2010 March

3rd month of the 1st quarter of the 21st year of the Bush-Clinton-Shrub-Obummer economic depression

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updated: 2019-01-08
 
 

  "Whoever sets his eyes on something inappropriate for him, that which he seeks will not be given to him and that which is his will be taken from him." --- Talmud, Sotah 9a (quoted in R. Dovid Rosenfeld "Staying in the World" chapter4 mishna28  

 
 
2010 March
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  "This message of liberation cannot appeal to those who profit from the imprisonment of others but only to slaves who strive against unauthorized power.   The gospel of liberation is bad news to all oppressors, because they have defined their 'freedom' in terms of the slavery of others.   Only the poor and the wretched who have been victims of evil and injustice can understand what Jesus meant when he said: 'Come to me, all whose work is hard, whose load is heavy; and I will give you relief.   Bend your neck to my yoke, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble-hearted; and your souls will find relief.   For my yoke is good to bear, my load is light.' (Matthew 11:28-30 NEB)   The gospel sill always be an offense to the rich and the powerful, because it is the death of their riches and power." --- James H. Cone 1975 _God of the Oppressed_ pg 78  

 
 

 

 


captain William Scott's flag for the Republic of Texas.

2010 March

3rd month of the 1st quarter of the 11th year of the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama economic depression


 
 

2010-03-01

2010-03-01
Amy Thomson _Bloomberg_
Ill-Begotten Monstrosities dumping about 500 US employees
"'We have received verification of almost 500 people losing their jobs today and we expect that number to go higher.', said Lee Conrad, national coordinator of the alliance, which is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America [CWA] and is seeking union recognition at IBM.   The cuts represent less than 1% of IBM's work-force of 399,409 as of Dec. 31.   The company fired 10,400 people in the U.S. and Canada last year, Conrad said. Work was shifted over-seas..."

2010-03-01 06:58PST (09:58EST) (14:58GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
Consumer spending rose 0.3% in January, savings fell to 3.3%; after-extortion incomes fell 0.6%
"Adjusted for inflation, real spending on goods increased 0.8%, while spending on services rose an anemic 0.1%, according to the Commerce Department's estimates...   After adjusting for inflation, after-tax incomes fell 0.6% on the month, mostly due to large non-withholding tax payments reflecting higher incomes from investments and bonuses in 2009.   It was the largest decline in real disposable incomes since July, just after a one-time stimulus payment to seniors."

2010-03-01 07:44PST (10:44EST) (15:44GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
ISM factory index shows weaker expansion

2010-03-01 12:00PST (15:00EST) (20:00GMT)
Marc Parry _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Felonious State U pulling out of Kuali Foundation open-source software project due to budget constraints
"Florida State had signed on in 2007 as a founding member of the venture, one of several higher-education software collaborations that fall under the umbrella of the nonprofit Kuali Foundation.   It joined seven other institutions—including the University of California at Berkeley, the University of British Columbia, and the University of Maryland at College Park—committed to investing at least $1M a year to develop software for managing student admission, registration and other tasks...   The Florida State pullout follows January's announcement that the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which has invested more than $6.5M in Kuali Foundation projects, is closing as a stand-alone entity a grant program that had supported a range of high-profile higher-education software projects.   That news drew reassurances of sustainability from officials with Kuali; with Sakai, a course-management system; and with Zotero, a program for managing research sources...   Some colleges, fed up with high support fees, have recently ditched big commerical vendors like Oracle and taken the risky step of turning to cheaper third-party companies to support their software for accounting, human resources, and student enrollment."

2010-03-01 13:34:28PST (16:34:28EST) (21:34:28GMT)
Jordan Robertson _San Jose CA Mercury News_/_AP_
Apple details it's suppliers' abuses of labor

2010-03-01
Betsy Drazner _Daily Illini_
Sizes of specific brain components can preict success in video-gaming and learning
"conducted an experiment in Champaign-Urbana over a period of 4 months to investigate how video games and brain activity are related.   Art Kramer, professor of psychology at the Beckman Institute, led the experiment...   'You can take what is called a structural MRI and you can image the structures of a brain.', said Monica Fabiani, professor of psychology at the Beckman Institute... [and you can do a functional MRI to see what lights up while engaged in various activities.]   The structures that were studied for this experiment were the caudate nucleus and the putamen in the dorsal striatum, and the nucleus accumbens in the ventral striatum, Kramer said.   These structures are found in the middle of the brain, Fabiani said.   They are involved in motor learning and cognitive flexibility, which exhibits how people switch between tasks...   Daniel Simons, also a professor of psychology at the Beckman Institute, said the researchers found bigger is better for video game skills...   The traits [Kramer] is concentrating on include memory, attention and decision-making...   Each participant experienced 15 two-hour training periods resulting in a total of 30 hours of video game practice.   During these training sessions, those conducting the experiment told each person to focus on a certain part of the game...   He referred to this as strategizing, or variable priority training.   For example, some people were ordered to focus on individual tasks of the game, such as aiming at targets.   Others were told to concentrate on getting a higher score overall.   The professors conducting the experiment confirmed it is effective.   Simons said the point is to figure out what types of learning strategies are most effective...   The results of this experiment can be used to aid in teaching strategies.   Some people benefit from different learning methods than others...   Differences in brain size do not explain everything, he said.   He continued to say this research may assist in predicting how well a person may do on a video game, but it does not illustrate a perfect correlation, only a generalization.   Fabiani also mentioned that the brain is flexible.   'Brain volume does change.', Kramer said."

2010-03-01
Don E. Sears _eWeek_
US DoL seeking $1.4M in back wages from Peri Software Solutions in H-1B visa case
"Peri Software Solutions, which has offices in [Newark, NJ], Los Angeles and San Jose, CA, and off-shore in Chennai, India, is accused of violating prevailing wage law for a large contingent of H-1B visa employees.   According to a Department of Labor statement, Peri Software and its president and owner, Sarib Perisamya, have been cited for not paying 'prevailing wages' of H-1B visa holders working in software and technology analyst positions.   The U.S. government is going after $1,456,422 in back wages owed to 163 workers."

2010-03-01
Frosty Wooldridge _News with Views_
The jackpot anchor babies: Cajoling America out of its own identity
"Every year, 400K pregnant women enter the United States illegally to birth their babies on American soil.   Their children become instant citizens and their mothers become instant wards of the American [tax-victims].   They enjoy [tax-victim] paid deliveries in our hospitals, unlimited medical health, K-12 educations, 'free' breakfasts and lunches, 'free' English as a second language classes and assisted housing, food stamps and social security benefits.   What makes me pull my hair out remains this daunting predicament: why would our Congress fail to take action to stop this phenomenon?...   And constitutional literalist Ron Paul, the Texas congressman whose run for the GOP nomination built a massive national grass-roots campaign among [libertarians], disaffected liberals, disgusted independents and young conservatives, came out early and staunchly against birth-right citizenship and announced his support for ending the practice.   Unlike Huckabee, he didn't hedge after he started taking fire from pro-immigration groups."

2010-03-01 12:00PST (15:00EST) (20:00GMT)
Diane Auer Jones _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Revival of the Liberal Arts?
"vocational training, even if it takes place on a college campus, is not the same thing as a higher education.   A solid foundation in the liberal arts -- including in the physical and natural sciences, mathematics, history, literature, art, music, and philosophy -- is critical to ensuring the future value of the higher education for which today's students pay so dearly."

2010-03-01
Dana Oshiro _Read Write Web_
Escape from NY: Is the Valley necessary?
"highlight some of the emerging tech centers across the world...   On top of the shortage of experienced tech VCs, Mireles complains that New York has a weak angel network with only a few groups to pitch.   Because of this, entrepreneurs only have a few shots to get their pitch right and they've got little opportunity to drive competition when negotiating deals.   Mireles believes the result is lower valuations and slower deal cycles.   He also believes that because Wall Street has skewed programmer expectations in regards to salaries, it's very difficult to find talent who will take a pay cut in exchange for equity.   A month ago Venture Hacks' Naval Ravikant also made the case for startups to move to the Valley.   Nevertheless, Hunch co-founder Caterina Fake makes the case for New York adding that the city needs a billion dollar company exit in order to free up some talent and resources."

2010-03-01
_Dice_
Dice Report: 58,229 job ads

Total58,229
UNIXNA
WindozeNA
JavaNA
C/C++/Objective-CNA
body shop28,122
full-time temp33,569
part-time temp1,194

 
graphs

2010-03-01 (5770 Adar 15)
Rabbi Doctor Asher Meir _Jewish World Review_
Lender responsibility

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "'Too take one's troubles to the Lord in prayer' is to recognize that the One who said to Moses 'I am Who I am' (Exodus 3:14 RSV) can cause being to replace non-being, merely through the assertion of his Word.   Therefore to give one's allegiance to another authority than the divine Word of liberation is to negate divine fellowship.   We are thus commanded to give our complete selves to him in prayer for the struggle of freedom." --- James H. Cone 1975 _God of the Oppressed_ pg 144  

 

2010-03-02

1936-03-02
The Unanimous Declaration of Independence made by the Delegates of the People of Texas in General Convention at the town of Washington
Yale
Jimbo Wales's WikiPedia
Texas state library & archives
Texas hand-book
U of Texas at Austin

2010-03-01 21:03PST (2010-03-02 00:03EST) (2010-03-02 05:03GMT)
Irwin Kellner _MarketWatch_
US economy is running on empty

2010-03-02 (5770 Adar 16)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Who Poses the Greater Threat?

2010-03-02 (5770 Adar 16)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Alice in Health Care part1 (ObummerDoesn'tCare)
"What is the biggest complaint about the current medical care situation?   'It costs too much.'   Yet one looks in vain for anything in the pending legislation that will lower those costs.   One of the biggest reasons for higher medical costs is that somebody else is paying those costs, whether an insurance company or the government.   What is the politicians' answer?   To have more costs paid by insurance companies and the government.   Back when the 'single payer' was the patient, people were more selective in what they spent their own money on.   You went to a doctor when you had a broken leg but not necessarily every time you had the sniffles or a skin rash.   But, when someone else is paying, that is when medical care gets over-used -- and bureaucratic rationing is then imposed, to replace self-rationing.   Money is just one of the costs of people seeking more medical care than they would if they were paying for it with their own money.   Both waiting lines and waiting lists grow longer when people with sniffles and minor skin rashes take up the time of doctors, while people with cancer are waiting.   In country after country, the original estimates of government medical care costs almost always turn out to be gross under-estimates of what it ultimately turns out to cost."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "The 1990 census was a disaster.   No one wanted to be counted...   No one wants to be seen...   No one wants to talk...   Desperate as we are to hide, we're equally desperate to assert ourselves as individuals." --- Faith Popcorn & Lys Marigold 1991 _The Popcorn Report_ pg 6  

 

2010-03-03

1865-03-03: battle of Natural Bridge, Florida

2010-03-03
Scott Grannis _Seeking Alpha_
42,090 planned lay-offs were announced in February (with graph)
Tiffany Hsu: Los Angeles CA Times
Jay Bookman; Atlanta GA Journal-Constitution
Carolyn Austin: Wall Street Cheat Sheet (with graph)
Maureen Martino: Fierce Pharma
Talent Management Tech
Business Financial News Wire
CNN
Kathleen Madigan: Wall Street Journal
Courtney Schlisserman: Business Week
"Employers announced 42,090 job cuts last month, a 41% dip from the 71,482 in January and a 77% slide from the 186,350 in 2009 February.
The pharmaceutical sector has the highest number of lay-offs in 2010, with 25,857 to date.   Retailers reduced pay-rolls by 18,271 in the first 2 months of 2010, a 75% drop from the 72,727 cuts announced over the same period in 2009.   Telecommunications dumped 14,186.   Government and non-profits dropped 11,196.   Automotive companies saw a 90% free-fall to just 7,334 lay-offs from 70,058.   Industrial goods makers let go 5,214.   Computer firms dumped 3,027.
Compare with the first 2 months of 2009: 72,727 from Retail, 70,058 from Automotive, 51,545 from Industrial Goods, 40,869 from Pharmaceuticals, 26,290 from Computer firms.
The Challenger report is based on job cuts that are publicly announced by businesses based in the U.S.A., whether through news reports, Security and Exchange Commission filings, annual reports, press releases or state Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification reports.   The lay-offs tallied per month may not actually take place until later months."

2010-03-03
Charles S. Johnson _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
Montana legislators get grim news about the economy and budget

2010-03-03
Mike Dennison _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
BCBS of MT posted $17M last year despite 9% to 19% premium increases: Next week we'll report on how it affects executives' compensation

2010-03-03
Jim Hoft _First Things: GateWay Pundit_
After sending millions to Red China leftist senators say they'll act to keep stimulus money and jobs in the USA
John M. Broder: NY Times

2010-03-03
_AARP_
Last decade spelled disaster for older workers
"Older workers endured a staggering 331% increase in unemployment over the last 10 years...   'The last decade has spelled disaster for millions of older workers who have lost their jobs, seen their retirement savings diminish, and had their health care costs continue to sky-rocket.', said Nancy A. LeaMond, AARP Executive Vice President.   'The recession has only made this bad situation worse, as the statistics show clearly that older workers who lose their jobs stay unemployed longer than other groups.'   The new analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by AARP's Public Policy Institute shows a dramatic 331.4% increase in the number of unemployed Americans age 55+ and over from 2000 January through 2009 December.   For age 65+ workers, the increase in the number of unemployed was lower, but still a massive 235%...   Average duration of unemployment for workers age 55+ increased from 18.7 weeks in 2000 January to 34.7 weeks in 2009 December -- a jump of 85.6%.   Over the same time period, workers age 65+ saw their situation go from bad (24.8 weeks of unemployment) to worse (32.9 weeks), an increase of 32.7%."

2010-03-03
Rob Sanchez _V Dare_/_Job Destruction News-Letter_
TEA parties
"EB-5 visas rarely invest their money in businesses that employ many more than their immediate family members...   One half of a million dollars isn't even enough to start a McDonald's Hamburger franchise.   According to the 'About McDonald's' web site an initial fee of $45K must be paid to buy a franchise and the restaurant will cost from $950,900 to $1,797,700 to build.   In contrast, according to the EE Times, a company called NexPower Technology Corp. was established in 2005 to produce thin film solar cells.   It cost $24M just to start the business, and another $60M to build a production facility...   EB-5 investors are under no requirement to hire Americans for their new businesses so way too often they opt to hire family members or H-1Bs instead, or even worse they defrauded the system by never investing the money in a business."

