Zee Links and Minifeatures: May 2008 Archives

Mice Vote to Bell Cat

The United States and other leading cluster bomb makers - Russia, China, Israel, India and Pakistan - boycotted the talks, emphasized they would not sign the treaty and publicly shrugged off its value. All defended the overriding military value of cluster bombs, which carpet a battlefield with dozens to hundreds of explosions.

It'll work as well as it always does

Pope Innocent Banned the Crossbow in 1139. They were nonetheless used for about another 500 years, until firearms technology replaced it.

People will decide that their circumstances are special enough to warrant use. This includes the signatories to the treaty banning them. That's basically a constant of the history of warfare.

Poetic Justice: It appears that the Democrats are about to nominate someone who won the nomination by being what gamers call a "rules lawyer": Obama used party rules to foil Clinton

Clinton hinged her whole campaign on an early knockout blow on Super Tuesday, while Obama's staff researched congressional districts in states with primaries that were months away. What they found were opportunities to win delegates, even in states they would eventually lose.

Obama's campaign mastered some of the most arcane rules in politics, and then used them to foil a front-runner who seemed to have every advantage

Here's the thing about rules lawyers: They're weak players. In a presidential campaign, even with the media in the tank for him, expect this to be a very long summer and fall for the Democratic nominee.

I've been doing my best to ignore Scott McClellan ("full of sound and fury, signifying nothing" came to mind when the news about his book broke). Since ignoring him doesn't seem to be enough with the shot in the arm he's given to the BDS sufferers, I'll just say I'm with Bob Dole on this one. If it was as bad as he claims, a man with any integrity would have quit and blown the whistle. He didn't.

In fact, Little Green Footballs follows the money trail right to hard left financier George Soros.

Powerline covers the how and historical precedent.

Tired of high gas and energy prices? It isn't the oil companies. It's high demand and low supply.

Given the expanding economies of the formerly third world, demand is going to keep going up no matter what some individuals or groups conserve. The only way to lower prices is to increase supply, which means tap new sources and alternatives energy technologies.

via Don Surber, I discover a petition to allow more oil drilling.

Below the Beltway is sounding kind of like William F. Buckley: You Can't Believe In Limited Government And Want Barack Obama In The White House

Hate Lobbyists? Willisms has some interesting numbers in who the largest lobbying organizations are and how they donate.

"Change you'll have to pay for", the basics of the free trade versus protectionism debate.

I pretty much agree with Gregg Swan on the much overhyped NAR/DOJ settlement. I have some disagreements on peripheral issues, but not on the main issue of the agreement itself: That it's nothing more than a meaningless cosmetic settlement to make gullible folks believe that the government is helping them while allowing them to continue to be fleeced. I was going to write something on this, but Gregg beat me to it. Now I get to be lazy and tell you all to read his article.

Carnival of Personal Finance

Carnival of Real Estate

Long, but every word is worth reading: Beneath the Hope from Victor Davis Hanson.

Hot Air: Did Democrats argue that Congress can hide legislation from the President?

If they can hide the text of the bill from the President, who can they not hide it from?

And the implications of this behavior stop where? Certainly not within the bounds of the Constitution.

What Kind of Justice Would President Obama Mete Out?

This is worrisome, especially as the Congress has declined to so much as vote on hundreds of President Bush's judicial nominations. Many have been unfilled since 2002, thanks to the virtual filibuster. It would give President Obama the opportunity to stack the courts in such a manner as has been denied Presidents since the founding of the republic. The biggest check upon the appointees of any one philosophy as evidenced by a particular president's preferences, has always been the existence of prior judiciary appointments. If Obama was allowed to fill all of Bush's vacancies (blocked from confirmation for up to six years), plus the ones naturally occurring during his own term, this would allow him more control over the federal judiciary than any president has had since at least FDR's three terms plus, and given the lifetime nature of service being extended as it has been in recent years, more power to remake the courts than any president since Lincoln at least, and probably than any president since Washington in practice, and for a longer time. George Washington included his political opposition in his cabinet, and not just milksop posts like Transportation, which we didn't have then, and he appointed judges from the other side as well. Obama has said he's not going to do that, as well as that he intends to appoint unabashed judicial activists. Given the number of vacancies he will fill, I think it's far more important than normal that someone who at least wants to appoint judges with the mind set of an umpire, like Chief Justice John Roberts. Unfortunately, Obama voted against Justice Roberts' conformation. That's not a good portent for the kinds of judges he would likely appoint.

