1.31.2005

Radio Crazy

Interesting BBC piece on Radio La Colifata in Argentina. Apparently, both listeners and broadcasters benefit when the mentally unbalanced set up a radio station.

What we fail to understand is why BBC thinks this is somehow a novelty - in the U.S. at least 1/3 of all radio personalities are clinically insane.

Guantanamo Sex Scandal

I'm breaking my pledge already, but this is simply too horrific to ignore. Rarely do I agree with Maureen Dowd, but if the allegations made by the sergeant whose not-yet-published book she refers to are true, then everybody in a position of authority at Guantanamo should be given an immediate dishonorable discharge. The use of sexual temptation to try to break inmates' reliance on God is simply disgusting. For a nation whose first freedom is that of religion, this abuse is as severe a violation of the Constitution as murder and as severe a violation of "the rights endowed by our Creator" as chattel slavery.

Changing Lanes

In the interest of rediscovering the topical diversity that makes InstantReplay distinct from the myriad political blogs, IR pledges not to post about a political topic for the next week. Readers are welcome to suggest topics or point out noteworthy non-political links.

1.30.2005

Smashing Success! (so far)

While it may be too early to proclaim a victory for democracy, the polls closed less than an hour ago after higher-than-expected turnout for voters and lower-than-expected turnout for terrorists. Eight suicide bombers killed themselves and twenty-eight other people, total. None of them managed to do anything headline-worthy, though a few tried to assassinate government officials. A ban on private car traffic was a vital tactic.

The Reuters story is unabashedly positive, reporting in detail the tragedies, but emphasizing the positive stories: people carrying grandparents to the polls to vote, dancing in the streets, good turnout in most precincts. While the magnitude of the Sunni vote is not yet known, official estimates are at 72% - higher than any American election in a lifetime.

This will assuredly develop over the next day or two as the counting goes on. But so far we have every reason to hope for newly positive prospects and a disheartened insurgency. Both the democrats (little "d") and the terrorists had raised their bets on this event a number of times. The democrats just laid down a flush; chances aren't good for the terrorists.

1.29.2005

Moment of Truth

The voting that begins in a few hours in Iraq may prove to be the most important election of George Bush's career. If it changes the trajectory of the Iraqi "peace process", then history may look on him as a great foreign policy president, a new Teddy Roosevelt. Otherwise, if Iraq devolves into Lebanonesque internecine warfare, Bush could be regarded by history approximately the same as he is now regarded by Democrats. To wit, poorly.

InstantReplay urges Christian readers to pray for peaceful elections for the next 24 hours or so. We do so not for George Bush's sake, but for that of the Iraqi people and those who are committed to helping them with aid and with the gospel of peace.

Update: It's never too late to ditch a bad idea. Staining voters' fingers with blue ink may be a great symbol in Australia, but it's asking for disaster in the Sunni triangle, if not elsewhere in Iraq. How better to keep people home on polling day than to give them a difficult-to-remove indicator that shows they voted. Why don't we just paint targets on their backs that say "terrorists aim here"? It strikes me that minor voting fraud is going to be a smaller problem in this election than the murder of voters. It's not too late to stop it, though: put the ink back in storage, and get the word out that you can vote without marking yourself as a target.

1.28.2005

Down With Nazi Signs

There are some easy solutions to the Nazi (and Ku Klux Klan) adopt-a-road controversies that local citizens can implement.

1. Litter incessantly on that part of the road. That will either keep the racists busy night and day or it'll make them give up. The county or state can then boot them out of the program for failing to keep their part of the road clean.

2. Take down the signs. The county/state then "doesn't notice" until a complaint is lodged, then drags its feet putting a new sign up. At which time someone takes it down again. If people can turn "Reverse Curve" into "Reverse the Curse" in Boston every time it gets replaced, they can do certainly spray paint a Star of David on a Nazi sign. C'mon people - is there a vigilante in the house?!

InstantReplay For President

In the spirit of the perpetual campaign, InstantReplay would like to be the first Republican to announce its candidacy for president in 2008. Or senator. Or governor. Or town meeting member. The point is, we have an agenda and we have no intention of hiding it. Here is InstantReplay’s ideal platform in 2008:
  1. Constitutional Reform. The first hundred days of an InstantReplay presidency would be devoted to a constitutional reform convention. All U.S. legislators, state governors, and former presidents would be invited. Our agenda is to get amendments that (a) stop pork by forcing each bill to have a specific topic; (b) require the Federal government to balance its budget in all years after 2010; (c) define a fetus as a human being (hey, we can dream); and (d) give reps four-year terms and four-term limits. It would be open to others’ suggested reforms, and it would also pass a resolution encouraging all states to hand redistricting over to a non-partisan commission.
  2. Security. IR’s administration would impose tight limits on police powers and appoint a Constitutionality Czar to serve as an internal Inspector General. The focus would be placed on developing human intelligence - agents who are experts in various criminal or terrorist organizations and can infiltrate them. In combating trafficking of drugs and humans, a zero-tolerance policy would be adopted, and we would encourage states to follow suit so that anyone who so much as buys drugs is game for a fine and short jail sentence.
  3. Iraq. IR would pull out of Iraq as soon as feasible, and focus in the meantime on developing human intelligence there as well. Americans, whether military or civil administrators, need to understand Arabic language and Iraqi society, especially as this drags on. If civil war became a reality, we would split the country into a federation or consociational democracy; possibly even administered by column of society as was the Ottoman Empire.
  4. Israel/Palestine. IR would offer Palestine complete recognition within the 1967 borders in exchange for a twelve-year U.S. mandate. Aid to Israel would be eliminated until all settlements were removed or compensated by land exchanges. The money saved on Israel would be spent on sending a swarm of American experts to build up a sensible infrastructure for business and democracy and slowly transfer sovereignty to Palestinians. The U.S. would be out after twelve year regardless.
  5. International cooperation. The U.S. would focus on the theme of ‘equalizing relations’. We would slowly withdraw most troops from South Korea, Japan and Europe. IR would push for an “Ocean of Free Trade” to include Europe, the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Turkey, Israel and such other countries as qualified. We would apply pressure to China, raising it marginally until they are forced to float the Yuan.
  6. Cuba. I.R. would make it official (but secret) policy that the trade embargo on Cuba will be lifted automatically as soon as Fidel Castro dies. The goal is to provide “positive destabilization” and to send the country wild with pro-Americanism just at the time that a successor is trying to establish himself.
  7. Social Security. We just hope this is fixed before 2008. If not, a host of solutions will be looked at, and a giant overhaul will likely be in order. An age-raise is almost certain. The age for Medicare eligibility would also be raised.
  8. Economic Policy. The organizing theme here is “cleaning house.” The government will pursue a variety of unpopular measures aimed at executing the balanced budget. Citizens would be asked to participate in the “economic rebirth” by investing, saving, and living below their means.
  9. Taxes. This is a matter of degrees, not of absolutes. With the balanced budget amendment (and an administration committed to balancing it even without an amendment), taxes would be increased. A flat 1% income tax dedicated to paying off the national debt would be introduced and its revenues dedicated toward the debt (and not included in balanced-budged accounting). This would last until debt service decreased to just 1% of the federal budget; it is now 8.5%.
  10. Monetary policy. The Fed would be asked to pursue a mildly inflationary monetary policy for four to eight quarters to ease the transfer to a balanced budget and to deflate the national debt. This would have a slightly adverse effect on the economy but is probably necessary to save a currently over-valued dollar. We would send a strong message that a return to a stable dollar is imminent and meet that commitment.
  11. Spending cuts. Most government programs would have to be reduced, especially those focused on a special interest group. Farm subsidies, military spending, corporate welfare, human services, and all manner of payouts would decrease. Pork would be anathema, and President InstantReplay would pledge to veto any legislation, no matter how needed, if it included a pork rider. (This could seriously backfire, of course, but it’s worth trying). Costs in the White House and other high-profile offices would be cut as well, as much as a publicity stunt as anything else. Education would be the sacred cow and left as intact as possible.
  12. Social issues. As much as IR will campaign on social values, we also understand there is very little a president can do aside from ensuring that no wardrobe malfunctions occur at the inauguration. A social-issues theme might be a “Decency Movement”, using the bully pulpit to draw citizens’ attention to social malaises from homelessness to Desperate Housewives and urge them to act privately.
  13. Judicial nominations. Staunch constructionists who believe in the sanctity of human life.
Are there things I missed? I’m sure I’ll add to this platform in the future, but that’s plenty for now. Call it the “Tough Love” campaign.

