Two things. One, this 'DC Madam,' as the MSM is calling her. I think its despicable that people do things like that (that is, hire prostitutes), and that it shows poor character. If it can be proven that anyone hired her or a prostitute in her ring, I say toss them out of whatever job they have, and prosecute, if that's how the law plays out in DC.

And it's not the sex that bothers me, it's the flagrant disregard for the rule of law that tells me they should get the boot. On the upside, if there really are as many people on this 'list' as is rumored, we might get a whole bunch of scumbags out of the government.

Second, William F. Buckley, Jr. is proclaiming that the Bush Administration is now beyond help politically, and this does not bode well for the GOP. I am not sure he is correct, but it seems to be that this surge is the final push for the War in Iraq. If substantive results are not seen, real progress is not made by the end of November, we need to find a way to leave.

It seems to me now that between 70-80% of people who supported the war at the invasion point were wrong. There were certainly mistakes made post-invasion, and they probably come from the highest levels of the Bush Administration. I don't have any proof that any law-breaking was done (nor does anybody that I'm aware of) but mistakes were certainly made for one reason or another.

This does not necessarily make the whole war moot, but it certainly makes me wonder how things would have turned out otherwise. My gut seems to tell me that once the decision to invade was made, there was no other path but this one. I still want to remain optimistic, but the next 6 months is really make or break for this thing. I hope everyone is pulling for success, though that may be a little to naive of a belief.

At this point, it seems like this is going to be a formative shaping of policy in the War on Terror for the future.

Labels: Culture of Corruption, Iraq

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:40 PM | Permalink | |

Before I begin, I should put a small disclaimer on this. I really like John Scalzi. And I'm not the only one in the DCBA. I'm just saying that as a fan, I may be a little more lenient on him that I should be. Not that the whole review will be slanted, mind you, I'm just making you aware that I have gobbled up every one of Scalzi's books (with the exception of Agent to the Stars and the limited The Sagan Diary) thus far, and I plan to continue to do so. Anyway, on with the review.


Disclaimer 2: There might be some spoilers in here, especially for those who haven't read Old Man's War or The Ghost Brigades.

The Last Colony purports to be the final chapter in the 'Old Man's War' Trilogy (would the Sagan Trilogy be a better name?), and it certainly lives up to the task. As always, I found this Scalzi venture a fun read, as well as action packed. This time, John Perry and Jane Sagan are husband and wife, living with an adopted daughter and her bodyguards on a colony, peacefully living their lives, when they get asked to be the leaders of a new colony. That gets them thrown into a whole new world of trouble (literally!).

The characterizations are pretty spot on, and I am sad to see the main characters go. I am not sure we got inside Perry's head as much as we did during OMW, or Jane's during TGB, but nonetheless we get a good sense of who these people are.

The book is a quick read at 300 pages, and frankly, it could have been twice as long, or even split into two books. I say that because sometimes it feels rushed. Months pass by in a couple of pages, and I would have liked to see life on the new colony unfold in a little more detailed manner. There's enough action to satisfy the Saganverse fan, but I felt the strength of the book was in the parts that focused on the life on the colony and the interaction between the other colonists besides the Perry household.

Brevity besides, The Last Colony is a great read, and has some real plot twists I couldn't figure out, which is rare for most Sci-Fi books I come across. There was one character that reminded me of a certain starship captain (or maybe a close parody of him), and I'm not sure that was intentional or not, it could just be my brain playing into that archetype.

All in all, if you've read the first two parts of the trilogy, The Last Colony is well worth it. And if you haven't, the Old Man's War mass market paperback is out now, and so is the one for The Ghost Brigades. Money well spent for any Sci-Fi fan.

Related links:

• My (really short!) review of Old Man's War
• My (longer) review of Scalzi's The Android's Dream
• Hube's post on Scalzi
• John Scalzi's personal blog, the Whatever

Labels: Book Review, Scalzi, Sci-Fi

Posted by Ryan S. at 9:42 PM | Permalink | |

As Gary alluded to couple weeks ago, Associate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia came to the University of Delaware last Friday. He spoke in the new Center for the Arts, and was introduced by University President David Roselle and the chair of the Legal Studies, Sheldon Pollack. Roselle noted that Justice Scalia is "a part of the extended UD family," as his son, Major Scalia, is the officer in charge of Scholarships and Recruitment for Army ROTC here on campus.

I sat in the front row with several friends, including the aforementioned Gary. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed to be taken except by the professionals (I wasn't about to take my chances on establishing press credentials. After all, I don't even consider myself a journalist, and neither should anybody else).

