Ga.’s farm-labor crisis going exactly as planned
Gov. Nathan Deal signs a tough illegal-immigration bill on May 13, with House Speaker David Ralston, left, and bill sponsor Rep. Matt Ramsey, right, looking on.
After enactment of House Bill 87, a law designed to drive illegal immigrants out of Georgia, state officials appear shocked to discover that HB 87 is, well, driving a lot of illegal immigrants out of Georgia.
It might almost be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
The resulting manpower shortage has forced state farmers to leave millions of dollars’ worth of blueberries, onions and other crops unharvested and rotting in the fields. It has also put state officials into something of a panic at the damage they’ve done to Georgia’s largest industry.
Barely a month ago, you might recall, Gov. Nathan Deal welcomed the TV cameras into his office as he proudly signed HB 87 into law. Two weeks later, with farmers howling, a scrambling Deal was forced to order a hasty investigation into the impact of the law he had just signed, as if all this had come as quite a surprise to him.
The results of that investigation have now been released. According to survey of 230 Georgia farmers conducted by Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black, farmers expect to need more than 11,000 workers at some point over the rest of the season, a number that probably underestimates the real need, since not every farmer in the state responded to the survey.
“The agriculture industry is the number one economic engine in Georgia and it is my sincere hope to find viable and law-abiding solutions to the current problem our farmers face,” Deal said in announcing the findings. In the meantime, Deal proposes that farmers try to hire the 2,000 unemployed criminal probationers estimated to live in southwest Georgia.
Somehow, I suspect that would not be a partnership made in heaven for either party.
According to the survey, more than 6,300 of the unclaimed jobs pay an hourly wage of $7.25 to $8.99, or an average of roughly $8 an hour. Over a 40-hour work week in the South Georgia sun, that’s $320 a week, before taxes, although most workers probably put in considerably longer hours. Another 3,200 jobs pay $9 to $11 an hour. And while our agriculture commissioner has been quoted as saying Georgia farms provide “$12, $13, $14, $16, $18-an-hour jobs,” the survey reported just 169 openings out of more than 11,000 that pay $16 or more.
In addition, few of the jobs include benefits — only 7.7 percent offer health insurance, and barely a third are even covered by workers compensation. And the truth is that even if all 2,000 probationers in the region agreed to work at those rates and stuck it out — a highly unlikely event, to put it mildly — it wouldn’t fix the problem.
Given all that, Deal’s pledge to find “viable and law-abiding solutions” to the problem that he helped create seems naively far-fetched. Again, if such solutions existed, they should have been put in place before the bill ever became law, because this impact was entirely predictable and in fact intended.
It’s hard to envision a way out of this. Georgia farmers could try to solve the manpower shortage by offering higher wages, but that would create an entirely different set of problems. If they raise wages by a third to a half, which is probably what it would take, they would drive up their operating costs and put themselves at a severe price disadvantage against competitors in states without such tough immigration laws. That’s one of the major disadvantages of trying to implement immigration reform state by state, rather than all at once.
The pain this is causing is real. People are going to lose their crops, and in some cases their farms. The small-town businesses that supply those farms with goods and services are going to suffer as well. For economically embattled rural Georgia, this could be a major blow.
In fact, with a federal court challenge filed last week, you have to wonder whether state officials aren’t secretly hoping to be rescued from this mess by the intervention of a judge. But given how the Georgia law is drafted and how the Supreme Court ruled in a recent case out of Arizona, I don’t think that’s likely.
We’re going to reap what we have sown, even if the farmers can’t.
– Jay Bookman
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619 comments Add your comment
Uncle Jed
June 14th, 2011
5:46 pm
I don’t think they are counting the illegals in this report. There are plenty of workers IF they will work. But why work when you can suck on the federal teat? Well….?
1.9 Million Fewer Americans Have Jobs Today Than When Obama Signed Stimulus
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/after-28-months-stimulus-spending-19-mil
Real Scooter
June 14th, 2011
5:47 pm
willydoit?
June 14th, 2011
5:35 pm
Good point! If you tell the neo-cons about that it just might happen.
Joe Mama
June 14th, 2011
5:48 pm
Mr. Right — “Joe–so you know what it’s like to be on a dairy farm, most people don’t have a clue!”
Well, that experience caused me to embarrass the heck out of my parents when I was in preschool. We were having a presentation about farm animals, and when the teacher asked us where milk came from, I boldly spoke up and asserted that it came from the ‘cow’s t***y.’
Whoops. Good thing I wasn’t familiar with poultry farms; I might have said that eggs came from a hen’s a**.
The teacher INSISTED on having a word with my parents when they came to pick me up.
Jim Bob
June 14th, 2011
5:49 pm
Who picked the beans thirty years ago? Just askin’.
Thomas
June 14th, 2011
5:50 pm
“So cons, when all them illegals leave, who are you gonna blame all the woes of your world on?”
