The Senate Sings Us A Sad Song

Harlingen, Texas, May 27, 2006:  When it comes to pontificating about the righteousness of their actions, there is nobody who can hold a candle to members of the United States Congress.  Things that are clear as crystal to everyone else in the country are in the view of our legislators really cloudy and misunderstood by the masses.  At this moment these mournful souls are singing us a very sad song about how 280 million people fail to see the actions our Senate has taken on immigration are really in our best interests.

It will be a tough sell, because most of the country sees the immigration legislation for what it really represents.… prostituting our security for political advantage.  In the case of the Senate bill, many see it as a complete sellout. Republicans bowed their heads and submitted as Democrats pandered to the extreme left of their party and the Hispanic hoards screaming in the streets. 

The Republicans did some pandering of their own.  They sold their souls to those business interests that fear fines and legal action should they be charged with hiring those who illegally enter our country, forge documents and claim benefits that are not rightfully theirs.  The GOP senators also pandered to those crowds in the streets waving Mexican flags.

All of this is taking place at a time when American citizens are demanding national security and an end to the stampede we are witnessing from south of our border.  Congress has once again ignored what is happening and continues to sing us another sad song about the impossibility of rounding up those millions of illegals and returning them to their own countries.

Those overpaid pompous prevaricators who haunt the halls of Capitol Hill
have no thought in their heads about protecting the American people.  They have sold themselves for campaign funds, support from their political party and votes so often and to so many special interests that they have lost touch with reality.

Credit must be given to the House of Representatives for passing a tough security oriented immigration bill.  We can only hope that when the two bodies meet in conference, that the House does not cave in to political pressure and let a watered down version emerge as law.

In point of fact, the House provision that employers be fined between $10,000 and $40,000 per violation should be made a rock solid item of any final bill.  However, you can bet your money on more pandering to the special employer interests when that portion of the two bills is place on the table.

Anyone who can do the math will tell you that when hiring undocumented employees becomes too expensive for business, those jobs will disappear.  When the jobs go away, so do those who illegally seek them.

Even the House did not vote in enough miles of security fencing or enough troops to man the borders.  The 750 miles of fence they placed in the bill is only 25% of what is needed to cover 3,000 miles of real estate.  The Senate wasnÕt even that generous, that body only voted enough security fences to cover a tenth of our southern border.

It would seem that if the American people wanted to fill all the seats in Congress with spineless beings, they should just purchase a large aquarium filled with Jellyfish.  That is really what we have now, but this brand of the species costs us a lot more money.

In the meantime, we must continue to put up with this sorry collection we have placed in the highest offices of our government.  They keep selling themselves and selling out the people over and over again...and we keep hearing their Academy Award winning theme song...ÓIts Hard Out Here For A PimpÓ.

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Has The Republican Party Lost its Mind? Some Conservatives Think So!

Harlingen, Texas, May 25, 2006: In recent months anyone viewing the Washington scene from a conservative platform would be forced to ask a very obvious question.… Where have all the Republicans gone?  It is clear to the American public that they are no longer walking the halls of Congress.  From the outside looking inward one can only see the Democrats and the newly minted Democrat-Lite.

It matters not the issue being considered, when it comes to Congress it seems everyone is continuously pandering to the left side of the aisle.  Instead of standing by the conservative principals that earned them election victories, Republicans of the House and Senate seem to be looking for new ways to out-liberal the liberals.

The most obvious example of GOP pandering to the left can be seen in what took place in the Senate on immigration.  While the American public is really concerned about security and defending the border, Senate Republicans are caving in to a collection of cosmetic requirements that will assure future growth of the Democrat Party, while at the same time protect business interests that fatten their corporate wallets by employing vast numbers of illegal immigrants.

The Senate, including some of our GOP senators passed a bill to allow millions of illegal immigrants to remain in the United States, continue working, draw Social Security benefits and even be guaranteed continued employment.  These are things many millions of citizens do not even enjoy. 

Along with those proposed gifts, the legislation would assure those former illegals and new temporary workers would be paid the prevailing wage.  That is a wage much higher than most Americans receive for like employment.

The bill is even more attuned to placating the left.  According to Bob Novak in his column this past Monday, “The bill extends the Davis-Bacon Act’s requirement for the payment of “prevailing wage” levels to all temporary workers.  That puts them ahead of American workers, who have this protection only on federal job sites.”

Novak also says “Foreign guest farm workers, admitted under the bill, cannot be terminated from employment by any employer...except for just cause.  In contrast American ag workers can be fired for any reason.”

The esteemed senators have also moved to provide Social Security benefits to all of the illegal workers who have had money deducted from their checks and sent to the accounts identified by their counterfeit Social Security cards.  When questioned on this proposed section of the bill, both the Democrat and Democrat-Lite senators harmonize saying “Well, it is money that they already paid into the system.” While making this, and similar statements they completely ignore the existing federal law that state it is an unlawful act the use false Social Security numbers.

