Posted on 04/22/2008 1:13:22 PM PDT by Oshkalaboomboom
“debate on a bill designed to ease a farmworker shortage in Colorado. “
IIRC Mark Twain was the one who spoke of “Lies, Damned lies, and statistics.”
Do you seriously believe that illegal Mexican FARMWORKERS in Colorado are 95% literate (let alone in English) and that 82% are city folks who just got the urge to go a thousand plus miles north to pick lettuce (or whatever they are growing in Colorado)?
Dnae, someone is thanking you for your input to a thread that you haven’t even posted on.
While your statistics maybe right why would you assume that the ones crossing the border cross in the same percentages as the illiteracy rate?
If I get killed by a drunk driver, I won't take any solace in the fact that the slob who killed me was a foreigner on a tourist visa, say, rather than an illegal immigrant.
What's your argument? That someone can only be considered literate if they read English?
You are welcome. Too bad the state’s voted to suspend the TABOR limits when the sales tax receipts dropped in 2001.
His argument is that is that the Republican state representative meant when HE said “illiterate.” He did mean that (illiterate in English), and I suspect you know it.
Someone could come to the United States literate in ancient Sanskrit, but, if he doesn’t read and write in English, it is perfectly fair to call him “illiterate” because the linguistic coin of this realm is English.
Absolutely.
Comprehensive schooling has been available everywhere in Mexico for free since the 1970s.
and that 82% are city folks who just got the urge to go a thousand plus miles north to pick lettuce
The urge was not to pick lettuce, but to get paid more in cash than they would get paid for walking around the streets of Monterrey unemployed.
But, I'm happy to report that Dane is no longer with us. A search for him yields "No one by that name."
I'm gonna miss him (not.) ;-)
Yes, he should have been booted off for not including “and a tremendous financial burden on taxpayers”.
read this
They can only be considered literate in an English speaking society if they are literate in English. I hardly think there are any Rhodes Scholars Spanish or English coming to Colo. to pick vegetables.
The highest rates of illiteracy in Mexico are the jungle territories in the Chiapas region.
The bulk of Mexican immigrants come from Mexico City and north of there, where literacy is higher.
Mexico is actually undergoing an internal version of our situation as southern Mexicans come north to Mexico City in search of work and take lower wages than Mexico City residents.
Not in the slightest. It is an abuse of English to call such an individual illiterate.
Millions of Germans came to the US in 1800s, a highly literate people who generally knew no English.
People who are already literate are much more likely to learn and master English than those who are not literate.
I think the average person would understand, that if you can't read, write, or speak the language of the country you live in, basically your illiterate to those who matter most.
Maybe Jose (or hose b) can read spanish, "I"talian, portuegese and greek. That probably would not benefit them much in Russia or China.
Legislators should be free to say what they want as a general principle. Further, anyone getting worked up over this as “racism” is drunk with political correctness. He shouldn’t point out the state may not want to attract uneducated poor people from another country? We seem to be falling behind in science, engineering and patents. It’s logical to seek skilled folks who are in high demand.
I will draw on the same example I drew on before: for much of the period between 1848-1917, the first language of a large percentage of North Dakotans was German.
They spoke German at home and in public. They read German newspapers printed in America, drew up contracts and wrote letters in German and taught their children in German-speaking schools.
Were they illiterate? Clearly not. They could read and write better than most Americans, actually.
Calling someone illiterate is a deliberate insult, as is calling someone a peasant.
It adds nothing to the discussion and actually discourages rational discussion.
Thanks for the address.
I just emailed her the story today about the woman who was stabbed to death by the illegal during a carjacking and asked her “how dare you?”
These are the people who are supposed to protect us - they are accessories to the carnage.
1. He’s Republican. Republicans are impaled, roasted, drawn and quartered for innocent words.
What if he had said “people who work the fields, who have had not had the benefit of much formal education” Would they have gotten him for that?
The country is now in a situation where a conservative who says, or doesn’t say, or is said to have said, anything about any member of a protected group will be attacked and silenced.
Our local Columbus liberal media outlets have informed us that most of the illegals in Central Ohio are indeed from that area. Mestizo indians make up a large number.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.