Zee Links and Minifeatures: March 2007 Archives

Carnival of Credit Report Stories

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A 9/13 Republican explains how Liberals think



"Rejecting rational thought as a hate crime"



Wow. It's 50 minutes long. And worth every second 100 times over.



I've been thinking about it for a couple hours now, and I have not yet found a contradiction between this and observed fact. I'd like to. If this man's theory is correct, the remedy for the problem is far more difficult than anything previously considered. As long as you have a rational being on the other side of the discussion, as I have long assumed, you have the elements for finding a solution fairly easily. If he is correct, dealing with this problem will take at least a century.



If you can offer something that better explains it, please do. But the alternative explanation will have to withstand examination by evidence at least as well as this one.



Every once in a while, someone has a critical insight which changes the way in which we view the world, and in hindsight, it then becomes so obvious the one thing we cannot understand is how we didn't figure it out earlier. This could be one of them. You can watch the evidence accumulate. You can watch him assembling the elements which led to his realization. And after you have done so, you want to hit your head against the wall for not seeing it earlier.



I don't know that he's right. It takes a lot longer to examine big ticket intellectual items like this. But the correct response is not to reject it out of hand, by demonization, by satire, or just with biting sarcasm. The correct response is to take this conjecture out of its plastic wrapping with an audience that was more than a little predisposed to believe it, and test it with evidence. Does it assist in predicting the results in the real world, or does it hinder? Are there alternative less complex explanations? If this conjecture becomes broken in prolonged contact with the real world, then it is not a useful hypothesis, and should be disregarded. And if, like Darwin's Theory or General Relativity, we do go for an extended period of time without contradiction, then we must consider the likelihood that this is a true statement, no matter how much we would wish otherwise.



Good theories are the ones that don't fail to describe or predict the world after a large number of tests. It's impossible to prove them true, which is why Evolution and General Relativity remain theories more than a century after their first publications, despite millions of tests. A trillion experiments cannot prove them right - but one can prove them wrong, and when you get to the point where enough people have tried proving this one wrong and failed, then and only then does the hypothesis begin attaining a certain degree of credibility.



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There will be a new article tomorrow. This has been one of those weeks. If I hadn't had to wait around for somebody to do something, I would never have had the time to watch that video above.



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I am a member of the human race and a citizen of the United States. It is not acceptable to consider only short term benefit to myself. It is necessary to consider the effects my actions will have upon the country and the world when my children and their children are grown. It is not acceptable to compromise with evil or those who would destroy our civilization. It is necessary to win the incremental victories, for civilizations can fall quickly, but advance only slowly in the most important ways. I may be mistaken, but I will not lie to myself or others, or allow lies and falsehoods to remain unchallenged. Even if I am ignored, I will not remain silent in the face of lies, injustice, or evil. I will not allow myself to be intimidated. Free open debate where all ideas are heard and fully examined and judged upon their merits and disadvantages is the keystone of freedom, but even freedom has its base in the ability and willingness to use force in its own defense. Differing opinions are necessary, but a free society and its members must be able to act even in the face of dissent.

Carnival of Personal Finance



Carnival of Real Estate

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Finally saw 300. From a historical perspective, lots of flaws. However, that's all dross. They got the biggest things not only dead right, but in a way that shows their relevance to today. Wonderful movie, and I give it my highest recommendation. Very gory - I wouldn't take children under about 13, even with parental supervision, but this movie highlights one of the founding legends of Western Civilization. I said legends, but it really happened. If it didn't happen in precisely the way the movie pictured, the movie got all of the most important things right.



How in the world did it get green-lighted by a major Hollywood studio?



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I am a member of the human race and a citizen of the United States. It is not acceptable to consider only short term benefit to myself. It is necessary to consider the effects my actions will have upon the country and the world when my children and their children are grown. It is not acceptable to compromise with evil or those who would destroy our civilization. It is necessary to win the incremental victories, for civilizations can fall quickly, but advance only slowly in the most important ways. I may be mistaken, but I will not lie to myself or others, or allow lies and falsehoods to remain unchallenged. Even if I am ignored, I will not remain silent in the face of lies, injustice, or evil. I will not allow myself to be intimidated. Free open debate where all ideas are heard and fully examined and judged upon their merits and disadvantages is the keystone of freedom, but even freedom has its base in the ability and willingness to use force in its own defense. Differing opinions are necessary, but a free society and its members must be able to act even in the face of dissent.

