Posted on 10/18/2011 12:04:10 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Minnesota Congresswomen and presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has become the latest politician to call for an impenetrable fence along the entire length of the border with Mexico. "President Obama has failed the American people by failing to secure the southern border," said Bachmann. "I will secure that border and that will be Job One."
Statements like that may get some attention, but they are not practical. Don't take our word for it; take Rick Perry's.
The Texas governor has been called a lot of things, but he's hardly a mushy liberal. Yet even this tough Texan sneers at calls for a Berlin Wall-style border fence spanning hundreds of miles from Brownsville to El Paso.
Two reasons: We can't afford it, and we don't need it.
The cost of a barrier like that would be staggering, certainly in the billions. Bachmann and others are silent about how they would pay for it.
Moreover, it is unnecessary. The Texas-Mexico border includes many miles of desert that are either lightly populated or devoid of any human presence. Illegal immigrants don't cross there. They make their moves along urban corridors.
Perry knows this because he is the governor of Texas. He knows the issue is more nuanced - like his support for in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants.
Secure the border? Absolutely - but in an intelligent way that puts our resources where they will have the most impact.
Voters should be wary of sound bites from candidates that fire up special-interest groups but lack logic. The next president will need real ideas, not gimmicks, to solve the challenges facing this nation.
On Jobs: FactCheck: Texas has highest number of minimum wage workers
When Rick Perry thumped his chest over his job-creation record as governor, he left the bad parts out. Yes, employment has grown by more than 1 million since Perry took office in Texas. But a lot of those jobs are not well paid.
Perry said, “95% of all the jobs that we’ve created have been above minimum wage.” To support the claim, the Perry campaign provided federal statistics for Dec. 2010 showing only 5.3% of all jobs in Texas pay the minimum wage. But those figures represent all workers, not just the new jobs, for which data are unavailable. And that does not account for low-wage jobs that may be barely above the minimum wage. 51% of all Texas workers make less than $33,000 a year. Only 30% make more than $50,000 a year. Nationally, Texas ranked 34th in median household income from 2007 to 2009. About 9.5% of Texas hourly workers, excluding those who are paid salaries, earn the minimum wage or less, tying Mississippi for the highest percentage in the nation.
Source: AP FactCheck on 2011 GOP debate in Simi Valley CA Sep 7, 2011
On Jobs: FactCheck: Jobs grew faster in TX under Perry’s predecessors
[We fact-checked this exchange from the debate]:
PERRY: Michael Dukakis created jobs three times faster than you did, Mitt.
ROMNEY: Well, as a matter of fact, George Bush and his predecessor created jobs at a faster rate than you did, governor.
PERRY: That’s not correct.
ROMNEY: Yes, that is correct.
THE FACTS: Romney was correct. Romney accurately stated that George W. Bush—even without his predecessor—saw jobs grow at a faster rate during his 1994-2000 years as governor than Perry has during his 11 years governing Texas. Employment grew by about 1.32 million during Bush’s six years in office. Employment during Perry’s years has grown about 1.2 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Source: AP FactCheck on 2011 GOP debate in Simi Valley CA Sep 7, 2011
Their governments are not going to pay the US for giving finds to their illegals. Don’t give them any benefits AT ALL and no jobs and they will STOP coming!
Yeah, I just got a crash course on this. I misunderstood the process as it related to the firm’s requirements that hold things up. Thanks for the post. Sorry.
Spanish decent.
Alabama is doing something. You and the sleepy slow talker are not.
I’m not World’sGoneInsane and don’t answer for he/or she but
My husband and I both are born and raised Texans.
He is referred to as hispanic by many people because he is a spanish/apache/mexican descendant.
But both his parents and ancestry go back to late 1700’s.
First Texans.
This is one of his ancestors. You can read about him online. This ancestor and his nephew José Antonio Navarro signed the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836, the only native Texans of the fifty-nine men who
signed their names to the document.
He wrote a letter to a family member in which he said
“Under no circumstance, take sides against the Texans . . . for only God will return the territory of Texas to the Mexican government.”
His son was the alcalde of San Antonio during the battle at the Alamo...lots of history
He was born and raised in south Texas.
http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fru11
And me, not that you asked, but I am 1/4 each,
Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee and German.
And all yall, are on my land! LOL Just Kidding.
Yet a great number of them seem to tribally organize a la the NAACP.
Yea, that’s why all those people are flocking to Texas.
They want to come here and get minimum wage jobs.
Beats $4 a day in Mexico!
If you really believe what you wrote then yes.
From your post:
‘”Here in San Diego, we have proven that the border infrastructure system does indeed work,” Henry says. “It is highly effective.”’
Interesting article, and thank you very much!
