Bitter Economic Pill has (good) Side Effects

There might just be one or two good things that come out of a substantial global economic recession. So, you're looking for a silver lining amongst all the doom and gloom? A couple of topics that have piqued my attention recently might just qualify.

One that comes to mind immediately is the about face some leftists are doing on CAGW or Catastrophic Anthropologic Global Warming. Now that their guy has won and the Dems firmly control the Congress this club they use to beat conservatives over the head with is no longer necessary. The fact that the world actually seems to be getting colder since the 1998 peak and all the other evidence that is piling up against the Gorbots and the rest of the alarmists might have something to do with it. Or that they realize that their guy will get the blame if the civilization killing measures they propose were actually employed (not that they ever really supported Kyoto or any number of goofy plans anyway). Harold Ambler over at the Huffington Post is waiting for his apology from Al Gore - its actually quite a good read.

The second thing that an economic downturn will do is help defund the terror masters due to lower oil prices. We have been beating ourselves in the GWOT by funding both sides. Funneling billions into Iran and Saudi Arabia as well as Russia for their oil while spending billions monthly to fight terrorists seemed counterproductive to most of us. Lower demand and OPEC's inability to truely cut production without its members cheating is having a devastating effect on the terror masters in Iran. Michael Ledeen has a great piece on the situation in Iran that truely is a must read. He is perhaps the most insightful commentator on Iran's war against the civilized world in the all the Western media.

Lastly, for the first time in years illegal immigration from south of the border is down - significantly so. Most people site the economic woes in the U.S. for this and its hard to argue when jobs are disappearing by the 10's of thousands every month. When coupled with a real step up in enforcement in the last few years the effect is noticeable. If it weren't for the disastrous reform legislation that turned many in his own party against him the President would have gotten high marks for these real accomplishments down at our southern border.

Even before amnesty bill was defeated in June 2007, the Bush administration was doing much more to enforce the laws already on the books - although he never will receive any credit for it. The fenced portion of the U.S. border has increased significantly in the last 18 months. Worksite enforcement has really been beefed up in recent years, with the number of criminal and administrative arrests increasing more than five-fold since earlier in Bushs' first term. The number of Border Patrol agents has more than doubled to over 16,500. In 2007, 285,000 aliens were removed, almost doubling the number in 2002. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) is likely to match its 2007 total again in 2008.

Not much consolation for these terrible economic times but it's something. Whose to say that once things turn around that these things won't rear their ugly heads again...



CW