An Unhelpful Visitor From Out of State
It sounds like during the 4:00 hour, WPRO‘s Dan Yorke was trying to diffuse the visceral reaction that some of his listeners, myself included, had to the remarks made by the “minister” (quotes because no true minister would utter the remarks he made) from New Jersey by pointing out where the “minister” from New Jersey agrees with the Governor’s Executive Order.
Thanks, I’m not interested at the moment, though I look forward to returning to such a harmonious spot soon.
The “minister”, in studio during the 3:00 hour with a Rhode Island minister, Rep Palumbo and Senator Maselli, threw the following bombs, paraphrased except for quotes:
> He said that the basis of all anti-illegal immigration legislation is preservation of the “Anglo-Saxon” something-or-other – translation, it is purely racist.
> He made reference to “ethnic cleansing”.
> And he said that his organization was prepared to “sue” over the Governor’s Order and/or the Palumbo/Maselli bill.
Ah, but the third item perhaps is understandable. Given that the first two utterly baseless assertions drain any credibility from his words, litigation may be the only means by which the “minister” can be heard in this conversation.
Remembering that such false, vile accusations only confirm the validity of the Governor’s Executive Order as well as bills such as those introducted by Palumbo, Maselli, Singleton and Brien will help me return to that more harmonious spot.
ADDENDUM
Podcast courtesy WPRO available here.
ADDENDUM II
Commenter Joe B (more specifically, Joe B quoting his clearly thoughtful wife) referred with dismay to prior remarks by the Director of DCYF, Patricia Martinez, about the Governor’s Executive Order. Ms. Martinez has now apologized for those remarks.
“I apologize for any misperceptions my comments might have caused,” she said in a statement released after the meeting. “In particular, I did not mean to imply that the governor’s actions were spreading hatred.”
Her comments are appreciated. Prodded by the ProJo, however, she did go on to say that
… she disputed assertions made recently by the governor and his supporters that undocumented immigrants are a drain on Rhode Island’s resources.
“We need to have the right facts before we begin to point fingers at everyone,”
Another of the Governor’s staff members said something similar Monday on the Helen Glover Show – that the number of undocumented immigrants must be definitively quantified before we take steps to deal with the issue.
There are two problems with this. First of all, it is not disputed that undocumented immigrants have a presence in our state. Secondly, taking this approach – counting their exact number or calculating the exact cost of this state of affairs before taking minimal measures to address it – is simply a holding action, tantamount to doing nothing.
Monique,
Was so turned off by Yorke allowing this carpetbagging race baiter (a friend of Laffey’s? lol) into this discussion I turned off the show and haven’t been back since. Yorke is in one of his manic episodes this week. The guys mood swings from week to week are a bit much at times.
Let them attempt to sue the governor. They’ll fail and methinks that will further embolden the governor to push the envelope even more. Think there is something very cool about Don Carcieri being the only governor in the history of this nation to sign such an executive order on such an important issue.
Forget the legislature. The Palumbo/Masseli bill is going nowhere. The worst legislative ‘leadership’ team of Murphy and Montalbano that we’ve had in many many years are not men enough are not strong enough to stand up and be heard on such a weighy issue as illegal immigration.
The “advocates” have what they want-an ethnic confrontation-my wife who is 100% Hispanic was angry at the comments of Patricia Martinez,who she was acquainted with years ago and told me that this type of irresponsible speech just revs up the situation-my wife seldom is angry or tempermental-a very calm and dignified lady(every marriage needs balance),but she truly believes that some of the Hispanic activists and the white rich kid contingent are pushing the situation to the brink by attempting to make it “racial” instead of what’s legal and correct.According to this filthy scumbag from New Jersey I’d like to “ethnically cleanse” my own family because I believe in the rule of law.Smart comment from punk Pat Crowley here,maybe?I recently was at a shooting range and a young Marine just back from Iraq wanted to try out my handgun-I was happy to oblige him and afterwards were just talking,and this young man was of Mexican-Venezuelan background and he was pissed off because he said that he was off fighting for his country and illegal aliens were demanding drivers licenses.I was actually surprised at his intensity over this.The point of this rant is-advocates are trying to stir up a racial confrontation where that thought should be abominable to any decent person.This is getting very depressing-why are we being made to believe that we should take sides over ethnic heritage rather than over behavior?
Before I switched the channel, because it turned into the Jerry Springer Show, I actually listened to Dan Yorke’s show for about a half-hour this afternoon. I don’t think the minister helped his cause too much with some of the paranoid hyperbole that he was throwing around.
Perhaps the minister didn’t get the comedic value of basically accusing two Italians and an Irishman in the studio with him of supporting [Mr. Palumbo’s] legislation based on some “Anglo” supremacist motive. By the way, I’ve heard that the term “Anglo” is used by some Hispanics as a pejorative to describe all white people, much in the way “gringo” can be used. Should we seek an apology? 😉
PS Do you suppose it’s possible that Rev. Al Sharpton could have a Hispanic relative in the clergy? 😉
Will,
“two Italians and an Irishman”…sounds like the start of a bad joke….or “a Rabbi, Bishop, and a Reverend” hold a press conference…take you pick.
“why are we being made to believe that we should take sides over ethnic heritage rather than over behavior?”
Very well said, Joe.
This is about behavior. And borders. It’s just that a small group of people keeps trying to change the subject to ethnic heritage because they have nothing substantive to say on the matter. No one is falling for it, however.
Gotta love that “Anglo-Saxon” bit which is a regular part of the Commie agenda. Truly a laugh in a state mostly made up of long discriminated groups like Irish, Portugese, French-Canadians, Italians, Poles, Jews, armenians, Lebanese, Greeks, Poles, etc.
These scumbags are from another planet. Wake up America.
Joe,
In the future, you could also support your point by noting that Canada — definitely not a place you hear being called “racist” — very vigorously enforces its immigration laws (while there are plenty of illegal Mexicans et al in Minneapolis and Madison, you cant’ find any in Winnipeg or Kenora). As you correctly point out, they view the issue as one of behavior and obeying the law, and nobody accuses them of racism.
Yorke probably knew this minister’s act, and figured it would help the gov.
Hey, that bill might pass if Palumbo still has access to fellow legislators’ voting buttons. If this guy’s your ally, beware!
Carcieri’s done enough baiting this week that Martinez figured she’d do some of her own. That said, Carcieri will only enflame things and make trouble for herself by firing her. It’s always useful for an executive to have one cabinet member who habitually speaks out against him or her – think how bad Bill Clinton would’ve looked if he’d fired Janet Reno, who rarely acted in his interests.
“Yorke probably knew this minister’s act, and figured it would help the gov.”
I wholeheartedly agree with Rhody (gasp!).
The minister didn’t exactly come off as very ministerial … it was more like belligerent. He probably meant well, but he was so full of La Raza style talking points, it was like listening to nails being dragged across a chalkboard.
Part of the problem that I’ve had with some aspects of this debate, is that the pro-illegals side seems to imply that we (Americans) owe them something or should bend to accommodate them. I can’t imagine anything more unAmerican. If you want to become an American, obey our laws, don’t expect handouts or special considerations, and at least make the effort to assimilate.
Patricia Martinez is free to speak her mind — as long as she continues to do her job, I don’t see the Gov giving her the shove. She’s probably just upset about getting the short end of the stick in the budget process. Frankly, I don’t see any better prospects on the horizon to replace her anyway.