REPUBLICAN HYPOCRISY: NO TO COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CARE BILL, “YES” TO COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL

Just a quick post today:  Why do some Republicans claim to want to take up immigration only comprehensively but were so adamant in their opposition to comprehensive health care reform?  The GOP argument goes: we don’t like big bills (and government).  So why in the face of the DREAM Act’s impending vote in Congress do some still claim that the DREAM Act shouldn’t be passed because it’s better handled as part of a comprehensive bill?

Republicans, do you want big comprehensive bills or not?  Make up your minds or shut your mouths.  Oh, yeah, vote “YES” on the DREAM Act like you’ve got a pair (see Orrin Hatch).

WHAT’S UP WITH ORRIN HATCH?

Although Senator Richard Dubin is the DREAM Act’s most visible advocate, Utah Senator Orrin Hatch is its original sponsor. That was in 2001. These days, Senator Hatch’s position on the DREAM Act is very difficult to read. He claims to still support the bill but he remains non-committal to efforts at passing the bill during the lame duck session.

“My empathy is with that type of legislation, and I’ll just have to look at it,” he said. “They’re doing it for purely political reasons, and that’s not what I think ought to be done.”

So what exactly are those political reasons?  Is it because Democratic senators are simply trying to pass a bill that has languished in the Senate since 2001 despite strong support – refuting the claim that the DREAM Act is an ill-conceived and hastily-crafted bill.  What is political about that?  Senators are trying to pass a common sense bill with limited applicability.

Even if we assume that Senator Hatch is correct that pursuing the DREAM Act in the lame duck session is only for political reasons, then what can he say about his own party’s political legislative moves?   Senator Hatch seems to suggest that it is the only the Democratic Party that plays politics.  Under that reasoning, Senator Hatch should only support apolitical bills,  a legislative anomaly if there ever was one.

It seems to me that Senator Hatch is the one playing politics by attempting to stall action on a bill in fear of his own party.  Senator Hatch should just do the right thing by voting yes on a bill that he originally championed.

JOHN CORNYN: MR. HYPOCRISY

Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) is always trying to play both sides, but immigration reform advocates know clearly where he stands.  This is what he said earlier this week:

“I’m certainly sympathetic to the plight of these kids who through no fault of their own, find themselves in this predicament, but the kind of games that Majority Leader Reid is playing here seem more designed to play politics than they do actually to try to solve the problem.”

Who is playing political games here?  Perhaps it’s the guy who comes up with an excuse every time any vote on a meaningful immigration reform  bill comes to the floor.  And how will he truly “solve the problem?”  Perhaps it’s by stalling.  That’s what he and his GOP cronies have been doing on immigration (and any other progressive bill, for that matter).  In July, he stated there wouldn’t be enough time to do a good job on the bill.  How much time does he need?  The DREAM Act has been in the Senate for every congressional session since 2001.

John Cornyn, please stop with the hypocrisy.  We can see right through.

WHAT I TOOK AWAY FROM THE 2010 MIDTERM ELECTIONS

And so it has passed.  The anticipated red wave made landfall last night and crashed down upon Congressional Democrats. Certainly, I was disappointed by last night’s results but not surprised. For those of us DREAMers, last night’s election could not have been seen as anything but a window into the future, and not surprisingly, many of us do not like what we see.

DREAMers, like any shadow population, cannot escape the ebb and flow of Congressional politics. We live by their pronouncements and perhaps even more so, by what they do not pronounce. Congress has remained silent on DREAM for close to a decade. I cannot defend any impotence on their part; it is their job to bring results, and they have not done so.

But what I have tried not to do is to give their incompetence any more importance than I have to.  I will not let their every machination — or lack thereof —  define who I am anymore. I’m not being insensitive to my fellow DREAMers who feel that our lives are dictated by Congress. I agree that they are. But I will not submit to defeat. For me, last night was business as usual, the manifestation of electoral fickleness in a majoritarian system. It does not change much except that it has made me firmer in my conviction that there is a great injustice in this country that is simply being ignored for the sake of political power. It makes me sick. Last night reaffirmed that the passage of this bill will be my lifelong aim. Even if I somehow become a citizen through other means and this bill has not yet passed, I will continue fighting for it. It means too much to me.

So our work must begin anew today. We will fight for DREAM in the lame duck session, and should that fail, we will fight for it with the GOP at the helm of the House. We must fight. We will die if we don’t.

DOTU: AN OPEN CALL ON DEALING WITH LONELINESS

The older I get, the lonelier I get, it seems.  I am, by nature, a very extroverted person.  But recently, as I watch my friends and family move on to new and exciting things, I feel more and more isolated.  At times, I consciously make an effort not to speak to any of my friends, even my closest friends, because I’d rather not be privy to all that’s going on in their lives.  While I enjoy the genuine fellowship with my girlfriend, family and friends, even in those happy times, a part of me is still very lonely.

As I think about how the DREAM Act’s prospects narrow each day, I wonder how long it will be before I can have a “normal life” free from the anxiety of the being undocumented; when I can finally come out of the shadows (although cliche, that term is actually very descriptive). Will it be when I’m 30? 35? How many more years do I have to endure this?

So I ask my fellow DREAMers, what do you do to cope with any feelings of loneliness? Feel free to drop a comment. Perhaps we can find strength in each other.

One love,

A

CHRISTINE O’DONNELL: WHERE IN THE CONSTITUTION IS SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE?

And the Tea Party hits keep coming!

What astounds me the most about this is that the Tea Party preaches fidelity to the Constitution yet its members have no fundamental understanding of it.  Again, all the Tea Party candidates have are talking points, and inaccurate ones, at that.  An extended version of the clip shows O’Donnell constantly interrupting Coons with more hyperbole about the Constitution that is not backed up with precedent.

