Country Music Association Awards

I read today that with his win last night, Kenny Chesney tied Garth Brooks for the most wins as CMA entertainer of the year.

Think about that. The most honored performer in the group's 42-year history is not Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Hank Williams Jr., Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson or Tammy Wynette.

It's not even Conway Twitty, John Denver, George Strait or Olivia Newton-John.

It's Garth and Kenny.

Why don't they just change the name of the awards.

And does Brad Paisley play the same guitar solo in every song?

Securing the Border?

The Cato Institute's blog has a piece on the biometrics program in place at the U.S. border. You probably want be surprised to learn that the benefit of this expensive program isn't quite zero.

Debunking E-Verify

The Cato Institute has some nice links up on its blog debunking some of the propaganda in favor of the federal E-Verify system for checking the employment status of workers.

Writes Jim Harper

E-Verify has been offered up as a panacea for immigration problems, but the cure is worse than the disease. I wrote at length about the regulatory burdens, complexities, and principled reasons to oppose electronic employment verification on principle in a paper called “Franz Kafka’s Solution to Illegal Immigration.”

Upside Down Flags

They are a well-known signal of distress. Back during the Clinton administration, right-wingers such as Alan Keyes and some gun rights types were calling on people to fly their flags upside down to protest the president's policies.

Now, some people seem to be doing it again. But watch how they react when somebody does it to, say, protest crackdowns on illegal immigration. Then it is something unholy. Me? I'm not offended when either side does it. I just think it's silly.

The Bush Administration: All Too Typical

At the Danger Room blog, Jason Sigger has a review of Andrew Bacevich's new book, "The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism."

Low-Skilled Immigrants

Bryan Caplan has some thoughts on how to mitigate the impact they have on native-born workers with low skills.

Vote with Your Feet

Here's a worthy suggestion from Clark Stooksbury. If any of the people he mentions are interested in making the move, I'll chip in to pay their travel expenses.

More on Allen Buckley

David Weigel has a nice story on Georgia's Libertarian Senate candidate.

Is Georgia a Swing State

David Weigel seems to think so. And the polls show Barack Obama and John McCain closer than either man probably predicted even a month ago. That's going to depress the vote for Bob Barr, as some decide they can't afford not to vote for McCain.

But Libertarian Senate candidate Allen Buckely is still polling in the high single digits. Democrat Jim Martin doesn't seem likely to break 50 percent, so some voters can send a message to Saxby Chambliss by voting for Buckley, confident that it will simply force Martin and Chambliss into a runoff in four weeks, where they can then vote for Chambliss.