Cobb is (back? still?) blogging, but on Typepad nowadays. So I have to retract one snarky line in the comments (find it yourself).

More on the RNC's Immigration Bamboozle
By Justin Rood - April 14, 2006, 4:39 PM

As Josh has mentioned, the GOP is claiming that Democrats have voted to make illegal immigration a felony crime. Exactly the opposite is the case. Ken Mehlman's RNC is even running ads based on this lie.

Here's what happened: Late last year GOP Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) wrote and sponsored a bill that makes illegal immigration a felony. It's currently a civil offense.

After he got the bill out of committee, it caused such a hue and cry that Sensenbrenner tried to backpedal, and offered an amendment to soften his language, and make illegal immigration just a misdemeanor crime. (That's still worse than a civil offense.)

One of those humans whose existance was actively  useful to me was George Polya, whom I discovered in my early 20s via his book How to Solve It : A New Aspect of Mathematical Method. It's a book on heuristics, problem solving techniques, and on teaching. You really have to want to do the math to get through the book, but it's seriously worth it because he doesn't get much past high school algebra, and because the technique is thoroughly generalizable.

It's funny that the post by Eric Alterman that Mr. Klein is responding to got 25 comments...his response got 189 (so far).

I don't know why anyone was surprised...I stopped respecting Joe Klein a long time ago. It only took a couple of appearances on the Chris Matthews Show for me to see his primary true colors.

Joe Klein
04.14.2006
The Crucial Difference Between Liberals and Leftists (189 comments )

In his recent account of a breakfast book party at the home of Tina Brown and Harry Evans, Eric Alterman misquoted me slightly but significantly. What I actually said was "the hate America tendency of the [Democratic Party's] left wing" had made it harder for Democrats to challenge Republicans on foreign policy.

Iran was always the target. Iraq was attacked to clear the ground for permanent military bases from which they could jump off on Iran. Think North ans South Korea.

"The presence of a massive U.S. embassy — by far the largest in the world — co-located in the Green Zone with the Iraqi government is seen by Iraqis as an indication of who actually exercises power in their country," the International Crisis Group, a European-based research group, said in one of its periodic reports on Iraq.

U.S. Building Massive Embassy in Baghdad
By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent
Fri Apr 14, 4:58 PM ET

The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River here will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq's turbulent future.

The GOP's Betrayal On Speech
By George F. Will
Sunday, April 16, 2006; Page B07

If in November Republicans lose control of the House of Representatives, April 5 should be remembered as the day they demonstrated that they earned defeat. Traducing the Constitution and disgracing conservatism, they used their power for their only remaining purpose -- to cling to power. Their vote to restrict freedom of speech came just as the GOP's conservative base is coming to the conclusion that House Republicans are not worth working for in October or venturing out to vote for in November.

 

The "problem" Republicans addressed is that in 2004 Democrats were more successful than Republicans in using so-called 527 organizations -- advocacy groups named after the tax code provision governing them. In 2002 Congress passed the McCain-Feingold legislation banning large "soft money" contributions for parties -- money for issue-advocacy and organizational activities, not for candidates. In 2004, to the surprise of no sensible person and most McCain-Feingold supporters, much of the money -- especially huge contributions from rich liberals -- was diverted to 527s. So on April 5, House Republicans, easily jettisoning what little remains of their ballast of belief in freedom and limited government, voted to severely limit the amounts that can be given to 527s.

Quote of note:

...The three men were among nine officers fired as a result of the beating outside a house in a mostly white, working-class neighborhood on the city's south side. Witnesses said they heard someone call Jude and a black friend racial slurs during the assault.

Jude, 27, of Appleton, said the group kicked and punched him, someone put a knife to his throat and someone stuck something in his ears. He couldn't identify his assailants but said he heard Spengler threaten him.

...Before the verdict was read, police in riot gear surrounded Milwaukee County Courthouse in the city, which is 37 percent black. Earlier this week, the NAACP and other black leaders asked the community to remain peaceful no matter what verdict jurors reached. Early Saturday, Police Chief Nan Hegerty urged residents to stay calm.

3 Ex-Police Officers Acquitted in Beating
By CARRIE ANTLFINGER, Associated Press Writer

A jury cleared three white former police officers of most charges in the 2004 brutal beating of a biracial man that enflamed racial tensions, but city officials vowed to ask federal prosecutors to consider pursuing the case.

