ZOMG UPDATE

[woodface]

*eyes computer* Stop crashing!

This weekend was spend playing a 7 year old Cameron as the entire student population turned wee for the weekend. I had entirely too much fun with this. Cameron ended up fighting with Anakin, he played tag with principal Zoe Washburn and hugged her, he became Luke Danes' biggest fanboy and talked to Lorelai Gilmore about her baby and even felt her stomach and then he got pretend married to Molly Hayes. It took a while to get my head out of the wee!world and get to write teenage!Cam again yesterday which ended with Molly kissing him. Tex did not turn wee, but she did help out a wee!Veronica Mars to wash her hands and threw a wee!Kawalsky into the duck pond. Yay.

Wrote up an application letter for a job that I would really love to get, but I think I might be too late replying. Damnit.

I am not racist. I will never in my frelling life vote extreme right EVER and yet, yesterday was pushing it too far. Please tell me why we allow illegal immigrants to demonstrate for papers and benefits. Why? These people are here illegal, if they want rights they should go through the correct channel to get them. Our system owes them nothing. I'm all for sympathising with people who had a rough time. We're close friends with a family who lived through the genocide in Ruanda and have helped them in any way we could. This? No fucking way. You do not get to demonstrate when you're here illegally. And this right after two illegal immigrants killed that 16 year old kid for an mp3 players. Extreme right are going to have a ball next elections.

ETA: Oh and I went to see V for Vendetta. It was okay and now I got Overture 1812 stuck in my head. It's weird that Youri and I both liked it and my sis hated it, pretty much just like what happened with Sin City. I think my sis doesn't like movies based on comics.

Comments

[just-shai.livejournal.com]

I suppose it's different in Belgium, but I feel they have every right to demonstrate here. US Big Business is responsible for the closing of most small farms in the world and nearly all the sweat shops. They'll ship jobs overseas and pay workers less than half a living wage in their country when they could still be making money hand over fist to pay them a full living wage. So people are forced to leave their homes and go to the country that is trying to starve them. Working shit-jobs for $1/hour in the US will feed their families back home for a very long time, and if they can save well, they can return rich.

The worst part is that we, being US citizens, are perfectly content with our slave-class of workers. Just so long as they don't make any trouble.

[woodface]

Yeah, it's different. Especially considering that a while back our goverment even allowed illegal immigrants to legalise themselves.

[lizbetann]

We've had mass amnisties for illegal immigrants, too. Just... not this administration. :/

[woodface]

Uh, I'm not sure if it was under this administration that we had them. My brain is mush when it comes to dates. *pokes it*

[lizbetann]

Huh. I didn't know there were immigration protests outside of the US yesterday (ugly American that I am, yup). And... well, yeah. On one hand, I think that the Right is being massively hypocritical in punishing the people who do most of the nasty work in the US (and charge far less than anyone else; I don't even mean sub-minimum wage, I mean charging minimum wage (~US$6.75) for something that a non-immigrant would charge US$15-20 for). On the other hand... Um, against the law. And now you're demanding rights for... having broken the law?

[woodface]

Yeah, I think it's a first (or I might not have been paying attention). I had a major WTF. Belgian's situation with immigrants is really not the same as the american situation. While I'm sure there's abuse here too, I don't think it really compares.

[lizbetann]

Ack. Sorry, I didn't mean to insinuate that there was any comparison between the two.

And wow, am I humiliated for my country at your reaction. :/

[woodface]

*pats* Don't be. I think both situations are pretty much fucked up and we get abuse too (*points to prositution world that's just screwed up*). I think the political situations of our countries however differ to a point where the problems -while having some similarities- are just very different.

[amilyn.livejournal.com]

I made these comments in tv_elf's journal as well. I already ready your convo with lizbetann, so I'd like to say up-front that I'm discussing this STRICTLY from the perspective of the situation in the U.S.

One of the things I'm not seeing much discussion about but that is a big issue where I am are the KIDS who are brought by their parents when they're infants or young children. Those kids then grow up here, are educated here, and then, when they become adults, they are still undocumented...and yet they are not breaking the law through choices of their own, and they are certainly American...and yet they're screwed since there is currently essentially NO system to transition from "illegal" to "legal resident" and without legal residency, you can't even APPLY for citizenship. Add to that the fact that if they pass these things as they stand, they'll also be making it a felony to be in the country illegally, and then telling folks to "go home and apply through proper channels" ...problem with that is that anyone with a felony conviction is ineligible. Hmmm... Catch-22. Add to that the sometimes 15-20-year waiting period to get a visa from Mexico (one of the significantly affected countries)....

But regarding the kids....what do we do with that? We can't effectively "send them home" since they are home HERE.

And I totally agree re: outsourcing and cost of labor.

I think another concern that doesn't get well enough discussed is the fact that by NOT making it easier for folks to become residents/citizens, we are also allowing the exploitation of the folks who are here illegally out of desperation.

I'm not qualified to get into the disparity in quotas from various countries for immigration, residency, race, etc. I know there are discrepancies. I also have heard that something like 76% of the income received in El Salvador (?---somewhere in Central America) comes from relatives in the States--many illegal--sending money home. So if those people were to be "shipped home" then the majority of El Salvador would starve to death.

It's a mess. And it's a complicated mess.

I'm actually glad to see that the protests and marches were both peaceful and generated discussion. I just hope the discussion will include the messiness of the various nuances of the problem.