That "Obama Immigration Policy" Causing border Crisis? Passed in 2002, Updated Unanimously by Congress in 2008, signed by George W Bush

Why yes, I'll talk to the press about all those annoying immigrants of the last 400+ years!  Hey, where you running off to Mr. Newsman!


So Rush Limbaugh/ Fox News/ etc's problem is that the current US President obeys the law?

That would explain a lot.

According to a a well done earlier report:

Under a 2002 human trafficking law signed by former President George Bush and reauthorized again in 2008 with additional protections, Mexican unaccompanied children apprehended crossing the border are automatically returned without formal deportation proceedings because the two countries share a border. But unaccompanied children from El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala cannot be sent back without going through the deportation process, since that law ensured that America wouldn’t send kids back to a dangerous situation. (Honduras, for example, has experiences increased gang violence in 40 percent of its territory, while violence against females is surging in Guatemala.) Authorities must instead process these children and determine whether they have credible proof that they cannot return to their countries of origin. Central American children are given basic care like medical screenings in processing centers before being placed with relatives or foster care until they can appear in front of immigration judges.

The requirement that children from nations not sharing a border with the US go through a process that precludes just bouncing them across the border again or flying them to a big airport in their home country was started in 2002 and reauthorized in 2008.

Sorry, that means they law would be known as Bush 43 laws.  Passed bills do not sit around waiting to be signed by a succeeding president. In fact, every two years a Congress expires and any unsigned bills die.  The process must be repassed in the new Congress.

In 2002, the Democrats actually did control the Senate because of the disaffection of one of the Republican senators who decided to caucus with the Democrats (until he was ousted at the end of the year) but the GOP still controlled the House of Representatives.  In 2008 the Democrats were in control of Congress after a 2006 crisis revealed that the GOP leaders did not care to control, expel, or expose one of their own powerful Congressmen who was caught, at least attempting to sexually engage with underage Congressional interns.

So what was the vote count like while the Dems controlled Congress?  Did those slimy liberals force laws on the nation that would force the US to spend weeks identifying whether it was safe to send a child back to their non-bordering nation before packing them off on a plane or a smoky autobús to some dumping point in a dangerous inner city of Central America?

Nancy Pelosi !!!

Um, no.

According to

Congress.gov the major actions for H.R. 7311 were:

12/10/2008

Passed/agreed to in Senate: Received in the Senate, read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed without amendment by Unanimous Consent.(consideration: CR S10886-10887)

12/10/2008

Passed/agreed to in House: On passage Passed without objection.(text: CR H10889-10902)

Then:

12/23/2008

Became Public Law No: 110-457.

12/23/2008

Signed by President.

12/12/2008

Presented to President.

 As you can see the timeline appears to go upwards in these copies directly from the source.

No President Obama anywhere around.

No Democratic Party acting unilaterally in Congress.

A troll, possibly as stupid as he/she seemed with a pathetic follower count came back at me with the claim that this was about "trafficking" not immigration when I stated this on Twitter and left a link to the 2008 bills page that I placed above (so he/sh had no excuse for ignorance).

But no, the bill was about ensuring that children returned to their native homes will  not be immediately trafficked when they return .  That appears to mean that relatives are contacted to find someone to care for the children instead of tossing them into the streets of a decrepit inner city.  The big question is why this isn't extended to Mexico where such things can happen, too.  Maybe it is -- on the sly.  Is Rush Limbaugh's hate radar on the fritz?

Maybe Fox News Hosts and Rush Limbaugh, etc should ask John Boehner and other Republicans in Congress in 2008 why they voted for it, instead of shaking their fists and Gargling out "Obama did this to us!"

Because everyone who learns the truth would then know how big the GOP and their r/w media thought control handlers are willing to lie to achieve their ends, and grab big money from right wing sources.

Picture at top clipped using Windows Snipping Tool and used via Creative Commons License CC by 2.0 thanks to flickr user Larry Lamsa who has no connection to this blog or blogger.

Has Issa Lost His Chance to Prosecute Former IRS Official Lois Lerner?

,

Issa may have made a gaff that will prove to be fatal to his hopes to charge Ms Lerner with contempt according to Lawrence O' Donnell.

Tell Your Congressmembers How You Feel. It's Easy. Get Your Way More Often.

