The Queen, in her Royal wisdom, has ended the Hung Parliament by picking a man well-acquainted with hangovers to be the new PM: dead American President (and all-around good guy) Warren G. Harding.
Until now, Mr. Harding had been waging what seemed to be a quixotic campaign for equal recognition for dead as well as living voters. His efforts have been rewarded by the munificence of the Queen, who was satisfied to note that, in keeping with British tradition, Mr. Harding is not now and has never been a Roman Catholic.
The Dispatch (whose editor is, I believe, Gomez Adams) also lets us know that jilted contenders "Cameron and Clegg form lasting friendship based on shared grief." Stiff upper, and all that.
May 4, 2010
Mr. Garcia: We didn't want you here, but now that you are, please vote for us!
Okay, my last post on immigration, at least for a while. This is from a comment I left at Baseball Crank, one of the better written political/sports sites out there, hosted by immigration "moderate" Dan McLaughlin, who favors the AZ law.
Here I wonder how this isn't foolish policy, as as well as foolish politics for the Republican Party, of which I am (still) a member:
Couldn't police stops easily be "arranged", for dubious reasons, to check immigration status? Does a cop just pull over everybody who looks Hispanic, and say he thought they had a light out? Or "you were doing 27 in a 25 MPH zone"? Cops can always find a pretext to harass people, even people who look like they just came over the border but are in fact from families that have been in the US for generations.
I'm still amazed that the same conservatives and libertarians, who (justifiably) think government does pretty much everything poorly, believe that big ol' inefficient government can "seal the border" against the Mexican "hordes". How in the world is this possible? (Forget the millions already here). In fact, as a conservative myself, I wonder how, short of tyrranical measures, we could even begin to get a hold of this alleged problem. I guess we could spend billions to build some massive structure, but you'd need many thousand eyes to keep watch. Even then, you'd never stop the bulk of the people who want to come here. They're risking life and limb to come here now.
And, ultimately, isn't it about who's coming, as you've said yourself ("Were they Canadian illegals, I doubt there'd be much of an uproar"), rather than how many?
Is it simply beyond the pale to say racism plays a role here? In other words, has racism been utterly "eliminated" from the American mind? If not, might this reasonably be seen as an example?
And you'll never convince me that in a country that is inevitably becoming more Hispanic, this isn't insane politics for the Republicans. "We didn't want you here, but now that you are, please vote for us!"
UPDATE: Dick Stanley, who's getting madder and madder, thinks I'm a RINO for opposing the border sealing project. I maintain that those who advocate such measures are favoring a big-government, extravagantly expensive solution to a non-existent problem. Again, I see mass immigration as part of the demographic means to prevent our fate echoing that of Old Europe-unless you think you can talk American couples into a big increase in baby-making.
Here I wonder how this isn't foolish policy, as as well as foolish politics for the Republican Party, of which I am (still) a member:
Couldn't police stops easily be "arranged", for dubious reasons, to check immigration status? Does a cop just pull over everybody who looks Hispanic, and say he thought they had a light out? Or "you were doing 27 in a 25 MPH zone"? Cops can always find a pretext to harass people, even people who look like they just came over the border but are in fact from families that have been in the US for generations.
I'm still amazed that the same conservatives and libertarians, who (justifiably) think government does pretty much everything poorly, believe that big ol' inefficient government can "seal the border" against the Mexican "hordes". How in the world is this possible? (Forget the millions already here). In fact, as a conservative myself, I wonder how, short of tyrranical measures, we could even begin to get a hold of this alleged problem. I guess we could spend billions to build some massive structure, but you'd need many thousand eyes to keep watch. Even then, you'd never stop the bulk of the people who want to come here. They're risking life and limb to come here now.
And, ultimately, isn't it about who's coming, as you've said yourself ("Were they Canadian illegals, I doubt there'd be much of an uproar"), rather than how many?
Is it simply beyond the pale to say racism plays a role here? In other words, has racism been utterly "eliminated" from the American mind? If not, might this reasonably be seen as an example?
