Power Line: Continental drift: "Continental drift
Every three months I announce that the Claremont Review of Books is my favorite magazine -- every three months because the magazine is a quarterly. CRB is the flagship publication of the Claremont Institute, the organization whose mission it is to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life. See, for example, today's astringent column by CRB editor Charles Kesler on the matter of Harriet Miers: 'Bush's philosophy.'
The magazine is also popular in the White House and the Pentagon; 30 copies of each new issue are shipped out by overnight mail to the White House upon publication, and a dozen to the Pentagon. If you don't subscribe, you should.
The institute has just announced that Mark Steyn will receive the 2005 Henry Salvatori Prize at its annual dinner in honor of Sir Winston S. Churchill. The event will be held on Friday, December 2, 2005 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
The fall issue of the CRB is in the mail. As usual, it is packed full of outstanding essays and thoughtful reviews of books on mostly political subjects. Among the rewards of my enthususiasm for the magazine is the privilege of debuting a few of the items from the issue exclusively on Power Line.
Cornell University Government Professor Jeremy Rabkin has become a unique resource on issues of national sovereignty, international law and the related constellation of issues implicit in the 'We Are The World' thrust of the modern Democratic Party. Professor Rabkin is the author most recently of Law Without Nations? Why Constitutional Government Requires Sovereign States. Among the featured essays in the current CRB issue is Professor Rabkin's essay on the European Union: 'Continental drift.'
Imagine if our agricultural policy were made in Ecuador with agricultural ministers from all over the Hemisphere, our taxes paid for housing in Canada, and Paraguayan judges ruled on our immigration policy —- oh, and the American voter really had no say about any of it. Then you’d have something like the New World counterpart to the European Union. It wouldn’t work very well. It doesn’t for Europe. So what is Europe’s fate? Why did the European constitution fail? What does a constitution do, anyway? These are the questions to which Professor Rabkin addresses himself in this invigorating essay."
Friday, October 28, 2005
Americans won't let Democrats lose Iraq - Los Angeles Times
Americans won't let Democrats lose Iraq - Los Angeles Times: "A FEW DAYS AGO, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) made a speech urging the U.S., in effect, to get out of Iraq the way we got out of Vietnam.
Leahy told the Senate that we cannot win in Iraq. 'It has become increasingly apparent that the most powerful army in the world cannot stop a determined insurgency.' (U.S. troops, Iraqi troops, long-suffering Iraqi civilians to Leahy: Thanks, senator, we needed that.) And Leahy announced that the president must lay out a public formula to tell the world just when U.S. troops will leave Iraq. Otherwise, Leahy said, he will urge the Senate to choke off the war by refusing to fund it. That's how the U.S. finally lost Vietnam: Congress snuffed out the money.
"
Leahy told the Senate that we cannot win in Iraq. 'It has become increasingly apparent that the most powerful army in the world cannot stop a determined insurgency.' (U.S. troops, Iraqi troops, long-suffering Iraqi civilians to Leahy: Thanks, senator, we needed that.) And Leahy announced that the president must lay out a public formula to tell the world just when U.S. troops will leave Iraq. Otherwise, Leahy said, he will urge the Senate to choke off the war by refusing to fund it. That's how the U.S. finally lost Vietnam: Congress snuffed out the money.
"
Thursday, October 27, 2005
EconoPundit
EconoPundit: "New Orleans: A Geopolitical Prize
By George Friedman
...
During the Cold War, a macabre topic of discussion among bored graduate students who studied such things was this: If the Soviets could destroy one city with a large nuclear device, which would it be? The usual answers were Washington or New York. For me, the answer was simple: New Orleans. If the Mississippi River was shut to traffic, then the foundations of the economy would be shattered. The industrial minerals needed in the factories wouldn't come in, and the agricultural wealth wouldn't flow out. Alternative routes really weren't available. The Germans knew it too: A U-boat campaign occurred near the mouth of the Mississippi during World War II. Both the Germans and Stratfor have stood with Andy Jackson: New Orleans was the prize.
Last Sunday, nature took out New Orleans almost as surely as a nuclear strike. Hurricane Katrina's geopolitical effect was not, in many ways, distinguishable from a mushroom cloud. The key exit from North America was closed. The petrochemical industry, which has become an added value to the region since Jackson's days, was at risk. The navigability of the Mississippi south of New Orleans was a question mark. New Orleans as a city and as a port complex had ceased to exist, and it was not clear that it could recover.
