Senator Ted “Bridge to Nowhere” Stevens is a uniter, not a divider. Bloggers from the left and right alike worked tirelessly together to apprehend him, and just when the suspense seemed too great to bear, he finally confessed. It was a Kyra Sedgwick moment:
Senator Stevens, a lot of people have been trying to find out who put the secret hold on S.2590, the bill that would create a website to show where all our taxpayer money is going. Now, since you have been called The King of Pork, I was just kinda wonderin if it was you.
Senator Stevens, don’t you have anything to say about this accusation?
No.
Senator, do you think this legislation would help the taxpayers you work for?
It could be expensive. And it might add more beaurocracy.
How would you know? I have a report right here says you didn’t even attend the hearings. Here, I’ll read it for you - “Hart said that Stevens, who’s on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, failed to attend any hearings on the bill, an assertion backed up by vote tallies.” Do you deny it, Senator? AND you avoided talking to the bill’s sponsor about any concerns you allegedly had. Now, why would you block a good bill like this? Some folks are sayin you have something to hide. But we already know about that little “bridge to nowhere” project of yours. What could be bigger than that?! I’ll tell you what - how about revenge? Coburn said you were blocking it, and I heard it was because you wanted to get even.
That’s right! Coburn blocked my bridge bill, so why shouldn’t I block his stupid little watchdog database?! I’ll teach him to mess with my pork! And I’d have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling bloggers!
Thankyeew! Lieutenant, please take the Senator to the haunted amusement park and make him a funhouse exhibit if he tries to run for re-election. And I just got a confirmed tip that Senator Byrd needs to be brought in for questioning.
[If anyone reading this is, you know, actually funny, by all means re-write it and trackback because I'd love to see it...]
Linked to Conservative Cat, third world country, The Bullwinkle Blog, TMH’s Bacon Bits, The Median Sib, and Blue Star Chronicles
August 31, 2006 by Laura · Comments Off
Cross-posted from Common Sense America -
It seems the illegal immigrant population, and their activists, can’t wait to take to the streets of our cities once again to parade their illegal presence and march for the right to ignore the sovereignty of our nation.
From The Washington Post:
After four months of relative quiet, immigration reform advocates are mobilizing a new round of protests in Washington and other cities to put pressure on a returning Congress and reinvigorate a Latino movement that awakened in massive demonstrations this spring.
The events will begin tomorrow in Chicago, where demonstrators plan to set out on a four-day march to the district offices of House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R) in Batavia, Ill., and will continue with one-day rallies throughout next week in Phoenix, Washington and Los Angeles.
In the Washington region, activists are distributing leaflets, and Spanish-language radio is buzzing about a Sept. 7 rally that organizers hope will be the biggest yet. Organizers say their goal is 1 million protesters from up and down the East Coast for a rally on the Mall and a march to the White House.
“We want to make sure that Congress and this administration get a very clear message that the immigrant community is still paying attention to what’s happening in the immigration debate and that we know that it’s election time,” said Jaime Contreras, chairman of the National Capital Immigration Coalition, the rally’s organizer.
Local organizers said they are improving on spring rallies that were hastily planned amid a spontaneous groundswell of activism. To avoid a backlash against foreign flags, they are directing all protesters to carry U.S. flags. They are starting the rally at 4 p.m. so student demonstrators, who frustrated school administrators by walking out earlier this year, can participate. And organizers have nearly tripled their budget for portable toilets.
Some believe it could be risky. The spring protests roused supporters but also stirred fierce hostility, said Steven A. Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies, which favors lower levels of immigration. That kind of intensity might make members of Congress, which is approaching midterm elections, even less likely to touch the immigration issue.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “Go for it”. This in-your-face arrogance and defiance is exactly what the average American citizen needs to wake them up and get them involved in politics again. These marches and rallies do nothing more than anger the American people and stir them to actively begin calling on their elected officials to stop this insanity.
So, just keep on marching as the Senate returns next week and then right up until election day because you are pushing even those that may ’sit on the fence’ to see this issue more clearly as you demonstrate the arrogance of those who break the laws of this nation and then make demands upon the American taxpayer/voter.
I’m slaving away over a hot keyboard, here. Have some open trackbacks! I’ll be back in 5 hours, give or take… And if you want to read a really interesting post on Creation Science, go to Matt Jones’ Random Acts of Verbiage.
