Posted on 12/22/2005 6:51:11 PM PST by WatchYourself
In her December 13, 2005 article, nationally syndicated columnist Phyllis Schlafly issues a blanket indictment of “guest worker” and “amnesty” programs being proposed in Washington, bluntly characterizing them as “immoral.” In closing, she quotes Theodore Roosevelt, who when president likened such policy to slavery.
Hardly excessive, Schlafly’s contention is inarguably supported by history and fact. If anything, she did not fully elaborate on the dire consequences of any “guest worker” program that the Washington crowd may consider.
Recently, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff announced an ostensible policy that elated those Americans who have been increasingly concerned about the invasion of illegals across the nation’s southern border. According to Chertoff, all such people needed to be escorted out of the country, and within the amazing timetable of one year.
(Excerpt) Read more at capitolhilljournal.com ...
..."the presidents answer was to pay their medical bills"
Don't forget letting them file for Social Security!
marking
The reason I stopped offering those clarifications and decided against doing so last night is because that is not what most here want to hear.
In fact, I suggest that the author of this article knows/understands Chertoff's statements but still misquotes/misrepresents those statements because he realizes that by telling his readership what they want to hear, he increases his readership.
Well, both my wife and I are descendants of slaves then. My parents migrated out to California during the Great Depression. They worked at low paying menial jobs in miserable living conditions all their lives and, in fact, sometimes packed up the entire family to work in the fields while "Scarlet" looked on from her porch.
And my wife's grandparents immigrated from Finland around the turn of the century. The family worked the coal mines of Pennsylvania and later worked on farms in Michigan and California. They ended up homesteading a farm on land no one wanted near Reedley. Her father worked the ranches of the valley his entire life.
OK...do you or your wife consider yourselves citizens of the "Old Country" first? Did your ancestors refuse to assimilate? Do you still sent home your dollars to the "Old Country"? Do you assert that where you live is actually "property" of the "Old Country"? Do you speak the language, or did you refuse to learn English, then demand that all services be provided in your "Native" tongue? Do you or your ancestors stage protests to demand more from the very people you/they are defrauding?
Do you aid others from the "Old Country" to come here illegally, and commit fraud on the American people? Did you or they steal/make up ID's and forge work documents? Did they come here without a check on who they were, and what diseases they might be carrying? Did they protest at being checked out?
Now as for those jobs they took...the times were different. One could make a better life for themselves from their old one by the sweat of their brow...not off the backs of the American Taxpayer; we who actually make up the difference in what an illegal makes, verus the State/Local/Federal services they consume.
And as far as "Scarlett" sitting on the porch...I'm sure that your ancestors hoped and dreamed that one day they would be living like Scarlett. That IS the American Dream.
The railroads and Robber Barons/Cattle Barons have been replaced by construction/menial labor jobs...all with the nod and a wink from a Federal Gub'Mint that sees no problem selling Americans out for the promise of cheap illegal aliens and their futurte votes. Never mind the Social Security fiasco that says an immigrant needs only 10 Quarters to qualify (even if they used a phony/stolen S.S. ID)...while Americans need 40 Quarters.
So Jim...it is an entirely different situation we find ourselves in...we are being invaded and taken over with the complicity of our Gub'Mint in favor of one big trade zone from the Tropics to the Artic circle...and we Americans are NOT the beneficiaries of this "Zone", yet we are paying for the luxury of becoming second-class citizens in our home...at gunpoint.
Businesses (including your local fast food stand) are just not equipped to be able to determine if someone's ID is a fake.
I've wondered about that. Businesses are are able to tell instantaneously whether or not my debit card and credit cards charges are good, and if I report one as stolen, whether or not the card is good. Seems like technology could fairly easily solve this problem.
Well, I'm also not defending Chertoff's position by any means, either. It's abysmal enough without the distortion. I don't know that the distortion here was intentional. I think it's mostly lazy in that they've taken the interpretation of the original out of context quote from the article instead of actually going back to the transcript.
Protect our borders and coastlines from all foreign invaders!
Support our Minutemen Patriots!
Be Ever Vigilant ~ Bump!
Of all the points contained in your response, this one says it all.
