Zee Links and Minifeatures: January 2006 Archives

Carnivals:



Carnival of Personal Finance. Recommended: Personal Finance Advice, No Credit Needed, and Especially Recommended: Old Niu's Blog. Learning to overcome greed and fear is critical for long term success.



Carnival of Debt Reduction



RINO Sightings Recommended: Classical Values



Strate-Sphere hosts a Carnival of the Chillin, regarding the Alito nomination. Recommended: The American Thinker



Carnival of The Capitalists. Recommended: The Entrepreneurial Mind

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I emailed several companies I'm thinking of advertising with last Wednesday. Google and Yahoo and BlogAds were both back same day. Microsoft is still ignoring me - likely my ad budget for the first month isn't rich enough to interest them. And Pajamas Media finally asked, "What!?" at 11:27 today. I responded, then got a further response indicating to me that Pajamas Media is way behind the power curve. I'm not going out of my way to yank their chains, so I'm not going to post the actual back and forth emails (at least not unless some Pajamas minion decides to nuke me, which they shouldn't as I'm trying to help them), but these people desperately need to hire somebody with customer service and business experience.



If someone with Pajamas Media wants to contact me, I'll be happy to forward the emails and annotate what I can see that you need to do, pronto. Barring some quick and notable improvements, it looks like I'm going to be spending my money elsewhere.



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I've added a category for Personal Finance, Economics, and Business sites over to the right. Please let me know if you're on my roll and you feel you belong there.



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US primary care about to collapse, physicians warn. Is anybody surprised by this?



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Looks like John got flushed again, this time in his attempt to filibuster Alito. Senate Moves Alito Close to Confirmation . The Vote was 72-25 for cloture, indicating that even many of those who are voting against him voted for cloture of debate. Bully for them. Maybe they have actually decided to act like mature adults.



Kossacks heads explode. Don't worry, it's not an essential item for them. It's happened before without damage - other than to the structure of the Donkey party.



HT to Politburo Diktat, who waded into the Minds of Morass so we don't have to. Except that I had to go sample, and found the following spectacular example (obscenities replaced with ****)

Which Do I ******* Want? (none / 0)



Women have been told to hold our mud for years and years and years. Our issues have been repeatedly pushed to the back burner while our leadership and fellow Democrats told us our day would one day come. Well, guess what not only did our day never come, it has been morphed out of existence. What we have instead is a party that has compromised our rights of choice away so much that women and young girls are already dying, they are being imprisoned and no new doctors have been trained to perform abortions. What does that mean? That the abortion providers today are in their 60s and 70s, ready to retire but with no one to take their place.



I want a party that ******* stands up and gives women a glimmer of hope that they ******* care if we live or die. I want a party that quits telling women, YOUR day will come SOMEDAY.



I don't give a rip what anyone says to me anymore. I will not vote for another Democrat until they put the rights of women front and center. I have seen what happens when we wait. I've seen abortion wards, the results of illegal abortions, I've heard it in the halls of my high school, the screams of grief when one of our friends died trying to self abort.



I've heard those screams, I've heard the screams of the parents at the funeral of a sixteen year old without a choice. It's a sound I'll never forget, it's a sound that drives me, it's a sound that makes me livid, it's a sound that haunts me, it's a sound that fills me with hate, it's a sound every single Democrat should live with for the rest of their ******* lives.



That's what waiting and hoping has done for women. The only answer for us is to show up at the polling places with no intention of voting. When we show up in the thousands maybe the leadership of this party will take note, maybe they will see the result of denying us the right to our bodies and the ******* RIGHT TO LIVE.



For all of you who call us names for saying we are abandoning or deserting this party, let me just say that it has become obvious to many women that the only thing of value we have to give this party is our vote. None of you can say you have given more to this party than I have. None of you can say you are more loyal, or have loved this party more than I have. None of you can give women the promise that this is the end of the apathy towards women, none of you can tell us we will be respected and protected by this party at long last.



I'm a proud liberal without the brackets. I've been a liberal since I was in high school 40 years ago. It isn't a label for me as in 'liberal,' it's a way of life for me, it's who I am inside, it's what gives me strength because I know I'm on the right side. My party can't say the same.



A line has been drawn in the sand for us, by us. What we know for sure is something we've always known, if we withhold what we value the most, the vote we fought for for far longer than we should have had to, that is what will win us a place at the table.



The shame is not ours, it's yours who will not listen, it's this partys, it's everyone who keeps telling us what to do, that's what's right for the party is right for us. We don't believe you because we have no reason to. And that is the real shame of it all.



Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less. Susan B. Anthony

So many errors of logic in there that my brain hurts just trying to find where to start. So I'm not going to.



Michelle Malkin livebloged Senator "The T is for Tantrum" Kennedy's screed. I needed two ibuprofen just to read it.



Money quote:

And that is what we are doing (voice quavering) with this nominee. HE FAILED TO DEMONSTRATE before this Judiciary Committee that he was committed to the continued march for progress...

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Somebody buy him a dozen extra strong super large C-clamps to keep his head from exploding, stat.





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Speaking of fundamental disconnects from reality, I wonder if Bill Clinton is trying to sabotage Hillary's presidential run? As reported by John Leo:

Bill Clinton thinks terrorism is an overrated threat. Last fall he said terrorism is less important than global warming. That was at the Clinton Global Initiative, his personal New York version of Davos, the annual big-think fiesta in Switzerland for world leaders and Hollywood stars.



Last week at the real Davos, Clinton demoted the terrorism threat from No.2 to No.3, behind economic inequality around the world as well as global warming. Most informed people think that climate change is very ominous and that poverty is of course a serious problem. But Clinton does not seem to think the possibility of New York or Washington disappearing in a nuclear blast is a very big deal.

We elected this gladhanding used car salesman president twice. I never really appreciated how lucky we were that the damage he did wasn't worse.



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LGF notes a Telegraph report that Iran may have infiltrated the IAEA.



Words fail. Oh. My. That ticking you hear is a countdown.



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I love it when life becomes harder for thieves: Tiny tags enlisted to identify property!

Ladies and Gentlemen,



I have a very reasonable, very easygoing trackback policy. I make my trackback URLs easy to find and easy to reference. Anybody is welcome to trackback, so long as you reference the post and should say something I believe worth my readers' time about the subject of the post. You may agree or disagree with me, and as long as you have a rational point, I'll happily leave it there. I will accept trackbacks from a straight "read this!" recommendation, but it's really not what they're for (And I apologize if my software sends you one automatically when I recommend one of your articles thusly). A spot on your roll of worthy sites is usually considered to be courtesy, but is not required, and the universe knows that I've slipped up on this.



The idea of trackbacks is that traffic goes both ways, not just from me to you. I will delete trackbacks that do not adhere to this. If you do not reference my post, I will ban your trackbacks completely on the second offense - the first if I think you're hitting me with trackback spam. I'm happy to share traffic, so long as we both benefit.