And you'll never convince me that in a country that is inevitably becoming more Hispanic, this isn't insane politics for the Republicans. "We didn't want you here, but now that you are, please vote for us!"
UPDATE: Dick Stanley, who's getting madder and madder, thinks I'm a RINO for opposing the border sealing project. I maintain that those who advocate such measures are favoring a big-government, extravagantly expensive solution to a non-existent problem. Again, I see mass immigration as part of the demographic means to prevent our fate echoing that of Old Europe-unless you think you can talk American couples into a big increase in baby-making.
May 3, 2010
Rob McConnell-1935-2010
One of the great jazz bandleaders, large group division, has died. We lost trombonist Rob McConnell on May 1.
McConnell managed to carve out a hugely successful career with his Boss Brass group while being based in Canada. No small feat, as so many of his brothers from The Great White North, like Maynard Ferguson, moved south to NYC or LA for the better opportunites here. Not Rob.
Here's The Brass from 1981, with "The Waltz I Blew for You", a fine example of that rare breed, jazz in 3/4 time.
McConnell managed to carve out a hugely successful career with his Boss Brass group while being based in Canada. No small feat, as so many of his brothers from The Great White North, like Maynard Ferguson, moved south to NYC or LA for the better opportunites here. Not Rob.
Here's The Brass from 1981, with "The Waltz I Blew for You", a fine example of that rare breed, jazz in 3/4 time.
Let's knock down the Statue of Liberty-the Mexicans are coming!
This is in response to a comment on my previous post about Mexican and other illegal immigrants. The commenter felt I was exhibiting "Yankee arrogance" in being willing to dump this problem on Texas, California, and the like. Here I try to refute his views:
Well, first, I don't think you can stop them. It's a fool's errand. Put two countries side by side with vastly different standards of living, and people are going to have a rather strong incentive to go to the richer one. Short of a several thousand mile long Berlin Wall, how do you prevent it? This is part of what confuses me as a libertarian-leaning conservative-we know the government can't enforce drug laws, since you can't legislate against mass tastes-why would the same government suddenly be able to effectively seal the border?
You can talk about "millions and millions" coming-millions have been coming from all over since 1776. Few of them were welcomed with open arms by the people already here-who had, of course, themselves stolen the land from the Indians. Do you think your beloved Texas was always occupied by white people?
So-you don't think part of what America exists to do is to uplift the poor? We're just here to accumulate stuff and f@@@ the rest of the world? So much for the teeming masses. And I suppose FDR shouldn't have made more of an effort to allow Jews to come here to avoid Hitler's wrath, either-might've lowered somebody's wages.
Let's knock down the Statue of Liberty-THE MEXICANS ARE COMING!
Yes, I do think a large part of the problem with the illegals is simply who they are. I don't usually hear people making other arguments, though there are other arguments to be made. Yes, their presence does knock down wages at the bottom of the scale, and there are social welfare costs to deal with. I'm not saying this isn't a problem for TX, CA, etc.-but don't assume they're only coming to your part of the country. They're going wherever jobs are. How horrible of them!
Plenty of them will be right over the bridge in NJ when it's fruit and vegetable harvest time, and I used to see them en masse at construction sites in NC when I lived there a few years ago.
No evidence at all that illegals raise the crime rate, by the way.
And I maintain that part of how the US avoids the demographic fate of Old Europe is to allow young workers to come here from abroad.
It's a big country. There's lots of room. Even in Texas.
Well, first, I don't think you can stop them. It's a fool's errand. Put two countries side by side with vastly different standards of living, and people are going to have a rather strong incentive to go to the richer one. Short of a several thousand mile long Berlin Wall, how do you prevent it? This is part of what confuses me as a libertarian-leaning conservative-we know the government can't enforce drug laws, since you can't legislate against mass tastes-why would the same government suddenly be able to effectively seal the border?
