Why Do the Left Favor Mass Immigration?

To their credit, some of them don't. They understand the problems that can result from excessive immigration, especially illegal immigration. But many do, such as Ted Kennedy. Hibernia Girl, a new blog from an Irish Lass, quotes Fredo Arias - King on why mass immigration is favored:

Here's Fredo Arias-King on why the Left favors mass immigration (Arias-King heard first-hand from many U.S. Congressmen and officials why they favor mass immigration while handling foreign relations during Mexico's Vicente Fox 1999-2000 presidential campaign):
The American Left, as the Left everywhere, also has a penchant for social experimentation, even social engineering. Many leftist intellectuals and scholars often devise schemes and solutions to society’s problems, with a certain contempt for traditional ways of life. Immigration is also favorably seen by them as a way of “redistributing the world’s income” or “increasing understanding with other societies” [15] or “addressing previous injustices” or “creating better people,” etc. Some of the arguments of this group of congressmen were not too different from the logic behind the homo sovieticus, the “new Soviet man” that the communists believed they were constructing in the 1920s and 30s. Some of these congressmen used adjectives such as “happier,” “healthier,” and “harder working” to describe what their vision of the new American will be. They felt comfortable in the role of potential providers to needy groups in exchange for acquiescence in the expansion of government programs and power. They would talk to us about their plans to “guarantee health care” or “fund more services” or “give more scholarships” to the immigrants. One former U.S. cabinet member present in one of the party conventions mentioned approvingly, “What do Hispanics want? Fully-funded government programs!”Citing the negative consequences of immigration to this group is likely to backfire, as the evidence that new waves of immigrants do not perform the same as previous waves is relative good news to them. Immigration is a source of power for the étatist Left not so much because immigrants tend to vote for the party most associated with them, but because the consequences of immigration from poor countries fundamentally reinforces their argument for state intervention.I think there's also an element of divide et impera [divide and conquer] to all of this -- both in Europe and the U.S. I mean, what better way to maintain one's power than to keep the masses busy battling each other for resources and rights?

Not surprising, given the left's penchant for social engineering. With the inevitable disastrous consequences.

A Difficult Choice to Make


Do we want our women to look like this:
















Or like this?

















What amazes me is that we even have to ask. Why do the islamofascists think we would even consider adopting their religion?

Arlington County Board Supports Illegal Aliens

In the city and county where I was born, the elected officials are openly supporting those who break our laws and violate the sovereignty of the USA:

The Arlington County Board yesterday strongly rebuked elected officials elsewhere in Northern Virginia who are clamping down on illegal immigrants, saying such efforts are "politically inspired," "irresponsible" and "punitive."
The five board members, all Democrats, unanimously backed a resolution calling on elected officials elsewhere to "promote the integration of immigrants" instead of enacting rules they said would be divisive.

And from them we get the ultimate in leftist arrogance. Forcing law-abiding taxpayers to pay for education, health-care, and job placement for people who have entered the USA illegally:

They also said the county will not cut public health services for immigrants, which officials said could cause disease to spread. They said they will not restrict education programs because children of illegal immigrants are likely to remain in the United States and it therefore makes better sense to help them be able to earn a good living.

The regionwide debate over illegal immigration came to Arlington early this month. At a Saturday board meeting, local Republican officials posed pointed questions to the board about the extent of crime being committed by illegal immigrants and whether officials were requiring the police to report such crime to federal immigration officials. They also questioned whether it is appropriate for Arlington's day-laborer center to serve workers who are in the country illegally.

Federal Reserve Open Market Committee Cuts Target Fed Funds Rate to 4.75%

As you have undoubtedly heard by now, the Open Market Committee cut their target Fed Funds rate from 5.25% to 4.75%. This is a wise move, given the recent troubles in the credit markets.

But I am concerned that the Fed governors have lost sight of their goal of transparency. They had effectively abandoned their former 5.25% target some weeks ago, as can be seen from the effective Fed Funds rates that banks have been charging each other for the last few weeks (source: Board of Governors website):

08/07/2007, 5.26

08/08/2007, 5.27

08/09/2007, 5.41

08/10/2007, 4.68

08/13/2007, 4.81

08/14/2007, 4.54

08/15/2007, 4.71

08/16/2007, 4.97

08/17/2007, 4.91

08/20/2007, 5.03

08/21/2007, 4.89

08/22/2007, 4.77

08/23/2007, 4.88

08/24/2007, 5.11

08/27/2007, 5.27

08/28/2007, 5.30

08/29/2007, 5.00

08/30/2007, 5.00

08/31/2007, 4.96

09/03/2007, ND

09/04/2007, 5.22

09/05/2007, 5.18

09/06/2007, 4.98

09/07/2007, 4.86

09/10/2007, 5.07

09/11/2007, 5.06

09/12/2007, 5.18

09/13/2007, 5.09

09/14/2007, 5.25

Banks have been borrowing and lending to each other at much lower rates than the target for most of the last five weeks. It wasn't until last friday, September 14 that they got back to the target.

Separated at Birth?