Congratulations, Democrats! You've just accepted responsibility for defeat.

Ignoring a White House veto threat, lawmakers voted 218-212, mostly along party lines, for a binding war spending bill requiring that combat operations cease before September 2008, or earlier if the Iraqi government does not meet certain requirements. Democrats said it was time to heed the mandate of their election sweep last November, which gave them control of Congress.

Now when are they going to leave Disneyland? Seems like they've been there since at least 1994.



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Anybody want to guess how soon this falls into the memory hole? Census Overstated Number of Uninsured



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15 British sailors seized by Iran

An Iranian naval patrol seized 15 British marines and sailors who had boarded a vessel suspected of smuggling cars off the coast of Iraq, military officials said.

This is one of the ways they send messages that they're not willing to give in, in this case to nuclear sanctions, as well as huffing up public support because they could capture 15 cut-off British sailors. As the article says, they've done this before, parading the captives on Iranian TV. Can you imagine the outrage that would occur if, say, the Guantanamo prisoners were paraded on American TV like that?



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Leong a long shot for top Hong Kong post



Actually, as the article says, he doesn't have a prayer of winning, even if his opponent were to fall over dead. But he has forced a public debate and questioned the government of China in public, two necessary developments.



You don't win political victories by refusing to participate. You win them one step at a time, by showing those in power that you have the power to change things, to remove them from power, then to elect yourself to power. Compromise and incrementalism are necessary parts of the game. I'd be much happier if libertarians in the US understood this half as well as this man in a place that has never known democracy.



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Tick tick tick. Dems Kill Effort to Cut Taxes on Estates



I wonder if the dems realize these are their own big donors they're hurting? Of course, estate tax is essentially a voluntary tax on denial, but there will be effects if we get to the 2011 sunset of the current legislation with no replacement.



I'd rather see AMT indexed to inflation, but I'll take what I can get.



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Home sales rise unexpectedly in Feb.



What did I tell you?



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Sometimes, the little things make a difference. Here's an email I got today with identifying details redacted

Whoever it is that responded to negatively about your website is a fool who can't stand to hear the truth. These are the same people who cover their ears and yell, "I can't hear you la la la lalalalalala" when you quote them a 30 year fixed rate -- and then run for the interest only loan.



I can understand why they can't hear the truth...things are ridiculous in RE in all parts of the country. My little two bedroom condo in the DELETED area is costing me over 4 times my yearly salary! I know that's ridiculous, but that's how it is now when you get a 30 year fixed and you're buying a home when you're single.



Quite simply, I don't think I would have been able to buy my first home with such clear convictions if I didn't find your website. Everything I needed the answer to was found in one of your articles. Every insider detail I was wondering about was made clear by your perspective. And for that, I am thankful.



So to those people who are signing up to be another foreclosure statistic in 4 years because they didn't read your site...I say, "thanks, and tell me when your home is up for auction."

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This is going to be on the bottom of all Links and Minifeatures posts from now on, unless and until I find something better.



I am a member of the human race and a citizen of the United States. It is not acceptable to consider only short term benefit to myself. It is necessary to consider the effects my actions will have upon the country and the world when my children and their children are grown. It is not acceptable to compromise with evil or those who would destroy our civilization. It is necessary to win the incremental victories, for civilizations can fall quickly, but advance only slowly in the most important ways. I may be mistaken, but I will not lie to myself or others, or allow lies and falsehoods to remain unchallenged. Even if I am ignored, I will not remain silent in the face of lies, injustice, or evil. I will not allow myself to be intimidated. Free open debate where all ideas are heard and fully examined and judged upon their merits and disadvantages is the keystone of freedom, but even freedom has its base in the ability and willingness to use force in its own defense. Differing opinions are necessary, but a free society and its members must be able to act even in the face of dissent.

Carnival of Consumer Oriented Real Estate Recommended: Silicon Valley Real Estate (selling strategies)

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Blacks suffer most in U.S. foreclosure surge. Actually, I found a couple other things in the article more telling:

The predatory lenders reach out to those who don't really know, people with a lack of education," said Cassandra Hedges, a black 37-year-old mother of two fighting to stave off foreclosure of the Ohio home she bought three years ago.



