Congress' heinous behavior creates nothing but suffering for U.S. citizens

(PNI) I think this is pretty accurate:

Congress creates a fiscal crisis with a known default date, and then takes the summer off. Congress passes a law that doesn't apply equally to all citizens, and then can't make it work.

The president and the Senate refuse to negotiate on anything, and the House Republicans get the blame.

Premeditated targeting of selected groups during the shutdown inflicts intentional suffering on citizens. The intentional, heinous actions of not caring for our fallen soldiers and their families is despicable.

We get to watch it happen all over again in 10 or 12 weeks -- after they take the Christmas holidays off. Brilliant!

What did I miss?

--Mike Sromek, Glendale

Responsibilities for lawmakers

An agreement on the partial government shutdown and the debt ceiling has been reached. Most Republicans again cave. Therefore, President Barack Obama, the Democratic Party and moderate Republicans are now responsible for:

1. Continued high unemployment.

2. Enormous public debt and its burden on our children and grandchildren.

3. "Obamacare" dysfunction.

4. Growing taxation.

5. The continuing loss of personal freedom.

--Lowell Ziemann, Happy Jack

Good riddance to the 'tea party'

In 2010, after the "tea party" rose to a minority voice in Congress, a member of President Barack Obama's staff said the tea party would be merely a footnote in history in two years.

Well, he was wrong; it took three years. Either way, good riddance.

Now maybe the Congress can get back to solving the nation's problems instead of creating them.

--Joe SecolaScottsdale

Get rid of the 'lords' in Congress

I have had it. Our federal lawmakers (House and Senate, Democrat and Republican) seem to forget that they are, or should be, subject to the laws they create.

Many have been in office much too long. As a result, they think they are lords and we are the serfs in their fiefdoms.

Those who have been there more than 12 years are the problem. They must remember that they set the spending levels, create laws for all of us, oversee bureaus and agencies. They have created this mess and refuse to fix it.

It's time to get rid of all of them and start over. We need people in office who are servants of this country and will work for the betterment of the country.

--Alice Wilson, Sun City

Congress, cut your own salaries

Hey, Congress! Why not pass a 10 to 20 percent cut in your salary to go along with your apology to America? Americans are understanding and just might re-elect you.

--Ed Laird, New River

Hatred is just bad propaganda

Because Rep. Brenda Barton, R-Payson, wants to make analogies related to the politics of the 1930s, I have one also: Joseph Goebbels (minister of propaganda for the most hated regime in history). He would have been proud of the success of the anti-Obama propaganda seen on the Internet, TV and print media.

Prejudice and hatred are the tools of a minority just as they were in Munich in the 1920s.

Give us back our democratic process.

--George Egly, Sun City

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Presidential candidates seek votes from bloc of new American citizens

SAN FRANCISCO — SAN FRANCISCO From Florida to Virginia, Massachusetts to California, candidates and political parties seeking to squeeze every vote from a divided electorate are targeting America's newest citizens. It's a relatively small bloc but one that can be substantial enough to make a difference in razor-close races.

In Florida, which President Barack Obama won by less than 5 percentage points four years ago, a new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data shows people who naturalized as Americans since 2000 make up 6 percent of the population of voting-age citizens. For months, the Obama campaign has been sending volunteers to citizenship ceremonies to register people and canvassing Miami-area neighborhoods where immigrant families live.

In California, where new citizens comprise nearly 9 percent of potential voters, Republicans hope House candidates Ricky Gill and Abel Maldonado can reach that group by highlighting their families' journeys from India and Mexico.

Georgina Castaneda, who grew up in Veracruz, Mexico, and now lives in Los Angeles, is the type of person the campaigns are targeting. After years of waiting for her citizenship application to go through, she passed the U.S. civics test and swore her allegiance to the flag along with thousands of others at a ceremony in March at Los Angeles' Staples Center.

Castaneda said Democratic Party workers walked down the aisles handing out brochures to the crowd. She filled one out while still seated.

"My idea was that one more vote could do something, so I registered at the ceremony," she said.

Political parties have tried to engage new arrivals since at least the 1790s, when New York City's fabled Tammany Hall political machine organized immigrants.

"The trick with politics is to get to people early, so what you want to do is make sure that your party gets in on the ground floor of any new citizen's thinking," said Stephen Farnsworth, a professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va.

First-generation citizens historically have leaned Democratic and registered at lower rates than U.S.-born voters. But during the past decade, the registration gap has narrowed, partly because the newest Americans have been motivated by the immigration debate, said Manuel Pastor, director of the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration at the University of Southern California.

Nationwide, there are 7.8 million people of voting age who naturalized since 2000, or 3.6 percent of all potential voters. Two swing states -- Florida, at 6 percent, and Nevada, at 5.1 percent -- have higher concentrations than the national average.

States like California, Massachusetts and Illinois that are considered likely to go for Obama have significant populations of new citizens who could decide congressional races.

In Massachusetts, where the newest Americans make up 5 percent of all potential voters, GOP Sen. Scott Brown often emphasizes his support for legal immigrants who have "played by the rules" as he competes with Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren for the swath of undecided voters.

