Achtung, May I See Your Papers?

I’ve been ignoring the Arizona immigration law until I had time to really think about what it means and what the consequences could be.  Besides being a clear line in the sand between how conservatives and liberals (what else is new…) view the issue, the conservatives are railing on President Obama for showing support of President Calderon’s strong opposition of the new law. Many conservatives are accusing Obama of being un-American for not standing up in support of Arizona’s pro-active immigration stance and the recent Calderon exchange threw more gas on the fire.

Obama has been consistent is stating that people immigrate to America, not Arizona, and immigration is a federal issue. Conservatives complain that Obama and the Democrats are not moving fast enough on this issue, but they’ll do everything in their power to stonewall or filibuster any changes the Democrats propose. By the way, isn’t this just another issue that sat on the back steps for eight years under Bush like a large bag of overripe Zucchini in August??

People say unless you live in Arizona you can’t appreciate the “problem” that exists there.  We’ve had Canadians coming into New Hampshire forever and they haven’t created a problem. In fact, they’re an integral part of the social fabric in New Hampshire.  They make New Hampshire special. People say, yeah, but they were legal aliens. I wonder. The New Hampshire border was very porous until 911 came along. My son in law grew up in Colebrook. They could drive across unpatroled country borders like you’d go to a Seven Eleven.  I’m sure many Canadians made a life in New Hampshire “illegally”.

Arizona is the same. Arizona would not be Arizona without Mexicans. The culture and the social fabric of Arizona is defined by Mexican heritage as much as by Native American heritage. By not acting with empathy toward these people and their plight, Arizonians are rejecting themselves.

Least we forget, the US Government took Arizona through a war with Mexico in 1848, ending 300 years of Spanish domination in the southwest. If we take a long view of what happened in history, just who are the illegal immigrants, the Americans or the Mexicans??

I believe we should have an open border policy- let everyone come to America who wants to come here. That’s what made us a great country.  We should stand behind what is inscribed at the base of Lady Liberty:

“Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breath free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Give Me Liberty and White Only Restrooms too?

Rand Paul, Republican Primary winner for the senate race in Kentucky and love child of the Tea Party, has a good point. The libertarian in Rand can’t let go of the idea that the best government governs the least. He was genuinely sincere in his views opposing Jim Crowe laws and institutionalized segregation. He squirmed badly on the issue of segregation in private enterprise though. He never answered the question put to him, would he support allowing lunch counters to ban people from being served for any reason they choose?  No answer. He ran around the question by asking should we enforce the 2^nd amendment on private enterprise, by insisting that guns be allowed anywhere?

He just can’t stand to see government getting in the way of private enterprise- even though he abhors actions such as white only restrooms at gas stations. So there you have it. Government intrusion into private enterprise is more despicable than all acts of hatred and bias toward people for whatever reason. 

There were 10 titles in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He endorsed nine of the ten. The one title he would not have endorsed if he were in Congress in 1964 prohibits discrimination in dealing with the general public. Rand Paul endorsed the continued segregation of lunch counters, white only water coolers and restrooms, white only hotels, white only taxi cabs, white only restaurants. He doesn’t like the ADA either. They can stay on the first floor… businesses shouldn’t be required to install $100,000 elevators…

His principles toward less government outranking all else will have a lot of friends in Wall St, oil, gas, coal, nuclear power and many Tea Partiers can iron their white sheets and “take back the government”, what ever that means…

Spill Baby Spill!

We all hate regulations. When we’re very young, rules are everywhere- don’t lean back in your chair, chew with your mouth closed, keep off the lawn, etc. As we grow our rules and regulations become bigger too- don’t speed, conduct yourself with discretion and courtesy, don’t hurt others, etc. Then we have the behavior of groups and companies- be kind to mother nature, don’t pollute the air, ground and water, etc. Group cheating is the worst of all- don’t be Enron or what’s his name, the pyramid investor.

Thirty years ago Exxon spilled oil that took a generation to recover from. Now we’re facing another catastrophe that could well take another generation to mend. President Obama’s recent lift of off-shore drilling got a cold slap in the face with the recent spill, and maybe the wake-up call we needed to remind us all why the drilling ban was imposed in the first place.

We worry about leaving our future generations with unpaid debt. We should also worry about leaving our future generations with a place to live.


Published on Monday, May 10, 2010 by Agence France Presse
BP, US Search for New Fix to US Oil Spill
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana - BP officials desperately searched Monday for a new fix to the enormous Gulf of Mexico oil spill after efforts to cap a gushing leak with a containment dome hit a perilous snag.


