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updated: 2019-01-09
 

"the dynamic through which Euro-Islam would be promoted resembles that of Israeli-Arab peace negotiations, which center on the idea of 'land for peace'.   The Western side gives up something (land) that is concrete, quantifiable, and irrevocable, once given.   In exchange the Muslim side givs up something (peace) that is vague, subjective, and revocable by a change of mood.   Europe can move to create a 'Euro-Islam' only by altering its institutions.   What it gets in return is an assurance from moderate Muslims that radical Muslims will be less ill-disposed toward it.   No one has defined with any precision what a 'moderate Muslim' is, or whetherthat term should be understood politically or religiously." --- Christopher Caldwell 2009 _Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West_ pg284

 
 

2012 Mar

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"at first ambiguously, through the oratory of a few fire-brand politicians in the 1960s, then explicitly through hard-line legislation against immigration in the 1970s.   Decade in, decade out, the sentiment of Western European publics, as measured by opinion polls, has been resolutely opposed to mass immigration...   The revocation of Europe's invitation to immigrants, no matter how explicit it became, did little to stem their arrival.   As the years passed, immigration to Europe accelerated." --- Christopher Caldwell 2009 _Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam and the West_ pg4

 
 
 

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

2012-03-01

2012-03-01
Ross Kaminsky _American Spectator_
Andrew Breitbard died shortly after midnight
Aaron Goldstein
Quin Hillyer
Jeffrey Lord
Tucker Carlson: Daily Caller
Alex Pappas: Daily Caller
KGO San Francisco CA/AP
Joel Pollak: Breitbart.tv
Larry Solov: Big Journalism

2012-03-01
Alexis Levinson _Daily Caller_
rejections of sketchy visa applications for cheap, pliant labor with flexible ethics has sky-rocketed, hurting executives
"[Cheap, pliant labor with flexible ethics] -- particularly Indian nationals -- have had a dramatically harder time acquiring visas in recent years, primarily because of government adjudicators' formal requests for additional information, known as Requests for Evidence (RFEs).   Those requests often result in the delay or outright denial of pending visa applications...   Denials of L-1B visas rose sharply from 7% to 22% from 2007 to 2008, and remained at similarly high levels in the following years: 26% in 2009, 22% in 2010 and 28% in 2011.   RFEs also skyrocketed during this period.   In 2007, only 17% of petitions were 'at least temporarily denied or delayed' due to these requests, according to the study.   By 2011, that number had risen to 63%...   11% were denied in fiscal year 2007, but by 2009 that number jumped to 29%.   The rate eventually fell to 17% in 2011.   The trend was less dramatic for L-1A visas: Denial rates increased only slightly from 8% in 2007 to 14% in 2011.   RFEs for L-1A applicants increased substantially, however, rising from 4% in 2004 to 24% in 2007.   The figure stood at a whopping 51% in 2011.   Indian-born applicants in particular faced a significant increase in denials and delays.   Denial rates for L-1B visas for Indians went from 2.8% in 2008 to 22.5% in 2009." And so they should.   If you want to claim they're "best" or "brightest" then there should be high standards, FCOL!...jgo

2012-03-01
Norm Matloff _H-1B/ L-1/ Off-Shoring News-Letter_
"What is the value of a green card?" -- UNR study
 
In the mathematician community (my past-life field), there is a term "soft analysis proof".   No, the word "soft" here doesn't mean that the proof is hand-waving, not quite valid.   Instead of connoting that the proof is less rigorous, the message is that it is more elegant.   In just a few lines, invoking just the right principles, a soft analysis argument can provide a tight proof of some theorem.
 
One of the 2 soft analysis proofs I've offered over the years on the H-1B issue is that one can show the H-1Bs are on average paid less than comparable Americans -- without needing to use any data!
 
As I wrote in my 2003 article in the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform (pdf):
 
An H-1B cannot move around freely in the open market to achieve the best salary, nor can she negotiate a better salary from her current employer by threatening to leave.   Thus economic principle alone shows that on average the H-1Bs make less than they would on the open market.
 
QED. :-)
 
Now professor Sankar Mukhopadhyay has actually quantified that effect of nonmobility -- it costs the average foreign worker who is waiting for an employer-sponsored green card about $11K in lower salary.
 
Professor Mukhopadhyay's analysis is much more direct than most in this field.   Instead of performing regression analysis and then trying to infer the under-payment of H-1Bs, he does statistical matching of immigrants to immigrants, pairing those without green cards to those who have them but are otherwise similar.   Note that he does focus on those receiving employer-based green cards.
 
I must point out, as I always do, that this type of salary savings (I call it Type I) accrued by hiring the foreign workers is actually NOT the major issue.   Instead, the core issue is Type II savings: hiring young H-1Bs in lieu of hiring older (age 35+) Americans.   That is the real motivation that Intel et al have for pushing congress to liberalize H-1B and green card policy.
 
Yes -- AND green card policy.   Professor Mukhopadhyay's proposed remedy is to speed up the green card process, say by increasing the yearly allotment.   As many of you know, the main proposals along these lines currently are to give automatic green cards to new foreign graduates of U.S. university STEM programs.   That's well meaning, but it ignores the Type II savings issue.   Most new graduates are YOUNG, so such proposals would be just as harmful as the H-1B program, as they still would flood the labor market with young people, bringing the same harm to U.S. citizens and permanent residents as H-1B does.
 
If I were giving this as a talk instead of as an e-news-letter, someone at the back of the room would by now be piping up, "So, what is your OTHER soft analysis proof regarding H-1B?"   Thank you for asking; here it is, in 3 easy steps:
 
1.   The legally required minimum wage for H-1B and green cards, the "prevailing wage", is typically much lower than the real market wage.*
 
2.   The PERM data, for employer-sponsored green cards, show that most sponsorees are paid only the prevailing wage (or very near it).
 
3.   Therefore, most green card sponsorees are paid below-market wages.
 
QED.
 
Note by the way that the PERM data essentially exclude the Indian [and Chinese and American and Ghanaian and Bahamian] "bodyshops", i.e. IT staffing services, the "rent-a-programmer" companies.   Senator Schumer, representative Lofgren have been outrageously scape-goating such firms, claiming that they abuse the H-1B program while the main-stream U.S. firms do not.   Yet the bodyshops almost never sponsor workers for green cards (see Ron Hira's research), so the PERM data really are restricted to the main-stream U.S. firms.
 
IOW, my "theorem" above has a corollary -- under-payment of foreign workers is commonplace in the mainstream U.S. firms, NOT just with the bodyshops.   This is really a corollary of the first theorem too, since the economic principle in question applies across the board.
 
An article about the Mukhopadhyay study is enclosed below, as is a foot-note corresponding to the asterisk above.
 
Norm
 
*   This has been recognized by the GAO, and even by staunch [excessive, low-standards] H-1B advocate representative Zoe Lofgren, and you can see it yourself, as follows.
 
