“Money, my friends, talks, and bull walks. Look at who wants illegal workers here. Look at who controls Congress.”

This is why I think the only reason the GOP is raising the immigration issue now, is because they’re in political trouble going into the midterm elections, and so are trying to galvanize the “base” , i.e. white rednecks, by playing the race card. The GOP has been playing the race card for years, especially in close and critical races, where their fear of losing outweighs their concern about alienating minority groups.

Immigration may be driven by economic need (desparately poor workers matched with US employers looking for cheap labor with little bargaining power), but the emotional reaction in the US to immigration is driven primarily by race.  If the immigrants coming into the US were white (say Nordic types) would we be having the same national discussion?  Instead of anguishing about the loss of our “culture” and “way of life”, we’d be discussing how to improve economic conditions for everybody.

> Comment #7123 by Jesus B. Ochoa on 4/13 at 12:09 pm

> As usual, pretty good, Molly, but here is a reality bite:  from an e-mail I wrote some activist friends prior to hitting the streets - where really, most of the people were citizens and green carders:

Even cable couldn’t hide this fact. Scarborough Country was ranting on the fascist thought - “Why isn’t th INS here? They are all illegal” and then they interview a Congresswoman from LA at the LA demonstration who was eloquent and concise. Then they totally ignore what she said and get back on their racist talking points.

Your comments are very well thought through. In thinking about this issue with a diverse group of high school friends (I graduated in 1976) from a convservative county in Illinois, we are of all political stripes, we don’t agree, but I have not seen a racist comment. In fact we are all discussing our immigrant roots and family history, NAFTA, etc.

In another group, more self-selected, a good ole’ southern boy from Georgia did start off a discussion with racist clap trap that could only be described as straight from the talking points ala the Scarborough idiots. He was slammed by everyone in the group of old Ultimate Frisbee players.

I don’t what this means exactly, but I do know that the plan you propose is a very humanitarian plan and shows true justice. I know this because I have come to a similar conclusion myself, and I think that seekers for truth will always find similar answers whether they know it or not.

This is what makes the United States great, let’s not forget it!

Peace!

Most of the Mexican-Americans i’ve known had better senses of humor than most of the other people i’ve known.  An awful lot of people who look like me don’t laugh as much at stuff that i think is funny.  I like Mexican-Americans best when they speak English.  That way i can understand them.  If you ever knew a Mexican-American & didn’t think he or she had a good sense of humor, he or she might have been speaking Spanish.  I can’t say for sure if Mexicans are funny if they only speak Spanish.  But, i bet when they become Mexican-Americans, they’ll have kids who are funny.  One thing i know for sure, this country could use more jokes that are not politicians.

I’ve been an american working class slave all of my 65 years supporting the rich elite here in america. I welcome all immigrants who want a better life for themseves and their families. Lets not let the elite use racism or economic threats to divide us as they always do in order to control the working class. We are all in the same economic boat when it comes to being exploited. Let’s stick together and work together to end corporate domination over the people throughout the world.Everyone has an equal right to life,liberty and the pursuit of happiness or so I’ve been told.

Given the lies before the Iraq war. How do know that anything said about Iran is true. Far all I know they aren’t even doing anything -Bush just wants to drop an atomic bomb before he leaves office. And they are the target.

Just keep repeating to yourself - “Everything they say is a lie.

What the hell does it take to get these guy’s out of office? Voting sure didn’t seem to work. They are obviously above the law. How long before the people of this country revolt againts these ecomomic powers that control our lives? Corporations and Military industry = Fascism

The only way to solve the immigration problem is for the President of Mexico to do what the LA Cardinal did in telling pople to disobey the law that is tell the people of Mexico to disobey the Catholic Church’s teaching against birth control.
Or send the bills to the nearest dioscese or Vatican City

Yet another great article, Molly.

Regarding immigration, what is it with these racist palookas who whine about entering the country “illegally” as if the law was some holy script? Let he without sin cast the first stone. There isn’t a one of us who doesn’t break the law in some way or another (or does everyone obey the speed limit?).

If the “law” was such an important value, then why the hell haven’t our “law-abiding” citizens thrown those s.o.b.s in the White House into prison? Where are the droves of citizens turning themselves in for supporting a criminal regime, illegal war, election fraud?

And please don’t whine about “taking American jobs”! Clinton, Bush & Co. have sent more of them abroad than any immigrant has taken. And the fact is that the jobs aren’t taken - they are GIVEN.

