Marines Needed.....

Mark Shields is a columnist with whom I agree on a very infrequent basis.  He prefers a greater level of government influence than I believe to be compatible with living in a free country.

But Mr. Sheilds recently offered the following thoughts that I believe are right on the mark.  I am glad to share some of those thoughts with you here.

I was not a great Marine. I never saw combat. I got a lot more from the Marines than the Marines got from me. But I believe fervently that this nation today needs the values of the Marine Corps as much as the nation needs the Marine Corps.


Of course, honor, courage and commitment are always in short supply. But the Marines teach personal responsibility and accountability by example, that any chain is only as strong as the weakest individual link. As a unit, we are stronger working together than the individual members can separately be.


Marines take care of their own - and they take care of their fellow Marines before themselves. The well-being of the country and of the Corps is more important than our individual well-being.


This may best be stated in the hard-and-fast Marine rule: "Officers eat last." The Marine officer does not eat until after his subordinates for whom he is responsible - the corporals and privates - have been fed. Marines live by the rule that loyalty goes both up and down the chain of command. Would not our country be a more just and human place if the brass of Wall Street and Washington and executive suites believed that "officers eat last"?


The Marine ethic emphasizes responsibility to duty and responsibility to others before self. This is the very opposite of the unbridled individualism that elevates profit and personal comfort to high virtues. The selfish and self-centered CEO or senator who disregards and discards his loyal "troops" would be shunned in the Corps.


Civilian Americans must understand that the greatest civil rights victories have been won by the Marines and the U.S. military, the most successfully integrated sector of our national life. Why? No racial reference and no racial discrimination. The first time I ever slept in the same quarters with African-Americans or Latinos - or took orders from them - was as a private in the Marines Corps.


Yes, America really does need more Marine values and influence.

Apologies Required....

As noted elsewhere, Shirley Sherrod is due an apology or two.  Her firing is unjustified given the context of her remarks.

While we are at it, how about some apologies for these transgressions as well.

Oppressing Iraqis.....With Subtitles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTzSAstxMkY

Sadly, no embedding is possible.  Equally sadly, I think I hurt myself watching it.

Dive Down Where?

National Geographic has a series of dive photos from the Bahamas. Some of the scenes are quite stirring.

Although getting sucked down the Chimney Blue Hole doesn't really sound like a lot of fun.

"All of a sudden, it's got you," says photographer Wes Skiles of the "insanely dangerous" vortex in Chimney Blue Hole off Grand Bahama. Like a giant bathtub drain, it sucks down millions of gallons when the tide comes in. "It's like going over a waterfall—there's no escape." Keeping his distance, a diver sets up equipment to measure the whirlpool's flow rate.

Mistrusting The Government - Classic Examples

There are good reasons why I do not trust the government when it comes to my health.  They have a demonstrably long track record of considering my health to be of secondary importance to their ability to do....something.

As this post demonstrates:

This is a dead end street.  The FDA does not recognize aging as a treatable condition and only approves treatment for "Disease."  Since Alzheimer's is not a Disease but a predictable variant of  aging, the only treatments allowed and currently being developed are those that slow down the progression of the "Disease."  Alzheimer's could quite likely be cured if the money now spent developing means to slow down the condition were devoted to finding ways to directly remove the toxic neurofibrillary tangles that form the Alzheimer's plaques.

It gets worse.  Because the FDA only evaluates treatments for Diseases, and its definition of disease versus aging is completely arbitrary (why is Type II Diabetes a disease while Sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass and function that accompanies aging, is not?) we are forced to develop treatments that primarily address symptoms rather than either repairing damage or rejuvenating systems.  In such a bureaucratized environment we might well be better off as mice than men:

Gene Therapy Trains Immune Cells Against Cancer

Some day you'll be able to get your immune cells reprogrammed to go on hunter killer attack missions against tumors.

Researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center created a large, well armed battalion of tumor-seeking immune system cells and watched, in real time using Positron Emission Tomography (PET), as the special forces traveled throughout the body to locate and attack dangerous melanomas.

But for now this sort of thing only gets done for those tricky lab mice who have done such a great job of convincing researchers into developing medical treatments for them first.

If I had terminal cancer and a large sum of money I'd hire medical researchers to do this to my own immune system.

 I don't go all wishy-washy around here very much.  And not very much truly terrifies me beyond the occasional vampire dream.

But I am terrified of growing old.  I watched my Grandmother slowly drift away with Alzheimer's.  I'm seeing some of the same pre-behaviors in my dad.  I'm seeing them in me, too.

And the thought of drifting off into a darkness where thought and conviction and humor and spontaneity and inventiveness and everything else that makes my life worth having slips away quite simply terrifies me.  To have rational thought be uncatchable like smoke.  To have memories sought but never quite found.  To be a rat caught in a maze for which there is no end.

I can imagine few things more terrifying.

Except being in such a condition and having one's government deny the development or application of successful treatments in order that we not inconvenience regulators with the messy problem of occasionally being wrong.

What Media Collusion?

Nah....must have been my imagination.

Felonious And Fraudulent

Why all the concern over fraudulent voter registrations?  Why the concern over keeping voter rolls clear of those that are ineligible to vote?

Because they affect the outcome of close races.  Not theoretically.  Actually.

The six-month election recount that turned former "Saturday Night Live" comedian Al Franken into a U.S. senator may have been decided by convicted felons who voted illegally in Minnesota's Twin Cities.


That's the finding of an 18-month study conducted by Minnesota Majority, a conservative watchdog group, which found that at least 341 convicted felons in largely Democratic Minneapolis-St. Paul voted illegally in the 2008 Senate race between Franken, a Democrat, and his Republican opponent, then-incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman.

Of course, some folks just won't care....because they approve of the outcome when fraudulent ballots are used.

Tar, Feathers, Railroad......Premature

I haven't spent any time delving into the firing of Shirley Sherrod; formerly with the USDA.  She was fired when video surfaced of her speech to the NAACP in which she said she had not provided all of the service to a white farmer that she was obligated to supply.  The audience of the NAACP apparently applauded that particular line in her speech quite enthusiastically.

I am still not going to spend much time on it, except to note this post from Eric Scheie over at Classical Values.  In it Eric suggests that Ms. Sherrod's speech included the suggestion that she was wrong to withhold her valuable services and that she has a different view of her job.  The one from which she was fired.  Give the larger context of the speech, it seems appropriate to suggest that her dismissal was unjust.

His other comments regarding the commitment to free speech and pointing out racism among the NAACP audience are also worthy of your time.

What Media Bias?

This media bias.  Read the whole soul crushing thing.  Gutenberg and Franklin must be rolling in their graves.

Climategate......Questions Remain Unanswered

Some time ago, an anonymous individual released emails and computer model coding that suggested that climate researchers that University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit had been less than "scientific" in their research.  Investigating committees were appointed.  The results are out....and disappointing.

When the Climategate e-mails were released last year, the evidence of misconduct by the scientists involved was so strong that the climate establishment was forced to commission a series of tribunals. Yet the conclusions of those inquiries are as specious as the science they were supposed to investigate. By asking the wrong questions -- or not asking them at all -- they have failed to advance the climate debate one iota.


...


Yet the hearings did not include testimony from the most severe critics of the hockey stick graphic, such as Canadians Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick, who could have explained exactly why the e-mails did suggest impropriety.


...


Further, the inquiry failed to ask the most basic questions of the CRU scientists, such as whether Professor Phil Jones had actually deleted inconvenient e-mails. Britain's freedom of information office said that the Cimategate e-mails provided the most cogent evidence imaginable that there had been efforts to avoid FOI requirements, yet the Muir Russell review did not investigate this appropriately.

Why The Silence.....Indeed

As my many....erm several....uh...regular reader(s) will attest, I remain quite concerned about the current decision by the Justice Department to drop the federal charges against the New Black Panther Party.  During the election of 2008, NBPP members stood outside of a polling place and threatened voters with violence if they didn't vote a certain way.  One was holding a nightstick.

