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updated: 2019-01-09
 

"Each of us has a natural right to defend his person, his liberty, and his property." --- Frederic Bastiat

 
 

2011 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

 

"Whenever the legislators endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a state of war with the people." --- John Locke

 
 
 

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

2011-05-01

2011-05-01
Megan Rolland _Oklahoman_
Backers of Guelen schools say radical Islamic ties pose no threat
"It is 1 of 4 Oklahoma charter schools run by the non-profit Sky Foundation, which was founded in 2000 by 5 graduate students at Oklahoma State University.   Most were members of the Turkish Student Association.   In 2009, Sky Foundation reported nearly $8M in revenue.   More than 120 charter schools nationwide were founded by Turkish nationals, beginning in 1999.   The schools have excelled academically.   They also have brought thousands of [guest-teachers] into the country on temporary visas [from Turkey]...   At the center is Fethullah Gulen, a 70-year-old Turkish Muslim...   The superintendent of the four Sky Foundation schools in Oklahoma, Kaan Camuz, said of 35 teachers at Dove Science Academy, 11 are from Turkey, Russia, Turkmenistan or Azerbaijan.   Those teachers, along with many others on the school's 4 campuses, came to America on H-1B visas."

2011-05-01
Jeanne Starmack _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
28 workers file $3M suit against GM and the UAW over pay and seniority in yet another bodyshopping scam
"The suit says the workers were hired as temporaries in 2006 October.   Their temporary status was extended a number of times, but the company failed to grant the proper approval to extend it, a violation of the contract, it says.   When a temporary employee is hired, he must either be laid off or hired permanently after his time is up, it contends.   The union allowed the company to continually extend the temporary assignments rather than make them permanent, the suit says.   According to the suit, in 2007 April, the plaintiffs were arbitrarily terminated while 22 temporary employees hired with them were retained.   After the plaintiffs were terminated, the company brought in nonunion employees, managers and contractors to do their jobs, the suit says.   The terminations and the use of non-union employees were contract violations, but the union did not investigate or file a grievance, the suit says.   In 2007 November, the plaintiffs were rehired and were supposed to be permanent employees with seniority for the time they served as temporaries, the suit says.   On 2008 June 13, they were called into the labor office at the Lordstown plant and forced to sign a document that re-categorized them as temporary employees, with 2008 June 12, as their seniority date, the complaint states.   They were told they had to sign the document or be immediately terminated, it says.   Most of the plaintiffs got pay cuts of more than 40%."

2011-05-01
Robert Moore _Cenantua_
All is not as it may first appear... the poetess and her work

2011-05-01
Joe Wolverton ii _New American_
Arizona governor Jan Brewer signed law to authorize building border fence, and entering into regional agreements with neighboring states for the same purpose
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-02

2011-05-02
_Dice_
Dice Report: 75,916 job ads

2011-05-02
_Youngstown OH Vindicator_/_AP_
Jubilant crowds at Times Square, WTC, WhiteHouse after Osama bin Laden's death
NYTimes
more from NYTimes
Washington DC Post
Global Post
Manchester Guardian
video of reaction
Manchester Guardian: What's next?
London Telegraph
World Net Daily
Cumberland PA Sentinel/Lee

2011-05-02 07:39PDT (10:39EDT) (14:39GMT) (17:39Jerusalem)
_Knoxville TN News Sentinel_
U of TN student finalist in economics context

2011-05-02
_Conference Board_
Help-Wanted On-Line Advertising dropped 123,800 in April

2011-05-02 13:14:32PDT (16:14:32EDT) (20:14:32GMT) (23:14:32Jerusalem)
Dana Hull _San Jose CA Mercury "News"_
PG&E to replace 1,600 defective IdiotMeters that inflated customers' electric bills
"The 1,600 defective meters, which are manufactured by the Swiss company Landis+Gyr, comprise less than 0.1% of the nearly 2.1M Landis+Gyr meters installed in Northern California to date.   PG&E began calling customers who have the defective meters Monday and will offer full refunds to customers who received inaccurate bills.   The utility said the average refund is $40 per customer...   So many consumers complained about high bills that regulators with the California Public Utilities Commission ordered an independent investigation into meter accuracy.   The report, released last fall, found no accuracy problems with the SmartMeters and noted that high bills could be traced to other causes, such as increased energy use during a summer heat wave or 'load changes' like adding a pool or additional room to a house.   Consumer advocates with TURN, The Utility Reform Network, said PG&E's revelation of 1,600 defective meters should be a wake-up call to the company and regulators to take customer complaints more seriously."

2011-05-02
Lina Garcia & Dave Roberts _US DoL ETA_
secretary of labor Solis announces competition for grants to divert H-1B fee funds to training laborers for non-cutting-edge, non-STEM fields
PR News Wire
Centre PA Daily

2011-05-02
Keith Bradsher _NYTimes_
Supplies Squeezed, Rare Earth Prices Surge
"World prices have doubled in the last 4 months for rare earths -- metallic elements needed for many of the most sophisticated civilian and military technologies, whether smart-phones or smart bombs.   And this year's increases come atop price gains of as much as fourfold during 2010.   The reason is basic economics: demand continues to out-strip efforts to expand supplies and break [Red China's] choke-hold on the market.   Neodymium, a rare earth necessary for a range of products including headphones and hybrid electric cars, now fetches more than $283/kg ($129/pound) on the spot market.   A year ago it sold for about $42/kg ($19/pound).   Samarium, crucial to the manufacture of missiles, has climbed to more than $146/kg, up from $18.50 a year earlier...   the Toyota Prius hybrid car, whose manufacture uses a kilogram of neodymium...   [Red China] controls more than 95% of the market..."

2011-05-02 14:25PDT (17:25EDT) (21:25GMT) (2011-05-03 00:25Jerusalem)
Roy Beck _Numbers USA_
Ron Paul's latest book sinks his "Immigration Grade" to an F, 2nd worst of all presidential hopefuls

2011-05-02
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Gasoline prices are rising again because of actions of environmentalists, politicians, and the U.S. monetary authorities

2011-05-02
John Miano _Center for Immigration Studies_
Does Parroting Lobbyists Constitute "News analysis"?

2011-05-02
David North _Center for Immigration Studies_
Firms which actively recruit students to come to the USA weaken requirements in their pitches
"According to USCIS, 'you must be enrolled as a full-time student' at the institution.   According to Y-Axis, a visa broker in India, you must 'be willing to study at least part of your time in the USA'.   The USCIS web-site says 'you must have sufficient funds available for self-support during the entire proposed course of study'.   Y-Axis puts a different spin on those rules, saying you must 'possess sufficient funds to support yourself for the first 3 months in the USA -- estimated at $12K.   You don't need to use this, but it is recommended to have this to settle in the US when you first land.'   Y-Axis adds that you must have a 'bank statement from your sponsor showing at least $15K.   This is for visa purposes only.'   IOW, Y-Axis does not regard it as a meaningful requirement.   This organization calls the F-1 visa the 'USA Work Study Visa'."

2011-05-02
Beryl Benderly _Science_
"Business as usual is not acceptable.", says NIH panel chair Tilghman
"'The root of the problem' is over-production of Ph.D.s, she continues, and, if nothing changes, the situation stands to worsen in the years to come."

2011-05-02
Robert P. Murphy _Ludwig von Mises Institute_
The economics of slushy drinks

2011-05-02
William L. Anderson
Bail-outs, blunders and bad policies

2011-05-02 (5771 Nisan 29)
Debra J. Saunders _Jewish World Review_
Intolerant Left Strikes Again

2011-05-02 (5771 Nisan 29)
Toni Gore _Popular Archaeology_
cannibalism in the pre-Columbian South-West
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-03

2011-05-02 18:52PDT (2011-05-02 21:52EDT) (2011-05-03 01:52GMT) (2011-05-03 05:52Jerusalem)
Steve Peacock _World Net Daily_
the term "natural-born citizen" is being attacked on the web and especially the wikipedia
"In the most recent development, an unnamed 'editor' deleted in its entirety a section of a Wikipedia entry for Swiss legal philosopher Emmerich de Vattel, whom Founding Fathers such as Benjamin Franklin have credited for his influence on early American policy formation.   The deleted segment, titled 'USA Constitution', had included a reference to de Vattel's 1757 treatise 'The Law of Nations', which defined natural-born citizenship as 'those born in the country, of parents who are citizens'."
de Vattel, Joseph Chitty, Edward D. Ingraham & Jon Roland _The Law of Nations_
"The Constitution of the United States of America article 1 section 7 refers to 'the law of nations'...   de Vattel defined 'natural born citizen': 'The natives, or natural-born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens... to be of the country, it is necessary to be born of a person who is a citizen, for if he is a foreigner, it will be only the place of his birth, and not his country.'   Two notable copies of [Vattel's] _The Law of Nations_ owned by the NY Society Library have been associated with US president George Washintgon.   The copy borrowed by president Washington on 1789-10-08, along with a copy of vol12 of the _Commons Debates_, containing transcripts from Great Britains House of Commons, and the copy acquired by the Washington museum at Mount Vernon for $12K and donated to the library on 2010-05-20, to satisfy the unpaid late-fees."   "Vattel's master-piece was largely influenced by _The Law of Nations_ by Christian Wolff.   His work began, in fact, by translating Wolff's text from its Latin into the vernacular and adding his own though was also heavily influenced by Gottfried Leibnitz and Hugo Grotius.   Focused largely on the rights and obligations of citizens and [governments], the work [also] had ramifications for just war theory."

2011-05-02 21:01PDT (2011-05-03 00:01EDT) (2011-05-03 04:01GMT) (2011-05-03 07:10Jerusalem)
Jennifer Openshaw _MarketWatch_
What does a college education cost and what is it worth?
"The price tag for 4 years at a public university averages about $35K, according to The College Board.   A private college or university can cost about $120K...   According to the annual salary survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers [NACE], the average salary offer to all class of 2011 graduates now stands at $50,462, up 5.9% over the overall average of $47,673 to class of 2010 graduates."
graphs

2011-05-03
Phyllis Schlafly _World Net Daily_
Who will answer the jobs question?
"They include the man who lost his $150K-a-year job as a money manager and is now making cappuccinos at a Starbucks for $8.85 an hour, and the former manufacturing manager with two master's degrees who is now working as a janitor at $9 an hour after he was turned down for 1,000 other jobs...   Then [Obama] appointed General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt as his jobs czar (director of the Council on Jobs and Competitiveness).   As CEO, Immelt [built on the policies of his predecessor, Jack Welch] reduced the value of GE's stock by half, closed GE's U.S. plants, laid off the workers (including all those who made Edison light bulbs) and, by 2010, had 54% of GE's employees over-seas...   The U.S. Chamber says those policies are 'a blueprint for technology theft' and force non-Chinese firms to hand over their ideas, patents, trade secrets and know-how as the price of doing business in [Red China]...   [Red China] has a communist government and is aggressively protectionist...   [Red China], despite World Trade Organization [WTO] membership, has no intention of allowing free and open markets [any more than European countries do].   Last December, U.S. trade negotiators (who are always outwitted by the [Red Chinese]) thought they were getting a promise that [Red Chinese] local governments would not be required to buy locally developed technology products and that [Red China] would stop using stolen software.   There is no evidence that [Red China] complied -- U.S. negotiators had failed again."

2011-05-03
Joel Hood _Chicago IL Tribune_
James Dyson invests $500K in after-school science program

2011-05-03 08:04PDT (11:04EDT) (15:04GMT) (18:04Jerusalem)
_Numbers USA_
3 more sponsors for HR100
Proposed Bills 2011

2011-05-03 09:26PDT (12:26EDT) (16:26GMT) (19:26Jerusalem)
Angus Loten _Wall Street Journal_
SBA watch-dog complains that H-1B visa rules would favor large firms

2011-05-03
Jana Winter _Fox_
Border Patrol agents/officers ordered to reduce arrests of illegal alien invaders

2011-05-03 13:54PDT (16:54EDT) (20:54GMT)
Benjamin Pimentel _MarketWatch_
Apple releases new versions of iMac based on both Intel and AMD chips
"Intel had said that Thunderbolt can support high-speed data transfer and high-definition display on a single cable, making it possible to transfer a full-length, high-definition movie in less than 30 seconds."

2011-05-03
Aaron Goldstein _American Spectator_
Jackie Cooper died

2011-05-03
Kevin Douglas Grant _Global Post_
Oil and natural gas boom in Israel

2011-05-03 (5771 Nisan 29)
Jeff Jacoby _Jewish World Review_
bin Laden was right about one thing
"'We love death.', bin Laden once told an interviewer.   'The US loves life.   That is the big difference between us.'"

2011-05-03 (5771 Nisan 29)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Fed up with the Fed?
Appeal Democrat
Investor's Business Daily
Gaston NC Gazette
"When people in Washington start creating fancy new phrases, instead of using plain English, you know they are doing something they don't want us to understand.   It was an act of war when we started bombing Libya.   But the administration chose to call it 'kinetic military action'.   When the Federal Reserve System started creating hundreds of billions of dollars out of thin air, they called it 'quantitative easing' of the money supply.   When that didn't work, they created more money and called it 'quantitative easing 2' or 'QE2', instead of saying: 'We are going to print more dollars -- and hope it works this time.'   But there is already plenty of money sitting around idle in banks and businesses.   The policies of this administration make it risky to lend money, with Washington politicians coming up with one reason after another why borrowers shouldn't have to pay it back when it is due, or perhaps not pay it all back at all.   That's called 'loan modification' or various other fancy names for welching on debts.   Is it surprising that lenders have become reluctant to lend?   Private businesses have amassed record amounts of cash, which they could use to hire more people -- if this administration were not generating vast amounts of uncertainty about what the costs are going to be for ObummerDoesn'tCare, among other unpredictable employer costs, from a government heedless or hostile toward business.   As a result, it is often cheaper or less risky for employers to work the existing employees over-time, or to hire temporary workers, who are not eligible for employee benefits.   But lack of money is not the problem."
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-04

2011-05-04 04:30PDT (07:30EDT) (11:30GMT) (14:30Jerusalem)
_Central Valley CA Business Times_
Challenger, Gray & Christmas: 36,490 announced lay-offs in 2011 April
Henry Unger: Atlanta GA Journal Constitution
Charles Riley & Catherine Clifford: CNN
Chicago IL Tribune
Andrew FitzGerald: NASDAQ/Dow Jones
Hartford CT Courant
Cincinnati OH Business Courier
UPI
Erick Galindo: Pasadena CA Star-News
Edmonton Alberta Canada Journal
Daniel Indiviglio: Atlantic
David Young: Coloradoan
DeWayne Reeves: Inside Futures/Christian Financial Radio Network
Leslie Burton: Inside Futures/Daniels Trading
41,528 announced lay-offs in 2011 March
38,326 announced lay-offs in 2010 March
167,239 announced lay-offs in 2011 year-to-date
government & non-profits announced 10,731 lay-offs in 2011 April (52,660 year to date)
aerospace and defense sector 4,514 (11,792 ytd compared to 3,838 in the first 4 months of 2010)
financial 3,447 (10,654 ytd)
retail announced 2,900 (18,668 ytd)
services 2,293 (5,647 ytd)
industrial goods 1,015 (7,499 ytd)
computer 414 (2,301 ytd)
electronics 70 (2,272 ytd)
4,746 were announced in California (26,850 ytd)
NJ 4,526 (10,476 ytd)
FL 3,998
1,730 were announced in Ohio
DC 1,300 (15,326 ytd)
MI 587 (10,227 ytd)
IL 575 (8,707 ytd)
520 in KY
277 in IN
graphs

2011-05-04
Gerri Willis _Fox_
Washington DC needs to do more for job growth

2011-05-04
Nathan Eddy _eWeek_
IT employers should tap into federal funding to train new-hires and retained employees
Virtual Strategy Magazine
"CompTIA, a non-profit association for the IT industry, is encouraging its membership and the broader high-tech industry to aggressively seek their share of $240M in newly launched federal grants available for job training programs.   U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis on Monday announced the availability of approximately $240M through the H-1B Technical Skills Training Grants program competition.   Grants will be awarded to help workers update current job skills or acquire new skills so they can enter career pathways that lead to higher-paying jobs, including positions in information technology.   The Department of Labor expects to fund 75 to 100 grants...   Last fall Solis, CompTIA and leaders in the IT industry -- including representatives from CVS, HP, IBM, Juniper Networks and Oracle [but not the Programmers Guild, Techs Unite, WashTech, or the American Engineering Association] -- met to discuss strategies on how the H-1B Technical Skills Training Grants program should be structured to maximize benefits to the American work-force."

2011-05-04
Marisa Gerber _Washington DC Examiner_
Groups united by desire to clean up trash left near border by illegal alien invaders
Arizona Republic
"The project, which was championed by then-congressman Jim Kolbe and eventually approved by Congress, gave Arizona $695K to clean up its border-lands -- an area that stretches about 100 miles north of the border.   The project funding, which has to be re-allocated each year, has been raised fairly steadily since its onset.   By fiscal year 2009, the funding was up to almost $1.14M.   Its price tag isn't the project's only big number.   In fiscal year 2010, the Southern Arizona Project removed more than 255 tons of trash.   And the BLM's Deborah Stevens said it's not just small things, like water bottles and discarded photographs, that are picked up.   In fiscal year 2010, 364 bikes and 77 vehicles were removed from Arizona borderlands.   Bikes and cars are often used, and then ditched in the desert, by illegal immigrants and smugglers, she said."

2011-05-04 10:36PDT (13:36EDT) (17:36GMT) (20:36Jerusalem)
Jeff Schwilk _San Diego CA Examiner_
New video seems to show smugglers easily crossing US border near San Diego, CA

2011-05-04 11:49PDT (14:49EDT) (18:49GMT) (21:49Jerusalem)
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes _Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
iOS 4.3.3 reduces location caching and leak
"iOS 4.3.3 is a 666MB download."

2011-05-04 07:56PDT (10:56EDT) (14:56GMT) (17:56Jerusalem)
Colleen Wixon _Treasure Coast FL Palm_
Martin county FL students doing better on FCAT tests
"About 93% of the district's eighth-graders scored a 4.0 and above, which could be the new level of proficiency for Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test writing.   The district's sophomores were tied with 3 other districts [counties] for the fifth highest percentage of students scoring a 4.0 and above.   Fourth-graders tied with five other districts for the ninth highest percentage scoring the same."

2011-05-04
John Stossel _Fox_
Bureaubums have no sense of humor

2011-05-04
John Stossel _Fox_
Kill all of the special deals!

2011-05-04
Pat Choate _Economy in Crisis_
Could Our Elected Legislators be Our Enemies In Disguise?: the Korean "Free" Trade Agreement
US Trade Representative

2011-05-04
Frosty Wooldridge _Right Side News_
Why did Ted Kennedy flood the USA with 100M poor?
traditional US immigration levels
index

2011-05-04 16:53PDT (19:53EDT) (23:53GMT) (2011-05-05 02:53Jerusalem)
_10 News San Diego CA_
Hezbollah setting up operations near border
"'We are looking at 15 or 20 years that Hezbollah has been setting up shop in Mexico.', the agent told 10News...   'I consider Hezbollah much more dangerous in that sense because of strategic thinking; they think more long-term.'   Hezbolah has operated in South America for decades and then Central America, along with their sometime rival, sometime ally Hamas.   Now, the group is blending into Shi'a Muslim communities in Mexico, including Tijuana.   Other pockets along the U.S.-Mexico border region remain largely unidentified as U.S. intelligence agencies are focused on the drug trade."

2011-05-04
Alexander Joffe _Hudson NY_
Who oversees foreign aid to the Palestinians?

2011-05-04
William L. Anderson
Is mass slaughter a good thing?
"Under socialism, government commandeers resources and moves them from higher-valued uses to lower-valued uses. How is chattel slavery any different? I don't see how it can be any different at all."

