The Evolution of United States Immigration Policy!!

The blog on the Evolution of United States Immigration Policy by Ayshelle King was a very informative article.  The blog was very interesting and informative.  A enjoyable read.  I thought the facts were well presented in easy to follow chronological order without going overboard with information.   I agree with it is almost impossible to implement a National Immigration Policy that makes everyone happy.  The point about the public opinion goes back and forth was very well made.  My only suggestion is that the article should have a little more on the polices that are in place and how they effect the country.  This problem, like many others, have been pushed to back burner due to the War on Terror but is moving to the front due to the economic times.

Lobbyist Out of Control

Lobbyists and political action committees are a real threat to the democratic process and leave the average voter powerless.  

In 2009,  3.48 billion dollars was spent lobbying by 13,644 lobbyists.  This is down from previous years due to the economy.  The two largest categories are health, and insurance/financial.  Out of the health fields, Pharmaceutical  companies spent $267,893,947 on lobbying. From the Finance category, Insurance companies spent an estimated $120,627,007.

One of the classic examples of lobbyist influence is AIDS research.  A disproportionate amount of the Federal research budget is spent on AIDS are a result of the AIDS/HIV Lobby.  AIDS is not even among the top 15 causes of death in United States.  Despite the dramatic decline in deaths, funding for AIDS research and treatment has skyrocketed-largely as a result of successful lobbying.  

To put into prospective, $164,000 per AIDS death is spent by the National Institute Health from its AIDS research budget compare this to $7,713 for each death from cancer, $6,949 per death from diabetes or $8,608 per death from breast cancer. 

On a more local level,  in the state of Texas, 1690 lobbyists spent $344 million in 2009.  This amount lower than the previous years due to troubled economy.   The most upsetting of these facts is that taxpayer dollars are spent to hire lobbyists. School districts and cities hire lobbyists.   For example Houston paid up $1.3 million to hire lobbyist and San Antonio  paying up $640,000 lobbyists.

Lobbying has a showbiz aspect.  Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Paul Simon, George Clooney, Cher, Jessica Alba, Tony Bennett, Julianne Moore, Jennifer Garner, Ashley Judd, LeAnn Rimes, Don Cheadle, Fran Drescher, Lyle Lovett  are some of the many celebrity lobbyists.  Some are hired and others are passionate about the causes they represent.  Research monies for Parkinson's Diease have increased since Michael J. Fox testified before Congress.  No one says no to seeing celebrities.

If just corporate lobbying could be eliminated or limited, the government could be returned to the American people. What if it were illegal for politicians to accept "anything" from lobbyists?  Would they vote from a position moral responsibility instead of that of the payoff? 

"Treatment, Care, and a Better Life" or Is European Socialism the Answer?

In Robin Dao's blog "Treatment, care, and a better life for EVERYBODY! Poor or Rich", he  argues on how we could be a better society if we all could just get along and pay more taxes.  

The article was well written and has something interesting points to consider.  But I found most of Robin Dao's arguments to be unrealistic for this country.  The argument lacked  more substantial facts or comparisons to convince me of the plan for a higher standard of living would work in the US.  The facts of the argument were a little too vague as well as how to go about creating this better system.  I would have preferred a more specific examples to prove Robin's point.

Robin Dao's main example of a new system based on "the Greater Good" is Norway.  Taken from his blog;

"Imagine a country “aimed at flattening the income distribution, eliminating poverty, ensuring social services such as retirement, medical care, and disability benefits to all, and putting more of the capital into the public trust.” That’s right! Ladies and gentleman, I present to you this lovely country called Norway." 

According to several indexes Norway does have one of the highest standards of living in the world.  But is it one of the most expensive places to live in the world.   Norway has one highest cost of manufacture in the world with $ 25.20 per hour. The United States comes in at $18.40.  According to the Big Mac Index, the cost of a McDonald's Big Mac in Norway is $7.25 compared to $3.75 in the US.  To look at in a different way, it only takes 11 minutes to earn enough to buy in the United States.

Before trying European "cradle to grave" socialism, we have to examine the broad effect of the socialist welfare state’s effect on a country’s economy, and how that impacts on individual citizen's personal standard of living and public happiness.  While this system works in Norway with a more or less homogeneous population of 4.9 million people, it could never work for a country a diverse population 310 million people. 

The War on Terror and Foreigon Aid Costs Too Much

The people of this country can not afford to maintain the policies of  funding the War on Terror and spending billions on foreign aid when the country is facing such economic hard times.  These billions could be spent better within the borders of the United States.  

