Links and Minifeatures 01 18 Wednesday

Carnival of The Vanities



Carnival of The Clueless.

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Want to become wealthier? Don't want to be poor? Get married. Stay married. About as surprising as gravity, but you'd be surprised how many people can't seem to understand it. I'm not religious, and my definition of sin is "unnecessary harm to others." The reason why every religion on the face of the planet has come up with marriage is that it makes economic sense, no matter the society, particularly where finding the resources to properly raise the next generation is concerned. I don't care about men and women (or same sex couples) "living in sin" That's their choice. It isn't important to me if Ms. Rich Celebrity has fifteen children by different fathers out of wedlock, so long as she has the resources to take care of them. Ditto Mr. Rich Celebrity, as long as he has the resources. It does bother me that thousands and millions of poor folks who do not have the resources to do this still do it, through design or negligence bring children they cannot properly raise into the world, and that there are those who defend and excuse this practice, but want the community to take care of the resulting children, as well as the parents. You want the community to take care of your out of wedlock kids? Put them up for adoption. It boggles my mind that we tax responsible adults to the point where they have fewer children in order to support keeping kids with adults who weren't responsible, and reward those irresponsible adults with money. Pretending marriage rates don't matter to the community is Denial.



(And yes, some marginal behaviors are more tolerable in those with the resources to afford the consequences. Get over it, or better yet, get wealthy. You're living in the society with more upward opportunities than anywhere else, any time in history.)



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A good sign: Kim Says He Wants to End Nuclear Standoff China is one of our best hopes for neutralizing the North Korean nukes, as China doesn't want North Korea turned into a strip of obsidian any more than it wants North Korea to nuke anybody. Kim Jong Il may be nuts, and everybody knows it, be he has some semblance of a grasp on reality.



A bad sign, if exactly what I expected: Iran scorns EU trio's draft nuclear resolution. Fisking this article would be too easy, so I'll limit myself to one snark:

"We are asking them to step down from their ivory towers and act with a little logic," the youthful (Iranian) president told reporters.

If the West acted with pure logic in this situation, Iran would be flat and glowing right now. It's only concern for and hope of rescuing their civilian population (and the effects on our allies to the east and west) that causes me not to support the nuclear option right now. Iraq was connected to Al-Qaeda, but the number one state sponsor of terrorism this last quarter century has been Iran. Not even the Taliban in Afghanistan came close. Nor are the rulers of Iran subject to the same constraints that held even Saddam Hussien in check. By their rhetoric, by their actions, they tell us that they are willing to accept martyrdom if it means the cause of their religion is advanced. You know something? I've seen enough evidence to be convinced (run "Hezbollah" and "Iranian terrorist connections" and "Iranian government policy statements" through a couple of search engines if you're not). I believe that they're on the level about their religious fervor. Those mullahs are crazier than the Spanish Inquisition, and way crazier than Kim Jong Il. They've got a lot of blood on their hands already. If we could nuke them without hitting innocents, I'd volunteer to push the button myself.



Compassion, hope for all those Iranians who are victims of their regime rather than supporters, as well as those who would be harmed indirectly, dictates our restraint. It's a long shot, at best, but we must keep trying until they force us to choose between killing them and our own annihilation, or forfeit our own humanity. Pure logic would have led to mushroom clouds some time ago. So are you sure you want to talk about logic, Mr. Ahmadinejad?



And now a logical consequence: U.S., France Reject Iran Request for Talks



via Instapundit, Daniel Drezner has a roundup, but they all reduce to the same bad options.



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Smaller Jets May Transform Flying. They're worried about them further jamming commercial airports, and I see their point. It's not really an airspace issue, as there used to be several times the general aviation there is today. But it doesn't matter how empty the skies are nationwide, what matters is the number of flights wanting to use a given piece of concrete at a given time - and they're not pouring many new runways. It's a real event when a new airport gets built, or an existing one gets expanded (as in a new runway, not as in a new waiting area terminal).



San Diego has Lindbergh and four satellite airports. Lindbergh is one runway, which means essentially that one plane can be landing or one plane can be departing at any given point in time, you're dodging parking garages on approach, and minimums are such that it regularly gets socked in so they've got to depart outgoing traffic directly into the face of arriving traffic. It's not a safe airport, and would never be certified today, but due to the city of San Diego futzing around the last two generations, it's what we have. And still arriving general aviation wants to go there because the fact that it's only a couple miles from downtown makes it convenient. Montgomery Field is much safer if your plane can handle the shorter runway, and Gillespie Field safer yet (although it has no decent IFR approach). But the average general aviation pilot has no clue (or at least acts like they have no clue) how dangerous mixing in with larger faster traffic makes the day for everyone concerned.



I suspect that if these jets become common, the bottom line is that a lot more airports will start charging landing fees. A $500 landing fee means nothing to commercial jetliners, but for corporate pilots it can be an incentive to force the passengers to drive their rental car an extra ten minutes.



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City Employee is accused of ID theft.



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Sorry, out of time!