The Bush Administration filed charges.  The Obama Administration was on the verge of obtaining a default judgment when an apparent political decision was made to drop the charges against all but one of the defendants.  I believe the idea of race-neutral law enforcement is one worth defending.  Apparently, elements of the Obama Administration feel differently on the subject.

I mention all this because the Ombudsman for the Washington Post has published a piece about the delay in WaPo's decision to cover this issue.

For months, readers have contacted the ombudsman wondering why The Post hasn't been covering the case. The calls increased recently after competitors such as the New York Times and the Associated Press wrote stories. Fox News and right-wing bloggers have been pumping the story. Liberal bloggers have countered, accusing them of trying to manufacture a scandal.


...


That's prompted many readers to accuse The Post of a double standard. Royal S. Dellinger of Olney said that if the controversy had involved Bush administration Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, "Lord, there'd have been editorials and stories, and it would go on for months."


To be sure, ideology and party politics are at play. Liberal bloggers have accused Adams of being a right-wing activist (he insisted to me Friday that his sole motivation is applying civil rights laws in a race-neutral way). Conservatives appointed during the Bush administration control a majority of the civil rights commission's board. And Fox News has used interviews with Adams to push the story. Sarah Palin has weighed in via Twitter, urging followers to watch Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly's coverage because "her revelations leave Left steaming."


The Post should never base coverage decisions on ideology, nor should it feel obligated to order stories simply because of blogosphere chatter from the right or the left.

What Mr. Alexander his missed is that it appears that the influence of latent politics is the cause for the delay in covering this issue in the first place.

Were we talking about the Klan threatening voters with clubs, the WaPo would have been among the first to point out how far we have yet to go on the subject of race relations.  They would have called for immediate federal intervention and questioned the character of any administration official that did not move forward with the requisite alacrity.

We already know via the JournoList that members of the media colluded to soften the blow of the Jeremiah Wright story on Mr. Obama.

What Mr. Alexander continues to miss is the fact that were our media truly unbiased, we never would have seen the rise of Rush Limbaugh, FoxNews, or any other conservative media outlet.

Where Did All The Jobs Go?

The NYTimes was recently holding forth on the "missing jobs" that are no longer in the economy.  Glenn Reynolds links to a few reasonable explanations.

The best explanation is that governments do not run economies efficiently.  Government policies distort the economy.  Sometimes those distortions work out well. [Think EPA air and water pollution regulations.]  Sometimes they do not. [The Depression Era restrictions on working hours in the National Recovery Act come to mind.]

We have had a bit of both recently.  The 2009 stimulus bill included up to $8,000 for new, first time home owners.  The purpose of that money was to help sop up the newly created surplus in homes created by the housing bubble.

Quite frankly, I thought this was one of the few occasions of masterful law-making by Mr. Obama.  New home owners buy a lot of things; lawn mowers, refrigerators, stoves, washers, dryers, etc.  Getting those homes out of the market helped slow the fall in home prices while at the same time created demand for other goods.

Another example of positive legislation is the spending of money on road projects.  If we are going to throw money at the labor market, we may as well do so in a way that results in real improvements to our infrastructure.

A negative example would be the "cash for clunkers" program that took a lot of very serviceable vehicles off the market and then junked their motors.  Essentially, it was a subsidy for people with enough money to be able to confidently afford a new car purchase.  Their used cars might have served as good upgrades for second tier car owners that cannot afford to buy a new car.  [Like me!!]

So where did the jobs go?  Health Care Reform and Banking Reform.

Those two laws have created a great amount of uncertainty among employers.  They simply do not know how much these laws are going to cost.  We are already seeing even greater increases in health care insurance costs due to government action.  We have no idea how much the banking reforms are going to cost our banks....and in turn cost us.

I talk to business owners and managers everyday as a part of my usual employment.  Whenever the subject of the economy comes up....and it does....the insecurity of the current regulatory and tax environment is almost always identified as being the prime cause for companies to not hire new workers.  I have had business owners tell me that they have more work to be done, but they won't hire any new workers because they don't know how much it is going to cost in the long run to hire them.

Governments don't run economies.  They ruin them.  It is a hard lesson that we are going to have to re-learn.

Unfortunately.

Unsurprising

For those of concerned about the media's 'kid gloves' treatment of Mr. Obama, and the concomitant savaging of everyone else, this is no surprise.

“CALL THEM RACISTS:” JournoList Documents show media plotting to kill stories about Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

According to records obtained by The Daily Caller, at several points during the 2008 presidential campaign a group of liberal journalists took radical steps to protect their favored candidate. Employees of news organizations including Time, Politico, the Huffington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Guardian, Salon and the New Republic participated in outpourings of anger over how Obama had been treated in the media, and in some cases plotted to fix the damage.

Update: Karl Rove, man of tolerance and equanimity:

Rove played down the notion that members of the mainstream press agreed with Ackerman but he said he found it curious that such talk was tolerated within the group. It was important, he added, not to judge the motives of members who chose not to respond.

“I thought it was a revealing insight in the attitude of one minor player in the D.C. world of journalism,” Rove said of Ackerman’s comments. “It’s an even more important insight into a broader group of more prominent journalists that they seem to be willing to tolerate the suggestion that they should all tell a deliberate lie or that they should take somebody’s head and shove it through a plate glass window. I would hope that somebody would say, ‘Mr. Ackerman, do you really believe we ought to fabricate a lie about people just because we don’t agree with them?’”

The Consent Of The Governed

Via Powerline

I think the more significant cause, however, is the general one--a growing conviction that America is governed by a political class that has its own agenda, involving its own enrichment as well as the endless expansion of its own power, and that this political class is contemptuous of the opinions of ordinary Americans and is determined to impose its will regardless of how Americans vote. I think this perception is in fact true.


...


There have been several occasions when the American people have voted for smaller government; most notably in 1972, 1980 and 1994. But it really doesn't matter. You can vote for limited government, but you can't get it; the political class won't let you. This is not to assert the silly proposition that there is no major difference between Democrats and Republicans. The fiscal disaster that we have witnessed since the Democrats took control of Congress in 2007 proves the contrary. But still: experience shows that voting for Republicans hasn't been enough to offset the power of the political class.

Biden: Tea Parties Aren't Racist

And the President shares that point of view.  Good to know!

“I wouldn’t characterize the Tea Party as racist.  There are individuals who are either members of or on the periphery of some of their things, their — their protests — that have expressed really unfortunate comments.


(…)


“I don’t believe, the president doesn’t believe that the Tea Party is — is a racist organization.  I don’t believe that,” Biden said.  “Very conservative.  Very different views on government and a whole lot of things.  But it is not a racist organization.”

Pointing Out Where The Problem Is

A woman is beaten, raped, killed, and was dumped near a cemetery by government agents.  Care to guess the part of the world where this took place?  Care to guess why she was killed?

The problem remains...over there.

My Kind Of Class Warfare

One that focuses on reducing government programs and spending that distort the market in favor of the well connected at the expense of the rest of us that just work for a living.

Still, watching the Giudices sashay through their onyx-encrusted mansion, and knowing that thousands of similarly profligate homeowners are simply walking away from their debts, it’s easy to succumb to a little class-warrior fantasizing. (Pitchforks, tar, feathers ... that sort of thing.)

The trick is to channel those impulses in a constructive direction. The left-wing instinct, when faced with high-rolling irresponsibility, is usually to call for tax increases on the rich. But the problem, here and elsewhere, isn’t exactly that we tax high rollers’ incomes too lightly. It’s that we subsidize their irresponsibility too heavily — underwriting their bad bets and bailing out their follies. The class warfare we need is a conservative class warfare, which would force the million-dollar defaulters to pay their own way from here on out.

Thoughts Upon The Departure Of 'Royalty'

Courtesy of Mike Peterson....

