No Papers Required

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton today ruled parts of Arizona’s immigration law to be illegal.  Illegals’ advocates and activists hailed the ruling.  Arizona Governor Brewer vowed to appeal.

Bolton is  a Clinton-era appointee.  Her opinion ruled against parts of the law, and kept others in place.  She rules that immigrants need not carry their papers at all times, and that they don’t need to prove their status when applying for a job.

She let stand the prohibition against hiring on the street corner.

I see two problems with this.  The first is in what she let stand.  In effect, she said it’s illegal to hire someone for day labor.  Papers or not, she says I can’t hire my neighbor to come help fix my fence, my kitchen or my garden, unless he’s got a contractor or business license.

She said that when I do some writing for a local business, I’m breaking the law, because I don’t do it enough to get a business license in their city.  I report the income – paid in cash – but according to Judge Bolton, if I do it again, I’ll be breaking the law.

On the bright side, next time the police pull me over when I’m in Arizona on business, I don’t have to show them my license.

An Economic Wasteland

According to an article in todays UK Telegraph, Obama’s legacy is likely not to be change for the better, but long-term economic turmoil. The “audacity” of Obama’s hope is not met with any kind of ability to act on the ideas to create positive results.

Almost 10% of the workforce – 15Million Americans – are unemployed and looking for work.  Perhaps another 10% have given up trying and are not counted in the official numbers.  According to the article, about a quarter of the black people in Chicago are both unemployed and frustrated that their man is not able to solve the problem for “his own people.”

Whole areas of the country, especially the former industrial belt, have become instead ‘industrial wastelands.’  In Newark and Baltimore, drug-dealing is the principal commercial activity.

The much vaunted Stimulus bill has done little to stem the loss of jobs.  Looking closely, we see that most of the jobs went to large companies that had been inefficient spenders in the past.    Most of the cash disbursed went “to further the re-election prospects of many congressmen, not to do good for the country.” In other words, the cash was spent to keep the newly-minted Democrat majority in power.

Hefler says that “For a land without a welfare state, America starts to do an effective impersonation of a country with one.”

Americans are unhappy with their government and their President.  They are concerned – angry – that so much money was wasted so fast with so little effect.  It’s perhaps what’s wrong with the health care bill – people don’t trust it to do what Congress says it will do, but rather just another opportunity to waste more money by diverting tax revenues to favored contributors, while the multi-trillion dollar debt keeps pilling up.

Without a significant change right away, there is no good end in sight.

Huckabee Writes What We Already Knew

During the primaries last year, I was among the many who wondered about Romney, whether he was able to be a leader, or only a corporate raider.

Now, opponent Mike Huckabee has given us a behind-the-scenes look that confirms our suspicions.  Do the Right Thing (subtitled “Inside the Movement That’s Bringing Common Sense Back to America”) started as a manifesto for a “smarter, fairer type of politics.”  He says it’s not right versus left, but instead it’s what he calls “vertical politics” – connecting the people with the leaders.

He also talks about how the other candidates, those that acted like leaders and those who were merely candidates.  For example, he says Romney was less than gracious in defeat during the Iowa caucus.

“We were backstage waiting for the concession from him to go on stage and do the victory speech. The networks were all pushing us, the newspapers were pushing us – everybody had deadlines,” Huckabee said. “I thought it a bit impolite to go out and claim victory without a concession. That’s an unwritten rule. It was one of those things. I was somewhat surprised. Generally, when you’re in a tight contest, there’s a tradition of calling and conceding. It’s a way to congratulate that person. In a way it characterized his campaign.

“I don’t think he ever really regarded me with much respect and ever really took me seriously.”

Huckabee also thought Romney was out of touch with voters.  In one debate, on the issue of helping the economy, Romney didn’t seem keen on helping the average American.

“I stood there in stunned silence when he went into his well-prepared, programmed answer about how we needed to invest more in high-yield stocks,” he writes. “That moment was perhaps the single most revealing of what was wrong with our party. We had people leading us who knew the country club, but not Sam’s Club.”

Huckabee is now on a sold-out booksigning tour.  A friend of mine said the lines in Oklahoma City were long and early, and the store sold out.  Huckabee brought an extra thousand books, and sold them as well.

Even so, Huckabee took time to speak to each supporter.  Brian Summers, a former campaign staffer, was noticed in the crowd, and commented on how Huckabee waited to greet everyone who wanted an autographed copy of the book.

“He stayed here until everybody was done. [It] was the same way on the campaign trail. We never left anybody in line who did not get a chance to meet him.”

Sources:  Boston Herald, Wall Street Journal Market Watch, MSNBC,

GOP Abandoned their brand, says DeMint

It’s official.  The Republican Party has declared open season on scapegoats.  John McCain is next in line (they’ve already skewered Sarah Palin).

South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint says the Party lost because they abandoned their “brand” of governing:  “freedom, religious-based values and limited government.”  He places the blame on Bush, Ted Stevens and John McCain.