"One of the first things my broker asked me was 'How do you know you are ready to buy a house. Have you done any research?' We said 'No'. At that point I think he realized 'Okay I got some people that don't know what the heck they are doing'."

and

Many traditional banks do not run branches in poor minority neighborhoods, creating a vacuum often filled by predatory lenders and unscrupulous brokers, said Stephen Ross, a University of Connecticut economist who studies lending.



When the property market was strong, those brokers could tell borrowers that rising prices meant they could easily remortgage their properties to keep up with payments. But since the market peaked in 2005, millions are struggling to repay those loans. This year, some 1.5 million homeowners will face foreclosure, research firm RealtyTrac estimates.

I am not trying to refute the article's theme that race played a role. What I'm trying to show is how shoddy practices were a necessary component - and you can easily protect yourself against shoddy practices, if you will only try. It's like yanking the pillars out from under the Temple of Shady Real Estate.



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Name this song and the artist:



Spring is here

Spring is here

Life is Skittles

Life is Beer

But I think Spring is the loveliest time of the year, don't you?



Yes I am twisted. Thank you.

Carnival of Debt Reduction



RINO Sightings Recommended: Don Surber (Exactly how ridiculous Congressman Waxman's Plame hearings are. Read the comments too.), Armies of Liberation (Nepotism, civil war, and religious fanaticism in Yemen)

Consumer Oriented Carnival of Real Estate

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Well, it's not as exciting as repairing an X-Wing in the middle of battle, but the future prospects are a lot more secure: `Star Wars' droid R2-D2 to collect mail



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Want to know an undeniable sign that we are a nation in decline? Benefits for seniors eating up kids' share

As a share of the nation's economy, spending on kids would go from 2.6% to 2.1%. By contrast, spending for adults only in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- the major programs that benefit seniors -- would rise from 7.6% to 9.5% of the economy.

If you don't understand what is wrong with this picture, please go take an introductory economics course.



Dear AARP: I turn 50 in the not too distant future. Save your postage. I am not joining. As I've been watching The Dresden Files on Sunday nights (Check it out if you haven't), there have been a couple of astoundingly dishonest advocacy commercials from you. I realize that you're an advocacy group, but there are limits. Even if it's me you're working on behalf of, I want no part of it.



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Study links sense of humor, survival



Brings a whole new meaning to the joke about "How many feminists does it take to change a light bulb?"



(If you've never heard it, the answer is, "That's NOT funny")



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Sorry, but that's all I've got time for right now. I'm so out of touch with what everybody's written recently that it's not funny. Unfortunately, I'm still in frantic mode, although for mostly good reasons.



On the comments front, the ratio of "real" comments to spam is about 1:4. I'm going to give it a little while longer to improve, but if it stays where it is, I'm going to terminate the experiment of allowing those without comment accounts to leave comments. Of course, once that happens, I'll switch back to comments appearing immediately. If it improves to something approximating 1:1, I'll keep the experiment.

Carnival of The Capitalists



Carnival of Personal Finance



Carnival of Real Estate

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As I went over a few days ago, I'm in CONDITION: FRANTIC due to jury duty spilling over.



To those agents who are upset because of yesterday's article (here): I do not write this site for agents. I write it for consumers, from their point of view, showing them how to get the best possible bargain. The facts are the facts, and if they offend you because you'll have to work a little harder or make a little less money from someone who reads my articles, well, that is precisely why I write them. I don't hate agents. But this is a consumer oriented site, and my articles will always take the point of view of what is best for the consumer. If you've got reasons that outweigh mine, from the consumer's point of view, I freely acknowledge that I am human and subject to making mistakes. But getting angry at me because you would rather I kept quiet on certain subjects is a waste of your time.



UPDATE: I neglected to mention that I'm finishing up a companion piece on How to Effectively Shop for a Real Estate Loan, tentatively set for Sunday the 18th, and I'm planning one on How to Choose A Listing Agent which I'm hoping to publish on Sunday the 25th. So if you were upset yesterday, plan on having a lot more to be upset about.

