Saturday, February 26, 2005

BBC NEWS | Health | Global tobacco treaty takes force

BBC NEWS | Health | Global tobacco treaty takes force:
"Within five years they will have to ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship, as well as reducing exposure to second-hand smoke - basically banning smoking in public places."

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control goes into force on Sunday. Note the emphasis on second-hand smoke which, despite the propaganda of the EPA, has not been shown to be a significant public health risk. So far, the US has not signed on to the treaty, but much of its control regime is already in force here anyway.

Canadian archbishop: Anglican split 'a matter of time'

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Anglican split 'a matter of time':
"Conservative Anglicans had been angered by the Canadian's decision to bless same-sex marriages and the ordination of openly gay bishop Gene Robinson in the US."

This is a train wreck many of us have seen coming for a long time. The balance of power in the Anglican communion, as with some others, has been shifting away from Europe and the largely white nations toward Asia, Africa and other regions. The churches in these nations, especially among their non-European members, tend to be highly orthodox in their views and are not afraid to fight against modernism and liberalism on theological doctrines and church government issues. While many of us had once hoped that this demographic trend might drag the modernists and liberals back from the abyss of heresy and schism, that appears less and less likely.

Egypt may allow multiple presidential candidates

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Egypt announces democratic reform:
"'This morning I have asked the parliament and the Shura Council to amend Article 76 of the constitution, which deals with the election of the president,' Mr Mubarak said in his speech, carried live on state television.
"He said he wanted 'to give the opportunity to political parties to enter the presidential elections and provide guarantees that allow more than one candidate to be put forward to the presidency'."

More bad news for critics of President Bush's efforts to bring democratic reform to the Middle East. Of course, the danger is that the candidate who emerges victorious may be less friendly than Mubarak. In fact, the need to face an opponent in the presidential election might even force President Mubarak himself to adopt a stance more critical of the US. Only time will tell.

UN peacekeeping reforms long overdue

deepikaglobal.com - U.N. fears peacekeepers commit sex abuse worldwide:
"''We think this will look worse before it begins to look better,'' Jane Holl Lute, assistant secretary general for peacekeeping operations, told reporters. ''We expect that more information will come from every mission on allegations. We are prepared for that.'' The undersecretary-general for peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno, said that up to now the U.N. had avoided identifying countries that were slow to court-martial their troops but that he had demanded action within weeks in some cases."

All decent people are outraged by the growing sex crimes scandal involving "soldiers" in at least five of the sixteen current peacekeeping missions around the world. Yet one can't help finding in the latest pledges by UN officials to clean up their act more than a whiff of hypocrisy. There have been scandalous acts, sexual and otherwise, among UN peacekeepers for many years. Everything from Belgians dangling an African boy over an open fire to Kofi Annan's guilty foreknowledge of the Rwandan genocide when he was head of peacekeeping operations.

UN peacekeeping reforms long overdue

deepikaglobal.com - U.N. fears peacekeepers commit sex abuse worldwide:
"''We think this will look worse before it begins to look better,'' Jane Holl Lute, assistant secretary general for peacekeeping operations, told reporters. ''We expect that more information will come from every mission on allegations. We are prepared for that.'' The undersecretary-general for peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno, said that up to now the U.N. had avoided identifying countries that were slow to court-martial their troops but that he had demanded action within weeks in some cases."

All decent people are outraged by the growing sex crimes scandal involving "soldiers" in at least five of the sixteen current peacekeeping missions around the world. Yet one can't help finding in the latest pledges by UN officials to clean up their act more than a whiff of hypocrisy. There have been scandalous acts, sexual and otherwise, among UN peacekeepers for many years. Everything from Belgians dangling an African boy over an open fire to Kofi Annan's guilty foreknowledge of the Rwandan genocide when he was head of peacekeeping operations.

Oops!

Iran, Russia Postpone Nuclear Fuel Signing:
"TEHRAN, Iran - Last-minute disputes Saturday forced Iran and Russia to postpone the signing of an agreement to supply Iran with fuel for its first nuclear reactor, a deal strongly opposed by the United States."

America needs education, but it gets education reform

Governors Work to Improve H.S. Education:
"At least one agreement is likely. Achieve, a nonprofit group formed by governors and corporate leaders, plans to announce Sunday that roughly 12 states are committing to raise high school rigor and align their graduation requirements with skills demanded in college or work."

The recurring summits and studies and pledges of education reform have about as much use to students as churning accounts has for investors. Accounts are churned to make money for brokers and education is reformed to put more money in the hands of educators. That is all it does.

It seems absurd to say that the problem can be solved in the high schools. Or, even to say that the high schools are the place to start. Bad as they are, high schools are not where the rot begins. We don't really expect much more of our high schools, even those we rate as doing a good or adequate job, than to teach what my grandfathers had to know to get through the seventh or eighth grade and qualify to enter high school a hundred years ago. If we could get our primary and intermediate grades up to the old standards, we could scrap today's high schools entirely and be just as well off.

