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.

The devil is named real estate

There seems to be a gathering storm around the activities of several Congressmen in the general area of real estate transactions gone criminal. Most seem to be Republicans like Renzi of Arizona who might join some of their colleagues in jail, but Senator Reid and former Speaker Hastert also have smelly associations which don't seem to be as actively investigated as some of the others. Congressman Jefferson evidently took a bribe for a non-real estate activity and Barack Obama has a slimy association in Chicago which is almost unavoidable for a politician from Illinois, I suppose. I am about ready to conclude that any Congressman involved in a real estate deal while in office or soon thereafter is is probably a crook.

Supreme Court lets phonies down

Thomas Carper, the low-profile junior senator from Delaware, tries to walk the middle of the road on abortion. He was rated at 55 percent pro-choice by NARAL in 2006, but he was one of the 17 Democrats who voted to ban partial birth abortion three years earlier. Carper said after the court upheld the 2003 bill: "I think a number of people who voted for it thought that the court would ultimately strike it down."
There is something very smarmy about voting for a bill that you think is unconstitutional in the hope that you can have your cake and eat it too when the Supreme Court knocks it down. And to be bipartisan, plenty of Republicans, including President Bush, did that with the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, commonly known as McCain-Feingold.
This is from a good post by Betsy.

Mike Nifong's Fate

An interesting side issue in the Mike Nifong saga with prosecutorial misconduct is the manner in which the panel now hearing his case decides the matter. Ordinarily, a bunch of lawyers trying to decide if another lawyer did something unethical would be laughable since the likelihood of them doing something as extraordinary as taking away a license to practice would be beyond the pale. (The same situation would apply to physicians, by the way). This case, however, is so public that it might be argued that it is impossible for Mike to get a fair hearing. Obviously, those lawyers on the panel deciding his fate do not want to be the subject of numerous newspaper and television second-guessing. I predict that in this case, the light shining on the case might actually bring about partial justice and Nifong will lose his license, but won't go to prison where he belongs.

Misplaced Concern

Liberals all have their panties in a wad about the Supreme Court decision regarding partial birth abortion. Actually this was an almost meaningless act since women can still go in after the 5th month and have their cervix dilated so scissors can be used to cut the baby into little pieces and then taken out bit by bit. These leftist loonies can therefore continue to dispatch innocent babies while at the same time they object to any method of capital punishment because it is inhumane and could theoretically cause temporary pain to a convicted piece of scum.

A sensible response to Virginia Tech

NASHVILLE — In a surprise move, a House panel voted today to repeal a state law that forbids the carrying of handguns on property and buildings owned by state, county and city governments — including parks and playgrounds.

"I think the recent Virginia disaster — or catastrophe or nightmare or whatever you want to call it — has woken up a lot of people to the need for having guns available to law-abiding citizens," said Rep. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains. "I hope that is what this vote reflects."

The saddest aspect of the Imus affair

We have already had way too much said about the Imus comment and its aftermath, but the most consequential aspect is not that a liberal jerk who provided a national format for liberal politicians and their press shills lost his program. The saddest part is the usage of the term "ho." Imus did not originate the term. Ho is a derivation of whore and it was first used by black men and even today is used primarily to refer to black women, mostly young black women. As has been made obvious in the Imus mess, this is a derogatory way to refer to these young women and all of them do not deserve it. It seems to me, however, that the situation is in some part caused by the extent to which far too many young black women permit black men to use them sexually and then have their babies, sans marriage or subsequent support, without consequence. They may not be whores in the strictest sense, but this situation certainly doesn't allow them to command respect and avoid demeaning references.

The story behind the lost line item veto

In 1996 the Republican party kept its word and gave President Clinton the line item veto. One of the first times he used it, he struck down a special interest provision which allowed New York hospitals a unique right to bilk Medicare out of extra money. The veto saved at least $200 million that year, but this was challenged in court and went all the way to the Supreme Court which put the kibosh on the veto authority in 1998. As Paul Harvey says, and now for the rest of the story. It turns out the guy who helped stall this powerful tool for controlling spending was none other than Rudy Giuliani who is now busy touting his "fiscally conservative" governing background. The Republican campaign should be fun when things like this are pointed out.

My, how the "Times" has changed

In 1909 the New York Times in an editorial opposing the income tax stated the following: "When men get in the habit of helping themselves to the property of others, they cannot be easily cured of it."

Curious speech

I just returned from a week where I was in crowds of people of different racial and cultural backgrounds from those I usually encounter. One thing that struck me during this exposure was the wide-spread use of "ja know what I mean?" in almost every sentence during almost all conversations I overheard. I presume this is an extension of the previous verbal assault "you know" which became a common source of lingual criticism and derision.

My question concerns the origin of this practice. So far I have come up with two possibilities. The first is the individual has no confidence in his or her ability to communicate effectively and just wants some assurance that all the words actually mean something. The second is the person speaking has no confidence that the person being addressed is smart enough to understand the spoken words. In either case, a desire for reassurance by constantly asking "you know what I mean?" makes sense, but the deficiencies implied are not particularly flattering.

Schools take on a new task

Despite proving themselves the biggest failure in modern America our public schools have decided that it now up to them to undertake an effort to assure that our students which they can't educate properly get the proper nutrition and watch their weight. More and more schools are undertaking the job of putting the child's body mass index on the report cards and writing letters to parents of students who they consider too heavy. This comes at a time when these same schools are eliminating activities at what once was called "recess" because things like tag and dodge ball are not politically correct.
Finally, when you question the education establishment about their failure to educate, a common excuse is the teachers have too many distractions like paperwork, reports to the government, mandated testing, etc. The logic of any suggestion that teachers work to improve their primary mission before undertaking new ones is probably not going to be appreciated.

Chirac exits stage left

Jacques Chirac has finally exited the world stage and thus the President of France ends a career as the world's biggest liberal. In this country, we all know that the libs want to raise taxes on everyone that is rich enough to pay them. That is chump change to our man Chirac. His biggest disappointment as President came when he failed in his effort to tax everyone in the world. He wanted every country in the world to put a tax on air fares and give the money to some idiotic organization like the U.N. to improve the environment or some other nonsensical project. The sad aspect of Chirac's leaving is the French will not improve in their next selection.

Unintended consequences

The obvious efforts of Speaker Pelosi to establish her own foreign policy is being criticized by even such liberal rags as the Washington Post and U.S. Today. Despite this response to her Syrian diplomacy, it may be that hubris will not allow her to rein in her concept of her role in the Constitutional process. Should she continue with her anti-Bush end-runs, it just might make the electorate even more reluctant to entrust our government to Hillary. If Ms Rodham comes to a similar conclusion, it will be interesting to watch how this threat is obviated. Watch your back, Nancy.

The Logan Act still on the books

Does this apply to Speaker Pelosi and other members of Congress--Republican or Democrat? Probably, but it doesn't make any difference. Bush has amply demonstrated that he has no intention of enforcing the law. Witness the Sandy Burger case, illegal immigrants, etc. The entire article is here.

The Logan Act makes it a felony and provides for a prison sentence of up to three years for any American, "without authority of the United States," to communicate with a foreign government in an effort to influence that government's behavior on any "disputes or controversies with the United States."

The British get their troops but lose pride

As mentioned in a previous entry to this enlightened blog, the timidity of the British in their response to the outrageous retention of their military personnel by the Iranians is really sad. The country which once ruled the high seas now cowers and runs to the U.N. in the face of a true assault on their sovereignty.
Jonah Goldberg writes about the sorry state of U.K. affairs here. Read it all.

Coming here next?

The following is from England, but how long before our teachers catch up? Read it all.

Schools are dropping the Holocaust from history lessons to avoid offending Muslim pupils, a Government backed study has revealed.

It found some teachers are reluctant to cover the atrocity for fear of upsetting students whose beliefs include Holocaust denial.

A sad state of affairs

Well, the Iranians take British sailors hostage and the response of our once proud ally is to go to the U.N. and ask them to condemn the action. How sad. A land of liberals.

