SOPA: Lather, Rinse, Repeat

So… the great body of Congressional Critters… the same one which points to waiting forever to take action against the Weapons of Mass Destruction that Iraq didn’t have as proof that we should take time to assess threats to life, liberty, and the American Way… says we must act now to protect the profits of large media corporations… I mean Intellectual Property Rights from evil, marauding digital terrorists in ferrin lands.  Oh… and have no fear good citizen, we don’t intend to use the power against you.

I guess this is similar to the “Health Care Crisis” that had to be solved so quickly that we had to pass a law that no one read and would take years to implement.  I love Congressional logic.

Look, as an aspiring writer, I’m all about intellectual property and the protection there of.  But as a freedom loving person, I’m also all for any action that makes .gov stop and take a good hard look at what they are about to do.  I have to trust those smarter than I when they say that the way the legislation is written is so loose as to endanger any site that links to other sites, the contents of which the referring site doesn’t control.  Given Congress’ stellar record of enshrining unintended (maybe the “un” should be left off?) consequences that turn common people into criminals for just living, I’m inclined to believe that this law is no different.  And given how little knowledge Congress and the critters that make her up have shown about digital affairs, I have little doubt that Leaky Leahy wouldn’t know an IP from a domain name.

But Big Media and Big Business wants this bill and just like Big Gov, Big Union, and Big AARP wanted ObamaCare, I’d be willing to bet this, too, shall pass.

However, Congress is going to have to come out of the 1950’s and realize the djin is out of the bottle.  No longer is content able to be protected with broad strokes from a government’s pen.  It will take the entire IT community, governments, and individuals, working together, to protect intellectual property.  And that means there will be a certain amount of shrinkage (to steal a retail term) that will have to be expected.  Big Gov and Big Business don’t like shrinkage when it happens to them.  …when it happens IN THEM, they are hunky-dory, but I digress.

Big Gov is especially cranky about the idea that something may escape their grasp.  That’s why they declare wars on everything.  What is the war on Digital Piracy going to look like?  How long will it be before IP protection is for “the children”? Just something to think about the next time you have to hand over your ID to buy a pack of decongestants.

9/11 + 10

May God grant pardon and peace to all who died 10 years ago today.

May He comfort those left behind.

May He give us wisdom to stop all future threats.

May He guide our strength in dealing with evil.

May He temper our actions, lest we give evil what it wants.

Peace be will all of us today and always.

TSA Time

You’d have to live under a TRS 80 and have a 300 Baud modem to not know about the latest dustup between .gov and your battered and bruised civil rights.    I’m speaking, of course, about how the Tea Party has ginned up Bristol Palin’s success on Dancing with the Stars (shown on your local Panem et Circenses Broadcasting affiliate).  NO!  I’m only joking.  I’m talking about the firestorm that has enveloped the TSA in general and, in particular, the PornoScanners that the flying sheep public are being herded expected to walk through or submit to a sexual assault. (No.  I didn’t do that in red strike through. What else is it?)

There is a large portion of population that is just fed up with crap like this (NSFW) and a significant portion of said fed-uppers will be flying soon for the holidays.  They are NOT your average road warrior who has to suck it or not get paid.  When boss-man tells you to be in Dallas on Monday, LA on Tuesday, Phoenix on Wednesday, and Birmingham on Friday, you don’t have the luxury of getting all butt hurt about surrendering your dignity to some perv who couldn’t get a job as a REAL mall cop.  You just have to take it, one way or the other, so your family gets to do little things like eat and stay warm. 

But for the next month, or so, people like me, who HATE FLYING to begin with, will be jetting hither, thither, and, yes, yon as well, on those great metal dragons that once where the stuff of lavish dreams.  And you know what?  They don’t like being told, “hump or death.”  So I expect this kerfuffle will stay a hot topic for the next little while.

But unless I miss my guess, the NudiScans are here to stay.  Why?  The same reason everything happens in this country.  Money, Power, and Indifference.

Follow the Money

Why have Radiological Rape sites set up in the first place?  To stop bombers and Terrorists?  No.  Because they make some company money.  And since they are being made at the behest of .gov, who never met a dollar they had to manage properly, those little slices of voyeur heaven probably cost 10 times over retail.  People are making money and money doesn’t like to not be made.  So when John Q pushes back, Lenny the Lobbyist is just going to tell Connie the Congress Critter to hold out a little while and people will get used to this cut like they have the other 999. 

It’s About Control

.gov likes being in power.  They believe that YOU exist for THEM to govern.  It’s not a simple matter of them being the stewards of the people’s power.  Oh no.  You are the sheep that need a shepherd.  And if you don’t like it, tough. 

Oh I’m not saying there is a dark room with illuminati symbols where faceless men plan our fates on altars constructed over the bones of dead Roswell aliens.  What I am saying is that the nanny needs a charge to look after or there is little need for the nanny to exist.  A nanny that allows her charge to grow into adulthood soon finds herself out of a job.  Our government, much like a bad nanny, treats us like kids who need more supervision rather than adults that need less.  If they back off in this area, we might just get the strange idea in our heads that we can make them back off in other areas.  And what follows will be disastrous.  People reclaiming their First and Second Amendment rights!  States telling fed.gov to go piddle up a rope!  We might, the horror, even make them cut spending and be responsible with our money!  OH TEH NOEZ, worst of all, we may get the damn fool notion, after all that reclaiming of power, that it’s OUR MONEY!  These things can’t happen.   .gov sees every challenge to its power as a domino.  The NudiScans could be their Vietnam that causes all the other pockets of governmental control to fall. 

Who Cares

What the companies and .gov count on, and usually get, is the public to have a short-lived attention span.  Helped out by Ministry of Propaganda (aka: The Mainstream Media) that can bury a story at will, .gov can make things go away by dangling a sufficiently shiny object for the MSM to spin over and over in the 24 hour news cycle until the important topics are as distant from everyone’s mind as contrition is from sociopath. 

At that point, people will still hate the scanners, but they only have to go through them once in a while, so… might as well.  They will bitch about it like they harp on too much tax.  But they will never really demand anything be done.  Partly because it’s for the children and partly because, meh, the new Harry Potter movie is out so who has time.

A Small Wrinkle

There is some hope, however.  You see, these same wise leaders that believe it is their job to govern and our job to bend over and take it, also thought they were bullet proof this past election.  They believed, also, that nothing P-Barry or his administration did would ever be questioned.  They thought, and rightly so given our voting past, that no one cared about the little things.  But something happened. P-Barry got cross threaded with the people and the people fought back.  Oh he still had the power and used it to his advantage, promptly shanking us with Socialized Medicine and a debt we will never be able to pay, ensuring our children’s children are either under its yolk or fighting the wars that it will inevitably start.

But even in the face of his scorched economy policy, the people pushed.  And they won.  A small victory in the grand scheme of things, to be sure, but a victory after many years of defeat at the hands of BOTH PARTIES.  And that’s the one thing that takes my prediction that, “the Pr0nViewers are gonna be here forever,” not quite a dead cert. 

You see, the powers that be, at least the ones that can really read the tea leaves, know that the loyalty of these newly emboldened voters is up for grabs every November.  They hold no party allegiance, and unlike the so-called, “Moderate Voters,” who are really afraid to speak their mind and tend to just go with whatever is popular, these new voters are bold, brash, and really have a moral compass that points true North, not “D” or “R”.  To get these voters, lawmakers will have to really show they are listening to the people. 

If the people get angry at this most basic intrusion into our personal lives and stay angry, then some politicians will start to say, “Hmmm.  There’s votes in them thar hills,” and sponsor some movement, or even legislation, to pull this things.  But it will take a lot of perseverance and anger on the part of the people.  It will take all the road warriors opting out and makeing the lines long as hell so airlines lose money.  Basically, it will take US being inconvenienced all to hell while .gov tells us that if we don’t submit, someone is going to blow some plane full of nuns and children and cripples out of the sky and won’t we feel bad when it happens. 

The Bitter Truth

And we will feel bad.  But the horrible truth that people need to learn NOW is that life really does suck and no scanner, screener, or law is going to stop that.  Bad people find ways to do bad things.  Look at the cities where guns shouldn’t exist.  Laws upon laws are heaped on, covering the rights of the average citizen and people are still dying.  Why?  Becasue people who want to do harm to others aren’t deterred by laws.  People, spurred on by a malignant religious adherence that makes them believe they are going to be rewarded by their god, are going to find ways to do harm.  You can’t stop it.  You never will.  Deal with it. 

Will it be a tragedy?  Yes.  Will there be finger-pointing?  Yes.  But someone has to have the guts to say, “Enough.  I don’t want to be alive at the expense of living.  I’ll take my chances and if my big ol’ bird is about to be used as a bomb or missile, I bless you and the poor jet jockey given the task and beg you to shoot me out of the sky.”

Until we aren’t afraid to live again, we will always be healthy, but under the boot of someone who couldn’t care less that we aren’t living well.

Ok, if you can’t get worked up with a money quote like that, think about this.  I think he’s really hit the nail on the head there.  Stop thinking about yourselves here for a minute.  Stop thinking about an unnamed ghoul that .gov it warning about.  Stop thinking about a plane load of unknowns that knew the risks when they handed over their credit card.  Think about YOUR loved ones.  Think about looking into the eyes of YOUR little girl and having to explain why that mean man touched her “there” and YOU did nothing.  Do something.  NOW!

One last item.  I have a suggestion for the holidays over here at my less serious blog.  It may be a way we can vote with our wallets and show that we don’t want this level of abuse. 

H/T to all Unc., Tam, Breda, NJT, Instapundit, Sebastian, Lawdog, and anyone else I linked to in the article.

Context: Friend or Foe. … And an Apology

I work with Instant Messages ALL DAY.   My entire professional and private life seems to orbit the sending, or the receipt, of those posthaste, ASAPy, no need for impulse control, missives of digital ether.  So you’d think I would not fall prey to the sloppy monster when it comes to explaining myself.

But, alas, I seem to be human.  …And frustratingly so.

