Obama, Immigration, and the Law

By now, most intelligent readers are more than aware that the United States Supreme Court ordered that most portions of the Arizona Immigration Law were struck down. The only portion left standing, was the right of the police in Arizona to detain immigrants suspected of breaking the law. The Obama administration promptly turned around and ordered that they would no longer deport anyone under those circumstances. Whatever happened to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. SO HELP ME GOD?" Candidate Obama, while campaigning in 2008, declared on more than one instance that he would dismantle the water-boarding of suspected terrorists at Gitmo. He argued that famous debate line: "Are we a nation of laws or aren't we?" Well, Mr. President, are we or are we not a nation of laws? The major issue at play in the "illegal" immigration (the argument is not whether or not people have a right to come to this country) is the notion of our immigration laws. Do we "reward" or "look the other way" now at "illegal" immigrants? If we can "ignore" portions of the immigration laws, which other laws can American citizens ignore? Either the Constitution is a living, breathing document that still has relevance today or it is an antique that belongs in a museum case. No President (Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Richard Nixon, Barack Obama) can decide to ignore or bypass the law. If you don't like a portion of the law Mr. President, fix it. President Obama has had forty-one months in office (most of that time with a democratic majority in both houses of Congress) and he has done nothing about the immigration question until recently. Imagine that, he weighed in on the question right as the polls for the upcoming election started to show the race tightening. Not that the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would ever do anything for crass political purposes.

Common Courtesy is Dead!!!!

What ever happened to common courtesy? There was a time when you were taught your "place" in society. As a child, I can remember the do's and don'ts from my parents. Wearing your hat indoors, say yes sir or yes madam to adults, holding the door open for ladies, picking up trash, all of these were behaviors that were drilled in our heads by our parents. Now we have people who not only wear their hats indoors they are too ignorant to figure out which side of the cap is the "front." Manners, it would seem, are now as antique as telephone booths or eight track tapes. Have we become such a "me" generation that we can no longer be considerate of our neighbors. Are we such a narcissistic society that what other people think is no longer important? Common class and common courtesy are no on total life support. I'm not smart enough to figure out when we crossed that "line in the sand," the line that separated the "intelligent" humans from the animals. But we have definitely crossed it. A true conservative once stated that "all change is change for the worse." Unfortunately, that may be true. Sadly those people with class are being vastly outnumbered by those with a total lack of class. Here's hoping that we might turn the tide, but I doubt it. I suppose it has to be George W. Bush's fault, after all-everything else is blamed on the man.