2011-05-04
Mickey McCarter _Homeland Security Today_
GAO says DHS lacks will and resources to find, identify, and remove visa over-stayers
"Roughly 40% of illegal immigrants in the United States simply over-stayed their legal visas...   About 4M-5M illegal immigrants over-stay their visas, remaining in the United States after entering legally, according to estimates from the Pew Hispanic Center.   But US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the DHS agency responsible for removing over-stays, has only dedicated about 3% of its investigative work-force hours to investigating them.   ICE agents have arrested only 8,100 over-stays since fiscal 2006, the GAO report noted...   5 of the 19 hijackers responsible for carrying out the 2001/09/11 terrorist attacks over-stayed their visas, noted senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), committee chair, and Susan Collins (R-ME), its ranking member.   In addition, GAO reported that 36 of about 400 terrorists convicted by the United States since 2001/09/11 had over-stayed their visas to remain in the country...   Collins lamented the lack of ICE resources dedicated to tracking down the roughly 40% of 12M illegal immigrants in the United States due to visa over-stays."

2011-05-04 (5771 Nisan 30)
Alan M. Dershowitz _Jewish World Review_
Targeted Killing Vindicated
"The decision to target and kill Osama Bin Laden is being applauded by all decent people.   Approval to capture or kill this mass-murdering terrorist leader was given by Presidents Obama and Bush.   It was the right decision, both morally and legally.   Although Bin Laden wore no military uniform and held no official military rank, he was an appropriate military target.   As the titular and spiritual head of Al Qaeda, he was the functional equivalent of a head of state or commander in chief of a terrorist army.   From the beginning of recorded history, killing the king was the legitimate object of military action.   The very phrase 'check mate' means 'the king is dead', signifying the successful end of the battle.   Yet there are those who claim that all targeted killings are immoral and illegal.   These critics characterize such actions as 'extrajudicial executions' and demand that terrorist leaders and functionaries be treated as common criminals who must be arrested and brought to trial."

2011-05-04 (5771 Nisan 30)
Steven Emerson _Jewish World Review_
al-Qaida's next battle-hardened, difficult leader
"In the wake of Osama bin Laden's demise, his likely successor is his long-time deputy and collaborator, Egyptian jihadist Ayman al-Zawahiri.   The U.S. government has offered a reward of up to $25M for Zawahiri, who officials have said was responsible for the planning of 2001/09/11, the bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, and the 2000 October bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen."

2011-05-04 (5771 Nisan 30)
Scott Stewart _Jewish World Review_/_StratFor_
Implications of bin Laden's death for Jihadism
"Because of this sense of fulfilled vengeance, the death of bin Laden will certainly be one of those events that people will remember, like the 2001/09/11 attacks themselves.   In spite of the sense of justice and closure the killing of bin Laden brings, however, his death will likely have very little practical impact on the jihadist movement.   More important will be the reaction of the Pakistani government to the operation and the impact it has on U.S.-Pakistani relations... the phenomenon of jihadism is far wider than just the al Qaeda core leadership..."

2011-05-04 (5771 Nisan 30)
Nat Hentoff _Jewish World Review_
Free speech and free press in a future Palestinian UN state?

2011-05-04 (5771 Nisan 30)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Let's (not) blame speculators
Lew Rockwell
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-05

2011-05-05 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT) (15:30Jerusalem)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
DoL OPA press releases
historical data
DoL regulations
"This week's release reflects the annual revision to the weekly unemployment claims [AND] seasonal adjusted factors.   The historical [raw numbers and] factors from 2006 forward have been revised.   The calendar year 2011 factors...   The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 412,873 in the week ending April 30, an increase of 25,006 from the previous week.   There were 399,350 initial claims in the comparable week in 2010.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.0% during the week ending April 23, unchanged from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,751,962, a decrease of 31,825 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 3.6% and the volume was 4,671,227.   The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending April 16 was 8,014,919, a decrease of 171,547 from the previous week.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, NV, NJ, NM, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, VA, WA, WV, and WI, during the week ending April 16.   States reported 3,447,542 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending April 16, a decrease of 718 from the prior week.   There were 5,349,618 claimants in the comparable week in 2010.   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;
to 126,763,245 beginning 2010-07-03;
to 125,845,577 beginning 2010-09-25;
to 125,560,066 beginning 2011-01-15;
to 125,572,661 beginning 2011-04-02.]
EUC (Excel)
EB
graphs
more graphs

2011-05-05
Erica Dolson _Cumberland PA Sentinel_/_Lee_
CASAC science fair winners announced

2011-05-05 05:56PDT (08:56EDT) (12:56GMT) (15:56Jerusalem)
Andy Sher _Knoxville TN News Sentinel_
TN demand that Amazon collect sales taxes from residents of TN may end plans to build facilities there
Chattanooga TN Times Free Press
"Amazon is spending $139M on its two regional fulfillment centers.   They will employ 1,400 to 1,500 full-time workers and perhaps more than 5K part-time workers to distribute books, music and other products from Amazon and third-party retailers.   Under U.S. Supreme Court rulings, states cannot compel out-of-state retailers such as Amazon to collect sales taxes from in-state customers unless they have a physical presence or 'nexus' in the state.   Amazon argues the fulfillment centers are not a nexus and thus cannot be compelled to collect sales taxes.   The national fulfillment center business is 'separate and apart from our retail business', Misener said, and that was part of a 'commitment' made by the state."

2011-05-05 12:34:30PDT (15:34:30EDT) (19:34:30GMT) (22:34:30Jerusalem)
Mike Cassidy _San Jose CA Mercury "News"_
Mitch Kapor sets his sights on improving education

2011-05-05 14:47PDT (17:47EDT) (21:47GMT) (2011-05-06 00:47Jerusalem)
Jeremy Beck _Numbers USA_
A lesson in immigration and off-shoring for 2012 presidential and congressional hopefuls
"the number of programming jobs in the U.S.A. actually declined by 12% from 1990 to 2002. The decline was already underway in 1998..."
Donald L. Bartlett & James B. Steele: Programming jobs fall
"When Labor made these projections in 1990, there were 565K computer programmers [employed]...   Employment fluctuated in the years following the report, then settled into a slow downward pattern after 2000.   By 2002, the number of programmers had slipped to 499K...   By 2006, with the actual number of programming jobs continuing to decline, even that illusion couldn't be maintained.   With the number of jobs falling to 435K, or 130K fewer than in 1990, Labor finally acknowledged that jobs in computer programming were 'expected to decline slowly'.   From 1990, when Labor made its rosy prediction that programming jobs over the next 15 years would increase at a faster rate than other jobs, the U.S. work-force grew by 24%.   If the number of programmers had increased at that pace -- let alone at the optimistic rate Labor had once projected -- there would have been at least 700K programmers by 2006.   Instead, there were only 435K.   Programmer jobs have continued to decline and were at 427K in 2008, the last year for which figures are available.   Even that masked the magnitude of the domestic job losses.   For among those 427K programmers were [hundreds of thousands] of H-1B guest workers–foreign nationals brought in by American companies under immigration law to do programming, usually at much lower pay and benefits...   The U.S. government is still very interested in creating programmer jobs–just not in this country.   In 2010, the State Department's Agency for International Development (USAID) put up $10M to help Sri Lanka develop an [off-shore] out-sourcing industry.   The U.S. [tax-victim] dollars are aimed at training Sri Lankans in advanced IT skills such as Enterprise Java, as well as in business process out-sourcing and call center support.   The goal is to create 3K jobs [in Sri Lanka].   According to Information Week, a similar program is being funded by USAID in Armenia to train Armenians."

2011-05-05
Rob Rogers _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
54 year old long-distance runner burns through a pair of running-shoes every 3 weeks
"she was the first woman to win an Olympic marathon gold medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games...   Benoit Samuelson spent 20 minutes in the school's gym talking to third- and fourth-graders about the importance of setting lifelong goals and striving after them every day.   To ensure that students were following the topic, she peppered them with questions.   'Does everybody know what a goal is.', she asks.   In unison, the students all respond, 'Yes!'.   With that back-and-forth, she explained to the students the importance of setting goals that had meaning to them personally -- goals that would light a fire within them.   She told them not to worry about what their friends were interested in doing or what everyone else was going after.   'We all have to run our own races.', she told them.   'We can't run anyone else's race.'...   Benoit Samuelson also won the Boston Marathon in 1979 and 1983."

2011-05-05
Ed Koc & Mimi Collins _NACE_
Job offers to college class of 2011

2011-05-05
R. Emmett Tyrrell ii _American Spectator_
Do I hear cheers for George W. Bush?

2011-05-05
Robert P. Murphy _Ludwig von Mises Institute_
Auction off the state: The history and current status of the debt ceiling

2011-05-05
Ian Vasquez _Cato Institute_
30 years of private pensions and retirement accounts in Chile

2011-05-05
Tad DeHaven _Cato Institute_
GOP congress-critters should not be afraid to challenge reckless federal government spending

2011-05-05
Robert Moore _Cenantua_
Southerners who wanted to free the slaves
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-06

2011-05-06 04:37PDT (07:37EDT) (11:37GMT) (14:37Jerusalem)
Rachel Beck _Knoxville TN News Sentinel_/_AP_
CEO pay exceeds pre-recession level
San Jose CA Mercury "News"

2011-05-06 09:03PDT (12:03EDT) (16:03GMT) (19:03Jerusalem)
Jonathan Osborne _Numbers USA_
Senate committee challenges DHS secretary Napolitano on border security

2011-05-06 13:49PDT (16:49EDT) (20:49GMT) (23:49Jerusalem)
Kristi E. Swartz _Atlanta GA Journal-Constitution_
immigration attorney Parmesh Dixit pled guilty to immigration fraud
"Parmesh Dixit, 40, pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to harbor illegal aliens as part of a money-making scheme that involved fake documents, the U.S. Attorney's office said.   Dixit was indicted in May 2010 on 28 counts of visa fraud, 42 counts of alien harboring for the purpose of private financial gain and other charges.   He is accused of helping 37 illegal immigrants by putting false information on their applications for green cards, the U.S. Attorney's office said.   The false information included the person's prior employment; biographical information; and jobs available in the United States."

2011-05-06 12:50PDT (15:50EDT) (19:50GMT) (22:50Jerusalem)
Jeffry Bartash _MarketWatch_
seasonally adjusted: 244K jobs added, unemployment rate 9%
graphs

2011-05-06
Jason Overdorf _Global Post_
Pioneering broadcasters use mobile phones and creative programming to push the limits of India's ban on news radio

2011-05-06
Aaron Gee _American Thinker_
National Socialist Radio's not-so-sophisticated sophistry WRT illegal aliens and immigration

2011-05-06
Edwin S. Rubenstein _V Dare_
April Jobs: Behind Mixed Headlines, A Blow For Americans (with graph)
"Total employment fell by 190K in April according to the Household Survey. Non-Hispanics bore the full brunt: Total employment: down 190K (-0.14%); Hispanic employment: up 5K (+0.02%); Non-Hispanic employment: down 195K (-0.16%). VDARE.COM's American Worker Displacement Index (VDAWDI) rose to 127.0 in April, from the 126.7 reading reached in January."
graphs

2011-05-06
Jessica Vaughan _Center for Immigration Studies_
Quinn moves to protect illegal aliens who engage in criminal activities in IL

2011-05-06 16:01PDT (19:01EDT) (23:01GMT) (2011-05-07 02:01Jerusalem)
_Investor's Business Daily_
Still Not Enough Jobs
graphs

2011-05-06
_Women in Academia_
States differ in numbers of female STEM grads
"Data analyzed by WIAReport from the U.S. Department of Education shows that in 2009 American women earned 134,634 [out of 433,742] degrees in the so-called STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.   This was 31% of all degrees earned in these fields.   The percentage of all degrees in STEM fields earned by women actually declined from 32.9% in 2001 to 31.0% in 2009.   Some states did a far better job in steering women toward degrees in STEM fields than other states.   As shown in the table, SC led the list.   In 2009, women earned 38.4% of all STEM degrees earned in the state.   Other states where women showed a strong performance were MS, AK, NC, and DC."

2011-05-06
William L. Anderson _Ludwig von Mises Institute_
They want us to love the Fed, no matter how evil it is
"those at the Fed truly are clueless about the real harm they have caused...   the lessons will be painful, even if most people don't understand what they are supposed to be learning.   And the people least likely to learn any good lessons at all are those who are employed by the Federal Reserve."

2011-05-06 (5775 Ayyr 02)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
the PLO's desperate defenders
"In Israel and abroad, leftists have used 3 means to hide the meaning of the Fatah-Hamas pact from the public.   By most accounts, the Fatah-Hamas unity deal signing ceremony Wednesday was a grand affair.   Hamas terror-chief Khaled Mashal jetted in from Damascus.   PLO/Fatah/Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas flew in from Ramallah.   The ceremony was held under the auspices of the newly Muslim Brotherhood-friendly Egyptian intelligence services.   UN representatives and Israeli Arab members of Knesset were on hand to witness the 'historic' accord which officially put the PLO in bed with the Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and a terrorist organization dedicated to the annihilation of Israel and the establishment of a global caliphate.   No less significant than the pact itself, are the lengths the Left is going to obfuscate and belittle the importance of what happened."
Investigative Project: CAIR-Hamas-Muslim Brotherhood links
Discover the Networks: Muslim Brotherhood (MB)
 
Proposed Bills 2011

2011-05-06

DJIA	12,630.83
S&P 500(SPX)	1,340.20
NASDAQ(COMP)	2,827.56
Nikkei	9,859.20
10-year US T-Bond(UST10Y)	3.15
crude oil(CLM11)	$97.18/barrel
natgas(NGM11)	$4.235/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline(RBM11)	$3.09/gal
heatingoil(HOM11)	$2.85/gal
gold(GCM11)	$1,491.60/ounce
silver(SIN11)	$35.29/ounce
platinum(PLN11)	$1,786.40/ounce
palladium(PAM11)	$716.30/ounce
copper(HGN11)	$0.24846875/ounce
soybeans	$13.26/bushel
maize	$6.8625/bushel
wheat	$7.595/bushel
dollarindex(DXY)	74.92
yenperdollar(USDYEN)	80.62
dollarspereuro(EURUSD)	1.4308
dollarsperpound(GBPUSD)	1.6368
swissfrancsperdollar	0.8774
indianrupeesperdollar	44.785
mexicanpesosperdollar(MXN)	11.643
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex	692.08

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-07

1992-05-07: Bill of Rights 2nd amendment - regulating congressional pay raises - ratified

2011-05-07 02:00PDT (05:00EDT) (09:00GMT) (12:00Jerusalem)
Eric Marrapodi _CNN_
Hebrews ask for monument to chaplains KIA in WW1
"Lt. George Fox, a Methodist chaplain; Lt. John Washington, a Roman Catholic chaplain; and Lt. Clark Poling, a Dutch Reformed chaplain, are each memorialized on Chaplains Hill at Arlington National Cemetery on monuments honoring the service of Protestant and Catholic chaplains killed in the line of duty.   But amid the sea of white marble tombstones and granite monuments, one name is missing -- Lt. Alexander D. Goode, the fourth chaplain from the USS Dorchester...   On a quiet hill at Arlington, three large granite and bronze monuments to chaplains overlook a host of graves of fallen military chaplains.   One honors chaplains killed in World War I, one honors Protestant chaplains, and one Catholic chaplains...   Since World War I, 13 Jewish chaplains have died while on active duty...   'There are about 255 chaplains who died in active service; 242 of them are memorialized on Chaplains Hill.   From my perspective that's wrong.', he said...   Robinson and Kraetzer got the ball rolling three years ago.   They reached out to Arlington officials who, they said, told them if they raised the money privately and had the monument approved by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, it could be erected at Chaplains Hill.   They partnered with veterans groups, both Jewish and non-Jewish, and quickly had enough money and a design.   'The money's been raised.   The design is analogous to the existing monuments.', Robinson said.   But things went south at Arlington after a scandal over mismarked graves forced a former superintendent out.   The new administration at Arlington said the group would need an act of Congress to put up the new memorial."

2011-05-07
Jim Waters _Richmond KY Register_/_Bluegrass Institute_
Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny

2011-05-07
James R. Edwards ii _Center for Immigration Studies_
Mexican mafia operations in the USA
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-08

2011-05-08
Jan Falstad _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
new NorthWestern Energy charges discouraging to builders (with table)
"Consequently, on April 1 NorthWestern sent a bill for $1,654 to the Hanser Construction Co...   This under-ground line extension was $1,254.   Travel was $89.25 and the utility charged $309.41 for administrative and engineering expenses for a total bill of $1,654.   That doesn't sound like much money, given the expense of building a house, but it amounts to 1% of Hanser's $165K Heights patio home...   Basic hook-ups involving over-head lines now cost $405 and under-ground hook-ups run $1,583.   But the utility off-set the costs by doubling its rebates to developers from $500 to $1K."

2011-05-08
John Miano _Center for Immigration Studies_
Where are the fabled H-1B geniuses?

2011-05-08
Victor Davis Hanson _Libertarian Patriot_
Illegal Immigration and the Under-Ground Economy

2011-05-08
John Stossel _Richmond KY Register_
Gasoline, onions and speculators
"In America, we don't have a free market -- we have a government-saturated economy in which oil companies and other corporations have a cozy relationship with politicians and bureaucrats."
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-09

2011-05-09
Robert Stacy McCain _American Spectator_
Herman Cain is now the hot ticket

2011-05-09
W. James Antle iii _American Spectator_
Insecure Communities, National Insecurity

2011-05-09
James Piereson _American Spectator_
Tyler Cowen on America's Slow-Down

2011-05-09
Aaron Goldstein _American Spectator_
Soros's J Street to Netanyahu: Appease or prepare for violence

2011-05-09 07:44PDT (10:44EDT) (14:44GMT)
Andrew Nusca _Smart Planet_/_Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
Alcoa and Japan's Toto make building panels that catalyze organic pollutants

2011-05-09 09:04PDT (12:04EDT) (16:04GMT) (19:04Jerusalem)
Colin Barr _Fortune_/_CNN_
Conference Board's employment trends index down: Who cares if CEOs are confident?
San Francisco CA Chronicle
Sacramento CA Bee
Timothy R. Homan: Bloomberg

2011-05-09 09:55PDT (12:55EDT) (16:55GMT) (19:55Jerusalem)
Janet Fang _Smart Planet_/_Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
Living near a nuclear electricity generating plant does not raise leukemia risks

2011-05-09 12:18PDT (15:18EDT) (19:18GMT) (22:18Jerusalem)
Terry Savage _Chicago IL Sun-Times_
Innovation creates jobs: Job creation should be governments' top priority

2011-05-09
Ben Wieder _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Researchers at U of TX and Yale use computers to simulate schizophrenia
"people with schizophrenia focus too much attention on recent pieces of information and fail to successfully integrate this information with prior learning.   This results in an inability to properly identify what information is most important...   'memory consolidation is abnormal'...   He says the next step is to test the findings of the model more on human patients using brain scans and interviews, but he also hopes to use his program to study other mental illnesses—such as depression and bipolar disorder -- and to use the model to test various treatments for schizophrenia and these other illnesses."

