Bottled anger

[level_head]

A couple of months ago, this basketball fan was writing about some bottles thrown during the game. He described this as an "ugly incident":Kentucky's dramatic 81-75 overtime victory over Mississippi State last night was marred by an ugly incident before the final buzzer in which fans threw water bottles onto the court. Official Mike Kitt and

Comments

[marmoe]

Looks like Tea Party members are better at keeping their cool in the face an agent provocateur. I presume quite a few of the protestors allegedly told to leave "his country" by that man were native Americans.

[marmoe]

P.S.: I don't condone this violence. Unfortunately, over here I'm used to behavior like this and worse.

[level_head]

I presume quite a few of the protestors allegedly told to leave "his country" by that man were native Americans.

It's possible, of course, but it does not strike me as likely.

There's one subtlety to this. The racist group "La Raza" ("The Race") is quite active in this debate, and insists that all of southwest US be given to them because the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) was invalid because it was a treaty to settle and end a war.

Amusingly, the country of Mexico acquired the same land from Spain three decades before -- in a treaty (the Treaty of Cordoba, 1821) to settle and end a war.

So -- if such treaties are to be considered invalid, Arizona never belonged to the nation of Mexico.

===|==============/ Level Head

[antayla]

Huh, so that's what "Semana de la Raza" means... "Week of the Race." My community college held that event last week. Of course, they translated it "Week of the People." Celebrating Latino culture, of course.

[level_head]

There are two organizations -- MEChA and National Council of La Raza -- that have a rather fuzzy separation

Huh, so that's what "Semana de la Raza" means... "Week of the Race."

[marmoe]

Of course it does. The MEXICAN Race.

Haven't you had Raza Boys tell you that "The Mexican Race is a Cosmic Race, The Mexican Race is The Master Race, Viva la Raza?"

And that the reason Mexico does NOT allow immigration or naturalization is because "It would contaminate the Purity of the Mexican Race"?

And that in all these oh-so-trendy Indigenous Cultures (TM), the name for their own tribe translates as "The People" and the name for all outside the tribe translates as "Other" or "Enemy"?

In being Oh So Multicultural and Oh So Tolerant, all we've done is volunteer to put our faces beneath all the others' stamping boots. Forever.

Re: Huh, so that's what "Semana de la Raza" means... "Week of the Race."

[antayla]

Eh, I hadn't the motivation to look it up to see what it actually meant. The translation fell into my lap.

[level_head]

I've just heard two audio tapes -- one of messages left for the GEICO voice-over fellow (ostensibly from Tea Party supporters upset at his "retarded/murderer" message), and the other of messages left for Freedom Works (ostensibly from Tea Party opposition upset because GEICO fired the fellow).

Generally, the Tea Party supporters called the GEICO guy an idiot. The opposition threated to kill/destroy/obliterate the Tea Party supporters and their families.

The difference is striking. Literally.

But the real issue, it seems to me, is the discussion of the argument on both sides. All the noise aside, all the smearing of one side and whitewashing of the other by the media and pundits, detracts from the fact that there are serious problems worthy of discussion.

If someone makes a factual misstatement, refute it. Another cartoon pointed out the defense actually being used instead, and involves a favorite critter:

[marmoe]

The Party Can Do No Wrong, Comrades.

Ees Party Line.

[level_head]

The Mexicans were pretty good at attacking and removing native Americans as well. I don't know that it would help matters much if the folks involved knew more history.

===|==============/ Level Head

[marmoe]

That's because (in the words of the Raza Boys) "The Mexican Race is the Master Race, a Cosmic Race."

[level_head]

By the way, I didn't comment on this before, but your use of the phrase "agent provocateur" is interesting. Are you alleging "that man" to be in the employ of the government?

You might have used the much more likely "I presume quite a few of the protestors allegedly told to leave 'his country' by that man were in the country illegally" instead.

===|==============/ Level Head

[marmoe]

Ooops!!! Poor choice of words, no I don't think that man was in anyone's employ but his own. From the impression on the video, I think he wanted to provoke violent reactions.

In hindsight, "troll" or some such would have been a better word. Could you please delete/strikeout agent provocateur in my post and replace it with troll or a better word?

I've seen coverage of the Arizona bill elsewhere. If I am not mistaken, 30% of the legal Arizona residents are Hispanics/Latinos. The way I read the reporting, they will inderictly affected by the bill, as they are the only ones to likely be mistaken for illegal aliens. One case was reported (victim side only), where a commercial driving license and a social security number were not enough to satisfiy the police, that a man was American. He was arrested and his wife had to leave her job to fetch his birth certificate from home and bring it to the immigration office where her husband was held. Mind you, this incident happened before the bill was passed. From the limited info I have, the bill

[level_head]

The Federal Government had already all-but-adopted a policy of no enforcement, or enforcement in a sort of useless, random way unbecoming to a country that prized the rule of law rather than the rule of enigmatic dictators.

The process was very frustrating to many states, and the problem certainly predated President Obama's arrival. It simply did not get better (and arguably got worse); no one was surprised.

It seems strange to have to make a crime illegal, but the underlying situation was weird enough to make this necessary.

===|==============/ Level Head

[level_head]

Since 45% of the state voted for Obama, the implication is that at minimum one-third of Obama supporters are in favor of this bill.

It also means that 100% of all non-Hispanics are in favor of the bill. In practice, the numbers are likely to be more mixed; certainly some Hispanics that I know personally are in favor of it.

Hispanic crime, with Hispanic victims, is a major problem in Arizona and is apparently in very large part an illegal immigrant problem. I had just heard that Phoenix was "the kidnap capital of the US" and #2 in the world in that particular crime. I haven't sourced it.

===|==============/ Level Head