Justice Scalia spoke on the topic of originalism, his view on the Constitution. For a topic as potentially dry as Constitutional theory, Scalia's was a lively and engaging talk, as well as being quite funny. The man can crack a joke.

Scalia began with detailing how originalism is a view that is severly in the minority in recent history. He said that there are only two originalists on the Court right now, Clarence Thomas and himself, and he said he "doesn't know" about the two recent additions to the Court, but he thinks "one might be" an originalist.

To demonstrate how minority originalism has become since the Warren Court, he says he used to get the question "When did you become an originalist?" in the same tone one would be asked "When did you first begin to eat human flesh?"

Scalia mentioned that originalism used to be orthodox, and that judges "used to have to lie about twisting the Constitution. Now you don't...there was a certain honesty in that." He used the so-called 'evolving standard' of the cruel and unusual text in the 8th Amendment.

He detailed several of the arguments in favor of non-originalism, or the "living Constitution" view. He believes originalism to be more flexible, not in what the Constitution says, but in what the Constitution doesn't say. He used the example of the death penalty (paraphrasing here, because I don't know shorthand to be able to get everything in my notes fast enough): The Constitution doesn't say anything about it. Want to outlaw it? Convince your fellow citizens it's a bad idea and pass a law. Think outlawing it was bad? Convince your fellow citizens it was a bad idea and pass a law repealing it.

Originalism, according to Scalia, prevents the Courts from making policy. He referenced how bad an idea of 'nine lawyers sitting around and deciding what's a good law' is. Under originalism, the Court only decides if the law conflicts with another law, and how the two interact. He shunned the label that originalism is liberal or conservative. He said he was "the fifth vote" in the flag burning case. I agree with Scalia's view that though flag burning is not a good thing, the Constitution clearly allows it in the First Amendment.

He also rejected the idea that the 'living Constitution' allows for greater freedom. Scalia notes this is a two way street. "Granting of a right to abortion on the part of the woman is the end of the right to life of the fetus," he said, showing that whenever you grant a right to someone, there is somewhat of an equal and opposite reaction on someone else's freedom.

In fact, Scalia notes, liberals should like that he's an originalist. "Scalia...he's handcuffed! He cannot do all the mean and nasty conservative things to society that he wants to do," he noted, in one of the funnier moments during the talk.

The "living Constitution" Scalia puts forth, does not give any guidelines for how the Constitution morphs. In fact, you might as well have no formal Constitution, and move to a system closer to England, where the last decision by the high court is law.

Scalia finished by talking about the "sad" state that the selection of Supreme Court justices is. No longer do people look for the best lawyers, they just look for people who agree with the majority. This results in battles and stalemates over judicial appointments.

The floor was then "opened" for questions. I say opened with quotes because all but two of the six questions were asked by faculty members, one was by a graduate student, and the other younger guy didn't identify himself. I wanted to ask Scalia whether or not he thinks Marbury v. Madison is an originalist ruling or not. I think he probably would say yes, given that he spoke fondly of Marshall.

Anyway, it was kind of fun to see professors asking questions with a certain trepidation that you usually only see among students.

During the questions, Scalia noted that the Commerce Clause was one area where the country certainly had changed from the Framing, and that there was a lot of room in that clause. When asked by Professor Goldstein (my adviser for Political Science) about whether or not the reinstatement of whipping posts would be Constitutional or not, Scalia replied that it would be. She wondered if it didn't violate the 8th Amendment he was alluding to earlier, but he said that it had to be both "cruel and unusual," and that though possibly cruel, whipping was not historically unusual. Scalia then took this time to formally propose that every federal judge, after being appointed to the bench, be issued a rubber stamp with an ink pad, the stamp reading "Stupid But Constitutional." I wholeheartedly agree.

I very much enjoyed Justice Scalia's talk, and I think that whether you agree with him or not, you have to credit his views as being legitimate, as well as recognizing his brilliant legal mind. Personally, I like Scalia, but he sometimes runs a little too Hamiltonian for my tastes, so I tend to agree with Clarence Thomas more, who is a little more states rights friendly.

Labels: SCOTUS, University of Delaware

Posted by Ryan S. at 1:56 PM | Permalink | |

Following my unwritten (until now?) "when I can't find anyone else, see what the Pope's up to" rule of Hero/Hack, Pope Benedict XVI is my hero this week for accepting an invite to the UN. Really, any right-thinking individual who accepts an invite to that wretched hive of scum and villainy is a hero.

Labels: Catholicism, Hero/Hack, Hypocracy, UN

Posted by Ryan S. at 2:45 PM | Permalink | |

The Economist:

WHILE driving through rural South Carolina recently, I was surprised to find that nearly every home I passed had a sign advertising some cottage industry. Each offered a range of services from “small welding projects” to “bikini waxes” (though no one I surveyed had ever patronised that particular business). These businesses were not necessarily limited to modest homes; it spanned a spectrum of income levels.

