The rumors are that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie may star as John Galt and Dagny Taggert in the movie version of Atlas Shrugged. Seems reasonable casting to me, I am just wondering how they are going to fit a 1160 page novel into a two hour movie. The real casting coup would then be landing Billy Bob Thornton and Jennifer Aniston as Hank and Lillian Reardon.
H/T Don Luskin
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Friday, April 28, 2006
The Judge Code
I thought the recent case where an author of a non-fiction book sued Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown was pretty silly. If your book is supposedly based on real events, how can you copyright the fact that those events took place. If I write a book on WWII can I sue anytime someone mentions Pearl Harbor, on the basis that they must have stolen the idea from me?
In anycase at least the judge involved, who ruled for the defendant, managed to have a sense of humor. He created his own code, embedded in the ruling in the form of italicized letters. Alas, it was not too difficult, as it has already been cracked.
Technorati tags:
Da Vinci Code
In anycase at least the judge involved, who ruled for the defendant, managed to have a sense of humor. He created his own code, embedded in the ruling in the form of italicized letters. Alas, it was not too difficult, as it has already been cracked.
Technorati tags:
Da Vinci Code
More Bad Economics
I think that before anyone is allowed to make a speech on the floor of the senate they have to pass a freshman level economics course. Now politicians of both parties are pandering, by offering, among other things, a $100 tax rebate to consumers. The fall in tax revenue will be made up by, get this, raising taxes on oil companies. Of course, anyone who managed to stay awake for the first week of any microeconomics course will know that the price level and tax paid varies little whether it is paid by the producer of a good, or its consumer. These must be the same people who think that half of Social Security is a free ride, because it is paid by the employer.
Update: On Wizbang they have a hilarious conversation on oil prices with Senator Maria Cantwell, who is apparently stunned by the concept of supply and demand. Quite sad.
Technorati tags:
Gas Tax
economics
Update: On Wizbang they have a hilarious conversation on oil prices with Senator Maria Cantwell, who is apparently stunned by the concept of supply and demand. Quite sad.
Technorati tags:
Gas Tax
economics
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Moving to Kabul
After reading this editorial in the WSJ I am inspired to move to Kabul to start Afghanistan's first Kinkos, or perhaps a hedge fund...
KABUL -- The recent Yale graduate I was chatting with at a party here spoke Chinese and had lived in China, the seeming epicenter of all things capitalist. "Why did you decide to come to Afghanistan?" I asked. He stared at me. "This is the largest rebuilding and development effort in the history of the world. Who wouldn't want to be here?"
After decades of conflict and the crippling legacies of communism and fundamentalism, Afghanistan is finally open for business. The signs are everywhere, from Kabul's traffic jams to Mazar-i-Sharif's building boom; from the opening of a Coca-Cola bottling plant to the country's first private university, the American University of Afghanistan, offering programs in business administration and information technology.
Technorati tags:
Current Affairs
Afghanistan
KABUL -- The recent Yale graduate I was chatting with at a party here spoke Chinese and had lived in China, the seeming epicenter of all things capitalist. "Why did you decide to come to Afghanistan?" I asked. He stared at me. "This is the largest rebuilding and development effort in the history of the world. Who wouldn't want to be here?"
After decades of conflict and the crippling legacies of communism and fundamentalism, Afghanistan is finally open for business. The signs are everywhere, from Kabul's traffic jams to Mazar-i-Sharif's building boom; from the opening of a Coca-Cola bottling plant to the country's first private university, the American University of Afghanistan, offering programs in business administration and information technology.
Technorati tags:
Current Affairs
Afghanistan
Maybe We Can Negotiate a Price
I have been thinking about getting into real estate...
Leading the way in your local listings? A $53 million Medina waterfront estate built by the late medical-eyewear magnate Peter LaHaye. The 30,000-square-foot, six-bedroom manse has been on the market since the late 1990s, when it was listed at half that much. It's even got its own, registration-required Web site: www.medinawaterfrontestate.com. Don't even think about moving here if you can't lay down a 10 percent down payment and a $301,000 monthly mortgage.
Now I am no expert, but if it has been on the market since the late 90s, shouldn't they be lowering the price, rather than raising it? Well, I guess if you got that much money, why haggle over it.
Leading the way in your local listings? A $53 million Medina waterfront estate built by the late medical-eyewear magnate Peter LaHaye. The 30,000-square-foot, six-bedroom manse has been on the market since the late 1990s, when it was listed at half that much. It's even got its own, registration-required Web site: www.medinawaterfrontestate.com. Don't even think about moving here if you can't lay down a 10 percent down payment and a $301,000 monthly mortgage.
