A Bad Day Under Muslim Rule

In 1943 United States Military are stationed in Iraq as part of the WWII effort to defeat Hitler. The War Department provides the soldiers a pamphlet about how to behave with regards to the Iraqis. A pdf version of the old document has surfaced and is good reading. Some squashed together excerpts via Murmurs of Earth.

A Short Guide to Iraq: NEVER discuss religion or politics or women with Moslems. Don't stare at anyone. Remember the fear of the "evil eye". Knock before entering a private house. If a woman answers, wait until she has had time to retire. If you see grown men walking hand in hand, ignore it. They are not queer. You can usually tell a mosque by its high tower. Keep away from mosques. [Emphasis in the original] If you try to enter one, you will be thrown out, probably with a severe beating. There are four towns in Iraq which are particularly sacred to the Iraq Moslems: Kerbala, Najaf, Samarra, and Kadhiman. Unless you are ordered to these towns it is advisable to stay away from them. Moslems here are divided into two factions something like our division into Catholic and Protestant denominations -- so don't put in your two cents when Iraqis argue about religion. There are also political differences in Iraq that have puzzled diplomats and statesmen. You won't help matters any by getting mixed up in them.

Those religious and political differences are going to flare up as someone manages to once again set off explosives inside the extremely sacred Askariya Shiite shrine in Samarra. It was the February 22, 2006 destruction of the golden dome that inflamed the ongoing Shia retaliation violence. Some group really wants to keep the violence level high.

Captain Ed reviews how Hamas succeeds with their gangster style assassinations of anyone in the Palestinian Authority standing in their way of complete control. Good bye Gaza Strip. A “terrorist protostate on the Mediterranean” is now a reality and it will require Israel to confront it.

Finally, Jeffrey Harrell reviews the situation in Darfur, Sudan and concludes the expanded economic sanctions the White House announces today will be ineffective because “after decades of non-stop war, Sudan basically has no economy.” And it is worse than that.

Now Is Not The Time: Here’s the harsh truth: We cannot stop the fighting in Sudan. We can’t do it. There’s just no way. The roots of the fighting go back too far. There are too many players. We don’t have any tactics, either diplomatic or military, for imposing order on a state of pure anarchy.

The 21st Century Muslim Armageddon retains its momentum. Now back to Paris Hilton.

More Reactions to the Algore Ministries

When Alexander Cockburn achieves his vision of a socialist overthrow of capitalism, I know I will eventually end up in the re-education camps. Still, it is lovely to see someone in the intellectual vanguard of collectivism continue to denounce global warming as fantasy based wishful thinking.

Dissidents Against Dogma: We should never be more vigilant than at the moment a new dogma is being installed. The claque endorsing what is now dignified as "the mainstream theory" of global warming stretches all the way from radical greens through Al Gore to George W. Bush, who signed on at the end of May. The left has been swept along, entranced by the allure of weather as revolutionary agent, naïvely conceiving of global warming as a crisis that will force radical social changes on capitalism by the weight of the global emergency. Amid the collapse of genuinely radical politics, they have seen it as the alarm clock prompting a new Great New Spiritual Awakening.

Rational radical that he is, Cockburn then proceeds to review some of the abundant factual evidence refuting the alarmism of the baking to death propagandists. I wonder how much of his motivation is concern that complete repudiation of this power grab tactic will set back the desired capture of western democracies, and how much is personal contempt at the stupidity of movement leader Al Gore.

Gore's Antarctic Sellout Crowd: 17 Freezing Scientists: According to Linda Capper, representative for the British Antarctic Survey, the Antarctic leg of the Live Earth Show will not be a “Major Concert” as Al Gore once promised. In fact according to Linda: "We have a house band--five of our science team. They are very good indie rock-folk fusion.”

The Rothera Research Station is under British jurisdiction, and home to only 22 winter residents. July 7th is mid winter down there and it is completely inaccessible by plane or boat. But that didn’t deter the Oscar winning star of An Inconvenient Truth. Back in February, Gore’s office contacted the BAS requesting a flight into Rothera. They questioned Linda “about the possibility to fly an artiste [no-one specific] into to the research station in July.” When Al Gore was informed that July is winter in Antarctica, and completely inaccessible, Linda Capper suggested letting the scientists play.

Antarctica has winter in July? That’s not how it’s done in Tennessee and Washington. I wonder if Algore assumed the indigenous population of the continent would all show up for a celebrity performance. --- H/T Vicki McKenna and Dust My Broom

The Whole Political Class can be Wrong

Since the Democrats are going to hold up FDR like a shiny icon for the masses to revere, those of us in opposition to increasing state control of our lives should shine the light of truth on the original new dealer. The mass suffering of the great depression is primarily the result of bad political decisions. Arnold Kling writing at TCS Daily turns on the spotlight.

What Roosevelt Didn't Know: Still, most of the ignorance that plagued policymakers during the 1930's was conceptual. They did not understand the difference between lost resources and under-utilized resources. They did not understand the relationship between financial markets and markets for goods and services. And they did not understand the issue of deflation.

It seems to me that economists could have seen that the prosperity of the 1920's was not false. They could have portrayed a return to that level of production as a reasonable goal, not an impossible dream. They could have distinguished between the ups and downs of stock prices in the asset market and the productive capacity in the goods market.

A great many in the political leadership of the 1930's assume the prosperity of the preceding years is unsustainable. A prosperity so widespread that every individual has opportunities to achieve a better life surely, they thought, must be fated to end. When the troubles hit, instead of acting to reestablish the economy, the political class develops compassionate ways to help mitigate the transition of the masses back to the normalcy of the hard life.

The unsustainable wealth of modern life is again a conviction with broad following in the governments of the western democracies. If it was an ignorance of economics forcing the great depression upon the population, it will be the ignorance of science that will erode away the good life our progressive liberty creates.

Power Shifts: In short: if you are thinking global warming is both man-made and a disaster, start investing in stomach remedies, because you'll have a lot of indigestion and not much else in the coming decades. What dots did I connect to arrive at that statement? Simply this: every drop of oil in the world is going to get burned. If not by us, then by someone else. That's reality, get used to it.

Get ready to start hearing names like Gazprom (Russia), Pemex (Mexico), Petrobras (Brazil), Petronas (Kuala Lumpur), CNPC/PetroChina/CNOOC (China), PDVSA (Venezuela), Saudi Aramco, and yes, Iran's NIOC. You'll notice that a good many of these companies are in places that aren't friendly to freedom and private enterprise.

There is no reason to fear the use of energy and every reason to fear any politician claiming we need to scale back our lives. Even if the second law of thermodynamics suddenly ceases to work, enabling every scary bad thing that can be computer animated to come to pass in the real world, any self induced suffering won’t matter because the oil economy is beyond our control.

DPPRK - PRC And Dollars

Last February, North Korea agreed to shut down it’s one and only nuclear reactor but it never really happened. News today is that the DPPRK reactor resumes operations in Yongbyon after a few days of “maintenance” downtime. The problem in Dear Leader’s mind is that millions of dollars in North Korean funds are still effectively frozen at Macau based Banco Delta Asia (BDA). The monies were sequestered as suspected gains from illegal activity and the United States is expressing concerns the NORKs may have recidivist tendencies.

North Korea's Frozen Funds: BDA is "complicated" for the State Department for the reason that it does not have the legal power to end the bank's blacklisting. The Treasury Department has that power. The blacklisting of BDA came about through Treasury's imposition of a regulation following a period of public notice and comment that set the table for an 18-month US government investigation of the Macau bank, whose results remain secret. If that regulation were lifted, DPRK funds on deposit at BDA or any other bank could once again circulate freely through the global banking system. More importantly, the Six Party process that has ground to a halt over the BDA issue could resume and contribute toward the easing of tensions in Northeast Asia. Treasury, however, remains unwilling to withdraw the regulation.

Diplomacy has ground to a halt as Kim Jong-Il insists on getting his money before agreeing to play nice with the rest of world. Meanwhile South Korea continues to withhold food aid to the NORKs until the nuclear weapon program goes away. Yet in the larger picture, the real diplomacy action may be reminding the Chinese that our economies are extensively intertwined and behaviors causing problems with our finances can also be unhealthy for theirs. Consider this tidbit from the prior source.

