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Possible Solution to Mark Steyn’s Problems with Multiculturalism July 20, 2009

Posted by bhbeverlyho in American politics.
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Several months ago I wrote about the book, America Alone: the End of the World as We Know it. I criticized Steyn’ attacks on multiculturalism, since I live in a very multicultural city, one in which whites are the minority, and in a state most Americans aspire to see at least once in their lifetimes – Honolulu HI. However, I was criticized for not stating my views on Steyn’s demographics, and rightly so, rightly so.

I have an idea that ought to please both Steyn and those irritating European nations that need immigrants due to negative population growth, but don’t want to see their cultural norms and ethnicity radically changed. Why not attract Americans of European ethnicity to move back to Europe?

Like it or not, by 2020 the US white population will no longer be a majority. It won’t be a minority, but as an economic and political block it will be challenged by growing non-white multicultural minorities that are learning quickly that to challenge the “Old Guard”, despite differences and tensions, it is better to stick together. I think the election of Barak Obama is a harbinger of the new America on the horizon and the new power of minorities. And then there are the annoying haoles (whites) who tend to think the “Old Guard” isn’t as sacrosanct as they would like everyone to believe. I am white by ethnicity, but not by much else. I think whites, and the “God put man on earth to subdue it” mentality have done a great job of almost making our planet uninhabitable for future generations. I say “almost” because I can’t help being a cock-eyed optimist (South Pacific syndrome?). We taught our economic paradigm to Japan and now China and India. Only a few brave pockets of humanity are spurning our devouring ways, Bhutan, for one. It’s hard to compete in this world by not playing by our economic paradigm.

So, if Steyn and Italy and others want a homogeneous area for Western European  culture, to preserve their cultural identity, why not attract immigrants that are much closer to that identity than the people from alien Arab and Muslim cultures? And what is wrong with a nation choosing the immigrants they want? Hell, Italian officials can start recruiting in New York City! Just promise opportunities for better education and better career advancements and a Rosetta Stone crash course in Italian! I mean, how hard can that be? Italy has a very pleasant climate, good food, opera and many cultural assets, as well as a negative population growth. I’m sure many struggling Americans of Italian ethnicity would jump at the opportunity, and probably some whites of non-Italian ethnicity that wouldn’t mind becoming Italian. Or Greek. Or Spanish. Or Portuguese.

Those people, such as Steyn, who want to keep Europe and America “white” need to understand something about America. It was never “white” in the first place. For tens of thousands of years the inhabitants were non-white natives. They had a deep understanding of North and South America. They had wars and greed and all the tensions of human beings, but they had a deep love and respect for the land. They limited population growth; they didn’t try to farm places never intended by nature to be farmland; they had hierarchies, but even the poorest at least had enough to eat and a humble dwelling to live in. Those few cultures that began to behave in a similar fashion to Old World civilizations began to have all kinds of social, overcrowding, and feast/famine problems – the Mayan cultures, for example. Anglo immigrants called the North American natives “savages” because they ”didn’t develop the land”. Yeah, it’s been developed all right, to the edge of collapse. America is returning to a land of colored people, and that isn’t going to change. The Mesoamericans from Central and South America are the fastest growing minority, and separating the legal from the illegal immigrants is a huge headache the federal government keeps avoiding, as though denial will make it stop.

That leaves only one other solution to preserving Western European culture, whites returning to Europe from America. Just think about it. If an active recruitment began, more people returning to Europe would think more conservatively and would help to change politics in Europe. It wouldn’t be just the jet setters and disgruntled with the political right celebrities expatriating to Europe – it would be more average American Joes, who are more conservative than the Hollywood mentality. Yeah, I think I’m on to something here. Those ex patriot “Joes and Janes” could help Europe to see things more from their viewpoint, and Europe and the US would return to a time of being on the same page again. Am I brilliant? Has Steyn thought of this solution?

The only places I can’t see any Americans volunteering to go are in the former Soviet Union and Soviet bloc nations. Oh, well, but my idea would have to start with one nation, probably; Italy I think, or Greece.

So, Steyn’s next book can be about how white Americans can preserve Western culture by emigrating to Europe and how to get Europe to open its borders to the new preferred immigrants without appearing too blatantly racist.

Nevada, Learn to Pronounce Your Name! July 17, 2009

Posted by bhbeverlyho in Uncategorized.
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♥On the History Channel, I saw a miniseries about the history of all 50 states. The name of the series was, originally, The States. The segment on the State of Nevada included two entertainers, Penn and Teller, well, more like one entertainer and one wordless dummy, and they were making the case that the state name should be pronounced ne VAD uh. They even showed a license plate with the “correct” pronunciation. The Net’s wikipedia would agree with them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevada

 

Hu-hum, ne VAH duh, the last time I checked, is a Spanish word meaning snow clad, and since the English short ’a’ phonetic isn’t even used in Spanish, I strongly disagree. Nevada is a Spanish word, and thus is subject to the phonetics of that language, hence, ne VAH duh, NOT ne VAD uh. Nevadans, if you can’t even pronounce your own name correctly, maybe you should change it, to say, Nevade, long ‘a’ or Nevad, short ‘a’, instead of insisting that everyone else pronounce it as incorrectly as you do. If you don’t like the Spanish pronunciation, change your state’s name to a non-Spanish word!!