Due to requiring comment accounts, I have had very few problems with comment spam (which is exactly why I require comment accounts). I've always had issues with trackback spammers, but the cure of killing trackbacks completely is worse than the disease. I am trying to foster discussion and dialog, not stifle it, but if you want me to tell my readers about your post, you must tell your readers about my post. Unfortunately, two sites that should have known better have earned a ban in the last week. If you're not one of them, don't become one.



Oh, and one trackback per article of mine per article you reference it in, please. More than one trackback going from the same post to the same post is a waste of electrons. This is the reason I've essentially stopped putting manual trackback pings in my posts - I never know when the software is going to send an automatic one. I don't get angry, I just delete the extras.

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Balloon Juice has the details on the Bush Administration trying to silence a NASA scientist on global warming.



This is why I'm a Raging RINO. This is not what the United States is about, which is a free flow of ideas. I'm far from convinced about global warming. Okay, I'm openly sceptical and have been trending in the direction of further scepticism for some time. But if I don't let those who adhere to the hypothesis to make their arguments to the best of their ability, that indicates nothing more or less than than fear on my part. Fear that what I believe may not be the truth. The correct response is "I believe you are mistaken, but you're welcome to try and convince me - and others - that I'm wrong."



Not to mention the fact that the current Bush Administration has done more to control global warming, if it exists, than its predecessors by a goodly margin. Yes, there is a point to be made about making clear the distinction as to whether Dr. Hansen is speaking at any point in time for himself only, or for NASA. Nonetheless, trying to silence the opposition is nothing less than cowardice.



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Decision '08 has an excellent fisking of the New York Times misrepresentation of the scope, scale, and legal justification for wiretapping.



It is naked partisan politics to get angry with the administration for doing the same job you criticized them so harshly for not doing prior to 9/11. It is stupid, and ultimately self-defeating, to overexercise a privacy fetish. Furthermore, "Reasonable Suspiscion" is and has been the standard for any number of searches for a very long time.



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Rhymes With Right has a good article about why race shouldn't prevent adoption. Much to the annoyance of race baiters of all races.



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I'm not happy with Google's China cave-in, but I do agree with Q and O that it's not that awful that they're censoring stuff. Actually, Google's censorship (and the communist Chinese's requirements to do so) are going to be significantly less effective as Russia's attempts to keep the internet as a whole out in the late 1980s. Which is to say, not very. Fact is that in recent times we've been spoiled by search engines, and the chinese are only being denied access to part of a search engine. The chinese are intelligent and resourceful - perhaps more so than any other people on earth. They'll figure out how to find what they're looking for. It'll be harder, but they'll do it. The trick is to find the connectivity of subjects, a research skill that users of the internet needed until not so long ago. The whole censoring of search results is just going to make the chinese have to look a little harder for anti-regime stuff. They'll still be able to find it.



Via Instapundit, Paul Boutin makes my point graphically.



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Iraq The Model has some information about attempts to form a government. But they're negotiating. With words. Yeah, it could get ugly, but if "I do not want the coming four years to be wasted in waiting for another chance and I want our parliament to be a parliament of work and constructive discussions not one of sterile rhetoric and disputes" is your biggest problem, well there are worse things in life than a Congress too deadlocked to do anything. That also means that they can't goof anything up.



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Big Lizards has a possible explanation for Donkey behavior: the false dichotomy. You must choose either Bush or Harry Reid, and you don't want to choose Bush, so you must choose Harry Reid. Judges? buzz! So sorry, and thank you for playing. Be sure to enjoy our wonderful parting gifts.



Except for possibly Hamas in the most recent Palestinian election (Fatah makes Mexican policement green with envy at the level of corruption), I can't remember a time when anyone was elected because of who they weren't, anywhere in the world. Okay, yes I can. But George W. Bush is not running again, nor is he Nixon. And coincidentally, neither was Gerald Ford. I think we've figured out what kind of loser that kind of thinking gets us.



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Captain's Quarters gets it right on earmarks and the federal budget. Money flows to power - the ability to send money in the supporter's directions. Take away Congress' ability to allocate as much money, and the corruption automatically becomes less.



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One of the themes of the 'sphere the last couple of days is "Where were you when Challenger blew up?" It's easy enough to remember. I was starting training as an Air Traffic Controller the next day. I got into Oklahoma City the previous evening and thought, "Cool! I'll wake up early and watch the shuttle launch, then check out of the motel and into the apartment and take a nap, then get ready to report the next day."



Well, whereas the plan for the day was executed in pretty much every other particular, no nap. Spent every moment I could watching to see if maybe there was any hope of a survivor, or some small silver lining to salvage the day. The entire day was an exercise in surreality. It seemed like the whole world was trapped in a bad dream from which we couldn't wake up. I was just too young to remember Apollo 1, although I knew about it intellectually, especially as my dad worked at Convair assembling stuff for NASA's manned space program throughout the sixties. I had seen "The Right Stuff", which frankly acknowledged the risks but never showed them (A worthwhile movie if you've never seen it, and I'm happy to note that we as a nation are once again moving closer to the willingness to undertake risks that were characteristic of the time chronicled. Take the Gus Grissom spaceflight with more than a grain of salt, though. The movie leaves out a lot of relevant facts). Still, it wasn't until the next day, when I woke up and the newspaper headlines were all about Challenger, that it really hit me. We really had had a disaster. Of course, within a couple days, the jokes in the breakroom started, but they were always with a certain edge that you could feel the person was telling them in a "I've got to laugh because otherwise I'll cry!" vein. I missed Reagan's speech; I took quite seriously the claim that the ATC program at the time was "law school in 3 months" and devoted nose to grindstone that evening and never really came up for air until graduation. I only saw the speech years later. I spent fifteen months in Palmdale right after that until it became obvious that the desert and my allergies were not meant to co-exist, and the fact that there were no shuttle flights and therefore no landings (Edwards AFB is/was just up the road) during that period was one of the things that I remember hating most about the Antelope Valley.

The President is actually demonstrating that he "gets it" on something other than the War on Terror: Bush 'Reluctant' to Bail Out Automakers. Of course, the fact that he's never running for anything ever again might have something to do with the fact that he's able to say no.



The president has also called a press conference regarding the government surveillance projects.

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Either the figleaf is off, or Hamas is going to have to grow up fast and start talking peace. Hamas sweeps Palestinian election. Maybe, if we're lucky, the fact that the obvious authority over and responsibility for Palestinian affairs just landed in their laps will force them to improve their attitude towards Israel and also start behaving themselves better. Probably not, but it's a hope.



Dean's World has more that makes sense.



Chris Cam thinks the real story is peaceful transfer of power for Palestinians, and I think he's got a point.



BBC News:

Negotiations with Israel is not on our agenda," he said.



