This is what true leaders look like and sound like. The heroes honored in this speech and the person delivering it, are true leaders that commit to an ideal not an ideology.
Regardless of your political affiliation, if you do not get goose bumps from this video, move to France.
Is there a reason the dialog on illegal immigration is not about the illegality of the immigrants’ actions? Why does the media refer to law breakers as undocumented?
Senator Chuck Schumer, D-NY, boasted the Congress would eventually cave on the issue because Congressmen want to be re-elected. On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, said Republicans’ desire to “win a presidential race” would guide them toward supporting some version of the legislation.
Why is political survival a legitimate reason to pass a bill that rewards illegal behavior?
The Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), passed in 1986 and legalized illegal immigrants who entered the United States before January 1, 1982 and had continuously resided in the country. Three million illegal immigrants received amnesty supposedly paid a fine, paid back taxes, and pleaded guilty.
Part of that law also required employers to attest to their employees’ immigration status., made it illegal to knowingly hire or recruit unauthorized immigrants, and legalized certain seasonal agricultural illegal immigrants. Another part of the law called for securing the borders that, as we all know, never happened.
So why do Senators and Congressmen want to create another law? Why not enforce the current law? Why should we believe any politician that promises something will be done that has not been done in 27 years?
According to a U.S. State Department report, there were more than 4.4 million people waiting for green cards as of Nov. 1. “The State Department does not count immigrants already in the U.S. with green-card applications pending. Including those, the total number of people waiting could be as high as 5.5 million, experts say,” according to a June 23 USA Today article
The media fills the airwaves with the presumption all Americans want to legalize illegal behavior to be fair to the poor law breakers. What I have not seen or heard is the fairness of giving unlawful people a path to citizenship when lawful people have waited decades to achieve.
I think we should we should support those trying to gain citizenship the right way and not the wrong way.
I went to use a Men’s bathroom at a gas station and needed a key that, for some reason needed to be attached to a long stick weighted down with a one pound piece of metal. I don’t know about you but I don’t think I ever wanted to steal anything in a gas station Men’s Room.
Whenever I visit a friend in wealthy neighborhood I have to wait five minutes while listening to the sound of unlocking locks. Fast food places have security cameras. Banks have armed guards and security cameras. They even have cameras on traffic lights. People go to extreme measures to protect their information on computers.
So why do we allow illegal immigration and act as if we are an altruistic nation? We are aiding and abetting. The argument for illegal immigration is to help the law breakers get a better life. Isn’t that by definition why all people break the law?
When was the last time a burglar said he stole your property because he was jealous of your possessions? People steal things to sell them so they can get a better life. Duh!
On Monday, June 24, 2013, the Senate passed a test vote on an immigration overhaul that would legalize millions of illegal immigrants. The 67-27 vote to shut down debate on the amendment effectively shows the entire bill likely has more than enough votes to pass the chamber.
In effect, our government is supporting illegal activity. How is it any different than organized crime? How can Senators, Congressmen, and the President ever claim to believe in the rule of law with a straight face? A Conservative friend of mine once said laws are meaningless because the government can change them at any time rendering past prosecutions moot. At the time I thought he was nuts but now I’m not too sure.
Instead of granting amnesty and rewarding illegal behavior why not password protect the border? How about putting surveillance cameras on the border and pretend it is a donut shop. Apparently preventing “donut napping” is more important than preventing illegal immigration.
C.S. Lewis wrote a satirical novel called The Screwtape Letters. The story is a series of letters from a senior demon named Screwtape to his junior Tempter. Screwtape mentors his protégé on ways to convert an honest man to the dark side. In one of the letters, Screwtape instructs: “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
Those 67 Senators have put the country on the gentle slope. I can envision a savvy Defense Attorney making the case for his client’s amnesty because “he wanted a better life.” The precedent has been set before but now it is illuminated.
Those 67 Senators gave vote for the politicians, cheap labor for “Big Business”, law breakers a pardon, and the ultimate slap in the face to law abiding citizens. Somewhere Screwtape is basking in his glory.
It is the bottom of the ninth in a 5-2 ballgame. With two outs in the inning, the hitter reaches first base and immediately steals second. The defense reacts to try and squelch the threat. Why? With two outs in the ninth inning and up by three ruins why worry about an insignificant run?