David Asher, once the State Department's point man on North Korea (now with the Heritage Foundation), has made the revealing admission that BDA "had never been the main offender in Macao." Despite "voluminous" evidence of money laundering at other Macau banks, BDA was blacklisted because it was "an easy target in the sense that it was not so large that its failure would bring down the financial system." He stated that "Banco Delta may be a sacrificial lamb in some people's minds, but it is not about Banco Delta." The real target, Asher said, was several larger Chinese banks committing financial crimes in collusion with the DPRK.

The frustrating thing about diplomacy is there is no end point because goals continually change. I suppose that makes for really good permanent employment opportunities. But still, someone needs to just insist that all money laundering and atomic bomb building will stop March 31, 2008, so America can get back to expanding our a national healthcare bureaucracy.

Obama On Foreign Affairs

I still have no idea why Barack Obama is in the mix to lead this country. I suppose the shallow depth of my understanding comes in large part from my complete disinterest in a person who strikes me as a mouthpiece puppet for Democratic money interests. Still, since the inexperienced junior Senator from Illinois has been selected to convey the thinking of a large faction of a national party, it is worth looking at the words the candidate commits to record.

In the most recent issue of Foreign Affairs Senator Obama writes at length about the relationship of the United States and the rest of the world. What comes through the usual denial about the role Iraq plays in our defense against Islamic Jihadists, is the belief that American power is “in terminal decline”.

Common Security for our Common Humanity: This century's threats are at least as dangerous as and in some ways more complex than those we have confronted in the past. They come from weapons that can kill on a mass scale and from global terrorists who respond to alienation or perceived injustice with murderous nihilism. They come from rogue states allied to terrorists and from rising powers that could challenge both America and the international foundation of liberal democracy. They come from weak states that cannot control their territory or provide for their people. And they come from a warming planet that will spur new diseases, spawn more devastating natural disasters, and catalyze deadly conflicts.

You read that correctly, the source of suicidal mass murder is “alienation or perceived injustice”. The date of our military defeat in Iraq is penciled in for March 31, 2008 -- at which point more time and resources will be freed up for trying to control the weather. Oh yeah, “we should not hesitate to talk directly to Iran” to show “what could be gained from fundamental change: economic engagement, security assurances, and diplomatic relations.” Presidential aspirant Obama seems to believe the problem is that the United States is too harsh and demanding with the Mullahs.

Viet Nam and Iraq

As a personal policy, I won’t link to the New York Times, but Rick Moran writing at the American Thinker has the link to one editorial worth reading. I am not shocked but I am surprised the left’s paper of record publishes this editorial by Peter Rodman and William Shawcross. “The defeat of the American enterprise in Indochina, it is said, turned out not to be as bad as expected. The United States recovered, and no lasting price was paid. We beg to differ.” The authors then recount how millions suffer the victory of authoritarian rule.

I take this as a sign the Democrats believe they are on the verge of complete control of the United States government, and the responsible adults in the party are suddenly sobering up enough to realize victory means having to deal with an international reality infected with hatred and violence, resources and willpower. All actions have consequences and the collectivist movement will rightfully be assigned credit or blame as events play out in the religion of Islam while they govern America. Rick reacts to the editorial.

The Right Lessons To Learn From Viet Nam: Our war policies have been flawed from the get go and until recently, nothing we tried seemed to stem the violence in Iraq and indeed, made it worse in some respects. But there is a huge difference between mistakes made in planning and policy and the cold, calculated effort by the left to work to crush the morale of the American people so that they could use the Iraq War to vault back into power.

But if the left is trying to convince us that their withering criticisms of the justification for the war, its subsequent prosecution, and all the ancillary issues that have arisen because of it as well as vicious personal attacks on the President were only for the purpose of improving our policies so that we could achieve victory, only little children who still believe in Santa Claus take them at their word. Therefore, one must conclude that their stated reasons for wishing an American defeat in Iraq – that we “deserve” it or that it would teach us a lesson in “humility” – are a true reflection of their beliefs and thinking.

The message of Islam is that submission to authority brings peace. The message of America is that consent of governed brings widespread prosperity. The resolution of the conflicts between these concepts will be worked out over time. Only the volume of blood loss and the count of the corpses remain undetermined.

Immigration and Citizenship

So Lola and I are watching the 1976 film "Bound for Glory" on the tube. Two hours into the movie as David Carradine muddles through his portrayal of Woodrow Wilson Guthrie and as he attempts the fourth scene of being angry with the injustice of the farm workers plight, the thought crosses my mind, that from this awkward lashing out eventually emerges the Bill which must be killed.

There is no doubt there are moneyed interests intent on preserving cheap labor for the existing orchards and the coming deforestation diesel plantations. Furthermore, I fully support the right of workers to sell their labor, in a marketplace constrained by a rule of law protecting all parties in the transaction. It is this rule of law, above all, that is weakened by those who would simply say that past actions are completely forgivable and the status quo enforcement of the law needs no improvement.

The immigration issue, for me, comes down to the necessity of citizenship to retain its value. Ideals are just that – the imaginary perfections which orient our actions in the dynamic chaos of an infinitely complex world. So the ideal I choose to work towards is a government subordinate to the desires of the citizens, rather than a government ruling the resident population for the benefits of the powerful. Individuals who want to be more than transients, who want to be American citizens, need to understand and demonstrate they accept this ideal.

There is talk that every individual wanting to be President in 2008 should be put in one room for one debate. I like the idea, but with one caveat. The ONLY question in the debate is why the United States of America is the best country in the world. Then let the citizens select the winner.

Bullet Proof Deer

This could really play havoc with the entire concept of the CWD eradication zone.

Blue Crab Boulevard: We humans are in serious trouble this morning as word comes from Lancaster, Pennsylvania of the newest weapon that the Animal Uprising™ has unleashed. More terrifying than the taser-proof porcine berserker; more horrifying than cannibal cattle; even less appealing than tranquilizer-proof donkeys: They have unleashed the bullet-proof deer.

The journey from Lancaster, PA to Lancaster, WI is not all that far. A couple projectile resistant bucks wired on meth from some deep woods lab could probably make the trip in four days. The DNR always feared this day was coming.

Inside Madison Stuff

I am so voting for Judy Compton if she decides to run for Mayor of Madison. I can not adequately recreate the impeccable logic with which she demonstrates to the Madison City Council, how the proposal to create “Neighborhood Conservation Districts” opens the door for city politicians to define the specific area of Madison to become the red light district. Allowing majority political will to supersede individual property rights under the guise of preserving architectural aesthetics is a bad, bad, bad idea.

Judy demurs she is too old to grab the pom-poms and do the "I told you so dance". Well I have been to Wisconsin roadhouse polka band nights and ain’t nobody to old to sashay across a hardwood floor, Ms. Alderperson. Once you establish architect police authority, the municipal house paint and vinyl siding approval sub-committee is not far behind.

Questioning Affirmative Action

State Senator Glenn Grothman pokes the wasp nest (if this is the appropriate metaphor) that is Affirmative Action politics, and is quickly met with the menacing buzz of aroused bureaucrats. Madison’s blog darling covers the basic points while commenters meander through arguments on both side of the racial preference debate.

Althouse: I understand Grothman's point that diversity-based admissions ought to connect to some real diversity that the student will bring to the classroom. But isn't his solution worse than the problem he cites? We're going to ask students to prove what percent of a race they are? That's really ugly, worse than abolishing affirmative action altogether I would think.

I believe Grothman’s point is that if government is going to offer preferential benefits then there are going to be claimants with marginal qualifications. Does anyone truly believe regulations concluding Tiger Woods merits special assistance over and above the majority of the population don’t need tweaking? Of course, the special interest groups fall back to their dogma.

David Giroux, a spokesman for the UW System, said there was a "compelling need for diversity" in public universities and that it would be a shame for the Legislature to move against affirmative action, which he described as a "divisive issue." "Diversity benefits all students, improving the quality of their education and their prospects for career success," he said.

As discussed in the comment section, the cliché about the educational benefits of “diversity” is wearing a little thin. Where exactly is the evidence demonstrating that a cultural mixture produces better anything? The most diverse industry in America is entertainment and between Brittany shaving her head, Lindsay crashing her car and Paris negotiating for the top bunk in lock down, I simply fail to see the knowledge multiplier effect.

One Voice of Reason at NASA

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has probably made a career ending mistake.

Houston Chronicle: "First of all, I don't think it's within the power of human beings to assure that the climate does not change, as millions of years of history have shown," he said.

