Bush Chides Lawmakers Over Social Security

Yahoo! News - Bush Chides Lawmakers Over Social Security

Let's hope something more substantial than "chiding" is going on. The Republican leadership needs to get off their rears and fix this.

RMR

More on FEC regulation of blogs

You can read up on recent developments at Redstate.org. They don't look good. I think that these guys are forgetting what the first amendment is all about (hint - freedom of speech and the press).

Stay tuned...

Border War

There are two articles floating about today involving congressman Tom Tancredo here and here. They both deal with immigration, illegal immigration, and the future of the Republican party.

We are DOOMED if we let a public perception that GOP opposition to illegals is somehow xenophobic and racially rooted. This alone would undermine the ten tons of good we have done reaching out to black, Hispanic, and other minority voters over the last decade.

So what's the answer? A two pronged strategy has to happen.

1 - We have to radically change the process for legal immigration. We have to make the process for applying for legitimate citizenship palatable and possible for those that desire it. We need to welcome enthusiastically those that want to immigrate that will add to our society. We also need to provide a reasonable means for those who want to cross the borders to work in a legal way without becoming citizens or going through the long and hard current process. We need to cut unnecessary red tape while making sure that those coming here will add to society with their industry and talents. It's important that the guest worker program isn't simple amnesty. It should be set up as a new method for those who wish to live and work in the US to try to do so, with appropriate quotas and process attached. It should not be a magic wand waved and "you're legal". It also probably wouldn't or shouldn't be available to every person that wants it but rather should be tied to the labor needs of the area in which the person wants to work. It also should have real follow up for those who are participating to make sure that they are working and are complying with the guest worker laws.

We need to plan all of this carefully and thoughtfully, and then when we propose it as the first phase of our plan, we need to shout the value of America as a melting pot from the top of every mountain.

2 - Once appropriate legal methods to gain citizenship or guest worker status are available, we need to enforce our immigration laws and implement new programs. Police and other agencies should be required to report illegals to INS when they are caught committing crimes. Social services other than emergency medical care should not be available to illegals and they should be reported to INS when they apply for them. Those not willing to participate in a guest worker program or immigrate legally should not receive the benefits of the system. A simple act of congress signed by the president could accomplish this in one stroke.

We also should take out the incentive to hire illegals. This means a real crackdown on employers who are hiring illegals to exploit them. That's right - they are PAYING THEM LESS MONEY than they would pay a legal worker.

Finally, we need real border security. That means surveillance, fences, ditches, walls, dogs, patrols, etc. The whole deal. That means yanking the licenses of radio stations that broadcast where INS and border patrol are to those seeking illegal entry. This needs some real attention and frankly some money.

That's the only way to win the issue - propose healthy and helpful means for people to immigrate or acquire guest worker status legally, and then really crack down on those that don't comply with the law. Beyond winning, it's also the best strategy for the country.

To allow rampant illegal immigration is a slap in the face for every person of every nationality and race that has busted it to come here legally. An illegal alien is by definition a criminal (that's what "illegal" means, right?) and should be returned to their country of origin. At the same time, to deny that there isn't a vitally important market for immigrant labor is stupid and foolhardy - that's why a sensible guest program is so crucial to the success of any plan. It's hypocritical to fume about the presence of illegals without recognizing the economic forces that bring and keep them in this country.

Finally, I know that I'll get comments that I'm a racist for saying all of this, but note that I didn't refer to a specific nation of origin once in my argument. That's becuase it doesn't matter. It's wrong for a German to immigrate illegally as much as it is for someone from Italy (or Chile, or Russia, Mexico, or Vietnam, etc.). The point is that our laws should be sensible and fair, and then they should be enforced. It's not an issue of race, it's an issue of an orderly process to assimilate a wealth of diverse people into our society. Also, I believe that it is racist to commit people to being in a permanent underclass when they could be earning more, receiving more services, and participate more fully in our society.

More to come as this important issue receives more discussion.

RMR

TERRI SCHIAVO INFORMATION

If you are interested in the facts of this case (as opposed to what you hear on talk radio or see on the Today Show) see this page:

Abstract Appeal -- by Matt Conigliaro.

