There is so much to comment on this video! Besides the dobermans and machine guns as your companions for a night time stroll in the neighborhood, besides the disclosure that ICE is actually NOT detaining all illegal immigrants just because we turn them over, what caught my attention was Corey’s outright ethnic profiling! Why would Corey ask if only the “Spanish speakers were asked if they were legal or illegal immigrants?” I thought that illegal immigration was not about Hispanics, but about ALL immigrants ? What does this say about our chairman that insinuates the satisfaction survey was not valid because “Spanish speakers” who may be “illegal immigrants” nullify the results. At least that was my impression.
Please, I invite everyone to comment on what stood out to them in this video.
I’ll admit, I didn’t believe it at first. It’s one thing to make disparaging remarks toward ethnic minorities at a rabid right wing extremism rally, when you don’t think any people of conscience (and certainly no people of color) are watching, but to say that on Channel 23, when potentially thousands of people are watching??????
Obviously, Corey Stewart has only one target group that he wants to form his base. And I have news for him. It’s a shrinking group. Prejudice and politics go together in 20th century politics, but not in the 21st century. Stewart, you are on your way out.
I doubt that Stewart is out. Anyway you slice it the people who’ve lived the experience first hand, whether they speak it out loud or not, are glad that something was done, and probably thank goodness that there are still those who haven’t been neutered by the PC establishment.
Stewart’s attitude that Spanish speakers should be checked for status is exactly why the immigration law was so hard to trust last year. I’ve heard him say similar things many times. If someone with more sensitivity to race and ethnicity were the poster boy, the whole thing might not have turned out as badly as it did.
Of course, if someone with more sensitivity to race and ethnicity were Chairman, this bottle of poison would never have been uncorked. Oh how we miss you Sean Connaughton. Why did you leave us?
But Stewart has been neutered, Mr. Kopko. He just hasn’t admitted it yet. He has more influence on the Anti-Immigrant Lobby than he has on his fellow Board members. They have lost all respect for him. The same is true throughout the county government. Corey Stewart is like George Bush in 2006, an obvious failure but hasn’t admitted it yet. And you’re like Karl Rove in 2006, Mr. Kopko, saying “you are entitled to your math but we have THE math” … right before a landslide loss for the party of the failed Bush administration.
If the Republicans don’t run a moderate candidate in the primary, Stewart and his shameless extremism will lose in 2011 general. And if they do run a moderate, the moderate will win. Since you are one of the gurus, I suggest you opt for the moderate and stop doubling down on your bets on Stewart. He’s a sinking ship, and 3 years from now it will be plain to everyone, even you.
“More sensitivity to race and ethnicity” Yeah, as long as the race isn’t white. So what, the people causing all the fuss are of the same ethnicity, and so therefor we can’t complain because we’d be charged with racism? No way! Just as gang members who all where colors are easier to identify, so are people of Latino origin who don’t speak English. It’s just a fact, and if you feel for the legal Latinos, then tell them to check their allegiance, and out the illegals. That way people will look for further evidence than just the ethnic appearance before making judgement calls. If you ask me it’s all this misplaced sensitivity that has caused all this friction in the first place. Large groups of 99% Latinos took to the streets early on making demands of the community. That put a huge face on those who were illegal, and it stuck. Not my fault!
Tom, you are an adult. It is your fault. We have spoken on more than one occasion and I know your views. Whether you were raised with certain prejudices, or you acquired them as part of what you saw as your duty as a political operative, you DO have the ability to question your beliefs. Don’t blame it on the people you target. That is circuitous reasoning and it is beneath you.
Wait a minute! “Don’tblame it on the people you target” What in the world do you mean by that statement? So, don’t blame crime on the criminal, blame the victim? When a person is mugged, it was their fault for being where the mugger was? Now you’ve really lost me. I was pointing out the fact that the words ‘illegal’ and ‘Latino’ or ‘Hispanic’ are interchangeable due to the fact that the overwhelming number of the illegals are of those ethnic groups. And my name isn’t Tom, so stop deluding yourself. I’m a private US citizen that’s tired of all the bleeding heart sympathy for a group of people who are just playing off your sympathy while other true Americans are still suffering for one reason or another. Those are the ones that need your support, and your hand outs, not those who steal across the border.
SecondAlamo,
These are some pretty ignorant comments coming from you. Spanish speakers have nothing to do with legality and the sooner you and the rest of your kind figure that out the better we will all be. Are you sure your name isn’t Corey last name starts with an S?
