Google Earth discloses the palaces in Bahrain

When Google Earth increased the resolution of its coverage of the Persian Gulf ("the Gulf" my friend from Saudi Arabia used to say), people in the island kingdom of Bahrain started learning what is behind the walls - huge palaces and villas that cover many acres, some that are larger than two or three neighboring villages, one that blocks fishermen from accessing the sea. The privileged demand the most of everything. The rest have little space to live in. So the government of Bahrain decided that the rich have the right of privacy, that peons can't look over the walls to see what they are being denied. In August they blocked access to Google Earth and demanded that GE stop showing the higher resolution photos of their country. Of course people found ways around simple access blocking. Mahmood reports:

... through Google Earth, the whole world, let alone the Bahraini users, can zoom in and have a good look at palaces and islands which a normal Bahraini wouldn’t even dream of one day coming close to, let alone stepping foot in, and the glaring confiscation of virtually all but 3% of beaches of the islands.

Mahnood also links to the method of getting around access blocking!

Philanthropy for Life - Thanks, Bill

I have often been disappointed to see people with huge fortunes dedicate those fortunes to death. David Packard, cofounder of Hewlett-Packard, left about $9 billion at his death. He instructed his heirs to spend most of it to fight the world population "problem." There are various methods to reduce the world's population, but they generally cause deaths. They promote abortion. They promote euthenasia. Family planning is sometimes benign birth control, but generally includes abortion. But I am very pleased to see that that Bill Gates is using his even huger fortune to extend lives. He is underwriting vaccination for 3d world children, malaria cures, vitamin-enriched rice which prevents blindness due to malnutrition that is affecting large numbers of children per year and more. He is spreading his money wide and deep, enabling infrastructure and research that will allow benefits for decades ahead. The Seattle Times today describes this in the parochially titled "Seattle moves to forefront in global fight to save lives" After some gee whiz talk about how people who recently pilgrimaged to the UN in Geneva or New York now come to Seattle, they get to the substance:

... more than $1 billion to individual researchers and institutions based in Seattle. The total includes $30 million to launch a Department of Global Health at the UW. With Gates funding, Seattle scientists are helping lead development of vaccines for malaria, AIDS, pneumonia and a host of other afflictions that ravage Africa, Asia and Latin America. Seattle-based programs are delivering insecticide-treated bed nets and new-generation malaria drugs to people in Zambia; distributing vaccines to rural clinics in Mozambique; and directing street theater in India with a safe-sex theme.

OK, there are a few strange things in the mix, but few.

But when Bill Gates Sr. began to scout around on behalf of his son's newly formed foundation, some of the first people he connected with were Dr. Gordon Perkin, PATH's founder, and Dr. William Foege, a Vashon Island resident who led smallpox eradication in the 1970s. A colleague at the elder Gates' law firm served on the board of SBRI. Both Perkin and Foege helped open the Gateses' eyes to the millions of deaths in the developing world that could be prevented with vaccines and drugs widely available in richer nations.

More...

University of Washington bioengineering professor Paul Yager got a $15.4 million Gates grant by forming a consortium to develop a lab-on-a-card system to quickly diagnose diseases such as dengue and typhoid fever. Micronics, a Redmond firm that specializes in designing such systems, is part of the group. The company will have the right to market the devices but agreed to make them available at low cost in the developing world, said CEO Karen Hedine. In a partnership that initially raised doubts, PATH funneled money to GlaxoSmithKline to develop and test a malaria vaccine, said Melinda Moree, director of the PATH project. .... The Children's Vaccine Program, Gates' first megaproject administered by PATH, has immunized millions of youngsters against infectious diseases. Early successes in the Malaria Vaccine Initiative, also administered by PATH, have changed the minds of skeptics who said such drugs might never be possible. Exciting results in SBRI's malaria research hint at the possibility of even more powerful approaches in the future.

Thanks, Bill. Keep it up. Additional material: How the money is being used - map Measuring how clean water improves health in Nepal

Economic Lessons from Europe

High Prices -- Lower Pay -- More Unemployed

France's government consumes more than 50% of their economy versus 35% in the US. Germany, Italy and other countries are almost as high as France. Massive government spending takes away personal options and forces dependence. And that reduces the incentives to work, save, invest and do things yourself. If you measure the difference in income you will prefer the US's results: "U.S. per capita output in 2003 was $39,700, almost 40 percent higher than the average of $28,700 for European nations." Walter Williams reports at Townhall on a study by Dr. Daniel Mitchell, research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, titled "Fiscal Policy Lessons from Europe."

Over the last decade, the U.S. economy has grown twice as fast as European economies. In 2006, European unemployment averaged 8 percent while the U.S. average was 4.7 percent. What's more, the percentage of Americans without a job for more than 12 months was 12.7 percent while in Europe it was 42.6 percent. Since 1970, 57 million new jobs were created in the U.S., and just 4 million were created in Europe. Dr. Mitchell cites a comparative study by Timbro, a Swedish think tank, showing that European countries rank with the poorest U.S. states in terms of living standards, roughly equal to Arkansas and Montana and only slightly ahead of West Virginia and Mississippi. Average living space in Europe is just under 1,000 square feet for the average household, while U.S. households enjoy an average of 1,875 square feet, and poor households 1,200 square feet.

And we can see where people choose to live and where they invest their money:

Some 400,000 European science and technology graduates live in the U.S. European migration to our country rose by 16 percent during the 1990s. In 1980, the Bureau of Economic Analysis put foreign direct investment in the U.S. at $127 billion. Today, it's more than $1.7 trillion. In 1980, there was $90 billion of foreign portfolio investment -- government and private securities -- in the U.S. Today, there's more than $4.6 trillion, much of it coming from Europeans who find our investment climate more attractive.

So do the countries of Europe make changes to increase growth and attract more investment. No. They attack their competitors with economic restrictions. Read it. Dr. Williams serves on the faculty of George Mason University as John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics and is the author of More Liberty Means Less Government: Our Founders Knew This Well.

Atheism is the force behind mass murders

Religious causes have caused some wars and deaths. But the mega numbers belong to atheism. During the 20th Century Lenin, Stalin, Hitler and Mao exceede 100 million deaths. And that number is just killing their own people. The wars they caused killed many more. But atheist of the 21st century see only religion as the cause. Dinesh D'Souza of Hoover Institute reports:

The problem with this critique is that it exaggerates the crimes attributed to religion, while ignoring the greater crimes of secular fanaticism. The best example of religious persecution in America is the Salem witch trials. How many people were killed in those trials? Thousands? Hundreds? Actually, fewer than 25. Yet the event still haunts the liberal imagination. It is strange to witness the passion with which some secular figures rail against the misdeeds of the Crusaders and Inquisitors more than 500 years ago. The number sentenced to death by the Spanish Inquisition appears to be about 10,000. Some historians contend that an additional 100,000 died in jail due to malnutrition or illness. These figures are tragic, and of course population levels were much lower at the time. But even so, they are minuscule compared with the death tolls produced by the atheist despotisms of the 20th century. In the name of creating their version of a religion-free utopia, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong produced the kind of mass slaughter that no Inquisitor could possibly match. Collectively these atheist tyrants murdered more than 100 million people. Moreover, many of the conflicts that are counted as "religious wars" were not fought over religion. They were mainly fought over rival claims to territory and power.

No oil peak for 25 years

There is one person who knows the situation of the world's oil reserves better than anyone. Daniel Yergin of Cambridge Energy Research Associates rejects the "common knowledge" that "we are running out of oil right now." The world's oil production can continue to grow at least until it increases by 50% in 20 years. Bloomberg:

The world probably has 3.7 trillion barrels of oil left, more than twice the estimates of geologists and analysts such as Matthew Simmons, of the investment bank Simmons & Co., who argue global output is close to a peak, said Peter Jackson, director of oil-industry research for the Cambridge, Massachusetts, firm. ``The peak-oil theory causes confusion and can lead to inappropriate actions and turn attention away from the real issues,'' Jackson said in remarks prepared for a conference call today with analysts, investors and reporters. ``Oil is too critical to the global economy to allow fear to replace careful analysis about the very real challenges.''

And...

When global crude output begins to fall around 2050, the decline probably will be gradual, giving policy makers, industry and energy producers time to develop new alternatives to petroleum-based fuels, the report said.

...

`Bursts of Growth' CERA's Jackson said today that ``bursts of growth are about to happen'' in oil production in Angola, Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico and the Saudi kingdom. Questions about the ``reliability'' of some Middle East reserve estimates don't negate the huge oil deposits those countries still have yet to tap, said Jackson, former chief geologist for Enterprise Oil Plc, which was acquired by Shell in 2002.

And this will give us time to develop alternate energy sources. After all, the earth of bombarded by energy from the Sun every day.

Untapped Reserves Refiners have used about 1.08 trillion barrels of crude since the birth of the petroleum industry in Pennsylvania in 1859, according to Cambridge Energy. Undiscovered fields probably hold 758 billion barrels, followed by 704 billion trapped inside a very hard type of rock known as shale, and 662 billion in the Middle East, according to the report. The rest of the firm's 3.7 trillion barrel total comes from untapped reserves in the deepest seas, the Arctic and places such as Canada's tar sands and Venezuela's Orinoco basin.

