Political Digest for December 1, 2010
Robert A. Hall
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Important: Have Some Irish Coffee
The world’s economy is so tied together, they are likely to drag us into the abyss with them when they go. ~Bob. Excerpt: Yesterday afternoon, Ireland Europe ’s capital markets. Credit spreads on so-called “peripheral” European sovereigns are blowing out this morning, and government bonds of Portugal and Spain Italy
Important: European Union: R.I.P.?
Excerpt: When communism collapsed in Moscow , Prague and Belgrade Europe . And it is hard to see how a transnational institution like the European Union, run by faceless bureaucrats, and the 16-nation eurozone it created long survive. As of Monday, Greece and Ireland had been bailed out -- Greece with $145 billion, Ireland Iberia , to Portugal and Spain Europe testifies to a belief that this storm is far from over…. For if bondholders know they will be among the first victims burned in bailouts in 2013, they may suspect a singeing even before then. This will impel them to start shedding the bonds of any nation with deficit and debt problems, which will deepen those deficit and debt problems. While the EU-IMF bailout fund is now sufficiently flush to handle a Portugal , Madrid has an economy twice the size of Greece , Ireland and Portugal Spain is forced into a bailout, and Italy
"I’m Tired"—the Energizer Bunny of blog posts
Have another request for a radio interview—from Australia
Airport Security: Let's Profile Muslims
Excerpt: As an American Muslim, I’ve come to recognize, sadly, that there is one common denominator defining those who’ve got their eyes trained on U.S. targets: MANY of them are Muslim—like the Somali-born teenager arrested Friday night for a reported plot to detonate a car bomb at a packed Christmas tree-lighting ceremony in downtown Portland , Oregon
The Swiss have voted to deport foreign criminals. Let's copy them.
Excerpt: The Swiss know how to stand up for themselves. In a referendum yesterday, they voted in favour of the automatic deportation of foreigners who commit serious crimes. Needless to say, the latte liberals at Amnesty International are appalled and – revealing their utter contempt for democracy – are calling on Swiss politicians to ignore the will of the people. Amnesty’s reasoning is that deportations could cause convicts to be sent back to countries where they could face persecution. But this is a ridiculous argument: no one is forcing visitors to Switzerland America
Phelim McAleer is a journalist. In his capacity as a journalist, he is a skeptic. The role of skeptic - the one who asks the questions, the one who demands answers - is generally a lauded role in modern society. At least .. as long as there’s a Republican on the hot seat. But in climate circles, they have another word, a pejorative term, for skeptics: deniers. The church of global warming has no tolerance for heresy, and even less for probing questions or investigations. And so it is that the journalist Phelim McAleer was denied press credentials for the UN Climate Change Conference taking place in sunny Cancun , Mexico Copenhagen
Excerpt: We have noted many times that the Department of Justice named the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a self-described civil rights group, as an unindicted co-conspirator in its prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation and others for providing support to the terrorist group Hamas. But we missed the fact (I did, anyway) that the federal courts have now affirmed DOJ's designation of CAIR as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Can Republicans Talk? By Thomas Sowell
Excerpt: The biggest battle in the lame duck session of Congress may well be over whether or not to extend the Bush administration's tax cuts, which are scheduled to expire in January. The fact that this decision has been left until late in the eleventh hour, even though the expiration date has been known for years, tells us a lot about the utter irresponsibility of Congress. Neither businesses nor individuals nor the Internal Revenue Service will know what to do until this issue is resolved. In a stalled economy, we do not need this prolonged uncertainty that can paralyze both consumer spending and investment spending. Republicans want the current tax rates to continue and Democrats want only the current tax rates for people earning less than "the rich"-- variously defined-- to continue, with everyone making more than some specified income to have their tax rates rise next year…. What does that record say? It says, loud and clear, that cuts in tax rates do not mean cuts in tax revenues. In all four of these administrations, of both parties, so-called "tax cuts for the rich" led to increased tax revenues-- with people earning high incomes paying not only a larger sum total of tax revenues, but even a higher proportion of all tax revenues. Most important of all, these tax rate reductions spurred economic activity, which we definitely need today.
