More connections emerge. By some politician’s description these guys are the real hardworking Americans.
Archive for the 'Immigration' Category
Remember, when they tell you its all about securing the border and not about hating Hispanics that they’re working with Nazis.
On Fox News tonight substituting for Bill O’Reilly, conservative radio host Laura Ingraham made a point in a discussion of immigration to note that someone can be “American OR Latino”. Because surely nobody could be both, right?
Sometimes the mask slips and cons say what they truly believe. We must cherish those moments.
Even better is the big Christian gold cross she wears around her neck.
Tancredo is so aftaid of Hispanics he wants to put American soil on the other side of his wall. Idiot.
Republican Tom Tancredo supports the border wall. The U.S. representative attended the hearing in Brownsville yesterday.
During the hearing, he told the Brownsville landowners, “I suggest that you build this fence around the northern part of your city…” implying that all of Brownsville should be on the Mexican side of the wall.
The story smelled from the get-go. The little Michelle Malkin got busted.
A 13-year-old girl who claimed she was attacked by a group inside Athens Middle School was caught on a surveillance camera causing the injuries to herself.
The girl now faces disciplinary action from the school and will be charged with filing a false police report, AISD superintendent Fred Hayes said during a news conference today.
The parents of Melanie Bowers have since sent letters of apology to school and law enforcement investigators.
Hayes said officials in investigating the matter saw the tape that caught her scratching herself on the arms and neck. Last week she had claimed the injuries were inflicted by a group of about 20 students who also threatened to sexually assault and kill her.
The girl had participated in a history class project with a “protest” theme. She brought to school a protest sign reading “If you love your country stop illegal immigration.”
She claimed she was attacked because of the sign.
Ah, the Republican base.
Walter C. Abbott Jr. has sent e-mails from time to time to the governor and state legislators complaining about losing construction work to illegal immigrants.
He never received anything but a form-letter type response.
This week, the 44-year-old Parkville man added something extra to his e-mail: a threat to strangle Gov. Martin O’Malley.
Within five hours, three Maryland state troopers responded to the e-mail. Abbott was arrested Tuesday and charged with threatening a public official.
He was being held Thursday night at the Baltimore County Detention Center on $2 million bail.
CAP breaks down why it didn’t work in Virginia. Conservatives have convinced themselves, much like how they convinced themselves that 2006 was all about earmarks and not Iraq, that being anti-immigration will deliver the 2008 election to them.
First, the public generally favors a tough, but not punitive,
approach to the illegal immigration problem and supports a path toward
legal status for those already here, provided certain requirements are
met. In an early November ABC News/Washington Post (ABC/WP) poll, for
example, 51 percent supported giving illegal immigrants now living in
the United States the right to live here legally provided they pay a
fine and meet other requirements, compared with 44 percent who opposed
these steps.
These views are virtually unchanged since the last time ABC/WP asked
this question in June (see chart below). This hardly suggests a tsunami
of anti-immigrant sentiment that will turn around the current
progressive trends in American politics.The other reason that conservatives had so little success with their
anti-immigrant crusade is that illegal immigration for most Americans
is a concern, but not a top-ranked voting issue. Here are data from the
same ABC/WP poll showing how far below Iraq, the economy, and health
care immigration currently ranks as an issue. Only 8 percent mention it
as one of their two top voting issues, compared with 45 percent for
Iraq, 29 percent for the economy, and 27 percent for health care.
But remember, they’re not racists, their anti-immigration sentiment is all about “national security” and not because they want America to be whites-only. Heaven forbid we listen to what racists like National Review’s John Derbyshire actually say:
In an October 18 entry — titled “Aztlan North” — on National Review Online’s blog The Corner, NRO columnist John Derbyshire cited the percentage of Hispanic students in the schools of Storm Lake, Iowa, and then wrote: “Say what you like, that is truly an invasion. Why on earth are we letting this happen?”
Imagine that.
Amid the housing loan debacle, one segment of the mortgage market is solid: illegal immigrants.
