Quote Of The Day

Perhaps next year the Iraqis will get their act together and settle their internal differences. Perhaps next year Congress will balance the federal budget. Such developments are always possible. They are also highly unlikely.

Andrew J. Bacevich

Debate, at 20 paces

Hillary Clinton has challenged Barack Obama to a non-moderator debate, a la Lincoln-Douglass. Obama should go back even farther in history and challenge her to a duel.

CJL

Firearm Weirdness

We are constantly bombarded with propaganda that states that "assault weapons" have no other purpose in life besides killing as many people as quickly as possible.  So I have to wonder what exactly New York City is thinking when it's giving them to police officers who will patrolling in a very closed environment.  Setting aside the whole ignorance
displayed by describing something as a carbine rifle (a carbine being, by definition, a short rifle) it makes me wonder just what masses of people the NYPD is planning to quickly kill...and whether they've given any thought to possible injuries and death to innocent bystanders.

Nah.  The NYPD doesn't have to worry about liability for killing innocents.

Quote Of The Day

There's a lesson here for opponents of any law. The more people they can convince to join them in disobedience of the law, the more difficult it becomes to enforce the law. Eventually, the disagreeable regulation becomes nothing more than an annoying technicality to be ignored by opponents and enforcers alike.

J.D. Tuccille

Happy Arbor Day!

I've got a piece on the National Center for Public Policy Research blog talking about Arbor Day.

Frugalistismo

A big wave to Wendy McElroy and her Frugalista movement!  Cutting back on what you owe cuts back on the ties that the State can have to you!

Quote Of The Day

But there seems to be a popular delusion that transforming society is simply a matter of wanting hard enough and cleverly crafting legislation that everybody must follow as if it were a law of nature. As Jacobs puts it in the gun control context, "To a large extent, gun control is something that people believe in. It is embraced in principle without attention to practicalities, implementation and enforcement problems, and cost." Inevitably, the gun controllers, like all totalitarian "reformers," are disappointed when their neighbors prove resistant to social engineering.

J.D. Tuccille

Democrats For Democracy?

Quoth the New York Times:  "It is getting to be time for the superdelegates to do what the Democrats had in mind when they created superdelegates: settle a bloody race that cannot be won at the ballot box."

In other words, skaaaaREW democracy and the will of the people.  Fire up those smoke filled rooms, boys, the Good Times Are Back!

How very...conservative...of them.

Self Fulfilling Prophecy Meets Market Realities

It is normal human nature, I believe, to want to get caught up in bubbles and panics.  The thought of getting something for nothing or losing something for nothing is strong within the human psyche, and so it is no surprise that with spiraling inflation there are people buying into the current food panic.  Bubbles and panics tend to go right past the (allegedly) thoughtful forebrain and hit right back into the lizard brain that we all still have.  And if you're a person who's not particularly keen on understanding and controlling the lizard brain...bingo, you're in a bubble or a panic.

This is not to say that costs aren't up and shortages aren't real.  Costs are traceable to both inflation and to the idiot food-into-fuel* panic that is currently in vogue.

So this will be another one of those interesting things to watch as it unfolds.  Will the stampeding herd pull back in time?  Will they overrun the pasture and wipe out the whole food chain?  Stay tuned...and maybe pick up some tulips for a light snack in the meantime.


*I know - the link is to Australia, but it's current and well-written and doesn't lose anything in the translation to American.

Quote Of The Day

There are few more reprehensible traits in American political culture than the constant exploitation of the glories of "sacrifice for freedom" by war cheerleaders like Kristol who ensure that only others sacrifice and neither they nor their families ever do. What "sacrifices for the sake of freedom" has Bill Kristol -- the prime poster child of nepotistic protection -- ever made in his entire life?

Glenn Greenwald

Just The Sort Of Army We Need

Back when I was still wearing the Funny Green Tree Suit in the '80s, there was, as I recall, a certain amount of pride that the Army was finally meeting its recruiting needs without having to resort to CAT-IVs on the educational scale, nor any use for "moral waivers."  Well, those days are past us and the numbers of poorly educated and downright felonious troops are rising.  