Cottage industry has traditionally been a building block of economic development. In industrialised countries it was the first form of manufacturing and paved the way for the industrial revolution. Home production has traditionally been common to low income, less skilled workers and its popularity counter cyclical. When the economy provides less jobs workers become more likely to engage in home production.

I think cottage industry is great. It allows people to stay in their homes with their families, the building block of society. I wonder when nanotechnology and other things will allow more people to do high-tech work from home...

Labels: Economics, technology

Posted by Ryan S. at 9:36 PM | Permalink | |

The current state of Russia has me really worried, though there has been some good news. Alvaro Vargas Llosa has a comparison between Putin's elected dictatorship and those in Latin America:

With the exception of Venezuela, the authoritarian institutions operating under democratically elected governments in Latin America are not as bad as Russia's. It is true that power is more decentralized in Latin America, where governments have not been able or willing to wrest back economic influence from the private interests that surfaced during the market reforms of the 1990s, and where the institutions of the state are too weak to suppress voluntary associations and civic activity.

If we compare Mexico and Russia, the evidence seems to confirm Vorozheykina's views. Mexico was also dominated by a party-state for much of the 20th century and underwent a process of reform in the 1990s aimed at fostering liberal democracy and privatizing a large part of the economy.

Despite its many flaws, reform improved the political and economic environment. In Russia, liberal democracy never quite surfaced, and, according to Vorozheykina, ``economic reform did not amount to transferring assets from the state to the private sector but from private hands to private hands using the state trademark.'' In other words, the collapse of the Soviet Union was followed by the capture of the state by certain factions. Putin then reacted against the oligarchy of the 1990s by establishing his own oligarchy. By contrast, although there was much crony capitalism and the reforms did not exactly produce Jeffersonian checks and balances, Mexico's system is freer.

Labels: Latin America, Russia

Posted by Ryan S. at 12:34 PM | Permalink | |

This is a meme that's going around facebook, so I'll just do it here...
I've taken eleven of my favorite movies and put them into IMDB. Listed below are the 'Plot Keywords' for those movies. Your job is to guess the movies.

1. Record Store / Teenage Boy / Sexuality / Social Commentary / Classic Rock Music
2. Gun Culture / Divorced / Hollywood History / Divorcé / Tobacco Industry
3. Sequel Mentioned During End Credits / Snake Bite / Bully Comeuppance / DC Comics / Eiffel Tower Paris
4. Biplane / Overhead Camera Shot / Director Cameo / Gun / Illinois
5. Zombie / Bondage / Shot In The Head / U Boat / Mummy
6. Altering History / Pepsi / Self Worth / Self Fulfillment / Paradox
7. Little Girl / Abandoned Laboratory / Blind Man / Grave Digging / One Armed Man
8. Aftermath / Tip / Immaturity / Gasoline / Graphic Violence
9. Con / Poker Player / Mafia / Train Station / Tough Guy
10. Country Club / Undercover / Afro / Dream Sequence / Chase
11. Army / Germany / North Africa Campaign / Stars And Stripes / Historical

Just reply in the comments here with your guess. Remember, I won't know if you cheat, but you will.

Feel free to copy this, I'm looking at you, Alliance members!

I'm putting in links to the IMDB page for the ones that have been correctly guessed. If no one gets them by Wednesday morning, I'll put up the full list.

UPDATE: Every movie except for 7, 8, and 10 were guessed correctly! Thanks for playing!

Labels: Meme

Posted by Ryan S. at 9:25 PM | Permalink | |

Here is a list of random 'bad things' that probably aren't too obvious:

• The Enlightenment
• Nominalism
• The French Revolution
• The Russian Revolution
• British Empiricism
• Aaron Burr
• blackface
• Starship Troopers (film)
• Mark Maguire/Barry Bonds baseball records
• Thousand Island Dressing
• New Coke
• Transcendentalism
• The American Civil War
• Sequels to: The Matrix, Ace Ventura, Bad News Bears, and Jaws
• Frederick II of the Holy Roman Empire
• The Dukes of Hazard (film)
• The American System

-this may become a recurring installment

Labels: Bad Things

Posted by Ryan S. at 11:16 PM | Permalink | |

Alaa over at The Mesopotamian is advocating for a middle ground in Iraq strategy. This makes a lot of sense, and I've been heading that direction for a while myself:

