Today in “We Need MORE Government”: Jared Bernstein

“We will only find success when a majority of Americans agrees with us that government is something worth fighting for.” – Jared Bernstein

Is it just me or is there something very sinister about that sentence? My country is worth fighting for and certainly my lifestyle is, but my government? Meh.

I could be wrong, but I don’t think that Bernstein and I are on the same page. Consider this quote on the debt ceiling debate:

“This was an ugly debate where reckless ideologues got the better of the grown-ups in the room who were not willing to risk the economy to protect the government.”

Bernstein believes that “government” is so important that it is worth wrecking the economy for. I wonder if he felt the same during the Bush administration.

I think that fealty to government depends on how one defines government. I like being able to get from point A to point B and prefer a paved, pothole free road to speed my way. I appreciate that if a group takes it upon themselves to fly planes into American buildings that we have force to deal with the group and their supporters appropriately. For these things government is necessary. Mr. Bernstein believes that government is necessary to ensure that we all have the appropriate light bulbs in our homes. I’m sorry but government is not my Momma and even she doesn’t attempt (or want) to micromanage my life.

To Bernstein, we of the low sloping foreheads just need to shut up, eat our peas and let the grown ups lead us around by our noses. It is for our own good. As it turns out , that is pretty much what we’ve been doing for decades. Now we have decided that maybe government isn’t all it is cracked up to be. It still has its uses but in its present form we just aren’t getting enough bang for our buck.

Bottom line: congratulations Tea Party. You are the reason that we are having this conversation. You are the reason that politicians suddenly have discovered that they have constituents. And you are the reason that the Bernsteins of the world are losing their cookies. Good job.

Cross posted at Carol’s Closet

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Why does the Tea Party exist Because…

Why does the Tea Party exist?  Because for too long the political class has ignored the people who put them in office.  What does “the will of the people” mean?  The people spoke in Arizona and the political class slapped them down.  Now we are seeing this play out in Wisconsin.  The governor of the state, in an effort to stop fiscal suicide, is asking public employees to play by the same rules that us poor schlepps in the private sector have long lived by.  Here in Florida we have repeatedly voted against high speed rail and our governor, Rick Scott, in a hat tip to the voters (taxpayers) and with our state’s fiscal future in mind, has turned down 2.4 billion federal dollars for high speed rail-dollars that would be better used to pay down our federal debt.  The result of his principled stand is an end run by Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL11) and Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) to force the state to accept the federal dollars and jeopardize the state’s future.

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Frank Rich is a Big Fat Liar

Frank Rich, knowing that he doesn’t have a leg to stand on, stoops to doozie telling (emphasis added): 

So virulent is the Islamophobic hysteria of the neocon and Fox News right —abetted by the useful idiocy of the Anti-Defamation League, Harry Reid and other cowed Democrats — that it has also rendered Gen. David Petraeus’s last-ditch counterinsurgency strategy for fighting the war inoperative. How do you win Muslim hearts and minds in Kandahar when you are calling Muslims every filthy name in the book in New York?

I know every filthy name in the book and I’m not aware of any of the finer ones, much less the lesser ones, being tossed about during “The Mosque” debate.  Who is Rich referring to?  He links both the ADL and Harry Reid, but no filthy names there. Fox News, perhaps?  After all, they did make Rich’s headline, How Fox Betrayed Petraeus.  Anyone aware of Fox going potty mouth lately?  Rich doesn’t cite any examples so I think it is safe to assume that there aren’t any.  Aside from the glorious richness of Mr. Rich pretending to give a rat’s ass about Gen. Petraeus, the entire op-ed is one big joke.

Mr. Rich is perfectly welcome to express his opinion in whatever medium is sufficiently lame to have him.  But there is a difference between expressing an opinion and lying.  Mr. Rich is a big, fat liar.  He is simply too blinded by the rainbows he imagines emanate from The Holy Unicorn’s arse and therefore, he has rendered his gilded opinions useless. 

Speaking of filthy names, I’ve thought of several related to Rich while writing this.  I’ll save them for another post.

