February 20, 2003

Compassion sometimes works

Rather than pressing charges, this Rather forgave a car thief 12 years ago. That car thief is now piloting an Apache for the U.S. Army in Kuwait.

Worthy of Victor Hugo.

February 19, 2003

The Lessons of History

Does History provide any guidance for the present? A dozen historians disagree amicably.

It is true that no precedent is perfect, that each side will claim as the analogy that most pleasing to its argument, and that ultimately the issue will be decided without recourse to History. Does this obviate the useful role of history in public discourse? If it is meant to persuade and polemicize than, yes, it does.

But does that then make the study of history useless? No, I think not, because history alone, in one's own imagining of the world, provides depth, nuance, and wide-ranging scenarios. Even if it thus not useful as a tool in the Agora, it retains its vitality in the development of a properly-molded mind.

Reuters buys Multex

At a purchase price of roughly $192mm, net of cash, and 2002 EBITDA of $11mm, this purchase looks like a typical strategic acquirer looking for revenue and margin expansion. Internet properties are increasingly being eaten up by their old offline competitors in just such a fashion.

I'm a customer of Multex, and the product is definitely the best out there for price / performance at the $5,000 / year level. But I wonder how big this market is?

Bought vs. Free Media

My god, but how the bought media are a sach of whiners. There seems to be something in making journalism a job that turns the profession into a grousing bunch of incontinents.

And for all that, they don't even get paid that much.

The Free Media, animated by the search for truth, or at least proving that the other side does not have the truth, is not subject to these professional gripe sessions. No boss, no rules, no pay seems to produce a better intellectual property product. Of course, the problem then is time = money.

Rumors, Get Your Hot Rumors Here!

Automaticaly generated for easy dissemination on the grapevine.

Now They've Done It

The frogs have even pissed Cindy Adams off.

February 18, 2003

New Europe Revolts

The Czech's aren't having it.

The Romanians don't like it.

Chirac stay home!

Spontaneous Organization

How come I'm certain that this system is cheaper, more effective, and has a higher morale than our government-mandated monopoly?

Carry Me Home

What would Jesus Drive?

A Pale Shade of Left

All of the criticism of Krugman has taken the piss and vinegar out of him. Not only is his piece namby-pamby, but it's *trying* to be namby-pamby. He just isn't cut out to be a NY Times columnist (or rather, he is exactly cut out to be a Raines Times columnist).

To heighten the bathos, he's now filching IP's "I report, you decide" shtick.

Oppress Iraq Now!

A Voice from the UK Echoes Churchill, and points out that useful, well-meaning idiots

are still Saddam-supporting idiots.

Throughout the Cold War there were many innocent dupes who played the Soviet game, who joined peace committees, went on peace marches and opposed nuclear weapons. They were so shocked by the fact of nuclear arms that, from the Stalin years onwards, they campaigned to disarm the West unilaterally. Their motives were mostly good, but they were objectively supporting the Soviet tyranny. Even before the Second World War, the pacifist campaign against rearmament, which dominated the Left of the 1930s, objectively helped Hitler.

We've Been Here Before

The UN, seemingly content to fiddle while Saddam burns CDs on how to make nuclear weapons, is following the well-trod path of fuzzy leftie unliateralism. Few remember the lesson of the 1935 "Peace Ballot", which showed 10 mm (out of 11mm questioned) Britons in favor of peaceful resolution of the Nazi Germany question, and opposed to to using force against Hitler.

Fuzzy anti-self-defense promulgations are generally accorded the epithet of being "well intended". Perhaps simple-minded, in Senator McCain's formulation, is more accurate.

MORE:

Details of the Peace Ballot

February 17, 2003

An Ice Age Explanation for Flood Legends

Perhaps the omnipresence of flood legends is derived from a melting of glaciers at the end of the Ice Age. The swelling Mediterranean Sea then spilled over into the valley surround the large lake that we call the Black Sea, but that was then an isolated body of water. Interesting read.

February 15, 2003

Self Esteem is Important in the US Army too

My favorite is the Never Earned a Ribbon Ribbon.

Frogwar

I'm beginning to think the French are secretly a Buffalo football team in disguise.

Instapundit Just Wants to Have Fun

Oh-ho yeah, just wants to have fun.

