Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Postville: A demand for action from Iowa Republicans.

As the story of Postville continues to unfold several obvious truths are now becoming undeniable.

Most importantly, illegal immigration is a social occurrence that directly and immediately affects the state of Iowa. Last year Marshalltown, this year Postville and who knows what else.

Illegal immigration is bad for the communities where it is prevalent. At least one third of little Postville’s population (less than 2300) appears to be there illegally. Think of the burdens imposed on that school district and the taxpayers who fund it.

While such immigration certainly creates new economic opportunities it depresses far more. The Marshalltown experience proves that reliance on illegals depresses wages. Postville paid $5 an hour as the entry wage. Five dollars an hour! Five bucks might be an acceptable wage for a kid washing dishes or mowing lawns, it sure as hell isn’t for adult, full time slaughterhouse jobs, as
Sholom Rubashkin is about to discover (assuming the stay in business).

There cannot be any doubt that the Postville employer and union knowingly employed and enrolled hundreds of illegals. This simple fact proves that the problem is not limited the illegals who take jobs but the domestic criminals who provide them. The state of Iowa can’t solve that problem nationally but we can make it damnably unpleasant to be a large scale employer of illegals here in Iowa.

The people of Iowa want and deserve better protection from the many micro and macro evils of illegal employment of illegal aliens. We Republicans need to provide the leadership on this issue, or we don’t deserve to win.

First, we should demand that Gov. Culver reconvene the General Assembly to consider only this issue.

Second, we need to agree on a clear and simple agenda that imposes draconian economic penalties, including forfeiture, on employers who knowingly employ and the unions that knowingly enroll illegal aliens and everyone else who knowingly abets the illegal employment. The individuals who are most culpable should be prosecuted and also heavily fined. We need to stick to this agenda.

Third, we need to eliminate sanctuary cities like Postville. Large scale illegal employment and identity theft can only exist if local elites turn the proverbial blind eye. Postville gets State money. It shouldn’t. We should require all employees of the State of Iowa or any political subdivision to immediately notify the appropriate federal agency (I believe its ICE) whenever that employee learns of the specific existence of an illegal alien working in Iowa.

Fourth, we need to require every Democrat who opposes this agenda pay for it. Knowing what one believes is the first test of leadership, knowing why is the second test. We pass those two. The third leg is persuading others to agree with you. That’s where we usually fail.

Our Senate Leader Ron Wieck has shown leadership on this issue already-now is a chance to drive it home!

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hoooray Beer!

Hoooray Sporer!

Anonymous said...

Ted, You are dead wrong on this issue. In the long term we lose on this issue. We need to stop Illegal immigrants but we also need to promote opportunity and a way for people to start with nothing and become something.

Anonymous said...

Anon at 10:33. Un hem..we already have a way to promote opportunity for people to start with nothing and become something.

It's called living the American Dream. It involves speaking english, getting an education, not getting pregnant out of wedlock and/or without an involved father and not committing crimes.

Gee - did you hear about Bill Clinton? He had nothing - not even a father - just a drunk who beat him Mom.

I wonder how he did it?

He spoke english, got an education and the rest is history.

Did you hear about Colin Powell? Did you hear about Condoleeza Rice? Did you hear about Barack Obama??????????

So, what's your point?

Anonymous said...

Wow!

"Gov. Chet Culver this morning announced a $1 million Vision Iowa grant to support the new John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Garden in Des Moines. The garden, appraised at nearly $30 million, will hold more than 20 sculptures donated by the Pappajohns and is believed to be the largest public donation of art in the state's history."


The Pappajohns are extraordinarily wealthly. We gave them $1 million dollars of tax dollars to buy a sculpture garden????????? Why didn't THEY buy it? Why are tax dollars being spent on SCULPTURES and not on the new Polk County Courthouse?

How many kids textbooks could we have bot for $1 million? How many improvements to delapidated Des Moines schools could have been made? How much health insurance for kids could we have bot for $1 million? How many smokers could we have cured? How much pollution from all those bottles and cans could we have cleaned up?

We paid for a sculpture garden for some of the wealthiest people in Iowa?

And they wonder why we vote no for new taxes and have a severe crisis of confidence in our elected and non elected government officials cause by mispending and perhaps outright corruption.

Anonymous said...

Anon 2:30

Where in the constitution does it say that in order to become an American or be an American they have to speak english. This is a wasteful law that WILL cause republican or anyone else who runs on it to lose.

Anonymous said...

Anon 2:30 (illiterate idiot)

Did you even read the post? They donated 30 million dollars worth of sculpture for a public Garden, the least of which 1 million can pay for a location so that everyone can see this sculpture. It is called culture, oh I forgot you must be from the lower two tiers of counties.

Anonymous said...

How stupid are we? If we don't win, we don't govern and we then do not dictate policy. Let's find issues we know we can win on.

Suggestion:
Eliminate Property taxes (it can be done)

Anonymous said...

Land that is worth $1 million dollars ought to produce some property tax income. Besides, I didn't read that it was land. It said Chet donated $1 million DOLLARS of Tax Money. It didn't say LAND - douchebag.

Typical Lib - Kulter counts more than kids school books. You must be an elitist like Obama.