Bottom line: In 1990, Mrs. Schiavo suffered brain damage so severe that she simply has no brain left. In every way that matters, she has been dead for more than 15 years. I agree with the "When in doubt, choose life" position. But in this case there is no doubt.

Congress and many on the right politically have either been taken in by her well meaning but hopelessly wrong parents, or they are seeking political gain from a desperately sad situation. Thankfully, even after the misguided law passed over the weekend, the Federal courts are sticking to the facts.

David

Washington Post on FEC blogging regulation

Keep a sharp eye out, folks. The FEC is looking into regulating blogging. Here is an excerpt from the Post story.

The Federal Election Commission has begun considering whether to issue new rules on how political campaigns are waged on the Internet, a regulatory process that is expected to take months to complete but that is already generating considerable angst online.

The agency is weighing whether -- and how -- to impose restrictions on a host of online activities, including campaign advertising and politically oriented blogs.

Let's hope that congress acts if these bureaucrats go too far. We have RINO Rep. Chris Shays to thank for some of this. He sued the FEC in order to force them to look into blogging regulation.

RMR

Pew smells a little on McCain-Feingold

This article confirms what many of us already knew: there was never a large grass roots push for campaign finance reform. It was a created crisis generated by activists and the MSM.

According to the article, the Pew Charitable Trust deliberately through money around secretly in order to create the impression to congress that there was a big swell of support for the issue, despite all polling to the contrary.

Well, now we're all stuck with the interesting duality of restricted political speech and unlimited porn!

The best part of all is that the first post-reform presidential campaign had more money spent than ever before and the most unregulated money was spent (dramatic pause) on behalf of Democrats, the legislations biggest supporters!

Backtrack to the controversy about the Bush administration producing news-story like videos promoting their policies. Note that the Pew Trust deliberately hid its role in order to strengthen the case for its goals. Bush and company didn't get a third party to submit the stories as if the government had nothing to do with them. I wonder when the Chicago Trib will report on this "fake story" from Pew.

RMR

Read up on your next chief justice

Take a stroll through this article in The New Yorker about your probable next chief justice of the Supreme Court: Antonin Scalia.

I love Scalia because of his originalist philosophy and for his wit. He also loves opera, which qualifies him as a super genius.

In any case, a Scalia court would stand for limited government and a return to a more literal read of the Constitution, which serves us all better. If we want changes in our society, we should petition legislators and pass laws, not rely on edicts from an unelected court.

Interesting to note that a large majority of the court was appointed by republicans, and yet they still are fairly evenly split on many issues, with Kennedy or O'Conner (both Reagan appointees) casting deciding votes either way. I think this kind of takes the wind out of the Democrats sails on the judicial nomination issue.

That and the fact that a Democratic Senate essentially voted for Scalia 100-0 (it was really 98, but the remaining two were republicans, including Barry Goldwater). The point is, the issue has not been historically partisan or philibustered.

The Syrians Slip Away

The Syrians Slip Away (washingtonpost.com)

The Syrian secret police slink away in the early pre-dawn hours while the protesters are asleep.

I love it.

RMR

Krauthammer piece scores

Charles Krauthammer, a long-time supporter of the president's middle east policy hits one out of the park with his column today, What's Left? Shame. (washingtonpost.com). It's one of those where you think, man I wish I wrote that.

RMR

To Congress: Butt OUT

I live in Tom Delay's district. I voted for him in the last election. But his position with respect to the poor woman in Florida is just flat wrong. If ever there was a situation that did not need goverment interfearance it is the conduct of medical treatment (or not, in this case). These decisions should be left to the person and their families. It is unfortunate that parts of the family have been fighting about this for years. But it has already been through the courts and the right of the husband to make this decision for his incapacitated wife has been upheld.

These kinds of decisions are the most dificult in life, and do not need to be made more dificult by monday morning quarterbacking by politicos.

David

Some ACTUAL photos of ANWR

Just thought after Senator Boxer's photo montage yesterday and the photo I saw with the Boston Globe story, some actual photos of ANWR might contribute to the debate.

