My Dad Was a Marine. I Was Raised to Revere the Marine Corps.

But that was then...

This is now...

Click on the above link, folks; read the four page Washington Times article by Rowan Scarborough.

Then click on this link and read a previous story by Scarborough... published on September 25th.

If Scarborough's reporting is to be believed, the Commandant of today's United States Marine Corps is a man unfit to serve as a boot (recruit) in the Corps.

But, hey... this isn't my dad's Marine Corps... this is president day Commander-In-Chief Obama's Marine Corps.

This is today's Marine Corps... 

And our Army?

And Navy?

And Air Force?

What of the rest of our nation's top military leadership? What sort of men and women command our forces five years into the Age of Obama?

All I know is what I read and what makes sense. I read stories like this and I fear the worst. I contemplate the fact that our nation's military top brass cooperated with the Benghazi cover-up and I know the worst.

How quickly a nation can be corrupted and destroyed from within...

What is Eric Cantor Up To Now? Another RINO Push for Amnesty...

Immigration "overhaul" legislation...

* AMNESTY...

...has been dormant in the House for months, but a few Republicans are working behind the scenes to advance it...

* AMNESTY...

...at a time the Capitol is immersed in a partisan brawl over government spending and President Barack Obama's health care law.

According to ABC News:

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, has been discussing possible legal status for the estimated 11 million immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. He's also been working with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a fellow Virginia Republican, on a bill offering citizenship to immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children.

* FOLKS... I'M NOT SAYING I'M AGAINST ALL PROPOSALS FOR DEALING WITH THOSE WHO WERE ILLEGALLY BROUGHT TO OUR COUNTRY WITHOUT HAVING HAD ANY SAY IN THE MATTER, BUT... I DON'T TRUST CONGRESS. I SIMPLY DON'T TRUST THAT THEY'LL REQUIRE REASONABLE STANDARDS AND PROOF OF MEETING SUCH STANDARDS PRIOR TO PASSING LEGISLATION. I WOULD WANT ANY BILL TO BE SMALL ENOUGH AND SIMPLE ENOUGH FOR THE AVERAGE AMERICAN TO READ AND UNDERSTAND AND DECIDE FOR HIMSELF OR HERSELF WHETHER HE OR SHE APPROVES. THAT'S WHAT I'M CALLING FOR.

Reps. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, and Ted Poe, R-Texas, are working on a plan to create a visa program allowing more lower-skilled workers into the country.

* WHY...?!?! WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH AMERICANS UNEMPLOYED AND UNDEREMPLOYED? HOW'BOUT PROVIDING THESE JOBS LOWER-SKILLED IMMIGRANTS WOULD TAKE TO AMERICANS IN NEED INSTEAD? ABLE-BODIED WELFARE RECIPIENTS SHOULD BE FORCED TO TAKE ANY JOB AVAILABLE OR BE CUT OFF FROM WELFARE! AMERICAN JOBS FOR AMERICANS!

Goodlatte and the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, hold out hopes for floor action by late October on a series of immigration bills that already have passed their committees.

* WHAT'S A REASONABLY SIZED BILL...? OUR ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION - WITH THE BILL OF RIGHTS - WAS WHAT... FOUR PAGES? NO BILL SHOULD BE MORE THAN 8-10-12 PAGES SAYS MY GUT; MAX... MAYBE 20 PAGES. LET'S SEE WHAT THESE GOODLATTE AND MCCAUL BILLS SAY...

"I would think that would be the next agenda item in the queue after we're done with this mess," McCaul said this past week, referring to bitter divisions over the health law, the level of government spending and the growing federal debt.

The attention of House GOP leaders seems certain to remain squarely focused on the fiscal disputes until they are resolved, leaving immigration on a back burner for some time to come. But lawmakers and outside advocates insist that three months after the Democratic-led Senate passed a sweeping immigration bill, the issue is showing signs of life in the Republican-run House.

"Despite the appearance that would suggest everyone in Washington is focused on one thing, work is going on on other issues beneath the radar," said Tamar Jacoby, head of ImmigrationWorks USA, a coalition of small businesses that supports comprehensive immigration legislation.