The mainstream media is now obsessed with Edward Snowden, the self-proclaimed whistle-blower of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) program to track the telephone records of millions of Americans. Why? The stories on his personal life only detract from the real story. The government is spying on its citizens
I am in favor of the government tracking anyone it believes to be a terrorist. However, I cannot justify the government spying on the more than 100 million Verizon customers unless they are plotting attacks in their garages.
Recent polls indicate the majority of Americans – roughly 56 percent – say it is an acceptable way for the government to investigate terrorism. I bet the answer is different if the poll question was “Is it acceptable for the government to spy on Americans?
It’s an intricate balance between privacy and national security. I find it odd that people find the government intruding on private calls acceptable but use the right to privacy to protect demand a female minor from telling her parents she had an abortion or took abortion pills.
I prefer consistency with my issues. It is like a home plate that has an erratic strike zone. I do not mind having a low, high or wide strike zone providing the umpire is consistent. I realize politicians form opinions based on the partisan prism. I just wish our politicians were more concerned with the nation, their character, and representing their constituents than getting re-elected.
Oklahoma Congressman Jim Bridenstine took a minute on the floor of Congress to capture the litany of missteps President Obama’s administration has committed. Liberals will portray him as a Tea Party nut and Conservatives will rejoice in finding an articulate voice for the party.
The vast majority of Americans will view him whichever way the person whose political opinion they value most describes him. Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, take a step back and look at the list. Is this what you want representing you?
The divide between the ideal and the real is wider than ever in a political circus where fiction is truth and truth is like the lepers of Biblical times – something you have to deal with but do not want to face.
This is what he said:
“Mr. Speaker, the president’s Justice Department sold weapons to narco-terrorists south of our border, who killed one of our finest. The president’s State Department lied about Benghazi with false information provided by the White House.
The president’s attorney general authorized spying on a Fox News journalist and his family for reporting on a North Korean nuclear test. The president’s Justice Department confiscated phone records of the Associated Press because they reported on a thwarted terrorist attack.
The president’s Treasury Department uses the IRS to target political opposition. The president’s Health and Human Services secretary pressures the insurance companies she is supposed to regulate to promote ‘Obamacare,’ which is the same law she uses to force citizens to pay for abortion inducing drugs against their religious liberties.
Mr. Speaker, the president’s dishonesty, incompetence, vengefulness, and lack of moral compass lead many to suggest that he is not fit to lead. The only problem is that his vice president is equally unfit and even more embarrassing,”
What would the media have done if President George Bush did even one of the listed offenses? When President Bush referred to a New York Times reporter as “a major league asshole” during the 2000 campaign, the media was relentless in its attacks against him.
Yet, the Attorney General and Justice Department trample the rights of two of their fraternity members and I see no outrage. I guess the determining factor depends on which party is in office for the media to get upset.
Are you comfortable with a President’s administration that seems to be emboldened to abuse its powers towards citizens? The fall of President Nixon began when citizens learned his administration was abusing its power. Why is there no outrage at similar behavior?
Is President Obama more of a leader than Congressman Bridenstine? The president spends most of his time deflecting any accountability or responsibility for his actions or that of his administration. Meanwhile, Congressman Bridenstine goes in front of Congress ready to accept responsibility for his words and action.
In one minute, he proved who the true leader is among the two.
At what point do the apologist and professional excusers admit what seems obvious to a growing number of Americans: President Obama is no leader and completely overwhelmed by his responsibility.
Well, actually he has not taken responsibility for his actions since taking office so let me re-phrase. When will the mainstream media admit the obvious? President Obama is not what they have desperately tried to portray these past four-and-a-half years.
Even the most ardent Obama supporter or the uninformed voter must be sensing fire typically is present when there is smoke. We will get the categorical denials of what Obama knew and when he knew it regarding the recent scandals. Obama admits either he is an incompetent leader a la Colonel Blake or he believes himself above everyone and everything.
I think Obama should enroll in a 12-Step program for incompetent Presidents. I doubt he will because of his ego as captured in a joke my youngest told the other day. “How are God and Obama different? God does not think he is Obama.”
But just in case, let’s review the 12 steps.
