Links and Minifeatures 09 28 Wednesday (late)

I'm thinking niether one of these is a welcome development:



Protestants Reject IRA's Disarmament. Well, they're the ones on the scene, who have to live with what they do. If they don't believe the IRA has disarmed, it's up to the IRA to prove they have. On the other hand, a belated demand for the IRA to disband on top of previous demands that they now (may) have lived up to is also unacceptable, although a pro forma "we've disbanded" announcement would mean nothing other than political grandstanding. "Okay, Mike and Paddy, we're not going to go down to the pub to meet our IRA cell anymore. We're just going to go down to the pub to drink and talk with the people who used to be in our IRA cell" is a distinction without a difference.



On the other hand, at least the IRA doesn't have and never had nuclear weapons. Putin Won't Rule Out Third Term in 2008. Yeltsin may not have left happily, but he understood that it was necessary for the long term good of Russia that he leave after two terms. Putin either does not understand this or does not care; he wants to hold onto power. And Russia takes another step back towards totalitarianism.

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New Home Sales Fall Sharply in August, more confirmation that things are falling off nationwide, not just here locally.



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Neat! Giant Squid Photographed for First Time



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Pork Busters may be having an effect: Give up your bike path, bridge for hurricane relief



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I was going to write about this, but Forward Biased beat me to it.



These idiots win anytime they go unchecked and unchallenged. If you like living in a country where the facts of life are based upon observable fact and intelligent rational debate, do not allow them to go unchallenged. It happens too much. None of Michael Yon's readers, or any of those who read the milblogs of those present in Iraq and Afghanistan, recognizes the picture painted by the legacy media from their hotel rooms in the Green Zone. But 97 percent of the country does not read blogs regularly; and they don't know any better.



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This has implications: MRIs Can Serve As Lie Detectors.



By and large, I think a lie detector would be a good thing. I'm less certain about ordering someone to take one, and completely against "fishing expeditions".



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Victor Davis Hanson has some ideas that make sense in dealing with europe and the UN, and another about the problems inherent in affirmative action.



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Captain's Quarters has a good article up on the Donkeys preparing a filibuster no matter who President Bush nominates to fill O'Connor's seat. It seems to me that the Donkeys want to lose the fight over nomination filibusters. It'll be a point whereby they can secure more funding and more activism on their behalf by groups such as MoveOn and ANSWER. "Those fascists! They took away the ability of the minority to obstruct them!" Well, until the next election, maybe. Let the people judge, but it's past time for the Elephants to get out in front of public opinion on this one if they're going to. A point can be made, possibly, that this is what recess appointments are about. I prefer a mandatory up or down vote in the Senate within ninety days of nomination, and that failing such a vote, the nomination is approved. Perhaps something like "A move to call the question of the nominee is procedural, always in order, and requires only a majority approval."



Chequer-Board has a different take, noting that when Ginsberg replaced White, there was no frenzy about the leftward shift of the court despite the fact that this did shift the court to the left.



HT to Patterico for this editorial mocking our politicization of our Judicial Branch. I'm embarrassed, but the Aussie has it right.



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Stumbled across a good article on the French attempting to reform their unemployment system at Pigilito says. If they actually have the will to carry it out, bravo for them. I'll believe it when I see it.



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I truly hope this is true. Jawa Report says that the 7th Circuit Court has ruled the Athiesm is a religion. Well, as practiced by the ACLU, I have to agree.



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Armies of Liberation relates that all of Saleh's political opponents have joined forces.



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Asymmetrical Information sees increased mobility in the Forbes 400. This is a good thing, you know. It means it's more possible to make it, less helpful to inherit it. She makes a comment about shirt-sleeves to shirt sleeves in three generations, but I don't see any Kennedys hurting. Warren Buffett and others have made a point of saying they intend to leave their heirs "Enough to do anything, not enough to do nothing".



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Jackson's Junction has a message that all Americans should, well, I was going to say be exposed to, but there's some nudity. Let's just say understanding it should be mandatory in order to vote.



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Baseball Crank and Tigerhawk have excellent articles that, assuming they are true, cause me to retract what I said about Senator Frist Sunday. Both at face value from my securities training and in terms of Occam's Razor, this makes far more sense than what I said then.



HT Professor Bainbridge