Molly Ivins: Good Riddance to DeLay's Crucifix-Shaped Hammer

[Dudley_DUright]

In general, I’m against kicking ‘em when they’re down ... unless really awful people are involved. I figured Tom DeLay is so awful, plenty of people would gang up on him and I could pass.

Imagine my surprise when the toughest question one famous TV tough guy could come up with was, “Do you think you invested too much in the Republican Party?” Another inquired whether DeLay could think of any mistakes he’d made. I waited with bated breath for the immortal, “I wish I could learn not to work so hard,” but no, he couldn’t think of a single one.

<snip>

To get a real sense of DeLay’s cynicism and recklessness, forget the stuff the press loves, like the “free golfing trip” to St. Andrew’s. Instead, take note of the following example.

The Northern Marianas Islands are a U.S. protectorate (so it can label goods “Made in the USA") in the Pacific being used as a sort of labor gulag, with workers imported from China and elsewhere and paid pitiful wages. Jack Abramoff had a contract with the government of the Marianas to lobby against stopping the flow of immigrant labor to the islands and to prevent a minimum wage bill (mandating a level higher than the island’s standard $3.05 per hour) from getting to the floor of the House.

more...

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060405_molly_ivins_delay_gone/

[cornermouse]

1. And...

"Tan had to settle a U.S. Labor Department lawsuit alleging workplace violations. According to the book "The Hammer" by Lou Dubose and Jan Reid, among the violations common on the islands is forbidding women to work when they are pregnant, thus leading to a high abortion rate...

...Evidently, DeLay didn't have time to look into such allegations, since he was busy playing golf and attending a dinner in his honor, sponsored by Tan's holding company. According to The Washington Post, it was at this dinner that DeLay called Abramoff "one of my closest and dearest friends." He also reminded those present of his promise that no minimum wage or immigration legislation affecting the Marianas would be passed.

"Stand firm," he added. "Resist evil. Remember that all truth and blessings emanate from our Creator." He then went with Tan to see a cockfight.

This is why DeLay's professions of Christianity make me sick. He was there. He could have talked to the workers. Instead, he chose to walk with the powerful and do real harm to the very people Jesus mandated we especially care for."

Its a matter of priorities. Clearly a cockfight is clearly more important to DeLay than people who have, for all practical purposes, been enslaved.

[sandnsea]

2. The Marianas, bless her heart

I wonder if the story of those poor souls will ever make it onto the teevee. Disgusting episode. Would knock Republicans out of power for another 40 years. Would make Americans demand fair immigration reform too. We have to stop treating people like this.

[acmejack]

3. But they're not white, so they won't worry about it.

If the Marianas were inhabited by caucasians, do you not think there would huge palpable outrage over this episode?

[sandnsea]

4. No question about it

But on the other hand, it gets very little attention even on DU. Several people have been pushing the Mariana story for a long time now, threads drop like a rock. Just like the Bangladesh factory collapse. I was just reading about the National Guard shootings during the Watts riots, and several others. Yet what is remembered is Kent State, even by liberals and progressives. Racism is insidious.

[acmejack]

5. This story really pisses me off too.

You are so correct, racism is so very insidious. A forgotten chapter of American history is the race riot s during WWII where People of Color felt no obligation to participate in they felt was a white mans war. There were large riots in Harlem, Detroit and other cities. Like many other incidents in our history these events are absent from the sanitized versions of US history that are generally taught to our children.