Policy change will allow passengers to bring guns on Amtrak
Reversing a near decade-long ban, Amtrak will allow passengers to bring guns on most trains starting next month. The change, pushed by gun-rights advocates and ordered by Congress, aligns Amtrak's firearm policy with air travel rules that allow unloaded guns to be stored in locked baggage holds.
Minimum Wage, Maximum Folly
Excerpt: How about this: The law of gravity is applicable to the behavior of falling objects on the U.S. mainland but not applicable on our Pacific Ocean territories Samoa and Northern Mariana Islands . You say, "Williams, that's lunacy! Laws are applicable everywhere; that's why they call it a law." You're right, but does the same reasoning apply to the law of demand that holds: The higher the price of something, the less people will take of it; and the lower its price, the more people will take of it? The law of demand applies to wages, interest and rent because, after all, they are the prices of something. In 2007, the Democrat-led Congress and White House enacted legislation raising the minimum wage law, in steps, from $5.15 an hour to $7.25. With some modification, the increases applied to our Pacific Ocean territories. Republicans and others opposed to the increases were labeled as hostile toward workers. According to most opinion polls taken in 2006, more than 80 percent of Americans favored Congress' intention to raise the minimum wage. Most Americans see the minimum wage as a good thing, and without it, rapacious employers wouldn't pay workers much of anything.
Political markets betting on John Thune in 2012
I think that the four “front runners,” Palin, Romney, Huckabee and Gingrich (my favorite) have too much baggage and the GOP needs a new face. ~Bob. Excerpt: He barely registers in polls, but there’s a lot of smart money betting on Sen. John Thune for Republican presidential nominee in 2012. In a Quinnipiac University poll out Monday, just 2 percent of likely Republican voters said they support the South Dakota
Want To Raise a Good Person? Stop Nurturing Your Child's Self-Esteem
I’ve long thought that the best way to destroy a child’s future was to heap un-earned self esteem n him or her. I’m hardly an expert—but what we’ve been doing hasn’t produced a new “greatest generation.” ~Bob. Excerpt: It turns out, however, that the premise was entirely misguided. There is no correlation between goodness and high self-esteem. But there is a correlation between criminality and high self-esteem. Florida State University Professor Roy Baumeister (Ph.D. psychology, Princeton University
5 Reasons The CIA Should Have Already Killed Julian Assange
Excerpt: One of the weirder tics of modern civilization is that oftentimes, even in matters of life and death, many people would prefer to lose in a politically correct manner than win easily, but make people angry in the process. So, we put nonsensical, self-defeating limitations on ourselves to try to avoid angry editorials and hurt feelings. Take warfare, for example. We've built an overwhelming, nearly unstoppable war machine that can turn any military force that goes up against it into cat food and then we've proceeded to create mind numbingly stupid, overly legalistic rules of engagement that nullify many of our advantages. We have a military capable of reducing whole regions to rubble in days and yet we struggle to deal with Somalian pirates and Taliban cavemen because we can't bear the idea that there might be an unflattering piece in the New York Times if we accidentally kill some of the "civilians" who, short of picking up a gun, are doing everything they can to help our enemies.
Egyptian Security Used Live Ammunition on Christian Coptic Protesters, 4 Killed
Excerpt: Christian Copts worldwide were shocked and enraged at the use of live ammunition by Egyptian state security forces against unarmed Coptic protesters, causing the death of three Coptic young men. A four-year old child suffocated from tear gas thrown inside the chapel. Rights groups inside and outside of Egypt
Yodelling offends praying Muslims, say judges
First they came for the yodelers, but I was not a yodeler….~Bob. Excerpt: An Austrian has been fined for yodelling while mowing his lawn, according to a report. The Kronen Zeitung newspaper claims Helmut G. was told by a court in Graz
Now you can breathe easy, Infidels: Wheelchair-bound nun searched by TSA
Her fault. She should have told them it was a burka. ~Bob.