How can you state that Spanish speakers aren’t linked with illegal immigration? Have you not been paying attention? Give me some percentages of the illegals in this country that aren’t Latino. Come on, now you’re starting to sound like the OJ defense! Suddenly illegals aren’t even mainly Latino? Right! That was established long long ago, and has never been questioned, unless of course you can figure how people from any other country can get into our country by just climbing over a wall. I doubt many Iranians, Cubans, Egyptians, Chinese, or any other distant land separated from us by water could possibly become the problem! Think about it. It’s simple geography!
Okay “Second Alamo” but if you were going to deny your real identity you should have done so immediately when you were outed. This is no tome for loyalty. Just admit it was a bad call and cut Corey loose. At least for the next few months.
Hmm. “Second Alamo” only really comes on here to defend Corey Stewart. Either he is Corey Stewart or he’s someone very close to him. Whoever he is, his defense of stereotyping Spanish speakers only makes matters worse. By that logic, any one who marched in Selma deserved the same prejudice that African Americans face, I guess including the white people who drove themselves down there??????
In any case, if “Second Alamo” is Corey Stewart, that would explain why he isn’t willing to distance himself!
Bring it On, here is an example of your own ignorant comments:
I guess it all depends on who is getting slammed.
Oh man, this is getting comical. All I’m trying to do is discuss facts, and everyone keeps dodging the issue. Now suddenly we’re discussing ancient history involving blacks. Can’t you stay on subject, or is it too painful. As far as ‘stereotyping Spanish speakers’, like they say, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean people aren’t out to get you. So goes with Spanish speakers. If you can’t speak any English, and you are Latino, then chances are you’re in the country illegally. If that’s stereotyping then so be it. Stereotypes are created from repeated observations of the same characteristic hence they are a based in fact. It doesn’t mean that all show the characteristic, but the majority do. Back to you.
“Oh man, this is getting comical. All I’m trying to do is discuss facts, and everyone keeps dodging the issue.”
What facts? Where is your data about what percentage of the Hispanic population in PWC is undocumented? How do you know there aren’t quite a few European undocumented immigrants? Are you using the fact that white Europeans “blend” so ,therefore, they aren’t obvious and don’t exist?
Really, SA, you sound too much like the good-ole-boys I grew up with in Georgia. The real waste of tax payer money that I’ve witnessed here in PWC has been brought to us by a bunch of white guys – Letiecq, Duecaster, Stirrup, Stewart and their minions. How has that expense compared with Hispanics in the emergenct room, ESOL students, etc. – you know, the usual suspects you like to whine about?
WHWN, just wanted to remind you that Sarah Palin made her first unscripted TV appearance on ABC (were you getting sick of the same speech delivered the same day, every day, for 2 weeks? I was.) She basically made a fool of herself while terrifying anyone who knows the first thing about foreign policy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z75QSExE0jU
But you make every apology for her horrifying lack of national security cred because she unites the party. That’s hypocritical. C’mon. If you like Palin on your ticket, why worry about Stewart making racist gaffes and shilling for hate groups in Washington? Can’t have it both ways, dude.
And do you really think there are that many swing voters in Virginia who care whether American politics has evolved beyond prejudice from the bully pulpit? If there were, you’re already dead to rights thanks to Palin, because the same people who object to prejudice also object to religious fundamentalism, judgmental moralizing fused with discrimination, derisive and false attacks dripping with racial undertones (can anyone say “community organizer?”), Bush doctrines (whether you understand them or not) that justify war for any reason as long as it’s profitable, and intrusions into a woman’s right to choose.
If you’re down with McCain, who chose a novice to hold the codes to our nukes (but can’t pronounce the word “nuclear”) in order to win an election, then you should be down with Corey who chose the scapegoat strategy (and let it consume his being) to win an election.
You said it yourself: thanks to Palin, the party is united.
FortNocks, it would be interesting to see you enumerate Obama’s vast foreign policy experience. Let’s see: One very carefully scripted trip to Europe and the Middle East less than 5 months before Election Day.
Whoa, I will feel SO much safer with Obama’s finger on the button…
There’s nothing really in this footage. And if you don’t think the question is worth asking, your mind works very differently than mine – you want the county asking illegal residents how satisfied they are with services? heh. That’s a world I’ll fight against.
Second Alamo, if you’re trying to sound as ignorant as possible to throw everyone off the general assumption that you are Tom Kopko, you’re doing a good job.
