Jan11
Jeez, this places just bounces from one extreme to the other. A few months ago in Kandahar, they were executing gays by using them as foundation stones. Now the place is reverting to ancient Sparta.
Can’t they find some kind of happy medium?
Jeez, this places just bounces from one extreme to the other. A few months ago in Kandahar, they were executing gays by using them as foundation stones. Now the place is reverting to ancient Sparta.
Can’t they find some kind of happy medium?
The latest Opinion Dynamics Poll is out at Fox News. It’s mostly good news for the Republicans–other than the environment, health care, and social security, they have the confidence of the poll respondents. On military affairs it’s overwhelming–only 16% would trust the Democrats more. So unless they can make those three issues the dominant ones this year, hopes for taking back the House (and maybe even retaining the Senate) look dim for them right now.
But the worst near-term news for the Dems is that it looks like a majority sees through the demagoguery.
35. Do you agree or disagree with those who say Democrats would rather use the economic downturn as an election issue than work to improve the economy?
Agree: 52%
Disagree: 30%
Not Sure: 18%
I think that Plurality Leader Daschle is playing a losing hand here…
The latest Opinion Dynamics Poll is out at Fox News. It’s mostly good news for the Republicans–other than the environment, health care, and social security, they have the confidence of the poll respondents. On military affairs it’s overwhelming–only 16% would trust the Democrats more. So unless they can make those three issues the dominant ones this year, hopes for taking back the House (and maybe even retaining the Senate) look dim for them right now.
But the worst near-term news for the Dems is that it looks like a majority sees through the demagoguery.
35. Do you agree or disagree with those who say Democrats would rather use the economic downturn as an election issue than work to improve the economy?
Agree: 52%
Disagree: 30%
Not Sure: 18%
I think that Plurality Leader Daschle is playing a losing hand here…
The latest Opinion Dynamics Poll is out at Fox News. It’s mostly good news for the Republicans–other than the environment, health care, and social security, they have the confidence of the poll respondents. On military affairs it’s overwhelming–only 16% would trust the Democrats more. So unless they can make those three issues the dominant ones this year, hopes for taking back the House (and maybe even retaining the Senate) look dim for them right now.
But the worst near-term news for the Dems is that it looks like a majority sees through the demagoguery.
35. Do you agree or disagree with those who say Democrats would rather use the economic downturn as an election issue than work to improve the economy?
Agree: 52%
Disagree: 30%
Not Sure: 18%
I think that Plurality Leader Daschle is playing a losing hand here…
Rafsanjani thinks that Dubya is being “rude and impudent” for warning Iran about harboring Al Qaeda terrorists.
What does he think that harboring people who drive planes into skyscrapers is? Impolite?
According to my sources, Judy Woodruff just announced on CNN that Teddy Kennedy is going to call for a repeal of the tax cuts.
And please, no sophistry about how this is not really a tax increase, because it happens in the future. If changing the legislation so that the cuts don’t take effect isn’t a tax increase, then the original legislation didn’t constitute a tax cut. Sorry, you can’t have it both ways.
Swiss dairy farmers have been banned from using hair spray to improve the looks of their cows.
…the head of the Cattle Association, Hans Siegentahler, now says: “Styling cows has been perfected in such a way that even experts couldn’t judge any longer whether a cow is a natural beauty or just made up. Cattle breeders should stick to the beauty ideal without deceiving anybody.”
When we can’t coif our cattle, the terrorists win.
Nice catch by Andrew Sullivan (or whoever pointed it out to him). And quick thinking by Shelby.
Exchange on CNN?s NewsNight, December 18:
Aaron Brown: “Some conservatives jumped on [Taliban fighter John] Walker, saying he is a product of cultural liberalism ? the California kind ? helping to turn an impressionable kid against his own country. Joining us from Salinas, California, one of those conservatives, Shelby Steele of the Hoover Institution. Mr. Steele wrote a provocative article the other day in The Wall Street Journal ? a column in the Journal. And here in New York, a columnist who thinks Mr. Steele is making an awfully broad generalization: Richard Cohen of the Washington Post. It?s nice to have both of you here.
Mr. Steele.”
Shelby Steele: “First of all, let me interrupt you just a minute. Is Richard Cohen a liberal?”
Brown: “Yeah, Richard Cohen?s a liberal. I think he would say that, wouldn?t he?”
Richard Cohen: “On this issue.”
Brown: “Okay. Everyone is now branded, I guess.”
Steele: “Great. If I?m going to be, everybody?s going to be.”
Nice catch by Andrew Sullivan (or whoever pointed it out to him). And quick thinking by Shelby.
Exchange on CNN?s NewsNight, December 18:
Aaron Brown: “Some conservatives jumped on [Taliban fighter John] Walker, saying he is a product of cultural liberalism ? the California kind ? helping to turn an impressionable kid against his own country. Joining us from Salinas, California, one of those conservatives, Shelby Steele of the Hoover Institution. Mr. Steele wrote a provocative article the other day in The Wall Street Journal ? a column in the Journal. And here in New York, a columnist who thinks Mr. Steele is making an awfully broad generalization: Richard Cohen of the Washington Post. It?s nice to have both of you here.