Cross posted a Carol’s Closet

Progressives are Stuck on Anger

Writing at Ricochet, Rob Long puts an interesting spin on the liberal media’s current Obama “problem”:

The Liberal Media is Angry! Next Step: Bargaining

The famous Kubler-Ross stages of grief are: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.

 I’m a people person. I care about others. So as the hapless, amateur-hour Obama administration lurches from one self-inflicted mess to another, what I really want to know is this: how’s the press doing? You know, in the mental health department? How are all of those fawning, lickspittle toadies handling the collapse of their Chosen One?

 Good news! They’re following the textbook. For the past year, it’s been a symphony of denial. But this summer, they slipped into anger.

 Why is Obama such an unpopular president? It’s your fault. You’re too extreme. You have extreme views. Also: you’re crazy. You think Obama is a Muslim. Oh, and you’re a racist

The problem is that anger is the progressives’ natural state.  This is why I don’t bother trying to reason with them.  They view any disagreement as a personal attack.  I can’t imagine a progressive ever reaching acceptance.

 Many progressives never accepted that George W. Bush was the legitimate POTUS.  And I recently overheard a conversation between two progressives who were angry that the current administration still hadn’t arrested GWB, locked him up and thrown away the key.  Acceptance simply is not these people’s forte. 

 Conservatives, or at least Republicans, are poised for a big victory in November.  Don’t expect that victory to nudge progressives towards the “bargaining” stage.  I suspect they will skip straight to a short depression stage and then regress back to a prolonged stage of anger and denial.  I am also pretty darned sure that it will be a cold day in Hell before progressives accept that the majority of their countrymen reject their vision.

The good news is that progressives tend not to breed.  Eventually, we will be free of them.

Read the of Long’s piece.

Cross posted at Carol’s Closet

When it Comes to Madam Michelle it isn’t Either/Or, It is Both

I’m not sure I understand what Maureen Dowd is trying to say except that poor Barry has a really tough job (thanks to George W. Bush, of course) and that Michelle needs to do a little more “standing by her man”.  The passage that confuses me:

Her critics used to paint her as a scary Marxist. Now they cast her as a spoiled princess.

During the campaign, she was caricatured on the cover of The New Yorker as a fist-bumping, gun-toting Black Panther. Now she’s mocked by a New York Daily News blogger as a jet-setting, free-spending Marie Antoinette. (On Spain’s Costa del Sol with Sasha on her husband’s 49th birthday, she did, in effect, say let him eat cake — alone.)

For my part, I would describe Michelle as a spoiled princess who happens to be one very scary Marxist.  It isn’t either/or-it is both.  If you think that the terms “Marxist” and “spoiled princess” are mutually exclusive, consider this:

Fidel Castro’s personal wealth is estimated to be in excess of $900 million dollars.  The average monthly income for the Cuban people is $18 dollars per month.  Nothing unusual about that.  The average per capita income in Palestine is $1,268 while at the time of his death, Yasser Arafat’s personal wealth was estimated at $1.3 billion dollars.  Too often, those who champion “the people” do so while amassing great wealth at the expense of “the people”.

Among those who share the Obama worldview, it is not about spreading the wealth.  They spread the misery while retaining wealth and power for themselves and their cronies.  There has been a lot of talk about the Obama’s “bad optics” but in reality, they are simply being who they are.  In their view, they are entitled.

Any woman who would show up to a soup kitchen in $540 tennis shoes or claim that the only thing that the $600 Stimulus check was good for was buying a single pair of earrings isn’t worried about optics.  The Obama’s credo is “Let ’em eat arugula.”

Cross posted at Carol’s Closet

The Eternal Short-Sightedness of Our Politicians

Retiring (thank goodness!) senator George Voinovich (R-Ohio) has a great idea,  “Let’s raise the federal gas tax!”  What could go wrong?

Voinovich points out that receipts from the federal gas tax has been falling and therefore, the funding for projects supported by the gas tax have fallen as well.  Fair enough, but why have the receipts fallen?  Because unemployed people have little reason, or money, to purchase gas.  The immediate effect of raising the gas tax would be to make it more expensive for those of us who do still have jobs to get to work.  Further, by paying more at the pump, consumers are left with less money to purchase other goods and services.  This is before factoring in the rise in price for goods caused by increasing transportation costs associated with the increased tax.