Gateway Pundit on a real difference between Obama and McCain. Those who are against Iraq keep harping on what it's cost us in international relations. They may have a point, but what it has and will cost us in international relations, even in a worst case scenario, isn't one percent of what leaving the job undone will cost us in the same field.

Given that one of the two men will be President next January 20th, I'd rather it was the man who understands that.

On the other hand, I'm reading loads of gibberish about Obama confusing the meanings of Veterans Day and Memorial Day. They have a point when you think about it, but it's just a non-starter politically and practically. When we get the federal budget fixed, when we get the corruption weeded out of our political system and the all of the other real ongoing structural issues dealt with, then I might have the energy to stress about a candidate who's unclear about the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day. This issue is nothing more than a (politically) unimportant distraction that could well backfire.

Volokh Conspiracy on California's Proposition 98 and 99.

Rent Control is a very bad thing economically, no matter how popular it is. As far as I'm concerned, it's another reason to vote for Proposition 98.

The Federalist Society Online Debate Series: Subprime Lending & Financial Services Reform

My most central take on the matter is here.

Hot Air on Entitlement liabilities cost over $500K per household

Sen. Edward Kennedy has cancerous brain tumor

I have to admit my failure. Several really vicious pieces of humor went through my mind when I read that headline. No, I'm not going to repeat any of them, and yes, I am ashamed that I'm not a better person. Let's just say I'm nowhere near morally and ethically perfect. I'm certain those thoughts added significantly to any time in Purgatory or Limbo that I might have coming eventually.

Nonetheless, brain tumors are something I wouldn't wish on the worst enemy of civilization, and the sum total of everything he's even been accused of doesn't put him into that category. The doctors say it's not curable, and only sometimes treatable. The odds are against him, but here's hoping he beats them and achieves whatever the best that can be hoped for is. Let's not be haters. Here's hoping you have many good years left, Senator Kennedy.

DJ Drummond said it best: Any victory over cancer is both noble and good. I'm not going to take back anything I ever said or wrote about him - they were considered, and I was and am prepared to defend any of it based upon the facts. But I'm not going to say evil things about anyone with brain cancer. This is called self-censorship. Unlike government censorship, there needs to be more of it in the world.

Q and O has a list of questions I'd like to see the oil companies ask Congress.

My favorite:

For those of you who have voted to restrict American energy supplies, especially during periods of increased demand, how are your actions any different than those that you have frequently ascribed to OPEC?

Probably the most telling:

As the gap between supply and demand expands, oil prices increase, and oil company profits rise. What's the best way for oil company executives to send the entire U.S. Congress a "thank you" note for keeping energy supplies down and corporate profits up?

It does end up with a cheap shot, but considering the behavior of Congress, I can't say the cheap shot is in any way unearned on their part.

I'm probably going to have reprinted articles through Memorial Day, with new articles starting again on Tuesday. I may do things other than professional articles, if the mood takes me. This is probably going to be more consistent through November. Feel free to chime in with opposing points of view when I do it, so long as kept within standing comment rules. There's no point in having comments if only my own viewpoint is permitted!

Carnival of Real Estate

Carnival of Personal Finance

San Diego Special Edition

Fannie Mae scraps higher downpayment requirements

The government-sponsored mortgage finance company said Friday it will require minimum down payments of between 3 percent and 5 percent for all loans that it guarantees. That replaces a December policy that required a higher minimum if the loan was for a home in a zip code with declining real estate prices.

This was a comparatively minor factor, as the problems aren't primarily with Fannie and Freddie but rather individual lender policy, but is still good news.

The Myth of the RINO (and DINO).

Note how the voting records of the three remaining candidates sit during all of the polarizing movement.

(Personally, I think John McCain is the closest thing to a conservative candidate that the Republicans will have nominated since Ronald Reagan, but considering the predecessors - Dole and the two Bushes - that hardly makes him a right winger. Obama, on the other hand, has the most left-wing record in the US Senate)

Our current president gets one right: Bush says he won't back bill that bails out lenders

"Laws shouldn't bail out lenders," Bush said after getting an economic update from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. "Laws shouldn't help speculators. The government ought to be helping creditworthy people stay in their homes."