"Recognising Israel is not on the agenda either now."

HT Hugh Hewitt



That dove is listed in critical condition. Outlook not hopeful.



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This is encouraging kidnappers: U.S. Releasing Five Women Prisoners (as demanded by the kidnappers of a Christian Science Monitor reporter). They say it's coincidence. If it's coincidence, well I'm sorry for the inconvenience to these five women but we need to hold them until the situation is resolved, just to make a point. We let them go now, and not only these kidnappers, but future potential kidnappers, will see it as a victory. Better to say, "Well, we were planning to release them, but now we can't let them go until this other situation is resolved." This discourages kidnappers by portraying them as shooting these women in the foot.



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State of Flux makes a good point about real pacifism. Who was the real pacifist: Churchill, who wanted to confront Hitler early, or Chamberlain, who let the situation go until he had built the German Wehrmacht to the point it was able to challenge the rest of europe?



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Tinkerty-Tonk has the goods on Russian documents that show how they trained terrorists for decades.



Actually, I'm not certain who comes out the worse for the known association: Communists of splodeydopes. I'm not happy that a major power trained splodeydopes. But it gives one a certain sense of schadenfreude, given some more recent events.



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ROFASix has an article about an artist worth taking a look at. Especially if you have a need for some painting.



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Carol Platt Liebau sticks a harpoon into the Lesser California Moonbat Senator Feinstein.



Via Daily Kos, John Kerry has officially called for a filibuster of Samuel Alito. Without the Donkeys from the Gang of 14, a filibuster is dead. Guess what John? Can you say "Exercise in futility"? Knew you could. Almost as much so as pretending you wouldn't be among the worst possible choices for President.



Hey, if the New York Times wants it, the voters must all agree, right?



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Oh, those WMD



HT Vodkapundit



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Big Lizards has some worthwhile thoughts on the bribe Google took from China.



I get a good number of hits from Google every day. But their actions in regards to China give it something of an Eeewww! factor now. Not that I think that it's going to do the Chinese dictators any good, but just the principle of agreeing to it.



LGF went out and found a site that will help get around chinese government controls.



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Two tons of pot found inside Mexico-U.S. border tunnel



Is anybody unclear on what else could have used this tunnel? Do I really need to enlighten you?

Looks like Alito isn't getting rejected. The most the Donkeys can hope for is sustain a filibuster. Majority of Senators Vow to Vote for Alito



Looks like the Lesser California Moonbat has to get her licks in:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., said things are different from when the Senate considered Breyer and Ginsburg, who were confirmed 87-9 and 96-3 respectively. "There was not the polarization within America that is there today, and not the defined move to take this court in a singular direction," she said.

You mean where it was before Breyer and Ginsberg were added, Senator?



(I don't know about anybody else, but it scares me that our other senator makes Feinstein look normal).



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Carnival of The Vanities Recommended: Coyote Blog



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Yield Curve Inverts. What this means is that the effective rate on short term bonds is higher than on longer term bonds. Since people normally want a higher interest rate to tie thier money up (theoretically) for a longer period of time, this has traditionally been a harbinger of likely recession, as short term capital becomes more expensive than long. On the other hand, given how liquid the current bond market has become (where there is a ready secondary market for most government and corporate bonds) I'm not so certain anymore. When you can trade it away for cash (less a commission, of course) at any time, your money really isn't tied up, is it?



Don't get me wrong. There are huge problems waiting to bite the economy. But I'm not certain this is one of them.



What it does mean, for now, is that long term fixed rate loans are incredibly cheap as opposed to shorter term loans.



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Wizbang has an excellent article on the ethics of using civilians as shields for military operations, who does it, and who might get away with it and who definitely won't. As I said here, Gandhi and Martin Luther King succeeded in nonviolence because their opponents were civilized. Against less civilized opponents, they would have been slaughtered without hesitation, without repercussions, without remorse.



To intentionally use civilians as shields is first, to accept responsibility for the safety of those civilians, second, to the extent that those civilains are willing to assume said risk, a declaration of combatant status on their part.



A combatant is a target. Period. It is unacceptable collateral damage to blow up the entire block they go home to on leave, but there are plenty of opportunities to take them out when they're on duty, and anytime they are on duty, they are fair game. Them's the rules - the only rules that make sense. If you're unclear as to why, go over to Bill Whittle's place and re-read his two part piece Sanctuary. And if you haven't been there before, you're in for a treat.



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This is sad: The Celtic canary in the UK's coal mine. The larger part of my ancestors were Scottish, and it's a shame to see what was once such a vibrant area enter a demographic death spiral. Mind you, the population of the highlands has been declining for centuries. If Bonnie Prince Charlie planted his banner at Glenfinnan today, he'd be lucky to recruit a reinforced platoon, as the young folks have been leaving for where jobs and opportunities are (when they weren't forced out by the clearances). But the lowlands and cities were doing well until comparatively recently.



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Stop the ACLU documents people sheltering behind a slogan that amounts to a misquotation of Benjamin Franklin.



Conservative Cat hits the nail on the head:

Ben Franklin once said "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Dr. Franklin turned many a clever phrase in his day, but that doesn't mean he has the last word in discussion of the Patriot Act.



Before we go too far, it's worth noting that Franklin was talking about liberty, not privacy. There is a relationship between the two, but I find it strange that no one bothers to quote Franklin when we're talking about the liberty to choose how your children are taught or smoke cigarettes in public. Instead, he's used to protect us from the government trying to find out whether or not we're terrorists.

Michelle Malkin has much more, including a round-up.





While we're talking about letting slogans do your thinking for you, Asymmetrical Information gives us some reasons why it's counter-productive. My position on abortion is fairly similar to hers, also.



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John Leo notes an interesting fact in regards to the judge who gave a teacher convicted of raping one of his 15 year old students a suspended sentence (no jail time - and even the suspension is only 30 months!)



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A very good sign: Hoder, an Iranian blogger with 20k daily readers, has gone to Israel.



HT Jeff Jarvis, who also has great advice to give the Washington Post.



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Jawa Report covers Google and the Chinese dictatorship trying to stop water with a sieve. A doomed, futile effort, about as effective as blocking pr0n search terms without blocking pr0n sites, for about the same reasons. Actually, it's harder to censor or avoid political information than it is to avoid pr0n. The internet is about connections, and politics connects to everything, whereas pr0n mostly connects to pr0n.



Dean's World has more worthy thoughts on this subject.



"I'm Feering Rucky"Scrappleface nails the necessary mindset.



Volokh Conspiracy, on the other hand, notes a large corporation that is passing on an opportunity to make a profit on misery.



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In yesterday's Link's and Minifeatures, I expressed doubt about the claims of an investigation into whether the CIA outsourced torture to eastern europe.



Today, Captain's Quarters has a more authoritative debunking.

