Illegal Immigration

Children Of Republican Leaders And Gay Rights! Setting The Trend Of the Future!

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The surprising news to many, and the shocking news to others, is that one of the twin daughters of President George W. Bush, Barbara Bush, has come out for gay marriage rights and has allowed herself to be part of a taped endorsement campaign for such rights in New York!

This development comes on the heels of Megan McCain, daughter of 2008 Presidential candidate and Senator John McCain of Arizona, also endorsing gay rights and marriage.

Additionally, the lesbian daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, Mary Cheney, has also been a major figure in promoting the concept of gay marriage.

So a former President, a former Vice President, and a Presidential nominee have children who have come out for gay rights in the midst of right wing conservative Christian groups bitterly opposing any such concept, and boycotting the upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference because a gay group has been invited to participate!

Realize also that former First Ladies Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush came out for abortion rights after their husbands left the Presidency, and that Laura Bush has already supported her daughter Barbara, before the fact, in an interview recently that included discussion of gay marriage and gay rights.

The fact that the family members of these top Republican leaders come out for the civil rights of women and gays makes one wonder if their husbands and fathers simply mouthed what they had to say to keep political backing when they were running for the Presidency, and the belief is that assumption is totally correct!

Every poll shows younger Americans have no problem with gay rights and gay marriage, and therefore, the Republican right wing is fighting a rear guard action that will, in the long run, isolate them, just as their vehement opposition to illegal immigrants gaining eventual rights of citizenship has alienated most Latinos and Hispanics from the party.

If the GOP allows the extreme right wing and Christian Right to control their destiny, they will see themselves disintegrate as a respectable and competitive political party for the long run of the American future!

Stop vilifying Latinos and Hispanics, and stop demonizing gays, or else you will be part of the dust bin of history! And keep religion out of government, where it belongs, as all that occurs when religion is allowed to control government decisions is the promotion of hate and intolerance, which ironically, Jesus Christ would not have approved were he here to observe what so called “devout” Christians claim are his teachings, a total distortion of his message of peace, love, and tolerance of others!

The Census And Reapportionment: Will The Republicans Self Destruct Their Theoretical Advantage By Their Anti Immigration Stand?

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The census figures for 2010 that came out two days ago indicate, theoretically, that the Republican Party should benefit, as most of the states that gained House seats are considered “red states”.

Specifically, Texas gained four seats, Florida two seats, Georgia one seat, South Carolina one seat, Arizona one seat and Utah one seat, along with Nevada gaining one seat and Washington State also gaining one seat.

Notice that these states have very high immigration rates, especially Hispanic–particularly Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Nevada, and the facts show that the vast majority of new population in these states is due to immigration growth, whether legal or illegal.

So while the GOP can be expected to gain seats in the House of Representatives, as well as the state legislatures for the short term, it is also reality that if they continue to alienate Latino voters who are legal with their anti immigration stand, the bulk of the new population that can vote will be more likely to vote Democratic, which is the normal tradition anyway for Latinos, except for Cubans in Florida.

So even with short term gains by the Republicans, they could indeed “shoot themselves in the foot” politically long term, and rue the day they decided to take a hard nosed stand against immigration, both legal and illegal, particularly in dealing with the children of illegals, who should not be blamed for what their parents did, and therefore deny them the right to become citizens via military service or college education, leaving them in limbo in the only country they remember!

The apparent refusal of the Republicans to consider the DREAM Act will likely reverberate, and benefit the Democrats, and a party that only appeals to whites is doomed in the long run, as the population of the country will be majority non white by 2040 and after!

So this will be a growing factor in American politics as the years of this new decade go by!

Sad Ending On DREAM Act: “The American Dream” Denied To Young Illegal Immigrants Who Wish To Contribute To The Only Nation They Know! :(

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A very sad development yesterday in the US Senate was the denial of an opportunity for young illegal immigrants who were brought to this country as babies or very young children, and never have done anything illegal, but are being denied the right to move toward citizenship by pursuing college or entering the military.

These children are not lawbreakers, even if their parents are, and they have no memory of their former homeland. They have been discriminated against, and just wished to pursue the “American dream” that we hear so much about, but the Republicans in the Senate, except for three courageous souls, refused to allow such an opportunity.