If she were our princess, if we were still part of the United Kingdom, the hoopla surrounding her visit could now honorably die out. But since she isn't and we aren't, we are left in a bit of a quandary: We must either admit that we have been shamelessly groveling at the feet of someone paid $182,000 a year to represent a monarchy our forefathers died to banish from this soil, or we must extend the same warm welcome to every guest to this area.


Let's get down to the business of welcoming our next tourist:


Alfred George Rowles is a greengrocer from Hertford, Herts., England. He will be arriving at the Colorado Springs Airport, at 3:18 p.m. July 30.

Those Traitors! Enemies Of The State!!

Number 3 on the list is a member of the National Academy of Sciences,  a fellow of the Royal Society, and part of the Institute for Advanced Study.  He is one of the creators of the relativistic quantum field theory.

Number 4 is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a professor at MIT.

Number 6 is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a professor at Princeton.

Number 38 is a professor of mathematical physics at Tulane.

And this guy comes in at number 1.

They must be stopped before they can act again?

Their crime?  Skepticism regarding the cause and extent of global warming over the last 150 years or so.

Notice that I am not saying that there has been no warming, just that the available raw data that I’ve personally been able to check do not show it. Until all the raw temperature data are placed online, so the data can be checked by anybody, a rational person has to suspend belief in global warming, to say nothing of AGW.


The official government adjusted data for these sites do show a warming trend. All the warming is in the “corrections.” Sorry, I don’t buy it. Especially from “scientists” who are known to “correct’ their raw data to “hide the decline.”


There have been calls to silence the 496 scientists on the list. Besides “climate deniers,’ we have been called “traitors.” We all know the penalty for treason.


So far, no federal agents have come to pick me up. But nowhere in Mein Kampf does Adolf Hitler call for the extermination of the Jews. Hitler does repeatedly refer to the Jews as “tuberculosis bacilli.”  What does one want to do with tuberculosis bacilli?

Emphasis in the original.

Generally, we see the existence of an 'enemies list' as an indication of a problem.  A problem that exists wholely with the person or people that created the list in the first place.

The answer is in the data.  What is needed, IMHO, is a transparent process by which the data is adjusted to account for human activity and its affect on the climate in either the micro or macro scales.  That begins with non-adjusted data.  It proceeds with a review of the measuring devices with an eye towards siting that would unreasonably impact the recorded measurements.  It continues with the transparent application of mutually agreeable and peer reviewed adjustments to accommodate the influence of human activity. 

None of which will happen while lists of "traitors" and "deniers" are still being compiled.

I am a little disappointed that I didn't make the list.

Digging For Dirt

Apparently the Dems are digging for dirt they can use against the Republicans next fall.  Which makes perfect sense when you consider that their agenda is failing so badly that all they have left is dirt.

Deception

I check Matt Drudge's site on a regular basis.  I find it to be one of many useful sites for knowing the major stories of the day.  Unfortunately, he...or his staff...decided to be a bit deceptive today.

The link to this Politico story suggests that Vice President Joe Biden had verbally "slapped" former President George W. Bush.  Yet the text of the actual story suggests that Mr. Biden had actually offered credit where credit is due.

“I think America wins,” Biden told POLITICO in an end-of-trip interview at the ambassador’s residence in the sprawling U.S. Embassy complex. “I sound corny, but I think America gets credit here in the region. And I think everybody gets credit, from George Bush to [President Obama].

It is a sad bit of deception.

I agree that credit is due to many people; including George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden.  It is a pity that Messrs Obama and Biden couldn't have gotten on board with the campaign in Iraq before they won the 2008 Presidential election.  Victory has many fathers......

A Liberal Appeal

From Daily Kos......regarding the Second Amendment?  Pigs are flying somewhere.

Giving In Willingly.....

Bucky: How do you know this isn't some kind of low-emission based, pre-game grounds-keeping?

Rob: Bucky, this is soccer!

ROFL

I Have Done Been Miracled....

....into the Democratic Party.  'Cause trust me, divine intervention is required to make that happen these days.

But if this represents the thinking amongst the GOP leadership, then they have lost whatever marginal support that I was able to muster in the past.

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was caught on video at a fundraiser in Connecticut on Thursday raising doubts about the war in Afghanistan.


The Democratic National Committee (DNC) pushed out the video, which shows Steele saying that the war is of "Obama's choosing" and that it is nearly impossible to win a land war in the Central Asian country.


"Keep in mind again, federal candidates, this was a war of Obama's choosing. This was not something that the United States had actively prosecuted or wanted to engage in," he said. "But it was the president who was trying to be cute by half by building a script demonizing Iraq, while saying the battle really should be in Afghanistan. Well, if he is such a student of history, has he not understood that you know that's the one thing you don't do, is engage in a land war in Afghanistan?"

My panties....they done been twisted.

One of the areas where I have been very pleased to support Mr. Obama is his administration's strong support for our campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Not unlike his predecessor, there are times when he and his administration could have done a better job.  But they have largely stayed the course to victory in Iraq.  Hopefully they will do the same in Afghanistan.

These Folks Just Do Not 'Get' Living In The West

Perhaps they don't want to.

Afshan Azad, who has appeared in four of the [Harry Potter] films as one of the wizard’s screen girlfriends Padma Patil, hails from a strict Muslim family.


She was allegedly attacked at her parents’ home ­after she had started dating the new lad.


Her dad Abdul, 54, has appeared in court accused of threatening to kill her. The actress’s brother Ashraf, 28, faces the same charge and an allegation that he assaulted her causing actual bodily harm.

Perhaps that is the problem we need to be solving.

A Moose Is Loose

As a courtesy to the sanity of my readers, permit me to offer the following; baby moose in the sprinkler.

I Try.....And Sometimes I Fail

Ta-Nehsi Coates, writer for the Atlantic whom I have come to read frequently, enjoy immensely, and with whom I disagree on a wide range of subjects, offers the following thoughts regarding written criticism in the wake of the Dave Weigel/Washington Post affair.

With that in mind, a few quick words on my own approach to this matter. A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of having dinner with James Fallows, along with a few other Atlantic folks. Fallows offered some really wise words on how to criticize people in print, the gist of it being, "Speak to those you would criticize as though they were standing right there."


That's a high standard, but one I've generally tried to maintain. My sense of my role here is as follows: I'm not here to try to humiliate people I disagree with. That goes as much for Jeff Goldberg, who is my friend, as it goes for Bob McDonnell, who is not. For sure there is a little more hot sauce on the thing, when I don't know the person. But by and by, I hope to speak to McDonnell as I would speak to Goldberg--not the other way around.


It's fun to be mean, and it makes your side howl--and sometimes it's even necessary. But  my game is as follows--stating my opinions directly, clearly and without equivocation and without undue malice.

A high standard of discourse indeed.

And yet today I find myself tempted by the following bon mot:

In sum total, what you people did was drive someplace where there wasn't a problem, complain about something you don't fully understand, get in the way of people who may actually be performing a function, and then do nothing, en masse, except hope that someone else notices your little snit and makes it all better.


My god, if there's a more perfect metaphor for the modern progressive movement, I've never seen it.

Emphases in the original.

I am privileged to know a fair number of intelligent people that are a bit left of me politically.  I am also aware of the many reactionary, reflexive, and unthinking people on the right.

Yet there is an underlying truth to the above.  I have sadly come to expect nonsense will follow whenever I hear the word "progressive", or the phrase "speaking truth to power", or similar leftist twaddle.  Sadder still, I am rarely disappointed in that expectation.

I try to think the best of all of my fellow Americans regardless of their opinions.  I hope that what animates their politics is a desire to improve our nation and our world.  I try to remain at least open enough to hear their point of view before presenting my own.

Today...momentarily...I failed.

Distrust In Our Government's Abilities - The Oily Edition

Governments, as with companies and with people, are productive at addressing a limited set of issues.  The latest example of a government operating beyond its abilities is the tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Immediately after news of the spill broke, the Dutch government offered the use of their oil skimming ships to help contain the spill.  Our government declined the offer.  These ships take in a mixture of oil and seawater and dump nearly oil-free seawater overboard.  The reclaimed oil can presumably be taken ashore for further processing.

