The Transporter Couch

All in all, I thought the President’s remarks were well presented, measured, and sensible. One comment I have is that he says these guard troops he’s sending to the border will not be “militarization.” I bet you they will be carrying guns, though, and that certainly smacks of military to me. I suppose he’s equating “militarization” with “declaring war.” And of course we’re not at war with Mexico, though we are in a “War on Drugs” which is in theory one reason we already protect that particular border. A war we’re losing, as well. And a “War on Terror” which is in theory why we protect all borders. Another war we’re losing, by the way. IMHO.

The ID card thing confuses me. It isn’t just the “wetbacks” who have to complete the I-9 form when they apply for employment. Everyone does. Does that mean we all have to have these I-9 ID cards? One more piece of identification to mess with. Of course I have a US Passport which is perhaps not impossible to forge but would be very expensive to forge, if the spy novels are to be believed as accurate. So expensive that anyone who could afford to do it probably isn’t looking for a job. But who is to say that the ID card documentation isn’t forged in the first place. So why not just modify the existing “green card” to reflect that documentation has been satisfactorily examined? And what’s up with the fingerprint on an ID card? What does that accomplish?

Next, the business about making people learn to speak Enlgish ignores the fact that English is not the “official” language of America. There have long been advocates of making it so, and opponents as well. But until Congress votes to make it so and President Bush signs it into law, you can’t MAKE anyone learn English. Personally, I think it’s just bad manners to live abroad (and I don’t mean just go on vacation for two weeks, but actually LIVE there) and NOT strive to learn the language. And since I live in a heavily latin-populated part of the world I’ve taken it upon myself to learn Spanish. But I have a facility with languages in general and some people do NOT, so isn’t it really my duty as a good person who appreciates his environment to do some of that work? I mean, for instance, if my friend gets nervous driving on the highway and really isn’t very good at driving in traffic, and I don’t really like it either but I’m better at it than he is, don’t I have some duty to do the driving when we go somewhere? The alternative of course is just not to drive on the highway with my friend. But I digress. The point is that Enlgish is not the official language of the USA.

And finally, I KNEW it was coming because it always does, but MUST HE end his addresses with “God bless?” It panders to his base. I’m not offended, but annoyed because it’s presumptuous. Other people might in fact be offended and the President’s handlers should know that and just leave it out of his speeches. (On the plus side, we can take comfort in the dwindling of that base. We’ve organized a pool as to exactly how low the ratings will go. My own bet is that it will bottom out at 26%. Not that it matters really since he’s not going to need a base for too much longer, and I rather doubt Cheney will run for that office. Anyway … …)