First off, here is what the Alaska Coastal Plain really looks like:



All the pictures you see with smiling and dancing caribou against a backdrop of gigantic mountains just aren't coastal - think about it.

Secondly, here are some pictures from the refuge of animals already coexisting pretty well with oil technology:









Yes, those are BEARS playing ON THE PIPELINE. It took me about five seconds to find all of these. Funny how the Boston Globe can't find them.

RMR

Carnival of the Vanities #130

Be sure to check out your humble correspondent and the rest in this week's gathering of blogs at the Carnival of the Vanities #130. It is hosted this week at The Bird's Eye View.

RMR

Trib has a complaint about "Fake News"

Chicago Tribune | Fake news makes foul government

The Trib has a complaint in this article about the administration hiring PR firms to produce news-like reports about subjects in order to promote policy. As the article indicates, this practice began in the Clinton years.

I'm not sure what the complaint is here. Is it that the administration is doing a good job selling policy, or is it that lazy TV News people aren't identifying the source of the stories and running them uncut? The term "fake" is also interesting. Note that the story didn't indicate falsehoods or errors in the stories, just the the administration created them. They also didn't give an example of something "foul" that resulted from the policy. Apparently they just don't like the idea of the government using marketing - ever hear of Rosie the Rivoter or "Be all that you can be"? It's not like this is new. The only new thing is the medium, not the practice.

I really love the "hear from the other side" portion at the end of the editorial. The quote is from a source making fun of journalists wanting "open government" when they quote so many anonymous sources - what about "open reporting"? The article then calls this "broad-brushed" and then says this is wrong, but so is "fake news". Wha- I don't really think these are related. The government is releasing the stories with "government" written on them, it's the TV stations that aren't open about sourcing. What a maroon.

The responsibility here has to be with the TV stations for sourcing. You can't blame the administration for wanting to market its message well. This is an example of the opposition seeing something working and complaining about it - and writing a weakly argued editorial to support it.

RMR

Polling and Social Security

Byron York has a great piece on recent Washington Post and NY Times polling on Soc. Sec. here.

Here's a really interesting couple of paragraphs:

"Yet inside the same Post poll, there is news that 56 percent of those surveyed say they would support 'a plan in which people who chose to could invest some of their Social Security contributions in the stock market,' which is the centerpiece of the president's still-to-be-unveiled Social Security proposal. Forty-one percent say they would oppose such a plan, while three percent have no opinion.

The 56-percent support figure - 60 percent and higher among respondents under 50 years of age - is the highest level of support on that question in the last six Post polls going back before the 2000 election. The 41-percent figure is the lowest level of opposition in the last six Post polls going back before the 2000 election."

Hmmm. Seems our earier post on this issue is proving correct. The debate is gradually moving Dubya's way as he enters the "there's a crisis, so how do we fix it?" phase.

RMR

Obstructionist's new tactic - MORE obstruction!

Read here about Senator "Dusty" Harry Reid's announcement that he and his colleagues would slow down the work of the senate to a standstill if Frist and Co. adopt the "constitutional" or "nuclear" option of preventing the filibuster of judicial nominees.

What a shock that the only thing the Dems have to offer is more of the same. I say, bring it on!

I can hear the chants of the people in the streets, outraged at the change of the arcane Senate rule:

"Ho, ho, hey, hey, restore the right of extended Senatorial debate!"

or

"What do we want?

The necessity of the 1974 defined super-majority to confirm judicial nominees!

When do we want it?

NOW!"

Yeah, right. Most Americans won't even notice or care! But see what happens when all non-security related business in the Senate grinds to a screeching halt.

hmmmm....

Again, probably not much, unless entitlements are threatened. Do you really think that's going to happen? Dems would be biting the hand that feeds them, literally.

So I say, fine, Harry. To quote Sen. Kerry, BRING IT ON! And we actually mean it.

So, listen up, Senator Frist: See the pretty red button that says "NUCLEAR" on it?

PUSH THE *%#$*@ BUTTON!

RMR

A "blue" revolt?

Read here at the New York Times about the HUGE rally in Beirut demanding the withdrawal of Syria from Lebanese soil. I thought this was interesting:

"The demonstrators have adopted blue as the color demanding the truth from the investigation into Mr. Hariri's assassination and two long blue scarves were draped around the neck of the two main figures in the famous statue on Martyrs Square, the blue cloth occasionally lifting in the slight breeze under sunny skies."

