Re-defining "Illegal"

It would be a great disservice to us all should those wishing to redefine the word "illegal" succeed. Yes, I am talking about offering "amnesty" to certain illegal immigrants. I want to be clear- I firmly believe that we are a nation of immigrants and we owe all that we are to being the children and grandchildren or those people who wanted to make a better life, and were willing to cross an ocean, often alone, penniless and with only the clothes on their backs in order to make a new life in America. We are descended from the best, the brightest, the boldest and the visionaries, and we need to keep welcoming immigrants who truly seek a better life. But they MUST be legal immigrants.

Now perhaps the laws are inadequate, broken, or simply wrong. Let's change them. But they are what they are and we allow them to be broken at our peril. What other laws should we deem OK to break so long as businesses make money from them? That IS what we are talking about, make no mistake. Many businesses- big and small- make a lot of money exploiting illegal immigrant labor. And thee businesses are big donors to certain politicians- by coincidence mainly those who want to keep allowing illegal immigrants to work. George W. Bush has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from just a handful of businesses that will have to pay millions of dollars more in wages should they lose the illegal immigrant workforce. Boiled down to its basic question, the debate REALLY is: "How much money do you have to donate to the President's campaign in order to be allowed to ignore a federal law with impunity?"

Once we start in this direction- allowing the law to be broken or rewritten to suit the financial interests of political backers- WHERE DO WE STOP? This is a precedent we DO NOT want to set. Illegal IS illegal- period. Maybe this is similar to Prohibition- maybe the law is simply wrong and we need to revisit the entire issue. But no one suggested granting Al Capone amnesty for bootlegging.

Yes, let's debate overhauling the immigration laws. Yes, let's certainly keep our doors open for legal immigrants. But let us not walk down the path of rewarding ANYONE who breaks our laws to be rewarded . Whether it be an immigrant, a CEO or a politician.

The Bush Lunacy, err "Legacy"

Once we are all able to step back and "total up" the accomplishments of the Bush Administration, we will find - none. Of course many things happened, and we reacted time and again, but what can we put down as an "accomplishment" for the 2 terms of George W. Bush? Of course there WAS the Mission in Iraq which was labeled as "Accomplished" on that aircraft carrier back in 2003. We turned the nation's largest budget surplus into the largest budget deficit ever for ANY nation in all of recorded history. For the first time EVER we started a war- attacked a country that HAD NOT attacked us first. In a world which is rapidly and widely moving towards providing healthcare for all citizens WE have held the line, even though our life expectancy and infant mortality rank as nearly THE VERY WORST among "first-world" countries. And while gay and Lesbian people are being granted legal equality - including marriage rights- in a large AND rapidly growing number of countries we have passed laws ensuring that they cannot even obtain medical insurance for their children. (This last one COULD be seen as an accomplishment, but as the mid-term elections near President Bush has again brought out the issue of a Constitutional Amendment - hoping to ensure that the US will be the first nation since Nazi Germany to enshrine a caste system into its most sacred documents. The problem is that no one expects this to pass the long amendment process.) This last point brings up the fact that he HAS been very good at convincing people to vote in ways we might NEVER have expected even 10 years ago. How DO you convince millions of people to pass tax breaks for people who make more in a year than they will IN THEIR ENTIRE LIFETIMES and fund those giveaways by eliminating funding for their OWN children's schools, vocational programs and medical care? It takes SOME SORT of talent to convince a person who will never even know someone who might have to actually pay an estate tax that it is an unfair burden to the children of multi-millionaires to have the money left to them by their parents taxed even knowing that this will mean that their own children will lose any opportunity to get a college scholarship.

I am very, very serious. I ask ANYONE reading this who still supports "W" to explain to me "WHY". Please try to give a rational, factual answer. Be honest. As I sit here thinking I am utterly convinced that this has been THE WORST 6 years in American history- financially, internationally- BY ANY MEASURE. I see not a single bright spot in the Bush presidency. Fewer jobs created than any recent president. Constant corruption. Loss of civil liberties WITHOUT any real progress in the "war on terror". Total mismanagement of Iraq. Broken treaties.

Again- PLEASE show me if I have missed something. Give me ANY branch to cling to before I am swept away in a flood of misery- mishandled by an incompetent, unqualified political lackey appointed to appease a rich corporate backer.