It is also against federal law to enter the country illegally and can be punished by six months in jail and a $250,000 fine.  Those we have elected to head our legislative branch of government would pretend that bit of law doesnêt even exist and let everybody off with a small $2,000 fine.

At the same time they also ignore the complicity of American employers.  There is little mention of their countless violations of federal law in the body of the proposed bill.

Oh, there is that small cosmetic look at protecting the nation.  We have 6,000 National Guard troops for a 3,000-mile stretch of border.  It doesn’t take a math major to figure of two guardsmen for every mile of terrain won’t take care of the problem. 

Those 350 miles of fence is another laughable inclusion in the legislation.  It just means that particular section of real estate will be taken off the main trails into the United States.  Those who sneak across the borders will then have only 2,650 miles of land from which to select their crossing points.

The sad thing about all of this is more than 70% of Americans tell their elected officials that they want to secure the borders FIRST and that they donêt want AMNISTY, no matter how the politicians try to paint that pig and call it a purse.

Still, our GOP Senators keep buying into the liberal playbook.  Their excuse is always...that it is just impossible to send 10 or 11 or 12 or 13 or however many million people they come up with that day...back to their home countries.  That is just plain nonsense.  All they would need to do is make every employer who hires illegals pay a $10,000 or $20,000 fine for each illegal employee and they would get rid of the border-jumpers faster than greased lightning. 

With no available employment, there would be an exodus of major proportion.  But, that is just a dumb idea that some uninformed citizen might dream up while standing around the water cooler at work.  Those lofty senators who spend their time trying to figure out the best way to buy votes can’t even consider it.

Well, the GOP crowd better do some strong rethinking.  Even if this left handed thinking is corrected in the joint House Senate conference, conservatives don’t like what they are doing...and they don’t vote for Democrat-Lite.

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Bombast and Blather - A People's View of Congress

May 10, 2006, Harlingen, Texas: Headlines in the May 8 edition of the Los Angeles Times read “GOP Can Win by Limiting Losses.” The article claims that “Discontent with the nation’s direction and the federal government’s performance is virtually screaming from public opinion surveys, which show approval ratings for President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress falling to their lowest levels.”

The article then goes on to report how GOP office holders are attempting to localize their races in an effort to escape what they perceive to be a national image of “Republicans being a rubber stamp for Bush...”

But, is that really a true perception? From a very unofficial viewing of three diversified groups in the southern tip of Texas, by this writer would be the distinct impression that everyone views Washington and Congress as nothing more than bombast and blather.

A group of Republican businessmen having lunch at the country club in Palm Valley, Texas have regular conversations about the President and Congress.  They see Bush as stubborn to a fault and all too willing to follow bad council to the point of endangering his own administration.

These same business leaders view all members of Congress as equally corrupt, the Republican members as weak willed and the Democrat members as completely obstructionist.

At the Coffee Klatch in Harlingen, Texas local farmers gather for their morning break and discussions on everything from the current drought to the high cost of farm production.  This is a Democrat area in a GOP state.  The farmers have been voting a strong Republican ticket for years.  Now they talk about either changing their party or not going to the polls in November.

Following a men’s Bible study at Rosita’s Cafe in San Benito, Texas the topic turns to politics.  These are people who donÍt think their congressman is doing a good job and think even less of poor performing Republicans in both houses of Congress and the Texas state legislature.

Granted, this is only a bird’s eye view of how our elected officials are seen performing their duties.  Still, it may very well be the truth of how the American public is seeing government leadership everywhere.

A short list of complaints voiced by these three diversified groups indicates that Republican leaning voters fault the President and the GOP Congress for failing them on border security and immigration concerns, failing them on energy, failing them on ethics reform, failing them on meaningful Medicare reform and failing them on solving those pending Social Security short falls.

These Texans voice unhappiness about failed education reforms, the sorry performance of FEMA, the bumbling missteps of Homeland Security, lack of congressional support for veterans issues and poor support for disabled veterans and retirees.

All of the government officials and agencies are found lacking in creating any meaningful legislation to curb lobbyist influence.  They are all blamed for the lack of civil discourse in Washington. People in Texas also feel that the way our war effort is being undermined is a national disgrace.

Ask any South Texan how he or she feels about those in Washington and you are likely to hear “Everybody lies”.  “You can never get an honest answer”.  “They all leak national security information for their own benefit.” “If a congressman is honest when elected, he becomes a crook after a short time in Washington.” “Nobody in Washington gives a damn about the country of the people.” “They are just there to get reelected and fatten their wallets.” “They have fat egos, fat wallets, and fat heads.” Those are just a few of the more printable quotes.

So, is the GOP going to be able to repair its very damaged image?  Is the president going to be able to repair his job approval rating?  Are the Democrats going to be able to run on their tarnished perception?  Is Congress going to be able to improve its reputation in the eyes of the country?

It will take a lot more backbone than any member has been able to display to date.  As one old farmer told me, “The only thing missing from the election ballot is a box that reads… ‘None of the Above’!”

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