Protocols of the Elders of Aztlan

The graphics department at Lou Dobbs Tonight has fewer qualms than you might think about using the Council of Conservative Citizens as a source of anti-Mexican propaganda. But Dobbs is a ways off from doing what the hosts of Fox and Friends did, and playing country singer Michael Anthony's anti-Mexican anthem "Fly With The Eagle" on the air. Here are some of Anthony's lyrics:

America's seen the wayward hearts
And opened up her shores
Said if you live by the law of the land
You could not ask for more.

But her resources are fadin'
She's on the verge of goin' bust
From those that we've let cross her lines
And abuse her sacred trust.

Hey, if you're legal,
You can fly with the eagle
And live the dream
And make yourself a name.

But if you ain't legal,
You can't fly with the eagle, no,
You need to leave here
And go back from where you came.

So, who wants to break it to him that the eagle is one of the symbols of Mexico?

Comments

[Amanda Hugginkiss]

Yeah, I rarely have time to watch morning news but I caught this the other day. Between this and John Gibson, Fox has really gone off the rails.

[Sandy]

The resources are fadin' but don't try to make us pay market prices for gasoline!

[budgie]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Michael Anthony probably doesn't know too much about how his forebears made their way over here to "Murka". It's just a hunch.

[Jim Anderson]

"But if you ain't legal,
You can't fly with the eagle, no,
You need to leave here
And go back from where you came."

This from the people who want the national anthem sung exclusively in English?

[Adam W.]

I can excuse the "ain't," but "go back from where you came"???

[Evan]

"Between this and John Gibson, Fox has really gone off the rails."

Ahem, uh, when was Fox ever really on the rails? About 3 years ago, when we were in the run-up the War on Iraq, that blonde, lip-gloss-obsessed anchor on F&F, ED Hill, proclaimed (in all seriousness), "if you oppose the war in Iraq, then you support the rape and oppression of women". This is one of their lead F&F anchors. Between her, O'Really?...and, well, if you ever watch TDS, Jon usually has some really great clips of them being "fair and balanced"...I'd say they've never even set one wheel on the rails.

[chewy]

Anti-Mexican? That's putting it lightly. That little ditty is the most racist diatribe I've seen since "Welcome to the Terrordrome."

[jp]

"She's on the verge of goin' bust"?!

What planet does this yahoo live on?

[Evan]

What I wanna know is, when will the rest of the WhiteHouse/FoxNews merger happen?

[Marcvs]

I'm no fan of Fox News, but:

and, well, if you ever watch TDS, Jon usually has some really great clips of them being "fair and balanced"

The Daily Show? Pot, meet kettle.

[MP]

The Daily Show? Pot, meet kettle.

I don't recall TDS ever making claims it was attempting to not have a slant.

[Evan]

"She's on the verge of goin' bust"?!

What planet does this yahoo live on?"

A planet apparently inhabited almost exclusively by the folks on Southpark who lamented because, well, THEYTKURJBBBSS!!!

Anyway, country music political activism has never been shy of hyperbole. Remember all those post-9/11 tunes? Almost every one of them had a sort of underlying theme of, "unless we go out and start bombing a bunch of people [aka 'putting a boot up their ass], then America is going to be inavded and taken over by Mooslims, and your daughter's will have to all wear burkas to school!"

Fearmongoring works SO much better if you grossly exaggerate the threat that you're trying to mobilize gullible people against.

[MP]

THEYTKURJBBBSS!!!

[Evan]

"The Daily Show? Pot, meet kettle."

Yeah, of course their not unbiased! Did they ever claim to be? But at least TDS doesn't try and put on airs about anything. They never claimed to be fair and balanced...and they're a goddamned comedy show, ferchrissakes!

Meanwhile, I know plenty of people (including my soon-to-be father-in-law) who watch only FoxNews, and take their talking points as gospel. So, please, don't try to equate the two.

[anonymous]

anyone check out the crazy race debate going on at TtP?
"Mexicans: The Amazing (Non-Existent) Race" http://www.tothepeople.com/

[Amanda Hugginkiss]

I'd say they've never even set one wheel on the rails.

Perhaps. But I would say Fox was a decent channel back in the 90s, when their craziness was limited to O'Reilly. And some of their programming is still OK -- I like Shep Smith, and I thought his Katrina coverage was exemplary. He displayed some sincere compassion without any "so poor, so black" moments.

Anyway, I hadn't caught F&F for awhile, and when I flipped it on and saw that douche and his band singing their song, it was a pure WTF moment of horror and humor. The guy spreading his arms like an eagle and everything. Pure Jacksonian populism. I told Mrs. Hugginkiss later that if the Mex'cans mess up her order at Dunkin Donuts she should tell them that if they ain't legal, then they can't fly with the eagle. And that would make everything better.

[Brian]

if you don't buy my CD
then Osama wins

[Bob]

Oh, c'mon. Anthony doesn't mean ALL Mexicans, just the illegal ones. How can that be racist?

[Marcvs]

I equate the two because Jon regularly uses his show for a soapbox (which is his right to do, calm down people), but whenever anyone calls him on it, he always makes some statement like "oh, we're just a comedy show." You can't have it both ways.