"And second of all, I guess I would ask which human beings, where and when, are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now, is the best climate for all other human beings. I think that's a rather arrogant position for people to take."

NASA's chief climate scientist and screaming Chicken Little moonbat James Hansen is nearly apoplectic that someone within the sacred halls of NASA would question both the limitations of mans power over nature and the limitations of human judgment about the optimal conditions for life on Earth. Dr. Hansen is a classic case of someone so in love with his self-perceived wisdom that anyone pointing out reasoning flaws is perceived as making a personal attack. Hansen strikes me as an uber-math nerd from Iowa for whom running numbers through computers came to be more real than empirical evidence.

Hostages: A Cultural Tradition

After the Iranian regime seizes British sailors last March the adverse consequences are pretty much non-existent. Hostage taking by Muslims is fairly common today as Islamic activists emulate and honor their cultural history. Aside from the Israelis, all other nations continue making concerted efforts to keep their responses “proportionate”.

Right Wing Nut House: You may have heard about the 3 Iranian Americans kidnapped by the gangsters currently in charge in Tehran. Then again, you may not have heard about it. Our media apparently now views hostage taking by the Persians so routine that it’s not even worth reporting on.

Michael Ledeen at Nation Review Online says there are now five individuals with American citizenship being held by various groups in Iran. The hostages serve as symbolic trophies for various factions of the theocracy as they maneuver for greater power. The United States responds to these provocations by updating a travel advisory.

May 31, 2007: Some elements of the Iranian regime and the population remain hostile to the United States. As a result, American citizens may be subject to harassment or arrest while traveling or residing in Iran. Recently, Iranian authorities have prevented a number of Iranian-American citizen academics, journalists, and others who traveled to Iran for personal reasons from leaving, and in some cases have detained and imprisoned them on various charges, including espionage and being threat to the regime. Americans of Iranian origin should consider the risk of being targeted by authorities before planning travel to Iran. Iranian authorities may deny dual nationals access to the United States Interests Section in Tehran, because they are considered to be solely Iranian citizens.

The Iranian Government does not recognize dual citizenship and generally does not permit the Swiss to provide protective services for U.S. citizens who are also Iranian nationals. In addition, U.S. citizens of Iranian origin who are considered by Iran to be Iranian citizens have been detained and harassed by Iranian authorities. Former Muslims who have converted to other religions, as well as persons who encourage Muslims to convert, are subject to arrest and prosecution.

The government of the United States of America wants to remind you that “some elements of the Iranian regime” … “remain hostile to the United States”. I suppose there is a logical consistency in the lack of alarm as Iran refuses to honor US citizenship. It’s not like US citizenship is anything meaningful to the Bush Administration. Oh by the way, in Iran they are willing to execute you for religious indiscretions like marrying a Jew.

Divestment NOW

The Wisconsin Democrats are advancing a plan to create a 2.5% tax on oil companies as the proposal survives a split party line vote in the budget writing committee. The Democrats reason oil needs to be taxed because gasoline prices are going up.

Governor Jim Doyle: “Big oil companies have been reaping huge profits on the backs of middle class families for years – reaching record profits while families across the country struggle to afford to fill up their gas tanks.

“It’s time for big oil companies to stop driving up gas prices. With no major geo-political events, no weather-related events, and no real market problems, there is absolutely no reason for these kinds of spikes in gas prices. Our families, our state, and national economy cannot afford this market manipulation.”

The facts, that market forces drive prices and profits are the result of spending discipline relative to revenue, will not change the minds of elected officials who either sincerely believe oil companies have the ability to manipulate retail gasoline prices or who are disingenuously misrepresenting reality to the public in an attempt to grab extra cash with the power of taxation. The Republicans need to counter propaganda with propaganda and demand the Democrats act in a manner consistent with their rhetoric.

If oil companies are exploiting the citizens of Wisconsin for profit and these profits are ill gained monies, then it is time to require the State of Wisconsin Investment Board divest themselves of all oil company stocks. If oil companies are engaged in business practices detrimental to the citizens of Wisconsin then the state has a moral duty to several all ties with these companies. Governor Doyle – divest the oil companies now!

Subprime Political Proposals

Take a focused look at the functioning of any given part of the economy and the inefficiencies, bungled decision making and questionable ethics will scare any rational individual to doubt. In close up human nature is seldom artistic but in aggregate the dynamics of the market keep things in (sometimes wobbly) balance.

The Subprime Mortgage "Crisis" Will Fix Itself: Hardly a day goes by without someone's proposing how to make the bad situation in subprime mortgage lending even worse. Legislators at all levels of government are contending for ownership of the most destructive idea. Finalists in this legislative race to the bottom include punitively stiff lending standards, foreclosure holidays and taxpayer-financed bailouts. I would like to propose a far simpler, fairer and effective course of action: let free people sort it out for themselves.

A regulatory solution is a one size fits all mentality that consequently stifles the free market's innovation and creativity and in the process restricts competition by raising entry costs. Friedrich Hayek, 1974 Nobel Laureate in Economics, referred to this as the "pretense of knowledge" syndrome infecting central planners. More order and fairness comes out of the spontaneous interaction of thousands of voluntary free market transactions.

Any government actions that “eviscerate contractual agreements” weakens the principled rule of law that is the foundation of the American economy. There are times when the best approach is to let the pain play out so the mistakes are not repeated. The S&P 500 hits an all time high today which I take as evidence the portion of US housing market in trouble is only a limited aspect of the overall domestic economy, and the equity markets truly are reflecting the liquidity of the entire world. If we can keep the politicians from sobering up long enough to legislate counterproductive solutions, then life will continue on a little bit wiser.

Governmentalized Medicine: A History

“Where the Welfare State is on the march, the Police State is not far behind”. The quote is attributed to Melchior Palyi (1892-1970), who fled from a position as chief economist at Deutsche Bank in 1933 upon the rise of the Nazi socialists. Eventually settling in the United States he holds positions at many schools including the University of Wisconsin. Hungarian by birth he is in his early 20’s as WWI begins the traumatic transition from old Europe into the modern industrial societies.

As a capitalist banker, he is astutely aware of how money and government interact and becomes a voice of warning against the dangers of the welfare state. As universal healthcare emerges as a top priority in American political debate it is good to remember the idea has deep roots and a long historical record to defend.

Medicine And The Welfare State: The essential idea of the Welfare State is as old as known history. Its concept and mechanism—the systematic dispensing, through political channels and without regard to productivity, of domestic wealth—were at the very core of the Greco-Latin city states, of the medieval city, and of the post-Renaissance absolute monarchy. In the city republics, ancient and medieval, it meant bloody civil wars. Their constantly recurring violent quarrels about constitutional issues disguised bitter class warfare to seize the power that was dispensing all benefits. Most of them went on the rocks of their internal struggles for economic privileges.

Bismarck’s fundamentally significant role in modern history is rarely understood. … What Bismarck did accomplish was to revolutionize the old authoritarian school by giving it a quasi-democratic twist and by basing it on a superbly organized, technically well-trained, and thoroughly disciplined bureaucracy. His police-welfare (or welfare-police) state had firm roots as none had had before. The substance of a military monarchy was wrapped in a parliamentary cloak. Share-the-wealth popularity was to be dispensed legally by an all-powerful and efficient administration. … “To his mind the State, by aiding the workers, should not only fulfill the duty ordered by religion, but it should obtain in particular a claim on their thankfulness, a gratitude that was to be shown by loyalty to the government and by loyal pro-government votes in elections.”

Two basic types of governmentalized medicine resulted. The Prussian bureaucrat created the obligatory health insurance of a comparatively limited scope. What the Russian Bolshevist has bestowed might be described as compulsory health security of an unlimited medical orbit. Perhaps they should be distinguished as governmentalized vs. socialized medicine. In the one, the beneficiaries are “insured”; in the other, they are “registered.”

Palyi witness in the first half of the last century the effectiveness in which the desire for political power achieves control of populations by offering hope for the suffering of disease. Once individuals trade responsibility for the care of their bodies to the government they also subject their bodies to the authority of the state. History repeatedly demonstrates this exchange is fraught with peril for human liberty.

Has Europe Found the Thermostat?

I am not so brash as to declare the Bush Administration brilliant, but at least they are maintaining a modicum of common sense in the face of environmentalist nonsense.

