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updated: 2019-01-08
 

"He, therefore, who is now against domestic manufacture, must be for reducing us either to dependence on that foreign nation, or to be clothed in skins, and to live like wild beasts in dens and caverns.   I am not one of these; experience has taught me that manufactures are now as necessary to our independence as to our comfort; and if those who quote me as of a different opinion, will keep pace with me in purchasing nothing foreign where an equivalent of domestic fabric can be obtained, without regard to difference of price, it will not be our fault if we do not soon have a supply at home equal to our demand, and wrest that weapon of distress from the hand which has wielded it." --- Thomas Jefferson 1816-01-09 to Benjamin Austin (_The Letters of Thomas Jefferson: 1743-1826_)

 
 

2010 May

U	M	T	W	R	F	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

 

ז  זְכֹר יְמוֹת עוֹלָם, בִּינוּ שְׁנוֹת דֹּר-וָדֹר;  {ס}  שְׁאַל אָבִיךָ וְיַגֵּדְךָ, זְקֵנֶיךָ וְיֹאמְרוּ לָךְ. Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations; ask thy father, and he will declare unto thee, thine elders, and they will tell thee. -- Deuteronomy/Debrim 32:7

 
 

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

2010-05-01

2010-05-01
_Wall Street Journal_
The Big Alienation: Uncontrolled borders and ports and DC's lack of self-control
"We have an open, 2K-mile border to our south [another 4,600-mile border to our north], and the entity with the power to enforce the law and impose safety and order will not do it...   It is not that no one's in control.   Washington is full of people who insist they're in control and who go to great lengths to display their power.   It's that no one takes responsibility and authority.   Washington daily delivers to the people two stark and utterly conflicting messages: 'We control everything.', and 'You're on your own.'"

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-02

2010-05-02 00:00PDT (03:00EDT) (07:00GMT)
Sue McAllister _San Jose CA Mercury News_
Apartment rents creeping up again in Sili Valley (with graph)
"The average monthly rent for all types of apartments in large complexes climbed to $1,510 in Santa Clara County, up nearly 2% from $1,482 in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to a report from RealFacts.   The company, which tracks rents and occupancy rates in apartment complexes of at least 50 units, said San Mateo County's average rent inched up to $1,636 from $1,628, an increase of half a percent.   Despite the slight increases, rents are still lower than in the first quarter of 2009, when Santa Clara County's average was $1,613, and San Mateo County's was $1,741...   Large complexes in Santa Clara County were 95.5% occupied last quarter, up from 94.7% in the fourth quarter of 2009.   In San Mateo, the occupancy rate went from 94.6% to 95.2%.   Landlords generally believe they can raise rents when their properties are at least 95% full.   The recent peak for occupancy in both counties was in the first half of 2008, at 96.5%.   Rents in Los Angeles/Long Beach/Santa Ana, with an average monthly rent of $1,536, were the most expensive of the 41 metropolitan areas nationwide surveyed by RealFacts.   The San Jose and San Francisco metro areas tied for second with average monthly rents of $1,513."

2010-05-02
Jan Falstad _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
American entrepreneurs thinking outside the big box: _The Distribution Trap: Keeping Your Innovations from Becoming Commodities_
"The problem is that the megastores demand for lower and lower prices from suppliers can sap their profits and force them to abandon the integrity of their brand, Wilkinson said.   'The producer can be working his heart out trying to meet high-volume shipments, but the profits are mostly going to the megastores.', he said.   Under relentless pressure to cut prices, a manufacturer often has no choice but to move production over-seas, they argue...   'That's why Americans have closets full of cheap clothes and basements and garages full of half-broken things, while Europeans are happy to have three or four well-made outfits in their closet.', he said.   Examples in the book of once-thriving companies that lost their advantage after turning their sales over to megastores include Goodyear Tire and Rubber, which once sold only its own tires in 1K stores; Levi Strauss & Co.; and Rubbermaid.   But there are many corporate winners who have avoided the distribution trap, Wilkinson said.   'The company we are in awe of is Apple Computers.', he said.   'They seem to have gotten this thing figured out.'...   From the producer's stand-point, the best place to be is a brand-name product with high quality and a higher price.   That's where the big profits lie...   Natural Baby's Ormsby, who was just named Montana's Small Business Person of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration, said the U.S. textile industry has virtually disappeared in this global economy, and it will take years to get it back, if it ever comes back."

2010-05-02
John Curran _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
On the border in Vermont

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-03

2010-05-03
_iStockAnalyst_
64 US banks have failed in 2010
Stephen Grocer: Wall Street Journal: Friday's bank closures cost $7G (with graph)
"This brings the total number of bank failures to
64 so far in 2010, compared to
140 in 2009,
25 in 2008 and
3 in 2007."
0 in 2006,
0 in 2005,
4 in 2004,
3 in 2003,
11 in 2002,
4 in 2001,
7 in 2000,
8 in 1999,
3 in 1998,
1 in 1997,
6 in 1996,
8 in 1995,
15 in 1994,
50 in 1993,
179 in 1992,
268 in 1991,
381 in 1990,
531 in 1989,
232 in 1988,
217 in 1987,
162 in 1986,
139 in 1985,
83 in 1984,
50 in 1983,
34 in 1982,
9 in 1981,
10 in 1980,
10 in 1979,
7 in 1978,
5 in 1977,
16 in 1976,
13 in 1975,
4 in 1974,
6 in 1973,
1 in 1972,
6 in 1971,
7 in 1970
FDIC

2010-05-03
Nicholas Kolakowski _eWeek_
H-1B, L-1 Visa Program Perversions Proposed by Leftist Congress-Critters
Erika Lovley & Marin Cogan: Politico: No VIP visas for fashion models
Megan Baldwin: Styleite
"'This proposal also adds fraud and abuse protections for existing temporary high-skilled work visas.', the document reads.   'It will amend current law regarding H-1B employer application requirements to: (1) revise wage determination requirements; (2) require Internet posting and description of employment positions; (3) lengthen U.S. worker displacement protection: (4) apply certain requirements to all H-1B employers rather than only to H-1B dependent employers; (5) prohibit employer advertising that makes a position available only to, or gives priority to, H-1B [non-immigrants]; and (6) limit the number of H-1B and L-1 employees that an employer of 50 or more workers in the United States may hire.'"
cd-100428-rsm-bill-outline-draft: Reid-Schumer-Menendez draft (pdf)

2010-05-03
Dany Hakim & Nina Bernstein _NY Times_
NY governor Paterson plans to give out more pardons to reduce deportations

2010-05-03
Steve Adcock _Small Government Times_
Ron Paul leads charge to halt congressional pay raise; 44% in congress are millionaires
Matt Canham: Salt Lake UT Tribune
Kathy Kiely: USA Today
Kansas City Star/McClatchy
Mary McNamara: Macon GA Telegraph/McClatchy
Shore News Today
C. Benjamin Ford: Baltimore Gazette
Cape Cod Today
"For the third consecutive year, Congressional pay raises have been halted due in part to a charge lead by representative Ron Paul and Arizona representative Harry Mitchell, arguing that Congressional pay raises are not appropriate while Americans continue to struggle.   'We should not be padding our pocketbooks when our constituents are still tightening their belts and losing their jobs.', stated Ron Paul.   'As well, we could continue with this symbolic first step and stop increasing taxes, expanding the federal budget, and spreading our military so thin.   These additional measures would do much to begin our economic recovery.'   The move will save American [tax-victims] $850K next year.   The base pay for members of Congress stands at $174K with Congressional leaders earning more.   House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earns $223,500."

2010-05-03
Kurt Brouwer _MarketWatch_
Long-term unemployment is soaring (with graph)
graphs

2010-05-03
Katherine Mangan _Chronicle of Higher Education_
AAUP criticizes U of TX Medical Branch at Galveston over lay-offs after massive hurricane losses
"After the catastrophic storm caused more than $710M in losses to the medical branch, the institution declared financial exigency in laying off more than 2,400 employees, including [131] faculty members. Some of those employees were later rehired."

2010-05-03
Dana Barfield
Unemployment -- Causes and Consequences

2010-05-03
William L. Anderson
Wages and Unemployment

2010-05-03
_Dice_
Dice Report: 69,070 job ads

2010-05-03 (5770 Iyar 19)
Jonathan Tobin _Jewish World Review_
Is Obama winning his war on Jerusalem?

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-04

2010-05-04
Andrew Zarowny _Right Pundits_
Apolitical Statists

2010-05-04
Chuck Sweeny _Rockford IL Register Star_
Janesville's Ryan makes gesture toward balanced federal government budget
American Road-Map

2010-05-04
Frank Hill _Family Security Matters_
Exclusive News-Flash: Leftists Don't Trust the Free Enterprise System

2010-05-04
John Schmid _Milwaukee WI Journal Sentinel_/_McClatchy_/_American Chronicle_
Back-log of patents still stifling potential jobs
"'Hundreds of thousands of ground-breaking innovations that are sitting on the shelf literally waiting to be examined -- jobs not being created, life-saving drugs not going to the market-place, companies not being funded, businesses not being formed -- there's really not any good news in any of this.', Kappos said during a panel discussion at the annual trade show of the Biotechnology Industry Organization."

2010-05-04
Ledyard King _Palm Springs CA Desert Sun_
Congress-critters spent $45M on franking to send propaganda to constituent/victims

2010-05-04
Ian Cowie _London Telegraph_
Workers' fear drives over-time work for no pay... and a creative solution
"Out of 2K people questioned, 23% said they were working longer than they ever had done before and only 41% are paid any extra for doing so.   About 1 in 8 or 13% said they work at least 11 hours over-time each week.   Men clocked up a third more over-time than women; probably because women do more work around the home...   The bank's research is in line with earlier findings from the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) which estimated that 5.5M people work more than 7 hours a week unpaid over-time.   Managers did most, followed by teachers...   according to the Office for National Statistics which reports that Britain's productivity levels -- in terms of economic output per worker -- are lower than those of America, France and even Italy...   'American-run companies, even those based in the UK, are much more productive.   Their managers use information technology more productively, and they tend to be more flexible with things like allowing people to work from home, or giving them time off if their child is sick.'"

