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links for 2011-02-01
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As of March 2010, 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the United States, virtually unchanged from a year earlier, according to new estimates from the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. This stability in 2010 follows a two-year decline from the peak of 12 million in 2007 to 11.1 million in 2009 that was the first significant reversal in a two-decade pattern of growth. Unauthorized immigrants were 3.7% of the nation's population in 2010.
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Read it all
I will have a further post on this report tomorrow
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2010 Union Membership in United States Falls Below 12% for the First Time
The good Professor Mark Perry has the sad news for the Democratic Left who are dependent upon the unions for money and manpower to run their political campaigns.Union membership in the U.S. fell to an all-time historical low of 11.9% of all workers in 2010, which is less than half of the 24.5% share in 1979, according to new data from the BLS.
Of course, there has to be some snark from Mickey Kaus the right-leaning Democrat.
Unions Are Latinos in Reverse: For at least a decade both the Democrats and Republicans have been lectured by journalists, strategists, and assorted members of the Bush clique that the Latino vote is growing, so they’d better do what those voters want (which, we’re told, is give illegal immigrants amnesty). And the Latino vote is growing … But not every voting bloc is doing so well. Specifically, the union vote is shrinking. According to just released numbers, the nation’s unionization rate has fallen to less than 7 percent of private sector workers, and to less than 12 percent of all workers (counting the heavily unionized public sector). The long-term trend of decline is seemingly unrelenting. To borrow a phrase from President Obama, these are yesterday’s voters! If Dems need to suck up to expanding groups, by the same logic shouldn’t they be abandoning shrinking groups?
Indeed, in California, look what the public sector unions have brought or should I say bought – a majority Democratic Party and a bankrupt state.
Tomorrow, I will post about the new illegal immigration numbers.
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President 2012 South Dakota Poll Watch: Sen. John Thune Leads the Pack Against President Obama
Senate Budget Committee member Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., walks to his seat on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011, prior to the start of the committee’s hearing titled the Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2011-2021. Fellow committee members Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas is at center, Sen. John Ensugn, R-Nev. is at right
Of course, South Dakota is GOP Senator John Thune’s home state but he is still polling very well against President Obama.The one potential candidate who would completely blow Obama out of the water is John Thune. He leads the President by 20 points in a hypothetical contest, 57-37. Thune is the first of the potential Republican candidates we’ve polled who’s really done well in their home state. Tim Pawlenty trails Obama in Minnesota by a wider margin than Romney does. Rick Perry ties Obama in Texas even as the rest of the Republican candidates lead him. Chris Christie is down double digits in New Jersey and doesn’t do any better than Romney or Huckabee. We haven’t tested any head to heads in Alaska but voters there hate Sarah Palin now. Mitt Romney does better than the other Republicans in Masschusetts but still trails by a wide margin and Rick Santorum can’t even finish in the top four for a primary contest in Pennsylvania. So South Dakota’s strong support of a Thune run is more the exception than the rule in our 2012 polling to date.
Thune’s strong showing is no surprise given that he’s one of the most popular Senators in the country. His home state approval rating is 58% with only 31% of voters disapproving of him. He has near universal support from within his own party but he also gets good marks for his job performance from a third of Democrats, far more support than most folks in his position across the country get from across the aisle.
Obama’s slightly unpopular in the state with 42% of voters approving of him and 49% disapproving. He’s ahead of both Gingrich and Palin though because they’re more unpopular than that. Gingrich’s favorability is a 31/43 spread and Palin’s is even worse at 37/55. Voters there are positive toward Huckabee, with 40% rating him favorably to 30% with a negative opinion, and a small plurality like Romney as well- 35% favorable, 34% unfavorable.
A fresh face in the 2012 Presidential race, I just watched him on the Senate floor speaking to the repeal of ObamaCare. He was knowledgeable and articulate.
Should Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels not run, Thune could very well be the alternative to Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin should Mike Huckabee decide not to run.
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VA-Sen: Does Lackluster Fundraising Say Sen. Jim Webb is Out?
Former Virginia Senator George Allen and Senator Jim WebbVirginia is not a small state and Senator Jim Webb’s fundraising has been poor. Is it because he is NOT running for re-election?It’s a natural and defensible impulse to try to draw conclusions about Virginia Sen. Jim Webb’s lackluster fundraising quarter.
Reports by The Hill and then USA Today that the Marine only raised $12,000 during the final three months of the year immediately lead to the conclusion that Webb is less likely to pursue a second term.
But there might not be a senator’s financial report that’s less instructive than Jim Webb’s.
It’s no secret he doesn’t enjoy the game of politics, let alone the unseemly and draining process of raising money. And if those who claim to know him best are being forthright, it’s just as possible that Webb wants to truly settle on a decision before he slugs through dialing for dollars in a secluded, colorless room at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Webb enters 2011 with just $440,000 on hand. To put things in perspective, while that number will undoubtedly fall on the low end of the fundraising spectrum, it’s not significantly less than some of his colleagues, like Sen. Jon Tester and Sen. Jeff Bingaman.
Yes, those are smaller, cheaper states. But to be sure, Webb isn’t really even trying yet.
Looks to me that Webb lacks the “fire in his belly” to run against George Allen again – especially with 2012 expected not to be as good for Democrats as 2006 when President George W. Bush was under seige from the Iraq War.
But, if Webb decides to run, it will be a tough campaign in a rematch with George Allen.
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President 2012 South Carolina GOP Poll Watch: Huckabee 26% Romney 20% Palin 18% Gingrich 13%
This is what the latest PPP poll reports. These numbers are without favorite son and South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint running for President.
