Yeah, Right. Pull the Other One.

The LA Times is really reaching today:

Cyndi Smallwood is looking for a few strong men for her landscaping company. Guys with no fear of a hot sun, who can shovel dirt all day long. She'll pay as much as $34 an hour.

She can't find them.

Maybe potential employees don't know about her tiny Riverside firm. Maybe the problem is Southern California's solid economy and low unemployment rate. Or maybe manual labor is something that many Americans couldn't dream of doing.

$34 an hour is nearly three times the starting base rate for a Transportation Security Administration airport sceener, yet somehow, the government managed to fill all of the screener positions - with US citizens - even in southern California. Somehow Cyndi can't find gardeners for three times the pay?

It seems that writer David Streitfeld hasn't considered one explanation for this anomaly. It's called lying.

Cross-posted at The Jawa Report, Stop the ACLU, and Vince Aut Morire.