December 16, 2006

JAMES RUHLAND OFFERS advice to the Democratic Congress.

THE EPISCOPALIANS ARE REVOLTING. Well, some of them anyway. A lifeboat from Nigeria?

THE FCC IS ELIMINATING THE MORSE CODE REQUIREMENT for amateur radio licenses. (Via TechMeme).

TIME'S PERSON OF THE YEAR: You!

It's a recognition of a phenomenon that some of us have been talking about for a while. Danny Glover has more.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE:

Republican leaders left behind just enough spending authority to keep the government operating through mid-February, less than halfway through the 2007 fiscal year that began Oct. 1. Democrats have signaled that when they take control of Congress in January they will extend that funding authority for the remainder of the year based largely on the previous year's spending levels, which will result in many cuts in programs.

The Democrats also will do something that is certain to anger many lawmakers but cheer critics of excessive government spending: They will wipe out thousands of lawmakers' pet projects, or earmarks, that have been a source of great controversy on Capitol Hill. In the past, lawmakers have peppered individual spending bills with earmarks benefiting special interests. But the funding resolution the Democrats intend to pass in lieu of spending bills will be devoid of earmarks.

Sounds good to me! It's early yet, but the Democrats are looking good so far.

DATING IN DC: "Some DC men might take offense at the mere mention of the possibility that most of us are 'vanilla pansies.' I, on the other hand, very much hope that it's true. The higher the percentage of vanilla pansies among my male competitors on the DC dating scene, the better the market outlook for me!"

Unless, of course, vanilla pansies are what the market values. Though I doubt that.

A RUMSFELD ROUNDUP at BlackFive. (Via Op-For).

UPDATE: Rumsfeld: Weakness is provocative. “It may well be comforting to some to consider graceful exits from the agonies and, indeed, the ugliness of combat. But the enemy thinks differently.”

I, NANOBOT.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Things are coming to a head.

DANIEL DREZNER HAS THOUGHTS ON GRAND STRATEGY in tomorrow's Washington Post.

THE EMILY LITELLA CAMPAIGN: Evan Bayh won't run after all.

UPDATE: Mickey Kaus: "The solid centrist Dem alternatives to Hillary are dropping out, one by one. Funny how that happens!"

STEPHEN GREEN IS NOT DEAD: "I started losing weight a few months ago. Nothing serious, just enough to get friends asking if I'd lost any weight. I denied it at first, but then I had buy all new Levi's in a waist size I hadn't worn since the late Eighties."

A FINAL "SNOWFLAKE" from Donald Rumsfeld.

I JUST NOTICED THAT THE LONESOME COYOTES have some downloadable music on the Web. Check it out if you're interested in Texas Swing. I saw them open for Asleep at the Wheel some years ago, and though Asleep at the Wheel put on their usual first-rate show, the Coyotes committed the unpardonable sin of upstaging the headliner.

IN THE MAIL: The latest book from cartoonist gods Cox and Forkum, Black & White World III. A perfect Christmas gift for anyone who's tired of Ted Rall or Doonesbury.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER REMINDS AMERICANS that it's not all about us. "We traditionally flatter ourselves that we are the root of all planetary good and evil, whether it is nuclear weapons in North Korea, poverty in Bolivia, or disco attacks in Bali."

WEB SURPASSES NEWSPAPERS, and this trend bodes poorly for the financial future of newspapers. I saw a discussion of this on Kudlow last night, and the New York Times guy was arguing that it wouldn't hurt them because overall readership -- paper plus online -- was up. He didn't have much of an answer when Larry Kudlow asked him if the Times was coming out ahead financially on that shift, though. If it were, I think the stock price would be trending up, instead of down.

U.S. UP, ISLAMISTS DOWN, according to the Washington Post's Global Power Barometer. Make of that what you will ("not much" is my take), but the animation is kind of cool.

ILYA SOMIN: "Why the Texas ten percent plan is worse than traditional affirmative action."

December 15, 2006

HEY, I'M A "pinko agit-propster." You'd think it would pay better.

JUST FINISHED WATCHING NUMB3RS, and Buzz Aldrin had a cameo at the end. He looked good!

Buzz wrote a children's book recently, and for good reason.

FRANK KEATING for President?

SPACE REF REPORTS that the FAA has just released its final rules governing commercial human spaceflight. I predict that the requirement that rocket pilots possess an airplane pilot's license will one day be seen as silly, like requiring that jet pilots first learn to fly blimps.

DO WE NEED A BIGGER ARMY? Gen. Peter Schoomaker says that we do:

Schoomaker said the Army began the Iraq war "flat-footed" with a $56 billion equipment shortage and 500,000 fewer soldiers than during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. . . .

The burden on the Army's 507,000 active-duty soldiers -- who now spend more time at war than at home -- is simply too great, he said. "At this pace, without recurrent access to the reserve components, through remobilization, we will break the active component," he said, drawing murmurs around the hearing room.

The Army, which had 482,000 soldiers in 2001, plans to grow temporarily to 512,000. But the Army now seeks to make that increase permanent and to continue increasing its ranks by 7,000 or more a year, Schoomaker said. He said the total increase is under discussion.

Back in 2004, in the face of good news about recruitment and retention, I observed: "Nonetheless, I suspect that it's a good time to be looking at enlarging the military and adjusting the force structure."

That hasn't been the plan, and I guess it depends on what we intend to do next. If we're planning to cut-and-run from Iraq and hunker down, then we don't need a bigger Army. (The problem isn't holding onto the troops we've got -- As Army Secretary Francis Harvey said when we interviewed him, recruitment and retention are going well. That's a separate question from the one of how big an Army we need, but I'm afraid that if we stress the troops we've got too much, retention will slide, something we discuss in that interview; Harvey was sanguine, me not quite so much.) My own preference would be for a bigger Army than we've got, so that the stress on the troops will be lower, and we'll have more capacity in case we need it in Iran or Saudi Arabia. The Administration hasn't seemed to feel that way. I'm a lot less of an expert than the people running the Pentagon (I hope!) but it seems to me that returning the Army to its pre-Clinton Administration size isn't such a bad idea.

There's also this problem:

Compounding the problem, the Pentagon has restricted repeated involuntary call-ups, leading to deeper and deeper holes in Army Guard and reserve units. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, hundreds of thousands of reserve soldiers have been mobilized for Iraq and Afghanistan. So when a unit is called to deploy, the only soldiers who can go are volunteers and new soldiers. The remainder are often drawn from dozens of units across the United States.

Short of a very large increase in Army size, this problem won't go away entirely -- certainly an extra 30 or 50 thousand soldiers won't make a big difference, and returning to the pre-Clinton size Army isn't going to happen in less than several years. I had something about these issues back in 2001, in the context of Afghanistan -- see this, too -- but it indicates that force structure and rotation methodology matter as well as total Army size. I'm certainly not prepared to second-guess the Army on this, as repeated involuntary callups raise issues of their own, but obviously people have to weigh the costs and benefits. Are they weighing them properly? Beats me. I would have expected -- in fact, I did expect -- more problems with recruitment and retention than we've seen over such a long period of hostilities, so that suggests that they know more than I do. As they should!

UPDATE: This question -- how big should the Army be -- is only loosely related to the question of whether we should, as John McCain wants, send 35,000 more troops to Iraq, except insofar as this wouldn't be such a big issue if we had a bigger Army to begin with. Whether 35,000 more troops will make a difference or not is unclear to me, and it's a matter on which the generals themselves seem to be divided. But if we had a bigger Army, such questions would be purely a matter of utility, and not so much of institutional strain.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader emails:

Interesting that you would post this today.

Tonight my husband and I had "the" talk - and I can assure you that the spouse or loved one of any member of our military who has deployed, knows exactly what "talk" I mean.

My husband is past active duty Army, and is currently a member of the Army National Guard with one deployment under his belt. He has recently volunteered for another deployment. He'll mobilize in the next few weeks.

Tonight we had the "If I don't come home" discussion. We've had this discussion before, and knowing my husband, I'm sure we'll have it again.

We've been married for 17 years, I know this man as well as I know myself. I know if I threw a hissy fit, he wouldn't volunteer. He'd wait until his entire company was activated again...

But I can't do that.