Chin up and smile on the face. Our great work force will take over. California is starting to crater and New York will do as well. We have the best work force in the world and we need to stop insulting the great workers from Mexico who have to risk their lives to escape what should be a solid country. We need to stop enabling the Mexican leadership with beers in the Rose Garden and perhaps tell them to get their act together. Or we can continue to allow our leadership to pander to their failures in a continued attempt to sell our country out for their votes. Pretty crystal clear to those with a couple of brain cells.
Uncle Jed
June 14th, 2011
5:53 pm
josef
June 14th, 2011
5:33 pm
Uncle Jed
.” I would rather pay 50 cents more per pound of produce than stoop to supporting lawlessness”
Looks pretty much like you’re about to get your druthers….that is if that pound makes it to the shelves at all…
++++++++++++++++++++++++
Suits me just fine and my local supermarket has plenty of fresh picked Georgia produce. There are peaches; squash; onions; cucumbers; melons; and more. No pineapples, papaya or mango
josef
June 14th, 2011
5:53 pm
The peach thing…I was just wondering if the Georgia peaches were making it to market…but, Leg lamp, it do seem to me that Florida and South Carolina peaches WOULD qualify for exclusion, seeing’s how they are still using illegal labor there…I mean we DO need to be consistent…
Joe Mama…
I do pay attention to that…being a politically correct knee jerk liberal, there are some places I won’t buy from…
Mr Right…
Cows and milk and which ones it comes from…we were out in the country one day and passed a herd that, well, didn’t look particularly happy about something or other, as Unmentionable said, “maybe not mad, but highly discontent…” The kids were still little at the time, and he says to them, “there, children, are the sour cows. That’s where we get buttermilk from”
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
5:54 pm
Thomas
It isn’t illegals that have screwed everything up. It’s the Democrats.
RW-(the original)
June 14th, 2011
5:54 pm
Sometimes costs go up while you’re going about figuring out who moved your cheese, but the choice is never just to stomp your feet and let your crops rot until your cheese comes back. It never completely does so its best you start learning to adapt sooner rather than later.
Joe Mama
June 14th, 2011
5:55 pm
GLL — “It isn’t illegals that have screwed everything up. It’s the Democrats.”
And if we get into your fields, we’ll sour the milk, rot the potatoes and blight the corn. It’s all a scientifical fact.
deegee
June 14th, 2011
5:56 pm
Will someone please inform us how much Georgia has saved in hospitals and schools after enacting Chip Rogers’ tough anti-illegal immigrant laws in 2006 and 2009? How much have we saved? Where are the statistics? Considering all of the state’s financial problems we can’t be saving much.
vnv
June 14th, 2011
5:58 pm
I thought the tax cuts they (Legislators) enacted, that provided for the market system to work, would cure/correct all problems. Now we see how that worked out for us.
josef
June 14th, 2011
5:58 pm
JOE MAMA
@ 5:48
Well, if you’d been in MY class, you’d've gotten an A!
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
5:58 pm
willydoit?
When we are forced to drill in third world countries for oil, the standards for pollution are almost non-existant so the welfare of the people in other countries means nothing to the people forcing us to drill there.
So Democrats pollute their lands and when they come here, they force them to work as slave labor.
The they try to claim that it’s the Republicans who don’t care about brown people.
Mr Right
June 14th, 2011
5:59 pm
Joe– That’s hilarious! We’ve had some city folks come on the farm and ask some dense questions.
Common Cents
June 14th, 2011
6:01 pm
Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t these farmers breaking the law all of these years by hiring illegal aliens to do their work? Wasn’t this simply a matter of knowing that their right-wing buddies weren’t going to enforce the laws on the books?
I have no compassion for accessories to a crime, or co-conspirators as it were. If they lose their farms, it’s because they built them on a foundation of ill-gotten gain.
I’m glad Georgia put its foot down in this case. I can’t stand Republicans, but in this case, they got it right.
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
6:01 pm
Joe Mama
It’s Democrats that want poor brown people to work for almost nothing so yes, now that this practice is ending, it will take a while for the economy to adjust.
I’m against slavery. How about you?
AmVet
June 14th, 2011
6:03 pm
Yep, I’m sure glad those godly conservatives fought so hard (and even died in some cases!) to end segregation and de facto racism in this country!
Those damn nosy, northern, liberal Jews and Catholics tried to fight it tooth and nail to keep the entrenched bigotry in place, but the cons won that battle!
Real Scooter
June 14th, 2011
6:03 pm
And if we get into your fields, we’ll sour the milk, rot the potatoes and blight the corn. It’s all a scientifical fact.
ROFLMAO!!!!
md
June 14th, 2011
6:04 pm
“The farmer who pays you to harvest cabbages probably isn’t the same guy who will hire you to pick onions, and there are probably different farmers who will hire you at different times to pick peaches, blueberries and whatever other produce there is in your region.”
Sounds like the farmers need to create an employee exchange program………had they not had the shortcut of illegal labor available, I’d hazard a guess they would have already figured it out……..the market will correct it one way or another………..
