Idiots in Alabama

[Chris James]

I have to feel sorry for you if you live in America's most backward state. Yeah I know, West Virginia has always had that reputation but they aren't this dumb:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44999117/ns/us_news-life/

It is interesting to note that state and federal laws prohibit discrimination based upon ethnic and racial lines. Probably why all the LBGT kids get picked on and nothing happens to the bullies. But wait, maybe Mexican is the new scapegoat for the ignorant folks of Alabama. Would that be a reprieve for the gays?

The new laws they passed have scared the hell out of the Hispanic community and thousands are fleeing the state. Wonder who is going to pick the crops next spring? Sure won't be some smart ass redneck with a Confederate flag on his bumper.

I imagine there are a lot of folks in the state who think this Mexican bashing is just good clean fun. The laughing will stop when the shelves in the grocery stores are empty and the farms all fail. That will be when the God's Own Party has some 'splanin to do. Such good Christian charity. Ya'll have a nice day, ya hear? Idiots!

[Merkin]

One feature of our federal form of government is that every state has the opportunity to make its own stupid damnfool mistakes. It's just too bad to be stuck as a resident of one of those political sinkholes.

[dude]

One feature of our federal form of government is that every state has the opportunity to make its own stupid damnfool mistakes. It's just too bad to be stuck as a resident of one of those political sinkholes.

Yeah... like California

[DesDownunder]

y'all are not alone. Look at the media (Fox) response to the Occupy 'wherever' protests and it becomes patently obvious that the 'Establishment' has no intention of allowing a 1960's style movement of peace, love and harmony to influence, let alone a realignment of, the distribution of wealth in the world.

Here in Australia, we thought we were immune to the inhuman draconian reactions to such peaceful demonstrations, we were wrong. If you haven't seen any of the Aussie videos, watch some of these.

Some of the comments are disgusting in their denigration of the protesters.

[JamesSavik]

Maybe if you lived here, you might understand the idiocy of illegal aliens driving down labor costs and taking jobs that citizens need.

Even skilled labor prices are down. It's hard to get anything over minimum wage.

The South is poor to start with. Throw in a bunch of illegals that require the same benefits as citizens without paying taxes and occupying the few available jobs, it is a serious problem.

Before you start calling names, you might want to study the situation. I suppose old stereotypes are easier to fall back on but we of all people should know better.

PS- PMS-NBC is the left's version of Fox news. Take what you see and hear from them with a huge grain of salt.

[Chris James]

I suppose I might add that I lived in North Carolina for twenty years so I am familiar with the immigrant population. Those I met who work in the construction trades pay taxes just like everyone else.

I know there is a lot of noise about immigrants taking the jobs away from citizens and working at lower wages. I found that to be untrue. Most of these guys were making scale from $12 to $15 and hour. They would arrive on the job at sunrise and work until dusk in 90 plus degree weather so I imagine most of us would feel uncomfortable doing that. But they were task oriented and I never had reason to complain when they got the job done.

You have to see Hispanic farm workers out in the tobacco fields to appreciate a terrible job, but they do what is needed. A tobacco worker has to wear rain gear to keep the juice from the plants off their skin or they will get sick. Try wearing a yellow rain slicker in 90 degree temperatures under a hot sun. Cotton picking, planting crops, harvesting fruit, raising and butchering the meat and poultry, they do it all so we can go to the grocery store and buy our food.

Wages are set by corporations. I doubt if many citizens would do those jobs. I doubt in about thirty years there will be many Hispanic people doing them either. Education is the way out of these menial jobs and the numbers of educated children of farm workers is rising. Fifty years ago the South was complaining about lazy black workers, a legacy of the racial inequity below the Mason-Dixon line. Many of those in the black population got out through education when the balance of civil rights changed. It's a cycle of change that is inevitable.

I once had a black co-worker tell me that the American colonies made their biggest mistake by allowing slavery to flourish when all the best workers were right here across the border in Mexico. I doubt any of those Alabama politicos would spend even one day working the fields. They don't have to since the corporations who put them in office are the ones who encourage illegal immigration in the first place. The South needs to get over the hypocracy of blaming their ills on immigrants.

[colinian]

Let's get rid of all of those god damn illegals working in the fields taking jobs away from good Americans. Now that they're gone let's hire those good Americans who are out of work. Pay them minimum wage, no health plan, no paid vacation (who needs a paid vacation when you get the winter off because there's nothing to pick?), no union representation (hey, let's get rid of the god damn unions while we're at it!). Hey, you, you've only been here one day and you're quitting? You want your paycheck for yesterday's work? Good luck, Charlie! Sue us. Hey, the green beans in the field are rotting because we can't get enough workers to do the picking. Okay, we'll automate. Let's see, a green bean harvester machine is $110,000. Too damned expensive! So get it on a lease deal. Gotta pull up all of this year's plantings because the harvester only does one row at a time and the rows have to extra wide to allow the harvester room to access the crop. (Those god damned illegals never needed any god damned extra wide rows.) So no green beans until next year. Same deal for the broccoli crop. And squash. And potatoes. God damn, each crop needs a specialized harvester or one for multiple crops with a ton of accessories. Up the prices of all of the crops to pay for leasing all of the god damned harvesting equipment and maintenance and fuel. What the hell's going on? We're not getting any orders. Supermarkets say our prices are too high. They're buying from Mexico and Peru and Chile. Too damned expensive to be in this stinking farming business. Let the fields go fallow. Maybe the economy will improve and we can start building houses on the land. Where were all those god damned illegals when we needed them? You say they're working in the fields in Mexico and Peru and Chile? God damn!