Now I am no expert, but if it has been on the market since the late 90s, shouldn't they be lowering the price, rather than raising it? Well, I guess if you got that much money, why haggle over it.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Forget the Oil Companies, Investigate the Textbook Scam
From the WSJ:
Congress is looking at the textbook issue as well. Last month, the House passed legislation that includes a provision, by Oregon Democrat David Wu, with many of the steps being discussed by states. It takes aim at bundling and calls on colleges and universities to develop book-renting, lending and swap policies.
Legislative efforts to make textbooks more affordable are meeting resistance from publishers and some professors.
"We understand the desire, but it is very difficult to legislate how media will be prepared, designed and disseminated in a free-enterprise system," said Bruce Hildebrand, executive director for higher education for the Association for American Publishers, the New York organization that represents educational, professional and scholarly publishers nationwide. He said states are barred from taking steps that would interfere with interstate commerce and that book publishers are protected by the First Amendment.
While I am as much of a free marketer as they come, the problem with this, is that college textbooks do not operate in a "free-enterprise system". Students don't get to shop around for the best textbook bargain they can find, the professors tell them which they need for the class (often written by the professor himself) and they are forced to buy it in order to complete their coursework. The fact that I can buy a copy of Freakonomics at the local Barnes and Noble for $20, but an equivalent economics texbook at the University Book Store will run over $100, is an indication that there is monopoly pricing at work.
Congress is looking at the textbook issue as well. Last month, the House passed legislation that includes a provision, by Oregon Democrat David Wu, with many of the steps being discussed by states. It takes aim at bundling and calls on colleges and universities to develop book-renting, lending and swap policies.
Legislative efforts to make textbooks more affordable are meeting resistance from publishers and some professors.
"We understand the desire, but it is very difficult to legislate how media will be prepared, designed and disseminated in a free-enterprise system," said Bruce Hildebrand, executive director for higher education for the Association for American Publishers, the New York organization that represents educational, professional and scholarly publishers nationwide. He said states are barred from taking steps that would interfere with interstate commerce and that book publishers are protected by the First Amendment.
While I am as much of a free marketer as they come, the problem with this, is that college textbooks do not operate in a "free-enterprise system". Students don't get to shop around for the best textbook bargain they can find, the professors tell them which they need for the class (often written by the professor himself) and they are forced to buy it in order to complete their coursework. The fact that I can buy a copy of Freakonomics at the local Barnes and Noble for $20, but an equivalent economics texbook at the University Book Store will run over $100, is an indication that there is monopoly pricing at work.
Monday, April 24, 2006
The Flak Over Flags
I am offended by the association, I know of no brothels that have supported suicide bombers.
BERLIN (Reuters) - A brothel in Cologne was forced to black out the flags of Saudi Arabia and Iran from a huge World Cup soccer-themed advertising banner after angry Muslims complained and threatened violence.
The 24-metre-high by 8-metre-wide (78 by 26 ft) banner displayed on the side of the building features a scantily-clad woman and the slogan: "The world as a guest of female friends," a variation on the World Cup slogan: "The world as a guest of friends".
BERLIN (Reuters) - A brothel in Cologne was forced to black out the flags of Saudi Arabia and Iran from a huge World Cup soccer-themed advertising banner after angry Muslims complained and threatened violence.
The 24-metre-high by 8-metre-wide (78 by 26 ft) banner displayed on the side of the building features a scantily-clad woman and the slogan: "The world as a guest of female friends," a variation on the World Cup slogan: "The world as a guest of friends".
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Dispatch from Iraq
I am stunned the Seattle-PI actually printed this. You have to read the whole thing, so I will not excerpt it, just click here.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Unduly Low Taxes
All you would need to know about Stanford economist Ronald L. McKinnon can be summed up in this quote from the WSJ:
Tax revenues have fallen to an unduly low level by international standards.
What exactly is the international standard for tax revenues?
Tax revenues have fallen to an unduly low level by international standards.
What exactly is the international standard for tax revenues?
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
No, You Are Out of Touch Too
One of the more bizarre editorials I have seen lately.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Many awards presentations are accused of being out of touch with the public or even appearing to be popularity contests. But I contend that many of the Pulitzer Prizes, handed out on Monday, accurately reflected the nation's growing discontent with President Bush.
In particular, the awards presented to reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times, Dana Priest of the Washington Post as well as editorial cartoonist as well as editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution could be called a reflection of Bush's declining national approval rating.
