Frank Lassee is unhappy:
...We finished business for the year by approving four state employee contracts. I voted against two of them and here’s why.
For several years, many government employee unions have pushed for pay parity (read as, they want more money). In their minds, public employees are underpaid in comparison to their private sector counterparts and therefore deserve a raise.
Unfortunately, the Legislature played along. Many state employee contracts (including the two I voted against last week) now include salary increases higher than those being offered in the private sector.
...According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, by the end of the 1990’s average state and local employees were collecting nearly 50% more in total compensation (salary and benefits) than the average private sector employee. Local governments were paying 128% more than private businesses to fund health care benefits and 162% more on retirement accounts.
Wisconsin should look at our entire pay and benefits package. It should all be taken into account. We should pay competitively with the private sector, benefits should be included when we decide what we compensate government workers.
...but since there is NO deficit, according to BagManJim, what's to worry?
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Some History on Immigration
....of the legal sort, that is:
Hampering today’s immigration debate are our misconceptions about the so-called first great migration some 100 years ago, with which today’s immigration is often compared. We envision that first great migration as a time when multitudes of Emma Lazarus’s “tired,” “poor,” and “wretched refuse” of Europe’s shores made their way from destitution to American opportunity
But that... distorts the realities of the first great migration. Though fleeing persecution or economic stagnation in their homelands, that era’s immigrants—Jewish tailors and seamstresses who helped create New York’s garment industry, Italian stonemasons and bricklayers who helped build some of our greatest buildings, German merchants, shopkeepers, and artisans—all brought important skills with them that fit easily into the American economy. Those waves of immigrants—many of them urban dwellers who crossed a continent and an ocean to get here—helped supercharge the workforce at a time when the country was going through a transformative economic expansion that craved new workers, especially in its cities. A 1998 National Research Council report noted “that the newly arriving immigrant nonagricultural work force . . . was (slightly) more skilled than the resident American labor force”: 27 percent of them were skilled laborers, compared with only 17 percent of that era’s native-born workforce.
In other words, these folks came to do jobs that Americans COULD NOT do...
The flood of immigrants, both legal and illegal, from countries with poor, ill-educated populations, has yielded a mismatch between today’s immigrants and the American economy and has left many workers poorly positioned to succeed for the long term. Unlike the immigrants of 100 years ago, whose skills reflected or surpassed those of the native workforce at the time, many of today’s arrivals, particularly the more than half who now come from Central and South America, are farmworkers in their home countries who come here with little education or even basic training in blue-collar occupations like carpentry or machinery.
The difference is clear.
Although open-borders advocates say that these workers are simply taking jobs Americans don’t want, studies show that the immigrants drive down wages of native-born workers and squeeze them out of certain industries. Harvard economists George Borjas and Lawrence Katz, for instance, estimate that low-wage immigration cuts the wages for the average native-born high school dropout by some 8 percent, or more than $1,200 a year.
As to "$3.00 Tomatoes!! $6.00 Carrots!!!" yappaflappa from the ag industry:
Agricultural economists Wallace Huffman and Alan McCunn of Iowa State University have estimated that without illegal workers, the retail cost of fresh produce would increase only about 3 percent in the summer-fall season and less than 2 percent in the winter-spring season, because labor represents only a tiny percent of the retail price of produce ...
There is a LOT more in the linked article.
HT: Jessica
Hampering today’s immigration debate are our misconceptions about the so-called first great migration some 100 years ago, with which today’s immigration is often compared. We envision that first great migration as a time when multitudes of Emma Lazarus’s “tired,” “poor,” and “wretched refuse” of Europe’s shores made their way from destitution to American opportunity
But that... distorts the realities of the first great migration. Though fleeing persecution or economic stagnation in their homelands, that era’s immigrants—Jewish tailors and seamstresses who helped create New York’s garment industry, Italian stonemasons and bricklayers who helped build some of our greatest buildings, German merchants, shopkeepers, and artisans—all brought important skills with them that fit easily into the American economy. Those waves of immigrants—many of them urban dwellers who crossed a continent and an ocean to get here—helped supercharge the workforce at a time when the country was going through a transformative economic expansion that craved new workers, especially in its cities. A 1998 National Research Council report noted “that the newly arriving immigrant nonagricultural work force . . . was (slightly) more skilled than the resident American labor force”: 27 percent of them were skilled laborers, compared with only 17 percent of that era’s native-born workforce.
In other words, these folks came to do jobs that Americans COULD NOT do...
The flood of immigrants, both legal and illegal, from countries with poor, ill-educated populations, has yielded a mismatch between today’s immigrants and the American economy and has left many workers poorly positioned to succeed for the long term. Unlike the immigrants of 100 years ago, whose skills reflected or surpassed those of the native workforce at the time, many of today’s arrivals, particularly the more than half who now come from Central and South America, are farmworkers in their home countries who come here with little education or even basic training in blue-collar occupations like carpentry or machinery.