The Ports of South Louisiana and New Orleans, which run north and south of the city, are as important today as at any point during the history of the republic. On its own merit, POSL is the largest port in the United States by tonnage and the fifth-largest in the world. It exports more than 52 million tons a year, of which more than half are agricultural products -- corn, soybeans and so on. A large proportion of U.S. agriculture flows out of the port. Almost as much cargo, nearly 17 million tons, comes in through the port -- including not only crude oil, but chemicals and fertilizers, coal, concrete and so on...
The oil fields, pipelines and ports required a skilled workforce in order to operate. That workforce requires homes. They require stores to buy food and other supplies. Hospitals and doctors. Schools for their children. In other words, in order to operate the facilities critical to the United States, you need a workforce to do it -- and that workforce is gone. Unlike in other disasters, that workforce cannot return to the region because they have no place to live. New Orleans is gone, and the metropolitan area surrounding New Orleans is either gone or so badly damaged that it will not be inhabitable for a long time...
The displacement of population is the crisis that New Orleans faces. It is also a national crisis, because the largest port in the United States cannot function without a city around it. The physical and business processes of a port cannot occur in a ghost town, and right now, that is what New Orleans is. It is not about the facilities, and it is not about the oil. It is about the loss of a city's population and the paralysis of the largest port in the United States...
To summarize: this is very likely much more than a massive human refugee crisis. It may be the first stage of an international economic crisis as well."
By George Friedman
...
During the Cold War, a macabre topic of discussion among bored graduate students who studied such things was this: If the Soviets could destroy one city with a large nuclear device, which would it be? The usual answers were Washington or New York. For me, the answer was simple: New Orleans. If the Mississippi River was shut to traffic, then the foundations of the economy would be shattered. The industrial minerals needed in the factories wouldn't come in, and the agricultural wealth wouldn't flow out. Alternative routes really weren't available. The Germans knew it too: A U-boat campaign occurred near the mouth of the Mississippi during World War II. Both the Germans and Stratfor have stood with Andy Jackson: New Orleans was the prize.
Last Sunday, nature took out New Orleans almost as surely as a nuclear strike. Hurricane Katrina's geopolitical effect was not, in many ways, distinguishable from a mushroom cloud. The key exit from North America was closed. The petrochemical industry, which has become an added value to the region since Jackson's days, was at risk. The navigability of the Mississippi south of New Orleans was a question mark. New Orleans as a city and as a port complex had ceased to exist, and it was not clear that it could recover.
The Ports of South Louisiana and New Orleans, which run north and south of the city, are as important today as at any point during the history of the republic. On its own merit, POSL is the largest port in the United States by tonnage and the fifth-largest in the world. It exports more than 52 million tons a year, of which more than half are agricultural products -- corn, soybeans and so on. A large proportion of U.S. agriculture flows out of the port. Almost as much cargo, nearly 17 million tons, comes in through the port -- including not only crude oil, but chemicals and fertilizers, coal, concrete and so on...
The oil fields, pipelines and ports required a skilled workforce in order to operate. That workforce requires homes. They require stores to buy food and other supplies. Hospitals and doctors. Schools for their children. In other words, in order to operate the facilities critical to the United States, you need a workforce to do it -- and that workforce is gone. Unlike in other disasters, that workforce cannot return to the region because they have no place to live. New Orleans is gone, and the metropolitan area surrounding New Orleans is either gone or so badly damaged that it will not be inhabitable for a long time...
The displacement of population is the crisis that New Orleans faces. It is also a national crisis, because the largest port in the United States cannot function without a city around it. The physical and business processes of a port cannot occur in a ghost town, and right now, that is what New Orleans is. It is not about the facilities, and it is not about the oil. It is about the loss of a city's population and the paralysis of the largest port in the United States...
To summarize: this is very likely much more than a massive human refugee crisis. It may be the first stage of an international economic crisis as well."
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Hammorabi on Syria
Syria on the verge of new era
The death of the interior Minister of Syria who was the main Syrian figure directly involved in Lebanon for long time is of no doubt related to the ongoing investigations about the Syrian role in the death of Rafiq Hariri.
Irrespective of whether the death was by suicide or some one kills him the investigations of Hariri’s death should be extended to include the death of the Syrian Interior Minister.
