Illegal Immigration Problems in Loudoun

This report on illegal immigration problems in Loudon County is a must read.

I have been pretty much on the periphery of the illegal alien issue, but have been taken time and again by folks like WaPo columnist Marc Fisher who try to compare today’s situation with that faced by their grandparents.

Time and again folks like Mr. Fisher fail to draw a distinction between their forbears who came to this country, tried to learn the language, follow the rules and laws, paid their taxes, and embraced the melting pot…and those in Loudoun who don’t learn the language, evade and break the rules and laws, skirt paying taxes, and reject both the melting pot and the mosaic concept.

Be sure to read the link above about Loudoun County…borderline shocking.

Stupidity, not PC run Amok

Thank goodness for people, because they make it easy to write blog pieces. Because some things you just cannot make up.

You see, I appreciate the clever use of language. I enjoy clever advertising. But sometimes you don’t want to combine the two characteristics.

Example: Recently in Texas, the general sales manager of Mac Haik Ford Lincoln Mercury dealership had some high end cars with air conditioned seats to unload. I think it is fair to say that those of us who have experienced the joys of sticky sweat on your back while stuck in a beltway backup can see the benefits of this convenience.

So, he made up a sales flyer and sent it to 1,200 customers. As you can see, the banner of the flyer is:

“Are You Tired of The Wet Backs?”

And those 1,200 customers?  Some were members of the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Needless to say, the chamber members were not amused.

Said general sales manager is now looking for employment.

Some are attacking the dealership, saying that terminating the general sales manager is political correctness run amok.

I believe that Political Correctness has gone too far in this country…but this flyer moves far beyond PC and deep into the realm of the unbelievably stupid.

This flyer is not the ignorant misconstrual of the legitimate use of a longstanding word that has no racial connotations (such as the furor in DC a few years back over a mayoral staffer correctly using the word “niggardly“, a synonym for being stingy, miserly, ungenerous ). This was a deliberate effort to use a racially charged term in a sophomoric attempt to be clever and sell product.

This flyer is not a matter of PC madness. Rather, it is falls under the eternal wisdom of Forrest Gump, who once said, “Stupid is as Stupid does”.

Really, you just cannot make this stuff up!

A Different Concern on Illegal Immigration

Northern Virginia is awash with concerns about illegal immigration and impacts on housing, pressure on government services, crime, and quality of life.  A letter to the editor in todays WaPo indicates a different area of concern I (for one) had not thought about.

US Representative Candice Miller (R-Mich) writes that illegal immigrants are skewing congressional apportionment:

Every Election Day, noncitizens infringe on the right to proper and proportional representation for U.S. citizens as a result of the 14th Amendment, which requires that those in our country illegally be counted when seats are apportioned for Congress.

Rep. Miller goes on to explain she is submitting a House Joint Resolution 6 to correct a “technical error” in the 14th amendment regarding the conduct of the census so that “citizens” are counted, and not “people”.

Immigration is, I suppose, a somewhat Gumpian problem. Everytime you open the box of chocolates, you find a different flavor. Or, it may be a simple matter of whose bull is getting gored.

In a previous editorial entitled “Count Them In”, the WaPo suggested that the census concerns were misplaced and took issue with the Bush administration to continue aggressively searching for illegals during the census season.  Apparently in the last three census cycles the search has been curtailed in order to get illegals to cooperate and be counted.  Beyond the constitutional requirement, the Post went on to say:

The information obtained from the census is also critical in determining political representation and the allocation of funds. Census officials don’t care about an individual’s personal information; they care about population trends and how that information can be harnessed to craft better public policies.

Representative Miller’s primary concern is apportionment, and doesn’t talk spending. The WaPo barely mentions apportionment and uses the vast bulk of the editorial to focus on getting accurate numbers to allow successful policy making.

Neither seems to think the other has a reasonable point.

Sure seems like where the spotlight is focused depends on whose ox is being gored.