The difference is clear.
Although open-borders advocates say that these workers are simply taking jobs Americans don’t want, studies show that the immigrants drive down wages of native-born workers and squeeze them out of certain industries. Harvard economists George Borjas and Lawrence Katz, for instance, estimate that low-wage immigration cuts the wages for the average native-born high school dropout by some 8 percent, or more than $1,200 a year.
As to "$3.00 Tomatoes!! $6.00 Carrots!!!" yappaflappa from the ag industry:
Agricultural economists Wallace Huffman and Alan McCunn of Iowa State University have estimated that without illegal workers, the retail cost of fresh produce would increase only about 3 percent in the summer-fall season and less than 2 percent in the winter-spring season, because labor represents only a tiny percent of the retail price of produce ...
There is a LOT more in the linked article.
HT: Jessica
GWB's First Veto
He did the Right Thing.
As to the effects, we turn to the brilliant "Blame Bush!!" blog:
When harvested from a human embryo, stem cells can be a miracle cure for a wide variety of debilitating afflictions, such as Alzheimer’s Disease, diabetes, paralysis, rhuematoid arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, sickle-cell anemia, migraine headaches, erectile dysfunction, Attention Deficit Disorder, excessive body hair, male pattern baldness, problem flatulence, dizziness, numbness, tough, hard-to-remove stains, Helsinki Syndrome, toe jam, indigestion, dyslexia, insomnia, narcolepsy, vertigo, hepatitis, tonsillitis, gingivitis, Vitus Geralitis, chancre sores, the 7-Year Itch, gridlock, and the bizarre mental illness that makes religious conservatives so averse to treating human embryos like crops to be “harvested”. But today, a senate bill that would lift the cruel ban on stem cell research was struck down by the veto-happy dictator, rendering the human embryo completely useless.
As to the effects, we turn to the brilliant "Blame Bush!!" blog:
When harvested from a human embryo, stem cells can be a miracle cure for a wide variety of debilitating afflictions, such as Alzheimer’s Disease, diabetes, paralysis, rhuematoid arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, sickle-cell anemia, migraine headaches, erectile dysfunction, Attention Deficit Disorder, excessive body hair, male pattern baldness, problem flatulence, dizziness, numbness, tough, hard-to-remove stains, Helsinki Syndrome, toe jam, indigestion, dyslexia, insomnia, narcolepsy, vertigo, hepatitis, tonsillitis, gingivitis, Vitus Geralitis, chancre sores, the 7-Year Itch, gridlock, and the bizarre mental illness that makes religious conservatives so averse to treating human embryos like crops to be “harvested”. But today, a senate bill that would lift the cruel ban on stem cell research was struck down by the veto-happy dictator, rendering the human embryo completely useless.
Prioritize!
All I know is what I read in the newspapers:
Softball players who said they witnessed a man shoot a handgun five to seven times into the air in Frontier Park finished the inning and then called police, according to a police report.
In Butler, baseball is important!
Softball players who said they witnessed a man shoot a handgun five to seven times into the air in Frontier Park finished the inning and then called police, according to a police report.
In Butler, baseball is important!
House Strips Courts of Some Authority
The House of Representatives has voted to deny Federal Courts any authority over the question of using the Pledge of Allegiance in schools.
The legislation ...passed 260 to 167. There is a companion Senate bill, but it is unclear whether the Senate will take it up in the current session.
Republicans Mark Green, Tom Petri, Paul Ryan and Jim Sensenbrenner voted for it, while Democrats Tammy Baldwin, Ron Kind, Gwen Moore and Dave Obey voted against it.
Opponents said the legislation, which would bar federal courts from ruling on the constitutional validity of the pledge, would undercut judicial independence and would deny access to federal courts to religious minorities seeking to defend their rights.
"We are making an all-out assault on the Constitution of the United States which, thank God, will fail," said Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Pelosi and those of like mind might do well to READ the Constitution--it specifically authorizes Congress to strip the Courts of authority if Congress deems it appropriate. Instead, she demonstrates that the Left, unable to openly legislate their agenda, prefers to 'stealth-bomb,' using the Courts as a shield and foil.
The legislation ...passed 260 to 167. There is a companion Senate bill, but it is unclear whether the Senate will take it up in the current session.
Republicans Mark Green, Tom Petri, Paul Ryan and Jim Sensenbrenner voted for it, while Democrats Tammy Baldwin, Ron Kind, Gwen Moore and Dave Obey voted against it.
Opponents said the legislation, which would bar federal courts from ruling on the constitutional validity of the pledge, would undercut judicial independence and would deny access to federal courts to religious minorities seeking to defend their rights.
