I would get in my car and drive. Nowhere in particular, but I would drive at exactly the posted speed limit. Not one mile an hour over. I mean, the speed limit is the law. And Arizonans are all about enforcing the law now evidently.
I think I would get a few of my friends together as well. However many friends as there are lanes of traffic through downtown Phoenix. For this maneuver I would be driving a little less than the speed limit, as is my right under the law, and each friend would be going a little faster. Not a lot faster. Can't break the law mind you, but just fast enough that each lane would be sllllloooowwwwwlllllyyyyyy passing the other, and the far left would be going exactly as fast as the law allowed. Then when they finally passed me, I would start this celebration of legal obedience all over again.
Have you ever really noticed the Phoenix skyline? You would if I lived there. Because I'd make sure you had plenty of time to see it all. Same way with those vast stretches of interstate in the western part of the state where it feels like you could fall asleep at the wheel and not hit anything for an hour or two. Just imagine how much more you'll enjoy the scenery at the nice leisurely driving pace that the law mandates.
And if you don't like it, too bad. I mean, what part of illegal don't you understand? This is all about enforcing the law, just like SB1070, which is so non-racist it actually prohibits law enforcement officers from using race as a criteria to demand that someone show their papers. No word in the law as to what actually constitutes a "reasonable suspicion" that someone is in the country illegally. Maybe if they have a bumper sticker on their car that shows support of some hockey team. I hear those goddamn Canadians are crazy about hockey.
Anyway, I'm sure no one in Arizona would mind anyway, because like I said. A new era of respect for the law is about to dawn in that state:
Arizona's controversial experiment with speed-enforcement cameras on state freeways will come to an end this summer, when the Department of Public Safety allows the program to expire.
Advocates of the cameras, including some DPS officials, have released studies indicating that the cameras save lives and reduce crashes.
Those studies have been vigorously disputed by camera opponents, who argue that the cameras increase collisions while infringing upon constitutional rights.
Your constitutional right to break the law? What? Something does not compute my Arizona friends. You're either for the law or you are not. Otherwise you're the very definition of hypocrisy, yes?
Yes.
So it is settled. Arizonans are hypocrites. And what could possibly be the motivation for such blatant hypocrisy, stating that the law is of vital importance and must be upheld, except when it isn't and shouldn't? I'll let you decide that for yourselves, but a blind hatred of Mexicans would be at the top of my guess list Arizona.
Maybe someday soon I'll see you in my rear view mirror. Be sure and wave while you're back there.
12 comments:
I don't expect reasoned debate on your site, being a place for you to vent, but I will point out that the people coming across the border in this fashion are doing it illegally. There is a proper way to immigrate, and that means obeying the law. My great grandparents immigrated to the United States around 1900, coming from Great Britain. They went thru Ellis Island and the whole process.
Why can't these people?
BTW, Rhode Island has had a similar law for a while, and I don't see mass hysteria on the left over that.
As to the not speeding, fine. I obey all laws to the best of my ability, even if I disagree with it. As a NY resident, I can't use fireworks, so I don't. But when I work out of state, as I have had to for the last 25 years, I use and enjoy the ones that are legal in that state.
My next contract will probably be in Phoenix this fall, if all works out well. If you organize something, I'll probably join up, even though on most subjects I'm a right wing whack job.
Regards.
Don,
"My great grandparents immigrated to the United States around 1900, coming from Great Britain. They went thru Ellis Island and the whole process.
Why can't these people?"
Do you really not know? Seriously? Well it's a good thing you wrote in today my friend, 'cause you're gonna learn something.
There are exactly 10,000 EB-3 visas available for unskilled labor in this country each year. The current wait to get one is about 6 years.
Now, what do you think would happen to American agriculture if only 10,000 people were let in to work the fields each year? What do you think would happen to your grocery bill?
Traffic laws are stupid Don, which is why they are largely ignored. Immigration law however, is insane. Absolutely insane. You would know that if you ever stepped outside the right wing echo chamber that provided each and every talking point in your comment. You're being used my friend. Trained to hate and fear in the service of those with the dollars.
How does it feel? Seriously, how does it feel to be a tool and get nothing in return?
I hope you wake up one day my friend. In the name of humanity I seriously hope you wake up.
Reminds me of something similar in Atlanta:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B-Ox0ZmVIU
i love you drugmonkey. you make me smile.
I live in a mixed Asia and Mexican city.
I understand the resentment that many Asians have about illegal immigration. They went through a complex legal system to get here, only to find that millions from one country thumb their nose at the system.