How often do you see a Pulitzer given to a pro-Bush, or even pro-current administration writer? Pulitzers are always given to whomever comes up with the biggest scandal of the day, corruption, crime, secret government leaks, drug addicted babies... Real or imagined it makes no difference, but it is hardly a reflection of the popular will. James Risen, the NY Times reporter mentioned above, recently wrote a book on the "NSA wiretapping scandal" called "State of War", which isn't even selling well enough to appear on the bestseller list of his own newspaper. I had the misfortune of reading Dana Priest's "The Mission" last year, a book that universally depicted the US military as incompetent. It is now available used on Amazon.com for $1.65. President Bush is certainly not doing well in the polls lately, but anti-Bush journalists are hardly caught up in a swell of public sentiment.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Many awards presentations are accused of being out of touch with the public or even appearing to be popularity contests. But I contend that many of the Pulitzer Prizes, handed out on Monday, accurately reflected the nation's growing discontent with President Bush.
In particular, the awards presented to reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times, Dana Priest of the Washington Post as well as editorial cartoonist as well as editorial cartoonist Mike Luckovich of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution could be called a reflection of Bush's declining national approval rating.
How often do you see a Pulitzer given to a pro-Bush, or even pro-current administration writer? Pulitzers are always given to whomever comes up with the biggest scandal of the day, corruption, crime, secret government leaks, drug addicted babies... Real or imagined it makes no difference, but it is hardly a reflection of the popular will. James Risen, the NY Times reporter mentioned above, recently wrote a book on the "NSA wiretapping scandal" called "State of War", which isn't even selling well enough to appear on the bestseller list of his own newspaper. I had the misfortune of reading Dana Priest's "The Mission" last year, a book that universally depicted the US military as incompetent. It is now available used on Amazon.com for $1.65. President Bush is certainly not doing well in the polls lately, but anti-Bush journalists are hardly caught up in a swell of public sentiment.
An Oldie But a Goodie
In case anyone is wondering why I am so annoyed by a certain columnist mentioned below, it goes back a couple of years to this editorial. In which he makes the following claim:
My mother was intensely proud of her kids, and saved clippings and other notices of notoriety as we built our careers. When she died this year, I inherited a stack of memorabilia, but nowhere among them was a flattering letter to my dad from my National Guard commander.
At its command levels, the Guard has always been a very political organization, anxious to do favors for the likes of Congressman George H.W. Bush by looking after a late-maturing son. But my dad was a farmer and millworker, not a congressman, and nothing would have been gained from the flattery.
From piles of documents (some apparently faked) and interviews, it is apparent that the future President George W. Bush did in fact get special treatment from the Texas Air National Guard. Those of us who put in our time can justly feel some resentment.
The letter in question, of course, was not from LT Bush's National Guard commander, it was from MG G.B. Greene, the active duty Air Force commander of the base LT Bush was training at, and thus could hardly prove the point of corruption and influence in the National Guard chain-of-command that Professor McKay was trying to make. When I e-mailed the good professor, he originally denied that he was wrong, and then when shown overwhelming proof, conceded that I was correct, but that it did not change his column at all. The Seattle Times, like most newspapers, does not run corrections to editorials, so this error remains to this day.
My mother was intensely proud of her kids, and saved clippings and other notices of notoriety as we built our careers. When she died this year, I inherited a stack of memorabilia, but nowhere among them was a flattering letter to my dad from my National Guard commander.
At its command levels, the Guard has always been a very political organization, anxious to do favors for the likes of Congressman George H.W. Bush by looking after a late-maturing son. But my dad was a farmer and millworker, not a congressman, and nothing would have been gained from the flattery.
From piles of documents (some apparently faked) and interviews, it is apparent that the future President George W. Bush did in fact get special treatment from the Texas Air National Guard. Those of us who put in our time can justly feel some resentment.
The letter in question, of course, was not from LT Bush's National Guard commander, it was from MG G.B. Greene, the active duty Air Force commander of the base LT Bush was training at, and thus could hardly prove the point of corruption and influence in the National Guard chain-of-command that Professor McKay was trying to make. When I e-mailed the good professor, he originally denied that he was wrong, and then when shown overwhelming proof, conceded that I was correct, but that it did not change his column at all. The Seattle Times, like most newspapers, does not run corrections to editorials, so this error remains to this day.
Another Floyd Fisking
My favorite fact challenged pseudo-academic Seattle Times columnist is back with his editorial Sharing the Sacrifice, and ready for a Fisking. See previous posts here, here and here.