As it turns out, home loans that don’t require legal status are among the safest risks that banks can take. According to The Wall Street Journal, ITIN mortgages - which immigrants can get with only a taxpayer ID number - have a delinquency rate of about 0.5 percent, roughly half that of prime mortgages and far below the 9.3 percent rate of subprime loans.
One reason for the high reliability of “individual taxpayer identification number” mortgages is that banks actually screen applicants thoroughly. Illegal immigrants, who don’t have valid Social Security numbers, typically must submit more documents than U.S. citizens, including payroll and tax records. Had banks checked subprime applicants this closely, a lot of today’s pain could have been avoided.
Another reason, according to the Journal, is the work ethic of immigrant families, most of them Latino. Immigrant households make it a priority to pay the mortgage before anything else. Illegals who worry about deportation don’t want the added risk of angering their bank.
Give in to the hate, Republicans. Give in to the conservative bloodlust for xenophobia and drive those Hispanic voters over to the Democratic party. Share your real feelings. Do it.
At least these kids are much more honest than Tom Tancredo and a lot of the conservative Republicans.
It started with a simple question and ended with at least one student chanting “white power” in a classroom.
It happened Tuesday in a classroom at Holy Family High School, the Catholic school that sits at the corner of 144th Avenue and Sheridan Boulevard in Broomfield.
The classroom discussion started with the question: Why do students need to learn Spanish?
According to the Archdiocese of Denver, the conversation soon became about immigration and it turned ugly.
“It became a heated discussion and some rhetoric was used that was inappropriate for the classroom,” said Jeanette DeMelo, spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Denver.
At least one e-mail sent to 9NEWS said that at least one student started a chant of “white power” and some said that all Mexicans should go back to Mexico.
By no coincidence the Univision-sponsored Spanish language debate for the GOP has been postponed and likely canceled because only one candidate had agreed to appear. This is actually the one area where Karl Rove is right. The Republican party is doing its damnedest to stand against the fastest growing demographic in America, and while things may work out for them in the short term by scaring up the conservative white vote, it is long term doom.
But don’t you dare point out that they are racists. No, don’t you dare.
In Maryland we had this horrible case this week where charges were dismissed against a child molester because a speaker of the accused’s language could not be found to provide translation. Really sick. But in the eyes of professional idiot Michelle Malkin this is really really bad because it was an “Accused immigrant child molester”. Yes folks, like the other crimes the right repeatedly highlights nowadays in order to produce a wedge issue for the 2008 election, this crime would be no big deal unless it was an IMMIGRANT!!!! BOOGEDY BOOGEDY BOOOOOOO!!!!
Gawd.
Be prepared for a rash of truly horrible crimes in America: IMMIGRANT robbery, IMMIGRANT rape, and IMMIGRANT speeding!!!
Am I the only one who thinks that this sudden increased interest in immigration, especially the conservative opposition to it (and they are opposed to immigration, legal and illegal) came about at about the same time the census noted that hispanics now outnumber blacks?
This was not an issue in the 2004 election. People and pundits did not start discussing it until about mid-2005 or so, and I know that while the Kennedy-McCain bill had a lot to do with it, I’m still amazed at how it became such a big deal (especially on right-wing radio) out of essentially nowhere.
(I’m also of the mind that in 2008, the anti-immigration crowd on the right will be equally met by an invigorated hispanic vote on the left, and probably completely blown out of the water)
On the left we regularly bitch and moan about the Democrats not listening to the base, and though that has gotten better since the election of Howard Dean, there are still moments of friction. Still, I am amazed by how the right just spits in the face of their base - the combined effort of talk radio, rightie blogs, and more leads to zip.
The Senate voted Tuesday to jump-start a stalled immigration measure to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants.
President Bush said the bill offered a “historic opportunity for Congress to act,” and appeared optimistic about its passage by week’s end.
The pivotal test-vote was 64-35 to revive the divisive legislation. It still faces formidable obstacles in the Senate, including bitter opposition by GOP conservatives and attempts by some waverers in both parties to revise its key elements.
