Interesting story in the Zero this morning about a new piece of equipment that would pick wine grapes in record time without scores of field workers. Strangely, the story is not so much a laudatory tale about man’s mastery over nature or necessity being the mother of invention or streamlining an old fashioned business. No this story is cautionary and borderline sad (not to mention pedantic on the part of the reporter). Why? Because this piece of machinery will put some ILLEGAL aliens out of business.
Plus, as a bonus part of the story, Oregonians for Immigration Reform is described as a “restrictionist” group. Wow, being against illegal behavior is now ‘restrictionist.’ Imagine being a group opposing drinking and driving, for instance. Would MADD ever be referred to as a “restrictionist group” because they wanted to enforce the laws against drinking and driving?
The following is an excerpt from the story and a picture of the new wine grape picker.

Suddenly, vineyard owners were calling Capps to schedule demonstrations, saying they couldn’t cope with worsening worker shortages — or immigration raids. Their concerns were heightened after a U.S. Senate immigration bill that would have offered legal status for up to 900,000 undocumented agricultural workers failed, and immigration officers detained nearly 200 workers at a Portland produce processing plant.

Oregonians for Immigration Reform, a restrictionist group, touted the European machine as a beacon of a future without illegal labor.

“As soon as word about this got out, the immigration issue was the first thing that came up,” Capps said. “The bloggers are all over it. They’re saying, ‘Finally, see? We told you that you could get by without all this immigration.’ “