Tuesday, April 17. 2007
 The Intelligence Squared debate on global warming in NYC last month. Pull up a chair, grab a beer, and give it a listen. These guys are scientists, not politicians. Michael Creighton is one of the debaters, and NPR's Brian Lehrer is the moderator. I suggest the longer, unedited audio version.
Unfortunately, it's not set up as a true debate - more like a series of brief talks, but the exchanges get better towards the end. Still, interesting - except for that Brenda, who has nothing to say. It's at The Reference Frame. It left me wondering whether there is an ideal temperature for the earth, whether we can have any effect on it or not (which I doubt). Overall, quite enjoyable.
 Besides the endlessly annoying and murderous Jihadists, America's biggest problem is this, as described in the CSM: 1 in 2 Americans now receive income from government programs.
Getting past that magic 50% has been the goal of Leftists since the 1930s. Why? Because the recipients vote. And if you add up the numbers who receive program money, the number of govt employees, and the number receiving major non-income benefits (like Medicare), you have a heck a a big number getting at least part of their living from the government teat - meaning from their neighbors' labor. Incrementally, inch by inch, the American habits of self-sufficiency, resourcefulness, and independence have been whittled away to the point that many people are no longer ashamed to take the money of strangers. Indeed, to the point that they feel "entitled" to it, which I suspect is a psychological maneuver to deny the humbling reality that they are receiving charity. Social Security made it seem OK to older folk by concealing the fact that it was their kids who were paying them the money. Fortunately, there are still large islands of folks who do their best to pursue the American ideals. The problem is that they are getting stuck paying the bills for the other half. As the population ages and people breed less, that ratio will get worse, and the "two Americas" will begin feeling like the givers and the takers. That is not a good foundation for a culture or a civilization. Editor's Note: I see that our friend Coyote was thinking along the same lines, but mainly from the standpoint of taxation. As he notes in his piece A Nation of Slaveholders: Meanwhile, Ari Fleischer writes in today’s WSJ (sub req) that the top 1% of income earners pay 37% of total income taxes, the top 10% of income earners pay 71% of total income taxes, and the top 40% of income earners pay 99% of total income taxes.
and The second greatest failing of the Constitution as originally drafted (the first being legality of slavery) is the lack of clear protections for property and commerce. As a result, the only protection we have against full confiscation of everything we own is the whim of the electorate. Now that a clear majority of voters are on the receiving end of money confiscated from a minority of voters, how good is this last protection? We have become a nation of slaveholders, with the majority holding the productive minority in bondage. Inserting government in the middle of this process as an agent, so the recipients of this slave labor don't have to get their own hands dirty, does not change the nature of the relationship one bit. It just pretties things up for our conscience.
A further comment from The Barrister: I am sure that Coyote's metaphor was intentionally hyperbolic, but his point is correct. Furthermore, I believe that the only way to eliminate the division between the donors and the recipients is a flat tax, so that everyone can be a full participant in the American enterprise: all in the same boat.
Monday, April 16. 2007
Video. She is such a sweetie. (h/t, reader)
 A "Department of Peace" sounds Orwellian, but the concept is quite the opposite.
You just can't make this stuff up. These folks are living in a Kindergarten world. That's fine for Kindergarten, but the Big World is not always benign, nor is the pursuit of "niceness" a prime driver in human nature. It would be a very dull world if that were the case. And, by the way, don't we already have a State Department? What's their job?
 Video, here. It's about the Clintons. I do not trust these people.
America is better than this. My opinion? Sexual organs, whatever shape they may be, or however interesting they may be, have nothing to do with political qualifications. Photo: Hillary at Wellesley. To tell the truth, I probably looked like (or was) an arrogant, know-it-all jerk in college too. But I know better, now.
Sunday, April 15. 2007
 A truck bomb destroyed the Sarrafiya Bridge this week, and killed drivers in the process.
