Obama and the Immigration Situation

Not everything I do is political.  I've been a little lax on this blog because I was working on writing and publishing a novel on vampires.  If you're interested, it's called "Vampire Tales - Book One - Genesis" and you can find it at most online book dealers.

Now on to Obama.  Since moving to Tulsa I've been surrounding myself with more and more Republicans.  Those who are not truly Republican are still rather conservative.  I consider myself to be a breath of fresh air for their stale minds.  Just about everyone I meet here gets their news from Fox.  It's sad, really.

After Obama wrote his Executive Order on immigration, these people have been asking me what I think of my president now, assuming that I would now change my mind considering how he has taken power that the president is not allowed by the constitution.  Or I would be ashamed of how he has taken a "my way or the highway" approach and gone off on his own without regard for the work of the Congress.  Or at the very least that I would agree that the will of the people in this last election is that the Republicans are best able to run the government and we should agree with that wisdom.

To all of this I say, get real.  

In the first place, Obama is an expert when it comes to the constitution.  He knows where the power lies and he knows what he can and cannot do.  He knows, for example, that only congress can change the laws that would grant green cards, so he did not go that far.  He went as far as the law would allow him to go.  That is not a power grab.  That is doing his job.

Now let's look at the elected bodies.  The senate passed a bill for immigration reform.  That is the job of the senate.  That bill was sent to the house.  The house is then to re-write the bill, if they don't like it the way it is, and vote on it.  If it's the same bill, it goes to the president for his signature.  If not, it goes back to the senate to be re-worked by that body.  When they reach an agreement it goes to the president. 

In this case, the senate passed a bill and sent it to the house.  The house has been sitting on that bill for more than 500 days.  For over a year they have ignored their job duties and done nothing.  We did not elect them to not do their jobs.  The president told them if they were not going to do their jobs he would do it for them.  They did not do their jobs.  He did his.  That is not a power grab.  That is doing the job we elected him to do.

As for a "my way or the highway" approach, they seem to be a tad bit mistaken on who has that attitude.  Mitch McConnell stated six years ago that his primary concern was to make sure that Obama was a one-term president.  Six years later he now claims he wants to work with the president.  John Boehner has consistently shown that he will not work with the president.  If anyone needs evidence of that, look at how many times Boehner has brought measures up for a vote to repeal Obamacare.  It's over 50 times now.  Yet, they could not find time to vote just once on immigration reform.  It's not Obama who has the "my way or the highway" approach.  That badge sits squarely on the chest of the Republicans.

And lastly, the "people" did not speak in the last election.  In fact, the majority of people do not speak in any of our elections.  It's very sad that so few people in this country vote but that's the reality.  Most do not.  For the 2012 presidential election, there was a much larger turnout than for 2014.  And the 2012 voters voted for Obama.  So, if you want to argue that it's the will of the majority, that would be for Obama, not for a Republican led House of Representatives and Senate.  

No, I will continue to support Obama.  I stand behind his ideals and beliefs and I share his vision for a better America.  Our immigration laws are unfair and need to be rewritten and he has taken a step in that direction.  Hopefully his action will cause the Republicans to finally pass reform legislation and get our country moving again.

No Winners In A Government Shutdown

There aren't any winners in the recent shutdown of the government but there certainly are losers.  Chief among them is John Boehner and the Republicans in the House of Representatives followed closely by the American people.

John Boehner has worked for several years on defunding or derailing the Affordable Care Act (also known as "Obamacare").  He has brought up a vote in the House more than 40 times to halt it in one way or another and on each of these occasions the Senate has refused to vote on it.  

For anyone who doesn't know how the process works, in order to make a law the legislation is brought to the floor of both houses and both houses must agree on it.  Once an agreement is reached, it is sent to the president for his (hopefully soon her) signature.  If the president doesn't agree with it, he has the power to veto it.

In the case of the Affordable Care Act, the Senate has repeatedly stated that it will not vote on any measure that defunds, delays or derails this law.  Yet Boehner, with great zeal at wasting tax dollars wherever and whenever he can, continues to bring up useless legislation and force the House to vote.  And they have.  And it passes and goes to the Senate.  And they lose each time because the Senate does what they said they would do.

So, Boehner once again brought up a measure that the Senate told him they would not vote on.  He once again saw the measure passed and sent on to the Senate, which threw it in the trash (where it belonged) and Boehner effectively shut down the United States government.

President Obama, in true presidential fashion, refused to cave in to the demands of the Republicans in the House.  Good move on his part.  He allowed the government to shut down but in reality, much of the government remained up and running.  We still got our mail, our military was still funded, our elected officials were still working.  For the majority of Americans, we really didn't see much of a difference.

Then came the vote on the debt ceiling.  If this were not raised the United States would default on our debt and an international crisis would be on the hands of the Republicans.  We knew it, they knew it, the president knew it and the Republicans had to do something.  Sadly for them, there wasn't anything they could do but go along with the Democrats and pass the legislation that the Senate sent to them.  Which they did.

Now the Republicans have lost face with the American people.  They were responsible for the government shutdown, and hopefully, the American people will remember that the next time they go to the polls.

The American people have lost in this latest battle as well.  Our tax dollars just paid for two weeks of vacation for the employees of the government who were furloughed because of Boehner's ineptitude and gross incompetence.

I'm thinking that shutting down the government in an effort to change legislation should be seen as treason and Boehner should be dealt with accordingly.

What is McCain Doing?