Last night I had one of those 2AM eyes fly open, “OH CRAP!” moments about something I’d let fall through the cracks.  Of course, instead of getting up and starting to put it to bed like a sane person; I ruminated on it kicking myself for pooching something so darn simple.  My toughs went something like this:

“Damn… Ok… You’ve blown the opportunity for <Edited for OpSec> and you to attend that class.  Maybe he went ahead and got tired of waiting for you and scheduled the class for himself.  Alright, you need to find out if he’s taking the October class in Houston and if he is, they you can just take one in another city.  YEAH!  Cool.  He may already be taken care of.  If not, well, we’ll cross that bridge.  Maybe car pool to the one in another city.  Good, problem solved.  …Or at least in the process of being solved.  I’ll IM <Edited for OpSec> in the morning… Well, later in the morning, anyway, and find out where he is on this.  NOW GET SOME SLEEP!”

So given that, I sent a complete IM stating my culpability in this and asking about his plans.  Right?

“GRRR. Did you sign up for the class?  Because I think it’s full now.”

Er… Not so much.  EPIC FAIL!  That’s right up there with, “The World Wonders.”

Good lord, after literally YEARS of getting IMs that are so full of nothing but words that mean little without a bit of, “Who, What, When, Where, and Why,” you would kinda figure that I wouldn’t dump a load of poo out there that could be taken as a WTF? or some kind of accusation.

Once again, <Edited for OpSec>, let me say I’m sorry.  I owe you a beer.

The Only One Professional Enough to Dangle a Participle

One of the great absurdities that people who support The Constitution, and by extension the 2^nd Amendment, use to illustrate the absurdity of the anti-gun rights canards, is to change the wording of all their vitriolic assertions and substitute 1^st Amendment tools for 2^nd Amendment ones.

1)     The public should be allowed no more than one (1) opinion a month.
2)     All Word Processors should be registered.
3)     Only professionals should be allowed to own pen and paper.
4)     The Founding Fathers could never have envisioned the internet and the digital medium is much too powerful for civilians to own.

Well, it seems some of the same champions of Gun Control, the MSM, would be okay with that.  A better commentary on the 1^st Amendment hypocrisy can be found here.

Just remember kids, it’s never about Guns or Words, it’s about Control.  They believe they are entitled to it and you can’t be allowed to exercise it.

Will cross post to Dante’s IaFR.   H/T to Phlegmmy

Oh No, Joe! The Internet “Kill Switch”

Here’s my biggest problem with this.  Above and WAY BEYOND the thought that a single person could “turn off” the internet, is the false notion that Government can make it “safer”.  So let me get this straight, .gov, which can’t even get a letter from point A to point B without MASSIVE budget short falls….  .gov which still thinks that spending more money on the NEA will improve schools.  .gov which thinks being a dad is about putting on nail polish… That same .gov thinks that centralizing internet security around some faceless bureaucrats is going to make it safer. 

Once more for the slow kids…  When .gov regulates something that is already working, that industry goes to hell *COUGHNEACOUGH*.  And the whole reason the internet is a tough nut to crack, is that it is a) decentralized, and b) has people who are accountable at the business/local level.  

When some country wants to mess with the DNS servers so it can block sites that it doesn’t want its people to see for fear that the peasants may show up at the palace with pitchforks in their hands and bloodlust in there heart, the internet manages to heal itself just fine.  … And rapidly.  Why?  Because there are a lot of people whose jobs depend on the smooth functioning of the internet.  They work together to fix these issues because time is money. 

Unlike .gov, where time is someone else’s money, so who gives a crap.

If Johnny Jihad decides he’s going to Tunnel his way into “Ye Olde Defense Contractor” and cause some mayhem in Allah’s name, then, by God, the CIO of YODeC better have his shiznitz together or he’s going to end up on the street with half his department.   Being able to eat is a good incentive to keep all the walls defended.

If Billy Bureaucrat messes up and lets Johnny in and something bad happens, he gets moved to a new department with a letter of reprimand that will probably hasten his next promotion to get him out of his new boss’ hair.  Not exactly great incentive to do ones best.

The Market works; Just look at BP.  What’s that you say, BP is a shining example of failure?  Not so fast.  BP’s failure, yes.  The Market, no.  BP played fast and loose with the rules and got burned.  Immediately stocks tanked, people lost jobs, and the CEO got put in the pillory of public opinion.  The rest of the Oil industry is watching their operations like a hawk.  Barring sabotage, this is not going to happen again anytime soon.  Not for the stupid reasons that this one happened.  

Now what happens when Uncle Sam plays fast and loose with the rules and lets something got to hell *COUGHWELFARE/IMIGRATIONPOLICY/GREATSOCIERY/EDUCATIONCOUGH?  Well, they appoint a Blue Ribbon Bipartisan Committee made up of retired insiders, who have no accountability, that takes two years to blame someone else in a 2000 page report that puts even political wonks to sleep.  … Oh, and they give themselves a raise.  …Oh, and you keep voting them back in.

One last thing… If you have read this and think, “Well, that’s simple!  Just make Government more efficient and give them the needed assets to respond faster,” then I suggest you take a look at the ruthlessly efficient regimes that have existed in the not so distant past.  If you are comfortable having a .gov so in control of everything with RDFs that can spring into action at a moments notice, then you’ll be unhappy to realize that the ONLY thing governments can control with ruthless efficiency is their own people.  Everything else is still under the thumb of Murphy and his minions.

Newton, Einstein, and Burritos.

So it wasn’t a bad day, per say. I mean, it’s not like I died. How many people get to say, “Hey, you know that fire fight that happened in Midtown that was on the news? Yeah… that one. That was ME!”