Voinovich sells his idea as a “jobs creator”.  Perhaps, but the lag time between when the gas taxes would kick in and when the infrastructure jobs (mainly union jobs, btw) kick in would have working people seeing their purchasing power crumble further with no noticeable benefit.  Where is the upside?

Better, get government out the way and create an environment where the private sector feels confident enough to expand and create more the jobs.  Once people get back to work the receipts from the federal gas tax will increase without the need for tax increases.

For our eternally short-sighted politicians the call to raise taxes is a reflexive answer to all problems.  More money is not the solution, growth is.  We need people in DC who understand this.

Cross posted at Carol’s Closet

Save the World, Kill a Kid

So, I was roaming around the ‘net earlier and I decided to stop by Surbers to see what was going on.  Talk about news you can use!  Foam car:

From Fox News: “Would you drive a car made out of foam? What if it got 100 miles to the gallon and could save lives? It’s called the Spira4u, and it’s one of the more curious vehicles that have been competing for the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize, a competition to see who can design the best 100-miles-per-gallon car.”

Now, as someone who totals out a car every few years my interest was peaked.  Afterall, I’m not getting any younger and it might be best if I didn’t break my back-again.  Foam might just be the ticket.  I clicked on the link to their website, the Spira4u Web site, and then went to “order“.  Here’s what I found:

To reserve a Spira we ask that you make a minimum $100 US (75 € Euro or equivalent) donation to any environmental charity of your choice to receive a reservation #.

Lon Ballard suggest Planned Parenthood as overcrowding is the root cause of global warming, wars, starvation, crimes, traffic, crowded schools, etc.

Planned Parenthood is an “environmental charity”.  Who knew?

Admittedly I feel a little foolish.  I had no idea that “overcrowding is the root cause of global warming”-I had thought that the root cause was the sun.  Well, Planned Parenthood certainly is good at solving that overcrowding problem.  Heck, why are we even bothering with that Cap & Trade thing when we can simply abort our way to a cleaner environment?

On further consideration, I don’t think I’ll be buying a Spira.  Something about a company soliciting donations for abortion under the guise of doing “good works” just doesn’t sit well with me.

Cross posted at Carol’s Closet

Deep Drawn Out Sigh

Why is it that every time the Obama administration announces another “feel good” program I get the cramps?   The latest lunacy from the mighty O?  NASA is now charged with improving Muslim self esteem.  Seriously.

NASA administrator Charles Bolden:

“When I became the NASA administrator, [Obama] charged me with three things,” NASA head Charles Bolden said in a recent interview with the Middle Eastern news network al-Jazeera. “One, he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math; he wanted me to expand our international relationships; and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering.”

So is this what Skippy the Amazing Technicolor Teleprompter told Obama would fly as policy?  If so, O might want to have someone check and see if maybe Russian President Dmitry Medvedev fiddled with Skippy’s motherboard while he was in town.  We all know what a wacky sense of humor those Russians have.

Now it is life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and high esteem?  Geez, could they put Muslim self esteem on the back burner until after, I don’t know, say the Consumer Confidence Index rises a bit?  Maybe some people get back work?  I’ve heard that gainful employment does wonders for self esteem.  With all the problems we have right now why is the administration concerned with Muslim self esteem?

Jules Crittenden:

Some people might see it as a little patronizing, patting the Muslim world on the head and telling it what a good mathematician it used to be 800 years ago. But I dunno, I’m wondering how the Muslim world is going to feel about being treated like an alien planet that we need NASA to get in touch with. Seeing how the Islamic world glommed onto that Avatar thing, I’m not sure encouraging them to view the United States as a visiting space power is such a great idea.

It seems like there are no lengths that the Obama administration won’t go to when it comes to sucking up to the Muslim world.  Any day now I expect to see First Lady Wookie Obama dressed in a burka.  On the other hand…

Cross posted at Carol’s Closet

You guys are commenting so quickly that my slow little netbook can’t keep. My two cents-he’s not going to let a crisis go to waste. He’s full steam ahead with Cap & Trade “we can’t afford not to…blah, blah, blah” Anybody feeling inspired? No?