On the same day last week that retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste joined several other retired generals in calling for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld — with Batiste adding that he was struck by the "lack of sacrifice and commitment on the part of the American people," excepting military families — a second story quoted a new poll showing 48 percent of Americans would support a military assault on Iran if it doesn't give up its nuclear plans (40 percent are opposed).
This is kind of a drive-by editorial, in that generals calling for Rumsfeld's resignation has really nothing to do with the point of the column. Since McKay doesn't get into this issue, I won't either but retired admiral and University of Washington lecturer Bill Center (the father of one of my MBA classmates incidently) has a great editorial on this issue in the Seattle-PI today.
What I didn't see were stories that President George W. Bush and Rumsfeld — wanting to keep the military option on the table — have called for a military draft in order to support overstretched forces in Iraq and convince Iran of our serious intentions. And, I didn't see a report that, to spur morale at home, the Bush twins have volunteered to serve, if not in the military at least in a nongovernmental aid mission in Afghanistan or Iraq.
This is a complete strawman argument, in that nobody is even remotely suggesting a land war in Iran. In the unlikely event that any attack against Iran's nuclear facilities would take place it would be through the use of airpower, and the Air Force hardly needs a draft, in fact it is cutting personnel.
The Bush twins comment is of course silly. Nothing would be served by their joining, other than causing security issues, which would cost more than their contribution. I don't recall anyone demanding Chelsea join to serve in Kosovo. Given the fact that an overwhelming majority of the military is conservative, including children of members of Congress, and even John Ashcroft's son, the left is hardly in the position to complain on this point.
Iraq is costing about $5.9 billion a month, more than $400 billion total, not counting the huge cost of replacing equipment and training Iraqi forces.
This is just bad math. At $5.9 billion a month "more than $400 billion total" would mean the war has been going on for more than 5 1/2 years. Even the anti-war cost of war website only estimates it has cost $270 billion. Of course I have already shown how bad Mr. McKay is with numbers.
Additionally, much of this does in fact count the cost of replacing equipment and training Iraqi forces, the latter of which is carried out mostly by US troops.
We are, in short, paying for this war on a credit card, largely held by foreign bankers and coming due after Bush is out of office. His successor, Republican or Democrat, will face the worst financial mess since Herbert Hoover went back to fly-fishing.
Hmm, the unemployment rate in 1933, when Herbert Hoover "went back to fly-fishing" was 25%, now it is at 4.7%. Yeah, good comparison.
But wait, you say, he is talking about the crushing burden of debt on the US economy. OK, well in 2001 when Clinton left to go sexually harass women in the private sector, interest on the national debt amounted to 3.6% of GDP. Last year, after 4 years of dangerous Republican debt accumulation, that amount skyrocketed to... 2.8%. It is definitely reaching crisis proportions!
Only about 25% of the national debt is "held by foreign bankers" by the way, although I guess in McKay math this counts as "largely"
Our federal government in fiscal 2005 spent $760 billion more than it took in, and put the rest on the credit card.
Actually, counting social security, which last I checked was part of the federal government, the government spent $319 billion more than it took in. Even if you don't count the Social Security trust fund, the number is only $554 billion. A large number no doubt, but over $200 billion less than the bogus numbers he comes up with. But hey, we can't expect Mr. McKay to give us accurate numbers in an editorial accusing the administration of bogus accounting, can we?
Some 622,000 soldiers and Marines have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, including multiple deployments. Reservists and National Guard troops among them make up more of a cross-section of economic and social classes. But all in all, the upper and middle classes don't show up in these figures nearly as much as they show up on college campuses across America.
OK, but there are more than 1.3 million soldiers and Marines. So what Mr. McKay is saying is that on average, over the last 4 1/2 years, 11% of them have been deployed at any one time. Given how the left has been screaming that our efforts are quagmires, this is hardly reaching a crisis level.
And yes, college campuses probably have more upper class types than the military, perhaps Mr. McKay will speak out strongly against those who would restrict access to military recruiters in Seattle in his next column? Hah, I crack myself up...
On the same day last week that retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste joined several other retired generals in calling for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld — with Batiste adding that he was struck by the "lack of sacrifice and commitment on the part of the American people," excepting military families — a second story quoted a new poll showing 48 percent of Americans would support a military assault on Iran if it doesn't give up its nuclear plans (40 percent are opposed).
