RonVitale

Immigration

First, read this article about illegal immigration and then get back to me. Although I disagree with some of what Ruben Navarrette Jr. writes, I happy to see that there's a voice of reason out in the press. Lately, everything has been so black and white that I appreciate Navarrette's stance that illegal immigration isn't about racism. I'd like to know about his thoughts on what the law should be for children of illegal immigrants--specifically children who weren't born here in the United States. If you were 6 years old and your parents came to the U.S. as illegal immigrants and still are, where does that leave the 6 year old 10 years from now?

I believe in smart laws rather than ones that make us feel safer so that we can protect our "American-ness" and be apart from those different than us. What really distrubs me are people who just classify an entire race as "lazy" or corrupt. In my experience, people of all races and creeds can be lazy or corrupt. Shouldn't we not judge an entire group of people?

Related to the illegal immigrant issue is the racism that muslims are facing in the world today. Heck, you can be on an airplane and think two muslims look suspicious and if you tell the cabin crew the plane will be turned around. There's a point in which we need to take a step back and understand that we're fearful of terror and of those taking what we have.

I believe that overcoming fear is to first accept that we're afraid. We're afraid that others will come into our country and make Spanish the national language. We're afraid of immigrants taking away our jobs. We're also afraid of immigrants coming into the U.S. and actually being terrorists who will attempt to harm our way of life.

Our path is simple: We can try to border ourselves up (like American tried after the first World War) or we can work smart and deal with our fear. Having open borders so anyone can come into the U.S. at anytime isn't a great idea, but at the same time, there are millions of people living here illegally. What are we going to do about it? Ship those millions of people out of the country? That's a bit drastic in my opinion.

If you've not thought about these issues, then maybe it's time to take a stand or at least to turn reality TV off and look around. Are you in favor of people being forced to speak English when ordering a steak sandwhich in Philadelphia? Is it right for muslims to be pointed at and held as criminals overnight for looking "suspicious" on an airplane? What should be the fate of the children of illegal immigrants who are growing up here in the U.S.?

Oftentimes in life, the Golden Mean--the path of moderation--might be best. Keep an open mind, question your beliefs, and realize that others disagree with what each of us believes. Question and learn. Education is the key.

Freedom of Speech

I love living in America because I have freedom of speech. What does that mean? I can say that I disagree with President Bush's administration and how he's running the country. I can talk about my concerns about the problems America has and how I'm against the Iraq War. I can also just let my mind go free and talk about whatever I like. Granted, I know when to exercise my freedom of speech and when to keep my mouth shut. You see, for those of you reading this in Europe, America is a bit conservative right now if you haven't picked up on that in the last 6 years.

I'm not sure why a large majority of Americans are acting so strange in the name of "god" (religious Christian right), but I will say that I do not believe in those doctrines and I do not support them. I believe, as is my right as an American citizen, that we have freedome of speech and religion. I'd like to remind everyone that doesn't mean America is a christian country. No religion should be supreme. However, in seeing how our government is being run these days that doesn't seem to be the case.

Heck, I think God is great, but not the American "god" of the religious right. I've been taking time out of my busy schedule to write to my representatives in Congress, telling them that I won't vote for them in November. I've been called too compassionate and a bleeding heart. And yet, I keep writing to Congress and put my thoughts down in this blog.

I'm disgusted and ashamed at how my country is being run. I do not want my son to grow up in a country where we go to war and don't admit we're wrong--still killing women and children in Iraq. Oh, I'm sorry, I should say that there's been a lot of collatoral damage in Iraq. I forgot that we're not supposed to call them people.

Yet I also admit that we're screwed. It' that simple. If we pull our troops out now, doesn't it really matter? The damage has been done and I honestly don't believe that the Iraqi people are prepared to handle the running of their country without support from American troops. Who will keep the peace?

I work hard, I pay my taxes, I work on my writing, and I'm fed up. I'm tired of seeing flag waving Americans think so little of what our country is doing to the rest of the world. Am I not noticing the problems we have today: Yes, America has enemies but bombing innocent people has not solved the problem. Terrorism still flourishes in the world and is continuing to do so.

What are the solutions? First, I'd start with new leadership in America. Who do I suggest? Well, there's the rub. I don't see a strong leader. In my history of being able to vote, I'll vote for the best person (Republican or Democrat). Right now, I want Bush out of office and his whole administration sacked.

Unlawlful wiretaping... War in Iraq... Cutting funds for the NCI so cures of cancer can't be discovered... Stem cell research can't take place on a scale that is necessary. Should I go on? Oh, I forgot, our oil dependency. You think we'd start doing something about that.

