More flakes and nuts...
While on the elliptical machine at the gym today my choices were: (1) a soap on CBS; (2) a soap on NBC; (3) a soap on ABC; (4) Judge Pirro; (5) CNN: and (6) ESPN. Since football is essentially over, baseball hasn't started college hoops was the topic. ESPN was out then. I can't stand soaps, so natch network TV. Judge Pirro is amusing but that would be like spending the day in small claims in East Boston ... so I tuned in to CNN.
What the hell are they smoking at CNN?
Haiti was the topic and how badly we are blundering about there. I was kind of relieved that Obama was President, so at least I did not have to listen to more Boosh-Bashing. So I thought. You see, some bald-headed cretin was interviewing an activist Jewish bloke about the refugee problem. We were told that the U.S. refusing to receive all of the Haitian refugees was a repeat of the St. Louis affair where a shipload of Europeans Jews were turned away from various countries only to be sent back to Europe -- and presumably eventual demise in Hitler's death camps. Seriously.
We are told that the problem here is that the United States refuses to accept as refugees those fleeing economic hardship or natural disaster. Under Boosh Senior (see, it is amazing how leftists manage to blame a Boosh -- anything to shift blame from Obama), we started intercepting Haitians at sea to return them to their country -- unwilling to listen to their claims of political persecution (which would be a valid refugee claim). If they had made it to our shores, we would have to at least give them a little due process: if caught in the boats, they just get a free ride home.
Clearly, opined the host and guest, this was unfair (and tantamount to consigning these poor innocent people to the hell of their homeland), and that was prior to the quake.
What both of these idiots missed is this simple point: if you grant everyone and anyone refugee status merely because they claim political refugee status, we would have every migrant worker in Central and South America living in Section 8 housing in Boston within the week. The people have been leaving Haiti for economic reasons, pure and simple. Similarly, that the vast majority of Latin American states are failed, corrupt economies and societies is NOT AMERICA'S FAULT, and nor is it America's responsibility to accept their poor. Send them to Chavez in Venezuela -- he claims that the quake was caused by a U.S. secret weapon, anyway!
Back to "Morons on the Ones" -- CNN.
"Why," postulated the guest, "can't we take cruise ships and fill them full of these suffering people and bring them all to the United States?" "They are homeless, so let's give them homes." The CNN talking head agreed wholeheartedly. Uh, you might as well empty Haiti and give them all U.S. citizenship. 'cause nobody will be left -- everyone in the whole country will suddenly be homeless. And if you think for one moment that you are going to be able to catch the Haitians to ship them back home once the crisis is over ... you need to "up" your meds. Of course, the French would accuse us of seizing the inhabitants and putting them in detention camps while we plundered Haiti ... sorry Sarko, you guys already did that for some 200 years: there's nothing left.
Looking at the big picture, I don't see where 200 years of mismanagement and folly should suddenly (or always) be the problem of the U.S. taxpayer. And I'd hate to have them here to vote for all of the Obama handouts that would follow ... and help re-elect Obama. But the largest problem is precedent: we do it for Haiti, we do it for everyone. It is already a large enough problem with those that DO manage to sneak into our country. We don't need to give up entirely.
So no matter how great the humanitarian need -- it is better to deal with it on Haitian land than on U.S. soil. So let's send supplies. Ships. Airfields. Why not send Nancy Peolsi's 757 to carry Haitian orphans to various world capitals that have declared they want them? How about sending a couple of thousand to Berkeley California to be cared for by the municipality there? If the world lets us, we can go in there dig, re-construct and build for a lot less then we have to spend in Iraq. Let the French contribute, as well as the English journalists who can't figure out why U.S. troops have to have weapons with them. The Germans could donate some excellent machinery, the Chinese have lots of spare cash....
WHY IS THE WORLD LOOKING AT THIS DISASTER AS AN AMERICAN PROBLEM? WHAT IF WE JUST GO HOME?
What the hell are they smoking at CNN?
Haiti was the topic and how badly we are blundering about there. I was kind of relieved that Obama was President, so at least I did not have to listen to more Boosh-Bashing. So I thought. You see, some bald-headed cretin was interviewing an activist Jewish bloke about the refugee problem. We were told that the U.S. refusing to receive all of the Haitian refugees was a repeat of the St. Louis affair where a shipload of Europeans Jews were turned away from various countries only to be sent back to Europe -- and presumably eventual demise in Hitler's death camps. Seriously.
We are told that the problem here is that the United States refuses to accept as refugees those fleeing economic hardship or natural disaster. Under Boosh Senior (see, it is amazing how leftists manage to blame a Boosh -- anything to shift blame from Obama), we started intercepting Haitians at sea to return them to their country -- unwilling to listen to their claims of political persecution (which would be a valid refugee claim). If they had made it to our shores, we would have to at least give them a little due process: if caught in the boats, they just get a free ride home.
Clearly, opined the host and guest, this was unfair (and tantamount to consigning these poor innocent people to the hell of their homeland), and that was prior to the quake.
What both of these idiots missed is this simple point: if you grant everyone and anyone refugee status merely because they claim political refugee status, we would have every migrant worker in Central and South America living in Section 8 housing in Boston within the week. The people have been leaving Haiti for economic reasons, pure and simple. Similarly, that the vast majority of Latin American states are failed, corrupt economies and societies is NOT AMERICA'S FAULT, and nor is it America's responsibility to accept their poor. Send them to Chavez in Venezuela -- he claims that the quake was caused by a U.S. secret weapon, anyway!
Back to "Morons on the Ones" -- CNN.
"Why," postulated the guest, "can't we take cruise ships and fill them full of these suffering people and bring them all to the United States?" "They are homeless, so let's give them homes." The CNN talking head agreed wholeheartedly. Uh, you might as well empty Haiti and give them all U.S. citizenship. 'cause nobody will be left -- everyone in the whole country will suddenly be homeless. And if you think for one moment that you are going to be able to catch the Haitians to ship them back home once the crisis is over ... you need to "up" your meds. Of course, the French would accuse us of seizing the inhabitants and putting them in detention camps while we plundered Haiti ... sorry Sarko, you guys already did that for some 200 years: there's nothing left.
Looking at the big picture, I don't see where 200 years of mismanagement and folly should suddenly (or always) be the problem of the U.S. taxpayer. And I'd hate to have them here to vote for all of the Obama handouts that would follow ... and help re-elect Obama. But the largest problem is precedent: we do it for Haiti, we do it for everyone. It is already a large enough problem with those that DO manage to sneak into our country. We don't need to give up entirely.
So no matter how great the humanitarian need -- it is better to deal with it on Haitian land than on U.S. soil. So let's send supplies. Ships. Airfields. Why not send Nancy Peolsi's 757 to carry Haitian orphans to various world capitals that have declared they want them? How about sending a couple of thousand to Berkeley California to be cared for by the municipality there? If the world lets us, we can go in there dig, re-construct and build for a lot less then we have to spend in Iraq. Let the French contribute, as well as the English journalists who can't figure out why U.S. troops have to have weapons with them. The Germans could donate some excellent machinery, the Chinese have lots of spare cash....
WHY IS THE WORLD LOOKING AT THIS DISASTER AS AN AMERICAN PROBLEM? WHAT IF WE JUST GO HOME?
posted by Zaphod at Thursday, January 21, 2010
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home