MUCH ADO ABOUT NEXT TO NOTHING!

MUCH ADO ABOUT NEXT TO NOTHING!

(USA-TODAY, Nanaho Sawano)

(Julie B. Outside the Beltway)

(Scary Things, Frazer Chronicle)

 

American royalty does exist in our country today, yes it does, I saw it on the front page today of the USA-TODAY. It was the I HAVE A DREAM, 50 YEARS LATER, and the THREE PRESIDENTS ONE DREAM article, you couldn’t have missed it, unless you live out in the giggle weeds with absolutely no access to the printed media. You’d also have to be without power so you wouldn’t have saw it, or heard it, in which case you couldn’t access me…..so why am I trying to talk to you anyways!

 

For those in the know, with 21^st century attributes like running water, electricity at your finger-tips, a computer, tablet and a smidgeon of interest, this information, opinion and a nudging to get involved and become a bit more informed…..is for you. Even if you disagree with me and my opinion…..down at the end of the day, you will have to admit that you are better informed, it’s what a differing of opinions or thoughts do.

 

I took one look at the picture that was splattered across the front page of the USA-TODAY, and I thought I was magically transported to mid-evil times, back to England where pomp, self-importance, and ceremonial splendor with the royals and their subjects was a common event. I had to pinch myself, and ran and looked in the mirror to enforce my thinking that I actually was a member of the 21^st century.

 

But when I came back into my reading room…..the porcelain throne, there was two former presidents, the current president, and the first lady making their way down the steps in front of the Lincoln Memorial. They each were celebrating the famous Martin Luther King I HAVE A DREAM SPEECH. I can think of no other eloquence, no other meaningful, and a speech that was right on, really in the history of mankind. Martin Luther King was truly a remarkable man, a man for his times, and I must declare that I was privileged to live during his time…..and to be old enough to hear and to understand his dissertations.

 

King did not live as royalty, nor do those people around him, King is what I would call an everyman, he related to the common as well as the aristocrat. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to live for the rest of his life like our former presidents do today.

 

A QUESTION OF POWER AND PRESTIGE

Maybe it’s just me, but from Ronald Reagan on, the American presidents have all seemed to be completely out of touch with what is going on in their own country with regards to employment, living conditions, and have a completely flawed image of their constituents which of course is us.

 

Some in the United States view the U.S. presidency as a sort of monarchy, and as such should accord all the pomp and pageantry connected with the term. I don’t know about you, but I have no interest in the office of the Presidency being the supreme authority on anything. I like the three branches of our government, the executive branch, and the legislative and judicial. It is supposed to afford us checks and balances type of governance, and mostly it has.

 

Again I’ll say it, as I’ve stated before, for the life of me I do not understand the thirst that most of our politicians seem to have for power, prestige and authority…..it has to be an illness. I mean who in their right mind would want secret service people breathing down your neck at every turn…..their perception of privacy isn’t anywhere near what I would call privacy…..and please do not cite that bull-crap about service to country, it’s tired, isn’t true, and frankly kind of outdated now that we’re living in the 21^st century.

 

I think that at the end of the day, many more Americans want to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave. They want little to do with royalty or monarchies, or the pomp and the other crap that comes along with the idea.

 

It’s bad enough right now, our political leaders…..who we elect and are paid for by our taxation actually work for us…..but they don’t see it that way, or they’ve forgotten how our system is supposed to be operated! 

 

These people that want to change the office of the presidency use terms like head of state, and head executive, like it’s kind of a word game, or a see and tell debate. It is neither, pretty much because people aren’t pawns on a chess board.  We are breathing, loving, working pieces of flesh, bone; we have goals, ideas, wishes and hopes, and need to be dealt with dignity and respect.

 

OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY

I’ve traveled the Washington Beltway on several occasions, and I’ll be the first to concur that its size and its elaborate engineering features are breathtaking. It’s little wonder that people who travel the Washington Beltway on a daily basis can probably maneuver through anything.

