Schroedinger's Camel Spider

Doc In the Box carefully performs a scientific study.

Another Plan for Dealing With Illegal Immigrants

Consul-at-Arms presents the first part of his plan to deal with illegal immigration. Lots of good ideas.

Conservative Battle Fatigue?

Mark Tapscott talks about why it's hit and what to do about it.

Good stuff that I mostly agree with, particularly that it's the GOP in Congress that I'm tired of (except my own Senator Coburn is excellent, and my other two reps are pretty good). I'm also tired of fighting the same ideological battles over and over and over.

Any comments?

News? Well ...

Victor Davis Hanson covers WWII like much of the media is covering Iraq today. Here's a sample graph:

As we see thousands of Americans dying and our enemies still in power after four years of war, it is also legitimate to question the stewardship of Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Marshall. The Sherman tank tragedy, the daylight bombing fiasco, the absence of even minimally suitable anti-tank weapons and torpedoes — all these lapses came on his watch, and the man at the top must take full responsibility for mistakes that have now cost thousands of American lives. Indeed, it is not just that America has worse tanks and guns than our German enemies, but they are inferior even to the rockets and armor of our Soviet allies. The recent publication of “The Sherman Tank Scandal” follows other revelations published in “Asleep at the Philippines,” “The Flight of Gen. MacArthur,” “Gen. Patton and the Atrocities on Sicily,” “Do Americans Execute P.O.Ws?” “Torture on Guadalcanal,” “Incinerating Women and Children?” and “Civilian Massacres in Germany” — publications in their totality that suggest a military out of control as often as it is incompetent.

Meanwhile, Gaijin Biker reports that:

NEW YORK (Rooters) Popular political comedian Steven Colbert, who delivered a biting critique of President Bush at April's White House Correspondents Dinner, has been seized by US government agents.

According to a highly-placed State Department source, Mr. Colbert is believed to have been rendered to Uzbekistan ...

Yep.

Remember, folks, you read it here second ...

They're All Ugly, And Not

Jim Geraghty (in Turkey) let's it rip about the 'ugly American' myth.

I lived overseas for seven years; every nationality I've dealt with has its uglies, and the US is not the worst of them by far.

Part of the reason "the world" is down on Americans, instead of just our government, is the re-election of Bush. That's just the way it is, folks. Being nice isn't going to help because, frankly, most of them don't really care about Americans (we were stupid before, now we're stupid and evil), and if we were all killed by bovine flu or mad chicken disease tomorrow, there would be a collective snort and a 'well, it's a tragedy, but certainly if any nation deserved it ...' Followed, of course, by a mad scramble to see who could get what of our stuff.

Illegal Two-Steppin’

Step 1: Document the Undocumented; Stop the Inflow of Illegals

Pass legislation that:
1. Gets the wall between the US and Mexico built.

2. Makes it a felony to enter the US illegally from the date the legislation takes effect, and to be in the US illegally from 31 days after the legislation takes effect. Also makes it a felony to assist an illegal in avoiding law enforcement and immigration agencies, gives all police the jurisdiction to enforce this law, and, regardless of whether they enforce it or not, requires all law enforcement officers to report any contact with illegal aliens within 24 hours. Finally, make it prohibitively expensive, and a possible felony, to knowingly employ illegal aliens from 31 days after the law takes effect.

3. Gives all current illegal immigrants 30 days (count ‘em: three-zero) to:
a. Get the paperwork from their employer or a family member for sponsorship,
b. Get registered at their closest consulate,
c. Apply for and receive a special temporary worker visa from the US (issued automatically after a US criminal background check and two phone calls to check sponsorship and registration at their consulate).

4. Makes these special visas non-renewable (but see Step 2).

5. Requires employers to check every employee on the Social Security Administration database. The database software will be set up to issue receipts for valid matches, and those receipts must be placed in the employees’ files and copies submitted with tax documentation. Since handling all the special visas will take a huge amount of time, give employers six months to get all current employees registered, however, new employees must be checked from the date the legislation goes into effect.

6. Sets up a generous guest worker program that requires application from the country of origin, a sponsor / employer, and for which it is impossible to apply while on the special temporary worker visa (though see Step 2).

Step 2: Reciprocity and Normalization

1. Over the year after passage of the above legislation, have a congressional study group that will study immigration laws and economics in the countries that have large blocks of immigrants on these special temporary visas.

2. Make any further concession to the immigrants of these nations based on their home nation’s laws, make this policy explicit from the beginning, and take into account any change each individual nation takes towards immigration liberalization for Americans and economic improvement. For example, if, during that year, Mexico were to liberalize its immigration laws and allow Americans easy immigration, the same property and business ownership rights as Mexican citizens, and take steps to improve economic opportunities for the poor, then Mexican immigrants on special temporary visas in the US would most likely get an automatic year extension to their visas, and the restriction that they could not apply for guest worker visas while on special temporary visas would be removed. Of course, if Mexico didn’t change, well, fair’s fair. Our laws would still be more free and open than Mexico’s, and anytime anyone complained about the US deporting millions of Mexicans, we’d point that out and the great opportunity for its citizens on both sides of the border that the Mexican government chose to ignore.

In both steps, there would have to be exceptions made, for example, for refugees, or for nations with very few immigrants in the US on special visas (so threatening their deportation wouldn’t be a significant stimulus), etc.

I've left a lot out, but Dr. Demarche made some more good proposals that would complement mine well.

Update 5/17: It seems that Glenn Reynolds agrees with me.

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Previous posts on this topic:
Mexican Immigration Law
Undocumented Migrants In Mexico Brutalized
Random Illegal Thoughts
Well, Heck
Illegal Immigration 1

The Beautiful Month of May ...

... begins with sorrow, terror and injustice. Catallarchy presents his annual 'Day of Remembrance' for the victims of communism with several articles on the topic.