Zee Links and Minifeatures: September 2005 Archives
I know others have reported this, but John Roberts has been confirmed and they're planning his oath ceremonies. The vote was 78-22. Now on to whoever our President chooses for Justice O'Connor's seat.
Michael Yon has a new article up about American soldiers and a sick little girl from Iraq. Anybody who thinks our soldiers (or people) are enemies of civilization should read it.
Q and O has some thoughts on the political situation in Iraq and considers the benefits as well as the costs of civil war there.
Proof that even Palestinians can learn, given the proper methods: Hamas says rocket strikes over. Translation into English: They've been getting their heads handed to them.
Something I've suspected but had confirmed: Economy Making Solid Gains Before Storms.
Don't get me wrong. There are sectors that have severe problems (Housing and automobile manufacturing to name two). But when we're talking about making stuff and providing services for business, the things that really make a long term difference, the economy is doing very well, thank you, and if we had a Donkey president, the NY Times and Washington Post and LA Times would be trumpeting these numbers from the rooftops before excusing the storms as "not his fault".
Interestesting: Increase in Oxygen content helped mammals grow larger.
Technology getting cockier: Chip Helps Electric Outlet Go Broadband. I like the idea of the power company being able to compete with the cable company. It certainly can't do anything horrible for either my cable rates or telephone rates. Right now, if I want cable TV or broadband, I have one choice, and I live in a major city. This development means the power company (or their proxy) will automatically be in the business of competing with cable providers.
Going back to my essay on Petroleum and Energy Fossil Fuels Set to Become Relics, Says Research Group.
Unfortunately, the group's homepage is here.
Samples of the forward of some of their publications here and here, here, here
Here is their marketplace of available reports.
Some of their contributor pages: here, here, discussion here
A bio of their founder is here
Make up your own minds, but it looks like agenda driven wishful thinking to me.
This, on the other hand, is both real and hopeful news.
Looks like the US isn't giving away control of the internet without a fight.
Carnival of the Vanities is up!
Powerline now has Senator Frist's statement on the HCA stock situation up. I'm torn between believing it because lying would be stupid, and not believing because they want to maintian the smokescreen just a little bit longer.
I didn't know that! HT to LGF for this Melanie Phillips post about a two century slave trade centered around kidnapping slaves from England. From 1625 to 1816, while England had the pre-eminent navy in the world. I knew about the Barbary Pirates, of course. But I didn't know they actually sailed to England and conducted raids in a manner somewhat similar to the vikings except that they took slaves, not primarily objects. As a history lesson for the uninitated, Thomas Jefferson sent the Navy and Marines after the Barbary Pirates in the early years of his term, culminating (after a gap for the War of 1812) in a small American squadron assaulting Algiers, which victory gave the British and Dutch the guts to go after them and break them forever the next year.
Sorry! Out of time for today!
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.
New Home Sales Fall Sharply in August, more confirmation that things are falling off nationwide, not just here locally.
Neat! Giant Squid Photographed for First Time
Pork Busters may be having an effect: Give up your bike path, bridge for hurricane relief
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.
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".
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.
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.
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.
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.
Armies of Liberation relates that all of Saleh's political opponents have joined forces.
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".
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.
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
China is trying to bail a levee breach with a sieve, but don't tell them that. China Imposes New Rules on News Web Sites. It's nice to see a situation where entropy works for civilization and against its enemies. Of course the chinese leaders would never agree with that characterization, but a lot of chinese people might.
Another, similar article. China Wants Only 'Healthy' News.
George Orwell, call your office.
Ack! I've been discovered by spam-meisters! Twenty-two trackbacks to a payday loan scam this morning. I almost deleted Tinkerty-Tonk's RINO sightings trackbank by accident. I am glad Powerblogs will handle this particular offender automatically from now on.
Speaking of RINO Sightings, it's up at Tinkerty Tonk. Recommended: Says Uncle
Carnival of Personal Finance is also up. I would be careful about taking any of the advice that's not backed up with a calculator, however. The post that most says something that most people badly need to hear is Fiscal Times, which basically says "Get off your duff and get started!", but I would never in a million years use sharebuilder or anything similar. Yes, put money in a jar if you have to, starting today, right now. When it gets to be enough, put it in a savings account. When the savings account gets to be enough (You can get started with mutual funds with $1000 once or $100 per month), move it there. Most people should be able to come up with $100 per month, enough to start an automatic contribution to most mutual funds.
Most personal finance writers will do just about anything to keep you away from a professional who really knows what they are doing. The reason is that if you go to a professional, you're not likely to buy personal finance magazines and read them in newspapers, and spend your money on the latest crap by Goober T. Journalist. The reason they send you to a "fee only" advisor when they have to is because all the fee buys is a plan, no execution, and you might still have to read their drivel to make your actual investments. So they focus on not spending money for advice "because you don't need to". Horseradish. Especially when you're first getting started, Class A, B and C loaded mutual funds are some of the best and cheapest ways to get targeted professional advice specific to your situation that you can hold somebody's feet to the fire over if it is incorrect. When I worked on a "fee only" basis, my sole responsibility was that any recommendations I made were appropriate at the time I made them, not did I have any responsibility for updating or staying current on those recommendations, and I'd make $400 or more for not a lot of work. Basically, I'd make my money for responsibility that was somewhere below 1 on the zero to 10 scale. When I worked on an Asset Management basis (percentage of assets per year), my responsibilities were as high as they could be, but you had to have $50,000 invested to be eligible. When I worked on a sales charge basis, my effective responsibilities were about 99% as high, and if the sales charges were a little higher up front, the 12b-1 charges in subsequent years are a fraction of the average investor's asset management fee. Journalists, book authors, newspaper and newsletter publishers? They are explicitly exempted from any responsibility for bad investment advice under the Investment Company Act of 1940.
This is both well and properly done: SEC chief recuses self from Frist stock probe. What the headline didn't say was that the SEC has begun an investigation. The Bush administration is not shielding Frist, at least as far as the evidence to date shows.
Bush Drops 'Diversity' Hint About Nominee. I'm hoping Janice Rogers Brown. Anybody that can get these moonbats all stirred up. and these. Wikipedia, hardly a right wing publication, debunks both if you read it. And nine years as a Justice of the California Supreme Court is hardly a disqualification, and remember that the California Supreme Court is almost as far to the left as the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals; saying a justice is the lone dissenting vote on that court is akin to saying that a justice has some connection to reality.
I did like Gay Orbit's reaction, though. As long as any criterion other than "Who will do the best possible job?" is even acceptable, we are a discriminatory society.
Resistance is futile likes her, too.
More on the mess here in America's Finest
Today is the anniversary of the end of Sir Francis Drake's finishing his great voyage around the world.
Dog lovers, watch out for your pets! Report: Mysterious Disease Is Flu Strain. I've already spent $5000 on vet bills this year. I really don't need any more vet bills right now, thank you.
If the greeks can launch satellites to check for illegal aliens, why can't we require employers to just not hire them?
Yeah, Hamas, keep selling the fantasy that you drove the Israelis out of Gaza like you have, and pretty soon you'll be driving the Palestinians out as the Israelis counter-attack.
To contrast advocacy BS with useful information, Watchful Investor has two articles worth reading: Panic Now and Beat the Rush on the mortgage debt situation and Hocus Pocus on technical analysis.
Captain's Quarters has the most coherent take on the possible scandal involving Senator Frist and the HCA stock he's alleged to have sold. If this is true, it's a lot more serious than Trent Lott being nice to an old man at his retirement dinner, and Senator Frist should resign his leadership post as well as facing criminal charges. This is securities fraud. The worst problem apparent with this article is that the trustee improperly notified Senator Frist of a specific investment in the trust, something for which the senator is likely blameless. Now if that had been what happened, the Senator would have been morally correct (I don't know about legally) to order it sold so that he would no longer be aware of what was in the portfolio. That it coincided with an insider selling binge would likely have been pure coincidence. The senator evidently has family active in the corporation, making insider information likely.
RULE: If you find out something not only unknown but unknowable to the general public, don't change anything with any investments you have (or don't have) in the company. The SEC is serious about insider trading, and any profit you make will likely be spent several times over on lawyers fees and fines. One more reason why most people should consider mutual funds and similar investments rather than individual stocks.
Regarding Texas oil country and my recent "Petroleum and Energy" article, it looks like we may have gotten lucky. Signs Encouraging From Texas Oil Patch. Everything I wrote is still true. We just don't have quite as large a bottleneck in refining as I thought we might.
On the other hand, ROFASix wrote something agreewing with my post, albeit with less detail.
Willisms has the first Houston area coverage of Rita's passage I've seen. Seems like we dodged a bullet. Whether Texas would have been okay on it's own, or whether it learned from Louisiana, is not important. They did things more right than otherwise.
