Will Restricting Immigration Protect the Environment?

Will Restricting Immigration Protect the Environment?

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Great post today by Amy Mehta on the Imagine 2050 website. I wholeheartedly agree that "blaming immigrants prevents wasteful Americans from taking ownership of their contribution to environmental pollution and degradation." It's easy to blame groups with no voting power because there is little or no retaliation from these groups.

Perhaps in a moment of life imitating art, this reminds me of "Much Apu About Nothing" episode of The Simpsons (Season 7, Episode 23) when the unreasonable bear tax (referred to by Lisa Simpson as "the smallest tax increase in history") had to be instituted because of illegal immigrants.

My Solution from February to the BCS Mess

Okay, so I was thinking now that we have the first few BCS rankings of they season that I would write my two cents on how the NCAA can keep the BCS and have a playoff system. (Kind of like keeping the current health insurance system and adding the co-ops or exchanges to it.) Well, it turns out I wrote about this back in February and completely forgot about it. In fact, it was my second post on this blog.

Based on my the playoff matchups suggested in my post from February 4th and the BCS standings on October 25th, you would get the following matchups with the assumption that the highest ranked team in each conference will be the conference champ.

#1 Florida vs. #8 Georgia Tech (Orange Bowl)
#2 Texas vs. #7 Cincinnati (Sugar Bowl)
#3 Iowa vs. #6 Boise State (Fiesta Bowl)
#4 USC vs. #5 TCU (Rose Bowl)

If you're wondering where's Alabama, currently BCS #2, I'm using the higher ranked team from the SEC, which is Florida. If Alabama were to beat Florida, they would be #1. If TCU or Boise State were to drop out of the top 10 and no other mid-major team were to climb into the top ten, the spot would be Alabama's as an at-large team.

Let me know what you think.

Thomas Frank: Obama Is Right About Fox News - WSJ.com

Thomas Frank's most recent column in the Wall Street Journal has this accurately written blurb:

"To point out that this network is different, that it is intensely politicized, that it inhabits an alternate reality defined by an imaginary conflict between noble heartland patriots and devious liberals—to be aware of these things is not the act of a scheming dictatorial personality. It is the obvious conclusion drawn by anybody with eyes and ears."

Thomas Frank: From John Birchers to Birthers - WSJ.com

I missed this last week. An interesting column by Thomas Frank in last week's Wall Street Journal about a prescient piece written four and a half decades ago.

Fox News and Shepard Smith Earlier Today

I saw something earlier today on Fox News that actually surprised me. At the top of the 3:00PM hour, anchor Shepard Smith was reporting stories about the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races. When he went to the reporter covering the Chris Christie campaign, the reporter had actually managed to get Chris Christie on the air for a brief interview. After completing the interview, Smith asked the reporter when Gov. Corzine would be interviewed. When the reporter replied that they were still waiting to hear back from the Corzine campaign, Smith said he had no idea the interview was to take place, apologized to the television audience that it happened, and said that if he had control of the situation, it would not have taken place at all.

I'm not sure if video of that segment is stored or saved on YouTube somewhere, but is it possible that by criticizing Fox News (appropriately so, in most cases) any responsible journalists on the network are actually losing their credibility? I've subscribed to the Alan Colmes podcast for months now and although he is put in an awkward situation as a liberal working for Fox News, he often cites Shepard Smith by name when defending the news programming on Fox News and distinguishing it from the opinion programming.


Updated: the video was posted on YouTube:

Should the NBA age restriction be eliminated?

Interesting op-ed in today's New York Times. It makes some sense, especially if more players like Brandon Jennings of the Milwaukee Bucks opt to play professionally in Europe instead of the NCAA. Of course, when I read about high school players jumping straight to the NBA, I always remember the name Korleone Young.

Is Fox News Un-American?

An article from last week's Newsweek. (Apologies for the mobile link; I originally posted this from my BlackBerry.)

The O'Garbage Factor
http://mobile.newsweek.com/detail.jsp?key=80113&rc=camp2008&p=0&all=1