10 years later

Ten years ago, my world was turned upside down.

September 11, 2001 was the Pearl Harbor for my generation. A generation that had grown up never knowing a real war. Oh sure, we'd seen pictures of Desert Storm, but that was just a minor thing, and far away. The Cold War was something that old people still cared about. I was six years old when the Berlin Wall came down. These things didn't affect us, unless you knew someone who was personally involved. To us, wars were things that were talked about in history books, or played out on movie screens, or experienced through video games.

On that fateful September morning, however, we found ourselves faced with the same situation that had faced Americans almost sixty years before, a horrific attack on our homeland. None of us were prepared for such a thing. How could we be?

In the days that followed, I had high hopes for our country. For the entire decade before, all I'd seen in American politics was just a steady trend towards ever more bitter partisan bickering. The two parties playing dueling filibusters, the government shutting down, the Republicans impeaching Clinton because he got frisky with an intern, and the Democrats showing every sign that they would do the same thing if they got power. All the while, the tone kept getting steadily worse. The idea of a respectful compromise became anathema, as faith and politics became intertwined. The party that wanted to keep the Government out of business wanted to regulate what a woman could do with their body, or whether two people who happened to have the same gender could have the same rights as a man and a woman. The party that wanted to expand freedoms and safety nets for the poor and the elderly fought to protect people who broke the law every day, simply by being here. And neither side would back down.

In the days after September 11th, I found myself hopeful that this horrible attack would serve as a wake-up call to politicians, and the people in general, that we shouldn't be fighting amongst ourselves like this. That, even in some of our darkest days, when there were deep divisions between the parties, people could still remain civil to one another. I had high hopes.

Those hopes were crushed, slowly and systematically, as the recriminations began within weeks, and people began to use 9/11 as a club to beat down all opposition. It died when Rudy Giuliani ran for president on a campaign based on how many times he could say 9/11 in a given sentence. And its grave was plowed over when the Democrats managed to get majorities in both houses of Congress, and proved that they were no better than the Republicans. And now things are so bad that I find myself nostalgic for the relative civility of the impeachment debacle and the government shutdown of the 1990s.

I had hope. Now I have the sickening realization that it will take something radical to break the cycle of partisan bickering that has put a stranglehold on our country. I no longer believe this is a problem that can be solved the way our current system works, where it is an all or nothing, and compromise is the equivalent of toxic waste.

I am forced to one simple, horrible conclusion. Without radical changes, our country is doomed to a slow death. What form must those changes take? There are many ways it could work, but, in my view, the best would be to rewrite Article I of the Constitution completely. Throw Congress out, literally, and change it to being a Parliamentary system, where third parties will have a chance to flourish, and everyone won't be stuck in the horrible zero sum game that has crippled us for the last twenty years. Every other major democracy in the world has this system, and it works well for them. There may be ideological differences in England, or Israel, or even Russia, but you don't see the government threatening to come to a halt every few weeks like you do here.

Without major changes, I think we will all be hoping the world ends in 2012.

Symptoms and Causes

Georgia is the most recent state to pass legislation aimed at fighting illegal immigration's effects within their borders. There's been a lot of crying and gnashing of teeth from civil rights groups and people who simply like the cheap labor that illegals provide, but their arguments all ignore the underlying fact that the people who came here illegally are, by law, criminals. You can spout "no one is illegal" or whatever catchy slogan you like, but the fact is that there are legal means of coming into this country, and if you enter another way, you're an illegal alien.

That being said, I must say that while I support the basic ideas behind the recent laws, I don't think this is the right way to go about solving the problem. The reason why is simple. Illegal immigration is a symptom. You don't solve anything by treating symptoms. The only way to solve the problem is to find a cure for the cause.

In this case, the cause is not people who come across the border illegally looking for work. The cause is EMPLOYERS who break the law and provide opportunities for these illegals. The argument is always that no Americans will do the kind of work the illegals do. The truth is they won't do those jobs at the cut rate pay and conditions that employers can get by with when dealing with illegals. If everyone's on a level playing field, you'll find legal workers for those jobs.

So what would I do? First, I would expand legal guest worker programs. Nothing wrong with having migrant workers come in and do a temporary job such as picking fruit, and then moving on when the season's over. I'd even be agreeable to allowing immigrants to serve in the military, and be granted citizenship after a six year tour. (There's actually precedent for that, when the Irish were coming over.)

But the main thing I would do is crack down on the people who employ illegals, drastically stepping up enforcement and penalties to the employers. To start with, the penalty for employing illegals would be a fine of $1 Million, loss of your business license, and forfeiture of the property involved. And then your name, face, and biographical information would be put in a database of known employers of illegals that would be distributed to every police department and licensing bureau in the United States. The intent is nothing more or less than to ruin every employer of illegal immigrants in the United States.

If this sounds draconian and harsh, that is because it is, and is meant to be. The simple fact is that half-measures won't solve the problem. This isn't something you can take a couple aspirin for and call in the morning. For a problem this entrenched, you need major chemotherapy.

formspring.me

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/Mirikon

Don't fall for this crap.

In my continuing effort to educate people on how to spot spam when they see it, here's a little gem that hit my inbox today.


from beng@uni.edu
reply-to bengsengk@live.co.uk
to beng@uni.edu
date Thu, May 26, 2011 at 6:09 PM
subject Read and get back!!
mailed-by uni.edu


I am Mr. KOH Beng Seng Independent Non-executive Director Chairman of Bank of China Ltd, Hong Kong.


An Iraqi named Abrahem Hussein Raheem,a business man made a numbered fixed deposit of Sixty Five Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars only in my branch.


