Mobile Weapons Labs, Immigration Reform, and Living Wages

Molly Ivins: Mobile Weapons Labs, and Immigration Reform

Once again, Molly is spot on, as my British friends would say.

• Mobile Weapons Labs: Bush and his cohorts lie to the nation at will. They violate the law at will. And no one is doing anything about it.
• Immigration Reform: The people who come to this land “illegally” do so because the legal ones already here hire them. They hire them to do jobs we don’t want to do, for wages we would never accept. Because they are illegal, and the employer knows it, they are paid much less than the minimum wage. Without them, our economy would grind to a halt. I don’t care who says otherwise.

And, to those of you spreading that tirade variously titled “I’M HEADED TO MEXICO” and “OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT BUSH”, let me say this straight out. You are bigots. You need to pull your heads out of your a**es and take a real look around you.

And how about what Leonard Pitts has to say on the topic?
Immigrants shape our sense of U.S. identity
The challenge is not to avoid change, but to manage it, to find ways of living together. It’s a moral obligation, particularly in a country whose founding principle isn’t shared language or shared bloodline but rather, shared creed. Meaning that truth Thomas Jefferson held self-evident.

For what it’s worth, I’m sure the Cherokee once felt the same way.

And finally, I direct your attention to a story on the Oprah Winfrey show which ran just yesterday.

Oprah: Inside the Lives of People Living on Minimum Wage

Thirty million Americans who work full time are living in poverty. The federal minimum wage in the United States is $5.15 an hour and has not been raised in almost 10 years. Someone working full time at minimum wage earns $10,712 a year—that’s $8,000 less than what the government defines as poverty.

Why should you care? These are the very people we rely on every day. They are the teachers’ aides in your child’s classroom. They are caring for your aging parents in the nursing home. They make sure your hotel rooms, your offices and your schools are clean. They are security guards keeping buildings safe. They are paramedics who are there in your most desperate hour.

I will say it now. This is scandalous. As a nation, we should be ashamed that we allow this to continue. And no matter what your bigot friends tell you, it’s not only illegal immigrants and teenagers living at home who must take these jobs, and live without medical insurance, paid time off, or any of the other benefits many of us hold so dear.

I come from the working poor. My mother never earned more than minimum wage, and on that she raised my brother and I. Why do we let this disgrace continue? I believe it is because we have given over the power to rule this nation to corporations and the flunkies they have bought and paid for. Allow me now to refer you back to Molly:

:::There are just some things I know from living in Texas all my life. One is, don’t bother to build a fence. Two is, if you want to stop illegal immigrants, stop the people who hire them — quit punishing people who come because there are jobs. Three, this border has always been porous, and it has always worked to the advantage of the United States.

Tags: politics