We’ve known hard times before but the hard times have gotten worse in the last 18 months!

When the Crap Hits the Fan

As I said yesterday, the memo released by the White House regarding the Sestak affair was crap.  Here is Rep. Darrell Issa’s reaction:

A spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa, who is pursuing the Sestak matter in his role as ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sends the following reaction:

Are we to believe that Rahm Emanuel, a former Member of Congress himself, dispatched President Clinton to maneuver Admiral Sestak out of the Senate Primary by dispatching him with an unpaid appointment that Congressman Sestak couldn’t even accept if he wanted to? What’s more likely, that two of the most politically sophisticated people in American political history didn’t do their due diligence or that the narrative told by the White House is a not-so-brilliant work of fiction?

Is it just me or has the White House dug themselves further in to a hole?  It isn’t the crime, it is the cover-up.

Cross posted at Carol’s Closet

Money Grab

Every paycheck for years I have contributed to my pension plan.  It wasn’t always easy.  In fact, when my kids were young it was hard.  Now, Uncle Obama via legislation introduced by Senator Bob Casey, (D-Pa.), wants me to chip in for Big Labor’s pensions as well.  Doug Ross:

It appears that bankrupting the United States Treasury was only the first step in the Democrat plan to destroy the American economy. Layering in a new entitlement program — socialized medicine — when the country can’t afford its existing programs was thought to be the icing on the cake. It wasn’t.

The final nail in the coffin may come in the form of stealing $165 billion additional dollars from taxpayers to fund union pensions that were mismanaged and misappropriated by the bosses who support Democrats in good times and bad.
 

A Democratic senator is introducing legislation for a bailout of troubled union pension funds. If passed, the bill could put another $165 billion in liabilities on the shoulders of American taxpayers.

The bill, which would put the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation behind struggling pensions for union workers, is being introduced by Senator Bob Casey, (D-Pa.), who says it will save jobs and help people.

As FOX Business Network’s Gerri Willis reported Monday, these pensions are in bad shape; as of 2006, well before the market dropped and recession began, only 6% of these funds were doing well.

Although right now taxpayers could possibly be on the hook for $165 billion, the liability could essentially be unlimited because these pensions have to be paid out until the workers die. (emphasis added)

 I think this can be summed up pretty easily:
 
1.  You and I go to work
2.  Uncle Obama confiscates a portion of our paychecks
3.  Uncle Obama uses the money we earned to bailout the unions
4.  The unions contribute and vote for Uncle Obama
5.  Repeat as necessary
 
But it gets even better!  Nine Republicans have signed on as co-sponsors of the House version of this travesty and Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio) is pissed at Fox News for pointing out these weasels:

In a floor speech, the Republican ripped the conservative-leaning network for calling a “bailout” legislation that deals with union pension plans that he supports.

“Mr. Speaker, I am going to veer off-message,” he began. “I think as a Republican, I’m supposed to love Fox News and hate [liberal-leaning] MSNBC. Now, I’m going to tell you, I do hate MSNBC, but something just happened on Fox News that compelled me to come to the floor.”

He continued, saying, “Well, that’s nonsense and I don’t know who the pinhead and weenie is at Fox News that decided to put that story together.” LaTourette concluded by saying “I don’t know what they’re doing at Fox News, but they should stop smoking it and get back to reporting the facts.”

Critics say the bill wrongly gives taxpayer dollars to companies that have troubled union pension plans. Supporters say it will keep the funds solvent over the long term, thus avoiding a massive emergency bailout. (emphasis added)

Emergency bailout?  Why should there be any bailout, emergency or otherwise?  It is not the taxpayer’s responsibility to bailout every failed institution.  Margaret Thatcher said, “The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” Right now I’m feeling mighty tapped out.

Cross posted at Carol’s Closet

It Seems That Two Can Play This Game

Don Surber says PUOSU — Put Up Or Shut Up.  I couldn’t agree more. 

