Archives for January 2013

Republican Party Defeat stage #3 Bargaining

Continuing with the 5 stages of grief the Republicans will go through, we find ourselves right in the middle of stage 3– Bargaining.

The old Republican guard has been negotiating their way back to power through the Fiscal Cliff issue. Refusal to cooperate was their only card, and they plaid it for all it’s worth, waiting until the last minute to get the smallest deal they could in order to save face and make it look like they are still the people in power in Washington.

Is it me, or does John Boehner look like he’s trying to be co-president?

Ever since McConnel’s remark about making sure Obama was a one-term president, he’s been acting like he lives in the White House. (or wants to)

Unfortunately, with all the hubris the Republican party has been showing this past two years: acting like spoiled children; refusing to play nice with anyone (even themselves); insisting on keeping tax breaks for the richest Americans at all costs; telling women that getting pregnant after being raped is a decision they have control over. (i’m not sure how that one works)  I think their arrogance will cost them more than they know. The America they long for, two cars in every garage, Jobs for life, white majority neighborhoods, schools and workplaces. . . This may have been a Norman Rockwell snapshot of  “the good ol’ days” but times, they are a changin’ and we need to keep up with them, or we risk holding ourselves back and watching emerging countries become the king of the heap while our way of life gets more backward every year.

We don’t want politicians who care more for their party and financial supporters than they do the people who put them there and rely in them to take care of our countries business for the sake of the people.

If the people are not the #1 job they wake up to each and every day, then I think we can surely find better.

Let’s hope the freshman that were elected this November remember why they are there. It’s obvious many of the senior members of the House and Senate have forgotten.

It will be too much to ask freshman coming into a new job, in an unfamiliar environment to break out and lead those whose guidance they are surely now seeking.  But let’s hope that their Bulls#!t radar is functioning properly so they can at least distinguish between those who work for the good of the country and those who work for the good of each other.

Maybe We Should ALL Choose Self Deportation

Asking immigrants to accept self deportation after they arrive here without their greencard paperwork in order,  while we sit comfortably in our living rooms knowing we dodged that bullet, is highly hypocritical. How many of our fore-fathers had their paperwork secured and approved before arriving on our shores? Self deportation is a new term never before brought up in our vocabulary for a reason; only within the last fifty- years has there been a situation for such a term.

We are so backlogged with current greencard applications that we take forever getting them approved, and often lose paperwork, or ask for new paperwork because the original green card paperwork we asked for is now expired. Should we just tell our undocumented and under-documented immigrants, “that’s too bad” and ask them to accept self deportation because we are unable to handle the backlog for our current demand?

Speaking of legal and illegal immigration,  I wrote a series of articles on the language of hate. I like to keep abreast of new articles that are created by some of the more prominent hate groups parading as concerned American citizen organizations. Below is an example of the kinds of things they write about in order to enlist more followers. Obviously they are trolling the waters for the ignorant or misinformed. This sentence really jumped out at me:

 

“Legal immigration is people exchanging a culture of corruption for a culture that honors the rule of law.”

 

This is a definition of legal immigration that really defines the length to which these organizations try to stretch the truth in order to justify their message. Nowhere in that sentence is there any room for an honorable immigrant.

Are all other countries corrupt?

Is the US the only one that isn’t?

Remember Enron? Arthur Andersen? Goldman Sachs? Lehman Brothers? Countrywide Home loans? Freddie Mac? Yeah, we sure honor our rule of law– after we get caught. Until then we fly under the radar and pray we don’t go to jail. (Sound familiar?) The difference here is, and it’s a big one, the people accused of this hateful group’s crime are just coming here to better themselves by circumventing a policy that is out-dated, confusing and extremely lengthy. Immigrants are often faced with rejection due to documents needing to be re-submitted because of a confusing and lengthy application process. As for the Americans that destroyed our economy (twice) in recent years; they knew they were doing very bad things.

The blog post also carries this theme further:

“Illegal immigration is people bringing the culture of corruption of their home countries with them.”

So, if I understand these two sentences correctly, the process of filling out an application is all that’s needed to save someone from corruption vs bringing corruption with them. Nice.

Since we all are products of immigrants, is this a confession that their forefathers brought the corruption of their home countries with them as well? Maybe that explains where we got our corruption from. According to them we could not have manufactured any corruption on our own. Perhaps we should all go back to where our ancestors came from and leave this land as pristine and corruption-free as we found it. I’m sure the native Americans would appreciate it.

 

Dedicated to the MexiQuinns

I have just finished writing, “The Dishwasher’s Son,” and I’m finishing up the dedication and forward. I thought I’d post this for my family now.

I love you guys, and I won’t stop shouting from the rooftops until American families no longer have to fear our own dysfunctional immigration laws. This story is about more than just our little family; it’s about all American families, and the struggles we face to stay together. American families already face enough threats and uncertainty, we don’t need to create even more just because we’re afraid to roll up our sleeves and do what needs to be done.

 

This book is dedicated to my family, the Mexiquinns, and all the other families around the world who are struggling to preserve their family bond in a rapidly changing, and often inhospitable political landscape. Hopefully, sometime in the future, no family will have to worry about becoming an outlawed group while the machinery of government learns what we the people already understand; only the people involved have a right to decide who is a part of their family, be it of any race, religion, sect, nationality, class, or sex.

 

“What God has joined together, let no man separate.”

Mark 10:9

Immigration reform in 2013 is not a sure thing.

Immigration reform in 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Is anyone’s guess.

If you have been reading the news lately, it appears the pundits are all over the map when it comes to predictions about immigration reform in 2013.

 Some say immigration reform in 2013 is going to happen:

http://immigrationlegalnews.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/senate-gang-of-eight-to-lead-immigration-reform-in-new-congress/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-seems-poised-to-retool-deportation-laws/2013/01/03/7cb52930-55db-11e2-8b9e-dd8773594efc_story.html

 

Some say immigration reform in 2013 remains unclear:

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/viewart/20121230/NEWS01/312300027/Immigration-laws-outlook-still-unclear

 

Some say immigration reform in 2013 is not likely to happen:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-immigration-20121230,0,1823657.story

 

Some say it should happen and that immigration reform  in 2013 may even help stimulate our economy away from the fiscal cliff that so captures our national attention at present.

http://www.gazette.com/opinion/income-149099-debt-ratio.html

 

It is with this mixed bag of  uncertainty that we need to push the hardest we have ever pushed in order to get some immigration reform in place that will  help our youth achieve higher education goals,  help this economy grow, and make it safe for families to stay together.

Write your congressman NOW—TODAY, and let them know you want immigration reform THIS YEAR!

We all saw what pressure can do for Hurricane Sandy Relief. This could be our path to immigration reform in 2013 too.