From the Spokesman Review:
Rights reserved for citizens
Re: the cover of Monday's Spokesman. The lead stated "Rallying for rights." Is this mob of illegal aliens demanding the rights of U.S. citizens? The ones guaranteed the legal, law- abiding citizens of the U.S.?
How about the kid with the sign with "Viva La Raza" on it. Most folks in Spokane don't know that is a Mexican organization dedicated to taking California back. Now, that sounds pretty traitorous to me for someone demanding our rights. Their slogan is "For those within 'the race,' everything; for those outside 'the race,' nothing." Would you be so supportive if the sign was KKK or White Power?
The legal Mexican residents of Arizona have been working for low wages and paying taxes for years. Illegal aliens will work for $4-5 an hour, no questions asked, and suddenly there are no minimum wage jobs to be had for legal American citizens.
Wake up Spokane! What will happen when we get 20-30 percent of the workforce willing to work for $4 an hour? Before someone accuses me of Hispanic bashing, I should tell you my mother's maiden name was Trujillo and I learned to speak Spanish before I learned English.
Jim Bennett
Spokane
Monday, April 10, 2006
What Would We Do Without Studies?
Where would we be without smart people telling us the obvious?
Study: Obese people lack health awareness
By TIM WHITMIRE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Obese people have a blind spot when it comes to their own weight problem, according to a study that showed only 15 percent of people in that category view themselves as obese.
Such a lack of self-awareness can be deadly.
Study: Obese people lack health awareness
By TIM WHITMIRE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Obese people have a blind spot when it comes to their own weight problem, according to a study that showed only 15 percent of people in that category view themselves as obese.
Such a lack of self-awareness can be deadly.
The French, The Gift That Keeps On Giving
I swear, France has now become a parody of itself. Like an Ayn Rand or George Orwell novel come to life. Chirac has now withdrawn attempts (one could say, surrendered) to reform French job laws. The opposition has this brilliant comment.
Chirac and Villepin were careful to say that the CPE, part of a wider law on equal opportunities, was being "replaced" rather than repealed. Unions who opposed the measure, arguing it would create insecurity for young workers, declared victory.
"Perhaps we will drink a drop of champagne. This is an undeniable victory for a social movement," said Gerard Aschieri, secretary of the FSU union.
At the risk of appearing cynical, exactly how much economic security is there to begin with in a country with 9.6% unemployment and 1% growth?
Meanwhile, an editorial in the Wall Street Journal has this amazing tidbit:
A recent study published by French history professor Barbara Lefebvre and journalist Eve Bonnivard concludes that French college textbooks are generally biased against globalization, deeply anti-American and somewhat complacent towards terrorism. French students are taught to approach the future with foreboding and skepticism of market forces. Not surprisingly 76% of French between the ages of 15 and 30 hope to become government employees.
So twenty years from now, the French economy will consist entirely of overpaid government workers handing forms to other overpaid government workers. And I am sure they will all blame the Americans.
Chirac and Villepin were careful to say that the CPE, part of a wider law on equal opportunities, was being "replaced" rather than repealed. Unions who opposed the measure, arguing it would create insecurity for young workers, declared victory.
"Perhaps we will drink a drop of champagne. This is an undeniable victory for a social movement," said Gerard Aschieri, secretary of the FSU union.
At the risk of appearing cynical, exactly how much economic security is there to begin with in a country with 9.6% unemployment and 1% growth?
Meanwhile, an editorial in the Wall Street Journal has this amazing tidbit:
A recent study published by French history professor Barbara Lefebvre and journalist Eve Bonnivard concludes that French college textbooks are generally biased against globalization, deeply anti-American and somewhat complacent towards terrorism. French students are taught to approach the future with foreboding and skepticism of market forces. Not surprisingly 76% of French between the ages of 15 and 30 hope to become government employees.
So twenty years from now, the French economy will consist entirely of overpaid government workers handing forms to other overpaid government workers. And I am sure they will all blame the Americans.