Meanwhile, it is evident to me that the security plan, in so far as military strategy is concerned, consists of two essential elements: firstly to regain control of Baghdad and save the city from the sorry state that has virtually paralysed life and caused the massive exodus of the population that the world is witnessing; secondly, to hand the control to Iraqi security forces after they achieve a certain level of development. There is general awareness, by all who care about the people of Iraq that continued U.S. support of the new Order is essential. However, between the extreme course of total withdrawal and the present detailed involvement with daily operations; there is a middle way that few are talking about. Complete abandon and retreat by the Americans would indeed constitute defeat and a victory for the enemy, and would turn the tables completely and ignite a larger conflagration in the region. On the other hand the level of involvement of American and other allied foreign troops with detailed street to street policing, house searches etc. etc. should not continue indefinitely. For apart from the losses and pressures that are endured by the men and women of the MNF, some mistakes and errors can be quite counterproductive. What must be realized is that as long as the U.S. is strategically present, the enemy has no hope of achieving any of his objectives. This enemy knows this only too well; and his prime objective is to bring about this withdrawal and retreat by all means. He pins his hopes on the internal situation in the U.S., and this is his most potent weapon. Therefore most of his actions and attacks are basically publicity stunts aimed primarily at the MSM and American and western public opinion.

Labels: Iraq

Posted by Ryan S. at 1:40 PM | Permalink | |

This week I will not be having the "traditional" Hero/Hack post, but rather will just focus on the stories of heroes who acted on instinct to save lives Monday at Virginia Tech.


First:

Professor Liviu Librescu, 76, threw himself in front of the shooter when the man attempted to enter his classroom. The Israeli mechanics and engineering lecturer was shot to death, "but all the students lived - because of him," Virginia Tech student Asael Arad - also an Israeli - told Army Radio.

Several of Librescu's other students sent e-mails to his wife, Marlena, telling of how he had blocked the gunman's way and saved their lives, said Librescu's son, Joe.

Zach Petkewicz:

"The girls in my class peeked out in the hall and saw a gunner come out of a classroom with his gun pointed down," Petkewicz told CNN.

"They immediately slammed the door shut, told us, everybody kind of went into a frenzy, a panic. I hid behind the podium and then just kind of looked up at the door. Like, there's nothing stopping this guy from just coming in. And so I said, 'We need to barricade this door.' "

Petkewicz described his state of mind unabashedly: "I was completely scared out of my mind originally, just went into a cowering position, and then just realized you have got to do something."

Petkewicz and two other students shoved a table against the door and held it there as gunshots continued to ring out from the hallway outside the classroom.

"He came to our door, tried the handle and couldn't get in because we were pushing up against it -- and tried to force his way in and got the door to open up about 6 inches -- and then we just lunged at it and closed it back up and that's when he backed up and shot twice into the middle of the door, thinking we were up against it trying to get him out."

Derek O'Dell:

While bullets flew for some 10 minutes, three students took turns barricading the door - Derek, a young man who wasn't hurt, and a young woman who'd been shot in her hand.

They heard still more shots down the halls.

And as they crouched in fear, the madman came back.

He pushed against the door, getting it open an inch. But Derek shoved it back.

So he shot five or six rounds into the door. Thankfully, no one was hit.

Still holding the door shut, Derek fashioned a tourniquet with his belt to stop the bleeding in his arm.

Then, the gunman came back a third time.

"He could hear us talking," said Derek. But this time, he could not get the door open at all.

I'm sure there are countless others.

Labels: Hero/Hack

Posted by Ryan S. at 3:17 PM | Permalink | |

Reason has some interesting thoughts on 'Gun Free Zones:'

Last year Virginia legislators considered a bill that would have overridden policies at public universities that prohibit students and faculty members with concealed handgun permits from bringing their weapons onto campus. After the bill died in committee, The Roanoke Times reported, Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker welcomed its defeat, saying, "I'm sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly's actions because this will help parents, students, faculty, and visitors feel safe on our campus."

Maybe Hincker was right. But as Monday's horrifying mass murder at Virginia Tech vividly demonstrated, there is a difference between feeling safe and being safe. The university's gun ban not only did nothing to protect people at the school; it left them defenseless as a cold-blooded gunman methodically killed 32 of them over the course of two and a half hours.

If some students and faculty members had access to guns during the attack, there's a good chance they could have cut it short. According to witnesses, the killer—identified by police as Cho Seung-Hui, a senior studying English—took his time and paused repeatedly for a minute or so to reload.

In shootings at other schools, armed students or employees have restrained gunmen, possibly preventing additional murders. Four years ago at Appalachian Law School in Grundy, Virginia, a man who had killed the dean, a professor, and a student was subdued by two students who ran to their cars and grabbed their guns. In 1997 an assistant principal at a public high school in Pearl, Mississippi, likewise retrieved a handgun from his car and used it to apprehend a student who had killed three people.

