Mader Blog

2002-08-30T15:33:00.000-04:00

WWW.MADERBLOG.COM

Alright, it's official - I've moved. Please update your bookmarks and links and whatnot, and head on over to www.maderblog.com. It's rough, unpolished, but it works, and I'll be blogging from there from now on. (I'm not technologically savy enough to have some sort of auto-redirect). See you there.

2002-08-30T13:38:00.000-04:00

Maderblog.com

The new site is up, but not what I'd call functional. I still have to mess around with the template a little - figure out how to make it unique and all. But note for your bookmarks or whatever it is you use - the new URL will be www.maderblog.com. And when I get through all this computer junk that's waaaaay over my head, I'll get back to regular blogging.

And who knows, there might be a shooting war by then.

2002-08-29T12:22:00.000-04:00

Site Updates And Stuff

I've spent the morning registering hosting space and a domain name, and generally getting ready for a switch to MT. Don't hold your breath - it's complicated for a relative illiterate such as I am. In any case, the domain won't be active for a day or two; I'll certainly let you know. That's the exciting news here, though, and the reason I haven't been blogging very much. Excuses excuses.

2002-08-29T09:16:00.000-04:00

Covering Up the Cover Up

The NYPost says that the PA's about-face regarding the filming of armed children comes to late - they've betrayed themselves already.

2002-08-29T00:31:00.000-04:00

More Ben Stein

I just wanted to clarify that I'm a fool - the Archives of Ben Stein's column go back more than six years, so my 'believe it or not' was way out of line.

With all that wonderful Ben Stein in one convenient location, I've stayed up well past my bedtime. But Ben, being a wonderfully intelligent and perceptive man, has got me, his reader, thinking. Thinking about the eleventh.

In fact, I've been doing it more and more these days. It may have started when I bought 'The Rising', brought it home, and listened to it from start to finish - just sat here and listened to it. When was the last time you sat down and just listened to music like that? It's been a while for me.

But presumably something prompted me to buy Springsteen. I took a walk last Friday, and it was a beautiful day here in Montreal. The sky was blue, clear, beautiful, hardly a cloud. The sun was bright and warm, but there was a cool breeze. It was like that in Ottawa, I hear, and I'd imagine it was like that down most of the eastern seaboard.

It was like that on the eleventh. Exactly like that.

I've been re-reading the WaPo series 'Ten Days in September', which I can't seem to access on the WaPo site. It's a wonderful look at the White House's response to the terror attack. And it's immediate; that is, in reading about the decisions the President and his advisors made, we can remember those days, those issues - that unease, that feeling. I can still feel it, that feeling. And I remember - not just the eleventh, but the days after. I remember when the President went to New York. I remember when he said, "And the folks who knocked these buildings down -- they're going to hear from all of us soon." I remember how the assemble men cheered. I remember the speech.

I think we all do - because it happened to each of us. Which is certainly not to say that we are victims, or that we have suffered as those who lost their loved ones have suffered. Never would I be so presumptuous. But I don't think I'm out of line in saying, we also lost loved ones, loved ones we didn't know. We weren't hurt because our lazy, easy, straightforward America had been lost. We will miss it, but it is not in lament over ease that we wept. We wept for the dead, and for their children, and husbands and wives, and for their parents. We wept because we loved them too, only we didn't know it, because we didn't know them. We didn't know their names; but we do now.

In fact, I didn't cry on the eleventh. A lot of things certainly had me on the verge of tears, but I didn't cry. I haven't cried in ages - it's not some macho thing, I've just been blessed with a life that's given me far more reason to laugh.

I don't want to go on a whole kick about emotion - it's undignified. My point is that - we're coming up on a year since September 11, 2001. A year. And now I'm starting to feel it.

Ben Stein finally made me cry. Read his account of that terrible day, and his experiences in New York in the days after.

September 11 didn't get me blogging in the first place - I was inspired by those who were inspired by that tragedy. You could say I was second-generation. But I do feel inspired by this September 11, or rather by that day, only a year late.

It's been a year, almost. But why does it feel like it happened this morning?

2002-08-28T23:21:00.000-04:00

New U2 Single

To be released in conjunction with the new Best Of this fall, it's called Electrical Storm.

2002-08-28T22:59:00.000-04:00

Blogroll Addition

Believe it or not, the web-based musings of Ben Stein who, with Peggy Noonan, is at the top of my list of People Now Alive That I Would Really Love to Meet.

(Via Off-Wing Opinion, a self described 'free market sports
fan' - and a fine blog in its own right.)

2002-08-28T22:56:00.000-04:00

Star Trek

It's true; people either love it or hate it. It's a dichotomy. Don't mix it up.

2002-08-28T16:57:00.000-04:00

Beats Me

I've been tweaking the template, and it doesn't look quite so horrible now, at least from here. Comments no longer work, though, unfortunately. I'll see what I can do. Let me know if something is horribly wrong from your perspective.

In related news, I'm on the verge of buying some server space, so I could have a Moveable Type server up by the end of the week. Exciting! Regular blogging will resume when the technical craziness dies down a little.

And when my cold gets better.

2002-08-28T15:17:00.000-04:00

I Dunno...

...what's wrong with the blog. Working on it.

2002-08-28T12:08:00.000-04:00

Alllllrighty then

I'm back online at the apartment now... sort of. Something's fuqed, as they say - for starters, my modem's power button has a nast habit of turning itself off - I'm sending it back tomorrow, though. Bigger trouble is on my comp, though - I had a virus earlier this year, and in combatting it, either it or I deleted some files that shouldn't have been deleted. The result is that my IE and Outlook just don't work. Netscape does, though, so I'm now a Netscape man.

UPDATE: Um... my blog doesn't seem to load in Netscape - something about the Comments. Anybody else have this problem?

UPDATE 2: Okay, I downloaded the most recent Netscape, and it works... but it looks pretty terrible... in fact, the blogger interface I use to post looks terrible too. Ah well, at least it works.

2002-08-27T18:21:00.000-04:00

The Canadian Military Tradition

She has a proud one, a fine one - but you wouldn't know it to talk to most Canadians. As an aside.

2002-08-27T13:06:00.000-04:00

Steyn Watch

Wherein the columnist reprises the "That's-not-a-bug-it's-a-feature" argument, and discusses apparent Republican opposition to the forthcoming war.

2002-08-27T12:53:00.000-04:00

Condi on Faith

Excerpt:

I've watched over the last year and a half how people want to have human dignity worldwide. You hear of Asian values or Middle Eastern values and how that means people can't really take to democracy or they'll never have democracy because they have no history of it, and so forth. We forget that when people are given a choice between freedom and tyranny, they will choose freedom.

That's actually a bad excerpt, because it's not at all indicative of the greater theme of the piece. So I guess you'll just have to read the whole thing.

