*Wham! Bam!* Thank You, Gillman!
Todd J. Gillman of The Dallas Morning News beat me to the punch.
Okay, so there is nothing new there. A daily beats a weekly to the street with everything. But, moving on ...
Yesterday's paper has an article titled, "Holding to a hard line on migrants" in which Gillman takes my Congressman, Republican Michael Burgess, to task for completely ignoring the immigrant voting bloc that marched en masse through Dallas over the weekend.
To Burgess, 500,000 people marching for their rights, their freedoms, their very existence, is nothing more than a dire sign that we've got to crack down. "We need to stop the hemorrhaging," he said. Several months ago my editor quoted him in The News Connection as calling the immigrants part of "an invading force."
Them's fightin' words, Congressman.
Gillman's piece takes a more-or-less neutral stance on the issue. He instead opts to report on what the saber-rattlers are rattling on about, which is okay. It's good. Needed, even. But I have a bit of a different view of this. I had written my story about the immigrants' rights protest fully expecting TNC to run it. But we can't. Full up - too many ads this week. So I decided to cut it up a bit and call it my column. But that isn't running either. *sigh*
Thankfully, the good folks at the more-widely-read Lone Star Iconoclast loved the story, and they are running it as a feature next issue. They are even going to include eight of my photos. Too bad I'm not getting paid for it.
So, Gillman beat me to the punch on Burgess and immigration. But I've got quite a bit to say on the subject, and when page A6 of TNC isn't home to a full-page ad, you can be certain that I'll spit the truth as I see it. Its just what I do, you know?
In the mean time, check out this muy bueno DMN article.
As for Chucklehead over on Corporate Ave. (no, seriously, that is where is office is located - CORPORATE AVENUE off I-35E in Lewisville) ...
I'm watching your votes closely, Burgess.
If your party's primary elections are any indicator, your supporters are dropping like flies. I wonder what kind of difference an additional 500,000 energized voters would make in our November election. I think the 15,000 or-so Republican voters who control this county could be somewhat overwhelmed.
Let's see ... where does Congress stand right now? Well, if you believe USA Today, in Feb. of 2005, just 36 percent of this nation thought the Congress was leading us in the wrong direction. As of Jan. of 2006, that number rests at 50 percent. We've got seven more months for the discontent to simmer. CBS says 67 percent feel Congress has accomplished far less than average for a two-year session. Newsweek claims a full 34 percent want to retain a Republican Congress.
Pardon me while I get down on this.
OH SNAP!
*ahem* Anyway ...
What we're looking at is a revolution in democratic participation, and the rebirth of the spirit of dissent from coast to coast; sea to shining sea. Shock! That's right - it didn't die after September 11. Our media may have been cowed, but not all of us went along with the fear. I hope you are ready for a radically different electorate, Congressman. Most of us are, even in Jerrymandered-to-hell Denton County.
Just keep saying to yourself, "500,000 people couldn't control our local government. 500,000 people couldn't throw me out of power. 500,000 people ... They're just a focus group. Like the 1 million protesters in New York at the 2004 RNC convention. Like the rioting French crazies that have already affected Administration policy. Like the minorities and the hippies and the beatnics and the druggies and the poor and the youth. Everything is okay. Everything is okay."
"I'm not going to lose my job," you might be saying to yourself. "Rich, white people love me! And we still outnumber this invading force. Stop the hemorrhaging. It is not too late. Guest worker programs could still be used to turn them into a new lower-class of cheap, corporate labor. Flip the switch on American Economic Apartheid. Keep the oppression running. Turn up the volume of artifically-imposed inflation in all of South America and provoke a confrontation. We still need our fear. It keeps us alive."
"Shut down the Mexicans; they steal your jobs!" you think. "Rally to the base. Yes. Round them up and put them in camps! They are druggies, criminals, dark-skinned hooligans! They want to overthrow America! Though, I probably should have read the legislation before I voted for it. Damn! I'm chained to this ship now. But I've still got my campaign contributions from TXU and Pfizer and AT&T. They'll save me. They'll save me. I've still got a friend in Tom DeLay. He'll save me. I am suddenly glad I gave nearly $26,000 to his legal defense fund. Oh, I hope nobody knows that!"
