Low-Hanging Fruit Friday: A Comment Section At NRO

This week I have spent a little time at The National Review Online, a conservative-leaning website that springs from a venerable magazine founded by William F. Buckley Jr. and to tell the truth, it kind of needs him nowadays. Which is sad because he ain't coming back even more than Reagan isn't.

Anyway, a Mr. Lamar Smith published a helpful analysis today called "GOP Should Face Facts on Immigration Reform (subtitled, Republicans will benefit by working to make more Hispanics middle class) and I think his point is rather than concentrate on legalizing those who aren't citizens, the GOP should be treating the legal Hispanics better. A sensible counter-strategy, especially if you're opposed to illegal immigration on the grounds that it's simply illegal.

The impression I'm getting from the comments section is that is not the grounds that his readers are using. *

heisenberg2011 • 37 minutes ago − The GOP is "White in race only" or WIROs. They may be White people, but they don't serve the interests of White people (except for the economic interests of the top 1% of White people). On the issue of White genocide they are silent.The program of White genocide is being carried out by sending in millions of non-Whites into White countries and force assimilating (I.e. intermarriage and amalgamation) these non-Whites into all White communities and institutions. This is genocide by forced assimilation. The GOP is just as guilty of this crime as the Democrats.

Mark Probst • 36 minutes ago − yep... the Repuuubss need to pander to criminals, and the uneducated just like the DeeMOcraps. AKA- cant beat em' join em.

Hercules Loadmaster • 9 hours ago − The Mexican middle class. Do you know how they get to be middle class? They pull serious fraud through government programs, extensively cheat on taxes (claim nieces, nephews and probably their dog and cat for the children tax breaks), steal things, such as live chickens and who knows what else. Some of you that think we need to embrace these low lifes should move to rural areas and get more acquainted with the facts.

Mark Lang • 12 hours ago I hate you (author). You and your surrender to the Balkanization of the US electorate make me sick to my stomach.

*Full disclosure - obviously I have picked and chosen here - these are the most racist responses. Many are are reasonable as the article itself. And if that's your idea of entertainment, be my guest, read them. Links up there.

99 Percent of Immigrants Are Drug Mules!

Who knew? Rep. Steve King of Iowa knew!



Rep. King is gracious enough to admit that some Mexicans are valedictorians and not drug mules.

I'm wondering how that works economically - the cartels hire these guys and say, here's some money to haul this backpack full of drugs over the border. Once you get there, you can stay and apply for citizenship; I'll hire another guy and send him over after you. Seems a little counter-productive, this operation. Why not use the same mules again? And why would a guy who's struggling to get to the US take the risk of carrying all those drugs as well, when it would attract drug-sniffing dogs?

And of course, considering how fat and lazy those guys are it seems incredible that so many of them have calves the size of cantaloupes. Another research project for another time.

Uh Oh, I Got Bad News About Illegal Immigration Efforts

How much is that thing going to cost, once it's all the way across?

Hey, W4 Paperwork is Hard

Lou Dobbs, says a piece in The Nation, "reserved a special venom for the employers who hire them, railing against "the employer who is so shamelessly exploiting the illegal alien and so shamelessly flouting US law" and even proposing, on one April 2006 show, that "illegal employers who hire illegal aliens" should face felony charges."

So Dobbs is probably turning himself in right now, on citizen's felony charges:

Based on a yearlong investigation, including interviews with five immigrants who worked without papers on his properties, The Nation and the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute have found that Dobbs has relied for years on undocumented labor for the upkeep of his multimillion-dollar estates and the horses he keeps for his 22-year-old daughter, Hillary, a champion show jumper.

You might think I'm bringing this up to excoriate Meg Whitman, who's had a little illegal alien hiring trouble lately. But there is a broader issue here, which is this: Republicans making aliens an issue are working at cross-purposes to their own interests. If you want to deregulate business and lower the cost of doing business, illegal immigrants are a perfect solution. Let business hire whoever's available! In fact, with all these illegal human resources running around, business can't HELP but hire them. They have an obligation to the shareholders.

