As a Mom I Understand Things Congress and Others Seem to Have Forgotten

by Daniella Nicole

As a mom, I understand the importance of thinking through actions and understanding the laws of consequences. I understand the importance of values such as honesty, integrity and personal responsibility. These are the concepts I teach my child and practice myself, as a mom and an example to my child. I expect no less from our elected public servants.

As a single mom and sole bread-winner, I understand the importance of balancing budgets, not overspending and making careful choices about time, prioritization and money. I teach these concepts to my child and expect our public officials to adhere to these same concepts when dealing with our time, our issues and our money.

As a mommy-preneur and sole proprietor, I understand the business world, the importance of reading documents before signing them and the importance of adhering to the law. I understand the difficult choices that sometimes must be made and the fact that you cannot please everyone. I understand the importance of communication with those I work for and the importance of doing my homework so I can give the best of myself and my work to those I work for. I also understand that even when it isn't popular, it is still important to do what is right and to stand up against what is wrong. Torpedos be danged! I expect the same of those elected to represent we, the people.

As a mom, I understand these are all very basic principles that are at the core of success in any personal or professional venture. They should be at the heart of all our elected officials do in their capacity as our employees. It is time they remember these values and principles as well as what their role really is - as our employees - not our masters.

Invite Foreign Citizens for Tea at Census Time, and Get Some Congressional Seats

This United Press International article raised my hackles. I have already written an article about the Idiocy of the Illegal Immigrant Debate. Silly me for not realizing there was more behind some lawmakers' 'altruistic' stance towards the illegals than trying to look like they actually care about these people in the hopes of getting votes for sheer humanitarianism.

I had no idea (ok, so I am showing some serious ignorance here) that in the census they actually count those illegally here, and that those numbers are allowed in deciding things such as congressional seat allocations.

This is outrageous to me! I can understand wanting to know exactly how many people are in the USA using resources, etc. But to actually use the numbers of illegals, who can't even vote and aren't even citizens of this country, to determine the number of seats states get is ludicrous.

Ooh Ooh! I know! Let's have a foreign tea party during census-taking time. We'll rent out apartments so our buddies in other countries can count for our state getting another seat and more power in the government.

We once had a 'tea party' in order to eliminate 'foreign influence' and run our own government. Now it looks like we need to have another 'tea party' and invite 'foreign influence' so we can, once again, run our own government . . for now the one with the most foreigners, legal or otherwise, wins control.

Am I the only one who sees the danger in such absurdity?

There would be no difference from a foreign visitor being here and getting counted during census time; and an illegal, who, by the way, is technically an illegal foreign visitor, getting counted.

Both would apparently count towards seats.

Hey, I like some of Utah's thinking and ways. Maybe I will lobby for us to have a big ole illegal immigrant and foreign visitor party at the next census time; and maybe if we do it right we can get 2 or 3 more seats. Eat your heart out, California!

Even more galling is that Mormon Missionaries who ARE US Citizens and temporarily out of the country serving missions were NOT allowed to be counted. This resulted in Utah losing a seat. So, we CAN'T count legal citizens who CAN vote and are temporarily out of the country at the time of the count, but we CAN count illegal immigrants who CAN'T vote and shouldn't be here to begin with?

It cannot be about some rule about being in the country, as military personnel whom are serving off American soil ARE COUNTED. Looks like religious discrimination to me, as well (I wonder if missionaries of other denominations serving in other countries are counted?), but that is fodder for another blog.

I don't even begin to know who to want to smack upside the head on this one!


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