2011-05-09
Audey Williams June _Chronicle of Higher Education_
U of TX faculty in a fuss over release of pay and productivity data
2011-05-06

2011-05-09
Robert P. Murphy _Ludwig von Mises Institute_
The up-side-down world of "modern" monetary theory

2011-05-09 (5775 Ayyr 05)
Kristen Chick _Jewish World Review_
Muslims attack Christians in Egypt; at least 12 killed, 232 injured, churches burn

2011-05-09 (5775 Ayyr 05)
Mark Steyn _Jewish World Review_
Why Pakistan knew it could hide Osama... Usema, whatever

2011-05-09 (5775 Ayyr 05)
Ayaan Hirsi Ali _Jewish World Review_
why Muslim Brotherhood succeeded where Osama/Usema bin Laden failed?
Investigative Project: CAIR-Hamas-Muslim Brotherhood links
Discover the Networks: Muslim Brotherhood (MB)

2011-05-09 (5775 Ayyr 05)
Lisa M. Krieger _Jewish World Review_
researchers build Parkinson's disease in a dish to study cells' death
"Parkinson's disease, a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system, affects about 1 in every 250 people older than 40 and 1 in every 100 people older than 65.   Among them are Intel founder Andy Grove and actor Michael J. Fox.   In some, the disease progresses slowly...   But in others, the quality of life can deteriorate dramatically, due to muscle rigidity, loss of balance and slow or uncontrollable movement.   It results from a death of cells in the brain that produce a chemical messenger called dopamine, which coordinates movement.   Most forms of the disease are not genetic.   But there is one particular mutation of the LRRK2 gene that, while rare even among people with the disease, accounts for a substantial proportion of familial Parkinson's disease, especially among Ashkenazi Jews and other ethnic groups...   By inserting certain genes into skin cells, scientists can turn back the clock, causing them to revert to 'induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells' -- with embryonic-like traits.   Then they are coaxed into becoming mature cells, such as neurons.   This 'disease in a dish' technique holds promise for not just Parkinson's but a whole range of other disorders, including Type 1 diabetes, Huntington's disease, Down syndrome and muscular dystrophy.   Stanford scientists have even used the technique to build small faulty hearts to better understand rhythm disorders...   Research into the diseases of aging is challenging, because it is impractical to wait for decades for an ailment to develop.   'There was a good chance that a disease you get when you're 30 to 80 years old might not appear in 30 to 60 days in a dish.', Langston said.   Initially, the cells acted normally, secreting dopamine and generating electrical signals.   But when they were subjected to toxic chemicals and stress, they began to act just like decades-old cells, churning out elevated levels of proteins that acquired aberrant 3-dimensional shapes.   This is thought to cause Parkinson's symptoms by clogging the cells, killing them, and halting critical dopamine production."
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-10

2011-05-10
Jose Katigbak _Philippine Star_
hundreds of Filipino guest-teachers in the USA may be sent home

2011-05-10 05:00PDT (08:00EDT) (12:00GMT) (15:00Jerusalem)
David Gewirtz _Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
Red China is the USA's greatest long-term threat
"Look, I deeply respect what [Red China's] done.   And my wife loves her iPhone and iPad, as do many of our readers.   Many of our more rabid Apple [and MSFT] fans don't even seem bothered that [Red China] is building American products with their labor force, rather than giving those jobs to the labor force in and around [St. Louis or Cincinnati], people who would also like to find work...   Most wars, economic or ballistic, start over a scarcity of resources.   Okay fine.   There is that rare occasion where a nation attacks the wrong country entirely, but we'll leave the [Bush and Clinton and Bush and Obama administrations'] lack of a working GPS out of this discussion."

2011-05-10 08:34PDT (11:34EDT) (15:34GMT) (18:34Jerusalem)
Steve Goldstein _MarketWatch_
import prices rose 2.2% in April, confirming effects of government-/Fed-driven inflation

2011-05-10
Tom Lutey _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
while Montana's crops feed the world, farmers struggle to get their products on the shelves of local grocery stores
"After World War II, producers became good at shipping their wheat out of state to be milled and bagged and their beef to a handful of collection points to be fattened and slaughtered.   The small processing plants that once dotted the Montana landscape and kept local stores stocked with locally produced food went away...   'Montana manufacturing establishments, in 1954, we had 218.', Matheson said.   'In 1992, we had 114.   That was the lowest point.   It really started a precipitous drop in the 1960s, but it's climbing back now at the same rate it fell.   We're now above 171.   That's what we had in 1967.'"

2011-05-10
Todd Lassa _Motor Trend_
in memory of 1990-08-01 to 1992-11-01 GM CEO Robert Stempel b: 1933-07-15 d: 2011-05-07 at 77
Reuters

2011-05-10
Ben Wieder _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Library of Congress makes early 20th century music available on-line with cooperation of Sony, Columbia Records, UCSB and OKeh
LoC "juke-box"

2011-05-10
David Glenn _Chronicle of Higher Education_
On-Line Courses Should Have Proctored Finals

2011-05-10
John Cook _Geek Wire_
Western Washington U to axe CS department in face of tech talent glut and financial problems

2011-05-10
"RT" _Information ClearingHouse_
Former middle class, now homeless

2011-05-10
Isaac Sweeney _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Adjuncts being "emotionally abused"
The Homeless Adjunct

2011-05-10 13:15PDT (16:16EDT) (20:16GMT) (23:15Jerusalem)
Roy Beck _Numbers USA_
Obama's message to this Spring's US citizen grads: "We don't want you"
"his 'Building a 21st Century Immigration System' report... primarily calls for increasing U.S. work permits for foreign workers of all kinds by massive amounts... The insensitivity toward new college grads -- and their parents -- is especially telling."

2011-05-10
Hal G.P. Colebatch _American Spectator_
Piracy Rules Britannia

2011-05-10
W. James Antle iii _American Spectator_
Is America in Decline?

2011-05-10
Robert Moore _Cenantua_
Ridin' a confederate raid into PA...

2011-05-10 (5775 Ayyr 06)
Jonathan Rosenblum _Jewish World Review_
Is the Jewish State dividing American Jewry?

2011-05-10 (5775 Ayyr 06)
Scott Peterson _Jewish World Review_
Iran's Ahmadinejad surviving worst storm of his presidency

2011-05-10 (5775 Ayyr 06)
Jeffrey Fleishman _Jewish World Review_
New Egypt's revealed future foreign policy shift confirms fears of disregard for U.S.A., Israel

2011-05-10 (5775 Ayyr 06)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
The "Education" Mantra
Investor's Business Daily
One News Now
Orange County CA Register
Front Page Magazine
"One of the sad and dangerous signs of our times is how many people are enthralled by words, without bothering to look at the realities behind those words.   One of those words that many people seldom look behind is 'education'.   But education can cover anything from courses on nuclear physics to courses on baton twirling.   Unfortunately, an increasing proportion of American education, whether in the schools or in the colleges and universities, is closer to the baton twirling end of the spectrum than toward the nuclear physics end.   Even reputable colleges are increasingly teaching things that students should have learned in high school...   There are too many other soft courses that allow students to spend years in college without becoming educated in any real sense."
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-11

2011-05-11
Wallace Witkowski & Greg Morcroft _MarketWatch_
Raj Rajaratnam convicted on 14 counts of conspiracy and securities fraud for insider trading
David S. Hilzenrath: Washington Post
Knoxville TN News Sentinel/AP
Robert P. Murphy: Ludwig von Mises Institute: Should insider trading really be a crime?

2011-05-11
Louis Rene Beres _Front Page Magazine_
Slouching toward "Palestine"

2011-05-11
Michelle Malkin _One News Now_
The band-wagon for amnesty for illegal aliens rides again

2011-05-11
Ed Runyan _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
water from Marcellus Shale mining operations to be treated at Warren facility
"The Marcellus Shale is a huge deposit of natural gas in eastern Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York."

2011-05-11
Ashley Luthern _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Moses Watson celebrates a century of life
"The Vindicator compiled the following facts about life in 1911: The U.S. population was about 93.8M.   Today it is 310M.   A U.S. postage stamp cost 2 cents.   The average price for a loaf of bread was 5 cents.   A fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City killed 146.   American historian Hiram Bingham discovered Machu Picchu.   Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen led the first successful expedition to the South Pole."
Becca Gregg: Cumberland PA Sentinel: WW2 fly-boy Hank Heim turns 90

2011-05-11 09:00PDT (12:00EDT) (16:00GMT) (19:00Jerusalem)
Andrew Horansky _KVUE_/_KHOU_
The high cost of violent criminal illegal aliens in TX

2011-05-11 10:01PDT (13:01EDT) (17:01GMT) (20:01Jerusalem)
_Knoxville TN News Sentinel_
Sears HQ may move to TN... or TX or GA or NJ
Carly Harrington

2011-05-11
Mike Rowe _Drovers Cattle Network_
Getting dirty jobs done

2011-05-11
Robert Moore _Cenantua_
US "Colored Troops", 54th & 55th Massachusetts men in Mercersburg, PA
corporal William H. Rihl
The Virginian who commanded Union troops
The North Carolinian Union general
The Alabamian Union general

2011-05-11
"Mike" at rortybomb
structural unemployment and the recruiting intensity index
"Due to a pre-recession calibration of its birth/death model, the Bureau of Labor Statistics dramatically over-estimated the number of job openings throughout 2010.   It corrected the numbers for 2009 through 2010 in 2011 March.   On average, there were 172K fewer job openings per month in 2009 and 235K fewer job opening per month in 2010, reducing the job opening rate by an average of 0.18% over 2010 than had previously been reported.   A quick and simple analysis shows that this BLS correction would have dropped estimates of increases in the NAIRU at the time from 1.3% to 1.0%.   Since 2010 April when concerns about structural unemployment started to enter the debate, the Beveridge curve has almost entirely shifted leftward, with unemployment down roughly 1% and job openings up a meager 0.1%.   Runaway unfilled job openings haven't shown up in the data...   Hall and Milgrom (2008) calculate that the daily cost of maintaining a vacancy is 0.43 days of pay (or about $66 per day), but I wonder if that cost has plummeted in this recession.   There's indexes of search intensities people are trying to put together for job vacancies, which I'll blog about tomorrow (see WSJ here for now), and far as I understand those numbers employers are trying less hard to fill vacancies."

2011-05-11 (5775 Ayyr 07)
John Stossel _Jewish World Review_
Ron Paul: Less Lonely These Days as Libertarian Ideas Are on the Radar Screens

2011-05-11 (5775 Ayyr 07)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Minimum Wage's Discriminatory Effects
Richmond KY Register
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-12

2011-05-12 04:06PDT (07:06EDT) (11:06GMT) (14:06Jerusalem)
Tony Elliott _Cypress Times_
Government has long record of paper, unfulfilled promises to US citizens to secure the borders

2011-05-12 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT) (15:30Jerusalem)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
DoL OPA press releases
historical data
DoL regulations
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 394,583 in the week ending May 7, a decrease of 21,391 from the previous week.   There were 414,327 initial claims in the comparable week in 2010.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.9% during the week ending April 30, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,687,945, a decrease of 81,865 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 3.5% and the volume was 4,549,602.   The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending April 23 was 7,983,672, a decrease of 31,247 from the previous week.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, NV, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TX, VA, WA, and WV, during the week ending April 23.   States reported 3,415,581 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending April 23, a decrease of 31,961 from the prior week.   There were 5,190,820 claimants in the comparable week in 2010.   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;
to 126,763,245 beginning 2010-07-03;
to 125,845,577 beginning 2010-09-25;
to 125,560,066 beginning 2011-01-15;
to 125,572,661 beginning 2011-04-02.]
EUC (Excel)
EB
graphs
more graphs

2011-05-12
James R. Edwards ii _Human Events_
president Obama and DHS secretary Napolitano pitch weak borders, amnesty for illegal alien invaders

2011-05-12
Frosty Wooldridge _News with Views_
Obama pushing same old Reprehensible Immigration-Law Perversion
index

2011-05-12
Robert P. Murphy _Ludwig von Mises Institute_
The road to taxi serfdom
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-13

2011-05-13 06:47PDT (09:47EDT) (13:47GMT) (16:47Jerusalem)
Rachel King _Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
Kodak won camera-phone patent suit

2011-05-13
Suzanne Gamboa _Kansas City Star_/_AP_
Obama/USCIS/ICE expand OPT eligibility to more fields
Calgary Alberta Canada Metro
Buffalo NY News
US ICE press release

2011-05-13
Norm Matloff _H-1B/ L-1 Off-Shoring News-Letter_
CNN Anderson Cooper 360 web log
The blog item enclosed below will startle many readers of this e-news-letter, not because of the content, which they already know, but rather because it's running on CNN, in fact in the blog spot of one of the most prominent journalists on CNN.
 
I was a bit startled too, but the fact is that CNN has generally has done a balanced and informed job of reporting on the H-1B issue.   Yes, CNN did fire Lou Dobbs, who ran many good segments exposing the H-1B mess, but overall my main complaint would be that CNN has not covered this very important issue ENOUGH, as opposed to covering it in a biased manner, which they haven't.
 
HOWEVER, HAVING SAID THAT, it is quite disappointing that the author, David Gewirtz, buys into the notion that the only, or primary abusers of the H-1B visa are the Indian outsourcing companies.   He points out that many such firms are at the top of the list of visas sponsored, but he's making the wrong conclusion from that; in fact, those firms' numbers in total are still only a tiny fraction of the number of visas granted.
 
I've explained many times that the mainstream U.S. firms are guilty too.   And this is especially true for the related issue of employer-sponsored green cards; see my article on Fragomen et al. audit for a quick example involving Cisco.
 
As I've written before, this perception that Infosys et all are the Bad Guys and Intel etc. are the Good Guys in the H-1B issue is, sad to say, very common these days in DC and the media.   It's always convenient to have a scape-goat, but that often hides a far broader problem.
 
The Gewirtz piece.
 
Norm
2009-12-04: David Gewirtz: CNN Anderson Cooper 360

2011-05-13 08:23PDT (11:23EDT) (15:23GMT) (18:23Jerusalem)
Steve Goldstein _MarketWatch_
UMich consumer sentiment index rose 69.8 in April to in early May
Federal Reserve Board St. Louis

2011-05-13 08:39PDT (11:39EDT) (15:39GMT) (18:39Jerusalem)
_Knoxville TN News Sentinel_
Alcoa signed deal with Red China Development Bank

2011-05-13
_Miami FL Herald_/_AP_
Florida governor Rick Scott cheers give-away of cutting-edge carbon nanotube energy technology to Red China

2011-05-13
_MoneyWatch_/_CBS_/_AP_
Farmers see crops flooded

2011-05-13
Gustavo Valdes _CNN_
GA governor signed law to discourage illegal immigration among the criminally-inclined

2011-04-13
Lamar Smith _Fox_
Obama out of touch with immigration reality

2011-05-13
_San Francisco CA Chronicle_
el Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula county sheriff Lee Baca pointed out that illegal aliens do not have the same rights and privileges as USA citizens
"He says federal policy should decide whether someone should be deported if they haven't been convicted of a crime."

2011-05-13
Beryl Benderly _Science_
Study Finds that Post-Docs Trained to Teach Can Out-Shine Senior Professors

2011-05-13
Barry Rubin
Massive anti-Israel rally in Egypt organized using FB

2011-05-13
_Rasmussen Reports_
64% say US borders are not secure

2011-05-13
Steven A. Camarota _Center for Immigration Studies_
Problems with Obummer's immigration plans

2011-05-13 (5771 Ayyr 09)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
Obama's newest ambush
"It is hard to believe, but it appears that in the wake of the Palestinian unity deal that brings the genocidal, al Qaida-aligned, local franchise of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Hamas into a partnership with Fatah, USA [president Barack Hussein Obummer] has decided to open a new round of pressure on Israel to give away its land and national rights to the Palestinians.   It is hard to believe that this is the case.   But apparently it is."
Investigative Project: CAIR-Hamas-Muslim Brotherhood links
Discover the Networks: Muslim Brotherhood (MB)
 
Proposed Bills 2011

2011-05-13

DJIA	12,595.75
S&P 500(SPX)	1,337.77
NASDAQ(COMP)	2,828.47
Nikkei	9,648.77
10-year US T-Bond(UST10Y)	3.19
crude oil(CLM11)	$99.65/barrel
natgas(NGM11)	$4.25/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline(RBM11)	$3.07/gal
heatingoil(HOM11)	$2.94/gal
gold(GCM11)	$1,493.60/ounce
silver(SIN11)	$35.01/ounce
platinum(PLN11)	$1,769.30/ounce
palladium(PAM11)	$706.45/ounce
copper(HGN11)	$0.24875/ounce
soybeans	$13.295/bushel
maize	$6.82/bushel
wheat	$7.2775/bushel
dollarindex(DXY)	75.793
yenperdollar(USDYEN)	80.82
dollarspereuro(EURUSD)	$1.4111
dollarsperpound(GBPUSD)	1.6186
swissfrancsperdollar	0.8923
indianrupeesperdollar	44.87
mexicanpesosperdollar(MXN)	11.7290
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex	691.52

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-14

2011-05-14
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
On Leftist Superficiality

2011-05-14
Denise Dick _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
3 West Branch students will attend ORNL science camp

2011-05-14 05:55PDT (08:55EDT) (12:55GMT) (14:55Jerusalem)
Dave Gibson _Examiner_
Pew center says: since 2009 June, immigrants (including illegal aliens) have gained 656K jobs, while USA-born workers lost 1.2M jobs

2011-05-14
Robert Moore _Cenantua_
Dr. Henry Ruffner, another southerner who wanted to free slaves
John Letcher, the politician in search of votes, distances himself from the Henry Ruffner Pamphlet

2011-05-14
Robert Moore _Cenantua_
1861-05-14: Battle of New Market and 2nd day of Wheeling, anti-secessionist convention
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-15

2011-05-15 (05:33:50PDT) (08:33:50EDT) (12:33:50GMT) (15:33:50Jerusalem)
Albertini Torsoli _Bloomberg_
French Socialist head of IMF Dominique Strauss-Kahn charged with attempted rape in NY: arrested Saturday, arraignment Sunday
Zachary A. Goldfarb & Edward Cody: Washington DC Post
Fox
Knoxville TN News Sentinel/AP
abc

2011-05-15 (07:46PDT) (10:46EDT) (14:46GMT) (17:46Jerusalem) (5771 Ayyr 11)
_Jerusalem Post_
attempts at invasion of Israel from Syria, Lebanon and Gaza, and protests turn violent on Yom HaAtzma'ut: IDF sees direction from Iran: 4 dead, 11 wounded
Calev ben David: Bloomberg
Ha Aretz/AP
Kristen Chick: Christian Science Monitor

2011-05-15
Ron Hira _Economic Times of India_
H-1B visa program hurts the USA
"The biggest problem with the H-1B program is that it is being used outside the scope it was intended.   Instead of providing foreign workers who complement the American work-force, employers are bringing in workers who substitute for Americans.   Employers can do this because of loop-holes in the program that allow foreign workers to be paid below-market wages...   Compared to a decade ago, we have 30M more people in America.   Yet we have 2M [fewer] jobs."

2011-05-15
Tom Lutey _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
A few engineers find work as small military contractors

2011-05-15
Tom Howard _Billings MT Gazette_/_Lee_
High oil prices mean more drilling in Montana

2011-05-15
Jim Dino _Citizens' Voice_
Released illegal alien had criminal record
Standard Speaker
"An illegal immigrant taken into custody after a traffic stop in Beaver Meadows on May 2 but released on orders from federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had been arrested before the recent incident.   State representative Tarah Toohil, R-Butler township, said she discovered the man was charged with harassment by state police at Hazleton [PA] in 2008.   Three years ago, Oswaldo Tlalmis-Perez, 27, of West Hazleton, was cited for harassment after he allegedly struck a woman in the face, giving her a bloody lip, during an argument at Sixth and Spruce streets, according to state police.   After being struck, the woman left her vehicle and asked a passing motorist to call police.   Tlalmis-Perez allegedly left the scene before officers arrived but was later charged."

2011-05-15
Barry Rubin
By the end of this year, Egypt might be run by a radical Islamic regime

2011-05-15
Joseph Cress _Cumberland PA Sentinel_/_Lee_
Bicentennial/Century family farms
"Each family had to submit an application to the department with information and supporting documents to prove the line of ownership through one family, Wolfgang said.   The review process usually involves verifying the documentation.   'It's amazing the different things they send in.', said Zimmerman, who recalls how one applicant included a photograph of a picture frame holding the original land grant from William Penn written on deer-skin.   Others send in entire note-books spelling out the history in great detail."

2011-05-15
Jack Stripling _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Most university presidents prefer most faculty to be non-tenured, more bodyshopping

2011-05-15
Daniel J. Solove _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Privacy Matters Even if You Have Nothing to Hide

2011-05-15
Thomas E. Brewton & Steve Kellmeyer _View from 1776_
Perspective on a 1,389 year long war
"For a thousand years after Mohammed's 622 hegira, there was never a decade when Muslim marauders were not overrunning Christian cities around the Mediterranean and throughout the Middle East, slaughtering the men, and enslaving the women and children.   It is this history that Islamic Jihad strives to revive.   Make no mistake about it: Islam is dedicated to death.   Islam commands its followers to beguile non-Muslims with appearances of friendship, awaiting an opportunity to attack and destroy.   Make no mistake about it: there is no milk of human kindness in Islamic Jihad.   Muslim warriors and suicide bombers long for death, yours and theirs."
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-16

2011-05-16 03:00PDT (06:00EDT) (10:00GMT) (13:00Jerusalem)
Patrick Thibodeau _ComputerWorld_/_IDG_
Vision Systems H-1B visa fraud case ends quietly with $236,250 in restitution and probation
"Viswa Mandalapu, 43, president of Vision Systems Group, Inc., and Chandra Mandalapu, 40, an officer of the firm, were sentence to three years of probation.   Each also paid a $100 special assessment after pleading guilty late last month to one count of unlawfully hiring aliens, the U.S. said in a statement on Friday...   The government had alleged, in part, that Vision, with an office in Iowa, had paid workers based on Iowa's relatively low prevailing wage rate, and not the higher prevailing wages in states where they were employed.   That charge was disputed in court by the company.   Under the agreement, Vision Systems Group, pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud and unlawfully hiring aliens."

