Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee is my hero this week, as he is doing a stellar job campaigning recently, as the WaPo points out:

But hip is precisely what Huckabee has become in the weeks since he placed second in the Iowa Straw Poll on Aug. 11. Indeed, since walking into the media filing room that night and being swarmed by the media as if he were -- these are his words -- "Britney Spears being released from prison," Huckabee has been seen as the cuddly antidote to what has been an awfully tough-talking Republican field. He's the affable, compassionate, good guy and rock-and-roll evangelical who plays guitar and wants to hang with the Rolling Stones.

It's hard to think of a candidate in recent political history who felt such a bounce and media hug after a second-place finish in a nonbinding contest where three of the top-tier candidates or almost-candidates -- John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson -- didn't bother to show. But man, is he working it.

I like Mike a lot.

My hacks this week are the newspapers (including the Washington Post) that declined to run this week's "Opus" cartoon. According to FoxNews, "editors from The Washington Post declined to comment on why they made the decision to pull the two comic strips." Also:

Sources told FOXNews.com that the strips were shown to Muslim staffers at The Washington Post to gauge their reaction, and they responded "emotionally" to the depiction of a woman dressed in traditional Muslim garb and espousing conservative Islamic views.

And now, the strip the Washington Post doesn't want you to see (click to enlarge):
Part 2 of the strip will run Sunday, except in the Washington Post.

Labels: 2008 Watch, Hero/Hack, Huckabee, Media

Posted by Ryan S. at 12:59 PM | Permalink | |

Dr. Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace and chairman and chief scientist of Greenspirit Strategies Ltd. in Vancouver is slamming Leo's new scare-doc:

Here's a key piece of information DiCaprio, collaborator and long-time activist Tzeporah Berman and the leadership of my old organization Greenpeace are ignoring when it comes to forests and carbon: For British Columbians, living among the largest area of temperate rainforest in the world, managing our forests will be a key to reducing greenhouse gases.

As a lifelong environmentalist, I say trees can solve many of the world's sustainability challenges. Forestry is the most sustainable of all the primary industries that provide us with energy and materials. Rather than cutting fewer trees and using less wood, DiCaprio and Berman ought to promote the growth of more trees and the use of more wood.

Moore continues:

The relationship between trees and greenhouse gases is simple enough on the surface. Trees grow by taking carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and, through photosynthesis, converting it into sugars. The sugars are then used as energy and materials to build cellulose and lignin, the main constituents of wood.

There is a misconception that cutting down an old tree will result in a net release of carbon. Yet wooden furniture made in the Elizabethan era still holds the carbon fixed hundreds of years ago.

Berman, a veteran of the forestry protest movement, should by now have learned that young forests outperform old growth in carbon sequestration.

Although old trees contain huge amounts of carbon, their rate of sequestration has slowed to a near halt. A young tree, although it contains little fixed carbon, pulls CO2 from the atmosphere at a much faster rate.

Labels: Climate Change

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

You might have noticed that the price of milk has gone up recently, but wondered why.

A rise in gas prices? Underproductive cows? No and no.

The answer? The Chinese:

In China, milk consumption has soared along with rising incomes, a massive expansion of the dairy industry and the increasing familiarity with — and taste for — non-native foods among young urbanites.

Pizza Hut sells its cheese-laden pies even in smaller Chinese cities, and milk, yogurt and individually packaged cheese slices can be found in small local supermarket chains. Foreign-owned stores such as France’s Carrefour, Germany’s Metro and America’s Wal-Mart cater to slightly more sophisticated tastes, selling crumbly blue cheeses, wheels of gouda and red-waxed balls of Edam.

Products from Chinese dairy giant Mengniu even carry the label of being the official milk of the Chinese space program. Its drinks promise to “fortify the Chinese people,” with packaging showing a space-suited boy clutching a glass of creamy goodness.