Left wing management
June 14th, 2011
6:04 pm
Leg lamp: you’re exactly right about Cool Hand Luke! I saw that one not long ago and that was exactly what I had in mind.
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
6:05 pm
AmVet
“Yep, I’m sure glad those godly conservatives fought so hard (and even died in some cases!) to end segregation and de facto racism in this country!”
That’s exactly right. The people who were fighting against integration were Democrats and the people fighting for integration were Republicans. Ever heard of the Solid South? Do you know what that means?
josef
June 14th, 2011
6:05 pm
RW
:…best you start learning to adapt sooner rather than later…”
Which is exactly what I was trying to say about act in haste and repent in leisure…
And y’all yapping about “savings” on medical, school, etc…
The Texas Comptroller a few years back, a big proponent of “ship back home they’re a drain…” commissioned a study on just that to prove her point…she came out backtracking…turned out that, all things considered, the illegal element of Texas population put in some $15 million in profit…certainly not all that much in today’s economy, but hardly a drain, either…
AmVet
June 14th, 2011
6:08 pm
Liberals ended the very worst of the conservative bigotry and racial hatred. At least your ability to get away with scott free.
Own it cons. We kicked you sorry asses then and haven’t looked back very much…
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
6:09 pm
josef
Do you have any statistics on how much slave labor was making for the South during the 1860s? It was substantial. So should we have kept slavery in place?
Joe Mama
June 14th, 2011
6:10 pm
GLL — “It’s Democrats that want poor brown people to work for almost nothing”
So the carpet plants in Dalton are all Democratic-owned, huh?
And poultry farms and meatpacking plants are, too, huh?
And construction and landscaping firms are chock-full of the blueness, right?
Effing PLEASE, GLL. Even you can’t possibly believe that.
“so yes, now that this practice is ending, it will take a while for the economy to adjust.
Wise and prudent lawmakers would have seen this coming and would have made adjustments to keep the consequences to a minimum. Since they didn’t, GA farmers are likely to suffer significant and avoidable losses right when they need to be harvesting.
I did a consulting gig at Fireman’s Fund Insurance about 10 years ago, and from what I understand about their crop insurance products, they don’t pay claims on AVOIDABLE losses. So the state might just find itself the subject of lawsuits from farmers who want to be made whole for their crop losses.
“I’m against slavery. How about you?”
Absolutely. Which is why I’ve been advocating a tamper-proof national ID card, a quick-check database for ALL employers to use when checking a prospective hire’s bona fides and HARSH, STIFF penalties (including jail time) for ALL violations of same — I don’t care if it’s Ed’s Lawn Care or Hormel Meats violating the law.
I’ve said *all* of these things right here within the last two months. Sorry I don’t fit into your convenient box or label, GLL. :p
md
June 14th, 2011
6:11 pm
As for all this talk of higher prices for produce………nah, as the illegals go back to their home countries we can start buying from them as their labor will still be cheap……..but then the bitching will continue about offshoring jobs…….probably by those on unemployment………….
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
6:11 pm
AmVet
LOL! You really know nothing about history do you?
CAn you name a single Southern Leader that was a Republican during the civil rights movement? A single Governor?
Again: do you understand the term Solid South?
Now please, let’s have some more big talk about kicking asses. I’m sure it makes you feel all powerful.
Joe Mama
June 14th, 2011
6:13 pm
Arright, I’m out. My wife needs tending to, and a woman like that you’ve got to feed every day.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
June 14th, 2011
6:13 pm
Wow, all those Dem CEOs sending business overseas to exploit the workers there.
Nonsense is free, Honesty is lacking.
J bills
June 14th, 2011
6:13 pm
I grew up on a farm In the Fresno,California. My grandparents ran the farm and we all worked there. We are all “white”. All of my friends parents that had farms from Sanger to Orange Cove and employed “whites”….. That all changed after the 1986 AMNESTY that was forced on the AMERICAN PEOPLE by Ronald Reagan. There was a lot of talk about enforcing our Immigration laws after that fateful decision,but the Federal Government made a concious choice to look the other way,and let Illegals flood Into the work force. American citizens have said ENOUGH ! It Is time for the left wing news media,and all of the “spin doctors” to start speaking the TRUTH Instead of writing articles like this one that have NO BASIS IN FACT WHATSOEVER,and Ignore the real problem(s) In this debate. What don’t you understand about ILLEGAL ?
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
6:14 pm
Joe Mama
DO you see the discussion here? Did you read Jay’s article. It’s democrats that want to point out what a horrible economic condition is made by stopping the practice of underpaying brown people who have no legal rights. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Uncle Jed
June 14th, 2011
6:14 pm
I may be wrong, but peaches making it to the table seems to be a “b-list” topic right now unless the goal is to always discuss what some feel puts their adversaries in a poor light. Everybody should consider making http://www.drudgereport.com a part of the daily education if interested in news stories often passed over by other media outlets. He doesn’t write the material but simply posts the links and makes it available. Some are opinion pieces, but a major portion are straight news accounts.
