Immigration Bill Fails in Senate

The Immigration bill that has been the work of Democrats and President Bush has failed a key Senate vote. The majority of the Republicans in the Senate voted against proceeding with this bill. This was basically a test vote for the Senate Democrats to see if they had the votes to pass the bill as it is currently written and amended.

This has been a bitter fight between the Democrats and the Republicans for a while now. The bill would give Bush his guest worker program and would have gone a long way towards granting illegal immigrants at least a chance at citizenship. Both of these subjects are mistakes in the minds of many Americans.

According to recent polls, a clear majority of Americans opposed this legislation. It did not offer enough protections for American workers that would be affected by the guest worker program and did not include harsh enough penalties for illegal immigrants. Hopefully this failed vote will help Congress realize that there is still much work to be done before they can hope to pass any immigration legislation.

The point has also been made that there are many laws already that would enable our government to crack down on illegal immigration, but funding has not been provided or is limited at best. Ultimately this will come down to politicians deciding to do what is best for our country or trying to please everyone, including illegal immigrants. Some might think that this would be a no brainer.

Memorial Day Deaths In Baghdad

President Bush celebrated Memorial Day by having another 10 U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. This is clearly the deadliest month for U.S. soldiers this year. I hope President Bush is pleased with his decision and the progress, so far.

In other news.........

It was reported that Iraqi police that came to the scene of a car bombing in Baghdad that killed or wounded nearly 100 people confiscated cameras from journalists that were on location covering the violence. If you believe the optimists then maybe you should pause for a minute and ask yourself why free speech and free reporting is being denied to journalists in Iraq. Maybe they were trying to make Memorial Day seem a little better than it really is.

If you did not spend Memorial Day protesting the slaughter of our troops by our government, you really did not do anything for Memorial Day did you?

Reality of a Gas Boycott

I am sure that we all have heard about people trying to start a gas boycott. I am sure that we all like the idea of doing this to get back at the oil industry. The bitter truth about this is that in its present form, this boycott means nothing.

If you really want to stick it to the industry, you actually have to stop using the gas. It makes no difference if you fill up on Thursday or Friday if you are still using and ultimately having to purchase the same amount of gas. The only way to make a difference is to actually not use gasoline. If you take public transportation while boycotting so that you are actually using less gas, then you have started to make a difference. The only way anyone can make a real difference is to reduce the amount of gas that you are actually using. Reducing gas consumption is only one part of the equation though.

People need to start using less oil in general. Keep the tires aired up and change out those light bulbs at home. The less oil we consume, the more money we save. Even if you do not buy into the whole global warming issue, you will still save money by conserving. We all do agree that having more money is a good thing, don't we?

The Immigration Saga

The immigration issues in the United States are just plain ridiculous and neither the Republicans nor the Democrats want to upset the Mexican "voting" population enough to fix the problems.

The Senate has come up with a nearly 400 page document that is being labeled "immigration reform." To me it is a joke. I can come up with a bill in less than five minutes that would solve the immigration problem once and for all. Before you ask, the answer is yes, yes it will piss everybody off.

We need to link legal immigration with illegal immigration. We need to start charging the Mexican government $5,000 dollars for each illegal immigrant that we have to send back to Mexico. If Mexico refuses to pay this fine, we will not allow any legal immigration from Mexico. Once Mexico pays the fines, we will resume legal immigration with their country.

Mexico needs to be billed for any costs associated with crimes committed by illegal Mexican immigrants. If this is not paid by their government, we will add tariffs to their imports to satisfy this debt.

We need to impost minimum wages and large fines so that American businesses are forced to pay all employees fair wages. If we end the business benefit of slave wages for immigrants, there will be no benefit associated with hiring illegals. This will reduce the demand for cheap, illegal labor. It will also help honest American businesses compete with these companies that are currently benefiting from illegal labor.

We also need to build fences between Mexico and America, but only where it does not have an environmental impact on endangered species and habitats. The fines levied against the Mexican government will be used to hire more border patrol agents to ensure a secure border.

I think these steps listed above will go a long way towards sealing our southern border and would require giving absolutely no one amnesty. The fact that Mexico would have to start paying for their citizens crimes would also help us to protect our border better without American taxpayers footing the entire bill.

Iraq President Coming to America for Medical Treatments

It was recently announced that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani is coming to the United States for medical care. This makes people wonder since President Bush has been touting improvements in Iraq after the latest troop surge. Is Iraq really so bad that there is not a single medical facility in the entire country that can provide medical care to the countries leaders?

It is not a good sign of overall conditions when instances like this are still happening.

Republicans, ProLife, Abortion and STD Vaccines

Many states in the United States are trying to make it mandatory to vaccinate young women against a virus that causes cervical cancer. To many peoples surprise and not to the surprise of others, Republicans are rallying against making this vaccine mandatory for young American women.

Republicans feeling the pressure from the conservative Christians are working to block this effort to prevent cervical cancer in women. They feel that it will cause more women to go out and have sex that might not have before this vaccine was available. I can't help but wonder if the conservative Christians will also work against a cure for AIDS if given the chance. It seems to me that the reason many people abstain or take precautionary measures regarding sex is because of AIDS. If there is ever a cure found for AIDS, it will take a lot of the fears associated with sex away. For this reason it is reasonable to assume that the conservative Christians would rally against a cure for AIDS as they currently are doing for cervical cancer.

The conservative Christians are one of the main problems that I see facing the Republican party today. Republicans will do just about anything that the conservative Christians want them to do. Take abortion for for an example. The Republican party has passed many abortion laws across this country, only to see then ruled as unconstitutional when challenged in courts. Are the courts just being unfair, or is there more to it?

It is basic knowledge that if an abortion law does not include provisions for a mothers health, the courts will strike that law down. So why do the Republicans keep writing law after law that they know will eventually be challenged and defeated? It really is simple and sinister. The conservative Christians will rally against bills that basically do not make ALL abortions illegal. Conservatice Christians want all abortions illegal and will not support anything but that.

Republicans on the other hand know how powerful of a campaign tool abortion has become. Republicans have become experts on rallying people when they start talking about dead babies. If the Republicans passed a bill regarding abortions, they would no longer have this cause to rally around. This is why they write the bills this way. They get to keep the support of the conservative Christians and keep their strongest campaign tool.

There is also the matter of what would happen if all these children were born. What kind of burden would that cause to our already overcrowded schools? What would this do to our welfare systems in this country? These are important issues that also need to be addressed when discussing abortion issues.

I hope this has helped shed a little light on the issues of cervical cancer prevention and the abortion. It is ashame that all these children will be made to suffer or die at the hands of the conservative Christians in this country. We all know that if an abortion law was passed that make exceptions for a womans health, rape and incest, most every American would support it. The courts would also support it as well. So the next time a Republican claims to be pro life, just remember that they have had the ability to prevent almost every abortion in this country but failed to do it for political reasons.

Rush Limbaugh is an Idiot

I went to www.rushlimbaugh.com to send him an email to let him know that he is an idiot. I soon found that the only way that anyone can send him an email is if they pay to join his website. I always knew the guy was a little off, but I did not know that he was only in it for the money. I really thought he was just stupid, apparently he is only interested in comments from people that are willing to pay him.

I think that this is even out of touch with most Republicans out there. He is carrying on about free speech all the time on his radio show, but he wants me to pay for my speech, go figure.

I would love to ask Rush why he preaches about free speech, but will only accept paid comments to his website. I just don't want to ask him enough to have to pay to ask.