He died during a bomb blast in Iraq,After further investigation it was also discovered that Abrahem Hussein Raheem did not declare any next of kin in his official papers including the paper work of his bank deposit. And he also confided in me the last time he was at my office that no one except me knew of his deposit in my bank. So, Sixty Five Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars is still lying in my bank and no one will ever come forward to claim it. I am sorry to have used this media to contact with you as i have to use this email for personal security reasons as adviced by my lawyer, so kindly send your response to my personal email below.


I am ready to share 50/50 with you if interested in this deal, kindly note that i have contacted you with a paid domain for security reasons so i need you to copy this email: khobengseng@yahoo.com.hk of mine and send me your complete details if interested.


Your earliest reply will be appreciated as i state my email again for your perusal khobengseng@yahoo.com.hk


Yours Truly,
Mr. Koh Beng Seng,
Independent Non-Executive Director
Chairman of the Risk Committee, Hong Kong.
Email: khobengseng@yahoo.com.hk

Lots of warning signs here. First, note all the different email addresses. You have one that it came from, one that a reply goes to, and another one where they want you to send replies to! This is a classic sign that something is not on the up and up.

Second, do you really think some bank manager in Hong Kong looking over an account for a guy who died in Iraq is going to contact some random person through the internet to help them?

Third, the act he's talking about is illegal. What makes you think anyone discussing such things over the internet is legit?

Fourth, the guy being a bank manager is a nice touch. People think 'bank managers have money already, so they really wouldn't try to screw me'. Except look at the message again. He's trying to rip off several million dollars! Even if you take him at face value, what makes you think he won't rip you off too?

Finally, anyone who deposits $65,500,000 in an account, anywhere in the world, is not going to be able to do so without someone knowing about it. Governments on the lookout for organized crime outfits tend to keep watch on any large deposits. In many places, banks are required to report when someone deposits a sum greater than a certain amount.

In short, if you fell for this load of dung, you deserved to get taken. But to make you feel better, I've got this bridge I'd like to sell you in Brooklyn...

Reflections and closure

Has it really been almost ten years?

Every so often, you have these quintessential events, burned into the psyche of a people so deeply that everyone not only remembers the event, but that event changes who we are. Pearl Harbor was one. JFK's assassination was another. For my generation, the generation of kids who were still in school on 9/11/2001, the events of that day have shaped our lives.

There are kids in high school today who were only in kindergarten when the planes hit the towers. The majority of their lives have been colored by this event. I was older, in high school at the time, and so I was old enough to appreciate the change that came over the country on that day.

Without trying to sound too poetic, that day is like a scar upon my soul. Even ten years later, I can never think on that day without tears welling up, as I remember the emotions of that day. The disbelief at what I was seeing, the growing realization turning to horror and fear, feeding a righteous anger. I may disagree with many of the things Bush did during his term, but I have always given him credit for his restraint in those first few days. Knowing how my emotions were running in those first few days, my reaction to seeing the tapes of bin Laden congratulating his men on how well the attack went would have been to turn all of Afghanistan into a nuclear wasteland, slagging down the entire Tora Bora mountains into rubble that would glow in the dark.

What my generation lost that day was more than towers or lives. We lost our innocence. As a generation, we were forced to realize that the world was a dark, terrible place, that would hurt you if it could. Oh sure, we knew about the lesser dangers close to home, the bullying, muggings, and crime we saw on the TV from day to day. But nothing like the unreasoning hatred that could cause someone to do something like this.

The attacks on the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 happened a month before I was born. It was something out of the history books for me. I was eleven when the federal building in Oklahoma City was bombed in 1995. I saw the reports, was fascinated by the sight of a building with a big hole in it, and then turned the channel to watch cartoons. The bombing of the Cole in 2000 I remember, but that was a small thing, very remote. It was 'over there'.

What happened on September 11, 2001 was not 'over there'. It was immediate, it was here. And as a generation, we were forced to deal with that horrible discovery that the world was not a nice place, that it would kill you if it could, and that death could come in an instant from the skies above.

Now that Osama bin Laden is dead, I find myself once again praising a president for his restraint. I would not have given bin Laden a respectful burial at sea. I would have had him shipped back to the US, tied him to the back of a Harley, and drug his corpse through the streets of New York, before planting his severed head on a pike on the White House lawn.

bin Laden's death will not erase the scars from a decade ago, but I find myself with a sense of closure. The monster responsible for all those deaths has been slain. It won't bring the people back, but no more will be killed because of him. I feel as though a weight that had been hanging from me for so long that I didn't even realize it was there had suddenly been lifted.

bin Laden is dead, but threats still remain. Still, the death of this one viper gives me hope that we can root out the rest of them. It has been a long time since I had that kind of hope.

The Limits of Power

Much has been said in recent weeks about how the United States should have gone in sooner and imposed a no-fly zone over Libya, or send arms to the protesters, or other such interventions. For the most part, these people are reacting out of the emotion of the moment, without regards to consequence or precedent.

If we are a nation of laws, and expect other nations to abide by international law, then we cannot simply disregard international law, or its processes, without becoming a rogue state ourselves.

A moral stand is a good thing. However, people have committed horrible atrocities in the name of morality, when they are unchecked by respect for the law or other limiting institutions. Emotion is a powerful thing, but when you let it control your decisions as a nation, you become a bully, getting your way because you can beat up all the other kids on the block.

It is the fact that we knowingly and willingly limit our power and our ability to respond to situations by bowing to the strictures and conventions of international law that separates us from madmen and tyrants like Kadhafi.

If you could ask Barack Obama one question what would it be?

Can I have a job?

Ask me anything