Wizbang makes a point that I've made too often to count in other venues. Civil Defense in the United States should be a national joke with the state it's in. It is a national disgrace.
Victor Davis Hanson has an article up debunking those who want us to change strategies.
Indepundit has a letter from a soldier in Iraq and more background on why the professor is right.
Now this guy has the right idea in how to support the troops. Invent a better detector for IEDs.
While we're on the subject of the war on Terror, Captain's Quarters also has a story on Hamas using unstable rockets on parade. They exploded, killing 15 and wounding 80. They also committed acts of war against Israel, firing rockets over the border, which missed.
A few more like this, and even the people of Palestine will be calling them the Bozo Brigade.
Boxing Alcibiades is recommending a Darwin Award. I agree, in both the biological and political sense.
Michael Barone has an article urging the Bush Administration to send someone high level to assist negotiations between the Palestinians and Israeli's. I think this would be smart, also. At least this way when the Palestinians violate the truce, they won't be able to claim they didn't understand they weren't supposed to shoot Israelis.
This article about a conference on the massacre of Armenians by the Ottomans in 1915, is both good news and bad news. Good news because it shows that there are people who will speak out for allowing the truth to be spoken. Bad news in how vehement and organized the would-be repressors are.
Captain's Quarters has two stories on Able danger developments between the Pentagon and the Senate. Keeps looking more like rope-a-dope to me so far.
HT to DANEgerus for showing my Brainster debunking a study in California accusing the state of racism in applying the death penalty.
World According to Nick covers Senator McCain and five GOP allies calling for a 5% cut in all non-defense, non-entitlement spending. Well, it's a start, and better than anyone else has done.
If all we have to praise is baby steps, praise the baby steps.
Respectful Insolence has a post on another reason to love the Harry Potter Books: teaching genetics to children! I love it! Take that creationists!
Q and O has a good piece examining judicial activism in light of the Constitution. Those promulgating judicial activism come up short. Of course, that's kind of like saying if you drop something, it'll fall.
Pigilito says links a study that says, not surprisingly for anyone paying attention, European universities are still lagging american ones when it comes to attracting talent, graduating qualified professionals, etcetera.
Cool! My elven name is Elessar Elensar. My wife is Tari.
On the other hand, my hobbit name is Till Hamwich of Buckleberry Fern.
Always knew I was an Elf trapped in a hobbit body.
HT to Ogre.
Art of the Blog has a short post up speculating that the media saying that Bush has lost his invulnerability is a sign he's lost it, politically. He says "The lady doth protest too much," and I agree. Seems like they're trying to make it true by repeating it until everybody believes it.
At the risk of violating Godwin's law (in spirit), I ask my readers rhetorically, who pioneered the use of this particular technique in modern politics?
Wizbang has an article on the value of failure that I agree with in its entirety. I have said similar things in the past, I will continue to say similar things in the future, and given todays "all viewpoints are valid", "We all win", culture, I'm always gratified to know I'm not the only one who has retained my sanity on this point.
Last but certainly not least, check out Armies of Liberation. She reports on:
The Heroes of Yemen, about how the Yemeni parliament rejected the resignation of one of its members, and was doing the right thing thereby.
Furthermore, she must be having an effect because the regime is getting mad at her! Keep it up, Jane! You've got them worried! Not all by yourself, of course - there are heroes aplenty. But when they mention you by name above all of their domestic heroes, you're having an effect.
I suspect that this guide to remaining anonymous online is going to be featured by a lot of people today. Given what it is intended to accomplish, the enabling of reporting from within regimes that repress free reporting, I support it wholeheartedly. We're not talking about an ideal situation where everybody is free to write what they want subject to few restrictions having to do with issues of responsibility such as not yelling "Fire!" in a crowded nightclub unless there is one. Given that these people are in a situation where officials will harass and persecute them for reporting the truth, they have good reason to remain anonymous.
With that said, the credibility of anyone who comes out of the shadows and puts their name and credibility on the line for something is always greater than someone who does not.
Even if it's Ted Kennedy talking about lifeguard training.
Looks like it was an airplane day yesterday.
First, JetBlue emerges pretty damned well from a scenario that's kind of a nightmare for everyone who works with airplanes. It's one thing when they collapse upon landing. Okay, scary surprise etcetera. But if you know about the problem ahead of time you're playing lawyer-ball. (and by the way, gear fatalities and injuries are much more rare than most people think.
The thing that I don't understand is that they were watching the reporting on their situation on television. Why? You're not going to learn anything. I learned a long time ago how incompetent the legacy media is when reporting airplane incidents. I don't think I've ever run across one where they got any the main points of the story approximately correct. Maybe it's some sort of "Look, Mom! I'm on TV!" I'd have insisted on being somewhere where I didn't have to be subjected to coverage of "...and we're going to show you the
On a lighter note, Jet Fakes Emergency for Gambia Soccer Game. Okay, the flight crew would face an inquest if it were here in the United States, and I certainly can't think of any sports contest that important. Furthermore, as someone who's dealt with a few real emergencies of this nature, I'd be angry as hell to discover one was faked, not to mention potential impact on other aircraft, who also have some reason to be angry. There's still something inside me chuckling a little bit.
Congratulations to One Man's Trash for his first airplane flight. Looks like a Beech Skipper from the photos (Piper Traumahawk has a 3/4 T tail). When I was a controller, I always wanted to be able to say just once, "Gilligan 123, number three follow the Skipper turning base." Or something similar.
Combs Spouts Off has some good coverage of preparations for Rita. What a difference having competent state and local government makes. How much the failures of Louisiana and New Orleans vice Katrina is motivating them is uncertain, but it can't be hurting.
HT to Mover Mike for this link to a Storm Track article on Eyewall Replacement
On Hurricanes: Stocks Dip As Wall Street Braces for Rita . This often means it's a great time to buy as long as you stay away from stuff in its path, and maybe even then if it goes low enough and you have a certain tolerance for risk. Short term "trader" psychology always over-reacts. Think like a long-term investor, don't try for the quick kill, and you'll end up miles ahead.
Recovering Democrat has an article making fun of the blame game. At least I hope it's intended to make fun of it.
This is utterly cool! Classic Video games! Many classic video games! For about $30! I want! Speaking as a member of the first video-game generation, there is something amusing and challenging about those old games that's sadly missing from many of their successors. Yeah, the graphics and sounds are cheesy by today's standards. But they were fun, and they had to be cleanly designed. It didn't take six months to learn how to play halfway decent.
I wonder if Ripoff, Circus and Joust are included? Asteroids and Space Invader would be kind of de riguer, but my very favorite games weren't, by and large, the most popular.
And on the other end of the spectrum, I am kind of looking for a MMORPG to try. I'd prefer fantasy, non-class based, unlimited advancement. Something based on a Mage would be perfectly in line with my role-playing preferences, but that's hard to program, and I realize I'll probably be stuck with something D&D based.
I wouldn't object to a good sf-type fighter pilot game, either. My favorite PC game of all remains the not very well known Stars!, which I happend to stumble across one day about ten years ago. I don't play online or multiplayer, because it doesn't go fast enough at the beginning and goes too fast at the end when the empires get too cumbersome to do a turn per day, but if you're looking for a strategic conquer the galaxy game, it's wonderful. Last I checked it was still available as shareware, and there was still hope for an eventual sequel.
People pulling crap like this is part of the reason houses are so expensive. Appeal made against houses on ridgeline. I'm glad that they didn't get away with it this time. The two council members who voted in the minority should be ashamed of themselves and I hope they are defeated for re-election and never elected to anything else ever again. Bravo for the Mayor and two responsible council members of Escondido!
More on the financial meltdown in America's Finest
Other related articles here.
Forward Biased has a heck of a suggestion regarding a Porkbusters bill. Is it likely to pass? No. Is it worth the effort? YES. The Coburn amendment is one of those small strokes of genius that change things by just enough to make a major difference. And because Congress is dominated by Elephants, my local Moonbats may even sign on.
Captain's Quarters is calling for subpoenas for DOD personnel involved in Able Danger and their superiors. I agree. That I think the game is likely a giant rope-a-dope doesn't mean I don't want it to come out.
Michael Barone talks about interviewing John McCain. Even before I got to the bottom of the article, I had concluded he's running in 2008, and Barone thinks so too. I think McCain's got problems with the Elephant base and a lot of First Amendment types, and the number one thing he could say to burnish his chances would be "I made a mistake with McCain Feingold"
Patterico elucidates.
UPDATE: Decision '08 has a post on the same subject with similar conclusions.
Air America, panhandler. I've got a better place to donate anything I can spare to than a group of shills for a con-game.
Finally, Part Time Pundit asks if corporate fraud is worse than rape.
At the risk of sounding insensitive to rape victims, very possibly.
I'm not talking the small, penny ante $2000 tax defrauder here.