Carnival of Liberty Recommended: Eric's Grumbles, TF Stern's Rantings, Eidelblog

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Something that is way too common. A story that contradicts its headline: Investigator: U.S. 'Outsourced' Torture

Marty said there was no irrefutable evidence of the existence of secret CIA prisons in Romania, Poland or any other country.



"On the other hand, it has been proved that individuals have been abducted, deprived of their liberty and all rights and transported to different destinations in Europe, to be handed over to countries in which they have suffered degrading treatment and torture," he said. If eventually uncovered, the detention centers would likely be small cells that could be easily hidden, he added.

earlier in the story:

"Acts of torture or severe violation of detainees' dignity through the administration of inhuman or degrading treatment

This is known as defining torture down. "Not the comfy chair!"



Here's another link on the same nonsense: Swiss investigator says U.S. 'outsourced' torture; European "But it says there's no formal, irrefutable evidence of such prisons anywhere in Europe."



Another link: Swiss investigator says U.S. 'outsourced' torture; European countries likely knew



No formal, irrefutable evidence? Likely "single, easily hidden cells"? Well, show us the evidence that you do have. You say you can't find them, but with "more cooperation" you would? This sounds remarkable similar to the investigators of many failed scientific hypotheses, claiming "with better equipment, I'll find my evidence!" Well, maybe, but it's not the first thing to check. From what it sounds like, you're building fantasy castles in the air, unsupported by facts. If the evidence is such that it leads to a preponderance of evidence in favor of the hypothesis, let's see it.



How about clemency for the first interrogator to step forward and detail what was done in full? How about tracing the path of one prisoner with evidence he actually was taken the places you claim? How about medical examination showing the damage done by torture to one or more prisoners?



The bottom line is that there are a lot of powerful enemies of the Bush administration who want this to be true, but there is an observed lack of presented evidence. They're making a lot of hullabaloo, but I'm not seeing any substance behind it. Kind of an "invisible friend" argument thus far.



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Captain's Quarters liveblogged the Canadian election last night, but this post is a summary of what happened. If you want more, go to his main page from there.



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Looks like Techography has become the target of a legal terrorist.



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I am still trying to figure out some non-bandwidth intensive and legal way to put a spreadsheet either on this site or the commercial sister-site, when it goes live. The entire idea is to make it interactive, let the viewer enter some numbers of their own and crunch the numbers right in front of them and even draw a line graph.



Right now the dang thing uses half a dozen worksheets in Excel, but I only need to display the front sheet. Furthermore, it could be easily ported to just about anything else. I know enough different spreadsheets that even if I need to learn another, no big deal.



Sorry, out of time for today!

Carnivals:



Carnival of Investing Recommended: Interview with Ben Stein (the actual interview only), Fred Fry International (good information on margin accounts), Wealth Junkie



Carnival of Debt Reduction Recommended: Below the Beltway



Carnival of The Capitalists. Recommended: Gongol, May It Please the Court, Marketplace Monitor



Carnival of Personal Finance. Recommended: Insureblog, Personal Financial Advice (read the comments, also!), Retire at 30



RINO Sightings. Recommended: Respectful Insolence, Decision '08

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Our president says something that needs to be said. Surveillance is necessary. Actually, non-surveillance is suicidal.



On the other hand, Donkeys paint themselves as weak on national security. John McCain defends unnamed individuals on the Democratic side (likely Joe Lieberman and a few low key centrists that are still Democratic, at least in name). John Kerry goes over the top again (too bad he couldn't lead troops in actual battle like that).



Protein Wisdom has more.



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Wizbang has some very rational debunking of the latest attempted smear on the President regarding Jack Abramoff. Clue to the sufferers of Bush Derangement Syndrome: The money Abramoff gave the President's campaign was legal, nor is the president accused of lobbying congress or any congresscritter on Abramoff's behalf or that of his clients. Trying to amplify the Abramoff scandal beyond its scope will guarantee that the Donkey officeholders who are treating it as not their problem will get burned.



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Vodkapundit is right on with his analysis of a NY Post article with Ms. Rice reforming the State Department. Not "Did she go too far?" but "can she get far enough in the next three years that her successor cannot immediately undo the changes?" State, along with CIA and a few other agencies, has become a time-server's paradise. It needs to become results oriented.



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Q and O makes a point that cannot be made too often: that there are no such thing as inalienable rights. All rights are a function of how much value society places upon them versus upon the value to society of not having them. This being demonstrably true, let's focus on preserving rights that are important, like the first and second amendments, and worry less about a woman's right to pre-birth infanticide which, whatever your viewpoint on the matter, is not enshrined in the text of the Constitution. The more effort you spend on "penumbras" and such, the less will be available for the really critical stuff, like the first two actual amendments.



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Mudville Gazette tells a story of part of her ransom money being found on released German hostage Susanna Osthoff, and goes on to discuss the terrorist who was released in exchange for her. You know, it sure looks like there's enough reason to investigate the possibility of a set-up here.



Belmont Club has more worth reading on this subject, and on the fundamental disconnect of the apologists.



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Lileks Screed has a dose of common sense rationality on the Iranian situation.



The suggestion that's made the most sense to me, however, is Bill Quick's from a couple days ago: Attack, destroy the Iranian military (along with any bomb making capability) and leave. No dealing with civil unrest, no "insurgency", no Iranian Al-Qaeda. Very cold-blooded, and you can be sure that the hard left would be demanding President Bush do what they damned him for doing in Iraq, but it would be within our capabilities and keep the difficulties from becoming significant.



On a related note, Iraq the Model has a masterful essay on a certain irrational priest and lost opportunities.



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Dean's World has a thoughtful article about blogging and such as opposed to journalism, specifically the attitudinal weaknesses of journalism.



For myself, the real issue I have with most traditional journalists is just that they get it wrong. As in "They Have Not The Slightest Clue What They Are Talking About." I've been present for, or been involved in the aftermath of various nationally important news stories, as well as several others of local import. I cannot recall one story where they even got the majority of the critical elements correct. Perhaps this is the paper's fault, as it doesn't take the time to develop a reporter who has the opportunity to become informed on a particular topic. Perhaps a certain portion of the blame goes to the individual journalists, who don't ask the experts what's really important, and in at least one case, wasn't interested in the most salient details.



Then, when I went into financial planning, I found that the newspapers weren't interested in getting that right, either. They were interested in writing their articles to sell more papers and more advertising. "Disinterested guardians of the public interest"? I think not. Jokers out to sell themselves is more like it. Much as I despise Bill Clinton, he's a piker at self-promotion compared to most traditional media.



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Asymmetrical Information has a wonderful column debunking most of the hype about abortion and prophylactics and education.



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Captain's Quarters has a thoughtful article on impromptu censorship practiced by the left.



Michelle Malkin has more.



Anytime you see censorship, or anyone attempting to justify censorship, look them right in the eye and demand "What are you afraid of?" Do not allow the conversation to go anywhere else until you have an answer to that question. There is nowhere else for it to go. The only reason for censorship is fear.



