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Wednesday, June 25. 2008
Immigrants and Online Forums
One of the funnier chain e-mails I’ve received in a while is the one saying Senator Obama has changed the presidential seal and removed “E Pluribus Unum!” OMG!It’s funny because, the people who actually believe this has occurred never stopped to consider whether one senator — a junior one at that — has the power to change the presidential seal. Obviously, it would take a cooperated effort between the Executive and Legislative branches of government to make any changes to what is, after all, a bit of government property.
What happened was, a picture of Obama standing at a podium was taken and on the front of the podium was a take off of the presidential seal. It wasn’t done in “color” as the presidential seal is, but more of a blue-gray in various tones. At the top of Obama’s campaign sign it reads “Obama for America” and at the bottom www.barackobama.com.
On the Presidential Seal the words “Seal of the President of the United States” circles the entire seal. And yes, “E Pluribus Unum” doesn’t seem to appear on Obama’s campaign seal. As if it matters on a piece of campaign paraphernalia.
The horror of this of course, are the millions of people who will receive this e-mail and believe Senator Obama has actually changed the Presidential Seal. Proving once again, ignorance is our most common collective attribute, or maybe second or even third behind complacency and obfuscation.
Ever get tired of hearing people say, or reading “Everyone is entitled to their opinions.” I do, especially when the topic is something as moronic as Senator Obama changing the Presidential Seal. Yes, our Bill of Rights allows our fellow citizens to be stupid, but must we allow it without comment? I think not. So, if you send me a stupid chain e-mail that says something ridiculous about either candidate (and let’s not obfuscate here, I’m totally behind Barack Obama) I will respond appropriately, which in my playbook is to remind you just how stupid the e-mail is and if you believe it to be true then maybe you are pretty stupid too.
Unless of course you’re my sister, in which case my reply is: “You make the best cookies!”
On a website forum I frequent — far too frequently it would seem — a discussion was started about this coming presidential election. Some nimrod that dislikes both McCain and Obama, but is clearly a hyper conservative, blasted both for various positions on issues that both McCain and Obama once shared. McCain has since flip-flopped on many issues, so he no longer shares those views with Obama.
And in the spirit of full disclosure: last year Senator Obama said he would participate in the public election campaign-funding program. This year, after realizing how much money he could actually raise, he decided to opt out of the public funding. And why not! He’s out raised Clinton, considered to be the standard of campaign fundraising a year ago and he is, still, ahead of McCain in fundraising.
Still, Obama flip-flopped on the issue.
One of the main issues the nimrod keeps harping on is the so-called illegal immigration. It wasn’t illegal until some opportunist politicians saw a chance to exploit the racism and xenophobia so entrenched in American life by excoriating the Hispanics who, for centuries, have been going back and forth from Mexico to the United States.
And this area where I live wasn’t the United States until it was taken by force in a war started without cause by the United States specifically for a land grab.
One thing the Hispanic haters like to say about “illegal immigrants” is that they’re a drain on the health care industry and that’s why health care costs are so high. No the cost of health care is so high because it is a “for profit” business and the people who own the business are having record profits these days gouging U.S. citizens who are too complacent and/or ignorant to demand better.
The so-called “illegal immigrants” have little drain on the system because they are 50% less likely to visit emergency rooms when something happens that would require medical attention or get primary care. A study was done through the School of Public Health at UCLA, the largest of its kind, to collect that data.
The Rand Corporation did a study of the cost nationwide and found it to be about 1.5 billion dollars out of our tax-paying pockets. What is that, about $10.00 per tax-paying citizen? Jeez … but let’s say Rand was low at about 400%. Still less than $50.00 per tax-paying citizen.
So illegal immigration is a drain on the health care system is a false issue. Yet it still plays as if it is true, mainly because the harpies of the U.S. who are using racism, bigotry and xenophobia to garner votes — or radio talk show ratings. And there are those who are just ignorant enough to believe what these harpies say.
In the afore-mentioned forum I was called an America-hater for stating my views. Yet another tactic of the hyper-conservatives who don’t rely on reality for policy, but hyperbolic and inflammatory rhetoric to bully people into submission. Unfortunately for the ignorant in that forum, I can’t be bullied.The funniest issue in that forum (mentioned earlier) has to do with “post counts.” Below your online name is listed the number of posts you have. Mine is … well! I’ve been online there a while! Anyway, someone who claims to not care care about post counts started a thread (topic) for the expressed purpose of doing away with the post count, either entirely or have them hidden from public view. And then he went on to state (as fact) his opinions of how post counts are being manipulated by some to attain high post counts.
First of all, to claim you don’t care about something and then to try and start a movement to do away with that something is just so hypocritical it can only be comedy. Secondly, to fabricate scenarios of rampant abuse to support your hypocrisy is delusional. All-in-all though, that forum is entertaining. Sort of like those ridiculous chain e-mails we get everyday.
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