Posted on 02/02/2005 11:06:49 PM PST by DoughtyOne
There is a fine line that one should walk these days, when discussing the Presidency of George W. Bush. I say this because I firmly believe that the President is a good man. I believe that he is truly a Christian. Unlike a recent occupant of the White House, he does love and honor not only his wife, but his children, his parents, his extended family, his supporters and his God.
President Bush was handed a difficult task, in September of 2001. He has met that task head on, and in a number of ways, has provided an excellent response. His directives concerning Afghanistan and Iraq have been masterful. I am so glad that he had the foresight to appoint Donald Rumsfeld his Secretary of Defense, and Condoliza Rice his National Security Advisor. Both these individuals are sharp as tacks, and have obviously contributed towards the goals the President set for the nation, and seems to be achieving. Threading a fine line between being too receptive to those who wanted him to hold off some military moves, and taking a harder line suggested by the other end of the spectrum, President Bush seems well on his way to liberating for generations to come, the inhabitants of two nations in the middle-east.
There have been times when I wondered if the President were doing the right thing at certain points. This last Sunday, I along with others were pleasantly surprised at how well things have come together. The Iraqi people went to the polls in great numbers. Even those who had wished the President well in his efforts in Iraq, were relieved that the elections were so successful, I among them.
When it comes to the war in Iraq, when it comes to standing up against the leaders of Europe, when it comes to defining the path that we will take to repair Social Security, the President has my full support. I am very glad to have someone in the White House who advances policies on these issues, the way he does. His talk on these and a number of other issues is like sweet music to my ears. How sad I am that I must now talk about the fingernails on the chalkboard issue of our time, illegal immigration.
The President for all his power, for all his positives and all his good intentions, is still a man. He is a man that has many fine qualities. He is also a man that can and sometimes does make a mistake. I consider his desires to change certain aspects of our immigration policies, to be a colossal misjudgment. Unlike Iraq where I felt very uneasy, but avoided for the most part challenging the President's actions early on at Fallujah, and a few other places, I can see no room for compromise concerning the ongoing invasion of the United States.
This evening the President once again addressed the issue of immigration. Once again the meaning was crystal clear to those of us who disagree with him on that subject. Before I continue I want to be clear about something. I address this issue, because this is the issue where I find fault with the President. I don't do this because I am happy to have one issue to disagree with him on. I am very unhappy that I have to address this issue. I shouldn't have to at all, but this issue is important enough that I am going to address it continuously until the issue is resolved, the policies I cannot endorse are changed to protect this nation. That should be our overriding concern here. It is mine.
Here is what President Bush said this evening. This is the way I see the issues he raised.
America's immigration system is also outdated - unsuited to the needs of our economy and to the values of our country.
There are three issues in this charged sentence. I do believe that there are areas for improvement regarding the guidelines and procedures that govern Visas and short term visitors to the United States. I have no problem with the President trying to get a handle on who is entering our nation, how long they stay and whether they actually go home or not. This is not just an issue with Mexico. It's an issue that confronts us across the board with all who enter this nation. In this, I can support the President. I believe he is wise to address this component of the immigration issue.
Where the President and I part ways, is when he implies that our economy can't meet it's needs without poor, uneducated, unable to be financialy responsible for themselves, men and women from foreign countries. If the President were addressing the problems of the world's poor, I might be more inclined to listen to his proposals, but he isn't. This isn't about the world's poor. It's about one nation's poor. Yes, illegal immigration has an multi-national component to it, but it is primarily one nation that is flooding ours with it's citizens. I can't help but address this fact. It's true and so this one nation is addressed more than any other, for it's sordid practices.
When it comes to the issue of values, it is clear the United States is second to none when it comes to philanthropy. Our citizens give medical, educational, housing and other forms of help to the citizens of Mexico in Mexico. Physicians, nurses, teachers, aid workers, volunteers have been conducting mission work in Mexico for as long as I can remember. This represents our values. We are a good-hearted people who wish the best for the Mexican people. We gain no pleasure from seeing their national leaders abuse them, and I am firmly convinced this is the true condition of Mexico.
