If I'm a property owner, e.g., a farmer or a landlord, I don't want the government telling me whom I can hire or to whom I can rent. (Of course, the federal government does intervene--it tells me I have to withhold income for taxes, it says that I can't choose to hire or fire for politically incorrect reasons.) But if I have a crop to harvest and I have a willing and able migrant worker, my primary responsibility is to my business and customers; I don't really care if the foreign worker program is broken. If I'm a landlord, I want tenants whom pay their bills promptly and maintain the property.
If a foreign visitor gets injured by a car, or if he or she has a contagious health condition, and if I'm a health care provider, I really don't care about a visitor's legal status; I have a moral and professional responsibility and/or a public health concern.
The ACLU plans to fight this on grounds of potential racial profiling. I think this line of argument, which may parallel how the Department of Justice handles appeal of the Arizona immigration law, is not compelling. If a landlord or employer is required to apply a rule consistently, it's inherently not discriminatory.
I would agree that the intent of the law is to identify primarily a subset of Latinos, and the net effect constitutes a hostile environment for Latinos, citizens or not. I think that American society is better served by embracing our cultural and ethnic diversity and by treating all our foreign visitors, regardless of legal status, with dignity and respect.
I understand the frustration with poorly enforced border security in a post-9/11 world. I get the dissatisfaction with an immigration system that has double standards, one for immigrants below the US border and another for other countries and continents. I appreciate the concern that most undocumented workers don't pay their fair share of the government services they use. I can empathize that each new immigration bill fix sets the stage for yet another amnesty with government and businesses making promises they never keep, continuing business as usual.
But I don't think the answer is surrendering more of our liberties to Big Government, and moreover I don't think it does any good when the Obama Administration is using ICE as a bargaining chip for "comprehensive immigration reform", i.e., amnesty (cf. yesterday's post on the Kyl kerfuffle).
The Obama Administration Loses on the 6-Month Deepwater Rig Moratorium
Judge Martin Feldman handed the White House a defeat today, although I would argue Obama shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. In effect, the federal judge said that the Obama Administration couldn't arbitrarily revoke the permits it granted. Indeed, any parallel of the Deepwater Horizon with over 30 other related rigs is speculative at best; it does not appear that any rig was stopped for any reason other than they are deepwater. The BP explosion was likely a random event, just like other industrial accidents (such as a plane crash). You might think, after the embarrassing disclosure that the President's own technical experts had not advised or supported a 6-month moratorium on existing permits, not to mention the adverse economic impact of the moratorium on the suffering Louisiana economy, that the President would accept the legal defeat in good grace, explaining to its environmentalist allies that it tried.... But never underestimate the arrogance of ideological progressives in a state of denial... Word has it that the Obama Administration is already appealing the verdict. Personally, I don't see the Court of Appeals overturning the judge based on substance; the moratorium was clearly a political act.
General McChrystal Should Be Fired
In our form of government, the military leadership serves at the discretion of the civilian Commander in Chief. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, Obama's point person for the Afghanistan war, in an upcoming article in, of all things, Rolling Stone magazine, and/or his staff have been openly dismissive of the political powers that be (e.g., Obama, Biden, Kerry, and McCain), not to mention diplomats and others. I have no doubt that the portrayal of the other personalities ring true, e.g., Obama initially a fish out of water, Biden's simplistic drone-happy strategy and off-the-wall questioning, his rivalries with and contemptuous disdain for diplomats, his disdain for counterproductive grandstanding politicians like Kerry and McCain, etc.
This isn't about whether Gen. McChrystal is right or has a right to express his point of view. It has everything to do with military discipline, professional judgment, and knowing his role. The last thing Obama needs to do is clean up the interpersonal mess caused by a general whom should have known better. McChrystal needs the cooperation of everyone he or his staff just dissed to achieve his mission.
The Afghanistan mission is more than Gen. McChrystal. Obama shouldn't tolerate this and should accept McChrystal's likely resignation tomorrow.
Political Cartoon
Gary Varvel lampoons the Coast Guard's shutting down Jindal's oil skimmers because they didn't have enough fire extinguishers or life jackets. I'm sorry, Gary; I don't see the red tape dispenser on his desk.... I halfway expected to see Jindal (R-LA) bound to a chair by red tape, while the Coast Guard's call to Obama while on the golf course goes to voice mail... "Hello, this is Barack Hussein Obama. Press 1 to blame George W. Bush for the oil spill. Press 2 to tell me exactly what you think about reckless BP polluting the Gulf of Mexico with oil. Press 3 to connect to a live operator whom will handle your tax-deductible donation so I can pay BP back for its contributions to my campaign..."
Quote of the Day
Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody is watching.
Mark Twain
Musical Interlude: Chart Hits of 1972.
Moody Blues, "Nights in White Satin"
Roberta Flack, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (one of my baby sister Viv's favorite songs)
Harry Nilsson, "Without You"
The Raspberries, "Go All the Way"
Looking Glass, "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)"