"We are making an all-out assault on the Constitution of the United States which, thank God, will fail," said Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Pelosi and those of like mind might do well to READ the Constitution--it specifically authorizes Congress to strip the Courts of authority if Congress deems it appropriate. Instead, she demonstrates that the Left, unable to openly legislate their agenda, prefers to 'stealth-bomb,' using the Courts as a shield and foil.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Survey Says!!: Sykes, Xoff and Dad29 Not Bloggers
Oh well...it was nice faking it:
Bloggers are a predominantly young group of Internet users
The people they are reading on the online blogs are a young, ethnically diverse group. They are mostly newcomers to writing — often writing about their own experiences. More than half of bloggers are under age 30.
...and politics is NOT the #1 topic--rather, it's their own lives.
So apparently Sykes, Xoff, McMahon, Dad29, and Blosser the Elder (inter alia) are a distinct minority.
Youth was fleeting, eh?
Bloggers are a predominantly young group of Internet users
The people they are reading on the online blogs are a young, ethnically diverse group. They are mostly newcomers to writing — often writing about their own experiences. More than half of bloggers are under age 30.
...and politics is NOT the #1 topic--rather, it's their own lives.
So apparently Sykes, Xoff, McMahon, Dad29, and Blosser the Elder (inter alia) are a distinct minority.
Youth was fleeting, eh?
On Freedom
Blosser quotes Pannenberg:
"The prevailing idea of freedom in our societies today, of course, is the idea that each person has the right to do as he pleases. Freedom is not connected to any notion of the good as constitutive of freedom itself. Because of the incompleteness of human existence in history, any idea of freedom involves the risk of abuse. But it does make a very big difference whether the distinction between the use and abuse of freedom is observed. When it is observed, it is possible to challenge the equation of freedom with license. The ambiguity built into the modern idea of freedom helps us understand secular culture's ambivalence when it comes to values in general, and our cultural nervousness about affirming the contents and standards by which the culture itself is defined. With respect to values and cultural traditions, as with truth claims, a consumerist attitude prevails. Each chooses according to his preferences or perceived needs. The disengagement of the idea of freedom from an idea of the true and the good is the great weakness of secularist societies."
"The prevailing idea of freedom in our societies today, of course, is the idea that each person has the right to do as he pleases. Freedom is not connected to any notion of the good as constitutive of freedom itself. Because of the incompleteness of human existence in history, any idea of freedom involves the risk of abuse. But it does make a very big difference whether the distinction between the use and abuse of freedom is observed. When it is observed, it is possible to challenge the equation of freedom with license. The ambiguity built into the modern idea of freedom helps us understand secular culture's ambivalence when it comes to values in general, and our cultural nervousness about affirming the contents and standards by which the culture itself is defined. With respect to values and cultural traditions, as with truth claims, a consumerist attitude prevails. Each chooses according to his preferences or perceived needs. The disengagement of the idea of freedom from an idea of the true and the good is the great weakness of secularist societies."
There's a great deal more on that post--surveying from Aristotle through Locke.
Who IS the "Militia"?
While we're on the topic of self-defense, the NRA, and the 2nd Amendment (see below post,) another acute observation was made by the NRA's President Sandy Froman, a lovely lady lawyer from San Francisco, in her column in this month's Rifleman.
The very definition of "unorganized militia" (see the Second Amendment) was personified by the group of US citizens headed by Todd Beamer, who gave their lives in defense of the United States on Flight 93.
This "militia" (organized or not) is, as Ms. Froman points out, the entire body of citizens of this country.
Think about that as you ruminate on "gun control."
The very definition of "unorganized militia" (see the Second Amendment) was personified by the group of US citizens headed by Todd Beamer, who gave their lives in defense of the United States on Flight 93.
This "militia" (organized or not) is, as Ms. Froman points out, the entire body of citizens of this country.
Think about that as you ruminate on "gun control."
Eddie Eagle and Your Wife
Was able to spend a pleasant evening listening to a speaker who is very passionate about the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. He's a former (32-year) police officer, and a nationally-recognized armed self-defense trainer.
The attendees' single most interesting common characteristic was that they all appeared to be 'regular' folks. No airs, no haute couture, no diamond-dripping neckwear. The crowd at Summerfest would have been indistinguishable from these people.
Not surprisingly, Green and VanHollen were represented; Bucher showed up in person for the cocktail hour. Kramer, a candidate for the (R)/97th primary, also was there.
So to the headline:
The NRA has long sponsored the Eddie Eagle program. Eddie visits grade-schools and teaches the children what to do if they see an unattended weapon: in brief, 1) STOP! 2) DON'T TOUCH!! 3) LEAVE THE AREA!! and 4) TELL AN ADULT!!!
Sensible, easy to remember, and drilled into the kids' heads.
The very droll speaker, Massad Ayoob, observed that those instructions would be the very same ones your wife would give you if you observed an unattended Delicious Young Thing...
