In which I traffic in illegals....

We had this HUGE pile of yard waste down on the parking stip. Appallingly huge. Impressively huge. Huge-O-Rama. Chock full O' Huge. It was a Saturday, and I was wondering what to do with it when suddenly the dogs went nuts. That in itself is not unusual, as they are of the less then mentally stable type, but I looked out the window and, low and behold, there was a rather attractive Mexican guy by the gate. After quickly patching my make-up, putting in a fall, and slipping into an imaginary pair of Pucci lounging pajamas, I ventured out to see what the matter was.

The matter was the yard waste. He had a truck, and he offered to clean up the front yard for me for a very attractive price, which i immediately took him up on.

He was an industrious young man, and only annoyed me when he turned up some particularly appaling rap and told me it was Christian Rap because he was a Christian. I gave him my best Gracious Lady smirk and offered a non-committal "how nice for you"

Mrs Kravitz, who appears out of nowhere when anything happens at the house, was quite concerned that he was just going to take the yard waste to a gully somewhere and dump it, which was probably a valid concern, but only to those who care about such things. But to appease her, I did ask him to show me the receipts, which he did.

In a noble example of sub-contracting, he hired a passing vagrant to help him with the job, and paid him $25 for his trouble (I heard this through Mrs. Kravitz, who apparently lurked in her backyard to listen in on their conversation.) so I gave him a $25 tip.

My point (yes, I have one) is this: I have no idea whether he was an illegal or not, and I don't care. There is no way in hell I would ask him for his "papers", as I do not live in a 1940's Warner Brothers film, and have no desire to do so. Yet that is what the Republicans would have us do with their Immigration legislation.

I recognize that illegals are a problem: They drive wages (like those for yard waste collection) down, and they are often victimized by unscrupulous people. But I don't blame them - we all gotta eat, after all - I blame the corporations that want the cheap labor, the stock market analysts that put the unrealistic expectations on the corporations, and the politicians (of both stripes, but mostly Republican) who are bought and paid for by the corporations, and don't care about the impact on the middle class. Those are the real culprits - not the poor schmucks who are desparate for cash.