What do Osama bin Laden and Gerry Adams have in common? Ruth Edwards has some ideas:

apart from their beards and their involvement in terrorism, what Osama and Gerry have in common is that they're obsessed with self-justification, they're losers who have to rewrite the past to fit in with present fantasies, they struggle to be thought modish and neither has the gift of the gab.
Of the two, Bin Laden was more interesting. First, there's the matter of his beard, which has gone from grey to black, thus causing the international intelligence community to indulge in orgies of speculation. Is it dyed? Is it false? Is it Bin Laden at all, at all? Personally, I go with the proponents of the Grecian 2000 view. Look, the guy was 50 six months ago, he's hiding in a cave Allah knows where and apart from the London bom bings in 2005, his operatives are failing to deliver spectaculars in Europe. How could he not be having a bit of a mid-life crisis?
It's similar for Adams. Since his humiliation in the Irish General Election, the invitations to exciting places have dried up. It's Martin McGuinness that gets to go to the sexy spots like Finland: Adams is reduced to hanging around with his dwindling band of admirers in West Belfast.

But each of them have memories to dwell on:

Still, there's some pleasure to be had for him on Memory Lane. Like Bin Laden, who did some predictable gloating about the great achievements of the 19 young murderers of 9/11, Gerry had a nostalgic moment about some of his, though because of his present peace-loving persona, he had to do a lot of equivocating.
The IRA (with which, it was implied, he had nothing to do) were justified in their campaign -- even if he completely failed to explain what they had achieved -- but he couldn't agree with some of their more embarrassing actions. Asked why he had described the Balcolmbe Street bombers as "our Nelson Mandelas", he explained that it was because they spent 24 years in jail. He admired them "as freedom fighters", while having a bit of awkwardness about their having murdered 16 people in London and Guildford with guns and bombs.

A terrorist is a terrorist.

Consensus or Hoax?

How many times have you heard that there is some sort of 'Scientific Consensus' in favor of the nonsense that human CO2 emissions are causing global warming? Dennis Avery of the Hudson Institute has done a survey of research of 500 scientists:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new analysis of peer-reviewed literature reveals that more than 500 scientists have published evidence refuting at least one element of current man-made global warming scares. More than 300 of the scientists found evidence that 1) a natural moderate 1,500-year climate cycle has produced more than a dozen global warmings similar to ours since the last Ice Age and/or that 2) our Modern Warming is linked strongly to variations in the sun's irradiance. "This data and the list of scientists make a mockery of recent claims that a scientific consensus blames humans as the primary cause of global temperature increases since 1850," said Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Dennis Avery.
Other researchers found evidence that 3) sea levels are failing to rise importantly; 4) that our storms and droughts are becoming fewer and milder with this warming as they did during previous global warmings; 5) that human deaths will be reduced with warming because cold kills twice as many people as heat; and 6) that corals, trees, birds, mammals, and butterflies are adapting well to the routine reality of changing climate.

And were the warm periods really so bad?

"Two thousand years of published human histories say that the warm periods were good for people," says Avery. "It was the harsh, unstable Dark Ages and Little Ice Age that brought bigger storms, untimely frost, widespread famine and plagues of disease." "There may have been a consensus of guesses among climate model-builders," says Singer. "However, the models only reflect the warming, not its cause." He noted that about 70 percent of the earth's post-1850 warming came before 1940, and thus was probably not caused by human-emitted greenhouse gases. The net post-1940 warming totals only a tiny 0.2 degrees C.

What really tips me off is how the global warming zealots are really the same gullible group who so eagerly believed the lies of Mike Nifong.

Hillary Can't Explain?

According to Clinton campaign advisor Harold Wolfson, they have no explanation why warnings about fugitive felon Norman Hsu were ignored

WASHINGTON - Hillary Clinton's campaign couldn't explain yesterday why it blew off warnings about felon-turned-fund-raiser Norman Hsu - and the Daily News learned FBI agents are collecting e-mail evidence in the widening scandal.
Clinton was forced Monday to give back a whopping $850,000 raised by convicted scam artist Hsu after learning his investment ventures were being probed by the FBI as a potential Ponzi scheme.

They were warned by California businessman Jack Cassidy that Hsu was up to no good, and how did they respond?

Cassidy raised a red flag after a friend came to him with a tale of being offered 64% annual returns by Hsu.
"It was either predatory lending or a Ponzi scheme," the source said, adding that the FBI had interviewed Cassidy and took as evidence numerous e-mails he sent to political officials about Hsu.
Camp Clinton never responded to Cassidy, but dealt with the worried California party members. According to the Los Angeles Times, Clinton's Western finance director, Samantha Wolf, e-mailed, "I can tell you with 100% certainty that Norman Hsu is NOT involved in a Ponzi scheme," adding, "He is COMPLETELY legit."

They still can't explain why they ignored the warnings? I can. They wanted more money from Hsu. Hillary and her husband would sell the USA down the river for a campaign contribution.

EU Throws a Bone to the Brits

I can't believe this. No, actually I am shocked, SHOCKED! I tell you. The compassion and forgiveness of the divine angels who run the European Union knows no limits. They are actually going to allow the Brits and Irish to keep units like the pint and miles.

Brussels - In what was portrayed in Brussels as a victory for British Isles traditionalists, the European Union on Tuesday dropped its plans to force Britain and Ireland to go metric by 2009.
'The United Kingdom and Ireland will be allowed to keep units like the pint of beer and milk - and miles, yard and feet and inches on roads,' a European Commission (EC) statement said.
While the EC had wanted to standardize measurement systems across the bloc as a way of eliminating barriers to trade within the internal market, it had granted Britain and Ireland an exception and allowed the two countries to stick to the imperial system until 2009 at the latest.

