June 14, 2008

KEEP THOSE KIDS BUSY: A big summer toy sale at Amazon.

TIGERHAWK: Iowa's Katrina? "The flooding in eastern Iowa has reached the point of catastrophe." But there's a difference. "In Iowa there is a 500 year flood, but the people are not paralyzed, whining, or looting. There will be no massive relief effort from around the world, and nobody will step up to help Iowans except for other Iowans. Yet years from now, there will be no Iowans still in FEMA camps."

More on the flooding here.

UPDATE: I'll certainly be happy not to be reading stories like this from Iowa.

OUCH: The most morally abhorrent film ever made.

This isn't just radical environmentalist fare; it's perverse and anti-human. Shyamalan cuts immediately from the natural joy of pregnancy to its consequence: mass, nature-inflicted murder. It's not carbon output, styrofoam cups or the clearing of the rain forests that so angers Mother Earth and, thus, her self-appointed human spokesman. It's us.

Environmentalists' genocidal human-extinction fantasies just keep getting more detailed. Keep 'em away from biotech, please.

And, obviously, someone has kept Shyamalan away from the scientists, anyway . . . .

UPDATE: Brian Noggle acquires a new perspective.

EXCITEMENT: Barack Obama knows and cares what bloggers say about his clothes!

UH OH: Delegate’s reversal stuns party: Wisconsin Democrat now publicly supports McCain.

As an avid supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries, Debra Bartoshevich is not alone in her frustration over Clinton's defeat.

She’s not alone in refusing to support Barack Obama.

And she’s not entirely alone in saying she’ll vote this fall for Republican John McCain instead.

But what makes her unusual is that she holds these views as an elected delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this summer. . . .

Joe Wineke, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, reacted with disbelief when first told Friday afternoon that one of his state party delegates is now a McCain supporter.

“Not a delegate? To the national convention?” said Wineke, who was getting ready for the start of the Wisconsin state party convention Friday in Stevens Point.

“We have a Clinton national (convention) delegate who says she’s voting for John McCain?” Wineke repeated, for clarification. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Look on the bright side. At least she's not calling Obama a terrorist.

"THE VICTORIANS WERE SUPERMEN."

THIS SEEMS LIKE GOOD NEWS: Iraq Oil production could increase by 400,000 bpd by the end of 2008. Bring it on.

A PHOTO QUESTION: Reader Kelly Azar emails: "Please tell us what lens you're using for all your great shots. Please!"

Well, it's more than one. Recently, I fell victim to Ann Althouse's peer pressure and bought this fisheye lens, which is used in pictures like this, or this.

Other wideangle stuff was shot with the 12-24 wideangle zoom, which is a hell of a lens though it doesn't give the trademark fisheye effect. (Examples here and here.)

And there's also the 18-200 VR DX zoom, which I used for pictures like this or this. This is probably the one lens to have, if you can have only one -- wide range of focal lengths, vibration stabilization, compact size, and good quality. If I were adding just one more, it would probably be the fisheye -- big difference, distortion correctable via software plugin, and not as expensive as the 12-24.

And thanks for the nice comments. I'm no Lisa Scheer or Rick Lee, but I have fun and I hope I can share a little bit of what I like about Knoxville and the surrounding area.

A.C. KLEINHEIDER: "It was a long curious day for the Tennessee Democratic party yesterday."

A BLOG BOYCOTT OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS? "Well, that's kind of bullying needs some pushback. Effective immediately, Newshoggers is boycotting AP's content, including that from other sites that syndicate their stuff. We will find other sources - Reuters usually has the same stories and syndicates our BlogBurst feed on its websites without a problem - or we simply will find a different story to blog about. We urge you to join us in boycotting these bullies."

Further thoughts from Jeff Jarvis: "I talked to a reporter this week about the embattled Associated Press and said three times that I didn’t want it to die. I might take that back."

HAPPY FLAG DAY.

And happy birthday to the U.S. Army!

BRING IT ON: "Toyota, rightly or wrongly, is widely considered the greenest automaker, and the company hopes to solidify its hold on the title and move beyond oil through a sweeping plan to produce cleaner, more efficient cars -- beginning with a plug-in hybrid it will produce by 2010."

BARACK OBAMA: looking more kindly on guns!

UPDATE: A reader emails: "And here I thought his side didn't like guns. I guess they're OK when they suit their needs, even rhetorically. That is so Rosie O'Donnell of him." Ouch.

IRISH VOTERS GETTING SUPPORT ELSEWHERE IN EUROPE: "Political leaders across Europe were shaking their heads in frustration this weekend at the Irish voters' veto of the latest European Union treaty. But many of their citizens weren't. Ordinary Spaniards, Dutch, French and Britons, who wish they could get the same chance, might also say 'no' to the cold, distant heart of Europe." Which is why they won't be given the same chance . . . . "Many Europeans say this is exactly the problem with democracy Brussels-style, where European Commission members are not directly elected but wield continental powers. 'We're told we can vote no, that the system requires unanimity. But when (a `no' vote) actually happens, every time, the EU tells us: You really only have a right to vote yes,' said Dublin travel agent Paul Brady, who voted against the treaty."

TIGERHAWK: "The question is, why do we keep seeing Obama supporters who revere Che Guevara?"

KNOXVILLE MAYOR BILL HASLAM: Laying the groundwork for a gubernatorial run in 2010?

PROF. MIKE O'SHEA: Ten things to look for when the Heller decision comes down.