2002-08-27T12:31:00.000-04:00

The One Party Campus

This item, which has been making the blogosphere rounds, prompted me to note that for my upcoming "Introduction to Political Economy" class, the syllabus is as follows:

The Libertarian Reader, ed. David Boaz of the Cato Institute;

Reflections on the Revolution in France, Edmund Burke;

Excerpts from The Black Book of Communism;

and What Everyone Should Know About Economics and Prosperity, published by the free-market Fraser Institute.

No Democrats here.

2002-08-27T12:06:00.000-04:00

Old Media Comes Through - V

And finally, on a lighter note, the Post reports on the latest chart-topper in Russia - a song called "A Man Like Putin."

A man like Putin, full of strength. A man like Putin, who does not drink. A man like Putin, who does not insult. A man like Putin, who does not run away.

Some suggest the song - which has not been released as a single, and was produced by a little-known band, is in fact the result of a PR-campaign by the Kremlin.

Anyone for Stasi Peanuts?

2002-08-27T12:03:00.000-04:00

Old Media Comes Through - IV

As I mentioned yesterday, the union of Palestinain journalists, the Palestinain Journalists Syndicate, has banned its members from taking film or photos of Palestinian children carrying weapons. Also included in the ban - masked 'militants' participating in rallies. The PJS claims that such pictures are a 'flagrant violation of the rights of these children' - while the child abuse involved in giving them weapons and teaching them to hate and murder Jews and Americans apparently is not. Of course, the 'rights' argument doesn't cover 'masked miltiants', does it? Helpfully, we are provided with the real explanation: "these pictures reflect negativelyon the image of Palestine [sic] in the international media." This, remember, is the official reason for PA condemnation of suicide bombings.

By the way, 'Palestinian Journalists Syndicate' - does that sound to anyone else like some horrible hybrid of sixties hippies and college granola crunchers?

2002-08-27T11:55:00.000-04:00

Old Media Comes Through - III

On a lighter note, Queen's miffed by U.S. praise for McGill. In the past week, two (count em, two) American magazines have compared Montreal's McGill University - home of Mader Blog... and some other stuff - to Harvard University. The comparison has cheesed off the folks at Queens University (not the one in Belfast), who think that their school deserves the complimentary comparison. The difference being that unlike Queens, people have heard of Harvard.

And, on the same page (but not online), a report that 'Low Vacancies Put McGill 'Ghetto' Beyond Student Budgets." Those pesky laws of supply and demand are kicking in again, and "a room on Durocher in the ghetto goes for $850 a month..." Now, I have a room on Durocher, and I don't pay $850 a month. So I'm hoping against hope that my landlord doesn't read the post.

2002-08-27T11:47:00.001-04:00

Old Media Comes Through - II

Next up - a wonderful juxtaposition of these two articles:

Genetically modified food safe, report says; Zambia refuses food despite UN assurances

The first story reports that a federally-appointed commission has found GM-foods to be safe both for consumption and for planting. "Research and development of GM organisms has been taking place for nearly 30 years with no evidence as yet of harm to human health or the environment," the report says. "GM foods currently in the marketplace have arguably undergone greater regulatory scrutiny than their conventional counterparts." Of course, just because GM foods are more demonstrably safe than their 'conventional' counterparts is no reason to stop the catterwauling: "We're told that 60% of processed grocery products have genetically modified foods in them, so we are exposing huge numbers of people to these products that have had only rudimentary tests," says Dr. Dennis McCalla, 'former dean of science at McMaster University in Hamilton and a GM food critic' according to the article.

With the evidence piling up, it would be easy to just dismiss these hysterical luddites. But we mustn't, because their irrationality is causing something else to pile up - bodies:

Despite nearly three million people on the brink of starvation in their country, officials in Zambia are resisting entreaties from aid groups, donor countries and United Nations experts to accept more than 40,000 tonnes of food aid, most of it from the United States, which they have refused to accept because it has been genetically modified.

GM crops have the potential to transform large swathes of Africa. Resistant to pests and disease, such crops could survive - and thrive - where domestic crops have failed. But these food shipments aren't in the form of crops - they're milled grains. Even though planting GM crops has shown no adverse effect to local environments, the "misinformed and misguided" Zambian government refuses to accept food for their starving people lest these milled cereals somehow get planted. This tragedy is certainly a symptom of the terrible government which is almost as great a scourge as any other facing Africa, save AIDS. But it is also blood on the hands of all those who in the face of evidence, reason and necessity continue to make unsubstantiated claims of harmfullness against crops in order to support an agenda of restriction and control. These people are the enemies of freedom, and the war they wage is costing lives.

2002-08-27T11:47:00.000-04:00

Old Media Comes Through

I seem to be all about the newspapers these days. But today's print edition of the National Post is so damned good, I just have to rant and rave about it. The next few posts concern articles from today's paper.

First off, mad props go to Mader Blog correspondent and close personal relation Deej, who has an excellent Op-Ed piece in Canada's national newspaper. Excerpt:

To put it another way, school board trustees are elected to spend money. How it is raised is someone else's problem. This is a departure from the old system, under which local politicians were responsible for both setting tax rates to raise money, and setting education budgets to spend it. When you tell politicians that they can spend what they like but someone else is going to have to come up with the cash, do you really expect them to spend responsibly? Can anyone really be surprised that they haven't?

That's only part of it - it's a well crafted, multi-tiered argument, and I would blog it and tell y'all to read it even if D-J and I didn't have the same last name.

2002-08-26T13:09:00.000-04:00

McAfrika Burger Riles Aid Groups: AP

Did you read the story?

Now tell me you didn't smirk just a little bit.

And, on a more serious note, let's be honest, it's not McDonald's' fault there's a famine in Africa. It's the fault of the useless socialist governments of Africa. That's not going to change by poo-pooin distasteful names for tasty sandwiches.

2002-08-26T13:05:00.000-04:00

They Know We're Watching

The J-Post is reporting that the Palestinian Press Agency has banned journalists from taking pictures of armed Palestinian children. Pictures like these. Or like this. This one wasn't taken by a journalist, but we imagine it would be banned. Ditto this one. This cute little girl isn't armed, so would the photo be legit? Or how about this one - in which the children aren't armed, they're just rallying around their terrorist role-model? These guns aren't real, so do the children count as armed? And how old are children? After all, these kids are old enough to be dreaming about those 72 virigins - and they're definately armed.

So much confusion - better to stick with pictures like this one.

[Note - JPost now requires registration, and it keeps telling me I'm missing a field. I'm not, but it keeps telling me I am, so there you go. Anyway, all to say my link is just to the main page.]

2002-08-26T12:45:00.000-04:00

Amiel: NYTimes is Orwellian

That her conclusion, anyway, in a column outlining the fall of the once-reputable newspaper. It can be found on the Telegraph site here.