China’s growing love of dairy is a far cry from two decades ago, when the country was just opening up to foreign products and availability was limited to milk, yogurt and, on rare occasions, butter. The Dairy Association of China estimates consumption will rise by 15-20 percent annually in the coming years.

Labels: China, Economics

Posted by Ryan S. at 1:06 PM | Permalink | |

What's the big deal here? Two consenting adults? Check. Party affiliation? Oh. Right. That's why this is news.

From Volokh:

"It's hard to work up much sympathy for Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho). He had a perfect legislative score from traditional-values groups, a zero rating from gay civil-rights groups, supported the Federal Marriage Amendment, and refused even to commit to non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in hiring for his own Senate staff. But what exactly was criminal about his conduct in that Minneapolis airport bathroom? . . . At most, Craig was inviting another adult to engage in some kind of sexual behavior in a public place. I'm not a Minnesota criminal lawyer, but I don't think asking a stranger for sex in a public place, while vulgar and rude under many circumstances, would by itself be a crime under state law. At any rate, Craig wasn't charged with that."

Labels: Congress, Hypocracy

Posted by Ryan S. at 9:40 PM | Permalink | |

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned this morning, long after he had become a persistent embarrassment to President Bush.

He never should have been AG in the first place.

Labels: Blame it on Bush

Posted by Ryan S. at 2:16 PM | Permalink | |

Since I took this week off with not announcing it (I was just too tired to write, and didn't have much time for blog-reading), I'll just put H/H on hiatus for this week. It will return next week, and I'll be back here full-time starting Monday.

Thanks again to Mike McKain who did a great job guest-blogging!

Labels: blogging, Hero/Hack

Posted by Ryan S. at 7:36 PM | Permalink | |

...of my stay here at JTTR. I appreciate the opportunity and hope to have the chance to guest post again sometime; who knows, maybe there is even some conservative notion I agree with (like the earth being flat or being 6,000 years old - lol). Either way, I'm expecting a busy school year with little time to maintain even my own blog. I have a whole new respect for Ryan and the job he does consistently producing thoughtful (albeit misguided) posts on such a regular basis. I look forward to going back to the easier role of thorn-in-side. And so for now, farewell from the Left.

Posted by M. McKain at 10:28 PM | Permalink | |

As many of you know, I am a teacher. I work at a public middle school in the low-income southern Delaware town of Seaford. Though my first year was difficult, I’m looking forward to going back and starting fresh, more aware of the unique challenges such a community presents.

I could spend this post ripping No Child Left Behind because of its under-funded mandates on the states and the DSTP for its many flaws, but I think that these programs have done some good in that they have brought the conversation about the state of education in America out of college classrooms and the closed doors of the Department of Education and into the public forum. Indeed, each candidate in the 2008 election, both statewide and nationally, will have to provide some stance on their beliefs about the public education system. Ironically, many will do this without consulting educators who have worked within the system, instead relying on “expert” studies by professors who have been trapped in the world of academia for decades.

As an educator, I can only hope that some candidate will embrace this issue as their own, recognizing that we have some serious work to do. While many continue to focus on “the gap,” meaning the scoring gap between whites and African-Americans on standardized tests, it has been my experience that the true gap is between rich and poor. Just as the racial gap prevented social mobility a generation ago, poverty continues to limit the American dream for too many in a wealthy society like ours.

Unfortunately, remaking education for the lower classes in America will involve a major paradigm shift in society as a whole. Poverty is a self-feeding cycle, living off of hopelessness and poor adult modeling that influences young children profoundly. The only answer lies in good, free, public education for these children. Teachers of these groups assume the responsibility not only of subject educator but mentor and adult model for better behavior and improvement. This additional challenge brings no additional pay. Indeed, under the current system of school assessment, teachers in these schools are frequently punished not only with less pay but with association to the lower test scores that are often the result of the other challenges faced by this less fortunate group of students. It is hard to focus on a three hour math test when you slept on the floor of a cold house the night before after babysitting three younger siblings until they went to bed next to you on that same cold, hard floor.

