Selling Houses: Slightly More Fun Than Dental Work

Selling Houses: Slightly More Fun Than Dental Work

We have the house sold. We went back and forth with the buyer on price, and while the selling price is still pretty disappointing, it isn't quite as bad as the initial offer. If I had an engineering job right now, I would probably have rejected it out of hand--but who knows how long it will be before I can get a job?

UPDATE: Just to clarify--this isn't the new house with the view of the Payette River Valley. It is the old house in suburban Boise.

The Senate's Version of the Bailout

The Senate's Version of the Bailout

I was watching CNN a few minutes ago, and one of their reporters was saying that the Senate is going to pass a bailout bill--but with "sweeteners" added to encourage the House to go along--individual items that are very popular, and therefore will allow House members to run ads emphasizing all the good things that were in the bill.

Some of the "sweeteners" are at least marginally related to financial institutions--such as increasing the FDIC insurance limit from $100,000 to $250,000. Oh yes, lots of ordinary Americans have more than $100,000 in the bank--you can see why this is so important!

Other "sweeteners," whatever their merits, simply have nothing to do with the bailout--such as requiring mental health parity on insurance coverage.

No bailout. As some members of the House pointed out yesterday, there's no point in a bailout until the core problem--the government forcing lenders to make subprime mortgages--gets fixed.

Amazing What These Fools Say

Amazing What These Fools Say

I am suddenly getting emails in which liberals expose their misogyny, and don't even realize it:

Here is a bold great directional idea for your next article. Why not a personal interview with the Democratic presidential candidate and his VP? What? You are not big enough in circulation to be able to get a personal interview with Obama himself. In fact, you don’t even have a personal interview article with McCain and the dumb broad VP sidekick. You know, the picture of that dumb broad looking down the site of a rifle really does scare me. She is liable to shoot one of your kids by mistake. [emphasis added]

You know, when someone uses phrases like "dumb broad," it really says quite a bit about them, doesn't it? I wasn't quite sure what to make of the claims by Senator Clinton's backers that the Obama campaign was misogynistic, but I see emails like this, and I am more inclined to agree.

UPDATE: A reader points out that "site of a rifle" suggests that in spite of claiming to be a gun owning, church going Republican, the writer probably isn't any of those things. Back in 2004, the musician Moby encouraged other liberals like himself to misrepresent themselves in chat rooms and online forums as disgruntled Republicans.

Some People Are So Articulate

Some People Are So Articulate

The subject line of the email said:

You are a moron

There was no message body, except for the standard email signature block, identifying that the sender is a mechanical engineer. And this warning after that:

This e-mail message from Apex Drive Laboratories, Inc. is for the sole use of the intended recipient and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.

Which confidential and privileged information do you think it refers to? My moronicity?

Be Careful What You Wish For...You May Get It

Be Careful What You Wish For...You May Get It

I have been saying to myself for some time, "You know, even a low-ball offer on the old house would be fine--say, $10,000 below what we are asking." Well, we got an offer--and it was breathtaking how far below the list price it was. And from someone who is still working at HP. At this point, even some insulting low-ball offers on the house would be better--and would get accepted.

Eclipse Experts Out There?

Eclipse Experts Out There?

I'm trying to do something that ought to be really simple: tell Eclipse where to find a Java class. I have two classes, in two separate files (as Java generally prefers): ButtonDialog and ContextSensitiveHelp. ContextSensitiveHelp has the main; ContextSensitiveHelp needs to be able to find ButtonDialog class. When I run ContextSensitiveHelp, ClassNotFound exception happens.

Outside of Eclipse, this would be easy: set CLASSPATH to include the directory where both of these classes are located. But this is Eclipse--not so simple, it seems.

I've already discovered that Project->Properties->Java Build Path only tells Eclipse where to look for what to build; it doesn't set the CLASSPATH so that ContextSensitiveHelp can find ButtonDialog at runtime. So Run->Run Configurations takes me to a tab that lets me set the CLASSPATH--but both ContextSensitiveHelp and ButtonDialog are in the same directory. What am I missing?

UPDATE: It appears that the CLASSPATH started finding ButtonDialog after I closed Eclipse and restarted it. This is a bit surprising.

No Gun Involved...

No Gun Involved...

But noteworthy because of the premeditation involved, and the positive outcome of what would otherwise have been a horrendous crime. From the September 28, 2008 channel 6 in Indianapolis:

David Meyers (pictured), 52, was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after officers arrived following a report of a home invasion in the 3500 block of West 79th Street at about 3:20 a.m.Officers said they found Robert McNally, 64, on the floor with his arm around the neck of Meyers, struggling to hold him down.

When officers told McNally he could let go, they found that Meyers was unresponsive. Medics who were called to the scene then pronounced Meyers dead.

Indianapolis police Sgt. Matt Mount said Meyers had come into the home naked, except for a mask and latex gloves.

"He had rope, had a knife, had condoms, had a gag," Mount said.

Police said Meyers had gotten into the home through a window next to the girl's bedroom and that he knew the home well because his uncle owns it and he was an acquaintance of the family.

If you are wondering why this monster brought condoms with him, it wasn't concern about the victim. It's a way of making sure that you don't leave evidence that could get you convicted (as with the latex gloves). I have to explain that because there are a lot of very, very naive people out there. As a former co-worker explained once, for why no one should be allowed to own guns, "Why, there's all sorts of perfectly innocent reasons why someone might break into your home! Perhaps there's been a traffic accident, and he needs medical supplies!" (He claimed to be serious about this.)

This wasn't Meyers' first time in trouble with the law:

Meyers was a registered sex offender and was released from prison two years ago after he had served 10 years of a 20-year sentence for criminal confinement and sexual deviate conduct stemming from a case in Hamilton County.Meyers was also being sought in Boone County for failure to register as a sex offender.

There are some people that need to go inside, and stay there.

More Scandal Involving the Housing Disaster

More Scandal Involving the Housing Disaster

I've mentioned before that Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) has made some embarrassing statements to justify not cleaning up the mortgage mess before it became a crisis. This column by Jeff Jacoby in the September 28, 2008 Boston Globe has more on Frank's desire to see minorities with poor credit histories get houses:

As long as housing prices kept rising, the illusion that all this was good public policy could be sustained. But it didn't take a financial whiz to recognize that a day of reckoning would come. "What does it mean when Boston banks start making many more loans to minorities?" I asked in this space in 1995. "Most likely, that they are knowingly approving risky loans in order to get the feds and the activists off their backs . . . When the coming wave of foreclosures rolls through the inner city, which of today's self-congratulating bankers, politicians, and regulators plans to take the credit?"
Frank doesn't. But his fingerprints are all over this fiasco. Time and time again, Frank insisted that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in good shape. Five years ago, for example, when the Bush administration proposed much tighter regulation of the two companies, Frank was adamant that "these two entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not facing any kind of financial crisis." When the White House warned of "systemic risk for our financial system" unless the mortgage giants were curbed, Frank complained that the administration was more concerned about financial safety than about housing.
Now that the bubble has burst and the "systemic risk" is apparent to all, Frank blithely declares: "The private sector got us into this mess." Well, give the congressman points for gall. Wall Street and private lenders have plenty to answer for, but it was Washington and the political class that derailed this train. If Frank is looking for a culprit to blame, he'll find one suspect in the nearest mirror.

