Look at it this way: I'm sure that in Berlin in the Spring of 1945, April say, you could find some folks who thought the boss was doing a good job, and that things were going to turn around any day now...
After all, this is Arizona. There are plenty of people still proudly sporting Bush-Cheney, McCain-Palin, and Romney-Ryan bumperstickers.
Common sense and reason don't really enter into it much.
Showing posts with label SB1070. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SB1070. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Say What?
As I was driving from Starbucks to Starbucks the other day, searching for even the vaguest hint of consistency in their products, I heard someone on the radio talking about a "Republican outreach to minority voters." I tell you, I almost crashed.
Let's see. First you consistently, from day one, demonize the first black president by calling him all sorts of names: Marxist, un-American, anti-colonial Kenyan, socialist, non-American, the anti-Christ, American hating Muslim, etc. Your spiritual leader, Rush "Pig Boy" Limbaugh even mocks the First Lady's figure. Stay classy, Pig Boy.
Your mouth piece, Fox "News", attacks a teenage gymnast, who just happens to be black, calling her "unpatriotic" because of her leotard (!) and criticizing her hair (!).
Then there's the organized attempt at rampant voter suppression, including the various forms of what can only be called "poll taxes" being instituted by Republican controlled state legislatures, which is the only way the Republicans have a chance at winning this election.
Add to this the constant dog whistle catch phrases that make up most Republican rhetoric these days. You know, "welfare", "the food stamp President", "law and order" (the great Jimmy Breslin once wrote that "law and order" means only one thing to a certain kind of white voter: "Get the nigger!").
(I regret having to use that word, but that's what the man said, and he knows what he's talking about.)
Oh, and let's not forget George "Stand Your Ground" Zimmerman, poster boy for the Second Amendment.
And now you decide to reach out to African American voters? Amazing.
As for Latinos, the other important minority voting block, I have two words for our Republican friends: Joe Arpaio.
And how about a couple of letters and a number: SB1070.
But good luck with your outreach!
Let's see. First you consistently, from day one, demonize the first black president by calling him all sorts of names: Marxist, un-American, anti-colonial Kenyan, socialist, non-American, the anti-Christ, American hating Muslim, etc. Your spiritual leader, Rush "Pig Boy" Limbaugh even mocks the First Lady's figure. Stay classy, Pig Boy.
Your mouth piece, Fox "News", attacks a teenage gymnast, who just happens to be black, calling her "unpatriotic" because of her leotard (!) and criticizing her hair (!).
Then there's the organized attempt at rampant voter suppression, including the various forms of what can only be called "poll taxes" being instituted by Republican controlled state legislatures, which is the only way the Republicans have a chance at winning this election.
Add to this the constant dog whistle catch phrases that make up most Republican rhetoric these days. You know, "welfare", "the food stamp President", "law and order" (the great Jimmy Breslin once wrote that "law and order" means only one thing to a certain kind of white voter: "Get the nigger!").
(I regret having to use that word, but that's what the man said, and he knows what he's talking about.)
Oh, and let's not forget George "Stand Your Ground" Zimmerman, poster boy for the Second Amendment.
And now you decide to reach out to African American voters? Amazing.
As for Latinos, the other important minority voting block, I have two words for our Republican friends: Joe Arpaio.
And how about a couple of letters and a number: SB1070.
But good luck with your outreach!
Monday, May 21, 2012
SB1070 And The Law Of Unintended Consequences
The other day, or maybe it was last week or even last month, I don't know, when it starts to get hot I get confused about time...anyway, somebody important, a businessman or something, said that SB1070 was hurting business, because all the cheap labor had disappeared. Well, yeah.
Arizona has run on cheap labor for as long as I can remember. Even before Taft-Hartley and the "right to work" laws (back in my construction days they were known as "right to starve") crippled unions, a living wage was unheard of in the agricultural industry. Itinerant produce workers, many of them Mexican nationals, moved from crop to crop and state to state, doing back breaking piecework from dawn until dusk. They worked so hard and for so little that it wasn't long before other businesses took notice. Construction, restaurants, lodging, landscaping--all wanted their share of cheap labor.