Needless to say, it stops them dead. You won't convince them - they wouldn't have a need for censorship of opposing views if they had an answer or an open mind. But it's very weighty for onlookers.



It's very illuminating that the left has been engaging in the same tactics it derides as "McCarthyism!" for at least the last twenty-five years. I started college in 1978, and it was going on then. Time has only made them bolder.



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Looks like Victor Davis Hanson is on the side of accountability as well, as regards the UCLA Alumni monitoring of lecturers.



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HT to Michael Barone for this link to David Warren Online



I am definitely curious to know how the Canadian elections are coming today. I haven't mentioned anything like how the polls are showing the conservatives getting a solid plurality, because the only poll that really matters is taking place today in the election booths. I don't know how "dirty" canadian polls are - whether they are as clean as possible or Richard Daley Chicago dirty. I do suspect that any tricks the liberals can think of, they will try. Look at how long they fought what was obviously a losing battle to keep their governing majority, when the smarter thing would have been to go limp and resign. I also don't know nearly enough about Canadian politics to make a prediction - only enough about realpolitik to know that Canadian politics of the last twenty years has been basically about the power of Denial, as in "We're not Americans!". Not that they are, but they've gotten so obsessed about the giant south of the 49th parallel that they've kind of lost themselves and their collective common sense in the bargain. One hopes today signals the start of a return to reality.



Captain's Quarters will be liveblogging, if you care for that sort of thing.

The Great Escape from Voice Jail. Anybody can say they've got great customer service. When the reality is that you try your best to use computer automation and phone trees as a shield against your customers talking to someone, that's pathetic. Of course, customer service is pathetic nearly everywhere these days. If I need to do fast food, I want to go where the food is decent and I have a chance of getting my food while it's still at least warm. But I dread it because the counter help pretty much everywhere is hopelessly incompetent at customer service. Furthermore, they keep trying to sell me more food. You really want to sell me more food, improve your counter service, because right now all I want is to get in, get the absolute minimum I need, and get out before I get too mad at these bozos. If the customer service was better, I might be willing to occasionally order more than a sandwich.



My wife and I have a salad buffet resturaunt we love to go to. In fact it's our favorite restaurant, period. The reason? Well, the food is a big part of it, but they have this one older gentleman who is not only fantastic on customer service, but his attitude is contagious to the point where he brings everyone in contact with him up to a higher level of service. The manager could set his prices higher than any other restaurant in the chain (there are several around), and we'd still go there.

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Jawa Report is due congratulations on two fronts. First off, it's his two year blogoversary. Second off, and more important, he has helped nail an actual would be-terrorist. His post details his involvement, and thoroughly debunks all of the Patriot Act alarmism that has spread through the ACLU and allied idiots.



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Ameriquest in $325M Settlement With States. I strongly suspect this is a case of Criminals are fined a thousand dollars for stealing a million.



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Utterly cool: Space 'Slinky' Confirms Theory with a Twist



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Say Anything has a good point to make about how the indian casinos are escaping consequences of the Abramoff scandal. They shouldn't. (San Diego County has got to have more Indian casinos per capita than anywhere else in the country. I can think of six right off the top of my head, and two more within a few miles of the county line)



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neo-neocon compares North Korea to Lucy and the football. The difference is that North Korea is desperate. Lucy was just mean.



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HT to Dean's World for this link to a thoughtful essay on why broadcast TV may be dead and what killed it. Piracy is Good.



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Below the Beltway has a post about an interesting proposal made by James Carville and Paul Begala. My take is to look at who is making the proposal. They're both Donkeys, and the Donkeys would benefit from this proposal. The Elephants are currently outraising them by a considerable margin. That would be okay if I thought the country would benefit, but it wouldn't.



In short, when you get into the details, it's about partisan advantage, not about helping the country.



Not to mention "little details" like the First Amendment standing in the way.



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Sorry. Out of time. Off to hold an open house!

Carnival of Comedy

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Well surprise, surprise, surprise. Clinton administration thwarted prosecutor's work.



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Think law of supply and demand as you read this: Housing May Be Cooling. Okay, it's December, and it's no coincidence that's when all the realtors go skiing. Dead time of year. Nonetheless, they're building large numbers and sales are slow. What do you think is going to happen?



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"We'll call it a draw" - The Black Knight, Monty Python and the Holy Grail



bin Laden offers truce. Note that they're not offering peace, just a truce until we get an appeaser in the White House. And of course, the similarity in phrasing and talking points to the die hard moonbats is "purely coincidental," right?



Dr. Sanity (who else?) deconstructs the logic.



Jawa Report has a transcript of the tape as well as a side by side quote comparison.



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Rice demands UN action on Iran nuclear dispute. One hopes in the fish or cut bait sense.



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Ann Althouse has some reactions about a website dedicated to outing UCLA professors who practice political indoctrination. Note that their own website says they don't care where on the spectrum a given professor sits, only that they practice indoctrination. However, given the proclivities of modern academia, we all know what's really going on. When's the last time you heard of someone complaining that their professor was a closet Bircher? Compared to my experiences in college, that might actually be a breath of fresh air and a chance to see if I can (metaphorically) hit right wing idiots as hard as left.



Professor Bainbridge has his own set of reactions. Money quote:"...so I say to my colleagues: Welcome to the 21st Century. It's going to be a very bumpy ride." Yep. For everyone that's accustomed to having unchallenged authority. I think it's grand.



Volokh Conspiracy also has some worthwhile thoughts. Basically, if it's valid, it's beneficial. If it's invalid, they have a right to say it.



Given the opportunity, the average person will choose accountability for the other person but not for themselves every time. But accountability for everyone is a good thing.



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Big Lizards has the scoop on who was killed in the terrorist's not-so-safe-house in Pakistan. Moral: no Welleran routine for Al-Qaeda. (the link is Project Gutenberg, and if you're unfamiliar, it's one of the earlier examples of modern fantasy, and is pretty short).

Carnival of The Vanities



Carnival of The Clueless.

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



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



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



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

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

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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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City Employee is accused of ID theft.



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Sorry, out of time!

Carnival of Liberty. Recommended: The Picket Line, Different River

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The ACLU has sued to stop the government from wiretapping. I love the list of co-complainants - may Allah forbid we actually prevent any terrorist assaults!



This has officially gone beyond stupid.



Text of the Fourth Amendment:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Let's see. We have a known terrorist or terrorist sympathizer on one end of the phone. And they are calling someone in this country. Is there anyone who believes that this it is not reasonable to want to know what they are saying? If so, I have some news you really should be aware of. Click the link, it'll open in a new window, and when you're up to speed on this event, here is an itemized list of the reasons why this is a reasonable suspicion.



The Constitution is not a suicide pact. It's time to stop acting like it is.