Bad news: Smaller-world Elected Officials

Bad news for our economy. People who oppose economic growth were elected. And they didn't hide their backwardness. Jacob Weisberg reports at Slate: "The Lou Dobbs Democrats - Say hello to the new economic nationalists."

... we saw enough during the campaign to be alarmed about one tendency in particular: economic nationalism. Many of the Democrats who recaptured seats held by Republicans have been described as moderates or social conservatives, who will be out of synch with Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi. The better term, with props to Fareed Zakaria, is probably illiberal Democrats. Most of those who reclaimed Republican seats ran hard against free trade, globalization, and any sort of moderate immigration policy. That these Democrats won makes it likely that others will take up their reactionary call. Some of the newcomers may even be foolish enough to try to govern on the basis of their misguided theory. There is an important distinction to be made between economic populism and economic nationalism. Many of Tuesday's Democratic victors stressed familiar populist themes: the little guy against the big guy; corporate misbehavior; and tough times faced by working people. Al Gore ran in 2000 as an economic populist and so, implausibly, did John Kerry in 2004. Raising the minimum wage (which Republicans stupidly failed to do before the election) is a classic populist position. Opposing Bush tax cuts for the wealthy is another.

The distinction:

But in places where Democrats made their most-impressive inroads this year, one heard a distinctly different message of economic nationalism. Nationalism begins from the populist premise that working people aren't doing so well. But instead of blaming the rich at home, it focuses its energy on the poor abroad. The leading economic nationalist today is probably Lou Dobbs, who on nights other than Election Night natters on against free trade, outsourcing, globalization, and immigration on CNN.

We have more work than ever explaining that everyone wins with trade and economic freedom.

Busy and sick

Working the election - as a bottom-level poll judge - being sick, attending the Christian Musicians Summit and the wedding of special friends: took all my energy for the week. We lost and we aren't happy. I didn't think the people of the US would trust their defense to the Democratics. The Demos will not defend us. They even say so. They will pull out of Iraq and deploy our troops to Sri Lanka or some other quiet spot far from our problems. The Demos will not track the Islamic radicals who say they want to kill us. The Demos exposed our effective programs, which killed the programs. Let the terrorists enter and work together - their New York Times did it. When they get their policies in place and the attack occurs it will be George Bush's fault. The Demos call today's strong economy... actually this time they quit talking about it; it is too good for them the drag down. They always have in the past. All their talk of "bipartisanship" is talk. They cooperation with President Bush ended before it started. The Demo plan: Raise the taxes to slow the economy. Start new programs - expensive ones. Raise the national debt and blame Bush.

Australia getting ready for nuclear power

One way to reduce green-house gas emissions is to use nuclear power. Nuclear power, once the plant is built, is very cheap to operate. So let's get moving. Australia is, The Australian reports:

Australian Prime Minister John Howard's hand-picked nuclear energy taskforce will find that a nuclear industry could be commercially viable within 15 years, giving the green light to the Prime Minister to radically shake up Australia's energy market. Former Telstra boss Ziggy Switkowski's review will also find the cost of nuclear power should come down dramatically as more global powers invest in the technology and the cost of fossil fuels go up. Last night, Minister for Industry and Resources Ian Macfarlane said a 15-year timeframe was "very realistic", offering an optimistic assessment from the Howard Government on the way forward for nuclear power.

Good show. Get moving.

Iraq had Nuclear Capability - NY Times

The NY Times today revealed that Iraq had a nuclear development program that was gaining success.

Among the dozens of documents in English were Iraqi reports written in the 1990’s and in 2002 for United Nations inspectors in charge of making sure Iraq abandoned its unconventional arms programs after the Persian Gulf war. Experts say that at the time, Mr. Hussein’s scientists were on the verge of building an atom bomb, as little as a year away.

Bush was right! Jim Geraghty at NRO has analysis:

When I saw the headline on Drudge earlier tonight, that the New York Times had a big story coming out tomorrow that had something to do with Iraq and WMDs, I was ready for an October November Surprise. Well, Drudge is giving us the scoop. And if it's meant to be a slam-Bush story, I think the Times team may have overthunk this...

Update: In 2002 Saddam Hussein's foreign minister told the International Atomic Energy A... that Hussein was aggressively developing nuclear weapons. Roy Robison has been following the translation of the documents captured in Iraq:

What to keep in mind when you read the NYT article. [quote follows] Among the dozens of documents in English were Iraqi reports written in the 1990s and in 2002 for United Nations inspectors in charge of making sure Iraq had abandoned its unconventional arms programs after the Persian Gulf war. Experts say that at the time, Mr. Hussein’s scientists were on the verge of building an atom bomb, as little as a year away. The Senate Prewar Intelligence Review Phase II report reveals that Saddam’s Foreign Minster told the US government that Saddam was trying to build a bomb. He said Saddam was trying to get uranium and was irate that his nuclear team was taking too long.

The character of George Soros

Soros, in an interview on 60 Minutes, says his character was developed when during World War II he got false identification and helped his false godfather with his official duties including confiscating property from Jews. Sweetness and Light has the transcript:

KROFT [interviewer]: (Voiceover) And you watched lots of people get shipped off to the death camps. Mr. SOROS: Right. I was 14 years old. And I would say that that's when my character was made.

And...

KROFT: My understanding is that you went out with this protector of yours who swore that you were his adopted godson. Mr. SOROS: Yes. Yes. KROFT: Went out, in fact, and helped in the confiscation of property from the Jews. Mr. SOROS: Yes. That's right. Yes. KROFT: I mean, that's--that sounds like an experience that would send lots of people to the psychiatric couch for many, many years. Was it difficult? Mr. SOROS: Not--not at all. Not at all. Maybe as a child you don't--you don't see the connection. But it was--it created no--no problem at all.

So we know more about Soros. He aided the Germans to steal property from Jews!! Via Doug Ross @ Journal Thomas Lifson at American Thinker

Did John F Kerry mean what he said?

Here is what John F Kerry told college students Monday at Pasadena College:

"You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

Here is video of him saying the words. I think it is clear, since he was speaking to students at a college: you students, either study or you will be stuck in Iraq. But honorable Mr. Kerry says he was talking about President Bush? Huh? Bush got better grades at Yale than Kerry did. By his own reasoning it's Kerry who is stuck, since he got poorer grades. But Kerry's original statement is in line with what the Democrats are saying this year - Iraq is a loser for the Republicans - only poor schlubs would go into the military and serve to defend our country in Iraq. Are they all inviting Kerry to appear with them at campaign events this week? Surely they want to showcase him. Update: No, they are telling Kerry to stay away:

Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts canceled campaign appearances with Democratic congressional candidates in three states after members of his own party criticized his remarks about the Iraq war and U.S. troops. Kerry won't appear today in Mankato, Minnesota on behalf of Tim Walz, a Democrat challenging Republican Representative Gil Gutknecht. The decision to cancel ``ultimately'' was Kerry's, said Walz spokeswoman Meredith Salsbery. Bruce Braley, a Democrat running for Iowa's 1st Congressional seat, asked Kerry not to campaign with him tomorrow, the Quad-Cities Times reported. Braley thought Kerry's remarks suggesting people with less education ``get stuck in Iraq'' were inappropriate, the paper said, citing Braley spokesman Jeff Giertz Kerry also won't appear today in Philadelphia with U.S. Senate candidate Bob Casey, ABC News reported. Casey's race to unseat Republican Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania could be pivotal to Democrats' hopes to gain control of the Senate. In Montana, Jon Tester, the Democratic challenger to incumbent Senator Republican Senator Conrad Burns, also sought to distance himself from Kerry.

Via Lucianne.com.

Conservatives give more than liberals

Conservatives are more generous in giving than liberals. Syracuse University professor Arthur C. Brooks has done the research and is publishing a book - "Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism," (Basic Books, $26) is due for release Nov. 24. It is now listed at Amazon.com for pre-order. The Syracuse Post-Standard (New York State):

... he cites extensive data analysis to demonstrate that values advocated by conservatives — from church attendance to two-parent families to the Protestant work ethic and a distaste for government-funded social services — make conservatives more generous than liberals. ... When it comes to helping the needy, he writes: "For too long, liberals have been claiming they are the most virtuous members of American society. Although they usually give less to charity, they have nevertheless lambasted conservatives for their callousness in the face of social injustice."

.

Lynne Cheney puts CNN's Blitzer in his place

Good for Lynne Cheney, the "Second Lady" of the US as Vice President Cheney's wife. She took Wolf Blitzer to task for promoting the propaganda of the Islamic jihad terrorists. I join her in questioning Blitzer's commitment to the United States. "Do you want the US to win?" "Then why are you showing this propaganda?" Wolfie says it's just news. Wrong. CNN is promoting the Islamic Jihadists' propaganda. CNN is working for them. Good for Mrs. Cheney for putting CNN back down in its hole. Double Tap is in the Army National Guard and spent a year in Iraq. He has the video.