In his own words. "I'm a soldier, it's who I am, it's what I do"

Who would I be to ask him to be something that he's not?

In our civilian life, we're comfortable. We own our own business, we have two great kids, our home is ours, free and clear..I love our life..

But being a soldier is who he is.

Don't ever underestimate our military. Sure, it would be great to have more troops, I'd be thrilled if he never had to deploy again. But my husband isn't the exception, he's much closer to being the rule. I've seen it over and over again, and these soldiers never cease to amaze me.

They'll do whatever it takes - the question is - will the rest of the country?

Just some Grunts' wife.

I'm sure they will, but it's wrong for the rest of the country to presume on that. Meanwhile, though I linked it before, this post by Porphyrogenitus is worth noting, too. And Major Dave Lange notes another problem:

One more problem with increasing the size of the Army: where do you put all those troops? A good number of the bases where troops were stationed during the Cold War simply aren't there anymore. Ft. Ord, CA, the former home of the 7th Infantry Division, for example, is now part of the Cal State University system. And the bases in Germany that once housed elements of 5 divisions are, or soon will be, gone, with a just a couple of exceptions.

Even going halfway back to the roughly million-man Army we had during the Cold War would mean adding another 250,000 troops, requiring another 5-10 major installations. Not sure where you're going to find that-and when you do expect enviro-socialists to protest turning the habitat of the southern tigerspotted swamp tree newt into a tank range. And people who don't want to live next to the sounds of gunfire and artillery, or low flying helicopters.

Like our other problems, this is not insoluble -- but it requires people to work on solving it.

MICKEY KAUS: "Lt. Col. Bateman's post on Media Matters ' Altercation--disputing Associated Press in the ongoing controversy over the alleged burning of six Sunnis in Baghdad--seems quite damning. Eric Boehlert's response--'Hey, I'm not defending the AP on this, just attacking the AP's attackers!'--seems quite weak. "

JON STEWART AND DENNIS MILLER: Video. "I wish this could take the place of Hannity and Colmes."

A CURE FOR DIABETES?

In a discovery that has stunned even those behind it, scientists at a Toronto hospital say they have proof the body's nervous system helps trigger diabetes, opening the door to a potential near-cure of the disease that affects millions of Canadians.

Diabetic mice became healthy virtually overnight after researchers injected a substance to counteract the effect of malfunctioning pain neurons in the pancreas.

"I couldn't believe it," said Dr. Michael Salter, a pain expert at the Hospital for Sick Children and one of the scientists. "Mice with diabetes suddenly didn't have diabetes any more."

Don't get too excited yet, but let's hope this pans out. If it does, we'll have to wonder what else we've been missing in diseases we thought we understood.

1.5 MILLION WITHOUT POWER in the Northwest. They probably can't read it, but here's a blackout survival guide and some guidelines on home generator safety, from Popular Mechanics.

Some former neighbors of ours lost a child due to carbon monoxide from an improperly located emergency generator back during the Memphis blackout a few years back. Generators are good, but they're dangerous if not used properly.

Earlier posts on this topic here and here. Also here.

IRANIAN ELECTIONS MARRED BY BOMB BLASTS: Reader C.J. Burch emails: "Perhaps the government of Iran should move to Okinawa."

That works for me.

HEY, MAYBE I should run for President! "Running for president, however, is absolutely the best job in the world. And the government will pay you to run."

UPDATE: Kucinich's running mate spotted.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Whaddya know, I forgot I was already nominated!

A LOOK AT EVENTS IN IRAQ, from IraqPundit.

"WHEN IS NBC NEWS GOING TO PRONOUNCE civil war in 'Palestine'?"

There is a simple answer to this question, which I leave as an exercise for the reader.

UPDATE: Carl in Jerusalem isn't waiting.

HOW LIKELY IS A NUCLEAR ATTACK ON THE UNITED STATES? How likely does it have to be?

A LOOK AT POLITICAL ART AS A FAILURE OF DISCOURSE, from Fernando Tesón.

IRAQI INSURGENTS BROADCASTING TV OUT OF SYRIA: Another reason to wonder why the Bush Administration has taken such a hands-off approach with Assad.

THIS WEEK'S BLOG WEEK IN REVIEW is up, with special guests Scott Johnson and John Hinderaker of Power Line.

ARMING TEACHERS IN NEVADA?

Now, a Nevada lawmaker wants to put more weapons on school property -- not in the hands of students, but in the hands of their teachers and school staff.

State Senator Bob Beers believes guns in the hands of highly trained, law-abiding citizens can serve as a deterrent to criminal activity. And what better place to stop crime than in the classroom, he told the I-Team in an exclusive interview.

Clark County School District police find a shotgun on a student that classmates characterize as having an anger problem. The "what-ifs" of the situation aren't hard to imagine. Images from Columbine High School have become part of the American collective consciousness.

But where gun control has failed, Bob Beers believes gun proliferation may succeed. The republican senator for Clark County said, "The theory is that insane people don't go on shooting sprees around people who have weapons."

Beers plans to submit a bill draft this week to allow school personnel to carry concealed firearms on campus provided teachers, principals and even bus drivers complete weapons training that, in his words, would exceed law enforcement training standards.

We're seeing more and more proposals like this.

UPDATE: See this post from Donald Sensing, too.

YEAH, LIGHT BLOGGING -- I've been a bit under the weather today.

The Glenn and Helen Show: Suicide is Painful

You hear a lot about suicide and depression during the holiday season. We talk with Dr. Eric Caine, head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester and a consultant to the President's Commission on Mental Health, about suicide and suicide prevention. Do antidepressant drugs raise the risks of suicide or lower them? What preventive steps work, and what should general medical practitioners, or concerned friends and family, do? Dr. Caine offers lots of answers, and interesting discussion.

You can listen to the show directly -- no downloading needed -- by going here and clicking on the gray Flash player. You can download the file by clicking right here, and you can subscribe via iTunes by clicking here. A lo-fi version suitable for dialup, cellphones, etc. is available by going here and selecting the lo-fi version.

You can visit the Suicide Prevention Action Network at www.spanusa.org for more information on suicide or take a look at Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide, a book recommended by Helen.

Music is by Todd Steed and the Suns of Phere.

This podcast is brought to you by Volvo at www.volvocars.us.

TECH BLEG: Does anybody out there have any experience with this wireless laser printer from HP?

I'm pretty happy with the performance of my HP wireless inkjet, but the ink is expensive, the ink cartridges are small, and I don't like to use it for big jobs, which alas I still have even in this allegedly paperless era. But I'm usually on a laptop, so it's wireless or nothing. The wireless laser looks reasonably priced; will it be as reliable as the inkjet? And will the two of them play well together on the same network?

HERE'S A REPORT THAT Prince Bandar wants a military response to Iran.

REMEMBERING THE WHITE ANIMALS: That was a great band; I saw them many times in Nashville and in DC. They still play occasionally, and they've got a website that sells their CDs online. A lot of their stuff is available for free download, too. Check out their signature song, "Ecstasy," here.

THE DUKE RAPE ACCUSER has given birth. Thanks to the DNA evidence, all we know for sure is that none of the defendants can be the father.

UPDATE: Check the updates at the link above.

AHMET ERTEGUN HAS DIED.

BREAST CANCER RATES FALL SHARPLY: That's good news.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: What did the Iraq Study Group tell us?

PROOF THAT I'M NOT A CONSERVATIVE? I didn't make Tom Delay's blogroll.

On the other hand, Bill Quick -- who's not much of a conservative either -- did, so scratch that theory. And Keith Olbermann got some attention, too . . . .

DARFUR UPDATE: Peter Pham and Michael Krauss look at what's going on, and what might make things better.

CAN'T PEOPLE WAIT ON THIS FOR A WHILE? I guess not: The Wall Street Journal (free link) rounds up speculation on what will happen if Tim Johnson is unable to return to the Senate.

December 14, 2006

MICKEY KAUS: "That official police report on Diana's death appears to be a bust, as far as alleging spying by the Clinton Administration on Republican magnate Ted Forstmann."

I THOUGHT THIS WAS PRETTY PEDESTRIAN, until the hat came out. That's what turns an ordinary Internet video into pure comedic gold.

JOHN HINDERAKER offers some advice to President Bush.