President Bush been a disaster for the federal budget (a major reason I do not consider him anything like a conservative), but it's good to know there are some limits as to how far he will go.

Volokh Conspiracy on why we here in California need to vote against Proposition 99.

The great danger posed by Proposition 99 is that nonexpert voters will understandably assume that it really does protect property owners, without realizing that it will actually undermine their rights by 1) offering no real protection and 2) blocking implementation of Proposition 98, a ballot proposal that really would give property owners protection against the kinds of takings authorized by the Supreme Court Kelo v. City of New London.

Red Cross: Up to 128,000 may have died in Myanmar

And a lot more people at risk:

The Red Cross estimated the number of people needing help after cyclone surged over the low-lying delta on May 3 at between 1.64 million and 2.51 million.

Meanwhile, the Thai Prime Minister is saying that the junta doesn't want help

But Thailand's prime minister said Wednesday that the junta believes it is in control of the relief operations, AP reported.

Samak Sundaravej, back from a visit to Yangon, said the military had guaranteed him that there were no disease outbreaks or starvation among the survivors.

China's earthquake victims 'eat bitterness'

Congratulations and a hearty well done to Patti from Soldier's Angels, who was chosen America's Favorite Mom, and is donating her prize money to Soldier's Angels.

Obama says Bush falsely accused him of appeasement

Barack Obama accused President Bush of "a false political attack" Thursday after Bush warned in Israel against appeasing terrorists - early salvos in a general election campaign that's already blazing even as the Democratic front-runner tries to sew up his party's nomination.

Supposedly, it's traditional for a president to eschew partisan politics on foreign soil, not that that stopped Clinton. Nor Nancy Pelosi, who's a member of the legislative branch, and not charged with foreign policy at all, as she embraced the Syrian Ba'athists and blasted George Bush. When it comes to partisanship, anything George Bush has done falls well short of these and other Democratic tricks. For all the disagreements I have with him, I have to admit that George Bush is fundamentally a decent man.

Did Bush accuse Obama, or some unnamed presidential candidate, or even Democrats in general? I'm not seeing it in the transcript. Here's the most relevant paragraph:

Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: "Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided." We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.

Looks directed at appeasers everywhere, if you ask me. It may have come to your attention. It's Obama volunteering the fact that the shoe fits, which has nothing to do with George Bush and everything to do with Obama. Obama wants to keep the nutroots and other BDS sufferers emotionally committed to him so they don't stop and think, therefore he slams George Bush every chance he gets. It's just that this time, he managed to insert both feet into his mouth.

Instupundit says all of this more pithily: "MEMO TO THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN: When somebody condemns appeasement, it doesn't help things to jump up and yell "Hey, he's talking about me!""

Volokh Conspiracy on the California Supreme Court tossing out the anti-gay marriage law.

I personally voted against that law. Unfortunately, my side of the question ended up with fewer votes. The law forbidding gay marriage is on the same level as the ones the Supreme Court used to toss it, and spoke to the specific issue. This is supposed to be carving a specific exception out of the general rules. Unfortunately for the people of California, the state Supreme Soviet Court has decided they just aren't important. I may not like this law in particular, but every time the courts overturn the will of the voters thus, it's a blow against democracy.

I'm going to vote against the state Constitutional Amendment proposed on this issue, assuming It makes it onto the ballot and that I'm not hit by a bus in the meantime. For that matter, I consider marriage a fundamentally religious concept that the state probably shouldn't be involved in at all. But I consider myself and the rest of us bound by the results of the ballot box, whether we like it or not. The process is critical, not just the results, and if we simply ignore things mandated by the voters, it's a lot closer than most people realize to having a popular President who refuses to step down after two terms. Or who hands power over to the party nominee, despite the fact that someone else won the election. Then they swear in 535 Congresscritters, all of the President's party. Get the picture?

More at Pajamas Media from the author of Gay Patriot.

Instapundit on Congressional energy policy: "Are these guys on the Saudi payroll, or what?"

