Congress recently polled at a miserable 14% approval rating. With their political feeding frenzy and blatant disregard for public opinion, I suggest this:
You might also consider signing the “Secure Our Borders – No Amnesty” petition and the “We Win, They Lose – No Surrender” petition. Both links currently at the top of the left sidebar.
I’m wondering why the President and an uncomfortable number of Republican Senators want to resurrect one of the most ill-conceived and convoluted bills in the history of the U. S. Senate? The overarching complexity of this legislative monstrosity approaches, or perhaps exceeds, the nonsensical Winchester House in it’s absurdities and untenable construction.
Image: Winchester House near San Jose, California.
I advise the Senators and the President to employ the KISS principle – Keep It Simple, Stupid!
Former Majority Leader Tom Delay had this to say about the bill earlier this week:
Break up the immigration bill into smaller pieces, so that it’s actually understandable and each issue included can receive individual debate and consideration. Passing fence building, guest worker, amnesty, and border patrol increase legislation in one lump makes little sense to me. Let’s bring separate immigration bills out in order of importance and decide their fate one by one…starting with border security.
And a final note to the President of the United States who is enjoying a lunch today on Capitol Hill with Republican congressional leaders to discuss the fate of the immigration bill. I would recommend the President order his meal accordingly; border security first followed by a dessert course which includes a guest worker program not amounting to amnesty. Bon appétit!
I’m tired of these few Republicans telling seventy percent of Americans – those of us who believe this is bad lawmaking – to go to hell.
The 10-day countdown is underway. This nice little revolver is lightweight, cute and will be my new best friend as soon as I take possession. I hate California gun laws. I passed their silly test twice before. I want my new toy. It’s paid for, I should have it NOW!
Specifications
Caliber: .38 S&W Special +P
Capacity: 5 Rounds
Barrel Length: 1-7/8″
Front Sight: Serrated Ramp
Rear Sight: Fixed Notch
Firing System: N/A
Grip: Uncle Mike’s Boot
Trigger: .312″ Smooth Target
Hammer: Internal
External Safety: N/A
Frame: Small
Finish: Black
Overall length: 6-5/16″
Material: Aluminum Alloy / Carbon Steel
Weight Empty: 15 ounces
Update: It’s here!
Last weekend when NASA Director Michael Griffin deigned to criticize global warming alarmists by saying “I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with” – Griffin made his remarks during an NPR radio interview. Afterwards, James Hansen, a scientist, also with NASA, was prompted to describe Griffin’s remarks as “arrogant” and “ignorant.”
Image – NASA Director Michael Griffin – courtesy NASA
But upon what “science” are Hansen’s criticisms based? Hansen testified before the imperious “Select Committee of Energy Independence and Global Warming of the United States House of Representatives” in April with a tome entitled “Dangerous Human-Made Interference with Climate.” It turns out that much of what Hansen told lawmakers was his opinion, and not tested and peer-reviewed scientific fact.
Image – NASA Scientist James Hansen – courtesy NASA
Mark Steyn writes this interesting piece regarding ‘fast-track’ legalization for illegal aliens. The ‘Kathryn’ Mark is speaking to is KJ Lopez who also blogs on NRO‘s The Corner.
Great news! The terrorist Z-visas will take 48 hours! [Mark Steyn]
Kathryn, that [Senator John] Cornyn amendment is a good example of the kind of final “bipartisan compromise” Congress may settle for: The 12-20 million illegal immigrants will get legal residency in the United States by the end of the next business day (and, incidentally, I’d love to see a list of other US agencies which guarantee full service within 24 hours – or is the express line only available to lawbreaking foreigners?), but terrorists will have to be subjected to what Sheila Jackson-Lee described to me as an “ongoing background check”.
The more you look at this bill the more it seems just the usual Beltway kabuki. Secretary Chertoff says in a time of war we need to know who’s in the country. Okay. But is dumping a gazillion new applications on a sclerotic immigration system the way to do that? Mohammed Atta was the second most famous terrorist in the world and on the front page of every American newspaper but the then INS still sent him a valid US visa six months to the day after he died, and without even updating his address from that Florida flight school to Big Hole In The Ground, Lower Manhattan. And the excuse the agency made was, oh well, we’re only issuing visas to dead terrorists not living ones – which Americans pretty much had to take on trust and which seems a distinction far less likely to be maintained once there’s another 15 million in the system entitled to next-day service. If I were Mullah Omar, I’d apply for a Z-visa. The odds have got to be better than even.
So it will be a fraud on “conservative” enforcement grounds. As for “liberal” fast-track-to-citizenship grounds, I would be surprised if most of those “undocumented” choose to go beyond limited legalization. If you’re remitting vast percentages of your income back to your village in Mexico every month, US citizenship is only going to complicate your life, given that the IRS is one of the few revenue agencies on the planet to claim global jurisdiction. Some things are best left “living in the shadows”.
“Comprehensive” reforms usually backfire in spectacular ways: the “war on poverty” gave us ongoing cross-generational poverty, etc. “Comprehensive” immigration reform will metastasize illegal immigration, embed the “undocumented” support networks as a permanent feature of American life, expand identity fraud, and make it even more impossible for Washington to know which aliens are in the country at any one time.
Carbon Offsets are shaping up to be the new “Ponzi Scheme” in America where the first investors flourish and the last investors get conned out of their cash.
From Financial Times via Hot Air.
Companies and individuals rushing to go green have been spending millions on ‘carbon credit’ projects that yield few if any environmental benefits.
A Financial Times investigation has uncovered widespread failings in the new markets for greenhouse gases, suggesting some organisations are paying for emissions reductions that do not take place.
Others are meanwhile making big profits from carbon trading for very small expenditure and in some cases for clean-ups that they would have made anyway.
The growing political salience of environmental politics has sparked a ‘green gold rush’, which has seen a dramatic expansion in the number of businesses offering both companies and individuals the chance to go ‘carbon neutral’, offsetting their own energy use by buying carbon credits that cancel out their contribution to global warming.
Recent performance in the economic sector shows that the Administration’s policies on tax and the economy are, indeed, having a positive effect. You can bet, however, that the numbers quoted below will go unreported by the liberal media while Democrats in Congress will try to raise taxes and reverse the current trends.
Read Larry Kudlow‘s excellent short article (from National Review Online “The Corner”) about tonight’s Republican Debate: