Sunday, January 22, 2006

We're going to the Superbowl, Baby!

OK the game isn't quite over yet, but it is 27-7, I have had a few beers and I feel like celebrating. The 3rd richest man in the world finally bought us a couple of playoff wins. It is pandemonium here, people are running all over Bellevue tipping over BMWs and espresso stands.

Now This is Some Freedom of Speech I Can Stand Behind!

PARTY!!!!!

A federal judge struck down Daytona Beach's anti-nudity laws, saying they're unconstitutional.

Regulations prohibiting public nudity and nudity in places that sell alcohol violate the First and 14th amendments' protections of free speech and equal protection, the judge decided.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Oddly Enough, People Still Live There

Now I completely agree that King County is an expensive place to live, but when you read a report stating that most people can't afford to live there you can't help but laugh at the idiocy of the logic. I am reminded of the Yogi Berra quote, "That restaurant is too crowded, nobody goes there anymore." From our esteemed Seattle-PI

Most jobs in King County and throughout the state don't pay enough to provide a basic "living wage" for a single-parent family, and little more than half the jobs will sustain families even when both parents are working, according to a new report on the gap between living wages and job availability in Washington.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

The Math of Terrorism

Too bad the guy piloting the Predator doesn't get the $5 million. I hope he at least gets a good bullet point for his NCOER.

One Predator UAV $2.5 million
Bounty for a top Al Qaeda bombmaker $5 million
One hellfire missile $60,000
Blowing a top Al Qaeda bombmaker to little bits while he is eating his rice pilaf... priceless.

The Idiocies of Union Labor

The Journal has an article today on Ford offering "an all-expenses-paid college education" to workers to whom it is currently paying a full salary to sit around and do nothing. The amazing thing is that this is actually cheaper for Ford. The average salary is listed at $51K a year, even Harvard only costs $35K. One would think that if you worked for an industry that paid salaries for workers who produced nothing, you would already be spending all of your free time at school preparing for a more viable career. But I guess that is too much to expect.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

The Cure for Poverty

I have been to some pretty poor third world countries, and can testify from first hand experience that what these people need is not more government programs, they need economic development. Freedom and access to capital has done more to alleviate poverty than USAID or the UNDP ever could.

Thomas Sowell, probably the best economist/columnist out there today, discusses this. All I can say is he is exactly right.

People on the political left make a lot of noise about poverty and advocate all sorts of programs and policies to reduce it but they show incredibly little interest in how poverty has actually been reduced, whether in China or anywhere else.

You can bet the rent money that the left will show little or no interest in how Chinese by the millions are rising out of poverty every year. The left showed far more interest in China back when it was run by Mao in far left fashion -- and when millions of Chinese were starving.

Those of us who are not on the left ought to take a closer look at today's Chinese rising out of poverty.


First of all, what does it even mean to say that "China is lifting a million people a month out of poverty"? Where would the Chinese government get the money to do that?

The only people the Chinese government can tax are mainly the people in China. A country can't lift itself up by its own bootstraps that way. Nor has there ever been enough foreign aid to lift a million people a month out of poverty.

If the Chinese government hasn't done it, then who has? The Chinese people. They did not rise out of poverty by receiving largess from anybody.

The only thing that can cure poverty is wealth. The Chinese acquired wealth the old-fashioned way: They created it.

The Definition of Irony

Don't the Democrats notice the slightest bit of irony in attacking someone because he had a loose affiliation with an outspoken alumni group? Maybe we should find out what Ruth Bader Ginsburg was doing in college? OK, maybe not...

In any case a former writer for the CAP magazine writes about the group. Ooh, they criticized the school administration. Sounds like a dangerous seditious group to me.

Friday, January 13, 2006

Sometimes You Get the Bear...

A pretty good article on a group of Marines hunting terrorist in Iraq as reported in the Journal (registration required).

RAMADI, Iraq -- On Christmas Day, Cpl. Alberto Reyes began to wonder if something had gone wrong with his ambush.

He and his Marines had arrived under cover of darkness Christmas Eve and selected a good position: The second story of an empty house with a clear view of a route insurgents were likely to travel if they wanted to plant bombs near a provincial government center. But no insurgents came their way. Instead, as the day wore on, Cpl. Reyes noticed that Iraqi civilians passing by on the street below consistently slowed to take a look at the front of the building.

Finally, the next day, the Marines called it quits. As they left the house, they found a handwritten note on a piece of cardboard taped to the front door. "Attention," said the Arabic-language note, which the Marines have kept. "There's an ambush with American snipers inside the building."

Score one for the insurgents in a tit-for-tat guerrilla war in which Iraqi fighters try to ambush U.S. troops with powerful hidden bombs, and U.S. troops try to ambush the ambushers. "I was stunned," says Cpl. Reyes, a 22-year-old squad leader in Kilo Company, Third Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment.

An Even Better Jay Leno Joke

As a general rule of thumb, one cannot pick on Ted Kennedy too much.