SO I'M READING STEVEN PRESSFIELD'S Killing Rommel, which is based on actual efforts along those lines in World War Two. So far it's quite good, which is no surprise. I've been a big Pressfield fan since Gates of Fire.

Knoxville, Tennessee.

ANN ALTHOUSE: "If you think those Yale law students ought to be able to sue the on-line idiots for saying what they did about them, don't you also have to believe Tim Russert had a cause of action against Ezra Klein?"

Or against Matthew Yglesias's commenters. I wonder if this stuff will make Howard Kurtz's column?

WE'RE NUMBER TWO!

China has now clearly overtaken the United States as the world's leading emitter of climate-warming gases, a new study has found. The increasing emissions from China - up 8 percent in the past year - accounted for two-thirds of the growth in global greenhouse gas emissions in 2007, the study found.

And that's despite IowaHawk's best efforts . . . .

KENT CONRAD: Angelo who? "I suppose Conrad could say he was just parsing this - he called Mozilo, but never met him - but really, that level of deception is what most reasonable people call a lie."

TAYLOR MARSH: Many Hillary supporters can't see voting for Obama — at least not right now.

MUCH MORE ON ANGELO MOZILO and the Countrywide loan scandal.

UPDATE: John Galvin emails:

The linked Times article says: “In an interview, Mr. Conrad said he was unaware of any special effort on his behalf and called his credit rating “spotless” in suggesting that he was eligible for favorable loan terms. He said he turned to Mr. Johnson and Mr. Mozilo because he was buying a property in Delaware and did not know where to get a mortgage in that state. After the phone call with Mr. Mozilo, a Countrywide loan officer called Mr. Conrad.”

Can you imagine a a member of the Senate Finance Committee who’s too bloody stupid to google “Delaware Mortgage”, too stupid to ask the real estate agent who sold him the house to recommend some lenders, too stupid to simply ask any of the legions of DC folks who have beach houses at Bethany Rehoboth, and Lewes? If he can’t even handle such a simple finance matter, how’s he supposed to handle the finances of the USA?

New excuse from senators caught dirty: “I’m the dumbest asshole ever born – but vote for me anyway”.

That seems popular. But Conrad may be lying there:

Unless they asked, V.I.P. borrowers weren’t told exactly how many points were waived on their loans, the former employee says. However, they were typically assured that they were receiving the “Friends of Angelo” discount, and that Mozilo had personally priced their loans. . . . Senator Conrad borrowed $1.07 million in 2004 to refinance his vacation home with a balcony and wraparound porch in Bethany Beach, Delaware, a block from the ocean. Mozilo instructed a subordinate to “take off 1 point,” or $10,700, according to a March 17, 2004, email.

Later that year, Conrad refinanced an eight-unit apartment building that he and his brothers owned in Bismarck, North Dakota. According to the former employee, the loan violated Countrywide’s normal policy of providing loans for buildings of four units or fewer. In an April 23, 2004, email, Mozilo encouraged an employee to “make an exception due to the fact that the borrower is a senator.”

Possibly Conrad didn't know he was getting special treatment here, but that goes back to the "dumb" part, doesn't it?

A GUILTY PLEA in the Goose Creek terror case. Gateway Pundit has more on the case.

3G AFTERGLOW: A roundup of Apple and iPhone news.

JOHNATHAN PEARCE: "Anyway, the fact that the Guardian regards what Mr Davis has done as a 'stunt' is, I suppose, a nice example of how the idea of a man taking a principled stand on something and endangering his political career is outside the frame of reference of parts of the media class."

MAKE YOUR KIDS play in the dirt.

DIPLOMACY: Bush and Sarkozy looking to bury "freedom fries" era. Relations with European governments seem to be doing a lot better than you'd think.

Meanwhile, Gerard Baker thinks that Europe will miss Bush: "The US President is a useful bogeyman - but his successor's policies may not be much different." Hmm.

June 13, 2008

A RIGHT TO SPANK? This case is statutory, but in Tennessee there's a good argument that parents would have a right to spank under the state constitution.

PAUL KRUGMAN GETS A ROTTEN TOMATO. As usual, Krugman picks a political conclusion, and as usual, the data are otherwise.

MORE THOUGHTS ON INFRASTRUCTURE:

Even before today’s fires and power outages disrupted downtown D.C., it had been a rough week for transportation infrastructure in the area. Commuting by the Metro’s Orange line was a disaster because of a derailment — and Metro officials bungled the back-up plans for shuttle buses, completely mishandling communications — even as high fuel prices push riders onto mass transit. And the MARC trains were the usual unreliable selves.

Plus this:

But the planning and much of the construction took place before the Great Society, before Medicare, before Medicaid, before welfare, before Food Stamps, before the Conservation Reserve Program, before the Low-Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program, before the Community Development Block Grant Program, before the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, leafy spurge management grants, before HUD, the EPA, the Department of Education, etc., etc., etc….that is, before the explosion of federal spending and programs that now draw dollars that might have been spent on infrastructure.

Yep. It's not a money problem, it's a priority problem.

UPDATE: Col. Douglas Mortimer emails:

Um...all that spending and construction was before something else, too. It was before the NEPA and the ESA. Before EAs, and FONSIs, and EISs were required before the federal government could do anything. Any big federal construction projects can, and probably would be, tied up in environmental compliance litigation for years before a spade of dirt is turned.

Absolutely right.

JEFF JARVIS: "We are only now — a bit late — beginning to face up to sexism as a factor in the Democratic race and as an ongoing problem in America."