What is particularly frightening about the increase in criminals is that they are quite likely to end
up preying not only on civilians in the war zones, thus blackening the National Eye even more (presuming that's possible) but may well prey on fellow soldiers, thus weakening morale (if that's possible, too) even more as well as wrecking unit cohesion.  This will result in "good" soldiers leaving and a requirement for even more of the morally challenged types to fill out the ranks.

Eventually you end up with an entire military composed of Dirty Dozen types - but without the happy movie ending.

A big hat tip to David Codrea for first pointing out the Dirty Dozen analogy.

Irony Is Lost On These People

One of the key skills a politician must master is an absolute immunity to any sense of irony in his public  statements.  Take for example the current suggestion by Condi Rice that Moqtada al-Sadr is a coward, because, "I know he's sitting in Iran," Miss Rice said dismissively, when asked about Sheik al-Sadr's latest threat to lift a self-imposed cease-fire with government and U.S. forces. "I guess it's all-out war for anybody but him..."

You know, I have not seen many pictures of this particular chickenhawkette walking point in body armor, helmet, and M-16, nor are any of her flock showing that particular talent.  She's not even close to the action in the form of having personally obtained the loyalty of a group of fighters involved in the current occupation.  As such, it seems to me that she needs to sit down and keep quiet about characteristics that she's noticeably lacking - since it's hard to believe that she would even recognize them if she saw them.

Empire Then And Now

On April 18, 1775, General Thomas Gage, a general in the globe-spanning empire of the era, ordered in part:

Orders from General Thomas Gage
to Lieut. Colonel Smith, 10th Regiment 'Foot Boston, April 18, 1775
Lieut. Colonel Smith, 10th Regiment 'Foot,

Sir,

Having received intelligence, that a quantity of Ammunition, Provisions, Artillery, Tents and small Arms, have been collected at Concord, for the Avowed Purpose of raising and supporting a Rebellion against His Majesty, you will March with a Corps of Grenadiers and Light Infantry, put under your Command, with the utmost expedition and Secrecy to Concord, where you will seize and distroy all Artillery, Ammunition, Provisions, Tents, Small Arms, and all Military Stores whatever. But you will take care that the Soldiers do not plunder the Inhabitants, or hurt private property.

Emphasis added.

Compare and contrast that with the American Empire's treatment of, say, Fallujah.

So the American Rebels were justified in fighting to be free of an Empire that treated them with civilized courtesy, but the Iraqis are "dealt with as wolves are."  Does anyone else see the hypocrisy there?

Hillary - Quiet And Loud

Politicians are relatively privileged these days.  When they don't want to talk about things, the mainstream media is generally willing to give them a pass on the topic, instead of boring in like sharks smelling blood.  On the other hand, politicians could give sharks lessons in how to attack injured prey.  So Hillary's relative silence in regard to Barack's pastoral issues is somewhat disturbing, until you read what Mother Jones has to say about why.

On the other hand, Hillary has made sure to make her loyalties to a Nation Other Than America very clear, putting American power into the service of a different state and subordinating American interests to those of another.  Is there a connection between the reason for the silence and the saber rattling?

There was a time when Americans were incredibly suspicious of a possible Catholic president, concerned over the potential for divided loyalty.  Shouldn't that same suspicion extend to any candidate who seems to have difficulty recognizing what America's actual interests are in the world?

As the wise man says, "A fish rots from the head down," so is it any surprise that we see followup stories like this?

Quote Of The Day

In other words, elect McCain, my friends, and you are summoning the awful genie of another 9/11. I said it. I mean it. I'm not taking it back. That man's announced policies could well produce a blowback that will lead to the end of democracy in the United States. It is a momentous decision.

Juan Cole

Maybe They're Saving Themselves For Iran

The Air Force is "not doing enough" in Iraq. I'd have thought that pulling the Iraqi army's bacon out of the fire, along with its general commitment to mayhem and civilian deaths, would have been more than sufficient. I shudder to think of what may actually be considered "enough."