A Tangled Web: Pleased to see that the United States has rejected the European Union's ludicrous pompous all-encompassing target on reduction of carbon emissions. President Bush's environmental adviser James Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, said the United States is not against setting goals but prefers to focus them on specific sectors, such as reducing dependence on gasoline and cleaner coal. "The U.S. has different sets of targets," he said.

Quite right. Naturally, Nancy Pelosi has been doing her best to undermine the position of the Bush administration on this eco-wackery. But here's the thing, when dear Nancy had the chance to vote in FAVOUR of Kyoto, she refused to do so. What has changed? It strikes me that this is really all about the political Left (and that includes Angela Merkel by the way) adopting a de-industrialization combined with increased government control of our lives strategy and then wrapping it in the comfort blanket drivel of "saving the planet."

The source story dutifully explains the environmental “plan” being advocated by adult politicians. It’s all about targets, goals and deadlines.

Yahoo News: Germany, which holds the European Union and G-8 presidencies, is proposing a so-called "two-degree" target, whereby global temperatures would be allowed to increase no more than 2 degrees Celsius — the equivalent of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit — before being brought back down. Practically, experts have said that means a global reduction in emissions of 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

Some Europeans apparently believe they know how to work the global thermostat. If only the Americans would cooperate, then human control over planetary temperature could proceed. Human control with precision less than 2 degrees Celsius which is greater than I can achieve between rooms of my own home. Until someone shows me they can adjust the total free energy in a closed system using only parts per million of CO2 concentration adjustments, I’m not going to support a return to the impoverished populations of the middle ages. Seriously, turn off the computer and build a clear Plexiglas box, take some pellet gun cartridges and prove something in the real world.

Free Speech in Venezuela

Pieces of paper make worthless shields. We have the worlds best parchment defense in our constitution but our everyday lives have been shaped by individuals willing to take action to insure those words have legitimacy. Happy Memorial Day.

Last evening Hugo Chavez pulls the plug on a television station undeniably controlled by opponents of his regime. There is no surprise since Chavez announced his intention to pull the broadcast license a long time ago. Reports indicate thousands protest the closing of the 53 year old broadcasting operation and that the Venezuelan President has enough troops on the streets to make sure everyone understands his decision is final.

Fait accompli the debate turns to whether the action is that of a dictator suppressing civil freedom of speech or a legal and proper response to sedition. Daniel at Venezuela News and Views translates an editorial from left leaning French daily Le Monde suggesting the European socialists are wary of such flagrant use of power.

Le Monde: None the charges carried by the president against RCTV, in connection with his role in the missed coup of 2002 or the oil strike of 2003, was the subject of a debate in front of a court. The Supreme Court was solicited by RCTV whereas Mr. Chavez had already announced his decision, irrevocable. This political decision reduced pluralism and increases the concentration of audio-visual tools within the hands of the government. Whatever the administrative or legal arguments called upon by the president, it is a hard blow carried against the freedom of expression in Venezuela.

The independence of powers does not exist any more in Venezuela. The opposition fears that, after the media, the president will proceed in a similar way towards the trade unions, the nongovernmental organizations or the political parties. With Mr. Chavez, the Venezuelan democracy is threatened.

Needless to say the true believers in 21st Century Socialism see a liberation for the views of the poor from the monopoly of the wealthy, and victory achieved within the rule of law.

Don't Cry for Venezuela's RCTV: No, May 27 is not a sad day for freedom of expression in Venezuela, so don’t weep for Mr. Granier when RCTV’s license is not renewed. He can still broadcast through cable or satellite and he can still sell his programming to other stations. Instead, rejoice with all the independent producers and thousands of Venezuelan who will have access to the space one wealthy man controlled for years. May 28 will be a day of celebration in Venezuela. It should be a day for celebrating freedom throughout the world.

Is Free Speech Really at Stake? On process, they have a legitimate point. The government seems to have made the decision without any administrative or judicial hearings. Unfortunately, this is what the law, first enacted in 1987, long before Chávez entered the political scene, allows. It charges the executive branch with decisions about license renewal, but does not seem to require any administrative hearing. The law should be changed, but at the current moment when broadcast licenses are up for renewal, it is the prevailing law and thus lays out the framework in which decisions are made.

Of course laws are meaningless if not fused to a system that honors rights for the individual and due process to protect non-governmental parties to a dispute. In this instance no one is even pretending that preventing RCTV from broadcasting is anything but the unchallengeable command of a dominant strong man who doesn’t like being challenged.

Last Night in Vegas

You know the sound: the continual tinka tinka ching blending with babbling chatter. It’s a long walk south through the crowds and construction dust but Lola knows what she wants at the MGM Grand. So sitting at a counter in L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon we finish dinner with a fragrant Armagnac no longer listed on the menu. We have only four bottles left from 1986 says Fred, and you know we have a celebrity present? Yeah Fred, we know Robin Williams has been sitting immediately behind us this last hour. The high roller aspirations are so quintessentially “The Strip”. It's all fake dear but fabulously authentically fake.

Yet yearning for something authentically real we then grab a cab to get away from the all the manipulated and manufactured opulence. The driver is clueless but his dispatcher knows where to find Sand Dollar Blues Lounge. A subdued sign on the side of a two story building is all that marks the doorway. It’s as if the venue proclaims: I ain’t trying to find you if you ain’t trying to find me. Outside people are riding up on bikes and inside Andy Walo is filling an old black walled room with complex and inspired guitars riffs. Years of honing his skills in the Chicago blues bars shows as the band follows his lead through playful, soulful and intense emotions. The dancers and aficionados in the audience rightfully approve. It’s exactly the best place to end up in the darkness of the desert.

I Concur

Without conveying the provenance, an extraordinary moment happens. After a prolonged conversation with a stranger from Janesville, he suddenly proclaims that the liberals are fascists. The oppressive truth of the socialist agenda is beginning to be understood by some of our independent non-political citizens. What is fair about a government that can tax a person out of their home? Nothing. It’s a good time for a break.

Sierra Club Sues UW Madison

The Sierra Club is suing the UW Madison for their use of a coal fired electric plant. Their claim is that it causes pollution. I drive a two mile perimeter around and through the land centered on the electric plant and see NO environmental damage. I recommend the UW Madison demands a mandatory jury tour of this section of Madison. If there is environmental damage at this spot, then it must not be visible to the naked eye. A cynic might say the Sierra Club is extorting funding from the State of Wisconsin.

Treasure

Every child knows the image of piles and piles of precious coins. Thousands of gold and silver medallions spilling over the ground in some unseen secret place lost from the memory of any living soul. Instant wealth waiting to be found.

Treasure: The artifacts recovered from the site include over 500,000 silver coins weighing more than 17 tons, hundreds of gold coins, worked gold, and other artifacts. All recovered items have been legally imported into the Unites States and placed in a secure, undisclosed location where they are undergoing conservation and documentation.

It is believed that this recovery constitutes the largest collection of coins ever excavated from a historical shipwreck site. They were recovered in conformity with Salvage Law and the Law of the Sea Convention, beyond the territorial waters or legal jurisdiction of any country.

The "Black Swan" project returns with their loot to the safety of a well guarded port. At this time, there are no verifiable reports as to the location of the individual known as Jack Sparrow.

Prioritizing Problems

Immigration? The politicians will come up with something far from perfect, inefficiently complex and probably counter productive to the goal of security under the rule of law. Hopefully the resilience of our free society will adapt without destroying those freedoms underlying the planetary supremacy of our economy. The pathway leading directly to massive hardship for the entire population will more likely emerge from our ruling class management of energy policy.

The Coming Explosion in Energy Prices: The problem with US energy is self inflicted and political in nature but the blame can be spread to both sides of the aisle. It has been a 30+ year slide into less and less independence from the vagaries of the global oil industry. During this time the only place energy companies have been allowed to explore is next to a dry hole (which conveniently allows environmentalist to claim there is nothing there to drill for, so why allow additional exploration), and the only place they have been allowed to build a refinery is NOWHERE. Very little energy investment or development has been allowed in the United States, whether it is ANWAR (in Alaska), off shore drilling, Nuclear Energy, New Refineries, Clean coal technologies, these things have become verboten.