Final takeaway: Dump Doyle!!
The attendees' single most interesting common characteristic was that they all appeared to be 'regular' folks. No airs, no haute couture, no diamond-dripping neckwear. The crowd at Summerfest would have been indistinguishable from these people.
Not surprisingly, Green and VanHollen were represented; Bucher showed up in person for the cocktail hour. Kramer, a candidate for the (R)/97th primary, also was there.
So to the headline:
The NRA has long sponsored the Eddie Eagle program. Eddie visits grade-schools and teaches the children what to do if they see an unattended weapon: in brief, 1) STOP! 2) DON'T TOUCH!! 3) LEAVE THE AREA!! and 4) TELL AN ADULT!!!
Sensible, easy to remember, and drilled into the kids' heads.
The very droll speaker, Massad Ayoob, observed that those instructions would be the very same ones your wife would give you if you observed an unattended Delicious Young Thing...
Final takeaway: Dump Doyle!!
WI Supremes: The Cause of Corruption?
When the WI Supremes, led by Screechin'Shirley, abrogated a Wisconsin constitutional amendment and reversed themselves on the Indian gaming issue, they (in effect) opened a door which leads straight to influence-peddling of the worst sort. They gave sole authority over Indian gaming to one person: the Governor of Wisconsin.
Foolish, stupid, and wrong.
While that particular ruling benefits BagManJim Doyle at this time, (as K Carpenter points out), what is to prevent this massive money-machine from influencing a Republican in the future?
A few million here, a few million there--pretty soon it adds up to real money.
Foolish, stupid, and wrong.
While that particular ruling benefits BagManJim Doyle at this time, (as K Carpenter points out), what is to prevent this massive money-machine from influencing a Republican in the future?
A few million here, a few million there--pretty soon it adds up to real money.
IRS to Whack Churches
Some think this is a good thing.
The Internal Revenue Service has been warning churches and nonprofit organizations that improper campaigning in the upcoming political season could endanger their tax-exempt status.
In notices to more than 15,000 tax-exempt organizations, numerous church denominations and tax preparers, the agency has detailed its new enforcement program, called the Political Activity Compliance Initiative, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
Hmmmmmnnn.
Another way to look at it is this: IRS to Muzzle Churches Which Teach Moral Applications.
Under the regs which IRS intends to apply (largely rammed through by LBJ and his Democratic Congress) some IRS folks will be determining whether a church is "too political." That's not a situation which should be acceptable to a Conservative.
This is not a question of Left/Right. This is a First Amendment question--the operative phrase is "Free Exercise."
The Internal Revenue Service has been warning churches and nonprofit organizations that improper campaigning in the upcoming political season could endanger their tax-exempt status.
In notices to more than 15,000 tax-exempt organizations, numerous church denominations and tax preparers, the agency has detailed its new enforcement program, called the Political Activity Compliance Initiative, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
Hmmmmmnnn.
Another way to look at it is this: IRS to Muzzle Churches Which Teach Moral Applications.
Under the regs which IRS intends to apply (largely rammed through by LBJ and his Democratic Congress) some IRS folks will be determining whether a church is "too political." That's not a situation which should be acceptable to a Conservative.
This is not a question of Left/Right. This is a First Amendment question--the operative phrase is "Free Exercise."
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Gasoline Pricing
NEXT month, note the price of gasoline in Wisconsin at the pump...say after August 15th.
Barrel prices of oil are back down to $73.90, with August-delivery gasoline (regular) at $2.27.
Of course, adding ethanol AND Fed/State taxes will make the price a lot higher than $2.27.
Barrel prices of oil are back down to $73.90, with August-delivery gasoline (regular) at $2.27.
Of course, adding ethanol AND Fed/State taxes will make the price a lot higher than $2.27.
The Vatican, Israel, and Just War
Malkin (quoting Ariana Fellaci) and Morrissey have launched verbal missiles at the Vatican because a Church official reminded Israel of the principles of Just War.
Umnnnnnhhh...the Vatican's reminder is astute and timely, and deserves a bit more respect than it's been given:
The principles:
the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
there must be serious prospects of success;
the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modem means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.
Bainbridge (who practiced international law) has a thought on the application of the fourth part of the principles:
The US Catholic Council of Bishops has specifically argued that "the targeting of civilian infrastructure, which afflicts ordinary citizens long after hostilities have ceased, can amount to making war on noncombatants rather than against opposing armies." It isn't just ivory tower academicians or left-leaning churchmen who take this view. In a 2001 issue of the US my War College's Parameters journal, for example, Brigadier General Ronald S. Mangum raised doubts about whether NATO complied with just war doctrines in deliberately targeting Serbia's civilian infrastructure during the 1999 bombing campaign.