ACLU, go accomplish something

The American Criminal Lawyers Union, I mean the ACLU, claims to work for our liberties. But they spend their time on the biggest threats to liberty - nativity scenes. Huh? And same-sex classes in schools. Huh? Unfogged reports:

The Education Department recently announced that they are giving school districts more latitude for implementing single-sex classes and schools. The ACLU and a bunch of feminist organizations are in a huff because they say that it is condoning discrimination and are threatening to sue.

She has first-hand knowledge:

I think that's a bad move - I went to a single-sex high school and believe I got far more out of it than I would have in a coeducational setting. I think a lot of what I gained from the experience ties into LB's post about the lack of female pundits and what m. leblanc had to say about women's comments being ignored. I'd always been outspoken in class but it wasn't until I was at an all-girls school that I felt my comments were heard and challenged.

And she has previous analysis of the lack, not lack, lower numbers, of female pundits.

Brazil Energy Independent; Don't Credit Ethanol

Distinguished former President Bill Clinton is undermining AlGore's global warming road show with his own "global initiative." But Clinton is also twisting the facts to suit his agenda. Clinton is going around saying that Brazil has gained energy independece (true) by growing and using ethanol, but that's not true. Investor's Business Daily caught him this time in Clinton Shills For Bad Energy Policy:

Energy: Bill Clinton's back, now touting tax hikes for ethanol to California voters. "If Brazil can do it, so can we," he said, claiming an ethanol switch ended Brazil's need for foreign oil. Once again, he's telling whoppers. Brazil did achieve independence from foreign oil all right. It happened this past April. But Clinton, true to form, doesn't quite recall the critical point showing how it was done. Here's a clue for the semi-retired former president and policy wonk: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio "Lula" da Silva didn't celebrate the oil independence milestone out in an Amazon sugar field. No, he smashed a champagne bottle on the spaceship-like deck of Brazil's vast P-50 oil rig in the Albacora Leste field in the deep blue Atlantic. Why? Brazil's oil independence had virtually nothing to do with its ethanol development. It came from drilling oil.

Oil. They did it by drilling for and consuming oil. From 2004 to 2006 Brazil increased its oil production by 400,000 barrels per day to 1.9 million. But ethanol only produces 292,000 barrels. That's 15% of the energy production. Let's keep looking for a developing alternate energy sources. But they have to make economic sense. If they have to make their own way in the marketplace, then some will become succesful, while others won't make sense and will fail. But it doesn't help to lie about them.

Worship video

Vangie leading Sunday 10/22. New Hope International Church. Watch - Notice the bass player, who is behind the guitar player by the window.

Micro-Loans for Poverty

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and its founder, Muhammad Yunus. They provide micro-loans for the poor to help them start tiny enterprises. Great news! This is not the politically correct way to aid the poor. The "right" way is to feel compassion and donate our time and money to them. But it works. The people they are helping are enterprising. A small loan for a specific purpose helps them get going. How can you be sure the borrower does what she promised with the money? They organize the borrowers into small groups where they hold each other accountable! Alvaro Vargas Llosa of Peru is very active in getting micro-loans used in Latin America and around the world. He writes in TCS Daily:

For half a century, wealthy nations -- and rock stars -- have focused on foreign aid as the way to spur development. Foreign aid started with President Harry Truman's "Point Four'' program at the end of the 1940s, partly to pre-empt the spread of communism. To judge by ever increasing budgets and last year's call at the United Nations for a doubling of aid by 2015, it continues to be the fundamental focus of efforts to bring about prosperity in poor countries. No attention is paid to the fact that in sub-Saharan Africa, the region to which most of the foreign aid has gone in the last quarter-century, per capita income has dropped by 11 percent. Numerous government programs involving handouts and training have also failed to do the trick in many countries. What the poor really want is an environment in which undertaking a profitable venture is not a nightmarish bureaucratic and legal process.

Welcome the 300 millionth American

300 million Americans as of this week. Good. Every person is productive, that is, can be productive and makes America a better place. Just because some choose not to be productive - and are allowed to - does not mean we should exclude someone else. We are not running out of land. Land that people value is getting more expensive - because people want to use it and will pay too. Also, in many areas the price rise is due to shortage forced by our politicians, who complain the loudest about the high prices they caused. Here in Seattle, WA, the county severely restricts any development beyond an arbitrary "rural" line. The intention is to force higher density in the already developed areas. And the result is what we call "a perfectly predictable surprise." (credit to a Republican female commentator whose name I don't recall.) Higher prices. Mark Steyn recognizes the good news and calls out the doom sayers:

But the wee bairn might have expected a warmer welcome from his or her compatriots. Alas not. "Three hundred million seems to be greeted more with hand-wringing ambivalence than chest-thumping pride," observed the Washington Post, which inclines toward the former even on the best of days. No chest-thumping up in Vermont, either. "Organizations such as the Shelburne-based Population Media Center are marking the 300 million milestone with renewed warnings that world population growth is unsustainable," reported the Burlington Free Press. Across the country, the grim milestone prompted this reaction from a somber Dowell Myers. "At 300 million," noted the professor of urban planning and demography at the University of Southern California, "we are beginning to be crushed under the weight of our own quality-of-life degradation."

Because he already covered this development in his new book, America Alone which came out this week by coincidence.

America is the 172nd least densely populated country on Earth. If you think it's crowded here, try living in the Netherlands or Belgium, which have, respectively, 1,015 and 883 inhabitants per square mile compared with 80 folks per square mile in the United States. To be sure, somewhere such as, say, Newark, N.J., is a lot less bucolic than it was in 1798. But why is that? No doubt Myers would say it's urban sprawl. But that's the point: you can only sprawl if you've got plenty of space. As the British writer Adam Nicholson once wrote of America, "There is too much room in the vast continental spaces of the country for a great deal of care to be taken with the immediate details." Nothing sprawls in Belgium: It's a phenomenon that arises not from population pressures but the lack thereof.

Also check Hugh Hewitt's write up of four books everyone should read to be apprised of the situation we are in and its urgency.

McGavick for US Senate

Even the liberal Seattle Times thinks Senator Maria Cantwell has done a poor job. They endorsed Mike McGavick for US Senate from Washington. He is very impressive. But am I surprised that they have very strange criteria for their endorsement? Been there.

In six years, Cantwell has grown somewhat in independence and influence, but not as much...

Yes, you have to go against your political party, especially a Republican.

To demonstrate his independence, McGavick has called for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He also shows realistic thinking on a range of issues. On the Iraq war, McGavick wants to find a way to win and Cantwell wants to find a way not to lose.

They are off on a strange route again. No difference between winning and not losing? When asked about control of public spending, Cantwell restates her support of the line-item veto, a reform that would require a constitutional amendment and therefore isn't realistic, either. Her actual voting record has not been for restraint. True; she has been one of the biggest spenders. Their bottom line fortunately is competence.

McGavick, in contrast, showed at Safeco that he was able to take on big problems. We think he could make an innovative and influential senator for Washington.

Mrs. Gregoire earns an F

Stefan Sharkansky at Sound Politics points out that Mrs. Gregoire, who calls herself governor, earned an F for fiscal irresponsibility among the 50 states of the US. The list at Cato puts her near the bottom. But their narrative makes me sick, because it's true:

Christine Gregoire, one of the worst new governors in the nation, was elected in 2004 in one of the closest and most contentious elections in Washington history--a controversial Palm Beach-style recount made her the winner of the gubernatorial race by only 129 votes. Famous for being the lead negotiator in the $206 billion shakedown of cigarette companies known as the 1998 multistate tobacco settlement, Gregoire quickly took aim at state taxpayers upon entering office. She's raised multiple taxes already: the cigarette tax (by 42 percent), the gas tax (by 34 percent), the state's liquor tax (by $1.33 a gallon). And she resurrected the estate tax, too. Gregoire even helped the legislature overturn the law that required a supermajority to raise taxes in the future. All of this to fuel her spending binge, which expanded the general fund budget by more than 8 percent in fiscal 2006 alone. Tax activists have placed a repeal of the estate tax on the ballot in Washington, and Gregoire has already stated her opposition. In the meantime, she was quick to propose new ways to spend the $1.6 billion budget surplus this year. With a legislature controlled by her own party, perhaps the only check on Gregoire's big-government ambitions in years to come will be the usually feisty tax activists in the state.

Good for our tax activists. Tim Eyman, let's keep after them.

Alternate Fuel - Cellulose!

Husks, stalks and leaves have cellulose for their structure. Cellulose has defied attempts to break it down for uses such as fuel. But now researchers are having success. But cellulose has other important uses. It is left in the field to reduce erosion and slowing the release of carbon dioxide. I am in favor of any fuel source that makes economic sense. The Seattle Times on Monday:

A federal Energy Department study concluded that cellulose plant materials could help renewables supply 30 percent of the nation's liquid fuel needs by 2030. But tapping farm fields to produce both energy and food crops also creates new risks for agriculture and the environment. Some cellulose materials — such as the corn harvest leftovers — already play an important role when returned to the soil. As they decay, they help fight erosion, improve the organic matter that is key to soil quality, and slow the release of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.