UPDATE: B ill Quick weighs in -- though you'll have to scroll past an annoying (to me) list of recently posted comments to see the actual post I've linked.

THOUGHTS ON automotive efficiency.

TEN TECH CONCEPTS YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR 2007: Bendable concrete is pretty cool. (Via Slashdot.)

THE MPRIZE FOR LONGEVITY RESEARCH has now passed the $4 million mark.

Plus, a Leon Kass retrospective at FightAging.org.

"BLAME COWS BEFORE CARS FOR GREENHOUSE GASES:" I promise never to drive a cow. But the cows can point the finger at those Chinese coal seam fires.

THE CAR SURVIVAL KIT DISCUSSION from a few days ago led me to consider emulating SayUncle and keep something to cut seatbelts in the car. I could have just gotten a big honking knife, but I didn't want anything that an unsympathetic cop might consider a dangerous weapon, just in case. (Yes, we have concealed carry in Tennessee, but it doesn't apply to knives, and it's wise to be careful what you carry in your car.) I wound up ordering this Swiss Army "Fireman" model, which has a locking blade that opens with one hand -- I like that in general -- and a special seatbelt cutting blade. Seems quite well made, and it's now in the driver's side pocket.

Plus it has a bottle opener and corkscrew for, um, lesser emergencies.

UPDATE: Dave Schuler emails: "Practically every male in my wife's family is a fireman. I note that the 'Fireman's Model' picture in the Amazon link features a bottle opener and a corkscrew. Sounds about right to me."

It's important to be prepared for all contingencies.

ANOTHER UPDATE: SayUncle emails: "Good point on the knife in car thing. You can also look at these: In addition to not looking like a knife, they have punches to break out safety glass ( i.e., your windows)." No corkscrew, though.

CUBIC HARD-BOILED EGGS: Cool!

A LOOK AT the future of RSS: "What started as a publishing phenomenon is now a marketing phenomenon, as companies in virtually every industry segment are using feeds to communicate with customers or constituents via RSS."

BEST TAKE YET: "Eason Jordan and Michelle Malkin wandering around Iraq in search of shadowy Iraq police captain Jamil Hussein? It sounds like a sitcom . . . . I can't wait to see how this turns out."

I think it's a great thing. Either they'll find him -- which is more than AP has managed to do -- or they won't, which will constitute calling AP's bluff.

TONY SNOW apologizes to David Gregory. Rather handsomely.

JOHN HAWKINS interviews Duncan Hunter.

ANOTHER HIGH FOR THE DOW: I credit the new Democratic leadership in Congress!

WAS THE WEBB CAMPAIGN collecting dirt on bloggers? William Beutler looks at the reports and observes, "It shouldn’t be too surprising that the Webb campaign would do this, if they did this. Recent history gives us good reason to assume that politicians are wary of bloggers, certainly more so than traditional volunteers (who do not make a point of expressing their opinions in public)." It's not at all clear that the Webb campaign did this, but those who have ambitions toward being paid political bloggers for campaigns should expect that this may well happen to them. As blogging goes more mainstream, I'd say it's inevitable.

IT'S NOT THE TESLA: But Howard Lovy looks at a new electric car.

AL JAZEERA is unlisted. "One hears complaints that no cable or broadcast operation has picked up the English language al-Jazeera feed. I’m all in favor of English language al Jazeera getting a cable outlet. Perhaps a listed phone number might help."

I HOPE THAT TIM JOHNSON TURNS OUT TO BE OKAY, and I don't have much more to say than that. But here's a big roundup from Pajamas Media if you want more.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: I agree with The New York Times' editors, who write:

For all the worthy proposals for ethics reform being hashed out by the incoming Congress, a heavy dose of Internet transparency should not be overlooked in the effort to repair lawmakers’ tattered credibility. The technology is already there, along with the public’s appetite for more disclosure about the byways of power in Congress.

The Web is increasingly wielded by both campaign donors and bloggers clicking and tapping as wannabe muckrakers. Politicians would be wise to catch up. . . .

Much more than disclosure is needed to cure the Capitol’s ills — particularly some sort of independent agency to prod Congress to fully investigate corruption allegations. But prompt, searchable postings of basic data — from lobbyists’ itineraries and expenses to incumbents’ donor ties and legislative labors — should be part of any corruption cure. In the information age, this amounts to a modest proposal for a Congress truly intent on reform.

I think Congress should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act, too.

MICHAEL RUBIN: "John Kerry is in Egypt, and is praising Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s wisdom. What Kerry is not doing is speaking up for Ayman Nour, Muhammad Sharqawi, and other dissidents victimized by Mubarak’s crackdown. "

Someone forward Kerry this story.

I'M IN A SWEET SPOT OF ENFORCED QUASI-IDLENESS, as I've graded the papers from my seminar, and I don't have the bluebooks for my Administrative Law exam yet. But for those curious about how law professors grade exams, Daniel Solove is spilling the beans with a photo-illustrated explanation of how it's done.

NOW PEOPLE WANT BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS FROM ME: Well, aside from the obvious suggestion, of course. . . .

I'll try to come up with a list later. In the meantime, here are some science fiction recommendations. And if you haven't read Mark Steyn's America Alone, then that's a good choice. It goes well with Claire Berlinski's book, and you can hear our interview with Claire here.

TERROR-FREE INVESTING: "The idea of 'shareholder democracy' is today much bruited about, but whatever connotations that term has acquired, at bottom it means investors have a "vote" -- that is, they can choose where to put their money, and where not. That kind of democracy assumes a new urgency in the post-9/11 world, as tens of billions of dollars are currently surging into countries that sponsor terrorism. . . . In this case, shareholders -- citizens -- have the power to influence. If American investors in these businesses -- not only institutional investors such as public pension systems, money managers, investment trusts and university endowments, but also individuals -- pressure companies to sever such business relations, they can become change agents in the financial sector and force multipliers for our troops abroad."

MORE PEOPLE checking the A.P.'s work in Iraq.

MORE ON rules of engagement in Iraq.

UPDATE: Related post here.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Well, I wouldn't have believed this possible:

Sen. Robert Byrd has built a reputation in Congress and in West Virginia using special interest funding to bring federal jobs and money home, but the king of pork said he's willing to give up his projects for 2007 to find a way out of the " fiscal chaos" left by the outgoing Republican-led Congress.

Byrd, incoming chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and his House counterpart Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin outlined their plan late Monday to pass a yearlong stopgap spending bill to keep government programs and agencies functioning until Sept. 30, 2007. To expedite the process, Byrd and Obey said they would eliminate earmarks -- funding inserted into bills by lawmakers for projects in their district or states -- from the unfinished budget.

Robert Byrd giving up on pork? What's next -- Chuck Schumer avoiding TV cameras? All joking aside, however, this is a big deal and the Democrats will deserve considerable praise if they deliver on these promises.

INSTAPUNDIT: "Real or fake?"

Jeez, get a clue.

UPDATE: Reader Jim Dunn emails:

Greetings, blogfather. Just wanted to add my voice to your chorus praising big pharma. My mother has gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), and a Novartis drug called Gleevec has given her years more life than she could have enjoyed otherwise.

What's more, I WANT companies who develop products like Gleevec to make big money. If the people battling against life-threatening diseases don't deserve piles of money, who does? It's so stupid it makes my hair hurt to hear people gripe about big pharma, then turn around and blithely talk about a major league ballplayer making $15 million a year or a movie star earning $20 million for one 90-minute batch of celluloid drivel as if that's perfectly normal.

And Michael Ubaldi writes:

For those who weren't aware, distrust of drug-makers -- already irrational -- has become blind enmity.

My aunt is senior director of a Pfizer toxicology department. At a family gathering in July, she and I spoke about work. It was immediately obvious that my aunt had come to find it easier to couch her occupation
in apologia, so I interrupted her and, before asking her to continue, made clear that she had nothing to be ashamed of.

Only a moron would want to live in a society where people are ashamed to work for drug companies. And yet, I'm not surprised to see that resulting from the demagogy that abounds among politicians and "public interest" types who are not serving the public interest whatsoever.

