Michael Frailey was one of the Vietnamese children rescued by Operation Babylift. He arrived in the United States on April 4, 1975 to the welcoming arms of his adoptive parents, Gordon and Ginny Frailey of Arnold, Missouri.   Michael spent the next 34 years growing up as an American; enlisting in the Air National Guard and serving his country for six years, some of that time overseas, voting in elections, establishing a career at Xerox where he has worked for 21 years and getting married.  It wasn’t until Michael applied for a passport to take a scuba trip to Belize when he was 29 that he realized something was amiss.  The adoption paperwork had not been properly filed back in the 70’s.  Even though he had a social security number, adoption papers and a driver’s license, he was not a United States Citizen according to the INS (now USCIS).  In fact, according to USCIS, he was an illegal alien and now in danger of being deported.

During the next 13 years, Michael struggled through countless agencies and organizations, hiring an attorney and tracking his journey all the way back to the organization that arranged for his adoption back in the 70’s.   His investigation has put him in touch with other Operation Babylift orphans who are facing the same struggles.  President Ford’s Operation Babylift children are having their lives thrown in turmoil once again by bureaucratic paperwork.

Michael’s story has a happy ending.  After beginning the immigration process as if he had just arrived in the country (communicable disease tests, shots, background investigation, paperwork and time requirements) his struggle with USCIS ended on February 2, 2009 as he was sworn in as a US Citizen.  However there are more than 200,000 foreign-adopted children already living in the U.S. Many of them are facing the same problems as Frailey and are afraid to come forward for fear of being deported.   Others will not realize that there is a problem until they apply for passports and then will face the same nightmare from which Frailey has recently emerged.

Congress has acted to fix the problem for all new adoptees.  In 2001, the Child Citizenship Act (CCA) became effective, which allows any child under the age of 18 who is adopted by a U.S. citizen and immigrates to the United States to acquire immediate citizenship.  However this law provides no protection for older children, who through no fault of their own are facing deportation due to missing paperwork.  The children of Operation Babylift have been forgotten in the process.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Post from: Saundra McDavid

The forgotten children of Operation Babylift

The bigger story may be that there is actually a city in the country with excess funds to loan.  Back home in Eagle, Idaho there is much discussion about the financial welfare of the city which appears to be over a half million in debt.  The city, led by first time Mayor Phil Bandy,  took out a loan to cover its shortfall, however there have been no known plans made public on trimming the spending, leaving the city on a path to a $2 million dollar deficit at the end of the year.    City officials chose to spend the budget surplus last year on employee raises and a bike park, leaving the city insolvent as building permit revenues dwindle.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Post from: Saundra McDavid

One city insolvent, the other becomes a bank

The creation of this PAC allows Palin to help other candidates, who ideally in return will help her when the time comes.  She can contribute fund to their campaigns and cover the cost of her travel expenses to fundraising and other political events.

Some have indicated this is a sign Palin intends to run for the Republican nomination for President in 2012.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Post from: Saundra McDavid

Sarah Palin’s PAC

Since we can’t have a bill without pork, here it is:

$75 million for smoking cessation planning, $70 million for a super computer for NOAA, $600 million in new cars for the federal government,  $1 billion for Amtrak, nearly $3 billion for global warming and carbon capture projects, $650 million in digital television certificates, and $25 million for new ATV paths.

In a widely circulated article about this bill, it is touted that $830 billion would be enough to pay every man woman and child in this country $2700. A family of four could do a lot with $10,800.  But would a one time payment be enough to halt our decline?  Probably not.  What we need are long term solutions.  The bill should focus on a stimulus for the economy and nothing else.  Tax relief for families and small business should be the targets.  We need people and small business to keep more of what they earn and we need to invest in long term job creation, not short term jobs.  We need loans available for small businesses and home purchases.  Is the stimulus that passed the House today going to achieve this?  No.  Not only did it have no Repbulican support, it caused some of the Democrats to vote no.   It’s now up to the Senate to fix this billion dollar problem.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Post from: Saundra McDavid

The latest stimulus package

Herb Meyer: The Siege of Western Civilization

An interesting summary of economic trends was presented earlier this year by Herb Meyer who served during the Reagan administration as special assistant to the Director of Central  Intelligence and Vice Chairman of the CIA’s National Intelligence Council. According to Mr. Meyer, who lectures on this topic there are four major global transformations on the horizon which will have profound implications for our economy, culture and our way of life.

The first trend is that Islam is on its way to reconciliation with the modern world.  On September 11, 1683 Muslims lost a battle in Vienna which represented the end of Islamic expansion in modern times. It resulted in the Western Civilization moving forward, and Islam moving backward.  Since that time radical leadership has been constraining Islam, some say propagating hatred and war.  Our hope is that moderates will find a way to bring Islam forward into the 21st century.  Any signs of modernization are good; for instance educating women in Afghanistan, and creating a Constitution in Iraq.   Educated masses are more likely to want to advance and thus spark a revolution against radical leaders.

The second trend is the emergence of China.  China’s plans are to move 300 million of its people out of farms and villages and into the major cities; creating a manufacturing boom in order to provide jobs for all of those relocated citizens.  This results in a codependency between the United States and China; we need goods at cheap prices, and China needs to make those goods.  This also results in China driving up the price of raw materials and diverting oil in order to fuel its manufacturing economy.

The third trend is the shifting of demographics in Western Civilization.  A county needs a birth rate of 2.1 in order to maintain a steady population.  The birth rate of Western Europe is now 1.5.  Russia is declining so quickly that its population will be less then Yemen by 2050.  Japan’s birth rate is 1.3, which will result in it losing 60 million people over the next 30 years. Europe is subsidizing its declining workforce with immigrants, which often causes problems when there is no integration with the existing culture.  Japan has refused to go this route and is instead closing down; shutting over 2000 schools with 300 more schools per year expected to close.  With aging populations, a downward spiral is created, where the younger generation is saddled with a higher tax burden and delays having children.

In the United States, our Anglo birth rate is 1.6 and our Hispanic birth rate is 2.7.  If U.S. birth rates in the past 30 years had been the same as post-WWII we would not have the Social Security or Medicare problems that we have today.   Our government gave families an incentive to have four children post WWII by implementing a $600 per child tax credit.  This resulted in a baby boom of 22 million and a huge future tax base.  Today that incentive would equal $12,000 per child.

Two countries without declining population basis are China and India.  However gender preference has resulted in 70 million boys in each of those countries who will grow up without a spouse.  Historically civilizations with more males kept their boys busy with wars.  Unpopulated Russia adjacent to 70 million pent up youths in China is a concern.

The fourth trend is a restructuring of American business.  In order to be competitive businesses must sell the highest quality goods at the lowest price. This results in fracturing: companies outsourcing key business processes in order to lower expenses.  We’ve now entered the second level of fracturing; the companies awarded the outsourced processes in turn outsource a portion of their manufacturing or services.  Companies are getting smaller but becoming more efficient and more profitable.  With smaller companies and economic uncertainty comes a shift in employment models.  It is now the individual employee who must provide his or her own health insurance, benefits and plans for retirement.  This will result in more portable and flexible offerings and define the new economy, which will be far ahead of Europe and Japan.

Mr. Meyer’s lecture is available on YouTube.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Post from: Saundra McDavid

Economic trends; Western Civilization under siege