North Coast Online

In His Own Voice

Is Fred Thompson really another Reagan?  Probably not, but there are some obvious parallels: the strongly-expressed conservative viewpoint, the ability to communicate complex policies in understandable terms and, well, the successful acting careers.  But there's another similarity that I haven't seen mentioned.

Though Reagan had always been criticized by his detractors as a shallow thinker who relied on speech-writers to put pretty words in his mouth, George P. Schultz reminded us by his book, In His Own Hand, that Ronald Reagan was not only a superb thinker but a damned good writer himself.

From 1975 to 1979 he made over 1,000 radio broadcasts in which he covered topics from the Soviet Union to the future of the United States.  He punched holes in the conventional economic thinking of the time and speculated on the future of Africa and Asia.  And, as the book illustrated, he wrote and edited the spots on his own -- often in the five or six minutes before he got in front of the microphone.

Little by little, during those five years, Ronald Reagan became a familiar and trusted voice in America.  While he never gained any particular notoriety from the shows (he was already famous,) by the time he ran for President, he was even better-known for his political opinions than for his early-50's acting fame.

Well, for the last few weeks, Fred Thompson has been filling in for radio-icon, Paul Harvey and judging by this, the resemblance is striking.

Tony Blair’s getting angrier every day. But if past Iranian hostage takings are an indication, he may be upset for a while. The American-embassy hostages were held for 444 days, and the Israeli soldiers kidnapped last year by Iran’s Hezbollah puppets still aren’t free.

[At this point Reagan would have added, "I'll be right back."]

Blair is threatening to escalate to a “different phase,” but Iran’s leadership knows something that most Americans don’t. Two months ago, Britain’s government announced plans to mothball almost half its naval fleet due to defense-budget cuts. Much of its existing navy is already so degraded; it would take over a year to get into action. According to the British newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, senior naval officers say that the cuts “will turn Britain’s once-proud Navy into nothing more than a coastal defense force.”

In fact, the British naval forces have been so neglected; the U.K. probably couldn’t pull off the Falkland Islands mission today. The world’s fifth-largest economy now supports an army that ranks 28th in size.

What are they thinking?

The 9/11 attacks should have been a wake-up call to our allies — but they seem to have had a tranquilizing effect instead. Despite a series of both successful and thwarted attacks since then, Britain, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, Germany, and Canada have actually cut their active-duty forces. And the percentage of those countries’ economies spent on defense was reduced over ten percent by 2005. Many are still falling.

Unlike much of Europe, which seems to have lost the will to protect itself and its democratic traditions, many of the new aggressors are increasing military spending dramatically. And many seem willing to sacrifice masses of their own populations if that’s what it takes to force the West into submission.

Let’s be clear. Iran’s kidnappings are part of a plan to see that nothing interferes with its quest for nuclear weapons. If successful, other dictatorships will follow suit. This is not the time for the free world to neglect its own defense.

Were he still alive, Ronaldus Magnus couldnt have said it better himself -- and probably wouldn't have changed a word.

In my opinion, Mr. Thompson is already running for President.   And if he wishes to channel Ronald Reagan, how better to do it than through daily radio essays that summarize so concisely his positions to hundreds of thousands of listeners.  By the time he announces, he'll have become a very familiar voice to Paul Harvey's audience (not a voting bloc to dismiss lightly) and with his Law and Order character in constant re-runs, his lack of presence on MySpace will have been compensated for.

Not only do I agree with Mr. Thompson on the issues, I'm beginning to have a new respect for his media-savvy.  Yes, in at least a couple ways he may be the new embodiment of Ronald Reagan.

England's New War Motto: We Shall Not Fight Them on the Beaches; We Shall Not Fight Them on the Seas

Rabbi Aryeh Spero on the British hostage crisis um, situation?

Imagine a World War II movie with John Wayne and Robert Mitchum doing nothing while standing on the bridge of a well-armed war ship watching below as fellow American soldiers are being whisked away by a few Japanese in a small craft in the waters of the South Pacific. We would cringe in disbelief. It would not be soldier-like, patriotic, or manly. What sissies, we would think, what about the spirit of comradeship embodied in “all for one and one for all”? We would be ashamed at such an act of timidity and passivity.

I keep hoping that I'll wake up one morning to find out that the Brits or the Israelis or even the Americans have blown up Iran's gasoline refinery (with sufficient advance notice of course so civilians can evacuate.)  No one need die, but Iran's economy would be crippled and notice served to its government that the rest of the world has had enough of its threats and troublemaking.

Oh Well, Those Jobs Were Icky Anyway

After decades of imposing ever-higher taxes and government spending, is Portland finally killing its very own golden geese?

The last Freightliner-branded commercial truck rolled off the production line in Portland this week, catapulting 750 workers onto the unemployment rolls and into a job market that's suddenly cooler than a parked sleeper rig at dawn.

Even before the truckmaker's big layoff, Oregon manufacturers had been shedding jobs since August at a faster rate than the rest of the nation.

Now, diesel truck sales are down across the nation because of federally-mandated changes that caused a boom in orders last year and a bust this year.  But Freightliner, rather than wait the downturn through, is shifting production away from high-cost Oregon into low-cost Mexico and North Carolina.  If they keep this up, that vaunted Portland urban-growth boundary may not even be needed.   

Join The Club

New York just dropped a notch in the list of highest-taxed states.  No, Albany certainly didn't lower ours, idiot legislators in Minnesota increased theirs.  Welcome to the Rust Belt, folks.

Well, He Is A Writer

Roger L. Simon has a pretty good idea for a TV script.

Getting Out The Teen Vote

Presidential politics descend to the infantile -- literally.

Ilana Wexler has a dilemma. The Hillary Clinton for President campaign wants her to chair its Students for Hillary committee. At the same time, several of her friends are stumping for Barack Obama and want her to join their team. But if Wexler, 15, has her way, Al Gore will declare his candidacy, and she'll endorse him.

