Zee Links and Minifeatures: December 2006 Archives

Carnival of The Capitalists



Carnival of Debt Reduction



Carnival of Personal Finance Recommended: Ask Uncle Bill

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Roger Simon on Sandy Berger and smuggling classified documents out of the National Archives.



Question: If Condi Rice or Donald Rumsfeld did the same thing, what would the reaction be in the media?

I am going to do a seminar on First Time Buyer Programs to see if there is a demand for it here in San Diego. If this one attracts sufficient business, I will do others.

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Real estate expected to flounder in 2007



Just a few echoes of what I've been writing, most recently in this article.



However: Most mainstream articles suffer from inertia. "As before, so in the future." They kept writing schlock about 20% per year gains for nearly two years after the market started to turn. I think they are most likely correct, and that the market will recover in 2008, but I am seeing moves in some indicators that say summer 2007 (July or so) is a real possibility. However, this will not be a return to 20% gains per year, merely a return to upwards valuation trends.



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via Q and O, Bruce Bartlett on the best way to advance a libertarian agenda. Sending the Libertarian Party money is roughly equivalent to flushing it down the porcelain commode. So how is the libertarian agenda to advance? By Political Action Committee. It works for the NRA, so libertarians really shouldn't need to duplicate effort by spending any great amount defending the second amendment (and if you're calling yourself a libertarian but are not in favor of the right to keep and bear arms, you probably need to consider the philosophical underpinnings of your politics again). It works for any number of other organizations. Why could it not work for libertarians? Kind of an exercise in political judo or aikido, using the mechanisms of the statists to advance our agenda.



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to all of those who have served.



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Does Osama know? Zawahiri's most recent propaganda release.



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Since this will quite likely be my last L&M before Christmas, be careful, be safe, and cherish those close to you.



I've got an article with the same genesis as today's ready to go for tomorrow, and I'm working on a major current events article (which I'm aware that I have neglected here for quite a while. I'm loath to repeat the same arguments over and over when nothing about the underlying situation has changed).



If you're in the mood to help someone for Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate, or for no reason at all)



Soldier's Angels could certainly use some help. Turnabout is only fair.

Carnival of Thoughtful Consideration

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Ban Sworn in As U.N. Secretary-General



He started off right:

He pledged "to set the highest ethical standard" and "work to enhance morale, professionalism and accountability among staff members, which in turn will help us serve member states better, and restore trust in the organization."

However, he then followed it with:

Ban also paid warm tribute to Annan, saying "it is an honor to follow in your revered footsteps."



"Your tenure has been marked by high ideals, noble aspirations, and bold initiatives," he said. "Your courage and vision have inspired the world. ... You have given the United Nations new relevance to the people's lives."

ROTFL! You know, I'm pretty sure you're supposed to tell the icebreaker joke first.



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Palestinian PM returns to Gaza, leaving money behind



Sounds like Israel is being the bad guy, until you are reminded of this:

Israel, the United States and the European Union regard Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction, as a terrorist organization, and imposed sanctions after the Islamist group rejected their demands to recognize the Jewish state, renounce violence and accept existing interim peace accords.

In short, money in Palestine under Hamas control becomes terrorist money. If Mexico was at war with the US, I wouldn't want us to allow people to bring money to the Mexican government, either.



Want evidence?

Gunbattle Prompts Gaza Crossing Shutdown

After dark, two loud explosions rocked the area and police said militants blew a hole in the border fence about a half-mile from the crossing. More gunfire was heard, as witnesses said Hamas gunmen were firing at the Egyptian side, drawing return fire from Egyptians and presidential guards from the rival Fatah movement.

One very interesting moment as a Palestinian leader inadvertently admits to the media the way Palestinians work:

Abu Mujahid, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, said his group supports efforts to arrest those responsible for the killing. "Any person found guilty of killing children deserves to be killed in front of the people, even if he belongs to the PRC," he said. "His factional immunity is lifted, and the PRC is ready to help with any investigation."

