Senator Schumer must think we are smucks!

There was an article today in the Washington Post about how the Republicans in the Senate are rethinking their votes and positions on the recently passed Senate Immigration bill that gives amnesty to the illegal immigrants who have broken our immigration laws. They seem to be heading for tougher enforcment of our immigration laws which is a good thing and what the American voters/taxpayers including this Democrat demand of our elected leaders.
Also in the article are some comments from my Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer and Congressman Rahm Emanual about how "Democratic challengers will launch a coordinated effort to blame the Republican leadership for creating the immigration problems that the GOP now confronts."
The Dems are truly delusional and they must think the American people are schmucks! While some of the Republicans (especially George Bush) have a lot to be blamed for on the illegal immigration issue the Dems are neck deep in being a major part of the problem. There is no Tom Tancredo on the Democratic side fighting for the middle class of this country on the illegal immigration and border security issues. The Dems are very vulnearable. Especially Chuck Schumer as he was on the Judiciary Commitee and voted to bring the Senate Amnesty out of commitee and onto the floor of the Senate. With Dems like Ted Kennedy out in front in the Senate giving not only amnesty but, also giving Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants who used fraud and identy theft to obtain Social Security numbers the Democrats soapbox is only made of cardboard and won't hold up in the political debate on illegal immigration. The Democrats have very little to stand on giving their record on illegal immigration amnesty issue.

Another undocumented murderer!

One of the most under reported stories is the crimes commited by illegal immigrants. Even more disturbing is how they are reported in the mainstream news media. This week Angel Maturino Resendiz was executed in Texas for the killing of at least 15 people. He was an illegal immigrant but, this is how the Wasington Post reported the story in a little blurb on page 26 of Wednesday's paper:

"HUNTSVILLE, Tex. -- A man linked to at least 15 killings near railroad tracks in 1998 and 1999 was executed. Angel Maturino Resendiz, 46, was executed for raping and murdering a Houston physician in 1998."

Even the right wing Fox News has a story that brushes over the fact that Resendiz was an illegal immigrant. While the reporting or lack there of on this story is an outrage. Even more outrageous is the fact the failure of the Federal Government to enforce our immigration laws and protect our borders allowed Resendiz into the country in the first place and the result is the murder of 15 people.

So that's what this was all about.

A few months ago the Delphi parts division announced it was downsizing and talked about layoffs and buyouts of it's workforce. Well they got their wish as employees took the buyouts. Then there was this little item in yesterday's Washington Post that Dephi was going to hire 2,000 "temporary employees". So the decline of the middle class jobs continuies as companies dump their long term workers then hire cheap "temporary workers" at lower pay and less if any benefits. Just another example of an American corporation helping to detroy the middle class of this country.

Memo from the Bush administration: Burn this!

"The story of America is the story of expanding liberty: an ever-widening circle, constantly growing to reach further and include more. Our nation's founding commitment is still our deepest commitment: In our world, and here at home, we will extend the frontiers of freedom." -George W. Bush

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
— The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

News item: Senate Rejects Flag Desecration Amendment

The years of living dangerously.

I'm here in Washington D.C. though with the torrential rains it feels more like Indonesia during the monsoon season these days. After a very unusual (for Washington) delightful spring the torrential rains are causing havoc and flooding all around the district and surrounding areas. The bad weather has already started me thinking of not traveling back to Long Island today. Though it did affect our decsion for dinner last night. We were thinking of driving to one of our favorite seafood restaurants downtown (Grillfish) but, after thinking about it we decided to go one stop to Cleveland Park neighborhood by Metro (Subway) with the flash flood watches and trees coming down around the area due to the soaked ground it seemed the safer option for our dining plans. Driving is the most dangerous thing we do and driving even in a city like DC with flash flood watches makes it even more so. The question is will there be more days like this in our future.

Surprise, Surprise Surprise!

Fred Hiatt in today's Washington Post has a column on "immigration reform" where even he has to admit that there is something more to the anger of U.S. taxpayers over the immigration issue. Take this quote:

"It would be easy for supporters of comprehensive reform (like me) simply to blame xenophobes, racists and right-wing radio talk-show hosts for this state of affairs. It's true, after all, that many polls show that a majority of Americans want more than enforcement."

