Senator Lee

Dear Senator Lee (of Utah),

You called blamed the Dem for choosing a candidate as cult of personality. When was the last time your party looked in the mirror?
Signed,

An Informed Citizen.

Comcast and Hi-Def Sports

Dear Comcast,

So, not only, do you not put the Olympics on Demand. But If I want to watch the obscure sports, I have to have High Def Subscription too. Come on! You own about a dozen channels. And on the weekend, you can't go with full coverage? You paid over a billion dollars for this. I thought you would have wanted to get your monies worth.

An unhappy customer.

Comcast and different Sports

Dear Comcast,

Stop trying to get me to use you on demand services if you won't carry the stuff on your own channels (Tour de France and the Olympic Opening Ceremonies.) You own the damn channels that they were aired on. If you can't provide your programing, why should I watch anything you have?

An unhappy customer.

Constitution is Liberal

Was reading a blog and another friend’s wall. I noticed a number of their conservative friends complaining that the "Liberals" are the one causing the POTUS so much trouble. Now I could rant about what the Conservatives did to Obama, but I will let history make the final word on that.
Instead, I want to make a rather simple statement to those screaming about the Constitution, POTUS, and politics in general. Please remember that the Constitution is a liberal document. And the heads will start exploding (along with name calling, threats, and accusations of a lack of Education) in 3, 2, 1...

Religion, Discrimination, and Indiana.

I originally posted this when Indiana was stupidly thinking about doing this. Well, now North Carolina, Mississippi, and Tennessee have decided that they had to go through with this. And they will pay economically for it. So, I’m re-posting this. Read and think.

A Political Rant. You have been warned!

Religion, Discrimination, and Indiana.

Religion is a powerful thing in people’s lives. It shapes and molds their identities and morals. It gives comfort to those who need it when times are tough or when illness and death stalk a family or friend. When the changes in the modern world becomes too much, many look to spiritual guidance to help deal with the stresses. It can also show us the greatest acts of kindness and humanity.

Yet like most things, Religion has a dark side. Many read into it the need to convert others to their way of thinking. (If you are not with us, you are against us.) If they cannot be converted then they must be the “other.” Fit to be scorned, hated, and in some cases killed. All in the name of their version of God.

This “other” is what is currently behind the so-called “Religious Freedom” law in Indiana. The right to tell that other that they can be discriminated against, all in the name of God.

Think about that for a moment. The state of Indiana has just made a law that says, if someone claims a deeply held belief they can refuse to do business with you. No penalty, no fine, just sanctioned discrimination.

You will hear (like on the Sunday’s news shows) some claim that this not what the law is about. That it is designed to protect the rights and freedoms of those practicing their faith. Bullshit! We have this little thing called the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and over two hundred years of the Supreme Court rulings.

Some have stated that there are 19 other states with similar laws on the books along with one from the Federal government. Well, they are more tightly defined concerning the details. But don’t worry, we will get to them soon enough.

Now take moment. The current focus is on the rights of the LBGT community. And just as it should be. For they are the true target here and it is a direct strike at them because of the changing view on Gay Marriage. (A majority of Americans are now in favor of it.) Got some news for you, the demographics of the country are changing and so are the views. A majority of the population does not attend any sort of religious service.

Now, take a step back and look at the bigger picture. In the 1840s and 1850s, slavery was justified as being God’s will. The Jews have suffered for thousands of years based on someone else hatred and misinterpretation of religious writings. Muslims are the current boogey-man to some. And in 1692, we burned people at the stake because it was thought they were witches.

This is the bigger picture that laws like this will head us toward. Some here will accuse me of over-dramatizing it. But ask yourself, how much of a step is it from denying service to someone who is gay to deny it because of their religion (No hotel service for the Jews and Muslims can’t build their mosques) or skin color (Colored bathrooms, Chinese not allowed to bring their wives, and Irish and Italians denied housing and jobs.). It has happened before. Just ask the Japanese Americans.

Is this the American you want to live in? Is this the legacy we want for our children and grandchildren? We must do better. We must stand for our follow countrymen and women. “We the People” must mean everyone and their ideas or they are just words on paper.

Trump, Immigration, and bad ideas.

Trump, Immigration, and bad ideas.

A political Rant… You have been warned!

So, the Donald wants to be President of the United States. Fair enough. He meets the minimal requirements set forth in the Constitution. (Natural both citizen and 35 years old or older.) Why I think he is bad for this country will be in another rant. For now, let’s only look at the one policy that he has gone into detail. Immigration.

Trump has purposed three major points on this. First, to build a wall on the southern border. Secondly, to depot all illegal immigrates in the U.S. And finally to remove birth right citizenship for so-call “Anchor babies.”

First, the Wall. The idea for a wall can go back to the Great Wall of China. A modern belief is that the wall was built to keep the enemies at bay. And in certain sections that is indeed correct. However, it was mainly built to keep a sitting and bored army busy and not wanting to take over the country. The modern version of a border wall can be seen in the Berlin Wall (93.6 mile) or even the fence with Israel and the West bank (308.8 miles). These were designed to keep some people out and others in.