So what's next? Will the EU allow Brits to go to the toilet without written permission from an EU official?

Smith and Wesson Posts a Healthy Profit

I just read that Smith and Wesson's profits have increased. This is good to hear, because just a few years ago the gun haters were trying to sue the gun manufacturing industry out of existence.

On a day when most stocks nose-dived, gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson (nasdaq: SWHC - news - people ) shot up 5.09%, or $1.02, to $21.06 on Friday.
On Thursday, the company reported record earnings of $74.4 million for the quarter ending July 31, and raised its guidance for the remainder of the 2007 fiscal year. Analysts attributed the gun maker's recent success to its product line expansion.
“Smith & Wesson has done a phenomenal job moving beyond the handgun market to include long guns like rifles,” said Eric Wold of Merriman Curhan Ford & Co.
It gained traction in the market through its January purchase of Thomson/Center Arms, a New Hampshire-based hunting rifle company. According to James Maher of ThinkEquity Partners, sales of Thompson/Center products have increased 22% in each of the two quarters since the acquisition was completed. Prior to its purchase by Smith & Wesson, Thomson/Center Arms’ sales were rising quarterly in the single digit percentages. “The union of Smith & Wesson and Thomson/Center Arms was mutually beneficial,” said Maher. “The company is performing extremely well with both revenue and earnings exceeding expectations.”

I didn't know that S&W had purchased Thompson/Center. That was definitely a smart move. I have been wanting to purchase one of TC's .410 handguns.

Stamp of the Week

Separated at Birth?

Hillary and one of her faithfull supporters. Are you sure you got rid of ALL the money he gave you, Ms. PIAPS?

Isn't Socialism Great?

We are constantly hearing Her Thighness and Her sycophants on the left tell us about how we need "universal" health care, by which they mean some national socialist system run by the federal government. From Canada, we read an example of what to expect when the PIAPS gets Her way:

Two Ontario patients who had brain tumours removed in the United States because they say they couldn't get quick treatment here are suing the provincial government over what they claim are unjustly long wait times for medical care.
Lindsay McCreith, 66, of Newmarket and Shona Holmes, 43, of Waterdown filed a joint statement of claim yesterday against the province of Ontario. Both say their health suffered because they are denied the right to access care outside of Ontario's "government-run monopolistic" health-care system. They want to be able to buy private health insurance.

Not only were they unable to get proper treatment, they found it necessary to be diagnosed here in the cold-hearted US capitalist system:

Holmes began losing her vision in March 2005, she told a press conference at Queen's Park yesterday. An MRI in May 2005 revealed a tumour in her brain. Her family doctor couldn't expedite appointments booked with specialists for July 19 and Sept. 19, 2005. As the tumour pressed on her optic nerves, her vision deteriorated. Afraid to wait any longer, she went to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Within a week she met three specialists and was told she had a fluid-filled sac growing near her pituitary gland at the base of her brain. They urged her to have it taken out immediately. She went home with the hopes of quickly removing what is known as a Rathke's cleft cyst.
Unable to get surgery fast, she returned to Arizona and had the mass removed on Aug. 1, 2005. Her vision was restored in 10 days. The Holmes family is now in debt $95,000 because of medical costs.

And now get a load of what Lindsay McCreith, also of Ontario, had to go through:

Holmes' experience was similar to that of Lindsay McCreith, a retired auto collision repair shop owner. According to the statement of claim, McCreith suddenly experienced seizures on Jan. 2, 2006. After waiting seven hours in a Newmarket emergency ward, he was examined by an internist. A computed tomography or CT scan showed a large wedge-shaped brain tumour. He was discharged from hospital four days later with a diagnosis of stroke and a prescription for anti-seizure medication.
Worried the tumour might be cancerous, McCreith and his family wanted an MRI. He was given an appointment date four months later. McCreith went to the U.S. and paid $494.67 (U.S.) for an MRI. Armed with the scan, he saw his Ontario family doctor, who referred McCreith to a neurologist. He was examined on Feb. 8, 2006. He was referred to a neurosurgeon but would have to wait three months.
Unhappy with this, he returned to Buffalo. In early March, during a biopsy, the tumour was found to be malignant and surgically removed. He paid $27,650 for his consultation, biopsy and surgery in Buffalo and OHIP has refused to reimburse him because he failed to seek pre-approval for the expense, the claim notes.

If the Oinkubus gets Her way, things will be much, much worse here in the USA. We won't have a next door neighbor to go to for help. And those with political connections will have priority in the socialist system, that much we know for sure from past experience with the Clintons.

Yet Another Climatologist Speaks Out Against the 'Global Warming' Hoax

Here is what Fred Singer, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia has to say:

In identifying the burning of fossil fuels as the chief cause of warming today, many politicians and environmental activists simply appeal to a so-called “scientific consensus.” There are two things wrong with this. First, there is no such consensus: An increasing number of climate scientists are raising serious questions about the political rush to judgment on this issue. For example, the widely touted “consensus” of 2,500 scientists on the United Nations Intergov-ernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an illusion: Most of the panelists have no scien-tific qualifications, and many of the others object to some part of the IPCC’s report. The As-sociated Press reported recently that only 52 climate scientists contributed to the report’s “Summary for Policymakers.”
Likewise, only about a dozen members of the governing board voted on the “consensus statement” on climate change by the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Rank and file AMS scientists never had a say, which is why so many of them are now openly rebelling. Estimates of skepticism within the AMS regarding man-made global warming are well over 50 percent.