But there may have been more involved than just Frank's desire to see minorities getting houses. This September 24, 2008 article from the Business & Media Institute reports:

The media coverage of Frank’s coziness with Fannie Mae and his pro-Fannie Mae stances has been lacking. Of the eight appearances Frank made on the three broadcasts networks between Jan. 1, 2008, and Sept. 21, 2008, none of his comments dealt with the potential conflicts of interest. Only six of the appearances dealt with the economy in general and two of those appearances, including an April 6, 2008 appearance on CBS’s “60 Minutes” were about his opposition to a manned mission to Mars.
Frank has argued that family life “should be fair game for campaign discussion,” wrote the Associated Press on Sept. 2. The comment was in reference to GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and her pregnant daughter. “They’re the ones that made an issue of her family,” the Massachusetts Democrat said to the AP.

The news media have covered the relationship in the past, but there have been no mentions since 2005, according to Nexis and despite the collapse of Fannie Mae. The July 3, 1998, Reliable Source column in The Washington Post reported Frank, who is openly gay, had a relationship with Herb Moses, an executive for the now-government controlled Fannie Mae. The column revealed the two had split up at the time but also said Frank was referring to Moses as his “spouse.” Another Washington Post report said Frank called Moses his “lover” and that the two were “still friends” after the breakup.

Frank was and remains a stalwart defender of Fannie Mae, which is now under FBI investigation along with its sister organization Freddie Mac, American International Group Inc. (NYSE:AIG) and Lehman Brothers (NYSE:LEH) – all recently participants in government bailouts. But Frank has derailed efforts to regulate the institution, as well as denying it posed any financial risk. Frank’s office has been unresponsive to efforts by the Business & Media Institute to comment on these potential conflicts of interest.

While the relationship reportedly ended 10 years ago, Frank was serving on the House Banking Committee the entire 10 years they were together. The committee is the primary House body which along with the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) has jurisdiction over the government-sponsored enterprises.

Let me emphasize: Frank's homosexuality isn't the issue. If Rep. Frank's sexual relationship was with a Fannie Mae executive name Jane Moses, it would raise just as many questions about his integrity.

Tires

Tires

The rear tires on the Corvette needed replacing, and I held off as long as I could--but a light misting would be enough to cause serious traction problems, so I had some new tires put on Friday.

Regular readers may recall that almost three years ago, I replaced the Goodyear F1 Eagle runflats that are the factory recommended tire with Michelin Pilot Sport A/S runflats. They were dramatically quieter and less harsh than the Goodyears, although not quite as crisp in handling.

I had two rear Goodyears with a few thousand miles left on them which I had tried to sell on eBay--without success. My wife thought that it was silly to have kept them, but when the rear Michelins wore out a few months, I discovered that I couldn't get replacements! There was a temporary shortage, so I had the old Goodyears put on a few months back, and they worked well (although noisily and harshly) in the meantime.

Anyway, when it came time to order up some rear tires, TireRack.com showed both the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S and the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S Plus. The only apparent difference was that the Plus was $3 per tire more--and the UTQG wear rating suggested that I would get about 20% more mileage from the Plus. That was an easy choice! They didn't have them in the Nevada warehouse, but they were willing to split the difference on shipping between the Indiana and Nevada warehouses, so it was still a very decent deal.

Anyway, as with the Pilot Sport A/S, the Plus is distinctly quieter and less harsh than the Goodyears--and a bit less precise. As tread on tires wear, handling usually improves a bit--so I am comparing full tread Michelins with Goodyears with effectively no tread. Still, I am inclined to think that even if the difference in handling has little to do with the tread depth, it was a reasonable tradeoff. I'm not racing this car; I'm using it to run errands. Under those conditions, gran turismo is more important than the difference between 0.90g and 0.95g lateral acceleration.

How Can You Tell You've Upset An Idaho Liberal?

How Can You Tell You've Upset An Idaho Liberal?

When you find that someone has subscribed you to email lists for repulsive gay pornography.

I suppose that this could be just random spam, but it appears that someone signed me up for this--and that sounds like the kind of stunt that I have learned to expect from the degenerates who represent the Idaho Democratic Party in the blogosphere.

More About Illegal Aliens and the Housing Crisis

More About Illegal Aliens and the Housing Crisis

I mentioned previously Michelle Malkin's assertion that illegal aliens are at least a significant part of the subprime mortgage disaster--which is logical. Part of the strategy to empower minorities was to ignore bad or no credit history--and if there is anything that an illegal alien is likely to have, it is no credit history. Remember: they aren't here legally--and many are working under false names and Social Security numbers.

I heard from a realtor who tells me that he can't even hint at asking if someone looking to buy a house is illegal, although his first client volunteered the information that he was illegal. He tells me that the federal government sends around teams pretending to look for houses specifically to make sure that realtors aren't asking about immigration status--and mortgage companies are in a similar situation.

Gee, can anyone see why illegal aliens might be poor credit risks on mortgages?

• At any time, the federal government might stumble across an illegal alien, and actually deport them. (Okay, the odds are very tiny, but it could still happen.)
• An employer might have to fire an illegal alien, if the federal government started asking questions.
• Because illegal aliens are disproportionately poorly paid, it seems very likely that any significant increase in interest rates on adjustable mortgages would make it hard to make the payments.
• Even Americans whose command of English is perfect managed to get in over their heads because of sleazy mortgage companies, an inability to think six months ahead, and general shortsightedness. Do you suppose having a limited command of English might aggravate these problems?

Just Too Good To Be True

Just Too Good To Be True

Not the implications that Obama has some skeletons in the closet, but the prospect of Rezko turning before the election. From the September 27, 2008 Chicago Sun-Times (thanks to Crime File News for the pointer):

Just weeks before he is to be sentenced, political fund-raiser Tony Rezko is in the midst of intense discussions with federal investigators, sources close to the investigation confirmed to the Chicago Sun-Times.
There’s no question federal authorities are interested in Rezko, a former top adviser and fundraiser to Gov. Blagojevich, as a federal witness. But one source who spoke on the condition of anonymity, warned it’s too early to call the discussions full-fledged cooperation.
Already, however, Rezko has provided information to the feds, who are in the process of vetting it, sources said.
...
The implications of Rezko’s cooperation are innumerable. His reach as a businessman, political adviser, real estate mogul and political fundraiser has the potential to take federal authorities from Springfield to Iraq.
Rezko not only was privy to inside meetings with the governor, but engaged in numerous real estate dealings with his wife, Patti.
The governor’s office has denied that the first lady’s business dealings with Rezko had anything to do with his influence in her husband’s administration.
Federal authorities have long sought Rezko’s cooperation in their ongoing probe into the governor.
A few months before his conviction, Rezko wrote a letter saying prosecutors were pressuring him to give them information on Blagojevich and White House hopeful Barack Obama. At that time, Duffy told the Sun-Times that Rezko had never met with, or spoken to prosecutors.
One source with knowledge of the investigation into the governor and into his wife Patti Blagojevich’s real estate dealings say the probe is going “at top speed.”

The fact is that a non-corrupt Chicago politician is in the leprechaun category: theoretically possible, but so unlikely that I won't generally worry about it. U.S. Attorney are appointed by the President, and are generally political animals. Even if Rezko didn't have any dirt on Obama (which is most unlikely), the U.S. Attorney would have a powerful incentive to find something--and Rezko, who has not yet been sentenced, has a powerful incentive to come up with something.

This is a serious problem with plea bargains, sentence recommendations, and all the rest of the deals that get made in criminal prosecutions. It creates enormous incentives to deceive and mislead. But it also creates enormous incentives to expose corruption that might otherwise not come to light.