Three days after a Muslim tries to kill thousands of Infidels in Oregon
Excerpt: No, Ihsanoglu. Mohamed Mohamud is spreading "Islamophobia," if it really exists at all. Nidal Hasan is spreading "Islamophobia." Faisal Shahzad is spreading "Islamophobia." Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad is spreading "Islamophobia." Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is spreading "Islamophobia."
Gunbattle breaks out in Kyrgyz south
Didn’t get the memo. ~Bob. Excerpt: At least four Islamic militants were killed Monday in a clash with security forces in Kyrgyzstan
Three suspected militants were shot and killed by government forces in the city of Osh
A Yale Forum Two-Part Special Feature: Scientists and Journalists on ‘Lessons Learned’ (Pt. 1)
Excerpt: By any account, it’s been a challenging 12 months for climate science, for climate scientists, and for the ever-changing face of journalism as its practitioners struggle, or not, to keep their audiences adequately informed and knowledgeable.
Excerpt: "I was recently told by a media person that if something happens in this city, I'm toast." So said Tom Potter, mayor of Portland , Oregon , on April 28, 2005 as he and the city council voted to bar Portland Portland
Rangel hopes punishment will come in writing rather than on House floor
Excerpt: In the curious annals of congressional drama, this week's debate on the fate of New York Rep. Charles B. Rangel will be odder than most. The House will agonize, and Rangel will emote, over this question: Will Rangel - who has been found guilty of 11 ethics violations - be scolded in person, or will he be scolded in writing? That's all. The first option is called a censure. The second, which Rangel (D) very much prefers, is a reprimand. Neither would kick Rangel out of Congress, dock his pay, take away his right to vote - or in any other way prevent him from being the exact same congressman he is today. (He’s lucky. The average tax-avoider goes to jail—or into Obama’s cabinet. He whole, I’d prefer jail. ~Bob.)
Excerpt: Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced plans to bailout Ireland U.S. U.S.
The EPA Permitorium
Another round of anti-stimulus for the economy from the Feds. ~Bob. Excerpt: President Obama is now retrenching after his midterm rebuke, and one of the main ways he'll try to press his agenda is through the alphabet soup of the federal regulators. So a special oversight priority for the new Congress ought to be the Environmental Protection Agency, which has turned a regulatory firehose on U.S.
The Climate Cash Cow
Excerpt: A high-ranking member of the U.N.'s Panel on Climate Change admits the group's primary goal is the redistribution of wealth and not environmental protection or saving the Earth. Money, they say, is the root of all evil. It's also the motivating force behind what is left of the climate change movement after the devastating Climate-gate and IPCC scandals that saw the deliberate manipulation of scientific data to spur the world into taking draconian regulatory action.
Is ET Search Heating Up? NASA to Announce 'Astrobiology Finding'
Excerpt: Could this be what we've all been waiting for? NASA has announced it will hold a special news conference Thursday "to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life." That's quite an eye-opening mouthful. NASA's press release goes on to say: "Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe." Speculation is, of course, skyrocketing on the Internet, as people wonder what the space agency is going to reveal. (Maybe the little green men will save us. ~Bob.)
Obama Is "Gutless" For Not Taking Down Wikileaks
Excerpt: Lt. Col. Ralph Peters: "This is an attack on the United States
Have Yourself an Excremental Christmas
I believe in their freedom to create what they want. But I’d like the freedom not to pay for it. ~Bob. Excerpt: The federally funded [American] National Portrait Gallery, one of the museums of the Smithsonian Institution, is currently showing an exhibition that features images of an ant-covered Jesus, male genitals, naked brothers kissing, men in chains, Ellen DeGeneres grabbing her breasts, and a painting the Smithsonian itself describes in the show’s catalog as “homoerotic.”
