Links and Minifeatures 2008 09 24 Wednesday

You'd think I'd learn - but every time Movable Type upgrades itself, I have to restore the comments settings. I've just done that yet again and confirmed it. Sorry to anyone who has tried to comment recently via anything other than TypeKey.

As an experiment, I have enabled anonymous comments, providing 1) You leave an email and 2) You can pass the CAPTCHA test. If we have the same issues as we did last time, it won't last long, but I will try it again.

Professor Bainbridge: A Basic Problem with the Bailout

My thoughts on the matter parallel the Professor's. The system will be gamed, if indeed, it has not already been.

The professor also covers the history and current incentives of the actors

It's not like we weren't warned

Cold Hard Numbers was from my first week writing here, in June 2005. I had already been sending out that marketing piece for several months. The response was just about nil, but I'll bet that at least a quarter of the folks are wishing they had listened to me then.

If you're the sort that needs to see it in media, The Anchoress has a couple of good factual ones here.

Volokh Conspiracy notes that many right and left economists have signed a petition against ratification of the bailout.

I have seen many articles likening the bailout to a new generation Nigerian 419 scam.

FactCheck.org: misleading the voters

While the NRA expressly based their ad upon Barack Obama's record rather than his campaign rhetoric, FactCheck applied it to his campaign rhetoric. As if campaign rhetoric was not basically infinitely malleable, and Barack Obama's campaign rhetoric has been a particularly illustrative case of this. John McCain has maintained and defended the same campaign positions before non-sympathetic audiences upon at least a dozen occasions in the last year. I'm not going to say that Senator McCain hasn't changed his positions for an audience, because that would be untrue, but he holds to unsympathetic positions for a particular audience remarkably well for a national politician. Since it's likely to cost him votes, that is speaking truth to power and a sign that he will hold to his position in adversity. Barack Obama has managed one such speaking of truth to power in the last year, versus so many flip-flops I've lost count.

If you're looking for an agent of change, you choose the man who holds his positions despite adversity and personal cost. Which of the above candidates does that principle apply more strongly to? You look for the man who is willing to speak out for his principles, even when those he speaks to are unsympathetic to it, not someone who changes the subject, or worse, his position, based upon his own advantage. Which of the two candidates does that more strongly describe? More importantly, you look for the man whose deeds show political courage in the face of popular adversity. Which candidate does that more strongly describe? Most importantly, you look for the man who takes action and gets others to agree with that action, before it is popular, or despite opposition. Which of the two candidates does that more strongly describe?

Hint: run each candidate's name and the phrases "Campaign reform" "Iraq surge" "immigration enforcement" "economic policy" and "oil drilling" through the search engine of your choice. Pick as many other topics as you like, so long as you run both names and compare the results, but go through at least fifty results for each. Evaluate the data in accordance with the previous paragraph. The answers you'll get won't be an a complete and unconditional endorsement of either candidate. But they will be lopsided towards one candidate as the more likely agent of change, and that result will probably surprise some of the younger people who try it.

Citizens Against Government Waste Scorecard:

John McCain 100 (lifetime 88)
Sarah Palin (not rated - she's not in Congress.)

Barack Obama 10 (lifetime 18)
Joe Biden 0 (lifetime 22)

That tells an unambiguous story right there of the differences between the two tickets.

Shades of Publius Quinctilius Varus critiquing the fine points of Arminius' Battle Plan: Biden says McCain often wrong on national security

Biden himself gets it wrong when he says Iraq was not the central front in the war on terror. It was, but is no longer. That the front has now shifted north and east to Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan is a measure of the victory that was won.

For a parallel example, Hitler tried to use Rommel in North Africa to break out of Europe on the offensive. Once Rommel was defeated in North Africa, it was no longer a major front in World War II. Same situation. Once the Navy won the battle of Midway, the Hawaiian Islands were no longer even remotely threatened. Once one site annihilates the forces of the other side in theater, that theater is no longer a front in the war.