Anti-immigration talk is just racist crap, and you racist hypocrites aren’t fooling anyone but yourselves.

In Rome, there were citizens and slaves. When America was founded, there were citizens and slaves. Today, there are citizens and slaves.

It is popularly supposed that the Romans imported all their slaves by force, but this is a shibboleth. Many slaves came voluntarily looking for work. They could be freed, becoming 2nd-class citizens called freed-men. And the children of freed-men were citizens.

It is all the same today, just with different terminology - illegals rather than slaves, immigrants rather than freed-men. Only fools and charlatans believe America can do without slaves. Even if you could force the slaves to live in other countries - Mexico, India, China - they still do your work for you, produce your goods for you, and intend one day to be as wealthy as you.

If you find that prospect intimidating, you’re either a coward or a hypocrite. The rest of the world neither knows nor cares which. They’re just waiting for the US housing bubble to burst so they can foreclose your ass. Either way, your grandchildren will be fetching their grandchildren cool drinks on a hot day.

As to the mobile labs thing, Bush is now claiming that he was incompetent rather than lying about it. In claiming this clearly he is either incompetent or lying. And if you reject that clearly you are either incompetent or lying. I don’t care - I’m waiting for the US housing bubble to burst so I can foreclose your ass.

Illegal immigration is a labor issue ... like sweatshops and child labor ... and because we allow it THEN it becomes a humanitarian issue.

I mean, when we find out employers have been hiring children under a certain age to work in factories or coal mines, do we start blaming the children? When we learn that employers lock the doors so workers can’t leave, do we blame the workers? Get a grip, folks.

My illegal immigration “solution set”:

1. Bust the employers of illegals. (Have some high-profile arrests and convictions with real sanctions including prison for repeat offenders. These violations are the stuff of sweatshops and child-labor violations.)

2. Secure our borders. (Do what we can ... but if we do No. 1 then this should be a whole lot easier.)

3. Enact and enforce whatever additional fair labor laws are needed—including effective national ID in order to work, along with the right to organize as a union without the threat of deportation. (I think the trade-off between being allowed to organize and requiring an effective national ID in order to work would get us the ID we need.)

  (Note: My response to those who are worried about national ID’s is that passports have been around a long time. I have had one for years. And there are still so many ways to exist in the cash/barter economy below anyone’s radar—if you can get along with those around you—that having a way to limit the unscrupulous sweatshop/child labor violaters is worth the trade off—in my opinion.)

4. Provide a humanitarian resolution (but a realistically tough path to citizenship that does not simply grant amnesty) for the workers already here—and who come in the future—who demonstrate a commitment over a reasonable length of time to becoming assimilated.

5. At the end of the day (some rational time period), aggressively deport those illegals who have not met the conditions for living here legally. (I believe effective implementation of 1 through 4 will reduce significantly the number we have to deal with in 5.)

Because of the results of the 1986 legislation (aka amnesty), this time we have to start with tough enforcement against employers and as close to absolute security on our borders as possible. 1 & 2 are absolutely necessary, as well as 5 in time. 3 & 4 should be negotiated as to final resolution.

What part of Canvas sided Biological Weapons lab does it take to see the total stupidity of the very concept.
from my Blog,

Well duh, Biolabs need secure space, lest the pathogen escape and wipe out ones own side, much less the researchers themselves. They also require a controlled temperatures, and a clean environment, not only for safety but to keep the critters happy as well.

Lets see, 120 degree plus outside temperatures, check, dark brown canvas to keep the contents cool in the sun, not check, canvas sides as clean room siding, I don’t think so, canvas tarps as level five pathogen security system, ROFL!

I’d like to see a new reality TV show, perhaps called “Neocon Island.” Here all the neocons are gathered. The toture they employ on others is now employed on them. The object of the game is to see who can hold out the longest. I bet the “bubble-boy” is the first to crack.

Only then would get ant real truth.

(Y)our dogs in this fight are (y)our Constitutional rule of law and (y)our U.S. citizenship, both of which are rendered WORTHLESS by the unpunished ILLEGAL alien pandemic. Let them return home and apply LEGALLY for entry; otherwise repatriate this outlaw coalition of the unwilling.

The real story about the trailers is that the white paper Bush did rely on and which is not classified is an outright lie.

Which leads directly to a bigger real story: the Bush administration issued an outright lie through the CIA.  That’s a no-no. 

