Aliens Are Amongst Us! Shall we shoot them or welcome them?

Catchy title, is it not?

About which aliens should we be concerned? Unannounced or undocumented? Or both? Are they all illegals? To what extent should we be concerned?

I have been watching and listening very carefully on television about some visitors who have come here without prior permission. Some people would call them aliens and shout out:
"Aliens Are Amongst Us! Shall we shoot them or welcome them?"

This new exposé about visitors is not necessarily new in its thinking. It was exposed before some time ago. I followed the story with interest back then; and, I follow the continuing story with interest now. Regardless of whether one follows the previous 'visitors' story or the more recent 'visitors' story, it is the same old story!

The same old story. Hmmmm. Yep, it is also the same old story also when it comes to people and prejudice and discrimination. Here, in the United States of America, it is especially disconcerting to me that so many present day Americans conveniently overlook the fact that this country was founded by 'visitors' who stole the land from the original inhabitants. It seems that each generation of Americans has found some new group upon which to practice prejudice and discrimination. After the USA was officially formed through the Declaration of Independence and the adoption of the Constitution, as time went by, with every new group of immigrants, Irish, Germans, Jews, Chinese, Japanese, and so many others, there was another wave of prejudice and discrimination.

And the story continues. Today, our country is in a very polarizing discussion about American public policy concerning immigration. It is all over the television, newspapers, magazines, every day conversations, and is being hotly debated in state legislatures, especially Arizona, an in the United States Congress. Most recently, President Barack Obama has entered the political storm in dispatching National Guard troops along the United States border with Mexico. To the best of my knowledge, no troops have been dispatched along our border with Canada.

Is the United States no longer a safe haven? Is the United States no longer the land of opportunity? Has the welcome mat been taken away? What is to become of the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse, the homeless, tempest-tost? Has the golden door been shut along with its promise?


I am placing below a copy of an entry from my other blog, Roland's Ramblings which I wrote on May 16, 2010. It just seems appropriate for me to make a dual entry on this subject of "illegal aliens" or "illegal immigrants" or "immigrants" or whatever phrase you choose to use.

Below is part of a dialog that took place on Facebook:

J: i dont agree with the bible thumping conservatives but rather them be in charge rather than a person who wants to grant amnesty to all the illegals

R: Point and counterpoint. I certainly do not want "bible thumping conservatives" as J--- calls them to dictate their views upon me and to legislate their ideas onto the masses. While I do not favor illegal entry into the USA, I believe we do need to revisit the immigration laws to determine whether there should be any changes. Quite frankly, I would bet that most people are not even familiar with those laws. Whatever happened to the USA being the land of the free? I have to wonder how many people even know about the Message of the Statue of Liberty.

(note: J--- is the facebook friend of a facebook friend of mine. R - well, that's me.)

Roland's Ramblings: My Other Blog

This is a public service announcement for those persons who follow my other blog.

Roland's Ramblings has moved to a new address. The new URL is http://www.jasonhansen.net/roland but the name remains the same - Roland's Ramblings.

This is the third URL for that blog since I first began it way back on July 17, 2004. First it was www.warpedthoughts.com/roland/; then it was www.theglitch.ws/roland/; and now, it is www.jasonhansen.net/roland.

I am grateful to my nephew Jason, who has hosted Roland's Ramblings since Day One.

Incidentally, below is a copy of the very first Roland's Ramblings:

July 17, 2004
Welcome to Roland's Ramblings

Well, I did it. I finally decided to try blogging after having followed the blogs of my son Adam and my nephew Jason for quite a long time.
I call this blog "Roland's Ramblings" because I tend to ramble about life, family, friends, people in general, politics, community, outlooks on life, public affairs, religion, and on and on and on.
Chances are I will at some time offend someone, which is why I hesitated so long in making a decision to join the ever-widening world of bloggers. I do not intend nor do I wish to offend anyone. But, guess what. Don't guess, I will tell you. I am who I am and I tell it as I see it. I am also usually bluntly honest. That is where I usually wind up rustling some feathers. On the other hand, how many people have said "I just wish I could be myself" or have said "I wish people would just be honest with me" or other words to those effects????
So, here we go ---- on with the show.
p.s. My deep appreciate to Jason for setting this Blog up for me. The one big thing is "How do I use this thing?"
Posted by Roland at 09:34 PM

UPDATE (August 21, 2010)

I noticed that some people have been coming over to this Roland Hansen Commentary posting to find my Roland's Ramblings blog. Because of that, I am providing this update to the posting here on Roland Hansen Commentary.

