And the poll says......

Have you ever been part of a Gallup Poll or maybe a Quinnipiac University Poll?  (Is that a real school?  Do they play football?  What conference are they in?)  According to the above poll of pollsters (haha!) they're in the believable category.  Political party polls and news media polls, not so much.

I'm always hearing about how the American people are in favor of or against blah blah blah, but if you look at how Americans say they feel about contemporary issues, and then look at how Congress is representing us with their votes, you'll see a definite disconnect. 

We say we want immigration reform, and our politicians nod and agree, and then passively do nothing, or worse, the exact opposite.

We say we don't want trade tariffs, and our politicians nod and agree, and then just sit on their thumbs.

We have opinions on various gun control measures, ditto.

We tell them how we feel about taxes, and health care, and they tippy toe around them and do nothing.

Here's a typical day for a Washington politician:  They meet for breakfast with a lobbyist who says his client wants X, then meets with a trade group from "back home" who says they do not want X.  He poses for pictures with his constituents, passes out ceremonial Congressional paper weights, thanks them for their opinion, promises to keep in touch, then goes out and votes for X, which is slyly buried in a bill promising to end puppy mills, 'cause, you know, everyone wants to end puppy mills, right?

Then two months later he's the speaker at an event back home, and they treat him as if he was royalty!  People are scared to speak up and hold his feet to the fire, or throw him in the fire, because....I have no idea why.

What's the point of public opinion polls if our public servants (wow....there's an oxymoron!) pay us no attention?

S

The End Is Near! Or not.

Our long awaited presidential election is finally over.  I've heard all the gloating from the winning side, and the moaning from the losing side.  Here's my pragmatic take on where we are and where we might be going:

Some seem to be holding out hope that enough of the Electoral College electors will at the last minute change their vote from Trump to Clinton to enable her to be declared the winner.  Technically possible?  Sure, and tonight's winning lottery numbers will be....

Protesting is fine.  It's a way to show those in power that all the people matter, and that even the losing side must somehow be accommodated, too.  But violence is stupid.  It just makes the protesters look like a bunch of kooks.  Lets stay away from that, OK?

I'm personally very concerned when one party controls the House AND the Senate AND the White House.  IMO neither party should ever be given that much power.  Our Founding Fathers envisioned "checks and balances", but this current monopoly of power gives us neither.  Those among us who can still think straight should hope the Democrats gain control of one house of Congress in the midterm elections in 2018.

I've heard it said many times that the job (the office of President) shapes the man, meaning that once taking office and the new President sees what all the job entails, he will put away his rose colored glasses and deal with reality.  Trump once famously said that he knew all about ISIS, more than the generals even, and that he would "bomb the hell out of them".  (ISIS, not the generals *snort*)  Now that he's getting intelligence briefings and sees what is really going on in the world, and learns all about the ramifications of even a tiny misstep, I'm hopeful he'll choose his words and actions more carefully.

I believe it was in his party acceptance speech that he said something conciliatory about the LGBT community.  He received a polite response from the delegates, for which he thanked them.  I don't think he has intentions to pull their rug out from under them.

He's going to build a wall.  Right, and I'm going to be an astronaut.  Increased border security, sure, which isn't a bad thing, but the expense and logistics and material/manpower issues that would be required to build his wall are just beyond reach at this time.

He's going to have an undocumented alien roundup and send them all home.  Who's going to do the rounding up?  Where are we going to hold them awaiting their deportation?  Do they get their day in court?  Do they get a court appointed attorney?  Will there be any lawsuits/injunctions to stop him?  How long will all that take to clear the courts?  Always remember the old saying, "The wheels of Justice turn slowly".  Some sort of compromise will have to be worked out involving registration, work permits, etc.  Again, the job will shape the man.

Trump said just yesterday that he might keep parts of Obamacare.  I think he's already figured out that literally declaring it null and void can come back to bite him in the butt.  To do that would send our entire health delivery system into turmoil.  He might see to it that it's heavily amended, which it desperately needs, and to save face he might declare the new improved plan Trumpcare, but who really cares?  (The people already know it was President Obama who started the health care reform ball rolling.)  The important thing is the people will have access to the care they need.

