every immigrant group has their criminal element. Take a look at the hard working Italian immigrants-painted as patsies for the Costra Nostra even though most of them detested the connection. Yet thing Italian American and wadda you think? Mafia. My father-in-law, a retired federal judge of Sicilian descent, really chafes at the connection. Yet, in written books about Atlantic City, a few demagogues have taken potshots at this righteous man because of his vowel-ending name. Even though he was a straight-arrow as they come. It happens to every immigrant group Tammney Hall, the Westies, etc.

Nothing different with the Mexican immigrants and the Zetas, Sinola Cartel, et al. I'm sure they despise the comparison.

(You would have seen a thumbs-up sign, if I could make it work here, not cooperating it isn't) Friends of mine who are Seneca would not be nearly "so polite" nor have your sense of humor in their descriptions if they were to post. While some of the things we discuss here are truly matters of gravity and not made light of, a sense of humor opens doors. I will also make the observation that it's sometimes funny when it dawns on you who is wearing that other shoe and you discover that...well, it would be you!! Telling a story out of school here, veering somewhat away, but making a point along the same lines...my oldest son at one time was dating a young woman from Ethiopia. The time came when she thought my son should meet her father. Afterwards, when I asked him how it went, he was silent for a moment, and managed to say with a great deal "youthful" indignation, I might add, that it was apparent that he was not deemed "good enough" to be in a relationship with her, in part because he was white. I laughed and when he asked me what was so funny, my reply, with only a small hint of a smile. . . ."how does it feel to have the shoe on the other foot?" His eyebrows arched upward, his eyes widened, and bless his heart, he had the good grace to say "Oh, that never occurred to me." It rather took him down a peg or two. :lol:

Americans have been given a choice between quality goods and cheap, foreign made goods-and they've bought the cheap, foreign made goods. Hence the rise of WalMart. We could all buy Red Wing shoes and boots or New Balance athletic shoes or cheap, foreign made footwear. We elected to buy cheap foreign made goods even as those who used to make such good here in the United States struggle to find lower-wage jobs. Even Red Wing and New Balance are now selling cheap Chinese made boots.

Problem is that free trade ain't free-countries that don't allow worker organization and don't enforce minimum wage/environmental laws are given a level playing field with US corporations that do.

the answer is a tariff based on a countries willingness to enforce workers rights, wages and environmental laws-which will never happen as we live in an oligarchy of multi-national corporations that observe no national borders. We live in the age of the Corporate State.

Germany has prevented this by giving protection for the nation's industries against those who do not have common vision for labor and the environment. Socialist Democrats in Germany have built strong unions, enforced environmental laws while exceeding (two years ago) the US in value of exported good. That has been done with 1/4 of the landmass and 1/3 of the population of the US. They've done this, in part, by limiting the power of multi-nationals in national politics. Perhaps they remember all too well the backing of the N**i regime by IG Farben and Krupp.

Here in the US, the Republicans and Democrats are mere shills for the multi-nationals, playing along with the "free trade" crap that has stripped us of our manufacturing base. Both parties are engaging in a race to the bottom where US workers will earn the wages of Chinese peasant. Once dismantled an industrial base, made up most importantly by sk**led labor, isn't easy to recreate.

We've dug our own grave. As Mitt Romney said "corporations are people, too." With the uncontrolled power of the of the US corporate oligarchy through Supreme Court rulings like Citizens United, which basically affirms Romney's malposition, there's not much left to do but lie down in it.

OH YEAH,,,, you think the whitemans politics are rough, you haven't seen Indian Politics....still to this day.

You know a lot of the history is full of James Fennimore Cooper crap and Dances with Wolves renditions of what it was to be Indian,,,, but the old chiefs K**led their opposition,,, or ran them out,,, Red Cloud is one, I know of,,,for sure, who k**led the existing Chief and head of his political Opposition in personal combat,, but the problem with having no written language or history, is that the stories of the "Good Old Days" get greatly embellished,,, and are WIDE OPEN for denial and changing of the lesser noble elements.... like one of the old Elders of the Tribe told me once, "The only Good thing about the Good Old Days, is that they are Gone!"

I've traveled to a few countries, 12 to be exact, and the one of the countries that still supports r****m strongly is the U.S.. Every other country has had it's share of s***ery in one form or another, but it seems that the U.S. keeps r****m alive for political ens***ement. If the whole can't get along, then we are a country divided. This means nobody can decide what is best for the country because they are concentrating on what can be accomplished for individual groups. We lose the power of the people when we can't agree, and the govt. knows this. America needs to see how they are being manipulated by the govt. and put the past behind them, and draw together. This country was built on immigrants that came to the new world to accomplish freedom. They weren't expecting a different form of s***ery. If we don;t stop the Al Sharptons, and Jesse Jacksons that become rich at on the backs of the people, we will never be free. I mention these two because they are rich because of the h**e that they spread. Jesse Jackson was part of Martin Luther Kings entourage. But instead of continuing the dream, he bastardized it for his ill gain. This is the biggest hurdle that we face. Getting b****s and w****s to stop listening to these obvious lyres that keep races from joining the good fight.

Al Sharpton is complicit in the divide, but he's a picker compared to Fox news and the TEa Party who claims "we want our country back." Back from whom? And who says it's the country of a fringe organization with the support of about one-fith of the population, tops?

Or take the Koch brothers,, who claim to be working on behalf of the "grassroots tea party. They gave Romney a quarter of a billion dollars for what? And Romney himself trying to divide the country between those who take and those who give.

Or the political parties, hat give the appearance of a political divide for partisan purposes when there's really not a dime's worth of difference between the two.

Compared to these actors, Sharpton and Jackson and small potatoes.