Today’s Links: September 19, 2011

OPINION

David Rittgers: “Abolish the Department of Homeland Security.”
“George W. Bush was right before he was wrong. Mr. Bush initially opposed the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, but he bowed to political pressure and formed a new bureaucracy and increased domestic-security funds. Ten years after Sept. 11, it’s time to rethink the very existence of that department because the additional layers of government and wasteful spending do not provide enough security to justify its existence.”

John Tamny: “Immigration: It’s Time to Get Serious About Legalizing All Work.”
“The reason we need to legalize work in the U.S. has to do with the basic truth that even now, in our depressed state authored by policy error, the U.S. remains the best place for ambitious individuals to realize their goals. In that case, we must open our borders to the foreigners eager to work given the tautological reality that they’ll be able to achieve more here.”

Mark Steyn: “Obama’s Magical Thinking on Green Jobs”
“On Thursday night, the president told a Democratic fundraiser in Washington that the Pass My Jobs Bill bill would create 1.9 million new jobs. What kind of jobs are created by this kind of magical thinking? Well, they’re ‘green jobs’ – and, if we know anything about ‘green jobs,’ it’s that they take a lot of green. ”

NEWS

INTERNATIONAL – Pakistan Threatens to Block Google, YouTube for Noncooperation
“Popular internet search engine Google and websites like YouTube could be shut down in Pakistan if they did not cooperate with authorities investigating crimes and incidents of terrorism, Interior Minister Rehman Malik has warned.”

FED – Fed Expected to Launch New Program as Europe Debt Troubles Bubble
“Market expectations are high that the Fed will announce a new program — dubbed “operation twist” — at the end of its two-day meeting Wednesday. “Twist” is different than the much larger scale ‘QE2’ quantitative easing program which involved the purchase of $600 billion in Treasury securities. Fed watchers expect this program to raise the duration of the securities the Fed holds, not the amount. The program, in theory, could reduce long-term interest rates as the Fed buys more securities in the middle and longer end of the yield curve.”

CABS – NYC Cabbies Win Right to Take Racy Ads Off Their Taxis
“New York cabbies who are religious – or merely demure – won a modest victory this week when the city’s Taxi and Limousine Commission agreed to implement a new regulation that says car owners must approve of the content of the ads displayed on their cabs.”