( BRAF ALERT )Imagine a day without a Mexican

CNN ^ | March 2, 2012 | Charles Garcia,

[moonshinner_09]

(CNN) -- One day, California wakes up and every single Latino has inexplicably disappeared. No business owner, doctor, nurse, soldier, teacher, entertainer, athlete or politician can be found. No bus driver, farm worker, cook, gardener or nanny. All gone. California -- the ninth largest economy in the world -- grinds to a halt because Latinos have vanished. Chaos and tragedy follow. This scenario is what Sergio Arau's satiric film, "A Day Without a Mexican," explores.

This modern-day fable provides a cautionary tale on the assumptions we make about the 11 million unauthorized immigrants who live and work in America every day.

An oft-repeated mantra used to malign these "economic refugees" -- a term that more closely defines who they actually are, rather than the inflammatory "illegal immigrant" -- is that they don't pay taxes. They send their kids to our schools, and they don't pay taxes. They earn their wages, and they don't pay income tax. Such incendiary assertions are coded language designed explicitly to generate a negative reaction. The facts, which most people don't know, refute such claims entirely.Sales tax. Like everyone in the country, every time a refugee goes to a store and buys something, they pay sales tax. They buy milk; they pay sales tax. They buy shoes; they pay sales tax. They buy a television; they pay sales tax.

Property tax. When refugees rent -- whether it's in an apartment building, a room in a house or a house -- a portion of that rent is passed on to the landlord, who pays property tax to the state.

[central_va]

I once drank too much whiksey (or was it vokda) and had to braf.

Cut it out. I am FUI right now. Freeping Under the Influence.

[Mears]

It would also mean I wouldn’t have to “Press 1 for English”?

[jmacusa]

“Imagine a day without a Mexican?’’ “Solo uno dia? Only a day?