Colin

[blue]

There have been noises about it here too.

I understand one state had to do a fast backpedal when they thought they could detain and question schoolchildren and perhaps separate the kids or parents. This did not go over too well with parents or the state's own A.G. And judiciary. Possibly, someone noted the similarity to certain fascist police states' tactics in the prior world war.

But if they do start checking illegals at random, that would mean they are going to detain (unlawfully) some Latino/a who is a native US citizen, just because he/she "looked like an illegal immigrant," I.e., their skin was a brownish color rather different than their own, these individuals who would have detained them. Sorry, but you cannot do that. It's profiling, racist, and wrong.

Besides, if you do that, then how about those people over there? They look kind of suspicious. Then pretty soon, there's a knock on the door, and it's your turn. There always was something about that guy....

I hope we are not heading back toward that, racism or other discrimination, paranoia against "others."

People talk about a return to supposed values, family values, Christian values, the values our country was built on. (Whose family? What brand of Christians? Because those don't match the values I grew up with.) Well, this country was not built on the values they are pushing for. Monitoring and limiting of Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms? Mingling of Church and State? Possibly detaining and questioning people on suspicion they are illegal immigrants or some such excuse? That's not the America I grew up believing in. It sounds more like a description of what various totalitarian governments did, which the US opposed and largely defeated, or which fell under their own excesses. (Not all did, sadly.)

There is a quote my parents used to say, from a comic strip that ended too soon: "We have met the enemy, and he is us." (Pogo.)

I fear we are headed that way and have gone too far that way already. I just hope I don't hear that knock on my door someday.

If anybody does knock, I'd much rather they be a friend.

[DKStories]

I fear we are headed that way and have gone too far that way already. I just hope I don't hear that knock on my door someday.

I don't want to sound too pessimistic, but for many of these places it's not 'going backwards' because they never left that way of life. It's only now they feel empowered to act openly on their feelings and cloak it under economic issues.

[Chris James]

I can empathize with Mississippi, Alabama and perhaps even Texas. But the problem with illegal entry into the US has been with us for a century or more. Our politicos have known about it just as long and done nothing because they were paid to ignore the issue. As we hear time and again, its all about the money, and boy is that right.

It isn't just Mexicans, half of Central and South America looked north and said I want a piece of that pie. With corrupt governments, most of those countries allowed their economies to go down the drain and Mr. & Mrs. Hispanic had children to feed. (Too many children in fact, thanks to the Catholic Church and their stand on contraception) The US looked like the land of opportunity.

Those big farm corporations welcomed the illegals and immediately began abusing them. But it was good for business (that would be 'bidness' to the folks in Texas). Greed created our illegal immigrant problem, just as greed has killed the manufacturing base that built this nation.

I read a report not too long ago by the power authorities in New York State which said that if one of the major generators at a power plant couldn't be fixed with spare parts that it could not be replaced for two years. The reason: we don't make them here anymore, they would have to be imported from Eastern Europe or China. What a sad state of affairs our greed has wrought.

As for this illegal immigrant problem in Alabama, I suppose we will find out by next spring when the crops come up what they have done to themselves...and by proxy, to the rest of us. Of course Colin has it right, we will just import more overpriced produce from other countries. You know, those guys who use pesticides we banned decades ago. Perhaps we will enjoy killing ourselves with the food we eat.

Since the number of legal Spanish speaking individuals keeps on growing I would suggest we make teaching that language to our students manditory. They are not going away.

[Cole Parker]

Since the number of legal Spanish speaking individuals keeps on growing I would suggest we make teaching that language to our students manditory. They are not going away.

I'm not sure how we can go about doing that in California. Our zealous legislators made it illegal for teachers in public schools here to speak Spanish in their classrooms.

C

[colinian]

I think Cole is referring to Proposition 227 that was passed in 1998. Here's a short summary of the law:

The law requires that non-English speaking students be placed in special one-year classes where instruction must be overwhelmingly in English, except with a written request from parents. Read the full article here: http://www.nctimes.c...l#ixzz1brhkq5QB

Colin

[blue]

The basic issue is one Americans are going to have to learn the hard way: We are not the only country and language in the world, nor the majority. We have to learn to accept and deal with other people's cultures, languages, and beliefs. (America is not the only world nation that hasn't learned it. Most haven't.)

The other basic issue, greed causing the loss of jobs and production here and the import from elsewhere, is a lesson we also have to learn. There was a time America was the major, or even the only, nation producing advanced goods. A nation does need to be self-sufficient in producing most of what it consumes in manufactured goods. It is fine and good to trade with other countries. Bravo! Both sides benefit. But don't short change your own people and ability to produce needed goods. Instead, make enough so you don't run out if the other guys have a market problem, or create one, or have one of those inconvenient wars or internal revolutions or outside conquests by some other nation.