the french response, illegal immigration, moratoriums on death, and snow...

sadly enough this is post no. 100 in random thoughts from a random cracker...if you are reading, thanks for paying attention i guess...and get out and vote, for a third party, for a candidate that has never been associated with politics before...if you aren't reading this...then start.

ah the french...how i love the french government, how i always have...what with their behind the scenes cooperation with the nazis, their racist policies (and for those that will inevitably feel this means i think the american government has done no wrong ever...the problem is i just don't have time to address it all). president chirac (who, if there is ever another attack on french soil i hope will hold a news conference, slap his hands to his cheeks and declare "sacre blu...invaders!") implied that france may be willing to respond to a state-sponsored terrorist attack with un-conventional means (i.e. nukes). on a very heartless level i suppose it makes sense...kill off or radiate all those that don't like you and the problem is solved (nevermind the damage to future generations, the environment, your soul - if you have one, and the like)...i hope it just deterrence talk, but what if it isn't? how frightening is it that leaders may be considering nukes to combat vast criminal enterprises...and what do you want to bed gw is pissed that his arch-nemesis beat him to the punch?

the recent crack down on illegal immigration is running into problems (go figure)...they ran out of beds. the border patrol has gone nuts cracking down on mexicans desperately trying to better their families' lives by working jobs that americans find beneath them for less money than any american would take...and the result is an even more overloaded court system and overcrowded prisons. for what? i used to be all about cracking down on illegal immigration (mainly because i felt it inherently unfair to those that went through the painstaking process of going about it the legal way), but living in a border state opened my eyes a bit. i was at the federal courthouse yesterday...most of the defendants were clearly border crossers, many needing interpreters...all they wanted was to live here, they dreamed of a better life for their children, and we send them away for it. trust me...the ones we are catching are not terrorists...we might be nabbing the occassional drug dealer/smuggler/theif/murderer...but not enough to justify what we are doing to otherwise innocent people. as i remember from the bad news bears (the not as good one)..."let them play"...

a bill in california to put a moratorium on the death penalty for 2 years while it is examined was halted by committee...so if you had your hopes up that california might join the likes of my great homestate, illinois, in at least holding off on state-sanctioned killing...sorry to bring bad news. todd spitzer, an assemblyman elected by god-fearing republicans in orange county stated that the bill was killed because "the death penalty is not abused or unfairly carried out in california." um...yea...about that mr. spitzer...see, death penalty opponents' point is that the death penalty itself is unfair and abusive...and when you throw on the interesting manner in which it is used (cough, cough...race...cough, cough...class...cough, cough) then you have an obviously inherently abusive and unfair system. but then the entire criminal justice system is slanted against the poor and minorities...look at disparaties in sentencing...look at the time you get for crack vs. cocaine...it ain't right...

on a side note...i find it amusing in a sick, disturbing way, that republicans are all about the death penalty...the god-fearing folks...the ones that are hell-bent against "murdering" a fetus...are the same ones that are all about knocking off any and all criminals...and defending the deaths of innocents overseas because they happened to be in the same village as a few evil-doers...hmmm, something tells me if your god doesn't want you to kill, he doesn't want you to kill, and that is that.

another side note...i also find it amusing that the media uses "moratorium" every single time a state is talking about holding off on the death penalty...alanis morrissette would think it's ironic...

it finally snowed in taos...and did it ever. a foot and still coming down in the wee hours of the morning...i think that's why i awoke about 3:30 am...i knew. perhaps a respite at my church will take the blues out of living in this god-forsaken state...if even just for a few hours. thank you ulr...keep it comin...

your increasingly long embraces...are they saying sorry or please?