Friday, April 07, 2006
Open Secrets
Someone explain this to me. The left is absolutely incensed with Bush leaking part of a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) regarding Iraq seeking uranium. If the issue as to whether Iraq was seeking uranium was so sensitive, why is it then, that they had absolutely no problem with the CIA sending Joe Wilson, a non-employee, to investigate it, did not require him to sign an NDA, and then allowed him to write about it in the New York Times? I know that not that many people read the New York Times anymore, but it was bound to "leak" out somehow...
211,000 New Jobs
The unemployment rate is down to 4.7%, despite the fact that I still don't have a summer internship. If this keeps up Paul Krugman is going to start complaining that Americans don't have enough time to spend with their families.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Always Bad Economics, Always
It cracks me up whenever someone comes up with these hysterical attacks on WalMart. Now we have the President of the AFL-CIO (no, he isn't biased) attacking WalMart, for of all things, bad port security. He includes this little tidbit:
The successes of Wal-Mart are made doubly dangerous by the shift of manufacturing work from the United States to developing countries. Twenty years ago, Wal-Mart bought only 6 percent of its merchandise overseas. Today, "Wal-Mart and China are a joint venture, and both are determined to dominate the U.S. economy as much as they can in a wide range of industries," Duke University professor Gary Geriffi told PBS's "Frontline."
Nearly two-thirds of all Wal-Mart products come from China, Geriffi said. Most of the rest comes from 70 other countries, including Pakistan, the Philippines and Indonesia, where there's a dangerous cocktail of workers' rights abuses and lax enforcement, official corruption and active terrorist organizations.
OK, aside from the fact that he can't spell Gary Gereffi's name right, how is he coming up with these numbers? Maybe this is correct if you are just counting SKUs, but if you look at the sales numbers, it is not even close. As of Jan 2004, WalMart imported about $15 billion from China. A large number no doubt, but if you look at its income statement, that was out of $199 billion of merchandise. Or about... 8%.
Duke University professor Gary Geriffi by the way, is a professor, not of business or economics, but of sociology.
The successes of Wal-Mart are made doubly dangerous by the shift of manufacturing work from the United States to developing countries. Twenty years ago, Wal-Mart bought only 6 percent of its merchandise overseas. Today, "Wal-Mart and China are a joint venture, and both are determined to dominate the U.S. economy as much as they can in a wide range of industries," Duke University professor Gary Geriffi told PBS's "Frontline."
Nearly two-thirds of all Wal-Mart products come from China, Geriffi said. Most of the rest comes from 70 other countries, including Pakistan, the Philippines and Indonesia, where there's a dangerous cocktail of workers' rights abuses and lax enforcement, official corruption and active terrorist organizations.
OK, aside from the fact that he can't spell Gary Gereffi's name right, how is he coming up with these numbers? Maybe this is correct if you are just counting SKUs, but if you look at the sales numbers, it is not even close. As of Jan 2004, WalMart imported about $15 billion from China. A large number no doubt, but if you look at its income statement, that was out of $199 billion of merchandise. Or about... 8%.
Duke University professor Gary Geriffi by the way, is a professor, not of business or economics, but of sociology.
More Bogus Anti-War Stories
I saw this joker on the news tonight. He is now trying to claim political asylum in Canada by telling lurid stories of atrocities, none of which can be confirmed of course. I found this tale that he told earlier especially ridiculous.
His specialty was home raids because "I was good at it." He admitted it was an adrenalin rush at first.
"You put three pounds of C4 on the front door, blow it up, and then five or six guys run in and you clear every room."
Now I am no explosives expert, but that seems like a bit much. I would doubt you would have much of a house left after that. Regardless, I can read an FM, so a quick search of the Internet turned up FM 3-06.11 COMBINED ARMS OPERATIONS IN URBAN TERRAIN
If you scroll down to the section on breaching doors you get the following, in bold type no less:
WARNING
Net explosive weight should not exceed 8 ounces for a complete charge.
His specialty was home raids because "I was good at it." He admitted it was an adrenalin rush at first.