Why weren't we using those Dutch ships?  Because "nearly oil-free" does not meet the EPA's stringent requirement that all discharges into the Gulf be 99.9985% pure.

American oil skimmers transport tanks full of oil and sea water to shore for processing.  That is an incredibly wasteful process given the rate that oil is spilling into the Gulf.

Eventually, our government decided to use the Dutch technology.  But rather than have Dutch ships operating off our coast, we insisted on removing the equipment from the Dutch ships and installing it on American ships.  Rather than having experience Dutch operators, we insisted on training American workers.  A process that created an additional delay in getting the equipment into action.

Our government has grown too large, too entrenched, too enamored of protecting the provincial interests of a plethora of government agencies, bureaus, offices, and departments to respond effectively to any crisis.

Why do I distrust our leviathan federal government?  Because of the demonstrably poor results it routinely provides.

h/t to Ace of Spades

I Am Afraid......

.....and while reading things like this may help me understand the fear, it does nothing to relieve it.

Justices Denied

Jacob Sullen over at Reason points out the hypocrisy involved by members of the Supreme Court that oppose granting the Second Amendment equal footing with the rest of the Bill of Rights.

If "the people" want to ban handguns, they say, "the people" should be allowed to implement that desire through their elected representatives.

What if the people want to ban books that offend them, establish an official church, or authorize police to conduct warrantless searches at will? Those options are also foreclosed by constitutional provisions that apply to the states by way of the 14th Amendment. The crucial difference between a pure democracy and a constitutional democracy like ours is that sometimes the majority does not decide.
Likewise, Stevens defends "state and local legislatures' right to experiment," while Breyer is loath to interfere with "the ability of States to reflect local preferences and conditions—both key virtues of federalism." Coming from justices who think Congress can disregard state decisions about the medical use of marijuana because a plant on the windowsill of a cancer patient qualifies as interstate commerce, this sudden concern about federalism is hard to take seriously.

Another reason to doubt the dissenters' sincerity: They would never accept federalism as a rationale for letting states "experiment" with freedom of speech, freedom of religion, or due process protections. Much of their job, as they themselves see it, involves overriding "local preferences" that give short shrift to constitutional rights.

Second Amendment rights are different, Breyer says, because "determining the constitutionality of a particular state gun law requires finding answers to complex empirically based questions." So does weighing the claims in favor of banning child pornography or depictions of animal cruelty, relaxing the Miranda rule, admitting illegally obtained evidence, or allowing warrantless pat-downs, dog sniffs, or infrared surveillance.

When they decide whether a law or practice violates a constitutional right, courts cannot avoid empirical questions. In cases involving racial discrimination or content-based speech restrictions, for example, they ask whether the challenged law is "narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest" and is the "least restrictive means" of doing so.

h/t to the blogfather

Did The Coffee House Depicted in "Nighthawks" Really Exist

Did it?

Yet Another Quiz

My score:

Economic Left/Right: 4.12
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.92

Here's the link if you are interested.  Although most of the questions are rubbish designed to cause a specific reactionary answer.  A lot of the information presented on the "score" page is garbage as well.

Forewarned.....forearmed.....etc.

The Rahn Curve And You

h/t to the blogfather....

link

Elana Kagan - Citizen's United - Banning Books Is OK

In my "stack o' stuff", I have some items related to the Citizens United case recently decided by the Supreme Court.  Fortunately for my loyal readers, I'm not going to delve into it for this post.  I bring up the "stack o' stuff" only to note that I had thought to write at length regarding the decision.

The most important thing I can say today is please take the time to read the full decision before making up your mind about it.  Both the majority and the dissenting minority had some interesting things to say.

One reason why I believe that Citizen's United was decided correctly is because the law in question effectively placed individual citizens in the position of having to ask permission from the government before exercising their First Amendment right to free speech.  That is an unacceptable proposition from my perspective.

I ran across this edited video of Supreme Court nominee Elana Kagan arguing before the Supreme Court on behalf of the government's position in support of the campaign finance laws being challenged before the court.  In her argument before the court, Ms. Kagan argued that it was acceptable for a federal law to ban books because the FEC had never before taken any regulatory action towards a book.

What Ms. Kagan fails to understand is that there is a first time for everything.  She apparently does not understand that each successive instance only becomes easier and easier to justify.  Nor does Ms. Kagan appreciate that the first time she is likely to notice the enforcement of a federal law banning books is when it is a government that is not of her preference [that is] banning a book [that] reflects her perspective.

Applause!!!

Daily Kos got burned.  They paid for survey results that turned out to be untrue.

Why the applause? 

Because Markos Moulitsas had the stones to admit that he got taken...in full....in public....in a manner that left not doubt as to what happened from his perspective.  I don't spend much time over at the Daily Kos....for obvious reasons.

But I can easily respect someone that offers a full, transparent account of events in pursuit of an honest, open, and spirited public debate of the issues at hand.

In Ruth's Honor....

I'm sure she'll love it.

Putting Lunacy In Its Place

I am not a fan of police brutality.  Nor am I a supporter of the idea that the police ought to be given a little "leeway" in the performance of their duties.  There is a line between the legitimate performance of their duties enforcing the laws that the people have established and an unacceptable abuse of a position of authority.  It shall not be crossed.

It gets crossed anyway.  No one should think otherwise.

With that caveat aside, I think it may be time to let loose the dogs of war on the self professed "anarchists" that destroy any city that has the poor judgment to host a meeting of the G-20 group of nations.  Invariably, these socialists.....'cause let's admit that they really are advocating socialism rather than anarchy.....turn to breaking windows, burning cop cars, looting stores, and generally destroying as much of the city in question that they can. They never get near the G-20 meeting.  They just march around until the moment seems ripe and the destruction begins.

Toronto is the latest city to burn at their hands.  The police have demonstrated a repeated inability to halt the actual destruction while at the same time harassing peaceful and legitimate onlookers.  The indications of an overwhelmed and frustrated police force are not hard to miss.  Pittsburgh had similar problems when they hosted a G-20 summit.

Take a good look at some of these "protesters".  Do people that turn up with steel bars and gas masks really intend to demonstrate peacefully?

Of course not.

So for the next G-20 summit, perhaps we ought to call out the national guard.  Have them waiting in the wings.  Arm them with the latest in anti-riot armaments.  And when the protesters fail to respond appropriately to the police, let the guard handle the situation.

And if the protesters escalate things by bringing guns to a gun fight.....well the guard knows how to use those as well.

These are not "one time" events.  They are planned for years in advance.  And the people that inevitably pay the price are the people of the host city; with downtown businesses and property owners paying the largest penalty.

The way to stop those years of prior planning is to make rioting an unacceptable option...in their minds.  Quite frankly, the only way to make that happen is to cause them enough pain that they will think of a more constructive and socially acceptable way to express their point of view.

A Lawyer Quits In Disgust

J. Christian Adams recently quit his job working for the Voting Rights section of the U. S. Justice Department.  He resigned in disgust over the way the Obama Administration appointees have eroded the principle of equality before the law by directing the dismissal of the cases against New Black Panther party members.

Some of my co-workers argued that the law should not be used against black wrongdoers because of the long history of slavery and segregation. Less charitable individuals called it "payback time." Incredibly, after the case was dismissed, instructions were given that no more cases against racial minorities like the Black Panther case would be brought by the Voting Section.


Refusing to enforce the law equally means some citizens are protected by the law while others are left to be victimized, depending on their race. Core American principles of equality before the law and freedom from racial discrimination are at risk. Hopefully, equal enforcement of the law is still a point of bipartisan, if not universal, agreement. However, after my experience with the New Black Panther dismissal and the attitudes held by officials in the Civil Rights Division, I am beginning to fear the era of agreement over these core American principles has passed.