The only three Republicans who voted in favor of cloture to end the filibuster by their party on the proposed DREAM Act were Richard Lugar of Indiana, Robert Bennett of Utah, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

However, since the vote, with four Senators not present, was 55-41, we must also look at the five Democrats who voted against the DREAM Act–Kay Hagen of North Carolina, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and Jon Tester and Max Baucus of Montana. These five Senators did not show reasonable justification for their votes, and should rightfully be condemned for their vote.

With this defeat, and with the reality of GOP control of the House of Representatives for the next two years, and fewer Democrats in the Senate as well, it is unlikely that the DREAM Act or anything similar to it will have any fortune in the next few years.

But the battle for immigration reform, including giving opportunities to children who have done no wrong except being born to the “wrong” parents, will continue, and with the growing Latino population in this country, eventually human rights and civil rights will come to these deserving children of illegal immigrants!

Texas Tea Party And Conservative Republican Dominance Today, But Long Range, Democrats Have Advantage

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Texas has become a solid Tea Party-Conservative Republican state, arguably the most right wing state, although with strong competition from Florida, South Carolina, Idaho, Utah, Oklahoma, Arizona and Kansas.

It has the longest serving Governor in the nation, Rick Perry, who has endorsed the idea of state secession, even though that was supposedly resolved 150 years ago!

It is the home of Senator John Cornyn, and Congressmen Louie Gohmert, Joe Barton,  Randy Neugebauer, Jeb Hensarling, Pete Olson, Ted Poe, Pete Sessions,  Lamar Smith, and of course, the best known of all, libertarian Ron Paul!

It is also a state in which two Democrats just switched parties and gave the GOP a two thirds plus one margin in the State House, making it a veto proof legislative body.

This is a state which has promoted secession and states rights; propagandized in the History curriculum so as to distort and omit large portions of history and de-emphasize historical personalities and events; worked to undermine the study of evolution in favor of Christianity on the state level; became the leader of anti abortion and anti gay rights crusades; and has an oligarchy of powerful financial interests who aim to keep Hispanic, Latino and African American populations in a dependent state and deny them bilingual education, equal job opportunity, and even the ability to study their own heritage, as it may lead to immigration raids to arrest illegal immigrants.

It is hard to believe that Texas was the state that gave us Sam Houston,Lyndon Johnson, Sam Rayburn, and many others who made the state renowned!

The problem for the GOP is that while now they have a tremendous edge, there could be a complete collapse of the Republican dominance within a generation in the state.

This is due to the fact that there are so many Hispanics in Texas, along with African Americans, that as time goes by and as the modern Republican Party manages to turn off most minority people, the likelihood of Democrats regaining majority status in the House of Representatives and in state government grows greater, particularly due to the present economic downtown, in which there are inadequate efforts to provide jobs and educational opportunities as government cuts back social services.  So although the GOP is more dominant than ever, Texas is going into turmoil which bodes for a change of the leadership statewide as Hispanic and Latino population become citizens and go in droves to the Democratic Party!  So Texas is likely to go “blue” in the near future, meaning by 2025-2030!

Iowa Congressman Steve King Wants To Abolish Birthright Citizenship In 14th Amendment! :(

Ronald 2 Comments

Right after the Civil War, the Republican Party passed the 14th Amendment and sent it to the states for ratification, and in 1868, the most important amendment since the Bill of Rights, up to the present day, went into effect!

The excuse of a Republican Party of 2010 now has Representative Steve King of Iowa, one of the most outrageous members of the House, wishing to repeal the birthright citizenship portion of the amendment, put into place 142 years ago!

Constitutional experts say this attempt to take away citizenship from children born of illegal immigrants would be unconstitutional, but the plan is to pass legislation and have it challenged, and then push for a constitutional amendment to ban “anchor babies”!

Others, including Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina have also backed such an idea, which would be setting up a new category of children born in the United States, who would be technically stateless!

If such a law or amendment was passed, it would be a violation of human rights, but it is certain no such amendment could pass, since it would require a two thirds vote of both houses of Congress, and thankfully, such despicable thoughts are not shared by that large a number of the members of Congress! 🙁

Christine O’Donnell Makes Sharron Angle And Sarah Palin Look Brilliant, Which They Certainly Are Not!

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We are in the age of Republican women politicians who come across as ill informed, ignorant, and unqualified for public office!

