The American Asylum

[Miulang]

Child of Executive Order 9006?

Yesterday, a Federal judge in New York ruled that "...the government has wide latitude under immigration law to detain noncitizens on the basis of religion, race or national origin, and to hold them indefinitely without explanation....

"..."What this decision says is the next time there is a terror attack, the government is free to round up every Muslim immigrant in the U.S., based solely on their ethnic and religious identity, and hold them on immigration pretexts for as long as it desires," he said. "We saw after 9/11 what the government did in an era of uncertainty about how far it can go. Judge Gleeson has essentially given them a green light to go much further."

No doubt this ruling will be appealed and make its way to the Supreme Court.

Miulang

[Miulang]

The death of the American political system

One of my favorite authors, Kurt Vonnegut, has written the following essay on the hyporcrisy that exists in today's US politics and how it came about.

Miulang

[Miulang]

The attack on your Constitutional rights

This video (Unconstitutional-The War on Our Civil Liberties), by the ACLU has some very interesting background information on the evolution of the Patriot Act and some of the things this Administration is currently doing to take away our civil liberties.

This documentary is an hour long, and those who think the White House is doing the right thing probably shouldn't watch it. It'll just make your blood boil.

For people who are worried about their 1st Amendment Rights, our treatment of "enemy combatants" under the Geneva Conventions, the treatment of a people living in the US on the basis of their color or creed will watch this and have their blood boil...but for a more scary reason.

Miulang

[timkona]

Re: The American Asylum

the treatment of a people living in the US on the basis of their color or creed

Okay Miulang....just have to pin you down on this one.

Do you approve of different treatments of people based on skin color or creed?

Do you approve of Kamehameha Schools admissions policy?

This ought to be good.

[Miulang]

Re: The American Asylum

the treatment of a people living in the US on the basis of their color or creed

Okay Miulang....just have to pin you down on this one.

Do you approve of different treatments of people based on skin color or creed?

Do you approve of Kamehameha Schools admissions policy?
.

Yes, I approve of the Kamehameha Schools admissions policy. The current policy says that the Schools can admit kids for admission without the necessary blood quantum on a space available basis. Have you ever been on a Kamehameha School campus, Tim? My guess is you haven't. If you ever set foot on one (you know there's a campus on the Big Island, yes?) You will see that there are many kids who don't look like they have a scintilla of kanaka maoli blood attending the school (yes, some might even look Caucasian!).

What's REALLY funny is way back when (oh, maybe as far back as 30 or 40 years ago) a Kamehameha Schools education wasn't really looked upon by the general community as the desirable education it is today. Now, everybody and his uncle thinks his kid should be able to attend because of the high quality of education that's afforded to the kids (probably because the Hawai'i public school system is less than desirable). And you know WHY many parents without any kanaka maoli blood are trying to dismantle what Bernice Pauahi Bishop set aside for her people? It's because they realize that their kids could get an education comparable to what kids at Punahou or Iolani or St. Louis or any of the private high schools is getting, for a bargain price. Do you really think any of those kids without the kanaka maoli heritage give a rat's patootie about learning the Hawaiian language or its culture? My guess is for the majority, the answer would be no.

IF KSBE was the only school in the entire State of Hawai'i, and IF the school then set its criteria as totally excluding all others with no kanaka maoli blood, then YES, I would say this is discriminatory. HOWEVER, the State of Hawai'i has many many schools...public and private...and parents can choose from any of these. The difference between all the other schools in Hawai'i and Kamehameha Schools is that the kids not only get a traditional education, but they are taught about their culture, and if the kanaka maoli culture isn't kept alive, what would Hawai'i be?

You're still a relative newcomer to the islands, Tim. Ask any local who isn't kanaka maoli if it's OK for KSBE to want to give first priority to kids of kanaka maoli heritage and my guess is 99% of them would say it was OK.

It's not right for the government of this country to "detain" people indefinitely just because they look different from us or practice a different religion. It's not right for the government to spy on people just because they don't agree with the current Administration's policies. It's not right for the government to promulgate lies and disseminate it as truth to the people in this country who are too lazy or too naive to think for themselves. By the way, does the Civil Rights Act that gave black Americans more equality make your skin crawl too? And heck, black Americans are descended from slaves who were imported from Africa...kanaka maoli were the first people in the islands and they can't be recognized for that???

Miulang

[Miulang]

A total miscarriage of justice

I first heard about this story on a Lou Dobbs segment on CNN. He has been keeping viewers updated on this absolutely absurd miscarriage of justice.

Two years ago, 2 Border Patrol officers in Texas were on the job, tryng to keep illegal aliens and drug dealers from crossing the border. They apprehended and wounded a Mexican drug dealer. But instead of siding with the officers of the law, the Prosecutor in the case charged them with civil rights violations, According to the U.S. attorney who successfully prosecuted the agents, the man they were chasing didn't actually have a gun, his civil rights were violated because he was shot in the back as he was fleeing, the agents didn't know for sure that he was a drug smuggler, and they broke Border Patrol rules about discharging their weapons and preserving a crime scene.

Rather than chase after the guy who had already beaten up one of the officers, according to Border Patrol regulations, they needed permission to engage in that chase.

To add insult to injury, the feds gave that drug smuggler IMMUNITY from prosecution and set him free, just so he would testify against these 2 Border Patrol agents who were just doing their job. If found guilty of the charges, they each could face 20 years in prison.