The quickest way to turn America into a third world country is to undermine the rule of law and the idea that we all stand equal before the law.  Federal voter intimidation cases should not be sought based on skin color.....that of the victims or that of the alleged criminals that violated federal election laws.

Anything less falls far short of who we are trying to be as a nation.

How Low Can They Go?

link

The last one with the sonic boom rolling across the bay is the best.  The Harrier flying almost low enough to decapitate the flight line crew was the second best.  Woot!!

How Might North Koreans Live....

...if their government had gone with their last option as their first option?

Um....instead of leaving it for last.

“The North Korean government has tried all possible ways [for a planned economy] and failed, and it now has to resort to the last option,” said Koh Yu-hwan, professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul. “There’s been lots of back and forth in what the government has been willing to tolerate, and I cannot rule out the possibility of them trying to bring back restrictions on the markets. But it is hard for the government to reverse it now.”

Freedom works best where government governs least.  Or some such mangled idiot.

Black Panther Investigation Continues

This time via the US Civil Rights Commission.

I'm all for having the government ensure that people are not intimidated for voting...or not voting...or for how they vote.  A zero tolerance policy on voter intimidation is fine with me.

That isn't what Mr. Obama's administration has pursued.

John Stewart On Mr. Obama's Broken Promises

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Respect My Authoritah
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Link for those so inclined.

One small correction.  Rendition is a Clinton era policy that was continued by Mr. Bush and subsequently Mr. Obama.  Not a Bush era policy continued by Mr. Obama.

Of course, that doesn't fit the media narrative.

Found here.

From the comments:

But seriously: one of Sartre's great contribution to humanity is to point out that you are what you do, not what you say you are, or what you think you are.

So far, on the issue of justice, Obama is Bush, with better enunciation and worse policies.

A New Political Face

There is a growing level of attention being paid to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.  Glenn Reynolds over at Instapundit links to videos of the Governor on a regular basis.

I like him.  I like where he comes from with respect to how elected office holders should behave.  I like that he challenges the media when they label him as being obstructive but give NJ state Democrats a pass for refusing to hold votes.  He is open.  He appears honest.  And you know exactly where he stands on the issues.

His best qualities are a sharp reminder of the things that made Sarah Palin such a popular and good Governor for Alaska.  He doesn't sound or act like he comes from the good ol' boy club.

I think we need someone like Chris Christie in our national politics.  I don't know if he is considering a run for the Presidency in 2012, but I think he would offer the nation a sharp and distinct set of choices about our future.  We can stay the course into a national debt laden hell.  Or we can change and hope to correct our national fiscal policies so that government is more correctly sized for the needs of our nation; fiscally as well as the number of federal employees.

It is a little early for any serious speculation, but I do think that Governor Christie bears watching.

Sometimes Bigger Isn't Better....

...or another tale of centralization failing to meet expectations.  The Okaloosa, FL county commissioners recently adopted a resolution authorizing their county emergency management team to take whatever actions they deem necessary to protect the coastal waters of Okaloosa county.  With or without permission for "higher authorities".

County commissioners voted unanimously to give their emergency management team the power to take whatever action it deems necessary to prevent oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill from entering Choctawhatchee Bay through the East Pass.

That means the team, led by Public Safety Director Dino Villani, can take whatever action it sees fit to protect the pass without having its plans approved by state or federal authorities.

...

While Martha LaGuardia, a commander with the Coast Guard, argued that moving ideas and plans through the chain of command was the proper way to do things, Harris made it known the County Commission was tired of the often tedious and sometimes unproductive bureaucracy.

“We’ve played the game. We’re done playing the game,” he said.

Perhaps a few more local agencies ought to take similar steps to remind those higher authorities that if their services are not effective at solving the problem, then their services are no longer required.

Nothing More To Add

Courtesy of one of the web's best comic strips, XKCD.

Adrift At Sea....

As my regular readers know, I have been following a series of 'round the world sailors on their voyages.  The first was Zac Sunderland who briefly held the title of "youngest sailor, solo circumnavigation".  Mike Perham of the UK relieved him of that title a short time later.

A few weeks ago, Jessica Watson of Australia took the big prize with "youngest sailor, solo circumnavigation, non-assisted, non-stop". 

Zac's sister, Abby Sunderland had set out a few months ago with the objective of relieving Miss Watson of that title.  The "non-assisted" and "non-stop" portion of that quest died in South Africa when she was forced to stop for repairs.  She left South Africa intent on acquiring the "youngest sailor, solo circumnavigation" title.

We have learned today that Miss Sunderland is now missing in the southern Indian Ocean.  The two most recent communications have been from emergency beacons.  One beacon can only be activated manually, so we know that she is still alive.  Fortunately, a third beacon that broadcasts in the event that her boat goes 15 feet below the water's surface has remained silent.

Search and rescue attempts are under way.  Fortunately, she is well equipped with safety gear and adrift in a boat meant to survive in the open ocean.  Unfortunately, the Indian Ocean is a large, empty, and dangerous place.

This report from ABC suggests in its title the unnecessarily pessimistic idea that she is lost at sea.  There are boats that are currently 40 hours from her location.  She has enough food and water to easily last that long.  She is in a boat that is designed to stay afloat in spite of major hull damage.

I suppose it would have been too much to ask for an expression of hope from the media instead of foreboding of disaster.

Miss Sunderland's family knew the risks when she left.  From an earlier report on her journey:

"Could there be a tragedy?" MaryAnne Sunderland said. "Yeah, there could be. But there could be a tragedy on the way home tonight, you know, or driving with her friends in a car at 16. You minimize the risks."

I can appreciate the perspective expressed by Jesse Martin, another former "youngest sailor, solo circumnavigation".

"If I never came back it would not have been a tragedy ... a tragedy would be someone who dies at 80 and spent 80 years not being satisfied," Martin said in the documentary. "I was out there doing what I wanted."

How one spends...and potentially expends...one's life matters.

Miss Watson's perspective is also right on the mark.

"I am actually going to disagree with what our prime minister just said," Jessica told the crowd of well-wishers. "I don't consider myself a hero. I am an ordinary girl who believed in a dream. You don't have to be someone special to achieve something amazing. You just have to have a dream, believe in it and work hard."

I will add only that it is truly sad that we have arrived at a point where children are so protected, so cloistered, that they not only fail to dare to dream big dreams, they don't even know that such big dreams exist.  In a world that gives a ribbon to everyone for participating, we often forget that there are much loftier goals out there that few will attempt and even fewer will conquer.

Zac and Jesse and Jessica and Mike and even young Abby are a refreshing revolt against the idea that safety and mediocrity are more desirable than seeking to master large goals and coming up short.

I dearly hope that Abby will be rescued from whatever trouble that has cut her trip short.  I also hope that, after some rest and recuperation, she makes another attempt.  Of course by then she won't be able to include "youngest" in her list of sailing accomplishments.  That is only one category with so many, many more remaining.

An Update:

Abby is fine.  Her boat is afloat, but the rigging is down.  Rescuers will be there in about a day.

An Unusual Fascination

As someone who it critical of America's fear of nipples, I naturally take note whenever breasts enter the American political consciousness.  It appears that Sarah Palin's critics have turned their attention downward; south of her chin and north of her navel.  The question currently occupying their little minds?  Are Mrs. Palin's prominently perky pair purely the product of her progeniture or has she opted to fan her fame with phony foobies made of flubber^[1]

I suspect that her critics are just trying to make boobs of themselves.

Tigerhawk adds some perspective.

First, does the left enhance -- and I use the word advisedly -- its appeal among the electorate by suggesting that we ought to ridicule women for getting breast implants? The boobery need no further reminder that the left disdains their sense of aesthetic, but if liberals want to beat them over the head with it, fine. This may, in the end, be Palin's greatest contribution to conservative political fortunes: She suckers the chattering left in to reminding everybody that they are, well, snots.

 [1] Yes, I know I'm reaching.