... Proportionality holds that the response to aggression should not be disproportionate to the original aggression. Was the deliberate firebombing of Dresden or Hamburg, say, proportional to the Blitz?
In fact, however, Israel clearly is targeting not just Hezbollah, but also Lebanon's official military, and, most important for our purposes, Lebanon's basic civilian infrastructure. The Beirut airport has been closed by Israeli attacks. Bridges, ports, roads, and power stations are all being targeted.
It is fair to allow for errors, especially given the tactics of Hizbollah--to hide behind civilians. There are also some interesting questions about "state-less" combatants (as GWB knows) which are not easily resolved.
But the Vatican's statement was NOT unreasonable, nor should the Vatican be criticized for doing what Churchmen are supposed to do.
Umnnnnnhhh...the Vatican's reminder is astute and timely, and deserves a bit more respect than it's been given:
The principles:
the damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;
all other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;
there must be serious prospects of success;
the use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modem means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.
Bainbridge (who practiced international law) has a thought on the application of the fourth part of the principles:
The US Catholic Council of Bishops has specifically argued that "the targeting of civilian infrastructure, which afflicts ordinary citizens long after hostilities have ceased, can amount to making war on noncombatants rather than against opposing armies." It isn't just ivory tower academicians or left-leaning churchmen who take this view. In a 2001 issue of the US my War College's Parameters journal, for example, Brigadier General Ronald S. Mangum raised doubts about whether NATO complied with just war doctrines in deliberately targeting Serbia's civilian infrastructure during the 1999 bombing campaign.
... Proportionality holds that the response to aggression should not be disproportionate to the original aggression. Was the deliberate firebombing of Dresden or Hamburg, say, proportional to the Blitz?
In fact, however, Israel clearly is targeting not just Hezbollah, but also Lebanon's official military, and, most important for our purposes, Lebanon's basic civilian infrastructure. The Beirut airport has been closed by Israeli attacks. Bridges, ports, roads, and power stations are all being targeted.
It is fair to allow for errors, especially given the tactics of Hizbollah--to hide behind civilians. There are also some interesting questions about "state-less" combatants (as GWB knows) which are not easily resolved.
But the Vatican's statement was NOT unreasonable, nor should the Vatican be criticized for doing what Churchmen are supposed to do.
The "End of the World" Scenarios Multiply
As we approach November, the frequency and variety of "TEOTWAWKI" (The End of the World As We Know It) scrivenings become almost oppressive. It's like Hitchcock's "Birds"--more and more of them, closer and closer, louder and louder....
Amazing what could happen with a non-Republican majority in Congress, eh? Oh, I don't like the possibilities; and there certainly will be some odious legislative "accomplishments" were the (D) cabal to become a majority...
Perhaps the most intriguing one is Newt Gingrich's obliquely-presented "World War III Is Here" election campaign strategy. Newt, a pointy-headed glamor-hound who has never shown an interest in anything but electing Republicans, now suggests that the Republicans would do well if they simply define the WOT (and the problems with NK and Iran, inter alia) as "WWIII."
After all, Republicans are better at managing wars successfully than Democrats!
In exquisite irony, Newtie includes 'troubles with Red China/Taiwan' in his laundry list of Things-Which-Make-Up-WWIII. Obviously, he hopes that we are stupid enough to forget that Newt and X42 empowered Red China by ramming MFN/PNTR status for Red China through Congress.
In other words, Newt was responsible for giving PRC the money to become a threat--the threat which he now warns us against. NOW he turns around and tells us that only the Republicans can save us from this threat!
Most of the 4 readers of this blog understand that I cannot support the Democrat agenda, whatever it may be. Fine.
But enough, already, of scaring grannies, women, and children with End-Times hooey.
Amazing what could happen with a non-Republican majority in Congress, eh? Oh, I don't like the possibilities; and there certainly will be some odious legislative "accomplishments" were the (D) cabal to become a majority...
Perhaps the most intriguing one is Newt Gingrich's obliquely-presented "World War III Is Here" election campaign strategy. Newt, a pointy-headed glamor-hound who has never shown an interest in anything but electing Republicans, now suggests that the Republicans would do well if they simply define the WOT (and the problems with NK and Iran, inter alia) as "WWIII."
After all, Republicans are better at managing wars successfully than Democrats!
In exquisite irony, Newtie includes 'troubles with Red China/Taiwan' in his laundry list of Things-Which-Make-Up-WWIII. Obviously, he hopes that we are stupid enough to forget that Newt and X42 empowered Red China by ramming MFN/PNTR status for Red China through Congress.
In other words, Newt was responsible for giving PRC the money to become a threat--the threat which he now warns us against. NOW he turns around and tells us that only the Republicans can save us from this threat!
Most of the 4 readers of this blog understand that I cannot support the Democrat agenda, whatever it may be. Fine.
But enough, already, of scaring grannies, women, and children with End-Times hooey.
