J's Cafe Nette

Archive for May 22nd, 2007

Early this morning I contacted my Congressman’s office. My Congressman is John Spratt of the 5th Congressional District in SC.

He’s a Democrat but I have been known to vote for him in the past. When his aide answered I gave her my name and address and then told her there were three things I wanted to discuss.

I asked her to pass the message on to the Congressman that I wanted him to vote yes on the new supplemental spending bill for the military and they could fight the battle for time lines later.

I then told her I wanted to address illegal immigration and that I thought we need to secure the border first, look for those with expired visas and deport them and not give amnesty to an entire family because the head of the household would get a worker’s permit after returning to his country of origin. I respectfully asked to have each immigrant learn our language and wait in line before becoming citizens.

My last request was that Congressman Spratt would possibly sponsor legislation that would free the Border guards that US Attorney Johnny Sutton seems to have taken so much pleasure in prosecuting and putting in jail for long periods of time.

I asked that a pardon for all these officers be put into the bill as long as they didn’t deliberately murder anyone.

Then I was off to Senator DeMint’s office, where I expressed my same concerns and was met with a more positive attitude about the border patrol agents and the immigration issue.

I was unable to contact Senator Lindsey Graham’s office, as I suspect a lot of his constituents are contacting him right now to tell them what they think of the immigration bill.

Although I stated what I want in an immigration bill, I am realistic enough to know I won’t get it all at one time. Let’s get passed what we can now and fight the other battles later on, just as I suggested we do with time lines to Congressman Spratt’s office.

I urge each of you to also contact your Congressman and Senators in a respectful way and make your requests known.

I then went downstairs to check if my dog was in and promptly slipped all the way down from the third step to the bottom, hurting my hip and back. That’s why I’ve been scarce today. :”>

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This did not come as a surprise.

House Kills Reprimand of Rep. John Murtha

WASHINGTON — On a partisan tally, House lawmakers on Tuesday voted to kill a reprimand of Rep. John Murtha after a Republican lawmaker introduced a resolution citing Murtha for earmark and ethics violations related to the intelligence authorization bill.

The vote of 219-189 with 13 voting present laid the motion on the table, meaning that the resolution was put in limbo. Two Democrats, Reps. Jim Cooper of Tennessee and Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, voted with Republicans not to table the resolution. Republican Rep. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania voted with majority Democrats.

The roll call is available through a link in the article.

I find this a disgrace, regardless of party affiliation, that members of Congress do not abide by the rules laid out specifically for them.

Next time a child in your home or at school plays loose with rules let’s allow them to round up several of their friends and take a vote to see if they will pay a consequence..to me it’s the same difference.

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James Lileks offers his take on the illegal immigration bill.

Interesting news about the immigration debate, eh? I understand they’ve crafted some sort of bill. Having read the whole thing, I feel compelled to offer some of the highlights:

6 (1) (D) Undocumented Xenonationals who have been in the country since noon March 16, 2004 (this language reflects a compromise between the hardline “AM” faction and moderates who wanted to extend the deadline to 4:57 PM) will have to report to a government office to announce they are departing. This is the HIMBG Provision, or the “Hello, I Must Be Going” provision. Immigrants will have to return to the Mexican border, put their left foot in, put their left foot out, put their left foot in and shake it all about. (Language requiring that the applicant then “do the hokey pokey was removed over an inability to define the exact nature of said action.) The immigrant is then required to return to the place where he announced he was leaving, present a notarized photograph of himself sticking a portion of his body into Mexican airspace; at that point, he will be eligible to receive a “Q” visa, which enables him to start the process towards a “Z” visa, which estabishes a legal framework towards a “path towards citizenship,” although applicants who have paid 67% of their adjusted tax burden over the last 14 years, minus inflation, will be put on a “jogging path” towards citizenship.

Read the rest and enjoy!

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According to this story we are in for a big storm season this year.

The U.S. government will issue its official forecast for the forthcoming hurricane season Tuesday, but already two leading storm experts have predicted that it will be busy.

After the battering by storms Katrina and Rita in 2005 there were widespread fears last summer of another powerful storm, but the unexpected development of the El Nino climate phenomenon helped dampen conditions.

The El Nino has ended, however, leaving the potential for more tropical storms threatening the Gulf and East coasts.