BETTER DRUG DELIVERY, using nanotechnology.

SOMETIMES A PICTURE really is worth a thousand words.

UH OH: Poll: Fans Believe NBA Is Rigged.

SO I NOTICED THAT SLATE wasn't carrying its "Today's Blogs" feature this week, and emailed to find out what happened. Apparently, it's been canceled. Too bad -- I'll miss it.

IN TOLEDO, A TERROR CONVICTION: "A federal jury on Friday convicted three Toledo-area men of Middle Eastern descent of plotting attacks against U.S. troops overseas and other terror-related acts. Mohammad Amawi, Marwan El-Hindi, and Wassim Mazloum, all of whom are Muslim, were convicted on all counts of conspiring to kill or injure people outside the United States and face sentences of life in prison."

FRED THOMPSON IS UNHAPPY WITH THE SUPREME COURT: "Upon reading the opinion in Boumediene v Bush, one must conclude that the majority knew where they wanted to go and simply had to figure out how to get there. "

INSTAPUNDIT: At the center of all things.

Natch.

FACTS ON THE GROUND: "Senior Brookings fellows Michael O’Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack gave a report today and entertained questions at a Brookings briefing on Iraq. It was the single most illuminating presentation I have witnessed on the status of Iraq and the potential way forward."

Read the whole thing.

IRISH VOTERS REJECTED THE E.U. TREATY: Richard North has some thoughts. "Already, the European Commission president has declared that the treaty is still 'alive,' even though it is technically dead. However, there will be no overt attempt to make the Irish vote again, although the project will sail on."

UPDATE: Dave Kopel: How the Irish saved civilization, again. "Treaty proponents lamented that Ireland, with only 1% of the EU population, could derail a 27-nation treaty. But the very fact that only 1% of the EU's population was allowed to vote on a treaty which would massively reduce national sovereignty and democratic accountability was itself an illustration of the enormous 'democratic deficit' of the EU in general, and the Lisbon Treaty in particular. According to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the Lisbon Treaty would be defeated in every EU nation if referenda were allowed."

TIM RUSSERT has died.

UPDATE: Richard Miniter remembers Russert. "He was two things that most Washington journalists are not: tough and fair."

NASA AWARDS new spacesuit contract.

FROM MOOG, a "revolutionary" new guitar.

PROOF THAT THE WAR WASN'T FOR OIL: Donald Rumsfeld buys a Vespa.

LARRY KUDLOW: "Who can figure out what Sen. John McCain really stands for on the economy?"

UPDATE: No confusion here: Obama: Payroll tax on incomes above $250,000.

DEMOCRATIC SUPERDELEGATE DOESN'T WANT TO ENDORSE OBAMA:

The rise of Sen. Barack Obama, to become the Democrats’ presidential nominee has put most of his party’s faithful on his bandwagon — but not Lincoln Davis, a rural Tennessee Congressman with gubernatorial ambitions.

Davis (D-Pall Mall) is not yet endorsing the presumptive nominee in Obama, saying he’ll wait until the late August Democratic Party national convention.

In Davis’ sprawling 4th Congressional District — which ranges from as far west as Hickman County to as far east as the upper Cumberland Plateau — less than a quarter of Democrats in the largely rural district voted for Obama, the nation’s first African-American presidential candidate nominated by a major party, in Tennessee’s presidential primary. . . .

Fred Hobbs, a state Democratic Party Executive Committee member representing part of Davis’ district, said he understands why Davis is not endorsing Obama and is “skeptical” of the Illinois senator himself.

“Maybe [it’s] the same reason I don’t want to — I don’t exactly approve of a lot of the things he stands for and I’m not sure we know enough about him,” Hobbs said when asked why he thought Davis wasn’t endorsing Obama. “He’s got some bad connections, and he may be terrorist connected for all I can tell. It sounds kind of like he may be.”

Davis was not made available for comment.

His chief of staff, Beecher Frasier, said he doesn’t know for sure if Obama is “terrorist connected” but he assumes he’s not.

Well, that's a relief. Sounds like there's still some healing to do in the Democratic party, post-primary. Here's much more from A.C. Kleinheider.

MICKEY KAUS: "I kind of hope Obama's election will kill off much of hip-hop, at least the gangsta-inspired parts. But just killing off bling and gangsta fashion would be a start." It's those off-the-rack Burberry suits that are the key.

Plus, grilling Michelle: "According to Time, when the Obama camp 'got wind' of the 'whitey' rumor, his aides took it so seriously they confronted Michelle and 'grilled her on the particulars.' So why can't bloggers and reporters do the same thing?"

JENNIFER RUBIN: Does the Obama Campaign Foreshadow His Presidency?

HAPPY NATIONAL PIGEON DAY!

IN THE MAIL: The China Diary of George H. W. Bush: The Making of a Global President.

Knoxville, Tennessee.

THAT SHOULD ENHANCE HIS CREDIBILITY ON THE DEFICIT: McCains report more than $100,000 in credit card debt.

MORE ON SPACE TOURISM, at Popular Mechanics.

SATELLITE IMAGERY AND HUMAN RIGHTS:

Now satellite images of villages there show clear evidence of the destruction of villages, with gray smudges all that is left in many cases. The analysis was done by the Science and Human Rights Project of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Under a MacArthur Foundation grant, Lars Bromley, a geographer, and others there have been following up on eyewitness accounts gathered by Human Rights Watch and other private groups. Mr. Bromley and his team collect and analyze images from DigitalGlobe and other purveyors of satellite-gathered data to assess the claims.