One simple word that could FIX American political discourse

There are MANY things wrong with American political discourse- and these break down into 3 areas: the politicians say ONLY what they think people want to hear, the media may ask questions but NEVER demands answers (with the exception of FOX news, which is given questions AND answers from Administration talking points), and the people (we cannot be called "voters" with such poor election-day turnout) only hear things which reinforce whatever they already believe. It is thus no surprise- AND NO SECRET- that TRUTH has for decades had no place in politics. There have been many articles written decrying the loss of "truth" in politics, many promises made and broken, and NOTHING has changed. I OFFER A SIMPLE, IMMEDIATE AND COMPLETELY EFFECTIVE PLAN FOR MAKING TRUTH ONCE AGAIN (or for the first time?) CENTRAL TO AMERICAN POLITICS-

Teach everyone- the media, the politicians and the people (who then MAY be voters) the meaning- AND USE OF- the word "LIAR"!

It IS that simple. The media starts telling the people when someone is LYING, and after a short period of adjustment, during which most politicians probably will not speak at all, the politicians will have to start telling the truth. It will take some people time to understand that the truth doesn't ALWAYS support their preconceptions, but for MOST eventually they will adjust and start making decisions based on facts. For nearly all this will result in a strong urge to VOTE!

LET'S TRY SOME EXAMPLES:

Dick DeVos runs a TV ad in which he talks about a company that declined to move its jobs out of state. He then says that while he was running a business, he also considered moving jobs out of state, but decided not to.

At this point in the commercial there should be a large hand with a huge rubber stamp paste the word "LIAR!" across his face while a sound effect of a loud razzing sound "ptttthhhhh!" is heard, followed by the course of the Cranberries' hit Liar:

"Liar, liar, liar You know you're a liar, Liar..."

Of course the truth is that Dick DeVos didn't just "move out of the state," instead, he moved out of the country. From 1993-1998, DeVos invested $100 million in China. Then in 2003, Amway continued its expansion outside Michigan, adding another $120 million in China investments AND MOVING AT LEAST 1,080 jobs from Michigan to China.

Now that the lie was removed people could see the fact left behind- the company that was offered a tax break to move to another state BUT DID NOT GO. Hmm, so the tax situation in Michigan DID NOT send this company running- AND OFFERING A TAX BREAK ELSEWHERE DID NOT INDUCE THAT COMPANY TO RELOCATE. In fact, it was Governor Jennifer Granholm and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation that assisted the company, Trenton Forging. The Granholm Administration and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) provided investments in job training programs that helped create and retain that company's MICHIGAN jobs!

Another example. President Bush gives a "major policy speech" and once the various LIES are excised we end up with a truthful speech which reads, in total, "And may God Bless the United States". This is at least something we all should agree on.

OK, that last was a joke. Kind of. But my point is valid- if we just pointed out even the OBVIOUS lies we could all make better decisions. I watched a debate on CNN a few weeks ago on the issue of "Gay Marriage". The "con" position was supported at one point by citing several studies which "proved" gay families were "bad" for the children raised in them. The opponent stated that "there is one such study, constantly referenced but completely discredited, but many others have shown the exact opposite." Polite, and an interesting debate. THE PROBLEM WAS THAT THE "STUDY" REFERRED TO HAS BEEN COMPLETELY AND REPEATEDLY SHOWN TO BE FALSE- MEANINGLESS AND MISMANAGED. Both debaters, the moderator and the commentator knew this, and yet instead of saying simply the conclusion was false, they acted like it was simply in error. And since this keeps happening millions of people have heard "something" and think this is a matter which is still open to interpretation. WHY NOT CLEARLY AND FORCEABLY state that the one and only study that found children of gay parents to be "troubled" was conducted by a disbarred and discredited psychologist who used improper questions and methods and then drew unsupportable conclusions in a study so filled with inaccuracies that NO ONE has been able to duplicate it and no one would publish it until the author himself PAID for its publication in a "psychiatric" journal that prints ANYTHING for $3.00 a page.

Maybe if people had FACTS, and were told when they were being LIED to, they could begin to make better decisions. We can start simply by noting that it is not impolite to call a liar a liar. What is "rude" is allowing someone to be lied to and doing nothing about it. From now on you have MY PROMISE that I will not allow a LIE to stand unchallenged. No matter WHO the liar is.