Taking a page from the Ukrainian orange revolt? I wonder if the clever Lebanese are working off that playbook. There are a lot of parallels with the puppet regime answering to an outside power (Russia, in the Ukrainian case).

In any case, the Times reports that this mass demonstration is a cross section of society in Lebanon, unlike the prodominately Shiia demonstration of Tuesday that was organized by Hezbollah.

Let's cheer on these folks as they stand up for freedom.

RMR

NEWS FLASH - Social Security needs fixing

The Washington Post today has this breaking story! Humor aside, the article says that the Dems need to have a plan other than "NOOOOOOOOO!!! Argh!" to win this debate because Social Securiy does need fixing.

I keep hearing that the Pres is losing on this, but I keep seeing the argument moving from do nothing toward his position. A while ago it was "What crisis?", but now it's "We'll talk about solving the crisis if you take personal accounts off the table". Now an article in the Post says that Social Security needs fixing. Sounds like progress to me.

Great Jacoby article

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Opinion / Op-ed / The Arab spring

Saw this today (hat tip: Discerning Texan). Maybe Bush was right?

RMR

The coming crackdown on blogging

The coming crackdown on blogging | Newsmakers | CNET News.com

Keep an eye on this one, boys and girls. Powerline mentioned this today, too (though not very much). Hopefully it will all come to naught, but let's keep watching. Funny how a whole new way to be involved in the election process has resulted in unprecedented participation and the FEC may want to slow it down.

Bloggers unite!

RMR

Make 'em glow in the dark, Bill

There is additional discussion today on the constitutional or "nuclear" option that will end judicial filibusters.

Comment can be found at HughHewitt.com, as well as here and here.

I also direct you to a new website, The Judicial Confirmation Network, that is dedicated to this issue.

Let's take up a collection and purchase Bill Frist some..uh..globular fortitude. Let's end this wrong practice before it becomes established as precedent for the future.

RMR

Going broke might get a little harder

Yahoo! News - Erasing Debts in Bankruptcy May Get Harder

In the second pro-growth measure passed by our more muscular Senate, passage is soon expected limiting bankruptcy. This, along with class action reform, will hopefully move more americans along to the idea that you should:

1) Earn the money you live on.

2) Actually pay for the stuff you buy.

Detractors point to the legimate use of the class-action suit and bankruptcy in society. No doubt, class action sometimes is the only way to get the local plastics plant from spraying chemicals into the local playground, and sometimes circumstances (usually medical) will force someone so far in the hole that they need help getting out again (for the sake of their dependants, if nothing else). That's why these ideas are not being eliminated, they are only being reformed.

We don't have to have a system where lawyers make millions and the "hurt" get coupons to blockbuster (I was actually a part of that one without even realizing it) in order to have legitimate class action possible.

We don't have to let people basically subsist on bankruptcy in order to give those slammed by circumstance a way out.

What always amuses me about the opposition, particularly lately to the bankruptcy thing, is that they don't appreciate that *someone* is actually paying the bill for all this. The cost of frivilous class action and serial bankruptcy is born by someone.

Here's a hint: It's you! You pay the higher prices for almost everything that result.

Anyway - let's mark this as another second term success for the prez.

RMR

The "Arab Street" would rather be free

Yahoo! News - Syrian Troops Begin Pullback in Lebanon

Further evidence of freedom breaking out in the Middle East, and it just does the heart good to see that the vaunted "Arab street" seems to prefer democracy to thuggish dictatorship. But my biggest reaction to the continued march of freedom in the Muslim world is to hope that its citizens notice that terrorism has not caused it. The Iraqis, Afghanis, Egyptians, Saudis, Palestenians, and Lebanese have not been freed or made progress toward freedom because of Hamas or Islamic jihad.

Some misguided teen blowing up students at a Tel Aviv nightclub didn't improve the state of Palestinian government and prospects for peace - elections and participation did (that and a big friggin' wall, but that's another post).