Note that this involves actual human rights, not the phony Canadian variety.

THE STORY ON GOOGLE AND NATIONAL HOLIDAYS MAKES SLATE, where it gets a rather dismissive treatment from Chris Thompson. I think he gets it wrong with the Does Google Hate America? headline, though. Google's problem is that it's not living up to its own "Don't be evil" hype. Instead it's acting like any other big-bucks transnational corporation; honoring U.S. patriotic holidays might be bad for its business, so it doesn't. That focus on business is of a piece with its cooperation with Chinese censorship, something that I noted at the time:

Google has come under criticism from people on the left — and right — for its cave-in to Chinese demands for censorship. From "don't be evil," Google's motto has seemed to be "don't be evil unless there's a really big market at stake."

They've also come in for criticism from people on the right for alleged censorship in Google News, with charges that Google is purging itself of conservative news sites. And many people complained that Google, which puts up special logos for all sorts of other holidays, didn't do anything to recognize Memorial Day.

That last point seems minor, but for some people it seems to have been the last straw. . . . Jeff Jarvis notes that Google's ad business isn't doing especially well, and says that the reason is trust. So what, exactly, does Google have that will protect it from a sudden shift in consumer sentiments?

A few years ago Google lost its position as an outfit that people trusted because they thought it was run by friendly well-meaning geeks, and became just another big corporation out for the money. I think that's hurt them, and I also think it's sad, if perhaps inevitable.

LARRY LESSIG ON THE KOZINSKI KERFUFFLE: "The real story here is how easily we let such a baseless smear travel - and our need is for a better developed immunity (in the sense of immunity from a virus) from this sort of garbage."

IT'S NICE TO BE A MEMBER OF CONGRESS: Everyone loves you and wants to help:

Two influential US senators got "VIP" loans from a leading subprime mortgage lender that saved them tens of thousands of dollars, it was reported last night.

The Democratic pols, Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Kent Conrad of North Dakota, both received the highly favorable loans under the designation "Friend of Angelo," a reference to embattled Countrywide head Angelo Mozilo, Condé Nast Portfolio reported.

Dodd is chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, while Conrad is chairman of the Budget Committee and a member of the Finance Committee. The two senators refinanced properties through the VIP program in 2003 and 2004, the report said.

But it wasn't just them: "Others who received 'FOA' loans include Alphonso Jackson, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Bush who resigned in April, and Donna Shalala, who was secretary of Health and Human Services in the Clinton administration."

You know, government conflict-of-interest rules can be pretty exacting where worker bees are involved, but these guys didn't see anything wrong with taking "VIP loans"? Jeez.

I CERTAINLY HOPE THAT THIS IS TRUE: Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern says substantial vote tallies across the country show the European Union Lisbon reform treaty has been rejected.

MORE EVIDENCE THAT THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DOESN'T GET IT. Links to your stuff are good. That's why reporters for newspapers send me links to their stories.

A.C. KLEINHEIDER: Al Gore Veep Talk.

GREGG EASTERBROOK:

Democratic attacks on Mr. McCain and Republican attacks on Mr. Obama both seek to punish impermissibly positive thoughts. At a time when there exists a sense of crisis over the economy, fuel prices and many other issues, this reinforces the odd, two realities of life in the United States today: The way we are, and the way we think we are. The way we are could use some work, but overall, is pretty good. The way we think we are is terrible, horrible, awful. Possibly worse.

Read the whole thing, which offers some useful perspective.

UPDATE: Fabius Maximus continues to stoutly maintain that media pessimism about the economy is a myth.

THE VENDOR DEATH PENALTY: A new concept, but easy to grasp.

IT BEATS TRYING TO TEACH LONG DIVISION: Lesson plan: Teachers fake deaths of several students.

ANDREW BOLT: Bugger whales. Save Zimbabweans.

INDEED: "Brutality is pretty much the norm for most of human history; as we've gotten richer, we've gotten less violent in all sorts of ways--we've stamped out (mostly) once common practices like infanticide, torture, wife beating, and the stoning of adulterers. Hunter gatherers are vastly more likely to die from homicide than people living in the developed world. Goodness is, in some sense, a luxury good. The most valuable luxury good we have."

GLENN FLEISHMAN ROUNDS UP THE LATEST on airborne wi-fi. Plus, the busborne kind!

IS AMERICA FACING A summer vacation crisis? No doubt we can look to the French for guidance.

SOUNDS GOOD TO ME: Clearwire promises a fully-open, "third pipe" WiMAX network.

June 12, 2008

MARY JACKSON: Muslim ‘No-Go Areas’ in Britain? Just Go There!

CANADIAN KANGAROO COURT UPDATE: Ed Cone has thoughts.

A DOCTORED PHOTO IN THE WASHINGTON POST: "The guy on the left is both behind and in front of Tiger Woods. Neat trick."

UPDATE: Or not. It looks that way in the smaller version, but reader Don Hodun writes: "I greatly admire your work and perspective. If you return to the comments section of the post you linked to, the photo editor of Washington Post Express links to the original photo. Just a good tutorial on how not to use a long telephoto lens." Yes, speaking of perspective . . . .

THE TOP TEN male-bashing ads. The Dairy Queen ad is particularly creepy. (Via who else?)

THOUGHTS ON DIESEL GENERATORS AND RESILIENCY. Thing is, a diesel engine can run on all kinds of fuel, from vegetable oil to unrefined crude. That helps, some.

