Monday, April 12, 2010

How 'Bout That BIG Rally for Immigrant Rights in Las Vegas?

So we're still hearing plenty about the teabaggers' "Rendezvous in Searchlight"... You know, the one that attracted mostly out-of-state nutjobs to go to Searchlight to try to harrass Harry Reid while listening to Sarah Palin's sweet nothings about nothing. And yet, we don't often hear as much about actual Nevadans coming out and speaking their minds.

We're seeing this again with the RIFA rally in Vegas on Saturday. Wait... What was that, again? This:

Thousands of people rallied outside a federal building Saturday in support of swift congressional action on immigration reform.


Demonstrators cheered when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., told them they’re committed to making immigration reform a top priority.


Reid said legislation would include border security and a guest worker program for seasonal workers. Activists also want it to include a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants.


“For those that are undocumented, we’re going to make some rules,” Reid said. “We’re going to make sure there will be a penalty or a fine, people will have to work, pay taxes and stay out of trouble and learn English. Not so bad, is it?”


People held signs with slogans such as “Stop Tearing Our Families Apart,” “Reform Now” and “Workers, Taxpayers, Voters.” They also chanted U-S-A and waved American flags. Police estimated the crowd at roughly 3,500 people.


The rally outside the federal building was sponsored by a coalition that includes the non-partisan Reform Immigration for America Campaign, labor groups and faith-based organizations.

The R-J actually also had a halfway decent article about it... But as usual, they buried it beneath their half-baked, fake-@ss "polls" and other bits of GOoPer/teabagger advertising.

And even if we are to believe the "lowball" estimates of 3,500 pro-immigrant, pro-reform activists out on the streets, that still means there were far more Nevadans going out to SUPPORT a progressive agenda than oppose it. After all, the vast majority of demonstrators on Saturday were local Las Vegans... As opposed to the teabaggers busing in people from other states.

But as usual, we know which event The R-J and the other radical right noisemakers will proclaim (the one filled with out-of-state anti-Reid teabaggers) and which events they'll try to downplay and ignore (the progressive rallies filled with real Nevadans).

1 comment:

  1. This is one of those 20% issues where I'm on the other side. Sort of.

    Mainstream GOP more or less is the party of industry that exploits cheap labour from undocumented border-crossers, whereas people on the left seem to want to wave a magic wand and say "now you're legal!"

    I'm somewhere in between. Go after these companies that are hiring them, the opportunity will dry up for people who just cross the line and hope to find work with no papers, and they will go home themselves.

    All this noise about official languages and breaking up families is distracting the real meat of the issue, which is that companies are basically getting away with a human slave market.

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