"You put three pounds of C4 on the front door, blow it up, and then five or six guys run in and you clear every room."
Now I am no explosives expert, but that seems like a bit much. I would doubt you would have much of a house left after that. Regardless, I can read an FM, so a quick search of the Internet turned up FM 3-06.11 COMBINED ARMS OPERATIONS IN URBAN TERRAIN
If you scroll down to the section on breaching doors you get the following, in bold type no less:
WARNING
Net explosive weight should not exceed 8 ounces for a complete charge.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
Dude, Your Movie Just Sucked
The Republicans are responsible for everything nowadays, if you put out a lame movie that nobody wants to watch, just blame Bush.
Paul Verhoeven, director of the first "Basic Instinct" (which scored $353 million worldwide) as well as the widely ridiculed "Showgirls" (now regarded as something of a camp classic), attributes the genre's demise to the current American political climate.
"Anything that is erotic has been banned in the United States," said the Dutch native. "Look at the people at the top (of the government). We are living under a government that is constantly hammering out Christian values. And Christianity and sex have never been good friends."
Oh please, the movie got a 6% on Rotten Tomatoes, apparently the Bad News Bears remake is more erotic.
Paul Verhoeven, director of the first "Basic Instinct" (which scored $353 million worldwide) as well as the widely ridiculed "Showgirls" (now regarded as something of a camp classic), attributes the genre's demise to the current American political climate.
"Anything that is erotic has been banned in the United States," said the Dutch native. "Look at the people at the top (of the government). We are living under a government that is constantly hammering out Christian values. And Christianity and sex have never been good friends."
Oh please, the movie got a 6% on Rotten Tomatoes, apparently the Bad News Bears remake is more erotic.
Monday, April 03, 2006
McCain's Stock Goes Up Some More
For the second time in less than a month Paul Krugman has launched a personal attack on John McCain. If he keeps this up McCain could be vaulted into front-runner status. McCain already suggested Krugman for the Pulitzer for his previous endorsement.
Farewell to a Hero
I remember Chief Novosel from Ft. Rucker. About half the post is named after him. They don't make 'em like this anymore.
Michael J. Novosel Sr., a veteran of three wars, a Medal of Honor recipient and a major figure in Army aviation history, died April 2 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center after a long battle with cancer.
The 83-year-old retired chief warrant officer 4 earned the Medal of Honor for actions on Oct. 2, 1969, when he completed 15 hazardous combat extractions in a UH-1 Huey helicopter, saving the lives of 29 South Vietnamese soldiers who had been surrounded by enemy forces along the Cambodian border.
Michael J. Novosel Sr., a veteran of three wars, a Medal of Honor recipient and a major figure in Army aviation history, died April 2 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center after a long battle with cancer.
The 83-year-old retired chief warrant officer 4 earned the Medal of Honor for actions on Oct. 2, 1969, when he completed 15 hazardous combat extractions in a UH-1 Huey helicopter, saving the lives of 29 South Vietnamese soldiers who had been surrounded by enemy forces along the Cambodian border.
What is Wrong With the Arabs?
They don't need money or power. They need books. Read this fascinating article in Reason magazine on a project to translate great works on liberty into Arabic.
Intellectual isolation is a widespread Arab phenomenon, not just an Iraqi one. Some of the statistics are startling. According to the United Nations' 2003 "Arab Human Development Report," five times more books are translated annually into Greek, a language spoken by just 11 million people, than into Arabic. "No more than 10,000 books were translated into Arabic over the entire past millennium," says the U.N., "equivalent to the number translated into Spanish each year." Authors and publishers must cope with the whims of 22 Arab censors. "As a result," writes a contributor to the report, "books do not move easily through their natural markets." Newspapers are a fifth as common as in the non-Arab developed world; computers, a fourth as common. "Most media institutions in Arab countries remain state-owned," the report says.