The feeling I have is that something is going on at my daughter's school. She doesn't want to go. She won't talk to me or her mother as to why. So I asked the school secretary to have someone call me as soon as reasonable. Hilda's going so far as to fake illness. Which would be a lot harder to detect if a certain not-quite-seven year old had come to the realization that Parent Cam™ is always on.



She'll figure it out, I'm certain. But not many seven year olds have had that particular revelation. Which is why I want to get not only this, but the issues behind it, dealt with before she's Ferris Buehler's age.



In other words, I'm well aware that she's going to get better at this unless we take steps now.

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Appeals court overturns D.C. gun ban



Dang. There goes Post Office Headquarters.



As if the fact they were breaking the law on a gun count as well as murder, assault with a deadly weapon, assault, etcetera, ever stopped any of the disgruntled ex-postal employees that made that joke fashionable. Besides, it's still illegal to bring a gun into federal government buildings. How many folks do you suppose that actually stops? "I was going to commit mass murder and mass assault, but I better not because I'd be breaking the law that says I can't carry a weapon." The only difference is now there's a possibility that one of those law abiding citizens can return fire if they deem it necessary and beneficial.



Joking aside, this is fantastic news for the law abiding citizens of Washington DC.



And the straining at flies and swallowing camels award goes to:

Judge Karen Henderson dissented, writing that the Second Amendment does not apply to the District of Columbia because it is not a state.

Technically correct, but if the Second Amendment doesn't apply to DC, and the Fourteenth Amendment doesn't apply because it isn't a state, it's going to be kind of hard finding a part of the constitution that does apply.



As an ex-cop who was booted out of the LAPD turns to one who was booted off the Philadelphia force and says, "Let's fly out to DC and violate someone's civil rights. It's cool, man! They can't touch us because the DC Court of Appeals just ruled they don't apply in DC! Maybe we'll get lucky and see Rodney King!"



Okay, reductio ad absurdem moment over. The court didn't rule that way, as she was a dissenting opinion. But my observation that if the fourteenth amendment doesn't apply to DC, neither would a lot of the stuff granting civil rights many folks take for granted. I strongly doubt that was the intent of the framers or authors of later amendments and laws.



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How many articles have you read recently questioning Hillary or Obama? But this sort of thing happens when you're the Republican front-runner. Never too early to bring down the Republican front-runner. New York wonders as Giuliani gains support



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Proposition: The media makes money off of perceptions of extremity. Things are rarely as bad as the media portray them, and rarely as good. Case in point: Home prices: Don't expect quick rebound

Wow. Just wow. Kevin Aylward of Wizbang! has pursued a precise definition of exactly what C-Span's policy is and will be in regard to its content. He won a very important liberalizing (in the enforcement sense) victory, as detailed in his post detailing the issues and the resolution.



Let all citizens stand and give Kevin a hearty "well done." Doesn't matter if you're left wing, right wing, or somewhere in the mushy middle. Kevin has won a victory for all of us.

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I've started getting referral hits from craig's list in other cities. It seems other folks are using my articles as references to help people understand aspects of the transaction. The plus side is that this is good publicity, not that there is much bad publicity. The minus side is that my income from advertising and donations doesn't pay for the expenses of the site, and this is likely to unbalance it further by increasing my bandwidth bill. Must think about this.



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Observations on Jury Duty



(not guaranteed to be original, or even of merit)



I basically go to downtown San Diego for one reason: Jury duty. I've been called seven times in the nine years since I left government employment, while only twice in the thirteen years before that. One would think that statistically, the government is avoiding calling calling folks they have to pay the salary of. Or, to put it another way, if you want to avoid jury service, work for the government.



Bluetooth has led to a dramatic difference in the dress of the people who wander around talking to voices that only they hear.



Jury service seems designed to force you to sit around without getting productive work done. When they're asking for eveyone's attention on the PA every two minutes and reading a list of three names, your train of thought is always getting interrupted. No biggie if all I'm doing is straight line deduction and awareness. But creative work requires my full attention. Can't they just read all the names of all the people who didn't fill out their jury service form perfectly all at once?