The employers claim they hire H-1Bs because they possess some "hot" technlogical skill that is in short supply among Americans.   Well, such skills command a premium on the open market, but they are NOT factored into prevailing wage determination.   Just go to the DoL On-Line Wage Library (the "safe harbor" way of determining prevailing wage, in that DoL will automatically approve), and go through the steps.   Nowhere is the employer asked to give information on special qualities such as "hot" skill sets, e.g. Android development today.   So the employer gets an Android programmer for the price of a generic programmer.
Claudene Wharton: What is the value of a green card?: Economics researcher calculates increase in income
2010-06-01: Matloff: value of a green card
2009-10-28: Matloff: soft analysis proofs
2008-04-25: Matloff: H-1Bs Still Not the Best and the Brightest
Beryl Lieff Benderly: AAAS Science

2012-03-01 05:30PST (08:30EST) (13:30GMT) (15:30 Jerusalem)
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 331,906 in the week ending February 25, a decrease of 14,717 from the previous week.   There were 353,797 initial claims in the comparable week in 2011.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 3.1% during the week ending February 18, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,878,695, a decrease of 131,789 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 3.5% and the volume was 4,344,862.   The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending February 11 was 7,498,613, an increase of 11,933 from the previous week.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, ME, MD, MA, MI, MO, NV, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, WA, WV, and WI during the week ending February 11.   States reported 2,904,556 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending February 11, an increase of 1,347 from the prior week.   There were 3,653,267 claimants in the comparable week in 2011.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.   [Note that the population used for calculating the "insured unemployment rate" (the divisor) 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;
to 125,807,389 beginning 2011-07-02;
to 126,188,733 beginning 2011-10-01;
to 126,579,970 beginning 2012-01-01.]
EUC (Excel)
EB
graphs
more graphs

2012-03-01
Jeffrey Lord _American Spectator_
While campaign roars, sales of Mark Levin's _Ameritopia_ soar

2012-03-01
Anthony Watts
Follow the money. Cui bono?

2012-03-01
Ray Hartwell _PJ Media_
by the leftists' standards, Abe Lincoln is a Tea Pary stalwart

2012-03-01 06:45PST (09:45EST) (14:45GMT) (16:45 Jerusalem)
Edward R. Kreinheder ii _Baltimore MD Sun_
illegal aliens should be deported
"arrested by police for driving without a license... he decided to over-stay his tourist visa 4 years ago...   Nor did the story say who was employing him or whether he is getting government benefits.   Isn't that illegal?   And who pays for any accidents he may be involved in?...   Why is it when you write such articles you don't include all the facts?"

2012-03-01
Roger Harris _Knoxville TN News Sentinel_/_Scripps_
Tax Foundation reports burden of government extortion by state
"Tennessee's best rankings are 17th for new distribution centers and 19th for mature business centers.   New research and development centers face the highest tax burden in the state, according to the study.   Tennessee ranks 44th in this category.   'The main cause for this ranking is the state's sourcing rules for services -- which expose 100% of the operation's income to state taxes -- and the nation's highest sales taxes for this type of firm', the study says.   The 10 states with the most favorable business tax burdens are in Wyoming, which ranked first, followed by South Dakota, Georgia, Nevada, and Ohio.   States with the highest tax burdens are Pennsylvania, which ranked 50th, followed by Hawaii, West Virginia, Kansas, and Rhode Island."
contact Roger Harris

2012-03-01
Thomas Sowell _Town Hall_
Super Tuesday
"If a clear winner with a commanding lead emerges, the question then becomes whether that candidate is someone who is likely to defeat Barack Obama.   If not, then the fate of America -- and of Western nations, including Israel -- will be left in the hands of a man with a lifelong hostility to Western values and Western interests."

2012-03-01
Rob Gutro
tornado out-break tracking

2012-03-01
Nigel Calder
"Yet another trick of cosmic rays"

2012-03-01
Andi Cockroft
Climate "science" and special relativity

2012-03-01
IlDefonso Ortiz _Brownsville TX Herald_/_Monitor_
fire-fight with smugglers along the Rio Grande

2012-03-01
Chuck Baldwin _News with Views_
Remembering the Alamo

2012-03-01
Isadora Rangel _Treasure Coast FL Palm_
Raising livestock teaches 4-H members many valuable life lessons

2012-03-01
Mark J. Perry
World Bank says poverty fell from 2005 to 2010

2012-03-01
Mark J. Perry
comparing financial performance of House vs. Senate barber-shops

2012-03-01
Mark J. Perry
light vehicle sales showing signs of recovery to early 2008 levels

2012-03-01
William L. Anderson
Heading for double-digit inflation?   Should you believe your own lying eyes as you shop or my phony-baloney price index?

2012-03-01
_Lexology_
Colorado grand jury has indicted long-term care facility operators on H-1B fraud
"The indictment alleges that the individual defendants were involved in a scheme to fraudulently secure H-1B visas for FNs by claiming that they would work in this country as nurse instructors or supervisors at a fictional university.   Once the FNs arrived, the defendants would force them to work for the Foreign Healthcare Professional Group, a business that the defendants controlled, which contracted out the FNs to long-term care facilities as staff nurses."

2012-03-01
_Dice_
Dice Report: 85,838 job ads

2012-03-01 (5772 Adar 07)
Jeff Jacoby _Jewish World Review_
outraged by Mormon proxy baptism? Not this Jew

2012-03-01 (5772 Adar 07)
Clifford D. May _Jewish World Review_
War crimes and punishment
 
Proposed Bills 2012
 
 

2012-03-02

1836-03-02: Texas Declared Independence

2012-03-02
Norm Matloff _H-1B/ L-1/ Off-Shoring News-Letter_
Benderly wins award
 
I've praised (and something been quoted in) Beryl Lieff Benderly's writings on the STEM job market, such as:
 
AAAS Science
the post-doc gauntlet
with not a leg to stand on, Obummer insists there is a shortage
 
I was thus delighted to learn last night that Beryl has recently won an award for her writings.
 
The piece that inspired the award.
 
Beryl writes for prominent, thoroughly main-stream publications.   So why are the White House people unaware of -- or, I fear outright ignoring, out of political expediency -- what she is saying?
 
Norm
---30---

2012-03-02
Michelle Malkin _Town Hall_
Obummer's campaign bully brigade rides again

2012-03-02 02:52PST (05:52EST) (10:52GMT) (12:52 Jerusalem)
Patrick Thibodeau _ComputerWorld_/_IDG_
Science and engineering employment has stalled

2012-03-02 05:16PST (08:16EST) (13:16GMT) (15:16 Jerusalem)
_Cumberland PA Sentinel_
55th Annual Capital Area Science and Engineering Fair awards presented Saturday

2012-03-02
Anthony Watts
numbers of sun-spots falling when they were expected to rise

2012-03-02
Ed Runyan _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
Kevin Harris sentenced to 7 years for Ponzi scheme: Socialist Insecurity Abomination perpetrators are left at large

2012-03-02 08:14PST (11:15EST) (16:15GMT) (18:15 Jerusalem)
August J. Nicastro _Baltimore MD Sun_
When will the Baltimore Sun acknowledge that illegal immigration is a crime?
"Interestingly enough the writers talked about the crime being a minor one, and some of the people they interviewed didn't even consider what they did was a crime.   However in all the cases the words used by the illegals were, 'afraid of being caught'.   They were worried about being stopped and not being able to produce proper documentation because they were here illegally.   They know that they are breaking the law but feel like it is not for them to follow this law.   How convenient for them, maybe all of us should do the same.   If we feel like the law is more of a nuisance then just ignore it.   And if our legislators also believe this way...   he broke federal law by coming into this country illegally, and he broke Maryland by driving without a valid license and also not having any insurance.   A citizen found to have broken the same state laws is in for a world of grief...   we are being told that we should also want to be paying for people in this country illegally because they have been here for years with no problems recorded, and driving with no insurance.   I guess the police should not bother arresting a felon who after breaking out of prison has not been caught committing another crime, so he should not be prosecuted.   This is not ethical government."

