Immigration

Tim West has an interesting plan for immigration reform. HT Dan Ong

Doing the right thing

When faced with a choice of A) giving up an important base or B) turning a blind eye to human rights violations, the Bush administration has done A, the right thing according to Harry's Place.

Alternative history

If Gore had been president?

Blacks on Blacks

There's hope in the black community. HT Betsy's Page

Full disclosure

Wendy Long suggests that Democratic Senators who want to see John Roberts papers from the Solicitor General's office should disclose all their campaign memos and documents. Heh. HT Betsy's Page

Attitudes are changing

in Muslim countries says Max Boot. See the study he talks about here. HT Instapundit

Fired

from the government, for supporting the Second Amendment. HT Michelle Malkin

New Game

Here's a new drinking game for teachers and other educrats, quite similar to the bingo game I posted back on the 14th. Bingo would be more fun in a staff meeting. HT Betsy's Page

Cheaper health insurance

Here. HT pejmanesque

If your son strays, kill him

Read this story if you want to get a feeling for how humanitarian some Muslim clerics are. HT pejmanesque

Howard Dean

is clueless. He thinks a right wing court made the Kelo decision. Talk about a space cadet. He can't even tell left from right any more. By the time he gets through marginalizing the Democrats, they won't have a party left. HT Anchoress

Free Market Environmentalism

US News and World Report has an interesting article on the Chicago Climate Exchange, a private trading exchange working to reduce global warming.

al Qaeda

Tigerhawk has a must read post on al Qaeda's 19th century roots. HT Instapundit

Ecoterrorists

The ecoterrorists are at it again and Greenpeace won't lift a finger to stop it.

Comcast

I'm a Comcast subscriber, extended basic service, but I was going to cancel it this evening because the only time I have it on is in the morning to see what the stock market in going to do, at least at the opening bell. You can tell just by looking at the futures - if they're up, the market will likely open higher, down, lower. I was thinking to myself, it's not worth $45 a month just for that, but if I could get it for, say $20, I'd probably keep it. I didn't figure there was any way I could keep my service for that. But when I called up, the customer service rep offered me, without any encouragement, 3 months at $19.99, so I said, what the heck and I'm still a customer.

Sunlight

Thomas Friedman says sunlight is a great disinfectant for terrorism of all stripes. I agree. HTBirds Eye View

Big Picture

Here is the novelty: Our new enemies are not political enemies in any traditional sense, belligerent in the service of certain interests of their own. Their belligerence is focused rather on the very existence of an alternative to their vision of beatitude, namely on Western democracy and its commitment to individual freedom and economic prosperity. This was put with all possible clarity by Hussein Massawi, a former Hezbollah leader. "We are not fighting," he said, "so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you."

From Armavirumque HT Austin Bay

This reminds me of something I read many years ago and refer to now and then. A Short History of Liberty by Dean Russell, which was published in The Freeman, January, 1955. How far along the way is America? he asks. Bondage, Faith, Understanding, Courage, Liberty, Abundance, Complacency, Apathy, Dependency, and back into Bondage.

Do libertarians have the courage to recognize the danger we face and to fight it? Or are they complacent and apathetic enough to let us go back into the bondage of a theocratic state? One of the personal responsibilities we face is the need to recognize that sometimes we need to act AS A NATION to defend, as best we know how, liberty. Most libertarians are anti-war, but they fail to recognize that once again, for the 4th time since 1900, there is a global enemy who hates liberty and would exterminate us because we are not like them.

Oriana Fallaci

The Left speaks from Italy.

You’ll have to go read it all, because it is lengthy, but do go read it. Print it out and read it with your Sunday coffee, maybe. When you read it, remember: Fallaci is an intellectually honest “left winger” and a self-proclaimed atheist who has survived gunshots, is dying of cancer and is about to go on trial in Italy (in absentia) for writing a book (see my Bookshelf). Keep it in mind, because she is always surprising.

Here and here. HT Anchoress

Idiotarian

The history and meaning of the word idiotarian. May be one reason why libertarians can't seem to make any political progress. HT The Hotline

History Lesson

Here's some of the events that happened before the Iraq war. HT Instapundit

2nd Amendment Threat

Here (pdf). HT volokh

Ad campaign for Republicans

If the Republicans want to send the Democrats even further down the toliet, they should sell bumper stickers like "Meet real Democrats - visit www.dailykos.com". That site is well known for vitrol and crude language, just what your average voter doesn't like.

PC

Some dimbulb in Canada is considering regulating religion according to this post by the Anchoress. This is what political correctness leads to.

more conservative?