Intellectual isolation is a widespread Arab phenomenon, not just an Iraqi one. Some of the statistics are startling. According to the United Nations' 2003 "Arab Human Development Report," five times more books are translated annually into Greek, a language spoken by just 11 million people, than into Arabic. "No more than 10,000 books were translated into Arabic over the entire past millennium," says the U.N., "equivalent to the number translated into Spanish each year." Authors and publishers must cope with the whims of 22 Arab censors. "As a result," writes a contributor to the report, "books do not move easily through their natural markets." Newspapers are a fifth as common as in the non-Arab developed world; computers, a fourth as common. "Most media institutions in Arab countries remain state-owned," the report says.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Wage Vs. Compensation
People have been complaining that wages aren't going up much. What they leave out is that employers have to pay more than just the hourly rate. This chart in the Wall Street Journal really illustrates this. And of course the UAW is going on strike because they are trying to cut back on these expenses to stay out of bankruptcy.
Jay Leno Joke O' the Day
"As part of their new national security plan Democrats are promising to find the leader of Al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden. Oh come on, the Democrats can't even find the leader of the Democratic Party!"
-Jay Leno-
-Jay Leno-
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Boycott Borders!
Odd, whenever Christian groups protest books that they find objectionable, you don't see bookstores pulling the material off of their shelves, instead you hear outraged cries against censorship. I think we should start a boycott, until Borders reverses this cowardly act. I am going to send them in my red discount card. Either that or start rioting until they pull all of the Al Franken books.
Borders and Waldenbooks stores will not stock the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine because it contains cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that provoked deadly protests among Muslims in several countries.
"For us, the safety and security of our customers and employees is a top priority, and we believe that carrying this issue could challenge that priority," Borders Group Inc. spokeswoman Beth Bingham said Wednesday.
The magazine, published by the Council for Secular Humanism in suburban Amherst, includes four of the drawings that originally appeared in a Danish newspaper in September, including one depicting Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban with a lit fuse.
They say that the safety of their employees and customers is the reason for them doing this. But why stop with this one magazine? There are hundreds, if not thousands, of books in your average Borders which contain ideas powerful enough to incite action. Who knows when one of them could strike! We have no way of even knowing ahead of time which books they are. Therefore the only safe thing to do is to shut them down, stop selling books. We must boycott all Borders stores until they end this threat to public security!
Borders and Waldenbooks stores will not stock the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine because it contains cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that provoked deadly protests among Muslims in several countries.
"For us, the safety and security of our customers and employees is a top priority, and we believe that carrying this issue could challenge that priority," Borders Group Inc. spokeswoman Beth Bingham said Wednesday.
The magazine, published by the Council for Secular Humanism in suburban Amherst, includes four of the drawings that originally appeared in a Danish newspaper in September, including one depicting Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban with a lit fuse.
They say that the safety of their employees and customers is the reason for them doing this. But why stop with this one magazine? There are hundreds, if not thousands, of books in your average Borders which contain ideas powerful enough to incite action. Who knows when one of them could strike! We have no way of even knowing ahead of time which books they are. Therefore the only safe thing to do is to shut them down, stop selling books. We must boycott all Borders stores until they end this threat to public security!
Inflation or Other Phenomena
I posted on this earlier, but now economist Don Boudreaux from Cafe Hayek has another article, this time published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, on inflation and living standards as measure by the Sears catalog. This little excerpt got me thinking:
One objection to drawing conclusions from this research is that many things that Americans buy are not sold in department stores. If the prices of these nondepartment-store items -- such as housing and higher education -- have risen faster than wage rates, then ordinary Americans might still be worse off.
In fact, the amount of time the ordinary American worker must work today to purchase a house, a car and a four-year college degree is greater than it was in 1975. But houses today are larger and much-better equipped than they were 30 years ago; automobiles are enormously improved and more durable; and the addition to lifetime earnings generated by a college education is significantly higher.
Even discounting the factors he mentions in the second paragraph, are rising housing and education prices really even a reflection of falling standards of living, even if they are "inflationary".? Rising housing prices is largely caused by the scarcity of real estate. There is no practical way of creating more real estate, so it will continue to become increasingly more expensive, especially in highly populated areas. This isn't a sign of falling living standards, but of rising living standards as people increasingly want to live in these areas.