2012-03-02
Jeri Clausing _Cumberland PA Sentinel_
Albuquerque registered dog to vote to demonstrate ease of election fraud
"'It is very disheartening that someone would attempt to present fraudulent information to test a system that the state legislature has intended to foster participation in the voting process.', Oliver said.   'I would warn those individuals who think this type of activity is a joke or a gotcha that, regardless of their intentions, they have broken the law and will therefore have to be subject to due process of law.'   State law does not require county clerks to verify birth dates, [Socialist Insecurity numbers, SINs] or other information submitted with voter registration applications, Oliver's office said...   he saw a voter registration booth on the University of New Mexico campus a few weeks ago and decided to see how easy it would be to register his dog.   He said he signed up Buddy as a Democrat."

2012-03-02
Josephd d'Aleo
GA Tech study of arctic glaciers and cold spells
Albedo, dust, snow and ice

2012-03-02
Tom Tancredo _World Net Daily_
Obummer turns his back on American workers
"Yet, despite these complaints by Democratic law-makers and cheap-labor lobbyists, Obama has been completely blind to the plight of American engineers, computer programmers and other Americans whose jobs are being displaced by H-1B visas...   As Steve Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies notes, according to the government's own numbers there are 101K American engineers who are looking for engineering jobs, 244K who have left the labor market and 1.47M who left the engineering field.   That's 1.8M Americans with engineering degrees who do not have engineering jobs.   Just 2 days before Obama mentioned this speech, the Bay Area edition of the New York Times noted that 'Cisco Systems, a maker of computer networking equipment...laid off 1,331 workers last year', and 'The semiconductor sector...has lost 4,600 jobs since 2008.'...   [Immigration] lawyers make it their policy to get visas approved that should not make it.   In a presentation for fellow immigration attorneys, Lawrence Leibovitz explained his racket 'Our goal is clearly not to find a qualified U.S. worker...our objective is to get this person a green card.'   He advised his fellow immigration lawyers, 'Clearly we are not going to find a place where the applicants are most numerous, we're going to find a place where -- again we're complying with the law -- and hoping and likely not to find qualified worker applicants.'   [After which one of his colleagues added] 'If someone looks like they are very qualified, if necessary schedule an interview; go through the whole process to find a legal basis to disqualify them.'   Even Bill Clinton's secretary of labor, Robert Reich, testified to Congress in 1995 that under the program, a 'U.S. employer can now lay off U.S. workers and replace them with H-1B workers' and that the 'H-1B program does almost nothing to encourage U.S. employers to develop domestic workers to perform the jobs for which they are seeking non-immigrants, or to limit their dependency on a non-immigrant workforce.'...   Nothing was done to address these concerns, and the problem has gotten worse...   between 1999 and 2005, 332,660 new computer jobs were created by the economy, while the government issued 330,524 H-1B visas for computer workers.   IOW, 99% of all job growth in the computer sector went directly to foreign workers.   That was poor policy during times of economic growth, but it's sheer insanity in a recession."

2012-03-02
Paul Joseph Watson _InfoWars_
Breitbart's video shows Obummer fraternizing with terrorists: Weather Underground friends wanted communist dictatorship set up in America
"According to former FBI agent Larry Grathwohl, who was assigned to infiltrate the Weather Underground's Central Committee, the organization run by Bill Ayers carried out bombings targeting the Pentagon, the State Department, as well as police stations and federal buildings, in an attempt to cause the United States government to collapse and open the door for Cuban, North Vietnamese, [Red Chinese] and Russian troops to occupy the country.   Grathwohl stated that Ayers and his group planned to deal with Americans who would try to resist this take-over by 'establishing re-education centers in the south-west'.   Asked what he would do with those who still refused to convert to communism, Ayers said that they would have to be eliminated, as in 25M Americans would be killed in concentration camps.   Grathwohl points out that most of the people advocating this brutality had 'graduate degrees from Columbia and other well known educational centers', and relates the shock it was to listen to these people 'figure out the logistics for the elimination of 25M people -- and they were dead serious'.   Although Obama's links with Bill Ayers and other radicals from the era has been well documented for years, after all it was Ayers who helped launch Obama's political career, for him to be seen on video palling around with terrorists who wanted to set up a brutal Communist dictatorship inside the United States would have represented a public relations nightmare going into the election."

2012-03-02
Nick de Santis _Chronicle of Higher Education_
badges for knowledge
Digital media and learning competition

2012-03-02
Allan Roth _CBS_
10 painful, irritating ways to save money
6 ways...

2012-03-02
Mark J. Perry
male vs. female unemployment rates
 
Proposed Bills 2012

2012-03-02

DJIA	12,977.57
S&P 500(SPX)	1,369.63
NASDAQ(COMP)	2,976.19
Nikkei	9,777.03
10-year US T-Bond(UST10Y)	1.98
crude oil(CLJ2)	$106.70/barrel
natgas(NGJ12)	$2.48/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline(RBJ2)	$3.27/gal
heatingoil(HOJ2)	$3.20/gal
gold(GCJ2)	$1,709.80/ounce
silver(S1K2)	$34.56/ounce
platinum(PLJ2)	$1,691.70/ounce
palladium(PAM2)	$712.55/ounce
copper(HGH2)	$0.24375/ounce
soybeans	$13.33/bushel
maize	$6.74/bushel
wheat	$6.55/bushel
dollarindex (DXY)	79.428
yenperdollar (USDYEN)	109.06
dollarspereuro (EURUSD)	$1.3197
dollarsperpound (GBPUSD)	$1.5841
swissfrancsperdollar (USDCHF)	0.9142
indianrupeesperdollar (USDINR)	49.5255
mexicanpesosperdollar (USDMXN)	12.7565
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex	685.83

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2012-03-03

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

2012-03-03
Tom Lutey _Billings MT Gazette_
MT State U research break-through in fighting bacteria and fungus could be marketed in 2013
"University researchers have discovered a way to turn on a plant's immune system, enabling it to fight diseases that would normally be fought with chemical pesticides...   Plant diseases brought on by fungus and bacteria cost American farmers billions in chemical pesticide treatments and diminished harvests.   Ultimately, [tax-victims] shoulder a share of the burden as federally subsidized crop insurance is tapped to cover losses...   Jacobsen and other researchers noticed a few select plants that seemed to fight off the disease.   Studying 300 types of bacteria present on the healthy plants, Jacobsen discovered a helpful bacterium, Bacillus mycoides isolate J, or Bmj.   The Bmj had activated the plant's NPR1 gene, which triggered a range of immune responses allowing the plant to fight off disease.   The plant began generating hydrogen peroxide [which attacks bacteria] and the other components that cause cell walls to thicken, making them harder for the bacteria to attack.   The plant then produces enzymes to attack the fungi and bacteria.   Viruses also were battled back...   Jacobsen used Bmj to combat white mold, a constant problem that can claim 5% to 8% of a farm's seed potato crop annually...   [Stopping the mold could increase] yields by as much as 1,500 pounds per acre..."

