Except it's already been done this week by NY Times;
The Government Accountability Office, echoing the Bush administration’s conclusions, said that a cost-effective departure system may not emerge for five to 10 years. And so, after spending $1.7 billion since 2003 on the U.S. Visit program, the administration will keep doing what it has been doing at the nation’s land exits, which is basically nothing.
....the same people who make lofty arguments for things like sealed borders tend to disappear when the discussion gets down to the nitty-gritty of trade-offs and acceptable costs. Washington has tons of people who want to keep out terrorists and illegal immigrants, but far fewer who want to commit the time and money to a realistic discussion of how to do that. The Bush administration says that keeping Americans safe at home is the overriding mission of our time. But it has allowed distractions to get in the way, like invading Iraq, cutting taxes for rich people and minimizing disruptions to everyday life for everyone not in the military.
and Wall Street Journal, in an editorial which is apparently named for Tancredo, Not Very Swift;
Immigration restrictionists would have us believe that harassing businesses like Swift, the world's second-largest beef and pork processor, helps make America safer. But so far the Swift raids haven't uncovered any al Qaeda cells, merely a bunch of hard-working people trying to feed their families. The operation involved more than 1,000 federal agents in six states. And of Swift's 15,000 or so employees, a grand total of 144 have been charged to date with misidentifying themselves to get hired.
Put another way, 1,000 federal agents that could have been focused on potential terrorists or other dangerous threats were instead focused on a meat packing company that hires thousands of willing unskilled workers and pays them more than twice the minimum wage with full health benefits after six months. How's that for government efficiency?
...Undocumented aliens who commit other crimes are already referred to the feds. But state and local authorities typically don't make arrests on civil immigration violations and for the most part aren't interested in being deputized to do so. Police departments from Miami to Chicago to Sacramento say that a relationship with communities based on mistrust and fear of deportation would only make their job more difficult when it comes to preventing and solving serious crimes.
1. I lived for a few months in a chambre de bonne on the 6th floor of a building on Rue du Fleurus in Paris ... the same building in which Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas lived (a bit earlier...)
2. I play piano and guitar (but not much of the latter)
3. I know all 63 prepositions by heart
4. My best 1650 freestyle time was about 17:40. Thirty+ years ago (yikes!)
5. I've kayaked solo around Mount Desert Isle in Maine a few times, non-stop. About 50+ miles in total each time. Any joiners?
So, you're it; Brad Feld, Fred Wilson, Don Dodge, Joi Ito, and (oops, too late for Charlene Li!) Ross Mayfield.
]]>Shout out to the NewsGator crowd, though; we called it at about 8 AM -- too late to prevent almost half the staff from fighting their way into work.
We chased the last ones out around 4 PM ... some folks had six hour commutes home (there is a great blog posting coming about a mini, coding, and executive relief on US 36 north of town...)
Here's hoping everyone's safe ... and all share their tales....
]]>In an interview with The Washington Post, Bush said he has asked his new defense chief, Robert Gates, to report back to him with a plan to increase ground forces. The president did not say how many troops might be added, but said he agreed with officials in the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill that the current military is being stretched too thin to deal with demands of fighting terrorism.
This is the true face of the PlayStation 3 debut in Japan. Hardcore gamers are not here waiting in line overnight, buying a first-run PS3, and running home to play some good old next-gen gaming. Rather, opportunistic Japanese businessmen have the largest presence, hiring poor Chinese men and women to wait in line for a PS3, one which will later be sold on web auctions to wealthy gamers around the world for exorbitant amounts of money.
While this kind of news may not make the mainstream media in Japan, it will get back to Sony as Sony executives certainly read Kotaku.
Environment; oil consumption; fair-vs-free trade: even at the level of competition for entry to elite American universities ... it's going to be all about China....
The data is being used by the right to argue for abolishing affirmative action;
...Don Joe, an attorney and activist who runs Asian-American Politics, an Internet site that tracks enrollment, puts the average proportion of Asian-Americans at 25 top colleges at 15.9% in 2005, up from 10% in 1992.
More data;
A friend of mine owns a textile company. Over the years, he's had to migrate the bulk of his manufacturing to China, in order to keep his costs low enough to earn any profit.
I believe his Chinese operations employ on the order of 650 people now.
They have all left their families elsewhere to work extreme hours to make some money.
On top of which, corruption at all levels -- a few points of payola to all levels of officialdom, to keep the doors open.
This is our competition now, folks.
]]>Mr. Bush emerged from his hotel for only one nonofficial event, a 15-minute visit to the Joint P.O.W./M.I.A. Accounting Command, which searches for the remains of the 1,800 Americans still listed as missing in the Vietnam War.
