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Stupid Idea of the Week

By TChris, Section Inmates and Prisons
Posted on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 08:44:45 AM EST
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by TChris

Conflict between two elements of the Republican base -- corporate donors to the party who argue that immigrants are needed to fill low wage jobs, and extremists who are hostile to permitting anyone who wasn't born in the country to work here -- has Republicans squirming. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher thinks he has an ideal solution: turn the nation's prisons into forced labor camps.

He said businesses should be more creative in their efforts to find help and suggested that employers turn to the prison population to fill jobs in agriculture and elsewhere. "Let the prisoners pick the fruits," Mr. Rohrabacher said. "We can do it without bringing in millions of foreigners."

Jack Abramoff picking strawberries? Not likely. If Rohrabacher's plan were implemented, how long would it be before agribusiness started lobbying for mandatory minimum sentences to assure the availability of a large, stable workforce?

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    Stupid Idea of the Week | 33 comments (33 topical)
    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 09:06:37 AM EST
    ... how long would it be before agribusiness started lobbying for mandatory minimum sentences to assure the availability of a large, stable workforce?
    And how long before you'd have to commit a felony if you wanted to have a job?

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#2)
    by Edger on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 09:25:01 AM EST
    Rep. Dana Rohrabacher thinks he has an ideal solution: turn the nation's prisons into forced labor camps. These repugs do love their "final solutions", don't they?

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#3)
    by Steven Sanderson on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 09:26:04 AM EST
    It'd be hilarious to watch Charles Manson trimming hedges and shrubbery around Lou Dobbs house.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 09:29:47 AM EST
    Why doesn't dana rohrabacher visit death row? The wrong people are turning up in the wrong damned stories. There's your problem.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 09:29:51 AM EST
    While there are certainly problems that can arise from prison work programs, there is nothing sacred about the notion that prisoners ought to be idle day in and day out for the duration of their terms (and the constitution specifically allows for involuntary labor as part of a criminal sentence). There is likewise no fundamental economic difference between prisoners taking jobs inside a prison or for the state, and prisoners talking jobs that provide goods for outside the prison. Fairness dictates that prison economic activity shouldn't be used to unfairly compete with the private sector. But, this doesn't require an absence of prison work either. It simply impacts the terms upon which contracts with the outside world shoulud be structured. What made chain gangs bad was the abusive way they were operated, not the fact that the prisoners were doing something economically useful.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 09:32:07 AM EST
    ....extremists who are hostile to permitting anyone who wasn't born in the country to work here....
    Why is it so hard to just say illegal aliens? Do you really have to reframe the argument in such extreme and ridiculous terms? Tens of millions of Americans are agaiinst ILLEGAL immigration.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 09:32:29 AM EST
    Rep. Dana Rohrabacher is an idiot. But she's one notch less idiotic than her.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 09:35:46 AM EST
    Dana rohrabacher may not be pleased to hear that he's been so emasculated by one of his own, chase.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#9)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 09:41:01 AM EST
    Chase, To quote Austin Powers, Dana Rorhbacher is a man, baby. Cynthia McKinney at least had the courage to speak up when others were silent about this disastrous war. Whatever happened in this incident isn't a hill of beans compared to that.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#10)
    by desertswine on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 09:53:54 AM EST
    And a manly man at that. There's nothing quite like having a little fun kicking around the powerless.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 10:00:08 AM EST
    I just don't get it? it seems weve put the inmates in charge of the asylum? First we have a bunch of mini Despots who want to turn millions of poor people into Felons. That means deporting more people than the Nazis deported during WII. Now we have another dim wit wanting to turn or Prisons into Soviet style Gulags. While were at it why don't we rename our Westerns deserts "Siberia". What madness!

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 10:08:09 AM EST
    Posted by JRT March 31, 2006 10:32 AM ....extremists who are hostile to permitting anyone who wasn't born in the country to work here....
    Why is it so hard to just say illegal aliens? Do you really have to reframe the argument in such extreme and ridiculous terms? Tens of millions of Americans are agaiinst ILLEGAL immigration.
    Why are you so convinced that every last one of those demonstrating are illegal and alien?