 

I was talking about the traffic U.S. 95, and U.S. 495, but the same analogy can be used to depict our political leaders in Washington. For whatever reason, whether it is a childhood malady, or parental abuse, a beat-down by the playground or school bullies, or getting your butt hazed in college, many politicians feel the need of protection from the everyday drags of normal life.

 

Lost in all the shuffle is one little fact of life…..for everybody, in the end, the masses rule, now you know the reason behind those little ticks or nervous twitches that many of our politicians display during their political lives. They wonder when the other shoe is going to drop, as in election defeat.

 

Another thing that is lost in the shuffle of life on the Beltway, and Capital Hill is the reason that these elected officials are where they are. They are where they are so that they can be ready to serve, ya, that’s right, they went to Washington for one reason and one reason only…..to SERVE us. They aren’t above the law, or us…..and they are answerable to us. I can understand their trepidation regarding this fact, but none-the-less it is a fact of their political life.

 

There’s not supposed to be campaigning for another term, no party line rhetoric, no trumpeting the values of one party over the other, and absolutely no political grid-lock. What is supposed to happen is that the job of government is supposed to get done…..not what necessarily might be good for one party or the other…..but for the people of the United States.

 

We American’s are the ones that are outside the Beltway, and I think most of us have no interest in being on the inside. The air there is too thick with the vial stench of politics gone bad, of politics that are way to self serving. Partisanship can be a good thing, like those who posses partisanship, and are ready to fight to the death for an ideal or belief.

 

However on the floors of our government, partisanship has little reason for a presence at the end of the day, it’s really an either or, it’s a black or white issue…..is it good for the nation (as a whole)? Its how a democratic government has to operate…..otherwise it is something other than a democracy.

 

 

So in the end a vote needs to be taken on how many of our politicians are truly Americans that are dedicated to upholding the ideals of what our constitution has to say, and also to listen to the voice of the people…..who in turn must stay informed upon the topics of the day. Well once again I’ve taken away the confusion of our lives, and laid out a fool proof plan for success.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

IF ANN COULTER AND SEAN HANNITY SAY IT…..IT’S GOTTA BE TRUE!

IF ANN COULTER AND SEAN HANNITY SAY IT…..IT’S GOTTA BE TRUE!

(Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Ross Hassig, William Kretzschmar)

(Victor Kotsev, Max Fisher, Washington Post, Russian Times)

(Christian Post, CP POLITICS, Martin Hutchinson)

(Maher Osseiran, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Last night I was rummaging through the television channels, looking for something to watch because the Detroit Tigers were in a rain delay…..and weren’t playing very well anyways. Several times a week I check Fox News during the evening hours just to see how the other side is doing…..and Tuesday night was no different than any other night I check in.

 

It’s the same spiel, only this time the spiel included Ms. Ann Coulter, the blond bombshell with the oh so slender body. I mean this girl is a poster child for anorexia, she needs several days of my meat and potato diet with gravy, carrots, onions, with a huge side of chocolate cake, and I’m talking frosting an inch thick.

 

Anyways one of the chief neo-conservative talkers, Sean Hannity was doing his usual Obama bashing when none other than my favorite female-neo pops in with her assessment of President Obama, the Middle East, and what should’ve been going on that hasn’t.

 

It was simple pleasure to sit and watch and listen to these two neo-conservative rant and rave about the condition of the Middle East and how it would be if a Republican was in the White House and the Congress and Senate were of the same persuasion.

 

Coulter’s closing salvo was directly to her point and belief, don’t elect a Democrat to the White House! Wow, Ann really knows how to cut through all the crap and make her point. Another forum for Annie girl to expound her rhetoric can be found in her latest book, Mugged. In it she talks about there being little or no racism in the U.S. contrary to what is really going on with race and the United States.

 

Last night Sean Hannity talked about Obama not having the authority to do any military action in Syria without the expressed consent of Congress, the United Nations, as well as international law. Gee, I seem to remember a time when another American president wanted to…..and did, US American military to invade…..(oh the hell with it, let’s let Hannity carry on, he’s on a roll!)