Ultimately, what Republicans want is for business to be able outsource, and for people like me to be driven to accept half of what I'm making now. It's their solution to unemployment - employ everyone for peanuts. And whatever illegals are around after the fences go up, turn a blind eye. It's an inelegant solution to stop people from crossing a multi-thousand mile border (not unlike nailing jello to a wall) but it's the only way to do something about immigration without disturbing business. And God forbid they should disturb business.

It's been so good to all of us lately.

Details, Details

You'd actually kind of expect this from the founder of E-Bay: Meg Whitman's housekeeper was an illegal alien. For 9 years Whitman employed this woman, firing her juuuuuuuuust about the time that she made the decision to run for Governor last year.

There are also allegations of cruelty and abuse, which I'm skipping over because it's one word against another. But Whitman isn't denying that Nicky Diaz – Santillan was illegal, only that she lied on her applications. Because, presumably, it's not the job of employers to do any kind of background checks. Listen, when I was running a movie theatre in Marina Del Rey I had to fire an Australian kid for insufficient documentation. And this was 20 years ago. THE TECHNOLOGY IS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS, MEG.

She keeps promising to lower the unemployment rate in California, and I have a feeling it's going to involve simply counting the migrant farmworkers. Look at that! We have more people employed than we have citizens! Just submitting the roster of her domestic staff could bring us down a whole percentage point.

Pro-business AND pro-illegal - that's gonna be a hard one for the baggers to digest.

You Call That A Fence?

There was a rally this weekend at the border fence in Arizona. Tea Party activists showed up and lamented the way it was so easy to get into the US from Mexico.

“Instead of finding bugs in our beds, we’re finding home invaders,” said Tony Venuti, a Tucson radio host who attached a huge sign to the fence that told immigrants to head to Los Angeles, where they will be more welcome, and even offered directions for getting there.

Addressing the crowd, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who conducts controversial sweeps in immigrant neighborhoods in Phoenix and other parts of Maricopa County, said the problem could be solved if the Border Patrol was given permission to track down migrants on the Mexican side before they crossed.

“If I had all the national TV here, I’d probably climb the fence to show you how easy it is,” Sheriff Arpaio said from the rally’s stage, a flag with the words “Don’t Tread on Me” flapping behind him.

You might ask, why hold the rally at one of the few places where there is a border fence? Isn't that bad optics? You might ask that. Go ahead. I'll wait.

Okay, here's the problem. It's not a good enough fence even! Look at it. Is this going to keep immigrants out?

Of course not! We need something more like this:

Symbol of freedom for generations: The Berlin Wall.

My Friends the Originalists

Last year (c. 2003), Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) introduced a bill that would change the Constitution to allow anyone who has lived in America for at least twenty years to run for the Presidency. Earlier this year, at a meeting of the National Governor's Association in Washington, Schwarzenegger was quoted as saying, "that there's no reason why not [to allow a person with at least twenty years United States residency to run for President]."

Well, they got THAT crazy notion outta their heads pretty fast! Okay, it took about 6 years.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) told The Hill on Monday that Congress “ought to take a look at” changing the 14th Amendment, which gives the children of illegal immigrants a right to U.S. citizenship.

McConnell’s statement signals growing support within the GOP for the controversial idea, which has also recently been touted by Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

I suspect this more recent attitude towards immigrants is the closer to the real Republican position. So what made them diverge in 2004? Right, a charismatic German leader. Just sayin.

Could we possibly work within the constitution rather than try change it every time we need votes? You guys are better than that.

Balance Of Power

Here's the historical summary: Arizona passes law perceived by most to be racial profiling, Los Angeles County threatens to boycott all Arizona-owned businesses. Arizona then threatens to stop selling power to Los Angeles. Okay, you're up to date now, which will help you enjoy this:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
General Manager's Statement Regarding LADWP Power Generation Assets in Arizona

"I want to make clear that we support the City position regarding the recent law enacted in Arizona and the resolution adopted by the Los Angeles City Council.

On any given day, we receive 20 – 25% of our power from two power plants located in Arizona: Navajo, a coal-fired plant, and Palo Verde, a nuclear plant.

We are part owner of both power plants, which are generating assets of the Department. As such, nothing in the City’s resolution is inconsistent with our continuing to receive power from those LADWP-owned assets.

