Thank You Google!

"55th Anniversary: Rosa Parks refuses to move."

Hopefully we all know the history of Rosa Parks and the difference that she made in a world that was refusing to take action to change the injustice she and many others like her were facing. If you don't, go google it (or click on a link below!). It's important. It's important to understand the history or our nation, the mistakes we've made, and the way we need to move forward. It's more important to learn from our mistakes, and the mistakes of others, and not let it happen again. People say, "history repeats itself" and I have to wonder why. Why we would we repeat our mistakes?

What is my take-away from this day? This anniversary? Change and Hope. I like the powerful words behind the actions that Rosa Parks took. The tag line to the Google image, and suggestion that one person can make a difference...

55th Anniversary: Rosa Parks refuses to move
(from wikipedia) US Congress calls her, "the mother of the freedom movement".
Rosa Parks Biography- Academy of Achievement
Rosa Parks: The Woman who Changed a Nation

So, thank you Google! Thank you for reminding me that there is hope. There is hope in change, even when it takes patience and fortitude to get there. And, thank you for reminding me that it sometimes takes a lot of courage to make a difference, enact change, and fight for freedom.

Ladies, Get Educated and GO VOTE!!!

This is Alice Paul

Alice was one of the women who fought for women to vote in the early 1900's. Many horrible things happened to her and her fellow women as they were imprisoned, beaten, starved, etc. There is a book written documenting this time, and an HBO movie, "Iron Jawed Angels" that I have yet to see. Apparently there is a scene where "Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men:"

'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

Click here to go take an MSNBC poll question on Arizona's Immigration law.

Sadly, it looks like America's silent majority is being completely silent on this one. Either that, or I only know people in the minority. I think if people really stopped to think about this law they would realize how terribly bad it is. Is it just a few steps away from Nazi Germany? I don't know that I'd go that far, but it certainly is heading in that direction. If you want a debate on the subject, I'm up to the task. If not, click above and go vote.

"Hey-ay, Ho-oh, SB1070's got to go!"

Proposition 100, I'm for it!

Ya know, as much as Bill complains about me following politics and as much as he dismisses anything I have to say when I get heated and uptight about all this stuff, you'd think he wouldn't send me links to articles about propositions. But he did. He sent this one on 1% Temporary Sales-Tax Increase.

This comment really made me think...

I’m a high school student here in Arizona. Just this past Monday, 45 of our teachers were told they may not have jobs next year. In addition, clubs will cease to exist, art classes may be cut, music programs may get cut, and athletics will become so costly that they too may not even exist. This has devastated all of us, and it’s completely unfair to all that are involved.

As a 17 year-old informed citizen, I wish I had the power to go out and vote yes on Proposition 100, but I can’t. I’m too young to have an opinion according to law (even though I’m far more informed than those who have the ability to vote.) However, i’m not letting this become an obstacle. As students, we’re banning together to get this Proposition passed. We’re raising awareness in our community and influencing everyone 18 years and older to go out and VOTE. As of now, the state is taking money away from children. Defenseless kids without a say in how they believe their educational system should be run. It’s a civil right to get an education, and without prop 100 passing, we’re inching closer to having that right denied.

Important points:

• This tax is temporary. It would require a 2/3 vote in the legislature to raise it permanently. The sales tax would automatically repeal on May 31, 2013.
• There are 25 states that have a higher sales tax than Arizona.
• Arizona per-pupil funding is currently among the lowest in the nation.

I don't understand what economists have to say about this. I don't care what the business climate of AZ is. Bottom line for me is this: We're talking about our kids here and we're talking about their education. All the rest is irrelevant to me. That may make me short sited, but I don't really care. The kids are our future and it seems like they are the last ones to get our money. This sales tax increase isn't the answer, but it's a start. Schools need more money period and we need to start somewhere.

If this doesn't pass, I think I'll find out how to write a proposition for the November ballot. I'm going to propose a tax increase on fast-food restaurants to fund education. Does it make sense? Probably not, but neither does politics.

The China-Prostitute Recession Theory

I sometimes try to understand the economy. I don't try too hard because it just plain hurts my brain. I know I should care more and try harder but I just can't. Our friend, Scott, tries and tries to get me to care and engage and even offers up podcasts that are supposed to be really user friendly. It wasn't until I hit him with an amusing email that was sent to me that we finally found a breaking ground for my understanding of the recession. Now, I know I've already lost some of you (April!), but I did my best to get some of you hooked with the title of this post. So, here goes, the "China-Prositute Recession Theory".

