Reason Morning Links: Florida May Out-Arizona Arizona, Blagojevich Jury Stalled, Gay Marriages Could Resume in California Today

• Florida Attorney General and GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum unveils immigration bill to top Arizona's.
• Blagojevich jury appears to be deadlocked.
• Suspected serial stabber arrested in Atlanta.
• Iraq's top military commander says country won't be ready for U.S. withdrawal until 2020.
• U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker could allow gay marriages to resume today.

Comments

[John]

http://www.realclearpolitics.c.....-1044.html

Obama now five points upside down in the Rear Clear Politics poll average. And none of those polls are of likely voters, which tend to skew Republican. God knows how bad those numbers are.

[GoNavy]

"...tend to skew Republican..."

Why do you say that? Not arguing, just don't understand.

[John]

Because people who don't vote are more likely to be Democrats than those who do. Anytime you see polls, Republicans do better among "likely voters" than they do among polls of all adults.

[-]

So it's just a popularity poll amongst non-voters with no bearing on an actual election? That's really enlightening. Thanks.

[John]

Unless you poll likely voters, yes it is. Who cares what people who are not going to vote think of Obama?

[x,y]

You do. Which is why you comment on almost every post of reason's resident nonvoters.

[TrickyVic]

""Because people who don't vote are more likely to be Democrats than those who do. ""

I think that depends. My left(ish) friends voted for Obama. My right(ish) friend claimed not to vote. They wouldn't vote for McCain.

[Joe]

Rasmussen (which has Obama at -13) always polls likely voters and tends to be a few points right of the other pollsters as a result. They also have the best track record of predicting election outcomes.

[John]

Gibbs Stands By His 'Professional Left' Critique, Expects Liberals To Vote In 2010

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....78811.html

Gibbs to liberals "just shut up and get back in the care before Obama slaps you again."

[Fluffy]

If that serial stabber guy is an Israeli citizen, why didn't he just stay in his own country where he could stab all the Palestinians he wanted?

JK.

[John]

Or why do you become a serial stabber in one of the most armed countries in the world. He was Georgia for God sakes. The police probably saved his life by arresting him. You know that whole bringing a knife to a gunfight thing.

[Mike M.]

Just imagine how disappointed Ezra Klein, Dave Weigel, and all the rest of the journolistic scum in this country is right now that the racist knife killer is an Israeli and not an American conservative Tea Party member.

They probably had their stories all written up and ready to hit the wires, and now they have to trash them all.

[hmm]

There's still hope!

They are going to spin the Israeli Tea Party connection and reveal how the whole things is astroturf funded by self hating Jews who are racist and hate Obama.

[tarran]

If I iunderstand correctly, he would lure strangers in by asking them for directions and suddenly stab them.

At close quarters a knife will almost always beat a gun.

[John]

Only if you have the drop on me. And you have to know how to use the knife. If you pull a knife on me, unless you just are really close and get me in just the right spot by surprise, I at least have a fighting chance to get away. If you pull out a gun and shoot me, I am done.

[Warty]

Blagojevich jury appears to be deadlocked

Oh, how amusing it would be if he walked.

Male (bank robbery suspect) or female (bank robbery suspect)? You decide.

[Brett L]

Hung jury gets a retrial. I think we need Kevin Costner to go see the judge and tell him that his name came up in Blago's tapes. I saw it in the movies, its the only way to get an impartial jury in Chicago.

[John]

We need a retrial. I am enjoying this spectacle.

[Suki]

The one in Maryland may have been geetting investment money for Greg Gutfeld's Ground Zero Gay Bar.

[bigbigslacker]

Remember how it was noteworthy they arrested him before he could fill the seat? I suspect they did that because it was becoming apparent that despite all the talk they had on tape he wasn't actually going to outright sell the seat to anyone. It only takes a little doubt.

[James Ard]

Fitzgerald could screw up a glass of water. I am so hoping Blago walks just to screw him.

[Brett L]

God, Bill McCollum is a tool. I hope Scott wins the primary so I don't have to hear any more from McCollum after August. It almost makes me wish I hadn't quit the Republican party, so I could vote against him. On the other hand, not being associated with a party that lets McC run for governor has its own upside.

[John]

Considering how popular these types of bills are, it will probably win him the election.

[MikeP]

Florida is one of only two states that exceed Arizona in proportion of its residents born in a different state.

So, yeah, it's another state whose main immigration problem is the immigration of US citizens.

[GoNavy]

"Florida is one of only two states..."

What is the other state?

[MikeP]

Nevada

[Isaac Bartram]

Yeah, I know lots of Floridians who make no bones about wishing those godamn Yankees would go back where they came from.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm in.

[Isaac Bartram]

It's said that George Wallace, after having been defeated in a primary race in which he ran as a racial moderate, said, "I'll never be out-niggered again."

In the Republican Senate race a few years ago ('04?) Mel Martinez denounced Bill McCollum for favoring extending hate crimes legislation to gays. McCollum lost.

Also, IIANM McCollum toed the official Bush party line on liberalizing immigration back when they were for it (before they were against it).