2011-05-16 08:33PDT (11:33EDT) (15:33GMT) (18:33Jerusalem)
Christina Rexrode _Knoxville TN News Sentinel_/_AP_
National Association of Bidness Economists predicts even slower growth and higher petroleum prices

2011-05-16
Frosty Wooldridge _News with Views_
Language, Culture and Country
index

2011-05-16
Beryl Benderly _Science_
Is the H-1B Good or Bad for America?

2011-05-16
Alex Cortes _Town Hall_
Leftists way out there with waivers of unconstitutional National Socialist Health Care Perversion/ObummerDoesn'tCare for their political buddies
"On Friday evening the Department of Health and Human Services posted on its website 221 newly approved waivers from various provisions of ObummerDoesn'tCare, and for some reason, chose to forego issuing a press release celebrating the occasion.   That brings the total to 1,372 businesses and 7 entire states that have now received exemptions from the law, while the rest of America bears its full oppressive weight, as many plaintively plea: Where's MY Waiver?"

2011-05-16
Michael Barone _Patriot Post_
Obummer's hypocritical rhetoric on immigration and border security

2011-05-16
William L. Anderson
Jim Rogers vs. Paul Krugman

2011-05-16 (5771 Ayyr 12)
Mark Steyn _Jewish World Review_
Who will restore reality to politics?
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-17

2011-05-17
Ron Regan _WEWS Cleveland OH_/_Scripps_/_abc_
Exclusive 5 On Your Side investigation uncovers federal probe into Ohio Guelen charter schools: Money trail of jobs, illegal immigration fees (with video)
coverage sparks strong reaction
"When the Horizon Science Academy on Marginal Road in Cleveland was launched in 2002, it received a $36K loan from a former board member living in Turkey.   Auditors found it was repaid through a series of international wire transfers...   Last year, the schools received more than $27M in public funds, including federal stimulus money aimed at putting Americans back to work."
Ohio charter school tax dollars spent over-seas
"An extensive review of financial audits uncovered that in one case, the cash was finding its way to Istanbul, Turkey, where nearly $600K is winding up paying for monthly rent for a charter school back in Dayton."

2011-05-17
Adam Belz _USA Today_/_Gannett_
John Lipsky acting director of IMF

2011-05-17
Jeffrey Tucker _Ludwig von Mises Institute_
BodyShop Adecco: 60% of recent graduates have not been able to find a full-time job in their chosen profession
Chris Isidore: CNN: The Great Recession's lost generation

2011-05-17
Ben Wieder _Chronicle of Higher Education_
GA Tech to lead $10M CyberSecurity project: other participants include U of TX at Austin, Open Source Software Institute, Open Information Security Foundation

2011-05-17 12:25PDT (15:25EDT) (19:25GMT) (22:25Jerusalem)
Andrea Coombes _MarketWatch_
People expect to have to work into their 70s or later

2011-05-17
Ian Vasquez _Cato Institute_
Freedom vs. "Entitlements"
"freedom is the root cause of development. In contrast to economic, political and civil freedoms, Chauffour finds that 'beyond core functions of government... the expansion of the state to provide for various entitlements, including so-called economic, social and cultural rights, may not make people richer in the long run and may even make them poorer'."

2011-05-17
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Leftist Ignorance
Ira Stoll: NY Sun: Scape-Goating Speculators

2011-05-17
Susan Brady _Health News_
$700 test of telomere length in blood cells a predictor of longevity: life & telomeres shortened by stress
Manchester Guardian
Medical News Today
Phyllis Pennock: Grand Rapids MI Examiner
US News & World Report
wikiPedia on telomeres
telomere.net

2011-05-17 (5771 Ayyr 13)
Warren Richey _Jewish World Review_
Atheists lost another case in the US Supreme Court, WRT presidential oath of office

2011-05-17 (5771 Ayyr 13)
Frank Gaffney _Jewish World Review_
Obama's Muslim out-reach, take 2
"As things stand now, the answer seems likely to be the Muslim Brotherhood (MB or, in Arabic, Ikhwan).   If the Brotherhood does indeed come to power in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, 'Palestine' (through its local franchise, Hamas) and/or others of the roughly 13 countries in North Africa and the Middle East currently in play, there is no chance that U.S. interests will be served -- no matter how much Mr. Obama tries to reach out to Muslims in those regions."
Investigative Project: CAIR-Hamas-Muslim Brotherhood links
Discover the Networks: Muslim Brotherhood (MB)

2011-05-17 (5771 Ayyr 13)
Dennis Prager _Jewish World Review_
Are the Jews the Chosen People?

2011-05-17 (5771 Ayyr 13)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Slaves to Words
"we are still enthralled by words and ignoring realities...   Only the hard cash that comes in can cover government spending.   History has shown repeatedly, under administrations of both political parties, that there is no automatic correlation between tax rates and tax revenues.   When the tax rate on the highest incomes was 73% in 1921, that brought in less tax revenue than after the tax rate was cut to 24% in 1925...   Time and again, at both state and federal levels, in the country and in other countries, tax rates and tax revenue have moved in opposite directions many times.   After Maryland raised its tax rates on people making $1M a year, there were fewer such people living in Maryland -- and less tax revenue was collected from them.   In 2009, many people specializing in high finance in Britain relocated to Switzerland after the British government announced plans to take 51% of high incomes in taxes.   Conversely, reductions in tax rates can lead to more tax revenue being collected.   After the capital gains tax rate was cut in the United States in 1997, the government collected nearly twice as much revenue from capital gains taxes in the next four years as in the previous four years.   Similar things have happened in India and in Iceland...   Back in the 1920s, Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon pointed out that people with high incomes were simply not paying the high tax rates that existed on paper, because they were putting their money into tax shelters.   After the tax rates were cut, as Mellon advocated, investments flowed back into the private economy, producing higher output, rising incomes, more tax revenue and more jobs.   The annual unemployment rate in the next 4 years never exceeded 4.2%, and in one year was as low as 1.8%."
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-18

2011-05-18
_7th Space_
USA DoJ reached settlement with bodyshop Iflowsoft for discrimination against USA citizens
NY NewsDay/AP
Danbury CT News Times/Hearst
Asbury Park NJ Press/AP
"Iflowsoft... to pay $6K in civil penalties and about $7K in back pay to 2 US citizens..."

2011-05-18 01:08:39PDT (04:08:39EDT) (08:39:25GMT) (11:08:39Jerusalem)
Ketaki Gokhale _Bloomberg_
Infosys revenues have recovered from losses in wake of announcement of Palmer suit for abuse of B-1 visas
CNBC/MoneyControl

2011-05-18 03:17PDT (06:17EDT) (10:17GMT) (13:18Jerusalem)
Joe Crankshaw _Treasure Coast FL Palm_
SEAL souvenirs in high demand at museum

2011-05-18 05:59PDT (08:58EDT) (12:58GMT) (15:59Jerusalem)
Erik Schelzig _Knoxville TN News Sentinel_/_AP_
Hemlock Semiconductor considering $3G expansion in Clarksville

2011-05-18
David Skolnick _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
End out-of-control government spending
"U.S. representative Bill Johnson, R-6th, said he was elected to cut federal spending, create jobs, reduce the size of the federal government and repeal health-care changes...   [He calls for] trillions of dollars of spending cuts, reforms to cut taxes and a balanced-budget amendment...   Johnson also said President Barack Obama could quickly lower gas prices by announcing a national energy policy to make the United States 'energy secure' in 10 to 15 years.   That would include drilling for oil and natural gas, using coal, looking at nuclear power and alternative-energy sources, he said.   Johnson called for drilling the Marcellus Shale and Utica Shale, 2 underground formations in and near this area that are believed to contain large amounts of natural gas."

2011-05-18
Sean Barron _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Temple Grandin speaks of a life of challenges and achievement
"'At one end are the kids who are very severe; at the other end of the spectrum, you have the geeks and nerds.', she said, adding that children with autism should be encouraged to learn valuable skills and be continually stimulated but not pushed too hard as to overload their senses...   Author of numerous books, including _Emergence: Labeled Autistic_, _Thinking in Pictures_, _Animals in Translation_, _Animals Make Us Human_, _Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships_ and _The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism and Asperger's_."

2011-05-18
William Gheen _Americans for Legal Immigration PAC_/_MMD News Wire_
WikiLeaks Document Confirms North American Union Plan
"The secret documents reveal a well developed plan that advocates secrecy, an incremental approach as not to alarm the public.   The document clearly states, that the plan is to prevent US efforts to protect citizens from terrorism or disease from interfering with commerce and other financial interests.   The documents also advocate that promotion of this plan focus on 'individual firms, industries or travelers, and especially consumers' instead of the nations as a whole...   Americans were shocked to learn in 2005 and 2006 that millions of illegal aliens had been imported into America and were now marching in the streets demanding legalization, citizenship, voting rights, and taxpayer resources.   Federal lawmakers loyal to the North American Integration plans have claimed "our immigration systems are broken" when in fact the immigration systems have been compromised by those advocating a merger of the populations of America, Mexico, and Canada.   Other examples of this economic union plan which has been pursued by Presidents Bush and Obama, can be found in the writings of Dr. Robert Pastor of American University, in releases by the Council on Foreign Relations such as 'Building a North American Community', and in announcements made by heads of state in all three countries supporting the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP).   'North American integration requires American disintegration.   Americans would never voluntarily enter into this devilish arrangement that would disintegrate the United States beneath a larger super state; and a new government which would destroy the existing US Constitution and borders.', said William Gheen.   'This is why these elite banking, business, and political influences are flooding America with rampant illegal immigration and hyper legal immigration.   They are conquering the freedom-loving innocent citizens of America by bringing in outsiders who will replace us incrementally in our jobs and homes.'...   American citizens are encouraged to take appropriate steps to organize in defense of the nation, and prepare to politically challenge and defeat those pursuing this unlawful, unconstitutional, and nation-destroying agenda."

2011-05-18
Jason B. Jones _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Beware, university lobbyists on the loose

2011-05-18
Gene C. Fant _Chronicle of Higher Education_
How much is tenure worth to the professoriate?

2011-05-18
Robert Moore _Cenantua_
The mustering of troops in Virginia... revisiting enlistments in the militia

2011-05-18 (5771 Ayyr 14)
Andrew Silow-Carroll _Jewish World Review_
Rebels without a cause

2011-05-18 (5771 Ayyr 14)
Ron Moreau _Jewish World Review_
The Taliban's plan is to undo the Americans' recent gains with the fiercest Spring offensive ever -- and that seems to be just fine with Pakistan's ISI

2011-05-18 (5771 Ayyr 14)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Understanding Leftists who don't understand the difference between earning and stealing
Patriot Post
Lubbock TX Avalanche-Journal
"The [leftist] vision of government is easily understood and makes perfect sense if one acknowledges their misunderstanding and implied assumptions about the sources of income.   Their vision helps explain the language they use and policies they support, such as income redistribution and calls for the rich to give something back.   Suppose the true source of income was a gigantic pile of money meant to be shared equally amongst Americans.   The reason some people have more money than others is because they got to the pile first and greedily took an unfair share.   That being the case, justice requires that the rich give something back, and if they won't do so voluntarily, Congress should confiscate their ill-gotten gains and return them to their rightful owners.   A competing liberal implied assumption about the sources of income is that income is distributed, as in distribution of income.   There might be a dealer of dollars.   The reason why some people have more dollars than others is because the dollar dealer is a racist, a sexist, a multi-nationalist or a conservative.   The only right thing to do, for those to whom the dollar dealer unfairly dealt too many dollars, is to give back their ill-gotten gains.   If they refuse to do so, then it's the job of Congress to use their agents at the IRS to confiscate their ill-gotten gains and return them to their rightful owners.   In a word, there must be a re-dealing of the dollars or what some people call income redistribution.   The sane among us recognize that in a free society, income is neither taken nor distributed; for the most part, it is earned.   Income is earned by pleasing one's fellow man.   The greater one's ability to please his fellow man, the greater is his claim on what his fellow man produces.   Those claims are represented by the number of dollars received from his fellow man...   Each of these examples, and thousands more, is a person who served his fellow men by producing products and services that made life easier.   What else do they owe? They've already given.   If anyone is obliged to give something back, they are the thieves and recipients of legalized theft, namely people who've used Congress, including America's corporate welfare queens, to live at the expense of others.   When a nation vilifies the productive and makes mascots of the unproductive, it doesn't bode well for its future."
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-19

2011-05-19 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT) (15:30Jerusalem)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
DoL OPA press releases
historical data
DoL regulations
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 357,872 in the week ending May 14, a decrease of 39,865 from the previous week.   There were 414,572 initial claims in the comparable week in 2010.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.8% during the week ending May 7, a decrease of 0.2 percentage point from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,562,660, a decrease of 160,611 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 3.5% and the volume was 4,471,786.   The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending April 30 was 7,936,548, a decrease of 47,124 from the previous week.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, NV, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TX, VA, WA, and WV, during the week ending April 30.   States reported 3,468,979 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending April 30, an increase of 53,398 from the prior week.   There were 5,095,265 claimants in the comparable week in 2010.   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;
to 126,763,245 beginning 2010-07-03;
to 125,845,577 beginning 2010-09-25;
to 125,560,066 beginning 2011-01-15;
to 125,572,661 beginning 2011-04-02.]
EUC (Excel)
EB
graphs
more graphs

2011-05-19
_SiliconIndia_
Infosys in a panic that US may enforce visa requirements
"Infosys is crossing its fingers and praying hard so that U.S. does not bring in any strict action on its B-1 visa [violations], H-1B visa, and other visa programmes as the company has said its business could be adversely affected if the U.S. decides to restrict the visa programme as a fall-out of [being sued by employee] Jack Palmer."

2011-05-19
Mark Krikorian _National Review_
illegal aliens to get preferential treatment under "affirmative action"

2011-05-19
W. James Antle iii _American Spectator_
House members elected in 2010 try to restore sanity to congress

2011-05-19 08:03PDT (11:03EDT) (15:03GMT) (18:03Jerusalem)
Ruth Mantell _MarketWatch_
Conference Board: Leading Economic Indicators Fell

2011-05-19 07:14PDT (10:14EDT) (14:14GMT) (17:14Jerusalem)
Tim Gaynor _Reuters_
Arizona to fence its border with Mexico

2011-05-19 11:44PDT (14:44EDT) (18:44GMT) (21:44Jerusalem)
_Knoxville TN News Sentinel_
TN unemployment rate rose in April

2011-05-19 12:07PDT (15:07EDT) (19:07GMT) (22:07Jerusalem)
Chris Chmielenski _Numbers USA_
Recent US citizen college grads suffering from poor employment prospects as president Obummer demands more cheap foreign labor to displace them

2011-05-19 12:58PDT (15:59EDT) (19:59GMT) (22:58Jerusalem)
Aaron Klein _World Net Daily_
Obummer claims a Hamas attack is equivalent to Israel defending itself against attacks

2011-05-19
Jim Kouri _Right Side News_
Illegal aliens in USA with expired visas is a grave concern

2011-05-19
Elizabeth Llorente _Fox_
Zoe Lofgren pushing to undermine Secure Communities

2011-05-19 15:49PDT (18:49EDT) (22:49GMT) (2011-05-20 01:49Jerusalem)
Linda Bentley _Maricopa county AZ Examiner_
AZ Dept. of Racing licensed illegal aliens... after reconfirming that they are illegal aliens

2011-05-19
_KABC_
2 arrested for scheme to get California driver licenses for illegal aliens

2011-05-19
David North _Right Side News_
DHS offering amnesty/temporary protected status to illegal aliens from Haiti

2011-05-19
_Rasmussen Reports_
64% put border security ahead of amnesty for illegal aliens

2011-05-19
Ed Koc & Kevin Gray _NACE_
CS overtakes Accounting for top job offer rate in class of 2011

2011-05-19 (5771 Ayyr 15)
Kristen Chick _Jewish World Review_
Egypt shifts to military justice for civilians in post-Mubarak era

2011-05-19 (5771 Ayyr 15)
Kristen Chick _Jewish World Review_
As the US government sinks deeper in debt, Obummer is calling for billions in unconstitutional aid for Egypt and Tunisia
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-20

2011-05-19 18:30PDT (2011-05-19 21:30EDT) (2011-05-20 01:30GMT) (2011-05-20 04:30Jerusalem)
Chelsea Schilling _World Net Daily_
Herman Cain seeks show-down with Obummer
"Cain blew the competition away once again, receiving 28% of more than 2,300 votes, in a recent WND poll that asked, 'Who's your choice for Republican presidential nominee in 2012?'   Ron Paul came in second, garnering 13%, while Sarah Palin, Allen West and Michele Bachmann each received 7% of the votes.   Donald Trump, Chris Christie and Newt Gingrich each received 4% or less."

2011-05-20 00:07PDT (03:07EDT) (07:07GMT) (10:07Jerusalem)
Jennifer Smith Richards _Columbus OH Dispatch_
US DoL questions Guelen schools' visa use
Education Week
YouTube (video)
"There are 3 Horizon Science schools in Columbus and 17 statewide.   They're part of a network of charter schools called Concept Schools, which also operates Noble Academy in Columbus.   The charter network was founded by Turkish 'scientists'.   Most of the schools, which also are located in 6 other states, focus on science, math and technology.   At issue is Horizon's use of federal H-1B visas, which permit the hiring of foreign workers in specialty occupations -- typically those requiring college degrees such as engineers, teachers, computer programmers, doctors and physical therapists [and fashion models]...   schools used to pay immigration-related fees for family members of some of its visa-using employees.   About $13K in expenses were paid on behalf of 19 employees, the letter said.   Employers can pay those fees for employees, but they can't legally use public money for their relatives, so the state auditor issued findings against some Horizon schools in 2001 and 2005 to recover that money.   Audit documents show that the Horizon in Columbus was among those dinged in audits, but the money was repaid by 2007.   The letter, signed by Salim Ucan, vice president of Concept Schools, says fewer than 9% of all Horizon employees are working using the special visas...   Onder Sechen, director of the Horizon Science Academy elementary and middle schools on Morse Road, said media reports of an investigation have been troubling to students."

