Time to renew the DL?

Today I renewed my drivers license and changed my address and encountered a really nasty BMV employee. I almost cried. I almost told her she was nasty. I almost reminded her some day she would be old. I almost told her I'd call my daughter for back up. But, I didn't. Maybe she's a caregiver; maybe she's sick; or maybe she's a Democrat.

 
On a happier note, while I was waiting for my number to come up, I had a nice chat with a woman returning to the Philippines to build a home in her family compound. She's a US citizen so will need to return annually to keep her citizenship. We had a lovely chat.

More unintended consequences caused by Congress

Last night's Glenn Beck program was a rerun of some features he's done on American history and the treatment of minorities and aliens, primarily by Democrats. Woodrow Wilson and the reinstatement of segregation in government employment and the military, aka, Jim Crow; Andrew Jackson and the forceable relocation of American Indians; FDR and the internment of Japanese, German and Italian Americans in camps.

And I just came across a little known problem dealing with minorities and Democrats during the FDR years that I'd never heard of: The Tydings–McDuffie Act of 1934, named for two Democrats in Congress, Maryland Senator Millard E. Tydings and Alabama Representative John McDuffie. It provided for the drafting and guidelines of a Constitution for a 10-year "transitional period" which became the government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines before the granting of Philippine independence, during which the US would maintain military forces in the Philippines.

Furthermore, during this period the American President was granted the power to call into military service all military forces of the Philippine government. The act permitted the maintenance of US naval bases, within this region, for two years after independence.

The act reclassified all Filipinos that were living in the United States as aliens for the purposes of immigration to America. Filipinos were no longer allowed to work legally in the US, and a quota of 50 immigrants per year was established."

Sounds to me like the Filipinos lost much more than they gained on this one, particularly if they were already living and working in the U.S. or the Territory of Hawaii, and needed to send money home to their families.

Mama Linda’s Filipino Style Spaghetti

If you liked yesterday's recipe, you might try this one from Gerry Alanguilan, a Filipino cartoonist who has drawn for the X-Men, Wolverine, X-Force, Fantastic Four for Marvel, Superman and Batman comics. I saw this at Belmont Club (Richard Fernandez). It’s really funny. I don’t think I’d ever heard of banana catsup, although hot dogs with spaghetti sounds downright midwestern. Banana catsup apparently was developed during WWII when tomatoes in the Philippines were in short supply. I'll watch for it next time I wander into the international aisle at Meijer's.