Protein Wisdom provides a translation to english of the American Criminals Liberation Union's press release.



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Dean's World drops some depth charges into that barrel full of fish. I've said I think the Iranians will change their own regime, but the question is will it be in time? Invading Iran may end up being the best of a very bad bunch of options (The second best being nuclear deployment, with the third option being watching Iran turn Israel, along with some of our real allies in eastern europe and likely, India, to obsidian)



Getting Ready For a Nuclear ReadyIran (322 pages). Haven't read the whole thing yet, but the summary is quick and easy reading. I'd like to see it happen, but I don't see it.



Belmont Club, where I found it, has his own thoughts.



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Looks like the figleaf is off. Saleh confirms he's running for reelection in Yemen.



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My host resolved some issues they had been having, with the upshot that I have access to real traffic information again. As of the end of 2005, I had a total of 153,418 visits for the year, with December once again making a monthly new record (38,039 visits). Total page views: 487,336, not counting webcrawlers (December's new record 130,634).



Thank you all for stopping by.

Carnivals:



Best of Me Symphony.



Carnival of Personal Finance. Recommended: Fearless Money, Sound Money Tips, Insureblog,



Carnival of Debt Reduction



Carnival of the Capitalists. Recommended: Marketplace Monitor, Boring Made Dull, Scrivener (Read that submission if you read nothing else!)



RINO Sightings. Recommended: Evolution

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Victor Davis Hanson has an article dealing with a rational response to the oil situation.



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American Thinker debunks the NY Times contention of an american rocket rain on Pakistan. (HT Michelle Malkin).



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Belmont Club has some interesting thoughts on a line that the mullahs dare not cross, lest it prove their undoing, and why.



Dr Sanity takes the Belmont Club article and runs with it.



HT to Instapundit for a link to this article on prospective prehistory of The Great War of 2007.



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Improved Ion thrusters! HT Dean's World



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Coyote Blog has an article slamming hijinks at the FDA, both left and right wing.



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neo-neocon is on a tear, and I've been asleep - or at least not watching her closely. Most important is an article on what it would take to reform the Koran. Then there's a two parter on the continuing relevance of Moby Dick, the novel. Part 1 starts with a reference she found, while Part 2 is largely her own thoughts. I've tossed off a couple of thoughts on the subject, but nothing substantial. I largely agree.



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Jawa Report has some worthwhile points to make on the Truth Laid Bare letter regarding Abramoff and Shadegg. I signed on to that letter because I can see it doing no harm, but I more closely agree with Rusty. I'd almost rather that our congresscritters were too busy with Hedonism to do what they've been doing for the past seventy-odd years.



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I am given to understand that Mad Mikey who is on my blogroll as well as being very local to me has had a stroke. Da Goddess has updates. He could use prayers, good thoughts, or whatever you care to send his way. If you can help his family somehow, that would be even better.

I won't be flying American Airlines any time soon, even if I do fly somewhere. American Airlines charged over reserve pilots reduced benefits during deployment.

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Dean's World provides a fresh breath of rationality on the wiretapping issue. Thank you, Dean.



In another Privacy vs Transparency argument, further evidence in favor of transparency: USDA Using Satellites to Prosecute Farmers (yeah, it's Pajamas Media. Get over it. I said I wish them well, and I mean it. I just don't see them having a clear understanding of how they're going to make money.)



HT Instapundit



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Pigilito says adds two important data points to the situation facing old europe: One a Disturbing Brain Drain (at least to Germany) and the second, France figuring out that their approach to immigration wasn't optimal. Unfortunately, the demographics of the french situation make this akin to starting to bail out the boat after the gunwales went awash.



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Issues with the Real I.D. Act.



Reading this, I'm mostly impressed by all the whining going on now that Congress has forced them to clean up a system that had gotten completely out of control due to political pandering and gutlessness. It's politically uncomfortable to fix, so they're thinking of any excuse they can come up with, never realizing how incompetent it shows them to be.



On a related note, Say Anything has an excellent article on the implications of the purchase of disposable cell phones.



See also The Anchoress



Michelle Malkin has a good roundup, and thoughts of her own.



Hemet is about 85 miles from me. My wife's grandmother lives there, and many cousins. Many people commute from there to San Diego, others to Orange County, still others to Los Angeles. I've been in that Target store. There is a good chance that clerk saved the lives of some of my family members and many other people here in Southern California. Maybe even me.



Thank You.



As for the New York Times: May your corporation go bankrupt. May your editorial and policy staff become unemployable anywhere in the media industry. May you fall (metaphorically) off the edge of the earth unknown, unmourned, unremarked.



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Kevin Drum has something for the moderates on the question of national security.



Victor Davis Hanson has some cold-bloodedly logical advice about preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.



After that, I was severely grateful that Scott Ott, the genius who runs Scrappleface, had a relevant article where I could laugh instead of cry.



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I support this Truth Laid Bare initiative

An Appeal from Center-Right Bloggers



We are bloggers with boatloads of opinions, and none of us come close to agreeing with any other one of us all of the time. But we do agree on this: The new leadership in the House of Representatives needs to be thoroughly and transparently free of the taint of the Jack Abramoff scandals, and beyond that, of undue influence of K Street.



We are not naive about lobbying, and we know it can and has in fact advanced crucial issues and has often served to inform rather than simply influence Members.



But we are certain that the public is disgusted with excess and with privilege. We hope the Hastert-Dreier effort leads to sweeping reforms including the end of subsidized travel and other obvious influence operations. Just as importantly, we call for major changes to increase openness, transparency and accountability in Congressional operations and in the appropriations process.



As for the Republican leadership elections, we hope to see more candidates who will support these goals, and we therefore welcome the entry of Congressman John Shadegg to the race for Majority Leader. We hope every Congressman who is committed to ethical and transparent conduct supports a reform agenda and a reform candidate. And we hope all would-be members of the leadership make themselves available to new media to answer questions now and on a regular basis in the future.

I know I said I wasn't going to handicap the race for majority leader. There's no way to know who will win. But I can think of no scenarios where the above hurts, and many where it will help.



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"Manouvering the junction of commercial airliners into offending skyscrapers"

"Manufacturing large amounts of unstable explosives"

"Creating crimson perforations in humanoid surface tissue"



Michelle Malkin has the goods on Jose Padilla's application to join Al Qaeda. They asked him his hobbies.

Carnival of The Vanities Recommended: Boxing Alcibiades, Coyote Blog

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It's Hunting Season for Identity Thieves



HT to Jeff Jarvis for this link to a story of Sprint refusing to help a family recover their SUV (and incidentally, 10 month old son).