Introducing: The Dead Parrot Society

Apart from having a nifty name and a morbid icon, The Dead Parrot Society has some high-grade group blogging on a variety of topics. Made up of six professionals from all over the U.S., these guys' quality and variety give me blog envy.

1.27.2005

Be Careful What You Wish For

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a man who attempted suicide. This should be a fairly amiable case.

Tragic Hero

Paul Rusesabagina is a legend in his own time, a living Oskar Schindler, after the release of the movie Hotel Rwanda. It is a victory of film-as-commentary that the media pays attention to Rusesabagina as much as to Don Cheadle. The latter is a great actor; the former is a great man. He recently came back from a visit to Darfur, and is speaking out on behalf of current and future genocide victims, warning that the world has not indeed learnt the lesson of 'never again'.

The movie, fortunately, does not fall under the 'never again' banner. I saw it last week, and it is a truly noble treatment of a noble subject. Though it is not nearly as bloody as The Passion, the tension and pain of the film left me feeling jarred in the same way, though to a lesser degree. I had intended to write a review of the film here, but never got around to it.

Scenic Route

Best of the Web Today has a classic example of poor programming: Microsoft's "Mappoint" software instructs drivers that the best way to get from Haugesund, Norway, to Trondheim, Norway is to take a ferry to England, go through the Chunnel to France, drive through Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. The 1,600-mile odyssey could be avoided by driving along Norway's main coastal highway, but who would want to miss such a thorough tour of Northern Europe?

Bush Uses Long Word

In a news conference yesterday, Bush used the word "precipitously" in a sentence. This, reinforcing what we suspected from the inaugural address, marks a clear departure from Bush's first-term public persona. Whereas (another potential addition to the Bush lexicon) he previously made his audience the American people, he is now playing more and more to History. Look for memorable one liners and multi-syllabic expressions of American fortitude.

Give Me Your Fingerprints

Thomas Friedman suggests in his latest article that Bush go to Europe and listen. Just listen. After hearing Tony Blair giving a speech at the World Economic Forum that talked more about American than about England, I think he's right. And he hits on another concern as well, a concern that many Americans have, not to mention Europeans:
Europeans love to make fun of naïve American optimism, but deep down, they envy it and they want America to be that open, foreigner-embracing, carefree, goofily enthusiastic place that cynical old Europe can never be. Many young Europeans blame Mr. Bush for making America, since 9/11, into a strange new land that exports fear more than hope, and has become dark and brooding - a place whose greeting to visitors has gone from "Give me your tired, your poor" to "Give me your fingerprints."
In Arab countries, they have a word for what American is becoming, a "mukhabarat" state, a 'security' state. In most Arab countries, the undemocratic regime, whether pro- or anti-US is propped up by a dizzying network of secret and not-so-secret security measures and forces designed to keep the regime in power. The greatness of the American experiment was creating a government dependant on its people. This vulnerability was certainly exploited - witness the Civil War - but it made America a nation far ahead of its time.

Now, in the cowardly days of post-911, we are shrinking back in fear, abandoning milestones of freedom as we go. We have not gone far, but we are steadily insulating our government. One day we will wake up and find that we cannot stop the monster we have created. When the United States becomes stronger than America, it will for all intents and purposes cease to be the great U.S.A. that generations around the world had come to know and love.

The new-to-you, highly equipped T-54. Just because you don't know where you're going doesn't mean you can't kill some people on the way there. See your local Rosoboronexport dealer for details. Posted by Hello

1.25.2005

New SUV's Hit the Market

Russia has realized the strength of the SUV market and is poised to sell a bigger, tougher SUV with worse gas mileage than any of the American models. While delivery may take a while, the price is worth it: at just $17,000, these behemoths are a bargain.

The Telegraph reports:
Russia is to sell thousands of Second World War tanks... [and] now it has launched a serious sales campaign. The hardware has been stored in warehouses even though most of it was decommissioned decades ago... For the more ambitious there are T-54 tanks, built in the immediate post-war period and used to defeat the Hungarian uprising in 1956... While it has not yet published a price list...[t]anks in good working order are expected to cost upwards of £10,000. Alexander Ouzhanov, a Rosoboronexport spokesman, said: "There are two main aspects to this trade. One has to do with the country's image. The second is commercial."
Have you seen that ad where a kid makes his mom drive her Hummer right to the entrance of his school to impress the other kids? Just imagine how proud little Johnny will be when you drop him off in a Soviet tank! The T-54's received the best highway crash-test safety rating possible, and are the best in their class in traction, towing, and off-road capability. Starting at just $17,000, this attractive vehicle is one of the most affordable. Zero-down or 0% APR available for qualified buyers.

