I've been busy with moving back to college, but today I have the time to post my regular list of new stories. I devoted a lot of time to the new scorecard; expect new projects to take off soon. Below are some new stories, old and new, related to topics from the past week.

On the so-called Baby Gap, check out Steve Sailer at The American Conservative from December, 2004. His article focuses on the differences in white fertility between red staters and blue staters. While some conservatives have been spinning the recent Baby Gap as a sign of the pro-death culture of liberals, Sailer takes the common sense approach that it's a matter of cost of living and cost of having multiple children. He also links this Baby Gap to the desire of red staters to have government regulate culture and blue staters to have government back environmentalism and gun control.

A while back I mentioned that Zobgy was doing a "blind" poll of the 2008 candidates. The poll described the candidates generally but did not name them. The descriptions of the candidates can be found online and the results have also been posted. It's good news for Warner, Edwards, Bayh, Clark, and Feingold, people like their bios.

Douglas Massey at Cato calms down the fears over Mexican immigration.

Mexican immigration is not a tidal wave. The rate of undocumented migration has not increased in over two decades. Neither is Mexico a demographic time bomb; its fertility rate is only slightly above replacement. Although a variety of trans-border population movements have increased, this is to be expected in a North American economy that is increasingly integrated under the terms of a mutually-ratified trade agreement. Undocumented migration stems from the unwillingness of the United States to include labor within the broader framework governing trade and investment. Rates of migration between Mexico and the United States are entirely normal for two countries so closely integrated economically.

And the most interesting fact:

From 1965 to 1985, 85% of undocumented entries from Mexico were offset by departures and the net increase in the undocumented population was small. The build-up of enforcement resources at the border has not decreased the entry of migrants so much as discouraged their return home. Since the late 1980s the rate of undocumented out-migration has been halved. Undocumented population growth in the United States stems not from rising in-migration, but from falling out-migration.

Food for thought for people who want to make it even harder to cross the border.

No Republican is safe in 2006, not even in Wyoming. Check out Gary Trauner, our Democratic candidate in the race.

James Leroy Wilson posts at Downsize DC to argue that we need to move past the issue of lobbying reform and focus on downsizing.

This is ironic. A bill to promote transparency is blocked by a secret hold.

Chris Bowers at MyDD argues that progressive single-issue advocacy is the way of the dinosaurs. This makes sense when the two parties have become polarized on an issue and the issue is itself partisan now. This may not hold true for issues where the parties are not polarized, but it's something that libertarians who advocate becoming a single issue advocacy group should think about.

Kelly Candaele has an amazing article on why unions should organize and become less dependent on government.

Although these victories should be hailed, what government gives, government can take away. The National Labor Relations Board, which once served as labor's protector, is now an impediment to organizing. And if workers see the government as the source of their benefits, what incentive do they have to join unions?

Cato notes a role reversal: a fiscally responsible Democrat running against a pro-pork Republican. Expect this to become more common in the future.