Obama Delivers One!

Great delivery:

Arizona's "Breathing While Latino" Law

Arizona is starting to feel financial pressure after passing racist Senate Bill 1070. The California cities of San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles have all passed laws boycotting Arizona based businesses. No new contracts will be signed until SB1070 is repealed. This will amount to hundreds of millions loss of businesses per year.

We have been spending a week or two in Arizona every year on our way to Mexico but we will be seriously looking for alternatives this winter. If we do continue using Lukeville, our favorite crossing place, it will just be a very fast trip through Arizona, spending as little money in that State as possible.

I know the loss of my few hundred dollars will not do much to force Arizona's 18.6 billion dollar tourism industry to talk some sense into their State Government but I suspect I will not be alone.

EDIT: I just saw that 28 conventions have been canceled in Arizona because of this racist law. Hotel and restaurant owners - talk to your Governor! This is money right out of your pockets!

Keith Olberman on the "Breathing While Latino" Law:

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

Good fences make good neighbors is the saying. This must be true because we are having “words” with the condo next door over a not-so-good fence!

Last year the fence that the condo built years ago started to fall down. We told them we would pay half if they wanted to replace it. Well it went to committee and then a vote and they decided not to replace it. Instead they decided to plant a hedge in it’s place. We had experience with hedges in the past and did not want one. They are messy, high maintenance and tend to spread both vertically and horizontally. We have an ocean view that we do not want to lose and as much of our land is unusable slope, we have limited level lawn and flower garden space that we do not want encroached upon by the neighbors hedge.

Our argument did no good and they planted a hedge along the property line, leaving three remaining sections of fence at the back. This last piece of fence was in fairly good shape and was protecting a slope onto the rear of their property.

This winter a tree fell and destroyed the fence. We arrived home to a letter from the condo stating that since it was our tree that fell, they expected up to replace the fence, entirely at our cost. Last weekend we had a close look as our son and Linda were up and would do the work for “free”, meaning gallons of beer and kilos of shrimp(;>) Brooks and I had a close look and determined the fence was well on their side of the property line and it was not at all clear whose tree it was anyway. It was either on the property line or maybe even on their side. It was almost like they were trying to pull a fast one. When it was up to them to replace the main fence, they refused. Now they want me to spend hundreds (plus beer and shrimp) to replace the piece they left standing.

Brooks called and explained all this to them. He said we did not feel it was our total responsibility to pay for the fence and that if they wanted to split the cost, he would give them an estimate (he has a fencing business) and they could do the work right away. This would work out because their half would pay for material and my half would be the beer and shrimp.

Failing an agreement on that that we said we would tear down the broken fence and replace it with the same hedge material they used last year. We all agreed that the exact location of the property line is unclear and a survey would cost many times the cost of a new fence.

Well, everyone went back to their respective corners with the condo people saying they were going to call their insurance company and have them take a look.

Today a couple of guys were looking at the fence but disappeared as soon as we went outside. It looks like the Hatfields and McCoys will be at it for a while yet!

Birthday Bash

Last night we celebrated my sixty-fifth birthday. It was a beautiful night and the patio was crowded. Brooks and Linda came up from Lake Cowichan and many friends dropped in. There were old friends and new friends. Some we have known for forty years and some for far less. people I worked with over the years, both in the Union and even my old boss from my first job in Campbell River back in the mid 60's. There was tons of food and great conversations going on all over. Linda made a stack of cupcakes and everyone brought appetizers. It was a great party. Thanks everyone!

I did not bring out my camera so unless people email me some of their photos that I can post later, you will just have to imagine the scene!

Thanks for the photo Linda! Wow! One beer in each hand! At least they are Mexican...

Gringomask.com

The Internet has everything. Here is a site where us “aliens” passing through or visiting Arizona can download and print a "gringo" mask in order to blend in with the blond, blue eyed airheads who allowed their Governor to pass the racist Senate Bill 1070. This Bill allows, even requires Arizona law enforcement to question anyone they “suspect” may be in the country illegally.

They say they would never think of using racial profiling, but just in case we should have our masks ready to quickly put on whenever a police car passes.