Oil Goes Up - In Dollars

That being said, it's interesting that oil is still holding at around a tenth of an ounce of gold per barrel. You don't tend to see too many stories, though they're known to crop up, as have analyses of the issue. But mostly the average person reading the paper is not clued in. That is, of course, because inflation is inherently a problem created by whoever is producing the money - and the mainstream media is hardly likely to bite the State that feeds it.

Context Is Everything When Beating Children

One of my daily stops is Karen De Coster's blog and given much of her hard hitting discussion there, it's no surprise to find out that she also beats children. Quoting Karen, "...I have to decide whether to go mountain biking today or perhaps go look for some little kiddies to beat..."

Of course, it looks a little different when you read the whole story and not just my snippet.

Quote Of The Day

In the world of right-wing Republicans, actual bravery, courage, and military service are irrelevant. What matters is a willingness to strike the pose of a warrior.

Glenn Greenwald

Weird Weather? Or Socialist "Success?"

Today's quiz question will be "What's The Problem Here?"  For reference purposes, I have placed a map of East Asia here, and would direct the reader's attention to the purple and 
yellow colored Korean Peninsula, just west of Japan.  Got it?  Good.

So here's the lead in to the question.  Once again, North Korea is going to be facing food shortages, allegedly as a result of "summer floods."  On the other hand, South Korea is facing a rice glut, 
and apparently has more rice than it knows what to do with.  Given the proximity of these two countries, isn't the weather fairly similar, such that the "floods" in the North should have done equal damage to the South - if it truly was flooding?

Isn't it more likely that the problem is exactly what it always is in socialist countries - an insistence on top-down rigid control of people's lives and property that results in a society unable to produce adequate amounts of even its most basic needs?  Of course, the elites in Pyongyang will not be going hungry or resorting to long pig dinners any time soon, but that's also the nature of socialism.  Some animals are more equal than others.  Odd, though, how those very same elites always complain about how businesses in more free market oriented countries live off the sweat of their employees and customers.  Given that people - even here in the US - still flock to the Socialist Ideal, it just proves some of those good old adages, like how you can rob somebody blind if you yell loudly enough about how big a crook the other guy is...or how you can fool some of the people all of the time.

So.  Two countries, one a fairly free market with a rice glut, and one rigidly socialist facing famine yet again.   Similar climate and weather between the two.  Thus the question:  What's the problem here?  Fickle weather gods?  Or just crappy-as-usual Socialist "planning?"  

The quiz will be graded on a curve, no points will be given for partial answers.

Mr. Chairman,

Last September I was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Frederick Douglass Memorial and Historical Association.

The latest news is that my colleagues chose me to chair the planning committee for the symposium that we are organizing for next year. My updates to follow, here and at the Website I just put together.


CJL

Washington Times piece

I have a piece in today's Washington Times. It marks the anniversary of D.C. Emancipation Day.

CJL

Over At The New York Times

There's a liveblog (sort of) going on over at the New York Times in celebration* of the Virginia Tech shootings a year ago.  David Codrea, noted gunblogger, is there representing the side of freedom and liberty.  I felt compelled to add a comment, in my Infamous Oregon Lawhobbit guise, to the holier-than-thou bit from the Rev. Alexander W. Evans...to wit:

Who was it that said or sang that we don't put up tombstones for the dead, but for the living? If someone is willing to violate one of the most basic of God's commandments - "Thou shalt not murder," what makes anyone believe that lesser human laws will have any effect on his plans?

It's clear that all of the laws that people beg for after these incidents are nothing more than tombstones for the living - a useless group of talismans that let them think that now they are safe from the forces of evil...and as equally efficacious as the talismans carried by people centuries ago, hoping to ward off the Black Death.  


*Yes, "celebrate."  The NYT revels in any sort of gore that helps it advance its statist, anti-freedom agenda, with a strong emphasis on those areas that make Pennsylvanians like myself bitter - guns, for instance.

Quote Of The Day

Inevitably, pro-government pundits at this time of year trot out that hoary old supposed Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. quote to the effect that "Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society."

But, assuming that Holmes was being sincere, that was a statement made at a time when the burden of government rested much more lightly on people's shoulders than it does now. In 1920, total government spending consumed 12.8% of GDP, with federal spending at 7.7%. By 2005, that figure was 35.9%, with federal spending at 20.2%. Are we really getting more civilization for that money? Or are we just getting mugged a tad more vigorously?