2010-05-04
Robert Scheer _TruthDig_
Times Square would-be fire-bomber was F, H-1B grantee, naturalized citizen: Is path to citizenship too easy?
Andrea Stone: AOL
The Week
Omaha NE World-Herald
James Barron & Michael S. Schmidt: NY Times
Mark Mazetti, Sabrina Tavernise & Jack Healy: NY Times
Nina Bernstein: NY Times
Wall Street Journal
Michelle Malkin: Town Hall
Michelle Malkin: V Dare
Michelle Malkin: Patriot Post
Michelle Malkin: Jewish World Review
"In 1998 December he was granted an F-1 student visa.   Immigration officials noted then that there was 'no derogatory information' on Mr. Shahzad in any data-base, a law enforcement official said.   He first attended Southeastern University in Washington, DC, then transferred in 2000 to the University of Bridgeport, CT, where he received a B.A. in computer science and engineering.   He next appears in 2002 April, when he was granted an H1-B visa for skilled workers; he stayed in the U.S. for 3 years on that visa and gained an M.B.A.   It is not clear what company sponsored the visa, which is used to attract workers with a 'specialty occupation', such as information technology.   Then on 2008 October 20, he reported his marriage to a woman he identified as Huma Asif Mian, an American citizen.   He became a naturalized as a U.S. citizen on 2009 April 17...   he left New York on 2009 June 2, on an Emirates flight to Dubai.   He stayed over-seas for 8 months, returning on 2010 February 3, on another Emirates flight from Dubai.   [A background investigation was never run on on Faisal Shahzad from 1998 until 2010 May.]"

2010-05-04
Tom Lutey _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
Independent farmers say "climate change" legislation will put them out of business
"When the Montana Farmers Union held its annual meeting last year, members broke from their national organization and opposed cap and trade."

2010-05-04
Larry Kudlow _Technology, Commerce, Society Daily_
Keynesian deficit spending has no positive effect on/toward recovery
Kudkow's Money Politics

2010-05-04 (5770 Iyar 20)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Race and Resentment

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-05

2010-05-05
Jackie Headapohl _Michigan Live_
CGC: announced job cut plans at 4-year low
UPI
Fox
38,326 cuts were planned in April, compared to March's 67,611.   In 2009 April 132,590 cuts were annunced.
So far this year, employers have announced 219,509 job cuts, 69% fewer than the 711,100 announced in the first 4 months of 2009, according to the report.
Government and the non-profit sector announced a combined 14,973 job cuts in April, Health care and health products companies with 4,567, financial firms with 3,551 cuts, retailers with 899 job cuts, and construction firms with 709.
In New York 5,987 firings were planned, followed by California with 4,585, Texas with 3,373, and Michigan with 2,417 job cuts.

2010-05-05 07:42:23PDT (10:42:23EDT) (14:42:23GMT)
Denis C. Theriault _San Jose CA Mercury News_
Sili Valley involvement in politics

2010-05-05
Alex J. Hayes _Gettysburg PA Times_
Arizona-like laws proposed for PA
full text of Arizona SB1070 (pdf)

2010-05-05
"Taxidriver" _Helotry_
Damning testimony about fraudulent shortage claims regarding scientists and engineers

2010-05-05 (5770 Iyar 21)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Black Americans and Liberty
"Visit any major city and one would find that the overwhelmingly law-abiding members of the black community are living in constant fear of robbery, assault and murder.   In fact, 52% of U.S. homicides are committed by blacks, 49% of homicide victims are black and 93% of them were murdered by fellow blacks.   The level of crime in black communities is the result of government's failure to perform its most basic function, namely the protection of its citizens.   The level of criminal activity not only puts residents in physical jeopardy but represents a heavy tax on people least able to bear it.   That tax is paid in the forms of higher prices for goods and services and fewer shopping opportunities because supermarkets and other large retailers are reluctant to bear the costs of doing business in high-crime areas.   This government failure has the full effect of a law prohibiting economic development in many black communities.   Then there's the grossly fraudulent education delivered by the government schools that serve most black communities.   The average black high school senior has a sixth- or seventh-grade achievement level and most of those who manage to graduate have what's no less than a fraudulent diploma, one that certifies a 12th-grade level of achievement when in fact the youngster might not have half that...   What about blacks who cherish liberty and limited government and joined in the tea party movement, or blacks who are members of organizations such as the Lincoln Institute, Frederick Douglass Foundation and Project 21?"

2010-05-05 (5770 Iyar 21)
Milton Friedman
Socialist Insecurity Abomination (video)

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-06

2010-05-06 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
OPA press releases
historical data
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 392,629 in the week ending May 1, a decrease of 33,783 from the previous week.   There were 536,648 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.6% during the week ending April 24, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,635,631, a decrease of 152,657 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 4.7% and the volume was 6,280,863.   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 April 17...   States reported 5,354,259 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending April 17, an increase of 153,786 from the prior week.   There were 2,279,478 claimants in the comparable week in 2009.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.   [Note that the population used for calculating the "insured unemployment rate" has been changed
to 132,623,886 beginning 2007-10-06;
to 133,010,953 beginning 2008-01-05;
to 133,382,559 beginning 2008-04-05;
to 133,690,617 beginning 2008-07-05;
to 133,902,387 beginning 2008-10-04;
to 133,886,830 beginning 2009-01-03;
to 133,683,433 beginning 2009-04-04;
to 133,078,480 beginning 2009-07-04;
to 133,823,421 beginning 2009-10-03;
to 131,823,421 beginning 2009-10-17;
to 130,128,328 beginning 2010-01-02;
to 128,298,468 beginning 2010-04-03.]
graphs
more graphs

2010-05-06 07:00PDT (10:00EDT) (14:00GMT)
Rex Nutting _MarketWatch_
Productivity growth slowed to 3.6% in 2010Q1; unit labor cost down 1.6%

2010-05-06
Abby Sewell _Miami FL Herald_/_Medill_
Tech executives play a covert role in push for Reprehensible Immigration Law Perversion

2010-05-06
Robert Lee Hotz _Wall Street Journal_
up to 4% of Eurasian human genome came from Neanderthal
Paul Rincon: BBC
Stone Pages
Randolph E. Schmid: Washintgon Examiner/AP
Dan Vergano: USA Today/Gannett
David Derbyshire: London Daily Mail

2010-05-06
Nathaniel Givens _America's Right_
A Libertarian Defense of the Arizona Immigration Bill
"The truly bizarre thing about American politics today is that we have a federal government that wants to encroach into all aspects of our lives, and yet consistently fails to live up to its few genuinely constitutional responsibilities."
full text of Arizona SB1070 (pdf)

2010-05-06
Paul Rincon _BBC_
Neanderthal genes survive in modern humans (with diagram)
"Between 1% and 4% of the Eurasian human genome seems to come from Neanderthals."

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-07

1992-05-02: 2nd amendment of the Bill of Rights ratified: "No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect until an election of Representatives shall have intervened."

2010-05-07
_CBS_/_AP_
290K net additional jobs, but unemployment rate remains 9.5% (9.9% seasonally adjusted)
graphs

2010-05-07 05:00PDT (08:00EDT) (12:00GMT)
Dana Barfield _SOA World_
Further Thoughts on USA's High Unemployment
alternate link

2010-05-07
_Border Fire Report_
Deputies arrested 24 suspected illegal alien employees engaged in identity theft in Maricopa county AZ

2010-05-07 10:49PDT (13:49EDT) (17:49GMT)
Ruth Mantell _MarketWatch_
Media just now becoming aware of structural changes in US job markets
graphs

2010-05-07 11:30PDT (14:30EDT) (18:30GMT)
Joe Jenkins _Numbers USA_
Chuck Schumer's Rat Race for Amnesty for Illegal Aliens
"the American people are about to get the chance to see that Attrition Through Enforcement works."

2010-05-07
Tom Shuford _Fredericksburg MD Free Lance-Star_
Don't expect the feds to stop flow of illegals
"One reason enforcement of U.S. immigration laws is a politically explosive issue is that for decades Congress and the courts have actively rewarded illegal entry into the U.S.A."

2010-05-07
_Washington Times_
Joe Lieberman: Strip terrorists of US citizenship

2010-05-07
Michael Cutler _News Blaze_
Once again, USA and NY have barely avoided a terrorist bombing
"I was enraged on several levels: as an American, as a New Yorker and as an INS senior special agent.   I was angered, beyond words, that our nation failed to take commonsense steps to secure our borders and create an immigration system that possesses even a modicum of integrity that might have averted the attacks.   Immigration is not the 'Conservative' issue that open borders advocates and many members of the media claim it is.   The need to protect our nation's borders and effectively administer and enforce laws intended to prevent the entry of foreign nationals whose presence in our country would be harmful to our citizens and the security of our nation is simply an American issue!"

2010-05-07
Robert Charette _IEEE Spectrum_
Ill-Begotten Monstrosities denies it will dump 75% of employees by 2017 and expand bodyshopping
"IBM finished 2009 with 399,409 employees, with US employees numbering some 105K the same ComputerWorld article noted...   Then in April, a story appeared in Personnel Today that quoted Tim Ringo, head of IBM Human Capital Management, as saying that IBM could -- notice the word could -- reduce its work-force to 100K by 2017 by firing 300K of its workers and then rehiring them as independent contractors using a [bodyshopping] strategy.   Under this approach, IBM would hire only to staff specific projects as necessary.   'There would be no buildings costs, no pensions and no health-care costs [i.e. there would be a massive cut in compensation], making huge savings.', Mr. Ringo was quoted as saying.   In the article, Mr. Ringo 'stressed the firm was only considering the move, and was not about to cut 299K jobs, as staff would be re-hired as [bodies shopped]'."