Embarrassing Statements From Just A Few Years Ago

Embarrassing Statements From Just A Few Years Ago

It would be really nice if some of the Democrats making these statements several years back would lose the elections in November. After all, Republicans on these committees warned that there was some serious risk involved here--while some of the Democrats involved in this fiasco (who are Obama advisors today) were saying that there was essentially no risk to buying houses.

The Math Was Wrong; So's The Idea...

The Math Was Wrong; So's The Idea...

But there was an intriguing point hiding in an email I saw recently. The email suggested that instead of giving $800 billion to bail out a few Wall Street mortgage giants...why not bail out ordinary taxpayers. Doing the math correctly: $800 billion divided equally over 125 million households (which I think is about right) would be $64,000 each. I rather suspect that such a distribution would enable a tremendous number of Americans to make house payments until the economy recovers. For others, it would pay off their credit card debt and put tens of thousands into the bank. For quite a few who are currently renting, they would now have a down payment to buy one of those houses that are about to go into foreclosure...and perhaps reinvigorate the housing market.

Now, pretty obviously, this is a bad idea, because that money would have to come from somewhere. We would either have to print more money, and sell bonds--and then the true foolishness of giving $800 billion away becomes grossly apparent. But if we are going to do something truly foolish with $800 billion, I would rather see it spent on this, instead of making a bunch of rich but foolish Democrats even richer.

UPDATE: Whoops! Didn't put enough zeroes into the calculator, I guess. It would be $6400 per family. That's still a pile of money--and makes you realize how much this bailout was going to cost all of us.

Burning Down the House

Burning Down the House

This YouTube video is a partisan portrayal, but every major point it makes I have seen in other places--and it provides enough material for you to verify those major points. I can see why Democrats are so hot to get this bailout passed. A lot of Democrats--including Obama's top financial advisors--played critical roles in causing this disaster.

Spread it far and wide. It's fast paced enough to appeal to people that aren't big on reading (the average Obama supporter, I suspect).

UPDATE: Time-Warner got the video suppressed for copyright violation. A remix (which actually improves it a bit) is now at that location.

Linux: A Continuous Learning Opportunity!

Linux: A Continuous Learning Opportunity!

Between 6.06 and 8.04, it appears that how SAMBA works has changed a bit. Linux: a constantly moving target!

Wasps Again

Wasps Again

We have not had quite the struggle with them as last summer--perhaps because we hit them hard very early on--but we still have to deal with these aggressive and somewhat worrisome creatures. Now that the nights are getting cold, I am finding them clustered together for warmth on the outside of the house. I think this is a good sign; it means that they don't have a nest somewhere that they can enter to stay warm.

The combination of cold-induced lethargy and having them all so close together greatly simplifies getting them with the wasp spray. At the target distance, the spray is just a bit smaller than the size of their cluster, so that just a slight rotation is enough to kill the dozen or so wasps in one action.

Somewhere, I'm sure, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is putting me on their list of war criminals to be tried after the revolution, right alongside the global warming deniers, wearers of leather, Republicans, etc.

The Victims of the Housing Crisis

The Victims of the Housing Crisis

I was watching Lou Dobbs last night with a panel discussing the housing crisis and bailout of Wall Street. I was very pleased to see that it was possible for a bunch of talking heads to actually discuss something without trying to talk over each other.

One point that Lou Dobbs made that I think is quite important is that we really aren't getting any data on "the victims." There's a lot of screeching about people losing their homes, but he pointed out that a lot of the people that are in danger of losing their homes put nothing down to buy these homes. The only equity that such persons had in their homes was that which came from buying a house for $250,000, watching it soar to $325,000 in the 2005-2006 bubble--and now that home is only worth $225,000.

A person who put nothing down and is in danger of being foreclosed is only going to lose one thing: his credit history is going to have a black mark on it for being foreclosed. I feel a little for such people, but only a little. More than a few of these "subprime" mortgages went to people who could not document their incomes (because many didn't have the stated incomes) and in some cases, were illegal aliens. Michelle Malkin makes the point that the areas with the biggest problems on foreclosure have something in common:

It’s no coincidence that most of the areas hardest hit by the foreclosure wave – Loudon County, Virginia, California’s Inland Empire, Stockton, San Joaquin Valley, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, for starters — also happen to be some of the nation’s largest illegal alien sanctuaries. Half of the mortgages to Hispanics are subprime (the accursed species of loan to borrowers with the shadiest credit histories). A quarter of all those subprime loans are in default and foreclosure.
Regional reports across the country have decried the subprime meltdown’s impact on illegal immigrant “victims.” A July report showed that in seven of the 10 metro areas with the highest foreclosure rates, Hispanics represented at least one-third of the population; in two of those areas – Merced and Salinas-Monterey, Calif. – Hispanics comprised half the population. The amnesty-promoting National Council of La Raza and its Development Fund have received millions in federal funds to “counsel” their constituents on obtaining mortgages with little to no money down; the group almost succeeded in attaching a $10 million earmark for itself in one of the housing bills past this spring.
For the last five years, I’ve reported on the rapidly expanding illegal alien home loan racket. The top banks clamoring for their handouts as their profits plummet, led by Wachovia and Bank of America, launched aggressive campaigns to woo illegal alien homebuyers. The quasi-governmental Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority jumped in to guarantee home loans to illegal immigrants. The Washington Post noted, almost as an afterthought in a 2005 report: “Hispanics, the nation’s fastest-growing major ethnic or racial group, have been courted aggressively by real estate agents, mortgage brokers and programs for first-time buyers that offer help with closing costs. Ads proclaim: “Sin verificacion de ingresos ! Sin verificacion de documento !” — which loosely translates as, ‘Income tax forms are not required, nor are immigration papers.’”

Correspondents in California tell me that they are startled at how many of the foreclosures listed in the newspapers there have Hispanic names. If lenders were targeting illegal aliens for loans, this is not surprising.

Wall Street wants a bailout? The extent of my sympathy to them is that they were being pressured by Fannie Mae to extend loans to minorities whose credit histories, legal status, etc. might otherwise have prevented them from getting loans. But at a certain point you should be responsible and say, "Okay, we're not going to make loans to people who can't document their incomes. If we have to get out of the mortgage business, perhaps we should." But if large numbers of lenders did this, the same crowd that is now whining about Wall Street greed would have been whining about the "racism" of Wall Street. You can't win.

A number of commentators last night were pointing out that if mortgage lenders need some help, it should be loans, not taking over problem mortgages. If the federal government is going to take away obligations of lenders, I darn well expect them to take away assets, too. And to the extent that fraud played a part in how some of the officers earned their huge bonuses, those officers should be required to turn over those bonuses to the federal government. Of course, that would impoverish a lot of prominent Democrats, such as Mistress of Diaster Gorelick, so that isn't going to happen. Democrats hate "fatcats" except for the ones that actually run the party.

How Detailed An Answer Do You Want?

How Detailed An Answer Do You Want?

In a recent interview, someone asked me what "DHCP" stood for. I answered. Then I told him in detail how DHCP server/client interactions work, the broadcast message from the client, how every switch is supposed to rebroadcast it if they aren't a DHCP server, the DHCPOFFERED message coming back, and so on. Yes, I know what DHCP stands for, and bit more!

Ubuntu Linux Question

Ubuntu Linux Question

I've installed Ubuntu Linux 8.04 on an older Compaq NC6000 notebook. Everything is working extremely well except for one problem: the Atheros wireless interface doesn't seem to be working--and I know that I am not the only person having problems with this! This particular chipset, according to lspci, is the AR5212/5213 Multiprotocol MAC/baseband processor (rev 01). From the Network Tools application, I can ping my router just fine. From a terminal window, ifconfig ath0 shows no packets sent or received, no collisions, no errors--almost like nothing is being routed to it.

