February 2009

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If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.

-Noam Chomsky

August 31, 2005

Hurricane Relief

Want to do something beyond sitting there amazed at what is going on in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast?

Michelle Malkin is reporting $45,306,000 AND COUNTING in contributions from individuals and companies.

Instapundit is already working on his promised Blog for Relief.

If you would like to help but don't know how, please check these two sites for a great complilation of some of the top organizations that will be helping Katrina's victims.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Hundreds Dead in Iraq Stampede

Hundreds of women and children were stampeded or drowned in Bagdhad today, the result of a panic caused by "freedom fighters" who claimed a suicide bombing was imminent on a crowded bridge.

A million Shia pilgrims are heading to the shrine of Imam Kadhom this week. Sunni terrorists are being blamed for today's disaster, where hundreds of people were pushed or fell into the Tigris river after the collapse of the bridge fence.

The Sunni "freedom fighters" represent the 20% minority of Iraqis who would like to go back to ruling over the other 80% of the population, rather than deal with a democratically elected federal government.

IraqTheModel:

The government is to blame for a large deal of the incident as they should have arranged sufficient safe pathways for the passage of the crowds especially that such ceremony had been practiced by Iraqis for so many years.

Seems like a fair point. According to the London Telegraph;

The route had been laid out in advance, almost the entire centre of Baghdad was closed to traffic and segments of its way were marked by barriers to funnel the worshippers. Roads were filled with hundreds of police to deter any possible attacks.

Read further into that article and you will be more horrified. Those same barriers helped confine the pilgrims as they tried to escape.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Sending in the Navy

Relief efforts in the aftermath of Katrina include the largest mobilization in the history of the Red Cross, more troops from the National Guard, and four supply ships from the US Navy, filled with food and potable water.

From the Washington Post:

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff earlier announced a series of measures to ramp up the relief effort. The steps included the dispatch of 50 helicopters, a U.S. Navy hospital ship and seven other naval vessels, swift-water rescue teams, a 500-bed mobile hospital and tons of military meals and other supplies.

In addition to National Guard troops already deployed, the Pentagon announced that 10,000 more Guard troops would be sent in the next two days to Louisiana and Mississippi, about 5,000 to each state.

Ships deployed (according to navy website)
USS Bataan (LHD 5)
USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7)
USS Shreveport (LPD 12)
USS Tortuga (LSD 46)
USS Grapple (ARS 53)

Jeremy Gilby following the story. I am having trouble following the looting - I keep getting too angry to continue. It is a sad statement on society to see it degenerate this quickly after a natural disaster. Remember the response in NYC after 9/11? What a comparison!

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

August 30, 2005

Katrina and the World Economy

Katrina has been downgraded to a Depression... but would it be more accurate to classify it as a Recession?

The world economy runs on oil, and that is the crux of the problem Katrina has left those of us who are lucky enough not to live in the area affected by the storm. If you are not currently fighting flooding, loss of power, looting, chaos, and picking through your neighborhood for your belongings and loved ones, you still will not go unaffected.

About half of the gasoline used in the USA comes from the refineries along the Gulf coast. We don't know yet how much damage was done to these refineries or the port facilities on the Gulf, but the nation's emergency reserves are unprocessed crude oil, which will do us no good for running our cars. That's an immediate concern.

Still, sustained by the oil industry has helped boost crude to over $70 per barrell. The impact of higher oil prices on the American economy could be terrible.

From the Economist (emphasis mine):

As a rule of thumb, every $10 sustained increase in the price of a barrel of oil is estimated to result in a loss of something like half a percentage point of GDP. In a research report from Merrill Lynch, David Rosenberg, an analyst, calculates that every one-cent rise in the price of a gallon of petrol takes $1.3 billion out of consumers’ pockets, which could trim as much as a full percentage point off consumer spending this winter. Some economists are worried that if there are extensive shutdowns of oil and gas production, this could push the economy to the brink of recession.

And of course, it is a global economy. A hit in the States will be felt around the world, where industrialized nations are already struggling due to the $70 per barrell oil on which their economies also run.

The outlook?

Well... what's worse than category 5?

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Iraqi Constitution Draft deserves a fair Up-or-Down vote

John at Power Line is carrying a story that Iraqis want a fair up-or-down vote on the Constitution that has been drafted. Will the terrorists be able to filibuster?

The story reported as an English translation of today's edition of the Iraqi newspaper Alhayat:

...reveals 88% of Iraqis polled said they will participate in the next vote (for the constitution) on the 15th of October...
42% support having Islam being the main source of legislation...
24% support having Islam be the only source of legislation...
13% support not having any law which conflicts with Islam...
14% support having Islam being only one of many sources of legislation, not the only one...
... 84% support giving women full rights and benefits as men.

Can that be right? That's incredible! The situation in Iraq may not turn out to be a bowl of roses, but I take this as great news. Even voting down the current draft would be better than not voting at all.

Also being discussed at Chrenkoff.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Katrina's Aftermath

I don't have much to say except I hope that the people of this country will back the relief efforts from this storm with as much enthusiasm as we saw during the tsunami that hit Asia last year. From all the images that I saw, it looks like it is going to be some time before there is any sense of normality in all areas that were hit. Hopefully we can all do something in one way or another to help.

See what Wulf said about it first here in an earlier post on Atlasblogged.

Posted by G-Dawg | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Chief Sitting Cindy

Michelle Malkin challenges us to write our own caption:

How about "Chief Sitting Bull Comforted by Some Guy in Feathered Headdress?"

Anyone else?

Posted by Rammage | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

August 29, 2005

USS Iowa not good enough for San Francisco - city says take that dirty war machine elsewhere!

San Francisco city supervisors voted 8-3 last month to oppose taking in the retired battleship USS Iowa, citing local opposition to the Iraq war and the military's stance on gays, among other things. I hadn't hear about this before today, but it has got me riled up.

This ship is a piece of American military history almost beyond compare. It earned nine battle stars for World War II service and two for Korean service. Men died on that ship in foreign seas for your rights and freedoms, and now the city supervisors have the gall to dishonor that sacrifice because they don't like the military's stance on gays? Or because they don't agree with the way our troops are being used in Iraq? Boy does this piss me off. I really don't care if you are opposed to the war in Iraq - that's one of the things veterans fought for, is your right to that opinion. But what does this serve? What cause gains from this? Freedom? Democracy? Peace?

No. Pettiness and division, is all.

Thank you to Elephant In My Coffee for a story I had not heard about anywhere else.

From the AP news story:

Veterans groups and history buffs had hoped that tourists in San Francisco could walk the same teak decks where sailors dodged Japanese machine-gun fire and fired 16-inch guns that helped win battles across the South Pacific...
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a former San Francisco mayor, helped secure $3 million to tow the Iowa from Rhode Island to the Bay Area in 2001 in hopes of making touristy Fisherman's Wharf its new home.

Whoah. I am agreeing with Senator Feinstein!

August 28, 2005

Is Norman Lear Stupid, or is he Kidding?

Norman Lear posed this deep philosophical puzzle on Aug 25:

So let’s imagine a young Christian man, say twenty-six years of age, living in South America where the 700 Club on cable television has been an important part of his lifetime religious diet. The day before yesterday he hears his leading man of God, the Reverend Pat Robertson, suggest that the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, be assassinated. Why wouldn't the young man hear in this situation a call or enticement to violence? How different is this from the proverbial and outlawed false cry of “Fire!” in a crowded theater?

Do you think that maybe Mr Lear has misunderstood the crowded theatre proverb? Maybe he supposes that somebody in the theater is exhorting a fellow theater patron to fire a weapon and assassiniate a third person. Because that is the only similarity I can see between the proverb of the crowded theater, and Pat Robertson's much publicized remarks.

For the record, yelling "FIRE" in a crowded theater is illegal because it is fraudulent and dangerous. It is often used as an example of a reasonable restriction on free speech - a common-sense disregard for the silly extremist way the Constitution is worded. But that is not accurate. The First Amendment doesn't give you the right to say anything that comes to mind, it gives you the right to state your opinion without government censorship. An assertion of "FIRE" is not a matter of opinion, so if there is no fire, you will be held responsible for trying to incite a riot. This is no different from being arrested for perjury, fraud, or assault - none of these are violations of your rights.

Also for the record, I don't care for Pat Robertson, and his remarks last week were stupid. I have yet to see anybody mount a good defense of what he said, or of his weak apology. Conservatives who defend him are showing terrible hypocrisy, as are the liberals who blast him but leave Hugo Chavez unmolested. But Mr Robertson's comments were his opinion, and are protected under the First Amendment.

That's the difference, Mr Lear.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

August 27, 2005

Learn Spanish or Be Fired

Is it ever appropriate to require employees to learn a language other than English in order to keep their jobs?

This is the question posed by EdWonk at Education Wonks, regarding a 5-4 vote of the Dallas school board requiring principals to learn Spanish or lose their jobs.

Here is the response by Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman of the Board of U.S. English, Inc (link);

The Dallas school board's extreme approach sends the unmistakable message that English is optional in the area. This is part of a frightening trend where English-speaking Americans are being asked to learn a foreign language, while nothing is expected out of non-English speaking immigrants to America. Instead of forcing their administrators to learn the language of immigrants, the district should open its facilities to programs that teach immigrant parents English.