For our system to change and our society to improve, we must “think anew and act anew.” We must stop accepting everything the “experts” tell us and start listening to the true experts; the teachers who work hard everyday. We must move beyond those horrid words, “Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach,” and instead embrace the words of Theodore Roosevelt, powerful words that ring true through generations and across topics:

"It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."

I’m proud of what I do, and I look forward to going back. That said, I also look forward to working for change and improvement. We cannot embrace the “soft bigotry of low expectations,” but instead must work to create hope and reform society from the bottom up. I don’t consider that a liberal notion, but an American belief deeply rooted in the history of our great society.

Posted by M. McKain at 7:36 PM | Permalink | |

Hero: Rescue Workers

Yeah, I know, kind of generic, but they've had a busy week and will continue to do so as hurricane Dean strengthens. Beyond that, three rescue workers lost their lives attempting to rescue the workers in the collapsed mine in Utah. Workers are also feverously working in Peru in the wake of a deadly 8.0 earthquake.

Immediately after 9/11, police and rescue workers were recognized frequently and treated as the heroes that they truly are; while time has passed, our reverence for the important jobs that they do cannot. Worldwide, they are risking and even giving their lives to help others. That is the true definition of a hero.

Hack: C&D Distributors

For taking advantage of all Americans and the Pentagon as they work to provide our soldiers with what they need to do their jobs. They found a flaw in the Pentagon system (which admittedly shouldn't have been there) where all items labeled "priority" were immediately paid without question. This company decided to use this to charge the government "$455,009 to ship three machine screws costing $1.31 each to Marines in Habbaniyah, Iraq." This was one of many abuses.

While these people have been sentenced to 20 years in prison and lost their property to try to make up for their debts, it hardly seems a fitting punishment for the nature of their crime: treason. I at least hope that their cell mate is an ex-marine.

Posted by M. McKain at 1:03 AM | Permalink | |

The lame duck can only sit and ...well...duck as its house of cards collapses around it. The economic bubble propelled by reckless economic policy seems to be popping even as we speak; this comes in light of more bad news of a growing civil war in Iraq and a domestic policy that has been DOA since the 2006 election. To his credit, President Bush has wiggled his way out of many tight spots before, but it seems like this time things may be different. With his “brain” Karl Rove leaving for greener pastures (and I expect a 2008 candidate – we’ll see), Bush may be on his way to a legacy of failure.

Though a Democrat, I cannot rejoice in this; the failure of a national leader is never good for the nation that they serve. Whoever comes into the White House in 2009 will have a long and difficult path, full of foreign policy threats and dangers as well as domestic troubles. If Bush were wise (and I have my doubts), he would act now to save the largest part of his legacy: Iraq. How? If I knew that, I would be guest writing for the Secretary of State and not JTTR.

Economies come and go, domestic policy fluctuates, but Iraq is and will always be Mr. Bush’s War. For the duck to hold up his house of cards long enough to fly away gloriously into the sunset, he must find a way to stabilize his ace before it too falls and forever clips his wings.

Posted by M. McKain at 1:32 PM | Permalink | |

Yes, my first major post is going to be about toys. I know what you’re thinking: another fine example of a liberal with his head in the clouds, worried about the fantasy world of toys instead of the major current events of the day.

However, the most recent “toy story” to come along isn’t just another day at Toys R Us; indeed, its headline news. As toy maker Mattel announced its second major recall of toys made in China because of the use of lead based paint in the product, American toy manufacturers are celebrating the victory.

While some would jump at the chance to call this a blow in favor of the “fair trade” argument, in the end this too represents the triumph of free trade as the true governing force in the way we do business internationally. Toy companies that outsource to China for cheap labor must now reap what they have sown to the detriment of their stock holders. In the end, you often get what you pay for, though in this particular case, it’s a huge deal because the safety of our kids are involved. Moreover, it begs the question: how many other dangerous products are coming out of China because producers cut corners to lower costs and help their bottom line?

