Farmers leave the Law high and dry

I’m writing to give my own view point, on the story “Bill’s failure leaves farmers high and dry” by Ruben Navarette. Mr. Navarette, like many pundits doesn’t really have a grasp of this nation’s laws. He laments the plight of a grape grower in the Central Valley of California. Ruben kind of passes over the little detail of who is footing the bill for this marvelous supply of cheap labor, that businesses in California are utilizing to buy pickups, or pricy private educations for their children. That would be the tax payers of California. The Republican rightwing racists, as well as those pesky union members he condemns, are tax payers. I don’t see any difference between the pot farmers up north in Humboldt County, and the grape growers in the Central Valley utilizing illegals. In both instances you are making a profit by circumventing the law. Most people would understand if the growers were willing to cover the temporary workers they want to utilize, with health coverage. I have never heard any one bring up, that important little detail. To be profitable a business internalizes profit, externalizes costs. I have no problem with a business, unless those externalized cost are being born by the tax payer. If this is the only way these businesses are profitable, is via the violation of our nations laws. Then the owner and officers of the companies violating the law should be imprisoned, and their assets seized. Companies, who are following our nation’s laws, should not be put at a disadvantage. I think what Mr. Navarrette is failing to comprehend is, the interests of American workers. Any politician who doesn’t put the interests of American workers first, probably want survive the next election.

In God We Trust.

The statement is printed on our money, In God we trust. In these heady days when the reign of the secular progressives seems unabated, according to Bill O’Rielly . As a Christian I find the things that I’m suppose to believe in and support fascinating. I was visiting my elderly parents the other day and found the TV loudly blaring the message of Pat Robertson and the 700 Club. My dad has a lot of problems with fine motor control, in other words the damnest things wind up on the screen. Pat was fielding emailed questions from the faithful.” In what form was Jesus when he ascended, and is this important”. Boy I know that question keeps me awake at night. Funny you’d think the question would go something like this. Pat, to keep the lights on and the creditors at bay I find almost impossible to have any time with my children. I find it disturbing, that a religious leader in the modern world is not focused like a laser beam on people having to work two and sometimes three jobs. Operation Blessing does some good things mind you, however somehow I get the feeling Pat may be more worried about the price of jet fuel. Mr. Robertson’s fleet of executive jet aircraft probably consumes quite a bit of Pat’s tax exempt offerings.
Throughout my life I have struggled with the question of faith. My belief in God has always been steadfast, however the organized thing has always troubled me. In my youth I was schooled in the Catholic faith. My father was good on the ceremony poor in practice. My mother was more of a pragmatist, not too much for the ceremony, good in practice. As I grew older the hypocrisy, of my faith became overwhelming. Pedophile priests, no married priests, no women priest…ect. Essentially the Church was no longer representing the people. Since the church is the people that became an untenable position for me to except.
So here I stand one Christian stepping forward into the breach of life. I found the only option left to me was to lead by example. Funny thing but the Bible is pretty straightforward in the assertion, on example being the Christian’s way of revealing oneself to society. So if you ever find yourself roaming the dusty streets of Podunk Iowa and you spot a guy in a baseball cap waving you into traffic with a pleasant smile; that’ll be me practicing my faith.

Of Mice and Men

Sound the triumphant horns, two Republican Senators have found courage. Dick Lugar of Indiana and John Warner of Virginia have joined the ranks of public officials who are paying attention to their constituents. Time for a change in strategy, they say. Well pull my shoe from a cow-pie and call me surprised. In the view of this author way too little, way too late. The obvious question would have to be, what took so long? In my humble opinion this has more to do with John McCain’s rapid slide into the trash bin set aside for people that feel compelled to carry water for the president. The only person who really advocates bringing our forces home tomorrow if not sooner is Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul of Texas. I found it rather ironic that “The league of people who don’t want to pay taxes in Iowa”, thought that it was very important to remove Mr. Paul from the list of invited guests to a presidential debate. God forbid you hear a view point from an old school fiscal conservative at a debate with Republican's in attendance.
The whole shtick of fight um over there has lost its luster. I guess I stand with a small minority of people who, believe impeachment hearings followed by war crimes trials in The Hague are long overdue. As more details of just how blatantly the intelligence was fixed.( that would be the information our representatives in Washington depended on to make informed decisions on the matter of deployment of our fighting forces on foreign soil) News stories bought and paid for by the White House. Now behold, the Pat Tillman incident has suddenly become so much a matter of our nations security that the president has invoked executive privilege in the matter. The point of no return came and went long ago for this independent. I no longer care what any Republican thinks any more, in the presidential field. I think however there should be a lot more rage about this whole sad sick mess, coming from the Democratic candidates.

Justice for None

The days slowly pass as the American people await the end of reign of King George the witless. As the legal community parses out the details of the Libby commutation, some basic facts can’t be escaped on this one. The numerous lawyers in the Bush administration didn’t get much input on this debacle. My humble dumb shuck from po-dunk Iowa take on this is, the unitary president tried to please everybody. What is missing from the whole debate is the fact the President could a knocked one out of the park had he used his office to pardon the right people. The folks I’m talking about of course are the border guards Compean and Ramos,as well as the marines involved in the Haditha incident. The irony in this whole sad tale is the light Bush cast on his internal deliberations. He felt that the sentence was too harsh. Come again! Call me crazy but, I thought that’s why Mr. Bush picked Judge Walton. He chose this judge specially for the purpose of enforcing the law harshly. I frankly don’t give a damn what kind of spin Tony Snow wants to put on this, claiming Clinton did it won’t take the lip stick off that pig. Back to the business at hand folks, in neither case mentioned were things done perfect. The border guards could’ve done a better job, but their motive was spot on. As for the Marine’s they should have never been used to police the streets, hence the name combat unit. When things go wrong at their job you wind up with mass casualties. Based on the fact they had already lost a guy to an IED and were expecting a counter attack, this was not a unexpected outcome. The President could have done pardons in both these cases and been heralded as a hero by most Americans, what he pulled was inside baseball to most common folks.

Looking for America

On this July 4th I sit at my keyboard and hammer out a few thoughts. I remember days gone by when thousands of us marched off to jobs in factories and work sites. What happen to those jobs? Do people no longer drive cars, need tractors, earth moving equipment, or need simple work done on their properties. I remember a time when a man armed with a pickup and a few tools could make a good living, have a home, and watch his children grow up ands learn what it is to be an American. Were these things so subversive that special laws and treaties needed to be enacted to keep the dreams of simple men from happening. As this country comes to the end of another chapter in supply side economics, I wonder if working people have learned a simple truth. You ain't part of the plan. Sure we can keep a fresh supply of bodies ready to repel the invading hoards around the world, but the thing we hold dear must take a back seat to multinational corporate need. Tax breaks for this,tax breaks for that, borrow and spend. Well let it be known to all who seek a seat of power in this nation that business as usual is over. Immigration, no problem there. From now on large corporation that can't seem to check documentation, your officer will be put in jail and your assets seized. If I try to boost my income through illegal means that's what happens to me. Terrorism, here's an idea. How bout we shift away from imported oil and start cooking up or own fuel. Pay attention on this one corn is a scam. Henry Ford was producing flex fuel vehicles long ago. I like the idea that Cuba came up with. Instead of positioning troops all over the world, they decided to train doctors and position them. Relax we don't have to be socialist to pull this one off. Going to be pretty hard to find fanatics who don't want healthy children. I believe if we just start putting simple ideas forward the politians will follow us. The true dream of the America lives in the heart of simple middle class working people.