It should be apparent to any truly objective observer that the education system exists for several purposes and that imparting knowledge to children is not the first of these in importance, nor the second. The purposes, it seems to me, include (in no particular order):
To inculcate a spirit of obedience to government
To subvert all other allegiances to family, religion, etc.
To delay entry into the workforce
To provide unionized employment at high wages for large numbers of people
To provide fantastic opportunities for graft and corruption in contracting for facilities and supplies
To provide a minimal skill set to be exploited by future employers
To free up women to participate in the workforce

Hugo Chavez: crazy like a fox?

Hugo Chavez's lunatic ravings | www.vcrisis.com :
"On his Sunday talk show, called, 'Hello, President!' he claimed the U.S. is planning to kill him ..."

The author of this article opines that President Chavez has paranoid delusions and may be a cocaine addict based in part on having turned on a dime and gone from scoffing at Fidel Castro's suggestion that he was a target of US assassination plots to repeating the charge himself. Let me offer a different take on this sudden volta face.

Chavez was a little behind the curve, but he is now singing from the same page as Fidel. The idea that the US plans to assassinate him, Chavez now understands, has nothing to do with the truth or falsity of the charge. But it has the following major benefits:
1. It is virtually non-falsifiable. No matter how many US officials say it ain't so, they can't prove their denials are genuine.
2. It enhances Chavez status as a major foe of Yankee Imperialism to say that the US is plotting his demise.
3. Every day the US is presumed to have been frustrated in its efforts to kill Chavez further enhances the prestige of his security services - really important in the run-up to the communist coup that will eventually make Chavez president for life like his pal Fidel Castro.
4. Repeating this charge early and often gives the US a very strong motive to root out assassination plots that others might hatch against Chavez, a doubtless there are many Venezuelan patriots who are mulling such plans.
5. If Chavez happens to be assassinated, the US is the ready-made scapegoat for the outrage of the people. Actually, I suspect that this was the first angle that Chavez thought of and it scared the hell out of him since it might just suit the revolution to create a high profile martyr at a critical moment.

Tuxedoed lesbian buys ad to get photo in yearbook

local6.com - News - School Board Bans Photo Of Girl Wearing Tux:
"Kelli Davis, 18, had her senior class photo taken in a tuxedo top and bow-tie outfit provided for boys rather than the gown-like drape and pearls provided for girls. The school's principal decided it could not appear in the yearbook because she didn't follow the dress code.
"Kelli, a straight-A student with no discipline problems, is a self-proclaimed lesbian. She said she was uncomfortable to have her chest exposed in the photo."

It is unfortunate that Ms. Davis has decided she is a lesbian, and one suspects that might have had something to do with her attempt to have her senior picture published wearing a man's costume. After all, if she had objected to baring too much skin and offered to appear in a less revealing drape one suspects the administration might have been more flexible in its interpretation of the dress code.

On the other hand, what sort of nonsense is it to impose such a stultifying dress code for a mugshot in the high school yearbook? In my own high school yearbooks in the 1960s in Virginia, and my mother's from the 1930s in Indiana, The boys could wear whatever jacket and tie suited them, and the girls whatever modest dress and jewelry they (or their mothers) thought best.

In this case, the school administration not only refused to have Ms. Davis picture among those of her classmates, they even discharged the yearbook editor for taking Ms. Davis' side in the controversy. But they were willing to accept $700 from Ms. Davis' family to buy a two page ad in the yearbook that will include Ms. Davis' photo in all her tuxedoed glory. This may be a victory for something, although I don't know what, but it certainly wasn't for any principle I can discern.

Prediction: This may encourage other students who would like to make a fashion, lifestyle or political statement to buy ads in future yearbooks so that they can appear in a photograph that represents their unique character and rejects the cookie-cutter mentality of our government indoctrination centers to which they have by then been exposed for 12-15 years.

Friday, February 25, 2005

Crisis averted: Russia to sign atom fuel deal with Iran

BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Russia to ink Iran atom fuel deal:
"According to the AFP news agency, Iran was initially reluctant to agree to Russian demands for all spent fuel to be returned, citing the risks involved in transporting it.
"But Russia insisted on the guarantee to ensure no spent fuel was diverted for the manufacture of weapons."

This should make it possible for the IAEA inspectors to keep track of rods in from Russia and rods out to Russia and no need for Iran to develop dual-use reprocessing facilities. Maybe now everybody can ratchet down the rhetoric about imminent attacks on Iran from the US or Israel. Just last week, someone sent me an article that claimed the US was going to borrow planes from Israel and fly them from Italy to bomb Iran - what nonsense!