One of my friends and blog readers asked me if I was become more conservative. Here's my reply:

I'm becoming more of a realist. Whether that's conservative, I don't know. Most libertarians seem to ignore reality, at least on foreign policy and immigration issues. On domestic issues, I think we can move steadily in a libertarian direction although we will probably have to deal with foreign policy and immigration first.

The terrorists are terrorists, not because we are in Iraq, but because they are religious extremists who support a theocratic state and would cheerfully murder each and every one of us, if they could, simply because we do not believe as they do. Until we learn that, we are in denial.

On immigration, I pointed out on my blog that there are huge discrepancies between the US and Mexico in factors that measure the ability to foster economic growth and liberty. Until that gap narrows, we will have an immigration problem. This gap can only be closed by one of two ways, making the US less free or Mexico more free. I much prefer the latter. If that means regime change, so be it. Maybe talking about it will encourage them to change. Staying with the status quo doesn't help. What's your choice? Are you willing to be less free?

If we're not willing to deal with current events in a realistic way, instead of as an idealist, people will think we're naive. As a political party, we have to be realists if we want to be credible, and elected.

Finally, reality

The Dallas Morning News finally gets it. HT lgf

Fair play

Vodkapundit has a must read post about playing fair.

Censorship

Tom G Palmer tells us that Wendy McElroy is shutting down her email version of Ifeminist Newsletter.

Paul Krugman is ignorant

Paul Krugman asks the question "Most of all, it's about what has happened to America. How did our political system get to this point?" HT Kevin Drum

It's pretty simple, Paul. The Democrats, starting with FDR, made government bigger and bigger and let it control more and more of American life. The Republicans have given that trend a boost in recent years. The result is that there's more and more power at stake with each election. Power corrupts. The solution is to take this power away from government and give it back to the people.

nomination hearing

Patterico provides us with a Supreme Court nomination hearing we're not likely to see for quite a while.

More Kelo

Over at Agoraphilia, a couple of lawyers talk about a Kelo amendment almost identical to mine. HT pejmanesque

Replace the Constitution

Michelle Malkin sends us to Sperry Files where Paul Sperry suggests that

Some of these same pillars of the Muslim community have privately called for overturning our system of government, replacing the Constitution with the Qur'an as the highest authority in the land.

This, of course, should be very disturbing to every American citizen.

Mexico

A World Net Daily article says

In what is being characterized as international blackmail, the former foreign minister of Mexico has told a Senate committee his nation will not cooperate with the U.S. on border-security issues unless a number of immigration-related action is taken – including amnesty for illegal aliens.

On Tuesday, former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing: "No border security is possible without Mexican cooperation" and "there can be no cooperation [from the Mexican government] without some sort of immigration reform package."

HT Daily Demarche

As I mentioned in a post a few days ago, we need regime change in Mexico. Castaneda obviously doesn't understand that Mexico does a really crappy job of providing its citizens with the opportunities they need. He either hasn't read, or doesn't believe, Hernando DeSoto's The Mystery of Capital. Mexico is exporting its stupidity to the US. And we pay for it.

Terror musings

on what the Klan and the Islamic terrorists have in common. HT the Cotillion

Suicide bombers

If you want to what motivates suicide bombers, read this, an interview with one who failed his mission. HT Roger L. Simon at the Corner

Possible solutions

Over at Captain's Quarters, some possible solutions to terrorists.

Common Sense

on Intelligent Anti-Terror Policing. HT Chrenkoff

History and Harry Potter

Betsy's Page makes a link between history and Harry Potter.

Dumbledore is Churchill; Voldemort is Hitler; and Minister Fudge is Neville Chamberlain. In this period of time when there are people who don't want to take the fight to the terrorists or deny that Saddam Hussein had anything to do with terrorism or are afraid that we're going to make North Korea or Iran angry at us if we tell the truth about their governments, it was very intriguing to read Book 5 in the summer of 2003.

Global Warming

Bush has a plan to keep global warming from getting worse, from Scrappleface.

New Bingo Game

Do you keep falling asleep in meetings and seminars? What about those long and boring conference calls? Monotone voices burbling on and on like a creek for hours on end, forcing you to look for the nearest sharp object or length of wire to end it all.?

Here's a way to change all of that...

1. Before (or during) your next meeting, seminar, or conference call, prepare yourself by drawing a square. I find that 5"x5" is a good size. Divide the card into columns-five across and five down. That will give you 25 one-inch blocks.

2. Write one of the following words/phrases in each block: synergy, strategic fit, core competencies, best practice, bottom line, revisit, take that off-line, 24/7, out of the loop, benchmark, value-added, proactive, win-win, think outside the box, fast track, result-driven, empower, Issue, Solution, touch base, mindset, client focus, paradigm, game plan, leverage.

