Tee and Hee:
You can't play both sides of the game, bub. Bush losing support of Hispanics (who he'd wanted in the GOP tent) and the mad-as-hell-on-immigration people.
A good commentary on the subject here about the people who are against doing anything on the subject of illegal immigration. Folks, the solid truth on this is that we've always liked having a situation where things are cheap, but we're never willing to realize that you pay prices in other ways. Cheaper gas leads to a dependence on a resource that will go away in the not distant future and enrich some guys we're not that fond of, not to mention a greener future. Cheaper stuff in Walmart means no living wage for the people who work there, or supply it from this country, and more jobs exported abroad. And so on.
What we need is a big-picture, sustainable and green vision for the future that works with business and the little guy to work on something that puts us all in a better place.
As to the proposals Bushco put forward last week, they're an expensive, useless joke. The borders have been dead last on security of any substance for a long time. Nobody wants to spend the money. It's not in anyone's pork interests. It will all go away. Efforts to high-tech this in the past have been expensive failures. Leads found are not followed up on. Enforcement on employers have been low, and rock-bottom low under Bush. Morale within the border cops has been low, because nobody prosecutes the smugglers and the Bushies and other administrations have never given them or the courts much support.
I repeat: if these guys were serious about enforcing the law, or controlling illegal immigration, all the levers were there to do it and have been. Doesn't need new legislation, doesn't need bamboozles with two-week layovers of Guardsmen, doesn't need anything high tech that doesn't work and goes off to expensive contractors. What it needs is clear, serious attention, resorces and the political will to actually do something constructive than make photo-op hackocracy our governing (if you can call it that) philosophy.
A good commentary on the subject here about the people who are against doing anything on the subject of illegal immigration. Folks, the solid truth on this is that we've always liked having a situation where things are cheap, but we're never willing to realize that you pay prices in other ways. Cheaper gas leads to a dependence on a resource that will go away in the not distant future and enrich some guys we're not that fond of, not to mention a greener future. Cheaper stuff in Walmart means no living wage for the people who work there, or supply it from this country, and more jobs exported abroad. And so on.
What we need is a big-picture, sustainable and green vision for the future that works with business and the little guy to work on something that puts us all in a better place.
As to the proposals Bushco put forward last week, they're an expensive, useless joke. The borders have been dead last on security of any substance for a long time. Nobody wants to spend the money. It's not in anyone's pork interests. It will all go away. Efforts to high-tech this in the past have been expensive failures. Leads found are not followed up on. Enforcement on employers have been low, and rock-bottom low under Bush. Morale within the border cops has been low, because nobody prosecutes the smugglers and the Bushies and other administrations have never given them or the courts much support.
I repeat: if these guys were serious about enforcing the law, or controlling illegal immigration, all the levers were there to do it and have been. Doesn't need new legislation, doesn't need bamboozles with two-week layovers of Guardsmen, doesn't need anything high tech that doesn't work and goes off to expensive contractors. What it needs is clear, serious attention, resorces and the political will to actually do something constructive than make photo-op hackocracy our governing (if you can call it that) philosophy.