The Greeting Party

 

As Ashley Parker has blogged on the New York Times blog of record:

"Already in vacation-casual — clad in khakis and blue button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up (no tie) — the president greeted the several dozen well-wishers and service members who had gathered at Hickam Air Force Base to watch his arrival."

Several Dozen?!?

That is a poor showing of adulators for the President of the United States, compared to the mobs and mobs of people at his coronation inauguration.

And just how many of the "service members" would have been there if they were on their own time and not in uniform?

Just wondering!

Politically Correct Documentation (or Lack Thereof)

            I am a 3rd generation American.  I believe that we need to have an intelligent, practical and properly enforced immigration policy.  I believe that those who wish to latch onto the American Dream need to follow the rules, just as my grandparents did.  And I believe that we need to send away, and keep away, those who have come here but who have not played by the rules.

            It is my policy to not make inquiry of my students regarding such personal matters as religion, ethnicity, gender preference, or immigration status, effectively a very effective "Don't Ask - Don't Tell policy.  Nevertheless, I do become cognizant of such particulars quite often.  This, of course, gives rise to an inherent conflict when it comes to having a student whose presence in these United States was not accomplished according to the rules.  The way I resolve that conflict is to embrace the fiction that the law enforcement personnel are doing their jobs, thereby allowing me to ignore the immigration status matters and conduct an unimpeded professor-student relationship.   My students need to be able to approach me freely if they are to truly learn the subjects I teach.  Unless a student whom I know to be here illegally commits some sort of violence or larceny or other infraction of the safety and security of real Americans, I do not get involved in the immigration issues.

            Yesterday, I was giving a presentation to a group of my fellow faculty members.  None of my students (nor anyone else's students) were present.  During the presentation, I had occasion to mention that the exemptions from the insurance requirements of this Barack Hussein ObamaCare naufragio include "jailbirds and illegal aliens." 

            Three in the room, myself included, espoused what is commonly called the right-wing sentiment.  The remaining two dozen or so were approximately equally divided between the leftists and the überleftists.  One of the more vocal (and more über) of the überleftists took great umbrage at my use of the term "illegal alien."  She indignantly interrupted my presentation:  "They are NOT "illegal aliens!  They are undocumented immigrants!"

            I don't know how I was able to muster up the presence of mind for my immediate response:  "Janetta, if they were legal then there would be documentation!"

            Some of the leftists gave me a look of grudging approval.  Political leanings notwithstanding, Janetta had been grating on them, and they were happy to see her get a comeuppance.

            After the meeting, one of the more rational of the leftists, who works with preparing female prison inmates for release and  reintegration into society, came up to me and said, "I wish that you wouldn't refer to prison inmates as 'jailbirds.'"

            Seems that the Political Correctness Police are on patrol!

An Observation

 

Seems that this government shutdown is freezing the action on immigration proceedings (unless, of course, there is imminent danger of deportation or continued incarceration).

But the Federal Register still is kept updated on a daily basis.

Maybe if more aliens, legal and otherwise, knew what the Federal Register is, they wouldn't be so accepting of the Obama Administration's kabuki theater script which plays them as pawns.

The "That was 10 years ago" Dhimmi

Discussion, en passant, at shul this evening: Obama's nomination of Samantha Power as his next UN Ambassador.

Guy No. 1 (who, whatever his many other issues may be, is an unabashed Jewish nationalist):  "She's bad news!  She said that Israel should be invaded by America."

Guy No. 2:  "Come on!  That was ten years ago!"

Me:  "Hey, Hitler was 65 years ago!  Why don't we ignore him also?"

Guy No. 2:  What does Hitler have to do with Samantha Power?  The President has nominated her we should accept his decision.

[The Rabbi walked in, so the conversation ended.].

Some people are more accepting of enslavement than others!

In and Out of Washington

As mentioned on several earlier occasions, I always enjoy my trips to Washington, DC, regardless of how dismal the business is.  This time the trip was too short, and the business not totally dismal.

I arrived at my hotel Tuesday night after dark.  Early Wednesday morning I did my run along the Mall, all the way up to the Lincoln Memorial and back.  It's a good thing that I got that workout in, because the day consisted of an all-day meeting, and there was no time for a lunchtime stroll.

And then, after exiting the building, it was directly to Union Station for the first train back to New York.

After sitting for hours at the meeting, and for a few more hours on the trains, I felt the effect the inactivity had on my body.  Today, I made sure to get my usual workout in.

I don't know how appropriate it would be for me just yet to discuss the particulars of the business meeting.  It can be said, however, that my allies at the meeting were from unlikely segments of the sociopolitical spectrum, and that, at least on this particular set of issues, we may well be working together in the future.   And at least one of them, a very personable young lady, exuded some hint of a suggestion that she was entertaining some second thoughts over having cast her vote for Barack Hussein Obama. 

But it was not an appropriate time for me to get snide with her.  We may have to cooperate productively with one another not too far into the distance.  Besides, at the meeting I did get away with making a few double entendre statements using Obama and his Obamanoids as fodder.

No definite plans yet, but it is entirely plausible that I may get some short notice to revisit our Nation's Capital in the next 3 or 4 months.  If so, I sure hope that I will be able to spend some more time enjoying the sights instead of sitting all day at meetings and then having to leave so soon.

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