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 10:22:49 AM EST
    Speaking of stupid ideas, Lou Dobbs had a Latina guest on last night whose name escapes me, but he took her to task for demonstrators flying the Mexican flag. When she asked about people flying the Irish flag on St Patty's Day, he said, "NO ONE SHOULD FLY ANY FLAG IN THIS COUNTRY BUT THE AMERICAN FLAG. PERIOD. NOT THE IRISH FLAG ON ST PATRICK'S DAY. NOT THE ITALIAN FLAG ON COLUMBUS DAY. AND NOT THE MEXICAN FLAG ON CINQO DE MAYO. PERIOD." So, Jon Stewart on TDS called him in Cancun and explained to this Business Reporter who covers the Business Beat on his Business-based show that a good-deal of the economy in NYC and Chicago, etc is PARADE BASED and he swallowed his pride, saw the point and retreated from his original stance a bit. Too bad the wacks around here couldn't learn such a lesson.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#14)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 10:29:47 AM EST
    Yeah, that was a silly mistake of me. I got to typing a little too quick. Dadler: Great, great Austin Powers quote but bad, bad take on this. She assaulted a cop, period. You just can't do that--not if you're Joe Blow from Peoria but especially not if you're a Congresswoman. Can you imagine the shock (shock!) if someone from the Republican caucus had been involved in something like this? Quail-gate ring a bell?

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 10:41:59 AM EST
    Posted by charliedontsurf1 March 31, 2006 11:08 AM Posted by JRT March 31, 2006 10:32 AM ....extremists who are hostile to permitting anyone who wasn't born in the country to work here.... Why is it so hard to just say illegal aliens? Do you really have to reframe the argument in such extreme and ridiculous terms? Tens of millions of Americans are agaiinst ILLEGAL immigration. Why are you so convinced that every last one of those demonstrating are illegal and alien?
    I never said that

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 10:49:58 AM EST
    Ya didn't, eh? Sure, ya didn't. Maybe if ya keep sayin' it ya can convince yourself, but I'm not buyin' it for a second. It also doesn't change the fact that your boy, shrub is the one pushin'"the Guest Worker Program." It's him and the Business Community Wing of the Republican Party who sold ya out, pal. Don't blame me.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 10:53:14 AM EST
    Can you imagine the shock (shock!) if someone from the Republican caucus had been involved in something like this? Quail-gate ring a bell?
    Actually, that would be Potatoe-gate or Quayle-gate if you prefer.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#18)
    by Dadler on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 11:11:14 AM EST
    Chase, You could be right, this could rise to the level of assault and/or battery, but I doubt it. We'll see. If so, she'll pay some price. Can I imagine if some republican did this? Sure. Cheney verbally assaulted a congressmen on the floor of congress, nothing happened to him except more jokes at his expense, which he deserves, but no penalty was incurred. And cursing someone out, physically intimidating them, can certainly rise to criminality. Now, depending on whom your hypothetical republican was, I'd have to reserve final judgement, as I am here -- perhaps in a biased manner, I'm certainly no more or less prone to it than anyone else, but I'd like to think I'm at least aware of it enough to take it into account. That said, the color of your skin will always get you looked at with more scutiny, a more reactionary scrutiny at that, and your link didn't say what the officer did to stop her -- did he grab her? Was her surprise at being grabbed what triggered her physical reaction? Though I admit fully the incident doesn't look good for her right now, having lived with a black stepfather for several years (and having been pulled over by the cops for not other reason because he was a black guy riding in a car with a white kid) I also realize people of color in this country tend do have a much less trusting experience with the law enforcement than white citizens do. Or many other minorities for that matter. My stepdad, who was indeed a jerkoff to start with, had a worse temper because of these experiences. But I digress. If McKinney were just a hothead, completely out of line, so be it, she'll have to face whatever consequences come her way. Rightfully.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#19)
    by demohypocrates on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 11:30:16 AM EST
    Forgive me for interrupting the talk about Nazis, gulags, the violence of a crazed Congresswoman, Charles Manson, the spelling of potato, etc., but I sincerely ask where Rohrabacher stated the labor would be 'forced'. If he never said it then this thread is about as useless and pathetic as a surfin charlie post.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 11:35:45 AM EST
    Well, since charliedon'tsurf, you've proved your value. Thanks for playing. We have some lovely parting gifts.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#21)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 11:59:58 AM EST
    Demo You guys all seem to like hiding behind ambiguousness. A four year old child can get the true meaning. In fact I was surprised Rohr didn't suggest he had his own "Final Solution to the immigrant problem" Now don't forget to defend me from those who suggest I was using my words in the Nazi interpretation. Hows my spellin.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#22)
    by Patrick on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 12:04:26 PM EST
    Dana rohrabacher may not be pleased to hear that he's been so emasculated by one of his own, chase.
    Charliedon'tthink And St Patrick was a man, therefore it's St Paddy's day. If he were a woman or a hamburger you'd be right. I guess I've now called down the Haley's comet of insultors, but I think I can live with that.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#23)
    by kdog on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 12:12:32 PM EST
    Will the management of the forced labor camps be outsourced to the Chinese government? I swear, the place just doesn't feel like America anymore. Building walls on the border, proposed force labor camps...am I in the freakin' Twilight Zone? Is that Rod Sterling I hear doing a voice over? I'm reminded of what my father always said in the years before he passed..."This isn't what my father fought for." Damn right Pop, damn right.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#24)
    by glanton on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 12:58:58 PM EST
    Conflict between two elements of the Republican base -- corporate donors to the party who argue that immigrants are needed to fill low wage jobs, and extremists who are hostile to permitting anyone who wasn't born in the country to work here -- has Republicans squirming.
    T Chris, I have to say that there's some beautiful writing. What we are seeing in the news and hearing from all the usual suspects is simply a reincarnation of an argument as old as the nation itself; and your above-quoted summary does a better job or articulating the parameters of that argument better than any I have come across in cruising the popular sources. It is also why, for all its tragic underpinnings in terms of racial bigotry and economic exploitation, the current spectacle is also a source of humor and entertainment for many of us. It has been a long time, after all, since the elite corporate class, which has been screwing us for so long, has found itself pitted against the middle class values voters, who have also been screwing us for just as long.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#25)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 01:13:13 PM EST
    I wasn't aware that prisons weren't labor camps. perhaps not yet "forced" but the corrections industry would only be- THAT much more profitable. heads up!

