Rename the Gulf of Mexico as the ‘Gulf of America’?
A not-so-serious attempt to force Mississippi schools to purchase new geography books. You can read the legislation here, but here’s the report from the Associated Press:
JACKSON, Miss. — All the people outraged about the Mississippi bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” have missed its satirical intent, the sponsor said Thursday.
State Rep. Steve Holland, a populist Democrat known for over-the-top gestures, said he was tickled that his provocation had rocketed across the Internet.
Holland says the measure is meant to mock other bills that would crack down on illegal immigration. At least six such bills have already been assigned for committee consideration in the state’s current legislative session, and more could be on the way.
“It seems the people of Mississippi have elected a majority group to govern that wants to slam all minorities and especially Hispanics,” Holland said, adding that he thought such legislation is un-Christian.
Newly elected Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican, is a longtime supporter of tougher restrictions on illegal immigration. Such bills had died in a Democratic-controlled Mississippi House in previous years, but Republicans won control of the chamber last November.
Holland’s current House Bill 150 manages to avoid even saying the word Mexico. It refers to “the body of water located directly south of Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties,” saying it will be renamed as the Gulf of America for “official purposes within the state of Mississippi.”
The longtime legislator is known for his sense of humor. Holland is a funeral director, and his funeral home gives out insulated beverage sleeves that say “We’ll be the last to let you down.”
- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider
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38 comments Add your comment
liberalefty
February 10th, 2012
11:31 am
they should name it THE GULF OBAMALAND
ByteMe
February 10th, 2012
11:33 am
Holland says the measure is meant to mock other bills that would crack down on illegal immigration.
I wonder how many people will actually get the joke….
hl
February 10th, 2012
11:38 am
Why not allow BP to have the naming rights of the Gulf of Mexico?
Mudfoot
February 10th, 2012
11:38 am
More interesting will be how many fine Mississippi folk take this seriously and pick up the cause
Michael
February 10th, 2012
11:39 am
Let’s rename all those Mexican sounding city names like San Antonio and Villa Rica. I think Valdosta is Italian, so that can stay,
joe
February 10th, 2012
11:56 am
Ah those wacky Mississippians…aren’t they 50th in education? Or is that GA? Can’t remember which is the worst…
Bobby
February 10th, 2012
11:56 am
Let’s just rename it the Gulf of Louisiana.
td
February 10th, 2012
11:57 am
Michael
February 10th, 2012
11:39 am
Let’s rename all those Mexican sounding city names like San Antonio and Villa Rica. I think Valdosta is Italian, so that can stay,
I do not think they speak Mexican in Mexico. I think all those cities are Spanish names?
Hillbilly D
February 10th, 2012
12:05 pm
A politician looking for press. Imagine that. Well, he got his now on to the next crisis of the day.
Michael
February 10th, 2012
12:09 pm
td
As usual, you miss the point.
clyde
February 10th, 2012
12:11 pm
Why would anyone want to restrict illegal immigration? Why not let anyone who wants to cross the border just do it? All the poor illegals are looking for is free living.Welfare and free medical,and also a job if available.No taxes,you understand,just wages.
scrappy
February 10th, 2012
12:13 pm
a beer cozy that says “We’ll be the last to let you down.” !!
That is awesome, at least there is a politican that has a sense of humor.
The Snark
February 10th, 2012
12:14 pm
td:
Well aren’t you the subway riding elite intellectual today.
The Snark
February 10th, 2012
12:17 pm
Clyde;
I hate to come between you and FOX news, but here’s a late-breaking flash for you: illegal aliens are not eligible for welfare or free medical in this country, and taxes are withheld from their paychecks (including Social Security, which they will never receive, but which is paid out to you and me.) Ditto food stamps, Section 8 housing allowances, Medicaid, Medicare. Federal law has required all federal and state and local governments to screen for legal residence since 1996.
But HEY! Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good rant.
Shine
February 10th, 2012
12:17 pm
Mississippi must be in good shape if a nut wastes time on such idiocy.
Carole
February 10th, 2012
12:19 pm
I think the whole idea of the legislation was pretty funny. At least he wasnt suggesting that people not be allowed to have microchips implanted in them without their permission. That was a real bill here in GA a couple of years ago.
Shine
February 10th, 2012
12:20 pm
Dear Snark, how can an illegal have social security withheld from a payroll check without a social security number? If you mean a farmer withholding payroll taxes, he is likely putting that withholding in his pocket and not sending it in.