It figures that Clinton et al would covet the Ilana Factor: Three years ago, she was a plucky 12-year-old who started a grassroots organization called Kids for Kerry and addressed the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

I guess the theory is to develop legions of future  Democrats.  Maybe it'll work but I can think of one young Goldwaterite whose political loyalties turned out to be, um, shall we say fickle.  I guess I won't hold my breath waiting to hear which lucky candidate Ilana decides to endorse.

Breakthrough!

Congratulations to the people of Niagara Falls who appear finally to have awakened to the fact that a bit of the responsibility for building on the success of the Casino lies with them.

Millions of people from all over the world visit Niagara Falls each year, but the same cannot be said of U.S. residents. More Americans visit Long Island than Niagara Falls. New York City, the Hudson Valley and the Finger Lakes region each draw more annual tourists than Niagara Falls, Percy said.

“We will focus on bringing more people to Niagara Falls and keeping them on the American side,” said Percy, alluding to the dominance of the booming Canadian side of the falls.

The organization also plans to use $1.4 million in state and federal funding to build a new Visitor Center at Rainbow Boulevard and First Street, near the the Rainbow Bridge.

There's been a great deal of frustration (and glee from casino naysayers) that a new city hasn't magically sprung up around the Seneca-Niagara casino and hotel in five years.  Call it the "Field of Dreams" theory of development which worked so well in that movie. In the real world, though, you actually have to tell people that you've got something worth seeing.

Maybe the Falls has finally realized that.

The Buffalo Disease

It didn't take long to hear from the first opponents of the proposed new Bass Pro project.

Those voicing opposition include Julie Bartlett O’Neill, executive director of Buffalo Niagara Riverkeeper.

“There’s a great plan for the site that had full community support, and took many years and millions of state dollars to complete,” O’Neill said. “They have no right to give away a public park to the highest corporate bidder.”

Full community support?  I, for one, have never heard of it, and if I had I'd have opposed it.

What Buffalo needs desperately are places where people want to go because there are things to do and other people around to do them with. We certainly don't need any more parks that we can't afford to maintain and which remain virtually empty all the time -- as this one undoubtedly would for lack of anything else to do down there except go to another park.   

Park-envy ranks second only to museum-fetishism amongst Buffalo's elites -- though statistics do show that casinophobia has been on the rise lately.

"Expandio" Ad Absurdum

Here's Hillary once again proving that she either knows nothing about economics or assumes that we don't.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Circuit City on Friday to reconsider its plan to lay off thousands of workers and replace them with lower-paid new hires.

The electronics retailer, facing larger competitors and falling sales, said Wednesday that it would lay off about 3,400 store workers. The laid-off workers, about 8 percent of the company's total work force, would get a severance package and a chance to reapply for their former jobs, at lower pay, after a 10-week delay, the company said."Twelve dollars an hour is now considered too high a wage in America," Clinton said at a teacher's union conference. [emphasis mine]

No, twelve dollars an hour is now considered too high a wage for the store employees of a particular consumer electronics retailer which is on the financial ropes because of dropping prices and increased competition.   Nothing more.

One Failed Experiment After Another

Class-size reduction is a mantra for the educational establishment, though there's little to indicate that it really improves student performance.  As New York prepares to spend billions more on its schools -- with class-size reduction as part of the expense -- we'd do well to study California's experience.

The reform was begun in an era when many educators believed that if they could get students off to a good start, the rest of the academic years would take care of themselves. The theory has merit, but reality has proved more complicated.

Suddenly, schools needed extra classrooms, so portables took over athletic fields. The program created a huge demand for teachers, triggering an immediate shortage. Schools hired almost anyone who could procure an emergency teaching credential. With so many jobs opening up at better-equipped, affluent schools, many qualified teachers moved to the suburbs.

Beyond that, the rules were rigid. Classes could not go above 20 students, so academically dubious mixed-grade classes began to take care of any overflow. (If there were 18 students in a first-grade class and 22 in a second-grade class, a quick "transfer" could put the ratio back into compliance.) Meanwhile, state funding covered less and less of the cost, and school districts made up the difference by increasing class sizes for older students. The rules have become more flexible, but not enough to meet everyday realities.

But despite that, surely there must have improvements in educational results. No.

There is still no evidence that the multibillion-dollar investment in small primary classes has made more than an incremental difference in achievement. Well-intentioned and popular as it has been, the class-size reduction program represents another restriction on schools that need to be more creative, not less.

I suspect that longer school days and universal pre-K will have similarly disappointing outcomes.  Look, if we're trying to restore student achievement to previously much-higher levels, we should probably be looking at the differences between how we teach now from how we taught then.  We'd probably notice that curricula have become fuzzier, students' time is filled with too much non-academic instruction and that expectations are lower now.  Teaching children shouldn't be rocket science and it needn't be as expensive as we've let it become.

Making The Employer Pay, And Pay, And . . .

Coyote Blog highlights the degree to which politicians are forcing health care expenses onto business.  The owner of Netflix illustrates.

So, here I am, having risked absolutely everything I own, having gone without salary for three years, and I am now being told that if I hire somebody, and he gets married in Vegas while drunk, then gets a divorce the next day, I’ve got to cover the bimbo into the next decade? (Feel free to add in the gender-reversed variation of that, as well - I’m equally appalled that I might have to pay for an employee’s ex-husband’s meds)....

Business shouldn't have to pay for our health care and neither should the government.  We should each be responsible just as we are for feeding ourselves.  Yeah, it's expensive but so's food, buying cars, houses, wide-screen TV's and cellphones.   If government didn't keep finding patsies to buy it for us under threat of ruin, we'd suck it up and take care of the matter ourselves.

Feelings

How a new building feels matters just as much as how it looks.   Seattle built a new downtown library a few years ago to much generally agreed-upon approval.  Now that it's open, Seattleites are having second thoughts.