February 14, 2003

Weird Behavior

Was Austin Ventures just trying to goose the price with their hostile bid for Hoover's? It is simply strange behavior for a reputable firm to publicly announce their bid and then pull it so quickly.

Iraqi Speaks The Truth

Alas, it's only in free societies that Iraqis are allowed to speak their minds.

Nine Failures

The haunting lyricism of 9 Failures of the Imagination is my most moving memory of the September 11th attack.

SIX Dear reader, two Sundays in the future: you know vastly more than I do about what I mean when I say war. Do you envy me, living in this before, this last shred of relative innocence? I hope not. I hope I ought to envy you, the wild sweet peace you enjoy, the simultaneous epiphany of universal human amity and accord, the melting of all world guns into memorial sculpture which took place on, say, Sept. 16, the miracle that occurred in place of the carnage I'm dreading today. Oh, I hope I ought to envy you; I hope I'm a moron.

It's worth re-reading and remembering what we are fighting for.

From the horse's mouth

Ion Mihai Pacepa, the former head of Romania's own 'KGB' has identified the roots of today's anti-americanism. This movement needs to be named, corralled and stopped.

43 is our lucky number

It is time to remember the words of President Bush back on September 20, 2001 in his speech to both houses of Congress:

I will not forget the wound to our country and those who inflicted it. I will not yield, I will not rest, I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people. The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them.

This President has risen to the occasion. I was a reluctant Bush voter in 2000, but will be entusiastically pulling the lever in 2004. We are lucky to have him.

Epistemology

The U.S. anger at the French is rising, and will not abate:

France wants more evidence. The last time France wanted more evidence, it rolled right through France with a German flag.

Shouln't they be asking "Why do they hate us?"

February 11, 2003

Who is Al-Jazeera Fooling?

This morning, Powell discusses a Bin Laden tape and Al-Jazeera denies it exists:

Powell said he read a transcript of "what bin Laden - or who we believe to be bin Laden" will be saying on the Al-Jazeera Arab satellite station later Tuesday, "where once again he speaks to the people of Iraq and talks about their struggle and how he is in partnership with Iraq." But Al-Jazeera chief editor Ibrahim Hilal told The Associated Press his station has no such tape.

And yet later today, Al-Jazeera airs that very same tape:

Yasser Thabet, a broadcast editor at Al-Jazeera, said the tape appears to be authentic because the television station got it through the same means as previous bin Laden statements. He did not elaborate.

``When you listen to the tape, you can tell it's Osama bin Laden's voice,'' Thabet said.

Who are they fooling?

Judean People's Front Crack Hostage Squad

Perhaps this is why the French so admire UN peacekeepers -- their ability to surrender in a flash.

As the Bad Idea of the week wears on, keep in mind these inglorious incidents from U.N. peacekeeping files:

May 1995:

Following the NATO air strikes against Bosnian Serb positions on 25-26 May, Bosnian Serb forces shelled Tuzla on 27 May and continued to take UN peacekeepers hostage throughout the weekend. The Serbs clashed with French troops in Sarajevo the next day and had taken between 320 and 350 UN soldiers captive by the morning of 29 May, among them Czechs, Egyptians, and Ghanaians as well as Serbia's traditional allies: British, French, and Russians. At least three men have been chained to potential military targets, and at least six more are being used as human shields to deter further NATO air strikes. The Serbs say the men will be freed only when Pale has complete assurance there will be no more air attacks, international media reported. A UN spokesman said the Serbs were behaving like a "terrorist organization."

May 2000:

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan returned to New York a day early Thursday for a closed-door Security Council session focusing on the increasingly tense situation in Sierra Leone, where a rising number of United Nations peacekeepers have been taken hostage....

UNAMSIL is due to reach its full strength of 11,100 by July, when it will be the largest U.N. peacekeeping operation in the world. Its mission is also to oversee disarmament and demobilization of an estimated 45,000 fighters ahead of elections planned for early 2001. [emphasis mine]

UN peacekeepers are a danger to themselves -- bumbling incompetents taken prisoner by the bad guys they are supposed to be guarding / monitoring / disarming -- and a greater danger to the world community -- by allowing the thugs to carry out their missions of genocide / weapons procurement / slaughter while the multilateral organizations fiddle.

