If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer.
Alfred North Whitehead
Barbara Billingsley: RIP
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| America's Mom: Barbara Billingsley/Mrs. June Cleaver |
Ms. Billingsley was justifiably proud of the series and her work in it. She died today and will be missed. And Barbara, you really did look great in that dress.
Obama's "Single Best Decision I Have Made"
The selection of Joe Biden as Vice President? Unfortunately, that's true, but if I was Obama, I wouldn't be bragging about it. What better way to bring "change" to Washington than to choose a 6-term senator, without executive experience, economic expertise or notable legislative achievements, balancing the ticket with essentially the same voting record, and whose "expert" foreign policy advice before the surge was to partition Iraq into 3 sectarian entities, a suggestion widely rejected by Iraqis themselves? But how could Obama resist picking an old white windbag and walking gaffe machine whom notoriously said Obama "is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy"? Clearly Obama thought Biden had the kind of
Backdoor Amnesty? More Transparency Necessary
The Houston Chronicle today posted an interesting piece about how dismissals of a large number of immigration cases have dramatically increased--in Houston, nearly 8 times the time in August as there were in July. A few relevant facts: a dismissal of an immigration case does not, by itself, establish legal residence in the US, and employers who knowingly hire case-dismissed, undocumented workers are still breaking the law; second, only those individuals who have not been charged with crimes (exogenous to their legal status) are eligible for dismissal. These may include foreign-born college students raised in the US or with legal-status relatives in the US. (The latter point is relevant because of chained immigration, something which was being addressed by the failed 2007 immigration reform bill.)
The official explanation is that the immigration backlog (almost a quarter million people) is exceeding the capacity of the system to deal with them and there is a zero-sum game of the nation's legal system at the expense of prosecuting undocumented visitors with pending misdemeanor or felony charges. I believe if there is a legitimate issue, the Obama Administration should have disclosed the evidence publicly in sufficient detail and have initiated relevant process reforms and/or requests for the additional resources to meet the demands of increased workloads. However, I believe that the escalated dismissals are sending a different message--a double-standard; I also think that management is punting the ball in the expectation of a future immigration bill. This raises issues of political cronyism in ICE management, and we need additional disclosure by the Obama Administration, which could be abusing its discretionary authority as prosecutors.
Political Humor
"The midterm elections are in a few weeks, and the Democrats are at a huge disadvantage, and I'll tell you why. They don't have a witch running." –David Letterman
[Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to remind people she's running for reelection. In fact, after seeing Disney's Sleeping Beauty, the Queen was inspired to send every conservative voter in her district a shiny new apple. In addition to the use of the Magic Mirror ("Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who's the greatest Speaker of all?"), she used a lot of smoke (Cheech and Chong would be so proud!) to convince Blue Dog Democrats how the new health care bill was actually going to cut the deficit.]
"The Obama administration had lifted the six-month ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, provided that the oil companies follow the new safety regulations. For example, there has to be at least one sober person on the rig at all times." –Jay Leno
[Yes, it took government bureaucrats (without industry experience) almost six months to remind workers to tie their shoelaces, put up smoke detectors, wear safety glasses when appropriate, put on gloves before touching hot things, and not to drill for 30 minutes after eating. The new 2000-page permit application requires deep-pocket escrow deposits and holds lessees responsible for all future rules and regulations and unlimited damages and fines; it waives any and all federal responsibility for processing delays or errors, regulatory gaps, overlaps and inconsistencies or faulty oversight.]
Musical Interlude: The "British Invasion" of the 1960's Series
The Beatles, "Paperback Writer"
