So border-psychotic Jan Brewer, proponent of ethnic cleansing and arbitrary Governor over the state of Arizona, is unhappy with the U.S. federal government. The Feds recently got part of her racist Papers-Please police-state bill struck down in court; so she has decided to sue them back:

Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona said Thursday that she will raise private funds to countersue the federal government for failing to enforce immigration laws…. At a news conference, Ms. Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne said the Obama administration had failed to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the border in huge numbers and stuck the state with the cost of dealing with its failed policies…. In their legal challenge, the state intends to argue that it is being "invaded" by illegal immigrants from Mexico.

— Arizona: State Countersues Over Immigration Law, New York Times Briefs (11 February 2011)

This is of course a desperate stab at protecting a vicious and idiotic policy — in which a tiny minority of power-mongering Arizonans are trying to use a suit in federal court to get the U.S.’s paramilitary Border Patrol and Immigration Enforcement squads to pour into their state, in order to assault, imprison, and exile the large number of perfectly peaceful travelers and longtime residents of Arizona, who happen to be there without papers from the federal government; but in a typical statist inversion, it is the peaceful travelers and the longtime residents, not the militarized, due-process-free federal occupation forces that are described as invaders. Ho, ho.

However, while I can’t say I have any sympathy for Jan Brewer or her fellow power-mongers, I can say that I’m actually glad to hear about this lawsuit. Why? Because, as A Spokesman For The Department of Homeland Security puts it:

A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, Matt Chander said in a statement in response, A meritless claim such as this does nothing to secure the border.

— Arizona: State Countersues Over Immigration Law, New York Times Briefs (11 February 2011)

Precisely; that’s why, despicable as I think Brewer’s cause is, I’m happy to see the claim being pressed. Every day and every dollar that the state government spends fighting a futile court battle with the federal government is another day and another dollar that won’t go towards securing government control over borders, or to designing and passing more idiotic power-trip police-state laws like SB 1070. The more bickering they do and the less security they’re able to inflict, the better it’ll be for all peaceful people making an honest living.

I hope this stupid lawsuit lasts forever.

• What I want from a restaurant website. Matthew Inman, The Oatmeal – Comics, Quizzes, & Stories (2011-02-08). A list of things I’d like restaurant websites to provide.View (Linked Wednesday 2011-02-09.)

• Tesla Predicts the Portable TV (1926) Matt Novak, Paleofuture Blog (2011-02-07). In 1926 Nicola Tesla gave an interview to Collier’s Weekly in which he predicted something that sounds remarkably like portable television. Perhaps most interestingly, he mentions that this technology would be used to watch war unfold, “just as though we were present.” NEW YORK, Jan 25 – (AP) – Application… (Linked Wednesday 2011-02-09.)

• Kindlebility. Phil, philwilson.org (2011-02-05). In my attempts to find better ways of getting long-form content onto my Kindle to read offline, I've mainly been using two tools: Instapaper and the Later On Kindle Chrome extension. Instapaper has great formatting, and repeated delivery works like a new issue of a periodical, but as far as… (Linked Wednesday 2011-02-09.)

• Breaking the Web with hash-bangs. Isofarro, isolani: weblog (2011-02-08). Update 10 Feb 2011: Tim Bray has written a much shorter, clearer and less technical explanation of the broken use of hash-bangs URLs. I thoroughly recommend reading and referencing it. Update 11 Feb 2011: Another very insightful (and balanced) response, this from Ben Ward (Hash, Bang, Wallop.) , great job… (Linked Wednesday 2011-02-09.)

• i'll tell you why the obama admin is shitting bricks right at. Captain Capitulation, eye of the storm (2011-02-10). i'll tell you why the obama admin is shitting bricks right at this moment. they were hoping to preserve the whole damn thing – the military and intelligence establishments, the basic control of the population – minus mubarak, as politicians the world over like to believe that swapping symbols or… (Linked Thursday 2011-02-10.)

• Which Government Employees Cause More Harm: Docs or Cops? cherylcline, der Blaustrumpf (2011-02-08). Robin Hanson's post today, "How Med Harms," prompts me to ask whether docs or cops cause more harm and death.  Cops are a favorite target of liberals, anarchists, and some libertarians:  they're of moderate status, usually of average intelligence, and they're heavily and conspicuously armed in a country that equates… (Linked Thursday 2011-02-10.)

• Chamber of Corporatism. Jesse Walker, Jesse Walker: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2011-02-07). President Obama will be speaking today at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Tim Carney comments: This visit will spur a slew of articles on how Obama is "tacking to the center," becoming more "pro-business," and "mending relationships." This will mostly be bunk. The president is still selling the same Big… (Linked Thursday 2011-02-10.)

• Stuck in the Middle. Dorothy, Cat and Girl (2011-02-10). (Linked Friday 2011-02-11.)