And I like the Daily Show, except when Jon has his lips against the ass of someone talking about how the state could do everything better than the market if it weren't for that awful Bush.

[Timothy]

That TtP thread reminds me that I've always wanted to open a restaurant that served Mexican, Irish, and Italian cuisine...I'd have to call it something like Spick Mick Wop's just to make sure I REALLY offended everyone.

[Brian24]

I love Welcome to the Terrordome.

I don't smile in the line of fire
I go wildin'
But it's on drums and bass and even violins
Whatcha do, get ya head ready
Instead of gettin' physically sweaty
When I get mad I put it down on a pad
Give ya somethin' thatcha never had.

PE rocks.

[jbold1]

Accusations of bias on the part of Fox News presuppose that truly objective news reporting exists somewhere in the so-called mainstream media...what channel is that again?

[jb]

I would so eat at Spick Mick Wops.

[dagny]

I don't recall TDS ever making claims it was attempting to not have a slant.

I don't know, they used to be a comedy program that made fun of both sides.

Now they're the voice of the Democratic Party that uses their former status as an excuse to ridicule Republicans.

[Charles Oliver]

Didn't Michael Anthony play bass for Van Halen?

[taktix]

I knew I hate country music for a reason...

[Jason Ligon]

Watching this debate unfold in public, and realizing that I'm on the losing side, I can't help but feel that the Don't Build a Wall people need to address the legal vs. illegal distinction that seems to resonate so strongly with America at large.

I think a neutral view of the libertarian position on this issue is that we tend to gloss over or even dodge the key distinction being made, preferring instead to focus on Immigration = Good. That is a position easy to make, but it doesn't address what most people seem to care about - that we have so many undocumented people here and more coming and no way to slow them down.

So, I ask as one sympathetic entirely to the notion that there is no immigration problem of major significance - What is our argument to address legal and documented vs. illegal and undocumented?

[Mo]

dagny,
I've seen them rip on the Dems plenty of times. Besides, it's always more fun to make fun of the guy in power than the underdog. If there's a Dem in the White House in 08, you'd better believe JS is going to rip them. If it's Hillary, he's going to have kittens. It'll make his next 4-8 years easier than shooting fish in a barrel.

[SmokingPenguin]

Charles Oliver - that's what I was thinking, so I went to the site linked above. This guy's guitar is not shaped like a Jack Daniels bottle - must be a different guy.

So, who wants to break it to him that the eagle is one of the symbols of Mexico

David, he said you can't fly with the eagle. Their eagle is perching - must be a different eagle.

[Timothy]

But can one still fly like an eagle? Perhaps to the sea?

[Iron Lungfish]

I don't know, they used to be a comedy program that made fun of both sides.

One of those sides controls all three branches of government and launched America on the greatest foreign policy disaster of the last thirty years. The other side is still figuring out how to put together a donor database. Don't blame Jon Stewart if he tends to use satire to attack the people who actually matter.

[Brian24]

Don't blame Jon Stewart if he tends to use satire to attack the people who actually matter.

It's generally easier to make jokes that ridicule a political position than jokes in support of a position. Since the Democrats don't seem to have a coherent position, there aren't many jokes to make; of course, on Stewart's show the main joke made at the Democrats' expense is to mock them for not having any positions (or balls).

[SR]

"But can one still fly like an eagle? Perhaps to the sea?"

It's too early for Neville Brothers references.

[thoreau]

Since this thread is discussing (1) a song about eagles and (2) The Daily Show, I feel like some sort of discussion of Stephen Colbert Jr. is appropriate.

[David Weigel]

Thoreau - I don't know if the people on this thread have the balls to discuss that.

[john deere jackson]

I dont give a F about the distinction between legal and illegal if the law sucks. In some places its illegal to live with an unmarried partner or legal for the police to murder people, so the hell if I care about the "rule of law" as an absolute.

[Randolph Carter]

David Weigel, I think you mean most of us don't have the muchos huevos grandes to discuss it. I love little Stephen Jr. What a go-getter!

[thoreau]

All I know is that those eagles raising Stephen Colbert Jr. had better not be two dude eagles. We don't want the San Francisco zoo turning into Brokebeak Mountain. Stephen Jr. deserves better than that.

[Randolph Carter]

They'd better be careful when Stephen Jr. develops his powers of flight to their full extent - he'll swoop down like sweet justice and decimate the zoo's bear population.

[Timothy]

He'll only kill every tenth bear? The bears are lucky Stephen Jr. is so merciful, like the Good Lord in Heaven.

[Randolph Carter]

blargh, using "decimate" in its modern sense. A grammar/usage fascist lives inside every libertarian...

[Amanda Hugginkiss]

So, I ask as one sympathetic entirely to the notion that there is no immigration problem of major significance - What is our argument to address legal and documented vs. illegal and undocumented?

Jason,

It's been very surprising to me that Reason has been so quick to dismiss illegal immigration as a non-issue because I think it's one libertartians can really get behind. It IS an issue. As libertarians, we should sympathize with those landowners along the border whose private-property rights are being violated -- their land trashed, their fences cut, and so forth (remember that west of the Mississippi, it's understandable if unacceptable for a man to shoot another over water rights). Further we should feel some compassion for those risking death in the high desert to come join the free market and engage in voluntary contracts with employers.