In addition to this immigration montrosity he's proposing McCollum also wants to ban gays from being foster parents (Florida is already the only state that does not allow gays to adopt).

So I guess Bill McCollum told his staff, "I'll never be out-fagged or out-beanered again."

Actually, Bill McCollum is the same kind of bend with the wind pol that Charlie Crist is. Both of them give new meaning to flip-flop (not just the official footwear of Florida) and I hope we will soon see the last of both.

[John]

Good to hear the man has principles. You really have to be a special kind of piece of shit to get into politics.

[sunny_black]

Is McCollum just posturing? He knows this bill won't go anywhere, but he's desperate to do something that looks impressive to Republican voters. In Florida McCollum has been running the most annoying attack ads on Rick Scott (back to back 10-15 second spots). Scott still maintains about a 10 pt lead.

McCollum's proposal is gambit and he'll probably shift 5 points.

[Spartacus]

Is McCollum just posturing?

He has never done anything but posture. He makes Crist look like a pillar of principle by comparison.

This governor's race is going to be the most depressing in years. The libertarian candidate is Ron Paul's cranky grandfather. The leading democrat's main qualification is unlimited ambition. The republican will either be weasel McCollum, or Rick Scott if he can avoid indictment until then.

I will probably write in LeBron James, since he wouldn't take the job anyway. Maybe it can sit vacant for 4 years.

[BakedPenguin]

Bill McCollum is a tool...

You're being kind. I'm now glad I was lazy about switching my registration back from Republican, because I did vote for Scott. He sucks, but nowhere near as much as Mr. "I spent my whole life in politics advocating Term Limits" McCollum. I once voted for Bill Nelson over McCollum, and I'm not ashamed of that. McCollum is the worst kind of pimp, ready to say or do anything that will keep him in public office and away from having to work for a living.

[SugarFree]

The Case For Getting Rid Of Tenure

I see the corrosive effects of tenure everyday. This article is far, far too kind in its condemnation.

[Brett L]

Next you'll be expecting them to teach the undergrad classes that their names appear next to in the catalog. And after that, grading tests in such classes themselves. You beast!

[Suki]

He is delusional in that way. Good call.

[DG]

One of my math professors in college was a PhD from MIT who could have gone to a much better university than the one I attended. The only reason he came there is because the cost of living was cheap and getting tenure was easy since the department isn't well-known. He published a bunch of papers in the top journals in his field, got tenure, and I don't think he's published more than a couple short papers in the last 15-20 years. Basically, he doesn't do anything but teach a couple classes each semester. So for a six figure salary, he works maybe 20 hours a week if you factor in lesson planning. But yet some people think a system that encourages this type of behavior is a good thing.

[John]

They are the new leisure class. One of my friends from college became a Spanish scholar. She is really smart. Got her PHD from Yale. She worked at Stanford for a few years, but finally said fuck it and got a job at the university of Iowa. Instead of paying a million dollars for a broken down ranch in Palo Alto and maybe getting tenure, she has a huge house, tenure and works maybe 20 hours a week. What a deal if you can get it.

Ultimately, the whole system is fucked up. Publishing is almost universally useless. It is just a gate keeper to make it hard to be a professor. And it has no bearing on whether someone can teach. They sit around writing crap that no one reads while their students pay tens of thousands of dollars to be ignored and provided with a lousy education. The whole system is crazy. The point of the university should be to teach. The people working at it should be there because they can teach not because they can play the credential game and put out more crap no one reads than others.

[John]

Good to hear the man has principles.

[Spoonman.]

I'm in a PhD program, and while I disagree that publishing is useless (at least in the sciences, it advances the knowledge of humanity), I am amazed by the low productivity of people here. I've been here two months and I already have a manuscript of a paper. It's no big deal, but my advisor expects it to get accepted. On top of that, I will be testing today whether I have material for another. I don't understand how there's people around me that have published two papers in four years here.

[John]

In the sciences it does serve a purpose. Clearly publishing and research is really important. But in the humanities it is generally a waste of time.

Further, even in the sciences there ought to be a place for both researchers and teachers. I don't know about you, but I took a ton of science classes in college that were taught by brilliant people doing important work who couldn't teach anyone anything. They were awful. Let's let the researchers research and maybe teach if they are good at it. But, there ought to be a place in a university for people who are just great teachers. You don't have to be doing advance research in mathematical spinners to teach a college linear algebra class well. You just have to know the material, love teaching, and be able to communicate well.

[marlok]

I think a lot of places have two tenure tracks (at least in academic medicine): one that's research oriented and one that's teaching oriented.

[dbcooper]

Perhaps they are doing more difficult projects or are in poorly organised labs/departments?

In bioengineering it can take years to get enough material for a paper if your advisor doesn't let you work towards device/method papers along the way.

[Cyto]

I guess it all depends on what you are doing. When I was in grad school one of my fellow candidates had a big party to celebrate a milestone in her project. She had just completed calibration and testing of her equipment and was ready to begin her experiments. Getting that far took 6 years. (she was working on cell surface protein motility and had to invent an apparatus for laser-bleaching a spot on the surface of a cell and measuring the rate at which fluorescein-labeled proteins migrated into the spot. Sounds easy, but you try it....)