And props to my hometown Ottawa Citizen for the shout-out. I've long been a critic of the Citizen, though in the few years after it was acquired by Conrad Black's Hollinger Group - when it became the only paper with an openly libertarian editorial-board policy - it was, in a word, superb. It has declined from those heights, in my opinion, but as Amiel's citation shows - and as David Warren's popularity shows - the paper is still capable of making an impact well beyond its domestic market. Bravo.

2002-08-26T12:30:00.000-04:00

Mark Steyn Watch

If you haven't read this one yet, do. It was printed in last Thursday's National Post, I believe, on a page with two other excellent pieces of opinion. I'm going to try and find them online, but if you haven't put that day's Post in the recycling yet, I really recommend you dig it out and give it all a read. Cracking good stuff.

UPDATE: Here's one of them, about why Mugabe has been stealing land from white farmers. He's not a madman - it's about consolidating his power.

UPDATE II: Here's the other one. It's regarding the recent abduction and murder of two little girls in Britain; and, more broadly, about the phenomenon of a grotesque popular outpouring of emotion which, the author says, is really a guilty reaction to hide inner emptiness. Some very good points about dignity, with examples from Shakespeare. What more could you want?

2002-08-26T12:26:00.000-04:00

Too Much?

Not my style, but certainly to the point, and something 'delegates' to the Earth Summit would do well to remember.

2002-08-23T13:32:00.000-04:00

We Just Can't Win

The NY Sun editorializes the reaction to Cynthia McKinney's defeat in Georgia this week. They note that when an anti-Jewish African-American Congresswoman was defeated - in part thanks to efforts by Jews - the reaction of African-American leadership is to adopt a position that is... anti-Jewish. "The chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Bernice Johnson, a Texas Democrat, [said], 'I definitely have some feelings about any outside group exerting this kind of influence in a race, and I¡¯ve been receiving angry calls from black voters all day, saying they should rally against Jewish candidates.'

2002-08-23T13:03:00.000-04:00

General Says War Games Rigged

National Post:

[A] retired Marine Corps general... says recent military games -- the largest ever held by the Pentagon -- were rigged to ensure the forces posing as the Iraqis would lose.

The games were "almost entirely scripted to ensure a [U.S. military] 'win'" said General Paul Van Riper, commander of the opposing "Red" forces, who quit in disgust halfway through the exercise...

Millennium Challenge 02 was a three-week exercise ending on Aug. 15 that cost US$250-million and involved 13,500 troops engaging each other in nine separate practice ranges across the United States, as well as in 17 computer simulations.

Gen. Van Riper was in charge of the opposition forces, supposed to be from an undefined Persian Gulf country, but thought to be Iraq. The U.S. forces, from the navy, Marines, army, air force and special services, were known as the "Blue" forces...

Instead of using radios to send orders, which the Blue forces could intercept, Gen. Van Riper relied on motorcycle couriers.

When the Blue fleet sailed into the Persian Gulf, Gen. Van Riper sent apparently harmless small planes and boats into the area. After the Blue commander issued an ultimatum to surrender, Gen. Van Riper issued his attack orders via the morning call to prayer broadcast from his country's mosques.

His unconventional forces wreaked havoc on the Blue fleet and sent much of it to the bottom. The officials in charge had to halt the exercise and "refloat" the Blue fleet to allow the games to continue.

An obvious PR move. The question is whether the brass learned from Van Riper's tactics. One possible solution, of course, is to put Van Riper in charge of the Iraq attack. The man obviously thinks well, and outside the box.

[Via GC Mandrake via Orrin Judd]

2002-08-23T12:33:00.000-04:00

The Sustainability Myth

The Post carries a great Telegraph piece by Professor Philip Stott of the University of London on the upcoming 'Earth Summit' in Johannesburg. Stott places the summit and the larger 'sustainability' movement in Stasist-Dynamist context. Here's the money paragraph:

The Kyoto protocol on climate change also arose from Rio. Climate is the most complex, chaotic, non-linear system. The idea that climate can be managed "in a predictable way" by manipulating one factor, carbon dioxide, out of the millions of factors involved is Alice-in-Wonderland science, with the verdict before the trial. This is the ultimate flaw: The sheer hubris of humans maintaining a "sustainable climate" vividly demonstrates the delusions of the sustainability myth.

Kyoto will do absolutely nothing to halt climate change in any predictable manner. For all we know, it might even play a tiny part in triggering a most unfortunate plunge into another ice age, which on purely statistical grounds is just about due. As we grow economically, the "command-and-control" targets of the type set under Kyoto are utterly impractical.

[Emphasis is mine.]

NOTE: The tech guys at the post mis-typed the HTML, with the result that the first paragraph of the story is hidden behind an add. I do that sort of thing all the time - a real pain in the be-hind. Here's the text of that paragraph:

Where conferences on 'sustainable development' are concerned, Schumacher's precept, "small is beautiful," has been long abandoned. Tomorrow 65,000 delegates will descend on Johannesburg for "Earth Summit 2002" -- the World Summit on Environment and Development.

2002-08-22T12:30:00.000-04:00

You Don't Say -- I

Iraq Invasion Would Reshape U.S. Foreign Policy

You Don't Say -- II

White House Painting Saddam As Evil

2002-08-22T12:19:00.000-04:00

Mid-Day Market Watch

Dow up 0.44%; Nasdaq up 0.33%; S&P up 0.72%.

The Dow is flirting with 9000, which will probably prove to be an important psychological marker; the index hasn't been above 9000 is six weeks. Positive bias in both the Dow and the Nasdaq, and an apparent bullish sentiment over the past few days. Good stuff.

2002-08-22T12:10:00.000-04:00

Blow Up the School Boards

From the National Post's Andrew Coyne.

(Here's background.)

2002-08-22T12:02:00.000-04:00

Oh Yea

Big news in Canada yesterday/today - Prime Minister Chretien announced that he would retire in February, 2004. Chretien faces a leadership review next Spring, and discontent coupled with support for former finance minister Paul Martin suggested that Chretien would not be able to rouse sufficient support. Had Chretien lost the leadership review, Martin would almost surely have won the leadership and so become Prime Minister.

As I see it, Chretien's hope is that in announcing his retirement date, he hopes to coast through the leadership review - as delegates say, "oh, well, he's leaving anyway, might as well let him go at his own pace." If it works - and it may very well work - it will seriously undermine Martin's chances. Two years is an awful long time to keep the public's interest in you, especially if - like Martin - you're not a cabinet minister. The excitement of a quick leadership change will pass, and people will either forget about Martin or start to realize that he really doesn't have all that much going for him. Besides, by 2004 he'll be 65, and many people will say the Liberal Party will need 'new blood.'