There is a great need for expanded nuclear power both in the US and in the world at large. This Russian deal with Iran should be the model for making sure that this happens without undermining the IAEA's ability to enforce the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Friday, February 18, 2005

The art scene in Boise, or is what the boys see art?

Yahoo! News - Strip club artfully slips by anti-nudity law :
"On what it calls Art Club Nights, the Erotic City strip club charges customers $15 (8 pounds) for a sketch pad, pencil, and a chance to see completely naked women dancers."

Who would have thought that grown men in Boise, Idaho, would pay $15 to sit around pretending to be art students? But you have to admire the ingenuity of this strip club's scheme to get around the law prohibiting full nudity except for artistic purposes.

North America: one "brand image" or one nation? CFR denies intention to subvert sovereignty

TheStar.com - Border talks called `disturbing':
"OTTAWA?An influential tri-national panel has considered a raft of bold proposals for an integrated North America, including a continental customs union, single passport and contiguous security perimeter."

Despite the assurances of some participants, it is hard to see how the CFR-sponsored talks on North American (Canada, Mexico and the US) integration can be seen as anything but an assault on sovereignty. One market, one passport and one border sounds a lot like one country to me.

North America: one "brand image" or one nation? CFR denies intention to subvert sovereignty

TheStar.com - Border talks called `disturbing':
"OTTAWA?An influential tri-national panel has considered a raft of bold proposals for an integrated North America, including a continental customs union, single passport and contiguous security perimeter."

Despite the assurances of some participants, it is hard to see how the CFR-sponsored talks on North American (Canada, Mexico and the US) integration can be seen as anything but an assault on sovereignty. One market, one passport and one border sounds a lot like one country to me.

More hot air? Or, are we really in hot water now? Greenhouse gases 'do warm oceans'

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Greenhouse gases 'do warm oceans':
"The team fed different scenarios into computer simulations to try to reproduce the observed rise in ocean temperatures over the last 40 years.
"They used several scenarios to try to explain the oceanic observations, including natural climate variability, solar radiation and volcanic emissions, but all fell short.
"'What absolutely nailed it was greenhouse warming,' said Dr [Tim] Barnett [of Scripps Institution of Oceanography].
"This model reproduced the observed temperature changes in the oceans with a statistical confidence of 95%, conclusive proof - say the researchers - that global warming is being caused by human activities."

Forgive me if I don't join the Chicken Littles in chanting "The sky is warming! The ocean is warming! We're all gonna die!" just yet. For starters, it is hard to see how they could rule out natural variability so readily since, in geologic terms, the period of record for ocean temperature measurements of comparable scope and quality to the last 30 or 40 years is pretty short. For another, there are still some nagging difficulties with regard to the atmospheric temperature data which don't track very well with the GHG models and the Global Warming alarmists had started this whole debate based on atmospheric rather than oceanic warming and now seem to be doing a bait and switch.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

88% no-show rate at Harlingen, Texas immigration court

The Monitor - McAllen, Texas:
"But illegal immigration is not ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]’s main concern. According to Van Pelt, national security has become the watchword for the nation’s borders. ICE expends most of its resources securing airports and facilities that house sensitive chemicals, places where a terrorist mopping the floor could mean a repeat of 9/11."

Thus, thousands abscond while out on bail awaiting a deportation hearing, partly because the US government does not want to pay to incarcerate them, and very little effort is made to find them. This article doesn't mention it, but this laxity is the reason Beltway sniper Malvo was on the loose. A responsible immigration control system very likely would have prevented that boy from becoming a murderer and saved the lives of several US citizens.

Harlingen is far and away the worst region for no-shows which may be related to the very high level of OTMs (Other Than Mexicans) apprehended in that part of Texas - Brazilians, Hondurans, Salvadorans, even Chinese. Illegal immigrants from such places are much more likely to spend thousands of dollars to get here. To forfeit an additional $1,500 to $3,000 bond is just a part of the cost of crashing the gates. Mexicans arrested in this area, however, are very likely to accept immediate repatriation so that they can try their luck another day without going on the list of deportation order absconders.

Harlingen is an anomaly, one other court has about half its no-show rate and most are very much lower still; the fact that it has one of the largest caseloads in the system, over 10,000 cases per year, makes it significant. But it illustrates the weakness of the system.

There are, on any given day, about 400,000 persons who have been ordered deported and who are not in custody. In theory the government is looking for them, but as the quote at the top of this entry point out, it just isn't so. This is out of an illegal alien population said in this article to be seven millions and by the Census Bureau to have been about 8.8 million in 2000. The Mexican government estimates there are 4.5 million of its citizens living in the US illegally.

UK Tories urge migrant health checks

BBC NEWS | Politics | Tories urge migrant health checks:
"Mr [Michael] Howard [leader of the Conservative Party in the UK] added: 'At the next election people will face a clear choice: limited and controlled immigration under the Conservatives or unlimited immigration under Mr Blair.'"