Values are not one-dimensional, and they don't exist in a vacuum. Extending a helping hand to millions of new Mexican poor each year is an admirable goal. The question is, how do you achieve that? Do you allow them to pour across your frontier in an endless stream that creates instant slums where ever they go? Do you allow them to swamp your communities, health care and education resources? Do you allow them to soak up tens of billions of dollars of funding that citizens have every right to expect to be spent on their local community and state needs? The answers to these question are a resounding no.
If I want to help someone out, I dig in my pocket and donate the appropriate amount based on what I can afford, what the actual need is. If you were to do that with my money it wouldn't be right. When the government does it, it's not right either. In fact, it would show a complete avoidance of reasoned values to do such a thing. Please don't talk to me about this nations values, while suggesting that I and hundreds of millions of other U.S. Citizens will have to hand over our hospitals, schools, infrastructure, and even a portion of our futures, so this can be facilitated.
We should not be content with laws that punish hardworking people who want only to provide for their families, and deny businesses willing workers, and invite chaos at our border.
These sentences are some of the most charged sentences I've ever seen. At once they are complex, a misdirecting slight of hand, and dishonest.
Mr. President, your fellow citizens are hard working people who are trying to provide for their families. What about folks like us? Why do you seek to punish us so that others can get services for free that we cannot? Why should non-citizens get free health care while we have to pay through the ying-yang to get it? Does it really seem like good values to you, to allow businesses to pay sub-scale so that illegals can work, when I and my fellow citizens have to pay so much for their health care, education, and other assorted freebies? Why should we subsidize these businesses this way? Does it seem like a good idea to flood this nation with people who have only a 4th to 8th grade education? How will they put a roof over their head on minimum wage? Who will feed clothe and house them? Who will pay for the deliveries of their children? What community can thrive with tens of thousands of these poor people in their midst? We are talking about instant slums across this nation. Some localities will be besieged in greater numbers than others. Where is your compassion for them?
Mr. President, there is only one group causing chaos at our border. It is the illegal alien who has shown themselves unwilling to respect the laws of our nation. When you frame the debate the way you have, you simply side with them. And I might add, you side with them against us. Why? What did we do to deserve this?
It is time for an immigration policy that permits temporary guest workers to fill jobs Americans will not take, that rejects amnesty, that tells us who is entering and leaving our country, and that closes the border to drug dealers and terrorists.
Mr. President, I'll make a deal with you. If you respect me, I'll respect you. Please do not insult my intelligence by claiming these will be guest workers. At this very minute, you are loathe to send anyone back to their nation of origin. How can you expect me to believe that in six years, you'll be sending anyone back to the nation of their origin then? You know as well as I do that these guest workers will bring families that we, not they, will pay for. They will develop homes here. They will invest years of their lives here. Who are you trying to kid? You're not going to send even one of these people home. Instead you will be asking to up the quota.
Here's another question for you Mr. President. Is it fair to the other citizens of the world to have millions of Mexican citizens enter our nation through expanded immigration quotas, while they have to go through all the same procedures they always have? Would it be a good idea to open up our guest worker program to all the world's poor? Should we allow millions from every poor nation around the world, to enter our nation each year? If not, then how do we justify it for one nation?
Here's a problem you haven't seemed to consider. If we allow two million worker permits per year, do you think that will end illegal immigration? It won't. Those who can't get in under any quota you set, will continue to come over the border as they always have. You'll immediately have a worker entry program, the continued illegal immigration on top of that, and the folks who were here when it all started. We're looking at thirty million people within five years. We have ten to fifteen now. We'll let another million or two in each year legally. We'll still have illegal immigration. And while all this goes on, we'll still have hospitals and schools inundated at a rate double what it has been.
Where is the solution in this Mr. President? What will it resolve? We'll have infrastructure crumbling faster than before, health care and education already on the ropes, placed on life support.
Illegal immigration will still see millions of undocumenteds coming across. Gang and terrorist group members among them.
You see Mr. President, you would have to close the borders to illegal immigrants for this plan to work. Unfortunately, you have refused to do that. In light of that your plan will never work. This nation will just be torn apart one neighborhood at a time at an even faster rate than it has been, until someone finally turns out the lights.
