A Brooklyn Hispanic

I was talking with this man from New York today. Turns out he's Hispanic though with his thick Brooklyn accent he said most people don't suspect; not that I really noticed enough to have a thought one way or the other before he mentioned it. We started talking about the recent rally in downtown LA recently regarding the political climate of anti illegal immigration. I heard what he had to say about the issue but as a typical New Yorker he really didn't care much way to hear what I had to say. I mainly agree with what he had to say that there should be more of a crackdown as to employers. And he did bring my attention to the issue of illegal immigrant incarceration; some being held up to a year. Such a thing is atrocious considering that it cost 20,000 a year for taxpayers to incarcerate one person and conditions most of these people are subject to for just seeking a better economic environment; that is obviously a racket if I ever heard of one.

My opinion is that the issue should be tackled from all sides. I say there should be a wall built between the U.S. and Mexico. As he pointed out sure there will be holes poked in the walls and others will dig under it and illegal immigration will continue but the point of the wall is to slow it down. He then pointed out the illegal immigration of Canadians and that no one cares because they are white; but I do and I think there should be a wall built on the border of Canada too. The reason being that is it's actually comparatively easy to get into Canada and sneak across the U.S./Canadian border if your from someplace else in the world, especially if you speak english. With the increased risk of terrorism I think building borders both to the north and south would be a good idea. I also support an increased crackdown on employers; the question is how to do it without Hispanics feeling targeted because they are Hispanic.

But immigration is important to this county and I support increasing legal immigration from Mexico and Latin American as illegal immigration slows down from those countries. I also support legal amnesty if you are able to survive under the radar for ten years or more. It's preposterous to deport people that have blended in so effectively and essentially become Americans. Also there should be amnesty ensentives for whistle blowers that significantly contribute to reducing illegal immigration racketing; especially those involved in criminal activities.

Tech Idea: Pass codes for Phone Numbers

Haven't you ever wanted to be able to freely hand out your phone number without worrying about getting telemarketers or someone that might turn into a phone stalker and run down your minutes?

Well the phone company should support pass codes. Both a large random electronic code with contact into that people can zap between cell phones or during a phone call and simple 5 and 6 digit security codes. Then all you'd have to do is delete the security code and that person could never call you again. You'd never again have to change your number or lose contact with people because you had to change your number.

It's a simple idea and I'm surprised cell phone companies never figured it out.

Myspace Women's Complaints

What the heck is it with women that condem profiles of guys without their shirts on? If you put in the effort at the gym then why not show it off? Ditto for guys that show off their cars. Guys may put a lot of time and money into their wheels. This is myspace, whatever you put your time and effort into is who you are so why not talk about it and put up some pictures?

No doubt at least half the guys are posers whose lives revolve around attracting women, but it pisses me off that women are so conceited as to think that every guy is posturing for them. If I work out a couple hours a day I'd sure as hell post some pictures. Ditto if I saved up and worked regularly on a car, why not display it? Is it really so wrong to have a little pride and show off all you've done and accomplished. Why do you think doctors hang their diplomas on the wall? It's because they have sacreficed and put a lot of time into aquiring it. It's part of who they are.

Justice, Prison, and the Death Penalty

Part of a governments job is to keep society functional and working. We can choose our own paths within our society to the extent of the freedom available within that society. But there are, necessarily, laws that limit our freedom from interfering with freedoms of others. You can not harm other people or take that which is theirs and other laws that compel us to play fair with one another in life. Morality is in the details. The effectiveness and moral competence of actual laws and regulations is beyond my scope here.

Invariably governments, like people, must protect themselves. When there is no governmental power guiding and regulating them then they are like unto people in anarchy and must seek to defend themselves by force. War and violence itself is neither good nor evil, it's the motivation behind it is and that falls upon the realm of ethics and morality.

But the topic at hand is regulating society. When a law is suspected of being broken the matter is brought to a legal authority, namely a court which must decide the merits of the charges. The is no infalable system of justice. Invariably people will be wrongly convicted and punished. It is in fact a citizens duty to bear a conviction no matter if they are guilty or not. All that can be done is too carefully implement and design a fair and accredible system.

I find nothing unconscionable with the death penalty anymore than I do killing in war. It's the circumstances that pertain to it that may be objectionable. Innocent people will be killed, the same as innocent people are imprisoned or otherwise punished. But for the record let me state that while I personally have no moral problem with capital punishment in itself that I find it's use as a deterrent impractical. The time necessary to reasonably determine guilt makes it so. And a lengthy amount of time is necessary because death can not be commuted by appeal unlike a prison term, nor can proper reparation really be made after in the case of wrongful conviction. Furthermore it is just too expensive to be practical and courts do not exist to exact revenge. In order for a death penalty to be useful it would have to be implemented swiftly and but justice is not swift. Indeed such a deterrent is a tool not of justice but rather of oppression. The only place for it is really under martial law and dictatorship when there is no time for proper justice and there are not sufficient facilities and manpower for prisons.

I make objection to a system that does not readily motivate officials to admit their mistakes or that provides compensation for those that have been wrongly convicted and burdened. Another is a prison system in a democracy which does not allow prisoners to vote or later to be elected to political office. For it is those unduly burdened by laws and possibly wrongly convicted that are the ones that have the most motivation to seek to change the system for the better.

Television: Battlestar Gallactica 2005

I must admit that I wasn't particularly attracted to the idea of them remaking this series. I can't recall any good remakes. Better off just to continue it with a new generation. But if your going to change as much of the series as they did and start all over then what they should have done is called it something else.

I don't have a TV and only started watching the series though bit-torrents over the last couple months. I've also been able to catch up on all the previous episodes quite easily though bit-torrents. I must admit now to myself that I am indeed a fan of this new series. I wasn't really sure for quite a while. There weren't any characters I wanted to like, they all seemed to have too many faults. And everyone just seems all too ready to dehumanize the cylon human clones. The way soldiers in all human wars conceive of the enemy as animals as if that in some way justifies cruel treatment. But then one episode caught my attention.

And that episode is "Downloaded". In it we discover that "Caprica Six" is now being haunted by an imaginary Baltar. A counterpart for an imaginary "Caprica Six" that haunts Baltar. And it is possible to see now that there is indeed an invisible hand, for good or for bad, guiding destiny. I'm not sure if the humans are going to find earth. It seems far more likely that the cylons themselves will face an apocalyptic event and the children of both are destined to be the future.

I'll probably be buying the series on DVD now. Though I wish there were an official subscription service that allowed me to purchase the season in advance and legally watch the episodes as they air on the net. I just wish that this show unlike so many others of television history actually has a planned story arc for future years and that it comes to an elegant and complete finish.

Biology: Nucleogenesis

I've read a couple interesting articles recently discussing theories as to how the nucleus of cells evolved. I must say that I support the idea of a viral origin. It seems the most logical though I can't quite see how the recently discovered mimivirus relates to all this except to point out that really complex virus can evolve. But as a central principle I can easily imagine a virus that evolves to take over simple single celled organisms that don't have a nucleus. And from there it's easy to imagine it mutating to become truly symbiotic; such that only reproduces during cell division. And finally from there it's viral envelope evolves into a more useful nuclear envelope. It's quite a startling idea to imagine that we evolved so directly from the ancestral merger of virus and scum. Quite possibly foreshadowing the invention of sex.