Persecution - Christian Pastor murdered in Indonesia

Christians are being persecuted - killed - in Indonesia. By the "religion of peace" - Islam. Monday, October 16: Palu, C Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - Reverend Irianto Kongkoli, secretary general of Central Sulawesi`s Christian church synod, was gunned down by an unidentified man here Monday morning, eyewitneses said. Eyewitnesses said Irianto, the reverend, was shot when he was about to buy building materials in Sinar Sakti shop on Monginsidi street in Palu subdistrict at 8:15 a.m. local time. "Suddenly a gunfire explosion was heard and the reverend collapsed with gunshot wound on his head" said a witness who spoke on the anonymity. The policemen from the Central Sulawesi district office and the Palu police precinct came to the site of the incident and cordoned of the place, the anonymous person said. Irianto and his wife were rushed to nearby Bala Keslamatan hospital on Wood Ward street, 500 meters away from the material building shop. Unfortunately, the reverend died afterwards. There was no official statement from the police but they directly searched for the perpetrators in Palu city. Persecuted Infidels in Indonesia is a blog covering the situation.

Oil price as low as $35

In Alaska they enjoy the windfall of oil revenues - so much that individuals pay no taxes; they receive a check from the state. So they watch the price of oil. And they don't like what they see now. Alaska Journal:

The current slide in crude oil prices could accelerate into a plunge to as low at $35 per barrel next year, ConocoPhillips' chief economist, Marianne Kau, told a group of economists in Anchorage Oct. 11. That's a sobering prospect for the next governor of the state - who will take office in early December - because a dip in oil prices, combined with declining North Slope production, could throw the state budget into a deficit again after two years of surpluses. .... Prices won't dive to $9 per barrel that Alaska saw in 1999, but they could go to $35 per barrel, Kau said. "Given the current slowdown in the economy and high inventories in the market, prices should logically be at $35 per barrel now," she said.

There is something new here ...

What has helped drive prices up is a huge flow of money coming into oil markets from commodity investment funds. These funds are likely to exit the market as prices slide, quickening the downturn, Kau said. "These new financial players are creating a lot of short-term price volatility.

Steve Forbes predicted this last year, but a bit quicker, like by now.

Russia's Dying Population

It's no fun. Their declining population is causing empty towns and stagnant economic nongrowth. The Boston Globe:

Russia is the only major industrial nation that is losing population. Its people are succumbing to one of the world's fastest-growing AIDS epidemics, resurgent tuberculosis, rampant cardiovascular disease, alcohol and drug abuse, smoking, suicide, and the lethal effects of unchecked industrial pollution. In addition, abortions outpaced births last year by more than 100,000.

``nezhiloye" -- depopulated

Antonina Makarova, 78, spends her days watching news and soap operas in her peeling wooden dacha, the only inhabited structure in two lanes of sagging cottages that once were a village. Her nearest neighbor, 80-year-old Maria Belkova, lives in adjacent Sosnovitsy, population 2. But Belkova can't hear anymore, and all in all, Makarova finds the television better company. ``All the houses here were filled with people. There was a cheese factory. But now everyone else has died. God has taken care of them, and he's still making me suffer," Makarova said. ``Even the thieves have disappeared." The Tver region, along the upper reaches of the Volga River 130 miles north of Moscow, is dotted with more than 1,400 villages such as Kstinovo marked ``nezhiloye" -- depopulated. Since 1989, the number of people here has shrunk by about 250,000 to about 1.4 million, with deaths outnumbering births more than 2 to 1.

Madeline Albright toasting North Korea's Kim - video

It's not funny. It's not tragic. It's just stupid. President Clinton sent Honorable Secretary of State Madeline Albright to North Korea to show Kim Jong Il how nice we are. She gave him a Michael Jordan autographed basketball. Clinton continued to send him nuclear material for his power plants - peaceful, you know. So they hoped. They hoped against all experience. Michelle Malkin's Hot Air has a very funny video about Albright's folly. And success of the tactic of being nice to your enemies, so they will like you. It's not tragic; it's stupid. Hot Air Zucker video YouTube is the host site for the video. They blocked access to it, by marking it "inapproprite," though it did not contain objectionable material, except for Clinton worshipers. World Net Daily has the story:

The popular video-sharing YouTube site, which is being purchased by Google for $1.65 billion, limited access to a political ad that mocks the Clinton administration's policy on North Korea, but contains no profanity, nudity or other factors generally thought objectionable. The company announced a "flagging" policy change just this week, about the time that a controversial spoof by Republican filmmaker David Zucker depicting former Secretary of State Madeline Albright as a cheerleader for Islamic terrorists started appearing with a warning page in front, requiring verification that a viewer is 18 before the video will appear.

Watch government spending

Despite "Bridge to Nowhere" Senator Ted Stevens, you can now see where the big bucks go. Who gets it, etc. At Fed Spending.org - Built by OMBwatch.org with funding from Sunshine Foundation. Read about Senator Ted's dirty dealings at The Captain's. He is unbelievably bad. If Alaska had an honest senator they might get what they want, such as oil production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. All they get now is favors for Ted's family and friends.

Sen. Ted Stevens, considered the Republican king of pork, just before the pre-election congressional recess killed a requirement for the Defense Department to evaluate unauthorized earmarks imposed by members of Congress on the Pentagon. Freshman Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma had won Senate passage of the ''report card'' as part of the Defense appropriations bill. The evaluation would show that the military really does not want most of the estimated $8 billion in earmarks added by Congress this year. However, Stevens succeeded in stripping the reform from the final version of the bill before it was signed by President Bush. Coburn intends to try to pass the report card as a freestanding bill during the lame-duck session after the election.

Putin critic murdered

President Vladimir Putin of Russia has continuously tightened his control of the government. He has shut down independent newspapers and television stations. He has arrested independent businessmen. A few brave independent journalists have been digging into areas connected to Putin's past as head of the KGB secret police. One of them, Anna Politkovskaya, was shot and murdered as she walked into her apartment building. Reuters reports:

Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, was shot dead on Saturday at her apartment block in central Moscow, police said. "According to initial information she was killed by two shots when leaving the lift. Neighbors found her body," a police source told Reuters. Police found a pistol and four rounds in the lift. Politkovskaya, a 48-year-old mother of two, won international fame and numerous prizes for her dogged pursuit of rights abuses by Putin's government, particularly in the violent southern province of Chechnya. "The first thing that comes to mind is that Anna was killed for her professional activities. We don't see any other motive for this terrible crime," said Vitaly Yaroshevsky, a deputy editor of the newspaper where Politkovskaya worked. Moscow chief prosecutor Yuri Syomin told reporters at the crime scene, a nine-story Soviet-era apartment building in central Moscow, that he was treating the death as murder. Paramedics took Politkovskaya's body, wrapped in a white sheet, out of the building and put it into an ambulance. A middle-aged woman laid flowers at the doors of the building and stood with her head against the wall, crying. Politkovskaya's silver Lada, filled with supermarket shopping bags, was parked outside the apartment block. Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, a shareholder in Politkovskaya's newspaper Novaya Gazeta, called the killing a "savage crime." "It is a blow to the entire democratic, independent press," Gorbachev told Interfax news agency. "It is a grave crime against the country, against all of us." In the days before her death, Politkovskaya had been working on a story about torture in Chechnya, which was expected to be published on Monday, her newspaper said. DISTRUSTED PUTIN The rebel province has been a constant headache for the Kremlin. Russia sent troops in 1994 to crush an insurgency but after 12 years of bloodshed and the devastation of the province's capital Grozny, sporadic attacks continue. Politkovskaya was a fierce critic of Putin, whom she accused of stifling freedom and failing to shake off his past as a KGB agent. "I dislike him for ... his cynicism, for his racism, for his lies ... for the massacre of the innocents which went on throughout his first term as president," she wrote in her book "Putin's Russia" which was published overseas but not in Russia.

More at Michelle Malkin's web site.

Carbon Offset Fraud

A good idea in theory is welcomed by rip-off men. The European plan to allow trading of carbon credits is off to a rough start. First, everyone cheated, except the British, I have heard. Everyone grossly overstated the offsets that they had - rain forests and such. Second, people are selling the 21st Century's Brooklyn Bridge. The Guardian in the UK:

.... Francis Sullivan, a carbon offset expert who led attempts by banking group HSBC to neutralise its emissions, said: "There will be individuals and companies out there who think they're doing the right thing but they're not. I am sure that people are buying offsets in this unregulated market that are not credible. I am sure there are people buying nothing more than hot air." The carbon offset market worth about £60m worldwide, up from £20m in 2005. Within three years it is expected to top £300m, as a growing number of organisations and companies race to declare themselves "carbon neutral". Mr Sullivan said: "There are sharks out there who are literally just trying to get money off you. People were offering to sell us large chunks of the rainforest in Papua New Guinea. I don't think it was theirs to sell." Concern is growing that the demand for offsets is allowing projects to claim savings they do not deserve, which are then sold on as "carbon credits". A tree planting or windfarm project reckoned to save up 30,000 tonnes of carbon could sell an equivalent number of carbon credits for about £3 each. To provide a true carbon saving, the developers of such projects must demonstrate that it would not have happened without the investment raised by selling such credits, called additionality. The saving is then worked out against what would have happened, the baseline.