What bothers me is that this has become an issue of enforcement, with walls and National Guardsmen, rather than one of reform. The libertarian response should be one encouraging immigration in an orderly fashion. Instead of paying some snakehead who may abandon them without water in the desert, or nearly suffocating in some secret compartment in an 18-wheeler, why can't immigrants buy a bus ticket driven by a Spanish-speaking driver, ride across the border, and enter a privately O&O bilingual support system of housing- and employer-locating services? The fact that it has become an enforcement issue -- I mean, the House bill makes it a felony to hire an illegal immigrant?! -- and not a reform issue suggests to me that all these dipsticks like this country singer aren't being sincere when they say you're welcome to come if you do it legally.

In Amanda-topia, I would pour some money into our Latin American embassies to make the application process easy and understandable -- f*ck green cards and all that nonsense. They would pay a small fee, have to submit to a background check (which, admittedly, wouldn't do much since I believe most immigrants aren't criminals and that Latin American criminal databases probably aren't as sophisticated as ours), and then they'd be directed to the bus station to enjoy an air-conditioned ride to their new lives as American citizens. For the ones already here, I think a small fine (like $200) is acceptable, money that could be rolled back into the system. It grates against my sense of fairness that illegals already here should be granted amnesty when others have jumped through all the hoops the government has set for them; hence the fine.

But this stance will never gain traction with the country because there is widespread distrust of the free market and non-anglophones. From what I've seen, most people insist immigrants are taking jobs away from white Americans -- valued jobs like pouring coffee at Dunkin Donuts.

Discuss and ridicule as you see fit. And I remind those on this board who may dislike some of my ideas simply because they call for some kind of governmental oversight that Congress has the Constitutional right "To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization."

[MP]

A variety of similar "Amanda-topia" proposals have been bantered about in both blog posts and in the comments. I'm not sure where you get the impression that Reason has dismissed it as a non-issue. It is very much seen as an issue, where proposed solutions don't center on how to control illegals, but to revisit the whole concept of "illegal immigrant" and rebuild our immigration policy from the ground up.

[Amanda Hugginkiss]

I'm not sure where you get the impression that Reason has dismissed it as a non-issue.

I think the subtitle, "Non-binding, non-militarized non-solutions to a non-problem" may have had something to do with that perception.

http://www.reason.com/links/links051606.shtml

Anyway, Jason Ligon asked a question and I gave him my answer. I can't help it if you've read it all before.

[WSDave]

Brian24,
"It's generally easier to make jokes that ridicule a political position than jokes in support of a position. Since the Democrats don't seem to have a coherent position, there aren't many jokes to make; of course, on Stewart's show the main joke made at the Democrats' expense is to mock them for not having any positions (or balls)."

I agree. After all, how funny is "2 guys don't walk into a bar..."? The party that's actually doing something will always be the butt of the joke.

[joe]

Jason Ligon, Amanda,

I think you libertoids are so used to being out in the cold that you can't tell when you're not. Recent polling data makes it clear that it's the Tom Tancredos of America that are the minority - a landslide majority, over 60%, would support a guest worker program, a path to citizenship, or the like.

That the white guys in trucker hats are loud and obnoxious, and never tire of proclaiming that they speak for all real Americans, does not change the fact that it is they, and not the Latinos who dared to hold some rallies, who are inspiring the backlash. Even Lou Dobbs' home network is running stories about racism in the anti-immigrant movement.

[rob]

I'm with Amanda on this one.

And joe, are you hinting that perhaps CNN has an agenda?

[Pro Libertate]

I'm not necessarily concerned with the majority's opinion on this issue--no, strike that. I don't care about the majority's opinion on this issue. I'm concerned only about what they might opt to do. I'm highly suspicious of any claim that we're all opposed/all in favor of any particular position. I'm hearing a lot of complicated positions from all sides of this debate. From what I can tell, people generally aren't thrilled with the idea of just ignoring limits on immigration. On the other hand, there's a general discomfort with the over-the-top nationalism and ethnic prejudice that seem to be popping up here and there.

I note for the record that this has been until extremely recently less of a partisan issue and more of one that depended on which state you happened to be in (or represent). The left has been anti-immigration in the past due to its union support, for instance. I just hate the idea that this issue was thrown in front of us (by the GOP this time, no doubt), and we're all supposed to get caught up in debating it and line up with our respective partisan leanings. Screw that. I've got other concerns.

[Jason Ligon]

"I think you libertoids are so used to being out in the cold that you can't tell when you're not."

That is probably true. My impression was that the first order of business is to 'seal the border'. After that, people were luke warm on the guest worker issue.

I'd be very happy to be wrong in that impression.

[Phil Ken Seben]

Thoreau - I don't know if the people on this thread have the balls to discuss that.

Ha HA! Balls...

[jg]

So... what makes you think the song is anti-Mexican? Michael Anthony sings of those who "ain't legal". You are the one who jumps to the conclusion that it must be about Mexicans.