Laundry List

From My Own Little Corner So Fidel Castro has ceded power to his brother temporarily. I have been watching the news coverage on this development and was dismayed to see the Cuban immigrants in Miami calling for the U.S to make Cuba AND half of Florida the 51st state. There were maps and the suggestion that Miami should be called "Havami". If these people want Cuba, why not go back there and take back control of their country? Then there were the comments made by GWB. Yes, we don't want the people of Cuba to live under tryanny, but we simply cannot afford to stick our noses into any other countries at this time. I don't know if it would be wise to interfere even if we weren't already "nation building" in other parts of the world. I know, I know, our president isn't into "nation building", but I can't think of a better term. We have gone into another country, under the guise of fighting terrorism, taken out the ruler of that country, and "given " them our version of what a government should be. True, these people were severly repressed and under the tyrannical rule of a despot, but when GWB was campaigning for his first run at president, he stated that he wasn't going to "nation build". We have a laundry list of problems in our own country without trying to solve the problems of other countries around the world. I read some interesting facts on the Kyoto treaty yesterday. Some of the things that I learned were shocking. Since 1990 emmisions are RISING around the world, not falling. Canada's emmisions are up 24% from 1990, Japan's are up 13%, and the 15 western EU countries have cut emissions less than 1%. In the U.S. emissions between 2000 and 2004 rose 1.3% and the emissions in the complete EU rose 1%. The U.S emissions since 1990 have risen by 19%. I have a feeling that these numbers will be even worse at the end of this decade, as most countries aren't doing anything to reduce these greenhouse gases. We are in the midst of another heatwave here in the midwest, California just experienced their own, with the last loss of life count standing at over 160. In Los Angeles they set a new high temperature record of 116 in the valley. There, the grapes are shriveling to raisins, walnuts are drying up, and peaches are not growing. Livestock is dying faster than the carcasses can be removed. At the same time Ohio got 10 inches of rain in 24 hours and endured severe flooding. Mount Rushmore just recorded a temperature of 100 for the first time ever. New York city is experiencing record temperatures and everywhere across this country the weather is off kilter. Flooding in El Paso-7 inches of rain in 7 hours-has washed away roads, cars, and anything else in it's path. I don't remember the weather being like this when I was growing up. I do remember playing outside all day, and yes it was hot, but not like this. Chicago is also experiencing hellish temperatures and 15,000 there are without power. A 15 year old student died yesterday in Atlanta form heat stroke after football camp. This is the hottest July on record across the country. Records that have stood since the dust bowl days of the 1930's are falling like dominoes. 24,000 firefighters are battling blazes out west. Chris is churning in the Atlantic Ocean and could make landfall as a catagory 2 hurricane. In Europe the temperature is running 12-16 degrees above average and most scientist are saying that it will only get hotter in the coming years. 60,000 people a year are dying from sun related diseases, 48,000 from melanoma, 12,000 from other cancers, etc. And this is with our increased knowledge of UVA and UVB ray dangers and use of sunscreens. No global warming? I beg to differ. Next, there is a bill moving through congress to raise the minimum wage. Hurrah, it's about time. One problem though. The bill is attached to a bill to eliminate the estate tax. This may cause the bill to stall or be voted down. Why can't our esteemed representatives and congressmen just pass a simple bill without all the baggage? Perhaps because they know that the only way to get some of these ridiculous bills passed into law is to attach them to something that is really needed. Then, when the original bill doesn't pass, they can blame the failure on their political opponents. STOP. Our congress is supposed to represent all the people of this country, not just their special interest groups. It used to be like that. What happened? There has not been a minimum wage increase since 1997, but in that same period there have been 3 pay increases for congress with a 4th one due next year. This will raise their base pay from $133,000 to $165,000 a year. In the meantime, a family of four, with the breadwinner making minimum wage, will have to work approximately 74 hours a week, just to make the poverty level of $20,000 a year. Things are just a little lopsided. And then there is the exporting of jobs from this country to places outside the U.S.. Take G.E. for instance. The company just announced that they will move the manufacturing of most of it's product outside the country. But don't worry, these products won't be sold here. Where will they be sold then and how will we get the products that they make, that we need? Democracy Summer. Ever heard of it? No. Well neither had I, until just recently. This is a move, by an immigrant rights activist, to register 1 million immigrant voters. The problem arises when there is no check to see if these voters being registered are legal or illegal immigrants. Another problem, right within our borders that we need to be working on. Of course, the voters that are citizens, having been born here in this country, registered for years, will now have to provide proof of citizenship and identity to vote. No matter that they have been voting for years, at the same polling place, with their government issued voter registration cards. The ID part will pose no problem for most people, but it may cause a hardship for the handicapped and elderly. However, how exactly do you prove citizenship at the polls? Most people don't carry their birth certificates with them as they go about their daily business. These documents are easily forged, so I don't think that these measures are going to make that much difference anyway. It will, however, increase the time it takes to cast your vote, more than likely create chaos, and utimately cause some voters to say "Oh, the heck with it. I don't have time for this nonsense." We need to find a way to make voting easier, to ensure that all LEGALLY registered voters are able to cast their vote, and have it counted. No more of these machines that don't have a paper trail. How in the world can you recount votes in a close race if there is nothing to recount? I don't know about you, but I have had information lost on my computer that wasn't really important and with the increase of identity theft, I don't have much confidence in the ability to retrieve votes if a recount is needed, or in the integrity of these machines. If hackers can tap into our home computers, why not the voting machines? What if the voting machine computer crashes? Real trouble. And on the subject of health care, there are 45,000,000 uninsured, and 16,000,000 under insured in this country. We are the wealthiest country in the world and we can't even make sure that all our CITIZENS have health care coverage. But if you sneak into the country, you can get medicare, medicaid, medi-cal, and any other programs that our government has to offer. This is ridiculous. And our borders are an open door. I am not adverse to immigrants, I am just tired of ILLEGAL immigrants. I live in a small town of about 6,800 people. I get my nails done in a salon where the owners are Vietnamese. I eat at a chinese restaraunt owned by orientals. They all speak English and are upstanding contributors to our community. There are, however, some immigrants here that do not speak English. They can't even ask simple questions or make simple requests. How are they going to continue to live here? When we lived in Germany for 3 years, we learned at least a small amount of German. After all, we were in their country. So, why can't the people who come here to live, learn English? Become integrated into the U.S. society. That doesn't mean that they have to give up their heritage, it just means that they want to live in this country, not change this country into the one that they left. These are just some of the things that roll around in my brain, cause my insomnia, and are the reasons that I am worried for the future of our children and beloved country. Well, don't lose hope. I haven't, and I am still praying for peace and enlightenment, and hope that all people of the world are doing the same. May your God bless and keep you and yours.