Well, that URL did not last very long at all, only about two months, in fact.

Yet, once again, and for the fourth time, Roland's Ramblings has moved to a new address. The new and hopefully the 'for sure' last URL is http://rolandsramblings.wordpress.com

If you missed my first entry on the newest home, I wrote this:

Hello World!
Posted on July 28, 2010 by Roland Hansen

Welcome to the new home of Roland’s Ramblings over here now at WordPress.com.

I first started my Roland’s Ramblings blog way back on July 17, 2004. Since my first posting, Roland’s Ramblings has undergone several incarnations with the fourth and hopefully final version being totally of my own creation.

The first three incarnations of Roland’s Ramblings were the result of my nephew, Jason Hansen, setting it all up for me using his computer as a server, that is, if I understand it correctly. Heck, I do not understand all this stuff; I just use it the best I can., At any rate, the first incarnation of July 17, 2004 was under the domain of warpedthoughts.com. The second incarnation made its appearance on March 27, 2006 after Jason changed the domain over to theglitch.ws. The third incarnation came along on May 25, 2010 when Jason switched the domain over to jasonhansen.net.

Then, on July 22, 2010, I received notice from Jason that effective September 1, 2010 he was no longer going to be the conduit for the hosting provider of Roland;s Ramblings. The question then for me was whether I would continue with blogging under a site named Roland’s Ramblings, and if so, how. I had absolutely no idea how to set it all up or how to save all the hard work I had put into the previous Roland’s Ramblings. The first two years of work for the first incarnation had been lost, and it is only through something called the Wayback Machine that I was able to recover some of them but not able to transfer the actual contents thereof onto the newer 2006 version of the Roland’s Ramblings blog itself.

That brings us up to the present. Today, after much careful thought and introspection over the past week, I decided to try to learn how to set up a new home for Roland’s Ramblings and to try to learn how to transfer all my previous work. As I keyboard this entry, I think I have been able to do so successfully. I will be able to ascertain that after I hit the publish button.

If you are reading this, and if you can see all the previous entries, then yell:
EUREKA.

And, if that is the case, I can say:
Hello World!

As it turned out, everything works fine and I was able to transfer all my previous entries (well, all of the previous entries from the immediate past two URL homesteads, the first got lost a long time ago). I was also able to reproduce the additional pages from the previous blog URL.

Unfortunately, however, I lost all my sidebar information when somehow within a couple days of having created the new home upon visiting the old URL at jasonhansen.net/roland, I and everyone else was automatically transported over to the new URL. That happened before I could gather all that information to replicate it on the new URL home. Consequently, l have created an entirely new sidebar for the latest incarnation of Roland's Ramblings.

Check my anthology of writings on a wide variety of subjects in my renewed Roland's Ramblings blog.

Toledo, Ohio: The Trash Town

I do not mind paying taxes, I just have nothing but disdain for liars! That is why I have nothing but disgust for City of Toledo decision-makers that jammed a trash tax down the throats of Toledoans. Those (expletive-deletive) worthless, no-good, City of Toledo elected and appointed con artists are despicable!

All the trash talk about Toledo, Ohio is not a bunch of garbage. It is very real. When the trash settles, if it ever does settle, the City of Toledo will be one big garbage heap with trash heading up the helm of elected political non-leadership, backstabbing, lies, dishonesty, and worse. All that will be left in the future ghost town of Toledo will be trash and garbage vultures.

If you read my immediate preceding Roland Hansen Commentary entitled Toledo Garbage Water (er, I mean: Toledo, Garbage, Water) you already have an idea from where I am coming. And if you have not yet read it, go on over to read it now by following the embedded link within its title.

But Wait! There is much more on the topic of Trash In Toledo, or Toledo, The Trash Town, or The Trash Town of Toledo, or whatever your imagination may conceive.
(Hey, the wording makes for a great Google search - or for results from any other web search engine, for that matter.)