First, we had Sarah Palin, who has a great following, but has not yet demonstrated any knowledge or talents to be considering the Presidency, and yet flirts with it, the fault of Senator John McCain, who had the temerity to pick such an unqualified woman to run for Vice President! She is the gift that keeps on giving, and she is a nightmare to the future of the GOP, which she is now threatening will implode if they don’t follow the Tea Party Movement! 🙁

Then, we have Senate nominee Sharron Angle in Nevada, who has been absolutely outrageous in her statements and viewpoints, and manages to put her foot in her mouth every time she speaks!

But then we have Delaware Senate nominee Christine O’Donnell, who actually manages to make Palin and Angle look like comparative geniuses, with her constant evidence of pure stupidity and moronic statements!

Today, in a debate with her opponent, Democrat Chris Coons, before law professors and law students, O’Donnell seemed surprised to hear that separation of church and state was part of the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights!

She also expressed the idea that we needed to close American borders completely to deal with the illegal immigration problem, an extremely radical solution that just about no one else has suggested, and would put us in a position similar to the old East Germany, which sealed its border in 1961, with the building of the Berlin Wall, an approach also suggested in the past day by Alaska Senate nominee Joe Miller–another truly disastrous nominee!

It will not be soon enough for Christine O’Donnell, a three time candidate for the Senate, who has proved to be the absolutely dumbest nominee this year, to leave the news front pages with a sound defeat of her candidacy on Election Day two weeks from now! 🙁

Meg Whitman, Lou Dobbs, And Illegal Immigration! :(

Ronald 2 Comments

Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for Governor of California, has used illegal immigration as a campaign issue, and now has been shown to have employed illegal immigrants for many years, and underpaid them, and mistreated them, showing she is a hypocrite! 🙁

Lou Dobbs, former talk show host and analyst at CNN, and now only on radio, has long railed against illegal immigration in a demagogic way, and now the Huffington Post reports that Dobbs has employed illegal immigrants and exploited them, as well as showing lack of respect for them as individuals! 🙁

Isn’t this interesting? Wealthy arrogant people, such as Whitman and Dobbs, exploit immigrants who are just trying to improve their lives, and then attack them after having benefited from their services, and treat them like dirt! 🙁

What does this tell us about both Whitman and Dobbs, as well as many other wealthy and powerful people who are quietly and secretly doing the same thing, and giving illegal immigrants the same treatment?

It tells us that they are despicable, disgraceful human beings, who lie through their teeth, have no regard for human dignity, and should be repudiated by NOT voting for them for public office, and boycotting them if they are media people who promote hate and division in the quest for greed and materialism!

If a person treats those less fortunate in a degrading way, that is the true measure of their character, and they should be roundly condemned by all decent people! 🙁

Stephen Colbert And Undocumented Farm Labor: The Truth

Ronald 1 Comment

Stephen Colbert of Comedy Channel is famous for being humorous, but he was on Capitol Hill today, testifying on the work conditions and life circumstances of undocumented farm labor, which is responsible for our supplies of fruits and vegetables at cheap prices!

Colbert tried a day of this backbreaking work and came away with an understanding of why very few American citizens are willing to do that kind of work in the broiling sun, with the tremendous physical strain on human bodies as a result!

We all want to buy fruits and vegetables at reasonable prices, and yet we have people who rail against hard working immigrants who pay taxes and Social Security, work for very low wages, and yet complain far less than the average American worker about their work conditions!

If we did not have this immigrant labor, some of it undocumented, we would not have our food supply which is the most varied in the world!

Also, do most Americans want to cut their own lawns and clean their own houses and businesses? The answer is NO, and immigrants, including undocumented ones, do so without complaint!

Many immigrants also are involved in other tough jobs, including construction and taking care of young children, and millions of Americans count on them!

But yet, we have demagogues who keep on telling us that all undocumented immigrants are criminals, and should be deported!

Were we to turn against the reality that we are all immigrants or the descendants of immigrants, and deport millions of undocumented immigrants, we would soon discover how much we need them, and we just might show them respect and allow them to get on the line for future citizenship on the basis of the 2007 McCain-Kennedy immigration reform bill backed by President Bush and future President Obama!

But sadly, even Senator McCain has become a demagogue on this issue to win the support of Arizona voters! 🙁

Instead, we allow politicians to exploit the issue and divide us, and give America an ugly image of being a nativist nation! 🙁

Nativism Gone Viral: Tom Tancredo, Louie Gohmert, And Illegal Immigration!