What’s equally as hypocritical is that Tea Party “patriots” will undoubtedly hide behind the “gotcha news story” blanket.  ”Oh, the mainstream media is just trying to look for any mistake our patriotic candidates make; shame on the mainstream media!”  Well, it seems to me a basic understanding of our federal constitution, which these Tea Partiers claim an almost mythical hyper allegiance to, is not simply a “gotcha” point.  It is fundamental to public service in the U.S. Period. You can’t say, “I’m sorry, I didn’t bring my Constitution with me. Fortunately, senators don’t have to memorize the Constitution. Can you remind me of [them]?” Even if you didn’t, you should know the 14th Amendment and what it stands for!  And how presumptuous, Christine O’Donnell, you’re not even a senator!

At least Christine O’Donnell can find solace in the fact that her Tea Party is infested with so many Constitutionally-ignorant candidates that some other candidate will embarrass himself/herself soon that we might forget about her gaffe.  Anyone remember this gem in 2008:

O’Donnell represents a party supposedly poised to make significant gains in Congress.  If that’s the case, I am very fearful for our future as a country.

BREAKING NEWS: REPUBLICANS DON’T LIKE MINORITIES

Now that I’ve got your attention, let’s get down to the matter at hand.  If Republicans can put out this type of hateful vitriol — see here –  then I have no reservations about calling a duck a duck.  If it hasn’t already been painfully clear, the Republican Party is reaching new and utterly ridiculous heights of fear mongering.  And who are we to fear according to these beacons of morality?  That’s right, minorities.

Here are just a few examples from Sharron Angle alone:

• “I think every state should have a sheriff like Joe Arpaio” — In reference to the always magnanimous, immigrant-raid loving Arizona sheriff.
• On Muslims in America: well, just read it for yourself.
• And don’t forget her recent ad praying on the fears of white America by depicting “thug-looking,” brown-skinned, prowlers trying to come to America to do what? That’s right, get an education.

She hopes to join the likes of David Vitter (who also used the same photograph in Angle’s ad), Jeff Sessions and Jim DeMint in the Senate who have systematically blocked any efforts at immigration reform by playing to American anxieties.

It’s safe to say that even in this Republican surge toward the elections, their tactics have not changed. Their goals and visions for American have not changed. In fact, it has been increasingly clear that they just do not like immigrants, minorities and any other non-White person in America. 

They prey on the fears of Americans by inappropriately and inaccurately depicting “the other” as out to conquer America, which apparently is divined only to belong to White Americans.  And frightingly as it seems, it may just be working.

A U.S. CITIZEN 101 YEARS LATER

What a wonderful story!  Eulalia Garcia Maturey came to Brownsville, Texas in October 12, 1909 as a baby in her mother’s arms. 101 years later, she will become a U.S. citizen. Check out her story on CNN.

I hope it doesn’t take me over a century to attain U.S. citizenship.

SHARRON ANGLE STOOPS TO NEW LOWS IN NEW AD

Yup, we’re getting more ads scaring the hell out “patriotic,” “Constitution-loving” Americans (read Tea Baggers).

Aside: I still can’t fathom the hypocrisy of these so-called “patriots” who cloak themselves in the Constitution when many of them have no basic understanding of what’s in the Constitution.  They hate the federal government so much that they claim the Constitution stands for less government and no taxes.  Really? Really?! So the Constitution is partisan and gives license to engage in unregulated, unfettered free market excesses that crippled our economy in the first place. And the Constitution also gives license to oppose any taxes as if taxes are some kind of anomalous, otherworldly phenomenon.  But wait, I thought:

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States (U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 8).

Aside finished.

U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle recently released a new commercial criticizing, among other things, Senator Reid’s support for the DREAM Act or what Angle thinks is free tuition for illegal aliens. And as she describes Harry Reid’s support for the DREAM Act, the commercial cuts to a group of dark-skinned people creeping around a chain-link fence at night. Yes, those scary, old looking guys in the video are somehow the group of individuals the DREAM Act is supposed to help; not the current college-aged students and recent high school graduates. It’s those guys prowling around the fence at night waiting to come to America and steal jobs that Americans just can’t wait to do.

For more information on Angle’s despicable ad, read this recent blog post from America’s Voice: http://americasvoiceonline.org/blog/entry/sharron_angle_immigration_ads_prey_on_fear_crass_stereotypes/

DOTU: BLESSED

I have been undocumented for so many years, and as I’ve grown older, it has changed me a lot.  A lot.  I have become selfish, gruff, unpleasant, and despondent.  I suppose it’s been my way of protecting myself from the advancing world around me. I figure if I just block out the outside world, I won’t notice that my life is stagnant.

But as I reread that last sentence, I notice my problem. I’ve become so focused on the obstacles in my life that I don’t realize that my life isn’t stagnant. Sure, there have been a lot of missed opportunities, but it seems to me that I’ve actually done a lot with what little I’ve had. I’m not boasting, I’m just aware. And in all honestly, I think that awareness is what will keep moving forward.

I now realize that that I way I’ve looked at my life has been binary: my life as an undocumented immigrant and the life I’ll have as a legal resident (hopefully). I build up that second stage of life so much that I forget the ways in which I’ve been blessed now: I have people who support me; who encourage me; who sacrifice for me; who laugh with me; who cry with me; who love me.

We take nothing of this earth with us when we die, even the pain. I often forget Matthew 6:20: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. I certainly haven’t been doing that. I’ve put stock in my future career, my achievements, and my pride. That’s not the way to live.