THE KOZINSKI PORN KERFUFFLE: People want to know what I think. I don't have much to say about this nonstory, except to offer this compelling legal analysis: Since it's generally thought that men are disproportionate consumers of porn because of their gender, and because, hormonally, they're driven to favor visual stimuli, then obviously punishing porn consumption constitutes sex discrimination, and is probably unconstitutional. Plus, research establishes that porn is good for America. You don't hate America, do you?

IT'S NOT YOUR FATHER'S SPACE PROGRAM: I've got a piece on space tourism, the space movement, and more, over at The Atlantic Monthly. With Sergey Brin joining the ranks of space tourists, it just got a little more timely, so please check it out! (bumped)

IF YOU MISSED PJM POLITICAL ON XM Satellite Radio, you can listen online here.

WHO SAYS THAT BLOGGERS DON'T DO ORIGINAL REPORTING?

I THINK HE ALREADY DID: "God bless East Tennesseans."

MORE ON THE CONTROVERSY over laptops in the classroom.

HEH: "PETA would never treat a cow that way, but I guess it's OK for an intern."

ALAN BOYLE REPORTS ON progress with Bussard Fusion. I've been very interested this project.

I CERTAINLY HOPE SO: 'We've Lost the Battle on What the 2nd Amendment Means,' Brady Campaign Head Says. I'll wait to read the opinion before declaring victory, though. (Via SayUncle).

THE CARNIVAL OF THE RECIPES is up!

AT 6 P.M. EASTERN you can listen to PJM Political on XM Channel 130. Don't miss it!

DAVID POST: "Really, our public infrastructure – our public life – is in the process of deteriorating, and we don’t seem to be able to summon up the energy required to do anything about it."

It's worse in Philadelphia where he lives -- and I agree that it's worse in the Northeast generally --but there's something to his point on a broader scale. Bloated payrolls and inadequate performance are typical of government, of course, and there's no reason why infrastructure should be different. What's more, the broader the responsibilities of government, the worse job it tends to do at all of them.

UPDATE: Further thoughts here.

BRENDAN LOY: Are We In for a Busy 2008 Hurricane Season?

The Glenn and Helen Show: Doug Feith on War and Decision

Douglas J. Feith served as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy from 2001 through 2005. His new book, War and Decision: Inside the Pentagon at the Dawn of the War on Terrorism, looks at the response to the 9/11 attacks, the invasion of Afghanistan, and most significantly the Iraq war and its aftermath. Feith's book is copiously documented, and he's also made a lot of his documents available on his website. But the book, though selling well online, hasn't gotten the kind of Big Media attention you'd expect. We talk to him about the war, the Bush Administration, the media, and whether the American political class is up to dealing with matters of national security. And we discover that he's donating all proceeds to veterans' support groups.

You can listen directly -- no downloads needed -- by going right here and clicking on the gray Flash player. You can also download the file and listen at your leisure by clicking right here. Plus, you can get a free subscription from iTunes and never miss an episode. Why not?

Show archives are at GlennandHelenShow.com. Music is by Mobius Dick.

DUDE, WHERE'S MY RECESSION? (CONT'D): Retail sales jump by largest amount in 6 months. And from the story:

Analysts were surprised by the solid increase in retail sales and noted that sales in April were also revised to show a respectable gain of 0.4 percent, instead of the original estimate that sales had fallen by 0.2 percent.

"Recession? What recession?" asked Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors. "Spending in April and May was solid in just about every category."

Do we face possibly serious economic problems? Quite possibly. Are we in a recession now, as media folks keep claiming? It doesn't look like it. On the other hand, Megan McArdle observes: "The rise is less impressive if you exclude gasoline."

UPDATE: Reader George Zachar emails that "even without gasoline, sales were strong." It does look that way.

MCCAIN ON GAS PRICES: "McCain should use the $4-a-gallon gas prices to pivot in favor of more drilling. Then, his people might have something more meaty to offer during these kind of calls." If he actually visits ANWR, he'll see that it's hardly comparable to the Grand Canyon.

MORE ON CANADA'S "HUMAN RIGHTS" KANGAROO COURTS: Violating human rights in order to defend them.

MCCAIN AND OBAMA TAX PLANS COMPARED, at TaxProf.

DANIEL HENNINGER: DRILL! DRILL! DRILL! "Charles de Gaulle once wrote off the nation of Brazil in six words: 'Brazil is not a serious country.' How much time is left before someone says the same of the United States? . . . At this point in time, is there another country on the face of the earth that would possess the oil and gas reserves held by the United States and refuse to exploit them? Only technical incompetence, as in Mexico, would hold anyone back. But not us. We won't drill."

RON BAILEY: Can geoengineering save us from global warming?

POLITICO: Some Hill Dems Won't Back Obama: "The presidential race may be topic A, B and C in Washington these days, but some people are just too busy to think about it — particularly, it seems, centrist Democrats from conservative districts, who aren’t exactly eager to align themselves with Sen. Barack Obama. " As Gateway Pundit notes, this is the third story on Democrats pulling away from Obama since he clinched the nomination.

ZIMBABWE UPDATE: Robert Mugabe's militia burn opponent’s wife alive. A reader emails: "Shooting's too good for them." She's right, but note that there's much less international call for military intervention in Zimbabwe than in Burma. Why is that?

IN THE MAIL: Sin in the Second City. A story of rampant debauchery among the Chicago elite.

