THE SWORD (BIOGRAPHICAL)

The sword was actually a commemorative French bayonet from the 19th century, imprinted 1877.  It was housed in a metal sheath.  It was left in the house at 730 Curfew St. in St. Paul by the previous occupants, and my parents found it when they moved in.  If any attempt had been made to return the bayonet, I really don’t know.  Perhaps their address was unknown.  At any rate, I was fascinated by it starting at an age long forgotten but certainly when I was but a few years old.  So this started a game.  My mother would hide the bayonet, and I would hunt around until I found it, again and again.  Of course, I had a lot of time on my hands in those early years.  Sometimes it would take weeks or months, but eventually I found it.  My mother was terrified that I would hurt myself, but I never did.  My brother, who was nearly five years older than me, once went to a costume party dressed as a pirate, and he was allowed to wear the “sword.”  Somewhere there is a picture of this.

DEPORTATION KING

While President Obama works to try to get immigration reform, he has become the deportation king.  Deportations were down about 10% in FY 2013 to 368,644,* perhaps because the President announced in June that he would defer deportations of children who were brought to this country illegally by their parents.  Home Land security says the number of these children exceeds 400,000.   It is reported that 82% of the deportations are of illegal immigrants who have been convicted of a crime. Nearly 2 million people have been deported during the first 5 years of the Obama presidency, some for the second or even third time.  There has been a steady increase in deportations since at least 1999 when there were 175,000 deportations.*

The Senate has passed an immigration reform bill that speaker Boehner refuses to bring to a vote in the House of Representatives even though the bill (S 744) passed the Senate with 68 votes** and has said there is no way he will go to a conference committee on the Senate bill.  Among the sticking points is a path to citizenship taking 13 yrs, securing our southern border, paying back taxes, and learning English.

I feel that the path to citizenship is so draconian that few will take the opportunity to do it.  I have at least favored "Build the Danged Fence"*** as a public works program though completing the double fence may not decrease illegal immigration much.  As I say in my piece: "If I was dictator, this wouldn't be my first choice as a public works program as it may not be much better than hiring one shift to dig holes and the next shift to fill them in.  But the fence is acceptable to the opponents of the Gang Of Eight proposal that passed the Senate whereas digging holes or, better yet,  improving highways or the smart grid isn't."


* http://webmailb.juno.com/webmail/new/5?userinfo=8b254f2f4f26b1dc56d8fe41da329a7b&count=1387637225&randid=1988503624
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/12/19/obama-administration-deportations-of-undocumented-immigrants-drops-in-2013/
http://www.statisticbrain.com/number-of-u-s-deportations/

** http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/special-reports/guide-s744-understanding-2013-senate-immigration-bill
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/27/senate-immigration-reform-bill_n_3511664.html

***http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2013/07/complete-danged-fence.html

WAGES

One hears Republicans like John Boehner talk about jobs being the most important thing.  I am unaware, however, of any real effort by Republican's to produce more jobs except for the fraudulent argument that the wealthy are the job creators so allowing them to have more money will create more jobs.*  In fact, the powers that be in the Republican party will do everything they can to eliminate jobs through automation and off shoring.  In addition they feel that workers are overpaid and the way to increase jobs is to lower or eliminate the minimum wage, thus increasing poverty level employment if indeed there is any increase in employment at all.**

Because the upper 1% of incomes have done exceedingly well in recent years, the jobs picture should be flourishing if increasing the wealth of the wealthy argument were true, but, though there has been a steady increase in employment, everyone seems to agree it is not rapid enough.

You would think that workers are a natural constituency of the Democrats; however, there is a group of white male workers who feel that the Democrats have done too much for minorities, women, and homosexuals and are thus taking away their jobs. This group is an important constituency of the Republicans who pay them some lip service now and then, particularly in election years (e.g. The Real Americans), but do nothing for them of a substantial nature.  I suspect that a significant percentage of the white males workers are also members of the despised 47% (now 43%) of households who pay no Federal income tax.

