Political Nevada

Profiling and the Abuse of Power

Several weeks ago a 27-year-old single male took a trip to Idaho to purchase a car. After making his purchase he drove the car back toward Las Vegas. Within a few miles of the border between Idaho and Nevada, on the Nevada side, where there is nothing but isolation, he was pulled over by Nevada Highway Patrol. The officer asked the young man if he knew why he was being pulled over and was told that he didn’t know why. The officer informed the driver that he had failed to put his lights on as per the sign several miles back. As the driver hadn’t seen the sign he accepted that he was getting a ticket. The officer asked for the driver’s license, and asked if there were any wants or warrants issued for the driver. The driver replied that as far as he knew there was nothing. The officer called into his office and promptly returned stating that there was nothing on record for the driver. At about the same time as the officer was finishing the ticket and stating to the driver that everything looked good on the driver’s record, two more highway Patrol officers pulled up and had a conversation with the first officer. After their talk the initial officer asked the driver if he would have a problem with a random search of his person and of the car. At that point the driver was feeling intimidated by all the attention, but felt that he had no choice but to allow the three highway patrol officers to do their search. The initial officer asked if they would find any illegal drugs or paraphernalia on the driver or in the car and was told there would be nothing. The three officers made the driver get out of the car, then two officers began to search the car as well as the driver’s suitcase and personal possessions, while the third officer did a “pat-down” of the driver. After ten minutes the officers decided that they were done and the driver was finally freed to go. As they were getting ready to get into their cars, a homeless wanderer was passing by and one of the officers made a comment to the driver that he should pick-up the bum so he would have company on his drive to Las Vegas. The three officers thought that the comment was extremely funny and laughed as they departed the area. The driver spent an additional half hour picking up the clothes that the officers had strewn throughout the area, shaking off the dirt and folding the clothes as best he could so he could place the clothes back in the suitcase, then reorganized his car so he could continue on his way. None of the officers made any effort to help the driver put his items back the way they had been before their search and none offered either an apology for the mess and inconvenience or a thank you for his cooperation. He felt that once they had finished, he was a non-entity in the way they ignored him.
The driver could not file a complaint because he had been too afraid of the officers to ask for names, badge numbers or to even take note of the numbers on the three patrol cars.
Why was this driver treated to so much attention?
Was it because he is very Hispanic looking?
Was it because he is only in his twenties?
Was it because he had the effrontery to be driving by himself, ( the officer’s comment made the driver think that had he had a passenger, they might not have subjected him to as much scrutiny)?
Was it because the Highway Patrol officers in that area of Nevada are so bored that they needed something to do?
After the driver’s license had been run and the officer found nothing to indicate a problem, why did two additional officers feel the need to join their fellow officer instead of doing their job and keeping the highway safe?
Those that heard the driver’s story believe that the answer to the question as to why this driver was subjected to so much attention is a combination of being Hispanic, in his twenties, a single driver, with officers that are getting paid to protect the public having too much time and too much power on their hands.
They knew that the driver was fearful of being arrested, not because he had committed a crime, but because he was alone with three police officers and whatever would have happened it would have been the word of three police officers against the word of a single Hispanic driver. Who would believe that the officers would do anything against an honest citizen?
This story shows that profiling is part of our lives and without control police can take advantage of their power. Whether we like it or not, there may not be a solution to abuse of power or profiling, but it is an issue that needs a reality check.

Immigration

There seems to be two thoughts on immigration, “kick ‘em all out of the country” or allow those that are already living here “a path toward citizenship”.
The kick ‘em out group seems to feel that if a person is here illegally it is because they entered the country illegally,knowingly.

The problem with putting all the “Illegals” in one bag is that there is more than one reason why a person is an illegal alien in this country.