I'm talking the Ken Lay kill a company, rape people away from benefits they have earned over the course of years and may not have the time to earn again. I'm talking people who lose anywhere from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The pain there isn't as concentrated as one rape victim, whose plight I'm not denigrating in the least.
But just because the pain is spread out over thousands of victims doesn't make the aggregate pain any less, or the wrongdoing any less heinous. To see why, I ran across some comparisons of the energy released by a hurricane today - through a couple calories per cc of water, spread out over a large number of cc's of water, you get the energy to kill entire cities and level counties. The people killed by Katrina are no less dead than those killed by stabbing, beating, or shooting. And the death toll is over 1000. DU notwithstanding, nobody can create a hurricane or control its path. But, suppose for a moment, someone had built Katrina and aimed it at the Gulf Coast. What single murder could possibly compare?
As a society, we're far too complacent about crimes committed against the aggregate. They are not victimless. The victims have names and faces and lives, and they very often suffer for the rest of them as a result of this kind of malfeasance. If I were ever made dictator for life, I'd have made damned certain Ken Lay et al paid for the damages they caused to the last penny, and if they ran out of assets first, there'd be a lifetime lien against their earnings as well as a prohibition against serving in certain capacities.
(And I didn't have a penny in Enron that I'm aware of, nor TYCO, nor WorldCom).
Carnival of Vanities is up at the skwib. Recommended: Free Money Finance, Forward Biased,
Here we go again! Rita is now Category 4 and headed for Galveston and Houston.
Michelle Malkin has a great round up of Rita posts. If you're in the area, pay special attention to this post with actual comparative numbers from a Houston area lawyer.
Indepundit hopes for a "do over" with regards to the political fingerpointing post-Katrina. You might guess I agree with him (as I've said several times here, I am not interested in playing the blame game until the emergency is completely over, as in all refugees have either returned to their previous life or have made a new one, which Katrina's is not yet, and Rita's has yet to begin. I can hope we'll all do better this time, but I'm prepared for that hope to be disappointed.
Holy Blow The Man Down Batman! Hurricane Rita has unexpectedly grown to Category 5!. Scroll down for projected storm track. If this is you, Get. Out. Right. NOW.
Captain's Quarters notes that the levees protecting new Orleans from Lake Portchartrain failed well within the parameters they were designed to withstand. Possible reasons: bad design or faulty construction. Given New Orleans' and Louisiana's political history, is there anybody who wants to bet money on the first of the two possibilities?
Nifty! Mars Orbiter Spots Changes on Red Planet. Now that we've got a long term orbiter surveying the planet, I'll bet we find a lot more of this.
Captain's Quarters talks about Environmental Moonbattery and Hillary Clinton. I think that her opposition to ANWR drilling is pure political calculation: The issue that connects her best to the leftist base while alienating her least from centrist voters. Certainly I can't pick a better issue.
I agree with Captain Ed when Hillary talks about doing other stuff instead. Precisely what is your plan, Ms. Clinton? You and your husband had eight years to catch the national ear while he was in office, and you've had four and a half in the Senate since he left. All you've done is obstruct a plan that may not be perfect, but is both reasonable and the only plan put out there to increase domestic production. Nor have you done anything to significantly bolster alternative energy sources, in the sense of said alternatives being able to furnish a significantly larger share of our energy needs. Put up, shut up, or admit that you're voting against due to a desire to appeal to a certain stripe of voters.
Victor Davis Hanson has a good essay up on how the media use their outlets to shape public opinion.
In the same vein, Cox and Forkum on Tal Afar.
Captain's Quarters also talks about the Roberts Hearings and the Democratic responses to President Bush nominating an extremely qualified jurist who happens to be moderately right of center. Which is the consequence of the american public electing a right of center president and coincidentally, legislative branch. All the Donkeys can do is try to filibuster and generally act like spoiled children on the way to the dentist.
Looks like they are trying to motivate the President to name someone further to the right for his next nomination, as I speculated he likely would back on July 20th, if Roberts faces significant problems.
Queen of All Evil said it more pithily yesterday.
Michael Barone joins those who want education schools reformed along strictly scientific grounds or abolished.
Speaking as someone who's done a fair amount of instruction (although not professionally), I want to know why we have an actual education degree, particularly for front line teachers. Yes, they must know how to teach, but that can be learned very quickly. They must also know their subjects, and the number of teachers with degrees in mathematics or science is falling and has been since I was in high school. Now a first grade teacher should be able to handle addition or subtraction with general knowledge - but a high school teacher has to know not only algebra and geometry, but the concepts behind them, in order to teach well. And the degree of scientific illiteracy in physics, chemistry, and economics among the teaching profession is astounding. My older girl is just starting school, but some of the things that have supposedly come out of the mouths of those teaching the older children of friends and family would be cause for doubting their competence in random adults walking around on the streets, let alone those charged with educating our young.
Learning how to teach should be easily contained in a laboratory sequence in the final year of college, where the assignments consist of "Get up and teach your classmates a class on what the professor assigns." Other than that, teacher candidates should concentrate on learning the subject they intend to teach.
Governor Romney of Massachusetts isn't backing down. I believe that mosques and churches are public places, and hence covered by my writings here. So as you might guess, I like the way Governor Romney thinks, at least on this one issue, and not just because it's a mosque.
Mudville Gazette spots a story of a true American hero.
Dr. Sanity liveblogged the Able Danger hearings.
Strata-Sphere has more on the Pentagon pulling the rug out from under the hearings.
Captain's Quarters has another angle.
Okay, so I don't want classified intelligence and intelligence gathering methods aired in open hearings. There remains the option of going to closed hearings for classified information and procedures.
Now here's the question just begging to be asked:
What could possibly cause the Pentagon to stop its officers from testifying before Congress on something this important?
It's got to be big, and it's almost certainly political, especially if the orders came from as high up the chain of command as Donald Rumsfield, as has been alleged.
It's got to be a failure of some sort. If it was a success, somebody would be leaking a la Mark Felt (aka Deep Throat).
It's got to be something that's worth the certainty of the feeding frenzy that will be stirred by trying to find something hidden.
I don't think even a concrete 9/11 warning delivered to the president himself in person qualifies. I might have believed it and taken action in defiance of political repurcussions, but then, I don't want to be president. Given the situation and the mindset of the country on September 10th, if the President had so much as put undercover skymarshals on allegedly fingered flights and nothing had happened, the press would have crucified him worse than they used to treat Reagan every time he said something true in a straightforward fashion. Yeah, it'd hurt him - hurt him a lot - but it wouldn't be fatal. The fact is that nineteen crazies did hijeck four jets and did successfully murder thousands. We figured out Pearl Harbor a few hours early, too, and nobody blamed Roosevelt that the warning was muffed.
But let's put those last two data points together. Suppose the Eeevvvill Karl Rove™ has a Plan©. Think "selling rope." Get the Legacy Media so convinced there's something you want hidden, that they will dig themselves into such a hole that when the story comes out, it can't be ignored or wallpapered over. Then when the Real Story hits, and it's so damaging to the Donkey Media Darlings that their careers are effectively over, it can't conveniently fall down the memory hole. And the Elephants get to say, "But we weren't playing politics; we were trying to protect them!"
In other words, please Br'er Fox, don't throw me into that stickerbush!
I like it!
I thought I would give a local fan run science fiction convention a free plug. Conjecture will happen October 7-9 at the Double Tree in Mission Valley. Guest of Honor is Jack McDevitt, whose work I've loved since I started reading it. Assuming the universe doesn't laugh at my plans and I can get a kitchen pass from my wife, I'm going to try to attend Saturday.
(And if you have a FAN run type con to publicize, I'm perfectly willing and happy to give a quick link.)
Now this is cool! Israeli archeologists unveil Byzantine mosaic, table
Regarding the North Korea deal I spoke on yesterday, they've reneged (well surprise, surprise, surprise!), or at least upped the ante on the shakedown. North Korea rocks nuclear deal. They now say they're going to keep their weapons until we give them reactors. Thank you soooo much, Mr. Clinton, for allowing this petty tyrant to develop nuclear weapons. Because you couldn't be persuaded to do your job, the people you were supposed to serve are now in greater danger indefinitely, and your successors' options are horribly bad, sickeningly bad, and even worse.
AP has a slightly different version. Chequer-Board has a different take, while Captain's Quarters amplifies.
Captain's Quarters notes that the Attorney General (Alberto Gonzales) has given the FBI a new, higher priority in dealing with porn. This is stupid political pandering, plain and simple. In case Mr. Gonzales hadn't noticed, we're in the middle of a war on terrorism in which the FBI is a front line defense. Once enacted though, it's one of those things that's politically impossible for anyone to rescind. I wonder how politically popular this will make Mr. Gonzales should the diverted resources have a role in causing a terrorist attack to get through?
