COTTonLINE Goes Traveling

The DrsC will be traveling soon, which means a slowdown in postings on this blog. Anything posted is likely to be in the category of travel blogging. Expect some observations about current conditions in Eastern Europe either upon our return, or before.

Political blogging will resume in late June, gentle readers. Perhaps we will be back in time to welcome Fred Thompson to the race for the Republican nomination.

Ann Coulter Calls Bush "Really Stupid"

Ann Coulter writes smartly conservative columns spiced with bitter humor. Here she dips her pen in hydrochloric acid and etches a description of President Bush as one of a group of "really stupid Americans." Her concluding thought is interesting:

In 1993 -- long before 9/11, before the USS Cole bombing, before the bombing of our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania -- the eminent Harvard political scientist Samuel P. Huntington predicted that the greatest threat to Western civilization would come from a clash of civilizations, noting with particular concern the "bloody borders" of the Muslim world.

So it ought to be of some interest that Huntington is now predicting, in his book "Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity," that America cannot survive the cultural onslaught from Latin America.

Low Skill Immigrants Are a Net Loss to U.S.

Kate O'Beirne, writing in the National Review Online, does a nice job of showing how low skilled illegal immigrants on average cost the U.S. way more than they ever produce. She is basically summarizing the findings of a Heritage Foundation study done by Robert Rector. She is also debunking a Wall Street Journal critique of the study. She concludes:

Robert Rector’s careful analysis demonstrates that low-skilled immigrant households consume far more in government benefits than they pay in taxes. The Wall Street Journal’s careless editorial demonstrates that his critics are unable to credibly disagree.

One cannot reasonably accuse the WSJ of being ignorant of basic economics. If the supply of something in demand is great, the price of that thing is correspondingly low. Conversely, things with more rarity have higher prices. This is as true of labor as it is of goods. The Wall Street Journal has been consistently in favor of unlimited immigration, and very holier-than-thou about it too. Of course, their real motive is an unlimited supply of people willing to work cheaply. In this they represent their primary constituency, namely, the nation's employers.

Is Dyslexia a Real Condition?

This article claims that dyslexia is either (a) nonexistent or (b) widely over diagnosed. It argues plausibly that parents don't want to admit their children are unintelligent and prefer the medical-sounding dyslexic diagnosis.

This article reminds me of the dyslexic atheist who was reported to have said:

"I don't believe in Dog."

Buckley Takes a Measured View of Immigration

A "two-handed" William F. Buckley looks at immigration in an opinion piece for Yahoo News. Given that it is the product of a infamous serial polemicist, the article is very balanced. Bill's concluding two paragraphs contain the kernel of his argument:

The gnawing point for skeptics is the matter of realizing immigration laws. The current measure speaks of additional fencing to bolster those leaky barriers of past decades. But skeptics are entitled to wonder just when the dividing barriers would be made effective enough to freeze the flow of immigrants at the desired level.

Our lawmakers should understand the public skepticism. Theirs has been the responsibility in default. If Congress had begun reforms by stabilizing the Mexican border, it might more credibly have gone on to elaborate residually desirable changes in the mess Congress has permitted.

Russians Look Like Europeans, But Aren't

Mark Franchetti, writing in the London Sunday Times online, says Russians really like Vladimir Putin, because he is not democratic. The key paragraphs in his article appear near the end, and I've reproduced them below for your enjoyment.

Many years ago, when I first came to work in Moscow, a political pundit close to the Kremlin told me that the problem between Russia and the West is that Russians are white.

“We look like you. We look like Europeans and so the West expects us to think and act like you. As a result, when we don’t you get all upset. Why can’t they be like us, you fret. But you don’t say that about the Chinese, for instance. You don’t expect them to think and act like you. Well, we are white but we are different.”

That is an interesting comment. Insightful Western Europeans have long held that Russians are really Asiatic people, not European, whatever their appearance may imply.

Podhoretz on the Politics of Immigration

John Podhoretz, writing in the New York Post online, says President Bush wants the immigration reform bill to pass but will be much better off if it does not. His prediction is that even if the bill passes in the Senate it will die in the House or in the House-Senate reconciliation process. He argues that almost no politicians will truly benefit from the bill's passage.

I hope he is right.

Noonan on Immigration

Peggy Noonan writes for the OpinionJournal online, a part of the Wall Street Journal. Her view of immigration is certainly different than that of the WSJ's editors. The nut graph from her article says:

Naturally I hope the new immigration bill fails. It is less a bill than a big dirty ball of mischief, malfeasance and mendacity, with a touch of class malice, and it's being pushed by a White House that is at once cynical and inept. The bill's Capitol Hill supporters have a great vain popinjay's pride in their own higher compassion. They are inclusive and you're not, you cur, you gun-totin' truckdriver's-hat-wearin' yahoo. It's all so complex, and you'd understand this if you weren't sort of dumb.

Miss Peggy took a leave of absence to work for Republicans in 2004. When she says the White House is "at once cynical and inept," you know the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is in a world of hurt.

Senators Hear Boos from Own Party Faithful

Robert Novak, a syndicated conservative columnist nicknamed "the Prince of Darkness," writes for the Chicago Sun-Times. In a recent article, Novak reports that two senators - Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) - were subject to boos at their respective state party conventions. The subject triggering the boos was immigration 'reform' as imagined by Ted Kennedy and his accomplices in the Senate and the White House.

