December 09, 2006

THE SHUTTLE LAUNCH SUCCEEDED: And on board is a blogging astronaut.

Frank J. shot some video, and it's posted here.

CAROLINE GLICK: "When the history of our times is written, this week will be remembered as the week that Washington decided to let the Islamic Republic of Iran go nuclear."

MEGAN MCARDLE OFFERS SOME HOLIDAY DVD RECOMMENDATIONS.

I'll chime in with recommendations for Firefly, Serenity, Wonderfalls, and, of course, The Addams Family and F Troop.

In the way of music DVDs, I highly recommend Underworld's Everything Everything, -- also Wilco's I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, and you can't go wrong with Better Living Through Circuitry.

There's also the Mel Brooks DVD Box Set, which I got, and which rocks.

AT MICHAELTOTTEN.COM, THOUGHTS ON ASSAD IN LEBANON:

The Assad regime is in a hurry. Nasrallah hasn’t been able to deliver quickly enough. The Grand Serail is a fortress, and the Lebanese street is slowly turning against the protestors, who don’t even have safe passage back to their homes now. The orders from the Dark Lord’s council are to pack more people in downtown Beirut, and as soon as possible. The plan to occupy or lay siege to the Rafik Hariri International airport seems to be in full swing, although the Lebanese army will reportedly not allow it.

What’s the hurry for?

This sunday, the 15-day time limit for Lahoud to sign the Hariri tribunal plan expires. As of Monday, the cabinet can constitutionally send it to parliament for endorsement. . . . Pretty soon, there will be no one left to remind Nasrallah’s worshippers of all these crimes. Not when Assad is allowed to complete the plan to assassinate anyone who speaks, let alone protests, against Hizbullah’s second favorite regime.

Given that assassination seems to be chic nowadays, why aren' t the good guys doing some of it?

BILL ROGGIO POSTS more reporting from Fallujah. If you like his work, make a donation -- he's reader supported.

RUMSFELD MAKES A FINAL VISIT TO THE TROOPS in Iraq. Apparently, the troops aren't happy about his stepping down.

PROTESTING AHMADINEJAD in Afghanistan.

ROBERT WRIGHT AND I address a wide range of topics on Blogging Heads TV.

UPDATE: No, that's not a TV studio in the background -- it's our new podcast studio, set up in the basement so that I could reclaim my study. Here's a pic. The cool-looking desk is actually something that Helen found at OfficeMax for $200. It was even easy to assemble.

And Ann Althouse comments on the dangers of political blogging, and the importance of healthy alternatives. Judging from the comments to her post, some blog-readers could use a vacation, too.

MARK IN MEXICO is doing more reporting on events in Oaxaca.

HERE ARE SOME THOUGHTS ON ROADSIDE SURVIVAL KITS, from SayUncle. And there's a lengthy discussion thread on the topic at Knoxviews. I carry something similar to what SayUncle lists -- and I highly recommend including tampons or kotex, good for treating wounds as well as the obvious, and a roll of toilet paper, good for, well, the obvious. We keep some "Mainstay Emergency Ration bars" and water in the car too -- advantage being that they are so unappetizing that we'll never eat them unless it's a real emergency.

At the very least you should carry something like this or this in your car. None of that will prepare you for a James Kim kind of situation, though,

But it's worth noting that your car itself has a lot of things you can work with, including gas in the tank, lines, and carbueretor (if it has a carbueretor). That should let you build a big attention-getting fire. I've heard of people freezing to death on a broken snowmobile with a nearly full tank of gas -- that kind of thing shouldn't happen, and it when it does happen it's usually because people, under stress, don't think clearly. That's where mental preparation is as important as buying supplies. (This is a good place to start.) More on the subject can be found here.

UPDATE: "What it means to be a father: More on James Kim. Plus, some outdoor survival advice from Popular Mechanics.

THE TRUTH ABOUT TRANS-FAT:

I simply do not believe that the so-called health side is really composed of people who are solicitous about everyone else's health. I can't prove it, but my intuition is that all the strength on the "health" side of this war comes not from people who really care whether other people are healthy, but from people who don't like having to see fat people. They are concerned about their own aesthetic pleasures, and they think fat is ugly.

Plus, in a world where feeling superior is politically incorrect, it's important to have someone to feel superior to. That said, I do think there's something to the Nina Planck approach, but the legislative approach is idiotic.

STANDING UP FOR free speech in Turkey.

BIG DAMN HEROES: The Firefly convention was cancelled, but nonetheless: "Nathan Fillion, Alan Tudyk, Mark Sheppard, Jonathan Woodward, Christina Hendricks and Adam Baldwin have all turned up and are partying with fans at the hotel bar into the night at the cancelled convention Flanvention. These actors? I don't have the words."

More here.

BLACKBERRY ORPHANS: "As hand-held email devices proliferate, they are having an unexpected impact on family dynamics: Parents and their children are swapping roles. Like a bunch of teenagers, some parents are routinely lying to their kids, sneaking around the house to covertly check their emails and disobeying house rules established to minimize compulsive typing. The refusal of parents to follow a few simple rules is pushing some children to the brink. They are fearful that parents will be distracted by emails while driving, concerned about Mom and Dad's shortening attention spans and exasperated by their parents' obsession with their gadgets."

They don't call it the "CrackBerry" for nothing. On the other hand, here's an argument that the Blackberry is really pro-family. Like all technology, it depends on how you use it. . . .

EBENEZER SCROOGE: Pioneer environmentalist!

December 08, 2006

JUST SAW MY FIRST EPISODE of NUMB3RS, and I liked it a lot. Any show that boosts math is cool, and this one also has Navi Rawat, who's likely to do more to make math look cool than anything since, well, ever.

UPDATE: Bill Hobbs emails that Season one and Season Two are both out on DVD already. That's fast! I guess the TV folks have caught on to the Sarah Pullman trend: "has anyone else observed the phenomenon of non-TV watchers who will spend hours watching shows on DVD and think that it's somehow morally superior, since you avoid the commercials?" Heh. It's just another marketing niche. Of course, for perfect Sarah Pullman synergy you need to be watching this, I guess.