Hat-tip to Best Of the Web Today.

Social Mobility

Conservative columnist David Brooks stays on the Bush-following-Lincoln theme (NYT reg. req.) and suggests persuasively that Bush make his State of the Union Address an equally grand vision-casting for what ought to be the great conservative domestic goal: maintaining social mobility.

This is (one area where) Republicans differ from socialist Democrats. Whereas socialists take a paternal view of the state and try to marginally raise the standard of living for everyone below a certain level (often at the expense of those above), conservatives see economic freedom as the freedom to determine one's own destiny. That means that conservatives should and do push for lower taxes on productivity, lower barriers to creating a new business, and lower barriers to moving to a different part of society (e.g. school choice, indiscrimination). When it comes to race/ethnicity, the socialist ideal is a mosaic; the conservative ideal a melting pot. Where socialist push protectionist "fair trade" measures, conservatives should push for making American workers more productive and less costly.

I agree with Brooks that Bush can go a long way toward winning both his party and American voters over by holding up an ideal as striking and as intrinsically American as his foreign policy speech. Philosophically, it would lay a foundation for conservative political thought in the next days and help shape the emerging 'philosophy of conservatism'. Governmentally, it would help focus energies around a clarified goal. Politically, it would help save Bush from becoming a foreign-policy-only president and would set the table for his successor to pursue a strong domestic agenda.

Abortion Is Back

After dozens of wishful prognostications by liberal commentators that abortion will cease to be a political issue in the U.S., and after the first campaign since 1988 in which abortion wasn't much of an issue, it's back. This could truly be to the 21st century what slavery was to the 19th. With half of the country insistent on their 'peculiar institution' and the other half equally insistent on the moral justice of their cause, neither will likely be satisfied by any solution, even a state-by-state one. The stakes are too high, the foundational ethics too irreconcilable.

In the latest round, occuring on the 32nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, both President Bush and 2008 hopeful Hillary Clinton took a slidestep to their right on the issue. The President's was relatively small, voicing support for legislation that would seek to limit abortion without stopping it. The blue-stater, meanwhile, used an address to 1,000 lefties as a public relations schtick, appealing for common ground on preventing unwanted pregnancies. Hopefully this is more than a smoke-screen; this is a real problem where real cooperation is possible. In fact, Prof. Mike Dukakis has his classes address this very problem, at the state level, as their take-home-midterm-from-Hell every semester.

Down With Theocracy

Just one more reason not to live in a state where the religious authorities control government apparatuses: this should not be happening, and it should certainly not be front-page news.

1.24.2005

Self-Betterment Course

In the interests of achieving InstantReplay's goal of having the smartest readers on the web, check out this web page on how to fake an appreciation for art. You can't know everything, but nobody else needs to know that.

Going To The Dance

The Patriots have mauled their glorious way to a third Super Bowl appearance in four years. They've been called various things: the dynasty, the Team (uppercase 'T'), even "the obedient sons of Bill Belichick" in today's Globe. But never, never 'the losers' or even 'the New York Yankees of football'. Nope, this winner isn't overpaid, juiced up, or constipated. What a team! What a run!

We had an enjoyable party last night; complete with burgers, wings, dogs, Pennsylvania & Massachusetts brews, chips, dips, and confident Pittsburgh fans. And I've already requested the day off for Monday, Feb. 7th - I'm not watching another football game in Virginia this season!

What's really impressed about the Patriots is not just that they win; they go for the jugular. They find the strength of each time and assault it directly. They scored 34 points against the league's leading defense (and seven more on Rodney Harrison's interception), the week after they had held the league's leading offense to one miserly field goal. Going for it on 4th-and-1 late in the game - and getting the first down - Belichek showed that he's playing for keeps.

In two weeks, the Pats will be lining up against the best team in the NFC. There's only one question left: will they shut them out or blow them out?

1.23.2005


Mona Dubya... just looking at the haunting eyes. Posted by Hello

Taj Majon Posted by Hello

1.21.2005

Whiny Dems, circa 1865

PowerLine goes further than we did in comparing Bush's speech to Lincoln's by writing a Democratic criticism along the same lines as that heard from the Whiny Left* in response to Bush's address.
The president's speech was also an exercise in deception. He claimed to have done everything in his power to avoid war. His failure to use the Europeans as mediators, or even to consult with them, went unmentioned. Americans also will be saddened to learn of the president's denigration of the attempts by the South at pre-war negotiations. In his eagerness to slay dragons, this president has plainly failed the global test.

The president harped on the "colored slaves." He claimed that "this interest was somehow the cause of the war." But the president well knows that ending slavery was never part of the original justification for fighting this war. It is simply an after-the-fact rationalization, developed after it became clear that we had no plan to defeat the South. Nor can the president honestly claim that the slaves are better off in their current, parlous state than they were prior to the war when they lived in peace and tranquility.
Hat tip to Instapundit.

* Not to be confused with the Angry Left.

Bigger and Better

This is what InstantReplay likes to hear: the prospective candidates are already bumping shoulders in their attempts to get ready for the 2008 election. Election-watchers are saying 2008 will be even more interesting than 2000 and 2004, because it is the first election since 1952 with a wide open field in both parties. Needless to say, the '07-'08 cycle is going to be a fun ride.

Titan

The Huygens mission to Titan, a mystical moon of Saturn, is making the scientific community just step back and stare in awe. The physics of the planet are much like our own, but much different. Methane rain falling on hills of ice is the stuff of legends. It shows how intricate and complex the universe is - and how unique Earth is in giving us the climate and temperature that carbon-based life needs for survival. What a magnificent creation, bespeaking the magnificence of its Creator!

1.20.2005

Second Inaugural Address

President Bush just delivered his second inaugural address. The latter half, all that we heard, was a sweeping, soaring discourse on liberty. Bush's speechwriter really did America proud with the breadth of the imagery and precision of the points.

InstantReplay has been waiting for months to post the text of the greatest inaugural address ever: Abraham Lincoln's. Please don't assume that by posting these next to one another that a comparison is intended. And please read Lincoln's; it is perhaps the greatest piece of oratory in American history.



'Fellow-Countrymen:

At this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.'
'Vice President Cheney, Mr. Chief Justice, President Carter, President Bush, President Clinton, reverend clergy, distinguished guests, fellow citizens:

On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our Constitution, and recall the deep commitments that unite our country. I am grateful for the honor of this hour, mindful of the consequential times in which we live, and determined to fulfill the oath that I have sworn and you have witnessed.