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 02:32:02 PM EST
    Posted by charliedontsurf1 March 31, 2006 11:49 AM Ya didn't, eh? Sure, ya didn't. Maybe if ya keep sayin' it ya can convince yourself, but I'm not buyin' it for a second. It also doesn't change the fact that your boy, shrub is the one pushin'"the Guest Worker Program." It's him and the Business Community Wing of the Republican Party who sold ya out, pal. Don't blame me.
    Nice dodge George and his greedy businessman cabal have help from the leftists.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#27)
    by Johnny on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 02:51:25 PM EST
    Who is willing to pay for the supervision of prison labor? Are the supporters willing to accept what will certainly be a high number of walk-offs? Who is willing to lose their job to a brown prisoner instead of a brown immigrant? Will it be ok since the prisoners are nominally american citizens? Will it be ok because it is a state funded endeavor? Which contractors are willing to compete with a state run business, with employees who may or may not have a say in their wage levels and working conditions? Which business owners are willing to potentially lose their livelyhood so that the prison/industrial complex can become more self-sufficient? If you can answer in the affirmative to these questions, than by all means vote for a man who is willing to use prisoners as laborers. It won't stop with picking grapes and busting rocks.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#28)
    by Che's Lounge on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 02:58:52 PM EST
    As usual, the radical right wants to punish the powerless while getting poked from behind by the corporate world. They embrace the thought of slave labor. They spew only hate and offer no realistic solutions.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#29)
    by jondee on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 04:24:54 PM EST
    Works like a charm; concoct a bogus wedge issue to galvanize the Rethug Jonestown lemmings and they all start swarming out of wood work as if they'd been suffering in silence all this time and finally found a voice. Funny, somehow I missed all those communiques from the right in the last few years expressing dismay over over stagnant wages, loss of American jobs etc. In fact, all Ive heard till a couple of weeks ago was reports of the sheer, undiluted economic miracle that tax-cuts and deregulation have wrought. Now, right on cue, we're hearing about how the menace of "those people" could bring this country to its knees.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#30)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 06:52:11 PM EST
    It also doesn't change the fact that your boy, shrub is the one pushin'"the Guest Worker Program." It's him and the Business Community Wing of the Republican Party who sold ya out, pal. Don't blame me.
    Nice dodge George and his greedy businessman cabal have help from the leftists.
    Nice try, jrt. They don't need my help. I'll just sit on the sidelines and play my guitar. Maybe go in and put 'em outta their misery when the time comes. I'm just an old softy. I can't even stand to see repos suffer. Well, not indefinitely anyhow. There's got to be a limit. That's just the kinda fella I am.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#31)
    by jondee on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 07:13:53 PM EST
    Theyre just biding thier time before they don drag and jump in the life boats; if theyre not forced to do the Mussolini steeple chase through the streets first.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#32)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Mar 31, 2006 at 08:13:30 PM EST
    Posted by Jondee March 31, 2006 08:13 PM
    Theyre just biding thier time before they don drag and jump in the life boats; if theyre not forced to do the Mussolini steeple chase through the streets first
    There's somethin' about the image of boy george dangling upside down from a Crawford Lamppost that doesn't suck.

    Re: Stupid Idea of the Week (none / 0) (#33)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Apr 01, 2006 at 07:15:29 AM EST
    charlie writes:
    good-deal of the economy in NYC and Chicago, etc is PARADE BASED
    Problem is, the demonstrations in question weren't done on Cinco de Mayo. They were done by a group of people who the vast majority are in the country illegally. Said people were protesting being in America by waving Mexican flags and burning American flags. So Stewart's comments are really of no value, if you want to try and put a business slant on it.

    Stupid Idea of the Week | 33 comments (33 topical)