Bush we understand.  He was led into an unwinnable war by Rumsfeld and Cheney, and isn’t quite smart enough to figure out how to pay for no-bid war support contracts, relief for natural disasters, the Clinton mortgage meltdown, and still have enough to give enough rebates to jump-start the economy.

And Ted Stevens, the icon of old-guard corruption.  Caught taking bribes, convicted in federal court, he still denies he did anything wrong, and wants to go back to work siphoning federal funds to the only state in the Union that gives tax payments instead of collecting income tax, because there’s so much oil revenue.

But John McCain?  After winning the nomination away from 2 very religious contenders (Huckabee and Romney), he courted the religious right by picking Sarah Palin.  He did everything right except ignore the Washington Party elite.  It wasn’t his fault he lost.  The party bosses just weren’t ready for a woman who wouldn’t keep her mouth shut and stay in the background.

Unfortunately, it looks like DeMint just has a grudge agains McCain:

“McCain, who is proponent of campaign finance reform that weakened party organizations and basically put George Soros in the driver’s seat,” DeMint said. “His proposal for amnesty for illegals. His support of global warming, cap-and-trade programs that will put another burden on our economy. And of course, his embrace of the bailout right before the election was probably the nail in our coffin this last election. And he has been an opponent of drilling in ANWR, at a time when energy is so important. It really didn’t fit the label, but he was our package.”

McCain wasn’t the problem, just the package.  I’m sure that package is going to be attacked again before it’s over.  Fortunately, John McCain can take it.

Sources include:  CNN

Elitist Obama

The Obamas want you to think they are just like you, not like the fat cat rich.  It’s a lie.

Take Barack’s suits. Custom tailored by Hartmarx.  Off the rack, untailored would cost $1500 each.  They won’t reveal the true cost, but likely more than that. (My good suit costs $250 … 8 years ago.) 

Folks complained when the handlers put Sarah Palin into an emergency $15,000 wardrobe when she was whisked out of Alaska and onto the campaign trail.  But what about Michelle Obama’s convention gowns?  Ill-fitting for her body type, especially considering they were custom made!  Maria Pinto’s dresses cost between $900 and $5,000 each.  And she has several.

Where is the outrage at this cost on clothing?  Michelle  claims she buys off the rack and on the internet from J Crew.  Maybe for the around-the-house stuff.  But when the cameras are rolling, she makes Palin look “department store”

 

source  gawker.com

False Teachers

According to the Bible, the little letter from Jude, the characteristics of a false teacher are clear, and we are warned against them. 

Jude’s verse 16 says that a false teacher will flatter you to get their own way.  They will tell you you are better than you are, or will blame your mistakes on some external circumstance.  They will say it over and over, reinforcing a single concept with various proofs.

Soon you buy into the idea that they like you and you’ve begun to tell yourself you like them.  Then, after you have come to believe their flattery, they will add some more direct lies.  For many people, they will by this time believe the lies to be truth, or trust truth told about the person to be lies, because they are emotionally invested in the person. 

(This is how people ignore symptoms of abusive behavior in a loved one, hoping they are wrong, or are emotionally unable to consider the consequences of truth.)

The wise will weigh the words against an unchanging standard of truth and assess any differences.  These people will be able to recognize what the person is doing and separate admiration for the person and the veracity of their words. 

The unwise, the immature and those bent toward destruction will ignore truth, even calling truth a lie and lies truth.  Jude 19 says this is the source of divisions. 

Jude 19 also suggests it is the intent of a false teacher to create divisions and to distort truth, and that the source of this desire is their sensual appetites, with the end goal of satisfying their own lusts.

As this political season draws to a close, I look at candidates who call the other negative even as they themselves provide 3x more negative pronoucements.

Michelle Obama for VP?

As rumors continue about Joe Biden’s health (he’s had 2 brain anuerisms)m speculation is already beginning about who’s going to replace him.  Everyone assumes it won’t be someone safe – that was Biden’s job for the election.  No, he’ll get someone we would have never voted for.

Like Michelle

http://community.mccainspace.com/kickapps/_Michelle-Obama-as-First-Lady/blog/106669/41158.html?b=

There’s a tape of her speaking in 2004 in Chicago, IL at the Rainbow Push Coalition Conference at Trinty United Church.

At least there used to be.  It’s so vile, it’s not available.

For about 30 minutes, Michelle Obama launched into a rant about the evils of America, and how America is to blame for the problems in Africa.  Michelle personally blamed Bill Clinton for the deaths of millions of Africans.

She said America is responsible for the genocide of the Tutsis and other ethnic groups.  She then launched into an attack on “WHITEY”, and talked about solutions to black on black crime in the realm of diverting those actions onto White America.

Her rant was fueled by the crowd; they reacted strongly to what she said, so she got more passionate and enraged, and that’s when she completely loses it and says things that have made the mouths drop of everyone who’s seen this.

The tape is a DVD that Trinity United sold on it’s website, and possibly offered free for download up until March 2008 when Trinity’s site was scrubbed and the DVDs were no longer offered for sale.  The YouTube version is also gone.  http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1-5tfUmHl4&feature=related

What are they hiding?  Is She the smoking gun?