 

Hannity talked about how irresponsible a military strike of any kind would be the wrong thing to do, pretty much because the current president couldn’t handle the repercussions. This statement is right up there with Obama wants to see the United States fair, I have never understood that statement, Rush Limbaugh has said the same thing…..and of course I don’t understand him.

 

WE’RE IN A KIND OF HEGEMONY

In a way Barack Obama is worse than George W. Bush ever was, Obama is smart…..Bush was incredibly dumb. It’s obvious that Obama is a cut above the rest, highly intelligent, quick to catch on…..and steely strong when he has to be.

 

Former President Bush was pretty much none of the above, he always reminded me of a kid in a candy store, a kind of (if dad had it, I want it, and if my brother had it, I want twice as much). George W. Bush was just happy to be the president, to be the strongest guy not only on the block, but the world. He couldn’t really believe that he was the president, and when his was reelected, well, hello, it was like pouring gasoline on a fire.

 

Hegemonism is all about leadership, power and control, however without getting bloody through an indirect form of government, and a sort of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules geopolitically subordinate states by the implied means of power, the threat of force, and the ply of benefits, rather than direct military force.

 

The United States pushes the envelope of world stability each and every day through all sorts of foreign policies that the average American citizen never even hears about. Billions of dollars change hands on an almost daily basis in an effort to grease the skids as it were.

 

 Do people even know which countries are part of the Middle Eastern part of our world, and make no mistake, it really is our world! I’m all for separatism, I said yesterday something along those lines, I enjoy being separate…..different, yet I completely understand and champion the thought of the world as one family, but pretty much in time of need.

 

The Middle East is made up of Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Cyprus, and the total population is 394,409,000.

 

Did you realize that the Middle East’s population, 394,409,000 is just 80 some million more than the United States, with our population of 312,913,872. Yet the amount of oil that can be found…..and exploited is more than 20 times the amount of the U.S. and Canada combined.

 

SYRIA, EGYPT, IRAN, IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN

Nice places to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there, for me…..doesn’t even come close, I have absolutely no desire to visit any of these countries. With little exception I have no desire to visit the Middle Eastern nations. It’s hot, dry, sandy and I’m pretty sure doesn’t have national independent cable television.

 

These nation states got dumped on, literally when the world was formed and conceived, and then dried down so that animals and other small critters could develop, eat, poop, die, be covered up to develop into the fuel that we use today in our cars, trucks, busses, boats and planes…..it’s really that simple.

 

I might be somewhat wrong about the overall process of how we get fossil fuel, but you get the idea, the fuel resources have taken millions upon millions of years to develop, and they really aren’t anybody’s, through God’s plan, they were put here for all of us.

 

There has been a constant tug-of-war going on for control of the natural resources of the Middle Eastern countries for hundreds of years in one form or another. I’m not going to research how long ago, and the incidents involved, trust me, it’s been a long time.

 

Before there’s an intervention of some sort, or some idiot detonates one of the thousands of nuclear devises that exist around the world, as a people, we’d better start paying attention to what our leaders are doing.

 

Another military strike in Syria…..are you out of your fricken mind, believe me the world does not need another incident. I use the word incident because it seems a bit nicer that the word war…. now doesn’t that sound just like a politician?

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

WE JUST CAN’T KEEP OUR PAWS OFF THE MIDDLE EAST!

WE JUST CAN’T KEEP OUR PAWS OFF THE MIDDLE EAST!

(U.S Global Leadership Project Report, Reuters, Yahoo News)

(Holly Fletcher, Reese Erlich, Albert AJi, U.S. Treasury Department)

(Washington Post, Liz Sly, Karen DeYoung, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Could we have it any other way, war in Afghanistan, still hot spots in Iraq, Egypt, and now Syria…..wait, does Syria have oil, if they do…..well than we’d be justified to haul (you know what, the military) to their borders and beyond, anything with petroleum products is always a freebie for the U.S. and we can always poke our noses into situations that in the long run, (Iraq and Afghanistan) doesn’t work out to well for us.