I'm mad as hell (as they say) and I'm not going to take it any longer. That's a nice quote. I rather like it.

Whatever you do (agree or disagree), take part in the discussion.

Working on Office

It's late and I'm tired.  I've not been working on much writing lately as my wife and I have been trying to make time to work on redoing my office.  Currently, I'm using my imagination to prevent myself from bursting out in frustration at the lovely layers of wallpaper that I'm trying to remove from my office.  The first layer of wallpaper came off easily enough but a thin layer is still left with the "lovely" glue adhering to the wall.  After spraying a chemical on the wallpaper to help soften it, I've been scraping away.  Sometimes I'm peeling pieces away like dried skin after sunburn.  Very odd to be able to peel large pieces of a thin wallpaper away.  It's too much like skin for me.

Add on top of this the smoke smell that's coming out of the walls (the previous owner used to smoke) and I'm just having a ball in doing the room.  I estimate that it'll take at least another 4-5 hours just to strip all the wallpaper and glue off the walls.  I then want to rip up the thick, ugly green carpet and then take a look at the shape of the hardwood floors. 

I'm not certain whether I'll need to resand and then stain the floors, but I'll leave that decision when I need to make it.  I had thought that I would work on my office sometime in the future, but I started thinking about it and I would really like a finished room.  I want to have a nice desk set up with curtains (rather than just the blinds) and I'd like a new bookshelf and a new desk.  I've been saving the money that I've been earning from all my writing projects that I've completed so far this year and I've decided to take my funds and refurnish (and redo) the room.  I suspect that this is going to take sometime.

It's not as easy to do such work.  When I was younger (our first house), my wife and I used to get out of work, go to the new house, and work away until near 10 pm at night and then we'd head back to our apartment.  Matters are a bit more complicated.  My son's room is directly across from his room and I can't really spend a lot of time banging and scraping away after his goes to bed.  I get home from work after 6 pm and he goes to bed around 8:00 - 8:30 pm.  That doesn't give me much time to work.

My wife has been great in offering to help or to watch our son, but that leaves the fact that if I don't make an effort to see him then it's as though I've not seen him for over a day (I leave for work before he gets up each morning).  I'm not happy about that.  I like to spend at least a little bit of time with him each day.  It's bad enough as it is.

And on the weekends: Unless we take our son out or bring him onto another level, he likes running into the thick of things to find out what's going on.  Working on a house and having a child, isn't easy.  I know I'm complaining a bit here, but I've made a personal promise to myself and to my son to try and spend as much time as I can with him on a daily basis.  I choose to be an active father and to help out as often as I can. 

Working on the house comes second, but I must admit that it's rough trying to work full time, put my writing aside (I'm currently working on a short story that I've put on hold), and then try to carve in time to work on my office.

It'll all work out.  It's just going to take a good amount of time.  Once everything is all cleaned up, then I need to paint.  Thankfully, my wife is also helping on the room so that we can take turns.  I'm just not used to the working separately.  In the past, we'd work on a room together and knock it out in no time flat.  Ah well. 

I'll adapt.

I'm off because it's late and I need to get some sleep.  Peace.

Episode 26: X Marks the Spot

Download the show:

Download the show (audio only) (21.6 MB)

Total running time: 23 minutes and 06 seconds.

Show Notes:

--Introduction to episode 26: X Marks the Spot
--Discussion of Selecting 10th Edition.
--Feedback and discuss of a Tooth and Nail Deck
--A memory from the blast: My red/green rogue deck
--Opening music from Beyond the Pale ("Sligo").  Music available on the Podshow Music Network at music.podshow.com.

Unrelated Magic links, but cool or controversial stuff anyway:
--Bush/Clinton Katrina Fund
--American Red Cross
--Habitat for Humanity
--Lance Armstrong Foundation
--AmeriCares Middle East Relief Fund
--Don't have funds to make a donation?  Then volunteer and make an effort to help.

Creative Commons License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Contribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

Subscribe using iTunes: To subscribe to The Magic Sock using iTunes, simply click  here. (You'll need to have iTunes installed on your computer.)

For more information on how to subscribe to a podcast (video or audio), be sure to check out episode 5 of The Magic Sock: How to Subscribe to a Podcast.

Closing: Magic: The Gathering is trademarked and owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. The Magic Sock is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast or Hasbro in any way. To send feedback, send an e-mail to themagicsock@gmail.com.  Audio feedback is welcome but please keep the mp3 file to under 45 seconds and be sure to mention your name and city/state/country.