Tens of thousands of peaceful Lebanese demonstrators did what a hundred terrorists never could. They stood and spoke with one voice that they were sick and tired of being sick and tired. In a matter of days the Lebanese are more free than they have been in some time.

Egyptians will have multiple candidates to choose from in the first free presidential elections there since the early 80's, and no one had to kill a bus full of school children to do it.

Saudis will at least get to vote for local municipal government officials instead of having the day to day details of their lives run by the King's assistant's third cousin, and Bin Laden had nothing to do with it (and is probably not too happy about it).

The thing is, Muslims aren't as dumb as some might think. They have a heritage of scholarship going back hundreds of years (I read about the thirteenth century islamic thinker Averroes in a book about mathematics just today - see, conservatives can read, too). The folks in the street and in the palaces and statehouses can look around and see that the sky is blue.

The folks in the steet will look around and make one of two observations:

1 - hey, those people across the border don't have to put up with this garbage. Let's do something about our country - long live the revolution!

2 - hey, those people across the border don't have to put up with this garbage. Honey, pack the minivan, were moving to Iraq!

Either way, the crazy thugs will diminish and the freedom lovers will prosper. Freedom will give birth to greater economic growth and opportunity as it always does in the long run. Maybe one day we'll buy DVD players with instructions we can't read that are in arabic and not japanese.

Unless we demonstrate that we can't be counted on to back them up when they need it. There will be a backlash in some quarters against all this that might even be severe as one more historical monster takes its last gasping breath. We have to stick and not run when that happens. Fortunately that's one characteristic of the adminstration that's not changing for some time. Dubya seems to be committed to the course of "expanding democracy in the Middle East" (Peggy Noonan is probably not calling that pie-in-the-sky now I bet).

The character of America is being seen world-wide, from helping muslim tsunami victims in Indonesia to NOT taking all the oil and running in Iraq. The "Arab Street" has seen the results and seems like it prefers democracy to autocratic thuggery. Our character will enable us to stay the course, and I'm betting that theirs will too.

Party in Beirut--Pass It On

Party in Beirut--Pass It On

Love this quote from the above article:

"Nevertheless, a man parading through the crowd, holding aloft a cross in one hand and a Koran in the other, drew cheers. In Martyrs' Square, protesters were told not to wave pictures of sectarian leaders like Druze chieftain Walid Jumblatt or slain former Maronite leader Bashir Gemayel. Instead, thousands thrust red, white, and green Lebanese flags into the cool night breeze as they shouted anti-Syrian epithets, called for the resignation of Lahoud, and sang hoarse renditions of Lebanon's national anthem."

Let freedom ring.

More on the FEC story

You can read more about it at Red State.

Blog campaign regulation?

ProfessorBainbridge.com: Thank You Senators McCain and Feingold ... you [plural expletive deleted]

Uh, all I can say is...wow. Apparently the opponents of free speech are up to it again. The big problem with the FEC getting all mucked up in the issue of political blogging is that lots of sites, like mine, linked to the Bush campaign's site, and I bet liberal sites like Not Right About Anything linked to Kerry's site (though I don't know if Ian did or not). In any case, we are all just putting our opinion out there and are not coordinating with campaigns in any way. But what if we were? I don't see a problem unless there is not disclosure of the fact, and that's an ethical problem, not a campaign problem. Let's all remember this in the primaries of 2008, shall we? Do you hear me, Senator McCain?

BOOM!

Larry Kudlow on the Bush Boom 2005 on NRO Financial

The above article has lots of data on the strong economic growth generated by the 2003 tax cuts. This will probably not get reported or credited to Bush in the MSM, but will probably be noted by the American people, who get their news from more than just the old sources. Foreign policy and domestic success? Maybe conservativism works after all.

What have the Americans done for us?

Times Online - Comment

Read the article, it turns out, quite a lot. As an added incentive to read it, I'll tell you that there's a Monty Python reference.

Nuke 'em

Bill Pullman sits back in his dark suit, looks around, and says through gritted teeth: "Nuke 'em. Nuke the b***ards."