2010-05-07
Matt Welch _Reason_
Libertarians Debate Arizona's Immigration Bill
full text of Arizona SB1070 (pdf)

2010-05-07 (5770 Iyar 23)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
War in the Middle East

2010-05-07 (5770 Iyar 23)
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo _Jewish World Review_
The Almighty Is Unjustifiable part2
part1

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-08

2010-05-08
Jessica Vaughan _Right Side News_
Faisal Shahzad: So much for "best and brightest"
Center for Immigration Studies
"[On 1998 December 22] - Issued student visa in Islamabad.   It is difficult to justify the issuance of this student visa.   Shahzad certainly failed to demonstrate that he had 'sufficient academic preparation to pursue the intended course of study', as the regulations require, or at least they did in the 1990s when I was issuing (and refusing) student visas.   He was applying as a transfer student, and his transcript from his correspondence course with Southeastern University, a now defunct fourth-rate academic program, showed a GPA of 2.78, including several Ds and an F (in basic statistics).   No information has been released on how Shahzad claimed he would pay for his education, which is another common deal-buster for student visa applications"

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-09

2010-05-09
Anne Money Buck _News Blaze_
interview: Alexander Snitker who is running for US senate in Florida
Alexander Snitker
full text of Arizona SB1070 (pdf)

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-10

2010-05-10
Roger Hedgecock _Human Events_
AZ to DC: "We're Dying Out Here."

2010-05-10
Daniel Gonzalez _Arizona Republic_
US government is not cracking down on people in USA with expired visas
"The Border Patrol's Tucson sector, the busiest in the nation, logged 241,673 apprehensions last fiscal year.   In comparison, federal agents in Arizona tracked down and arrested 27 people who had over-stayed their visas."

2010-05-10 12:00PDT (15:00EDT) (19:00GMT)
Jill Laster _Chronicle of Higher Education_
NYU students plan social network with focus on privacy
KickStarter video
diaspora

2010-05-10 15:05PDT (18:05EDT) (22:05GMT)
Grace-Marie Turner _Investor's Business Daily_
The Carelessness of ObummerDoesn'tCare: Leftists indulge their lust for power

2010-05-10
Donald J. Boudreaux _Christian Science Monitor_/_Gulf News_
Greeks, congress, Obama must face reality: There's no denying the consequences of spending beyond your means
"For decades your country has lived well beyond its means.   30 years ago, your government's debt-to-GDP ratio was 34.5%.   Today that figure stands at 115%.   IOW, for decades your government borrowed money to provide you with goods and services that you couldn't afford.   Living on credit is fun while it lasts.   But reason tells us that it cannot last forever.   Now that the bills are coming due, you must somehow pay them.   This requirement is unavoidable...   While I do not excuse your government for misleading you about its powers to spend without constraint, I cannot excuse you -- you from reason's crib -- for your present stubborn and mad refusal to accept the reality of your government's near-bankruptcy."

2010-05-10
_Wall Street Journal_
US Conference Bd: April Employment Trends Index Continues to Strengthen
"The board said that its April employment trends index increased 0.9% to 94.7, from a revised 93.9 in March, first reported as 94.4.   The index has risen for 8 consecutive months and is up 7.1% from a year ago."

2010-05-10 (5770 Iyar 26)
Jonathan Tobin _Jewish World Review_
If Jews back Obama's "pressure", why was the "charm offensive" necessary?

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-11

2010-05-11
Wesley J. Smith _First Things_
Is "Duty to Die" an extension of the throw away culture?

2010-05-11
Dan Tuohy _NH Union Leader_
green card holder attempted car-jacking; Londonderry woman came to the rescue

2010-05-11
Jeff Lukens _View from 1776_
Summoning Our Inner Hero

2010-05-11
Edwin S. Rubenstein _V Dare_
April American Worker Displacement: Is An "Arizona Effect" Showing Up?

2010-05-11 (5770 Iyar 27)
Karen Youso _Jewish World Review_
Grow your own body parts
"Cells from an organ to be replaced are put into nutrients, where they multiply and create a 'soup', explained Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in North Carolina.   The 'soup' of cells is 'painted' on a form or scaffolding in the shape of the organ, say a bladder, and placed into an incubator.   A new bladder grows in about 6 weeks.   'It used to be that the patient's pelvis was extensively X-rayed to get the right-sized bladder,' Atala said, 'but now (scientists are doing so many that) bladders come in 3 sizes: small, medium and large.'   Ears, arteries, heart valves, fingers and toes are being grown in this manner.   Recent news stories have described the successful growing of new penises in lab animals.   Atala's group is experimenting with the ink-jet technology of a printer/scanner that will be able to 'print out' a copy of skin, or even a heart, for replacement."

2010-05-11 (5770 Iyar 27)
Rabbi Doctor Asher Meir _Jewish World Review_
The Morality of Bankruptcy part1

2010-05-11 (5770 Iyar 27)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
A "Duty to Die"!?
Post Chronicle
National Review
Real Clear Politics
NH Union Leader
"Talk about 'a duty to die' made me think back to my early childhood in the South, during the Great Depression of the 1930s.   One day, I was told that an older lady -- a relative of ours -- was going to come and stay with us for a while, and I was told how to be polite and considerate towards her.   She was called 'Aunt Nance Ann', but I don't know what her official name was or what her actual biological relationship to us was.   Aunt Nance Ann had no home of her own.   But she moved around from relative to relative, not spending enough time in any one home to be a real burden.   At that time, we didn't have things like electricity or central heating or hot running water.   But we had a roof over our heads and food on the table -- and Aunt Nance Ann was welcome to both.   Poor as we were, I never heard anybody say, or even intimate, that Aunt Nance Ann had 'a duty to die'.   I only began to hear that kind of talk decades later, from highly educated people in an affluent age, when even most families living below the official poverty level owned a car or truck and had air-conditioning."

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-12

2010-05-12
_Harrisonburg VA Daily News Record_
Guard the Borders

2010-05-12
Joseph Cress _Cumberland PA Sentinel_/_Lee_
Army Heritage Days to be celebrated Saturday and Sunday

2010-05-12
_MSFT NBC_
Radiant Info Systems to send out-sourcing off-shore to Hyderabad jail
"Working conditions for the inmates of Charalapally Central Jail, in India's technology hub of Hyderabad, will be somewhat different from usual offices.   There will be no phones and very limited Internet access for the convicts, who are in prison for crimes ranging from petty theft to murder and rape.   'There will be no security hazard involved.', said C. Narayanacharyulu, a director of the company, Radiant Info Systems, that will set up the jail office in about 4 months.   The prison data processing center will be the first of its kind in the country.   The center will employ about 250 of the jail's more educated prisoners.   The prisoners will earn 5K rupees ($110) a month, up from the roughly 450 rupees ($10) they now earn making textiles or doing carpentry, said C.N. Gopinath Reddy, director general of prisons in Andhra Pradesh state where the prison is located."

2010-05-12
Kurt Nimmo _Prison Planet_
Texas School Demands Students Submit Intrusive Census Form

2010-05-12 (5770 Iyar 28)
Binyamin L. Jolkovsky _Jewish World Review_
Where Heaven Kissed Earth

2010-05-12 (5770 Iyar 28)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
"Enough Money"
Orange county CA Register
Investor's Business Daily
"One of the many shallow statements that sound good -- if you don't stop and think about it -- is that 'at some point, you have made enough money'.   The key word in this statement, made by President Barack Obama recently, is 'you'.   There is nothing wrong with my deciding how much money is enough for me or your deciding how much money is enough for you, but when politicians think that they should be deciding how much money is enough for other people, that is starting down a very slippery slope.   Politicians with the power to determine each citizen's income are no longer public servants.   They are public masters."
Mark Landsbaum: Orange county CA Register

2010-05-12 (5770 Iyar 28)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Free Markets: Pro-Rich or Pro-Poor
Town Hall
DeSoto Times Tribune
"Free markets, or laissez-faire capitalism, refer to an economic system where there is no government interference except to outlaw and prosecute fraud and coercion.   It ought to be apparent that our economy cannot be described as free market because there is extensive government interference.   We have what might be called a mixed economy, one with both free market and socialistic attributes.   If one is poor or of modest means, where does he fare better: in the freer and more open sector of our economy or in the controlled and highly regulated sector?   Let's look at it.   Did Carnegie, Mellon, Rockefeller and Guggenheim start out rich?   Andrew Carnegie worked as a bobbin boy, changing spools of thread in a cotton mill 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, earning $1.20 a week.   A young John D. Rockefeller worked as a clerk.   Meyer Guggenheim started out as a peddler.   Andrew Mellon did have a leg up; his father was a lawyer and banker.   Sam Walton milked the family's cows, bottled the milk and delivered it and newspapers to customers.   Richard Sears was a railroad station agent.   Alvah Roebuck began work as a watch-maker.   Together, they founded Sears, Roebuck and Company in 1893.   James Cash Penney (founder of JCPenny department stores) worked for a local dry goods merchant.   It wasn't just whites who went from rags to riches through open markets; there were a few blacks.   Madam C.J. Walker, born Sarah Breedlove, just 2 years after the end of slavery, managed to build an empire from developing and selling hair products.   John H. Johnson founded Johnson Publishing Company, which became an international media and cosmetics empire.   There are many modern-day black millionaires who, like other millionaires, black and white, found the route to their fortunes mostly through the open, highly competitive and more free market end of our economy."
biography of James Cash Penney
Richard Warren Sears
Richard Warren Sears: company archives
Alvah Curtis Roebuck
Alvah Curtis Roebuck: company archives
Sarah Breedlove
John Harold Johnson
William Charles Norris
Meyer Guggenheim
Andrew Carnegie
Carnegie Libraries