More accurately, according to NBC5i Dallas,

The school board voted to require principals to learn the primary language spoken by the majority of the students in their school.

So... probably Spanish, but maybe Vietnamese, maybe binary, who knows? Setting aside questions of how moral or legal this is, does the school board have a limit to the number of languages a principal would have to learn if the neighborhood keeps changing? Or if they are transferred from one school to another? This seems pretty tough to enforce.

Two interesting notes from KLTV Dallas;

- The school district will pay for the bilingual training,
- The Dallas Independent School District is about two-thirds Hispanic.

The libertarian in me says you should have the right to demand anything you want out of your employees; they are not entitled to their jobs or the status quo. I'm having trouble coming up with a reason this is wrong.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

Protest Warriors

No matter where one lies on the political spectrum, most can agree that extremists can be quite a spectacle. For my dollar, I find few things on the Internet more amusing than the videos by Protest Warrior. Their latest mission, Operation Enemy Enlightenment II, was a counter- protest held at the Foothill Technology High School, Ventura, California.

[Correction: This was the Foothill Technology High School chapter of Protest Warrior that was staging the counter-protest.]

According to Protest Warrior, they

[...] showed up on the street to initiate dialog with some protesters, and provoked the usual litany of angry cliches and torn signs.

Portions of this confrontation are found here, which include someone referring to the U.S. Secretary of State as "Condoleezza 'Oil Tanker' Rice." This is the second video of theirs that I have seen where a protester uses Cuba as an example of how a government should be run. The Protest Warriors try to engage them in conversation between their stifled laughs. Hilarious...and a little scary at the same time.

Keep up the good work, Protest Warrior, and be careful out there.

Although Atlas Blogged does not necessarily subscribe to this theory, the two arguing women on this video certainly give us pause for thought regarding The Babe Theory of Political Movements, first postulated by P.J. O'Rourke in his Parliament of Whores book.

We are hoping that the Protest Warrior's Operation Enemy Enlightenment III takes place at Walter Reed. Give us a call.

Posted by Rammage | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

August 26, 2005

General Myers

General Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said today that you aren't getting an accurate picture of what is going on in Iraq.

I am concerned about what appears to be a growing gap between what people are hearing back here in the United States and with what we saw on this trip.

Opinion polls show public support is low and waning further in America, but Gen. Myers just got back from Iraq, and he continues;

Our troops overwhelmingly want reassurance that they will be allowed to finish what we began four years ago.

I wonder what the bring-them-home-now crowd thinks of this.
(I heard this story on NPR of all places.)

This sounds familiar;

If we're a nation at war, the most important thing we have right now in this kind of conflict is our will and our resolve... and if you look at what the adversary is trying to do, of course, their whole strategic communications plan, if you will, is to try to weaken that resolve.

(discussed here yesterday)

While enlistments are down, reenlistments are up. Who do you suppose knows more about the realities of the situation? Casey Sheehan or his mom?

Intelligent Design in my Classroom?

I have been asked a lot of questions by friends, coworkers, and people who have read my previous article on Intelligent Design (Science is Not Afraid). I have been happy to expand on the topic for anyone interested, and will continue to do so.

I would like to direct readers to another blog that picked up the topic and discussed the Atlas Blogged article. I have written a comment on Ian's blog that may help to clarify my position for some readers and I reiterate that I welcome discussion on the topic, here, there, or anywhere else... including my classroom, as time permits.

August 25, 2005

Iraq = Vietnam?

Yesterday, Rammage and I held a conversation via email regarding the differences between what actually happened in Vietnam, and what the perception of Vietnam seems to be. The USA "lost" Vietnam, of course... right?

This wouldn't be a hot topic for discussion, except that comparisons are frequently made between Iraq and Vietnam. Not for their balmy climates, of course, but for being a boondoggle of US foreign policy. Bush-bashers have been saying that since before our troops hit the ground, no surprise, but much has been made this week of comments by Chuck Hagel, a decorated Vietnam veteran and a Republican senator.

Of course, most conservatives have come to the President's defense. But are they right?

(The context of this excerpt from our conversation is specifically how the 1968 Tet Offensive is portrayed in popular media, like film and television, vs how it is laid out historically.)

Rammage:

Thinking outside the box here, is it possible that Iraq *is* indeed like Vietnam, but not for the reasons that we are led to believe?
*Why* did we "lose" Vietnam?

Wulf:

I'm beginning to see that it's a lot like Vietnam, in that we are taking political heat for the loss of life, but that loss of life is largely because we are not imperialist, not destructive, and fighting a war that is contrary to every book or class or military stategery in history... because we value human life more than traditional military strategy and we won't use nukes or raze cities or drop smallpox-ridden blankets, etc.
We are trying to help a democracy stand up in a society where many people would frankly rather not have it. We are trying to pick the location of the battle before it comes to our shores (terrorism, communism). We are dealing with volatile political identities and
boundaries that were imposed by EUROPEAN imperialism (Vietnam = French, Iraq = British), making the locals unwilling to trust each other and resentful of our desire for them to set up a democracy where the minority would not be able to get its way as easily as they could if they just conquered or became a small independent substate. But you know that if we were to broker a peace that involved the fracture of Vietnam or Iraq, we would take a lot of shit from our European allies who lumped the disparate groups into a false geographical shape in the first place - I don't know why.
We are fighting guerrillas, many from outside the country (Chinese,
Laotians, Cambodians... Iranians, Syrians, Saudis...)

And most importantly, thirty years from now there will probably be people talking about how we actually didn't get our asses kicked over there, but we lost the war of the media and the history
books. Sigh.

I won't pretend this is the most profound analysis of the conflict, but I wanted to share it now, because I intend to soon use this blog to discuss the Iraqi constitution and some other items related to this conversation. Plus I wanted to open it up to comments from whoever might stumble by.

UPDATE: I found more of the conversation:

Rammage:

Nicely said. Very nice. Arianna Huffington disagrees with you. She asks:
And now there is Bush's newest fabrication about the Iraqi constitution, or at least the latest draft of a draft of a constitution. Holden at First Draft caught this fiction right away:

Q If [the constitution] is rooted in Islam, as it seems it will be... is there still the possibility of honoring the rights of women? THE PRESIDENT: I talked to Condi, and there is not -- as I understand it, the way the constitution is written is that women have got rights, inherent rights recognized in the constitution, and that the constitution talks about not "the religion," but "a religion." In fact, that's not at all what Article 2 Para. 1 says: "Islam is the official religion of state, and is a fundamental source for legislation." So is this version of Islamic theocracy what we are fighting for? Is this the "noble cause" Cindy's son died for?

Whoa! Holy frickin' hell, cool yer jets there, Aryanna. I thought you people were all against the Westernization of the Middle East? Right? You have your own values, they have their own values, and ne'er the twain shall meet. Right? Assuming Christianity left the Dark Ages at the Enlightenment, how many centuries did it take before Western Civilization came to the Women's Lib Movement, fer Christ's sake? The entire country is on the verge of tasting real freedom, and you expect bra burning rights to be written into the constitution? Goddamn the left are an impatient friggin' lot. Besides....I thought none of this was worthwhile *in the first place* anyway? What gives?

Posted by Wulf | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Katrina and the Waves

Tropical Storm Katrina is currently located 70 miles east of Fort Lauderdale. The storm is expected to reach hurricane strength before hitting Florida within the next 24 hours.

I am watching this hurricane season with great interest. I am a meteorology buff, in all honesty. My friends and family who live in Florida seem less enamored with storms than I am. I have been reading up on global warming forecasts and controversies, and will probably share my conclusions soon. In the meantime, I am hoping Florida weathers this well.

UPDATE: That's a mean left turn Katrina took...

You poor people in the projected path - the media is guessing the hurricane will be a cat 3 or maybe cat 4 when it makes landfall again.

I lived in central Florida for a year and a half, and I did not like it. I have never been to a part of the state where I would consider living. But I have no schadenfreude. Good luck to everybody on the Gulf Coast.

8/28 UPDATE: Cat 5 and barrelling down on the Big Easy. Mayor C. Ray Nagin'

We are facing a storm that most of us have long feared. The storm surge will most likely topple our levee system.

According to the AP:

Estimates have been made of tens of thousands of deaths from flooding that could overrun the levees and turn New Orleans into a 30-foot-deep toxic lake filled with chemicals and petroleum from refineries, and waste from ruined septic systems.

If I lived in New Orleans, I think I would be more worried about the political fallout than the storm itself. I am just not seeing tens of thousands of flooding deaths tomorrow, but tens of thousands of fingers will be pointed, and everybody will want to get their fingers into the pie. I'm sorry to be cynical, but I call it like I see it.

8/29 UPDATE: And here we go... it's political. First, it is Bush's fault. Next it will be about oil prices... especially if President Bush either does or does not tap the national emergency crude oil stockpile. Standing by for more on that.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Constitution of the Iraqi Conglomerate

In Iraq, Shia and Kurdish members of a constitution-drafting committee were able to agree on a draft this week, but Sunnis rejected it.

The Sunnis rejected it.

