Is "The Streak" this Out of Touch?

Today's rant is about someone that I used to have a certain amount of respect for, but with his latest offering he is showing just how apart from reality he is getting in his older age.  The man that I speak of is the country singer/humorist Ray Stevens.  You remember him, right?  Well, don't feel alarmed if you don't.  Ray was popular for about 20 minutes in the 70s with the humorous song "The Streak" which, in all of its sophistication, was a song about a guy running around naked and...well...that was about it.

Recently Ray decided to post his opinion on the "Get rid of the Mexicans" law in Arizona which, by the way, it has come out in a series of emails between politicians and constituents is seen as a good thing for "taking our country back from the Mexicans".

Ray's new song is entitled "Come to the U.S.A." and is basically attempting to make the sociological argument that people come here illegally because we like to help people instead of criminalizing them.  He states that all other countries will beat, imprison, or kill you for being there illegally.

First of all, this argument is completely false and misguided.  I understand people's frustrations with our efforts and money going to criminals, but the issue here is that Stevens  is completely wrong as to what the issue is.  Illegal immigration is a symptom, a huge one, of yet another gigantic problem with our country.  If you break this down and create an analogy, Ray is agreeing with a law that states that if your head hurts, take a pain killer to squash the pain instead of facing the real problem which is that you have a metal bar jammed into your skull.

Conservatives have this long-standing political mantra that states that anyone who does something that they do not agree with should be criminalized.  This is called negative reinforcement and has consistently been proven to be, well, let us just say, not the most effective way to make things right.  They like to lock up sick people (drug addicts) in prisons with murderers and rapists, to dehumanize them and remove them from sight.  That seems to be their answer as long as we do not have to look at them to destroy our 1950s whitewashed "Leave It To Beaver" mentality.  If their arm burns, cut it off instead of removing it from the fire.

To Ray Stevens:
Dear Ray, I remember listening to your tapes when I was 10 and thinking they were funny.  Then I grew up and saw reality and found that you are really nothing more than another misinformed good ol' boy that thinks fart jokes are the end-all be-all of humor.  Your new song, "Come to the USA" is not funny in any way and is completely wrong in its assessment of the things that this country was founded on.
It is with the support of ignorant hicks, such as yourself, that give people the idea that it is good to be racist, it is good to forget about history, and that "gated communities" and malls are a good thing.  I understand your frustration with situations, but to think that dehumanizing Mexicans and spending valuable police resources on this is just the biggest waste of ideals and money since ol' Bushy left office.
Please take the time to think this over and find that only with true education and immigration reform will we start on the correct path of this that you see as a battle.

Here is the video for people to understand.  Mind you, the video itself is not that awful, but the fact that it is in response and support for Arizona is the issue:

Arizona: The New Home of Ethnic Cleansing

So we have all heard about the Arizona law that makes it mandatory for police to question someone of their immigration status if they have "reasonable suspicion" to think they are illegal.  It is very controversial and some rather heated debates have sprung up from this and I have to say...well...I was considering going sarcastic here and pretending to agree with it and how racial profiling is a good thing and how it is perfectly fine as long as you are not brown, but I could not bring myself to do it.  I considered the risks and I could not allow someone to read what I was thinking and take it seriously.

Arizona is attempting to become the first all-white all-English speaking state.  Heaven for WASPs.  Now then they just passed another law and ruling to remove all classes that are geared towards ethnic groups or can be construed as "anti-American" as well as a ruling from the education department that anyone with a "thick" accent is banned from teaching English classes.

Wow how Arizona is going off of the deep end.  The first Police State.  Here is a cartoon from the great Matt Bors that sums this up nicely: (http://www.mattbors.com/newstrip.html)

Not only do the right wing of Arizona claim to hate Obama because of what they see as him being a Nazi, but they sure seem to want to rather fascist regime in their state.

They try to argue that this is a law only to prevent crime and they hold this weird belief that illegal immigration is the main problem with our country.  Let me be the first to pop your little bubble Arizona, but the problems with our health care, the problems with our prisons, the problem of crime, and the problem of the economy is not due to the illegal immigrants in the USA.  The problem is more due to the lack of educated Americans, the functional illiterates, and the people who are addicted to drugs in the first place, most of whom in all of these situations are legal Americans that cannot even name three of the founding fathers.  The drug running and drug problem that they claim to be fighting against is not due to people drug running, it is due to that fact that there is a market for it in the first place.  Most people, if given a choice, would rather do a legal, honest, hard working job for their wages and wants, but our society has made it so difficult for them to do so that they revert to drugs and alcohol along with black market goods, including narcotics.  It is a simple formula.  You are never going to eliminate drug use, but you can attempt to fight the causes of it instead of the symptoms.  I have known a good amount of illegal immigrants and they are just like you and me, struggling for a better life for themselves and their loved ones.  Many come here because of all of the violence and corruption in their home countries and America is still one of the few places that if you are lucky and work hard you can make something of yourself.  They come for hope.

Many of them would rather be legal, but you have made it so much more difficult for them to come legally that they have no other option.  This country was founded and took pride in the idea of the "Melting Pot".  Different people and cultures could come, become integrated, and thrive in peace and freedom, not the idea of white rich people only which is what you are trying to claim.  While the last president, ol' Bushy was in office, he made it even harder and more expensive to come here legally.  Hmm...

Also, just because someone has an accent does not mean they do not know English or even that they may know it better than we do.  Oh, here it comes, another bubble-bursting moment...English is not that "National Language" as you so like to claim.  It was never founded or formalized as such.  It is the most common language, but the idea of freedom means that you can speak whatever language you would like, and if the people or business owners do not want to cater to Spanish or whatever language, you do not have to. 