A landmark, and a gift from the Brits in the 1940s, it was the first fixed bridge in Baghdad over the Tigris. Our friend in Israel says that "the Germans were good at two things: killing Jews and building vehicles, but the Palestinians are only good at one thing: killing Jews." Any idiot can build a car bomb, but can Muqtada's or Al Quaida's thugs build a bridge? Or a car? Or a city? Or a modern civilization? Or even save a life? This story is depressing. Destruction, sadly, is the easiest thing in the world to do: it has the physics of entropy on its side. The Stone Age is never far away, and killing is simple. Thoughts about the bridge from Iraq the Model and from Treasure of Baghdad (whence the photo). Is Iraq too "multicultural" to hold together as a nation without a totalitarian, sadistic dictator? Helping the Iraqis seems like treating a patient with cancer. My prayers are with the patient - and with Dr. Petraeus. (A message to the bad guys here. h/t, Ace)
Saturday, April 14. 2007
 300,000 protest in Ankara against Islamist threats from Turkish political Imams.
I am fond of Turkey, as readers may know, and eager to return there for another visit. It is mighty refreshing to see a mass protest like this in the Middle East. Story at Gateway. (That is Ataturk's mausoleum in the background.)
A thought-provoking essay by George Friedman, CEO of Stratfor. A quote: On a pretty arbitrary scale -- between Korea (1950-53), Cuba (1960-63), Vietnam (1963-75), Iran (1979-1981) and Iraq (2003-present) -- the United States has spent about 27 of the last 55 years engaged in politico-military maneuvers that, at the very least, did not bring obvious success, and frequently brought disaster. Yet, in spite of these disasters, the long-term tendency of American power relative to the rest of the world has been favorable to the United States. This general paradox must be explained. And in the course of explanation, some understandings of the Iraq campaign, seen in a broader context, might emerge.
He makes the point that these "minor" (without national mobilization, and pursued with economy of force) wars generally achieved their geopolitical objectives without a WW ll-style victory. Read the whole thing.
Friday, April 13. 2007
Neither Al Sharpton nor Jesse Jackson ever graduated from a seminary, nor have either been ordained. "Reverend"? Race hustlers, with phony religious garb. I should have known, but I am not predisposed to doubting the credentials of "Reverends." One tends to take such things at face value. There is no such thing as "self-ordination." There are millions of honorable black folks in the USA. Why are these two slick and slippery con-men the "spokesmen"? Probably because the others are busy, working hard at real jobs like everybody else.
Thursday, April 12. 2007
 Update to the piece below: Imus has been fired by CBS. Another scalp for the race hustlers - and just in time to cover up the Duke case.
We don't even like the guy much, but he has been railroaded. Imus is no racist. The message is: Be Very Afraid, and don't call anyone a "nappy-head ho," even as an ironic quote, unless you are black - in which case it is just fine. The Imus Case is a surely a smokescreen as we said earlier this week, effectively covering up the Duke Case outcome. The Imus Case is equally foolish. Imus is an old-time shock jock, and an equal-opportunity insulter from way back - but a guy who regularly offers real substance of value, albeit with a lefty slant. So you just have to ask "Why now?" Whimsical racial slurs towards all colors have been part of his shtick forever. Imus is just the scapegoat du jour. It could be Rush, or you, or me, tomorrow: anything to stay in the limelight and to keep the money coming in. Editor's Note: In defence of the goofball Don Imus, to whom I rarely listen, here's a quote - not that I agree with it all - from Cynopsis: Imus is in the crosshairs. He put himself there; his producer and colleagues enabled him. Thoughtless and sophomoric, he made a damaging remark. Damaging to the stellar young women of Rutgers basketball, and damaging to a long career in radio and on cable TV. Until Wednesday night, some of his bosses also enabled him.
What mystifies me is what took me from the broadcast network morning shows to Imus In The Morning on MSNBC. For the longest time, Good Morning America and the Today Show brought me morning news and information. Unthinking, I tuned into those channels on the low end of the dial. But, when their soundtrack became disturbingly frivolous and forced, I started searching, sampling.