Pardon me while I go outside and scream. I formerly thought Mr. Gonzales wouldn't be a bad candidate for SCOTUS, but he has now demonstrated judgement that's about as actively bad as possible, accentuating a personal political goal at the expense of the national necessity. I certainly don't want someone whose priorities are this messed up on the highest court in the land for the rest of his life.
If there were justice in the world, flags would be flying at half-staff worldwide. Simon Wiesenthal has died. This is the man who became the spokesman for six million murdered human beings, and helped bring over 1100 of their murderers to justice. Fare thee well, sir. You will be missed.
Captain's Quarters also has a very good article on Air America, and how even one of it's own executives was strongarmed into silence.
La Shawn Barber has an article about Black Americans and party allegiance, and how those still wedded to the Donkeys accuse those who leave of wanting to swap one plantation for another.
Judging by a compare and contrast of New Orleans with many other cities in the US, I think I'd prefer the putative Elephant idea of plantation to the real, demonstrated one of the Donkeys.
Or has anyone else ever heard of Stockholm Syndrome?
The feces have officially hit the fan. FEC Sues Pro-Republican Political Group.
For balance, the FEC offical statement is here and the Club for Growth response here
Any why are Club For Growth's relatively small expenditures the first to come up for legal action? Could it be that they're generally regarded as a conservative group, and we all know that MoveOn.org is all about helping the good guys? Especially as there is an obvious prima facie case for coordination against MoveOn in that several affilated persons were also affiliated with Democratic campaigns? Or is it "Get control of the guardians of the political process, and you may not always win, but you'll always get the benefit of the doubt where your opponents won't"?
HT to Michelle Malkin.
Michelle Malkin doesn't like Bush's new nominee for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Looking at all the evidence she's assembled against Ms. Myers, I certainly understand why. This looks like a crony appointment, and Michelle says she's gotten emails from rank and file ICE folks who say she's minimally qualified. I suspect Ms. Malkin is correct, but let's give the lady a chance to show us in confirmation hearings that she can handle it. Unlike Supreme Court justices, this appointment doesn't depend upon being impartial with the wisdom of Solomon. It depends upon you being an effective executive with a strong agenda that can make your agency work, and some of our best executives have been minimally qualified by past experience. So, questions for the Senate to ask: Ms. Myers: Do you have a plan? What is your enforcement agenda? How are you going to allocate your resources? What areas do you see ICE falling short in, and what are your proposals to remedy this? What organizations are a threat? How do you propose to deal with them? What holes in ICE do you see, and how do you propose to plug them?
One hopes you get the idea. It looks and smells like a crony appointment, but if she can convince us she can handle the job, let her go for it. The burden of proof is on her; let's see if she can lift it. If she can't, everybody else is better off for finding out now.
Mark Steyn has an interesting and well-reasoned take on the German elections.
HT to LGF for the link to Daily Cuz article on parallels between Germany pre WWII and Iran today.
Jane Novak over at Armies of Liberation has been called a "Zionist" by the Yemeni ruling party's newspaper.
Congratulations, Jane! Considering the source, it's a wonderful compliment, and you're in world class-company!
OK Cupid Politics test
I am a Social Liberal
(71% permissive)
and an...
Economic Conservative
(85% permissive)
You are best described as a:
Libertarian
You exhibit a very well-developed sense of Right and Wrong and believe in economic fairness.
HT to Eric's Grumbes
Iraq the Model has a good post on Zarqawi targeting the Shia and prospects for Iraq.
Jihad Watch notes problems in Indonesia. In case you were unaware, Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in the world, and one of the most prosperous, especially in real terms of the population actually producing stuff that other places want as opposed to merely pumping oil out of the ground. Problems there have the potential for a very long reach.
Buck Sergeant has a great response for a one-winged Moonbat.
Jawa Report has the text of an excellent speech about the Constitution. He's right in that the whole idea of Constitution Day is itself, unconstitutional, and he makes several other valid points as well. The Federal government does have the right to encourage where it is forbidden to compel, but that's not the way the legislation was written.
Well, today marks three months since I started this thing. Seems to be working out okay.
Shakedown successful: North Korea Pledges to Drop Nuclear Program. This is one small reason why we want to deal with Iran now before they get the technology.
Scrappleface has the correct take on the issue.
I don't know enough about German politics to comment intelligently about their chances for a coalition, but I'm thinking this whole situation can't be good news for Schroeder.
HT to Dean's World for linking Peaktalk (who hails from the area originally) about the German elections, and David's Medienkritik who comments on the likely coalitions.
RINO Sightings is up!
Carnival of The Capitalists is up.
So is Carnival of Personal Finance
I'm as big a space buff as anyone, and bigger than most. But if this article on US to send four astronauts to moon in 2018 and this one about a cost of $104 Billion are correct, I'm not impressed given the advances since Apollo was designed in the late 1950s and early 1960s. We've had a resuable craft for the last twenty years, and going to "Apollo on steroids" is going backwards. Although the end of the cost article hints at reusable compenents, the way to do it is likely what the original plan was for going to the moon: assemble the thing in orbit. Put up a real space station and assemble the pieces there. Then use the station as a base (Orbit is halfway to anywhere in the system, enerygy-wise). Trying to blast off from earth direct to lunar touch down and back is kind of like trying to use the same vessel as a locomotive and a sailing yacht. If I had my way, we'd forget about the moon until we had orbital catapult or orbital tower technology down, and go straight to the asteroids, which is what is most likely to best fuel The Third Industrial Revolution. Moon and Mars can wait. Once space is shown to be profitable there will be demand for them as destination. Let's go to the asteroids. The round trip is easier (although longer time-wise than the Moon), and likely to be more productive.
Jawa Report makes some good points about both sides of the political spectrum in regards to Katrina response.
Peter Porcupine tells us of the likelihood of disaster on Cape Cod. I agree with him that far. However, when he starts talking about spreading the risk that Cape Cod's homeowners to all policy holders of the state's FAIR plan, that's where I disagree with him. These people have voluntarily bought property on Cape Cod. Nobody held a gun to their heads (most of them are pretty well off, too, but that's a different argument). They voluntarily assumed the risk that a Hurricane will demolish their property in ways that an inland property holder has not - and they want the increase shared among those who bypassed that risk, also? I don't think so. That's a violation of the principles on insurance, which is based not only upon the law of large numbers, but also upon the risks you choose to take.
And with any other company, the raise would be disastrous. Underpriced insurance seems like a wonderful idea - until the time comes to make a claim. In this case, the taxpayers of Massachusetts would be on the line for claims that would break a regular insurance company, and he wants to hold the line on price increases?
If Insurance issues cause a lowering of home values in the area, well I'm sorry for the people who lose out, but better that than what happens if the price of the insurance is not adequate to pay the claims.
Professor Bainbridge links to a lengthy article about the consequences of Fannie Mae and/or Freddie Mac failing. It does fly under most people's radar, but with both Fannie and Freddie under indictment from the SEC among others for poor disclosure, and some of the froth in the housing markets around the country, it's one more factor turning the whole real estate value sector in the United States into a house of cards.
Armies of Liberation has another article up on Yemeni corruption.
(So why does it sound so much like New Orleans?)
(For the rhetorically challenged, the answer is "extended period of one party rule")
Beldar baits one of the Miscreants from Massachusetts.
No Angst Zone has an excellent article on BRAC (i.e. Base closings). Okay, Clinton may have started it but the current BRAC has only itself to blame for its gutlessness. As he says:
I must be confused, I was under the impression that the purpose of the United States Armed Forces was to defend this country, not to sustain the economy of tiny towns in the middle of the desert. Apparently, the BRAC Commissioners felt otherwise:
Problem is, there's lots of people watching after preserving a few jobs here and an cash cow there, but nobody watching after the overall interests on the United States.
President Bush Gets Another One Right.
OK, so the response to Katrina has been unacceptably slow. So the president has decided to do something about it. No, not floggings. They're going to review disaster plans before something else happens, so that a) everybody at all levels of government is playing from the same piece of music and 2) weaknesses get spotted now, before other disasters strike. And other disasters will strike. People fifty years from now will owe their lives to Katrina and the rational way President Bush is dealing with this - rather than point fingers and blame somebody else and stonewall (as he well could because he's never running for anything else), he's trying to fix the problems before more disasters happen. And the cost, although not trivial, is so cheap it's hard to argue against it.
Is President Bush perfect? Hell no! His immigration policy is more of the "bury my head in the sand" we've had since Johnson, and his spending policies are a disaster in progress. Is he closer to rational on more issues than any president we've had since at least Truman? Yes. Does he actually get things done better than any president we've had since at least Theodore Roosevelt? Yes again. Once a problem becomes apparent, does he do his best to actually deal with and fix it better than any president we've had since Lincoln? Damned straight! Barring a future disaster in the War on Terror or something else unforseen, I have good evidence to believe that in two generations time our current President will be looked on as belonging in the very top tier of past presidents, and on the day he hands the office over to his successor he will have more to be justifiably proud of than any president in living memory.