If Washington believes their usual do-nothing cosmetics are going to satisfy us on illegal alien issues and border security, they are very wrong.
There is no good reason why American citizens should continue to put up with it. None at all.
BTTT
Everyone should read this post.
Immigration of days past can in no way be compared with the illegal alien invasion of today.
My family too came to the valley during the great depression, worked as farm hands, and picked fruit. So we identify with your struggle and if the new migrants too. My grandmother went to school in Reedley But I don’t recall anyone leaving graffiti like we see the kids there today, or our kids did not join gangs, we never asked for charity, we kept our yards clean, some of us even went to on to higher education, some of us farmed. Some of my famies farms are still in it there, but these were family farms.
More and more farms now are being sold and combined into bigger ranches, and every time I visit the valley, I cant help but notice the greater and greater disparity between the classes, with huge ranch mansions, and then shanty shacks at the corner properties on the back acreages. It isn’t anymore the valley I grew up in, where there was a string middle class, with protestant Christian American values. Perhaps the change was inevitable with time, or perhaps our valley towns which appear like 3rd world communities of peasants and aristocrats as we see today was the result of our own greed.
The point is, my parents weren't slaves, Sheila's weren't slaves and neither were yours. And neither are the immigrants who come here today to work for wages.
~ George Bush from a campaign speech in Miami, August 2000 ~
His "Party"??
It's more like his puppet-masters of the The New World Order.
Your posts are really great.
BTTT.
Let's play pretend here...
Jose' is an illegal immigrant. He wants a job. He goes to the Shady Construction Co., and gets an entry level job for less $$$ than an American would...
In one year, could Jose' go and ask for a raise from Mr. Shady?
Not likely, as there are now 10 more illegals waiting to take Jose's job for even less $$$!
So Jose's ONLY choice is to get a new job in a more advanced field...not that he's done much to increase his qualifications, but upward mobility pressures are forcing him into job markets that are above "entry level"...
Now these companies see that the only way to compete is to hire illegals as well...it reduces their expenses.
So now we have a new illegal taking Jose's old job at Shady Construction...but now Jose is competeing with more advanced Job candidiates, which then pushes that career's wages down as well...it's a vicious circle, and American workers are losing at every stage!
I haven't even mentioned the fact that cheap (slave) labor also reduces the need for innovation in Agro business...what is the reason to invest in innovative new machines to incraese productivity and harvests, when cheap Illegals still corner that market?
This is why Illegal immigrants are horrible for America, and why it really IS slave labor...they can't even come close to the wages they get here in their own hell-holes. Which is why the term "wage-slave" came into being...
Hey, I agree that illegals are here illegally and should be deported when caught. What's your beef?
Um...I'm not sure. Your posts that I responded to seemed to underestimate the damage Illegals here do...did I misunderstand your posts? You seemed to pooh-pooh the slavery notion.
You seemed to support the illegals...if you do not, where do you draw the line on enforcement/removal of the illegals here...and do you back the Bush "Guest-Worker" plan...even after seeing what Tancredo and JD Hayworth and Pense have said about it?
If I have misunderstood your posts, please clarify them and your positions for me, and I'll make the appropriate apologies then.
Thanks.
Ah..I see. Thanks for the clarification.
But we cannot even consider a "Guest Worker" program until we do enough to secure the borders against Illegals...otherwise you will definitely be rewarding Illegals for their Illegal behaviour.
As far as the "willingly work for agreed upon wages" part...how much negotiating can these workers do when if the agrobiz doesn't want to pay the rate they ask, there are millions of Illegals to do it cheaper? The very presence and threat of Illegal labor artificially devalues the labor costs..therby depressing wages. They have no choice but to agree to the wages, as any "negotiations" would result in others getting the work. Not being able to negotiate a wage in a "free market" means that wages are dictated, not valued by market forces...and the threat of Illegal workers forces legals who need the work to accept lower wages, thereby bringing about the concept of "wage slave".
That is my point...along with the fact that Illegals should never get any work/benefits/Gub'Mint hand outs beyond absolute humanitarian level, and then deport after their immediate crisis is over.
I need to go....my pain is breaking thru...I'll check back later.
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