As Energy development has become captives of the courts, trial lawyers and environmentalists, and politicians once again have betrayed their oath of fiduciary and sound oversight of the US energy policies. Politicians talk about energy independence, but really pay only lip service to the idea of reduced dependence on foreign oil. In fact, their actions say just the opposite, putting the lie to their words. Their talk is all illusion, turn it over in your mind and see through it. Vast US domestic areas of prime oil and natural gas territories remain off limits to environmentally safe energy development. To judge present day oil and natural gas production techniques to those of yesteryears is baloney. When Katrina struck did you hear of huge environmental catastrophes? OIL spills? NO. The only catastrophes were caused by the government’s corps of engineers.

I don’t want energy independence. The whole idea of pursuing a circumscribed bubble sealed off from the rest of the world strikes me as absurd. What I want is a world where commerce is free from extortion, corruption and self serving manipulations by the powerful. An economy where risk and reward allows private individuals to seek answers to problems. This idealism should not be taken as an “ends justify the means” strategic plan, but rather an orientation guiding the direction of the next steps.

Procedural Politics Gamesmanship

Someone needs to break down the differences between Hugo Chavez and Nancy Pelosi for me, because I see only similarities in their desire to disregard or discard any rules standing in their way of implementing their socialist visions.

Republicans Claim Victory in Rules Fight: Republicans claimed victory Wednesday in a flash-pan fight with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) over 185-year-old House rules that allow the minority party to block legislation.

Reports Thursday afternoon suggested that Pelosi would alter the "motion to commit," which allow the minority party to send legislation back to committee before the full House is allowed to vote on it. In a Congress where Pelosi has repeatedly blocked Republican attempts to amend bills headed for floor votes, the "motion to recommit" is often the only opportunity for Republicans to block or change bills.

Reports suggested Pelosi was frustrated with Republican success using the motion to recommit, and wanted to change the rule, established in 1822. But Chief Deputy Republican Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia wrote on his blog Thursday that "House Democrats just blinked" after Republican stalling efforts brought floor progress to a halt.

"House Democrats wanted to change the rules to make it easier to raise taxes," Cantor wrote. "They wanted to change rules on minority floor rights that have been in place since 1822. They failed."

It is so much easier to impose radical change when there are no minority rights. A power grab, ill conceived and poorly timed, manages to be countered by a display of Republican unity on principle – self serving as this one is – amazing. -- H/T The Right Side of Wisconsin

A Role Model for New Fairness

Earlier this week a story describes in some detail how House Democrats want to drag the decayed corpse of The Fairness Doctrine from the grave for some ritual voodoo. I expect the chanting of sacred words – equality – social justice – social responsibility – with perhaps some candles, fragrant oils, camera time and flash powder.

The American Spectator: According to two members of the House Democrat Caucus, Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer have informed them that they will "aggressively pursue" reinstatement of the so-called Fairness Doctrine over the next six months.

QandO Blog: Radical egalitarianism rears it's ugly head at the expense of the right of free speech. The government, via the Democrats, will attempt to regulate political speech in the name of equality.

If Nancy Pelosi is serious about establishing government “oversight” of broadcast content, she may want to design her new creation on a proven working model.

Radio and Television Social Responsibility Law: On December 7, 2004 the National Assembly passed the Radio and Television Social Responsibility Law (or Ley Resorte). The new law increases State control over radio and television programming and includes measures which go against accepted international norms in the field. These include stipulations in Articles 6 and 7, which limit the broadcasting of images and sounds based on concepts that are so ambiguous that stations have no way of knowing at what point they are breaking the law since such stipulations are subject to the arbitrary interpretation of the regulatory agency.

The law establishes within the regulatory agency a Directorate for Social Responsibility, which is composed of eleven people, whose main function is to oversee compliance with the provisions of the law and to impose sanctions on offenders. Sanctions include taking cultural and educational programming off the air, fines, the suspension of business licenses which allow stations to broadcast, and revoking their concessions. In practice, the Directorate is nothing less than a media censoring agency.

Of the Directorate for Social Responsibility's eleven members, seven are designated by the Government in representation of State agencies and none represents the broadcasting industry. This means that radio and television stations have no direct recourse within the Directorate to plead their cases or to appeal sanctions that might be levied upon them. In addition, the Directorate's chairman is the Director General of the regulatory agency, the National Telecommunications Commission (CONATEL), and thus a presidential appointee.

After all, it is our leftists that are always claiming America needs to look beyond our boundaries for precedents in international law. -- H/T Dad29

Windfall Milk Profits

Someone alert Governor Doyle there may be another source windfall profits to be taxed. “Milk prices at U.S. stores averaged $3.32 a gallon in April, up 2.9 percent from a year earlier, USDA data show.” Who knew world demand for milk is growing faster than world demand for oil.

Got Milk? Milk prices worldwide are rising at the fastest rate ever and won't be falling anytime soon because of growing demand in China and Latin America and dwindling government supplies.

This year's rally is different from increases in previous years because government surpluses are no longer available in dairy-producing countries such as the U.S., the largest exporter of milk powder, and the EU, the largest exporter of cheese.

U.S. inventories of butter, cheese and dry milk peaked at more than 2.7 billion pounds in 1983. The government that year spent $2.5 billion on surplus dairy products to support prices and farmer income. Today, the U.S. has no surplus after selling the 27 million pounds it held in 2005, USDA data show.

The 14 percent jump in milk demand during the past seven years outpaced the 13 percent rise in oil use, according to estimates from the International Energy Agency in Paris.

This whole supply and demand thing means dairy prices will probably continue to escalate over the next couple years because you just can’t instantly ramp up production by going to Wal-Mart and buying a dozen more heifers to plug into the pumps. Since feed grain accounts for about half the production cost of milk, dairy farmers have been reluctant to expand herd size as ethanol induced madness continues to drive up the price of corn.

So this summer as milk approaches $4.00 a gallon and those nuevo-rich dairy farmers are putting brand spanking new sets of Goodyears on their Ford F-150’s, expect the Governor to declare his outrage at putting profits over the needs of growing babies and pizza eating college students yearning to save the world. Then announcing a new excise tax to address the crisis.

Seeking Clarity in Dane County

This is a scary thought. A Dane County commission has taxing authority it has never used. Now that the Wisconsin State Journal has put the whiff in the air the minions of Governor Doyle may soon be on the scent. Failing to take full advantage of all approved tax revenue sources must surely be frowned upon by our current administer in chief.

Can Madison clean its lakes? Brett Hulsey, a member of the Dane County Board, praised the work of the Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission, which he leads. The commission was formed by state statute in 1988 as a county agency charged with coordinating work on the lakes and has an advisory role to the county board and the county executive on lake and water quality issues. The commission has taxing authority but has not used it, according to Hulsey, because it has been successful in using grants and other county money.

One of the goals is to improve the clarity of the lake until people can see their feet while standing in two feet of water. It's a simple, straightforward goal, Lorman said, that everybody can identify with and which progress toward can be easily measured.

It is a good thing the Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission has been fiscally prudent so far, working through grant funding, ordinance writing and volunteer cleanup projects. I suppose it would be environmental heresy to suggest finding the way to “two feet” of clear water by looking to nature.

Zebra mussels are filter feeders. An adult zebra mussel filters up to a quart of water per day, which multiplied by millions of mussels means that the mussels may be filtering all the water in a lake or stream in a day. … The filter-feeding activity of zebra mussels causes a related and frequently dramatic increase in water clarity in infested lakes and rivers.

Zebra mussels do have a positive impact on some native species. Many native fish, birds, and other animals eat young and adult zebra mussels. Migratory ducks have changed their flight patterns in response to zebra mussel colonies. Lake sturgeon feed heavily on zebra mussels, as do yellow perch, freshwater drum, catfish, and sunfish. The increase in aquatic plants due to increased water clarity provides excellent nursery areas for young fish and other animals, leading to increases in smallmouth bass populations …

The heresy being denial of the tenet that nature has ordained a specific place and range for each living thing. If a species is not listed on some pre-millennial census then it is an illegal alien in Dane County. Flora and fauna immigration law is taken very seriously here. Ironic isn’t it because the zebra mussels only want the work the resident mussels aren’t doing, like clearing excessive algae from the lakes.

Cockburn Turns on Algore

The left is in trouble as their shrill polemics about dangerous man-made global warming are about to blow up in their face. Aided by ignorant and unquestioning journalists in the main steam media, their 24-7 fear mongering has actually worked to focus attention on their claims and the claims simply are not holding up. It turns out the Sun warms the solar system and Mars and Neptune are slightly warming, as is Mother Earth.