Some unfortunately not-so-Common Sense

Carnival of Personal Finance

Carnival of Real Estate

Death toll in China earthquake up to nearly 9,000

Xinhua said 80 percent of the buildings had collapsed in Sichuan province's Beichuan county after the quake, raising fears that the overall death toll could increase sharply.

Fare thee well Irena Sendler. You will be missed.

Saved thousands of children from the Warsaw Ghetto, was caught and tortured by the Nazis, and still believed she should have done more?

People like her show you precisely how small one's own accomplishments are.

Army Corps says Condition of many levees a mystery

And it's not just a problem along the Mississippi and Missouri, either. The Sacramento River delta probably has more people at risk than any other per square mile.

Obama defends his patriotism, quarrels with McCain

"At a time when we're facing the largest homecoming since the Second World War," Obama said of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, "the true test of our patriotism is whether we will serve our returning heroes as well as they've served us."

Talk about ignoring the elephant in the phone booth! Yes, I'd like to see veteran's benefits augmented, but when Obama's "pull the troops out right away" encourages our enemies to stay in the game a little longer so they can win when we leave after he's elected, he's getting our troops killed. Good news, Ms. Soldier's Widow! Your husband would be eligible for increased benefits if he was alive! Great news, Johnny and Jenny Orphan! Your daddy would get better care, if I hadn't caused him to get killed! (end sarcasm). President Bush still meets with families of service members killed in action. How many have you met, Mr. "Give the military benefits with one hand while getting them killed with the other"? Oh, and how about stop trying to tie funding for the troops to all sorts of unrelated projects, Mr. Earmark? Finally, the VA regs and bureaucracy as as bad as they are because that's the way Congress wrote the law. You want to tame the VA bureaucracy? You have the ability to introduce such a bill, Mr. Obama. By the way, you might talk with someone about how closely our enemies do pay attention to US Politics. You might learn something.

Oh, and by the way, he's not correct about McCain failing to back improved veteran's benefits, either:

McCain's campaign said the Arizona senator backs a Republican alternative that is better because it enhances benefits for those who stay longer in the military, thereby encouraging recruitment and retention of troops.

They say familiarity breeds contempt. The more familiar I am with Barack Obama, the more I think he's a case in point. I still think he'd be a great guy to chat with - so long as I keep my hand on my wallet. Because every time he says something, he reminds me of the old lawyer's game of straining at flies and swallowing camels.

Technology Gets Cocky Department: MIT students show power of open cell phone systems

A Yemeni journalist

Thank you very much for this campaign, which comes in the context of the overall values that we believe, and they punish us when we believe those values and adopt them. I do not want to talk about myself, but rather the environment that we live in and suffering we endure from the inconsistency between what the authorities announce about democracy and freedoms, and what happens when we believe in those same things, democracy and freedoms.

They want us to practice our rights as they understand them, but we do it ideally. The regime said that democracy is the way of ruling, but when we try to practice our rights within this concept, criticizing the way that the regime governs and how they act, then they deal with us in a way that has no relation to democracy. They deal with us as outlaws. They use all of the state's resources to attack anyone who has any opinions not corresponding with their opinions, and to attack those who even discuss their way of ruling.

What I am suffering and facing is part of the price I and many others pay for the democracy and freedom we hope to achieve in the future. At least we are preparing for a healthy environment that we want the next generation to live in. We believe that democracy and freedom have an expensive price, and this is a part of that price.

However that doesn't mean we will keep silent and bend, as it is the price. We will refuse injustice peacefully. Solidarity is a way to enhance new civil values which support the democracy we will make with our sacrifice and with the support of others. We pay the price of the freedom for ourselves and for the generations after us. Again, thank you very much for your help and support.

Abdulkarim al-Khaiwani
10/5/08
Sana'a, Yemen

Armies of Liberation has a petition to save his life. They want to sentence him to death for criticizing Yemen's dung-ball of a president. It can't do any harm to take thirty seconds to sign.

We in the United States are obscenely wealthy not just economically, but politically. Let's help others get rich too!

Depressing: Gag on 2nd Amendment Is City's Aim in Guns Suit

Myanmar seizes UN aid supplies, 'not ready' to let in US

Myanmar's military leaders seized aid shipments headed for cyclone survivors and told the top U.S. diplomat there Friday that they're not ready to let in American aid workers despite warnings the country is on the verge of a medical catastrophe.