My prediction: unless Martin can expose the ploy and defeat Chretien in a leadership review, John Manley will be the next Prime Minister. He came to prominence in the Foreign Affairs portfolio. After the Eleventh, he completely outshone the hapless Prime Minister (who was nowhere to be seen). He was moved to the Deputy-Prime Ministership, a non-job in Canada, in what many saw as a demotion. But he stayed in charge of US-relations, the most important of our foreign relations. After Martin was canned this spring, he took over at Finance, and people began to joke that he had become the Minister of Everything. The Opposition even began to complain that one person could not reasonably be expected to give each portfolio sufficient attention.

In the next two years, Manley will be further groomed for leadership. Chretien will quietly let it be known that his Deputy is his chosen heir, and will direct his supporters that way. As he moves towards retirement, Chretien will have Manley take a more active role - up to and perhaps including participation in heads-of-government meetings. Manley will become acting Prime Minister before Chretien goes, so that by the time a leadership review is called, he will be far and away the front-runner. He will have experience, standing, and (relative) youth. Compared to him, Martin will look old and out of touch, having not held a portfolio in ages. Manley will win the leadership and at least one general election.

That's my bold prediction. There are, of course, caveats. If Martin can call Chretien's bluff, so to speak, and play on the fact that Canadians want Chretien to go sooner that 2004, he can defeat the PM at the leadership convention next spring and be Prime Minister by next summer. Or, if the Opposition Canadian Alliance can get its act together, pull itself out of the bush-leagues, get its own new blood in terms of regular MPs, and settle the apparent vote-splitting with the red-tory Progressive Conservatives, they could mount a challenge in 2005.

The first instance is a stretch. The second is next to impossible. So I stick by my prediction. Manley is PM in 2004.

2002-08-21T21:10:00.000-04:00

It's Heating Up

I must say I'm sorry that I'm taking my brief break from blogging now - there's a ton of interesting stuff going on right now, and I just don't have the time to follow it. But check out LGF, Instapundit and VodkaPundit at the very least to keep track of things - preparations for war, Cynthia McKinney losing in the primaries, Abu Nidal, etc.

Now just think what it'll be like when the shooting war starts.

2002-08-21T20:51:00.000-04:00

Persian Blogging on the CBC

Heard the tail end of an interview with a gentleman on the CBC this morning - he turns out to be Hossein Derakshan, who runs a weblog in english and persian here. The interview was alright - positive, and the interviewer seemed to understand the blogging phenomenon and its importance to Iran; in any case, it was pretty cool to turn on CBC radio as I stumbled out of bed (I know, I was up late) and hear the host talking about blogging.

(Abstract of interview here [third item])

2002-08-21T20:41:00.000-04:00

Back in Town

Back in Montreal now; today was moving day. If I was supposed to call you before I left Ottawa... sorry! It all just kind of happened. Still don't have internet set up here, so I'm across the hall at my neighbor's place. Blogging continued intermittant for another week.

2002-08-20T14:12:00.000-04:00

Steyn Watch

Congrats to Charles Johnson, who gets a shout out in this excellent piece by - who else - Mark Steyn.

2002-08-19T18:02:00.000-04:00

Palestinians Set to Take Over in Bethlehem: Reuters

Sound familiar?

2002-08-19T17:44:00.000-04:00

You Could Say the Policy is... Suicidal

From Sgy. Stryker's, a good analysis of suicide bombing as a military tactic.

2002-08-19T17:33:00.000-04:00

Just Popped in to Say...

Check out LGF - scroll up and down.

2002-08-16T17:25:00.000-04:00

Irish

I'm a Jameson man, myself.

(Via The Conjecturer)

2002-08-16T17:18:00.000-04:00

Laughing Out Loud

They're telling funny stories over at Sgt. Stryker's place. This one made me laugh considerably.

2002-08-16T15:12:00.000-04:00

Down Time

Sullivan's doing it; Taranto's doing it, Instapundit did it and so did VodkaPundit (though he had a better excuse).

So now I am too. Here's the story - I'm moving back to Montreal next week - either Sunday or Wednesday; in any case, my internet there isn't connected until the 28th. Not that there will be no blogging before then; if I stay in Ottawa I'll blog from here, and once I get there I'll try and get to a terminal - 'cause hey, I've got a jones to satisfy.

But just so you know - and don't get, you know, all discouraged and distraught by my absence. Actually, if you do get discouraged and distraught by my absence, let me know. I'd feel I had an active readership. Oh, and I'd tell you to get out more. But nicely.

That is all; see you in MTL.

2002-08-16T11:06:00.000-04:00

Why?

So Puffy has started a polling firm. But his "vision" isn't to find out what Americans are thinking. It's to find out what "urban" Americans are thinking. So who are urban Americans? Americans who live in cities? Well, not exactly. African-Americans living in cities? Certainly not; that would be a racial profile. Who then? Says Jameel Spencer, Puffy's partner in the venture, "The coolest kid in the class in Wichita, Kan., is urban."

Ok. So this polling firm is going to go around finding kids - uh, sorry, people - who have a very particular mindset (being 'cool' according to the criteria of Puffy & Co.) and then ask them what they think of things.

Real objective. Wouldn't it be more instructive to simply poll urban-dwelling Americans? Even urban-dwelling black Americans? At least that would illustrate how groups of Americans identified by location, lifestyle or community thought about certain subjects, as compared to Americans as a group. Instead, Puffy & Co. are going to seek out those Americans who think the same, and see whether they... think the same.

2002-08-16T10:50:00.000-04:00

Reuters Writes Balanced Piece About Israel

Except it's a very strange article about the Jewish relationship with dogs. Not in a bad way, though. And it contains this statement:

Around 200,000 Jews live in 145 settlements built in the West Bank and Gaza since Israel took the two territories in a 1967 war. The international community regards the settlements as illegal under international law. Israel disputes this.

Why, yes, that's more or less it - an objective description of the status of the territories. No wonder the reporter is consigned to human-interest pieces rather than actually covering the conflict.

2002-08-16T10:46:00.000-04:00

Mark Steyn Watch

On Elvis, from yesterday's Post. He says Elvis never betrayed his white trash roots.

Of course, August 16 is not only the yahrzeit (anniversary of the death) of Elvis Presley; it's the birthday of some very special people, notably Madonna, Kathy Lee Gifford, and Menachem Begin. And Elvis, of course, wasn't the only one to die on August 16, oh no. Also passing on this date were Dief the Chief and the Babe.

Why am I so interested in August the 16th? Oh, no reason...

2002-08-15T12:38:00.000-04:00

The Republican Importance of Revolution

Euguene Volokh responds to a reader's question about whether the threat of revolution against a government is a legal/Constitutional right, a check on the power of the State built into the political structure. Volokh's reaction centres on gun law, which, he argues, seems to have been included for the purpose of providing a check on government tyranny. While he concedes there is no Constitutional right to take up arms against the government - and admitting that a government will defend itself with arms when attacked - he suggests, using various sources, that the notion of revolution as a check on government power was widespread among the Framers' generation.