Tea Party Hobbit
February 10th, 2012
12:23 pm
Villa Rica does not need to be renamed…what’s more redneck than “Villuh Rick-uh”? Breemen? Martin-ezz? All-banny? That last one bugs me the most!
Carole
February 10th, 2012
12:23 pm
Snark,
How can SS be withheld from illegals paycheck if they don’t have a SS number? Lots of them also get paid in cash so again, no taxes or anything else is being taken out. And I don’t have data about how many there are, but I’m sure some are using illegal SS # to obtain housing, etc.
I’m not an illegal basher or for deporting them all, but I will admit that some have found a way to get around the system. I just don’t know in terms of percentages or numbers how many it is.
Dusty
February 10th, 2012
12:27 pm
Awww let’s compromise. How ’bout Gulf of Amexico or Gulf of Americex?
Nevermind. Skip that last one. Planned Parenthood will set up a coastal office thinking its about sex.
clyde
February 10th, 2012
12:27 pm
Dear Snark,
You are living in a land of make believe.Barak Obama’s aunt in living in Mass. on the cuff.Auntie Zetuni I believe her name is..She’s just the most famous of a long line of miscreants.I listened to a talk show last evening where people from Mass called in to report various schemes that illegals use to steal money.If you think this isn’t happening you are living in la-la land.
Centrist
February 10th, 2012
12:33 pm
In addition to the welfare, SSI, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF – 60 months), WIC, housing, taxpayer supported free hospital care, schooling with free breakfast and lunch, and crime – according to the U.S. Treasury Department, illegal aliens are bilking the federal government for billions because they are filing fraudulent returns. Buying these undocumented Democrat votes and ignoring deportation laws is hurting us badly.
The Treasury reported in July that the Internal Revenue Service coughed up $4.2 billion in child tax credits for illegal aliens in 2010 rocketed from $924 million in 2005.
ILLEGALS are fraudulently using the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC), which was created to give more money to taxpayers who cannot claim a full tax credit for children.
Because all wages, even those earned illegally, are taxed, but since illegals cannot get valid Social Security numbers, the government needs a way to track their income and collect what is due. It does so using individual taxpayer identification numbers (ITINs), which, again, are for those taxpayers who cannot obtain a valid Social Security card. The refund credit can be claimed even even if no income tax was withheld or paid, up to $1,000 per child. An estimated additional $1.8 billion was going to illegals via the Earned Income Tax Credit, for which they are also ineligible because it can be claimed only by taxpayers with Social Security numbers. Assume they are voting illegally, too.
The report concluded that “[t]he payment of Federal funds through this tax benefit appears to provide an additional incentive for aliens to enter, reside, and work in the United States without authorization, which contradicts Federal law and policy to remove such incentives.”
http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2011reports/201141061fr.html
Illegal Immigration Statistics – http://www.illegalimmigrationstatistics.org/about/
According to the Paw Hispanic Center website, in their investigation of immigration crime statistics and the federal law courts records, 40% of all sentenced federal offenders were Latinos. Of those, 72% were not U.S. citizens.
13 people die every day due to illegal immigrants involved in traffic accidents.
$113,000,000,000 – This year’s cost of US illegal immigration. Approximately 75% of that cost is absorbed by the states.
$1117 – The average amount you and your family paid in taxes this year to support illegals.
$52,000,000,000 – The cost of educating the children of illegals. This is by far the single largest cost to the American taxpayer.
$2,700 – The average dollar amount a single illegal household costs the US federal government.
51% – The percentage of Mexican immigrant households that use at least one major welfare program. 28% use more than one.
1,400,000- The number of illegal immigrant households that use at least one major welfare program.
clyde
February 10th, 2012
12:41 pm
Shine–
Obama’s uncle,Uncle Omar, is also an illegal living in Mass,but he has a job and he also has a social security number.You can Google this information. Uncle Omar got caught for drunk driving,that’s when his whereabouts became known.
Hillbilly D
February 10th, 2012
12:41 pm
I will admit that some have found a way to get around the system.
Most all have; if they didn’t, they couldn’t make it here. Anybody who has ever worked construction or similar jobs, knows how it works. Don’t kid yourself, though, the people that employ them are the ones who really work the system.