But it’s not like I would say that. I don’t go for braggadocio. I’m more the, “Holy snot rockets, it’s a camera, DIVE! DIVE! DIVE! SOUND COLLISION! DIVE!” I don’t like the attention. Besides, it’s bad for business.

So there I was, minding my own business, casing this antique store store from the comfort of my front seat. Why I was casing the place is not really important. At least not to what happened at that moment. And don’t worry, I wasn’t going to steal anything that didn’t need stealing.

As I was saying, I was just sitting there in my car, eating a burrito, when *WHAM!*, I hear two cars pile into each other. …it’s Houston, people practice physics fails all day long. Hell, the stupid Monorail route is a virtual “Mig Alley” of punched out cars and pedestrians because they or the trolley driver thought that the laws of inertia, mass, momentum, and Murphy didn’t apply to them.

I Really Didn’t Want To Get Into This, But…

Since SanFranNan wants all this discussion on “Immigration Reform”, I’ll oblige to keep our weary priests from having to engage in it. And for you who are unfortunate enough to find yourself on the pointy end of an immoral sermon, I’m going to go over “Immigration Reform” ONCE and ONE TIME ONLY. This is a long one… so sit tight.  There’s something for everyone to be mad at in this.

Who’s to Blame

There are NO HANDS CLEAN in this debate. Both Ds and Rs have RUINED this debate and turned it, purposefully, into a race issue. Why? Because Blue Blood Country Club RINOs love, REPEAT LOVE, having slave labor at negligible wages. Because Socialist Democrats love, REPEAT LOVE, having people in need to spend money on. OUR MONEY.

No one in party leadership wants to really look at the issue. Big business types don’t care. They love cheap labor too. No one, REPEAT NO ONE, in charge in either party wants this to be solved. They WANT illegal immigrants to be a slave class one way or the other. Period.

But Larry, The Dems are moving to legalize illegals, at least that’s what the promise to Hispanics. Doesn’t that solve the problem?

NO! Not the way they want to go about it. Putting aside the pure economic issues of if it’s OK to just give away 30 million citizenships. Putting aside the justice issues of skipping all those who’ve obeyed laws and played by the rules. What the Democrats want is 30 million voters who are in need of government support. The Democrats don’t want to force assimilation. They have no intention of making true citizens who are able to participate in the American Dream. They want 30 million hamstrung voters, who will now no longer be able to get low wage jobs, to be on the public dole and vote for whomever will promise the most goodies. Truth be know, most RINOs like this idea too.

What does that give us in the end? 30 million people who are beholden to Uncle Sam for subsistence living. That is NOT the American Dream. That’s an American Nightmare in the making because Uncle Sam can not deliver what he’s already promised to the current citizens. How much sooner will we see bread lines and riots with 30,000,000 new people expecting the federal government to ride to the rescue?

Social Justice

Now enough economics… Most people hate math. Let’s deal SOLELY with social justice. One of the key points that Democrats hate is the concept of a Commerce Language. In fact, when you try to demand that everyone speak one Commerce (or “Official”) Language, they are the first to howl, “RACISM!” Why? Because being able to communicate, especially in the common tongue of commerce, makes you free. YOU are able to decide for yourself what the truth is. You don’t have to depend on Government or a few select poverty pimping translators to tell you what is happening. You can read and speak in the language that the primary sources are reading and speaking.

When you remove the requirement for a citizen to speak English effectively, you sentence that person to slave status. They will forever be dependent on others for navigating the legal system, economy, and social structures. Is that Justice? When SanSfanNan tries to strong-arm Church officials into touting Democrat policies, what she is really doing is demanding they put the true interests of Illegals aside. She wants the Church to table real social justice in deference to touchy feely social justice where the aim is to make everyone, especially the white benefactors, feel good about themselves. It’s nothing more than a repackaged white washed Liberation Theology that has been CONDEMNED by the Vatican.

As a side note, I wonder how The SanFranNanny would feel about a Republican Conservative Catholic demanding that the Priests start teaching, in a real way, that when you vote for a candidate that supports abortion, you kill babies.  I bet SFN would not like that and be one of the first to start chanting about the separation of Church and State… but that’s a point for another topic.

Defending the Borders

Now let’s look at simple national sovereignty. Does a nation have a right to 1) secure its borders and 2) dictate how people will be assimilated into its society? YES! Any definable unit of society has that right. A family has the right to bring others into that family. It also has a right to make sure those it brings in will obey the rules and are not trying to simply use the family. The family metaphor is important because unlike other institutions like clubs and businesses, a nation can’t simply say, “you know, we really shouldn’t have adopted you. That was a bad idea. You have to leave now.” Once you are in, you are in. …Warts and all. Nations have to be allowed to not only stop people at the borders, but be selective about who they take.

Who should be selected? Honestly, anyone who wants to be an American and who is willing to work. The economy will support people at the lower end of the earnings ladder. We don’t need to only look for engineers and software coders. People who love an honest day’s work do a lot more for a country than those who sit on their ass all day. And as an “all day ass sitter” myself, I feel quite confident about that statement.

