We’re Not Happy, Shut Up, Listen And A Few Words On Immigration

As Super Tuesday progresses, the voices that are making the most noise are clearly those with the most stupid and least relevant opinions.

If you don’t like John McCain, don’t vote for him. It is irrelevant that he may or may not be conservative enough, tall enough or have the right color hair. As the Anchoress noted yesterday,

I’ve been writing for the past few days about my complete disillusionment with the far-right and their finger-wagging, hyperventilation that Republicans and “true” conservatives must vote for Mitt Romney, for no other reason, apparently than because he is not John McCain…

…I am tired of opening my email to hysterics suggesting that America will end if McCain gets the nomination. I’m tired of turning on talk radio and hearing – nonstop, day after day – lecturing about what a terrible man McCain is, and why I should not vote for him.

It is significant to me that no one is telling me why I SHOULD vote for Romney. No one is telling me how great he is, and giving me a reason to want to vote for him. They’re just telling me “McCain is bad!”

Remember the outrage when the folks at MoveOn.Org stated that

“In the last year, grass-roots contributors like us gave more than $300 million to the Kerry campaign and the DNC, and proved that the party doesn’t need corporate cash to be competitive,” the message continued. “Now it’s our party: we bought it, we own it, and we’re going to take it back.”

Guess what? The conservatives no more owns the Republican party than the MoveOn.org folks own the Democrat party.

Now that we’re on the subject of stupid, let’s talk about immigration.

We’re not going to deport 12-20 million illegals. To think otherwise is absurd. That is not to say that we cannot and should not secure our borders. The two issues are separate and distinct.

Those of you who complain about our economy is lousy ought to consider this: If our unemployment levels are causing you concern, then line up and make it your business to report those who hire illegals. Make it your business to replace those illegal workers with legal ones and remember, no one will stand for tomatoes selling for $7.50 lb. On the same subject, where are the voices asking that we let in an equal number of immigrants to the number we deport? Have you ever noticed how the voices demanding the deportation of illegals are a whole lot less encouraging when it comes to supporting legal immigration?

Our economy is robust. If the best you can come up with are a few seasonally adjusted numbers that temporarily point south, then we are grateful indeed. After all, how can anyone realistically deride an economy that has absorbed millions and millions of illegal workers and is still the envy of the world?

Here’s a suggestion to deal with illegal immigration.

There is a 60 day only window for all illegals to register with the federal government. They will be given ID cards and provisional Social Security cards so that they can get onto the tax rolls.

These cards will allow illegals here to begin the application for citizenship after 10 years, assuming they meet all the necessary criteria. Illegal aliens are moved to the back of those seeking American residency and citizenship line. All those who applied legally and played by the rules will be given precedence.

When they register, they must sign a document agreeing that they will obey our laws, both criminal and civil. If they break the law, they are subject to deportation. Children born here and under the age of 18 will not be able to influence residency laws. No family need be broken up- parents are free to return home with their children.

Family reunification will no longer be an accepted way to circumvent immigration laws. If you miss your family so much, the airlines will be happy to transport you back home for a short or extended holiday. Your family are free to apply for immigration just like everyone else.

All illegal aliens who do not comply with registration or other requirements will be subject to deportation after the 60 day window has closed. Families who do not wish to be separated are free to leave and accompany the illegal alien back home.

There are those of you who are unhappy because somehow it seems that illegal aliens have ‘gotten away’ with breaking the law. In fact, you are right- they have beat the system and that isn’t fair.

Too bad. Life isn’t fair.

The vast majority of illegals are hard working sons of bitches who come here for a better life and to send money home to family- just like the hard working sons of bitches have for generations before them.

If you aren’t happy with the system, look in the mirror. You were the one who broke the system.

For 50 years, illegals have been pouring over the borders and no one cared enough to make an issue out of it and to demand it stop. Now, even liberals are complaining about the costs to state budgets, healthcare and education. Finally, common (sense) ground we can all see eye to eye on.

Don’t blame the illegal immigrants for the sins of the successive governments you elected.

We have plenty more to say, on Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East and Europe. Maybe later.

Let’s Talk About Sex Baby, We’re Talking About You And Me…

This morning, Fausta hosted a terrific BlogTalk Radio podcast about men, women, relationships and sex (a topic inspired by this brilliant post).

Julie of Happy Catholic, Laurie Kendrick, Shane of Political Vindication and callers-in made for a lively and fascinating look at intimate relationships of all kinds.

We talked about men and women, how and when we successfully communicate and how and when we don’t. We discussed how friendship enhances intimacy and we discussed how intimacy without real friendship is destined to block real intimacy.

Most of us find it easy to forgive the differences we have with friends or their idiosyncrasies and imperfections. Why? Because they are our friends, and we love them. We don’t care about their religion, weight, color or ethnicity. We don’t even see those things.We are intimate with our closest friends in a most profound way.