This library, incredibly, is an uncomfortable place to read. The third-level "Living Room," which has the feel of a vast indoor park, is not conducive to intimacy with a book. It harvests and energizes routine noise; conversations from hundreds of feet away coalesce as ambient babble. The vast overhead space, a thrill to library visitors, works against readers -- most of us instinctively crave small, private spaces when curling up with a book. And "curling up" here is no fun. The foam seats are decidedly unpleasant and are looking shabby -- cracked, torn, stained -- after three years.

This is why I rail against buildings like the federal courthouse, the Hauptmann-Woodward and the Burchfield-Penney -- they just don't look as if they'll "feel" very good.  The fact that they'd be more comfortable in a suburban business park than in an urban downtown also weighs against them.

I find it very odd that in a town that considers itself a little island of artistic sophistication, no one says much about this.

H.T. to City Comforts

When 4 - 1 = 3.9

I'm pleased that the New York State budget deal includes a provision expanding the number of charter schools, but unfortunately it came at the expense of paying off the teachers' unions.

Significantly for communities with high number of charter schools, such as Buffalo, the budget will include $22 million for school districts with charter facilities. State aid follows students to a charter school, but traditional public schools say their costs don’t go down.

No one has ever explained to me how it's possible that a school's costs don't go down when several thousand students (or even a couple dozen for that matter) leave for a charter school.  Now, I realize that those cost reductions don't happen automatically -- they require staff lay-offs and might even entail closing buildings.   But fewer students taught automatically equals lower costs; it's arithmetic at its most basic. 

I think I can guarantee you that if a public school district's enrollment were to increase by several thousand students (or even a couple dozen for that matter,) it would be howling for more aid to cover its spiraling costs.   Anyone who can't perform this rather simple math is obviously a product of those same public schools and just another argument against them.

Very Nice

Having seen the artist's rendering of the proposed "Canal Side" project (which will include Bass Pro,) I like the concept even better.  It becomes clear from the picture that this will add something else that Buffalo's been lacking -- somewhere for people to go in their boats beside Harry's Place, The Pier, the hot dog stand at the marina on Fuhrmann and whatever the name-of-that-place-is that replaced Crawdaddy's.  I suggest lots of docking spaces.  This might turn out to be a pretty cool place.

[UPDATE:] Though the past several years have been frustrating, I think this is much, much better than the originally-proposed Bass Pro store.  It will have turned out to be a fruitful delay.    

Where Did That Pepsi Machine Come From?

When I hear this one, I'd like to jump through the screen and beat the hell out of the writer.

If schools had water coolers (which they don’t — they have teeth-rotting, kid-blimping soda machines. Thank you, corporate America!), all the students would be gathered around them talking about the latest Fox hit, “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?” [emphasis mine]

Um, "corporate America" didn't just waltz into the schools and install their evil machines while appalled faculty and parents looked on helplessly.  Duly-elected school boards invited them in, usually for a bribe -- that is, a cut of the takings.   Now that such things as soda and potato chips are regarded with horror, same school boards (and nationally-syndicated columnists) are feigning outrage that they mistakenly ever somehow, inexplicably showed up.

Upstate Development

Let's be clear that when I criticise Eliot Spitzer's selection to head the Upstate Empire State Development Corporation it's not because I think the Governor could have chosen anyone particularly better-suited to the job.  Daniel Gunderson is, as I've said before, probably one of the best in his field -- but his field doesn't work very well at growing economies. 

In high-growth states, like the Carolinas, Arizona or Florida, development departments work to entice the best of the best (Honda, Intel, etc.) to locate there even as their economies in general are thriving.  They bring in the frosting so to speak.  But in stagnant or shrinking states, those agencies are considered a success if they attract a few politically-important gems at huge expense to the taxpayers while the overall economies keep shrinking.

That's the situation we're in and Mr. Gunderson can do little or nothing to change that.   His emphasis on growing local small business and his quick realization that our border-location could be significant are refreshing and important.  But if entrepreneurs don't think they can turn a profit here because of taxes and labor costs then those are still just potential resources.  Only Gunderson's boss can change that.

He did mention Ireland, though.

He mentioned Ireland as a good example of fostering economic health by forging profitable connections between rural and urban areas.

Ireland has become Europe's fastest-growing economy, but they didn't prosper because they "forged profitable connections between rural and urban areas."  Ireland's economy virtually exploded because they cut their corporate tax rates.  And they never had to drop any cherished social welfare programs because of it -- their economy's grown so fast because of those tax cuts that the government has more money to spend than it ever dreamed of before. New York would do well to look to Dublin for inspiration.

As for Buffalo's becoming a center for windmill production, well, given our predilection around here for tilting at them Gunderson at least displays a sense of humor.  He'll need it.

Bass Pro -- Maybe?

I'm pleased to see that the Bass Pro project is underway again.  We'd have survived without it of course, but I think that area needs a good retail draw.  When the weather's lousy, people will still have a reason to go down to the waterfront and when the weather's nice some nearby shopping may encourage them to stick around a bit longer -- and spend some money.   

The new plans reportedly feature space for additional retail which was missing in the original.  And it all only complements a proposed market for the railroad terminal -- though I'd bet that never happens for fear of hurting the Broadway Market which would be a shame.

Inexperienced? Oh, Really

Slate's John Dickerson acts all perplexed that commonsensical Republicans could get excited about a Fred Thompson candidacy.

Authenticity and star power conjure visions of Ronald Reagan. But Reagan had genuine experience running something—namely the state of California. Thompson's résumé is thin—an undistinguished eight years in the Senate, an acting career, and a youthful turn as co-counsel in the Watergate hearings. Supporters try to pump up his résumé by boasting that he shepherded John Roberts through his confirmation hearings—but that was the legal equivalent of walking Michael Jordan onto the court.