Two things to remember:

1)Someone is talking to your Congressional Representative and Senators.  If it's not you, then you are completely out of the conversation.

2) No matter what rich and powerful people and groups are willing to offer them, they cannot get back to the place where they can keep on earning that money and other perks  without enough votes, that is why what you tell them should scare them, so you should tell them what you want more often.  You have only yourself to blame if you fail to even write.

Its easy to write to Congress (and your state legislature should have easy methods to communicate too, but I know the congressional offices demand your email in return.   That can lead to receiving Karl Rove's talking points in it every morning.  Whether you are left or right you do not want Rove's BS in the email box you actually use as a daily thing. (He convinced people to give him hundred of millions of dollars in the last election that were basically wasted.) I've lost an email box or three to political spam.  Now I've picked up an extra box just for that.  Yahoo and other sites pass them out like flapjacks at a little league breakfast.  Pick one up and start talking to your government officials without the blow-back ruining your prime method of Internet communication.

To tell your Representatives and Senators what you want them to do, go to Thomas.gov.  It's named after Thomas Jefferson, and is  a government website so it's creator isn't going to steal your info and sell it off to a spam-mill right away.  Your Representative and Senators' teams might be a different story, which is why I gave the new email box advice above. Once at thomas.gov  moving down the left column of information you will see links to House of Representatives, Senate, and U.S. Code. See Graphic to the left here.

Let's find your Rep's contact info since it's more complicated.  You know which state you live for a majority of the year and are registered in, right?  That will lead you to your Senators' contacts easily.  

Click on the House of Representatives link and you'll be sent to the page where you can get the ability to call, write, or fax them.  (Be warned, using a fax to contact anyone gives the recipient the right to fax you back.  That can cost you money, and once you open that connection it's hard to break it.) BTW, the pictures above and to the right are clipped from the websites via the Snipping Tool included with Windows 7.  I claim fair use of the resulting graphics by reason that they come from the government's domain and are used to help increase citizens' voices and power in our own government.

Notice that you will need your zipcode.  I assume you know your 5 digit primary code, but you could need your 4 digit extension, too (I do). You can usually find that on a bill, or bank statement mailing, but if that is not available to you right now, go to USPS. and click on "Look Up a Zipcode" as seen on the graphic to the left.  A box will open for you to enter your address, city and state.  You can add your 5 digit primary zipcode as well if you know it, but it's not necessary, unless you're not sure of the city you live in (it can be confusing if you live near the border between two of them).  Then, when they show you the zipcode with the 4 digit extension, you can use that to find your Rep and a means by which to contact the staff, who will relate your conversation somehow to your Congress member.

Be sure to tell them you want the sequester ended immediately.  You, like I thought that Congress; having dealt with other crises this year with predated bickering and then sudden resolve would do that same this time; but now that they are actually ready to burn the house down you are not going to sit and wait for them anymore.  Tell them to resolve the issue, now and make sure our "entitlements" (which this blog shows we the people pay for  here) and have their fat cat backers pay a little more if more money is needed.  Ever since Reagan cut their taxes in half the fat cats have been taking our jobs overseas and earning even more tax cuts for that job.  They've been walking away with everything and that has to stop. We the people are going to make sure our Congress works for us from now on, and that means, for starters ending this sequester NOW, and in our favor if they want to keep their jobs.  Sign your email, or mail as,  or tell the staff on the phone this is their boss's boss, YOU!

Tell those who want to cut your help from FEMA and the National Guard through Sequester Obstinacy that they have a special place on your political dart board,  and it's not the target of your money or your support.  Tell them to get off their duffs and earn the fat paychecks our government hands them or you'll start pushing to cut it, or eliminate it altogether by getting someone else in their seat.

Believe me-- it will help, if enough people burn their ears  with it (using your own words).  So tell your friends to do the same, because a natural disaster without FEMA, the National Guard, and/or recovery aid is a terrible thing to face.  Those of us who don't live in hurricane ravaged areas don't know and can't imagine what it's like, and I'm sure it's the same for wildfires, tornadoes, or even earthquakes.  And if people in the Mid West complain tell them that makes you a lot less in favor of their farm and drought aid.  If they support cutting your help, then we'll push for cutting theirs.  What's fair is fair.