If you have a hankering to do so, click over to read the following:

SHANAHAN SELECT -- FIGHT THE TRASH TAX

Is it a Fee or a Tax?, Shanahan v. City of Toledo

Appealing and refusing to pay trash tax, er I mean trash fee, in Toledo, Ohio,
Toledo Ohio Neighborhood Concerns

Toledo trash fee going down after Issue Five passes, 13abc news

Trash, Future of Toledo

Mayor Bell cancels discount trash fee for recycling, 13abc news

News about trash fee in Toledo, OH, Outside.in

Trash tax and broken promises: we told you so!, Thurber's Thoughts

Let’s flash back to the trash fee promise made before Issue 5 passed…, Glass City Jungle

Toledo, Garbage, Water.

Today's Roland Hansen Commentary is about the outrageously inept, incompetent, citizen user-unfriendly, downright nasty, bureaucratic nightmare city government sponsored and sanctioned monopoly that is called the City of Toledo Water Department, aka City of Toledo Department of Public Utilities and its partner in citizen rip-off, the Division of Solid Waste.

If you haven't figured it out from my opening paragraph, I will state it clearly so there is no mistake: I am mad as hell! And, I am shouting it out to the world after a long battle with the craphole of that Toledo city department with totally unsatisfactory results. Having been a government bureaucrat myself, I am quite familiar with bureaucracy. My personal and professional belief is admittedly different than that of most citizens. I think bureaucracy as it is specialized can be a good thing for citizens when it is responsible, responsive, and accountable; the City of Toledo Water Department does not fit into that category.

Now, on with my commentary with some background information thrown in.

Where else in the whole wide world does a city charge garbage to your water bill as does the City of Toledo, Ohio?

Many, many years ago (I'm thinking about 50 years, but I do not recall exactly), the citizens of the Ohio city of Toledo voted themselves an income tax, the proceeds of which were to be used to construct an incinerator to burn garbage. The incinerator has not been built to this very day; and yet, the tax remains. Not only does the Toledo city income tax remain; but, it is higher now than it was when first approved by the voters.

Over the many years, garbage collection services have been provided by the City of Toledo as a public service that has been financed through the Toledo city income tax. Two years ago, our city leaders in all their collective non-wisdom decided to add a garbage fee to our water bills. Note the word "fee." They did so without a vote of the people. They did so even though the people had voted the income tax as a means to deal with the garbage in Toledo. They did so in blatant violation of the intent of that income tax. City elected and appointed officials profess that it is not a tax and therefore did not require a vote of the people.

What is this crap about it being a fee? A fee to whom? A true user fee is a charge that a governmental agency assesses the user of a government provided service. In Toledo, water bills are charged to the owners of the property. Some one other than the owner may be residing in the owner's property, some folks would call them renters, and consequently it is the renter that is the user of the garbage collection service but it is the owner of the property that is paying the fee. I realize that the owner will pass this cost down to the renter; however, that does not negate the fact that the garbage "fee" is not being billed to the user of the service. Additionally, even if a person does not use the City monopolized garbage collection service; the "fee" is still charged to the water bill. So what happens when a person is on an extended vacation or away for some months like us snowbirds who reside elsewhere during the winter, but leave the water on in the house with some one else watching over the temporarily vacant house? The GARBAGE fee is still billed! WHY! The service is not required and is not being used.

Incidentally, the City of Toledo does not call it "garbage collection," instead the City of Toledo calls it "refuse collection." Well, I do not have the opportunity to refuse Toledo refuse collection. And, I am not allowed to purchase this service elsewhere. In the area of my "winter residence" that lies in an unincorporated area, I have my choice of selecting which private company from which I wish to purchase garbage collection services, or, if I so choose, of not purchasing any services at all.

On with the story.

Not only am I now paying a garbage TAX on my water bill, it has been increased dramatically. I just received my current water bill that no one can ever understand (including me the bureaucrat) the line itemization of sewer volume, sewer fixed, sewer winter average, water minimum, and storm water. This current bill is charging me a refuse collection fee for the period 02/06/10 to 02/08/10 of $1.79 and a refuse collection fee for the period 04/01/10 to 05/07/10 of $18.30. SAY WHAT!!!

Enough about that garbage. That is only part of the problem. The other aspect concerns the water charges. The City of Toledo Department of Public Utilities has a quarterly billing period. In 2007, my four statements were as follows: $57.78; $59.98; $75.08; and, $70.73. In 2008, my four statements were as follows: $72.38; $63.93; $71.48; and, $71.84. My first statement for 2009 with a bill date of 02/12/09 was $676.17!!! Whoa....