Experience? Two terms in the Senate plus time as counsel in the Watergate hearings?  Granted, he doesn't have the of the other three front-running Republicans, but it sure beats Hillary's one Senate term and Obama's part of one. No one seems the least bit perplexed about how little those two bring to the table in that department.

On Reputation

The U.K. Independent thinks that if 15 Americans had been threatened with capture by the Iranians, the U.S. would have fought back.

  A senior American commander in the Gulf has said his men would have fired on   the Iranian Revolutionary Guard rather than let themselves be taken hostage.

                                        

  In a dramatic illustration of the different postures adopted by British and   US forces working together in Iraq, Lt-Cdr Erik Horner - who has been   working alongside the task force to which the 15 captured Britons belonged -   said he was "surprised" the British marines and sailors had not   been more aggressive.

  Asked by The Independent whether the men under his command would have fired   on the Iranians, he said: "Agreed. Yes. I don't want to second-guess   the British after the fact but our rules of engagement allow a little more   latitude. Our boarding team's training is a little bit more towards   self-preservation."

  The executive officer - second-in-command on USS Underwood, the frigate   working in the British-controlled task force with HMS Cornwall - said: "    The unique US Navy rules of engagement say we not only have a right to   self-defence but also an obligation to self-defence. They [the British] had   every right in my mind and every justification to defend themselves rather   than allow themselves to be taken. Our reaction was, 'Why didn't your guys   defend themselves?'"

I can only hope that the tangled web of modern American military engagement rules would have resulted in a serious answer to the Iranians but it is pretty clear that the Iranians targeted the Brits because they weren't sure either.  It's all very ironic given that our Democrat Congress is, this very week, trying desperately to find a way to surrender in Iraq.

It's only Bush's insistence that we'll stay in Iraq that prevented them from capturing Americans.  They're still worried that we might fight back.

More On '300'

Victor Davis Hanson reviews 300 and draws an analogy to current events.

There is a great yearning among the public for just a small, rare chance to see some issue presented in terms other than moral ambiguity. 300 provided that in a way other costume dramas like Alexander or Troy either could not or did not. The 300 and those beside them were better than the alternative, had the moral high ground, and were willing to match deed with word. That proved more receptive than Oliver Stone's fantasizing for a public weary of sorta, kinda judgements (the latest being the Iranian hostage taking where the West is engaged in moral anguish over GPS data, possible provocations, a prior lapse in "engaging" the Iranians, conspiracy theorizing over the Bush role in all this, etc. rather than just a simple: "The Brits appeared vulnerable and would not act, and so for the Iranian thugocracy it was too good a chance to pass up—given its prior success with the serial kidnapping of Westerners.

There's a lot more to it -- read the whole thing.  This was, as Andrew Sullivan once was wont to write, only the "money graf."  Does he still say that?  I wouldn't know -- can't be bothered to read him since he decided that panties on the head of an Iraqi prisoner constitutes torture.  The guys in 300 would have gotten a good laugh out of that one come to think of it.

No Smoking Comrade

T-shirts, buttons and posters available here.  Wish I'd thought of it.

How Much?

Lawrence White posts on the new Iranian 50,000 rial note.  It's gained some international infamy for the swirling electron logo on its reverse, but the real scandal may be that it's only worth about $5.41. 

Ahmadinejad's regime may be more tottering than we thought.

It's That Easy

From Everybody's Column

It is gratifying that the topic of global warming has reached the politicians. The overwhelming complexity of the problem makes us feel that, as individuals, we can do nothing. Of course, we can tell our congressmen and other legislators that this is a problem that cannot be addressed too soon. This is probably the most important action we can take. But it is not completely satisfying.

There is something else one can do, that is, to buy fewer consumer goods. Every new product we purchase has used fossil fuels in its production as well as in its transportation to market. Some use fossil fuels in the product itself — just consider all those plastic bottles and plastic bags we use every day.

Making even small changes in our consumer habits will make us feel that we are helping. Awareness that a carbon fingerprint is involved when we purchase goods will result in fewer purchases. Setting an example for one’s family and friends may result in their taking a different attitude toward their purchases. This grass-roots efforts will complement and support the needed government action.

Beth Ruszczyk

Buffalo

No mention made of the people put out of work by our newfound eco-friendliness.  Though, I suppose they could all start selling carbon credits. Hello, is this Mr. Gore?  Yes, my name is Beth and I'm calling to tell you about. . .
 

Making The Poor Comfortable In Their Poverty

Dennis C. Walczyk is like a lot of good people who worry about the poor.

The City of Buffalo, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, has the eighth highest poverty rate among major American cities. In 1991, the median household income was $45,209 and in 2005 it was $41,967.

In the Buffalo Niagara area, the number of people living in poverty increased from 11.9 percent in 1999 to 12.7 percent in 2005. Areas such as Amherst, Tonawanda and Cheektowaga have experienced an increase in the number of people living in poverty. Catholic Charities has seen a steady increase in recent years in the number of “working poor” of Western New York who seek help in our food pantries and intake offices.

Yes, Dennis, the figures are startling.   It's a crime that so many people here are not able to find employment that can support a family. 

Poverty is a moral and social crisis, threatening the health and economic well-being of families and our entire nation. Unlike Katrina, it is a humanmade disaster. This crisis demands the attention and collective will of all of our leaders and people.

Right again, Sir.  The near-disastrous economic situation in Buffalo does demand the attention and collective will of both our leaders and us.  That we've allowed our leaders to bleed this once-proud city into a near-corpse is almost beyond belief.  It is immoral.

And so, I endorse your suggestion fully that New York begin to address its terrible economic climate that keeps the poor imprisoned here in their misery without prospects or hope.  Sometimes I think that if New York won't do anything serious to let business grow and create jobs for those poor that we should at least give them the money to move somewhere else where they've got a chance.