2010-03-03 (5770 Adar 17)
Yaakov Kirschen _Dry Bones cartoon web log_
Generation Gap

2010-03-03 (5770 Adar 17)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Alice in Health Care part2 (ObummerDoesn'tCare)
"What is most like Alice in Wonderland is discussing medical care reform in the abstract, as if there are not already government-run medical care systems in this country and elsewhere.   Yet there seems to be remarkably little interest in examining how government-run medical care actually turns out -- medically and financially -- whether in Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Administration hospitals in this country, or in government-run medical systems in other countries...   While our so-called health care 'summit' last week was going on, British newspapers were carrying exposes of terrible, and often deadly, conditions in British hospitals under that country's National Health Service.   But this has not become part of our debate on what to expect from government-controlled medical care.   Such scandals are an old story under the National Health Service in Britain, one repeatedly producing fresh scandals that their newspapers carry, but ours ignore.   In addition to a whole series of National Health Service scandals in Britain over the years, the government-run medical system in Britain has far less high-tech medical equipment than there is in the United States.   Neither in Britain, Canada, nor in other countries with government-run medical care systems can people get to see doctors, especially surgeons, in as short a time as in the United States."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "For to affirm that human beings are free only when that freedom is derived from divine revelation has concrete political consequences.   If we are created for God, then any other allegiance is a denial of freedom, and we must struggle against those who attempt to enslave us." --- James H. Cone 1975 _God of the Oppressed_ pg 145  

 

2010-03-04

2010-03-04 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
historical data
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 471,720 in the week ending Feb. 27, an increase of 17,128 from the previous week.   There were 645,827 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.3% during the week ending Feb. 20, unchanged from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 5,571,085, an increase of 24,534 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 4.7% and the volume was 6,231,080.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, and WI during the week ending February 13...   States reported 5,687,574 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending Feb. 13, an increase of 207,632 from the prior week.   There were 1,929,723 claimants in the comparable week in 2009.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.
graphs
more graphs

2010-03-04
_WashTech_/_CWA_
XEROX fired 14 CWA union supporters from "E-Z Pass" center in NY

2010-03-04
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Did Warmists Structure Obamacare?

2010-03-04
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Obama mandate of national socialist health care perversion
Scott Ott: ScrappleFace: Obama Urges Straight Up-or-Down Simple Majority Vote on US Constitution

2010-03-04
Marcus Kellis _University of Idaho Argonaut_
furlough for about 2,600 employees statewide; not H-1Bs or those paid less than $22.5K

2010-03-04
Beth McMurtrie & Shailaja Neelakantan _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Indian & American Academics Talk Reform and Partnerships in New Delhi
"For years India has watched other Asian countries power ahead to develop their higher-education systems.   [Red China], Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea have all spent billions to expand access, wire campuses, build laboratories, and underwrite international partnerships.   Meanwhile, the world's largest democracy has limped along with an outdated, rigid, and ill-financed higher-education system."

2010-03-04 07:00PST (10:00EST) (15:00GMT)
Diane Auer Jones _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Putting Lip-Stick on the Health-Care Perversion Pig (ObummerDoesn'tCare)

2010-03-04 (5770 Adar 18)
Alan M. Dershowitz _Jewish World Review_
How about a real campaign against abuses?
"Accordingly, I support a 'Middle East Apartheid Education Week' to be held at universities throughout the world.   It would be based on the universally accepted human rights principle of 'the worst first'.   IOW, the worst forms of apartheid being practiced by Middle East nations and entities would be studied and exposed first.   Then the apartheid practices of other countries would be studied in order of their seriousness and impact on vulnerable minorities."

2010-03-04 (5770 Adar 18)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Alice in Health Care part3 (ObummerDoesn'tCare)
"Few -- if any -- countries can match American medical training, medical technology or the development of life-saving pharmaceutical drugs in the United States.   Most countries with government-controlled medical care cannot come close to matching how fast an American can get medical treatment, particularly from specialists...   Insurance companies or the government pay directly for most of the costs of most medical treatment in the United States.   That is virtually a guarantee that more people will demand more medical treatment than they would if they were paying directly out of their own pockets, instead of paying indirectly in premiums and taxes.   Since people who staff either insurance company bureaucracies or government bureaucracies have to be paid, this is not bringing down the cost of medical care, but adding to it.   What also adds to the costs are politicians at both state and federal levels who mandate additional benefits to be paid for by insurance companies, thereby driving up the cost of insurance.   If medical insurance simply covered risks -- which is what insurance is all about -- that would be far less expensive than covering completely predictable things like annual checkups.   Far more people could afford medical insurance, thereby reducing the ranks of the uninsured."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "the human struggle to be free is emphasized in the black spirituals.   Black people sang that Jesus 'Came down here and talked to me, Went away and left me Free.'   They also sang: 'You say the Lord has set you free...   Why don't you let yo' neighbor be!' In both lyrics the theme is freedom in this world as an essential constituent of Jesus' redemption.   Human fellowship with God is defined as jesus' work of liberation." --- James H. Cone 1975 _God of the Oppressed_ pg 146  

 

2010-03-05

1946-03-05: Winston Churchill's "Sinews of Peace"/"Iron Curtain" speech at Westminster College in Fulton, MO
Winston Churchill leadership
History Guide
History Place
Jimbo Wales's WikiPedia
Fordham U Modern History SourceBook (excerpts)
History.com
Virginia Western U (excerpts)

2010-03-05
Harry Reid _You Tube_
That pay-rolls are down by "only 36K" is "really good", "a big day in America", according to Harry Reid
Rex Nutting; MarketWatch (with graph)

2010-03-05
Rob Sanchez _Job Destruction News-Letter_/_V Dare_
8 of 10 stimulus dollars are going over-seas

2010-03-05
Edwin S. Rubenstein _V Dare_
What Job Rebound?   Immigrants Displace Americans at Record Clip
"growth in foreign-born working age population (16 years and older).   It rose 1.7% from 2009 February to 2010 February, or by more than twice the 0.7% rise in the comparable native-born population during the same period.   Coming at a time when many illegals are returning to Mexico, this highlights the continued role of legal immigration in driving population and work-force growth despite the recession.   American workers desperately need an immigration moratorium."

2010-03-05 (5770 Adar 19)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
Biden's lost cause
"Although Biden is just the latest senior US official to visit Israel to try to coerce the government not to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power..."

2010-03-05
DJIA10,566.20
S&P 5001,138.70
NASDAQ2,326.35
Nikkei10,369
10-year US T-Bond3.69%
crude oil$81.50/barrel
gold$1,135.20/ounce
silver$17.38/ounce
platinum$1,579.10/ounce
palladium$476.70/ounce
copper$0.21375/ounce
natgas$4.593/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline $2.2710/gal
heatingoil$2.0974/gal
soybeans$9.40/bushel
maize$3.8175/bushel
wheat$5.005/bushel
dollarindex80.43
yenperdollar90.34
dollarspereuro1.3626
dollarsperpound1.5157
swissfranksperdollar 1.0742
indianrupeesperdollar 45.605
mexicanpesosperdollar 12.6600
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex580.10

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "After all, are we not all oppressed, especially those who think that their freedom is found in social, political, and economic domination of others? Although these questions point to an essential truth of the gospel of liberation, they have been used [abused] by oppressors for untruth.   The untruth of these questions lies in the subjective and often undisclosed intention of the people who ask them.   While pretending to be concerned about the universal character of the human condition, oppressors are in fact concerned to justify their own particular status in society.   They want to be oppressors and Christians [Yiddim] at the same time...   oppressors claim to be victims, not for the purpose of being liberated but for their own social interests...   'cheap grace'...   I call it hypocrisy and blasphemy." --- James H. Cone 1975 _God of the Oppressed_ pg 148  

 

2010-03-06

2010-03-06
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Krugman vs. Krugman: He's reversed himself so many times he can't remember what he last said

2010-03-06
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Models diverge from reality: One reason unemployment remains high and predictions of "global warming" don't hold up
Investor's Business Daily
"Take that 'only 36K' figure.   The real number is actually 51K jobs lost, because the government counts 15K temporary workers hired by the Census as new jobs.   But these jobs aren't, in any meaningful sense, real full-time jobs...   some 19.8% of Americans reported that they were underemployed or not employed at all...   With businesses struggling and fearful about the future, all the talk in Washington is about more reckless spending and taxing...   Austrian-school economists, in contrast, eschew mathematical modeling, placing heavy emphasis instead upon consumers' and businessmen's expectations and incentives. Austrian economists foresaw months ago the current high unemployment, when President Obama and Democrat/Socialist Party leaders began to blame the recession on businessmen and bankers...   The proof of the pudding is that current Democrat/Socialist Party stimulus spending, at the highest levels in world history, has produced very few real jobs, but a great expansion of government employment that swells the ranks of the socialist Service Employees International Union (SEIU) members.   The SEIU, of course, is a major contributor of campaign funds and free labor for electing [leftist] candidates."

2010-03-06
Dianne Linderman _News with Views_
Nancy Pelosi's wild and crazy policies

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "I am opposed to slavery, not because it enslaves the black man, but because it enslaves man.   And were all the slave-holders in this land men of color, and the slaves white men, I would be as thorough and uncompromising an abolitionist as I now am; for whatever and when ever I may see a being in the form of a man, enslaved by his fellowman, without respect to his complextion, I shall lift my voice to plead his cause, against all the claims of his proud oppressor; and I shall do it not merely from the sympathy which man feels toward suffering man, but because God, the living God, whom I dare not disobey, has commanded me to open my mouth for the dumb, and to plead the cause of the oppressed." --- "Bishop Daniel Alexander Payne's Protestation of American Slavery" 1967 _Journal of Negro History_ vol52 pg60 (quoted in James H. Cone 1975 _God of the Oppressed_ pp 190-191  

 

2010-03-07

2010-03-07
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Today's Radical Leftist Aristoi

2010-03-07
Sarah King Head _University World News_
92% of students from China who earned a PhD in 2002 were still in the USA in 2007
"More than 9 in every 10 students from China who gained a doctorate in the United States in 2002 were still in the country in 2007, the highest percentage from any foreign nation.   This compares with 62% of all foreign-born PhD recipients for that year, says a new report...   Five-year stay rates for students from other countries include 81% for India and 77% for Russia.   Nearly three-quarters (73%) of PhDs in either physical or life sciences remained for five years after earning their degrees compared with 51% of those with PhDs in agricultural sciences...   Between 2000-03 and 2004-07, however, the percentage reporting definite plans to stay on decreased among those with science and engineering doctorates from all top 5 countries -- China, India, South Korea, Taiwan and Canada.   For all but Taiwan, the increases in the number awarded doctorates more than offset the declines in the percentage staying.   Organised in two-year increments, the data also present a snapshot of rates before and after the terrorist attacks in 2001 September.   In this regard, it is notable the 92% five-year stay rate for Chinese students in 2007 is lower than its high of 96% in 2001 -- and despite a general rate increase for all countries from 56% to 62% over the same period.   Similarly, Indian and Canadian doctorate holder stay rates declined from their pre-2001/09/11 levels, slipping from 86% and 62% respectively.   By contrast, stay rates for British, German, Taiwanese and Japanese doctorate holders increased over the same period.   These figures generally concur with statistics of the intended plans of foreign students to stay on after completing their doctorates.   Thus, while this rate increased 5% to 76.6% from 1996 to 2007, there were notable declines among specific nationalities.   In the period from 2004 to 2007, 90.8% of all Chinese doctoral students in science and engineering at American universities planned to stay, slightly fewer than in the period from 1996 to 2003 (92.5%).   Similarly, fewer Indian students had plans to stay (from 90.1% to 88.9%).   By contrast, more doctoral students from Iran planned to remain: from 88% in 2000-2003 to 92% in 2004-2007."

2010-03-07
William La Jeunesse _Fox_
Daniel Higgins of CA charged with taking classes, tests for over 119 Middle Eastern students, to let them keep their visas
Anna Gorman & My-Thuam Tran: Los Angeles CA Times
Cincy Carcamo: Orange County CA Register (with photo of evidence bags full of fake driver licenses & other IDs, test forms, etc.)
"Eamonn Daniel Higgins doesn't look like a Middle Eastern student, but officials say he routinely portrayed himself as one for almost a decade, getting paid up to $1,500 per student to attend their classes and take exams so they could keep their visas current and remain in the U.S.A.   Officials say that records seized from Higgins' home in Laguna Niguel, CA, show that more than 100 students from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Lebanon, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates hired him to do their classwork and take their tests.   Higgins, 46, pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit immigration fraud when he appeared in Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana on Monday.   Six others -- Mohammed Ali Alnuaim from Saudi Arabia, Abdullah Mohammed Alhogail from Saudi Arabia, Khalid Butti Khalifa Mohamed Almehairi from the UAE, Saeed Mohamed Hilal Zayed Alfalahi from the UAE, Ibrahim Salem Khalfan Almansoori from the UAE, and Mohamed Khalfan Hazeem Taresh Almehairi of the UAE -- were also arrested Monday and appeared with Higgins before a U.S. magistrate.   All were charged with immigration fraud...   The Middle Eastern students were all male.   The students Higgins is accused of hiring to take their tests were all white Americans -- including, in one case, a 21-year-old blond coed.   The students were enrolled in Irvine Valley College, Saddleback College, Coastline Community College, Golden West College, Orange Coast College, El Camino College, Santa Monica College; California State University in Los Angeles, California State University in Long Beach, and California State University in Dominguez Hills.   Higgins allegedly charged foreign students:   -- $1,400 to take the math and English placement exams.   -- $1,200 to $1,500 to take final exams and other class-work.   -- $1,000 to take the TOEFL, or English as a foreign language, entrance exam...   More than 220K [student visas are issued] each year in American colleges and universities, including about 15,500 from the Middle East.   As of 2009 December, there were 741K foreign students studying in the U.S.A. on active visas, all subject to regular checks about their status, immigration officials said...   The investigation into Higgins began last summer after police in Daly City, CA, found a wallet with several fake California driver's licenses, all bearing a photo of Higgins' nephew, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case.   The names were listed in federal data-bases as being foreigners on student visas and studying at various campuses in California.   During a search at Higgins' house, agents seized computers, graded college exams, 60 fraudulent California driver's licenses, spiral notebooks with course notes, Scantron test forms and a check from a foreign student made payable to cash, according to court documents."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Creativity or invention is most vigorous where the challenge of the new situation is strongest (if not too strong)...   Creativity that builds on past experience but that goes far beyond borrowing is evident in many aspects of immigrant societies.   The United States affords illustrations." --- Franklin D. Scott 1968 "Migration in the Dynamics of History" _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 5  

 

2010-03-08

2010-03-08
_Conference Board_/_PR News Wire_
Employment Trends Index is up
South Florida Business Journal

2010-03-08
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Moving Closer to One World Thugocracy
Atlantic: IMF proposed international climate control tax
James G. Neuger: Business Week: Ukraine faces EU pressure to conclude pact with IMF
Andrew McKillop: Raise the Hammer
Sideways News
"The organisation [IMF] wants to see countries adopt a quota system of payments to a unified fund based on economic size -- a scheme similar to the one currently used by the body to fund its own operations.   Politically-motivated attempts to create widespread fear of climate change and the culture shock of global warming extremism ar however deemed to be the only politically correct ways to mobilize and channel the consumer herd into accepting forced energy transition...   Climate extremism reached its most-recent high-water mark and limit at the Copenhagen climat summit, but massively failed to move China and India into the forced march away from fossil fuel..."

2010-03-08
Jill Laster _Chronicle of Higher Education_
1/3 of Faculty Members See Dip in Their Salaries
"Overall faculty pay showed no growth since last year, compared with average growth of 3.7% in 2008-2009 and 4% in 2007-2008.   For faculty members who took pay cuts, the average decline was 3%, the report says.   For those who did receive raises, the average increase was 3%...   For the CUPA-HR study, the highest-paid disciplines at all professorial ranks were law, at $102,101; business, at $91,886; and engineering, at $90,208.   Those are the same three top-ranked disciplines as last year.   Also similar to last year were the disciplines with the lowest average salaries: English, at $60,850; parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies, at $61,709; and visual and performing arts, at $61,898."