2011-05-20 08:37PDT (11:37EDT) (15:37GMT) (18:37Jerusalem)
_Knoxville TN News Sentinel_
Cumberland county TN eyed for $400M coal liquification plant

2011-05-20 10:32PDT (13:32EDT) (17:32GMT) (20:32Jerusalem) (5771 Ayyr 16)
_HaAretz_
Netanyahu: 1949 borders are indefensible and out of the question, as is negotiation with terrorist organizations
Richard Wolf: USA Today/Gannett
Jeff Dunetz: Big Government
Erica Warner: Chicago IL Sun-Times/AP
Katie Pavlich: Town Hall: History will not give the Jewish people another chance
Frum Forum
Jeffrey Heller & Matt Spetalnick: International Business Times: Netanyahu points out that Obummer does not understand reality
Manchester Guardian/AP
YouTube/AP (video)
"Mr. president, first I want to thank you and the First Lady for the gracious hospitality that you've shown me, my wife, and our entire delegation.   We have an enduring bond of friendship between our two countries, and I appreciate the opportunity to have this meeting with you after your important speech yesterday.   We share your hope and your vision for the spread of democracy in the Middle East.   I appreciate the fact that you reaffirmed once again now, and in our conversation, and in actual deed the commitment to Israel's security.   We value your efforts to advance the peace process.   This is something that we want to have accomplished.   Israel wants peace.   I want peace.   What we all want is a peace that will be genuine, that will hold, that will endure.   And I think that the -- we both agree that a peace based on illusions will crash eventually on the rocks of Middle Eastern reality, and that the only peace that will endure is one that is based on reality, on unshakeable facts.   I think for there to be peace, the Palestinians will have to accept some basic realities.   The first is that while Israel is prepared to make generous compromises for peace, it cannot go back to the 1967 lines -- because these lines are indefensible; because they don't take into account certain changes that have taken place on the ground, demographic changes that have taken place over the last 44 years.   Remember that, before 1967, Israel was all of 9 miles wide.   It was half the width of the Washington beltway.   And these were not the boundaries of peace; they were the boundaries of repeated wars, because the attack on Israel was so attractive.   So we can't go back to those indefensible lines, and we're going to have to have a long-term military presence along the Jordan.   I discussed this with the president and I think that we understand that Israel has certain security requirements that will have to come into place in any deal that we make.   The second is -- echoes something the president just said, and that is that Israel cannot negotiate with a Palestinian government that is backed by Hamas.   Hamas, as the president said, is a terrorist organization committed to Israel's destruction.   It's fired thousands of rockets on our cities, on our children.   It's recently fired an anti-tank rocket at a yellow school bus, killing a 16-year-old boy.   And Hamas has just attacked you, Mr. president, and the United States for ridding the world of bin Laden.   So Israel obviously cannot be asked to negotiate with a government that is backed by the Palestinian version of al Qaeda.   I think president Abbas has a simple choice.   He has to decide if he negotiates or keeps his pact with Hamas, or makes peace with Israel.   And I can only express what I said to you just now, that I hope he makes the choice, the right choice, in choosing peace with Israel.   The third reality is that the Palestinian refugee problem will have to be resolved in the context of a Palestinian state, but certainly not in the borders of Israel.   The Arab attack in 1948 on Israel resulted in 2 refugee problems -- Palestinian refugee problem and Jewish refugees, roughly the same number, who were expelled from Arab lands.   Now, tiny Israel absorbed the Jewish refugees, but the vast Arab world refused to absorb the Palestinian refugees.   Now, 63 years later, the Palestinians come to us and they say to Israel, accept the grand-children, really, and the great-grand-children of these refugees, thereby wiping out Israel's future as a Jewish state.   So it's not going to happen.   Everybody knows it's not going to happen.   And I think it's time to tell the Palestinians forthrightly it's not going to happen.   The Palestinian refugee problem has to be resolved.   It can be resolved, and it will be resolved if the Palestinians choose to do so in a Palestinian state.   So that's a real possibility.   But it's not going to be resolved within the Jewish state.   The president and I discussed all these issues and I think we may have differences here and there, but I think there's an overall direction that we wish to work together to pursue a real, genuine peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors; a peace that is defensible.   Mr. president, you're the -- you're the leader of a great people, the American people.   And I'm the leader of a much smaller people... It's a great people, too.   It's the ancient nation of Israel.   And, you know, we've been around for almost 4K years.   We've experienced struggle and suffering like no other people.   We've gone through expulsions and pogroms and massacres and the murder of millions.   But I can say that even at the dearth of -- even at the nadir of the valley of death, we never lost hope and we never lost our dream of reestablishing a sovereign state in our ancient homeland, the land of Israel.   And now it falls on my shoulders as the prime minister of Israel, at a time of extraordinary instability and uncertainty in the Middle East, to work with you to fashion a peace that will ensure Israel's security and will not jeopardize its survival.   I take this responsibility with pride but with great humility, because, as I told you in our conversation, we don't have a lot of margin for error.   And because, Mr. president, history will not give the Jewish people another chance.   So in the coming days and weeks and months, I intend to work with you to seek a peace that will address our security concerns, seek a genuine recognition that we wish from our Palestinian neighbors to give a better future for Israel and for the entire region.   And I thank you for the opportunity to exchange our views and to work together for this common end.   Thank you, Mr. president."

2011-05-20
Mary Pickett _Billings MT Gazette_
regents approve 5% increases in tuition and fees, 2% at "colleges of technology"

2011-05-20
Norm Matloff _H-1B/ L-1/ Off-Shoring News-Letter_
USA Today: "Like 1999"
Interesting headline chosen by the editor here -- "Tech Jobs Boom Like It's 1999".   As most of you know, the dot-com bust started in the following year, 2000.   The year 2000 is also the year in which [some 7 months after the stock market crash] congress increased the yearly H-1B cap from 130K to 195K.
 
There are other similarities to 1999, such as this one:
 
Google, Facebook and MSFT are aggressively recruiting college students in hopes of landing them before they graduate...
 
Note the qualifier "college students".   If you're over 35, it's a different story; unless you are very special in some way, you'll probably be rejected without even a phone interview.   Young is cheap, remember always.   As I've said so often, the biggest goal of H-1B is to expand the under-35 labor pool.   Same for the proposals for fast-track green cards for new foreign graduates of U.S. universities.
 
The press reports, fed by industry PR experts, read like 1999 too, highlighting a hip start-up that wants experience in a specific skill:
 
Meebo, whose technology weaves your social networks and instant-messaging services into one spot, is offering $10K bonuses to anyone whose job referral leads to the hiring of JavaScript engineers.
 
Meebo can't find good JavaScript developers? [Right.   That would be an oxymoron...jgo]   This is really hard to believe.   It's not a deep technology, and it's certainly commonplace, so I have to wonder just how hard Meebo is trying to find people.
 
And again, is Meebo really just looking for the young workers?   I've raised this issue specifically with Meebo before.   (The firm has become a common company that journalists are referred to for quotes on H-1B and "shortages".)   Here's what I wrote about them in 2007:
 
Let's look at the article's poster company, Meebo.   They've got pictures of all their staff, and all the engineers are clearly young.   Then look at their opening for a C/C++ programmer.   They want "3-5+ years of C/C++ software development experience on Linux/Unix."
 
That's very typical.   The industry wants people with 3-7 years of experience -- and typically not more than that.   Beyond that, people are just too expensive.   The job description is filled with what might be taken to be code words for "young": "We're seeking a bright, energetic, and dedicated team player... While the environment is fun and friendly, it's really fast paced: schedules are measured in days not weeks and our team is obsessed with delivering the best user experience possible."   I can't say whether this particular firm is concentrating on hiring young people, but this is the usual pattern.
 
The "team" pictures are still there on their site.   Look at the engineers (engineers, not the managers, lawyers etc.) [then look at some of one of my teams], and draw your own conclusions.
 
Norm
Jon Swartz: USA Today: Tech jobs boom like it's 1999
Rob Sanzhez: V Dare: Deja Vu of 1999: USA Today declares hiring boom, but there is none IRL
Gianna Giavelli: V Dare: Tech Execs Partying Like It's 1999

2011-05-20
_National Inflation Association_
Main-Stream Media Finally Acknowledging College Bubble

2011-05-20
Jeff Young _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Google has ended project to digitize newspaper archives

2011-05-20
_Chronicle of Higher Education_
College students throw eggs and shoes at Red Chinese leading internet blocker/tracker

2011-05-20
Edwin S. Rubenstein _V Dare_
Amnesty and the Deficit -- Obama's Orwellian Inversion

2011-05-20
Janice Kephart _Center for Immigration Studies_
2001-09-11's triumvirate of terrorist travel -- al-Qaeda, Hezbollah and Iran
"Al Qaeda carried out the deed.   The 2001/09/11 Final Report provides nearly all the details in that regard.   Hezbollah provided travel facilitation and airline-hijacking training...   Iran hosted operational meetings to coordinate activities, facilitate travel by telling its officers not to stamp al Qaeda passports, and even placed surveillance on the hijackers upon return from their training in Iran for a large operation in America to assure confidentiality of the plot was not breached...   Iran provided direct material support to the 2001/09/11 hijackers in the form of facilitating their travel."

2011-05-20
David North _Center for Immigration Studies_
balance of record suggests DoJ focused more on fighting discrimination against aliens rather than discrimination favoring aliens against USA citizens
"in the last 13 years, has publicized actions of this kind [going after employers who favored aliens over USA citizens] only 5 times, while issuing press releases on taking action against employers who discriminated against foreign-born workers 25 times... since 1998 February 18...   We at CIS see a constant flow of ads, mostly in technical publications, that say H-1B applicants are preferred or that only people with H-1B visas are eligible for these jobs, but only two of the OSC press releases have referred to the H-1B preference, one issued earlier this week, and the other on 2008 May 1... I am told by my colleague John Miano that while this ad was on the web when he sent it to me yesterday, it would immediately disappear when we published it; in other words, a hot ad."

2011-05-20
David Seminara _Center for Immigration Studies_
Illegal aliens employed by Chipotle get golden parachutes?
"A group of 40 illegal immigrant employees at a Washington, DC Chipotle location were recently terminated after the identity documents they submitted to the company were proven to be fraudulent.   But rather than go quietly, hoping not to be prosecuted for identity fraud, and/or deported, the workers have staged 2 rallies to assert their 'rights', one of which featured DC Council member at large Michael Brown as a featured speaker.   (See the rally here on YouTube.)"

2011-05-20
Casey Newton _San Francisco CA Chronicle_
new job web-sites

2011-05-20
Frank Shostak _Ludwig von Mises Institute_
Effects of Freezing the Federal Reserve Balance Sheet
Jeff Harding: MarketWatch

2011-05-20
Robert Moore _Cenantua_
The search for family members in Civil War draft records

2011-05-20
William L. Anderson
OK, Krugman really is a mercantilist
 
Proposed Bills 2011

2011-05-20

DJIA	12,512.04
S&P 500(SPX)	1,333.27
NASDAQ(COMP)	2,803.32
Nikkei	9,607.08
10-year US T-Bond(UST10Y)	3.14
crude oil(CLM11)	$99.49/barrel
natgas(NGM11)	$4.23/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline(RBM11)	$2.94/gal
heatingoil(HOM11)	$2.92/gal
gold(GCM11)	$1,508.90/ounce
silver(SIN11)	$35.09/ounce
platinum(PLN11)	$1,769.40/ounce
palladium(PAM11)	$735.50/ounce
copper(HGN11)	$0.2575/ounce
soybeans	$13.8025/bushel
maize	$7.595/bushel
wheat	$8.065/bushel
dollarindex(DXY)	75.444
yenperdollar(USDYEN)	81.69
dollarspereuro(EURUSD)	$1.4136
dollarsperpound(GBPUSD)	1.6248
swissfrancsperdollar	0.877
indianrupeesperdollar	44.935
mexicanpesosperdollar(MXN)	11.643
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex	685.32

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 
 
Proposed Bills 2011

2011-05-20 (5771 Ayyr 16)
R' Yehonasan Gefen _Torah.org_
Geneivas Daas/Daath 9

2011-05-20 (5771 Ayyr 16)
R' Dovid Rosenfeld _Torah.org_
Pirkei Avos/Pirqi Abot: The 48 Ways: Back to Nature chapter6 mishna6: 32. loving uprightness
"A scholar is 'straight' [yashar].   This does not simply mean he does not lie.   There is something very straight and level, almost simplistic about his behavior.   He is sincere and honest, he says what he means and means what he says, and he does not cover himself with layers of complexity or false airs.   He is who he is.   He does not attempt to project a false image -- or even to expend great efforts projecting a semi-accurate one.   His concern is for truth and intellectual honesty alone, not image and popularity.   People know just who he is and what he stands for...   There is something very pure and wholesome -- almost childlike -- about the scholar's behavior.   In spite of probably a keen, penetrating and deep-thinking mind, the scholar comes across as a very 'plain', unsophisticated person...   Jacob is described by the Torah as a 'plain man' ('ish tahm') (Genesis/Brashith 25:27)...   Abraham was the man of kindness and generosity while Isaac was the person of inner strength.   They did not attempt to be a little bit of everything -- something different to everyone they met.   They were pure and straightforward, clear on what they meant to accomplish in life and unwavering in their efforts...   There are those who suggest that only one who proves himself caring of every errant lamb can lead a nation as well.   This is no doubt true, but there is also something about the simplicity, the almost back-to-nature living of being a shepherd.   Being alone on the land, becoming familiar with the terrain and geography as well as the behavior of the animals of one's care, spending time with oneself, all of these bring a certain self-awareness and inner harmony which cannot be easily achieved otherwise -- which our forefathers could have hardly achieved in the confusion and modernity of ancient Mesopotamia.   In such rustic tranquility, these individuals became in touch with themselves; they saw who they were in simple, natural clarity."

2011-05-20 (5771 Ayyr 16)
R' Dovid Rosenfeld _Torah.org_
Maimonides on Life: Laws of Understanding: Hanging in the Balance part2 chapter3 law4(b)
"Search your deeds, repent, and remember your Creator...   Look to your souls and mend your ways and your deeds, and let every one of you forsake his evil way and his improper thoughts...   We must see our every action as cosmically important.   We cannot view mitzvos as just some nice acts we do, keeping our behavior in line and earning us reward.   We must view every single action as having immense worldwide ramifications.   One act could really spell the difference between Divine destruction and universal salvation.   And with this in mind we recognize just how significant our behavior is -- how great a difference our every single act makes.   When we realize this, we are truly alive with G-d.   We serve G-d not for small, personal reasons.   We do so because we realize just how much man's behavior matters to G-d."

2011-05-20 (5771 Ayyr 16)
R' Daniel Travis _Torah.org_
Financial Prosperity
"Why is integrity so important in earning a living?   The reason that a person works for their sustenance is as retribution to Adam and Chava who were enticed by the serpent's sheker to disobey God's will   Someone who tries to earn a living dishonestly is making the same mistake that they made: they believe that they stand to gain by pursuing falsehood   They are destined to share the same fate as Adam and Chava: they will lose much more than they gained."

2011-05-20 (5771 Ayyr 16)
R' Label Lam _Torah.org_
The Gift of All Gifts!
"If you will go in My statutes and observe My commandments and perform them; then I will provide your rains in their time, and the land will give its produce and the tree of the field will yield its fruit.   Threshing will overtake the vintage for you, and the vintage will last until the sowing; you will eat your bread to satiety and you will dwell securely in your land.   And I will provide peace in the land." --- Vayikra/VaYiqra/Leviticus 26:3-6

2011-05-20 (5771 Ayyr 16)
R' Naftali Reich _Torah.org_
Familiarity Breeds Respect "HaShem reassures us that if we are faithful to the Torah, He will shower us with blessings.   Among these is the promise to 'place My Abode among you, and I will not be revolted by you'...   When we observe a person from afar, we develop an idealized impression formed of his most striking characteristics.   But as we become more familiar, as we draw closer, we begin to notice the minute faults, the moles and warts, both literal and figurative, that are not visible from afar.   We no longer think of this person as such a paragon of virtue but as an ordinary person with human failings -- if not worse.   Furthermore, a relationship that falls into familiarity loses its glamour and mystique."

2011-05-20 (5771 Ayyr 16)
R' Berel Wein _Torah.org_
Do Not Fall into the Trap "The main sin that is described in the breach of the covenant by Israel is always the substitution of foreign gods, alien values, foolish whims of the times, for God's Torah and the worship of God alone.   Once there were foreign gods that were represented by actual statues, idols, icons and other such physical representations.   Much of our world has outgrown these forms of idolatry and this is due greatly to the unremitting struggle of Judaism against such practices.   However in our current milieu these childish forms of idol worship have been replaced by the adoption of systems of values that are completely antithetical to Judaism and the Torah...   The Soviet Union and its fellow travelers taught the world that words like democracy, peace, paradise and progressive can be manipulated to mean the exact opposite of what they were intended to mean.   The Soviet Union may be gone but its evil, anti-Semitism, and scorn for Jews lives on.   We should be careful not to fall into the trap of modern idolatry lest again untoward consequences for us may arise."

2011-05-20 (5771 Ayyr 16)
R' Yochanan Zweig (adapted by R' Mordechai Shifman) _Torah.org_
The Power Factor
"5 of you will pursue 100, and 100 of you will pursue 10K..." --- VaYikra/VaYiqra/Leviticus   "One type of group contains individuals, each with his own agenda in mind, who have linked up with other individuals having matching agendas.   Their focus to accomplish the same feat, albeit each person for his own particular reason, is more effective than if they would each be attempting to perform this feat individually.   The second type of group is much more effective than the first.   In this group, each individual's agenda is not only to meet his particular needs, but to help every other individual in the group meet their needs as well...   in the second group there is the additional benefit of each individual having every other group member help him to meet his own particular needs.   In this case, the group members are united in their desire to help one another; the feat is just the manifestation of this desire."   veradfu - will pursue   mikem - of you   veradfu mikem   ve me'ah miken - 100 of you   revavah yirdofu - 10K will pursue   "We find in Parshas Bechukosai a series of blessings that await Bnei Yisroel if they put all of their energies into unifying their relationship with HaShem.   Conversely, there are a series of curses that will befall Bnei Yisroel if this relationship deteriorates.   The blessings appear to follow an order which reflects a strengthening relationship with HaShem; we are promised prosperity, peace, sustained security, and that HaShem's presence will rest amongst the Jews i.e. the Beis [Beth] HaMikdash in Jerusalem."   ve lo sigal nafshi eschem - and not will My spirit reject you   va olech eschem komimius - I will lead you upright   bekoma zekufa - with his head erect   "[arrogance] pushing away the feet of the Divine presence" --- Berachot 43b   "The Targum Yonason interprets the verse 'lo sigal nafshi eschem' to mean that Bnei Yisroel will not reject the commandments of HaShem i.e. the Torah, and not that HaShem will not reject us." --- Bava Basra/?Baba Batra? 75a

2011-05-20 (5771 Ayyr 16)
Shlomo Katz _Torah.org_
VaYikra/VaYiqra/Leviticus 25:33
"The sin of neglecting the shemittah is two-fold: First, there is the fact that one has neglected G-d's command, and, second, there is the fact that one has missed an opportunity to testify that G-d is the Master of the Land.   To rectify this sin, one must do 2 things: First, one must let the Land rest for as many years as it would have rested had the shemittah been properly observed, and, second, we must be exiled.   This is middah knegged middah / measure for measure; since we have failed to acknowledge G-ds ownership of the Land, we may not be in the Land.   The redundancy emphasizes that the exile will be exactly as long as is needed to accomplish these 2 purposes; as related in Divrei HaYamim (II 36:21), This [exile] was in fulfillment of the word of HaShem... all the years of its desolation it rested, to the completion of seventy years. (Shem Olam)"   "the Midrash Tanna Dvei Eliyahu states that the primary time for Torah study is on Shabbat, when one is free from working. (Torat Yechiel)"   "I will make the Land desolate, and your enemies who dwell upon it will be desolate." --- VaYikra/VaYiqra/Leviticus 26:32   "R Yechiel Michel Tikochinsky zl (1871-1955; editor for 51 years of an annual calendar documenting the customs of Eretz Yisrael and Yerushalayim; also author of the widely-used work on mourning, _Gesher HaChaim_) is quoted by his son as frequently remarking that it is not a coincidence that Hashem gave Eretz Yisrael into the stewardship of the Arabs during most of the long exile.   Had the Land been occupied by Europeans, they surely would have settled it and changed its essence, as they did every other place that they conquered and colonized.   Because of HaShem's kindness to us, the Land lay desolate for almost 2,000 years so that we alone could rebuild it.   (Ir Hakodesh Vehamikdash: Hakdamat Ben Hamechaber p.17)"

2011-05-20 (5771 Ayyr 16)
R' Pinchas Winston _Torah.org_
In God We Trust
"Is it merely coincidence that most civilizations that fall tend to have been morally corrupt as well?...   When fighting to establish themselves, they tend to be more humble being mostly focused on survival.   However, after survival is established and they move into the prosperity stage, they tend to focus more on improving the living standard which, depending on the level of prosperity and often technology, tends to become over-indulgent...   before you know it, the civilization becomes detached from its humble beginnings and becomes morally corrupt, or even bankrupt.   It just seems to rot from the inside, and soon after that, it begins to collapse from the outside as well.   By the time the Mongols attacked the Roman Empire, it had been rotten to the core and full of hubris."   "in its time [will Moshiach come]" --- Yeshayahu 60:22   "If they are meritorious, [he will come] with the clouds of Heaven; if not, lowly and riding upon an donkey." --- Sanhedrin 98a   achishenah - hastened   bittah - in its time   "If you walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them, then I will give your rains in their season, and the land shall yield her produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.   And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time, and you shall eat your bread until you have enough, and dwell in your land safely." --- VaYikra/VaYiqra/Leviticus 26:3-5   "Rather than be dragged down to Eisavs level, Eisav gets pulled up..."   "Russia is red, the color of Eisav, and so is the Catholic church.   However, America inserted blue into its national flag, the color of Yisroel, and like the Israeli flag, they added some stars.   Perhaps, on some level, that indicated an attempt on some of Eisav's descendants part to be a bit more like his twin brothers descendants, which is why they embraced the Bible and its message of morality when establishing the direction of American society.   However, though the blue remains in the American flag, it barely remains visible in American culture, indicating that it has gone the path of past empires, albeit a little earlier.   And, quite frankly, Israeli society, which tends to hold onto the heel of Eisav rather than take the lead, may not be too far behind, God forbid."