On and on....he'll soon realize that words, and actions, have consequences.  Consequences that he really won't want to deal with.

S 

Bacon Bacon, and More....WITH EDIT

Have you heard the latest twist to the life or death saga of Bacon Bacon, the San Francisco restaurant that specializes in dishes that contain that special male aphrodisiac?  Some residents of the area had complained of the smell of bacon permeating the neighborhood and had succeeded in having it shut down.  *gasp*  

Yesterday the court allowed Bacon Bacon to reopen if they uprated their ventilation system.  I should hope so.  If there was ever a reason to rally....riot even....for a cause, this was it.  Those anti-bacon types better not try any of that nonsense here in Texas!  We love our bacon, and we have the waistlines to prove it.

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I understand Edward Snowden, the guy who stole top secret gubment info and fled to Hong Kong (who then shipped him on to Russia) is about to make his move again.  He's been holed up in the Moscow airport for a month, and I'm guessing is smelling pretty ripe by now.  So far the only countries who say they will take him are a couple of banana republics in Latin America and Venezuela (not much better).

Can you imagine what 'ol Ed is thinkin'?  "This has NOT worked out like I thought.  I'm gonna spend the rest of my life in Bo-f__king-livia, swatting flies and selling souvenir 'Che' t-shirts to tourists.  Crap!"  

Smart career move, Ed.

EDIT:  U-turn....the f__ker is staying in Russia.  (Not a safe place, Ed.  "Bad things" can happen to people there.  *wink* )

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is a follow-up to a post of a few weeks ago where I suggested that some kind of immigration reform needs to be implemented ASAP.  The main argument for just rounding up undocumented workers and escorting them back across the river is that they are taking away jobs from legal Americans who need work.

I received an email from my patterned concrete vendor yesterday pleading with all their customers to please be patient with them.  It went on to say concrete was in short supply, they had jobs backed up for 3 weeks, the concrete companies couldn't hire enough drivers, they themselves couldn't hire enough employees, etc.

If you're wondering, this ^ is specialty patterned concrete.

OK all you native born Americans of whatever color you might be who were shunted aside by illegals who got that job meant for you.  You say you want to work?  Here's your chance.  You're up.  The hiring signs are out and the pay is good.

*Waiting....*

*Still waiting....*

Have a great weekend everyone.  Stay cool.  :)

S

Just stirring the pot....plus a double feature

Time for me to make at least half of you mad, and maybe all of you.  A topic back in the news today has touched a nerve....immigration reform.

On the face of it undocumented workers who literally wade the river or jump the fence ARE ILLEGAL.  It's undeniable.  The knee-jerk reaction is to round them up and send them back.  IMO, that is probably the worst thing we could do, and probably impossible to do, too.

Truth is, we NEED these people.  Stop and think about it....without them most of our restaurants would simply not be able to function.  They grow and harvest our crops.  Roads and bridges, not to mention homes or office buildings, would not be built.  Landscape companies, janitorial companies, all sorts of blue collar companies would go out of business.  They do honorable work that we want and need and value.  

And no, there aren't enough native-born (white, black, or brown) Americans to fill those positions if all the illegals were sent home.  There are "Help Wanted" signs out there right now and I don't see whites or blacks lining up to apply.  I frankly doubt that even much higher wages would entice enough whites to fill those positions.  Consumers simply can't pay more for their daily necessities.  Our buying power is stretched now.

So what form should immigration reform take?  I have no idea, but I know we need to agree to something that will make these illegals a legitimate part of our economic landscape.  Industrious, clean living undocumented workers should be made taxpaying partners in America.

This ties in with another news bullet that just popped up on my 'puter:  Whites in America had more deaths than births last year for the first time ever.  We need MORE workers to pay taxes, and we can't count on those new workers being white.  

We'll need to either raise taxes or make even deeper cuts in services, including defense, and as the recent sequester has shown, we squeal like 2-year-olds when you ask us to do without something.  The solution (to me) is obvious.

OK, rip me.

S

PS....I had another post in the que, but decided this one was more "in the news".  It follows if you're interested.