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Senator Inhofe pushes back at O'Brien's use of fiction

Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma took CNN's Miles O'Brien to task for advocating certainty of human-caused global warming and basing his case on a fictional movie! In a Senate press release:

Senator Inhofe also questioned O’Brien about his 1992 CNN report regarding fears of a coming ice age. O’Brien responded by citing the 2004 fictional Hollywood global disaster movie, “The Day After Tomorrow” to back up his science reporting. “This is "The Day After Tomorrow" scenario that we're talking about,” O’Brien said after being confronted by Senator Inhofe on his climate reporting.

Inhofe also pushed back on accusations that his position is the result of donations by oil companies:

But when O’Brien interviewed global warming alarmist James Hansen on several different occasions most recently in August 2006, he failed to inform CNN viewers about Hansen’s partisan funding from Teresa Heinz Kerry’s left-wing Heinz Foundation, or Hansen’s subsequent endorsement of Democrat John Kerry for President. O'Brien also failed to inform CNN viewers of Hansen's partisan ties to former Vice President Al Gore and Hansen’s concession that the use of "extreme scenarios" was appropriate to drive the public's attention to global warming.

And he reminded O'Brien that 12 years ago he was alarmist about global cooling.

INHOFE: And I wonder also, Miles, it wasn't long ago -- you've got to keep everyone hysterical all the time. You were the one that said another ice age is coming just 12 years ago. O'BRIEN: I said that? I didn't say that. [....] INHOFE: You said, in talking about a shift that was coming -- you said, "If the Gulf Stream were to shift again, the British Isles could be engulfed in polar ice and Europe's climate could become frigid. [From CNN Transcript titled Scientists Research the Rapidity of the Ice Age dated December 19, 1992.]" That's another scary story.

Good work, Senator. Keep it up.

Speechless in Seattle

George Will highlights Washington's censoring speech by court order in Newsweek. He is not covering the State Public Disclosure Commission's announcement Thursday that the wrong people are financing campaigns. See Interest groups have taken over elections, panel fears. They are just warming up; watch them. No. He is talking about the successful efforts last year by several cities to shut up talk radio hosts when they threaten tax revenues. Successful? Yes. After the judge ruled that their speech counted as capaign contributions John Carlson and Kirby Wilbur were able to keep talking because I-912 was an issue, not a candidate. There is no spending limit for issues (Will says there is during the last 3 weeks), but there is for candidates. So talk-show hosts are prevented from enthusiastically covering a candidate like Carlson and Wilbur did I-912. And he certainly slowed them down; a court order against one tends to cause caution. Will:

SEATTLE—As the comprehensive and sustained attack on Americans' freedom of political speech intensifies, this city has become a battleground. Campaign-finance "reformers," who advocate ever-increasing government regulation of the quantity, timing and content of political speech, always argue that they want to regulate "only" money, which, they say, leaves speech unaffected. But here they argue that political speech is money, and hence must be regulated. By demanding that the speech of two talk-radio hosts be monetized and strictly limited, reformers reveal the next stage in their stealthy repeal of the First Amendment.

And

This is the America produced by "reformers" led by John McCain. The U.S. Supreme Court, in affirming the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold speech restrictions, advocated deference toward elected officials when they write laws regulating speech about elected officials and their deeds. This turned the First Amendment from the foundation of robust politics into a constitutional trifle to be "balanced" against competing considerations—combating the "appearance of corruption," or elevating political discourse or something. As a result, attempts to use campaign regulations to silence opponents are becoming a routine part of vicious political combat.

Campaign 2006: The Republicans Have a Secret Weapon

Everyone knows the Democrats will win the US House of Representatives. "Everyone knows..." Time Magazine took a deeper look. Mike Allen and James Carny report:

But top Republican officials maintain an eerie, Zen-like calm. They insist that the prospects for their congressional candidates in November's midterms have never been as bad as advertised and are getting better by the day. Those are party operatives and political savants whose job it is to anticipate trouble. But much of the time they seem so placid, you wonder whether they know something. They do. What they know is that just six days after George W. Bush won re-election in 2004, his political machine launched a sophisticated, expensive and largely unnoticed campaign aimed at maintaining G.O.P. majorities in the House and Senate. If that campaign succeeds, it would defy history and political gravity, both of which ordain that midterm elections are bad news for a lame-duck President's party, especially when the lame duck has low approval ratings.

Their report gets into how the Republicans are doing it.

In the off year of 2001, the creators of the 72-Hour program tested it in odd, lower-profile contests, including court races in Pennsylvania. The Bushies picked clusters of precincts where they quietly tried their new methods, then compared those with similar precincts where the campaigns did things the more traditional way. Those experiments helped Republicans develop a handful of precepts that constitute the party's playbook for this fall: .... Low tech can be better Caller ID, TiVo, cable channels and satellite radio all make it harder to reach voters than it was just a few years ago, increasing the importance of person-to-person appeals, the hallmark of old-fashioned, grassroots campaigns that used to connote an amateur or a low budget. "You clearly have to have TV ads," says White House political-affairs director Sara Taylor, "but for a little less TV, you can buy a whole lot of pizzas and phone lines and salaries for young men and women right out of college" to make phone calls, knock on doors and recruit and manage volunteers.

But, of course, they end on a negative note.

How to interview a dictator

Newsweek's Lally Weymouth did it right. While interviewing Iran's Ahminajad she asked him four times about his intent to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. And he weaves and bobs each time. He won't back up his own public statements. But shame on Tim Pagett in Time. Rich Karlgaard, editor of Forbes Magazine, at his blog Digital Rules:

At one point, Chávez tells Padgett, "Capitalism is the way of the devil and exploitation, of the kind of misery and inequality that destroys social values. If you really look at things through the eyes of Jesus Christ--who I think was the first socialist--only socialism can really create a genuine society." A remarkable assertion! Padgett's challenge? Nothing. Zippo. Another Chávez whopper: "If you think Chávez is intimidating free expression, just watch television there--my God, 'devil' is the least of things the opposition is allowed to call me on the air." Padgett's follow-up? Nothing again. What a wimp.

Uncompetitive Quebec

Quebec, Canda (the province) is not attracting foreign investment, due to high costs. Taxes are high, pay is high. Plus labor has a tight hold of union membership, which reduces flexibility. The Globe and Mail reports.

Asked 12 years ago if the province is becoming more globally competitive, 70 per cent of the respondents answered Yes, and 30 per cent said No. Asked the same question in the 2006 survey, 33 per cent replied Yes, while 40 per cent answered No and 27 per cent stated they did not know.

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Hope for Electric Cars

An unknown company has announced it has developed a new electricity storage device that will make "A four-passenger sedan will drive like a Ferrari." CNN Money reports:

Forget hybrids and hydrogen-powered vehicles. EEStor, a stealth company in Cedar Park, Texas, is working on an "energy storage" device that could finally give the internal combustion engine a run for its money -- and begin saving us from our oil addiction. "To call it a battery discredits it," says Ian Clifford, the CEO of Toronto-based electric car company Feel Good Cars, which plans to incorporate EEStor's technology in vehicles by 2008. EEStor's device is not technically a battery because no chemicals are involved. In fact, it contains no hazardous materials whatsoever. Yet it acts like a battery in that it stores electricit

Take this with a grain of salt. What is their track record? An electric car call the Zenn that goes the speed of a moped and take hours to charge.

EEStor is tight-lipped about its device and how it manages to pack such a punch. According to a patent issued in April, the device is made of a ceramic powder coated with aluminum oxide and glass. A bank of these ceramic batteries could be used at "electrical energy stations" where people on the road could charge up.

Despite long claims on short experience we have high hopes for alternate energy sources. Though this is not a source of energy, but energy storage, which is necessary also.

DDT can be used to save lives

The worldwide ban on DDT has been lifted. The ban killed tens of millions of people, mostly pregnant women and young children to malaria. Betsy McKay in the Wall Street Journal on 15 Sept 2006:

The World Health Organization, in a sign that widely used methods of fighting malaria have failed to bring the catastrophic disease under control, plans to announce today that it will encourage the use of DDT, even though the pesticide is banned or tightly restricted in much of the world. The new guidelines from the United Nations public-health agency support the spraying of small amounts of DDT, or dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane, on walls and other surfaces inside homes in areas at highest risk of malaria. The mosquito-borne disease infects as many as 500 million people a year and kills about a million. Most victims are in sub-Saharan Africa and under the age of 5.

Steven Milloy at Fox news analyzes the announcement:

Overlooked in all the hoopla over the announcement, however, is the terrible toll in human lives (tens of millions dead — mostly pregnant women and children under the age of 5), illness (billions sickened) and poverty (more than $1 trillion dollars in lost GDP in sub-Saharan Africa alone) caused by the tragic, decades-long ban.