Meanwhile, my adviser was publishing a paper every month and a major publication every quarter (not to mention the several co-authorships he garnered every month). But many of his experiments could be completed in a month or two. And he had 5 post-docs and a half-dozen grad students, as well as 4 lab techs and an two animal care techs. It's good to be the king....

[Fluffy]

I think the tenure system may have made some sense when higher education was an upper class boutique pursuit, but makes little sense in the modern mass middle class higher education context.

In a mass higher education context, colleges need to churn out large numbers of BA's and BS's and need a small army of largely interchangeable assembly-line instructors to do so.

They don't need hyperspecialized humanities professors writing papers that are of interest only to other specialists.

[John]

That is right. And that is why adjuncts are the wave of the future. Here in Washington we have GW and Georgetown who both run schools of governments and charge 50K a year. They pay their professors easily six figures a year. Meanwhile they are in the middle of a city full of experts on government who probably know about how government actually works than any of their ivory tower profs. You could hire those people part time for save five or ten thousand a class with no benefits and cut your expenses in half or more and certainly provide a better education to your undergraduates. Their current business model makes no sense and cannot last.

[MNG]

John
I took a job in the private sector because I had my fill of bullshit in academe in grad school, but your view of academe is, as usual, amazingly myopic. Did you get date raped at college or something?

[John]

No. I have an advanced degree from GW and the adjuncts were better than the residents on the whole. I hold legal academics in very low esteem. Law reviews are generally unread and worthless to the practicing lawyer. And the law professors who claim to be experts in the fields of law I practice I find know just enough about the subject to be dangerous.

[MNG]

I've seen law review articles quoted quite a bit in legal opinions, by conservatives and liberal jurists. Often profound changes in law originated in such writings.

[John]

But those articles are few and far between and written by the very top of the profession. For every Epstein or Cass Sunstein there is literally thousands of professors out there writing crap that no one reads because that is what they do to keep their jobs.

It is the same thing in the humanities. For every Richard Rorty, there are thousands of PHDS out there wasting their time writing in useless academic journals when what they ought to be doing is teaching their students. And worse, it is a credentialist system that rewards writing rather than teaching. Being a good teacher it is said is like hitting a home run at the faculty softball game. It is fun and everyone congratulates you. But when it comes time for tenure or hiring, no one cares.

[MNG]

Well, from what little I've read of him Richard Rorty has pedalled his share of crap.

But John, have you ever stopped to think that what you describe applies, well, to every field. For every Dave Matthews there are hundreds of bands playing at the dive bar down the street, for every stellar CEO there are average managers at the Mickey d's...

If you read Sunstein or Epstein they often cite many of these "thousands of professors out there writing crap that no one reads."

[John]

But those people are producing that crap at the expense of their students. How is it that we have a university system in this country that doesn't care about teaching. The person who teaches does a hell of a lot more good than the person who writes articles that no one reads. But teaching is a skill that is not valued by our universities.

[MNG]

Universities have always been about a combination of producing research and teaching. But you will get no argument from me that there could be more emphasis on good teaching relative to research.

[John]

And that is my point. Should some schools concentrate on research? Sure. You need research to drive graduate programs. But should your average state or private liberal arts school? No. They concentrate on and reward quality teaching.

[John]

WF Buckley said it best, I would rather be governed by the first 100 names or whatever of the Boston phone book than the faculty at Harvard.

[MNG]

I alway found that quote funny coming from an uber-eltist like Buckley.

[John]

True. But he was in a position to know them and know who they were. So in a sense only an elitist like Buckley could make such a statement with any credibility.

[MNG]

I alway found that quote funny coming from an uber-elitist like Buckley.

[R C Dean]

Driving in today, I heard someone on Bloomberg mention a higher education bubble. First time I've heard that outside the blogosphere.

When attendance starts to crash, and tuition gets cut, and they've gotten rid of all the grad assistants, and the tenured professoriate can't cut it on their own, then and only then will you see tenure questioned.

[Citizen Nothing]

Took my son who'll be a freshman down to college orientation for a couple days earlier in the week. Beautiful, serene campus. I stopped by the well-regarded journalism school on the campus green(I know, I know). I imagined how idyllic -- and easy (although worthless)-- it would be to teach journalism as opposed to doing it. Probably the same in many fields.

[Citizen Nothing]

And, for what it's worth, I can't imagine anything more worthless than a PhD in journalism. It boggles the mind that they even exist.

[Nooge]

For sheer lack of intelligibility and outright PC mealymouthed horseshit, the crown goes to sociology. Anybody with a PhD in sociology is breathing air that should go to other creatures.

[kinnath]

MNG's terminal degree in PolySci is just about as bad

[MNG]

Ah, educational attainment envy rears its head again!

[Nooge]

I'll have a professional (read: actually getting out of your ivory tower and doing shit) doctorate in a couple years.

Some PhDs are much more useful than others, but really, I don't envy anybody with an research-oriented degree. I might admire the years of hard work it took to get there (depending on field of study), but I wouldn't ever want one.