I was originally against the Iraq invasion (I didn't think we had the fortitude and endurance of character as a nation to win, a belief I have now changed, but still could be proven to have been originally correct), now I'm for finishing the job and sealing the victory that has been essentially won, instead of deciding to forfeit the game while ahead 27-0 at the end of the eighth inning. Just the opposite of John Kerry.

Yeah, Biden has a point. After 1991, the Iraqi people didn't trust us one Angstrom. If we had deposed Saddam then, it would have been easy. Thanks to President Bush Sr. and his unwillingness to confront allies in order to finish the necessary job, we had a very unfertile field when we decided to go back, and anybody who thought they we greet us with cheers and roses was deluding themselves. Why then, did Biden decline to make that statement back in 2002, when it might have kept us from Invading Iraq? National Security requires making the right call at the right time, not six years later, and cheers and roses is a fine detail compared to "Will We Win? What are the best tactics? What is it going to take?". McCain made his call, and has been proven correct in the main both on the invasion and on the Surge. Furthermore, he's admitted his mistakes. After six years and on the brink of final success, Biden still can't admit he was wrong on the main point.

We've spent all the bribe money you gave us last time: N.Korea ousts U.N. monitors, to restart atom bomb plant

The reclusive Stalinist state said on Friday it was working to restart the Yongbyon atomic complex it had been dismantling since last November under a disarmament-for-aid agreement with five powers that has derailed in disputes over implementation.

MCCAIN SUSPENDS CAMPAIGN TO FOCUS ON ECONOMY; WANTS DEBATE DELAY

America this week faces an historic crisis in our financial system. We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees. If we do not act, ever corner of our country will be impacted. We cannot allow this to happen.

Last Friday, I laid out my proposal and I have since discussed my priorities and concerns with the bill the Administration has put forward. Senator Obama has expressed his priorities and concerns.This morning, I met with a group of economic advisers to talk about the proposal on the table and the steps that we should take going forward.I have also spoken with members of Congress to hear their perspective.

It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the Administration' proposal. I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.

Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me.

I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.

We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved.I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night's debate until we have taken action to address this crisis.

I am confident that before the markets open on Monday we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize our financial markets, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people. All we must do to achieve this is temporarily set politics aside, and I am committed to doing so.

Following September 11th, our national leaders came together at a time of crisis. We must show that kind of patriotism now. Americans across our country lament the fact that partisan divisions in Washington have prevented us from addressing our national challenges. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country.

I suspect what he's doing is stopping personal campaigning. The campaign machinery goes on.

It's true that he is a Senator, and his vote and leadership may make a difference to the outcome, and good for him.

However, there isn't a prayer Senator Obama will follow his lead. If nothing else, Senator Obama didn't accept public fundraising, and so needs to keep raising money to feed the campaign beast. Nor can I find it within me to condemn Senator Obama any further than I already have for absenteeism, a fault Senators McCain and Clinton have also committed. But Senator McCain is saying there are limits to how far he's willing to go to win the presidency.

However: This is the time to demonstrate bipartisanship, not merely talk about it. Let's see who delivers in the next couple weeks.

UPDATE: With all due respect to Senator Obama, a request for a joint statement is a pretty anemic response for someone who wants to be president. I'd respect you more if you went back to work in the Senate to try and help solve this.

In a sign that there may be hope yet, Armies of Liberation is reporting that the Saleh regime has ordered the release of opposition jounalist Al Khaiwani!

Protein Wisdom: Media tries to will the US into the age of Obamalot

This is not hyperbole: a free society relies on a free press to inform. That the mainstream press leans demonstrably left is not the problem in and of itself; the problem arises when that demonstrable bias is given cover as "objective," and when those who believe they are basing their support for a candidate or platform on objective reporting are in effect doing no such thing, but are rather being coaxed, prodded, directed, and manipulated -- in everything from what comes to count as newsworthy to, in cases like these, shoddy reporting (which may or may not be intentional), the effect of which is to leave those who rely on the media literally less informed than had the media reported nothing at all.

Read the whole thing