Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Stuff in the News That Bewilders Me

From USA Today.com: So, President Bush "believes the best way to end the black market in labor, which has drawn an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants to the USA, is to legally expand opportunities for foreigners to take jobs that Americans don't want. 'By creating a separate legal channel for those entering America to do an honest day's labor, we would dramatically reduce the number of people trying to sneak back and forth across the border,' he said Monday."

That makes sense to me. And yet:

"The House bill by Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., passed in December, would make illegal immigration a felony and increase penalties on employers. It would also expand 14 miles of fencing along the U.S.-Mexican border by 700 miles, at an estimated cost of $2.2 billion."

Eleven million illegal immigrants are here. The question is, what now? Isn't a a "guest-worker" reasonable? Am I missing something, Mr. Sensenbrenner? Are we seriously considering making their presence a felony, increasing our the load our courts and prison systems must bear? What is the penalty now for being an illegal immigrant? And how did we accumulate 11 million of them before we decided to take action?

See? I'm so confused. I need more information and yet, I'm not sure I'd have enough unbiased information to ever really understand these sorts of things.

I'm also confused about Michael Schiavo. Why would a man who claims to shun publicity and decry public interest in a so-called private matter write a book about it? Am I missing something? I have no patience for a man who began dating, having children and cohabitating with another woman while waiting for his wife to die. What ever happened to duty and faithfulness? And why put yourself back in the news just when we were starting to forget that he begged the courts to deprive his wife of nourishment (and water, too).

I wonder about Rusty Yates who is getting on with his life, while his ex-wife faces a second trial in the drownings of their five children. How does one just move on like that? Don't dead children require at least a decade of mourning? And what kind of woman marries a man with that kind of baggage? This boggles my mind.

And just when you thought a pastor's wife was a quiet little woman with a beige personality, along comes Mary Winkler with her sassy haircut, three little girls and husband shot dead in his bed. I know. We are all thinking the same thing: What was her motive? Why would she shoot her husband in the back? (Oh wait, I presume guilt. Shame on me.) Still. Why? Why? Why? Why didn't the vision of her children with a dead dad and an incarcerated mom stop her?

I don't understand a lot of things today, I guess.

21 Comments:

Blogger oshee said...

I have asked myself just about all of those same questions. I don't understand. While some of it I do care about, take illegal immigrants (living in Arizona ...) But even if I care, it doesn't mean I have one single answer or solution to other peoples choices.
It is exhausting isn't it...?

3:15 PM  
Blogger Sarah said...

I, also, am confused about A LOT -- I listen to way less news than I used to b/c it all makes me want to go bang my head against a wall. One answer I do have, though, is a correction to what happens to illegal aliens caught (and/or even accused of a crime) in this country: nada. I'm with you -- there must be a happy medium between a wink and looking the other way and being a felon. A police officer in Texas was recently killed by an illegal alien that had a string of crimes in the U.S. that he had committed. My question: why is he here? Why am I paying for his medical care and probably for his children to go to school? Sorry -- I asked two questions for the one answer I gave. I'm not a lot of help.

3:16 PM  
Blogger Jack-on-the-Lake said...

It's like you've been reading my mind...

All things to ponder and take up room in my head but no answers.

5:29 PM  
Blogger Judy said...

I don't understand it. Any of it.

You figure it all out, then tell me what to think.

I've never said that to anyone before, but I trust you.

(is your husband scared?)

6:19 PM  
Blogger Smoov said...

The more you learn the less you know, the less you find out as you go....or so says Bono from U2 ;)

I read a lot of news and it keeps me up at night. Sucks doesn't it?

7:47 PM  
Blogger KMae said...

I can NOT stand Bush. Although I can WELL imagine trying to do Anything to get to the U.S. if I were an alien. I am grateful I am from here, not anywhere else. Well, Canada is rather cool!
If I am ever in Terry Schaivo's place, I would definately want the plug pulled. So SAD about Andrea Yates, those poor, sweet victims, & their dumb butt father - good luck to that new wife, really lame! And I'm in that group wondering What the preacher did to his wife, I suppose her reasons will be revealed eventually.

As you can see, I have no answers to all the questions, only answers to the way I would personally feel in these circumstances.

11:50 PM  
Blogger Smoov said...

I agree with kmae. My feelings for Bush have soooo changed over the years. That guy is an asshat. For sure. He gives Americans a bad name.

4:36 AM  
Blogger Anita said...

I'm with you... I have a lot more questions and no answers. Like Sarah, I watch or read a lot less news just to save my own sanity.

But our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities and power of this dark world and against hte spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Eph. 6.

5:26 AM  
Blogger Pilgrim said...

I think it's awful Schiavo is making money off his dead wife, who who wasn't faithful too.

6:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I can understand Rusty's need to move on 3 years later but what I don't understand is the motive of these people.

Where the hell is Jesus in their life?

7:42 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I don't get it either.

How many of those politicians have used illegal immigrant labor, I wonder....? They are a bunch of hypocrites.

I keep thinking about the children Rusty and his new wife may have. How much baggage for *them*!

8:26 AM  
Blogger Eyes for Lies said...