An all-white jury deliberated for more than 26 hours and returned not guilty verdicts late Friday on the charges against Daniel Masarik and Andrew Spengler, both 26. John Bartlett, 34, was cleared on one charge but the jury deadlocked on a charge of substantial battery.

Prosecutors claimed the men beat Frank Jude Jr. on Oct. 24, 2004 because they thought he stole a badge at a party. District Attorney E. Michael McCann said the officers relied on a code of silence within the department to protect them.

Believe me, there's no morality involved in the decision.

The National Rifle Association said it was concerned people in rural areas, where Wal-Mart might be the only purveyor, may no longer have access to guns.

"We've been told by Wal-Mart that the decision would be made on a store-by-store basis based on demand," the chief lobbyist for the N.R.A., Chris Cox, said. "The N.R.A. and our members will be watching closely to make sure they stay true to their word."

Wal-Mart Will Stop Selling Guns in a Third of Its U.S. Stores
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Wal-Mart Stores, the discount retail giant, has decided to stop selling guns in about a third of its American stores in what it calls a marketing decision based on lack of demand, a company spokeswoman said yesterday.

Quote of note:

The lawyers' unsubstantiated accusations came on a busy Good Friday in Durham, when it became known that Duke University police investigators had attempted the night before to interview some players on campus about the case. Meanwhile, defense lawyers tell Time they spent part of Friday trying unsuccessfully to talk the Durham County district attorney Michael Nifong out of taking the rape case before a grand jury after the Easter weekend. "What I wished and hoped he would do is conclude there is not enough evidence to proceed," says one defense attorney.

Were Duke Players Victims of an E-Mail Sting?
As a grand jury gets set to weigh possible rape charges against Duke lacrosse players, defense lawyers claim law enforcement may have used a phony e-mail to set up their clients
By GREG FULTON AND SARAH KWAK/DURHAM

With a grand jury now expected to convene Monday to weigh indictments of two or three of the Duke lacrosse players tied to allegations of raping an exotic dancer, defense lawyers say they fear their clients are being targeted in a setup or sting operation possibly perpetrated by law enforcement. The lawyers have advised the players not to trust or respond to any e-mails sent to each other, one attorney tells Time.

Quote of note:

The overuse of nitrogen fertilizers leads to occasional "blue baby" alerts in Des Moines warning parents that nitrate-loaded tap water could render their babies' brains unable to receive oxygen. Those same fertilizers flow down the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico, where they seasonally create a "dead zone" the size of New Jersey that is dangerous to sea life.

Capitalism on the Cob
By DAN MITCHELL

MICHAEL POLLAN'S new book, "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals," describes a nation that is the victim of "a plague of corn." The No. 1 legal crop is "the perfect capitalist plant," he said on "Fresh Air" on NPR this week.

Quote of note:

Democrats also desert their party when its candidate is black, Washington found. In House races, white Democrats are 38 percentage points less likely to vote Democratic if their candidate is black.

Whites Take Flight on Election Day
By Richard Morin
Friday, April 14, 2006; A02

Bad news for Michael S. Steele, the leading Maryland Republican candidate for Senate in November: The scuttling noise he hears on Election Day could be the sound of tens of thousands of white Republicans crossing over to vote for the Democrat.

In fact, white Republicans nationally are 25 percentage points more likely on average to vote for the Democratic senatorial candidate when the GOP hopeful is black, says economist Ebonya Washington of Yale University in a forthcoming article in the Quarterly Journal of Economics. White independents are similarly inclined to vote for the white Democrat when there's a black Republican running, according to her study of congressional and gubernatorial voting patterns between 1982 and 2000, including five Senate races in which the Republican nominee was black.

Quote of note:

Mr. Carlin estimated that recent homebuyers with adjustable rate mortgages could experience a jump in interest rates of 3 to 4 percentage points in the next two years, as the typical 3 percent introductory rate is adjusted higher in annual increments. For a family with a $400,000 mortgage, that could translate into an increase of as much as $1,000 in monthly interest payments.

Treasury Rate Signals Burdens for Borrowers
By VIKAS BAJAJ

The era of cheap money may finally be nearing its end.

