May 15, 2006
Problems of Addiction
If you've ever seen a chronic addict, one thing you'll almost always notice is their inability to accept blame for their problems. They blame it on others in their family, the police—anyone and anything but themselves. They cannot accept responsibility for their actions, and always search for excuses instead of a cure.
The people who do recover from additions don't succeed because of gimmicky cures or 12-step programs. They succeed or fail based upon the strength of their will. All too often, though, their will is weak, and their families are crushed and ripped apart as the addict slowly implodes.
I've seen it before, and I fear I'm about to watch it again.
Tonight at 8:00 PM President Bush will deliver a speech on immigration that cynically uses National Guard troops as a prop, promises to crack down on employers with more “catch and release” raids, and push for his “amnesty by any other name” guest worker proposals. A junkie looking for his fix, an alcoholic reaching for one more glass, President George Bush simply can't seem to help himself.
Preview of Monday night speech? El Presidente orates in "Our First Mexican President." (In English.) Illustrated.
Posted by: gringoman at May 15, 2006 01:48 PMThere's no doubt he needs to do something at least. This issue it appears has finally reached critical mass and now he'll act. I can't tell you how upset I am that it's gone on this long. Even more so now, since I just found out I'll be going back to middle east for another tour. I believe in what we're doing there and I believe in the long run it will be shown it was the right thing to do. But right now, the idea of deploying again to go fight while leaving our back door open to whatever and whoever comes through makes no sense to me whatsoever.
I know I'm locking my house and making other arrangements to keep my things in order while I'm gone. Why that can't be done with our borders while our nation is war is beyond me.
I'm thinking that whoever secures our borders has my vote.
The freedoms that Chris and all the rest of our brave heroes fight for are all predicated upon law and the upholding of law. To allow law breakers (illegal immigrants) to stay within our borders with no punnitive actions flys in the face of our defenders. I do not care how bleeding liberal your heart is, there is a lawful way to enter our country and that process has become completely meaningless; a mockery of our law system. Measures to reverse the invasion are many years overdue. If ever the GOP wanted to regain faith with their constituency, now is the time to do something effective, not something intended to appease.
Like CY, I am not expecting any appropriate and necessary measures that will lead to resolving our dilemnma. And like CY, I am very perplexed by the appeasement that is offered by this administration and the GOP in general.
Posted by: Old Soldier at May 15, 2006 05:30 PMThe first thing I learned from my parents was when confronted by uniformed members of law enforcement was NOT to cut and run, but stay where you are, follow instructions, and if you are wrongfully accused, fight it out in court later. We have a sub-culture here that showed NO respect for our laws, by their very entry into our country! How can anyone think they will someday become model citizens?
Posted by: Tom TB at May 16, 2006 07:31 AM
