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On Wed, 10 Oct 2007 07:38:23 -0400, T Jr Hardman <...@thomashardman.com> wrote:
Of late, _the Washington Post_ has been running the spin cycle at overload
speed and frequency.
Despite the ordinarily high quality and general centrist tone of the _Post_
on most matters, the tone of the _Post_ on matters related to Immigration --
legal or otherwise -- has drifted far from reality and well beyond
surrealism into outright dreamland.
The _Post_ certainly understands that Immigrants are people who have applied
for permission to reside in the USA and have received that permission, and
actually come to reside in the USA.
Yet for reasons best left unscrutinized, we get phrases such as the
following[1]:
"Frederick County commissioners voted today to
kill a proposal that would have denied
public services, including schooling,
to immigrants in the United States illegally.
(Rucker, Philip, _the Washington Post_, October 9 2007)
"Immigrants in the United States illegally"? Aside from breaking the rule
about not ending sentences in adverbs, it's not just broken English, it's an
outright lie, a conflation of opposites. No immigrants are in the country
illegally: all immigrants are legal, Persons in the US without permission
are called "illegal ALIENS".
It's with this sort of deceptive and illiterate or revisionistic statement
that has, in recent weeks and mostly at the hands of a very few reporters
who seem to specialize in this sort of propaganda, led _the Washington Post_
down the path to outright promotion of racial conflict.
From Pam Constable, we get the outrageous article "Latinos Unite Across
Classes Against Curbs on Immigration (Constable, Pamela, _the Washington
Post_, page A1, October 9, 2007)".
This shows an utter lack of journalistic integrity. Ms Constable's moral
dipstick appears to be a few quarts shy of empty. Ms Constable knows full
well that there are no curbs whatsoever, real or potential, against
"Immigrants". There are no schemes against "immigrants". Police are not
about to be sent out to arrest "immigrants". "Immigrants" are here with the
full permission of the Federal government and in fact many "immigrants" are
by now citizens of this great nation.
No, what Ms Constable is talking about are ILLEGAL ALIENS. Her inability to
use the widely accepted and legally accurate terminology shows her inability
to exercise journalistic integrity. She should be fired, as should be the
editor who let this story[2] see print.
<quote in-part>
Latinos Unite Across Classes Against Curbs on Immigration
By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 9, 2007; Page A01
José Marinay wears tailored suits, plays racquetball twice a week and
displays photos of family-owned racehorses in his Annandale office. For
years, the Colombian-born businessman thought he had little in common with
the area's illegal immigrants, often villagers from Mexico and Central
America who sleep 10 to a house and push lawn mowers or scrub pots for a living.
But the battle in Prince William County, where a measure to curb illegal
immigration has thrown the Latino community into turmoil, changed his mind.
"This situation has brought together people who never would have sat in one
room before," said Marinay, 50, who owns a real estate settlement company
that has offices across Northern Virginia and a mainly Latino clientele.
Since the measure was passed in July, he said, business has fallen 80
percent at his Manassas office, and he will probably close it. He also said
a sense of growing hostility toward Latino immigrants has affected him.
"I dress well, and I drive a nice car. But on the weekends, when I am in
shorts and sandals and I haven't shaved, I look Latino enough to scare a few
folks," Marinay said. "There is a definite chill in the air. We may be a
fragmented community, we may eat or celebrate in different places, but now
they are looking at us in the same way. If we don't unite and work together,
we will all sink."
[ ... ]
</quote>
That is certainly one way to put it. But it's only one side of a coin and
all coins have two sides.
Indeed, Mr Marinay's concluding remark is pretty much exactly what Benjamin
Franklin once said: "We must all hang together, or we will assuredly be
hanged separately".
I wonder how well he knows US history? He might want to do a little research
on something called "the French and Indian War", also known to historians as
"the Seven Years War". It had a profound effect on subsequent interactions
between the colonists and the natives. Those interactions, and the British
government's suppression of the colonist's new aggressiveness against the
natives, led directly to the War of Independence, which is as commonly
referred to as "the Revolution".
Perhaps if millions of "latinos" -- mostly natives who were illegally
present in the USA -- hadn't put on a show of racial solidarity and
rebellion against "the anglos", perhaps there would be less willingness
among those "anglos" to view the "latinos" as individuals rather than as an
emerging and illegal political power bloc.
<quote in-part ibid>
[ ... ]
Although not yet enacted into law, the resolution passed by the Prince
William Board of County Supervisors has created a sense of siege and
solidarity throughout the county's wider Latino community of about 30,000.
Rumors circulate that people will be arrested if they board buses or drop
off their children at school. Some legal residents, who bought homes and
opened businesses, expecting to stay for years, say they are thinking of
leaving.
"When we came to Manassas 20 years ago, it was a beautiful place. We were
full of enthusiasm and optimism. But in the last three months, that has all
gone away," said Carlos Alvarado, 45, a Salvadoran immigrant whose variety
store sells fresh corn tamales, pi¿atas and frilly girls' dresses. Many
customers are too broke or scared to shop, he said. "Everyone is talking
about moving to Maryland or North Carolina, and I am almost bankrupt."
Sponsors and advocates of the resolution assert it is neither anti-Latino
nor anti-immigrant. They insist it is aimed at stopping the steady influx of
illegal immigrants during the past decade, who they complain are crowding
neighborhoods and burdening schools. The measure would deny some services to
illegal immigrants and allow local police to turn them over to federal
officials.