I sure wish I didn't have to address this issue. This plan doesn't make sense on any level. With that last comment, I'll just concede that folks in Washington won't be able to resist it. What a sad day for America it will be, when this plan hits the ground running.
Be my guest.
Many of you FReepers on this very thread complain that immigrants (not just the illegal ones) drive down our wages and take our jobs but then you simultaneously bitch when business OWNERS take their capital and move it into another country, creating jobs there.
So, which was one was it, my fellow believer in Christ (assumption)?
Yours is just another example of using Mexican immigrants as scapegoats.
Once these newly-legalized "guest workers" become part of the formal economy, and have to be paid minimum wage plus benefits, a whole new wave of illegals will be willing to undercut them, and work for less informally. And employers will still have the same incentive to hire the new illegals as they do now -- cost savings.
At the same time, YOU are justifiably ticked off that other gov't requirements mean that anyone who hires a nanny illegally makes _you_ pay for the gov't-mandated benefits.
The problem isn't the immigration.
The problem is socialist government mandates.
bump
What does that have to do with anything I objected to?
Why do you support a national ID? How is that going to help you get a job?
If you ever violated a traffic law, you are as much a criminal as an out of status non citizen.
ANOTHER gem!
Keep 'em comin'!
And many of us know him as the new hero of the white supremacists and American Nazis.
That's possibly why the excerpt you just posted always gets pulled by the moderators when posted as a thread.
At least he is honest enough not to say he only opposes the "illegal" Hispanic immigrants. He opposes ALL Hispanics, even those third generation ones who haven't "assimilated".
And many of you on the other side, complain about subsidies to keep jobs here, and we have no right to a job, yet you don't see the inconsistancy. Taxpayers subsidizing your cheap labor, and illegals have no right to a job.
"If you ever violated a traffic law, you are as much a criminal as an out of status non citizen."
Lol, huh??
So according to your rationale, shoplifting is a crime only if you are caught in the act??
And btw -- "violating a traffic law" is not a federal crime...
But hmmm, just what "violation" is invading a sovereign country?
With a long tall wall designed by the Israelis.
DoughtyOne, you and the others are kinder about all this than I am. I don’t have enough time left to be pleasant. Here are some of the President’s comments and some truths of what he didn’t say.
“Members of Congress, the choices we make together will answer that question. Over the next several months, on issue after issue, let us do what Americans have always done, and build a better world for our children and our grandchildren. (Applause.)
If there is no objection from the Mexican Oligarchy.
“and in the last year alone, the United States has added 2.3 million new jobs. (Applause.)”
Entry level, low paying jobs that mostly went to illegal aliens.
“The principle here is clear: Taxpayer dollars must be spent wisely, or not at all”
Except for Mexico and various other pushers of illegal border jumpers.
“To make our economy stronger and more productive, we must make health care more affordable, and give families greater access to good coverage -”
Like we do for illegal aliens.
“America's immigration system is also outdated -- unsuited to the needs of our economy and to the values of our country. We should not be content with laws that punish hardworking people who want only to provide for their families, and deny businesses willing workers, and invite chaos at our border. It is time for an immigration policy that permits temporary guest workers to fill jobs Americans will not take, that rejects amnesty, that tells us who is entering and leaving our country, and that closes the border to drug dealers and terrorists. (Applause.)”
Name the jobs, Mr. President. You can’t.
“Today, more than 45 million Americans receive Social Security benefits, and millions more are nearing retirement -- and for them the system is sound and fiscally strong. I have a message for every American who is 55 or older: Do not let anyone mislead you; for you, the Social Security system will not change in any way.”
Swell, the 55 to 67 age group is just going to have to work and pay into the same rotten ponzi scheme. Why isn’t your plan available to ALL Americans? Oh, yes we must provide for the Mexican Totalization to give illegals SSA benefits with private accounts.