2010-03-08
_Coroflot Creative Employment Confab_
Why the best and brightest Americans have trouble landing, keeping employment
vimeo video (part 1)
vimeo video (part 2)
"An hour long discussion of *creative* hiring, from some of the most successful design-driven companies in the USA...   At Part 1 25:30 'After about age 35 the candidates begin to ''fossilize'' and their experience no longer counts.' --- Nick Oakley (Intel) -– who appears to be WAY over age 35...   If you don't know someone already at our company we won't consider you...   If you haven't already done and can demonstrate both a breadth and depth of prior projects we presume that you cannot do any of those things -- we all expect that some other company gave the candidates their first chance -- But we won't!...   Post your blog and skills on the internet -- we don't advertise our openings, but if we find your web site among the billions and we like it, we will contact you! (Patience is a virtue grasshopper.)...   Besides having the skills, we are looking for a 'culture fit' and something unique.   We don't want boring employees who simply deliver great results."

2010-03-08
Laura Meckler _Wall Street Journal_
ID KKKard for Workers is at center of Reprehensible Immigration Law Perversion plan
The Week

2010-03-08 (5770 Adar 22)
Steven Emerson _Jewish World Review_
USA must learn from the UK about future of Islamic subversion
"A brilliant expose on Channel 4's 'Dispatches' and the pages of the Telegraph, reveals that the extremist Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) -- which has chapters across Europe - has infiltrated the British Labour Party in London, holds sway over local government spending, and tries to manipulate electoral politics.   The IFE has extensive ties with Jama'at-e-Islami, a political movement founded by Syed Abul A'ala Maududi -- the god-father of modern Islamism -- in Pakistan in 1941.   In fact, IFE officials also hold leadership positions at the East London Mosque and the Muslim Council of Britain -- both of which are heavily dominated by Islamist -- and, particularly -- Jama'at-e-Islami cadres in Britain.   The IFE is even headquartered in the same complex of the East London Mosque, which calls the IFE 'a social welfare organization'...   the organization is dedicated to changing 'the very infrastructure of society, its institutions, its culture, its political order, and its creed from ignorance to Islam'."

2010-03-08 (5770 Adar 22)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Alice in Health Care part4 (ObummerDoesn'tCare)
"Some years ago, one of my favorite doctors retired.   On my last visit to his office, he took some time to explain to me why he was retiring early and in good health.   Being a doctor was becoming more of a hassle as the years went by, he said, and also less fulfilling.   It was becoming more of a hassle because of the increasing paperwork, and it was less fulfilling because of the way patients came to him.   He was currently being asked to Xerox lots of records from his files, in order to be reimbursed for another patient he was treating.   He said it just wasn't worth it.   Whoever was paying -- it might have been an insurance company or the government -- would either pay him or not, he said, but he wasn't going to jump through all those hoops.   My doctor said that doctor-patient relationships were not the same as they had been when he entered the profession.   Back then, people came to him because someone had recommended him to them, but now increasing numbers of people were sent to him because they had some group insurance plan that included his group.   He said that the mutual confidence that was part of the doctor-patient relationship was not the same with people who came to his office only because his name was on some list of eligible physicians...   The confusion between lowering costs and refusing to pay the costs can have a real impact on the supply of doctors.   The real costs of medical care [or science, or engineering, or software development] include both the financial conditions and the working conditions that will insure a continuing supply of both the quantity and the quality of doctors [scientists, engineers, software developers] required to maintain medical care [science, engineering, software] standards for a growing number of patients...   Paying [people] less and hassling them more may be some people's idea of lowering the cost' but it is instead refusing to pay the costs -- and taking the consequences."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "But now the day of inter-continental mass migration has passed.   Nation states carefully select the immigrants they will admit.   In Europe the movement is from countries little developed industrially to those already highly developed, like Germany, Switzerland, Sweden.   In Britain and several of the continental countries it is a 2-way flow..." --- Franklin D. Scott 1968 "Migration in the Dynamics of History" _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 7  

 

2010-03-09

2010-03-09
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Today's Radical Leftist Aristoi part2
"A distinguishing characteristic of the [leftist] aristocracy is the dichotomy between its doctrinaire emphasis upon caring for 'the people' and its indifference to what actually happens to individuals under its policies...   President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society grab-bag of welfare-state entitlements is a notorious example.   LBJ told a Howard University audience that the Great Society aimed to produce, not just equality of opportunity, but equality of result...   Results were the opposite of [leftist] expectations.   Crime soared, unemployment sky-rocketed, education fell off the cliff, drug addiction became common, single-parent families and illegitimate births rose to proportions never before experienced in history.   Yet, the [leftist] aristocracy remains firmly wedded to the Great Society and similar programs dating back to president Roosevelt's New Deal."

2010-03-09 05:00PST (08:00EST) (13:00GMT)
Mark Bauerlein _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Employers Want 18th Century Skills
"When senior researchers conceive their projects, one of the first things they do is ask assistants of various types (interns, etc.) to conduct a 'literature review'.   That means reading up on the topic and summarizing every relevant study, report, essay, etc.   Each item gets a one-page synopsis, a clear and short and simple but comprehensive description.   No critical thinking required, and no other '21st-century skills' needed, either.   According to her, more and more young people rising in the sciences have a hard time with [such scutt work], and it's blocking the progress of [the tenured PIs'] research...   Finally, when it came time to identify the most common skill or knowledge cited by employers as needed in the post-downturn, globalized, 21st-century universe, what came up first was a basic, longstanding skill: 'The ability to effectively communicate orally and in writing.'   89% of employers highlighted it; 'critical thinking' and 'analytical reasoning' came in second at 81%."

2010-03-09 08:32:46PST (11:32:46EST) (16:32:46GMT)
Brandon Bailey _San Jose CA Mercury News_
Cisco claims new Carrier Routing System-3 can potentially handle up to 322Tb/s
"Anticipating the Cisco news, rival Juniper Networks announced Monday that another telecommunications company, Verizon, has used Juniper's routing equipment in pilot deployments of networks operating at 100Gb/s, or the same speed as the AT&T field tests.   'We welcome Cisco to the 100GB club.', Juniper Vice President Mike Marcellin said in a statement Tuesday...   Rajan Varadarajan, senior analyst at Primary Global Research, which tracks the tech industry for investors...   As for Cisco's claim that the new system can handle 322 terabits per second, Varadarajan noted that it can only offer that capacity if a customer connects 72 'chassis', or individual devices, together.   Juniper is expected to start selling devices with similar individual capacity in coming months.   In an interview, Cisco senior vice president Pankaj Patel acknowledged the new routers are just one of the elements required to build a network capable of providing the kind of high-speed service that Cisco envisions, in which millions of people will use smart-phones and tablets to access video in the future.   But he said the routers are a key component."

2010-03-09
Tom Lutey _Billings MT Gazette_
EPA's ever-tightening rules push small towns out of compliance
"Few in Circle would have disputed that the town's water was bad.   The salt content was so high it killed grass; the fluoride so concentrated it discolored teeth.   But when the Safe Drinking Water Act forced the community to do something about it, Circle's 365 bill-paying customers took a big gulp.   The solution was a $2.82M reverse-osmosis treatment system to pull out the fluoride salt and other elements of concern...   In Laurel, the cost of water and sewer improvements over the past 7 years is roughly $9M...   Base rates for Laurel water recently jumped more than $60 a year.   Sewer rates will soon follow suit...   In Ekalaka, sewer bills for the community's 222 customers could increase $45 a year as the town searches for ways to fund new testing requirements.   New permit qualifications now require the town to test not only water leaving the sewer plant, as they always have, but now also the incoming sewage.   Public Works Director Elston Loken said the $1K sewage testing budget could jump to $10K a year."

2010-03-09
_Orlando FL Sentinel_
Seminole County Regional Science, Math and Engineering Fair winners move on to Central Florida, State, National, and International competitions
Florida Foundation for Future Scientists

2010-03-09 (5770 Adar 23)
David G. Savage _Jewish World Review_
US Supreme Court to rule on free speech in case of soldier's funeral

2010-03-09 (5770 Adar 23)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Stimulus or Sedative?
"That same principle applies today.   The fact that politicians call something a 'stimulus' does not make it a stimulus.   The fact that they call something a 'jobs bill' does not mean there will be more jobs...   the actual effect of what is called a 'stimulus' has been more like that of a sedative...   You don't lend when politicians are making it more doubtful whether you are going to get your money back -- either on time or at all...   None of this is new.   What is going on is what went on during the Great Depression of the 1930s.   Money circulated more slowly during the 1930s than during the 1920s.   Banks lent out a smaller proportion of the money they had on hand during the 1930s than they did in the 1920s.   Anti-business rhetoric and anti-business policies did not create business confidence then, any more than it does now.   Economists have estimated that the New Deal prolonged the depression by several years.   This is not another Great Depression, at least not yet, and the economy may recover on its own, if the government will let it.   But Obama today, like FDR in the 1930s, cannot leave the economy alone.   Both have felt a need to come up with one bright idea after another, to 'do something'.   The theory is that, if one thing doesn't work, it is just a matter of trying another.   But, in an atmosphere where nobody knows what the federal government is going to come up with next, people tend to hang on to their money until they have some idea of what the rules of the game are going to be."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "When the 13 continental colonies declared their independence, their white inhabitants numbered approximately 2.5M.   Though they were all referred to as 'colonials', neither they nor their ancestors had a homogeneous origin.   They included prudent heads of families, prisoners transported for major crimes and minor offenses, stray adventurers, mlitary deserters, trading-company servants and bond laborers of a half-dozen different categories.   Along these there were religious sectarians who, individually or in groups, had sought a refuge.   In addition, the population embraced the human residue of 2 rival empires that had disappeaed -- New Netherlands and New Sweden.   The history of their coming is a record of confusion that easily loses coherence in the mass of details.   But out of the maze there gradually emerges a clear-cut type which was not the product of law or policy but the creation of experience -- the individual who could be spared in Europe, who was needed in America: the standard immigrant of the 19th century [1800s]." --- Marcus Lee Hansen 1940 "The Peopling of the American Colonies" _The Atlantic Migration, 1607-1860_ (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pp 13-14)  

 

2010-03-10

2010-03-10
Selma Haveric _Daily Illini_
Women are still a minority in engineering
"There are 5,687 under-graduates in Engineering this academic year, and 16.7% of them are women, according to the division's web site...   He said the number of women in this academic year's freshman class for civil engineering is the highest of any engineering discipline in the history of the University.   Lange said there are 54 women out of 164 students enrolled, or about 33% of the class.   He added that he has noticed men and women interacting more and more positively over the past 18 years."

2010-03-10
Rob Sanchez _V Dare_/_Job Destruction News-Letter_
Porkulus Creating More Yellow Jobs than Green

2010-03-10 12:54PST (15:54EST) (20:54GMT)
Kat Gibson _MarketWatch_
Strength of indices of US dollar vary
"Around nearly 40 years, the dollar index (DXY 80.41, -0.18, -0.22%), which contrasts the currency against six others, failed to capture the dollar's strength in the 1990s against a wide basket of emerging markets, while the Federal Reserve's trade-weighted index does.   See the Fed's Nominal Broad Dollar Index.   The Federal Reserve's trade-weighted dollar index has the currency losing 10.5% of its value from 2000 to the present, while the dollar index has it dropping nearly 24% in the same time span, calculates COLAs."

2010-03-10
Paul Basken _Chronicle of Higher Education_
NSF shifting tactics
"The new direction was set out by the Obama administration in its budget recommendation for the 2011 fiscal year, which calls for the outright elimination of 3 NSF programs: the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program, the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation, and the Tribal Colleges and Universities Program.   In place of those programs, the science foundation would get $103M to run a program called Comprehensive Broadening Participation of Undergraduates in STEM...   The budget for the new program, part of the $6G that the NSF spends each year to support academic research, would be 14% greater than the amount now spent on the three programs proposed for elimination...   The administration's plan also calls for a 5% cut in the $19M budget for another program, Opportunities for Women and Persons With Disabilities, and instead a 14% increase in the current $154M budget for general under-graduate and graduate-student support...   Mr. Bement, who is retiring from the science foundation to begin work in June as director of the new Global Policy Research Institute at Purdue University, also expressed his opposition to calls from universities for the federal government to give them more money to rebuild deteriorating science facilities.   University representatives made the plea at another hearing of the subcommittee 2 weeks ago, and Mr. Bement said he was 'sympathetic'.   But, he said, the science foundation should stick to its main mission of supporting research, and not get into the business of serving as the option of last resort for universities facing tough economic conditions."

2010-03-10
_Black Voice News_
Jim Crow in Silicon Valley is exposed
New Pittsburgh Courier
"It is easy to do when traditional civil rights groups give you a pass as long as you provide sponsorship money for their fund-raising events.   Some groups even join with these culprits on advocacy and legislative issues as if these bastions of racism are examples of good inclusive governance.   This is damaging and has caused these rascals to go free of public criticism until now...   Collectively, only 2.1% of the work-force is Black while only 5.2% of the work-force is Hispanic.   The News states 'Of the 5,907 top managers and officials in the Silicon Valley offices of the 10 large companies in 2005, 296 were Black or Hispanic, a 20% decline from 2000, according to U.S. Department of Labor work-force data obtained by the Mercury News through the Freedom of Information request.   In 2008, the share of computer workers living in Silicon Valley who are Black or Latino was 1.5% and 4.7%, respectively -- shares that had declined since 2000.   Nationally, Blacks and Latinos were 7.1% and 5.3% of computer workers, respectively, shares that were up since 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.   The share of managers and top officials who are female at those 10 big Silicon Valley firms slipped to 26% in 2005, from 28% in 2000.'   This isn't progress but a reversal of our gains during the Civil Rights Struggle.   What these racial culprits are doing should be punished by the U.S. Justice Department.   It is blatant discrimination and must be stopped.   Now that it is exposed we must put serious pressure on this activity.   What they think they can do is import a massive amount of Asians via H-1B visas and count them in their collective minority numbers.   First of all, only US citizens can be counted in these numbers and all groups, especially Black and Hispanic, must not be under represented.   It violates law and should prohibit these corporations from doing business with the federal government or any other entity that receives federal funding or benefits from a federal program or regulation.   The NAACP, Urban League, La Raza, etc. should cease receiving money from these bigot corporations.   Certainly they should stop doing their bidding and representing them as good outstanding corporate citizens.   They should be protesting and suing them in the courts...   If they don't than I guess the National Black Chamber of Commerce will have to go after them in their absence like we did in the telecommunications and auto industries with success back in the 1990's.   It is not exactly our mission but someone has to do it...   As Frederick Douglas taught us long ago, 'Power concedes nothing without a demand.   It never has and never will.'"