But I’m being very thorny, picking on Nevadans. I mean, afterall, Americans have a very long history of not respecting the Spanish or Native American names we seem to like so much. We like them so much we eradicate them. All a part of  the Manifest Destiny mentality that is so hard to shake. Carlos Beltran, the talented Mets slugger, is often called Carlos BEL-tran instead of BEL-trahn by sports announcers. I have friends with the last name of Sanchez, and they have to correct ignorant Americans who insist that last name is pronounced SAN-chez instead of SAHN-chez. Come on, America, that kind of naivete was okay in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s because we had an excuse being a whole continent, surrounded by two vast oceans, away from the rest of the world. Now we have contact with the world in seconds, thanks to electronics and in hours, thanks to aerodynamics. It’s time to upgrade to respecting the phonetics of other languages.

The way Nevada was added to the United States is hardly a chapter in US history to be proud. Basically it was a stronger nation, the US, creating a war with Mexico to get very valuable land. The Mexican-American War was not necessary. Whites squawked about Mexicans raiding or murdering, but the other side of the story, whites raiding or murdering the native peoples and Mexican nationals was conveniently overlooked, as though white lives lost were more important than the lives of people of color. The US only compensated Mexico with $15 million dollars for about one third of what became the USA. One lonely silver mine in Ne-VAH-duh no doubt produced more than $15 million of silver.

Whenever someone from Nevada challenges my pronunciation of that state’s name, I remind him/her of that state’s shady acquistion. Ne-VAH-duh Ne-VAH-duh NeVAH duh♥

Sour Grapes??Less that 60 days in office and Republicans wishing President to Fail March 2, 2009

Posted by bhbeverlyho in American politics.
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I’m about to pull my hair out. Even after the 2000 election, when W. Bush won in his brother’s jurisdiction of Florida, under gross mismanagement and perhaps even questionable miscounting of votes, the country respected George Bush as the president. No one called him a Stalin wannabe, even though the state that clinched his election had his brother as governor. President Obama, who won over McCann with a very comfortable margin, has not even been in office for 60 days and the radicalized element of the Republican party is already screeching “socialism” at every turn and wishing for our new president to fail. I could understand that reaction after a couple of years, but the man has barely stepped over the threshold of the White House! I think this divisiveness is unprecedented, and if the USA fails, it won’t be due to a decent man attempting to lead this country into the 21st century, leaving the old Industrial Age behind for the Information Age. It will be because fear-mongers are throwing out words that cause a knee jerk reaction in the American psyche.

Believing that huge banking institutions may need to be partially nationalized for a time is a far cry from Stalin and Soviet-style communism. By the way, who are the morons who are equating Mr. Obama with Stalin?? Why are Rush Limbaugh, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint and House Minority Leader, Rep. John Boehner throwing around the denigrated word of “socialism’” before the Stimulus Plan has even had time to be tested, to prove a miracle or a bust?? This profound bashing of our new president is horribly, viciously unfair. What are they so afraid of? Perhaps that it may take a huge investment in new technologies, that aren’t cheap to construct and prime, to replace low-paying jobs or jobs being weaned out by the Information Age? That this new thinking president may be on the right track? I hope he leaves all of these witch-hunting fools not only with rotten egg all over their faces, but face-down in the dust as well.

It seems to me that the Republican Party is already courting Bobby Jindal as their alternative to President Obama. So be it. The man’s state is still one of the poorest in the Union, with one of the worst percentiles of high school or higher education graduates. He’s as progressive as a Happy Days clone, but if the American voters elected him president, I’d give him the respect he deserves, especially in his first 60 days in office. I wouldn’t call him a “Stalin” or friend of “socialism” until he had been in office for at least one year. Everyone deserves that amount of time to prove him- or herself.

On the TV show “This Week”, on March 1, Karl Rove was already complaining about all the taxes raised by President Obama’s plan. I agree with Katrina Vanden Heuvel, editor of “The Nation”. Tax hikes will not be felt by the vast majority of Americans, only by the very wealthiest industries and conglomerates. Why are Republicans always defending these amoral businesses, the very greedy ones who have led our economy to the present state it is in? I’m not a Democrat, and sometimes I agree that the government spends a lot of money on the most ridiculous ideas, but Republicans are as guilty as Democrats. Democrats overspend on American soil and the Republicans overspend on all the wars they get us into. The government, Democratic or Republican, spends a lot of money, but I admire President Obama for not trying to sweep that truth under the carpet, and for his honor he is getting called a harbinger of communism and a failure. Well, at least he is in good company, with Dr. Martin Luther King,  Bobby Kennedy, and other progressives who faced adversity to move the nation forward. If these crazy, railing ultra-conservative Republicans had their way, most Americans would be working in sweat shops, shoveling coal, and living in a racial apartheid state. As they hone their intent to undercut President Obama and his commitment to progression, China is building herself into the new superpower. And that is a country that is certifiably communist.  Conservative, “born-again” Republicans had their man in power for the last eight years. President Obama hasn’t even been in office 40 days, and they are crucifying him. I have an idea. Why doesn’t the country do the generous thing and give these fanatics what they want, part of the country, to do their thing with? They can have South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. Let’s see what they do for the lifestyle and economy of those six states. I think the US can do without most of the Old Confederacy. My prediction? After less than 50 years under the theocracy of the confederate resurgence, most of their population will be clamoring to smuggle into the USA, the newest wave of illegal immigrants. OK, that was nasty of me, but I’m tired of their undercutting of anyone who doesn’t agree with them. We have a term for it where I come from, sour grapes or being a poor sport when you don’t get what you want, namely John McCann, another old white man, as president of the US.

