MORE KAUS-STYLE ANECDOTAGE ON IMMIGRATION: Took my car to the car wash today. The work force used to be all Mexican; now there were no Mexicans to be seen. More results from even modest immigration enforcement? One downside: All the newly-hired American workers were kinda disorganized and slow compared to the old Mexican workforce. Maybe that will change with practice.

UPDATE: Reader James Paternoster thinks I’m too optimistic about the practice:

The roofers next door speak Spanish and work quickly, as at the carwash. There’s a work ethic that must be as attractive to employers in the trades as the wages they can pay to illegals. Perhaps it’s even a bigger factor than the wages: I wonder what Mickey Kaus thinks about that question. And whether Americans’ experience with Mexican workers will raise expectations of tradespeople and manual workers generally? And whether that can lead to a better work ethic, or whether it will just lower the quality of service?

To be fair, these guys didn’t seem lazy, just badly coordinated. But the work-ethic point is one I’ve heard a lot.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Steve DiSciullo emails: “The Mexicans are afraid of being fired and the Americans aren’t, that’s the difference.”

PROBLEMS FOR THE PAKISTANI ARMY. That’s bad news.

NIGHT OF THE guilty plutocrat.

Plus, very strong GDP news.

THE NEW REPUBLIC’S PUBLISHER, Elisabeth Sheldon, responds to critics. Bob Owens is incompletely satisfied.

BOOK-BLOGGING: MIchael Totten reports on Staff Sergeant David Bellavia’s book, House to House, which I’ve mentioned here before.

DECLINING VIOLENCE IN IRAQ confuses journalists.

Because they know the narrative, but those pesky facts don’t fit. . . .

NOW THAT’S SCARY: Forget zombies. I sent off my next Popular Mechanics column, got ready to take it easy for a few days, and then checked my email to find not one, but two law review articles back from the editing process for revisions. I’d prefer zombies — they just want to eat your brain, not subject it to bluebook citation form . . . .

FOR DEMOCRATS, Iran is the new Iraq.

IAIN MURRAY ON the Law of the Sea Treaty.

ACCORDING TO THE INSTA-DAUGHTER, the new Britney CD is “actually pretty good.”

HUNTING PIRATES with BOLOs of the sea.

ROBERT SAMUELSON LOOKS AT CULTURE AND POVERTY. The notion that some cultures are more likely to produce prosperity is troublingly non-multi-culti, but it is nonetheless correct. Prosperity doesn’t happen on its own. It requires certain basic features that not all societies have, or even want.

This is based on Gregory Clark’s new book, A Farewell to Alms, which I’ve mentioned here before.

FROM JAMES LILEKS, a retro Halloween.

MAN BITES DOG: CNN reports on improving security in Iraq. Video at the link.

IMPORTANT HEALTH NEWS: “While the doldrums that follow lunch are still not completely understood, recent research strongly supports a brief nap to treat them.” Naps are good.

DISQUIET ON THE DANUBE: Hungarians take to the streets.

MY COLLEAGUE BEN BARTON: The Justin Timberlake of the law professoriate? Personally, I think he’s more talented. And I know he has better taste in women . . . .

A WEBSITE THAT LETS YOU create your own cookbook. I like the idea for All Corn, All the Time. But according to James Lileks, that’s now politically incorrect. “It’s the new tobacco. Squanto’s Revenge!”

LONGEVITY UPDATE: In the Washington Post, Joel Garreau writes: “Aubrey de Grey may be wrong but, evidence suggests, he’s not nuts. This is a no small assertion. De Grey argues that some people alive today will live in a robust and youthful fashion for 1,000 years.”

Thoughts on aging research as an election issue, here. And more background can be found here.

BEAUCHAMP ERRORS UNCORRECTED at the Los Angeles Times.

REASONS TO HATE cellphone carriers.

EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN: Russians ordered to attend Putin rallies.

BOILING MAD.

OPTING FOR TOLERANCE in Iraq.

CHARLES JOHNSON demands a retraction from the Huffington Post over false death-threat claims.