British energy giant BP, which owns the lion's share of the leaking oil and has accepted responsibility for the clean-up, is facing the jaw-dropping possibility that, failing a swift fix it has yet to deliver with a containment dome, the crisis could spiral into an even worse environmental calamity.


The White House also was scrambling to contain fallout from the massive disaster threatening to take a toll on President Barack Obama's political and energy agenda.


In Washington, Obama on Monday "will meet with a number of Cabinet members and senior staff in the White House Situation Room to review BP efforts to stop the oil leak, as well as to decide on next steps to ensure all is being done to contain the spread, mitigate the environmental impact and provide assistance to affected states," a White House statement said.


Meanwhile the Minerals Management Service (MMS) said it "continues to work with BP to explore all options that could stop or mitigate oil leaks from the damaged well."


The BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig sank some 80 km (50 miles) southeast of Venice, Louisiana April 22, two days after an explosion that killed 11 workers.


The riser pipe that had connected the rig to the wellhead now lies fractured on the seabed a mile below, spewing out oil at a rate at some 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons, a day.


Sheen from the leading edge of the slick has surrounded island nature reserves off the coast of Louisiana and tar balls have reached as far as the Alabama coast, threatening tourist beaches further east.


Sea life is being affected in a low-lying region that contains vital spawning grounds for fish, shrimp and crabs and is a major migratory stop for many species of rare birds.


The 2.4-billion-dollar Louisiana fishing industry has been slapped with a temporary ban in certain areas due to health concerns about polluted fish.


BP, facing a barrage of lawsuits and clean-up costs soaring above 10 million dollars a day, had pinned its hopes on a 98-ton concrete and steel containment box that it successfully lowered 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) down over the main leak.


But the contraption lay idle on the seabed as engineers furiously tried to figure out how to stop it clogging with ice crystals.


Still, if efforts fail to make the giant funnel system effective, there is no solid plan B to prevent potentially tens of millions of gallons of crude from causing one of the worst ever environmental catastrophes.


Untold damage is already being done by the 3.5 million gallons estimated to be in the sea so far, but the extent of that harm will rise exponentially if the only solution is a relief well that takes months to drill.
Admiral Thad Allen, head of the US Coast Guard, suggested they were considering what he called a "junk shot" to plug the main leak.


"They're actually going to take a bunch of debris, shredded up tires, golf balls and things like that and under very high pressure shoot it into the preventer itself and see if they can clog it up and stop the leak," Allen, who is leading the US government's response, told CBS television.


This could be risky as experts have warned that excessive tinkering with the blowout preventer -- a huge 450-ton valve system that should have shut off the oil -- could see crude shoot out unchecked at 12 times the current rate.
There are also fears the slick, which covers an area of about 2,000 square miles (5,200 square kilometers), could be carried around the Florida peninsula if it spreads far enough south to be picked up by a special Gulf current.
"If this gusher continues for several months, it's going to cover up the Gulf coast and it's going to get down into the loop current and that's going to take it down the Florida Keys and up the east coast of Florida," warned Florida Senator Bill Nelson.
"You are talking about massive economic loss to our tourism, our beaches, to our fisheries, very possibly disruption of our military testing and training, which is in the Gulf of Mexico," he told CNN.
On the dome front, clearing out the slushy crystals is easy -- the chamber just has to be raised to warmer levels, Suttles told reporters. Keeping the crystals out so that a pipe can be lowered into the dome to suck the oil to a waiting barge is another matter.
BP began drilling a first relief well one week ago, but that will take up to three months to drill -- by which time some 20 million gallons of crude could have streamed into the sea and ruined the fragile ecology of the Gulf.
© 2010 AFP

The Conundrum of the Tea Party Complainers

Tax day is upon us. The Tea Party activists are churned up into a media frenzy led by the great orator and stateswomen – Sarah Palin. Yesterday she made the point that people should be able to keep more of the money they earn so they can spend the money how they wish and not how the big bad government wishes. Well, thanks to Gail Collins of the NY Times, a conundrum is indeed before us.

Stay with me on this one. According to the Tax Policy Center 47 percent – the lowest income American households – did not have to pay any income tax in 2009. This was largely aided by the Obama stimulus plan that included tax credits for families with income under $50,000. But taxation is the core issue of the Tea Party, right? One would think so, but wait, there’s more…

According to Gallop Polls 45 percent of the Tea Party members have income below $50,000. Stay with me here. According to a NY Times/CBS Poll, The Tea Party is the only organization that has a majority of members who think their taxation is unfair. So we have maybe millions of pot bellied, middle aged white folks, who largely pay no taxes driving around the country complaining about their unfair tax burden!!