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The issue of illegal immigration is one that will be an embarrassment when we look back at it historically, as the assertions and viewpoints of those who are exploiting the issue bring out the worst in our nation! 🙁

The latest outrages have been expressed by former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo, and Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert, both Republicans!

Both are further evidence that the GOP is painting itself into a corner for the future, as with the growing Latino and Hispanic vote, it will make many say what Senator Harry Reid of Nevada said yesterday–that he could not understand why any Hispanic or Latino would vote Republican! 🙁

Tancredo, long a nativist, sought the GOP Presidential nomination in 2008, and is now seeking the Governorship of Colorado as an Independent. He has stated that if he is elected Governor, he will make sure that the children of illegal immigrants are not educated in the public schools of the state!

This is certainly a statement that can arouse those who want to send millions of immigrants back to their home countries! But the reality is that there is no possibility of returning millions of people, and meanwhile, if we are going to ban public education for these children, what are we to do with them? Shall we keep them out of school and on the streets lacking education? Will this promote civil order to have them idle and ignorant? How preposterous and ridiculous a campaign pledge this is, and certainly, it would be lost in court if Tancredo somehow became Governor and tried to enforce such a ridiculous idea! 🙁

Congressman Louie Gohmert, infamous for some really outrageous and loony ideas, has now come up with the idea that many illegal immigrants come to this country to have their children, then go home and breed them over the next 20-30 years as “terrorists”, with the plan to send them back to overthrow America! If this is not paranoia and hysteria and craziness, what is it? So we are to be afraid of babies and see them as vicious terrorists for the years between 2030 and 2040!

If this does not make Louie Gohmert delusional and needing of psychological counseling, and Tom Tancredo needing the same, then our country is in deep trouble with such political leaders sowing hate and fear, and making unstable people go over the edge to violence! 🙁

Both should be roundly condemned as having no purpose but to divide and stir up a tempest for their own political aggrandizement! 🙁

Historical Ignorance Of Phil Gingrey And Other Republicans On 14th Amendment!

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Georgia Republican Congressman Phil Gingrey was on Hardball With Chris Matthews on MSNBC today, speaking up on the GOP attempt to change the 14th Amendment guarantee of citizenship to all born in the United States! This is all part of the strategy to deny “anchor babies”, children born to illegal immigrants and tourists, from having the right of American citizenship!

Gingrey argued that European nations do not allow “anchor babies” to be citizens, which is interesting since Republicans usually condemn the idea of America following any European traditions!

He also forgets that America is unique, a land of opportunity, different from so called “old Europe”, and that we have always been a nation that was different than all others, the beacon of hope in the world!

When people come to this nation, even those who are illegal, 98 percent of them came for a better life, not to get involved in drugs or gangs or crime! A small percentage of criminals and drug dealers and gang members should not reflect upon an entire ethnic group, as that is stereotyping! 🙁

But beyond this point, Gingrey also said that immigrants were not part of the equation during the debates over the 14th Amendment, as there were only SIX THOUSAND immigrants to this country during the 1860s!

What an unbelievable statement–SIX THOUSAND–and totally false! If one peruses historical census records, one discovers that in the decade from 1860-1870, 2.1 MILLION immigrants came to our shores–Germans the most, British second, Irish third, and Scandinavians fourth!

Anyone with any historical knowledge knows that so called “native” Americans, meaning those born here, despised the coming in of those “horrible Catholic” Germans and Irish!

And 2.8 percent of those who came into America during the 1860s were from Asia, primarily Chinese! 2.8 percent of 2.1 million immigrants means approximately 60 THOUSAND Chinese or other Asians migrated here in the 1860s! That alone is TEN times the total number of all immigrants that Congressman Gingrey claims arrived in the US during the entire decade of the 1860s! And they were not well received, even by the Irish, who lobbied over the next decade to bar them, succeeding in 1882, with the Chinese Exclusion Act!

So immigration was alive and well while the 14th Amendment was being debated, discussed, passed through Congress, and ratified by the states between 1866-1868!

No one suggested that so called “anchor babies” or children of immigrants should not be citizens at birth in the 1860s!

For Phil Gingrey and other Republicans and conservatives to suggest otherwise shows historical ignorance, prejudice, discrimination, and willingness to exploit an issue to gain votes, but knowing that under no circumstances will a change in the amendment EVER come about! 🙁

In other words, the GOP is again, for the umpteenth time, acting in a despicable and disgraceful manner! 🙁