Voir dire needs to be fixed. The number of preemptory challenges the lawyers get is way too many. The jurors are supposed to represent the community, and pre-emptory challenges frustrate that. The lawyers can exclude anyone for any good reason, they only have to get the judge to agree. But given eight or ten pre-emptory challenges, it's not hard to see how they might use them to systematically exclude jurors whose profile might cause them to believe their sympathies ride with the other side. Well, hello! These people are nonetheless members of the community, and should be on juries. Reduce the number of pre-emptory challenges to one per side. Until and unless that's done, of course, the silver lining is that I'll never get picked for a jury. I don't have to lie, shade the truth, or do anything except what I do here, which is tell the truth as I see it. Like clockwork, one lawyer or the other will excuse me as soon as they have the opportunity. I'll bet I can spot the winning case by which lawyer isn't excusing the people with even a portion of a clue.



I'm in voir dire limbo, or even purgatory. Called for a panel at 2pm, it was 3:20 by the time they admitted us to the courtroom and started the process, and this judge either has political aspirations, or is in love with the sound of his own voice. Talk talk talk, and it could be said in a fraction of the number of words. After a little over an hour of this, the one thing I have made up my mind on is that I despise this judge who frivolously has wasted our time with his talking, even though I'd probably like him if we met at a party. But he isn't holding me a captive of the state at a party, and I also strongly suspect oral diarrhea was at least a contributing factor to the inefficiency of the courtroom in getting started. I'm not going to say anything about the case or even whether it's civil or criminal, but there is zero chance of me getting empaneled here. Certain of the questions they have asked indicate that in this particular instance and for at least one of the issues, I have a strong disposition to favor one side. However, they only want the top twenty four jurors to answer at this point in time, and I'm not that high on the list. If the judge hadn't talked the hind end off a donkey, we would likely have gotten far enough in the process to excuse me. The upshot is, I've got to waste at least half the day Monday (not Friday), always a hectic day anyway, coming back only to be told, "You're excused." Nor is there any give in my schedule Monday. I can't just work later. So a lot of stuff that needs to get done on Monday is going to spill over and be late on Tuesday, all because this judge has a recto-cranial inversion. If he didn't, I'd be done with jury service now. As would, I suspect, several others.



I did manage to make a Monty Python joke, sotto voce. At one point another court person interrupted to come in and have the judge a slip of paper. He had by this time said, "I don't know" or "we don't know" enough times to start a drinking game based upon that, if we were able and so inclined. So when he was handed the slip of paper, I asked, just loudly enough to be heard by my neighbors, "What is the terminal velocity of an unladen swallow?" My neighbor on the left had trouble containing himself. "African swallow or european swallow?" would have been better, I admit, but I got my point across.

Anything sound familiar about this article?

Homeowners stuck as lenders cinch standards

"There's a very delicate and difficult balance between getting as many people into houses as you can," Syron says, "and at the same time putting people into houses they can't keep unless home prices are appreciating or interest rates are very low." Hanging in that balance: nearly 400,000 homeowners with subprime ARMs who, like Booker in Chicago, have already missed at least one loan payment and have a lot fewer options now.

June 23, 2005 - July 20, 2005 - September 1, 2005 - October 5, 2005 - November 7, 2005 - December 9, 2005 - December 13,2005 - January 5, 2006 - February 16, 2006 - March 18, 2006 - March 31, 2006 - May 4, 2006 - June 7, 2006 - June 18, 2006 - August 10, 2006 - November 27, 2006 - December 16, 2006



Why are these reporters always showing up to the party only after bodies start piling up? If they had said something earlier, they could have stopped at least a percentage of the ongoing damage.



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March Madness at FMF



Round 2, contests 21-24



My Selections

23: Dave Ramsey is Bad at Math



Round 2, contests 25-28



My votes:

25: Financial Security

27: Buyers Who Don't Want A Buyer's Agent (never too proud to vote for myself)

28: Ten Ways Anyone Can Go to College With Zero Student Loans



Round 2, Posts 29-32



my votes:

30: Ask for a Pay Raise Discussion Instead of Demanding a Raise

32: Does your credit score matter?



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This story about a former Marine was on top of Yahoo! news: Duty, honor and curveballs



Good to the Padres for bringing him to camp. Good publicity in a city with a large military presence, yes. But giving him the opportunity he's earned, despite his injuries, is the right thing to do for all sorts of reasons. I don't care about professional sports games. But when someone does something this right, it needs to be acknowledged.