I believe that the right have exhausted their sources of spam for Congress.  I figure, if everyone who reads this contacts their Rep and Senators that will create an upwelling in understanding among their privileged er "offices" that their future in their current cushy Congressional seats are at stake, and they can't get elected by just their campaign donations, but must depend on their constituents continuing to vote for them.

Short link: http://x.co/100me

SOS Alert! Save Our Social Security Now! Time for Action!

The old days:

In the old days people used to be able to plan to retire in  a location like this.  Remove a few trees, grade and lay down  a short lane of gravel leading to a county road, and build a modest home, or live in a less expensive city from which you could reach the kids and grandkids homes easily, but not too close to major employments centers with the crowding and the noise and fumes.  Or maybe you'd stay in the big city and take up a sport or hobby that would help extend your life, and or otherwise keep you active and meeting people.

These kinds of things were normal.

Now:

Now they are only for the select few.  There are many reasons  for that, most of which are completely different than the reasons that mainstream "explainers" from the news system to politicians both of which are dependent on money from the wealthiest people, tell us.  The theft and destruction of our retirement moneys, was and is a grand theft by the wealthy and powerful from the middle and working classes as well as the poor and sick or elderly.

We once had a three legged stool set up for retirement.  Saving accounts that paid a decent interest, maybe 5-7% over inflation, pension funds from our jobs because it was considered a basic human right that if you employed a person for 20 or 30 years you owed them a retirement, and Social Security, which the GOP has called an "entitlement" for enough decades that everyone now calls it the same, some with a sneer on their lips as if we are spoiled children of fat cats who intend to feed off the prosperous carcasses of our dead parents or at least their trust funds.  In fact, though, we have run the numbers and shown that you earn your Social Security and pay a painful portion of your paycheck every year for it.  Two of those legs, savings with reasonable returns and pensions, have been damaged or completely disappeared for most Americans leaving those who still have pension plans in place at risk of having them suddenly disappear.  IRAs get stolen from with ever increasing fees, and lowering interest rates, Savings account are earning less than a percent per year for most people, though interest on many unsecured loans are often over 30% a year.  And many employers have dropped pensions completely by contract renegotiation, bankruptcy which a GOP packed SCOTUS decided could disappear pension funds, or just ornery assholeness by bosses that are as bad in heart as those who created the horrific work conditions of the 19th century when they were called Robber Barons.


If you have an employer, they do pay half of your Social Security savings, but have always maintained that if they didn't have to pay they would immediately raise wages to compensate. Most knowledgeable sources believe that to be a phony gambit.  What the wealthy want is for the Social Security lock box to be broken so they can get their hands on it or at least to reduce your return, but as we showed in the linked article above, you do earn the entire amount via your direct payments to Social Security and your employers' payments if given just a modest but reasonable interest enough for you to be paid out for 40 years after 40 years of employment (at an average of the wages you were paid over that career).

Now you can go now and write your US House Representative and your two Senators and tell them you will not accept a vote from them to delay Social Security or even Medicare which would be easily fixed by negotiating drug prices, for years or reduce benefits and that you will be learning how they voted (we will post the votes here) and you won't believe the lies they tell you about why they "had to do that".

Also tell your Republican representative that you also know that he or she and his or her partners Gerrymandered the GOP to power in the US House of Representatives and you won't stand for that.

That will be overturned so they cannot count on stealing your political rights to give your retirement and Medicare money to fat cats and stay in power.  Things are going to happen FOR THE PEOPLE from now on, with or without them in office.

How to Contact Congressionals:

Find your current US House representative at House.gov.
You can select "Contact Your Rep's Name"  and then select "Email" from the drop box which will allow you to do just that (involving possibly your complete address including 4 digit zipcode extension (findable via link below) or you can select "Office Information" from the chart for DC and local office addresses, phone, fax, and hours.

Apparently the government site wants to act as your email service, but I doubt they will allow you to contact more than one Representative and two related Senators.   I'm going to go try it as soon as I finish here.


And your Senators names and emails can be found at Senate.gov
Ditto on the controls.