Antibiotic resistant infection treatment

I ran across this article which reports on some research that indicates there is a peptide which can help treat bacterial infections which are resistant to our most effective antibiotics. This is a large and growing problem, but from what I can gather this research is a very long way from being the help we need. The animal experiments which lead to this report were not designed to show infections are actually cured, but rather it appears that if the peptide is given before or shortly after the animals are challenged with bacteria, the enhanced immune system helps prevent infections and affords some protection. Unfortunately, this is a long way from being what we really need.

What a crock!

Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack gave Sen. Hillary Clinton his endorsement for her presidential campaign.

The Clinton campaign has promised Vilsack to help pay off a $400,000 campaign debt he built up during his run for the White House. . . .

The campaign said there is no connection between Vilsack's endorsement and their commitment to help pay off his campaign debt.

Global Warming "problem" put elegantly

There have been a number of great comments on the internet lately as a result of Al Gore's appearance before Congress. The position taken by BestView is well established, but sometimes the situation is put so well that it bears wider dissemination. The following is a comment offered by MikeD on Roger Simon's blog As one might suspect when a scientific matter is being considered, a scientist can be expected to offer more than an insane politician.

I think your commenters here have summarized the present argument (and situation) well. As a doctored geoscientist I claim no particular prescience, only an appreciation for the much longer geologic time frame, perhaps a greater appreciation for the variables involved, and a cognition of the number of times throughout history that "science" has gotten it rather wrong. I'm quite certain that the globe has recently "warmed"; it doesn't surprise me. I would even argue that there is probably some anthropogenic contribution. That said, science (and particularly fear-mongering politicians) have no idea of the magnitude or the consequences of such activity. We simply do not know, and more recent scientific insights regarding CO2 being a consequence of temperature increase rather than causative beggers the issue even more.

But Larry J is absolutely correct. There is no global political solution to the problem--it transcends our ability to impact it. Only an egomaniacal fool would posit such a stance. The Goreacle, whether considered the high priest or the emperor of GW, increasingly appears to be wearing increasingly transparent robes--and very likely none at all. Whatever the future climatic/environmental condition, human kind will have to adapt, just like the species has since Lucy scampered around the plains of East Africa. I wouldn't worry about GW if I were you, I would worry about large numbers of imbeciles following Al Gore and Laurie David and telling you how you should live your life.

Interesting Research in Heart Disease

This article describes some current research which I learned about through my interest in investments. A biotech company I invested in this week will report on some research tomorrow involving the injection of stem cells into the hearts of patients with recent heart attacks in a Phase 1 study. The results, I understand, were very positive and I expect the stock to do quite well, but the benefits to attack victims down the road may be even better. The company is Osiris Therapeutics Inc., stock symbol OSIR.

An eye on Iran

There is an interesting analysis of the present situation in Iran this morning in the American Thinker. Here is an snippet, but the whole thing is worth reading.

Chances are that the decision to stop Mahmoud's trip to New York was made by the Supreme Guide, with the support of the pragmatists.

At the same time the Russians are beginning to pull their technicians out of the Bushehr nuclear plant in a dispute with the Mullocracy that is said to be about money, but is more likely to be about nukes. The Russians can't be thrilled with an out-of-control jihadist nuclear power on their Southern border.

When the Israeli Air Force bombed Saddam's nuclear reactor in 1981, the French had withdrawn all of their technicians. The Israelis worked with French intelligence to avoid casualties, and destroyed Saddam's nuclear program in essentially one strike. That is not going to happen with Iran's dispersed nuke effort, with more than 1000 sites. But if the Russians withdraw their people, the Iranians know perfectly well that the Bushehr plant can be hit with immediate multiple attacks from US and Israeli forces.

Liberals will never learn

Michigan has a problem. Actually they have a number of them, but one big one is a $940 million short fall in its budget. What to do? Well, Governor Granholm has a proposal to just raise taxes and cut a little from the budget. Granholm has proposed a 2% tax on services, a new tax on businesses to replace the Single Business Tax which expires Dec. 31, and smaller increases in cigarette, liquor and estate taxes. Granholm's executive order included $171.5 million actual cuts to state programs, the rest was accounting changes to state programs such as reduced payments to state employee retirement funds. House Appropriations Committee chairman George Cushingberry, D-Detroit, said he will look at other options such as increasing the income tax or expanding the 6% sales tax to a limited number of services. One example, he said, is country club greens fees.

So there you have it. Businesses and people are leaving in droves, unemployment is the highest in the nation, the housing foreclosures and decrease in home values is also tops in the nation. How do we deal with this? Let's raise taxes and exacerbate the problem. The real fun will be when the great state of Michigan is unable to fund employee pensions. How much will taxes go up then?

Too extreme????

As indicated in this news item, the legislature in South Carolina is considering legislation to require an ultrasound prior to an abortion. The objection of the pro-abortion legislator is interesting---it would be too extreme. So, by this reasoning a harmless, non-invasive imaging procedure is an extreme prelude to a surgical procedure which kills a baby.

(Columbia) - Getting an ultrasound is a normal part of most pregnant women's journey into motherhood. Now, some state representatives want women considering abortions to view images of their fetuses before a decision is made.

Rep. Greg Delleney (R-Chester and York Counties), said, "I'm just trying to save lives and protect people from regret and inform women with the most accurate non-judgemental information that can be provided."

Delleney is the main sponsor of the amendment. Currently, there is already a South Carolina law requiring women to pass prerequisites before abortions, including reviewing abortion information and undergoing a waiting period. Still, Delleney says women need more information to make a final decision.

"From the calls I've gotten, I think some people wished there was an ultrasound requirement at the time they underwent the abortion procedure," he said.

But Delleney's ideas are meeting a lot of opposition from several organizations, as well as other lawmakers, such as Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter (D-Orangeburg County). She says it's too extreme.

Gonzalez should go

Our current Attorney General is so pathetic that he can't leave soon enough. Either he didn't know what was going on in his department or he did. Either way he demonstrated his incompetence and this friend of Bush should go. He probably will this week. Maybe his replacement will take another look at the crimes committed by Sandy Berger and clean up that mess.

Gore won't show up

A Englishman by the name of Lord Monckton has challenged Al Gore to a debate to be televised worldwide on the subject of man-made global warming. Of course, if old Al is really interested in convincing the world that the future of mankind is being threatened as he claims, he will readily accept the challenge to broaden his views to a audience measured in the billions. Since Lord Monckton would counter with scientific facts, I am sure that Al will find a way to be somewhere else.

Don't worry your pretty head.

I just saw the following story and for some reason, the attempts to allay my concerns were not successful.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Suspected members of extremist groups have signed up as school bus drivers in the United States, counterterror officials said Friday, in a cautionary bulletin to police. An FBI spokesman said, "Parents and children have nothing to fear."

Asked about the alert notice, the FBI's Rich Kolko said, "There are no threats, no plots and no history leading us to believe there is any reason for concern," although law enforcement agencies around the country were asked to watch out for kids' safety.

The bulletin, parts of which were read to The Associated Press, did not say how often foreign extremists have sought to acquire licenses to drive school buses, or where. It was sent Friday as part of what officials said was a routine FBI and Homeland Security Department advisory to local law enforcement.

It noted "recent suspicious activity" by foreigners who either drive school buses or are licensed to drive them, according to a counterterror official.

Foreigners under recent investigation include "some with ties to extremist groups" who have been able to "purchase buses and acquire licenses," the bulletin says.

But Homeland Security and the FBI "have no information indicating these individuals are involved in a terrorist plot against the homeland," it says. The memo also notes: "Most attempts by foreign nationals in the United States to acquire school bus licenses to drive them are legitimate."

I want to see the follow-up on the ones which are not legitimate.

Inclusion long overdue

From Sand in the Gears.

