Coyote Gulch

Monday, November 26, 2007

? for President?
John McCain is going green in New Hampshire according to Hugh Hewitt in Salon.

Thanks to Andrew Sullivan for the link. Mr. Sullivan thinks that the environment is the sleeper issue for the Republican party.
"2008 pres"
9:14:17 PM

Healthcare
Matt Singer (via Left in the West): "This is a great discussion to have -- but the data is important here. And, at least nationally, it appears that Canada and the U.S. are pretty competitive on wait times. In other words, the Canadian system, which operates at half the cost of the American system, has no real comparable weakness. Note: I'm not endorsing Canadian style single payer. I think America can build a better system. But we need to be honest in comparing where we stand right now."

Mr. Singer is commenting on this article from The Billings Gazette.
"2008 pres"
7:46:01 PM

Immigration
Here's a long article about recent ICE raids in Suffolk County, NY from The New York Times. They write:

It was still dark the morning of Sept. 27 when armed federal immigration agents, guided by local police officers, swept into this village on the East End of Long Island. Within hours, as the team rousted sleeping families, 11 men were added to a running government tally of arrests made in Operation Community Shield, a two-year-old national program singling out violent gang members for deportation. "Violent foreign-born gang members and their associates have more than worn out their welcome," Julie L. Myers, assistant secretary of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said at an October news conference announcing the arrests of 1,313 people in the operation over the summer and fall nationwide. "And to them I have one message: Good riddance."

But, to the dismay of many of Greenport's 2,500 residents, the raid here did not match her words. Only one of the 11 men taken away that morning was suspected of a gang affiliation, according to the Southold Town police, who patrol Greenport and played the crucial role of identifying targets for the operation. The 10 others, while accused of immigration violations, were not gang associates and had no criminal records. Instead, they were known as good workers and family men. When they suddenly vanished into the far-flung immigration detention system, six of their employers hired lawyers to try to find and free them. Some went further, like Dan and Tina Finne, who agreed to take care of the 3-year-old American-born daughter of a Guatemalan carpenter who was swept up in the raid, if her mother was detained, too. "This is un-American," said Ms. Finne, 41, a Greenport native, echoing other citizens who condemned the home raids in public meetings and letters to The Suffolk Times, a weekly newspaper. "We need to do something about immigration, but not this."

Be sure to read the whole article. Thanks to TalkLeft for the link.
"2008 pres"
7:21:16 AM

Iraq
Juan Cole: "On Sunday, the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki presented to parliament its bill revising the expulsion of ex-Baathists from government jobs and public life. The Shiite deputies in parliament essentially booed it, with the thirty Sadrist deputies pounding the table and making it impossible for parliament to conduct business. Parliament adjourned among shouting and scuffling. Shiite suffered under the Baath Party and are uncomfortable at what they see as an attempt to rehabilitate Baathists."

Juan Cole: "Australia's new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, has pledged to withdraw Australia's 550 combat troops from Iraq (Australia has about 500 more non-combat troops doing development work in Iraq, and it is not clear what will now be done with them)."
"2008 pres"
7:08:38 AM

Middle east policy
Juan Cole: "[President] Bush's achievements in the Middle East were supposed to have been the 'Cedar Revolution' in Lebanon and the removal of Syria troops; holding fair elections in Palestine in January of 2006; and a deal to have Gen. Pervez Musharraf cohabit politically with Benazir Bhutto, leader of the Pakistan People's Party. As of this weekend, Lebanon does not have a president and the country's stability is in doubt. The Palestinian Authority is divided and is a mess, with the elected government having been overthrown by a US-backed coup. And opposition leader Nawaz Sharif has returned to Pakistan, possibly derailing the Benazir option but also provoking a crisis in the political elite about what they should do."
"2008 pres"
7:06:49 AM