Emphasis mine. Until this changes, and Israel can count upon the Palestinians to police their end of things and keep their own people under control, there will be no real peace. Whatever the Palestinians want to call it, when one side gets to attack the other that is not peace, and you shouldn't expect the Palestinians to keep it. Suppose a US Army brigade invaded Mexico, blowing large pieces out of Ciudad Juarez or Tijuana, and when the Mexicans demanded we do something about it, we just told them, "Oh, that was just Colenel Jones, who doesn't like you," and kept Colenel Jones in command of his brigade, maybe even promoted him. You think the Mexicans might have a valid complaint? You think they might be justified in trying to get a little of their own back? That's what Israel deals with every day, and this momentary slip admits to the world how the Palestinians think, and how Palestinian politics work.



They are talking about killing Palestinian children, of course. Killing Israeli children gets you a medal, a bonus, and a promotion.



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Serious developments: Sen. Johnson Critical After Surgery



I hope he recovers, and quickly. I make no secret of the fact that I prefer Republican politics right now, because of the War on Terror and the economy, but the Republicans keeping control of the Senate in this fashion would leave a bad taste in voters mouths while serving no particularly good purpose.



Sorry moonbat conspiracy theorists: No Republican "dirty tricks here, just one of those things that happen sometimes.

Johnson's condition, also known as AVM, or arteriovenous malformation, causes arteries and veins to grow abnormally large, become tangled and sometimes burst. The condition is often present from birth.

and

Arteriovenous malformation is believed to affect about 300,000 Americans, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The institute's Web site said only about 12 percent of those have any symptoms. The symptoms, which range in severity, can include severe headaches, memory loss and dizziness.

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Iran nukes prompt concerns within Mideast

Ambassador Ross, now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, also said at an event Tuesday that the Saudis are telling the US, "Stop them - or that [nuclear power] is the way we go, too."

If that doesn't get the attention of the Indians and Pakistanis and Russians, I don't know what will. That would leave a Wahhabist Arab nationalist state with nukes when the Saudi monarchy finally comes apart.

"They are saying that if there is to be a Shiite bomb, then they will need a Sunni bomb to counterbalance it," he says. "They don't want that, but if their neighbor Iran goes nuclear in this climate of deepening Shiite-Sunni divisions, they don't see how they could sit aside and not match it."

Civil wars are always the nastiest.



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Foreclosure auctions up. The reason why?

"In California, I saw a billboard that said, 'Own the home you want, not the one you can afford,' " says Thomas DiMercurio, a Denver real estate broker who specializes in bank-held foreclosures. "That was so silly."

Yes, but it's also a widespread attitude. I've had at least eight prospects dump me in the last year because I tried to tell them what they could really afford, so they went and found somebody who would pretend that they could.



You are only kidding yourselves if you buy a property that you cannot afford. Sure you might get lucky and get raises and be able to afford it later. But you also might lose your job, need to relocate to keep it, or any of a host of other issues.



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Calif. Company Faces Immigration Charges

A Southern California fence-building company and two executives pleaded guilty Thursday to knowingly hiring illegal immigrants and agreed to pay a combined penalty of $5 million. The executives could also go to prison.

Put those executives away. The fact that people are willing to hire them is why they break our laws to come here. This was willful and blatant:

"You have show a kind of criminal conspiracy," said Steven Camarota, research director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, a group that advocates tighter immigration controls. "The mere hiring of illegals is not enough."



The illegal hiring took place between 1999 and 2005.



U.S. immigration officials said last year that 100 employees at Golden State Fence's Riverside office were unauthorized to work, including three whom the company had been ordered not to employ after a 1999 audit by the government.

Our daily dose of irony:

Among Golden State Fence's projects in recent years was construction of part of a 14-mile border fence in San Diego in the late 1990s.

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It's US vs UK in online geography battle



take the quiz here before the end of the year.



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I think I've been pleasantly surprised! The spokesperson for a national group has declined to claim victim status! Don't change $$$ for us



Perhaps we should chip in and get the man a bodyguard before the professional victims send out a hit squad...



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neo-neocon on war, and how winning decisively is the more merciful option.



Neptunus Lex on the Long War.