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-13

2010-05-13 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
OPA press releases
historical data
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 407,267 in the week ending May 8, an increase of 11,132 from the previous week.   There were 570,412 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5% during the week ending May 1, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,515,632, a decrease of 140,708 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 4.6% and the volume was 6,191,149.   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 April 24...   States reported 5,137,385 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending April 24, a decrease of 216,874 from the prior week.   There were 2,156,516 claimants in the comparable week in 2009.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity. [Note that the population used for calculating the "insured unemployment rate" has been changed
to 132,623,886 beginning 2007-10-06;
to 133,010,953 beginning 2008-01-05;
to 133,382,559 beginning 2008-04-05;
to 133,690,617 beginning 2008-07-05;
to 133,902,387 beginning 2008-10-04;
to 133,886,830 beginning 2009-01-03;
to 133,683,433 beginning 2009-04-04;
to 133,078,480 beginning 2009-07-04;
to 133,823,421 beginning 2009-10-03;
to 131,823,421 beginning 2009-10-17;
to 130,128,328 beginning 2010-01-02;
to 128,298,468 beginning 2010-04-03.]
graphs
more graphs

2010-05-13
James R. Edwards _Human Events_
Keeping America Safe from Foreign-Born Terrorists
"we should do a lot more than just change the words on naturalization forms.   Thanks to political correctness, U.S. immigration policy approaches the loophole-ridden situation that had developed as of the early Cold War.   A Senate Judiciary subcommittee reported the admission of foreign 'criminals, Communists, and subversives of all descriptions…like water through a sieve'.   Congress fixed this in the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act.   The INA barred entry to aliens whose activities were prejudicial to public safety and the public interest, who belonged to subversive groups or taught or advocated subversion, or who were likely to engage in subversive activities.   Few aliens were actually excluded and many fewer still were deported on ideological grounds.   But we maintained these grounds as an option...   In 1990 [IMMACT1990], Congress made it nearly impossible to keep out aliens who sympathize with anti-American, radical causes but haven't themselves taken up arms or bombs.   That law tied the hands of national security, law enforcement and immigration officers...   Steeped in anti-Western Islam, Shahzad came to Bridgeport, CT, in 1999 on a student visa at age 19 with an unimpressive 2.78 GPA.   Shahzad started working -- perhaps unlawfully -- at a temp agency while still on his student visa after 2000 graduation.   Cosmetics company Elizabeth Arden sponsored him for an H-1B work visa for a 'low-level accounting job'...   At every point where Shahzad (or other aliens) interact with immigration officials, strong ideological exclusion scrutiny should occur.   It should be easier to exclude or remove an alien whose beliefs pose a danger to this nation's survival or might lead to harm to American citizens."

2010-05-13
Julian Aguilar _Texas Tribune_
There has been an increase in amnesty visas for illegal alien victims of domestic violence and rape
"U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the division of the Department of Homeland Security that governs lawful migration into the United States, has greatly increased the number of visas granted to [illegal alien] victims of such crimes as domestic violence and rape.   The measure is designed to aid prosecutors in securing witnesses and convictions.   In a fourth-month period starting in December, USCIS issued 9,500 visas of that type, commonly called the 'U Visa'.   That's more than the 8,660 issued all in all of fiscal year 2009, which ended in September.   The increase, which comes despite the ongoing political fracas over immigration, signals that the government and prosecutors view the visas as an essential tool when prosecuting alleged criminals.   Skeptics worry about the potential for abuse of the visas -- that they could be used to reward [illegal aliens] clever enough to dupe law enforcement and possibly put innocent people in jail...   Dane cites the potential for 'visa creep' over the years, saying that the U Visas foment fraud similar to that involved with the H-1B visas, which were intended to recruit high-tech workers.   'What started out as somewhat of a sensible purpose over the years has basically become used and abused on a wholesale basis to displace U.S. workers with computer science and math engineers from [Red China], Pakistan and India.', he says.   'So we would certainly keep an eye on the U Visa.'"

2010-05-13
Mark E. Derry _Ramona CA Sentinel_
For Chuck DeVore, getting elected is all about the principles
"He would have signed Arizona's immigration bill SB1070 (pdf), recently enacted by the Arizona legislature and Republican governor Jan Brewer, which makes it a crime to be in the country illegally, specifically requiring immigrants to have proof of their immigration status.   DeVore says the law makes it abundantly clear that racial profiling is not allowed.   'The bottom line is that for the last 15 years or so state and local law enforcement agencies have been invited to enforce federal immigration law if they wanted to, and Arizona just decided to get a little more serious about it.   There's a lot of irresponsible demagoguery occurring right now.   As I look at it, this is a cry for help.   The administration and the Democrats in control in California in the legislature and at the national level not only are not serious about curtailing illegal immigration, to the contrary they celebrate it.   They celebrate it because they see that as an avenue for power for themselves.', DeVore said.   The majority party isn't serious at all about securing our borders, which, DeVore says is the sovereign right of every nation.   The solution is clear.   'To the degree the topography will support it, you have to have a double fence with a road in between.', said DeVore.   The fence, nearly complete in California, has made the border patrol guards more safe and crossings have plummeted in California and have shifted to Arizona, he contends.   'The bottom line is that fences work.'   At the federal level, DeVore is opposed to a general amnesty for illegal immigrants, but he adds a caveat.   'What we have to be mindful of is that anything we do cannot be unfair to people who have tried to follow the law waiting patiently.'   He wants the people in the system who have followed the law not to feel 'like chumps' and thinks that illegal residents should repatriate themselves, get an entry visa and then seek citizenship.   Once the borders are secure, a flexible, workable guest worker program that's responsive to the needs of agriculture and the needs of business should be adopted.   But there can't be so much red tape that it forces business operators to return to the black market.   DeVore thinks the H-1B visas -- the worker exemptions pushed by many Silicon Valley businesses -- are a sorry excuse for landing cheaper labor in higher-paying positions by importing workers from foreign lands.   Not only that, such visas disincentivize American college students from studying math and science.   If the pay rates were higher, DeVore says, students would, in this age of information, learn that and be willing to study harder to get those well-paying jobs...   'I believe in limited government.   I believe in Constitutional values.   I believe in freedom and liberty and those beliefs lead me to be an opponent of big government and big taxes.'"

2010-05-13
Paul Howard _City Journal_
Hidden costs of Obama's national socialist health care perversion

2010-05-13
Michelle Malkin _V Dare_
Our Broken Deportation System Strikes Again
"The FBI's arrests of two Boston-area men tied to the Times Square bombing attempt -- both held on immigration violations -- under-score the continuing homeland security lapses...   One was here on an expired visa.   The other was on the loose while an immigration court adjudicated his deportation and removal order.   He had reportedly been ordered deported in 2002, yet managed to embed himself in American society for more than 7 years.   But for the ability to detain potential illegal aliens on 'administrative' charges, the men most likely would have remained free.   (How convenient that the White House can choose to enforce immigration laws in the interest of public safety and then threaten to sue Arizona for stepping in and doing the same when the feds refuse to enforce those laws consistently.)   Failure to crack down on visa overstayers and failure to stop the deportation revolving door are two key security vulnerabilities that law-makers vowed to address after 2001/09/11...   'Over-stays perpetuate the illegal immigration problem by using the visa process to break the law to remain in the United States.   Moreover, some over-stays represent a very real national security risk to the nation.'[statement Of Richard L. Skinner, Inspector General U.S. Department Of Homeland Security, (PDF)]   Indeed, they do.   The Nationwide Visa Over-Stayers Club includes dozens of jihadists, including 2001/09/11 hijackers Mohammed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, Hani Hanjour, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Satam al-Suqami; 1997 New York subway bomber Lafi Khalil; 1993 World Trade Center bombers Mahmud and Mohammed Abouhalima, Mohammed Salameh and Eyad Ismoil; and 1993 New York landmark bombing and conspirator Fadil Abdelgani."

2010-05-13 (5770 Iyar 29)
Evan Gahr _Jewish World Review_
Why Elena Kagan is no Tina Brown

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-14

2010-05-14 07:23PDT (10:23EDT) (14:23GMT)
Ruth Mantell _MarketWatch_
UMich consumer sentiment index rose from 72.2 in April to 73.3 in May

2010-05-14 12:22PDT (15:22EDT) (19:22GMT)
Alistair Barr _MarketWatch_
International financial crisis continues as governments attempt to block corrections

2010-05-14
Ilana Mercer _World Net Daily_
H-1B hogs are swindling Americans
alternate link
"Very few [H-1B awardees], only 11%, fall into the top category and 'plan and conduct work-requiring judgment and independent evaluation' -- DoL's words.   [Only] 3% of a typical MSFT H-1B visa intake are level-four workers -- i.e., do work that requires independent judgment.   Among the companies that push the hardest for expanding the H-1B program, level-four workers entrusted with critical reasoning are rare...   The primary H-1B hogs -- Infosys (and another 8, sister Indian firms), MSFT and Intel -- are forever claiming that they are desperate for talent.   But, in reality, they have unlimited access to individuals with unique abilities through the open-ended O-1 visa program -- that is, if they really wanted it.   Granted, the O-1 visa application process is not as easy to scam as the H-1B program.   But immigration lawyers are doing their best to overcome this obstacle.   Zhang boasts that in the case of a client it calls 'Mr. Gao', a mere master's degree, one publication and an approved patent did the trick.   And VDARE.COM's Rob Sanchez has reported a case in which an Argentine pin-up girl got an O-1...   (Incidentally, the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms that wages for computer programmers have been falling.   All the while industry whines about labor shortages.   Shouldn't a labor shortage be pushing wages up?)...   Voluntary exchanges are by definition advantageous to their participants.   They involve giving up something one values less for something one values more..."