Obama and the democrat party are in deep doo-doo if the country keeps slipping IMHO. Bush is now gone and nobody will be listening to the old line; “It’s all Bush’s fault”, come election day 2012. Who was it not too long ago who coined, “It’s the economy, stupid.”
US Housing Crisis Is Now Worse Than Great Depression
http://www.cnbc.com/id/43395857
Real Scooter
June 14th, 2011
6:14 pm
Wasn’t this simply a matter of knowing that their right-wing buddies weren’t going to enforce the laws on the books?
NO,the laws were not being enforced,left or right wingers.Get over your hate for anyone!
md
June 14th, 2011
6:15 pm
“So the state might just find itself the subject of lawsuits from farmers who want to be made whole for their crop losses.”
Doubt that would get very far…….the opening question would have to do with something about knowingly hiring illegal workers and it will be all down hill from there…………
josef
June 14th, 2011
6:16 pm
“I have no compassion for accessories to a crime, or co-conspirators as it were. If they lose their farms, it’s because they built them on a foundation of ill-gotten gain”
Remember that about “compassion for accessories to a crime, co-conspirators…” when the price hits you at the check-out stand at the grocery store or at the check-in at the nice hotel, or the check for dinner out…we’ve ALL been co-conspirators in this debacle…
SOLUTION
Arrest the illegals. Put ‘em in jail where they belong. Then furlough them out to pick peaches for free…hey, not a bad idea…why didn’t we think of this before…oh, yeah, and make them speak Engrish…they could learn our folk songs…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmZdvVnMXCc
They BOTH Suck
June 14th, 2011
6:18 pm
@Good little liberal
Good point about AmVET and history……….. make sure YOU put it all into context and not just what fits your agenda and ideology………
Although the phrase “Southern strategy” is often attributed to Nixon political strategist Kevin Phillips, he did not originate it,[2] but merely popularized it.[3] In an interview included in a 1970 New York Times article, he touched on its essence:
From now on, the Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote and they don’t need any more than that… but Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act. The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That’s where the votes are. Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats.[4]
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
6:18 pm
josef
They don’t need to be jailed. Just stop giving them the incentive to stay here.
AmVet
June 14th, 2011
6:18 pm
Can you name a single southern leader who tried to implement racial equality who was a conservative?
No.
Unless you really do think Bull Connor was a liberal. Do you?
Do you propose that George Wallace was a liberal or an arch-conservative?
What about Jesse Helms? Was he a far-left liberal?
You conservatives were on the wrong side and you lost. Liberals, progressives and moderates stomped you cons back into the underground (get it?) where you belong.
Own it…
Gm
June 14th, 2011
6:21 pm
Good old Georiga wth their 10 good old boys in the background, the picture with the tradition white male will continue to keep Georgia the bottom feeder of the south.
Please show me how many of these white males are going to work in the field for $7 hr? what bunch of hicks in this state””
md
June 14th, 2011
6:22 pm
The illegals that are here is not the greater problem………securing our borders is the problem. We need to fix one before worrying too much about the other……..without taking care of problem #1, problem #2 will continue infinitum………..
josef
June 14th, 2011
6:22 pm
GLL
Before you go off preaching at me as someone in favor of the illegal migrant labor…I’m on record here over and over as calling it the 21st Century version of the slave system of labor in latifundist agriculure and the service sectors…
As for the figure…I do not have statistics on hand, the closest I can come to right here is that Natchez, Mississippi in 1860 had more millionairs than any other city in the US…today Adams County is among the 25 poorest in the country…so, go figure…and, just to make sure we do keep this in perspective for the Imam and knee-jerk company…Adams County and Natchez were pro-Union and opposed to secession…of course they were also pro-British and anti-Revolutionary in the Revolution…
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
6:23 pm
They BOTH Suck
Are you saying that 100 years of overt racism and violent acts against Blacks by Democrats is justified because of The Southern Strategy?
The Republicans were pro-integration. The South was integrated and the shame of the Democrats was pushed out so what was the reasonable result? The South became Mostly Republican.
Unfortunately, the most racist parts of our country, like Boston are still controlled by the democrats. It is slowly changing, but it takes a long time to end that kind of shame.
They BOTH Suck
June 14th, 2011
6:24 pm
AmVet
What many purposely fail to see is that Johnson called it when he said the Democrats would lose the south when he signed the civil right legislation, because he knew Republicans would be capitlizing on fear mongering to scare white
Anyone who would like to dispute this, please see the “Southern Strategy” used for over 30 yrs by Republicans as well as the APOLOGY given by 2 of the last 3 RNC Chairman about the southern strategy and its efforts to scare whites from the Democrat Party
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
6:25 pm
josef
So if you believe that underpaying illegal immigrants is parallel to slave labor, why do you keep seeming to support Jay’s article? i.e. are you for it or agin it?
