'Holiday on ICE', Broccoli as Humor
Among animals, one has a sense of humor.
-- Marianne Moore, The Pangolin
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Among animals, one has a sense of humor.
-- Marianne Moore, The Pangolin
Among animals, one has a sense of humor.
-- Marianne Moore, The Pangolin
It is always refreshing when folks who are charged with dealing with really serious subject matter bring a note of levity into the proceedings so people don't get too depressed. Of course, sometimes the levity may seem out of place but that is a reflection on the observer and not the speaker. The observer should not take things so seriously. Two examples were offered last week, one in the United States Supreme Court and the other in a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee.
Justice Scalia likened requiring people to buy insurance so that more Americans could have health coverage to a requirement that people buy broccoli. It is unlikely that the Justice was thinking of President George H.W. Bush who famously once said he disliked broccoli. It was simply a really clever way of getting a few laughs and getting everyone to think that forcing people to buy broccoli was the same as forcing people to buy health care. It was a really funny comparison and everyone enjoyed the moment of levity it produced. Justice Scalia is reputedly a very funny man and this is just one of those rare moments when we all get to enjoy it. Justice Scalia was not the only person to introduce levity into a serious matter. Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) was another.
The hearings coincided with the opening of two new ICE facilities and the issuance of a new detention manual addressing the treatment of detainees. Lamar Smith, chairman of the Committee said the manual "reads more like a hospitality guideline for illegal immigrants." He also complained that the new facilities were a waste of taxpayer dollars although they were paid for by the company operating them as Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) pointed out. She also said she was "deeply disappointed" that her colleagues referred to the Judiciary Committee hearing as a Holiday on Ice. She said that "immigrants are people who deserve respect by virtue of our common humanity. They deserve not to be raped. Not to be tortured, whether through physical or mental abuse or through gross medical neglect. They deserve not to be shackled when they give birth." Rep. Steve King of (R-IA) disagreed saying: "I can't think of a more descriptive name for the hearings. I thought it was right on point. . . . All they need to do to avoid that 'holiday on ICE' is put themselves back in the condition they were in before, which is go to their home country." The only thing the committee could have done that would have made things more amusing would have been to announce that on a date certain every illegal immigrant in detention would be forced to eat a plate full of broccoli. That would have been really funny.
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Among animals, one has a sense of humor.
-- Marianne Moore, The Pangolin
It is always refreshing when folks who are charged with dealing with really serious subject matter bring a note of levity into the proceedings so people don't get too depressed. Of course, sometimes the levity may seem out of place but that is a reflection on the observer and not the speaker. The observer should not take things so seriously. Two examples were offered last week, one in the United States Supreme Court and the other in a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee.
Justice Scalia likened requiring people to buy insurance so that more Americans could have health coverage to a requirement that people buy broccoli. It is unlikely that the Justice was thinking of President George H.W. Bush who famously once said he disliked broccoli. It was simply a really clever way of getting a few laughs and getting everyone to think that forcing people to buy broccoli was the same as forcing people to buy health care. It was a really funny comparison and everyone enjoyed the moment of levity it produced. Justice Scalia is reputedly a very funny man and this is just one of those rare moments when we all get to enjoy it. Justice Scalia was not the only person to introduce levity into a serious matter. Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) was another.
The hearings coincided with the opening of two new ICE facilities and the issuance of a new detention manual addressing the treatment of detainees. Lamar Smith, chairman of the Committee said the manual "reads more like a hospitality guideline for illegal immigrants." He also complained that the new facilities were a waste of taxpayer dollars although they were paid for by the company operating them as Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) pointed out. She also said she was "deeply disappointed" that her colleagues referred to the Judiciary Committee hearing as a Holiday on Ice. She said that "immigrants are people who deserve respect by virtue of our common humanity. They deserve not to be raped. Not to be tortured, whether through physical or mental abuse or through gross medical neglect. They deserve not to be shackled when they give birth." Rep. Steve King of (R-IA) disagreed saying: "I can't think of a more descriptive name for the hearings. I thought it was right on point. . . . All they need to do to avoid that 'holiday on ICE' is put themselves back in the condition they were in before, which is go to their home country." The only thing the committee could have done that would have made things more amusing would have been to announce that on a date certain every illegal immigrant in detention would be forced to eat a plate full of broccoli. That would have been really funny.
Among animals, one has a sense of humor.
-- Marianne Moore, The Pangolin
It is always refreshing when folks who are charged with dealing with really serious subject matter bring a note of levity into the proceedings so people don't get too depressed. Of course, sometimes the levity may seem out of place but that is a reflection on the observer and not the speaker. The observer should not take things so seriously. Two examples were offered last week, one in the United States Supreme Court and the other in a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee.
Justice Scalia likened requiring people to buy insurance so that more Americans could have health coverage to a requirement that people buy broccoli. It is unlikely that the Justice was thinking of President George H.W. Bush who famously once said he disliked broccoli. It was simply a really clever way of getting a few laughs and getting everyone to think that forcing people to buy broccoli was the same as forcing people to buy health care. It was a really funny comparison and everyone enjoyed the moment of levity it produced. Justice Scalia is reputedly a very funny man and this is just one of those rare moments when we all get to enjoy it. Justice Scalia was not the only person to introduce levity into a serious matter. Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) was another.
The hearings coincided with the opening of two new ICE facilities and the issuance of a new detention manual addressing the treatment of detainees. Lamar Smith, chairman of the Committee said the manual "reads more like a hospitality guideline for illegal immigrants." He also complained that the new facilities were a waste of taxpayer dollars although they were paid for by the company operating them as Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) pointed out. She also said she was "deeply disappointed" that her colleagues referred to the Judiciary Committee hearing as a Holiday on Ice. She said that "immigrants are people who deserve respect by virtue of our common humanity. They deserve not to be raped. Not to be tortured, whether through physical or mental abuse or through gross medical neglect. They deserve not to be shackled when they give birth." Rep. Steve King of (R-IA) disagreed saying: "I can't think of a more descriptive name for the hearings. I thought it was right on point. . . . All they need to do to avoid that 'holiday on ICE' is put themselves back in the condition they were in before, which is go to their home country." The only thing the committee could have done that would have made things more amusing would have been to announce that on a date certain every illegal immigrant in detention would be forced to eat a plate full of broccoli. That would have been really funny.