Republican Hazleton Mayor unexpectedly wins Democratic nomination on write-ins

[Robson]

The illegal immigration issue is not about race it is about economics and the impact that uncontrolled entry of unskilled workers into the USA has on wages, school taxes, social services, health care and a bunch of other stuff. The Democratic and Republican Party had better take note that this issue is not going away and that most of America opposes amnesty, including most hard working Democrats.


http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3178917

Mayor Who Targeted Illegals Wins _ Twice
Pa. Mayor Who Targeted Illegal Immigrants Wins Democratic and Republican Mayoral Primaries

Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, who gained national attention by targeting illegal immigrants living in his small northeastern Pennsylvania city, cruised to the Republican nomination for a third term on Tuesday and unexpectedly won the Democratic nomination, too.

Barletta trounced GOP challenger Dee Deakos with nearly 94 percent of the vote. And he beat former Mayor Michael Marsicano for the Democratic nomination by staging a last-minute write-in campaign, all but guaranteeing himself another term, unofficial returns showed.

"I think the message is clear," Barletta said. "The people of Hazleton want me to keep fighting for them."

read more at link

[rodeodance]

1. Dems are NOT talking amnesty!---that is a RW talking point!!

[Robson]

13. Life ain't fair

With all due respect both parties are talking "amnesty", although they might call it by a different name. They will give those who came here illegally a spot in line and a path to legal citizenship (or residence) that they never would have received had they not come here illegally. So they were rewarded for their illegal behavior and those employers who paid them, and the coyotes that brought them here reap the rewards. In the end everyone wins except the American citizens that are paying the price by receiving lower wages and higher taxes for subsidized healthcare, education of their children and other social costs. This is a core economic issue.

As an example, my brother in law in construction lost his job with benefits several years ago which he says was due to imported labor. In the interim he got a job in retail which did not provide health benefits (or much pay). He needed an emergency procedure and is now paying for it out of his own pocket. He had a couple of bucks in savings and some equity in a house so receiving free healthcare as the illegals do was not an option. He had to pay or lose his house. But life isn't fair, but we need to attempt make it so.

[KharmaTrain]

2. The Top Story Tonight On Lou Doobies

that doesn't mean a damn thing other than to whip up more of his self-righteous xenophobia.

I'm sure they're just crushed in Jalisco to know they can't risk their lives crossing the border, river and desert to clean pools in that town.

[Justyce]

3. I agree with your first paragraph. Our economy

is barely hanging on as it is -- it cannot sustain open immigration. It would be nice if we could have open immigration, but it's not very realistic economically speaking. We cannot absorb the number of people in other countries who need help and a better way of life -- we would do better IMO to increase assistance to impoverished countries.

[Robson]

4. I agree - when we're too poor to help it'll be too late

When our country is overpopulated and overextended and wages of the middle class depressed to the point that most Americans can't afford a college education, it will be too late to help anyone or any country. We'll be the 3rd world country looking for help and it will probably need to come from China.

This country doesn't need to import millions upon millions of uneducated unskilled workers from other countries, we have more than enough citizens in our own country that need given the opportunity to increase skill levels.

[SoCalDem]

5. When times are good, and people are employed & optimistic, they don;t mind sharing

and immigration takes a back seat....but when republicans are in charge and they loot the treasury, people start losing jobs and getting scared, so they all pick on the "least of us"..

Anyone who's ever had a fishtank knows this.. Times are good and fish are fed regularly, everyone gets along, but if feedings a bit late, and there's a dodgy fish swimming a bit erratically, and soon all the fish are pecking at him until they kill him..

We are not as "evolved" as we claim to be.

[Robson]

6. So when the next depression comes - then what?

I agree that the GOP has raped and looted the treasury of this country for very short term gains. This economy is running on borrowed money and time and false stimuli such as the war and deficit increasing tax cuts.

For some interesting reading on why the indices look good, but are counterintuitive to common sense check out this site.

http://www.shadowstats.com/cgi-bin/sgs

My own opinion on the economy and the general direction that we are headed is probably more pessimistic than some, which is why I oppose any form of amnesty for illegals and added social obligations to those legitimate citizens of this country that current corporate controlled government policies are screwing over more every day.

We don't owe the world access to our social services and social security.

edited: spelling

[SoCalDem]

7. "Foreigners" were not popular during the depression either

The current incarnation of "immigration reform" is a strawman.

ALL that needs to happen is to issue EVERYONE a biometric "work ID", and every employer has to post a $10K bond per employee, until it's proven that they are legal.

If they are found to be illegal, the employer forfeits the bond, goes to jail for a year (the BOSSES and owners), and if it happens again, their business gets confiscated.

No jobs, no undocumented people coming here for work.

and the offshoot of this would be that there would be jobs for people who are legal, and the wages would increase.:)

[Robson]

8. You nailed it - business wants option to either import labor or export production at will

I agree that would solve this problem and allow many Americans to begin earning more. Unlimited immigration that the business community desires is what has contained wages since the 80s. Business wants it both ways with an option to either outsource production or to import labor at will. We need to change that.

What isn't going to solve this problem is a repeat of 1986 and continuation of chain immigration that will add a hundred million people to our country within several decades.

A continuation of legal immigration and our mixing pot culture where everyone assimilates, and offers different cultural perspectives has worked for us. What won't work for us is a continuation of massive numbers of illegal unskilled immigrants.