The Sunnis are the 20 percent of the Iraqi population who constituted the Baath party and ran Iraq during the Hussein regime. Why are they rejecting the draft that the Kurds and Shias could agree upon?

The Sunni delegates continue to reject several provisions in the draft, most importantly those relating to federalism. Sunnis have long been skeptical about granting autonomy to Shiite regions, fearing it could lead to the breakup of Iraq.

(US News)

Personally, I don't see what the problem would be with a democratic, representative government that was of a more federal structure. Shias, Sunnis, and Kurds would all be guaranteed representation. Heck, I want that here in the USA (fat chance).

The problem might be religion, right? That's what I keep hearing (Huffingtonpost, L.A. Times, look up more yourself, it's easy!)

But according to the Economist,

These two groups—the Shias generally more pious, the Kurds more secular—seemed to reach a fair compromise on one major point, the role of religion in the state. Islam is declared to be the “official religion” and a “fundamental source of legislation”; no law should contradict “the tenets of Islam's jurisprudence”, and the constitutional court will contain experts on sharia law. However, the draft gives roughly equal weight to the “principles of democracy” and to human rights, and contains a broad list of political freedoms.

I have to be honest, I don't think the United States could do any better if we had to start from scratch today. Hell we already have our own controversies about courts full of experts on religious law.

The reason the Sunnis are against federalism is because they fear losing the southern part of Iraq to the Iranians. In all honesty, that's a legitimate concern, since the world is so keen to drop and run. Whether you think we should have invaded Iraq or not, we did, and we are responsibile for the outcome. A strong centralized government will pit one ethnic group against two others. A federation-style government could literally put Iraq's fractions on the map, making the post-Euro-colonialism artificial nation a part of history. Either way, the more quickly we leave them to fight each other, the bloodier it will be.

From the Economist:

The Iraq Security Force (ISF) has fewer than five battalions able to operate without heavy American support. Several dozen more are expected to become ready over the next year. Currently, every operational ISF battalion is mentored by a team of ten Americans and backed up by an American unit to keep it out of trouble. Formation of support elements—medics, engineers, and so on—is still rudimentary. And the police, numbering 65,000, are not only at half their projected strength but also often barely trained and ineffective.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

August 24, 2005

Discrimination

I’d like to consider myself a card-carrying non-racist. I believe that racism is a bad thing to hold onto in this world, and if everyone were able to drop all the boundaries that we have all put up, our society as we know it could improve drastically. The whole “Why can’t we all get along?” plea really isn’t a bad one if you were to ask me. I am a white male, the so-called “majority” in this world. I am married to a Hispanic woman, part of the so-called “minority” group, and she agrees with my beliefs on this. And I believe that we could all get along if we really tried. I know it’s far-fetched but hey, it could happen.

Part of the problem is we won’t let ourselves drop all the boundaries. In fact, we are putting more up every day, and the media is the one who lets it all out for everyone to see. Different groups of people get upset over the little things, instead of the much bigger issues.

Take the incident with Rush Limbaugh on ESPN two years ago. Rush was stating his opinion about how Donovan McNabb was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed. It was as if he committed a major felony. He was forced out of his job, blasted by many other sports writers and commentators, and was left out hanging by his shorts trying to make sense of it all. Would all of this happened if Rush was a black man himself giving the same opinion? I doubt it.

What doesn’t make sense to me is how it is okay for all the discrimination against the whites. Most people don’t see it, or they choose to accept it as if it is no big deal. Every year on TV we can see such things as the “Latin Music Awards,” or the “Black Achievement Awards.” I have no problem with this. But if there were such a thing as a “White Actor Awards” show people would be up in arms.

What got me thinking about all of this is the current advertising campaign by Red Stripe Beer. I personally find it very humorous and they did a great job with it. But if you look closely, it is very discriminating. A black man is making fun of or insulting a white man. In one of these commercials he claims, “Helping our white friends dance for over seventy years.” It is funny I admit, and probably there is some truth in it. There are others, and you can see all of them on their website. But if it was reversed and a commercial showed a white man doing these same sorts of things with a black man, the whole world would come crashing down. Jesse Jackson would be flown in, Al Sharpton would be making speeches, and they wouldn’t stop until the company was shut down for flagrant racism.

I wish I were wrong about all of this. I wish that none of this would even be thought of. Until we as a society can let our social boundaries down and just “get along” it will continue for as long as I’m alive. If it is okay to ridicule one group but not another, how will we ever make it better?

Posted by G-Dawg | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

Letter to WMAL, Re: Michael Graham

Mailed to Talk Radio 630 WMAL on Wednesday, August 24th:

Mr. Chris Berry
General Manager
WMAL
4400 Jenifer Street NW
Washington DC 20015

Dear Mr. Berry:

I will be succinct with my point, as you are undoubtedly being inundated with customer feedback over your firing of Michael Graham.

Politics aside, your removal of The Michael Graham Show coincides with my discontinued listening of News Talk 630 WMAL. The only other worthy program that you offer is now available on podcast, rendering your station irrelevant to the Greater DC-area talk radio.

While I remain incredulous that you would allow an organization that advocates suicide bombings to dictate your programming, I am even more bewildered at your business decision to let go your only water-cooler caliber host.

For our part, my family and I will encourage our friends to join us tuning in to Michael Graham when he resurfaces in our area, and turning off WMAL, ABC, and especially Disney.

This letter will be posted to www.atlasblogged.com.

It seems that we will not have long to wait for that resurfacing. According to Michael Graham's website:

Starting this Monday, I'll be on Rightalk.com every weekday at noon for a one-hour edition of a new radio show, Michael Graham, Unleashed! No liberal network execs, no advertisers, not even the FCC. You'll be able to listen live, or the show will be available for podcasting or downloading every hour, on the hour. And that includes INSIDE The beltway, too.

This is especially good news for those of us trying to avoid ABC stations altogether, as they have quite a hold of our DC market. And I can't listen to [shudder] NPR any more.

See here for an email list of WMAL's advertisers.

Previous: Michael Graham, Terrorist Victim

Also see: Michael Graham, Spiked By ABC

More on Michael Graham

Posted by Rammage | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

August 23, 2005

Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New "Intelligent Falling" Theory

I used to find the Onion amusing. Very amusing. They've definitely gone downhill in the last ~5 years, but I'll give them ^5 for this gem.

Gravity—which is taught to our children as a law—is founded on great gaps in understanding. The laws predict the mutual force between all bodies of mass, but they cannot explain that force. Isaac Newton himself said, 'I suspect that my theories may all depend upon a force for which philosophers have searched all of nature in vain.' Of course, he is alluding to a higher power.

I don't guess I will be mentioning this in class this fall.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Cato slams GOP spending

Yesterday, the Washington Times carried an article by Chris Edwards, the director of tax policy at the Cato Institute. Edwards asks what ever happened to the fiscally conservative Republican Party... and points out an excellent opportunity for Democrats to return to the principles of fiscal responsibility, and win back moderate American voters by adopting a more fiscally responsible message.

There once were Democrats who fought to cut wasteful spending. William Proxmire, a liberal Wisconsin senator between 1957 to 1989 was famous for his "Golden Fleece" awards, which highlighted taxpayer ripoffs. Mr. Proxmire sent out a monthly report profiling spending that should be cut. His 1972 book was titled Uncle Sam, The Last of the Big Time Spenders. When was the last time a Democrat wrote a book with a title like that? Another reform-minded Democrat was Paul Douglas, a senator from Illinois between 1949 and 1967. He was a self-proclaimed liberal and champion of civil rights but also a critic of government waste who often said: "A liberal need not be a wastrel." His 1952 book on cutting the budget argued "waste in the government benefits no one. It is a frittering-away of resources which could be used to improve the lives of people."
Fiscal conservatives are angry with the GOP's direction in recent years, and they would warmly embrace a Proxmire-Douglas message that challenges the Grand Old Spending Party.

If I had to choose between a fiscally conservative Democrat, and a "compassionate" Republican who spends like mad, my libertarian-leaning vote would certainly be up for wooing. Who really votes party line, anyway?

In case you hadn't realized how bad the spending is, consider the fact that the self-styled party of small government controls the Senate, the House, and the Presidency, yet since 2000 we have seen the highest rate of federal government growth since the presidencies of Richard Nixon and LBJ. Do you realize that George Bush hasn't brought himself to veto a single dollar of federal pork yet? I want some vetoes! I want some gridlock on this swelling beast of a federal government!

Bring me a fiscally conservative Democrat!

Posted by Wulf | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Herndon, Virginia

Let's say you needed somebody to labor for you for a day, or a few days. Cheaply. Wouldn't it be convenient if you could find a reliable supply of such laborers - inexpensive, hard working ones? And you could pick up some coffee and doughnuts while you were there?

Wouldn't that be really convenient?

Well, that's why they call 7-11 a "convenience store".

In Herndon, VA, there is a particular 7-11 where it is so convenient, it has made the town a focal point for international political issues. This store is so well known as a place for day laborers to congregate and await employment opportunities (translation: for illegal immigrants to congregate and await illegal hiring by builders) that a non-profit group called Project Hope and Harmony sought a permit to build and operate a "worker center" next door to the 7-11. In a former police station, by the way.