HEDGE FUND OPERATORS trading on political information. (Via Bainbridge).

HEATH SHULER GOES TO WASHINGTON: Mike Gibson reports.

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY: "The Department of Homeland Security recently warned stock traders and bankers that their online systems may be vulnerable to an al-Qaida cyberattack. DHS should heed its own warning. Remarkably, one of the nation's most vulnerable networks is run by DHS headquarters, thanks to rapid turnover of cyberchiefs at the young agency. Last October, the inspector general's office reported that computer systems at the Customs and Border Protection bureau and the Secret Service are vulnerable to unauthorized penetration. Among other things, the DHS-controlled agencies failed to install software that can patch security holes." That's comforting.

SEGOLENE ROYAL, the next President of France?

HOLE. SHOVEL. DIGGING. A.P. vs. the bloggers, again.

Plus, Mark Steyn piles on.

UPDATE: More thoughts here: "The AP won’t produce its star source, Jamil Hussein, the policeman that neither the Iraqi Ministry of Interior nor CENTCOM can find record of, any of the immolated bodies or their names, the names and credentials of the local Iraqis the AP used as reporters of the incident and the AP’s follow-up, the purported conveniently located afterward anonymous witnesses, nor any Sunni leaders who are aware of the claimed incident." Plus, a Nixon comparison.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Mark Tapscott reports:

That amendment requiring the Pentagon to publish an annual report grading anonymous earmarks inserted by Members of Congress into defense spending bills was defeated in the House this afternoon on a 330-70 vote.

The vote is among the last official acts of the Republican majority in the House and ends an effort in the departing Congress to force Members to put their names on earmarks they sponsor.

Earmarks direct executive departments and agencies to spend tax dollars on projects without competitive bidding or other normal processes designed to prevent waste, fraud and corruption.

Now-former Rep. Randy Cunningham, R-CA, pled guilty earlier this year to multiple counts of accepting bribes from a defense contractor in return for earmarks in military spending bills.

A reason to miss the GOP majority just a bit less -- though opposition to reform here is, as usual, distressingly bipartisan. Nancy Pelosi, along with many, many Democrats, voted against the bill.

COFFEE WITH RICHARD PERLE: "The day Baghdad fell we should have handed political authority to Iraqis."

MORE COOKWARE! Bill Quick has posted his weekend cooking thread, and it's a guide to all kinds of kitchen stuff.

Between that post and this one you should be covered, though people are still emailing me about cookware.

DONALD RUMSFELD SAYS GOODBYE:

In a question-and-answer session, he was asked about his best day and his worst day as defense secretary.

"Clearly, the worst day was Abu Ghraib, seeing what went on there and feeling so deeply sorry that that happened," he said without hesitation, referring to the scandal in the spring of 2004 that triggered worldwide condemnation and prompted him to twice offer his resignation to President Bush at that time. Bush rejected those offers.

"I guess my best day, I don't know, may be a week from Monday," he said with a big grin, referring to the fact that his successor, Robert Gates, is scheduled to take over at the Pentagon on December 18.

In prepared remarks to his audience, Rumsfeld predicted that the period since he took office in January 2001 would eventually be seen as one of "enormous challenge and historic consequence."

Asked how he wants history to remember him, he said simply, "Better than the local press."

I think that's likely. More information, and video, here.

BILL ROGGIO POSTS a blog report from Fallujah.

MAKING SPACE LAW at the Space Law Probe blog.

A SECOND AMENDMENT ARGUMENT IN D.C.:

At issue in the case before a federal appeals court is whether the Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms" applies to all people or only to "a well regulated militia." The Bush administration has endorsed individual gun-ownership rights but the Supreme Court has never settled the issue.

If the dispute makes it to the high court, it would be the first case in nearly 70 years to address the amendment's scope. The court disappointed gun owner groups in 2003 when it refused to take up a challenge to California's ban on assault weapons.

In the Washington, D.C., case, a lower-court judge told six city residents in 2004 that they did not have a constitutional right to own handguns. The plaintiffs include residents of high-crime neighborhoods who want guns for protection.

Congress has also repeatedly said that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to arms. (Via Cato@Liberty, which has links to more information.) Some articles of mine on the Second Amendment can be found here and here. And this piece is specifically on the militia issue. Many more law review articles on the subject can be found here. There's also this recent podcast interview with Dave Kopel.

THIS WEEK'S Blog Week in Review podcast is up, featuring me, Austin Bay, and Tammy Bruce.

A LOOK AT "the not-so-infallible AP." "Unfortunately, and repeatedly of late, this behemoth has not only been getting it wrong - but increasingly refuses to acknowledge any wrongdoing. Instead, acting more like a politician or the mega-corporation that it is, the AP crew spins, obfuscates and attacks. Now they're at it again in Iraq."

JIMMY CARTER CHARGED WITH PLAGIARISM:

Ambassador Dennis Ross, a former Mideast envoy and FOX News foreign affairs analyst, claims maps commissioned and published by him were improperly republished in Carter's book.

"I think there should be a correction and an attribution," Ross said. "These were maps that never existed, I created them."

After Ross saw the maps in Carter's book, he told his publisher he wanted a correction.

When asked if the former president ripped him off, Ross replied: “it sure looks that way.”

Er, if stealing maps counts as plagiarism, anyway. More here. (Via Gateway Pundit).

SHINY: "Like Capt. Mal Reynolds stumbling in after a bar fight, the short-lived but much beloved sci-fi series Firefly will soon make an unexpected return, not as a TV show, but as a massively multiplayer online game."