Los Angeles, standing on “principal”, has called for a boycott of Arizona.  Gary Pierce, a commissioner on the Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates public utilities, has responded by kindly inviting LA to get the power it receives from Arizona elsewhere.  His letter to LA Mayor Villaraigosa, via Hot Air:

Dear Mayor Villaraigosa,

I was dismayed to learn that the Los Angeles City Council voted to boycott Arizona and Arizona-based companies — a vote you strongly supported — to show opposition to SB 1070 (Support our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act).

You explained your support of the boycott as follows: “While we recognize that as neighbors, we share resources and ties with the State of Arizona that may be difficult to sever, our goal is not to hurt the local economy of Los Angeles, but to impact the economy of Arizona. Our intent is to use our dollars — or the withholding of our dollars — to send a message.” (emphasis added)

I received your message; please receive mine. As a state-wide elected member of the Arizona Corporation Commission overseeing Arizona’s electric and water utilities, I too am keenly aware of the “resources and ties” we share with the City of Los Angeles. In fact, approximately twenty-five
percent of the electricity consumed in Los Angeles is generated by power plants in Arizona.

If an economic boycott is truly what you desire, I will be happy to encourage Arizona utilities to renegotiate your power agreements so Los Angeles no longer receives any power from Arizona-based generation. I am confident that Arizona’s utilities would be happy to take those electrons off your hands. If, however, you find that the City Council lacks the strength of its convictions to turn off the lights in Los Angeles and
boycott Arizona power, please reconsider the wisdom of attempting to harm Arizona’s economy.

People of goodwill can disagree over the merits of SB 1070. A state-wide economic boycott of Arizona is not a message sent in goodwill.

Sincerely,
Commissioner Gary Pierce

My comment over at Surber’s was, how much of its water does California get from Arizona? Nothing makes a body thirsty like being hot. A boycott is a boycott.  I am also wondering how many of the illegals from Arizona will move to California, increasing the state’s need for electricity and further straining California’s already overburdened welfare system.

I’m not sure that LA is in the position to get in to a pissing match with Arizona.  In any case, I am glad to see Arizona standing up against those would try to bully them.  It has always been my experience the bullies fold pretty quickly when confronted.

Cross posted at Carol’s Closet

If You Think Spicoli is Stupid…

wait til you get a load of this.

Via Mwalimu Daudi in the Comments at Don Surber (more on the actual post later):

Woody Allen says President Obama should be granted dictatorial powers

Woody Allen has a strange take on the democracy that allowed him to become rich and famous.

The “Scoop” director said it would be a cool idea for President Barack Obama to be dictator for a few years.

Why?

So he could get things done without all the hassle of opposing views getting in the way.

In an interview published by Spanish language newspaper La Vanguardia (that we translated), Allen says “I am pleased with Obama. I think he’s brilliant. The Republican Party should get out of his way and stop trying to hurt him.”

But wait – there’s more!

The director said “it would be good…if he could be a dictator for a few years because he could do a lot of good things quickly.” (emphasis added)

And besides, dictators are cool and Obama is cool so wouldn’t Obama be a real cool dictator?  Sheesh!

Is it the drugs these people take or the length of time they’ve taken them? Is there a single uncooked brain cell left in all of Hollywood? It is just dumbfounding that people can be so scary stupid.

Cross posted at Carol’s Closet

What If?

Via NewsBusters comes the story of Chilli, from the Hip Hop group TLC, who at the age of twenty aborted her child.  She talks about being alone and scared, about having no support and nowhere to turn.  She talks about how afterwards she cried daily for nine years. 

What if when she entered that clinic they had offered her information?  What if they had told her about the organizations in her community that would offer her support?  What if she had been informed about all the choices and opportunities that were available to her?

Yes, the support she needed should have come from friends, family and the man who fathered her child.  But even in  the absence of that support, shouldn’t someone at that clinic have said to her, “If you want to have this baby we will put you in contact with organizations who will help.”? 

That didn’t happen because Planned Parenthood isn’t about giving women “options”, Planned Parenthood is about killing unborn children.  Planned Parenthood, along with their cohorts at NOW, fight tooth and nail against any measure that would require them to provide information to pregnant women about all the choices that are available to them.  Planned Parenthood doesn’t want women informed-they want to rush women through the process while they are at their most vulnerable.