Since the advocates of green socialism are heavily invested in their “destroy the oil economy” crusade, they simply can’t just stop and apologize for getting their facts wrong. Admitting their life changing and expensive proposed solutions address non-existent problems would kill all their credibility. The leftists want power for powers sake so they will never take the mea culpa pathway.

Instead, you need to apply the brakes from within the progressive movement and this means appointing an inquisitor with impeccable left wing credentials. It also means finding a scapegoat to bear all the blame thus leaving the movement pure and true. How else do you explain Alexander Cockburn taking on Al Gore in the socialist media?

Who are the Merchants of Fear? As a denizen of Washington since his diaper years Gore has always understood that threat inflation is the surest tool to plump up budgets and rabblerouse the voters. By the mid Nineties he positioned himself at the head of a strategic and tactical alliance formed around "the challenge of climate change", which had now stepped forward to take Communism's place in the threatosphere essential to all political life.

These are multi-billion dollar computer model programming bureaucracies as intent on self-preservation and budgetary enhancement as cognate nuclear bureaucracies at Oakridge and Los Alamos. They are as unlikely to develop models confuting the hypothesis of human-induced global warming as is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to say the weather is possibly getting a little bit warmer but that there's no great cause for alarm and indeed some reason for rejoicing, since this warming (whose natural causes I discussed in that recent column) gives us a longer growing season and increased CO2, a potent plant fertiliser. Welcome global greening.

When measured reality doesn't cooperate with the lurid model predictions, new compensating "factors" are concocted, such as the briefly popular sulfate aerosols of the 1990’s, recruited to cool off the obviously excessive heat predicted by the models. Or the existing, inconvenient data are water-Xboarded into submission as happened with the ice-core samples that fail to confirm the modellers' need for record temperatures today as opposed to half a million years ago. As Richard Kerr, Science magazine's man on global warming remarked, "Climate modelers have been 'cheating' for so long it's become almost respectable."

If you despise Al Gore, read the entire hit piece. No one knows how to push all the right buttons like a member of the family. If you are a proud supporter of progressive government solutions, it is time to remember that science is for the scientists, and turn the focus back to social justice.

Bobolinks and Power Grid Links

Last week while walking in the low density edges of town I see a dark weasel with a small yellow bird in its mouth, bounding across the large rocks lining a gully. Animated with the success of the hunt it races back and disappears down a burrow beneath a bridge. The next day I see a pair of Canadian Geese with their small brood of chicks floating in the retention pond and it dawns upon me the tiny predator is doing its small part in keeping Wisconsin’s expansive flocks in check.

It is dangerous to project human motivations on animal activity but I’m quite sure the weasel was completely devoid of concerns that the rocks, having been placed there by humans somehow made his chosen environment unnatural. I am also confident the last thoughts of the baby bird were not ruminations about how its tragic death was exactly like so many other chicks in the ancestral lines back to the pristine wilderness before Columbus unleashed the Europeans. There are no living creatures with fond memories of the way it used to be back in 1491 A.D.

WKOW runs an update on a small confrontation between environmentalist and development concerns. In the ongoing effort to upgrade our power system, American Transmission Company (ATC) wants to build an improved power line between the Jefferson substation on Highway 89 through Lake Mills to the Stoney Brook substation south of Waterloo. ATC asked to build the line along the existing Highway 89 electric corridor (Map) but the Public Service Commission instead directed them to break new easements through residential back roads.

Power Line Project Turns on Leopold's Legacy: . "It's very clear in my mind, and to the many of the locals here, this (highway 89) is the obvious choice. You put it down an established corridor, not down unestablished township roadways." "I think politics got its ugly hand in this decision," Dandoy told 27 News. "What happened here was Madison happened here."

More accurately, the Madison environmentalist mindset happened here. The Madison Audubon Society is doing a restoration project on lands on one side of Highway 89. Concerned about enlargement of the existing electric lines they astutely lobbied the Public Service Commission to change ATC’s preferred route. Now they are now attempting to keep a challenge to this ruling within the Dane County Courts.

Faville Grove Sanctuary: This restoration of a wet-prairie remnant is part of an extensive ongoing restoration effort of Jefferson County’s Crawfish Prairie conducted by the Madison Audubon Society (MAS). To date, MAS has acquired 265 acres in this project area and has worked to restore the hydrology and plant communities of more than half of those acres.

STTOP: The Madison Audubon Society has filed their own appeal in Dane County. There is very little doubt that this was a strategic move to control the venue, since the first judge to receive a petition in this kind of case gets to decide where the hearing will be. A Dane County Circuit Court Judge will decide whether this case will be moved to Jefferson County or remain in Dane County for all parties filing petitions. We believe that we have a strong argument, for obvious reasons, why the hearing should be held in Jefferson County.

Audubon Society attorney Dave Bender actually gets to the heart of the matter when he tells Channel 27: "Eighty to one hundred foot transmission line towers would have a negative aesthetic impact on the Faville Grove Sanctuary.” Nature does not have a concept of how it should exist and the Bobolinks, Dickcissels, and Eastern Meadowlarks are not concerned about aesthetics. This legal and political skirmish is about privileged residents of Madison wanting to do more than preserve land for the birds. This is about elites wanting to create a work of landscape art called pristine nature.

Thursday Musings

The same day U.S. Stocks Tumble Most in 2 Months on Slowing Economy Concern the western financial press takes notice that Hugo Chávez moves into banking. I’m not positing cause and effect but rather an observation that vermin have been feasting on the foundations of the mansion. I suspect the short term will be just fine, however, as the money players simply can not resist trying to beat the returns on cash.

Bill Roggio continues telling stories of Iraq that run counter to claims that murdering thugs hiding behind the false legitimacy of Islam are poised to conquer all of Babylon.

The Diyala Salvation Front: In early March, Al Sabaah reported the local sheikhs in Diyala were organizing against al-Qaeda and its Islamic State of Iraq, "which [is] spreading corruption in the province districts." Today, the speculation has become a reality, as "Arab tribesmen in Baqubah have said they will form a tribal alliance to cleanse the Diyala province of foreign fighters and those of the al-Qaeda terrorist network in Iraq."

Over 2,000 hardened al Qaeda fighters fled Baghdad and are operating in Diyala. An American intelligence official and a U.S. military officer informs us that al Qaeda is operating along the lines of Hezbollah's military structure in Lebanon. Recent al Qaeda attacks in the region bear this out. Al Qaeda is organized in small military units with infantry, mortars, anti-tank and anti-aircraft teams, as well as suicide and IED cells and the accompanying logistical nodes. Al Qaeda has been conducting a terror campaign to remove tribal leaders and others who oppose them, while waging a campaign of intimidation designed to cower the local population.

And while all American politicians sound devoid of grand visions eloquently articulated, there is a new voice on the larger stage speaking with the moral courage of fresh triumph.

The New France: Nation-states are no longer the sole actors on the international stage. New powers and new themes have emerged. My problem with realpolitik is that it limits diplomatic action in an effort to leave unchanged the reality of the world. "Stability" and status quo are their obsessions. But the pursuit of status quo is not a policy; it is akin to giving up. Stability for stability's sake is not how I conceive the world. The steadfast adherence to stability leads to turning a blind eye to cruelty and injustice. I add that today, all action is done under the informed and vigilant gaze of public opinion, both national and international. We cannot claim ignorance anymore, so we are loosing the possibility of remaining silent in the face of genocide or criminal behavior.

There are times I believe a period of economic hardship, or another close flash of the evil of violence, or disgust finally awaking the population in revolt against the lesser souls who claim to lead us would yield an eventual net positive. Then I think better.

No Madison Airport

Those of you living outside the People’s Republic of Madison have no idea of the burden Madison residents must endure. Dane County Regional Airport is an economic and environmental burden that is both unfair and unjust to people who purchased homes on the east side. Little did they realize their lives were being condemned to an airport ghetto. It is time for this monstrosity to go.

No Madison Airport: Madison and Dane County are making plans for the future. Plans for making Madison a better place to live. Plans to reduce suburban sprawl. But something is missing. The city's Comprehensive Plan removes thousands of acres in Madison from future residential growth where no one is allowed to live. This area could provide affordable homes to 40,000 more city residents who would inject their vitality into our community.

Why is this area considered uninhabitable? The Dane County Regional Airport. It has created an area unsuitable for people to live. Instead of the benefits of additional city residents, Madison gets an airport ghetto.

