Make them Legal! Why not?

wilsoncenter.org

Many of you have been following the “gang of eight” and the new immigration bill that is making its way through Congress right now. I have been trying to read the details of the bill from both sides, just to make sure I am getting as much of the information as possible. I find that I have to do that these days in order to cut through the political bias that the media pours on us.

Getting back to the topic, I want to provide a little bit of my personal back story on this issue. As many of you know, I am conservative. That said, my initial reaction shouldn’t be too much of a shock to anyone. I was completely appalled by the idea of making all the illegal immigrants legal, which was the main focus of the bill from the start.

Eventually, I took the time to really think about what that would mean. The biggest argument for immigration reform is that the illegal immigrants weren’t paying taxes, yet were draining from our budget through social programs and the prison system. Don’t get excited at that last remark. I didn’t come up with the idea.

So it finally dawned on me – the illegal immigrants would become legal and have to pay taxes. Isn’t that a success story? Doesn’t that solve the biggest problem? The only other major issue I can think of is the sudden saturation in the market when it comes to low income jobs. I am no economist by any means, but if more people are making more money and putting it back into the economy, isn’t that a good thing?

If the illegal immigrants become legal and have the ability to make more money for their skills, couldn’t that bring the trades back? That is an issue that I have been passionate about for years.

What do you guys think? This is only my analysis of the bill when it comes to the legalization process. As I find time, I will try to pick through the other parts of the bill.

- BCS

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Oklahoma Tornadoes: What THEY Want You to Feel

news.yahoo.com

First, I want to say that I feel deeply sorry for all of those people who lost their loved ones in this horrible tragedy. I have and will continue to pray for the comfort and resolution needed to deal with that sort of loss.

I have been watching the news quite a bit lately (as always), and I have been very surprised by some of the ways that the media has tried to spin public interest. When did we get to the point that we needed the media to tell us how to feel about a devastating tornado or other tragedies?

When I was watching CNN about two days ago, I saw a woman come on and complain about FEMA. She said that the money that people would be getting from FEMA would be better used to build storm shelters for each home. She at least pretended to think it was wrong that the organization would help people rebuild their houses without providing them the added benefit of something they didn’t have before. Would insurance cover it? Why should FEMA be responsible for upgrading your home? Is it their fault that you didn’t build some sort of shelter the last time a tornado hit? Is it the tax payers’ fault? If I were involved in something that catastrophic, I would hope to think that I would be grateful for anything I got.

Another thing that the media has forgotten to talk about is insurance. If you live in a place that constantly has natural disasters, you should probably invest in it. I don’t want to sound cold, but if you decided not to cover yourself with homeowner or rental insurance in order to save a little bit of money, I consider that irresponsible and I have a very hard time feeling sorry for your material losses.

Later on another broadcast, the anchors were talking to an expert of some sort (probably simply survived a natural disaster at some point in their lives) and asked why the state or local governments did not require storm shelters or storm cellars to be built for every home. Really? Now you want the government telling you another criterion for living your own life? Just take your FEMA money or insurance claim and build one yourself. That is what I would do (aside from moving). If you feel like your insurance company is trying to cheat you out of money after filing a claim, you should probably get a good attorney (they already did).

Why is it that during and directly after the tornadoes, the major cable networks were pretending to be talking to the actual people on the ground during the coverage? They said things like, “Please take cover and protect your families” and “Do not go outside for any reason.” Did anyone else recognize the false show of support that the news anchors were showing toward people without working electricity to power their televisions? Some people didn’t even have natural gas to warm water or anything. They did the same thing with the flooding that happened the next day. We see what you are doing there, news guys.

What do you guys think about it? Am I going overboard here? Does anybody else notice that the media capitalizes on tragedies in order to increase ratings? Let me know in the comments section down below.

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Link Between IRS "Scandal" and Obamacare... Really Guys?

photo from netrightdaily.com

Until now, I haven’t said anything about the Internal Revenue Service issue going on right now because I haven’t really had an opinion. What they were doing was clearly wrong and someone should be punished. Obviously, the key leadership who really ordered or influenced the headache that was served to Tea Party political groups will not be tried or punished. We have scapegoats for all that. Unless the people being questioned have real political ambitions, I seriously doubt they would take it upon themselves to play in the political game of thrones.

Now we have conservatives like the Minnesotan representative, Michelle Bachman, trying to tie the IRS issue with Obamacare. Suddenly, I have an opinion on the matter.

First, I want to apologize to the Associated Press about my comment on their Twitter post “GOP hoping scandal over IRS will grow to include Obama's health care law”, where I claimed that it was the most ridiculous thing that they said yesterday. I thought at the time that it was just a liberal political stunt, aimed at making the members of the GOP look silly. Thank you, Ms. Bachman for stepping up and taking that responsibility head on.

If any of you didn’t know, my political views sway to the left.  

I don’t like Obamacare. That said, the supposed tie between the IRS “scandal” and Obamacare is Sarah Ingram, who used to be the commissioner of the tax-exemption department of the IRS. In December 2010, she was laterally transferred to head the Affordable Care Act office, but has openly indicated that she worked both positions until 2012.

photo from riehlworldview.com

I did some research on the topic because I didn’t understand what the IRS had to do with Obamacare. I found out that the IRS is responsible for collecting income information from their tax activities and forwards that information to the people who enforce Obamacare.