I'm Not Impressed

Recent calls for a more 'emotional' response to the leaking BP oil well from Mr. Obama have been and remain inappropriate.  An effective leader solves problems.  An effective leader also motivates with emotion.  Despite all that Hollywood has to say on the matter....it is a rare occasion when an effective leader can solve problems with emotional displays.  The article from the NYTimes puts is succinctly.

So maybe we should just accept that we’re stuck with a presidential system — and with a ruminative and slightly boring president who tries to solve problems rather than fulminate about them.

Recent indications of Mr. Obama seeking the proper ass to kick have denigrated the office of the Presidency.  They haven't done much for Mr. Obama personal reputation either.

There are a lot of fingers to be pointed.....   

• at BP for their screwy well design
     
• at the Bush administration for not ensuring that the regulators were regulating
     
• at the Obama administration for not replacing the Bush administration regulators
     
• etc.

We do not need an emo-in-chief.  We need a leader.  We also need to understand that the lack of a passionate display does not necessarily mean a lack of caring. 

It was that way before 2009.  It remains that way after 2009.

Now We Know...

Just in case there is any doubt left regarding the intent of the now defunct ACORN's voter registration initiative, now we know.

The intent was to aid and abet voter fraud to the greatest degree possible.

The documents include handwritten notes from FBI investigators interviewing canvassers working with Project Vote, an ACORN affiliate. Among the highlights from the FBI handwritten notes:

• [ACORN] “Told employees not to talk to the FBI. ‘FBI trying to intimidate you.’”
• Fraudulent cards:
  • To cause confusion on election day to keep polls open longer
  • To allow people who can’t vote to vote.
  • To allow to vote multiple times.
• Project Vote will pay them whether cards fake or not – whatever they had to do to get the cards was attitude.
• Constantly threatened
• Staff restricted on what to say to FBI
• “Poverty pimpin” (sic) ACORN
• ACORN HQ is wkg for the Democratic Party.
• PV [Project Vote] pays ACORN $6.00 per card…Said “You treat the cards like (cash) $”
• Some [names] went right from the phone book and made up the rest.
• Canvassers: homeless, volatile, drug users, drunks…
• Anyone who was against PV (Project Vote) or ACORN’s goals “right wing”
• She thought if she used a completely fake name it would be less like ID Theft…”Yeah, it’s against the law, I know.”

The sad part is that the Obama administration closed the investigation rather the pursuing these criminals with the urgency that such crimes require.

A cover up for ACORN.  A cover up for the Black Panthers.




Barack Obama - potentially the left's electoral equivalent of Richard Nixon?

Israel Did What?

Most people should be aware of the recent attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.  There appears to be two narratives to those events.  I'll restrain from any of the more obvious identifiers.

It may be worthwhile to read a report filed by a Kuwaiti reporter regarding those events.

"The Israeli navy gave repeated warnings to the ships [of the flotilla], which tried to break the blockade on the terroristic Hamas movement in Gaza, and also invited them to enter the Ashdod port and unload their cargo of 'aid' supplies, so it could be thoroughly examined by the security [forces] before being delivered by land to the Gaza Strip. When the flotilla failed to heed these warnings and requests, the Israeli navy had no choice but to take over the ships. [In doing so], the IDF troops encountered violent [opposition] that had been planned in advance: the flotilla participants assaulted them with firearms, metal pipes, knives and clubs, and grabbed the rifle of one of the soldiers. The weapons had clearly been prepared in advance... and the soldiers had no choice but to respond, including with live fire.

"The Israeli navy operation was conducted according to orders and instructions of the highest political echelons, [and aimed at] stopping the ships and keeping them from breaching the naval blockade and reaching Gaza. The warning message sent by the Israeli navy [to the Mavi Marmara] was as follows: 'To the captain of the [Mavi] Marmara: You are approaching an area of hostilities, which is under a naval blockade. The Gaza coastal area and Gaza Harbor are closed to maritime traffic. We invite you to enter the Ashdod port, from whence the aid supplies will be delivered through the formal land crossing [to Gaza], after which you can return to your home ports."[2] It should be noted that, according to the 1993 Oslo Accords, Israel retains control of a 40-kilometer strip of water off the Gaza coast."

At the end of the article is the response to the invitation to offload the aid supplies in Ashdod.

"Negative, negative. Our destination is Gaza."

Kabuki theater at its finest.

Everyone Is Smart At Something?

I guess some folks just aren't good at economics.

Who is better informed about the policy choices facing the country—liberals, conservatives or libertarians? According to a Zogby International survey that I write about in the May issue of Econ Journal Watch, the answer is unequivocal: The left flunks Econ 101.

I'm not real keen on the use of gratuitous pejoratives to describe other groups.  We libertarians take more than our fair share of dirt in that regard.

And I think I would challenge the bias of the survey.  The questions were somewhat loaded to get a particular response.  More enlightened respondents might have more readily acknowledged that increased regulatory burdens must increase business costs and thus increase the costs to consumers.  The question is whether or not those increased costs result in other benefits to citizens.

Mandating the use of pollution control equipment on smoke stacks keeps our air clean.  There are obvious costs and obvious benefits.

Mandating state licensing of barbers restricts the number of new barbers.  Moderate competitive protections for existing service providers increases costs while occasionally providing negligible public benefits.

At the same time, the story does highlight one of the troubles with engaging some leftists in a conversation about sound public policy.  For some people, the word "corporate" is synonymous with "evil", "corrupt", and a host of other pejoratives.  The same folks generally do not understand that government regulations cost money and that it is consumers that end up paying for those regulations in the end.

This is the group that advocates a luxury tax on yachts and jewelry and then is surprised when American yacht builders lay off their workers and close their doors.  Then they complain when yacht building businesses blossom all across the Caribbean. 

Some level of regulation is clearly needed in the world.  There is no level of regulation that will result in the fantasy world that the economically illiterate believe will result from just the right level of stifling regulations and confiscatory taxation.  A modest amount of economics literacy would make it easier to discuss the former and dismiss the latter.

Where Were The Protests?

One of the current criticisms of the Tea Party folks that drives me nuts is when people ask why the Tea Party folks didn't protest George W. Bush when he was creating the initial round of bailouts.

Who knew?

At the time we were treated to all sorts of economic horror stories.  Free market economies experience recessions.  The are an unpleasant but necessary part of any healthy, growing economy.  The only way to experience the boom is to have the bust.  It is hard to defend free markets in the middle of a deep recession.  You get called all sorts of ugly names.

Who knew that the problems at AIG might have been addressed some other way?

Who knew that healthy banks would snap up the bankrupt ones right away?

Who knew that Morgan Stanley Goldman Sachs and many European banks would benefit from Congressional largess?

Who knew that part of the problem was federal regulators with the authority to stop the worst abuses were actually spending their time downloading porn?  On Mr. Bush's watch, in case you weren't paying attention.

We were faced with "do this and do it now or else".  Who knew that there were other options?


The ugly fact of the matter is that recessions come and go.  And while some small portion of the money spent in the early days of the recession might have been defensible, the larger part of that money has been summarily wasted.  We would have a healthier economy now if we had simply let the contraction continue until the markets really stabilized.  At least then we would know where we were.

As of right now, we sit with a hole of unknown depth below us as we wait for the next over inflated market to collapse to its true value.

Seven Years Later

And it seems that information supporting the conclusion that Iraqi WMDs went to Syria continues to flow.

Much more evidence exists that the WMD went to Syria, as documented here. Obviously, it is impossible to prove and we do not know exactly what went to Syria, but the history books on this issue shouldn’t be written just yet.

One of the most significant issues that Mr. Bush faced was the cadre of State Department and CIA officers that were using their positions to undermine the administration's objectives.  If they could no longer support our government's stated objectives, then the only correct option was to resign, or perhaps to transfer to the Department of Agriculture.

In any case, I hope the quest for truth won't be overwhelmed by rhetoric.  We need to know...one way or the other....what materials went to Syria.

