In which I give voice to a(nother) Rant

I've not been posting much here on Compass Points.

So much has been happening in politics that I find vile and disruptive to our freedoms that I can't begin to express my anger without growing frustrated. Between the Gang of 8's immigration push,  the IRS, the EPA, the NSA, the DOJ and the rest of the DC alphabet soup, can see little hope of our survival as a nation remotely resembling that the Founding Fathers established.

Our President picks and chooses the laws he wants to enforce (despite that being one of the prime responsibilities of the Executive Branch) and creates more by decree. Through the creation of czars and a Whitehouse that sets an onerous example of dictatorial aloofness, bureaucrats have taken on roles they were never meant to assume. Rules and regulations promulgated by cabinet level (or lower) appointees have choked our economy and infringed upon our freedoms.

Bengahzi, Fast and Furious, delay after delay on the XL pipeline for naught but political purpose, data gathering on private citizens, stonewalling the applications of Tea Party groups seeking tax exempt status--so as to prevent them from participating in the 2012 elections, various actions that will shut down inexpensive power generating stations in the name of Anthropogenic Global Warming (or Climate Change)--in a world that hasn't warmed in 16 years or more, a continued push for gun control headed by men from cities with deplorable illegal gun use.... I could go on and on.

And, instead of reporting the truth and focusing on the scandals embroiling out nation, the main stream press and 24-hour news channels are going all in on one distraction after another in an effort to protect the narratives(read "asses") of the Democrat Party.

All in all, things will be getting worse before they get better. I just hope that mass demonstrations will be the most that will be needed to right the wrongs being done. If it needs to--or is forced to--go beyond that, we are in a world of trouble.

The Joy (?) of Feeding the Birds

I got this one via an email and thought it sounded about right:

The Joy of Feeding The Birds:


I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed.

Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food.

But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue.

Then came the poop - It was everywhere: on the patio tiles, the chairs, the table... everywhere.

Then some of the birds turned mean. They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket.

And others birds were boisterous and loud. They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore.

I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone.

I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio.

Soon, the back yard was like it used to be...... quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

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Now lets see....... our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be an automatic citizen.

Then the illegal's came by the MILLIONS!!!!!

Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartment's are housing 5 families, you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor, your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English.

Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box, I have to press 'one' to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than 'Old Glory' are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.



Maybe it's time for the government to take down the bird feeder??

How to locate/recognize illegal aliens

(GuyK posted this over a CHARMING, JUST CHARMING and I swiped it. Hope he doesn't mind.)

Newt Gingrich on Immigration and tracking/recognizing illegals.

As I said over at Guy's place, put FedEx/UPS in charge of immigration and Chase Bank in charge of Social Security records. (Of course, FedEx and UPS would want everyone to have a bar code on their forehead but....)

"Press 1 For English"

With all the hullabaloo over the Illegal Immigration Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill recently beaten to death in the Senate, I wonder if people missed the Democratic debate question where nearly all candidates opposed making English the official language of the United States?



One of the requirements for becoming a naturalized, that is, legal, citizen of the US of A is an ability to read and understand rudimentary English. Why shouldn’t it be the Official Language? You really can’t have two or more.

Immigration raid in Portland, Ore. spurs complaint—from the mayor

Seems to me the Portland mayor needs to learn 1) the law and 2) that he is elected to represent the CITIZENS of his town. And American Staffing Resources and Fresh Del Monte need to brush up on the law, too.
165 Arrested In Immigration Sting

If Mayor Tom Potter can’t distinguish the fine points of the law, fraudulent Social Security Cards and Green Cards are not minor items, then perhaps he should resign. I’m sure the oath he took upon entering office said something about upholding the laws of Portland, Oregon, and the USA.

They may have been Portland residents, Mayor, but they were NOT Portland citizens.

Via The Drudge Report

Idle thoughts for a cool day at the Aerie

I’m sitting here awaiting a call from my mechanic to let me know what’s wrong with the truck’s electrical system and how much it’s going to cost to get it fixed. (In another hour or so, I’ll call him.) meanwhile, I’m surfing the web reading all my regular stops and a few more. Everyone seems to have just two things on their mind: 1) What’s up with the ending of The Sopranos? and 2) How could President Bush be so dumb as to continue to push for the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill (S. 1348)?

Never having watched even one episode of The Sopranos (which is a terrible thing to say for a 57 year resident of New Jersey) I cannot comment on that issue. Why haven’t I watched it? No HBO, that’s why. I dropped that movie package many years ago when 1) the price via Cablevision grew disproportionate to my viewing the crappy movies they were showing and 2) they continued to show crappy movies. When they made the switch to original programming, I could have picked it up again, but the cost factor continued to be a deterrent when so many other cable channels were part of the basic package. I’d much rather watch TNT, TBS, Sci-Fi, etc. than many of the “cutting edge” stuff they had on anyway. I don’t need to hear the language or view the absurdity of most of the HBO or Showtime shows anyway. Oh, sometimes it means I'm out of the loop when people start discussing some of the more popular shows and movies that appear on these channels, but I never watched Friends either and I don't miss them.

As for the Immigration bill…. Well, I just don’t understand the reluctance of the President or the Senate to just let this monstrosity die. There are so many things about this bill that are flawed that it is unbelievable they think it can be fixed. It needs to be completely scrapped. All the meaningful polls show that the citizens of this country can clearly see that it is a travesty. Calls to virtually every Senator’s office are 90-95% against the damned thing. We have laws on the books now that need to be enforced and a wall that has been authorized that needs to be constructed. (Funny how that bill about the wall got passed just prior to the mid-term elections just a few short months ago but now the Senate is looking to find ways out of completing it or circumventing the premise of its construction.) This land was founded on the principle of representative government. If the duly elected representatives aren’t going to listen to those who elected them, then maybe, just maybe, it is time for another revolution in this land.