At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we have seen together. For a half century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders. After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical – and then there came a day of fire...

We are led, by events and common sense, to one conclusion: The survival of liberty in our land increasingly depends on the success of liberty in other lands. The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world.

America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one. From the day of our Founding, we have proclaimed that every man and woman on this earth has rights, and dignity, and matchless value, because they bear the image of the Maker of Heaven and earth. Across the generations we have proclaimed the imperative of self-government, because no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave. Advancing these ideals is the mission that created our Nation. It is the honorable achievement of our fathers. Now it is the urgent requirement of our nation's security, and the calling of our time.

So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.

This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary. Freedom, by its nature, must be chosen, and defended by citizens, and sustained by the rule of law and the protection of minorities. And when the soul of a nation finally speaks, the institutions that arise may reflect customs and traditions very different from our own. America will not impose our own style of government on the unwilling. Our goal instead is to help others find their own voice, attain their own freedom, and make their own way...

We will persistently clarify the choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right. America will not pretend that jailed dissidents prefer their chains, or that women welcome humiliation and servitude, or that any human being aspires to live at the mercy of bullies.

We will encourage reform in other governments by making clear that success in our relations will require the decent treatment of their own people. America's belief in human dignity will guide our policies, yet rights must be more than the grudging concessions of dictators; they are secured by free dissent and the participation of the governed. In the long run, there is no justice without freedom, and there can be no human rights without human liberty.

Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty – though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt. Americans, of all people, should never be surprised by the power of our ideals. Eventually, the call of freedom comes to every mind and every soul. We do not accept the existence of permanent tyranny because we do not accept the possibility of permanent slavery. Liberty will come to those who love it.

Today, America speaks anew to the peoples of the world:

All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you.

Democratic reformers facing repression, prison, or exile can know: America sees you for who you are: the future leaders of your free country.

The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it."...

Today, I also speak anew to my fellow citizens:

From all of you, I have asked patience in the hard task of securing America, which you have granted in good measure. Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill, and would be dishonorable to abandon. Yet because we have acted in the great liberating tradition of this nation, tens of millions have achieved their freedom. And as hope kindles hope, millions more will find it. By our efforts, we have lit a fire as well – a fire in the minds of men. It warms those who feel its power, it burns those who fight its progress, and one day this untamed fire of freedom will reach the darkest corners of our world.

A few Americans have accepted the hardest duties in this cause... Some have shown their devotion to our country in deaths that honored their whole lives – and we will always honor their names and their sacrifice...

America has need of idealism and courage, because we have essential work at home – the unfinished work of American freedom. In a world moving toward liberty, we are determined to show the meaning and promise of liberty...

In America's ideal of freedom, the public interest depends on private character – on integrity, and tolerance toward others, and the rule of conscience in our own lives. Self-government relies, in the end, on the governing of the self. That edifice of character is built in families, supported by communities with standards, and sustained in our national life by the truths of Sinai, the Sermon on the Mount, the words of the Koran, and the varied faiths of our people... Americans, at our best, value the life we see in one another, and must always remember that even the unwanted have worth. And our country must abandon all the habits of racism, because we cannot carry the message of freedom and the baggage of bigotry at the same time.

From the perspective of a single day, including this day of dedication, the issues and questions before our country are many. From the viewpoint of centuries, the questions that come to us are narrowed and few. Did our generation advance the cause of freedom? And did our character bring credit to that cause?

...We felt the unity and fellowship of our nation when freedom came under attack, and our response came like a single hand over a single heart. And we can feel that same unity and pride whenever America acts for good, and the victims of disaster are given hope, and the unjust encounter justice, and the captives are set free.

We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom. Not because history runs on the wheels of inevitability; it is human choices that move events. Not because we consider ourselves a chosen nation; God moves and chooses as He wills. We have confidence because freedom is the permanent hope of mankind, the hunger in dark places, the longing of the soul. When our Founders declared a new order of the ages; when soldiers died in wave upon wave for a union based on liberty; when citizens marched in peaceful outrage under the banner "Freedom Now" – they were acting on an ancient hope that is meant to be fulfilled. History has an ebb and flow of justice, but history also has a visible direction, set by liberty and the Author of Liberty.

When the Declaration of Independence was first read in public and the Liberty Bell was sounded in celebration, a witness said, "It rang as if it meant something." In our time it means something still. America, in this young century, proclaims liberty throughout all the world, and to all the inhabitants thereof. Renewed in our strength – tested, but not weary – we are ready for the greatest achievements in the history of freedom.

May God bless you, and may He watch over the United States of America.'

Click here for full text of Bush's speech. All elipses indicate an omission.

1.19.2005

Beltway Roundup

Here's a smorgasbord of news about beltway politicians and commenters today:

LaShawn Barber can't get over the liberals-hate-black-conservatives line of reasoning. Even though the Senate gave no real resistance to Condoleezza Rice's appointment, she cries "wolf" because of the standard whining of Sen. Barbara Boxer. Any 'racism' line gets stale very quickly when unscrupulously used; LaShawn should keep mum unless the record backs her position. It would be more racist (in a patronizing sense) for Boxer et al to give Rice a free pass; she is, after all, a major player in an administration they are opposed to.

John Kerry showed that he didn't learn anything from his run for president. His 'question', a longwinded labyrinth of subclauses, was the last 'asked' of Rice at her confirmation hearing, which we saw live on C-SPAN last night (Howie Kurtz agrees, and adds the word "stemwinder" to the various descriptions of Kerry's hot air). He failed to either make a coherent point or ask a question. Moreover, his comments seemed half the time to conflict with what he said in the presidential debate. He concluded his ramble by saying how much he wanted to work with Condi in the spirit of bipartisanship. Something must have changed overnight, because today he joined Boxer in voting "nay" as a protest.

Going the opposite direction on the political charts is freshman senator Barack Obama. On Hardball, Chris Matthews and friends fell all over themselves worshipping the Illinoisan. WuzzaDem has a transcript - it's hilarious.

Meanwhile, George W. Bush and company are trying to turn D.C. into a political Mardi Gras for the inauguration. Unfortunately, it's 20 degrees and snowing here, and nobody is really in the mood for a parade that will force them to be frisked by security personnel before standing in the freezing cold for hours. They should move these events back to March where they belong - by then the National Mall is a beautiful destination, not a windswept tundra.