The Salve Class

I wrote earlier in this post about slaves. I don’t use that word lightly. This is a country of citizens. When you encourage, by governmental policy, the expansion of those who need the federal government to survive, you create slaves. The object, and I mean this with all sincerity, of the federal government is to make every person in this country a subject of the federal government. In other words, a slave. It’s not a grand conspiracy. It’s just the way organisms work. They grow. The Federal Government is an organism that seeks to grow to its limits (and beyond, if possible).

In the past, we could accept a large number of illegal immigrants because it was assumed that the national government would either try get rid of them or allow them or their children to assimilate into true citizenship. Now that is not the case. The government sees a way to jumpstart a full slave nation by implementing, first, a true slave class. If that class is mortgaged as simple illegals, given week quasi official status as “guest workers”, or placed under welfare as citizens in name only, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that once you have a large number beholden to the federal government for daily life, that number will grow. Not because of laziness of the recipients (although that will happen from time to time), but from the sheer inability to move out from under the government’s thumb.

How many readers had student loans? How long did that take to pay off? Now imagine trying to get out from under daily needs provided by the government when every stride you take to free yourself nets you two steps back because of regulations that are specifically designed to keep you from moving to the producing class. Some will make it. But most will not.

All our small business laws, regulations, and tax laws are written to make it harder and harder to produce. All this is done under the guise of providing an even playing field. At some point all of us end up in the government “safety net”. Stuck like flies in a spider web. Sometimes people can get out. But with every new law, new government bailout, new government pork project, new government program or entitlement, it becomes that much harder to free yourself because government needs more and more of your money.

For us in the middle class, it’s a struggle. For those who will instantly become entangled in the “safety net” with no way to get out… With no true voice to be heard… With no one getting out of their way and letting them advance, it will be a social blood bad.

Don’t believe me? Look what our “great white guilt” did to the inner city black family. All the pandering and promising was done with the excuse of compassion. It was really done to secure votes for generations for those who would promise the most redistribution of wealth.

Capitalism Works

If the illegal aliens have shown us one thing it is that Capitalism Works. In the cases where illegal are not fully abused by their “betters”, we see them actually thrive. Without government regulations. Without OSHA. Without the FTC. Without any of the social engineering apparatuses that small business has come to loath, these people carve out a niche in society. Is it the niche they could have? No. Sadly, without the ability to communicate and be free, they are simply successful salves. But the point is well taken, by those of us who notice, that when you turn people loose, even under the most appalling of conditions, they can, and do, survive better than when ensnared by pages and volumes of federal red tape.

So what does that tell us about how the problem should be solved? Simple enough. Let Capitalism begin to fix it. Get rid of the government giveaways, put people who hire illegals in jail, and make it hard for illegals to get jobs and the wound will begin to close. Simple supply and demand at work. Get rid of the supply of government goodies, and the demand will go elsewhere. Get rig of the demand for slave labor, and the supply will go else where.

But that only answers one aspect of the issue. You have to patrol the border. Not so much to take out the illegal immigrants themselves, but to stop gang activity which uses the porous border to smuggle almost at will. These gangs know that once they are in and make it to one of the many sanctuary cities, they can function without fear because a bunch of white handwringers have convinced themselves that keeping slaves is good and they are better off here than they were in Africa South America (sound familiar?).

Next, prosecute city officials who allow sanctuary status. The federal government needs to make that a crime and enforce it. Take away the opportunity to operate with impunity and the problem will diminish. Not go away, but diminish.

Finally, REFORM THE IMMIGRATION LAWS! Our current lawyer driven system is a joke. I’ve watched good people in that system end up having to start the whole process over and over (and over) and fork over another thousand plus dollars each time just because one thing needed adjusting. I know we need to make sure people who want to come here really need to prove themselves, but setting up a catch-22 system that purposefully fattens lawyer’s pockets is criminal. There is little hope for a poor person from south of the border making it thought that mine field.

Ultimate Goal

Our ultimate goal of reform has to be realistic. Anyone who says, “If we do X, everything will go away and be fixed,” is a lying sack of crap. Fix all aspects of this problem in the best ways possible and we will still have illegals. We will always have them. But if we can get this country back to a goal of assimilation and not balkanization, we can handle the smaller amounts that come through.

Our ultimate goal should also be, and I’m going to get a lot of hate over this, the complete reformation of the Mexican economy and government. If we keep allowing Mexico to spill over workers from its failed economy and public policies, then we are to blame for every ounce of social injustice that goes on on that side of the border as well.

You and I have both watched a team of illegals totally redo a house in days. There is no question about their work ethic. Fields of crops cleared even though the labor is back-breaking and menial. We know Mexico has great natural wealth as well. Why, with a population willing to cross borders to work hard jobs and great natural gifts, can’t the Mexican Government and Economy make a profitable system? Could it be because of the gross abuses and corruption? Could it be because the system is set up to protect the “haves” and prevent the “Have-Nots” from advancing? Or could it just be “to the bone” incompetence on the part of leaders?

Whatever the case is, as long as we are Mexico’s pressure valve, they will never have to reform and the people who are stuck behind in Mexico and the rest of Latin America will have no hope.