Who did it?

It was, of course, then-Environmental Protection Agency administrator William Ruckelshaus who actually banned DDT after ignoring an EPA administrative law judge’s ruling that there was no evidence indicating that DDT posed any sort of threat to human health or the environment. Ruckleshaus never attended any of the agency’s hearings on DDT. He didn’t read the hearing transcripts and refused to explain his decision. None of this is surprising given that, in a May 22, 1971, speech before the Wisconsin Audubon Society, Ruckleshaus said that EPA procedures had been streamlined so that DDT could be banned. Ruckleshaus was also a member of — and wrote fundraising letters for — the EDF. The DDT ban solidified Ruckelshaus’ environmental credentials, which he has surfed to great success in business, including stints as CEO of Browning Ferris Industries and as a director of a number of other companies including Cummins Engine, Nordstrom, and Weyerhaeuser Company. Ruckelshaus currently is a principal in a Seattle, Wash., -based investment group called Madrona Venture Group.

Is there justice for what Ruckleshaus did?

Corporate wrongdoers — like WorldCom’s Bernie Ebbers and Tyco’s Dennis Kozlowski — were sentenced to prison for crimes against mere property. But what should the punishment be for government wrongdoers like Ruckleshaus who, apparently for the sake of his personal environmental interests, abused his power and affirmatively deprived billions of poor, helpless people of the only practical weapon against malaria?

PATH is a Seattle-area nonprofit to bring about solutions to health problems. They are encouraging and funding alternatives to DDT to combat malaria and they recognize the effectiveness of DDT.

While DDT is effective, there are alternatives, including a class of insecticides called synthetic pyrethroids, some of which are used to treat bed nets, says Kent Campbell, program director for MACEPA, a malaria control program at PATH, a Seattle nonprofit organization, and a former malaria branch chief at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The political debate over DDT impedes its effectiveness in preventing the disease, he adds. "It's extremely effective when used – as long as the discussion is not moved to pro or contra DDT," he adds.

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Hugo Chavez calls Bush "the Devil" to Applause

Hugo Chavez the president of Venezuela Wednesday at the United Nations in New York City called President Bush "the Devil", Associated Press reports:

"The devil came here," Chavez said. "Right here. Right here. And it smells of sulfur still today, this table that I am now standing in front of." He then made the sign of the cross, brought his hands together as if praying and looked up to the ceiling. Chavez's words drew tentative giggles at times from the audience, but also some applause.

The translator just loved repeating his words. She just gushed in emphasis. Chavez was elected president, but he has dismantled Venezuela's constitution to the point that he is now the dictator and cannot be replaced in an election. He is providing the finances for Fidel Castro to spread Communism in the Americas. And he is taking advantage of the poverty of other countries by giving aid to them to increase his influence there, such as Jamaica (via SFGate):

In Jamaica, Chavez has given a $274 million loan for a highway and sports complex and $65 million for a refinery.

An oil industry analyst says such projects make no sense:

"These projects make no economic sense, but they are part of his political megalomania, so normal economic laws don't apply," said Alberto Quiros, an oil industry analyst in Caracas and former president of Royal Dutch Shell's Venezuela operations. "Chavez is willing to pay any price."

No Questions Chavez cut his New York visit short after the speech and skipped a press conference scheduled for Thursday. Why no questions, Mr. Chavez? You can support Chavez's thuggish incursions by buying Citgo Gas; Venezuela owns it. Update Senator Harkin of Iowa agrees with Mr. Chavez via Radio Iowa:

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, a democrat, today defended Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's United Nations speech in which Chavez called President George Bush the devil. Harkin said the comments were "incendiary", then went on to say, "Let me put it this way, I can understand the frustration, ah, and the anger of certain people around the world because of George Bush's policies."

Thanks for telling us, Tom.

Environmental groups are unwittingly destroying forests

In the Washington Times:

Environmental groups are unwittingly destroying forests and killing wildlife with lawsuits. Ironically, they do so while claiming to save them. Activists again file lawsuits to stop forest management, and the government pays them to do so. They craft settlements that pay them handsomely with taxpayer money so they can live well and file the next lawsuit. No wonder they are inflexible. The latest example uses the California spotted owl and Pacific fisher in arguments supporting a lawsuit to stop restoration thinning in the Giant Sequoia National Monument. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service haven't listed either species as threatened or endangered. These activists claim spotted owls nest in dense forests, so no management should be allowed anywhere the owl might one day live. But, they neglect to mention owls also nest and thrive in managed forests. They ignore the fact owls have to eat, and their prey live mainly in young forests.

And their actions cause conditions that allow wild fires:

Unfortunately, legal action has blocked common-sense thinning to restore forests to their natural diversity and resistance to catastrophic wildfire. Already, many California public forests have grown dangerously overcrowded with 10 to 20 times more trees than is natural. The Giant Sequoia National Monument is near the top of the crowded forest list. It already burned once, and it is certain to burn again. In 2002, the McNally fire blackened 151,000 acres in and around the Sequoia National Monument, coming within a mile of the Packsaddle Grove of giant sequoias. Without active management, it is only a matter of time before another major wildfire hits, possibly destroying all 38 sequoia groves in the monument. Rather than protecting forests and wildlife with lawsuits, activists condemn them to destruction. Massive wildfires move so fast that flames can overtake animals like deer, bears and fishers before they escape. Streams boil and fish die. Ash fills burrows and suffocates ground dwellers. Smoke inhalation kills most animals before the flames reach them. In New Mexico's Los Alamos Fire, 90 percent of the Mexican spotted owl's habitat was lost. Between 1999 and 2002, the U.S. Forest Service identified 11 California spotted owl-nesting sites as lost to wildfire. In 2002, the Biscuit Fire destroyed tens of thousands of acres of spotted owl habitat in Southern Oregon and Northern California, including 49 known nesting sites.

The author Thomas Bonnicksen has studied California forests, including the sequoia forest, for more than 30 years. He has published numerous scientific papers on the sequoias and he is the author of "America's Ancient Forests" (John Wiley, 2000), which includes a section on the sequoia forest. Mr. Bonnicksen is a Texas A&M University professor emeritus of forest science, University of California-Davis visiting professor, and a member of the advisory board of the Forest Foundation.

Alaska!

I just got back from a week offline in Alaska. What a great place. Just driving from Anchorage to the next population center to the North (northeast actually) goes for over 20 miles past 3,000-plus-foot mountains rising from sea level. And it gets much better as you approach Mt. McKinley and Denali National Park by highway or train. Denali National Park and Mt. McKinley K2 Aviation (Rust's) has flights to and - at great expense - over McKinley. McKinley Creekside Cabins - at mile 224 on the Parks HIghway, about 12 miles south of the Park entrance. Nice location with great mountains across the highway, though they don't show them on their website. Prince William Sound - We drove from Anchorage through the 2.5 mile single-lane tunnel (an experience) to Whittier for a 5-hour cruise with Major Marine Cruises. We saw bald eagles, Live web cameras - List - I can't link directly; click on" McKinley Park "in this list. It's in the Southeast section if you get the list of quadrants Portage Glacier is a 50-mile drive SE of Anchorage at the entrance to the tunnel to Whittier. Looks pretty good, eh? Active Alaska volcanos - Mt. Augustine webcam from its island. It's also visible from Homer 75 miles across Cook Inlet.

Others - The current active volcanos are at the southwest entrance to Cook Inlet and are very remote.

Offline - I could have been online. McKinley Creekside, which is remote from remote Denali Park, has internet access in the front office. Even deep in Denali Park at Toklat, which is mile 53 on the bus line (no private vehicles allowed), employees have internet access, a friend tells us.

Who hates ABC's "The Path to 9/11"?

The Clinton machine can't stand the light. Previewers tell us that the series to be shown on September 10 and 11 on ABC portrays Sandy "In-His-Pants" Berger as indecisive, Secretary of State Madeline Albright as misguided and CIA chief George Tenet as ineffective. That sounds about right. So there is little argument that the Hollywood types who made this got it, if not perfect, in the ball park. But it doesn't advance Bill Clinton's legacy as the likeable president. His pretty people will stand for nothing short of full-throated praise. After all, 9/11 is about Bill, not the victims, not the threat to our security. It's about Bill. Hugh Hewitt has an excellent article at TownHall.com.

Incomes Unequal, but much higher

The hand wringing about income inequality in the United States is a red herring in the truest sense. It is a false issue intended to divert attention. The poorer people in the United States are at the same level as those in the egalitarian paradise of Finland, which has the lowest income inequality. Tim Worstall at TCSDaily shows us:

In the USA the poor get 39% of the US median income and in Finland (and Sweden) the poor get 38% of the US median income. It's not worth quibbling over 1% so let's take it as read that the poor in America have exactly the same standard of living as the poor in Finland (and Sweden). Which is really a rather revealing number don't you think? All those punitive tax rates, all that redistribution, that blessed egalitarianism, the flatter distribution of income, leads to a change in the living standards of the poor of precisely ... nothing. Such may lead us to a conclusion that the EPI probably wouldn't like: If we accept (as I do) that we do, indeed, need to have a social safety net, and that we have a duty to provide for those incapable or unlucky enough to be unable to do so for themselves, we need to set some level at which such help is offered. The standard of living of the poor in a redistributionist paradise like Finland (or Sweden) seems a fair enough number to use and the USA provides exactly that. Good, the problem's solved. We've provided -- both through the structure of the economy and the various forms of taxation and benefits precisely what we should be -- an acceptable baseline income for the poor. No further redistribution is necessary and we can carry on with the current tax rates and policies which seem, as this report shows, to be increasing US incomes faster than those in other countries and boosting productivity faster as well.