Below are several examples of illegals:

1. People are issued a three-year visa to live and to work in this country, they are required to renew every three years, but they forget and the visa expires, now they are afraid that if they go to renew they will be deported. Because of their visa they were setup to pay taxes on the money they make, and since they own a house they pay property taxes. Therefore they were legal, now they are illegal, but they are paying their fair share of the income and property taxes.

2. What about the young man or woman who was brought to this country as a child, but never knew they weren’t really citizens of this country. They have gone to an American Elementary School, Junior High School, and High School, even some college and are now in their 20′s. At some point they found out that they are illegal, what should they do, this is the only country they ever knew.They have been paying their income taxes and property taxes as well.

3. The college student who was in this country legally, as a student, when their visa runs out and like the person with the work visa, they forget to renew. They do the same as the three-year visa immigrant, they remain in this country and try not to get in trouble. Perhaps while they were in college they met someone and fell in love, even got married, and had children. What are their options?

4. Many “illegals” have married American citizens and have children from that marriage.

For many that are in those four categories, there is only one solution, they have to turn themselves into the Federal authorities.

The scenario works like this:
They get an Immigration Attorney or an Immigration specialist, who helps them fill out all sorts of paperwork which is then submitted to the INS for scrutiny. Then they wait for an interview with Immigration, which usually takes several months, but may even take a few years. Next, once the interview is over they have to wait several more months until they receive notice that they are to be relocated to their original country. They wait for another few months until they are picked up and placed on a bus(assuming they are being deported to Mexico). Now they must wait until some bureaucrat decides to look at their file; once the file is looked at it is now sent to the FBI who might or might not look into the situation right away. When they do they run a complete check on that person and once the check is finished, they might inform that immigrant of their findings immediately, or might have the information sitting on someone’s desk(until the immigrant’s attorney requests information as to why the 12 months limit is past) at which time that person is now allowed back into the only country they have known.
By the time the process is completed several years has gone by.

There should be other ways to complete the process, especially when that immigrant fits into one of the four scenarios listed above, because that person lived and went to school in only a limited number of places.

Change the process, make it more realistic, less bureaucratic, and there would by more “illegal immigrants” becoming legal.

These anti-immigrants who are ranting and raving about the illegals in this country have no connection to reality, they need to blame someone for their problems, blame makes them feel so superior.