To this, let us append a "credit where credit is due!" Bravo, Donna Brazile!
On the other hand, DU Reacts
The Moderate Voice has some reasons why the democrats should support Roberts, in amplification of the ones from the Washington Post. I said much the same thing back on July 20th. Elections have consequences and one of the consequence of being elected President is that you get to choose who you want on the Supreme Court. Roberts is a very mild choice compared to some the President might have chosen. Furthermore, he is about as qualified as they come. If the administration is going to face a nasty knock-down drag out fight no matter how reasonable their nominee, why should they not nominate a more polarizing figure. It's not as if they can't get anyone confirmed if it comes to a party line vote. The so-called nuclear option (actually, a majority of senators requesting the close of debate about an issue), if likely to be successful, both publicly and legislatively.
Dean's World suggests that Bush's next nominee be Janice Rogers Brown. I think Ms. Brown would be an excellent nominee (she's a lot more centrist than most leftists give her credit for, but keep in mind her experience is in California where it seems more right wing), but Dean thinks the Donkeys will pull at least a short filibuster on anyone following Roberts to satisfy their base. Additionally, keep in mind that it hasn't been all that long since we here in California recalled Rose Bird and her two minions from the California Supreme Court, all of whom must stand for periodic re-confirmation from the public. As I recall, Ms. Brown beat back such an attempt on her career a few years ago. A conservative demogogue could not have survived any serious recall effort - California as a whole is way too liberal for that. If Rose Bird had been even vaguely reasonable, she would never have gone down to defeat
Justus for All has more on Roberts and the likely aftermath. His conclusions match mine.
Below the Beltway also agrees.
Jihad Watch talks about hard liners in Iran consolidating power. I think they're circling the wagons, trying to hold off revolution and the United States long enough to develop nuclear weapons. Not to put too fine a point on it, with democratic Afghanistan and Iraq to either side, the theocracy in Iran is doomed without some kind of trump card.
Chapomatic has a worthwhile suggestion for those wishing input into the US political process: have your country apply for admission as a state. Face it: if the US is so powerful that you find yourself withing to be able to vote for our leaders, this says something good about our system.
Or to revert to lowest common denominator language: If you want a say, you have to agree to abide by the results.
HT to Enrevanche
Ogre has a point in regard to forceably evacuating even those who aren't victims of Katrina. A very palpable point. If you're going to pull anything "state of emergency" you have to limit it to places where there actually is an emergency. If there's no threat to her, she's getting supplies, and she's not bothering anyone, leave her alone. Can you imagine them pulling this excrement on Paul over at Wizbang? Enoughfirst level readers there to make it uncomfortable for anyone, and with the second level links of people who go there all the time, enough to make it an act of slitting your own throat. What's the difference between the two? Well, nothing, really, once the story starts making the rounds. The one would just get off to a faster start than this one did.
On the plus side, looks like Louisiana Libertarian is going home to Slidell. He likes what the President said, and castigates the Louisiana governor for empty words.
Part of an old debt repaid: Target Centermass covers the dedication of a memorial to those who fought in the Battle of Britain.
Watchful Investor has a worthwhile post on Greenspan and the fiscal situation. I disagree on some particulars, but the whoe thing is well worth reading, and I'm too tired to articulate well my disagreements.
I suppose I should apologize for light apparent activity. I just got too stressed out these last two weeks with trying to run two businesses (one a pre-start-up) in only five hours a day left over from childcare that some other things fell by the wayside, and this weekend I mostly fell apart. Starting tomorrow, the childcare situation should be abated so I hope for more time and activity here.
Yeah, Joe Biden has that effect on me, too.
Seriously, Dread Pirate Judge Roberts appears to be doing well in the hearings. Not that he has any serious or principled or intelligent opposition.
Captain's Quarters has a good analysis of what's gone on in the hearings so far.
Volokh Conspiracy has a spot-on editorial about Roberts, the senators, and politics.
Althouse has a worthwhile article on the hearings as she sees them.
SCOTUSBlog (has more for some reason they put it there rather than the SCT Nomination blog)
Google has a new blogsearch function. I'm not impressed.
The three year anniversary of Carnival of Vanities is up.
Captain's Quarters dissects the 9/11 commission on Able Danger.
Strata-Sphere has another take.
Speaking of the War on Terror, Jawa Report has more on the situation in Iraq, including a declaration of jihad on all Shia Moslems, plus executions for apostasy. I've talked about this. Victor Davis Hanson has talked about it, Bill Whittle has talked about it, all varieties of people from all points on the political spectrum have talked about it. If you don't know about it by now, you aren't paying attention. Islam does not recognize an ability to leave the religion. Islam does not recognize (in any sense that would matter if Islam were victorious) an option to remain apart from their religion.
While you're at it Mudville Gazette has any number of fascinating things on the military side of things. Just click on over and keep scrolling down. Also, If you missed his post about "You make the call - if you've got the guts" having to do with Katrina second guessers, he's got an update up.
La Shawn Barber takes on illegal immigrants and those who would accomodate them. Of course, this would all go away with meaningful employer sanctions. But Americans do not appear willing to give up their cheap manual labor.
With this in mind I realized it had been a few days since I visited The Immigration Blog, which has some interesting insights.
Jihad Watch has a story on a minor but telling point of CAIR's antics: Photoshopping for official effect.
Jihad Watch also adds more evidence to the scale against those who continue to believe that Israel is the problem. I realize that most of those folks are intentionally blind to evidence against them, but let's keep piling on.
HT to Michelle Malkin
La Shawn Barber notes some signs of civilization decline. For the record, I disagree with her about homosexuality. It isn't wrong, just different. Her history also has some gaping holes in it, which Dean's World drives some rather impressive trucks through. Other than that, she has some very valid points which Dean does not debunk. Yes, the Romans did everything under the sun, sexually, whether they were married to others or not. That's not the point. The point is that marriage as an institution was respected. Marriage was regarded as the institution in which to bring up healthy young citizens. One set of two parents, together raising the children. Marriage was regarded as an ideal to be aspired to, whatever else you did sexually before during and after. I do not believe the state should have any significant involvement in marriage (implied general power of attorney and implied inheritance and rights to assets in the case of death about covers it), but that doesn't mean that society should not regard marriage as beneficial, to be encouraged, and something that we should be very careful about extending any benefits which we have seen fit to extend it to adherents of other institutions meant to tear down, replace, or redefine an institution which has been the greatest constant in all great human civilizations since the dawn of time.
With that said, the sign I see that worries me most is that too many people are out after the welfare of their own sub-group, first and foremost. Very few champion the overall benefit of the United States of America above that. And I don't mean mouthing platitudes. I mean where the rubber hits the road, giving up something (or not asking for, or opposing) goodies to your individual or subgroup's benefit so that the entire country may be better off.
Michelle Malkin has the goods on a second Air America officer at Gloria Wise.
Radioblogger asks some questions, and deserves a link anyway for his part in Malkin's report.
It is no longer a credible contention that it was "just one person" doing all this stuff. It was organizational.
Armies of Liberation has all kinds of good stuff on Yemen. I can't pinpoint one post as especially worthwhile, so just hop on over and keep scrolling down.
Roger L. Simon makes a heck of a good point about what you should do if you really want to abolish world poverty. One world leader has made the proposal. Want to guess who? No fair looking first!
They add that the fact minorities are more likely to borrow from institutions specializing in high-priced loans could mean they are being steered to such lenders or that some lenders are unwilling or unable to serve minority neighborhoods.
This is called redlining. It is illegal. HUD really gets their panties in a bunch over it, too.
One thing that the article explicitly said: This does not include/compensate for credit scores. Working with people in the flesh, I have experienced the fact that there is a difference between how various groups handle credit. Often, the urban poor have some difficulty in meeting the requirements for open and existing lines of credit. Often, they are more poorly educated about their options or think they're a tough loan when they're not. This extends into the general population, although it's less prevalent. I have a friend I went to high school with. He and his wife make over $160,000 per year between them in very secure jobs they have held for over a decade each. Their credit score is about 760. The loan officer they were originally working with told them they were a tough loan to try and scare them into not shopping with anyone else. The reality is that the only question is what loan is best for them because they easily qualify for anything reasonable. This is far more common than most people think. The current standard is that if you have two or three open lines of credit and your credit score is above 640 - sixty plus points below national average - I can get 100 percent financing, and the possibility doesn't disappear completely until you go below 560 (whether it's smart is a question for the individual situation, but I can get a loan done if it is). With increasing equity, I can usually get a loan done even for credit scores below 500 (two hundred points below national average!). Now, the better your situation, the better your loan (e.g. rate, terms, closing costs, etc.) will be, but the question is not usually "Can I do a loan for these folks?" but "Can I find them better terms than anyone else?" and "Should I do this loan or is it really putting them in a worse situation than they're in?"