[ ... ]
</quote>
The _Post_ article does not specify Mr Alvarado's legal status. However, one
may presuppose that if people who are out of status -- which is to say,
illegal aliens -- are fearful to shop in his store, and he has no business,
then you may easily extract the true meaning of Mr Alvarado's statement. If
he's going bankrupt, it's because he is profiting from the proceeds of
crime, both the illegal presence of out-of-status foreigners, and those who
aid and abet them by illegally employing them.
In brief, Mr Alvarado is complaining that crime is no longer so profitable
now that the law may be enforced.
But Mr Alvarado touches on a much more important truth, which isn't what Ms
Constable wants anyone to notice. So, journalistic integrity buried along
with commonsense, she fails to expand upon the real reason Mr Alvarado's
customers are failing to shop.
They're broke.
People don't build houses when houses are a glut on the market, they most
definitely have a glut on the market, and due to the sub-prime mortgage
mess, nobody can get a loan, and the prices of the housing stock in Prince
William County is plummeting. In some cases, it's dropped by almost a third.
Nobody's building houses. And with no houses being built, construction
workers aren't working and aren't getting paid. Ms Constable doesn't want
people to know that there are simple economic forces at work here.
The work's done. The workers have no income. And the legally resident
taxpayers and voters of Prince William County don't feel like providing
welfare, especially not to illegally-present foreigners who have no
legitimate reason to be there.
<quote in-part ibid>
[ ... ]
Many established Latino immigrants in Northern Virginia said they
disapproved of [the general-strike tactics of Mexicans Without Borders],
saying they feared the efforts would turn community goodwill against them,
too. But as the firestorm over illegal immigration has spread, more affluent
Latinos in the area, including entrepreneurs from Colombia and Venezuela,
have come to realize they have a personal and economic stake in resolving
the issue.
In August, a regional Latino business coalition was formed to seek subtler
ways to fight anti-immigration measures, such as through personal lobbying
and economic power. Coalition leaders said that it was hard to get some
entrepreneurs involved but that more are being spurred to action by a
mixture of self-interest, guilt and sympathy for those they once considered
a lower class of immigrant.
"This is definitely not business as usual. If people can't buy groceries,
they can't buy cars or houses," said Marinay, a coalition official. Other
members work in real estate, banking, entertainment and insurance. "We are a
wealthy group, and we have invested millions in this region," he said. "Why
can't we get these people off our backs? It's our own fault for not being
united."
[ ... ]
</quote>
So, let me see if I understand this.
Mr Marinay suggests that his group of legal immigrants and citizens need to
unite to aid illegal aliens to combat the efforts of one small local
government to keep illegal aliens from receiving welfare, and from suddenly
being more subject to being deported as they legally must be?
I'm guessing he's been politicized by "Mexicans Without Borders", and
perhaps is looking at the unqualified "success" of CASA of Maryland's
tapeworm-like infiltration of the bowels of the political establishment in
nearby Maryland, an oft-cited destination for illegal aliens seeking new
homes after Virginia.
<quote in-part ibid>
[ ... ]
Ricardo Juarez, a leader of Mexicans Without Borders, said that despite
their tactical differences, he has come to appreciate the efforts of
Marinay's committee. At a county hearing last Tuesday, Juarez and several
Latino business owners testified against the resolution, using nearly
identical arguments and similarly polite tones.
"We can march. They can lobby. We are each doing our part," Juarez said
later. "We all want to solve the problem, and we all have to coexist in the
community."
[ ... ]
</quote>
But for some reason, Mr Juarez doesn't feel like coexisting with the
established community of Americans, many of whom are a bit tired of the idea
of millions of illegal aliens marching to demand their "rights".
Yet paranoia abounds; reporting such as we've been getting from the likes of
Ms Constable has done its best to instill it, with such lies as
characterizing popular movements to enforce the law against illegal aliens
as "anti-immigrant". There is no significant "anti-immigrant" movement, and
both Ms Constable and the editorial staff of the _Post_ are well-aware of this.
<quote in-part ibid>
[ ... ]
Ruben Andrade, who owns several cafes and clubs in Prince William, embodies
the contradictions that have pulled successful Latinos in several directions
on illegal immigration. A war refugee who came to the United States 25 years
ago, he worked menial jobs and faced his share of discrimination. Now, he
prides himself on running stylish establishments and criticizes Latino
laborers who pick fights in bars and throw trash in the streets.
"We need to educate our people," Andrade said. "If your neighbor asks you to
pick up your garbage, you don't tell them to go to hell. You need to learn
English and respect the rules." On the other hand, he said, "this law will
hurt the entire community. It is not against illegal immigrants; it is
against all Latinos, and we must fight it together."
[ ... ]
</quote>
So here's Ms Constable and her lack of journalistic integrity faithfully
reporting that all of the classes of "immigrants" -- legal or otherwise --
seem to think that they are the targets of racism, and that therefor the
proper thing to do is to unite as a race, presumably to struggle with the
other races.
That's racism, right?
Is that all that the _Post_ is selling, these days?
Ref:
1.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/09/AR2007100901090 .html?hpid=topnews
2.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/08/AR2007100801879 .html
--
The incapacity of a weak and distracted government may
often assume the appearance, and produce the effects,
of a treasonable correspondence with the public enemy.
--Gibbon, "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"
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