The United States is a country composed of 50 states, at least in theory we are a country. When listening to the Right Wing in this “country” a person gets the impression that this isn’t a country with 50 states, but 50 independent countries that allow a central authority to enact laws as long as it doesn’t infringe on the “Will of the State”, or the “Will of the People”. The “Will of the People”; someone needs to explain that the “Will of the People” is shown whenever people vote, or in many cases, don’t vote. It is not whenever some Right Wing orator decides that he or she doesn’t like what the voter’s decided in the last election. If the “Will of the People” is as important as is said why are these minority groups screaming so loud that the “Will of the People is not being listened to? The voters are the Will of the People, not the minority fringe who happen to scream louder than the rest.
These screamers of the “Will of the People” are the same screamers of “States’ Rights”.
The 10th amendment states that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” On the face it seems that the states’ rights advocates are very correct in their belief that the Federal Government should have little power over the states, but this is not 235 years ago when there were only 13 states and those who ran the states were new to the idea of a united country. Today, in a world where weapons can be launched from the other side of the world, and where “multinational” companies control food, medicine, and even the weapons, it is necessary for the survival of the this country that we think as a country first and a state second.
The State’s Rights advocates are very vocal in their beliefs that the state has special rights over the Federal Government. They profess to believe in the Constitution, but how could they when they don’t believe that the Federal Government should have any decision-making control over the states that share this Country.The same people that are professing patriotism are some of the same ones that are threatening to secede from the United States. One very recent example is the Right Wing’s very own Sara Palin. Her husband was one of the leaders of a group that wanted to secede from the United States and until Sara was selected to run for Vice President, she didn’t seem to have any issues with his desire to leave this country. Governor Rick Perry of Texas has been talking about the possibility of Texas seceding from the Union, and calls those who want to leave the United States Patriots. How can someone who wants to breakup this country call themselves patriotic?
These patriots; are they patriotic Americans or are they patriotic Texans, Arizonans, Nevadans, Montanans, etc.? An American patriot believes in this country and would never consider anything as traitorist as seceding from the United States. Those that profess being patriots are traitors to every man and woman who ever fought for this country.
Maybe they are American patriots because their state is in the Americas, not because they care about the United States.
Perhaps their idea of patriotism has to do with how much they agree with the policies of the Central Government of the Confederation of States.We were taught that the Confederacy ended in 1865, but when discussing States’ Rights, the idea of a Confederacy seems the major idea of States’ Rights people, not a true country in the sense of united.
The issue of States’ Rights is extremely old and very much an American tradition, since no other country on this planet has the States’ Rights mentality. Whenever a province of some foreign country cries for their freedom from their country, the United States leads the way to assist that province into becoming “independent”. Perhaps it is time for the 50 states that are supposed to make up this country to become 50 independent countries? That way instead of being a world leader, each one could be a “third world” country with most having a third world economy, with limited financial power as well as limited military power. Obviously some of these new countries would have some military power, depending on the population, such as California, or New York. Others such as Wyoming, Nevada, and Montana could hire mercenaries to protect their borders. Financially, some of the states(new countries) might be able to do well in the global economy, Alaska with their oil fields, Texas with their industry.
Maybe the last 234 years as a country has been a failure and we should just do what the Minority says?
It is a minority that has been calling for States’ Rights. They definitely are a vocal group and they vote, but they do not represent the majority of those of us who believe that we are and should continue to be a Country made up of 50 states, not a confederation of 50 states coming together when it suits them.
They vote and because they vote their power is stronger than their actual numbers. When there is an election a voter turnout of 65% is considered a great turnout. Where are the 35% of the voting population who didn’t vote? If people don’t want the minority controlling the majority, then they better get out and vote. This country should see at least a 90% voter turnout any time there is a national election. If that were to happen, then the vocal minority would go back to their caves where they crawled from and let the United States be the power that it has been, because it is a country, not a confederation of states.

Blame it on the other guy

There seems to be a general consensus in this country that no matter what happens it’s always the responsibility of the “other guy”.
We hear every day that it’s not your fault if you are obese, it’s not your fault if you’re in financial default, it’s not your fault if you can’t hold a steady job. If it isn’t the obese person’s fault for eating too much, or the home owner who bought a house that he couldn’t afford, or the person who can’t seem to keep a job, then wHose fault is it? If you’re obese did someone force-feed that junk food to you daily? When you bought that house did you make sure that your income was good enough to afford the house and be able to put some money away in case of problems? When you were fired wHat did you think the boss would do when you refused to get to work on time, or you constantly left work early, or you simply didn’t do your work?
There are hundreds of examples of these, “it’s not my fault” exclamations all of which are nothing more than excusing the behavior of the person screaming “It’s not my fault”
In our school systems, when our children are behind the rest of the world, instead of pushing to become better, our teachers and their representatives tell us that their isn’t enough money, or the tests are rigged against our system of education, or it’s not a true test of what our students know; in other words, “it’s not my fault”!
We see this attitude of “blame it on the other guy” in the political arena. Each party blames the other for everything that went wrong with our country, whether there is truth to the blame or not, but more importantly, they refuse to admit their own culpability.
We are currently recovering from one of the worse financial crisis this country has seen in over 70 years and the blame is running rings around the truth. The truth is that no one, in either party, was aware of the impending crisis until it happened and then neither party had an answer as to how it could be quelled. But, now that the party that was in power during the immediate collapse is out of power they are the ones blaming the other for the collapse. Whenever the Republicans are reminded that they were in power at the time of this collapse, they sidestep the truth and insist that “it wasn’t, and still isn’t, their fault”.
Karl Rove, who led the Republican Party to power has written a book that takes today’s history and modifies it to fit what he wants the American people to remember, which is the opposite of what actually happened. This isn’t the questioning of history from one thousand years ago, or even one hundred years ago, this is history of the last eight years. How can someone believe that they can change current history so easily? They simply convince people of their version by refusing to take the responsibility of their own actions and “blaming it on the other guy”.
Who are these people who are hiding the truths of who is responsible for our failing schools; of who are willing to believe falsehoods instead of truths, and of who are allowing everything else that is wrong with this country to be hidden under the excuse of “it’s not my fault”. Those people are “we, the people”. “We, the people”, are allowing excuses to hide the truths.
“We, the people”, need to make our leaders stop excusing themselves and admit where they made their mistakes and then maybe those mistakes can be fixed?
We need to stop listening to the advertisements(propoganda) that we are inundated with daily and demand only the truth and no excuses, for anyone.
We need to educate ourselves and our children so we can’t be controlled by someone elses words. We need to listen and analyse
before we run-off screaming hate and intolerance.
We need to stop “blaming it on the other guy” and take responsibility for our actions.