What?  That's not your suggestion?  You don't want to cut taxes and see the economic situation get better?  You think it would be immoral to make them move; you just want to give them more aid, you say?  Well, I don't know -- we've been trying that for 50 years now and it's never worked.  I still think it would be better to give 'em a job, if only there were some.

College-Campus Libertarians

Jonah Goldberg sees libertarianism evolving -- and not necessarily in a good direction.

When you look at Europe, Canada, and parts of, say, California, you can see this sort of “libertarianism” at work. The desire is to create one, vast college campus at the End of History, where it’s against the rules to be mean to anybody, you have to recycle, and there are strict rules on parking, but otherwise you can do anything that floats your boat. Government is there to make sure you don’t OD in the dorm but have access to an abortion at the clinic. There’s actually much to recommend this worldview and I don’t mean to be overly dismissive. But libertarians shouldn’t complain anymore when they’re called “sophomoric.”

The Senior Service

The capture of the British sailors and marines only highlights efforts underway in the UK to defund its Navy.  Arthur Herman writes on the ramifications.

The United States has grown used to doing the fighting and dying the other industrialized democracies refuse to do in order to defend themselves and their interests.

Britain has been an exception. In places like Bosnia and the Persian Gulf, and in operations like Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, its help has been solid and genuine, as well as important in a symbolic sense. America always looks better when a couple of frigates flying the Royal Navy's White Ensignare side by side with those flying the Stars and Stripes. U.S. sailors also know that in a real fight, the men of the Royal Navy, which our navy men still call the "Senior Service," will never let them down.

That contribution has never been vital to America - yet it was a badge of honor for Britain. It had echoes of past glory as an empire, of course, but also of Britain's historic role as protector of a civilized and stable world order, and specifically the role of the Royal Navy. The British navy had wiped out the slave trade; it had single-handedly defied tyrants from Louis XIV and Napoleon to Hitler; and it served as midwife to the ideas of free trade and the balance of power.

McCain Flame-Out

I'm guessing that the left is surprised that John McCain's campaign is going nowhere and will probably shut down before too long.  I'm also guessing that John McCain is surprised, too.  His evil spawn, the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act, is probably the cause.  We Americans have a nagging tendency to think we should be able to give money to whomever we support without Congressional "oversight."

Putting aside the ludicrous notion that 535 incumbent politicians sat down and tried to write a piece of legislation that would make it harder to get reelected, five years later there's no evidence electoral competition has increased. Sure, control of Congress turned over. But anyone who attributes the 2006 election to McCain-Feingold, as opposed to Bush-Cheney-Hastert-Frist, is delusional.

Some McCain-Feingold supporters promised that the bill would reduce the amount of money being raised and spent in elections. "This bill forces all of us," Senator Cantwell of Washington said during the debate, "to play by the same rules and raise and spend money in lower amounts." As the Sun's Josh Gerstein reports today, that certainly hasn't been the result. Candidates for both parties' nominations will surely be shattering first-quarter fundraising records next month.

Then there was the claim that McCain-Feingold could restore trust in government. On this score, Mr. Thompson declared that "we are making headway to do something that will reduce the cynicism in this country and that will help this body, that will help us individually." While, plenty of congressmen have helped themselves individually over the past five years (see: indictments and convictions and plea agreements, above), there is still enough cynicism around for Senator Obama of Illinois to make defeating it the main rationale for his presidential campaign.

Last but not least — and here we get to the real nub of campaign-finance regulation — McCain-Feingold supporters promised that the bill would curb the scourge of "negative" and "dirty" advertising. "It is about slowing political advertising," Ms. Cantwell said during the debate. "Making sure the flow of negative ads by outside interest groups does not continue to permeate the airwaves."

Of course, curbing and "slowing" speech critical of politicians by "outside interest groups" (a.k.a. "citizens") is in no way a permissible goal under the First Amendment. But, ultimately, the politicians may have failed in this most nefarious goal. And it's not just the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth who showed the way around it.

While the Supreme Court has so far upheld the patently anti-Constitutional ban on advertising by citizens' groups 30 days before a primary and 60 days before a general election, the rise of Internet politics may eventually supercede this atrocity. Witness the anti-Hillary Clinton "1984" ad that caused such a stir on YouTube just last week. Such ads, cheaper than dirt (it costs money to distribute dirt, YouTube's free), will only be more important with every election cycle.

For this reason, look for Congress to start taking an interest in "unregulated" Internet speech any day now. Money has never been the issue. Cleansing our speech of impure thoughts about politicians is the real agenda.

There's nothing at all wrong with "money in politics" as long as we know where the money's coming from.  The only campaign finance law we really need is the one that requires contributions to be posted on the Internet within 24 hours -- with disclosure of the contributor.  We'll all know who's feeding a candidate's bank account and can make up our minds accordingly.   The current law is nothing but a feeding frenzy for tax accountants and lawyers.

I respect McCain for his "war-hero" status but he blew his chances at a Republican nomination when he became convinced that we, the people, should be punished for his congressional colleagues' inability to behave with integrity.  He's so no longer in the race.   

Die, Bush-Lover!

Tony Snow's cancer has returned and has evidently spread to his liver.  Even his detractors, one might think, would call off the hounds.  Evidently not.  The following is not, mind you, from some obscure leftist-anarchist, wacko-blog but from the esteemed Huffington Post itself -- and not even from a commenter but a poster.

I hear about Tony Snow and say to myself, well, stand up every day, lie to the American people at the behest of your dictator-esque boss and well, how could a cancer NOT grow in you. Work for Fox News, spinning the truth in to a billion knots and how can your gut not rot? I know, it's terrible. I admit it.

Well, good on you for admitting it's terrible, pal.  But you couldn't help saying it, could you?  It's telling, the hatred the left shows for people who don't agree with them -- even those facing the prospect of death.  This goes just a bit beyond a Democrat calling a Republican a racist or a Republican calling a Democrat a faggot.  It's just disgusting. What kind of sick, sick person would write it?