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON:

Suffice to say that when the Democrats allege incompetence because we are not yet victorious, they forget we have lost 50 soldiers a month since September 11, not 8,000 as was true of every month during World War II. And it is much easier to carpet bomb Tokyo, as horrendously difficult as that was, than to go into Fallujah and sort out the terrorists from the “innocent” under the glare of a hostile globalized media, and a disunited American public, some of whom believe that Cindy Sheehan or Michael Moore should be consulted for their superior wisdom.

I haven’t engaged much in the parlor game of identifying mistakes in the occupation, because none of them (and there were many) reached a magnitude of those in World War II (e.g., daylight bombing without fighter escort in 1942-3, intelligence failures about the hedgerows, surprise at the Bulge, etc) or Korea (surprise at the Yalu). Nor were any fatal to our cause, despite the ‘disbanding’ of the army, Abu Ghraib, etc. If there were any serious blunders, they concerned the sense of hesitation that gave our enemies confidence—the sudden departure of Gen. Franks, the pullback from first Fallujah, the reprieve given Sadr, etc. In other words, once we were in a war, whatever public downside there was to using too much force was far outweighed by losing our sense of control and power, and ceding momentum to the terrorists. So we can learn from that, and begin again cracking down hard on the insurgents before calling for more troops.

Read the whole thing.

FREE FROM CAMPAIGNS, bloggers speak freely.

A LOOK AT PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD NANOTECHNOLOGY: Fairly favorable, considering the many scare stories.

IN THE MAIL: Rudy Rucker's new novel, Mathematicians in Love, where fancy math is a tool for getting the girl -- er, and incidentally altering the universe.

And here, by the way, are some science fiction recommendations by John Birmingham, author of the Axis of Time series. His taste obviously overlaps with mine. Thus, he's a genius! I also bought Birmingham's nonfiction book, How to be a Man, for my teenaged nephew, as it's chock-full of practical advice, amusingly delivered.

JOHN MCCAIN ON THE IRAQ STUDY GROUP: Video.

AS ALWAYS ON FRIDAY, Major John Tammes rounds up news from Afghanistan that you probably haven't seen.

WIRED HAS A BIG REVIEW OF DIGITAL VIDEO CAMERAS, and they liked this HD Canon the best. They also look at accessories like microphones, etc.

And they have a big roundup of high-definition TVs, too. They liked this Sony a lot, though it's a bit small.

And yeah, I know -- partly because people keep reminding me -- I owe you a digital camera video carnival, but I haven't had time to put one together yet. Sorry.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER ON THE LITVINENKO POISONING:

You don't need a convoluted device to explain Litvinenko's demise.

Do you think Anna Politkovskaya, the journalist who was investigating the war in Chechnya, was shot dead in her elevator by rogue elements? What about Viktor Yushchenko, the presidential candidate in Ukraine and eventual winner, poisoned with dioxin during the campaign, leaving him alive but disfigured? Ultranationalist Russians?

Opponents of Putin have been falling like flies. Some jailed, some exiled, some killed. True, Litvinenko's murder will never be traced directly to Putin, no matter how dogged the British police investigation. State-sponsored assassinations are almost never traceable to the source. Too many cutouts. Too many layers of protection between the don and the hit man. . . . The other reason for making it obvious and brazen is to send a message. This is a warning to all the future Litvinenkos of what awaits them if they continue to go after the Russian government. They'll get you even in London, where there is the rule of law. And they'll get you even if it makes negative headlines for a month.

Safer to attack Bush -- which is why more people do that.

I WATCHED JOHN KERRY'S APPEARANCE ON KUDLOW LAST NIGHT, and I have to say that I think it was the strongest performance I've ever seen Kerry turn in -- if he'd been like that the whole time in 2004 he would have won.

My first thought was that he'd given up on running in 2008, and that he'd benefited from the let-up of pressure. That seems not to be the case, though.

A LOOK AT Mary Cheney's womb and the news reporting thereon.

THE NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL REPORTS: "Despite increased security at courthouses following shootings in Chicago and Atlanta about one year ago, many judges are bringing their own guns into their courtrooms for protection."

And I love this quote, from one of those judges: ""We feel strongly about providing adequate security, but it comes down to personal responsibility. And you've got to take responsibility for your own safety." Indeed. Even if you're not a judge.

YALE, ALITO, AND POLITICS: A drama in one dubious act. (Via Althouse).

SORE WINNERS: "Republican Vern Buchanan might be the official winner in a messy Sarasota-area congressional race, but Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean says the Democratic-controlled Congress should not seat Buchanan without another election."

This will certainly harshen the divisions in the new Congress.

NO IMAMS WERE INVOLVED: Farts spark emergency landing:

The flight from Washington to Texas landed at Nashville airport, in the southeastern state of Tennessee, after passengers alerted the crew to the smell of burning sulphur.

Lynne Lowrance, a spokeswoman for Nashville International Airport Authority said all 99 passengers and their luggage were taken off the plane and searched.

An unlucky canine team was also brought in to sniff the aircraft for explosives.

After intense questioning by the FBI, a woman passenger admitted to lighting matches on board the aircraft to conceal her gas, Ms Lowrance said.

“For a long time she did not admit to striking matches and I think that was just out of embarrassment,” she said.

“She did finally admit to it saying she had a medical problem about excessive gas.”

Glad I wasn't on that flight.

December 07, 2006

CHINA: The world's number one jailer of journalists. "Some countries, like China, have worked hard to expand traditional registration and licensing requirements online as a way to control at least online journalism being done by people living in China. For commercial Chinese Internet media, the chilling effects on speech have managed to mirror those in the Chinese offline media world. Efforts in China to regulate non-commercial or personal Internet media (blogs, etc.) have not been quite as successful given how difficult it is to control individual bloggers. But as some colleagues of mine at the Open Net Initiative pointed out in a report early this year, these efforts have still resulted in more caution and self-censorship by people talking online."

Sadly, this has happened with a lot of help from American companies.