2010-03-10
Jaci Webb _Billings MT Gazette_/Lee_
Ugandan boy brought to Billings for medical help -- surgery on legs, proper diet to correct malnutrition

2010-03-10
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Rating Community Organizers

2010-03-10
Jennifer Bendery & Jessica Brady _Roll Call_
Advocates for illegal aliens turn up heat for Reprehensible Immigration Law Perversion
Jennifer McFadyen: About
Patricia Murphy: Politics Daily
USA Today/Gannett
Katie Connolly: NewSpeak

2010-03-10
Robert Wenzel _Economic Policy Journal_
National Worker ID KKKard is an evil instrument of control

2010-03-10 (5770 Adar 24)
Paul Greenberg _Jewish World Review_
Death Checks In

2010-03-10 (5770 Adar 24)
Michelle Malkin _Jewish World Review_
Desperate Dems cling to human kiddie shield

2010-03-10 (5770 Adar 24)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Artificial Stupidity
Washington Examiner
Town Hall
"People are all born ignorant but they are not born stupid.   Much of the stupidity we see today is induced by our educational system, from the elementary schools to the universities.   In a high-tech age that has seen the creation of artificial intelligence by computers, we are also seeing the creation of artificial stupidity by people who call themselves educators.   Educational institutions created to pass on to the next generation the knowledge, experience and culture of the generations that went before them have instead been turned into indoctrination centers to promote whatever notions, fashions or ideologies happen to be in vogue among today's intelligentsia...   The experiences of life can help people outgrow whatever they were indoctrinated with.   What may persist, however, is the lazy habit of hearing one side of an issue and being galvanized into action without hearing the other side -- and, more fundamentally, not having developed any mental skills that would enable you to systematically test one set of beliefs against another.   It was once the proud declaration of many educators that 'We are here to teach you how to think, not what to think.'   But far too many of our teachers and professors today are teaching their students what to think...   Even if all the conclusions with which they indoctrinate their students were 100% correct, that would still not be equipping students with the mental skills to weigh opposing views for themselves, in order to be prepared for new and unforeseeable issues that will arise over their life-times, after they leave the schools and colleges.   Many of today's 'educators' not only supply students with conclusions, they promote the idea that students should spring into action because of these prepackaged conclusions -- IOW, vent their feelings and go galloping off on crusades, without either a knowledge of what is said by those on the other side or the intellectual discipline to know how to analyze opposing arguments...   A philosopher once said that the most important knowledge is knowledge of one's own ignorance.   That is the knowledge that too many of our schools and colleges are failing to teach our young people."

2010-03-10 (5770 Adar 24)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Is Health Care a Right? (ObummerDoesn'tCare)
"Suppose instead of Harry being able to force a lab, doctor and pharmacy to provide services without pay, Congress uses its taxing power to take a couple of hundred dollars out of the pay-check of some American to give to Harry so that he could pay the lab, doctor and pharmacist.   Would there be any difference in principle, namely forcibly using one person to serve the purposes of another? There would be one important strategic difference, that of concealment.   Most Americans, I would hope, would be offended by the notion of directly and visibly forcing one person to serve the purposes of another.   Congress' use of the tax system to invisibly accomplish the same end is more palatable to the average American.   True rights, such as those in our Constitution, or those considered to be natural or human rights, exist simultaneously among people.   That means exercise of a right by one person does not diminish those held by another."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "We are a people of cultivators -- scattered over an immense territory, communicating with each other by means of good roads and navigable rivers, united by the silken bands of mild government, all respecting the laws, without dreading their power, beause they are equitable.   We are all animated with the spirit of an industry which is unfettered and unrestrained, because each person works for himself.   If he travels through our rural districts he views not the hostile castle, and the haughty mansion, contrasted with the clay built hut and miserable cabbin, where cattle and men help to keep each other warm, and dwell in meanness, smoke and indigence.   A pleasing uniformity of decent competence appears throughout our habitations.   The meanest of our log-houses is a dry and comfortable habitation.' --- Michel Guillaume Jean de Crevecour (J. Hector St. John) 1782 "Letters from an Ameican Farmer" pp 46-53 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 16)  

 

2010-03-11

2010-03-11
Frosty Wooldridge _Before It's News_
Mighty Casey at the Bat: A Tale of Barack Obama
"Most Americans feel frustrated beyond comprehension at their powerlessness against the U.S. Congress for not enforcing the laws on the books.   Over 20M Americans cannot find a job.   Another 35M Americans subsist on food stamps.   Another 1.5M Americans live homeless on the streets of America.   Countless millions lost their homes to foreclosures.   All because they lost their jobs!   Yet, the U.S. Congress allows over 8M to 10M illegal aliens a daily job because ICE fails to enforce immigration laws internally.   For show, ICE stages one raid in a blue moon!...   Utah has lost 85K jobs in the last 2 years...   VM wrote: 'Utah has about 125K illegal aliens costing us over $244M yearly in social services including (legislative audit) $85M to educate illegal alien children and $6M to incarcerate criminals with ICE retainers.   Harvard economist George Borjas estimates competition from foreigners costs each average working American $1,700 yearly in un-received earnings.   These 'unmet taxes' that our state does not receive from citizen lower wages contribute to the present budget crisis.'...   KP wrote: 'During the Great Depression, leaders, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, insisted that immigration be kept below 20K legal immigrants a year.   During today's Great Recession, leaders of both parties studiously ignore the elephant in the room: the highest immigration rates in our history!   'Legal immigration hovers at roughly 700K a year, [not including H-1B and H-2B visas at 450K annually] higher even than the 600K-a-year average of the previous high, the Great Wave between 1880 and 1920.   Add an estimated 500K illegal immigrants, and immigration hovers close to 1 times the previous high.   We must, one assumes, create more than 100K jobs a month just to accommodate arriving immigrants who need work.'"

2010-03-11
Matthew Vadum _American Spectator_
Judge Nutty Nina Gershon: Parasites Like ACORN Have A Constitutional Right To Your Money

2010-03-11 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
historical data
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 460,287 in the week ending March 6, a decrease of 10,969 from the previous week.   There were 652,636 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.2% during the week ending Feb. 27, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 5,528,856, a decrease of 68,281 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 4.8% and the volume was 6,361,354.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MT, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, and WI during the week ending February 20...   States reported 5,527,925 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending Feb. 20, a decrease of 159,649 from the prior week.   There were 2,068,413 claimants in the comparable week in 2009.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.
graphs
more graphs

2010-03-11
Mike Miller _Liberty Maven_
Can you prove you're not a terrorist?
"The REAL ID Act has punished innocent Americans with red tape, higher fees, and lost privacy.   Some in Congress want to add to these burdens."
Before It's News: Show me your papers
fitsnews: Got Papers? Big Brother Wants to Know

2010-03-11
Erica Dolson _Cumberland PA Sentinel_/_Lee_
Young readers bring in donations for adult literacy program
"Open to elementary school students in the county, the Buck-A-Book program asks students to commit to reading between 5 and 10 books, with the help of a reader supporter, over the span of a week.   Students earn money for each book they read, and the funds benefit the adult literacy classes offered by the Employment Skills Center in Carlisle...   The assembly recognized the school for having the highest rate of participation in the county.   Nearly 50% of North Dickinson students participated, a percentage that almost tripled last year’s figure, Kloza said.   Bellaire Elementary School, which raised more than $2,500 for Buck-A-Book, the highest of any school, was also honored this week.   Both schools received trophies sponsored by The Sentinel for their accomplishments...   According to the Employment Skills Center, 14% of people in Cumberland County do not hold a high school diploma.   Rising levels of unemployment have created a greater number of adults coming to the center to earn their GED or learn to read for the first time, program manager Margi Weitzel said."

2010-03-11 08:26PST (11:26EST) (16:26GMT)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
US trade deficit narrowed as both imports and exports decreased

2010-03-11 12:51PST (15:51EST) (20:51GMT)
Patrick Thibodeau _ComputerWorld_/_IDG_
NY state government set to replace IT consultants with employees: could add up to 500 IT jobs

2010-03-11 14:00PST (17:00EST) (22:00GMT)
Mike Cassidy _San Jose CA Mercury News_
Doctors in small practices face big problems
"No one doctor can speak for all doctors, but in talking to Quakenbush, as she sits at a desk in front of a wall of framed diplomas, it strikes me that her practice is a microcosm of the personal, economic and political factors that make health care such a difficult problem to solve...   Quakenbush is one of roughly 2,500 doctors, or nearly half the doctors in the county, who work in groups of 5 or fewer physicians, according to the Santa Clara County Medical Association.   They are on the front lines of the health reform battle, dealing daily with the challenges we hear about as Congress fights over what to do next...   She relies on two part-time assistants to begin the battle when an insurer won't pay for a procedure she believes is needed.   Sometimes she takes to the phone herself...   Those who do pay for insurance want to get their money's worth and so they press for expensive procedures, like asking for physical therapy for a sore back before they've even reached for an Advil.   And they ask for expensive drugs they've seen advertised on television when a cheaper generic would do...   mostly they worry that someone will come up with a plan that would force Quakenbush out of business, or force them to see a different doctor."

2010-03-11 (5770 Adar 25)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
Why people believe conspiracy theories and how they spread: David Aronovitch's _Voodoo Histories_

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Lawyer or merchant are the fairest titles our towns afford...   There is not among them an esquire, saving the unlettered magistrate.   There he sees a parson as simple as his flock, a farmor who does not riot on the labour of others.   We have no princes, for hwom we toil, starve, and bleed: we are the most perfect society now existing in the world Here man is free as he ought to be; nor is this pleasing equality so transitory as many others are.   Many ages will not see the shores of our great lakes replenished with inland nations, nor the unknown bounds of North American entirely peopled.   W/ho can tell how far it extends? Who can tell the millions of men whom it will feed and contain?" --- Michel Guillaume Jean de Crevecour (J. Hector St. John) 1782 "Letters from an Ameican Farmer" pp 46-53 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pp 16-17)  

 

2010-03-12

2010-03-11 16:00PST (2010-03-11 19:00EST) (2010-03-12 00:00GMT)
Jim Jubak _Money Central_
Red China's IOUs may equal their GDP
"[Red China's] foreign-exchange reserves stood at $2.4T at the end of 2009.   Yes, [Red China] announced that its proposed annual budget for 2010 would produce a record deficit, but the deficit is just $154G, or 2.8% of [Red China's] gross domestic product.   In contrast, the Congressional Budget Office projects the U.S. budget deficit for fiscal 2010 at $1.3T... 9.2% of GDP...   If you look only at the current position of China's national government, the country is in great shape.   Not only is the current budget deficit at that tiny 2.8% of GDP, but the International Monetary Fund projects the country's accumulated gross debt at just 22% of 2010 GDP.   US gross debt, by comparison, is projected at 94% of GDP in 2010.   The lowest gross-debt-to-GDP figure for any of the Group of Seven developed economies is Canada's 79%."

2010-03-12
Natalie Wontorczyk _Daily Illini_
U of IL College of Engineering open house today and tomorrow
"There are usually 200 exhibits put on by students each year, according to the EOH web site.   But Rehkemper said there will be a record number of exhibits this year, including the popular Jerry Sanders Robot Design Competition.   The competition allows colleges in the area to build robots and use them to compete against each other.   Rehkemper said that the robot design competition will include helium balloons this year, adding to the robot war's appeal.   New to EOH this time are the EOH Mobile and Live features.   EOH Mobile was developed by State Farm Insurance and allows anyone interested to download an application to their smartphone at for access to information about the event and its exhibits.   EOH Live enables people to watch what is going on at the open house via the Internet if they are not able to attend the event.   According to the EOH Web site, Deanne Bell, engineer and host of 'Smash Lab' on the Discovery Channel, will visit the open house and give a presentation that evening about working with the next generation of scientists and engineers."
Engineering career fair provides students with job and internship opportunities

2010-03-12 03:00PST (06:00EST) (11:00GMT)
Patrick Thibodeau _ComputerWorld_/_IDG_
Ill-Begotten Monstrosities stopped disclosing US head-count data as global head-count increases slightly
Don Sears: eWeek
"IBM says it is the #1 technology employer in the U.S.A. and the world...   IBM has stopped providing breakouts of the number of employees it has in the U.S.A...   In its most recently released annual report, the company only provides its global headcount.   Overall, IBM finished 2009 with 399,409 employees worldwide, up by 0.2%, or just short of 1K, from 2008.   IBM's U.S. work-force, according to the latest data from last Fall, which appeared in congressional testimony, is 105K.   In 2007, IBM employed 121K people in the U.S.A.   The Alliance@IBM/CWA Local 1701, which has been trying to win bargaining rights for employees, has estimated that the company laid off about 10K U.S. workers last year and it says IBM has recently cut about 2,900 jobs in another lay-off...   MSFT Corp., for instance, reported that as of June last year it employed approximately 93K people -- 56K in the U.S.A. and 37K internationally.   In 2008, it reported head-count of 91K, with 55K in the U.S.A. and 36K internationally...   'By hiding its off-shoring, IBM is doing a disservice to America -- through omission the company is providing misleading labor market signals and information to policy-makers.', Hira said."
Slash Dot discussion

2010-03-12
Linda Chiem _Pacific Business News_
Local firms seek fewer H-1B guest-workers
"Preliminary data from the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Foreign Labor Certification suggests that Hawaii employers filed 438 H-1B applications electronically in fiscal 2009, 30% fewer than in the previous year.   But that number does not include what could be hundreds of applications sent to the federal government by courier or conventional mail.   The year before, Hawaii employers filed 627 H-1B applications electronically.   That was 15% fewer than the 737 applications filed in 2007 and half of the 1,253 applications filed in 2006, which was considered a record year...   The H-1B visa applications filed in fiscal 2009 included jobs such as program analysts, occupational therapists, and public relations and sales managers.   Most of the jobs pay between $40K and $80K a year.   In Hawaii, universities and academic research institutions are the biggest users of the program because higher education is exempt from the federal caps.   The University of Hawaii and its research arm, the Research Corporation of the University of Hawaii, frequently rank among the top 2 users of the program and have filed as many as 300 H-1B visa applications between them in a given year."

2010-03-12 07:20PST (10:20EST) (15:20GMT)
Ruth Mantell _MarketWatch_
UMich consumer sentiment index fell from 73.6 in February to 72.5 in March

2010-03-12 09:01PST (12:01EST) (17:01GMT)
_MarketWatch_
What's the point of hiring accounting firms if they don't catch fraud
"From Enron to Lehman to Satyam to Parmalat, it's clear that the major accountants lack either the skill or the determination (or both) to ferret out fraud."