It is also true that physical intimacy cannot ’speed up’ the friendship part of a relationship. There is a reason friendships take time to build. There can be no love if there is no trust or respect. Physical intimacy alone will not deepen the emotional part of a relationship. As Shane so succinctly noted, ‘Sex changes everything.‘No matter the ground rules, no matter the agreement, sex does change the dynamic in a relationship.

Physical intimacy will either enhance a solid platonic relationship that already exists or it will destroy a relationship that might have worked, had the physical intimacy been delayed.

We will have more to say on the subject tomorrow.

Who Would Abe Vote For?

Today is a big day for both Republicans and Democrats.

No matter on which side of the political fence you find yourself, take a moment and distance yourself from the rhetoric and consider the following:

Will you be voting for a candidate or against a candidate? Are you voting as a proud American or a victimized American?

Are you voting for a candidate because of a moral stand they take or will you vote for a candidate because they make no real moral statement and will thus place no moral demands upon you whatsoever? Are you inspired by real acts of leadership or by the role played by someone pretending to be a leader?

Will you vote for a candidate who promises gratification or will you vote for a candidate who promises work?

Is your favored candidate in tune or ahead of the cultural curve or is your candidate in tune with the values curve?

Is your candidate a real hero? Has your candidate overcome tremendous obstacles not only on behalf of themselves, but others as well? Real heroes do not act to be applauded or remembered. Real heroes act to right a wrong. Real heroes act in a way that elevates others, no strings attached.

Real heroes conquer their own consuming passions and addictions so as to better their own lives and the lives of those around them. Real heroes do not seek power. Real leaders are driven by something very different.

Real heroes live and act out of loyalty, love and duty. The marching bands, the medals or adulation received. Real heroes are not born for adventure or to conquer. In fact, the primary purpose of a real hero is not to lead but rather, to serve.

In a free society, we understand that our heroes may be flawed and imperfect. In a free society, we also understand that we are blessed with the gift that allows us to choose our leaders. In a civilized and free society, real leaders are those for whom commitment to the elevation and dignity of themselves and the citizens they represent are paramount. Real leaders serve us all and are not beholden to any group.

Is the candidate you are considering really worthy of the legacies left by Abe Lincoln or Abe Zelmanowitz?

Europe celebrated great victories with great speeches and parades that begat more great speeches and parades, and toasted King or Queen.

One American Abe celebrated a victory in a very American way:

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us–that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

This nation also birthed another Abe, somewhat lesser known:

 Abe Zelmanowitz was an Orthodox Jew from Brooklyn, New York, who worked in the World Trade Center. Although he died in the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, his remains were only recently identified. He was just buried in Jerusalem. Mr. Zelmanowitz worked on the 27^th floor of 1 World Trade Center, the second tower to collapse — which means that he probably could have lived, had he chosen to leave the burning building. But he didn’t. Instead, he stayed behind to remain with a paraplegic colleague, who was also his friend. He even urged his friend’s full-time nurse to save herself, while he himself chose to comfort, and protect, his friend with his continued presence…

We do not know, and we will never know, if those two men knew they were about to die. But surely they knew they were in great, perilous danger. Think of the story in the alternative: your friend’s nurse has left, to save herself. And then you leave, and live. And for the rest of your days, you are tortured by the memory of what those last minutes must have been like for your friend, unable to try to save himself, and doomed to a horrifying death as 1 World Trade Center collapsed — and alone. And you ask yourself: in the moments when it mattered most, what was my friendship worth? What, in the end, were my friend, and whatever comfort I could give him, worth to me? I chose my physical survival over the solace my presence might have provided my friend — the knowledge that another human being cared enough about him to remain behind, in the fading hope that rescue might still arrive, the knowledge that he mattered so much that I, his friend, would risk my own life to stay with him.

Would I judge someone negatively for having left the building, and saving his own life? Of course not; it was an extraordinary emergency, and the normal rules don’t apply. In such a situation, I would be hesitant to judge any response a person might have. But I do think this: Mr. Zelmanowitz’s act was not a selfless one. It was the most selfish act imaginable. By his actions, Mr. Zelmanowitz declared: these are my values, this is my friend, and I will not desert him in his, and my, hour of greatest need. When it truly matters, even if no one — or only God — knows what I do, I will try to live up to my own highest ideals, and I will offer my friendship, my companionship, my caring, and my protection to my friend. And that is how much I love myself, that I will do this, even when I know how high the price might be, and that it might be the highest price of all.

One Abe was the President of the United States of America. During the darkest of hours, he rescued a nation and set a course to greatness that would manifest itself long after he was gone. His legacy would influence nations and people around the world.

The other Abe was a simple man some might say, having little in common with that great President of the United States.

As Americans, we know better.

Vote for the kind of America that makes heroes of those who elevate us all.