Thread: Minuteman Project embarrassing (opinion)

http://www.statepress.com/issues/2005/0 ... ons/692701

Arthur Martori is a journalism junior. Reach him at arthur.martori@asu.edu

Dman1200, here's someone you can e-mail. As a journalism junior, Matori really should educate himself on such a serious matter before he opines. Folks, here's the new wave of unfair and unbalanced journalism ... just about to graduate and bring us biased news.

Martori: Minuteman Project embarrassing
by Arthur Martori published on Monday, April 4, 2005


Martori

With all the Arizonans gathering at the Mexico border, you'd think a new Wal-Mart was opening in Nogales. But in reality, a group called the Minuteman Project has mobilized itself to protect the foundations of American culture -- like our right to cut our own lawns and wash our own dishes.

Valuable jobs paying minimum wage or less are at stake here and the only thing standing between us and the hordes of Latin looters that threaten to take away the below-poverty line jobs are 1,000 "Hee Haw" fans calling themselves the Minuteman Project.

The Minutemen claim they lock and load southward-pointed assault weapons out of love for the stars and stripes. But upon closer examination, an ulterior, more sinister motive could be interpreted.

When Sonia Melendez of the San Angelo Standard-Times decried such vigilante action, Minuteman Project pundit Kenny Graves wrote in an online forum that he is "...not surprised that someone named Melendez would come out with an article such as the one I just read..."

Kenny goes on to ask his readers, "Why don't you shove most of the blame on the Mexican government, or lack thereof, for not taking care of its citizens[?]" Shades of a conspiracy theory darken the horizon as he enlightens us that "Mexico admits to its plan to repopulate the southwestern U.S..."

Perhaps Graves is a blatant racist, but maybe Mexico has lurked too long as our disadvantaged southern neighbor that looks upon its norteno big brother with the utmost adoration.

Perhaps we are living right next door to the TJ Maxx of the labor pool and are unwilling to admit to our frugal shopping habits. Even nationally, La raza is taking a lot of heat from our vaunted Department of Homeland Security for letting known terrorists across their border. It could be that this explains the sudden patriotism in trailer courts Arizona-wide.

Sure, the Minutemen say they just want to protect our tanking economy, but it's hard to believe that Americans with a few years of high school under their garishly-buckled belts are thinking along those lines.

In reality, it has become a philosophical issue.

In the case of the Minuteman Project, good ol' boys from southeastern Arizona are unlikely to flip their satellites from the tractor pull to al-Jazeera long enough to develop the kind of serious enmity towards al-Qaida that would warrant putting down a perfectly good can of Natural Ice to protect America's borders.

I suspect that sharing has gone out of style as an American tradition. Maybe patrolling the border to protect the crappiest jobs in America from crafty thieves parched from thirst, having paid their last peso to a swindler just to arrive here could be construed as going too far.

Even our own president came across as skeptical in a summit with Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, saying: "I'm against vigilantes in the United States of America. I'm for enforcing the law in a rational way."

So maybe the Minuteman Project really is just a bunch of rednecks trying to justify riding around on ATVs with shotguns strapped across their backs and are pretty much incapable of comprehending the existence of more than one type of brown people.

We as a nation are becoming the fat kid who cries on his birthday -- amidst a mountain of presents -- when he realizes that he has to share his cake with the neighbors' kids who came over on the spur of the moment. That cake, metaphorically speaking, is the glamorous jobs that illegals get in the U.S.: landscapers, domestics. You know -- the power brokers.

That mountain of presents is the benefits we enjoy from being the richest and most powerful nation in the world. Let us not forget that a few of those presents are from our southern neighbors, as we have our lawns mowed and our babies burped for a pittance.

Sen. Victor Soltero, D-Tucson said it best when he denounced illegal border crossings, but ironically noted the benefit of illegal immigrants, saying: "It really concerns me that people will enjoy the good things -- the good services that immigrants provide -- and, on the other hand, saying that immigrants are only a drain on our country."

He's obviously al-Qaida. To Guantanamo with him.

