Some of our favorites comment on the immigration bill. First John Fund.
… There’s an old rule in Washington that in dealing with any tough issue, half the politicians hope that citizens don’t understand it, while the other half fear that people actually do. Here’s hoping that members of Congress and the White House ignore that tendency and come around to the view that in the age of the Internet the people have to be consulted. In retrospect, it’s clear that the 1986 Simpson-Mizzoli reform with its flawed amnesty provisions and lack of a workable guest-worker program would never have passed if the Internet and the 24-hour news cycle had existed then. …
Michael Barone next.
… Changing U.S. public policy is like steering a giant ship — it’s impossible to sharply reverse course, but you can change the direction in a way that will make a significant difference over time. That’s what I think the Bush administration and House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas accomplished in the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill, much criticized by many conservatives. They sent the health care ship moving in the direction of market mechanisms and away from government ukase.
The Kennedy-Kyl immigration compromise, now under attack from many conservatives and some liberals, attempts to steer the immigration ship in the direction of regularization, enforcement that actually works and toward skill-based rather than family-based immigration. At least if they get the details right.
Brilliant piece of work by Fred Thompson and his campaign gets him a nice snap on Michael Moore. Stephen Hayes of Weekly Standard has the story. Fun read here.
Pickerhead was just thinking how nice it was that Jimmy Carter had been quiet. But, he’s back! We’ll just have to make the most of it as some of our faves have thoughts.
… But his most haughty pronunciamento was against Tony Blair. I am a fan of Tony Blair. And he is not abominable. It is Jimmy Carter who is abominable…and small-minded, provincial, self-centered, incompetent and also someone who imagines himself a saint. …
… In the Carter years, the United States was an international laughingstock. This was not just because of the prevalence of his ghastly kin: the beer-sodden brother Billy, doing deals with Libyan President Muammar Qaddafi, and the grisly matriarch, Miz Lillian. It was not just because of the president’s dire lectures on morality and salvation and his weird encounters with lethal rabbits and UFOs. It was not just because of the risible White House “Bible study” sessions run by Bert Lance and his other open-palmed Elmer Gantry pals from Georgia. It was because, whether in Afghanistan, Iran, or Iraq—still the source of so many of our woes—the Carter administration could not tell a friend from an enemy. His combination of naivete and cynicism—from open-mouthed shock at Leonid Brezhnev’s occupation of Afghanistan to underhanded support for Saddam in his unsleeping campaign of megalomania—had terrible consequences that are with us still. It’s hardly an exaggeration to say that every administration since has had to deal with the chaotic legacy of Carter’s mind-boggling cowardice and incompetence. …
That’s not all the fun we’re gonna have today. How ’bout John McCain’s F bomb in the senate? Power Line has the details.
… Two weeks ago, Senator McCain defended his reputation as a hothead on Fox News Sunday, saying he loses his temper only when he sees corruption and wasteful spending. This incident involved neither. It was instead a simple policy dispute, where he didn’t want to debate how his legislation would actually work. …
Bob Novak exposes the dem tax increases.
Cafe Hayek’s Don Boudreaux gets a nice letter in USA TODAY.
Christian Science Monitor on the hidden costs of corn-based ethanol.
A new form of, “Let them eat cake!” Marginal Revolution posts on farmer’s accommodation of corn prices.
Division of Labour posts on saving tigers.
Meteorologist from New Zealand with good sense on global warming.
Climate change will be considered a joke in five years time, meteorologist Augie Auer told the annual meeting of Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers in Ashburton this week.
Educators in Canada are teaching their kids to hate the US. National Post with story of kid in Canada who had to watch Gore’s movie 4 times while at school.
John Tierney on energy efficient washing machines.
Regardless, according to Scrappleface Bush says Carter is a great ex-president.
“… I think most Americans will agree with me that he’s a terrific ex-president. Things have never been better since Jimmy Carter left office.â€