The Christmas that wasn’t the same!

Man that is nicely put, as a Christian I strongly believe in Christmas. It’s my favorite time of the year; I can’t imagine not having Christmas, with a “Merry Christmas,” or a “Ho Ho Ho.” I had no Idea that people were saying that Merry Christmas and Ho Ho Ho were bad and offending. That’s preposterous! How could that possibly be offending to any body? I do understand that there are people with religious beliefs out there that do not like, agree, or even believe in Christmas. And that’s fine its America you have a right to your own religion. But why try to take something so precious and joyous away that has been around for generations in this country, just because some folks find it offending? I don’t mean to sound rude or offending but America was founded in a Christian belief and we have aloud other beliefs to join us in this great and semi free nation. They are trying to take our freedoms away, our freedom of speech. We have enough problems that remain unsolved: immigration, energy, and our economy. Why don’t they leave “Merry Christmas” and “Ho Ho Ho” alone and let us enjoy our Holiday like we have for so long?

http://ourpriceforfreedom.blogspot.com/

50 billion for our troops

A 50 billion dollar plan by Democrats to fund troops in Iraq and Afghanistan is in progress, and will be sent to the president for approval. The most probable outcome is that he will veto the bill. The bills conditions are for troop withdrawal by December of 2008, for the troops to spend the same amount of time at home as they do overseas, and for an end of harsh interrogation techniques like water boarding.
The House speaker Nancy Pelosi says that this will be the last bill that she will send to the president if he vetoes again. I believe that he will veto, and that the Senate and the House will do nothing about it. They could override his veto just like they did for the water bill, but they wont. How would this benefit whole of congress? It wont, at least I don’t think it does.
The troops should come back home, they deserve it. I agree with them staying at home for a year after they have spent a year or more overseas (stop loss.) We will need the rest, the money, and the resources for our next big war with Iran, maybe Russia and possibly China. Maybe I sound farfetched but seriously the way that things are going now with this current administration and Congress not standing up for what they know is right, I’d say things look very dark in our near future.
As for our men and women overseas it seems that they won’t be leaving any time soon and possibly won’t be getting any money to be mission capable over there. While back at home our Government debates on withdrawal and money.

Progress with Immigration

I agree with Snapp, we should totally do something about the illegal immigrants in this country. It’s a difficult issue for me being that my parents were illegal immigrants. They came in the amnesty of 1986, so they were very lucky. They have worked hard to assimilate into American society, something that some American people believe Mexicans can’t or don’t want to do. America is a great country, and it’s definitely a privilege to live here. I think that given a chance Mexicans can contribute greatly to our society.
Immigrants should be tested I believe that people illegally in America should prove that they want to live and that they can assimilate to our society. There are a lot of great people that can do a lot for this country, but at the same time there are bad ones. The point or purpose of these tests should be to find these bad people and send them packing. I hate to say it that way, but we already have our own criminals we don’t need more.
As far as taxes go, yes we should tax them. I pay a ridiculous amount of taxes and all because I have no dependants. They should share the burden if they want to share the jobs. Some folks that work for, lets say the restaurant business, those folks get taxed heavily and never see that money at the end of the year. So it’s a very difficult issue, but not an impossible one,

The Dream Act

The Dream Act the bill that was defeated on Wednesday the 24th of October by the Senate. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Illinois was the measures lead sponsor. The Dream Act which stands for: Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors. The bill would have allowed young illegal immigrants the chance to eventually become American Citizens. Some of the prerequisites were, No Criminal Record, Need to have resided in the US for at least 5 years prior to the passing of the measure, have graduated from High School or have a GED. The last two prerequisites definitely made sure that the young illegal immigrants were worthy of citizenship. They are two years of military service or two years of college (an associate’s degree.) I believe that this measure would have greatly benefited the US in many ways. We definitely need people for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And it might seem like indentured servitude, but I believe that we could avoid that in this point in time. The two years of college is my favorite, what better way to show America that the young illegal immigrants can assimilate into our society: by the young people being educated before getting their citizenship. I Think this measure would have looked great for congress, they would have taken one step into the immigration problem.

http://www.statesman.com/search/content/shared/news/immigration/BC_DREAM_ACT_VOTE24_COX.html