Phone call to the water department and subsequent personal face-to-face meeting between the City bureaucrats and my wife, Judy, who insisted on handling the issue for fear I would have a coronary. A "corrected" billing statement dated 04/23/09 was issued for $788.32. Whoa, again....

The appeal process took place; and; we finally just gave up and paid the City of Toledo Department of Public Utilities a whopping $549.74.

Forward. The 08/10/09 statement was $71.28. Back to normal. But the next statement dated 11/09/09 went up to $104.31. Why? Hell if I know! That was followed by the 02/08/10 statement dipping down to $93.99 that is now followed by the current 5/10/10 statement of $129.10 including the outrageously high garbage tax, er, um, I mean refuse collection fee.

What the hell is going on? I cannot make heads nor tails of it and the yokels at the water department are of no help at all -.none, zero, zilch. I have all but given up. All this just tends to convince me that the City of Toledo is no longer the place for me, and yet I hate to think of leaving my home town permanently.

Hey, if you think it is just a disgruntled me who is unhappy, take another look:

"TOLEDO, OH (WTVG) -- I-Team reporter Zack Ottenstein has discovered outrageous collection practices in the city's department of public utilities."
Read the rest of the story from 13abc.com:
Toledo water billed to wrong homeowners, Thursday, April 29, 2010.

Then, there's this:
"Lucas County Auditor Anita Lopez has stopped processing property water liens from the city of Toledo until the Bell administration addresses a problem in which homeowners are being slapped with delinquent utility bills from previous homeowners".
Read the rest of the article from The Blade published on April 29, 2010:
Auditor puts halt to city's water liens by Ignazio Messina.

Have you ever tried to make heads or tails of your water bill? Take a good look at it, item by item, and then tell me honestly that you really understand it.
Click over and look at this CRAP about water, sewer, storm water, and garbage rates from the City of Toledo website.

I'll tell you this;
I say pi-- on that sh--! I'm storming mad! It's a bunch of garbage!

Toledo and Ohio May 4, 2010 Elections and the Storms Afterwards

Well, the Ohio primary election has been held and the results came in very quickly (for once, I might add). None of the results were a surprise to me. Neither was the extremely low voter turnout in Northwest Ohio as it was throughout the entire state. Voters are never fickle; most, but not all, never take the time to learn about the candidates or the issues; they just vote the way they have been told by some other person or group, or by falling prey to some slick, sleazy, snake oil political advertisements.

Informed voters do not always get what they deserve; ill-informed voters do get what they deserve; and, non voters do not deserve anything!

Oh, and since the election, we keep getting storms throughout Ohio, including severe storms with thunder and lightening, and tornado weather just yesterday. I wonder if that is an omen. Come to think of it: Where is Opal nowadays?

Ohio 2010 May 4 Election: State Issue 1 and Proponent Hypocrisy

Ohio 2010 May 4 Election: State Issue 1 and Proponent Hypocrisy

I received a very large post card style campaign literature piece, printed on both sides, that was very colorful with its red, white, and blue theme and its glossy finish in the mail today from the proponents of State Issue 1, that will appear on the May 4, 2010 state-wide ballot in Ohio.

The front of the post card which had the addressee information on it had at the very top in very, very large, bold type

"FINALLY! A JOBS PROGRAM THAT DOESN'T RAISE TAXES."
that was followed on another line by a very huge
YES
(and the words)
for Issue 1
for Jobs
both of which were also big but somewhat smaller than the huge YES that was in front of them. Next to these large words in very small type was:
Paid for by United for Jobs and Ohio's Future
Alex Shumate, Treasurer
41 South High Street, Suite 200
Columbus, Ohio 43215
underneath which in bold type was:
www.unitedforjobsohio.com
Underneath all that (in a large type face that was between the larger type and the smaller type) was this:
United for Jobs and Ohio's Future

I turned the lit piece over to read more.

I read it not once, not twice, but at least three times in an attempt to learn precisely what is Issue 1. Much to my dismay, no where on this expensive lavishly printed production piece does it ever provide any information about the issue itself.