POLONIUM UPDATE: "Dmitry Kovtun, a businessman and former Russian agent who met with former spy Alexander Litvinenko in London, has developed an illness connected with a radioactive substance, the prosecutor’s office said. Interfax, citing unidentified sources, said Kovtun fell into a coma immediately after being questioned by Russian investigators and Scotland Yard detectives."

THE MUDVILLE GAZETTE crunches the numbers on troop deployments and gets some surprising results.

MEDIA BIAS AS A MARKETING TOOL: It goes down smooth, but it's bad for you. It's the trans-fat of journalism!

"CROTCHGATE?"

YES, LIGHT BLOGGING: Went to my daughter's orchestra recital tonight. She did quite well, and so did they all; the eighth graders pulled off the Third Brandenburg Concerto, and while it wasn't Benjamin Britten's version, it was a very creditable performance for a middle school orchestra.

CAREER PLANNING: "You could just be a party girl, but that's not for you. You want a career. A real career. Should you go to law school? No way. You go to work for a hedge fund."

JONAH GOLDBERG: "The report undercuts the Murtha crowd by delegitimizing the quick bug-out (AKA redeployment) option and makes staying in Iraq at least until '08 the "conventional" or "mainstream" point of view. For Bush, isn't this the only part of the ISG report that matters? And when it comes to the actual situation in Iraq, the report basically confirms established policies of the White House and the Pentagon. So, in effect, doesn't the heralded bipartisan commission in effect give Bush the leeway to — ahem — stay the course?"

PROGRESS TOWARD NANO-MEDICINE?

Intel just released samples of its latest chip, the Penryn. It's manufactured with a 45-nanometer process, and for those of you counting at home, 45 nanometers is about half the size of DNA and proteins.

While these new chips are not yet ready to be implanted in the body, nor sophisticated enough to detect unique proteins (such as those often associated with heart disease), Intel is making progress in this area. It's even done some preliminary work with privately held nanotech firm Nanosys, linking disease-detecting nanowires to computer chips.

In the meantime, Intel is busily making progress toward Barrett's goal of bringing the economics of the semiconductor industry to the health sciences.

Sounds like we're moving toward an Andy Kessler world. You can hear our podcast interview with Kessler here. (Thanks to reader Chip Fussell for the link.)

THE TEN FUNNIEST POLITICAL MOMENTS of 2006.

THE DUSTUP OVER JIMMY CARTER'S BOOK reaches ABC News.

DANIEL DREZNER: "Ah, the Democratically-controlled Congress -- is there any step towards economic liberalization that they won't block?"

Lou Dobbs uber alles.

IN THE MAIL: John O'Sullivan's new book, The President, the Pope, and the Prime Minister: Three Who Changed the World.

We could use some similar leadership again. But who would fill those roles today? At dinner the other night, Jack Balkin expressed the thought that Hillary could be America's Margaret Thatcher. I'm not sure about that, though I have in the past suggested that she might really turn out to be the most uncompromising wartime President in United States history.

REMEMBERING PEARL HARBOR.

ON THE NEXT GLENN AND HELEN SHOW, we'll be taking questions from readers and listeners. Just email me yours with "show questions" in the subject line. Anything from blogging, to podcasting, to whatever subjects we talk about on various shows -- fire away and we'll answer.

If you want to email me a short (under 20 seconds) MP3 file with your question in audio, I'll include that, too. (Be sure to say your name in the question if you want that included). Try to get 'em in by the end of the day tomorrow.

NEWS IN IRAN: "Ayatollah’s health fails as Iran power struggle grows." The bad news is, there's really nobody contending for power that we like.

VERY INTERESTING: The corporate origins of judicial review.

COMMENTS ON THE ISG REPORT, from Sgt. T.F. Boggs, back from his second deployment in Iraq. Excerpt: "I thought old people were supposed to be more patient than a 24 year old but apparently I have more patience for our victory to unfold in Iraq than 99.9 percent of Americans. Iraq isn’t fast food--you can’t have what you want and have it now."

GREGORY SCOBLETE on Rumsfeld, Gates, and the war:

In the rush to heap opprobrium on an unpopular figure, it's important not to lose sight of the fact that on several fundamental issues of how America exercises its military power, Rumsfeld was right and his critics are wrong.

Rumsfeld's vision of transformation has always been far too parsimonious for neoconservatives, who championed an American Empire and waxed nostalgic for the British Colonial Office. To the military's traditional role of defeating and deterring conventional nation states, Rumsfeld labored to add the ability to quickly locate, target and destroy terrorist cells and facilities around the globe and to accomplish these tasks remotely, minimizing U.S. casualties. Such a vision demanded a lean, agile and networked force. It was not, however, the neocolonial occupation army demanded by his critics.

Rumsfeld was clearly the odd man out in an administration that jettisoned its realist sensibilities in the aftermath of 9/11 in favor of a more ambitious use of American power. His preference to turn Iraq over to the Iraqis quickly stood in stark contrast to the administration's professed aims of constructing a democracy in the heart of the Middle East. His desire for a rapid exit undoubtedly hastened Iraq's sectarian fragmentation, but such a fragmentation was inevitable. The U.S simply did not possess enough manpower to accomplish what Rumsfeld's critics wanted to in Iraq.

I think that's right. An extra 20 or 30 thousand troops isn't enough to make a qualitative difference in our approach; that would take a half million or more, and we don't have that many to send. And even that wouldn't be enough, so long as Iran and Syria had -- as they have -- a virtually free hand to stir up trouble.

UPDATE: Hmm: "Exit Rumsfeld, Smiling."

MORE ON NEANDERTHAL WOMEN.

December 06, 2006

A HAROLD KOH BOBBLEHEAD DOLL: The gift for the person who has everything!

NEW EVIDENCE OF liquid water on Mars.

A SHORT COURSE in brain surgery.

NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Writing in Industry Week, Scott Rickert wonders about the nanotechnology industry's response to recent safety concerns:

According to a recent article in Small Times, a nanotechnology trade journal, Matthew Nordan of Lux Research was quoted as saying, "I know of at least two personal care companies that have delivered the message from on high explicitly not allowing the words 'nanotechnology,' 'nano-engineered,' 'nano-capsule,' or anything else like them."