February 10, 2003

Incomprehensibly Good Information

Wal-Mart, which sells almost $5 billion per week in goods, reports its weekly revenue here. It is some type of magic of the modern age that a company that employs 1 out of every 123 working Americans, is able to tote up its sales better than any Mom & Pop.

Wal-Mart destroyed Kmart and pushed the company into bankruptcy on the back of its enormous expenditure on IT infrastructure and technology. K-Mart in the meantime, was blowing through hard dollars on advertising. It would seem like a no-brainer to hav eguessed, beforehand, which approach would be the superior one.

Sober reality

What is possibly motivating the French and German "Valentine's Surprise" other than anti-American animus?

Hans Blix, hardly a warmonger, succintly states the issue:

Asked whether more inspectors could do a better, faster job, he said: "The principal problem is not the number of inspectors but rather the active cooperation of the Iraqi side, as we have said many times."

Iraqi cooperation, and only Iraqi cooperation, can solve this crisis without war. Instead of futiel attempts to embarass the Americans, why don't France and Germany apply pressure on Saddam to give up the ghost?

February 09, 2003

A Bit Low for High-Fliers?

This article on the insurance coverage of astronauts reveals:

NASA is not disclosing salaries of the victims, but the agency says an astronaut's salary can range from $56,247 to $86,974.

Isn't that just a little bit low for such talented people? Especially considering the risk they are evidently facing in the name of country and science?

February 08, 2003

Why Didn't Those Foolish Iraqis *Think* Of That?

Hillary may think it takes a village to raise a child, but all it takes to save the Iraqis from brutal Saddam Hussein is one light jazz impresario:

What is the motivation? Regime change? Shouldn't that be up to the people of the region and the people of Iraq?

Dave Matthews' soul has no doubt been stirred to its very depths by the heart-warming stories of Iraqis rising up and speaking, as if with one voice, to unanimously re-elect Saddam. Nonetheless, this frivolous bile, which unfortunately emanates from creative types every time an adult job has to be done, is answer enough to the question of why the country isn't taking musicians, comedians, and movie actors seriously.

mindtreason

For a few brief years, I believed that we had transcended that point in history where the chattering classes -- the intellectuals, academia, and NPR hosts -- had generated not only a weird blindness to the sins of their communist co-ideologits, but lived in a strange world where the United States was responsible for world suffering. September 11th and its aftermath resurfaced this ugly brand of intellectualism, and it is worth revisting the horrific crimes committed by intelelctuals in their support of folks like Stalin.

David Pryce-Jones analyzes the mindtreason of Eric Hobsbawm in particular:

A mystery peculiar to the twentieth century is that intellectuals were eager to endorse the terror and mass-murder which characterized Soviet rule, at one and the same time abdicating humane feelings and all sense of responsibility towards others, and of course perverting the pursuit of truth. The man who sets dogs on concentration camp victims or fires his revolver into the back of their necks is evidently a brute; the intellectual who devises justifications for the brutality is harder to deal with, and far more sinister in the long run. Apologizing for the Soviet Union, such intellectuals licensed and ratified unprecedented crime and tyranny, to degrade and confuse all standards of humanity and morality. Hobsbawm is an outstand- ing example of the type. The overriding question is: how was someone with his capacity able to deceive himself so completely about reality and take his stand alongside the commissar signing death warrants?

Wacko Needs a Strait-Jacko

The deeply creepy, deeply weird tale of Michaal Jackson's 13-year-old friend.

What kind of mother lets her son sleep in bed, all the time, with a grown man? Did she care?

Charades

France and Germany -- the frightened old people of Europe -- what can they possibly be thinking to justify their craven support for Saddam Hussein? Secretary Rumsfeld has ripped them a new one in response to their outlandish behavior over Iraq. At what point do we simply write them off as unserious historical appendages of allies? They certainly are not allies today.

And to assert, with a straight face, that the UN has the will, capability, or moral authority to disarm Iraq means that one is either lying to oneself, or to us:

"Allowing Iraq to become chairman of the United Nations Commission on Disarmament and selecting Libya to lead its Commission on Human Rights showed that the institution "seems not to be even struggling to regain credibility," [Rumsfeld] said. [emphasis added]

Yet the Saddam Left repeatedly calls for "literate debate" on the issues. Is it possible to have even a human language conversation, much more a debate, with a class of people who reject the plain meaning of words?