So much for the 'scientific consensus' we are constantly hearing about from the yardapes on the left.

Mountain of the Week: Cobb Peak in Idaho

What a Joke!

Judge Smith is an idiot. They go to all that trouble. All those attorneys, briefs, depositions, testimony, cross-examination. The judge finds Knife-Honk in criminal contempt of court. And then sentences Mikey to one day in jail.
We should have known that Judge W. Osmond Smith III would do something like this. He was the presiding judge during the pre-trial proceedings of the Duke rape hoax case. It was an obvious frame-up and nothing was done about it until the state Attorney General's office took over.

Jail Time for Knife-Honk?

Naw.....all he did was withhold exculpatory evidence in a case that could have sent three innocent young men to prison for 30 years. And then he lied to the court saying he had furnished the defense attorneys with ALL the DNA evidence.

Oh.... and he also used race-baiting smear tactics against the young men that fanned the flames of racial hatred in Durham, resulting in murder threats against the falsely-accused men.

And he also falsely prosecuted a taxi driver who served as an alibi witness for one of the falsely-accused men. When Durham police officer Gottlieb arrested the driver he asked the man if he had any changes to make to his statements regarding David Evans.

The only problem is, if Mikey does get jail time it will be a mere slap on the wrist. For what he has done, life without parole would be quite appropriate.

Terrorist Attacks Continue in Northern Ireland

Never mind the lies that Sinn Fein/IRA tell about laying down their weapons and seeking peace. Terrorist attacks continue in Belfast, and the nature of their intended targets reveal what cowards these terrorists really are. In the first case, they are attacking a pregnant woman and an 18 day old baby boy:

Tuesday night's petrol bomb attack on the home of a young couple and their new-born baby
was the latest chapter in the ongoing nightmare on north Belfast's Twaddell Avenue. A young couple targeted by petrol bombers in the latest of a summer of attacks on Twaddell Avenue in north Belfast say they've no option but to leave the area. Their 18-day-old son was lying sleeping just feet beside the living room window when it was engulfed in flames late on Tuesday night.The baby's father, who did not want to be named, said his son would have been burned alive if the petrol bomb had broken through the window.He and his girlfriend have endured five years of sporadic attacks on their terrace home on the frontline of the interface with the nationalist Ardoyne.However, with the welfare of their firstborn in mind, they've now decided enough is enough and are set to move away.

And in this case, they are attacking elderly people who live on the border between a catholic and a protestant neighborhood:

Dark days go on for petrified pensioner

LEN Kane has read plenty about Ulster's bright new dawn of late.
The 82-year-old former professional footballer has also heard all about the shared future everyone has supposedly embarked upon.But from the window of his Twaddell Avenue home he’s yet to see much evidence of any of it.Len lives on the unionist side of the volatile interface with the nationalist Ardoyne area. He’s done so for 57 years.He’s seen the Troubles come and go, but one thing hasn’t changed – Len still lives in constant fear of attack.“This isn’t a new Northern Ireland here,” he said.“We’re having daily trouble. It’s hard to say what can been done, but to me it will never settle – we’ll always get these hit-and-run attacks coming in and out.“Nobody can control them because it’s a hit-and-run set up. They fly in and fly out again.”

And do their catholic neighbors feel the same fear?

John McVicker from the Greater Shankill Community Council said Twaddell Avenue was “a very settled community, disproportionately high with elderly”.The nationalist side of the interface is not attacked in the same way, he said.“I keep asking nationalist and republican residents how many times houses in Brompton Park, which would be equivalent of Twaddell Avenue [on the Ardoyne side], have been attacked in last 30 years – it would be minimal.”

Actress of the Week: Sophie Marceau

Texas Governor Rick Perry Responds to Euroweenies

I previously posted about how the EU asked the governor of Texas to declare a moratorium on the death penalty. Governor Perry has responded on his website:

Statement by Robert Black, spokesman for Texas Governor Rick Perry, concerning the European Union’s appeal that Texas enact a moratorium on the death penalty:
“230 years ago, our forefathers fought a war to throw off the yoke of a European monarch and gain the freedom of self-determination. Texans long ago decided that the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens. While we respect our friends in Europe, welcome their investment in our state and appreciate their interest in our laws, Texans are doing just fine governing Texas.”

It's amazing how some people overestimate their own importance.

Liberals' War Against Liberalism

I have written before about how the word 'liberal', as currently used in the USA, means the complete opposite of what it originally meant. I consider myself to be a classical liberal. I believe in free people, free markets, free inquiry into any issue, and above all, getting the facts out. If someone disagrees with me on some issue such as global warming, affirmative action, or the proper role of government then that's fine with me. I might voice my disagreement with them. I might even ridicule them. But I will never question their right to express their opinion, nor would I ever dream of using the government to force them into silence.

Sadly, the so-called 'liberals' don't feel the same way. Some of them have advocated jail time for people who question the orthodoxy of human-caused global warming. Some have advocated making criticism of 'affirmative action' to be a hate crime, with criminal prosecution and jail time.