Nearly twenty years later Chilli’s guilt and pain are evident.  What if?

Cross posted with video at Carol’s Closet

If a Man is Only as Good as His Word

then Charlie Crist isn’t worth a damn.  The latest entry on the growing list of Charlie’s “Yeah I said it, but I didn’t mean it” flip flops is his pledge to return donations given to his campaign back in his RINO days.  From TBO.com:

Gov. Charlie Crist told MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough on April 30 that he would “probably” give refunds to donors who don’t approve of him leaving the GOP. Some donors to his U.S. Senate campaign were told before the switch that they would get their money back or pro-rated refunds.

No more. A couple of hours before Crist officially becomes an NPA voter, campaign spokeswoman Michelle Todd said there will be no refunds. Asked whether that amounts to a flip-flop, she said, “We have never made an official statement before. It is now the official statement. They donated to the Charlie Crist for U.S. Senate Campaign, and it’s still the Charlie Crist for U.S. Senate Campaign.”

Apparently Charlie never got the memo about the lack of trust voters have in their elected officials.  Either that or Charlie likes being known as a two-faced opportunist. 

Crist’s hopes hinge on two things:  First, that the unions will only half-heartily support the Democratic candidate, Kendrick Meek.  Crist’s candidacy paints the unions in to a corner.  They have to support Meek, at least on the surface, but the rank and file won’t be happy about it.  Second, Crist has to win the centrist vote.  I am not sure that coming out of the box as a liar is the best way to accomplish that.

I am trying not to be over-confident about Marco Rubio’s chances in this race, but every time Crist shows his hand Rubio looks better and better.  With six months to go before the election it will be interesting to see how many more “conversions” Crist has.

Cross posted at Carol’s Closet

What if We Were All Truly Equal?

That is the question being posed at American Thinker.  If we had complete equality of outcome rather than equality of opportunity, would we be a better society?   I don’t think so.

Why would a person spend over a decade in college to become a surgeon if their outcome (reward) is no greater than the person who spends four years in college or the high school dropout? 

“Success” is highly subjective and is present across the social spectrum.  But whatever the individual definition, the difference between “succeeding” and “existing” is reward.   Consider:

On average, individuals can expect to move from the 20 th percentile of the earnings distribution at the beginning of their career to about the 60 th percentile during their peak earning years.

Plainly put, the person who would rather accept government assistance than a accept a minimum wage job will in all likelihood still be on the bottom of the income ladder years later, while the person who took the low prestige job will have moved up considerably.

Liberals want to neutralize risk and reward.   Strikes me as an utterly boring way to live.  I don’t really care if George Clooney earns millions of dollars for regurgitating lines on cue while my day in and day out grind earns me much, much, less.  The market sets a value on each of our skills.  I would rather that than a Utopian society that makes no distinction based on effort and risk.

Read the American Thinker article.

The EPA Has Outgrown Its Mandate

Bob Belevedere, at The Camp of the Saints, posts on the EPAs latest forray into regulating invidual’s most personal decisions.  Now they are coming after our homes:

…But wait. This awful bill (that no one in Congress has actually read) has many more surprises in it. Probably the worst one is this: A year from now you won’t be able to sell your house without some bureaucrat’s OK. Yes, you read that right.

The caveat (there always is a caveat) is that if you have enough money to make required major upgrades to your home, then you can sell it. But, if not, then forget it. Even pre-fabricated homes (“mobile homes”) are included. In effect, this bill prevents you from selling your home without the permission of the EPA administrator.

As the saying goes, now it is personal.  The government, through the EPA, is trying to regulate trade between individuals.   Currently, sellers are required to disclose to the buyer any known defects the house may have but it remains up to the buyer whether or not they want to buy the house. 

The government crossed the line when it madated through ObamaCare that each of us ourchase health insurance.  Not satisfied with regulating the decisions that we make concerning our bodies they are now coming after our homes.  How many lines will we allow them to cross?

Read the rest.

Arizona Puts the Brakes on Illegal Immigration

Donald Douglas at American Power has an article that outlines one state’s measures to deal with illegal immigration- arrest illegals for trespassing:
 

A bill empowering police to arrest illegal immigrants and charge them with trespassing for simply being in the state of Arizona, is likely just weeks away from becoming the toughest law of its kind anywhere in the country.