I suspect that part of the problem is the routing table. It has been some years since I fiddled with this stuff, and I am having a little trouble remembering how this works--and Google any combination of the words in question, and you will see that:

1. I am not alone on this.

2. There is a vast sea of possible pages to read.

The route command lets you add a default route, which controls to which interface to send packets that haven't matched up to any of the entries in the route table. So is the proper sequence to add the wired Ethernet interface, then the wireless interface, then the default interface?

UPDATE: Hmmm. Running dhclient ath0 ought to get an IP address from the DHCP server on the router--but no such luck. It it is broadcasting the DHCPDISCOVER request (which is supposed to be rebroadcast by everyone else in this subnet), but no one is responding. Since other wireless cards are successfully getting DHCP to respond, as is the wired Ethernet interface on this box, it makes me suspect that the wireless card isn't successfully broadcasting.

UPDATE 2: The Network Tools utility claims that I can ping through the wireless interface, but when I run ping -I ath0 192.168.1.1, which pings through the wireless interface--ping never gets a response. It is entirely possible that the Ubuntu 8.04 driver is non-functional on this.

UPDATE 3: Thanks for all the good suggestions. I did a reinstall so that I could use some of the suggestions that I received--and for some odd reason, the wireless interface is now working perfectly! I did make sure to run the Update Manager and make sure everything was up to date (which I thought I did on the first install). In any case, I'm blogging from the family room, so the wireless interface is working.

And Some More Interviews...

And Some More Interviews...

I have a phone interview Friday morning with a company in Reno, and even more exciting, a face-to-face interview with a company in Boise that seems to be a very, very close match for my skill set.

This Would Be Riotously Funny...

This Would Be Riotously Funny...

Except that it is perilously close to the truth. (If you are one of the only three people in history that have not received one of those Nigerian conman spams, you may not get this.)

Circulating on Wall Street:
SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

DEAR AMERICAN:

I NEED TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT AN URGENT SECRET BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH A TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF GREAT MAGNITUDE.

I AM MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA. MY COUNTRY HAS HAD CRISIS THAT HAS CAUSED THE NEED FOR LARGE TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF 800 BILLION DOLLARS US. IF YOU WOULD ASSIST ME IN THIS TRANSFER, IT WOULD BE MOST PROFITABLE TO YOU.

I AM WORKING WITH MR. PHIL GRAM, LOBBYIST FOR UBS, WHO WILL BE MY REPLACEMENT AS MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY IN JANUARY. AS A SENATOR, YOU MAY KNOW HIM AS THE LEADER OF THE AMERICAN BANKING DEREGULATION MOVEMENT IN THE 1990S. THIS TRANSACTIN IS 100% SAFE.

THIS IS A MATTER OF GREAT URGENCY. WE NEED A BLANK CHECK. WE NEED THE FUNDS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE CANNOT DIRECTLY TRANSFER THESE FUNDS IN THE NAMES OF OUR CLOSE FRIENDS BECAUSE WE ARE CONSTANTLY UNDER SURVEILLANCE. MY FAMILY LAWYER ADVISED ME THAT I SHOULD LOOK FOR A RELIABLE AND TRUSTWORTHY PERSON WHO WILL ACT AS A NEXT OF KIN SO THE FUNDS CAN BE TRANSFERRED.

PLEASE REPLY WITH ALL OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, IRA AND COLLEGE FUND ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND THOSE OF YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO WALLSTREETBAILOUT@TREASURY.GOV
SO THAT WE MAY TRANSFER YOUR COMMISSION FOR THIS TRANSACTION. AFTER I RECEIVE THAT INFORMATION, I WILL RESPOND WITH DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT SAFEGUARDS THAT WILL BE USED TO PROTECT THE FUNDS.

YOURS FAITHFULLY MINISTER OF TREASURY PAULSON

Great Moments in Stereotyping

Great Moments in Stereotyping

If you really want to know how deranged the Democratic Party has become, consider these remarks by Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) who was removed from the federal bench for soliciting bribes from defendants:

“If Sarah Palin isn’t enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention,” Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida said at a panel about the shared agenda of Jewish and African-American Democrats Wednesday. Hastings, who is African-American, was explaining what he intended to tell his Jewish constituents about the presidential race. “Anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks. So, you just think this through,” Hastings added as the room erupted in laughter and applause.

Can anyone explain to me why this form of bigotry--the assumption that gun owners and hunters would turn a blind eye to racism--is acceptable to Democrats? Imagine if a Republican gave a speech that claimed that Democrats don't care much about black bucks raping white women. Would such a politician get laughter and applause? Or shocked silence followed by boos?

Better Than "I Invented The Internet"

Better Than "I Invented The Internet"

Joe Biden's interview with CBS was pretty amazing:

"Part of what being a leader does is to instill confidence is to demonstrate what he or she knows what they are talking about and to communicating to people ... this is how we can fix this," Biden said. "When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed. He said, 'look, here's what happened.'"

As a number of people have pointed out:

And if you owned an experimental TV set in 1929, you would have seen him. And you would have said to yourself, "Who is that guy? What happened to President Hoover?"

Why do I think of the scene in Animal House?

D-Day: War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.
Bluto: Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.

And the Democrats accuse Republicans of not being too sharp?

Phone Interviews with HP Roseville This Afternoon

Phone Interviews with HP Roseville This Afternoon

My datacomm experience may come in handy after all.

I May Be On BBC Radio Today

I May Be On BBC Radio Today

BBC radio may be calling me to discuss this situation in Finland during the 11:00 AM (Mountain time) hour to discuss the problem of mass murder, guns, and deinstitutionalization. Guess what? The suspect (now dead of suicide) apparently came to the attention of police because of a disturbing YouTube video--but they didn't hold him. I think I can guess why. From Schizophrenia Bulletin:

Finland has experienced one of the most rapid psychiatric deinstitutionalization processes in the world. Since 1980, the use of psychiatric beds has decreased about one-third.

More On The Bailout

More On The Bailout

Adam Graham makes the case that Bill Sali (R-ID) and his unwillingness to support the bailout isn't just ideological, but sensible as well:

I actually didn’t think the AIG bail out was that bad. After all, AIG was being loaned money at an extremely high 11% interest rate. The idea of buying out all these mortgages under the terms of the proposed bail out, however, makes me queasy. Consider:

1. The Treasury Secretary is given $700 billion, no questions asked and no strings attached, to purchase mortgage securities. This isn’t like a Resolution Trust Corporation situation where these are purchased for Pennies on the dollar and sold at a profit. Instead, Paul Krugman points out, under the Carte Blanche terms of the proposal, it’s very well possible that we could end up paying a premium price for bad debts. Yes, I’m taking Paul Krugman seriously and even agreeing with him on this issue. No, pigs are not flying.
2. But what could be better than $700 billion bail out? How about a $700 bail out where the disbursement of the money is at the total discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury and subject to no review by any agency or the courts?
3. What could be better than a $700 billion bail out with no possibility of review by any federal agency or by the courts? How about if that bail also includes buying out bad mortgage debt from foreign banks? Why can’t their governments handle them? Or better yet, as the collapse of the U.S. Financial system would lead to global misery, why not shake down a few hundred billion dollars from foreign governments?
4. The bail out, as proposed, only encourages more bad behavior. Shielding companies from the effects of poor economic decisions with no repercussions encourages more bad decision making with the hope or more bailouts. At least AIG had some repercussions: An absurd interest rate on their loan and probable loss of dividends until this mess is cleaned up. The plan that’s coming from the White House gives companies no disincentive to avoid needing a future bail out.