Looking Forward After the Election

On KayInMaine’s WhiteNoiseInsanity blog, a reply on Sep 22 by “Grant in Texas” makes sense.

Rumors are rampant on some of the blogs that Joe Biden will have a health problem soon and resign so Hillary can be named to take his place. This one is on a McCain blog:

http://community.mccainspace.com/kickapps/_Will-Biden-step-down/BLOG/104562/41158.html

Why would McCain supporters want Hillary? Republicans hate the Clintons and I would think Bill and Hill would further energize the Republican base like Palin has already done with the fundies.

I have been disappointed in the Clintons’ “support” for Obama. Hillary doesn’t attack Palin in her speeches and being a woman, she can do a better job than Barack or Biden who will have to “walk on eggs” for fear of saying the slightest thing that sexism can be attached to. Hillary’s speeches I have seen on You Tube sound much like her primary stump speeches about what SHE wants to see done in this nation, then she give some less enthusiastic praise for Obama sometimes sounding like an afterthought. I had hopes for the Clintons at the convention, but were their “uniting” speeches only to keep Democrats in their good graces?

First Bill mentioned last month that Obama wasn’t “ready” but then like an afterthought, said “nobody was ready” but it was a strange and not an enthusiastic “endorsement”. Then this past week to ABC, Bill had some glowing things to say about Sarah Palin and John McCain and once again was lukewarm for Obama. Is he pissed that Barack prevented him for having a “third term”???

Many do believe the behind their masks, the Clintons want to run Hillary in 2012 against Palin, as either John won’t live that long or he will opt for the ONE TERM presidency he has already commented about.

Is that good, or what?

source:  http://whitenoiseinsanity.wordpress.com/2008/09/21/barack-obama-has-a-fantastic-plan-to-bonk-wall-street-with/ (comment 3)

How the Republican Party Machine Lost Their Way

First it was rampant spending for the war without cutting back at home.  Then the party was afraid of the best candidates – Huckabee and Romney, falling back on giving McCain his turn.  Romney supporters didn’t fully trust McCain and Huckabee supporters considered boycotting the election.  All because the party in power didn’t really want to be reformed.

The selection Palin as VP surprised a lot of people.  There are some poor choices she’s made in the past that should have been caught before her name was announced, and gave fodder for the Democrat operatives.  But it was the kind of un-managed selection that energized the base and pulled them back into the election.

Until the party bosses got ahold of her.

$150,000 for new clothes!  She would have been more genuine in the same three outfits over and over.  Show off her working class cred instead of trying to act like the Washington elite she railed against so often.

She’s got a great message, and is a great debater on issues, but the party has coached her into saying nothing.  No press conferences.  No town halls.  Few independent campaign appearances (don’t want to out-draw the headliner!)

The party advisers are also telling McCain to stump tired speeches over and over.  He was unimpressive in the debate and looks like an angry old guy on the campaign trail, so much that “thoughtful Obama” almost doesn’t have to campaign any more.  He expects to get to the top job on momentum.

And if Obama wins, the Republican party bosses can go back to their comfortable back rooms and pat each other on the back.  The “maverick reformer” will be returned to the back bench for the remainder of his Senate term and then retire to obscurity.  Palin they assume is damaged enough they’ll never have to hear from her again.

The seeds of a 2010 mid-term election upset are already planted.  Look for fertilizer next spring.

Why McCain?

As the election gets closer, the daily polls are swinging wider.  These are uncertain times.  Unlike past elections, where it looked close but all was goodness and policy difference, the politics of hate from outlets like Daily Kos and Huffington Post have poisoned the political well so that even honest opinion comes out looking like bile.

And so I go read Orson Scott Card’s commentaries.  He primarily a science fiction writer, but that makes him a student of contemporary culture and a futurist.  He sees what is and imagines what could be from it.

His column last week was insightful:

“the media have helped Obama sell the lie that he is the moderate who can bring us together; in fact, Obama is the most radically leftist candidate ever to run as a major party nominee, and he has never shown the slightest willingness to compromise on anything. His judicial appointees would be committed dictator-judges, without exception.

Card says we should elect a candidate who will “appoint and confirm judges who did not usurp power, and who would pass laws denying any state court the right to redefine” the established laws of the land, including the definition of marriage.

“Your ability to raise your children to believe in your religion is already under attack; the New Puritans are quite prepared to use force to take your children and propagandize them to believe the scientifically indefensible dogma that gay marriage is “just the same as” marriage.”

“Anyone who doesn’t accept homosexual couplings as marriages will be called names and persecuted. Our children will be propagandized to accept “marriages” that we repudiate.”

His final warning is to “choose pro-Constitution candidates in the states” and “vote for state legislators who are likely to be willing, when it becomes necessary, to … correct these abuses. … We can prevail in restoring Constitutional government to America — if we have the courage to pay the price along the way.”