He misses, however, what seems to me the most relevant and explicit instance of support for this notion from that generation: the Declaration of Independence. It reads, in part:

...[W]henever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends [being the security of the citizenry's unalienable rights], it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

The overthrow of government necessarily cannot be a part of the legal structure of that government. Nonetheless, it is undeniable that, in the Framers' view of man's liberty, the ability to overthrow a tyrannical government by force was both a right and a duty. One cannot dismiss this facet of liberty without dismissing the entirel philosophical structure that produced the Constitution.

2002-08-15T12:15:00.000-04:00

Mandella Appears to Condone Murder of Jews

Tacitly, at least. He is named as a member of a committee organized by Palestinain 'parliamentarians' - I use the term loosely - which will "work for the release of Fatah leader Marwan Baraghouti". Barghouti, arrested during Operation Defensive Shield, has been identified as the leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyr's brigade, an arm of Yasir Arafat's Fatah party which has committed a number of terrorist murders in Israel and the West Bank.

Mandella lovers better hope the elder-statesman issues a clarification very soon; otherwise, we could be forgiven for thinking that he condones Barghouti's actions.

UPDATE: Well, Mandella's clarified. "What is happening to Barghouti is exactly the same as what happened to me," he's reported to have said.

The Guardian story begins: "In a major embarrassment to Israel, Nelson Mandela has agreed to observe the trial of a Palestinian leader formally indicted yesterday on charges of murder and terrorism." Uh, no. In fact, it's a major embarassment to Nelson Mandella.

Embarassment and crying shame.

2002-08-15T11:40:00.000-04:00

Clarity

Israel has again made it clear that it will respond militarily to any attack that results from the upcoming invasion of Iraq. This isn't just blowing smoke; one of the most reasonable and seriously sobering reasons to hesitate in attacking Iraq is the likelihood that a desperate Saddam would go down shooting, and that Israel would be his target. Of course, Israel is Saddam's perennial target; it's only a matter of time before he launches an attack anyway. Still, whether it happens this fall or in ten years, there is going to be a devastating exchange in the region, and Israel is going to bear the brunt.

This isn't the first time Israel has told its hostile neighbors to keep away, as Don Rumsfeld pointed out last week (scroll down about 5/8ths of the page). I doubt Israel would take any significant territory even if it did escalate into a regional war, but all the same the warning shouldn't be seen, as I said, as hot air. Israel expects the Americans to start their attack soon - not immediately, not even, it seems, in the early fall, but perhaps late fall or early winter. They're bracing themselves for the attack, looking ahead to the aftermath - but making it clear that they won't be pushovers this time around.

2002-08-15T10:23:00.000-04:00

Hallowed Ground of a Different Sort

I'm not crazy about the planned reading of the Gettysburg Address at Ground Zero this September 11th. Neither is the NY Post. Find out why.

2002-08-15T09:30:00.000-04:00

Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast

A few days ago Joe Katzman at Winds of Change posted a list of demonstrable facts regarding Iraq; given those facts, he present six 'impossible' things one would have to believe in order to reasonably oppose an attack on Iraq. Now he's polished it up and had it posted on Tech Central Station. Have a look, if you haven't read it yet.

(And, of course, if you've already done six impossible things before breakfast, why not top it off with a nice meal at the restaurant at the end of the universe?)

2002-08-14T16:59:00.000-04:00

Closing Bell Market Watch

Dow up 3.08%; Nasdaq up 5.12%; S&P up 4%.

Continuing my policy of publishing only bullish reports (more or less).

2002-08-14T13:08:00.000-04:00

Does Postrel Know About This?

What the hell is this?

"There Is No More Nature... There Is Only Technology... Everyday Life Is War"

2002-08-14T12:45:00.000-04:00

Sullivan on Europe on Iraq

A great piece from the Times of London that I'd missed.

2002-08-14T10:19:00.000-04:00

Rebuilding the WTC

After the public rejection of the first slew of proposals, the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation has contracted out to other design firms for more ideas on how to rebuild the World Trade Centre site. I have a feeling everybody knows in the back of their mind what they'd like to see there; now it's just a matter of getting a design firm to put it on paper.

For the record, this is what I want to see built at the site:

2002-08-14T09:42:00.000-04:00

Iron Curtain Across the Channel?

For fifty years the United States kept substantial forces in continental Europe, discouraging an invasion by the Warsaw Pact countries while exerting various pressures on the Soviet Union to bring down the imperial communism that kept millions of people enslaved.

During the Cold War, one could often be forgiven for wondering out loud if the Europeans really wanted to be saved. Now one could be forgiven for wondering if they really were saved. The EU has told aspiring members not to sign agreements with the US that would protect American soldiers from ICC prosecution. Never mind that the governments of those potential members have far more legitimacy than the qausi-parliament in Brussels. Never mind that European central policy is set by a legion of unelected officials. Never mind that the central members of the EU - France, Germany, Spain - refuse to surrender their individual memberships on international committees and sit as a unified group.

So Europe is increasingly ruled by a socialist-minded cadre of only-nominally-elected officials hostile to the United States and unresponsive to the demands of their regional populaces. Remind me - who won the cold war?

2002-08-13T23:18:00.000-04:00

Overload... Overload...

Check it out - the poor Reuters reporter gets all mixed up trying to report on the Troubles.

The youngest ever member of the leadership of Northern Ireland's main Protestant paramilitary group vowed in an interview published Wednesday that Catholics would die in "like for like" violence.

Indiscriminate murder by non-uniformed anonymous zealots? No, can't call that terror - wouldn't want to judge. But then look what happens:

Lawlor had no links to Catholic paramilitaries, but the UDA called his killing a "measured military response" to attacks on Protestants.

What's that? Why the scare-quotes? Could the reporter actually be questioning the legitimacy of this absurd proposition? But, why, that would be to judge!

2002-08-13T23:00:00.000-04:00

On Pseudonymous Blogging

I wrote an aside about it, which I posted, but it's really not worth reading. You can find it if you'd like - you know how - but I'm not going to legitimize it with a link.

Instead, you should just read Asparagirl on the topic.

2002-08-13T22:37:00.000-04:00

"A Vindictive and Whiny Prick"

Oh, I could be talking about so many things. But I'm actually talking about this post from over at Sgt. Stryker. [Censored]-damn, are these guys on the ball.

2002-08-13T16:59:00.000-04:00

Somewhere Between Reason and National Review

My politics, that is. As an illustration, check out this discussion with some of my regulars regarding Ottawa's by-law prohibiting smoking in bars and restaurants. Good fun, and a good illustration, I think, of where I'm coming from.

2002-08-13T14:14:00.000-04:00

Wal-Mart: It's a beautiful thing

Dan at HappyFunPundit says capitalism isn't ugly - it's just that people don't understand the beauty of it.