Here, here. I'm with ya. I don't understand it either...

8:29 AM  
Blogger Gina said...

The illegal immigration thing is such a three-headed monster. There are so many things that need to happen, yet none of them will.

There are already laws on the books punishing employers for hiring illegal immigrants, yet they are never enforced.

And, I think the government of Mexico has a higher duty to its people to try and create jobs that will help their people stay in their country with their families.

And yet, immigration is what built America, for sure.

I too, am wondering why she shot her husband. There is something there.

So yes, it is definitely all enough to give one a headache.

8:36 AM  
Blogger Aunt Murry said...

I don't get it either. I guess we can be confused together. Thanks for stopping by today!

10:54 AM  
Blogger Kristin said...

Part of the problem with the news is that everything has been reduced to a sound bite. Any actual point or fact is glossed over the one "catchy phrase" that will stick in your mind.

Let me just say if my 5 children were dead there would be no moving on for me.

The illegal immigrant problem is a tough one. I feel, well, I was just lucky to be born here in the US...I didn't earn my way into this country... there is a lot of, "There, but for the grace of GOd.." in my thinking.

11:14 AM  
Blogger Barb Szyszkiewicz said...

So many illegal immigrants out there--like right here in my neighborhood. In this case they are from Brazil and are very hardworking people who do the dangerous, dirty, and disgusting work that we Americans think we're too good to do.
I wish there WERE a legal way that people who want to work hard can do so--and that they can be properly compensated for their efforts (which many of these people are NOT).

11:45 AM  
Blogger deedee said...

There are many times when I just don't understand things I see and read in the news. Since becoming a mother, I know I am especially affected by bad things happening to children. That breaks my heart.

12:10 PM  
Blogger Shalee said...

Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

I don't get it either. You know that God is just shaking his head at the oddity and stupidity of it all.

That is why I like to read books (not Schiavo's) instead of watching tv. I get to pick and choice what I want to think on instead of having it force fed to me via news.

12:35 PM  
Blogger The Bizza said...

Weigh George W Bush?s response to the Schiavo situation versus his response to the Katrina situation. Nuff said about that.

I agree that Michael Schiavo?s attempt to make money from the notoriety of his wife?s death is reprehensible, but I don?t begrudge him moving on with his life. His wife was braindead with little to no chance of recovery. How long was he supposed to mourn? or how could he mourn? Duty and faithfulness are all honorable ideals, but removing the tube or not, was he really supposed to remain in limbo?

And speaking of the tube thing, this is another situation that has boggled my mind. If he had snuck into her room and severed the feeding tube without the doctor?s consent, or tainted her nutrients with poison, I?d have a huge problem with him, as would the law. But that?s not the case. I?ve heard many sermons about the Lord helping those who help themselves and the Lord working in mysterious ways and let?s ?leave it in God?s hands? and ?God giveth and God taketh away? and so on? That?s all well and good, so who?s to say that God wasn?t watching over Schiavo?s situation in the first place? He had the tube removed, placing it in God?s hands? and then God took her home, right? Because that?s what He does, right? So can someone explain to me again why everyone vilified Michael? Is Michael a murderer or is he performing the will of God? If Michael is guilty of murder, and he somehow managed to weasel his way out of our justice system like O.J. Simpson, doesn?t hell await him? If so, isn?t that judgment reserved for the Lord? If that judgment is reserved for the Lord, why is everyone else so eager to damn him on earth too? He?ll get his in the afterlife? right? Hmmmm?

But yeah? the book deal and the interviews? Those are definitely bitch-moves and he should be ashamed. But I?m seeing way too much of Terri?s parents too.

As for Rusty Yates? well this one is easy. He lost everything he held dear? everything? and he simply wants to feel good again. He?s not ?over? this by any stretch of the imagination. He will never be over it. My wife still breaks into uncontrollable sobbing reminiscing about her brother who passed on five years ago. I?m convinced this will continue 50 years from now when we?re chasing each other in our walkers. As much as she loves me and the kids, no one will ever fill that place in her heart that was solely for her brother. No one ever gets over something like this. Rusty?s lost children will remain a void that will never be filled again. Some people try to fill that void with alcohol or narcotics, with disastrous results. Rusty?s three year courtship may seem unorthodox on the outside, but isn?t it better than the alternative, which would be a 5th of Jack Daniels every night? All we can hope to do is learn to live with it. He re-married because he wants to feel good again.

FYI: I found this part of the article the most interesting:

?The church minister said Yates chose to move on with his life while resisting temptation to pity himself or seek revenge on people who may have wronged him.
"It is easy to judge the actions of another, as though we know all the intricate details of their life story. Jesus has warned us against such judgments," minister Byron Fike said in his prepared statement. He took no questions.?


As for Mary Winkler? uhm?. Well? you see?. Hmmmm?

I give up? that chick?s just batshit insane. And I know a lot about crazy chicks?

1:01 AM  
Blogger The Bizza said...

I wonder why my punctuation gets re-formatted into questionmarks?

8:37 AM  
Blogger Jacqueline Smith said...

If there is a God in heaven I hope Michael and Rusty get a form of impotency that Viagra can't help.

11:55 PM  

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