Economic Hand Wringing

One of the arguments proffered by the Open Borders Business crowd is that, “Americans will never pay 6 dollars for a head of lettuce.” That may be true. We would have a hard time getting out fruits and veggies at the current confiscatory tax rates. But if we didn’t have the other side of the illegal coin we would be able to afford $6 lettuce. If we didn’t have a huge welfare state that was already ignoring citizenship requirements and handing out federal goodies to illegals, then we could pay $6 for lettuce. Hell… if we didn’t have most of the over burdensome social programs that have FAILED miserably despite forking more money into the furnace to be burned up like so much kindling, then we could pay for $12 lettuce.

Stream line the tax code, get rid of government waste, and let US keep OUR money, and we could pay what the market dictates.

Lines in the Sand

I think there are some points, though, on which we have to examine even harder. Maybe even declare them as lines in the sand that, as a nation, we will not cross.

The first is emergency medical coverage. I know many are sick of paying for every little sniffle and cough that illegals have. Many have proposed simply doing away with allowing illegals emergency care. I’m not prepared, and I think I’m in the vast majority, to shut down EMS services for illegals. This is one of those few areas I’m quite comfortable being taken for a ride. I want NO HUMAN BEING to die because they couldn’t get EMS care. Period. I think that is a decision we, as a nation, came to a long time ago. Even before the government got involved, charity hospitals and philanthropists did all they cold to make sure that those who could not pay still survived the night. We, as a people, have embraced that idea. We should no turn away from it.

Does that mean we can’t fix the system and try to prevent as many non-critical cases from clogging and abusing the system? No. It just means we will have to accept that draconian measures in this area will only serve to harm people. We can’t have doctors hamstrung while trying to treat people. And it’s not in the doctor’s or nurse’s job description to be INS beat cops. Whatever solution we push for has to allow for seriously ill patients to be treated. And if that means that some will slip though the cracks and get treatment that could wait 6 days until the symptoms clear up, then so be it.

The final issue is citizenship. People worry about the “Anchor Babies”. Many say there should be a change in the law to not allow these babies to be US citizens. Sorry folks. The law that would need to be changed is the US CONSTITUTION. The Fourteenth Amendment, Article I to be exact. That was put in in response to slavery. Funny how that word “slave” keeps coming up in this topic. Do we really want to mess with The Constitution? Did those who voted on the amendment know what it might be used for? Has time and testing shown it needs to be amended? Or will amending it again lead to more threats of slavery?

These are all questions that will have to be asked before we can move to change THE LAW of the land in that area. I’m not against taking a look at The Constitution for amendment. I would love to do away with the direct election of Senators and give the States back their voice in DC. But any look at amending MUST be done with a wary eye and deep thoughts about the future implications.

Illegals Already Here

What do we do with the ones already here?  That’s a damn good question with no great answer.  Justice would seem to demand they be deported, while mercy would seem to demand a path to citizenship.  A real path, not the “*poof* you are a citizen, have fun” path the Democrats want.

Honestly, I don’t have a good answer.  The reason is that we are to blame as well.  If it were simply a case of the US trying everything in its power to stem the tide and failing, then I would agree that a round up and deportation of everyone is in order.  But WE let them stay.  WE encouraged them to be here.  WE, have a part to play in this as well.  Even if we didn’t do it directly; we, but not forcing Washington to take us seriously and by just voting for the next wonk who paid lip service with no substance, allowed this to go on.  Maybe you weren’t part of the majority that let it happen, but that’s the breaks in a Representative Republic.  We get the government they deserve.

And we all do enjoy that 99 cent head of lettuce, don’t we?

A simple path to citizenship without some punishment makes a mockery of the law.  But what kind of punishment can it be?  …Monetary?  …Physical incarceration?  …Temporary Deportation?  …A seriously delayed citizenship?  What?  I don’t have a good answer.

And that is the problem with letting things like this fester.  Your chance at good options dwindles to scant zero if you wait too long.  And we have waited too long.  Someone, somehow, is going to be badly affected by a see change.  There is no way to stop that at this point.

Conclusions

So where does this leave us? Well, aside from an interesting intellectual exercise, no place useful. The current debate is laced with ad hominem attacks that charge racism as every “boo”, preventing us for having a serious discussion on the topic. Arizona passed a law that had both sides jumping with either fits of glee or apoplexy. I wager that no one actually read the law. If they had, neither side would be very happy. But not for the reasons they may have though. All someone had to do was SOMETHING and one side screamed, “RACISM,” while the other yelled, “ABOUT DAMN TIME!”

If people aren’t informed and don’t demand real substantive change. We are doomed. You can not keep slaves. It will bankrupt you morally and economically. One of the great ironies of the Anti-Bellum age was that the South’s economy was so trashed by their dependence on slavery that they could not compete with the North’s industrialization. But the North wasn’t real thrilled with the South getting up to speed since it would mean more expensive goods. Sounding a bit familiar?

At some point, this will draw to a head and erupt. We will either have a complete break down of our economy, or these modern slaves, who are not in chains and without armed violent recourse, will push back. Either way (or a combination there of), the blood that is being spilt and will be spilt is on our heads for not holding our elected officials’ collective feet to the fire.

One last thought. Please break away from the emotions of this issue. I know it’s very hard. My family tree has the name “Echvarria” in it. My Basque heritage explains a great deal about my temper. It’s no secret that my family wound its way to the US via Mexico in the late 1800’s. So it’s sometimes hard not to sympathize with the “leave them alone” crowd. But this is not just about being nice. It’s about being merciful and just. And you can’t do either of those things under the current system or a system that would just move to legalize their poverty. It doesn’t matter if the yoke we offer them is less oppressive than the one they flee, that is NOT what our ideals should be as a nation. We should seek to offer the best and be the best, not just be kinder slavers.