He makes a good point. On top of which - not to generalize or anything - it illustrates the hypocracy of earthy-crunchy-types who lambaste strip-malls as eyesores whilst hailing post-modernist absract art.

2002-08-13T12:16:00.000-04:00

Oops

The IMDB reports that Josh Hartnett, rather than Jude Law, is set to play Superman in an upcoming 'Superman v Batman' crossover. I know, I know, that's not news. But, being good bloggers, they attribute the story to its source - Harry Knowles at Ain't It Cool News.

Those of you familiar with IMDB will know that when they refer to anyone with a movie credit, they link to that person's Biz cv. So, for Harry Knowles, they added the requisite link. Apparently, Knowles was born in 1878, and died in Kansas City in 1936 after a string of silent movie roles.

Who knew? I thought he was still living in Austin.

2002-08-13T11:51:00.000-04:00

Steyn Watch

In which the columnist imagines a discussion with Underperfomin' Norman.

2002-08-13T11:49:00.000-04:00

Red China Watch

Feeling under the weather? Maybe you have "political abnormality illness". The symptoms? You're not a communist.

2002-08-13T11:34:00.000-04:00

New Aside Template

I've switched the template for Mader Asides, and permalinks now seem to be working - drawing to the top, rather than the bottom, of the post. Have a look, and you can find out why I've decided to adopt communism.

I know, I know. I need to get out more.

2002-08-13T10:17:00.000-04:00

Barghouthi to Stand Trial: Reuters, AP

Which would seem to complicate the theory that the Israelis were holding him away from the fray with the intention of bringing him back in to lead once Arafat was gone.

2002-08-12T16:59:00.000-04:00

Me Me Me Me Me

Or at least that's what I hear every time Joe Eszterhas opens his mouth. To recap: Eszterhas is screenwriter of such Hollywood films as 'Flashdance', 'Basic Instinct' and 'Showgirls'.

He was also, for many years, a smoker. And recently, surprise surprise, he was diagnosed with throat cancer. Suddenly Eszterhas is on CNN expounding on the evils of smoking and 'apologizing' for writing scripts that glamourized the habit.

I don't like being a bastard. I really don't. But somebody give me a [censored] break. For years and years this man smoked, despite reams of evidence - not to mention common sense - saying that smoking is, um, bad for you. Hell, King James I wrote a treatise on the subject - almost 400 years ago! Now he's got cancer. Boy, who could have seen that coming? And now that he's got the terrible disease that's killed so many Americans every year for his whole adult life, he's all of a sudden had an epiphany that smoking's bad.

No [censored], Joe. It's really bad. But everybody knows that. And to all of a sudden act like you've stumbled upon some great truth simply illustrates your profound selfishness. All cancers are awful; throat cancer is no exception; you've been dealt a bad hand. But you sat down at the table, and you knew the odds. You have absolutely no authority telling the rest of us that the game sucks.

2002-08-12T16:37:00.000-04:00

Closing Bell Market Watch

Dow down 0.65%; Nasdaq up 0.06%; S&P down 0.53%.

Not great, but despite a negative bias an upward trend in the indeces in the afternoon mitigated the slump.

2002-08-12T15:42:00.000-04:00

Bye Bye Bobos

A few years ago David Brooks wrote an account of the 'BoBo,' the Bourgeois Bohemian, who melded the bohemian spirit of the 1960s with the bourgeois capitalism of the 1980s.

The Bobo was, I think, a quintesentially 90s phenomenon, as much of that decade as Bill Clinton and the dot-com boom. The era of the Bobo is passed. It ended in March, 2000, when the bear market started to grumble; it ended in November, 2000, when the Bobo Democrats failed to hold on to the White House; and it ended forever on September 11th, 2001, the day everything changed.

Now Brooks identifies the next king of American culture: Patio Man. He is red America.

The article, despite its cynical conclusion, is hopeful, energizing, wonderful. It is long, but it is required reading. Thanks to Charles for bringing us this wonderful piece.

2002-08-12T14:40:00.000-04:00

Giving the Pentagon a Bad Name

Sgt. Schultz doesn't much like those civilian bureaucrats at the Pentagon whose sense of self-importance has led to an inability to see the larger picture.

The only thing I can't quite square, given Schultz's assumption that such people are responsible for the stream of leaks of recent months, is the growing perception that the Joint Chiefs are the ones opposed to the Iraqi campaign, and the Administration civilians - primarily Rummy and the Wolf - are the real hawks. If that's the case, it may mean that new blood is needed on both sides of the Department.

Or it may just be disinformation.

2002-08-12T14:05:00.000-04:00

Scotland Yard to Remove Cross from Insignia: AP

"The provision for a cross-free insignia followed the resignation of a Muslim traffic warden last year. He had complained about being forced to wear the cross as part of his uniform."

I'm extremely sympathetic to those who aren't crazy about latent Christianity in what is commonly called 'secular society.' Because of course Western society isn't secular, it's Christian.

Nevertheless, this is bad stuff. If a Muslim citizen objects to wearing an insignia that features a cross - part of the Crown for hundreds of years - shouldn't that citizen also object to the flying of the Union Jack? It is, after all, an amalgam of the cross of St. George, the cross of St. Andrew and the cross of St. Patrick. Those crosses weren't chosen because they looked nice on a flag.

And is it troubling, or merely a coincidence, that the complainant was a Muslim? For this is not the first recorded instance of European Muslims failing to acculturize. I believe, however, that this is not part of that greater phenomenon, but rather an instance of misguided selfishness like that shown by Michael Newdow in trying to have the words 'Under God' struck from the Pledge of Allegiance. Well, in fact, Newdow had a better case: the US is, nominally, a secular state. Great Britain is not. It never has been. It is a Christian kingdom. A thousand years of growing common sense have brought it to the point that a Muslim can be a citizen in full standing, with suffrage, legal protection, and the ability to pursue his own happiness. But it is not a secular state, and attempts to ignore or rewrite history by erasing the sybols of the nation's living heritage from its institutions are wrong.

Why, they're enough to make one quite... cross.

2002-08-12T12:33:00.000-04:00

Mid-Day Market Watch

Dow down 0.99%; Nasdaq down 0.63%; S&P down 0.93%.

Apparently a quiet day so far. Indeces opened lower and have been more or less constant at their values since morning trading.

2002-08-12T12:31:00.000-04:00

A Question for My Readers

Further to my musings on Schama's History of Britain, I have a question about the Press. In the leadup to the calling of the Short Parliament in the Spring of 1641, a host of pamphleteers and other propagandists brought the Calvinist message of support for the Scottish Presbyterians right into the heart of London. Hastily assembled sheets with the happenings of the Short Parliament were distributed along the King's Highways, and when the Long Parliament began its trials of the King's advisors, the crowds that flocked to Westminster were kept satiated by a constant stream of records of the goings-on, both in the palace and throughout the country. The widespread distribution of the various pamphlettes and newsletters, Schama writes, allowed the minority radicalism of Pym and the more pro-democratic Lords to gain considerable support among the people, even though it was not the majority sentiment of Parliament.