2012-03-03
_Breitbart_
Obummer DoJ refused to deport illegal aliens who disrupted NC state legislature hearing

2012-03-03 David Middleton
Why some warmists are wrong

2012-03-03
Andi Cockroft
Fundamental questions on isostacy and mean sea-level

2012-03-03
Carmen Daye Irish _Billings MT Gazette_
Chicks in Science packs the gym

2012-03-03
_Cumberland PA Sentinel_
Harrisburg area science and engineering fair winners

2012-03-03
Mark J. Perry
natural gas production
Keystone XL pipe-line map
 
Proposed Bills 2012
 
 

2012-03-27 10:36:07PDT (13:36:07EDT) (17:36:07GMT) (19:36:07 Jerusalem)
Anne d'Innocenzio _San Jose CA Mercury News_/_AP_
drop in Conference Board's consumer confidence index ascribed to rising gasoline prices
"Those saying jobs are 'plentiful' increased to from 7.0% to 9.4%, while those stating jobs are 'hard to get' also rose, from 38.6% to 41.0%."

2012-03-27
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes _Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
designed for privacy violation: tools allow corrupt cops without warrants to bypass iPhone and Android pass-codes
"XRY works by first jailbreaking the handset.   According to Micro Systemation, no back-doors created by Apple used, but instead it makes use of security flaws in the operating system the same way that regular jailbreakers do.   Once the iPhone has been jailbroken, the tool then goes on to 'brute-force' the pass-code, trying every possible 4 digit combination until the correct password has been found.   Given the limited number of possible combinations for a 4-digit pass-code -- 10K, ranging from 0000 to 9999 -- this doesn't take long.   Once the [phone] has been jailbroken and the pass-code guessed, all the data on the [phone], including call logs, messages, contacts, GPS data and even key-strokes, can be accessed and examined."

2012-03-27
Jeffrey Lord _American Spectator_
Angelo Carusone and the great left-wing conspiracy's strategy to root out all but the most radical leftist media

2012-03-27
W. James Antle iii _American Spectator_
Obummercare defense train-wreck

2012-03-27 14:15PDT (17:15EDT) (21:15GMT) (23:15 Jerusalem)
Patrick Thibodeau _ComputerWorld_/_IDG_
NASSCOM says India-based bodyshops are employing few more US workers, as they demand lower standards on and more guest-work visas
"India's largest IT trade group [NASSCOM], citing figures from a study it commissioned, says the Indian IT industry employs 107K people in the U.S.A., almost twice the 56K it employed in 2006.   Of that latest number, [only] 35K are U.S. citizens or [foreigners with green cards].   The remaining 72K are holders of either H-1B or L-1 work visas, according to the New Delhi-based National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM)...   MindTree Ltd. is an example.   It employs about 11K people worldwide, including about 850 in the U.S.A. [less than 8%, but they're not saying how many are US citizens], and it plans to increase its U.S. hiring.   Most of MindTree's U.S. workers aren't on visas, said Scott Staples, president of the Americas division of the company, which is 'co-head-quartered' in Warren, NJ, and Bangalore, India.   [Since 'US workers' lumps together US citizens and green card holders, that means only 49.99999% are guest-workers or green card holders.]   MindTree said on Tuesday that it's opening a development center in [Hogtown], FL [which, now that I think of it, only seems kind of like Kolkata], that will hire about 400 people over the next 5 years...   Infosys employs 145K people, Wipro has 137K workers, and Tata Consultancy Services employs 227K [worldwide, the vast majority of them are Indians in India in every case]...   The Hackett Group recently reported that out-sourcing to low-wage nations has led to a substantial decline in the number of U.S. jobs in finance, human resources, procurement and IT.   By 2016, the number of jobs available in these fields in the U.S.A. and Europe will have fallen to about 4.5M from 8.2M at the start of 2002, according to Hackett."

2012-03-27
Chris Nerney _IT World_/_IDG_
Every major US company has been hacked into by Red China to steal defense and commercial secrets
"Clarke claims, for instance, that the manufacturer of the F-35, our next-generation fighter bomber, has been penetrated and F-35 details stolen. And don't get him started on our supply chain of chips, routers and hardware we import from Chinese and other foreign suppliers and what may be implanted in them -- 'logic bombs', trap-doors and 'Trojan horses', all ready to be activated on command so we won't know what hit us. Or what's already hitting us."

212-03-27
Colin Clark _AOL_
Red China attacked RSA
"Alexander said that [Red China] stole some of RSA's 'underlying software' during the early March theft.   The attack means that if China 'can do it against RSA that means almost all companies are vulnerable', Alexander told the committee.   In his written testimony, Alexander said that attackers in general are shifting from botnets and are now targeting security companies such as RSA, as well as smart-phones and relying on phishing e-mails."

2012-03-27
Jen DiMascio _Aviation Week_
Red Chinese parts with trojan features keep on flowing
"GAO purchased 16 different parts from 13 [Red Chinese] suppliers. All 16 of those parts, including 7 used on aircraft such as Boeing's F-15 fighter and the Bell-Boeing V-22 tiltrotor, were counterfeit."

2012-03-27
Phyllis Schlafly _GOP USA_
spying and stealing by Red China
World Net Daily
Town Hall

2012-03-27 (5772 Nisan 04)
Warren Richey _Jewish World Review_
Supremes say courts should decide over designation of US citizens born in Jerusalem in dispute between executive, legislative and judicial branches
"The case, Menachem Binyamin Zivotofsky v. Clinton (10-699)...   The clash of governmental titans came to a head in a law-suit filed by Menachem Zivotofsky's parents.   The young Mr. Zivotofsky was born in 2002 in Jerusalem to Naomi and Ari.   Since both parents are US citizens, Menachem is also a US citizen.   The dispute arose when Mrs. Zivotofsky sought to obtain a US passport and overseas US birth certificate for her son.   She asked that the documents reflect that her son was born in Israel...   In 2002, Congress attached a provision to the foreign relations budget requiring US officials to list Israel as the place of birth for US citizens born in Jerusalem whenever the citizen or a legal guardian requested such a listing."

