Burning Atlanta

Ewww, does this bite my ass. This is EXACTLY what I've predicted, EXACTLY as I expected, but I'm surprised to hear this trash from the Post. I was expecting more of this type of crap from the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Take all the bullshit rhetoric you can think of, all the "Sky is falling, what about the economy, drive them deeper into the shadows, racial profiling, racist nativists, ..." BULLSHIT you can possibly dream up, put it into one package and now you have The Washington Post.

Deceitful slime

Thus the Arizona law may become a test case for how much pain a state is willing to endure, and inflict, in the name of ridding itself of a population that contributes enormously to its economic growth and prosperity. Total horseshit. Implying that the state is both masochistic and sadistic. Kind of a BDSM swtch? And making the tired, bullshit argument that illegals are such a plus to the economy. Sad, pathetic, lying scumbags.

I've heard the "economy" argument a zillion times. Lots of cheap illegal labor good for the economy? Excellent. Then the best thing we can do for their home countries' impoverished economies is ship their asses back. More consumers! More production! More demand! But, alas, there's the flip side.

Illegal immigrants have flocked to Arizona for years to fill jobs that native-born people don't want. While the state's unemployment rate remains low, undocumented employees comprise an estimated 9 to 12 percent of the state's 3 million workers. Companies in agriculture, construction and service industries rely heavily on illegal immigrants, and any successful attempt to drive them out will have economic repercussions that may be severe. EWWW, the sky is falling. I'm so scared.

In construction alone, Judith Gans of the University of Arizona has estimated that a 15 percent cut in the state's immigrant workforce would result in direct losses of about 56,000 jobs and some $6.6 billion in economic output. The direct loss to state tax revenue would be approximately $270 million. The study, and others like it, including in Texas, refute the arguments that illegal immigrants are an overall burden on state economies because of the education, health care and other services they require; in fact they contribute heavily to economic growth. More bullshit. I know I've read the Texas study and as I recall their last entry made mention of the fact that they didn't include all costs and, if they did, there would be an overall deficit. AND the Post totally omits any mention of the  Congressional Budget Office report that just came out this month. Find my thread here.

I've talked about the economy argument many times because the fear-mongering weasels keep trying to make that an issue. Again, I ask: Does a dollar determine right or wrong in your book? But that's EXACTLY what their argument boils down to. They so desperately try to argue that illegals are a net plus, therefore, we should keep them. But have you ever heard these same hypocritical weasels say we should toss them when a study shows illegals to be a net deficit? Hell no!! Because they're lying, dishonest, deceitful, hypocritical dirtbags.

The Arizona law illustrates the self-defeating hazard of addressing one part of the problem -- enforcement -- without also recognizing the plain reality of America's need for immigrant labor. It was enacted and is taking effect in an atmosphere of extreme emotion, ugly diatribes in the blogosphere and occasional street scuffles -- the sort of environment that defeats rational discourse. It is likely to be enforced with gusto in and around Phoenix, the nation's sixth-largest city, by an ambitious state prosecutor who is urging citizens to blow the whistle on offending companies -- anonymously if they wish -- and by a county sheriff whose stock in trade is hounding, arresting and helping to deport immigrants whose behavior or appearance suggests they may be here illegally. Oh, make me puke all over my computer. As many know, there are a multitude of "Guest worker Programs" for bringing in CHEAP labor. I have some serious differences with the way they're administered but don't have the desire to get into all that right now.  Just wanted to mention that FACT because the Post, somehow, didn't.

In responding with this law to the popular anger and anxiety about illegal immigration, Arizona may have been within its legal rights; the courts will decide that shortly. But the price the law will exact is likely to be severe -- to the state's economy, to thousands of immigrant families and, very likely, to the civil rights of legal Hispanic residents who will come under unwarranted suspicion. Those costs may cause Arizonans to question the prudence of their state lawmakers and highlight the folly of Washington's failure to come to grips with illegal immigration. Oh, cry me a river and maybe a few deceitful, dishonest, dancing, spinning, agenda-driven slimeball editors will drown in it. I haven't had a drink in ages but I'm feeling a need for a rum and Coke.