The math on this one is pretty simple, simple enough for even someone with an Arizona public school education to understand: Keeping wages down keeps profits up. Not having to pay any benefits and having a large, disposable, faceless workforce helps too. My God, the beauty of the unfettered "free market"! Pure Capitalism at work! Before outsourcing to China, India and everywhere else, was even a gleam in a businessman's eye, there were hundreds of thousands of "illegals" willing to work for next to nothing in the Southwest.
Everything was fine in the Land of King Dollar until somebody scared the locals with lurid tales of headless corpses blanketing the Sonoran Desert. Be afraid, be very afraid! Somebody better do something! Enter the SB1070 crowd.
But in their efforts to be tough on illegals, the Rabid Right may have ultimately shot itself in the foot.
In all likelihood the most successful push-back on SB1070 won't come from the left, or from a basic sense of decency and humanity. And it certainly won't come from the Supreme Court.**
No, it will be from conservative Republican businessmen worried about their profits, because all the cheap labor has disappeared.
**As a rule of thumb, don't expect anything good to ever come from the Supreme Court as it is presently constituted.
Arizona has run on cheap labor for as long as I can remember. Even before Taft-Hartley and the "right to work" laws (back in my construction days they were known as "right to starve") crippled unions, a living wage was unheard of in the agricultural industry. Itinerant produce workers, many of them Mexican nationals, moved from crop to crop and state to state, doing back breaking piecework from dawn until dusk. They worked so hard and for so little that it wasn't long before other businesses took notice. Construction, restaurants, lodging, landscaping--all wanted their share of cheap labor.
The math on this one is pretty simple, simple enough for even someone with an Arizona public school education to understand: Keeping wages down keeps profits up. Not having to pay any benefits and having a large, disposable, faceless workforce helps too. My God, the beauty of the unfettered "free market"! Pure Capitalism at work! Before outsourcing to China, India and everywhere else, was even a gleam in a businessman's eye, there were hundreds of thousands of "illegals" willing to work for next to nothing in the Southwest.
Everything was fine in the Land of King Dollar until somebody scared the locals with lurid tales of headless corpses blanketing the Sonoran Desert. Be afraid, be very afraid! Somebody better do something! Enter the SB1070 crowd.
But in their efforts to be tough on illegals, the Rabid Right may have ultimately shot itself in the foot.
In all likelihood the most successful push-back on SB1070 won't come from the left, or from a basic sense of decency and humanity. And it certainly won't come from the Supreme Court.**
No, it will be from conservative Republican businessmen worried about their profits, because all the cheap labor has disappeared.
**As a rule of thumb, don't expect anything good to ever come from the Supreme Court as it is presently constituted.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
I Fought The Law And The Law Won
Good news! Apparently the state of Arizona, which can't afford to help poor people desperately in need of life saving organ transplants, and has never adequately funded it education system, can afford to build another new for-profit prison. Even though there is already sufficient capacity at existing prisons. And even though all 5 of the companies likely to bid for the contract to build the new prison have checkered records. (In this case "checkered" means an unusually high number of escapes, insufficient medical staff, unexplained deaths, or all of the above.)
The budget for the Arizona Department of Corrections is just over one billion dollars. It was one of the few departments that didn't face any cuts during the last round of budget talks. In fact, its funding was increased. Thank God we have our priorities straight.
Coincidentally, the for profit prison industry was very supportive of SB1070--probably because they reportedly helped write it. And two of Jan Brewer's closest advisers used to be lobbyists for one of the largest private prison concerns. Of course this has no influence on any of her decisions.
Jan only wants what's best for the people of Arizona. And more empty prison beds managed by incompetents is what's best for us.
