GOP

Dear Scott Beason.... How Do You Feel About "Them" Now?

October 4, 2011 by Left in Alabama

Back in February, we wrote that "Scott Beason could use a little education about immigration," but of course, he knew more than church leaders, local law enforcement, county commissions, citizens standing in the "Beason Lines," or even those "Aborigines" in the state.  Now he's getting an earful from local business owners.  Reckon his hearing has improved?

Now the Whole State is Killing Time in the "Beason Line"

October 1, 2011 by Left in Alabama

Yesterday - September 30 - was the end of the month and a Friday, which meant that car tag renewal lines would be long.  But I was shocked when I passed the satellite office in Parkway Place Mall in Huntsville & saw over 70 people lined up.  The queue spilled out of the office, snaked down the hall, and blocked part of the Belk's store entrance.

I asked one woman near the front how long she'd been in line.  "Almost 3 hours," she said.  "This is a giant f@*kup."

When ADP chair Mark Kennedy spoke in Huntsville last month, he discussed the service cuts in Jefferson County due to Scott Beason killing the bill to preserve funding of county services.  Kennedy described plans to sell t-shirts to those in line:  "I MISSED WORK STANDING IN THE BEASON LINE." 

A Conservative's Answer to Illegal Immigration: Raise the Minimum Wage - A Lot

September 28, 2011 by Left in Alabama

This month's issue of the American Conservative magazine has a compelling cover story: Immigration, Republicans, & the End of White America.  The author, Ron Unz, plays it straight, warning that Republicans hostile to the minimum wage "have substituted dogma for thinking."

As an example, conservative firebrand Rep. Michele Bachmann recently hinted that the solution to America’s current economic problems might involve substantially reducing our existing minimum-wage rates. Presumably, she believes our country would prosper by cutting its wages to Sub-Saharan African levels, then naturally importing millions of Sub-Saharan Africans happy to work at those rates.

Unz argues for a higher minimum wage and ties it to the issue of immigration.  He argues that increasing the mimimum is a tactic to reduce immigration instead of building a low wage economy that encourages it:

Two more government murders, and the crowd cheers

September 22, 2011 by Uppity Wisconsin

Last week during the GOP debate we were treated to the spectacle of a crowd cheering the large numbers of government-sanctioned murders in Texas.  This week we were treated to the reality.  Troy Davis was put to death last night in Georgia, despite a growing concern on the part of many that his continuous claim of innocence may well have been correct. The court system failed Troy Davis, and we as a nation failed him.

Where to start? The application of the death penalty in the United States is an anomaly among Western nations. We happily cling to a system of punishment that seems to serve no purpose other than retribution. It's not a crime deterrent, it's not even cost-effective.  It is government-sanctioned revenge. It is a punishment that cannot be revoked, ameliorated, or forgiven.  It is the last desperate act of a government to punish the guilty and destroy a little more of the soul of our nation.