1. Admit he is an incompetent president that is over-his-head. I do not think he will ever take this step. This step requires a person to take responsibility and accountability for actions, and he presides over the worst “Not Me” white house I have ever seen.
2. Accept a power greater than him could make him a competent president. There is nothing in the president’s past to suggest he understands humans are just passing through in life and his regard for himself is too great. See the joke above
3. Decide to turn his will and life over to the care of God. I do not doubt he has a faith but since he believes only the government can solve problems I cannot see him putting his faith in a power higher than his ego. Plus, last time I checked, I did not read about God working with a centralized administration in the Bible
4. Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of him. OK wait while I stop laughing. This step requires self-awareness. From what I have read, it seems Obama has been so insulated most of his life, I am guessing self-awareness for him means looking in the mirror.
5. Admit to God, himself, and to another human being the exact nature of his incompetency. Wow, it is getting harder to find something new to write. Maybe this was not such a good idea.
6. Is ready to have God remove all these defects of character. The scary part is it appears Obama thinks the defects lie in others and not him.
7. Humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings. See #6
8. Make a list of all persons he harmed, and be willing to make amends to them all. This will take the rest of his life since he needs to apologize to every American.
9. Make amends to such people wherever possible, except when doing so would injure them or others. It will take years to undo the damage he made to the country.
10. Continue to take personal inventory, and when wrong, promptly admit it. I do not think he will get past step one yet alone continually take responsibility for his actions.
11. Seek through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God and the power to carry that out. This will never happen until Obama realizes we are human for a reason.
12. Have a spiritual awakening and, as a result, practice these principles in all his affairs. Mitt Romney has a better chance of getting the 47% to vote for him than we have of Obama getting to this point.
It seems we are stuck with what we have and must endure watching Congressional leaders pay us lip service, feign outrage, and waste time and money. Obama will blame everyone but himself because that is what he does and that is what the people accept. I know, he can blame President Bush.
In a rush to support an agenda, many people on both sides of the political spectrum fit the issue of the day in their narrative. The shame is the actual issue gets lost.
The American public this past week learned the Obama Administration secretly seized two months’ worth of telephone records of journalists at four Associated Press bureaus with their knowledge. That is blatantly unconstitutional even for an administration that routinely tramples our Constitution.
We also learned the IRS targeted and denied tax-exempt status to Tea Party and other conservative groups. According to the report, IRS agents had not flagged similar liberal or Democratic groups. This is blatant abuse of power even for an Administration that habitually abuses its power.
To paraphrase some pirates from the Caribbean, I guess the rules are really more like guidelines
You will hear the inevitable comparisons to the Nixon administration from Conservative groups and why not? The Nixon white house abused its power and eroded trust and it appears the Obama Administration is following suit. The Liberal groups and media will portray the uproar as just another partisan attack from people who do not like the president cloaked in hints of racism.
Ever notice the media portrays anyone with a conspiracy theory as a nut? In most cases, it is a fair and accurate portrayal and, in other cases, a duck analogy comes to mind.
Forget the rhetoric. Forget the hyperbole. The focus should be on whether these instances are true and why they happened. Is the Obama Administration targeted Americans? If so, the American people deserve justice.
What the American public doesn’t need is Dan Pfeiffer, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the President for Strategy and Communications, saying these scandals are “irrelevant” like he did on his jaunt through the Sunday morning talk shows. To be fair, he made those comments about various aspects of the recent scandals plaguing President Obama but the word usage displays an aloofness to the general populace.
One can only imagine the administration is a reflection of its leader.
When scandals like these break, I never think about the specific scandal. I think about the ramifications of the actions if left unchecked. The target today is Tea Party organizations. What happens when it is a Liberal organization under a Conservative administration tomorrow? The AP is learning that lesson.
Plausible deniability is a president’s best friend. Having underlings who understand the concept is even better. For President Obama to avoid becoming irrelevant, he needs to address these issues with something foreign to him: candor.
Somewhere in the spectrum of time, society moved from being happy with what we have to wanting something more. At that moment, the discourse became the search for something better. The irony is most searches end where they begin and we realize everything we wanted we had but did not know it.
We spend too much time trying not to waste time and too little time enjoying the little things. All parents want to give their kids more than they had so they can have a better life. We then spend our time with friends lamenting the good old days gone by. Maybe having less, gives us more.