We haven't yet heard reports of companies halting research or product development based on the ruling, but I fear it's a topic of discussion in labs and boardrooms across the country.

Seems to me, these decisions represent the ostrich approach, sidestepping the issues, rather than seeing them as an opportunity to set standards and build an attitude of trust with consumers. My biggest fear is that the "ostrich factor" isn't short term. Five years from now, will we still have our heads in the sand? Meanwhile the rest of the world is moving ahead on nanotechnology in logical, considered fashion.

I have some related thoughts here.

IT'S STUDENT DAY in Iran.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Some good news from Andy Roth:

News came in yesterday that Tom Coburn and Jim DeMint had successfully negotiated a clean continuing resolution for the remaining appropriations bills in the Senate. There were talks with GOP Leadership and the big-spending appropriators to attach a clean Military Quality approps bill to the CR, but the appropriators balked, refusing to let a couple of freshman senators push them around. In the end, ironically and deliciously, a couple of freshman senators pushed them around.

The result, Roth reports, is that 10,000 pork projects have been blocked.

ANDREW MCCARTHY has thoughts on the situation, thoughts that have Bush critic Bill Quick saying "I told you so."

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS on the anniversary of an attack.

IRANIAN OIL WOES?

Iran has a surprising weakness: Its oil and gas industry, the lifeblood of its economy, is showing serious signs of distress. As domestic energy consumption skyrockets, Iran is struggling to produce enough oil and gas for export. Unless Tehran overhauls its policies, its primary source of revenue and the basis of its geopolitical muscle could start to wane. Within a decade, says Saad Rahim, an analyst at Washington consultancy PFC Energy, "Iran's net crude exports could fall to zero." . . .

Iran's looming crisis is the result of years of neglect and underinvestment. As in other oil-producing countries such as Venezuela and Mexico, the government treats the oil industry as a cash cow, milking its revenues for social programs. It allocates only $3 billion a year for investment, less than a third of what's needed to get production growing again.

Hmm. This almost makes the Bush Administration's weirdly nonconfrontational (one might even say "oblivious") stance with regard to Iran seem sensible -- but can we wait a decade? I don't think so.

GATES CONFIRMED, 95-2. The no votes: Rick Santorum and Jim Bunning. Fred Kaplan will be happy.

UPDATE: A look at what Gates didn't say.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Jules Crittenden: "As political matters go, I was more interested to hear a former CIA director still thinks we had to invade Iraq in 2003. That was also a relevant strategic issue, after all."

THE CONGRESSIONAL TRIBUTE TO NORMAN BORLAUG has passed.

WELL U.S. AIR GOT ME HOME ON TIME, though they did it via a code-share flight that was really United. Pleasant trip, and the security guys at Hartford were unusually cheerful and amusing.

I haven't had a chance to look at the Iraq Study Group report, but here's an analysis by Richard Fernandez of The Belmont Club, who probably has more useful things to say on the subject than me anyway.

And James Taranto comments: " The recommendations of the Iraq Study Group are out, and those who are eager for a quick American defeat will be disappointed. "

Meanwhile, N.Z. Bear has put up a page-linkable HTML version of the report, and will be tracking blog comments that link to it.

UPDATE: Hugh Hewitt is unimpressed. And Slate says the blogosphere is delivering a collective yawn. Guess I picked a good day to be on travel!

HOWARD MORTMAN: "Are you better off now than you were four weeks ago?"

IF O.J. SIMPSON WERE REINCARNATED AS A CHICKEN, I guess he'd write this book. Sorry, I saw the title and couldn't resist. . . .

A RESIGNATION FROM THE CARTER CENTER, over Jimmy Carter's book? "President Carter's book on the Middle East, a title too inflammatory to even print, is not based on unvarnished analyses; it is replete with factual errors, copied materials not cited, superficialities, glaring omissions, and simply invented segments. Aside from the one-sided nature of the book, meant to provoke, there are recollections cited from meetings where I was the third person in the room, and my notes of those meetings show little similarity to points claimed in the book."

It'll be interesting to see what Jimmy has to say about that.

I'M AT THE HARTFORD AIRPORT NOW, where there's free wi-fi, but no heat -- I'm grateful for the warmth of the laptop on my lap. . . .

AN IMPASSIONED PLEA to product designers, in my TCS Daily column.

ARE RULES OF ENGAGEMENT the real problem in Iraq?

"NO BLOOD FOR CHEESE!"

SIGNS OF PROGRESS IN PAKISTAN?

Plus, read this by Cathy Young.

UPDATE: This seems related, somehow.

December 05, 2006

THE PANEL AT YALE LAW SCHOOL WENT WELL, followed by a delightful dinner with Jack Balkin, Howard Bashman, and a number of Yale Law students. Now I'm back at the hotel, and further blogging will have to wait. See you later!

MICKEY KAUS:

Virtual Fence = Virtual Corruption? Speaker Pelosi's fallback choice to head the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, voted against building the 700 mile border fence. He prefers a system of video surveillance cameras, apparently. And gee, it seems that his daughter works for a firm that won a government contract to provide such surveillance services! What's more, according to WaPo's John Mintz (who broke the story) the firm did a really bad job.

Here's more from TPM Muckraker.

Perhaps the Alcee Hastings nomination was really just an effort to make Reyes look cleaner by comparison. Is Pelosi that smart?

Kaus adds: "It would be nice to have some Gates-like oversight hearings at which Reyes could be grilled about this video-surveillance debacle. But of course Reyes is the overseer, not the overseen."

A PULITZER-PRIZE PHOTO from Iran, taken by an unknown photographer. Who has now been revealed.

MICHAEL BARONE: "The character and qualifications of the nominees are going to be more important than party preference in determining who wins the 2008 presidential election. That's my conclusion from the initial 2008 polls I've seen."