The University of California at Berkeley is looking to hire its first Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion, and I think it's about darn time. I'm heartened to know that with this renewed focus on recruiting students and faculty from underrepresented groups, Berkeley's agents will soon be scouring Iowa for devout homeschooled virgin boys. Young men returning from service in Iraq, likewise, may find a warmer reception than they would have received in years past. And no doubt many young parents, as well as retired executives, will soon be submitting their applications to the more equitable and inclusive Cal-Berkeley. Observant pro-war Jews, aspiring Christian filmmakers, chaste young pro-life activists — all are welcome under Berkeley's big tent, right.

Got a million? Not rich enough.

Hedge funds are the investment vehicles which have more flexibility and clout than ordinary mutual funds most people put their retirement money in. Since the risk is greater, the government has set up standards of wealth for someone who wishes to turn over his money to a hedge fund. Currently, one should have a net worth of $1 million including the value of a primary residence or an annual income of $200,000 for the previous two years ($300,000 for a couple) in order to "qualify" for a hedge fund investment.

Well, now it seems like the government has decided millionaires are no longer financially savvy enough to make these types of investments. The logic is that there are too many millionaires now. According to the 2004 statistics, 8% of the population is now eligible under current rules. So, let's change the rules. The SEC is now proposing that an individual have investible assets of at least $2.5 million excluding equity in a primary residence to be eligible to sign up for a hedge fund.

We should all feel better now that the government is looking out for the millionaires.

The price of fame

In last Saturday's Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition, veteran food reporter Raymond Sokolov bestowed the grand title on an eight-stool restaurant called Ann's Snack Bar. It serves the "World Famous Ghetto Burger". After eating dozens of hamburgers coast to coast and everywhere in between, Ann was declared the best. Since then, owner Ann Price has been besieged with business at her ramshackle, blink-and-you'll-miss-it, 35-year-old joint in Atlanta.

"It's driving me nuts down here!" Price, 63, bellowed from behind the counter where a dozen or more of her iconic double-pattie creations sizzled on the flattop grill, reddened with seasoning salt and draped in yellow cheese. "I don't have the space!"

"Miss Ann," as loyal regulars call her, prefers to work less like a short-order cook and more like an itamae-san at a sushi counter — crafting each burger sequentially, starting with a mound of loose meat cupped in her palm. She carves slivers from a whole onion over the burger as if she were peeling a potato. She crisps bacon in the deep-fat fryer, toasts the bun on the griddle and hand-spreads thin veneers of every known condiment. Sokolov termed the results a "masterpiece" and "the next level of burgerhood."

General Pace's Comment

In a newspaper interview Monday, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had likened homosexual acts to adultery and said the military should not condone it by allowing gays to serve openly in the armed forces. This, of course, caused an uproar which started out as a misrepresentation of his actual words. Most news accounts jumped directly to state that he said homosexuals are immoral. There was no attempt to differentiate between homosexuality and homosexual acts. This was despite his clear statement that heterosexuals were also capable of immoral acts in his opinion. Once again, one is not entitled to opinions that run contrary to the PC crowd that buys ink by the barrel. The fact remains that the men and women in the armed forces don't want fags in their midst if it is obvious.

Too far left? Too loony!!!

Another example of the kook extremism going too far is given in the New York Times today. Readers of BestView know the screeches of Al Gore are absurd, but now the liberals are beginning to realize it and this article pointing out some of the global warming "facts" are anything but. Read it here.

Too far left?

If you are a loony liberal and have the slightest interest in deciding when you have gone too far off the ledge, what guide do you use? Well, as Lyndon Johnson once said with regard to Viet Nam, when you have lost Cronkite, you have lost the American people. Well, one thing the kooks like Nancy Pelosi might use is the liberal press. As shown by this editorial, even the Washington Post recognizes the falacy inherent in the attempt by the Pelosi crowd to micromanage the Iraq situation. Read it here.

House Schedule

House Schedule for Week of March 12

First Vote of the Week: Monday 6:30 p.m. Last Vote Predicted: Thursday p.m.

So, once again the dems will not be able to keep their pledge to work a full week.

Bush upsets the spirits

Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate "bad spirits". Juan Tiney, the director of a Mayan nongovernmental organization with close ties to Mayan religious and political leaders said the "spirit guides of the Mayan community" decided it would be necessary to cleanse the sacred site of "bad spirits" after Bush's visit so that their ancestors could rest in peace. He also said the rites — which entail chanting and burning incense, herbs and candles — would prepare the site for the third summit of Latin American Indians March 26-30.

Everyone should hear this

This is an excellent reminder of where we were once and how different it is now.

Hillary is hilarious

O.K. here is the famous clip of Hillary and her newly found black, southern accent which she delivered to the black church in Selma, Alabama. Now the question is whether her pandering is sadder than the fact that her audience didn't seem to take umbrage.

Even More on Gore

My feeble efforts to describe the Al Gore hypocrisy have been vastly exceeded by the man himself. Mark Steyn offers this as an opening paragraph, but the whole thing should be read here.

Stop me if you've heard this before, but the other day the Rev. Al Gore declared that "climate change" was "the most important moral, ethical, spiritual and political issue humankind has ever faced.'' Ever. I believe that was the same day it was revealed that George W. Bush's ranch in Texas is more environmentally friendly than the Gore mansion in Tennessee. According to the Nashville Electric Service, the Eco-Messiah's house uses 20 times more electricity than the average American home. The average household consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours. In 2006, the Gores wolfed down nearly 221,000 kilowatt-hours.

Abortion and Sex Selection

"At least 60 million girls who would otherwise be expected to be alive are ‘missing’ from various populations as a result of sex-selective abortions or neglect." This sentence was part of an article I read recently and seemed to me a really big number until I realized that most of these abortions were conducted in China and India and therefore not the subject of discussion here in the U.S. This situation reminds me of the intellectual trap in which liberals find themselves with other issues. Liberals find all manner of reasons why our slavery hundreds of years ago is harming blacks in the U.S. today, but say not a word about those being held in slavery today in other countries. The problem the left has with abortion rights--a woman's right to choose death for her fetus--is clearly revealed by their complete silence on the practice of abortion to choose the sex of the new-born. It is hard enough to feign a moral stance when advocating abortion for any reason, but the cognitive dissonance required to support a womans right to choose while opposing abortion for sex selection is so obvious that the liberals choose to simply ignore the situation. Can't really blame them.

Dem Dilemma

The poor dems in Congress are at odds on the best way to surrender. Read about it here.

School Choice

There is a really good Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal today pointing out once again how phony liberals are when it comes to school choice. The only choice they favor is one for their own children. The examples are well known to those of us whose blood boils when faced with such hypocrisy. The Clintons put Chelsea in Sidwell Friends rather than any of the public schools available to her and then vetoed a bill which would have given some inner-city parents the same option. John Edwards? He campaigns with the complaint that America has two schools-one for the affluent and one for everyone else. He sent his children to a religious school because D.C. schools are "deeply troubled". He has no problem with the logic that school choice for other kids would drain resources from public schools, but his choice didn't. Al Gore, of course, is the biggest phony on this subject as on most others. He sent his children to elite schools in the nation's capitol like the one he went to when growing up, but opposes school choice for low-income families. He once said, "If I was the parent of a child who went to an inner-city school that was failing, I might be for vouchers, too." But, as Clint Bolick, the author of this piece points out, he isn't so he doesn't.

The teachers have selfish motives for opposing choice since it would expose their failures and most of them are very liberal in opposing something which doesn't guarantee everyone an equal outcome. It is far better to keep all children in a failing school than allow some of them to escape. To a liberal, that is just as unfair as recognizing that some student might excel at soccer, or some other activity, and thereby deserve an award superior to others.

All of this is very discouraging to those who actually want a better education for our kids, but the saddest aspect of the whole situation is the parents of the inner-city kids are not perceptive and knowledgeable enough to help themselves using their political clout. Instead, they follow the same failed leadership in the largely black community.