And when it comes to getting out the facts and thoroughly researching some issue, most 'liberals' want to suppress, not encourage research. In my previous post just below, we see how 'affirmative action' advocates refuse to allow access to data because it "risks stigmatizing African American attorneys". And I wrote about how Senators Snowe and Rockefeller tried to stifle research into the causes of global warming.

Frank Miele wrote an excellent article on this subject, concerning global warming: The liberals’ war against liberalism: What is so scary about free thought?

Week after week, I endeavor to write columns which raise questions and propose answers. Week after week I am told by my liberal friends that my questions are foolish and my answers are stupid. Yet I wait in vain for anyone to read my last two columns on global warming and show me where I went wrong. What I hear instead is that “all” the climate scientists in the world agree that global warming is man-made and ruinous, with the implication left hanging or spoken aloud that I am supposed to shut up, get in line and do what I am told.Sorry, but I don’t work that way.What I believe in is looking at the evidence for myself, weighing it with the scales of logic and reason, and then making up my own mind. I have been studying the evidence on global warming for more than two years, and for all the reasons already listed the past two weeks I am convinced that this is a manufactured crisis.Telling me that “all” the climate scientists in the world disagree with me doesn’t counter my argument; rather, it demonstrates that my opponent is willing to fabricate evidence. Many, many scientists disagree with the hypothesis that human industry has accelerated global warming to a dangerous level. To claim otherwise does not make it so.

To those of you who so zealously believe in human-caused global warming, why don't you discuss the facts rather than resort to ad hominem arguments? What do you have to say about the fact that fluctuations in the sun's output of radiation have been observed on other planets, not just the earth? Why is the ice cap on Greenland expanding rather than contracting? Why is 1934 the hottest year recorded rather than 1998 as was once thought?

With baited breath, I await your reply.

The Perils of Racist "Affirmative Action" Preferences

As is well known, UCLA Law Professor Richard Sander published a study that concluded that racial preferences in law school admissions caused a decrease in the number of black attorneys. Some agreed and some disagreed with his conclusions, but you would think that all would agree that more research into the issue would be helpful. It turns out that all do not agree, and some are trying to stifle additional research by refusing to release the data:

Three years ago, UCLA law professor Richard Sander published an explosive, fact-based study of the consequences of affirmative action in American law schools in the Stanford Law Review. Most of his findings were grim, and they caused dismay among many of the champions of affirmative action -- and indeed, among those who were not.

Easily the most startling conclusion of his research: Mr. Sander calculated that there are fewer black attorneys today than there would have been if law schools had practiced color-blind admissions -- about 7.9% fewer by his reckoning. He identified the culprit as the practice of admitting minority students to schools for which they are inadequately prepared. In essence, they have been "matched" to the wrong school.
No one claims the findings in Mr. Sander's study, "A Systemic Analysis of Affirmative Action in American Law Schools," are the last word on the subject. Although so far his work has held up to scrutiny at least as well as that of his critics, all fair-minded scholars agree that more research is necessary before the "mismatch thesis" can be definitively accepted or rejected.
Unfortunately, fair-minded scholars are hard to come by when the issue is affirmative action. Some of the same people who argue Mr. Sander's data are inconclusive are now actively trying to prevent him from conducting follow-up research that might yield definitive answers. If racial preferences really are causing more harm than good, they apparently don't want you -- or anyone else -- to know.
Take William Kidder, a University of California staff advisor and co-author of a frequently cited attack of Sander's study. When Mr. Sander and his co-investigators sought bar passage data from the State Bar of California that would allow analysis by race, Mr. Kidder passionately argued that access should be denied, because disclosure "risks stigmatizing African American attorneys." At the same time, the Society of American Law Teachers, which leans so heavily to the left it risks falling over sideways, gleefully warned that the state bar would be sued if it cooperated with Mr. Sander.

If these "affirmative action" advocates are so eager to help minority students,then why are they afraid to allow the research to commence? Gail Heriot has an idea:

Sadly, the State Bar's Committee of Bar Examiners caved under the pressure. The committee members didn't formally explain their decision to deny Mr. Sander's request for this data (in which no names would be disclosed), but the root cause is clear: Over the last 40 years, many distinguished citizens -- university presidents, judges, philanthropists and other leaders -- have built their reputations on their support for race-based admissions. Ordinary citizens have found secure jobs as part of the resulting diversity bureaucracy.
If the policy is not working, they, too, don't want anyone to know.

This entire issue is strongly reminiscent of the brouhaha over global warming. Even though climatology and racial preferences have nothing whatsoever to do with each other, I find almost the exact same group of people bellowing about human-induced warming from CO2 emissions as those who favor "affirmative action" and oppose any research on its effects. In each case they don't want the facts to get out.

The Media Mafiosa

Are the Media a Cosa Nostra mob? Yes, according to James Lewis:

The Big Media are a mob. That should be Politics 101. They are a tiny, unchecked power elite, locked into life-long careers in the remnant of a crumbling monopoly over America's national conversation. Like other unaccountable elites, they are monumentally fickle, self-indulgent, snobbish, vain, vulgar, entitled, incestuous, arrogant, ignorant, unprincipled, hysterical, and demagogic. They sound like a unified chorus for the same reasons that street mobs run as a group -- because by and large, they don't dare to stand alone. Media snobs are always looking over their shoulders to see if they are still singing from the same hymnal as The New York Times. The US media have been one-sidedly Leftist, while piously proclaiming their devotion to impartiality. Thus, they are also institutionally mendacious. Telling the truth is hardly their job. They're just not qualified.