On August 17, the Herndon Town Council approved the permit and $175,000 in public money for center.

In response to the obvious complaint that this is going to attract and encourage illegal day laborers,

council members said they were helpless in the face of what they called a federal failure to police U.S. borders. They said it was their responsibility to bring order to a neighborhood nuisance that had become the town's most divisive issue in recent history.
"Here we sit, expecting this local government to resolve a national immigration problem that is out of our control," council member Harlon Reece said before the vote.

I sympathize with Mr Reece. I've been in a position where I was being expected to enforce policies that were not being enforced by those above me. Illegal immigration is a federal issue, an international issue, that is being pawned off on local law enforcement all around the country, because our national politicians don't want to alienate immigrants (no pun intended).
Herndon Town Councilman Dennis D. Husch, who opposed the measure along with Councilwoman Ann V. Null in the 5-2 vote, blasted the state and federal politicians for passing the buck on the issue. "Shame on them for their cowardly retreat," he said.

So, I do sympathize with Mr Reese, but his critics are correct. In fact, Judicial Watch addressed the Council before the vote and noted

For the Town Council to recommend this plan would be illegal under federal law [and] under Virginia law... The Town of Herndon has allowed illegal activity to go on unchecked at the 7-Eleven and elsewhere. The solution is not local taxpayer support for this illegal activity... law enforcement is in order, not taxpayer subsidies.

Former State Attorney General and current Republican nominee for Governor Jerry Kilgore has jumped on the issue as well. On one hand, I am glad to see it being taken seriously at the state level. On the other hand, talk is cheap, Mr Kilgore.

Gay Patriot asks the governor to step up on the issue:

DECLARE A STATE OF EMERGENCY!! There is one already… it would be nice if you realized it and acted on this threat to our homeland security at the footsteps of our nation’s capital.

I'm not sure the illegal immigration warrants a state of emergency here in Virginia, but then again the governor and I live 100 miles south of Herndon, so we might not know how bad it is. I will await Mr Warner's comments.

Who is Project Hope and Harmony, anyway? I referred to it as a non-profit group, but it is actually an "umbrella group" of nfps. A positive profile of the group and its founder here, and a counterpoint of sorts here.

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August 22, 2005

Michael Graham, terrorist victim

The story is hitting the blogosphere: Michael Graham was fired from his job as a radio talk-show host on ABC Radio affiliate WMAL, Washington D.C., for saying "Islam is a terror organization" (the context will be discussed in a moment). Bloggers are up in arms over First Amendment issues. Lefties are conflicted - free speech or political correctness? The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) are partying like it's 9/11 - you know, dancing in the streets.

Let me say up front that I used to be a sometimes-listener of Graham when he was on air in Richmond, VA a few years back. He is not a right-wing mouthpiece. I would describe him as rather libertarian, very passionate, pretty sarcastic, with a strong dose of southern good-old-boy Christian. (But don't call him a redneck - he's even written a book about that, which I read and got him to sign a few years back.)

For those of you who are not familiar with the story, Graham's full comments in context are available at several sites. Here is an excerpt:

Because of the mix of Islamic theology that—rightly or wrongly—is interpreted to promote violence, added to an organizational structure that allows violent radicals to operate openly in Islam’s name with impunity, Islam has, sadly, become a terrorist organization. It pains me to say it. But the good news is it doesn’t have to stay this way, if the vast majority of Muslims who don’t support terror will step forward and re-claim their religion.

More of his comments can be found on Michelle Malkin's site in an article from July 29. The more you read, the less offensive it sounds. I just don't get why he was fired. These comments are not extremist, hateful, or inaccurate. Frankly, they are dead-on accurate - Muslims around the world have to decide between extremists terrorists who act in the name of Islam, and the peaceful, democratic, non-violent version of Islam that claims to be the "real" religion of Mohammed. Muslims who sit back quietly and don't comment are giving credence to those who present Islam as a faith of violence and terror - they can't let that continue. As Graham says,

That’s the real tragedy here. The people who most need free speech and open dialogue on the issues facing Islam today are America's moderate Muslims. These are people of good will who have the difficult job ahead of reforming and rescuing their religion. They need all the help they can get.

But of course this was not about accuracy, it's about political pressure. CAIR applied pressure and had Graham suspended a few days after his comments. I don't know where CAIR got that kind of juice, but they then applied pressure to have him fired if he would not apologize for his comments. According to Graham's website, he was fired

for refusing to retract those statements in a management-mandated, on-air apology. ABC Radio further demanded that I agree to perform what they described as “additional outreach efforts” to those people or groups who felt offended.

Hrm. I find the firing offensive. I find CAIR offensive. They have advocated suicide bombings, for goodness sake. They refuse to condemn Hamas and Hezbollah. They had to think about it for three months before deciding to condemn 9/11.
Rammage emailed me a news story today that contained the following gem:

CAIR was founded in 1994 by two former high-ranking officials with the Islamic Association for Palestine, a rabidly anti-Semitic organization known as Hamas' biggest political booster in the United States.

Nice. Do yourself a favor - if you didn't read up on CAIR when I gave you the link above, then click on it here. It's unbelievable that this is the organization ABC Disney caved in to.

Graham's site talks about free speech. Some of the articles supporting Graham make the mistake of invoking the First Amendment. Don't make that mistake - the US government did not take Graham off the air; some spineless management pinhead at ABC did. If you don't get the distinction, check LaShawn Barber's explanation, because it's what I would say if that wouldn't just make me redundant.

UPDATE: "Michael Graham Update - What You Can Do"

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Gaza Ingratitude

The other day I commented on the removal of Israeli settlers from the Gaza Strip. I noted the obvious;

[Few Palestinians] will feel that this consession by Israel is enough to let bygones be bygones - after all, Israel still exists as a state, and how can Arabs be expected to live with that?

Now, a week later, an editorial in the Arab News declares;

[Israelis] are leaving not their land but someone else’s. They are not doing the Palestinians a favor.

Not doing the Palestinians a favor? On one hand, that's a fair point - the Palestinians gain very little here, and they think it is 38 years overdue anyway. But on the other hand, that's not the language that will induce Ariel Sharon to evacuate the West Bank and declare an independant Palestinian State. Um, not to imply that any language would bring that about... but this air of ingratitude by the Arab community is not helpful. A cynic would say it was so predictable it doesn't matter. Ahem... please call me a cynic.

August 21, 2005

More Injustice in New London, CT

I figured it couldn't get worse in New London, CT. But it has.

Back in June, SCOTUS said that the Constitution doesn't really say what it really does say. You remember Kelo v New London. The justices ruled 5-4 that the Constitution doesn't protect you if your city or county feels the need to take your property and give it to somebody else. Some states have started to take action (see Alabama Ratifies Fifth Amendment), so you might be protected after all.

But those residents who lost their land in New London now have bigger problems, according to USA Today. Since they were "evicted" by the city way back in 2000, the city says they have been living on city property for five years. For free. Without paying rent to the city who owns the property. And that's wrong.

So, the city of New London is going to collect that five years worth of back rent from Kelo and the other squatters. USA Today reports;

In a letter to the homeowners' lawyer a year ago, the development corporation justified its behavior by saying, "We know that your clients did not expect to live in city-owned property for free."

You can't make it up. Nobody would believe it. And yet, it's happening. Man, does this piss me off.

(I actually found this at CatHouse Chat. She ties this issue and illegal immigration into a nice discussion.)

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August 19, 2005

Science is Not Afraid

The whole point of a scientific outlook is to seek knowledge and share it with others. The strength of science is that it is not dogmatic – it cannot be overcome or defeated by the truth, because the truth is more important than any scientific theory. When confronted with the truth, a scientist will accept and incorporate it, and grow from it. A scientist can only be wrong if he considers his knowledge in a field to be definite, absolute, and beyond growth. Except for then, a scientist’s knowledge is only incomplete – not wrong. True scientists desire to have their beliefs challenged, because every challenge brings us more knowledge.

As such, no scientist should fear Creationism or Intelligent Design being explained in schools. Yet the scientific community is in an uproar over comments made a couple of weeks ago by President Bush on this topic.

Some of it is just hatred of Republicans. CNN actually covered it without sensationalism, though I guess AP deserves the credit. This article seems to have run in MSNBC and several other places, not just CNN.

Antonia Cortese of the American Federation of Teachers said Bush’s “misinformed comments… signal a huge step backward for science education.” She compared Bush’s comments to advocating “that the earth is flat or that the sun revolves around the earth.” She is very upset.

Intelligent design does not belong in the science classroom because it is not science… Intelligent design has been repudiated by every respected scientific organization in the nation, including the National Academies, the AAAS, and the NSTA.

Oh, Mrs. Cortese! That’s exactly why this needs to be taught in the classroom. I will come back to that in a moment.

But if you want an analysis that will knock your socks off, Edna DeVore, Director of Education and Public Outreach for SETI Institute, has written a great article about the current furor over President Bush’s remarks. That crazy scientist, she actually goes back to the interview and examines what was said, and what was not said.