This is kind of a drive-by editorial, in that generals calling for Rumsfeld's resignation has really nothing to do with the point of the column. Since McKay doesn't get into this issue, I won't either but retired admiral and University of Washington lecturer Bill Center (the father of one of my MBA classmates incidently) has a great editorial on this issue in the Seattle-PI today.
What I didn't see were stories that President George W. Bush and Rumsfeld — wanting to keep the military option on the table — have called for a military draft in order to support overstretched forces in Iraq and convince Iran of our serious intentions. And, I didn't see a report that, to spur morale at home, the Bush twins have volunteered to serve, if not in the military at least in a nongovernmental aid mission in Afghanistan or Iraq.
This is a complete strawman argument, in that nobody is even remotely suggesting a land war in Iran. In the unlikely event that any attack against Iran's nuclear facilities would take place it would be through the use of airpower, and the Air Force hardly needs a draft, in fact it is cutting personnel.
The Bush twins comment is of course silly. Nothing would be served by their joining, other than causing security issues, which would cost more than their contribution. I don't recall anyone demanding Chelsea join to serve in Kosovo. Given the fact that an overwhelming majority of the military is conservative, including children of members of Congress, and even John Ashcroft's son, the left is hardly in the position to complain on this point.
Iraq is costing about $5.9 billion a month, more than $400 billion total, not counting the huge cost of replacing equipment and training Iraqi forces.
This is just bad math. At $5.9 billion a month "more than $400 billion total" would mean the war has been going on for more than 5 1/2 years. Even the anti-war cost of war website only estimates it has cost $270 billion. Of course I have already shown how bad Mr. McKay is with numbers.
Additionally, much of this does in fact count the cost of replacing equipment and training Iraqi forces, the latter of which is carried out mostly by US troops.
We are, in short, paying for this war on a credit card, largely held by foreign bankers and coming due after Bush is out of office. His successor, Republican or Democrat, will face the worst financial mess since Herbert Hoover went back to fly-fishing.
Hmm, the unemployment rate in 1933, when Herbert Hoover "went back to fly-fishing" was 25%, now it is at 4.7%. Yeah, good comparison.
But wait, you say, he is talking about the crushing burden of debt on the US economy. OK, well in 2001 when Clinton left to go sexually harass women in the private sector, interest on the national debt amounted to 3.6% of GDP. Last year, after 4 years of dangerous Republican debt accumulation, that amount skyrocketed to... 2.8%. It is definitely reaching crisis proportions!
Only about 25% of the national debt is "held by foreign bankers" by the way, although I guess in McKay math this counts as "largely"
Our federal government in fiscal 2005 spent $760 billion more than it took in, and put the rest on the credit card.
Actually, counting social security, which last I checked was part of the federal government, the government spent $319 billion more than it took in. Even if you don't count the Social Security trust fund, the number is only $554 billion. A large number no doubt, but over $200 billion less than the bogus numbers he comes up with. But hey, we can't expect Mr. McKay to give us accurate numbers in an editorial accusing the administration of bogus accounting, can we?
Some 622,000 soldiers and Marines have deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, including multiple deployments. Reservists and National Guard troops among them make up more of a cross-section of economic and social classes. But all in all, the upper and middle classes don't show up in these figures nearly as much as they show up on college campuses across America.
OK, but there are more than 1.3 million soldiers and Marines. So what Mr. McKay is saying is that on average, over the last 4 1/2 years, 11% of them have been deployed at any one time. Given how the left has been screaming that our efforts are quagmires, this is hardly reaching a crisis level.
And yes, college campuses probably have more upper class types than the military, perhaps Mr. McKay will speak out strongly against those who would restrict access to military recruiters in Seattle in his next column? Hah, I crack myself up...
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Stupid Letter To the Editor O' the Day
From the Seattle-PI:
Defense secretary a little off on his numbers
So Donald Rumsfeld is now saying that out of the "thousands" of generals and admirals in the U.S. military, "only a handful" are criticizing his performance as defense secretary. But I have to ask, where does he get his numbers? According to a U.S. Census report dated April 10, 2003, as of Jan. 31, 2003, there was a total of 873 generals and admirals in the U.S. military.
William E. Wilson
Moses Lake
Uhh, except that the generals who are criticizing Rumsfeld are all retired (the active duty ones aren't stupid enough to attack their current boss). Given that you generally retire as a general in your 50s, when you would expect to live another 20-30 years, I think it is safe to say that there are thousands of generals out there.