They BOTH Suck
June 14th, 2011
6:27 pm
Liberal
You can play all the D and R games you like, but the demographics of each Party is much different today………. The ones you right call Dems in the south over the last 40 yrs in terms of demographics are now Repubs for the most part……
Not condoning anyone’s or Party’s behavior….. just pointing out that you intentionally framed an argument that was not totally in context
See my post @ 6:24
I’m out for a run………
Everyone have a good night
Uncle Jed
June 14th, 2011
6:27 pm
@AmVet
June 14th, 2011
6:18 pm
You unintentionally left a couple guys off the list. I can’t say with certainty, but weren’t Robert “KKK” Byrd and Lester “Pickrick” Maddox donkey jockeys? An honest oversight, right?
josef
June 14th, 2011
6:27 pm
ZamVet
First Jewish Senator, first Jewish governor, first (elected) Jewish Congressman, first Jew nominated to Supreme Court, first Jew to sit on the Supreme Court, etc., etc..how many Catholics sat in Davis’ cabinet, Catholics in the Senate, House? Which states voted for Al Smith… where were they from? Just let’s make sure we keep these things in perspective…
AmVet
June 14th, 2011
6:28 pm
The best part of all, of course, and the real kicker, is how the cons still feign not being able to figure out the real reason as to why blacks, Jews, Latinos and virtually all other minorities almost always vote OVERWHELMINGLY against them.
And have for many, many decades.
Poor misunderstood cons. They were just trying to help!
HA!
AmVet
June 14th, 2011
6:30 pm
Robert “KKK” Byrd and Lester “Pickrick” Maddox?
Arch-conservatives.
Or do you contend they were ultra-liberal?
Keep on losing. After 50 years, you cons should be used to it…
They BOTH Suck
June 14th, 2011
6:30 pm
Uncle Jed
Dont forget Strom Thurmond
Was he a racist only as a Democrat?
Uncle Jed
June 14th, 2011
6:31 pm
Is WEINER still acting prickly? I haven’t heard much about Little Anthony and his Imperial today.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
June 14th, 2011
6:31 pm
why do you keep seeming to support Jay’s article? i.e. are you for it or agin it?
Why I did not know that Jay’s article was a for or against opinion. It makes clear that the Republicans passes a tough illeegal immigration bill and now businesses are complaining to the GOP government and the GOP government is struggling to find a solution to its “tough talk” after the fact rather than having addressed the issues as part of good legislation.
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
6:32 pm
They BOTH Suck
LBJ was an overt segregationist. (He was from Texas after all) The Voting Rights Act was drafted by Republicans and scared the Northern Democrats to death because of what had happened to the Dixiecrats in the late forties. The needed the solid South to stay in the game because of the close race between JFK and Nixon. Once JFK won, he actually tried to tone down the Voting Rights Act, but the Republicans refused.
After JFK’s death, LBJ wanted to submit the Act so it could be solidly defeated and it would end the controversy. And sure enough, several Democrats filibustered the act but was shamed by the National Media into lifting the filibuster and to the shock of LBJ, it passed. At that point, there was nothing he could do but sign it. that’s why he made that statement about losing the South.
Mighty Righty
June 14th, 2011
6:32 pm
Democrats have always been the party of slavery. Al Gore Sr., Robert Byrd, Strom Thurmond, Lester Maddox, to name a few. The party has a history of holding down people of a different color just to keep Georgia’s crops competitive. First cotton, now Vidalias. This may be the reason for Obama’s open border policy. This is the fundamental change Obama talked about. Open the border, don’t arrest them, or deport them, and sue any state that dares try to defend its own border. Just keep that cheap labor coming. The U.S. will need this source of cheap labor in order to survive Obamas dream of the U.S. as a third world agrarian country.
md
June 14th, 2011
6:32 pm
“not being able to figure out the real reason as to why blacks, Jews, Latinos and virtually all other minorities almost always vote OVERWHELMINGLY against them.”
Promised compensation???
Please AM……both sides do it…..let’s not act like those voting on either side do it solely on ideology…………….
Uncle Jed
June 14th, 2011
6:33 pm
Yep.
pogo
June 14th, 2011
6:34 pm
Amvet, I worked in the tobacco fields in South Georgia (starting at the age of 7 and I worked in them until I was 16 upon which I graduated up to a grocery bag boy in a local grocery store). My wages went from $5.00 a day when I first started up to $20.00 dollars a day in the tobacco fields. And you know what? My family was proud to have that money and I was proud to be able to give it to them. Besides, it left me with a little money to spend or save as I saw fit. Those days in the tobacco fields were some of the most enjoyable and most formative I ever had. I worked side by side with an assortment of people and all of us were treated equally no matter of color or economic status. All of us were poor blacks or poor whites but we were all getting what we needed to live. All of us got a fine lunch (or dinner as we called it here in the South) provided by the farmers wife and we usually ate in the yard in the shade because the farmers houses were too small to accomodate us all. Besides, it was cooler in the yard because there was no air conditioning. I think many in our society would do well to start working in the fields again. There is nothing but honor to be gained by it and one hell of a lot of knowledge about how life operates and how to get along with people different from ones-self.
