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BloodstarLiberals and Libertarians on Everything and Nothing |
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Really, it’s designed to work to make it harder to get credit and then more expensive for the people to establish a credit history. Who cares if it’s perfect, if you don’t have enough credit cards and mortgages, then you’re obviously a bigger risk than someone who does… wait… what?
Fuck em. No wonder people go bankrupt without ever feeling guilty.
Seriously, absolute morons. You can’t sit here and use Illegal Immigration as an excuse to create the National ID Card, it’s stupid, tone deaf, and one of the dumbest things you could possibly do. I mean, really, you’re not going to win the Tea Party crowd either way, so why piss of everyone else by telling them they have to give DNA samples and have this ‘biometric’ bullshit card. Sorry, Immigration is not an excuse to implement your wet dream of having a neo police state.
Second, working to let people who got here illegally stay, but coming down harder on people who came here legally, but overstayed their visa, is backwards and dumb. I’d argue people who made it here legally, but somehow had their status should be reviewed first to see if they have committed any crimes and have been productive members of society. If they have, then let them stay.
The rest of the proposals I can live with. but damn, those two are real deal breakers to me… And this is why I’m libertarian.
Man, get knocked down with a sinus/chest infection and I miss Crist deciding to run an independent bid for Senate. can he win it? It’s a relatively low probability, but it’s certainly higher than his chances if he stayed in the Republican primary.
What do I think will happen? oh boy. Well, first I expect there to be a pretty nasty rumor campaign against Crist for being a long term ‘bachelor’ (IE: that he’s gay). Then I expect there to be people coming out calling Crist a traitor… oh, you want to know what’s going to happen in the election? I’m not sure because the segment that’s in love with Rubio will vote for him come hell or high water. Crist has to gain traction in the center, which is one of the most difficult areas to pull voters in, and when the Democrat is a fairly moderate candidate, it becomes problematic for Crist to find breathing room.
I suppose if Crist has a path to victory, it has to come through the 33% of the Republican party that still support him, and to pull significant appeal from moderate democrats and hispanic voters. Either way, I don’t expect the winner to break 40%.
The biggest issue, does this fracture the Republican party further? normally I’d say no, and look at it similar to Lieberman’s run. In this case though, the schisms are already pretty deep, and the Conservative wing is already primed to shove the moderates out of the party – which was not the case for the Democrats in 2006.
I’d also keep an eye out for Meeks (the Democratic candidate). Will he run to the left and set up a classic left middle right battle? or will he fight for the center with Crist?
Policy makers are trying to stem the contagion sparked by Greece after the cost of insuring Portuguese and Spanish debt against default surged to record levels. Merkel has delayed German approval of loans in the face of voters’ opposition. Concern that the crisis will spread beyond Greece was heightened today when S&P today cut Spain’s credit rating.
If they don’t get this worked out soon, you could see the entire EU taken down.
I do like Reason magazine from time to time, even if often times I think they’re a bit shrill in tone and not libertarian enough for my liking. but they will put some good stuff out there, and this article is one example of that.
You can show that there is a correlation between illegal immigrants and crime. but unlike what the hysteria from the natavists and racists might think, that correlation is inverse.
The state has an estimated 460,000 illegal immigrants. But contrary to myth, they have not brought an epidemic of murder and mayhem with them. Surprise of surprises, the state has gotten safer.
Over the last decade, the violent crime rate has dropped by 19 percent, while property crime is down by 20 percent. Crime has also declined in the rest of the country, but not as fast as in Arizona.
Babeu’s claim about police killings came as news to me. When I called his office to get a list of victims, I learned there has been only one since the beginning of 2008—deeply regrettable, but not exactly a trend.
Truth is, illegal immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native Americans. Most come here to work, and in their desire to stay, they are generally afraid to do anything that might draw the attention of armed people wearing badges.
This has been mentioned before, the idea that we have more illegal immigrants in the country now, but again, it’s the irony that the efforts to keep people out, are serving to keep them here:
Massey says the number of people coming illegally has not risen appreciably in the last couple of decades. But the number staying has climbed, because anyone who leaves faces a harder task returning.
Another point that should be made, yes it’s hard to immigrate to the US legally, and therefore the people coming to the US illegally have an easier time of it (I would argue that the issues illegals deal with outweigh any issues legal immigrants deal with) because they don’t have to deal with the red tape and other crap. but the question is, should we reduce the red tape and harassment for legal immigration instead of just pounding sand harder?
Source: NASA
Now it remains to be seen if their efforts to prevent new regulation will come back to bite the oil companies in the ass.
Because this isn’t the America I’d want to belong to. I mean, really, not even a cell phone call to 911? What the Fuck is wrong with you people?
But the psychology here is telling:
UCLA economists Dora Costa and Matthew Kahn analyzed the impact of an energy-conservation program in California that informed households about how their energy use compared with that of their neighbors. While the program succeeded in encouraging Democrats and environmentalists to lower their consumption, Republicans had the opposite reaction. When told of their relative thrift, they started cranking up the thermostat and leaving the lights on more often.
The margin is insignificant, but I’m sure entire research papers could be written exploring this dynamic.
Maybe it’s lazy blogging, but if you’re going to read one article today, read his on how even reasonable (relatively speaking) at times Republicans are enabling the right’s flight from reality. His take down is concise, point by point, and effective.
… doing it at a bankers conference just looks bad:
Senator Richard Shelby, a lead negotiator on a financial-rules bill, said Republicans will block Democrats’ efforts to begin debate on the measure in a test vote today, saying the move would give them more leverage.
“I believe that 41 Republicans are right now going to stand together,” Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, said in a speech at an Independent Community Bankers of America conference in Washington.
Even if it’s not intentional, how can anyone take the republicans seriously when they do stuff like this?
The bad news, I guess we know how it ends…. at least for that fella
“It’s set in 2085, about 30 years before Sigourney [Weaver's character Ellen Ripley]. It’s fundamentally about going out to find out ‘Who the hell was that Space Jockey?’ The guy who was sitting in the chair in the alien vehicle — there was a giant fellow sitting in a seat on what looked to be either a piece of technology or an astronomer’s chair. Remember that?”
“And our man [Tom Skerritt as Captain Dallas] climbs up and says ‘There’s been an explosion in his chest from the inside out — what was that?’ I’m basically explaining who that Space Jockey — we call him the Space Jockey — I’m explaining who the space jockeys were.”
As a total aside, here’s some movies I would like to see this year:
Iron Man 2
The Last Airbender
Resident Evil: Afterlife
Little Fockers
Really? that’s it? Surely there’s more out there…
The economy continues to grow and recover:
Sales of new homes surged 27 percent in March and orders for most durable goods climbed, indicating the U.S. economy sped up heading into the second quarter.
Surely had we just done what the Republicans wanted, sales would be up 127 percent and durable goods would have doubled in sales right? …. right??