2012-03-27 (5772 Nisan 04)
David Zucchino _Jewish World Review_
tele-soldiers feel effects of life "in" the combat zone

2012-03-27 (5772 Nisan 04)
Danielle Kurtzleban _Jewish World Review_
young students and older boomers competing for internships as Bush-Clintoon-Shrub-Obummer economic depression continues
"9M people between the ages of 44 and 70 are currently in the midst of 'encore careers'... of people over 45 in encore careers who had made significant career changes, 21% say they made the change because they wanted more income, making it the top reason given; 17% said they had been laid off or fired. Meanwhile, 17% wanted a job with more meaning or purpose, and only 7% 'just wanted a change'... The labor force participation rate for Americans 65 and older has risen steadily over the last decade, from 13.2% in 2002 to 17.9% in 2011. Thus far in 2012, that rate has been at or over 18%. In contrast, the participation rate for the population 25 and older has dropped off slightly, from 67.2% a decade ago to 65.8% last year."
graphs

2012-03-27 (5772 Nisan 04)
Danielle Kurtzleban _Jewish World Review_
credential inflation as MBAs flood market and prompt more doctorate B-school programs

2012-03-27 (5772 Nisan 04)
Andy Coghlan _Jewish World Review_/_New Scientist_
Murder trial puts spot-light on vitamin deficiency
"In the United Kingdom, cases of childhood rickets have leapt from 147 in 1997 to 762 in 2010.   The story may be similar in the United States: A study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, GA, found that only 5% to 13% of breastfed infants and 20% to 37% of formula-fed babies got enough vitamin D to meet the recommended daily dose of 400 international units (IUs) -- or 10 micrograms (Pediatrics).   The American Academy of Pediatrics came up with this figure in 2009 and it was endorsed in 2010 by the U.S. Institute of Medicine."

2012-03-27 (5772 Nisan 04)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_/_New Scientist_
Back to the future?
"When a 1942 Supreme Court decision that most people never heard of makes the front page of the New York Times in 2012, you know that something unusual is going on.   What makes that 1942 case -- Wickard v. Filburn -- important today is that it stretched the federal government's power so far that the Obama administration is using it as an argument to claim before today's Supreme Court that it has the legal authority to impose [ObummerDoesn'tCare] mandates on individuals.   Roscoe Filburn was an Ohio farmer who grew some wheat to feed his family and some farm animals.   But the U.S. Department of Agriculture fined him for growing more wheat than he was allowed to grow under the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, which was passed under Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce.   Filburn pointed out that his wheat wasn't sold, so that it didn't enter any commerce, interstate or otherwise.   Therefore the federal government had no right to tell him how much wheat he grew on his own farm, and which never left his farm.   The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution says that all powers not explicitly given to the federal government belong to the states or to the people.   So you might think that Filburn was right.   But the Supreme Court said otherwise...   Once it was established that the federal government could regulate not only interstate commerce itself, but anything with any potential effect on interstate commerce, the Tenth Amendment's limitations on the powers of the federal government virtually disappeared.   Over the years, 'interstate commerce' became magic words to justify almost any expansion of the federal government's power, in defiance of the Tenth Amendment."
 
Proposed Bills 2012
 
 

2012-03-28

2012-03-28
Anthony Watts
mystery cloud on Mars reported by amateur astronomer

2012-03-28
Alec Rawls
latest EPA insanity would block all new coal-electric generating plants

2012-03-28
Anthony Watts
2011 tornado severity indistinguishable from those of 1974

2012-03-28 08:18PDT (11:18EDT) (15:18GMT) (17:18 Jerusalem)
Jeffry Bartash _MarketWatch_
durable-goods orders were up 2.2% in February

2012-03-28
Darlene Storm _ComputerWorld_/_IDG_
every major US firm has been hacked by Red Chinese

2012-03-28
Alan Caruba
EPA energy wrecking ball

2012-03-28
Clayton E. Cramer _PJ Media_
concealed carriers are far less likely to commit crimes than the general population

2012-03-28
Rand Simberg _PJ Media_
White House and media defense of the unconstitutional Obummercare

2012-03-28
David Louie _KGO San Francisco CA_
VCs pouring funds out of Sili Valley and into Brazil, Russia, India and Red China

2012-03-28
Jason Mick _Daily Tech_
NSA says Red China is destroying US economy via hack attacks

2012-03-28 (5772 Nisan 05)
Michal Ish Shalom _Jewish World Review_
tomb-stones that were "re-purposed" in Red China

2012-03-28 (5772 Nisan 05)
Mohannad Sabry _Jewish World Review_
non-extremists boycott drafting of new Egyptian constitution
"A stand-off between Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and the country's military rulers deepened Tuesday as dozens of non-Islamist politicians said they would boycott the writing of a new constitution because Islamists dominate the panel selected to draft the document."
Investigative Project: CAIR-Hamas-Muslim Brotherhood links
Discover the Networks: Muslim Brotherhood (MB)

2012-03-28 (5772 Nisan 05)
_Jewish World Review_
Co-Occupation: raising a sign to reveal one's ignorance
"Humus isn't enough! I want a civil state"

2012-03-28 (5772 Nisan 05)
Bart Clarke _Jewish World Review_
benefits of osteopenia medication continue after use is discontinued

2012-03-28 (5772 Nisan 05)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
Geraldo's point
"There is no point in dressing like a hoodlum when you are not a hoodlum...   Have we forgotten the Jim Crow era, with courts making decisions based on the race of the defendants, rather than the facts of the case?   That is part of the past that we need to leave in the past, not resurrect it under new racial management."

2012-03-28 (5772 Nisan 05)
Walter E. Williams _Jewish World Review_
Profiling
 
Proposed Bills 2012
 
 

2012-03-29

2012-03-29
professor Gerald L. Boerner
photographer's tips: Charles Baudelaire

2012-03-29 05:30PDT (08:30EDT) (12:30GMT) (14:30 Jerusalem)
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 319,349 in the week ending March 24, a decrease of 33 from the previous week.   There were 357,457 initial claims in the comparable week in 2011.   The advance unadjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.9% during the week ending March 17, a decrease of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week's unrevised rate of 3.0 percent.   The advance unadjusted number for persons claiming UI benefits in state programs totaled 3,683,943, a decrease of 129,932 from the preceding week.   A year earlier, the rate was 3.3% and the volume was 4,131,066.   The total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending March 10 was 7,153,252, a decrease of 131,488 from the previous week.   Extended benefits were available in AL, AK, CA, CO, CT, DE, DC, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, MD, MA, MO, NV, NJ, NY, NC, OH, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX, WA, WV, and WI during the week ending March 10.   States reported 2,809,365 persons claiming EUC (Emergency Unemployment Compensation) benefits for the week ending March 10, a decrease of 43,018 from the prior week.   There were 3,588,816 claimants in the comparable week in 2011.   EUC weekly claims include first, second, third, and fourth tier activity.   [Note that the population used for calculating the "insured unemployment rate" (the divisor) 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;
to 125,807,389 beginning 2011-07-02;
to 126,188,733 beginning 2011-10-01;
to 126,579,970 beginning 2012-01-01.]
EUC (Excel)
EB
graphs
more graphs