The War on Terror ( Iraq war, Afghanistan war) is now the longest war in US history.  In the ninth year of operations since the 9/11 attacks while troops are being withdrawn in Iraq and increased in Afghanistan, the cost of war continues to be a major issue.   We must consider the longer-term costs implications of  the buildup of troops in Afghanistan and potential problems in the withdrawal of U.S. forces from overseas theaters.  The average monthly cost of the war is around 11 billion per month.  The total cost of the war to date is around 1.5 trillion dollars with no end in sight.


The purpose of Foreign Aid is to create foreign markets for US products and services, increase national security of the country, fight drugs, and promote democracy.

Iraqi Aid is the latest example of corruption being a major problem.  How often have we heard of the funds end up in private bank accounts?  It is often the leaders and governments getting the money and not the people it is intended to help.  The poorest nations often receive the least amount of  assistance and the richer ones receiving the most.   For instance, Israel received around 2.6 billion dollars in US Aid. How has the aid actually helped the US government and its policy?  If the UN voting records of the countries that receive aid from the US, it is not much.

The troops must be brought home to include the 50,000 plus service members in Korea.  The only military forces that should be deployed overseas are the ones that directly contribute to the safety of US citizens and interests.

The United States has to start being extremely picky about how it distributes foreign aid.  Foreign aid should be cut drastically to programs that directly benefit the United States and contribute to the defense of the country.  The process of foreign aid should be streamlined with unifying agency supervising all expenditures overseas.

How can we continue spending the way we do when every three months, 250,000 new families enter into foreclosure,  1,318,398 violent crimes occurred nationwide in 2009, 50% of high school seniors have used illegal drugs, US students are 28th in the world in math and science, and the average cost of a college education has risen faster than health care?

Waiting for Superman

A recent editorial Mike Hashimoto/ Editor in the Dallas Morning News caught my attention about the recent released documentary "Waiting for Superman".   His examination of the Davis Guggenheim film, "Waiting for Superman" was logical, concise, and well balanced.

This is a documentary about what is wrong with the American public education system, once the best in the world, and who is to blame for a system that   routinely forsakes the education of millions of children. The film gives names and faces to the statistics of some of those children that are hurt by failing education system.

I enjoyed reading this editorial.  Mike Hashimoto examines the major points of the film in well written, clear, and easily understood manner.  In his editorial, Mike Hashimoto presents a number of viewpoints from various sources with links to read this different views.  There are also numerous links presented, in the editorial, on where to get facts about the state of the American education system.  To get the story straight from the source, this is the link "Waiting for Superman" website.   


This film concerns how my children might be educated.  I have not seen the movie yet, but I plan to see it as soon as I can.  As the father of two children, their education is something that is always on my mind.

The President's Wars

In a recent column, by the author Charles Krauthammer  in the New York Daily News, condemns President Obama’s handling of Afghanistan.   His opinions were logical for the most part but it seems he was cherry picking the facts to serve his argument.  The basis for his opinions were based on the book by Bob Woodward about Obams’s handling of the Afghanistan.  I had several conflicting views about his arguments and facts.  As a veteran of the War on Terror and more specifically of the Iraqi surge, my opinions are somewhat bias against some of his arguments.   

The authors main arguments is that Afghanistan a political tool to save his political career and standing within the Democratic Party.   One of the facts cited was the President announcing the surge and then the withdraw date approximately 18 months later.  This is a mistake by the President.  The insurgents are in it for the long haul.  With this kind of announcement, the terrorist will just wait until the US pulls out of Afghanistan.  He furthers adds that President Obama is not leading the nation during a time of war.  He cited Bushes leadership of the Iraqi War as an example.  President Bush whole handling of the War on Terror as political tool that suited his purposes.  President Obama was further criticized as having people around him that disagreed with him but we all saw what happened when the President surrounds himself with Yes Men.

The Tea Party Patriots are Coming

Lately I have been seeing articles about the Tea Party Movement.  This an umbrella movement of several far right religious conservative groups.  The Tea Party Movement takes it name form the Boston Tea Party.  This movement first became active in early 2009.  It has several major supporters to include Sarah Palin.

The most recent one that caught my attention was the Christine Odonnell.  She is a Tea Party candidate for Delaware Senate seat.  The Republicans were expecting to get the Senate majority back with the election of a Republican candidate.  The Democratic Party is using this as repreave and is hoping this splits the GOP.

I support a balanced Federal budget but to make permanent tax cuts for the rich and to repeal the  Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are major mistakes.  This kind of fiscal magic is one of the causes of the present depressed enconmy.   Many of the same people who are using the Constitution as a platform for their protests are the same the support the Patriot Act.

It will be an interesting time for American politics as the November elections approach.  I plan to keep a watchful eye on the Tea Party and what the do.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/17/christine-odonnell_n_721382.html