"Get Cracking or Get Packing" on Immigration reform.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

I came up with this while being berated for not understanding about a neighbor's problems with illegal activities re: scores of undocumented families.

Problems causing complete antipathy towards innocents and refugees need addressing now.

So, tell Congress to "Get cracking, or get packing".

[edgineered]

1. Most people, specifically the uninformed and unaware people,

believe that our elected in Congress go to work in the morning like they, our neighbors, do; that the Congress shows up wondering what's going to happen today. They don't understand that legislation currently being worked on effects things far into the future. They cannot understand that the immigration problems we see today are the result of decades of inaction on Capitol Hill. Their thinking is that our government is always caught off guard and surprised by these things.

It is an endless effort to tell people like your neighbor, and mine, that Congress has had years and years to put laws in place to prepare for these things and have done nothing. How long have immigration issues been a problem? Its not like the faucet just broke and you better call a plumber now. They have had decades to formulate something - but they haven't.

Then remind our neighbors once again, because they easily forget, that what they are hearing on TV is on a third grade level. Ask them if a third grader was telling them the story if they would they still just accept the whole thing as fact?

And then do it all again tomorrow because by then, well, we both know, by tomorrow they've forgotten again.

With enough face-palms the wrinkles will leave your forehead. At least hope so, we can thank our neighbors for that later!

[SleeplessinSoCal]

2. starting today and going forward

Get cracking on reforming our broken system or get packing. Our sanity depends on it.

And I reckon many of our gun problems will go away as well.

[edgineered]

3. Its funny that you mention guns.

I was visiting my ex and her husband earlier tonight, our daughter drove down from Orlando to visit. My daughter is an open minded liberal also, so our discussions get in depth at times. We were talking about how the term guns is very broad. We came to the conclusion that fighting against weapons, rather than guns, could change the conversation.

We are both anti-weapon. Let's say Bruce lives on a mountain and uses a rifle to hunt his food. He doesn't take it into town (if he ever goes), he uses it as a survival tool. George target shoots with a registered pistol, keeps it in a safe, has a trigger lock, etc and only takes it to approved ranges as a hobby, promptly returning directly to his safe. Neither of these two instances were considered to be use of a weapon by Kayla or myself, and we would be fine if that were the idyllic world in which we live.

But it's not. The push to broaden the boundaries of having a gun into the areas of having a weapon is asinine. It's asinine to broaden it to the point that a gun can become a weapon, whether in the hands of a citizen, law enforcement agent or the MIC. It would suit me just fine to get rid of them all. We both know that if guns exist, someone will use it as a weapon.

Can you come up with some thoughts on how we can reduce the number of weapons?

[SleeplessinSoCal]

4. I did.

But also I wish that Congress would make the NRA irrelevant; address the issues that help the middle/working class; somehow get The Fourth Estate back to work and reporting truth and facts. All we can do is support people trying to get money out of politics. And I'd advise tackling the toughest issues in the most morally correct way as possible.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

6. Actually, How do you debate someone with a sign like this on their facebook wall?

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[davidpdx]

7. The answer is you don't

Those type of people are worthless pieces of shit that are going to scream about their guns being taken away. They are reactionaries, and tinfoil pinheads. There are many other sane people that can be reasoned with. Talking to people like that is a waste of time.

[edgineered]

8. One must treat those people like armadillos.

It works something like this.

Armadillos aren't the smartest of critters. One was living nearby and making messes, spreading garbage around, digging up plants, etc. Wondering how to get rid of this pest had many clever ideas come to mind, but a crafty friend of mine lead me to an easy solution.

Like our gun nut friends, the armadillo also wear body armor. It would not matter if we taped a gun to him, dressed him in a pair of shooters glasses, protective hearing and gave him an NRA card, he would walk into the same trap and couldn't shoot his own way out.

Like the armadillo, the gun nut will blindly walk along the same wall each time. Trapping him is the easy part. For the armadillo, place a board straight out from the wall he walks along and place the trap at the end of the board. Guns and all, Mr. N. R. Armadillo thinks he is still following the wall as he follows the board into the trap.

You know, Mr. Armadillo, there are is a reason you don't have to take a test to have that gun taped to your side. If there were, Armadillos would not have guns.

All in good humor.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

9. sadly he is involved in our local political activities locally.

Last edited Sun Jul 6, 2014, 05:05 PM - Edit history (1)

We live in Dana Rohrabocher's district and we have more assholes than we can handle. The present debate is on park land use. I was trying to get a handle on his personality and found the picure above.

We have all kinds of Republicans. Some are dedicated, diligent, and work well with others. sadly, the mayor and local boards are running the city a la Koch Industries.

I welcome the humor. Can't get me out of my own head on this though. Still racking my brain on how to deflate the hot air passing for political discourse today.

[davidpdx]

10. Keep being persistant

I know that some areas down there are super conservative. Something has to change, but I believe it is going to take wins in 2014 and 2016 to get there. I've taken a few people off Facebook who ranted against President Obama. One was a VERY long time friend, who I'd know since I was an undergrad. My blood pressure couldn't take it anymore.

[edgineered]

11. Sleepless says get cracking, they need to do so, and so do we.

Stories like the armadillo help with keeping idiots from spewing their sick views in my presence a second time. I just get so tired of hearing it. Yet every chance I have to silence the hatred and bigotry in a nice way it is taken.

We know that reasoning, persistence and persuasiveness is the noble route; so often falling on deaf ears that's it is hard not to be cynical. You, Sleepless, and so many others here make a difference because we care, we are not about giving up and we don't do things in the same crude ways as our adversaries (or as some of my tales suggest).

Its been a long tiring weekend. Thanks.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

12. your input is much appreciated engineered

I went back to a fb thread about the Murrieta protest and have used my "Get cracking, or get packing" tactic again. One reply was "we have immigration law. FOLLOW it". "How's that working eh?" I replied. "Fix it. Fund it. or stop complaining about it".

I'd previously observed this lengthy debate about Bush did this and Obama did that. So I interjected that "this is the job of Congress, so get crack . . . " Somehow it has to be got through the heads of those who hate on Obama for his executive orders, that the way get what prevent that is to send those to Congress who'll do their jobs and get what you want done. That's representative govt. The Executive takes care of what hasn't been done. You can't have it both ways.

They also think rounding up 11 million people and transporting them is the job of the president. And that it shouldn't cost taxpayers a dime.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

5. and using the word "weapon" is an excellent idea. n/t