I also agree with Vanden Heuvel that now is the time for investing in new infrastructure of the USA. Most jobs that are now going overseas won’t even be missed if a new, technologically skilled workforce has new technologies to work in, for a very good  living wage. The US may have a huge deficit budget for the next generation, but once again, Americans will have the prosperity my parents had when America led the world in the newest technologies. Our problem is that we are a first-world country lagging behind in education and skilled workers. Developing  the newest technologies and the best trained workforce is going to take, like it or not, a lot of spending by which ever political party has the guts to stare down the naysayers.

I conclude with God bless the United States of America and God bless President Obama. Give him a chance.

Israel and Palestine Need to be in Time-Out! January 27, 2009

Posted by bhbeverlyho in American politics, racism in the West Bank.
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I am so tired of hearing about the dangerously explosive, homicidal infantile antics of both Israel and Palestine, and it may be unpopular to say, but I think Israel is just as at fault as Hamas.

I saw a segment on 60 Minutes about these two foolish ethnic groups Sunday past. I felt more empathy for the Palestinians than for the Israelis, to be honest. Do I think Israel should exist? Yes, I do. Does it disturb me that the Holocaust of WWII happened to the Jewish people? Yes, it does. At the same time, the elitism and entitlement of the State of Israel and many, perhaps most, of its Jewish citizens, sickens me. They are treating the Palestinians as they were treated in Eastern European countries and in Germany under many different governments, as second class citizens. I think, as Bob Simon said, Israel may end up with an apartheid type government, if it isn’t that way already. Okay, they believe, and many fundamentalist Christians believe, that they are the chosen people of God. Personally, I don’t believe a Higher Power or Creator makes some of his/her creatures more favored than others. I know the Jewish people have suffered for their faith and heritage, but if they, as a nation, have so little compassion for others treated as underdogs, well, bad karma is a bitch, whether in personal lives or in the lives of nations.  

The difference in the quality of life in the West Bank between Jewish Israelis and the Palestinians reminds me of the vast difference between whites and blacks in the Deep South in the 1960s and in some parts still today. That crazy Jewish woman living in the West Bank and so proud of her own ”stubbornness” is exactly the same type of elitism I observed as a child when I visited my great aunt in Florida – whites with whites, in lovely, upper middle-class privilege and then the other Americans, minorities, poor and disenfranchised. Why is it, again, America is so pro-Israeli? They are the same as the racist whites, and the silent ones, in the American Deep South or as the Boers of South Africa. I don’t get it. I’m certain it has something to do with the haves sticking together, but I don’t get it, especially now that we have a wonderful, new president, an African-American who wouldn’t have had a prayer of being elected twenty years ago. Must history always repeat itself??

Yes, Hamas has bombed private Jewish citizens, but in some ways I feel they have brought it on themselves. Do they merely enjoy the privilege? Do the majority of them try to share the land, advocate for the rights of the Palestinians to have a good quality of  life as well as they do – education? well-paid jobs? social advancement? Until the majority of Palestinians begin to see a willingness to include Palestinians in a social movement to greatly improve ALL the lives in Israel, instead of being  treated, basically, as detainees on their own land, I don’t see how any true progress can go forward. The stubborn woman, claiming God has given the West Bank to the Jews, is the heart of most of Israel. I felt that she was speaking the truth in most of the Jewish hearts in Israel, that they have the right, given by God, to have, and the Arabs don’t have any rights, except to accept their unchosen, have-not status if they are on Israeli soil.

I agree that the only solution, as devastating as it is, is to force the Jewish settlers out of the West Bank and create a separate State of Palestine. Obviously, the two groups have too much bad blood between them to join as one nation.

The Palestinians will not be treated fairly by Israel, that conclusion should have been reached a few decades ago. Otherwise, sooner or later, something catastrophic is going to happen. The US will defend Israel and the Arab nations will back Palestine, and then the whole world will get dragged into it. 

This situation can’t be avoided, or covered over with temporary band-aid “treaties’. Two separate nations must be formed, and the separate borders enforced, the sooner it is established and “gotten used to”, the better.