Here’s an AP article, linked to from Drudge: “Immigration Activists Urge Obama to Act Boldly”  The bottom line is this:  immigration activists, emboldened by Obama’s executive-order amnesty for those illegally brought to the U.S. as minors, are now calling on him to repeat the process for others:  “Activists want it expanded to include more immigrants, such as those who have been in the U.S. for at least five years or who since their arrival have had children.” This isn’t new:... Read more

This is an excerpt from a letter-to-the-editor in today’s “Trib Local,” the weekly local news supplement in the Chicago, referencing an earlier article in which the author described her mother’s death, in which the author was somewhat shell-shocked at her mother’s last several hours being ones of pain and the embarassment of incontinence, rather than the peaceful deathbed scenario that we all imagine (and see portrayed in movies and books). So the letter-writer says, Last year, Vermont became the fourth... Read more

This article was a link from a link from a Drudge Report link, on the official deliniation of six Urban Naked Zones in Munich, that is, formalizing existing practice and replacing an expired law. And it’s true that nude sunbathing in Germany, and nude, co-ed saunas, are common practice, and I think every town pretty much has a spot for sunbathing — though on my first visit to Germany, for a language course, it was topless rather than nude sunbathing.... Read more

So the WSJ, as “liked” by a facebook friend, had an article yesterday on the potential impact of the drought in California on the prices of fruits and vegetables. An Arizona State University study “found a head of lettuce could increase in price as much as 62 cents to $2.44; avocado prices could rise 35 cents to $1.60 each; and tomatoes could cost 45 cents more at $2.84 per pound.”  (Now, in my world, I pay 99 cents for a... Read more

So this was linked to by Drudge: “Iran considers ban on vasectomies in drive to boost birthrate.”  I’d read previously that the birthrate in Iran mushroomed after the Islamic Revolution, though I’m not sure to what extent this was a matter of government policies compelling childbirth (e.g., outright bans on contraception) and to what extent it was genuine religious fervor helped along by incentives.  In any case, that produced a massive baby boom — the Guardian says the population doubled... Read more

The Roman Soldier, left bottom:  I’m heavily modifying the pattern, where the original calls for using vinyl in two colors for the breastplate and I’m using a brown quilted fabric that I picked up at the thrift store (I can’t figure out what it was originally supposed to be — a cover of some kind), as well as an off-white sheet for the under-tunic.  The Living Stations of the Cross is this Wednesday, and school needs all the costumes by... Read more

So this is floating around:  Obama once again made his pitch to women that he will save them from the injustice of being underpaid, relative to men. And there are all kinds of ways to understand the data around this.  A while back, I explored some of the numbers.  Women at the lower end of the pay scale are paid at more equal rates than at the upper end, according to the bls data.  Women working fewer hours per week... Read more

(Some more thoughts on a post from February, added at the bottom.) What do Angela Merkel and Margaret Thatcher have in common? OK, yes, they were/are undisputably the two most powerful women to have ever held elective office. (Golda Meir might belong in this category, but I don’t know much about her.) But I think it’s significant that, despite the conventional wisdom that the more left-leaning parties care more about equality for women, these two women were/are from the conservative/right... Read more

This article, linked to by marginalrevolution.com, describes endemic corruption in the Mexican school system, in which fewer than half of the individuals paid by the Mexican government to teach in its schools, actually do so. This is what’s keeping Mexicans in poverty, not some mysterious unknowable force that necessitates mass immigration and open borders.  If we seem to be so willing to cede or sovereignty with respect to immigration, then can we at least impose our will a bit to... Read more