A really nice editorial from the September 22, 2008 Investors Business Daily on the origins of the problem:

Barack Obama has repeatedly blasted "Bush-McCain" economic policies as the cause, as if the two were joined at the hip.

Funny, because over the past 8 years, those who tried to fix Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the trigger for today's widespread global financial meltdown — were stymied repeatedly by congressional Democrats.

This wasn't an accident. Though some key Republicans deserve blame as well, it was a concerted Democratic effort that made reform of Fannie and Freddie impossible.

The reason for this is simple: Fannie and Freddie became massive providers both of reliable votes among grateful low-income homeowners, and of massive giving to the Democratic Party by grateful investment bankers, both at the two government-sponsored enterprises and on Wall Street.

The result: A huge taxpayer rescue that at last estimate is approaching $700 billion but may go even higher.

This Is Starting To Get Depressing

This Is Starting To Get Depressing

The phone interview with a Utah company today? They never called. I turn in my badge and company notebook on Friday. Starting September 29, I am free to start work anywhere--but at this point, I have gobs of positive responses to my resume, but one interview only, and that's Thursday. (At least it is here in Boise.)

Belkin Wireless Router

Belkin Wireless Router

Or, the importance of getting your cabling right! I had my wife pick up a Belkin wireless router at Target on her way home. Are you old enough to remember when you had to call half a dozen computer stores before you could find one that even know what a "router" was? Installation was really rough--until I figured out that I had somehow created a loop where the Ethernet cable going to the bridge box that feeds my work notebook and the laser printer was now feeding back into the Belkin. If I had put a network analyzer on it, it would have been doubtless most amusing. Once that problem was solved, everything worked just fine.

Dialup

Dialup

While my wireless Internet service is still out, I am reduced to using dialup! For blogging, getting and responding to email, 36.8 kbps really isn't all that bad. The real loss involves uploads and downloads of large files. For example, one of law reviews couldn't find copies of British Cabinet papers from 1919-20 in their library (surprise, surprise). I fortunately scanned all these documents in when I did the research for this paper several years ago, and I emailing them right now--but when you are sending a document of this size, you wish that you had a broadband connection!

UPDATE: It turns out that the wireless router, perhaps because of the lightning storm Friday night, became a packetless router, as well. Very odd--even the tech guy from BitSmart was surprised to see the user interface responding through 192.168.1.1, but the far side interface was apparently not passing packets.

I'm using an older Linksys router that is not wireless as a stopgap measure--I suppose that I should have tried this before calling out BitSmart on this--although to be fair, this is the first time that I have had a failure of my equipment. Fortunately, just about everyone carries wireless routers now. I'm surprised that you can't get one with your Happy Meal.

The Bailout

The Bailout

I have not had much to say about this, since I have been a bit more worried about finding a job. Perhaps if the economy was as close to collapse as some people claim, it made sense. But I find myself wondering if the situation was really as bad as that. So much of the elite of this country has incentives to exaggerate the crisis, and the taxpayers make such a useful method of protecting rich idiots from their actions.

Several obvious problems: much of this was a conscious decision to loosen credit requirements so that minorities could become part of the "ownership society." It was a laudable goal, but the harsh reality is that the credit issues that disproportionately kept blacks and Hispanics out of the "ownership society" probably reflect cultural values associated with wealth creation. Lowering standards didn't solve those cultural problems, anymore than "race norming" test results makes everyone equal.

Whatever the government does on this bailout, I would hope that they would demand a big chunk of the potential profit--not just the risk. One of the bad things about fascism (which is what socialism that operates for the benefit of the wealthy really is) is that it socializes risks and costs but not profits. That's unacceptable--and probably why Obama and most other Democrats are part of the crowd that wants to bail out rich idiots--without demanding that the rich idiots lose their wealth.

Part of the other problem was that over the last 20 years, there has been a major division of mortage loan origination and mortgage loan carrying. I don't know all of what caused this, but I know that part of it was that quasi-governmental corporations like Fannie Mae were acting in the carrying capacity.

The Rosenbergs' Sons Face Reality

The Rosenbergs' Sons Face Reality

I mentioned early this month that one of Julius Rosenberg's co-conspirators finally came clean and admitted that he and Julius Rosenberg had, in fact, spied for the Soviet Union--to the shock and amazement of a whole generation of leftists. In spite of going along with proper leftist groupthink for many years, their sons have acknowledged that they can no longer pretend that their father was innocent. From September 17, 2008 MSNBC:

NEW YORK - After years of professing their parents' innocence, the sons of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are acknowledging that their father was a spy.

The about-face came after their father's co-defendant, Morton Sobell, admitted for the first time that he and Julius Rosenberg stole non-atomic military and industrial secrets for the Soviet Union.

...

Michael was 10 years old when his parents were executed. His brother, Robert, was 6. After living with a series of relatives, the boys were eventually adopted.

As adults, they sued the government for documents relating to their parents' case and worked to establish their innocence.

In separate interviews with the Times since Sobell's confession, the brothers said they concluded they could no longer claim their father was innocent of an espionage conspiracy. They still say, however, that any atomic bomb information he gave the Russians was at best superfluous, that the case against their parents was flawed and that neither deserved the death penalty.

I feel bad for them. They weren't responsible for what their parents did, and I can understand why they might have wanted to believe that their parents were unjustly accused. That's a very human reaction, especially since the innocence of the Rosenbergs has long been one of the shibboleths of leftist thought.

Those American Made Thresholds

Those American Made Thresholds

I mentioned last month that I had bought some rubber garage door thresholds from Harbor Freight to keep the rain out, and I was utterly shocked to discover that they were made in the USA. At that point, they looked like they would probably do the job, but without a real gully-washer, it was hard to say.

Well, we had the gully-washer over the weekend. Ordinarily after a rainstorm like that, we would have water under both doors--enough that it would take several hours to dry out. This time? We had just a little bit of water near the side of the south door--enough that if I hadn't been looking for it, I would not have noticed it.

In retrospect, the builder's solution of cutting drains in front of both doors, which did only a little bit of good on this, really was too expensive and too ugly. We should have just put the thresholds down instead.

Additions to the Web Site

Additions to the Web Site

I'm a bit lazy about adding popular magazine articles to the web site, but I've just added the following:

"The D.C. Suit Parade," Shotgun News, April 1, 2008, pp. 28-29

The most astonishing collection of amicus briefs on our side of D.C. v. Heller (2008)--and the relatively few amicus briefs filed on the other side.

"The Heller Oral Arguments," Shotgun News, May 1, 2008, pp. 24, 26

I went to D.C. for the oral arguments--and reasons for hope.

"Standards of Review," Shotgun News, June 1, 2008, pp. 22-24

What are "standards of review," and how does this apply to the Heller decision?

"Are You Clinging To Your Guns?" Shotgun News, July 1, 2008, pp. 22-23

What does Senator Obama really think of gun owners?

"President Obama and the Heller Decision" Shotgun News, August 1, 2008, pp. 20-21

How President Obama could--and probably would--make the Heller decision meaningless.

"The Heller Victory" Shotgun News, September 1, 2008, pp. 24-26

What the Heller decision really means for gun owners. The war isn't over--but we have won an impressive first battle.