More on Gore

Once it was made public that Al Gore uses more energy in a month than the rest of us use in a year, some serious damage control was called for. So, here is what the Gore camp says:"Gore buys "carbon offsets". What are these? Well, the loony left has invented these for rich extremists who use a lot of energy. What they do is send money to some outfit which will supposedly plant a couple of trees or put up some solar panels to assuage the donors excessive depletion of resources. Gore buys his offsets from a company called Generation Investment Management. Gore is chairman of the firm and either draws money from the organization or at least would prosper if his investment prospers. In other words, this phony buys credits from himself. He is not buying carbon offsets, he buys stock in his own company.

Labors Woes

Most folks aren't paying any attention to the liberal Dems efforts to placate their union backers, who take money from coerced workers and give it to them. In sum, the unions want to do away with secret ballots when workers decide whether or not to form a union. This has been the case for many decades, but now it seems workers are not voting right, so the opportunity to do a little arm twisting as only unions can twist arms seems to be just the medicine for this situation. Years ago when the Wagner Act was passed, it was widely argued that neither companies nor unions should be able to influence unionization elections, so they should be done in secret. It has been working all this time. Now we need to back-track, but in only one direction. When the Republicans offered an amendment in the Senate which would allow companies to use the check-off procedure to decertify a union (rather than a secret ballot), the dems quickly rejected this offer. Surprise, surprise.

Jefferson Roll Call

This should be interesting. Republicans plan to force a floor vote on Rep. William Jefferson's move to the Homeland Security Committee in an unprecedented maneuver to force Democrats to go on the record supporting their embattled colleague who is the target of a federal bribery investigation.

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) pledged to call for a recorded vote on the House floor when Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) introduces a resolution to make the Jefferson move official.

Jefferson Roll Call

This should be interesting. Republicans plan to force a floor vote on Rep. William Jefferson's move to the Homeland Security Committee in an unprecedented maneuver to force Democrats to go on the record supporting their embattled colleague who is the target of a federal bribery investigation.

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) pledged to call for a recorded vote on the House floor when Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) introduces a resolution to make the Jefferson move official.

Big Mac Attack from across the waters

Prince Charles today said banning McDonald's fast food, specifically the Big Mac, was the key to a healthy lifestyle.

His comments came as he attended the launch of a public health awareness campaign.

Charles, a strong advocate of organic food, was touring the Imperial College London

Diabetes Centre in Abu Dhabi with the Duchess of Cornwall.

He asked nutritionist Nadine Tayara: "Have you got anywhere with McDonald's, have you tried getting it banned? That's the key."

There have been previous admonitions about the dangers of inbreeding.

Big Mac Attack from across the waters

Prince Charles today said banning McDonald's fast food, specifically the Big Mac, was the key to a healthy lifestyle.

His comments came as he attended the launch of a public health awareness campaign.

Charles, a strong advocate of organic food, was touring the Imperial College London

Diabetes Centre in Abu Dhabi with the Duchess of Cornwall.

He asked nutritionist Nadine Tayara: "Have you got anywhere with McDonald's, have you tried getting it banned? That's the key."

There have been previous admonitions about the dangers of inbreeding.

Pelosi Scorecard

Pelosi vowed that five-day workweeks would be a hallmark of a harder-working Democratic majority. So far, the House has logged only one. Lawmakers plan to clock three days this week.

Her vow to clean up the terrible ethical mess left by the Republicans was detoured somewhat when she put Representative Jefferson on the Homeland Security Committee. This had the unfortunate result of handing someone who could not get a security clearance on a committee where he will have access to the nations most highly classified information.

The Washington Post reported during the weekend that she is helping chairmen raise money from donors with business before their committees. Wasn't that Delay's egregious crime?

The speaker has denied Republicans a vote on their proposals during congressional debates -- a tactic she previously declared oppressive and promised to end. Pelosi has opened the floor to a Republican alternative just once.

The list of such failures will probably grow.

Life is not fair

Just when everything seems to be going so well for Al Gore, someone from a group called the Tennessee Center for Policy Research has to mess everything up by making him look like a hypocrite. It seems like they should take into consideration that Gore just won an Oscar for his documentary called "An Inconvenient Truth" which tries to make the case that the world is going to experience dire consequences such as massive flooding if we don't listen to him and reduce our consumption of energy and its resultant release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Well, these buttinsky types in his home state have now released this press release that reports data from the Nashville Electric Service which supplies Gore with electricity that his 20 room mansion with eight bathrooms consumes more electricity in a month than the average household in the U.S. consumes in a year. The average household in America consumes 10,656 kilowatt-hours per year and in 2006 gore devoured nearly 221,000 kilowatt-hours which is more than 20 times the national average. Al Gore a hypocrite and phony? Say it ain't so, Joe.

I am sure this will get heavily reported by the liberal media as part of their coverage of his Hollywood honors.

Very Interesting

Three Arab states in the Persian Gulf would be willing to allow the Israel Air force to enter their airspace in order to reach Iran in case of an attack on its nuclear facilities, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Siyasa reported on Sunday.

According to the report, a diplomat from one of the gulf states visiting Washington on Saturday said the three states, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, have told the United States that they would not object to Israel using their airspace, despite their fear of an Iranian response.

Al-Siyasa further reported that NATO leaders are urging Turkey to open its airspace for an Attack on Iran as well and to also open its airports and borders in case of a ground attack.

From an Israel web site.

I apologize

There was an article in our paper today reporting that the Virginia legislature was apologizing for slavery in that fair state. So, since slaves were brought into the U.S. via ships landing in that state 400 years ago, an apology was being issued. This is similar to apologies in other news items lately. Hillary's mouthpiece and attack dog, Howard Wolfson, wanted Barack Obama to apologize for something one of his donors said. In that vein, I hereby apologize for anything I or any of my ancestors might have done to anyone at any time in the past. Now, isn't that just precious?

The Jet Blue Strategy

According to the Borowitz Report, President Bush has a new plan to bring the troops home from Iraq on Jet Blue. “Setting an exact timetable for a withdrawal from Iraq would be playing right into the enemy’s hands,” Mr. Bush said. “By going with JetBlue, our enemy will have no idea when we’re leaving.” To emphasize his point, Mr. Bush added, “And neither will we.”

Using science

Scientists say conclusive data shows there is no question circumcision reduces men's chances of catching HIV by up to 60 percent - a finding experts are hailing as a major breakthrough in the fight against AIDS. Now, the question is how to put that fact to work to combat AIDS across Africa. O.K., guys form a line on the right.

An English Lesson

Here is what Vice-President Cheney said:

"I think if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we will do is validate the Al Qaeda strategy. The Al Qaeda strategy is to break the will of the American people, try to persuade us to throw in the towel and come home, and then they win because we quit."

That is hard to argue with, but Speaker Pelosi thinks those words question her patriotism and is having a case of the vapors. It is typical of liberals to take it personally when someone disagrees with their positions.

Border Security

The New York Times had an article yesterday which provides some evidence that the increased border agents and the security walls seem to be reducing the number of illegals crossing into the U.S. Of course, the dems have pledged to defund the wall construction which wasn't funded all that well in the first place. Now those of us who are paying attention have evidence that the removal of funds is being undertaken not because the wall won't work as they claim but because it will.

Details?

When the rich white guys didn't rape a poor black stripper at a lacrosse party in Durham, North Carolina, the local paper and TV stations didn't have any difficulty identifying the race of those involved. As has been widely reported, the main crime in this case seems to have been committed by the democrat DA pandering to his black constituents. Now we have another rape reported in that fair city. The race of the subjects is known and both are black. Here is the link to the article in the local newspaper. Despite the title, try to discern that from the text of the article. Typical liberal tactics from the media.

Steve Jobs speaks the truth

In a speech on Friday, the chief executive officer of Apple and Disney honcho declared: "I believe that what's wrong with our schools in this nation is that they have become unionized in the worst possible way."

The problem with unionization, Mr. Jobs argued, is that it has constrained schools from attracting and retaining the best teachers and from dismissing the less effective ones. This, in turn, deters quality people from seeking to become principals and superintendents. "What kind of person could you get to run a small business if you told them that when they came in they couldn't get rid of people that they thought weren't any good? Not really great ones because if you're really smart you go, ‘I can't win,'" Mr. Jobs said. He concluded by saying, "This unionization and lifetime employment of K-12 teachers is off-the-charts crazy."

