Arkansas Blog

So, alleged money laundering is not criminal enough for you?

Were you as righteously indignant when Wayne Fincher's home was raided?

For the first time in recent memory, Arkansas Red actually has a point. The Reyes family were illegal employers, systematically exploiting undocumented workers. For that alone, they are no less deserving of jail than Don Tyson, who really should be rotting in the next cell over. More than that, though, they were cheating the government, screwing the Social Security system, you name it. Sterling examples of entrepreneurship, don't you think?

By the way, has anyone else managed to wade through the racist sewage at the bottom of that Morning News story? Jumping jeebus! I thought scum was supposed to rise, not sink.

Of course, Red loses it in his last sentence.

Wayne Fincher was a well-armed wacko in a group of well-armed wackos. He was an appropriate case for SWAT team intervention. The Reyes are alleged to be white-collar, corporate criminals. Their sort of violence isn't committed with guns.

You beat me to the punch, John!! All one has to do is read the posts (first hotlink) to realize why we DO NOT want to live up there - someone testified to a "weird feeling" while up there recently - oh YEAH!! You were probably rubbing elbows with some of the frothing-at-the-mouth "law & order" types who post there - SCARY!!!

I'd say asset seizures BEFORE being convicted of anything defines a "police state," which by the way we've been living in at some level since Clinton failed to rein in the Drug Warriors and Bush Lite upped the ante. Ever read anything from John Walters (the "Drug Czar" - how aptly named!) or the drivel put out by the ONDCP?

Arrest of ethnic minorities by machine-gun carrying police; selective prosecution; asset seizures before conviction ... wow, I think I'm living in 1930's Germany.

One must wonder how many of us, who own a business could pass close government inspection? While I'm not in favor of abusing anyone, since time began, immigrants coming to this country, legally or illegally have had to start out behind the 8 ball, putting up with whatever abuse was heaped on their heads in order to get a toe hold in their new home. It's a brutal tradition, but one that has worked for 3 centuries.

I'd think the law & order types would smile to learn someone might have taken advantage of these people they have zero regard for. Don't you want life to be almost impossibly hard for people sneaking into our country? Are dues not to be paid for the pleasure of your company?

I think you have to ask yourself this question every time there is a round-up of hard working people of the non-white color.....are we better off now than we were before the Reyes were raided? Is America safer? Will more people go hungry? Not just the workers who were thrown out of a job, but also the customers looking for good Mexican food? Is our children safer, as Bush might say?

The thing that upsets me most is when good people are mistreated or needlessly punished or singled out for punishment. Shutting off the dream of people who have risked so much, traveled so far, and worked so hard to enter our bottom rung always saddens me. I guess the day I'm looking for work as a dish washer or chicken gutter, or roofer, I might feel differently towards our new Mexican neighbors. The good US jobs continue to fly off shore to enrich the already rich. And yet, a segment of the population can't sleep because illegals are here working jobs we wouldn't have, earning starvation wages.

When America falls, it won't be because of illegal Mexican immigrants. It will be due to the criminality of the rich white men you see on CNN 24-7. The ones with the flag lapel pins. The ones making more off illegal immigration in one minute, than the Reyes workers make in a year. If you're concerned about the safety of your children and the future of America, building a tall electric fence around the White House would be your best bet.

Funny how we always abuse the easy targets, blame all our problems on them, yet show up to pay to have our pictures made with the likes of Cheney & Bush. Like the people of 1930s Germany.....we're worrying about the new Jews, while the new Hitler crushes our heads.

DBI,

When I hear "One must wonder how many of us, who own a business could pass close government inspection?" my first thought is "Then get a f*cking job and live off the sweat of your own f*cking brow for a change!"

Harsh, I know, but consider this from a study of the health insurance industry:

"Over-reimbursement: errors caused over-reimbursement of billing claims in about 5% of records...

"Under-reimbursement: errors resulted in under-reimbursement in 16.8% of claims..."

If the people arrested had been accused of accidentally overpaying into their workers' Social Security accounts, that'd be one thing, but they're accused of not paying anything at all in for dozens of people who work for a living. If those charges are true, then the hell with 'em. Slam their asses in jail, seize whatever they have, bankrupt them for all I care, but get those people who got screwed fair treatment.

AND Tyson anyone? DBI is right - they go after the "easys" and the big-time lawbreakers go to the club UNLESS the fiscal wheels come off (see Enron). If we can't fill the jails with druggies, let's get the Messicans!!! I'm wondering what the actual "bounty" is - you know, like the Drug Task Forces smoke the best weed - for FREE?

