Lunatic Quote of the Day

Posted on January 16, 2012 at 6:45 pm by JM Ashby

This is some of the craziest shit I’ve seen in recent memory.

A speaker told a coalition of tea party groups in South Carolina on Monday that the U.S. could save $260 billion on the border fence if they “force these Mexicans to make $5 a day” to build it. [...]

“I proposed a two dual-fence system, multi-tiered wall with a no man’s land — I put a minefield in there, but they said no — intrusion detection systems like we use in detecting tunnels with nitrous and oxygen emission control emitters to detect carbon dioxide upon exhalation of someone digging a tunnel,” he explained. “Then you pump gas in there, — tear gas, nothing lethal. Just make it come out the other side.”

“But what you do, you take all these incarcerated illegal aliens — even give some of the guys who are U.S. citizens in the U.S. prison system, who make about 27 cents a day doing ridiculous work — kick out the union labor charging $28 an hour, force these Mexicans and these other people to make $5 a day, making more money than they made in Mexico anyway,” Heaton continued. “Put them to work building a security fence under military and local-state law enforcement administration. … Projected budget: $140 billion, which will pay for itself in four years once you get them the hell out of here.”

Oh! $5 per day is more than they were making in Mexico anyway, so we’ll actually be doing them a favor!

I’ve seen this logic before. It’s usually contained within columns or wingnut talk-radio rants about how slavery wasn’t so bad because it provided food and shelter to the slaves.

And how exactly is a border fence going to pay for itself? The state of Alabama, where the nations toughest anti-immigration laws have been implemented, is projected to lose up to $130 million per year in tax revenue because –shock, horror– the overwhelming majority of immigrants pay taxes too! I suppose a border fence will pay for itself in the same way the Iraq war did.

By the way, prisoners actually make about 75 cents per hour, not 27 cents per day, and I would hardly describe what they do as “ridiculous work.” For many it’s the difference between remaining sane or not.

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  • http://twitter.com/gbeaudette Grant Beaudette

    What, no exploding dog collars around their necks? What a pansy.

    Is it just me, or does the most insane anti-immigration talk come from people who live nowhere near the border?

    • muselet

      It’s not just you.

      –alopecia

  • incredulous72

    This is par the course for South Carolina Ashby. They’re still stuck in the 1950s’ down there. These “Tea Partiers” in South Carolina wish they had a time machine to take the whole country back to the good ‘ole days when “coloreds” (and that includes Hispanics) knew their place.

    For such a beautiful state, it is literally uninhabitable because of the ignorance that permeates from there.

    • http://drangedinaz.wordpress.com/ IrishGrrrl

      You’re right Incredulous…I used to live there. “Teh stoopid” is everywhere and it’s such a shame.

      • incredulous72

        Oh Irish, you definitely know from whence I speak. LOL!

        My family is from there (up country) and many of them still live there. I have a cousin that was born and raised in NYC (like myself) but moved down there in 2002. He absolutely loves it down there (he’s in Columbia), but I don’t know if I could live under such oppressive ignorance. Granted, you can buy a house for next to nothing and taxes are ridiculously low, but with that comes the realization that you get what you pay for and the education system is horrendous. I don’t have kids yet, but when I do, I’d like to know that the education that they are getting is on par with at least . . . TEXAS! LOL!

        There was a union president on The Ed Show last night from South Carolina (I was shocked that there ARE unions down there) and he said, on national television, that the republican party in South Carolina has such a choke hold on the state because they work tirelessly to keep their constituents ignorant so that they can tell them what to think and how to vote without resistance. He actually admitted that on national television. I was shocked that there are people living in the state that actually realize what’s going on.

      • incredulous72

        Oh Irish, you definitely know from whence I speak. LOL!

        My family is from there (up country) and many of them still live there. I have a cousin that was born and raised in NYC (like myself) but moved down there in 2002. He absolutely loves it down there (he’s in Columbia), but I don’t know if I could live under such oppressive ignorance. Granted, you can buy a house for next to nothing and taxes are ridiculously low, but with that comes the realization that you get what you pay for and the education system is horrendous. I don’t have kids yet, but when I do, I’d like to know that the education that they are getting is on par with at least . . . TEXAS! LOL!

        There was a union president on The Ed Show last night from South Carolina (I was shocked that there ARE unions down there) and he said, on national television, that the republican party in South Carolina has such a choke hold on the state because they work tirelessly to keep their constituents ignorant so that they can tell them what to think and how to vote without resistance. He actually admitted that on national television. I was shocked that there are people living in the state that actually realize what’s going on.

        • http://drangedinaz.wordpress.com/ IrishGrrrl

          I hear ya! I went to grad school there (Masters of Criminal Justice) and was surrounded by ultra-conservative men….who have always thought I was the bee’s knees (have to beat them off with a stick, which is really strange). I actually loved Columbia though. Nevertheless I would NEVER subject my kids to that public school system.

          In regards to the union pres. admitting such a thing…sadly, it doesn’t surprise me. That’s just how much of a hold the GOP has on that state…they truly don’t give a sh*t about whether the rest of the world knows the truth. The populace is purposely kept ignorant with their horrible underfunded education system, the reinforcement of political conformity by the Churches, and strong arm tactics for anyone who gets too uppity. Like Mississippi, the haves and have nots are very much in evidence when you travel there, and more often than not the “have nots” are more likely to have brown skin. I can’t think of too many places that have de facto segregation still in place to the degree that SC does. It is like stepping back in time.

        • http://drangedinaz.wordpress.com/ IrishGrrrl

          I hear ya! I went to grad school there (Masters of Criminal Justice) and was surrounded by ultra-conservative men….who have always thought I was the bee’s knees (have to beat them off with a stick, which is really strange). I actually loved Columbia though. Nevertheless I would NEVER subject my kids to that public school system.

          In regards to the union pres. admitting such a thing…sadly, it doesn’t surprise me. That’s just how much of a hold the GOP has on that state…they truly don’t give a sh*t about whether the rest of the world knows the truth. The populace is purposely kept ignorant with their horrible underfunded education system, the reinforcement of political conformity by the Churches, and strong arm tactics for anyone who gets too uppity. Like Mississippi, the haves and have nots are very much in evidence when you travel there, and more often than not the “have nots” are more likely to have brown skin. I can’t think of too many places that have de facto segregation still in place to the degree that SC does. It is like stepping back in time.

    • http://drangedinaz.wordpress.com/ IrishGrrrl

      You’re right Incredulous…I used to live there. “Teh stoopid” is everywhere and it’s such a shame.

  • muselet

    Wow. That is weapons-grade stupid.

    –alopecia

  • Zen Diesel

    I say let’s double down and build a border around the entire United States. This way those wackadoodles in SC can stop whining about immigration, and focus taking back the country and returning it back to to good ole days, like the A’Merica was supposed to be according to evangelical Christian Bible. Life was good in the world until the colored folks ruined Eden….lol. Those folks are frickin insane.

  • Draxiar

    “Give me your tired, your poor,
    Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
    The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
    Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
    I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”