The time has come to wholesaledly write off the sliver of the nation's, and the world's, population that refuses to educate itself on the issues, refuses to admit reality into their thinking, and refuses to add anything to the debate other than purposefully mischievous misconstruations of every minor and major clause and codicil.

They've chosen their side, let them stay there.

February 07, 2003

Doing Their, uh, Duty?

Heart, and other body part, warming fare from the San Fernando Valley.

An Amusing New Political Game You (Can't) Play At Home

While it's a more-than-serious issue that deserves to be treated somberly, it has led to an amusing consequence. The boycott of South Carolina by the NAACP until the Confederate battle flag is removed from the State Capitol, has caused quite a quandary for Democratic presidential candidates. Namely: how do you campaign for President in a battleground state without shelling out any dough?

Extra points for not tipping, I suppose.

The Information-less Information System

If raising the code to Orange is supposed to signal something other than ass-covering, what is it?

"We are not recommending that events be canceled," nor should individuals change their travel, work or recreational plans, Ashcroft said.

If the color-coded information system is not designed to provide relevant information to individuals about changes, alterations, or considerations that they should make in their daily lives, does it have any use at all? This is the type of bureacratic nonsense that ill serves a nation at war.

Is Your Avatar Tax-Deductible Too?

Fascinating to find that fake worlds have real economies. Notwithstanding the fact that the fantasy money has a real world exchange rate, there is actually relatively little that these transactions can tell us about sufficient or necessary starting conditions for an equitable society.

The randomly equal initial distribution of goods, the low penalty paid for death of one of your avatars, and, obviously enough, the fact that it's not real life, mean that these games can never accurately model real world behavior in total.

However, I imagine that they will prove useful for inquiries into specific types of economics problems, where the limited conditions won't botch the experiment.

February 06, 2003

The Thoughtful Opposition

Now this is a tasteful oppo article. I don’t agree, but more reasoned opposition like this (and less of the “At Least Saddam is Elected” type) would have been very useful.

But do these guys have any basis to say: “However, the likelihood of clandestine transfer by Iraq is extremely small.”

How do they know?

I mean really, couldn’t they have said “the likelihood of an Al Qaeda attack on American soil is extremely small” back in August of 2001 and been just as correct?

Dealing with Legalistic Putzes

More people should take Poynter's approach. It would be a refreshing setback to the legal fees industry.

February 05, 2003

WAC lines

Devastatin' Dave - Zip Zap Rap (Superstar International Records, #47-12, 1986):

Our mothers always used to tell us it was rude to point at people. They never mentioned what sort of message we'd be sending if we pointed at people while sporting weightlifter's gloves, shiny trousers, dinner-plate sunglasses and one of the juiciest jheri-curl mullets ever seen. This was the first single released by the California-based Dave Cary. By the late 90's, Dave was no longer calling himself a Turntable Slave, and was instead performing as Devastatin' Dave the Cyberslave.

12 Top Hits (Tops, #L1510):

In any graphic tableau, there are elements designed to manipulate the viewer. The argyle socks serve that purpose here, bringing one's eye down to the peppy little strapline, "Featuring the finest in top hit entertainment." And while there's no question that these wholesome youngsters appear to be enjoying themselves, one wonders how long the fun will last, given that one of the main rules for parties and vinyl is that you simply cannot put the record player on the floor next to the dancers.

Tino - Por Primera Vez (Discos Belter, #EDI-60743, 1983):

"Come hither" looks sometimes evoke the opposite reaction. This photo makes us a little uncomfortable, but not nearly as uncomfortable as Tino looks to be.

Orleans - Waking & Dreaming (Elektra/Asylum #7E-1070, 1976):

Waking AND dreaming? Barechested AND bearded? Well, self confidence is a beautiful thing. I guess. And if they can get away with wearing just beards and goofy grins to work, more power to them. Especially since the lead singer, John Hall, is now an elected official in upstate New York. This was their fourth album.

