Properly British

We are about to conclude a tour of London and it has been fun. The British are really quite proper and we enjoyed the experience. They use words like "whilst" and "way out" instead of while and exit, but that is sort of quaint. We were much impressed that the young people over here have more sense than ours and have avoided the tatoos and piercings which are so common in the U.S. If the dollar rallies against the pound one of these days, or we hit the lottery, it would be fun to come back.

Weak dollar? I would say so.

We made it to London and even had lunch at Herrods. I ordered a Reuben and Diet coke which came to 17.5 pounds or $44 Americn. My bride hasn't revived yet.

Just wondering

Before I leave for Europe, where the loony climate change fringe resides en masse, there is a question I hope to ask someone over there who thinks we must change our climate. It goes something like this---"Do you think anyone knows what the temperature of earth should be?"

Off to Europe

BestView is going to several countries in Europe over the next 3 weeks. If the Islamic fanatics don't blow up my airplane or subway car in London, we should resume blogging after June 3.

Maybe it is a mental illness

The following is from an essay by Dr. Sowell: Read it all.

That people on the political left have a certain set of opinions, just as people do in other parts of the ideological spectrum, is not surprising. What is surprising, however, is how often the opinions of those on the left are accompanied by hostility and even hatred.

How often have you seen conservatives or libertarians take to the streets, shouting angry slogans? How often have conservative students on campus shouted down a visiting speaker or rioted to prevent the visitor from speaking at all?

Dream Election

The presidential election news lately has Newt and Mayor Bloomberg considering a run in the wide open 2008 election. Evidently, a Bloomberg and Hagel ticket is being slobbered over in the New York press. We even have polls showing that Bloomberg is considered a better mayor than Guiliani was. If I could ordain a Bloomberg/Hagel ticket as independents, Clinton/Obama for the dem ticket, and Gingrich/Guiliani (or vice versa) for the Republicans, I would say bring 'em on.

Berrnard Lewis on Iraq

Here is a nice summary by a Middle Eastern Studies authority on the Iraq situation. After quickly summarizing the historical events which got Islam and the rest of us to this point, Lewis makes the critical point that our enemy in this conflict--radical Islam--knows this is a generational battle and we have no apparent ability to get focused on anything beyond the next election. Here is a sample:

Having “destroyed the stronger and more deadly superpower,”the Soviet Union, “the effeminate American Empire is not a problem.” Bin Laden attacked U.S. installations in 1998 with impunity. Americans responded with “angry words” followed by “let’s get out of here.” This attitude began in 1983 Beirut after the U.S. Marine compound was destroyed and 241 U.S. Marines were killed, repeated in Somalia in 1994. Bin Laden’s attacks on American interests continued throughout the 1990’s, culminating with September 11, 2001, when Bin Laden opened the third phase - bringing his Jihad to America.

Turning to Iraq, Lewis suggests a number of views - one reflected in the media, which is of a “continuing disaster,” and another which comes to Lewis from his personal friends in Iraq who “report positive developments.” A third view, Lewis claims, is that “most of Iraq is functioning rather well.” As he ended his prepared remarks, Lewis surprised everyone by expressing “cautious optimism” regarding Iraq. Lewis credited President Bush for being “tough and consistent” in Iraq and ridiculed the attitudes of congressional Democrats who oppose the Iraq war and who are saying: “Unless we win the war by next Tuesday, we are done.”

Don't even think it?

Just ran across this little essay on 5 things you can't say in America and it contains some of the same things I have long held to be unfortunate taboos. I could add some to this list, but Hawkins makes a nice start. I am not too sure about Israel running the Arabs off the land, but something needs to be done over there. You can't just keep doing the same thing over and over with the expectation that things will be different next time.
When I get time I will add some items relating to education that should be in this list.

A major injustice

"I feel that I was treated unfairly and that the sentence is both cruel and unwarranted. I don't deserve this."

So spoke Paris of the Hilton clan after being sentenced to jail for 45 days. I agree with the second sentence. She doesn't deserve 45 days. She should sit in jail until she gets walking around sense. Wear your underwear in there, Paris. What a moron.

Resistant TB strains

From a Washington Post article today. We should keep this in mind when evaluating how many and who is entering the U.S. today.

A virulent strain of tuberculosis resistant to most available drugs is surfacing around the globe, raising fears of a pandemic that could devastate efforts to contain TB and prove deadly to people with immune-deficiency diseases such as HIV-AIDS.

Known formally as extensively drug-resistant TB, or XDR-TB, the strain has been detected in 37 countries. It arises when the bacterium that causes TB mutates because antibiotics used to combat it are carelessly administered by poorly trained doctors or patients don't take their full course of medication. Rather than being killed by the drugs, the microbe builds up resistance to them.

At least 50 percent of those who contract this strain of TB will die of it, according to medical experts. In trying to stop the spread of the disease, which can be transmitted through coughing, spitting or even speaking, health officials have imposed sometimes extreme controls on infected people.

