Finally, Someone Stands Up for the White Guys

More mailbag from the R-G:

Councilor Ralston stands tall

I don’t know about the rest of the folks around the Eugene-Springfield area, but I find it very refreshing that a city councilor can speak his mind and stand by his words even as criticism comes from all sides. Generally, when a story of this nature is reported (Register-Guard, April 23), the first thing a public official will do is to grovel and go on a apology tour.

I support David Ralston, and my respect for him and his position grows the more I see the attacks coming from those who disagree with his stand on illegal aliens. It is nice to see a man willing to stand tall for his principles even as the opposition grows. I will stand proudly with Dave Ralston.

D.W. Northey

Walton

Those of you not blessed to live in the 541 any longer might be wondering what brave stand [Springfield City] Councilor Ralston took that engenders such admiration and man-love from recent Oregon immigrant D.W. Northey. Well, Ralston came out against government funding for Centro Latino Americano, an organization that helps people who speak primarily Spanish access services, because they only cater to "100% illegal immigrants."

You can probably imagine the rest of Ralston's arguments about "invasion," "assimilation," and "dumping their kids in our schools." You can watch here if you'd like, because this asshole is proud enough of himself that he's perfectly happy to be filmed saying stupid shit.

My favorite bit - hell, everybody's favorite bit - is the part where he asserts that he knows that anyone who speaks Spanish is an illegal immigrant because the government would never let someone legally immigrate to the US unless they spoke English.

But D.W. Northey is right. It is surely brave of a white government official to justify voting to cut services to poor brown people on racist grounds. You just don't see it much any more.

Now, if only someone would stand up to the fucking Californians who move here without understanding our culture or values, drive up our housing costs, dump their kids in our schools, and clog up our prisons, that would be truly brave.

We Got 'Em, Too

From the R-G letters:

Ultimate liberal would vote no

In the movie “Batman Begins” (2005), Batman fights against a shadowy group bent on destroying the entire Gotham City. This movie was hugely popular across the American demographic landscape. Why?

In my opinion Batman is a long-time icon of goodness, strength and overcoming adversity in many forms, and there are probably more reasons that you may have for liking Batman for all these years.

Let me give you a look at what “Batman Begins” does for me. He is the ultimate liberal! As soon as he realizes that the shadowy group is going to destroy Gotham City and all its residents, he fights against the group that saved him.

I read this as a parable of the Vietnam era policy of destroying the village to save it. We know where re-igniting this policy has gotten us (into not one but two more land wars in Asia).

I want to revisit this film’s themes because it’s 2011 now and the right wants to cut services to the neediest at a terrible time of uncertainty.

The right acts like the neediest of us need to be destroyed to save the village. The budget that Rep. Paul Ryan and his cronies propose will push us toward a society not unlike Gotham City. Is this where they want the United States to go? Conspiracy theorists may well say yes.

I know it’s a movie. And yet everyone knows that art (movies, books, TV, etc.) reflects culture and society. So, people, would Batman support this budget?

No.

Arthur Hering

Eugene

Sweden, You're Fucked

Rick Santorum is running for president of these United States and, by all accounts, he, like Judge Roy Moore, is in it to win it.

A strong candidate needs a strong foreign policy stand and if taking on the godless hordes of the frozen north is what he has to do to win the ultimate prize, then that's just what he's going to do.

Santorum says the United States has a moral authority to fight "godless socialism."

He nattered on about China and Venezuela, but as China is communist and Venezuela is pretty fucking Catholic, we know who he was really aiming his remarks at and why.

Look out Norsemen, Rick has you in his sights.

Haley, We Hardly Knew Ya

A plain blog about politics: Winnowing

I can only repeat what I've been saying: it's not that the field is small; it's that the winnowing has begun early.

....

But, look, we call this period the "invisible primary" for a reason: just like in the state-by-state primaries to come next year, the current contest has winners and losers, and the losers tend to drop out. Now, some potential candidates really haven't contested the invisible primary...I haven't read anything, for example, about Jeb Bush. So I'll chalk him up as a "did not run." But those who hired staff, sought endorsements, traveled to Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina -- they contested the invisible primary. They were candidates for 2012. Even if they didn't quite make it all the way to 2012.

NLRB plans to sue two states in attack on secret ballot | Philip Klein | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner

NLRB plans to sue two states in attack on secret ballot | Philip Klein | Beltway Confidential | Washington Examiner

Majority signup lives!

The National Labor Relations Board, which under Obama has launched an assualt on workers and businesses at the behest of unions, is planning to sue two states that have constitutional amendments protecting workers' rights to a secret ballot in union elections, the New York Times reports.

According to the Times, the NLRB put Arizona and South Dakota on notice in a letter sent Friday, warning that it planned to sue the states because they passed amendments prohibiting unionization through "card check." The "card check" procedure allows a site to become unionized if labor leaders can collect signed cards from 50 percent of the employees, plus one. It denies workers access to a secret ballot, enabling for rapid unionization at the federal level.

With the Obama administration unable to enact a federal law on card check, it's seeking to undermine secret ballot elections through the regulatory route.