Education, on the other hand, is basically the purchase of labor, in this case your professor. Monetary policy aside, inflation is reflected by productivity. If I have to work 1 hour in order to earn 10 widgets, and then next year, due to automation, I only have to work 30 minutes to earn those same 10 widgets, then you can say that there is deflation. The cost of those widgets has dropped in half. At the same time though, the effective cost of my labor, when measured in widgets, has doubled. So if it cost me 1000 widgets per semester to pay my professor before, his labor is now worth 2000 widgets. Is this a sign of inflation and falling living standards, or the simple fact that as productivity increases in non-labor intensive processes, the relative cost of labor will go up?
One objection to drawing conclusions from this research is that many things that Americans buy are not sold in department stores. If the prices of these nondepartment-store items -- such as housing and higher education -- have risen faster than wage rates, then ordinary Americans might still be worse off.
In fact, the amount of time the ordinary American worker must work today to purchase a house, a car and a four-year college degree is greater than it was in 1975. But houses today are larger and much-better equipped than they were 30 years ago; automobiles are enormously improved and more durable; and the addition to lifetime earnings generated by a college education is significantly higher.
Even discounting the factors he mentions in the second paragraph, are rising housing and education prices really even a reflection of falling standards of living, even if they are "inflationary".? Rising housing prices is largely caused by the scarcity of real estate. There is no practical way of creating more real estate, so it will continue to become increasingly more expensive, especially in highly populated areas. This isn't a sign of falling living standards, but of rising living standards as people increasingly want to live in these areas.
Education, on the other hand, is basically the purchase of labor, in this case your professor. Monetary policy aside, inflation is reflected by productivity. If I have to work 1 hour in order to earn 10 widgets, and then next year, due to automation, I only have to work 30 minutes to earn those same 10 widgets, then you can say that there is deflation. The cost of those widgets has dropped in half. At the same time though, the effective cost of my labor, when measured in widgets, has doubled. So if it cost me 1000 widgets per semester to pay my professor before, his labor is now worth 2000 widgets. Is this a sign of inflation and falling living standards, or the simple fact that as productivity increases in non-labor intensive processes, the relative cost of labor will go up?
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
They Have It a Little Backwards
It is the end of free speech at yet another American University, this time NYU. As reported by LGF a Muslim student group is protesting to keep an Objectivist group (Hey, I am on an Ayn Rand kick) from displaying the infamous Mohammed cartoons. LGF posted this ridiculous letter from the Muslim group, which I have excerpted here:
Tomorrow the Objectivist Club is sponsoring an event that will display a series of cartoons recently published in a Danish newspaper. These cartoons depict the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Islam in a highly offensive manner. These same cartoons unfortunately have lead to riots, protests, beatings, and deaths all around the world. We are asking all students to stand in solidarity with us as we seek to protest hatred and discrimination on OUR CAMPUS. On Wednesday we will be meeting at Kimmel at 5:30 PM in protest of the University’s decision to allow the cartoons to be displayed. Remember that this same type of manifestation of hatred has lead to the murder of many innocent people. We can look as far back as the 1930’s in the years prior to the Holocaust when Nazi Germany circulated hate-filled images of our Jewish brothers and sisters throughout society. Contemporary situations such as Rwanda have also caused bloody genocides. It is necessary for all of us to stand together and speak out against this, as hatred does not discriminate against any color, race, creed, or religion; all it does is hate.
They are leaving out a really big point, the cartoons didn't incite people to riot and attack Muslims, it was Muslims who were rioting. If the Nazis running hateful cartoons of Jews had caused the Jews to commit genocide against the Nazis, then he would have a point. Quite obviously it happened the other way around.