Carole
February 10th, 2012
12:47 pm
Hillbilly D
That is really my point. I think in many cases we are targeting the wrong people. From what I can see most illegals come here for a better life. I think that’s why most immigrants come here. Why shouldn’t illegals take advantage of a situation when they can? Why don’t we really crack down on employers who are allowing them to work while they don’t pay taxes on their workers? In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if these same employers aren’t the ones who direct them to where they can obtain benefits that put the burden on taxpaying Americans.
clyde
February 10th, 2012
12:58 pm
Carole,
In some cases the employers are at fault,but a lot of illegals have false Social Security numbers.True, these ones pay taxes,but they also collect welfare by using other names.
One recent arrest in Mass revealed one with 12 EBT cards issued to various names.Illegals are a huge problem inn this country.
Hillbilly D
February 10th, 2012
1:01 pm
Carole
I’ve said on here before that the real way to solve this problem is to fine anybody who knowingly hires and illegal, $50K per illegal worker. That will never happen, though. Throughout history, there’s always been a drive to keep a source of cheap labor. There was indentured servitude, slavery, share cropping, mill and mine towns and now there are illegals. I wonder what will be next?
One party sees illegals as cheap labor and the other sees them as future votes. That’s why nothing will be done. For all the lip service from the politicians on both sides, they all benefit from it.
Hillbilly D
February 10th, 2012
1:04 pm
clyde
Back 10-15 years ago, there was an immigration raid on a plant in North GA. They found 10 people using the same ID. The company, which had 300-400 employees at that location, calimed they had no idea. What did they do? Deported the workers and did nothing to the company. I strains credulity to think they didn’t know.
Hillbilly D
February 10th, 2012
1:04 pm
That should say “it strains”.
hnbc
February 10th, 2012
1:09 pm
To Carole @ 12:23
Are the illegal immigrants bypassing the system as you say or are those who hire them bypassing the system by paying them cash or under the table, as they say? I suspect it is as much the latter as the former.
Look before you leap...
February 10th, 2012
1:15 pm
Shine
February 10th, 2012
12:20 pm
Dear Snark, how can an illegal have social security number
In the majority of cases, the numbers are not fake, they are stolen and copied over and over again.
I worked as the CFO for a Burger King franchisee who had 39 stores in Northern California.
Prior to my starting there, my briefcase was stolen which had among other things, my social security card in it.
I did a scan of the payroll database one time and found 67 employees using my social security number.
According to the Social Security Administration, I have reported life time earnings in excess of 11 million dollars. Makes for fun times during tax season.
double
February 10th, 2012
1:19 pm
Centrist you left out,or I did not see where the cost of babies,where the locals get knocked up,and the illegal flees back to Mexico,Honduras or where they go.
Carole
February 10th, 2012
1:29 pm
hnbc
To Carole @ 12:23
Are the illegal immigrants bypassing the system as you say or are those who hire them bypassing the system by paying them cash or under the table, as they say? I suspect it is as much the latter as the former.
++++++++
Personally I blame them both, but I blame the employers even more. They are Americans. They know exactly what they are doing and realize that they are breaking the law. That is why it irritates me all of the vitriol about illegal immigrants in this country. As Snark said, to some they are voters, to others a voting block so just like Roe v Wade will probably never be overturned, the problems associated with illegal immigration will never be resolved. It’s another wedge issue.
Carole
February 10th, 2012
1:31 pm
Look before you leap….
According to the Social Security Administration, I have reported life time earnings in excess of 11 million dollars. Makes for fun times during tax season.
+++++++++++
Are you anywhere near retirement age LOL?
Look before you leap...
February 10th, 2012
1:59 pm
@Carole:
Nope, got a ways to go, but it is nice to know I will be able to claim max benefits, at least until the well runs dry. But since I am living in GA now, I will channel Scarlett O’Hara-Butler and worry about that another day.
Look before you leap...
February 10th, 2012
2:04 pm
@Carole
Personally I blame them both, but I blame the employers even more. They are Americans.
But the money the employers save should translate into savings for all Americans, right? Isn’t that the basis for trickle-down economics?
Or is it more likely the money saved goes into the owner’s pockets?
But of course any money saved by lowering corporate taxes will never line the pockets of the owners, it will all get dumped back into the business creating jobs and wealth for everybody!
<>
ld
February 10th, 2012
7:57 pm
much ado about nothing
except, perhaps avoidance–a waste of congressional time in an effort to avoid addressing real problems
obamaisaclown
February 11th, 2012
12:52 pm
Get rid of The Loser obama and half of our problem go away with him. Everything this clown touch turns to BS. Time to occupy the voters booth and removal of the WORTH PRESIDENT IN HISTORY. With a president like this who needs Iran to start problems.