I am waiting for the religious left AND right to get a clue and start pounding on doors with this obvious attempt to ram governmental agendas down the throats of churches. Hastert wants to dictate to whom churches can give charity. Cornyn says they can give out soup to whomever they want, as long as each blue-haired nun in the US registers first with the DHS and submits to a check of her "bona fides."
Government interference in church affairs? No problem, says the churches. What country is this again?
Posted by raisin at March 30, 2006 09:50 PMYes, King is a hypocrite. However, your seeming support of the McCain-Kennedy bill is a loser in my opinion. The House bill is a loser as well. This is a hot-button issue with voters on both sides of the aisle and don't think for a minute it isn't. The images of illegal immigrants protesting on our streets, waving Mexican flags and demanding "rights" doesn't sit well with the American public. If the Dems go ahead with the McCain bill, it will cost us. Here are some of my ideas:
) Streamline the immigration process. It's an extremely difficult, bureaucratic nightmare.
)Guest-worker program limited to certain industries, such as agriculture, meat-processing, and construction labor.
)Employer tax. Every employer would pay a tax of between $500-750 dollars per year per year for each employee. Taxes would be earmarked to fund Deparment of Homeland Security for use in border control and interdiction only. Each worker will also be required to pay an annual fee.
)New high-tech ID cards, hologram, to avoid duplication.
I can pick holes apart in the McCain bill all day long, it's easy. But go ahead and support it if you want to, and afterward you'll be scratchin your head, wondering why we lost another election.
Delay, Hassert & Co sure have trained the Republican Congresspersons to be eager kamikaze pilots. Lets see how many are really ready to fly that mission the last 90 days before election.
Posted by JimPortlandOR at March 31, 2006 12:41 AMI'd love to just saw off the entire western third of Iowa that consistently re-elects that idiot.
Posted by idiosynchronic at March 31, 2006 04:33 AMAh, nothing like slavery (or at least indentured servitude). Let the prisoners harvest the crops! We don't have to pay them at all! They can't quit! They can't get unionized! Yay!
Posted by majkia at March 31, 2006 05:26 AMThe House Repugs are right on this one.
Posted by JohnT at March 31, 2006 05:38 AMSteve King is a walking twat. I'd say he's an embarrassment to his constituents, but his constituents are an embarrassing lot in their own right, a wingnutted group of repressed, bigoted accomplices to their own vountary indenturement.
Posted by God Of War at March 31, 2006 05:56 AMSo if you break the law (entering the country illegally) and you pay a fine ($1000, or is it $2000), and you stop breaking the law (get guest worker status) then how is that amnesty? Are they saying every crime is worthy of jail time?
Posted by CG at March 31, 2006 06:30 AMThe GOPers have got a tiger by the tail with this immigration debate. Maybe Karl has targeted it as his wedge issue for November....but he and the Party have a problem. On the one hand, the GOPer base is largely racist. Building a 50 ft. high wall across the US-Mexico border, with gun turrets on top, is their idea of solving immigration. On the other hand, the GOP Corporate bosses want the cheap labor. Thus you have the current dust-up amongst the Repugs. IF the "deport them or shoot them" wing of the GOP wins (against Bush's plan), then we'll have the wedge, but Latinos will then join Black America in deserting the GOP for a long long time. Perhaps the GOP has realized that the Latino vote is really not a factor, anyway, except in purely regional races.
Posted by T2 at March 31, 2006 06:40 AMThe question for me is what's the best outcome of this immigration "debate" for November?
If the House rejects Kennedy-McCain, can that bill be spun as the "moderate", practical, consensus solution that Radical House Republicans (as usual) torpedoed? That it shows (yet again) that we cannot have responsible government with the Radical House Republicans running the show?
And sf, since you have clearly been thinking about this issue, is K-McC being portrayed by the crackerjack press as the pro-illegal, lib'rul answer? Or as the moderate, practical solution? That's my question. It sounds like you see the former occuring.
majkia,
go read Driftglass, if you haven't already.
In 1861 the South was prosperous specifically because of the forced labor of four million brown people who were reviled, exploited, abused and utterly necessary.
In 2006, America is prosperous specifically because of the peonage-cheap, illegal labor of twelve million brown people who are reviled, exploited, abused and utterly necessary.
Posted by pwapvt at March 31, 2006 07:05 AMSorry, that second para shoudl also be in ital. (I know how people can be about palgarism......
Posted by pwapvt at March 31, 2006 07:08 AMSorry, that second para should also be in ital. (I know how people can be about palgarism......)