I might add that, as the City’s Job Czar, I certainly would welcome any conventions or meetings that were going to be held in Arizona to come to Los Angeles. We have fantastic facilities and incomparable weather and we’d welcome them to the City of Angels."

- Austin Beutner, General Manager, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power

Of course now, if we want to go through with this foolishness the next step is to build new power plants in OUR desert and shut down the AZ ones. Naturally, no one has any intention of the kind. This whole thing is a fun debate to focus our attention on a kind of obscure state's rights issue.

I'm kind of okay with Arizona demanding that everyone carry papers. If you don't like it, move to an adjacent state. If you do like it, move in to replace the ones who moved out. Then Arizona would be populated with people who... well, who looked unlike illegal immigrants and terrorists, to put it delicately. And isn't the the right that real Americans are fighting for? The right to avoid non-caucasions.

By the way, for the record I've lived in Arizona and I prefer California.

h/t Wonkette

Quote of the Day - Immigrant In a Jar Edition

“Now it seems to me that if we are so advanced with technology and manpower and competence that we can capture illegal grasshoppers from Brazil, in the holds of ships that are in a little small place in Port Arthur, Texas on the Sabine River. Sabine River, madam speaker, is the river that separates Texas from Louisiana. If we’re able to do that as a country, how come we can’t capture the thousands of people that cross the border everyday on the southern border of the United States? You know they’re a little bigger than grasshoppers and they should be able to be captured easier. And maybe we need to make the guy down there in southeast Texas that captured this grasshopper from Brazil, he oughta be in charge of Homeland Security. If he’s able to do this with grasshoppers just think what he can do on the southern border of the United States.”

— United States Congressman Ted Poe, Thursday, April 29, 2010.

(HuffPo Via Wonkette)

My Cheap Shot: Lou Dobbs

Dobbs doesn't want Mexicans in the country because the more we have, the more orange he looks by comparison.

Real Borders Aren't Photogenic

The President gives a speech at a simulated Border crossing in Glynco, Georgia to push the immigration bill.

Glynco, Georgia? Surrounded by the United States on three sides, and a small beach town on the fourth. What border crossing do you know that abuts a lush forest?

So I can see giving a speech in Georgia about immigration. And I can see a photo op at a border being a good idea. BUILDING a border crossing for the purposes of a speech has a bit of a let-them-eat-cake quality to it though.

Well, I'm sure they'll find some use for the structure after today, like, uh, a carpet warehouse or some kind of immigration theme park. Work with me here, people.

Devil Went Down To Provo

It's unfair to base your opinions of an entire political party on the crazy statements of a couple of fringe elements. In fact, it's hilariously unfair. Quoting the Salt Lake Tribune:

Utah County GOP Chairwoman Marian Monnahan says District 65 Chairman Don Larsen's resolution - asserting that illegal immigration is the devil's plan to destroy the nation by "stealth invasion" - "in no way" is endorsed by the Republican Party.

As Larsen helpfully points out in his resolution, “In order for Satan to establish his ‘New World Order’ and destroy the freedom of all people as predicted in the scriptures, he must first destroy the U.S.” Larsen thinks it is important to get this language into the public books, perhaps because we will be able to touch Satan's forehead with them and make him dissolve into a shower of sparks and dust.

The KUTV coverage of this story provided both a drawing of the devil (he resembles Cesar Romero) and a link to this story. Last year a Republican Congressional candidate in Salt Lake City named John Jacob blamed the Devil for his difficult campaign.

Jacob says that since he decided to run for Congress, Satan has disrupted his business deals, preventing him from putting as much money into the race as he had hoped.

Yep, that's right - the devil is responsible for keeping rich people out of politics. You know what that means: Satan is on Obama's side! By the way, the devil featured in this article looks more like Montel Williams, only green against a red gradient background. Curious choice, as if the devil hasn't yet been dropped into boiling water, but he'll be delicious afterward.

So as a fair-minded liberal blogger, the power of Christ compels me to point out that the majority of Republican candidates almost never blame their failures of Satan. Publicly. Like any good football team they will cite Jesus when they win something, but so will lots of Democrats. I just don't want you to go around thinking that Republicans are prone to blame everything that goes wrong on some otherworldly scapegoat.

They usually use Clinton for that.