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Learn the real story behind the WMD in Iraq:

The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism
by Ron Suskind

Read Barack Obama's vision for America:

The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
by Barack Obama

DaveW recommends:

I Am a Strange Loop
by Douglas Hofstadter

Need some laughs?

I Am America (and So Can You!)
by Stephen Colbert

rae recommends:

Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire
by Morris Berman.

On BooMan’s shelf:

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
by Doris Kearns Goodwin

This looks interesting:

Adventure Divas
by Holly Morris

Here’s a good one from
Elizabeth Gilbert:

Eat Pray Love
by Elizabeth Gilbert

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Powell's new section:
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Recommended by Indianadem and ejmw:
The Conscience of a Liberal
by Paul Wellstone

From northcountry’s bookshelf:

The New Golden Age:
The Coming Revolution Against
Political Corruption and Economic Chaos by Ravi Batra

A novel about contractors in Iraq from the woman that runs The Spy That Billed Me:

Outsourced: A Novel
from RJ Hillhouse.

Download Sleeper Cell on iTunes

(Better than "24") Download Weeds on iTunes

(Hilarious 1/2-hour adult comedy starring Mary-Louise Parker) Download Late Nite with Conan O'Brien on iTunes

Download South Park on iTunes

James Hunter - People Gonna Talk:

Great Deals
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Find mystery novels by Nancy Pickard ("Kansas")

Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy US Power by Phyllis Bennis (interviewed on DN!)

Featured by Keith Olbermann, New (Powell's Sale): Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower by William Blum (whose other books merit serious consideration)

"Explosive" State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration
by James Risen

The book the CIA doesn't want you to read: Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA's Key Field Commander
Larry Johnson's review

BT's all-time best seller:

PERMACULTURE:
A Designers' Manual
$79.95 * Sale: $59.95

Unequal Sisters: A Multicultural Reader in U.S. Women's History (Third Edition)

The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor And Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl
by Timothy Egan

Green Press Initiative
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Journalistas: 100 Years of the Best Writing and Reporting by Women Journalists by Eleanor Mills * NYT review

Bury Me Standing: the Gypsies & Their Journey

1491: New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus

Brokeback Mountain
by Annie Proulx
----- * ^ * -----
Check out Powell's
"At The Movies"

Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World by Noam Chomsky (Power & Terror: Post 9-11 Talks)

The Price of Privilege:

How Parental Pressure and
Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of
Disconnected and Unhappy Kids
by Madeline Levine

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Banned Books * Are you a fan of Film Noir, Art House, Documentaries or Hong Kong Action? * Searching for a long-lost children's book or a first printing of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue on vinyl? Find it at Alibris!

:
:

generally, what is your position on immigration

closed border advocate	0 votes - 0 %
close border w/economic developement	0 votes - 0 %
economic developement advocate	0 votes - 0 %
open border w/ economic developement	5 votes - 71 %
open border advocate	2 votes - 28 %

7 Total Votes

On "The Immigration Crisis", where do you stand? | 8 comments (8 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

This is a discussion (4.00 / 2)

that we must have. Thank you for your excellent summaries of the different positions. Recommended.

Which do I favor? All three. Support economic development in poor countries. Make it easier for workers to come here legally. Prosecute employers who hire illegal immigrants. In that order of priority - in my opinion.

(On that last one, I must say that my support for that option is somewhat squishy. Perhaps I should say - if the first two are in place, any employer who hires illegal immigrants is probably doing so to exploit them, and should be prosecuted.)

If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers. -Thomas Pynchon

by Janet Strange (jstrange1925athotmaildotcom) on Thu Jun 23rd, 2005 at 12:05:41 AM EST

The key will be (none / 0)

How to reconcile the concerns of the of the carpenter in SoCal who feels that un-documented workers in the building trades are driving down wages, with the open-border advocate who believes that immigration is not only inevitable but ultimately strengthens our nation in the long term.
It's a argument between macro and micro economics, and in those terms both arguments have merit.

Migra Matters: progressive immigration reform

by Duke1676 (Duke1676@Yahoo.com) on Thu Jun 23rd, 2005 at 07:04:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]

And H1B visas, too (none / 0)

As a Texan living in Austin, I've grown up with tension and debate over workers from Mexico working here illegally in agriculture and other low-paying jobs. Hell, I'm old enough to remember the Braceros Program. Click that link! It is an incredibly good discussion of what happened when the US thought that it was "solving the illegal immigration crisis" before. Those who don't know history are doomed, etc. (I've bookmarked it - like I said, I remember when it was in effect, but lots I didn't know.)

At the other end of the economic spectrum - and that's central to the immigration patterns in the US right now, immigrants are usually very poor or highly educated and upper middle class, middle-class immigrants are a small fraction of the total - are the immigrants coming to the US on H1B visas. Austin is heavily reliant on high-tech employers for well-paid jobs. Many employees in high tech have been laid off here in recent years. Workers in this field feel threatened by both outsourcing and H1B immigrants.

If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers. -Thomas Pynchon

by Janet Strange (jstrange1925athotmaildotcom) on Thu Jun 23rd, 2005 at 09:08:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: This is a discussion (none / 0)

Well, maybe not any employer. When I ran a small gardening business, I often hired friends as casual laborers on a week-to-week basis. One or two of them were here without documentation - overstayed visas, and so forth. Both from Mexico. I paid them the same hourly rate I paid myself.

But yeah, I'm basically with you.

by Chris Clarke (cclarke@faultline.org) on Thu Jun 23rd, 2005 at 07:45:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]

You're quite right (none / 0)

a large percentage of the approximately 10 mil undocumented workers in this country work for small businesses that generally don't pay discriminatory wages. They hire these workers in many cases because they are the only ones applying for the jobs.

Migra Matters: progressive immigration reform

by Duke1676 (Duke1676@Yahoo.com) on Thu Jun 23rd, 2005 at 07:54:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: You're quite right (none / 0)

I agree. I was speculating about why an employer would hire a worker here illegally some time in the future if we were in fact, effectively supporting economic development in poor countries and legal immigration was much easier than it is now.

I know a few small business folks who hire illegal workers occasionally, (with the current non-functional immigration system), and pay them the same as their legal workers.

If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers. -Thomas Pynchon

by Janet Strange (jstrange1925athotmaildotcom) on Thu Jun 23rd, 2005 at 09:21:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Exactly the reason (none / 1)

I posted my diary. Thanks for the kind words and your commentary. I completely agree that there are pragmatic reasons to deal with immigration reform. Your three categories are broad but, in my opinion, a perfect run-down of the camps in our "big tent".

We have to set our fear aside regarding discussion on immigration reform. It may be uncomfortable and challenging, but it's a conversation we must have. The Republicans have used fear to exploit every other issue, it's only a matter of time that they do it with immigration too. We have to be ready.

I agree with Janet and the order she described regarding priorities. I have little faith in Bush's abilities though, which is why we must pick up seats in next year's election.

Latino Político | "We are condemned to kill time, thus we die bit by bit." - Octavio Paz

by Man Eegee (man.eegee at gmail.com) on Thu Jun 23rd, 2005 at 12:16:19 AM EST

Some perspective (none / 1)

on just how divisive this issue is.

I ran a similar poll on dKos a few months back
Here are the results:

. closed border advocate 20%
. close border w/economic development 26%
. economic development advocate 12%
. open border w/ economic development 30%
. open border advocate 12%

Migra Matters: progressive immigration reform

by Duke1676 (Duke1676@Yahoo.com) on Thu Jun 23rd, 2005 at 09:37:15 AM EST

On "The Immigration Crisis", where do you stand? | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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