I sampled Imus, occasionally at first, eventually adopting an unexplainable habit. It made no sense. I am decidedly not in the Imus demographic. The reasons not not to tune in to Imus are considerable: - The adolescent male locker room humor
- "Comic" routines that center on genitalia, sexist and ethnic slurs
- The Bickersons … Mr. & Mrs. Imus' sniping at each other, lately echoed on-air by their 8-year old child
- Bo Dietl & Sid Rosenberg
- Endless plugs for products and services benefiting the Imus Inner Circle
And yet….
Imus served up the most refreshing, enlightening, provocative and spontaneous interviews with journos, politicos, and I-want-to-knows anywhere on morning tv. Interviews lasted 15-20 minutes uninterrupted, without deference to title or status. Imus' shameless on-air campaigns to fix broken parts of America were astonishing, whether for sick kids or wounded soldiers. The music acts … spectacular! Well chosen and superbly produced. And I love curmudgeonliness.
So I weigh the plusses and minuses of the Imuses. Is the intellectual content so strong that it outweighs the stupidity? Is this the tradeoff: tune out "Rev. Falwell", "Brian Wilson", and "Mayor Ray Nagin" in exchange for Jon Meacham, Anna Quindlan, and Harold Ford? There are days when it's the All White Guy Chorus, and that needs to be fixed, as with most broadcasts that pretend to reflect American thought.
The term "shock jock" is dated and inaccurate. Imus' claim that it's a comedy show is equally inaccurate. In 3 years, I tolerated the "comedy" to get to the substance, and the substance was solid. It's a testament to what we're able to tune out when we tune in.
 With the final outcome of the Duke rape idiocy, it is finally and fully apparent that the Duke faculty and administration have made fools of themselves. And so did the race-monger shake-down artists, who, like the vultures that they are, smelled fresh meat. And so did the MSM with their rush to judgement.
Indeed, the "America is Satan" crowd gets so fired up by rare examples of blatant racism - real, contrived, or imaginary - mainly because they are so rare. And they want it to be true so badly, to support their view of the world and their raison d'etre, that facts and truth go out the window. (Abu Ghraib is another example: The exception that proves the rule.) We usually term such distortions of reality "propaganda." (The total lack of interest in last week's college rape story proves my point. Who is rushing to support these girls? Where are the feminists? Where's Jesse? Where are the pomos? All AWOL, because the story doesn't fit "the narrative." And "narrative," of course, is a term applied to fiction (and a concept applied to legal case-building).) It was obvious to normal people without an agenda a year ago that there was something fishy about the Duke story. As a loving grandparent, I would not contribute one penny for one of those kids to attend such a loony, misguided place - regardless of the quality of Duke's basketball (or lacrosse) teams. Eat your heart out, Duke.
An addendum by Editor "Bird Dog": In a piece this week entitled PoMo Contradictions, David Thompson concludes: If one’s ‘work’ is based on being oppositional – or being seen to be oppositional - against capitalism, racism, sexism, imperialism (real or imagined), white male patriarchy, etc, then liberties can, and probably will, be taken. Attempts to fathom truth, or to be consistent, meaningful and accurate, can, and probably will, be dispensed with in order to advance The Great Cause. (Or The Great Oppositional Posture, depending on one’s scepticism.) And it’s worth noting that in Criticism and Social Change, the left-wing theorist, Frank Lentricchia, announced that the postmodern movement “seeks not to find the foundation and conditions of truth, but to exercise power for the purpose of social change.” Achieved, one might suppose, even at the cost of truth.
That says it all. I'd also add that I believe the villain of the story to be Mike Nifong, who sold his soul to get elected. By her reported behavior, the accusing woman appears to be mentally unstable, not very bright, and sounds alcoholic and/or drug addicted and, despite the unbelieveable destructiveness of her actions, deserves some pity. If she sobers up, and if she has a conscience, she will never get over the wrongs she has done. And about "Pomo". Isn't it always the most humble and curious kid in the class who asks the dumb question nobody else wants to ask? They are the best. Got an email asking "What is Pomo"? Abbreviation for "post-modern," usually applied to people with a political or world-view agenda for which truth is irrelevant. No, I would go further: for which truth is considered a reactionary maneuver - and they gladly admit it. Pomo is as old as the Appalachian Mountains: it's also called "political lying."