So let me get this straight. This “NotTomKopko” character you’ve created sees brown skinned people at the mall speaking a language other than Spanish, and from that is satisfied they were undocumented.
And, just to prove the theory, he has … tell me what … followed them home, broke into their houses, and searched for papers?
I’ll respond as if you are being genuinely this unintelligent.
For a brief time, we asked our police officers to think like YOU, we asked them to take language proficiency into account when deciding who to arrest under suspicion of being undocumented. This opened our fine officers and our county up to an inevitable procession of law suits that would have cost well above the 11 million dollars your paranoia-turned-policy has already cost us.
And FK, go back to Raising Kaine where you belong.
This was a random survey of residents, was it not? With that being said, the odds are there may have been some illegal residents, and maybe not. However, one’s legal status was not a requirement of the survey or a even question. So, why would Corey bother to ask now. Maybe, could make that request for the next survey if is ill-advisors tell him to do so next time.
And Rick, honestly do like someone suggesting the idea the only good proffer for a vacant lot was barbed wire fence and machine gun turrets in your county?
Emma, how did I guess you would be a Sarah Palin fanatic?
And don’t try to deny it. To make the claim you give a rats *ss about national security, to even dare to put those two words together in sequence, and at the same time say you’re not concerned about Sarah Palin possibly becoming Commander in Chief, after only 20 months as governor of a state that’s “within sight of Russia,” you have to blinded by a fanatical partisanship or purchased by a right wing extremism that has never been healthy for this country.
WHWN, another non-answer. What gives?
Chris – have you seen the gang graffiti on the old Alt-med building on Rt 234?
I wouldn’t have used images of barbed wire fence and gun turrets but I use the phrase “Spanish ghetto” all the time to describe what PWC was turning into.
Rick,
Yes, I’ve seen it. You know garaffiti is a “pet peve” of mine. I thought it was to have been removed last weekend by the Clean Community Council & a volunteer group. Did that not happen?
I probably used “ghetto” to describe WestGate this time last year at some time. I know I wouldn’t not have made a sub-group for the term ghetto. Ghetto is ghetto. Just as a slum is slum.
I didn’t think you would you use the wire & gun comments. I noticed a week or so ago you seemed to be the “lone ranger of sanity” on bvbl. I know you are frustrated with your neighborhood, as I was, and can still be at times. However, it has improved over last year. I sure wish that could be said for our house values. But, that’s whole nother issue.
I get it, FortKnocks.
Let’s review the two sides of FortKnocks’ brain:
A vote for Obama = intellectual superiority and an assurance of national security.
A vote for McCain = ignorant, blind, right-wing fanatical tool.
How very analytical of you.
Tom/SA,
If you had any inside knowledge of the demographics of PWC, you would be aware of a fairly significant number of Russian and West African immigrants who are recognized as not having proper documentation. Not my analysis, someone from law enforcement gave me their perspective on the dynamics of illegal immigration. But, because you continue to only focus on the latino population, you clearly show your prejudice.
SA, Lets go back in time amd let’s suppose county govt did not pass a resolution. How do you think things would be different today?
Would the economy have faltered? Would low skill jobs have dried up? Would the housing industry have grinded to a halt? Or…did the resolution cause these problems?
How would things be different if neighborhood services had double the resources and went after zoning violations more vigorously?
I see more uncut yards from my vantage point. I see lots of empty houses. I still see day-labor types at the 7-11, houses with 10 vehicles parked in front.
I don’t think that the Immigration Resolution did much of anything except cause ill will. I am not even sure it scared people off. I think the economy mostly caused the recent turn of events.
MH,
Ok lets assume that we are back long before there were tons of non English speaking persons amongst us, as it was when I moved here. Illegal immigrants then started to rapidly flood into the area with the detrimental effects to the schools, housing, and medical bill burden. Now what would you do once you found that these burdening individuals were in the country illegally. Pat them on the back and applaud them for just being human, or take them to task for causing problems and breaking the law?
SecondAlamo,
Show me the evidence?
Show me the SOL’s or standarized testing where PWC drops in tests scores because of an influx of non-english speakers.
Housing? The rapid influx caused a decrease in supply which caused everyone’s home prices to increase. Oh, the horror.
Medical burden? 500 less uninsured births, you mean the ones where medicare would pick up the tab? And the numbers of emergency room visits have not decreased DESPITE EVERYBODY’S ANECTDOTAL EVIDENCE to the contrary. And to boot the County’s not paying for the hospitals, maybe a county run health clinic but not the hospital.