[hmm]

PhD in Accounting.

[BakedPenguin]

I took a class with a tenured professor. Talk about someone who didn't give a shit. He cared about his writing, and that was it. Fortunately, the class I took fit what he was writing about, so it wasn't a complete waste. Other people who took a different course, with an ostensibly different focus said he did the exact same thing in their class. That class should have had very different information taught, and it was utterly useless to them.

[Spartacus]

As someone who actually works at one of the colleges mentioned by name in the article, I could write a book (and maybe I will someday) on some of the difficulties of *not* offering tenure. The statement that not offering tenure is no disadvantage in recruiting is pure bullshit, and I have years of data to refute it. In an environment where 90% of colleges offer tenure and only 10% don't, those 10% are at a serious disadvantage in hiring. A lot of other assertions in that article can only be made with a straight face by someone who has never set foot outside the Ivy League.

Solid cases can be made for and against offering tenure as a benefit of employment. Like most terms of employment, it should be up to individual institutions to decide.

[DG]

Florida's diverse population and dismal unemployment rate provide a unique setting for an Arizona-spawned policy that could... transform low-wage industries.

I suppose making them go out of business because they have to pay more for unskilled labor is indeed a transformation, but I doubt it's the one people are hoping for.

[Leroy]

So why not end the minimum wage?

[Warty]

Man demands sex refund from no-show teen's dad

[John]

"The man, who is reported to be a workman from Stockholm"

Where is your social understanding Warty. My guess is that this guy is not Swedish. And it is perfectly appropriate to demand a refund from your 13 year old hooker's father when they don't deliver the goods.

[Ska]

Probably would have worked in first century Rome.

[John]

probably so or places like the Philippines or Thailand now.

[Suki]

Or modern Cairo.

[John]

Not really. The Arabs may marry their 12 year olds, but they generally don't whore them out.

[Suki]

ROFL! They don't call it the religion of piece for nothing.

[John]

It is not fair to blame Islam. That is just how they roll in some parts of the world. They were marrying 12 year olds, and indeed a lot Europe was to, long before Muhammad showed up.

[J sub D]

Fun fact - Ty Cobb's mother was 12 years old when she married his father.

She later killed him under suspicious circumstances.

[John]

Have you ever seen the movie Cobb? It is the one movie I have ever liked Tommy Lee Jones in. He is Cobb. It is great.

[SugarFree]

Never pay up-front.

[R C Dean]

The voice of experience.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Alter Bathes Obama in Heavenly Light!
...A beam of morning light shown [sic] through the stained-glass windows and illuminated the president-elect's face. Several of the clergy and choir on the altar who also saw it marveled afterward about the presence of the Divine....

The Obsolescence of Barack Obama

[Johnny Longtorso]

Confirmed: GE CEO Immelt Scolded NBC Journalists For Reporting Negatively on Obama

Motorist Finds Way to Thank Obama Voters

[T]

Y'know, back in '91, they told us we were gonna stop where we were and not go through central Iraq and take Baghdad. A whole bunch of guys bitched and moaned and said we should do it. I, somewhat presciently, said if we go through Baghdad we'll be in Iraq for the next 50 years. If we don't, we'll be back in a decade to finish up where we left off.

I may have been off by a few years, but all in all, I think my prediction has held up pretty well. Ask me again in 2050 or so.

[John]

That is what GHW Bush thought. That is an interesting counter history. A couple of thoughts. First, Al Quada and Muslim terrorism wasn't as developed back then. We didn't have suicide bombings and the like. So their ability to cause mischief was less. Second, we had a ton more troops in 1991 and would have done the occupation much better. Third, Iraq's civil society was in a lot better shape. We would have probably had an easier time rebuilding the government. It would have still been hard. But it probably would have a lot easier than doing it 12 years later.

[T]

The reason given to us at the time was the Pres, et al, felt the coalition would collapse if we took Baghdad. Our allies were fine with kicking the Iraqis out of Kuwait, but didn't want to boot Saddam. The Muslims didn't want the heat from letting the evil infidel Americans do the dirty work. The French and some of the other Euros wanted to be able to deal with Saddam, since he was their crook.

[John]

All true. We didn't have the UN authority to do it. But instead we ended up encouraging a revolt that ended in slaughter and essentially occupying the norther third of the country for 12 years while enforcing sanctions that did nothing to weaken Saddam but screwed the Iraqi people.

There really were no good options.

[Citizen Nothing]

Three Kings is a good movie that depicts some of that.

[BakedPenguin]

Don't forget the Kurds - Our ally Turkey wasn't eager for them to have their own nation, and everyone probably feared a Shia-dominated Iraq getting pally with Iran.

[Johnny Longtorso]

And now not just my new favorite blog, but my new favorite thing ever:

Shut Up Foodies blog

[Warty]

Cherrypicking things like recipes and fashion statements from other cultures is a fine colonial tradition, one that is not any less exploitative if the colonies are within one's own borders. It's nice that A Taste of Lebanon is selling well, but how many people can find Lebanon on a map? Are we supposed to think people are eating fried kafta and talking about how Suleiman jailed three people for denigrating him on Facebook? (And before you think that is some craaaazy Middle Eastern move, a school in Florida tried to do it to a teen who said her teacher sucked!) Also think about it this way?people are immigrating here and bringing us these delicious foods because we, a superpower, are not helping them to end the conflict and problems in their own countries. We are in fact, in most cases making it worse. But hey, thanks for the tacos. Now go home.