Blackwater

The Blackwater killings in Iraq! I remember that in March 31 2004 four of Blackwater security guards were ambushed and killed. Then their bodies were burned and dragged across Fallujah to a bridge in the Euphrates River. There their bodies were hang and displayed for the Iraqi people to see. Wow! What a great Jihad victory over the infidel. The insurgents and militia have been killing Americans for over 4 years. So what do we call that? A casualty of war is what we call it, according to the US Government. The war ended in a great victory for the United States and its allies in 2003. So why are we still calling the deaths casualties of war? Well the truth is we are just a police presence there; the soldiers for the most part hate it. But some people are there to make money, and lots of it. The security contractors there are not fighting for their country, but for the money that Blackwater pays. These guys are mainly ex soldiers and marines, so they have experience on what their job is and what’s expected of them. Now how do these professionals end up killing 11 innocent civilians for no reason? Wait it’s now 17, and tomorrow it will be 20 or 30. I’m not sure how or why this happened it might all be publicity for Iraq. But what I think will happen is that the Government or Blackwater will end up paying a lot of Iraqis a lot of money for their losses. Some may be true and some just figured that they can make some money out of a little lie. I mean seriously how can anybody tell who was killed in the actual shooting. Can you really do a murder investigation in a war torn country? I don’t know but I have a feeling that more bodies will be added to the Blackwater body count. If the Blackwater security agents did kill innocent people then I do I agree on them getting punished. But if they didn’t will anybody care about what the mercenaries didn’t do? Probably not, I think things are about to get worst for Mr. Erik Prince.

http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/world/10/08/1008iraq.html

Body Dilemmas on the Border

Illegal immigrant’s bodies are turning up on the edge of the Rio Grande, and the vast remote ranches of Texas and Mexican border. That’s what’s happening in our Southern border these days, and goes back a couple of decades too. The body count is a little over 350 for the fiscal year. And the folks that are doing something about the bodies have no ties to these people. So why do they do it? Because regardless of what a lot of people think about the illegal immigrant in general, they are still human beings just like us. I’m surprised that the border counties are even doing something about it. It’s not their responsibility to pick up the bodies ID them and burry them after they are done with the autopsy. “We do it out of respect” says Dr. Corinne Stern, the Webb county medical examiner. The citizen’s tax money is being spent on identifying the bodies for family members, and then to burying them when the families cant ID them. So who helps the folks on these border towns when they have no more money and room to keep the bodies? Is it the State or the Federal Government? What about the Mexican Government? The majority are Mexican citizens. The Mexican consulates try their best to help the families ID the bodies, but even with that little help and some DNA technology from a couple of Universities, some of these counties are being stretched thin on funds. The Mexican Gov should do its part on creating jobs and making better living conditions for its citizens. As for the US Gov they should apply a little pressure to the Mexican Gov so they can take responsibility for their citizens that die across the border. How can the Mexican Gov not care about its citizens, it almost seems like they want them to come over here and die. A couple of years ago during the Fox presidency the government was giving its people pamphlets on how to successfully cross the border to the US. Great help the Gov was encourage them to leave their native country, instead of helping them with jobs so they wouldn’t be compelled to cross over. I agree with Dr. Stern, it is a dilemma. I mean we can’t just leave the bodies to rot out there, or should we?

http://www.statesman.com/search/content/gen/ap/TX_Dilemma_of_the_Dead.html?COXnetJSessionIDbuild56a_prod=2W2YHJMC2MxjwQ3HTLCBBJLvpGQ7B1LDh8TKKRQVScf0dhcL97l1!1465412056&UrAuth=aNaNUOcN[UbTTUWUXUVUZTZU^UWUbU^UZUbU]UcTYWYWZV&urcm=y

Student Loans

Student loans is a necessary process for many students who look forward to higher education. It seems that the student loan lenders like Sallie Mae and others are taking advantage of the "Basic consumers protections" that were taken out of student loans in the mid 1990's.

Alan M. Collinge took a cross country trip with a beat up RV in 42 states and 22,000 miles of road. In his travels he met with citizens and legislators to ask about the issue. His mission was to "Persuade congress to restore consumer protections to student loan borrowers." The house and the senate passed HR 2669, the College Cost Reduction Act. The bill's provisions include; interest rate reduction, loan forgiveness for public service, Pell grant increases and income contingent repayment plans for future students. But the problem of basic consumer protection is still not fixed. This leads to many students getting interest rates as high as 18%, and some that have problems paying the loan get a levy fee as high as 25% of the balance of the loan. Some students once they consolidate their loans, get trapped with that lender and are not able to refinance no matter how interest rates fluctuate, or how bad the lender treats them. In Alan's travels he spoke with a couple of former students. He spoke with a chiropractor from Texas whom after defaulting on his loan could not renew his license. He now is a truck driver in Amarillo. There was also an attorney who had so many fees and penalties on his loans that he left the country to start a new life in Asia. He finally spoke with a mother from Oregon, who told him that her son took his life after his loans came to a compounding debt of $200,000. So many students who need the loans are finding it hard to pursue their dreams, will the government ever help them out?

Students who need loans for college should read this article. I think every student should know how these lender groups get away with ripping us off.

<http://www.statesman.com/search/content/editorial/stories/09/03/0903collinge_edit.html>