You can talk about "millions and millions" coming-millions have been coming from all over since 1776. Few of them were welcomed with open arms by the people already here-who had, of course, themselves stolen the land from the Indians. Do you think your beloved Texas was always occupied by white people?
So-you don't think part of what America exists to do is to uplift the poor? We're just here to accumulate stuff and f@@@ the rest of the world? So much for the teeming masses. And I suppose FDR shouldn't have made more of an effort to allow Jews to come here to avoid Hitler's wrath, either-might've lowered somebody's wages.
Let's knock down the Statue of Liberty-THE MEXICANS ARE COMING!
Yes, I do think a large part of the problem with the illegals is simply who they are. I don't usually hear people making other arguments, though there are other arguments to be made. Yes, their presence does knock down wages at the bottom of the scale, and there are social welfare costs to deal with. I'm not saying this isn't a problem for TX, CA, etc.-but don't assume they're only coming to your part of the country. They're going wherever jobs are. How horrible of them!
Plenty of them will be right over the bridge in NJ when it's fruit and vegetable harvest time, and I used to see them en masse at construction sites in NC when I lived there a few years ago.
No evidence at all that illegals raise the crime rate, by the way.
And I maintain that part of how the US avoids the demographic fate of Old Europe is to allow young workers to come here from abroad.
It's a big country. There's lots of room. Even in Texas.
May 1, 2010
Just another pro-amnesty conservative
Unlike most of my conservative brethren, I am not obsessed with illegal aliens-who, as it must be noted again and again, are not felons, even if AZ thinks they are. (Bet it doesn't hold up in court).
But they're here illegally, whether it's a crime or not! Well, yeah, but running a stop sign is illegal too, and likely less justified, as a risk to public safety, than coming here for the reasons I discuss below.
Why would we think it is some kind of grave offense against mankind to want to improve the well-being of yourself and your family? As a Christian I am concerned about those who seem to want to seal the borders, as if that were possible, against the poor. I guess we Catholics are typically more open-minded than evangelicals on this point.
But with the amnesty-loathing crowd, it always comes back to BUT THEYRE HERE ILLEGALLY!
So what? Change the law. Make them legal. Make them pay taxes, and a small fine if you like. But make them Americans.
This is largely what America exists to do, to make opportunity available for the less-fortunate. My Grandfather (maternal) came over on a boat, from Italy, and included with his contingent were various "uncles" who were no such thing, but claimed to be, to evade immigration law. Is this a stain on my family's history? Hardly.
All of these "relatives", whatever their origin, made good on the American Dream. I think the vast bulk of Mexicans and others who come here want to do the same. What's the problem?
The problem is that a lot of people just don't want them here. This is the one area where liberals' accusations of racism, so easily tossed about, make sense. As more than a few people have pointed out, were the illegals Canadian, I doubt there'd be much of an uproar.
But they're here illegally, whether it's a crime or not! Well, yeah, but running a stop sign is illegal too, and likely less justified, as a risk to public safety, than coming here for the reasons I discuss below.
Why would we think it is some kind of grave offense against mankind to want to improve the well-being of yourself and your family? As a Christian I am concerned about those who seem to want to seal the borders, as if that were possible, against the poor. I guess we Catholics are typically more open-minded than evangelicals on this point.
But with the amnesty-loathing crowd, it always comes back to BUT THEYRE HERE ILLEGALLY!
So what? Change the law. Make them legal. Make them pay taxes, and a small fine if you like. But make them Americans.
This is largely what America exists to do, to make opportunity available for the less-fortunate. My Grandfather (maternal) came over on a boat, from Italy, and included with his contingent were various "uncles" who were no such thing, but claimed to be, to evade immigration law. Is this a stain on my family's history? Hardly.
All of these "relatives", whatever their origin, made good on the American Dream. I think the vast bulk of Mexicans and others who come here want to do the same. What's the problem?
The problem is that a lot of people just don't want them here. This is the one area where liberals' accusations of racism, so easily tossed about, make sense. As more than a few people have pointed out, were the illegals Canadian, I doubt there'd be much of an uproar.
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