Those two above will require a zip-code possibly with the 4 number extension which can be found at USPS.com by going to "Look up a zip-code" and clicking, upon which a small secondary window will open asking for at least a partial address, usually at least the street and any postal box number and city or 5 figure zip code .  It will also ask for an email address.  I've never tried it but understand the Republicans do write to multiple sets of Congressionals each even if that isn't really nice, I guess from multiple email boxes that have been passed out like popcorn for the last couple of decades.  I've never been a spammer, but I'm told that the right passes around  email addresses of Congressionals like a lifeguard slathers on  suncream for use by their "nickel a tweet or email" squads paid from funds set up by very wealthy individuals.  This might be focused mostly on representatives of the same swing states that determine presidential candidates as the most common turnovers of House seats also occur in those areas.

This site Contacting the Congress will deliver to you personally the emails for your Congressman or woman and Senators along with their DC phone and DC fax numbers which, I assume, you can use via any email account or phone, fax. I suppose those are current.  If your Congressman has changed for 2013, this is still valid right now because there will be votes on the so-called fiscal cliff this week.  --(It is not a cliff, but is being hyped by our fat cat financed news system so that the GOP can take your money and give it to their fat cat donors, to be returned to as over priced ad purchases or for the Congressionals' campaign funds and SuperPAC ads to re-elect them, increasing their own personal power and wealth while you face a retirement without the money you actually put into it and a reasonable return.

If the challenge goes into the new Congress next year, we will try to figure this out again and make sure your new Congressionals, if not the same are available to you.  There are forces that, not only attempt to keep information from you, but  to keep your ideas from your Congressionals.  We will try to help.

But contact your Representative and Senators today.  They may make their decision tonight or tomorrow.   Do not wait a minute.  Tell them to not touch Social Security funds or age or the  Medicare age.  You will be keeping track!

The Obama administration has a bill pending to keep any immediate pain by regular Americans from being felt by going over the fiscal "cliff".  That is another thing being squashed by the Gerrymandered US House.  Tell  your Congressmembers that you are aware the Republicans are the main problem and that you will be watching to see if they personally join in opposing action to solve the matter in an equitable manner.

A good short URL for this post is http://x.co/qvVW

Picture above of slope and frozen creek in California's "Gold Country" used via Creative Commons License Attribution (CC by 2.0) thanks to Flickr user "El Caganer" who has no connection to this blog or blogger.

AP: Men Lost More Jobs at the Start of Bush's Great Recession, Women in the Latter Part Because of Demographics, Republican Intransigence.

Cue Depression Music for Mr. R-Money

He delivers BS  that sounds suspiciously like a Karl Rove talking point and as easily disproven.  Even at that though the Associated Press does half a job of debunking it.  The other half would have put Republicans in a bad light.  Mustn't go there, right AP? 

Picture above shared using Flickr native coding and allowed by Creative Commons License Attribution 2.0 Generic  (CC BY 2.0).  Rollover to see Flickr name of photographer why has no connection to this blog or blogger. 

The AP did a half-baked analysis of Governor Romney's, Karl Rovish assertion that 92.3% of jobs lost under Obama were those held by women. The writer tells us  that condition developed because men bore the brunt of job losses in the first 13 months of the Great Recession that happened before Obama came into office:

Romney's math is solid as far as it goes. But more men than women have lost jobs since the recession began — that's why economists called it a "man-cession."

 In blaming Obama for "turning the clock back 20 years on American women," as the Romney campaign puts it, Republicans are hoping to counter Obama's perceived advantage with female voters. But they ignore how recessions generally — and the last one in particular — unfold, and they hold Obama accountable for the state of the economy from the time he took office, before his policies could make any difference.

But the AP report continues

Women were more heavily represented in jobs that suffered in the recession's later months and beyond, as revenue-strapped state and local governments laid off teachers and cut other public-sector workers.

Still, even that, though technically accurate, doesn't show the totality of the real picture.  In fact, after the Republicans grabbed the leadership of the House in the 2010 election and even before they have been working to harm women's employment chances.  First by cutting the stimulus and requiring that much of the package focus on tax cuts.  But later, after they came into power in many states as well as the US House of Representatives by promising more jobs, they instead, in the states, first cut taxes for the wealthy and businesses, and then tried to decimate the public worker sector including in education the cornerstone of progress for Americans.