What is John McCain doing? During the last election, it seems to me that he was able to defeat other candidates (many of whom I considered much more worthy) by showing people what a nice person he is. Now that he's the last man standing, that niceness has fallen off of him like teeth from a hockey player.

Now that the election is down to two opponents, McCain has taken the gloves off. Actually, I think it's more accurate to say he's taken the mask off and is showing his true face. He doesn't seem to have any interest in telling us what he will do if elected, but rather by telling us what he believes Obama would do if Obama were elected. McCain is apparently clairvoyant.

Clairvoyance is a wonderful ability to have, and certainly one that would be a bonus to a president, but before we all go rushing off to the polls to vote Republican, we have to remember that McCain has not proven that he is clairvoyant; he has only attempted clairvoyance.

I think the best thing that McCain can do at this point is to tell us what will happen next week. Who will die, who will file for divorce, where will the next major tragedy strike, how well will Madonna's next album do, etc. The things that matter. Once he's done this, then we can look at his predictions and decide for ourselves if he actually has the gift or not. If he does, we would do well to vote for him. If he doesn't, then Obama might be a better choice.

Clairvoyance certainly isn't the only ability that a president should have, but in looking over the last eight years, and the last campaigns, I can't help but be concerned. The Republicans have shown a history of running smere campaigns, particularly when they run candidates without much merit (I know, many people believe that no Republicans have merit, but I'm not going there). Looking at McCain's campaign, what I see is an extension of the current administration.

Sorry John. You almost had my vote. I was concerned that Obama's lack of experience would not be in the best interest of this country, and that is still a concern to me, but your campaign tactics make me question your abilities even more. I've ordered my Obama bumper sticker and will be supporting the Democrat this time around.

One suggestion for any future campaigns; stick to your strengths. Tell the people what you can do that will make you the best person for the job. Don't tell us what someone else won't do (or will do that's bad), because you don't know that. Don't tell us why the other person is not the right person for the job; we have Fox News for that. Tell us what makes you the right person. Without that, you tell us that you're not.

George Bush's Report Card

As a tax paying citizen of the United States, I am the employer of George W. Bush. Not just myself, of course, but all citizens like me and as such, we should certainly have the right to evaluate the performance of anyone in our employ, and Bush should not be an exception.

When I was a child, one of the areas that appeared on my report card was "Plays Well With Others" and in this category, I have to give little Georgie a solid F. Now, if the category were "Plays Well With Others Like Himself" he would do much better, as he has clearly demonstrated a love for his own kind, but that's not the name of the category.

Last week George signed the new FISA legislation into law. This legislation was opposed by Democrats, yet enough of them changed their vote to allow the law to pass. Why they were willing to do this I can't answer. In particular, why Obama would cross the aisle to vote for this piece of crap is beyond comprehension, but I can only imagine that he's fully giving in to the lure of evil that comes with politics and is selling his soul. That's a shame. He might find use for it as some point in his life, but what can you do?

So, the garbage law passed and George signed it and now we're stuck with it until 2012 (which is oddly enough how long we'll be stuck with the next president. Coincidence?). What this shows is that the Democrats were willing to make concessions to the president, which means on their individual report cards under "Plays Well With Others" they get high marks.

But back to Georgie. Another legislation is working its way up the hill, that would stop a 10% cut to doctors under Medicare. George has vowed to veto that bill, even though the votes are already there to override such a veto. This shows that Georgie has no intention of working with this congress. He wants everything his own way.

George is the boy with the ball who wants to make his own rules and if he's not allowed to do that, he'll take his ball and go home. My question is, why don't we just let him? We don't need his ball. We have plenty of balls of our own. What good is a congress without balls?

Leahy and Dodd -- UnAmerican

There's quite a bit of buzz on the news lately with various politicos calling for Hillary Clinton to quit the race for the presidency and allow Barack Obama to win the Democratic nomination.  Senators Patrick Leahy (Vermont) and Chris Dodd (Connecticut) have both been quite vocal in this regard.

According to Leahy, Clinton "has every right, but not a very good reason, to remain a candidate for as long as she wants to."  Dodd was even more vocal stating, "if a person wants to stay in the race, stay in the race, but if you have enough people rallying behind what appears to be the likely choice, and I believe the choice is Barack Obama, then I think you have to step up to the plate and say, 'Enough is enough!'  We want this to be over with."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/politics/03/28/clinton.dropout.calls/index.html

You have to admire politicians for their way of speaking.  Leahy never tells Hillary to quit the election, he simply states that she doesn't have a good reason to remain in the running.  Dodd starts off by stating that she has the right to stay in the race, but that she's not the "likely choice" in his opinion.  

Their careful consideration of the words to use are the main problem with their statements.  Clinton's reason for staying in the running is that America has the right to vote.  Where I live in California, we have already had our election, but where my mother lives in Pennsylvania they have not.  If my mother supports Hillary Clinton (and I believe she does because Mom's a smart cookie) she should have the right to vote for the candidate of HER choice, not Leahy's and not Dodd's.

Our election process is designed so that the candidate is elected by the people.  Not the senate.  The people.  Me.  My Mom.  People like us who read up on the candidates, formulate our opinions, pick the person we best feel represents our interests and go to the polls and vote.  When politicans like Leahy and Dodd, or pundits like Stephanie Miller call on a candidate to step down, they are showing themselves to be unpatriotic and unAmerican.  They would deny Americans the right to elect the person they best feel represents their interests.  They would deny Americans their freedom.