2010-03-12
Kenneth P. Green _AEI_
Wind turbine manufacturing and construction won't be done by US citizens

2010-03-12
Larry Kudlow _Town Hall_
Yellen is spellin' increased future inflation

2010-03-12 (5770 Adar 26)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
The march of the Red-Green brigades

2010-03-12
DJIA10,624.69
S&P 5001,149.99
NASDAQ2367.66
Nikkei10,751
10-year US T-Bond3.70%
crude oil$81.24/barrel
gold$1,101.70/ounce
silver$17.04/ounce
platinum$1,608.40/ounce
palladium$463.15/ounce
copper$0.21125/ounce
natgas$4.40/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline $2.25/gal
heatingoil$2.09/gal
soybeans$9.36/bushel
maize$3.655/bushel
wheat$4.82/bushel
dollarindex79.830
yenperdollar90.51
dollarspereuro1.3760
dollarsperpound1.5179
swissfranksperdollar 1.0594
indianrupeesperdollar 45.49
mexicanpesosperdollar 12.57
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex592.64

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "What then is the American, this new man? He is either an European, or the descendant of an European, hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country." --- Michel Guillaume Jean de Crevecour (J. Hector St. John) 1782 "Letters from an Ameican Farmer" pg 73 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 17)  

 

2010-03-13

2010-03-13
Peter Berkowitz _Wall Street Journal_
The notion of objective truth has been abandoned at schools, universities, and federal research centers and the peer review process gives scholars ample opportunity to reward friends and punish enemies

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labours and posterity will one day cause great changes in teh world.   Americans are the western pilgrims, who are carrying along with them that great mass of arts, sciences, vigour, and industry which began long since in the east; they will finish the great circle.   The Americans were once scattered all over Europe; here they are incorporated into one of the finest systems of population which will hereafter become distince by the powe of the different climates they inhabit." --- Michel Guillaume Jean de Crevecour (J. Hector St. John) 1782 "Letters from an Ameican Farmer" pg 73 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 17)  

 

2010-03-14

2010-03-14
_Right Side News_/_FAIR US_
The push for amnesty for illegal aliens continues

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Here the rewards of his industry follow with equal steps the progress of his labour; his laboru is founded on the basis of nature, self-interest; can it want a stronger allurement?" --- Michel Guillaume Jean de Crevecour (J. Hector St. John) 1782 "Letters from an Ameican Farmer" pg 73 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 18)  

 

2010-03-15

1960-03-15: president Eisenhower ordered preparation for invasion of Cuba (operation Pluto)

2010-03-15
Michael Ramirez _Town Hall_
Today's cartoon: Obama Akbar the leftist suicide bombing of US health care

2010-03-15
Matt Habengruber _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
Today is the last day to become a candidate for city or county office in Montana

2010-03-15
Matthew Brown _Bloomberg_
USA and UK moving closer to having their bond ratings reduced

2010-03-15
Selwyn Duke _John Birch Society_
Texas board of Education tries to bring back history
"Along a strict 10 to 5 party-line vote, the board’s Republican majority decided to institute standards that, among other things, question the constitutionality of the 'separation of church and state' principle, mention the Christian nature of the Founding Fathers, emphasize the superiority of free-enterprise systems, and point out the unintended consequences of leftist legislation such as the Great Society programs and Title IX.   In fact, writes James McKinley, Jr. of the New York Times, 'Since January, Republicans on the board have passed more than 100 amendments to the 120-page curriculum standards affecting history, sociology and economics courses from elementary to high school.'"

2010-03-15 (5770 Adar 09)
Judith Graham _Jewish World Review_
Doctors and patients must weigh risks vs. rewards of each kind of medical imaging
"Annual radiation doses from medical imaging have soared sevenfold since the early 1980s, according to a report last year from the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements.   Meanwhile, as many as 14,500 people may end up dying annually from radiation-induced cancers caused by CT scans, new research suggests.   Late last month, Congress held hearings on the subject, and medical equipment makers announced changes designed to help prevent patients from getting overly high radiation doses.   A few weeks earlier, the Food and Drug Administration launched an effort to reduce unnecessary exposure to radiation from medical tests.   Scrutiny is focusing primarily on more than 70M computerized tomography scans performed in the U.S.A. every year, up from 3M in the early 1980s.   The scans help doctors identify brain tumors, kidney stones, and obstructed bowels and have revolutionized medicine, virtually eliminating exploratory surgery and aiding millions of patients...   Ionizing radiation is the reason; CT scans shower patients with far more of it than other diagnostic tests.   For example, a routine head CT produces the same dose as 400 dental X-rays while the dose from a chest CT equals to more than 100 X-rays.   That radiation can wreak havoc at the cellular level, breaking or altering DNA strands and causing mutations that spin out of control, generating cancers many years later."

2010-03-15 (5770 Adar 09)
Rabbi Doctor Asher Meir _Jewish World Review_
Fathers' obligations toward minor children

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Improved transportation in the [1830s], brought about by the clearing away of tolls and restrictions on the Rhine, Main, and Neckar and by the introduction of the steam-boat made sea-ports more accessible to more interior areas and people.   Besides providing cheaper and easier transportation for Auswaenderer, the opening of the river routes caused economic dislocation, especially for small manufacturers and handicraftsmen.   The creation fo the Zollverein, the customs union, had a similar effet, destroying man-made barriers behind which the economies of particular regions had taken shape.   Improved transportation and the removal of trade barriers, both designed to bring greater prosperity, brought to many only economic distress; the handicraftsman suffered from the advance of a liberal economy.   Moreover, Germany's unfavorable world trade balance worked to encourage emigration, reaching behind the sea-ports into interior areas as they became accessible; it passed up the river valleys with barges which brought in over-seas imports and sought paying loads for the return trip to the sea." --- Mack Walker 1964 "The German Background of Emigration" _Germany and the Emigration, 1816-1885_ pp 46-52 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pp 19-20)  

 

2010-03-16

2010-03-16
Frosty Wooldridge _Before It's News_
Opposition to US security crank up the heat in DC

2010-03-16 (5770 Nissan 01)
Steven Emerson _Jewish World Review_
Combatting Lawfare
"the conference focused on the manipulation of the legal system for 3 strategic purposes:   To thwart free speech on issues of national security and public concern.   To delegitimize and diminish the sovereignty of democratic states.   To inhibit the right and ability of democracies to defend themselves against terrorism."

2010-03-16 (5770 Nissan 01)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Talking Points vs. Reality
"Anyone who is so old-fashioned as to stop and think, instead of being swept along by rhetoric, can understand that a budget -- any budget -- is not a record of hard facts but a projection of future financial plans.   A budget tells us what will happen if everything works out according to plan...   Medicare itself does not have enough money to pay its own way over time...   I can say that I can afford to buy a Rolls Royce, without going into debt, by using my inheritance from a rich uncle.   But, in the real world, the question would arise immediately whether I in fact have a rich uncle, not to mention whether this hypothetical rich uncle would be likely to leave me enough money to buy a Rolls Royce."

2010-03-16 (5770 Nissan 01)
David Horowitz _Front Page Magazine_
keeping an eye on the domestic threat
see also David Horowitz 2013 _The Black Book of the American Left: vol1 My Life and Times_ pp321 et seq.

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "They were people who had something to lose, and who were losing it, squeezed out by interacting social and economic forces: a growth of population without a corresponding growth of economic bases, and the increased cosmopolitanization and liberalization of the economy." --- Mack Walker 1964 "The German Background of Emigration" _Germany and the Emigration, 1816-1885_ pp 46-52 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 20)  

 

2010-03-17

2010-03-17 00:06PDT (03:06EDT) (07:06GMT)
Tracy Corrigan _London Telegraph_
Job markets and employment have changed
"industrial relations in this country are in remarkably good shape.   Managers and employees have cooperated to tackle the problems of a vicious economic down-turn.   The quid pro quo has worked something like this: bosses have beaten down costs, but, in many cases, have negotiated temporary plant shutdowns, overtime and bonus cuts or three-day weeks, rather than slashing jobs.   The result is that companies have lowered costs, and retained the capacity to increase production rapidly when the economy recovers.   And workers have tightened their belts, but kept their jobs.   As a result, the rise in UK unemployment from a low of 5.2% to 7.8% has been far less dramatic than in previous downturns -- and well below forecasts.   In the US, where the tendency is to cut jobs first and ask questions later, unemployment has doubled to 10%, a 30-year high.   Both economies enjoy the benefits of a flexible labour market, but perhaps some sorts of flexibility are better than others...   in the less severe recession of the 1990s, unemployment was higher than it is now...   Jobs in manufacturing and construction have contracted 10% and 7% respectively, while public sector employment has risen by 3.3%: it now accounts for an extraordinary 6.1M jobs, about a fifth of the total.   Even assuming the next government will have the political will to cull some of these jobs, not much will happen for at least another year, by which time, let us hope, the private sector market will be in a position to take up the slack...   employment among the over 60s has actually risen by 7.2%.   Unfortunately, the young are feeling the pinch instead: the jobless rate for 16- to 17-year-old males is almost 40%, compared with less than 6% among men over 50."

2010-03-17 13:18PDT (16:18EDT) (20:18GMT)
_Chronicle of Higher Education_
congress-critters approve tax break package for new hires

2010-03-17
Robert Kagan _Washington Post_
Foreign relations still worsening: Allies feeling snubbed, enemies coddled

2010-03-17
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Bank Lending Reality

2010-03-17 (5770 Nisan 02)
Jonathan Tobin _Jewish World Review_
How Man Lives Is Biden's Pride Worth?

2010-03-17 (5770 Nisan 02)
Michael Snyder _Business Insider_
money out of thin air: now Bernanke wants to eliminate reserve requirements completely
The Economic Collapse

2010-03-17 (5770 Nisan 02)
R' Yonason Goldson _Jewish World Review_
Orwell, Santayana, and Me: how historical revisionism threatens the foundations of cultural integrity

2010-03-17 (5770 Nisan 02)
Jeanna Bryner _Live Science_
as GHWBush-Clinton-Shrub-Obummer depression continues, multiple generations are living under one roof

2010-03-17 (5770 Nisan 02)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
The Warmists Strike Back
"Eric Hoffer, 'One of the surprising privileges of intellectuals is that they are free to be scandalously asinine without harming their reputation.'...   Stanford University professor and environmentalist activist Stephen H. Schneider is another scientist involved in the warmer retaliation.   In a 1989 Discover Magazine interview, Professor Schneider said, 'We have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we may have.   Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest.'   Former Colorado senator Tim Wirth, now president of the United Nations Foundation, in 1990 said, 'We've got to ride the global warming issue.   Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we'll be doing the right thing, in terms of economic policy and environmental policy.'"

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Increasing productivity did not keep pace with increasing population; intensification of agriculture had gone past the point of diminishing returns in western Germany, where the family-sized, non-commercial holding was the basis of the land system.   As Freidrich List pointed out, with the example of his native Wuerttemberg always before his eyes, every improvement of agricultural methods -- improved fodders, the cultivation of potatoes, the establishment of credit institutions and schools -- simply strengthened the trend to what he called a dwarf economy, a Zwergwirtschaft, of tiny marginal holdings.   Marginality is the characteristic to be emphasized.   The dwarfing process typically meant the establishment of a household on resources barely able to support the beginnings of a family; as the family grew in size, the land became insufficient, and any of a number of possible crises might drive the family to give up the struggle.   This is one reason why the family-group Auswanderung predominated in the divided-inheritance areas of SW Germany, where families could be established on economic bases insufficient to sustain them...   so high a level of intensification had been reached that the greater labor potential of a large family was of no value -- more children meant more mouths, not more hands." --- Mack Walker 1964 "The German Background of Emigration" _Germany and the Emigration, 1816-1885_ pp 46-52 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pp 20-21)  

 

2010-03-18

2010-03-18 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
historical data
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 432,166 in the week ending March 13, a decrease of 28,083 from the previous week.   There were 601,163 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.1% during the week ending March 6, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 5,375,836, a decrease of 163,482 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 4.7% and the volume was 6,357,202.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, and WI during the week ending February 27...   States reported 5,888,048 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending Feb. 27, an increase of 360,123 from the prior week.   There were 2,086,682 claimants in the comparable week in 2009.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.
graphs
more graphs

2010-03-18
_Latin American Herald Tribune_
French firm opened 2 air-craft component plants in Mexico
"The plants will create a total of 500 new jobs manufacturing landing gear and represent an investment of nearly 2.5G pesos ($197.6M), executives said...   Mexico's attractions include its location and the North American Free Trade Accord, which enables many goods assembled here to enter the United States free of tariffs."

2010-03-18
John F. McManus _New American_
Illegal aliens heading for home or amnesty

2010-03-18
Jeff Young _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Students who cheat on home-work tend to do poorly on examinations at which they cannot
"The professor said he did find a way to greatly reduce cheating on home-work in his class.   He switched to a 'studio' model of teaching, in which students sit in small groups working through tutorials on computers while professors and teaching assistants roam the room answering questions, rather than a traditional lecture.   With lectures, he detected cheating on about 11% of homework problems, but now he detects copying on only about 3% of them.   It might help that he shares findings from his study to his students, showing them that cheaters are much more likely to get C's and D's on exams than those who work out home-work problems on their own."

2010-03-18
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Life and Death Costs of National Socialist Health Care Perversion (ObummerDoesn'tCare)
Dr. Brian Koffman: Washington Times: A prescription for life or death

2010-03-18
Sephen Dinan _Washington Times_
Radical leftist Obama backs corrupt senators' scam to legalize aliens, and continue assault on privacy of US citizens

2010-03-18
Brenda Walker _V Dare_
TV's immigration news black-out: How I came to miss Lou Dobbs's show
"The lesson that Big Media seems to have gotten from the noisy Dobbs take-down by a coalition of far-left and Raza types: even factual reporting about immigration anarchy is no longer safe.   For all its faults, Lou Dobbs Tonight (aka LDT) had normalized immigration as a subject to be investigated like any other.   But Dobbs's ego (or ambition) played into the hands of his critics...   Reversing decades of permissiveness requires tough measures.   Millions of illegals must be encouraged home via attrition (removal of the jobs and benefits magnets) and outright repatriation...   LDT was far from perfect.   It did top-notch coverage on the topics it chose to investigate.   But it avoided large areas of the immigration issue, in particular the environment and cultural differences...   Diversity may be strength, but it is not conducive to free speech.   Since the beginning of the year, two Scandinavian cartoonists (Lars Vilks and Kurt Westergaard) were physically attacked in their homes for drawing pictures of Mohammed.   American network executives suffer no such threats.   But they cower in fear in the face of complaints, no matter how spurious.   Patriotic citizens would be in a terrible fix—if not for the internet, and alternative publications like VDARE.COM."

2010-03-18
_Leagle_
Patel v. Boghra
Court House News (pdf)

2010-03-18
Guy Sorman _City Journal_
Statism is more dangerous than free markets

2010-03-18
Margot C. Lester _Carrboro Citizen_
Immigration and job creation collide

2010-03-18 (5770 Nisan 03)
Jonathan Rosemblum _Jewish World Review_
DC throws a tantrum

2010-03-18 (5770 Nisan 03)
Cal Thomas _Jewish World Review_
Is the USA Israel's new enemy?

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "List pointed out in 1842: 'The more the growth of rural population exceeds the proper proportion to the amount and productiveness of the land, the more the value of land increases whiel the value of the labor and of man declines; while in the uncultivated or thinly populated but fruitful countries the reverse relationship prevails, for there land has little or no value, and labor and man much.   The Auswanderer, to use the terms of the disciples of the theory of value, transfer in their own persons a ware which is of little value to a place where it has great value.'" --- Mack Walker 1964 "The German Background of Emigration" _Germany and the Emigration, 1816-1885_ pp 46-52 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 21)  

 

2010-03-19

2010-03-19
Jason Scott _Cumberland PA Sentinel_/_Lee_
HIRE act could have favorable impact local chamber of commerce leaders say
"Under the new law, employers will be exempt from paying the 6.2% [Socialist Insecurity] pay-roll tax through December on workers they hire who have been unemployed for at least 60 days.   Employers would also get an additional $1K credit if new workers remain on the job a full year.   At first glance at the new jobs bill, Crowley said she is hopeful that chamber members in the trade professions will benefit from this legislation.   'Anything that might be a cost savings to businesses could be good.', she said.   The new law also extends a tax break for small businesses buying new equipment.   Businesses will be able to invest up to $250K -- in, say, factory equipment -- and write it off right away."