Inspired by former UW Madison Professor Joel “Killer” Hirschhorn, a brave band of visionaries intend to end this travesty of land use by moving the airport out of the city limits. These smart growth pioneers are very serious because they are so very smart.

"The concept of carefully examining relocating the Dane County airport to free up considerable land for close-in development that would reduce sprawl around Madison is a fine illustration of "smart growth" thinking. City and county officials should be encouraged by thoughtful citizens and business leaders to pursue analysis of this option."

Let your city and county representatives know its time to start planning a better future for Madison and Dane County. We need a study of the costs and benefits of relocating the county airport out of Madison.

Write County Executive Kathy Falk and let her know the Dane County smart growth plan and her Attain Dane plan forgot to evaluate the impacts of keeping the county airport in Madison. This omission will create, not discourage, more Dane County sprawl.

Write Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and tell him the city Comprehensive Plan is out of balance and needs to more aggressively create housing, especially affordable housing, within Madison. His plan forgot to evaluate the impacts of keeping the county airport in Madison. We need homes, not an airport ghetto. It's time for him to return to his sprawl fighting roots and start looking out for Madison residents.

Yes, tell Mayor Dave and Kathleen Falk it is time to rid Madison of convenient air travel. Our idealistic New Urbanists foresee 40,000 humans crammed into this land and working at the high paying jobs a far away airport will attract. Cost be damned citizens, it is our environmental duty to return America to a land of huddled masses yearning to walk everywhere.

Getting Worse for Iranian Women

It is no secret, to those who actually want to know, that Iran's Waning Human Rights disproportionately effect females. Ignoring oppression doesn’t make it go away.

Shrinking Rights in Iran: According to Human Rights Watch, Iran’s judiciary, which instigated the crackdown, is using national security laws to rein in Iran’s “burgeoning” women’s rights movement.

The problem, of course, is not limited to hemlines or haircuts. Human rights have steadily eroded across the board under the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Disappearances and deaths by stoning are now common, according to the State Department, as are extrajudicial killings, restrictions on civil liberties, and “violence by vigilante groups with ties to the government.”

With talk of more normalized bilateral relations in the air, some reformists democracy activists remain skeptical Tehran would ever want to end its diplomatic isolation. “This would reduce state domination of an economy that is crippled by corruption and negligence, and loosen control of societal and political life by state institutions such as the Revolutionary Guards and their allies,” writes Iranian author Nasrin Alavi.

In this regard it is refreshing to see someone in the West actually articulate the fact that medieval mindsets are not welcome within our borders.

Nicolas Sarkozy: I respect all cultures throughout the world, but so that it is quite clear: if I am elected President of the Republic, I will not accept women being treated as inferior to men. The French Republic holds these values: respect for women, equality between men and women. Nobody has the right to hold a prisoner, even within his own family. I say it clearly, that polygamy is prohibited in the territory of the French Republic. I will fight against female genital mutilation and those who do not wish to understand that the values of the French Republic include freedom for women, the dignity of women, respect for women -- they do not have any reason to be in France. If our laws are not respected and if one does not wish to understand our values, if one does not wish to learn French, then one does not have any reason to be on French territory.

I’m sure Nancy Pelosi said words to this effect to Bashar al-Assad and I’m sure she will go to any mosque in America and affirm the same. Yes, I’m positive Pelosi believes people who don’t share French values should stay out of France.

AEI: Past practice shows that a strategy of speaking softly and waving a big carrot does not work with Iran. Tehran has become conditioned to expect reward for non-compliance. It is time we end that cycle.

Hey – where is Tammy Baldwin on this issue?

Globalwarmists Are Propagandists

H/T to Dad29 for finding a UW Madison Climatologist willing to call shenanigans on the hysteria about dangerous manmade global warming. Dr. Reid Bryson brings impeccable expertise to the subject and when he says: “You can go outside and spit and have the same effect as doubling carbon dioxide” it pretty well sums up the validity of globalwarmist alarmism.

Because the globalwarmists are a political movement, however, the actualities of science will not deter them from their quest to impose their version of green socialism on a gullible public. The latest example of a blatant propaganda move comes from England. On the quiet, schools are supplied with a teaching kit containing a DVD of “An Inconvenient Truth” and other one sided materials specifically aimed at children.

Gore Propaganda in British Schools Faces Legal Challenge: On Wednesday last week, yes the day before the British local elections when nobody was looking, the combined weight of the Education and Environment Ministries started to send out their Secondary Schools Climate Change Pack.

UKIP Peer Lord Pearson asked the government to halt the process, and having had the request rejected suggested that this pack also include the Channel 4 film “The Great Global Warming Swindle”. This suggestion too was rejected, despite the fact that it would have made the government's proposal legal under the 1996 Education Act.

Children continue to be taught the world needs to be saved. This is wrong. There are local environmental problems that need to be addressed but the biosphere is just fine and thriving. It is time rational adults start stating this fact loud and clear.

Sea Change in France

An impressive 85% of eligible French voters show up at the polls to vote for President. Nicolas Sarkozy wins the election and in his acceptance speech declares: “I want to issue an appeal to our American friends, to tell them that they can count on our friendship, which has been forged in the tragedies of history which we have faced together”. An overtly US friendly candidate wins with 53% of the French vote. This is good news.

Yahoo News: Sarkozy will take over from Chirac on May 16, and has promised to act quickly to enact key items of his manifesto. His campaign was based on the theme of "la rupture" -- a clean break from past policies which he blamed for creating France's runaway debt, high unemployment and festering discontent in the high-immigration suburbs. After legislative elections in June -- in which he will seek a clear majority for the UMP and its allies -- he plans a special National Assembly session to set off his reform drive.

These include the abolition of tax on overtime, big cuts in inheritance tax, a law guaranteeing minimum service in transport strikes, and rules to oblige the unemployed to take up offered work. On the social front he has pledged minimum jail terms for serial offenders and tougher rules to make it harder for immigrants to bring extended families to France. His right-wing programme was in sharp contrast to Royal's promise to extend state protection, create 500,000 jobs, and increase the minimum wage.

It is good to remember that a right winger in French politics is analogous to an American centrist Democrat. Still this result shows that much of the public understands that the government guaranteed easy life under socialism is unsustainable. The French do not want to give up the welfare state and will question and resist the restructuring process, but a majority concedes changes are undeniably needed.

Defeated Socialists search for scapegoats: It is the party’s third consecutive presidential defeat. The Socialists now face the question of whether they can ever regain power without ditching their anti-capitalist rhetoric, as the mainstream left has done across almost all of Europe.

Moderates attracted to her early campaign were disappointed by her manifesto, filled with generous spending pledges and little indication of how to fund them. Party disunity exploded into public view when Eric Besson, her economic adviser, quit saying she was “dangerous for France” and joined the Sarkozy campaign.

The left needs to give up their dream of good mother government and convert to the goal of improving the weaknesses within capitalism. Fausta's Blog and Captains Quarters have roundups of the world reaction to this sea change in Europe.

A New Black Hole Cashbox

Change can occur at any speed. The revolution in Venezuela is transforming that oil rich nation with increasing velocity and there is also evidence this is only one front of a larger coordinated global revolt against the west.

Paradigm shift in Latin America: Though personally I don't believe in reincarnation or metempsychosis, it seems Late Saddam Hussein has started speaking out through the vocal cord of President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. Years back Saddam did deliver a speech full of gravest admonitions that only the fainthearted Arabs are to bow down before the United States as the only power to decide the fate of the pan-Arab security. Chaves is also intoning the same admonitions to the Latin Americans to stand firm against the United States and its hegemonic instruments like IMF and World Bank.

Western Liberals view the events through their class war world view and see only positive progress as Chavez walks away from western financial institutions and calls for others to follow his path. In their view the actions represent liberation from capitalist "debt slavery".

Counterpunch: Unlike what the Wall Street Journal and rest of the US corporate media report or imply, Chavez and others on the "pragmatic left" aren't aiming to destroy capitalism, just tame it. … Hugo Chavez offers them a new choice having announced in March he intends creating a Bank of the South social democratic alternative to the repressive neoliberal Washington Consensus IMF-World Bank model.

Chavez intends to build a separate financial system which will be completely opaque to the auditors of all the European heritage institutions. A banking system where funds from Wahhabist charities, Iranian banks, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) cocaine cash and Taliban opiate profits can work together for common goals. Douglas Farah details the multiple areas of concern emerging down south.