The country is already flooded, and they're expecting another 4 inches of rain this week. Millions are without basic supplies, and putrefying corpses are going to spread disease. What wonderful people. Oh, and the chinese government shares the blame for propping the junta up.

US official: 1 shipment to be allowed to Myanmar

The governing military junta in Myanmar has agreed to allow a single U.S. cargo aircraft to bring in relief supplies for victims of a devastating cyclone, the Bush administration said Friday.

One planeload is better than nothing, but a single C-130 load of food isn't going to make much of a difference. Oh, it'll stop a few hundred from starving for a few days, but when you're talking about potentially millions of cyclone victims, that's not going to go very far. (the sixty to a hundred thousand you hear about are the ones that are missing or known to be dead. That doesn't count the far larger number of people cut off from food and water)

As a swordfighting duel, it's slapstick at best, but the video of these two gymnasts with lightsabers is cool.

How Oil Lubricates Our Enemies

It's not reality, it's Scrappleface. But humor sometimes conceals a deeper truth.

Neville Chamberlain, without the umbrella

Obama pwned

Via Instapundit, Meet the New Trough, Same as the Old Trough

FYI: Fannie and Freddie have changed things a bit, and now the temporary Jumbo Conforming Loan rates have dropped like a rock, to the point where there's only a quarter to a half point difference in cost between them and regular conforming at the same rate. Now that will make a difference for full doc borrowers. Stated Income is non-conforming, and those rates are still significantly higher. I've said all along that Jumbo borrowers were suffering by association with stated income, due to the fact that both traditionally used the same rate table for A paper borrowers. Now that Jumbo Conforming loans have broken that association, the rates (up to the new limit) have dropped. This is about as surprising as gravity.

Rudy Giuliani interviewed about the differences between John McCain and Barack Obama's likely judicial appointments. I agree with Mr. Giuliani on all counts, and that's why I'd rather have John McCain's Supreme Court picks than Barack Obama's.

Cindy McCain says she'll never release her tax returns

Sen. McCain is routinely is ranked among the richest lawmakers in Congress, but he and his wife have kept their finances separate throughout their marriage. A prenuptial agreement left much of the family's assets in Cindy McCain's name.

Translation into English: It's not his money, but hers. She isn't running for office. First Lady is not an elected position. She will appear nowhere on the ballot. It's his decision-making, not hers, that we're voting on.

This isn't a recent phenomenon, for the election. This has been the status quo for 28 years. It's not his money.

Any hopes of a Russian democracy or republic are officially dead: Putin takes Yeltsin's pen _ and much of the president's power _ to new job as Russian premier

Burma has refused US Aid for the Cyclone victims

Pentagon not warm to idea of Myanmar aid drop

Asked if it would not be helpful to victims for the U.S. to drop supplies, Mullen said: "We could. Typically, though, it's sovereign airspace and you'd need their permission to fly in that airspace."

"It's all tied to sovereignty, which we respect whether it's on the ground or in the air," Mullen said.

Entering the airspace of a sovereign country makes the aircraft liable to be shot down, should the Burmese junta so desire. I don't think they would - the international outcry that would result might be the one thing that shames the Chinese government into stopping their support - but legally, they could. The status of our air crews would be "invaders", and I don't think this falls under the heading of what they signed up for. It would be one thing if we had the desire to use force to overthrow the junta, if Congress had declared war, etcetera, but that is not the case.

Two more casualties of the drug war: a documentary about the case of Cory Maye

I've dealt with this subject before. I'm sorry for Officer Jones and his family. The fact remains that he messed up, and lost his life to a citizen protecting himself from what he had every reason to believe was a home invasion.

Volokh Conspiracy on the Duke Rape Hoax and the behavior of the "Group of 88" professors.

If they can't simply face the truth, they should put down their shovels and stop digging.

Damning.

I forgot to submit to any carnivals this week but Real Estate Undressed was kind enough to pick two of my articles for best of April.

And of course, Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate will be here tomorrow

Hugo Chavez busted: Via Instapundit, Interpol confirms authenticity of Raúl Reyes's computer files

Gateway Pundit has a list of other stuff that was found by the raid.

