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I wonder why Charleston Newspapers never reported that Republican Rep. Joe Wilson (R-Loudmouth) and our very own Shelley Moore Capito (R-Hypocrite) actually BOTH voted in lockstep with Bush Rubberstampeders to provide federal funds for illegal immigrants' healthcare?
The rubberstamping Repub votes came during the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, which contained Sec. 1011. At that time, they authorized $250 million annually between 2003 and 2008 for government reimbursements to hospitals which provide treatment for uninsured illegal immigrants.
Please take this post seriously, because some calls need to be made. Delegate Kelli Sobonya (R-Cabell) is hosting a right wing anti-immigrant group at the State Capitol this Monday.
Don't be fooled by the sanitized appearance. These people and their policies are down right mean and inhumane.
And on Columbus day??? I know it's a Legislative interim, but holy smokes.
Again, if you have a minute or two, please contact your legislator. Educate them on the dangers that these initiatives pose, and tell them to have no part in this right wing theater.
For starters, the population of undocumented immigrants in West Virginia is so minute that legislation dedicated to the issue is not needed.
Second, states that have enacted omnibus anti immigrant bills have been on the receiving end of a litany of problems, most of them economic. And now is absolutely the wrong time for mass amounts of West Virginians to end up unemployed because of the hurdles everyone will have to jump over to just to get and keep a job. That is the kicker with these types of bills. They don't address any substantive issues. They are completely reactionary and end up creating problems for citizens of the states that pass them into law.
Securing the votes in Congress to pass real immigration solutions into law isn’t going to be easy. The next President – no matter who wins – will need to lead his own party first to get it done.
I don't know how I missed this... a couple days ago our favorite sorority sister, Tiffany of Shelley Moore Capito's sorority Sigma Mu Capito, wrote "Good fences make good countries."
Over at Shelley Moore Capito's sorority, Capito's immigration fear-mongering is giving Tiffany a tingling feeling. Lucky for Tiffany, she knows the Bush-Capito solution is just a signing statement away.
I know we often make fun of lawyers in this country ("What do you call a smiling, sober, courteous person at a bar association convention? The caterer."). On the other hand, there's a lot to be said for the value of training in law for political leadership.
The Clintons (Bill, Yale; Hillary, Yale), Barack Obama (Harvard), John Edwards (UNC), Harry Reid (George Washington U.), and Alan Mollohan (WVU) all have law degrees.
Then we have our Republican mis-leadership. There's George Bush with an Master's in Business Administration. That's the same degree that Duke Cunningham and Jeff Skilling have. There's Rep. Shelley Moore Capito with a Master's in Career Counseling. That's the same degree as... well, actually, no one comes to mind.
Bush and Capito share a mis-understanding of the law, too. Whereas Bush missed the week in high school civics class about constitutional checks and balances, after six years in Congress Rep. Capito still hasn't figured out the basic mechanics of when a law is needed.
West Virginia Democrats had no problem getting it right (emphasis mine):
West Virginia’s other two congressmen—Alan Mollohan and Nick Rahall—voted against the measure. Rahall says he opposed the amendment because the program already includes ID requirements and toughening up the standard would be burdensome to many rural and elderly citizens and raise privacy concerns. Mollohan’s office said the amendment was "nothing but political chicanery."
You know, it's hard to counter the negative stereotypes the rest of the country has of West Virginia. Rep. Capito isn't helping any. They noticed up in New York, too: Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Queens) said "It's all demagoguery." As Albor Ruiz of the New York Daily News put it:
While the fate of 12 million people, thousands of families and the future of the nation's economy wait for Congress to do its job on immigration reform, some of its members would rather play games.
[snip]
"Loopholes in current law, like this housing assistance loophole for illegal immigrants, act as a magnet and invite people to enter our country illegally," Capito is quoted as saying. "We should not be rewarding those who have come here illegally by awarding them taxpayer-funded services intended for law-abiding citizens."
Wow! Is she tough! She's cracking down and closing loopholes! No "illegal" will take advantage of taxpayers on her watch!
Not to rain on her party, but there is one small problem: What loophole is she talking about? Undocumented immigrants already are ineligible for housing vouchers. Under current law, all recipients of assistance are required to be citizens or to prove their lawful immigration status.
Capito can do all the chest-thumping she wants, but there is nothing to crack down on.
Here in West Virginia, the coverage is a mixed bag. Tom Searls article reads like a Capito press release. Yet, he did prominently mention his inability to get a quote from Rahall or Mollohan. Loopy Kercheval's opinion piece does include quotes from Rahall and Mollohan but it distorts the issue even worse than Capito did.
Capito should be called out for immigration race-baiting and class warfare. Her arguments are full of lies and distortion. Here's a just a few ways her actions are deceitful:
In all fairness to Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, I haven't seen a statement from her yet defending this vote, but it's quite shocking that she did this. Perhaps she's hoping people won't find out about her vote on this and with an often compliant West Virginia media perhaps she's right. If she sends us a statement explaining her vote, I'll put it up to give her a chance to explain it even if she is talking out of both sides of her mouth as she often does.
In the middle of the big debate on immigration, the California GOP finds out that among the jobs that Americans apparently don't want to do are the deputy director and director posts of the state party.
Leave it to U.S. Senate historian Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) to remember the details. From The New York Times:
When President Bush goes to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to push for revival of a comprehensive immigration bill, he will have to wrestle with the ghost of a 1986 law that promised to solve the problem of illegal immigration.
That law prohibited the hiring of illegal immigrants, provided new resources for enforcement along the Mexican border and offered legal status, or amnesty, to several million illegal immigrants. In the current debate, which stalled last week when the latest legislative proposal failed to clear a procedural hurdle, senators of both parties cite the 1986 law as an example of what not to do.
snip
Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, said he supported amnesty in 1986 “based on the very same promises we hear today.” But that law did not work, Mr. Byrd said, and “I will not vote to make the same mistake twice.”
--Senator Opposes Legislation: Says it Rewards Illegal Behavior While Hurting Citizens and Legal Workers--
“I strongly believe we need to find a workable solution to the growing problem of illegal immigration.
“When this debate began several weeks ago, I had serious concerns about this bill but didn’t want us to run from the problem – I believed we had a real opportunity to improve the legislation on the Senate floor. Through amendments, I had hoped we would toughen security and enforcement, eliminate provisions that reward illegal behavior, and support reforms aimed at strengthening families, citizens and legal workers.
(Thank you to Wabi-Sabi for this informative diary. - promoted by Clem Guttata)
For the past year and a half or so, Republicans have been trying to use Immigration Reform as a rallying issue for their party. Similar to gay marriage in 2004, many Republican leaders viewed the issue as a key part of their electoral strategy in 2006.
Of course, we all know how well the 2006 election worked out for Republicans.
Nonetheless, they are maintaining the drumbeat that illegal immigration is one of the country's greatest threats and are bickering among themselves in a manner that makes the Democratic party look organized over President Bush's support for the proposed compromise Immigration Reform bill negotiated by Senator Jon Kyl (R) and Senator Ted Kennedy (D).
Taking a deeper look reveals how much the Republicans are split on the very issue that some propose is the key to their future electoral victories.
Road signs point ATV riders to the attractions in Gilbert, W.Va., March 29, 2007. The Hatfield-McCoy Trail System totals over 500 miles of off-road trails in nine southern West Virginia counties, making it the second largest off-highway vehicle trail system in the world. (AP Photo/Jeff Gentner)
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