December 05, 2004
THE INTELLIGENCE BILL
fails to include key elements of the 9/11 commission's recommendations to the nation, yet the President claimed yesterday that the current bill does "everything necessary" to secure the nation from terrorist threats. The NY Times reports:President Bush sought to stem a near-rebellion by members of his own party in Congress yesterday by describing a sweeping intelligence-overhaul bill they oppose as an effort "to do everything necessary to confront and defeat the terrorist threat."The President needs to be told that the American people know otherwise, and they don't like someone looking them in the eye and lying to them with statements folks know just aren't so. Here's a bit of advice. It's always very bad politics to work from the assumption that your fellow citizens are stupid and cowable.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL pins the tail on
the big fat bloated GOP elephant, which the WSJ calls "the party of big, intrusive government." In other words, the New Democrats. If it spends like a Democrat, and it borrows like a Democrat, then it's a Democrat. Floppy ears or no. When you think about it, who really cares anyway whether the people who are bankrupting the country have an R or a D next to there names?And make no mistake, the words is getting out, these folks "talk like conservatives but spend like Democrats."
December 04, 2004
CHRISTIANS BANNED from Denver
Christmas parade. This is truly unbelievable.UPDATE: Wes Roth has local reactions and news of protests against the city of Denver.
ORANGE COUNTY CATHOLICS pay sex victims
$100 million in a landmark settlement. Quotable:The amount of the Orange County settlement suggests that the Los Angeles archdiocese could face a bill of at least a half-billion dollars to resolve its litigation. The Orange County diocese's promise not to fight the release of confidential personnel files of accused priests could set a second important precedent. The decision could undercut attempts by Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony to keep files in his archdiocese secret.The Orange County sex abuse story hasn't gotten much national press, but what happened in the OC case changed everything nationally, as this report explains. If you read only one story on the Catholic sex abuse trajedy, read this one.
UPDATE: Here's the NY Times story.
OUR CHRISTMAS TREE
is up. It's a 7 foot blue noble fir grown outside of Portland, Oregon. We paid the Boy Scouts $99 for the tree. The blue nobles have a wonderful color and they last a bit longer than most other Christmas trees. My daughter was delighted to see Christmas tree ornaments with her name on them from "when I was a baby."Christmas tree varieties are rated here. The noble fir comes in at No. 2 behind the fraser fir, a stunning tree from the South.
Some things I didn't know:
(Q)Should I add bleach, aspirin, fertilizer or other things to the water to make trees last longer?(A)No! Research has shown that plain tap water is by far the best. Some commercial additives and home concoctions can actually be detrimental to a tree's moisture retention and increase needle loss. Water holding stands that are kept filled with plain water will extend the freshness of trees for weeks.
(Q)How large should my water stand be?
(A) Choosing a large capacity stand is one of the most important steps to maintaining tree freshness. Avoid small "coffee cup" stands. Check the water level frequently since trees can drink large amounts of water each day, particularly pre-cut trees during the first week of display. Generally, a tree can use up to one quart of water per day for each inch of stem diameter. Therefore, a stand that will hold a four-inch trunk should hold at least one gallon of water with the tree in the stand.
December 03, 2004
THE ECONOMIST
on America's one-party state. Quotable:In 1978, Justice Lewis Powell argued that diversity is vital to a university's educational mission, to promote the atmosphere of �speculation, experiment and creation� that is essential to their identities. The more diverse the body, the more robust the exchange of ideas. Why apply that argument so rigorously to, say, sexual orientation .. but ignore it when it comes to political beliefs? This is profoundly unhealthy per se. Debating chambers are becoming echo chambers. Students hear only one side of the story on everything from abortion (good) to the rise of the West (bad) ..
ANOTHER REPUBLICAN
choses national security over support for the President.It's time for Republicans to ask themselves: which is more important -- that an American city doesn't go up in smoke or that Bush supports his brother in 2008 by further opening the borders to illegals?