You got that right Fred! How about instead of new legislation start enforcing the laws already on the books!

There is even hope that my fellow Democrats are waking up to the wishes of the people in regards to the failures of the Federal Government to enforce current immigration law.

Democrat Jane Harman of California said this:
"All voters wanted to talk about, Harman said, was building fences, strengthening the border and keeping people out. "And these were Democrats," she said. "It was an eye-opener. I was really surprised."

At least she is starting to get it unlike the Senate Dems who passed the flawed amnesty bill recently. It may turn out that those politicans who fail to represent the wishes of the voters/taxpayers in regards to the illegal immigration issue will be the ones really surprised this November!

Whats it all mean?

I'm trying to figure out why the marriage of Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman is important for me to know about? I mean major mainstream corporate news organizations are mentioning it in their newscasts every hour so it must be important to us. Right?

Welcome to Central America!

I've been away from land but, have been listening some mainstream media this past week. One of the stories that caught my ear was this one about the decline of middle class communities in the United States. This is a sad development because it is another sign of the decline of the United States and does not present a good vision for the future. Unless this turns around the U.S. will be heading down the road and become more like Mexico and other Central and South American countries where their are rich and poor and very little middle class.
A few years ago we visited a couple in Ecuador who took my gal and I to a night club in Quito. As we parked the car on the street my Ecuadorian friend walked over and paid some money to guy standing nearby. I asked why he did that? He said it was so his tires would not be taken off the car while we were inside the club. It was protection money which he seemed to regard as rather normal. After our club visit we went back to there home where we were greeted by a guard and a gate he had to flash an id to enter his neighborhood. Even living in such a gated and guarded community in Ecuador they still had bars on there windows to prevent burglaries. Is this the future of our U.S. suburban communities as the middle class continues to decline?

EMERGENCY! Everybody to get from street!

There was a Quicksilver Messenger Service song that has a lyric that goes "Your newspapers just lead you on... They never tell you the whole story" That was going through my head earlier this week when while sailing I heard this story on WCBS Newsradio out of New York. It was also picked up by the Washington Post about the crisis in hospital emergency rooms. How many are closing or are diverting patients because they are overwhelmed by the influx of patients. But, of course none of the mainstream media mentioned anything about the influx of illegal immigrnats using the emergency rooms for their medical services. There were over 13,000 uses of emergency room services for non emergency use in New York State by illegal immigrants in 2004. But, the problem isn't only in New York you can see the problem here, here, here and here. Maybe the mainstream media like CBS News and the Washingto Post will dig a little deeper next time they report and give us the whole story.

Here and there

Greetings from Washington D.C. I've been sailing recently and have been away from keyboards for four days which is a good thing to do from time to time. But, that has not kept me from listening to news and commenting on some of the events I 've heard. I'm here in D.C. for less than twenty four hours than it's back to New York and back under sail. I hope to post some thoughts tomorrow.

I smell a Kennedy!

Fe Fi Fo Fum I smell the Kennedy's behind this one!
It's pretty clear that the Kennedy Clan has become part of the problem in moving the United States forward and at the same time screwing the middle class tax payers. At one time the members of the family were noted for their compassion for the hard working people of the middle class lately they have become part of the elitest (we know better than you crowd) that is running rampant in Washington these days and hurting the people they once helped.
It's not just the Kennedy/McCain Amnesty bill that Senator Kennedy wisked through the Senate that ignored the burden by the middle class subsidizing the illegal immigrant workforce. Even more injurious to the country is the Kennedy clan opposition to the Cape Energy and similar wind power projects off the coast of Massachusetts which is being blocked because people like Kennedy and his elite neighbors fear that their pristine waterfront views may be somehow diminished by a wind power generating site operatiing miles off the coast of their beach front homes. It does not matter that such wind farms will help to diminish America's need for oil and increase our use of a renewable resource in producing energy. It's basically all about them and their elitist world view. And I'm not the only one who feels this way!

In the Dark

From this Washington Post article comes the news that when it comes to immigrants living in the Unites States even the embassies of various countries have no clue let alone the U.S. government which begs the question who's in charge here?