In downtown Oakland, Calif., the Alameda County Republican Party has been erecting folding tables with voter registration forms in Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog and English outside naturalization ceremonies.

The success rate for Republicans in this traditionally Democratic stronghold is unclear -- local GOP Chairwoman Sue Caro noted sometimes new citizens pose with the party's cardboard cutouts of Mitt Romney and Ronald Reagan, then walk down the sidewalk to the Democratic Party's table and take family photos with likenesses of Michelle and Barack Obama.

In Florida, the Obama campaign for months has sent volunteers to the conference halls where the federal government holds its citizenship ceremonies.

"Our campaign is about inclusiveness, and to that end we encourage all citizens, including our newest citizens, to get involved in the democratic process," Obama campaign spokesman Adam Fetcher said.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

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In Senate's Approval of Defense Bill, Indefinite Detention of Citizens Ignored (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | In an evening vote, the U.S. Senate approved the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 Thursday, according to USAToday.com, with high profile sections 1031 and 1032 intact. With all senators voting, the roll call was 93 favoring passage and 7 opposing. Senate.gov shows that three Democrats, three Republicans and one Independent opposed passage of the measure. It's apparent to me that the idea of the United States becoming a police state was not vile enough for those 93 senators.

Sections 1031 and 1032 empower the military to detain American citizens on United States soil indefinitely. Although the stated intention of these sections indicates the intent is to allow the arrest and detention of terrorists linked to al-Qaeda, the wording is broad enough to allow the same treatment for anyone deemed to be a threat to national security.

Such broad wording for something that goes against the very rights given to each American by the Constitution, including representation and a speedy trial of peers, could be used very subversively in the hands of the wrong people.

Yes, it's true the country needs the NDAA to be approved, but at least three senators (Udall, Rand and Feinstein) proposed amendments to NDAA, Senate Bill 1867 to remove the indefinite detention wording applying to citizens in this country. Three times the Senate voted to allow what amounts to the military taking over the job of both civil law enforcement and the civil judiciary.

Sections 1031 and 1032 were opposed by CIA Director David Petraeus and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta; the military is not interested in taking on these additional responsibilities. All those who voted for passage of S.B.1867 must know something these two men and concerned citizens do not know.

The House of Representatives passed their own version of the NDAA before sending it to the Senate for a vote. The House bill did not contain sections 1031 or 1032; they were added by Senator Levin of Michigan as the sponsor. Now the two legislative bodies will have to hash out the differences before the bill can be sent to President Obama for consideration. There may yet be time for citizens to wield the power of their views with their elected officials.

Smack dab in the middle of the baby boomer generation , L.L. Woodard is a proud resident of "The Red Man" state. With what he hopes is an everyman's view of life's concerns both in his state and throughout the nation, Woodard presents facts and opinions based on common-sense solutions.

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New Illinois Law Simplifies Democratic Process for Citizens (ContributorNetwork)

This Fourth of July, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed a new bill into law that will make the democratic process more accessible to the state's residents, especially in terms of voting and the bureaucratic process, by simplifying the state's election code.

Quinn signed Senate Bill 1586 Monday. The legislation outlines three major reforms, including lowering the petition signature requirement for beginning referenda to 8 percent of the gubernatorial vote, which will ultimately make petition approval easier and also make it less likely that petitions will be thrown out or rejected based on a technicality, as well as giving more authority to local school boards over their own advisory referendum.

In addition, the Associated Press reports the bill includes a provision that military members serving overseas can now have ballots emailed to them for Illinois and federal elections, making the elections more accessible to servicemembers. Election officials are now required to send out these ballots at least 46 days before a federal election. Traditionally, Illinois has had limited ballot access, but the new law details major changes to this.

"On the very day we celebrate our democracy, I am enacting a bill that will put more power in the hands of the people of Illinois," Quinn said. "By giving voters more authority at the ballot box, they will have a better opportunity to hold elected officials accountable and we will continue to create a more vibrant democracy in our state."

According to WGN News, the governor spoke in Des Plaines, a suburb of Chicago adjacent to O'Hare Airport, shortly before making his way through the town's Independence Day parade. Quinn also took the time to shake hands with citizens and veterans attending the town event.

While speaking to Des Plaines residents before the parade, Quinn emphasized the importance of making the democratic process more accessible to all citizens across the state.

"Whether you're in Des Plaines, or whether you're in Cook County, or whether you're in the state of Illinois, or anywhere in our country, participation in elections is the fundamental act of citizenship," the governor said. "Democracy is not a spectator sport."

Senate Bill 1586, which officially takes effect Jan. 1, was sponsored by Sen. Don Harmon and Rep. Michael J. Zalewski and was originally filed on Feb. 2 of this year. The bill passed in both the Illinois Senate and the House of Representatives and was sent to the governor June 22.

Rachel Bogart provides an in-depth look at current environmental issues and local Chicago news stories. As a college student from the Chicago suburbs pursuing two science degrees, she applies her knowledge and passion to both topics to garner further public awareness.

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