Category: Geezer Alert!

Thanksgiving is probably the most American of holidays and I shouldn’t really post a rant, but…

Those non-Americans didn’t have documentation when they sat down for the first Thanksgiving, and they didn’t really try to assimilate with those already living here.

Whatever good intentions they might have had devolved into a simple invasion.

Then we became a country and:

• Naturalization Act of 1790: Stipulated that “any alien, being a free white person, may be admitted to become a citizen of the United States”
• 1875: Supreme Court declared that regulation of US immigration is the responsibility of the Federal Government.
• 1882 The Chinese Exclusion Act: Prohibited certain laborers from immigrating to the United States.
• 1885 and 1887: Alien Contract Labor laws which prohibited certain laborers from immigrating to the United States.
• 1891: The Federal Government assumed the task of inspecting, admitting, rejecting, and processing all immigrants seeking admission to the U.S.
• 1892: On January 2, a new Federal US immigration station opened on Ellis Island in New York Harbor.
• 1903: This Act restated the 1891 provisions concerning land borders and called for rules covering entry as well as inspection of aliens crossing the Mexican border.

So in 1891 the Feds took responsibility and it seems they’ve been trying to wriggle out of the job since.

That is history.

Today there is this: Opponents of Alabama’s immigration law say it causes fear, anxiety

If the goal of state immigration laws was to make life so uncomfortable for illegal immigrantsthat they leave on their own, it may be working under HB 56 in Alabama.

“HB 56 has caused a chain reaction that prevents Hispanics from living with dignity,” said Trini Garcia, who came to Alabama on a tourist visa 15 years ago and stayed after it expired.

“I never thought Arizona’s law was going to come to Alabama,” she said. “Now it’s created chaos among Hispanics in Alabama.”

Garcia was one of several speakers Monday at a hearing called by congressional Democrats who traveled to Birmingham to rally opposition to HB 56, the state anti-immigration law patterned after Arizona’s SB 1070.

Here is the obvious: The Federal Government is DIRECTLY responsible for any discomfort caused by the various state attempts at controlling ILLEGAL immigration. Our Hispanic citizens  can hold their heads high, but scofflaws SHOULD feel uncomfortable.

Without the tiniest trace of racism intended I can say that we’re in the same boat as the Native Americans were back then. It appears that by the time we recognize we’re being invaded it may be too late.

YMMV

I dunno just how serious this notion is, but it sure struck my fancy.

Illinois Republican wants to make Chicago area the 51st state

A state Republican legislator has introduced a bill to the Illinois General Assembly to separate the Chicago’s county from the state–effectively making the midwestern city the 51st state in the union.

The bill, filed by State Rep. Bill Mitchell of Decatur Tuesday, would “enact legislation dividing Illinois and Cook County into separate states” because county residents “hold different and firmly seated views” on “politics, society, and economics” from people in the rest of the state. The bill’s supporters point to higher tax rates and strict gun laws in the Chicago area and contend that the northern county is out of step with its Illinois neighbors.

This actually makes some sense on its face, but I’d include EVERY major urban area in the process.

I also have no idea just how a referendum would work. For example; would a referendum in New York include NYC in the voting or could the non-NYC voters just sorta wave byebye?

Regardless of the details the idea is fun to think about.

From 2-17AirCav elsewhere on TAH:

This seemed to be the appropriate place to post the following, inasmuch as pretenders and posers will never know the following:

Tomorrow many of us will be with family for a Thanksgiving day of turkey, football, and squabbling. We will think of loved ones who are no longer at the table and say a prayer of thanks for them and our many blessings. We will remember others too, those who made the supreme sacrifice in service to our country. Below is a sampling, by year, of those whose sacrifice was made in South Vietnam on Thanksgiving Day itself. When I started this small effort, I quickly found that there were far too many men to list here whose casualty date fell on Thanksgiving. Perhaps you will read their names and know one. In a very real sense, of course, regardless of our age, our dates of service, our branch–we knew each of them. God bless them all and God bless their families.

