Half Under Water, Half Under Indictment
When I read about the problems New Orleans is having post-Katrina, it makes me glad to be in L.A.
Compared to the Big Easy, our difficulties with immigration and corruption are insignificant.
Before the hurricane, there were fewer than 2,000 (estimated) illegal immigrants in New Orleans. Now there are almost 20,000, attracted by the huge contracts to repair the levees and storm damage. The resident African Americans, who thought they would get the lion’s share of these jobs, are up in arms over their inability to find employment.
Part of the problem is that there is nowhere to live near the job sites, and since they are used to living in what we would call “civilized” conditions, the Blacks have a hard time competing with rural Mexicans, who are willing to sleep on the ground near the job sites, without sanitation facilities.
I’m certainly no fan of President Jorge Bush, but I find it amusing to see the amount of blame heaped on the current administration, in view of the fact that the New Orleans mayor, city council, and chief of police are all Democrats. So are the Louisiana governor, Lt. Gov, attorney general and two-thirds of the state senators and house of representatives.
The state has a long-time reputation for corruption. As former congressman Billy Tauzin put it, “Half of Louisiana is under water, and the other half is under indictment.” Recent scandals include the conviction of 14 state judges and an FBI raid on its congressman.
When former Governor Edwin Edwards ran against Ku Klux Klansman David Duke, Edward’s popular bumper sticker read “Elect the Crook.” Edwards is currently serving 10 years for taking bribes. Duke recently completed his own prison term for tax fraud.
The Louisiana school system is rated dead last in the nation in number of computers per student (one per 88 kids). By the state’s own admission, 47-percent of the public schools in New Orleans are considered “academically unacceptable.” Louisiana has the second highest per capita number of adults who never finished high school.
As for rebuilding parts of the city which will remain under sea level, and vulnerable to the next big storm, I find that as insane as building a nuclear plant near an earthquake fault. (Wait a minute – we’ve already done that.)
Compared to the Big Easy, our difficulties with immigration and corruption are insignificant.
Before the hurricane, there were fewer than 2,000 (estimated) illegal immigrants in New Orleans. Now there are almost 20,000, attracted by the huge contracts to repair the levees and storm damage. The resident African Americans, who thought they would get the lion’s share of these jobs, are up in arms over their inability to find employment.
Part of the problem is that there is nowhere to live near the job sites, and since they are used to living in what we would call “civilized” conditions, the Blacks have a hard time competing with rural Mexicans, who are willing to sleep on the ground near the job sites, without sanitation facilities.
I’m certainly no fan of President Jorge Bush, but I find it amusing to see the amount of blame heaped on the current administration, in view of the fact that the New Orleans mayor, city council, and chief of police are all Democrats. So are the Louisiana governor, Lt. Gov, attorney general and two-thirds of the state senators and house of representatives.
The state has a long-time reputation for corruption. As former congressman Billy Tauzin put it, “Half of Louisiana is under water, and the other half is under indictment.” Recent scandals include the conviction of 14 state judges and an FBI raid on its congressman.
When former Governor Edwin Edwards ran against Ku Klux Klansman David Duke, Edward’s popular bumper sticker read “Elect the Crook.” Edwards is currently serving 10 years for taking bribes. Duke recently completed his own prison term for tax fraud.
The Louisiana school system is rated dead last in the nation in number of computers per student (one per 88 kids). By the state’s own admission, 47-percent of the public schools in New Orleans are considered “academically unacceptable.” Louisiana has the second highest per capita number of adults who never finished high school.
As for rebuilding parts of the city which will remain under sea level, and vulnerable to the next big storm, I find that as insane as building a nuclear plant near an earthquake fault. (Wait a minute – we’ve already done that.)
Posted by Anonymous @ 4/08/2006 01:51:00 PM
16 Comments:
when the illegal immigration bill first started being reported a major point everyone was talking about was to go after the "employers." Why aren't they talking about that any longer? Why in the "compromise" that was reported all over the news last week did it not say ONE word about going after the employers? If employers wouldn't hire them they wouldn't come. They need to add strong language and fines and go after them.
That was just to get fairminded people to accept a deeply flawed proposal.
They don't come just for jobs from private employers, though that is admittedly the prime attraction.