Russian Democracy

A good sign: the Russian people are not rolling over. Pensioners are standing up to Vladimir Putin's increasingly authoritarian rule and his popularity is dropping. In a country as powerful and proud as Russia, there is very little the outside world can do but watch and wait. Will the Russian people demand representation and a government with checks and balances? Or will a strongman take over by offering panem et circusem to a populace whose sense of liberty has been dulled by centuries of serfdom and, more recently, servitude under the Communists.

Thanks to CS Monitor, once again.

1.18.2005

Public Relations Problem

The CS Monitor is just the latest publication to quiz university students, distraught parents, and smooth-talking administrators on the 'binge drinking problem.' Like all the other stories, this one looks at the full range of solutions. As any student knows, this includes anything from pushing 'dry' activities to disciplining drunk students.

In my opinion, however, this is a public relations problem. Specifically, schools don't see anything really wrong with drinking unless it messes with their public image. Students don't see anything wrong with it at all.

The first step to preventing alcohol use is for the college community - administrators and professors - to reinvent themselves. College has become a playground for immature adults. Course requirements are notoriously low, admission is at an all-time easy, and most professors don't care about the majority of their students. Below, I'll outline a reinvention plan that a school like Northeastern University (my alma mater) could implement:
  1. Grading guidelines. No more than 30% of the students in any class (maybe 40% for honors) should be allowed to receive a grade of A or A-. This will enforce a school-wide grade scale, instead of punishing those who choose to take tough classes. As it is, taking "Cultures of the World" at NU is the most effective way to raise one's GPA; taking advanced math the best way to depress it.
  2. Standardized exams for common classes, written and graded to equalize classes. Some departments already do this. Likewise, Middler Year Writing - itself a vital requirement - should have papers graded by a committee and a standard of excellence strictly maintained. In general, classes should be made more difficult, requiring work, though not necessarily innate intelligence. The goal should not be to locate the top 1% of American brains and bestow them with diplomas (the Harvard method), but to take average students and train them rigorously.
  3. Strict graduation guidelines. Colleges should offer "certificates of completion" to those who complete their coursework but fail to keep up a certain GPA or cannot pass a department-specific graduation requirement. Professors and administrators should make it a goal to graduate no student who will reflect poorly on the school's academic reputation.
  4. Teaching, grading, disciplinary and advising duties should be considered separately from research for professors. That is, the freedom that tenure grants should apply to intellectual pursuits, not ethics or effort in administering classes.
  5. Underage drinking should be considered a zero-tolerance activity. The university should expel students on the first offense, and refer all cases to the local police with a recommendation for maximum penalty. Anyone in university employ should be disciplined for failing to report instances of drinking.
  6. All members of a fraternity found to engage in hazing should be expelled. It is, after all, a brotherhood, and by joining the members implicitly approve of the joining process.
  7. Every professor should engage part of the burden of undergraduate advising. Each prof should have a managable number of sponsored undergraduates and should keep tabs on their progress and pay attention to those who are falling behind.
Unfortunately, American schools are not moving in that direction. Binge drinking, unscholarliness, and mediocrity are considered par for the course. Trend-setter Harvard has gone to the other extreme, hiring a "fun czar" who maintains a sex- & alcohol-inspired website devoted to the 'right to party'. So for now, administrators are taking students' 'right to party' more seriously than they are taking the continued growth in binge drinking.

After all, binge drinking is just a public relations problem.

1.17.2005

Reagan Nationalist Airport

Walking to Terminal A at Reagan National Airport take a traveler through the old "historic lobby" of the original airfield. It's got a more artistic, less airport-ish feel than the rest of the place, with some Art Deco curves in the architecture and a general sense of pomp and circumstance. The adornment over the main doors toward the field are disconcerting: the American eagle is shown in a more "German" stance (closer wings, more rigid). To his right is an unsheathed sword; to his left an olive branch. That's in contrast to the proper American eagle, who holds an olive branch in his right talon, with arrows in the second place in his left. Worse still, below each faded eagle on the lintel of the door is a shining fasces in steel, standing out in relief from the masonry.

The lobby was built in 1940, before the U.S. went to war with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. It's just conjecture, but the symbolism may reflect an admiration of these powers that is most associated with Charles Lindbergh - America's greatest pilot. Coincidence?

Lest you think InstantReplay is the only place thinking about fascist symbolism, note this Boston Globe article from last week over a proposed monument in Gloucester, Mass.

1.14.2005

Mayor of Disguise

Pavel Bem of Prague has gone beyond being a master of disguise: he's its mayor.

Actually, Bem's the mayor of Prague, but the BBC story - and photos - of him dressed up as an Italian tourist are priceless. He donned the stereotypical getup to investigate allegations of taxi fraud. The investigation was successful: he was overcharged by 500%.

The Left Does It Right

An aide - who writes Zonkette - from Howard Dean's web-heavy campaign revealed this week that they had paid two bloggers - MyDD and DailyKos - to work for the Dean campaign. They did "technical consulting"; as A-listers on the top of the blogging foodchain, their expertise in how to use the blogosphere was invaluable. The Dean aide admitted that the idea was not just to get technical help; they hoped these influential liberals would stay on their side during the primaries.

Unlike in the Armstrong Williams case, however, the lefties in question were ethically above-board. The Wall Street Journal (hardly a left-wing rag) reports that MyDD actually ceased posting for the contract period, and DailyKos posted a prominent notice of his employment.

By being clear with their readership about what their biases are, bloggers keep credibility as opinion writers. The mainstream media (MSM) often mistakes blogs as being analogous to them, but this is not the case. Blogs can never replace news syndicates as reporters. It can, however, be a better way of finding better-informed, more varied opinion than the MSM.

Hat tip to Drudge; note DailyKos' and MyDD's own perspectives, and Zonkette's post that began the brouhaha.

Inaugural Bawl

Commenter Stevo asked why we see so many complaints about spending on the inaugural parties and ceremony, especially since the money is private.

A few points to consider:

1. This shouldn't be an issue. The private donations are expected to reach $40 million, which is peanuts. Will Lester of the AP suggests that the cash could have been used as "a down payment on the nation's deficit, which hit a record-breaking $412 billion last year." We hate to disappoint Will, but a $40 million dollar downpayment wouldn't even be noticeable on this year's deficit - he would still report it at $412 billion - let alone on the total national debt. That problem needs to be remedied; donations aren't the way to do it.

2. Most of the whiners are liberals. The right would be complaining about the same thing if the man in the motorcade was John Kerry.