We are just like you! That is what many politicians want us to believe. If they were raised in a blue collar environment they want everyone to believe they feel the same pain of struggle as any working person. The only thing most of the politicians feel is the pull of “power”.

Sarah Palin uses her “roots” when she speaks to the people. Trouble is that Ms Palin hasn’t been “one of the people” for years, if she ever was “one of the people”. She has been part of the “elite” for so many years that the only connection she feels with the working man is when she signs their checks or has them terminated from employment for disagreeing with her or her family. Today she has become a “superstar” with multiple book signings, and political speeches. She loves to throw around the phrase, Soccer Mom, but the only tie-in to the title of Soccer Mom is that maybe one of her children played soccer while in school. She is in no way the same as a real Soccer Mom. She doesn’t have to carpool with the other moms to save money on gasoline, or worry about baby sitters, and she doesn’t have to worry that she may not have the finances to send her children to college. She is definetly not of the “common people”!

In Nevada, we have our own version of Sarah Palin, only this version is much smarter, and much richer.
Sue Lowden loves to tell Nevada that she understands the “working man”. She states that because she grew up in a blue collar household she feels what the average person feels. Trouble is that Ms. Lowden hasn’t been living a “blue collar” lifestyle for at least the past 26 years.
Before she married Paul Lowden she was already becoming a power player in Las Vegas. As a news reporter and Anchorwoman she became a local celebrity which by itself is power. Then when she married Paul Lowden she increased her celebrity power level and added it to the power of great wealth. Once she added the true power of wealth to her rising power of celebrity she used it against those that she claims she wants to represent.

These people that she wants to represent are the same type of working people that she forced to sign away their health care benefits when she owned the Santa Fe Hotel Casino; (in which a judge ruled against the Lowdens for illegal labor practices). She touts her involvement in creating jobs in Nevada, and that is extremely true, but she didn’t create jobs to create jobs, she created jobs becase she needed employees to operate her businesses. She was forced to employ people because without employees she would not have had the businesses she had and therefore would not have acquired the over fifty million dollars that she now has banked. Therefore she didn’t do anything different than any other business other than trying to bully her employees and being ruled against by a court of law.
Her lifestyle and more importantly her power has placed her so far above the average working man that it is a surprise that she doesn’t carry her Royal Scepter with her on her campaign trail.
When people become socially and financially powerful they loose any real connection to the average person. Then the only time they remember their “roots” is when they need those “little people” to keep them in power or to help them gain more power.
Like the majority of Power Seekers, Ms. Lowden hasn’t done anything for the people of Nevada that wasn’t directly related to her own personal agenda. Now she wants Nevadans to believe that she is running for Senate because she cares. I believe that she truly cares; yes she truly cares for the power of the Lowdens.