By the way Governor, all us Canadians spending hundreds of millions every winter in Arizona are "undocumented aliens" as well. Is Sheriff Joe going to slam all of us up against the side of his car with the demand, "Show me your papers!"?

This is what Republican Gov. Jan Brewer thinks all Americans should look like so the masks will let us blend right in and avoid confrontation.

Finally Finished Buying Tires!

This has been a bad (for us / good for tire companies) six months. We have replaced all six tires on the motorhome, two on the car dolly as well as all the tires on both cars since October of last year. We just did the second car today. That is 16 tires in all! The grand total is well over $2000 so I am glad it only happens once every five years or so! This retirement travel thing is expensive...

Dear Vancouver Canucks

You cannot sit back on your butts with a two point lead! I thought you learned this last year. I and everyone else (obviously you as well) watched those two early goals and thought it was going to be a blowout, but then everyone went for coffee and quit doing what you are hired to do. PLAY HOCKEY!

Coming home tied is not all that bad but if you let the Blackhawks split the next two games I think that will be the beginning of the end for your fan's first real Cup hopes in years.

A Declaration for a Free Arizona

Huffington Post May 2, 2010

The Time is Now - A Declaration for a Free Arizona

By Gihan Perera

Executive Director of the Miami Workers Center

On Behalf of the day laborers, domestic workers, home care workers, laundry, and debris cleaners, who are the diaspora of the world economy,

On Behalf of the young people, who feel the difference between right and wrong in their veins, and who inherit our world,

On Behalf of the elders, whose bodies we must care for, and whose wisdom we must not lose,

On Behalf of harmony and dignity and the integrity of human life,

In the name of a decency that we still have time to salvage,

We must recognize that the developments in Arizona are the manifestation of a profound and growing sickness, toxicity, in the hearts and minds of our nation, promoted by a hateful few.

We recognize the loss of certainty by many, particularly White and working people, in the United States. The economy, politics, and culture are in a state of turbulence. Fear is easily channeled to hatred and blame. We understand, but we must resist this urge.

We recognize that the passage of Arizona state law SB 1070 represents a qualitative shift in this toxic state. Its passage is a clear signal to the people of Arizona, the United States, and to people throughout the world, that state sanctioning of racial, ethnic, and class segregation and degeneration is acceptable.

The lines have been drawn. But no person of good conscience can allow this to solidify in our collective consciousness or become socially acceptable. The law mandates interrogation based on racial perception - specifically targeting Latinos and those who 'appear' Mexican, Central American, and/or of indigenous ancestry. It puts them in the cross hairs of an increasingly militarized and policed state. It makes their existence in the state suspect; an illegal act to exist. The profound cruelty and irony of the measure is this: Arizona and its neighboring states are the ancestral homelands of these very peoples. They are the dispossessed and dehumanized within the lands that they are native to. They are here as workers, dependents of an economy that they were forced into, because of the destruction of their traditional ways of life.

History has taught us often about the outcome of this type of social control. It is an untenable solution to codify and criminalize racial status. It will only lead to dire polarization, desperation, and death. The lessons of the Jim Crow South, the South African regime, Palestine, and Nazi Germany are clear - apartheid is dehumanizing for all involved. It is not a sustainable mode of governance. It makes the owners of authority illegitimate; they are forced representatives of a captive people. We cannot control and repress the basic needs for survival. Security for a few will not be achieved through systemic suspicion and criminalization. In fact, the opposite is true. The yearning for life and freedom and dignity will not allow it. It never has. Not in Cape Town, not in Selma, not in Phoenix. It never will.

However, Arizona is a signal of greater danger coming. If Arizona's law stands, it will have a ripple effect. Policies modeled after SB1070 will spread to many more states. These measures will take our energy and our resources away from finding true solutions to our problems, and will further polarize us. It will take us back in time and reestablish a racial line of demarcation as the basis of politics in the United States, and we will have no choice but to choose sides.

And as always, it is the young people that first and foremost exert their right to be fully human. Over the last few days we have witnessed thousands and thousands of students assembling at the state capital in Arizona. They raise their voices for freedom, justice, and dignity. Understand that this is more than a political protest. It is a cry for life and a cry for a secure and free future for all people.