How can a student that doesn’t speak English not be a burden to an educational system founded and operated in English?
How can large numbers of uninsured people being treated at the local hospitals possibly improve the economic status of those hospitals?
How can several families crowding into one dwelling generate the required tax per person to sustain the tax supported services? Not to mention decreasing housing values due to the unwillingness of people to move into those areas.
This is based on common sense, and doesn’t require reams of documented evidence which is usually slanted in any case.
Opinions and posts are slanted too, SA!!
SA, You ignored my question about how the resolution changed things. Put more succinctly, was it the resolution or the economy that caused the changes in Prince William County in recent months or have there even been changes?
Rick,
What kind of ghetto would you call the 28 corridor going into Manassas through Yorkshire? It has been like that for years. Talk about an eye sore.
Back to Corey…who was gauche enough to ask if “Spanish speakers were asked if they were legal or illegal immigrants?”
This is just an incredibly stupid question to ask. Did anyone really expect that a Spanish speaker was going to say, ‘yea boss, you caught me. Illegal over here. Where are those cuffs? Bring me ICE.” Incredibly stupid.
Furthermore, what difference could it possibly make? As Chris has pointed out, the survey was random. Even illegal immigrants are residents.
SA, as for saying that a group of people who were 99% Latino started demanding their rights…now let’s see…what did we do to bring that about? There is such a thing as cause and effect.
As for foreign language, I grow weary. How many people who immediately bring up poor English skills are fluent in other languages? My guess is that most of them aren’t quite the polyglot they purport to be.
SA, You basically cannot do anything to change the situation in schools or hospitals. There are all sorts of laws and rulings that protect those 2 areas. The only other thing to do is to create a situation where things are so unpleasant that those you don’t want in schools and hospitals leave town. It has been done for centuries in this country. Run ’em out of town.
Is it not possible for a person to acknowledge that there are problems related to illegal immigration without some of you all trying to turn it, once again, into a 2 dimensional problem?
I see other approaches to problem solving that don’t resort to creating fear and hostility so that people want to leave town. I don’t want to be known as a bully.
M-H, you are really good at putting SA in his place. Thank you!
Emma, I think what F-K is saying is that the right wingers spent half a year saying a four year United States Senator is lacks the foreign policy experience to be President, and now they say the readiness quotient doesn’t matter as long as the ideology matches. Palin never even left this continent until she was over 40. She’s like Bush, but dumber. If McCain were to die, who would be Palin’s Cheney? Would Cheney be Palin’s Cheney? Or would it be the current Halliburton CEO?
Palin was a political calculation, pure and simple. She is such a shock, and so divisive, that she is distracting us from the issues (the only way McCain can win).
This, IMHO, is the opposite of “country first.” It’s not even “party first.” We are in “ideology first” territory if you can’t even admit that choosing Sarah Palin for V.P. puts all of us at risk. If you like McCain, you’re simply betting he’ll survive his term, willing to bet the nation’s safety on it.
I know someone who basically admitted that he/she likes McCain more than he values our national security. That’s fine, but just don’t be hypocritical about it. Just admit it.
NGL, Thanks but that is not my intent.
While I often do not agree with SA, he engages politely. I consider it discussion. In fact, what I probably like the most about SA and Rick is they generally have something to say and aren’t throwing around sound bites and barbs.
NGL, you also have to also wonder about McCain’s competence in choosing Palin.
The issues all work against a continuation of the Bush/McCain Era, and up till now all McCain had to work with was “go with the older, more experienced guy you’ve known for 30 years, not this phenom you hadn’t heard of before 2004.”
No one argues about the fact that he’s out of touch on the economy (the only people he is in touch with are corporate lobbyists and oil men, oh and the guy who called us “whiners” for not letting the big corporations rape us and like it).
McCain helped Bush and Cheney lie us into the war in Iraq, including trying to scare us about the anthrax attacks on David Letterman, saying Iraq was behind it.
Now he’s compromised the only issue he has to run on (he’s more experienced) and destroyed the other one (people feel safer with a familiar face in the White House). All because he need a way to mobilize the right wing who were bored because McCain wasn’t hateful, judgmental, or religious enough.
In choosing Palin, McCain has ABANDONED the issues and is running a campaign of high production lies and coordinated distractions.
If you care about this country, stop debunking the lies. Stop gossiping about the distractions, and just ask yourself why do they try so desperately to avoid the issues?