We even listened to Alice Cooper on an old 8 track in an Impala while “hanging” tobacco. This was completely radical for the deep south in 1970. But we did it and nobody critisized us for it. To the adults we were just being “youngins”. As long as we did our work they didn’t care. That is as it should be. We produced and the let us be.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
June 14th, 2011
6:34 pm
Lest the stupidity spin on the KKK is forgotten, the Klan was heavily involved in both parties in the 1920’s,
As for the success of the Republicans in implementing conservative positions, a most impressive case in point is immigration restriction, a cause the Klan vigorously espoused. The Republicans delivered on this with the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 which targetted precisely those nationalities the Klan labelled most dangerous. The Klan vociferously opposed the role of Catholics in public life, to cite another important issue. Since these Catholic officeholders and office seekers clustered in the Democratic party, it was the Republican party which provided the candidates to oppose them. The Klan supported Prohibition. It was Coolidge and then Hoover who carried the standard of “the noble experiment,” as Hoover called it.
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
6:35 pm
AmVet
Robert “KKK” Byrd and Lester “Pickrick” Maddox?
Both Democrats. Both died Democrats.
The flaw in your reasoning is that you still don’t see the overt racism that STILL exists in the Democratic Party. As Walter Williams says: What the democratic Party has done to the Black Demographic far exceeds the wildest hopes and dreams of any KKK Grand Dragon.
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
6:36 pm
“Why I did not know that Jay’s article was a for or against opinion.”
I know.
Real Scooter
June 14th, 2011
6:37 pm
md
June 14th, 2011
6:22 pm
I equate that to – fix the leak,then mop up the water. I can understand it better that way!
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
6:37 pm
“Lest the stupidity spin on the KKK is forgotten, the Klan was heavily involved in both parties in the 1920’s,”
Any proof other than that one lawmaker that no one has heard of?
Keep Up the Good Fight!
June 14th, 2011
6:38 pm
GLL — oh do prove your little diatribe. “for or against” in Jay’s article…..or are you just blabbering again. The precise words please.
md
June 14th, 2011
6:38 pm
And POGO hits the nail on the head…….we as a nation have gotten fat, lazy and spoiled…..and the other not fat, not lazy and not spoiled people on the planet now want theirs……….
The Leg Lamp is a "major award"......
June 14th, 2011
6:39 pm
AmVet
June 14th, 2011
6:08 pm
You haven’t looked back because you relocated down here. Better jobs, climate, quality of living, prettier women, the list goes on and on.
To borrow from the late, great Lewis Grizzard (and I’m paraphrasing) – something you won’t hear in a bar in Atlanta on a Friday night: “Hot damn, I’ve been transfered to New Jersey”.
Keep Up the Good Fight!
June 14th, 2011
6:39 pm
One little lawmaker? GLL your ignorance is showing.
josef
June 14th, 2011
6:40 pm
GLL
Supporting Jay’s article…? Not particularly, I have my own opinions on this subject and all I’m saying is that be careful what you ask for. Act in haste…I have never been in support of this dependence on undocumented and rightless labor, but I find it rather hypocritical that we go attacking the folks we ENCOURAGED to come under the wink-wink policy that we all benefitted from. It’s that same hypocracy found in the North in the ante-Bellum period when the textile industry took off and profitted from the sweat and toil of the slaves…
My own argument here is that in jumping on the bandwagon of herd ‘em up and ship ‘em back where they came from, we’re not looking at what the cost of just such would be…
Just as there was no plan for what to do once ideological abolition was effected, there is no plan for once ideological illegal alien is effected…
The Leg Lamp is a "major award"......
June 14th, 2011
6:40 pm
We can go back and forth all day about which party did what or supported what. I’ll add to the mix – the Civil Rights Act of 1964 would not have passed without the efforts and support of the GOP.
Jim b
June 14th, 2011
6:41 pm
Pay a fair wage, hire Americans and stop the taxpayer services to the illegals! We already pay an arm and a leg for groceries so a few more cents is not going to hurt us!! The education costs, food stamps and free healthcare costs will all go down.
I congratulate you Georgia.
md
June 14th, 2011
6:41 pm
“I equate that to – fix the leak,then mop up the water. I can understand it better that way!”
Evidently still too hard for our misfits to figure out………………their solution seems to be perpetual amnesty…….or in your case….screw fixing the leak……buy lots of mops………
Keep Up the Good Fight!
June 14th, 2011
6:41 pm
Alabama’s Klan played a leading role in the 1928 “bolt” against national Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith, and nearly swung the state’s vote to Republican Herbert Hoover.
Per Alabama Dept of Archives and History.
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
6:43 pm
Keep up
Calm down kid. Apparently josef sees his point. It’s not my fault that you can’t. Standing with your tiny little hands on your hips and spitting is probably not the best way to get your point across but then again, it that’s what you have, then that’s what you have. Now how about calling me a child. THat always works sooooo well.