Ted Kennedy got pretty contentious, after he pointed out that Alito once belonged to a club that didn’t allow women, it was discovered that Senator Kennedy also once belonged to a club that wouldn’t allow women. Of course, with Kennedy those were club rules in place purely for the safety of women.

-Jay Leno

Thursday, January 12, 2006

A Good Idea and Even Better One

Debra J. Saunders has a good idea, if Alito's nomination somehow falls through nominate Ted Kennedy, just for getting to ask about Chappaquiddick (H/T Michelle Malkin).

I have an even better idea. Let's nominate the distinguished Democratic Senator from West Virginia, Robert Byrd. I seem to remember him belonging to a rather controversial group in his youth. But at least he never went to Princeton...

Jay Leno Imitates Me

I should get a job as a writer...

Senator Ted Kennedy announced that he and his dog Splash are writing a children’s book. Is Splash the best name for Ted Kennedy’s dog? Isn’t that a bit like Jack Abramoff naming his dog Bribe?

-Jay Leno-

OK, that joke kind of wrote itself.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Ted Kennedy Lies a Lot

Jabba the Senator has been on TV a lot making speeches against Samuel Alito, thinly disguised as questions. Big surprise, most of what he is saying is not true.

From the National Review:

"In an era when too many Americans are losing their jobs, or working for less and trying to make ends meet, in close cases Judge Alito has ruled the vast majority of the time against the claims of individual citizens," Kennedy said. "He has acted instead in favor of the government, large corporations, and other powerful interests. In a study by a well-respected expert, Professor Cass Sunstein of the University of Chicago Law School, Judge Alito was found to rule against the individual in 84 percent of his dissents. To put it plainly, average Americans have had a hard time getting a fair shake in his courtroom."

As evidence for his claim, Kennedy's staff handed out copies of a December 29, 2005, letter from Sunstein to Kennedy outlining the findings of the study to members of the press at the hearings. But even a cursory reading of the Sunstein letter suggests that his analysis was so tentative, so filled with caveats, and based so extensively on political assumptions as to prove virtually nothing.

And Michelle Malkin

"In an era when America is still too divided by race and riches, Judge "Alioto" has not written one single opinion on the merits in favor of a person of color alleging race discrimination on the job. In fifteen years on the bench, not one." - Ted Kennedy-

This is, as the Committee for Justice outlines, complete bull. Alito's civil rights record:
Judge Alito repeatedly has ruled for plaintiffs in employment discrimination cases when the law calls for such outcomes.


* In Zubi v. AT&T Corp., 219 F.3d 220 (3d Cir. 2000), Judge Alito dissented from the majority's holding that a man who claimed he was fired because of his race could not sue in federal court. According to Judge Alito, the plaintiff was entitled to sue because a longer statute of limitations applied. The Supreme Court later vindicated Judge Alito's dissent. See Jones v. Donnelly & Sons Co., 541 U.S. 369 (2004).

* In Goosby v. Johnson & Johnson Medical, Inc., 228 F.3d 313 (3d Cir. 2000), a race and sex discrimination case, Judge Alito reversed the district court's decision to grant summary judgment to the defendant employer. The Third Circuit ruled that the plaintiff, a black woman, had introduced enough evidence to call into doubt the employer's explanation for why she was given lower-quality assignments.

It goes on, see the link for all the dirt.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Bad Taste Redefined

OK, while Ted Kennedy is probably the most unsavory person to write a children's book since Madonna, I am willing to give him a pass on that. But did he have to write a book about a dog named "Splash"?

Mary Jo Kopechne was unavailable for comment....

Friday, January 06, 2006

Is John Murtha Channeling Al Zawahiri?

I am not "questioning his patriotism" but...

"You remember I told you more than a year ago that the American withdrawal from Iraq is only a matter of time, and here they are now ... negotiating with the mujahedeen," al-Zawahri said.

"Bush was forced at the end of last year to announce that he will pull out his forces from Iraq, but he was giving excuses for his withdrawal that the Iraqi forces have reached a good level."

It is hard to tell them apart.

Appearing at a town meeting in Arlington, Virginia, with fellow Democratic Rep. James Moran, Murtha said, "A year ago, I said we can't win this militarily, and I got all kinds of criticism." Now, Murtha told the strongly antiwar audience, "I worry about a slow withdrawal which makes it look like there's a victory when I think it should be a redeployment as quickly as possible and let the Iraqis handle the whole thing."

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Outsourcing and Wages

I was in an argument on another blog (which will remain nameless to avoid piling on the author) in which my adversary was arguing that outsourcing was bad for both countries, because it drives US wages down, and foreign wages are low and will never increase. Of course I tried to explain that this was contrary to basic economic theory and observed reality, Micro 101 teaches us that as the demand for labor catches up to the supply, the cost will increase, but the protectionist crowd will not be swayed from their viewpoint no matter how brilliant the argument. In any case I was amused to read in the Wall Street Journal an article that proves my point exactly.

