Migrants from Sanity
By TIMOTHY EGAN
NYT
With 14 million Americans out of work, you would think somebody could answer the desperation call from farmers offering to pay $150 to anyone willing to pick fruit in the orchards of Washington State. But no, the apples hang at peak ripeness, a near-record crop, and the jobs go begging, despite radio ads and an appeal by Governor Christine Gregoire to the other Washington for help.
One thing the United States still does better than most countries is grow food. But one thing it now does worse than others is govern to solve problems. And so, the apples rot, businesses are crippled, and dreams of fresh life in a new country are dashed. This dystopian status quo exists because the simple-minded who control one of the major political parties have shut down all adult talk on the subject of immigration.
Roll the tape from Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate, and there you see a front-runner, Mitt Romney, who spoke the Michael Kinsley definition of a gaffe – telling the truth by accident. It came after he was needled about the Latino man without proper papers who used to labor on the 2.5 acre lawn of the Romney estate.
“I’m running for office, for Pete’s sake,” Romney recalled telling the lawn service, in words that will be replayed over and over. “I can’t have illegals.”
(More here.)
NYT
With 14 million Americans out of work, you would think somebody could answer the desperation call from farmers offering to pay $150 to anyone willing to pick fruit in the orchards of Washington State. But no, the apples hang at peak ripeness, a near-record crop, and the jobs go begging, despite radio ads and an appeal by Governor Christine Gregoire to the other Washington for help.
One thing the United States still does better than most countries is grow food. But one thing it now does worse than others is govern to solve problems. And so, the apples rot, businesses are crippled, and dreams of fresh life in a new country are dashed. This dystopian status quo exists because the simple-minded who control one of the major political parties have shut down all adult talk on the subject of immigration.
Roll the tape from Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate, and there you see a front-runner, Mitt Romney, who spoke the Michael Kinsley definition of a gaffe – telling the truth by accident. It came after he was needled about the Latino man without proper papers who used to labor on the 2.5 acre lawn of the Romney estate.
“I’m running for office, for Pete’s sake,” Romney recalled telling the lawn service, in words that will be replayed over and over. “I can’t have illegals.”
(More here.)
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