Don't Make It Easy

I struggle.  And some folks just aren't willing to help.

I generally work not to have an "those [fill in the blank] people are all [fill in mindless insult]" attitude.  The person most recently demonstrating an unwillingness to help being Sir Paul McCartney.  He had some mindless twittery to offer relative to former President George Bush and libraries.  Had Sir Paul actually known anything about Mr. Bush, he would have kept his yap shut.

This response seems to have it just about right.

In mocking the [supposed] boorishness of a former U.S. president, Sir Paul, and those who roared at his remark, unfortunately demonstrated their own.

More at the link.  The extra word is mine.

Having a passionate disagreement about policy is one thing.  Being petty and insulting is quite another.  Classless twits have a hard time hiding their classless twittery.

Everybody Draws Mohammed Day

As any person with a moderate level of political and social awareness should know, some guy started a Facebook page encouraging "everyone" to draw a picture of the prophet revered by the world's Muslims.  The reasoning behind this stunt is to push the belligerent and extremists among the world's Muslims into doing something stupid.

It isn't too far afield from the several "protests" held in the United States where people walk, ride bikes, go to work in the nude as a way of protesting....something.  Their reasoning goes that if you are offended by the sight of female nipples, then the protesters are going to bombard you with lots of nekkid female nipples until your brain ess-plodes or you develop some tolerance for having nekkid female nipples within your field of view.  Or penises.....penisi....

Or the Vag.

In any case, that is the logic...such as it is...behind that Facebook page. [now shut down.....Google is your friend]

Mark Steyn isn't enthused with the idea, but he does commiserate with these agents provocateur.

I'm bored with death threats. And, as far as I'm concerned, if that's your opening conversational gambit, then any obligation on my part to "cultural sensitivity" and "mutual respect" is over. The only way to stop this madness destroying our liberties is (as Ayaan Hirsi Ali puts it) to spread the risk. Everybody Draws Mohammed Day does just that. Various websites are offering prizes. I only wish we could track down those sicko Danish imams* who drew their prophet as a pig, and send them the trophy.

Mutual respect should mean just that.  An understanding that there are actions that are offensive and a mutual desire to avoid stepping on the other person's toes.  Listening to NPR a little bit ago, I learned that the Muslims of Pakistan not only approved of their government's blocking access to Facebook, but they also view such things as acts of terrorism that require the immediate creation of international laws to protect their delicate eyeballs.

So we know freedom of expression isn't high on their list of priorities.

Ann Althouse is a bit more firm in her opposition to EDMD.  

I have endless contempt for the threats/warnings against various cartoonists who draw Muhammad (or a man in a bear suit who might be Muhammad, but is actually Santa Claus). But depictions of Muhammad offend millions of Muslims who are no part of the violent threats. In pushing back some people, you also hurt a lot of people who aren't doing anything (other than protecting their own interests by declining to pressure the extremists who are hurting the reputation of their religion).

The trick, IMHO, is to get those millions of Muslims that do not threaten violence to perceive their "own interests" to be best served by actively opposing the few belligerent extremists instead of simply remaining quiet and on the sidelines.  The intolerant are not deserving of tolerance.

That generates the larger question of when it is appropriate to do such things.  I recall our beloved daughter telling the story about a class she took at UNLV where the subject of flag burning was discussed.  Most of the class thought that flag burning was a right.  She stood fast in her belief that you shouldn't burn the flag because of the emotional pain caused to those that possess a deep respect for the flag.

Stop for a moment and read that again.  Those kids were having two different conversations.  One wanted to talk about rights.  The other wanted to talk about responsibilities.

We seem to do a lot of that these days.

In any case, I firmly support the right of anyone to burn the flag, show off their nipples, or to draw the so-called Prophet Mohammad.  At the same time, such things shouldn't be done for purposes as low as "because I can".

Mostly.

The recent Facebook stunt seems to fall pretty well within that limit.

A Fact Free Debate

Sadly, that seems to be what some folks want to have these days. The most recent evidence of that is this recent story in the Washington Post that suggests that the Texas state school board's curriculum changes are harbingers of the end of our Republic.

The WaPo editors and writers are apparently unconcerned about the lack of facts and outright errors in that article. Error number one occurs in paragraph number one:

The Texas state school board gave final approval Friday to controversial social studies standards that minimize the separation of church and state and say that America is not a democracy but a "constitutional republic."

We are a "constitutional republic". That is a very specific form of democracy that is designed to limit the size and scope of government. We are not a democracy and we would rue the day should we ever become one. The tyranny of the majority occurs in the 51st voting percentile.

Ann Althouse has a great run down on the other errors in the WaPo's hit piece.

I'm not wildly in favor of all of the changes to the Texas curriculum. But most of them do seem to be aimed at restoring some historical accuracy that has been lost over the years.

This hit piece of the Texas curriculum reforms is ridiculous:

"In this kind of world where knowledge is growing, we should be paying more attention to how to help students deal with knowledge, helping them understand it," he said. "There's nothing in the standards that would help someone Google search George Washington... how do I know which is the good one? That's the kind of skill I think we have the opportunity to teach and we're missing the opportunity."

Well, perhaps if schools taught enough factual information about George Washington, then students would be able to recognize a good search result as opposed to a bad one. But no, instead of History Class focusing on actual historical figures, lets have History Class be about the proper uses of Google.

Is it too much to ask that this sort of media criticism actually cite the offending passages? Is it too much to ask that they link to the entire document?

Or.....not unlike the recent imperfect immigration legislation passed in Arizona or the Citizens United Supreme Court decision....is it enough to simply "feel" that a decision is bad without actually bothering to read it? At what point did it become acceptable to launch into criticizing public policies without first reading, comprehending, and analyzing them?

Investment Advice

Buy crickets.  The insects.

I know...I know....You can hear crickets on just about any summer's evening.  You don't even have to pay for them.  They just show up all on their own.

But believe me, demand is outpacing supply by a large margin.  The price of crickets must be going through the roof!

In other news, the Obama administration recently gave a no-bid military contract to Halliburton's KBR subsidiary.  Purveyors of hate filled rhetoric aimed at the GW Bush administration apparently were not available for comment.

Have I mentioned the demand for crickets lately?

Arizona And Immigratrion

The short version is that like Robb over at Sharp as a Marble (via Archive.org), I'm not sure the legislation and implementation of the recent Arizona law regarding immigration is the best option.

But I absolutely agree with the intent.

Our immigration system is broken.  It needs to be fixed.  It also needs to be enforced.  People that violate our immigration laws and expect to stay should be deported. 

The path to American citizenship begins at an embassy other diplomatic office that is located overseas.  Anyone that skips that all important step does not deserve to stay in this country.

And if the federal government will not enforce federal laws.....and make no mistake, the Arizona legislation is based on enforcing federal law....then the states will have to find a way to make that happen.

Here is another view of the subject that is well worth your time.

Trip Report - 4/5/2010 - Vineyard Lake

Not having anyone else to run rivers with, I decided to run out to Vineyard Lake.  They have a county park on the north side of the lake.  The other advantage was that I have been looking at making the run from Vineyard Lake down to Norvell on the Raisin River.  The park makes a good starting point.

I decided to take Wolf Lake Road south of Austin Road even though it isn't paved.  It turns out that Wolf Lake Road goes over the part of the river where I was paddling a few weeks back.  I had a good chance to scout out the rest of the Raisin below the Brooklyn Dam.  I had not seen that stretch of the river before.  For the most part it is wide open with the river running free.  There maybe some dead falls closer to town.  What I could see looked like a great paddle.

The boat launch at the county park is serviceable enough.  Pay attention to where the deep spot is when you leave as it will make your return that much easier.

I immediately headed for the southernmost part of the lake.  The paddling was easy enough until I cleared the peninsula.  Then all hell broke loose.

The wind was blowing enough to make a few whitecaps on the lake.  This is not a big lake.  It takes a bit of wind to make anything happen.  So it was really blowing that day.  Even though most of the waves were not whitecaps, they were large enough to make paddling difficult when they kept hitting you from the side.

