I don't have the magic hair

It's a magical year: first black man, first woman, first baldy.

first baldy

Huh?

We got this guy
and then there's this guy and this guy

and this guy wasn't fooling anyone (nice comb-over, Bill).

sierra tango foxtrot uniform

I'm not bald (yet, anyway), just not magic. If I was willing to spend $400 for a haircut, maybe I could get there.

Ah, my apologies for making an assumption.  

Maybe you could get Donald Trump to bankroll your political campaign and fund you a pricey hair cut?

I don't think you can make police officers automatons who all behave the same way. Individuals doing their job, whatever that job is, have to be given both autonomy and accountability. I think you'd be right to hold individual officers accountable for "time wasting" stops and other behaviors if they act with prejudice based on skin color etc. But at the same time, you have to give them leeway to uphold the spirit of the law.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

I spent some time googling after I read your post. I can't really find any organized group against MADD, just various localized opponents popping up every time they try some of their shenanigans. It is sad. I think MADD can get no more scary, and then I found this little gem of theirs:

Opponents of checkpoints, tend to be those who drink and drive frequently and are concerned about being caught.

I am hopeful of this passage in the most recent Libertarian Party platform:

We also oppose police roadblocks aimed at randomly, and without probable cause, testing drivers for intoxication and police practices to stop mass transit vehicles and search passengers without probable cause.

Perhaps we could all show up to their next national convention and get them to add a sub-section stating "MADD: It sucks."

I think I'm going to join MADD and see how long until they toss me out.

police practices to stop mass transit vehicles and search passengers without probable cause.

Does that really happen in America? It just goes that much further to demonstrate what a elitist, racist, morally bereft organization it is that would so enthusiastically endorse such things.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

police practices to stop mass transit vehicles and search passengers without probable cause.

Does that really happen in America?  

Sadly, yeah it does. Read up on the Border Patrol's 100 mile zone. They stop Amtrack trains and buses that pass through it on domestic travel just to check people out.

Heck, there is even a program to screen people "randomly" on buses and trains. Of course, it has nothing to do with intercepting drug money couriers or anything like that. It's all about protecting us from those all too common and deadly bus terrorist attacks.

I think I'm going to join MADD and see how long until they toss me out

If you go to their Los Angeles chapter website there's a little gem of a link called "MultiCultural." This is the link to the portion of their website that is in Spanish. I can't think of a more out of touch organization...

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

The Libertarians or MADD?

Meant to include the website:

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

Holy crap. Could that be any more patronizing?

I don't know much Spanish (but babelfish helps), but it seems to just include suggestions on how to party responsibly and how to drink safely at work parties (WTF?). No sense discussing politics or their organizations viewpoints with the Hispanics, lets just assume they are all uneducated borderline alcoholics who we need to inform how to drink their tequila responsibly.

They even include a recipe for an alcohol free margarita. I honestly hope there is one for it on the english side and they are not suggesting "Well, we know all you Hispanics just sit around all day and drink tequila, so here is something you can do to keep your booze under control." I will say it again: WTF!?

MADD sucks, long and hard.

Legislators can move driving without a license or insurance from a simple violation to a misdemeanor with six months of jail time

Sure, the chances for catching more go up with more checks. The chances of making a bigger dent on drugs in my neighborhood also goes up with starting house-to-house searches. But I don't think anybody is considering allowing that to happen.

Why do we allow the police more latitude with motor vehicle searches? If my home had peeling paint, garbage everywhere looked like crap, a housing ordinance violation would not allow the police to look through my windows for contraband and demand identification from everybody present. Why is that allowed for a dim taillight?

The chances of making a bigger dent on drugs in my neighborhood also goes up with starting house-to-house searches...Why do we allow the police more latitude with motor vehicle searches?

Just so you understand, I don't want the police to check your license and insurance while you're driving around on your own property - only when you're out driving on the same roads that I use.

Then you shouldn't have any problem with police stopping you as you walk down the street and frisking you for drugs and concealed weapons, no? After all, you're walking down the same sidewalk I use, and you might have a gun!