THE HARASSMENT OF CONSERVATIVE STUDENTS
by lefty professors -- it's routine, a part of everyday life on America's college campuses.ECONOMISTS FAIL
once again to "predict" monthly job growth, which failed to meet the point on the graph whereGREGOIRE
is prepared to concede -- the Democrat Party in Washington says "so what." A letter from the Democrat party reveals that the ultimate objective of the party is to delay the outcome of the election through litigation up until the the point where the Governorship of the state can be chosen by the newly Democrat majority state legislature.ANDREW SULLIVAN
has been diagnosed with sleep apnea. I can't tell you how serious this condition can be -- or what a life-saver a C-PAP machine is for those with sleep apnea. The lack of sleep is a leading killer in America -- and a leading cause of daily misery for millions. If you have a sleep problem, I can't emphasize enough how important it is to go in and get the sleep test that Andrew Sullivan has just taken. For more on the topic, let me strongly recommend William Dement's The Promise of Sleep : A Pioneer in Sleep Medicine Explores the Vital Connection Between Health, Happiness, and a Good Night's Sleep. Not only is this a great book, well written and full of information, it also happens to be authored by the man who could rightly be called the Charles Darwin of sleep science. If that weren't enough, Demen also single-handedly pioneered medical sleep centers and the modern treatment of sleep apnea. This is a remarkable story in itself.UPDATE: Find the basics on sleep apnea here. A beginners ABC's of sleep are presented in William Dement, "What All Undergraduates Should Know About How Their Sleeping Lives Affect Their Waking Lives."
Sullivan links to this first person account of sleep apnea.
MY WIFE'S GOOD FRIEND
wants to set up a recipe blog -- at least that's what it sounds like she'd like to do, only she doesn't really know what a "blog" is. It turns out she's tasked he husband with the job of getting her a web site for posting recipe and cooking stuff. So he was very interested when I showed him PrestoPundit and bits of the blogosphere, which he hadn't seen before. I also told him about MovableType and recommended that he check out their TypePad setup. I'll let you know how it goes.NEW STUDENT SURVEY
shows that professors across the country are using their classrooms as a forum for partisan political propoganda. QuotableOf 658 students polled at the top 50 US colleges, 49 percent said professors "frequently comment on politics in class even though it has nothing to do with the course," 48 percent said some "presentations on political issues seem totally one-sided," and 46 percent said that "professors use the classroom to present their personal political views."Here's the orginal press release from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.
WHAT DO WOMEN
ENJOY?The study, of 909 women .. found that .. the group woke up a little grumpy but soon entered a state of mild pleasure that increased by degrees through the day .. they found that commuting, housework, and facing a boss rated as the least pleasant activities, while sex, socializing with friends and relaxing were most enjoyable .. the study [also] found that the women rated TV-watching high on the list, ahead of shopping and talking on the phone, and ranked taking care of children low, below cooking and not far above housework.Like every smart thinking man, I'm not saying a word ..
THE STORY OF
Schwinn Bicycles. Quotable:In the glass atrium that marks the entrance to the Pacific Cycle company, the old and the new of the bicycle business are displayed side by side. Each is called the Schwinn Sting Ray, and each in its time has been a bestseller. But the similarities end there. In the space of a generation, everything about the process of designing, producing and selling a Schwinn has changed ..Here's what a Schwinn Sting Ray bicycle looks like today. Here's what it looked like in 1968, "when 70% of all bikes sold in America were either Sting-Rays or Sting-Ray knock-offs." In never owned one. The kid across the street had one, and I can't tell you how much I wanted one -- until I convinced myself what I really wanted was an adult style 3 speed. I paid for it with my own hard earned money (dad owned a laundry and paid me to clean up, among other jobs.) I ordered my bike out of a Montgomery Ward catalogue, and picked it up at the outlet store. I have no idea were it was made, but I do know that I never was much impressed with the local Schwinn dealership. My bicycle was purchased just before the 10-speed bikes became hugely popular.
UPDATE: Who knew? Montgomery Ward still exits -- and has a web site. Somehow, I don't think its the same thing.
"THE EUROPEANS
essentially believe, to paraphrase Stalin, in democracy on one continent. As for democracy elsewhere, they really could not care less."VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE BLOGS
in Wizbang's 2004 Weblog Awards. No, PrestoPundit was not selected to participate.THE CURRENT SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFIT RATE IS
UNSUSTAINABLE say Council of Economic Advisers chair Gregory Mankiw. Quotable:Let me state clearly that there are no free lunches here. The benefits now scheduled for future generations under current law are not sustainable given the projected path of payroll tax revenue. They are empty promises.
HUGH HEWITT GETS
a letter from the Uncle of a fallen American hero (scroll down). Quotable:Once the shock and denial is gone, you have to deal with the reality -- that JP's human form will never touch you or talk to you again. Although his death instantly challenged me to rethink my position about the war in Iraq, and dozens of other "what ifs" which resulted in JP not dying, the reality actually made my resolve stronger than ever to support the effort of all of our brave men and women and to speak up when people suggest that it is "the wrong war" or that JP's death was a waste. To say the later is never to have known JP. However, unlike me, JP's mother (my sister) and his father did not hesitate -- they did not question -- they did not doubt -- they knew and understood the meaning of JP's life ..