The problem here is the magnitude of cost and scale. The border with Mexico is slightly over 1900 miles long. Part of that border is a major river (the Rio Grande), harsh desert area, and private lands. The private lands would have be either bought or seized as emanate domain. Native American lands would be divided, animal habitat would be destroyed, and water rights would become an issue. (Ask the Israelis how much fun that is) That idea will go over well with small government southern conservatives. (Sarcasm intended) The cost to build such a wall is estimated at around 49 billion dollars. Naturally, there will be cost over runs. (Examples: the Big Dig in Boston and any of the Trump towers.) By the time it is completed, it could easily skyrocket to over $100 billion.

The other cost that is not being talked about is more long term. What is the cost to maintain and monitor this wall? It currently cost $6.5 billion for the 600 miles of fence that already exist. Simply math puts the minimum cost for the entire border at around $20 billion annually. And what about patrolling/monitoring? Finding solid figures for this is next to impossible. There is much talk about using tech and contractors for some of this. And currently there is a bill in Congress that would add just short of an additional 10,000 border agents at a cost of $600 million annually.

So, the cost of the Wall on the southern border is much higher than people want to talk about. Where will the monies to pay for this come from? The Donald like to say that he will get the Mexican government pay for it. Think again. They don’t care if the United States want to waste their monies. Hell, I’m betting they will find a way to make some money off of the whole thing. He talks about charging large fees to Mexican businessmen who want to come and make deals. Forget it. They will just go to one of the Caribbean islands and do their deals there. Heck, the Cayman Islands have a number of corporations claiming that is where they are based and it is all in one building.

The next part that Mr. Trump wants to do is deport all the illegal immigrants in the country. That is an estimated 11.4 million people, approximately 3.5 percent of the entire United States population. Why they are here is a topic for another conversation. But think about this. Some are here due to violence (criminal and political), economical, and still other came here as children with their families.

When asked how he planned on rounding up these people he stated that was going to keep families together and that it would be easy to find them. (He also stated that it would be done humanly. More on that later.) This shows a total lack of understanding of how illegals live in this country. They hide, they do nothing to get noticed and they do everything to look like normal citizens. (Including paying taxes, social security, and local government fees)

Think about this. Currently Congress has only budgeted (for deporting) somewhere in the neighborhood of 300,000 people. (This number could be wrong. If it is please provide correct information) Recent estimates for deporting 11.4 million people is somewhere around $285 Billion. This costs includes housing (room and board), processing, legal challenges, and transportation to home countries.

Here are some more numbers to chew on. The Migration Policy Institute gives the following demographics for illegal immigrates: about 8.1 million (71 percent of the total unauthorized population) were born in Mexico and other Central America countries. About 1.5 million (13 percent) were from Asia; 817,000 (7 percent) from South America; 455,000 (4 percent) from Europe, Canada, or Oceania; 317,000 (3 percent) from Africa; and 225,000 (2 percent) from the Caribbean. So, will Mr. Trump go after those from other countries or is he only interested in Mexico and Central America?

There is more to think about in this section, but ask yourself this: How they going to round them up? What will happen to all those nicely connected businesses that have hired them? What happens when Neighbors start report innocent people because some dispute? Where are they going to house all of them? And finally, what if a country does not want them back?

The final point is the end of Birth Right Citizenship. So let’s get it right out in the open. Here is what is says in Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment: “Section 1 - All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

So, there it is. A war was fought to bring this into being. Time and time again, the Supreme Court has ruled that being born here means you are a citizen!

The idea of natural born citizenship goes even further back than that. In Clause 5 of Article 2, it states that Qualification of a person to be President. (“No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”) So Birth Right citizenship was thought of long before the Fourteenth Amendment.

For Mr. Trump (or others in the GOP) to get the Constitution changed, they will need 290 members of the House, 67 Senators, and 38 States to want to make that change. Do you honestly expect this to happen? They can’t even agree on a budget to care for our returning Vets or repairs for the roads and Bridges!

But OK, we get rid of the Birth right Citizenship. Here is the hard question that nobody has asked but you need to start thinking about: What will be the new definition of citizenship? What do you have to do to be a citizen? In some countries, you have to trace to family back several generations. Think that will work well here in America? Birth Right Citizenship has been a staple of this country since its founding. The Fourteenth Amendment just codified it.

So, there it is. Things to think and talk about. Mr. Trump wants to spend $620 Billion annually for these policies and this doesn’t even deal with the starting of cost or time. There are other ways then the draconian ideas that the Donald has come up with. But again, that is for another rant and another day.

Primaries

OK, there appears to be some confusion about the primaries. So let me educate you about them. First, this is not an election. Nowhere in the Constitution does it talk about primary elections for political parties. This is just a complex survey. The parties are asking your opinion.

Next. The parties have rules in place for a number of reasons. Some of them have to deal with having people who are not members, coming in and taking the nomination. This was done in 1972 by George McGovern. He took the nomination and lost in one of the biggest landslides in history. He was the Bernie Sanders of his time. His lost made a large number of people walk away from politics for decades.

The other reason is to prevent something called an open or contested party. This is when no candidate has enough delegates to take the nomination out right. This gets nasty. (All the delegates are required to vote for the candidate they were elected for.) After that they can vote for who they want. And the backroom deals get even nastier.

This is how it works. Want to change the rules? Then join the parties, become a leader, and change the rules. You cannot change them in the middle of the game. For those of you upset that Sanders did not get all the delegates from New Hampshire, here are your facts.

First. Bernie knew the rules going in. He watched it being played out for years. And finally, most states are proportional, not a winner take all.

These are the rules. Either play by them or get out of the game.