Message Received

The vote was just taken on the floor of the U.S. Senate on the question of cloture on the immigration reform bill. I am relieved to say that the people were heard, loud and clear on this matter and the politicians voted accordingly. The bill is dead.

Loud people, pat yourself on the back. I will raise a glass this evening to toast all those taking the time and interest in our country to do the right thing and tell our elected officials how they wanted them to proceed.

Listen, when Bernie Sanders, the socialist Senator from Vermont votes the way I want the vote to go, you know it is one messed up piece of legislation. The final vote tally shows an odd mixture on both sides of the argument. It certainly proves one argument, though. It was not a Republican or Democrat vote. It's an American vote. It's a right and wrong kind of vote. It's a listen to the people who put you into office kind of vote.

I heard lots of entertaining speeches during this long, drawn out, tortured process. I heard Republicans in favor of this bill, a part of the Masters of the Universe pushing this legislation through without going through the proper committee process, I heard a Republican president ratcheting up the rhetoric and causing unnecessary damage to his own party, I heard those bowing to pressure from lobbies like The Chamber of Commerce or La Raza, and I heard the standard name calling by those not capable to offer up anything else in the debate. Those opposing the bill were called racist, xenophobic, isolationists.

I heard those willing to stand up and be heard on behalf of this country. This is the greatest nation on the face of the earth. People are storming our borders to get in, not get out. We are a nation of laws and a nation of cultural assimilation. The melting pot. It is a privilege for foreign born people to live here, not a right. If the very first decision you make is to disregard our laws and come into the country illegally, well, you forfeit your privileges.

What does it say to all those going through the legal process, waiting years and paying fees to do it the right way? How can you say you are bringing people out of the shadows when you say they are here doing work no one else will do? And what is the justification to bring along all the extended family of the trespasser? How are we to believe the border will be secured when it hasn't been since the last amnesty bill, rammed through by Teddy the swimmer Kennedy more than 20 years ago?

Harry Reid was so desperate to get the bill to the floor for a vote, to demand the senators vote for cloture, that he rambled on about phone calls and letters received at his offices, filled with hate they were, except for the one phone call from a constituent named Tommy. He was making the whole thing up, you could tell. It also showed the complete arrogance of Reid. He listens to a lone phone call, as if we believe he actually spoke on the phone to anyone calling about the bill, instead of all the rest who were opposed to the bill?

Reid stated, after the vote, that he would re-visit the legislation in the future. Good. But next time let's do it right, shall we? Let's do it in small bites and let's put it through the proper committees, too. I live in a border state. The problems of illegal immigrants are huge here. Go to an emergency room on a Friday night as I have and see what happens. Every piece of paper from the city and the school board is in English and in Spanish. Classified ads in the newspaper for employment ask for bilingual speakers on a routine basis. And by bilingual, they mean Spanish, not German or Chinese or Japanese or French or Italian. We are a sanctuary city. We have a taxpayer funded day center for illegal immigrants looking for work to gather at each morning and wait to be picked up for a job that day by employers using them as cheap, disposable labor.

President Bush, with low poll numbers, felt emboldened enough to say he'll see the critics at the bill signing. Senator Reid, with even lower poll numbers than the president, didn't see the reason to listen to the American people, of whom only 22% wanted the legislation to push on.

Message received.

Cheers.