Actors Equity is a violently liberal union. When Joseph McCarthy was investigating Un-American Activities like Communism, they were for said Un-American Activities. Their webpages on the Cold War and Vietnam indicate that they were on the losing side of the Cold War, but the winning side of the Vietnam War.

But economist George Borjas has been reading the Actors Equity contract,[PDF] and is impressed by their capitalistic and somehow nativist grasp of the Law Of Supply And Demand as it applies to foreign vs. American actors.

Provision 3(F) struck me the most:

Notwithstanding any of the above provisions, it is the purpose of this rule that a balance be maintained so that in each country where English is spoken, the number of non-resident aliens from each such country admitted to perform under this Rule shall not exceed the number of United States citizens employed in the theatre in such foreign country. It is understood that while absolute equality in numbers is not capable of attainment, it is nevertheless the intention of this Rule that failure to adhere to this precept violates the letter and spirit of this Rule.

In other words, the number of non-resident alien actors originating from an English-speaking country cannot exceed the number of American actors working in that country.

Actors’ Equity, of course, knows something about the laws of supply and demand (even if some economists have somehow forgotten them in this context): the wages of American actors are kept high by such restrictions.

Just imagine how the U.S. labor market would look if workers in other industries had labor contracts that restricted supply along the same lines as the “enlightened” and “progressive” entertainment industry.[The Borjas Blog: Immigration Is Good For Thee, But Not For Me]

The three hard science Nobel prizes have now been announced for 2007 and white males (six out of six in this case) continue to oppress the rest of humanity by discovering and inventing stuff.

The hard science Nobels are remarkable untainted by the Diversity Urge. The judges just seem to feel, “Hey, we’re the Nobel Prize guys. The N.o.b.e.l. Prize. We don’t have to degrade ourselves for political reasons.” It’s striking how few other prestigious institutions feel that way.

From 2000 through 2007, there have been 61 hard science Nobel Laureates, and one was a woman (Linda B. Buck in Medicine in 2004), or 1.64%. Since 1965, women have made up 2.13% of the hard science Laureates (6 out of 282), compared to 2.50% (6 out of 240) before then.

If this downward trend continues, I expect Larry Summers will have even more speaking engagements canceled.

Note, some of the recent winners have been pretty elderly, so somebody enterprising could go through the Nobel lists and make up a table of Laureates by decade of birth and see what the trend is when looked at that way. Of course, with just 6 out of the last 282 hard science Laureates being women, there’s just not a lot there to work with.

Mickey Kaus writes

The National Review bloggers at The Corner seem to be impressed with John McCain’s new immigration position, which is:

[The rhetoric about regaining "trust and confidence.' I highlighted below,I.E. "And we’ve got to restore that trust and confidence. If we’re going to have real immigration reform, we’re going to have to have trust that we will secure the borders.", and that is contradicted by, oh, McCain's entire political career.]

Mickey thinks the NRO bloggers are “cheap dates.’(Not a big surprise.) He writes

McCain obviously still believes his semi-amnesty is the essence of “real immigration reform.” Is he saying it will have to wait until the border are actually secured? No. He only requires “trust” that the borders “will” be secured, trust that will be accomplished by any number of government confidence-building measures (success in Iraq, cutting spending, better FEMA disaster response) that have nothing to do with actually securing the border. … I don’t trust his definition of “trust,” and he seems willfully oblivious to the difficulties facing any successful enforcement attempt–including a half-decade of lawsuits from many of McCain’s pro-comprehensive allies.

Of course, he hasn’t actually offered to secure the border, he’s just promising to make the American people trust him to restore the border. Unfortunately for him, the American people know better.

McCain in a Republican Presidential debate last night:

Mr. McCain: The American people no longer have trust or confidence in our government. Our failure at Katrina, our failures in Iraq, our failures to get spending under control. And we’ve got to restore that trust and confidence.

If we’re going to have real immigration reform, we’re going to have to have trust that we will secure the borders.Transcript: The GOP Debate - WSJ.com

McCain In Vanity Fair,

Then he added, unable to help himself, “By the way, I think the fence is least effective. But I’ll build the goddamned fence if they want it.”[Prisoner of Conscience, February 2007]

McCain on YouTube, from June 5, 2007, promising that “We Are Not Going To Erect Barriers And Fences “

Query: which of these three men do you believe?

I’ve long argued that the LA Times should carry more news from Mexico, since it’s not just relevant, but likely to be more colorful than the “What Next for the Law of the Sea Treaty?” thumbsuckers the newspaper traditionally specialized in. Maybe they’re taking me up on my suggestion:

Former Mexican presidential candidate Roberto Madrazo made headlines in Germany, eight days after winning the Berlin Marathon in his age group.

“The Fastest Man of Mexico,” said Monday’s Berliner Zeitung newspaper, referring to the 55-year-old Madrazo’s race time of 2 hours, 40 minutes and 57 seconds.