It has been shown for long time now that Syria knows only one language which is to kill its opponents and to create a scene of bloodshed both in Iraq and Lebanon as well as against its own people. In Iraq they train, support, recruit and help the terrorists. They set out camps for such training and provide multiple logistic supports. The evidence given by those who were captured including Syrian officers needs no explanation. However they deny it on the highest level and blamed the Americans of not cooperating with them like in discussion or in providing equipments to facilitate observation of the borders.
In Lebanon there were many deaths among Syrian opposition figures since the murder of Hariri. Many Lebanese were forced to leave for more safe regions like Paris including the sons of Hariri himself.
It is so surprising that the Syrian Baath regime digging for itself a big and deep hole. On the other hand the Syrian people are now awaiting the moment to escape from the long-lasting dictatorship regime.
The above article was written about few days ago and not published due to a priorty for other matters. Today the report of Detlev Mehlis the chief investigator in Rafiq Hariri assassination was handed over to the UN. Not surprisingly at all that the report strongly indicated that top ranking Syrian officials were involved in the assassination. But surprisingly that among those involved were the brother and brother in law of Bashar Al-Asad the president of Syria. He denied in a CNN interview any personal or even low level links. It is very unlikely that if his two brothers were involved that he didn’t knew about it.
If the report is true and proved correct, what will be the position of such a regime in the world and who would be able to sit and make deals with it unless they are alike.
The death of the interior Minister of Syria who was the main Syrian figure directly involved in Lebanon for long time is of no doubt related to the ongoing investigations about the Syrian role in the death of Rafiq Hariri.
Irrespective of whether the death was by suicide or some one kills him the investigations of Hariri’s death should be extended to include the death of the Syrian Interior Minister.
It has been shown for long time now that Syria knows only one language which is to kill its opponents and to create a scene of bloodshed both in Iraq and Lebanon as well as against its own people. In Iraq they train, support, recruit and help the terrorists. They set out camps for such training and provide multiple logistic supports. The evidence given by those who were captured including Syrian officers needs no explanation. However they deny it on the highest level and blamed the Americans of not cooperating with them like in discussion or in providing equipments to facilitate observation of the borders.
In Lebanon there were many deaths among Syrian opposition figures since the murder of Hariri. Many Lebanese were forced to leave for more safe regions like Paris including the sons of Hariri himself.
It is so surprising that the Syrian Baath regime digging for itself a big and deep hole. On the other hand the Syrian people are now awaiting the moment to escape from the long-lasting dictatorship regime.
The above article was written about few days ago and not published due to a priorty for other matters. Today the report of Detlev Mehlis the chief investigator in Rafiq Hariri assassination was handed over to the UN. Not surprisingly at all that the report strongly indicated that top ranking Syrian officials were involved in the assassination. But surprisingly that among those involved were the brother and brother in law of Bashar Al-Asad the president of Syria. He denied in a CNN interview any personal or even low level links. It is very unlikely that if his two brothers were involved that he didn’t knew about it.
If the report is true and proved correct, what will be the position of such a regime in the world and who would be able to sit and make deals with it unless they are alike.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Anthony de Jasay, Are High Oil Prices a Form of Exploitation: Library of Economics and Liberty
Anthony de Jasay, Are High Oil Prices a Form of Exploitation: Library of Economics and Liberty: "Are High Oil Prices a Form of Exploitation?" That is the question!
Russell Roberts, The Reality of Markets: Library of Economics and Liberty
Russell Roberts, The Reality of Markets: Library of Economics and Liberty: "The Reality of Markets" EXCELLENT READ RE WALLMART and OIL PRICES!
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Sunday, October 16, 2005
The White House, the CIA, and the Wilsons (theFull Story)
The White House, the CIA, and the Wilsons: "The White House, the CIA, and the Wilsons
The chain of events that gave rise to a grand jury investigation.
by Stephen F. Hayes
10/24/2005, Volume 011, Issue 06 "
The chain of events that gave rise to a grand jury investigation.
by Stephen F. Hayes
10/24/2005, Volume 011, Issue 06 "
The White House, the CIA, and the Wilsons (theFull Story)
The White House, the CIA, and the Wilsons: "The White House, the CIA, and the Wilsons
The chain of events that gave rise to a grand jury investigation.
by Stephen F. Hayes
10/24/2005, Volume 011, Issue 06 "
The chain of events that gave rise to a grand jury investigation.
by Stephen F. Hayes
10/24/2005, Volume 011, Issue 06 "
Saturday, October 15, 2005
THE MESOPOTAMIAN: Comments!!