Knoxville, Tennessee.

NEW DECISION: Supreme Court Lets Guantanamo Prisoners Challenge Detention in U.S. Courts. More at Scotusblog.

UPDATE: More, including a quick summary, from Jonathan Adler: "As I (super-quickly) skim Justice Kennedy's opinion for the Court, it appears to hold that Guantanamo detainees have habeas rights, that these rights can only be denied through a valid suspension of habeas rights (under the Suspension Clause of the Constitution), that the procedures created by the Detainee Treatment Act were not an adequate substitute for habeas, and therefore Section 7 of the Military Commission Act is an unconstitutional suspension of the detainees' habeas rights."

ANOTHER UPDATE: Further thoughts from Professor Bainbridge, including this: "One legal issue that I have not seen adequately dealt with is why the jurisdiction-stripping provisions of the relevant statutes do not have the effect of foreclosing these sort of law suits." A cynical answer is that with a Democratic Congress, they know there will be no consequences.

MORE: Big roundup from Hot Air. And Bruce Kesler calls it a victory of lawfare.

FLDS: The other polygamous religion of peace: "The home of the San Angelo judge who ordered the removal of 440 children from a polygamist ranch is under guard after Utah and Arizona authorities warned of 'enforcers' from the sect, a newspaper reported Wednesday." Of course, it does appear that the authorities are far more solicitous of religous freedom on the part of people they're afraid of, so this might be a rational response.

UPDATE: Reader Chuck Herrick emails:

Please note that this may very well be entirely histrionics on the part of the judge and the law enforcement agencies in San Angelo in an attempt to deflect attention from the grotesque abuse of justice perpetrated by these authorities in Texas.

I know you've been following this incident somewhat so I won't belabor the obvious, but Texas CPS (Child Protective Services), the state and regional law enforcement agencies and the judge have behaved incredibly poorly. This has done much to further damage the reputation of an already desperate CPS. In short, the raid was an outrage and the Texas appeal courts, including the Texas Supreme Court have been having none of it.

These people are scoundrels. I don't put it past them to self-generate these kind of scare publicity. Anything to distract, as it were.

Sad to think that this might be the case.

SPACE ADVENTURES CHARTERS ENTIRE RUSSIAN SPACECRAFT: Space Tourism really does seem to be, er, taking off.

PHOTO-WEATHERBLOGGING, from Brendan Loy.

DEFENDING ASHLEY DUPRE'S latin grammar.

JOHN TIERNEY: When do post-humans show up? Including thoughts from Ray Kurzweil and Vernor Vinge.

WALL STREET JOURNAL:

Anyone wondering why U.S. energy policy is so dysfunctional need only review Congress's recent antics. Members have debated ideas ranging from suing OPEC to the Senate's carbon tax-and-regulation monstrosity, to a windfall profits tax on oil companies, to new punishments for "price gouging" – everything except expanding domestic energy supplies.

Amid $135 oil, it ought to be an easy, bipartisan victory to lift the political restrictions on energy exploration and production. Record-high fuel costs are hitting consumers and business like a huge tax increase. Yet the U.S. remains one of the only countries in the world that chooses as a matter of policy to lock up its natural resources. The Chinese think we're insane and self-destructive, while the Saudis laugh all the way to the bank.

Indeed. Plus this: "At present, it is charitable to call Mr. McCain's energy ideas incoherent, and it may cost him the election."

OBAMA AND GUN OWNERS: Reader Shawn Snyder sends this:

This photo is of the outside of The Gun Store Las Vegas. The good news is that gun owners aren't buying into any of the "sensible gun control" nonsense anymore. The bad news is, there is probably very little incentive for Obama to go duck hunting to shore up support from sportsmen, and we'll miss out on all of the great photos of the Senator in blaze orange.

Well, darn.

COVERING THE BILDERBERG CONSPIRACY . . . at Slate?

MICKEY KAUS: "If Johnson is so honorable, shouldn't he have vetted himself? Obama has now pulled off the Johnson Band-Aid, but not before Johnson cost him a few days of bad news and tarnished his image. And not before other juicy Johnson stories came out."

MEGAN MCARDLE: "'Is it just me,' asks my friend, 'or is Dow Jones advertising for someone whose job will be to steal blog posts?' Quick answer: yes. Only please to call it 'research'."

DON SURBER: Republican Sen. John McCain needs a better speechwriter. Working on his delivery wouldn't hurt, either.

DIRT-CHEAP HD video recording.

June 11, 2008

AT REASON: Is Obama tacking too far to the left on the economy?

A REPORT ON THE NEW VTOL Joint Strike Fighter.

A FOOL'S ERRAND: Trying to make sense of Madeleine Albright's foreign policy principles.

DOG BITES MAN: "Even Juan Cole (Juan Cole!) says Kerry has no idea what he's talking about."

And a common Kerry epitaph: "It's a not a hugely significant error, of course, except perhaps in the context of a deliberate display of erudition." Ah, doesn't that bring back memories . . . .

THE UPDSIDE OF ALZHEIMER'S: She was 82. He was 95. They had dementia. They fell in love. And then they started having sex. On the other hand, if it weren't for the dementia he might have told his son to butt out, which would have been appropriate, I think. What was he worried about, an unplanned pregnancy? Nope: "Dorothy's son-in-law, who is a doctor, suspects Bob's son of fearing for his inheritance."