You are most welcome Sun. :-)
I want all illegals shot on sight! Cain won’t do that, the d@#n traitor!
There’s no way I could vote for such a lilly-livered pansy on immigration! Why, he’s no better than Obama.
;-P
Would you rather there be no jobs created or minimum wage jobs?
For the last three years, any job creation has a miracle with this administration in charge.
Huh, sounds like AIPAC, or the ADL, or the JFNA, or the ZOA.
Hadrian's Wall, the Wall of Antoninus Pius (just a few miles north of Hadrian's, really an earthworks and impediment to wagons and carts), the Limes Germanicus of Domitian (built to connect the Rhine and Danube frontiers and shorten the Roman defensive lines considerably), and the Dark Ages Limes Sorbicus built in Germany against the Slavic Sorbs by iirc Charlemagne or his sons. There was also Offa's Dyke in western England, built by the Saxons against the Welsh Britons.
In modern times, besides the Maginot Line, there were also the Belgian Leopold Line and the German Siegfried Line facing both; and during the war the Germans built two substantial fortification-lines, one in southern Russia and one (maybe two) in central Italy. Also, the Israeli Bar-Lev Line along the Suez Canal in the late 1960's, a continuous line of sandbag-and-earthworks fortifications broken down by the Egyptians in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War.
There are some others. I think the Finns built one either before or after the Winter War facing the Russians in Karelia, in southeastern Finland; I don't remember what it was called. During WW I the Germans built a large fallback fortification system on the Western Front called the Hindenburg Line in 1917 or 1918. And of course the two 20th-century "DMZ's" in Korea and Vietnam were heavily fortified and tricked out with Igloo White and various other sensor systems and could be compared to any of the above.
“Hispanic American” means a person having origins in any of the Spanish-speaking peoples of Mexico, South or Central America, or the Caribbean Islands or other Spanish or Portuguese cultures and who is regarded as such by the community of which this person claims to be a part."
The definitions of Hispanic is ludicrous. “Hispanics” encompass all of Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula, i.e., the former colonialists. These types of classifications are reminiscent of those under apartheid in South Africa, which had four main groups with a number of sub-groups and even “honorary whites.” Conservative Republicans should take the lead in abolishing these discriminatory programs in post-racial America and use immigration as an example of the unfairness of these laws.
The Democrats created the artificial category of “Hispanics” in the 1970s as a way to create another class of victims, which they could imbue with special rights and privileges, including affirmative action and minority business set asides. The result is another minority group that votes Democrat. It doesn’t matter that, according to the Census Bureau, 54 percent of Hispanics self-identify themselves as white. The Census Bureau has even created the phony category of “non-Hispanic whites,” which are now 66 percent of the population and will be 50 percent in 2039. The reality is that “whites” will still be more than 70 percent of the population in 2042.
Do either of you believe we should have affirmative action for "Hispanics?"
There are many organizations that are of like mind that support a common goal and beliefs. Some are legitimate, others spread hatred. You people that refer to Perry as LaRaza Rick, etc., are trying to tie him to the latter group.
He spoke before the NCLR, which is a group of Hispanics. This would be akin to the DAR, the NRA, or any other organization that shares a common bond. It is not like the KKK, as someone has intimated here in another thread.
Whether you like it or not, there are many Hispanics that are legal citizens that thrive in this country. While immigration it a big problem, it is not the only problem facing this country. If that is your issue, then you would be better supplying facts about the problem. Many prefer to use lies and hatred to make a real problem very distasteful.
Your post does not address the original post about the lies that have been spread. Nor does it address the fact Governor Perry gave an outstanding speech promoting Texas as a place that company's would want to move their business to. In his capacity as Governor it was reasonable to speak before business/professional leaders to encourage job growth in his state.
Change the subject? You must be confusing me with someone else. I consider the NCLR to be a racist organization that supports amnesty. I don't know anything about La Raza Unida.
Whether you like it or not, there are many Hispanics that are legal citizens that thrive in this country. While immigration it a big problem, it is not the only problem facing this country. If that is your issue, then you would be better supplying facts about the problem. Many prefer to use lies and hatred to make a real problem very distasteful.
I don't view people thru the prism of groups nor do I engage in identity politics. That is the tactic of the Democrats. Immigration is the defining issue of our time. It drives or impacts every major challenge facing this country. We need a national dialogue on immigration, legal and illegal, to ensure that our policies promote the national interest.
Your post does not address the original post about the lies that have been spread. Nor does it address the fact Governor Perry gave an outstanding speech promoting Texas as a place that company's would want to move their business to. In his capacity as Governor it was reasonable to speak before business/professional leaders to encourage job growth in his state.
McCain and Graham have received awards from NCLR. They are amnesty supporters and panderers. McCain received only 35% of the "Hispanic" vote.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.