 

We now face a similar situation that we had in Iraq all the way back in the late 1980’s, you-all remember Saddam Hussein, his use of chemical weapons, his production, and the storage of this vile weaponry.  Innuendos about chemical weapons in Syria, like Iraq…..its Déjà vu all over again.

 

Hasn’t our government, and our military used the human rights, terrorists havens, weapons of mass destruction, chemical carnage and genocide excuses enough? Shouldn’t they at least come up with a new angle for seizing foreign resources, and protecting our way of life?

 

Like I’ve said before, “war mongering knows no political party, no ideological platform, and is driven by an insatiable thirst for power and other people’s stuff! Could you imagine a world without war…..I can’t, the country that I currently live in has either been involved in, or has been making war my entire life…..and I’m close to 70 years old.

 

Right now, in Syria, it seems as if the world is taking our lead, and that the existence of chemical weapons is a foregone conclusion, and that they have been used and caused the deaths of hundreds within the Syrian boarders. Naysayers talk about Bashar al Assad, his oppression of his people, and his seeming willingness to use whatever force is at hand.

 

MEN JUST CAN’T LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, “the world needs more women in lead position” wars would probably be cut at least in half. And it sure wouldn’t be because women don’t have the stomach for military intervention. No way…..women must use a different part of their bodies for thinking, you know that lump between their shoulders, about three feet above their genitalia, which I’m convinced men use for most of their decision making!

 

U.S. military chiefs, Secretary of State, John F. Kerry, and our European and Middle Eastern allies have met, and are meeting, texting, faxing, tweeting, and using whatever other kind of communication equipment is available to…..(as they would say,) stay on top of the issue.

 

But what military and diplomatic leaders get is really the predictable attitude and answer of defiance, anger and indignation. I have really never understood this type of posturing by the United States and their allies. Exactly what did they figure was going to happen?

A. Oh I’m sorry, I promise to never do it again.

B. Gee did my actions piss you off…..so sorry.

C. Yes it’s obvious that I need help with my human relations attitude.

D.  Thanks for volunteering to help me through your massive military build-up at my borders.

E. Can you ever forgive me for the stupidity of my attitudes and actions?

 

 

And also, as the world’s largest producer of petroleum products, the predictable happened, crude prices went up, reaching the highest point since March of this year. The United States isn’t the only country that can use fear tactics to get a favorable response to an issue.

 

SO NOW WHAT

So what does the Obama administration, the Pentagon and those assorted allied countries plan on doing if, in fact, Syria really did unleash some type of chemical agent on their people?  Let me see, we can charge in with guns blazing, aircraft spilling bombs, drone’s flying all over the place, and helicopters carrying troops to strategic points.

 

Or a more subtle military strike targeting key areas, buildings, factories, and military sites, (yes, that might be the answer.) However would this type of military activity get rid of the chemical weapons, and would the action spare civilians of collateral damage?

 

Or, what the hell, how about we just bomb the hell out of the bad guys with our missile-armed U.S. warships that are already positioned in the Mediterranean. I mean, once and for all, this type of military action by our navy would justify the need for our sea-worthy fleet.

 

Between the United States, her allies, and the U.N. I’m surprised that we don’t have a list of top ten battles a month, keeping an accurate list of civilian casualties, military losses, and the progress, or the lack thereof, of every military conflict in the world.

 

Syria…..I’ve always pictured the country as arid, sandy, and for me, an inhospitable, populated with nomadic tribe’s people. Battling almost at a moment’s notice, for all sorts of reasons that are completely uninteresting to me. I simply do not care what happens in Syria, or to its people, oh sure, I’d rather they be happy, make a decent living at whatever it is that they do, and love, live, procreate and die at a ripe old age.

 

That said…..if they can’t (live the life of Riley) well than, fight…..amongst yourselves, I personally don’t want any of my tax dollars going there, and I certainly don’t want military involvement, or any type equipment supplied.