Unions are really against giving some teachers more pay than others because this suggests some teachers are better than others. This illogical stance is comparable to giving each student the same grade regardless of classroom performance.

The great flood

Before Al Gore, the biggest idiot in the world was Paul Ehrlich. Confirmation is given in this essay with some examples given below:

In May 1989, Ehrlich claimed, global warming was going to melt the polar ice caps, causing a flood in which "we could expect to lose all of Florida, Washington D.C. and the Los Angeles basin. ... We'll be in rising waters with no ark in sight." Ehrlich didn't give a time frame, but his panicked report clearly suggested doom around the corner.

The panic was necessary to sell an extremely harsh "solution" of "enormous, rapid change." Ehrlich commanded that to forestall doom, the world needed to cut its energy use in half over 20 years. Industrialization needed to be dragged to a screeching halt, not only in America, but especially in the Third World. Ehrlich felt the next generation of Americans should be denied the Earth-strangling prosperity of their parents, saying the world's ecosystems "cannot support the spread of the American lifestyle to the Third World or even to the next generation of Americans."

As every 3rd grader knows, if you fill a glass with ice and then water, when the two come to room temperature the table is not flooded and the glass does not overflow. The floating ice at the polar caps could melt and not threaten the land masses of earth with flooding.

Ehrlich was back on NBC in January 1990 to sell his "inconvenient truth" line again. This time, he gave a more concrete timeline. Antarctica's ice sheets were slipping, and then "we'll be facing a sea-level rise not of one to three feet in a century, but of 10 or 20 feet in a much shorter time. The Supreme Court would be flooded. You could tie your boat to the Washington Monument. Storm surges would make the Capitol unusable."

It's been almost twenty years, we never cut our energy use in half, and Florida is still above water, not to mention Washington and Los Angeles. We have yet to tie our boats to the Washington Monument. But the media are still handing over their microphones and their accolades to panicky predictions, with no apparent expectation that anyone will ever question their accuracy in a decade or two. How many decades do we wait to question these predictions?

Liberals Explained

This is a very interesting essay on liberals. Here is a snippet.

Being middle class is something to be slightly ashamed of. Being working class on the other hand - or better still affecting to be working class - makes you seem more heroic......As long as you are ‘left wing' you are not only a nicer person but you are also ‘radical' and therefore not boring. If on the other hand you are ‘right wing', well that means you are ‘reactionary' and mean......Business enterprise is essentially disreputable whereas getting a living off the public purse or in the arts and media is highly civilised. Being an engineer or a scientist is OK too, up to a point - for boring people anyway.....And of course all the problems of people in the rest of the world are the fault, not of those people themselves but of the prosperous West. More specifically, the blame lies with ‘the capitalist system'; not you personally of course. You show how much you care by going to Live Aid concerts and that makes you feel much better about yourself.

All people in the Third World are shouldering with dignity a burden imposed upon them by the West in general and America in particular....All businesses are probably trying to screw you....You as a consumer have plenty to whinge about....Politicians should do something about each and every one of the problems you encounter in life....And if you are making a mess of your life its because someone else should have given you more information or more help.

Apologize or else

It is somewhat amusing to follow the situation with Hillary and her loony left critics who want her to apologize for her vote to authorize the military action in Iraq. You can read about some of it here.
This is so characteristic of liberals who can be counted on to put so much more value on style vis a vis substance. Eventually, Hillary will cave since that is what liberals do.

Pop Culture

It is difficult for those who have lived in 8 different decades to appreciate all that seems important today, but I really find it hard to understand why we need photographic proof that Britney Spears has absolutely no hair on her entire body.

Quality and tactics over numbers

"The U.S. must use every tactic and technology to fight this war and provide support to the Iraqi military. If a lineup was put together of 10 Iraqi men, most American soldiers would be hard pressed to figure out which one was an innocent civilian and which was an “insurgent.” If that lineup included five American soldiers, it would be easy to pick them out. It is time for the U.S. to use deception and aggression to fight an enemy that has no regard for the sanctity of human life. We must upset the balance of their operations, disrupt the supply lines, and prepare each battlefield with reconnaissance elements that blend in with the local community. We cannot do this alone, but together with the Iraqi Army and local community, this can be done."

This is how Lt. Col. Scott Rutter sees the recent "surge" in Iraq and in as much as BestView has been saying much the same thing for weeks and maybe even months, it is easy to recommend the entire article.

The oil threat

The al-Qaida organization in Saudi Arabia has threatened the oil facilities in Mexico, Canada and Venezuela with an admitted goal of disrupting the economy of the U.S. The Saudis and the U.S. have security at the refineries and petrochemical plants, so the other countries are easier targets. Mexico and Canada say they will beef up security and Venezuela says they are not going to be attacked since they are our enemy. Right now Venezuela supplies about 10% of our oil and an attack there would hurt us, but it would hurt Venezuela more. Advertising that you are the easiest target out there is not really very smart if the al-Qaida is serious in its stated objectives.

What's the difference?

Jihad Jaara, a senior member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades said before the 2006 elections:"Americans should vote Democratic,"adding that "it is time the American people support those who want to take them out of the Iraqi mud."
So evidently, the dems and terrorists have an Iraq policy that is indistinguishable one from the other. It is also obvious that the dems now have a vital stake in our Iraq failure. The entire future of the party is invested in Iraq imploding. What if it doesn't? What if the retreat of the Mahdi army at the order of Muqtada al-Sadr who himself seems to have fled to Iran and the closing of the Iran and Syrian borders combined with the other new tactics being advanced by General Petraeus actually bring relative peace to Iraq? Obviously, the dems will be able to brag and say "I told you so" if Iraq goes completely in the crapper, but if our military is allowed to function at full capacity, the dems may have made a bad bet. Pelosi and Reid know this, so we can look for them to do all they can to keep us from succeeding.

Let's hear it for hefty

Now and then we hear of science that makes those of us who tend toward portly feel better. In this case, there is recent evidence that individuals with a Body Mass Index of 18.5-25 (which is considered normal) are less happy than those with an overweight BMI between 25 and 30 which is below the obese level. Not only that, the overweight are more charitable, make more money, and are more likely to donate our time and services to causes and charities. According to the research, the ideal target for fund-raisers is the person with a body mass index of 28.5 which for a 6ft man would be 211 lbs rather than the so-called perfect weight of 184 lbs. That suggests to me that overweight is O.K. and I now need to get down to that 211 lbs.

Good Science

There was a recent article in the paper about a study which is very similar to others criticized by BestView. Usually, these are poorly designed and/or poorly executed and almost always they reach conclusions not supported by the study itself. This latest study suggests that men who take a nap after lunch have fewer cardiovascular problems, such as heart attacks, than men who don't nap. There is nothing particularly novel about this finding since men who are sufficiently stress-free to nap during the day have a decided life-style advantage, but I enjoy my naps so I embrace these results.

Don't you just love it?

The Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality hearing scheduled for Wednesday, February 14, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building has been postponed due to inclement weather. The hearing is entitled “Climate Change: Are Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Human Activities Contributing to a Warming of the Planet?”

DC WEATHER REPORT:

Wednesday: Freezing rain in the morning. Total ice accumulation between one half to three quarters of an inch. Brisk with highs in the mid 30s. North winds 10 to 15 mph...increasing to northwest 20 to 25 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation near 100 percent.

The hearing will be rescheduled to a date and time to be announced later.

New York Times Weather

The following are headlines from the NYTimes as cited in another excellent essay by Mark Steyn.

"MacMillan Reports Signs Of New Ice Age" (Sept. 18, 1924)

"America In Longest Warm Spell Since 1776: Temperature Line Records A 25-Year Rise" (March 27, 1933)

"Major Cooling Widely Considered To Be Inevitable (May 21, 1975)

"Past Hot Times Hold Few Reasons To Relax About Global Warming" (Dec. 27, 2005)

Climate Change and Scientific Fraud?