What really infuriated me about this piece was the closing quote, from one Anthony Bourdain:

The kitchen is still a place where you are judged on how well you do and nothing else. It's kind of wonderful. It's the last meritocracy.

Apparently Anthony Bourdain has not noticed that "the kitchen" is still mostly full of straight white dudes. And they can eat all the international cuisine they want, but that still won't make it a meritocracy.

...And that's enough of that blog for me.

[Spoonman.]

Yeah, acting as if you're wrong for enjoying other culture's food is a deal-breaker for me.

[Johnny Longtorso]

I think the issue is the smug "I'm a sophisticated man/woman of the world and you're teabagging cattle because I once ate a sheep's testicle taco" attitude of some foodies. Enjoying it is fine. Thinking it makes you better, smarter, and more deserving of spending my income for me is not.

[John]

Yeah.

In contrast to Warty's quote, this is pretty good.

There's a double standard when it comes to food that's calorically bad for you. Hell, there's a double standard even when it comes to food that's good for you. Those of us who allegedly can afford it and "know better" aren't supposed to eat baby carrots anymore: we're supposed to go to the farmers' market to purchase beautiful fresh-from-the-dirt carrots with green tops, or have them delivered to us in a weekly produce co-op box. You don't cram them in your face to fill the void and grimly just take it because the food suits its purpose and is filled with these goddamn vitamins and nutrients?you thank Gaia for the soil and the sun that brought it to you and consider yourself one of the "good ones" next time you read a Michael Pollan article.

[Fluffy]

Thinking it makes you better, smarter, and more deserving of spending my income for me is not.

Actually, the first two are fine. Only the third one is an issue.

[Fluffy]

Cherrypicking things like recipes and fashion statements from other cultures is a fine colonial tradition, one that is not any less exploitative if the colonies are within one's own borders.

Right. Exactly. I'm "exploiting Greece" when I eat a gyro.

What a fucking moron.

[Pain]

So is the rest of the world exploiting the USA when they eat McDonald's?

[Brett L]

They aren't imperialist swine abusing their colonies.

[SugarFree]

And considering that starting a restaurant serving their home cuisine is a great way for an immigrant family to establish themselves and not become welfare leeches, this attitude really doubles down on the stupid.

[R C Dean]

Cherrypicking things like recipes and fashion statements from other cultures is a fine colonial tradition,

I thought that was being all multicultural and shit, you know, the salad bowl, not the melting pot, blah blah fuckity blah.

Now its explotive? So we're not allowed to export our culture to them (that's cultural imperialism), and we're not allowed to import their culture (that's colonial exploitation). WTF, dude?

[John]

We are only allowed to keep our culture, whatever that is. And you know who wanted to keep their culture pure of all foreign influences don't you? Just saying.

[Art-P.O.G.]

A Godwin's law confirmation of highest quality.

[Azathoth]

Well no. There's another article on there about the bigotry of white people wanting to eat their 'own' food.

So we're damned if we export, damned if we import, and racist if we try to stay quiet and not bother anyone.

One would think we should starve.

[Fluffy]

I also like the fact that this assmunch apparently thinks that Chinese restaurant kitchens are full of straight white dudes.

[John]

Like all restaurant kitchens in the US, they are full of straight Mexican dudes.

[TrickyVic]

Actually, most Chinese restaurants in NYC are staffed with Chinese people. It's an oddity in that sense.

[Solanum]

"Motorcycle crash leaves questions"

I think people are finally starting to wake up to the preferential treatment which cops give to other cops. People are seriously pissed about how IMPD handled this investigation. They've even lost most of the law & order folks on this one.

[John]

This shit has been going on for years. A girl that was in my middle school back in the 1980s was killed by a drunk driving cop as she got the mail out of her parents mailbox. The fucking cop fled the scene, sobered up and three hours later turned himself in. They never did a breathalyzer on him. And even though there were numerous witnesses that say him drinking heavily that day, the DA, only after much public outcry, charged him with straight up vehicular manslaughter. He got probation after killing a 12 year old girl while driving drunk. That is just how cops roll.

[Atanarjuat]

If that was my daughter... I probably would kill the fucker slowly.

Something similar happened here but luckily he just took out a parked car before fleeing the scene to sober up.

[TrickyVic]

""That is just how cops roll.""

And they know people will get over it.

[Warty]

Compare to this. That cop is no better than that little fratboy shitstain.

[Solanum]

Poor Dave. Guess he took the whole Washington Post/Journolist thing a little hard.

[matt2]

Now the claims by the police union & the bootlicking commenters are:

a) the hospital mixed up the blood tests with someone else

or

b) he somehow drank a bunch of liquor AFTER the accident because he was so distraught.

Unbelievable.