And why would Arianna Huffington allow it?  I know, I know -- hits.

Teach A Man To Tithe . . .

Chris is underwhelmed by the new prosperity theology.

Tort Lawyers, Grrrrr

Some of my least favorite people are tort lawyers.  Now, it's probably unfair to tar them all with the same brush (is that a racist statement?) but what may have at one time been an honorable profession has devolved into an expensive pest.  It is, by the way, the primary reason I could never vote for John Edwards (apart from his loser "two Americas" campaign theme.)  He made his $50 million (and undoubtedly growing) fortune using junk science to extort money from the medical industry.

Patterico tells us about another beaut -- a tort lawyer who makes his living suing businesses under the Americans With Disabilities Act.

For example, in Molski v. El 7 Mares Restaurant, Case No. C04-1882 (N.D. Cal. 2004), Molski claims that, on May 20, 2003, he and significant other, Brygida Molski, attended the El 7 Mares Restaurant for the purposes of dining out. Molski alleges that the restaurant lacked adequate handicapped parking, and that the food counter was too high. After the meal, Molski attempted to use the restroom, but because the toilet’s grab bars were improperly installed, he injured his shoulders in the process of transferring himself from his wheelchair to the toilet. Thereafter, he was unable to wash his hands because of the lavatory’s design.

Although this complaint appears credible standing alone, its validity is undermined when viewed alongside Molski’s other complaints. In Molski v. Casa De Fruta, L.P., Case No. C04-1981 (N.D. Cal. 2004), Molski alleges that he sustained nearly identical injuries on the exact same day, May 20, 2003. In Casa de Fruta, Molski alleges that he and significant other, Brygida Molski, patronized Casa de Fruta for the purpose of wine tasting. On arrival, Molski was again unable to locate van accessible parking. Once inside, Molski again found the counter to be too high. After wine tasting, Molski again decided to use the restroom, and again, injured his upper extremities while in the process of transferring himself to the toilet. Thereafter, he was once again unable to wash his hands due to the design of the lavatory.

This was, apparently, not the end of Molski’s day. In Molski v. Rapazzini Winery, Case No. C04-1881 (N.D. Cal. 2004), Molski once again alleges that he sustained nearly identical injuries on the exact same day, May 20, 2003. Molski, again accompanied by Brygida Molski, claims he visited the Rapazzini Winery for the purpose of wine tasting. Again, Molski complains that the parking lot lacked adequate handicapped van accessible parking. Upon entering the establishment, he discovered that the counter was too high. After tasting wine, he again needed to use the restroom. In the course of transferring himself from his wheelchair to the toilet, he injured himself yet again. Thereafter, he was again unable to wash his hands due to the lavatory’s design.

"The decision is Molski v. Mandarin Touch Rest., 347 F. Supp. 2d 860." 

He lost this one thankfully, but having once worked in the exciting supermarket industry, I'm all too well aware of the army of shoppers suing for having slipped on a grape (always a popular subject for lawsuits,) sliding and falling on ice in Buffalo in February and for having become ill from mysteriously-contaminated foodstuffs.   Grrr.

 

To Each According To His Contribution (Gasp)

Don Boudreaux explains what a job is.

There are two kinds of people in the world.  Members of the first group think of jobs as being rather like boxes, each of which has a monetary figure on it as well as a set of levers inside.  A job-holder occupies a box, yanks on the box's levers, and in return receives pay in the amount of the prescribed monetary figure.  Lucky workers are those who land in boxes paying big money and whose levers are easy to manipulate; unlucky workers are those who find themselves in boxes paying little money and whose levers are difficult to manipulate.

The second group of people in the world understand that real jobs are a matter of creating value for buyers.  The greater the amount of value I create for others, the better -- or, at least, the higher-paying -- is my job.  In markets, your job isn't a box that you get assigned to; your job is an opportunity to perform, to help improve the lives of others and, in return, to persuade these others to help you improve your life.

This is why fads like "living-wage" ordinances are so foolish.  Like it or not, janitors don't create much value.  Yes, their jobs are hard, dirty and necessary, but only somewhat necessary.  If their pay is raised beyond a certain point, next thing you know office-workers will find emptying the trash added to their other chores.  Of course, we don't know what that point is.

It will vary from city to city and company to company.  Different people will have different tolerances for slightly less pristine surroundings, and in some cases a company's (or a government's) finances will dictate  how many janitors find work.  Now, a lot of people (members of the above-mentioned first group) "feel" that since all work is noble, it should all be paid approximately the same.

But they're wrong, it's the amount of value you create for your employer that determines your pay (along with how easy or hard it will be to replace you,) and it will be interesting to see what the results are -- if we ever get them -- for those targeted under Buffalo's living-wage ordinance.  I suspect it won't have done anything to help many at all, and will probably have resulted in fewer low-skilled workers on city contracts.

Not that those results would sway the living-wage supporters -- they're beyond reasoning with -- but it will be instructive for the rest of us.  And for the janitors, I'd think.

Do It For Their Self-Esteem

Well, that settles it -- Clarence is obviously a racist's heaven. 

That Golden Hamster

ESPN The Magazine's recognition of the Sabres is a nice story on the same day that two ex-Bills were busy trashing Buffalo.  But I found this bit particularly interesting.

In February, the seven best-selling jerseys at NHL.com belonged to Sidney Crosby [of the Penguins] and six Sabres, part of a jump of more than 1,000 percent in sales of Sabres swag over the past year.”

Now do you understand why they changed the logo?  Golisano's a business genius; I'm really regretting not having voted for him for Governor a couple elections ago.

[UPDATE:] In other business of sports news, if you thought sharing our own personal revenues with the Bills were enough -- guess you were wrong.