We don’t need to have the suppressed report declassified: all of its substance is in the annex to the Duelfer report and unclassified.  If you contrast the Duelfer report annex with the white paper you will find one is professional, one is not.  One is based on fact, one is not.  One avoids argument, one does not.  One sticks to the evidence visible on the trailers, one does not - and re-affirms the pre-war claims that it is supposed to be validating or invalidating on the basis of the actual trailer evidence.

The Duelfer report annex may be regarded as a slight repackaging of the suppressed report.  It is entirely fair to assume that everything in that annex was known to the intelligence community before the CIA/DIA white paper was issued.  Maybe Bush didn’t know about the suppressed report but since the white paper he did rely on was a lie he has plety of problems just from that.

I’m going to vote for the Democrat
in the 2008 presidential election.

Will Molly?

It’s just a question,
bart

who will this administration get to build the wall? mexicans? cna you see the trucks lined up at home depot looking for white americans looking for day work?  i can’t.
and if not them, the corps of engineers - and we all know what a good job they do on construction.  i guess this will be yet another no-bid contract going to halliburton.
we are a country built on diversity.  get used to dialing “1” for english.  i’m more concerned with trying to understand “john” in bombay as he tries to untangle my american express card issues.

There is a great old story about San Diego. Don’t know if it is true, but the story goes…the city was leary of becoming such a central base for the navy, with shore leave, bars, strip clubs, etc. seen as the unwanted side of things.

The Admiral for the base in Sand Diego reportedly had the whole fleet there paid in 2 dollar bills one payday. The’yre legal of course, but not normally circulated so much.

After the town was suddenly inundated with 2 dollar bills, the city council decided not to make a fuss after all.

I love the story, true or not, because it is an elegant solution. What if the immigrant community started getting 2-dollar bills? Wonder how quickly folk would see them showing up as change and in their pocekts…

Something no one seems to suggest is the fact that just possibly Mexican women would be happy if someone gave them some honest-to-God useful info on family planning. Both here and in Mexico. And if someone drummed the idea into the Mexican male’s brain that a big family—sometimes more than one—made him macho.  This, I think, is a big part of the problem.

This article’s an instant classic, Molly, and thank you for it.

I’ve been kind of undecided about immigration and the bill that fell apart in the Senate last Friday. Immigration is such a complex issue that a kneejerk reaction in one direction or another will inevitably trip you up somewhere along your argument. It seems to me that these days NAFTA’s the main reason we’re seeing such a huge influx of Mexicans. NAFTA was a miserable failure from the gitgo and since it was enacted the average Mexican makes 20% less while corporations only get more and more bloated.

Still, your article helped explain things to me in a pretty clear and straight-forward fashion, assigning the blame where it squarely belongs (of COURSE it the fault of Republican business owners).

Dear Molly
Since you live in Texas you will certainly remember the “Mexican American” vote on the anti-gay marriage referendum. Scary as hell for the future of our state.

As usual, pretty good, Molly, but here is a reality bite:  from an e-mail I wrote some activist friends prior to hitting the streets - where really, most of the people were citizens and green carders: 

LULAC can support whatever the hell they want to support.  I think that once again they are on the other side of history, as they were in opposing the Chicano Moratorium during Viet Nam.  First of all, it is not their march, it is the peoples’ march, with the immigrant community first and foremost.  LULAC and others, and in particular the Church, should understand that McCain-Kennedy is a piece of trash.

Here is what a decent bill would do, and why:  first, get rid of this racist “lawbreakers” crap and accept responsibility for the actions of the United States.  As regards Central American immigration, the direct (in lawyers’ talk, the “proximate cause”, and no other) cause was the terror unleashed by U.S. intervention most notably in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala from the 60s on, and to date, Colombia under cover of the war on drugs. Recent immigration from Honduras can also be traced back to its role as a client state of the CIA during the latter part of the Carter years and all of the Reagan years.  Literally hundreds of thousands of people displaced by our support for the dictators’ terror fled north.  We also have a fair amount of Chileans and Argentinians for the same reasons.

As regards Mexico, the NAFTA nonsense rammed through by Clinton has decimated the emerging Mexican middle class and has terribly hurt the campesinos:  Mexico, more or less playing by the rules, does not subsidize agriculture as it once did prior to the free trade thing.  The U.S. continues to subsidize mostly the huge corporate farms, read agribusiness, allowing them to flood Mexico with corn, for example, that the Mexican farmers cannot compete with.