 

Syria has a lllllooooonnnnnggggg history of upheaval and political struggles, it’s went on since 1918 and the Ottoman Empire. In 1920 the Arab Kingdom of Syria was established, in 1924 the state of Syria was proclaimed under a French Mandate. In 1930 a Syrian Republic was established by the merging of the states of Jabal, Druze, Alawites, and Syria.

 

I learned a long time ago the more people that you have in a merger, the more ideas there will be, and the tougher the merger is to hold together. And that’s exactly what has happened in the Syrian area, as the independence from France was declared in 1946, secession from the United Arab Republic, and finally the Ba’ath Party take-over in March of 1963.

 

These people, this political melting pot, and the ebb and flow of a diverse population has operated in an unsettling atmosphere for decades, it is a way of life for these people, a situation that I absolutely could not endure…..I like rules, regulations, and constant! It seems to me that these Syrian Arab’s have no rules, little regulation…..and the only constant in their lives might be that they take a bowel movement about the same time in the morning…..but I wouldn’t bet the milk money on it.

 

 

SYRIA-U.S. RELATIONS

I never really thought about what kind of political relationship that the U.S. had with the Syrian government, pretty much because I didn’t care. However according to historical facts, way back in 1835 the United States appointed a U.S. consul to Aleppo, (thought it was a dog food, not a country’s capital city) which was then a part of the Ottoman Empire. After Syria declared independence in 1946 the United States established a consulate in Damascus, appointing George Wadsworth as the first diplomatic mission.

 

This idyllic relationship between the two countries lasted until 1957 when the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) decided that Syrian President Adib Shishakli needed to go, (the reasoning is unimportant, it was just another coup) apparently President Eisenhower and his foreign relations staff figured that Shishakli wasn’t right for the job.

 

The attempted coup should have been one of the omens in the Middle East of future actions, military attempts, and CIA clandestine activity. The movement against the Shishakli regime was a dismal failure kind of like…..can anybody say Iraq?

 

Relations between the U.S. and Syria seemed to soften during the final decade of the 20^th century as Syria cooperated as members of the multinational coalition force in the first Gulf War in 1990-91, and consulted closely with the U.S. on the Taif Accord, ending the civil war in Lebanon.

 

There have been other relationships between the U.S. and Syria that have benefited both countries, as well as that Middle Eastern region of the world. However beginning with the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Syria, which is a secular dictatorship with poor human rights issues is now listed by the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism.

 

You know as I write my blogs, like you (hopefully), I learn many of the whys and wherefores of life, and the issues that actually mold us through our opinions that we make from the information that is available to us.

 

THE BIG FAT FOOTPRINT SYNDROM

Yup the U.S. at it again, needs additional footprints in a foreign Middle Eastern country so that we can…..control. I am getting so tired of this neo-conic attitude about our rightful place in the family of man. Oh don’t get me wrong, I feel comfortable with divisions of country, of peoples, of languages, and of differing of beliefs and ideals. There are what makes life as we know it so special! It’s the mystery, the differences, the spice of life that I like.

 

In a relationship there is a give and take, somewhere along the line our government seems to have forgotten that fact. Let’s hope it’s remembered before it’s too late.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

HAS IT CHANGED THAT MUCH?

HAS IT CHANGED THAT MUCH?

(Eric Sheninger, Amber M. Winkler, Janie Scull)

(Dara Zeehandlaar, Chester E. Finn Jr.)

(USATODAY, Michael J. Petrilli, Frazer Chronicle)

 

 

 

When I went to school, or what they used to call preparatory-school, things were different, I mean really different. Step outta line and you got a whack on the back of the head by Mr. Bright, (Andersonville Grade School,) between Fenton and Clarkston, Michigan,  or a crack on the butt with a wooden paddle with holes drilled through it by Mr. McDuff at (Union Street School) in Traverse City, Michigan.

 

Ya, times have changed, corporal punishment is a thing of the past, I’m not sure that I agree with its abolishment. Let’s be honest, without exception, kids especially boys need a good blast to the butt every once and a while. Girls used to slide, but what the hell, they usually always did…..even if they were at fault.