Urban Pioneers

Many of you no doubt have read the New York Times account of the plucky Manhattan couple who are attempting to reduce their impact on the environment.  It's called "A Year Without Toilet Paper." They compost in the apartment, baby wears cloth organic cotton diapers with "enormous boiled-wool, snap-front covers," and Mom commutes to her job at Business Week on a scooter.

Mr. Beavan looks to groups like the Compacters (sfcompact.blogspot.com), a collection of nonshoppers that began in San Francisco, and the 100 Mile Diet folks (100milediet.org and thetyee.ca), a Vancouver couple who spent a year eating from within 100 miles of their apartment, for tips and inspiration. But there are hundreds of other light-footed, young abstainers with a diarist urge: it is not news that this shopping-averse, carbon-footprint-reducing, city-dwelling generation likes to blog (the paperless, public diary form). They have seen “An Inconvenient Truth”; they would like to tell you how it makes them feel. If Al Gore is their Rachel Carson, blogalogs like Treehugger, grist.org and worldchanging.com are their Whole Earth catalogs.

In an effort to live without electricity except for cooking of course, they no longer use the elevator but trudge the nine flights up to their "lower Fifth Avenue pre-war" where, presumably, open fires would compromise their probably rent-protected lease. Scott Burgess puts the noble experiment into perspective. 

For reasons that remain unexplained, computers and being online are just fine.

Incidentally, please don't ask the obvious question: Why don't they just wait for someone else to use the elevator, and get on at the same time? To do so brings down much of the (metaphorical) edifice that Mr. Beavan has so carefully constructed. For, by the same obvious logic, one might ask: Why not take the subway? An airplane? They're going to be running anyway.

Please read the whole thing -- it is, as they say, all good.

The All-Knowing Al Gore

Sam Ryskind

Hat tip to Powerlineblog

[UPDATE:] This Rasmussen poll indicates that Al may have jumped the environmental broom with his "documentary."  It shows that only 24% of Americans "consider Gore an expert on Global Warming. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of 1,000 adults found that 47% say he is not an expert on the topic (see crosstabs)."

In fact, just 36% of Americans say that Gore knows what he is talking about when it comes to the environment and Global Warming. Thirty-one percent (31%) say he does not know what he is talking about while 33% are not sure. Women, by a 2-to-1 margin, say Gore knows what he is talking about. Men, by a similar margin, say he does not.

Ah yes, that old global warming gender gap.  If these numbers are accurate then Hillary and Obama may sleep a bit more soundly tonight -- along with most of the rest of us.

It Was A Dark And Stormy Night

JoAnne Jacobs mentions a writing teacher who's figured out how to score high on the silly SAT essay. Here's some of his advice.

Les Perelman, director of MIT’s Writing Across the Curriculum program, coached a student to write an essay that cited historical facts regardless of accuracy, used examples and quotes regardless of whether they made sense and included words such as “plethora” and “myriad” which scorers are said to favor.

Mr. Perelman is not terribly enamored of the essay portion of that famous test.

The essay is harming students, Perelman said, because it rewards formulaic writing that views the world as black and white, isn’t based on any facts, and values a few fancy vocabulary words over sincerity.

Hit the link to read the result -- it scored a 5 out of 6.

Wake Up And Smell The Fair-Trade Coffee

Part II today in the Buffalo News of a three part series on how unions, in the face of declining membership due to their biggest industries' collapses, are setting their sights on new industries to ruin.  Um, that's my take, not the paper's.

Our Changing Language

When did doctors' offices become medical campuses?

More Of Those Government Benefits Are On The Way

Demolition will begin soon for the new federal courthouse on Niagara Square.  And with each milestone in the building's construction -- right up to the ribbon-cutting -- some bureaucrat or some politician will be obliged to say just what this GSA official said.

“This more than $100 million investment is the largest GSA project in Buffalo’s history, and we are pleased that, as this project moves forward, it will generate many additional benefits for the city, local businesses, and its people,” said Emily Baker, GSA regional administrator.

And every time that's uttered, a smart reporter might ask, "Apart from the construction jobs, can you name those benefits, please -- can you name one?"

I Want My Flying Car!

Since I was a little boy in the early 60's, I've been promised flying cars.  And dammit, here I am in 2007 and I'm still driving a f*****g Ford pickup just like Dad was in 1953 (albeit his didn't have a cassette player.)  So, when I see video, like this one, I know I'm just setting myself up for more disappointment -- it is tantalizing though.

I have to say that the wings, when folded up, don't exactly scream Acura, but you have to make some allowances for the ability to actually fly to work in Tonawanda each morning.  Just imagine avoiding that traffic-crush at Symphony Circle each day.    

On Picking One's Enemies

Do you wonder why the Iranians made the decision to capture 15 British sailors instead of 15 American sailors?  Here's one possible reason.  We'd have fought back.  The Iranians are engaged in an extremely short-sighted and risky strategy but they're not completely stupid.

What? Me Worry?

A very interesting article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel compares almanacs kept by local naturists during the last century to conditions being experienced today. You'd have to conclude that the climate is warming.

Bradley is 89 years old, and using a pair of hiking poles, she pointed out places where she has recorded the arrival of spring for the last 30 years. Her father, the famed ecologist and pioneer of wildlife management Aldo Leopold, had done the same before her.

But spring's advance has been so dramatic that if Leopold were alive today, he'd have to rewrite parts of his seminal book, "A Sand County Almanac."

Take, for example, the Canada geese. Leopold wrote that they "tumbled out of the sky like maple leaves" in March.

But records by his daughter show that migratory geese are returning home more than a month sooner - now arriving about Feb. 19.

The differences chronicled by father and daughter along the Wisconsin River in Sauk County mirror hundreds of studies worldwide that show that the climate is changing.

Other observations include quicker-blooming plants, the migration northward of the praying mantis and later freezing dates for Wisconsin's lakes.  This is all similar to informal (and undocumented) observations I've made in my lifetime.  It's getting warmer in Western New York, too, after all.  I can't dispute it.  But even though the article takes pains to mention how adaptable humans are, it's oddly worried about nature's ability to cope.

