Information from an op-ed in New York Times, July 27, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/us/27immig.html


     The setting is a kosher meat-packing plant in Postville, Iowa. From the outside, the building's facade mirrors the semblance of any other industry. Inside, there is a much different story to tell, for its immoral plot line echoes back to the iniquity of slavery.

     This past May, here at Agriprocessors Inc., the nation's largest kosher plant, Federal immigration agents raided its operation, rounding up 389 illegal immigrants. "They found more than 20 under-age workers, some as young as 13."Some said they worked shifts of 12 hours or more, wielding razor-edged knives and saws to slice freshly killed beef. Some worked through the night, sometimes six nights a week. One, a Guatemalan named Elmer L. who said he was 16 when he started working on the plant’s killing floors, said he worked 17-hour shifts, six days a week. In an affidavit, he said he was constantly tired and did not have time to do anything but work and sleep. “I was very sad,” he said, “and I felt like I was a slave.” Iowa law clearly states that, on account of the dangerous work that takes place, meat packing plants are not allowed, and that it is therefore illegal, to hire any persons under the age of 18.
    "In an interview, Elmer L. said he had told floor supervisors that he was under 18. He asked that his last name not be published on advice of his lawyer, Ms. Parras Konrad, because he is a minor in deportation proceedings.“They asked me how old I was,” Elmer L. said. “They could see that sometimes I could not keep up with the work.”Elmer L. said that he regularly worked 17 hours a day at the plant and was paid $7.25 an hour. He said he was not paid overtime consistently."My work was very hard, because they didn’t give me my breaks, and I wasn’t getting very much sleep,” he said. “They told us they were going to call immigration if we complained.”Elmer L. said that he was clearing cow innards from the slaughter floor last Aug. 26 when a supervisor he described as a rabbi began yelling at him, then kicked him from behind. The blow caused a freshly-sharpened knife to fly up and cut his elbow.He was sent to a hospital where doctors closed the laceration with eight stitches. But he said that when he returned, his elbow still stinging, to ask for some time off, his supervisor ordered him back to work.The next day, as he was lifting a cow’s tongue, the stitches ruptured, Elmer L. said, and the wound bled again. He said he was given a bandage at the plant and sent back to work. The incident is confirmed in a worker’s injury report filed on Aug. 31, 2007, by Agriprocessors with the Iowa labor department.


"In the aftermath of the arrests, labor investigators have reaped a bounty of new evidence from the testimony of illegal immigrants, teenagers and adults, who were caught in the raid. In formal declarations, immigrants have described pervasive labor violations at the plant, testimony that could result in criminal charges for Agriprocessors executives, labor law experts said."

So there it is, the article speaks for itself. The evidence is brutal and the testimony is heartbreaking. The fact is that this is slavery. Therefore, since we have dealt with this problem before, we have laws. Dramatic one's like the 13th ammendment, and simple ones like Iowa's law that you cannot hire people under the age of 18. So who is responsible, who gets in trouble?

Well, this where it gets political. I know, I know, I don't want it this way either. People start to feel for those illegal immigrants. They think well, they need this work, and to simply start catching illegals and throwing them back over the border is unethical and lacks morality. Then they'll start to identify with the companies. O, well they are just trying to give work to the people that need it the most, besides Americans wouldn't do these jobs anyway. I mean there's just so much love going around that I can't take it. Everyone is trying to understand one another, when all we have to do right now is understand the law.

 So here's what we do in this situation. We shut down this company, for what they did was illegal, and they should therefore be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. As for the illegal immigrants, they should be deported for they are in this country illegally.

Now, the real problem here, the answer that I do not have, is how to cope with the effect this machination will have on the economy. Obviously, if we just start deporting people left and right and prosecuting companies, jobs will be lost, businesses will falter, and the economy will fall into a downturn. In defense of this proposition, as I just said, many pundits say that Americans would not "stoop" to the level of work that illegals do. Well, that I am not sure of, but regardless, it is definitely a possibility. So the best I can do here is give some kind of road map to immigration reform, and that is the law, and more specifically prosecuting companies and illegals to the full extent of it. But I am just a 16 year old high school junior. So if I can get this far, then Barack Obama and John McCain have to have some brilliantly coherent ideas to fix this. I mean especially Barack. He went Harvard Law School, was the editor of the Harvard Law Review there, and to top it all of he was a "community organizer."