Did the Conquistadores Bring Disease to the Aztecs?
Well, they brought smallpox, which was a killer--but not the Big One:
The fevers were contagious, burning, and continuous, all of them pestilential, in most part lethal. The tongue was dry and black. Enormous thirst. Urine of the colors of sea-green, vegetal green, and black, sometimes passing from the greenish color to the pale. Pulse was frequent, fast, small, and weak—sometimes even null. The eyes and the whole body were yellow. This stage was followed by delirium and seizures. Then, hard and painful nodules appeared behind one or both ears along with heartache, chest pain, abdominal pain, tremor, great anxiety, and dysentery. The blood that flowed when cutting a vein had a green color or was very pale, dry, and without serosity. . . . Blood flowed from the ears and in many cases blood truly gushed from the nose. . . . This epidemic attacked mainly young people and seldom the elder ones.
"This was certainly not smallpox," Acuña-Soto says. "If they described something real, then it appeared to be a hemorrhagic fever."
...All types of hemorrhagic viruses share traits. They are extremely simple, composed only of RNA enveloped in a fatty membrane, and they all must develop first in an animal host—often rodents or bats—and are spread by insects such as ticks or mosquitoes. A bite, direct exposure to rodent feces or urine, or indirect exposure through windblown particles can pass the virus to humans. If cocolitzli had been caused by a hemorrhagic virus, Acuña-Soto realized, the Spanish could not have brought it with them. Such diseases do not readily pass from one person to another, so the virus must have been native.
The hemorrhagic fevers occurred in 1545 and 1576--during a rainy year following lengthy droughts, exactly the pattern one would expect.
How long before the La Raza gang revises their "white devils" history to reflect this?
HT: Grim's Hall
The fevers were contagious, burning, and continuous, all of them pestilential, in most part lethal. The tongue was dry and black. Enormous thirst. Urine of the colors of sea-green, vegetal green, and black, sometimes passing from the greenish color to the pale. Pulse was frequent, fast, small, and weak—sometimes even null. The eyes and the whole body were yellow. This stage was followed by delirium and seizures. Then, hard and painful nodules appeared behind one or both ears along with heartache, chest pain, abdominal pain, tremor, great anxiety, and dysentery. The blood that flowed when cutting a vein had a green color or was very pale, dry, and without serosity. . . . Blood flowed from the ears and in many cases blood truly gushed from the nose. . . . This epidemic attacked mainly young people and seldom the elder ones.
"This was certainly not smallpox," Acuña-Soto says. "If they described something real, then it appeared to be a hemorrhagic fever."
...All types of hemorrhagic viruses share traits. They are extremely simple, composed only of RNA enveloped in a fatty membrane, and they all must develop first in an animal host—often rodents or bats—and are spread by insects such as ticks or mosquitoes. A bite, direct exposure to rodent feces or urine, or indirect exposure through windblown particles can pass the virus to humans. If cocolitzli had been caused by a hemorrhagic virus, Acuña-Soto realized, the Spanish could not have brought it with them. Such diseases do not readily pass from one person to another, so the virus must have been native.
The hemorrhagic fevers occurred in 1545 and 1576--during a rainy year following lengthy droughts, exactly the pattern one would expect.
How long before the La Raza gang revises their "white devils" history to reflect this?
HT: Grim's Hall
Monday, July 17, 2006
Terrorism, in Kafka's World
Earlier we posted a few items about "Whopper" Dan Maguire, a traitor to Catholicism and a cancer on the name of Marquette University, to put it politely. Dan is a close friend of Planned Parenthood.
"So What?" you say.
Here's Planned Parenthood's list of Terrorist and Extremist organizations:
American Life League (ALL)
Americans United for Life (AUL)
Christian Coalition
Concerned Women for America (CWA)
Eagle Forum
Family Research Council (FRC)
Feminists for Life of America (FFL)
Focus on the Family
Human Life International (HLI)
Life Dynamics Incorporated (LDI)
Missionaries to the Preborn
National Right to Life Committee (NRLC)
Operation Save America (formerly known as Operation Rescue)
Pro-Life Action League (PLAL)
STOPP International, aka STOPP Planned Parenthood
These organizations can always use contributions!
HT: The Curt Jester
"So What?" you say.
Here's Planned Parenthood's list of Terrorist and Extremist organizations:
American Life League (ALL)
Americans United for Life (AUL)
Christian Coalition
Concerned Women for America (CWA)
Eagle Forum
Family Research Council (FRC)
Feminists for Life of America (FFL)
Focus on the Family
Human Life International (HLI)
Life Dynamics Incorporated (LDI)
Missionaries to the Preborn
National Right to Life Committee (NRLC)
Operation Save America (formerly known as Operation Rescue)
Pro-Life Action League (PLAL)
STOPP International, aka STOPP Planned Parenthood
These organizations can always use contributions!