China is and remains a wanna-be superpower for the time being, but they are building and growing quickly. They will let nothing stand in the way of their desire for greatness, not safety, ethics, or human rights. While I remain loyal to the original liberal notion of free trade, we must make sure that such deals are not to the detriment of our national power. We continue to support the Chinese economy through our business even as they work to rapidly expand their navy; in the meantime, Chinese investors own enough of our national debt through bonds to truly upset the balance should they decide to turn them all in at once.

The recall of lead-painted toys serves only as a reminder of how truly linked the United States and China have become economically. While our trade arrangement with them often serves to benefit both nations, in the end we must make sure that we do not allow them to profit to the point of dominance; after all, the game of international power politics is far from child’s play.

Posted by M. McKain at 8:42 AM | Permalink | |

…has taken over JTTR. Actually, Ryan just asked me to keep the train rolling while he is busy with RA training. Since I’m a teacher and school hasn’t started back yet, I told him I’d be more than happy to stir up as much trouble as possible in his absence.

Truth be told, those familiar with my writings may know that I tend to be fairly centrist in my views, though I am in the end unabashedly liberal in the modern sense of the word. I believe, fundamentally, that the government has the ability and obligation to act in a positive manner and protect its citizens from dangers both foreign and domestic.

That said, I will spend some time this week explaining what I do NOT believe along with my take on current events, etc. And, fear not, Hero/Hack will be alive and well come Friday.

Stay tuned! I’m looking forward to this opportunity. It should be an interesting ride.

Posted by M. McKain at 12:39 AM | Permalink | |

I won't have much time to blog this week, so Mike McKain is going to mind the store for a week.

And yes, that means that all this week, Jokers to the Right will be all-liberal!

I'll check in if I can to see how things are going when I can, but he's up for the rest of the week.

Labels: blogging

Posted by Ryan S. at 12:23 AM | Permalink | |

Well Karl Rove is resigning. I can't say that things will be all that different. Rove's brilliance was in putting together a winning electoral coalition, as opposed to individual domestic policies.

Labels: Bush

Posted by Ryan S. at 12:48 PM | Permalink | |

A shocker this week, as my hero is the United Nations. Yes, you read that correctly. Here's what happened:

UNITED NATIONS — The Security Council unanimously approved a resolution Friday expanding the United Nations’ role in Iraq in a move aimed at reconciling the country’s rival groups, winning support from neighboring countries and tackling Iraq’s humanitarian crisis.

The resolution authorizes the UN, at the request of the Iraqi government, to promote political talks among the country’s ethnic and religious groups and a regional dialogue on issues including border security, energy and refugees.

The United States and Britain, who have the largest military forces in Iraq and cosponsored the resolution, believe the UN should play a greater part there because the world body is viewed by many as a more neutral party that can facilitate talks among feuding parties.

To me, this seems like an indicator that the surge may be going well, because this isn't a peacekeeping role --they aren't sending in the blue helmets-- meaning that the country is militarily stable enough to allow the UN to conduct talks. It also shows that the international community at large is investing in this project, something that they haven't been since we made the decision to invade.

My hack this week is Stu Bykofsky of the Philadelphia Daily News. He is "thinking another 9/11 would help America" out:

America's fabric is pulling apart like a cheap sweater.

What would sew us back together?

Another 9/11 attack.

The Golden Gate Bridge. Mount Rushmore. Chicago's Wrigley Field. The Philadelphia subway system. The U.S. is a target-rich environment for al Qaeda.

I sympathize with Stu, I do. I think it is sad that Americans are divided like we seem to be during wartime. However, Stu does not recognize two important things. One, Iraq is part of the Global War on Terror. Always has been. But here's what is surprising: Stu forgets about Afghanstan. He says we've forgotten who the "bad guys" are, but the bad guys are the Islamic extremists and those who harbor and support them. Even Hillary knows that.

