I'd like to see end to this racial krap

[sickgut]

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A tough Texas law requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls discriminates against low-income blacks and Hispanics, a federal court ruled Thursday, wiping out for the November election a measure championed by conservatives and setting up a potential U.S. Supreme Court showdown.

Note: it doesn't discriminate against poor people, poor Asians, or poor Spaniards or poor Whites.

My photo ID is my driver's license. It costs me $10.00 every four years, which averages out to $2.50 per year.

If I'm too poor for this, I'd say, I'm too poor to buy food for a day.

If a person is dirt poor in the State of California, she will likely receive a minimum of 220 a month, plus food stamps, and free medical insurance.

Describing an incident that occurred as I stepped out a Grocery Store. A woman asked me if I would donate some money for homeless or distressed women and children.

I said, "I won't do it because you are not collecting money for people. What about homeless men, what do you about that?"

She actually sort of agreed that I had a point, but the charity wasn't hers to make any changes.

~

Im sick and cant work, and i am at the very bottom of society here in Australia. This means i get a pension that is paid fortnightly worth $725 AUD. I live by myself and pay my bills OK, own and drive a car and my rather bloated stature would suggest that i am hardly starved.

If a bunch of unemployed/ pensioner people get together, say 4 of them living in the one house, they can all afford to live pretty much anywhere in Australia and have a high standard of living.

A few years ago, a completely race related law was enstated that stopped all black people living in the north of the country from being able to buy alcohol. Also a large percentage of their income was paid directly as something like a food stamp or credit to a local supermarket, so it could only be spent on food. White people can buy as much booze as they like.

[Bruce B]

A few years ago, a completely race related law was enstated that stopped all black people living in the north of the country from being able to buy alcohol. Also a large percentage of their income was paid directly as something like a food stamp or credit to a local supermarket, so it could only be spent on food. White people can buy as much booze as they like.

I don't use the food stamp program, not yet anyway.

I think our food stamps can't be used to buy Tobacco, Alcohol or Firearms. But it doesn't seem to be a racial motivated limitation.

~

[starhawk]

I'm going to put here what I can of my and my mother's story. I'm going to leave out a lot of detail because my mother has asked me not to speak much of what happened to her. (I don't know, and I won't ask, but I think she's ashamed of it, even though it's not her fault.)

My mother has been working since she was 14. That is to say, since sometime in 1966. She has been many things in her various careers, from librarian, to farmer, to attorney. Now she is disabled with multiple chronic illnesses that I can barely pronounce (and will not name).

We think it was a mistake. We may never know. I don't think either of us will ever have the courage to ask the doctor who made the mistake.

She was given a routine treatment for depression by a psychiatrist, and her regular doctor at the time, we think, misunderstood what was being done and continued part of the treatment for far too long. We didn't know, at the time. He had diagnosed her with something, incorrectly, and we did not realize it.

That was in the mid- to late-1990s.

Fast forward to 2007. My mother has been a successful attorney for seven years, as an appellate attorney for Abuse/Neglect/Dependency cases*. We vacation in Europe for a couple weeks about every two years. Mom has been offered an LLM degree (advanced legal degree) by the University of London (we live in the USA) and is studying also at New York University for a degree in public policy.

Mom has been feeling stressed out and sleeping a lot and not really been able to work as much on the cases she has been assigned. Nevertheless, we go on (our last, not incidentally) vacation to Europe, and I watch her, as we wander our way through several fascinating and wonderful countries, try to find simpler and simpler explanations of how the EU government is supposed to work, down to the point of children's books.

At the end of 2007, she basically falls to bits -- an event partially because of, and partially in spite of, a trip to the land of Israel/Palestine, led by some Quaker friends that we have since lost contact with (Mom is a Quaker as well). She is literally unable to function for three months upon return.

Eventually, she gets to our regional hospital, part of the UNC system here in North Carolina, and we learn what's going on, and we settle into the new life it demands. Mom is currently unable to hold any sort of a job, because of her illnesses. She just couldn't handle it. We live on her SSDI.

Recently, I got approved for SSI (although my own Disability claim -- I have Asperger's Syndrome, a form of Autism Spectrum Disorder -- fell through), and although that wipes out our food stamps completely, it still helps us a little.

Our house is in foreclosure, although we have fairly high hopes for a positive resolution to this -- ours is a "subprime" mortgage, and it isn't just MERS that was messed up in the paperwork so we may own our home free and clear -- or not. We don't know.

Our life's budget right now is just under $1000 a month, plus whatever my SSI turns out to be. We used to have food stamps as well, but my SSI (and eventually, hopefully my SSDI --disability money--) zero that out. It doesn't matter, we never were able to stay within the foodstamp allotment as it was.

If anyone wants to increase our budget on a one-time basis, please PM me. I don't expect it, to say the least, but it would be nice to have a little to spare. Just don't tell me how to use it!