It is especially scary to read the papers right now. All are full of articles relating to the just released IPCC which is shorthand for the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change. Actually, they just released a 12 page summary of a 1,600 page report which won't be released until May. Why so long you maight ask. Well, the official reason is that the summary is a political document negotiated by the governments of 150 countries. Before the official document can be released, it has to be made politically correct. So while we wait for what will be scientific bulls@@t, we can look at what the summary says. For one thing, they have given up on the Hockeystick graph which was released in 2001 and has be shown to be a hopelessly flawed depiction of the "fact" that the 20th Century was "unusually warm". The IPCC's estimates for how much the sea-level will rise are about 1/2 the previous estimate and the catastrophic rise being advanced by Al Gore is now about 20-times that of the IPCC. It makes little difference since none of this is based on any real science, but instead it is all based on computer models which make numerous assumptions for input and none of the computer models can be used to duplicate what actually happened in the last century. For example, there are some 20 greenhouse computer models which all predict warming from 11.5 to 1.4 C and for a doubling in carbon dioxide. Yet, nobody can tell us which of these models is correct and nobody can use one of these models to account for the fact that there was climate cooling between 1945 and 1975 when greenhouse gases were increasing rapidly. If you think logically as a scientist must, this does not give you much confidence in computer models of climates extending into this century when they can't even tell you what the weather will be next week.

Al Gore and his ignorant sycophants in the liberal media will use two arguments to support their case and both are faulty, but our populace is too poorly educated to discern how illogical they really are. The first thing they will try to use is the fact that there is a scientific consensus that all is lost if we don't cut carbon dioxide emissions. This is not how science works. Almost every scientific advance has come from a minority of scientists and often a minority of one---think Galileo or Einstein. Next, they will recite the fact that the climate is warming and carbon dioxide emissions are increasing. Correlation is never proof of causation. For example, as Fred Singer, an environmental scientist at the University of Virginia points out, the birth rate in England is decreasing and so is the number of storks. Does this prove storks bring babies?

Professor Singer has a good essay on all this here.

More talk

It is fine for Democrats to talk of “redeployment” out of Iraq, “engagement” with Syria and Iran, more soft power, Europeans and the United Nations, organizing “regional interests,” etc. — until one realizes that we did mostly just that for most of the 1990s.

And? We got Syrian absorption of Lebanon, Afghanistan as an al Qaeda base, a Libyan WMD program, worldwide serial terrorist attacks, Oslo, a Pakistani bomb, a full-bore Iranian nuclear program, Oil-for-Food — and 9/11. If one doubts any of this, just reflect on why the Democrats have not offered any specific alternative plans. And when pressed, they usually talk only of “talking” and thereby bring embarrassment to even their liberal questioners.

This is part of a fine essay by Victor Davis Hanson. Read it here.

The new paradigm

One of the "funnest" things I am doing as the new Congress gets underway is watch the dems propose new and wonderful changes long overdue since the Republicans have been in charge. My favorite is the pledge by Steny Hoyer to make the congressmen put in a five day work week like everyone else in America. This was applauded by all of us out here, regardless of party. Well, not so fast. In the first place, this new policy had a delicious side-effect. Hoyer represents a district in Northern Virginia and has never had to travel more than a few miles back to his own bed. The rest of his colleagues are not so geographically blessed. Hence, he is catching hell from everyone who has relied on the extended weekends to go home on Thursday, do some political fence tending, see the family, rest up, and then get back to Washington in time for business late Tuesday. I will continue to watch to see how this plays out, but it should be noted that Hoyer has not followed through on the new schedule as of yet and next week they will get Friday off again. This is all the more enjoyable since the cost of living wage increase for Congress has been lost for the year as well because of political infighting. Delicious, indeed.

Liberal crap-trap not selling

The New York Times Co. posted a $648 million loss for the fourth quarter on Wednesday as it absorbed an $814.4 million charge to write down the value of its struggling New England properties, The Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

Keeping Score

Most people who are making any effort to keep informed about the war we are waging in Iraq are familiar with the recent battle in which hundreds of terrorists were killed in a Palm grove by U.S. forces called in by Iraqi military. What many may not be aware of is how the liberal media reported the event. In the Washington Post, they stated in a headline that U.S. and Iraqi forces had thwarted 500 fighters who were apparently targeting a Najaf shrine with the fact that two Americans were killed in a helicopter crash.
It is now common place for the liberals who want Bush to be perceived as having failed, while allowing a disproportionate number of our military to die, focus on our casualties. Of course, any loss of our military is cause for note, but the magnitude of our losses should be kept in mind as we follow our efforts in Iraq. The Clinton administration presided over a peaceful era and there were 4,302 active duty deaths in his first four years. This is to be compared with 5,187 during Bush's first 4 years in which we were engaged in 2 wars prompted by a terrorist attack on our country.

Senatorial Idiocy

Let's see if we can make sense of this. Almost all of the loony democrats (Leiberman excepted) and some of the loony rinos are busy drafting resolutions opposing the Bush plan to send extra troops to Baghdad in an attempt to bring more security to that city. Fair enough if they don't think it will work or if it is a bad idea for whatever reason. However, this same group of phonies then turns around and UNANIMOUSLY confirms the general who just testified that more troops is what he recommends and needs to do the job for which he is asking to be confirmed.

About all the sense one can bring to this is these same senators want to be in a position to blame Bush if it fails without taking any measures to keep it from being undertaken.....like denying a Petraeus confirmation or funding for the latest troop deployments.

The old U-turn

There has been an entertaining surge in Democrat reversals on a surge. Here are a couple of well documented examples:

1. "When the Army Chief of Staff and the secretary of state say you're going to war without enough troops, you're going to war without enough troops."
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, July 12, 2006
"No democrat supports an escalation."
Rep. Rahm Emanuel, Jan.10, 2007

2. "If the commanders on the ground said this is just for one short period of time, we'll go along with that."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Dec. 17, 2006
"Escalating our military involvement in Iraq sends precisely the wrong message and we oppose it."
Jan. 11,2007 statement issued by Reid, Pelosi, Hoyer and Durbin

3."We have to consider the need for additional troops to be in Iraq to take out the militias, stabilize the country, I'd say 20,000-30,000 more."
Rep. Silvestre Reyes, chairman, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Dec. 5, 2006
"We don't have the capability to escalate to even this minimum level."
Reyes, Jan.11, 2007

Almost all dems were for it before they were against it.

Hillary Warning?

Senator Hillary Clinton began her announcement of a presidential candidacy as follows:"I am in. And I am in to win." Did she want everyone to know she is not just a token candidate or was this a warning to Obama and all the other candidates still in the race beyond a certain point that they should hire extra bodyguards?

Various Thoughts

1. Whatever happened to the disappearing ozone layer? After the liberal doomsday idiots gave up on the coming ice age (back in the 70s) which would devastate life as we know it and before today's hyperventilation about global warming, there was the great concern with a disappearing ozone layer. Maybe the chicken-little fanatics can't focus on more than one catastrophe at a time.

2. There is probably no greater scandal in America than the inner-city schools in America. When Oprah Winfrey decided she wants to spend her own money to improve education in South Africa rather than give it to the losers (the education establishment) who got us into this sad state of affairs, there is an outpouring of criticism about how misguided she is and how they should be listened to prior to her spending decisions. I think much of the opposition to Oprah's efforts is based on her highly selective admission process which made it clear that entrants to her school would be highly qualified, highly motivated and most applicants would be denied admission. Liberals do not like this at all.

3. Charles Murray, in the 3rd of his essays in the Wall Street Journal, makes another valid series of points which also reflect on the failures of our education system in the U.S. Even though the vast majority of our success and advancement in this country is accomplished by the top 10% of our population in terms of I.Q., we have not devised a way to take advantage of this in our schools. Our future depends on how we educate the next generation of people who are gifted with a high level of intelligence. Instead, we construct our educational endeavors in such a way as to deny that there is such a thing as intellectual giftedness and subsequent responsibility to take advantage of that gift. Instead, we ignore the fact that there is such a thing as intellectual gifts since this implies there is an inequality of ability which is considered elitist. The result of this failure is a sense of superiority which develops in the gifted with respect to others in their classes. Murray argues that some humility should be brought to this group by placing them in situations where they can't excel and they have to simply face the fact that they can't do something----like I had to in advanced mathematics. These students need classes where they are neither bored nor coddled, but instead have their feet held to the fire.