Don't be surprised that most legal immigrants support the Arizona law. Many have to wait years to get their loved ones over here, while those who jump the fence are protected. They believe in equality for immigrants.
Okay, since we're discussing immigration politics this time around:
There were nasty immigration laws in a lot of eras. The hysteria over this round reminds me of what I've read of the reactions regarding those darned Italians when they started emigrating to the U.S. Meanwhile, Americans were happy to make use of Italian immigrants for cheap labor and servants. But let them apply for decent jobs or work their way into upper-caste society? That took ages. Developments in various areas were certified as "Italians Excluded" 50 years after the wave of Italian immigration got started. Italians in many areas were forced to move and considered a danger to the country during WWII. Anti-Italian prejudice lasted a long, long time. Hispanics are the Italians of their day.
I'm here today because my Italian great-grandmother took a side route into the States. People do desperate things when faced with desperate situations. If we aren't willing to have Mexicans and those from other Latin American countries come here in large numbers, then we shouldn't depend so substantially upon their labor. If that's the way we want it, then we need to go back to having established American citizens work in dirty, back-breaking, miserable jobs. But we'll pay either way - increased costs from higher social services usage on one side, higher consumer prices on the other. By welcoming immigrants, we remain true to what we were meant to be as a nation, and we benefit from drawing new minds, new talent, new perspectives, new drive to this country.
That's my (somewhat long-winded) perspective. I'm just one average American, paying my taxes and contributing my mite to the GDP. I'm no politician or Master of the Universe, just a citizen who takes part in elections, contacts her representatives over such matters, and votes with her income. I know I probably won't be missed, but I've crossed Arizona off my list of places to live.
"
Now, what do you think would happen to American agriculture if only 10,000 people were let in to work the fields each year? What do you think would happen to your grocery bill?
"
They'd go up. Farmers would have to pay a living wage. Prices would go up. And more Americans would have jobs. Maybe we could import more cheap labor to save money on crap, get umemployment up to about 50%, and everyone live off Medicaid and the hard work of illegals.
Damn, DM, you are one righteous son of a gun. It is SO refreshing to read someone who not only has the ability to see reality as it is but who writes about it like a man on fire.
Rock on!!
"You write to free the poison of living in today's society from your body through your fingertips, writing while sparks fly from the keys and exorcise the demons; letting the exuberance of life explode on the paper."
R Bradbury
Not to mention that there were no restrictions for British immigrants coming through Ellis Island in 1900 except they be healthy and not feeble-minded. Ignorant was ok.
In some areas the illegal immigrant population is largely Europeans who have overstayed their tourist visas. If the AZ bill were passed in my locale, DWW (driving while white) would be a potential, albeit largely unenforceable, crime. For the record, I am a US citizen of Eastern European/Irish descent, which means I vaguely resemble a whole lot of people around here.
Wow, why not go to the source of the immigration problem? Crack down on the businesses that hire them and, voila, suddenly they don't want to come here anymore because there are no jobs. If they actually enforced the laws already on the books regarding those who hire illegal workers, we might actually have some jobs open up for Americans. Oh, wait, then the companies would have to offer a living wage. That's not going to happen.........
"In some areas...illegal immigrant population is largely [white]Europeans who have overstayed their tourist visas."
As spouse of to an Asian green card holder (dual citizenship NOT allowed between the Asian country and USA), there is a very large amount of resentment on the part of some Asians with regard to citizenship and immigration and having to giving up citizenship in the Asian country, yet Europeans may MAINTAIN dual citizenship.
So, there are several kettle of fish under discussion--Europeans often CAN maintain citizenship in the their country of origin; undocumented immigrants from South American and Mexico WISH to emigrate to US but are restricted by US immigration limits, and many Asians CANNOT maintain dual citizenship (that is, they cannot return back to the homeland to be buried next to parents and loved family!).
Plus, white European illegal immigrants are very UNLIKELY to be agricultural workers or work in the meat packing industry.
Of all these various groups...our police are most likely to target those immigrants who MOST appear 'like them' i.e. white (or Jewish) Europeans... .
Remember, in some American cultures, it is considered taboo to work with dead animals, so while the 'owners' can be US citizens, the actual workers can be those from another culture that 'touch' carcasses e.g. recall a certain US raid of a slaughterhouse in Iowa in 2008;
"...Postville...raid at... Agriprocessors Inc. kosher slaughterhouse and meat packing plant... executed by US...ICE division of Dept of Homeland Security together with other agencies...largest single raid of a workplace in US history until that date, and resulted in nearly 400 arrests for identity theft, document fraud, use of stolen social security numbers, and similar offenses..."
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