Supporters needed 60 votes to scale procedural hurdles and return to the bill. A similar test-vote earlier this month found just 45 supporters, only seven of them Republicans. This time, 24 Republicans joined 39 Democrats and independent Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, to back moving ahead with the bill. Opposing the move were 25 Republicans, nine Democrats and independent Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont.
The support increased. Increased.
Hypocritical adulterer Newt Gingrich is trying to create a new mythology for 9/11 by trying to pretend that the 9/11 hijackers were here illegally. I saw the nativist Michelle Malkin pushing this idea recently as well. The inconvenient facts make clear that they were here quite legally and that all this noise from the right is the same old crap they’re always slinging.
I’m pretty sure the attitude in this letter from a conservative to National Review. is pretty typical on the right. The writer says we’re not an immigrant nation because his family has been here for generations so we shouldn’t even talk about the issue like that. Hmmm. Of course what I hear from that, really, is "America is closed". And that’s a heck of an anti-American attitude.
I’m a proud American, but I’m also a first generation American (my parents both came to America in the early 1970s from Jamaica). I don’t sever my ties with my family’s home country, Jamaica, but neither do I reject my Americanism. That’s kind of the point of America, I think. This country’s culture and traditions didn’t just spring out of the ground in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Our family cooks fried plantains, curry goat and jerked pork at the same time we grill hamburgers and hot dogs on the Fourth Of July.
Somehow that’s supposed to be wrong? I don’t think so.
So says the conservative Wall Street Journal as the rest of us watch the conservative crackup from courtside seats.
And I love that the lone black man and woman are off in the corners of the WSJ editorial board meeting video, not saying a word.
Conservatives would be smart to drop the racial element of their immigration objection, says McQ. And for a change, I totally agree with him. It’s just not conducive to good debate when you’re echoing hate.
As I’ve noted before, I don’t have a really strong position on immigration reform. As the child of immigrants who came here the legit way, I’m troubled by giving a pass of any sort to people who “cut” in line, but I also know it’s kind of dumb to think we’re going to deport all of those people.
I do think its interesting that so much of the Republican elite really doesn’t care what their grassroots think and instead are more interested in giving big industries the cheap labor they want. It’s another version of their abortion and gay marriage strategies where they talk a good game up until election day then forget it all after that.
But why does the Republican base act with so much revulsion at any sort of immigration deal short of closing America?
a) They don’t like hispanics
b) They don’t like all immigrants
c) They’re afraid increased immigration means more Democratic voters?
I’m honestly asking.
Ezra Klein says that my stance on immigration is not realistic. It isn’t? I understand that there’s a large illegal immigrant population that has essentially become a part of our economy, but on the other hand I think it simply devalues the sacrifices of those who have waited in line to come here if you’re just going to wave a wand and reward those who have broken the rules - no matter how dire their circumstances.
If I’m someone in another country (like, say, Jamaica) who wants to come to America, this just communicates to me - come on over any way you can, never mind the laws, stay here for a while and you’ll be rewarded. It tells those who have the temerity to wait “in line” that they’re playing a suckers game for playing by the rules.
I’ve been mulling this story since I saw it yesterday and I think I’ll stick with my gut reaction.
House Republicans tackling illegal immigration were reported looking closely at ending birthright citizenship.
…
“There is a general agreement about the fact that citizenship in this country should not be bestowed on people who are the children of folks who come into this country illegally,” said Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo.
I don’t know who the folks are in “general agreement” with Tom Tancredo are, but I hope they take all of their lithium. I think this is wrong. You’ll find no stronger a supporter of legal immigration than myself, as I believe that simply cutting in front of the line is immoral. There are too many people trying to honestly become Americans to simply exempt those who choose to go beyond the rules. That said, if you are born in America, you are an American. I don’t care how your parents got here, and frankly its immaterial to the process. You are an American when you’re born in America.
Is this what the GOP lauds as their “new ideas”? Scaling back membership in our citizenry?
UPDATE: Thanks to Atrios for the link. I wonder what the logical extension to this is for the right? Both of my parents happen to have been completely legal immigrants to America from Jamaica, but neither is an American citizen. I happen to have been born in Silver Spring, MD. Under the Tancredo Laws, will I no longer be an American?