2011-05-20 (5771 Ayyr 16)
R' Yissocher Frand _Torah.org_
Rains of Blessing: Getting the Most When the Farmer Can Do the Least "Every attribute, no matter how bad, has its place in the world -- even anger, haughtiness, jealousy, and argumentativeness.   These are generally bad attributes, but there are times when one needs to become angry.   There are times when it is appropriate to stand up for one's honor.   There is even a time when it is right to make a machlokes -- an argument [controversy].   There is another bad attribute called 'kefirah', heresy.   A person who knows Torah, but rejects G-d -- a 'kofer' -- possesses such an attribute.   Where is the proper place for this attribute of 'kefirah'?   The Brisker Rav explains, 'When y our friend needs a favor, that's when you should be a kofer.'   IOW, when someone else has a problem, do not have the attitude that G-d will take care of him, G-d will find him a job, G-d will give him the loan.   At such times, the Brisker Rav says, a person should 'not believe' in G-d.   A person should feel that G-d will not take care of him.   Rather, a person must take the responsibility upon himself."
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-21

2011-05-21
Rob Sanchez _V Dare_/_Job Destruction News-Letter_
Deja Vu of 1999: USA Today declares hiring boom, but there is none IRL

2011-05-21
Robert Moore _Cenantua_
Otho Nesbitt: Southern Unionist, but... wanted to free slaves? Eh, not so much...

2011-05-21 05:24PDT (08:24EDT) (12:24GMT) (15:24Jerusalem)
_Monsters and Critics_/_Deutsche Presse-Agentur_
Indian couple accused of witch-craft attacked and blinded by mob
Reuters

2011-05-21
Stephen Clark _Fox_
Philadelphia police all stirred up because citizen recorded audio of encounter and posted it on the web: I guess knowledge of the law is inexcusable these days
"After Fiorino released the audio-tape, he was charged with disorderly conduct and reckless endangerment...   'The police department and assistant district attorney are coming after me, in my opinion, to make an example of me because I stood up to them and exposed them for their lack of knowledge.', Fiorino said, who called the trial 'absolutely inappropriate and a waste of [tax-victim] money'.   Fiorino said he did nothing reckless, nor did he endanger anyone's life...   But Fiorino's attorney, Joseph Valvo, said the case is larger than Fiorino.   'It's my position that this entire prosecution is an effort by Philadelphia authorities to send a message to legitimate gun owners that open carry as a practice is not welcome in Philadelphia despite the fact that it's constitutionally protected behavior and that's offensive to me as a citizen and as a lawyer.', Valvo said.   Gun rights advocates say they're are also offended.   John Pierce, a co-founder of OpenCarry.org said, Philadelphia police have sent a clear message to gun owners that will chill their rights to openly carry.   'Even if it's legal, we can punish you financially and by disruptions in your life.', he said...   Fiorino said he studied Pennsylvania law for a year before he started openly carrying a gun.   He said he carries the gun openly because some of his friends have been held up at gun-point and he's not willing to allow himself to be helpless."
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-22

2011-05-22
Donna Healy _Billings MT Gazette_
Civil War's legacy still reverberates in Montana
"Big strikes created instant towns at Bannack in 1862, Virginia City in 1863 and Helena's Last Chance Gulch in 1864...   Animosities between Republican Northerners and Southern Democrats ran high enough in Bannack for Northerners to set up camp in 'Yankee Flats', while Southerners lived across the creek, in what is now the ghost town of Bannack.   In 1864, a small group of Confederate soldiers, who were part of a disintegrating Confederate Army in Missouri, discovered a minor gold vein west of Townsend.   When other Southern sympathizers joined them, the spot became known as Confederate Gulch.   In the same year, the 'Four Georgians' struck gold at Helena's Last Chance Gulch, although there's dispute over whether they were all from Georgia.   Drawn by the discovery of gold at Last Chance Gulch, James Whitlatch, an ex-Union soldier, discovered particles of gold embedded in quartz in the Fall of 1864.   The town that sprang from the Whitlatch-Union mine was named Unionville.   'Virginia City was a Confederate stronghold in Union territory.', said Bill Peterson, curator of interpretation for the Montana Heritage Commission at Virginia City.   One memoir of life in Montana's mining camps suggests that some school-children danced in the aisles when they heard of President Abraham Lincoln's assassination, Peterson said.   Enough Southerners lived in early-day Virginia City to propose naming the settlement Varina, in honor of Varina Davis, wife of Jefferson Davis, the Confederacy's president.   The request was shot down by a judge who was a Connecticut Yankee...   'One of my favorite rascals is Boone Helm, a Missourian.', Lehman said.   'He wasn't accused of anything specific.   He was accused of probably being a bad character and possibly a murderer.   His last words were ''Hooray for Jeff Davis.''...   Perhaps part of what he was hung for was his Confederate sympathies.'...   The South was on shaky economic footing.   Confederate currency was not pegged to gold, and the South suffered horrific inflation.   Swartout offers an example that he uses with his American history students.   If it cost $1 to buy a pair of shoes in the North at the start of the war, 4 years later, the shoes would cost $2, a significant but manageable level of inflation.   By 1865, it would have cost $9,200 Confederate dollars to buy the same shoes..."

2011-05-22
Jan Falstad _Billings MT Gazette_
More businesses, professional licensing are requiring finger-prints
"For years now, anyone wanting to work with children has had to get finger-printed.   Now, the technology is being used for moms and dads...   U.S. law enforcement has finger-printed suspected criminals since the 1880s and now routinely uses finger-prints to do background checks on job applicants.   Finger-prints now are used to obtain licenses for professionals, including nurses and teachers, child care workers, people getting bonded, casino or liquor license owners or folks wanting to work in financial institutions...   In 1999, the FBI processed 42,203 finger-print checks per day.   That increased to 167,822 finger-print checks each day for fiscal year 2010.   The FBI processed nearly 61.3M finger-print checks last year.   Criminal background checks of finger-prints take an average of 8 minutes 42 seconds."

2011-05-22
_YouTube_
55 year old with master's degrees in plasma physics and acoustics is homeless (with video)
Travis Andersen: Boston Globe

2011-05-22
Mary Pickett _Billings MT Gazette_
College grads face improving job market
Pete Carey: San Jose CA Mercury "News": Sili Valley gains a few jobs amidst "intense" competition for cheap, young, foreign engineering talent
Anthony Ha: Venture Beat: FB defends "manquisition"/"acqhire"
"'Engineers are worth half a million to one million.', FB's director of corporate development Vaughan Smith told the NYTimes."
Pui-Wing Tam: Wall Street Journal: Job openings rise at Sili Valley start-ups (with graph)
Catherine Rampell: NYTimes: Many With New College Degree Find the Job Market Humbling

2011-05-22
Edward H. Crane _Cato Institute_
Actually, We're Not All in This Together

2011-05-22
Ian Vasquez _Cato Institute_
IMF reading list
"The IMF is a fundamentally flawed institution, a problem independent of whether the new Fund chief is French or South African."

2011-05-22
Susan Bowles _Gannett_/_Central Jersey_
When can we get back to work when there's so much age discrimination?
Returning to the work-force after a hiatus

2011-05-22
Robert Moore _Cenantua_
Hmmm... about that referendum on secession in Virginia
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-23

2011-05-23
David North _Right Side News_/_Center for Immigration Studies_
New wrinkle in H-1B fraud: Stealing from tax-victims
Center for Immigration Studies

2011-05-23
John Goodwin _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Local students celebrate triumphs at academic olympiad

2011-05-23 07:28PDT (10:28EDT) (14:28GMT) (17:28Jerusalem)
Larry Dignan _Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
Dust explosion at Foxconn Hon Hai plant: 3 killed: effect on production and prices unknown

2011-05-23 10:26:51PDT (13:26:51EDT) (17:26:51GMT) (20:26:51Jerusalem)
Brandon Bailey _San Jose CA Mercury "News"_
Falun Gong sue Cisco for aiding Red Chinese thugs

2011-05-23 18:36:45PDT (2011-05-23 21:36:45EDT) (2011-05-24 01:36:45GMT) (2011-05-24 04:36:45Jerusalem)
Lisa M. Krieger _San Jose CA Mercury "News"_
Children of some recent immigrants often come out on top in US science competitions
Norm Matloff _H-1B/ L-1/ Off-Shoring News-Letter_
FoE engaged in masterful PR campaign
The industry lobbyists appear to be on a full-court press now.   We're seeing pro-H-1B press reports and op-eds with increasing frequency (unfortunately, I haven't had time to post most of them here), and I just heard today that 'representative' Lofgren is now circulating a draft of a bill to give automatic green cards to new STEM grads of U.S. universities.
 
The article [linked above] reports on an updated study by [propagandist] Stuart Anderson, showing that many Intel Science Fair finalists are children of former H-1Bs.   The intended message is that not only is America's current tech innovation dependent on importing foreign workers, but those foreign workers are raising children who turn out to be brilliant scientists.
 
As I've written before, this message sent by the PR people is far from the true state of affairs:
 
* The imported workers are not more innovative than Americans.
 
* The imported workers from China and India do tend to have extremely ambitions for their kids, and are especially fond of contests like science fairs.   Thus it is no surprise at all that many of the finalists are off-spring of Chinese and Indian immigrants.
 
* The winners of the science fairs are not brilliant.   They are good, smart kids who work insanely hard, but in most cases they're simply doing the leg work, implement the ideas of the established scientists who are mentoring the kids -- NOT the kids' own ideas.
 
For the first point above, see my recent talk at Georgetown University (pdf).
 
For the second point above, see my article on the original Anderson 'study' in 2004.   Not much has changed in the interim, except that now the Bay Area does have schools that groom kids for these contests.   (Of course, one new aspect is that the nation has now seen the "Tiger Mom", showing just how much some Chinese and Indian parents do push their kids.
 
[We have had our own "Tiger Moms" and "Tiger Dads" for several centuries, thankyouverymuch.   Look at Lucy Parke.   Look at Andrew Jackson and his mother.   Look at George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and their instructions to children, grand-children, nieces and nephews.])
 
For the third point above, see my analysis of Obama's State of the Union Address. (scroll down to "Super Bowl").
 
Again, these kids work extremely hard and must be given due credit, but the image of them as brilliant scientists is not what the H-1B advocates are projecting.
 
But think about it from the POV of Obama and people he talks to.   For those of you out there who ARE techies, you have to keep in mind that most policy-makers couldn't write a C [function] to save their lives.   Obama is an obviously highly intelligent man [!?!?], but I'll bet he stayed away from the science and math courses when he was a student at Columbia.   Many policy-makers are mesmerized by the techies [but not very concerned about hundreds of thousands being unemployed or under-employed].
 
Then the policy-makers are told that the foreign workers get more patents per capita, etc., and they spawn brilliant children who will revolutionize the science world.   Then they are told that "Johnnie can't do math.", another distortion (see my analysis of the Obama speech).
 
Just look at the press quote from the Obama speech (see above link),
 
Obama was so impressed with Amy that he kept talking about her for days after he met her.
 
So, even without the big industry campaign contributions, it's not hard to understand how Obama and his aides could be completely bamboozled into thinking, "We had better grab these foreign workers and get them to stay here!   U.S. technological leadership depends on them!"
 
It's a masterful piece of PR; the industry lobbyists have really outdone themselves this time.
 
Norm
 
My response:
So, what percentages of the children of all recent legal immigrants come out in the top 5% in STEM academic competitions?   What proportion come out in the bottom 5%?
 
So, what percentages of the children of all recently entered illegal aliens come out in the top 5% in STEM academic competitions?   What proportion come out in the bottom 5%?
 
What percentages of the children of US native citizens come out in the top 5% in STEM academic competitions?   What proportion come out in the bottom 5%?
 
What percentages of the grand-children of US native citizens come out in the top 5% in STEM academic competitions?   What proportion come out in the bottom 5%?
 
What about the real world as opposed to contrived competitions? How many of each come up with inventions they don't tell a soul about, let alone develop into products because of the dysfunctionalities of the patent and copyright system which rewards claims jumpers like MSFT?
 
What percentages of such statistics are designed and prepared solely for propaganda purposes?   99.9%, as is the propaganda piece from propagandist/lobbyist Stuart Anderson which you passed on to the public uncritically as "gospel truth".
 
We have had our own "Tiger Moms" and "Tiger Dads" for several centuries, thankyouverymuch.   Look at Lucy Parke (I seem to have heard a recent fuss about the prince William/Kate wedding, who, as did Lucy Parke, intentionally left out that "obey" part.).   Look at Andrew Jackson and his mother.   Look at George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and their instructions to children, grand-children, nieces and nephews.
 
Many policy-makers and media people are mesmerized by the techies but not very concerned about hundreds of thousands of gifted, knowledgeable, creative, industrious native US citizen STEM workers being unemployed or under-employed.
---30---

2011-05-23
Isaac Sweeney _Chronicle of Higher Education_
adjuncts go from temporary part-time to temporary full-time at lower pay
"the department at a Virginia university that assigns its adjuncts 4 courses a semester when its tenure-track faculty members only teach 3.   I hear of the community colleges that don't have the means to hire more full-time instructors, so they either add to current adjuncts' course loads, or keep hiring more of them.   Most of us have heard how the majority of faculty members in academe are contingent workers, and how there are fewer and fewer tenure-track faculty members each year.   The point is, I just don't think academe uses adjuncts as only part-time, temporary workers.   We aren't add-ons anymore.   We aren't there to fill in for last-minute enrollments, or for a full-time instructor who suddenly gets sick.   Campus administrators rely on us from the get-go."

2011-05-23 15:32PDT (18:32EDT) (22:32GMT) (2011-05-24 01:32Jerusalem)
Patrick Thibodeau _NetworkWorld_/_ComputerWorld_/_IDG_
Xerox CEO Ursula Burns, an Obummer export adviser, may send jobs to HCL in India

2011-05-23
Frosty Wooldridge _News with Views_
US congress is working against American workers
index

2011-05-23
_MSFTN_
India's environment minister Jairam Ramesh slams IIT, IIM faculty
"Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Monday critisized the faculty of the prestigious IITs and IIMs, saying these educational institutions are 'not world class' but are 'excellent' because of the quality of students.   'There is hardly any worthwhile research from our IITs.   The faculty in the IIT is not world class.   It is the students in IITs who are world class.   So the IITs and IIMs are excellent because of the quality of students not because of quality of research or faculty.', Ramesh, who is himself an alumni of IIT Mumbai, told reporters on the side-lines of a function in New Delhi...   a world class research centre cannot be built in a 'Governmental set up' and can never attract young people.   [llustration showing building with signs 'Indian Institute of Technology: Dedicated to the service of the Nation']   'We cannot build a world class research centre in a Governmental set up.   The governmental set up can never attract young people.   Never.   Let us understand our experience in the last 60 years.   Government research institutions can never attract young talent.'"

2011-05-23
Robert Moore _Cenantua_
Virginia unionist Briscoe Goodhart continues: more on the referendum on secession
brethren elder John Kline and the referendum on secession

2011-05-23
William L. Anderson
austerity, reality

2011-05-23 (5771 Ayyr 19)
Jonathan Tobin _Jewish World Review_
Obummer's False Choice

2011-05-23 (5771 Ayyr 19)
Michael Barone _Jewish World Review_
Obummr channels George W. Bush -- except on Israel and Palestinians
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-24

2011-05-24
John Ribeiro _PC World_/_IDG_
Infosys receives sub poena in B-1 visa abuse case
Network World
IT World

2011-05-24 06:18PDT (09:18EDT) (13:18GMT) (16:18Jerusalem) (5771 Ayyr 20)
Catalina Camia _USA Today_/_Gannett_
Netanyahu sets out to congress-critters conditions for Middle East peace
Y Net News
Globe and Mail
Cosmopolis Switzerland
Ha Aretz
Jonathan S. Tobin: Commentary
Miami FL Herald/AP
Los Angeles CA Times
"'You can't have these protests in the farcical parliaments of Tehran and Tripoli.   This is real democracy.', Netanyahu ad-libbed."
transcript in Globe and Mail
transcript on Isreal's ministry of foreign affairs site

2011-05-24
Kevin D. Williamson _Commentary_
Why Eagleton and Marx Are Wrong

2011-05-24 11:06PDT (14:06EDT) (18:06GMT) (21:06Jerusalem)
Jason Hiner _Tech Republic_
How to kill innovation in 5 steps

2011-05-24 11:44PDT (14:44EDT) (18:44GMT) (21:44Jerusalem)
Brent Snavely _Knoxville TN News Sentinel_/_Detroit MI Free Press_
Crysler announced that it has repaid governments for bail-outs, loans
Tom Krisher: San Jose CA Mercury "News"/AP

2011-05-24 15:00PDT (12:00EDT) (16:00GMT) (2011-05-25 01:00Jerusalem)
Dave McGinn _Globe and Mail_
Researchers at the U of British Columbia have confirmed that women are attracted to "bad boys", men are attracted to happy women

2011-05-24
Jason Overdorf _Global Post_
Suicides among Dalit college students
"Jaspreet Singh, a young student from a caste once considered 'untouchable' by other Hindus, was in his last year of medical school when his life began to fall apart.   A talented student, and his family's brightest hope for clawing their way into the middle class, he was stunned to find that he had failed community medicine, one of his easiest subjects.   But he was even more devastated by the alleged reason: His professor was determined to flunk him because of his caste."

2011-05-24
_Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
survey claims "talent shortages" in CA, NJ, TX, DC...
My response:
So, what? these executives can't relocate talent from Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Idaho, Montana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama or Mississippi?   The executives are that incompetent?!   Give me a break!   Or are they simply unwilling?
 
OTOH, I can see why a lot of self-respecting STEM workers and execs would avoid some of these places like the plague due to their hideously high taxes, over-regulation, high costs of living, and over-crowding, e.g. NY, NJ, DC.   And I can see why a lot of professionals would refuse to be involved in some ethically questionable activities.
 
We've got hundreds of thousands of bright, knowledgeable, industrious US citizen STEM workers who are unemployed and under-employed (in survival jobs that don't make use of their STEM knowledge and experience).
 
For a couple decades we've been turning out more capable and willing STEM workers than the execs have been employing.   Dozens of academic studies confirm it.
 
Times required for even mediocre talent to learn:
Oracle -- 2 days
J2EE/Java -- 2 days to 3 weeks
C, C++ -- 2 weeks to 3 months
Objective-C -- 2 hours to 1 week
Cocoa -- 2 weeks to 3 months
C# -- what idiot would want to?
 
Project Management -- 10 hours
SQL -- 20 minutes and give them a quick reference sheet (that's how long it took me to train several 70+ year old mechanical engineers)
Python -- 1 to 2 weeks
Perl -- 8 hours to 2 weeks
PHP -- 8 hours to 3 weeks
 
Cloud - ancient tech from the 1960s merely recycled and slapped with a new coat of paint
iPhone - 2 weeks (but there are ethically shady issues related to all cellular phones, not just "smart" phones)
JavaScript -- evil, who would want to?!
PeopleSoft -- evil, who would want to?!
CRM -- evil, contrary to professional ethics, who would want to!?
supply chain management -- shady
 
algorithms -- 2 weeks to 6 months plus 1-30 weeks of algebra refresher
differential equations -- 2 months plus 1-30 weeks of algebra refresher
statistics -- 2 hours plus 1-30 weeks of algebra refresher
bioinformatics -- 8 hours plus 1-32 weeks of algebra and statistics and algorithms and p-chem and o-chem refresher
quantum electrodynamics -- 3 weeks plus 1-30 weeks of algebra and calculus refresher
 
So, if the executives reached into those huge cash piles they've accumulated for themselves and their firms, they could easily train and relocate all of the talent they would ever actually need (not just want for empire-building purposes) for legitimate enterprises.
 
Relocate, Train, Reduce taxes and regulations.
---30---

2011-05-24
_Knoxville TN News Sentinel_
executives insist schools "keep up"
elderly friending tech
My response:
I've got to hand it to the Forces of Evil.   They're waging one heck of a disinformation campaign this week and the media are playing right along.
 