Meanwhile, reader Steven Grim emails:

Your post about the drug that has changed your wife's life got me thinking about my own life changing drug. I take Imitrex for migraine headaches. Before finding this drug my life was severely impacted at
least one time a week. No amount of any over the counter medication would even dent the pain from these headaches. My only recourse was to sleep them off for a day and I usually had to deal with nausea. It affected both my work and social life to a great degree. Now with Imitrex, my headache is gone within a half hour, there are no side effects, and it's not a narcotic so there are no addiction concerns. It has changed my life. It's expensive, but it is absolutely worth it.

For me, it's acid-lowering drugs like aciphex and, more recently, Nexium that have made a huge difference. And come to think of it, I wrote a column on the underrated nature of these non-lifesaving drugs a while back.

Hey, Big Pharma isn't perfect. But treating 'em like they are evil is stupid, and counterproductive, and the people who do it are the ones who deserve to be ostracized and humiliated, not the people who are actually working on things that make life better.

AN AGENDA BEHIND THE Flying Imams incident?

I suspect that the Democrats won't be willing to hop on this bandwagon, as it would make them look weak on terrorism. Once again, though, the absence of major attacks since 9/11 is causing a rise in complacency that some people see as an opportunity.

AUSTIN BAY LISTS recommended books on war and technology.

CAPTAIN ED REPORTS: "In an important victory for the Bush administration, a Clinton appointee to the federal bench upheld the new detainee law that bars Guantanamo prisoners from using American civil courts to challenge their detention."

A LOOK AT TECHNOLOGICAL EMPOWERMENT and the Associated Press.

Plus, Michelle Malkin teaming up with Eason Jordan?

December 13, 2006

SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE in Iran. Plus, the real problem with the Iraqi army.

VIRTUAL VIOLENCE, real punishment.

NOAH SHACHTMAN looks at antiterrorism efforts in space:

It’s a mission MacGyver would love. Three or four times a year, small groups of junior officers gather at an Air Force Research Laboratory facility in New Mexico and try to figure out how to take down an American satellite using nothing more than sweet talk and off-the-shelf gear.

The U.S. military relies on satellites to relay orders, guide precision bombs and direct flying drones. But those multibillion-dollar systems can be surprisingly vulnerable to the simplest of attacks. So, it’s up to the members of the Space Countermeasures Hands On Program—Space CHOP, for short—to find those weaknesses before enemies have a chance to crack them.

Glad to see they're working on that.

VARIFRANK WONDERS what's going on with Saudi Arabia.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE since I closely followed the news on the latest associate bonus wars at big law firms. Like, since I was an associate. I wish they paid law professor bonuses. . . .

HOLLYWOOD ON THE OHIO: Some cool stuff from Rick Lee.

MY EARLIER MENTION OF THE LITTER ROBOT produced some emails:

I have two cats and own a Litter Robot (plus a regular litterbox, in case the power goes out et al). The Robot, aka the Death Star, is great - it never clogs like the models with the rakes do, and it's got built-in safety features that stop it from rotating immediately if a cat enters mid-cycle. The sound of it starting to rotate can be a little eerie in the middle of the night, at least at the beginning, but that's the only real drawback. Anyway, I highly recommend it. I have the white model, but the other one looks much cooler. Excellent holiday gift for a cat household, especially a multi-cat household.

(on the off chance you use this, please just identify me as a cat owner in Houston...)

It's not Laurence Simon, though. Trust me, he never asks for anonymity! (But forget the second litterbox -- just get one of these!) And reader Chap Godbey writes:

This Litter Maid model is what we use. There's a sensor that knows when the cat gets in and out of the box, and after the cat gets out a rake comes by and cleans all the lumps into a concealed bin. It's much less costly than that other model and is durable. One big cat and one box means one week before you have to empty the bin.

I miss the cats, but not the litterbox.

UPDATE: Reader Glenn Ruddiger is unimpressed with the Litter Robot and its admirers:

Seriously, is the Instapundit readership so well off and time consumed that they can't afford a minute every couple days to scoop the crud out of a litter box?

Dude, it's a Litter Robot! Of course InstaPundit readers will want one. What part of "Robot" don't you understand? Robots are cool!

ANOTHER UPDATE: Yeah, yeah, fembots are cooler, but you can't actually buy those on Amazon. Yet.

Meanwhile, Ruddiger responds:

heh heh Yes, robots are cool, but only when they cut my grass or sweep my floors or fight each other in death matches.

Honestly, my cats seemed genuinely interested when I scoop the litterbox. They watch every move I make -- sometimes from a distance, sometimes completely in my way. I can see their tiny little kitty brains working -- "why not just leave the lid off *that* container...".

Sweeping we've got covered. And I already mentioned the robot lawn mower.

Meanwhile, warn your cats that they can be replaced, and maybe they'll start cleaning their own litter boxes . . . .

On the other hand, maybe we'd better worry about a robot uprising.

MORE: Dave Price defends the Litter Maid:

Had it for 5 years. I calculated the labor time saved scooping cat execra at $100/hr (because I have to do it, and I get paid roughly that much to do other things I could be doing instead of scooping cat litter) and it’s a bargain. Had to replace it after 2 years, but the newer one seems moderately improved and more durable.

Never have to think about it. Really, the biggest challenge is remembering to clear it once every week or two when it gets full.

If only there were a robot for that . . . .

DUKE RAPE UPDATE:

DNA testing in the Duke lacrosse rape case found genetic material from several males in the accuser's body and her underwear _ but none from any team member, defense attorneys said in court papers Wednesday.

The papers were filed by attorneys for the three lacrosse players charged, Reade Seligmann, Collin Finnerty and David Evans. They complained that the information about DNA from other men was not disclosed in a report prosecutors provided earlier this year to the defense.

The testing was conducted at a private laboratory for the prosecution.

"This is strong evidence of innocence in a case in which the accuser denied engaging in any sexual activity in the days before the alleged assault, told police she last had consensual sexual intercourse a week before the assault, and claimed that her attackers did not use condoms and ejaculated," the defense said.

This case just looks worse and worse.

JOHN MCCAIN AND INTERNET FREE SPEECH: This story on CNET has gotten a lot of attention, with links on Drudge and Slashdot. Excerpt:

McCain's proposal, called the "Stop the Online Exploitation of Our Children Act" (click for PDF), requires that reports be submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which in turn will forward them to the relevant police agency. (The organization received $32.6 million in tax dollars in 2005, according to its financial disclosure documents.)

Internet service providers already must follow those reporting requirements. But McCain's proposal is liable to be controversial because it levies the same regulatory scheme--and even stiffer penalties--on even individual bloggers who offer discussion areas on their Web sites.

"I am concerned that there is a slippery slope here," said Kevin Bankston, an attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in San Francisco. "Once you start creating categories of industries that must report suspicious or criminal behavior, when does that stop?"

According to the proposed legislation, these types of individuals or businesses would be required to file reports: any Web site with a message board; any chat room; any social-networking site; any e-mail service; any instant-messaging service; any Internet content hosting service; any domain name registration service; any Internet search service; any electronic communication service; and any image or video-sharing service.

The McCain people were upset enough with this report that they emailed me about it, and I talked with a guy from McCain's office named Pablo Chavez. Chavez says that this misstates what the bill does: In fact, there's no obligation to monitor or discover child porn, just to report it if you become aware of it. And the bill is, he says, aimed at "the MySpaces of the world," not individual bloggers.

I've given the bill a quick read -- text here -- and it doesn't seem entirely clear to me that it doesn't reach individual bloggers, regardless of intent. Chavez says that McCain only wants to get hard-core child pornography, and has no desire to do anything that might reduce free speech on the Internet. He also says that McCain is open to amendments that would alleviate any concerns that bloggers might have. Perhaps people should propose some?

UPDATE: Email from InstaPundit readers is universally mistrustful of McCain, which is indicative of just how much damage he's done himself with his support of campaign finance "reform."

PETER KANN WRITES ON mending the media.

A FEDERAL CIVIL RIGHTS INVESTIGATION into the Duke rape case?

UPDATE: K.C. Johnson has much more.

GOOD NEWS: "Military meets, exceeds recruiting goals."

When we interviewed Army Secretary Francis Harvey a few weeks ago, he seemed very optimistic about how recruiting was going. I guess he was right to be.

MICKEY KAUS is staying on the Diana-bugging story.