 

The style of teaching also has changed…..usually for the betterment of the profession, don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those people who fights changes if the changes make sense to me. I dislike and am apt to fight change just for the sake of change. In many instances change for change sake alone is akin to saber rattling, and a look at me kind of attitude…..you know, a job security move!

 

I read an article by Eric Sheninger that appeared in yesterday’s USA WEEKEND MAGAZINE, titled “What Teachers Want You To Know”. It was interesting to the point of some enlightenment for me. I am not one of these senior citizens who figure that property taxes are too high…..so let’s gut some of the public schools programs.

 

Children are our future and the future of our nation, and the way that they think, say, and do seems to me, to be pretty damned important. So when people talk about scaling back on almost any public school programming, I get a bit antsy. The importance of an education is really our legacy, and we can do no less than our best in this regard.

 

That said, I never-the-less hearken back to my experience in school and what I took with me on my trip through life. Hopefully I have several miles to go before my journey is over because life still fascinates me and I am in an almost constant astonishment of the new things that I either pick up, or rediscover…..life for me is still an amazing ride.

 

WHEN I WAS A KID

When I was a kid in school, growing up in middle class America, attending an almost all white school, I never really understood the benefits of an education would mean to me. I wasn’t a bad kid, just not very smart, everything that I did that was wrong; I got caught for…..and was punished.

 

I remember the time when I put thumb tacks on every chair in my 6^th grade class during one lunch break, we’d file in, our teacher, Mr. Anderson leading the way, (he was up on a pedestal) we’d all stand next to our desks waiting for the last student to enter, and with Mr. Anderson leading the way, (again) we’d sit down in unison.

 

 

 

Well you can imagine the yelps when everybody sat down on their tacks, it was great…..that is until I got caught; I was the only one laughing…..see what I mean about not being very smart! I was sent straight to the school boiler room for another session with the paddle with the drill holes and Mr. McDuff.

 

Things were different when I was in school…..of course, there wasn’t the awareness by teachers, they didn’t have the tools necessary to cope with malcontents like me. I needed help, and didn’t get it, but some 50 years later, looking back, most of the educators that I encountered did try their best to educate, I just happened to be an almost poster child for what a disgruntled student looked like.

 

With little exception, what I took away from my preparatory years in school and used during my lifetime are really treasured experiences, and have made me a better person. However the things that were available for my benefit, the things that I discarded, or didn’t take advantage of…..have dogged me my entire life.

 

THE TEACHING PROFESSION TODAY…..IN THE 21^ST CENTURY

The article by Mr. Sheninger does have an interesting aspect, and takes the reader inside the thinking of some of today’s educators. I am an opinionated person, as everybody who reads my Blog knows, I pride myself in my opinions, so much so that I feel I need to share them with my readers.

 

Both Mr. Sheninger and I resemble one another in that aspect, but in certain areas of Eric Sheninger’s article I of course must take exception to. The teaching profession has never been what I would consider a babysitting service, or a place where kids can go and hang out. In another area that I would question the article is extra curriculum activity. Schools, public schools were never set up to be bastions of athletic prowess.

 

The home-life of students is one tough issue to overcome for an educator; it really isn’t their sphere of expertise, pretty much because they don’t really know what is going on. Teachers are first and foremost educators, and students might be better served with the use of guidance councilors, or individuals schooled in behavioral situations.

 

I am in total agreement with Sheninger’s thoughts regarding involvement with parents, teachers, curriculum and periodic visits…..but visits that are scheduled that coincide with parents work schedules. Blogs, Web-sites, twitter, and the like aren’t really for everybody. Some people can’t afford the machines, others are computer-illiterate, and some simply don’t give a damn.

 

Parents should be duty-bound to attend (parent-teacher) conferences on a regular basis…..say once every six weeks, or maybe even monthly. There are many changes that need to be put into place by the teaching profession as well as the parent-profession. As I’ve already mentioned, change is necessary and tough at the same time.