Illegal immigration also provides illegals with an overwhelming array of government benefits:
1. Free healthcare through our emergency rooms, including free childbirth that can involve hundreds of thousands of dollars of ICU care;
2. Free education for as many children as you want;
3. Legal welfare for any children born in the USA;
4. Section 8 housing "assistance" (i.e. rent subsidies) on a "no questions asked" basis;
5. Police protection far superior to anything in Mexico;
6. Access to the civil courts for contract disputes, custody battles, etc.;
7. Social Security benefits;
8. Government jobs, also on a "no questions asked" basis;
9. Etc., etc., etc.
So don't believe for a minute that prosecuting a few private employers will solve the problem. We have to stop the flow of tax dollars, too.
Someone has finally told the truth about Katrina. Yes, FEMA's response was horrible. But Gov. Kathleen "deer in the headlights" Blanco, and Mayor Ray "Chocolate City" Nagin made things 10x worse. They didn't know what the hell they were doing, and they couldn't make up their minds about what to do.
*Remember the mayor's "evacuation order" that was never enforced?
*Remember the governor asking Bush to wait a couple of days before using the National Guard?
*Remember all of those criminals shooting at rescue personnel?
*Remember the school buses that could've have transported hundreds of people to safety being submerged under water because of where they were parked?
*Remember the lack of toilets, food, and water located at the Superdome when it had long been designated as an evacuation site by the state's emergency agency?
We still don't know why millions of dollars allocated during the Clinton years to fix the levees were not spent for the intended purpose. That's not Clinton's fault, because just like you said, there is a culture of corruption in Louisiana.
God help all those poor people in Louisiana.
Jennifer your posts are certainly provocative, but not particularly insightful. The corruption and ineptitude of the government in Louisiana, and New Orleans in particular, has been known for years. The aftermath of Katrina put the local government’s ineptitude under a spotlight. The debate on illegal immigration is a separate one. They don’t converge just because you say so.
Walter you spit out a lot of rhetoric, so incase you didn’t know… Without a Social Security number, you cannot claim benefits. Also, most illegal aliens are healthy adult men who tend to be sick less often than native elderly and children. HELLO… How else would they run across the desert to get to L.A! DUH… Here is what my friends at the Cato Institute say:
* Illegal aliens contribute about as much to the public
coffers in taxes as they receive in benefits. New data suggest
that the undocumented pay about 46 percent as much in taxes as do
natives, but use about 45 percent as much in services.
Basically the problem we have with the undocumented and tax use, is that the undocumented primarily use local, (i.e county provided) services while they pay more state, and federal taxes (in the form of social security taxes for phony social security numbers.) If I recall from the book La Nueva California by David Hayes-Bautista they pay over from around $1.10-$2 for every state benefit they received and $3 or so for every federal benefit they received but something like 86 cents for each dollar received in local services. I think the feds need to pay back counties for that-take some of the money that won't need to be paid back. It's wrong to use a worker that will never receive benefits in order to shore up the Social Security system (which is being done with payroll taxes collected for phony ss numbers.) Pay the counties back for the services!
Good call, anon 1134. California gets screwed on what we get in federal services in roughly the same proportion as CA is overspending on immigrant services. If we got a 1:1 ratio back from D.C. (and if we weren't thrown to the wolves with Enron and the like), this immigrant tax gap would no longer exist.
Jennifer, maybe you could ask the GOP to stop sending our share of federal taxes to the plains states, and then you could stop writing these "immigrants are a drag on society" articles. It'd probably be easier for them to invest fairly in our state than to find, classify, and deport everyone who's crossed the border illegally, and it'd be damn easier on the Mayor Sam audience if you found a less fringe-y topic to write about.
10:31p why do you think so many hospitals are closing? Because word back in Mexico is go to the US and have your baby, everything is free even if your illegal. To solve the illegal immigration problem all the govt has to do is start enforcing the law and taking away the free benefits all the illegals have. Govt is saying we know your illegal but here are some free gifts to keep you here. Now they made a mess and can't seem to get out of it. Go after the employers
Anonymous:
1. Go talk to emergency room nurses, as I have, and then tell me illegal aliens don't get sick. I've met nurse after nurse who tells me the emergency rooms are clogged with illegal alien mothers giving birth, often to the fourth, fifth or eighth kid, and often with complications requiring expensive intensive care. They also generate "special education" children who require extra-expensive education later in life.