[Kat]

"Florida Attorney General and GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum unveils immigration bill to top Arizona's."

Goddammit. My home state wants to do a better job at ramming itself into the ground than it already is.

[Barack Obama]

Iraq's top military commander says country won't be ready for U.S. withdrawal until 2020.

I said mission accomplished, goddammit.

[Joe Biden]

You can thank me an Barry.

[Suki]

Florida Attorney General and GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum unveils immigration bill to top Arizona's.

An immigration bill? Really? McCollum proposes a bill to encourage immigration to Florida?

Oh, you mention Arizona. I think you left out the word illegal in your misleading bullet point.

[Suki]

Oops, preview was not broken on that try.

[Brett L]

When McCollum has the balls to use the word 'Cuban' anywhere in his discussion of illegal immigration, you might have a point. Otherwise, its just the same old bullshit political grandstanding as Charlie Crist waving leg irons on the (State) Senate floor.

[Suki]

It is nearly impossible for Cuban refugees to be here illegally. Try again.

[Brett L]

Exactly. What makes Cubans special? Money.

[Atanarjuat]

I think it is grandstanding, as was McCollum's Obamacare lawsuit. Especially since the current narrative (according to some state politics radio show -- no idea if it's true or not) is "McCollum is behind in the polls and desperate".

[SugarFree]

"My vibrator is stained with period blood... is it time to get a new one?"

[John]

You know they say if a woman over uses those things, they become desensitized.

[Warty]

Those Hitachi magic wands are amazing devices. It feels like cheating to use one on a girl.

[Atanarjuat]

There was a weird youtube video in the comments.

[SugarFree]

I'm not saying that hipsters should be put in some sort of concentration camp, but I see no need to ever let them out of Brooklyn. They can continue to eat over-priced faux BBQ, buy boutique over-hopped beer and do whatever inexplicable jobs allow them to have enough money to live the way they do, but that doesn't mean we have to let them mingle with normal folk.

YouTube sensation thread

[DG]

There is no such thing as over-hopped beer you heretic.

[John]

Your idea for the PSA is one of your best. It needs to happen.

[Optimist Prime]

I presume, given your distaste for the Williamsburg set, you've taken a gander over at "Look at this fucking hipster."

[Pete Mynack]

Aren't legal green card holders(i.e resident aliens) required to carry the card with at all times or risk jail and/or deportation? How is this law different from that?

[Isaac Bartram]

It's a state law, that's how.

The Green Card law is federal and enforced by ICE.

Florida already has a law that formalizes how aliens (both legal and not legal) are to be dealt with when arrested on other charges.

Essentially state and local law enforcement are supposed to report the arrest of alien to ICE. The feds are interested in both the status of arrestees and whether or not they will have to deal with deporting any legal ones after their time is served.

An immigrants actual legal status is none of the locals business. All aliens, wheter legal or not are supposed to be reported to the ICE if arrested.

There are also issues about notifying foreign consulates to provide legal representation etc for aliens. This is part of a treaty obligation. Again, as a treaty, it's the law of the land and a matter for the feds to deal with.

Nobody I know of is opposed to local law enforcement cooperating with the feds on law enforcement matters. Most states already have plenty of legislation in place to facilitate this. We don't really need any new ones.

One final note. One's immigration status is a matter of Federal law and is determined at that level. State officials are not competent to determine a person's immigration status, no matter how much paper work they examine.

[Isaac Bartram]

Correction:

"...state and local law enforcement are supposed to report the arrest of any alien to ICE."

[John]

Yeah but the feds won't come and pick them up. My father was a mayor of a small town in Kansas. They would get entire car loads of people who had no license and no ID whatsoever or any insurance. They would arrest them and ICE would refuse to pick them up. The town couldn't afford to keep them in jail. And there wasn't any charge against them beyond driving without a license and insurance. So they had to let them go. And after a couple of time of that they just let them go to begin with.

I am sorry but that is fucked up. I would like to hear what the states should do about it. And don't tell me licenses and insurance are evil. Evil or not, citizens and LPRs have to play by the rules, why shouldn't illegals?

[Fluffy]

So if I'm in a car with someone with no license, you get to arrest me?

For what? Being the victim of reckless endangerment?

[John]

Do me a favor, go out and drive with no license and no insurance in someone else's car and pulled over by the cops and see what happens. You have a point about the passengers. But not the driver. Basically short of committing a felony, laws don't apply to illegals. They just get picked up, bond out and never go back.

[TrickyVic]

""The Green Card law is federal and enforced by ICE.""

I'm pretty sure the feds are allowing states to enforce the green card law. The problem is when the feds won't pick them up. What are the states to do but let them go. States are getting tired of that game.

This isn't a difficult problem to solve if the feds quit trying to bail everyone else out. They should stay focused on fixing federal problems, not household problems.

[Old Mexican]

Re: Pete Mynack,

Aren't legal green card holders(i.e resident aliens) required to carry the card with at all times or risk jail and/or deportation? How is this law different from that?

American Citizens who happen to have Rodriguez as their last name DON'T carry green cards - nor do they have the habit of carrying their birth certificates with them.

