Definition of a Huxford

Well…at least this one…

It dawned on me that writing a bit about my fondness for my father and his small, yet important role in helping the worker might not really tell enough about who I am.

I was born to two Irish Catholic parents, but I am a muslim and was born a muslim. A muslim, by definition, is one who submits to the Will of God. Being ushered into this world is an act of submission to God. We’re all born in submission to God…draw your own inferences…

I have had two moments in my life where I uttered “the N word”. My first was in 1st grade (involve the “ger” version) when I had no idea that it was a bad word; a stone cold death stare across the dinner table from my father quickly brought me out of ignorance. The second occurred while I was a high school sophomore (involving the “gga” version) having a discussion with my older, black art class friends about who our favorite rappers were. Everyone going around the table saying things such as, “LL Cool J…that’s my n….” was quickly brought to a screeching halt by my similarly saying, “Rakim…that’s my n….”. There was a pregnant pause while everyone digested what I said, saw the look on my face, and realized that it was an honest mistake that wouldn’t be repeated. Sorry…no Dave Chappelle punchline involving one of my friends saying, “I hated to do it, but he was talking about my people!”

I was raised in a Democrat home. I consider myself independent these days, but…all things being equal…I’ll vote for the Democrat. I rather vote for the party that at least gives lip service and promises to the working man, rather than the party that pisses on him and calls it “trickle down economics.”

I’m a lover of movies; I’ll often head to see a new movie in the theater straight from work or catch one before work with just enough time left to make it to work under the wire (the luxury of working a 2pm-10pm shift). I believe parents, not the government, have to take a more active role in policing what their children see. If big business and Republicans weren’t holding down the wages of good, hardworking Americans, more parents would have so much time and energy to spend looking out for their kids that they’d laugh off Congress’s attempts to legislate morals on motion pictures and video games.

I believe that baseball should do away with the designated hitter, but it will never happen. I feel that home field for the World Series should not be decided by a midseason exhibition game. Sorry…not a huge baseball fan, but felt I had to throw that in there since I live in such close proximity to a NY Met Triple A team.

I feel outraged that the president of Mexico has the audacity to attempt to dictate to us that we give illegal immigrants full rights of citizenship. Excuse me, but when did Merriam-Webster change the definition of ILLEGAL? No one…not the president of Mexico or the president we unfortunately have…should award any sort of rights or luxuries to people who come into this country illegally, work illegally, and regularly have to use illegally obtained documents to get by. If you all of a sudden feel we need to have this influx of workers, then make the LEGAL immigration process less of a nightmare. Don’t try to sell me some bull that it is all about the American dream when President Bush is interested in supplying cheap labor to his corporate donors and Vicente Fox is interested in some of that illegally earned US green making its way back down into the Mexican economy. You can, also, stuff that “no one else will take the job” argument: if we didn’t have a steady stream of illegal immigrant workers, employers would be forced to pay a wage that would attract workers. It is all supply and demand…with the “wink wink, nudge nudge” system currently keeping the supply of cheap workers artificially inflated.

Screw Kerry for backing off of it: outsourcing CEOs are very much the Benedict Arnolds that they’ve been accused of being. Let’s see:

1. Outsourcing the locations of their corporate offices to tax shelter countries like Bermuda (hello, Accenture).
2. Outsourcing work to Banglore, India, to pay people $20-30k/year to do a job that only a few years ago was paying $80-120k/year to Americans, with profit margins rising, unemployment rising, and more American dollars circulating in someone else’s economy.
3. Outsourcing manufacturing to Chinese forced labor camps where good, God-fearing people are made to work at fear of death. In the best Chinese manufacturing, the workers are treated in ways that would get bosses life in prison if it happened here. Where’s the human rights abuse outrage daily from the Democrats? Where’s the “better dead than Red” outrage from Republicans that China is making a mint off of America while being able to artificially manipulate their markets to put us at a constant disadvantage?

One of my maternal ancestors was on the boat with George Washington when he crossed the Delaware River to bring the fight to the shores of New Jersey. Just thought I'd add that out of left field.

I’m a wordy SOJ, ain’t I? All this and I’m sure I haven’t touched on half the stuff I need to. I guess that’s why these blogs allow you to add and add and add and add….