Snagglepuss Delay

Well Tom Delay said goodbye to Congress yesterday in a pretty good speech. It's too bad he waited to long to wander around the monuments of Washington D.C. to get inspiration from the inscriptions of some of the early leaders of our nation. Like that other Texass citizen of the White House he might have done better had he had some curiosity of the world beyond his own political agenda before his current troubles.
Though the final line of his speech left me laughing when he said:
"I exit as always, stage right."
When he said that it bought up the image to me of a childhood cartoon character I remember called Snagglepuss who use to say something similar except he exited "stage left".

Al-Zarqawi the good news and the bad news.

The Washington Post reports on the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Which is one of the few good news items to come out of Iraq recently. I was struck by the caption of the photo in the Washington Post article which read
"Jordanian-born terrorist mastermind Abu Musab al-zarqawi is seen in undated photos."

I thought who is the U.S. "mastermind" who decided it was a good idea to go into Iraq in the first place.

You don't need what?

"Republican Brian Bilbray beat Democrat Francine Busby" that's the headline that comes out of the special election in California for the congressional seat of digraced and convicted Congressman's Randy "Duke" Cunningham's seat. Why did the Dems lose? Maybe this explains it:
"Busby, who criticized Bilbray's work as a Washington lobbyist, hurt her own cause with a verbal blunder last week when she told a largely Latino audience, "You don't need papers for voting."
The defeat of the Democrat Busby should be a wake up call to the Howard Dean and others of the Democratic elite in Washington that they had better start to pay attention to the concerns of middle class voters if they want to take back the House during the next election. The Democrats in the Senate blew off America's middle class conserns when they voted to push through the Senate Amensty bill for illegal immigrants and if this race is any indication the Senate vote has woken up the sleeping middle class of America and they are paying very close attention to the issue. The question is the DNC in Washington doing the same?

A sad story and a stupid decision.

While some mainstream media in this country continue to push stories like this one about a Mexican mother who made a very stupid decision to cross the U.S. border illegally with her three year old child who died on the journey. You would think that others would get the message that to come into the U.S. illegally from Mexico is dangerous and deadly. But, as the article points out that "humanitarian groups" that provide water barrels in the desert and then provide maps in Mexico are part of the problem and may actually cause more deaths because they give the impression to the illegal immigrants that they can actually survive crossing the desert.

Legal immigrants do, illegals don't.

Even in a flawed study a report shows what has been said all along that illegal immigrants do not pay as much in taxes as even legal immigrants or U.S. Citizens. While U.S. citizens and legal immigrants pay about one third of there income in taxes illegal immigrants pay only about 19 percent and that is only those who actually pay taxes. Many illegals are paid off the books by businesses who are also breaking the law. The serious flaw in the study is that it did not even look at the amount of money that is paid to provide social services to the illegal immigrants. From healthcare to the churches and charities funded by George Bush's "Faith Based Iniative" which provides food and shelter for many illegal immigrants. The study should be filed by middle class taxpayers in the Hola suckers file!

Breakfast and borders.

I was invited to a breakfast by my local Town Democratic Commitee yesterday. The invitation mentioned I was invited because I was a super prime voter. That is I was a voter who not only voted in important general elections but, also primaries too. So I sent back my RSVP put on my "I love secure borders button" and attended.
I missed the entrance to the Hotel where the breakfast was held and had to travel down to the next intersection a there were at least 10 illegal immigrants were standing on street corners looking for work. Reminding me again of our insecure borders. I made my U turn and arrived back at the Hotel.
There we heard from local Democratic officals who actually are being responsive to the concerns of the local community regarding illegal immigrants because it is affecting the local commmunities. They have closed down illegal boarding room housing where 30 illegal immigrants have been found living in a one family house. The local officals are responding to the local people who elect them. Which is as it should be in our Republic.
Also speaking at this breakfast was my local Democratic Congressman who has not been so responsive to the concerns of those of us who elected him regarding illegal immigration. He spoke and never touched on the issue of immigration and high tailed it out of the room after his speech. Good thing too for I was ready to buttonhole him and tell him to drive down the road and see the results of the failure of the Federal Government to protect our borders standing on the street corners in our communities.

The greatest threat to New York City is Mayor Bloomberg!

