You know what?
I do not give a fuck about your goddamn piece of shit immigration bill.
And while its details and machinations may ultimately make a difference in whether the person waking you up in the middle of the night to take your blood pressure and give you your meds is from Vietnam or Jamaica, it will not make one tiny bit of difference in the shadow economy of the US, where Mexican and other Latino and Latina workers are grossly underpaid and abused with impunity, because, as illegal workers, they have no recourse.
Because the problem has always been enforcement. And the problem will remain enforcement. We will never sufficient fund the law enforcement and immigration agencies that can make the ideals of any bill a reality. Period.
We should adopt a fair and sensible immigration policy, yes, one that doesn't stick its fingers in its ears and go "la la la" at the people who most want to come here. You know who I'm talking about, right? Here's a hint: Their continent/region also ends in "America."
They're connected to us, and we have stake in seeing them progress, economically. To say nothing about how our supposedly "Christian nation" should treat other extremely Christian nations, but Jeezy Chreezy, don't get me started on the whole Golden Rule thing.
Oh, and this: If you don't appreciate the contributions that, say, the culture and people of Mexico have made to California, then you need to MOVE THE FUCK SOMEWHERE ELSE. Say, Minnesota. Where you can root for the Vikings and complain about all the people speaking Norwegian.
What this bill doesn't do is relieve the pressure on states that have to provide emergency health care to illegal workers who don't have Worker's Comp, and education to children who don't speak English. It cannot look into the face of a person who was injured by a illegal immigrant driving without a license or insurance and say "I did my best," or even "I fucking gave a shit."
We want to be fair, but we need some things fixed. We want to make the illegal people legal, so that we can start to give all of us what we need.
This bill ain't that.
And you know what else it ain't?
It ain't bringing our soldiers home. Because the Democrats, apparently still so cowed by the threat of not "supporting the troops" (i.e., keeping them in harm's way) have blinked and let the threat of a 2nd presidential veto (oooh, another scary, scary, veto) make them take their eyes off the prize and instead chase the shiny lure of actually passing a bill the President will sign.
Like that's something of which to be proud.
And yesterday, 9 more soldiers were blown to bits.
That makes 3431, in case anyone's still counting.
8 comments:
Right as usual Vikki. Did you see the latest crap out of Bushco? AP writer DEB RIECHMANN reported Bush, stressing that Americans face an ongoing threat from terrorists, shared intelligence on Wednesday asserting that Osama bin Laden was working in 2005 to set up a unit inside Iraq to hit U.S. targets.
The guy has decided to "share intel" at this late point? Only because he is an asshat (thanks for that by the way) who has to come up with more bullshit to keep the troops over there.
The right wingers are jumping all over this proposal by appealing to our reptilian brain. You can spawn fear by tapping into our distrust of strangers, not of our tribe. Same goes for homosexuals.
Regarding immigration, I think the problem goes back to our 19th century "Manifest Destiny." that belief that God wanted us to take all the usable land on the North American continent, even if people were already living on it, then draw the borders and shoot anybody who crossed them. Variations on this theme still win elections today.
As for the Democrats folding on the military funding bill, it is despicable on moral grounds, but they would not have had the votes to override the inevitable veto, and the Administration would have had the "political theater" card and the "troops in harm's way" card to play. The previous vetoed bill and rejected compromise have shown at least some folks that the Administration is stubborn, petty and clueless on this issue. Because of this, when the current funding expires in September there will be a number of Republicans newly ready to demand an exit strategy.
By the way, the war in Iraq is happening for much the same reasons as the original Manifest Destiny push to steal North America: They have stuff that we want. They have to give it to us, or a lot of them are going to die.
SkyDad: The operative fact being...2005. So much for the Iraq war making us safer.
Dad: Yeah, we're a great country for denying to others the benefits that our own predecessors received.
Larry: Sorry, but the only reason the Repubs have the "harm's way" and "political theatre" cards to play is that the wimpy ass fucking Democrats let them. It would be so easy to turn that PR shit around, but we just seem to be incapable of producing a compelling congressional leader who can do that.
If you haven't seen it alreay, check out a doc called Farmingville. It really illustrates how unwilling the federal gov't is to enforce its own immigration policy, plus it makes the anti-immigration crowd look like a bunch of assholes. Which they kinda are.
That would be "already," not "areay." I've been drinking. . .
Your political analyses make so much more sense to me than anything I hear out of politicians & TV pundits. Kudos on another razor-sharp essay.
Megan: I haven't seen it, but look! It's on Netflix!
I love Netflix.
JohnnyY: I bit off subject, but I also love how our government denies political asylum to women from African nations who are fleeing genital mutilation. Because FGM is a cultural tradition, don't you know, and we don't give refuge to people fleeing traditions.
Chris: This is what I like about blogging. You can go off on a rant that would normally leave all your friends blinking and gasping for air, and readers go "good job." Awesome.
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