baby inside their body without needing sperm obtained from a man AND when MEN can produce a child by labor and delivery through their own body we’ll call the genders balanced.

Scraps

I’m not much of a scrap-booker. I like the idea of it and have even managed to (mostly) complete one book and begin two others. I’m really more of a “photo-hoarder and junk-paper-collector”.

I have movie and concert tickets, entrance stubs, photos (both digital and paper), postcards, bags from souvenir shops, maps, and a host of other great things just waiting to magically place themselves in an organized fashion in a scrap-book. What gets in my way is the whole ‘craftiness’ of the tasks. I consider myself craft-challenged instead of craft-capable. I have moments of brilliance – unfortunately they’re while I’m driving or otherwise engaged and can’t get to the idea until hours, days or months later. By then, it’s gone. I get hung up on having it look fantastic. Not just ‘good’ or ‘nice’. Those kind of books that friends remark “wow, did you have that professionally done?” or “gee, look at how great that looks!”

I suppose I could lower my standards a bit and quit comparing my scrap skills to those of other more talented scrappers. After all, I do have some talents. I can cook, at the drop of a hat (and a quick trip to the grocery store) a meal for 6 people that will easily feed 12. I have hosted BBQ’s, Shrimp Boils and Cub Scout meetings for up to 60 people without much more than a few jitters and several loads of dishes. I have organized and managed a fund-raising auction for our private school, four years in a row, for profit. I chaired a Cub Scout pack of up to 75 scouts for 8 years with only a few sleepless nights and the gain of MANY grey hairs. I directed a day camp for 300 plus boys four years in a row (the same years almost concurrently with the auction chair position) without losing a scout or causing (much) injury to anyone [they’re boys – shooting bows and arrows and bb guns and learning about knives. It happens.] I nanny 5 children on a regular basis and manage to feed, change and entertain them while dragging them everywhere my kids need to go. I rarely if ever forget an appointment or meeting (however I frequently forget birthdays and I’m sorry). I’ve lived through the death of both my parents and my husband’s parents, two weddings, two grandchildren (so far) and four children (although the last two may seal the crate).

I wish I could put all that in a scrapbook and journal it for people to see. I have photos of all those things; but it’s difficult to capture the joy of watching someone eat craw-dads and shrimp from a table covered with corn and spices and newspaper; or the amazement and jubilation to be the winning bidder while supporting a school and having fun; and the tremendous pride at having completed a wood craft, shooting a bulls-eye (or near hit), making a didgeridoo or completing the obstacle course.

But I guess I’ll just have to keep trying to put my life in photos, ticket stubs, receipts and souvenirs in books and give up on impressing people with how great the book comes out. They’ll just have to attend an auction, join scouts or come over for dinner to find out where my talents really lie.

Point of View August 5th, 2010

I’ve not been posting things on Facebook (see my most recent entry regarding integrity) so I thought I'd post a few articles I find interesting on my blog. You are always welcome to share articles and comment on them.


http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100805/a-gavel-falls-on-marriage-the-proposition-8-decision/index.html
Excerpt: Judge Walker’s decision is sweeping and comprehensive, basically affirming every argument and claim put forth by those demanding that California’s Proposition 8 be declared unconstitutional. That proposition, affirmed by a clear majority of California voters, amended the state’s constitution to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. In one brazen act of judicial energy, California’s voters were told that they had no right to define marriage, and thousands of years of human wisdom were discarded as irrational.


He continued: “Indeed, the evidence shows Proposition 8 does nothing more than enshrine in the California constitution the notion that opposite-sex couples are superior to same-sex couples.”

What bothers me about this verdict (as mentioned in the article as well) is that although many people make a family work in varying ways due to necessity, the definition of a marriage, as created by God for the purpose of procreation has been destroyed and reduced to irrelevancy. If anyone can be married, start a family and receive the legal and financial benefits of the marital institution, then why not offer those same options to single people? Why not do away with marriage and civil union’s altogether? Why shouldn’t two women (or two men), living together, whether ‘committed’ to each other or not, be able to claim each other on insurance, benefits, legal documents and the like?

After all, why is marriage such a big deal?



http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/When-profiling-isn_t-racist-1007301-99944154.html

Excerpt: Because of a correlation between race, sex and disease, the physician is using a cheap-to-observe characteristic, such as race or sex, as an estimate for a more costly-to-observe characteristic, the presence of a disease. The physician is practicing both race and sex profiling.


Does that make the physician a racist or sexist? Should he be brought up on charges of racial discrimination because he's guessing that his black patients are more likely to suffer from prostate cancer?


Should sex discrimination or malpractice suits be brought against physicians who prescribe routine mammograms for their female patients but not their male patients?

Asking people to show their documentation or prove their citizenship is no more profiling than asking to see a driver’s license or proof of insurance when you are stopped for speeding by the police. I don’t need to reference all the news articles about illegal immigrants, detention and crimes committed while in this country.

What about the store clerk that asks for your ID when presenting your credit card for purchase; or the waiter at the restaurant that ‘cards’ you when you order a drink? Is this profiling?



http://article.nationalreview.com/438967/illogical-immigration/victor-davis-hanson

Excerpt: Some 11 million to 15 million illegal aliens are now residing in America, most after crossing into America unlawfully. Once a federal law is arbitrarily not enforced, all sorts of bizarre paradoxes arise from that original contradiction. As proof, examine the following illogical policies and contradictions involving illegal immigration.