Armies of Liberation:

If Saudi Arabia pardoned 9/11 highjacker Mohammed Atta while imprisoning a completely innocent journalist on terrorism charges, the US would be in an uproar. But that's exactly what is going on in Yemen. The USS Cole bombers are free. My good friend, the journalist al-Khaiwani, is on trial in terrorism court. Sentencing is May 21.

Who should MDs let die in a pandemic? Report offers answers

Feel good, happy answers. And people are complaining that this report is too hard, too cruel?

Wikipedia on the last pandemic, the Spanish flu

The Spanish flu lasted from March 1918 to June 1920,[1] spreading even to the Arctic and remote Pacific islands. It is estimated that anywhere from 20 to 100 million people were killed worldwide,[2][3] more than double the number killed in World War I.[4] This extraordinary toll resulted from the extremely high infection rate of up to 50% and the extreme severity of the symptoms, suspected to be caused by cytokine storms.

and

The global mortality rate from the 1918/1919 pandemic is not known, but is estimated at 2.5 to 5% of the human population, with 20% or more of the world population suffering from the disease to some extent. Influenza may have killed as many as 25 million in its first 25 weeks (in contrast, AIDS killed 25 million in its first 25 years). Older estimates say it killed 40-50 million people[8] while current estimates say 50 million to 100 million people worldwide were killed.[9] This pandemic has been described as "the greatest medical holocaust in history" and may have killed more people than the Black Death.[10]

San Diego County has 3 million people now. 20% is 600,000 in this county alone. Roughly seven and a half million sick people in California, sixty million in the United States, 1.3 billionworldwide. If it's anything like past epidemics, the medical professions will be among the hardest hit. And they're proposing to limit triage to

"_People older than 85.

_Those with severe trauma, which could include critical injuries from car crashes and shootings.

_Severely burned patients older than 60.

_Those with severe mental impairment, which could include advanced Alzheimer's disease.

_Those with a severe chronic disease, such as advanced heart failure, lung disease or poorly controlled diabetes.

Furthermore, the closer packed and more mobile a population is, the faster such a disease will spread. Maybe such tactics would be effective if an immediate quarantine clamped down on all travel and all shipments, but in these days of the global economy, I'm more than a little skeptical of that happening. My guess is that by the time quarantines are ordered, the reach of any such disease will already be global, and humanitarian impulses will insure that it goes global if our leaders do react in time.

You tell me if such measures are likely to be enough in such a case. Remember, it would probably hit basically everywhere at once, which means there isn't anywhere with resources to spare to help other areas.

Public health law expert Lawrence Gostin of Georgetown University called the report an important initiative but also "a political minefield and a legal minefield."

Yep. I imagine the medical profession in the US will be greatly reviled in the aftermath. It won't be just, and it won't be fair, but the (remaining) lawyers would clean up in that aftermath. But I would like for there to be an aftermath, something that's far less likely if our medical professionals and political class aren't mentally ready for what is only a matter of time. The Spanish Flu was a fairly weak pandemic, despite having killed at least twice as many people as World War I. Black Death of the 1340s killed at least thirty percent, and was far slower to spread. I don't think our society could withstand 25% losses basically, and even 15 percent would be questionable.

McCain castigates Obama on judges

Republican John McCain criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama for voting against John Roberts as U.S. chief justice

This is a good way to campaign against Obama: on his record. Things that he has done. Not as good as campaigning on the good things John McCain has done and intends to do, but who are we kidding? There hasn't been a Presidential campaign in my lifetime that didn't go negative. Given that it's going negative (and Obama has previously launched salvos at John McCain) I'd like for the negative stuff to be focused on what the opponent has actually done.

The AP article says that this is reaching out to the Christian Right. Maybe so, but I'm emphatically not a Christian, and I approve of Chief Justice Roberts, and Samuel Alito as well. I'd much rather have another justice in the mold of those two than a Ginsberg or Stevens, and the next presidential term is probably going to see three new justices selected. Were Obama elected, I expect that his choices would be disastrous for the economy, as a Ginsberg would be about the least harmful he might nominate.

