Roomin' House Blues

My squirrel  friend that I have been writing about--the one I feed every day, is getting a paunch. The Dream Act has passed the house, only to be temporarily shot down today in the Senate. The Republicans were planning to filibuster the house version in the Senate and with the clock ticking on the current session, Harry Reid forced a vote to table, winning 59 to 40.  That allows him to call back the same bill before the end of the session.  Senate Republicans have been firmly against the bill, ruling from the minority on the matter.  Another way to get the Dream Act passed might be to make it a rider on the Agricultural Bill, forcing some of the Senate Republicans to vote for it.   For those of you who want to read up on immigration there is the classic "The Uprooted" by Oscar Handlin copyright 1973, showing how we are a nation of immigrants. The Uprooted won a Pulitzer Prize.  And on immigrants as agricultural workers, "Work...

The Dream Act has passed in the house, a baby step towards a baby step into a rational immigration policy, but never the less that step has been taken.  The Senate votes at  11 AM tomorrow on the Act. As a young boy I always heard stories of when various people in my family immigrated.  Maybe that is why I never was afraid of poor Catholic farmworkers crossing a border to work and feed there family.  Or maybe it was because of the Mexican family my sister befriended when we were young, who went to our parish. As I grew up and studied history I read about the Know-Nothing Party, the briefed lived anti-immigrant movement that coupled electing people to Congress with burning down Catholic Churches.  And I heard of the signs that said "No Irish Need Apply."  I always thought that anti-immigrant sentiment was an anti-Catholic prejudice.  I identified with the immigrant. And because I grew up in Seattle I also heard the st...