Now, if we just dispensed with the subpoena nonsense, but made everyone who wanted the information submit verifiable information about themselves, would that not have solved the privacy issue in a superior way? How many celebrity stalkers are going to want to fill out forms that tell everyone who got the information? "My name is John Doe. My driver's license is A1234567. I live at 1234 Main Street, and my phone number is 123-456-7890"



The problem is that the whole privacy movement is fighting a war that's already been lost, and in continuing to fight it in a manner that makes the damage worse, rather than trying to make the situation better.



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Michael Yon has three letters up from the family of an American hero whose murderers were allowed to go free.



I urge you all to contact the president or his staff and your elected representatives in this matter.



Here is a letter I sent:



Mr. President,



I am a concerned voter who is writing today to ask that you please take steps to bring the murderers of Robert Stetham to justice here in the United States. They were recently released by Germany in order to secure the release of German hostages.



From your speeches which caused me to vote for you and to support you, I believe you find this as unconscionable as I do. Mohammed Ali Hammadi, Ali Atwa, Iz-Al-Din and Imad Mugniyah tortured and murdered this American hero in 1985, and are free to reside in Lebanon.



I understand that Lebanon is currently undergoing a period of transition out from under Syrian oppression. All the more reason to serve notice now that while we sympathize with their situation and wish to aid them, there will be no free passes issued in the War on Terrorism.



Please make a formal diplomatic request for the extradition of these murderers to stand trial in the United States.



Sincerely,





Be respectful, keep it short, keep it to the point. This hero was tortured and murdered by terrorists because he was a United States Serviceman. That they are allowed to walk around free in a country that we have rendered substantial aid to should be an affront to the sensibilities of any american, whatever your political affiliation or sympathies.



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Ann Althouse has some thoughts on whether a husband supporting a wife at congressional hearings would cut the senators sufficient slack for what's been directed at Alito. My response: not likely. But then the cowards would never dare direct it at a woman, either. That would be seen as "bullying," and even if they thought she was an unqualified hack with an extremist's mentality, they'd have better political sense. Intellectually, I believe that women are capable of putting up with as much as men and should be required to, but politically and emotionally it's just not going to happen. True political equality will be when a man can attack a woman as Judge Alito has been attacked, and nobody thinks anything of it except as it relates to qualification and political orientation. On the other hand, I don't think anyone should be subjected to this.



(If my wife were attacked like that? The senator better pray for a sympathetic television editor and a commercial break. That's part of the promise I made on our wedding day, and she'd do the same for me. No, we'll never be confirmed by the US Senate for anything. So what?)



Wizbang has the answer to "who made Ms. Alito cry?" question right. here is more.



Professor Bainbridge also has the right idea. A man without solid principles could get radicalized by this treatment.



Dean's World has the reasons for the tone of these hearings dead right.



Captain's Quarters covers an ironic suggestion by Joe Biden with the reasons why it is appropriate. If you want hearings into whether or not someone is actually, you know, qualified, Donkey tactics of the last twenty years are pretty much a textbook entry for how not to get them.



A more destructive bullet to our constitutional foot would be difficult to imagine.



Finally, to those who went off the deep end on Harriet Miers: Thank you ever so much for giving ammunition to this nonsense from Daily Kos



On the other hand, Powerline covers a thoughtful liberal's position on the matter.



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Politburo Diktat has got a photo essay too funny for words!



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John Leo has some thoughts on the VAWA, which Congress reauthorized.



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Cox and Forkum sums up the Iranian nukes situation. I spoke to the issues here.



Victor Davis Hanson covers the international situation.



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Iraw the Model has some good news in that the Sunni have rejected Zarqawi.



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Asymmetrical Information has a worthy snark on Whole Foods.



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Armies of Liberation has a good post on a Yemeni judge standing up to the regime, and it looks like Canada has given up on being charitably effective in Yemen.



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It is good to see moderates like Joe Lieberman having broad electoral support, as Michael Barone notes.



Michael Barone also notes why handicapping the Republican race to succeed Tom DeLay is largely a waste of time.



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Michelle Malkin dissects the armor issue.



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Meryl Yourish crunches numbers and comes to an inescapable conclusion as regards the Palestinian "truce". I fail to see how anyone could have any sympathy for the Palestinian point of view after reading this.



HT to Instapundit



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UPDATE: Regarding the Alito Confirmation Hearings, I wrote this on October 27th, right after Harriet Miers withdrew. So far, it looks like I nailed it. Also, the first segment of this Links and Minifeatures that I did on November 3 seems relevant to the discussion.

Carnivals:



Best of Me Symphony



Carnival of Personal Finance Recommended: Insureblog



Carnival of The Capitalists Recommended: The Entrepreneurial Mind



Carnival of Investing



RINO Sightings Recommended: Right Thoughts, Strata-Sphere, Pigilito Says

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Jon Henke of Q and O had a column published in TCS Daily about how the economy is in pretty darned good shape.



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Sorry, a nasty case of food poisoning has me Out Of Service. I'm not going to get graphic on you, but I wanted to post the carnival stuff before it got any later

Donkeys playing with fire, and likely to get burned.



Elephants in full damage control mode but at least they are reacting appropriately.



UPDATE: Captain's Quarters has aggregate party-based dollar figures.

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Argghhh! has a memorial to the passing of a different kind of hero.



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Enrevanche has the press release related to wikis of how to blog anonymously for those in repressive regimes worldwide. I'm generally opposed to anonymity, but there are factors that can make it not only beneficial, but essential. This is one.



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Michael Yon is looking for retired military volunteers to vet stories of the war for credibility.



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Privacy versus transparency being one of my pet themes, I must ask the Donkeys trying to keep this sealed, "If it contains nothing damaging, why not release it?" (This is a riff on Mark Twain's "safer to keep quiet and be thought a crook fool than open your mouth and remove all doubt")



HT to Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler (language advisory)



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SMASH versus Filner. Advantage: You decide.



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Mark Steyn understands the real issues behind wiretapping, and it appears most of the American Public does as well.

Holy Orwellian Doublespeak, Batman! US agents shot at, tension mounts on Mexico border. So of course, Vicente Fox has to go on the offensive about how the Eeevil Americans are actually enforcing their border.



But East Asia has always been the enemy.



HT Ogre.

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Kesher Talk has some reporting upon Arab tributes to Ariel Sharon. When some of your enemies say things like this about you, you did good.



As the only Israeli with the right credentials to get the people of Israel lined up behind a credible peace plan, he will be missed.



We may not see his like again.



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neo-neocon may finally have solved the mystery of why the "Bush Lied!" meme won't go away no matter how thoroughly refuted. What they really mean is "I was fooled into believing him!" Well, Timmie, sometimes people make mistakes.



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I apologize for not doing more on the "big" stories. I just can't generate any desire to write on them.



The wiretapping brouhaha is stupid. Politically, rationally, and friends of liberty-wise. The only angle I see in it is "get the Elephants!" I started an article, and cannot generate the desire to finish it. One gets tired of telling people they're being stupid, emotionally immature, and narrow-minded. I'd rather find something good to say (on something else) if I can.