Okay, so there is nothing new there. A daily beats a weekly to the street with everything. But, moving on ...
Yesterday's paper has an article titled, "Holding to a hard line on migrants" in which Gillman takes my Congressman, Republican Michael Burgess, to task for completely ignoring the immigrant voting bloc that marched en masse through Dallas over the weekend.
To Burgess, 500,000 people marching for their rights, their freedoms, their very existence, is nothing more than a dire sign that we've got to crack down. "We need to stop the hemorrhaging," he said. Several months ago my editor quoted him in The News Connection as calling the immigrants part of "an invading force."
Them's fightin' words, Congressman.
Gillman's piece takes a more-or-less neutral stance on the issue. He instead opts to report on what the saber-rattlers are rattling on about, which is okay. It's good. Needed, even. But I have a bit of a different view of this. I had written my story about the immigrants' rights protest fully expecting TNC to run it. But we can't. Full up - too many ads this week. So I decided to cut it up a bit and call it my column. But that isn't running either. *sigh*
Thankfully, the good folks at the more-widely-read Lone Star Iconoclast loved the story, and they are running it as a feature next issue. They are even going to include eight of my photos. Too bad I'm not getting paid for it.
So, Gillman beat me to the punch on Burgess and immigration. But I've got quite a bit to say on the subject, and when page A6 of TNC isn't home to a full-page ad, you can be certain that I'll spit the truth as I see it. Its just what I do, you know?
In the mean time, check out this muy bueno DMN article.
As for Chucklehead over on Corporate Ave. (no, seriously, that is where is office is located - CORPORATE AVENUE off I-35E in Lewisville) ...
I'm watching your votes closely, Burgess.
If your party's primary elections are any indicator, your supporters are dropping like flies. I wonder what kind of difference an additional 500,000 energized voters would make in our November election. I think the 15,000 or-so Republican voters who control this county could be somewhat overwhelmed.
Let's see ... where does Congress stand right now? Well, if you believe USA Today, in Feb. of 2005, just 36 percent of this nation thought the Congress was leading us in the wrong direction. As of Jan. of 2006, that number rests at 50 percent. We've got seven more months for the discontent to simmer. CBS says 67 percent feel Congress has accomplished far less than average for a two-year session. Newsweek claims a full 34 percent want to retain a Republican Congress.
Pardon me while I get down on this.
OH SNAP!
*ahem* Anyway ...
What we're looking at is a revolution in democratic participation, and the rebirth of the spirit of dissent from coast to coast; sea to shining sea. Shock! That's right - it didn't die after September 11. Our media may have been cowed, but not all of us went along with the fear. I hope you are ready for a radically different electorate, Congressman. Most of us are, even in Jerrymandered-to-hell Denton County.
Just keep saying to yourself, "500,000 people couldn't control our local government. 500,000 people couldn't throw me out of power. 500,000 people ... They're just a focus group. Like the 1 million protesters in New York at the 2004 RNC convention. Like the rioting French crazies that have already affected Administration policy. Like the minorities and the hippies and the beatnics and the druggies and the poor and the youth. Everything is okay. Everything is okay."
"I'm not going to lose my job," you might be saying to yourself. "Rich, white people love me! And we still outnumber this invading force. Stop the hemorrhaging. It is not too late. Guest worker programs could still be used to turn them into a new lower-class of cheap, corporate labor. Flip the switch on American Economic Apartheid. Keep the oppression running. Turn up the volume of artifically-imposed inflation in all of South America and provoke a confrontation. We still need our fear. It keeps us alive."
"Shut down the Mexicans; they steal your jobs!" you think. "Rally to the base. Yes. Round them up and put them in camps! They are druggies, criminals, dark-skinned hooligans! They want to overthrow America! Though, I probably should have read the legislation before I voted for it. Damn! I'm chained to this ship now. But I've still got my campaign contributions from TXU and Pfizer and AT&T. They'll save me. They'll save me. I've still got a friend in Tom DeLay. He'll save me. I am suddenly glad I gave nearly $26,000 to his legal defense fund. Oh, I hope nobody knows that!"