Wouldn't it be nice if the people of the US could have a clear choice on this issue at our next election?

More restrictions on free speech in the name of campaign reform

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2005�:
"The Federal Election Commission next month will begin looking at tightening restrictions on political activities on the Internet, ROLL CALL reports Monday."

The virtue of free speech in a free society is that it enables the people to engage in the broadest possible discussion of various issues of public policy and the parties and candidates most suitable to advance or oppose them. But the great god of campaign reform demands new sacrifices of our freedom. Never mind that our problem is corrupt politicians and not free speech.

Those of us old enough to remember Abscam wonder why our government doesn't run such stings all the time. Every time a lobbyist or special interest offers some congresscritter or staff member a quid pro quo, each should be wondering if the other is an agent from the FBI's public integrity section. The prospect of going to jail might increase legislators' interest in prison reform and that would be a good thing. Increasing the chances of getting caught when your hand is in the till might help some to resist temptation, maybe by seeking more suitable employment as bank robbers or stock brokers.

Monday, February 14, 2005

UK coke-heads urged to boycott 'unethical' Colombian cocaine

The Observer | UK News | Plea for boycott of 'unethical' cocaine:
"A 'boycott cocaine' campaign to shame the middle-classes into shunning the fashionable drug has moved a step closer after the Foreign Office gave its blessing."

It seems the FO thinks that a boycott of cocaine will end the civil war in Colombia the way boycotting South African wine ended apartheid. (I'd laugh if the underlying subject matter weren't so deadly serious.) The better analogy would be that it might be another "feel good" campaign like the one against "conflict" diamonds from west Africa. But, just like the diamonds and unlike the South African wine, there is no way for consumers to tell where their cocaine comes from.

It seems that everything this week is reminding me of college. Those were the days of Cesar Chavez and the grape boycott. The United Farmworkers Organizing Committee was urging a boycott of California-grown table grapes to force the growers to sign a labor agreement with UFWOC which many regarded as more a hard left political movement than a genuine labor union. The response of supermarkets was to bring in grapes from South Africa and Chile.

Meanwhile, at UVa, a brilliant roommate and fellow Republican produced fliers which were spread around The Grounds featuring a large thunderbird symbol and urging a boycott of Mexican marijuana, alleging oppressive treatment of the pickers in similar language to that used by UFWOC in its materials urging the grape boycott. The initial reaction was to make a lot of local potheads feel very guilty about toking up.

China and India vie for Russian oil at issue in US Bankruptcy Court

Telegraph | Money | India and China battle over Russian oil :
"... a former Russian prime minister has hit out at the destruction of Yukos and the climate of uncertainty that it has brought to the economic outlook in Russia. Yegor Gaidar, who was briefly prime minister under Boris Yeltsin and is a noted free-market economist, told a group of institutional investors in London last week: 'What they are doing could be explained rationally only if the goal was to stop economic growth."

The Russian government's precipitate seizure of Yukos, a major Russian oil producer has set off shockwaves around the world involving a petition for reorganization filed in US Bankruptcy Court by Yukos and a dispute between Yukos and Deutsche Bank which may go to international arbitration. Yet, such is the hunger for oil that even these legal entanglements have not prevented India and China offering bids to the Russian government oil company for a substantial share of its million barrels a day.

All in all, it appears the outlook is bullish for oil, although I do have one correspondent who feels that a major world depression to rival that of the 1930s is coming and would radically depress world demand for oil. Count me with the bulls for now.

A dog's life gets harder in the Mother Country

BBC NEWS | England | Merseyside | Hare coursing moved to avoid ban:
"Thousands of people are due to attend the final Waterloo Cup hare coursing event, which has been brought forward to avoid the impending ban on hunting."

It seems the Brits have not only banned folks on horses chasing hounds chasing foxes, they have also banned greyhounds chasing hares. Just what do these nuts think their own dogs do when they encounter a smaller furry critter in the garden? Dogs chase things, and they often kill what they catch. So do cats. But if people watch them do it, it becomes some sort of crime!

Of course, when it comes to hares, the dog's odds of catching it aren't very good. The organizers of the Waterloo Cup claim that seven of eight hares escape the greyhounds. Based on my observations of my Great Dane chasing rabbits, I'd say that ratio is probably correct. For real sport, though, watch a dog go after a groundhog. Groundhogs have big teeth and sharp claws and put up a very respectable fight.

All the fun stuff is illegal, immoral or fattening ... especially fattening

My Way News:
"[The Hamdog], a specialty of Mulligan's, a suburban bar, is a hot dog wrapped by a beef patty that's deep fried, covered with chili, cheese and onions and served on a hoagie bun. Oh yeah, it's also topped with a fried egg and two fistfuls of fries."