All of which is to say this: the Press has never been impartial or objective. Nor was the Press ever presumed to have been impartial or objective. Jefferson famously had fiery exchanges with the DC papers, and the White House for a time ran its own publication. In fact, it is as pretentious as it is ridiculous for any paper to presume itself to be without bias, or to presume that its objectivity trumps any bias it has.

So my question is this: when did public perception of the press change? When did papers cease to be seen as rags whose purpose was the dissemination of a particular slant on news, and when did the pretense arise that reporters had some god-given mission or gift as a sort of extra-constitutional branch of government?

(This is not, of course, to deny the freedom of the press. In fact, the whole purpose of press freedom is to allow any old blowhard - such as yours truly - to engage in propagandising and persuasion without fear of ideological retribution through government force.)

Any ideas?

2002-08-12T10:53:00.000-04:00

Red China Watch

Who needs 1984? This is dead real.

Tibet's Communist Party Secretary told reporters last week that Tibetans enjoyed complete freedom of religion and most had lost faith in the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile in northern India since fleeing his homeland in 1959...

"In China, there is no such thing as political differences due to religious beliefs," [he said]...

Tibetans interviewed under the supervision of local officials have repeated China's official line that the Dalai Lama should renounce independence, cease separatist activities and admit Tibet and Taiwan are part of China.

But Tibetans encountered away from the scrutiny of local officials often declared their allegiance to the Dalai Lama as a religious and political leader. Many secretly carry his photograph, despite a ban which locals say has been in place since 1996.

China carried out a sweeping "patriotic education" campaign in Tibet between 1996 and 2000 to stamp out separatist sentiment and allegiance to the Dalai Lama.

Monks at Lhasa's other main monastery, Sera, and at the Jokhang Temple in the center of Lhasa, said they were not allowed photographs of the Dalai Lama and underwent political education classes at least once every two months.

Political education classes. Not the sort of universal education you had in mind, is it?

2002-08-12T10:22:00.000-04:00

The Civil Wars and Anglo-Liberty

I've been reading the second volume of Simon Schama's History of Britain, covering the period 1603-1776. Schama entitles the volume 'The British Wars', but his focus is not limited to the military aspects of the civil wars; rather, he sees the religious and intellectual conflicts that arose with the ascession of James VI / I as continuing in one form or another right through to the rebellion of Englishmen in America in 1774 / 75.

I've heard Schama described as 'very, very clever - and aware of the fact', and that's certainly true. And being used to academic history books - annotated out the wazoo, and with few illustrations - this volume quickly betrays its roots as a television documentary. That being said, it is a very interesting work that sheds important light on a period of history that Americans would do extremely well to study more closely. The debates between Parliament and the Crown between 1629 and 1649, and the debates between Parliament and Cromwell thereafter, foreshadow entirely the conflicts and grievances of the American revolutionaries. It's no coincidence the revolutionaries adopted Civil-War slogans ("Don't Tread on Me"); and besides, how many Constitutional Scholars can explain the historical reasons for the prohibition on Bills of Attainder?

Anyway, a good read.

2002-08-12T09:19:00.000-04:00

Guess Who's Back

"Y'all know me, still the same old G - but I been low-key..."

2002-08-12T09:01:00.000-04:00

Accursed Ordinators

My apologies for the light posting all weeked; I was caught in the terrible addictive web of Civ 3. Holy crap does that game eat up your time. On the upside, the mighty Roman Empire, with my trusty Greek allies, waged a successful campaign to vanquish the Japanese on my west flank, establishing a thousand-mile buffer between me and the Great Ocean. Now if I can just pacify the Chinese and wily Egyptians, I can mount a cross-globe invasion of the useless English...

No... no... must... leave... basement...

2002-08-09T16:11:00.000-04:00

C'est Tout

Probably. Back Sat. Night / Sunday morn. Shabbat Shalom.

2002-08-09T14:06:00.000-04:00

The Only Truck

I love the Chevy Suburban. I mean, I love it. It is, I think, my favourite vehicle of any type - at least, any type not devoted exclusively to military use. And maybe even then.

There's hardly any way to make the Suburban better. It's a huge honkin' truck chasis, it's roomy, it moves - I can't attest for the steering, but I imagine it's not all that bad. Throw a complete armouring job and a diesel engine in, and it's more-or-less perfect. I mean, what more could you want?

How about a .50-cal!

CORRECTION: Charles points out in the comments that the picture is in fact of a Yukon, not a Suburban, and that in any case Chevy has stopped producing Suburbans, which now carry only the GMC label. My ignorance; my apologies.

UPDATE: Okay, I give up. Chevy still makes the suburban, not GMC, and who makes the Yukon is entirely beyond me. Point of the post is this: a Suburban - any Suburban - with a mounted machine gun in the carriage is pretty %&$@#*& cool.

2002-08-09T13:54:00.000-04:00

Euro-Small-Sausage

Oh, man, this is too good. LGF found some article written in a Swiss magazine, which talks about the weblog phenomenon. The original is here - but it's in German; run this URL (http://www.facts.ch/facts/factsArtikel?artikelid=208113&rubrikid=777) through Altavista's BabelFish and then read the result. It's hilarious. Skip on back to the LGF link and read the comments - the Usual Suspects have a great time with it.

2002-08-09T12:28:00.000-04:00

They Must Know the Guys at BMW

BBC News Online has recently divided its website into British and International versions. Poking around on the regional pages of the internation version, I noticed that regional news is available in a number of local languages. For instance, the South Asia site is available in Urdu, Hindi, Pashto, Bengali, Tamil, Nepali and Sinhala. Swing on over to the Mid-East site, and you can get your news in Arabic, Persian, Pashto, Turkish, and French. Note the conspicuous absence - the language used in the country with the most computers in the region.

There are, of course, reasonable explanations. Being the most-educated populace, Israelis far more likely to speak english. This might also explain why the Asia-Pacific site offers Chinese, Vietnamese, Burmese, Thai and Indonesian - but not Japanese.

Why the European site doesn't offer French is harder to explain. Well, not really, I suppose - the BBC may be all sorts of things, but at least they're still British.

2002-08-09T11:46:00.000-04:00

Alec Baldwin

Remember him? He's said to be an actor; more famously, he promised to leave the US if Dubya won the 2000 election. Unfortunately, he's still here.

So what's Alec been up to? Apparently, he's been trying to steal artwork. A real moral authority, this guy.