This is NOTHING more than a scheme to introduce some sort of "Real ID" thingy...

"Geheime staatspolizei: Papiere, bitte. Schnell!"
"Here! Here! Here's my driver's license!"
"Ach! Diz ist nein Real ID! You arr illegal! Illegal!"
"But I am an American Citizen! I was born in Florida!"
"Silenze! You arr a liar!"

[John]

"American Citizens who happen to have Rodriguez as their last name DON'T carry green cards - nor do they have the habit of carrying their birth certificates with them."

True but every American citizen has some form of picture ID. Producing a driver's license is going to end the matter.

[Clich? Bandit]

John, your immigration blind spot is always amusing to me. First, not every citizen has a photo ID...Why my 6 month old went a whole 4 months without one. I didnt have one until I got my passport at 17 to travel to Europe.

Also, to the original point, my wife never carried her Green Card with her unless we were going overseas. Simply because losing it meant a shitload more trouble than being detained without it where we could have someone else bring it from home. So she kept it safely locked up the entire time she was in the States.

And for the record (cause ICE is 1/2 step above TSA to me) if you have ever actually been through the process to become an LPR or citizen you would not be saying "well just follow the rules". Your coments show your lack of perspective in this matter.

badges? we don't need no stinking Badges!

[John]

Did your six month old walk around in public a lot without her parents? And your wife may not have carried her green card but she carried some ID. Everyone does. That is just reality. Only on the boards of Reason to people pretend that it is common practice to walk around in public without any form of ID. That may be a sorry state of affairs. But it is how things are. No legal adult in this country makes a habit of being places without an ID. And further, has there ever been a single case of ICE wrongly picking up a citizen and trying to deport them? If there has been I haven't seen it.

It is totally disingenuous argument.

[Clich? Bandit]

Yes there has and I will try to get a link to cite it. And it has happened more than once.

[Clich? Bandit]

A good start

[Clich? Bandit]

another more recent

[John]

Fair. And you will get no argument from me that ICE is incompetent. But there has to be a better alternative than just not enforcing immigration laws. and making it such that the law doesn't apply to illegals.

[Clich? Bandit]

Yeah, go abck about 100 years. Check for disease and criminal record then come on in. At the same time stop giving away free shit to EVERYBODY.

And for my utilitarian friends here, It is MUCH easier to stop entitlements than it is to stop immigration, which is more accurately described as free trade of a prodcut (labor) in demand by a populous. See Drug War for proof of this concept.

[Isaac Bartram]

Clich? Bandit

It's impossible to imagine just how bizarre and byzantine a bureaucracy can get until one deals with the ICE or its forerunner the INS.

And words fail in trying to convey this to anyone else.

Mr Bumble's encounter with English marriage laws lead him to conclude that "the law is an ass". God only knows what he would think of the ICE and US immigration laws.

[Clich? Bandit]

As a US Citizen who's family immigrated over 150 years ago I must say...for me not my wife (a whole other matter entirely) going through at first INS then ICE procedures to get her citizenship was the single most demoralizing (and I was in a fraternity in college), painfull, expenseive (for the 7 year process upwards of 30k), and diheartening experience I have ever had. The invasive and personal level to which they go was almost unbearble to me (i assume it would have been better if I wasn't a libertarian cause then I wouldnt care). At her ceremony I was almost as happy about never having to deal with those fuckers ever again as I was to see here take her oath. That is a sad state of affairs if you ask me.

[Azathoth]

Did you also refuse to let her carry cash or credit cards? Or any of the other things we carry around each day that are a pain to replace if they're lost?

[Clich? Bandit]

She is her own woman. I am actually HER bitch. And trust me, there is nothing you carry in your wallet as difficult to replace as a green card...I have lost passports and that takes about 2 weeks to replace, Green Card? No way.

[TrickyVic]

""True but every American citizen has some form of picture ID. ""

No they don't. But a national ID card would solve that. Is that what we want?

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

Iraq's top military commander says country won't be ready for U.S. withdrawal until 2020.

Does anybody think they'll be "ready" in 2020? Any optimists out there?

I wonder how long the U.S. will be able to maintain all of these colonies without resorting to conscription.

[J sub D]

Iraq's top military commander says country won't be ready for U.S. withdrawal until 2020.

I waiting for all the supporters of this misadventure clusterfuck in Mesopotamia to throw my predictions of the end of democracy in Iraq right after we leave in my face.

Fortunately the war nation building in Afghanistan is going splendidly after Obama's surge.

[AA]

Florida wont be able to out AZ us AZn's because they don't have Joe Arshitpile.

[dbcooper]

Furry enthusiast from Pittsburgh asks judge to legally change his name to "Boomer the Dog"; is a possible relative of Warty.

http://gawker.com/5611146/no-o.....-oppressed

[Warty]

Matthews is far too boring of a name for any relatives of mine to have, even the redneck western PA ones.

[dbcooper]

Whaddya have, crazy dutch ones or something?

[Art-P.O.G.]

Yup. Warty's last name is probably Yoder.

[Warty]

Dutch? PA, not New York.