The Leg Lamp is a "major award"......
June 14th, 2011
6:43 pm
Keep Up the Good Fight!
June 14th, 2011
6:41 pm
KUTGOOF, was that about the time Robert “KKK” Byrd was starting to fire things up in West VA or was he a mere babe wrapped in a swaddling white robe and hood?
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
June 14th, 2011
6:44 pm
Well, time to start a draft. Not the army kind. The kind where you pull people passing thru out of cars and put them to work. We use to have that to handle forest fires. If a fire broke out and there wasn’t enough people to fight it, you could make people passing thru get out and help fight it. We could do the same thing with people driving thru south Georgia. Just pull them out and give them a hoe. It wouldn’t hurt these fat old people with nothing to do but drive to FL to put in a few days work on a farm. Besides, this is a emergency. Just think of all the rednecks that won’t be able to afford farm produce if there’s a shortage.
Otherwise, I think old Nathan done stepped in it. There won’t be a big farmer within 300 miles that will give him a dime for his next campaign. He’ll be more a one-termer than Obama.
I mean, I’m for getting rid of the illegals and all that, but I didn’t think they’d go and get rid of the parts of the illegals that helped me. You can’t take everything us Conservatives say as gospel. Ain’t you got any common sense? Just hassle them a little bit, but don’t make them stop working so we can save some money.
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
6:45 pm
Josef
Herding them up and shipping them back is not what the Georgia Government is doing. They are taking away their incentive to stay here. I think it is brilliant.
The Leg Lamp is a "major award"......
June 14th, 2011
6:46 pm
Redneck Convert (R–and proud of it)
June 14th, 2011
6:44 pm
Not bad, but give them a shovel rather than a hoe. That way Obama could take credit for “shovel ready jobs”.
louis
June 14th, 2011
6:46 pm
I was just in Vidalia Georgia visiting..The really big onion farms aren’t faring all that badly because they can afford to pay more. It’s the smaller, family farms that are getting cut out of business. Nate Deal and his cronies have been around the block. They know upfront this kind of law would put a lot of the small farms out leaving easy pickings for the large food conglomerates like ConAgra who own these politicians. He has no personal interest whether John Farmer loses his small family farm, which has been in his family for 100 years, to the bank where it is bought at foreclosure by a bottom feeder who sells it at pennies on the dollar to ConAgra. This is happening all over Georgia, yet folks in these rural areas are more concerned w/ abortion rights and gay marriage instead of what truly is going on. Wake up idiots! Once your land and farms are gone…they’re gone.
md
June 14th, 2011
6:47 pm
As for picking the produce……don’t strawberry farms give folks a bucket and say have at it?
AmVet
June 14th, 2011
6:47 pm
pogo, GREAT story. Love it. And at the risk of sounding like a Nazi, work sets you free.
As for Alice, I remember, late in boot camp, we were allowed off base one time. As we were riding in the bus past the barracks of the guys who were already out of basic and were stationed there full time, I heard somebody cranking this. (I knew then, I had a reason to keep on living!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhI_khA8w-I
Keep Up the Good Fight!
June 14th, 2011
6:48 pm
Oh Nonsense kid..you can’t prove it so you attack. Again, its simple, the article is at the top of the page. Jay’s words…prove your claim. Surely you can do what any simpleton can with the words you claim exist.
The Leg Lamp is a "major award"......
June 14th, 2011
6:48 pm
louis
June 14th, 2011
6:46 pm
So then you’re endorsing small farmers hiring illegal aliens….
Mighty Righty
June 14th, 2011
6:48 pm
AmVet
June 14th, 2011
6:28 pm
The best part of all, of course, and the real kicker, is how the cons still feign not being able to figure out the real reason as to why blacks, Jews, Latinos and virtually all other minorities almost always vote OVERWHELMINGLY against them.
And have for many, many decades.
Poor misunderstood cons. They were just trying to help!
HA!
And the liberal media told everyone it was the soccor moms that elected Clinton and Ob
Keep Up the Good Fight!
June 14th, 2011
6:50 pm
Lump, I don’t know. Its clear however that the KKK was involved in both parties despite the unsupported fiction of some.
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
6:50 pm
Keep Up
I can’t prove what Jay said in the Article? Try reading it.
Calm down kid.
md
June 14th, 2011
6:50 pm
“He has no personal interest whether John Farmer loses his small family farm, which has been in his family for 100 years, to the bank where it is bought at foreclosure by a bottom feeder who sells it at pennies on the dollar to ConAgra.”
If any business is set up dependent on being illegal, might be time for it to go………..or do we advocate that ALL business shoot for some form of illegal activity to keep them going?
The Leg Lamp is a "major award"......
June 14th, 2011
6:51 pm
Keep Up the Good Fight!
June 14th, 2011
6:48 pm
I’m trying to keep up while bouncing from one website after another, but to who were you directing this latest post?