December 02, 2004
TOM FRIEDMAN -- DOUBLE BUBBLE
TROUBLE. Quotable:This is a time when we really need a strong Treasury secretary capable of speaking up for fiscal sanity. We are about to embark on a 10-year period in which recent tax cuts and runaway spending are expected to add $5 trillion to the cumulative deficit. In my lifetime we will have gone from the Greatest Generation to the Profligate Generation to the Bankrupt Generation. Yes, I'm talking to you 20-year-olds. President Bush has called for sacrifice - but not by his generation. He's passing the bill onto your generation ..Note to Tom: read some Hayek and learn thatIt is now clear to me that we have followed the dot-com bubble with the 9/11 bubble. Both bubbles made us stupid. The first was financed by reckless investors, and the second by a reckless administration and Congress. In the first case, the public was misled by Wall Street stock analysts, who told them the old rules didn't apply - that elephants can fly. In the second case, the public was misled by White House economists, peddling similar nonsense. The first ended in tears, and so will the second. Because, as the dot-com bubble proved, elephants can fly - "provided it is not very long."
PRICES ARE SIGNALSThe underlying problem in the economy has been and continues to be government generated FALSE PRICES -- generated by false interest rates and false tax rates -- both of which are manipulated by the Federal government. The policy of borrow and spend sends false signals ripping through the national and world economy. So do artificially low interest rate manipulations by the Fed. All else follows from these original causative factors.
For meatier stuff on this dip into some Roger Garrison, for example, this article (pdf).
UPDATE: Tom Maguire does half a fisk on Friedman.
PATTERICO VS. HUGH HEWITT --
I'll take my stand with Patterico. Quotable:I come from the school of principled Republicans exemplified by Spoons, Kevin Murphy, the Angry Clam, and Kathryn Jean Lopez. We are the most upset when Republicans fail to fight for what we believe to be core Republican principles: limited government, free speech, conservative judges, gun rights, and other bedrock conservative ideals ..via CalblogMy most serious disagreement with [Hugh Hewitt] is in his advice that we should almost never criticize our own. I think we have to be willing to criticize our own where appropriate. The main reason for this is idealistic: I think that an allegiance to the truth is all-important. But if you need a practical reason, try this: an excessive partisanship can cost you credibility .. For example, like many, I thought President Bush did horribly in the first debate. By contrast, Hugh thought that the President had done wonderfully .. I think that if Hugh were less of a partisan, he might have been a bit more clear-eyed about the deficiencies in the President's performance. And I think that by expressing these deficiencies, Hugh would have gained some credibility with swing voters
UPDATE: Patterico sent along the following clarification:
I would like to emphasize my points of agreement with Hugh, as well as our points of disagreement. I intended for my post to reflect the fact that Hugh's book opened my mind to the benefits of a pragmatic approach. As I said in the post, I haven't become a pragmatist yet -- but some of Hugh's points sunk in. Hence the book giveaway -- I wanted to discuss this concept with others who (like me) tend to be more inflexibly principled.Just wanted to clear up that my post wasn't intended to be wholly (or even primarily) critical of Hugh. If it were, I wouldn't be pushing his book and buying it for people.
ARNOLD KLING explains Social Security reform
in terms so clear even your father in law will understand.THE SUCCESS OF AMERICA MEANS
THE DEATH OF THE LEFT:The success of America was .. a devastating blow to the Left. It wasn�t supposed to happen. And American success was particularly galling because it came at the expense of Europe itself, and of the embodiment of the Left�s most utopian dream: the Soviet Union. Even those Leftists who had been outspokenly critical of Stalin�s "excesses" could not forgive America for bringing down the Soviet Empire, and becoming the world�s hyperpower. As Marx and Hegel would have understood, the first signs of hysterical anti-Americanism on the Left accompanied the presidency of Ronald Reagan. The resurgence of American economic power and the defeat of the Soviets exposed the failure of the Left to keep pace with the transformation of the world.