If you're really strapped for cash you don't take what little money you have and go throw it at the nearest group of millionaires, and then go home, start throwing your family out of the house so you can live in it alone, and afterwards still expect them to look at you as a benevolent leader of the group.  In fact, you would seem a tyrant to them more interested in pleasing fat cats than in taking care of your family, which is actually what the Republican party is all about.  After all Republicans, are reliant on political advertising purchased using the money of the top 1% of businesses and individuals.  This is never aired adequately in the press because the news media depends for its funds on the same wealthy people.

So, less even than the effect of male jobs being lost, jobs women have held in our states and counties were decimated at least twice by Republican governance, once by the recession that took away the good paying jobs for men coupled with Republican intransigence in the US House, and then by the GOP in 2011 which, like we saw in Wisconsin, bumped as many public workers as they could out of jobs because they themselves were sitting in good publicly funded jobs, but saw a better future for themselves as being repaid by the Koch brothers and other like-minded people they court with tax cuts and destruction of state and federal government jobs, most of which had been stable and well paid with benefits which allowed men and women to raise and educate their children in  a little bit of comfort.

And the GOP has forced cuts to the length of time a person can receive unemployment benefits .If a man or woman has to forgo retraining for a type of job that can be held, to support his or her family immediately he or she might have to take a cleaning job at the local market or fast food joint.  One free to work longer at regaining employment could take classes and get a good middle class job that sets his or her family on the path to creating great futures for their kids and a good retirement for themselves.

So, in fact, the GOP has been  the primary culprit in male and female job losses as they cut unemployment benefits, and safety nets.  It is typical though that they then come out and blame Obama for that which the GOP has been actively achieving in their quest to gain total control of the nation so they can sell your rights to a good life for your family to multimillionaires.

Why don't they just put a sign on it.

NOW OWNED BY BAIN CAPITAL.  WORKERS CAN REAPPLY FOR JOBS (AT DRASTICALLY LOWER WAGES} STARTING MONDAY. 

That is if they don't just take all of those degraded employment opportunities and outsource them to China anyway.   That would fit right into the Romney/GOP game plan that has actually helping China and the 1% destroy our economy.

Thanks for nothing, GOP.

The Testimony That Darrel Issa Doesn't Want You To See

This is Sandra Fluke's testimony that should have been included with the men in the first group of witnesses for the House Oversight Committee, instead of only that from right wing, male, anti-choice religious leaders.

Weirdly I could not find this video at The Ed Show, where he had another video of Sandra's testimony. In that one I couldn't get the sound to work, so I searched at YouTube for Sandra Fluke and found this. Enjoy!

Bachus Will Chair Hearing On Insider Trading in Congress

Two Words: Fox - Henhouse

I know he's chairman of the applicable committee, but can you imagine what the Republicans would do if Nancy Pelosi was in that position?
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Story at : Politico

Tech and the Tea Party-- Internet Heavies Join Congressional Newbies To Fight Over-Regulation Of Internet

Most Tea Party people in Congress are relatively new, but  they are ready to take a stand against what they and tech giants see as a heavy hand on the Internet even if they have to join with the Dot Commies from the West Coast (as I've heard them called many times). To us, of course, they're Google, Facebook, and Yahoo (as another article reported this morning), etc.

The US Chamber of Commerce is siding with its big money donors pushing for Congress to pass legislation forcing search engines to block sites promoting piracy and counterfeit products, and forcing ISPs to block the sites.

Not only are large bucks at stake, but the Internet companies and Tea Party types say the freedom of the Internet could easily be lost.

I agree. The slope has been slippery since the ban on  Internet gambling, but we don't need to ice it. Who's next? People who piss-off corporations with their blog posts? Any Tweet with #ows or #teaparty?

By the end of the report it's seeming like a deal may be reached. I'm hoping that's just journalistic guessing.

Some dangerous sites may need to be identified and blocked, like overseas or underground pharmacies especially those who sell bad products.

But the nation can afford to hunt those out like they are foundations hunt down new viruses and Internet threats.

Anyway, if a person can't identify a phony Gucci purse, they shouldn't be shopping on the Internet, or in half the stores in town. I don't see government forcing road builders to police every shop in the discount district.

Oh wait. Let's not give them any ideas.