And Tennessee is moving in the direction of allowing guns on public property:

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

Labels: Gun Rights

Posted by Ryan S. at 8:07 AM | Permalink | |

Brilliant.

Labels: History

Posted by Ryan S. at 8:04 AM | Permalink | |

Geeks of Doom with the best Tax Day post ever:

Today marks the tax return filing deadline, so in honor of this occasion, here’s a look at the most dedicated accountant ever to grace the silver screen.

- Who are you guys?
- We’re the Ghostbusters.
- Who does your taxes?

Louis Tully (Rick Moranis) is the nerdy accountant in Ghostbusters who’s in love with his neighbor Dana Barret (Sigourney Weaver). The bespectacled Louis is notorious for locking himself out of his apartment after lingering in the hallway to catch a few words with Dana, who barely gives him the time of day. But while Louis might not be lucky in love — or with locks — he’s a wiz at tax write offs.

And Louis knows how to pinch a penny. Instead of buying name-brand aspirin, he gets twice as many generic acetacylasilic acid pills for 35% less from Walgreens. Now that’s some savings!

For his four-year anniversary as an accountant, Louis celebrates by throwing a party complete with Nova Scotia lox and Brie cheese kept at room temperature and as well as breakdancing, Twister, and Parcheesi. Being the clever tax man that he is, Louis invites not friends, but clients to the gathering so that he can write off the event as a promotional expense.

Unfortunately, his clever tax deduction gets crashed by Vinz Clorthos the Keymaster, a minion of the shapeshifting god Gozer, who while in Terror Dog form possesses the unsuspecting Louis. On the bright side, the possessed Louis finally gets some real action from Dana, who’s equally possessed by another Gozer minon Zuul, the Gatekeeper. On the not-so-bright side, when it’s over, Louis can’t remember any of it.

But Louis doesn’t let it get to him. When the Ghostbusters finally free him from possession, Louis doesn’t bother asking them to explain what’s happened to him. Instead, he asks them, “Who does your taxes?”

Now that’s professional dedication!

So in honor of Tax Day, we salute you Louis Tully!

Labels: Humor

Posted by Ryan S. at 11:54 PM | Permalink | |

Posted by Ryan S. at 11:49 PM | Permalink | |

One of the things I did this weekend (mostly on the plane rides) was finish reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. I enjoyed it for the most part, even though the book certainly has its weaknesses.

The book does an excellent job in describing the rise of Lincoln, Chase, Bates, and Seward, and the Republican Party. However, I wish Mrs. Goodwin had spent more time on Secretary of War Stanton before joining Lincoln's cabinet (despite him not being a titular 'rival') because it would have enhanced the relationships between him, Lincoln, Seward, and McClellan later.

Also getting the short stick are Jefferson Davis, Fort Sumter, Sharpsburg (Antietam), and Gettysburg, as well as the prominence of the American System in Whig thought. Normally I wouldn't complain, but the book is long. My paperback is about 750 pages of text, plus 200 or so of notes.

There should have been room here to cover a wide variety of topics extensively, but Mrs. Goodwin appears to have used the lens of the abolition of slavery to view this history. She focuses on the cause of abolition frequently, while noting that Lincoln favored compensating slaveholders in the South and then setting up a colony in Africa or South America for the freedmen.

Lincoln's primary motivation for fighting the War was to preserve the Union, and it seems Mrs. Goodwin has missed both that and the many causes of the War itself.

The book is worth a look however, and I will say it is well written and well sourced.

Recommended with reservations.

Labels: Book Review, History

Posted by Ryan S. at 3:02 PM | Permalink | |

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone at Virginia Tech.

I'm too stunned to say much, but Glenn Reynolds has more, including that VT is a "gun free zone."

Posted by Ryan S. at 2:47 PM | Permalink | |

I spent this weekend in Indianapolis at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute National Leadership Conference.

First, I'd like to thank Gary for doing a more than proficient guest blogging job this weekend! I think Gary should at least consider starting his own blog, but we'll see. And like Gary, I'm stoked about Scalia coming to campus Friday.

The topic was "Russell Kirk and the Prospects for Conservatism," and I'll have a post (or two) on the specifics of the conference later. I'd like to quickly go into my general thoughts on Indianapolis, a city I hadn't been to before.