Tomorrow the Objectivist Club is sponsoring an event that will display a series of cartoons recently published in a Danish newspaper. These cartoons depict the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Islam in a highly offensive manner. These same cartoons unfortunately have lead to riots, protests, beatings, and deaths all around the world. We are asking all students to stand in solidarity with us as we seek to protest hatred and discrimination on OUR CAMPUS. On Wednesday we will be meeting at Kimmel at 5:30 PM in protest of the University’s decision to allow the cartoons to be displayed. Remember that this same type of manifestation of hatred has lead to the murder of many innocent people. We can look as far back as the 1930’s in the years prior to the Holocaust when Nazi Germany circulated hate-filled images of our Jewish brothers and sisters throughout society. Contemporary situations such as Rwanda have also caused bloody genocides. It is necessary for all of us to stand together and speak out against this, as hatred does not discriminate against any color, race, creed, or religion; all it does is hate.
They are leaving out a really big point, the cartoons didn't incite people to riot and attack Muslims, it was Muslims who were rioting. If the Nazis running hateful cartoons of Jews had caused the Jews to commit genocide against the Nazis, then he would have a point. Quite obviously it happened the other way around.
Euphemism O' The Day
From a WSJ article on the riots in France:
Taking shelter under a shop awning during a heavy downpour, a couple of French pensioners dressed in red jackets and wearing red stickers of the French Communist Party said they joined the march to protect the future of their 10 grandchildren.
Jacques Heller, 70, said he had some issues with the brutality of the old Soviet Union but also reminisced about the days when communism still "offered hope." His three children, he said, were not communists. Mr. Heller said he's not optimistic about his party ever winning power. Nonetheless, said his wife, Michelle, 68, a retired hospital worker, "we can't give up."
He had "some issues". Twenty million people died under Soviet communism and the most he could say was that he had issues. Gee, I wonder how many people they would have to murder to make him "slightly concerned"?
Taking shelter under a shop awning during a heavy downpour, a couple of French pensioners dressed in red jackets and wearing red stickers of the French Communist Party said they joined the march to protect the future of their 10 grandchildren.
Jacques Heller, 70, said he had some issues with the brutality of the old Soviet Union but also reminisced about the days when communism still "offered hope." His three children, he said, were not communists. Mr. Heller said he's not optimistic about his party ever winning power. Nonetheless, said his wife, Michelle, 68, a retired hospital worker, "we can't give up."
He had "some issues". Twenty million people died under Soviet communism and the most he could say was that he had issues. Gee, I wonder how many people they would have to murder to make him "slightly concerned"?
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Atlas Shakes His Head in Disbelief
In Ayn Rand's epic novel Atlas Shrugged, the producers of the world go on strike in protest of being attacked for their work, and stop the "motor of the world". Now we have the opposite happening, students in France, who have never produced anything are rioting over the possibility that they might have to in the future. Now students in California, and elsewhere, are walking out of class in protest of the possibility that they might have to follow the law. What are they going to do if we don't meet their demands, contribute even less to society?
"If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater the effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders--what would you tell him to do?"
"I . . . don't know. What . . . could he do? What would you tell him?"
"To shrug."
"If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater the effort the heavier the world bore down upon his shoulders--what would you tell him to do?"
"I . . . don't know. What . . . could he do? What would you tell him?"
"To shrug."
Monday, March 27, 2006
A Classy Economist
Pop economist Steven Levitt may be getting all the press, but in my humble opinion nobody gets to the heart of basic economic issues like Thomas Sowell. The Weekend Edition of the WSJ has a great interview with him, for those of you with a subscription:
Similarly, Mr. Sowell says his interest in "international perspectives" -- most notably demonstrated in his lengthy trilogy on cultural history published in the 1990s -- initially came from reading Nathan Glazer and Daniel Patrick Moynihan's 1963 classic study, "Beyond the Melting Pot." "It was really the first book I read about different ethnic groups. There were many different patterns. And more than anything else, each group had its own pattern.
"The left likes to portray a group as sort of a creature of surrounding society. But that's not true. For example, back during the immigrant era, you had neighborhoods on the Lower East Side [of Manhattan] where Jews and Italians arrived at virtually identical times. Lived in the same neighborhoods. Kids sat side by side in the same schools. But totally different outcomes. Now, if you look back at the history of the Jews and the history of the Italians you can see why that would be. In the early 19th century, Russian officials report that even the poorest Jews find some way to get some books in their home, even though they're living in a society where over 90% of the people are illiterate.