3. Check off the appropriate block when you hear one of those words/phrases.

4. When you get five blocks horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, stand up and shout "BULLSHIT!"

Testimonials from satisfied "Bullshit Bingo" players:

* "I had been in the meeting for only five minutes when I won." - Jack W., Boston
* "My attention span at meetings has improved dramatically." - David D., Florida
* "What a gas! Meetings will never be the same for me after my first win." - Bill R., New York
* "The atmosphere was tense in the last process meeting as 14 of us waited for the fifth x." - Ben G., Denver
* "The speaker was stunned as eight of us screamed 'BULLSHIT!' for the third time in two hours." - Kathleen L., Atlanta

HT Bert Wiener (via email)

No Aid for Africa

Here. HT Betsy's Page

Immigration and Mexico

Steve Forbes, Editor in Chief of Forbes Magazine, writes about Making Mexico the Latino Tiger (sub reqd). Some things you'll learn - 28% of Mexico's labor force is in the US. It takes 58 days to start a business (5 in the US). The cost of starting a business as a percent of per capita income is 16.7% in Mexico, 0.6% in the US. Rigidity of Employment Index in Mexico is 72; in the US is 3. These are good arguments for regime change in Mexico and why our immigration problem sucks.

The LP's Iraq Exit Plan

The LP’s plan, Iraq Exit Strategy, ignores the reality of the much larger war that we are in. It appears to have been largely written before the January, 2005 elections, or at least ignores the mindset change that occurred in Iraqi citizens as a result of that election.

The plan falsely assumes that the presence of US troops in Iraq is the cause of the “insurgency”. Nothing could be further from the truth. Terrorist attacks have been going on for more than 200 years. Some of the more recent ones include the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1982/3, the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993(?), the attack on the USS Cole, 9/11, and, more recently, the London attacks of 7/7/05. Many of them were conducted by Wahhabists, radical Islamic fundamentalists, whose modern day goal is the reestablishment of the Caliphate and the complete eradication of anyone who is not a Wahhabist. In other words, they would take great delight in killing most, if not all, libertarians. See Jerusalem Issue Brief

The larger problem is all the corrupt kleptocracies in the Middle East including “Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan; the endemic poverty and underdevelopment that resulted for most of the 20th century; the U.N.-imposed creation of Israel in 1948; and finally, in recent decades, American support for the bleak status quo.” See Misreading Islam (caveat: this was written before the 2005 elections) The LP plan does nothing to deal with these realities. See also The Sorry Bunch, Listen and learn from our enemies

This exit plan, and our general approach to foreign policy, puts the LP in the position of being Neville Chamberlain, writ small. Appeasement is not the answer and the LP needs to dump the yellow streak running down its back. If you want to be a purist, go join the monks, er objectivists. A national political party should serve the nation it purports to represent and we are not a nation of cowards. If the LP wants to be a respected player in national politics, we need to create realistic solutions to these larger problems.

Winston Churchill

On what's needed to fight the coming war.

Interview with Paul Wolfowitz

Here.

London bombings and the left

Richard Combs has a must read post. Read all the links, too.

Supreme Court

American Thinker has good reasons why the next Supreme Court nominee should be Janice Rogers Brown. HT Betsy's Page

foreign policy quiz

Where do you stand on foreign policy? I'm a realist. HT Betsy's Page

100 People

Who Are Screwing Up America. Ed over at Captain's Quarters interviews author Bernard Goldberg in two parts, Part I and Part II. Here's Ed's book review. HT Instapundit

Private armies, war, Bush doctrine

VodkaPundit links to three important articles about war, foreign policy, media impact on policy, and the proper status and categorization of individuals captured on the battlefield.

New resource

Congressional Research Reports are now available to the public. HT Kevin Drum

Good advice

for Bush. HT NeoLibertarian

Question Authority?

If you Question Authority, you should read this by neo-neocon. And even if you don't, you should read it anyway, because maybe you will, only it will be a different authority that you will question. Read the comments, too. HT Austin Bay

25 years of foreign policy

Charles Krauthammer discusses The Neoconservative Convergence and three completely different implementations of foreign policy under Bush, Clinton, and Bush. Money Quote: "This kind of prudent circumspection is, in fact, a practical necessity for governing in the real world." HT So Cal Pundit

Exit Strategy

Victor Davis Hanson offers a realistic exit strategy (although some say it might be tongue in cheek), unlike this one put forth by the Libertarian Party. If you want a real assessment, try this one by retired General Barry R. McCaffrey.