Honorable mention for hack this week goes to AT&T for censoring Pearl Jam. AT&T is backtracking on that action, saying it was the company it hired to film/broadcast the performance, but I think the censorship in the first place was dumb. What Eddie Vedder sang was dumb to, but he should be allowed to say dumb things.

Labels: GWOT, Iraq, Music, UN

Posted by Ryan S. at 11:21 AM | Permalink | |

No, I'm not talking about Barry Bonds again.

Today was my last day at Townhall.com. That means I'll be back in Delaware sooner rather than later.

Last Townhall post: One Last Word from The Cave

Labels: blogging

Posted by Ryan S. at 4:30 PM | Permalink | |

This is why Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper rocks:

TORONTO, Ontario (AP) -- Canada's prime minister has begun a three-day trip to the Arctic in an effort to assert sovereignty over the region a week after Russia symbolically staked a claim to the North Pole by sending submarines.

. . .

"The Russians sent a submarine to drop a small flag at the bottom of the ocean. We're sending our prime minister to reassert Canadian sovereignty," a senior government official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because his language was undiplomatic.

Sure, we dispute it, but what else does Canada have going for it? Hockey, Molson, and Rush. Why not add total arctic domination?

Related: Book Review: Stephen Harper & The Future of Canada

Labels: Canada, Harper, Putin, Russia

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:26 AM | Permalink | |

Hube reminded me that Barry Bonds hit his 756th home run last night against the Washington Nationals.

Like lots of people, my feelings are really mixed. I've been reading Chuck Klosterman's IV, and he has an essay about Barry Bonds, written when Bonds was about to pass Babe Ruth. In this essay, (available in full here) he outlines five problems that Bonds presents:

Problem 1: The end of numbers -- in the only realm where numbers matter
Problem 2: We were all fools and now we have to pretend we weren't
Problem 3: Tomorrow, today will be yesterday -- and Bonds will represent what that was like
Problem 4: What Bonds says is occasionally true -- and why this makes things worse
Problem 5: Babe Ruth doesn't exist -- and probably never did

To me, the most interesting is Problem 4. Klosterman elaborates:

A mound of evidence suggests that Bonds has been less than honest about steroids. But it seems like he's been honest about a lot of other things. "The last time I played baseball was in college," he said in his grand jury testimony during the BALCO case. He said almost the exact same thing to The New York Times Magazine in 2002: "The last game I played was in college. Ever since then, it's been a business. This is a business."

So far as I can tell, this is the only plausible explanation for Bonds' alleged decision to use performance-enhancing drugs: the idea of not using them seemed ridiculous. It did not strike him as unethical, because for Bonds, this is not a moral issue. Who possibly worries about such matters? The goal is to do business. This is a job.

Basically, Klosterman writes, "Baseball holds as much symbolic value to him as delivering the mail does to a postman."

Bonds is a fascinating character, and has undoubtedly changed the way baseball operates. McGwire and Sosa may have tried to restore post-strike baseball, but Bonds has just made us all feel worse about it.

Labels: Chuck Klosterman, Sports

Posted by Ryan S. at 11:44 AM | Permalink | |

Overall, I think Obama had some good moments, but I think Hillary Clinton won. Obama might gain a little ground, but probably not at her expense.

Below is the liveblogging transcript.

Click to show/hide.

Labels: 2008 Watch, Barack Obama, Biden, Bill Richardson, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, liveblogging

Posted by Ryan S. at 6:54 PM | Permalink | |

Mike McKain has posted a reply to my query about the intellectual diversity in the Democratic '08 field, saying:

While one type of candidate tends to do well, I would argue that the modern Democratic Party is made up of a coalition with many divergent ideas and origins, and that much like the Republicans, different special interest groups tug at and influence the individual candidates in various ways.

You can read the rest of Mike's post here (I recommend it, he needs to blog more often!). I think he touches on some interesting points.

It seems the fundamental shaping influence is still the New Deal coalition, and as Mike says, "much of the unifying ideology is the notion that government has the power and obligation to help its citizens in times of need. The 1960s and the Vietnam War led to an awkward alliance of anti-war leftist[s]."