Result?  Massive movement north.  And who to blame?  The browned skin ones.

” Why is the supply of decent-paying jobs in Mexico so low? Therein lies an issue neither Democrats nor Republicans want to address, because it touches on public policies both have supported.”

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/04/09/EDGO7I4KL61.DTL

“Hundreds of thousands of people are saying no to Washington’s repressive bills, but Congress and its coterie of beltway lobbyists clearly aren’t listening. It’s time for Washington to face reality. A huge outpouring of people is demanding real equality. They won’t be satisfied with second-class status.”
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040706A.shtml

Now, here’s what a decent piece of legislation would do.

1.  Immediately approve green cards for people whose applications are on file, whether they have been on file for one month or ten years. The last time I handled an immigration case, the wait was about ten years, and this was in 1987.  I am told that it has only gotten worse.

2.  Approve green cards for anyone currently in the country, working or not (little kids or kids in school) without documentation within six months.  There’s not that damned much to investigate.  As for those claims that there are “criminals” among applicants, well, that’s no different than the situation with citizens.  There are criminals all over, and in time most of them are caught.

3.  As in the early days of immigration, make it possible for families to be united, including at least parents, siblings, children.

4.  Bring all workers, whatever area of employment they may be in, under the minimum wage and allow them employment benefits across the board.

5.  Cool the rhetoric, abolish the concept of the so called “fines” and “rewards” for lawbreakers.  Understand that undocumented status in this country is subject to administrative sanctions, at least in the first instance.  Understand that the undocumented have already been “fined” enough, so to speak, given the abuses they labor under, the sales taxes they pay, and the money they bring into the economy notwithstanding what they send home to support their own.  We would fine them for doing what citizens who don’t support their kids get away with?

6.  Do not subject them to criminal sanctions for having obtained false SS cards.  This is the price of finding work.  They are already being fined by paying into a system whose benefits they will, under the current situation, never enjoy.

7.  Immediately lower the length of time to attain citizenship to say, two years max.

Return to what used to be more or less a humane society, at least in the dreaming.

And finally, we should all recognize the humanitarian efforts of people who help others to escape death. And the damned government through its repressive Border Patrol should stop prosecuting them.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040806F.shtml
Lately, the “El Paso Times” has been printing a slew of anti-immigrant letters, many from people with Spanish surnames.  I was taken by one this morning where some silly woman was bragging on her sainted grandmother who is in her nineties, and who, of course, came over “legally.”  Hell, my maternal grandfather came over legally, paying 50 cents to cross at about the same time as the woman’s grandmother, I think in 1902.  A year later he sent money he had saved to my grandmother in Santa Rosalia, Chihuahua, who then came over with the five or six kids he had left behind.  She waded across the river, kids and all, and used the money to rent two rooms in south El Paso, dragging my grandfather out of his rented room. This was the grandmother who gave me a cigarette when I was seven, along with a beer, to the consternation of my mother.  And she was the one who taught me never to kneel, apart from church, and to always deal with people with blue eyes and fair skin at arms length, because it was her belief that there was a reason that God did not give wings to scorpions. No, they were all not scorpions, but one had to be careful. And, to always remember that my Indian ancestors had fought the good fight. Not like some of the current apologists for a misguided gringolandia who have forgotten where their parents and grandparents came from, and what they came for. It used to be called in search of freedom to work, to live, to worship, and not to become spokespersons for repression. Pendejos.

I will walk with the farmworkers from the bridge.  We should arrive at the Placita at about 4 or so, wearing white, red, or whatever color shirts we wish to wear, waving whatever flags we wish to wave, and carrying whatever signs we wish to carry - as free Americans.  So try the following on for size: Wolcott quotes Alisa -

“If you had any doubt what this faux-debate on illegal immigration has been about, or who has orchestrated it, this poll tells you all you need to know. The Big Brown Alien Frenzy was created by right-wing think-tanks who have studied the strategies of dictators throughout time. They are purposefully and incorrectly using Latinos - and they have convinced the public that we are ALL illegal immigrants, even though 60 percent of us were born here and the majority of the other 40 percent are legal - as scapegoats and distractionary hate-targets so that no one pays attention to the real reason for our nation’s economic destruction: George W. Bush and his idiotic fiscal policies.”

http://www.jameswolcott.com/

If I had one, I would wear a red shirt. At the moment, I cannot see my way clear to buy one, but I will do so for the next march on May 1, along with as couple for my girls.