Posted by pwapvt at March 31, 2006 07:09 AMI think Immigration is the Democrats Abortion issue. There is not good sound bite answer that will attract a majority.
Posted by Jim Hurt at March 31, 2006 07:56 AMa - missed the a in not a good.....
Posted by Jim Hurt at March 31, 2006 07:57 AMWell, that statement should enlighten people as to why the goppers love harsh prison sentences so much. And why they want to criminalize so many activities, why they want cameras on every street corner........
Why they SPY on American Citizens via NSA and the FBI and don't want to tell anybody like FISA or Congress about it, now doesn't it????
I don't think you can look at bushco's activities without using that prism into their black, sick, little minds. One way or another, they aim to get their cheap labor.
And don't think otherwise.
Posted by Duckman GR at March 31, 2006 09:02 AMThere is one specific flaw in the plan for cheap labor - how much are you going to pay the guards who oversee the involuntarily-indentured servants? If you don't pay enough, they will use their charges to topple you and take over, so choose wisely, Topper$!
Posted by pessimist at March 31, 2006 09:42 AMI agree with Jim Hurt. The immigrant issue may turn out to be like the abortion or gay marriage issue to which the Republicans will get the Americans focused on and the voters will fail to see the other important issues such as Iraq war bungling, Prescription drug fiasco, Rising Energy costs, and many other.
Posted by suresh at March 31, 2006 10:51 AMHaving said about the immigrant issue as a political opportunity for Republicans, I think it is time to look at it as an important issue to be resolved. For that you must first look at it thru the illegal immigrants eyes. Do you think he wants to pay money to Coyotees, travel thru all kinds ot dangerous terrains to get to Us? Work on lower than minimum wage and live in poverty? The answer is that he would like to come to US thru proper channels, make his money in dollars which is significant in pesos (even though he is getting less than minimum wage), and go back to his country to enjoy that significant money. He does not want to live in poverty in US with the meager money he makes here. Remember he is coming here because he is living in poverty back home and wants to get out of it.
If this means we issue work permits so that this worker can come to US to work 4-6 months(Guest Worker?) and then go back and come again following year, then this should provide this worker a sense of stability and he does not have to resort to coming here illegaly. Now being on a work permit, he will not get all the benifits that a citizen gets, but he is not breaking any law.
This is not a new idea. Europe is doing it with Turkish and Grrek workers. Dubai, Arab Emeritus, Saudi Arebia, are doing it with workers from India, Pakistan, Banglades, etc.
I know Bush has lot of things wrong, but he is right about the "Guest Worker" idea. I think the Dems should support this idea because this is the most practicle solution to this problem.
Posted by suresh at March 31, 2006 11:21 AMMaybe Karl has targeted it as his wedge issue for November
That's about it. It will work, too.
Republicans are masters at getting the yahoos fired up around election time. It can be jingoistic flag burning, Pledge of Allegiance type stuff or targeting groups like gays or Mexicans. Works every time.
After the election they will do nothing, of course, with the possible exception of some grandstanding legislation. Bottom lines are bottom lines to the big money boys in the Republican Party and they would never allow the deportation of all that cheap labor. Please.
It's perfect for firing up the blue collar Republican foot soldiers, though.
Posted by Pug at March 31, 2006 03:24 PMDear Steve . . .
Since we often agree and because the issue of immigration seems to have split parties, I turned to your website. I was seeking stimulus.
I did, in fact, track back to you, in hopes of provoking dialogues. I offer my own missive for your review and hope that you and your readers will share comments.
This piece was prompted by diversity. I experience an expansive difference of opinions when discussing those that enter this country without papers. I was shocked by what I heard. Thus, I write and ask others to contribute.
Please peruse . . .
IMMIGRATION ISSUES, “WHEN IS ENOUGH, ENOUGH?” ©
Sincerely . . .
Betsy L. Angert Be-Think
Dear Steve . . .
Since we often agree and because the issue of immigration seems to have split parties, I turned to your website. I was seeking stimulus.
I did, in fact, track back to you, in hopes of provoking dialogues. I offer my own missive for your review and hope that you and your readers will share comments.
This piece was prompted by diversity. I experience an expansive difference of opinions when discussing those that enter this country without papers. I was shocked by what I heard. Thus, I write and ask others to contribute.
Please peruse . . .
IMMIGRATION ISSUES, “WHEN IS ENOUGH, ENOUGH?” ©
Sincerely . . .
Betsy L. Angert Be-Think
The images of illegal immigrants protesting on our streets, waving Mexican flags and demanding "rights" doesn't sit well with the American public.
Hammer, nail. BANG.
Posted by at April 2, 2006 06:36 AM