Network Problems

Network Problems

The severe wind and lightning storm on Friday night seems to have taken out our wireless Internet service at home. I had to come down to Boise to run several errands, so I am working from the old house right now. You may see no activity and slow responses to email until we get this problem fixed.

Summer's Over!

Summer's Over!

It is pouring rain out there. I'm afraid that I can't put off replacing the rear tires on the Corvette any longer.

UPDATE: I ordered them up TireRack.com. I was planning to buy the Michelin Pilot A/S ZP, but there is a new Michelin Pilot A/S Plus ZP which, according to the tire grading standards, should have about 20% longer wear, for $4 more per tire. (Yes, I know about the problems with the tire grading standards and wear measurement, but it is at least likely that they will last a bit longer--and for $4 more, it is well worth it.)

No Microsoft, Apparently

No Microsoft, Apparently

I guess that they had plenty of more qualified applicants.

Readers Needed

Readers Needed

I am gettng ready to ship my manuscript on deinstitutionalization to my literary agent. I would like to get perhaps three or four readers to look over the manuscript. Ideally, one or two of the readers will be social workers, psychiatrists, doctors, or psychologists. (My daughter is now a licensed social worker, so I at least have that covered.) Some of the other readers will be people outside those professions.

I'm hoping to get comments and corrections on anything that looks factually incorrect, or where you might have some insights that I missed. Also, areas that aren't as clear as they need to be. Not surprisingly, everything that I wrote is clear to me!

Prosecutions for Child Obscenity

Prosecutions for Child Obscenity

The fire chief of one of our local fire districts here in Boise County was just sentenced to five years for possession. (I'm not using the phrase for what he possessed because a lot of spam filters will then make this blog invisible.) According to the September 17, 2008 Idaho World, Fire Chief Larry Sherril was caught because he was using a credit to purchase downloads--and when they searched his home, they found "5,252 sexually explicit images of prepubescent minors."

Some years ago, there was a rather outspoken Libertarian at a gun rights conference I went to who went way out of his way to criticize laws about such things, making the claim that there were all sorts of ways that a person might unknowingly download this trash. For example, someone might mail it to you--and by simply opening your email, you would be breaking the law. Or you might download it on your computer without knowing it. For example, it is very easy to set up a page that has a full-sized picture, but scaled down so that it takes only a single pixel. The picture would be downloaded to your computer--but you would not even see. As an example, there's a picture of Sarah Palin with a rifle simulator at the end of this paragraph. But I have specified that the picture is only one pixel wide--so you probably can't even see it.

Just so that you can tell that I am not making this up, here's the same picture ten pixels wide.

Now you know that there's a picture there.

So the point is valid: it is conceivable that you could download illegal pictures and not even know it--but I notice that just about all the cases that I see for federal prosecution start out with credit card charges to download this evil trash--which somewhat takes it out of the, "I have no idea how that got there" category.

Now, if the federal government were prosecuting cases simply based on finding pictures on someone's computer, I would regard that they don't have a very strong case. There are a lot of ways that this can happen. The example above. Or because you have failed to adequately secure your computer system against viruses or attacks through your firewall. And oddly enough, it appears that the federal government knows well enough not to pursue cases this weak.

Pop! That Was My Braining Exploding

Pop! That Was My Braining Exploding

RiteWing TechnoPagan reports about an email that he received asking women to show up at an anti-Palin protest:

What strikes me is, a group of women is gathering to sing about strong, invincible women in order to protest a .... strong .... invincible .... woman.

Go figure.

Job Interview Next Week!

Job Interview Next Week!

Finally! A Boise company has me going in for a job interview next Thursday!

I have spent the last day or two struggling with flu (or something similar), but I am finally feeling energetic again. I'm trying to finish up my next book, so that I can inflict it on my agent. I haven't really been working on this due to a combination of factors:

1. Once you have the research done for a book, polishing it and reorganizing it is the least interesting part. And this has been true for every book that I have written. It is rather like when you have a program working, and you then need to go back through and look for common code that needs to be factored out, correcting comments, and making sure that you have all the interfaces clearly described. It needs to be done, but it isn't very intellectually satisfying.

2. This book is rather emotional in places--it brings back some very painful memories.

3. I have been a little depressed over the layoff.

4. I have been focused on that which will provide me with a more immediate return of money for time. The last book had a big (absolutely shocking) advance on it, but most of my books, if you calculated earnings relative to time invested, would violate federal minimum wage law.

Anyway, I need to get my last Shotgun News before the election article written, and then finish this book up for my agent. Of course, that doesn't mean that it is ready for publication--I still need to have family members go over it for accuracy, but I can get the agent out shopping for a publisher while I process their comments and corrections.

More About Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy

More About Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy

It appears that there are others who are quite concerned about the shenanigans involving applications for H-1B visas, and for green cards for those who are already here on H-1B visas--and they make a rather important point:

I usually do NOT post articles here about employers being investigated or fined by the DOL for violating H-1B law or regulations. This may seem odd, as many of the anti-H-1B-visa activists are thrilled when such a thing occurs, but as I've mentioned many times, these incidents are NOT important, because the vast majority of employers are abusing the spirit of H-1B in FULL COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAW, due to loopholes. Indeed, I've pointed out that the industry lobbyists love these incidents, because it allows them to divert attention from the real issue, which is the loopholes. See http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/Archive/PascrellJohnsonDebate.txt

But the case described below is special, really special, because it involves the largest immigration law firm in the nation, Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, LLP. Mr. Fragomen literally "wrote the book" on H-1B, in fact lots of books on employer-sponsored immigration, all considered standard references (www.fragomen.com/resources/publications.shtml).

So when there is an audit, amounting to an accusation that the Fragomen firm may be violating the law on employer-sponsored green cards, this is of keen interest to me. Mind you, I do NOT think they did anything illegal--once again, they simply took advantage of loopholes--and I still have the same concern that this investigation will distract the H-1B/green card dialogue from the real issues. But I must say it's interesting for me to see Fragomen squirm.

And in fact the case actually highlights the central role that the loopholes play, as you'll see. The DOL says (see their statement enclosed below) that "The department has information indicating that in at least some cases the firm improperly instructed clients who filed permanent labor certification applications to contact their attorney before hiring apparently qualified U.S. workers." What does this really mean?

Recall "TubeGate," the set of videos posted on YouTube in which a prominent Pittsburgh law firm, Cohen and Grigsby, showed employers some of these vital loopholes I keep citing. (See the base posting on this (http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/Archive/YouTubeVideosH1B.txt and several others, titled LegalNewspaperViewOfTubeGate.txt, PittsburghYouTube.txt, TubeGateFirmReplies.txt and CohenAndGrigsbyPrevailingWage.txt in that same directory). In video 12, they show how to pay H-1Bs and greencard sponsorees below-market wages, in FULL COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAW. But it is video 9 that has gotten the most attention, as they show employers who wish to sponsor a foreign worker for a greencard how to avoid hiring American workers.

In those presentations, the Cohen and Grigsby firm promises to work with their clients, i.e. employers of foreign workers, to insure that the employers' goal is met--to avoid hiring Americans. That's basically what Fragomen seems to be accused of.

Yet as the ILW editorial, also enclosed below, points out, these employers are merely exercising their right to legal counsel. Sure, it's counsel regarding odious loopholes that undermine the putative intent of the law, but as long as the loopholes are there, the employers have the right to use them and to get advice from counsel as to how to do so. Their doing so is no different from using a good tax accountant who knows all the loopholes. Again, I think the whole thing is outrageous, but I really don't see that DOL has a case.