*As a side note, Mom's career was approximately sixty cases long. I heard some of the stories, but never the names; confidentiality was important and was preserved. My understanding is that, over that career of sixty cases, there was a single case with some allegations of abuse, and the rest were motivated primarily by poverty -- the parents simply were too poor to take care of their children as well as The System would like, so The System took away their children rather than help out the parents. It's a cruel world we live in.

[Bruce B]

What a very touching story.

A long time ago, I knew a beautiful and successful lady. I don't mean knew in a Biblical sense.

Perhaps she sensed I want answers to questions, such as why does she seems so special, luck on her side and what makes her so successful.

She thought her successes were primarily a result of having the courage to ask. She said that most people were afraid to ask.

I'm not saying she was right or wrong. But I do think the idea of explaining the situation and asking is taking steps in the right direction.

There is an abundance of charitable people with means. All you need is if one or two of them wish to help.

As the receiver maybe all you need do is thank and acknowledge the giver's generosity, and the exchange may be complete.

Also, why not start a topic on how to ask. I say this because I think a lot of people don't know.

Additionally, maybe a topic how to help a person in depression.

~

[Aitch]

Bruce
I found this quite alarming, and wondered if Americans were aware of it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IPscWSOqMU

Download the free ebook for more info

http://www.deliberatedumbingdown.com/Mo ... oA.sml.pdf

Aitch

[Bruce B]

Bruce
I found this quite alarming, and wondered if Americans were aware of it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IPscWSOqMU

1) they do pressure the use of mind numbing medications for children who are a little active, think for themselves, don't' sit still, talk in class or in any other way disturb the teacher.

2) i think there is some kind of government financial incentive program which works in such a way as to encourage teachers to give artificially high grades.

Otherwise, I'm not close enough to the education system to know and more firsthand.

Bruce

~

[Sylvander]

If I attempt to play the linked video I get...

[cthisbear]

Working In Sydney Ozrtralia

Chris.

[James C]

Working here too.....

[starhawk]

The educational system in the USA is a downright mess.

IMO, the problem is not just the "execution" -- the way its functions get carried out -- but the idea behind them.

We don't really have "institutionalized learning" except to a very limited extent, and it's horrible at its job description (teaching children about important and useful things).

These schools of ours are really "knowledge factories" as I like to call them. They have all the care and loving of a canning facility, and about the same methodology: to fill a container with a product or substance. In the case of schooling, the process at hand is filling minds with knowledge, whether or not that knowledge is useful --or even wanted-- by the minds!

This is why I have met young children who do not want to read -- they are given assignments that force reading upon them, in unpleasant ways. They do not realize it's the assignments that they dislike rather than the books, and they view it as a task to complete rather than what a book really is (I love books, and I used to read a lot more instead of dorking around on the computer).

Learning should be fun. Education should be enjoyed. I've had plenty of it, and that was the thing that I missed the most -- the pleasure of it.

My grade-schooling (dunno how everyone else does it, but here it's twelve years, or grades, starting at age six) was horribly dull except for when I was teased, made fun of, or otherwise bothered by my peers. Little kids are brutal with each other when given the chance.

The kicker is, even twelve years of school did not provide me with what I needed to succeed at college. After my first year at college (IIRC the rest of the world would call such an institution "University" although mine was rather a bit small!) I had to attend a year at a two-year/vocational institution (what we call Community College in the States) to get the knowledge that grade-school had failed to give me. Then I went back to college (University) for three more years -- and I barely graduated. (There was significant question about this for the last two weeks leading up to the ceremony -- but in the end it did happen.)

The saddest thing of all --which is true of most things in this country which are broken-- is that to acknowledge the real problem and propose a working solution would be tantamount to political suicide. Carrying out such a solution would be borderline impossible!

Our country is broken and it cannot be fixed

[Aitch]

Our country is broken and it cannot be fixed

Education was originally intended to encourage people to figure out stuff, i.e. learn HOW to learn, not WHAT to learn

Current education is designed to make people stupid.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiyOhrpvk_Q

Sadly, Bruce, racism is just a 'divide and rule' tactic people are 'taught'

Like the money system, and politics, and powerlessness.....

Time to break those shackles, folks.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whKrENfkMEM

Aitch

[Bruce B]

Sadly, Bruce, racism is just a 'divide and rule' tactic people are 'taught'

Like the money system, and politics, and powerlessness.....

Time to break those shackles, folks.....

Aitch :)

When I grew up I had prejudice against Japs and Germans. I learned this from listening to war stories. I don't think anyone intended me to have this prejudice, it just happened as a result listening to first hand war stories.

I was taught to fear the Russians as enemies and this was a result of U.S. propaganda.

I didn't develop a prejudice against Catholic Nuns in particular. But according to kids in the know, nuns were mean and would slap the back of your hand with a ruler, in a heartbeat.

So, I stayed clear and didn't ask questions of nuns.

In adult life, I've seen racism in extremes. I don't mean whites against blacks. I mean where all races are seriously racist.

I think, sometimes, when we see 'evil' in the extreme, we can be so repulsed by it, it changes our insides, sort of like automatically changes us.

~

[linuxbear]

The educational system in the USA is a downright mess.

