04 April, 2006

Um, is that really what you mean?

An article in the Sun-Times got me thinking. Here's the relevant part [edited for content(hah!)]:

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A typical example of this policy ["amnesty as a means of inducing foreign workers to enter the U.S. illegally and take jobs from oppressed minorities"] was revealed in 1987 at a time when teenage unemployment among African Americans approached 80 percent. Greedy garment manufacturers petitioned the INS to import cheap labor on grounds that there was an ''unskilled labor shortage.''

"This policy continues on the specious claim that ''Americans won't do the dirty jobs that foreign workers are willing to do.'' Any one of the millions of unemployed Americans will tell you it is not the dirty jobs they disdain, but the slave wages paid to do those jobs. Nothing is more dirty or dangerous than coal mining or garbage collection, but there is no shortage of applicants for such jobs when decent wages are paid.""
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It seems the author is claiming that the American born poor are simply lazy. Isn't that the logical interpretation of an argument that says "Well, normal Americans won't do that 'cause it just don't pay well enough." What does that make the immigrants who WILL do it for what is paid, and who WILL work very long hours at low wages to support their families and - in many cases - buy houses? I'll admit that I personally wouldn't work in a coal mine or scrub toilets for "slave wages," but I don't have to. I'm not unskilled - I have the student loan payments to prove it.

Besides, I did some of those jobs when I was in college. No, I was no where near a coal mine, though working at Starbucks can get dirty (and at least they offer health insurance to offset the indignities of working around spoiled milk, overflowing garbage, dirty bums in the bathroom, and obnoxious customers).

I dunno.

If you want, go check out the article itself.

What?

From the Sun-Times today, further fodder confirming my suspicion of the proles.


Oven doors passed off as flat-screen TVs

April 4, 2006

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- A rash of oven-door thefts may be linked to a recent case in which a woman bought what she thought was a flat-screen TV, only to discover that the package held an old oven door, police said.

South Bend detective Sgt. Jim Walsh said police arrested a suspect Thursday they believe sold the door to the woman. Police said an oven door and packaging materials were found in the trunk of the man's car.

Oven doors are an increasingly hot item in burglaries targeting vacant properties. Walsh said oven doors were among the items stolen in five recent burglaries.

Police have had two reports of the doors being sold as flat-screen TVs, and it's likely that others went unreported by the embarrassed buyers, Walsh said. Officers are investigating at least two other suspects who may be disguising oven doors and selling them.

Walsh said it's risky to buy products off the street, particularly without opening the package first.

In the case of the bilked woman, she was approached by the suspect Feb. 20 at her workplace with an offer of a flat-screen TV for $500. The suspect settled for $300. But when the woman unwrapped the packaging, she found a cord, a controller -- and an oven door. AP

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My friends the French

What idiots.






Sure, a strike and some mild rioting will solve everything.





The photo is from the New York Times today.

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