Alas, Decatur, GA, a suburb on the east side of Atlanta, is about 140 miles from my house in SC, so I don't think I'll be popping over to Mulligan's for a Hamdog anytime soon. While his menu includes healthy fare like salads, the article points out that Mulligan's owner Chandler Goff "admits "the 'Hamdog' and the 'Luther Burger,' a bacon-cheeseburger served on a Krispy Kreme doughnut bun, are what draw attention."

This reminds me of my college days in Charlottesville, VA. One eatery on The Corner, across University Avenue from The Grounds was The White Spot which had a large white dot painted on the floor, presumably so that those who were so drunk they couldn't stand up straight would know they were in the right place. The Spot served a generous bowl of chili and wasn't too stingy on the saltine crackers to go with it, but the great thing was heaping bowls of diced onions on the counter of which you could have all you wanted.

Under the C&O Railroad underpass and across 15th Street was a somewhat classier, and much larger, hangout - The University Diner. The UD's menu featured the one-eyed bacon cheeseburger (that is, topped with a fried egg), and the bacon cheese dog. But for desert, the piece de resistance was "grills with" - two donuts heated on the grill, then stacked on a plate and topped with a scoop of ice cream. That was fine dining.

Sunday, February 13, 2005

"Good fences make good neighbors."

NapaNews.com | Mexican officials, criticize U.S. immigration control bill :
"'We're against building any wall between our two countries because they are walls that increase our differences. And, above all, the walls don't stop the migration flow[,]'" said Mexican interior secretary Santiago Creel.

I would say to Sr. Creel that a wall does not increase our differences, but it may help to preserve them. Now, from the perspective of an American, there may be some value in preserving what makes America different from Mexico. It appears from all available evidence that it is the policy of the Mexican government to make America more like Mexico. What remains in doubt is which side of this debate the US government will take.

The House vote of 261-161 in favor of finishing the San Diego wall and other minimal border control actions is only a very feeble start and it remains to be seen where the Bush administration will come down on this issue. The president's continued devotion to his back-door amnesty plan is not an encouraging sign.

Soviet Gulags may have killed "hundreds" of Americans

CNN.com - Official says hundreds of U.S. citizens likely died in gulags - Feb 11, 2005:
"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. military service members may have been imprisoned and died in Soviet forced-labor camps during the 20th century, according to a Pentagon report to be released Friday."

The report notes that the Russians are still foot-dragging on access to intel records that might offer definitive answers on some of the many cases American officials are trying to sort out based on reports of sightings of Americans by other prisoners over the last 60 years.

The Soviets have long been suspected of abducting Count Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish consular official who helped thousands of Jews escape from Hungary to freedom during WW2. Wallenburg, who was also working covertly as an agent of the US Treasury Department, disappeared in 1945 and may have perished in a Gulag on Wrangell's Island in the Arctic Ocean about twenty years later. Curiously, Wrangell's is one of the US-owned Islands stolen by the Soviets in the 1920s - the only US territories ever seized by force with loss of life that we never attempted to reclaim.

Another interesting case involved a young American (his name escapes me at the moment) who worked as a publisher's rep selling textbooks to colleges. He apparently crossed an unmarked section of the Norwegian-Soviet frontier while on holiday. The Russians eventually said that he committed suicide by slicing his own neck from ear to ear to a depth of an inch by holding a double-edge razor blade in his bare hand - without cutting his hand!

We'll probably never get a full accounting from the Russian authorities. It would be too embarrassing for them and our government has bigger fish to fry.

At long last ... a sensible statement about terror from a Saudi official

WorldNetDaily: Saudi official: Teaching, not poverty, root of terrorism:
"At a news conference in Riyadh, Labor Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi blamed the spread of terrorism on the 'indoctrination that teaches young people they can kill justifiably' and training in Afghan camps, reported Arab News, an officially sanctioned Saudi newspaper."

Poverty and unemployment don't make someone a mass-murderer, indoctrination does. What a radical idea to come from such a source. Of course, the labor minister stopped short of pointing out how much of that indoctrination has been paid for by the same government that employs him.

Saturday, February 12, 2005

Bush spending cuts. Too little? Certainly. Too late? Probably.

Bush Lays Out Details on Spending Cuts :
"In all, the targeted programs include 99 that the White House wants to eliminate, for a total of $8.8 billion in savings. The president wants to save an additional $6.5 billion by cutting spending on 55 programs."

That totals slightly over $14 billion which sounds like a lot of money. As the late US Senate Minority Leader Everett McKinley Dirksen (R-IL) said of the budget in a simpler time, "A million here and a million there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money."

Unfortunately, we are talking about a budget in excess of two trillions of dollars. And, more distressing, is that the Congress, which voted to get us into this mess, has a rather poor record of responding to pleas from the president for restraint. As this AP story posted on NewsMax.com points out, the Congress eliminated a total of four programs last year from a list of 130 which the Bush administration wanted to end.