Christine O’Donnell backs Hillary Clinton for 2012 run
I’m sorry, but I can’t resist. This is clearly a case of witches flocking together! ~Bob. Excerpt: Former Delaware Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell's dream presidential matchup for 2012 might just be Hillary Clinton versus Sarah Palin. O'Donnell, a Republican who rode the tea party wave to a primary upset in August, said she hopes Clinton
Myth of the Ugly American exploded
Excerpt: A government whose inattention to detail (no corporate secrets would be so easily accessible) made such a horrific event possible is an entity worthy not of paranoid terror but of scorn and contempt. It should frighten not because it's so powerful, but because no matter how potent the weapons at its disposal might be, it's fundamentally inept. That ineptitude is not the only aspect of the US United States United States
WikiLeaks founder could be charged under Espionage Act
Excerpt: Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said the Justice Department and Pentagon are conducting "an active, ongoing criminal investigation.'' Others familiar with the probe said the FBI is examining everyone who came into possession of the documents, including those who gave the materials to WikiLeaks and also the organization itself. No charges are imminent, the sources said, and it is unclear whether any will be brought. Former prosecutors cautioned that prosecutions involving leaked classified information are difficult because the Espionage Act is a 1917 statute that preceded Supreme Court cases that expanded First Amendment protections. The government also would have to persuade another country to turn over Assange, who is outside the United States
Americans Hiding From Reality: Personal Responsibility
Excerpt: NBC’s Brian Williams last week reported, “The latest figures show 72 percent of African-American newborns in the United States U.S. United States U.S.
Angry Iranian and Arab Leaders in the Middle East React to WikiLeaks Revelations
Excerpt: “New and harmful” was how Freilich described the WikilLeaks revelation that Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency, consulted with Washington about working with Iran's students and ethnic minorities to topple Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime in Iran. In the Muslim Middle East, even suspicions of alliance with Mossad can be fatal to the accused. The Mossad-Washington exchange would strengthen the Iranian government's claims that its critics are agents of Israel and the U.S., Freilich said, noting that this was “not good for the opposition.” Inside Iran, the revelations have sparked anger—and not all of it toward Israel or the United States. P.B., a human-rights activist in Tehran, who spoke to The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said the revelations just highlighted Arab animosity toward Iran. The Gulf States “have their own problems,” she said. “The last thing that they want is the Shia brand of Islam being imported to their [Sunni Arab] country.” (The lives of Iranian Greens being endangered counts for nothing in the eyes of these self-righteous idealists at WikiLeaks. Few countries treat their enemies as gently as the western democracies; WikiLeaks will have bloody hands. I favor the .45 caliber solution to the WikiProblem. Ron P. Now, now, Ron, that would endanger the guy holding the 1911. Better a cruise missile into their headquarters, eliminate computers, staff and all. ~Bob.)
It's WikiHateAmerica
Excerpt: Barack Obama came into office hawking the illusion that America's adversaries hated his predecessor, not this country. Julian Assange begs to differ. The first batch of WikiLeaks documents undermined the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, violent conflicts started by the hated, warmongering Bush administration. The latest batch undermines American diplomacy, the soft art of international bargaining and persuasion as practiced by the highly anticipated, engagement-loving Obama administration. The classic justification for a leak is to expose malfeasance. In all his tens of thousands of released documents, Assange has exposed none, despite his typically delusional boast that the first dump revealed "thousands" of possible war crimes. Assange's goal is wanton destruction, pure and simple. He wants to expose to retribution those who cooperate with us on the ground in war zones. He wants to undercut domestic support for our wars. He wants to embarrass our foreign allies and exact a price for their trust in us. He wants to complicate sensitive operations like securing nuclear material in Pakistan and attacking terrorists with missiles in Yemen.
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