2008 Woodie Awards
FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE: ¿Dónde está la biblioteca?
Luke McIntyre
Issue date: 11/1/05 Section: Opinions
I hope that everyone enjoyed Hispanic Heritage month, September 15th through October 15th. Personally, I was not aware of it until I saw a large sign in the Greensboro Public Library. It probably would have slipped past my radar - every month is something or other nowadays - but just then a recorded message announced that a Harry Potter themed band was signing autographs in the lobby. Odd enough by itself, the message then played again in Spanish. While checking out I asked a librarian if that was a way they were celebrating the month. She said it wasn't.
Apparently they have had problems with people who can't speak English coming to the library and not understanding the announcements, not understanding that the library was closing, things like that. This irked me. I understand most businesses catering to Spanish-speaking customers, they have a profit motive. Municipal services have quite the opposite, a budget allotted to them from taxpayer money. Acknowledging that up until recently North Carolina had the fastest growing Hispanic population in America, 92% of North Carolinians speak English in their home, including 89% of people in Greensboro. One would think that somewhere in the library is a Spanish to English dictionary.
It was with this observation fresh in my mind that I watched Senator Ted Kennedy open a subcommittee on immigration with the comment that it was absurd to suggest we deport the estimated 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants in America right now. In addition to the high cost of such a venture, Kennedy asserted that our economy couldn't withstand the removal of these workers. It seems he assumes that once an illegal alien finds employment in America that they have somehow earned the right to stay. This ridiculous argument would just as easily let a drug dealer run free because he has a day job. "Oh no, wherever will McDonald's find a new assistant manager?"
Kennedy was playing off of the annoying logic that since illegal aliens mostly take jobs Americans don't want, they aren't hurting our economy. Our president even buys into it, pushing for a temporary worker plan that encourages people from other countries not only to come work in America but to stay for as long as six years without considering citizenship. Bush says it will "provide for our economy's labor needs without harming American workers." He wants to bring the American dream to the masses, but one thing he fails to realize is that for every tax dollar that goes to illegal immigrants, who aren't supposed to be here in the first place, the American dream gets a little dimmer and farther away for the average working American.
We're a nation of immigrants, I realize that. As a prosperous country we have the ability and responsibility to help as many people as we can. I agree with our president that we can afford more than 140,000 Green Cards a year. We can do more, but not at the expense of the American worker. I get off the Bush train when he says bringing in foreign workers to take American jobs will help our dragging economy. Outsourcing our jobs isn't bad enough; we have to insource them as well?
I have an idea that will solve two of our country's long-standing problems. In 2003 it cost North Carolina taxpayers over $21,000 for each inmate in our penal system (you were also paying $25,000 a year for federal prisoners). That is, we are footing the bill so that criminals can sit in a room and think about what they've done. It's enough to make one wonder who is being punished here.
The average North Carolina prisoner, working minimum wage, would have to labor a little over eleven hours a day to pay us back for the expense of their incarceration. Who knows, we might even save a bit on prison costs from not having to run the air conditioning or cable TV while the guys are at work.
Now of course I'm not suggesting we put prisoners to work for eleven hours a day. Eight would suffice, and we don't really have to pay them minimum wage. Give them the jobs that illegal immigrants are doing now, and make the prisoners do it for cheaper. The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution allows for prisoners who have been duly convicted of a crime to be sentenced to involuntary labor. Our prisoners will provide a better and cheaper work force, because they have no choice. The temporary worker program will be put out of business and American taxpayers won't have to pay for criminals to be punished. Who knows, it might give a little meaning to the phrase "pay your debt to society."
For more information and statistics, log on to the following websites:
www.ncruralcenter.org
www.census.gov
www.doc.state.nc.us
You can check out Luke's blog at www.livejournal.com/~luke_mcintyre.
Apparently they have had problems with people who can't speak English coming to the library and not understanding the announcements, not understanding that the library was closing, things like that. This irked me. I understand most businesses catering to Spanish-speaking customers, they have a profit motive. Municipal services have quite the opposite, a budget allotted to them from taxpayer money. Acknowledging that up until recently North Carolina had the fastest growing Hispanic population in America, 92% of North Carolinians speak English in their home, including 89% of people in Greensboro. One would think that somewhere in the library is a Spanish to English dictionary.
It was with this observation fresh in my mind that I watched Senator Ted Kennedy open a subcommittee on immigration with the comment that it was absurd to suggest we deport the estimated 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants in America right now. In addition to the high cost of such a venture, Kennedy asserted that our economy couldn't withstand the removal of these workers. It seems he assumes that once an illegal alien finds employment in America that they have somehow earned the right to stay. This ridiculous argument would just as easily let a drug dealer run free because he has a day job. "Oh no, wherever will McDonald's find a new assistant manager?"
Kennedy was playing off of the annoying logic that since illegal aliens mostly take jobs Americans don't want, they aren't hurting our economy. Our president even buys into it, pushing for a temporary worker plan that encourages people from other countries not only to come work in America but to stay for as long as six years without considering citizenship. Bush says it will "provide for our economy's labor needs without harming American workers." He wants to bring the American dream to the masses, but one thing he fails to realize is that for every tax dollar that goes to illegal immigrants, who aren't supposed to be here in the first place, the American dream gets a little dimmer and farther away for the average working American.
We're a nation of immigrants, I realize that. As a prosperous country we have the ability and responsibility to help as many people as we can. I agree with our president that we can afford more than 140,000 Green Cards a year. We can do more, but not at the expense of the American worker. I get off the Bush train when he says bringing in foreign workers to take American jobs will help our dragging economy. Outsourcing our jobs isn't bad enough; we have to insource them as well?
I have an idea that will solve two of our country's long-standing problems. In 2003 it cost North Carolina taxpayers over $21,000 for each inmate in our penal system (you were also paying $25,000 a year for federal prisoners). That is, we are footing the bill so that criminals can sit in a room and think about what they've done. It's enough to make one wonder who is being punished here.
The average North Carolina prisoner, working minimum wage, would have to labor a little over eleven hours a day to pay us back for the expense of their incarceration. Who knows, we might even save a bit on prison costs from not having to run the air conditioning or cable TV while the guys are at work.
Now of course I'm not suggesting we put prisoners to work for eleven hours a day. Eight would suffice, and we don't really have to pay them minimum wage. Give them the jobs that illegal immigrants are doing now, and make the prisoners do it for cheaper. The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution allows for prisoners who have been duly convicted of a crime to be sentenced to involuntary labor. Our prisoners will provide a better and cheaper work force, because they have no choice. The temporary worker program will be put out of business and American taxpayers won't have to pay for criminals to be punished. Who knows, it might give a little meaning to the phrase "pay your debt to society."
For more information and statistics, log on to the following websites:
www.ncruralcenter.org
www.census.gov
www.doc.state.nc.us
You can check out Luke's blog at www.livejournal.com/~luke_mcintyre.
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