IMO, the problem is not just the "execution" -- the way its functions get carried out -- but the idea behind them.

I think that a big part of the problem with Education in the US is cultural. In the American primary school system, children are subject to verbal and physical abuse by their peers if they excel in anything other than sports. Children who display talent for math, science or any other of the core classes are called geeks and nerds and often are even beaten by their classmates. This is less true in some other countries where kids have more respect for academic excellence. I am just guessing, but would venture to say that a lot of the countries where a child is accepted by their peers for academic achievement are producing better educated students than we do in the US.

[starhawk]

I think that a big part of the problem with Education in the US is cultural. In the American primary school system, children are subject to verbal and physical abuse by their peers if they excel in anything other than sports. Children who display talent for math, science or any other of the core classes are called geeks and nerds and often are even beaten by their classmates. This is less true in some other countries where kids have more respect for academic excellence. I am just guessing, but would venture to say that a lot of the countries where a child is accepted by their peers for academic achievement are producing better educated students than we do in the US.

I've actually experienced that. It's very true, and very sad.

[Bruce B]

I think that a big part of the problem with Education in the US is cultural. In the American primary school system, children are subject to verbal and physical abuse by their peers

This was truly my experience. And it messed with my self-image and depressed me badly.

It took a long time to find solutions. In the beginning, it really seemed as if there was no solution.

There are solutions for sure. But this culture won't allow them to be taught.

You will hear things from teachers, telling the victims that fighting won't solve anything. When the truth might be - in some cases, good fighting can solve everything.

~

[greengeek]

Anybody heard from Aitch lately?

[NeroVance]

You are a wise man Bruce.

After dealing with a long day in a town full of ideologues and most sites I see having one extreme or the other, you folks seem to be the golden mean.

Indeed, while I do believe in the concept of race, I don't see why we need to treat people based upon race, rather than character.

[tlchost]

I think if we could make everyone in Las Vegas leave who has no legal right to even be in this country, this alone would cause the unemployment rate to drop significantly, and jobs lost would be filled with people who do have a legal right to live and work there.
~

But.....that would go against the huge demand for cheap(er) labor and more registered, even if illegal, voters.

"We make" ?
The "we" that votes continues to elect the "we" that insures their own employment and royalty-like perks and status.

The later "we" continue to do the bidding of those who want cheap(er) labor and more voters.

Like a house of cards, it may only take time for one more placement to bring the entire structure down.

[gcmartin]

This thread is venturing into the realm of discussion that really shouldn't be here. It is moving into the area where soon emotions are going to flare and discourse is going to degrade.

In US, they have just celebrated a holiday devoted to a man who spent his life assisting and fighting for the disadvantage and the down-trodden as he appealed for fairness and equity for the citizenry before he was assassinated by an American citizen. Martin Luther King's life, actions and service ranks right up there with Ghandi, and other greats whose lives were devoted to fairness of the general population thru changes in government rules.

There are other internet websites who discuss these kinds of non-technical issues with people who take a scholarly approach in viewing this thread's subject.

But, in keeping with the vane that I think the thread "may" have been opened, I offer some ideas for consideration

Is a human being an "illegal alien"? This whole concept of "what is" should be similar to what happened to the northern hemisphere at the dawn of the 20th century.

Now, thanks to an increasing polarization led by politicians looking for re-election has provided the guide post for much of the kind of prejudice toward Hispanics, while NO such prejudice exist toward Europeans, Canadians, or other Asian nations. One prime reason is that immigration fairness is extended to those peoples while there is NO EXTENSION for fairness in immigration for Hispanics. Yet the people are led to believe and form the prejudices as political leaders know the better.

Question for thought

• Thoughts on why this disparity in immigration operation truly exist?
• And how did "we, the people ...", buy into this bad ideology. Shouldn't our education have made us smart enough that they, politicians, dare not present this kind of polarization to its citizenry?

IF you choose to answer, please provides any ideas you may have on how to improve the people's behavior such that politicians begin to recognize that there is really a thinking public viewing their bad behavior. And lets hope that the discussion ventures into areas where we can exchange information which can be used to craft some answers versus spouting the values that we may be holding onto unwilling to try to see a brighter approach. This would be similar in the actions most of you use when helping others on the forum with the technical things we generally cover.

Peace be with you

Edit to make clear there are 2 distinct questions present.

[tlchost]

This thread is venturing into the realm of discussion that really shouldn't be here. It is moving into the area where soon emotions are going to flare and discourse is going to degrade.

But this is an off topic area. People should be able to post as they choose. Unless of course someone imposes a topicality template for off-topic discussions?

Is a human being an "illegal alien"?

illegal alien is a term in law.....if you strongly disagree with it, have the law changed....don't try to redefine the term to support an agenda.

This whole concept of "what is" should be similar to what happened to the northern hemisphere at the dawn of the 20th century.

while there is NO EXTENSION for fairness in immigration for Hispanics.

Fairness as in overlook the illegal entry into this country? Fairness as in supporting those who entered illegally while large numbers wishing to enter the country follw the laws and are thus penalized?