 

Teachers, school administrations and parents are all on the same team, of that there is no denying this fact, the parent who is quick to defend his/her child is usually doing the kid a huge disservice. Way too often there seems to be a division or a wall between cooperation of teachers and parents.

 

Some parents will always avail themselves to the programs and suggestions that come from school, while unfortunately for others, it ain’t ever gonna happen. I got little help from my parents, I know that they both loved me, and that they did their best…..I was just a special case that they didn’t figure out.

 

 

There is another area where Eric Sheninger and I agree on, the merit system that involves using rewards or punishment for academic work. School work needs to be completed…..even if it’s incorrect. Kids need to learn that whatever task is laid before them, their best effort is expected. Rewards for effort by parents are ridiculous as is punishment for work that is done…..but wrong. To be wrong is a human trait, as is good, hard work, and results.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!

IMMIGRATION HAS AND ALWAYS WILL DRIVE WAGES DOWN

IMMIGRATION HAS AND ALWAYS WILL DRIVE WAGES DOWN

(Breitbart, TheTownTalk, Immigration & Nationality Act)

(Population Bulletin, Marlene A. Lee, Mark Mather, Jeffrey Schultz)

(Randal C. Archibold, Cheryl Sullivan, Reuters, James P. Smith, Frazer Chronicle)

 

Immigration to the United States has had four great epochs: the colonial period, from 1565 through 1751, the mid-19^th century era, the start of the 20^th century, and post 1965. There are similarities throughout these different periods that span four hundred and more years. With little exception, an influx of immigrants was signaled by a rising need for cheap labor.

 

American ingenuity didn’t start in the 20^th century; it had its origins in 1565 St. Augustine, Florida when the Spanish settled in this sea-side area. It continued when the Spanish settled in what is now Texas and New Mexico. The first shipment of African slaves arrived in Virginia in 1619, followed by the great migration in the 1630’s when Massachusetts’s immigration ballooned to more than 21,000.

 

In fact, Benjamin Franklin worried in the 1750’s about German immigration, writing "This Pennsylvania will in a few years become a German colony; instead of (their) learning our language, we must learn theirs, or live as in a foreign country”.

 

No matter what good old Ben thought about the ethnicity of the German people, each period or wave of immigration to the United States brought distinct national groups, races and (yes Ben) ethnicities to the United States. During the 17^th century, approximately 175,000 Englishmen migrated to Colonial America, and a goodly number arrived in the country as indentured servants.

 

Anybody who cares about reading history, like me, can discover a pattern of immigration activity corresponding with a need for labor. Another reason for early immigration to America, 1840’s and 1850’s were the failed revolutions in Europe and the opportunities that the Americas offered masses of wandering incoming immigrants.

 

Significant Chinese migration to the United States late in the 1840’s through the late 1850’s was triggered by the huge railway industry that would eventually lay thousands of miles of track, spurs and rail-heads throughout the middle of the country to the far west.

 

Also in the middle of the 19^th century, from about 1855, through to the early years of the 20^th century there was an influx of Germans, Englishmen, Finlanders’, Swedes, Irish and Poles to help in the iron ore district of Lake Superior, and the coal fields of the Virginias and Pennsylvania. It seemed that Americans had little stomach for the cold, damp, dark and dangers of underground mining, leaving the task to foreign workers.

 

Since 1965, when President Johnson approved the Immigrations and Nationality Act which among other things repealed the national-origin quotas, initiated a visa system for family reunification and skills, set a quota for Western Hemisphere immigration of 270,000, and set a 20K country limit for Eastern Hemisphere aliens.

 

CHARTING THE FLOOD OF IMMIGRATION IN THE 1990s

More than 6 million illegal immigrants entered the United States during the 1990’s, with Mexico leading the way in this dubious (for many Americans), list of illegals. The Philippines, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, and China rounded out the top five.

 

 

It is estimated that today…..2013 there are between 10 and 13 million illegals living, working and playing in the United States. There is no estimate of those illegals that, in addition to living, working and playing in the U.S. also are participating in playing house, and procreating, which legally speaking are instantly considered to be legal citizens of the United States.