Unlike the cities here on the East Coast of which I am infinitely more familiar, Indianapolis feels young. It was founded in 1821 as the capital city of Indiana, and I think it is a magnificent city. The State House is gorgeous, and the Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument (left) is breathtaking. The grandeur it possesses reminds me of some European monument erected in early modernity.
We had an excellent view of the monument from our hotel room window, and it became a comforting sight over the course of our stay. We managed to walk around it and visit the Civil War Museum in it's base, which is a very worthwhile (and free!) attraction.

Indianapolis, from my vantage point, seemed to have little sprawl, with little shack houses and open green areas within a ten minute drive of downtown.

The city itself is pleasant, with streets wide enough to be called avenues or boulevards in other towns in the East, similar to those I found in Houston. This was accompanied by wide, generous sidewalks, which made strolling downtown a pleasant experience on the whole.

I regret that I did not have more time to explore the city, but the taste I did get whetted my appetitive to return. Downtown was great, and we saw some of Julian Opie's interesting street art.

We attended 8AM Mass at Saint John the Evangelist Church, which boasts of being the 'original Catholic parish' of Indianapolis and is a beautiful church besides.

The only dark spot of the trip was trying to come back. Our original flight was canceled, and we made it on the last non-sold out flight because that flight's plane was being repaired. Slightly harrowing, but the folks at the Indy airport were pleasant and helpful.

Labels: Travels

Posted by Ryan S. at 8:55 PM | Permalink | |

Well, tax day is coming up and I figured today would be a good day to highlight a proposal for a national sales tax, also known as the Fair Tax.

A while back I read the book, written by Neil Boortz and John Linder (R-GA). Basically, the Fair Tax calls for the abolition of the IRS, an amendment abolishing the Income Tax (I don't see this ever happening), and the creation of a national sales tax of 23 cents per dollar.

The 23% sales tax may seem high, but it is estimated to bring in the same amount of revenue as is currently brought in through the many taxes. The 23% tax is only applied to new items (anything resold has absolutely no tax).

Every person receives a monthly rebate to cover expenses for necessities. The most beneficial aspect of the Fair Tax is that those who spend more, pay more in taxes. If you don't buy new items, you don't have to pay taxes.

For more information, visit the Fair Tax FAQ website.

Whether this system of taxation is better or worse than the current system, or the Flat Tax proposal, remains to be seen. But perhaps the best proposal of all would be one that lowered everyone's taxes.

Posted by Presence of Justice at 3:27 PM | Permalink | |

My hero this week is a little known person named Ethan Czahor, of the website StopRosie.com Here's an excerpt from the mission statement:

Our mission is to influence current and prospective viewers of The View to not watch the program until the situation concerning Rosie O'Donnell and her anti-American falsities is addressed and amended by Disney-ABC.

Mr. Czahor is a smart man; he is trying to use free market capitalism ideas to boycott what he calls the "blame America first" mentality.

Watch him on the Big Story with John Gibson


My Hack this week are Birds. More specifically, this one

A bird appears to have flown into and damaged the engine of Vice President Dick Cheney's plane as it arrived in Chicago Friday morning.

How dare he try to crash Vice President Cheney's airplane... I wonder if Bill Maher put him up to it.

Labels: Hero/Hack

Posted by Presence of Justice at 6:40 PM | Permalink | |

I hear so much about the U.S and its immigration- now here are some thoughts about immigration with one of our greatest allies: Australia.

Prime Minister John Howard said on Friday that Australia should restrict immigration to the country for people with HIV. There is virtually no difference between restricting immigration for people with HIV than restricting people with other diseases such as Tuberculosis.

Naturally, some are outraged:

"It's a hysterical overreaction, it mixes racism with a phobia about infectious disease," he said. "To not allow people to come on the basis of any health condition is immoral, it's unethical and it's impractical to enforce."

Immoral and unethical, give me a break! It's called Common Sense.


Here is more of what the Prime Minister had to say:

Prime Minister John Howard said Friday that people with HIV should not be allowed to migrate to Australia, and that the government was investigating whether it could tighten existing restrictions.
"I think we should have the most stringent possible conditions in relation to that nationwide, and I know the health minister is concerned about that and is examining ways of tightening things up," Howard said.

Here is a link to the article.

Posted by Presence of Justice at 8:55 AM | Permalink | |

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia (one of my favorites) will be at the University of Delaware on April 27th. As far as I know, tickets are still available.

I got my ticket earlier this week and am interested in hearing what he has to say. Hopefully he'll say a few words on the televising of Supreme Court hearings.

Here is the link to the UD article.

Posted by Presence of Justice at 12:37 AM | Permalink | |

Hi Everyone!

As Ryan S. has already said, I'm going to be guest blogging for the weekend. This includes my very own Hero/Hack of the Week. I've never done this before; we'll see how it goes.

So, sit back, relax and I hope you enjoy.

