When In The US, Speak English

Conservatism, English, Israel, Nationhood, Republicans

I remember an old joke that was told in Israel, and was aimed at the ultra-orthodox who dress oddly and won’t speak Hebrew:

An Israeli in shorts and a Tembel Hat is walking down the street, when from across the street an ultra-orthodox Jew in black garb shouts obscenities at him in Yiddish. These Jews believe that speaking Hebrew before Messiah arrives is heretic. To ensure messiah comes (often referred to as the longest coming in history), the Jew has to remain weak, dispossessed and persecuted—a sickly spirit without a corporeal country.

The Israeli shouts back, “Speak Hebrew, goy!” Goy means non-Jew.

Kova Tembel:

This reminds me of Donald Trump’s retort to Jeb Bush rattling off in Spanish on the campaign trail. The Trump retort was, incidentally, not only righteous but culturally conservative in the extreme. CNN:

Trump took a jab Wednesday at Jeb Bush for using Spanish to dismiss the mogul’s conservative credibility.

… “I like Jeb,” Trump told Breitbart News. “He’s a nice man. But he should really set the example by speaking English while in the United States.”

Trump was referring to the former Florida governor’s comments to reporters on Tuesday about Trump’s policies.

“El hombre no es conservador,” Bush said, which translates to, “This man is not a conservative.” …

Scott Walker: Equal Opportunity Fencer

Canada, Economy, IMMIGRATION, Intelligence, Labor, Republicans

Republican presidential hopeful Scott Walker is an equal opportunity fencer. Reflexive, laboring to show he does not discriminate against Mexico, Walker showed himself to be a bit of a bumpkin. As follows:

Republican presidential hopeful Scott Walker has called building a wall along the border between the US and Canada a “legitimate issue”.

Illegal immigration and the security of the southern border with Mexico have been major issues in the Republican race for president, but the northern border has not been discussed.

Mr Walker made the comments in response to a question from a NBC News reporter.

“That is a legitimate issue for us to look at,” he said on Sunday.

Does the US have a problem with a deluge of illegal immigrants pouring over the Canadian border? No. Canada is a high-wage area. The US is a high-wage area. Latin America is a low-wage area. Migratory pressure, Mr.Walker, flows from low-wage to high-wage regions.

You Say McKinley; I Say Denali

America, Constitution, Federalism, Race, States' Rights

To me it seems natural and organic for the people of Alaska to name the hilly protrusions along their stomping ground.

Aaron Goldstein, at The American Spectator, doesn’t wish “to make mountains” of the fact that his Highness, Barack Obama, changed the name of Mount McKinley to Denali. Instead, Goldstein laments the president’s flouting of the Constitution or the federal scheme (not quite sure which).

Can we agree that federalism, like freedom, is long dead, and is the stuff of nostalgia?

The other thing I wonder about is the ease with which my fellow Americans offend native Americans (Indians), as opposed to the crippling fear they have of saying anything that might make blacks mad.

It’s to the credit of native Americans that they are less menacing.

Oregon Oink Sector And The Urban-Renewal Trough

Business, Federalism, Government, Taxation, The State

Broadcaster Lars Larson did a bang-up job, today, in shaming City of Oregon Mayor Dan Holladay for his ambient lawlessness: first, for securing appropriations in the cause of urban, central planning; next, in his haste to frustrate the democratic will of the outraged citizens.

The circumstances, courtesy of the Portland Tribune:

Mayor Dan Holladay’s opinion piece published in the Autumn 2015 Trail News, a publication providing citizens information on most city departments, told every household in the city that a petition to kill urban renewal would have a “very chilling effect on economic development” not just in the downtown urban renewal district, but throughout the city.

After the state received a complaint on Aug. 25 from petitioners, Holladay said he “made a mistake” by submitting the piece for the Trail News.

State law (ORS 260.432) says that elected officials shouldn’t publish letters advocating a political position in “a newsletter or other publication produced and distributed by public employees.” Oregon City’s mayor has for years submitted a piece to the “City Matters” column on page 2 of the city’s Trail News publication.
…

John Williams, one of the petitioners, offered this trenchant condemnation:

Holladay doubly misstepped by submitting the argument for a city publication before the measure had even gotten enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

“He has the right to express his opinion, but he shouldn’t be using citizens’ taxpayer dollars to try to put a halt to a democratic process,” Williams said. “Signing the petition in question will not ‘put a halt to these programs and many others’ as he claims, but only put an issue on the ballot for citizens to debate.” …

And no representative ought to use “citizens’ taxpayer dollars” for job-creation programs. The narrowest interpretation of a local government’s authority ought to be pursued and adhered to by all local representatives, whatever their political stripe.

That government job-creation programs are a racket for the locality is abundantly clear in our neck of The Evergreen State. Paving over quaint, perfectly lovely trails is a political hobbyhorse around here.

Local politics is not my bailiwick; but when I do venture into the miasma, the blood boils at the excesses in the pink state.

Those who’re better suited to confront the juggernaut that is local government might find it useful to apprise themselves of the history and politics of Urban Renewal, a history that has a lot to do with making poor people go away by demolishing their homes—gentrification, if you will. City officials—they live off wealth others generate: taxes—“grow” concerned over “declining incomes in and tax revenues from certain neighborhoods.” They then use their power to designate them as “blighted.” Government’s hope, ultimately, is to generate more tax revenues from the neighborhoods.

The CATO Institute speaks to how cities use tax-increment financing (TIF) in the service of “crony capitalism and social engineering.” If you want to slum it, read about the history and politics of TIF.