JAMES LILEKS ON IRAN:

It’s interesting: if the Holocaust “conference” decides that the Holocaust didn’t happen, well, then the justification for Israel is specious and founded on lies, and the mullahs are justified in redressing a mistake. I have the awful feeling that terms, conditions and justifications are being set right before our eyes, and the putative leaders seem unwilling to acknowledge what most canny observers infer.

It’ll all make horrible sense. In retrospect.

Indeed.

DAVE WEIGEL NOTES the Ohio gun control rollback that I mentioned earlier and observes: "this is just one policy area where Democrats have finally caved to the libertarian consensus, to avoid another decade of drubbings over the gun issue."

Even a flatworm is smart enough to turn away from pain. Which means that political parties eventually manage, too.

SURVEILLANCE from 65,000 feet.

IN THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, a look at academia's ongoing diversity problem. Is it a "hostile environment?"

RANDY BARNETT ON THE NINTH AMENDMENT: It Means What It Says.

He'll never make it to the Supreme Court with an approach like that . . . .

DAVID DUKE ON HOLOCAUST DENIAL on the BBC.

JAMES PERON says the poor are getting richer, faster.

THE INSTAWIFE AND ANN ALTHOUSE are discussing Tom Delay's advice to the blogosphere.

MORE KIDS' BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS, from a children's librarian who also happens to be my mom:
-----

Kids in the intermediate and middle school grades can be a hard sell for reading fiction. But fiction is pain-free way to vicarious experience, and experience is what these kids need to find, safely, outside their comfort zone.

In one way or another, most serious fiction for this age falls into the “coming of age” genre, not because authors set out to teach lessons, but because writers know that we’re all “coming of age” as long as we live. That is say, we all struggle to get a handle on managing the various choices and constraints we deal with daily. Here are a variety of novels whose characters deal seriously, and often humorously, with their own coming of age:

Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen. Houghton Mifflin, 1995 (hardback); Simon Pulse (paperback), 1999.

Even the most reluctant reader will be hooked by Paulsen’s opening in which 13-year-old Brian takes off with a bush pilot to spend the summer with his estranged father in the North Woods. When the pilot dies at the controls, Brian survives a crash into a lake and manages to stay alive for 54 days and to bring about his own rescue. To do that, Brian has only a hatchet given by his mother, the untried strengths of his own character, and the words of a teacher who reminded him that all he’d ever learned would be there when he needed it. Brian learns that what he has is all he needs.

(Sequels: The River, Brian’s Winter, Brian’s Return, and Brian’s Hunt.. Outside this series but with the same theme are The Voyage of the Frog, Tracker, Dogsong, and many others by Paulsen).

Lest you think Paulsen is one of those rugged survivalists who ask no help from any quarter, the middle reader shouldn’t miss these nonfiction memoirs:

My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen. Yearling, 1999.

From Cookie, the sled dog who rescued him from the icy waters of the Arctic, to Caesar, the Great Dane who hid in terror of trick or treaters, the stories of Paulsen’s real-life pets make you laugh out loud or blink back a tear as he relates how much they had to give..

The Cookcamp by Gary Paulsen. Scholastic, 2003.

In this reminiscence with the dreamlike quality of early childhood memory, Paulsen tells how he (“the boy”) recalls being sent to live with his Norwegian grandmother, a camp cook for a World War II construction crew who are, in the boy’s mind, as mythic and mighty as tall tale heroes, yet more loving and protective than his own parents.

(Tie-ins from Paulsen’s autobiographical works for the persistent nonfiction reader: Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod, Harvest Paperbacks, 1995, in which he describes his two entries into this epic dogsled race; Dogteam, (illustrated by Ruth Wright Paulsen) Dragonfly, 1995, an evocative pictural description of the blending of human and dog in a wild night ride; and Guts, Laurel Leaf, 2002, in which he relates the personal experiences (including repeated encounters with Joe, the moose with a personal vendetta), that became parts
of the narrative of Hatchet.

Meanwhile back in suburbia, kids also have to deal with choices and constraints:

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, by Jack Gantos. Harper Collins, 1998.

Joey’s ADD means that he’s always “wired bad, or wired mad, or wired sad, or wired glad,” but Joey is a strong and sweet kid who survives in a situation in which, in the words of his dying, manic grandmother, “...you got better, and the rest of the world didn’t.” (Sequels: Joey Pigza Loses Control and What Would Joey Do?)

Lunch Money, by Andrew Clements. Simon and Schuster, 2005.

Money-loving Greg thinks he’s got a sure thing turning his artistic talents into Chunky Comics to sell at school. Then, aargh, his arch enemy Maura starts selling her sappy unicorn sagas and cuts into his profits, and then, whoa, the principal says no selling comics at school. But, wait, Maura really knows how to move product, and, wow, she points out that the school-sponsored book club is hawking paperbacks from a big publisher. It all comes to a conclusion at a heated school board meeting, and Greg learns a few things about navigating the pitfalls of business, education, and life. (See also by Andrew Clements: Frindle, The School Story, The Report Card, A Week in the Woods, The Last Holiday Concert, The Landry News, and more.)

For slightly older Clements fans:

Things Not Seen, by Andrew Clements. Puffin, 2004.

A lot of students feel like they are invisible to their peers, but Bobby really is! He wakes up one morning and--he’s not there in the mirror! Bobby seeks a sort of refuge in the library and finds the only person to whom he’s, like, real, a blind girl named Alicia. Bobby and Alicia pool their talents to hack the Sears corporate computer and get him back to the visual realm, and Bobby learns a bit about who he really is. (Semi-Sequel: Things Hoped For by Andrew Clements, Philomel, 2006.)

Even in the world of fantasy, there’s no escape for the plucky protagonist! For example:

Ella Enchanted, by Gail Carson Levine. HarperCollins, 1997, 2004.

Cursed by “that fool fairy Lucinda” with a spell that makes her always obedient to any command, Ella has to contend with an absent father, an evil stepmother, and abusive step-sisters, not to mention the handicap of always having to be, if not willing, at least compliant with any order. How she manages to fight her way through the usual fantasy foes and rescue her prince proves a girl’s gotta have game! Levine turns the Cinderella story on its head with humorous and page-turning results. (See also by Gail Carson Levine: all of the Princess Tales, (singly or boxed setsHarperCollins; The Wish, HarperCollins, 2002, and her newest, Gifted, HarperCollins, 20, 06.)

_____

I'm hoping to talk her into starting a children's book-blog. Maybe the reaction to these recommendations will help!

MUD WRESTLING with Tom Delay and Arianna Huffington.

DON SURBER NOTES that Nancy Pelosi is making some progress on ethics. "Tom DeLay went around calling himself the Hammer. Talk is cheap. Nancy Pelosi has this ethics thing nailed." Good!

BARACK OBAMA: More popular than Jesus?

MICHAEL FUMENTO CONTINUES TO blog from Ramadi.

WENT OUT TO SEE MY BROTHER'S BAND, COPPER, OPEN FOR SHINE DOWN at the Tennessee Theater last night.

It was a good show, and they played to a packed house, most of whom seemed to know the lyrics to their songs well enough to sing along.

Copper has been on the brink of record deals for a while, talking with a bunch of big labels.

I hope they'll manage to bring one of them off. They've certainly paid their dues, touring all over the country and playing lots of places.

But I think that rock is a shrinking sector within a shrinking industry, which makes it pretty hard.

One of the popular stereotypes of musicians is that they're lazy. The fact is that the average halfway decent guitarist or drummer or bass player has put in thousands and thousands of hours of work to get good enough to play live with some degree of ability. (Of course, by dedicating so much time to that, they sometimes let other things slip, which may be what gives them the reputation for laziness.)

It's a hard life, and the source of lots of jokes -- "What's the difference between a musician and a large pepperoni pizza? The pizza can feed a family of four." -- but what's amazing is how many people give it a go anyway. Most don't get as close to making it big as my brother has, and yet even those who get signed by big record labels usually don't make all that much money, really. A few get pretty rich, but most, even among those with record contracts, don't make enough money to justify all the time and effort they put into it.

Is this because people are irrationally optimistic about their own prospects?

Or is it because they enjoy the process enough that it's worthwhile even when the likely payoff is small?

I think the answer is both.