Thanksgiving Day Casualties, South Vietnam, 25 November 1965

Arthur Melvin Gordon, Private First Class, US Army; Age at Loss:19
William Martin Savoren, Lance Corporal, USMC; Age at Loss:19
Donald Raymond Bonko, Captain, US Army; Age at Loss:28

Thanksgiving Day Casualties, South Vietnam, 24 November 1966

Grady Edward McElroy, Private First Class, US Army; Age at
Loss: 22
William Hixson Hardwick, Private First Class, USMC; Age at Loss: 20
John Neto Rodrigues, Staff Sergeant, US Army, Age at Loss: 36

Thanksgiving Day Casualties, South Vietnam, 23 November 1967

Francis John Muraco, Corporal, USMC; Age at Loss: 21
Gary Doyle Roerink, Private First Class, Us Army; Age at Loss: 20
Leonard Leroy Bevels, Sergeant, US Army; Age at Loss: 25

Thanksgiving Day Casualties, South Vietnam, 28 November 1968

Laurence E Williams, Private, US Army; Age at Loss: 19
John E Moulden, Specialist Four, US Army, Born 28 November 1945; Age at Loss:23
Lonnie Michael Reeves, Lance Corporal, USMC, Age at Loss:22

Thanksgiving Day Casualties, South Vietnam, 27 November 1969

Wylie Clarence King, Corporal, US Army; Age at Loss: 20
Angel Luis Acevedo-Millan, Specialist Four, US Army; Age at Loss: 20
Kenneth James Smolarek, Specialist Four, US Army; Age at Loss: 19

Thanksgiving Day Casualties, South Vietnam, 26 November 1970

Samuel Lee Gantt, Sergeant, US Army; Age at Loss: 25
Ralph Howell, Staff Sergeant, US Army; Age at Loss: 26
Philip Eugene Richard, Chief Warrant Officer, US Army; Age at Loss: 21

Thanksgiving Day Casualties, South Vietnam, 25 November 1971

James Richard Thomas, Technical Sergeant, US Air Force; Age at Loss: 28
Thomas Dean Prose, Airman First Class, US Air Force; Age at Loss: 20
John William George, Captain, US Air Force; Age at Loss: 26

Went to their ER as a walk–in.

Check-in took a few minutes.

Hadn’t been in the place for years and so I was escorted to the place for blood work and ex-rays.

Again it took just a few minutes for both.

Back to the ER and a treatment room.

Test results take a finite time to process, but still didn’t amount to much over a half hour.

The doctor did have a rather thick accent, but was professional.

Thing is…  I was genuinely astonished.  And pleasantly so!

I will continue to rail mightily against bureaucracies and their ilk, but I WILL also acknowledge when things do work.

Of course, another time and another facility might be different, but it sure seemed those folks were trying and I wanted to say Thanks.

Every year about this time about 300,000 folks with guns descend on West Virginia. Yeah, it IS an invasion, but it is a GOOD kind of invasion.

Big Bucks:

The West Virginia traditional buck firearms season begins on Monday, and deer hunters should enjoy a good season, said Curtis I. Taylor, chief of the Wildlife Resources Section of the Division of Natural Resources.

“Mast conditions are not as good this year as last year, and deer will be more concentrated around specific food sources,” Taylor said in a news release. “In addition, there should be more mature bucks available to hunters this year because of the lower harvest and abundant food conditions in 2010.”

Three bucks already taken from my back yard during bow season.

Averaging 10 to 20 total deer on any given night.

Victor Davis Hanson puts it all together with ribbons and a wry twist or two that makes for a fun, if a bit frightening, read.

Obama’s Imaginarium

It’s a bit long for some so let me quote the last paragraph as a tease:

In the imaginarium, community organizer Barack Obama never lived in a small mansion. John “two Americas” Edwards never lived in a big one. “Earth in the balance” Al Gore never lived in a few of them, and yacht owning John Kerry never lived in lots of them. You see in the imaginarium of Barack Obama you can be whatever you wish to be. Just wishing and saying something can wonderfully make it so.

I found myself chuckling here and there… and then I realized it ain’t the least bit humorous.

YMMV

They’re Coming for Our Balls

A public school in Toronto has put a ban on most balls their kiddos toss around during recess because school administrators have deemed such projectiles dangerous. Well hello, wittle wussies.

The author goes on to suggest:

While you’re busy outlawing hard balls, why don’t you also mandate that everyone in your school wear pink tutus, chartreuse neckerchiefs and signs on their butts that say, “China and Islamic Radicals: Kick Me Hard.”

It is a sign of the times, I guess, but they ARE coming for our balls, and have been for some time.

Now excuse me while I go look up the lyrics for Kumbaya.

This is making the rounds as the OWS manifesto?

I’ll admit I have no idea what the last item even means, but I like the rest of it. In fact I’ve read similar from The TEA Party??

If it wasn’t so dang cold I think I’d organize an Occupy Rock Cave thing myself.

ETA: Note to self – Never again do a post at TAH after imbibing peach ‘shine! I get smarter when drinking  beer; NOT the good stuff.        Life lesson #267394