Carnival of The Capitalists Recommended: Professor Bainbridge (executive pay)



Carnival of Personal Finance



Carnival of Debt Reduction

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This week's supreme irony of life is that the same public school that calls it "Winter Festival," and utterly refuses to permit the "C-word" anywhere on campus, now wants us to buy overpriced presents through them for a fund raiser. My wife (a Catholic) is more than a little irritated, and justifiably so. I just sent it back with a note saying that I'm ill-disposed to buy Christmas presents from any place that refuses to utter the word "Christmas."



And yes, this same school has no problem with Kwanzaa or Ramadan, among other things. I could understand and I would agree if they were equally strict about leaving everybody's special agenda outside school grounds, although this spiritual humanist still wouldn't shop for Christmas presents through them. But to single one group out for special exclusions isn't even-handedness. It's discrimination, and I would be very glad to see them successfully sued for it.



And since it's less than two weeks to Christmas, one of my favorite seasonal songs, Tom Lehrer's A Christmas Carol seems somehow appropriate. (I had to scroll down to find the "Listen" link)



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A sad day. The actor who played "Young Frankenstein"'s monster has died



But I was going to make Espresso!



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Raids in 6 states may be largest ever

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Wednesday the investigation uncovered a "disturbing front" in the war against illegal immigration, in which illegal immigrants are using the identities of U.S. citizens to obtain jobs.

Right up to date on the latest thirty year old trends, Homeland Security is.

During a raid Tuesday at the Swift plant in Greeley, Colo., a frustrated Tony Garcia watched as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents swarmed inside to arrest illegal immigrants. "We need help, we need answers," he said, questioning who would take care of the children whose parents were arrested.

Who takes care of the children of anyone else who's arrested? I'm sorry the kids got caught in it, but if we're not willing to enforce our immigration laws on people with children, then illegal immigrants will, amazingly enough, treat children as a "get out of jail free" card.

Immigration officials last month informed Swift that it would remove unauthorized workers on Dec. 4, but Swift asked a federal judge to prevent agents from conducting the raid, arguing it would cause "substantial and irreparable injury" to its business.

No sympathy whatsoever. Haul those doing the hiring to jail right along with the illegals.



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Senator Wants Universal Health Care Plan



I want a cheap reliable faster than light drive. It appears that Mr. Wyden is doing about as much in a direction that will benefit his objective as I am to achieve mine. His way still amounts to "fiddle at the edges and make corporations pay." Repeat after me: Corporations never pay for anything. Their customers, and their customers customers, do.



Good basic universal health care is very easy to figure out, but politically DOA.

The group, created in 2003 by legislation sponsored by Wyden and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, recommended that the government take steps to guarantee that all Americans have basic health insurance coverage by 2012.

And it gets paid for how? With what revenue? I'd like to see basic universal health in some form, but I keep coming back to that killer issue. It's one of those issues where everybody is trying to make everybody else pay for goodies accruing to them. There are names for this: "Rent seeking behavior" and "Tragedy of the commons," being two of the best known. It sounds callous to talk about money when people are suffering, but improperly done universal health care will not only cost our economy far more than the current state of affairs, but it will cause more human misery as well. When you're ready to make the hard choices that make economic sense, I'll be ready to help. Until then, go bark up some other tree.



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The Fed Hedges, Citing Housing Woes

The Fed began the year with a quarter point hike to 4.5% and followed with three additional hikes before leveling off in June--a cumulative 425 basis point tightening for the cycle in just over two years. All the while, the Fed has maintained its vigil against inflation expectations taking root and, barring a "smoking gun" (like an adverse financial event in the mortgage or auto sectors), the central bank still appeared set against a policy reversal. Yet when the Fed finally took its foot off the rate-hike pedal in August, the pause was viewed by many as a concession to bond-market participants with a more pessimistic view on the economic trajectory.

Any cuts at this point will be "too little, too late." Had they wanted to avert the problems, they wouldn't have gone so low, and would have raised rates slowly and gingerly. But the Fed is always over-reacting to events at least a year after it should have. When they talk about stopping hikes in the overnight funds rate as a "concession" to the bond markets, you know they're acting like bankers, not economists.