As Gail Collins eludes- clearly this is not the core reason for their existence, not the rag they treasure chewing more than any other. These patriots of the Tea Party crawled out of the woodwork in mass only after Obama was elected. They were conspicuously absent for eight years while Bush spent trillions on war like a drunken Yale freshman, and even treaded lightly on Clinton for eight years, despite his immoral behavior.

The Obama administration has exposed them to what they really are- good ole racial and homophobic bigots still smarting from the reality of being governed by a black man, with an Arab sounding name, who they believe was not even born in the US. They proudly carry their “Kill Obama-care” signs and yell profanities at politicians in the name of lower taxes, liberty, freedom, and taking back America. Yeah right. They all seem to have lost their sheets and don’t know where to find them.

Strategic Arms Insanity

Ok, let’s all get up and do the happy dance. Come on- out of your seat! President Obama has signed a new nuclear arms reduction treaty. Each side will reduce their nuclear warhead count to 1550 over the next seven years. We need to celebrate, right?

Before we get too excited, we should reflect on just how meaningless this all really is. These are really big hydrogen bombs- a thousand to ten thousand times more powerful than the bombs we dropped on Japan. One of these bombs can wipe out New England. Ten to twenty of these bombs can kill all life in the continental United States. Having 1550 of these dooms day weapons still sounds like “overkill” to me- which, by the way- is the source of the saying.

Yet we are asked to do the happy dance. I’m afraid this is much ado about nothing. Until all nuclear weapons are buried we have nothing to celebrate- except less “overkill”- what ever that is.

President Obama Endorses the Tea Party

In a rare meeting with Sarah Palin at the White House following the announcement to open offshore drilling in Alaska, President Obama has decided to endorse the Tea Party. He plans to address the Tea Party at the gala assembly on April 15th in Washington. Sarah Palin will introduce the President He’s expected to make another landmark speech denouncing same sex marriage rights and reversing his position on abortion.

Minority Leader John Boehner immediately renounced his support for the Tea Party calling it a Green Tea Party, and warned of President Obama being a sheep in wolf's clothing, who will undermine everything the Republicans stand for by agreeing with them.

Rush Limbaugh has decided to go to Costa Rica as promised, but he did refer to the President as “two faced” for giving up his long held liberal beliefs to follow the Conservative agenda.

Obama Says Drill Baby Drill!!

Once again the line is blurred. I’m feeling oh just a little betrayed, but that seems to be the cost getting anything done in Washington. All the southern coastal conservative states are getting their drilling rights, just like John McCain and Sarah Palin promised. The question is, has President Obama made a new backroom deal in exchange for support of the Climate Bill that’s looming on the horizon, or is this just a clear case of “Oops, I thought I was reaffirming the drilling ban, you know… what I campaigned on… who changed the wording here??!! Rahm what did you do to me??!!!” No such luck...

This carefully calculated return to drilling is tragic if not laughable. We have a continued ban on drilling for the liberal states that oppose it, i.e. the whole west coast and the liberal elites from New Jersey to Maine, while the states that all voted for McCain can pollute their coastlines to their little hearts content- the latest version of “win-win” I suppose.

This geo-political executive gerrymandering could be the new vehicle for getting everything done. Just give people what they want in the states where they live- wow! Why didn’t he think of this sooner? He could’ve had full bi-partisan support for health reform if any state that didn’t want it could just say “No thanks”. We could even initiate geo-political tax distributions. If a state opts out of a government program, everybody’s income tax in that state could be prorated lower- and vice versa.

The states that want nothing would pay no taxes at all, except of course for defense, social security, Medicare, interstate highways, bridges, federally funded airports, trains, flood control dams, inland waterway maintenance, park subsidies, main street renovations, environmental pollution remediation, border patrol, coast guard rescue, drug interdiction, federal crime prosecution, human rights abuses, veterans rights, ADA enforcement, US Postal Service, education, student loans, and several other minor items I didn’t think of!

Applying federal guidelines in such an obviously political way is a slippery slope- one I would not even want to ski down! Shame on you President Obama!

Bon Voyage Rush Limbaugh!

I’ve been enjoying the conservative rant this week- especially Rush Limbaugh. Wasn’t he moving to Costa Rica if the health reform passed??? I suppose he didn’t really mean it. I wonder what else he really doesn’t mean when he rants??