Update: The NY Times has a more specific estimate:
Among other things the memo stated that Mr. Rumsfeld has held 139 meetings with the Joint Chiefs of Staff since the start of 2005 and 208 meetings with the senior field commanders. And it noted that there are more than 8,000 active-duty and retired general officers alive today, compared to the handful who have publicly challenged him.
Defense secretary a little off on his numbers
So Donald Rumsfeld is now saying that out of the "thousands" of generals and admirals in the U.S. military, "only a handful" are criticizing his performance as defense secretary. But I have to ask, where does he get his numbers? According to a U.S. Census report dated April 10, 2003, as of Jan. 31, 2003, there was a total of 873 generals and admirals in the U.S. military.
William E. Wilson
Moses Lake
Uhh, except that the generals who are criticizing Rumsfeld are all retired (the active duty ones aren't stupid enough to attack their current boss). Given that you generally retire as a general in your 50s, when you would expect to live another 20-30 years, I think it is safe to say that there are thousands of generals out there.
Update: The NY Times has a more specific estimate:
Among other things the memo stated that Mr. Rumsfeld has held 139 meetings with the Joint Chiefs of Staff since the start of 2005 and 208 meetings with the senior field commanders. And it noted that there are more than 8,000 active-duty and retired general officers alive today, compared to the handful who have publicly challenged him.
Balkan Terrorists
From the AP:
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — His code name was Maximus, and he held secret meetings in a shabby room at the Banana City Hotel on the outskirts of Sarajevo.
Bosnian police put him under surveillance, and in a raid last fall on his apartment on Poligonska Street, authorities seized explosives, a suicide bomber belt and a videotape of masked men begging Allah's forgiveness for what they were about to do.
What they planned, investigators believe, was to blow up a European embassy. Compounding their concern, they say, was the ringleader's background: Maximus turned out to be Mirsad Bektasevic, 19, a Swedish citizen of Serbian origin with ties to a senior al-Qaida operative.
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — His code name was Maximus, and he held secret meetings in a shabby room at the Banana City Hotel on the outskirts of Sarajevo.
Bosnian police put him under surveillance, and in a raid last fall on his apartment on Poligonska Street, authorities seized explosives, a suicide bomber belt and a videotape of masked men begging Allah's forgiveness for what they were about to do.
What they planned, investigators believe, was to blow up a European embassy. Compounding their concern, they say, was the ringleader's background: Maximus turned out to be Mirsad Bektasevic, 19, a Swedish citizen of Serbian origin with ties to a senior al-Qaida operative.
Monday, April 17, 2006
Letter to the Editor O' the Day
In general the Seattle PI is a pretty lame newspaper, but occasionally they carry a bit of brilliance. From today's letters:
Wasteful spending happens here, too
While I agree with Joel Connelly's sentiment in his Wednesday column, "Passing the hat in the 'GOP Welfare State,' " that we need to watch wasteful "pork barrel" spending, one part of the story that he is leaving out is that when Republican Sen. Tom Coburn got up on the floor of the Senate and proposed an amendment to control these types of appropriations, including the famous "bridge to nowhere," our very own Sen. Patty Murray had this to say:
"As the old saying goes: What is good for the goose is good for the gander. And I tell my colleagues, if we start cutting funding for individual projects, your project may be next.
"So, Mr. President, when members come down to the floor to vote on this amendment, they need to know if they support stripping out this project, Sen. Bond and I are likely to be taking a long, serious look at their projects to determine whether they should be preserved during our upcoming conference negotiations.
"We must not and we will not go down the road of picking on one senator or another on the floor of the Senate. I urge a no vote on this amendment."
Perhaps if we want to look for the cause of wasteful spending, we should be looking at home.
James Bennett
Bellevue
The original source for Senator Murray's quote by the way is at Radioblogger, they also include an MP3, as well as Senator Coburn's response.
Wasteful spending happens here, too
While I agree with Joel Connelly's sentiment in his Wednesday column, "Passing the hat in the 'GOP Welfare State,' " that we need to watch wasteful "pork barrel" spending, one part of the story that he is leaving out is that when Republican Sen. Tom Coburn got up on the floor of the Senate and proposed an amendment to control these types of appropriations, including the famous "bridge to nowhere," our very own Sen. Patty Murray had this to say:
"As the old saying goes: What is good for the goose is good for the gander. And I tell my colleagues, if we start cutting funding for individual projects, your project may be next.
"So, Mr. President, when members come down to the floor to vote on this amendment, they need to know if they support stripping out this project, Sen. Bond and I are likely to be taking a long, serious look at their projects to determine whether they should be preserved during our upcoming conference negotiations.