So the poorer people in the US are at the same level as Finland, but everyone else is higher - much higher! So take your choice: move to Finland and be lower income but equal or to the US and have the chance to get ahead - way ahead. Worstall also shows that the data from the liberal Progressive Policy Institute show that the US, as well as being ahead, is moving faster:

Things are actually looking pretty good for the US economy, then -- wealthier to start with, getting richer faster and productivity growth is also highest in the USA, meaning that this trend is only likely to continue.

Via Michael Barone. Follow that link and have your screen filled with pop-ups. Don't.

Welfare reform worked and still does

President Clinton vetoed welfare reform passed by Congress - twice. Then the Republicans passed it again and he signed it and claimed credit for it. Ten years later it has been a rare Washington success. Poverty among black dropped over 1/3 after being about the same for over 25 years. Poverty among children dropped substantially for all racial groups. The economic boom gets some credit, but not all. Washington really changed the rules and people responded. Robert Samuelsom reports at RealClearPolitics:

The 1996 law replaced Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) -- traditional welfare -- with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Congress created AFDC in 1935 as part of the landmark Social Security Act, which also included unemployment insurance and old-age assistance. In an era when few women worked, AFDC was intended to provide modest income support for widows and their children. By the 1980s, it had evolved into something else: guaranteed payments for single, often never-married mothers. Critics argued that the program bred dependence, weakened self-reliance and rewarded out-of-wedlock births. TANF set new rules. It eliminated the automatic entitlement to benefits. To qualify, mothers had to look for work, take job training or both (states set exact requirements). There was a general five-year lifetime limit on receiving benefits.

In a new book, "Work Over Welfare,'' Brookings Institution senior fellow Ron Haskins -- a Republican congressional staffer during the welfare debate -- cites much evidence of success.

Welfare caseloads have plunged. From August 1996 to June 2005, the number of people on welfare dropped from 12.2 million to 4.5 million. About 60 percent of mothers who left welfare got work. Their incomes generally rose. Many qualified for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, which subsidizes low-income workers. Finally, there were intangible benefits: work connections, self-respect. One lesson is that what people do for themselves often overshadows what government does for them. Since 1991, for example, the teen birthrate has dropped by a third. The mothers least capable of supporting children have had fewer of them. Welfare reform didn't single-handedly cause this. But it reinforced a broader shift in the social climate -- one emphasizing personal responsibility over victimhood.

Good for Congress! (with minor assistance by Bill.)

Rumor - US-Canada-Mexico Super State

Has President Bush committed to end the sovereignty of the US and to enable Mexico and Canada to join to form a single "super state"? Some people are convinced. Anthony Wile says he was doing research for a book and found this:

After a year “in the trenches” researching a number of such issues for my new book “High Alert” (High Alert Publishing,) I can tell you in all sincerity that it actually boils down to this: Believe it or not, America’s lawfully elected government is trying to effect the dissolution of the United States of America via a merger with Canada and Mexico. Hard to believe. Imagine if the New York Times carried a front page news article entitled Administration Seeks Merger of the United States with Mexico and Canada to Form SuperState – U.S. constitution abolished, new super government to be formed. Wouldn’t there be an outcry? Well, that’s what’s happening – all except the outcry.

News sources have covered the stories that make the pieces. Wile says he put the pieces together and found the "super state" picture. For example:

2001: Robert Pastor’s 2001 book, “Toward a North American Community,” calls for the creation of a North American Union — “Much of Pastor’s thinking appears aimed at limiting the power and sovereignty of the United States as we enter this new super-regional entity. Pastor has also called for the creation of a new currency which he has coined the ‘Amero,’ a currency that is proposed to replace the U.S. dollar, the Canadian dollar, and the Mexican peso.” The Plan to Replace the Dollar With the 'Amero' by Jerome R. Corsi, May 2006, www.Humaneventsonline.com April 2001: President George W. Bush signs Declaration of Quebec City — “This is a ‘commitment to hemispheric integration’ larded with favorite United Nations doubletalk such as ‘interdependent,’ ‘greater economic integration,’ and ‘sustainable development.’” Plan to Integrate the U.S., Mexico and Canada, July 2005, www.Eagleforum.org

To his discredit his "links" do not point to each story, but to the top level of the source. Phylis Schlafly is covering this here is one story. I don't know. I will have to follow this.

The Generals' Children

Hebert Meyer at American Thinker 3/18/2005:

With each passing year, it becomes less likely that the order to shoot will be obeyed – which means it’s becoming more likely that revolutions against dictatorships will succeed. This is precisely what has already happened in Georgia and Ukraine. The question now is whether this also will happen in Lebanon, in Syria, in Iran, and in suddenly-volatile Kyrgyzstan. And will it happen – down the road a bit – in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and – still further down the road – perhaps in Russia, China and even in North Korea. There are several reasons why the generals are growing ever more reluctant to shoot into the crowds, including the presence of television cameras and the very real fear of one day being hauled before the International Court of Justice as a war criminal. But the overriding reason why the generals are growing reluctant to shoot is this: they don’t want to shoot their own children

Ending....

It is late at night in Damascus, or Teheran, or Cairo, or maybe even Moscow, and the general is sitting in his easy chair with his tie loosened, his shoes off and perhaps with a drink in his hand. He is exhausted, but he cannot sleep. All day he has been reading reports of growing unrest, of strikes, of demonstrations against the regime he is sworn to defend. It is getting out of hand, and sooner rather than later he will be given the order to shoot. Scenes of the resulting carnage will be played and re-played on televisions around the world – including the one in his wife’s bedroom. And even if the revolution is stopped, surely it will start again before long and even more blood will flow through the streets. The general finishes his drink, turns out the lamp beside his chair, walks slowly toward his bedroom – and realizes that his two teen-agers aren’t home…..

The perfect system has them waiting

The ideal of the government-can-do-anything crowd is Canada's socialized medicine system. Surely the Canadians agree. Not. The Globe and Mail reports:

Canadians feel they're waiting too long for health care: poll Canadian Press OTTAWA — A new survey suggests more than a third of Canadian households feel they were denied timely access to health care in the last three months. The exhaustive poll by Decima Research says 37 per cent of respondents feel someone in their household didn't get prompt treatment. The survey was wide-ranging — 3,000 respondents were asked whether someone in their home needed care, what kind of care they needed, and whether they felt they waited too long. About three-quarters of Canadian households needed some form of care in the last three months — and half of those reported they couldn't get it fast enough, the survey suggests.

OK. No system appears perfect to the people who rely on it. But 37% is substantial. And this summer, while on our annual vacation in Canada, a woman eagerly collected the contact information for the surgeon who operated on my wife's back. She is willing to travel to the US and pay out of her pocket, because she can't get the care she needs from Canada's system.

If you like high taxes

If you like high taxes then don't wait. Pay more today. Don't wait until tomorrow, double the taxes you pay today. Send your check to:

Gifts to the United States U.S. Department of the Treasury Credit Accounting Branch 3700 East-West Highway, Room 6D37 Hyattsville, MD 20782

Despite the millions who like high taxes they don't receive much. $2 million last year. Tim Worstall has more encouragement at TCS Daily.

Great News Hidden

You don't hear about the booming US economy. Because President Bush would get credit; the news media won't ever do that. Lawrence Kudlow reports:

Following a meeting with his economic advisors at Camp David, the president let 'er rip, stating that, "The foundation of our economy is solid, and it's strong. Because of the tax cuts we passed, American workers and families and small businesses are keeping more of the money they earn. And they're using that money to drive this economy of ours forward." Could he be any clearer?

And how about the distinguished economists? There's no counting how many recessions Times columnist Paul Krugman has predicted, but Mr. Bush was exactly right to point out 4% real GDP growth during the first half of 2006, brisk productivity rates, 5.5 million new jobs over the past three years, and a historically low 4.8% unemployment rate. Mr. Bush's critics say he's whistling past the graveyard. But the president rightly insists that, "The entrepreneurial spirit in the country is strong, and that's good for America."