Quite often, the loan provider that urban poor go to is the one who advertises where they see it - basically, the lender who chases their business. They think "This guy wants my business. He does business with people like me all the time. He can get me the loan." The problem is that all too often, this loan provider has chosen this market precisely because the urban poor do not understand they've got other choices, and do not understand effective loan shopping, and so this loan provider makes six percent (the legal limit in California) on every loan plus kickbacks and arrangements under the table. They make more on one loan than I do on half a dozen for roughly the same amount of work, and the loan they do are not as good for their client as others that can easily be found.
Most people are better loan candidates than they think they are, and qualify for better loans than they think they do. It's more often the property they have chosen that creates an untouchable situation than the people themselves. Even then, there are usually options available.
(I got a ten minute lecture a few months back from a nice young couple telling me they "deserved" a rate of four to five percent on a 100% loan for a manufactured home sitting on a rented space. Well, if it had been on a regular house sitting on owned land I could have gotten them that loan on very desirable terms, but nobody does 100 percent on manufactured homes, and if there's no ownership interest in land involved then it's personal property, not real estate, and it becomes essentially a personal loan, for which the rates are much higher.)
So keep this in mind if and when you're in the market for a real estate loan, and shop hard. Remember that all of the times your credit is run in a two week period for mortgage purposes only counts as one inquiry, whether it is just once or whether it's five dozen times. A loan provider does not have to run credit themselves to get a quote, but the information must be complete, accurate, and in a form they can use.
Keep in mind that the loan market changes constantly. A quote that's good today almost certainly will not be good tomorrow. If it's not locked, it's not real, and a thirty day lock is not valid unless extended on the thirty-first day, for which you will pay an extension fee if necessary. So shop hard, with a real sense of urgency, get it done quick, and make your loan provider get it done quick. Any additional stress will more than pay for itself (and the longer the loan takes, the greater the opportunity for stress, too). Sight unseen, I can bet money that a loan done in thirty days from the first time you shop or lock is a better loan than the loan that takes sixty days or more.
Caveat Emptor
UPDATED here
Due to re-thinking of exactly how I want stuff to go, the main address of this site will be moving over to http://www.searchlightcrusade.net. That is, everything is the same except the extension, .NET instead of .COM Everything else will remain the same. I have staked a claim to both domains, among other extensions. I've checked and except for some minor counters and feeds, it all seems to be working the same, and I will change those over the next few days.
I've decided I want the .COM address to be the main URL for the commercial site that will be developed over the next month or so. The .COM extension will continue to bring you here until the commercial sister site goes live, and there will be a link here even then (we are talking sister site). The original target date was October First, but it appears that's going to have to slip due to factors beyond my control. (The important thing is for it to be right the first time when it goes live).
For those with advertising, you might want to email me specifics about your traffic and your rates. When the sister site is ready, I'm going to want to do some advertising.
(Word to the wise: Don't trust Sitemeter statistics! I just had a conversation with Chris at Powerblogs, my host for this site, and between the code and his assurances, let me say that compared to his logs for my site usage, Sitemeter is at least a factor of ten low every day. Maybe I've got it set up wrong - I'm not a real techie by any stretch of the imagination, but Chris's data is much more convincing)
A sad day has arrived at last. Chrenkoff signs off.
The Good news is that Good News Central is picking up where he left off in providing us our counterbalance to the police blotter of the legacy Media. I added them to the roll on the right.
Michelle Malkin takes on those playing race baiting politics of the disaster in the Gulf for personal gain. You want despicable? She shows you despicable. "My people" are determined by whether or not they act like responsible adult american human beings. I'm proud as hell just to be part of the same species as this young man. I'm ashamed to be part of the same species as Jesse Jackson.
Syria next? Captain's Quarters says that the US Ambassador has told Syria that we're getting tired of them encouraging terrorists, allowing them to train, etcetera. I (and others) have been wondering if Syria is our next project in the War on Terror since Libya decided to clean up its act. It's no good cleaning up every fever swamp but one, and Iraq is far from the last.
Carnival of Liberty is up! Recommended: Critical Mastiff
Willow Tree asks the question: If this is peace, what is war?
The short answer is that this is war, but those who live in denial, and would have Israel live in denial because it makes their lives easier, have made this into a mockery.
Given the events of the past sixty years, I'd support Israel if they decided to conquer and displace the Palestinians once and for all. Certainly the Palestinians have done their best to convince us that ethnic cleansing is their highest ambition, and Israel has shown more restraint than any human or group of humans should be asked for. No one should have to endure daily attacks. No country's soldiers should be under fire without the ability to shoot back in the manner they deem most effective.
The Palestinians and their leadership have convinced me that the only peace Israel will ever have with them will be that of the grave. Since Israel has proven itself capable of coexisting with civilized human beings while the Palestinians have shown themselves incapable, I'd rather the grave involved was of the Palestinian ambitions than that of the Israeli state and people. Call me callous, call me horrible, call me monster. I do not care.
Watchful Investor has a good piece on Life Expectancy. Mine comes up to 88, which barring greater than expected advances in medical technology is almost certainly an overestimate.
Unrepentant Individual has a good post up about the FAIR Tax and "starve the beast!" libertarians. Speaking as a "starve the beast (at least in most ways)" type myself, I agree with him. The way to starve the beast is change the political concensus, not to avoid growing the economy. Okay, so the government gets 23 cents of every dollar (I think the number is larger, but I'll use his figures); I still get to keep the rest. So I'm better off with that dollar than without.
Tom Rants has an article from September 10th here about a company requiring payment for a house flooded in New Orleans. Yes, Fannie and Freddie have given an automatic three month extension but that doesn't apply to loans held anywhere else. For many lenders, three months of no cash flow could be a real problem, and nobody is looking out for whether said lenders can pay their bills. I haven't worked in those states but in the states I have worked in, foreclosure takes at least 90 days, and that's from when they start foreclosure, whcih means they're usually 90 days past due at least. Regular lenders do not want to foreclose - they're in the business of home loans, not home sales.
Lest you not understand, there are no free rides anywhere. The unpaid interest from those people who aren't making payments is not going away. Somebody's going to pay it. Those who had good credit and had Fannie or Freddie buy their loan are sitting pretty from a cash flow situation, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea not to pay their loan, just that they have that option.
And not all lenders are susceptible to public pressure. If they buy their loans on the secondary market, you can't refuse to do business with them.
Well, time for me to go get the Hilda! Minimum day every Tuesday.
Michael Yon has a new article up on Lieutenant Colenel Kurilla's convalescence. He makes some good points that from recent polls need to be made for the twenty millionth time.
Victor Davis Hanson dismantles moonbattery in a series of responses to mail he's gotten.
Captain's Quarters has a good bit of research on the city and state's plans and lack of adherence to same.
Captain's Quarters also has an excellent article linking Jack Kelly in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. By any objective measure, the response from the federal government has been excellent.
Louisiana Libertarian has another dispatch. If you're unaware, he was one of those who evacuated Slidell ahead of Katrina.
Wizbang has some thoughts about what a good job was done in responding to the Hurricane and levee breach, and by and large, I agree. He uses the metaphor of a 1 hitter in baseball, which I'm not sure is accurate - more like a 1 run game, which is still pretty good (how many pitchers in baseball have an earned run average of 1.00 or less?), but you don't want anybody scoring on you, whether you're a pitching a game in baseball or responding to a disaster. When I was a controller, I used to use the metaphor of guys on base for little mistakes or sitations that needed to be cleared up, and runs against for allowing it to build into something perceivable by the public. The situation here is a little more critical and less controllable than that, but the analogy holds.
Seems my prediction here was correct. Insurers say Katrina losses worse than expected. This is usually homeowner's insurance speak for "we didn't price major disasters into our policies"
Asymmetrical Information debunks some more myths, in this case that of smarmy europeans.
Armies of Liberation has a post up about the political opposition to the regime in Egypt and Yemen. There's another about the Yemeni Parliament starting to chafe at the bit.
Dean's World has some thoughts on the War in Iraq along the lines of what I wrote yesterday.
Just threw another negative amortization loan wholesaler out of my office. With the softness in the real estate market here in California, those lenders with any sense are backing off on these, so I hadn't seen any of them in a while. After all, a loan where they add more to existing balances every month may not be a good idea where it's likely the house will sell for less than it was purchased for. Just one more example of the power of Denial, I suppose.
I'm sorry, but I'm out of time for today. Recommended Reading for RINO Sightings and Carnival of Personal Finance will have to wait.