Millie Jackson - E.S.P (Spring, #33-6740, 1983)

A 1983 LP from an undisputed queen of R&B and soul. Her
special... uh.... is "energy" too tame of a word?... speaks for itself. And according to her crystal ball, there's decolletage in our future. A biography of the Georgia native on the Web site of her current label (www.weirdwreckuds.com) says the musically prolific Jackson hosts a daily radio show in Dallas. It trumpets her "high-voltage, explicit approach to sex," which may explain the fact that she's also done soft-drink advertising.

The McKeithen's -

The Nashville-based McKeithens started their "singing ministery" in 1976 and didn't call it quits until 25 years later. It remains unclear to us how the group's members are related, and why there's an apostrophe in their name on the record.

The Ministers' Quartert - Let Me Touch Him (LPS 135)

Another American gospel quartert, this time a somewhat dour foursome arranged in order of height. These gentlemen - Delbert Akin, Homer Young, Jack Richey, and Waldo Young - have been active for more than 30 years, and they're still belting out Baptist tunes at church events in the U.S.

John Bult - Julie's 16th Birthday:

A fellow called John Bult was recently the chairman of a major
international brokerage firm, and underwrote the early couture
business of John Galliano (head designer at the House of Dior). We
can say with near-total conviction that the man pictured above is not
the same John Bult, just as surely as we can say that he is not offering to
underwrite Julie's couture business.

Joyce

Not since the Mona Lisa has woman smiled so mysteriously.
Joyce has everything in common with that enigmatic muse (except the outfit, hair, glasses, teeth and recording contract).

Country Church

Is "What the hell?" a blasphemous reaction?

ManOWar - Anthology

This picture makes me feel like I've tried to leave a Viking bathhouse without paying for my towel. The management is NOT happy, and they intend to put a stop to it RIGHT NOW.

"Happiness" with Ron Johnson

Jim Post - I Love My Life

Wet moustaches are an awfully muskratty-looking phenomenon, aren't they

Millie Jackson - Back to the s_ _ t!

There are at least twenty things about this photo that baffle me. They range from minor plot issues (e.g., what's she doing with that shoe in her hand?) to larger questions of overall taste.

Millie Jackson - For Men Only

We can only hope that she washed her hands after the photoshoot for "Back to the s _ _ t!".

Freddie Gage - All my friends are dead

Freddie Gage is part of a long tradition of American jailhouse evangelists, so it's in his interest to generate an air of toughness. So why the elf boots?

The Braillettes - Our Hearts Keep Singing

We certainly don't want to poke fun at these girls - it's amazing to see people with the chips stacked against them overcome all obstacles and be achievers. But it does seem that even the handicapped get Bad Album Cover Advice.

Golden Classics - The Playmates

Not exactly the sort of Playmates we were hoping to see hugging each other tightly while squeezed onto a moped...

Roger - The Many Facets of Roger (Rhino / Warner)

Looks like one facet to us. Still, one bad album cover doesn't change the fact that Roger Troutman was a funk pioneer. As a founding member of Zapp & Roger, he was part of the force behind hits like More Bounce to the Ounce. His music was sampled by musicians like Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur, and when Roger and his brother Larry died in an apparent murder-suicide in 1999, the funk world lost a true innovator.

Jeff - Something Special from Jeff (Hymntone Records)

His tie matches his trousers quite nicely, don't you think?

Ed McMahon - And me... I'm Ed McMahon (SC-20009)

Featuring McMahon's version of "Thank Heaven for Little Girls." Ick.

Father Robert White - The Reverend in Rhythm

February 03, 2003

On Time and Out of Money

Somewhat bizarre that United, that ailing old aluminum tube in the sky, is actually the leader in on-time performance for 2002. If you've flown American airlines in recent years, you know that the "bigs" -- United, American, Delta -- despise their customers and do everything they can to hate them more. Meanwhile, great airlines like Southwest and JetBlue have been the only consistent moneymakers, as they inspire customer loyalty, even affection.

February 02, 2003

Pro-war advertising

I have no idea why Comcast is not airing this ad. To me, it makes the pro-Iraq lobby look like what they are: a bunch of scaremongering louts without much sense.

February 01, 2003

The Power of Words

Ronald Reagan spoke:

"General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"

And the wall fell.....