We must support their energy and their insistence on solidarity with their families. They have grown up, as generations before them, witnessing the daily indignity that their families suffer. They have seen the pride of their fathers, grandmothers, brothers, and cousins broken by the crushing force of history upon them, by the weight of their birthplace and skin color. They have seen years of hard work undervalued by fear and their wealth lost to laws that protect exploiters. They have watched the concern in their mothers' eyes for their safety,for their futures, for any signs of hope, and for all signals of danger. The mothers say: Cuidate. Please, be careful my child.

History shows us that the overwhelming forces of hate will try to provoke these visionary youth and turn their righteous indignation into a reason to repress them.

But the spirit of freedom and justice will prevail over hate.

We must help them keep faith and restore harmony and dignity. The restoration of the sacred connection to each other and our human purpose will not come by the politics of the now. But we must act now to ensure that a different future stays in the realm of the possible.

Now is the time for moral leadership, in high places and everyday places. It begins with our President. President Obama's role in establishing the moral compass of our nation is as important as any other he occupies. The indignity that the people in Arizona now face is familiar to him, in his blood.

We look to him now, to act in sacred reciprocity. We look for him to recognize and honor the tradition of the plight and redemption of his African forebears who suffered the greatest brutality that the world has witnessed. We look to him now, to simultaneously recognize and honor the tradition of Americans who throughout history have chosen their calm and conscience over fear that was fanned to spite. He must remember those good people in Iowa who were the first to propel him to electoral victory, proving that this country can act on a sense of dignity and purpose despite all the pressures and easy access to prejudice and petty politics.

The time must come now, not a moment later. President Obama must act decisively, clearly, with resolve. As commander-in-chief he must draw the moral line, and tell politicians in Arizona that they have crossed it. He must immediately and unequivocally say no to the use of any federal resources, especially ICE forces, to enable and enforce a hate-filled and racist pogrom. He must act now, to show that there is no compromising when our human dignity is at stake.

And we must support him in doing that. In every town and city and place of worship, we should be talking to each other about Arizona. We should be organizing vigils, and speak outs, and educational forums, and acts that display our moral outrage to the crime that is being perpetrated. We should be at federal buildings and immigration offices, calling on the federal government to act NOW.

In these uncertain times, I find that there is an important lesson in the ancient teachings of the First Peoples of the Arizona area. Their wisdom holds that we must consider the impact of our actions not just on the present, but on seven generations into the future. It is our obligation and our legacy for our children and their children. Therefore, we should all be making a moral pledge to act in good conscience to defy this law and stand for a much higher standard of being. We are the difference between harmony and disintegration.

On behalf of a historic and moral imperative to prevent humanity from taking a dire step backward. Enough is Enough!

Written for the National Day Labor Organizing Network (NDLON), and the emerging youth movement in Arizona.

Higher High Speed Internet

I hooked up to "High Speed" ADSL Internet a few years ago and never bothered to check if anything better was available. I was evidently on 1.5 Mbps speed and was quite happy with it. It was a lot faster than writing letters and even faster than the old dial-up I was on before that.

A friend who works for Telus was over the other day to do some repairs and told me that there was something much faster available for almost the same as I was already paying and I should upgrade. I checked into it and he was right. I could upgrade to 6 Mbps for only a couple of dollars more a month, less my employee discount!

The switch was made today and WOW, is it ever fast! We had a bit of trouble "registering" my computers but Leanne from Telus Technical Support spent almost an hour with me on the phone resetting the router and making a bunch of changes and now I am on line at 6 Mbps! I can't even type that fast!

Brenda: The speeds I get from your site are:
Download - 5.22 mbps, Upload - 0.66 mbps and Ping - 129 ms

Earlier this afternoon I got slightly faster speeds, specially on the upload side which was .8 something. This shows traffic has an effect on speed as well.

Hornby Island Bald Eagle Cam

Check out the webcam in a Bald Eagle's nest on BC's Hornby Island! There were two eggs, one of which hatched three days ago. The second is still waiting to hatch. The eaglet is named Phoenix and he/she seems very healthy and is certainly noisy! The parents have been taking turns tending the nest and are taking very good care of Phoenix! Daylight only or there is not a lot to see....

Hornby Island EagleCam