The budget for the Arizona Department of Corrections is just over one billion dollars. It was one of the few departments that didn't face any cuts during the last round of budget talks. In fact, its funding was increased. Thank God we have our priorities straight.
Coincidentally, the for profit prison industry was very supportive of SB1070--probably because they reportedly helped write it. And two of Jan Brewer's closest advisers used to be lobbyists for one of the largest private prison concerns. Of course this has no influence on any of her decisions.
Jan only wants what's best for the people of Arizona. And more empty prison beds managed by incompetents is what's best for us.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Welcome to the funhouse
About a year ago, I was holed up in a foreign land, far far away, waiting to see if the Icelandic volcano would leave me stranded,and the only news of Arizona I could find was in USA Today, which is, let's face it, just barely a newspaper. And what news was it that I found? Why SB1070 of course! I sat there, in the disarray of my hotel room, thinking 'well, you really can't put a price tag on that kind of advertising, can you?' I mean here we are, in the worst recession in 80 years, in a state that depends on tourism for a large part of its economy, and we announce to the rest of the world that if you come to Arizona, and look or act suspiciously foreign (i.e. non-white), you might just end up in jail. And today, a year later, I can happily announce that nothing has changed. The reason for this is simple: Arizona is at heart a southern state and it is run, for the most part, by a gang of angry, stunted hillbillies. Now, hillbillies can be very entertaining. I'm thinking of the first part of Deliverance or the delightful antics of Jed, Jethro, and Granny. But you really shouldn't let them govern you, because, well, they're hillbillies. And they're still re-fighting the Civil War every chance they get, in the hopes that someday they might win.
Every story needs a villain, and so let's blame the Mexicans, their 'liberal' enablers, the Federal government in general, and Barack Obama in particular, for every problem Arizona has. Forget for a moment that the Republicans have controlled the state government for the last 30 years or so. Forget that they've cut taxes to the bone already, which increased the state's deficit and still didn't attract business. Forget that without tons of Federal aid there wouldn't be a modern Arizona as we know it. (Try imaging the place without the Salt River Project, the CAP, the interstate highway system, and all those military bases pumping billions of dollar into the local economy. Pretty bleak, huh?) (Also forget that if your state takes in more Federal aid than it pays in Federal taxes you are benefiting from a form of, yikes, SOCIALISM!!!) Forget that we're in a race to the bottom in education and health care, and that someday soon, the old punchline "thank God for Mississippi", as in "we would be last in a lot of quality of life categories--except that Mississippi is always worse", will be replaced by "thank God for Arizona." No, it's easier to just say "it's all the Mexican's fault--build the dang fence."
Well that's enough for today. I'll leave you with one last thought: anybody who thinks Ronald Reagan was a great president, let alone the greatest president, is either a moron or a defense contractor.
Every story needs a villain, and so let's blame the Mexicans, their 'liberal' enablers, the Federal government in general, and Barack Obama in particular, for every problem Arizona has. Forget for a moment that the Republicans have controlled the state government for the last 30 years or so. Forget that they've cut taxes to the bone already, which increased the state's deficit and still didn't attract business. Forget that without tons of Federal aid there wouldn't be a modern Arizona as we know it. (Try imaging the place without the Salt River Project, the CAP, the interstate highway system, and all those military bases pumping billions of dollar into the local economy. Pretty bleak, huh?) (Also forget that if your state takes in more Federal aid than it pays in Federal taxes you are benefiting from a form of, yikes, SOCIALISM!!!) Forget that we're in a race to the bottom in education and health care, and that someday soon, the old punchline "thank God for Mississippi", as in "we would be last in a lot of quality of life categories--except that Mississippi is always worse", will be replaced by "thank God for Arizona." No, it's easier to just say "it's all the Mexican's fault--build the dang fence."
Well that's enough for today. I'll leave you with one last thought: anybody who thinks Ronald Reagan was a great president, let alone the greatest president, is either a moron or a defense contractor.
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