2010-03-19
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Why leftists have the mistaken notion they're superior, and the consequences of this complex
"[Leftist/regressives] from Henri de Saint-Simon and Auguste Comte in the early 1800s and Karl Marx in the mid-1800s, to present-day liberal-progressive members of the Democrat/Socialist Party, have believed as an article of secular religious faith that their superior intellects alone are capable of intuiting the inevitable course of history.   Those who disagree with their reading are written off as cranks or imbeciles, unworthy of serious consideration.   For [leftist-regressives], apparently, the inevitable triumph of socialism is 'settled science' with which all the world's important people agree."

2010-03-19 11:29PDT (14:29EDT) (18:29GMT)
Ronald D. Orol _MarketWatch_
Federal 2nd circuit court of appeals orders Federal Reserve to disclose bail-out deals
"The appeals case comes after the Southern District Court of New York ruled in favor of Bloomberg in August and ordered the Fed to disclose the names of borrowers.   However, the Fed filed for a stay and expedited consideration, which the appeals court granted last year.   Fox News Networks LLC and Dow Jones & Co. made similar public record requests for information about Fed lending, which were rejected.   News Corp. owns Fox News and MarketWatch, the publisher of this report.   The law-suit comes as legislation requiring a broad congressional auditing of how the Federal Reserve carries out its monetary policy -- including how much it has lent and will lend to specific banks as part of its bank bailout program -- is under consideration on Capitol Hill.   In December, the House approved a provision as part of sweeping bank reform legislation that would require such an audit.   The measure was introduced by representative Ron Paul, R-Texas, who has been seeking more information about the Fed's operations for years."

2010-03-19
R. Grone _World News Vine_
Health Care Perversion push continues as extended unemployment numbers rise (ObummerDoesn'tCare)
"Failed policy after failed policy has created this crisis yet; the GOP [and leftist Democratics] will fight the American Worker tooth and nail over jobless benefits, and Health Care Reform."

2010-03-19
David North _Center for Immigration Studies_/_Right Side News_
USCIS offers no help cutting flood of guest-workers to improve employment of US citizens and LPRs
"Alejandro Mayorkas, the Obama Administration's USCIS director...   My question to him was: 'Given the millions of U.S. residents who are unemployed, what is your agency doing, actively, to reduce the flow of non-immigrant workers into the U.S. labor market?   I am not talking about refugees, illegal aliens, or legal immigrants, just non-immigrant workers, such as those in the E, H, and L categories.'   He bristled at the question and replied 'that is not what we are charged to do'...   At this point Dr. Eugene Nelson, the prominent anti-H-1B advocate, thanked Mayorkas for a recent tightening in the H-1B regulations, which he said would be helpful in protecting the rights of U.S. high-tech workers.   (Gene and I had NOT worked this out before hand.)...   Mayorkas...also indicated, in answer to another question, that USCIS has a draft regulation in clearance dealing with an adjustment, presumably an upward adjustment, of USCIS fee levels.   The agency is almost entirely dependent on fees to finance its operations.   Speaking of fees, there had been an intriguing exchange between the director and representative David Price (D-NC) the previous day at an Appropriations subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill, the subject of a prior blog.   Price reminded the director that the 2007 increase in fees, which had been announced well in advance of its implementation date, brought a flood of applications (and money) to the agency, giving it at one point a cushion of $900M.   That cushion has now all but disappeared."

2010-03-19 (5770 Nisan 04)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
Why Obama is waging war against Israel

2010-03-19
DJIA10,731.93
S&P 5001,159.90
NASDAQ2,374.41
Nikkei10,825
10-year US T-Bond3.69%
crude oil$80.68/barrel
gold$1,107.60/ounce
silver$17.03/ounce
platinum$1,608.60/ounce
palladium$467.40/ounce
copper$0.210625/ounce
natgas$4.17/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline $2.26/gal
heatingoil$2.08/gal
soybeans$9.36/bushel
maize$3.655/bushel
wheat$4.82/bushel
dollarindex80.74
yenperdollar90.48
dollarspereuro1.3545
dollarsperpound1.5011
swissfranksperdollar 1.0594
indianrupeesperdollar 45.5
mexicanpesosperdollar 12.58
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex596.49

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Higher income for the artisan, cheaper land for the peasant -- in America the value of a man was greater than at home." --- Mack Walker 1964 "The German Background of Emigration" _Germany and the Emigration, 1816-1885_ pp 46-52 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 23)  

 

2010-03-20

2010-03-20
"MadHemingway" _Fire Dog Lake_
Schumer & Graham propose expansion of already excessive H-1b Immigration

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Regardless of the incomplete figures, however, there is evidence that between 1843-1844 and 1860 the wages of agricultural laborers rose by more than 57% and this, it has been maintained, was mainly attributable to emigration [a.k.a. ex-migration, out-migration].   A.L. Bowley, teh foremost student of the problem, concluded that over the course of the half-century emigration operated to the benefit of the laborers.   Before 1870, he pointed out, work was unobtainable for a great part of the year.   By the middle of the 1890s work was not only available, but wages were higher and food cheaper.   The condition of the laborer had witnessed a considerable improvement and emigration, he felt, could take a large share of the credit.   Emigration did more than contribute to a rise in wages.   By reducing the number of laborers it had other effects as well, although not all were ageed that these were entirely beneficial.   The commonest complaint was that there would not be enough laborers left to help with the planting and harvesting, and as early as 1851 there were reports of the difficulty of obtaining agricultural laborers.   A generation later, according to one contemporary, it was 'all but impossible' to get extra hands at harvest time in spite of increased wages." --- Arnold Schrier "Irish Emigration" _Ireland and the American Emigration, 1850-1900_ pp 11-15, 66-75 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pp 29-30)  

 

2010-03-21

2010-03-21
Betsy Cohen _Missoulian_/_Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
Smurfit-Stone bankruptcy having ripple effects on other firms and non-profits

2010-03-21
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Misguided Federal Education Policies
"Obama's Secretary of Education is grand-standing, at a cost to [tax-victims] of $103M, rather than focusing on the real source of sub-par performance by black and Hispanic students.   Before the student-anarchist activism that upended educational practices in the 1960s, black students performed at around 80% of white students' test score levels.   And the gap was narrowing year by year.   Today those performance levels are roughly 50% lower."
George Will: Town Hall: Stuck in the 1960s

2010-03-21
Mary Carmen R. Madrid-Crost _Guam Pacific Daily News_
H-1B and H-2B caps lifted
"The way to facilitate their coming over to join you is by having them explore the non-immigrant working visas -- especially because the H-1B and H-2B cap has been lifted for Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.   Once here, they can work legally only for the employer that filed the non-immigrant working visa petition for them."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "In 1773 a British ship of 300 tons sailed for North Carolina with 450 passengers, of whom 25 had no sleeping accommodation until 23 who had had berths died.   100 Highlanders died on an over-crowded brig en route to New York in 1775.   In 1791 a 270-ton emigrant [ship] left the Isle of Skye with 400 passengers, who were provided with most miserable accommodations.   The berths were only 18 inches high and 2 feet wide, and they were arranged 3 tiers high.   Two pots, each of 24 pints [12 quarts; 3 gallons] capacity, comprised the cooking facilities.   In 1801 two ships of 550 tons carried 700 passengers each, and while ostensibly they had the usual 2 tiers of berths, they are believed to have erected a third after putting out to sea.   On one of these ships 53 died, while the sufferings of the survivors were severe.   Investigators concluded that the law regulating conditions in the transport of slaves rendered their accommodations preferable to those of many an emigrant ship.   In the regular emigrant ships there was usually a steerage about 75 feet long by 20 or 25 feet wide and 5.5 high.   On either side of a 5-foot aisle were double rows of berths made of rought planks; and each berth, designed to accommodate 6 adults, was 10 feet wide and 5 feet long.   The 4 rows of 13 berths might therefore hold 312 people, while the 5-foot aisle was congested with their baggage, utensils and food.   Occasionally passengers slept in hammocks which they supplied -- if, indeed, there was any place to sling them.   In the semi-darkenss dozens of children played, and the confusion and noise may readily be imagined.   In the fetid atmosphere the passengers often went days without ventilation.   In fact in some ships the dirty bilge water of the hold seeped through the temporary flooring, while the foul-smelling cargo contributed its share to the common misery... 'multitudes who might have reached our shores in good health, came here worn out, impoverished and diseased, and never, in innumerable cases, recovered from the fatal consequences of unexpected impositions.'" --- Arnold Schrier "Irish Emigration" _Ireland and the American Emigration, 1850-1900_ pp 11-15, 66-75 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pp 34-35)  

 

2010-03-22

2010-03-22 10:46PDT (13:46EDT) (17:46GMT)
_Cumberland PA Sentinel_/_Lee_
Platts, Shuster voted against national socialist health care perversion bill, Boyd voted for it
Chuck DeVore statement:
"Chuck DeVore, California Assemblyman and candidate for United States Senate, issued this statement upon the U.S. House of Representatives's narrow passage of the Obamacare bill: The passage of this phony health-care 'reform' is a tremendous blow to the cause of fiscal restraint, limited government, Constitutional principles, and free enterprise.   In short, it strikes directly at America's core principles.   This is shameful moment in the history of our country -- and especially the Democratic Party, which has apparently come unmoored from whatever remaining attachment it had to the ideals of our Founders.   In place of a dedication to 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,' there is only a rapacious impulse to ever-expanded state control, and an avaricious imperative to seize ever-more of your rightful possessions.   The Democrats are beyond reason.   They are beyond appeals to common sense and patriotism.   The corrupt milieu that produced President Barack Obama has metastasized and seated itself in Washington, DC -- and we saw it on full display in the razor-thin passage of this health-care 'reform'.   Every trick, every pressure, every shameless deal was done.   Down to perverting the rules of the American Congress, the Democrats stopped at nothing...   When Americans vote this fall, they'll vote for candidates who stood strong against Obamacare from the start -- and who will overturn it once in office.   In California, I am the only U.S. Senate candidate of either party who fits that bill.   I've been speaking out against the government take-over of American healthcare since the President first mentioned it.   There are so many simple steps we could take to make healthcare more affordable, more accessible, and more efficient -- without expanding the reach and control of the federal government.   They include, but are not limited to: Allowing interstate competition between health-care plans.   Revising the tax code to reward and encourage purchases of coverage and health-care saving.   Curtailing junk law-suits that drive up health-care costs -- and not coincidentally, line the pockets of Democratic contributors.   Attack fraud in medical billing.   Encourage a restructuring of American health insurance toward an individual-policy market rather than an employer-mandate system.   Obamacare accomplishes none of these goals."

2010-03-22
William Tucker _American Spectator_
Health-Care Perversion will only succeed in bankrupting the country and reducing liberty (ObummerDoesn'tCare)

2010-03-22
_EU Times_
World mourns as communist darkness falls upon America

2010-03-22 13:33:30PDT (16:33:30EDT) (20:33:30GMT)
Jordan Robertson _San Jose CA Mercury News_/_AP_
Intel CEO Paul Otellini pay package $14.4M for 2009, up 16%

2010-03-22
Marisa Lopez-Rivera _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Salaries for mid-level administrators no longer rising excessively
"[The Chronicle's notions of 'mid-level' are a bit strange.]   Among midlevel administrators, head football coaches at doctoral institutions continue to earn the most, with a median salary of $236,630.   Men's basketball head coaches at the doctoral-institution level earned $215K.   The highest- and lowest-paid positions, averaged among all types of institutions, remained unchanged from last year.   Staff physicians came out on top, with median salaries of $130,287.   Security guards earned the least, at $27,563."

2010-03-22 16:47PDT (19:47EDT) (23:47GMT)
Patrick Thibodeau _ComputerWorld_/_IDG_
After health care perversion enactment, low-skill immigration debate quickly returns

2010-03-22
Bill Snyder _ComputerWorld_/_IDG_
What are your "broad-band" speeds?
"In my case, AT&T tells me that I'm entitled to upload speeds of 'up to' 3 Mbps and down-load speeds of 'up to' 384 Kbps.   What do I have?   Down-load speeds that average about 15% slower depending on the time of day, and up-load speeds that are more or less as promised.   You can do the math as well I can.   A big file, such as a back-up or a photo album that takes 120 minutes to down-load at 3 Mbps, takes an extra 17 minutes at 2.5 Mbps, my actual download speed.   OK, so maybe that's not the biggest deal in the world, but why should I burn up an extra 17 minutes when I thought I was paying to avoid that?   And as I found out, I'm lucky.   Many consumers get just 50% of the speed they thought they purchased... '96% of the country has 2 or fewer choices for broadband -- the cable provider and the phone company.', says Chris Riley, policy counsel for Freepress, a non-partisan advocacy group."

2010-03-22 (5770 Nisan 07)
Yossi Klein HaLevi _Jewish World Review_
Was Obama's confrontation with Israel pre-meditated? (with cartoon)
Yaakov Kirschen: Dry Bones: The Response

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "in the last 2 decades of the 19th century [1800s] 1M Italians sailed for America, and 3M more in the first 2 decades of the 20th century [1901-1920].   Farms were left without workers, and villages without people.   Yet the ideal of the average emigrant was to fill his pockets with American dollars and return to buy a house or a farm or at least to die in his native land.   Hundreds of thousands of them did so, and Italy was faced with a returnee problem as well as with an emigrant problem." --- George R. Gilkey 1976 "The United States and Italy: Migration and Repatriation" _The Journal of Developing Areas_ vol2 pp23-35 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 44)  

 

2010-03-23

1775-03-23: Patrick Henry delivered his "Give Me Liberty" speech to the Virginia assembly meeting in St. John's church, Richmond, VA (best known as reconstructed by William Wirt).   What a sharp contrast with today's National Socialist Health Care Perversion bill (ObummerDoesn'tCare; hat-tip to Herman Cain) signing!

2010-03-23
_Dubuque IA Telegraph Herald_
Dubuque struggles on
"Dubuque Mayor Roy Buol... [said] 'The lay-offs, unemployment, under-employment and foreclosures that dominated the national head-lines have also made our local head-lines, impacting at its peak the livelihood of approximately 3,200 area citizens through business closures, lay-offs and consolidations...   25 of the 29 businesses located in the Dubuque Technology Park and the Dubuque Industrial Center West were the relocations and expansions of Dubuque's local businesses.'"

