Will Wilkinson gives a long quotation from an argument by Milton Friedman, along with some explication. The basic argument is that free immigration to jobs is a good thing, free immigration to welfare is a bad thing, and in the absence of a separation between legal residency and eligibility for welfare, the best result is achieved by encouraging more illegal immigration: But the important takeaway here is this: Friedman’s view is that a certain kind of unrestricted welfare state makes illegal immigration good, because it severs residency from welfare eligibility. Friedman is unequivocal about the desirability of free migration. Anyone really committed to Friedman’s stated view about welfare and immigration should by no means try to restrict immigration, but instead should try to enable illegal immigration. A devout Friedmanite should stand stoutly against every fence, every border cop, every increase in the INS budget, any proposed database check for a new workers’ legal status, etc. I think it makes more sense to argue first for a guest worker program. But if that is in fact impossible, then Friedman has it right: more illegal immigration is the best we can do.See the fuller discussion at Will Wilkinson’s blog. UPDATE (June 13, 2008): And, of related interest, a discussion of how the benefits of remittances are really the benefits of labor migration, and how Switzerland, despite being difficult to immigrate to, has the highest percentage of foreign-born in its population of any OECD country, also both from Will Wilkinson. The latter provides further evidence for the logical separability of citizenship, residency, work rights, and welfare eligibility. ...

Just like quack magnetic therapy for improving human health, Alan Archer’s product claims to improve fuel efficiency for your car. According to a ridiculously skepticism-free article on ABC15’s website: The gas blaster clamps to your car’s fuel line. Two powerful magnets change the molecular structure of gasoline causing it to burn cleaner and more efficient.Archer, whose company’s name isn’t mentioned in the article (but it’s Adaptive Energy Solutions, LLC according to their website, a company incorporated in September 2003), guarantees that the product will improve gas mileage by at least 10% or your money will be returned. He’s probably banking on the fact that most people won’t have carefully measured their gas mileage before using it, and the fact that a 10% gain for a car that gets 25 mpg is only 2.5 mpg, well within the range of normal mileage variability given normal variations in driving conditions. There’s a quote in the news article from an individual who says “(Ten percent) is a lot when I only get ten miles to the gallon.” No, it’s only 1 mpg difference, and I bet his 10 mpg is already variable by more than 1 mpg. Archer’s claims for this product, an “adaptive gas blaster,” are identical to claims that have been made for similar fuel line magnet products for decades. All of them that have actually been tested have been found to have no measurable effect on gas mileage, and no doubt the same is true of Archer’s hokum. What I find remarkable is that the media continue to uncritically give a forum to hucksters to promote their nonsense. In this case, ABC15 even helpfully provides a link at the bottom of the page where you can click to order a $48 (plus shipping and handling) “adaptive gas blaster." The money-back guarantee lasts for 60 days, doesn’t include the shipping and handling fee, is available for only a limited time, and requires that you have the device installed by an “ASE” (I think they mean AES) mechanic or the guarantee is only for 30 days–I suspect there’s a nonrefundable installation fee if they do it for you. Save your money–you can save gas more easily without buying a bogus product by driving less often and more efficiently. (Hat tip to Gridman for bringing this to my attention.) ...

Tom Willis, the creationist responsible for the bogus claim that Donald Johanson found “Lucy”’s knee joint at a great distance from the rest of the skeleton (CC003 in Mark Isaak’s Index to Creationist Claims), says that evolutionists should be “violently expelled” from the United States–or at least denied the right to vote: The arrogance displayed by the evolutionist class is totally unwarrented. The facts warrent the violent expulsion of all evolutionists from civilized society. I am quite serious that their danger to society is so great that, in a sane society, they would be, at a minimum, denied a vote in the administration of the society, as well as any job where they might influence immature humans, e.g., scout, or youth, leader, teacher and, obviously, professor. Oh, by the way… What is the chance evolutionists will vote or teach in the Kingdom of God? ...

Although his last attempt to introduce articles of impeachment (for Cheney) failed, on Monday, June 9, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) introduced 35 new articles of impeachment for President George W. Bush. There’s no support from the Democratic leadership, of course. The mainstream media seems to be almost completely ignoring this. Two days later, a news.google.com search for “Kucinich impeachment” gives only the Village Voice in results. UPDATE: Looks like the Arizona Republic covered it today, as did CNN. ...

ApostAZ podcast #3 is now online: “Jesus Loves the Little Zygotes” written by Frank Zindler, performed by Brad. Rev Wright is All Wrong for Obama. Catholic Anti-Feminism. Nóel’s story. For Love or Faith? Deity Nihilo: Proof #3 (2/50 from http://godisimaginary… ). Absurd Dunkin’ Terror. God’s Own Dealership. Group Events. Outro from ‘Dream’ Greydon Square’s Album ‘The Compton Effect’ Anders Branderud (2008-06-15): Hello! I found your website. My name is Anders Branderud and I am from Sweden.Who then was the historical “Jesus”?Did you know that the original “Matthew” was written in Hebrew and it’s called Hebrew Matityahu. It speaks about an Orthodox Jewish leader..I am a follower of Ribi Yehoshua – Mashiakh – who practiced Torah including Halakhah with all his heart.He was born in Betlehem 7 B.C.E . His faher name was Yoseiph and mother’s name was Mir′ yâm. He had twelve followers. He tought in the Jewish batei-haknesset (synagogues). Thousands of Jews were interested in His Torah-teachings. The “Temple” Sadducees (non-priests who bought their priest-ship in the “Temple” from the Romans, because they were assimilated Hellenist and genealogically non-priests acting as priests in the “Temple”; they were known by most 1st-century Jews as “Wicked Priests.” decided to crucify him. So they did - together with the Romans. His followers were called Netzarim (meaning offshoots [of a olive tree]) and they continued to pray with the other Jews in the synagogues.Christianity does not teach the teachings of Ribi Yehoshua. Ribi Yehoshuas teachings were pro-Torah.If you want to learn more click at our website www.netzarim.co.il -- than click at the lick "Christians"; click at my photo to read about what made my switch religion from Christianity to Orthodox Judaism.Anders BranderudFollower of Ribi Yehoshua in Orthodox Judaism ...

