Washington Extra – The bench’s backstories
The challenge to Arizona’s tough immigration law may have the justices thinking about their own families’ origins and journeys to America. As Reuters reports today, nearly all of them, like their countrymen, descend from people who came looking for a better life (the notable exception is Justice Clarence Thomas whose great-grandmother was a slave).
Their ancestral stories may not tell us how they feel about illegal immigration or whether they will rule in favor of Arizona. But they are clearly a point of pride in their biographies and were often cited in nomination hearings.
Take Justice Samuel Alito, who referred to the experience of his own father, brought to the United States from Italy as an infant. It “is typical of a lot of Americans both back in his day and today. And it is a story, as far as I can see it, about the opportunities that our country offers, and also about the need for fairness and about hard work and perseverance and the power of a small good deed.”
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U.S. eyes options to restart Afghan peace talks – President Obama’s administration, seeking to revive stalled Afghan peace talks, may alter plans to transfer Taliban detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison after its initial proposal fell afoul of political opponents at home and the insurgents themselves. For more of this exclusive story by Missy Ryan, read here.
Comedian Colbert “inappropriate”?
Comedian Stephen Colbert’s satirical testimony before Congress last week left some lawmakers cold, and one of them was House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer. “I think it was inappropriate,” Hoyer said on “Fox News Sunday” when asked about Colbert’s appearance before a House judiciary subcommittee on immigration where he testified on his brief stint as a migrant farm worker.
Hoyer said Colbert’s testimony, delivered in his Comedy Central television character as an over-the-top conservative news commentator, hurt him more than it did lawmakers.
“I think it was an embarrassment for Mr. Colbert more than the House,” Hoyer said. “If he had a position on the issues, he should have given those issues.”
With Democrats fearing major losses in the coming November elections, a hearing on whether illegal migrant workers are taking jobs away from Americans, was perhaps no laughing matter. Colbert testified before the subcommittee’s headed by Democrat Zoe Lofgren of California.
Photo credit: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (Colbert on Capitol Hill)
The Conservative Media still resent Stephen Colbert because he so brilliantly lampooned them to their faces at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner over their coziness with the Bush White House.
Thanks to Colbert, a hearing on migrant workers that would have been ignored by mainstream media was jammed with mainstream journalists. And that’s a good thing — because the plight of migrant farm workers is otherwise ignored.
Seriously folks – comedian testifies before U.S. Congress
It was all quite funny, but the subject is very serious especially in a sluggish U.S. economy with an unemployment rate stuck at 9.6 percent.
The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Friday on whether illegal migrant workers take jobs away from Americans. Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert testified in character as a conservative talk show host.
He was there at the invitation of Representative Zoe Lofgren and his testimony was based on the one day he spent for his show “The Colbert Report” laboring in the fields along with migrant farm workers.
“I reject this idea that farm work is among the semi-mythical jobs that Americans won’t do,” Colbert said.
“I’ll admit, I started my workday with preconceived notions of migrant labor. But after working with these men and women, picking beans, packing corn for hours on end, side by side, in the unforgiving sun, I have to say, and I do mean this sincerely, please don’t make me do this again,” he testified.
“It is really, really hard.”
Colbert said his experience shows why so few Americans are clamoring to do the job.
Colbert shoots from the hips and manages to hit you right between the eyeballs. There is always the element of truth to get your juices flowing. Love him … and congress could use a good jab in the funny bone, at least to get them to listen, talk, agree, discuss, THINK…
In other words, the United States legislative assemblage could use a good mockery!
The first commenter here has decided that Fox News didn’t think it was very respectful. Perhaps he should read how the Republicans are delaying and making a mockery daily of the system?
Arizona migrant law inspires other states
Arizona’s state law cracking down on illegal immigrants has inspired similar measures in four other U.S. states, although legislators may await the outcome of pending legal challenges before pressing ahead with them, analysts say.
In late April, Arizona’s Republican-controlled legislature passed a bill requiring police in the Mexico border state to check the immigration status of anyone they reasonably suspect is in the country illegally, during the course of a traffic stop or similar legal contact.
The law comes into effect on July 29, pending challenges in federal court by plaintiffs including two police officers, faith and civil rights groups that charge the measure is unconstitutional and a mandate for racial profiling.
Polls show the measure is supported by a broad majority of Americans in this congressional election year.
The National Conference of State Legislatures says that similar bills seeking to curb illegal immigration have since been introduced in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Rhode Island.
“Although there are many reports of individual legislators or candidates in various states commenting that they would support or oppose similar legislation, we are aware of only four states with similar bills introduced in the weeks after the Arizona law passed,” said Ann Morse, an immigration analyst at the NCSL.
“Until the court challenges have been decided, I don’t anticipate a great deal of action this year. I’m sure (the) 2011 legislative session will see more introductions,” she added.
Man up, freepers, birthers, teaklanners, conspiracy nuts.
It’s time to take your medicine.
Second-grader puts Michelle Obama on the spot
As her husband made his case for sweeping immigration reform in the White House Rose Garden, first lady Michelle Obama got a first-hand peek at the human face of the debate as she visited an elementary school in Silver Spring, Maryland, with Mexico’s first lady Margarita Zavala.
Obama answered questions from a group of second graders who wanted to know things like what’s the president’s favorite sport and whether her daughters exercise. But one little girl asked about immigration.
The school did not identify the little girl who posed the question. Montgomery County schools spokesman Dana Tofig said schools are barred by law from asking about students’ immigration status or providing such information to others, The Washington Post reported.
“We won’t help identify the kid. We won’t help identify the parents,” Tofig told the newspaper.
The school’s principal, Jane Litchko, told the Post that she called the little girl’s parents to let them know what had happened. The girl went home as usual at the end of the school day, Litchko was quoted as saying.
Here’s the transcript of the exchange provided by the White House: STUDENT: Mrs. Obama, I have a question. MRS. OBAMA: What’s your question? STUDENT: I have a question. My mom said — my mom said that — I think that she says that Barack Obama is taking everybody away that doesn’t have papers. MRS. OBAMA: Yeah, well, that’s something that we have to work on, right, to make sure that people can be here with the right kind of papers, right? That’s exactly right. STUDENT: But my mom doesn’t have … (crosstalk). MRS. OBAMA: Yeah, well, we have to work on that. We have to fix that, and everybody has got to work together in Congress to make sure that that happens. That’s right.
I don’t want to sound mean but this is one of the issues that AZ intends to address with their new illegal alien law.
If this girl’s mother is in the country illegally, that is a problem.
If they are in the country illegally and attending a public school paid for by US citizens taxes, that is a problem that needs to be addressed and giving amnesty for committing a crime is NOT right.
I don’t have a problem with immigrants coming to our country but illegal aliens are NOT immigrants they are committing a crime.
However, I do have a problem with immigrants being unwilling to integrate themselves into American society. As an example, today at work (mechanic for a trucking company) I had two company trucks come in the shop with Mexican flag decals applied to the side of the trucks and while driving home I see 3 vehicles displaying Mexican flags in windows and on license type plates.
I fail to understand why people, with such a great desire to leave their home country, are so proud of it to be not only unwilling to leave it behind but to shove it in our face expecting us the conform to them, i.e..Mexican holidays, refer to them as Mexican-Americans (pick one) and require us to provide them with Spanish speaking teachers etc…
Again I don’t wish to be mean or nasty about this but illegal aliens in this country is a criminal problem and needs to be dealt with accordingly.
Interested article.