2010-03-23
James Carlini _Wisconsin Technology News_
Job cut tsunami hits Elgin IL school district U-46

2010-03-23
Yaakov Kirschen _Dry Bones Web Log_
Occupied Territories

2010-03-23 (5770 Nisan 08)
Heather Robinson _Jewish World Review_
AIPAC conference in DC looking like Oslo all over again

2010-03-23 (5770 Nisan 08)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
A Point of No Return?
"With the passage of the legislation allowing the federal government to take control of the medical care system of the United States, a major turning point has been reached in the dismantling of the values and institutions of America.   Even the massive transfer of crucial decisions from millions of doctors and patients to Washington bureaucrats and advisory panels -- as momentous as that is -- does not measure the full impact of this largely unread and certainly unscrutinized legislation.   If the current legislation does not entail the transmission of all our individual medical records to Washington, it will take only an administrative regulation or, at most, an Executive Order of the President, to do that.   With politicians now having not only access to our most confidential records, and having the power of granting or withholding medical care needed to sustain ourselves or our loved ones, how many people will be bold enough to criticize our public servants, who will in fact have become our public masters?...   The corrupt manner in which this massive legislation was rammed through Congress, without any of the committee hearings or extended debates that most landmark legislation has had, has provided a roadmap for pushing through more such sweeping legislation in utter defiance of what the public wants...   The voters will have had no experience with the actual, concrete effect of the government takeover of medical care at the time of either the 2010 Congressional elections or the 2012 Presidential elections.   All they will have will be conflicting rhetoric -- and you can depend on the mainstream media to go along with the rhetoric of those who passed this medical care bill.   The ruthless and corrupt way this bill was forced through Congress on a party-line vote, and in defiance of public opinion, provides a road map for how other 'historic' changes can be imposed by Obama, Pelosi and Reid.   What will it matter if Obama's current approval rating is below 50% among the current voting public, if he can ram through new legislation to create millions of new voters by granting citizenship to illegal immigrants? That can be enough to make him a two-term President, who can appoint enough Supreme Court justices to rubber-stamp further extensions of his power.   When all these newly minted citizens are rounded up on election night by ethnic organization activists and labor union supporters of the administration, that may be enough to salvage the Democrats' control of Congress as well.   The last opportunity that current American citizens may have to determine who will control Congress may well be the election in November of this year.   Off-year elections don't usually bring out as many voters as Presidential election years.   But the 2010 election may be the last chance to halt the dismantling of America.   It can be the point of no return."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "The total returning to all of Italy from the United States between 1902, when such figures were first compiled, and the march on Rome [1922-10-30] was about 1.9M.   Additional thousands returned during the halcyon days of Fascism." --- George R. Gilkey 1976 "The United States and Italy: Migration and Repatriation" _The Journal of Developing Areas_ vol2 pp23-35 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 45)  

 

2010-03-24

2010-03-24
Peter Barry Chowka _American Thinker_
John Dingell confessed that the goal of the National Socialist Health Care Perversion scheme has always been to control the people (ObummerDoesn'tCare)
Heritage Foundation
Breitbart
Alex Jones: InfoWars
NewsVine
Las Vegas NV Review Journal
Alabama Live
BeltWay Blips
US Message Board
Kerry Picket: Washington Times
United Liberty
WJR Detroit MI
"Let me remind you this has been going on for years.   We are bringing it to a halt.   The harsh fact of the matter is when you're going to pass legislation that will cover 300 [million] American people in different ways it takes a long time to do the necessary administrative steps that have to be taken to put the legislation together to control the people."

2010-03-24
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Leftism is about POWER
Barun S. Mita: Wall Street Journal: UN IPCC's warmist propaganda is only the latest excuse to expand government power

2010-03-24
Marc Rotterman _American Spectator_
Beware the emboldened flaming radical leftists

2010-03-24
Amanda Paulson & Stacy Teicher Khadaroo _Christian Science Monitor_
NAEP reading scores up for 8th-graders, not for 4th-graders
Charleston WV Daily Mail/AP
Petty Walsh-Sarnecki: Detroit Free Press
Rapid City SD Journal
Minneapolis MN Star-Tribune
Arne Duncan: US Secretary of Educationism
Jim Warren: Lexington KY Herald-Leader
Staci Hupp: DesMoines IA Register
Staunton VA News-Leader/Gannett
Springfield MO News-Leader
Austin American-Statesman
Kristina Torres: Atlanta GA Journal-Constitution
Tony Bennett: Inside Indiana Business
"For most of the past decade, elementary school students have made steady progress on reading, math, and other subjects, while eighth-graders and high-schoolers have shown more mixed performance.   Between 2007 and 2009, 4th grade reading scores are flat and 8th grade scores were up just one point.   Most achievement gaps -- between whites and blacks, whites and Hispanics, boys and girls, public school and private school students, and low-income students and their middle- or upper-income peers -- also remained unchanged compared with 2007 and with 1992, when NAEP was first administered.   The black-white gap for fourth-graders and the male-female gap for eighth-graders have narrowed some since 1992...   In the national snapshot of eighth-grade reading, 32% reached 'proficient' (the target for the grade level) or higher in 2009.   Among fourth-graders, a third scored at least proficient, while 67% reached the 'basic' level...   The persistent reading gap for boys, coupled with girls' higher rates of high school and college graduation, raises concerns that 'something is happening with boys that's holding them back in school', says Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Education Policy, a research group in Washington that recently released a state-by-state gender gap report...   In WV, 22% of public school eighth-graders achieved 'proficient' or 'advanced' scores in 2009, compared to 23% in 2007; and 26% of fourth-graders achieved at least proficient scores, compared to 28% in 2007.   Michigan 4th-graders averaged 218, slightly below the national average and Michigan's 2007 averate of 220; and MI 8th-graders matched the national average 262, up from 260 in 2007.   At the 8th grade level, South Dakota's average scale score in 2009 was 270, compared to the national average of 262.   Only 3 states or jurisdictions scored higher, 9 scored about the same, and 39 had lower scores than South Dakota.   At the 4th grade level, South Dakota's average scale score was 222, compared to the national average of 220, while 14 states or jurisdictions scored higher, 16 scored about the same, and 21 had lower scores than South Dakota.   Minnesota scores made no significant change.   KY students exceeded the national average on the reading test for 2009.   Kentucky fourth graders's score for 2009 was 226 compared to a national average of 220 for that grade.   The state's eighth graders; score was 267, compared to a national average of 262.   The test is graded on scale of 0 to 500.   Iowa ranked 27th for fourth-grade reading results in 2009 with an average score 221, down from 225 two years earlier; and 28th in the nation for eighth-grade reading results, with average score 265, down from 267 two years earlier.   Virginia's average grade-four score in reading of 227 was 7 points higher than the average score of 220 for the South and the nation; and the VA average grade-eight score in reading of 266 was 5 points higher than the average for the South and 3 points higher than the average for the nation.   The average scale score for Missouri eighth-graders in 2009 was 267, and the 2007 score was 263; while MO 4th-graders averaged 224 compared to a 2007 score of 221.   Texas' fourth-grade students earned a score of 219, down a point from 2007.   African-American fourth graders earned a score of 213, which is statistically significantly higher than the score of 204 posted by African-American students across the country.   Hispanic Texans earned the 19th highest score with a scale score of 210, which was significantly higher than the 204 earned by Hispanics nationally.   The highest scoring ethnic group in Texas was Asian/Pacific Islanders who received an average scale score of 242, compared to a national average of 234.   According to a report released Wednesday morning, 63% of Georgia's fourth-graders scored at basic proficiency or better, compared with 66% of students nationally.   For the state's eighth-graders, 72% scored at basic proficiency or better, compared with 74% nationally.   Between 2005 and 2009, both grades gained 5 percentage points respectively.   30% of Indiana's 4th-graders and 21% of our 8th-graders were unable to demonstrate a Basic level of understanding as defined by NAEP.   IN 4th-graders averaged 223 and 8th-graders 266. Florida's fourth graders gained 18 points from 1992 to 2009, compared to 2 points gained by Indiana's fourth graders."
NAEP site

2010-03-24
Donna Conroy _Huffington Post_
Going Political
"As the US pays dearly to educate science and technology graduates, universities continue to over-produce them for jobs these industries can't create.   Meanwhile, a global tech junta secretly carries out its 'Dirty War' -- 20 years now -- against American scientific and technical professionals, continually inventing domestic laws to disappear us.   The stories are overwhelming: tech professionals experience massive layoffs only to discover later that their boss recruited the year before -- to fill their job from over-seas.   In 2009 MSFT, Intel, Ernst & Young, and Goldman Sachs have all increased their hiring abroad for U.S. job openings, even as they laid-off thousands at home.   These reprehensible practices are perfectly legal through corporate visa programs.   Mischaracterized by belt-way insiders as guest-worker programs, this misnomer camouflages the ugly truth: these visas are for [executives and immigration lawyers] -- not workers.   As modern-day hobos, IT professionals ride the airlines for jobs lasting only 3-6 months.   They comb through job sites, [disgusted] by 'H-1b Only Want Ads' for jobs that won't be available for 8 to 10 months.   Even government contractors can be found soliciting abroad.   As recruiting is increasingly off-shored to India, we now face insulting and comical ads like 'No Arrogant Americans Need Apply' -- for job openings in Chicago.   Corporate visa laws, written by lobbyists, have digitally re-mastered Jim Crow.   According to the DoL's Strategic Plan, Fiscal Years 2006-2011, '...H-1b workers may be hired even when a qualified U.S. worker wants the job, and a U.S. worker can be displaced from the job in favor of the foreign worker.'...   The tech junta even disappear our children's math and science performance.   American 4th and 8th graders matched their classmates in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands in the latest round of TIMMS, the prestigious international test.   But India and [Red China], the 2 countries where tech companies recruit most from, don't participate in TIMMS.   Silicon Valley now has fewer Black, Hispanic and female IT professionals than in 2000, despite Black Computer Science graduates essentially reaching parity in 2006; no longer can they be dismissed as an 'under-represented minority'."

2010-03-24
"Wanda" _ResistNet_
Roy Beck of NumbersUSA was assaulted
"Roy Beck was criminally assaulted Sunday, March 21, on Washington's National Mall by opponents of free speech coordinated by the Service Employees International Union.   Roy was there to cover the pro-amnesty march.   S.E.I.U. is the pro-illegal immigration union connected in media accounts with political intimidation and assaults in recent years.   What happened Sunday continues S.E.I.U.'s and its allies' months-long strategy of dogging Roy's every public appearance, trying to shout him down or hounding event organizers to bar him from speaking.   We have never tried to deny them their freedom of speech.   But this time the S.E.I.U. went much further.   It sent a team of 'mimes' and S.E.I.U. employees to stalk, push, shove, harass and whistle down Roy and his TV crew for several hours.   It was very aggressive, including incitement of the crowd toward violence.   Roy filed criminal assault charges against the mimes and their S.E.I.U. organizers, who spent hours trying to block our web-cast.   (All of this can be seen and heard on the homepage of NumbersUSA.com.)"
SEIU Showed Itself a Pro At Sunday March in Silencing Debate -- Mime's Audio Is One Proof
"The Battle of the Mimes looks pretty silly in many ways.   But beneath the makeup and balloons, the SEIU's 'silencing campaign' on Sunday showed a lot about the ability and willingness of one of the biggest money/muscle partners of the pro-amnesty forces to use well-orchestrated intimidation to keep debate from happening...   The young woman/mime who brought the false charges against my body guard now acknowledges in an on-line audio interview that she was part of an elaborate effort to keep any conversation from happening...   This non-stop slandering, libeling, intimidating presence by the open-borders groups has become common nearly every place NumbersUSA appears now.   The open-borders groups have an incredible fear of NumbersUSA's grassroots mobilizing influence.   They are expending large sums of foundation money that is targeted specifically at attacking us and some of our allies.   But the difference when the open-borders agitators show up at events where I have been invited to speak is that I give them the floor or microphone and let them say their piece and ask their questions (make their accusations)...   However, unlike when they attend my events, I had announced widely beforehand that we had no intention of disrupting anything and were just going to interview marchers willing to be interviewed.   But the SEIU plan was to create incredible commotion every place I went -- and then, of course, blame us for the commotion.   As you can see from the videos, my conversations with marchers in all but one case had the audible level of a pin drop at that event.   The SEIU and Center for New Community theatre was so intent on trying to provoke an outbreak that it succeeded in drowning out most of the homilies and prayers during the interfaith religious service that led off the event.   I was standing perhaps 50 feet from the clerics just trying to listen to the worship service.   This so enraged the march organizers that they incited scores of people around me to start explosive chants to accompany their whistle blowing so that virtually nobody in the front section could hear anything being said during the prayers right there in front of us.   But as much as the SEIU didn't want me to hear the religious leaders, it REALLY didn't want me to hear voices from the overwhelmingly Latino crowd.   As you saw in our live video feeds on Sunday and will see in short videos we will be posting, the SEIU and Center for New Community 'silencers' totally bewildered one Latino marcher after another who sought to talk to us but were shouted and whistled down by the Silencers."
Pro-Security March for America
"More than 7K of you signed up to visit the home offices of more than 400 Members of Congress last Friday.   More than 8K of you responded to our request for you to make phone calls into the DC offices of all 535 Members of Congress on Monday.   More than 90K came onto our website on Sunday while we were web-casting our interviews and coverage of the pro-amnesty march.   Our computerized telecommunication system processed 149,216 faxes into Congress during the Friday through Monday period."

2010-03-24 15:36PDT (18:36EDT) (22:36GMT)
_Cumberland PA Sentinel_/_Lee_
Franklin & Marshall college poll: 58% say PA government is going the wrong direction

2010-03-24
_Wisconsin Technology News_/_eWeek_
Tech companies willfully violating H-1B laws
Donald E. Sears: eWeek

2010-03-24
_2010 ComIntern_
Congress-Critters Exempted Their Cadillac Plan from Unconstitutional National Socialist Health Care Perversion (ObummerDoesn'tCare): HR3590 substitute as enGrossed and enrolled
"SEC. 10104. AMENDMENTS TO SUBTITLE D.
 
(q) Part IV of subtitle D of title I of this Act is amended by adding at the end the following:
'SEC. 1334. MULTI-STATE PLANS.
 
'(g) CONTINUED SUPPORT FOR FEHBP.—
(1) MAINTENANCE OF EFFORT.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit the Director to allocate fewer financial or personnel resources to the functions of the Office of Personnel Management related to the administration of the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program under chapter 89 of title 5, United States Code.
(2) SEPARATE RISK POOL.—Enrollees in multi-State qualified health plans under this section shall be treated as a separate risk pool apart from enrollees in the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program under chapter 89 of title 5, United States Code.
(3) AUTHORITY TO ESTABLISH SEPARATE ENTITIES.—The Director may establish such separate units or offices within the Office of Personnel Management as the Director determines to be appropriate to ensure that the administration of multi-State qualified health plans under this section does not interfere with the effective administration of the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program under chapter 89 of title 5, United States Code...
 
(6) FEHBP PLANS NOT REQUIRED TO PARTICIPATE.—
Nothing in this section shall require that a carrier offering coverage under the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program under chapter 89 of title 5, United States Code, also offer a multi-State qualified health plan under this section.'"

2010-03-24 (5770 Nisan 09)
Warren P. Strobel _Jewish World Review_
Bibi Netanyahu won't be bullied about building in the 'burbs

2010-03-24 (5770 Nisan 09)
Rabbi Doctor Asher Meir _Jewish World Review_
Of rights and sites: Learning you've purchased stolen property

2010-03-24 (5770 Nisan 09)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
An Off-Budget Office?
"The numbers in the health care bill are especially smelly garbage...   What we really need — and will never get — is a Congressional Off-Budget Office.   This would be an agency that does not have to accept whatever numbers Congress sends them and pretend to take those numbers seriously.   An independent agency could add up all of the government's financial liabilities, whether they are in the official budget or not.   For example, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which guarantees bank accounts, has only a fraction of the money that it is supposed to have on hand to see that people's life savings don't get wiped out when a bank fails...   where do you think that additional money they need will come from? From [tax-victims] -- current and future."