Last night I attended an event at which one of the attendees promoted “Zeitgeist: The Movie.” I was prompted to finally watch this piece of pernicious nonsense back in January when a commenter at this blog made reference to it, and I forced myself to sit through the whole thing. The movie is in three segments–the first is on the origins of Christianity, in which it argues that Jesus was a myth derived from Egyptian myth, based on the work of Acharya S. The second is 9/11 conspiracy theory. The third is an argument that the U.S. Federal Reserve is a scam. It’s almost entirely garbage, dependent on crackpot sources. I posted a series of comments about the movie as I watched it, but I’ll summarize those here and add a bit more. The first part argues that Christianity is derived from Egyptian myth, primarily by pointing out parallels between them. The arguments are apparently derived from the self-published “The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold” by Acharya S (Dorothy M. Murdock) and perhaps also from Tom Harpur’s The Pagan Christ, both works of pseudoscholarship based on the work of other pseudoscholars like 18th century archaeologist Godfrey Higgins, 19th century amateur Egyptologist and poet Gerald Massey, and Alvin Boyd Kuhn, a high school language teacher and promoter of Theosophy) and entirely ignores actual work in Egyptology. For example, the film draws a list of comparisons between Horus and Jesus that is just fabricated–Horus wasn’t born of a virgin, he was the child of Isis and Osiris, though Isis was impregnated by Osiris through some magic after he was dead. There have been parallels drawn between Isis and Mary that are more plausible (especially in iconography), but the movie exaggerates them, too, and fails to note the considerable areas of dissimilarity. A quick look at the Wikipedia entries on Horus and Isis is sufficient to show that the comparison is strained. The significance of a December 25 birthdate is nonexistent–Christianity did acquire attributes of pagan religions later in its history, and it has clearly been a syncretistic religion, but while this is evidence of falsehood in Christian traditions, it is not a clue to its origin. For accurate information about Christianity and the formation of the Christian tradition, virtually any mainstream academic work will be more reliable. There has been a lot discovered since the work of 19th century Theosophists, both in the form of document manuscripts and archaeology, that sheds light on the early history of Christianity. In discussions at the James Randi Educational Foundation Forums, poster GreNME wrote: ...

Richard Lenski of Michigan State University used a single cell of E. coli to start 12 lab populations, which he observed for more than 44,000 generations. At the 31,500th generation, one of the populations suddenly developed the ability to metabolize citrate. He had saved frozen samples of each 500th population, and found that only that one of the twelve populations would re-evolve this ability, and then only when he started at the 20,000th generation or later, leading him to conclude that something had developed around the 20,000th generation of that population that provided the necessary foundation. As New Scientist reports, “the experiment stands as proof that evolution does not always lead to the best possible outcome. Instead, a chance event can sometimes open evolutionary doors for one population that remain forever closed to other populations with different histories." UPDATE (June 11, 2008): Michael Behe has written a commentary on this result, which Ed Brayton criticizes at Dispatches from the Culture Wars. UPDATE (June 13, 2008): Science writer Carl Zimmer has written a nice summary of this research, and the primary author of the research shows up in the comments to answer questions at comment #80. UPDATE (June 18, 2008): Lenski responds to a letter from Andy Schlafly of Conservapaedia. UPDATE (June 24, 2008): In a further exchange with Schlafly, Lenski politely shows Schlafly to be an idiot and a jerk. (The link edited out by Conservapaedia is to RationalWiki’s article on banning at Conservapaedia.)

The June 7, 2008 issue of The Economist reports that Hugo Chavez issued a decree late last month which: authorises police raids without warrant, the use of anonymous witnesses and secret evidence. Judges are obliged to collaborate with the intelligence services. Anyone caught investigating sensitive matters faces jail. The law contains no provision for any kind of oversight. It blurs the distinction between external threats and internal political dissent. It requires all citizens, foreigners and organisations to act in support of the intelligence system whenever required–or face jail terms of up to six years.Though my employer operates in Venezuela, I think that’s one South American country I’d rather not visit at the moment… I hope November’s elections reduce Chavez’s power and he steps down from power in 2013 as he’s previously said that he would. And Daniel Ortega has suspended elections in Nicaragua… another country to avoid. ...

McCain continues to demonstrate mind-boggling ignorance of the U.S. Constitution, for someone who has already sworn numerous times to uphold it. He’s clearly unfit to be president–he’s either ignorant of U.S. history or being dishonest in order to pander to the religious right. (I previously reported similar remarks by McCain last October.) The Bible and the Christian tradition do not support a limited constitutional republic–if you got your politics from the Bible or Christian tradition, you’d argue for a monarchy with virtually limitless power. That’s probably part of the reason that the Bush administration has argued against any limits on executive power. (From Atheist Media Blog by way of Pharyngula.) ...

No, it doesn’t reduce the amount of adolescent sexual activity–it merely reduces the likelihood that teens who have sex will use condoms, and thus increases the prevalence of teens with sexually transmitted diseases. This is not merely useless, it’s actually harmful and counter-productive, like the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s anti-drug advertisements. But empirical evidence is irrelevant to those who are pushing their programs due to religious fundamentalism. For such people, the fact that they not only don’t work but have the opposite of the desired effects just means they need to be pushed harder.