According to the conservatives we’ve lost our freedom, tyranny is ruling in Washington, and the country is going to socialist hell in a hand basket. Come November all the Democrats will be booted out of office and life will return to normal, whew- just in time.

I chuckle at the thought of majority rule being called tyranny. These whining conservatives must think democracy is rule by minority. Taken one step farther, maybe the smallest minority would have the most power by their definition of democracy. Yep. Then the party that’s giving tea a bad name could run the government, ole lip stick Palin could set us straight (as opposed to gay), and everything would be hunky dory. You betcha.

Rush has his Hanes in a wad over the name calling too- calls them a bunch of babies. He says he gets death threats everyday. He says it comes with the job. Live with it. Of course if he didn’t slam liberals on a daily basis he wouldn’t have an audience or a program. Name calling is his life blood. The uglier the better. Unfortunately he has a large audience that believes and worships his every word. I try not to think about that too much. I get goose bumps.

Oh well, we got some health reforms. Maybe the people who benefit from these reforms will like it. Maybe some Republicans will get booted for being anti-people and too pro-corporation. Probably not, but the thought takes away my goose bumps.

No, No, No, and No

I feel like I’m living in a Lewis Carroll world of inverted logic. Now the party of “No” is busy figuring out how to repeal the Health Bill even before the ink dries on Obama’s signature- does this make them the party of “Un-No” or “Oh No”?

Many states also want to pass laws that would prohibit the Federal Government from mandating private health insurance. The irony of this sanctimonious GOP opposition is that it was a Republican idea first proposed by Senator McCain many years ago, and as we all know, also implemented by Republican Mitt Romney when he was the Governor of Massachusetts.

This is nothing more than a giveaway for the private health insurance corporations- universal coverage the capitalist way. They're clicking their heals at the thought of 32 million new consumers- not patients. Their stock is soaring.

Mandatory private health insurance goes against everything Democrats stand for, yet they were forced to include it because the health cartel bought everybody- key Democrats included.

The only other way to achieve universal health coverage is by providing Medicare for all. Since that would essentially kill the capitalist health system, hell would freeze over two or three times before we’d see that day, so the only means to universal coverage is through a contract with the devil.

If the Republicans had implemented this bill it would've been as hailed as a pillar of capitalism. Democrats would be screaming, or at least whining…

The bottom line is the GOP hates Democrats even when they implement GOP ideas, or especially when they implement GOP ideas. Duh… Help me out white rabbit, I think I ate the wrong mushroom.

My First Day on Medicare

Today was my first day on Medicare- oh, excuse me a minute while I adjust my Lazyboy- there, that’s better… All in all, it’s been a rather uneventful day after I drove my Saab all the way to the garage dragging a rear wheel because the hand brake had frozen after a week of no use, and after enduring a 75-degree temperature change. We had a warm rain followed by the Montreal Express and the temp dropped from +55 to –20.

The old Saab is ten years old, but in buggy years that’s at least 70, maybe more. I never would’ve made it without blowing out the tire except the road was snow covered. That left rear tire slid 10 miles. The guy at the garage in Franconia couldn’t believe it when he saw me dragging my hind wheel into the parking lot.

The car did have a tendency to pull a little to one side, but only when I hit dry patches. Unfortunately, that was one of my good tires, but I sprang for a whole new set of Blizzaks in addition to getting the rear brakes fixed and a few other nuisance malfunctions.

The one thing that may force me to finally say goodbye to the old Saab is my now defunct seat heater. I loved that seat heater. It would get hot enough to fry eggs and after a long day of skiing nothing felt better on the ride home. I’m thinking of transferring the seat heater from the passenger side, but it could be a summer job.

Funny thing about old cars, they seem to work ok as long as you drive them everyday, but as soon as you let them remain idle they don’t work so well.

If we keep our selves active like old cars we can run a long time too. I saw Joe Nelson (my skiing idol) on the Cannon tram today. He was proudly wearing his 90+ patch on his parka. I think he’s 92, but he skis like a sixty year old. Skiing is free after 65, so that means he’s been skiing free for over 27 years. He’s one of those guys that if you asked if he skied all his life he’d say, “Not yet”.

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day, but it doesn’t matter in New Hampshire because we always get 8 more weeks of winter regardless of what Punxsutawney Phil does. I’ll just keep skiing and enjoy the warm satisfaction of finally getting single payer health care.

Now where’s that recliner lever, oh that’s better. Good night.