2. Please cite the source of your "new data" statistics. The idea that illegal aliens "contribute" as much as they receive is laughable. We spend about $12,000 per student per year in the LAUSD system. Do you really think a guy making $10 an hour with four kids pays the taxes necessary for that education? Get real!
3. Ilegals have anchor babies who, as I understand it, are used to pull in others, who get Social Security. I've heard of people who bring their elderly parents or grandparents here, and they then "cash in" as if they'd worked here their whole lives.
Walter, your premise is laughable. I'm sure Princeton taught you better than that - but then you were probably one of those "Concerned Alumni of Princeton" who have always heard of this and heard of that and then you reprhase what you heard to suit your argument.
Well have you heard of sex slaves being brought into the U.S. - yeah, there here for the benefits. Have you heard of farmworkers dying when the get sprayed by pesticide (in the form of crop dusting planes) - yeah, they're here for the benefits. Have you heard of textile workers being locked in white owned factories until their quota is met - yeah, they're here for the benefits.
It is amazing how you bigotted paranoid little peckers out there pick the weakest to go after. I guess that study about sniveling little conservatives is true.
Immigration in this country, legal or otherwise, has alwys been there, and always will. It is just now that the war in Iraq isn't going well - not because of the occupation but because of the exposed conservative lies, and now that the price of oil is revealing the true agenda of this conservative administration that these same conservatives target the weak. And it's happend before in this country: Japanese internment camps; Operation Wetback in 1954-55; mass deportations - even of citizens- during the depression. Such is the nature of conservatives.
But nothing is going to change soon. There is a prophecy being fulfilled. Learn the history of this land and you will get a clue - and this was not taught at Princeton. These aren't anchor babies - they are "reconquista babies". And get this through your clouded brain - this is our birth rite - that's right - birth rite. L.A., California and the southwest in general is not going to turn out the way you want it to - so get a move on. This country is big enough. And the prophecy is bearing that out.
I truly believe this issue of Blacks and immigration is another wedge issue for Whites.
Whites love to divide and conquer. It's whites who have left our public schools and perpetuated the pay-to-play in our government.
Whites are looking for a scapegoat and Mexicans are it. It's not complicated.
12:21 - that might be true if Latinos weren't so racist against blacks. You don't hear it from the suit and tie Lat-tee-nos like Tony Villar. But Nearly all Latinos who hire for jobs on construction sites, etc. will generally not hire whites and definitely will not hire mayates.
This isn't something that happens to them when they come here, anti-black attitudes are strong in Latin America - look at the postage stamps Mexico put out as well as the remarks of Fox.
American employers have hired illegal immigrants over legal or native born Latins, Blacks and Whites so they can pay lower wages. When the illegal becomes the job superintendent, he often only hires only Latinos. And in many cases it even goes as far to nationality, for example, a Salvadoran won't hire Mexicans or Nicarauguans, only Salvadorans.
This has hurt blacks the most because prior to the wave of illegal immigration most of these positions were held by blacks who made good money (like in the construction business).
Blacks are right to be concerned.
Little Girl:
NOLA will be perfectly safe as long as adequate levees are built. The question is, are the residents of NOLA "worth it" to the Bush administration. Bush, as you may know, doesn't like black people, so the prospects are grim.
Also, Lousiana, Mississippi and Texas consistently jockey for the coveted #50 spot in public education. The title is currently held by TX.
Wacko:
Had you ever worked for a public agency, then you would know how ridiculous statement #8 is. You act as if you won the mayoral race. Go back to your cubby hole, we'll see you again in four years when KFI invites you the roundtable.
Anon 12:50:
Are you an organizer for 1877? Because your comment about supervisors hiring people only of their ethnicities is a page right out of any downtown janitorial service firm.
There is just as much corruption here in local govt as in New Orleans -- it's just a little less overt and we have a bunch of lapdogs in the press. The 88 cities that make up LA County and the County govt itself are run by a bunch of electeds who, for the most part, have never run anything than for office. All they know if patronage and bribes. Just the way it is.
Anon at 11:23 --
Drinking and typing don't mix.
Ditto to Anon at 2:24. Did you guys run out of coloring books or something at the facility today? I haven't encountered this level of discourse since about ninth grade.
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