The USA has hundreds of thousands of unemployed and under-employed citizens who are bright, well-educated, and experienced in science, tech, engineering, math and computer wrangling (commonly referred to as STEM or S&E or S&T and IT).   Dozens of academic studies of the issue over the last couple decades have shown no shortage or "short-fall", and a few of them suggest we've been turning out about 3 times as many as the executives have been employing to do STEM work.   Even a former bodyshopper, Vivek Wadhwa, has admitted after looking into the matter that, by every measure, US STEM workers are the best.
 
Terribly, these minds are being wasted, and, along with the reductions in demand for machinists in general and precision machinists and tool & die makers and the shift away from real employment to bodyshopping (both domestic and across borders) it has been devastating the US economy.
 
Old machine tools and other manufacturing equipment used to require physical skills and a certain "knack".   Now, once the machine tool or manufacturing cell is set up properly, it does most of the work itself.   We can take it from the CAD/CAM design, through testing for various performance and durability and heat transfer and vibration characteristics (CAE), and then generate the program for the machine tool or manufacturing cell, with a minimum of human tweaking.   We've been doing that since the early 1980s.   Other than a few people to work on the off-the-shelf CAD/CAM/CAE software itself, we really don't need much numerical control programming anymore, though there's still the need for some of that old physical ability and knack at setting things up (and even some of that can be trained up to speed within a month or two, as we did in WW2).
---30---

2011-05-24 16:32PDT (19:32EDT) (23:32GMT) (2011-05-25 02:32Jerusalem)
Frances Cronin _BBC_
infra-red scans from satellits have found 17 additional pyramids, cities buried in Egypt

2011-05-24 (5771 Ayyr 20)
Jonathan Rosenblum _Jewish World Review_
Obummer's diversionary tactics

2011-05-24 (5771 Ayyr 20)
Ed Koch _Jewish World Review_
I cannot vote for Obummer

2011-05-24 (5771 Ayyr 20)
Cal Thomas _Jewish World Review_
Betraying Israel

2011-05-24 (5771 Ayyr 20)
Mona Charen _Jewish World Review_
A false friend can do more damage than an open enemy

2011-05-24 (5771 Ayyr 20)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Dependency and Votes
San Angelo TX Standard-Times
Appeal-Democrat
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-25

2011-05-24 19:27PDT (2011-05-25 22:27EDT) (2011-05-25 02:27GMT) (2011-05-25 05:27Jerusalem)
Kelly Tyko _Treasure Coast FL Palm_
Digital Domain CEO emphasizes St. Lucie county schools' role in attracting cutting-edge employers

2011-05-25 06:01PDT (09:01EDT) (13:01GMT) (16:01Jerusalem)
Lucia Mutikani, Ellen Freilich & Chuch Mikolajczak _Reuters_
Durable goods orders down 3.6% in April

2011-05-25
Miriam Jordan _Wall Street Journal_
US government probing Infosys over questions of visa abuse
Phys Org
Patrick Thibodeau: ComputerWorld/IDG: Grand jury investigating

2011-05-25
_Joint Economic Committee_
Innovation and Job Growth in the Life Sciences
Joint Economic Committee

2011-05-25
Ben Wieder _Chronicle of Higher Education_
Pay-Pal founder Peter Thiel pays 24 talented students $100K NOT to attend college for 2 years and to develop business ideas instead

2011-05-25
_Fox_
ICE released illegal alien from Kampuchea into the USA at end of murder sentence without deporting him

2011-05-25
J.J. Hensley _Arizona Republic_
Maricopa county sheriff Joe Arpaio has arresed 3 of his deputies for participation in drug- and human-trafficking ring
NY NewsDay
Lavvy Vernerr: Phoenix AZ Examiner
YouTube (video)

2011-05-25 16:51PDT (19:51EDT) (23:51GMT) (2011-05-26 02:51Jerusalem)
Andrew Nusca _Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
out-sourcing could kill your firm

2011-05-25
Rob Jenkins _Chronicle of Higher Education_
University/college costs and quality
"Does a college degree have to be prohibitively expensive?   And does it really matter all that much where you get your under-graduate degree?"

2011-05-25
_IT World_/_IDG_
2011 IT salaries by region

2011-05-25
David North _Center for Immigration Studies_
Musings on Migration Statistics
"...Department of Justice: Misleading...   Department of Homeland Security: Missing...   Department of Labor: Massive [yet lacking in critical indicators]...   Department of State: [Almost] OK..."

2011-05-25
Matt Krantz _USA Today_/_Gannett_
Shareholder votes against CEO compensation increases are rare but dramatic

2011-05-25
Robert Moore _Cenantua_
Eastman Johnson's "Union Soldiers Accepting a Drink"
I'm puzzled why Chris thinks I may be puzzled...

2011-05-25 (5771 Ayyr 21)
Paul Greenberg _Jewish World Review_
The Scape-Goat Syndrome

2011-05-25 (5771 Ayyr 21)
Dana Milbank _Jewish World Review_
How Obummer has empowered Netanyahu

2011-05-25 (5771 Ayyr 21)
Jonathan Rosenblum _Jewish World Review_
The gullible, the guilty, and the ignorance of truth are crucial in advancing Obummer's new Middle East agenda

2011-05-25 (5771 Ayyr 21)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Common Sense vs. Non-Sense
Patriot Post
GOP USA
Gaston NC Gazette
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-26

2011-05-26
Ann M. Simmons _Los Angeles CA Times_
attack of the code-nazis
"Los Angeles county code enforcers are now demanding that Fahey's Phonehenge be torn down because of an array of building and fire code violations.   The district attorney has charged Fahey with 14 criminal misdemeanor counts of maintenance of un-permitted properties and unlawful use of land, offenses that could carry a sentence of up to 7 years in prison.   Fahey has refused to settle the case, and a jury trial is set to begin Thursday in Lancaster...   Save Phonehenge West has almost 300 followers.   A national group called F.A.C.E.OFF (Fight Against Code Enforcement Office), which states its mission as 'eliminating abusive, aggressive, illegal and unconstitutional code enforcement practices', is also backing Fahey.   Supporters argue that Phonehenge West is an architectural marvel -- even a work of art."

2011-05-26 04:26PDT (07:26EDT) (11:26GMT) (14:26Jerusalem)
Toni Bowers _Tech Republic_/_Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
9 tips for getting hired

2011-05-26
David G. Savage _Los Angeles CA Times_
Supremes: States can revoke business licenses of firms which employ illegal aliens: AZ law has no conflict with US constitution or federal statutes
John Bacon: USA Today/Gannett
Jennifer Epstein: Politico
Joseph Klein: Front Page Magazine
Stewart J. Lawrence: Manchester Guardian
Washington DC Examiner

2011-05-26 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT) (15:30Jerusalem)
Scott Gibbons & Tony Sznoluch _DoL ETA_
un-employment insurance weekly claims report
DoL home page
DoL OPA press releases
historical data
DoL regulations
"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 371,857 in the week ending May 21, an increase of 10,284 from the previous week.   There were 410,778 initial claims in the comparable week in 2010.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.8% during the week ending May 14, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,520,413, a decrease of 65,853 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 3.4% and the volume was 4,411,435.   The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending May 7 was 7,739,572, a decrease of 196,976 from the previous week.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, ME, MA, MI, MN, MO, NV, NJ, NM, NY, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TX, VA, WA, and WV, during the week ending May 7.   States reported 3,411,860 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending May 7, a decrease of 57,119 from the prior week.   There were 5,053,266 claimants in the comparable week in 2010.   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;
to 126,763,245 beginning 2010-07-03;
to 125,845,577 beginning 2010-09-25;
to 125,560,066 beginning 2011-01-15;
to 125,572,661 beginning 2011-04-02.]
EUC (Excel)
EB
graphs
more graphs

2011-05-26
_Phys Org_
Extensive protein interaction network involved in gene regulation

2011-05-26
Lauren McLane _Cumberland PA Sentinel_/_Lee_
bee hive collapse disorder continues
"The 4 likely causes are pathogens; parasites; environmental stresses, including things like pesticides; and bee management stresses, which include problems like poor nutrition and nectar dearth...   The most recent figures show a 30% loss in all managed honey bee colonies in the United States from all causes...   The most recent figures are about even with the previous 4 years, which saw 34% for the 2009-2010 winter, 29% for 2008-2009; 36% for 2007-2008, and 32% for 2006-2007...   Although the lack of an increase in loss was encouraging to researchers, it's sill much higher than the 13% annual loss apiarists feel is manageable."

2011-05-26 08:53PDT (11:53EDT) (15:53GMT) (18:53Jerusalem)
Colleen Wixon _Treasure Coast Palm_
FCAT results for Martin county FL
St. Lucie county FL
India River county FL
news 4, Jacksonville FL
Gainesville FL Sun
Jacksonville FL Times-Union
Jacksonville FL Times-Union
WCTV

2011-05-26 11:48PDT (14:48EDT) (17:48GMT) (21:48Jerusalem)
_Knoxville TN News Sentinel_
Knox county TN unemployment rate rose in April

2011-05-26 16:00:01PDT (19:00:01EDT) (23:00:01GMT) (2011-05-27 02:00:01Jerusalem)
Alison Vekshin _Bloomberg_
Foreign Tiger Moms taking over Cupertino CA
"Asians grew faster than any race in the U.S.A. from 2000 to 2010, rising to 4.8% of the country's 309M residents, with Indians out-pacing Chinese and all other Asian groups...   Nationwide, the Asian population rose by 43.3% to 14.7M in 2010 from 10.2M in 2000, more than 4 times the total U.S. rate of 9.7%, according to census data.   Asian Indians jumped 69.4% to 2.8M from 1.7M.   The largest ethnic group, Hispanics, grew 43% and now accounts for 16.3% of U.S. residents...   In Alabama, manufacturing is driving the growth of the Korean population, which expanded by 102.1% to 8,320, spurred by the 2005 opening of a Hyundai Motor Company (005380) plant in Montgomery...   Their demand for foreign-born workers comes as California's unemployment rate sits above the 9.0% national rate at 11.9% in April, according to U.S. Labor Department data...   Those born in India represented 48% of H-1B petitions approved in FY2009, the largest amount of beneficiaries...   Indians there increased to 13,179 in 2010 from 4,408 in 2000, driving the fastest growth rate among California cities that are majority Asian, census data show.   Whites decreased to 17,085 from 24,181 in a city that now has 58,302 residents."

2011-05-26
Frosty Wooldridge _News with Views_
On-Going Economic Train Wreck Made by Congress
index

2011-05-26
Chuck Baldwin _V Dare_
Government Cannot Be Trusted To Police Itself

2011-05-26
Michelle Malkin _V Dare_
Barney Frank's friends with benefits
"Frank was rather miffed about the recent disclosure that he helped former lover Herb Moses land a job with the behemoth lender [Fannie Mae] while sitting on a House committee that regulates lenders a decade ago.   The Boston Herald reported Thursday that Frank immediately invoked the Everybody Does It card: 'It is a common thing in Washington for members of Congress to have spouses work for the federal government.   There is no rule against it at all.'...   Funny thing.   Not too long ago, it was Frank himself counseling fellow Democratic scandal magnet representative Maxine Waters to butt out of Boston-area OneUnited Bank's bid for $12M in federal TARP bail-out funds because of conflict-of-interest odors.   Waters' husband, Sidney Williams, was an investor in one of the banks that merged into OneUnited and owned stock holdings estimated at $350K."

2011-05-26
Michael Feldman _High Performance Computing Wire_
D-Wave Sells First Quantum Computer
"D-Wave One uses a superconducting 128-qubit (quantum bit) chip, called Rainier, representing the first commercial implementation of a quantum processor...   According to D-Wave co-founder and CTO Geordie Rose, D-Wave One, the technology uses a method called 'quantum annealing' to solve discrete optimization problems.   While that may sound obscure, it applies to all sorts of artificial intelligence-type applications such as natural language processing, computer vision, bio-informatics, financial risk analysis, and other types of highly complex pattern matching...   Users interact with the system via an API that allows the D-Wave One to be accessed remotely from a variety of programming environments, including Python, Java, C++, SQL and MATLAB."

2011-05-26 (5771 Ayyr 22)
Alan M. Dershowitz _Jewish World Review_
Obummer explains... and makes it worse

2011-05-26 (5771 Ayyr 22)
William Weir _Jewish World Review_
Researchers like chocolate milk, don't like "energy drinks"
"For the study, moderately trained male runners ran for 45 minutes at least 5 days a week for 2 weeks.   Some drank chocolate milk while others drank a carb-only drink like Gatorade or Powerade; each drink had the same number of calories.   Breath and blood samples taken after the first and second weeks indicated that the chocolate milk drinkers had greater muscle rebuilding."
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-27

2011-05-27 05:17PDT (08:17EDT) (12:17GMT) (15:17Jerusalem)
Alexi Howk _Treasure Coast FL Palm_
Digital Domain movie animation studio should be operational in St. Lucie by December
"That's Digital Domain Media Group's future $40M, 120K-square-foot movie animation studio where an estimated more than 500 employees eventually will work...   Aaron Blaise, a former veteran animator for Disney and now a director in feature animation at Digital Domain's Tradition studio, said the studio rivals Disney's former animation studio at Hollywood Studios in Orlando and in Los Angeles...   Textor said the company also would focus on doing military simulation work and whether that occurs at a sister facility in Abu Dhabi or on additional land the company purchased in Tradition hasn't been determined at this point."

2011-05-27 08:22PDT (11:22EDT) (15:22GMT) (18:22Jerusalem)
Ruth Mantell _MarketWatch_
UMich consumer sentiment index rose from 69.8 in April to 74.3 in late May
Federal Reserve Board St. Louis

2011-05-27 09:42PDT (12:42EDT) (16:42GMT) (19:42Jerusalem)
Kristin Hall _Knoxville TN News Sentinel_/_AP_
Metal powders plant in Gallatin hit by 3rd dust fire since January

2011-05-27 11:00PDT (14:00EDT) (18:00GMT) (21:00Jerusalem)
James Altucher _MarketWatch_
College is a scam... so let's make money off of it
"The Washington Post Company, which owns Stanley Kaplan, gets all of its earnings from the education side of its business, while Blackboard is the fire-power underneath on-line course management...   cheaper on-line education schools like Apollo Group...   for the first time ever, we are graduating a generation of indentured servants rather than the entrepreneurs, innovators, artists and inventors that America is known for...   44% of 2009 graduates are either unemployed or hold jobs that don't require degrees.   So, IOW, these millions of young people are 5 years behind their peers, and many are holding over $100K in debt.   What a shame...   If people want knowledge, they will seek it out with a hunger like you can't even imagine.   You can't force feed passion or knowledge...   Tuitions have gone up 10 times faster than [10 times as fast as?] inflation in the past 30 years and 3 times faster than [3 times as fast as?] health-care costs in the past 30 years...   the greatest entrepreneurs, artists and inventors in history either didn't go to college at all or dropped out (or were kicked out).   My story: I majored in computer science at a good school.   I went to graduate school in computer science.   I programmed every day for about 6 years straight.   Then I went to work in the 'real world'.   In order to program there, they had to send me to remedial programming classes so I could learn to program as well as the rest of them at a real job."

2011-05-27 13:22PDT (16:22EDT) (20:22GMT) (23:22Jerusalem)
Daniel Vasquez _Treasure Coast Palm_/_Florida Sun-Sentinel_
Target, Radio Shack, Office Depot, BrandsMart USA, GameStop, Best Buy, and Amazon offer electronics/DVD trade-in programs

2011-05-27
_Cumberland PA Sentinel_
Carlisle residents asked to stop using water after generator fire knocks out waste-water treatment plant
"Carlisle Borough Manager Steve Hietsch said the backup emergency generator at the sewage plant caught on fire.   Without electricity, the plant is not able to continue its operations...   Hietsch said PPL is currently at the plant attempting to restore power and they are also trying to find a replacement generator."

2011-05-27
"Washington Watcher" _V Dare_
Supreme Court's Whiting Ruling Gives Patriots a Memorial Day Present

2011-05-27
Ross Kaminsky _American Spectator_
Energy myths of the left
"The top of the 'resource pyramid' is made of 'proved' reserves, namely reserves of oil, natural gas, coal, or other fuel 'which geological and engineering data demonstrate with reasonable certainty to be recoverable in future years from known reservoirs under existing economic and operating conditions'.   This is the most limiting definition of reserves, and of course it is the one which the left relies on when saying that we have 'only 2% of the world's oil reserves'.   Specifically, the U.S.A. has 20.7G barrels of proved crude oil reserves as of the end 2009.   (That's actually up from 2008 numbers which by itself should be a clue how meaningless the left's 2% argument is.)...   In particular, the United States' UTRR for onshore oil is currently about 38G barrels, with the offshore technically recoverable resources coming in at a stunning 86G barrels.   (Of this, just over half is in the Gulf of Mexico, a third in Alaska, and the rest off our Pacific and Atlantic coasts.)   Our real but not 'proved' resource of oil is thus about 125G barrels.   Furthermore, the offshore numbers are based on a report that used data from 2003, at which time oil discovery and drilling technology were far behind what they are today, the BP disaster notwithstanding.   It is likely that a new survey would conclude with a substantially higher UTRR number.   Even with the out-dated off-shore figures, the U.S.A.'s total technically recoverable oil, including current proved reserves and 10G barrels of natural gas liquids, is estimated by our government at 163G barrels, 8 times the number thrown around by the left...   In 2007, the U.S.A. used about 20.5% of the world's energy.   It's estimated to drop to 18% by 2020 as the developing world actually develops...   What percentage of the world's GDP does America produce?   The answer, according to government data, is that the U.S. share of world GDP has been in a narrow range around 27%-28% since 1990 and is forecast to drop to about 24% by 2020.   We produce more of the world's GDP than we use of the world's energy.   By comparison, in 2007, [Red China] used almost 16% of the world's energy to produce 7.4% of the world's GDP.   [Red China] is expected to surpass the U.S.A. in total energy use in about 5 years.   At that time, it will produce an estimated 9% of the world's GDP."

2011-05-27
Janice Kephart _Center for Immigration Studies_
Obummer's emerging anti-border-security policy

2011-05-27
Evan Sayel _Front Page Magazine_
Why secular Jews support leftist politicians

2011-05-27
William L. Anderson
Medicare, Mediscare, and the reality of the future of administrative medical care
"I believe that Medicare is going down, anyway, and all of the rhetoric... cannot change the simple fact that the American economy cannot produce enough to keep ALL of the current programs, from military spending to transfer payments, going at their current rate."

2011-05-27
Catherine Anderson
anecdotal vs. evidence-based medicine
"There are lots of new therapies that work and are based on science.   Sometimes they aren't super sexy but can have a huge impact on patients (e.g. antibiotics for ulcers)...   Anecdotal Medicine is just that -- a collection of stories.   It worked for my neighbour or I feel it in my gut..."