But there is even more reason for taking with a grain of salt the real enthusiasm of this or any other administration for real spending restraint. On the OMB website, you can find a page-long list of new inititatives (that's bureaucratese for more ways to waste your money) included in the FY 2006 budget.

Miracles do happen

My Way News - Brain-Damaged Woman Talks After 20 Years:
"HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) - For 20 years, Sarah Scantlin has been mostly oblivious to the world around her - the victim of a drunken driver who struck her down as she walked to her car. Today, after a remarkable recovery, she can talk again."

For the benefit of those who wondered why so many people rallied to the defense of Terri Schindler-Schiavo - a Florida woman whose husband has been trying to kill her on the theory that the doctors "know" she will never recover and he has a "right" to order food and water withheld from his wife until she dies - read this story from Kansas.

There are some differences between the two cases of course. Terri Schiavo has only been disabled since a heart attack in 1990 - about five years less than Sarah Scantlin. Both have parents who love them and want to keep them alive, but Schiavo's case is complicated by her husband's contrary wishes, a husband who, by some reports, has not allowed concern for his wife to prevent his fathering two children by another woman.

Is the bloom fading from the rose of internet romance?

MSNBC - Online dating losing steam :
"Jupiter Research, which focuses on Internet analysis, forecasts that the online dating market will increase 9 percent in 2005 to $516 million, a dramatic, if inevitable, falloff from the heady early days when the industry was new and reported growth rates of 70 or 80 percent each year."

According to this story by Mike Musgrove and Frank Ahrens of washingtonpost.com, dating services continue to be the third largest generator of revenue for on-line services. But the growing competition among dating services means that marketing costs are rising faster than the paid customer base.

My personal experience in this field leads me to endorse the sentiment of George (Steve Zahn), one of the sales assistants at the Shop Around the Corner in the marvelous film You've Got Mail: "As far as I'm concerned, the internet is just another way of being rejected by women." Not much different, in fact, from my first experience of computer matchmaking while in college at UVa in the late Sixties. I remember paying good money for a list of six women who matched my psychological profile and who, by a coincidence worthy of the Heart of Gold spaceship's improbability drive, all lived on the same hallway of a dormitory at Longwood College in Farmville, VA.

Friday, February 11, 2005

Making night-vision images as clear as day

New Scientist Technology - Night-vision camera turns night into day:
"A REVOLUTIONARY night-vision system developed for the Dutch military makes night-time video images look as clear and colourful as those shot in broad daylight."

News from the Netherlands of a radical improvement in the functionality of night-vision optics. By means of computer enhancement based on daylight photography of similar scenes, infra-red and light intensification night-vision devices can now produce images in full color rather than shades of grey or green. The developers have shown that this can improve the ability of users to correctly identify what they see and reduce the fatigue of longterm use.

I have some familiarity with this technology having briefly worked for the Defense Contract Administration Service nearly 30 years ago doing testing of night-vision scopes at the ITT Electro-Optical Products plant in Hollins, VA. The improvement this Dutch innovation represents is truly amazing.

A Wild West story from Down Under

News.com.au | Dying man admits to train heist (11-02-2005):
"A DEATHBED confession has reopened a 66-year-old unsolved train robbery which had become folklore in northwest Queensland."

It sounds like the plot of a typical B-movie Western set in America of the 1880s - three men on horseback, two jump onto a moving train while the third keeps the horses, they steal the payroll money being sent by mail pouch to the local mining company, then they jump from the train and go to a place where they have arranged an alibi. But this wasn't our Wild West in the 19th century, it happened in Australia in 1938.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

Connecting the dots before 9/11 at FAA

The New York Times > Washington > 9/11 Report Cites Many Warnings About Hijackings:
"The F.A.A. 'had indeed considered the possibility that terrorists would hijack a plane and use it as a weapon,' and in 2001 it distributed a CD-ROM presentation to airlines and airports that cited the possibility of a suicide hijacking, the report said. Previous commission documents have quoted the CD's reassurance that 'fortunately, we have no indication that any group is currently thinking in that direction.'"

One supposes the operative word in that quote is "currently." Of course, the US knew about the "Bojinka" plot in the Phillipines a few years before. And, as this new FAA report admits, in the four months and ten days prior to 9/11 the FAA security branch passed along to management 52 intel reports naming Al Qaeda or UBL - these constituted fully one half of al the intel reports during that period. Five of these reports noted Al Qaeda training for or having the capacity to conduct hijackings. Two reports mentioned suicide operations but not in relation to aviation.