Indeed, scientists are worried that warming is causing mismatches in the ecosystem - when a change in temperature alters the traditional pattern of one species and harms another that depends on it.

"The $64 question," said UW's Waller, is whether this is happening yet in Wisconsin.

Near the Leopold cabin, the fly-catching eastern phoebe has started to return home sooner in spring, apparently to catch up with the skunk cabbage, which it depends on. The plant now blooms about two weeks earlier than during Leopold's day.

"We are seeing life becoming uncoupled, and what we are talking about next is life unraveling," Waller said.

Schneider told an audience in Madison last fall that policy-makers have responded to global warming faster where the signs are more visible.

It's why California, under Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, passed a law in September to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 25% by 2020, effectively rolling back emissions to 1990 levels.

I was raised to believe that Darwin's Theory of Evolution explained how nature would evolve to account for changes to its environment -- survival of the fittest you know.  In fact, evolution is the most sacred of our secular beliefs -- even more than human-caused global warming.  These days only an evolution-doubter is met with more scorn than a global-warming skeptic. 

Just this week, professors at Southern Methodist University protested a conference the mere scheduling of an Intelligent Design conference scheduled to be held on campus.  While technically still only a theory, evolution is now so solidly entrenched in American thought and education that doubts about nature's ability to cope with change ring hollow.  So why the concern, all of a sudden, over nature's ability to adapt? I thought this was "settled" science.

The big cry over global warming has little to do with nature, it's really about how humans feel about change.  We're perfectly suited to deal with it, but we rarely welcome it and nature is an easy proxy for our fears.  Now, for some anti-climate-change fanatics, global warming is a chance to make the capitalist West pay some penance for its evil profit-making ways, but for many others there's a very real fear of the unknown -- change might make things worse.

They should relax.  Global warming -- if it even continues -- will be a blessing to some and a problem for others.  But if Mr. Darwin's theories are correct, we'll all (praying mantises and Canada geese included) turn out just fine eventually.   And if he was wrong, then Intelligent Design declares that all is happening according to plan.  No cause to worry folks -- we've got both bases covered -- you can move along now.  But please, put on some sunscreen -- it's hot out there.

We Aren't So Mean After All!

For those of you who believe Cuba is in shambles because nasty old America won't trade with it, here's an interesting article.  U.S. remains top food source for Cuba.  Some $340 billions worth just last year.  It would probably be even larger but the U.S. requires cash up front from Castro.

He Returns

One of my favorite blogs, the Econopundit, is back after a long hiatus -- turns out he broke both wrists last Fall.  Yikes.

You've Got To Be Kidding

Is it time to soften city control board?  Until the Mayor and the Common Council begin behaving just like the control board themselves, the answer is a resounding "NO."

It's Probably Still Not Too Late

The Buffalo News today examines the changes area residents are facing as the population continues to decline. Among them are the closing of schools, neighborhood fire halls, hospitals and even churches that sometimes our grandparents attended.   These are some of the most important components of a town or city and you have to wonder if these losses will only compound the population drain.

There's talk of reaching a "critical mass" downtown, the right number of residents and businesses that would allow it to begin to redevelop on its own -- feed itself so to speak.  But I begin to wonder if the rest of the area might be reaching some sort of negative critical mass that makes a turnaround for Greater Buffalo even less likely. When the very fabric of our communities is unraveling then we're losing one of the principal reasons people usually mention for staying here.

The time grows shorter and shorter that we can continue to experiment with government solutions to our problems.   We have to somehow convince Albany (and unfortunately a large number of people right here) that it isn't just the City that's dying (everyone's all too used to that,) it's the entire area and only serious policy changes on taxation and government's spending stand a chance to let us turn it around. 

What British Sailors?

By announcing its intent to try the captured British sailors as spies, Iran has admitted that it will blatantly disregard the Geneva Convention.  Not that anyone will complain.  As Wretchard reminds us, the Geneva Convention only applies to a select few.

As currently interpreted the Geneva Conventions only apply to individuals bent on destroying America. Individuals who blow up elementary schools, kidnap children, attack churches and mosques, kill invalids in wheelchairs, plan attacks on skyscrapers in New York, behead journalists, detonate car bombs with children to camouflage their crime, or board jetliners with explosive shoes -- all while wearing mufti or even women's clothing -- these are all considered "freedom fighters" of the most principled kind. They and they alone enjoy the protections of the Geneva Convention.

For God's Sake, Please Stop The Aid

A Kenyan economist insists that Western aid sent with all good intentions is ruining Africa.

SPIEGEL: Stop? The industrialized nations of the West want to eliminate hunger and poverty.

Shikwati: Such intentions have been damaging our continent for the past 40 years. If the industrial nations really want to help the Africans, they should finally terminate this awful aid. The countries that have collected the most development aid are also the ones that are in the worst shape. Despite the billions that have poured in to Africa, the continent remains poor.

SPIEGEL: Do you have an explanation for this paradox?

Shikwati: Huge bureaucracies are financed (with the aid money), corruption and complacency are promoted, Africans are taught to be beggars and not to be independent. In addition, development aid weakens the local markets everywhere and dampens the spirit of entrepreneurship that we so desperately need. As absurd as it may sound: Development aid is one of the reasons for Africa's problems. If the West were to cancel these payments, normal Africans wouldn't even notice. Only the functionaries would be hard hit. Which is why they maintain that the world would stop turning without this development aid.

The interviewer inevitably asks why aid to Africa hasn't worked while the American-sponsored Marshall Plan successfully rebuilt Europe after WWII.  Shikwati points out that Europe had been a highly-industrialised society before the War and that the aid served only to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure.  But aid to Africa now only hinders the development of economic infrastructure there.