[SoCalDem]

9. It HAS to start with the employers though.. They are "known quantities"

If the workers found out that they were going to have to get a specific ID card, and they knew they could not ..and EVERY other employer was demanding the same, the jobs would dry up, and people here illegally would have to re-think being here.. Immigrants send money home, where it goes further..If they cannot make enough to live on here (underground jobs) and have extra to send home, they might just go home and at least be with their families.

[Robson]

10. That's the bottom line - employers

All employees should be required to prove eligibility. I believe that each and every American should have a biometrically designed ID card that could be verified through a centralized data base that would be required for major transactions such as jobs, buying a house, opening a bank account, and applying for a driver's license. However law enforcement would never be permitted to stop people at random and request papers please, unless it was an arrest.

I've read that in India it is not uncommon for relatives to commit ID theft by deciding to declare that a relative was dead and then taking his property. I assume they bribe authorities to certify that the individual is dead (when he may be away or the process is unbeknownst to the victim until too late). This individual is unable to ever prove he owned it or is whom he says he is. He is considered as in limbo. http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=784

In my view immigration and ID theft is a very good reason to establish some sort of bribe proof ID and identity clearinghouse in the USA.

[lynnertic]

17. Maybe not. the offshoot of this would be a police state

because no business large or small is going to post a $10K bond for every employee they have, NOR will they *allow* a govt that tries to implement such a draconian measure to stay in power.

Furthermore, we don't have enough inspectors to even do a good job of ensuring the safety of our food supply or audit corporations for financial fraud or chase down identity thieves, and our Justice system on the whole has been converted to a political machine, but you want to add a bunch more hoo-yahs so they can go around arresting and jailing business owners and confiscating their stuff?

The sentiment behind your idea is good and valid, but the method you propose is impractical.

:smoke:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

11. Another politician playing to the fear of the "Brown Bogeyman".

Just another racist of the "respectable" White Citizens Council sort.

[devilgrrl]

12. Who's hiring these people????

And why isn't that the focus on this issue??????


Oooooooh, fear the spics! :sarcasm:

[BlooInBloo]

14. Aaah - the fuckwipe Connecticut electorate has found its soul-mate!

[WI_DEM]

15. the Republicans--without doubt--is going to try and make illegal immigration a top issue in '08

and dems better be ready to respond to their smears and lies.

[Robson]

16. Why isn't it the Democratic Party's top domestic issue?

Opposition to illegal immigration that benefits only the rich and the business interests so they get their unlimited cheap labor should be the number one domestic Democratic Party interest.

It frustrates me somewhat that the party that historically represented labor and working America should now support policies that favor big business and that truly hurts most all working constituents from the bottom on up. The issue should be put to a vote to working Americans instead of left up to politicians who have a vested interest above and beyond their constituents.

[KamaAina]

18. Latinos were breathing life back into the moribund town

right up until this jackbooted Know-Nothing crackdown.

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/153880

A tough, first-of-its-kind law targeting illegal immigrants was to take effect today in this small hillside city in northeastern Pennsylvania. A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the measure for at least two weeks, but the evidence suggests many Hispanics — illegal or otherwise — have already left....

"Before, it was a nice place," said Soto, 27, who came to the United States from the Dominican Republic a decade ago. "Now, we have a war against us. I am legal, but I feel the pressure also."...

At Isabel's Gifts, owner Isabel Rubio said business is so bad that she and her husband have put their house up for sale, moved into an apartment above their store and started dipping into their savings.

"I am in a lot of stress right now," said Rubio, 50, a Colombian who moved to Hazleton 24 years ago. "Every day, we hope to have a good day."

Aren't these people also "hard-working Democrats"?

[Robson]

19. If that were so, then why did he get re-elected by residents of both parties

You obviously are entitled to your opinion as a non-resident. However the re-election of this mayor by the residents of both parties speaks differently about the issue. The legal residents apparently didn't see the influx of illegal immigrants as breathing life into the community.

[KamaAina]

20. I don't know. Why did Bush** (apparently) get (re-)elected?

Voters have on occasion been known to do screwy things, even voting against their own interests, when the passions are stirred by issues such as race and nationality.

Pennsylvania native Kim Lopez and her husband, Rudy, a Mexican immigrant, closed their grocery store Oct. 1 after business tailed off dramatically over the summer. They lost more than $10,000 — their life savings.

"Everyone was running scared and left town," said Lopez, 39. "We had customers who came in who were legal citizens, and they didn't want the harassment and hassle and told us they were leaving."

I have no idea whether Ms. Lopez is Latina, or whether it's merely her married name that is. The point is that this extreme xenophobic demagoguery may play well with Anglo voters, who are still a substantial majority in Hazleton, but it harms legal as well as undocumented Hazleton residents who are being singled out because of their (or their husband's) ethnicity.

You obviously are entitled to your opinion as a non-resident.

As are you. :-)

[Robson]

21. I never could figure out why either

Good point. I can't begin to tell you the number of times I have driven by rundown trailer homes in poor areas with vote Bush signs out front or have seen Bush bumper stickers on a run down old car (not that it makes them poor) where I said to myself.....now what does that person believe Bush will ever do for them, except screw them over?

But as an unskilled low paid American worker one could also can say the same thing about candidates from the Democratic Party. Those candidates that are pushing to allow more H1Bs, more chain immigration, open borders for illegals, and policies to give them amnesty/pathway to citizenship are just as hurtful especially to Americans on the bottom rungs. The Democratic Party needs to step back and truly say that it is going to unambiguously support American workers. Based upon the current immigration stance it isn't doing that and that creates confusion among many Americans.