This is not only stupid ("rules are rules, no exceptions") but it put that dangerous criminal back out in society so he can continue to make his illegal profits. It's no wonder the Border Patrol has difficulty recruiting and retaining officers, and why the State Governments are all fighting against the White House to keep it from controlling National Guard units, which the States right now control.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Re: The American Asylum

I think the moral right has gone just a little too far with this one:

A coalition of 13 conservative groups -- including the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America -- took out full-page ads in some editions of USA Today earlier this month urging the Justice Department and FBI to investigate whether some of the pay-per-view movies widely available in hotels violate federal and state obscenity laws.

What fries me is if I am an adult and I want to pay $10 to watch a pay-per view version of "Debbie Does Dallas", why shouldn't I be allowed to do it in the privacy of my own hotel room? I'm not violating anybody else's civil rights, I'm paying for the privilege and most importantly of all, I CHOOSE to do it. Granted, much of the adult film available does tend to depict women as objects, but there are women directors of soft porn who actually make pictures with PLOTS in them!

According to spokespeople from the Hilton and Marriott Hotels, most of their properties are franchises and each management team has the freedom to choose what's offered to guests. And people who don't care for that type of film certainly aren't forced to watch those things.

The groups can certainly try to force hotel chains to swear that they will not offer porn on their TV systems and get themselves listed on www.cleanhotels.com, but please leave the 40% of the rest of the hotels alone and let them decide for themselves whether or not they want to offer adult movies to their guests.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Learning Mandarin to stay competitive in the world?

Here's an interesting little phenomenon going on around the country, something that seems so diametrically opposed to the Bush White House's demands that all international business transactions should be conducted in English:

The U.S. government flew 10 teachers to Washington from China this month and gave them a five-day crash course in Dupont Circle on how to teach -- American-style -- before dispatching them to schools across the country. Although the number may seem small, the scramble to recruit and train these teachers for the start of this school year underscores the urgency the Bush administration is placing on establishing Chinese programs in U.S. classrooms.

After years of insisting that the world speak English, of grants and initiatives that established foreign language programs in fits and starts, Americans have awakened to a far more global playing field and the need for specialized languages, economists say. And nowhere is that more evident than with China.

Well, if we all learn Mandarin, we could go work over in China instead of losing our jobs to outsourcing! (would this be called "re-sourcing" ?) I wonder if that's what the government had in mind when they decided to launch this program?

Miulang

[Miulang]

"Red Letter" Christians

There is a group of evangelical Christians who are forming a new religious coalition called the "Red Letter" Christians. This group apparently wants to move away from being associated with being conservative Republicans and wants to move away from merely focusing on antiabortion and gay marriage issues. It'll be interesting to see if this group can actually work to change American voter perceptions this November on issues like the environment and the Iraq occupation.

Wallis said Christian conservatives have limited the discussion to abortion and same-sex marriage, two fears that mobilized voters in 2004, and that voters care about more than the two issues.

"We must insist that the ethics of war - and whether we tell the truth about going to war - these are moral values issues too," Wallis said. Democrats have pinned part of their midterm strategy on voters' restlessness with the war in Iraq.

The Red Letter Christians campaign plans to use voter guides for congregants and briefings for their leaders to argue education, poverty and the environment are all evangelical issues. Wallis also launched a new blog this week at BeliefNet.com, debating with former Christian Coalition head and failed Republican Georgia lieutenant governor candidate Ralph Reed.

The faith-based group also hired a full-time coordinator in Ohio, where conservative Ken Blackwell is running against Rep. Ted Strickland, a former Methodist pastor. Another coordinator is soon to arrive in Pennsylvania, where Sen. Rick Santorum faces a tough re-election bid.

Faith-based get-out-the-vote efforts registered scores of new voters during 2004's presidential election. The Southern Baptist Convention's iVoteValues.com campaign alone reached 400,000 voters, the majority of whom voted for President Bush.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Why our national budget is so out of whack

Blame it on all the politicians who think you can increase the US government's spending without having to sacrifice somewhere else! This little explanation of the causes of our out-of-control US deficit should be mandatory reading for every single tax paying citizen in this country. Do you enjoy having 18 cents out of every dollar you pay in taxes go just to paying off interest on our national debt? Or that we owe a lot of money to foreign governments like China?

As of Thursday, the total national debt outstanding stood at nearly $8.5 trillion — or $8,487,096,306,559.55 to be exact. In August, Uncle Sam’s minimum monthly payment — just the interest on that debt — came to $24 billion. Interest payments alone are now about $400 billion a year, or about about 18 cents of every one of your tax dollars.
...
Today, the role of Uncle Sam’s banker is increasingly being played by foreign governments, who buy our debt, in part, to offset their trade imbalances. Whenever you go shopping at Wal-Mart, all of the dollars that get sent to a Chinese clothing factory have to go somewhere. A lot of them come home when the Treasury borrows them back.

While Congress and the White House have been busy sulking about increased dependence on foreign oil, they’ve also been busy increasing our dependence on foreign capital. In December 1984, about 13.5 percent of U.S. Treasuries on the open market were held by foreign governments and investors. As of June 2005, foreigners held more than half our debt — or 51.7 percent. Every time the Treasury offers up more debt, it’s counting on those foreign buyers to keep coming back for more.

Miulang

[admin]

Re: The American Asylum

Again, Miulang, as there have been only six posts since June here, all by you, it's a safe bet there's no interest in the discussion and that you should contribute elsewhere. If you'd like a space to post periodic observations, I can set you up with a blog at HawaiiStories.

This thread has been more of a generic catch-all thread, anyway. Feel free to join existing, more focused discussions on various aspects of American politics and policy elsewhere in The American Asylum.