"We must not and we will not go down the road of picking on one senator or another on the floor of the Senate. I urge a no vote on this amendment."
Perhaps if we want to look for the cause of wasteful spending, we should be looking at home.
James Bennett
Bellevue
The original source for Senator Murray's quote by the way is at Radioblogger, they also include an MP3, as well as Senator Coburn's response.
Friday, April 14, 2006
Another Connelly Fisking
Floyd McKay hasn't written much of interest lately, so I have turned to Fisking Joel Connelly. In his most recent column he has taken on Iraq, by comparing a proposed John Kerry solution with the Dayton Accords which ended the Civil War in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The model would be the Dayton Accords, the peace agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina worked out in 1995 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Participants in and enablers of Yugoslavia's civil war were isolated and made to deal. The accord ended 3 1/2 years of war in Bosnia.
Mr. Connelly hasn't been paying much attention to his history though. That isn't how it worked. The participants were "isolated" for 3 ½ years. We just sat back and asked them to work things out while the UN watched and 100,000 people died. It wasn't until we ended this isolation and got involved militarily and bombed the Serbs that anything started to happen. Milosevic was worried that the Bosnian Serbs would lose and the problems might spill over to affect him. The Bosnian Serbs never did "deal" and refused to participate in the Dayton Accords. Many of them feel to this day that Milosevic sold them out to save his own skin. Only the threat of military force kept them in line. US troops are still in Bosnia 10 years later, albeit in limited numbers.
So basically if he wants to "model" this on the Dayton Accords, that would require leaving, letting a civil war break out and waiting for the parties to tire of it. If an equivalent number of Iraqis died relative to their population as Bosnians, that would be over 600,000 deaths and 6-7 million refugees. Then the US would find whoever was winning the war (losers tend to be more willing to negotiate to begin with) and then bomb them to force a negotiation. Only then could we lock the factions up on an Air Force Base and expect them to reach a compromise.
Not really the type of model I want to follow.
The model would be the Dayton Accords, the peace agreement for Bosnia and Herzegovina worked out in 1995 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Participants in and enablers of Yugoslavia's civil war were isolated and made to deal. The accord ended 3 1/2 years of war in Bosnia.
Mr. Connelly hasn't been paying much attention to his history though. That isn't how it worked. The participants were "isolated" for 3 ½ years. We just sat back and asked them to work things out while the UN watched and 100,000 people died. It wasn't until we ended this isolation and got involved militarily and bombed the Serbs that anything started to happen. Milosevic was worried that the Bosnian Serbs would lose and the problems might spill over to affect him. The Bosnian Serbs never did "deal" and refused to participate in the Dayton Accords. Many of them feel to this day that Milosevic sold them out to save his own skin. Only the threat of military force kept them in line. US troops are still in Bosnia 10 years later, albeit in limited numbers.
So basically if he wants to "model" this on the Dayton Accords, that would require leaving, letting a civil war break out and waiting for the parties to tire of it. If an equivalent number of Iraqis died relative to their population as Bosnians, that would be over 600,000 deaths and 6-7 million refugees. Then the US would find whoever was winning the war (losers tend to be more willing to negotiate to begin with) and then bomb them to force a negotiation. Only then could we lock the factions up on an Air Force Base and expect them to reach a compromise.
Not really the type of model I want to follow.
Don't Let the Door Hit You On the Way Out
Maybe it is just me, but I am getting tired of professional sports leagues blackmailing us into providing subsidies for billionaires to pay millionaires to play sports. Good riddance, we can get by without your arrogant and greedy attitudes.
Jilted, unwanted, unloved by city officials, the Sonics should leave Seattle, National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern said Thursday.
"They're not interested in having the NBA there," Stern told The Associated Press in New York.
"We understand that," he said. "We understand that there are competing issues, and the mayor is free to make whatever decisions he needs to make and I support that."
Jilted, unwanted, unloved by city officials, the Sonics should leave Seattle, National Basketball Association commissioner David Stern said Thursday.
"They're not interested in having the NBA there," Stern told The Associated Press in New York.
"We understand that," he said. "We understand that there are competing issues, and the mayor is free to make whatever decisions he needs to make and I support that."