You are afraid of what is different.  You are angry because you cannot communicate with some people, or at least that is what we are saying to be polite.  The truth is that people who claim such things are just plain racist and hateful of that which they do not understand.  Those "damn Mexicans" as I have heard them called, are some of the nicest and hardest working people in this country.  You like to claim that they are taking our jobs, but the fact remains that many of you will not do the jobs that they will.  You are to good to build houses or pick in the fields.

I love America and the freedoms that it was founded on.  I personally despise a lot of religions and people who are paid to lie on televisions for political ends, but they have the freedom to due so and I defend that freedom.  I feel bad for the ignorant Arizonians that honestly think this bill is a good thing because most of them are just brainwashed by Fox News and education cuts.  Many totalitarian dictators believed in burning books and banning freedom of thought because education as a whole will open everyone's eyes to how they are being fucked everyday by the people in power.  The right-wing especially loves cutting education spending because many of their ideas on social issues are of such a third grade mentality that they can retain power as long as that is your highest level of learning.  Texas is working on changing facts in their school books, we saw it with Kansas and Pennsylvania over the whole "intelligent design" theory which was not intelligent at all, and we saw it with President Bush issuing a decree that park rangers were not allowed to say how old trees and sites were due to the idea that the scientific fact is against the bible.  Can't you see the horrible problems with this?

Many of you claim problems with science and their are problems, but it is a self-correcting philosophy that is not always right.  You claim that science does not know anything, but they  know and can prove way more than you can, so please shut your mouth until you have an actual logical argument.  Get your facts right and admit your own problems please.  Speak up if you want, but at least have some idea of reason.  The great old quote says this: "It's better to be thought a fool than open your mouth and prove it." and boy, how many people prove it everyday in this country.  I love the right of free speech but as is consistently noted, with rights come responsibility.  Have some.

It is a Historic Night....

We have done it.  It is not the bill that I wanted or the situation that I wanted, but in the end, it is something that we needed and needed badly.

The republicans have shown their true face.  It is the face of a party that truly cares about the rich white man only.  I agree with the need to control costs, but when pretty much ALL estimates have said this is a money-saver in the long run, how can you deny it?  How can someone be so heartless as to say to the people of America, "Oh, I am sorry that you are dying of a treatable illness, but the rich white man does not want to pay a tiny bit to save your life, help your small business, or allow your child to see a doctor."

We are so divided as a nation lately that it sickens me.  I was proud to see some people stand up this past week and put aside their differences because they understood that this bill, whether you like its means or not, is better than the status quo.  Right now the insurance companies are allowed to do whatever they wish in order to FUCK the American people.  I have what is considered by a lot of people to have a good health insurance but even I have to pay ridiculous amounts in the end.  I heard a republican congressman say that this bill will be the end of private insurance and the government takeover of health care.  This is false, but I wish it were true.  The private insurance companies have screwed us over for the last time and maybe it is time to give the government a shot to do what private insurance has consistently FAILED at.

In case you are unaware, I am a supporter of the single-payer health system.  When this was not going to happen I settled for the public option and removal of insurance anti-trust laws.  The public option went out the window because republicans screamed "socialist!"  Most of them do not even know what that word means.  They love expanding military but the fact is that the American military is one of the largest socialist programs on our planet.  The republicans are crying because they are forcing the democrats to use various parliamentary procedures to get their votes, but again they loved it when those same procedures led to the GIGANTIC tax cuts for the rich that have really driven this country into the ground.

I have never seen a larger group of hateful and hypocritical people in my life.  Let's spend billions on attacking sovereign nations, but the moment that you want to spend that money to better our society as a whole, you are an evil commie bastard.  I personally am not trying to tear down republicans and all of their ideas, but overall they failed us as leaders.  They refused to assist in the writing of the bill and then cried foul that they did not have a say.  They refused to propose anything unless this bill was completely removed.  You know full well as I do that if we would have agreed to their terms nothing would have happened and corporate greed would have won again as it did for all of the years under ol' Bushy.

Again, normally I am not as bitter toward the republicans and even agree with them on some stuff, but most of that is in theory, not in practice.  It would be nice if the federal government were small and left things up to the states, but slowly the government has been expanding because the states have failed the people over and over and when they do where else does the little man have to go?  If the states had their way there would still be separate but "equal" in many areas, which we all know was the biggest lie ever.  The states are run by the large companies that reside in them and under "free-market" capitalism, it is us, the people of America and our democracy that loses.  The free-market system is fine and dandy, but it does not work and has not worked well since its induction.  Human greed is strong and the free-market system just gives greed a place to thrive while the politicians roll in the dirty money that is built on human suffering and live in a fucking Reagan wet-dream.

I am personally an old-school classical liberal/Hustler Democrat.  I believe in small government but the republican government seems to always spend money in the wrong places.  They still believe in this idea of "trickle-down" economics that always favors the rich and fucks the poor.  I believe that the federal government has a moral and civic duty to protect the health and well-being of its people.  The two greatest ways to do that are through health care and education.  I personally think that college should be public and free to everyone that can handle it, but that is just me...well...and logic and reason, but no one pays attention to that.

I am done ranting.  Today is a day for rejoice as reason has triumphed over individualism again and our nation is one step closer to fulfilling the promise of liberty and justice for all....

...now once Cheney is found guilty for war crimes then justice will win again.  =)