Trackback: http://www.pursuingholiness.com/2006/08/30/open-trackbacks-4/trackback/
Permalink: http://www.pursuingholiness.com/2006/08/30/open-trackbacks-4/
Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger
Link to Pursuing Holiness and track back your latest and greatest here! I’ll be adding trackbacks to the body of the post as time allows, and I’ll bump this post to the top once a day as well.
Linked to Linkfest Haven
Cross posted from The Uncooperative Blogger.
It was previously reported how a group of Mexican illegals took down the American flag flying over a U.S. Post office and replaced it with the Mexican flag. Well, here are a couple of comments from cops that where working the protest.
These comments were posted on the Save Our State forum.
Supersize
Hello everyone,
I am a visitor on this site and would like to give a little insight into how the day went. I hope you don’t mind. I was one of the police officers assigned to the event. I will not say which department I work for, but, will say that there were officers from 5 different agencies there. As far as we were concerned, the day went pretty well. That means that nobody had any major injuries. I do want to express my condolences to your female friend that was attacked. I wish her well.
I do want to thank you guys for having a peaceful demonstration. I just wish other activist groups that we deal with would act in the same manner. About the parking situation, the original plan was to have everyone park in the grocery store parking lot. Unfortunately, the store’s manager was on the side of your foes and would not cooperate. This caused you guys to park in the streets at your own risk. Unfortunately, we couldn’t provide the resources to keep them safe. Next time, especially in a small town like Maywood, you might want to have everyone carpool in a large bus. This would help out tremendously. The police departments might even let you park it in the safe area. I know what a lot of you are thinking, but, I’m not just trying to pass the buck. Crime reports need to be filed for the vandalism to your vehicles. The only problem is that nobody will be caught. The best you can probably hope for is the insurance money. And, as far as the weapons comments go, I don’t think that carrying the weapons would be a really good idea. I do believe in the 2nd Amendment whole heartedly……hell, that’s what makes us citizens and not subjects. The only problem is when something happens and the guns either end up in the wrong hands. There are places that don’t even let cops carry them (like Dodger Stadium). When you have a permitted demonstration, it is up to the police to try to protect you as best we can. I think the bus idea will work here too.
Read more
Houston is, quite rightly, fed up with New Orleanians. They graciously took in 250,000 evacuees, and a year later, of those 150,000 or so who stayed in Houston, the “vast majority” are still on the dole.
Houston is a great place for the evacuees to be living because the economy is booming and the jobs are plentiful. However, according to Houston Mayor Bill White, many Katrina evacuees are not looking for work. At a job fair yesterday, White said, “In Houston, we´re a working city and if people are able-bodied and of working age, they ought to get a job. There´s a lot of jobs here. We have encouraged people to get back on their feet if they are evacuees.”
Experts point to at least 5,000 available jobs in Houston and neighboring Louisiana; however, many are going unfilled. A job fair was held yesterday to try to match evacuees with many of the employers hungry for workers.
With at least 150,000 Katrina evacuees still in Houston, a Texas labor survey showed that the vast majority are unemployed and almost half are living in households that bring in less than $500.00 per month. Some are still traumatized by Katrina; while others have transportation needs to reach places of employment in outlying areas. While New Orleans is a compact city, Houston is a mammoth city that evacuees are not used to navigating.
Yet, despite the challenges, White is ready for the evacuees to move on with their lives. During a tour of the job fair, White said, “We don´t believe in dependency in Houston. We´re a working city. It may not be the perfect job but there are jobs available and people should take them.”
Good grief. It’s been a year. If people are hungry, they’ll find they’re not too traumatized to work. Houston has public transportation, or if that’s inconvenient to your job, move nearby it. The point is that the job is the priority. Suffer some inconveniences, keep that paycheck coming in, and pretty soon you’ll have enough to buy a car. It worked for me.
I understand trauma. Years ago, I was diagnosed with PTSD and dissociative disorder. Trauma can be disabling. And if these evacuees can get a psychiatrist to diagnose them as such, they’ll get Social Security disability benefits and continue to live on the dole until they no longer qualify. In my case, I needed some medical care and counseling for a little while, and now I’m extremely productive, and have been for many years. But in the absence of a medical diagnosis that says they’re too traumatized to work - they should GET A FREAKING JOB!
Here’s the real problem:
Some evacuees do not have a history of employment in their family, but now is a good time to start. What may have been acceptable in New Orleans is not acceptable in Houston and that is a good thing.