Wednesday, April 11. 2007
Pelosi and Lantos want to visit Iran, and want to give Iran nuclear material: "So if the Iranian president says that he is developing (nuclear material) for peaceful purposes, we are assisting him in that process,'' said Lantos, who anticipated the legislation could pass as early as May.
Yes, Dr. Freud, there is a death wish. It leaves me speechless, so I will let John Bolton speak for me, via LGF.
 From a piece at the BBC:
...looking at the past 1,150 years the Sun has never been as active as it has been during the past 60 years. Over the past few hundred years, there has been a steady increase in the numbers of sunspots, a trend that has accelerated in the past century, just at the time when the Earth has been getting warmer. The data suggests that changing solar activity is influencing in some way the global climate causing the world to get warmer.
Discussion at Synthstuff.
Tuesday, April 10. 2007
 We agree with the Anchoress that it is still too early to get too invested in national politics, but it's hard to deny that politics can sometimes be an entertaining distraction from the realities of life.
An excellent update from the always-interesting, often-wrong Dick Morris. He doesn't care for Hillary, of course, having worked with the two of them for years, and notes that if living for eight years in the White House is a qualification, then it applies equally to the White House pastry chef. He has some interesting polling data at the end of the piece. I think the Clinton faces are growing tedious to everyone, and I think there is plenty of room for a calm, "moderate" Dem candidate. Me? I'm waiting to hear more about what Fred has to say. I think he could be my candidate. There's plenty of time - and there's plenty of time to grow weary of the faces and the soap-opera campaigns.
 Look, I'm tired of Al Gore. You guys can point out that he's none too bright and a hypocrite for preaching the gospel of global warming armageddon while running his electric meter fast enough to use as a baloney slicer all day long. As for me, I'd just like to point out that the guy's just plain nuts.
No; really. Crazy. This isn't like calling Bush Hitler because you want no co-pay for your Paxil and Hillary's not president yet. I really think Al Gore is Grade A-Batsh*t-Laughing Academy-Bonkers. And I bet I can prove it. Al Gore has Carbon Dioxide Bulimia. But being a narcissistic baby boomer me-first patrician, it's my throat he wants to shove his finger down when he's done with his binges. That's an improvement on his old boss, who wanted to shove all sorts of things into all sorts of places; but really, Al, if you feel guilty because you were born with a carbon spoon in your mouth, that's no reason for me and mine to shiver unemployed in the dark. Check yourself in whatever clinic the Kennedys use this month, and make a made for TV movie about it when they're done with you. Leave me alone. So I'll prove Al Gore is nuts. I'll take the Wikipedia entry for Bulimia, and we'll see how few words I have to change to make it fit. The changes will be marked in red. Here goes:
Continue reading "The Earth Has A Fever... And The Only Cure Is... Al Gore's Cowbell"
Why Americans don't really want socialized (single-payer) medical care, from Hendrickson at TCS: The lesson learned from HMOs not only provides evidence that Americans are likely to reject a single-payer system, but also sheds light on why the United States spends more than any other country on health care. Americans spend more because they have a higher demand for health services. This fact should come as no surprise. Americans have generous health care plans and their premiums are predominantly paid by their employer. This insulation from cost gives Americans little incentive to seek cost-effective treatment and thus routinely results in patients receiving a series of high-tech tests and treatments, which economist Arnold Kling refers to as "premium medicine". A single-payer system is clearly at odds with Kling's "premium medicine" hypothesis. Such systems "solve" the problem of higher health care expenditures not by providing incentives to do so, but rather by restricting treatment. Thus, in a sense, they treat the symptom of the problem rather than the problem itself. Equally important and detrimental is the fact that restricting or delaying treatment may save on monetary costs, but it not without a cost to others. Patients whose treatment is delayed or rejected will incur a cost and, if HMOs were any indication, they will largely become dissatisfied with the system. Similarly, pharmaceutical companies and health equipment researchers and manufacturers will have a disincentive to produce and innovate. One could easily argue that the lack of new innovations and technology would come at a much larger cost in the long run than would be "saved" by a single-payer system.
