Another one bites the dust

In another hit to the British manufacturing sector, Peugeot is closing a plane in Coventry, and laying off 2300 jobs. That's a shame for all those who work there, and have worked there for so long. I must give credit to Peugeot for at least giving the workers plenty of notice. Seems there's not much auto manufacturing left in the UK, and again, why is the UK so unprofitable for automotive manufacture? Peugeot is claiming that they can make a car cheaper in Paris by a fairly decent margin over the UK plant, which I'm having a hard time to swallow.
Well, if my personal experience is any indication, build quality is a big one killing it. I spent the beginning of last week after I got back from California installing some wiring in a brand new LDV van we are going to be using for a breakdown service. I saw poor panel quality, mis- aligned panels, poor welds (I actually broke one with little effort - oops), the hood catch had stuck and so getting it up required breaking the spot welds on the hood and destroying the hood latch, and so forth and so on. In asking the head of our LDV department if what I saw was typical, he regaled me with more horror stories. I have also seen pictures of Rover engine parts with castings so poor they look like they were cast in the days of Henry Ford.
I think it's a crying shame that these factories are closing, and that the British auto industry is suffering this way, but the seeds were sown for this a long time ago, and the people that mattered, namely, the managers, businessmen, and politicians that could have changed it left their heads stuck in the sand for the rest of it to founder. It's a shame to let the poor workers who worked hard there suffer for the consequences, but it's too late now.

What has gotten into her?

Via Gateway pundit, it seems that the anti-war left seems to be going further and further, just like the energizer bunny. Seems that Cindy Sheehan, the famous anti-war protestor who lost her son in the Iraq war, is now accusing the DOD of treating her poorly when she received her son's body from Iraq. Also seems that many bloggers out there have hit the pavement and done their homework. Gateway can do a much better job of explaining it, so check it out, here. To quote Hawkeye Pearce: "I wonder if she'd speak so loud if she wasn't standing on so many bodies."

Hat tip: Little green footballs, also from Michelle Malkin who got her to open her mouth and spout off on this and give us more of an idea of who she really is. I feel so bad for her son.

Why we must stay the fight.

Iraq the Model recently lost a family member in Iraq to one of the many ruthless attacks the criminals and insurgents continue to wage on innocent Iraqis:

He was not affiliated with any political party or movement and spent all his
time working at the hospital or studying at home and he was dreaming of building
a medical center for his specialty to serve the poor who cannot afford going to
expensive private clinics.We didn't know or anticipate that cruel times were
waiting for a chance to assassinate the dream and kill the future.It was the day
he was celebrating the opening of a foundation that was going to offer essential
services to the poor but the criminals were waiting for him to end his life with
their evil bullets and to stab our family deep in the heart.

Hat tip to Austin Bay

When the Iraq War came about, I was against it. Regardless of my personal thoughts on the matter, once we had boots on the ground in Iraq I have remained steadfast in my conviction that we must see this through. And it is precisely because of events like the above that we must stay the fight. I don’t know if your reasons against going to war were the same as mine or not, but the fact remains that we did indeed go to Iraq, whether you liked it or not, and once committed we should see things through. We can debate all day long about whether going in was the right or wrong thing to do, but in my mind it is irrelevant: we are already there. And we need to do everything in our power to ensure that the Iraqi people have a stable and safe future. That will only happen if we remain steadfast in our support for the people of Iraq and in our operations there. We can not afford to cut-and-run or demand unreasonable timetables for leaving Iraq.

There are good, honest, citizens of Iraq who are doing their best to make their country a better place, hopefully one that will have a free and democratic government, and we can not leave them to the wolves.

And they call themselves "liberal".....

Sigh......it's because of things like this that I abandoned any hope for the so-called "open minded", "tolerant", "progressive", "peaceful", left.

That's not to say those on the extreme right don't exhibit similar behavior, they do, but I find it to be far more pervasive amongst self described peace-loving "liberals", especially when someone dares to have the audacity to challenge their views or call them out on despicable behavior.

Update:
Check the comments section under the "peaceful" link above where a number of commenters have chastised the author for his overly hateful post. But my favorite one, and the one that captures my sentiments exactly:

Some of the comments here prove something I've thought for a while.