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Speaking of "too little, too late": The Baiji Yangtze Dolphin is with all probability extinct.



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Why they got it wrong.



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Anybody want to bet me that "dirty tricks" accusations are flying on the moonbat sites? Sen. Johnson suffers possible stroke



He is a Democrat. The governor of South Dakota, who would appoint any replacement, is Republican. Since a Republican replacement would bring the split to 50/50, Vice President Cheney would hold the deciding vote, and the Republicans retain control. I don't think the American people wold be happy, and it might set the Republicans up for more punishment at the polls.



On the other hand, the stroke does not seem bad from the reports, and "caught very early," among other verbiage, is always an encouraging phrase to hear regarding strokes. If some hypothetical Republican "dirty tricks" squad was responsible, I suspect it wouldn't have been nearly so minor. So even if Senator Johnson is out for a while, my guess at this point is that it's going to be obviously temporary, and Democrats will still control the senate, leaving us stuck with majority leader Harry Reid.

65 Years Today: Survivors Honor Pearl Harbor Victims



Fewer of the survivors are left every year. There will now be people drawing full social security who were not born then. If they were 17 when the attack hit, they are 82 now. Every one of them survived not only Pearl Harbor, but the rest of World War II in military service. It's been said before, but these people did nothing less than save the world.



Thank You All. You're heroes in my book.



The ending of the article is encouraging:

Some Japanese veterans and American survivors have reconciled in the decades since.



Japanese dive bomber pilot Zenji Abe has apologized to American survivors for the sudden attack, ashamed his government failed to deliver a declaration of war in time for the assault.



The Japanese aviators who carried out the attack thought the declaration had already been made by the time they started bombing, Abe has said.

Fearless Philosophy contrasts Pearl Harbor with 9/11 and finds the current generation wanting. I have to agree.



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Yet more evidence for the power of transparency and accountability: China and Taiwan: Two Chens face two systems

Litvinenko's death to be treated as murder



Captain's Quarters has some spot on anlysis.

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Tinkerty Tonk found information that thoroughly debunks the claims of the "flying imams". Basically, they were trying to be noticed, trying to provoke an incident.



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Victor Davis Hanson contrasts the treatment of Haghia Sophia with Al Aqsa



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Truth Laid Bear has the Iraqi study group report. Haven't read much, but from what I can tell by skimming, my only comment is the classical definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.



Sigh. I don't know why I was hoping that those tired old men would recommend anything different than the failed policies that got us into this situation. I knew better.



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Will We Ever Win Another War?



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Via Instapundit, A short course in Brain Surgery



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Why Newt Is Right



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Today would have been my father's 76th birthday. It's been roughly four and a half years, and I miss him just as much as the first day. Take some time to let the important people in your life know they are appreciated.

Just got email notification that the Housing Enterprise Oversight office has decided to keep conforming loan amounts the same for 2007 (I did think last year's jump, from $359,650 to 417,000, was a little large). So the conforming loan limits for 2007 will remain:

units 1 2 3 4

48 state $417,000 $533,850 $645,300 $801,950

AK and HI $625,500 $800,775 $967,950 $1,202,925

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Iranian Weapons Arm Iraqi Militia. They mean terrorists, of course. But they actually reported it this time! This is at least the third such incident in the last year.

Evidence is mounting, too, that the most powerful militia in Iraq, Moktada al-Sadr's Mahdi army, is receiving training support from the Iranian-backed terrorists of Hezbollah.

You don't say. Well, having Democrats coming in to government power certainly makes a difference in the reporting. Already the economy has miraculously improved and now they are admitting that Iran is supporting the terrorists.



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Hezbollah-led rally demands Lebanon govt quit

Hezbollah has been at loggerheads with Siniora's government over what it says was its failure to back the group during the July-August war with Israel.

Gee, ya think? Of course, in any normal world view, the failure would be failing to hunt every last one of them down and put them in prison or expel them from the country, bringing down the wrath of Israel, a much stronger power, by firing rockets from Lebanese soil.

Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, the most prominent anti-Syrian leader, urged supporters to remain calm and avoid street confrontations. He said Hezbollah wanted to install Syrian and Iranian tutelage over the country.



"We will remain steadfast," he told a news conference on Friday. "We will confront (the opposition) calmly. We will remain in our houses and fly the Lebanese flags...We will wait for a month, for two months...and watch them."

Well, it's not tossing them in prison or out of the country. But it's something.



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Despite compromise, Iran sanctions measure elusive

The United States and the European drafters of the document -- Britain, France and Germany -- want the 15-member council to impose sanctions on Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs after it refused to suspend its enrichment activities, as demanded in an August 31 council resolution.



But Russia, backed by China, has chopped off close to half of the original European text.

Anyone who listens to what the Iranians tell their own people knows that the Iranians are attempting to create nuclear weapons. Russia and China are likely to obstruct themselves right into the fallout pattern of nuclear war, if not into becoming the targets of nuclear weaponry themselves.



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Dead spy's wife contaminated with radiation



Meanwhile, Ex-Spy Claims Litvinenko Was Targeted

A former Russian security service officer said he warned a former KGB agent who was fatally poisoned in London about a government-sponsored death squad that intended to kill him and other Kremlin opponents.



In a letter released Friday, the former officer for the Federal Security Service, or FSB, said he refused to cooperate with the team, whose task was to kill Alexander Litvinenko and others.

Anybody have any doubts about whether Russia is back in the Soviet Empire mindset?



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The headline is enough to make anyone cringe: Is this spray can the condom, or the mace? They're working on a spray-on condom.



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Venezuela's Chávez nears a victory fed by free stew

Yet these days, on her walk home up the steep slope of El Valle, one of the poorest neighborhoods in this capital city, she passes a free medical clinic staffed with Cuban doctors, a supermarket that sells discounted rice and tomato sauce, and a state-funded kitchen that prepares and gives out free meat stew and cookies - programs called "missions" that are the cornerstone of President Hugo Chávez's domestic policy.

However, Chávez's latest enemy: beer trucks

On his road to Sunday's presidential election, which pits the former military colonel turned president against Manuel Rosales, a conservative candidate backed mostly by Venezuela's middle and upper class, Mr. Chávez has ordered the National Guard to stop delivery trucks from selling beer in the streets of poor neighborhoods.



Only licensed establishments can sell alcohol legally here.



"It's the degeneration of society," Chávez said in a televised speech in October. "It's one of the causes of public drunkenness in the slums.... No more trucks."

Or is it?

Guy Taylor, an American journalist working in Caracas, says Chávez rallies he has seen were marked by colorful street theater, pro-Chávez rappers, scantily clad women and, of course, plenty of beer.



"It really resembles a carnival," he says. "People start drinking early at the rallies and by the time Chávez shows up, a beer-fueled hysteria has taken hold."

Maybe he just doesn't want the opposition to get any good will and votes from the schtick he uses?



By the way, does this tactic sound familiar to anyone?



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Towering Ancient Tsunami Devastated the Mediterranean

To create their computer simulation, researchers at the National Institute of Geology and Volcanology in Italy used sonar-equipped boats to survey seafloor sediment displaced by the Mt. Etna avalanche.



Their recreation suggests the tsunami's waves reached heights of up to 130 feet and maximum speeds of up to 450 mph, making it more powerful than the Indonesian tsunami that killed more than 180,000 people in 2004.

The world is a dangerous place.



Startling Discovery: The First Human Ritual



Older than bad-mouthing the opposition?



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Hard landing fears hit dollar



This has been a long time coming. We've been so certain that foreigners were going to keep propping up our currency.



Of course, this has some good side effects. Not only are foreign goods more expensive here, our goods will become cheaper overseas. The best news manufacturing has had in a long time.



Of course, 1% isn't the end of the world or the dawning of a shining new ear for US manufacturing, either.



Thank foreign investors

Look who owns U.S. debt now



Supposedly, these are opposing viewpoints. But they're painting the same basic picture.



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I've been pretty ill all week, but I'm starting to hope that the anti-biotics have finally started to get some traction.