Mr. Steele.”
Shelby Steele: “First of all, let me interrupt you just a minute. Is Richard Cohen a liberal?”
Brown: “Yeah, Richard Cohen?s a liberal. I think he would say that, wouldn?t he?”
Richard Cohen: “On this issue.”
Brown: “Okay. Everyone is now branded, I guess.”
Steele: “Great. If I?m going to be, everybody?s going to be.”
Nice catch by Andrew Sullivan (or whoever pointed it out to him). And quick thinking by Shelby.
Exchange on CNN?s NewsNight, December 18:
Aaron Brown: “Some conservatives jumped on [Taliban fighter John] Walker, saying he is a product of cultural liberalism ? the California kind ? helping to turn an impressionable kid against his own country. Joining us from Salinas, California, one of those conservatives, Shelby Steele of the Hoover Institution. Mr. Steele wrote a provocative article the other day in The Wall Street Journal ? a column in the Journal. And here in New York, a columnist who thinks Mr. Steele is making an awfully broad generalization: Richard Cohen of the Washington Post. It?s nice to have both of you here.
Mr. Steele.”
Shelby Steele: “First of all, let me interrupt you just a minute. Is Richard Cohen a liberal?”
Brown: “Yeah, Richard Cohen?s a liberal. I think he would say that, wouldn?t he?”
Richard Cohen: “On this issue.”
Brown: “Okay. Everyone is now branded, I guess.”
Steele: “Great. If I?m going to be, everybody?s going to be.”
I’m listening, with half an ear as I work, to the funeral of the guy killed in hostile fire in Afghanistan, on Fox News. It seems to have turned into a lengthy sermon. It sounds like I’m listening to something on Sunday morning on some double-digit VHF or UHF channel, instead of Friday afternoon on FNC.
I have no objection to such a thing at the funeral, if the family want it, but do the non-Christians among us really have to be subjected to it (yeah, I know, I can switch the channel)?
I just think that funerals are not news, at least not any more. I thought that Barbara Olson’s service was beautiful, but I still questioned its being telecast live. We’re only making a big deal about this one because there have been so few casualties, and none due to hostile fire, until this one. But if this were a real war, we wouldn’t have enough television bandwidth to broadcast all the funerals. The fact that he died is news. I’m sorry for his family, but his funeral isn’t.
According to Aviation Now, NASA is now focused on airbreathers, or to be more precise, Rocket-Based Combined Cycle (RBCC) propulsion for the next generations of space transport.
Although virtually all of the third-generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV) concepts currently being considered by NASA rely on some form of combined-cycle propulsion to get to orbit, the space agency is still not insisting on single-stage vehicles.
Well, it’s nice that they’re not insisting on SSTO, I guess…
Obviously, the RBCC hobby shop at Marshall is winning the bureaucratic turf war.
Here’s a concept, guys. How about just putting out an RFQ for X pounds and Y people delivered to orbit, and let the market figure it out?
Nahhhh, that would mean the technology sandbox might get emptied…
According to Aviation Now, NASA is now focused on airbreathers, or to be more precise, Rocket-Based Combined Cycle (RBCC) propulsion for the next generations of space transport.
Although virtually all of the third-generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV) concepts currently being considered by NASA rely on some form of combined-cycle propulsion to get to orbit, the space agency is still not insisting on single-stage vehicles.
Well, it’s nice that they’re not insisting on SSTO, I guess…
Obviously, the RBCC hobby shop at Marshall is winning the bureaucratic turf war.
Here’s a concept, guys. How about just putting out an RFQ for X pounds and Y people delivered to orbit, and let the market figure it out?
Nahhhh, that would mean the technology sandbox might get emptied…
According to Aviation Now, NASA is now focused on airbreathers, or to be more precise, Rocket-Based Combined Cycle (RBCC) propulsion for the next generations of space transport.
Although virtually all of the third-generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV) concepts currently being considered by NASA rely on some form of combined-cycle propulsion to get to orbit, the space agency is still not insisting on single-stage vehicles.
Well, it’s nice that they’re not insisting on SSTO, I guess…
Obviously, the RBCC hobby shop at Marshall is winning the bureaucratic turf war.
Here’s a concept, guys. How about just putting out an RFQ for X pounds and Y people delivered to orbit, and let the market figure it out?
Nahhhh, that would mean the technology sandbox might get emptied…
Bill Quick, in commenting on the recent appeals court ruling in Ohio, notes that the gun-control law in question (and many others of that era) were written for the purpose of keeping minorities unarmed. He’s right. And another dirty little secret is that the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage law was implemented to keep them from working (and thus taking jobs away from white men).
This, to me, in addition to being an argument for more exposure of the history of these oppressive laws, is also an argument for sunset provisions in all laws, so that harmful laws that arise from peculiar (and often unjust) circumstances are not perpetuated indefinitely. Requiring sunset for all congressional legislation (including all existing legislation) is one of my top candidates for a new constitutional amendment.