Bureaucratic Princes Not Civil Servants

Myth: Civil Servants work to serve the public, but receive less pay and benefits than us private-sector workers. Fact: Public-sector work is much more secure than private. Life-time job security is available in many areas of work, not all. Fact: They receive much higher pay - much higher. Paul Jacob reports at Townhall.com:

Average compensation for federal civilian workers last year came to $106,579 — which Chris Edwards of the Cato Institute notes is "exactly twice the average compensation paid in the U.S. private sector." Throw out the benefits and the difference is less, but still a whopping 62 percent more for the federal worker. Of course, past figures used to bolster up the "underpaid civil servant" notion ignore benefits and consider just the nominal wage rate. But today's 62 percent difference is hard to ignore, isn't it? But face it: nominal wages aren't real wages; for a true comparison we must add on all the benefits, as Edwards does: "Federal workers receive generous health benefits during work and retirement, a pension plan with inflation protection, a retirement savings plan with generous matching contributions, large disability benefits, and union protections." Let me put a stop to transcribing here. There's a lot more, and I don't get paid enough to risk carpal tunnel.

His source is Chris Edwards of Cato Institute writing in the Washington Post.

Figuring in all the benefits, Edwards suggests that government employees should be paid less than private sector employees, not more.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis is the source for the original data.

Alaska Oil Production

Good news. New oil drilling and production areas are being opened in Alaska. This is opposed by the people who want the price of oil to keep climbing. The same people who talk about the US being self sufficient in energy. 2,000,000,000 barrels of oil: Lake Teshekpuk is on Alaska's remote North Slope. The Guardian (UK):

Government geologists believe at least 2 billion barrels of oil and huge amounts of natural gas lie beneath the coastal lagoons, river deltas and sedge grass meadows - an area also where caribou give birth to their calves and thousands of geese migrate each summer to molt. Within days, the Interior Department will open tracts in the lake area for leasing, with the winning bids to be announced in late September. The lake and its surrounding wetlands are within the federal National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA), a vast area of 22 million acres set aside in 1923 by the federal government for its oil and gas resources. Unlike the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge farther to the east, the NPRA is acknowledged by all sides to be an area for energy development.

The area is limited:

Interior's Bureau of Land Management said that in its upcoming lease offering it will limit the surface areas within the nearly 500,000 acres to protect geese molting and caribou calving areas. The restrictions apply to roads and drilling pads, but not to elevated 30-inch pipelines.

All those opposed sell your car and cut off electricity where you live. Lake Teshekouk is at 70.35 N, 135.30 W. I have to learn how to include a link to Google Earth for it.

Encouraging investment for Retirement

The New York Times is against you receiving investment advice. Huh? The recently passed pension reform bill among many thing has several items aimed at encouraging individuals to save for retirement. Employers will be able to automatically enroll employees in the 401(k) plan. But the NYT discovered the Republican dirty trick. The managers of the 401(k)s will be able to give advice on investment. Good, I mean, bad, says the Times. Most people could use some advice. My observation in the 25 or so years my employer has had the 401(k) is that too many people park their money in a fixed-rate fund that is outperformed by the stock market in the long run. Not every year, but saving for retirement is the long run. They could use some investment advice. But the NYT warns:

But the bill also imperils savers by allowing for potentially biased investment advice. Previous law quite sensibly banned mutual fund companies from offering advice if their funds were among an employee’s 401(k) options, but it did not give employers a legally sanctioned way to provide such advice. For the new bill, some senators had proposed protections for employers to hire qualified independent advisers. Unfortunately, at the behest of securities industry campaign donors, the House majority leader, John Boehner, fought hard for basically lifting the ban, and won.

Donald Luskin's anonymous friend warns about investing in the NYT:

Here are three pieces of solid and unconflicted advice: 1. Don't buy the New York Times; the fools give it away online for free. 2. Do not take their advice -- it is bad and conflicted (meaning: it will fail you and they only have their political interests in mind) 3. Don't buy their stock; let Sulzberger throw inherited money down his drain.

And he has a good question:

Can the New York Times promote...the New York Times? Or, is that a conflict?

"Well, that's different," says Pinch Sulzberger. Sure is, it impacts his fortune. Let's play it straight. Novice investors receiving investment advice will result in more savings. This is good. Anonymous friend again:

If a company which sells investment products and services is free to promote them, more investment products and services will be sold. If this catches on, more individuals will invest in their own futures. Individually and collectively, this could be good. No guarantees, of course, because investments can fail. Some investments, such as shares of the New York Times Company, can perform very poorly. Losing more than half of your investment is worse even than risking a potential conflict from an advisor. Duh.

Who we are fighting

President Bush finally said it - Islamic fascists:

The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation.

From the White House. It is hard to focus your energy when you won't admit who you are fighting. We were not attacked by Islam; we were attacked by fascists within Islam. Fascist? That's terrible. Consider how Dictionary.com defines fascist: a. A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism. Yes, centralized authority. Under a dictator. Stringent socioeconomic controls. Suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship. That is Saddam Hussein's Iraq, Iran, Ghaddafi's Libya (current signs of improvement), Syria and North Korea. And it is what the British bombing conspiritors want to force on the United States. via Neal Boortz. He also describes the irresponsible response of the US Muslim PR machine. They pounce on President Bush. But they have nothing to say against terrorism.

Investing in oil exploration

Oil companies are investing in exploration and new technologies for extracting oil. You didn't see this on the TV news. They are investing MORE than the amount of their record profits. The Washington Times reports.

Big Oil's record profits attract attention and outrage, but an independent study has found that oil companies do exactly what economic textbooks say they should do with all that money: They invest it in oil exploration and development efforts that eventually should relieve pressure on prices. The top 20 U.S. and Canadian oil companies actually invested 50 percent more than they earned in the past 10 years in efforts to produce more oil ...

Wouldn't you try to perpetuate the business you managed? But they are challenged because the cheap opportunities are gone, so the costs are much higher.

... but adverse geopolitical developments conspired to give them fewer opportunities to expand production while fading oil fields in the U.S. and elsewhere forced them to spend substantially more just to maintain current production, according to the study by the Ernst & Young accounting firm.

"Reinvestment is under way, and it's strong," said Charles Swanson, an energy analyst at the firm, but "average costs to find and develop oil and gas reserves have tripled since 1997, while total reserve-replacement costs have more than doubled."

They invested more than their profits? Yes. 50% more:

The study found that the top companies -- including Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and Chevron, among others -- took in a mind-numbing $5 trillion in revenue from sales of oil and related products between 1995 and 2005. After subtracting the cost of equipment, leases, labor and other operating expenses, the companies posted whopping profits of $336 billion. Over the same time span, however, the companies spent even more than they earned -- $550 billion -- on oil exploration and development. Some of them went deeply into debt to finance new ventures, especially during times of lean profits. Despite the massive sums of money oil companies spent trying to find more oil for the world's fuel-thirsty consumers, returns on investment over the past 10 years declined sharply because most existing oil fields in the West are in decline and the most promising new discoveries are not available for development, Ernst & Young found.

History for the Global-Warming Fundamentalists - 1930

Yes, this has been a hot summer. Cool Seattle had 3 days over 95F. That's proof that the Earth has heated up. And it's your fault and you have to get out of your car. And watch Albert Gore, Jr. race by in his limousine. If you ignore history, then go ahead and walk a mile or two to the bus. But history has other lessons for us. The hottest year since weather records have been kept in the United States was 1930. CNS News reports.

"From June 1 to August 31, 1930, 21 days had high temperatures that were 100 degrees or above" in the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area, Patrick Michaels, senior fellow for environmental studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, told Cybercast News Service. "That summer has never been approached, and it's not going to be approached this year." Between July 19 and Aug. 9 of that year, heat records were set on nine days and they remain unbroken more than three-quarters of a century later. "That's hot," added Michaels, who also serves as professor of natural resources at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va.

And has AlGore fotten the Dustbowl of the 1930s?

The summer of 1930 also marked the beginning of the longest drought of the 20th century. In 1934, dry regions stretched from New York and Pennsylvania across the Great Plains to California. A "dust bowl" covered about 50 million acres in the south-central plains during the winter of 1935-1936.

The Earth might be getting warmer, but it is not conclusive. My complaint with Prince Albert is that he wants to blame me for it. And he wants to shut down the US economy while he keeps all the privileges he was born to. The Earth goes through cycles of warmer/cooler. There once were farms in Greenland. If we are now on a warmer cycle we cannot conclude that we caused it.

Trade - Signs of Life

Thomas Barnett is convinced that the failure of the Doha round of WTO talks is not fatal. As is often the case, when governments get all wrapped around and do nothing but pose and spend billions, the private sector and individual countries come through. On his blog:

... signs of Doha's revival already here (wow, that took long!). Not surprisingly, the private sector comes to the rescue (an underlying logic of Globalization IV (2001 and counting) is that the private sector is way ahead of the public sector (economics racing ahead of politics, technology races ahead of security)). Doha ultimately succeeds, just like Kyoto ultimately happens, thanks largely to companies and local governments and not national gov's. Now more than ever we live in a world in which the government's main challenge is getting out of the way of markets and sub-national and trans-national actors (the good ones that vastly outnumber and outperform the baddies--corps and NGOs/PVOs rule, terrorists and narcos and rebels drool!) that are doing God's work of spreading the connectivity and rules of globalization (leaving govs mostly to protect the weak and constrain the powerful on the margins, trusting people to do the right thing). So chin up.

I am watching.