It did contain the following information, however, on its reverse side:

STATE ISSUE 1: CREATE JOBS WITHOUT RAISING TAXES.
Ohio needs a jobs program that DOES NOT RAISE TAXES.
Yes Issue 1 does not raise taxes but will generate additional Revenue through the jobs and businesses that are created.
Yes Issue 1 invest in Ohio Entrepreneurs.
Yes Issue 1 empowers the free market, not the government, to energize Ohio's economy.
Yes Issue 1 turns Ohio ideas into Ohio jobs.
MORE JOBS.
WITHOUT
MORE TAXES.
YES for Issue 1
Yes for Jobs
United for Jobs and Ohio's Future

ON MAY 4TH,
PLEASE VOTE YES ON
STATE ISSUE 1
WWW.GETTHEFACTSONISSUE1.ORG

Being undaunted, I searched the net for the exact wording of Issue 1. It is as follows:

Issue 1: Ballot language

The following language will appear as State Issue 1 on the May 4 statewide ballot:

Proposed Constitutional Amendment

To extend the Ohio Third Frontier program by authorizing the issuance of additional general obligation bonds to promote economic growth.

Proposed by joint resolution of the General Assembly to amend Section 2p of Article VIII Constitution of the State of Ohio.

This proposed amendment would:

• Continue funding for research and development purposes by authorizing the state to issue $700 million of general obligation bonds to renew and continue programs for research and development in support of Ohio industry, commerce and business.

• Limit the amount of all state general obligations that may be issued for, and the amounts of proceeds from those state general obligations that may be committed to, those research and development purposes, to no more than $450 million total for the period including state fiscal years 2006 through 2011, no more than $25 million in fiscal year 2012 and no more than $175 million in any fiscal year thereafter, plus any amounts that in any prior fiscal year could have been but were not issued or committed.

• Require state agencies awarding funding from those state general obligations to obtain independent reviews of and recommendations as to the merits of proposed research and development projects. The Governor, the President and Minority Leader of the Senate, and the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives must be provided information regarding the independent reviewer prior to any award, and the state agency proposing the award must also notify those officials if the recommendations of the independent reviewer are not adopted by that state agency for the proposed project and the reasons for not adopting those recommendations.
If adopted, this amendment shall take effect immediately.

A “Yes” vote means approval of the amendment.

A “No” vote means disapproval of the amendment.

That ballot language also appears on a page of the website of the Lucas County Board of Elections. You may view it here; however, I strongly suspect that the embedded link will no longer work some time after the upcoming May 4, 2010 election has been held and sometime before the next election, because LCBOE will probably delete it and use that space for another issue in the future.

What a bunch of bullfeathers from the proponents of Issue 1! Why don't they put on their propaganda that Issue 1 allows the State of Ohio to issue general obligation bonds? Why don't they tell us that these bonds require the State of Ohio to repay bond holders, even to the extent that the State of Ohio has pledged to use all legally available resources, including tax revenues, to do so?!!!

I find their campaign literature piece to be less than honest, if not downright deceptive. Not raise taxes, eh. But what if ----??? All I know is that general revenue bonds are required to be repaid in some manner and that the repayment procedure permits the state government to use our tax dollars, yours and mine, as a source to repay those bonds, pure and simple!

And what of the hypocrisy of the proponents of Issue 1, at least the proponents who are part of the two organizations that put out this specific campaign literature, the lying, deceiving piece of crap that it is?!!!. I mean after all, the master illusionary deceptive proponents, state "Issue 1 empowers the free market, not the government, to energize Ohio's economy." I mean, come on, give me a break! What do they think -- that I got a big 'S' (for stupid) tattooed on my forehead?! On the one hand, they seem to give the impression that the government is not involved and that it is all about the free market; on the other hand, they want the State of Ohio to be the party to issue general obligation bonds that would require the taxpayers of Ohio to repay those bonds, if need be.

If you are a registered voter in the State of Ohio, you decide for yourself on how you will vote on Issue 1 this May 4th. Click on each of the three subject lines (containing embedded links) below to read information that may assist you in making an informed decision:
Ohio Third Frontier Bond Renewal, Issue 1 (2010)
Official Issue 1 Argument in Favor, VOTE FOR JOBS! VOTE YES ON ISSUE 1
Argument Against Issue 1, Vote No on Issue 1

Me? I am pro jobs, but I am anti misleading advertising. Oh, by the way, I HATE HYPOCRITES!!!