J.D. Tuccille

Quote Of The Day

Solving this riddle – that is, why everything costs so much when the government tells us inflation rates are low – is simple:

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lies.

Jerome Corsi, regarding The Riddle Of Inflation

What SHOULD Be Asked

I'm fairly confident that my headfirst dive into the ankle deep waters of politics will be sufficient in my current quest for the office of municipal judge.  I know I would never be cut out for, say, Congress because I would have to hire somebody like Fred Reed as a speechwriter for me, or at least contract with him to keep me supplied with essential questions that should be asked of the military these days.

Nice Roost Of Chickens You've Got There!

I know quite a few people who are of the opinion that the laws of sociology and economics can be repealed with the simple stroke of a pen.  The most popular law for repeal, one that is common to both disciplines, is that:  "Human needs are infinite, human resources are finite."  Economics is a study of how we allocate those scarce resources, while sociology, in part, looks at why we do.  

One of those long-running contentions I've had with others is simple - at least it seems to me - that when prices go up, people will buy less of an item, or will buy fewer other items in order to
keep purchasing similar amounts of the first item.  That seems to be confirmed in this recent story,
with the money 'graf here:  Figures released on Monday showed that spending on food and gasoline is crowding out other purchases, leaving people with less to spend on furniture, clothing and electronics.

Seems obvious to me.

Luxury goods go by the wayside first.  I mean, I used to love going into the Sharper Image stores 
and playing with the fun gadgets.  But for the most part, that is what they were - fun gadgets.  Not things that you had to have to stay alive, simply bits of fun to make the edges of an already satisfied life more fun.  Let's just hope we don't start seeing grocery stores going belly up.

Clicking With The Voters - JM

Then there are the politicians who are simply so "all over the place" that they seem to click with nobody - yet then they turn around and get elected.  Despite his difficulty in getting anything right, whether it's economics, foreign affairs, or just general bits about the nation, McCain is now the leading Republican candidate, what with the others being suspended.  

And then there is the appeal of the man who has no problem being in Iraq for a hundred years somehow managing to appeal to the antiwar vote.  

You know, maybe I can get onboard with that whole "bitter" thing after all.

Clicking With The Voters - BHO

The problem with pandering to voters is that you end up contradicting yourself, depending on which audience you're trying to suck up to at the moment.   Obama has always struck me as a typical Big City Lawyer/professor, Liberal in his leanings, obviously believing he knows more about ordering other people's lives than thos people know themselves.  A modern philosopher king, who really only has the best interests of the hoi-polloi in his heart...except, you know, when they're angry, bitter, and resentful.  But stupid.

The place that politicians slip up is when they're among the fringe elements of groups whose beliefs are simply extreme verisions of their own.  Thus when safely nestled amongst
whacko Left in San Francisco, Obama lets his guard down and tells us what he really thinks about Small Town America.  That one of Thomas Sowell's "Anointed" would feel (and the operative word is "feel, not "think" or "believe") is no real surprise.  It's just a 
comment on his quality as a politician that in this day and age of electronic media that he would make such a ridiculous comment where others could hear it - rather than in the more typical smoke filled back room where it would be far more at home.

Clicking With The Voters - HRC

It's very important, I'm told, to find things in common with the people you're asking to vote for you and to emphasize those similarities.  Thus we now have Clinton reinventing herself as a pro-gun churchgoer.  The article is kind of short, but it would be interesting for some intrepid reporter to ask her when she had last been to a range, or a hunting lodge, and when the last time was that she was in church.  It'd be even better if she could discuss some hunts she's been on, her favorite calibers and firearms, and maybe give us a couple of favorite hymns or parts of a service.

I was always a bit partial to the nunc dimittis and the Apostles' Creed, myself, and think that it's hard to beat an HK rifle in .308, a Glock pistol in 9mm, and a Remington shotgun in 12 gauge.