BILL ROGGIO: "Iraqi police have captured three Iranian-backed Special Groups operatives behind the kidnapping and murder of five US soldiers at the Karbala Provincial Joint Coordination Center in January 2007. Meanwhile, US troops captured another Special Groups leader in the Al Kut region."

Related item here: "The United States is seeing a sharp drop in the number of foreigners entering Iraq to become al Qaeda suicide bombers, according to intelligence and Bush administration sources. An administration official and a military adviser to Iraqi commanders attribute the decline to a fairly new phenomenon: Al Qaeda's call for mass killings in the name of Islam is losing some of its appeal with young Arabs in North Africa and Saudi Arabia."

KATIE COURIC: "However you feel about her politics, I feel that Sen. Clinton received some of the most unfair, hostile coverage I've ever seen."

THIS IS GOOD NEWS: Life Expectancy Reaches New Record.

Plus, this: "Life expectancy in 2006 is about four months longer than it was in 2005, according to the CDC." At this rate, Aubrey de Grey's actuarial "escape velocity" for life extension may start looking more plausible . . . (Via Don Surber).

STEPHEN GREEN: "It's far more likely that Rep. Dennis Kucinich will see another UFO than see his new impeachment effort succeed."

THE FUSION REACTOR OF THE FUTURE? I'd rather see a fusion reactor of the present.

FOR THE MAN WHO HAS EVERYTHING: The hang-up human skeleton! Adds atmosphere to any room! Of course, so does a glove box!

I have to say, though, that the hydrogen-powered model rocket is more my speed.

THE MUFTIS OF CASCADIA: "The whining of the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) contrasts unfavorably not only with Rushdie's integrity and Steyn's characteristically bracing retorts, but also with the work turned in by the CIC's co-religionists twenty years ago."

BLOOD FOR OIL: 2 Dead As Fuel Protests Spread Across Europe.

MEGAN MCARDLE: "With so many people in my generation off the land line network, what happens to us in a big emergency?" The other bad news is that the landline system isn't as robust as it used to be either.

THOUGHTS ON derivatives regulation.

HE'LL BE BACK ONCE THE HEAT'S OFF: Jim Johnson forced to quit Obama campaign.

BREAKING A LOGJAM on free trade? "Is the outlook improving on passing Colombia free trade? Apparently, yes." Let's hope.

UH OH: "McCain is exactly wrong on energy."

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Another earmark moratorium fight?

House conservatives are renewing their fight to unilaterally ban earmarks for a year within the Republican Party. House GOP leadership has also renewed their own version of an earmark ban, but it's woefully diluted -- it is contingent on Democrats playing along. Frankly, that's too little, too late.

But thanks to Jeb Hensarling, Jeff Flake, and the other RSC members who are pushing for an earmark ban now, I'm confident that we'll see a moratorium before the election. I've been told that they have the votes needed (50) to receive a conference-wide vote. This will force leadership to make a decision they would rather avoid. But pragmatically, rank-and-file members shouldn't sweat. Earmarking is a wonderful election issue. Voters of all stripes hate pork-barrel spending. And since the FY09 budget, which is the vehicle that contains most earmarks, will probably be pushed into next year, very little will be lost (I know, I know, this is an awful argument, but it works).

Not all Republicans are committed to rebuilding their brand of less government and more economic liberty, but a unilateral ban on earmarks would dramatically accelerate their path to redemption. They need to make the hard decision.

Indeed they do.

HMM: "Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is attracting elite Jewish Democratic donors who backed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and are concerned about Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) stance toward Israel, say McCain backers who are organizing the effort to court Democrats."

FROM GM, INCENTIVES TO BUY HYBRID SUVs: "Current owners of a General Motors vehicle will get the largest savings, with as much as $6,000 off the price of non-hybrid Cadillac Escalades, Chevy Tahoes and GMC Yukons. Hybrid versions get a bit less off the top, coming in with $4,000 in total savings. Full-size pickups get in on the incentive game too with combined savings of up to $5,000."

ANOTHER SPACE TOURIST: "Google co-founder Sergey Brin has put down $5 million toward a flight to the international space station with the company that has sent millionaires and even a billionaire into orbit." And now, a gazillionaire! [You know that "Gazillion" isn't a real number, right? --ed. Sez you.]

OUCH: "If the Obama campaign was really committed to debating substantive issues of war and peace in good faith and in a civil tone, they'd repudiate the comments being pushed by their surrogates. And if Obama thinks that McCain is indifferent to the sacrifices being made by U.S. soldiers in Iraq, let him say it himself. (After all, just a few months ago the Obama campaign showed such a deep appreciation for context and the danger of exploiting soundbytes for political hits.)"

UPDATE: More from Marc Ambinder:

The context makes it clear that McCain is reiterating his position that the presence of troops isn't the issue; instead, it's the casualties they receive. The differences between McCain and Obama are clear enough; Obama wants a bare-bones U.S. presence in Iraq, and McCain is willing to tolerate a much larger one; Obama believes that the presence of U.S. troops exacerbates the tension and gives Iraqis a crutch to delay political reconcilliation. McCain does not. One would think that those differences are a sufficient basis upon which to launch a political attack. Instead, though, in a conference call with reporters, in remarks by Democrats like Joe Biden, in a blistering statement by Rep. Rahm Emanuel, McCain is being portrayed as, inter alia, not caring one whit about casualties and deaths and chaos and certainly not about the families of troops who dealt with deployment after deployment.

Obama's been busted for this lie by Factcheck.org before, but his campaign keeps repeating it.