 

There are laws (on the books) that have been created to combat illegals, to monitor their activity and movements that are not enforced. In fact some of the laws on the books have been struck down because…..well, maybe waiting for the next influx of illegals, and then reviewing those laws, determining whether or not to enforce them.

 

The immigration problem today is far worse than at any time in U.S. history, in the beginning the country needed immigration, in fact private business was allowed to pay for their steerage from Europe as well as pay bonuses. Of course everybody knows about the slave ships that arrived periodically from Africa.

 

During the history of immigration in the United States there was minimum standards that legal’s had to achieve before they could take their oath of citizenship. Reading and writing the English language…..and speaking English as well, were mandatory. It was the law and was strictly upheld, people were proud to learn these attributes of their (new country.) Now you can forget it, I live in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and standing in the grocery check-out line is like taking a course in Spanish, not only is Spanish spoken, many do not understand English.

 

SO LET’S WRAP THIS THING UP

So let’s examine what has been the history of immigration to the United States, and what the current status of this issue is, after all it’s what our legislators have done on Capitol Hill, as well as in the regions of country and the individual states…..right!

 

I’ve kind of taken a different view of the situation, and the problem…..which it surely is, I’ve asked some basic, simple questions that I feel has addressed the issue. After all…..it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to address, and then solve what our immigration problem has become.

 

A. Does illegal immigration in the United States today cause problems?

B. Does our monitoring and border patrol work in combating illegals from access to our country?

C. Are some of these immigrants on the shady side of the law?

D. Do illegals pay payroll taxes to the United States?

E. Do illegals enhance our society through cultural comingling?

F. Do we as a nation need the influx of cheap labor that most of these people represent?

G. Do some of these people represent a threat to our way of life?

H. Does the laws of the land with regards to immigration need changing?

I.  Should laws already on the books to address this issue be upheld by our elected officials?

J. Should children born in the U.S. to illegals be considered U.S. citizens?

 

If the answer to any of the above questions is yes, then we have a serious problem which…..for years has not been addressed. Small business in the United States has benefitted mightily by the cheap labor costs that these people offer.

 

The question of immigration in the United States is not, I repeat, is not, a complex issue, industry and politics convolute the problem…..as does some minority groups that represent illegals. There is one word that, (if understood) solves every single issue, that word…..illegal.

 

I wonder which part of that word isn’t understood by the masses here in the United States, taking a pee in public…..like on the sidewalk of a busy street. There’s no debate, the peeing perp is hauled, along with his member…..what’s the debate; the guy committed an uncivilized indecent act, and would be held liable by the laws of the land.

 

Immigration on the scale that we here in the United States have is untenable, and we need people to be held accountable. I could care less about the Hispanic vote, or their organizations, or lobbyist’s activity, what they are defending is…..illegal.

 

I really could care less about the poor small business people that take advantage of this low source, and in fact provide a place for the illegals to work. They (small business and farms) say that they can’t afford to hire American citizens because they won’t do the work, and won’t work for minimum wage.

 

Well double whammy to us…..I can talk from experience here, migrant workers in the fruit industry work for some of the lowest wages in the country, and the industrial mucky mucks talk about not being able to produce their product and get it to our tables without these low waged employees.

 

Well let me take issue with that attitude here…..just for a moment; the product that these farmers and fruit and vegetable growers offer are…..how can I say it…..are priced high! So let’s take stock here…..just for a moment, if the local cherry farmer pays substandard wages to his illegals, get’s his crop harvested and processed by illegals being paid a substandard wage…..and then sells his product for say, $10 a pound when it only cost him $2 a pound to produce…..well, you do the math.

 

In closing I have but one thing to say to these small business people and farmers, if you need illegals and the low pay that they represent to make ends meet, take your business and combine it with the guy down the street…..it’s called American ingenuity!

 

And oh ya, to those politicians who are using this issue like a beach ball…..elections are coming up, and the Hispanic vote won’t save your stupidity.  

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!