What does she find? (I have added emphasis)

There is an ongoing debate over intelligent design vs. evolution, at least in the media and in politics. There is not a debate in the greater scientific community about the validity of evolution. Further, the vast majority of scientists do not consider intelligent design as a viable alternative to evolution…

She quotes Dr. Marvin Cohen, President of the American Physical Society, as saying

President Bush does not regard intelligent design as science. If such things are to be taught in the public schools, they belong in a course on comparative religion…

On this last point, I completely disagree with Drs. Cohen and DeVore. I am a science educator, and I want it in the classroom for comparison. I have taught children from Head Start science to university physics, and I am currently a high school physics teacher, and I have seen that one of the best ways to explain any theory and its historical significance is usually through contrast and comparison. We must explain what other beliefs exist to explain an observation, and why one is better than another, or why certain beliefs should not be considered scientific by the students. If you don’t tell them what “Intelligent Design” means, they won’t ever know why they should not believe it. I have found that to actually give more credibility to a belief - if you simply say "that's beyond the scope of this course", you do not challenge the weaknesses of the belief, and you do not show the student why the belief is not scientifically valid.

We have to let a student make the final evaluation on their own, but they cannot make that informed decision unless the facts are laid out for them to evaluate. If they are not given all of the information, they are not being taught science – they are being taught dogma, and they are being taught that dogma is just an alternative to science, as opposed to a hinderance.

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Red Decade, Grey Lady - NY Times Condemns Ayn Rand's Ignorance of the Joys of Socialism

Atlas Blogged has only been online for a few months, and already we have commented on the abysmal, agenda-driven, reporting by the New York Times. See here, here, here, here, and here. None of this should be surprising, although it is sometimes easy to lose sight of the fact that the NY Times has been pushing a socialist agenda for the better part of a century, as Ronald Radosh writes in The New York Times’ Continuing Love Affair With Communism

Here is an anecdote taken from Leonard Peikoff's introduction to the 60th anniversary edition of Ayn Rand's We the Living that provides a wink and a gentle reminder that not much has changed at the NY Times in the last seventy years:

Ayn Rand knew that the American public did not understand the nature of communism, but she did not know that she was trying to publish the truth at the start of the Red Decade, as it was later called. An anti-communist librarian had told her, when she was still working on the novel, that "the communists have a tremendous influence" on American intellectuals, "and you will find a lot of people opposing you." "I was indignant," Ayn Rand recalled years later. "I didn't believe her. I thought that she is a typical Russians and is, in effect, panic mongering."

For nearly three years, We the Living was rejected by New York publishers. It was rejected by more than a dozen houses. A typical rejection said that the author did not understand socialism. Gradually, Ayn Rand came to see how accurate the librarian had been. By 1936, she herself was writing to a friend that "New York is full of people sold bodies and souls to the Soviets."

At last the book come to Macmillan, whose editorial board was divided about it. One of the associate editors, who fought against the book "violently" (Ayn Rand's word), was Granville Hicks. Several years later, Hicks admitted publically that he had been a member of the Communist Party. After a bitter struggle Hicks was overruled by the owner of the company, an elderly gentleman who said that he did not know whether the book would make any money, but that it was important and ought to be published. (It is instructive to note that in 1957, the New York Times chose the same man, Granville Hicks, to review Atlas Shrugged for the Sunday Book Review.)

Granville Hicks once said, "The sooner we all learn to make a decision between disapproval and censorship, the better off society will be... Censorship cannot get at the real evil, and it is an evil in itself."

I'd be curious to see if his attitude on censorship changed after reading Atlas Shrugged.

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Indian Names Revisited

In response to the NCAA’s ruling about using American Indian references, the Pentagon released news that they will no longer be using Indian references in the names of their readiness exercise titles.

In July, Adm. Timothy Keating, head of Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, sent a memo to the Pentagon that said exercises such as "Amalgam Fencing Brave" will, as of October 1, be referred to as "Amalgam Fencing Dart." As another example: The exercise "Amalgam Warrior" will be called "Amalgam Phantom."

At this rate, no one will ever be able to speak of an Indian again. Kids will all be playing “Cowboys and Shoe Salesmen," although I guess that is a tad outdated anyway. We are going to have to change the names of cities such as Milwaukee and Sioux Falls. That is degrading, isn’t it?

You know what the sad part about this is? Pretty soon there will be no more of these references and the American Indians will start complaining that no one recognizes their heritage anymore, and I would be behind them 100%.

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August 18, 2005

Hockey Gets a New Home

The NHL on OLN? What is the world coming to?

ESPN failed to match Comcast’s offer for the television rights for NHL games for the next three years. Comcast will air these games on the OLN, formally known as the Outdoor Life Network. Yes, the same station that played all those hunting and fishing shows, and more recently, Survivor reruns. Apparently OLN has changed their ways. They dropped their name and just stuck with the acronym, and added the slogan “We've Got A New Attitude.” Oh boy!

I understand ESPN’s hesitation...somewhat. The NHL is the worst TV audience out of the four major US sports. The network averaged only 400,000 viewers per game on ESPN, and almost half of that when shown on ESPN2. Not the most stellar of ratings, and in a world where money runs everything, it just didn’t cut it. To pay close to $70 million a year (what Comcast is going to pay) for something that they may not get the return on, from a business standpoint, makes sense.

But this is hockey folks. ESPN has let a major sport leave their network, but yet they will still show bowling and poker (nothing against those two…umm…”sports”). This is Gary Thorne and Bill Clement, whom in my opinion call a hockey game better than anyone else, gone. The OLN? Come on!

Some of you may think that it doesn’t matter which network a game is shown, as long as it gets shown and you can watch it. In some cases, that may be true. Hopefully the OLN will prove me wrong and have excellent coverage. Hopefully they can find some top notch commentators that will call an exciting game. Hopefully hockey on TV as we know it hasn’t been ruined for at least three years. Only time will tell I guess.

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August 17, 2005

Doug Duncan: Montgomery County's Jimmy Carter

The cartoonish Montgomery County Executive and Socialist Champion Doug Duncan has returned from his business trip to El Salvador. That's the country El Salvador, and not Montgomery County's Little El Salvador.

But the visit wasn't only about helicopter rides and duty-free Organic Los Naranjos. According to the Washington Post, Executive Duncan met with El Salvadoran president Elias Antonio Saca to seek help in "combating gang violence and establishing trade relations."

Doug Duncan told the Post that there was another noble reason for the journey: "If I'm to be the next governor of Maryland, it will help me be a better governor." The county paid $8,000 for the Executive and three aides to venture to El Salvador for what appears to be, in part, foreign relations skills-building.

Atlas Blogged asks if Doug Duncan will now be generous enough with the Montgomery County taxpayers' money - in the interest of fairness - to make an $8,000 contribution to the reelection campaign of Maryland's Governor Rob Erlich so that he, too, can build his foreign relations skills. As Atlas Blogged has noted, this is not the first time that Doug Duncan has furthered his gubernatorial pursuit courtesy of the Montgomery County taxpayer.

Doug Duncan to the Post: "I think anytime you take a trip like this, it helps you to do a better job. It helps me be a better county executive."

In related news, my private sector employer rebuffed a similar attempt of mine to rationalize a free trip to Bora Bora, repudiating my guarantees of doing a better job. Meanwhile, I await the fruits of Doug Duncan's trade-establishing relations, which I envision as mounds of burlap sacks overflowing with rich coffee beans from the volcanic mountains of El Salvador delivered unto the rolling hills of Montgomery County.

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August 15, 2005

Collectivists Take Heed, and Go To Helsinki.

Why spend the time, money, and effort in tranforming the U.S. into a socialist state, when Finland already offers you life, liberty, happiness, and a free college education that includes a monthly stipend to live on for 55 months?

"If we Americans are so rich and so smart, why can't we treat our citizens as well as the Finns do," asks Robert G. Kaiser in his In Finland's Footsteps article in The People's Washington Post.

Kaiser gushes:

Finns have one of the world's most generous systems of state-funded educational, medical and welfare services, from pregnancy to the end of life. They pay nothing for education at any level, including medical school or law school. Their medical care, which contributes to an infant mortality rate that is half of ours and a life expectancy greater than ours, costs relatively little. (Finns devote 7 percent of gross domestic product to health care; we spend 15 percent.) Finnish senior citizens are well cared for. Unemployment benefits are good and last, in one form or another, indefinitely.

This sounds too good to be true. Has utopia been found in the city by the sea?

Unfortunately, the brief euphoria is lost when Kaiser coughs through this sentence: "They spend relatively little on national defense." So maybe the U.S. can enjoy the same degree of welfare when Finland decides to pick up arms and defend the Western world?

Kaiser almost redeems himself with this insight:

Nor do they tune in to American individualism. Groupthink seems to be fine with most Finns; conformity is the norm, risk-taking is avoided -- a problem now, when entrepreneurs are so needed.

And then he wraps up with:

The complicated Finnish language includes the word talkoot, which means, roughly, "doing work together." It's a powerful Finnish tradition, and reflects a national sense that "we're all in the same boat," as numerous Finns said to me. This idea has always appealed to Americans, but in this country it has nearly always been an abstraction.

