2014–New Hope for Foreign Nationals in this Country

By: Joe Mauricio

 

2014 must be a year of hope for millions of foreign nationals living in the United States. Speaker of the House John Boehner(R) has sent a smoke signal that he embraces a series of changes to the nation’s immigration laws, giving the undocumented aliens new hope that 2014 might be the year that the divided Congress reaches a political compromise to overhaul the ailing immigration system. Senator Boehner said that he was committed to step-by-step moves to revise the immigration laws. The other Republicans in the House see the immigration overhaul as an important step to wooing the Hispanic voters, which is crucial to the party’s fortunes in the 2016 presidential election. Although the legislation would fall short of the demands being made by the immigration activists, it could promote the beginning of a compromise. Speaker Boehner’s hiring of Ms. Tallent (former McCain’s immigration advocate) suggests a new commitment in confronting an issue that has been long divided the Republican Party. Ms. Rebecca Tallent is a veteran of Congressional immigration battle and fought unsuccesfully for comprehensive overhauls of immigration system. Boehner’s aides say that Tallent was brought on to carry out his views and not her own, and the only reason why he hired her was because of his desire to make a deal in 2014. His aides continue to say that the Speaker remains opposed to a single comprehensive bill like the Senate passed measures that would tighten the borders security, increase legal immigration, and offer eventual path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants. Conservatives are opposed to a sweeping legislation that would offer a path to citizenship. The only way to make sure that the immigration reform works this time is to address these complicated issues one step at a time. This will give the American people confidence that we are dealing with these issues in a thoughtful and deliberate way. President Obama, in the meantime, said that he is open to the piecemeal approach on immigration favored by the House Republicans only if it does not abandon the comprehensive immigration goals. The problem is reconciling the House approach with the broader ambitions of the Senate Bill. Ambitious, but we are now hopeful for 11 million reasons. Happy New Year, Happy New Immigration Hope!

 

CLIMATE CHANGE 101

If you were suffering from cabin fever because of sub-zero temperatures and lack of sunlights, don’t believe that climate change was to blame for this phenomenon. And, if you’re watching television weather reports, you’ll be amazed to hear media buzzwords like “windchill factor, “arctic vortex” and, not too long ago, “derecho,” referring to the weather conditions.All these new terminologies are a little bombastic-sounding, created by the media. If you really believe that climate changes were caused by man (industrial pollution, chemicals, etc.), just imagine this, that the planet earth was created 4.5 billion years ago. Man was not around from day one, but the planet went through several climactic changes as seen in the geological earth strata. One hypothesis suggested that pollution and other gas emissions are causing glacial to melt. In a short term, I agree, but the long term, I disagree. Geological time clock is not traveling at warp speed. One million years in geological time is hard to perceive. During the Jurassic Age of Dinosaurs, the planet was warm and tropical forests abound Alaska and Saudi Arabian Peninsula was tropical too, attested by the fossil deposits of crude oil.

Joe Mauricio interviews Gregory Vanderlaan on CPRTV, recipient of 2013 Friend of the Filipino award of the Chicago Filipino American Hall of Fame. He is the Senior Vice President of Arcadis in Chicago.

There was no man then to change the climate, wasn’t it? Then the Glacial Age followed and Great Lakes were formed, then warming up followed and receding glacials created the Lake Michigan. No man was around then, wasn’t it? This weather cyclic events are going on for millions of years, and will continue with man or no man on board on SS Planet Earth.