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Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Obama finally takes on immigration lynch mob

Posted on Tuesday, July 06, 2010 at 07:37 PM
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Give credit to the Obama administration for suing to prevent Arizona's racist law on immigration to come into law.

It is about time a clear signal went out from Washington to stop those who would make their own lynch laws against immigrants.

We Irish should know our history when the Know Nothings enacted very similar legislation backed up by violence to drive our ancestors from these shores.

This is not the South post-civil war and we are not in the business in America of Jose or Jim Crow laws.

It was clear that a series of bad laws were about to be enacted all over the states, as one jurisdiction after another sought to demonize immigrants and all they stood for.

It was only a matter of time before people got killed, as they did in Suffolk County, New York thanks to an anti-immigrant hysteria that led to some white kids knifing an Ecuadorean immigrant to death.

President Obama has finally taken a huge step to stop these racist laws from getting even worse .

Hopefully, what he did will make states reconsider and rethink the path they are going down.

The place for making immigration law is in Washington and it is clearly a federal issue as defined by the constitution.

We don't need any more jailhouse lawyers making things worse for everyone with half-cocked solutions.

The states have prodded the federal government in the right direction though.

Obama does need to act and act quickly on proper immigration reform, a hot-button issue for Americans for several years now.

At least now he has taken an important step in the right direction.

We need to see more of that .



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210 comments

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Madeleine | Aug 08, 2010, 04:17 PM EDT
Jan Brewer, Gov. of Arizona is following the Federal laws that are already in place, just not enforced. I don't want open borders either, let them come in legally and they will be welcome, why is that so hard ot understand from a country who needs to see your bank account to make sure you have the money to go back home before they let you in? We dont' want the north American Union in either and it will come in if the borders are left open. thats all. My Father was from the Dominican Republic and my step father was a Mexican, I am not a racist but I am an American first and I say close the border and protect it or we will wind up run by socialists like the Euro union countries. Our constitution also gives states rights. your Nazi view of the jews is more anti-simetic than I've ever heard. I have seen different videos of Gaza than you are showing. You should not have any say on immigration in America, its not your country. 50,000 illegal Irishmen is not worth losing our country for.

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Monsoonman | Jul 18, 2010, 02:16 PM EDT
I wouldn't sell the public infrastructure, but would put out the running of those services to the lowest private company bidding on it.

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seanomelbourne | Jul 14, 2010, 08:34 PM EDT
In my experience in OZ, government sell off of utilities/roads etc. (for a pittance) resulted in higher charges and lower services. The only people to gain were the new boards and there shareholders.The government sold off the most profitable ventures for a short gain,I was silly enough to believe that taxes would decrease.I do agree that government agencies tend to be top heavy,I'm not sure but maybe it's a mid-management problem. It's not their money so they feel no pain when spending it.

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Monsoonman | Jul 14, 2010, 12:46 AM EDT
Sean Lad, the way I see it the govt. needs to shrink by 60% and sub contract out most services to the lowest bidding private services, including security and fire protection. govt. is too big and nneds to be pared down to a manageable level....and dennis, please don't lay on us that education will suffer, it can't get much worse with the no competition education system we now have.

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DennisQ | Jul 13, 2010, 11:59 PM EDT
Gov. Christie is going to lay off hundreds of state workers with the 2011 budget. He can't do it now because of contracts that he inherited from Gov. Corzine. So much for the argument that you can't get laid off if you work for the government - Gov. Christie is doing just that. His war on state workers is likely to deteriorate New Jersey's quality of life, in ways that may not show up for years. How about environmental monitoring? There are so many crooks already in New Jersey that they'd be only too happy to turn the place into a sewer. And young families who come to New Jersey for good schools are going to deal with the incompetence and cronyism that will certainly follow Christie's planned privatization. Sure, he's popular now, but New Jersey people have largely forgotten the downside of government corruption. Any place that has casinos has already got all the gangsters it needs.

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seanomelbourne | Jul 13, 2010, 07:33 PM EDT
Monsoonman I am a private sector type I sold my business's 10 years ago and retired, you gotta compare apples with apples. Do you think the government should pay peanuts or set an example of a fair days work for a fair days pay. I cannot believe in the "richest" country in the world adults in some sectors are paid $5 to $8 dollars per hour,I was paying that to juniors 20 years ago.F.Y.I. the mandatory minimum wage for adults in Australia is $500 U.S. for a 37 hr week.

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Monsoonman | Jul 13, 2010, 10:10 AM EDT
Sean me boy: Like I have said earlier and now Governor Christie has heard me as well, if you think you are overworked and underpaid in the public sector, quit and go out into the private sector and make the "big bucks". There are risks in the private sector. There are no risks in the government sector and now their wages and benefits outstrip the private sector. In the private sector there are plenty of unions to join and you can picket and strike to your hearts content demanding higher wages and benefits...and consumers have a choice, they are not forced to pay you with their taxes....But Sean, since you are an open borders fellow, do you think it would be fair to let illegal immigrants from all over the world, have a shot at the unionized government jobs? Why should US citizens have a corner on that market?

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seanomelbourne | Jul 13, 2010, 02:27 AM EDT
Why deny civil servants their right to join a union. Is it not a constitutional right in the U.S.A.? Although I do get your point that civil servants are a cossetted lot

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Monsoonman | Jul 13, 2010, 01:17 AM EDT
Correction: Private sector unions I have no problems with.

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Monsoonman | Jul 13, 2010, 12:08 AM EDT
Hi Lad...Public sector unions I have no beef with, it is the public sector unions I have a major gripe with. There is NO choice for the taxpayer, we must pay the taxes which pay their wages and bennies and we must use them without alternatives and they have civil service protection almost impossible to fire or lay off. Sean, I support the Tea Party because it is really the only US party that represents the taxpaying US legal citizens.

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seanomelbourne | Jul 12, 2010, 08:04 PM EDT
The poor old unions Monsoonman. Have you ever stopped to count the working conditions you enjoy which trade unionist fought and sometimes died for. I know Americans do not enjoy the same conditions as we do in Australia(and our economy is booming). I'm surprised you support the tea party.

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Pat Riley | Jul 12, 2010, 11:31 AM EDT
If spin doctor O'Dowd leaned any more to the left he'd tip over. He called AZ's immigration law "racist" yet he offered no examples to support his claim.

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Monsoonman | Jul 12, 2010, 10:17 AM EDT
I would hope that the Republicans will offer candidates with budget solutions to state/federal problems in the same form that governor Christie of New Jersey is doing. He should be a role model for the federal, state and local governments who are addicted to increasing taxes and bloated budget busting budgets. It seems the one real voice out there is from the Tea Party, they are helping to change the political message and bringing the heat to the politicians who disregard the taxpaying citizens of the US....Cut government size and spending. Defend our borders. Get back to the basics and stop being a nanny state. kick unions out of the federal & state employee workforce.

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DennisQ | Jul 12, 2010, 07:33 AM EDT
The hope that sustains the Republicans is the belief that this year they're going to avoid the drubbing they got in '06 and '08. However, it depends on how willing the voters are to toss the dice. Do the Republicans have anything attractive to offer? They've been promoting militarism and tax cuts since Reagan, but it's doubtful that we can afford more of either. Sure, the Republicans may pick up a few seats in the off-year election, but their hope of regaining the House or the Senate is foolishly optimistic.

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IrishAndProud | Jul 12, 2010, 05:18 AM EDT
And an aside...I'm a non-Christian pro-lifer, myself. Killing unborn kids ain't my bag.

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