Links and Minifeatures 10 09 Monday

Carnival of the Capitalists Recommended: Spooky Action (moving decision making from the Reptilian hind brain to your logical thought processes)



Carnival of Real Estate

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North Korea Faces Global Condemnation After It Announces It Set Off Atomic Blast Underground



I said a week ago that Kim Jong Il was singing "I'm so Ronery" again. It appears that he got what he wanted.



Then there's this AP story: Bush says N. Korea nuclear test a threat, in which the President talks about what a theat, and how he will deal with it. Meanwhile, John Kerry continues to highlight what a hack he is:

Kerry also used the occasion to criticize Bush. "Weapons of mass destruction pointed at our allies and strategic partners represents a shocking failure of President Bush's security policy, and a threat to the interests of peace and stability in the world.

Except that it was Bill Clinton's accommodationist deal in 1995 that enabled North Korea to acquire nuclear weapons - much like a similar deal today would allow Iran more room to acquire them, and our current president, to his credit, is doing his best within the range of options available to him to prevent.



And it looks like Harry Reid is right behind John Kerry in the left's drive to the edge of the cliff.



To paraphrase Don Surber, let's blame the guy holding the bag now after Clinton let Kim Jong Il get nukes. Does this mean that if Hillary wins in 2008, her policy will have failed on day 1 of her term, January 20th, 2009? Of course they'll spin it differently then.



Tigerhawk has more, both historical to North Korea getting nukes, and of current relevance to keeping them out of the hands of Iran to whatever degree may be possible.



Carol Platt Liebau directed me to this well considered TCS article on what is done after the fact to handle the nuclear North Korea, years after someone gave it all the leeway necessary to build nukes.



Texas Rainmaker has a photo he thinks will come back to haunt someone.



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Eidelblog with yet another reason that, as disgusted as I am with Republicans, I'm not going to vote Democratic any time soon. I can name a dozen ways I really dislike the Republican machine, none of which is nearly so important as the ways the Democrats are promising to mishandle the country. Foreign Policy. Economics. Regulation. Every time I consider what "Speaker Pelosi" would mean to the really important issues, or "Majority Leader Reid", I want to run screaming for the exits.



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The burnout may be abating. I've got an article on Why Do Lenders Sell Mortgages set to go for tomorrow. Nonetheless, things still aren't altogether better, and I don't know if I'm going to return to the "four major articles per week every week" pace that I kept up for the previous ten months. It's not lack of material. It's lack of self-motivation and spare time.