DBI,

This is one "blue" that has a differing opinion.

You asked "...are we better off now than we were before the Reyes were raided? Is America safer? Will more people go hungry? Not just the workers who were thrown out of a job, but also the customers looking for good Mexican food?..."

I answer "No. No necessarily. and Yes, possibly."

But you as missing one very important point. The law has been upheld and in extension the Constitution, the very basis for our country. That is unbelievely rare under the Bush administration. They have done their best to convince everyone that government doesn't work, unless it is in the self-interest of the officials. Some of us differ and believe our government, while flawed, is much, much better than anything else around. I do not want to let pathological liars and incompetents like Cheney and Bush convince us to throw out our government because of their failures proving it does't work.

So complain away about people enforcing the laws, but if you believe and want change then start working to change the immigration laws and procedures. That is the way our democracy works. When you and the others who want to ease up on "ILLEGAL" immigrants get the law changed, I will applaud our officials enforcing that law just as I applaud the officals enforcing the law in the Reyes raid.

Futhermore, there are those of us who know that when the Idiot-in-Chief declared war, the entire populace of the United became and will remain targets for those we are at war with and no government can guarantee anyone's safety. They can just try.

For those that ignore history, this has been true in all wars even when we were winning.

". . . Balloon bombs were hot air balloons with one 15 kilogram antipersonnel bomb and two incendiary devices attached. Nov. 3, 1944, Japan released the first of more than 9,000 bomb-bearing balloons. It's estimated that nearly 1,000 reached North America. They were found in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Michigan and Iowa, as well as Mexico and Canada. The last one was launched in April 1945. The last one found in North American was in Alaska in 1955 - its payload still lethal after 10 years of erosion.

On May 5, 1945, a balloon bomb killed five children and a woman near Lakeview, Ore., when it exploded as they dragged it from the woods. Taking some local kids on an outing, Reverend Archi Mitchell watched in horror as his wife, Elsie, and the five children, ages 11 to 13, were killed. . . ."

So don't believe all of us who believe in enforcing the laws suffer from Bush-Cheney fear tactics or callousness.

Sorry about the typos. I haven't posted in a while and this computer is more hair triggered than my old one.

DBI,
This is one "blue" that has a differing opinion.
You asked "...are we better off now than we were before the Reyes were raided? Is America safer? Will more people go hungry? Not just the workers who were thrown out of a job, but also the customers looking for good Mexican food?..."
I answer "No. Not necessarily. And Yes, possibly."
But you are missing one very important point. The law has been upheld and in extension the Constitution, the very basis for our country. That is unbelievably rare under the Bush administration. They have done their best to convince everyone that government doesn't work, unless it is in the self-interest of the officials. Some of us differ and believe our government, while flawed, is much, much better than anything else around. I do not want to let pathological liars and incompetents like Cheney and Bush convince us to throw out our government because of their failures proving it doesn't work.
So complain away about people enforcing the laws, but if you believe and want change then start working to change the immigration laws and procedures. That is the way our democracy works. When you and the others who want to ease up on "ILLEGAL" immigrants get the law changed, I will applaud our officials enforcing that law just as I applaud the officials enforcing the law in the Reyes raid.
Furthermore, there are those of us who know that when the Idiot-in-Chief declared war, the entire populace of the United States became and will remain targets for those we are at war with and no government can guarantee anyone's safety. They can just try.
For those that ignore history, this has been true in all wars even when we were winning.
". . . Balloon bombs were hot air balloons with one 15 kilogram antipersonnel bomb and two incendiary devices attached. Nov. 3, 1944, Japan released the first of more than 9,000 bomb-bearing balloons. It's estimated that nearly 1,000 reached North America. They were found in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Michigan and Iowa, as well as Mexico and Canada. The last one was launched in April 1945. The last one found in North American was in Alaska in 1955 - its payload still lethal after 10 years of erosion.
On May 5, 1945, a balloon bomb killed five children and a woman near Lakeview, Ore., when it exploded as they dragged it from the woods. Taking some local kids on an outing, Reverend Archie Mitchell watched in horror as his wife, Elsie, and the five children, ages 11 to 13, were killed. . . ." The Surrender of Japan, was initially announced on August 15, 1945
So don't believe all of us who believe in enforcing the laws suffer from Bush-Cheney fear tactics or callousness.

docholliday,

Any time one degrades the rule of law it troubles me, but a law which allows work but not workers to flow over the border is an evil law. I find this law unconsciable and am happy to see it broken, but I do understand and appreciate your point of view.