Here's hoping he's their first 20 game winner.



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National Review's Jonah Goldberg in USA Today on Democratic problems relating to national security.



There is no substitute for Victory. I will support anyone who walks the walk correctly in the War on Terror. And I do mean anyone, especially when their opponent does not. I don't like being a one issue voter, but this issue is that important to the future of all of us. If you don't think the issue is that important, you need to do more research.

Carnival of Debt Reduction



Carnival of Personal Finance Recommended Ask Mr. Credit Card (0% deals work best for those who don't need them), Real Estate is a business



Carnival of Real Estate (Cool! My second CORE win!) Recommended: Home Inspection Basics, Scents That Keep Your House From Selling Faster



Carnival of the Capitalists Recommended: What's Worse, the AMT or a Recession?, Insureblog (profit motive in insurance coverage)

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More March Madness over at FMF



Round 2 Contests 17-20



My choices:

18: The High Cost of Waiting To Buy A Home

19: It Is Amazing What Some People Will Insure While Ignoring Their Most Important Asset

20: Teaching Kids the Value of a Dollar



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Environmental Republican found a National Geographic Report that may cause a few thousand religious heads to explode.



Anchoress has much more.



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Just to make it clear, Ann Coulter is nobody worth paying attention to, in my opinion. I've said this before. In fact, I don't understand why people continue to pay attention to her. The only motivation I can maybe understand is leftists who want to use her to tar other folks who have reached similar conclusions by different means with guilt by association. Only the universe knows why anyone not left of center pays attention to her. Why is she even invited to things like CPAC? If she wants to show up and pay whatever the admission fee, fine. But don't let her on stage anywhere.



Maybe someday she'll say something worth paying attention to. I'm not holding my breath, and if it ever does happen, she will have severely undermined its credibility by her continuing antics. She'd have to get someone more reasonable and credible, like the Flat Earth Society or Institute for Creation Research, to sponsor her results.



(note to the clue challenged: I consider both of the above organizations to be severely credibility impaired, to say the least)

More March Madness over at FMF



Round 2, contests 9-12

My Votes:

9: Avoid 10 Common Debt Reduction Mistakes

11: Why Aren't We All Wealthy (Yet) ?

12: Liberal arts to law school?



Round 2 Contests 13-16



My votes

13: 12 Mistakes to Avoid With Your Retirement Savings Plan

14: Solving Customer Service Problems

15: Why Dave Ramsey's "Drive Free" Theory May Be Flawed

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I think I'm going to wander over to Con-Dor for the rest of the day.

Free Money Finance's March Madness Continues:



Contests 49-56



My votes

51: Sharp Minds Love the Sharpe Ratio

54: Buyers Who Don't Want A Buyer's Agent

55: Ten Ways Anyone Can Go to College With Zero Student Loans



Contests 57-64



My votes

59: Never Choose A Loan (or a House) Based Upon Payment

61: How to enjoy baseball games cheaply

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Gateway Pundit comparing troop casualty rates now with during the Clinton years.



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Below the Beltway has found a website to see if your favorite website is banned in China. Here it is: greatfirewallofchina.org



And I'm not banned. Yet. I think I'll make that one of my goals.



Oooh. And I've just thought of a way (other than mentioning the fact the Mao Tse-Tung killed at least six times as many people as Hitler, and at least twice Stalin's total, making him easily the all time genocide "champion"). If you've got a (non-pornographic) website that is banned, let me know. I'll link you. I may even siteroll you. I've decided to come up with a new siteroll category: Banned by paranoid repressive governments.



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Coyote Blog on jury nullification.



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This reads like something out of The Mouse That Roared:

Swiss Accidentally Invade Liechtenstein



While we're having fun, remember the old joke about "In Arkansas, if you get a divorce, is she still your sister?" Well, here's an actually happened - in Ohio Sex with adult stepdaughter still incest.



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Don Surber on Al Gore vs. manbearpig Al Gore.

One more reason why I think this year may surprise a lot of people: this site's visits skyrocketed in February, setting a new monthly record of 138,905 visits. In a 28 day month when real estate is usually dead. Given the nature of my traffic - a large percentage of my visits being search engine hits - this indicates an unusual level of interest in my most common topics.