There were almost no Vietnamese present, just a series of tables displaying photographs of the group’s painstaking work, and helmets, shoes and replicas of bones recovered by the 425 members of the command. He asked a few questions and then sped off in his motorcade.
It could not have been more different from the visit of another president, Bill Clinton, exactly six years ago this weekend, when he seemed to be everywhere.
And while the difference says much about the personalities of two presidents who both famously avoided serving in the war here, it reveals a lot about how significantly times have changed — and perhaps why America’s “public diplomacy” seems unable to shift into gear.
In 2000, tens of thousands of Hanoi’s residents poured into the streets to witness the visit of the first American head of state since the end of the Vietnam War. Mr. Clinton toured the thousand-year-old Temple of Literature, grabbed lunch at a noodle shop, argued with Communist Party leaders about American imperialism and sifted the earth for the remains of a missing airman.
On Saturday, Mr. Bush’s national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, conceded that the president had not come into direct contact with ordinary Vietnamese, but said that they connected anyway.
China’s thirst for Myanmar’s vast resources has undermined nearly a decade of U.S. economic sanctions.
The official added: "Bush has said 'no' to withdrawal, so what else do you have? The Baker report will be a set of ideas, more realistic than in the past, that can be used as political tools. What they're going to say is: lower the goals, forget about the democracy crap, put more resources in, do it."
One of the great benefits of the election result has been much more mainstream media genuine discourse about options in Iraq -- media operating with less fear, now.
Heard a smart interview with a Colonel who is a long-term strategist, on NPR today, in which he essentially said we need to keep 20,000 advisors there for at least a decade, and those plus current levels through to a draw-down to the 20k number for the next three years --- in order to avoid absolute chaos if we withdraw immediately.
He acknowledged that it would be chaos because of the mess we've created, but argues that we can't leave it to chaos just because it was our fault in the first place...
]]>1. I"m sad and disappointed that Colorado continues to limit equal rights for some. Colorado's Referendum i ,which would have allowed same-sex couples the same rights that every other citizen is provided, failed. (More on this below, but I'm sure Hickenlooper is anguishing about whether his failures contributed to this Referendum's defeat....)
We still have a long way to go educating our citizens about the principles of basic fairness enshrined in our Bill of Rights....
2. Rumsfeld leaving, Gates coming. Clear signal we're back to Bush I realpolitik... the whole Scowcroft/Baker crowd is now running foreign policy.
I've never felt Rumsfeld was substantially or primarily to blame for the Iraq mess, the buck just passes by that post. More generally, I wish he'd had more success restructuring the military. That's fundamentlal to getting our outlandish outmoded weapons costs under some control, without which it will be very tough to deal with other costly issues like health care and retirement benefits...
3. Bush' Speech. He should have made it two weeks ago -- -bet the Republicans would have kept at least the Senate.
4. The Denver voting mess. Hickenlooper completely screwed this up. While I think the City Auditor's alarmism on the voting centers was too histrionic to be effective a few months ago, an effective executive should have managed this well enough to avoid the problems. Some of the problems were completely avoidable and predictable --- running the computers that vetted ID's off the same server that city employees use was completely inane.
I'd like to see an analysis as to whether any issues or candidates were flipped due to voters unable to vote, and I'm curious as to the legal recourse if so...
More generally, Hickenlooper had best insure he's surrounded by competent managers going forward...
5. Trust in the process. I've been cynical since the GOP tried to overturn the popular will by impeaching Clinton (end of my Republican tendencies) and much more so after Katherine Harris, the suited GOP thugs, and the right-wing Supremes cabaled behind closed doors to give Bush the country in 2000 .... Diebold and a single party country run by ideologues who clearly valued power over the Constitution... well, I've assumed the worst.
But it appears that the popular will has been able to overcome money, gerrymandering, illegal smear campaigns, and voter suppression ... which means an entire generation of Americans will believe again that our American democracy can work.
This is vital to me -- I've seen my children grow up to believe that dissent will be punished, and that those with opposing views have no voice.
Late last night I talked to my son on the phone. He was staying up late to track results. He was excited, proud, energized, interested, engaged.
For the first time in years, my 13 year-old believes in the system...(update -- a 24 year-old expresses it well...)
6. Progressives mobilizing marvelously. I think the key to success in these efforts has been their sophistication.
Trailhead raised more money than all the other Colorado 527s combined, but was frustrated at every turn by fast-moving, new-media savvy small groups and individuals who could respond and rebut every tactic before it could get traction.