3. This isn't lost money. It's not being used in the most productive way, since no capital good is being produced, but it will all make it back into the pocketbooks of American cops, caterers, etc. As long as money keeps circulating, the economy is healthy; it's when people stop spending that the whole thing can tank. I have a related argument with my grandmother frequently. She's a devotee of voluntary poverty (after growing up as a playmate of the princesses of Norway), and spends no more on herself than is necessary for the basics of life. Eating out for her kids was the family's annual trip to McDonalds. Anyway, she's also a socialist and a charismatic Catholic, which makes her a real trip to talk to. Any kind of non-necessary spending she objects to, and I find myself explaining that when I spend money on a decent meal or a car, it's not just "disappearing" - it's helping lots of other people keep their jobs. If socialists like her ran the country, we'd all live at the poverty line - money would stop flowing the way it did in 1929. Incidentally, that was the heyday for Keynesian economics; both the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations raised taxes on the wealthy and instituted spending programs, all of which provided some hope but very little material benefit. World War II really gave us the kind of massive deficit spending and employment that we needed to kick-start the economy ("The Arsenal of Democracy" also brought in tons of European wealth).

4. Nobody I know is complaining: the size of the parade, etc, means we get Thursday off, and possibly some of Wednesday! Believe me, no one here is complaining. (Of course, the cost probably quadruples when you add in the lost productivity, but hey, as long as I get the day off... I ain't complaining).

1.13.2005

Second InstantEagle Award

The InstantEagle Award is a new feature for InstantReplay in 2005. It will be awarded to public figures who risk or sacrifice their careers by standing up for what is right.

The Syrian government's unemployment czar Tawfiq Ammash was sacked today after criticizing the government in an interview with the government's daily newspaper. He accused the government of underreporting unemployment statistics and essentially abandoning the unemployment commission he chairs. With unemployment high and rising - and without an unemployment czar - Syria is steady on the course of authoritarian, socialist government and stagnant economy.

Ammash is probably going to scoot out of Syria and find a decent job somewhere in Europe. Whether he's an effective public administrator I don't know - and his record is probably obscured to outside scrutiny by the Syrian government's trademark opacity. Furthermore, InstantReplay is giving him the benefit of the doubt on whether he should get the award. It's unclear if he was really standing up for truth, or just trying to get a parting shot in at political opponents. However, I think any attempt to present a non-party-line viewpoint in Syria is worthwhile, so he gets the award.

Here's to you, Tawfiq!

1.12.2005

Amish Paradise

If the Amish weren't sure about shunning electricity before, they are now: In a zap of tragic irony, an Amish teen was electrocuted by a sagging power line. Hat tip to Drudge.

For the Record

InstantReplay condemns Armstrong Williams and whatever government employees corruptly paid him off to push "No Child Left Behind" surreptitiously. Though on a small scale, this is an egregious violation of governmental and journalistic ethics.

The Inspector General of the Department of Education, or possibly a Congressional investigation should take down everyone who knew of and approved this action. No matter how high - not even Rod Paige or George W. Bush should be exempt - and no matter how low. Even low-level staffers in public relations offices know that's a big no-no and should have stopped or ratted on their bosses. Those who didn't should pay with their jobs.

Are we outraged? Yes and no. This is totally wrong and should be fully investigated and the guilty parties banished from positions of public trust. However, never having heard of Armstrong Williams makes it difficult to get worked up over this. If the Bush Administration tries to shield the guilty instead of booting them, then I might get good and outraged.

1.11.2005

China Has Arrived

If you were wondering whether China has become fully materialist, here's your answer.

1.10.2005

Democracy v. the United States

What's more important, principles or interests? Long-term interests or short-term interests?

Few people would argue that Ukraine's democratic "Orange Revolution" was a good thing for the U.S. However, one of the election's immediate consequences is the withdrawal of Ukraine's 1,600 troops from Iraq (NYTimes). "The Willing" of our coalition turned out to be a ruling clique; the Ukrainian people were not willing.

This is a relatively clear-cut issue: a democratic Ukraine is worth more even in the short run than the 1,600 soldiers it has supporting us in Iraq. However, how would we react if the British elected an anti-war government and decided to yank their troops? What's more important to America: our principles or our interests? More nebulous yet, who decides? These are hard questions that history will ultimately give the answers to.

Splitsville?

The new Sudanese peace accord, lauded frothily in Nairobi by Colin Powell and a bevy of African leaders, is much more than a peace accord. It stipulates not only an end to hostility and a withdrawal of armed forces, but essentially gives the rebellious South the opportunity to split off and become its own country.

According to the terms of the agreement (The Nation, BBC, NYTimes), the rebels retain the rights to keep their own military intact, govern southern Sudan autonomously for six years, receive half of Sudan's oil revenues, and hold a plebiscite after the six years in order to determine whether the region will secede or remain with Sudan. The central government, meanwhile, must rewrite its constitution so that Sharia law no longer applies to non-Muslims.

As happy as we all are to see the end to a conflict that killed two million people and displaced twice that number, the terms of the agreement look like a new conflict in the making. Each side is smiling and scheming: the rebels have essentially won the first round, and have no intention of reintegrating into Sudan in 2011. Khartoum, for its part, may have been beaten in the South, but is quite secure in the North, and will use the break to rebuild its armed forces and will not part with the South and its oilfields in 2011 - or ever - unless compelled to by force of arms.

The only hope is that the armistice period will be peaceful itself, and that cooler heads take leadership on both sides before war returns in 2011.

Abu Mazen Wins

To nobody's surprise, Abu Mazen, AKA Mahmoud Abbas, won the Palestinian presidential elections yesterday. With about 60% of the vote, he garnered three times as many votes as the next candidate. The most encouraging sign, perhaps, is that the next candidate was human rights advocate and anti-corruption campaigner Mustafa Barghouti (not to be confused with Marwan Barghouti, a very distant relative and Fatah leader now in prison). Barghouti alone received more votes than the remainder of the field combined, meaning that hard-right (Islamist) and hard-left (Marxist) candidates did not succeed at the polls.

Whether Abu Mazen is going to bring anything new to the table remains to be seen. Sharon, who has said he will work with Abu Mazen, is demanding that terrorism be stopped before he will begin negotiations. This is not the strategy of a peacemaker, because it basically gives Hamas or Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade the ability to scuttle any deals. Hamas has said it will work with Abu Mazen (a testament to Israel's ruthless decapitation strategy), but real peace is just as far away as it has been since the end of Camp David II.

