Hot Air Worthy Of Name

4 May, 2006. 307 words.

Yet another example of either spin, propaganda, or ignorance from a blogger (this one happens to be conservative) at the new, aptly named, “Hot Air:” Pare Amnistia Ahora! The Cero Peso Campaign.

I have no particular comment about the politics of the post. Rather, I have a problem with the language of the post. What caught my attention was this:

Illegal aliens make up a far disproportionate percentage of our prison population, and take advantage of our schools and hospitals without paying for the services or showing any interest in becoming Americans and assimilating our beliefs.

Oh? Since I’m accustomed to disbelieving everything I see and hear in the media and on the Internet, I eagerly looked for some corroborative evidence. Unfortunately the author failed to cite any sources for any of that stuff. And while our prison population could be measured objectively, measuring such nebulous and subjective actions as “taking advantage of” or “showing interest” would be impossible anyway, so that whole section is pure prejudice on the part of the author.

Just for the record, my own research indicates that the author (Bryan Preston — an “award-winning producer and director” for Hot Air) is dead wrong about the prison population thing. According to The Bureau of Justice Statistics for 2004 , only 19% of inmates in State and Federal prisons were Hispanic. (No data was provided indicating whether they were legal or illegal.) Even if every one of them were illegal, that’s hardly a “far disproportionate percentage,” if you ask me.

If these ad-revenue-supported “journalist” bloggers are going to try to make a point, they should at least make a little effort to use some factual arguments, don’t you think? (Admittedly, I’m inferring that Bryan thinks he’s a journalist because of his association through Hot Air with Michelle Malkin, who definitely thinks she’s a journalist.)

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