The USA Today article on the same speech is a little more neutral:

The Republican presidential candidate said Roberts and Alito would be his models for judicial nominations, contrasting them with "activist judges" who would rather make laws than interpret them.

"With a presumption that would have amazed the framers of our Constitution, and legal reasoning that would have mystified them, federal judges today issue rulings and opinions on policy questions that should be decided democratically," McCain said during a speech in Winston-Salem, N.C.

While I'm on an elections kick, Wizbang has an article on Obama's associates, and his judgment (or lack thereof) in choosing them.

I am not making this up: Study shows breast-fed children are smarter

Zimbabwe observers question presidential results

The opposition says Tsvangirai won the election outright and has ended Mugabe's 28 year rule over the once prosperous country whose economy is now in ruins.

ZESN accused ruling party members of beating observers and called on police to stop the attacks.

Mugabe wants to fabricate the need for a run off, which will give him the opportunity to fabricate enough supporters (and intimidate enough opponents) to stay in power.

Official results confirm Bolivian province's autonomy win

With 34 percent of ballots counted Monday, the autonomy statute claimed the support of 84.1 percent of voters, while 15.7 percent opposed it, Santa Cruz's electoral court announced. Exit polls released Sunday night showed the autonomy statute winning as much as 85 percent of the province's nearly 570,000 valid votes.

Eighty-five percent?! That's right at the limits for believability.

Shows if you want your people united, act like a communist nutjob and befriend other communist nutjobs. Works every time. Unfortunately for your agenda, it works against you.

Value of college tuition is called into question

The US ranks first in expenditure per student, and dead last in percentage of students completing their degree. I'd say that's prima facie evidence that the taxpayer is getting rooked. Even when I was first in college, it was very difficult for students to get the required courses to graduate in the presumptive time (four years), and it's getting worse.

Dude, Where's My Recession?

Before you declare a recession, as many economic pundits have, shouldn't the economy, well, actually recess a bit--if only for a quarter?

Fear and panic grab attention and sell news. Furthermore, making people believe there is a recession is as good electorally for the party out of power (that would be the Democrats, which constitute over 90% of all media related personnel), as an actual recession. In 1996, AP and the New York Times were favoring Bill Clinton, and trumpeting worse numbers than today's as being very good.

I have this mental image of your least favorite Democratic candidate intoning in a Marvin the Martian style whine: "The media promised me a recession. There should have been a large economy shattering recession."

Can't seem to find the relevant scene online, but here's a .wav file of the relevant phrase.

But case in point: Employers cut fewer jobs in April, jobless rate falls

Employers cut far fewer jobs in April than in recent months and the unemployment rate dropped to 5 percent, a better-than-expected showing that nonetheless reveals strains in the nation's labor market.

When I took economics in college, we called this "expansion" or "growth" instead of "It's not as bad as we told you it was."

The unemployment rate, derived from a different statistical survey than the payroll figures, fell to 5 percent from 5.1 percent in March. That survey showed more people finding employment than those who didn't.

Translation: This good news helps people we don't want to help in the election, so watch us pull all the caveats we can out of our, er, hat!

buried way down in the article, more good news:

In other economic news, the Commerce Department reported that orders to U.S. factories rose a bigger-than-expected 1.4 percent in March, after two straight months of declines.

and

On the jobs front, construction companies slashed 61,000 positions in April. Manufacturers cut 46,000 and retailers got rid of 27,000. Those losses were eclipsed by job gains in education and health care, professional and business services, the government and elsewhere.

And then they close with all the insinuating rhetoric they can saying that things are awful. Textbook hit piece.

My opinion? The Fed should have held fast rather than cutting rates this week, and it's pretty likely that the need for rate cuts is past. Just try not raising things too far and too fast when it become obvious the economy has turned.

Yeah, Wright

So, was Obama sincere? Did he spent 20 years as an intimate of Wright and a parishioner of his church without ever having an inkling that the guy is a wacko hatemonger?

If so, can you think of anything more terrifying than sending such a naïf to the White House while there's a war on?

Read The Whole Thing

Why white Zimbabwean farmers plan to stay in Nigeria

Quite a commentary on Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe's failure, as well as a cautionary tale for would-be wealth confiscators here and elsewhere.

Getting to Know John McCain

More here.

HT Don Surber