Progress on the long road

[pyesetz]

I have selected Abrams & Krochak as my immigration lawyers, based in part on this recommendation (which I'm considering changing to friends-only) and online searches in which I found A&K's successful customers talking about they just get the job done.

I faxed them legal-retainer paperwork and gave them money through their online credit-card system.  I filled out their online versions of the immigration forms (holding my tongue about the infelicities on their PHP coding--remember they're just lawyers).  They sent back an evaluation of my paperwork, recommending that I say more in some areas, less in others.

Progress is happening!

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All Americans should read US law 109-13, signed by president Bush a month ago.  Especially this part:

SEC. 102.  WAIVER OF LAWS NECESSARY FOR IMPROVEMENT OF BARRIERS AT BORDERS.

Section 102(c) of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1103 note) is amended to read as follows:
``(c) WAIVER.--
   ``(1) IN GENERAL.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall have the authority to waive, and shall waive, all laws such Secretary, in such Secretary's sole discretion, determines necessary to ensure expeditious construction of the barriers and roads under this section.
   ``(2) NO JUDICIAL REVIEW.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law (statutory or nonstatutory), no court, administrative agency, or other entity shall have jurisdiction--
      ``(A) to hear any cause or claim arising from any action undertaken, or any decision made, by the Secretary of Homeland Security pursuant to paragraph (1); or
      ``(B) to order compensatory, declaratory, injunctive, equitable, or any other relief for damage alleged to arise from any such action or decision.''.

I know it's an instant cliché, but "This is how liberty dies".  This law grants dictatorial powers to Secretary Michael Chertoff, who can do anything whatsoever merely by chanting the magic words "I need it for building that wall to keep out the Wetbacks."  Suppose Chertoff accidentally gets bumped on the head, suffers personality changes, and announces that Islamic saboteurs are interfering with the construction of his Mexican wall, so all Americans of Arab ancestry must now be placed in concentration camps.  Congress cannot stop him because he can waive any law they pass.  The courts cannot stop him because his actions are immune to judicial review.  He is answerable to no one except his boss George Bush, the Überführer.

What we see here is naked Fascism, no longer afraid to speak its name.  So why did 99% of Senators and 89% of Representatives vote for this?  I don't quite know.  In Germany 1933 the Social Democrats voted against the Ermächtigungsgesetz, even knowing that the Brownshirts would kill anyone who voted against transferring all law-making power to Hitler.  Those guys had core beliefs and the guts to vote for them, which most American congresscritters of today seem to be lacking (John McCain and John Conyers being notable exceptions, although both of them voted for the Chertoff dictatorship).

Others have written similar things about the new PATRIOT act.


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I just hope I can get out of here in time.  Billmon thinks there may be only "another year or two" before the US dollar plunges in value to its rightful place in the world (next to the Argentinian peso).  Then in a later post he says "3-5 years" until the US economy collapses as Asian investors get tired of supporting our deficit-spending binge.  My plans call for me to arrive in Canada with lots of money, to live on while I get myself a doctorate.  Most of my net worth is currently tied up in real estate, which I can't sell until I'm ready to move out of it.  Hopefully the housing bubble will continue for awhile longer.  Some ridiculous reports suggest that my current house has doubled in value over the last 10 years!

Here is it mid-June and New Jersey already has day after day of temperatures near 100°F.  When will the Weather service update their "seasonal averages" to match the new reality?  How far from the Canadian coast do I need to stay so my new house won't be under water when the polar ice caps melt?

Comments

[avenginglioness.livejournal.com]

so, why do you hate the good old US of A so much?

[pyesetz]

I grew up in Massachusetts, where the "Religious Right" was supposed to be a very small number of very stupid people living in small towns someplace far away.  That was a damn lie!  40% of Americans are okay with the Bush style of government.  His poll numbers are down now only because he's obviously losing both of his wars and Americans hate losers.  I'd rather live someplace where 40% of the people would want to impeach anyone who does what Bush does.  The current president will be gone soon enough, but the idea that so many Americans could approve of him disgusts me.  I always liked the bumper sticker "America... Love it or Leave it".  So I'm leaving.

Thank you for taking the time to comment.

[avenginglioness.livejournal.com]

I think Bush is there because TPTB put him there. He rode his father's name into office. He doesn't know what he's doing any further than what he's told by others to do. He's a hypocrit in the worst way. I can't believe he's held office for as long as he had. But at the same time, while I hate the man, I respect the office. I'm not sure if I _love_ America, but it ain't bad. I still debate with Warren as to which side of the border we should live after we get hitched. Of course, when the time comes, we might not have the option of moving to Canada. They don't want me. I wouldn't mind living there, but I can see so many problems with trying to move there.

[pyesetz]

Bush has low IQ, but I'm not sure whether he is really a puppet.  People said Clinton was a puppet of his wife, but clearly she is not the politician he was.

There is some chance that the Downing Street Memo will bring down this Administration, because Iraq is clearly becoming a loss, just as Watergate brought down Nixon after he lost Vietnam.  And Watergate brought us Jimmy Carter, who won on a platform of "I will never lie".  And years later we can see that Carter was actually a much better president than he seemed at the time.


I hate the man, I respect the office

I'm not sure what that means.  If you wrote a report saying that grazing on Federal land would *hurt* wildlife, and the president's people changed your report to say it would *help* wildlife but kept your name on it and published it, would you keep quiet out of respect for the office?  That's the kind of loyalty Bush expects.


we might not have the option of moving to Canada. They don't want me.

Yup, "medical inadmissibility" is a bitch.  Nobody can give me a straight answer on whether we'll pass (in the last 12 years I've been hospitalized twice and my wife three times).

[avenginglioness.livejournal.com]

I was once told that as a good little Christian I was supposed to support the President in office even if my own opinions differed from his. It was God who put him in office (or rather it was God's will that the President was granted office) and we were all to show a unified front. I don't believe that everything happens for a reason though. I do think it's a good idea to show public support of the president. What opinions I actually hold of him may still be discusesd in private.

Hospitalization shouldn't be the only factor, though? In 12 years, three hospitalizations don't seem like much, but then I topped both of you put together. I don't want to count how many times I've been hospitalized. Preventative medicine is a blessing though.