1.07.2005

Tsunami Relief Stats

Wikipedia has excellent data on government and corporate pledges to the countries devastated by the Dec. 26 tsunami. It also notes, sadly, that "following last year's Bam, Iran earthquake, which killed 26,000 people, Iranian officials claim to have received just USD 17.5 million of the USD 1 billion originally pledged."

The research was part of backing up my thorough fisking of Mac Swift on Watchblog, who wrote a nutty piece claiming that Arabs were stingy, as evidenced by their lack of contributions to the tsunami relief. Unfortunately for Mac, four of the top twelve per-GDP donors are Arab states. Funny things, facts.

Virginia Gubernatorial

Commonwealth Conservative, an elected Republican in Virginia, has the inside track on the governor's race. Gov. Mark Warner (D) has been asking the legislature to lift the one-term limit to no avail, so it looks like Republican Attorney General Jerry Kilgore will sweep in over the big-city liberal Lieutenant Governor. Like most "real" Virginians, CommCon distains transient NoVa residents like me. Truth is, I probably won't be living here by the time the vote comes around, so I guess he's got a point. Anyway, long analysis, but well done.

Hat tip to La Shawn

1.06.2005

James Taranto Is Wrong II

In the same piece criticized below, both Taranto and Anne Applebaum, whom he is fisking, fail to understand the nature of Arab Muslim society. They seem to think that there are different blocks: radical Muslims and moderate Muslims. The U.S. needs to fight the radicals and woo the moderates.

This misunderstanding has been fostered by the media and the government, unfortunately. The reality is a lot more complex. Arab Muslim society, as I have experienced and studied it, is a bell curve continuum. If you compare people from opposite ends of this continuum, they appear radically different, but the majority of the society is not polarized around those extremes. Rather, most Muslims fall in the middle. As polls in Iraq indicated recently, more Iraqis want a secular democracy than want a theocracy. However, most Iraqis intend to vote for a religious party*. There's no neat "Red-Blue Divide" along which we can identify our friends and enemies.

Furthermore, the whole continuum tends to move as a group. When the U.S. does anti-Arab things (like dissing Arafat), everybody's opinion of the U.S. goes down a notch. If we try to attack the right wing of that spectrum, we'll unwittingly attack the whole of it (in their perception) and move the entire spectrum a step to the right. All of a sudden there are more terrorists, more terrorist sympathizers, more people willing to keep quiet about terrorists, and fewer people willing to stand against terrorists. Correspondingly, a move perceived as being pro-Arab shifts the spectrum to the left, with fewer terrorists, fewer terrorist sympathizers, and more people willing to work with Americans.

What the U.S. needs to do is find things it can do to win over the Arab populace without abandoning our principles or safety. Showing that we are serious about our rhetoric is vital. How well we protect and how we react to the Palestinian elections on January 9th is vital. Will we respect their choice of a leader? Do we want democracy, or do we just want pliable leaders? After decades of watching state-controlled television, Arabs are pretty cynical news consumers. They won't swallow our Wilsonian pablum if we don't show a willingness to put democracy ahead of our own power.

The popular wisdom in the Arab world holds - quite seriously - that the U.S. wants to create an empire or sphere of influence for herself and Israel from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf. If we are slow about pulling our soldiers out of Iraq when they are no longer needed there, or if we or Israel invade Lebanon or Syria, then a large portion of the Arab bell curve will see the evidence and be forced to believe the conspiracy theorists. "Yabba ya!" they'll exclaim, "America really is out to conquer the Arab world. I guess they weren't serious about that whole democracy thing. Anyway, who wants a democracy if it's so belligerent? Ma sha' Allah, it's time to join the resistance."

Casey Stengel once said that the key to managing a baseball team is to keep the guys who hate you away from the guys who are undecided. George Bush needs to realize that the key to managing the Middle East is to keep Paul Wolfowitz away from the guys who are undecided.

* Source: Knight Ridder article, Dec. 22

The Right on Rights

James Taranto is way to the right of the U.S. Constitution when he writes:
If the election doesn't happen, the terrorists actually will have won, while pols in Washington were busy flagellating each other over the "human rights" of men who respect the rights of no one.
Human rights for all should be one of the key underpinnings of the Right, not an extra we grant to those whom we consider deserving. Nancy Pelosi is correct to mock the "morality and values" of the Right when conservative apologists are doing backflips to get around Alberto Gonzales' willingness to condone torture.

Most criminals disrespect the rights of others - yet we as a nation are pledged to protect even their rights. It's like being tolerant of the intolerant: if you're not, you're not truly tolerant.

The culture war should not stop when we step out of the world of media. Some of the same conservatives who would rail loudly against a movie that showed sexual torture and demeaning on the big screen are now being even louder in their attempts to minimize and gloss over the real thing.

The Right risks losing its street cred on morality by upholding sleazy methods of achieving good ends. Stopping terror is good; becoming a terrorist to do it is bad. If you fight violence with violence, you're a vigilante, not a policeman. The Republican Party should be the party committed to the Rule of Law, not just another nationalist organ committed only to what selfishly benefits them.

Al Qaeda in Eastie?

The Boston Herald has some of the better circumstantial public evidence about Al-Qaeda, courtesy of an East Boston street gang. Opinion leaders - especially those opposed to the war in Iraq - have made the rather dubious case that Al-Qaeda is unlikely to cooperate with those whom it disagrees politically with.

The Eastie gang La Mara Salvatrucha is now suspected of having links with Al-Qaeda terrorists. What could a bunch of violent Salvadoran punks have in common with Islamic militants? Their politically aims are very different, and the gang members are certainly not Muslims. The connection, of course, is money. If Al-Qaeda can pay, then they can enlist the services of any disreputable group, and possibly of rogue nations.

This is not new evidence to the CIA. But for those of us who are following the war on terror with increasing consternation, a warning flag goes up every time we see Al-Qaeda reaching out to militants of other stripes. If they can cooperate with Salvadoran toughs, they can cooperate with Pakistani nationalists ("We'll sell you two nukes if you promise to use one of them on India"), Iranian clerics ("We'll give you what you need for a dirty bomb because you're the lesser of two satans"), or North Korean nutjobs ("IslamoFascoCommunism? Sounds good to me!").

Every time Al-Qaeda twitches, it's another nail in the coffin marked "Good Reasons To Invade Iraq". We are now inextricably stuck in a conflict while our main enemy is gaining allies and moving toward our borders. We are no longer fighting in self-defense, and we have ruined our credibility with half the world. The leaders we still get along with are in places like Pakistan, China, and Russia. They don't blame us for invading Iraq; that's exactly the kind of thing they would do.