The whole thing is here.
Monday, April 9. 2007
We have often discussed American innumeracy, and still cannot comprehend how anyone can call themselves a college graduate without calculus and statistics. It leaves you helpless handling everyday facts about the world, and it is kind of basic: Readin', Ritin', and 'Rithmetic. Trigonometry does not count as higher education. Small Dead Baby Seals found a good piece on how the presentation of numbers without context can be abused. One quote, which sums up the entire global climate silliness: ...the portion of the green-house gas global warming caused by human CO2 is about 0.003% or 0.00003 or 30 millionths. Even if we stop producing any CO2 at all, 99.997% of green-house gas global warming will still happen (even if we ignore the Borrello Limit and the saturation effect).
The scare pollution teams never mention that fact. The whole piece here.
"Why? Why would I want to go back to a war that is not producing results, costing billions, and killing my brothers on a daily basis? Why would I want to go to a war where I have little to gain and everything to lose? Why? Because it is the right war to fight."
Whole letter at Powerline.
If you missed Herb Meyer's Global Summary for CEOs last week, it's worth reading: it's the Big Picture.
 The Perils of Moral Tourism, from David Thompson last Spring, after the cartoon brouhaha. Quote:
Last week, during a conversation about the ‘cartoon jihad’ uproar, I used the phrase “emotional incontinence.” This did not go down well. I was promptly told, in no uncertain terms, that I mustn’t “impose” my own cultural values. Apparently, to do so would be a form of “cultural imperialism”, an archaic colonial hangover, and therefore unspeakably evil. I was, apparently, being “arrogantly ethnocentric” in considering Western secular society broadly preferable to a culture in which rioting, murder and genocidal threats can be prompted by the publication of a cartoon. As the conversation continued, I was emphatically informed that to regard one set of cultural values as preferable to another was “racist” and “oppressive.” Indeed, even the attempt to make any such determination was itself a heinous act. I was further assailed with a list of examples of “Western arrogance, decadence, irreverence, and downright nastiness.” And I was reminded that, above all, I “must respect deeply held beliefs.” When I asked if this respect for deeply held beliefs extended to white supremacists, cannibals and ultra-conservative Republicans, a deafening silence ensued. After this awkward pause, the conversation rumbled on. At some point, I made reference to migration and the marked tendency of families to move from Islamic societies to secular ones, and not the other way round. “This seems rather important,” I suggested. “If you want to evaluate which society is preferred to another by any given group, migration patterns are an obvious yardstick to use. Broadly speaking, people don't relocate their families to cultures they find wholly inferior to their own.” Alas, this fairly self-evident suggestion did not meet with approval. No rebuttal was forthcoming, but the litany of Western wickedness resumed, more loudly than before.
Read the whole thing.
Saturday, April 7. 2007
Snow and 22 degrees tonight in Nashville, as Al Gore returns home on his polluting jet. Photo - from the Blair piece explaining it all - from alarmingly warming Vermont, today. It looks like the guy has some firewood left, which, when burned, will add to the CO2 pollution and maybe help warm things up. Yes, it is still darn cold in the northeast. When will the warmening arrive? 
Our friend Dr. Bob has published Part lll of his series on Moving the Ancient Boundaries. All three pieces are worth reading on a Holy Saturday. He always begins with this quote: Do not move the ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers. Proverbs 22:28 Bob combines a conservative instinct - be careful about altering things which have worked, and which have had meaning for thousands of years - with an attack on radical individualism (eg narcissism). One quote: The life lived in self-absorption is pervasively corrosive, dismantling the foundations of free democratic society in its blind pursuit of pleasure at the expense of principle, comfort at the cost of character. We are increasingly ungovernable because we refuse to be governed. We are receiving what we have demanded — and it will never satisfy us, and threatens to destroy us.
The Mediterranean photo is borrowed from Dr. Bob's series.
Friday, April 6. 2007
I missed that detail. But I guess they deserve something for all that they did for Iranian propaganda purposes. They call this "a navy"?
Rush and Cheney on the war and related topics (via Drudge)
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