Fort Knocks,
Did you happen to see the opening sketch of Saturday Night Live this evening? Tina Fey played Sarah Palin, and was SOOOO dead-on and hilarious. Funny, and some really good points were made…of course, the show went down hill from there…
Diversity Gal,
I’m in total agreement.Tina Fey even had the voice down too. It was the only thing worth while on last night’s show.
SA, this has nothing to do with PC. This is a Freudian slip on Stewart’s part. He can’t hides his bigotry. And Stirrup showed his a long time ago.
Justice is coming your way. Be prepared.
“How many people who immediately bring up poor English skills are fluent in other languages?”
Teach Composition I for a little while and see how many native born “Amercian” students can’t speak or write “standard” English.
The problem with the stereotypers is they have no practical experience working in education, sociology, or any other field that deals with real human beings.
You can challenge these people to go out and meet the masses, but they are too cowardly to do it. Remember Wolf’s BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES?
That’s most of our politicians.
DG, I honestly thought at first that SNL had pulled a fast one and actually had Sarah Palin on the set. That would have been their style since everyone was expecting Tina Fey.
On another subject. I remember everyone, in support of the illegals, saying we needed them to fill the unskilled jobs. People were predicting a dire collapse of businesses, because the Resolution would cause many to leave the county. Guess what, they left in huge numbers and yet the jobs are still being done. That just goes to show that there are plenty of legal citizens waiting to fill the jobs that were being undercut by the lower payed illegals. If not, then name me one non-Hispanic business that is no longer in business purely based on the fact that they couldn’t get enough workers. If any, the list would be very very short!
Here’s the clip of the opening to last night’s SNL. It’s great I love it when “Hillary” gets on “Pallin” with her Tina Fey glasses.
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/palin-hillary-open/656281/
Chris,
It was great the second time around, too. Thanks for posting the clip so that all may enjoy:)
MH said –“SA, You ignored my question about how the resolution changed things. Put more succinctly, was it the resolution or the economy that caused the changes in Prince William County in recent months or have there even been changes?”
Now people are getting me confused. For months I have been reading on this blog that the resolution was the main cause of the downturn in the local economy. So what is everyone’s opinion?
And by the way, as a college graduate with a degree in broadcasting, I learned long ago that when comments are taken out of context (not showing the entire exchange or what immediately preceeded followed it) you can make any statement lose its actual meaning. Please show me the whole discussion.
SA, if you’ve been here long enough, you know that the influx of non English speakers was preceded by an influx of upscale housing and Yuppies. That residential increase doesn’t pay for itself in money for schools, firehouses, police, etc. But I guess that’s one subsidy that didn’t bother you as much as an influx of immigrants who didn’t look like you or speak as you do.
Censored,
Realestate taxes are based on the assessed value of the home and land. Upscale houses usually are larger, and more expensive, so they actually add to the tax base. Also, they usually only house one family in each, so yes the upscale housing wasn’t a factor in my opinion. Smaller houses with multiple families on the other hand are a tax burden. Makes sense to me. So how about my comment on workers? Trying to avoid are we?
SecondAlamo,
How about you address how the tens of thousands would have been built? We had below rate full employment plus everyone had signs for employment opportunities. How about you tell me how that could have been done without the labor?
Okay, SA,
I’ll take the workers comment.
Have you been to Burger King on Sudley Road lately? I noticed they recently put up signage in the restaurant that they use the Real ID or whatever the system is called to make sure they only hire legal residents. Since I noticed that sign, I have been to the restaurant at least 4 times (my son loves the burgers!). Anyway, I have been there at least 20 times in the last 6 months and in my last 4 visits the service and wait time has been ridiculous. So bad, that I will not be going back because I don’t have 15-20 minutes to wait in line at the drive through window. It has become obvious that they do not have the staff to serve their customers, so I just won’t be a customer anymore.
Also, CMC, the concrete raid. I know people that work there. The number of trucks they are running is less than half than before the raid and there were no lines of PWC legal resident’s lined up to get any of the well paying jobs they had. They were paying their drivers $1,000/week after taxes, and now those guys cannot hold jobs or contribute to the economy anymore while they await their court dates. And no PWC resident’s stepped up to the plate to take those well paying jobs. Perhaps they didn’t want to get there at 6 am and work until 7 or 8 pm M-F in the heat.
Work is not getting done…ALL fast food and retailers have hiring signs out. There are plenty of low skilled positions that remain unfilled.
The only discussion going on over at bvbl is about anti!
Fast food is bad for you anyway. They’re just looking out for your health ; )