It was funny to listen to New York officials and others complain about the decline in funding from Homeland Security. When it was New York's Billionaire Mayor Mike Bloomberg who continues to shelter illegal immigrants with a "don't ask don't tell policy" regarding people who have broken U.S. Federal laws. Indeed he actively encourages them to come to New York and then hides them in a sanctuary type city policy. Those same Bloomberg polices that are blind to illegal immigrants populating the city would also be blind to and would hide suspected terrorists. So to invite law breakers into the city (including terrorists who hide amoung the illegal immigrants) and then complain that you don't have enough money to fight the crime is real hypocrisy on the part of New York mayor Bloomberg.

An American worker in Mexico.

If you are an American and want to work in Mexico here is an account of what you must do.

"I spent five years working in Mexico.
I worked under a tourist visa for three months and could legally renew it for three more months.After that you were working illegally. I was technically illegal for three weeks waiting on the FM3 approval.
During that six months our Mexican and US Attorneys were working to secure a permanent work visa called a FM3. It was in addition to my US passport that I had to show each time I entered and left the country. Barbara's was the same except hers did not permit her to work.
To apply for the FM3 I needed to submit the following notarized originals (not copies) of my:
1. Birth certificates for Barbara and me.2. Marriage certificate.3. High school transcripts and proof of graduation.4. College transcripts for every college I attended and proof of graduation.5. Two letters of recommendation from supervisors I had worked for at least one year.6. A letter from The ST. Louis Chief of Police indicating I had no arrest record in the US and no outstanding warrants and was "a citizen in good standing."7. Finally; I had to write a letter about myself that clearly stated why there was no Mexican citizen with my skills and why my skills were important to Mexico. We called it our "I am the greatest person on earth" letter. It was fun to write.
All of the above were in English that had to be translated into Spanish and be certified as legal translations and our signatures notarized. It produced a folder about 1.5 inches thick with English on the left side and Spanish on the right.
Once they were completed Barbara and I spent about five hours accompanied by a Mexican attorney touring Mexican government office locations and being photographed and fingerprinted at least three times. At each location (and we remember at least four locations) we were instructed on Mexican tax, labor, housing, and criminal law and that we were required to obey their laws or face the consequences. We could not protest any of the government's actions or we would be committing a felony. We paid out four thousand dollars in fees and bribes to complete the process. When this was done we could legally bring in our household goods that were held by US customs in Loredo Texas. This meant we rented furniture in Mexico while awaiting our goods. There were extensive fees involved here that the company paid.
We could not buy a home and were required to rent at very high rates and under contract and compliance with Mexican law.
We were required to get a Mexican drivers license. This was an amazing process. The company arranged for the licensing agency to come to our headquarters location with their photography and finger print equipment and the laminating machine. We showed our US license, were photographed and fingerprinted again and issued the license instantly after paying out a six dollar fee. We did not take a written or driving test and never received instructions on the rules of the road.Our only instruction was never give a policeman your license if stopped and asked. We were instructed to hold it against the inside window away from his grasp.If he got his hands on it you would have to pay ransom to get it back.
We then had to pay and file Mexican income tax annually using the number of our FM3 as our ID number. The companies Mexican accountants did this for us and we just signed what they prepared. I was about twenty legal size pages annually.
The FM 3 was good for three years and renewable for two more after paying more fees.
Leaving the country meant turning in the FM# and certifying we were leaving no debts behind and no outstanding legal affairs (warrants, tickets or liens) before our household goods were released to customs.
It was a real adventure and If any of our senators or congressmen went through it once they would have a different attitude toward Mexico.
The Mexican Government uses its vast military and police forces to keep its citizens intimidated and compliant. They never protest at their White House or government offices but do protest daily in front of the United States Embassy. The US embassy looks like a strongly reinforced fortress and during most protests the Mexican Military surround the block with their men standing shoulder to shoulder in full riot gear to protect the Embassy. These protests are never shown on US or Mexican TV. There is a large public park across the street where they do their protesting. Anything can cause a protest such as proposed law changes in California or Texas."

Of course the pro-illegal immigrant lobby does not want you to hear about the hypocrisy of the Mexican government in regards to work issues. Maybe we should adopt Mexican standards for employment here in this country.