I'm not sure what Democrats could do to woo these workers back to the Democratic Party except maybe to keep plumping for public infrastructure projects.  I have supported the completion of the double fence along our southern border and hiring more guards as a jobs program,*** even if it is ineffective in preventing illegal entry into the U.S.  As it is, the Republican party has to do nothing to keep them so the Republicans do nothing for them.

* http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2010/05/effectiveness-of-taxes.html
** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-race-to-bottom.html
*** http://stopcontinentaldrift.blogspot.com/2013/07/complete-danged-fence.html

SELECTIVE POLLING

Have you noticed that political parties only pay attention to polls that agree with their views?  For example, Republicans accept the polls that show that 52% of the people don't like Obamacare (even though in this number are those who don't like it because it doesn't go far enough), but reject polls that show that about 83% of the people,* including a majority of the members of the NRA, are for background checks on gun purchases.  Recent polling also shows 66% of those polled favor an increase in the minimum wage to an average of $10.25/hr.*  It remains to be seen what the House of Representatives will do about that.  President Obama has proposed $10.10/hr.

Note too that Republicans say that it would be better to adopt a piece of medical reform at a time.**  I actually agree with this approach, but, when a piece at a time is proposed on gun control, they reject it.  The polling numbers on mental health with regard to guns has similar acceptance numbers to background checks, i.e. 79% of the responders voted in favor of increasing government spending on mental  health programs for young people as of late April 2013.*

* http://www.gallup.com/poll/1645/guns.aspx#2
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/12/most-back-minimum-wage-hike-policies-to-address-the-wealth-gap/
** The first thing I would do is tort reform which Democrats refuse to do.  I'm told that this would save "only" 3% of the Medicare expenses, though I suspect that defensive medicine costs much more.

INCENTIVIZING GROUPS

Robert Reich has pointed out a paradox that to incentivize the poor Republicans feel you have to give them less money whereas to incentivize the wealthy you have to give them more money.  I keep hearing that there are on average three applicants for every job.  It is for this reason that I support completing the double fence on our southern border with Mexico.  The proposal would add 19,000 Civil Service jobs, which while not great in pay would be better than unemployment.  Also the fence would provide temporary jobs in the construction industry.  So I support the proposal as a jobs program that Republicans seem willing to accept.  Though this is only a step above hiring people to dig holes during the day and another group to fill them at night, it would provide some jobs.  Though I personally think that it would be better to spend the money on improving our infrastructure (roads, bridges and the like),  it is better than nothing.

SANCTIONS AND DIVESTMENT THAT WORKED

Yesterday Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela died at 95.  He was a remarkable person in that prior to his jailing for 27 years he espoused violence, but came out able to suppress his anger and espouse non-violence.*

“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison.”  Thus when apartheid was renounced, Mandela worked hard to avoid a bloodbath and political things that some other African nations undertook to their detriment.  Instead he worked hard for a South Africa for all its people in his one term as president where he founded the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to deal with past injustices made by all sides.

Though it took more than sanctions and calls for divestment of U.S. company stock from university and state balance sheets (most notably California),  the sanctions and divestment did put pressure on South Africa to change its ways.*  And the U.S. congress overrode a veto by President  Reagan to pass the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986.

Nelson Mandela shared a Nobel Peace prize with the leader he superseded Frederik Willem de Klerk in 1993 "for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa".***

*  http://www.amazon.com/Mandelas-Way-Lessons-Life-Courage/dp/0307460681
**http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_world_/2013/12/06/opponents_of_sanctions_on_south_africa_were_wrong_but_that_doesn_t_mean.html?wpisrc=burger_bar
*** http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1993/

THE NAME WASHINGTON REDSKINS

Pressures seem to be mounting for the Washington Redskins professional football team to delete the word Redskins because the word redskin has a pejorative meaning.  I had thought that a big part of the problem is that they are a lousy football team and that if they were a strong contender for the titles, there would be less objection to the word.  In this I may be wrong because in looking at Wikipedia, some of the biggest demonstrations have been when they played in the Super Bowl.*

Quite a few schools use ethnic names, "Scots" being particularly common.**

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Redskins_name_controversy
** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_sports_team_and_mascot_names