It is a slow day in the East Texas town of Madisonville. It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. Times are tough, everybody is in debt and everybody lives on credit.

On this particular day a rich tourist from the East is driving through town. He enters the only hotel in the sleepy town and lays a hundred dollar bill on the desk stating he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night.

As soon as the man walks up the stairs, the hotel proprietor takes the hundred dollar bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.

The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to pay his debt to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer then takes the $100 and heads off to pay his debt to the supplier of feed and fuel.

The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has lately had to offer her "services" on credit.

The hooker runs to the hotel and pays off her debt with the $100 to the hotel proprietor, paying for the rooms that she had rented when she brought clients to that establishment.

The hotel proprietor then lays the $100 bill back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything. At that moment the traveler from the East walks back down the stairs, after inspecting the rooms. He picks up the $100 bill and states that the rooms are not satisfactory...... Pockets the money and walks out the door and leaves town.

No one earned anything. However the whole town is now out of debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is conducting business today.

I sent the above silly analgy to Scott and he responded by saying that none of those people really had reason to be worried unless they feared that one of them would not come through on their debt. It was a circular debt, which I can actually picture, which meant that their balance sheet actually came out to zero. (Those were Scott's words, not mine!) But then Scott took it a step further, because that's what he does, and this is where the breakthrough is made for me...

"We have one guy with a ton of money, who lends to the hotel proprieter, the the butcher, the pig farmer, the supplier, and the prostitute...

This man has a lot of money for lending, but he decides to save and lend his money rather than spend it on himself. He lives a poor miserly existence, but he has access to all the cash...

And the folks in town are dependent on loans from this man and are afraid that he'll stop lending or will raise the interest rates...

Well, this rich man is China and the borrowers are the US...

There's a ton more to the story...

But the bottom line is China has flooded our markets with cheap cash that they've gotten from us buying all of the goods they manufacture on our behalf. But instead of pumping that money back into our markets by buying our goods... They save it and lend it back to us...

Its a global trade imbalance that had a lot to do with our current recession. And a recovery depends largely on our ability to correct that imbalance.

Get that miserly hoarder to service that prostitute darn it.. :-) (j/k)."

And that folks, is the China-Prostitute Recession Theory.

Oh, we're such a riot, aren't we? I'll assume Scott doesn't mind me pulling all of this out of the comment section of his blog and reposting it. It was just way too insightful for me to let go. Plus, I love me a good theory.

What Would it Take?

I'm wondering what it would take to make me willing enter a Ford Excursion with a minimum of 21 other people. If the driver pulled out the back seat, charged me money, and then said "lay down there, I'm going to stack 2-3 more people on top of you and around you and cram this vehicle as full of desperate people as I can." Then, in the beginning of the summer, we started a long drive over the border between Mexico and Arizona, probably never stopping for fear of being caught. Maybe I was one of the first of many to enter that vehicle and my sister or brother or spouse was waiting to go as well. But I won't know if they got in or not because I jumped at the chance when they offered me a spot in that Ford. Or maybe my mom said, "go sweetheart, it will be OK, I'll find you if I don't make it this trip," as she held back the tears because she knew that she would never see me again.

What would it take?

How terrible would my life have to be?

How desperate would I have to be?

How great would I have to think America is?

What would I be willing to risk?

This article popped up on the Cox homepage this morning as I logged in. It's very brief, reports only the facts, and avoids any mention of what I consider the real issue of immigration: the human factor. Many people will read the article and wonder how long they will have to pay to support and treat the illegal immigrants that were hurt in the roll over accident. Some will pray for those who died. Some will volunteer for Sheriff Joe's posse and go patrol the border, thinking that the solution is to stop the vehicle from entering our country in the first place. This country, my country, the land of the free.

I know that there are many things to be considered when looking at immigration. I know that people have been entering our country, legally, for decades. I know there is a right and a wrong way to do something; a legal and an illegal way to make things happen. I'm just wondering: what would it take to make me risk my life to leave the place I grew up in for a land that is completely foreign to me, that I may or may not make it to?