Monday, October 17, 2011

Charlotte Observer Sheds Tear Over Plight of Illegal Aliens




I’m beginning to wonder what the tear-to-ink ratio is in the Charlotte Observer. It seems as though every time I read this leftist rag, I’m subjected to a pity piece by the editors or a columnist. You can practically see the tear stains smudging the page. This past Sunday was no different.


Peter St. Onge, a weekly columnist, is weeping over the plight of illegal aliens. Alabama passed a law that would protect its citizens from a third world invading horde. But that doesn’t sit right with Mr. Onge:

Georgia and Arizona lawmakers have passed similar laws, and North Carolina is prepping the soil by forming a new legislative committee on immigration issues. Its goal: make North Carolina “unwelcome for any illegal alien,” said Republican Rep. Frank Iler, a co-chair, to a Wilmington reporter last week.

Now we have a preview of what comes next. In Alabama, the new law has jarred cities and rattled communities where Latinos long ago put down roots while tending crops and working in poultry plants. Church pews are emptying. Businesses are scrambling to replace workers. Police are fretting about when and when not to check papers. Superintendents are pleading with Latino parents, assuring them they won’t be grabbed for deportation when they pick up their child. It’s not working – parents have pulled the kids, many of them U.S. citizens, and kept them home.



Above all, immigrants are leaving – some to other states that might be more welcoming, some back to their homeland.



To which many of you out there would say: Great


You’re damn skippy!


But Mr. Onge only sees disaster:


Except: In Alabama and Georgia, farmers say the law is killing them. The farmers, most of whom live in rural, conservative counties, say the U.S. Guest Worker program is woefully inadequate in supplying workers to tend their fields. What about all those locals needing jobs? “You’re out there in the sun and the rain,” an Alabama farmers representative told the Washington Post. “It’s just not attractive to Americans.”

So crops are going unharvested, with more than half rotting in some places. Farms are floundering, and prices surely will rise. Another casualty: Businesses that serve immigrant communities are suffering and closing their doors. That’s money that helps rev our economies – and jobs going away when we need them most.



Well, Mr. Onge this is how I see it. When I was younger we didn’t have illegal aliens working on farms. We kids were the ones hoeing the fields, picking the crops, bailing hay, shoveling shit, feeding the animals, mending fences and doing whatever chores had to be done. It was hard work, but it built character and an appreciation for a dollar.


Right now, we have a bunch of kids who are in desperate need of a job. The Bureau of Labor Statistics published the following youth unemployment rates:

The youth unemployment rate edged up over the year to 19.1 percent in July—the highest July rate on record for the series, which also began in 1948.

Among major demographic groups, the unemployment rates for young men (20.5 percent), blacks (33.4 percent), and Asians (21.6 percent) continued to trend up from a year earlier; the jobless rates for young women (17.5 percent), whites (16.2 percent), and Hispanics (22.1 percent) were virtually unchanged
.

But thanks to decades of liberal/progressive policies, today’s trophy participant generation would rather suck on a teat than get their hands dirty, as demonstrated by the Wall Street Occupiers. These kids don’t want a job. They want a handout and a hanky. And I’m sure Mr. Onge and the editors of the Charlotte Observer have plenty of those to pass around.



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