2008 4
The Barack Obama story is Barack Obama´s story
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in General with No Comments
I am tired of hearing that Barack Obama will be the first African American President of the United States as if this is all he has to offer to the world. To people like myself who have grown up without seeing the world in racial terms, who have children of “mixed race” and don´t believe they do. For people who believe that filling up forms that declare you as a member of a “race” is wrong, the story of Barack Obama is not a story of an African American or a Black person becoming president. It is instead the story of an individual who at the right time, and at the right place had the right values and the right message and knew how to communicate it. It is the story, we all hope, of an individual who turns out to be a much better President than his predecessor, who can put together a great team of extremely talented people like himself, and helps America, and the world rebuild, after 8 years of poor policies and global damage.
2008 1
Amnesty for Obama´s aunt and the millions like her
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in General with No Comments
Image by publik18 via Flickr
I just read the shocking story of Obama´s aunt, Zeituni Onyango, who sends $5 to the Obama campaign while living in the US illegally for many years. It is a sad story that will somehow be used against Obama. As a former illegal alien in the States who then became legal, then a US Citizen and who eventually resigned to the US Citizen in favor of the European Citizenship via Spain, I sincerely hope that this poor woman and the millions who live in hiding in the States get an Amnesty.
This amnesty, if given to residents who can prove they have been in the States for at least 5 years, would result in enormous increases in tax collection to the US government. It would also be justice for people who greatly contribute to the American economy and get no recognition. If a plan to tighten immigration controls is adopted, which would make sense in a time of deep crisis, this plan must contain an amnesty for people in the case of Zeituni Onyango.
Moreover, what USA should do is to copy what Europe did in the EU. USA, Canada and Mexico have NAFTA but with NAFTA goods move but people can´t move. The EU has free movements of goods and people and the surprising finding of the EU has historically been that when people are free to move, few do because conditions greatly improve in the country where they come from.
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2008 1
November 5th
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in General with No Comments
On November 5th Americans will discover that the world did not hate them. That they just hated Bush.