In exactly which Bizarro world has this idea ever appealed to Americans? And speaking of Bizarro world, when has a state-sponsored tourism website ever had the need to include this factoid:

Long-term personal problems; illness, mental disorder, alcoholism, drug abuse, social exclusion and difficult living conditions may dampen a person's enthusiasm for life. Most suicides in Finland are carried out by people who have used mental health services but without success. Alcohol abusers commit more than half of the annual suicides. In addition, low serotonin levels due to the shortage of natural light during the dark season and other neurotransmitter disorders in the brain have been suggested as key factors underlying Finland's suicide rate, the second highest in Europe.

No thank you, Mr. Kaiser. I will keep the entrepreneurialism and individualism. You can take your collectivism and groupthink and go to Helsinki. But don't forget your serotonin shots.

Previous: Bunch of B.S. (Baltic States)

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August 14, 2005

Gaza

By now, Israel has officially started the pullout from Gaza, ending a 38-year occupation of territory in the hope that it will bring peace closer. Absolutely nobody thinks this would actually stop the conflict in that region, even if the pullout went according to plan, which it will not. In fact, it was never expected to go according to plan - a discouraging situation for the planners, to be sure.

Several hundred Israeli citizens - sorry, "settlers" - say they are not leaving. There are reports of "up to 5,000 hard-line activists from outside Gaza who planned to block forceful evictions." I guess they never heard of eminent domain.

Now what?

Well, now the Palestinian Authority (PA) will now be responsible for maintaining order in Gaza. This will prove to be absolutely impossible - which is what Israel has been saying for years. Few if any Palestinians will be orderly about the situation, and even fewer will feel that this consession by Israel is enough to let bygones be bygones - after all, Israel still exists as a state, and how can Arabs be expected to live with that?

The PA is simply not up to the task. In fact, the PA is not up to the task of maintaining peace and order at a grade school football game. It is desperately short on guns and ammunition - according to a report by the Strategic Assessments Initiative, the PA has approximately one third of the weapons in the Gaza Strip. They do not have enough weapons to arm all of their members. They are a corrupt, unpopular organization undergoing a power struggle involving (among others) former intelligence chief Musa Arafat. It's a long report, but at least skim it.

Hamas does not seem to suffer from the same bureaucratic problems and unpopularity, and there is little they would like better than an opportunity to strike at Israel in a way that makes the PA look bad. This could be their Mardi Gras. And there is always the possibility of smaller groups than Hamas, or even totally unorganized violence. The violence associated with this pullout may actually push Cindy Sheehan off the front page of the newspapers.

It might not start today, but there will be more trouble in Gaza than just the Israeli military evicting settlers and protestors. Expect it.

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August 13, 2005

The "Air Enronization" of the MSM Continues

A report was released last month that has an "Air Enron" chance of showing up in the mainstream media. (And indeed, as of this writing, the report does not appear in a Google News, NY Times, Washington Post or AP online search)

The American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR), an alleged non-partisan organization that "neither supports nor endorses any political party or candidate," released a report in July 2005 called Vote Fraud, Intimidation & Suppression In The 2004 Presidential Election.

Their press release summarizes,

ACVR Legislative Fund further found that, despite their heated rhetoric, paid Democrat operatives were far more involved in voter intimidation and suppression activities than were their Republican counterparts during the 2004 presidential election. Whether it was slashing tires on GOP get-out-the-vote vans in Milwaukee or court orders stopping the DNC from intimidating Republican volunteers in Florida, the evidence presented in this report shows that paid Democrat operatives were responsible for using the same tactics in 2004 that they routinely accuse Republicans of engaging in.

After all of the MSM attention to alleged Republican voter intimidation and fraud, one would expect to see this reported in the interest of balance. Surely this lack of attention is because this American Center for Voting Rights organization is a fringe group run by GOP-sponsored cronies motivated by partisan agendums, right?

Nope.

ACVR Board Chairman, Brian A. Lunde worked for Jimmy Carter and served as Executive Director of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

The "Air Enronization" of the mainstream media is becoming a bigger story than the news that they ostensibly cover.

All the news that's fit to print, right?

Pardon My English breaks it down.

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August 11, 2005

John Roberts and the Death Penalty

According to the Economist,

John Paul Stevens, a Supreme Court justice, criticised the death penalty, saying a substantial number of sentences had been “imposed erroneously”. He insisted the issue should be prominent at next month's confirmation hearings for John Roberts, George Bush's nominee to the court.

I honestly don't know what to think of this. I don't recall ever hearing any of the nine sitting justices comment on a nominee in any manner. Not that there has been a lot of recent precedent for me to observe. And while I have read "A Court Divided: The Rehnquist Court and the Future of Constitutional Law", I am not exactly a SCOTUS scholar or historian by trade.

Does it strike you as odd that a sitting justice would propose a litmus test or comment at all on a nominee? Am I being naïve? Am I reading too much into this? WWSDO'CD?

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August 10, 2005

The Great One

He’s back, and it couldn’t have come at a better time for his sport that seems to always need him at one time or another. With Wayne Gretzky taking it upon himself to turn the Phoenix Coyotes around, he gets back to a position he rarely was accustomed to in his playing days. A spot on the bench.

Now more than ever the National Hockey League (NHL) needed this. After ending the lockout last month after cancelling the 2004-05 season, I’m sure a lot of people were hesitant to support the sport. Gretzky can change that. He proved it before, and I believe he’ll prove it again.

Gretzky came into the league in 1980 as a skinny little kid that no one thought would make it in the NHL. Sure, he had talent. He just didn’t have the size to compete in the league. We all know what happened next.

Wayne Gretzky did more than set 61 (yes, 61!) NHL records. He transformed hockey into a game played by “goons” into an exciting sport to watch. I believe that Gretzky is personally responsible for getting the game’s popularity in the United States at the level of which it achieved. Before he was traded to the LA Kings in 1988, there were no franchises in southern states. Now there are teams in Florida (2), two more in California, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and his very own team in Arizona. He changed the face of hockey.

Will all this lead to a successful career behind the bench as head coach? Only time will tell. But if his presence doesn’t energize the players on the Coyotes, nothing will. These guys are going to want to play for him. They are going to go out and give the proverbial 110% because they know what this man has done. Most of the team is probably young enough to have grown up idolizing this man based on what they saw on TV, and now they have the opportunity to play for him. What better way to start a season which fans would probably have balked at based on last year’s cancellation?

The NHL probably loves this. Having Gretzky back in the game in a more visible role is going to do wonders for the league. Just like when he was playing, people are going to go to the arena or turn on the TV just to see him coach.

I was fortunate to see Gretzky play when his career was winding down. I got to see him make an assist with the New York Rangers. I still remember it vividly. I’m sure he is going to create some more memories for the people of Arizona, and to anyone else who tunes in to their games. They didn’t name him “The Great One” for nothing.

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The Montgomery County Nomenklatura

Can an area ever recover from a socialism downward spiral?

Although pockets of unrest do occur in Montgomery County, the overwhelming majority of her denizens continue to vote status quo. A letter by Derwood, Maryland resident Kenneth D. Fisher appeared in the August 9th op-ed of the Gazette entitled "Taxpayer-funded letter makes political statement."

On July 25, we received our annual notice of Montgomery County property taxes. The third paragraph of the cover letter states: "However, increasing property values also mean rising state property assessments. Coupled with the governor's nickel increase in the state's property tax rate, every family budget is feeling the squeeze."
Now, as most citizens know, [Republican Governor Ehrlich] can propose a tax rate increase, but it becomes effective once the legislature approves the state budget. While the governor belongs to one political party, the legislature is controlled by the other party. This aspect of government seems to [have] been overlooked by the county executive [Socialist Champion Doug Duncan] and the County Council president [Socialist Viceroy Tom Perez]. What a coincidence to observe that the county executive, council president and both houses of the legislature are all associated with the Democratic Party.

Using a letter to all taxpayers paid with tax funds to make a misleading political statement suggests that the partisan political climate in Montgomery County mirrors the political partisanship evident in the federal government.

This is what happens in a democracy when you elect politicians and not leaders.

Good point. It's almost as if Mr. Fisher is speaking directly to District 3 Councilmember Phil Andrews [Alpha Socialist], who holds a master's degree in governmental administration.

Four At-Large council members, all Democrats, and three fellow Democrats representing districts two, four, and five join Democrat Councilmember Andrews. In fact, the only Republican on the Montgomery Council is District 1's Howard A. Denis from the affluent North Potomac district. And even he eked out a win last year.

So the Montgomery County Council consists of eight far-left slanted Democrats out of nine positions. The 2004 election ballot offered three charter amendment proposals that would alleviate the homogeneity to which Mr. Fisher referred.

The three proposals were:

Property Tax Limit: Eliminate the authority of the County Council to levy a tax on real property that produces revenue that exceeds a set revenue limit.
Term Limits: Limit the County Executive and members of the County Council to 3 consecutive terms in office [a good idea all around, regardless of political party].
Election by District: Remove the four At-Large positions and divide the county into 9 districts.

The first should be a no-brainer. But the last two, especially, were intended to provide a more balanced, local legislature that would hopefully close the floodgates on the recent unabashed spending.