But then, I'm not running for federal office.  Hillary's watered down views on gun control - you
know, the thing that lost her husband control of Congress, are on display here, but those are the
typical tepid remarks made by someone seeking office, not views she might actually have.  Those are better reflected when she's in front of an audience she's comfortable with.  Compare the specificity of "...renew the ban on assault weapons and repeal the Tiahrt amendment, which restricts federal authorities from sharing gun-trace information with local law enforcement" with the bland banalities described previously.

test

This is a test. This is only a test to see whether I am (successfully) live blogging at a conference.

I have media credentials to the Newspaper Association of America’s Capital Conference at the Washington Convention Center on April 14‐15, 2008.

McCain is speaking this morning from 10:30 a.m., Obama will be the luncheon speaker. Clinton will be speaking tomorrow at lunch.

CJL

Quote Of The Day

War turns Republics into dictatorships. The logic is actually quite simple.

Juan Cole

Free Market? Or Just Plain Freebies?

My socialoid friends constantly whine about how this, that, or the other thing demonstrates how the free market doesn't work and thus the nation needs more regulations spewed upon us by the Kind And Loving State™ in order to bring about Heaven On Earth.  

I generally have no choice but to respond by reminding them that we do
not actually have much of anything resembling a free market here and that in actuality much of the problem we face arises from over regulation and freebies given out by those who've managed to get their trotters in the trough.

The collapse of the housing market bubble (which follows the collapse of the dot com bubble) is a perfect example, as all sorts of housing related industries line up to get their snouts as close to the Trough Of Tax Dollars as possible.  I am not a CPA, but I know an excellent free market CPA and she describes that particular giveaway to the Blessed this way.

Quote Of The Day

There is no Honesty-in-Absolute-Power mandate in the federal statute books. The more power government seizes, the more easily it can suppress the truth. There is nothing to prevent a president from declaring martial law on false pretexts — any more than there is to prevent him from launching a foreign war on false pretenses. And when the lies become exposed years later, it could be far too late to resurrect lost liberties.

James Bovard

Quote Of The Day

"A politician needs the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year. And to have the ability afterwards to explain why it didn't happen." - Winston Churchill

So, Can American Chickenhawks Be Honest?

Given the recent French proposal to rejoin NATO, does anyone think that Americans will have the actual courage of their convictions and stage a massive letter writing campaign to the French President pointing out how cowardly we think French troops are and how Freedom Fry lovers like ourselves want nothing to do with such yellowbellies?

Nah, I don't think that either.  We need warm bodies to stop bullets and bombs that would otherwise impact on American troops.  We'll take all the help we can get.

Rules Of Journalism

I am, in many ways, a frustrated anthropology major.  The study of human tribes is absolutely fascinating - you sit there and try to figure out their folkways, mores, rules, regulations, and mating habits (if any).  Journalists are one of the better groups to examine, as they actually put a lot of their rules into writing, and you don't have to spend so much time squatting amidst the mud and wattle hoping to catch the glimpse of a clue.  If you missed it, you can just go back and re-read!

For instance, one of the rules journalists have, a subset of the standard "if it bleeds, it leads," is that any nutcase whackjob criminal murderer must always, if using a firearm, be referred to as a "gunman."  You can search high and low but will never see words like "knifeman," "clubman," "gasoline and matchman" or "strangleman."  Along those lines, pretty much any shooting, whenever possible, must be referred to as a "semiautomatic assault weapon," even though an assault rifle, by definition, must be capable of fully automatic (multiple shots per 
single pull of the trigger)  fire.  A "semiautomatic assault rifle" is functionally equivalent to talking 
about a car with a "standard automatic transmission."

Another rule, fairly recent in development, is that Iraqi cleric Muqtada al Sadr must always have his name prefaced with "fiery" or "firebrand," presumably for his "fiery" sermons.   

Yet no journalist seemed to feel such a label was necessary for, say, Pat Robertson when he called 
for the assassination of foreign leaders.  I note that Sadr is also never referred to as "Reverend," simply as "a cleric."