"Conversely, in southern Italy, which is where most Italian-Americans originated, when they put in compulsory school-attendance laws, there were riots. There were schoolhouses burning down. So now you take these two kids and sit them side by side in a school. If you believe that environment means the immediate surroundings, they're in the same environment. But if you believe environment includes this cultural pattern that goes back centuries before they were born, then no, they're not in the same environment. They don't come into that school building with the same mindset. And they don't get the same results."
Similarly, Mr. Sowell says his interest in "international perspectives" -- most notably demonstrated in his lengthy trilogy on cultural history published in the 1990s -- initially came from reading Nathan Glazer and Daniel Patrick Moynihan's 1963 classic study, "Beyond the Melting Pot." "It was really the first book I read about different ethnic groups. There were many different patterns. And more than anything else, each group had its own pattern.
"The left likes to portray a group as sort of a creature of surrounding society. But that's not true. For example, back during the immigrant era, you had neighborhoods on the Lower East Side [of Manhattan] where Jews and Italians arrived at virtually identical times. Lived in the same neighborhoods. Kids sat side by side in the same schools. But totally different outcomes. Now, if you look back at the history of the Jews and the history of the Italians you can see why that would be. In the early 19th century, Russian officials report that even the poorest Jews find some way to get some books in their home, even though they're living in a society where over 90% of the people are illiterate.
"Conversely, in southern Italy, which is where most Italian-Americans originated, when they put in compulsory school-attendance laws, there were riots. There were schoolhouses burning down. So now you take these two kids and sit them side by side in a school. If you believe that environment means the immediate surroundings, they're in the same environment. But if you believe environment includes this cultural pattern that goes back centuries before they were born, then no, they're not in the same environment. They don't come into that school building with the same mindset. And they don't get the same results."
Friday, March 24, 2006
We Have Seen This All Before
Victor Davis Hanson, as always, provides the historical perspective.
Nothing in this war is much different from those of the past. We have fought suicide bombers in the Pacific. Intelligence failures doomed tens of thousands — not 2,300 — at the Bulge and Okinawa. We pacified the Philippines through counterinsurgency fighting. Failure to calibrate the extent of Al Zarqawi’s insurrection pales before the Chinese crossing of the Yalu.
Even our current clinical depression is typically American. In July 1864, Lincoln was hated and McClellan and the Copperheads who wished a cessation of war and bisection of country canonized. Truman left office with the nation’s anger that he had failed in Korea. As George Bush Sr. departed, the conventional wisdom was that the budding chaos and redrawing of the map of Eastern Europe would prompt decades of instability as former Communists could not simply be spoon fed democracy and capitalism. During Afghanistan by week five we were in a quagmire; the dust storm supposedly threatened our success in Iraq — in the manner that the explosion of the dome at Samarra marked the beginning of a hopeless civil war that “lost” Iraq.
Nothing in this war is much different from those of the past. We have fought suicide bombers in the Pacific. Intelligence failures doomed tens of thousands — not 2,300 — at the Bulge and Okinawa. We pacified the Philippines through counterinsurgency fighting. Failure to calibrate the extent of Al Zarqawi’s insurrection pales before the Chinese crossing of the Yalu.
Even our current clinical depression is typically American. In July 1864, Lincoln was hated and McClellan and the Copperheads who wished a cessation of war and bisection of country canonized. Truman left office with the nation’s anger that he had failed in Korea. As George Bush Sr. departed, the conventional wisdom was that the budding chaos and redrawing of the map of Eastern Europe would prompt decades of instability as former Communists could not simply be spoon fed democracy and capitalism. During Afghanistan by week five we were in a quagmire; the dust storm supposedly threatened our success in Iraq — in the manner that the explosion of the dome at Samarra marked the beginning of a hopeless civil war that “lost” Iraq.
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