2010-05-14 (5770 Sivan 01)
R' Berel Wein _Jewish World Review_
Symbolism that became life-sustaining substance

2010-05-14 (5770 Sivan 01)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
Making Israel's case
"The US is also demanding that Israel take no action against illegal Arab construction in the capital.   That is, the US is acting to undermine the rule of law in Israel twice.   First, it seeks to deny Jewish Jerusalemites their property rights, and second, it is calling for Israel not to enforce its laws against Arab criminals."

2010-05-14
Ed Koc & Mimi Collins _NACE_
Business, Tech majors are more likely to have jobs lined up by graduation
"NACE's 2010 Student Survey shows that accounting, business administration, computer science, engineering, and mathematics majors were more likely to get—and accept—job offers than other types of grads...   While more than two-thirds of responding seniors said they plan to work after college, overall just 45.5% had applied for a job at the time the survey was conducted.   In comparison, 58.6% of the top five majors with jobs had done so.   Overall, the survey found that 24.4% of graduates who had applied for a job had one to go to following graduation, an improvement over last year at this time when just 19.7% could make that claim...   This year, 27.4% of responding seniors reported plans to go on for additional education, up from 25.6% last year."

2010-05-14

DJIA	10,620.16
S&P 500	1,135.68
NASDAQ	2,346.85
Nikkei	10,463
10-year US T-Bond	3.45%
crude oil	$71.61/barrel
gold	$1,210.40/ounce
silver	$19.225/ounce
platinum	$1,715.40/ounce
palladium	$527.90/ounce
copper	$0.195875/ounce
natgas	$4.31/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline	$2.1308/gal
heatingoil	$2.0686/gal
soybeans	$9.535/bushel
maize	$3.63/bushel
wheat	$4.7150/bushel
dollarindex	86.25
yenperdollar	91.89
dollarspereuro	1.2355
dollarsperpound	1.455
swissfranksperdollar	1.1090
indianrupeesperdollar	45.22
mexicanpesosperdollar	12.5675
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex	565.64

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
 
 

2010-05-15

2010-05-15
_Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_/_AP_
Massive federal take-over of western land took place through conspiracy with enviro-radicals
"A subsequent internal Interior Department memo -- which the agency said is simply the product of brainstorming -- listed 2.5M acres in Montana for a new bison range as 1 of 14 sites in 9 Western states being considered as national monuments.   Some of the other sites mentioned in the Interior Department documents include the Berryessa Snow Mountains in California, the Northwest Sonoran Desert in Arizona, the San Juan Islands in Washington state and two possible designations in Utah: the San Rafael Swell and Cedar Mesa."

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-16

2010-05-15 19:55PDT (2010-05-15 22:55EDT) (2010-05-16 02:55GMT)
Terence Smith _Harrisburg PA Examiner_
Isn't it refreshing to find an honest leftist?
"The discussion on the talk show centered not on whether it's right to take money from people who earn it and give it to those that don't; the entire segment was dedicated to debating the merits of having the courts do it vs. using the legislative process.   The discussion proves that Obama is a socialist.   Naturally, then, as socialist, Obama would want to appoint like-minded people to represent his views in his administration.   This can be the only possible explanation for his nomination of Dr. Donald Berwick to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, because Dr. Berwick is a dyed-in-the-wool socialist himself who believes that health care is a great vehicle for redistributing wealth...   These people that Thomas Sowell so aptly calls the 'anointed' have big plans for the rest of us benighted Americans who are simply too stupid to know how to live our own lives.   In November, let's show these 'visionaries' who the stupid people really are by sending their political allies in the Democrat party packing and take back our country."

2010-05-16
Charles S. Johnson _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
dead-line to turn in petitions to get issues on the ballot in Montana is just a month away

2010-05-16
Ed Kemmick _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
Sweet Grass County Patriots: Americans are losing our constitutional government
"Although the situation has worsened under Obama, he said, the country's decline started 'probably a hundred years ago'.   'I just think there's a feeling that it's really picking up speed.', he said.   'Bush stepped on the gas pedal.   Obama pressed it to the floor.'...   He was especially upset that McCauley invited Elias Alias, the director of the Montana chapter of the Oath Keepers, to Big Timber in January.   The Oath Keepers encourage active-duty military personnel, veterans, police officers and firefighters to renew their oath to the U.S. Constitution and to declare that they will not obey 10 specific orders -- including orders to disarm American citizens, to assist or support the use of foreign troops on U.S. soil or to force citizens into detention camps...   'It's almost like when you stand up for that (the Constitution), [the radical leftists start saying] you're a subversive.'...   the Oath Keepers don't tolerate racism or calls for violence from its members, and it works hard to keep those radical elements out of the group -- and to weed out government infiltrators...   Hines and Biglen, among others, see a concerted effort to get Patriots and Oath Keeper sympathizers elected to office at all levels of government in Sweet Grass County.   'It just disturbs the hell out of me to see people involved in this super-patriot stuff moving into local government.', Hines said.   Critics of the Patriots see the group's hand in races for county commissioner, sheriff and the school board.   The City Council has already been remolded.   In the election last fall, McCauley beat Suzanne Drinkard, who is married to Lawson Drinkard and who was considered the [leftist] candidate.   Mark Stephens, a former Big Timber fire chief, ousted Mayor Diana Taylor, Biglen's wife.   Then, when Councilman Bill Miller resigned for health reasons in February, McCauley and Justin Ferguson voted to appoint Randy Rembold to fill the vacancy.   Only Councilwoman Lori Minette voted to appoint Drinkard to the vacant seat.   There are 4 people on the council, and the mayor votes only to break a tie...   Ferguson, who ran unopposed for the council last fall, said critics of the former mayor and council 'realize that conservatives, like myself, are no longer going to idly sit back and allow them to push their left-wing agenda upon the citizens'.   He said Biglen, Hines and 'others in their [leftist] camp' are in 'panic mode because they realize the apathy of we conservatives is subsiding across the entire country and we intend on taking back control our destiny by limiting government at all levels.'...   Attendance at the Patriot meetings has ranged from 50 to more than 150 people, but the group doesn't even ask anyone to join, McCauley said.   The meetings are open to all and are intended to be educational.   He said 6 or 7 people who've been to the meetings filed for Republican precinct committee slots, and others may have been inspired to file for elective office...   Wallace also sees nothing wrong with what the Oath Keepers are trying to do.   Officials at all levels of government ignore or circumvent the Constitution, he said, so simply asking people to swear to uphold the Constitution shouldn't be grounds for concern."

2010-05-16
Steve Sailer _V Dare_
main-stream media tries to bury lead -- American Majority Supports Arizona Law, but Our Elites Don't Like the American Majority
"the overall American public supports the Arizona law by a 64%-34% land-slide.   (Among those who hold a strong opinion on the subject, the ratio is a comparable 46%-24%.)...   A whopping 47% of [Hispanics] voted for Arizona's Proposition 200 in 2004, for example..."
full text of Arizona SB1070 (pdf)

2010-05-16 (5770 Sivan 03)
Mark Steyn _Jewish World Review_
The dots some don't want to connect
"What with the Fort Hood mass murderer, the Christmas Pantybomber and now the Times Square Bomber, you may have noticed a little up-tick in attempted terrorist attacks on the U.S. mainland in the last few months.   Representative Lamar Smith did, and, at the House Judiciary Committee, he was interested to see if the attorney general of the United States thought there might be any factor in common between these perplexingly diverse incidents.   'In the case of all 3 attempts in the last year, the terrorist attempts, 1 of which was successful, those individuals have had ties to radical Islam.', said Congressman Smith.   'Do you feel that these individuals might have been incited to take the actions that they did because of radical Islam?'...   At Fort Hood, major Hasan jumped on a table and gunned down his comrades while screaming, 'Allahu Akbar!', which is Arabic for 'Nothing to see here' and an early indicator of pre-Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.   The Times Square Bomber, we are assured by the Washington Post, CNN and Newsweek, was upset by foreclosure proceedings on his house.   Mortgage-related issues.   Nothing to do with months of training at a Taliban camp in Waziristan.   Listening to Attorney General Holder, one is tempted to modify Trotsky: 'You may not be interested in Islam but Islam is interested in you.   Islam smells weakness at the heart of the West...'...   the very same day that Eric Holder was doing his 'Islam? What Islam?' routine at the Capitol, the Organization of the Islamic Conference was tightening its hold on the U.N. Human Rights Council -- actually, make that the U.N. 'Human Rights' Council."

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-17

2010-05-17
Donna Healy _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
Lewis & Clark should have brought a scientific illustrator along

2010-05-17
Norm Matloff _H-1B/ L-1/ Off-Shoring News-Letter_
Mithas/Lucas paper now published
update
Back in 2009 May I reported on a working paper by professors Sunil Mithas and Henry Lucas of the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland.   You can read my posting from that time but I will its points summarize below, in the process of reviewing the final published paper, which just came out last week.
 
The main finding of the paper is that rather than foreign IT workers (whom I'll refer to here as H-1Bs except when explicitly stating otherwise) being used as cheap labor, they actually make more than Americans.   The authors claim that part of this salary premium come from having more years of education and being better skilled, but also that the premium is higher than just education and skills alone would predict.
 
However, the authors' figures indicate that those latter effects are much smaller than the former; the education effects are the main ones.   Thus their findings are largely about education level.
 
