Strict Arizona immigration law gets Supreme Court blessing - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

Image by hey skinny via FlickrStrict Arizona immigration law gets Supreme Court blessing - Political Hotsheet - CBS News: "The Supreme Court gave its blessing today to one of the strong immigration control laws passed by Arizona, a law that has served as a model for similar measures in other states.

Arizona requires businesses to use the national eVerify system to check workers immigration status. Licenses are revoked when illegal immigrants are intentionally employed.

The Chamber of Commerce and labor groups formed a powerful coalition to challenge the law. They argued it steps on the federal government's broad immigration powers.

Conservatives carried the day in the 5-3 vote. Chief Justice John Roberts said while federal law bars states from imposing civil and criminal penalties for immigration violations, Arizona's license revocation statute doesn't fall into the category."

At last, some common sense from the Supremes. Having struck down state enforcement of federal immigration law and state law to enforce existing federal immigration law by logic that defies common sense, the Supreme Court will allow states to enforce state laws when illegal immigration is an underlying factor. The law at issue allows the state to deny/revoke the business license of those companies that break immigration laws.

Common Sense is concerned about illegal immigration, as we all should be. Immigrants come to the US seeking a better life as did the families of almost all Americans. That's as it should be. But when businesses take advantage of illegal immigrants as they often do subjecting them to low pay and substandard working conditions that's simply wrong. When businesses use illegal workers denying jobs to US workers that's simply wrong. Laws that deny such businesses the right to operate just make good common sense. They help remove one of the principal motivations for illegal immigration and protect jobs for those who are in the US legally.

Related articles

• Is Supreme Court Right to OK Arizona's 'Business Death Penalty'? (usnews.com)
• Supreme Court upholds Arizona illegal-worker law - San Francisco Chronicle (news.google.com)
• Supreme Court upholds Ariz. employer sanctions law (usatoday.com)
• Arizona, Immigration, and Common Sense

Honesty in a political candidate - will wonders never cease

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Raising Cain’s Honesty | Logarchism: "Former Godfather’s Pizza CEO and radio talk show host Herman Cain announced over the weekend that he is running for President. Cain has never held political office before. Rather than discussing the gentleman’s positions, I want to look at the man’s character."

Never mind that on the face of it, Mr Cain isn't really much qualified to be president. Can you believe that when a) asked about the "right of return" and obviously NOT knowing what it was about, then b) being interviewed on a subsequent day on national TV and asked again Mr. Cain actually admitted to not previously knowing. So huge common sense points for honesty. Not so many common sense points for being reasonably informed. Common Sense isn't so sure that he should run for president but Mr. Cain might be a real breath of fresh air during the election cycle and might make a decent Congressman, at least as good of some of the stunningly dishonest current members.

Related articles

• 5 Reasons to Take Notice of Herman Cain (mcauleyfreelanceblog.com)
• Herman Cain Makes It Official - The Atlantic (news.google.com)
• Herman Cain Admits He Doesn't Know What "Right Of Return" Means (sayanythingblog.com)
• The Story Herman Cain Won't Tell You About His Years In Corporate America (huffingtonpost.com)

House Republicans to hold vote on debt limit increase – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeHouse Republicans to hold vote on debt limit increase – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs: "Washington (CNN) – House Republican leaders have scheduled a vote next week to raise the debt limit without any spending cuts attached in order to demonstrate that a so-called 'clean extension' preferred by President Barack Obama and some congressional Democrats cannot pass in the GOP-majority chamber.

According to several aides, GOP leaders announced the move Tuesday at their regular weekly meeting with rank and file Republicans.

The Republican proposal, sponsored by Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, would raise the Treasury's borrowing authority by $2.4 trillion, which is the same amount in Obama's proposed budget, and would give the Treasury Department the authority to continue paying its bills through December 2012.

The vote is not expected to get any Republican support, dooming its chances of winning House approval."

The politics of grid lock is clearly in full sway. So lets get this straight, under Congressional rules in the House, the speaker, in this case Mr Boehner, controls what can come to a vote. He also controls the Republican caucus and can influence, often to the point of controlling, how elected representatives vote. You remember the notion of elected where voters elect someone that is suppose to represent the will of the electorate as distinct from the will of Mr Boehner or the Republican party. So Mr Boehner having instructed the Republican caucus NOT to vote for this measure even knowing full well that not extending the debt ceiling is a non starter brings this measure to a vote. Why? This is political theater at its worst. It's not about the debt ceiling. It's certainly not about good governance. One thing it clearly shows is that the two party system and Congressional rules are seriously broken.

Here is a common sense notion, perhaps we shouldn't pay Congress when they engage in this sort of political theater since they are clearly not working for the American voters.