Fair and Balanced

BestView is pretty consistent in its opinion that liberals offer very little in the way of improving our life on earth. When something comes up which seems to make more sense than the right wing position, however, it should be mentioned. I have a brother-in-law who just retired as a Republican congressman after 20 years. Over that time, he has voted mostly as one would expect a conservative to vote. However, over that period of time, I have noticed that he has also developed a paternalistic attitude about the role of government in the affairs of citizens which he will not allow one to question. As a former academic, I enjoy debating subjects even if I am not especially well grounded in the area since I at least have a chance of learning something. This brother-in-law and many other people I have met over the years do not enjoy such give and take and I can live with that.
Recently, I asked this relative how he voted on the measure passed in September which banned the use of credit cards to pay for any form of gambling on the internet which involved a "game of chance". His reply was quite vigorous in proclaiming that he had voted for the ban because the internet is addictive and gambling is addictive and it is therefore necessary for the good politicians in Washington to watch out for us and protect us from our lesser inclinations. I knew immediately that there was no sense in taking this any further. For one thing, I am blessed with four brothers-in-law and 2 of them know less about the internet than I know about grand opera. He is one of them. I already knew that I was considerably more libertarian than he, so the subject was dropped. This attitude, by the way, is about the only thing the liberals have in the way of an argument for abortion. They feel that there is no role for the government to interfere with a woman's right to decide when and how to kill her baby. If there weren't a dead baby at the end of the process, they would have a great argument.
Back to gambling on the internet. There is a large and growing body of evidence--scientific-- that poker is not a game of chance, which is what gambling is. It is a game of skill. It should be mentioned here that the exceptions to the use of the internet in gambling are horse racing and stock trading. Poker is at least as much a game of skill as betting on horse races, but that is the kind of idiotic result you get from politicians who try to control human activities.
Barney Frank, the Chair of the House Financial Services has introduced a bill to overturn the ban on internet gambling and add controls. This could be the first thing he and I ever agreed upon. Furthermore, one of the biggest liberals in Congress (and also one of the most irritating) is Robert Wexler of Florida. He is also introducing legislation to declare poker a skill and allow it to be conducted on the internet.
When the liberals are right about something, they deserve to have it pointed out. Unfortunately, I doubt it will be a regular activity here on BestView.

Understanding Islam

If you want to really understand the way it is in the world today with respect to our enemy in what I consider a long war, you need to carefully read the words of Mark Steyn. Here is one of a long list of columns he has published which explain the situation in a way that everyone can learn from. The problem is getting liberals to acknowledge reality. Until they do, we will be doomed to their politically correct world. Read it all here.

Dems hide fairly thin

This is a good editorial discussing some recent criticism leveled by the liberal Washington Post columnist, David Broder, toward Senate Majority Leader Reid.

Guiliani's logic flawed

Rudy was asked recently if he supported the use of public money to fund abortions for the poor. He said that he would if someone would otherwise be deprived of a constitutional right. Aside from the fact that nobody on earth can find anything in the constitution about abortion, there is certainly no implied right to have the public fund the rights that are actually there. For example, if someone says they can't afford a firearm to satisfy their 2nd Amendment right to keep and bare arms, is Rudy going to buy them one?

What you get for $1.6 billion per year

Sheik Ahmad Bahr, acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, declared during a Friday sermon at a Sudan mosque that America and Israel will be annihilated and called upon Allah to kill Jews and Americans "to the very Last One." Read it all here.

More from the phony liberals

First, the whole pack of liberals running for President as dems fly in separate jets to South Carolina to then lecture us about the evils of conservation and pollution. Now the equally blowhard phony Corzine who as Governor of New Jersey decided the laws of the state passed for ordinary taxpayers were not meant for him and so he has his state troopers driving 91 miles per hour on a freeway on the way to a meeting with Don Imus. This was, of course, was without a seatbelt as required by New Jersey law. As he was leaving the hospital following well-deserved medical treatment he apologized for his previous actions and disregard for the law. On the way to the governor's mansion following that apology, his entourage drove about 15 miles over the posted speed limit. Amazing if we weren't expecting such things from them.

A sad situation

Let's assume you have a young daughter with a tumor which has not responded to conventional therapy and the physicians tell you that there is nothing more they do. A small biotechnology company has a compound in developmental research which they hope will treat cancers of this type, but it hasn't been through the required process to get FDA approval and hasn't even been shown to be effective at a given dose or age group.
As a Father you contact the company and beg for the drug to treat your daughter even though you know the outcome may not be positive and the drug itself may be too toxic and could cause an acceleration of her demise. What do you do if you are running the company? The only way you can develop the drug for FDA approval is through controlled studies of appropriate patients. If you give the drug to patients without the study parameters being established, you could forfeit the potential to develop the drug for numerous other patients.
This situation in various forms is facing parents and companies every day and a decision on the best way to handle requests for drugs prior to FDA approval is an ongoing ethical problem.