America is dead. We have destroyed ourselves from within. We are two tribes, left vs. right, divided by hate so bitter and extreme it seems civil war is on our doorstep.

Think I'll look into real estate on the moon. This planet sucks.

Amen, brother, amen. But don't give up hope yet - there are plenty of us rational types out there who actually believe we can discuss and solve problems in a rational manner with each other, regardless of whether that person is "left", "right", or "center". We may not make for exciting news or charged commentary, but we are out there.

Update:
Sigh....more evidence to support my point about the so-called "liberal" left.....:

The people who held different opinions than I remained my neighbors, family, friends. They were 'good people' -- sometimes we agreed, sometimes not, but that was part of life. We would respect each other's differences and get along - and it never occurred to us to do otherwise.

In the past couple of years that has been turned on its head. I used to think I could never hate anyone. But I am constantly surprised at how much hate I am now capable of feeling for some of my 'fellow Americans' -- it is even hard to write that phrase. And every day it is more. I despise them, I loathe them, I resent that they are even sharing my country. I cannot comprehend how utterly stupid they must be to believe the pap thrown at them which they then parrot back at us. I no longer even want to TRY and get along. I hate them. I don't know if I will ever be able to forgive them for what they have done to America - but I'm sure I will never forget it.

I read a comment yesterday, I forget the exact words, but to this effect: They are eagerly, willingly just handing over their freedoms -- freedoms that generations of Americans (including many of my ancestors) fought and died to give them. And when we object, when we protest, when we try to defend our Constitution - they glance over at us and hiss, 'Traitor!'.

Yes, I hate them to the bottom of my soul.

From an anonymous poster from the same website linked to above.

Real estate agents report problems in the housing market

….by posting anonymously on blogs:

If the secret worries of real estate professionals are any indication, home
prices could be heading for a swoon.
When Brad Inman of Inman News, which
tracks the real estate industry and is widely read by industry insiders,
recently gave real estate agents the opportunity to blog about market
conditions, they almost uniformly described them as bad – and getting
worse.
"Normally, brokers and agents tend to sugarcoat the news; they don't
want to affect consumer confidence," says Inman. "By letting them post
anonymously, we gave them a way to really share their thoughts."
Most
responded with tales of high inventories, slow sales and languishing prices.

Hat tip to RCH.

Michael Yon continues his journey in Afghanistan

Do the 2 Michaels (Totten and Yon) coordinate the posting of their entries? Seems like every time one of them posts a new entry I find that the other one also has a new post up.

I find both of them to be must reads all the time. This is real journalism, folks, done the old fashioned way: on a shoestring budget, on the ground, working and dealing with everyday folks, getting up close and personal in an honest way.
Michael Yon continues his reporting from Afghanistan, although the subject of his post is on Iraq. It’s a long one, but worth every word. Do not miss it. Excerpt:

To a large degree, we earned the cynicism that led to the dire predictions about
the impending failure of the first Iraqi elections. That cynicism explains the
increasingly skewed coverage of the war. Poor performance by the media—abetted
by consumers who refuse to change the channel—was directly responsible for
making the soldiers I had come to know and respect feel like they’d just got
kicked in the head. The fact that I had seen first hand their amazing work in
the field, and the knowledge that people back home were not hearing this kind of
news, led me to stay in Iraq and find a way to get the news out through
alternative channels.

In the “Mission Impossible” dispatch, I wrote about how I thought the world press, and our own, unfairly judged the performance of the military, and by extension the character of the American people:
America has its share of critics, and we make enough mistakes to
support a cottage industry of specialists chronicling our failures and
footnoting our shortcomings. Even the most ardent patriot might concede that we
provide fodder for this with frustrating frequency. We come complete with our
national faults, embarrassments, scandals and scars, and horrors. Reminders of
these can serve a necessary if painful purpose. But fairness alone dictates that
it be balanced by a consideration of our national character.

For every
failed international initiative, we have a dozen disaster relief efforts. For
every indictment of corporate greed, American ingenuity compensates with
countless technological advancements. For every instance when we turn a blind
eye to an atrocity perpetrated by other nations against innocent neighbors or
even their own citizens, we have forests of tombstones marking the graves of our
soldiers who fought and died to protect the liberty of strangers.
Italy, Germany, Japan and others. . . . Modesty and discretion may not be the chief American character traits, but we shouldn’t have to remind our allies about
these as if they were minor accomplishments. After the 5th Symphony premiered, no one asked Ludwig to send a resume and audition tape.

