World Affairs

The New American Manifesto (Tell your Friends!)

2009-01-03T16:53:00.001-08:00

I’m an American and I have some things to say: I’m tired of being mad at the people that attacked my country. I’m tired of being embarrassed by the man that so many of us feel ruined it. I’m tired of living my life in fear that someone might drop a nuke or release a disease. I’m tired of protecting myself. That isn’t freedom. That, my friends, is oppression. I’m an American. I will hold my head high in the world. I will act in a way that is becoming of a people blessed beyond measure. I will claim what I wish to claim in the world rather than spend my time trying to hold on to notions of what used to be.

I’m tired of courts and I am tired of recounts. I am tired of being mad at people whose religious views seek to limit freedom rather than to offer liberty. I’m tired of paying so much attention to the details of other people’s lives that I miss the things that are really important. So from this day forward, wherever I shall walk, I shall act as a free person should. I will exercise my right to live with liberty. I will live my life in the pursuit of happiness. I will look out for the little guy and I will give of my bounty rather than from my leftovers. I will look the homeless man in the eye and greet him with a hearty hello. There but by the grace of God go I. I will do what is right over what is profitable. I will act in a way that makes others want to be part of this grand experiment we call a Democratic Republic.

I will choose to serve my fellow man rather than to protect the few whom I love from people who will not hate me if I serve them. I will pick up trash from the streets as if it sits in my living room...because my friends, it does. We will never get another America. We live in a land of beauty, and I will not live in a land that is run down for my lack of willingness to make sure it’s tidy. When I visit the lands of others, I will be a gracious guest. I will not cast judgment on them and I will not claim superiority. I will act in a way that is becoming of a person with the name “American.” I will not make jokes about the might of my military, for it is the goal of a free people to live in peace.

On occasions when I need to hit, I will hit hard, and I will hit furiously so that all men know it is better to be my friend than my foe, but I will not parade my victory through the streets. Rather I shall grieve the need for war. Rather than pretending that all who agree with me are created equal, or that all Americans are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, I will act in ways that prove I understand that all people everywhere are endowed by our common creator with those same rights.

We are blessed but we are not better. We can be, but to be so requires action. To be the best is not merely to be the most powerful, or the most impenetrable. It is to be the best at holding to our national ideals. I am an American and I will live proudly.

Sincerely,
Harry the Hobo Widdifield

U.S. Relationhip with Iran

2008-11-07T16:04:00.000-08:00

Iran's President sent a note of congratulations to President Elect Obama to which the soon to be President has not yet responded. My figuring is that the United States has taken an in your face approach to world affairs for a very long time. Now that the world is giving us another chance to get it right, I think we too should return the favor. At least that's what I think. How about you?

The U.S. Should Shut Up about Illegal Immigration!

2008-10-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

Recently, on a Facebook discussion board hosted by CNN's Rick Sanchez, a woman implied that if Carlos Slim Helu,(the second richest man on earth and a Mexican Citizen) can make it big, that there is no need for mexicans to come here. I replied with the following diatribe. It was well written enough that I decided to post it without editing it. It contains my thoughts on Mexicans who come north illegally:
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Your comment about Carlos Slim Helu's countrymen is absurd and unwarranted and comes obviously from a lack of knowledge regarding HOW he got so filthy rich. Let me enlighten you so you can stop it with the stupid xenophobia (look it up)

Carlos owns the largest cell phone company in Mexico. The Reason he's gotten so rich so fast is that until Carlos came along, the poor and corrupted infrastructure in Mexico was soooo bad that it took two years to get a landline, and generally cost a load of money to bribe someone to get to your house THAT fast. Cell phones make it possible to communicate TODAY.

Mexicans are trying... doing everything they can do to survive in a corrupt and poor government system...and it's SHAMEFUL that a third world country has been allowed to exist in such a horrific state for so long without the United States intervening to create more opportunities for our neighbors with whom we share a continent. They come north BECAUSE THEY CARE MORE FOR THEIR FAMILIES THAN THEY DO FOR THE GREEDY, UNCARING LAWS OF RICH MEN. Were it not for the poverty and corruption in Mexico... if they HAD good jobs, if their economy was made solid, they would not come. how many Canadians do you see immigrating illegally? The fact is that Mexicans are brown and speak with funny accents, so our ARROGANT nation has not prioritized them or given them proper respect.

Case in point, before you argue......Tell me the top three jobs that you think Mexicans coming to America would be good at. No don't. If you thought of three blue collar jobs before you considered the question, then I made my point. My top three were lawyer, architect, and Archeologist. Most would have started with landscaper, moved to Busboy, and finished with carwash worker.

It's not evidence of opportunity that Carlos Slim Helu is the second richest man in the world. It's evidence of how desperate Mexican people are to get beyond the corruption and ineffectiveness of their infrastructure so they can provide for their families whom they love every bit as much as we love ours. When Americans start treating Mexicans like first class world citizens, i will hear your argument regarding immigration. Until then, Shut up about something on which you clearly have NO knowledge. I have slept in the windowless houses, sat on the dirt floors, fed the hungry children, helped clothe those who had nothing. I have seen it all first hand, and I can tell you this: Those people are doing the best they can with what they have and it is unconscionable that our citizenry has been taught to treat them like garbage people. UNCONSCIONABLE. Don't you DARE argue with me on this one. I'm right. You are wrong. Apologize for the insinuation, get an education and move on to a more enlightened point of view.

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Thanks for viewing. Tell me your thoughts.

Hating Israel is Not the Same as Anti-Semitism

2008-09-26T14:49:00.000-07:00

I am a bit tired of people who assume that the word "Israeli" is the same as the word "Jew". They are no more the same as "terrorist" means "insurgent" or "Republican" is the same as "Evangelical Christian" or "Democracy" is the same as "Republic". We have to get the definitions right.

The fact is that Israel is a 60 year old political entity with an ancient name found in an archaic religious book as a matter of politics. There are millions of Jews around the world who are not Israelis, and tens of thousands of Israelis who are not Jews. When we consider the fight between Arab nations and Israel, it's important to know the difference.

The history of the Political structure called Israel has precious little to do with the history of the ancient structure of Israel that you find in the Bible. They are alike only in name and in the culture they represent. That's it. In 1948, Palestinians, who had lived in peace with the jews of the area, were, with the help of the west, forcibly removed from their homes at gunpoint by Zionist separatists. They have been fighting ever since.

I'm not much of a war monger, but I can tell you this: If you came and took over my property, and told me I was now confined to one room in the basement, because this was now your house, I wouldn't care how much remodeling you had done, or how many children and grandchildren had been born and raised there. With my dying breath I would be trying to evict you from my house, even if doing so meant killing you.

We forget, in our religio-blindness, that it took 400 years to quell Native Americans after we stole thier homelands and put them in reserves. The fact is that 60 years is precious little time, and we will get no where with the peace talks so long as we continue to naively educate our children to believe that the conflict is several thousand years old, the result of Abraham's two sons being from different mothers. It simply didn't happen that way.

If middle east peace is ever to be achieved, it will take grace on the part of the persecuted Palestinians, andit will take humility on the part of both the aggressors and those who have aided the aggressors, those being the Zionist faction of Israelis, The United States, Great Britain, and other parts of the west. The reason wester culture is under siege is our allegiance to those who took over a peaceful land at hunpoint, turning it hostile. A sincere apology, and recognition of wrong doing would be a good place to start and a good attitude to have when addressing what has become more complex with the passage of time.

May we be blessed with wise leaders who will finally understand the struggle as a travesty on our part rather than an ancient war begun during the time that an ancient book was under construction by men with limited understanding.