Posted by Presence of Justice at 2:43 PM | Permalink | |

I will be away this weekend, and a good friend of mine, Gary, will be filling in from now until Sunday. Gary's a sophomore here at UD, and is a solid conservative.

He may do an introductory post for himself, and please give Gary a warm stay here at JttR. See you on Monday!

Labels: Guest Bloggers

Posted by Ryan S. at 11:31 PM | Permalink | |

This comes as good news to be, as I gave up pork for Lent, and can only this week consume again the pinnacle of human achievement upon this earth: Bacon.

Researchers in Britain have come up with an equation: N = C + {f_b(c_m) · f_b(t_c)} + f_b(T_s) + f_c · t_a. In this equation lies the secret to a good bacon sandwich:

It concluded that the best bacon butties were made with crisply grilled, not-too-fat bacon between thick slices of white bread.

Eureka!

“We often think that it’s the taste and smell of bacon that consumers find most attractive,” Dr. Clayton said in a news release. “But our research proves that texture and sound is just, if not more, important.”

NYT has more, including what all of those funky letters in the equation mean.

Labels: Random

Posted by Ryan S. at 3:23 PM | Permalink | |

...and temperatures are up. Coincidence?

BBC:

They say that over the last century the number of sunspots rose at the same time that the Earth's climate became steadily warmer.

This trend is being amplified by gases from fossil fuel burning, they argue.

. . .

In particular, it has been noted that between about 1645 and 1715, few sunspots were seen on the Sun's surface.

This period is called the Maunder Minimum after the English astronomer who studied it.

It coincided with a spell of prolonged cold weather often referred to as the "Little Ice Age". Solar scientists strongly suspect there is a link between the two events - but the exact mechanism remains elusive.

. . .

But the most striking feature, he says, is that looking at the past 1,150 years the Sun has never been as active as it has been during the past 60 years.

Over the past few hundred years, there has been a steady increase in the numbers of sunspots, a trend that has accelerated in the past century, just at the time when the Earth has been getting warmer.

The sun plays a huge role in the climate here on Earth, and from what I've read, accounts for a lot of climate variation.

Labels: Climate Change

Posted by Ryan S. at 11:45 AM | Permalink | |

Even Newt Gingrich.

Paul at Powerline has some thoughts:

I will shed no tears if President Bush decides to sack Alberto Gonzales. But Gingrich's suggestion that the administration can get a fresh start with a new Attorney General is silly. The Dems aren't declining to cooperate with the Bush Justice Department because Gonzales mishandled the firing of eight prosecutors. They are making a mountain over this molehill because they wish to undermine the Bush Justice Department.

I'm all for replacing Gonzales if he needs to be replaced, but not because the Democrats say they will play nice with somebody else.

Bring back John Ashcroft!

Labels: Bush, Culture of Corruption, Newt

Posted by Ryan S. at 11:48 AM | Permalink | |

My heroes this week are the Sunni tribes in Anbar helping the U.S. fight Al Qaeda in Iraq.

WSJ:

By the fall of 2006 AQI had become the oppressor, careless in its destructive swath, while the American and Iraqi forces persisted with their mix of force of arms and civil engagement. When an AQI suicide car bomb attacked an Anbar market in November, killing a Marine and nine civilians, the Marine battalion commander and his Iraqi counterpart offered medical care at the local clinic for the entire town, including the first gynecological examinations many local women had seen. This was not an isolated event, and the people noticed.

With a war-weary population buoying them, 25 of the 31 Anbar sub-tribes have pledged to fight the insurgents over the past five months, sending thousands of tribesmen into the police and army. Led by Sheik Abu Sittar, who has called this an "awakening," the tribes believed they were joining the winners.

My hacks this week are Democrats in Michigan who want to give every Michigan student an iPod.

The Detroit News:

We have come to the conclusion that the crisis Michigan faces is not a shortage of revenue, but an excess of idiocy. Facing a budget deficit that has passed the $1 billion mark, House Democrats Thursday offered a spending plan that would buy a MP3 player or iPod for every school child in Michigan.

No cost estimate was attached to their hare-brained idea to "invest" in education. Details, we are promised, will follow.

Seriously? iPods? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my iPod. I use it everyday, but I doubt it has an impact on my education, let alone a positive one. This is just lunacy.

Labels: Government Waste, Hero/Hack, Iraq

Posted by Ryan S. at 3:13 PM | Permalink | |

I think it is apparent to everyone that there is no military-only solution to stabilizing Iraq. Military solutions only comprise part of the solution. The other parts are political stability in the region Right now I, as I think we all do, hope the surge is working.