* WHY MUST IT BE COMPREHENSIVE? WHY NOT GO STEP BY STEP? (ANSWER: BECAUSE THEY WANNA RAM CRAP DOWN OUR THROATS!)

Goodlatte has made it clear he wants to see the issue solved.

* AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE MADE IT CLEAR THEY'RE AGAINST BLANKET AMNESTY!

Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other members of the House Republican leadership also support a resolution to an issue that has become a political drag for their party.

* A "RESOLUTION," HUH? THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAILS! LET'S SEE THE DETAILS!

House leaders have said they plan a step-by-step approach, in contrast to the comprehensive Senate bill that added billions of dollars in new spending on border security, remade the legal immigration system from top to bottom and created a 13-year path to citizenship for the millions living here illegally.

* SO FAR SO GOOD...

McCaul's committee has approved a border security bill.

* GOOD. LET'S SEE IT!

Goodlatte's committee has signed off on legislation addressing a range of issues, including visas for high-skilled workers and enforcement of immigration laws.

* I WANT ALL THE HIGH-SKILLED WORKERS WE NEED... WHOM WE CAN GET... BUT HIGH-SKILLED AMERICANS MUST GET PRIORITY!

But so far, there's been no House GOP bill taking on the trickiest policy issue for Republicans: what to do about those already here illegally.

* HOW'BOUT WE SELL (OR LEASE!) THE CRIMINAL ILLEGALS TO CHINA AS SLAVE LABOR? YOU KNOW... THE RAPISTS, MURDERERS, THIEVES... THOSE WHO WE'RE PRESENTLY SQUANDERING MONEY ON VIA OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM!

A bill in the works by Cantor and Goodlatte would offer eventual citizenship to immigrants brought here as children.

* WHAT'S A CHILD TODAY? 26 OR UNDER? (SERIOUSLY... LET'S DEFINE TERMS!)

The proposal appears have support from a fair number of Republicans.

* SO DO UNBALANCED BUDGETS! WHAT'S THE AUTHOR'S POINT...?!?!

But many Republicans are wary of backing anything broader that could be perceived as "amnesty" for people who broke U.S. immigration laws to be in this country.

There's no guarantee House Republicans ever will offer a bill to resolve that issue, much less bring it to the floor for a vote. Still, Goodlatte has outlined in some detail what he would like to see in such a bill, and his approach may contain the seeds of compromise:

Goodlatte would allow immigrants here illegally to obtain legal work status...

* THUS JUMPING THE LINE! (HOW'BOUT ALL THOSE LAW-ABIDING FOREIGNERS WAITING PATIENTLY ABROAD TO ENTER OUR COUNTRY AND OUR SYSTEM LEGALLY?)

...and from there, they could use the existing routes to citizenship: marrying a U.S. citizen or getting sponsored by an employer or U.S. citizen relative.

* WHAT IS THIS "SPONSORSHIP" NONSENSE? MUST THEY POST SUBSTANTIAL BONDS... ENOUGH MONEY TO PROVIDE FOR A "FAILED" IMMIGRANT AND SO AVOID THE POSSIBILITY OF THIS LEGAL ALIEN TO GO ON PUBLIC ASSISTANCE OF ANY SORT?

Such an approach would allow Republicans to deal with millions of people in the U.S. illegally without bestowing a so-called special path to citizenship as the Senate did...

* A DISTINCTION WITH LITTLE DIFFERENCE IN OUTCOME!

Depending on how it's structured, Goodlatte's approach could ultimately result in citizenship for perhaps as many as 7 million immigrants now here illegally...

* AMNESTY...

"It gives the Republicans a way out and it gets us to where we want to go," said Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, who met recently with Goodlatte along with Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., to discuss immigration.

* THE DEMS WANT AMNESTY... AND SO DO FAR TOO MANY RINOs.

"The Republicans have some people that want zero, we got some folks on our side that want 100%, but eventually we've got to sit down and talk," Cuellar said.

* HOW'BOUT THE CREAM OF THE CROP...? WHY AREN'T WE SHOOTING FOR 10%?

Goodlatte's staff declined to make him available for an interview...