(note:  any type-os and grammar errors are the fault of me not having a proof reader. If you complain, you volunteer.)

Earth Day, the “Baby on Board” Sign Writ Large.

Ok all you maggot ridden haters of the Earth.  You know who you are.  All you scummy 99-percenters who are not as highly evolved as the tender Gaia fearing crunchy granola eating hippies.  You will, today, unlike the other 364 days of the year become conscious of Mother Earth. 

So be good little zombies and buy all the Earth Day merchandise from over priced specialty outfitters (all made in China under sweatshop conditions with no environmental controls), flush only on a duce and ONLY when it’s a really bad one (I had General Tso’s last night with extra chilies so I’ll be flushing every time… sorry tender Earth Mother), and revile yourselves for the planet killing parasites you are.

That’s pretty taste Earth Day leaves me with.  Since before the Greens killed all new nuclear power plants, bashed American industrial might back to the stone age, and implanted in every school age child a general hatred for Capitalism and freedom, I’ve picked up my empties, not thrown stuff on the ground, made sure I picked up my mess when at a park or camping, and generally been a pretty good steward of nature.  Why?  Because it was hip?  Because it got me lai… Um… affection?  NO!  Because any animal evolved past the state of guinea pig knows you don’t crap where you eat.

The vile assumption of slaves of Earth Day madness that we who don’t share their affinity for Gaia inspired hemp fests are somehow evil malignancies who only want to kill their spirit mother is offensive.  It is just like the “Baby on Board” stupidity.  “I know you dive like a maniac all the rest of the time and don’t care if you kill people, but I have a baby on board so please, don’t drive like you normally do.  Drive like you care.  Please.  It’s for the children!”

Just because you air headed pseudo-science believing wannabes think that “saving the world” is the only reason to get out of bed, don’t make the mistake of thinking that your “Human Plague” attitude is in any way superior to we who plod through life simply doing what we can to make our tiny corner of the planet more clean and livable for Humans.  Conservationists have done more to protect and steward the lands of the this country than any sign carrying patchouli stink ridden Green who thinks shopping at Whole Foods and donating to the WWF absolves them from driving their SUV, heating/cooling a 4000 square foot house, and maintaining their pool. 

Don’t get me wrong, I have no problems with SUVs, 4000 square foot houses, and pools.  But if you are going to feel guilty about it, just step down to something that won’t make you feel dirty.  Don’t expect ME to step down to make you feel better.  And just because YOU can’t handle being successful, don’t ride my tail when I make it. 

And that is my main beef with Earth Day and all the other foolishness that is the Green movement.  It really isn’t about saving the Earth.  The Earth was here long before we were and will, if God so wills it, be here long after.  We are puny little figures on its grand surface.  We, in mass, can mess up portions of it.  We can set rivers on fire.  We can muck up forests and cause fish kills.  But ultimately, the Earth adapts and will go on.  And we adapt and clean up our local messes and go on as well. 

No, Earth Day and Greenism, for the rank and file, are simply about feeling like you are doing something.  It’s a scam to make people feel like they are doing something worth while when all they are doing is empowering those who are conning them. “Think Global. Act Local.” Is not a call to go pick up paper or clean up a stream bed.  It’s a call to think of “saving the world” and agitating others in your area to do the same.  Ok, great.  We all think about ”saving the world”.  How is my paid Indulgence Carbon Offset going to do that?  How is giving money to Green candidates going to do that? 

You save the world when you think local and act local.  When you stay in the tangible and fix the tangible.  Jesus said it best when he said, “Look you moron, you can not take the splinter out of someone else’s eye until you get the blasted log out of your own.  For My sake, it’s not rocket science!  No Judas, I’m not explaining Rocket science to you again!” 

Ok, so he didn’t say that “exactly”.  But the point is the same.  You make the world a better place by fixing your focus on what is in your sphere of control.  If everyone does that, then world becomes a better place. 

Greenism, for its leaders, is simply a movement where people who hate humans and freedom glom together to repeat a tired old idea.  “Freedom and Capitalism is a bad thing because it lets people do what the want and it gives them the funds to do what they want.  That freedom hurts Gaia, and, more importantly, our power, and therefore MUST be curtailed.” 

If you disagree, please look at all the ever-increasing EPA regulations on companies.  We have cleaner air than just about anyone else in the modern world.  We’ve scrubbed our stacks and renewed our energy until our factories are setting new lows for dangerous (at least those that are deemed dangerous) emissions.  But is that enough?  No.  We need “Cap and Trade”.  As soon as industry (read Capitalist ingenuity) adapts to the new regs and surpasses them, the Greens turn around and raise the bar again. 

Why are there no new nuclear plants?  Perhaps the cleanest most efficient form of energy to date?  For a few cubic feet of waste, you get tons of energy.  Safeguards are so strict that even the 3 mile island incident only released a few curies of contamination that was OVER dealt with.  Simple, they aren’t allowed (regulatory oversight makes them too expensive to maintain or kills them during construction by ever-changing standards) because they work and that much energy delivered to the masses, freeing up fossil fuels for transportation, would kill the Green movement.  Which isn’t about being green, it’s about being in control. 

