Doughball DREAMS Of The White House

Education, Ethics, IMMIGRATION, Politics

“Members of the legislature elected by their constituents … have an obligation to sit in a room around the table and advance the interests of the people who gave them these jobs in the first place.” According to Chris Christie, New Jersey’s popular Republican governor, this obligation entails passing “his state’s so-called DREAM Act.”

The bill grants in-state college tuition rates to undocumented high school graduates who attended a New Jersey high school for at least three years. …
… “Our job, I believe, as a government, is to give every one of these children who we have already invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in, an opportunity to maximize the investment for their benefit, for the benefit of their families, for the benefit of our state and the country,” Christie said.

Who exactly are these “constituents” whom Christie represent with such zeal? Christie “won re-election by capturing a majority of Hispanic voters.”

It should surprise nobody to learn that, “Christie opposed the [DREAM ACT] legislation until last year on the grounds that the state could not afford the tuition breaks, but he changed his position at the height of his re-election campaign, saying that the state’s economic outlook had improved.”

Hurricane Sandy moved in mysterious ways.

MMA Hero Vs. CNN Cowards

GUNS, Media, Private Property, Propaganda

Mixed martial arts fighter (MMA) Joe Torrez is the hero in this story, the men who invaded his home and attacked him deserved death all, their sympathizers at CNN are worthy of ignominy.

The broadcasters that have extended their mandate to annually anointing the nation’s politically acceptable heroes know just how to shape debate. A Latino “reporter” oozed his sympathies to bimbo anchor Brook Baldwin—sympathies to the “victims” of a homeowner who defended home and hearth with all the MMA might he could muster.

Torrez refused to curl up in the fetal position upon being savagely attacked in his inner sanctum. Most importantly, the MMA lightweight did not risk sure death, which would have been his lot had he extended an invitation to the local Polizei to break down his door and “help” him. (Or shoot him, or his kid, or his lady friend, or his best friend The Dog.)

Joseph Torrez, 27, repelled a home invasion, killing one man, injuring another so badly he left in an ambulance and persuading two others to run in fear, authorities said.
Torrez and the men clashed on New Year’s Day at his home outside of Las Cruces, reportedly part of an ongoing feud. One of the attackers, 22-year-old Leonard Calvillo, called ahead to threaten Torrez, the Las Cruces Sun-News reported, citing court documents.
Mixed Martial Arts fighter Joseph Torrez fought off four men who broke into his house, killing one and putting one in the hospital, authorities say.
“I’ll kill you and your family … I’ll go to your house,” Calvillo reportedly said.
Calvillo arrived shortly after with 20-year-old Nathan Avalos and brothers Sal and Raymond Garces and pounded on Torrez’s door, authorities said.
Torrez’s fiancee, son and the fiancee’s sister were all home at the time, authorities said.
The fiancee leaned against the door of the mobile home, trying to keep them out, but they busted through, authorities said.
There they met Torrez, a 155-pound lightweight with a record of one win and five losses, according to the fight website SherDog.com.
The four men are all gang members, a Dona Ana County Sheriff’s spokeswoman said.
C.J. McElhinney, an attorney for Torrez, told the Sun-News witness said the attackers brought a crude shank and one picked up a knife once they forced their way inside.
Sal Garces, 25, was stabbed to death during the fight. Avalos suffered “severe” facial injuries and was taken to a New Mexico hospital, authorities said.
Torrez endured [the NYD writer meant to say “sustained,” surely] only minor injuries, his lawyer said.
Calvillo and Raymond Garces were both arrested on charges of conspiracy and property damage after they ran from the house.

MORE @ The New York Daily News.

Minimum Wage ‘Pulverizes The Poor’

Economy, Free Markets, Labor, Law

Minimum-wage legislation fixes the price of labor above its productivity, making it less likely that the young and the unskilled will be hired. Those who claim to represent the interests of unemployed youngsters—whose labor-participation rate has been in decline—and other unskilled laborers don’t much care that such legislation circumvents voluntary exchanges in the marketplace. Because government has fixed the price of labor, economic actors are prevented from engaging in mutually beneficial, voluntary exchange.

Still less is the hike justified because it impoverishes. Government can set wages above market value (productivity), but it cannot compel business to hire (and lose money), the outcome of which is unemployment among the young and the poor.

USA Today reports that “13 states are raising pay for minimum-wage workers at the start of 2014.” Another site more savvy than the Seattle Times—almost any website on the WWW qualifies—pegs the additional labor costs to the City of Seattle of “a $15 minimum wage” at “nearly $700,000.

Get rid of the minimum wage altogether says Prof. Walter Block, and jail those who pass it for the crime of “pulverizing the poor.”