And, by the way:  better the Mexican flag, as Bush is waving below in Los Angeles, prior to the election in 2004, than the Bars and Stars and the Nazi flag, both of which were on exhibition at a recent Minutemen meeting in Costa Mesa, California.  But the “Times” didn’t tell you about those, did it?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/04/04/bush-waving-the-mexican-f_n_18477.html

http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2005/08/minutemen-home-for-extremists_08.html

Molly,

I’m tired of you “journalists” talking about the “latest” news to come out concerning the lies and other misdeeds of the Bush administrations, blah blah blah.

I was reading these exact same reports within a few weeks of when they happened.  What the hell took you, the “main stream media”, so long to “discover” this information?

I am disgusted with anyone who wasn’t shouting about this stuff from the roof tops three years ago!

Yes, #7090, it does and thank you.  The Shape of Days blogger should get out more.  Here in L.A. we are privileged to hear 128 different languages spoken just by travelling around our basin.  It’s part of what makes this place alive, energetic and vibrant and what has made America so since its inception. Also, it would be very surprising if a very rich nation right next to a very poor nation did not attract those poor.

I have immigrants from Mexico for neighbors and one of my grandaughters is half Mexican.  Her father came here illegally 20 years ago and was legalized under Reagan’s amnesty in th 1980’s.  My neighbors are hardworking , pleasant people and my son in law is a wonderful father and extremely hard working individual. I can’t see how America is anything but a better place because of them.

Well done as usual Molly. However, you forgot to mention the secret plot to retake the Southwest by Mexico. This is classic right-wing paranoia.
We Americans should consider the idea. Despite Mexico’s problems with governing, they’ve been doing a better job than George W and friends. Also, it would be much easier to travel with a Mexican passport.

Love you as always Molly. But one comment really irked me. The immigrants aren’t different it’s just that Americans are so ignorant. I get real tired of being called anti-American from the right and ignorant or stupid from the left everytime I don’t agree with them.

Every single person with whom I’ve spoken in the past few weeks about “illegal immigration” has been totally unable to distinguish between “illegal” and “immigration”. Every point I raise about illegal immigration is immediately disputed with some kind of point about all immigration. I’m especially fascinated when I get called a racist without making any race distinctions, while the accuser is the one lumping all immigrants together regardless of whether they’re illegal or not.

But my favorite part is that I’m getting this kind of nonsense programmed responses from everyone, mostly liberals (only because they’re the majority of the people with whom I talk politics). If Americans can’t even distinguish between illegal immigration and mere immigrants (who I tend to like better than native Americans), there’s absolutely no hope of any resolution to the problem. It will fester and divide us forever.

In 2004 I spent 6 months in Orlando, FL, registering over 1500 people to vote.

Two things surprised me most: I had no idea how many ex-felons there were in the African American community. I was naive. And in Florida, ex-felons cannot vote without personally getting a note from Jeb Bush that says its OK. No small feat.

The second was the number of non-citizens I ran into everyday. Sometimes I could tell they were illegals just by the sheer terror my being there asking questions seemed to provoke. Sometimes it was their bosses who would become agitated that I wanted to speak to employees to register them. At first I was confused at the immediate anger I would get from them. Again, I was so naive. Then I understood. They were terrified that I would draw attention to them.

Needless to say, the jobs they were working at were not the cream of the crop.

Molly is right, as long as someone hires them, these people will die trying to come here. Because its so much better than where they came from.

Think about it. What kind of American will someone willing to die to get here become? What kind of American lets them take that chance and then exploits them for profit?

I say we’re deporting the wrong people

Great info Molly, a big fan here.  I find it interesting that we have people in America called “Welfare Queens” but no “Welfare Kings”  we also have “Illegal” immigrants, but no “illegal” employers.  We cannot,in America, possibly be labeling people based on class now could we?  “Illegal” immigrants are on the lower end of the economic scale, “Welfare Queens” are on the lower end of the economic scale.  ‘Illegal’ employers probably make more money, thus are not labeled, ‘Welfare Kings’ are, of course, humungo-corporations, so they don’t get labeled.
labeling these folks who are simply looking for work; ‘illegal’ makes about as much sense as labeling those who employ them; ‘illegal’
keep up the good work

Your so right Molly, when you say try helping with economic development in Mexico. I don’t understand why that is never mentioned in all the discussions about illegal aliens. If they had opportunities there, wouldn’t most want to stay in their own country?