On the Alito confirmation, I have been completely unimpressed with anything the opposition to his confirmation has come up with. If they want to convince me he shouldn't be confirmed, talk about what he's done in his fifteen years as a judge. Otherwise, they should shut up, because they're not helping themselves for future confirmations.

Dean's World has the best article on Ariel Sharon's sudden absence that I have seen.

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Asymmetrical Information has an excellent article upon people who think they understand economics, but don't.



I've always been amazed at the number of people who, because it deals with money, think they understand economics, investing, or real estate. They wouldn't try to practice law on an equivalent amount of learning, and they definitely wouldn't practice medicine, but in investing, economics, or real estate, they think because they've read a book written by a clueless journalist who has never worked in the field that they know just as much as working professionals. (I also regularly encounter a lot of people who think their understanding of military matters is superior to the average flag officer, when in fact they are so utterly clueless that words fail me. I have a fair idea of how many light-years short my expertise falls, and these self-proclaimed experts make me feel like Alexander III compared to Publius Quinctilius Varus.) Folks, there is a reason for the rigamarole of qualifications. Yes, a layman can be right in the face of an argument by a top professional. It's theoretically possible for every particle in your body to simultaneously jump one foot to the left, too. It's not a bet I'll take in the absence of further information.



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I largely agree with Captain's Quarters On the fallout from Abramoff. He may have rewarded more Elephants than Donkeys, and with larger amounts, but every Congresscritter who took the money would be tarred with the same brush, and any Donkey who thinks otherwise is fooling themselves. Furthermore, the Elephants are scrambling all over themselves to give the money back, while the Donkeys are pretending it's not their problem. Nobody is fooled. If you got bought for $50,000, you're a crooked political prostitute. If you got bought for $5,000, you're a cheap crooked political prostitute. If you gave the money back after finding out it was tainted, that's something in the way of redemption. If you kept it after finding out it was tainted, that's damnation. No serious proportion of the voting public buys into any kind of "crooked for Elephants only, okay for Donkeys only"



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Pigilito Says has a good artilce on EU's failure to deal with the natural gas crunch brought on by Russia's temporary cutoff of supplies. If you know the EU, what would you predict they do when Russai restored the gas: try and figure something out to prevent this from happening again, or just breathe a sigh of relief and send everybody home?



And these are the jokers we're trusting to negotiate with Iran over nuclear armaments?



(Upon which subject, I largely agree with evolution's post here. Iran gets nukes, they're going to get used. As in large explosions and radioactive fallout. Kim Jong Il isn't half as crazy as the mullahs, and that's not saying anything good about Kim Jong Il.)

Carnival of Investing



Carnival of Capitalists Recommended: Daily Dose of Optimism



Carnival of Liberty



Carnival of The Vanities

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So folks know where I'm coming from philosophically:



You scored as Existentialist.



Existentialism emphasizes human capability. There is no greater power interfering with life and thus it is up to us to make things happen. Sometimes considered a negative and depressing world view, your optimism towards human accomplishment is immense. Mankind is condemned to be free and must accept the responsibility.



Existentialist 81%

Cultural Creative 75%

Idealist 63%

Postmodernist 56%

Modernist 25%

Materialist 25%

Romanticist 6%

Fundamentalist 0%



What is your world view? HT: Inside Larry's Head



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Michael Barone has some thoughts that are worth reading on the Index of Economic Freedom.



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REQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE



I have a severely useful spreadsheet relating to the purchase of residential property that I'd like to upload to the site. Currently, it's in Excel. It would be trivial to change it to Corel. I could also handle other spreadsheets, as long as they can handle the formulas I need (amortization is the only tough one). What I really want, though, is a stand alone that will correctly manipulate a few numbers that the user puts in. The formulas are all in and all correct. I'm debating between just putting it up for anyone who wants to use it on the site, and actually making it downloadable.



I would appreciate any technical or copyright (of the base program - I wrote the spreadsheet itself) thoughts anyone has. Is there a public domain program I could move it to? Would it handle being a stand-alone spreadsheet, so I don't have to include or pay for the copyrighted program? Thanks in advance.



UPDATE: I've tried uploading it as a webpage and also using Microsoft Excel Viewer. The issue, in both instances, is that this seems to turns the sheet completely static, where I want them to be dynamic and at least to some extent, interactive. And it also requires the use of IE rather than Firefox (Eeewww!).

Another feminist legend bites the dust: Research Debunks 'Barbie Ideal'

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Had my first pr0n search hit. Somebody in Avondale Arizona (or close by) is a sick person. The string they typed in was "i want to see pictures of women urinating and using the toilet" They were sent to my post on the visit to the zoo Christmas Eve, where I happened to mention an orangutan performing this bodily function. MWA-HA-HA-HA!



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Carnivals



RINO Sightings. Recommended: Kesher Talk, aTypical Joe, Dean's World



Best of Me Symphony



Carnival of Personal Finance



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Remember the little girl I posted on December 22nd? She's in the states to get her spinal bifida corrected now.



Doctor Says Iraqi Baby Is Doing Well. For anyone who donated, thank you.



Michael Yon has more.



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The Last Amazon has an idea for the next country to need regime change in the War on Terror. It's a joke. I think.



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The Wrightwing discusses voting and wasted votes.



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Decision '08 makes a good point about wiretapping.



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Wizbang has a proposed solution to identity theft that bears consideration.



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Captain's Quarters has a good editorial about the Legacy Media fighting the notion of accountability. It is very tempting to want to return to the "good old days" when you could just print anything you liked or that fit in with your agenda while ignoring those that did not. Unfortunately, the world is a messy, chaotic place, and nobody has 100% of the truth on their side. Most humans, if allowed the choice, will choose "accountability for thee but not for me." However, accountability helps your product. Thirty years ago, American cars were awful. If anybody called them reliable, they didn't mean it in a good way. Imports penetrated the markets, and if UAW workers were discomfited, the cars we have now are significantly higher quality - and that includes the american ones, as well. Competition is a form of accountability. If people like what I write, they come back and read more. I'm about one three hundredth (by visit/subscription count) as influential as the local newspaper, so I'm not a serious threat - by myself. In aggregate, however, there are a lot of people with their own logs. Put our numbers together, and they're starting to compete. If people find what I (among others) choose to write about and the manner in which we write about it superior to the local rag, we "win" and it "loses". And that is causing them some discomfort, as they have to choose between printing the truth and offending some advertisers, or just losing audience share to people around the 'sphere. I have noticed that the Real Estate news (and related economics) has lost its pollyannish cast of late, and real estate is one of the paper's big advertisers. So it's painful for them, but they are starting to put out a better product because of it.



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Victor Davis Hanson has a clear eyed post on illegal immigration.



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Mark Steyn. NOW!



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Scrappleface has the scoop on the President's New Year's resolutions.