Most of the Democratic presidential nominees were no less hawkish than their Republican counterparts, save George McGovern (who lost all but Washington, DC and Massechusetts in 1972). This seems to have changed (though Obama now thoroughly vexes me).

I think maybe that while there are Republican candidates specifically representing the various Republican coalition members (Brownback, Huckabee, Paul), the Democratic coalition are represented virtually by each candidate in the field.

Labels: 2008 Watch

Posted by Ryan S. at 1:53 PM | Permalink | |

One commonly recurring thread among critics of the Republican Party is that GOPers tend to be moral hypocrites. This is especially true whenever something like the Senator Vitter thing happens, but a lot of people on the left also seem to enjoy pointing out that among the top four Republican Presidential candidates, only Mitt Romney has been married once.

It seems to vex those critics as to how people who have been divorced one or several times can talk truthfully about the sanctity of marriage, for example. There are several possibilities, including the proposition that all GOP voters are such hypocrites, or that GOP voters don't care about their politicians' personal lives as much as they claim. There might be shades of that here and there, as it doesn't seem to be a "values voter" priority right now to slam Giuliani on his marriages. However, I think the most interesting conclusion deals with some of the fundamental intellectual differences between left and right in this country today.

Now I realize I am generalizing more than a little bit, but one of the major difference between GOP and Democratic activists today seems to be the importance of religion. I know there are a lot of religious Democrats out there, and I don't wish them to dismiss them out of hand, but it seems to me that a far greater percentage of "hard Republicans" than "hard Democrats" place religion at the center of their lives.

Specifically, the vast majority of "values voters" are Christians. One of the central tenets of Christianity, as I'm sure most people know, is that Christ came to preach to sinners. He ate with tax collectors, beggars, and "blue collar" workers (Simon and Andrew, at least, seem like the Judean equivalent to dock workers). A central part of Christ's message is that though we are all called to be greater, but we are still sinners. It is just part of human nature. Forgiveness of sins plays a huge role in this.

When this worldview is considered in a political context, it means that "values voters" would be pretty apt to forgive their leaders, provided the regret was sincere and there was an apology. For the Christian, men like David Vitter are not hypocrites, but sinners, just like the rest of us.

Being a hypocrite, according to Merriam-Webster, entails being "a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion." A lot of "values politicians" espouse their faith seriously, I believe, making their less-than-holy actions mistakes, and not hypocritical actions.

Labels: Religion

Posted by Ryan S. at 8:30 AM | Permalink | |

One thing that I think separates the 2008 Republican field from the Democratic field is intellectual diversity represented among the Republicans. For example, in watching yesterday's GOP debate (which I missed), DELiberal blogger donviti opines "Ron Paul is like that Sesame Street tune One of these guys is not like the other, How the hell is he up there?"

Makes perfect sense to me. Ron Paul has a strong libertarian streak to him, and libertarians have been a part of the GOP coalition since the 1950s. The fact that Ron Paul can share a bid with John McCain and Tom Tancredo says a lot about the intellectual strength of the GOP. There are many schools of thought within the Republican Party, though most are still unified under the basic tenets of "smaller government is better government" and "America is the greatest country on earth." (Obviously I am reducing these ideas to bumper sticker proportions, it is a bit more complex than that.)

I can sit here and write a too-long post about each of the major schools of right-leaning thought (oh wait, I did that already) and then categorize each Republican candidate, but that doesn't seem all that productive because it isn't that difficult to figure out. What's interesting to me is that I can't to this for the Democratic field.

While I freely admit this could because I am just really ignorant in my knowledge of center-left philosophy, I suspect this is because there aren't really that many divergent "schools" within the Democratic establishment. I know that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have different positions on some issues, but I can't tell you why like I can with the GOPers.

Any explanations for this?