Where have I been?

Just in case you've been wondering: I've been running all around chasing my tail. No, not really. But it feels that way. I spent four days at the Bolt Hole cutting grass, chipping and clearing brush and just sitting around reading when the rains came. I got two more game cameras out in the woods, checked their cards (lots of photos of raccoon, fox, and deer), and got back to the cabin without running into either of the bears Mark has seen. (Mark ran into one of them--the smaller one--the day I headed back to PA and they sorta faced off from about 30 yards.)

Back in PA I went over to Wellsboro to search for a replacement blade for the lawnmower, while there bought a window fan (and then had to return it--40 mile round trip--when it was discovered to be broken), finally arranged to get the truck serviced, took my Toshiba laptop back to Best Buy in Elmira to get the corrupted CD drive driver reinstalled (they saw we were from 50 miles away and were nice enough to do the work while Terry and I went shopping at the nearby mall so we didn't have to make a return trip to pick it up), and generally got ready to return to the Bolt Hole and from there head to Quebec to go fishing. In all the shuffle of cursing the computer's CD drive and everything else, I've just been following the Senate action on the Immigration Bill and the blankety-blank NY Mets loosing streak. (Yeah, the Bill went down but so did the Mets for three straight games against the Phils. The former is good for the USA while the latter eats at my soul.)

The one really bad thing about the Bolt Hole is the dial-up service. being at the end of the line--literally--means any breaks and/or bad splices along the line translate as snap-crackle-and-pop when the signal gets to me. And, trust me on this, that means the computer can not stay on line. I did manage to get one period of about three hours in the five days I was here when the wind died enough so as not to shake the wires and let me surf the net for a while. And forget about trying to upload/download any pictures. Even without the static on the line that task takes forever! *sigh* Expect things to get spotty again when I head back to the Bolt Hole Sunday afternoon.

I'm really, really spoiled by the wireless high speed hookup I've got at the Aerie.

*Sigh* Only in America

Illegal immigrants sue indicted janitorial firm for back wages

Illegal immigrants who worked long shifts scrubbing theme restaurants for an indicted janitorial firm have signed their names to a lawsuit seeking unpaid wages.

Some were rounded up in federal workplace raids in February and deported, they say, before receiving their final paychecks. Others worked 80- or 100-hour weeks for years without earning overtime pay or even the prevailing minimum wage, the suit charges.

The janitorial firm had contracts with well-known restaurant chains including the Hard Rock Cafe, Planet Hollywood and the House of Blues, and took in as much as $10 million a year.

Sigh Okay, they (the ILLEGAL aliens) got shafted by their employer, a firm that is now in government hands. They definitely deserve to be paid a wage commensurate with the labor laws. BUT, they did put themselves in this position by first entering the country illegally.

The attorneys are trying to reach the approximately 200 immigrants detained in the February raids, which targeted 63 restaurants in 18 states that used Rosenbaum-Cunningham workers.

"Some of our clients were deported, some left voluntarily and some were not picked up at all," Hewka said. "The challenge right now is finding them."

Hey, good luck with that. Do you think those that remained in the country will step forward to be part of this suit? Only if S. 1348 passes and they get their Z-card first. They have seen their coworkers either depart for home or get deported. I think it’s pretty safe to say the won’t be coming out of the shadows anytime soon. I'm actually surprised that enough of them came out to file this suit.

A rose by any other name

I’ve been reading as much as I can about the proposed immigration bill and trying to figure out just what all it includes. So far all I can say is I’m confused.

Illegal aliens will have to return home—maybe—and/or pay a fine to get on track for citizenship. But they can apply for something called a Z-visa and stay here and avoid a fine. Or they can just forget about applying for anything and continue to hide under the radar which may—or may not—be strengthened.

No where does this bill seem to say the border security will be tightened or that enforcement of existing laws will be improved.

I’ve seen quotes from lots of politicians saying this is not an amnesty. But if there is no push to punish law breakers (and I don’t count the wink and a nod pay a little fine portion of this bill to be just punishment) then this is an amnesty. And as we have seen from past amnesties, no good can come from it.

I sincerely hope our elected officials get to read the damn thing before they are asked to vote on it and that, after wading through the 800, 900, 1000, or whatever pages they come to their senses and vote this abomination down.

If they don't, I hope they have a good idea as to what they want to do in retirement. All they have to do is look at the attitude of the folks in Hazelton, PA. The legal citizens elected their representatives to look out for the well being of the legal citizen of the USA, not to make things easier or "more humane" for some illegal alien whose first act upon coming to this country was to break the law.


Agreement Reached on Immigration Reform

Bush Hails Deal on Immigration Reform

The J. Wellington Wimpy immigration plan: Amnesty now, enforcement later by Michelle Malkin

DOA? John Hindraker offers up some hope at Powerline.

This is NOT good

Another reason to be concerned about the influx of illegal immigrants into the US.

Parasite is a growing concern for healthcare professionals

In Latin America, about 10 million to 12 million people are believed to be infected with the Chagas parasite. As many as 1 million of them are expected to die from the disease unless there are advances in treatment, according to Dr. James Maguire, a University of Maryland expert on the disease.

"Chagas is very, very prevalent in South and Central America," said Marek Nowicki, a USC blood-disease expert who studied the effect of Chagas on the Southern California organ supply with the National Institute of Transplantation.

"The number of [immigrant] Latinos in Southern California, Texas and other parts of the United States are growing, but especially in L.A., a large proportion of organ donors are Latino," Nowicki said. "They're basically bringing with them the disease prevalence in the area they used to live."

None of those entering the US via the illegal path across the Mexican border have had any kind of medical screening and most of those coming over the southern border have to be suspected carriers of this parasite.