Dohok, Iraq - Part 5 of Michael Totten's trip to Iraqi Kurdistan

Entire post can be found here. Excerpt:

It's hard to convey what it's actually like meeting Iraqi Kurds. Fleshing
out the dialogue doesn't capture the feel of it. Americans and Kurds don't
just get along because we're temporary allies of convenience in the Middle
East. The connection is deeper and personal. Kurdish culture and American
culture might as well be from different planets. But somehow, oddly enough,
Kurds think much like Americans do. Let me rephrase that: Americans think
like the Kurds. We have similar values despite our extraordinarily different
cultural backgrounds. I find it easier to develop a rapport with Iraqi Kurds
than with people from any other country I have ever been to. It's instant,
powerful, and totally unexpected.
Michael Yon noticed something
similar a year ago.
Meetings with Iraqi Arabs sometimes seem more
like talking with the French. We are not enemies. But, generally speaking,
there is no real personal connection. At best, our collective personalities
just don’t seem to “click.” Yet by recognizing the sovereignty and
inevitability of each other, we manage to cooperate toward our common
interests, while not going to war when we disagree. But with the Kurds, like
the Poles or the Brits, there is an easy and audible click. We have mutual
goals, mutual enemies, and, also importantly, we actually like each
other.

Life resumes

Blogging has been light the past few days, thanks to the wife's birthday, and also her family visiting, will resume heavier blogging on Wednesday. I haven't even had the chance to look at anything, and would love to throw up a link before the day's over. So, how about them Bears?

(an oldie but a goodie)

"Liberal" criminals in Santa Cruz

via Michelle Malkin.

You have the freedom to hate gas guzzling SUVs and other similar vehicles.
You have the freedom to preach environmentalism.
You have the freedom to protest fuel inefficient vehicles and machines.
You have the freedom to harbor any opinion you want on the subject.

You do NOT have the freedom to vandalize, attack, or damage someone's PRIVATE, PERSONAL property because you do not agree with their views or buying habits.

That simply makes you a criminal.

Iraq round up over at Winds of Change

And just when I thought my Winds of Change reading was done for the day comes their Iraq Report, a round up of what's going on in Iraq. Read it here.

Monday's Winds of War is up....

....over at Winds of Change. As always, a must read. I highly recommend their weekly round ups, absolute must reading.

Greenpeace founder makes the case for nuclear power.

Big hat tip to Instapundit who provided the link to this Washington Post article where Patrick Moore, who helped found Greenpeace, reverses his position on nuclear power:

Nuclear energy is the only large-scale, cost-effective energy source that
can reduce these emissions while continuing to satisfy a growing demand for
power. And these days it can do so safely.

Read the whole thing.

Yale Taliban Man update.

Instapundit has the details:

This really represented an appalling lapse of judgment on Yale's part

Hugh Hewitt interviews Austin Bay

Austin Bay comments on the criticism facing Rumsfeld as well as dealing with Iran. Read it here.

Excerpt on Rumsfeld:

I'm really not too upset about what they have to say, and as I told your
producer earlier when he called me to ask me if I could be on the show, I said
I'm not a particular Rumsfeld fan. I thought from the beginning that someone
like Rich Armitage ought to be Secretary of Defense. But at the same time, I'm
not by any means a hyper-critic of Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, either.

Excerpt on Iran:

I think a more answerable format is, do we have the capacity to sufficiently
damage their capabilities to produce nuclear weapons, or chemical weapons. Now
that's the way I would prefer to answer it, to sufficiently damage it. And my
answer to that is yes. We have the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and then you can
work in some of the Special Operations capabilities of the Army and Marines,
have the extraordinary capacity to both identify where the most likely special
weapons producing targets and damage them. Now does that mean put them totally
out of commission? No. Does it mean setting back their production timetable?
Yes. Now that is a different question, though, from...and this has to be
answered in the political context, from what are the results of that strike?
Again, it is not a guarantee that you will stop it. However, can you put a brake
on their means of building these weapons? And the answer to that is yes.