Well, the Do-not-call violations have slowed down. The browser window is still open today, though. I'm sitting at 36 calls, 31 complaints filed, including one guy who evidently did not understand what I told him and called back to solicit me again, and so got turned in twice for two solicitations. He and another guy whined about how could I be "so callous to a fellow agent". Very simple. This exactly is what the Do Not Call list is about. I don't see where I should be any softer on a guy looking to make thousands of dollars per transaction for themselves than the company paying a ten dollar an hour telemarketer hoping to make fifty. In case you're unaware, I can find predictive dialers (what telemarketers use) in most real estate and mortgage offices, as well as other places. If anything, the requirements for big transactions should be tougher, as the guy looking to make the thousands of dollars per transaction needs to check fewer numbers to make the same money. The Do Not Call lists are equally available, and I happen to know that most of these companies subscribe. The State of California makes certain you know about the requirement. The violations are willful - they didn't accidentally dial my number. I let the ones who did not explicitly solicit me off the hook, and I did not lead any of them into soliciting me. My exact question was "What is this call about?" and let them take it from there. It was their decision to solicit my business when they clearly should not have.
Personally, I find cold call telemarketing somewhat repugnant, and wholeheartedly support the do not call list, as you might guess. I have made a choice not to telemarket, despite the fact that it is the most cost effective method of gathering business. If I did telemarket, I would want to check every number before I dialed.
I'm also fed up with professional incompetence and misrepresentation in this field. Agents and Loan Officers promise clients something that can't be done, and they know it can't be done, or they make promises that are not theirs to make. Some of these are truly outrageous claims, not just marginally impossible but out of the solar system in which possibility is found. Clients who don't know any better believe them. I haven't heard of anyone literally promising the moon yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if I did. The reason this happens is simple. Homes are an emotional issue for most people. Getting people to sign up with you is usually all about being personable and charming and promising a Bigger Better Deal, not whether you can actually deliver. Agents and Loan Providers can blow all the pink smoke they like out of their hat which is in the immediate vicinity of their tailbone, and the client signs up. Then they basically welsh - they either fail to deliver what they told the client they would in order to get them to sign up, or they deliver it with an ungodly GOTCHA! This is not coincidence. Demons did not possess them and force this person to give out wrong or bad information. Demons most certainly do not do it on a repeated basis (like every time they talk to a prospective client, by an amazing coincidence). It is either incompetence or deliberate misrepresentation. In either case, it needs to stop. It is rarely a lie that they can be accountable for in either the legal or civil sense, so they see no reason not to do it. No loan officer can ever guarantee a loan will go through (only an underwriter can do that). But we can give a guarantee that if it goes through it will be on a given set of terms (assuming the client tells the whole truth and nothing but). If I can eat the difference when I'm wrong (which isn't often), and I'm down at the low end of profit margin (which I am), somebody who makes two to three points on every loan and every sale certainly can. And they can certainly check the do not call database, rather than relying upon an appeal to pity. "I'll never do it again! (Until next time) Please don't turn me in!"
I want to call them twits, but that would be insulting the twits of the world. They are lazy vultures, which means I wouldn't be giving them any of my business anyway.
Captain's Quarters has an article about the difficulties Christians are facing in the West Bank. First glance, I agree that it looks like what would have been called a pogrom in Russia a century ago.
Seems to me as if all sorts of things are seriously out of whack. I've been checking the RINO and LLP blogrolls today, starting with what Blogrolling is telling me are the most recently updated. Some are updated. Some are days old while others not showing as recently updated are, including some Powerblogs based which like mine automatically ping Blogrolling. There's always some of this, but it's gotten really bad. TTLB hasn't been updated in over a week, although I can understand that due to the Katrina efforts he put in.
Neat! Astronomers Find Infant Star System. I suggest reading the links out of the article to other stuff as well.
I think that Israel means it, folks. Israel Warns Gaza on Any Future Attacks. The only justification for Israel giving the territory up to the Palestinians or for the Palestinians getting control is for there to be peace. If that doesn't happen (Does anyone think it will? Buehler? Anyone?) Israel will be fully justified in permanent conquest or anything else they decide is in their best interest.
I'm a bit late to the party, but Carnival of The Capitalists is up. Sorry, but I haven't had time to slog through for worthwhile posts.
I've added another resource website to the list on the right: California (and many other states) have a website location where you can look up a real estate agent or mortgage provider's license information (once again, it's the same license in most states). For California, it is http://www2.dre.ca.gov/PublicASP/pplinfo.asp?start=1. You can get to it off the main DRE website, but I had a complaint that it's a pain to find, and the person who complained is correct. Anybody wants to send me the website to check for other states, I will post them there also.
Looks like Schwarzenegger is likely running again. Schwarzenegger to Veto Gay Marriage Bill . If he wasn't running, he likely wouldn't fight this fight.
I have to admit that I'm not certain about gay marriage. For me, it's not about rights, it's about benefits extended that other people do not have, in return for existing in a state whereby children - the state's future productive workers - are likely to grow up to be better, more productive citizens. In short, it's about future economic benefit and whether the state should extend those benefits to gay people who are not primarily about child rearing, and so not often providing those benefits back to the state. I want to see gay people who desire the benefits of marriage to do a better job convincing me that it makes economic sense, and not shilling about "rights."
If you want to get into the issue of whether marriage should be recognized by the state, that's a different question, to which I think the answer is mostly no (I am married with two children, so I think you should see that saying this goes against my self-interest), but that's not where we are, and that's not the argument we're having.
Were the people of the state right to vote to ban same sex marriage? My answer is I think not - I voted against the ban, but - and get this through your head because this is what elections are about, and just because you or I don't like it doesn't mean it's eeeevviiiillll - the majority of the people of California disagreed with me.
So the gay activists, instead of taking their case back to the people in public, tried to put political pressure on the legislature. Well, special interests get their wish from the California legislature every time (and Congress, and every other legislative body that I've ever heard of). This doesn't mean they should get their wishes, especially when the people have directly over-ruled the legislature. This is reprehensible.
Therefore, while I'm not certain about gay marriage in the first place, I want this piece of legislation buried as a matter of governmental principal. The highest authority in the state has spoken, and even though I disagree with the way it went, having the legislature attempt to circumvent the will of the people in this manner (or any other) simply because it's politically convenient or they can score brownie points with one constituency is something that can not be tolerated.
So assuming Arnold follows through (which he has a good track record of doing), I support his veto.
By the way, to all those who keep insisting on bring "Blame person X (or group Y) for the Katrina damage," I am telling you again that I am flat out not interested. Matter of fact, you're getting me angry. This problem has been known for a long time. Everybody who has been in any related office on a local, state, or federal level since at least 1927 shares some of the blame for failing to fix the problem before it happened (If anything, I am less inclined to blame recently elected current officeholders due to lead time required between authorization and funding and actual completion of the work). If somebody wants to fire an emergency management person (or several) for bad decisions made on the crux of the crisis, that's fine and something that should be done. Failing to prepare? There's more than enough blame to go around to everyone. Failing to take proper political steps when it became obvious we'd finally lost the crapshoot? There's time enough to deal with that later. Assigning blame is never an emergency. Rescuing people is.
So, donate money if you can. Physically help if there's something needed that you can do (Email me if there's something people 2000 miles away can do beyond money - I've already given all I can right now). Let's get the people out of harm's way and get the mess cleaned up while we decide what to do. If you're in charge of disaster management, do your job. If you're in charge of those people, fire incompetents or resign yourself if you're clueless as to what to do. Otherwise, SHUT UP!
UPDATE: This is an example of somebody thinking about ways to help.
As a follow up to this post, I am sitting here on-line with the "Do Not Call" website opened in its own browser window today. Seems I had a property listing expire today. In this market, with this kind of property, it happens unless you're priced under the market. No big deal. But the contact number for showings is listed on the "Do-Not-Call" list. So I've had 24 calls (and counting), including two before 8AM, which is a separate violation of the 1990 telecommunications act, soliciting me for the listing. First off, they are idiots wasting their time as the listing says I am a licensed agent. But even if I wasn't, just because a number is listed as a contact for showings does not invalidate its "do not call" status. If you do telemarketing (I never call without a request or explicit permission), you must check each and every number unless you have something from the person involved saying they want you to call. Meanwhile, the property is still for sale. I'm as polite and cooperative as anything to these people until they tell me the reason for the call is that they want to be the listing agent, not that they have an interested buyer. I'm pretty certain that the two I allowed to wriggle off the hook had that as their motivation as well (they didn't make appointments to show), but unless they made an explicit solicitation, I let them go. As of right now I've made complaints about 22 different real estate agents today - including six from the same office - to the Do Not Call enforcement. I did think of (but rejected) an idea of offering not to turn them in for proof of a $1000 donation to the Red Cross Katrina fund, but decided that would be likely be extortion, and so a road better not travelled. But this could be up to $242,000 (and counting) in fines from people who didn't mind their legal and professional duties. It took me all of 20 minutes while I was on the phone with other folks to make the 22 complaints. Think of it as doing my part to defray the federal government's expenses of Katrina while giving people incentive not to improperly telemarket (I could double my income if I was willing to telemarket. I'm not). I don't think there's any provision for people in my position to get compensation, but if I do get anything I will donate it to charity. Hurricane Relief if it's timely, but even if I get something it's likely to be a long way down the line.
