Friday, August 13, 2010

Friday the 13th roundup

I'm not really a huge Huckabee fan, but this report from The Slatest makes sense to me:
Mike Huckabee continues to pull away from the GOP on immigration. The former Arkansas governor told NPR Wednesday that unlike Sen. Lindsey Graham, Sen. John Kyle, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, he doesn't think a constitutional amendment is the way to solve the nation's immigration problems. Graham has said "birthright citizenship is a mistake," but Huckabee expressed little patience with that idea, noting that "in three different centuries," the Supreme Court had ruled that citizenship belongs to every baby born in the United States. "You do not punish a child for something the parent did," Huckabee said. "The question is: Is [an undocumented child born outside of the U.S.] better off going to college and becoming a neurosurgeon or a banker or whatever he might become, and becoming a taxpayer, and in the process having to apply for and achieve citizenship, or should we make him pick tomatoes?"
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This article, by Victor Davis Hanson, is worth reading (most of his stuff is worth reading, including his history books):
Some 11 million to 15 million illegal aliens are now residing in America, most after crossing into America unlawfully. Once a federal law is arbitrarily not enforced, all sorts of bizarre paradoxes arise from that original contradiction. As proof, examine the following illogical policies and contradictions involving illegal immigration. [Full text here]
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Some interesting information from Investors Business Daily. It seems your average American has a better sense of economics than the "experts" in the government.
Tax policies reward borrowers by allowing them to deduct interest they pay on borrowed money.
Tax policies penalize savers by making them pay tax on interest they earn on saved money.

Some White House officials and others, not content with the ways government policies already discourage saving, are trying to encourage people to spend more money, arguing it's needed to grow the economy.
Federal Reserve statistics disprove that claim. Between 1980 and 1994 the U.S. savings rate averaged 8%. Most of those were heady years for economic growth compared to what we see today.
Since World War II there have been 11 recessions. The prior 10 recessions averaged 10.4 months in length, according to the National Bureau of Economic Analysis. Our current Great Recession started in December 2007 — 31 months ago.

Can anyone doubt one reason consumer spending has been weak during the Great Recession has been that people went into it with little or no money saved for a cash cushion? Living paycheck to paycheck is no way to weather a financial storm.

Encouraging people to spend rather than save is the wrong policy for the current time. The more money people save, the more financially secure they are. And the more secure people are, the more likely they are to start spending and investing.

Americans are right to be saving money to increase their financial security. Spending beyond our means — both in government and in our personal lives — caused the bubble that led to the crisis. Most Americans know this.
Too bad so many people in positions of government power choose to deny the obvious.
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Ramblings on race, by Lloyd Marcus:

Black and white associates, family, and friends were highly offended that I would consider the character, principles, and associations of the person requesting to be elected leader of my beloved country. It was weird enough that I, a black, openly express love for America, but I actually expected the first African-American presidential candidate to go through the usual vetting process. Clearly, in their minds, Obama's skin color trumped everything.

Eighteen months later, America is suffering the consequences of white guilt and black resentment-inspired racism. Bottom line: Racism is wrong and evil regardless of who does it.

The Obama administration and their liberal mainstream media minions are despicably exploiting race to further Obama's progressive/socialist agenda. Any and all criticism of America's first black president is attacked as racist. Consequently, Americans are more polarized and divided along racial lines than ever.
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And on a lighter side:


6 comments:

Famguy said...

SOOO, you say you support the 'anchor baby' thing? Don't know the lib/cond implications, but I DON'T support it. I think it rewards bad behavior and just another incentive for the mass exodus to the north, which we need to slow down/stop.

Steve said...

I'm not sure about the anchor baby yet. My logical side says that we should not grant citizenship, but my emotional side says that we should. So I'm debating myself on this one...

But we certainly need something to be done, even if it's just to enforce current law.

I was taught that if you don't like a law, work on getting it changed. Otherwise, it's the law.

Famguy said...

Look out. You're starting to exhibit some 'progressive' symptoms..

Jim said...

I don't think a babay born here should auto acuire citizenship if neither parent is a citizen.

I can't agree with Huckabee on this..."You do not punish a child for something the parent did,"...

Not giving the child citizenship is a punishment????????? Geeezzz the poor kid should be glad it wasn't aborted due to pro-choice. Now that is punishment. Yup let's force him/her to pick tomatoes for life for showing up in our country. What nonsense.

Anonymous said...

Hey, lots of us like tomatoes, but wouldn't want to pick 'em. SOmebaody's gotta do it...

Jim said...

Right, the so called jobs Americans do not want. I worked in a peach packing plant one year in Calif. That is right this white American did it and 37 years later I still like to eat peaches.