The problem with always thinking there is something better than what we have is the sense of entitlement we gain. We believe we are entitled to what we have as we search for something better. That way of thinking is self-defeating. We are not entitled to anything. We need to earn what we have and, only then, will we appreciate what we have.
We are born with certain talents and it is incumbent upon us to make the most of those talents. We granted the talents to open door, but not granted open doors to use our talents. Life is not fair. It never was and it never will be. Rather than look for Life to become fair look to give yourself a fair opportunity by working hard and making the most of your talents.
It sounds naïve, I know. We can spend our days searching for something better or realize something better is in front of us if we take the time to earn it.
How can you be ready for something when you do not prepare for it? If you do not prepare for something, how can you expect to know how to handle it when it occurs?
Children do not lose when they are young nor do they fail. Everyone gets a participation trophy. Although well intentioned, this approach simply prepares children to be unprepared. When the child advances to higher-level sports like high school or travel teams, the drama unleashes when they do not make the team. They cannot deal with the reality and parents, more often than not, find “reasons” to explain the shortcoming.
The answer is simple. Other people are better at that activity and made the team.
Children need to learn how to handle failure and there is only one-way to accomplish that feat. As parents, we are not protecting children by trying to soften the blow. Ironically, we are setting them up for failure. People fail more often than not in life and most are not basket cases. In learning to fail, people face three truths:
The first is a failure is not synonymous with self-worth. It is failing at something you tried. Thomas Edison said, ““I never failed once, it just happened to be a 2000-step process.” He also said, “I haven’t failed, I’ve found 10,000 ways that don’t work.” It is all in perspective
The second truth is a person who fails has a choice; work harder to become better or realize it is time to try something else. There is nothing wrong with either choice. The third truth is failing at something does not make you a failure. It makes you human.
This behavior creates a society incapable of handling things for itself, which translate to a populace reliant on government for assistance. People unprepared to handle life will always take the easy way out when Uncle Obama offers a handout.
President Obama is suggesting four-year olds should start going to school to help “better prepare them.” I suggest we keep our children away from the government and do our parental duty of preparing them for life. We need to teach our children morals, principles, and how to function in society. We need to show them how to handle the good, the bad, and the ugly.
We live in a society that rewards wrong behavior. Fights erupt in grocery stores when people cut in line but President Obama thinks allowing illegal immigrants to jump in front of the citizenship line is a good idea. Immigrants who follow the rules, wait their turn, and eagerly await citizenship are at the back of the bus so politicians can reward those who broke the law.
It reminds me of my grammar school days where the teacher punished the whole class because a few were talking. There was no recess for the class unless the guilty party confessed or a classmate testified against him. That always struck me as stupid for three reasons. First, it proved the teacher was too lazy to employ basic skills to find the guilty party. Secondly, it put the students in an awkward position of either becoming a target of ridicule for “telling” on their friend or fostering resentment among the class. Finally, it taught the offender bad behavior is acceptable providing the masses are on your side.
It seems to me no one truly wants to stem illegal immigration. Politicians believe more illegals equals more votes, business executives supposedly lust for the “cheap labor,” and homeowners like spending $35 for an illegal immigrant to cut their grass versus $55 to a landscaper.
I have an idea. Legal immigrants should find their version of Rosa Parks to tell their illegal brethren to get to the back of the bus! I think they should form a political action committee and vote against any politician who grants illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship before them. Perhaps that will get the politicians’ attention.
We should fine any corporation that employs illegal immigrants one million dollars per illegal. We can put the money collected into the social security trust fund the politicians bankrupted by raiding and using the funds. Once that fund is whole again, we can debate the merits of a government funded retirement plan.
Finally, homeowners can use landscapers versus aiding and abetting criminals. Or, rather than walk an hour a day for exercise homeowners can cut their own lawns and be productive during exercise.
There are laws in place for a reason. Politicians, the Associated Press, or any media outlet calling illegal aliens undocumented immigrants does not change the fact they broke the law to get into this country.
A burglar does not get to keep the stolen merchandise when caught. White-collar criminals must pay recompense when caught. This is not a Robin Hood story where a happy ending justifies the means.
We need true leaders willing to do what is necessary to uphold the laws equally for all citizens.