If you take DeMint out of the equation Huckabee is the biggest beneficiary. He would lead the state with 26% to 20% for Romney, 18% for Palin, 13% for Gingrich, 7% for Paul, 4% for Pawlenty, and 3% for Daniels.
If you’re going to declare winners and losers in this poll the winners are Huckabee and Romney and the losers are Palin and Gingrich. Not winning South Carolina in 2008 punctured Huckabee’s chances at winning the nomination but it looks like he’d be able to change that outcome if he gave it a second try. Romney has been polling fourth in a lot of other Southern states so for him to be within striking distance of Huckabee and beating Palin and Gingrich with this particularly conservative primary electorate are very good signs.
The Biggest Losers in this poll are Georgia’s Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin who trails the more moderate Romney.
The results are probably worst for Gingrich. He led the first time we polled South Carolina last May, but has lost half of his support since then. Given South Carolina’s next door status to his native Georgia this is easily the early primary state where he would have the most decent chance of winning but he looks to be losing momentum. For Palin a third place finish behind the relatively moderate Romney in a state with a very conservative Republican primary electorate does not bode well for her overall prospects.
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Shocker: 94% of House Physicians Voted for Repeal of Obamacare
Not really shocking to me.What do doctors think of Obamacare? One good gauge is the views of doctors serving in the House of Representatives. Of the 16 doctors currently serving in the House — perhaps an all-time high — all but one voted for Obamacare’s repeal.
Why?
Maybe this survery gives us a clue.Or, maybe it is due to the fact that Obamacare would effectively ban doctors from owning hospitals and from expanding those that they already own.
Or perhaps doctors simply oppose Obamacare for the same reasons that so many other Americans do: because it would increase spending, debt, health costs, and federal power, while reducing liberty.
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Muhammad Cartoon Danish Terror Plot Suspects Planned to Slit Journalists’ Throats Police Wiretaps Reveal
Offices of the Jyllands-Posten Newspaper which published the Muhammed Cartoons
And, slit as many throats and as quickly as they could.The goal of the attack was to shoot and kill as many people as possible within 20 minutes, according to recordings made by Danish security service PET and published on Monday in the Ekstra Bladet newspaper, according to Danish news agency Ritzau.
The three men traveled to Denmark during the evening of December 29th. They then met in an apartment on Mörkhöjvej in the Herlev neighbourhood near the Danish capital to discuss how they would attack the Jyllands-Postens newspaper.
In a joint prayer, one of the men said, “When the unfaithful are gathered, tie them up and cut their throats.”
Their goal was to shoot and kill as many as possible in a 20-minute time span. Following the prayer, the left the flat, but were then arrested by police. During a search of the premises, PET found automatic weapons, silencers, and heavy duty tape.
Last Thursday, the court in Glostrup decided that the three men from Sweden arrested in Denmark, Munir Awad, a 29-year-old Swede born in Lebanon, 30-year-old Swede Omar Abdalla Aboelazm and 44-year-old Tunisian national and Swedish resident Mounir Dhahri, should remain in solitary remand.
On Monday, the Attunda District Court north of Stockholm renewed a remand order for Sahbi Zalouti, a 37-year-old a Swedish citizen of Tunisian decent, who was arrested in Stockholm and believed to have been involved in planning the attack.All four suspects deny involvement in planning any terror activities.
All for publishing the Muhammad Cartoons of which the one below is one.
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President 2012 Poll Watch: NO SOTU Bump for Obama But Approval Remains Higher
Well, the Gallup poll trend line is unmistakable but President Obama has NOT received any BUMP from his State of the Union speech.Gallup Daily tracking finds no change in President Obama’s job approval rating after his State of the Union address. The president’s 50% average for the week ending Sunday, Jan. 30, matches the prior week’s rating, which was the highest weekly average for Obama since May.
Obama’s approval ratings although not predictive of his 2012 election chances at this point, must give Obama pause. Giving a speech is one of his better political attributes and I am sure he would like to see his poll numbers go up to the mid-50’s.
Now, the turmoil in Egypt will weigh on his shoulders as it is perceived by all sides that his Administration has been indecisive.
President Obama’s job approval ratings will ultimately be a good predictor of his chances for re-election in November 2012, but at this early stage — some 21 months before the election — they have little election forecasting validity. Ronald Reagan, for example, had a low 35% approval rating in late January 1983, yet went on to win re-election handily in 1984. On the other hand, President George H.W. Bush enjoyed a job approval rating of 83% in late January 1991 as the U.S. engaged in the first Persian Gulf War, yet he was defeated in his bid for re-election the following year.
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Power Line Blog Gets Scalped: Paul Mirengoff Quits Blogging
What is the Flap?
Long time conservative blogger at Power Line Blog and attorney Paul Mirengoff has quit because of pressure from his day job – a partner in a large law firm, Akin Gump which has a large presence in Washington D.C.
William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection has the story of how, when Paul Mirengoff criticized the Yaqui Indian prayer offered at the Tucson memorial, his remarks were denounced as “insensitive and wholly inappropriate” by a partner at Mirengoff’s K Street law firm, Akin Gump.
So now Mirengoff’s offensive post has been taken down by Power Line and Mirengoff has stopped blogging there. But there’s a lot more to this story than political correctness run amok.
All I can say is a pox to Akin Gump and that I will miss Paul’s posts over at Power Line.
This entire matter is BS and Akin Gump should be ashamed of themselves.
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Day By Day February 1, 2011 – Yes We Can
Day By Day by Chris MuirAnd, where is the Obama Administration in the scheme of things?Playing both sides apparently – but ready to SPIN as the wind blows in a definite direction.
Even Iran AND Israel ARE calling out the President.
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