The waves were hitting me from the side.  Paddling was difficult.  You had to time your stroke so that you were dipping into a wave instead of air.  Paddles are more effective when you put them in water.

From time to time I had to stop and wait for the waves to get into the right pattern.  And I slowly made my way south.

I eventually decided that I had received enough abuse.  I turned to the west and the houses at the end of Rosa Rita about the time that the houses ended on the eastern shore of the lake came to an end.  At least that way I had a chance of taking the waves head on instead of from the side.

That worked reasonably well until I got to the western side of the lake.  I thought I would be protected from the wind on that side.  For a while I was protected....until the wind shifted around to coming from the north.

Sigh.  Did you ever get the feeling that you was being watched?

Paddling up the west side of the lake, I saw a few muskrats and a couple ducks.  The amazing sight was the flock of swans.  There were ten swans swimming in a group.  I had intended to pass on the outside of the flock, but they had other plans.  Instead they swam right into my planned course.  So I shifted to the left and passed between the shore and the swans.

Eventually, a couple of them got perturbed enough that they took to the air.  Swans usually look so quiet and graceful.  But when they are taking off they are the most gangly and uncoordinated looking bird.  Their wings flap not quite at the same time.  Their feet flap so that it looks like they are running on the surface of the water.  Their heads bob all around.

Just before they really get into the air, you would swear that they are about to say "screw it" and plop back into the water.  But eventually they get free from the water and their quiet grace returns with a few flaps of those mighty wings.

There were a couple more swans at the northwest end of the lake.  I think I counted 12 to 15 swans during my paddle.

There is a small marsh that separates the larger lake from the small portion to the northwest.  I think I scared up a couple of nice sized lunkers while I was skirting the edge of the reeds.

Up in the smaller portion I found a nice sized flock of Canadian geese.  I don't think any of them had eggs, as they all left their nests on the shoreline as I passed.  But boy were they noisy.

I'll probably be the subject of discussion...again....at the next meeting of the United Brotherhood of Waterfowl.

The outflow of the Raisin is located at the north end of the lake.  The channel there is pretty narrow.  The water was up when I made this run, but later in the year it may be hard to get through some areas.  I checked out the outflow from the bridge after I was done paddling.  There is a very short dam.  There was enough water flowing over it on that day that I could have coasted over it smoothly.  It probably isn't that easy later in the summer.

The return trip along the inside of the lake was mostly uneventful.  A few waves where I was exposed to the wind and easy paddling when I was downwind of the peninsula.

Total time for the trip was 1 hour 50 minutes.  I estimate the mileage at 4.2 which makes my speed about 2.3 mph.  Not bad given all the wind.

Why Pick On The Little Guy?

This news story has been making the rounds.  It points out some of the flaws in Massachusetts health care reform that was put in place a few years ago while Mitt Romney was governor.  Many of the problems currently being experienced in the Bay State will also be problems under the health care "reform" law that Mr. Obama signed recently.  There are more than a few tidbits worth reading.

What has my dander up is this:

When state lawmakers overhauled the health care system in 2006, they combined into a single insurance pool consumers who buy coverage on their own with those who get insurance through their jobs at small businesses that employ 50 or fewer people. The aim was to make insurance more affordable for the individuals buying coverage on their own, who tended to be sicker and therefore had been paying very high premiums. And the hope was that having small businesses and their workers absorb some of the cost of covering this group would raise their premiums only modestly.

So they stuck small business owners with the problem.  Not big businesses with huge insurance pools like General Electric, a major employer in Massachusetts.  Not the state government with its huge pool of employees and retirees.  They screwed small business owners.

Small businesses are the backbone of the US economy.  Larger businesses are fine.  They certainly add quite a bit to the economy as well, but small businesses provide the largest pool of jobs to those of us that need them.

And the politicians decided to screw them over by dumping the irregularly insured into their insurance pool.

The number four reason not to trust politicians is because they haven't figured out that you shouldn't piss in the river upstream from where you get your drinking water.  This is just the latest illustration of that fact.

Bow To Who?

Or was that Hu?

I am more than slightly skeptical of photographs of President Obama bowing to just about everyone except the janitor when he meets foreign dignitaries.  As we saw with the photo of him supposedly leering at some young woman a while back, the truth as demonstrated on video is that he wasn't doing anything wrong.

Although Carla Bruni might have had a few words with Nicholas Sarcozy over his bit of butt gazing.

I should also add that other Presidents, including Republican Presidents, have been caught on film doing a little bowing every now and then.

Still, the incident with the King of Saudi Arabia is pretty clear.  The one with the Emperor of Japan is also pretty straightforward.

These serial incidents suggest that this is something more than just rare actions occurring within the diplomatic realm.  Coupled with his series of apology speeches, they suggest that he views American influence as being harmful in the world.

Rather than extending a hand to others in their quest for freedom and equality on the world stage, Mr. Obama seems a bit embarrassed that we enjoy those "blessings of liberty".

Two leaders bowing in a culturally appropriate ceremony isn't troublesome.  When one bows and the other doesn't return it, then we have grade A problem.

Mr. Obama's handlers should know that.  The fact that the problem hasn't gone away suggests that they and he do not.

Like A Fine Wine??

Will he get better with age?  It worked for President Truman.

Reason 3,984 Not To Listen to Paul Krugman.....About Anything

Mr. Krugman recently responded to those that are pointing out that almost half of all Americans pay no income tax.  It is a fact that roughly 47% of Americans pay no income taxes at all.  Yet what is the basis for Mr. Krugman's rejoinder?  Social Security [or FICA] taxes.

Apparently Mr. Krugman didn't do well in forensics class.  We are discussing income taxes not total taxes.

Mr. Krugman apparently didn't do well in basic economics class either.  I find that a bit surprising given the area of expertise for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize. 

The fact is that your total Social Security tax rate must include any Social Security benefits that you may receive.  Currently, the vast majority of retirees have a negative Social Security tax rate.  Put another way, they receive more in benefits during retirement than they paid in taxes over their working lifetime.

Special note for those of us under 50.  The Social Security system is $8trillion in the hole.  Don't expect to get the same sort of benefits when you retire.

Magical Photography

I don't know any better way to describe these images than pure magic.

Be warned, both images are NSFW and other places where prudes afraid of nipples might be looking over your shoulder.

One....Two.....

Cut 'Em Off, They've Had Enough Already

Why do we have an expensive system for collecting taxes?  Because an inexpensive one gives politicians less power.

Taxes, It Is Always About Taxes

From Rasmussen comes this poll;

Sixty-six percent (66%) believe that America is overtaxed. Only 25% disagree.

Lower income voters are more likely than others to believe the nation is overtaxed.

Not surprisingly, the tax issue provokes a wide gap between the Political Class and Mainstream Americans. Eighty-one percent (81%) of Mainstream American voters believe the nation is overtaxed, while 74% of those in the Political Class disagree

...

Just 23% of voters favor a more active government with more services and higher taxes.

The poll reveals some interesting and erroneous beliefs about how much we pay in taxes as well as where it goes.  I think a lot of that can be explained by people being unwilling...or perhaps unable....to differentiate between a federal tax and a state tax.  If you are paying higher state taxes to fund a federally mandated program, then there really isn't much of a difference in which taxing authority you are satisfying.

Also in the poll, most of the polled people think you shouldn't have to pay more than 10% in federal taxes.  Given that we pay more than 15% just in FICA and Medicare taxes, 10% would be a much better figure.

Sadly unsurprising is the conclusion that most of our political class does not think that taxes are too high.  I guess taxes can never be too high when you are controlling and living off of the government teat.

Bullet Proof T-Shirt

Made out of a common cotton t-shirt.  Pretty cool.

Except as one commenter noted, a single such shirt would probably result in a bullet wrapped in a bullet proof t-shirt embedded in your chest.  Layers will be required.

But it is still pretty cool.