As always, DBI is an imbecile!

"since time began, immigrants coming to this country, legally or illegally have had to start out behind the 8 ball, putting up with whatever abuse was heaped on their heads in order to get a toe hold in their new home. It's a brutal tradition, but one that has worked for 3 centuries." -DBI

What? Abuse? Are you kidding me? This country has been far more tolerant of immigrants than any other country in the world! In fact, that's what we are - a nation of immigrants. Just because DBI is a self-hating racist and doesn't like the white man, doesn't mean that Mexican immigrants can break the laws in our country and get a free pass.

PointConception,

Aside from your sniveling sneers at DBI, there's a flaw in your logic, such as it is, when you say

"Mexican immigrants can't break the laws in our country and get a free pass."

I don't see why not. Their exploitative employers get away with it, if they're white.

John A....

I never said that their employers shouldn't be punished for breaking the law as well. They most certainly should. I am merely stating that Mexican immigrants shouldn't be given a free ride simply because America-hating defeatists such as DBI feel sorry for them.

Besides, I find great pleasure in disagreeing with DBI's ridiculous conclusions.

PointConception,

I guess I'm reaching ridiculous conclusions, too, because the places where I agree with DBI are, in large and disregarding some details, the places where you don't. Or maybe you just dislike DBI. Whatever.

Anyway, I'll take the side of an undocumented worker over a sweatshop owner whose papers are in order--and whose hair is perfect!--any day of the week. In fact, I'll go further. Laws restricting the ability of people to find work on the basis of their citizenship, while allowing work and capital to cross borders without restriction, are class war by the rich against everyone else. Thank you, Bill Clinton, for slipping NAFTA between our ribs. I'm sure Alice Walton will gratefully be your intern.

Devil with a blue dress, blue dress, blue dress, devil with a blue dress on!

I'm a law abiding type, always have been. I'd much rather that Mexicans got in line down south and took a number and came in one at a time with all their papers filled out. I'd also like for the ones who get in to get a nice job with good benefits and everything to just turn out as rosy as possible for all.

But....that's like wanting a blowjob from a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader who then turns into a chicken fried steak. As a white man.....if can't really comprehend how I am a self-hating racist and don't like white folks. I like myself pretty well, I wish I was taller and younger and richer and better looking and didn't have diabetes of the penis. I spend my time taking up for people of all colors including white.

Though we're losing our control, white men are still very much in charge. It's a mixed bag about how things are going under white rule. Things are pretty FK'ed up if you look around. I don't think browns and blacks will do a lot better than us white, but I doubt they'll do worse.

I will agree that Mexicans sneaking over the border are breaking the law. What Pointless can't do is look at the finer points of an argument, perhaps the cord was wrapped around his neck at birth? Yes, I applaud the fact that America doesn't have snipers shooting Mexicans in the head as they cross the border in the night. But while we are not allowing that kind of abuse, other kinds of abuse are happening. Usually at the hands of rich white owners, including Wal-Mart who have been guilty of working illegals in ways they can't get away with with whites and blacks. How about locking Mexicans in a Wal-Mart all night to work and then paying them under the minimum wage. Sure...it's not a bullet to the head....but it's still abuse.

And then I argue that the haters like Pointless should be happy that the early days of working in America are often very unpleasant for illegal workers. They don't get paid a working wage....they are forced to work longer hours. And I think it's pretty strange that many of the INS raids have come the day before payday. What great timing for the rich white owners....don't you think?

But boys.....this will all work itself out. It did with the Irish, it did with the Chinese, it did with the Japanese, it did with the Vietnamese and it will eventually work out for the Mexicanese. If Pointless wants to not support illegal workers, he better swear off eating chicken for the next 10 years. Do your damn yard work yourself. Roof your own damn house. Stay away from Mexican food entirely. And quit renting those Cheech & Chong movies!

What Pointless will never get is that the real criminals are his heroes in Washinton, DC. They do far more evil every day than all the illegal Mexicans combined. Yet Pointless buys into their smoke screen and bullshit and wastes his time worrying about Mexicans. It is a show of average to low intelligence. Be smarter! Know who is hurting your family, then pitch a fit over them. The way things are going if we ever get up a lynch mob to head towards DC, we're going to have to hire illegal Mexicans as the main force because Americans are too damn lazy to save themselves. Be smarter....our future depends on it, now more than ever.

Way to go, DBI, for giving that dumb ass the middle finger. LOL.