I really don’t see that much of a link, other than she now collects income information and forwards it. I think this tie is a stretch, at best. So far as I can see, the position she holds doesn’t have much influence on Obamacare legislation. She was simply in charge of formulating and executing a plan to deal with the legislation.

This example comes to mind: I am in charge of an organization’s computer helpdesk. Corporate releases a new information security policy that states all systems will be scanned weekly for personal photographs and my supervisor asks me to find a feasible way to make the requirement happen.

Later on down the road, it is suspected that someone on the helpdesk has been stealing company-owned computer keyboards and an investigation ensues. Someone who doesn’t like the corporate security manager or their new security policy sees that I was in charge of the helpdesk and also worked to make sure that the corporate security policy was executed as ordered. They try to formulate a link between the stolen equipment and the security manager in order to attack them.

photo from georgiapoliticalreview.com

Am I getting this all wrong? Even though I find value in following politics, sometimes it just makes me sick. 

Now the Tea Party is suing the IRS for maltreatment. I’m not surprised about this and I don’t think it is really a story. The only reason I am mentioning it is because the media thinks it adds more drama to the situation. If anyone else was put through the ringer in this way, they would probably sue as well.  I would if I could afford the legal fees.

Let me know what you guys think. I always welcome feedback, even if it contradicts my opinion.

- BCS

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Force Feeding and Hunger Strike at Guantanamo Bay (GITMO)

One of the biggest stories right now has to do with the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. According to an article in the Miami Herald, the prisoners are striking due to mistreatment by the guards.

Some examples of this mistreatment provided are the confiscation of personal items (such as Religious CDs, personal letters, blankets, and hygiene items), and disruption or disrespect during prayer times. Their books and Qur’ans have been searched for paraphernalia and their exercise times have been reduced significantly.

At the time of this writing, there are currently over 100 prisoners participating in the hunger strike and 30 who are being force-fed.

An attorney for some of the prisoners has described the situation as being “barbaric” and says the prisoners are being treated unfairly and that these innocent men are being denied the right to die (instead of continue to endure the conditions).

Dr. Gerald Thomson, former president of the American College of Physicians goes on to describe the force-feeding as a form of torture.

I am just trying to sum this up for any of you that aren’t already following the story. Let’s take a minute to talk about the history of force-feeding:

- In the United States, people being treated for psychiatric or eating disorders are often force-fed. When this happens, everyone just calls it sustaining life.

- Hunger strikes throughout history (all over the world) have resulted in force-feeding.

- On December 6^th, 2006, the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal approved the force-feeding of Vojislav Šešelj, a Serbian politician who was being held and refusing to eat. In their statement, they said it is not “torture, inhuman or degrading treatment if there is a medical necessity to do so...and if the manner in which the detainee is force-fed is not inhuman or degrading.”

- The Connecticut Supreme Court authorized force-feeding for a prisoner who refused to eat voluntarily in the 2009 case, Lantz vs. Coleman.

- The “shoe bomber” terrorist, Richard Reid attempted to perform a hunger strike in 2009 and was force-fed.

My first reaction to this story was simple – offer them food three times a day and if they don’t eat it, that’s their problem. Then I saw the political issues behind that idea. As soon as someone died or word got out that prisoners were going hungry, there would be a public uprising.

Here is how I see it now: if someone is refusing to eat, they are probably suffering from some sort of mental issue (psychosis, an eating disorder, dementia, retardation, etc.). In that case, the only responsible thing to do would be force-feeding them. That is how the medical world treats these issues, and I stand behind their judgment.

When it comes to the confiscation of their personal items or limitation of exercise times, I have one thing to say. They are prisoners. They are there because they are either being detained or punished for their participation in terrorist activities. These aren’t purse snatchers or money launderers here – they are terrorists. Stop trying to give them rights that they don’t deserve.

Let me know what you guys think. If you are influential enough, you might change my mind (but I doubt it).

- BCS


References:
One Hundred Days of Hunger Striking at Guantanamo http://dissenter.firedoglake.com/2013/05/17/one-hundred-days-of-hunger-striking-at-guantanamo/
Force-Feeding Facts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force-feeding

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What Everyone is Afraid to Say About Benghazi

With all this news coverage on Benghazi, I don’t understand why nobody will just come out and call it like it is. Why is everyone in the media afraid to say what everyone knows to be true? The attack on the embassy in Benghazi took place during the time that the President and his cabinet were campaigning for the election. 

Nobody wanted to deal with the attack, the murder of Americans serving their country, the threat of forced retaliation, or the time and effort that would be taken away from the campaign. President Obama knew that any time spent on handling the incident would be time lost, since Mitt Romney would not have to take that time. The race was close and the polls were close.

Stop beating around the bush, Washington. Stop dragging this on in hopes of someone in the State Department will roll over on their superiors and admit that the decision to downplay the crisis came from the top.

I am not in any way playing one side or the other here. If it were a Republican running for reelection, he would have done the same thing. It’s called politics. The campaign advisors did the math and urged the President toward a decision. The campaign won. There isn’t anything we can do about it now, aside from calling The Man to the stand and seeing what he has to say about it.

Am I wrong? Please let me know.

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