Immigration Reformation!

The Rude One has some rude things to say about Senator Hatch and his thoughts concerning immigration “reform.” And as he is the Rude One he can also be rather crude, and right on, and he nailed the message to the door!

Here is a piece of his mind:

So it was that Orrin Hatch was nowhere to be found in yesterday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on immigration reform, voting by proxy against the strangely civilized proposal put forth by Ted Kennedy and John McCain. Hatch's reasoning was that the temporary worker program in the bill amounted to "amnesty" for the people who mow his lawn, pick his fruit, wash his car, clean his toilets, cook his food, build his buildings, stock the shelves at his grocery store, etc, etc. The bill still passed the committee on a truly bipartisan vote of 11-6, and the Republicans in the cruel House of Representatives imploded with rage. Hatch's lackey blathered something about not rewarding people who break the law, which, considering Hatch's hackery for the administration, could be a definition of "irony."

The reason to focus on Hatch here is that the Utah Senator fell all over himself to praise Hispanics during the "debate" over the nomination of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General. "We work with Hispanic people all over America who are every bit as devoted to our country as any citizen who has ever been in this country. I personally love Hispanic people," Hatch gushed, rubbing salsa all over his scrotum and taint in support. Then, in an amazingly prophetic threat, Hatch said of those who would not support Gonzales, "Frankly, I know my friends in the Hispanic community, and Hispanic people all over America, are watching this debate, and they are sensing something very unfair going on here." One might wonder what Gonzales, whose father was a migrant worker, might say about this. One might wonder what Hatch's "friends" in the Hispanic community might say.

Now from my point of view I find this whole dialogue, if one can call it that, really racist and offensive. Most of the arguments are between the Republican Corporatists who are all for indentured servitude with a guest worker program and those Republicans who want to criminalize and make felons of 11 million folks.

The whole idea of building a fence to keep out “illegal aliens” is obviously racist as the whole discussion is based on our Southern border. I have yet to hear anyone talking about building a fence on our Northern border. Could that be because it is assumed that there are no “illegal aliens” here from Canada? Is it that we are not to mention that those “illegal aliens” would be assumed to be “White?” Well, of course there is the point that what sane Canadian (disclosure: I am a Canadian U.S. Citizen who wants to live only in Manhattan, well maybe Toronto or Montreal if forced) would want to be an “illegal alien” in the United States of America (ostensibly coming to the USA for a better life) when they are a resident and citizen of Canada, but that is a discussion for another day. Just the same, why the focus on Mexicans? Why aren’t we focused on the “illegal Irish aliens”?

It seems to me that in order to solve this PROBLEM, if that is what the discussion and food fight is about, the Right’s answer is that we would have to build a fence around the entire Friggin country. We would also have to eliminate take out food, nannies and other child caregivers, landscapers, construction workers (they are not just Hispanic, but White Irish as well), restaurant workers, delivery services, housekeeping services, and all you folks who work in offices would actually have to clean-up after your sloppy-selves, etc., etc., well you can see where this is going. We would also have to send the folks from Tyson, Wal-Mart, et al., to jail not just some little hand slapping fine.

If the Right was honest about this discussion, and not just trying to drive another election wedge in the body politic maybe we could work through this problem that effects each and everyone of our daily lives. But that isn’t going to happen.

That said, I think it is time to stop bashing Mexicans and being racist shits and maybe talk about the failure of NAFTA, and the soon to come failure of CAFTA, a living wage, and get back to the Reality-Based Community where we can all act like “human beings” and not “aliens.”

I guess gay bashing isn’t working all that well these days as a get out the vote strategy.