There is no requirement for a license to walk down the street - only to drive.

There is no requirement for a license to walk down the street - only to drive.

But there is a license requirement to carry concealed weapons. I demand to know whether you have a gun hidden on you! Think of the children!

I demand to know whether you have a gun hidden on you!

There is also (at least when I was there) no vehicle inspection in Idaho. This gets you a "I don't know how they do things wherever YOU'RE FROM, but here we do things a little bit differently..." from the mechanic/vehicle inspection guy after you move back to the east (Imagine this spoken very slowly and loudly, because obviously being a denizen of the Gem State for several years means you are borderline retarded). Asshole. I was then presented with a bill itemizing $3,500 in charges that it would take to bring my car up to my new home's environmental and safety standards.

Thank goodness I didn't run into an inspection/registration/MADD checkpoint after I moved back home, otherwise I would have  been sent to prison and had my car cubed.

You are not legally bound to insure your car in New Hampshire

Yes, you need a license to drive in NH.  What does that have to do with mandatory insurance and what difference the police would know?

I can't argue with your logic...but I can recommend a good therapist

In NH the police should obviously not arrest drivers without auto insurance.

You know what bothers me about these illegal immigration debates? Where are the unions who cover menial occupations and unskilled labor jobs? If they successfully lobbied for a massive crackdown on illegal labor their constituents would see huge wage gains in the agriculture and services industries

Unions exist first and foremost to give wealth and power to the unions' leaders. Illegal immigrants make up a significant portion of the unskilled labor force in the US. That fact is a problem for the unions for one reason only - because illegal immigrants cannot join unions and pay union dues. The position of big labor makes perfect sense in this context: unions who represent unskilled labor want immigration reform so that they may sign up more members.

illegal immigrants cannot join unions and pay union dues.

Which unions check for green cards?  I must have missed that rule when I was an ILWU member.

Union dues come from paychecks. If an illegal immigrant cannot get a paycheck then he cannot have dues deducted.

See gerrymander's point.

It is easy to buy small plaster models of what you think life is like.

I thought illegal immigrants were stealing jobs.  Now you say they don't get paid.  I have a hard time keeping up with the argument when it changes so quickly.

I thought illegal immigrants were stealing jobs.  Now you say they don't get paid

If the union deducts it from your paycheck (the one I was in for a year did) you need to have presented at least convincing documentation to your employer to get paid.

Unions can't recruit and enroll people who get paid in cash under table.

illegal immigrants cannot join unions and pay union dues.

Slight correction: known illegal immigrants cannot join unions and pay union dues. Illegal immigrants with forged papers or stolen identities, however, have much more leeway.

The unions and the leadership of traditionally marginalized communities like the African-Americans should really be agitating for strict laws against illegals, but they are not. Their silence really doesn't make much sense to me.

Because it's not all about money.  If it really was all about money the proletariat would have risen up and taken over management a long time ago.  People care about other things.  In this case, sympathy and a feeling of solidarity simply outweigh the class based considerations.

this case, sympathy and a feeling of solidarity simply outweigh the class based considerations,

I don't think that's the case, union members are pretty anti-immigrant. The Democrats and Union bosses decided that more low skilled immigrants meant more Democratic voters, and increased Democratic turnout and office holdrers meant union favoring legislation.

Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, admitted as much.  He told the National Journal that additional immigrant workers are "bad for blue-collars,"But immigrants can help elect Democratic majorities, and "if [a Democratic Congress] were to significantly strengthen unions, then you would offset the negative effect on the income of workers."  http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/070516nj1.htm

Gotta love the ellipses and paraphrases in that "quote" of Barney Frank.

The Republicans see this as a divide-and-conquer issue.  They have no interest in anyone poor, whether they are white, black or brown.  These tears about how high school dropouts earn less because of illegal immigrants are bullshit.  These are the same people who fight tooth and nail against minimum wage laws.

The real truth is that making life harder on immigrants drives down the wages of illegal immigrants, and that's what the people who hire them want.