See original report on which I'm commenting at:

http://bit.ly/ugffrj

After 911, Thousands of Pests Slipped into US While Gov't Focused on Terrorists

Just months after the GOP got hold of the White House they passed a tax cut for Fat Cats telling us we didn't need the money.
Yet within months we did need the money as we had to decrease our agricultural security for increased scrutiny of our ports of entry for human to Ham terrorists.
Did the Fat Cats give the money back?  Of course not, and the GOP controlled White House and Congress didn't ask them to do so.
The result is shown that agricultural terrorists (though not human) slipped into the US and started harming our nation. 
Stop the wars? Tax the wealthy to fight the pests at the ports of entry?
Not while Republicans controlled Congress and the White House!
An AP report show that Homeland Security only started ramping up inspections in 2007 and also cites Congress members behind the effort to push ramped up inspections that got border agricultural security back to a decent level
I think its safe to say that Democrats in charge of Congress is the best for agriculture.  Too bad that after so many years of total GOP control it was too late for many farmers and agricultural products.
Farmers and people who like healthy food and ecosystems should notify their Congress members and tell them they will be watching to see of they are really protecting our crops from foreign pests and diseases
Otherwise they'll be voting them out.
Just in case though, I'd stick with the party that brought sanity back to Homeland Security in keeping our nation and it's food supply safer.
Oil companies have gotten major supply contracts from the war on Iraq.  Other fat cats are still hoping for access to the trillion dollars worth of rare earths and valuable minerals in Afghanistan from the Bush White House's wars. 
All farmers got from the Republicans being in total control of thr nation was decreased security, and more problems for all their work and support of the GOP.
See link below for report on how post 911 response by the GOP left agricultural security out to dry.
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Bill Press: A Flat Tax is Unfair and UnBiblical

On The Ed Show last night, Bill Press pointed out a very important argument against the flat tax, the one that was made in the Bible.

Over and over the Bible points out that those who get more from life, the economy, or if you want to think of it religiously, from God have an obligation to give more back.

But now Republicans are calling over and over for a flat tax, an action they wouldn't dare do if we had half the quality press we need.  Too many pundits will just repeat over and over again what Republicans say, trying to keep on the good side of the wealthy people paying their wages.

The Bible is all for the big wage earners paying a higher rate of taxes.  It praises generosity in the wealthy, and considers their lot to look out for poorer people.

Remember how Jesus warned that it was easier for a camel to go through the "Eye of a Needle" than for a rich man to get into heaven?   There was some discussion whether there was, in Jesus' days, a small gate called "The eye of the Needle" in which a camel would have to crawl on its knees to make its way through, but pastors I consider more honest said, no, that's about an actual needle.

In fact, the Christian religion actually demands that the wealthy to let go of their love of money, to divest of it, at least in  a committed spirit which would require constant charity inspired giving that would tend to reduce one's ability to grow great wealthy or to become a Bill O' Reilly who is worried about a 50% tax on the immense amount of wealth he makes telling lies on FOX News.

Applying a graduated tax on citizens is also a matter of common sense.  Forcing poor families to pay higher taxes removes their chance to buy a house, create a stable future for their family, and for you, because who is going to buy your home if the tax burden is increased on working and middle class families?

It has been shown that the ability to purchase a home and make some progress in life makes people more dependable and less likely to commit violence.  Many of the rioters in Britain this summer get (or got) no or low rent housing from the government.  That free housing did not keep people calm.  If more of the poor young people had come from a family who owned a house themselves, they would likely have been less willing to burn down someone else's home.

There have been many crazy tax changes.  During the 80s Reagan's new tax plan eased out the personal interest deduction.  Most working class families couldn't get rid of the debt though wealthy Republicans swore it would be easy to do so.  Coupled with Congress' refusal to force credit companies to restrict the interest they charge their captives  .. er .. "customers" many families never were able to pay off that debt, and that is one of the reason we are having huge numbers of bankruptcy cases flooding our courts.

Even if the wealthy want to pretend they can put more tax burden onto the working class, it won't work.   Unequal societies are inherently unstable and can turn over and dump anyone into the muck at any time.

See video linked here for Heidi Harris's complaint that poor people don't have to pay taxes at the same rate as wealthy people and "horrors, the earned income credit means that some poor people don't pay any federal income tax at al"l.  Bill Press's response was my inspiration for this post.  I just thought the Biblical message needed to be explained a little further to help people deal with a perverted idea of what the Christian religion teaches.