Not How You Boil a Frog. Daily Brickbats (2011-02-09):

The Pinal County, Arizona, sheriff’s office fired Deputy Raul Alvarado for torturing a frog by Tasering it. The county’s merit commission has ordered the department to rehire him.

The first sign of a sociopath is torturing animals.

• Go Down, Pharaoh. Jesse Walker: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2011-02-05). “If you mention the idea of a revolution driven by civil disobedience rather than violence, you’re apt to hear the old saw that such revolts only work in countries with good-hearted leaders at the reins, not savage regimes held together by torture and terror. But contrary to the popular stereotype, Gandhian uprisings don’t succeed by shaming rulers until they can’t bring themselves to crack down. They succeed by delegitimizing authority—by breaking the braces that support the structures of social control, so the rulers can’t crack down. Political power is not a pyramid fixed in stone. It’s a complex, dynamic ecology of shifting loyalties and allegiances. When those loyalties and allegiances shift swiftly and in sufficient numbers, the result is a revolution. … If there’s an iron law of politics, it’s that everything can always get worse. But if you want a reason to be optimistic about Egypt, there’s this: Unlike a coup, an invasion, or anything involving a vanguard party, a people-power revolution strengthens rather than disrupts civil society. Of all the ways a regime can fall, this is the path that’s most likely to lead to a freer country. When it comes to political models, the liberated zone in Tahrir Square beats a barracks any day.” (Linked Saturday 2011-02-05.)

• By: PW. PW, Comments on: More on the Non-Existent "War on Cops" (2011-02-04). #25 – The most interesting stat on that link is far and away the disparity between cops and the general public on sexual assault. The others are fairly close, or only slightly skewed to the cops or the general public. But for sexual assaults, cops show up at more than… (Linked Saturday 2011-02-05.)

From Mark Landler and Steven Erlanger (2011-02-05), Obama Backs Suleiman-Led Transition, at truthout:

Munich — The Obama administration on Saturday formally threw its weight behind a gradual transition in Egypt, backing attempts by the country's vice president, Gen. Omar Sulei­man, to broker a compromise with opposition groups and prepare for new elections in September.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaking to a conference here, said it was important to support Mr. Sulei­man as he seeks to defuse street protests and promises to reach out to opposition groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood. Administration officials said earlier that Mr. Sulei­man and other military-backed leaders in Egypt are also considering ways to provide President Hosni Mubarak with a graceful exit from power.

That takes some time, Mrs. Clinton said. There are certain things that have to be done in order to prepare.

— Mark Landler and Steven Erlanger (2011-02-05), Obama Backs Suleiman-Led Transition, at truthout

Indeed! For example:

Nor has Mr. Suleiman, a former general, former intelligence chief and Mr. Mubarak's longtime confidant, yet reached out to the leaders designated by the protesters to negotiate with the government, opposition groups said.

Instead of loosening its grip, the existing government appeared to be consolidating its power: The prime minister said police forces were returning to the streets, and an army general urged protesters to scale back their occupation of Tahrir Square.

. . .

In Tahrir Square, meanwhile, the military tightened its cordon around the protesters by reinforcing security checks at all the entrances.

— Kareem Fahim, Mark Landler and Anthony Shadid (2011-02-05), West [sic] Backs Gradual Egyptian Transition, New York Times

At home and abroad, the more things Change….

Elsewhere in the Times story, there’s this:

Protesters interpreted the simultaneous moves by the Western leaders and Mr. Suleiman as a rebuff to their demands for an end to the dictatorship led for almost three decades by Mr. Mubarak, a pivotal American ally^[1] and pillar of the existing order in the Middle East.

Just days after President Obama demanded publicly that change in Egypt must begin right away, many in the streets accused the Obama administration of sacrificing concrete steps toward genuine change in favor of a familiar stability.

America doesn't understand, said Ibrahim Mustafa, 42, who was waiting to enter Tahrir Square. The people know it is supporting an illegitimate regime.

— Kareem Fahim, Mark Landler and Anthony Shadid (2011-02-05), West [sic] Backs Gradual Egyptian Transition, New York Times

Of course Mr. Mustafa is right that that is what America — meaning the United States government — is doing. But I’m afraid I can’t agree with him if he blames it on the cluelessness or naïveté of Mr. Obama and his government. It’s not that they don’t understand what the people in Tahrir Square want and expect; it’s that they don’t care. The primary allies of governments are always other governments — because the first and most important commitment of any government is to government, just as such, and maintained at any cost.

See also:

• GT 2011-01-27: Change You Can Believe In
• GT 2011-01-21: Revolving Door
• GT 2010-06-30: Left flank (Cont’d), featuring Chuckles the Sensible Woodchuck!
• GT 2010-06-12: Left flank (Cont’d): Obama, the far left radical
• GT 2009-10-14: Left flank

1. ^[1]Sic. Is Hosni Mubarak one of your pivotal allies?↩