Obviously their paper caught my interest.   I obtained a copy from the authors, and posted my partial review in this e-news-letter.   I had some major criticisms of the paper, especially concerning the data set they used.
 
(Note to newer subscribers of this e-news-letter: Though I clearly have a point of view on the H-1B issue, I don't have any personal stake in it, and do my best to be fair.   Just a month earlier, I had posted a very critical review of a working paper by Tambe and Hitt that found that the H-1B program suppresses salaries of American workers.)
 
Unfortunately, authors Mithas and Lucas then asked me not to divulge the contents of their paper until it was published.   They suggested that I simply comment on an InformationWeek article on their paper.   I asked permission to at least comment on one of the tables in their paper, but again they preferred that I refrain until the paper was published.   Of course, I honored that request.   This is why I referred to my 2009 May review above as being only "partial."
 
The paper was accepted for publication on 2009 October 3, and was finally published this month.   I have obtained a copy of the final version, and must say that, as an academic, I am profoundly disappointed.   One can debate whether the authors' data source is relevant (see below), but one does need to adhere to the rigorous standards that academia requires and expects.
 
In particular, proper use of previous literature is vital.   During that 2009 May period, at professor Mithas' request, I gave him feed-back on a number of aspects of his manuscript, both in the form of my e-news-letter posting and in much more detail in private e-mail.   While I must again emphasize that reasonably people can disagree and thus I do not expect him to follow my interpretation of suitability of his data source, he should have corrected the misleading statements that I pointed to in his manuscript.   Sadly, he did not do so.
 
For example, in the final published paper, the authors say:
 
Matloff (2003) reviews some studies (mostly conducted by think tanks and research organizations) that do grapple with the impact of H-1B and related visa policies with reference to knowledge workers and IT professionals, and concludes that firms pay H-1Bs, on average, 15% 33% less than "comparable" USA "IT" professionals (Matloff 2004).   However, such a conclusion needs to be viewed with caution because many of these studies, with one or two exceptions, use data prior to 2000 and do not show the "comparability" of H-1B and USA professionals on attributes such as education, "IT" experience, and firm size.   Furthermore, they also do not report statistical significance and do not use the types of econometric models with appropriate functional form or control variables that are common in compensation studies (see Ang et al. 2002; Mithas and Krishnan 2008, 2009; Orrenius and Zavodny 2007).
 
This paragraph is highly misleading.   It does not mention that in addition to reviewing studies conducted by others, I have done my own studies, which are presented in that 2003 article.   Furthermore, my studies do indeed involve data after 2000, and do indeed account for education and experience (the latter through age, a reasonable proxy, one which ML use partly as well).
 
And though my published work does not show the statistical significance numbers, I told professor Mithas that I had computed such numbers, and offered to provide them.   As to "appropriate functional form", I used statistical regression analysis, just like Mithas and Lucas do in their paper.
 
The authors' ignoring of my own studies is no minor point.   On the contrary, it is central, as Mithas and Lucas claim that the H-1Bs get higher salaries because of their higher education levels and more extensive experience.   Since my analysis accounts for these very factors, it becomes key, and the authors should not dismiss it with the phrase "with one or two exceptions".   At the very least, they should have told the reader that I did do my own studies and that I did account for variables they consider important, and they should have presented my results -- regression coefficients, variables used, and so on.
 
The authors do not even cite the UCLA study, but it is apparently one of the ones they dismiss as being pre-2000.   Fine, but if H-1B workers were being exploited in the past, that certainly would suggest at least the possibility that the situation holds today as well, and thus the UCLA paper is very relevant.   Moreover, the UCLA study controlled for a ton of variables, far more than either Mithas/Lucas or I did, so given ML's emphasis on controlling for covariates, they should have given the results of the UCLA study.
 
The authors then say:
 
Some other studies use Labor Condition Applications (LCA) data on "wage rate" and "prevailing wages" from the Department of Labor to claim that average H-1B salaries are lower than the mean annual salaries for these jobs as determined by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment Statistics survey of employers (Miano 2005).   These LCA-based studies also do not control for education and experience of IT professionals, and many consider them unreliable because they do not use actual salary data, and many approved LCAs may not result in actual H-1B visas (Roman 2006).
 
Actually, I've found, by doing statistical tracking of John's LCA analyses, that LCA data actually does fairly well.   If you look for instance at the 75th percentile of LCA salaries, that figure is not far off from the 75th percentile in actual H-1B salaries from other sources, notably the USCIS.   I did not mention this to professor Mithas, though, so I'm not complaining that he ignored it.
 
But again, I'm more concerned here about responsible, scientific reporting in a journal article, and this one falls very short in the above paragraph.
 
First, I told professor Mithas that the only LCA-based studies that have been done are those by John Miano.   Language like "some other studies" sounds like the authors are dismissing a broad range of researchers, and is thus misleading.
 
Second, where did that phrasing, "many consider them unreliable" come from?   The actual EE Times article cited says "The lower LCA-based pay rates, considered unreliable by some, raise questions about the value of H-1B workers -- and of U.S. engineers in general -- to their employers, and add fuel to the debate that has long swirled around the H-1B program."   So the reporter had merely said "by some", without saying who (an academic researcher? an industry spokesperson?), and certainly not "many".
 
Finally, and most importantly, while the Miano studies did not control for education, they did control for experience.   I'll explain the latter below, but let's first look at education.
 
The fact that education was not controlled is irrelevant to the significance of Miano's findings.   After all, Mithas and Lucas are claiming that the H-1Bs are paid more in general, because many of them have more education [as the NSF propaganda predicted would be the case if more student visas were given out along with STEM worker visas].   If that's true, it should have shown up in Miano's data, which it didn't.
 
In terms of experience, Miano in fact did account for this, using the DoL levels.   Mithas and Lucas seem to have missed Miano's point, which was that the vast majority of H-1Bs are hired at the journeyman level.   Indeed, in most of my writings, this has been my main point, that the H-1B program is serving as cheap labor not just because H-1Bs are cheaper than comparable Americans, but also because it gives employers a large pool of younger (thus cheaper) workers to hire in lieu of older [more experienced] (thus more expensive) Americans.
 
Meanwhile, of course, the authors have no problems citing without any criticism whatsoever various pro-industry [reports] (e.g. Stuart Anderson's NFAP, Vivek Wadha's [reports]), even for those studies that were never subject to any academic review at all.
 
In addition to these (and other) errors of comission concerning the existing literature, the authors make many errors of omission.   In particular, they do not cite the 2 government-commissioned employer surveys, the 2001 one by the NRC and the one 2003 study by the GAO (both of which I cited in my comments to professor Mithas).   These surveys actually asked employers, "Do you pay H-1Bs less than comparable Americans?", and found that often the employers answered Yes.   One can do regression analysis from now til doomsday, but it still won't be as good as a direct question like this.   (And of course the number of Yes answers would be an under-estimate, since most employers who are under-paying their H-1Bs wouldn't admit it.)   Yet nothing whatsoever from Mithas and Lucas on it.
 
Similarly, there is no mention of the findings of the Tambe and Hitt paper, though it is cited in the bibliography and Tambe is listed in the acknowledgements section (as am I).   Again, I found the Tambe and Hitt paper to be seriously flawed, but Mithas and Hitt should have told readers that Tambe and Hitt found that American workers' salaries are going down because of the H-1B program.
 
Now, what about their data source?   This is, in part, what I said in my posting last year:
 
...the major culprit seems to be Mithas and Lucas' data source.   As noted in the article, Mithas and Lucas' analyzed survey data on InformationWeek's readers, who are not representative.
 
The magazine is mainly aimed at managers and non-technical people affiliated with the IT industry.   Its self-description states,
"InformationWeek: InformationWeek.com is the industry-leading source of news, analysis, and perspective, serving business technology executives at a cross section of companies."   Its job postings section currently lists the following positions:
 
  * D. E. Shaw Research seeking Chief of Staff in New York, NY.
 
  * Switch and Data seeking Sr Product Marketing Manager in Tampa, FL.
 
  * Kadrmas, Lee and Jackson seeking Network Architect in Bismarck, ND.
 
  * Osram Sylvania seeking Benefits Specialist in Danvers, MA.
 
  * AccuWeather seeking Business Development Manager in Atlanta, GA.
 
Only one of these, the network architect position, is a technical job...
 
The basic problem is that InformationWeek is not something that the typical software engineer at, say, Apple or Google would read, much less respond to its survey.   And of course this is an absolutely crucial point.   Many of you have probably heard of the famous Literary Digest election poll fiasco of 1936, in which that magazine's poll "showed" that Republican presidental candidate Alf Landon would overwhelmingly defeat Democrat Franklin Roosevelt.   In the end, Roosevelt was the victor, with 62% of the vote.
 
Why was the Literary Digest poll so far off?   The reason was that the population they polled -- their own readers, automobile owners etc. -- tended to be richer than average, and thus more Republican than average, skewing the results beyond recognition.   So, the nature of the population sampled is of the utmost importance.
 
(See my original posting for further problems with the data source.)
 
In a foot-note, the authors state the job titles in their sample, some of which are technical, but do not state the percentages for each title.   Interestingly, though, when they do correct for job titles and location (to allow for variations in cost of living), the salary premiums shrink a lot.   For instance, where they originally found that H-1Bs get 6.6% higher salary than U.S. citizens after education and experience are factored into, that premium shrinks down by a factor of almost 3 (to 2.6%) once job title and location are controlled for.   (This is the table that I had asked them permission to discuss publicly last May, a request they declined to grant.   And in the magazine interview the authors did last year, they cited the 6.6% and related figures, not the 2.6%.)
 