Arthur Martori is a journalism junior. Reach him at arthur.martori@asu.edu

Valuable jobs paying minimum wage or less are at stake here and the only thing standing between us and the hordes of Latin looters that threaten to take away the below-poverty line jobs are 1,000 "Hee Haw" fans calling themselves the Minuteman Project.

I will focus my comments on this one single lie.

My late father spent his entire working in construction building houses. He worked long days and earned enough that Mother did not need to work to raise 3 middle class kids.

My brother followed in Dad's footsteps and learned the skilled trades of construction. For over 30 years he earned a good living. Last year he spent 8 months out of work because the illegals have taken over the skilled trades, driving down the pay to gutter levels.

Me? I learned electronics in the USAF. I worked in factorys untill all the factorys moved to Mexico. So I cross trained and learned the printing trades. 25 years ago a printing pressman earned $20+ per hour. My last printing job was at $12 per hour, and I was one of the only people in the shop that spoke english.

The illegals are not working as a dishwasher at minimum wage and less. They have taken over the construction trades. Roofing, Drywall, Carpentry, road building and paving, printing, factory assembly, . . . ALL of the skilled and semi-skilled trades are being taken over. As a result the pay has dropped to less than half of what it was, and us legal citizens are not the ones hired.

I wonder what Arthur Martori is going to say when the illegals take over the reporter jobs . . .

Amen Mr Magoo. That was the one line which caught my attention as well.

This kid probably had mommy and daddy paying his way and has never had a real job in his life.

Thought the name below the picture said "moron" for a minute there.. gotta get some new reading glasses.

Thought the name below the picture said "moron" for a minute there.. gotta get some new reading glasses.

Too funny! :P

I wrote to Mr. Moron and advised him that when he encountered the real world he was in for one helluva jolt.

RR

My email to this misinformed child:



I would suggest that if you are serious about becoming a professional journalist, you learn to research your story before going off the nut with misinformation.

I would suggest to you that if you have anyone in your family that has served in the military to protect this country, you talk with them. Maybe then you would understand why these citizens are trying to protect this country. It is still worth fighting for. A major crash course in history, ethics and honesty are in order I think. Like I tell my kids, don't make an accusation unless you KNOW the facts!

The illegals are not working as a dishwasher at minimum wage and less. They have taken over the construction trades. Roofing, Drywall, Carpentry, road building and paving, printing, factory assembly, . . . ALL of the skilled and semi-skilled trades are being taken over. As a result the pay has dropped to less than half of what it was, and us legal citizens are not the ones hired

I can attest that what you say is true. My husband is in trades, as are his 3 sons and my grandson. Jim has worked in masonry for forty years now. Five years ago he had his own sub-contracting crews. The Mexicans have now flooded this area, cut bids to the point that we would end up working for a debit to our account!! We had hired locals, and had to pay them a fair wage. The Mexicans are paying their illegal employees as little as $3 per hour.

Jim didn't want to hire the illegals, didn't want to have people around that he couldn't even talk with, it makes the job so difficult. So he got out of that and went to work for another sub-contractor. There are fewer and fewer Americans in masonry now. Maybe one crew in five are Americans. We're out of work about four months of the year, underbid on jobs. Fewer jobs come in. Jim's sons are experiencing the same thing. And this at a time when construction is booming.!!

My grandson is a lead carpenter. He just came back here from the east coast where he was paid $18 per hour. Here, he couldn't find a job for almost three months...everything is taken up by illegals. He did find a job..but he's earning only $12 per hour in this area. He had divorced before he came here. His child support of $750 per month for two children was set according to his earnings on the east coast, so he's going to have a difficult time surviving

Some argue that no crime is being committed, illegals just want to work to support their families. The problems are many and varied but from my point of view they're stealing our livelihood, causing us to live just above poverty in our own country. Americans and America created these markets. We shouldn't have to unwillingly share this with anyone. Much less lawbreakers.

RR

My email to Mr.Moron was returned, undeliverable.
RR

I did it this morning and left for work, so I don't know if it went through or not. Pretty chicken to put that out and then not have the guts to put a valid email address for response! Typical

I don't know what's more embarrassing. The article or the fact that I actually took the time to read this nonsense. Seriously I feel like my IQ is 20 points lower because of it.