This latest report makes the failure to take appropriate actions before 9/11 even more inexcusable. The order to fortify cockpit doors, for example, should have been made when they put together the idea that suicide hijackers might try to use planes as weapons. Instead, we have an FAA spokesperson praising her agency and the industry: "After 9/11, the F.A..A. and the entire aviation community took bold steps to improve aviation security, such as fortifying cockpit doors on 6,000 airplanes ..." "Bold" steps! Literally closing the barn door after the horse got out is a "bold" step?

More heat than light in climate reporting

RedNova News - Earth Gets a Warm Feeling All Over:
"NASA -- Last year was the fourth warmest year on average for our planet since the late 1800s, according to NASA scientists."

That statement seems to be pretty definitive, but the reporting on it, at least, raises some interesting questions which the reporter doesn't seem to notice.

For example, the story says that the 2004 average temperature was 0.86 degree Fahrenheit above the average temperature for the period from 1951-1980. But the story had already told us that "Weather stations provide land measurements, and satellites provide sea surface temperature measurements over the ocean." Just how extensive was the satellite data for the 1951-1980 period? Hint: the first US weather satellite, TIROS-1, was launched April 1, 1960, so the first ten years of data would be a bit skimpy.

The warmest years are reported here to have been 1998, 2002 and 2003. But we are not told how much warmer they were than last year. Was it enough to notice? I mean, they are measuring in hundredths of a degree.

Down in the last paragraph we find what strikes me as the most interesting finding: "Compared to the average temperatures from the 1951 to 1980 period, the largest unusually warm areas over all of 2004 were in Alaska, near the Caspian Sea, and over the Antarctic Peninsula." This comports rather well with a model result that predicted GHG warming would show up mostly as an increase of night-time winter temperatures in the high northern lattitudes. How much does it matter if the overnight low in Fairbanks is -22 or -20? In other words, depending on the where and when, it is possible to find measurable warming that no one would ever notice.

This is a complicated subject which I expect to return to from time to time. Bottom line: Virtually everything they say about the climate has as much to do with politics as science.

Year of the Rooster off to a rousing start in Beijing

Yahoo! News - Condom and Viagra sales soar as Chinese celebrate Lunar New Year :
"BEIJING (AFP) - Sales of condoms and the anti-impotence drug Viagra have skyrocketed in China's capital Beijing as citizens celebrate the annual Lunar New Year festival, state media said.
"On the first day of the Year of the Rooster, drugstores in the city reported daily sales more than double compared with the end of January, the official Xinhua news agency reported."

Trust the French (AFP = Agence France Press) to get this story going round the world. The report seems to say that rising prosperity and a relaxation of traditional social controls have inspired Chinese men to take steps to avoid going off half-cocked as they welcome in the Year of the Rooster with a week-long holiday.

To boldly go ... but not yet

Could ‘Star Trek’ technology help transport troops?:
"'We have to be looking well into the future, not just the needs of tomorrow or even next year,' says Col. Mike Heil, who directs the [propulsion research] laboratory [at Wright-Patterson AFB]. 'We're looking at perhaps 30 years.'"

In a report on MSNBC.com, NBC correspondent Tom Costello informs us that the US Air Force paid $25,000 for a report on the feasibility of transporting troops and materiel like they do on Star Trek. In a 78 page report, the optimistically named firm Warp Drive Metrics of Las Vegas concluded "We are still very far away from being able to entangle and teleport human beings and bulk inanimate objects."

Gee, I could have told them that for the price of a good cup of coffee and spared them the need to read and comment on and file the report. For $25,000, Bill Shatner could have flown out the Wright-Patterson and explained to the Air Force that it only works in Hollywood. He probably would have thrown in an autographed 8x10 photo in his Captain Kirk suit for Col. Heil.

This is a near-perfect waste of taxpayer money and a great reason why it's appropriate that "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."

Don't drink and dance in Dakota

Bismarck Tribune Online - Bismarck, ND:
"On July 1 of this year, the two businesses [the Silver Dollar and Tree City] can either offer liquor or dancing girls, but not both, according to Mandan's law restricting establishments offering both in commercially zoned areas. The Morton County Commission's newest member, Mark Bitz, said he's heard rumors the bar owners may be looking for new locations 'out in the county.'"

One supposes the city fathers of Mandan are looking for a way to crack down on the dancing girls business since most guys I know won't pay much to watch women dance without an "adult beverage" to loosen their grip on their wallets and their inhibitions. Merely moving these establishments into the unincorporated area of the county will not do much for public morals or the city treasury.

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

The danger of holding dollars - it isn't just inflation and exchange rates

CBS 3: Exclusive: Contaminated Money:
"Earlier this month, Pennsylvania State Troopers intercepted $250,000 dollars during a routine traffic stop. The alleged drug money, which had been sealed in plastic, was being driven from Columbus, Ohio to Northeast Philadelphia.
"According to law enforcement sources, after counting the seized cash, troopers began feeling ill and one trooper was even hospitalized with flu-like symptoms.
"Sources tell CBS 3 that tests on the cash counter revealed the presence of a toxin derived from the bacteria staphylococcus."

