'Gulf of America' bill was a joke, Mississippi lawmaker says

[Sgent]

JACKSON, Miss. -- All the people outraged about the Mississippi bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America" have missed its satirical intent, the sponsor said Thursday. State Rep. Steve Holland, a populist Democrat known for over-the-top gestures, said he was tickled that his provocation had rocketed across the Internet.

Holland said the measure is meant to mock other bills that would crack down on illegal immigration. At least six such bills have already been assigned for committee consideration in the state's current legislative session, and more could be on the way.

"It seems the people of Mississippi have elected a majority group to govern that wants to slam all minorities and especially Hispanic," Holland said, adding that he thought such legislation is un-Christian.

Newly elected Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican, is a longtime supporter of tougher restrictions on illegal immigration. Such bills had died in a Democratic-controlled Mississippi House in previous years, but Republicans won control of the chamber last November.

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/02/gulf_of_america_bill_was_a_jok.html
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I actually believe him -- but only because I know him. Still it came off badly to say the least.

[Politicalboi]

1. They should rename it

Goo Of BP.

[Ecumenist]

2. That wasn't ajoke. It was meanr ro show to idiocy of certain groups

when they show their bigotry.

[earthbone]

3. I fell for it.

Wished he hadnt of said anything.would have been great to see all the teabaggers get behind him on that bill.

[sofa king]

4. Yes, I've come to assume they're that stupid.

And I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess this fellow is lying now about how stupid he was.

[Syrinx]

6. I think you're wrong about that

I had never heard of Steve Holland before this Gulf story came out. But I've been reading a little about him on the web the past few hours, and he sounds fairly progressive. He was mocking the Republicans, I'm pretty sure. Kind of like a low-rent Colbert.

[sofa king]

10. Wow, you seem to be on to something there!

So let me turn the stupid-brush on myself and point out that I took two data points, "Mississippi" and "state representative," and assumed the third: Republican asshole.

I did not know that there was such a thing as a Democrat with a sense of humor in that state's legislative body.

Frankly, I think I assumed that the Mississippi legislature conducted its business in white hoods around a burning cross.

But, it turns out, this is not the case. I was in error.

[Jackpine Radical]

9. Well, to be fair, any outrageous assertion gains instant credibility

when you include the phrase "Mississippi lawmaker."

[DFW]

5. All Mississippi has to do is follow Alabama's example on immigration

And then watch their own economy head down the sinkhole, just like Alabama's.

Not that Mississippi's economy was booming to begin with. At least Alabama has that big Mercedes presence, courtesy of them "soshalist, libbrul" European Germans.

When Alabama harassed a visiting German manager for Mercedes, an outfit that has brought many millions to Alabama's economy, I knew they were looking for money trouble, and they seem to have found it. The German will just head home and file a negative report. When a few thousand Latino crop workers leave and Alabama's farms can't bring their produce to market before it rots, it will do some damage to the state's economy that will affect a few more Alabamans than a report in German telling people in Stuttgart what they already know.

[EFerrari]

7. $11 billion dollars is the last projection I read of the cost of harrassing brown people. nt

[pampango]

8. But for the teabaggers you can't put a price on principle. Harassing brown people is never

"too expensive".