We had a welfare culture in New Orleans. I’m familiar with that culture, because I was on welfare, and I’ve stood in those lines and gotten to know people who lived in that culture. We had generations of people living in housing projects, with little or no work, and much of that part time. The attitude of the people I spoke to was that of entitlement. “My check,” and “my benefits” were expected, even demanded. While in line, strategies were discussed, and advice was given on how to make sure you qualified for the benefits you “deserved.” For the vast majority of the people I personally met, their main plan in life was to receive government benefits. Little or no consideration was given to figuring out how not to need benefits. The planning I observed was for how to get them, and keep them. Now, my experience was 17 years ago, and it’s possible things have changed since then. But judging from what we’re hearing from Houston, it doesn’t look like it.
Houston - I’m sorry you’ve received our problem. I hope you handle it better than we did. Make a firm cut-off date and stick with it, because otherwise there will never be an end to it. That’s not just my opinion - that’s what actually happened here until Katrina.
[Bumped, and edited to link to a Wizbang post by Houston's DJ Drummond. He lists some specifics about how Houston welcomed folks from New Orleans, and what (little) they've received in return. For my part, thanks, Houston!]
August 29, 2006 by Laura · Comments Off
It’s been a year since Katrina, and in spite of all the people weighing in about who is to blame, few people seem to understand the problem. Absent the levee breaks, most of the area would have been back to normal in a couple of weeks. Katrina didn’t really hit New Orleans - she brushed us, and we were on the “good” side. (The west side of a hurricane is the weak side.) St. Bernard Parish suffered a great deal more devastation, but then unlike New Orleans, it actually got a direct hit.
So the first step in assigning blame is to understand the real problem. The levee breaks. Paul at Wizbang pretty much owns this story, and he tells it here. There’s a great deal of blame to go around, starting with the Corps of Engineers and the Orleans Levee Board decades ago. The Levee Board, as I documented right after Katrina, pretty much exists to please itself and the Governor who appointed the board members.
Check my Katrina archive especially the euthanasia or alleged murders that may have been committed in a hospital a few days after Katrina. There is also a video made by one of the youth at my church with extensive footage of the damage, especially of the Gentilly (London Ave.) levee break.
Looking for the video of the 17th St. Canal breaking during the hurricane? Click here: Video: New Orleans 17th Street Canal Levee Break
Jared, one of the youth in my church, took a lot of video after Katrina and assembled this fantastic footage, set to “God is God” by Steven Curtis Chapman. The footage includes scenes taken during the repair of the 17th St. Canal levee break, and where the London Avenue canal levee broke, as well as other scenes of Katrina’s destruction.
There are several different sizes, obviously the largest is the best quality, but depending on your connection, you may need one of the smaller ones. Although you could just email the file around, please send people a link to this page to get the video - for one thing, that’s kinder to their inboxes, they can select the size file they want to download, and for another, Jared and I are really interested in knowing how many people watch the video!
You can view the video now via Google Video, or use the links below to download it.
Hurricane Katrina Video
| Format |
Size |
Connection Speed |
Download Time |
Download |
| Real Media |
13MB |
Cable or DSL |
Less than 1 minute |
Download Video |
| Real Media |
2.4MB |
56k (dialup) |
6 minutes |
Download Video |
| Windows Media |
51MB |
Cable or DSL |
2 minutes |
Download Video |
| Windows Media |
12.8MB |
56k (dialup) |
31 minutes |
Download Video |
Looking for Laura loves Katrina video? Click here.
One year after Katrina, and I won’t be doing a big round up post as I had hoped. But the reasons why are indicative of what this year has been like. We returned home from Dallas about two weeks after Katrina and began working on the damage to our home, my mother’s home, and helping friends. We were on the “Katrina diet.”
We’ve been working almost non-stop at our regular jobs, because of the labor shortage around here. My business has prospered, and the Man Of The House has more overtime than he can handle. We’ve had a couple of sick days, but since Katrina we’ve only taken three vacation days. We’ve worked at least one day, and usually two, for almost every weekend since Katrina. Church is now on Saturday, because our church building was destroyed and we’re sharing facilities with another church. A lot of churches around here have closed, when people need spiritual support and comfort more than ever. So Saturday is the new Sunday (when we work only half a day) and Sunday is a regular work day more often than not.