2012-03-29 08:47:41PDT (11:47:41EDT) (15:47:41GMT) (17:47:41 Jerusalem)
Kevin Drew _San Jose CA Mercury News_/_NYT_
Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Foxcon plant at Zhengzhou, Red China this week

2012-03-29
Peter H. Milliken _Youngstown OH Vindicator_
detailed census data to be released Monday: So much for protestations of confidentiality
"'Many of us have parents who did not appear in a census until the 1940 census, so it will be interesting to see how families were situated in 1940.', said Tim Seman, genealogy and local history librarian at the main library of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning county...   In 1940, some 120K census enumerators conducted face-to face interviews with someone from every household, asking questions about employment or unemployment status, occupation, income, participation in [Raw Deal] programs such as the Works Progress Administration, and the respondents' place of residence 5 years earlier...   The 1940 census, which asked 34 questions of every respondent, pegged the U.S. population at 132.2M and Youngstown's population at 167,624.   In contrast, the 2010 census, which was conducted by mail and asked only 10 questions of every respondent, employed 635K census-takers to visit those who didn't respond by mail.   It pegged the national population at 308.7M and Youngstown's population at 66,982.   The 1940 count cost $67.5M, compared with $12.4G for 2010.   In the 1940 census, 91.3% of Youngstown's population was white and 8.7% was black.   By contrast, the 2010 census showed Youngstown's population to be 47% white and 53% black and other minorities.   Of the city's population over age 25 in 1940, some 33.4% had completed 7 or 8 years of [education], 14.3% completed high school and only 3.9% completed 4 or more years of college.   The 2010 census showed 78.8% of the city's respondents over age 25 graduated high school and 10.5% had bachelor's degrees or higher.   Some 60.9% of respondents owned their own homes and the median annual household income was $24,318.   Some 79.8% of the people in the city's labor force in the 1940 census were employed in work other than public emergency work...   Only 17.8% of families reported making $2,500 or more in 1939."

2012-03-29
Marc Parry _Chronicle of Higher Education_
For-profit New Charter U sets $199-a-month tuition for on-line bidness and criminology courses
"New Charter University sets the low tuition rate so that students shouldn't need to borrow, and they can take as many classes as they can finish in 4 weeks...   Students are flocking to Western Governors University, driving growth of 30% to 40% each year.   You might expect that competitors would be clamoring to copy the nonprofit online institution's model, which focuses on whether students can show 'competencies' rather than on counting how much time they've spent in class.   [At Western Governors, there are] 'course mentors' who help students master the material, and graders who evaluate home-work but do no teaching...   New Charter University, led by Sal Monaco, a former Western Governors provost—sidesteps the loan system by setting tuition so cheap that most students shouldn't need to borrow.   The price: $796 per semester, or $199 a month, for as many classes as they can finish...   The project is the latest in a series of experiments that use technology to rethink the economics of higher education, from the $99-a-month introductory courses of StraighterLine to the huge free courses provided through Stanford and MIT...   New Charter is nationally accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council, and is considering seeking regional accreditation...   Students, whether paying or not, start each class by taking an assessment to establish whether they're ready for the course and what material within it they need to work on.   Based on that, the system creates a pathway to guide them through the content.   They skip stuff that they already know."

2012-03-29
_CNN_
CDCP says 1 of 88 children are autistic, 1 of 54 boys
Mike Stobbe: Cumberland PA Sentinel/AP
"The latest data estimate that 1 in 88 American children has some form of autism spectrum disorder.   That's a 78% increase compared to a decade ago, according to the report...   In 2000 and 2002, the autism estimate was about 1 in 150 children.   Two years later 1 in 125 8-year-olds had autism.   In 2006, the number was 1 in 110, and the newest data -- from 2008 -- suggests 1 in 88 children have autism...   Girls: 1 in 252; up 63% from 2002.   Non-Hispanic white children: 12 in 1K; up 70% from 2002.   Non-Hispanic black children: 10.2 in 1K; up 91% from 2002.   Hispanic children: 7.9 in 1K; up 110% from 2002."

2012-03-29
Paul Hsieh _PJ Media_
Obummercare constitution and privacy violations

2012-03-29
Roger Morse _PJ Media_
Cass Sunstein's mis-direction on regulatory burdens added by the Obummer administration
"[Shrub] finalized 915 new significant rules while Obama has finalized 1,234...   Regarding regulations considered to be economically significant -- defined in law as having an impact of more than $100M -- Obama has had much more of these.   In [Shrub's] first 3 years, he finalized 151 new rules that cost at least $100M; in contrast, Obama has finalized 230 new regulations costing at least $100M...   CEI now puts the cost to our economy of the regulatory burden at $1.7T per year, which is up from $1.2T in 2007."

2012-03-29
Tom Blumer _PJ Media_
headlines control the narrative

2012-03-29
Anthony Watts
potential for large solar flares and CMEs may be with us again soon: AR1429 still active

2012-03-29
_CBS 60 Minutes_
7K employees dumped from Kennedy Space Center

2012-03-29 09:37:43PDT (12:37:43EDT) (16:37:43GMT) (18:37:43 Jerusalem)
Jeremy C. Owens & Peter Delevett _San Jose CA Mercury News_
CafePress e-commerce site for small businesses sell their goods, raised $85M

2012-03-29 13:16:57PDT (16:16:57EDT) (20:16:57GMT) (22:16:57 Jerusalem)
Peter Svensson _San Jose CA Mercury News_/_AP_
Apple-commissioned audit finds Foxconn workers in Red China work more than set over-time hours
Rachel King: Ziff Davis/CBS
Priyanka Boghani: Global Post
David Trifunov: Global Post: Foxconn promises raises

2012-03-29 15:05PDT (18:05EDT) (22:05GMT) (2012-03-30 00:05 Jerusalem)
Joe McKendrick _Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
Hackett Group bodyshoppers, which recommended cross-border bodyshopping and off-shoring, say that IT workers bore brunt of off-shoring over the last decade
Smart Planet/Ziff Davis/CBS
"That's the word from The Hackett Group, which just released new research that measures the movement of service jobs from North America and Europe to emerging markets over a 15-year period that started in the year 2002.   In total, the conclusions are startling: only about 4.5M of the 8.2M business services jobs (including IT, along with procurement, HR and finance) located in North America and Europe at the start of 2002 will still exist in 2016.   IT departments in larger companies bore the brunt of the off-shoring and overall decline in business service jobs, the report finds.   About 1.8M IT-related jobs will have been lost during the 15-year time period... The researchers calculate that between 2002 and 2016, 3.7M of all business service jobs will have been eliminated through a combination of productivity improvements (3.2M, or 39%) and off-shoring (2.1M/25%), partially offset by 1.6M jobs (20%) created through economic growth. This represents a net decline of 45% over the 15-year period."
2010-01-27: Toni Bowers: Tech Republic/Ziff Davis/CBS: The Hackett Group is advising companies to not hire back U.S. and European IT workers who have been laid off; instead they recommend filling any needs over-seas

2012-03-29
Thomas E. Brewton
Obummer's treason: assuring those who have declared they're enemies of the USA of continued dismantling of our national defense capabilities
Pravda praises fellow socialist

2012-03-29
Tom Lutey _Billings MT Gazette_
Max Baucus proposed crop insurance plan that assures federal aid for farmers kicks in "only when needed"

2012-03-29
Kristin Deasy _Globa Post_
Iranian female ninja assassins suing Reuters for saying they're assassins

2012-03-29
Bridget Johnson _PJ Media_
and the best of the proposed budget plans is Paul Ryan's, as profligate as it is
"Ryan's budget, which cuts spending [by only] $5T [more] over the next decade compared to President Obama's plan, passed 228-191...   The Congressional Regressive Caucus [proposal] which had a $2.9T spending hike supported by $6.8T in new taxes over the next decade, got just 78 'yes' votes..."