Anonymous said...

How about we get $29 million dollars of sculpture rather than $30 million and they use the other $1 million to pay for whatever it was they were going to use the stolen tax dollars for?

Can those obama elites consider themselves cultured on $29 million or is that just too cheap for their high class sensibilities?

Anonymous said...

SO what you got against the lower two counties of Iowa? Have the Iowa Democrat Party let those fine people in Southern Iowa know that democrats feel this way about them?

I hope you don't count on those dumb kids who have nothing but being stuk in Irak to hope for and their unkultured, unsophisticated baby mamas and daddas to vote for Obama.

they are just bitter about their guns and religion after all.

What an asshole you are for those insults to nice people. You consider yourself cultured but you have poor, uncultured manners and suffer from much arrogance and vanity.

I bet you have never had your shoes shined properly.

Anonymous said...

So who is going to decide which portion of the sculpture that you are going to sell (probably can sell because it was cultural gift) The option of not displaying the art is to store the art. Then the state pays to store the art which will still cost money. Why are you concerned about this 1 million there are much worse uses of our money at the state and local level than this. This is actually good!

Anonymous said...

If you don't intend to learn the language of the country where you want to live permanently and love so much you are willing to risk your life to go to and become a full functioning citizen - then what on earth are you doing here? Why would you risk your life to abandon your own country and countrymen for a new country and countrymen and then not become a member of the country by being able to communicate with your new countrymen?

How to you rise to the economic top of your new country if you can't communicate with your bosses, your co-workers, your employees, your board of directors, your shareholders, or the press?

Even foreign actors who come to Hollywood to achieve in our country learn English so they can earn a living here.

The argument that learning english isn't necessary for immigrants to succeed in America only makes in lib/progressive world.

Anonymous said...

I am just saying that if we would ever decide to help MO we could transfer those bottom two tiers of counties to MO. It would mutually benefit both states by raising the IQ in each state by 10-20 points.

You must be from Adams County Huh!

Anonymous said...

Well, Johnny stole the cookies from the cookie jar and didn't get in trouble, so why should I?

Well, Johnny got away with murder so I should get awawy with murder.

Well, the city council mispends money, the federal government mispends money, everyone mispends money so who cares about a little million dollars here or million dollars there?

It's pencil dust!

Typical Lib/Progressive view of ethical behavior - it's always situational.

Anonymous said...

Learning English is not a bad thing in fact most legal and Illegal immigrants want to learn English. However when they are unable to receive essential services while they are learning English, ou simply force people into illegal acts (Temperance laws and income tax would be comparable)

Anonymous said...

Obama - is that you personally posting here?

Anonymous said...

Ted:

What's with that boob ass looking photo of you in the hard hat? Are the Village People holding open auditions? Ridiculous.

My name is Richard Roma.

Anonymous said...

I don't get it.

You rail about illegals but you are going to vote for someone who will grant them amnesty?

The Deplorable Old Bulldog said...

Richard Roma-how little you know TRS.

That is my hard hat that I wore when I worked on the Burlington Northern section gang in college.

Drove spikes, nipped ties and shoveled ballast brother.

So, bad news for you, the hard hat's real, I'm proud of it and it suits me just fine.

Anonymous said...

Hey Vlad, (Obama)
What is McCains Position? Or how about the section of the bills the you hate McCain for that he actually submitted to the bill?

Anonymous said...

What is McCains Position?

Amnesty. 12-20 million new DemocRAT voters.

Anonymous said...

With our failing economy this is definitely an issue we need to look at.
However, this is a point on an issue that our national party does not share with our state party.

Its hard to have such a pro-illegal-immigrant-Anti-working-American on the top of the ticket (Juan McCain) and real conservatives on the bottom.

Anonymous said...

Ted:

OK, baby, so little do I know of you. That's why I asked, man, damnation, and you want to act all insulted? Anyway thanks for the response but ease up a little, baby. Everybody who asks a question tinged with a little sarcastic intent is not "out to get you" or "overthrow the government". Scheeze, to use your own phrase, "quit looking for the black helicopters".

My Name is Richard Roma

Anonymous said...

Every Gas station in their states should have their pictures and names posted by the price on the pumps with the message; He/she voted against lower gas prices by increasing domestic supply!

Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Dole (R-NC)
Martinez (R-FL)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)

Obama and Clinton both voted nay. McCain could not be bothered to show up but has REPEATEDLY voted against expanding drilling.

Anonymous said...

Where exactly and when did he say amnesty?

Anonymous said...

He kept claiming it was "not amnesty." If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, has feathers and webbed feet, guess what.

A "pathway to citizenship" is a buzzword for Amnesty. Ask his advisor Juan Hernandez, who was in Vicente Fox's administration, what his opinion is?

Art A Layman said...

sporie:

I applaud your consistency. Hard hat for a hard head.

Anonymous said...

People in ties should NOT be photographed wearing hard hats. It's kind of like politicians riding in tanks (or in flight suits on aircraft carriers) - it just looks kind of staged.

Anonymous said...

Shouldn't there be a pathway to citizenship? I don't think it should be a cake walk but there should be a pathway for someone to right their wrong? Right?

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