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
6:53 pm
The Leg Lamp is a “major award”……
He has imploded again. When he gets like this, who knows what he is talking about.
Soothsayer
June 14th, 2011
6:54 pm
Redneck, I’m with you they should ship ‘em all back to Mexico . . . except the guy who cuts my lawn, and, hey, that guy that picks my vegetables — well, he can stay — and the guy that slaughters them chickens, he can stay. And the guy that serves me them burgers and . . . what were we talking about?
Real Scooter
June 14th, 2011
6:54 pm
Just as there was no plan for what to do once ideological abolition was effected, there is no plan for once ideological illegal alien is effected
josef,would you mind taking the time to restate that more simple? Please.
josef
June 14th, 2011
6:57 pm
Good fight…
1928, popular vote for Smith
Arkansas 60%
Georgua 56%
Louisiana 76%
Mississippi 82%
South ‘Car 91%
http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/data.php?year=1928&datatype=national&def=1&f=0&off=0&elect=0
The Leg Lamp is a "major award"......
June 14th, 2011
6:58 pm
Keep Up the Good Fight!
June 14th, 2011
6:50 pm
Agreed. Bad apples in both parties. Always have been, always will be.
By the way, those apples wouldn’t be bad if we had illegals to pick them before they rotted.
Real Scooter
June 14th, 2011
7:00 pm
Redneck Convert (R–and proud of it)
June 14th, 2011
6:44 pm
ROFLMAO!!!!!
louis
June 14th, 2011
7:00 pm
“If any business is set up dependent on being illegal, might be time for it to go………..or do we advocate that ALL business shoot for some form of illegal activity to keep them going?”
And you are naive enough to believe ConAgra doesn’t import and supply illegals for farm labor? Are you actually advocating the total demise of the American farm? These migrants farmers have been picking our lettuce and other produce for at least 50 years; why wasn’t it a problem then? This is a wake up call for immigration reform; you’re tossing the baby out with the bath water here. Come have a chat next year when a head of lettuce, if you can find one, costs 8 bucks.
josef
June 14th, 2011
7:01 pm
Scooter
We do a lot of big talk. We clothe it in all matter of moral-legal jargon. We feel good. Then when the sh*t hits the fan we have no plan for cleaning up the mess. We wonder why it stinks in here.
Good little liberal
June 14th, 2011
7:03 pm
From Wiki
In an 1868 newspaper interview, Forrest stated that the Klan’s primary opposition was to the Loyal Leagues, Republican state governments, people like Tennessee governor Brownlow and other carpetbaggers and scalawags.
In effect, the Klan was a military force serving the interests of the Democratic party, the planter class, and all those who desired restoration of white supremacy. Its purposes were political, but political in the broadest sense, for it sought to affect power relations, both public and private, throughout Southern society. It aimed to reverse the interlocking changes sweeping over the South during Reconstruction: to destroy the Republican party’s infrastructure, undermine the Reconstruction state, reestablish control of the black labor force, and restore racial subordination in every aspect of Southern life.[41]
The Ku Klux Klan soon spread into nearly every southern state, launching a “reign of terror against Republican leaders both black and white.
LOL!!
md
June 14th, 2011
7:04 pm
“These migrants farmers have been picking our lettuce and other produce for at least 50 years; why wasn’t it a problem then?”
You do a bit of research, and you will find migrants are still here….and always welcome……
There is a difference between migrant labor and illegal labor……..look it up.
As for Conagra and illegals……..if so, I have no problem with them suffering the consequences of such action……….
Are you advocating for anarchy?? We get to set our own laws to suit our businesses??
Now that would be a hoot…………..back to the wild wild west…….
The Leg Lamp is a "major award"......
June 14th, 2011
7:05 pm
josef
June 14th, 2011
7:01 pm
“We wonder why it stinks in here.”
Is it because of all the rotting produce that wasn’t picked by illegals?
Truth Squad
June 14th, 2011
7:05 pm
Meanwhile Obama is at 70% and rising with Latino voters. That is more than he got in 08.
Republicans can say bye-bye to Florida, North Carolina, New Mexico,Colorado and perhaps Georgia, Arizona and Texas (if not in 2012, most certainly in 2016). Even Republican strategists are saying that their base must expand if they wish not to be a permanent minority politically.
No one even mentions Asians and Native Americans who also vote better than 2-1 Democratic.
And let’s not ignore, or excuse away that the under-30 cohort is also better than 2-1 Democratic. They know they are getting screwed, and they know it’s not the black dude in the White House doing the screwing.
The Republican Party as we know it is in it’s waning days. If they don’t win in 2012, it’ll be another generation before we see a Republican in the White House.
md
June 14th, 2011
7:06 pm
“Come have a chat next year when a head of lettuce, if you can find one, costs 8 bucks.”
Highly doubtful…….if it gets that high, demand will go down….as will the price or production……..that is called the free market…..supply and demand dictate the quantity and the price……..