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Michael Barone on China and India.



I'm of the opinion that India will be the next world superpower. China is likely headed for civil war. The increasing prosperity can only counterbalance repression so long, and when it reaches a certain point, it will become inevitable. Modern society is all about communication, and China's current regime cannot withstand that communication. China's current regime is riding the dragon - their choices are to put on the economic brakes and have the revolt now, or to keep the engine revving and feed the beast that will eventually devour them. Due to the regime's unpopular one child law, younger men outnumber younger women by something approximating 3 to 2. That's a lot of angry young men with no family life, and a very convenient target. They may come out of it stronger in the end, as the United States did from ours, but the civil war is going to set them back quite a ways.



(The only thing that could prevent a Chinese Revolution would be if the regime peaceably abdicated. Not likely)



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This is just too rich: Hans Blix says the West is humiliating Iran.



Methinks this betrays some deep-seated prejudices:

''This is in a way like telling a child, first you will behave and thereafter you will be given your rewards,'' Blix said. ''And this, I think, is humiliating. The Iranians have resisted all the time saying, no, we are willing to talk, we are willing to talk about the suspension of enrichment, but we are not for suspension before the talks.''

Iran is not a child. Not in any sense of the term. They are adults. Felonius adults, but adults, and thinking of them as children is a good way to let yourself in for a series of nuclear attacks. But hey, it's all in good clean fun, right?



The Corner just about sums up talking with Iran.



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VDH's Private Papers notes some history, and lack of foresight.



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I try to keep personalities out of my arguments. In this case, however, it needs to be aired: Patterico notes a truly stunning level of hypocrisy from the leftist master of sock puppets. It really is all about power, and never mind the facts. (via LGF.)



(And I'll leave the "hateful comments" from anonymous right wing-nuts in as useful contrast)



Same topic, different tune: Hot Air and Joy Behar.



While we're at it, Gateway Pundit on the incidence of profanity in left versus right.



And of course, Wizbang on Hillary's doublethink, "I want the credit for the good things my husband did. But don't even think about dinging me for all the screw-ups and scandals." Like, say, the White House Travel Office?



If you can't cite the apparently unending chain of disasters he created, even Jimmy Carter looks like a good President. Of course, examining George Bush by those same standards makes him look like he ranks right up there with George Washington, which is not the case, either. Mr. Bush has risen admirably and under great domestic political adversity to the great challenge of our time, but he's certainly had more than his share of mistakes. On the other hand, history tends to view presidents on how they handled their largest challenge, and I suspect history will be kinder to him than most of his current detractors think. For instance, President Lincoln's civil rights record was excrement, but not many people realize that when looking at the Lincoln Memorial.



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Iowahawk on becoming eco-friendly.



Captain's Quarters upon the sale of ecological indulgences.



Wizbang has more food for thought and comparison.



But it's Classical Values that delivers the thoughtful, logical, and most thoroughly devastating blow.



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Free Money Finance's March Madness continues



Contests 33-40

My choices

33: How Discounting the Value of Your Home Could Keep You Out of Financial Trouble

35: I have a post in the game. I can vote for myself.

37: Introducing the 401(kid)

38: It Is Amazing What Some People Will Insure While Ignoring Their Most Important Asset

39: Teaching Kids the Value of a Dollar (the other post took a lot more work and thought, but this one focuses on something more important)



Contests 41-48

my choices:

43:T-Bill Investment Rate: Is it APR or APY? And What Is Your Taxable Equivalent Yield?

45: Tax Planning

46: Dave Ramsey is Bad at Math



And he's starting Round 2 with the already decided contests from Tuesday.



Round 2, Contests 1-4

My Votes:

1: The Only Free Lunch in Finance - Diversification

2: Getting Rid Of Your Debt Without Worrying About The Latte Factor

4: Tips for Having a Successful Budget

Round 2 Contests 5-8

My votes:

5: Make Multiple Debt Payments Every Month

6: Understanding Your Financial Fortress

8: My post on Why There Is Money in Fixer Properties faces some tough competition. I like mine better, but have to state that I would vote for the competing post to beat anything else in the bracket.



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Armies of Liberation has the statement of a website blocked by Yemeni censors.



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neo-neocon: Strategies for children (Part II): killing them