Bill Quick, in commenting on the recent appeals court ruling in Ohio, notes that the gun-control law in question (and many others of that era) were written for the purpose of keeping minorities unarmed. He’s right. And another dirty little secret is that the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage law was implemented to keep them from working (and thus taking jobs away from white men).
This, to me, in addition to being an argument for more exposure of the history of these oppressive laws, is also an argument for sunset provisions in all laws, so that harmful laws that arise from peculiar (and often unjust) circumstances are not perpetuated indefinitely. Requiring sunset for all congressional legislation (including all existing legislation) is one of my top candidates for a new constitutional amendment.
Bill Quick, in commenting on the recent appeals court ruling in Ohio, notes that the gun-control law in question (and many others of that era) were written for the purpose of keeping minorities unarmed. He’s right. And another dirty little secret is that the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage law was implemented to keep them from working (and thus taking jobs away from white men).
This, to me, in addition to being an argument for more exposure of the history of these oppressive laws, is also an argument for sunset provisions in all laws, so that harmful laws that arise from peculiar (and often unjust) circumstances are not perpetuated indefinitely. Requiring sunset for all congressional legislation (including all existing legislation) is one of my top candidates for a new constitutional amendment.
For those who were complaining about some peoples’ (including moi) “insensitive” comments about the recent departure of the Clinton canine, here’s an interesting little nugget from Andrew Sullivan’s lunch with Dick Morris.
I also inquired about Buddy. All Dick said was that he had never seen Clinton so much as touch a dog in private. Figures.
Assuming that you believe Dick Morris (I always will, when it comes to his word against that of an admitted perjurer), this is why I had no compunction about Buddy commentary. Like his Wyoming vacation, or tears-on-command at Ron Brown’s funeral, Buddy was a show dog–Clinton probably ran a focus group beforehand to figure out which breed he should get.
I feel bad for Buddy, but he’s in a better place now. It’s hard for me to work up much sympathy for a sociopath.
Another great read from Mark Steyn.
…Let’s take it as a given that George W. Bush lacks the intelligence to hold down a really demanding job like columnist at the New York Times or Slate. Let?s take it as read that he’s a stupid man leading the stupid party of a stupid country. Granted all that, his blissful indifference to the hotshots of the International Who’s Who is as brilliant a distillation of global reality as any. Bush couldn’t name the Prime Minister of Hoogivsadamistan, but in the weeks before 11 September, having already spotted his predecessor’s neglect of the matter, his administration was working on new strategies to combat international terrorism. What a chump, eh? Too dumb to be Prime Minister of Canada.
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Logic Gymnastics
by Rand Simberg on January 11, 2002 at 8:40 pm…should be an Olympic event for liberal pundits. I haven’t said much about the Enron situation, other than to point out that the only administration for which there is actually any evidence that favors were granted to Enron for political contributions was the Clinton Administration.
But Shields and Brooks on MacLehrer tonight was hilarious, watching the mental and logical contortions that Mark Shields was going through to try to pin the tail on the elephant. Given the paucity of real scandals, after the scandal du jour, the scandal continuum of the previous administration, this is the pathetic state to which their desperation finally leads them.
First, it was the old ploy of guilt by association and reputation–most of Enron’s contributions went to Republicans, Bush was good buds with Lay, then he tried to deny it, Bush has a reputation of being for the wealthy and powerful, blah, blah, blah..
When Brooks points out what I did previously–that Enron actually did get rides on diplomatic missions in exchange for contributions to the DNC and White House (with associated eventual contracts)–and there is not only no evidence that the Bush Administration helped Enron when they asked for it, but that instead there is abundant evidence that they hung them out to dry, then Shields says, “Well, it’s not what they did, it’s what they didn’t do. They wanted to not be regulated.”
Then, when it is pointed out that if this is what they wanted, and they actually got it (not at all clear), it seemed to not do them any good, since they are now bankrupt, the story shifts again. “Well, but they’re such crumbums, letting their business go under, and their stock melt down, and hurting all those employees, and widows, and orphans, and their puppy dogs.” Thus we progress from “Enron bribed the Bush Administration to grant them favors” to “the heartless Bush Administration let Enron go under, hurting all those poor people…” (This is a tactic that Henry Waxman is shifting to as well.)
I suspect that this whole thing is going to go over about as well as Daschle’s absurd attempt to blame the depth of the recession on tax cuts that haven’t happened yet (i.e., like a uranium Hindenburg).
If there is a scandal here, it’s not a campaign finance scandal (unless the SEC was paid off to look the other way). It is a scandal of corporate governance and the accountability of accountants, and while Enron is about to go mammaries up almost immediately, it’s also going to be long-term damaging (and appropriately so) to Arthur Anderson.
The latter company has built itself into an accounting and consultancy powerhouse, but if we are to judge by the Enron case, its clients have been getting poor value for their money (unless their intention is to use it as a high-paid consiglieri to keep a double, or even triple set of books, which are promptly burned at the first sign of the G-men…). This is what Enron paid twenty-seven megabucks for? Nice work, if you can get it. And stay out of jail…