The Pelosi Doctrine
I have spoken before on the feckless UN and the pointlessness of a foreign policy based around working with them. This editorial in the WSJ sums it up so well:
This is of a piece for what passes as a security policy in most of Ms. Pelosi's party. A recently published Democratic "plan" for "real security" offers some poll-tested words on "finishing the job in Afghanistan," spending more on body armor and veterans' benefits, getting out of Iraq fast and achieving energy independence by 2020. The word "democracy" is never mentioned, nor is the word "prevention." On outrages such as the one in Darfur, the plan promises to "lead international efforts to uphold and defend human rights; and renew long-standing alliances that have advanced our national security objectives."
Terrific. In Sudan, that and the United Nations will get you exactly . . . what we have now: slaughter. With the best of intentions, Ms. Pelosi urges Mr. Bush to "do something" about Darfur. But she then refuses to confront the fact that the very international institutions and sometime allies she wants the U.S. to defer to are unable or unwilling to help Mr. Bush do anything at all.
This is of a piece for what passes as a security policy in most of Ms. Pelosi's party. A recently published Democratic "plan" for "real security" offers some poll-tested words on "finishing the job in Afghanistan," spending more on body armor and veterans' benefits, getting out of Iraq fast and achieving energy independence by 2020. The word "democracy" is never mentioned, nor is the word "prevention." On outrages such as the one in Darfur, the plan promises to "lead international efforts to uphold and defend human rights; and renew long-standing alliances that have advanced our national security objectives."
Terrific. In Sudan, that and the United Nations will get you exactly . . . what we have now: slaughter. With the best of intentions, Ms. Pelosi urges Mr. Bush to "do something" about Darfur. But she then refuses to confront the fact that the very international institutions and sometime allies she wants the U.S. to defer to are unable or unwilling to help Mr. Bush do anything at all.
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Joel Connelly on Wasteful Spending
Voter fraud proponent Joel Connelly wrote an article attacking Republicans for wasteful spending. I actually generally agree with that, but he is leaving out an important part of the puzzle, so I sent the Seattle PI the following 'letter to the editor'.
While I agree with Mr. Connelly’s sentiment in the editorial “Passing the hat in the 'GOP Welfare State'”, that we need to watch wasteful “pork barrel” spending. One part of the story that he is leaving out is that when Republican Senator Tom Coburn got up on the floor of the Senate and proposed an amendment to control these types of appropriations, including the famous “bridge to nowhere”, our very own Senator Patty Murray had this to say:
"As the old saying goes: What is good for the goose is good for the gander. And I tell my colleagues, if we start cutting funding for individual projects, your project may be next.
So, Mr. President, when Members come down to the floor to vote on this amendment, they need to know if they support stripping out this project, Senator Bond and I are likely to be taking a long, serious look at their projects to determine whether they should be preserved during our upcoming conference negotiations.
We must not and we will not go down the road of picking on one Senator or another on the floor of the Senate. I urge a no vote on this amendment."
Perhaps if we want to look for the cause of wasteful spending, we should be looking at home.
UPDATE: To his credit Mr. Connelly replied, to an admittedly more sarcastic version of this that I sent him. Hey, I never said I wasn't a smart ass.
Don't get sarcastic and spoil a very, very good argument.
. I've seen oft-reprinted the threats that Sen. Stevens made in the face of the Coburn amendment. This is the first I've seen of Murray's comments.
The quote will be saved, and used.
jc
While I agree with Mr. Connelly’s sentiment in the editorial “Passing the hat in the 'GOP Welfare State'”, that we need to watch wasteful “pork barrel” spending. One part of the story that he is leaving out is that when Republican Senator Tom Coburn got up on the floor of the Senate and proposed an amendment to control these types of appropriations, including the famous “bridge to nowhere”, our very own Senator Patty Murray had this to say:
"As the old saying goes: What is good for the goose is good for the gander. And I tell my colleagues, if we start cutting funding for individual projects, your project may be next.
So, Mr. President, when Members come down to the floor to vote on this amendment, they need to know if they support stripping out this project, Senator Bond and I are likely to be taking a long, serious look at their projects to determine whether they should be preserved during our upcoming conference negotiations.
We must not and we will not go down the road of picking on one Senator or another on the floor of the Senate. I urge a no vote on this amendment."
Perhaps if we want to look for the cause of wasteful spending, we should be looking at home.
UPDATE: To his credit Mr. Connelly replied, to an admittedly more sarcastic version of this that I sent him. Hey, I never said I wasn't a smart ass.
Don't get sarcastic and spoil a very, very good argument.
. I've seen oft-reprinted the threats that Sen. Stevens made in the face of the Coburn amendment. This is the first I've seen of Murray's comments.
The quote will be saved, and used.
jc
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