Joshua Seek - Personal Meanderings of Joshua Seek

July 28, 2010

Jan Brewer's misleading statements surrounding SB1070

Truth matters.

It matters for America, and it matters when we talk about issues that will have a major impact on some of the poorest people among us. In the past few months, our governor has said a lot about immigration, immigrants, her position and her opponents. This post will continue to update with information on these statements and the truth.

Claim	Brewer's Reality	Reality
Decapitated bodies litter the Arizona desert	“Our law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert either buried or just lying out there that have been beheaded,” she announced on local television.	Besides the fact that anyone who is an avid Arizona hiker can attest otherwise, The Arizona Guardian Web site checked with medical examiners in Arizona’s border counties and the coroners said they had never seen an immigration-related beheading.
Border violence and crime in Arizona is rising	Assorted quotes "We are out here on the battlefield getting the impact of all this illegal immigration, and all the crime that comes with it."	Here’s Jim Scott from the University of Colorado, Boulder: During the 1990s, immigration reached record highs and crime rates fell more precipitously than at any time in U.S. history. And cities with the largest increases in immigration between 1990 and 2000 experienced the largest decreases in rates of homicide and robbery. The findings by Tim Wadsworth, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, contradict much of the public rhetoric about the relationship between immigration and crime. As the Arizona Republic reported this month, violent crime in that state’s border towns has remained essentially flat during the past decade even as drug-trade violence on the other side of the border has burgeoned.
Most illegal immigrants are 'drug mules'	"Well, we all know that the majority of the people that are coming to Arizona and trespassing are now becoming drug mules," Brewer said."They're coming across our borders in huge numbers. The drug cartels have taken control of the immigration.	T.J. Bonner of the National Border Patrol Council told CNN that Brewer's claims were "clearly not the case." Bonner said that some undocumented immigrants caught by border patrol agents have drugs on them, and that they sometimes blame pressure from the drug cartels. But, he said, those claims have little credibility because drug smugglers are typically transporting much larger quantities of drugs. And besides, he said, if what Brewer said were true, there would be many more prosecutions for drug smuggling. Brewer's comments, Bonner said, don't "comport with reality -- that's the nicest way to put it."
Phoenix is the "Kidnapping capital"	Jan Brewer campaign ad	"Neither the FBI nor the U.S. National Central Bureau of Interpol, an arm of the U.S. Department of Justice that serves as the United States' representative to Interpol, could confirm that Phoenix has the second-highest frequency of kidnapping cases"
Father died fighting Nazis in WWII	Out-of-line statements have been made refering to Brewer as "Hitler". This kind of speech is clearly out of line, however, Jan's response continues in the vein of misleading statements to garner support towards her re-election: “Knowing that my father died fighting the Nazi regime in Germany, that I lost him when I was 11 because of that ... and then to have them call me Hitler's daughter. It hurts. It's ugliness beyond anything I've ever experienced.”	The Arizona Guardian points out that Brewer’s father “worked as a civilian supervisor for a naval munitions depot in Hawthorne, Nevada. He died of lung disease in 1955 in California.” From the party of Swift Boat veterans, no less.

Loading mentions Retweet

Comments [0]

July 27, 2010

Is Jan Brewer Lying For Politics and Profit? | Homebrewed Theology

Discussion of any highly controversial or contentious political issue is bound to contain its fair share of misinformation. Unfortunately, that’s just the nature of the beast today. People are generally too intellectually incurious to do even the most remedial of research into a topic. This is not sole property of either left or right or progressive or conservative or religious or secular, etc.

Now, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that part of the reason Gov. Brewer signed SB 1070 was to protect her own political backside from getting walloped in the Republican primary by notable blowhard Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Every poll leading up to her signing the bill had her winning the primary…..except in cases where Arpaio ran. However, once Arpaio held his press conference to say he’s not running, you’d she would have toned down the rhetoric a few notches.

Not so, it seems...

via homebrewedtheology.com

It's sad when tricks used in re-election campaigns effect real people.

Loading mentions Retweet

Comments [0]

June 25, 2010

Are web marketers training their customers to whine online? - Holy Kaw!

via holykaw.alltop.com

Advertising Age recently posted this insightful article exploring how social media is influencing the habits of angry consumers. This day in age, an angry tweet gets a far faster response from corporate than a quiet phone call will yield—and every day more unsatisfied customers are learning the art of whining on the web.

Read the full story at AdAge.

Loading mentions Retweet

Comments [0]

June 11, 2010

Prayer for the Jorgensens/Barkelys

My friends, Josh and Melissa Jorgensen, have been spending the past year in Africa and are slated to come back in early-August. Melissa, thought, will be coming back this weekend for a family emergency. Below is her post on this:

Most of the people who read this already know what is going on. But here is a quick rundown of what is happening.

My 4-year-old nephew, Payton, fell from a window and hit his head. He fractured his skull and has had some brain swelling. The doctors are doing everything they can and there are so many people praying for him. Please join in.