Indeed. Their ideas are all derived from the same groupthink. Most of the left rarely if ever put any thought behind their beliefs. When they disagree with me I often find that they have few if any arguments to counter mine. Their method of 'debating' usually consists of trying to silence me by claiming I am discussing politics in an inappropriate venue, or trying to ridicule me. Or, they claim that I got my ideas just by naively repeating something said by Rush Limbaugh, Fox News Channel, or the Wall Street Journal. They can't argue the issues at all because they have no arguments.

Lewis explains how the results of the groupthink are catastrophic.

It's all very effective; with a more truthful media the Democrats wouldn't stand a chance in electoral politics. The entire American Left owes its existence and power to the Media Mob. And our national dialogue would be saner, better-informed, and more rational. We would have a much healthier world. Until then, a vigorous New Media provide our best hope.

Once again, I agree. But I also see a glimmer of hope on the horizon. There are recent polls that show that a majority of Americans realize that global warming is the result of natural causes and is not man-made. This in spite of the fact that the Mob are preaching the gospel of CO2 emissions causing it. The grassroots response to the ridiculous proposal to grant amnesty to illegal aliens was impressive. Recent polls have shown that Republican, Democrats, and Independents are equally opposed to the idea.

European Union Tries to Stifle Justice in Texas

As if it is any of their business, some jackasses in the EU are calling for a moratorium on executions in Texas:

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union urged the governor of Texas on Tuesday to halt all executions before the U.S. state carries out its 400th death sentence since reinstatement of the penalty in 1976. "The European Union notes with great regret the upcoming execution in the State of Texas," the Portuguese presidency of the 27-nation bloc said in a statement.
Texas is expected to hit the 400 mark on Wednesday -- putting it far ahead of any other U.S. state -- with the execution of Johnny Ray Conner for the 1998 shooting of a grocery store clerk.
"The European Union strongly urges Governor Rick Perry to exercise all powers vested in his office to halt all upcoming executions and to consider the introduction of a moratorium in the State of Texas," the EU statement said.

Here is some info about Johnny Ray Conner on the Texas Department of Criminal Justice website:

On 05/17/98, during the nighttime in Houston, Texas, Conner robbed a store at gunpoint. A male customer entered the store and heard the suspect say, "Give me the money." The male customer came upon Conner and Conner fired one shot from a 32-caliber pistol, striking the adult male victim in the chest and arm. The customer then fled the scene on foot. Conner turned and fired 2 shots striking the adult female clerk in the head, causing her death. Conner fled the scene without any money.

Wasn't that nice?

And Now, Courtesy of Eastern Europe, Stilleto Heel Racing!

The hottest new sport is catching on like wildfire in Europe. There are competitions in Moscow, Warsaw, and Berlin. The winner in the Moscow race ran 100 meters in 12 seconds in heels. That's not a bad time for someone wearing track shoes!

How long before the newest sport reaches America?

More Illegal Immigration Lunacy

If anyone wonders why we have such a huge problem with illegal immigration in the USA and the subsequent criminal behavior from these lawbreakers, read this article and wonder no more:

While unauthorized entry into the United States is illegal, being in the country after having entered illegally is not necessarily a crime, according to a new ruling by the Kansas Court of Appeals.
In a Barton County case, a three-judge panel issued an opinion Friday that a judge could not deny probation and order jail time for convicted drug dealer Nicholas L. Martinez based solely on the grounds that Martinez is an unauthorized immigrant.
"While Congress has criminalized the illegal entry into this country, it has not made the continued presence of an illegal alien in the United States a crime unless the illegal alien has previously been deported and has again entered this country illegally," Judge Patrick McAnany wrote for the court majority.

In other words, it's unlawful to enter the country without the proper visa. but if you succeed in sneaking over the border, then you're ok! Now get a load of what this guy did:

The case arose from the sentencing of Martinez, who pleaded guilty to felony possession of cocaine and endangering a child by having his young son deliver drugs to an undercover officer, according to court documents.

Do all of you open border advocates really want this guy in our country? Apparently so.

We Lose a Talented Man

Michael Deaver, one of the initial troika of Ronald Reagan's Chiefs of Staff, passed away from pancreatic cancer yesterday. Deaver was Reagan's closest confidant and a magnificent aide to a magnificent president. He was convicted of perjury relating to his lobbying activities after leaving the white house. But whatever Deaver's sins were, they were minor compared with subsequent activities of the Clintons and members of their administration. I wish I had a dime for every time a Clinton aide said something like "I don't remember" when testifying under oath.

Pancreatic cancer is an almost certain death sentence. I lost one of my best friends, the brilliant economist Byron Chapman, last year to pancreatic cancer. Byron was a staunch libertarian and believer in free markets and free people. He was outspoken in his views and never minced words. He could be absolutely exasperating at times, yet one would be hard-pressed to find a more sincere, loyal friend.

Game bird of the Week: Zenaida macroura

Just two weeks until dove season starts.

(T)Hugo Chavez to be President for Life of Venezuela

There are many naive simpletons on the left who believe it is possible to have political freedom without economic freedom. Thugo Chavez is proving them wrong with his newest quest: To be president for life of Venezuela.

The Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez has anointed himself president for life by proposing sweeping changes to the country's constitution.
Setting out his plans for completing his socialist revolution in the oil-rich Latin American nation, he proposing radical constitutional reform which has at its centre indefinite re-election for himself. In a rambling televised speech reminiscent of his close ally and friend Fidel Castro, Mr Chavez told the national assembly of 33 changes he plans to make to the constitution he introduced in 1999 which will cement his grip on power. "We have broken the chains of the old, exploitative capitalist system," said Mr Chavez. "The state now has the obligation to build the model of a socialist economy."

I can just picture Hillary green with envy. She is watching what Chavez is doing and thinking to herself: "First I will be elected president of the USA, and then....."

A Victory for Racial Justice

The "affirmative action" advocates are weeping the bitter tears of defeat today after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the verdict that Orleans Parish prosecutor Eddie Jordan violated the civil rights of dozens of white employees when he fired them after taking office in 2003 and replaced them with black workers.

But of course, the left won't see it as a victory. They believe that it is perfectly OK to discriminate against whites, especially white males. In fact, many of them believe that it isn't discrimination at all. And even worse, they believe that people like me who protest against such discrimination are racists.

Is a Recession Coming?

I hope not. But one fairly reliable indicator says yes: The yield curve. Short-term rates on U.S. Treasury securities have been higher than long-term rates for most of the past six months.

In the past, such a condition has indicated that a downturn of the economy is imminent, and that the stock market is headed south. You can view the evidence in my paper regarding the role of stock prices in business cycles.

How Can This Be?

A report by the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide & Global Change finds that the Greenland Ice Sheet is expanding

The Greenland ice sheet would appear to have experienced no net loss of mass over the last decade for which data are available. Quite to the contrary, in fact, it was likely host to a net accumulation of ice, which Zwally et al. found to be producing a 0.03 ± 0.01 mm/year decline in sea-level.

On this same site, Viscount Monckton talks about the alleged 'scientific consensus' about global warming

It is often said that there is a scientific “consensus” to the effect that climate change will be “catastrophic” and that, on this question, “the debate is over”. The present paper will demonstrate that the claim of unanimous scientific “consensus” was false, and known to be false, when it was first made; that the trend of opinion in the peer-reviewed journals and even in the UN’s reports on climate is moving rapidly away from alarmism; that, among climate scientists, the debate on the causes and extent of climate change is by no means over; and that the evidence in the peer-reviewed literature conclusively demonstrates that, to the extent that there is a “consensus”, that “consensus” does not endorse the notion of “catastrophic” climate change.

And there is also a refutation of the idea that the sun doesn't affect the climate:

When Lockwood and Froehlich go on to say that the intensification of solar activity seen in the past hundred years has now ended, we don't disagree with that. We part company only when they say that temperatures have gone on shooting up, so that the recent rise can't have anything to do with the Sun, or with cosmic rays modulated by the Sun. In reality global temperatures have stopped rising. Data for both the surface and the lower air show no warming since 1999. That makes no sense by the hypothesis of global warming driven mainly by CO2, because the amount of CO2 in the air has gone on increasing. But the fact that the Sun is beginning to neglect its climatic duty -- of batting away the cosmic rays that come from 'the chilling stars' -- fits beautifully with this apparent end of global warming.
- Nigel Caulder, PhD

Are al-Gore and his flock of disciples on the left going to listen to any of this? I am sure that they won't.

Blog of the Week: The Anchoress

Another one of my favorites is the Anchoress. Her insights into many contemporary issues can be very revealing, for example her comments about the PIAPS' “we’re going to have to take some things away from you for the common good”:

I…do not begrudge the hyper-rich their riches.
What we do begrudge them is their “superior” disdain for our values, and their hectoring that we are somehow less compassionate, less well-meaning, gosh darn it just LESSER people because we believe in giving a hand, rather than a hand-out.
I mind gazillionaires like Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, Jon Corzine […and Hillary Clinton] pretending that our yearly income, our solidly middle-class income (and very modest emergency fund) is too, too much for us, unfair to others, undertaxed, greedy, ignoble and selfish. I mind people who are bouncing on fluffy pillows of honest-to-goodness wealth shaking a rhetorical finger at us for daring to try to get comfortable on our foam rubber mats of hard-earned wages.

My feelings exactly.

Violence Continues in Northern Ireland

Here is the latest I have heard from Ulster. An attack by IRA terrorists on protestants:

My sister phoned me today as her daughter and husband were attacked overnight by some taigs. They heard a noise at 1.30am and Gerald got up in his underpants to find a man in the living room.The guy beat up Gerald causing cuts and bruises to his face,chest legs and feet. He got him on the floor and stamped on his bare chest,legs and feet in front of his wife and 4 year old son. There were 4 more of them outside in a car. All their windows and front door were broken and they drove off shouting slogans like "Orange Bastards" and "Up the 'RA". They were after the car keys to steal the car. Nancy got the number plate on their car as it was driving off. The police and forensic team arrived and the car was traced to IRA terrority{Falls Road},it was a stolen car they were using. Gerald is only 26 and thought he was going to be shot. The forensics took some blood samples that were wiped on Gerald to see if they can find a DNA match.
At least they went away empty handed as he wouldn't hand over his car keys.

