Those who live in glass houses . . .

The Vagabond Way loves few things more than hypocrisy exposed, hubris laid low and public rants proven wrong. Thus, it is with great glee and fanfare that we present "Those who live in glass houses . . ."

Our inaugural entry involves one Lou Dobbs, famous CNN financial reporter, immigration tough-guy and possible political candidate. Since being forced out of a long gig at CNN due to equal parts of personal asshattery and public outcry, Lou has stumped the country advocating his "get tough" brand of enforcement first immigration policy. He has waged a veritable crusade against illegal immigration, reserving a special brand of disdain for employers who hire undocumented workers. Dobbs has been quoted numerous times excoriating such employers, railing against their "exploitation of illegal aliens," and advocating felony charges for such offenses.

Well, it turns out that Dobbs isn't above hiring just such a contractor to care for two of his large estates and his daughter's million dollar show horses. An article by Isabelle MacDonald in "The Nation", outs Dobbs for engaging in the exact practices he has so publicly opposed. An example of Dobbs' rhetoric can be seen below:



The full article can be found here and is certainly worth the read, but the highlights are basically thus: Dobbs employed, through a contractor, undocumented workers who were isolated at his property, worked long hours doing menial tasks, were on call at all hours for the care of the horses involved and paid substantially less than minimum wage. They were also provided no health benefits even though the work is physically dangerous. Hmmm . . . Let me get this straight . . . for all of your moral indignation on this issue, you can't find the time in your busy life to check the veracity of your contractors efforts when it comes to employing undocumented aliens, or even talk to the poor guys who are scooping your horseapples and trimming your roses. You can afford to pay a million bucks a pop for show horses but you can't afford to kick a few greenbacks the way of your underpaid workers who live in conditions that mirror indentured servitude. Hell is in the details, Lou. Thanks for busily chucking rocks from the glass magnificence that is your estate. You have proven yourself to be even more full of it than your horse stalls.