So-called "Health-Care Reform"

Ireally is a big give-away to to the Insurance racketeers and Big Pharma. I will be forced to hand over money to the racketeers but they aren't forced to pay for procedures or even checkups, as far as I can tell. Judging by our income (though not by our expenses, living in the middle of the most expensive real estate in one of the most expensive cities in the world) this is going to be a chunk.  Which we couldn't afford before, so how are we going to afford it now?  But never mind that for now.

The rightwing xtremists are howling that this is socialism and communism. They went wilding over Capitol Hill this weekend and not a single one was arrested.

The rightwing howling is only going to increase in volume, violence and viciousness in these next days.  I'm finding myself kind of wanting this to happen and happen very fast, because finally what they are will be scaring people who have been at least partly sympathetic toward these insane mobsters, including the media and pundits.

Some have been seeing frightening parallels to Germany and Austria in the 30's as it is. I'm seeing more people starting to speculate that this might happen here. It will happen too, if the crazies, of which there are a whole lot, have their way. They aren't talented at thinking things through -- that if they get what they want, they themselves might be, could be, sorry -- that they too could become targets.

But perhaps I may be, could be, just possibly, seeing slight indications that more people are waking up and starting to see this, even on that very conservative institution of National Public Rhetoric radio.

Chicano friends from Vaquero's high school days were visiting in NYC this week. Their son, now a major, is in the reserves; He had taken a break in NYC on his way home from active duty. He went through the Airforce Academy after high school graduation. He started his Air Force career the week of 9/11. He's flown many, many missions to Iraq and Afghanistan.

His parents left New Mexico some years ago and live in Colorado -- the same suburb as my close relative, in fact.  But this relative wouldn't know them, have anything to do with them -- they're Mexicans, probably illegal. But this is not so! Their families have been living in the Southwest, particularly New Mexico since the days when this was still part of the Spanish Empire, New Spain. They are descended, then, from people who were well entrenched in the reigion for more than three hundred years before any of these anglos showed up to build their McMansions in the Denver suburbs.

C was telling me that where she works nobody knows this. Her anglo co-workers keep venting about dirty illegal Mexicans. Nor are they fastidious about letting her know that they don't mean her and her family are undocumented workers from Mexico. They are shocked and call her a liar when she tells them, in better Englsh than her co-workers use, the history of the Southwest (she was an English major in her undergraduate work). She asks them, "Why is Colorado called Colorado? Do you know this is a Spanish word that means red?" They don't believe her. This is what the thugs and the xtians have created -- not only do we deny science in favor of creationism, we deny history as it happened, despite all the documents. No wonder you can't convince these irrationalists that Obama was born in the U.S.A.  This is only going to be enforced by how the Texas Board of Education is rewriting the texts for social studies / history.  No history of Spanish speaking peoples in the U.S. is to be included.

Their son is wonderful. He thinks things in this country are about to turn around.* He's living in Spokane now, and starting work on a master's, thinking about law school. He'll be re-activated again though, in a few more months, flying missions in Afghanistan.

O. works for the post office (he was the only chicano in their high school college track -- V. says that the history teacher in particular was always bullying O, and sneering at him for being of Mexican descent. C. works in the hospice care taking community. They both went to college. So has their daughter, and their son, I described above. They are very well educated, very well informed about everything from the current political crises to latin music, literature, history. They are loads of fun to be with, and they are very nice, but with sabor and spice of all kinds, including wit and senses of humor. The best kind of company, in fact.

On each of these counts they are as different from my 'anglo' relative as you can get.

History. It's personal.
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* I wish I could share his sense -- I just don't see how it can as long as the media is owned by the corporatistas and the monopolies are allowed to continue throughout our so-called economy. But he's very young, and he has energy, and I hope he and his friends are able to overturn what has been wrought here in the last 40 years.