The Growing Terrorism Challenges From Latin America: All told, Venezuela has spent some $4.3 billion on weapons since 2005, placing it ahead of China ($3.4 billion); Pakistan ($3 billion); and Iran ($1.7 billion). … Lt. Gen. Michael Maples, director of the DIA, said Venezuela’s agenda was to "neutralize U.S influence" in Latin America and predicted the buying spree would continue in 2007.

In Latin America Hezbollah (Shia) and Hamas (Sunni) have developed sophisticated but little studied financial structures, largely through the unregulated exchange houses and free trade zones in specific parts of the region, including Panama’s Colon Free Trade Zone, Isla Margarita in Venezuela, Ciudad del Este in Paraguay, the Aruba Free Trade Zone and others. The overarching structure that enables both groups to work along side each other is the international Muslim Brotherhood, the one pan-Islamist group that has for several decades served as a bridge between the two factions.

Non-state armed groups are able to operate with impunity in much of Latin America because the weak and corrupt central governments have not had an effective enforcement presence in many of these regions for years. … While during the Cold War Latin America and Africa received some considerable attention in the competition between the U.S. and the Soviet bloc, today these powers’ interest in both regions has waned -- often replaced by investment, high-level delegations and even military advisors of the People Republic of China (PRC).

Above all, waging war costs money. Without money there are no soldiers with weapons. There are no improvised explosive devices or car shaped bombs. With plenty of cash the enemies of America can find people willing to fight us indefinitely.

Socialist Desperation in France

There is an old saying that people vote their: (pocketbooks, party, resentments, aspirations, moral convictions, values, identity, or self-interest). Sunday’s vote in France will add another non-definitive data point to the electoral evidence. My choice in this specific vote is fears. People vote their fears.

Europe (finally!) gets the War on Terror: The words "cynical" and "immoral" were used by Sarkozy recently to describe the Boomer Left. Europe's vacation from reality is reaching its natural limits, and public opinion is sobering up fast.

With just hours before the decisive election the socialist candidate is trailing badly in the polls. In what some label desperation the left is waving the bloody shirt to the public. As time winds down Ségolène Royal accuses her opponent of being a threat to democracy and warns of violence if Sarkozy is elected.

Hillblogger 3: There is no doubt in my mind that while Royal's performance has enhanced her stature as a politician, someone to reckon with seriously in the not too distant French legislative elections, her "tantrums" and "woolliness" her debate with Sarkozy turned off many "centrist" voters. Even friends of mine who were hardline Socialists were unanimous - Royal blew it big time when she went on unprecedented name-calling attacks against Sarkozy, i.e., liar, immoral, dangerous, brutal, divisive, etc. Not at all presidential, they say.

American style capitalism is the antithesis of maximum government dependency at the core of socialism. Nicolas Sarkozy is realist enough to understand the cherished French welfare state will not survive assault by an outside world filled with poverty, anger and values intrinsically opposed to western concepts including individual freedom of thought.

EU Referendum: Nicolas Sarkozy who is, let us not forget, the son of a Hungarian refugee from the Soviets, has been talking about events in Chechnya in a way that is not entirely complimentary to Russia, pointing out that a great country ought not to be handling matters that way. On his return from a visit to Washington he said: “When I think that those who disapprove of my visit with Bush are the same ones who would shake hands with Putin, it makes me quietly laugh”.

French extraterritorial voters go to the ballots Saturday then national residents vote Sunday. The direction of Europe will be shifting.

How to Report on Teachers Unions

A Teachers College produces a nice big Adobe file about how journalists should cover teachers unions. I suppose that makes as much sense as a Journalism School defining a curriculum to be taught. A wee bit o’ background courtesy of The Hechinger Institute.

From Contracts to Classrooms: Covering Teachers Unions: The notion that teachers should engage in collective bargaining – much less go on strike to get districts to meet their demands – was controversial. Resistance even came from the ranks of traditional organized labor. Champions of labor such as President Franklin D. Roosevelt argued that strikes by public workers were immoral. AFL-CIO President George Meany in 1959 even declared: “It is impossible to bargain collectively with government.”

The tension between the NEA’s “professionalism” and AFT’s “unionism” came to a head in 1961, when New York City teachers held a collective bargaining election. Essentially they were asked to choose whether to engage in collective bargaining. The vote, which came on the heels of a one-day strike by the 5,000-member United Federation of Teachers, came down decidedly in favor of bargaining a contract. Teachers in the city then overwhelmingly selected the UFT to be the official bargaining agent for all of the city’s teachers.

A year later, after the UFT struck over such bread and butter union issues as higher pay and free lunch periods for teachers, the union won the nation’s first major collective bargaining contract, including a $995 per year raise and a duty-free lunch period. In a profession undermined at the time by low pay and heavy-handed management, collective bargaining and teacher unionism took off like a rocket nationwide. By the end of the decade, even the NEA was forced to drop its longstanding resistance to collective bargaining and teacher strikes because the idea was so popular with teachers.

The rest, as they say, is history. “Critics charged that the teachers unions had used their clout to turn schools into job protection zones, rather than child education zones.” Yep, job protection is pretty much the key difference between professional associations and contract labor. H/T Labor Pains

A War of Ideas is a Political Process

Bruce McQuain of The Q and O Blog analyses a Jonathan Chait analysis of the impact the Netroots are having on the Democratic Party. One telling observation is that hyper-motivated moonbat activists are entirely focused on results. This mentality is so dominant that academic liberals who spend their time analyzing other analysts are held in contempt, if their efforts are not productive for the cause.

How successful have the Netroots been in driving the political debate? The prevailing sentiment here, however, is not a distrust of pointy heads. Rather, it's a belief that political discourse ought to be judged solely by its real-world effects. The Netroots consider the notion of pursuing truth for its own sake nonsensical. Their interest in ideas, and facts, is purely instrumental.

To Walsh and other journalists, the relevant metric is true versus untrue. To an activist, the relevant metric is politically helpful versus politically unhelpful. There is a term for this sort of political discourse: propaganda. The word has a bad odor, but it is not necessarily a bad thing. Propaganda is often true, and it can be deployed on behalf of a worthy cause (say, the fight against Nazism in World War II). Still, propaganda should not be confused with intellectual inquiry. Propagandists do not follow their logic wherever it may lead them; they are not interested in originality. Propaganda is an attempt to marshal arguments in order to create a specific real-world result—to win a political war.

A war of ideas, though, is not an intellectual process; it is a political process. As my colleague Leon Wieseltier has written, "[I]f you are chiefly interested in the consequences, then you are not chiefly interested in the ideas." The Netroots, like most of the conservative movement, is interested in the consequences, not the ideas. The battle is being joined at last.

In other words, seeking power is absolutely not the same task as seeking truth. There is nothing inherently wrong in seeking power, however, power can be achieved by either coercion or conversion. The activist left have no qualms about using their fully operational propaganda machine. If the right does not sufficiently counter punch then they will continue to lose more public support than necessary.

The Basic Facts are Pretty Simple

There are grown adults with positions of responsibility saying there is no war on terror. I suppose it is all how you play games with the meanings of words. What I don’t hear is anyone denying there are responsible adults killing defenseless people.

Briefing: The number of incidents increased overall, largely due to terrorist attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan. The perpetrators of these terrorist acts do not represent nation-states and they have no authority, neither do they have any desire, to sign any sort of peace accord with us. As we've said before, this is not the kind of war where you can measure success with conventional numbers. We cannot aspire to a single decisive battle that will break the enemy's back -- nor can we hope for a signed peace accord to mark victory.

The Report also underscores the barbaric nature that the extremists we are fighting pose for us. The vast majority of the victims were innocent civilians and a majority of them were Muslims. Attacks on children were up more than 80 percent, if you can imagine, with more than 1,800 children killed or injured in terrorist attacks -- in 2006. The terrorists also targeted workers essential to civilized society. They targeted police. They targeted government leaders. They targeted teachers. They targeted journalists.

The 2006 Country Reports on Terrorism comes down to two simple statements. “Al-Qaida openly describes itself as a transnational guerilla movement” and “certain states continue to sponsor terrorism and Iran remains at the head of that list.” How to deal with this reality is apparently a matter of widely varied opinions beginning with ignoring it.