1.05.2005

Blog Humor

Here are a few worthwhile blog humor reads:

Crank Calls Strain U.S.-UN Relations

Poll: Americans Feel Safer With Stewart Behind Bars

Lake Superior State University List of Banished Words for 2005 (which audaciously includes the word 'blog'!)

867-5309

You Might Be a Nerd If...

You're walking home with your groceries and holler, "Thanks for biking!" to a passing cyclist on the street. I must say, though, that I appreciated the compliment; it's one small step toward outweighing the times people have yelled "Get on the sidewalk", "Buy a car", or simply "F*** you!" I've even had people throw water at me while cycling. Stupid petrophiles.

1.04.2005

First InstantEagle Award: Rep. Joel Hefley

The InstantEagle Award is a new feature for InstantReplay. It will be awarded to public figures who risk or sacrifice their careers by standing up for what is right.

Rep. Joel Hefley (R-Colorado) is a staunch conservative and the chair of the House Ethics Committee and has built a reputation as someone who will do his job. If current rumors are true, however, he won't be doing his job much longer: Majority Leader Tom "The Hammer" DeLay (R-Texas) is considering shunting Hefley out of the way. This year, Hefley's committee has reprimanded DeLay three times for such sleaze as promising to support the political campaign of another congressman's son if the congressman voted for a certain bill. Yesterday, Hefley issued a biting statement against proposed rule changes designed to protect DeLay from a possible grand jury indictment on charges of campaign finance crimes.

Fortunately, Hefley is not alone in despising the power-at-any-price attitude of DeLay and others in Republican leadership. Hundreds of Republican voters have contacted their legislators to condemn the ethics changes, and the leadership was forced scuttle most of the proposed changes in a meeting last night.

Due to the efforts of Hefley and others, Republicans will keep the standards they set for themselves in 1994. Whether he will hold onto his job and be able to continue speaking truth to power is up in the air.

My sincere hope is that the spate of negative publicity will cause a groundswell in the G.O.P. in support of Tom DeLay's resignation as Majority Leader. This would make it clear to other potential power-abusers that flirting with corruption is not tolerated. It would also save the G.O.P. from the embarressment of DeLay being removed by a grand jury indictment. In his absence, I would like to make a nomination for Majority Leader: someone who is firmly conservative, who fights waste, and who holds himself and his colleagues to the highest standards of public accountability: Joel Hefley. In the meantime, however, Hefley will have to settle for receiving the first InstantEagle award from this blog.

Sources/Sites:
Denver Post
Boston Globe
Washington Post
Googlism
Hefley's Homepage > Porker of the Week feature

Or Maybe They Just Want to Have Kids

On its front page, The Washington Post bemoans a social disaster: fewer women are using birth control. Yegads, what a tragedy! As I read the article, I kept looking for the paragraph that said, "women who were trying to become pregnant were not included in this study" or, "of the 7 percent not using birth control, half indicated they were trying to become pregnant". Nothing. Finally, on the second page, they ask an expert if it might just be a reflection of different childbearing preferences. He said, "Nahh".

The experts' allegation that lack of insurance and the cost of birth control is driving up the number au naturel encounters may be true; it should not be presented as fact by the Post. The fact that contraception use is rising among teenagers, who can be assumed to not want children, would indicate that sex ed is working. Assuredly, there must be some data that would have given an indication of pregnancy intent. For instance, did the rise in non-use occur mainly among single or married women? Did these women abort their pregnancies? Both the scholars and journalists here are being irresponsible about reporting what was originally scientific data.

1.03.2005

Democracy On the March

InstantReplay supports Swazi democrats' call for a general strike on January 25th to protest corruption by the royal family. The seeds of democracy sown long ago by democratic revolutions in Europe and recently by the revolution of democratic inclusion in South Africa are blooming in Swaziland.

I'm currently reading Margaret MacMillan's "Peacemakers" (a revisionist history of the 1919 peace conference), in which she puzzles over the meaning of Wilson's principle of self-determination, complaining that it is unclear how large or small a unit must be to have the right of self-determination. This is the classic error of the post-modern liberal, seeing political rights as collective, not individual. While I'm no expert on Wilson, I think his priorities and actions are much better explained by seeing that the focus was on democracy, not national aspirations. Wilson would not have supported separatist groups like the Tamil Tigers - who have been in the news as relief workers recently - but would support the Swazi democrats. A new state is not self-determined if it is run by an autocrat; likewise a nation can be part of a multinational state, but participate democratically in determining its own destiny.

For reasons to smile, read Arthur Chrenkoff’s semimonthly roundup of good news from Iraq.

The End of the World

The New York Times is thinking about the end of the world. Peter Singer reviews Richard A. Posner's new book, "Catastrophe". A curious study of risk assessment, the book argues that each risk should be analyzed and money allocated by society according to the present value of the risk, a pretty basic economic concept. I would disagree: money should be devoted to the most cost-effective methods of societal preservation. That may mean that some things are simply not addressed, but if carried through correctly will yield the best possible result.

Elsewhere, op-ed contributor Jared Diamond makes a complete fool of himself in a four-page analysis of societal destruction. He begins by noting, "History warns us that when once-powerful societies collapse, they tend to do so quickly and unexpectedly." You can just smell another discussion of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, right? Nope. Diamond's "powerful societies" include a selection of Polynesian islands, Greenland, Iceland, New Guinea, and Tokugawan Japan. Wow. We must act now to avoid the fate of the Greenlanders!

By contrast with Diamond's examples, which are mainly isolated island nations, truly powerful societies decline very slowly. The Hellenic empires after Alexander lasted a few hundred years. Rome declined for centuries before it fell. Who can put their finger on the collapse of the Mongol civilization? The Ottomans were way overdue by the time World War I broke them up. Doesn't recent history show us that great civilizations can actually survive catastrophic defeat, for example Japan through the Second World War or the U.S. through the Great Depression? If and when the U.S. is destroyed it will be by either (a) nuclear holocaust, or (b) long, slow decline over decades if not centuries.

I'm Back!

Had a pleasant trip to Belgium for the holidays... now I'm back to the grind. Not a lot to report on: spent most of the time with my family, including a day hike in the Ardennes and visits to Waterloo battlefield and downtown Brussels. Belgium is pretty low-quality as far as Europe goes; it doesn't have the orderly cleanness of Holland nor the rural quaintness and urban pomp of France and England. Ah well, they still have good bread and good beer.