Hey now, don't invoke Godwin's law. I haven't had a chance to insult anyone. Nevertheless, I was trolling (it should've been obvious) since few things annoy me more than the phrase "I'm embarrassed to be a <insert phrase here>."
Don't be embarrassed, do something! Regardless, my subversive point was essentially that, given the ridiculous measures that we're seeing passing through Congress, it should be no surprised what individual states are doing now that we're effectively having a regulatory free-for-all.
I don't like the idea that we're essentially already living in a police state, and I think Arizona has made the wrong decision on how to deal with unkempt illegal immigration. Maybe its my morbid sense of humor, but I find the entire situation absolutely hilarious.
I've had my share of issues with immigration authorities in spite of rarely leaving the country (to visit family in Aussie land many many years ago). I can't tell you how many times border agents stopped me when I was coming home from school (there's a checkpoint between Las Cruces and Alamo) and asked half a bazillion questions, effectively holding up traffic during a peak hour for what I can only surmise as their own personal amusement. Unless they thought I was German, I'm not sure why they'd hold back some pale pasty geek and inquire as to his whereabouts, his goingabouts, his roundabouts, "what's in the bag?" and so forth (though they were welcome to do my schoolwork, if they so desired). And that's to say
nothing about what they did to an African American friend of mine. Same checkpoint--they'd almost read him the riot act up to and including pulling him over to examine the vehicle in spite of no reasonable suspicion other than skin color. Somehow, I don't think a black person immigrated illegally from Mexico...
The point being: This goes on in the border states more often than you'd think. The difference is that Arizona's
vague laws have made the issue much more visible. I can understand a reactionary approach to the law given the tensions that exist--and possibly the fairly recent murder of a rancher not too long ago--though I disagree with its execution. I don't have an appropriate solution, and given that northern Mexico is completely out of hand and running under fear of the drug lords, I think the situation is only going to get worse if it starts spilling into border towns (and it has, given El Paso's state).
We really have ourselves to blame for it all, though. Given that a driver's license is no longer much of an ID card and more of a "yeah, I can drive card" as there is seldom any check as far as I know to ascertain one's citizenship status in some states, you cannot use that alone. Worse, following the health care debacle that recently passed, some of our lovely congress critters were discussing a national "can work" ID card to quell the hiring of illegal immigrants. I don't know about you, but it seems to me that forcing a national ID card upon people before you're allowed to legally work is unlikely to achieve any goal other than creating more hoops to jump through for legitimate employment.
Eh, signs of the times, I suppose. Everyone's nuts.