A CIVIL RIGHTS VICTORY IN OHIO -- where the Republican Governor was opposed to civil rights, and Democrats supported them. "In practical effect, the Ohio bill is the most significant roll-back of gun control that has ever been enacted by a state."

OVER AT CHICAGOBOYZ, a look at the Allende myth.

THIS FILM is likely to be interesting, but it's hardly "unique."

December 12, 2006

FLYING IMAMS UPDATE: A Muslim criticizes CAIR's response.

I DON'T THINK WE'VE GOTTEN RID OF the culture of corruption.

MICHAEL BARONE: "Lobbying and the way the world works."

THANKS TO ALLERGIES, we don't have cats any more. But we had 'em long enough that when the Insta-Wife ran across the Litter Robot self-cleaning litter box I was pretty impressed. That's nearly as cool as the robot lawn mower!

IN RESPONSE TO MY EARLIER POST ON OLDER SOLDIERS, Ed McNamara emails:

Thanks for the link to the WaPo article Glenn. I ship out to Fort Benning as an active duty Infantry rifleman on January 9th. I'll be 41 in May. I've been trying to join since 9/11 but the army cutoff at the time was 35, and I was already past that. They finally raised it past my age and I signed up. I'm in the best shape of my life and looking forward to a most exciting adventure. The idea of serving in an institution that was once headed by Gen. George Washington is still sinking in.

I'll be posting to my 'blog as much as they let me, probably not much during basic training.

Probably not. Good luck, Ed!

WHAT'S MORE FUN THAN "ABUSIVE LAB TESTING?" Putting it on video! And wouldn't you like the job title of "Product Abuser?"

HERE'S MORE FROM BILL ROGGIO, who'll be staying in Fallujah a while longer.

Meanwhile, Michael Yon -- currently writing on Cambodia -- emails that he's having problems with the embedding process. Bill Roggio reported that his went smoothly; I don't know what's holding things up for Michael, but I hope the Pentagon moves things along.

MORE ON ALTERNATIVE-FUEL CARS: Bring it on, I say, though I don't think we'll see massive progress soon. The latest AvWeek -- I get it all the time, but this issue seems especially attuned to my interests -- has a look at alternative fuels for jets, too. Jets really, really need the energy density of hydrocarbon fuels, which means that they should probably be the last to convert to something else (a hydrogen-fueled plane has to be big to hold enough fuel, and still won't go as far on a tank).

I think that rich celebrities who crusade against global warming, though, should have to use synthetic kerosene made out of biofuels as they jetset around. Or at least extinguish a coal fire or two!

A LOOK AT libertarian voters in 2006: "In the past, our research shows, most libertarians voted Republican—72 percent for George W. Bush in 2000, for instance, with only 20 percent for Al Gore, and 70 percent for Republican congressional candidates in 2002. But in 2004, presumably turned off by war, wiretapping, and welfare-state spending sprees, they shifted sharply toward the Democrats. John F. Kerry got 38 percent of the libertarian vote. That was a dramatic swing that Republican strategists should have noticed. But somehow the libertarian vote has remained hidden in plain sight."

PEOPLE ARE STILL RESPONDING to Charles Rangel's dissing of the troops.

SOME GOOD NEWS ON THE COMMERCIAL SPACE MARKET, from Aviation Week:

A private spaceflight industry, dubbed "new space" by some of its proponents, is steadily emerging from the dusty desert hangars and closely guarded office-park high bays that incubated it, ready to leap off launch pads across the globe into a role self-consciously reminiscent of civil aviation 80 years ago.

Private spending on space-related activities already exceeds that of governments, mostly for building, launching, operating and using commercial communications satellites, according to a new Space Foundation report that found only $70 billion of the $180 billion in worldwide space revenues comes from governments.

Other articles, not available online, talk about the growth of dedicated commercial-space suppliers. Bring it on!

Plus, some related good news, from Rand Simberg.

GRAND ROUNDS is up!

JONAH GOLDBERG: "If Mayor Bloomberg or Senator Clinton wanted an easy Sista Souljah target, surely this is it."

ENERGY SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND LIVING OFF THE GRID: Some first-hand experience.

FUNNIEST POLITICAL QUOTES of 2006.

JOSH MANCHESTER looks at standard narratives and the grunts.

VARIOUS PEOPLE WANT ME TO RECOMMEND KIDS' BOOKS, but my chief exposure to those has come from my daughter's reading, and she's now moved on to Anna Karenina -- which she liked. But in response to these reader requests, I called in someone with more expertise -- the Insta-mom, who's an elementary school librarian. Here are her recommendations:

_____

For the preschool set:

Mommy? by Maurice Sendak, Al Yorinks, and Matthew Reinhart. Scholastic, 2006.

This high-tech pop-up book features a typical monster-taming Sendak protagonist, a toddler who wanders into a suitably spooky-looking house calling “Mommy?” and proceeds to de-“bolt” a Frankenstein monster, nip the knickers off Wolf Man, and unwind a mummy’s wrappings, until he finds a suitably maternal monster at last.. A slightly macabre take on Are You My Mother?, this book has some sly fun for the adults who will undoubtedly have to “read it again!”

For the Kindergarten-Grade Two reader:

Cha Cha Chimps by Julie Durango. Illustrated by Eleanor Taylor. Simon & Schuster, 2006.

Ten bed-bound chimps slip out to cha cha the night away at Mambo Jamba’s, where they count down from ten to zero as they hokey-pokey with a hippo, macarena with a meerkat, and belly-dance with a cobra, until a hip Mama Chimp “hustles” them home to jam in their jammies with a sitter while she boogies the night away. Kids hearing this story will pick up the refrain “Ee-ee-oo-oo-ah-ah-ah, ten little chimps do the cha cha cha” by the second time around.

Bats at the Beach, by Brian Lies. Houghton Mifflin, 2006.

Bats break out the moon-tan lotion and frolic on a moonlit beach, doing all the things kids love doing by day on the sand. Rhymed verse dances through enchantingly dark but luminous night time fun. (See if the kids notice that the author is hanging upside down on the “About the Author” back flap!)

For the sophisticated not-too-old-for-picture-books set (and anybody else who’s still alive):

Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich and Other Stories You’re Sure to Like, Because They’re All About Monsters, and Some of Them Are Also About Food . (You Like Food, Don’t You? Well, All Right Then.,.) by Adam Rex. Harcourt, Inc., 2006.

A real tour-de-force by author-illustrator Adam Rex, with rhyming spoofs of the lifestyles of such monsters as Wolfman (hair clumps in his roommate’s drain), Dracula (spinach in his teeth), Invisible Man (can’t get a decent haircut), Yeti ( “Don’t call me BIGFOOT!), and the Phantom of the Opera, (has writer’s block because he can’t get “The Girl from Ippanema” and other ditties off his mind.) The copyright page even features a snow angel left by The Invisible Man. A book for all ages (even those old enough to KNOW the tune to “Girl from Ipanema”!) [GLENN ADDS: I like the cover on this one, too!]

_____

Hope these are helpful. I've been trying to talk her into starting a children's book-blog of her own.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, the Insta-wife points out a book written by a kid.

AN ARTICLE IN THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR profiles Bill Roggio's blog-reporting from Iraq, but worries that his readers are getting a one-sided picture if they don't follow traditional Big Media coverage, too. True enough, though the Big Media coverage is hard to avoid unless you actively try to.

Of course, they might be eschewing Big Media coverage because of things like CNN's admitted sucking-up to Saddam, Reuters' various fauxtography scandals, AP's Jamil Hussein problem, and the like. And aren't the Big Media consumers getting a one-sided, agenda-driven picture, too? That would seem to be a bigger problem.

THE WHITE HOUSE IS trying to revive the Doha Round trade talks, but the Wall Street Journal (free link) reports that it's an uphill battle. The "Lou Dobbs Democrats" are a problem, but other Democrats are siding with the Bush Administration: "Some old-line Democrats, such as Rep. Charles Rangel of New York and Montana Sen. Max Baucus, could emerge as allies of the administration and its free-trade agenda. The two lawmakers, who will take over the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, respectively, share traditional Democratic concerns, but have records that support free trade. This past weekend, they joined Republicans to rally support in Congress for a Bush-backed trade package, which included legislation lifting Cold War-era economic restrictions on Vietnam."