4. A corollary to the education deficiency noted above is found in the absolute fury with which teachers and their unions fight to avoid any recognition that some teachers are simply better and more effective than others....especially with salary. At the same time, they don't want parents to have any freedom to take tax-payer money and their children to a school which might succeed where others have repeatedly failed. Teachers know that their past failures will be apparent to even the most casual observer if competition is permitted.

5. An aversion to competition is also evident in the black culture. It is well known that black students who are inclined to study, do their homework and try to succeed in the classroom are subjected to immense pressure from black classmates who accuse them of "acting white". These same students have no such aversion to competition with whites in non-academic endeavors, e.g. athletics.

5. The dems have a brilliant strategy with respect to the so-called war on terror. The left is currently disparaging all efforts Bush has invoked to prevent another attack. Their mantra is that all of these efforts are over-the-top, unnecessary, an infringement on our rights, blah, blah, blah. They want no talk about another terrorist attack. What if there is an attack? Well, regardless of when it occurs, it will be blamed on some Bush deficiency. This will be especially true if there is a dem President at the time.

6. The dems also have a great strategy with respect to the fiasco in Iraq. Whatever Bush wants to do will not work and we will do whatever we can short of actually offering an alternative or jeopardizing our political future to see that it doesn't succeed.

Chicken Little

Al Gore travels the world spreading his flat earth blather, but according to an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal today he carefully avoids meeting with anyone who has facts contrary to his global warming message. Even though he scheduled a meeting in Denmark with a newspaper, he didn't show up when his agent found out it would be conducted with someone with an opposite view and some facts. Since he didn't show up, the authors presented some of the things he missed out on. Gore in his movie talks about a sea-level rising 20 feet and avoids the U.N. climate estimate that it might go up 1 foot in the next century just as it did in the previous 150 years. Why does Gore exaggerate this by a factor of 20? According to Gore, Nairobi was founded right where it is too cold for malaria to occur. Now with the earth heating up so rapidly, malaria is appearing in the city. This is contrary to the World Health organization findings. Today, Nairobi is considered free of malaria, but in the 20s and '30s, when temperatures were lower than today, malaria epidemics occurred regularly. Facts don't seem to be something the number 2 man in the Clinton administration holds dear.
According to Gore, Antarctica is the canary in the mine and he presents pictures taken on the 2% of the continent that is dramatically warming and ignores the 98% that has largely cooled over the past 35 years and the U.N. panels estimate that Antarctica will increase its snow mass over the next century. Similarly, Gore points to the shrinking sea ice in the Northern hemisphere and ignores the increase in the sea ice in the Southern hemisphere. Nasty old facts again.
Gore talks about how the increasing temperatures actually kill people and mentions the European heat wave which killed 35,000 people (many when the government was on vacation one week) and avoids the larger number of deaths which will not die from the cold weather. One side of the story.
Now that the democrats are in the majority, we are going to be bombarded by this liberal claptrap as they try to undermine our economy for a dubious set of alarmist climate estimates.

Good news on Iran?

There is an editorial in IBD this morning which offers some interesting and positive perspective on the Iranian situation. First, Bush seems to be actually acting on his rhetoric. As has been reported, the Navy has moved a second battle-carrier group led by the USS Eisenhower into the region and Britain announced it has sent several mine sweepers into the Gulf region. Either something is up or it is something Iran must at least consider.

The most interesting development is on the oil front. The big question surrounding an antagonistic approach to Iran has always been what Ahmadinejad would do to oil availability and energy prices if provoked. The prospect of $100/barrel oil is thought to be something which would restrain Bush and limit his options. However, as the editorial points out, Iran gets 90% of its budget and 40% of its GDP from oil and their economy is already making the populace angry since there are increasing food shortages, a lack of housing and jobs and a growing repression by the government. For these reasons, Iran would have to think twice before withholding their 3 million barrels of oil from the market.

This brings us to the Saudiis who are long time foes of Iran and currently very dovish about the oil situation considering the price is now down about 20% to near $50/barrel. They have even made the point that they have 3 million barrels in reserve which they could release into the market if necessary.

So, Secretary Rice on Tuesday announced that America's six allies in the region plus Jordan and Egypt have approved Bush's new Iraq plan which includes getting serious about interference by Iran and Syria in Iraq. It would be encouraging to see Bush actually follow through on his threats for once. We'll soon see, I guess.

Murray Part 2

The second of three essays by Charles Murray was in the Wall Street Journal today and so far I haven't been able to get a link to it since I am not a subscriber to the online version. However, his subject today was an extension of yesterday's in that he reviews what those of us who have been in academia have known for a long time---namely the colleges and universities are largely populated by students who have no ability to prosper from the education, per se. They will enjoy themselves at great expense, but a degree in sociology, psychology, economics, or history will not certify them for anything in future employment except maybe perseverance. There are better, faster, more efficient ways to provide credentials for employers.

The really important message of this essay is based on I.Q. as one might expect. He maintains, correctly I believe, that a person with an average intelligence of about 100 will find that a genuine college education in the arts and sciences begins where the students skills (mentally) leave off. Using an estimate of what one's I.Q. should be to pursue a college degree as about 115, he concludes that only about 15% of today's students should go to college and yet we now have 45% of recent high school students enrolling in college and that is enough to absorb everyone down to an I.Q. of about 104. The result of this is our colleges are adjusting their standards and courses to accommodate them and this is largely an economic decision by the schools to get their money.

If I can find a way to link to this article, I will put it up since it is a very interesting read, in my view.

Educational Limits

This little blog has often been critical of the educational establishment in the U.S. because it has failed so many of our students and yet is not willing to change its ways. There is an essay out today, however, by one of the most important social scientists of our era which must be considered and should temper criticism of teachers and their results. As Charles Murray points out 1/2 of all students in the U.S. are below average in intelligence and it is unreasonable to expect some student with a low I.Q. to perform at a level above that limitation. As he points out, however, it does absolutely no good to challenge the test since that won't change the fact that our student population will still fit into a bell-shaped curve with respect to intelligence. The problem comes when you start identifying the students in a given section of that curve. Read it all.

Castro

The world seems to be fixated on the news that Castro is in grave or serious or some other degree of health deterioration. The traders I communicate with are busy trying to find stocks which will go up when he dies. I am struck by the fact that the communist system created by Castro and so greatly admired by the idiot Chavez in Venezuela was not able to produce a single surgeon able to operate on the dictator when his intestinal tract went blooey. He had to go to Spain to get a surgeon. We should keep that in mind as we are lead toward more government control of our health system by the libs now in control of congress.

The bottom line

As usual, Thomas Sowell nails the situation perfectly.

The success or failure of the troop surge in Iraq may depend far more on whether those troops can again be hamstrung by politically restrictive "rules of engagement" than on how many troops there are.

The Maliki government is politically dependent on one of the very Baghdad militias that needs to be disarmed. We can pressure and warn Maliki all we want, but his real choice will be whether he can survive -- either politically or personally -- without militia support.

Our choice may become whether we are prepared to sacrifice more American lives in order to prop up the Maliki government or whether we are prepared to sacrifice the Maliki government in order to restore law and order in Iraq.

That government is a product of our "nation-building" under the banner of a "democracy" for which Iraq may not have been ready.

Terrorists are flexible

As reported by Omar from Iraq, the foreign Arabs in Baghdad are on the move and our "surge" needs to adapt also.

In Diyala, politicians, religious and tribal figures demanded that their province be included in the security plan of Baghdad. This came after dozens of foreign Arab militants ran away from Baghdad to areas across Diyala in order to avoid raids by the Iraqi and American forces during the incoming security plan to secure Baghdad.