To be sure, some businesses are as yet untouched by the shortages. Marquee local software firms such as Infosys Technologies Ltd. continue to attract more than enough skilled applicants. The rest -- including large U.S.-based competitors -- have little option but to pay high wages to attract employees in fished-out talent pools in big cities such as Mumbai and Bangalore.

India isn't alone in suffering a skills shortage. The U.S. is sliding into one, due chiefly to early retirements by baby boomers and a lack of replacements. A skills drought in China is due partly to the fact that many of its graduates live long distances from the cities where jobs are being created and are unwilling to relocate, McKinsey & Co. says.

The demand for well-trained workers has prompted an explosion in wages for the most experienced Indian personnel. And attrition has reached epidemic proportions as workers job-hop to better salary packages. Pay for tech and banking executives, airline pilots, and engineers -- all sectors experiencing huge growth -- jumped between 25% and 30% in 2005.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Separation of Church and State

I usually avoid school prayer and ten commandment posting debates, because I consider them much ado about nothing, but regardless I am continually annoyed by this fictitious creation of the "separation of church and state" as a constitutional concept. Thus I was amused to read this smackdown by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on whether a public building in Kentucky could display the ten commandments along with other historical documents.


The ACLU’s argument contains three fundamental flaws. First, the ACLU makes repeated reference to “the separation of church and state.” This extra-constitutional construct has grown tiresome. The First Amendment does not demand a wall of separation between church and state. See Lynch, 465 U.S. at 673; Lemon, 403 U.S. at 614; Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U.S. 306, 312 (1952); Brown v. Gilmore, 258 F.3d 265, 274 (4th Cir. 2001); Stark v. Indep. Sch. Dist., No. 640., 123 F.3d 1068, 1076 (8th Cir. 1997); see also Capitol Square, 243 F.3d at 300 (dismissing strict separatism as “a notion that simply perverts our history”). Our Nation’s history is replete with governmental acknowledgment and in some cases, accommodation of religion. See, e.g., Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 783 (1983) (upholding legislative prayer); McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420 (1961) (upholding Sunday closing laws); see also Lynch, 465 U.S. at 674 (“There is an unbroken history of official acknowledgment by all three branches of government of the role of religion in American life from at least 1789.”); Capitol Square, 243 F.3d at 293-99 (describing historical examples of governmental involvement with religion). After all, “[w]e are a religious people whose institutions presuppose a Supreme Being.” Zorach, 343 U.S. at 313. Thus, state recognition of religion that falls short of endorsement is constitutionally permissible.

Dark Matter

I mentioned this briefly before, but couldn't link to it properly. Now economist Michael Mandel at Businessweek has a more in depth look at the role of "dark matter" and trade deficits, including a link to the paper by Ricardo Hausmann and Federico Sturzenegger. I guess it is current account deficit day here at the Chief Brief.

A little teaser:

In a nut shell our story is very simple. The income generated by a country’s financial position is a good measure of the true value of its assets. Once assets are valued accordingly, the US appears to be a net creditor, not a net debtor and its net foreign asset position appears to have been fairly stable over the last 20 years. The bulk of the difference with the official story comes from the unaccounted export of knowhow carried out by US corporations through their investments abroad, explaining why the US appears to be a consistently smarter investor, making more money on its assets than it pays on its liabilities and why the rest of the world cannot wise up. In addition, the value of this dark matter seems to be rather stable, indicating that they are likely to continue to compensate for the measured trade deficit.

Globalization has made the flows of dark matter a very significant part of the story and the traditional measures of current account balances paint a very distorted picture of reality. In particular, it points towards imbalances that are not really there, making analysts predict crises that, for good reason, remain elusive.

Dumping US Securities?

More from Alex P. Keaton's favorite economist... I have always maintained that the threat from foreigners buying our securities was overstated. They would have no incentive to dump them and cause a crisis, because they would be the one losing money on the deal. In an interview with Milton Friedman posted on Cafe Hayek, the Nobel laureate agrees with me.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Kruggy on Health Care

Actually of all the topics Krugman posts on, he is probably the least clueless on healthcare, but his case would be better supported if he wouldn't make exaggerated comments like this.

...[D]rug companies in particular spend more marketing their products to doctors than they do developing those products ... They wouldn't do that if doctors were immune to persuasion.

Now drug companies do spend a considerable amount on marketing to doctors, by one report an estimated $5.7 billion a year, promoting your products is a cost of doing business after all, but but by no means is this more than they spend on development. Just one company, Pfizer, spent more than that, $7.7 billion on R & D last year. You would think an award winning economist would know how to read a corporate earnings report.

But even this overstates it, about half of the money spent on marketing drugs to doctors is giving them free samples to give to patients! So I guess if the government gives drugs to patients for free that is good, but if the companies do that, it is bad.

The Wal-Mart Effect

Still catching up... Jim Glass has a rather good post on two of my favorite subjects (for different reasons) Wal-Mart and Paul Krugman. Don Luskin has some similar accolades on the post here. While you are at it catch Luskin's latest Krugman Truth Squad post.