Larry Kudlow was pretty harsh last night, saying that Lou Dobbs and Pat Buchanan are idiots, as are all protectionists. I'm inclined to agree, but I'm not sure the polity does.

UPDATE: Link was bad before, fixed now. Sorry!

PINOCHET VS. CASTRO: A surprising editorial from The Washington Post:

It's hard not to notice, however, that the evil dictator leaves behind the most successful country in Latin America. In the past 15 years, Chile's economy has grown at twice the regional average, and its poverty rate has been halved. It's leaving behind the developing world, where all of its neighbors remain mired. It also has a vibrant democracy. Earlier this year it elected another socialist president, Michelle Bachelet, who suffered persecution during the Pinochet years.

Like it or not, Mr. Pinochet had something to do with this success. To the dismay of every economic minister in Latin America, he introduced the free-market policies that produced the Chilean economic miracle -- and that not even Allende's socialist successors have dared reverse. He also accepted a transition to democracy, stepping down peacefully in 1990 after losing a referendum.

By way of contrast, Fidel Castro -- Mr. Pinochet's nemesis and a hero to many in Latin America and beyond -- will leave behind an economically ruined and freedomless country with his approaching death. Mr. Castro also killed and exiled thousands. But even when it became obvious that his communist economic system had impoverished his country, he refused to abandon that system: He spent the last years of his rule reversing a partial liberalization. To the end he also imprisoned or persecuted anyone who suggested Cubans could benefit from freedom of speech or the right to vote.

The other contrast is that you can find apologists for Castro in pretty much every newsroom and university campus in America. Pinochet, not so much.

DEAN BARNETT is setting the bar low.

MARK GRABER: "Has anyone noticed that what seems to unite the first politicians to declare their candidacy for the presidency is a total lack of experience in foreign policy. Indeed, such inexperience seems almost to be a qualification for the contemporary presidency which, since 1976 has been occupied for all but four years by a person with no foreign policy experience. From Jimmy Carter on, winning slogans seem to be 'Vote for Me: Because I have Never Made a Foreign Policy Decision I Cannot Be Blamed For Our Present Mess.'"

This bespeaks a -- well-founded -- lack of confidence in our foreign-policy establishment, but it's probably actually a formula for giving that establishment more, rather than less, influence over time.

JULES CRITTENDEN OFFERS KOFI ANNAN'S FAREWELL SPEECH, "translated from the original bullshit."

ANN ALTHOUSE: "Remember how the Democrats ran on the competence issue?"

Heck, I remember when they ran against the "culture of corruption!"

UPDATE: On the other hand, Anklebitingpundits says they're doing well on pork. That's good news.

JAMES WOOLSEY ROCKS. No, literally.

YOUR MONEY or your land.

"FKMPG" -- Fred Krause Miles Per Gallon -- was a metric invented by my college friend Fred Krause. It's defined as "the mileage actually achieved by a vehicle travelling at 85 mph with the air conditioner set on 'MAX'."

Now it looks as if the EPA is playing catch-up with Krause! They've still got a ways to go, though.

December 11, 2006

MORE REPORTING FROM FALLUJAH BY BILL ROGGIO: Read the whole thing.

LIFE IMITATES TEAM AMERICA: It's been doing that a lot lately.

LITVINENKO UPDATE: "MOSCOW -- Investigators here questioned a key witness Monday in the radioactive poisoning death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, as four more possible victims of contamination were hospitalized for tests -- this time in Germany."

MICKEY KAUS: "The Brit papers are breaking the story that the Clinton-administration 'secret service' ** secretly bugged Princess Diana 'over her relationship with a US billionaire' Ted Forstmann. Initial questions: What was the grave high-level concern about Forstmann, a big-deal investor, Republican, and education activist? ... What, were they worried Diana might endorse school choice?*** ... And did they have a warrant?" I'm guessing the answers are no, and no.

UPDATE: Lots of updates to Kaus's post, so be sure you follow the link.

Meanwhile Byron York has more on the Diana-bugging story. Is this what Sandy Berger was trying to cover up?

RANDY BARNETT looks at judicial deference and the rights to life and health.

SOME THOUGHTS ON the ABA's role in law school accreditation.

NOW IT'S THE EDITORS OF POPULAR SCIENCE posting their Holiday Wish List.

I have to say, the Zojirushi Mr. Bento isn't something I expected to find there, but it's actually pretty cool. The flower-shaped computer speakers, though, are just weird -- though 14-year-old girls everywhere will love them. I won't be springing for the Ducati, however. Much less the Bugatti Veyron, which updates the verse about "I lost my license, now I don' t drive."

BLAWG REVIEW is up! So is the Carnival of the Capitalists, and a special chicken-themed Carnival of the Recipes.

That last gives me an excuse to tout my Insta-Chicken recipe. People who have tried it seem to like it.

DEFAMATION ON THE INTERNET: Julie Hilden says that courts tend to side with Internet publishers, and looks at some non-legal avenues of relief. (Via Howard Bashman).

My article on the topic, forthcoming in the Washington University Law Quarterly, can be read online here.

EUGENE VOLOKH has an article on state constitutional rights to bear arms.

A somewhat lengthier effort of mine can be found here.

ANOTHER BATTLE IN THE WAR AGAINST CHRISTMAS: Is it just me, or are we hearing a lot less of this stuff this year?

AT FIGHTAGING.ORG, a look at mitochondrial DNA repair, plus how your immune system declines with age.

EMINENT FORMER JUDGE LEE SAROKIN is now blogging.

(Via The Right Coast).

SO I FINISHED THE JOEL ROSENBERG NOVEL that I mentioned last week, and it's very good. I'm reading the sequel now, in my copious spare time, and it's good too.

UPDATE: In an interesting confluence of reactions, some readers are turned off by the garish cover, while others who have read it say the book's got too much talk and internal dialogue.

As to the first -- dumb, garish covers are for some reason de rigeur in fantasy and science fiction. They seldom have anything to do with the story; I don't know why this is.

As to the second: These books are a departure from Rosenberg's traditional light fantasy. The "paladins" carry magic swords believed to damn the souls of those who use them, but do so anyway out of loyalty to King and country. They are not untroubled by this situation, and Rosenberg uses it to explore the moral dimensions of duty, patriotism, and religion. I think it's interesting and well-done; those expecting something more like his earlier work will be disappointed.

ED MORRISSEY: "Kofi Annan has an op-ed column in today's Washington Post that must be read to be believed. The column, which serves as a valediction of sorts, talks about what Annan has learned from his time at the United Nations. If his rule hadn't resulted in such worldwide misery and despair, it would be one of the funniest pieces of opinion journalism so far this year."

Kofi's tenure has certainly represented a high-water mark in corruption and dictator-toadying, which is saying a lot, considering the U.N.'s history.

UPDATE: Link was bad before. Fixed now. Sorry!

PROTESTING AHMADINEJAD in Iran.

THE ARMY LIKES ITS OLDER RECRUITS: I'm not surprised. I seem to recall that the Roman legions preferred older soldiers -- not as quick as the younger ones, perhaps, but steadier.

KOFI ANNAN plans to blast the United States in his farewell speech. Follow the link for an online poll on the topic.

TIE-BUYING ADVICE, over at Crescat Sententia. I get some of my ties from Brooks Brothers, but I like to order them from museum shops like the Guggenheim or the Metropolitan Museum. The quality's usually pretty good, and the designs are usually more interesting.

But maybe I should be burning my ties as a protest against the matriarchy.

SO THE DENTIST GAVE ME A PAIR OF SHOP GOGGLES TO PUT ON, and then said "there may be some vibration, and some pieces, but don't worry." Done now, and at the office. Back later.

IN THE MAIL: The Lucky Shopping Manual: Building and Improving Your Wardrobe Piece by Piece. Is this some kind of a hint?

The Glenn and Helen Show: Questions and Answers

In this episode, we take listeners' questions and answer them -- including a few that were emailed in audio form, making it a sort of call-in show. We talk about things personal, political, and podcast-related, and about the blogosphere in general.

You can listen directly -- no downloads needed -- by going right here and clicking on the gray Flash player. You can also download the podcast by clicking right here, and you can subscribe via iTunes -- all the cool kids do! -- by clicking here. For a lo-fi version suitable for dialups, cellphones, etc., go here and select lo-fi.