I'm also interested, in the political arena, by the constant drumbeat for the two-party system.  Between references to "major" and "minor" parties (a distinction I cannot find anywhere in the Constitution) or even out and out exclusion of any suggestion that anyone besides an R or a D is a candidate, journalists do an outstanding job of limiting, rather than expanding, the information that they are supposedly providing to their audience - and limiting information is yet another of those rules of journalism.

A personal favorite, though, is the almost complete inability of journalists to ever ask "how do you know that?" to anyone.  This grows out of my own day-to-day work with courts and evidence, but that's a standard that most journalists simply aren't up to.  They don't have to present actual facts, they can continue their jobs - in fact, their jobs are easier - relying on insinuation and innuendo instead.

Speaking of insinuation and innuendo, I've long suspected that what most journalists these days have for brains is nothing more than the aforementioned mud and wattle.  Any journalist who'd like to disprove my theory by opening up his head and showing me the contents to be anything other than mud and wattle will receive an immediate and sincere apology.  But until then, I stand by my "fact," which is about the same quality as you find in most mainstream media these days.

Quote Of The Day

We say to impoverished Mexicans, “See this river? Don’t cross it. If you do, we’ll give you good jobs, a drivers license, citizenship for your kids born here and eventually for you, school for said kids, public assistance, governmental documents in Spanish for your convenience, and a much better future. There is no penalty for getting caught. Now, don’t cross this river, hear?”

How smart is that? We’re baiting them. It’s like putting out a salt lick and then complaining when deer come.

Fred Reed

Creating Democracy Involves...Less Democracy

The Shiite prime minister told CNN on Sunday that al-Sadr and his followers would not be allowed to participate in politics or run in provincial elections this fall "unless they end the Mahdi Army."

Let me understand this - the puppet government, the regional satrapy of Empire, is threatening to disenfranchise its own citizens based on their opposition to the occupation army that props up the puppet show.  This will not end well.

For the best take on this, let me turn to Professor Juan Cole:

"As for the the threat that the Sadrists would not be allowed to run in the provincial elections in the fall unless the Mahdi Army was dissolved, it is either empty or very dangerous. First of all, not only Sadrists but also other observers have pointed out that excluding parties from running in elections is not the prerogative of the prime minister. It is a matter that would have to be passed by parliament. And since the parliamentarians who would be voting to dissolve all militias ahead of elections are all in parties that maintain militias, it would be political suicide for them to vote that way. Of course, they could just play the hypocrite card and declare, as Lowry did, that their militias are not militias, whereas the Mahdi Army is a militia.

"But if the Sadrists are really excluded from civil politics, and they are the majority in the South, then you will have just pushed a majority of Iraqis out of the political process and potentially into civil violence. Isn't that the opposite of the goal here?"

Why Do The Brits Always Get The Good Stuff?

The Guardian seems to have an interesting scoop on alleged plans for a long-term American presence in Iraq.  Why don't articles like this ever seem to have a New York Times or Washington Post byline?

Creative Criminality

When hedgehogs are banned, only outlaws will have hedgehogs.

Quote Of The Day

War – righteous, courageous, and ultimately victorious – has always been a central theme in the American myth of stability.

Ira Chernus

Keeping The Economy Afloat

That's all the VA employees were doing when they used those credit cards in all those interesting places, right? Should be a simple enough fix, though - somebody's name has to be on the card, or on the bill, and that somebody needs to be working very very hard to pay back all that money, plus interest, plus penalties.

More Rhyming History

Wasn't a move to reprice oil in euros one of the things that supposedly got Saddam sacked from his previous "valued ally in the region" gig for the Empire? If so, what does Iran think it will accomplish by threatening the same thing?

If You Want Something Done Right...

You do it yourself. Right? Well, maybe not in the case of Iraq, because Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki already tried disbanding the Mahdi Army with his own troops and that didn't seem to work out very well, as I recall. So...presumably he's going to go whining to Uncle Sam to do it for him, assuming that Moqtada Sadr won't oblige out of hand. That means the Surge will have to ReSurge, and fighting a serious Shi'ite army without Iran to pull our chestnuts out of the fire for us is going to be tricky, at best, and disastrous at worst. But no doubt we'll try, because it's not like the Emperor thinks that war is romantic enough for him to actually sign up to walk point.