Darn islands again

A while ago I did this weekly search around the world by Google to find odd little islands. So I had to notice this. Somehow it popped up in my search for the real Yola in Nigeria. Google Earth keeps taking me to one Yola when I know the one where my sister lives is across the country from there. But these little sub-Antarctic islands don't have one thing Nigeria has:

Heard Island - 80% ice-covered, bleak and mountainous, dominated by a large massif (Big Ben) and an active volcano (Mawson Peak); McDonald Islands - small and rocky

Heat.

I noticed one thing: 0% arable land. Now if only global warming were true, that might change. The place might become a desirable vacation spot, with bathing beauties.

P.S. What does one make of this statement:

Legal system:

the laws of Australia, where applicable, apply

??

The thread kept a rollin' all night long

I've posted a 2nd comment to this post from yesterday:

Excellent thread, except for the Cheney Derangement Syndrome rant. As to IQ, it might be interesting to see what the facts are about immigration worldwide. It may be that most countries allow immigration of higher-IQ individuals and bar those with a lower average IQ than that of their own citizens. Charles Murray and Steve Sailer would doubtless have some ideas on this.

Again, I don't know how much good it does to toss in a comment 63 thoughts downstream, but at least it keeps me thinking. Now there's a project, for after my divorce is final and I get a business running = do a worldwide immigration analysis.

Full of galloping
Fighting corruption in Nigeria must always have seemed like trying to sweep back the tides with a toothbrush. But this article at least gives one hope:

But moments after judgment, Balogun, in an emotion-laden voice said: “I will serve the jail term. I will serve it. But all I know is that the permanent feature of life is that it is full of galloping. It is full of ups and downs, downs and ups. At a time, I was up the ladder. Now, it is the reverse. But I will bounce back. Hun..hun.. I say I will definitely bounce back.”

How many French former Inspectors-General of Police have ever been investigated, much less jailed, for corruption? And there's Vladimir Putin the head of Russia. Didn't he at one time have something to do with The Committee for State Security (KGB to some of us)? I guess he just bounced back.

Maybe it's silly to put a comment in a thread with hundreds of comments. Who's going to care? I've noticed that the longer threads get the less relevant to the original post the comments become, because commenters start addressing each others' arguments and forget what the heck the original post was about anyway. And heaven forbid anyone should actually read the article that the post linked to. But this thread (which I found via Gene Expression) appears to be an exception. Everyone's staying pretty much on topic, which was:

Are you OK with the fact that the U.S.'s population is growing much, much faster than it would without illegal immigration? Are you cool with the fact that the country's ethnic makeup is undergoing a drastic re-ordering? I'd be a much happier man than I am if I heard these questions being argued about openly. Hence my determination to continue raising these topics despite the risk of appearing to be a monomaniac. Let it never be said that it's possible to visit 2Blowhards without encountering the topic of migrations and immigration!

So I inserted my anecdotal two cents' worth:

If "open borders" and massive uncontrolled alien flows are good ideas, why doesn't Mexico have such a policy? Do they let any Guatemalan come in who wants to? I don't think so. Or any other country? If even illegal immigrants really contribute, many countries should not just be welcoming them but seeking them out. That doesn't happen. I was in Cairo in 2000 and remember my sister remarking on how many poor Ethiopians were trying to immigrate to Egypt. The Egyptian police would conduct massive sweeps late at night for illegals and deport them all immediately. Once again, the US is the sucker.

I really should look up all the immigration laws of the world that are available on the Net and find out if I'm right about all this. And I am aware that Australia periodically launches campaigns to get skilled workers and high producers to come to Oz. But that's not really relevant to the kind of illegal immigration and the sins of omission with regard to dealing with it that the US is experiencing today.

Ooh, Bill Quick is mad! I'm sooo scared!

All right, I know I'm acting like an idiot, but Quick won't even listen(see comments) to the facts about AIDS. He's got his facts and won't accept any argument. Some people have hot buttons and this is definitely one of them, like ID. I can't imagine being in that situation, though. Not even wanting to hear the basic arguments on a topic. I don't ever, ever want to hear anybody defend such a state of mind. And especially not you, Bill Quick! Hey, he could do like Esmay and write a book.

Bribery is a positive step

Bill Quick still doesn't think that Mideasterners can ever participate in a meaningful election:

The Big Pharaoh says that in Egypt, the current elections are a matter of mammon or Allah. Yet another reason why I think western notions of democracy will experience hard going in the entrenched medieval cultures of the middle east.

I assert that at least that day is closer:

The only important result of an election, of course, is how people feel about it. I think the fact that people will vote for 500LE shows there isn't that much determined and principled opposition to democracy in Egypt. If potential voters don't feel strongly enough that elections are evil and anti-Islamic to reject the payments, that gives those in favor of democracy some hope. It also shows how ineffective anti-voting terror has been - or maybe how the other side isn't willing to pay enough to get people NOT to vote.