This can't be good

Found this on Yahoo, seems that the Hamas leadership isn't doing so great, once they've got the undivided attention of the world looking at them. Funny thing is, there seems to be a serious slant pushing the reader to make them think it isn't Hamas's fault they're failing, it's the fact that almost everyone has pulled their financial aid to them, and it's those country's fault, like Israel, US, Etc. Yeah, uh huh, and Hamas lost their money by what? Being a terror group that advocates the killing of Innocent civilians and wiping Israel off the face of the earth? At any rate, it seems that the Hamas leadership is about to topple from within, seeing that people aren't getting paid and civilians rather upset. This will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Lashkargar

Michael Yon continues his visit in Afghanistan.

Back to Iraq Part IV

Michael Totten continues his road trip to Iraq.

University stifles free speech

Via Instapundit "More crushing of dissent?"

More examples of Universities crushing dissent, free speech, and freedom of expression can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Just a drop in the bucket. I would link to more examples, but that would take all day long.

Immigration: What's wrong? What needs fixing?

Seeing Immigration seems to be a hot topic right now, and rightly so, regardless of what side of the argument you look at, it's a serious issue, we've decided to begin a debate on it, and will be regularly posting arguments regarding various facets of the issue at hand. Each day we will be taking a different part of immigration and looking at it, arguing the points of it, pro and con.

The first side of the argument I'd like to take:

Amnesty for the illegal immigrants already in the country.


Illegal immigration, first off, lets analyze what that really is. To enter the country without receiving prior authorization from the US government, or entering it under false pretenses(i.e. false documentation). Either one is serious, because they can undermine the security of the United States, and also cause other problems, such as crime, poverty, etc.

The problem is, we have en estimated 10,000,000 illegals in the US right now, and the government seems a bit hamstrung as to what they can do. They clearly want the problem to go away, and what to seem effective. That's one thing I have noticed with this government, they want to be seen doing something, anything more than whether that something is right. I'm not saying that everything they do is like this, only when there seems to be no easy or quick solution.

I am actually cautiously pro amnesty, but not what the government is proposing. I agree with Swizstick, pardoning illegal behavior only encourages more, and so doing that would only invite a massive influx of illegal immigrants in, and create further problems. I also disagree that amnesty alone would do any good at all, amnesty alone would be a major blow to the ability of the US to function properly and be taken seriously as a country that wants to continue with the integration of immigrants into society.

I believe that the response with amnesty would be a 2 pronged approach, but one that would require some decent co-ordination with various US government agencies. First one would be to grant a grace period of about 21 days to those illegals that are already in the country. That 21 days would allow them to get an application to apply for legal status, also combining a major reduction in the fees to process an application. After that time, an illegal caught in the country would face deportation, regardless of how long they've been in the country. One of my chief gripes with the government's proposal is that it grants various "rights" to people considering the length of time they've been here. That only works if we can actually prove that. This would eliminate that problem, and give those who have been here a while a chance. Also, once the grace period has begun, any illegal caught trying to cross the border will be deported without delay.

Obviously, this proposal will need to be implemented with a corresponding increase in border patrols, and also must remove the onus on employers to rat out their illegal employees (many of which are very good workers, and who wants to lose a very good worker?), and place that on an immigration officer who we should have had their numbers increased dramatically. Obviously, the borders will be flooded with illegal attempts so the borders will need to be tightened during that grace period, and watched intently from then on.

After the grace period, any illegal caught in the country without proof that they have applied for legal status, which they should be told that they should keep on them at all times, they should be immediately deported. We need to take a more determined approach to those who refuse to enter this country illegally. Also, it needs to be made clear that we welcome legal immigrants, as they truly are what make this country great. With a softening of the legal process, and a hardening of the illegal issues, I believe we can reduce the issues caused by illegal immigrants, and make the US a great place to live. The solution to the problem is not a simple one, and it will require many approaches to make it work, but simply trying to swoop down and deport all the illegals will not work, nor will making them all legal work as well. As Glenn from instapundit said: our immigration system is porous to illegals, and hostile to legals, we need to work to reverse that statement.

No easy answers on immigration problem

Ah, finally my compatriot has recovered from his jet lag and caught up to all his e-mails, welcome back!

