"Tomorrow to fresh fields and pastures new"

.....There's not much time left until President Obama delivers his State of the Union address.  At that time Congress will be under the control of a Republican majority.  Until then, there have been a few bills that have been placed before Congress for approval--or disapproval.  Yesterday, Senate Republicans stalled the dreams of young immigrants all across the nation.  It was a bill that would have allowed those who arrived here illegally before age 16 to become legal residents, students, and soldiers.  Passage fell five votes short, and denied millions of youngsters who were brought here illegally by their parents, through no fault of their own, the opportunity to become citizens.  They have no other country.  They are Americans.  They speak English, they graduate from high school and college.  The failure of Congress to pass this "Dream" act is a violation of humanity.

.....The excuses given by those Republicans for denying that bill are ludicrous; Sen. LeMieux of Florida expressed sympathy, but he and other members of the GOP said they could not grant "amnesty" to those who came here illegally.  These young people did not "come here illegally"--they were brought here.  And who is to blame for allowing millions of illegals to cross our borders in order to live a better life?  China built a wall 5500 miles long, Israel built a separation barrier 402 miles long, East Germany built a wall 96 miles long...at least something was done about keeping out the unwanted besides just talking about it.  But the opposition by Republicans has nothing to do with their lame excuses; the real reason is that if these million or so immigrants were given the right to vote, they would vote for Democrats.  The great majority are Latinos.  And I truly believe that is the reason behind the Republican "no" vote.

..... Now take our newly elected billionaire governor of Florida, Rick Scott.  He is determined to roll back "Obamacare."  And why? He has his business interests in mind rather than the well-being of the state's 3.8 million uninsured.  U.S Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz claims that "Scott is interested in making sure that health care corporations make as much money as they can."  Scott has founded a chain of urgent-care walk-in clinics and he is heavily invested in Pharmaca, a company that runs drugstores and pharmacies.  Why people have voted this man into office, I will never understand.  Whose interests will he have in mind?  Certainly not yours and mine.  Oh, well, I will also never understand how Time Magazine could name that Facebook guy, Person of the Year.  I have never even been voted Person of the Week--and look how many weeks I have lived in--about 4,472 of them.  That's a whole bunch of weeks for having been ignored.