[Leroy]

Never heard of Pennsylvania Dutch country?

[Warty]

Those people are Amish.

[Old Mexican]

U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker could allow gay marriages to resume today.

I was thinking if I could marry a guy and get my green card that way . . . Hmm.

Who said marriage was about love and sex, anyway???

[Old Mexican]

Florida Attorney General and GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill McCollum unveils immigration bill to top Arizona's.

There seems to be too many illegal Cubans in Florida, so . . .

.... What are you guys laughing at???

[John]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-exit.html

I would like to know why we allow countries like North Korea or Saddam's Iraq to participate in international sporting competitions. This is awful.

[MNG]

I imagine it has to do with a "where do you draw the line" kind of thing. Would Syria be out? Their human rights record is bad. How about allies of ours like Saudi Arabia? And remember that most of the world considers Israel to be an egregious human rights violator. Sports should stay neutral, let diplomats work that shit out.

[AA]

Agree with MNG. Plus its always fun to watch NK get the shit kicked out of them during world events like the World Cup.

[MNG]

Boy, they did stink it up this year...

[BakedPenguin]

They played Brazil well. Then, according to rumor, Kim ordered the coach to change the plan. NK went from being a defensively-oriented team to an attack-oriented team. And Portugal humiliated them.

[John]

The line is simple. If you torture your athletes for losing, you are out. We can't run competitions that result in the death of the athletes. So, China while an appalling totalitarian state, to my knowledge does not punish its athletes for poor performance. So they are in. North Korea for this stunt is out. It is a simple rule to apply.

[MNG]

But FIFA does have that rule, they are seeking to enforce it against NK.

Earlier this year when the ass Nigerian Prez spoke of punishing their team it forced him to retract that talk.

[John]

Then good. They should be banned from any international competition for this.

[MNG]

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SP.....;wom=false

[AA]

Good point.

[Brett L]

Um, because the people who sit on the UN Human Rights panel graduate to the Inatl Olympic Committee where the bribes have 8 figures?

[TrickyVic]

""I would like to know why we allow countries like North Korea or Saddam's Iraq to participate in international sporting competitions. This is awful.""

It's a way to expose, at least the team, to the outside world. I would think that many of the players go back thinking, wow, my country really does suck. We could use more of that.

[John]

They think that right up until the bullet goes through their brain. And then the good kind of dissipates. And people in North Korea are well aware that their country sucks.

[MNG]

I will say I think it would be terrible if Walker allows gay marriages to start now before the appeals process works out. Imagine couples getting married only to find their marriages voided by a later appellate decision. That would be irresponsible of him, though I have read some pretty harsh charges of irresponsible behavior regarding him in this case (btw-I'm not talking about the opinion which I largely agree with).

[Michael Ejercito]

I will say I think it would be terrible if Walker allows gay marriages to start now before the appeals process works out. Imagine couples getting married only to find their marriages voided by a later appellate decision. That would be irresponsible of him, though I have read some pretty harsh charges of irresponsible behavior regarding him in this case (btw-I'm not talking about the opinion which I largely agree with).

There will be legal issues if the Ninth Circuit or Supreme Court overrules him. Will those marriages automatically revert to domestic partnerships? Will the couples have to get new domestic partnerships?

The only rationale the judge can use to duck the issue is to claim that marriages and domestic partnerships are functionally equivalent.

And, of course, there are other casing winding their way up the courts. The Texas Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will decide on the appeal on In the Matter of the Marriage of J.B. and H.B. . As I pointed out in my blog , the case could go directly from the Texas appellate court to the U.S. Supreme Court (as Lawrence v. Texas did ) and set precedent on this issue.

[Old Mexican]

Re: MNG,

Imagine couples getting married only to find their marriages voided by a later appellate decision.

Which is why the State should be OUT of the business of marrying people.

[Michael Ejercito]

I also wrote in my blog about Bonilla v. Hurst .

The plaintiffs claim that the Louisiana law violates the "The Free Association, Right to Petition, Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution" and "The Contract Clause of Article I, ? 10 of the United States Constitution". By contrast, this issue never appeared in the Texas nor California cases.

In other posts, I have mentioned Baker v. Nelson . In Baker, the Supreme Court unanimously, in a 9-0 decision, to dismiss, for want of a substantial federal question, that an appeal that alleged that the denial of a marriage licenses violated the equal protection and due process clauses of the 14th Amendment, and violated the 9th Amendment. As dismissals for want of a substantial federal question constitute a decision on the merits, Baker controls on the issue on whether or not denial of a marriage license to a couple on the basis of the gender of the partners violates the 9th Amendment, or the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th Amendment. The judge in the Bonilla case thus has ample reason to dismiss the equal protection and due process claims, by citing Baker as controlling precedent.

But Baker does not control on the issue how the First Amendment or the Contracts clause apply in this matter.

[Rhywun]

"Which is why the State should be OUT of the business of marrying people."

That will never happen so long as marital status is fundamental to, say, immigration law. Instead, we'll wind up with a patchwork of state-level gay-marriages, none of which will ever have the full status of the "real thing".

[Clich? Bandit]

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