In 2004, all three proposals were soundly defeated, by 59%, 52%, and (amazingly) 62%, respectively. Until the people of Montgomery County step up and vote against the partisan spending spree, we will continue to see this area spiral down into heavy taxation and inefficient government services, while our places of employment flee across the Potomac into business-friendly Virginia.

Previous: Montgomery County Enforces New Strathmore Law

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August 9, 2005

Vegas Can Be Beat

Sin City. The Oasis in the Desert. Vegas. Whichever name you want to use for the miles of neon lights in the middle of nowhere, it all means the same thing. Fun.

For any of you that get excited when thinking about Las Vegas or enjoy a fast paced read, I highly recommend the book “Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions,” by Ben Mezrich. This is Mezrich’s first foray into a nonfiction title, and it is partly because he is an acquaintance of one of the students involved.

The book tells us how a group of math whizzes were able to devise a system of counting cards at the blackjack table, and use it to their advantage to win a lot of money. And I mean *a lot* of money. The story itself is very interesting. It’s not just a description of the events, but more of a “put you in the shoes of the character” type of story. It gives you a glimpse of the behind the scenes underworld of Vegas itself.

Word to the wise: Don’t try this at home.

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Salmon? or Pork?

Have you heard about Ketchikan, Alaska?

What I mean is, have you heard about the $200 million "Bridge to Nowhere" pork fiasco in the Transportation Bill?

You aren't going to believe this.

I stumbled across this story at EducationWonk, and I am surprised it hasn't garnered more attention. The proposed bridge would be "nearly as long as the Golden Gate Bridge and high enough for cruise ships to pass underneath". It will run from Ketchikan, Alaska (pop. 14,500) to Gravina Island (pop. 50).

Read that again.

This cannot be for real.

Wait, consider this mitigating fact before you pass judgement: Gravina Island does have a small airport, which has six passenger flights most days, a few more during the tourist season. And the ferry that currently runs between the two towns is getting crowded - some reports put it at up to half full. Clearly relief is needed.

Maybe you'd like to drive up to Alaska and see this bridge when it is done? See what your tax dollar hath wrought? Um, no. You can't. You see, neither end of the bridge goes anywhere. The "civilized" side, Ketchikan, isn't even connected to the North American road system. If you go more than 10 miles from town, the roads dead-end in the woods. You can't get there from here.

$223 million worth of federal funds earmarked to this pig in the $286.4 billion federal highway and mass transit bill that Congress sent to the White House a little more than a week ago. Isn't there a major political party in this country that claims to be for smaller government? And doesn't that party control the House, Senate, and Oval Office? What the hell is it going to take to trim the pork around here?

Apparently John Stossel talked about this in January, and Alaska's House Representative Don Young (R-AK), Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has taken some heat in some quarters. It just wasn't enough. And don't expect to see the President veto the bill. Kiss that money goodbye, and enjoy the bridge.

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August 8, 2005

Uzbekistan and America

Last week, the government of Uzbekistan gave the US military 180 days to vacate Karshi-Khanabad airbase, a.k.a. "K2". This came shortly after a UN airlift of 439 Uzbek refugees from Kirgizstan to Romania. These refugees had fled to Kirgizstan after a massacre by government troops in the eastern city of Andijan in May - not the first instance of gross violation of human rights by Uzbekistan's authoritarian president, Islam Karimov, but apparently it was the worst.

According to reports in last week's Economist,

America called for an international probe of May's Andijan massacre, in which Uzbek police killed perhaps 1,000 unarmed demonstrators, Mr Karimov responded by banning night flights at K-2. In early July, the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), comprising Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, demanded a deadline for the withdrawal of American troops from Central Asia.

The K2 airbase has played a vital role for US military operations into Afghanistan, but it will be replaced. In fact, there is a base in Kirgizstan that is already serving that purpose.

Donald Rumsfeld, America's defence secretary, rushed to the region last week and received assurances that America's base in Kirgizstan was safe. Indeed, Kirgizstan may now come out the winner from the K-2 closure, if it is able to resist pressure from the rest of the SCO to follow the Uzbek example. Azerbaijan may also offer America a replacement base. And, of course, America has plenty of bases in Afghanistan. So it might have been cleverer to have pulled out of Uzbekistan before being pushed.
Whether Mr Karimov will also be a winner is yet to be seen. His tilt back towards Russia and China—which has wooed him with energy deals—is unpopular with the Uzbek elite.

President Karimov has gained what he wanted from the alliance with the US, namely distancing himself from Moscow and getting American aid in crushing rebel-terrorist groups. But we have served our purpose, and he is willing to move on now in order not to be held back by our concern for human rights. As far as I am concerned, the really interesting issue will be to see what happens next. Where did that international probe lead? What will our European allies have to say about another dictator in the Middle East, killing his own people? Will the American public give a damn about 1000 dead demonstrators in Uzbekistan?

Retired US Army General Robert Scales summed up the situation during an interview on NPR:

Do you support the emergence of democracy in these bordering states, or do you take advantage of the opportunity to use their military facilities to conduct the war on terror?

I worry that the American public may prefer apathy. Be honest. Are you interested in supporting the emergence of democracy? Is your interest in the War on Terror limited to a vague curiosity about the location of Osama bin Laden, and a chuckle when a comedian uses the Homeland Security Threat Level as a punchline?

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Indian Mascots Not Allowed

I am a Florida State University (FSU) football fan. I have been since I adopted them as my team to cheer for the day my sister stepped foot on their campus in 1988. I grew up in New Jersey, where college football is, well, let’s just say Rutgers and Princeton are not known for their football programs. I have been to a bunch of games at Doak Campbell stadium, the 1993 Orange Bowl against Nebraska, and the 1999 National Championship game at the Fiesta Bowl. I have numerous hats and shirts representing the University and the football team. Not bad for a guy who never attended the school or lived near Tallahassee.

The latest news from the NCAA and their ban on “racial/ethnic/national origin references” at their championships is just plain ridiculous. FSU president T.K. Wetherell has issued a statement that lashes out against the NCAA and this decision, saying “That the NCAA would now label our close bond with the Seminole Tribe of Florida as culturally "hostile and abusive" is both outrageous and insulting.” He also added “I intend to pursue all legal avenues to ensure that this unacceptable decision is overturned, and that this university will forever be associated with the "unconquered" spirit of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.” Thank you Mr. Wetherell.

I love how what’s good for some isn’t good for others though. The NCAA has not imposed such restrictions on the University of North Carolina-Pembroke, whose mascot is the Braves, because their student body is made up of at least 20% American Indians. Huh? To me their team logo looks more offensive than any of the others out there.

And why the ban on just the championships? If they allow these Universities in their organization with “offensive” mascots to be displayed on national television representing them day in and day out, how is it any different if it is just at the championship game level? I don’t get it!

The high school that I attended in New Jersey is also named after an Indian mascot. They are the Warriors, representing the history of the Lenni Lenape tribe of Indians from the area. I sure hope that they aren’t forced to change their logo either.

UPDATE: The FSU Board of Trustees just authorized court action on the ban if needed.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=2130960&CMP=OTC-DT9705204233

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Peter Jennings

Peter Jennings died late Sunday night of lung cancer. I find it an amazing testament to my lack of television watching, that I did not even know that he had left the ABC anchor chair. A few months ago, I hear?
I also find it an amazing testament to the power of television media over the past several decades, that I care at all about this event. I did not know this man personally. Peter Jennings did not share my philosophies on life. I will not lionize him. But for years, this man was part of my connection to the greater world.

Far better epitaphs will be written elsewhere. I just wanted to give a moment's respect to a journalist who rose to greatness, and was by all accounts a good man.

Posted by Wulf | Comments (1) | TrackBack (1)

August 7, 2005

Free Trade Area of the Americas, or Bust!

Free trade is good. Barriers to free trade are bad.

CAFTA has become law in the USA, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, and it is expected to be adopted by the three remaining nations it would affect (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic). The Bush administration has been taking a lot of heat for this from protectionists and socialists... and conspiracy theorists, of course.

But CAFTA may have a lot less economic impact than you thought. According to the Economist, the USA accounts for most of the exports for each of these six nations. And 80% of the exports from the affected region to the USA are already duty-free under pre-existing trade agreements. That's roughly half of each economy.
As for the other 20% of their exports to the USA, CAFTA scales tariffs to zero only gradually over the next two decades. In other words, don't expect to lose your job to El Salvador any time soon.

The biggest impact will be in the way investors see the six Central American CAFTA signees. It will also encourage intra-regional trade between those six - probably in a greater proportion than it will encourage trade to the USA.

The long term goal for free-trade supporters is a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Support it. Now that CAFTA has been signed into law by President Bush, the next step is to get Panama on board (PAFTA could be a reality by 2006), and then the Andean countries, who are well into negotiations and could finish before Bush leaves office.

I notice that the Andean countries are starting to use AFTA as their acronymic identifier, which is probably smarter than the more grandiose-sounding Latin America Free Trade Agreement that we would really like to see. Who would support LAFTA?

Well, I would. But Scott Ott took the name for a parody article last week, so it is just as well the Andeans locked on to the more accurate AFTA.

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NY Times' inquiry reveals John Roberts' children bought from Air America Radio child slavery ring; Reports "nothing irregular" about adoptions.