2012-03-29
Ira Mehlman _Immigration Reform_
Moonbeam Brown admin asks supremes to overturn SB1070 because it works

2012-03-29
Manu Joseph _NYTimes_
reality doesn't support the myth of Indian STEM genius
"NASCOM was involved in intense behind-the-scenes dialogues with politicians, businessmen and journalists...   It is impossible to know when exactly the Indian out-sourcing industry was born.   According to Mr. Karnik's book, however, a meeting at a New Delhi hotel in 1989 was a significant moment.   Jack Welch, who was then chief executive of General Electric, was in India to persuade the country to place an order for G.E. aircraft engines.   Present at the meeting was Sam Pitroda, a technology adviser to the Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi...   Pitroda said, 'Fine, but first we want you to out-source $10M of I.T. software work to India.'...   [Jack Welch] finally said, 'Fine. Done.'...   following the economic overhauls of 1991 [move away from socialism, according to Gurcharand Das], urban India began to transform at a rapid pace.   NASSCOM helped persuade the government to adopt policies that would make it easy for foreign companies to out-source work to Indian firms.   There were hundreds of thousands of engineering and science graduates in the country, and the software industry sucked them in at various rungs, offering them unprecedented salaries and a chance to work in the United States.   The brightest Indians joined the industry, and they made it appear that India had a deep pool of exceptional software talent.   NASSCOM, says Mr. Karnik, played a crucial role in promoting the idea of a republic filled with young geniuses...   NASSCOM took a more surreptitious tack, trying to convince influential Americans that Indian out-sourcing was valuable to the U.S. economy...   A country that has not invested in education cannot sustain the myth of its talent for long.   Beneath the surface of what is considered gleaming Indian talent is an ocean of unemployable graduates...   India's software industry found the quality of Indian graduates so poor that they considered only 25% of engineering graduates and 15% of other graduates employable...   India's supremacy is being threatened by 'more efficient countries', like [Red China] and the Philippines.   Some Indian companies themselves now out-source work to the Philippines..."

2012-03-29 (5772 Nisan 06)
Clifford D. May _Jewish World Review_
the diplomats' dilemma: despots need to know freedom-lovers are prepared for more than talk

2012-03-29 (5772 Nisan 06)
Linda Geddes _Jewish World Review_
lab-grown blood may reduce need for blood banking

2012-03-29 (5772 Nisan 06)
Heidi McIndoo _Jewish World Review_
gum problems may lead to heart and kidney problems
"Eat a balanced diet and adequate calories... Include omega-3 fatty acids as a regular part of your diet... Eat enough vitamin C to help maintain healthy collagen... Consume calcium and vitamin D every day... Be sure your daily diet includes foods rich in vitamin A."
 
Proposed Bills 2012
 
 

2012-03-30

2012-03-30 08:03PDT (11:03EDT) (15:03GMT) (17:03 Jerusalem)
Nicole Bremer Nash _Tech Republic_/_Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
Creating an ADA-compliant web-site

2012-03-30 06:13PDT (09:13EDT) (13:13GMT) (15:13 Jerusalem)
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes _Ziff Davis_/_CBS_
Richard Clarke warns that hardware imported from Red China leaves the USA open to cyber-attacks
"He was the man who failed to get the White House to act on his warnings that al-Qaeda were planning an attack on American soil.   Later, during his testimony to the 2001-09-11 Commission he delivered his famous apology: 'Your government failed you.'"

2012-03-30
_Cumberland PA Sentinel_
Cable network AMC developing show on Carlisle Indian Industrial School famous for alumnae like Jim Thorpe and Glenn Scobey "Pop" Warner

2012-03-30
John Hawkins _PJ Media_
7 ways wildly successful people have failed
"Spend money frivolously... break the law... don't mind your health... marry poorly... give up... withdraw into mental illness... surrender to drugs"

2012-03-30
Bob Owens _PJ Media_
Appleseed Project: history, character, and rifles
"By all accounts, farmer Samuel Whittemore wasn't looking for trouble.   The 80-year-old veteran of 3 American wars had fought his battles and earned his peace, settling down in Menotomy, MA.   Still, on a day made famous for the battles in Lexington and Concord and Paul Revere's Ride, the grizzled warrior ambushed the Grenadiers of the 47th Regiment from behind a stone wall.   The octogenarian killed 1 Grenadier with his musket, then drew his dueling pistols and fired, killing 2 more before the Redcoats over-ran his position with fixed bayonets.   One Grenadier leveled his musket at close range and fired, blasting a 0.69 caliber musket ball through Whittemore's cheek.   The musket ball tore away part of the old man's face and threw him violently to the ground.   Bleeding profusely from the horrible wound, the old man drew his saber -- taken from the body of a French officer more than 30 years before -- and fought the Regulars hand-to-hand before falling under the butt-stroke of a Grenadier's Brown Bess.   Whittemore was bayoneted 13 times and left for dead in a pool of blood.   Samuel Whittemore would have been the oldest Colonial fatality of the entire Revolutionary War -- but he refused to die.   Horribly scarred but immensely proud, he lived to 98, as an American citizen.   The home range of the Revolutionary War Veterans Association (RWVA) lies just off the intersection of a pair of narrow country roads, amid the rolling green hills, cattle farms, and forests of Ramsuer, NC.   Down a gravel path lies a 500-yard centerfire rifle range that stretches from the crest of one hill down through a valley and up the other side.   A smaller well-used rimfire rifle range lies just beyond it.   At this shorter distance range, I and almost three dozen showed up on a wet and muddy morning last week to learn of our shared American heritage that began on that day in 1775 April 19 through the Appleseed Project.   We were also interested in learning the skills that made Timothy Murphy the most famous marksman of his day and helped create the legend of Morgan's Riflemen."