Labels: 2008 Watch, Conservaism

Posted by Ryan S. at 8:30 AM | Permalink | |

American pterodollars are essentially funding both ends of the War on Terror, especially where Saudi Arabia is concerned.

Mark Steyn has a fascinating column about how the Saudis are crushing opposition overseas using the UK legal system. For example, there is no UK edition of this book (and it has nothing to do with executive privilege!). Read it for the details, but this is his conclusion on why this happens:

We've gotten used to one-way multiculturalism: The world accepts that you can't open an Episcopal or Congregational church in Jeddah or Riyadh, but every week the Saudis can open radical mosques and madrassahs and pro-Saudi think-tanks in London and Toronto and Dearborn, Mich., and Falls Church, Va. And their global reach extends a little further day by day, inch by inch, in the lengthening shadows, as the lights go out one by one around the world.

Labels: GWOT, Mark Steyn

Posted by Ryan S. at 7:06 PM | Permalink | |

I was caught completely unaware that there was a GOP Presidential debate this morning. From the ABC News recap (it was on their network), it seems pretty business-as-usual if a presidential debate can be described that way.

Reading through it, I just wonder why they asked Republican candidates about Barack Obama. Right now, at least for me, the choice isn't between say, Giuliani and Hillary. They aren't competing against each other, so it seems more fair to treat them almost independently.

One other complaint I'd like to lodge is that it appears that I can't even watch the debate on ABC's website. What is this, 1996?

Labels: 2008 Watch

Posted by Ryan S. at 4:54 PM | Permalink | |

I started a Football Pick'em for all Delaware Bloggers on Yahoo. It's really easy, all you have to do is pick who you think is going to win each game. Fifty-fifty shot even if you know nothing about football! All you need is a Yahoo account.

If you haven't gotten an e-mail about it, it's because I don't have your e-mail address here at work. If you want in, e-mail me at FlyByYYZ -at- udel.edu.

I'd like as many people as possible to get in on this, so feel free to spread the word.

Labels: blogging

Posted by Ryan S. at 11:21 AM | Permalink | |

My heroes this week are the Iraqi Soccer Team. Congrats on the victory, one of the better Cinderella sports stories to come along recently, only enhanced by the current state of Iraq. It's sad that terrorists used this occasion to kill innocents, but I think there is still hope for a Disney sports movie sometime in the future.





My hacks this week is the entire House of Representatives, which apparently broke down into chaos last night:

In a massive flare-up of partisan tensions (video link courtesy Breitbart.tv), Republicans walked out on a House vote late Thursday night to protest what they believed to be Democratic maneuvers to reverse an unfavorable outcome for them.

The flap represents a complete breakdown in parliamentary procedure and an unprecedented low for the sometimes bitterly divided chamber.

The rancor erupted shortly before 11 p.m. as Rep. Michael R. McNulty (D-N.Y.) gaveled close the vote on a standard procedural measure with the outcome still in doubt.

Details remain fuzzy, but numerous Republicans argued afterward that they had secured a 215-213 win on their motion to bar undocumented immigrants from receiving any federal funds apportioned in the agricultural spending bill for employment or rental assistance. Democrats, however, argued the measure was deadlocked at 214-214 and failed, members and aides on both sides of the aisle said afterward.

Labels: Congress, Hero/Hack, Iraq

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:49 AM | Permalink | |

The myth so far this Presidential campaign is that Democrats, arguing that we need to pull out of Iraq, will be less likely to go to war in 2009-2012. Given Obama's statement about Pakistan recently, it shows that even he, the one who was against "dumb wars" shares Bush's worldview on this.

Democrats tend to intervene militarily at least as much as Republicans (especially in the Clinton school), albeit for different motivations sometimes. Nick Schweitzer elaborates:

The Democrat's playbook is clear. Iraq is "Bush's War", and as much as possible will be "The Republican's War" to hurt Rudy, Thompson², McCain (is he still running?) and the rest (except Ron Paul). But in order to look strong on the War on Terror, they will have to find a war of their very own. Obama is picking on Pakistan and Edwards is picking Saudi Arabia. Iran is too closely tied to Iraq to be a good target, so they're avoiding it. It will be interesting to see who attracts the ire of Mrs. Clinton.