Investors pushed up the yield on the government's benchmark note to over 5 percent on Thursday, its highest point in nearly four years and a signal that many borrowers will soon be paying more on mortgages and home equity loans.

More Retired Generals Call for Rumsfeld's Resignation

From left, Major General Paul D. Eaton, General Anthony C. Zinni, Lieutenant General Gregory Newbold, Major General John Batiste, Major General John Riggs and Major General Charles H. Swannack Jr.

Rumsfeld is only one of the hydra's heads...and nowhere near the biggest head at that.

Quote of note:

The assault on N'Djamena was the boldest attack yet by the rebels who have vowed to end Deby's nearly 16-year rule over the landlocked central African oil producer, and to block a May 3 presidential election in which he is standing for re-election.

..."What you can see here are mercenaries the Sudan government has recruited among Sudanese and Chadians over there (in Sudan)," Chad's territorial administration minister, General Mahamat Ali Abdallah Nassour, told reporters.

Chad displays rebel "mercenaries"
Fri Apr 14, 2006 06:48 AM ET

By Daniel Flynn

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Chad's government on Friday paraded captured rebels it said were recruited by Sudan as the capital N'Djamena recovered from a surprise raid by insurgents fighting President Idriss Deby.

The government said it repulsed Thursday's early morning attack in fighting that killed around 100 people and wounded 200, according to officials. But rebel leaders vowed to continue their campaign to oust Deby and disrupt elections next month.

Asians Decry Adidas Shoe as a Misstep
By Michael Tunison
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 14, 2006; D01

A new, limited-edition shoe from Adidas-Salomon AG, part of the "Yellow Series" and decorated with the face of a character who has buck teeth, a bowl haircut and slanted eyes, has provoked a heated debate about the lines dividing racism, art and commerce.

The character on the shoe is the creation of a San Francisco graffiti artist, Barry McGee, who is half Chinese. McGee, who calls the character Ray Fong after an uncle who died, said the image is based on how the artist looked as an 8-year-old.

"You have to look at it as a piece of artwork," said McGee, 40, who used Ray Fong as a graffiti tag in the late 1990s and later in art installations and catalogue covers. "The way we put it all together, it becomes a collectible as art."

Omaha Schools Split Along Ethnic Lines
Associated Press
Friday, April 14, 2006; A09

LINCOLN, Neb., April 13 -- In a move decried by some as state-sponsored segregation, the legislature voted Thursday to divide the Omaha school system into three districts -- one mostly black, one predominantly white and one largely Hispanic.

Supporters, including the bill's sponsor and the legislature's lone black senator, said the plan would give minorities control over their own school board and ensure that their children are not shortchanged in favor of white youngsters.

Lone Black senator backs a plan to align school districts by race.

I'm not going to play like I'm familiar enough with Nebraskan politics to

• know who they're talking about
• know what the issues that would lead them to even consider such a thing might be

That last is critical...and my phrasing should give you all you need to know my reflexive reaction to the headline. But when I read this

"There is no intent to create segregation," said state Sen. Ernie Chambers (Omaha), the legislature's only black senator and a longtime critic of the school system.

He argued that the district is already segregated, because it no longer buses students for integration and instead requires them to attend their neighborhood school.

Chambers said the schools attended largely by minorities lack the resources and well-qualified teachers provided others in the district. He said the black students he represents in north Omaha would receive a better education if they had more control over their district.

I'm like, "Okay..." and I decide to find out a little more about the brother.

Typical...but not right.

Stupidest Man Alive: The Winner

I regret to say that Donald Luskin of National Review is not the stupidest man alive.

The stupidest man alive is Jon Derbyshire of National Review.

Yes, that's Jon "I Got Mine, Jack! Pull up the Ladder!" Derbyshire:

The Corner on National Review Online: REFORMED [Jon Derbyshire] A couple of readers to this effect: "Aren't you a bit embarrassed to be laying in to illegal immigrants, having confessed that you yourself were once an illegal immigrant?" No. I look on it as being sort of like the reformed drunk at a temperance meeting.

Besides, there's INSIDE and OUTSIDE. I can recall thinking, as an i-i, that Americans were kind of naive about immigration. Since the naivety was to my personal advantage, I didn't complain. AS AN AMERICAN, and having jumped through all the darn immigration hoops at last (seven years to Green Card, nine more to citizenship), I'm entitled to another point of view...