There is truth to the idea that illegal immigration depresses wages for high school dropouts. If they can hire a bunch of illegals to work melon fields for cheap, why hire some dropout if he is going to demand $7 or $8 an hour?

The quote about how the immigrants will vote Democratic (or whatever party legalizes them) is one of the real reasons why you will never see real, permanent, immigration reform in this country. Politicians know that immigrants and their families will always vote as a strong one issue constituency, and anybody who gets citizenship as a result of amnesty or illegal friendly legislation will always be in their corner. Therefore it makes sense to sell your native constituents up the river in exchange for permanent support from new voters you just legalized.

The quote about how the immigrants will vote Democratic (or whatever party legalizes them) is one of the real reasons why you will never see real, permanent, immigration reform in this country.

Illegal immigrants can't vote.  Make them legal and they aren't illegals any more.  I have to wonder what you mean by "real, permanent, immigration reform."  Apparently it doesn't involve legalizing anyone, since legalizing a large portion of illegals would constitute reform.

Real, permanent, immigration reform is any reform which diminishes the immigration problem, does not reward illegals already here or encourage further incursions like the amnesty of the mid 80s.

You won't see "real, permanent, immigration reform"  because it's near impossible to meet your conditions.  America has been a nation of immigrants since it was founded, and every generation has bitched about the current immigrants and how they are ruining everything.  You're no different than the people who passed the Chinese Exclusion Act.

When will supporters of illegal immigration realize that flipping a border or sneaking ashore in the dead of night is not the same thing as legal immigration? Why is it so bad to ask people who want to join our country to play by the rules?

I wonder if you know anyone who played by the rules?  My best friend went through hell to get his wife legal.

Yes I do. And I know several people wondering if they will have to leave because of visa shenanigans.

I would imagine that the people who went through hell to come legally here and played by the rules would object to other people not paying their dues. I know I would. I know my co-workers that are going through visa related trouble or have it coming up are very angry about people who just show up and stay.

When the rules are so onerous, and so hard to enforce, you're going to get people violating them.  That's a fact of life.

I don't consider immigration violations to be malum in se, so it doesn't really upset me.

I don't think that's the case, union members are pretty anti-immigrant. The Democrats and Union bosses decided that more low skilled immigrants meant more Democratic voters, and increased Democratic turnout and office holdrers meant union favoring legislation.

As far as I was aware, we were talking about illegal immigrants. In the vast majority of cases in the vast majority of places, illegal immigrants do not have the right to vote. Even most legal immigrants don't have the right to vote until they actually attain citizenship (although some places do allow non-citizens to vote in state / local elections - but as far as I'm aware, no state allows non-citizens to vote in national elections). Given all of this, I'm not really sure where you're coming from (or where Frank is coming from, for that matter).

The idea being that today's illegal immigrants quickly become tomorrow's citizens, especially when amnesty is on the table.  

where Frank is coming from

You can't expect the National Journal to quote Barney Frank accurately.

No offense to their position, but it is silly. You have a third world in Central and South America* with hundreds of millions of people willing to work in the US for those wages. Do they honestly expect to just sit back and wait until all illegals are making $12 an hour before they agitate for their own position? Here is a link which talks about a legal day laborer getting 'outnumbered 100 to 1' by illegals, yet he bears them no ill will. That generosity is amazing, considering their cheap labor is helping to subsidize the same 'management' you'd figure they rail against.  

*Why is immigration always considered a Hispanic issue? Why do Mexicans and Central Americans get preference in immigration issues? Arguably there are places in Africa that are a whole lot worse off than in Latin America, but I have yet to see many people agitate to allow those genocide survivors in instead.

Do they honestly expect to just sit back and wait until all illegals are making $12 an hour before they agitate for their own position?

I don't envision illegal immigrants making $12/hour if US citizens could be hired for some amount between minimum wage and $12 instead.

- derumi (del-me)
"Bobby Fischer? Man, that guy is crazy!" - Mike Tyson

I don't either, but the article claims Latinos (many illegal) working out of these Home Depot parking lots are asking and receiving $12 an hour whereas the African-American man mentioned is getting passed over for jobs.