Pigilito has a neat link with commentary on large scale evolution.
Tom Rants has a good piece on how Oil reserves are up. There's been a lot of speculation, even before Katrina hit. Lot of people could lose lots of money.
Don Surber has a post about the good we have done coming back.
He also make a point about the limits of the blogosphere. Given the limitations of Sitemeter, I think Don gets more hits than he thinks, but the point is still well made. The blogosphere is where to go to debunk the BS. I spent Tuesday evening with a group of acquaintances. All of them blaming Bush for Katrina in best parrot of MSM party lines. All of them ignorant. I eventually got tired and left what I hoped would be a nice evening of conversation because it wasn't. But these people are mostly internet savvy technical folks. They just want to be spoon fed rather than looking for their news. I'm afraid this categorizes a majority of the population.
Done with Mirrors has another good response to the chickenhawk meme. Of course we are way past the piling on stage, but this is the meme that will not die. Probably because it's adherents will not think.
Sorry that activity has been light. I've got several balls up in the air that I'm not at liberty to discuss right now.
Volokh Conspiracy has a post on the ACLU banning communists in 1940. Pity that they haven't stuck to their guns since.
SCOTUSblog has a good post on why the nomination to Chief Justice was necessary. There is no nominated replacement for O'Connor currently. SCOTUSblog thinks she'll tender an immediate resignation sometime soon; I think we need to wait and see. I don't always agree with Justice O'Connor, but I see her not wanting to leave a vacancy unless she has no choice. This is the same obligation any ethical official feels. Before you go "off duty," the situation must be under control and there must be somebody there to control it when you have gone. That there are other officials doing the same task does not justify dumping your work on them.
Damned Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: Michelle Malkin blows what's left of Al Franken's cover to smithereens.
Radio Equalizer has part II
Hostage Roy Hallums has been rescued in Iraq! Jawa Report has more!
Victor Davis Hanson has an excellent comparative essay up.
For anybody who still doubts that the Palestinians are the problem in the Israel/Palestine conflict, I suggest reading Jackson's Junction.
Armies of Liberation has more on the lack of progress in Yemen.
I'm back. I took the weekend mostly off, and that turned into a couple extra days due to circumstances. Word to those whose children have yet to start school: NEVER take a school official's word for something until you've got the paper to prove it. I thought something was taken care of and I turned out to be mistaken. I have only myself to blame, of course. Things might be a little unsettled until I finish dealing with that problem but that's life.
I apologize that I do not have a specialty post up this morning. I hope to have something later today, or tomorrow for certain.
Now this lady has the right idea as to how to deal with rape.
It appears that President Bush has decided he wants to avoid an extra fight. Bush nominates Roberts for Chief Justice. If confirmed before the Court starts its session at the end of the month, this means that there are no vacant seats (Sandra Day O'Connor's resignation is effective upon the confirmation of her successor, remember). I agree that Roberts is qualified, and the kind of justice I want to see. The additional difficulty I see is that with only two years as a member of the judiciary, nominating him for the Chief Justice's spot raises a psychological bar. It's not insurmountable - Thurgood Marshall got over it easily. I admit that I do hate to see Thomas and Scalia passed over, but as I said Saturday night, promoting either of them to Chief Justice adds a bruising confirmation battle to the list of problems on the President's plate. Robert's relative inexperience as a judge is really only a psychological problem, not a political one.
Bill Whittle has a new essay up on the subject of our Tribes. Go Read The Whole Thing. NOW!.
He uses a metaphor of "grey" versus "pink" people. I have spent time in both "grey" and "pink" worlds; I have seen the actions Mr. Whittle's words describe. I was a controller for twelve years. The people on the front lines of the FAA are some of the most "grey" people that you will ever meet. They are controlled by "pink" people in the world of politics. The is significant tension between the two, and those who advance off the front lines in the FAA tend to be people who will tell the "pink" people what they want to hear, whether it is the whole truth or not. The FAA has some fine people working for it, but one of these days there will very likely be a disaster brought on by the fact that the "pink" top echelons do not understand that they head a "grey" agency. 9/11 was one small window; nobody told the controllers what was happening, and supervisors refused to kick the alert up off the control floor until it was too late for action.
Since I left that during the Clinton years, I have spent my time in the world of financial planning, and the very "pink" world of real estate. In both cases, the most successful in most circumstances are the people who can blow the most "pink" smoke. They're charming, they act like your friend, they get you to sign on the dotted line because they are so personable, and most of them don't care what happens to you two minutes after they get the commission check. The pink people have been on top for a long time in the real estate world, and we've got a huge looming problem partly because of it. In the investment world, the pink people were completely in control the entire Clinton presidency, and they never really lost their control, they just had to act responsible for a couple of years.
Grey people have it harder in both professions. The reason I quit financial planning was not that I didn't enjoy it (I do) or that I wasn't very good (I was). It was that I tried to give a full and accurate picture. People get nervous when they see the whole picture; they want something that looks like a sure thing and will do business with the person who says they will always make twenty-five percent a year, every year. Well, no matter what I tell you, you are not likely to make twenty-five percent most years. Would you rather do business with someone who tells you the truth or with someone who makes you feel good? But most people who hear the choice between a truthful "average of ten percent per year" and a liar who says "twenty-five percent every year" will choose the liar because it sounds so good and they don't bother to learn that it's BS.
Similarly, in the real estate and mortgage world, you'll hear, "No problem! Buy the big house, you can afford it, and I can get you the loan!" Well, with stated income and similar tricks, the question is not "Can I get the loan?"; that usually only requires the loan officer submitting the the paperwork correctly for the circumstances. The important question is "Should I get you the loan? Is this something you can really live with, or would this put you into an untenable situation?" This is not a question to be asked for my benefit, either as a agent or as a loan officer. It is for the client. Too many have been put into untenable situations in the last several years by agents and loan officers who saw only their commission checks. Only a prolonged period of rapid inflation of real estate prices has made it seem beneficial until now.
It seems to be an inflexible rule that if the "pink" people are left in charge too long, things suffer. But people need to find it out themselves from time to time.
RINO Sightings is up! Recommended: Dean's World debunks the blame game, Politechnical, Tinkerty Tonk, aTypical Joe who adds his observations to some of mine above (and whose desire but inability to serve I have much sympathy and understanding of for a different reason), Random Fate about who is to blame for the disaster (keep reading. It gets better at the end).
But Argghhh! takes the cake for best of a very good carnival by pounding in the real world logistics of what is going on. Speaking as someone who does that sort of thing for fun at a much lower level of detail (and my qualifications are less than his), there are whole areas he doesn't even touch on. Drinking water. Fuel for transport and cooking and heat. Just the evolving picture of where each small group of rescuers needs to go. Go too slow, and people die needlessly. Go too fast, and the whole thing unravels.
Carnival of Personal Finance is up! Recommended: InsureBlog has a post about using an HSA to fund a Long Term Care Policy. I do not believe that Ohio (his state) has a Partnership for Long Term Care, but it's an even better idea in a partnership state (such as California or New York). If you have a partnership for Long Term Care available in your state (CA and NY I'm sure of, I believe NJ and IN are the other two, and that WA and IA have something as similar as they legally can get, coming to the party after the donkeys in the House of Representatives stopped any future plans), a partnership policy is likely to be more important than any tricks and twists for a fully paid up premium in 10 years.
Carnival of Liberty is up. Recommended posts: Kira Zalan, Eidelblog
I'm recommending two charities for Katrina victims. The first is the American Red Cross. The second, for those who remember that humans are not the only ones who suffer, is the AKC CAR fund, which is promising that 100% of everything they get will be used for disaster relief.
Instapundit's round-up is here
Anarchangel has a good post on the economic realities behind market speculation. I have some quibbles: The price I buy the oil at determines the price it is profitable for me to sell the oil at, and similar things, such as I suspect the actual prices where supply and demand would balance out is in the low fifties, but it's worth reading.
I am sorry, but I've had an emergency come up. I have walked a check in to Red Cross, and I mailed another to AKC CAR Fund, but that's all I can do today (the previous two articles were both auto-posted from earlier in the week, and the first two sections of this were written last night). I encourage folks to dig as deep as they can, and then add another few dollars for our non-human companions. Even $10 buys a lot of animal care. May you all be kept safe.
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