In response to one question, here, as promised, is a link to a post on how the shows are put together.

Music is by Mobius Dick.

This podcast sponsored by Volvo USA. If you buy a Volvo, tell 'em we sent you!

IRANIAN URANIUM PROSPECTORS in Somalia.

MICKEY KAUS: "I am so not excited about Windows Vista!"

JAILED FOR A BLOG POST: "If the Alexandria prosecutors' standards of censorship were applied in the US, thousands of Americans would be behind bars. The Egyptian authorities' decision to jail an obscure student for his blogposts reveals a larger struggle for free speech playing out between dissident bloggers and state prosecutors across the Middle East."

A GUY WHO WORKS AT PFIZER wrote me about my book -- nothing really relevant here -- but in my reply to him I wrote:

BTW, we love Pfizer in my house because your exotic anti-arrhythmic drug Tikosyn has changed my wife's life. It's genuinely a miracle drug for her.

He emailed back:

I will pass your thanks along to the guys in the lab. You have no idea how much this kind of message matters to them --and to all of us. We KNOW there's a pony in there somewhere but some days it's not easy to remember that.

It's kind of sad that such a small email means so much, but I suppose that these guys get a lot more criticism than praise, despite the miracles they produce. But it occurs to me that -- while so-called "Big Pharma" may not be perfect -- drug companies have done a lot more to make my life better than their critics have. Maybe someone should point that out more often.

UPDATE: Related thoughts from TigerHawk.

LARRY SOLUM explains the Rule of Law.

SMASH meets Rumsfeld.

December 10, 2006

SKEPTICISM ABOUT THE IRAQ STUDY GROUP DIPLOMATIC PROPOSALS, from the editorial board of The Washington Post.

MORE ON THE FLYING IMAMS, in the Star Tribune.

KEN LIVINGSTONE: Zionist?

It's a sad day when Livingstone's sounding better than Jimmy Carter . . . .

MORE PRAGER FALLOUT: "Former New York City Mayor Edward Koch has called for Dennis Prager to resign or be removed from United States Holocaust Memorial Council, in response to the pundit’s recent insistence that a Muslim congressman should not be sworn in using a Quran." Prager, says Koch, is a schmuck.

LITVINENKO UPDATE: The spy who knew too much.

MICHAEL FUMENTO: The real Ramadi stands up.

MORE ON YALE AND ALITO, from David Lat.

I LINKED TO THE U.S. ARMY SURVIVAL MANUAL the other day. It's pretty cheap in printed form, but reader Richard Kemmer notes: "You might want to pass on to your readers the fact that they can obtain a copy of this manual for free, in PDF format here. Given that so many people travel with computer-like phones, many can keep this in their phones, if they wish."

That's kind of cool. Though in PDF it's a pretty big document to store on most cell phones. Maybe converted to HTML or text, though.

SOME COOL Krakow photoblogging.

CARTER DENIES STEIN: So what's worse -- if he's lying? Or if he really doesn't know who works at the Carter Center? Either way, it's another embarrassment for Jimmy.

UPDATE: A uniter, not a divider!

THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION was no -- in fact, I think we did talk about that subject briefly in the podcast, where McCain acknowledged that we were on different sides and that I had pounded him on it in the past, but neither McCain nor Patrick Hynes, who was our go-between, asked us to avoid any subjects.

THE INSTA-WIFE WONDERS why I haven't been shilling for the Weblog Awards like some other folks in the blogosphere. At this point, I'm just not that excited about these things.

A LEBANON ROUNDUP at Pajamas Media.

JAMIL HUSSEIN: International man of mystery! Of course, the biggest mystery is "what the hell is AP thinking?"

UPDATE: C.J. Burch emails: "They're thinking that if they stonewall long enough the rest of us will forget. Just like the Nixon Administration did." Yes, the Nixon comparison has been made by others.

GADGET UPDATE: The Popular Mechanics folks have posted their gear wishlist for 2006.

I have to admit that I've always wanted one of these, notwithstanding that I've seldom had any use for one.

Of gadgets that I actually use, however, this one still takes the top prize. This one is a close second, though. And this smaller, newer version looks really cool too.

THE ISG: No Jews Allowed! "Arabs, Persians, Chinese commies, French obstructionists, Russian assassination squads. But no Jews. Even though Israel is the only country to be required to make specific concessions -- return the Golan Heights, etc. Indeed, insofar as this document has any novelty value, it's in the Frankenstein-meets-the-Wolfman sense of a boffo convergence of hit franchises: a Vietnam bug-out, but with the Jews as the designated fall guys." (Via Newsbeat 1).

UPDATE: No Kurds, either:

Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani has angrily rejected the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group in the United States and warned of "grave consequences" if there is any delay in deciding the fate of the oil-rich region claimed by his people. Mr Barzani, president of the 15-year-old autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq and a staunch ally of the US, also criticised the ISG for not visiting his region, saying that was a "major shortcoming that adversely influenced the credibility of the assessment".

Looks like the sellout isn't selling.

ANOTHER UPDATE: XRLQ emails: "The message is clear: if you want the west to acknowledge you, issue fatwahs and blow stuff up."

Yes, and that's a bad incentive structure to create. God help the French if the Israelis take this lesson to heart and decide to out-Arab the Arabs. For that matter, God help Jim Baker.

Plus, this amusing comment:

If James Baker ran a bipartisan Blue-Ribbon panel tasked with saving social security, his commission would conclude that no real progress on social security was possible until Israel ceded the Golan Heights to Syria and made whatever concessions necessary to mollify Hamas.

When, exactly, did Baker turn into Jimmy Carter?

MORE: Meryl Yourish thinks it's all a cunning plan: "James Baker has managed to draw quite a lot of ire away from Bush and towards himself. Why, you’d almost think it was deliberate. . . . I think we’ve all been had, and that the Iraq Study Group was never meant to be taken seriously."

DO ANTIPSYCHOTIC DRUGS CHANGE YOUR PERSONALITY? Or do they get you back to being your true self? The latter, according to the linked paper. (Via Dr. Helen).

THE OIL TRUST IDEA LIVES:

Iraqi officials are near agreement on a national oil law that would give the central government the power to distribute current and future oil revenues to the provinces or regions, based on their population, Iraqi and American officials say. . . .

The national oil law lies at the heart of debates about the future of Iraq, particularly the issue of a strong central government versus robust regional governments. The oil question has also inflamed ethnic and sectarian tensions. Sunni Arabs, who preside over areas of the country that apparently have little or no oil, are adamant about the equitable distribution of oil revenues by the central government.

As Hillary Clinton and I have been saying, this should have been done three years ago when the idea was first floated. But better late than never, I suppose.

UPDATE: More on the oil-trust idea from Mohammed at Iraq the Model.

MORE ON JIMMY CARTER'S BOOK:

On his first visit to the Jewish state in the early 1970s, Carter, who was then still the governor of Georgia, met with Prime Minister Golda Meir, who asked Carter to share his observations about his visit. Such a mistake she never made.

"With some hesitation," Carter writes, "I said that I had long taught lessons from the Hebrew Scriptures and that a common historical pattern was that Israel was punished whenever the leaders turned away from devout worship of God. I asked if she was concerned about the secular nature of her Labor government."

Jews, in my experience, tend to become peevish when Christians, their traditional persecutors, lecture them on morality, and Carter reports that Meir was taken aback by his "temerity." He is, of course, paying himself a compliment. Temerity is mandatory when you are doing God's work, and Carter makes it clear in this polemical book that, in excoriating Israel for its sins -- and he blames Israel almost entirely for perpetuating the hundred-year war between Arab and Jew -- he is on a mission from God.

More thoughts at Extreme Mortman.

UPDATE: Further thoughts here.

I WONDER WHERE ALL THAT MONEY WENT? "The United Nations is facing fresh accusations of bureaucratic incompetence after the disclosure that renovation costs for its vast New York headquarters have rocketed to nearly £1 billion."

I think that "incompetence" is probably the best explanation one could hope for. A fitting capstone to Kofi Annan's career.

SUNNI, SHIITE, WHATEVER: The first team isn't coming in, but hey, at least he's not Alcee Hastings!