UPDATE: Larry Kudlow is liking John McCain on this account.

THE LITVINENKO CASE just gets weirder. Muslim burials and Italian politicians.

"SO WHAT DID NEANDERTHAL WOMEN DO ALL DAY?"

IN A DEPARTURE FROM MY LAST EXPERIENCE, U.S. Airways has delivered me to Washington smoothly and ahead of schedule. I'm enroute to New Haven, where I'll be talking about blogs, law, and the Internet with Jack Balkin and Howard Bashman.

UPDATE: Eric Scheie emails: "US Airways got you there early???? Maybe the flying imams boycott
is helping after all!"

Thanks, kooky imams!

IN THE MAIL, Joel Rosenberg's post-Arthurian novel Paladins. He lived in New Haven back when I was in law school, and we have vague memories of meeting each other in some bar -- Rudy's or The Gypsy, most likely -- back then. I've enjoyed his other fantasy novels, and I'll probably enjoy this one, too.

By the way, the latest Eric Flint novel, which I mentioned earlier, held up quite well. If you like his other work, you'll enjoy it. If you haven't read anything by Flint, you should probably start with 1632.

UPDATE: Several readers remind me that you can get 1632 for free in the Baen Free Library, if you don't mind an electronic version.

MAKING ATLAS SHRUG, in Venezuela.

THE CARNIVAL OF THE RECIPES is up! So is the Blawg Review.

Plus, spreading the holiday cheer at the Carnival of Cordite.

MARK TAPSCOTT: "How to end AP's '60 Minutes Moment' on Iraqi Sources."

JOSH MANCHESTER WRITES on Newt and his critics.

SHOOTING OURSELVES IN THE FOOT, economically: "Last year, of the 25 largest initial public offerings in the world, only one took place in America. This year, Hong Kong is likely to end up as the No. 1 market for stock offerings world-wide." Sarbanes-Oxley is blamed. Or, in the case of folks in Hong Kong, credited.

BILL ROGGIO IS BLOGGING FROM FALLUJAH:

While waiting to manifest on the flight to Fallujah, CNN played a news segment of President Bush announcing there would be no “graceful exit” from Iraq, and that we'd stay until the mission was complete. Two sergeants in the room cheered. Loudly. They then scoffed at the reports from Baghdad, and jeered the balcony reporting.

In nearly every conversation, the soldiers, Marines and contractors expressed they were upset with the coverage of the war in Iraq in general, and the public perception of the daily situation on the ground. The felt the media was there to sensationalize the news, and several stated some reporters were only interested in “blood and guts.” They freely admitted the obstacles in front of them in Iraq. Most recognized that while we are winning the war on the battlefield, albeit with difficulties in some areas, we are losing the information war. They felt the media had abandoned them.

During each conversation, I was left in the awkward situation of having to explain that while, yes, I am wearing a press badge, I'm not 'one of them.' I used descriptions like 'independent journalist' or 'blogger' in an attempt to separate myself from the pack.

What a terrible situation to be in, having to defend yourself because of your profession. I've always said that the hardest thing about embedding (besides leaving my family) is wearing the badge that says 'PRESS.' That hasn't changed. I hide the badge whenever I can get away with it.

Ouch.

IRAQ SYMPOSIUM, PART ONE: I've been flooded with email on this in response to my post the other day, so I'm probably going to have to put it up in pieces. Here's piece one, anyway.

James Ruhland, having served in Iraq, posts his thoughts in "There and Back Again." Excerpt:

Too many people are concerned with cosseting the troops: They're all about body armor, safety, putting as many as possible behind the wire, protected by concrete barriers, and not about what needs to be done. We need to get more of out troops outside the big basecamps, and working directly with Iraqi forces as mentors. We also need to expand greatly the embedment of other departments of our government, and allied nations, with Iraqi counterparts, to build civil-society infrastructure.

We need to reduce the megabases, the situation where Fort Hood is essentially being re-created opposite the terminal of Baghdad International, and get more of us out working with the Iraqi soldiers. We need to "embed" more troops among the Iraqis, mentor them more.

He's got a lot of thoughts on the home front, too.

At Posse Incitatus, a suggestion that we change our approach:

The key is a regional solution. We cannot wall off Iraq from the nations around it, nor should we wish to. Instead, we should be exporting Iraq to the rest of the region.

This having been said, it has long been clear that the US plays by one set of rules, and its rivals use a far more effective and different set.

This needs to change.

Bottom line: "Regime change. More of it."

At the Turkeyblog, a less bellicose approach:

On the ground, of course, we've been putting in power plants, re-laying streets, securing businesses, etc. But there's a disconnect when we turn around and try to get this or that imam or mufti on board as though the Iraqi people were mere reflections of the mosques they went to. For some, that may be the case. But that's one of our big problems, and when we give those who follow this or that imam a bigger voice by doing things this way, we get in the way of what we need to be promoting: secularization.

At Wikistan: "The key to a more stable Iraq is stronger pressure on Tehran via Russia. "

John Engram proposes something kind of similar:

Declare war on the Iranian economy. . . .

Basically, I'm advocating placing Iran's oil fields at risk (instead of their nuclear facilities). The Iranian economy is rocky and could not withstand a reduction in oil revenues for any appreciable length of time. An announcement by the US that it might be prepared to disrupt Iranian oil export capacity would be taken seriously by countries thinking about signing long-term contracts with Tehran.

With the right futures-market positions, we could actually turn a profit on this approach . . . .

At Stromata, another Iran-centered approach:

Now that we have confirmed beyond reasonable doubt that Iran is supplying weapons to anti-American militias, and probably training them, too, we should cut transport lines between the two countries.