And indeed, a reader points me to this September 19, 2008 New York Law Journal article that indicates that the Dept. of Labor may have figured this out as well:

With no fanfare, the U.S. Department of Labor has dropped its controversial audit of 2,500 green card cases handled by the nation's largest immigration law firm, Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy.

The department had announced in June that it was auditing the permanent labor certification applications presented by Fragomen because it had information that, in at least some cases, "the firm improperly instructed clients who filed the applications to contact their attorney before hiring qualified workers."

If that were true, the department said in a press release, it would violate regulations limiting the involvement of an employer's lawyer when the employer is hiring an alien for skilled jobs -- regulations designed to ensure that American workers have priority.

But on Wednesday, the department did not issue a press release indicating the audit had been scrapped.

Instead, it issued a vague statement dated Sept. 17 under the "What's New" section of its Employment & Training Administration Web site.

The audit had stalled Fragomen's applications and angered the immigration bar. The firm sued the Labor Department in August in federal court in Washington, D.C., charging the audit was driven by a "radical and unprecedented interpretation" of department regulations and was an attempt by the government to "dictate both when employers can consult with their lawyers and what advice the lawyers can give."

In court papers, the firm also claimed the audit had "inflicted massive injury" on the firm's reputation.

Thursday, Convington & Burling partner Thomas Williamson, who represented Fragomen in the litigation, issued a statement on behalf of the firm saying it was pleased the department had "abandoned its blanket audit of Fragomen's previously-filed applications."

"Specifically, DOL concluded that its regulation and policy on attorney consideration of U.S. worker applicants as a part of PERM recruitment lacked clarity, so that audits triggered solely on the basis of the consideration rule would be released," Williamson said. "We are working with the Department and with the Department of Justice to move forward on the details of a resolution to our pending litigation."

The Housing Crisis Origins

The Housing Crisis Origins

Dr. John Lott has a piece that appeared on FoxNews.com on September 18, 2008, that explains some of the origins of the current housing crisis. At some of the items that he mentions I have seen verified in other places:

The stock market has fallen dramatically from its peak a year ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has declined by about 25 percent, a significant drop, though not anywhere near as large as the 36 percent drop that occurred over two months from August to October 1987. Few would argue, though, that the financial market is not in a mess.

Meanwhile the economy has kept growing. In the second quarter of this year from April to June, GDP grew at a fairly fast 3.3 percent. For the first half of this year GDP has grown at about 2.2 percent, near the historical average. Obviously some sectors of the economy have been doing well, while others, such as housing, have been in a real mess.
With the government takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae as well as other bankruptcies in the financial sector, there are a lot of questions. The strangest fact is that the housing sector is having such problems when the economy otherwise has been doing well. Why have there been so many defaults when the economy has not been in a recession? Defaults have been at historically high rates despite reasonable economic growth and a relatively low unemployment rate of 6.1 percent.
Some, such as James H. Carr, the CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, argue that the high default rates are a result of "unfair and deceptive practices, steering customers to high price loans . . . High upfront payments made it so that they couldn't later pay their mortgages."
Surprisingly, research done by economists a decade ago in 1998, particularly by Professors Ted Day and Stan Liebowitz at the University of Texas at Dallas, predicted the current problems and tried to warn people of a different cause. Starting during the early 1990s, mortgage-underwriting standards have been consistently weakened. Many of the names involved in the forefront of those changes, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae as well Countrywide and Bear Stearns, , have been the most prominent financial entities to become insolvent.
Others did not share these economists' concerns. The Wall Street Journal quoted Congressman Barney Frank in 2003 as criticizing Greg Mankiw, chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, "because he is worried about the tiny little matter of safety and soundness rather than ‘concern about housing.'"
The changes in underwriting standards were pushed to accomplish what many called a "noble goal" -- an increase in home ownership among poor and minority Americans -- but the changes created a time bomb that was set off as soon as property values began to decline. The new rules involved eliminating verification of income or assets, little assurance of the ability to pay the mortgage, and virtually eliminating down payments.

When The Police Arrive...

When the Police Arrive...

Make sure that you identify yourself, do not approach them, and keep your gun aimed away from them.

From the September 18, 2008 Tucson Citizen:

PHOENIX - Phoenix police say one of their officers shot and wounded a man who had been holding a burglar at gunpoint inside his home.

...

Arriving officers found a screaming woman who had fled the last home with two children while her mate confronted the intruder.

Thompson says officers went inside, ordered everyone out and saw the armed resident coming down a hallway. One officer shot the 35-year-old man several times, but he's expected to survive.

Officers then detained the intruder.

I can see how the police may have been confused about who was the burglar. Under the circumstances, a mistake like this is easy to make.

Afghanistan Skateboarding

Afghanistan Skateboarding

My son, who is a skateboarder, sent this to me. It's a Time magazine report about skateboarding in Afghanistan. I'm sure the Taliban would not have approved!

More Curious (And Perhaps Illegal) Job Postings In Boise

More Curious (And Perhaps Illegal) Job Postings In Boise (Repost)

An HP representative told Bryan Fischer said that the software engineering positions posted on the Idaho Department of Labor website--while HP was laying off software engineers--was a miscommunication, and the job has indeed been removed. But now there are other positions that are now appearing on the Idaho Department of Labor website that again are very curious. It is a bit more specialized that the "mistake", but not likely so specialized that it wouldn't fit some of those being laid off. More importantly, it was posted on September 17--and again tells you to apply to Petra Ramirez, "Immigration Consultant."



Even more interesting: the email address isn't Petra's HP address:



Who is cjen@fragomen.com? Fragomen.com is a Global Corporate Immigration law firm--and I thought the name was familiar. To quote from the U.S. Department of Labor's June 2, 2008 press release:

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that it has begun auditing all permanent labor certification applications filed by attorneys at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP. The department has information indicating that in at least some cases the firm improperly instructed clients who filed permanent labor certification applications to contact their attorney before hiring apparently qualified U.S. workers. The audits will determine which, if any, applications should be denied or placed into department-supervised recruitment because of improper attorney involvement in the consideration of U.S. worker applicants.
"The department's decision to further investigate these applications will help ensure the integrity of the permanent labor certification process and ultimately protect job opportunities for American workers," said Gregory F. Jacob, solicitor of labor. "The department takes seriously its responsibility to ensure that American workers have access to jobs they are qualified and willing to do and that their wages and working conditions are not adversely affected by the hiring of foreign workers."
The permanent labor certification process, established by the Immigration and Nationality Act, allows employers to sponsor aliens for permanent residence (secure a "green card") to fill positions for which no qualified, willing and available U.S. workers can be found. The department's regulations set forth detailed procedures by which an employer seeking certification must demonstrate that no qualified U.S. workers can be located.

Even if Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP didn't have this problem, as I mentioned a couple of days ago, the U.S. Department of Labor has recently made very clear that job recruiting for foreign workers, either to get an H-1B or a green card for those who already have an H-1B, is supposed to go as much as possible through the normal Human Resources process--and not to an attorney or immigration consultant as the first pass. And yet that seems to be what HP is doing--directing emails to an immigration law firm that is already in trouble for its practices.

This is a repost of what I put up yesterday, but using screen shots.

The San Francisco Bay Area: When It Isn't Corrupt....

The San Francisco Bay Area: When It Isn't Corrupt....

You know, I never cease to be amazed at how bizarre the politics of the Bay Area are. This September 17, 2008 San Francisco Chronicle article discusses the hundreds of convicted adult felons that took advantage of San Francisco's illegal alien sanctuary law, corruption in the Richmond city government, and a high old time at the Harvey Milk Democratic Party meeting.