So right you are. Immigration has always been about money and greed and it always will be.

When are Americans who vote Republican going to wake up?

As for Bush and his ilk, unless they are reigned in (by Republicans), we are headed for WWIII.

Wake up Folks!

Cathy
From the once great State of Michigan

“If you’ve ever wondered what this country would be like without illegal workers, now you’ve got the answer. It would come to a halt.”

There’s a great mockumentary out on DVD called “A Day Without A Mexican,” by the young Mexican director Sergio Arau. Check out adaywithoutamexican.com, then buy or rent it!

“...this border has always been porous, and it has always worked to the advantage of the United States.”

As many Mexicans say, “I didn’t cross the border; the border crossed me.” Check out your U.S. history. A lot of the U.S. used to BE Mexico.

Sure they’re different:  they have families and children they care about, they work, they’re imperfect, they seek knowledge, they communicate with sounds and symbols, they need food, water (and rest) to live, they desire and depend on friendship, they want to be accepted for who they are and treated fairly, they have this bizarre range of emotions that goes all the way from grief to joy (if you can believe that!), they depend on the plants and animals of the earth, & etc. 

OK, irony on the Internet doesn’t work very well.  I’ll stop.

Oh! Molly,
I wish we could shout it from every roof top in America:  “THIS PEOPLE ARE NOT DIFFERENT!!”  What is different is the ignorance of American citizens!

Bless Molly’s heart; she speaks truth to power with good sense and good humor. Both are rare these days. I lived near the Mexican border in Arizona and New Mexico for 20 years starting in the 40’s, and for another nine from ‘93-‘02.  The earlier bigotry of us “Anglos” against Mexican-Americans was appalling; it’s better now but it still goes on. (Think “Minute Men”). Sadly, the ignorance which fuels it has spead to other parts of the country now. (Think Republican Congress and their toadies).

In 1999, more than 400 companies had charges brought against them for hiring illegals.  In 2004, 3 companies were charged.  That tell you something?

Glad to find Molly Ivins here on truthdig… I follow what you’re saying, just returned from Canada where NAFTA not too popular. The old model of economic exploitation needs tweaking. Global corporations are in control, so rather than “fight the power,” let’s make them understand that they must scale down their profits, share with indigenous peoples, recant, repair the damage caused by 50 years of covert operations. Threatening Iran gives credence to that nation’s perceived need to become a nuclear power. War is too expensive, too damaging, even to those who wield the power!

The only thing clear to me regarding the Bush Administration is that they are lying motherfuckers.

Bravo, Molly!

Yo, Molly: Since you seem to be able to express yourself so well….why not be the first to ask the real question about illegal immigration? Thatis—-why the hell isn’t the idiot FOX who runs the government of Mexico doing something to make life bearable for his citizens—-instead of relying on America to feed his people? Since when is it our responsibility to provide jobs for citizens of another country? Just wondering.

As usual, Molly, you hit the nail on the head: “try fixing NAFTA and helping with economic development in Mexico” It’s about time someone named the real cause of this problem.  Of course, with Republicans running the show, one has to expect shortsighted self interest, xenophobia and the politics of blame to be the order of the day, but we aren’t ALL Republicans.  When are we going to stop pointing fingers on this subject and make an honest effort to find some solutions?  Not that we have to look all that far.  The above quote says it all.  Until we address the problems in Mexico that have been driving unprecedented throngs of desperate people north ever since NAFTA started working its magic on the Mexican economy,  we’re going to have a problem with illegal immigration.  And while I’m on my soapbox, we’re kind of backed into a corner now, where we don’t have much choice, but as a general rule, I don’t believe in amnesty except in extraordinary situations.  I believe in the rule of law.  However, the rule of law only works if the laws are just and reality-based.  Our current situation is creating millions of scofflaws, and that can’t be good for our country.  It also has created a large pool of workers who are subject to all sorts of exploitation by unscrupulous employers because their illegal status denies them the protection of our legal system.

Yes Molly of course were all now aware that what we knew and felt in our guts was right all along. Snakes in the White house.

But are we still going to be chewing this over when the Nuclear Bombs start blowing the hell our of Iran.

Don’t you at least have a sense of urgency, that all the same moves that led us into Iraq, are happening all over again? The daily barrage of anti Iranian hysteria, the posturing of Bush, the dire warnings from the Right, the endless justifications of crimes committed against humanity, that are for our own good?

A congress and Senate, that would rather investigate a murder than stop it…