Picky about picking

Lars Larson, not exactly known for his nuanced political views, has been getting a lot of airtime out of illegal immigration lately. So much so that Oregon Association of Nurseries Executive Director John Aguirre set things straight in the October edition of Digger:

[Lou] Dobbs and Larson like to chant, “What don’t you understand about illegal? Illegal is illegal.” This calculated rhetoric is meant to shift the reference point of their listeners — from viewing immigrants not as people, but as dangerous criminals. This type of speech supports other tools of the propagandists: appeals to fear and to prejudice. Larson and Dobbs argue that immigrants generate a disproportionate amount of mayhem and violent crime. Dobbs said on his show that illegal immigrants represent one-third of inmates in the federal prison system. But, according to the U.S. Justice Department, 6 percent of prisoners in this country are noncitizens, compared with the 7 percent they represent of our total population.

Aguirre was invited to call in to Larson's show, but he didn't get to say much, though he did invite Mr. Larson to try working eight hours in the fields.

Up until recently, every planting season in Cambodia government officials would be sent out into the paddies to transplant rice shoots. Even children in elementary school were sent out to help plant their teachers' fields.

If such a plan were instituted in Oregon, except radio hosts were asked to work in the field alongside court clerks, I think there would be far less opposition to loosening up immigration.