And then the most appalling part of the story:

It was told to them "off the record" that it wasn't worth pursuing the attackers as it causes disturbances in Republican areas which could lead to a breakdown in the peace process.
Every time the police have to enter their areas they come under attack from riots, petrol bombs, fireworks and bottles.
The British Government will put up with anything to keep Sinn fein happy.

That peace agreement isn't worth the paper it is written on!

Stamp of the Week: The Blackjack

Issued during the civil war. It's one of my favorite. I can't get enough blackjacks.

Did Terrorists Cause the Foot and Mouth Outbreak?


Some in the UK are speculating that the recent outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease may have been a deliberate act of terrorism:

The deliberate release of viral material, possibly in an act of sabotage, may have caused the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak, officials said last night.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said in a report ordered by the Prime Minister that “release by human movement [of the FMD virus] must be considered a real possibility”.

And I fear that their suspicions may be well-founded. Ingrid Newkirk, the president of PETA said she wanted foot and mouth disease to spread to the USA:

"I openly hope that it [foot and mouth disease] comes here. It will bring economic harm only for those who profit from giving people heart attacks and giving animals a concentration camp-like existence."

These people are truly scary.

Independence for Northern Ireland?

Many of the catholics in Northern Ireland want their province to leave the UK and join the Republic of Ireland. Many of the protestants want to stay in the UK.

Why not do some altogether different? Leave the UK and don't join the Republic of Ireland. Become a sovereign country and a full-fledged member of the EU and NATO.

The catholics and protestants in Northern Ireland have more in common with each other than they do with the Irish in Southern Ireland, or with the English, Scots, and Welsh of Great Britain. Becoming a sovereign country would force the Northern Irish to face their common goals and challenges and would expose the folly of Sinn Fein's socialist ideals. Southern Ireland has done quite well by adopting free-market economic policies and Sinn Fein was summarily rejected in the recent elections there.

Northern Ireland would have a population of approximately 1.6 million which is close to the size of Estonia or Slovenia. I predict that independence would result in a politically stable and peaceful country.

Barry Bonds

Is not the home run king. His drug-enhanced record is meaningless. Same goes to the records of Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa. They have no more credibility than the Olympic medals won by the former East German team.

They Won't Give Up

After the American people, including Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, overwhelmingly rejected the idea of granting amnesty to illegal aliens, Senator Arlen Specter (RINO - PA) has come up with a "new plan":

Some Republican leaders say they smell a rat in Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's compromise proposal to get an immigration-reform bill through the Senate this year.
Mr. Specter now suggests the 12 million illegal aliens he says are already here should be given the equivalent of "green card" status but "without the automatic path to citizenship" that critics labeled "amnesty."
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich called the Specter proposal a form of congressional extortion.
"Specter is asserting that the Congress is blackmailing the American people," Mr. Gingrich said. "The Congress will not enforce current law and will not insist on employers obeying the law unless we give an unknown number of people legal status. This is amnesty by blackmail — after the American people vehemently rejected amnesty a month ago."

There is only one solution to the problem: Deport all illegal aliens.

A Really Cool Site

This site has a number of photographs taken at either sunrise or sunset by servicemen. The above pic is of a USN battleship (probably the USS Iowa) taken off the coast of Costa Rica in 1986.

Hat tip to small dead animals.

Venezuela Tries the Old, Tired, Socialist Paradigm

The WaPo is reporting on Venezuela's attempts to build socialism. Here is my favorite part:

Workers are tutored on socialist values, and officials frequently call for the creation of a selfless and patriotic "New Man."

Don't you just love it? Socialism will work if you can just get some suckers to be converted to selfless slaves of the government. All you have to do is put the economy under government control, suppress civil liberties so that some reactionary like me won't put the wrong ideas into peoples' heads, and educate them properly to turn them into unthinking socialist bots.

This is why capitalism works and socialism doesn't. Capitalism doesn't require people to change. They can go ahead and be greedy and doing so will usually help the economy. Capitalism doesn't require suppression of free speech and free press.

Moon of the Week: Oberon

It orbits around Uranus and.....no, I won't say it.

Cristina Kirchner Says She's No Hillary

The First Lady of Argentina says that comparisons between her and the Oinkubus are invalid:

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Argentina's first lady and front-runner in the October presidential election rejected on Wednesday comparisons with U.S. presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton despite both women's hopes to follow their husbands into office.
Sen. Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Clinton, a Democratic senator from New York, also are lawyers who met their husbands at universities but Fernandez said the comparisons ended there.
"Hillary was able to position herself nationally because her husband was president. She didn't have a political life beforehand and that isn't my case," Fernandez de Kirchner said in an interview with CNN en Espanol, referring to her 30-year career in Argentine politics.

I should hope not...... Mamacita!

The Wall Street Journal Has a New Owner

What will Murdoch's purchase of Dow Jones do to the Journal? I have no idea.

Murdoch has done an excellent job with Fox News Channel. I think his purchase of the paper may be a good move for both. As an economist, I have been reading the journal for years. Their coverage of financial news has been excellent until recently. Now I have to refer to their online edition to get the data I need. Their editorials have usually been very good. With the exception of the issues of illegal immigration, and the question of fixed vs floating exchange rates, I usually find myself agreeing with their editorials and many of their gueat Op-Eds.