2002-08-09T10:38:00.000-04:00

Perle Says Iraq Must Fall Soon

Writing in today's Telegraph, Richard Perle (CV) says that attempts by Iraq to split the Allied cause in order to avoid an attack are doomed - because the Americans would go it alone if they had to, and because they won't have to since Blair will be onside when the time comes. He also makes the point that it's somewhat silly to ask who knew what before September 11th -- everybody knew a whole lot before Sept. 1, 1939, and while we should have attacked earlier (as Churchill wanted), we didn't. If there's a lesson, it's that we've missed opportunity after opportunity - but that, proverbial Poland having been invaded, it's time to react before things get worse.

2002-08-09T10:09:00.000-04:00

Iran Targetting Dissidents Abroad

The NY Sun's Adam Daifallah reports that Iran has apparently been engaging in cloak-and-dagger tactics - literally - in an attempt to assassinate dissidents and opponents of the Islamist regime in Tehran. The murders apparently denote an increased desperation on the part of the government to subdue the growing unrest in Iran.

2002-08-09T09:50:00.000-04:00

Steyn Watch

Yesterday's Post column, which is in fact just a pared down version of this.

2002-08-09T09:46:00.000-04:00

Whoa

The Group Captain draws our attention to a report that crows at a lab in England have managed to make their own tools (tool, really) to retrieve food down a hole. From the MSNBC story:

Two crows — Betty and Abel — were presented with a small bucket of food down inside a tube and two pieces of wire, one hooked and one straight. "Our surprise came when, in the fifth trial, the male stole the hooked wire from the female and took it away. Far from giving up, she then picked the remaining straight wire and bent it herself," [one researcher] explained. "To make sure of our observation we then offered repeatedly only the straight wire, and she unfailingly did the same trick over and over again," he went on.

GC Mandrake explains why this is a big deal: non-humans aren't supposed to be able to build their own tools - that's a human function. Granted, the tool in question wasn't particularly difficult to make - it was a bent piece of wire - and we're not likely going to see crows with powersaws anytime soon, but it's still, I think, something of a big deal.

2002-08-09T09:24:00.000-04:00

Volokh on Liberty: Optimistic

Eugene Volokh says things are actually pretty good.

His approach underscores one of my complaints about some approaches to libertarianism - those that feel that until each and every egregious affront to liberty is corrected, we are doomed to live in a totalitarian cesspit. Certainly the United States isn't nearly a libertarian paradise; nonetheless, as Volokh points out, things are, on balance, pretty good.

Besides, as he says, "optimism is just more fun!"

2002-08-08T17:12:00.000-04:00

Bavarian Motor Works

Is that the sound of goose-stepping?

2002-08-08T16:07:00.000-04:00

Closing Bell Market Watch

Dow up 3.03%; Nasdaq up 2.77%; S&P up 3.27%.

2002-08-08T13:52:00.000-04:00

Mid-Day (ok, afternoon) Market Watch

Dow up 1.69%; Nasdaq up 1.46%; S&P up 2.13%.

2002-08-08T12:29:00.000-04:00

Steyn Watch

An expanded version of today's Post piece. Excellent.

2002-08-08T11:31:00.000-04:00

Guns, Handguns, and Statistics

The Good Professor has a very interesting piece at FoxNews about guns, gun control and crime.

The more I learn about guns and gun-rights (and gun-control), the more I think that opposition to guns often coincides with an 'end-of-history' attitude. Not unusual, seeing as I'm a history student. But comments like that made by reader Charles - "as if the framer’s of the 2nd amendment intended it for a society like ours’ today" - suggest a particular view of 'a society like ours' within the greater stream of history, or rather suggest that the observer feels that our society is somehow not part of that stream.

Whoa - ok, now I'm going abstract. A little more coffee, a little more thought. But I'll come back to this. In the meantime, read Reynolds.

2002-08-08T10:58:00.000-04:00

Steyn Watch

He's back again this morning, giving a country-by-country account of Arabia and the ramifications of a regime-change in Baghdad. Posted when available.

2002-08-08T10:29:00.000-04:00

CORRECTION

Steven Den Beste of USS Clueless responds by e-mail to my earlier post and asks:

your comment suggests that you are not a civilian. Did you serve?

I must clarify that I am a civilian, and that I have not served in the armed forces. I was foolish to use such a term, not taking into account its consideration. I hold serving-men and -women in the highest regard, and I would never try and claim the respect that they deserve.

2002-08-08T09:39:00.000-04:00

Thoughts

Thanks to my few readers for the discussion about Florida's adoption law. A lot of interesting veiws and good points were raised. I must say, however, that I think Josh Faust gets it right when he says:

Adoption is a great idea. Encouraging mothers who don't want their children to put them up for adoption is a great idea, and almost infinitely preferable to aborting the pregnancy. However, there are too many barriers to adoption in this country...

The bill in question is yet another barrier, and likely a prohibitive one in many cases. The law may be ok, but the spirit is off. This approach should, I think, be dropped.

2002-08-07T18:24:00.000-04:00

Den Beste on War

This guy knows an awful lot for a civvie. Check it out.

2002-08-07T17:58:00.000-04:00

Satellite Evidence of War Preparations(?)

Glenn links to this page of satellite photographs purporting to show improvements at an airbase in Qatar, suggesting preparations for a Qatar-based strike on Iraq.

Cool stuff, no doubt, but - and I must admit sattelite photos have always looked odd to me - does anybody else find these a little, well, suspicious? And by 'suspicious' I mean 'as if they were created in PhotoShop'.

2002-08-07T17:51:00.000-04:00

Closing Bell Market Watch

Dow up 2.2%; Nasdaq up 1.7%; S&P up 2%.

After starting well up on positive news from Cisco, indeces fell in morning trading, flirting with market value most of the day. Yet a late surge brought significant gains, after a number of poor sessions.

2002-08-07T15:56:00.000-04:00

Somewhere between Reason and National Review

A reader sends along this story and the comment: "I may be in favour of a paternalistic state, but this is actually revolting."

I've been pondering this story, hemming and hawing, mulling and considering, and the fact is I'm not sure where I stand. Believe it or not. I'm certainly not crazy about state intrusion into private lives. I'm also pretty sure that the 'right to privacy' is a judicial rather than constitutional right.

Anyway, my point is that a voice in my head is telling me the judge in the above-noted case made the right decision, at least where privacy is involved. But another part of me really really really doesn't want to listen to that voice. So I'm asking you, my few-and-far-between readers, to give me your input in my comments. Please, please, expound, pontificate and otherwise write your take on this story. The fact is, I'm confused, and I don't want to blog one way or the other until I can flush out a better position.

Fire away.

2002-08-07T15:15:00.000-04:00

It's a Dog's Life

2002-08-07T15:08:00.000-04:00

Topless Photo

... of Lech Walesa. Oooo baby, I can't wait to see the google hits off this one.