A new kind of politics? Yep. One even more shamelessly dishonest than the old.

CANADIAN KANGAROO COURT UPDATE: CHRC employee sends private investigator to harass my parents at their home. Ah, "human rights."

AN UNUSUAL TRAVEL WARNING: "American tourists who bring personal technology - like cell phones and laptops - with them to China for the Summer Olympics are at risk of having their devices bugged by the Chinese government." Boy, that fills me with the Olympic spirit. On the other hand, intercepting my email is a self-punishing crime . . . .

A HOLLYWOOD-GRADE HD CAMERA that's priced for the backyard. Cool.

IN THE MAIL: Fred Burton's Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent.

Knoxville, Tennessee. Where bus ridership is skyrocketing!

UPDATING THE CLINTONS' enemies list.

CANADIAN KANGAROO COURT UPDATE: The Kafkaesque Show Trial of Mark Steyn.

GETTING IT FROM BOTH SIDES: "Barack Obama spent the last couple of days fending off the firestorm over James Johnson. Now Obama is getting flak for hiring mainstream advisor ('Wall Street economist,' in liberal-speak) Jason Furman to provide economic expertise. The left wing crowd is upset because they were under the impression Obama was a protectionist, pro-labor, populist. Where did they get that impression? Probably from listening to Obama on the campaign trail." Yeah, but that was just politics. Remember?

THE (RELATIVE) DECLINE OF POLITICAL BLOGS? I'm not surprised to hear this -- based on email, etc., people are a lot more interested in my tech- and lifestyle-related posts than the political ones. And if you look in the larger world, the most popular TV shows, magazines, etc., are not the ones about politics.

NEWT GINGRICH IS PUSHING A PETITION to drill more oil in America.

FINALLY, A REAL CAMPAIGN SCANDAL: Obama Admits Smoking Cigarettes in Last Few Months. The horror!

GET THIS REPORTER a breathalyzer!

GLAD I ALREADY BOUGHT MINE: Not enough hybrid cars to meet demand.

THAT WOULD BE NICE: Doing something constructive about oil prices.

QUOTAS, OR "ANTI-ASIAN BIAS"?

A complaint by an Asian American student that racial bias blocked his admission to Princeton University has been expanded by the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights into a broader “compliance review” of the issues involved beyond his case.

The complaint, filed in 2006, has been viewed as significant by critics of affirmative action who argue — as does the rejected applicant — that highly competitive colleges’ commitment to diversity results in differential standards for members of different groups, with Asian American applicants held to tougher standards. . . . Many guidance counselors at high schools with many top Asian American students report that their Asian American applicants appear to need significantly higher SAT scores or grades to win admission to highly competitive colleges than do members of other ethnic or racial groups.

Read the whole thing.

WHICH WAYS TO advanced nanotechnology?

Related item here.

VITAMIN D UPDATE: "Low levels of vitamin D appear to be associated with higher risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack) in men, according to a report in the June 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Studies have shown that the rates of cardiovascular disease-related deaths are increased at higher latitudes and during the winter months and are lower at high altitudes, according to background information in the article. "This pattern is consistent with an adverse effect of hypovitaminosis D [vitamin D deficiency], which is more prevalent at higher latitudes, during the winter and at lower altitudes," the authors write. While other explanations are possible, vitamin D has been shown to affect the body in ways that may influence the risk of heart attack or heart disease."

Basically, you need to be sitting in the sun, drinking red wine, and eating fish. Which, come to think of it, is pretty much the Mediterranean diet.

June 10, 2008

TIM NOAH: Why Jim Webb would make a terrible running mate.

UPDATE: Politico: Webb's rebel roots: An affinity for Confederacy. "Webb, a descendant of Confederate officers, also voiced sympathy for the notion of state sovereignty as it was understood in the early 1860s, and seemed to suggest that states were justified in trying to secede."

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader David King emails: "Those who are inclined to make an issue of this should be the first to understand Webb’s position perfectly: He supports the (Confederate) troops, even though he is against the (Civil) war."

Plus this: "In a complex world, one can simultaneously admire Robert E. Lee’s character, J.E.B. Stuart’s generalship, and the courage of those who charged up Little Round Top while damning the institution of slavery."

OVER AT SLASHDOT, they're taking Dennis Kucinich seriously with regard to his plans to impeach Bush. I think those plans are likely to do as well as his ban on orbital mind-control rays.

THIS HAS TO BE CAUSING HEARTBURN IN THE OBAMA CAMP:

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Democratic Rep. Dan Boren of Oklahoma said Tuesday Barack Obama is "the most liberal senator" in Congress and he has no intention of endorsing him for the White House.

(VIa Jonathan Martin).

IN CANADA, a "breathtakingly broad prohibition" on speech.

PHOTO NEWS: There's a photo tab at the top of the page now. It takes you to all of these photos.

WELL, DUH: Frequent sex is good for your marriage.

And even better for selling books! "Book projects and PR will go on and on, even if sex does not."

IRAQI BODYBUILDERS. Cool. Photo gallery here.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: "Bikinis and other sexy stimuli can make men more prone to seek immediate gratification - leading to blown diets, budgets and bank accounts, new research suggests. . . . When the men felt well-off, the bikinis lost their influence. But if they considered themselves among the have-nots, they were likely to seek immediate gratification after seeing women running in bikinis."

YOUSSEF IBRAHIM: Mainstream Media Picking on Bloggers… Again. Yeah, but once they're laid off, they become bloggers themselves. . . .