To their credit, Mithas and Lucas did address this question of representativeness of the data in their final published paper.   They compare various characteristics of people in the survey to the IT population at large, and find similarity.   But as you can see, their definition of "IT" is far too broad.
 
One striking illustration of the non-representativeness of the data used by Mithas and Lucas is in their TotalExperience variable.   In their data set, the average H-1B worker has 11.23 years of experience!   This of course is totally at odds with the USCIS and DoL data.   Computer-related H-1Bs have a median age of 27.4; 52% have less than 2 years of experience, and another 41% have 2-5 years.   Clearly, the H-1Bs in the Mithas/Lucas sample were not even close to representative.
 
It should be noted that although Mithas and Lucas repeatedly say that their data measures skill sets, it definitely does not.   What they are actually referring to is the number of years of IT experience.   This is a key point, because real skill sets command much more of a salary premium than the 2% or 3% ML found.   Remember, the industry claims that the H-1Bs are hired primarily because they have special "hot" skill sets.   (ML says this too.)   These generally command a salary premium of 15%-25% (see data in my University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform article (pdf)), so even if one were to take Mithas and Lucas's 2%-3% as accurate, that would indicate that H-1Bs are subject to net under-payment relative to Americans.
 
In my original posting, I had made the following point:
 
...let's turn to an aspect in which the Maryland study confirms the previous work on under-payment of H-1Bs.   Mithas and Lucas found that green card holders get paid more than H-1Bs of the same education and experience levels.   This jibes completely with the central point of the H-1B critics, that H-1Bs, as de facto indentured servants, are [abused] in terms of salary.
 
Again to their credit, ML elaborated on this in their final published paper (emphasis added):
 
Possession of a green card provides greater bargaining power and job security for an IT professional compared to someone with [an H-1B] work visa because (1) employers typically hold work visas, which makes it difficult for an IT professional to easily change his or her employer and (2) work visas are of a limited duration.   In addition, green card holders...
 
IOW, there is a fundamental economic reason why H-1Bs are in fact paid LESS than comparable Americans.   Thus that one statement by Mithas and Lucas contradicts their numerical findings, a contradiction that is resolved when one notes the problems I've described above.
 
Norm
follow-up article from Dr. Matloff

2010-05-17
Jason Scott _Cumberland PA Sentinel_/_Lee_
voter turn-out for tomorrow's PA primaries expected to be light
"'We're prepared for 100%.', said Penny Brown, director of elections and voter registration for Cumberland County.   Realistically, she expects about 30% of the county's 127,751 registered Republican and Democratic voters will turn out on Election Day...   Currently, there are 76,242 registered Republicans and 51,509 Democrats in Cumberland County, according to Brown.   The number of Republicans has dropped from 2008 (78,539), as has the number of Democrats (52,867), she said."

2010-05-17
David North _Center for Immigration Studies_
More Adventures for the H-1B Visa Program

2010-05-17
Robert M. Engstrom _Human Events_
Is Eric Holder a liar or incompetent?
full text of Arizona SB1070 (pdf)
official summary

2010-05-17
David Harsanyi _Reason_
Caps and Scams: The trouble with the latest Kerry-Lieberman bill

2010-05-17
Mark Skousen _FreeMan_
Investment drives the economy

2010-05-17 (5770 Sivan 04)
Scott Stewart _Jewish World Review_/_StratFor_
Lessons the US government has failed to learn from the botched May 1 Times Square attack
"The objective here is to cut through the clutter and clearly explain the phenomenon of grassroots jihadism, outline its extensive history in the United States, note the challenges its operatives pose to counterterrorism agencies and discuss the weaknesses of such operatives.   It is also important to remember that the proliferation of grassroots operatives in recent years is something that was clearly expected as a logical result of the devolution of the jihadist movement, a phenomenon that STRATFOR has closely followed for many years...   This increase in situational awareness should extend not only to protective intelligence and counterterrorism professionals but also to street cops and even civilians (like the street vendor who brought Shahzad's device to the attention of authorities).   Sometimes, a grassroots threat can be most effectively countered by grassroots defenders."

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-18

2010-05-18
David North _Right Side News_/_Center for Immigration Studies_
More Adventures for the H-1B visa program

2010-05-18
Charisse Tyson _Hollister CA Free Lance News_
pride in country

2010-05-18
Mark Derry _Hollister CA Free Lance News_
DeVore's rising campaign to knock Barbara Boxer out of congress

2010-05-18
Amity Shlaes _Orange county CA Register_/_Bloomberg_
A "Robin Hood" TEA partiers can love
Cathy Young: Reason: A Libertarian Rebel
"A new king, indolent John, Richard's brother, foolishly considers restoring the fiscal household-tax increases and tells his court that the move will replenish the royal coffers.   The knave has forgotten his Reaganomics, a failure for which his mother promptly berates him, offering up a metaphor that is the feudal equivalent of the Laffer Curve.   'Milking a dry udder', she snaps, 'gets you nothing but kicked off the milking stool.'   Next, a wise adviser, John's Ben Bernanke, informs John that sometimes one should borrow, instead of tax.   After all, for a super-power, some cash is always around, 'money chests from Sicily to Normandy'.   But John makes like Bush 41 and taxes away.   The House of Angevin tells feudal lords and merchants they may choose between filling 'coffers or coffins'.   Next, its men start torching towns that refuse to pay up to prove it means what it says.   Into this heavily taxed desperation steps the yeoman hero Robin Hood."

2010-05-18
Tom Lutey _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
No one likes US senate's warmist proposals

2010-05-18
_Washington Times_
Illegal aliens to be granted Socialist Insecurity benefits by Reprehensible Immigration Law Perversion proposal

2010-05-18
_V Dare_
OK, Reprehensible Immigration Law Perversion is not just amnesty; it's worse

2010-05-18
Michelle Malkin _V Dare_
Blaming Arizona—The U.S. Department of Blame America First
full text of Arizona SB1070 (pdf)

2010-05-18
Walter E. Williams _Orange county CA Register_
Who should have the privilege to live in the USA?
Human Events
"There are close to 7G people on our planet.   I'd like to know how the libertarians answer this question: Does each individual on the planet have a natural or God-given right to live in the U.S.A.?...   I believe most people, even my open-borders libertarian friends, would not say that everyone on the planet had a right to live in the U.S.A.   That being the case suggests there will be conditions that a person must meet to live in the U.S.A.   Then the question emerges: Who gets to set those conditions?   Should it be the United Nations, the European Union, the Japanese Diet or the Moscow City Duma?   I can't be absolutely sure, but I believe that most Americans would recoil at the suggestion that somebody other than Americans should be allowed to set the conditions for people to live in the U.S.A.   What those conditions should be is one thing and whether a person has a right to ignore them is another.   People become illegal immigrants in one of three ways: entering without authorization or inspection, staying beyond the authorized period after legal entry or by violating the terms of legal entry.   Most of those who risk prosecution under Arizona's new law fit the first category -- entering without authorization or inspection.   Probably, the overwhelming majority of Mexican illegal immigrants are hard-working, honest and otherwise law-abiding members of the communities in which they reside.   It would surely be a heart-wrenching scenario for such a person to be stopped for a driving infraction, have his illegal immigrant status discovered and face deportation proceedings.   Regardless of the hardship suffered, being in the U.S.A. without authorization is a crime.   When crimes are committed, what should be done?   Some people recommend amnesia, which turns out to be the root word for amnesty.   But surely they don't propose it as a general response to crime where criminals confess their crime, pay some fine and apply to have their crimes over-looked.   Amnesty supporters probably wish amnesty to apply to only illegal immigrants.   That being the case, one wonders whether they wish it to apply to illegals past, present and future, regardless of race, ethnicity or country of origin.   Various estimates put the illegal immigrant population in the U.S.A. between 10M and 20M.   One argument says we can't round up and deport all those people.   That argument differs little from one that says since we can't catch every burglar, we should grant burglars amnesty.   Catching and imprisoning some burglars sends a message to would-be burglars that there might be a price to pay.   Similarly, imprisoning some illegal immigrants and then deporting them after their sentences were served would send a signal to others who are here illegally or who are contemplating illegal entry that there's a price to pay.   Here's Williams' suggestion in a nut-shell: Start strict enforcement of immigration law, as Arizona has begun.   Strictly enforce border security.   Most importantly, modernize and stream-line our cumbersome immigration laws so that people can more easily migrate to our country."

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-19

2010-05-19
W. James Antle iii _American Spectator_
Rand Paul won in KY

2010-05-19
W. James Angle iii _American Spectator_
Land-slide win by ophthalmologist Rand Paul in KY

2010-05-19 00:13PDT (03:13EDT) (07:13GMT)
Roy Beck _Numbers USA_
Elections Analysis: Immigration Balance May Be Shifting

2010-05-19
Peter Ferrara _American Spectator_
Leftists Gone Wild with phony baloney warmist regulations

2010-05-19 16:07PDT (19:07EDT) (23:07GMT)
_Investor's Business Daily_
Michael Mann under investigation for fraud WRT grants and phony data
"In 2004, Canadian researchers Ross McKitrick and Stephen McIntyre found that the chart was based on flawed and biased data-crunching that distorted the temperature record.   At that time, physics professor Richard Muller wrote in the MIT Technology Review that the pair "uncovered a fundamental mathematical flaw in the computer program that was used to produce the hockey stick.'   Mann's work was further questioned last year when an exchange of e-mails made public indicated that Mann had used a "trick" to conceal late 20th century temperature data that would have undermined the man-made global warming claim.   Cuccinelli is fully within his authority, both moral and legal, to demand that the university turn over the Mann documents.   If Mann used public money to commit academic fraud in order to promote a political agenda, he needs to be held accountable."