(*SMIRK*)

...but at a forum this month with Latino GOP leaders...

(*ROLLING MY EYES*)

...he defended his approach. "That will not result in every single person who came here unlawfully getting all the way to citizenship, but I feel very strongly in my conversations with people it would be a major solution to the problem," he said.

* LET'S... SEE... THE... LEGISLATION...!!!

House Democratic leaders have grown impatient with Republicans' inaction and are looking at introducing a sweeping immigration bill of their own — a modified version of the legislation that passed the Senate — in an effort to pressure the GOP.

* LET 'EM! LET 'EM PUT THEMSELVES ON RECORD!

Advocates are promising rallies and protests around the country Oct. 5 to keep up pressure.

* HAVE A BLAST! JUST DON'T INTERFERE WITH ME.

Barker's Newsbites: Monday, September 30, 2013

Son... of... a...

(*DEEP SIGH*)

We're all dying, right? From the moment we're born... no matter how we live... the "best" genes... 

(*PAUSE*)

We're all gonna die. Eventually.

On Saturday I learned that a friend of mine... a mentor... has been advised to get his affair in order.

My friend has been sick for three years now, but up until Saturday... "hope" was the watchword.

Cancer. 

Cancer and cancer related pain that over the past months has turned a once strong and vibrant man into a semi-invalid.

Fight!

(*PAUSE*)

Fight, fight, fight with your last dying breath!

(*SIGH*)

Easy enough to say while there's still no definite "death sentence." But now the doctors say that the cancer has metastasized... there's nothing more Man's medical science can do for my friend but try and keep him comfortable as his body continues to assault itself... until...

Spontaneous remission...? Something to pray for of course, but likely...? No. I fear not. I accept not.

The last two nights I've slept like shit. Worrying about my friend... worried about his wife... thoughts straying to my own mortality and to Mary's...

You never know what's going to happen! Accident... illness... 

(*SHRUG*)

In any case...

(*LONG SIGH*)

Say a prayer for my unnamed buddy - or at least wish him and his family well. We've all been there for others. One day it'll be us. 

And now... on to newsbites.

America's NSA in Action...

The National Security Agency has admitted that analysts have abused their authority to spy on love interests on several occasions.

* AND THESE PEOPLE ARE NOW IN JAIL... RIGHT? (THE ANALYSTS... NOT THE LOVE INTERESTS...)

(*RUEFUL CHUCKLE*)

In one case, an analyst spied on a foreign phone number she discovered in her husband's cell-phone, suspecting that he had cheated on her. She intercepted phone calls involving her husband, investigators discovered. The analyst resigned before any disciplinary action could be taken.

* WHY SHOULD RESIGNATION PREVENT PROSECUTION, CONVICTION, AND PUNISHMENT...?!

On one analyst's first day of access to the NSA system, he pulled records on six email addresses belonging to his ex-girlfriend.

* THIS IS A "VETTED" NSA EMPLOYEE! THIS IS SOMEONE THEY HIRED...!!!

He claimed he just wanted to test the system. The NSA demoted him and docked his pay for two months.

* DEMOTED...?!?! NOT FIRED...?!?! NOT CRIMINALLY CHARGED...?!?!

In another case, an analyst collected call data on his girlfriend and his own home phone number "out of curiosity." He retired before the agency took any action.

* AGAIN... HOW IS RESIGNATION APPARENTLY A GET OUT OF JAIL FREE CARD...???

Another analyst based in a foreign location collected phone records on her foreign national boyfriend and other foreign nationals, saying she wanted to be sure she wasn't associating with "shady characters." She resigned before the agency took disciplinary action.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)

An analyst who collected data on his wife lost access to the classified system, and another analyst who said he misused the system to help learn a foreign language also lost access to the database.

* LOST ACCESS...???

* LOST ACCESS...???

The NSA has admitted that analysts have violated legal restrictions on thousands of occasions in recent years, but the agency says most of the violations are accidental.

* BUT THE AGENCY SAYS...

* HEY... FOLKS... DID YOU HEAR? MOST CRIMINALS PLEAD "NOT GUILTY!"

  

(*ROLLING MY EYES*)