El Nino is a warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean that occurs every few years. The warm water affects wind patterns that guide weather movement, and its effects can be seen worldwide. In El Nino years, there tend to be fewer summer hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean.

Earlier this month Philip Klotzbach, a research associate at Colorado State University, and Joe Bastardi, the chief hurricane forecaster for AccuWeather Inc., said they anticipate a more active storm cycle this year.

And, almost as if to underscore their comments, a subtropical storm formed off the southeast coast and became Andrea, the first named storm of the year, well before the June 1 official beginning of hurricane season.

Hurricane season ends Nov. 30, but the strange season of 2005 ran over into late December, as well as using up all the planned alphabetical names, forcing storm watchers to switch to the Greek alphabet to continue naming storms.

You know what I heard? I heard Bush is secretely planning all these storms to take the heat off the immigration debate. It’s pretty amazing the powers he has.

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This gets more and more interesting every day.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has a little trick up his sleeve that could spell an end to President Bush’s devilish recess appointments of controversial figures like former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton. We hear that over the long August vacation, when those types of summer hires are made, Reid will call the Senate into session just long enough to force the prez to send his nominees who need confirmation to the chamber. The talk is he will hold a quickie “pro forma” session every 10 days, tapping a local senator to run the hall. Senate workers and Republicans are miffed, but Reid is proving that he’s the new sheriff in town.

Story here

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This is where a real threat to world peace comes from. They are one administration away from sending a nuclear missile into the US or supplying one to our enemies.

After a series of political blunders in the last two months, Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is being advised by his political supporters to make a dramatic change of course or risk losing power amid more chaos and bloodshed.

Members of the ruling party, the Pakistani Muslim League, who provide General Musharraf’s base of support in Parliament, say that nationwide protests since the suspension of the country’s chief justice in March, and violent clashes that left 42 people dead in Karachi on May 12, have cast a pall over his leadership.

They are encouraging General Musharraf to strike a compromise with the Supreme Court justice, who did not shy away from challenges to the government and whose removal has been protested as a threat to the judiciary.

Some party members have also recommended that General Musharraf open the elections for the presidency, which are supposed to take place this year, to his exiled political opponents and that he make sure that the polling is free and fair.

The alternative to compromise, party members warn, is a hard-line military solution that leads only to greater confrontation.

For the moment, General Musharraf seems to be sticking to his planned course to maintain power rather than seek conciliation with either the chief justice, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, or his political rivals, supporters and opponents say.

Last week the president repeated his insistence that there would be no deal to bring home either of the opposition leaders, Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, who left the country under a cloud of corruption allegations.

“About their return before elections, no, there is nobody returning before elections,” he told the private, Karachi-based Aaj Television in an interview on Friday.

But a number of party members say they intend to push their case. Opposition members and some from the ruling party warn that not only is General Musharraf’s future at stake, but also the stability of the country, which sits on the front line of American efforts to combat Taliban insurgents and Al Qaeda.

“There are two ways he can go: retreat to the bunker or stop, pause, review, reflect and reverse course,” said one ruling party member who did not want to be identified. “He has to show leadership, magnanimity, and be loyal to the broader objective. The important thing is Pakistan’s future.”

Read the story

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HT: Flopping Aces

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There will never be another Rev. Jerry Falwell.
My sympathy goes out his family and congregation.

If the Rev. Jerry Falwell personified the Christian right in the past, then the Rev. Frank S. Page may represent its future.From his Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., where his funeral will be held today, Falwell gave evangelicals a strong political voice. But it was often the voice of a sure and angry prophet, as when he blamed the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in part on “the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians,” or described warnings about global warming as “Satan’s attempt” to turn the church’s attention from evangelism to environmentalism.Page, 54, was chosen last year as president of the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention, Falwell’s denomination and the country’s largest evangelical one, in an election that he saw as a mandate for change.

“I would not use the word ‘moderate,’ because in our milieu that often means liberal. But it’s a shift toward a more centrist, kinder, less harsh style of leadership,” Page said. “In the past, Baptists were very well known for what we’re against. . . . Instead of the caricature of an angry, narrow-minded, Bible-beating preacher, we wanted someone who could speak to normal people.”

Read the rest

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