For some of us who look out on a morning misty lake and can see the fingerprints of a loving God and marvel at the sheer insane love He must have to do all of this for us… no, for ME, we tend to take keeping the place going pretty seriously.  But we never forget that it is here for us.  …For humans.  And it is to be used wisely, conserved.  Not preserved in an unaltered state that benefits no one, no animal, and not even the land itself.  If you deny the Earth its rightful place under our stewardship, you deny the Earth’s potential and do more damage to it than any oil spill.  To deny anyone or anything or any action its rightful place in God’s plan it to deny God as well.

Of Hash Brown and Undoing Obamacare. A Warning to the GOP.

I am a fairly good cook.  I have made some interestingly complex dishes that have been, not to toot my own horn, really amazing.  But it is seemingly simple things that tend to hamstring me from time to time.  Case in point: this morning I decided to make hash browns.  I had shredded and properly prepped potatoes.  I had a well seasoned cooking surface.  I had the requisite oil.  In short I had everything I needed to make great hash browns.  They turned out… OK. 

Why not great?  Because sometimes I forget how to make the simple things.  I tend to fiddle too much or go too hands off.  In other words, I get too cute or too complacent and mess up a dead cert. 

Right now the GOP has all it needs to take back congress and stall, then eventually gut, Obamacare.  The climate is right.  The people are ready.  If they are not out right mad at the power grab of Nationalized Healthcare, they are at least mad at the unconstitutional sausage-smithing used to force it into law. 

People are seeing the devastation that Socialism is about bring to this nation and are willing to listen to the adults talk about real solutions for a change.  There is an overwhelming majority of people that want to see this nation back on a path to greatness and are not convinced that the only option is to manage our descent.

States are reasserting their rights and demanding to be heard.  For the first time since the Seventeenth Amendment wrong-headedly forced the States out of any official power to stop the bloat of the central government, we are seeing many of the 50 State Governments realize just what they have lost and their own importance in protecting the nation from a monstrous Federal takeover of our rights.

The pan in on the fire and all the ingredients are in place.  The GOP has won some pretty impressive contests.  Who would have ever thought that a Senator from MA would have an “R” next to his name?  That is like making you first perfect soufflé!  But let us remember this is the same party that gave us Bush 41 after Regan.  Let us not forget this is the party that told conservatives to take a powder with Bush 43.  The GOP blue bloods could not kill the Regan Revolution fast enough.  They could not dump “The Contract with American” soon enough.  Sometimes they get too cute and screw up a good thing.

The GOP has had the means and the intellectual arguments to gain and maintain a strangle hold on Federal politics since the mid 80’s.  But every time Conservatives save their bacon, the party elites turn right back to the Big Government Statism they love so much. 

The RNC leadership seems to live in a little bubble where they can play DC social games and politics as usual while courting the Conservative and Right leaning populous with the words every battered woman loves to here, “Where else are you going to go?  Now shut up and get me a beer!”   Well… these are the party blue bloods so that would be “…get me some champagne!”

It is apparent to me that many in the RNC believe that they can open their arms and receive the love of an “Anyone But Obama” backlash.  And while being “The Party of ‘NO!’” will help them in November, it will not, by itself, win the day.  Without a very deliberately articulated message of not only, “Say, ‘No,’ to Socialism and Obama,” but “Here is why you should say, ‘YES!’, to Constitutional and Conservative ideas,” the RNC will do little but get insufficient gains that may even the playing field in Congress, but do little to halt, let alone reverse, the massive steps toward economic and social collapse this nation has taken, not just in the last 18 months, but since “W” official declared Conservatism dead in 2002 with his impression of a drunken sailor with holes in his pockets.

The biggest problem the GOP faces is that, while its rank and file is, for the most part, to the right politically, its leadership is very much fans of Big Government.  They even tried to call it “Big Government Conservatism” and convince us that, somehow, with that much power under OUR control, we could do great things.  Never mind the old saw that power tends to corrupt.  Given the way GOP party elites routinely throw us under the bus to keep their dinner dates and their dino-media approval cards, I would say the power is tending to them quite well.

The next issue facing the GOP is that while the members are, again for the most part, leaning right, not everyone is in the same camp.  The blue bloods have done such a venerable job of handing out the scraps that Conservatives are no longer Conservative.  Many have adopted grand hyphenations to try and get trifles thrown their way by the GOP trainers. Compassionate, Fiscal, and Social are just some of those hyphenations adopted by the fake conservatives while throwing around others like Religious, Southern, and NASCAR to try and paint themselves as safe and non-threatening to the party chiefs who cut the checks.

Until the GOP leadership is taken over by Conservatives that are happy and proud to be Conservative and capable of articulating what it means to be Conservative, then all that will happen in 2010 is a gentle shift of power that will do little to drag us from the event horizon of this destructive Socialist singularity. It will be a little victory that will taste about as sweet as some less than spectacular hash browns.

I wish I could be more positive.  But the GOP seems to be willing to let the Tea Party, bloggers, and Talk Radio carry its water and not present clear leadership and a workable agenda of its own.  That is a recipe for disaster, not only for the GOP, but for this nation as well.