Good News

Barbaro seems to be bouncing back again. The Kentucky Derby winner is spending hours in his protective sling, needed to deter sudden movement and make the colt comfortable as he fights back from his latest setback from laminitis.

X-rays on the 4-year-old bay colt showed no additional complications in either hind leg, and chief surgeon Dean Richardson said Barbaro was "acceptably comfortable" in his recovery from having damaged tissue removed from his left hind hoof.

The man needs psychiatric help

Fourteen members of an advisory board at the Carter Center resigned today, concluding they could "no longer in good conscience continue to serve" following publication of former President Jimmy Carter's controversial book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid."

"It seems that you have turned to a world of advocacy, including even malicious advocacy," the board members wrote in a letter, a copy of which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. "We can no longer endorse your strident and uncompromising position. This is not the Carter Center or Jimmy Carter we came to respect and support. Therefore it is with sadness and regret that we hereby tender our resignation from the Board of Councilors of the Carter Center effective immediately."

Good Analysis

Jonah Goldberg is one of my favorite columnists since he has a colorful way to put the situation in a manner which can't be debated. Here is an example from his latest column.

Here we have a president forthrightly trying to win a war, and the opposition -- which not long ago was in favor of increasing troops, when Bush was against that -- won't say what it wants. This is flatly immoral. If you believe the war can't be won and there's nothing to be gained by staying, then, to paraphrase Sen. John Kerry, you're asking more men to die for a mistake. You should demand withdrawal. But that might cost votes, so the Dems don't. And, of course, Kerry, Pelosi and other Democrats were in favor of more troops before they were against it.

Plan B

President Bush did a credible job last night in delivering his speech describing the new approach to the Iraq mess. As BestView has stated before, there needs to be a greater military effort without the limits which seem mainly imposed on them so as to not offend any of the disparate factions in Iraq. If the new troops are allowed to eliminate the sources of violence without interference, the prognosis is good because our military will succeed. As I understand the situation, however, this plan depends on the government of Iraq and the armed forces of Iraq to behave in a way is which completely at odds with anything we have seen out of them to date. We should know soon if the Iraqis are up to the task of saving themselves from a disaster.

Budding Influence

Finally, the highly insightful blog known as BestView is getting the respect it deserves. Just last Saturday I complained about us having a military presence in Djibouti which was performing nanny duties. Now we learn they have quit vaccinating camels long enough to send a number of al-Qaida to Allah with an air attack in Somalia. Way to go. More details here.

Another Report from Bill Ardolino

As you listen to President Bush tonight and consider his plan to achieve his objective in Iraq, it might be worthwhile to keep this interview which Bill Ardolino had with a man from Fallujah in mind. If the man he interviewed is correct, and he makes sense, the nature of the insurgency is much different than I had supposed and much less amenable to a military solution than I thought. At least in Fallujah.

IED Patrol

There is a fellow by the name of Bill Ardolino imbedded in Iraq and sending back stories which are almost always excellent. This one describes a day on the road in Falluja looking for IEDs.

Amen, Mark Steyn

"I think in terms of the military approach to Iraq, you know, I've never been one of these people who thinks we need more forces there. You know, I don't think that this is actually a numbers game, or a money game, or a resources game. What it is, is actually about strategy. And so I assume that at some level, the President and his new defense secretary have concluded that these guys on the ground, charged with the day to day operations, were not handling things correctly. And I would have to say that it's hard not to conclude there's a certain amount of truth in that, simply from the fact that you know, the American military has been in control of Baghdad, now, for almost four years, and has not secured the city. That is a great mark of shame upon what is one of the most powerful military in the world. It should be capable...it's certainly got the money, the men, the equipment to pacify that city, so clearly what's been lacking is some kind of coherent strategy to do it. "

Several times recently, BestView has argued for not only a more energetic use of the military, but one more in keeping with the training and purpose of any military. Now it sounds like Mark Steyn agrees with this view and you can't get much better company than that.

The newest Bush Proposal

After several weeks of consideration and consultation with numerous players in the Iraq war, Bush is finalizing his newest plan for the future. He will announce this on Wednesday. Never one to miss an opportunity to criticize the President, the Democrats are already opposed to the new plan, no matter what it is.

The Djibouti Nannies

The U. S. has a military base in Djibouti which is located in the horn of Africa adjacent to Ethiopia and Somalia. It was staffed after the 9/11 attacks to prevent al Qaeda from setting up shop in that location while we focused on them in Afghanistan. As we read in the papers, things are not going according to plan, it seems. Radical Islamist did set up in Somalia and only recently did the forces in Ethiopia have to move into Mogadishu to drive them out. Whether or not the radicals stay out is still an open question, but what of the military we established in Djibouti to prevent what the Ethiopians had to undo? Well, according to an editorial in the IBD today, our military is very busy putting up schools and vaccinating camels in an effort to keep some of the 80 million Muslims in the Horn of Africa from being sympathetic to the call of al Qaeda. Maybe the goal makes sense, but the Bush administration seems to be continuing its inclination to use the military to do things which seem more appropriate for a Peace Corps.

The Mexican War

Most of the focus is on the Iraq front, but there is also a war going on on our Southern border with Mexico and most of the fighting is being waged by forces in Mexico. The newly elected President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, has sent 3000 Mexican troops to the border town of Tijuana to confront drug traffickers who have been responsible for such crimes as killing 300 people in the past year. This pressure has caused the gangs to move to other places and this fact has been attributed to the recent attack on our National Guard who were patrolling the border in the Tucson area. Since the lame brained Bush administration sent the Guard down to the border with orders not to carry guns or defend itself, the troops had to retreat when attacked and now the National Guard is not even allowed to say whether or not our troops were fired upon. Common sense suggests that if they weren't shot at they wouldn't have retreated. This is just another example of idiotic rules of engagement forced on our military by the Bush administration.

You gotta read it to believe it

O.K. this comes from the BBC which is really a left wing outfit, but it reads like it is factual. If I walked up to you on the street and said that the government was going to put a tax on cow farts, you would surely be dubious, I would hope. Well, don't be so hasty to dismiss this latest from the environmental idiots this blog has tried to unveil. Just click on this link and read it for yourself.

Is the left loony or more sinister?

I often refer to the left and liberals as being loony or loopy, but I just ran across a web site for a group of environmentalists which may force me to search for a more accurate adjective. Here is the web site of a group which feels we should follow their motto and extinguish ourselves to save the planet.

Phasing out the human race by voluntarily ceasing to breed will allow Earth's biosphere to return to good health. Crowded conditions and resource shortages will improve as we become less dense.

Wrong Guy

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, quoting his wife after he asked her whether she ever thought in her wildest dreams that her husband would become governor •“Matt, you’re never in my wildest dreams.” —

A good analysis of the Iraq military situatuion

Read it all here.

The military problem - In World War II, our objective was "unconditional surrender" of our enemies. With unconditional surrender, the political problem is solved militarily but in a limited war, the political problem has a separate but related existence to the military problem. It is not enough to "rely on the generals." Solving the civilian-political problem is not their job. After all, what is their writ? To destroy our enemies or make friends with them? The civilians have to make that decision.

It is in the political-civilian area that we have been deficient in our strategy. It may well have been that our model before deposing Saddam was that there was an Iraqi polity that, absent the terror of Saddam, would be able to work out its problems through democratic means. If that was our model, it didn't work. We need a new model. Do we support majority rule - the al-Maliki government? That very likely means that we oppose the Sunni insurgency, even though the Sunni in some sense balance out the influence of the Iranian Shia. Well, that problem is not going to go away. If we are in a war, we have to want our side to win. If our side is to win, we must have a side. That nettle seems not to have been grasped, and no amount of surged troops is going to grasp it. It must be grasped as a matter of policy and then the troops can be given a military objective.

Should we surge troops? Wrong question. The question is (a) what is our objective and (b) what is our strategy for achieving it? Once we decide these two things, then we must find the leader who can execute on the strategy - the Ulysses Grant of this war - and not rotate him out until the job is finished.