2010-03-24 (5770 Nisan 09)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Constitutional awakening
"While the odds on favorite is that the Republicans will do well in the fall elections, Americans who want constitutional government should not see Republican control as a solution to what our founders would have called 'a long train of abuses and usurpations'.   Solutions to our nation's problems require correct diagnostics and answers to questions like: Why did 2008 presidential and congressional candidates spend over $5G campaigning for office?   Why did special interests pay Washington lobbyists over $3G that same year?   What are reasons why corporations, unions and other interest groups fork over these billions of dollars to lobbyists and into the campaign coffers of politicians?   One might say that these groups are simply extraordinarily civic-minded Americans who have a deep and abiding interest in elected officials living up to their oath of office to uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution.   Another response is these politicians, and the people who spend billions of dollars on them, just love participating in the political process.   If you believe either of these explanations, you're probably a candidate for some medicine, a straitjacket and a padded cell.   A far better explanation for the billions going to the campaign coffers of Washington politicians and lobbyist lies in the awesome government power and control over business, property, employment and other areas of our lives.   Having such power, Washington politicians are in the position to grant favors and commit acts that if committed by a private person would land him in jail...   There is no constitutional authority for two-thirds to three-quarters of what Congress does.   Our constitution's father, James Madison, explained, 'The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined... (to be) exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce.'"

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Of the estimated $2G remitted to Italy between 1901 and 1923, for example, 80% derived from the United States." --- George R. Gilkey 1976 "The United States and Italy: Migration and Repatriation" _The Journal of Developing Areas_ vol2 pp23-35 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 45)  

 

2010-03-25

2010-03-25 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
historical data
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 405,557 in the week ending March 20, a decrease of 30,447 from the previous week.   There were 590,067 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 4.1% during the week ending March 13, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 5,321,697, a decrease of 81,308 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 4.8% and the volume was 6,440,135.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, MT, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, PR, RI, SC, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, and WI during the week ending March 6...   States reported 5,558,430 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending March 6, a decrease of 329,618 from the prior week.   There were 2,094,811 claimants in the comparable week in 2009.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.
graphs
more graphs

2010-03-25
Taylor Barnes _Christian Science Monitor_
National Socialist Health Care Perversion (ObummerDoesn'tCare) is gold mine for off-shore out-sourcing firms in India
Reuters
Rama Lakshmi: Washington DC Post
Linda Evans: CNM News Network
Taylor Barnes: Yahoo!

2010-03-25
Mike Sunnucks _Phoenix AZ Business Journal_
National Socialist Health Care Perversion likely to encourage small businesses to engage in off-shore out-sourcing to avoid taxes
"The federal health reform package approved by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama requires businesses with more than 50 workers to offer health insurance to their employees, or face fines of $750 to $3K per worker each year.   That could be an incentive for companies to keep their personnel levels below 50, said attorney John Balitis, an employee compensation and benefit expert with the Phoenix law office of Fennemore Craig PC...   Small businesses could hold off on hiring a 51st worker, use more contractors, outsource jobs or set up separate entities to avoid the coverage mandates, Balitis said.   'If you're at 47 employees, you're likely to stay at 47 employees.', said Julius Hobson, a senior policy adviser with the Phoenix law office of Bryan Cave LLP."

2010-03-25 (5770 Nisan 10)
David Suissa _Jewish World Review_
Let My People Stay

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "as late as 1820 the median age of the [USA] population was only 16 years, and it was not until well into the 20th century [1900s] that the median soared above 25.   That is, it was only after preventive medicine had started to prolong the lives of the infirm, and immigration restriction had cut down on the annual influx of bachelors and young marrieds, that we first really began to feel middle-aged...   it is overwhelmingly the young, between the ages of 15 and 25, who move -- and in the first waves or pioneer phases, it is primarily young men...   Migration has perennially represented rebellion against past tyrannies or authorities, against the father no less than against the lord or priest, against the husband no less than against the father.   Thus, after the first settlements had been established, the open spaces and open opportunities of this country just invited the younger generation to leave home and strike out on their own, and the able young men accepted the invitation.   Even today it is the rare son of ability who does not insist on leaving the town where he was born to try to make his way in a larger world.   Meanwhile the pioneer women, being scarce as well as weak, found that they had inadvertently acquired a scarcity value." --- George W. Pierson 1962 Summer "The M-Factor in American History" _American Quarterly_ pp 275-289 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pp 53-54)  

 

2010-03-26

2010-03-26
professor Gerald L. Boerner
Hewlett-Packard

2010-03-26 07:29PDT (10:29EDT) (14:29GMT)
Ruth Mantell _MarketWatch_
UMich consumer sentiment index returned from 73.6 in February to 72.5 in early March to 73.6 in late March

2010-03-26 11:27:53PDT (14:27:53EDT) (18:27:53GMT)
Jordan Robertson _San Jose CA Mercury News_/_AP_
Idiot meters are major security holes, but you knew that

2010-03-26 12:16PDT (15:16EDT) (19:16GMT)
Jeffry Bartash _MarketWatch_
AT&T, Cat, Deere, Verizon anticipate huge cost increases from National Socialist Health Care Perversion statutes (ObummerDoesn'tCare)

2010-03-26
Joseph Cress _Cumberland PA Sentinel_/_Lee_
Hampden twp group sews hats and cooler ties for soldiers

2010-03-26
DJIA10,850.36
S&P 5001,166.59
NASDAQ2,395.13
Nikkei10,996
10-year US T-Bond3.853%
crude oil$80.00/barrel
gold$1,105.40/ounce
silver$16.91/ounce
platinum$1,596.00/ounce
palladium$455.30/ounce
copper$0.2125/ounce
natgas$3.93/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline $2.2085/gal
heatingoil$2.0697/gal
soybeans$9.52/bushel
maize$3.655/bushel
wheat$4.6475/bushel
dollarindex81.628
yenperdollar92.54
dollarspereuro1.3419
dollarsperpound1.4892
swissfranksperdollar 1.0655
indianrupeesperdollar 45.245
mexicanpesosperdollar 12.591
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex601.65

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "There came to the United States in the year ending 1912-06-30 a total of 1,017,155 aliens.   This is usually regaded as 1M added to our population in that year.   But it is also reported that 615,292 aliens left our shores during the same year, the net result being an addition of 401,863 persons." --- Mark Jefferson 1930 _Peopling the Argentine Pampa_ American Geographical Society Research Series #16 pp41-49 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 63)  

 

2010-03-27

2010-03-27 11:18PDT (14:18EDT) (18:18GMT)
Jill Laster _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Pages of info as in dead-tree books are easier to learn from than long scrolling windows

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "Between 1827 and 1939 immigration to the state of Sao Paulo was as follows: Italians: 945,963; Portuguese: 425,546; Spaniards: 387,117; Japanese: 186,769; Austrians: 38,122; Other nationalities: 317,747; Nationality unknown: 138,226; Total: 2,439,490" --- Emilio Willems 1951 "Immigrants and Their Assimilation in Brazil" in T. Lynn Smith & Alexander Marchant _Brazil, Portrait of Half a Continent_ pp 215-224 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 66)  

 

2010-03-28

2010-03-28
Jeffrey R. Young _Chronicle of Higher Education_
MIT physics prof David E. Pritchard found that students who copy others' home-work do poorly on exams
"While most students and professors seem to view cheating on examinations as a serious moral lapse, both groups appear more cavalier about dishonesty on home-work.   And technology has given students more tools than ever to find answers in unauthorized ways—whether down-loading on-line solution manuals or instant-messaging friends for answers.   The latest surveys by the Center for Academic Integrity found that 22% of students say they have cheated on a test or exam, but about twice as many -- 43% -- have engaged in 'unauthorized collaboration' on home-work...   He and his research team found about 50% more cheating than students reported in anonymous surveys over a period of 4 semesters.   In the first year he did his hunting, about 11% of home-work problems appeared to be copied."

2010-03-28 08:00PDT (11:00EDT) (15:00GMT)
Diane Auer Jones _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Are Women Partly to Blame for the Gender Gap in STEM Fields?
"I can tell that the report was written by academics for academics, because it considers only those who are in traditional research careers as STEM participants.   The metric by which success is measured is academic ranking in the university setting, and it is clear that the authors, without any solid empirical evidence to substantiate this claim, believe that if we just had more women in the senior academic ranks, more girls would pursue engineering and computer science majors and careers."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "The participation of immigrants in the process of indusrialization may be demonstrated by a sample taken from the statistical year-book of Sao Paulo.   Out of 714 industrial enterprises of various sizes, 521 were owned by immigrants or descendants of immigrants, as they names of the proprietors clearly showed.   Important changes also occurred among the immigrant families who remained in the rural areas.   Many of them rose from the status of farm laborers to that of independent farmers.   In some regions this change was associated with the breaking up of large estates into smaller holdings which could be acquired at low cost by the immigrants who were interested in gaining their economic independence.   This meant the dispersion of cultural groups which formerly clung together in plantation villages... they found it more difficult to preserve Old World traits." --- Emilio Willems 1951 "Immigrants and Their Assimilation in Brazil" in T. Lynn Smith & Alexander Marchant _Brazil, Portrait of Half a Continent_ pp 215-224 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 67)  

 

2010-03-29

2010-03-29 08:29:49PDT (11:29:49EDT) (15:29:49GMT)
_San Jose CA Mercury News_/_AP_
Ericsson signs $1.8G in deals in Red China

2010-03-29
Lawrence Auster _American Nation_
America Sundered by leftists' craving for power vs. those striving for a return to the US constitution... or better

2010-03-29 09:56PDT (12:56EDT) (16:56GMT)
Gene C. Fant _Chronicle of Higher Education_
An Ever-Expanding Glut of Talent

2010-03-29
Peter Bright _Ars Technica_
government & certificate authorities conspire to spy on SSL users: a recently discovered hardware device, for sale to law-enforcement agencies

2010-03-29
Michael Osinski _NY Magazine_
My Manhattan Project: How I helped build the bomb that blew up Wall Street
Software News Daily
The Take-Away
Doctor Housing Bubble discussion

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "That Japanese immigration to Brazil is quite recent has often been overlooked.   It began only in 1908, when immigration from European countries was already declining, and reached its apex after 1930 when European immigration had almost entirely ceased.   Of the 186,769 Japanese who entered Sao Paulo, 101,666 came after 1930, 57,164 between 1920 and 1930, and only 27,939 arrived prior to 1920.   Of couse, the Japanese culture differs much more from the native one than any European culture and therefore assimilation requires more time.   In addition, the immigration from this Eastern empire occurred at a time when a growing nationalism bound the Japanese immigrants closely to their homeland.   Yet, quite contrary to what some too-hasty observers have asserted, the Japanese could not isolate themselves, as the Germans and others were compelled to do in the South.   No matter how stubbornly they tried to concentrate, everywhere they constituted only small minorities in the municipios in which they were established." --- Emilio Willems 1951 "Immigrants and Their Assimilation in Brazil" in T. Lynn Smith & Alexander Marchant _Brazil, Portrait of Half a Continent_ pp 215-224 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pp 71-72)  

 

2010-03-30

2010-03-30
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Fed and government debt are origin of economic bubbles

2010-03-30
Patrick Thibodeau _ComputerWorld_
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pratt suppressing evidence in H-1B visa fraud case against Vision Systems Group Inc.
Roy Mark: eWeek

2010-03-30
_Conference Board_
Consumer Confidence Index rebounded in March
Fox
USA Today/Gannett
"Consumers' assessment of current-day conditions was less negative in March.   Those claiming conditions are 'bad' decreased to 42.8% from 45.1%, while those claiming business conditions are 'good' increased to 8.6% from 6.8 percent.   Consumers' assessment of the labor market was also less pessimistic.   Those saying jobs are 'hard to get' declined to 45.8% from 47.3%, while those saying jobs are 'plentiful' increased to 4.4% from 4.0%."

2010-03-30
Boonsri Dickinson _SmartPlanet_/_Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
Electromagnetic field may be abused to impair moral judgement
"The part of your brain, behind your right ear determines what you consider good and bad choices -- and furthermore, these moral judgments can be altered by a magnet...   When the subjects in the study were put under the influence of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), their reasoning was based on knowing the outcome of the event regardless of the possible harm in getting there."

2010-03-30 (5770 Nisan 15)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
"Change" Is Not New
"Science is a method of analysis, rather than simply a set of conclusions.   In fact, much of the history of science is a history of having to abandon the prevailing conclusions among scientists, in light of new evidence or new methods of analysis."

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "The resistance to Asians springs apparently from the actions of Japanese fifth columnists in Brazil and Peru during World War2, the impression made by Indian indentured laborers brought to British and Dutch possessions in the Caribbean area between 1840 and 1917, and from the competitive advantages gained by Chinese merchants in Panama, Cuba, and other countries." --- Anthony T. Bouscaren 1962 December "Latin American in International Migrations" _REMP Bulletin_ vol10 #4 pp 109-113 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 76)  

 

2010-03-31

2010-03-31
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
What Socialism Is

2010-03-31
Robert Cringely
A Tale of Two H-1Bs

2010-03-31
_Centrist web log_
23K American jobs lost this month "unexpectedly": Geithner says USA on "verge" of "sustained period of job creation"

++ S887; Durbin, Grassley; H-1B and L-1 visa program reform
Status of S877
+++ S2804; Sanders; Employ Americans: prohibit firms who lay off large numbers of capable US citizens from making use of guest-work visas
more of what congress-critters are up to
 
 

  "The chief immigrant-receiving countries are Venezuela, Brazil, and Argentina, in that order.   Since 1952, immigration to Latin America has been on the decline.   Between 1956 and 1958, Venezuela averaged 60K immigrants each year, almost all from Spain, Italy, and Portugal.   In the same period, Brazil averaged 48K immigrants, and Argentina 22K, in both cases almost all from Spain, Italy and Portugal.   But these are gross-immigration figures.   In Venezuela, only 1 out of 3 immigrants remains permanently; whereas 65K immigrants entered Venezuela in 1956, nearly 47K left.   Venequela's more than 100K immigrants were supposed to help augment agricultural production, but they have tended to drift from land projects into the cities." --- Anthony T. Bouscaren 1962 December "Latin American in International Migrations" _REMP Bulletin_ vol10 #4 pp 109-113 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 77)  

 
 



Proposed Bills 2010


Congressional candidate fund-raising, expenditures, and debt
 

USA Over-Population Clock
World + USA Over-Population Clocks
Jimbo Wales's WikiPedia on World Over-Population
 

  "Actually, although Brazil claims that it encourages immigration, the country has not admitted a higher proportion of immigrants than the United States.   Australia, proportionately, takes in 17 times as many immigrants as Brazil, and Argentina 6 times as many.   Ladame believes that Brazil could absorb between 100K and 150K immigrants annualy, although he admits that most observers are less 'optimistic' than he...   Latin America can probably provide asylum for some 25K refugees per year." --- Anthony T. Bouscaren 1962 December "Latin American in International Migrations" _REMP Bulletin_ vol10 #4 pp 109-113 (quoted in Franklin D. Scott 1968 _World Migration in Modern Times_ pg 78)  

Movies Coming Soon
 

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