Already passed by the state’s Senate and currently being reconciled with a similar version in the House, the bill would essentially criminalize the presence of the 460,000 illegal immigrants living in the state.

The measure allows police to detain people on the suspicion that they are illegal immigrants, outlaws citizens from employing day laborers, and makes it illegal for anyone to transport an illegal immigrant, even a family member, anywhere in the state.

The bill’s supporters say a local crackdown has become a necessity because the federal government has failed to adequately seal the borders or actively enforce its laws. They blame Arizona’s spiraling crime and unemployment rates on its large population of illegal immigrants.

 
A few weeks ago my daughter, who lives just outside of Sierra Vista, AZ, told me that one of her neighbors had gotten a knock on the door late at night.  It was a group of illegals looking for a ride in to town.  I would say that is a pretty good indication that A) there is a problem and B) the feds aren’t dealing with it.
 
Americans are pretty fair minded people.  As Marco Rubio stated during his debate with Charlie Crist yesterday on Fox, we are “pro legal immigration.”  We recognize the tremendous contributions that immigrants make to this country.  However, many of us have a problem with immigrants who break the law by entering illegally or enter legally and then overstay their visas.
In either case, the federal government has done a poor job of dealing with the situation so maybe it is time to give the states a shot.
 
As with anything there are extremes in the immigration debate.  There are those who would seal the borders and not let anyone in under any circumstances.  We could do that but our country would be much poorer for it.  Others would throw open the borders and let everyone in from everywhere for every reason.  There are very practical arguments against that not the least of which might be that some foreign nationals would like to see us all dead.  I prefer a more middling approach that would set up a lottery type system to allow immigrants in based on our needs.   Yes, I do know that “needs” can be very subjective but we have to start somewhere and I have to believe that if we try really hard we are still capable of common sense.

Cross posted at Carol’s Closet

Sometimes the Title Tells You Everything You Need to Know About the Post

Here is a prime example from Heidi Przybyla, writing at Bloomberg:

Tea Party Advocates Who Scorn Socialism Want a Government Job

If your reaction to that title is a less than polite version of, “Huh?” join the club.  I haven’t seen any news reports of Tea Party advocates storming federal buildings to sit for civil service exams but hey, if Bloomberg says it, it must be true.

On the other hand, maybe there is another explanation,

Rule 1: Write What You Know

or do a little research.

Somebody should have told Marc Ambinder and Steve Benen that if they were going to write about lawyerly matters they might have been wise to do a some pre-post fact checking.  Instead, they were so giddy at their presumed “gotcha” of the attorneys general that filed suit against ObamaCare that they ended up showing their ignorance.

Prof. Jacobson at Legal Insurrection:

Marc Ambinder and Steve Benen have it all figured out. The lawsuits challenging the health care mandate obviously are frivolous because the Complaints filed do not contain any case authority supporting the claims.

Gotcha! Those dumb Republican lawyers obviously don’t know what they’re doing! They have no case!

Ambinder started it off, by relying on a comment by one of his readers:

Reading through the complaint filed by 13 state attorneys general, against the health reform legislation, reader @calchala was struck by something that wasn’t there: the lack of any specific case citation to buttress the underlying claim that it is unconstitutional for the federal government to impose on individuals a mandate to buy health care and to punish those who don’t by levying a fine.

Steve Benen then ran with it, linking to Ambinder’s post and an anonymous Tweet (click on the links in the quote):

I saw a report the other day that 13 state attorneys general who are challenging the law, questioning the constitutionality of the individual mandate, failed to include “any specific case citations to buttress the underlying claim that it is unconstitutional.” A.L. took a look at the lawsuit and concluded, “It is beyond frivolous. I can’t believe actual lawyers are willing to sign it.” …

If there were any justice, these attorneys general would face a voter backlash for participating in such a wasteful stunt.

WARNING: Do not rely on anonymous comments and tweets for legal reasoning.

What comes next can best be described as a “schooling”.  Read the professor’s post.