In spite of all the coverage of Nagin’s unfortunate “chocolate city” remarks (song is here), we are not nearly as “chocolate” as we used to be. We are far more “flan” colored. We have a massive influx of illegal aliens. Day labor centers abound, and they don’t just provide roofers. Emergency rooms overflow. The Daughter Of The House was rear-ended by a DUI non-English speaker on Friday night. I have no way of knowing whether he was here legally, of course. Perhaps, because he was either drunk or under the influence, he just reverted to Spanish, but on other occasions can speak English just fine. Perhaps he just forgot his license at home. I’m just relieved that he was taken to jail. He won’t stay there of course. Even if he is here illegally, he’ll be released. Aside from “catch and release,” we just don’t have the jail space to keep anyone but the most hardened criminals. His car was totaled, so at least he will be hindered from driving. For a while. Hope springs eternal, and all that jazz.
The music that is such a big part of our culture is coming back. As are the neighborhoods, slowly, but it is happening. No thanks to the federal funds we’ve been promised, which have been held up by our local leadership, NOT by any lack of action by Congress or the President. The progress we’ve made has been led by churches and civic organizations, which is as it should be. The initial payment of $6 billion was approved last December and held up by locals who wanted to wait for the other $4 billion.
Leading up to the planned one year anniversary post, we had quite a little panic about Ernesto. Everyone kicked it into high gear and started getting ready to bug out if necessary. The old complacent “ride it out” mentality has suffered, and that’s a good thing. And as it turns out, the timing of the 17th St. Canal break which destroyed my church and tens of thousands of businesses and homes may have saved thousands of lives. Paul explains in “The Katrina Video Congress Didn’t Want You To See.”
It’s been a year of confusion, hard work, stress, emotional outbreaks, growth as a family, growth in our faith, and finding blessings where the world couldn’t possibly imagine they might be found. A good year. A blessed year.
Trackback: http://www.pursuingholiness.com/2006/08/29/our-katrina-year/trackback/
Permalink: http://www.pursuingholiness.com/2006/08/29/our-katrina-year/
Wizbang Standalone Trackback Pinger
Link to Pursuing Holiness and track back your latest and greatest here! I’ll be adding trackbacks to the body of the post as time allows.
Linked to Linkfest Haven
August 28, 2006 by Laura · Comments Off
Cross-posted from DeMediacratic Nation.
Immigration - Tired Arguments and Opponents of Reform
I guess I’m just posting on this “editorial” as yet another example of “practice what you preach…”
From The San Francisco Chronicle comes a short editorial regarding and entitled “Immigration ‘costs’:
IT WAS ONLY a matter of time before opponents of immigration reform would drag out the tired old arguments of the “costs” of immigration to the American taxpayers.
Simple, paint anyone with an issue about “immigration reform” as being an “opponent” of “immigration reform.” The fine lines editorial boards often rail on tend to lack just as many, if not more “fine lines,” otherwise their points made are moot. How does one describe/define those that want specific issues addressed as “opponents” of reform? Most “opponents” that fall under the papers definition are looking for a step by step approach rather than the “one size fits all” that got us where we are today. I, for one am tired of giving the facade a new paint job and calling it “new and improved!” It’s either “new” or “improved,” it can’t be both.
More from the “Left Coast” Chronicle:
Last week, the allegedly “nonpartisan” Congressional Budget Office declared that the cost of implementing the immigration-reform plan approved by the U.S. Senate would be a staggering $126 billion over 10 years.
The plan includes tough enforcement measures, a guest-worker program and a path toward legalization for many of the 11 million illegal immigrants already here.
The CBO report projected that the enforcement measures would cost $78 billion — and the costs of “benefits” to immigrants would come to another $48 billion. Those include $11.7 billion for Medicaid coverage, $3.7 billion for Medicare and $2.4 billion for food stamps.
But the report leaves out the economic contributions immigrants will make to the economy that might far outweigh any benefits they might receive. It also doesn’t take into account the Social Security taxes newly legalized immigrants will pay at precisely the time that the Baby Boom generation begins retiring.
Those who want to play the immigration “cost” card should be willing to be honest not only about the costs, but also the benefits of legalizing immigrants to the U.S. economy.
Those who want to refute the ‘”immigration ‘cost’” card should be willing to go out on a limb and crunch the numbers themselves. Perhaps it all becomes a wash, perhaps it doesn’t, but the paper makes the CBO numbers appear suspect, yet doesn’t put any of it’s own efforts into calculating it’s own utopia.
**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let me know at what level you would like to participate.**
Next Page »
