Links and Minifeatures 11 15 Wednesday

Dems Keep Senate Leaders, Split on House

In the House, a bitter battle was under way after Pelosi said she would prefer Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania to be majority leader over her current lieutenant, Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland. Critics accused Pelosi of backpedaling on a pledge to scrub the House of corruption.



Both Murtha and Hoyer claim to have commitments from a majority of Democrats, but the balloting Thursday will be secret and commitments often change.



Murtha, a decorated Vietnam veteran who favors an immediate drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq, has fought charges for years of using his senior status on the defense appropriations subcommittee to award favors to campaign contributors. He voted against a Democratic package of ethics reforms earlier this year and was touched by but never charged in the Abscam bribery scandal a quarter-century ago.

Not just Murtha, either. Hastings (impeached and removed from a federal judgeship), Waxman, and Conyers have been picked for committee chairs. Pelosi herself needs to answer some influence peddling questions, which the Democratic press gave her a pass on during the campaign. In the Senate, Reid's land deals don't look right to me.



What they didn't say about the so-called "culture of corruption" was that the change the Democrats wanted is their own side getting the majority of the spoils.



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I suppose I should mention my take on the now infamous NAR ad, that spent Realtor dues to try to build primary demand for Realtors: "Great time to buy or sell a home." Well, they got it half right, at least for my local market. It is a Great time to buy, but it's a putrid time to sell. If you don't have to sell, put it off for another day. On the other hand, enough people have to sell that there are some really great bargains out there.



California has all kinds of boards that are where old politicians who can't get elected any more (if they ever could) get appointed to high paying positions that really have no necessary function. These boards collect fees from farm and dairy producers, and they way they try to show them that they're earning the money those farmers and dairy folk pay is by advertising to build primary demand (for milk, for eggs, for avocados, for almonds - you name it). It doesn't work for them. It won't work for Realtors, either.



Great times for buyers never happen at the same time as great times for sellers. It's just one of the realities of economics. Not that the NAR has any great amount of credibility, but they're certainly not increasing it by saying such things.



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So chocolate really is a health food, at least in a way.



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Trent Lott wins back a slot in leadership. I always did think his crime was not thinking when he tried to be nice to an old man who was retiring, and then digging himself in deeper rather than issuing a mea culpa. I'm no fan of his, but far be it from me to assist the partisans on the Democratic side of the aisle in their ongoing attempts to kneecap the opposition. How many calls for have there been for Reid to resign? Murtha? Hastings? Pelosi? All of these have committed worse violations than "Open Mouth, Insert Foot, thereby offending an interest group." The Dems wanted Rumsfeld gone because he was good at his job - he forced the generals to organize correctly to fight insurgency, with field and company officers taking the lead. Don't believe me? Compare our casualties the last three years with British casualties in the North West Frontier Province when they ran India. The Dem partisans want Cheney gone because he supports the president as a vice president should. They want Rove gone because he's beaten them in elections every time but one. Any time a member of the opposition does a good job, look for the Democrats to try to kneecap them.



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U.S. Commander Warns Against Iraq Cutoff

The top U.S. commander in the Middle East warned Congress Wednesday against setting a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, putting him at odds with resurgent Democrats pressing President Bush to start pulling out of the violence-torn country.

Anyone want to bet that the opinions of generals suddenly become unimportant to the Democrats?

Asked directly what effect he foresaw on sectarian violence if Congress legislated a phased U.S. withdrawal starting in four to six months, Abizaid replied, "I believe it would increase."

Well, duh

Abizaid said he believes U.S. troop levels, now at about 141,000, should stay steady but may have to rise temporarily to train and advise Iraqi military units. No reductions are advisable until the Iraqi security forces become more capable of dealing with the insurgency, securing Baghdad and dealing with the Shiite militia problem, he said.

I doubt the Democrats are going to listen. They've got most of what they want (the Presidency wasn't on the ballot last week), and now they are quite likely going to do what they want. The good of the country has no more to do with it than it did for the Republicans. I hate to sound like a Republican shill, but the main reason I voted Republican last week was that they have something much closer to a rational strategy in the War on Terror. They also espouse something closer to rational economic policy. When the Democrats start actually thinking about military, strategic, political, and economic consequences of what they do, and not merely how they can get more votes, they'll be able to compete for my vote on very favorable terms, unless of course the Republicans have gotten rational in the meantime about the things the Democrats are currently better on. My money is on the Republicans improving first and by larger increments in more important ways.



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Report: Scarlet Fever Spreads in N.Korea



There is nothing I can say that adequately describes to communist government of North Korea and how it has failed the people of North Korea.



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Some good news from Pakistan: Pakistan votes to roll back Islamic law on rape



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