 Unfortunately, neither Barack nor McCain have confronted this issue at all. Obama's website adresses the issue with 6 sentences. A s for McCain, well McCain-Kennedy speaks for itself. The Iraq War, the Economy, and Gas Prices have taken center stage in this campaign on account of the personal effect it has on the American people, that is simply the realisitic and statisitical truth of the matter. However, a true presidential candidate, someone truly determined to lead this nation, would address the serious issues, regardless of their popularity. We just don't see that anymore. I guess sincerity is simply to cliche these days.

Well here we are, 10 years into the 2008 presidential election, and the end seems farther away as ever. The differences in the candidates are extreme, the race is close according to polls, the media is falling more and more in love with Obama, and John McCain just keeps getting older. It's great, isn't it? There have been a lot of wishy-washy attacks, quotes, smokes, and mirrors thrown around in the last couple months so I figured I would winnow all that aside for you and focus on the three things that I think are the central issues of this campaign,[taxes, the war, and gas prices] in a short little commentary. I am way too lazy and sporadically uninformed to talk about every talking point in this election, so here it goes.

Taxes. To put it simply, Obama's raising them. If your making over 250,000 dollars, your Social Security tax is going up. Capital gains tax, as high as 28%(currently 15%).(Over 100 million Americans invested in the Stock Market last year).  To add to the list, Obama favors the Cap and Trade system, which basically means that you are going to have to pay for pollution. The sad thing is that Johnny "Maverick" favors it too so there's no room to budge. Now to the income tax. This is where Obama demonstrates his principles of inequality. Here's a quote from his website: "Obama will restore fairness to the tax code and provide 150 million workers the tax relief they need. Obama will create a new "Making Work Pay" tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. The "Making Work Pay" tax credit will completely eliminate income taxes for 10 million Americans." Sounds great doesn't it? Except that it is completely unethical and socialistic. Barack, how many more tax breaks do there have to be for you to realize that tax rebates do not get people out of poverty. The top 10% income earners in this country pay 70% of this nation's tax burden. How much more of the burden do we have to put on their shoulders to get you to realize that your "Robin Hood" polices will not work. I guess the real question boils down to who deserves tax cuts? The people who actually pay taxes, or those who don't? And that is simply a question of fairness. Think, don't feel when it comes to taxes.

The War. Obama voted against it, McCain for it. Obama right, McCain wrong. Obama was against the surge, McCain was for it.  Surge worked. Obama was wrong. Obviously the Awakening and the Sadr-Cease Fire were important in decreasing the violence. But to blatantly neglect to acknowledge the efficacy of the Surge and the domino effect that it spurred is irresponsible and flat out partisan. In an interview with Katie Couric(surprising I know), Barack was directly asked several times if the surge had worked, and he kept saying that the "troops" did a sufficient job. Politics as usual. I mean come on Barack, we know you have a shallow character and pitiful judgment, but at least acknowledge the political decision that allowed the troops to succeed. Stop playing games.  Now, shifting gears to the Afghanistan issue. Everyone  has been going crazy about this, so let's get it straight. Afghanistan is a serious issue, I have thought that all a long. But the only reason that we can directly confront that now, is because we are winning in Iraq, where Barack wanted to cut-and-run from a year ago. Oh, but he didn't flip-flop, he simply revised his position, or in clear thinking terms, realized he was wrong and therefore had to change his policy to avoid political embarrassment. The major point here is that Barack really does not take Iraq seriously. His goal is to get out of Iraq, McCain's is to stay for 100 years. Both are kind of iffy.

Gas Prices. To confront this issue head on, Americans have to realize that there is no quick solution. To fix this lousy picture, we have to add a varied group of colors that can proliferate their specific benefits into our economy. Politically, the future looks bleak, for both Barack and McCain are nature freaks. Neither of them are really offering any solutions. They are against drilling in Anwar, and as for off shore drilling, the only reason McCain supports it now is because it is politically expedient. What  both of these candidates have to understand is that we have oil, a lot of it. Let's use what we have. Drill everywhere, convert coal to oil(one barrel costs $40), take advantage of the oil shale in the Rocky mountains(location is untouchable, prohibited by Fed) where we have roughly 2 trillion barrels worth of recoverable oil, the same amount of oil as the Saudi Arabian Crude Reserve. Let's allow the oil companies get out there on the free market and explore and drill and produce. We know where the oil is, so let's stop playing political games in Washington, and let's get it done. At the same time, we have to invest in nuclear, solar, wind, geothermal, etc. The worst type of action is no action, and that is exactly what this government is harboring, and that is precisely what Obama and McCain support. So I really don't have an answer for you there.

Well here's a goodnight. Hope you enjoyed my late night unspellchecked rant.