Posted by
William D. Dannenmaier on Friday, June 22, 2007 11:38:15 AM
Wimpy and Congress
By
William D. Dannenmaier
Those favored few, by this I mean those born the same year I was or earlier who are still alive, will remember the adventures of Popeye and his rotund, pompous and ineffectual companion, J. Wellington Wimpy. Wimpy’s usual line was, “For a hamburger today, I’ll mow your lawn tomorrow.” The hamburger was always eaten. The lawn was never mowed.
Does this, by any chance, make anyone think of our federal Congress?
The most obvious parallel is the current immigration bill. We are being promised a secure border if only we accept those who have previously entered the country illegally as legal. Haven’t we heard this before? Where is the security of our border that has been promised? As Wimpy, pardon me Congress and President Bush say, for a hamburger today, I’ll mow your grass tomorrow. But that has been said before, hasn’t it? Several times.
President Bush is adamant that we must secure the borders of Iraq, keeping undesirables from entering the country illegally, but he doesn’t seem to care about invaders of our nation. The only border security case I have heard of recently is that of two border agents who chased and shot at, wounding, a drug peddler who was crossing the border illegally. Our federal government, protecting our rights, gave the drug peddler immunity and sent the two agents defending our border to jail.
Those agents broke the law when they failed to complete paperwork. Horrible crime. The first agent who sees the Mexican army crossing the border to protect the rights of those Mexican citizens rioting and waving Mexican flags in cities such as Austin, Los Angeles and Phoenix should immediately go to his office, fill out the necessary report and mail it to Washington before undertaking any other action.
But Bush’s inanities are trivial – except to the two border agents in prison – compared to those of our Demoronic Congress. When Pelosi was elected Speaker of the House she promised great happenings in the first week. They happened. She threw a party to celebrate her election that would have been envied by the Emperors of ancient Rome. Then she usurped the administrative powers by paying a visit to sworn enemies of the United States, including the leaders of Syria, who are busy supporting terrorists attacking the people of Iraq and our troops who are trying to help stabilize the country. I suppose she promised them her friendship and support.
For once I’m not alone in my opinion of Congress. In a hilarious article, “That Wacky Fourteen Percent,” (Townhall.com; Friday, June 22, 2007) Jon Sanders compares the percentage of the population that believes in Congress with numerous other polls. Would you believe polls show a higher percentage of people believe Elvis is alive than trust Congress? Unfortunately, like much good humor, there is an underlying sadness.
Incidentally, has anyone in the federal bureaucracy noticed or cared that some of our cities, San Francisco for one, have declared themselves independent of federal law. They have no intention of arresting or deporting illegal immigrants. Isn’t there a law against a city’s or state’s repudiation of federal law? Didn’t we fight a civil war about this? If it is legal for them to declare independence of the United States, shouldn’t we, at the very least, stop giving them federal welfare money?
(I feel the same way about universities that deny the American government the right to have ROTC units on campus or to permit the military to recruit on campus. Any school that does that should have all tax exemptions and federal grant funds frozen. Immediately.)
But let us return to reality, to that which is in our power as citizens: we have a Wimpy Congress and a Wimpy administration. Thank goodness the President will change although currently announced candidates for the presidency offer little hope for improvement, but Congress needs changing also. Badly.