This'n'That; February 1st[Superbowl;Porkulus;MexEconomy]

The Superbowl Copyright Flap The latest situation is pretty bizarre -- but tragically, seems to fall closer to a correct legal reading of a really poorly written law. The NFL apparently nastygrammed a church for planning to host a Super Bowl party. The original complaint was first that the church was charging people, but also that they used the term "Super Bowl" (as if people would somehow believe that the church was associated with the NFL?). After the church agreed to let people in for free and not use the term, the NFL continued to complain, saying that showing the Super Bowl on a screen larger than 55 inches represents copyright infringement. While we, at first, doubted the reality of this, Ben Austro sent in the fact that it is, indeed, spelled out in copyright law that once you get above 55", you may be talking about a "public performance," though, as Ben notes, the wording sounds like it was clearly written by a lobbyist. No matter what the law states, this seems ridiculously short-sighted by the NFL. It's hard to see how they lose out in any meaningful way by not allowing groups to watch the Super Bowl together. Of course, now that this particular quirk of copyright law is getting some attention, how long will it be until the MPAA starts cracking down on those of you with really big screen TVs from showing movies in your home theaters. What was a joke just a few months ago, may become real. Another Porkulus Oddity The economic porkulus measure making its way through Congress could steer government checks to illegal immigrants. The legislation, which would send tax credits of $500 per worker and $1,000 per couple, expressly disqualifies nonresident aliens, but it would allow people who don't have Social Security numbers to be eligible for the checks. Undocumented immigrants who are not eligible for a Social Security number can file tax returns with an alternative number. A House-passed version of the economic recovery bill and one making its way through the Senate would allow anyone with such a number, called an individual taxpayer identification number, to qualify for the tax credits. [http://www.newsmax.com] The Taxpayer Identification Number was quietly slipped into the porkulus package wording by the obama handlers. This gives the illegals a pathway to collect tax credits they neither earned nor deserve!! These credits are for the American citizen-the legal worker who has been instrumental in the country's prosperity and growth for over 400 years. The Next Economic Collapse Mexican illegals work for the lowest wages American employers can get away with. The illegals do so because wages in Mexico continue to leave a vast portion of that nation's population in poverty, forced to live on $3 to $4 dollars per person, per day. According to the CIA, 40% of Mexicans live below the poverty line. The current estimated population is 109,955,400 people [July, 2008] and the labor force is estimated to be 45.38 million [2007]. Despite being rich in natural resources, the Mexican economy is highly dependent on the U.S. economy. We buy 84% of all Mexican exports, compared to Canada that buys a mere 1.8%. Per capita income is one-fourth that of the U.S.; income distribution remains "highly unequal." That's a diplomatic way of saying a handful of Mexican elites own almost everything. The Mexican economy would collapse without the money sent back by the Mexicans, both legal and illegal. This would explain the reluctance of the various administrations to stem the flow of illegals across our southern border. Ignoring the financial and social impact that millions of illegal Mexican workers are having on America may well be the government's way of avoiding a tsunami of even more Mexicans crossing over in the wake of the collapse of the Mexican economy. The 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement has forced whole sections of Mexican citizens to head north. People don't do this because they have a choice; Mexico is not creating new jobs. It is instead, sending its people here to take over all kinds of jobs that unemployed Americans no longer can get. Nearly half of the Mexican population is just as poor today as they were in the 1960s. That's not slow growth; That's no growth!! According to Bloomberg.com, "Mexico's economy grew at the slowest pace in a year in the first quarter as U.S. demand for the nation's autos, textiles, and appliances declined." The estimated $20 billion in U.S. dollars that Mexicans sent home last year is the mainstay of Mexico's economy. When the main export is citizens, the nation is in big trouble. China has surpassed our southern neighbor as the top supplier to the U.S. of a vast array of assembled goods, as well as textiles, office computers, metal parts and prefabricated construction parts. Mexico's problems have become America's problems despite all the hoopla about NAFTA. The failure to stem illegal immigration and all the problems that go with it will become a major political issue. It simply cannot be ignored, though obama will probably do just that. Illegal Mexicans will take any job available, but even worse news for us is the growing trend of out-sourcing white-collar jobs. Though it is hard to determine due to reporting procedures, there is no debate regarding the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs that will leave many Americans unemployed in the years directly ahead as their jobs migrate to India, China and other nations. So while the potential of economic collapse of Mexico looms to the south of us, internally jobs are disappearing into cybersphere as workers in developing nations, receiving far less than American workers, are the beneficiaries of the way technology speeds aspects of globalization. Here again, the US government is taking no steps to address this looming crisis. The US economy is faltering; quite likely, Mexico's will completely collapse!! Mexico: Social As Well As Economic Collapse Indiscriminate kidnappings. Nearly daily beheadings. Gangs that mock and kill government agents. This isn’t Iraq or Pakistan. It’s Mexico, which the U.S. government and a growing number of experts say is becoming one of the world’s biggest security risks. The prospect that America’s southern neighbor could melt into lawlessness provides an unexpected challenge to obama’s new government. In its latest report anticipating possible global security risks, the U.S. Joint Forces Command lumps Mexico and Pakistan together as being at risk of a “rapid and sudden collapse.” The Mexican government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and pressure by criminal gangs and drug cartels. The command said in the report published Nov 25, “How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state.” These are the very reasons many Americans pleaded with the congress to continue with border security measures already approved and funded. When the American economy is in "full-blown" depression, what will happen with the illegals in this country? Those who don't remain at their current locations to rob and pillage the citizenry, will return to Mexico. What will they find south of the border? The situation very well may be worse than it is now: Corrupt national, state, regional and local political leaders, police and judges. Along the border, drug cartels control most levels of government. They run rampant with murder, rape, assault and kidnapping to persue their goals. This might be the time for the common man to become an armed citizen, as the Second Amendment guarantees: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. Til Nex'Time......