Related articles

• What's wrong with having two political parties (richards-common-sense.blogspot.com)

Democrat Kathy Hochul wins House seat in New York special election - CNN.com

Democrat Kathy Hochul wins House seat in New York special election - CNN.com: "(CNN) -- Democrat Kathy Hochul swept to victory Tuesday night in a closely watched Congressional election in New York state, which turned into a proxy battle on a House Republican proposal on Medicare. The race in New York's 26th Congressional district was to fill the seat of former Republican Congressman Chris Lee, who resigned over pictures and e-mails of him trying to find a date on Craigslist. The seat had been considered safe for Republicans, who had held the district for more than four decades. Democrats claimed the victory 'had far reaching consequences around the country' over Medicare, while a top Republican warned trying to 'predict the future based on the results of this unusual race is naive and risky.'"

It seems that at least occasionally even money doesn't trump the will of voters and common sense. It also seems that the mandate for the radical right is, well, not so much a mandate as say an expression of voter frustration with a profoundly broken political system, Congress, and both political parties.

Common Sense says good for New York and common sense.

Related article

• Democrat Kathy Hochul wins House seat in New York special election (cnn.com)
• Elections for sale (richards-common-sense.blogspot.com)

Newt Gingrich’s dubious claim of a ‘normal’ no-interest charge account at Tiffany - The Fact Checker - The Washington Post

Image via WikipediaNewt Gingrich’s dubious claim of a ‘normal’ no-interest charge account at Tiffany - The Fact Checker - The Washington Post

Speaks for itself. Would the G know 'normal' if it bit him? Would he know 'common sense' if it knocked on his door? Seems unlikely.

Comcast - get a clue

Image via CrunchBaseSomething happened a few weeks ago that was, well, rather irritating. Comcast, our cable provider, decided to disable fast forward for On Demand content. Now, that must seem and is in the greater scheme of things really rather trivial. Still it's irritating. At any event, Common Sense called Comcast to complain and ask that fast forward be restored for On Demand content. I didn't expect to get very far and didn't. Comcast says "the broadcasters made us do it."

Now, I know better and told Comcast so. The broadcasters don't send the disable code, Comcast does. So passing the buck is just, well, a lie! I explained this notion to comcast. No effect expected. None occurred.

Here Comcast made a mistake. They think that they still have a lock on high speed service to my house. As it happened, last week a Verizon contractor pulled cable pipe for FIOS down our street! I explained this to Comcast and noted that when Verizon came around asking if I'd like to switch they were rather likely to get to yes. No effect expected. None occurred.

All of this leaves Common Sense wondering. How is it that Comcast thinks that eliminating useful functionality that their customers previously enjoyed is a good business decision? Really, Comcast, get a clue. All that's really going to happen is that I'll turn off the sound and go get a cup of coffee. Later, when Verizon sends a promotion I'll say yes then call Comcast and fire them.

Now, I'm just one customer so I don't expect Comcast to particularly note my departure. But if enough people leave then it will matter.

All of which has got Common Sense wondering why it is that large companies so often become so arrogant that they start ignoring the customer's interest? Common Sense has seen it fairly frequently of late as companies try to maximize profit. As often as not all they really end up doing is loosing customers. That's just bad business and, frankly, dumb. So here's a clue for Comcast and other large companies -

The money starts in the customers hand. If you want the money to get to your hand you actually have to satisfy the customer! The customer was fine before doing business with you and chances are will be just fine after firing you.

Just a common sense POV.

Related articles

• So Long F.C.C., Hello Comcast (dealbook.nytimes.com)
• Comcast Pulls Funding To Filmmakers After Tweet (crunchgear.com)
• Fresh: Comcast now has the Big 4 On Demand, but disables fast forwarding – Sodapop Journal

Addenda:

It turns out there is more to this than just Comcast. It seems that FOX and other networks have struck a deal with Comcast in which their most popular shows are now available ON DEMAND without an increase in price to the Comcast customer. That's nice in its way but, and it's a big but, the change is still unacceptable to Common Sense. It seems that FOX and Comcast have decided that their customers are to be forced to endure commercials. Now, Common Sense has no particular issue with commercials. Some are actually relevant or at least entertaining. Others are just irritating noise of no interest or relevance. So consider the following: if a vendor forces someone to endure something that is offensive how likely is it that that person will choose to do business with the vendor? Common Sense thinks not very likely and NFW!

So here's an open note to FOX, Comcast, and company and their advertisers - If you abuse your prospective customers you can be fairly sure that they will not do business with you. If you collude with other big companies to do so you can be fairly sure that you'll be fired at the first opportunity. Oh, and Comcast, I don't do business with FOX etc, I send my money to Comcast. Therefore, I hold Comcast responsible. Therefore, Comcast gets fired first. QED.

That's still just common sense.

Piracy of Intelectual Property is Illegal and Has Consequences

Feds Seize 8 More Domains in Piracy Crackdown | Threat Level | Wired.com:

By David Kravets Email Author
May 23, 2011 |

The Department of Homeland Security seized at least eight website addresses over the weekend, bringing to 128 the number of domains confiscated as part of a government piracy crackdown.

The government is taking the sites with court approval, under the same civil seizure law the government invokes to seize brick-and-mortar drug houses, bank accounts and other property tied to illegal activity.

Common Sense says about time. Copyrights matter and illegal is illegal. That's just common sense.