Quote of note:

The EEOC said that in May 2001, a company executive told Janice Hagy and Arlene Warren not to hire certain minorites for a client in Southern Oregon. The women informed their supervisor, Carolyn Johnson, about the alleged order and Johnson then told the executive that neither she nor her staff would comply, the EEOC said.

A month later, all three women were terminated, according to the EEOC.

$450,000 settlement over charges to not hire 'Blacks or Jews'
Firm says allegations not true
Craig Harris
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 13, 2006 02:50 PM

When three employees of HealthHelp Inc., a radiology benefits management service that had a Phoenix office, were allegedly told not to hire "Blacks or Jews," the women refused and told their Houston-based employer that they wouldn't discriminate.

Immigration, African Americans, and Race Discourse
Stephen Steinberg

To avoid misunderstanding, let me make clear from the outset what I am not saying. I am most definitely not calling into question the rights of immigrants. I am the grandson of immigrants, and the new immigrants have as much right to be here as I do, and to claim all of the rights of their adopted nationality. Nor am I blaming immigrants for the nation's tragic failure to address the enduring legacy of slavery. On the other hand, immigrants cannot hide behind the refrain that "our ancestors didn't own slaves," or claim that, as recent arrivals, they are exonerated from America's racial crimes. Indeed, immigrants are implicated in America's race problem through the very act of immigration.

Quote of note:

When confronted, Ward eventually acknowledged he had attempted sex, but denied knowing the woman was dead.

Oh, that makes me feel MUCH better about your sick ass.

Forsyth man charged with necrophilia
Published on: 04/13/06

A Forsyth County man was indicted Monday on charges of having sex with a woman after she died.

Parker Clayton Ward, 54, was charged with necrophilia, punishable by one to 10 years in prison.

According to sheriff's deputies, the woman's boyfriend, who was working in Alabama on Dec. 27, became concerned when he could not contact her.

Armstrong Williams on The Media's Bias Against Black Men in America. In NewsMax.

And CNN supports the Republican Noise Machine as usual.

The Quote of note is almost two years old.

But in a two-year campaign, fueled as much by brains as political brawn, GE has shaped the legislation that would replace the old export-promotion law in ways that would allow it to save as much, if not more, in taxes, according to both GE lobbyists and congressional aides. In pursuing its financial interest, the company may also have turned the U.S. corporate tax code away from domestic manufacturing and toward expansion of operations abroad.

"The bill is truly amazing," said Michael J. McIntyre, a tax law professor at Wayne State University and an expert on international corporate tax issues. "We had an incentive for exports that was illegal and had to be repealed. Now Congress takes the money saved by the repeal and uses it to reduce taxes on the income earned by U.S. companies in foreign countries, thereby making foreign investment more attractive than U.S. investment."

Clear Cutting
International Paper slashed its tax bill by taking advantage of a little-known loophole. The deal shows how complicated and unfair the IRS code can be.
By Allan Sloan
Newsweek

April 12, 2006 - If you're among the millions of people who will be sending checks to the Internal Revenue Service when Tax Day arrives next week, I have two words for you: International Paper.

What's International Paper got to do with Tax Day? Simple. Last week, IP announced a deal on which it's logging an enormous profit—most of which Uncle Sam won't tax for 10 years, if ever. What's more, IP will largely avoid even the alternative minimum tax, that dreaded parallel tax system that ensnares millions of regular old taxpayers, me included.

What IP is doing is all perfectly legal, of course. It's an example of how companies like IP, with tax departments and lobbyists looking out for their interests, can clear-cut most of their tax bill, while wage-earning suckers get no special deals.

Ironically, IP will get to defer most of the tax on its gains from the deal despite legislation passed by Congress many years ago designed to end precisely this kind of deferral.

Quote of note

Katz said any general health differences among races is related more to factors other than genetics.

"There are minimal differences between races," Katz said. "We make a mistake thinking we're all that different from each other. The differences in our health are more related to lifestyle, education, finances and poverty than they are to genetics."

Dr. Kamau Kokayi, a general practitioner who prescribes vitamins at Olive Leaf Wholeness Center, a holistic health company in New York City, said vitamin deficiencies aren't genetic.

"You have to look at the diet," he said. "What are the actual stresses that people have in the population group you're examining?"