2012-03-30
_PJ Media_
J Street conference: Obummer admin Valerie Jarrett
Palestinians
Peter Beinart
Ehud Olmert and Barukh Binah

2012-03-30
Barbara Jorgensen _EBN_/_UBM_
H-1B critics outline some of the program's flaws

2012-03-30
Patrick Thibodeau _ComputerWorld_/_IDG_
White House proves again they're clueless about STEM job markets

2012-03-30 07:01PDT (10:01EDT) (14:01gMT) (16:01 Jerusalem)
Ruth Mantell _MarketWatch_
UMich consumer sentiment index changed from 75.3 in late February to 74.3 in early March to 76.2 in late March
Bloomberg
Fox
St. Louis Fed

2012-03-30 11:04:45PDT (14:04:45EDT) (18:04:45GMT) (20:04:45 Jerusalem)
Joe McDonald & Michael Liedtke _San Jose CA Mercury News_/_AP_
Foxconn reforms may trim profit margins for several firms
"Foxconn, owned by Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry, promised to limit hours while keeping total pay the same...   IHS iSuppli analyst Thomas Dinges believes China's communist [ruling thugs] also realize that the country's economic evolution requires raising the standards of living so more factory workers assembling the devices will eventually be able to buy them."

2012-03-30 12:23:48PDT (15:23:48EDT) (19:23:48GMT) (21:23:48 Jerusalem)
_San Jose CA Mercury News_/_Reuters_
Yahoo! expected to begin laying off thousands this coming week

2012-03-30
Claudia Assis _MarketWatch_
farmers expected to plant most maize in 75 years
Tom Lutey: Billings MT Gazette
"The department estimated corn plantings for 2012 at 96M acres..."

2012-03-30
Roy W. Spencer
more evidence that urban heat island effect distorts CRUTem3 data

2012-03-30
Thomas E. Brewton
the left's Orwellian double-speak about Obummercare

2012-03-30
Amy Levin-Epstein _CBS_
To get deserved promotion, manage the appearance of your productivity

2012-03-30
Paul Greenberg _Town Hall_
the cynicism of it

2012-03-30 (5772 Nisan 07)
Rebecca Searles _Jewish World Review_
how your "nerves" shape your character
"Researchers at the University of Dresden tested people's sensory thresholds and mapped their findings onto subjects' Big Five personality traits. They uncovered links between what we detect and personality characteristics. Explains researcher Ilona Croy, 'It makes sense that people who are able to detect others' emotions become more social and those who are sensitive to signs of danger see the world as a threatening place.'"

2012-03-30 (5772 Nisan 07)
Thomas Sowell _Jewish World Review_
the death of Mrs. G
"She encouraged my work, celebrated my advancement and, where necessary, criticized my shortcomings. All of it helped me."
 
Proposed Bills 2012

2012-03-30

DJIA	13,212.04
S&P 500(SPX)	1,408.47
NASDAQ(COMP)	3,091.57
Nikkei	10,083.56
10-year US T-Bond(UST10Y)	2.22
crude oil(DLK2)	$103.02/barrel
natgas(NGK12)	$2.126/MBTU
reformulatedgasoline(RBJ2)	$3.3081/gal
heatingoil(HOJ2)	$3.1701/gal
gold(GCM2)	$1,671.90/ounce
silver(S1K2)	$32.48/ounce
platinum(PLN2)	$1,644.10/ounce
palladium(PAM2)	$654.10/ounce
copper(HGH2)	$0.2390625/ounce
soybeans	$14.03/bushel
maize	$6.44/bushel
wheat	$6.6075/bushel
dollarindex (DXY)	78.973
yenperdollar (USDYEN)	82.84
dollarspereuro (EURUSD)	$1.3341
dollarsperpound (GBPUSD)	$1.6012
swissfrancsperdollar (USDCHF)	0.9025
indianrupeesperdollar (USDINR)	50.8755
mexicanpesosperdollar (USDMXN)	12.8065
MorganStanleyHighTechIndex	716.79

I usually get this info from MarketWatch.
 
 
Proposed Bills 2011
 
 

2012-03-31

2012-03-31
Norm Matloff _H-1B/ L-1/ Off-Shoring News-Letter_
Thibodeau weblog on Biden remark
 
In a recent radio interview, vice president Joe Biden was asked about the H-1B program, with the tone of the question being one of suggesting that the program is too big.   Biden then responded with industry-standard misinformation (or disinformation, for you skeptics out there).   He stated that (a) H-1B has an American recruitment requirement, and (b) there is a shortage of "computer engineers", thus a need for H-1Bs.
 
As the enclosed blog by Computerworld's Pat Thibodeau explains, Biden is demonstrably wrong on (a) (the H-1B-dependent category is an exception, but it's minuscule), and a number of statistics familiar to readers of my news-letter show Biden's wrong on (b) as well.
 
As Thibodeau points out, Biden's blithe, unqualified defense of H-1B is odd given the embarrassing incident his boss had with Jennifer Wedel a couple of months ago.   But Biden's statements are even odder in light of the fact that his own former chief economist and economic policy adviser, Jared Bernstein, has spoken negatively about H-1B on various occasions.   Bernstein has said, for instance, "[The tech industry wants] all the engineers they can get at the lowest price.   They say they can't find enough talent, but what they really mean is that they can't find enough people at the rate they want to pay." (Washington Post, The Fact Checker, 2012 February 6)   This quote is especially apropos, as it applies to Biden's claim (b) above.
 
Indeed, one might wonder whether one of the reasons Bernstein left the Obama administration is that his bosses simply didn't want to hear statements like the one above.   Or worse, they understand what he said only too well, and don't want such statements coming out under their imprimatur.
 
The blog appears below (printed with the permission of the author).
 
Norm
Patrick Thibodeau: ComputerWorld/IDG: White House proves again they're clueless about STEM job markets
Wedel video

2012-03-31
Willis Eschenbach
EPA's mercurial madness

2012-03-31
Andrew Bolt _Herald Sun_
"What's important to these extremists is not the evidence but the scare."

2012-03-31
Thomas E. Brewton
John Dewey catechizing the leftist religion on the tax-victims' dime
Peter Berkowitz: Wall Street Journal: How Kalifornia's Kolleges indoctrinate students

2012-03-31
Michael Volpe _Daily Caller_
DHS has detention space for only 10% of illegal aliens apprehended... so, they want to reduce detention facilities and arrest fewer
"'ICE only has 34K detention beds and over 300K individuals in removal proceedings.', said an ICE official who requested anonymity.   The rest are given bonds or tracking devices, or simply released on their own recognizance.   In a February 23 op-ed, Texas Republican representative Lamar Smith responded to the proposed cut in ICE's capacity to keep suspected illegal aliens in custody.   'Under his budget for 2013, Mr. Obama reduces the number of detention bed spaces by 1,200 beds -- from 34K to 32,800.', Smith noted.   'The administration proposes using the resulting funds to enhance its alternatives-to-detention programs.   But these programs result in higher levels of illegal immigrants disappearing into American communities.'   But Department of Justice records, Smith insisted, 'reveal that since 1996, 40 percent of all non-detained illegal immigrants in removal proceedings simply became fugitives'."

2012 Spring
Gene A. Nelson _Social Contract_
how record immigration levels robbed American high-tech workers of $10T
 
Proposed Bills 2012
 
 

 
Proposed Bills 2012

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