final post for the week!

1. obama pushes for immigration reform - more pro-activeness from the president. Not that it will be an easy sell:

Opponents, mainly Republicans, say they will seek to mobilize popular outrage against any effort to legalize unauthorized immigrant workers while so many Americans are out of jobs.

this argument leaves me a little cold, though. I mean, the jobs currently being done by illegals still need to be done (and are being done as part of an underground economy). So doesn't legalizing these immigrants force the underground economy above ground, which also forces the newly legal immigrants to pay taxes and contribute more directly to the GDP? PLUS, increasing free exchange will prevent a legitimate problem - the 'brain drain' of talented foreign students in America who can't get an H1 visa or permanent resident status to countries where residency is easier to obtain. It's hard to imagine how having more talented people in the country would hurt the economy. the economist warns about this.

2. trouble in mexico - the trouble is that mexico is basically fucked. read this rolling stone piece if you're not convinced. Plus, there is increasing evidence that the US is encouraging Mexico to pursue its domestic drug war militarily, despite the fact that there's almost no evidence that this type of strategy is at all effective. From the Atlantic:

“If you go after Cartel X, you just make life easier for Cartel Y.”

Doesn't that pretty much summarize the problem? Of course, there's one possible way the US can help things - by decreasing the demand for illegal goods domestically:

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard suggested that marijuana’s illicit status is responsible for some of the cartel-related violence seeping into his state. His logic was simple: according to his office, 65 percent of the cartels’ revenue comes from smuggling marijuana, a business that’s only profitable because it’s illegal.

Draw the obvious conclusion yourself, but sadly, Obama was asked about this, and its not going to happen.

3. don't make me fight you, george will. - Seriously. climate change is real. So, please stop, now. You're supposed to still be a marginally credible journalist.

Will's denialism tarnishes the conservative brand. It also makes it hard to take lectures about "liberal alarmism" on climate change seriously. There's a basic credibility problem. Any argument that sees Al Gore and George Will as two sides of the same problem isn't serious.

4. oh the onion, how i love you, for this, and this as well.

5. and finally, happy passover! - Take a look at the hilarious Facebook Haggadah (thanks, Todd!) and read this lovely reminiscence from the New York Times:

The wine was decanted into carafes, the salt served in filigreed silver wells. We were not fancy people, CorningWare white the rest of the year. But these two nights, remembering slavery, were to be celebrated as if we were kings, the poor seated with princes, all meant to recline.