Photography: Migration is not a crime… by Trapac

I live in the Los Angeles area, and anyone who is familiar with the area, knows there are a lot of immigrants. Whether legal or illegal, there are a lot of people from foreign countries here. So I know first hand about the immigration issue in America. IMHO, the main problem with the immigration issue is the current laws aren’t being enforced. Someone who is here illegally is able to stay here without much problem.

I feel like there are only two ways to solve this problem. Either enforce the laws in the books, or change the laws in the books. If the laws were enforced we would be deporting hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions just in the L.A. area alone. That sounds impossible and any effort to do so would lead to some serious riots or worse. I would rather that the laws be changed to allow people to easily obtain citizenship, especially those who are already living here. I have a lot of friends who are either foreign born or who are 1st generation citizens. I want them and their families to be able to live here (as they do now) without the racial tension of trying to enforce the laws in the books. I also want them to pay taxes like I do, and many of my friends who aren’t citizens would gladly become citizens and pay taxes. A friend of mine who is not a citizen graduated from college with me. He is disqualified for many good jobs due to his lack of citizenship.

I know the problem is a lot more complicated than this but things can’t stay this way forever. The laws are meaningless if they’re not enforced. And they need to either be enforced or changed to reflect reality. Unless this happens we will continue to see a type of class or cast system develop. The Mexican nationals are not going to loose interest in moving to this country any time soon. I’ve heard that it’s somewhat of a “rite of passage” for young Mexican boys to make the journey, getting across the border to the U.S. This is because there is no opportunity or future for them down there due to poor economic conditions. So naturally, if your next door neighbor is the land of opportunity, that’s where you want to go. In many cases they can make a better living here earning minimum wage as illegals than they can down there.

Can we change this situation legally and make it more desirable for everyone?

Migration Is Not A Crime…

Photography: the city that never sleeps by * andrew

This is Hong Kong from “The Peak“. Hong Kong has the largest harbor in the world. By largest I mean, the largest amount of goods shipping through the harbor. And one of the main reasons for this is because it operates continuously, never closing at night.

Actually Hong Kong has many ports/harbors. Here is a list of harbours in Hong Kong. After seeing the geography of Hong Kong, I can see why it has so many ports/harbors.

The Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles are twin ports located in the same harbor area.  I grew up in Long Beach, CA. And I heard that the Long Beach / Los Angeles harbor would be the largest if it operated non-stop as well.

These twin ports are the largest in the U.S. as well as far as volume of goods transported through it. Nearly all of the products from Asia in the U.S. go through these ports.

Disclaimer: Don’t quote me on all this, I don’t have any reliable sources. I heard this a few years ago on the radio I think ;)

The City That Never Sleeps

Photography: [ desire for freedom ] by [ chango ]

Halloween is full of candy and costumes some innocent, some not so innocent. But it is not a Holiday really. In some religion some where at some time it may have been a holy day. But now, it is really an unholy day. Celebrating death, destruction, hell, blood, hurt, and all morbid and perverted things, I don’t see how it could be considered holy. That is why I don’t celebrate halloween.

Unfortunately, the true concept of a holy day is being lost in American and modern culture. While we have many holidays, so many people treat them like they have nothing to do with God and holiness, sometimes even doing the most unholy things on those holy days. And as far as the economic aspect of it, a holiday is a great day for marketers and retailers, because sales are up. Christmas in America for example is one of the largest sales seasons. But whether or not the ones making the profit believe in or care about Jesus “making himself of no reputation” and being born into this world as a baby, they care about Christmas, the holy day, as time to cash in on. So to many, it’s only holy in terms of the almighty dollar.

But even as far as Christmas goes, it wasn’t necessarily the day Jesus was born. And the observance of it wasn’t sactioned by God in the bible. It is celebrated by believers out of gratitude and tradition.

I’m gonna stop here, but I just wonder what it would be like to live in a culture where a holy day was truly regarded in the hearts and minds of all the people as such.

October is coming (and the unholiday, Halloween)