Here's hoping that another Bill, Senate Majority Leader Frist, has seen Independance Day and finally pushes the big red button on the extra-constitutional Democrat filibustering of judicial nominees. The constitution has provisions for super majorities in seven specific cases, and approving nominees isn't one of them.

Blue State Conservative points out that we should definately light 'em up and make them glow in the dark, but we should also push hard for sixty senate votes so it doesn't really matter. Pick-ups are at least possible in Minnesota, Florida, and Washington State. Hugh Hewitt, our progenitor here at RMR, has a great compilation post and one of his Vox Blogoli dedicated to the subject, as well.

Frist, who has presidential aspirations, needs to get tough on this and get tough soon. A simple majority vote is all it will take to change the rule to allow nominees a simple up or down vote, as the constitution provides. This has been called the "nuclear option", but is simply a response to the Dems unprecedented blocking of appellate nominees.

Robert "Sheets" Byrd's comments notwithstanding, this will not ruin the decorum of the Senate unless the Dems resort to petulant tactics like opposing voice acclamation of procedural issues. Please read his comments, in which he compared himself and the Dems to Jesus Christ and the GOP to Hitler, all the while decrying a loss of Senate civility! Are you kidding me, you long-winded cross-burner? Also, the exploitation of quorum and other technicalities were Nazi tactics, KKK-boy, and they are sitting in your playbook, not ours!

Frist should grow a spine and go nuclear and go nuclear soon - if he did he might just get the 2008 nomination or at least the vice-presidency. If he waits until the controversy comes to a head it will just look political instead of like the principled action in the face of minority obstructionism that it should be.

Repeat after me, Bill: "Nuke 'em. Nuke the b***tards!"

Carnival of the Vanities

Your humble correspondent is proud to be listed in this week's Carnival of the Vanities (#128). The Carnival is a roaming aggregate of a lot of blogs on a variety of subjects and is hosted at a different site each week on Wednesday. This week you can check it out at Belief Seeking Understanding, which is normally a pretty good faith blog worth your perusal. You can find out more info about the Carnival at silflayhraka.com, where the idea originated.

Losing terrorists change tactics

New York Post Online Edition: postopinion

With Iraqi "popular uprising" not so popular anymore, everyone's least favorite cave dweller has directed his minion to attack America instead of more Iraqis.

Any doubt about al Qaeda being in Iraq? Regardless of that, the change is being made because what they are doing now isn't working - the Iraqi hearts and minds are increasingly with the good guys (hint - that's us and our allies).

Read the above article for great insights on this issue.

More liberals dislike democracy

Here in the current state of residence (Indiana), the Dems are at it again. Apparently, the will of the people expressed in an election isn't clear enough, so the lib losers have walked out of the Indiana state legislature in order to prevent the introduction of several bills that they happen not to like (including the earth shattering move of putting the whole state on - gasp! - Daylight savings time).

In the home state of Texas, the whining losers did the same thing to prevent appropriate redistricting.

The Nazis used to do this, too. Well, hey, liberals can bring up the Nazis all the time, why can't I?

Anyway, this just pokes more holes in the liberal facade of liking their namesake: "Democracy". In addition to apparently not liking freedom and democracy around the world, they also run for the nearest courthouse or shut down the process whenever they don't get their way at the ballot box.

Is the left permanently out of whack or is this just a phase?

Or were they ever "in whack"?

RMR

Supreme Court Bars Executions of Murderers Under 18

Yahoo! News - Supreme Court Bars Executions of Murderers Under 18

So now international and national PUBLIC OPINION is the rational for interpreting the US Constitution???!!!!

"It is proper that we acknowledge the overwhelming weight of international opinion against the juvenile death penalty, resting in large part on the understanding that the instability and emotional imbalance of young people may often be a factor in the crime," he wrote in the 25-page opinion.

Kennedy cited evidence of a national consensus against the death penalty for juveniles. "Neither retribution not deterrence provides adequate justification for imposing the death penalty on juvenile offenders," he said.

Now that may be true, but it is an entirly political statement. If there is a 'national consensus' then that consensus should be expressed by the various state legislators to change the laws in the states.

A person who would write such a thing in a judicial opinion violates his oath to preserve and defend the constitution, and is guilty of a 'high crime' against it.

David