Kokayi called race-specific vitamins a "marketing gimmick."

"I think the amount of vitamin D being added or excluded -- really, the issue is more, is the person eating well," he said.

Taking Vitamins Based on Race
GenSpec Introduces Race-Specific Vitamins

April 12, 2006 — - You can buy vitamins specific to your sex and to your age. But now GenSpec Labs, a company that researches health issues among different ethnic groups, sells vitamins that claim to address the needs of different races.

They can merge with the Secret Services Uniformed Division to get even greater economies of scale.

America’s Secret Police?
Intelligence experts warn that a proposal to merge two Pentagon intelligence units could create an ominous new agency.
WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Mark Hosenball
Newsweek

April 12, 2006 - A threatened turf grab by a controversial Pentagon intelligence unit is causing concern among both privacy experts and some of the Defense Department’s own personnel.

An informal panel of senior Pentagon officials has been holding a series of unannounced private meetings during the past several weeks about how to proceed with a possible merger between the Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), a post-9/11 Pentagon creation that has been accused of domestic spying, and the Defense Security Service (DSS), a well-established older agency responsible for inspecting the security arrangements of defense contractors. DSS also maintains millions of confidential files containing the results of background investigations on defense contractors’ employees.

Quote of note:

The memo says that about three-quarters of Steele's contributors are Marylanders who have given an average of $120. That, the memo asserts, is "a sign of the lieutenant governor's broad grassroots network of support."

But the memo does not say what percentage of Steele's money has come from Maryland.

Steele Raised $1.3 Million in the First Quarter, Memo Says
By John Wagner
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 12, 2006; B04

Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele (R) will report raising $1.3 million during the first three months of the year, the highest quarterly haul to date of any candidate in Maryland's race for the U.S. Senate, according to an internal campaign memo.

The Senate Commerce Committee is holding hearings on communications issues. Today it was on convergence, and being me I noticed a useful bit of testimony that once again proves Black folks aren't merely sane but quite perceptive.

There's several audio files involved here, so we'll page through them. We'll start with Sen. DeMint's description of the current situation

Big business brawl between greedy giants, right?

This was after Earl Comstock of COMPTEL talking up the necessity of giving access to incumbent telephone and cable networks...making them behave like the common carriers they are. You heard Sen. DeWine's take on their testimony. But thinks the way to deal with this is a little digital benign neglect.

Mr. Courtland Milloy:

You start like this:

A young black man gets a job as a laborer on a construction site in downtown Washington. He is not mentally or physically prepared for the hard, dirty work ahead. Nor does he have a clue about the rewards of perseverance. So he wakes up the next morning, aching and demoralized. He shows up late for work and eventually stops showing up altogether.

Meanwhile, a vanload of Latinos pulls up to a job site. Only one speaks English and serves as a translator. They work as a team with near reckless abandon, hardly stopping for lunch. Before long, they are earning overtime pay.

I have seen these circumstances unfold and know construction site supervisors who have made similar observations. So I am skeptical of claims that "Latinos are taking jobs away from African Americans," which is a complaint that has resurfaced during the recent debate over restricting immigration.

Porn star's offer to Bin Laden

Italy's most famous porn star Cicciolina has offered herself to Osama Bin Laden.

The 55-year-old actress said it was about time somebody tackled the terrorist and claimed she could be just the woman for the job.

Speaking at an erotic fair in Bucharest, Romania, Cicciolina said: "It is time someone did something about Bin Laden, and I am ready to do it.

"I am ready to make a deal, he can have me in exchange for an end to his tyranny. My breasts have only ever helped people while Bin Laden has killed thousands of innocent victims."

Quote of note:

My friends reminded me that I had said the same about Iraq—that I was the last remaining person in Washington who believed President George W. Bush when he said that he was committed to a diplomatic solution. But this time, it is the administration’s own statements that have convinced me. What I previously dismissed as posturing, I now believe may be a coordinated campaign to prepare for a military strike on Iran.

Fool Me Twice
By Joseph Cirincione
Posted March 27, 2006

I used to think that the Bush administration wasn’t seriously considering a military strike on Iran, because it would only accelerate Iran’s nuclear program. But what we're seeing and hearing on Iran today seems awfully familiar. That may be because some U.S. officials have already decided they want to hit Iran hard.