Take profiling — the controversial questioning of those who appear likely to be illegal aliens. Apparently, American border guards have developed criteria for profiling those deemed likely to be unlawful aliens. Otherwise, how would they have arrested and deported hundreds of thousands in 2009?

I’ve written about my feelings on immigration here and a few others. I don’t have a problem with PROVING that I can live here legally, or expecting everyone else to offer the same proof.

Intolerance or Integrity

I recently had a ‘conversation’ on Facebook with a friend who accused me of being intolerant because I stand up for my beliefs. She felt that because I vocally stood against certain things, and was honest about my beliefs and feelings that I was intolerant and bordering on bullying.

 

I admit I felt a bit convicted and tried to truly search my intent on speaking my beliefs. I have always valued other people’s opinions, attempted to debate honestly and without fighting and tried to see the situation from a variety of viewpoints, not only religious; as I am want to always fall back on.

 

The conversation began with an article I posted that CBS was gratuitously going to add more homosexual story lines to their fall shows. My comment was that I would be crossing several shows off my watch list for adding the story lines to the shows. Two people commented (paraphrased) that I was making much ado about nothing and that they felt diversity was important. One person even insinuated that I had inferred that “gay” was catching by watching TV. I responded that I felt insulted as that was not what I had said, nor what I inferred.

 

… I struggle here with being honest with what I believe is right and making people happy. I can't do both. I am what I am. I can't explain why God says it's wrong to be a homosexual but people are. I can't explain why it's okay for people to be in this country illegally but it’s against the law. I can’t explain why people with money who commit crimes are less likely to get full sentences and have to serve them than people who can’t afford publicity and good attorneys. I can’t explain why it’s necessary for TV shows to ram it down everyone’s throat that unwed teenage mothers, homosexuals and marital infidelity are acceptable. Or good role models. Just because I can’t explain it doesn’t mean I need to silently sit by and let it happen. Silence is usually taken for acceptance.

 

I have friends and family who are, or have chosen, the homosexual lifestyle. I don’t hate them, I’m not afraid to hug them or be around them, nor do I wish any harm or ill on them. I also don’t want to confer my acceptance of the fact that they are living in what I believe is sin. Disagreeing with the way that someone lives or the choices that person has made is not the same as hating them or wanting them dead. However, I can’t just stand by and tell them I agree with them either. That would make me hypocritical, which to me is worse than intolerance.

 

I also couldn’t stand by and let my friends murder, steal, lie or endanger their families without saying something. The allegory for this is watching and waving as those friends jump off a cliff.

 

So, let me use both the legal system and the Bible as my basis for my beliefs:

 

• In the United States of America, it is against the law to murder. There are varying degrees of murder (which I don’t understand – dead is dead) and varying sentences for the crime. Biblically, we have a commandment “thou shalt not commit murder”. However, it is NOT against the law to have an abortion. Abortion is the termination of a life; abortion is murder. You cannot stop the beating heart of a being and call it anything else but murder.

In Hebrew, the word for “kill” is harag – in English being a verb that covers taking life in all forms and for all classes of victims. The word for “murder” – criminal acts of killing – in Hebrew is ratsah.

• Homosexuality, same-sex orientation and same-sex marriage is against the laws of God. Man was made to be with a woman – their bodies fit together as such and they were created as a unit for procreation. Although sex is pleasurable, and meant to be so, the major intended purpose is for the procreation of the species. There are those in this country that want to make it lawful and acceptable to have relationships that are physically and emotionally impractical. No relationship is perfect, that is not the point. Relationships that are justified by reasoning of “I want it and therefore it can’t be wrong” are equal to letting your child eat candy all day because they like it. There are many consequences involved in getting what one wants; sometimes they are not pleasant and not beneficial.

(Yes I realize that there are many ways to conceive children, and that adoption is a viable alternative to conception. However in order to shorten this entry, I’m not going to delve into family life or the desecration of the family unit).

There are three specific verses in the Old Testament and four in the New Testament classifying homosexuality as a sin, unnatural and ending in eternity in Hell.

Leviticus 18:22 (New International Version) -- 22 " 'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.

Leviticus 20:13 (New International Version) -- 13 " 'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

Romans 1:26-27 (New International Version) -- 26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 1 Timothy 1:9-10 and Jude 1:7 make it very clear what lies ahead for homosexuals and other who sin sexually. The entire chapter of Genesis 19 speaks of Sodom and Gomorrah, the sexual perversions and the reason for the destruction of the city and its inhabitants.

There are 13 other verses in the bible – both New and Old Testament used to define marriage as between a man and a woman and for the purpose of creating children.

• Infidelity, extra-marital or pre-marital sex is also mentioned in the bible.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition defines "fornication" simply as: "Sexual intercourse between partners who are not married to each other."

In many states this is punishable by law as a criminal activity; it is also grounds for divorce in some states.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 9Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offender’s 10nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

 As judgmental as all of this sounds, and hateful and intolerant as you may think it is for me to believe these things and stand behind them, consider this: If you knew your friend was doing something that would lead to their death, wouldn’t you do everything in your power to convince them, stop them, save them from dying?

 

I can honestly say that I hope that I’m wrong. I hope that instead of eternity in Hell, God shows mercy to those that have blatantly and unrepentantly disobeyed his clear instructions on what not to do during our time on earth.

 

At some point, God will let us follow our own way. Just as a good parents sometime let their child learn lessons the hard way, God will stand back and let our free will, our desire for selfishness and acceptance be our master.

  

Romans 1:18-32 (v. 21-25 here) 21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

 

24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.