GERMAN UNEMPLOYMENT
has risen for the 10th straight month and is now at 10.8%. In the territory of the former East Germany the unemployment rate is 18.8%, proving once again that you can't cure the failures of socialism with .. more socialism.SEN. HILLARY CLINTON
will own the anti-illegal immigration vote when she runs for President in 2008, as ParaPundit explains. It's the #1 national security threat facing America. Taking a stand firmly on the left on border security will be a very bad place for the Republican party to be come 2008, especially if -- as is likely -- we will be hit by another terrorist attack from within our borders made possible by the irresponsible policies of President Bush and the Republican party. If you want to see party re-alignment, imagine an American city lost because a Republican President and a Republican Congress would not make our borders safe.And on a related matter, enjoy this from PoliPundit:
Peter Beinart makes the case that, if [the left] is to win at the ballot box, it must become firmly anti-terrorist, just as mid-20th-century [leftists] had to become anti-Communists."had to" .. "must become" .. I confess, I laughed out loud.
UPDATE: InstaPundit has more.
YOU CAN SEND SWIFT VET STEVE GARDNER
a PayPal donation at the email address given at the bottom of this article. He's been out of a job since he was fired by his employer in March -- the day after TIME magazine published a hit piece on him by Kerry for President campaign supporter Douglas Brinkley.NOONAN ON
RATHER:If you were a young Dan Rather you knew which side was the side to be on. You knew which side your bosses were on. You knew which side would lead to your rise. And you knew which side would win. It wasn't exactly complicated. Every conservative in America in the last century, especially in the media and in the colleges, knew they would be dinged and damaged if they held to their beliefs. Every [leftist] in the media and the academy knew they could rise if they espoused [leftist] views. Dan wanted to rise.Probably the worst moment in his career .. was the time Dan tried to beat up George H.W. Bush live, on the "CBS Evening News," over Iran-contra. Mr. Bush decked him instead, and with a question that reverberates: How would you like your whole career to be judged by one mistake? ..
Ultimately this is what I think was true about Dan and his career .. He was a young, modestly educated Texas boy from nowhere, with no connections and a humble background. He had great gifts .. He covered hurricanes and demonstrations, and when they got him to New York they let him know, as only an establishment can, what was the right way to think, the intelligent enlightened way, the Eastern way, the Ivy League way, the Murrow School of Social Justice way. They let him know his simple Texan American assumptions were not so much wrong as not fully thought through, not fully nuanced, not fully appreciative of the multilayered nature of international political realities. He swallowed it whole.
December 01, 2004
THE ORGANIZATION
9/11 Families for a Secure America is running radio ads in Los Angeles and nationwide supporting the inclusion of immigration safeguards in the intelligence reform legislation currently before Congress.THE SIGNIFICANCE of the U.S. current account deficit --
Bruce Bartlett explains it all for you. Quotable:a considerable portion of foreign investment has been by foreign central banks in U.S. Treasury securities. From 1999 to 2003, these rose to $249 billion from $44 billion. The figure for this year will undoubtedly be higher than last year since foreign central bank purchases of Treasurys were already at $202 billion just through June. As a consequence, foreign ownership of the U.S. national debt has risen to $1.8 trillion or half of the privately held debt .. The Japanese are the largest foreign holders of U.S. Treasury securities, with a total $720 billion in September, up from $317 billion just four years earlier. The Chinese have become the second largest holders, with $174 billion worth, a sharp increase from $62 billion in September 2000.The reason for these large purchases of Treasury securities is that the Japanese and Chinese have been trying to prevent their currencies from rising against the dollar. They have done this by using their own currencies to buy dollars, which are then invested in Treasury securities. The problem is that this process cannot go on indefinitely. It complicates monetary policy and threatens foreign central banks with large capital losses should U.S. interest rates rise .. There is growing evidence that foreigners are getting weary of financing the U.S. budget deficit. The Chinese and Japanese are both talking about cutting back on Treasury purchases and diversifying more into euro-denominated assets. In order to continue selling its bonds, the Treasury will have to increase the interest rate it pays. Some other consequences are that the dollar will fall further against foreign currencies, which will raise the prices we will have to pay for foreign goods. This will raise the inflation rate, which will encourage additional tightening of monetary policy by the Federal Reserve ..
THE BEAR FLAG LEAGUE
is competing in the Spirit of America Blogger Challenge, a fundraiser supporting the humanitarian works of our armed forces in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Read about their projects here. So far Bear Flag readers have contributed over $300 dollars. I'll update on this again in a few days.MORE CAMERA BLOGGING --
Jane Gault is recommending the Konica Minolta G600 Digital Camera. This looks closer to our price range.'WHEN DID IGNORANCE BECOME A POINT OF VIEW."
Lead and Gold has commentary on his favorite Dilbert cartoon.A LAND RULED BY MORONS.