Best example; the collective response to Beauprez' attack ads on Ritter. Within hours of the news that Beauprez' campaign had illegal access to the NCIC database, the mainstream media was forced to investigate and report, because the people's media was generating massive blog, email, and IM traffic. Beauprez' attacks were hurting Ritter, but Beauprez lost the entire campaign over the next two weeks by having to play defense (and fumbling that entirely). While Ritter's campaign was responding, it was the citizens' media (which also fostered and promulgated Both Ways Bob) that coined and disseminated BeauprezGate within hours... (consider Allen's Macaca-moment, YouTubed everywhere in moments...)
It didn't work everywhere, and money matters; Paccione didn't have enough dosh to respond to the personal attack ads fast enough; Winter never had the cash to take on Tancredo (though his campaign was much better than Conti's, and I think it would be great if Bill keeps pushing for two more years -- Tancredo is Colorado's worst citizen, and that needs continued focus...); Fawcett probably didn't have enough money fast enough either (though it seems that that district would vote a dead elephant in before a non-Republican. I think in fact they just did...)
7. As goes Colorado's GOP, so goes the country's.... The ideological, holier-than-thou, hate-immigrant wing has meant that the faces of the Colorado GOP in DC are Marilyn Musgrave, Tom Tancredo, and Doug Lamborn. (Oops, almost forgot Wayne Allard, how could that possibly happen ... ) No Reagan conservative in this state is proud to have that crowd represent their values....
Corrollary; the GOP can lose more here before they get back on track. Look at what happened to the GOP in Ohio and New York -- an even greater local wipeout than here. The Republicans won't be voted back in numbers until they stop spewing hate-mongering extremists out of their primaries...
8. Thank goodness for multi-party power in D.C. This is so extraordinarily vital in an era when the Executive branch has been on a mission to usurp authority of the other branches. We have been on a fastpath toward an undemocratic America that our founding fathers would never have accepted or recognized. Thank goodness that trend has been stopped dead for now...
9. Where's Wayne?? Allard, that is. The least effective Senator was also the most invisible during this last campaign season. Any sightings??
I know my Republican friends are downcast right now, but I firmly believe that the probability of progress on the issues that matter to every American is infinitely greater today than it was yesterday...
---
It looks like this is Rove's secret weapon --- expensive robo-calling across the country to Democratic voters, threatening the voters and lying about who is making the calls. (Note; mainstream media won't report on the Rove strategy... more on their refusal to discuss fact NRCC is coordinating and funding mass harass-calls ...)
Listen to this robocall (.WAV) being sent to Virginia voters:
Tim Daly from Clarendon got a call saying that if he votes Tuesday, he will be arrested. A recording of his voicemail can be found online at: www.webbforsenate.com/media/phone_message.wav.
The transcript from his voicemail reads:
"This message is for Timothy Daly. This is the Virginia Elections Commission. We've determined you are registered in New York to vote. Therefore, you will not be allowed to cast your vote on Tuesday. If you do show up, you will be charged criminally."
Daly has been registered to vote in Virginia since 1998, and he has voted for the last several cycles with no problem. He has filed a criminal complaint with the Commonwealth's attorney in Arlington.
More from the Webb campaign (from an email):
Widespread Calls, Allegedly from "Webb Volunteers," Telling Voters that their Polling Location has Changed.
A couple of examples:
a. Norman Cox has been registered to vote in the same location in Arlington since 1972. Someone from a 406 number (in Montana) called to tell him that his polling place has changed. [Note: The Webb Campaign is NOT making any such phone calls.] Cox said he believed that he was being mislead and the caller hung up.
b. Peter Baumann in Cape Charles, VA (North Hampton) got a similar call from a "Webb volunteer" saying his polling location had changed. He said: No, I'm a poll worker and I know where I vote. The girl--who was calling from California--hung up.
The Secretary of the State Board of Elections Jean Jensen has logged dozens of similar calls, finding heavy trends in Accomack County (middle peninsula) and Essex County (outer peninsula) [as reported by the counties' registrars].
Will America's vote count tomorrow, beyond the GOP's huge advantage in money, suppress-the-vote ... dirty tricks, and control of all branches of the government?
If not, how will the citizenry respond??
]]>In an editorial on Monday, a group of military publications — the Army Times, Air Force Times, Navy Times, and Marine Corps Times — will call on Rumsfeld to resign: “It is one thing for the majority of Americans to think Rumsfeld has failed. But when the nation’s current military leaders start to break publicly with their defense secretary, then it is clear that he is losing control of the institution he ostensibly leads.”
…we’ve got the basic strategy right.” Cheney added, “It may not be popular with the public — it doesn’t matter…We’re not running for office.”
CHENEY: ELECTION RESULTS WILL NOT CAUSE CHANGE OF DIRECTION IN IRAQ; 'FULL SPEED AHEAD'...
VANITY FAIR: NEOCONS TURN ON BUSH...