While this particular incident is said to be tied to Russian organized crime activity in Northeast Philadelphia rather than any known or suspected terrorist organization, it shows how easily bioterror agents can be dispersed. On the other hand, one struggles to formulate a scenario in which such very practical men as the Russian mob would bother with microbes when bullets are so handy.

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

A rebuttal to Chuck Baldwin on the two party system

You Might Be A Constitutionalist If... :
"Like National Socialists and Soviet Socialists of old, the only thing that concerns Democrats and Republicans today is who is in power. Both are equally willing to destroy the freedoms and liberties of people without conscience or regret as long as their party remains in control.
"For this reason, I have abandoned the two major parties and am proudly affiliated with an independent party that truly represents America's founding principles and my convictions. That party is the Constitution Party."

So wrote radio talker Chuck Baldwin on his website January 28, 2005 as an introduction to a little quiz he titled (with apology to comedian Jeff Foxworthy) "You may be a constitutionalist if ..."

Let me say at the outset that I have great respect for the goals of the the Constitution Party and I had my own brief fling with the third party route in the mid-70s when I was a founder and chairman of the Libertarian Party in Virginia. But I grew up, and so should Baldwin.

Here, in slightly revised and edited form, is something I wrote to a friend who had forwarded Baldwin's column to me last week.

The problem with Baldwin's position is that you can't abandon both sides in the contest for power. You are either on a team or a spectator. It seems Baldwin is saying he is tired of watching from the home side or the visitor side and has gone to sit in the end zone. This will make his isolation and irrelevance more complete, but it does not deserve to be called a principled action.

The US electoral system is well-suited to two dominant parties, or even one (Republicans in the later half of the 19th century or Democrats in the middle third of the 20th, for example) but it is not very well suited to foster a longterm multi-polar party regime. In those instances where a third party movement became popular enough to supplant an existing party or to move one or both of the existing parties, there was a rapidly building period of crisis in the two party system.

In a system where there is no proportional representation, where most legislative seats are filled in single member districts in a first past the post fashion, there just isn't much leverage for a third party. By some experts' analyses, no third party candidate has changed the result of any presidential election. Even billionaire Ross Perot in 1992 may well have pulled enough votes from Clinton not to have changed the outcome. Gov. George Wallace took very few votes from Humphrey, but couldn't swing the 1968 election away from Nixon. Gov. Strom Thurmond couldn't stop Truman in 1948. And it is hard to see how any Constitution Party candidate is going to approach their vote totals - at least not in my lifetime.

As long as the game is getting votes, it's no good saying "they don't agree with me on everything, so I'll go sit with the tiny minority who do." Rather, you need to roll up your sleeves and do the dirty work to influence people and to simultaneously advance a party and the force of your ideas in it. The work that goes into trying to build an ineffectual third party could well build a principled caucus in the GOP that would swing primary nominations to more acceptable candidates in many districts. That is the way to get a seat at the table.

This is slow, dull work. But the only alternative that will change the direction of policy is revolution and once a revolution starts it is very hard to know where it will end.

Most of the French who started their bloody revolution had no such idea when they set out. In fact, a considerable faction wanted to transfer the monarchy to the Orleanist pretender, the major faction which included many noblemen like Lafayette wanted a parliamentary monarchy more on the English style, others wanted a democratic republic. What they got was the Terror, and to save themselves from the Terror, they welcomed the dictatorship of an Italian war hero who called himself "emperor" and destroyed France as a world power.

New royalist government re-opens Nepal communications

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Nepal phone lines working again:
"The armed forces say that detentions and the suspension of liberties are necessary to let security forces concentrate on fighting the Maoist rebels.
"Some 11,000 people have died since the Maoists began their insurgency in 1996."

Against this backdrop (an equivalent death toll in the US would be around 150,000), the king of Nepal recently fired the government and appointed a new one as part of an effort which appears to combine stepped up security measures with a willingness to negotiate the issues on the communists' agenda. Phone and internet connections were severed at the time the king acted, but they have now been restored although cell phones have not.

This is one of those "little" wars that simmer for years, largely unnoticed by the rest of the world. Except, it isn't "little" for those who have to endure it close up.

Immigration insanity across the pond, too

Asylum process 'takes too long':
"They [the UK parliament's Public Accounts Committee] also criticised a failure to deploy staff effectively - finding that 150 million [pounds] was wasted by moving staff from clearing claim backlogs to removing failed asylum seekers."

It seems our British cousins have a legislature as clueless about the immigration crisis as our own. They think it's a waste of money to find and deport the people who don't qualify for asylum. Well, if you don't, what's the point of processing applications at all?