Unfortunately for Madrazo, it was a sarcastic jab. He was disqualified Monday by race officials after an investigation showed that the computer chip he carried went undetected at checkpoints along about a third of the 26.2-mile course. Madrazo appeared near the end of the race and was declared the winner of the “men’s 55-and-over” category.

“We’re disqualifying him,” said a race spokeswoman Tuesday.

Marathon officials said there was no record of Madrazo crossing race checkpoints between the 12.4-mile and 21.8-mile course markers. A race video showed him bundled up in a windbreaker, hat and sweatsuit as he crossed the finish line, arms outstretched in an apparent victory salute. His weary opponents, meanwhile, soldiered past in shorts and singlets. …

The paper found he ran the first half of the race at his normal pace. But over the more than nine miles missing from the computer record, Madrazo would have had to run faster than the world record holder to finish in his winning time.

The cheating allegation drew many wry comparisons here to the modern world record of seven decades during which Madrazo’s Institutional Revolutionary Party managed to dominate elections. …

Madrazo would not comment on the disqualification or the race, spokeswoman Addy Garcia said Tuesday.

“At this moment he holds no public office, and he is just like any other Mexican who doesn’t have to give an explanation to anyone,” she said.

Madrazo finished third in the July 2006 presidential election after being dogged by allegations that he had profited from a lifetime of public service under the PRI, as the former ruling party is known.[Madrazo disqualified from marathon By Sam Enriquez, Los Angeles Times, October 10, 2007]

The PRI candidate Carlos Salinas won the 1988 Presidential election over the leftist candidate when “the computer went down” in the middle of the vote count. When it came back up, whaddayaknow? Salinas had come from behind to take the lead! So, the computer must have gone down during the crucial midsection when Madrazo made like a 25-year-old Kenyan.

The idea of a hailing a taxi for the middle section of the race is not exactly a new strategy in marathoning. In the most hilarious footrace ever run, the 1904 St. Louis Olympics marathon, among many other bizarre incidents, Fred Lorz cramped up halfway through, so he got in a cab and rode to the stadium to see the runners enter. And, hey, why pay for a ticket when I could just jog right in? Oh, look, they’re all cheering for me! Well, those nice folks in the stands would sure be disappointed if I told them I wasn’t really in the race anymore, so I’ll just play along for the moment … . At least that’s how Fred made it sound after he was revealed to be a fraud just before he received his gold medal. But Senor Madrazo’s ploy doesn’t even meet that smell test. It’s not like there was a vast throng cheering as the first guy in the 55+ bracket straggled in with a bunch of younger runners a half hour after the winner.

Congress and the President think it would be a swell idea to give Mexico 1 billion American taxpayer dollars to help out in Calderon’s drug war. And it sounds like the beggers are getting pretty choosy.

A handful of Democrats traveled to Mexico at the behest of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to make sure an anti-drug package the Bush administration is negotiating is acceptable in Congress.

The Democrats met with Mexican lawmakers from several parties late Sunday and early Monday to get their views and details on the aid package that is expected to be announced in coming weeks. [...]

Plans of U.S. aid to Mexico triggers wariness among many Mexicans who are concerned the U.S. could use the assistance to interfere with Mexico’s sovereignty.
[Democrats meet with Mexicans on aid package, Houston Chronicle 10/9/07]

Apparently Washington fears a more decisive failure of the Mexican state than the slip-sliding of recent years: Homeland Security chief: Crime gangs threaten Mexican government (Dallas Morning News 9/29/07):

“I have nothing but good things to say about the approach that President (Felipe) Calderon has taken to dealing with organized crime in Mexico, which is a very serious threat to the authority of the government and law enforcement in parts of Mexico,” Chertoff said.

Translation: Calderon’s attempt to re-establish law and order in Mexico is not going so well.

Now I agree with Washington that a failed state of 100 million people on our southern border would be a security disaster for America. (See Is Mexico About To Fall Apart? Brenda Walker Says Yes.) It would only be a matter of time until al Qaeda found a friendly cartel willing to do business — if they haven’t already.

But American taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to spend more money from our overextended credit card (now 9 trillion dollars in the hole) in order to help the enemy next door.

Mexico is a very wealthy country and can easily pay for its own police work. Vicente Fox just bragged on Larry King that Mexico is the seventh largest trading nation on earth. When will Washington wise up on this score?

These two opinions were, first, that immigration constituted a net reinforcement of our population; secondly, that, in addition to this, or irrespective of this, immigration was necessary, in order to supply the laborers who should do certain kinds of work, imperatively demanded for the building up of our industrial and social structure, which natives of the soil were unwilling to undertake.Restriction of Immigration by Francis A. Walker, The Atlantic Monthly; June, 1896;

Yes, “which natives of the soil were unwilling to undertake” is the same thing that George Bush is saying when talks about work “Americans won’t do.” Walker demolishes this argument, but it won’t stay demolished.