Over a week has passed since I first wrote about the Air America scandal (Air Enron), and still no significant coverage by the MSM. Sister Told Jah tells us why.

The AB Special Section will temporarily display a Bore America ticker to count the time elapsed between this story first breaking and when the mainstream media decides it's more newsworthy than why Judge Roberts' Latino children are blond-haired and light-skinned.

Previous: Reverse Fair-and-Balancism?

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August 5, 2005

TSA and Lighters: Not Perfect Together

I’m all about safety on airplanes. The increased security measures that have been put in place since September 11th have been a long time coming in my opinion. The airport terminals in the United States were at one time the easiest place to walk around with no hassle from anyone. Anyone was free to roam them. Going through the security checkpoints was more of a formality than anything else. Compared to other countries where security lines took hours, the US terminals were still an easy access.

Gone are the days now of meeting your family members at the gate. Boarding passes are required to get past the checkpoint. Every passenger is now scrutinized as they pass through. Sure, it means longer lines and more planning on the traveler’s part, but in reality, this is a good thing. Safety on our airlines should have always been like this, not just post 9/11. As a frequent traveler through our nation’s airports, I have no problem with these stepped up measures to make our airlines and terminals a safer place.

In a way though, it has gone too far. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) recently added a new stipulation that lighters cannot be carried aboard airplanes. You can still carry matches though, which to me, doesn’t make sense. They are virtually the same thing, a way of creating fire in an airplane. Why ban one, and not the other? It’s ridiculous really if you think about it.

Why the ban in the first place though? Traveling yesterday through one of our airports (which I will not mention for fear of Big Brother), I asked a TSA agent this very question. The response? “Because of that shoe bomber a few years ago.” Huh? So I had to ask why ban the just the lighters and not the matches as well. “I know it doesn’t make any sense. I don’t make the rules we just have to follow them. The people that make the rules don’t work the screening areas.” Seriously. This was the response I got. I shrugged my shoulders, uttered an unimpressive “okay,” and the agent just kind of shrugged back with a look on their face as if to say ”I know, it’s ridiculous.” The funny part about all of this is that this shoe bomber did not even attempt to use a lighter, but matches! And it was a few years ago? Then why the ban now? Why not a few years ago when it was realized that a fire could be started on an airplane? Here’s the TSA’s rule on it.

A pilot friend of mine had a better theory. It is Big Brother. The government wants the public to quit smoking. If the government can make it as inconvenient as possible for people to smoke, they figure people will just quit. The ban on lighters is just another roadblock to making smoking more of a pain in any place outside of your own home. Not only can you not carry a lighter with you through a security checkpoint, but they are banned in your checked luggage as well. Yes, a bag that you have no possible way of accessing in flight.

As a non-smoker, I do empathize with the smokers of this country. It seems everywhere you go now smoking is not allowed, or if it is, in very select areas only. The non-smokers love it I’m sure. No longer do they smell like smoke when they leave a bar or restaurant. No longer do they have to "deal with" secondhand smoke. Whatever.

I’d like to think that “The American Way” is still alive and well. I’d like to think that “The Land of the Free” is exactly that, free. It just seems that every day, we lose a little bit more of our freedoms, and pretty soon we will have none left.

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August 4, 2005

Alabama Ratifies Fifth Amendment

From sea to shining sea, Americans decried the June 23 Supreme Court decision on Eminent Domain. The state of Alabama became the first in the nation to actually do something about it, according to the Washington Times.

Republican Gov. Bob Riley signed a bill that was passed unanimously by a special session of the Alabama Legislature, which would prohibit governments from using their eminent-domain authority to take privately owned properties for the purpose of turning them over to retail, industrial, office or residential developers.

The Times reports that in 16 states besides Alabama, legislators have introduced legislation to ban or restrict the use of eminent domain for private development. (Sorry, Rammage. Maryland is not one of them.) They list six states, including Alabama, where support is being sought to enshrine this sentiment in the state constitution.

Unfortunately, there is a catch with the new Alabama law. "Blighted properties" can still be taken by the government and subsequently turned over to private interests. But it's a step. Clearly the Supreme Court decision has roused the American public to care about property rights. I'm glad something was able to do it.

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August 2, 2005

Eliminate Federal Energy Subsidies

I love finding an article that simply requires no commentary. Jerry Taylor (of the Cato Institute) and Daniel Becker (of the Sierra Club) have provided one.

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Montgomery County Enforces New Strathmore Law

It's that time of year again. My Montgomery County property tax bill has arrived, just after having worked the last four months solely to pay off federal and state income taxes for the year. I remain hopeful that I will be able to start keeping my own money no later than mid-November.

And what do our Montgomery County and Maryland state elected officials deem a critical service to provide with taxpayers' money? What is one government-provided service and right of the people that could never be provided through private funding? Performing arts, naturally.

Strathmore, a 2000-seat music hall and home-away-from-home for the Baltimore Symphony, is the latest attempt to force fine arts down the throats of a public too ignorant to know how vital PBS is to their lives. [See: Funding PBS and NPR]

The price tag? $100,000,000.00, of Montgomery County and Maryland taxpayer money.

According to the Gazette,

The North Bethesda project, now estimated to cost $96 million, will be owned by the county and operated by the nonprofit Strathmore Hall Foundation. It has run $9.6 million over budget due to unexpected building costs.

I'm fairly confident that my property tax money will be falling somewhere in the "unexpected building costs" category.

According to WTOP:

The $100 million center is set to open Feb. 5 with a concert by the BSO with the famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The grand opening comes nearly four years after construction began, a process that was nearly derailed by ballooning costs and funding shortfalls. The center gives the BSO a chance to expand its audience and fund-raising power beyond the Baltimore region.

Oh, well, as long as Yo-Yo Ma approves.

And it gives the nearly 1 million people of rapidly growing Montgomery access to arts once only available after a long drive into downtown Washington.

From the Strathmore, one can be in downtown Washington in twenty minutes by car, and thirty minutes by subway. It's only a "long drive" if you happen to be listening to NPR during an election year.

Montgomery County Executive Commissioner and socialist champion Doug Duncan says that "it's one thing to sell [an architectural] drawing, it's another thing to take people in and see it and hear the music." So after one hundred million dollars, how does this arts-brought-to-the-suburban-proletariats program sound?

Not so good, apparently:

"Sound falls short of dazzling in $100M Concert Hall"

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August 1, 2005

Bolton Receives Recess Appointment

President Bush appointed John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations today, five months after Mr. Bolton was nominated to the post.

You probably don’t need me to tell you that the president’s political allies supported this action, and his political opponents… well… opposed this action. That’s the job of the opposition party, so it’s expected, and I forgive them. After all, when we had a Democrat issuing recess appointments from the White House, the GOP sat in opposition and shook their heads over some of them. It’s just expected. It’s like bringing a gift to a housewarming party – we just know to do that.

A nice article today in the L.A. Times if you like to keep score:

Bush: 106 recess appointments
Clinton: 140 recess appointments

Kinda makes the screaming seem more ridiculous, doesn’t it? For example, Noah Leavitt made an absolute fool of himself back on the 4th of July in an attempt to explain to the general public how a recess appointment would ruin all of our lives.

That cowardly action would insult Congress and the world, undermine U.S. credibility overseas and mock the democracy we celebrate. It would also sink Bush - who has the lowest approval rating of a second-term president since Nixon during the Watergate scandal - even further in the eyes of the American public.

Leavitt even explained how the Democrats have only been blocking Bolton’s appointment in order to play politics, wasting months of time on this issue. (They initially had every intention of confirming the man, but they decided instead to use his nomination to make political hay. And they say *Bolton* has a lack of respect for the UN? Come on, Senators!) Leavitt’s article then went on to misrepresent the Constitutionality of recess appointments, and the question of what would happen to Bolton after the recess. He urged Bush to “reserve the power for its intended use: A true emergency.”

Right. Like, say, a Democrat president would.

Now as I have said, I understand that it is the job of the opposition party to obstruct the White House, and I do not have any problem with them doing just that. Obviously, Noah Leavitt is one of the many Democrats out there who are just doing the best they can, and he will be replaced by some right-wing legal columnist just as soon as another Democrat takes up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. But, as I said, it looks ridiculous when the screaming is taken to such rabid extremes. Talk about mocking U.S. credibility overseas.

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Only the Government may Kill the Weeds!

I don't have Chuck Shepherd's "News of the Weird" as one of my daily news sources, but every once in a while I check in on him and find a real gem. This one is too good - this is Rammage's local government at work! It is my good fortune to live more than an hour away from this:

Officials in Montgomery County, Md., regard the feathery green plant called the mugwort as a weed, an "alien invasive plant," and periodically lament its presence in the county's parks, according to a June Washington Post report. However, local Koreans, who call the plant "souk," consider it a delicacy in seafood soup and rice cakes, and have eagerly been digging it out of the parks for free, except that it is illegal to remove anything, even weeds, from the parks. Consequently, according to the Post, county officials have simultaneously undertaken (a) a pilot program to see if goats could be trained to root out unwanted flora and (b) a stepped-up program to convince the Koreans to obey the law against removing mugwort.

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