For at least the year prior to the surge, Iraq was in a complete stalemate. That's a fact, as I noted in my review of the Iraq Study Group Report:

One thing point that the Group makes that I find compelling is that there "is no military solution" in Iraq. They cite that US forces will go in, clear an area, and as soon as they leave, it will become "hot" again. You cannot fight a hydra like that. Cleaning up Iraq's ministries as well as reforming the US State department will go much further in understanding and eradicating the Sunni insurgency and the Shi'ia militias.

We need a complete overhaul on Iraq policy, and more importantly, attitude, and we need it soon.

Michael Yon has been blogging from Iraq, and has been noting both the problems and the successes. Currently, he notes the media front:

Firstly, we are losing the war in part because we are losing public support for it. We are losing public support for it in part because there are so few reports that demonstrate enough progress being made and enough reasons to continue to fight until Iraqis are able to go it alone. Secondly, the soldiers suffer because their stories are not being told. Fox News, which reaches millions, just turned down an embed simply because they don’t want their cameras and computers stolen, and they need to actually work when they aren’t guarding their gear. Unlike yours truly, Fox News has deadlines to meet.

Additionally, polls indicate that Americans are not for getting out of Iraq "no matter the cost":

According to a March USA Today/Gallup poll, 61% of Americans oppose “denying the funding needed to send any additional troops to Iraq.”

That poll also showed that only 20% of Americans want to withdraw the troops immediately.

Also, ABCNews reporter Terry McCarthy reports that the surge is working, at least in parts of Baghdad.

I think we need to give the surge a chance. The generals have asked until November, and that seems like a reasonable deadline to make progress.

Labels: Iraq

Posted by Ryan S. at 9:15 PM | Permalink | |

Matt Lewis is comparing Newt Gingrich to Barry Goldwater, saying he's the romantic Republican's choice:

The former House speaker from Georgia might be the only Republican presidential candidate, declared or otherwise, who has the potential to be romantic. Other people give speeches; when Newt speaks, the words have music. He's poetic. He's quixotic. He's … dangerous.
He's also incredibly intelligent. He's proposing cutting-edge solutions to vexing policy issues like health care and the tax code. He's offering a compelling vision for a limited but efficiently run federal government.

Something tells me we are heading into a time when conservatives will be willing to jump in the proverbial convertible and head to Vegas on a whim. Hey, Newt's driving.

This echoes something I've said before:

Newt Gingrich is trying to position himself as the Reagan/Buchanan for this decade, and perhaps the next as well. He wants to be the godfather for this generation of collegiate conservatives, and seems to turn out some of the largest crowds at CPAC on a regular basis. I'm not sure if this is a good thing. Gingrich has a lot of ideas (the man is almost his own think tank) but they're not always good ideas.

I generally like Newt, but I'm not a "Newt Believer" by any means. I'm not quite sure where his principles are, and he just has a negative vibe.

Labels: 2008 Watch, Newt

Posted by Ryan S. at 11:49 AM | Permalink | |

Washington Times:

"If [the armed forces] build a new type of Humvee called an MRAP [Mine Resistant Ambush Protected] vehicle," he informed the union members, "there is four times less possibility of injury to a soldier inside that vehicle." This is crucial because 70 percent of American casualties in Iraq are caused by improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the roadway bombs that often detonate underneath the flat-bottom un-armored Humvees. MRAPs have a blast-resistant V-shaped hull that displaces much of the explosive power of IEDs. "We need 7,700 [MRAPs]," Mr. Biden continued. "We're only going to build 2,000 of them this year because it costs $8.5 billion," he said with evident disgust.
"What in the hell are we doing?" the senator demanded to know. "How can we justify anything, anything we do before we spend that money now to put these kids in those vehicles?" Because each MRAP transports four to 12 troops, accelerating this year's production by 2,500 vehicles would "affect from 10,000 to 30,000 lives in the next six months," he explained. "We're sitting here making no sacrifices, making no sounds about the urgency of doing that?"
For Mr. Biden, the issue proved to be much more than merely rhetorical. Later that night, on the floor of the United States Senate, Mr. Biden introduced an amendment to increase the production of MRAPs by 2,500 vehicles before Oct. 1.

The amendment passed 98-0.

UPDATE (9:23:PM): Jeff the Baptist (a better authority than me on this subject, I assure you) says "that actually making that many more vehicles in the next six months is probably nigh unto impossible. But hey he got a talking point out of it." Well, I guess Biden's heart is in the right place?

I guess the question now is why these are so long in coming.

Labels: Biden, Iraq

Posted by Ryan S. at 2:28 PM | Permalink | |

Just out this week, Christopher Buckley once again proves his prowess for political satire. The title of Bo