I keep hearing that centrism is the hot new thing, but some people apparently didn't get the memo:

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Republican-led legislative panel claims in a new report on illegal immigration that abortion is partly to blame because it is causing a shortage of American workers.

The report from the state House Special Committee on Immigration Reform also claims "liberal social welfare policies" have discouraged Americans from working and encouraged immigrants to cross the border illegally.

The statements about abortion, welfare policies and a recommendation to abolish income taxes in favor of sales taxes were inserted into the immigration report by the committee chairman, Rep. Ed Emery.

All six Democrats on the panel refused to sign the report....

All 10 Republican committee members signed the report....

"We hear a lot of arguments today that the reason that we can't get serious about our borders is that we are desperate for all these workers," Emery said. "You don't have to think too long. If you kill 44 million of your potential workers, it's not too surprising we would be desperate for workers." ...

(I guess all these unborn drones-who-never-were would have been vastly different from Americans who did manage to get born, and would have happily taken backbreaking jobs with low wages and minimal or nonexistent benefits.)

Wait -- there's more:

The report also includes short essays by Emery about the history of immigration, the purpose of immigration laws and the importance of a common language. In those, he notes "the issue of illegal immigration does not lend itself to compromise."

That quote appears to be from this essay -- which is practically a wingnut cheat sheet, published under the aegis of the state of Missouri. A couple of excerpts:

The original migration of Europeans onto this continent was by those seeking to move from religious oppression to religious freedom. Immigrants were predominantly characterized by a Biblical and Christian worldview, which resulted in other freedoms, such as the right to own property, the right of economic pursuit, freedom of speech, and the establishment governments that are subject to the will of the people.

Translation: We have capitalism, free speech, and self-government because the Pilgrims loved Jesus. (Yeah, I know -- most of the GOP's voting base sees nothing odd in what I just typed.)

According to their writings, America's founding fathers were skeptical of massive immigration. Thomas Jefferson was concerned that, "they will bring with them the principles of government they leave." ... Those of us concerned about America's slide toward socialism and "big brother" government can identify with Thomas Jefferson's prophetic quote.

Translation: Those damn Jews brought their communism over here and screwed everything up.

And then there's my favorite:

A quote from the Washington Post is particularly reflective of today's immigration concerns, "In earlier years of the Republic immigration was not at a rate that negated absorption, and most of those who entered did so with the intent and purpose to make themselves Americans...[But for] decades now immigrants...have obviously been bent on seizing the opportunities offered by America but without disposition to adapt themselves to ...American ideals and concepts of government and citizenship in return. The record is crowded with instances in which groups of immigrants have stoutly resisted Americanism, have resented the suggestion that they learn the language of the land, and have maintained their foreignisms...at the present time, in certain areas, immigrants constitute a substantial percentage of the population, and drifting together and holding aloof from Americanization, hold themselves as foreigners in America." The most profound thing about this quote is that it is from a 1924 Washington Post edition.

Is Emery really this stupid? Does he even realize he's undermining his own point? This 1924 article is talking about my Italian grandparents and great-grandparents and the immigrants of their era. These are the very people we now say did assimilate. If the same things were being said about them as are being said about the current immigrants, doesn't this imply that the newer ones will become American?

I'm struck by the fact that it isn't enough for Emery to oppose abortion, immigration, liberalism, socialism, and the notion that the idea of America is largely a product of Enlightenment thinking -- he has to construct a Grand Unified Theory tying them all together. People with this kind of energy and drive aren't going to go quietly.

(Via Feministing and the Moderate Voice.)