Inertia Wins!

English Only!

Posted on December 19, 2007 | Comments Off

A coalition of anti-immigration groups here in Virginia are pushing a bill to require the state government to only provide services in English.

The coalition is called Save the Old Dominion. This, along with their other proposals, sends a message to immigrants. That message is, “we don’t want your kind here.”

I’ve always thought that people are free to live where they please, and to speak as they please.

I resent to my marrow that these activists would presume to make those decisions for others.

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Posted in Immigration

Brave Stances

Posted on December 19, 2007 | Comments Off

John Edwards has come out as the “anti-poverty candidate.”

Does this mean the other candidates are pro-poverty?

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Posted in Elections, Political Animals

On the Succession of Kings, and Ron Paul

Posted on December 18, 2007 | Comments Off

Back when monarchy was en vogue, most people favored an ironclad, hereditary succession. This prevented “a periodic invitation to anarchy,” as historians Will and Ariel Durant put it.*

Presidential elections in the United States seem to have disproved this hypothesis. Even in the most hotly contested elections, anarchy has not ensued. Just low approval ratings in polls.

Does this mean that people are more docile these days?

Hear me out. Recall the assaults on the Bill of Rights in recent years. The PATRIOT Act. The War on Drugs. The War on Terror. McCain-Feingold. Eminent domain abuse. The TSA. The list goes on.

What popular uprisings have sprung up to protest these intrusions on our rights? The Ron Paul R3VOLution?

Oh, bother.

(* Will and Ariel Durant, The Age of Reason Begins, p. 627)

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Posted in Elections, Great Thinkers, Philosophy, Political Animals

Coffee and Corporations

Posted on December 17, 2007 | Comments Off

P.J. O’Rourke has an interesting review of Taylor Clark’s Starbucked, an anti-corporate biography of the coffee chain. O’Rourke paints a kindly portrait of the author as a young groupthink anti-corporatist who, in writing his book, came to realize some of the limits of his dogma:

“I never came to like “Starbucked.” But I grew very fond of its writer. Most books about social and business phenomena give the reader something to think about. This book gave the author something to think about… I experienced the pleasure a teacher must feel when he watches a kid with promise outgrowing the vagaries and muddles of immaturity (and the jitters of too many coffee-fueled all-nighters) and coming into his own as a young man of learning, reason and sense.”

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Posted in Certainty, Economics, Philosophy, The Market Process, The Partisan Mind

The Mitchell Report

Posted on December 13, 2007 | Comments Off

There is nothing wrong with steroids per se. They have negative effects as well as positive, and adults should weigh the tradeoff for themselves.

But there is something wrong with breaking rules. If MLB says steroids are verboten in their sport, well, players shouldn’t be using them. Competition should be on an even level — and that includes the Yankees and Red Sox.

Surprisingly, Sen. Mitchell has some good recommendations on how to handle the situation. Giving past violators a free pass seems counterintuitive, but it’s the right thing to do. In addition to being a PR disaster for the league, ferreting out every last violator is an impossible task. The lawsuits would drag on for years.

Better to move on. Let history judge the Steroid Era as it will. Start everyone out on a fresh slate. Institute regular testing, and punish violations as they occur — as I’m sure they will.

As a Brewers fan, I’m just glad my team looks pretty good coming out of this mess. Nine current or former Brewers are mentioned, but all allegations come from when they were with other teams. Relievers Derrick Turnbow and Eric Gagne are the only two current Brewers named in the report. Neither seems to have been a user while with the team.

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Posted in Sports

DNC Endorses Huckabee

Posted on December 11, 2007 | Comments Off

The ever-reliable Drudge Report says the DNC views Huckabee as “an easy kill” in the general election. Therefore they want him to be the GOP nominee, and will refrain from attacking him in the primary cycle.

Brilliant move, I say. He’s economically liberal and socially conservative, which is the least popular political philosophy in America these days. Then there’s his nanny-statist streak. This bodes well for the Dems. Most people are either liberal or conservative across the board. Recent research says that most of the remainder is consistently anti-government — economically conservative and socially liberal.

The smallest group is Huckabee’s, which is consistently pro-government.

You’re not going to get a candidate endorsement from this blog since I don’t like any of ’em. To be crass, one of my guiding principles is that all politicians are whores (I admit to a few noble exceptions).

I will say that, on the GOP side, I probably agree with Huckabee the least. If he does win the nomination, he deserves an electoral drubbing.

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Posted in Elections, Political Animals

More Immigration Humor: Outsourcing Lou Dobbs

Posted on December 11, 2007 | Comments Off

My friend and former colleague Jacob Grier beat Wonkette to the punch by three years or so with his article “Lou Dobbs replaced by Lokesh Narayan: CNN host is newest victim of American job exportation.”

Good stuff.

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Posted in General Foolishness, Immigration

The Immigration Debate

Posted on December 11, 2007 | Comments Off

I would like to second Wonkette’s call for a Mexican to replace anti-immigration Congressman Tom Tancredo, who is retiring.

They’re taking our jobs, eh? I don’t think so. Not when unemployment is as low as 4.7%. Still, the irony would be delicious if an immigrant took Tancredo’s job.

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Posted in Immigration