No budget for 2011?

In case you missed it on July 1st the House Democrats deemed as passed a budget that wasn't a budget.  The $1.12 trillion dollar bill was attached to the end of an emergency war supplemental bill that passed with a procedural vote by 215 to 210.  As a side note, not a single Republican voted for the bill and 38 Democrats voting against.

This gives Democrats the ability to start the spending for fiscal 2011 early and puts no limits or restraints on how the money gets spent.  Also there is no limit to the "Emergency Spending" that might take place.

In other words, is a blank check for them to do with what they will.

Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisconson) issued a scathing report on behalf of The Committee on the Budget.  An excerpt is below.

What House Democratic leaders call a “budget enforcement resolution” is in fact just another
“deeming” scheme – one that concedes they cannot meet their most fundamental governing
responsibility: writing a congressional budget. They have created a masquerade that only
advances their spend-as-you-go philosophy, accelerating the march toward a fiscal and economic
crisis. They are doing so because a majority of rank-and-file Democrats cannot vote for a budget
with trillion-dollar deficits. As even House Budget Committee Chairman Spratt has
acknowledged: “You can say that that’s a lack of courage.”1 The analysis below makes the
following points:

• This is not a budget. The measure fails to meet the most basic, commonly understood objectives of any budget. It does not set congressional priorities; it does not align overall spending, tax, deficit, and debt levels; and it does nothing to address the runaway spending of Federal entitlement programs.

• It is not a ‘congressional budget resolution.’ The measure does not satisfy even the most basic criteria of a budget resolution as set forth in the Congressional Budget Act.

• It creates a deception of spending ‘restraint.’ While claiming restraint in discretionary spending, the resolution increases non-emergency spending by $30 billion over 2010, and includes a number of gimmicks that give a green light to higher spending.

• It continues relying on the flawed and over-sold pay-as-you-go [pay-go] procedure. Paygo – which  Democrats have used mainly to raise taxes, and have ignored when it was inconvenient – does nothing to reduce deficits or restrain spending growth in existing law. The pay-go statute adopted in this resolution does  not correct its fundamental flaws.P Outsourcing fiscal responsibilities. The measure is another hand-off by the Democratic Majority of Congress’s power of the purse – this time relying on the Fiscal Commission created by the President to do Congress’s job.

On illegal immigration

Stop for a second and take a look at the violence problem in Mexico. If you have any money at all you stand a very good chance of you or your family being kidnapped and held ransom. The drug dealers there are running the country. Literally. There are more cops in Mexico that are on the dole from drug dealers than there the ones who aren't. Violence is at an all time high.

Where do you think the really bad drugs in America are coming from? A good many are from Mexico. They run thousands of pounds of drugs across the border every day. These drugs are sold to Americans. Who sells them? Mexican drug cartels. Cartels who will stop at nothing to make a buck. Do you think the runners or dealers are legal immigrants?

Come  to where I live and watch the local newspapers for a while. The violent crimes that are committed? 70% Hispanic. 90% of those are illegals. A good portion of the arrests are over drugs or drugs are part of the reason for the arrest.

Around here we tell the illegals from the legals because most of the illegals ride bicycles. It's not hard to figure out which is which. The illegals won't look at a cop. They duck their head and try not to be noticed.

Do I feel bad that the legals are stopped because of a few bad apples? Sure I do. But the question remains. How do we tell the illegals from the legals?

I recently talked to a Homeland Security Illegal Deportation Officer. While I can't repeat verbatim what he said, I was quite disappointed in what his superiors were telling him to do. He wants to correct the problem, but he isn't allowed to. Basically if there isn't a crime committed, there is nothing they can do.

So if at the National Level we are willing to ignore the issue unless the illegals commit a crime, what are the States supposed to do?

If you have ever worked in an industrial plant or a restaurant you would know that the folks who run these types of places tend to care more about hiring cheap labor than about where the labor comes from. You're not going to stop it from the employer side.

If you don't profile and ask for ID from suspicious looking folks, you aren't correcting the issue there either.

So we are right back around to the real issue. Closing the border and patrolling it. Stop the flow. Obama has already stated that this is not going to happen.

So lets pause here and ask; "Why not?" Think about the Democratic agenda for a moment. "Help those who can't/won't help themselves."

What do the Democrats stand to gain if the illegals are granted asylum and rights? Thinking on this for a moment, why would the Democrats want to stop the flow? Are the illegals going to be given the right to vote? If so who would they vote for? The folks who voted them rights?

So with an instant voter base at the ready, why would there be a push by the Democratic controlled government to push out illegals?

So back to the border. It's not going to be closed for another three years at least. In the meantime, States are going bankrupt trying to maintain the social programs that don't work. The Federal Government keeps digging the debt hole deeper. We can't keep pouring money into it. If we ran our private finances the way the government is running the public finances we would be in jail. Period. No one would tolerate us refinancing debt with a promise to pay in the future. The courts would force us into bankruptcy. No court is going to force the US into bankruptcy in the near future. At some point it will happen. Guaranteed.

So how do we solve the illegal immigration problem in the short term?

Whoa! Look where we are! Right back around to profiling.

I have quite a few Latino friends. Some are Hispanic, some are not. All might be profiled. I highly doubt it. They all try to fit into the culture, learn English, and keep their noses clean. The folks who complain the most about profiling are the ones with something to hide. Puffing a joint, a little weekend juice, drunk driving, illegal family member, past history of crime, stolen property, pick one. If you are clean, you have nothing to worry about and profiling shouldn't worry you.

Chances are, if you are profiled you deserve to be profiled. Cops don't just go after anyone. They look for things that don't add up. Case in point. Take my buddy for example. He is short, white, wears T-shirts and skateboarder style shorts, has a close cut hairdo, shaves when he feels like it, looks to be about 23 (actually 43), and drives a lowered Honda Accord that is missing half the trim. He used to get stopped about once a month because he looks like a drug dealer. I say 'used to' because most of the cops have stopped him and know who he is now. His wife is a Chiropractor and he has a very well paying job, but yet he is profiled. Did I mention he is white? He thinks it is funny and laughs it off. Since he doesn't do anything wrong, he isn't worried about it. Is it a pain in the ass? You betcha. But he thinks it is great that the cops are trying to keep him safe.

So what is the solution? My opinion is lets get over the namby-pamby attitude that the cops are out to get us, quit trying to make excuses for why things shouldn't happen, stop with the "Let's all just get along" attitude and get this country back on the right track. Illegal immigration isn't going to stop itself and we can't keep supporting everyone forever. Something has to be done.

You can't please everyone all of the time. So why should we pretend that we can?


Edit: This post was a reply to a Facebook discussion that several of my friends were involved in.  By itself it doesn't flow very well without the background material.