THE 800-PAGE MONSTROSITY
We have defeated the 800-page Immigration Bill and I wonder just how many of our legislators read every last page of it? I also wonder who creates these monstrosities? Does it take 800 pages to create a simple law? Could they not condense their thoughts into a few paragraphs?
The now-defeated Immigration Bill was so complicated, one also wonders about the mental health of those composing it. Evidently there was some sort of a Guest Worker program, which boils down to mean that, if you have already taken a job away from an American citizen, continue doing so.
There was also a clause where the Head of a Household, male or female, had to return to Mexico, apply for a new form of visa, pay back taxes, then apply for citizenship. It was not explained how this poor worker, making four bucks an hour, was to save the money for all of this, while continuing to support his or her family. Perhaps they were expected to return to Mexico the same way they got in, sneaking through.
We already have laws on the books concerning Immigration. Somehow, these laws have been totally ignored, while they persist in making new laws. Why we should follow new laws when we have ignored the old laws is beyond anyone's comprehension.
The Patriot Act was 900 pages long and many lawmakers have admitted they didn't read it, didn't have time to read it, didn't even get a copy of it until a short time before it was time to vote on it. Now doesn't that give you a sense of security, a warm, fuzzy feeling of safety, to know that we are in the hands of idiots who will vote on a bill, and pass it, without reading it? Our future is in the hands of these numbskulls and it is frightening.
At the moment, it is a political pissing contest in Congress. The Democrats have a tiny majority, a majority of one vote. They depend upon moderate Republicans to pass any legislation, but the Republicans are reluctant to join any Democratic endeavor. Since it takes 60 votes for any bill to pass in the Senate, almost nothing is passed in the Senate, then the legislation disappears into limbo.
It is like a war between two city gangs, the Krips and the Bloods, fighting it out in the city streets, each maneuvering for votes, each worried more about the next election than the safety and wellbeing of the people they represent, the people that put them into office.
What we need, folks, is a little anger. These candidates stand up there like well-polished, blow-dried, manicured and rehearsed actors, politely reciting the lines they feel the public will like. We need a little indignation. I know several people that lost their jobs last month. Where's the indignation? I know poor families struggling to pay for gas? Where's the sympathy? I saw two homeless men on the streets of this small town area yesterday. Where's the pity? I know a woman worried sick about her boy in Iraq. Where's the anger and the determination to end the war?
Is all of this buried somewhere in an 800-page monstrosity left lying around somewhere in the Senate chambers? Does it take 800 or 900 pages to convince these fools that the American people have been divided into sections, the richer and the poorer and the Soon-To-Be-Poor If Things Do Not Change. This explains why a majority of them do not welcome 12 million new citizens. This explains their dismay at the expense of this war, both in lives and in money.
We try. The stores are loaded with cheap Chinese junk, some of it laced with poison or probably feces. We eat it and use it anyway, because American manufacture has gone with the wind that swept through Georgia and everywhere else. We carefully buy the groceries, the necessities, pay the utilities and try to save enough money out for the lunch money and the gas. Then we read that these Congressional jokers are considering a raise. A raise!! The only raise they deserve is the lift they would get from a kick in the pants! Most of us would gladly line up to deliver it!
We have an impasse in Congress and an endless War, with a possibly braindead President giving speeches about Fear of Terrorism while the borders remain wide open and Heaven knows who is slipping through. We have a Vice President who is frightening at best and monstrous at the worst, rumored to be making all of the big decisions, most of those decisions aimed toward big Corporate profits.
I have only one page in which to express my sentiments. I could do it in 800 pages, but then no one would read it. However, if it were a slice of legislation, reading is not necessary. Just pass it. What the hell? Between Signing Statements and Wiretapping, laws don't really count any more anyway, unless you or I run a red light. Then it's the law, buddy! Pay up!
The now-defeated Immigration Bill was so complicated, one also wonders about the mental health of those composing it. Evidently there was some sort of a Guest Worker program, which boils down to mean that, if you have already taken a job away from an American citizen, continue doing so.
There was also a clause where the Head of a Household, male or female, had to return to Mexico, apply for a new form of visa, pay back taxes, then apply for citizenship. It was not explained how this poor worker, making four bucks an hour, was to save the money for all of this, while continuing to support his or her family. Perhaps they were expected to return to Mexico the same way they got in, sneaking through.
We already have laws on the books concerning Immigration. Somehow, these laws have been totally ignored, while they persist in making new laws. Why we should follow new laws when we have ignored the old laws is beyond anyone's comprehension.
The Patriot Act was 900 pages long and many lawmakers have admitted they didn't read it, didn't have time to read it, didn't even get a copy of it until a short time before it was time to vote on it. Now doesn't that give you a sense of security, a warm, fuzzy feeling of safety, to know that we are in the hands of idiots who will vote on a bill, and pass it, without reading it? Our future is in the hands of these numbskulls and it is frightening.
At the moment, it is a political pissing contest in Congress. The Democrats have a tiny majority, a majority of one vote. They depend upon moderate Republicans to pass any legislation, but the Republicans are reluctant to join any Democratic endeavor. Since it takes 60 votes for any bill to pass in the Senate, almost nothing is passed in the Senate, then the legislation disappears into limbo.
It is like a war between two city gangs, the Krips and the Bloods, fighting it out in the city streets, each maneuvering for votes, each worried more about the next election than the safety and wellbeing of the people they represent, the people that put them into office.
What we need, folks, is a little anger. These candidates stand up there like well-polished, blow-dried, manicured and rehearsed actors, politely reciting the lines they feel the public will like. We need a little indignation. I know several people that lost their jobs last month. Where's the indignation? I know poor families struggling to pay for gas? Where's the sympathy? I saw two homeless men on the streets of this small town area yesterday. Where's the pity? I know a woman worried sick about her boy in Iraq. Where's the anger and the determination to end the war?
Is all of this buried somewhere in an 800-page monstrosity left lying around somewhere in the Senate chambers? Does it take 800 or 900 pages to convince these fools that the American people have been divided into sections, the richer and the poorer and the Soon-To-Be-Poor If Things Do Not Change. This explains why a majority of them do not welcome 12 million new citizens. This explains their dismay at the expense of this war, both in lives and in money.
We try. The stores are loaded with cheap Chinese junk, some of it laced with poison or probably feces. We eat it and use it anyway, because American manufacture has gone with the wind that swept through Georgia and everywhere else. We carefully buy the groceries, the necessities, pay the utilities and try to save enough money out for the lunch money and the gas. Then we read that these Congressional jokers are considering a raise. A raise!! The only raise they deserve is the lift they would get from a kick in the pants! Most of us would gladly line up to deliver it!
We have an impasse in Congress and an endless War, with a possibly braindead President giving speeches about Fear of Terrorism while the borders remain wide open and Heaven knows who is slipping through. We have a Vice President who is frightening at best and monstrous at the worst, rumored to be making all of the big decisions, most of those decisions aimed toward big Corporate profits.
I have only one page in which to express my sentiments. I could do it in 800 pages, but then no one would read it. However, if it were a slice of legislation, reading is not necessary. Just pass it. What the hell? Between Signing Statements and Wiretapping, laws don't really count any more anyway, unless you or I run a red light. Then it's the law, buddy! Pay up!
posted by Herma Snider at 7/01/2007 07:59:00 AM
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