Blame it on Texas

[cranston36]

There’s been a lot of hooting and hollering about illegal immigration lately.
No one has really said anything about how the problem came to be.
First of all it was Texas who allowed over 5 million illegal immigrants in over a very short period of time. It wasn’t as if these folks were showing up in Nebraska, Maine or upstate New York.
There has always been movement between Mexico and California but what happened in Texas was really unique.
The Texans pretty much sold and gave away most of their state in return for cash.
We have 50 states and one of them tried this experiment.
Apparently it failed because after selling everything off the Texans couldn’t pay their regular bills.
So we ended up with men like Representative Tom Delay and Kenneth Lay from Enron.
The big fight now is that republicans in general realize what they did in Texas and the Texans want to do it to the rest of the country.
That just won’t fly.
Things look bad now but it has become apparent that there are some elements in Texas that live their lives taking what doesn’t belong to them.
You can get away with that sort of thing for a short time but in the long run it’s got to stop.
What happened in Texas can be a warning to the other 49 states as they chart out their course for the future.
Lesson 1 : Don’t sell your land, your heritage or your people.

[SammyWinstonJack]

1. !

:popcorn:

[babylonsister]

Might I join you?

:popcorn:
:)

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. Sure, plenty to go around.

:popcorn: I just love threads like these. :evilgrin:

[babylonsister]

17. Boy, it's degenerating as I type. Sigh. nt

[Warpy]

2. Lesson two: don't allow employers to get away with paying starvation

wages to anyone, native or immigrant. Once forced to pay a day's wage for a day's work, they'll prefer native born people, happens every single damn time.

The problem isn't illegal Mexicans or Irish or Azoreans or Brazilians, or any other group.

The problem is a minimum wage set at a starvation level by cheap labor conservatives in both parties.

[NoPasaran]

3. Could you clarify

Just what the fuck you're talking about?

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. I doubt s/he even knows.

[rwenos]

5. Texas is a Right to Work State

What you've said about Texas is basically correct, although I don't think Texas can do much about the flow of illegal immigrants. This is an odd area of agreement between the Texans (my in-laws living in Houston) and me (living in Los Angeles). The federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over immigration and the borders. Republican and Democratic governors of both Texas and California have been pleading with (and suing) the federal government for a decade, trying to get the Feds to DO SOMETHING.

But your comments are correct because of the difference in labor laws between California and Texas. California has generally progressive labor laws, allowing union shops and protecting workers' rights. The California Dept. of Labor is pretty aggressive about wage and hour legislation (although it does nothing to enforce federal laws against employing illegals.)

The real problem is that Texas has "right to work" laws -- which outlaw union shops. Contractors in Texas hire migrant laborers off the street corners of Houston, wave a $20 bill in their faces, then get a day's hard labor. When the worker says "where's my money," the contractor says "Take $10 and f*ck off. If you don't like it, I'll call the Migra." Contractors in Texas BRAG about this practice at parties. (I've heard them with my own ears.)

So Yes, it's Texas all right. Anti-union Texas.

[Paladin]

7. Oh, Goody. More Brain-Dead Anti-Texas Bigotry

Feel free to fuck yourself at the earliest possible moment....

[rwenos]

8. So "Right to Work" Runs to Your Taste?

You have sent a broadside, without any reasoning. Do you have a REASON for your ad hominem, or are you just showing off your inability to read?

[rzemanfl]

12. Texas gave us *, Cheney and Delay. Thanks a fucking lot. n/t

[monktonman]

16. oh, oh let me get in on that

I'm fucking myself as we speak.
Fuck texas, let them build a wall around the entire state and leave the rest of us alone!
(me thumbing my nose at you)

[chicofaraby]

9. Immigration laws are as pointless as drug laws.

It's the law that causes the problem in the first place.

[lpbk2713]

10. Paging VelmaD ..... Please pick up the white courtesy phone.

:shrug:

[bluestateguy]

11. Texans don't usually complain about illegal immigration

Bitching about illegal immigration is more of a California/Arizona thing.

Texans like the unlimited supply of cheap labor: waiters, busboys, nannies, hotel maids, manual laborers, janitors, etc. Compliant, docile workers who won't raise a ruckus or unionize lest they be summarily dismissed.

[acmejack]

13. Yeah, we're a bunch of sorry fuckers all right!

[Neil Lisst]

14. the part about Texas is nonsense

When did Texas allow 5 million illegal immigrants to enter in a short period of time, and get paid for doing so?

You're using some bogus story to promote a point of view.

Where did you get this tall tale, badly told?

[madame defarge]

15. I blame everything on Texas...

Can't stand that state...ever since Ann Richards lost the governorship.

(Sorry to all Texans reading this.)

[Jon8503]

18. I just don't want any more leadership from TX. They can keep it

down there. That includes LBJ. Look at all of the bad stuff coming out of there with their crazy ideas which has caused a hell of a lot of havoc in this country & the world. Lets try east or northeast this time around.

[crispini]

19. As Texas goes, so goes the nation?

You do have something of a point. Texas is LARGE. Population 20 million people. 34 Electoral College votes. Therefore, like it or not, Texas has had, and will continue to have, a HUGE impact on the politics of this country. People who hate the bad elements about Texas should consider this and maybe give some thought to helping us fix it rather than just whining.

And, before Howard Dean, the national Democratic party... pretty much gave up on Texas. They never campaigned here; they'd fly in for fundraisers and suck all of the money out of the state. I have heard, although I cannot substantiate, that Texas is either #2 or #3 in political donations to Democrats. We plan to try to keep some of this money in the state and take it back. Because if you just give up on Texas, you start off 34 electoral college votes down. A substantial disadvantage.

However, I think your hypothesis that Texas "pretty much sold and gave away most of their state in return for cash" doesn't hold up. Care to produce some facts or links to substantiate that?