And there's more along these lines. On the other hand, at Prof. James Hamilton's Econbrowser, a proposal for a more conciliatory approach to the Sunnis:

To this end we propose that the United States make a financial commitment to Iraq which takes the form of ensuring that its Sunni provinces get oil revenues proportional to their share of the population over the next decade or possibly more. Initially, it should take the form of simply funneling an amount equal to the Sunni share directly to these provinces. This would at the same time increase the size of the national pie, which would help to appease the Shia and the Kurds, and might also reduce the tension over Kirkuk. In later years the commitment would transition into an insurance policy.

I prefer the "oil trust" idea myself (me and Hillary Clinton), but these approaches aren't entirely inconsistent.

Terri Goon would focus on training Iraqis in a new and more intense fashion.

Texas Scribbler writes:

I like the idea of hitting the mullahs (and their figurehead president) in their pocketbooks, but supporting the Iranian opposition (particularly their trade unions) with more vigor than we apparently are doing now, would also be ideal. But I think the best idea is what is already underway, according to some of CENTCOM's recent press releases, i.e. converting the patrolling of the big American units into a relatively small advisory effort. Call it training for the Iraqi army, if you want, but it would mainly be about providing them with American officers on the ground with access to our artillery, air support and medevac. Which is what we were doing in Vietnam by 1972, with more success than previously. True counter-insurgency operations. Only this time we must not cut off the funding. . . .

As for Syria, why not financially undermine Baby Assad the same way we do the mullahs, in fact the whole Syrian Bathhist elite? We certainly have the means, and with Iraq drawn down to a 30,000 or so ground troop advisory effort, we'd again have the forces for outright war with Syria. The terrain there is very inviting.

The Jacksonian Party offers "a plan to stabilize Iraq." It's rather involved.

And a whole bunch of people pointed to this article by Chester, which I've already linked but am linking again. Apparently it has a lot of fans, both inside and outside the military.

Finally -- for this installment, at least -- some rather detailed thoughts on strategy and tactics from Jay Manifold -- read 'em all. And if you don't have a blog and want to participate, Greyhawk has set up a comment thread just for that.

December 04, 2006

BIDEN WARNS BUSH AND BAKER not to link Iraq and Israel. Good for Biden. It would be like Baker to sell out Israel for a short-term concession in Iraq.

Bad news: "The rest of Biden's speech wasn't so good. . . . what's strange is that Biden's analysis of the threat Iran poses from the view of the Arab states doesn't match his view of the threat it poses to America. Or at least not to what he tells Americans."

GWYNETH PALTROW: "I'm proud to be American."

'Cause at least she knows she's free.

NOT QUITE A SISTER SOULJAH MOMENT, but maybe a Sister Souljah nanosecond:

“One good test as to whether folks are doing interesting work is, Can they surprise me?” he tells me. “And increasingly, when I read Daily Kos, it doesn’t surprise me. It’s all just exactly what I would expect.”

Just a foretaste of Obama's campaign, I think. Unlike Clinton, who had to show his independence from the urban black base of his party, Obama will have to show his independence from the urban white base of his party. . . .

MORE BLOOD-BLOGGING, from Fritz Schranck.

VARIOUS PEOPLE have asked about the pictures I took for Helen's blog. It was a pretty low-budget affair.

She wanted some new headshots, which we did, but we also took a blog photo -- in her pajamas, natch -- because she wanted to take down the old black-and-white picture on her blog and replace it with something more colorful. I actually took this one as I was setting up a different shot, but I liked it best for its spontaneity.

I used the Nikon D50 with a 50mm/f1.8 normal lens, and an aptly-named thrifty light set that I actually got to support some webcam video stuff I'm planning to do. It could have been brighter -- quartz instead of photoflood -- but it was adequate. That's pretty much the description of the whole setup: Cheap, but good enough. My motto!

More from the D50 here.

UPDATE: Gerard van der Leun emails that he's got the same light set, but that it's not available on Amazon any more. True -- the link was just an illustration. But this one is very similar. And if I had it to do over again, I'd buy this one.

THE ANTI-NORMAN BORLAUG? A nomination.

SOME ELECTRONICS RECOMMENDATIONS, from Megan McArdle.

19 DEAD AND 243,000 WITHOUT POWER AND HEAT in St. Louis. Gateway Pundit has a roundup.

"I HAVE BEHEADED MANY PEOPLE WHO WERE MY FRIENDS." Past tense, of course.

CLAUDIA ROSETT: "Cold comfort indeed, but the upside of John Bolton resigning as ambassador to the UN is that the UN does not deserve to be dignified by ambassadors of the stature of John Bolton. His presence there endowed the place with a seriousness it has not earned. Bolton has been valiant in his efforts to clean up UN corruption and malfeasance, and follow UN procedure in dealing with such threats as a nuclear North Korea, a Hezbollah bid to take over Lebanon, and the nuclearization of Hezbollah’s terror-masters in Iran. But it has been like watching one man trying to move a tsunami of mud."

MCCAIN ON IRAQ: "Well in war, my dear friends, there is no such thing as compromise; you either win or you lose."

BLOGGER ENEMIES LISTS?

RON BAILEY: "On Friday, April 13, 2029, Earth Has a 99.7 Percent Chance of Being Missed by an Asteroid--Is That Good Enough?"

Not for me.

YOU REPORT, WE REPEAT?

It always pleases us at Pajamas Media when we can save the minions of mainstream media a little leg work, but we’d like to get some credit for it when we do.

Case in point: The Faking Imams story which Pajamas Media’s Washington editor Richard Miniter broke last Friday evening. The revelations in this story were grist for Fox News’ cable television reporting all through the weekend, but it would seem all their commentators “forgot” to attribute the source of their story.

I think they've just been reminded.

SOME THOUGHTS ON "THERAPEUTIC JURISPRUDENCE:" "not only misguided, but potentially dangerous."

HONORING NORMAN BORLAUG: As regular InstaPundit readers know, I'm all for that. I love this:

Norman Borlaug "has saved more lives than any other person who has ever lived." This is a profound distinction. Like the society that sustains it, American academia takes achievements like this for granted. One must wonder how many professors, outside schools such as Tuskegee and departments dedicated to agriculture, have any idea that an American university professor holds the all-time record for lives saved.