HT: The Curt Jester
What (Clean) Term Applies to This Whopper?
Here's the quote:
The Israelis know that if the Iraqi or the Iranian army came across the Jordan River, I would personally grab a rifle, get in a ditch, and fight and die."
-- Former US President Bill Clinton, July 31, 2002
Somehow, I don't believe the statement.
HT: Blosser
The Israelis know that if the Iraqi or the Iranian army came across the Jordan River, I would personally grab a rifle, get in a ditch, and fight and die."
-- Former US President Bill Clinton, July 31, 2002
Somehow, I don't believe the statement.
HT: Blosser
The Mythology of Immigration
Heather Mac Donald's City Journal essays are invaluable resources--particularly for those who understand that "common knowledge" may not be fact-based "knowledge."
She offers a number of myth-busters regarding the Immigration Debate which are worthwhile:
On "human rights" of illegal immigrants:
Less than a week before the Library of Congress conference, illegal aliens on the streets of Southern California were making the identical demands: “We just want some respect and human rights,” a Santa Ana protester told the Los Angeles Times. “We’re fighting to give [immigrants] equal rights,” explained a marcher in Riverside, California, holding a “Legalize, Not Terrorize” sign.
This call for “human rights” is a clever one, for it hides its radical status in a rhetorical safe harbor. What, exactly, are the “human rights” that the U.S. is denying illegal aliens? They have unfettered access to free medical care, free education, welfare for their children, free representation in court when they commit crimes, every due-process protection during criminal prosecution that the Constitution guarantees citizens and legal immigrants, the shelter of labor laws, and the miracles of modern industrial society like clean water, the control of infectious diseases (including the ones that they bring with them), and plumbing. The only putative “right” that they lack—and that, of course, is the “human right” to which they and their ambassadors refer—is the right to legal status regardless of illegal entry.
On whether enforcement actually works:
Elite wisdom for decades held that the police cannot affect crime. The social forces pushing criminals to break the law—poverty, racism, addiction—were too powerful; policing could at best try to solve crimes after they happened. New York’s Mayor Giuliani and his first police chief, William Bratton, rejected that fatalism. They empowered the New York Police Department to enforce aggressively laws that had long lain moribund. The targets of the new public-order push complained bitterly that it was unfair to arrest them for marijuana sales and other crimes after years of de facto decriminalization. The NYPD continued its enforcement drive anyway and brought crime down 70 percent in a decade. It turns out that the well-founded fear of getting caught changes behavior.
And as applied to border incursions:
Federal agencies have designated a stretch of the Texas border a zero-tolerance zone for border trespassing since December 6, 2005. Rather than releasing illegal entrants upon capture, the feds jail them for their border crime, then deport them. One Border Patrol agent told the Washington Post that the 51 percent drop in apprehensions since the operation began are “the most dynamic results” he had seen in 19 years on the force.
What about the "family values" of Hispanics? Don't we want more?
If someone proposed a program to boost the number of Americans who lack a high school diploma, have children out of wedlock, sell drugs, steal, or use welfare, he’d be deemed mad. Yet liberalized immigration rules would do just that. The illegitimacy rate among Hispanics is high and rising faster than that of other ethnic groups; their dropout rate is the highest in the country; Hispanic children are joining gangs at younger and younger ages. Academic achievement is abysmal.
Illegitimacy concerns: Without doubt, many Latinos are upwardly mobile. But a significant portion of their children are getting sucked into street life...
Half of all children born to Hispanic Americans in 2002 were illegitimate, twice the rate for American whites and 42 percent higher than the overall American rate.
Literacy Concerns: Nationwide, 53 percent of Hispanics graduate from high school, according to the Manhattan Institute’s Jay Greene—the lowest rate among all ethnic groups
Crime: Open-borders conservatives point to the relatively low crime rate among immigrants to deny any connection between high immigration and crime. But unless we can prevent immigrants from having children, a high level of immigration translates to increased levels of crime. Between the foreign-born generation and their American children, the incarceration rate of Mexican-Americans jumps more than eightfold, resulting in an incarceration rate that is 3.45 times higher than that of whites, according to an analysis of 2000 census data by the pro-immigrant Migration Policy Institute.
Assimilation into US culture: Multicultural cheerleaders argue that assimilation is proceeding apace by pointing to the fact that virtually all third-generation Hispanics can speak English. Even so, linguistic and cultural segregation among Hispanics is increasing. The percentage of Hispanics living in Hispanic enclaves rose from 39 percent in 1990 to 43 percent in 2000, reports Robert Samuelson, and as more and more aliens from Mexico and Central America enter, the size of Spanish-speaking-only areas expands.
