Letters to the Editor
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OK, but it's still wrong. And people on "the left" are on record as being against it.
I have thought about it and I agree, jeffrey, it's not strictly slavery. But what do you make of this line in the article? "The [Bush] administration also waived the requirement for contractors rebuilding the Gulf Coast to provide valid I-9 employment eligibility forms completed by their workers." Do you think this is a tacit approval of KBR's hiring of undocumented or illegally-working people? I do.
I doubt that any of these legal aliens would have come here, bused by the subcontractors, if they were promised no pay for weeks of work and under conditions we wouldn't accept for field horses.
I also generally agree with you, jeffrey, that "the left loves one of these groups" at least in the sense of "loves" meaning "cares for the humanity of." But, of course, regarding whether they should be doing work here, labor unions are quoted in the article as stating their opposition to the contracts no one's apparently allowed to see (that's gotta be illegal; no, wait, it's a "national security" issue, never mind, it's OK!). For all we know, these contracts say explicitly, "Go ahead and abuse anyone working for you! Bring in Mexicans, Canadians, Russians, whoever!"
Interesting how Senators Mary Landrieu and Carl Levin, who oppose the subcontractors' use of undocumented workers, have "D"s next to their names. I think it means they're Democrats, probably on "the left."
I don't like to tag an entire group of people as "the right," but based on the Bush Administration's and the Republican Senate and House leaders' intentional ignorance on this issue, jeffrey, would it be fair to say that the right "loves one of these groups" as well, the "corporate thieves"? After all, who can point to any DHS prosecution of any of these companies? But no, I'll be fair and say it's only the Republican Party, not the right, that loves corporate thieves.
And what's this? It also appears, based on this article, that the Bush Administration "loves" (though not in the human-rights sense) illegal aliens if all it can do, and this is after a Democratic Senator complains, a lot, is arrest 10 people for questionable documentation! 10!