I'm guessing that not many people do.

IN THE MAIL: Mark Elliott's Color-Blind Justice: Albion Tourgee and the Quest for Racial Equality from the Civil War to Plessy v. Ferguson, which looks quite interesting. Tourgee was the lawyer for the losing (anti-segregation) side in Plessy v. Ferguson, the case that gave birth to the doctrine of "separate but equal." He had been a champion of racial equality during Reconstruction, but the U.S. public tired of keeping troops in the South and the national press painted Reconstruction as an unrealistic failure, leading to the takeover of pro-segregation forces and the enactment of Jim Crow laws. Tourgee continued to fight these -- with some support from Civil War veterans -- but it was mostly unsuccessful, setting the stage for long-term problems that affect America to this day.

It should go well with this book by Jennifer Weber.

OUCH: "A 45-year-old man was hospitalized after four sheriff's deputies rescued him from the jaws of a nearly 12-foot alligator Wednesday, while he was naked and high on crack cocaine."

The man, not the alligator.

THIS IS COOL:

Before long, "user-generated content" won't refer only to media, but to just about anything: user-generated jeans, user-generated sports cars, user-generated breakfast meats.

This is because setting up a company that designs, makes and globally sells physical products could become almost as easy as starting a blog — and the repercussions would be earthshaking.

That's the future Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos hopes to set in motion with the company's new direction. If you tease out Bezos' plan, you get to a point where a high school cheerleader sitting at home with a laptop could theoretically harness computing power, design capabilities, manufacturing and distribution from around the world, and make and market a cute little pink hot rod that would compete against General Motors.

Hey, somebody should write a book about this kind of thing. (Via Virginia Postrel.)

JOHN HAWKINS is now rounding up posts from the rightosphere at his "Conservative Grapevine" site.

MORE NEWS FROM BASRA at The Mudville Gazette.

I'M STILL BURIED IN COOKWARE EMAILS, notwithstanding yesterday's post. (Who knew? Well, actually, it's a long-standing InstaPundit reader interest.) I don't have time to do another roundup at the moment, but if cookware's your thing -- and for a lot of InstaPundit readers, it obviously is, -- check out this Jane Galt roundup.

WALKING ON EGGSHELLS: Today's Washington Examiner has more on the flying imams.

Airlines have the right — and the duty — to protect their passengers. The security protocols established as a direct result of Sept. 11 inconvenience and sometimes even humiliate everybody who flies. If you don’t want to submit to the indignity, stay off airplanes.

And the only way to counter ideological jihad is to speak the truth: U.S. Airways did the right thing by removing these six provocateurs from the plane.

The imams' behavior, and the followup by groups like CAIR, will only tend to support those who view American muslims as a threat. That's unfortunate.

MEGAN MCARDLE offers thoughts on the H-word.

December 03, 2006

SARBANES-OXLEY: not as bad for businesses as some other things.

IS THE THRILL GONE FROM FESTIVUS?

Mary Katharine Ham proposes an alternative.

IF SUPREME COURT JUSTICES were rock stars.

DIGITAL CAMERA CARNIVAL UPDATE: Okay, I keep getting camera questions, which suggests to me that somehow people have missed the Digital Camera Carnival. You can find it here: Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.

And in response to a question about underwater cameras suitable for scuba diving, which I only sort of answered, here are a couple of reviews from Divester, the scuba blog.

Not much interest so far in the video carnival, so if I don't get any more entries I'll just post what I've gotten soon.

TIGERHAWK OFFERS HELP for journalism students under time pressure.

"DO NOT TAKE COUNSEL OF YOUR FEARS." It's good advice.

THIS IS COOL: "Organic globules found in a meteorite that slammed into Canada's Tagish Lake may be older than our sun, a new study says." (Via Slashdot.)

PUBLIUS ROUNDS UP photos and reports from the Venezuelan elections.

UPDATE: Rumors that things are going badly for Chavez may be true: "Officials identifying themselves as members of a state regulatory agency forced the U.S.-based Spanish-language TV network Telemundo to halt transmission Sunday of its presidential election coverage."

Hard to believe they'd do that if he were winning handily.

ANOTHER UPDATE: But apparently, they would.

MICKEY KAUS: "Deutsch, an 'advertising mogul' and CNBC host, would make a perfect Murphy Brown or Sister Souljah, no? He's rich and defenseless! ... Hillary doesn't need any more Souljahs, of course (she needs whatever the opposite is). But Barack Obama might."

WREATHS at Arlington.

CHEATING on a journalism ethics exam? You can't make this stuff up. Sadly, you don't have to.

LABTESTING THE PLAYSTATION THREE: Pretty good marks, but since it's still showing as "unavailable," it's hard for me to get too excited. I think that Sony has made a mistake by launching without enough machines to meet demand. I wasn't in the market for one (though I might have considered it as a cheap way to get a Blu-Ray player) and I'm still somewhat irritated to see that I can't get one . . . .

UPDATE: Reader Joseph Burns emails:

I saw your little write up about the PS3 and think you should check out Nintendo's Wii. I've got one and it's a total blast. I'm you're typical colelge guy, but bringing it home for thanksgiving, every member of my family played it and loved it. We even used the SD slot to view family photos for the senile grandmothers. Nintendo's kind of a 'david' in this market, in many ways (although the market is so huge, the company with $6 billion in cash is a 'david'.) While Microsoft and Sony want their machines to be everything to everyone, Nintendo just plays games. And it does it really, really well.

One of my students came to class looking really tired the other day, and said that he and his roommates had gotten a Wii and stayed up until 6 a.m. playing it. Just what I need! Apparently, the motion controller is really good. . . .

Oh, well, it's showing as "unavailable" too, so maybe I was too hard on Sony, above. Upside: Guess I don't even have to try to fight temptation!