Three Thoughts of Tuesday

Should President Bush Be Censured?
Surely, if a Republican controlled Congress attempted to impeach President Clinton for sleeping with a very willing, albeit not terribly attractive, intern, they should certainly exercise similar judgment towards President Bush. At this point, in terms of seedy and illicit behavior, Bush has engaged in the declassification of information that directly lead to blowing the cover of an undercover agent (for political gain) and blatantly lying to the American people (about only wiretapping with a warrant). Still it seems unlikely that the Republicans will support any sort of censure (McCain "the Maverick" has been acting like a mute, declawed puppy-dog). This seems to suggest that either the Republicans enjoy eroding civil liberties in America and damaging national security or don't like sex (with (ugly) interns). I am inclined to think that Republicans given they family and pro-life stance believe in procreation (hence sex) and therefore must simply be inclined to engage in an Orwellian like coup on the public.

See Senator Tom Harkin's note on why Bush should be censured.

Is Oprah Winfrey Shallow?
Judge for yourself.

"I was coming back from Africa on one of my trips," she said. "I had taken one of my wealthy friends with me. She said, 'Don't you just feel guilty? Don't you just feel terrible?' I said, 'No, I don't. I do not know how me being destitute is going to help them.' Then I said when we got home, 'I'm going home to sleep on my Pratesi sheets right now and I'll feel good about it.' " -taken from People.com

With statements like this one, I find it hard to believe that American women consider Oprah to be so very empathetic.

Illegal Is Illegal
I grew up believing (and still do) that if something is illegal, that means it is illegal and against the law. (Yes, the analytic reasoning used to get this insight is phenomenal. I know!) I fundamentally fail to understand why people who entered this country illegally should be allowed to "cut in line", and get citizenship ahead of those who have waited patiently and applied through the appropriate channels. As far as I am concerned everyone pushing for this "immigration reform" has their own agenda.

• President Bush: wants to strengthen GOP control of the Hispanic voter base which has grown from 2% to 8% of the population in the past 20yrs.

• Unions: giving illegal immigrants guest worker status would force employers to pay them a fair wage (at least minimum wage) and limit the price advantage they have vis-a-vis union labor.

• Catholic Church: within the US the largest growing portion of the church's ministry is the Hispanic community

• Businesses: so this one I don't understand. Shouldn't business want their workers to stay illegal so they can pay them lower wages?

Any change to the immigration code allowing undocumented workers to gain citizenship without properly securing our borders will lead to an increase in illegal immigration, and place additional strain on already over-burdened border communities. And the notion that illegal immigrants will pay their back taxes is nonsensical. Few of them have the funds necessary to pay back taxes and the scheme is an enforcement nightmare. Regardless, the principle holds true that you do not reward "criminals" with citizenship. What about illegal immigrants makes them more deserving than Hatian boat people who are routinely turned away? or individuals who apply for a visa and citizenship through legitimate channels?