The exception to this rule would be the "peace candidate" of Dennis Kucinich and the "ostrich candidate" Ron Paul.

Labels: 2008 Watch, Barack Obama, GWOT, Iraq

Posted by Ryan S. at 10:58 AM | Permalink | |

What guides our energy policy is not a drive to save the environment or even security (either of those, or preferably both, would be a welcome change). Rather, it is the same thing that drives most other policies: "Special Interests" and lobbying.

One such example is ethanol. Ethanol is at best a temporary stop-gap in changing our energy supply. Nothing more (like hybrid cars).

Rolling Stone magazine has an excellent article on ethanol in its current issue.
An excerpt:

Ethanol, of course, is nothing new. American refiners will produce nearly 6 billion gallons of corn ethanol this year, mostly for use as a gasoline additive to make engines burn cleaner. But in June, the Senate all but announced that America's future is going to be powered by biofuels, mandating the production of 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022. According to ethanol boosters, this is the beginning of a much larger revolution that could entirely replace our 21-million-barrel-a-day oil addiction. Midwest farmers will get rich, the air will be cleaner, the planet will be cooler, and, best of all, we can tell those greedy sheiks to fuck off. As the king of ethanol hype, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, put it recently, "Everything about ethanol is good, good, good."

This is not just hype -- it's dangerous, delusional bullshit. Ethanol doesn't burn cleaner than gasoline, nor is it cheaper. Our current ethanol production represents only 3.5 percent of our gasoline consumption -- yet it consumes twenty percent of the entire U.S. corn crop, causing the price of corn to double in the last two years and raising the threat of hunger in the Third World. And the increasing acreage devoted to corn for ethanol means less land for other staple crops, giving farmers in South America an incentive to carve fields out of tropical forests that help to cool the planet and stave off global warming.

So why bother? Because the whole point of corn ethanol is not to solve America's energy crisis, but to generate one of the great political boondoggles of our time. Corn is already the most subsidized crop in America, raking in a total of $51 billion in federal handouts between 1995 and 2005 -- twice as much as wheat subsidies and four times as much as soybeans. Ethanol itself is propped up by hefty subsidies, including a fifty-one-cent-per-gallon tax allowance for refiners. And a study by the International Institute for Sustainable Development found that ethanol subsidies amount to as much as $1.38 per gallon -- about half of ethanol's wholesale market price.

Read the whole thing.

Related: High Fructose Corn Syrup is evil

Labels: Energy

Posted by Ryan S. at 2:00 PM | Permalink | |

We unveiled a new arms sale yesterday with Saudi Arabia.

To preface this, at first glance it may seem that the people really outraged by this are were the same people opposed to the Dubai-ports deal from last year (which I was ambivalent, if not in favor of). This is completely different. The chasm between Dubai and Riyadh today is about as wide between the Athenians and the Spartans of old.

Not only could this hurt the troops in Iraq if the weapons get funneled to Sunnis in Iraq (not as remote a possibility as it should be), but this is also going to increase tensions in the reason.

I consider Saudi Arabia anything but an ally. They are the ones funding rampant Wahabbism with their petrodollars.

So why is the Administration doing it?

Looks to me that we're doing it so that if the President in 2009 withdraws from Iraq, and the mess in Iraq turns into an all out sectarian war (with Iran and the Saudis using Iraqi proxies) then the Saudis will be reasonably prepared to prevent an outright genocide of Iraqi Sunnis by factions like the Mahdi Army.

But that still doesn't make it a good idea.

Related (more on Saudis/Wahabbism): Bernard Lewis ISI Dinner

Labels: Blame it on Bush, Iraq, Islam

Posted by Ryan S. at 8:30 AM | Permalink | |