“Here's why the personal accounts are a better deal. Your money will grow, over time, at a greater rate than anything the current system can deliver -- and your account will provide money for retirement over and above the check you will receive from Social Security. In addition, you'll be able to pass along the money that accumulates in your personal account, if you wish, to your children and -- or grandchildren. And best of all, the money in the account is yours, and the government can never take it away. (Applause.)”
Except for those of you over 55! Hey, someone has to pay for the “transition”
“Personal retirement accounts should be familiar to federal employees, because you already have something similar, called the Thrift Savings Plan, which lets workers deposit a portion of their paychecks into any of five different broadly-based investment funds. It's time to extend the same security, and choice, and ownership to young Americans. (Applause.)”
Forget about those over 55, they can suffer with the same old mess. They don’t need to leave anything to their kids.
“Now we need to focus on giving young people, especially young men in our cities, better options than apathy, or gangs, or jail. Tonight I propose a three-year initiative to help organizations keep young people out of gangs, and show young men an ideal of manhood that respects women and rejects violence”
Unless of course its an armed Latino gang growing pot on National Forest land. But don’t you damned citizens get caught with a gun on Federal land...it’s a crime!
“Because one of the main sources of our national unity is our belief in equal justice, we need to make sure Americans of all races and backgrounds have confidence in the system that provides justice.”
Unless you are a criminal illegal alien, of course. You’re free to go where ever you’d like. There are too many of you to try to round up.
“Our third responsibility to future generations is to leave them an America that is safe from danger, and protected by peace. We will pass along to our children all the freedoms we enjoy -- and chief among them is freedom from fear.”
And if you fear the gangs and illegals taking over your neighborhoods, jobs, hospitals, too DAMN bad!
“We have taken unprecedented actions to protect Americans. We've created a new department of government to defend our homeland, focused the FBI on preventing terrorism, begun to reform our intelligence agencies, broken up terror cells across the country, expanded research on defenses against biological and chemical attack, improved border security”
And refused to fund the border guards mandated by a law we just signed! We had to send some of those border guards to protect Iraq! And my cabinet officers will not stand for profiling!
“There are still governments that sponsor and harbor terrorists -- but their number has declined. There are still regimes seeking weapons of mass destruction -- but no longer without attention and without consequence. Our country is still the target of terrorists who want to kill many, and intimidate us all -- and we will stay on the offensive against them, until the fight is won.”
Except for Mexico, of course. They are free to kill Americans and shoot at our border patrol, take out hits for FBI agents without a whimper from us. Be sure to get the new “how to cross the border and get the benefits from the gringos” comic book courtesy of Presidente Fox.
“Other nations around the globe have stood with us..... In the next four years, my administration will continue to build the coalitions that will defeat the dangers of our time. (Applause.)”
Except for Mexico, of course.
“If whole regions of the world remain in despair and grow in hatred, they will be the recruiting grounds for terror, and that terror will stalk America and other free nations for decades. America will stand with the allies of freedom to support democratic movements in the Middle East and beyond, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.”
Except for Mexico.
“Our aim is to build and preserve a community of free and independent nations, with governments that answer to their citizens, and reflect their own cultures. And because democracies respect their own people and their neighbors, the advance of freedom will lead to peace. (Applause.)”
With the exception of Mexico. We need their peasants for our elite to feel “compassionate” by paying them below minimum wage to clean the toilets and to line the pockets of special interests groups who keep us in office!
“I say tonight: As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you. (Applause.)”
Except the Mexican people. Cut our grass and shut up
In addition to that, Texas is one of four states nationwide that offers in-state tuition to illegal aliens. The others are New York, California, and Utah.
Consistency check error:
"Which wages? Gardeners? Roofers? Car Washers? Immigrants coming here for minimum wage jobs don't drive down wages of anyone except people in those same minimum wage jobs, not doctors and lawyers."
"Illegal immigrants make more than minimum wage because they perform more valuable jobs than taking orders at McDonalds. Laborers start at about $10 an hour here."
Traffic law violations, other than serious ones like DUI and reckless driving, are "infractions".
Entering illegally is a "misdemeanor".
Posessing and using forged documents in support of your illegal stay is most likely a "felony".
Infractions..misdemeanors..and felonies. Get it?
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