THE MESOPOTAMIAN: 10/01/2005 - 10/31/2005: "Here we have the U.S.A. and Great Britain and their smaller friends, an alliance that has defeated Nazi Germany and the mighty Reich, and have had the stomach to obliterate Japanese cities with atomic bombs. Here we have the Americans, the descendants of those who wrested a whole continent by shear obstinacy and fought for every inch of land with blood and sweat. Here we have nations that have waded through rivers of blood and mud and marched through entire continents to become symbols of human perseverance and enterprise. Yes all this history and yet we have some who think that our miserable 'Sunni Triangle' poses an insurmountable problem and that one should 'cut and run' and 'bring home troops immediately' etc. etc.
I salute President Bush who does not care much for this kind of defeatism and treats it with the contempt it deserves."
I salute President Bush who does not care much for this kind of defeatism and treats it with the contempt it deserves."
Friday, October 14, 2005
Hog On Ice
n top of that, truly brilliant lawyers don't necessarily make good judges. Brilliant people often have poor judgment, and they're often out of touch with society and unable to relate to normal human beings. People like that have no business working as judges. They are basically idiot-savants, and society has generously created havens for them. I am referring to law schools, where they go to serve as professors. Without tenure, they’d be pushing grocery carts up and down the streets, muttering about ERISA.
I would much rather have a 150-IQ justice with common sense than a 180-IQ justice who can't find his way out of his office. Not every job requires genius. Jimmy Carter was almost certainly smarter than Ronald Reagan, but he was a complete buffoon who turned out to be utterly impotent as a leader. I’m a pretty smart guy, and I freely admit I would rather live in Somalia than an American city where I was mayor for life.
I would much rather have a 150-IQ justice with common sense than a 180-IQ justice who can't find his way out of his office. Not every job requires genius. Jimmy Carter was almost certainly smarter than Ronald Reagan, but he was a complete buffoon who turned out to be utterly impotent as a leader. I’m a pretty smart guy, and I freely admit I would rather live in Somalia than an American city where I was mayor for life.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Hog On Ice
Hog On IceFar and away, the most likely outcome is that Harriet Miers will prove to be extremely intelligent, extraordinarily capable, and well able to equal the feats of geniuses like Ruth Ginsburg and Sandra O'Connor. In my opinion, she has already proven that by making a powerful impression on the highly knowledgeable people who help George Bush pick nominees. If they're wrong, we'll find out during the confirmation hearings. But if she turns out to be incapable of doing the job, believe me, not going to Yale will have nothing to do with it.
More on Lawyers/Har. Miers
Hog On Ice: "I went to an Ivy League school, at least until they threw me out for firing rockets into Morningside Park and setting fire to a dorm room, and I also went to a non-Ivy-League law school. I'm here to tell you, it makes absolutely no difference where a judge goes to college. In fact, it makes no difference where ANYONE goes to college. As a shrewd man once told me, where you went to college matters for two years after you graduate, and after that, nobody asks.
If you went to Harvard Law School, I hate to burst the giant, throbbing bubble which is your ego, but there are two or three people in virtually every law school class who are as smart as you are, or smarter. Every reputable law school admits students--every year--who will prove bright enough and mature enough to sit on the Supreme Court.
Law is just not that hard. Lawyers hate it when I say that, because they want people to think we're as smart as doctors (we are not) but it's true. I did the vast bulk of my work between classes, and I ended up in the top third of my class. In undergraduate physics, for any given course, I did more work in two weeks than I did in ANY law school course for an entire semester. I'm not including brainless work, like hanging around the Legal Aid office, waiting to help with an uncontested divorce. I mean studying."
If you went to Harvard Law School, I hate to burst the giant, throbbing bubble which is your ego, but there are two or three people in virtually every law school class who are as smart as you are, or smarter. Every reputable law school admits students--every year--who will prove bright enough and mature enough to sit on the Supreme Court.
Law is just not that hard. Lawyers hate it when I say that, because they want people to think we're as smart as doctors (we are not) but it's true. I did the vast bulk of my work between classes, and I ended up in the top third of my class. In undergraduate physics, for any given course, I did more work in two weeks than I did in ANY law school course for an entire semester. I'm not including brainless work, like hanging around the Legal Aid office, waiting to help with an uncontested divorce. I mean studying."
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