Maybe rank-and-file Republicans aren't in favor of amnesty for illegal aliens, ya think? A number of Republican legislators have gotten on the unpopular side of the immigration issue, and will face primary challenges as a result. The only explanation that makes sense is that these senators desperately need the campaign contributions of slaughterhouses and other large-scale employers of illegal aliens.

Do We Need This?

One of the hit movies at Cannes this year is a film about human-horse bestiality called Zoo. It is reported to treat the subject sympathetically. I am inclined to respond in the words of Joseph Welch of McCarthy hearings fame: "Have you no sense of decency, sir?"

Quote of the Day

My quote of the day comes from a blog at National Review Online called The Corner. It was a reader response concerning immigration problems.

Immigration is basically a plumbing problem - our border leaks. When you have plumbing that leaks, you fix the leak before you start cleaning up your house.

That pretty well sums up my view.

Happy to Hate You

Arthur C. Brooks has written an interesting article for the Wall Street Journal about the politics of happiness. His work is based on poll findings that people on the extreme right and extreme left report being happier than those whose political leanings are less radical.

People at both political extremes are characterized by straight-out hating their opposite numbers and being only too willing to say so online. Those of us who are less extreme in our views are also more moderate in our statements, and probably in our feelings too.

Brooks makes the good point that while the political extremes may be happier, they make those of us around them less happy with "their intolerance and antisocial ways."

I expect some people can enjoy hating the way they enjoy a number of other intense emotions.

Why Whales Go Astray

This article reports on the two humpback whales, apparently mother and calf, which swam into the San Francisco Bay and then up the river toward Sacramento. They got nearly 90 miles inland.

The mother, for sure, and perhaps the calf as well have wounds on their backs, probably from boat propellers. It appears that they now may have started heading back toward the sea.

One big question is why they have gone so far off-course in their annual Pacific Coast migration toward summer in the Arctic? I have a theory. You know the old saying "put salt in the wound," meaning make it hurt worse? I wonder if salty seawater hurt in their wounds, whereas fresh river water felt good, or at least hurt less. I believe that is how a human would experience salt vs. fresh water in a wound, and whales are of course warm-blooded mammals like us.

Perhaps their wounds are healing and so, experiencing less discomfort, they are headed back to the ocean to go on north to the feeding grounds off Alaska and Siberia. I wish them well: fair winds and following seas.

Maoist Rebellion in India

When I think of places in revolt around the world, I have gotten the impression India's problems are limited to the Kashmiri northwest and the areas where Sikh independence is popular. Much less publicity has focused on the Maoist uprising that has been going on for 40 years.

The Maoist Naxalites are a guerrilla insurgency in rural and jungle India. They are particularly strong among the tribal people at the very bottom of India's status hierarchy. This Associated Press article estimates their numbers at 10,000 to 15,000. The Indian government has had little success in suppressing the revolt. Meanwhile, the Naxalites show no signs of either winning or fading away.

Mark Steyn's Wry Look at Immigration 'Reform'

Writing in the Chicago Sun-Times, Mark Steyn takes a wry look at the White House and Senate's proposed capitulation on immigration. He manages to be both funny and serious at the same time.

I particularly liked his reprise of how we are afraid we will look racist if we oppose unlimited illegal immigration. His bottom line: if we legalize the 12 million illegals here now, we might as well issue legal status to the entire population of the world, in all their billions.

Quote of the Day

Fred Thompson was single for two decades between marriages. He admits to enjoying the company of women. Asked about this, he replied:

I was single for a long time, and, yep, I chased a lot of women, and a lot of women chased me. And those that chased me tended to catch me.

This gem appeared in a Washington Post article about Thompson by Liz Garrigan. The "muy hombre" strategy worked for Bubba Bill Clinton, why not for Tennessee Fred? At least Fred was single at the time.

The "I Quit" Bush Satire

Here is a link to a satirical resignation speech somebody thinks President Bush should give. It is definitely in the genre of conservative humor, not recommended for Bush haters.

Hat tip to reader Phyllis N. for bringing it to my attention.

Thompson "Gets It" on Immigration

Fred Thompson is not impressed with the "bipartisan" immigration reform legislation being produced by the Senate. The bill was written by Democrats with the collaboration of the White House and those few Republican Senators who view cheap labor as a paramount value.

Thompson clearly understands that those of us here legally don't support giving amnesty to 12 million illegals or leaving our borders open. Read his radio commentary here, as reprinted in the National Review Online.

Noonan, Hayes on Fred Thompson

Peggy Noonan worked for Reagan and Bush I. Now she writes for the Wall Street Journal and is one of our smartest observers of politics. Her Opinion Journal article today about Fred Thompson's "stealth" campaign for the Republican nomination is excellent. If you find Thompson at all interesting, you'll enjoy her largely positive analysis.

Stephen F. Hayes is a senior writer for the Weekly Standard. His views of the Fred Thompson phenomenon are much like those of Noonan, cited above. Hayes views Fred's approach as the next evolutionary step in Internet-based campaigning.

Gore "Out of Love with Politics"

Time magazine quotes Al Gore as saying he has "fallen out of love with politics." Well, that's a relief. It is pretty clear that the voting public has fallen out of love with him as a candidate.

There are, of course, the "sky is falling" environmentalists who love his global warming sermons based on incomplete science. They are welcome to him. But please, no more Gore for President nonsense.