Justice Stevens gets a lesson in economics. You must read it to believe it. Can't these guys be impeached for mental incompetence?IF INSTAPUNDIT CAN GOAT BLOG
so can I. Check out this story by Jeff Tucker of the Mises Institute on why Texans love goats and other stories from Brownwood, Texas. Quotable:Another observable change in this Texas town: the goat population has vastly increased. Everywhere you look, you see them penned up in people's backyards. On a casual morning walk, you might expect to encounter barking dogs. But the braying tenor voices of goats are a strange addition indeed. It turns out that my own dear bother too keeps goats in his backyard. It finally occurred to me to ask: hey, what's with all the crazy goats?InstaPundit's goat blog is here.
9/11 FAMILIES PLEAD:
include immigration controls or scrap the intelligence bill. Quotable:"You allowed the murder of my son. I will not allow you to kill my daughters," said Joan Molinaro, mother of a New York City firefighter who died September 11, as she first held up a picture of her son and then a picture of her two daughters. "No bill should pass the Senate, the House, anywhere, unless it contains immigration reform � you secure our borders, you keep my girls alive."See also this. Quotable:
For the next four years you can take it as an immutable Washington truth that when President Bush is allied with the Senate and most of the mainstream media against the conservative Republican base in the House of Representatives, he is on a quick path to a big mistake ..UPDATE: Sensenbrenner holds his ground.Conservatives concerned about effective war fighting and controlling our borders were strongly against [the Senate intelligence "reform" bill] -- and for good reason .. the bill would take operational control of needed battlefield intelligence away from the Pentagon and give it to the new intelligence czar. It seems surpassingly odd that we would take control away from the Pentagon, which has been performing superbly for years and give it to the Intelligence agency that has been failing catastrophically for decades .. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Sensenbrenner is being nastily opposed for calling for tougher driver's license and political asylum standards to make it harder on possible terrorists .. the driver's license provision was in the 9/11 commission's final report but was deemed too controversial for open border-favoring politicians of both parties ..
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION is costing Californians
$1,183 per household headed by a native-born resident. California's taxpayers pay more than $10 billion a year for the medical care, incarceration and education of foreign nationals illegally residing in the state. The cost for incarceration alone comes to $1.4 billion a year -- not including billions more in court costs and law enforcement expenses.It is estimated that a $1 head of lettuce picked by an illegal alien costs the average California at least $7 in additional costs born by the taxpayer. I haven't seen this spelled out in detail but $1,183 would buy a lot of lettuce.
THE GARY BECKER - RICHARD BOSNER
BLOG. Coming soon. If they blog as much as they publish they'll soon be giving InstaPundit a run for his money. (via Sean). Now if these guys would only learn some Hayek ... (instead of pretending they know it).MY WIFE TELLS ME
that the camera all the on-line mommies want is the Canon Digital Rebel Camera. The moms with photos of their babies & kids taken with that camera are the envy of the online mommy community I understand. The topic came up the other night because the photo store at the Irvine Spectrum was giving away photos with Santa on a scooter taken with the Rebel. The photographer said it was the first digital camera he's ever liked. Unfortunately, the price of the camera is more than a bit over our budget.The mommies are also drooling over the Nikon D70. The price of these things will have to come down -- or blog traffic will have to go way, way up -- before a camera like this will be in our price range. In the mean time my wife worries that with our current not very good digital camera we are, "missing our kids most precious years." Even I picked up on the big Christmas gift hint. But my wife knows it's beyond our budget so she knows she's just wishing.
After "passing out from sticker shock" other mommies are giving up new beds and furniture for these cameras ("The thing can take 7 pictures a second!"). We'll see what we can afford this summer when my wife has a birthday.
SURPRISE! A leftist British newspaper
prefers jack-boot authoritarians to pro-Democracy forces in the Ukraine. Anne Applebaum reports. Quotable:the Western left .. is now so anti-American, or so anti-Bush, that it actually prefers authoritarian or totalitarian leaders to any government that would be friendly to the United States.Anne seems to be new to this earth. If only it wasn't always so.
JACQUES DERRIDA'S given name was
WAS "JACKIE". Who knew?See also Jacques Derrida, charlatan. Quotable:
If he had become a football player as he had apparently hoped, or taken up honest work of some other kind, then we might simply remember him as a "good man." But he devoted his professional life to obfuscation and increasing the amount of ignorance in the world: by "teaching" legions of earnest individuals how to read badly and think carelessly. He may have been a morally decent man, but he led a bad life, and his legacy is one of shame for the humanities.