2011-05-27 (5771 Ayyr 23)
Carline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
The lessons of Netanyahu's triumph
 
Proposed Bills 2011

2011-05-27

DJIA	12,436.55
S&P 500(SPX)	1,331.10
NASDAQ(COMP)	2,796.86
Nikkei	9,521.94
10-year US T-Bond(UST10Y)	3.06
crude oil(CLN11)	$100.59/barrel
natgas(NGM11)	$4.52/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline(RBM11)	$3.09/gal
heatingoil(HOM11)	$2.99/gal
gold(GCQ11)	$1,537.60/ounce
silver(SIN11)	$38.025/ounce
platinum(PLN11)	$1,805.10/ounce
palladium(PAM11)	$759.25/ounce
copper(HGN11)	$0.261375/ounce
soybeans	$13.7975/bushel
maize	$7.585/bushel
wheat	$10.5625/bushel
dollarindex(DXY)	74.76
yenperdollar(USDYEN)	80.77
dollarspereuro(EURUSD)	$1.4321
dollarsperpound(GBPUSD)	1.6506
swissfrancsperdollar	0.8491
indianrupeesperdollar	45.25
mexicanpesosperdollar(MXN)	11.618
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex	680.64

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 
 
Proposed Bills 2011

2011-05-27 (5771 Ayyr 23)
R' Pinchas Winston _Torah.org_
Numbered for Redemption

2011-05-27 (5771 Ayyr 23)
R' Dovid Rosenfeld _Torah.org_
Maimonides on Life: Laws of Understanding: Individual versus Collective Guilt chapter3 law5(a)

2011-05-27 (5771 Ayyr 23)
R' Daniel Travis _Torah.org_
Crime and Punishment

2011-05-27 (5771 Ayyr 23)
R' Label Lam _Torah.org_
Fatherly Guidance

2011-05-27 (5771 Ayyr 23)
R' Berel Wein _Torah.org_
The Significance of Each Tribe's Count

2011-05-27 (5771 Ayyr 23)
R' Yochanan Zweig (adapted by R' Mordechai Shifman) _Torah.org_
Everyone Counts

2011-05-27 (5771 Ayyr 23)
Shlomo Katz _Torah.org_
Look Both Ways vol25 #34
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-28

2011-05-28
_Cumberland PA Sentinel_/_Lee_
Storms knock out power to more and more residents: over 100K affected

2011-05-28
Steve Szkotak _Cumberland PA Sentinel_/_AP_
British Scott brothers convey aspects of Civil War experience in "Gettysburg", filmed in South Africa

2011-05-28 (5771 Ayyr 24)
George Will _Jewish World Review_
Obama is not above the law
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-29

2011-05-29
Becca Gregg _Cumberland PA Sentinel_/_Lee_
11 hybrid diesel-electric buses with seating for up to 37 purchased for $557,350 each

2011-05-29
Denise Dick _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Local spelling bee champ headed for DC
"Rabosky described Lauren as an outstanding student who excelled in all of her subjects."

2011-05-29
Robert Guttersohn _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
B-17 named for local
"While 8-year-old tom-boy Dixie Lee played at Warren’s Third Street School in 1944, a B-17 bomber bearing her name was flying over Europe.   Today, Dixie Lee Kosovec, 75 and still lively, keeps shelved in her McDonald home the photo of her uncle Andy Bugzavich leaning on the long propeller blade of the flying fortress he manned.   Her name is written above the sergeant in painted script along the nose.   In 1942, so the tale goes, the crew threw into a hat names of what to call their new B-17.   Andy threw in his niece's name, and it was selected.   'The tot now has a flying fortress named after [her], busy cracking the axis', read an 1942 Aug. 20, newspaper article she has protected in plastic, glued to a browning piece of paper and kept inside a World War II scrap-book...   Andy left for England, and his B-17 was one of thousands that prepped the Normandy coastline for the D-Day invasion.   But after 3 missions, the bomber was shot down over France.   For a reason Kosovec cannot recall, Andy was not on the mission...   During his service, Andy earned a Distinguished Unit Badge, European, African and Middle Eastern ribbons with 3 bronze battle stars."

20011-05-29
Diane James _Santa Maria CA Times_
Illegal aliens, immigrants and the law

2011-05-29
Thomas E. Brewton & Robert Curry _View from 1776_
The Scottish Enlightenment and America's Founding
"Neither the thinkers of the Scottish Enlightenment nor the Founders were under any illusions about human nature.   If we want to understand the efforts of the Founders during that hot summer in 1787, we must see them as trying to design self-government with a very sober assessment of human nature in mind.   When in the next century Lord Acton wrote 'power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely', he captured in a ringing aphorism the view the Founders shared with the giants of the Scottish Enlightenment."

2011-05-29
David North _Center for Immigration Studies_
"investment visas" are merely a cheap labor deal sweetener
"If the job does not pay much, or if the investment is shaky, the way for big business to close the deal is to add a ticket to America to the formula -- and the migrant quickly falls in line with a body for the job, or a sum of money for the investment."

2011-05-29
William L. Anderson
KIW makes the London Observer
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-30: Memorial Day

2011-05-30
Sean Barron _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Honoring Our Fallen
Elise Franco: Wars take toll on local families
Fox Cincinnati
Cincinnati OH Enquirer/Gannett
Fox Memphis
Allentown Pa Examiner
Louisville KY Courier-Journal
WAVE
WSPA
Columbus Telegram
Philadelphia Inquirer
KECI Missoula
Tallahassee Elks Lodge to commemorate veterans on Memorial Day
Toledo Blade
Columbus Dispatch
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Martinsburg Herald-Mail
Urbana Daily Citizen
Paul Greenberg: Jewish World Review

2011-05-30
Tom Lutey _Billings MT Gazette_
veteran Frank Stoltz remembers Bataan death march

2011-05-30
David Lepeska _Chicago News Co-Op_
New Chicago Islamic college linked to Guelen
"In a cable obtained by Wikileaks, America's former ambassador to Turkey characterized the Gulen movement as a potentially destabilizing influence in Turkey that some more secular Turks see as trying an effort to bring about a fundamentalist Islamic state.   Called Hizmet, a Turkish word meaning 'service', the Gulen movement promotes public service and education and runs think tanks, universities, media outlets and one of Turkey's largest banks.   The organization seeks to spread Gulen's influence internationally through a network of 1K schools in 130 countries.   Hizmet operates more than 120 publicly funded charter schools in the U.S.A.   Yet administrators of these schools often deny any official connection to the movement, which has no formal organization or official membership.   'It's safe to assume that A.I.C. will be influenced by the Gulen movement', mainly through the selection of AIC's instructors and administrative staff, said Hakan Yavuz, a political science professor at the University of Utah and co-editor of a 2003 book on the organization... The Chicago college, A.I.C., is likely to benefit from a loop-hole that excludes universities from the federal H-1B quota."

2011-05-30
_The Economic Collapse_
Inflation 2011: Honey, they shrunk our pay-checks

2011-05-30
Edwin S. Rubenstein _V Dare_
illegal immigrants paid an average $1K per capita to states and localities in 2010, while the rest of us paid $3,402

2011-05-30
Thomas E. Brewton _View from 1776_
Political Correctness vs. Individual Rights

2011-05-30 (5771 Ayyr 26)
Debra J. Saunders _Jewish World Review_
Soft-on-Crime Cycle Repeats

2011-05-30 (5771 Ayyr 26)
Byron York _Jewish World Review_
GOP condemns Dems breath-taking refusal to produce a balanced federal budget

2011-05-30 (5771 Ayyr 26)
Michael Barone _Jewish World Review_
pro-Obama media always shocked, surprised by bad economic news

2011-05-30 (5771 Ayyr 26)
Kathleen Parker _Jewish World Review_
The "Big Thirst" and the miracle of water

2011-05-30 (5771 Ayyr 26)
Mark Steyn _Jewish World Review_
Cowed by udderly insane regulations
"in New York City, applying for the 'right' to open a restaurant requires dealing with the conflicting demands of at least 11 municipal agencies, plus submitting to 23 city inspections, and applying for 30 different permits and certificates.   Not including the state liquor license.   Recognizing that this could all get very complicated, the city set up a new bureaucratic body to help you negotiate your way through all the other bureaucratic bodies...   According to the Small Business Administration, the cost to the economy of government regulation is about $1.75T per annum.   You and your fellow citizens pay for that -- and it's about twice as much as you pay in income tax.   Or, to put it another way, the regulatory state sucks up about a quarter-trillion dollars more than the entire GDP of India."
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011-05-31

2011-05-31
James Walsh _News Max_
US borders remain porous

2011-05-31
Angela Dewan _Global Post_
Is Indonesia the next Sili Valley?

2011-05-31 05:28PDT (08:28EDT) (12:28GMT) (15:28Jerusalem)
Getahn Ward _Knoxville TN News Sentinel_/_Tennessean_
Compensation for top execs in TN up 24% at major firms
Tennessean
"Nationwide, median total compensation for CEOs of S&P 500 companies rose 28.2% last year to $9M after 2 straight years of declines, according to a separate report by Equilar...   Still, the U.S. financial melt-down has led to companies' stock-holders having more say-so over executive compensation -- at least indirectly -- with independent directors named to most firms' pay review committees.   But it's questionable how much the new rules have really served to rein in corporate pay.   Nearly 98% of companies have gotten pay packages approved, with 91% of share-holders on average voting for them, the Mercer analyst said."

2011-05-31
_Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Mahoning valley school excell... in non-instructional services

2011-05-31
Denise Dick _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
schools continue process of recruiting, filtering applicants for 90 teaching positions
"Hathorn has said the VPA/STEM school will have a longer school day, but Bagnola says there's been no information disseminated about how that will be done."

2011-05-31 08:56PDT (11:56EDT) (15:56GMT) (18:56Jerusalem)
Jeffry Bartash _MarketWatch_
Conference Board: US consumer confidence declined in May
"Those stating jobs are 'hard to get' increased from 42.4% to 43.9%, while those stating jobs are 'plentiful' increased from 5.1% to 5.6%...   Those expecting more jobs in the months ahead declined from 17.8% to 15.9%, while those anticipating fewer jobs increased from 18.7% to 20.8%.   The proportion of consumers expecting an increase in their incomes declined from 17.0% to 14.8%."

2011-05-31 09:56PDT (12:56EDT) (16:56GMT) (19:56Jerusalem)
Greg Robb _MarketWatch_
Housing prices fell through 2009 lows to 2002 levels
Derek Kravitz: Knoxville TN News Sentinel/AP
"Prices have now fallen further since the bubble burst than they did during the Great Depression."

2011-05-31
Ioan Grillo _Global Post_
Mexican drug gangs compete in human trafficking, too
"'Everyone round the world knows that Mexico is the back door into the United States.   That causes a lot of problems here and now we are seeing those problems come to a head.', said a high-ranking official at Mexico’s National Immigration Institute, who asked his name not be used in case of repercussions from superiors.   Immigration officials estimate that more than 300K [illegal aliens from other countries] pour through Mexico each year to try to sneak over the southern U.S. border...   This generates an enormous human trafficking business, estimated to be worth more than $2G each year to Mexican gangs...   Two officers in the southern state of Chiapas are accused of pimping Central American migrants out as prostitutes.   Another six officers in the state of Tamaulipas, which borders Texas, are accused of selling migrants to drug cartels for $430 a victim...   Drug cartels then hold migrants they can capture as hostages in safe houses until they extort $1K to $5K from their family members in the United States or back in their homelands.   Mexico's National Human Rights Commission says last year there were a stunning 20K such kidnappings."

2011-05-31
Mark Tooley _American Spectator_
Left is religiously "conflicted" over Memorial Day
"C.S. Lewis's famous defense of patriotism against abstract humanitarianism.   'I may without self-righteousness or hypocrisy think it just to defend my house by force against a burglar.', Lewis explained.   'But if I start pretending that I blacked his eye purely on moral grounds -- wholly indifferent to the fact that the house in question was mine -- I become insufferable.'"

2011-05-31
Jeffrey Lord _American Spectator_
Radio talk hosts take to technology, baffle the left

2011-05-31
Paul Craig Roberts _American Conservative_
Globalism Is Costly for Americans
Centre for Research on Globalization
"Michael Spence, a Nobel prize-winning economist, assisted by Sandile Hlatshwayo, a researcher at New York University...   'Value added grew across the economy, but almost all of the incremental employment increase of 27.3M jobs was on the non-tradable side.   On the non-tradable side, government and health care are the largest employers and provided the largest increments (an additional 10.4M jobs) over the past 2 decades...   a long-term structural challenge with respect to the quantity and quality of employment opportunities in the United States...   almost all incremental employment has occurred in the non-tradable sector, which has experienced much slower growth in value added per employee.'...   For example, the services of barbers, waitresses, bartenders, and hospital workers, unlike those of software engineers, cannot be exported...   But with engineering, design, and research jobs off-shored, and with many of the jobs that remain within the US filled by foreigners on HB-1 and L-1 visas, we now have the phenomenon of American university and college graduates heavily indebted with student loans, jobless, and living with their parents who support them...   Spence understands that the lack of growth in consumer income has resulted in a short-fall in domestic demand."

2011-05-31
Michelle Malkin _V Dare_
Chasing Sarah: The boys behind the bus

2011-05-31
Mark Metcalf _Center for Immigration Studies_
Built to Fail: Deception and disorder in America's immigration courts
"Very few aliens who file law-suits to remain in the USA are deported, even though immigration courts -- after years of litigation -- order them removed.   Deportation orders are rarely enforced, even against aliens who skip court or ignore orders to leave the United States.   Aliens evade immigration courts more often than accused felons evade state courts.   Unlike accused felons, aliens who skip court are rarely caught.   From 1996 through 2009, the USA allowed 1.9M aliens to remain free before trial and 770K of them -- 40% of the total -- vanished.   Nearly 1M deportation orders were issued to this group -- 78% of these orders were handed down for court evasion.   From 2002 through 2006 -- in the shadow of 2001/09/11 -- 50% of all aliens free pending trial disappeared.   Court numbers show 360,199 aliens out of 713,974 dodged court.   For years, the Department of Justice (DoJ) has grossly understated the number of aliens who evade court.   In 2005 and 2006, DoJ said 39% of aliens missed court.   Actually, 59% of aliens -- aliens remaining free before trial -- never showed.   Since 1996, failures of aliens to appear in court have never dipped below 30%.   Immigration judges cannot enforce their own orders [and] sledom know if their orders are enforced...   As of 2002, 602K deportation orders had not been enforced.   Since then, another 507,551 have been added to the rolls.   Today, unexecuted removal orders number approximately 1,109,551 -- an 84% increase since 2002.   U.S. immigration courts rule in favor of aliens 60% of the time.   DoJ suggests aliens win 20% of the time.   The Department of Justice tells Congress that aliens appeal deportation orders only 8% of the time.   In fact, over the last 10 years aliens appealed deportation orders 98% of the time.   Since 1990, immigration court budgets have increased 823% with [tax-victims] footing the entire bill.   Aliens pay no more to file their cases today than they did in 1990.   From 2000 through 2007, tax dollars -- slightly more than $30M -- paid aliens' court costs.   [Tax-victims] under-wrote the appeals of aliens ordered removed for criminal convictions and fraudulent marriages.   U.S. immigration judges carry huge caseloads.   In 2006 -- the courts' busiest year ever -- 233 judges completed 407,487 matters.   All work of DoJ's trial and appellate lawyers combined equaled only 289,316.   By comparison, federal district and circuit courts, with 1,271 judges, completed 414,375 matters...   The Department of Justice manages America's immigration courts.   [Immigration judges] work for the Attorney General.   Through the Executive Office for Immigration Review -- better known as EOIR, the DoJ agency responsible for the courts -- Congress is supposed to learn how these tribunals perform.   But EOIR reveals little and what it reveals is largely inaccurate.   Agency reports mock transparency.   The full picture of large and complex caseloads goes undeveloped.   Candor that yields understanding fails.   Practical reforms go unproposed because critical statistics are falsely stated, skewed, or omitted."

2011-05-31
William L. Anderson
Against learned economic laws
"In a recent column, Paul Krugman rightly calls unemployment a 'terrible scourge' across our country and much of Europe.   And as usual, Krugman not only mis-diagnoses the problem, but he then calls for a 'solution' that will make matters worse...   First, while I doubt that even Krugman would want a return of the housing bubble, he still refuses to see it as an economic 'correction', but rather just a temporary bump in the onward march of 'aggregate demand'.   In other words, he refuses to admit that vast amount of resources were malinvested, and that we cannot have a meaningful recovery until most of these mal-investments either have been liquidated or moved to other uses."

2011-05-31
Craig Swain _Cenantua_
Black southern heritage activist H.K. Edgerton has "been very controversial from time to time"

2011-05-31
Cory Nealon _Newport News Daily Press_
remembering Stanley Woodard, NASA Langley aerospace engineer
"It was a place where he could tinker with his ideas and, at the end of the day, pay the bills.   It was a place where he developed 22 patents.   It was a place where his work was twice recognized among the top 100 innovations of the year by R&D Magazine.   Among his inventions: a wireless system that's truly wireless.   Most sensors require batteries or a receiver -- think of your cellular phone.   Stan and other Langley researchers replaced the batteries and receivers with magnets.   The technology is used in airplane landing gear and in the gas tanks of boats.   Stan was so excited about its applications that he was working on a way to use it to measure the water and blood that built up in his lung after it collapsed a few months ago...   His passing didn't generate head-lines, but scientists and engineers seldom do."

2011-05-31 (5771 Ayyr 27)
Caroline B. Glick _Jewish World Review_
Where Obummer is leading Israel

2011-05-31 (5771 Ayyr 27)
Joshua Hammer _Jewish World Review_
Wunder Woman Angela Merkel

2011-05-31 (5771 Ayyr 27)
W.J. Hennigan _Jewish World Review_
Pentagon seeks mini-weapons for new age of warfare

2011-05-31 (5771 Ayyr 27)
Monica Eng _Jewish World Review_
Whole lotta money at stores like Whole (Paycheck) Foods doesn't mean you are receiving what you think
"Used in an estimated 70% of all American processed food, GM crops make up an estimated 93% of all soy, 86% of all corn and 93% of all canola seeds planted in the U.S.A., which makes stocking only non-GMO products difficult, said Joe Dickson, quality standards coordinator for Whole Foods Market."

2011-05-31 (5771 Ayyr 27)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Politically seductive notions (part 1)
One News Now
GOP USA
Human Events
Washington DC Examiner
"The idea that the rich have gotten rich by making the poor poor has been an ideological theme that has played well in Third World countries, to explain why they lag so far behind the West.   None of this was original with Jeremiah Wright.   All he added was his own colorful gutter style of expressing it, which so captivated the man who is now President of the United States...   In a wider view of history, however, it becomes clear that, for centuries before the European ascendancy, Europe lagged far behind China in many achievements.   Since neither of them changed much genetically between those times and the later rise of Europe, it is hard to reconcile this role reversal with racial theories.   More important, the Chinese were not to blame for Europe's problems -- which would not be solved until the Europeans themselves finally got their own act together, instead of blaming others.   If they had listened to people like Jeremiah Wright, Europe might still be in the Dark Ages...   While there have been conquered peoples made poorer by their conquerors, especially by Spanish conquerors in the Western Hemisphere, in general most poor countries were poor for reasons that existed before the conquerors arrived.   Some Third World countries are poorer today than they were when they were ruled by Western countries, generations ago...   Barack Obama's decisions and appointments as President betray an alienation from the values and the people of this country that are too disturbing to be answered by showing his birth certificate.   Too many of his appointees exhibit a similar alienation, including Attorney General Eric Holder, under whom the Dept. of Justice could more accurately be described as the Dept. of Payback."

2011-05-31 (5771 Ayyr 27)
Stephen Lendman _Another World Is Possible_
Obummer plans gutting regulations for his crony socialist favorite executives

2011-05-31 (5771 Ayyr 27)
Nancy Crotti _Minneapolis MN Finance & Commerce_
NW Small Business Development Center: Choice Therapy, LaValley Industries
"Bemidji native Jason LaValley had worked for years with companies that installed underground pipes to transport oil, natural gas, water and sewage.   He traveled the world while his wife, Lucy, stayed in Bemidji with their children.   6 years ago, he made a compact with Lucy to find work closer to home.   LaValley and his father, Roger, took a hobby of designing equipment to safely move pipes around work sites (a notoriously dangerous operation) and turned it into a business, with the help of the SBDC.   They built a prototype pipe-moving machine in Jason LaValley's garage and rented it to Michels Corp., a large utility contractor.   Michels used it around the clock for 10 weeks, Jason LaValley said...   Deckhand, a machine with a pipe grapple attachment that uses hydraulic technology to move pipes of different sizes with precision.   It differs vastly from the traditional method of hooking pipes to excavators with chains and calipers, LaValley said...   On a smaller but no less ambitious scale, 2 physical therapists and an occupational therapist who had worked at Sanford Medical Center in Bemidji struck out on their own in 2009..."
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2011 May
Jon Feere _Center for Immigration Studies_
HR1932 aimed at stopping release of criminal aliens

2011 May
Floida History Fair

1831 May: Eugene Delacroix's "La Liberte guidant le peuple"/"Liberty Leading the People" first exhibited at the Paris Salon of the Academie des Beaux-Arts (180 years ago)

Proposed Bills 2011

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

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Neither this page, nor the opinions expressed or implied in it are endorsed by Michael Badnarik, Ron Paul, Bob Barr, Wayne Allyn Root, Warner Brothers, Gary Johnson, president Donald Trump, nor by my hosts, Kermit and Rateliff.

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