As most business-types know, understanding the problem is critical to formulating a solution. Ms. Mac Donald's research SHOULD go a long way toward shaping a Congressional response which utilizes enforcement AND recognizes the national interest--growth, but not a disproportionate increase in crime, illiteracy, and illegitimate children.
She offers a number of myth-busters regarding the Immigration Debate which are worthwhile:
On "human rights" of illegal immigrants:
Less than a week before the Library of Congress conference, illegal aliens on the streets of Southern California were making the identical demands: “We just want some respect and human rights,” a Santa Ana protester told the Los Angeles Times. “We’re fighting to give [immigrants] equal rights,” explained a marcher in Riverside, California, holding a “Legalize, Not Terrorize” sign.
This call for “human rights” is a clever one, for it hides its radical status in a rhetorical safe harbor. What, exactly, are the “human rights” that the U.S. is denying illegal aliens? They have unfettered access to free medical care, free education, welfare for their children, free representation in court when they commit crimes, every due-process protection during criminal prosecution that the Constitution guarantees citizens and legal immigrants, the shelter of labor laws, and the miracles of modern industrial society like clean water, the control of infectious diseases (including the ones that they bring with them), and plumbing. The only putative “right” that they lack—and that, of course, is the “human right” to which they and their ambassadors refer—is the right to legal status regardless of illegal entry.
On whether enforcement actually works:
Elite wisdom for decades held that the police cannot affect crime. The social forces pushing criminals to break the law—poverty, racism, addiction—were too powerful; policing could at best try to solve crimes after they happened. New York’s Mayor Giuliani and his first police chief, William Bratton, rejected that fatalism. They empowered the New York Police Department to enforce aggressively laws that had long lain moribund. The targets of the new public-order push complained bitterly that it was unfair to arrest them for marijuana sales and other crimes after years of de facto decriminalization. The NYPD continued its enforcement drive anyway and brought crime down 70 percent in a decade. It turns out that the well-founded fear of getting caught changes behavior.
And as applied to border incursions:
Federal agencies have designated a stretch of the Texas border a zero-tolerance zone for border trespassing since December 6, 2005. Rather than releasing illegal entrants upon capture, the feds jail them for their border crime, then deport them. One Border Patrol agent told the Washington Post that the 51 percent drop in apprehensions since the operation began are “the most dynamic results” he had seen in 19 years on the force.
What about the "family values" of Hispanics? Don't we want more?
If someone proposed a program to boost the number of Americans who lack a high school diploma, have children out of wedlock, sell drugs, steal, or use welfare, he’d be deemed mad. Yet liberalized immigration rules would do just that. The illegitimacy rate among Hispanics is high and rising faster than that of other ethnic groups; their dropout rate is the highest in the country; Hispanic children are joining gangs at younger and younger ages. Academic achievement is abysmal.
Illegitimacy concerns: Without doubt, many Latinos are upwardly mobile. But a significant portion of their children are getting sucked into street life...
Half of all children born to Hispanic Americans in 2002 were illegitimate, twice the rate for American whites and 42 percent higher than the overall American rate.
Literacy Concerns: Nationwide, 53 percent of Hispanics graduate from high school, according to the Manhattan Institute’s Jay Greene—the lowest rate among all ethnic groups
Crime: Open-borders conservatives point to the relatively low crime rate among immigrants to deny any connection between high immigration and crime. But unless we can prevent immigrants from having children, a high level of immigration translates to increased levels of crime. Between the foreign-born generation and their American children, the incarceration rate of Mexican-Americans jumps more than eightfold, resulting in an incarceration rate that is 3.45 times higher than that of whites, according to an analysis of 2000 census data by the pro-immigrant Migration Policy Institute.
Assimilation into US culture: Multicultural cheerleaders argue that assimilation is proceeding apace by pointing to the fact that virtually all third-generation Hispanics can speak English. Even so, linguistic and cultural segregation among Hispanics is increasing. The percentage of Hispanics living in Hispanic enclaves rose from 39 percent in 1990 to 43 percent in 2000, reports Robert Samuelson, and as more and more aliens from Mexico and Central America enter, the size of Spanish-speaking-only areas expands.
As most business-types know, understanding the problem is critical to formulating a solution. Ms. Mac Donald's research SHOULD go a long way toward shaping a Congressional response which utilizes enforcement AND recognizes the national interest--growth, but not a disproportionate increase in crime, illiteracy, and illegitimate children.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
A Sniper? Really?
This pic is from a NYSlimes series which lionizes the jihadists in Iraq. (Surprise!!)
But I noticed something about the picture which tells me that this guy was either posing or is ineffably stupid. You rifle-shooters out there should pick up on it easily, as well.
Hint: His accuracy WILL vary...
HT: PowerLine
But I noticed something about the picture which tells me that this guy was either posing or is ineffably stupid. You rifle-shooters out there should pick up on it easily, as well.
Hint: His accuracy WILL vary...
HT: PowerLine
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