First off, I agree with you that the new immigration proposals being discussed in the U.S. are not real solutions. To me they are reactionary measures dependent on who the particular politician is trying to please. None of them really offer far reaching, fair, and comprehensive solutions to the overall immigration picture. So yes, I agree that most of our elected officials in Congress are missing the issue.

In regards to the Fox News article that you linked to, I must say I am in total disagreement. France’s immigration problems stem from a lack of integration in French society. There is little to no upward mobility and France’s immigrants are marginalized and not readily accepted into French society. It is because of this reason that second and even third generation French immigrants more readily identify with their home country and culture than with France. The new proposal by Sarkozy to make it more difficult for poor immigrants to enter the country will only widen the gap between rich and poor. Rather than allowing entry only to the rich, while ignoring the poor, perhaps France should look at its own economic policies that make it difficult for companies to hire and retain immigrants, not to mention French citizens. But then again, France is not really interested in progressive economic policies that would actually encourage hiring and economic growth, thereby reducing unemployment. So I do not think that France gets it. Their immigration problems are not the same as ours and their proposed solution completely ignores the real issue while fixing little.

While finding solutions to the immigration problem is difficult, I believe it needs to be looked at from 2 sides, both legal and illegal, as our legal immigration policies are as much of a mess as our illegal problems. Our current immigration policies and procedures are ridiculously onerous and difficult to comply with. Dealing with immigration is a nightmare of endless paperwork, insolent clerks, expensive fees, and lots of waiting. You have to be a very patient and understanding person to be able to deal with immigration on your own. There is a whole industry of immigration consultants and lawyers who make a living assisting people with the legal immigration process. As with the IRS and our tax laws, our immigration laws and procedures are so complex and confusing that many people would rather pay a consultant or lawyer to deal with the process than do it themselves. I know I did.

My conservative friends in the world who rail against immigration and continually call for a tightening of our immigration policies obviously don’t know anyone who has been through the legal immigration process. My wife is not from this country. When we decided to get married, I had no idea what I was in for. It took almost 7 months just to get a visa for my wife to enter the country so we could get married. Keep in mind this was just a visa to ENTER the country, not STAY in the country. Once in the country, we had 90 days to get married and apply for a change of status to permanent residency. After nearly 1 year, my wife was finally granted legal residency on conditional status for 2 years. The 2 years already went by and we already sent in yet another application for release of conditional status and a permanent green card. After paying $200 for the application fee and sending in all the paperwork, our check was cashed immediately. However, all we received in the mail was a notice from Immigration stating that they were processing our application and that it would take up to 11 MONTHS TO PROCESS!! So they have no problem taking our money up front, but we have to wait 11 months for them to process the paperwork. Long story short, we have been married about 3 years now and still do not have a green card. When I inquired as to what do we do if my wife needs to leave the country and come back, I was simply told to show Immigration a copy of the letter I had received upon arrival back into the U.S. Keep in mind that each step of the way requires mountains of paperwork and numerous fees.

Illegal immigration is a slap in the face to those legal immigrants such as my wife who are STILL going through the very long and difficult process to obtain a green card legally. I know of very few legal immigrants who support any of the arguments in favor of illegal immigration. Granting amnesty to those who broke the law and entered the country illegally renders the effort and money spent by those who immigrated legally meaningless. Rewarding lawless behavior only encourages more lawless behavior. By granting amnesty to the illegal immigrants already here it will only encourage others to attempt to enter the country illegally in hopes that they too will be granted amnesty in the future. Let’s be clear on this: these people are breaking the law. Some of us may not like the law. But regardless, it is the law, and those that break the law should be punished, not rewarded.

I believe the U.S. benefits from a strong legal immigration policy. There is a reason the U.S. is the number 1 destination of immigrants around the world. They know that our open society and free market economy provide opportunities for integration and mobility within American society. We need to make immigration easier for those who want to contribute positively to our country while punishing and deterring those who seek to circumvent our laws. The difficulty lies in how to accomplish both. While there are no easy answers, many of the solutions being proposed are inadequate. The questions are difficult ones to answer, and while I don’t believe the solutions being proposed adequately address the issues, I don’t pretend to have the answers myself.