After a day of calling, e-mailing, crying, and heartache, Josh and I decided it would be best for me to head home to be with my family during this time. Today I have been rushing around trying to get ready to leave the country. People to notify, errands to run, packing to do. I had to go into town to sort some things out and was bombarded with vuvulezas, people laughing, and dancing in the street. World Cup fever is here. Even the parking guard was dancing and happy. When I asked if I could stay more than an hour in the 60 minute parking zone, she said, “You can stay as long as you want! It’s world cup!” Of course I had to pay for “as long as I want” but still…she was very friendly. I stood in the sun and watched people dancing. Everyone was so happy. But I felt like my heart was being torn in two. Didn’t they know? Shouldn’t they care? For a moment I felt a bit of their joy leak into me. Then I heard a little boy shout “papa!” and I lost it.

Sam met me and bought me lunch and tea. It was the first real meal since I found out yesterday morning. She even added sugar to my Rooibos. She said her mom used to do it when they were sad. The sweet warm tea did help my heart a little. Thank you, Sam. I’m lucky to have you as a friend.

My flight leaves tomorrow evening and I will be in Seattle by Friday night. Please continue to pray for Payton and also for my family. He has brought so much joy to us all and our hearts are aching.

http://mjorgey.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/payton/

Melissa's blog restricts comments, so please leave her, Josh, and her family messages of encouragement here. If you would like to assist financially, as an emergency trip from South Africa to the US can be quite expensive, a collection has been set up at this address: http://joshuaseek.chipin.com/melissas-emergency-trip

Loading mentions Retweet

Comments [0]

May 5, 2010

Do 'Family Values' Weaken Families?

From National Journal Magazine:

Can it be? One of the oddest paradoxes of modern cultural politics may at last be resolved.

The paradox is this: Cultural conservatives revel in condemning the loose moral values and louche lifestyles of "San Francisco liberals." But if you want to find two-parent families with stable marriages and coddled kids, your best bet is to bypass Sarah Palin country and go to Nancy Pelosi territory: the liberal, bicoastal, predominantly Democratic places that cultural conservatives love to hate.

The country's lowest divorce rate belongs to none other than Massachusetts, the original home of same-sex marriage. Palinites might wish that Massachusetts's enviable marital stability were an anomaly, but it is not. The pattern is robust. States that voted for the Democratic presidential candidate in both 2004 and 2008 boast lower average rates of divorce and teenage childbirth than do states that voted for the Republican in both elections.

More...

Loading mentions Retweet

Comments [0]

May 4, 2010

A belated writing on the Arizona immigration bill

Recently, Arizona passed into law SB1070, which requires law enforcement to investigate someone’s immigration status if there is “reasonable suspicion” that the person might be in the country illegally. The bill came out of left (or right) field... very little debate took place, and the public did not know much about it until the day before it was signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer.

In the past, I have been very tough on immigration, but this began to change when I considered the people immigrating here. I read a great book, "The Deporter" by Ames Holbrook. The book is about a deportation officer working in Louisiana whose job it was to go into the prison system and attempt to deport criminals who are not US citizens. The most interesting part of the book is who he was able to deport and who he wasn't. If a person was in the country illegally and was a hard-working person, whose only crime was being undocumented, they would be deported quickly. But hardened criminals - such as murders and drug dealers - were not easy because the country of origin would often not take them back. The people who we hear about that are "bringing down this country", the harshest criminals who are here committing evils all while being here illegally, cannot be returned to their points of origin. The people who are here supporting our ways of life - the field workers, fast-food employees, and maids - are easily tossed back.

This book changed the way that I looked at our immigration system because I realized I was being duped by politicians and spokesmen, who stated that the reason we needed to create harsher laws is because these terrible criminals would be diminished by our laws. But they will not be. They will continue to enter the country illegally, and will continue to commit heinous crimes when they are here. The people that our laws will really effect are those who are here only to work, support their families, and live the best life they can.

The Sunday after the Arizona law was passed, I went with some friends to the state capital to attend a rally. There were many powerful moments at the rally, but the most powerful moment was when an older Hispanic man approached me. I was sunburnt from being outside all weekend, and my shorts, wide-brimmed hat, large sunglasses, and pasty skin made it blatantly obvious that I was a "gringo". The man said to me, in broken English: "Thank you for supporting me"

"Me." Not the actions against the bill. Not the politics. Him. A man who was just here to provide for his family, as I seek to provide for mine.

Another experience involved a family who held a sign with their picture on it. The sign read, "Enjoy your 99 cent meal? Ever wonder on the price??" A large part of our economy is based on cheap labor. We are able to live the way we live because we don't pay people $50/hour to pick lettuce. We pay mere pennies on the dollar. Immigrants provide a help to a nation that demands low prices.

I met native Americans who questioned if they looked like illegals. Would "reasonable suspicion" include them? Would reasonable suspicion include my wife, who is not white. Because illegal immigrants can get licenses in many states, could my wife be detained until I could leave work to get a copy of her birth certificate to show that she is, indeed, American?

All of these experiences place me firmly in the camp that is against this bill by the Arizona legislature.

In the following post, I will speak about the faith aspects of this bill. Many of my friends come from a christian background, and might not think that their faith should play into this. But it does, and not in a political way.

Loading mentions Retweet

Filed under // Arizona Immigrants Immigration Jan Brewer Russell Pearce SB1070

Comments [1]

April 4, 2010