Corruption in city government is something that I am rather used to seeing--but I always thought that the Green Party would be largely free of ordinary financial chicanery, simply because the Green Party attracts true believers. But apparently not:

Parin Shah was hired by McLaughlin when she rolled into office in 2007 on a Green Party platform. And he came with plenty of promise.

Shah was the onetime president of San Francisco's Commission on the Environment and was the lead organizer of the city's big U.N. World Environment Day in 2005.

But in February, Shah was fired from his Richmond job after McLaughlin and other city officials confronted him about some of the billings. He's now the target of a criminal probe by the Contra Costa County district attorney's office, but has not been charged.

Richmond billing records show that, in one instance, the city cut an $8,500 check to Generation Earth, a group on Sutter Street in San Francisco that once listed Shah as its director. The money was supposed to pay for "technical services" at the mayor's Green Golf Tournament, a fundraiser that never took place.

Other payments, city records show, were directed to such organizations as the West County Toxics Coalition environmental group, the Justice Matters education outfit and an arts program called Touchable Stories - all at the same Sutter Street address.

In addition, records show payments for plane tickets to New York and Illinois that the mayor told us she never authorized.

McLaughlin herself has not been implicated in any wrongdoing. But the records show that she signed off on some of the questionable spending.

For instance, a Dec. 24, 2007, bank statement shows McLaughlin's signature approving four payments of $2,750 apiece to San Francisco-based Community Toolbox for Children's Environmental Health, a charity at the same Sutter Street address that lists Shah as executive director on various Web sites.

The Harvey Milk Democratic Club is the gay Democratic organization in San Francisco, and as you might expect, is a bit out there in a city that is already a bit out there:

Political high: The Harvey Milk Club political action committee held its endorsement meeting at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center on Market Street the other day - and from the sound of things, it was a real head spinner.

The lemony cake on the snack table was laced with marijuana, courtesy of the Access of Love cannabis collective.

It wasn't long before a number of unsuspecting attendees began feeling the effects. When finally told of the secret ingredient, one gentleman angrily demanded an explanation from club leaders.

"It's my birthday," shouted the guest who had brought the cannabis confection.

Our woozy source didn't stick around for the endorsements - he had to make an early exit.

More Curious (And Perhaps Illegal) Job Postings In Boise

More Curious (And Perhaps Illegal) Job Postings In Boise

An HP representative told Bryan Fischer said that the software engineering positions posted on the Idaho Department of Labor website--while HP was laying off software engineers--was a miscommunication, and the job has indeed been removed. But now there are other positions that are now appearing on the Idaho Department of Labor website that again are very curious. It is a bit more specialized that the "mistake", but not likely so specialized that it wouldn't fit some of those being laid off. More importantly, it was posted on September 17--and again tells you to apply to Petra Ramirez, "Immigration Consultant."

Job Description Printed for:		Software/Firmware Engineer~
Idaho Job Number:	ID1330203
Location:	Boise
Min Salary:	DOE	Hours/Week::	40
Max Salary:		Duration:	FT over 150 days
Experience:	24 months	Education:	MD
Min Age:	0	Drivers License:	n/a
Typing:	0	DL Endorsement:	n/a
Shift:	Days	Occupational Lic:	No
Job Description:
Design and develop software/firmware for new products. Design, implement and verify software programs and or firmware/hardware programs, develop the documentation to produce it in quantity and provide support, and maintain existing products. Develop and maintain current firmware test management execution protocols and test automation tools. Analyze requirements and links to test automation tools, update architecture and maintain tools to ensure functionality and performance of product testing, coordinate the implementation of defect tracking for each project, and ensure that firm metrics are generated, aligned and interfaced with metrics from other critical partners. MINIMUM JOB REQUIREMENTS: Master`s or foreign degree equivalent in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related field plus two (2) years of experience in job offered, or as a systems engineer, software design engineer, system analyst, or related occupation. Employer will accept an unrelated M.S. degree plus an add`l one (1) year of related work experience. SPECIAL SKILLS REQUIREMENTS: C/C++; Visual Studio; Embedded Programming; NT platform; Unix platform; Web Programming (Java and JavaScript); RDBMS database; Clearcase; VSS. This is a full time position, pay depends on experience.

Even more interesting: the email address isn't Petra's HP address:

Job Number:	ID1330203
Employer:	Hewlett-Packard Company
Contact Name:	Petra Ramirez
Address:	19483 Pruneridge Avenue, MS 4206
Phone:	4089190600
Fax:
E-Mail:	cjen@fragomen.com
Web Site URL:
Instructions:
Job ref: BOISTI. Please send resume with job reference to Hewlett-Packard Company; Attn: P. Ramirez, 19483 Pruneridge Avenue, MS 4206, Cupertino, CA 95014. No phone calls. Must be legally authorized to work in the U.S. without sponsorship. EOE.

Who is cjen@fragomen.com? Fragomen.com is a Global Corporate Immigration law firm--and I thought the name was familiar. To quote from the U.S. Department of Labor's June 2, 2008 press release:

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that it has begun auditing all permanent labor certification applications filed by attorneys at Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP. The department has information indicating that in at least some cases the firm improperly instructed clients who filed permanent labor certification applications to contact their attorney before hiring apparently qualified U.S. workers. The audits will determine which, if any, applications should be denied or placed into department-supervised recruitment because of improper attorney involvement in the consideration of U.S. worker applicants.

"The department's decision to further investigate these applications will help ensure the integrity of the permanent labor certification process and ultimately protect job opportunities for American workers," said Gregory F. Jacob, solicitor of labor. "The department takes seriously its responsibility to ensure that American workers have access to jobs they are qualified and willing to do and that their wages and working conditions are not adversely affected by the hiring of foreign workers."

The permanent labor certification process, established by the Immigration and Nationality Act, allows employers to sponsor aliens for permanent residence (secure a "green card") to fill positions for which no qualified, willing and available U.S. workers can be found. The department's regulations set forth detailed procedures by which an employer seeking certification must demonstrate that no qualified U.S. workers can be located.

Even if Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy LLP didn't have this problem, as I mentioned a couple of days ago, the U.S. Department of Labor has recently made very clear that job recruiting for foreign workers, either to get an H-1B or a green card for those who already have an H-1B, is supposed to go as much as possible through the normal Human Resources process--and not to an attorney or immigration consultant as the first pass. And yet that seems to be what HP is doing--directing emails to an immigration law firm that is already in trouble for its practices.

There's another job posting as well, from Applied Materials. Again, it is curious. The job is in Boise--and it is indeed a very specialized job, one for which it might be difficult to get a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. But again, the resume is supposed to go to...well, you take a look:

Job Number: ID1330082 Employer: Applied Materials, Inc. Contact Name: Sonia Dee, Global Immigration Specialist Address: 3050 Bowers Avenue Phone: 4085634378 Fax: 4085637569 sonia_dee@amat.com Web Site URL: http://amat.com Instructions: Send resume to job_opportunities@amat.com and must reference job code in subject line. Employer Documents:

Again, "Global Immigration Specialist." This seems at least to violate the spirit of the U.S. Department of Labor's policy about seeing that resumes go through the normal Human Resources process as much as possible. By the very fact that someone has a job "Global Immigration Specialist," I think it is fair to assume that such a person sees their function as assisting immigrants to get jobs--as opposed to making sure that U.S. citizens or permanent residents get first crack.