2010-05-19
Mike Dorning _Bloomberg_
College grads flood into US labor market with diminished prospects
"Ten months after graduating from Ohio State University with a civil-engineering degree and 3 internships, Matt Grant finally has a job -- as a banquet waiter at a Clarion Inn near Akron, Ohio."

2010-05-19 (5770 Sivan 06)
Nat Hentoff _Jewish World Review_
Elena Kagan vs. that bothersome First Amendment thing

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-20

2010-05-20 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
OPA press releases
historical data
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 407,940 in the week ending May 15, a decrease of 1,819 from the previous week.   There were 540,925 initial claims in the comparable week in 2009.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.5% during the week ending May 8, unchanged from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 4,439,549, a decrease of 113,074 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 4.6% and the volume was 6,203,661.   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 May 1...   States reported 5,101,246 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending May 1, a decrease of 94,788 from the prior week.   There were 2,268,367 claimants in the comparable week in 2009.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity. [Note that the population used for calculating the "insured unemployment rate" changes
to 132,623,886 beginning 2007-10-06;
to 133,010,953 beginning 2008-01-05;
to 133,382,559 beginning 2008-04-05;
to 133,690,617 beginning 2008-07-05;
to 133,902,387 beginning 2008-10-04;
to 133,886,830 beginning 2009-01-03;
to 133,683,433 beginning 2009-04-04;
to 133,078,480 beginning 2009-07-04;
to 133,823,421 beginning 2009-10-03;
to 131,823,421 beginning 2009-10-17;
to 130,128,328 beginning 2010-01-02;
to 128,298,468 beginning 2010-04-03.]
graphs
more graphs

2010-05-20
Laura Petrecca _USA Today_/_Gannett_
Toughest test comes after graduation: Getting a job
"LL, graduated in 2008 December and has had a tough time finding rewarding full-time work...   They and their fellow graduates nationwide face a fierce battle just to secure a job interview, let alone full-time employment.   About 2.4M students will graduate with bachelor's and associates degrees as part of the Class of 2010, says the National Center for Education Statistics...   There are more than five job seekers for every opening, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures analyzed by outplacement firm Challenger Gray & Christmas...   Nearly half of this year's graduates echo Geisel's optimistic attitude, saying they are 'confident' about their ability to get a job, according to a Monster poll.   Another 22% say they are 'very or extremely confident', double the amount of students who had that stance in 2009...   Two-thirds of those graduating with a bachelor's degree are saddled with an average of $23,186 in federal and private loans, says Monster's director of advanced projects Mark Kantrowitz.   Those fortunate enough to land jobs will make slightly less than their 2009 peers.   The average salary offer for the Class of 2010 bachelor's degree candidates is $47,673, a 1.7% drop from 2009, says the NCES...   Among 2009 U.S. college graduates, 80% moved back home with their parents after graduation, according to a poll by entry-level job site CollegeGrad.com.   That's up from 77% in 2008, 73% in 2007 and 67% in 2006...   Google... gets more than 3K applications a day."
Plenty of Evidence of STEM Talent Glut, None of Shortage

2010-05-20 09:15PDT (12:15EDT) (16:15GMT)
Karen Lee Ziner _Providence RI Journal_
RI law-maker filed immigration reform bill
H8142 (pdf)

2010-05-20
Ed Koc & Mimi Collins _NACE_
Those who got internships (including foreign students on OPT) are more likely to have job offers by graduation
"NACE's 2010 Student Survey shows 42.3% of the seniors who had internship experience and applied for a job received at least one job offer.   Conversely, only 30.7% of seniors without internship experience who applied for a job received an offer...   'Results of our study show the median accepted salary offer for seniors with an internship was $45,301—nearly 31% higher than the $34,601 median accepted salary offer to non-intern seniors.', says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director."

2010-05-20
Charles S. Johnson _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
Replacing computers every 5 years instead of 4 declared state's top money-saving idea
"'The good news is you win this palladium coin.', Schweitzer told Kozak at a ceremony in the Capitol.   'Honest to God, the bad news is the price of palladium dropped 9% today alone and it has dropped 27% in just the last two weeks.'...   Delaying the purchase of new computers by a year won't be a problem for most employees, he said, because most personal computers today have much more computing power than is required by the software...   Earlier this year, as the state revenues declined, Schweitzer asked Montanans to submit ideas on how state government could save money.   People sent it 1,691 ideas in a month."

2010-05-20
Shannon Mehner & Brianna McClane _Northwestern University_
Abused immigrants, unaware of labor laws, afraid to fight mistreatment

2010-05-20
Frosty Wooldridge _Before It's News_
Some people believe it's time the USA dropped to the poverty levels of the rest of the world

2010-05-20
Josh Keller _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Number of California State University System lecturers fell 18% in the last year

++ 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
 
 

2010-05-21

2010-05-21
John Steele Gordon _Commentary_
Pension Tsunami: Governments and their employee Unions sometimes put other organized crime outfits' extortion rackets to shame

2010-05-21
Charles Krauthammer _Washington Post_
The fruits of weakness
"They've watched President Obama's humiliating attempts to appease Iran, as every rejected overture is met with abjectly renewed U.S. negotiating offers.   American acquiescence reached such a point that the president was late, hesitant and flaccid in expressing even rhetorical support for democracy demonstrators who were being brutally suppressed and whose call for regime change offered the potential for the most significant U.S. strategic advance in the region in 30 years."

2010-05-21 15:59PDT (18:59EDT) (22:59GMT)
Jed Graham _Investor's Business Daily_
GDP growth slackening from already dismal levels (with graph)

2010-05-21 (5770 Sivan 08)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
With Obama emasculating the US military and his hand-picked pacifist advisors singing on cue, Israel better take the lead in defense against evil

2010-05-21 (5770 Sivan 08)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Another Judicial Power Grab
Town Hall
Human Events
Columbus OH Dispatch
"You might think that being a Supreme Court justice would be the top of the line job for someone in the legal profession.   But, many Supreme Court decisions suggest that too many justices are not satisfied with their role, and seek more sweeping powers as supreme policy-makers, grand second-guessers or philosopher-kings.   The latest example of this is the recent Supreme Court decision in the case of Graham versus Florida.   The issue was whether the Constitution permitted a state to impose a sentence of life without the possibility of parole when the criminal was a youthful offender.   The Supreme Court voted 6 to 3 that this was a violation of the Constitution.   If your copy of the Constitution doesn't say anything about youthful offenders, do not worry that you have a defective copy.   There is no such statement in the Constitution.   What the justices cited as the alleged basis for their decision was the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against 'cruel and unusual punishments'.   Since 37 out of the 50 states permit sentences of life without the possibility of parole, such a sentence is not unusual.   How about cruel?   If it is cruel, then why is it OK to impose that sentence on people who are not youthful?   The case of Graham versus Florida involved a 16-year-old repeat offender, who was convicted of a home invasion robbery while on probation from a previous felony.   He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole...   Nobody -- from the moment that the Constitution was adopted in the 18th century to the present -- has ever denied that societies evolve, and that their laws must evolve to meet changing circumstances.   But, unless Justice Stevens is either stupid or dishonest, he cannot leap from a need for laws to change to the conclusion that it is judges who must be the ones to make those changes.   Just saying the magic word "change" does not justify judges grabbing the power to make whatever changes they please in the law.   There are, after all, two other branches of the federal government, specifically charged with legislative and executive responsibilities and powers, not to mention the Constitutional Amendment process."

2010-05-21

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copper	$0.1913125/ounce
natgas	$4.1060/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline	$1.9528/gal
heatingoil	$1.8967/gal
soybeans	$9.41/bushel
maize	$3.69/bushel
wheat	$4.72/bushel
dollarindex	85.42
yenperdollar	89.81
dollarspereuro	1.257
dollarsperpound	1.4466
swissfranksperdollar	1.1490
indianrupeesperdollar	46.95
mexicanpesosperdollar	12.9615
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex	545.05

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
 
 

2010-05-22

2010-05-22
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Katy Perry, Climatologist: you're hot then you're cold
Investor's Business Daily

2010-12-22
Grace Gagliano _Bradenton FL Herald_
Local jobless numbers head in right direction
"Joyce Boyle, director of human resources for Hoveround... said, 'I was getting in excess of 150 resumes daily.'   Now, Boyle estimates she gets 50-60 resumes a day...   At the Suncoast Workforce Board, spokeswoman Sally Hill said staff is evaluating how successful the Suncoast Career Expo held in April was in terms of connecting the jobless with employment.   An estimated 2,500 job seekers attended the career expo at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Convention Center that featured 79 local employers."

2010-05-22 Mark J. Perry
Engineering degrees and grad student enrollment are at record high levels

++ 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
 
 

2010 May
Steven M. Suranovic _International Trade: Theory and Policy_
Measuring Protectionism: Average Tariff Rates Around the World: Problems Using Average Tariffs as a Measure of Protection
book "Generally speaking, average tariff rates are less than 20% in most countries, although they are often quite a bit higher for agricultural commodities. In the most developed countries, average tariffs are less than 10%, and often less than 5%. On average, less developed countries maintain higher tariff barriers, but, for many countries that have recently joined the WTO, tariffs have recently been reduced substantially to gain entry. Average Tariff Rates   Japan (2000) 6.5%   EU (2002) Industrial Gods 6.4%, Agriculture 16.1%... India (2002) 32.0%... Canada is listed above with a simple average tariff of 7.1%. However, Canada's trade-weighted average, in contrast, is a mere 0.9%."
US Trade Policy Highlights (graph of customs duties as percent of federal government revenues)
compare with customs revenue as percentage of French, British, Brazilian government revenues

2010 May
_Baltimore MD Sun_
How much Baltimore MD area workers are paid

Proposed Bills 2010

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

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