Who says economists have no sense of humor?

Check out the Dean of the Columbia Business School.

Re-Thinking the First Amendment

I’ll bet that got your attention.

Andy McCarthy says that what Gingrich is really after is a return to the constitutional view, not the Warren Court view.

Captain Ed says, “The remedy for bad speech is more speech.” This, effectively, is the Holmesian “marketplace of ideas” trope that is just an excuse for not thinking. If someone’s bad speech is a fatwa that sets a WMD attack in motion, my ability to speak out against the fatwa will be cold comfort to the dead. The First Amendment does not countenance commands to murder, and Speaker Gingrich is entirely correct to challenge us to think through these principles.

McCain/Feingold says the political speech that was the core of the original First Amendment protection can be regulated. Are you really telling me that we can stop someone from speaking out on behalf of a candidate for public office but we have to allow jihadists to call for mass murder? I don’t think so.

Flying Imam Watch

Turns out those six weren’t just acting a little suspicious. They could hardly have been more suspicious if they had actually wanted to hijack the airplane.

Passengers and flight attendants told law-enforcement officials the imams switched from their assigned seats to a pattern associated with the September 11 terrorist attacks and also found in probes of U.S. security since the attacks — two in the front row first-class, two in the middle of the plane on the exit aisle and two in the rear of the cabin.

My own speculation is that they had no intention of actually hijacking the plane, but that they deliberately provoked suspicion for publicity.

If that’s the case, it may (thankfully) backfire. As has been pointed out before, if Islamists boycott enough airlines we can just do away with the TSA altogether.

My excuse just came in

Now I know why I’m having trouble getting that next screenplay going.

Steyn-o-Rama

First you read Four Jills in a Jeep. Among other things it includes this I-swear-I-ain’t-making-this-up item:

[T]he new Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first woman to run a national division of the Anglican Communion. Bishop Kate gave an interview to the New York Times revealing what passes for orthodoxy in this most flexible of faiths. She was asked a simple enough question: “How many members of the Episcopal Church are there?”

“About 2.2 million,” replied the presiding bishop. “It used to be larger percentage-wise, but Episcopalians tend to be better educated and tend to reproduce at lower rates than other denominations.”

This was a bit of a jaw-dropper even for a New York Times hackette, so, with vague memories of God saying something about going forth and multiplying floating around the back of her head, a bewildered Deborah Solomon said: “Episcopalians aren’t interested in replenishing their ranks by having children?”

“No,” agreed Bishop Kate. “It’s probably the opposite. We encourage people to pay attention to the stewardship of the earth and not use more than their portion.”

Ralph Peters then piles on, claiming it just ain’t so.

THE historical patterns are clear: When Europeans feel sufficiently threatened – even when the threat’s concocted nonsense – they don’t just react, they over-react with stunning ferocity. One of their more-humane (and frequently employed) techniques has been ethnic cleansing.

And Europeans won’t even need to re-write “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” with an Islamist theme – real Muslims zealots provide Europe’s bigots with all the propaganda they need. Al Qaeda and its wannabe fans are the worst thing that could have happened to Europe’s Muslims. Europe hasn’t broken free of its historical addictions – we’re going to see Europe’s history reprised on meth.

All of which is just a setup for Steyn, in an update to the referee at Power Line.

Had he read America Alone, for example, he would know that I do, indeed, foresee a revival of Fascism in Europe. He concludes: “All predictions of Europe going gently into that good night are surreal.” Which of us predicted anything about “going gently”? As I write on page 105 of my book: “It’s true that there are many European populations reluctant to go happily into the long Eurabian night.” What I point out, though, is that, even if you’re hot for a new Holocaust, demography tells. There are no Hitlers to hand. When Mr Peters cites the success of Jean Marie Le Pen’s National Front, he overlooks not only Le Pen’s recent overtures to Muslims but also the fact that M Le Pen is pushing 80. As a general rule, when 600 octogenarians are up against 200 teenagers, bet on the teens. In five or ten years’ time, who precisely is going to organize mass deportations from French cities in which the native/Muslim youth-population ratio is already – right now – 55/45?

Me? I find Steyn more persuasive. And funnier. Not many people can pull off that combination.

Feel Safer?

Hat tip to Powerline for linking to Jim Geraghty. Read the whole thing, and then the comments.

And then read where the comments came from.

Now here’s a boycott I can support

Those whiny Imams want a boycott of US Air.

Now, I don’t know about you, but if Jihadists start avoiding a certain airline, that certain airline suddenly becomes more attractive to me.

I don’t see a down side to this. At least not for US Air.

Prejudice, Fear and Profiling

There are many people who think those are bad things. Well, they aren’t. It should go without saying, but nothing does with so many PC folks out there: If white, Christian women in their seventies had made several violent terrorist attacks, then the wanding and pat-down my mother got on her way to visit us would make sense. Since nearly all terrorist attacks in the last several years have been made by Muslim men, it’s clearly provoking when they complain about this kind of treatment.

But U.S. Airways, and those passengers, did exactly the right thing. Their prejudice, fear and profiling were all quite rational responses, and should be applauded.

Perspective

Pop quiz: In terms of your risk of being murdered goes, which is safer, Chicago or any city in Iraq that isn’t Bagdhad?

OK, it’s a trick question.

Turns out it’s about a wash.

Update:

Thanks to those who left comments pointing out the arithmetical error at Powerline. John forgot to multiply by 12 to get the rate for Bagdhad. So it is about an order of magnitude worse there than in Washington, D.C. in a bad year.

But that still leaves the main point I was trying to make: If you don’t count Bagdhad, the rest of Iraq averages out about the same as Chicago. So it’s still important to have perspective.

Useful Idiot Watch

Hard to know if it’s stupidity, hypocrisy, or both. They must be very comfortable living with their congnitive dissonance.

In the end, though, I think I have to call it cowardice. They know that Israel won’t kill them, at least not on purpose. And they must know that their “hosts” would. So they get to make the self-hating part of them “feel good”, while knowing they’re taking no risk at all.

Perhaps Buzz Lightyear said it best. “You are a sad, strange little man, and you have my pity.”

Finally, there’s a plan

Go Public. Go Home. Go Mecca.

Save the Planet – Drive a Hummer

Yeah, it’s only one study. Still, fun to wave under the raised noses of Pious drivers.

For example, while the industry average of all vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2005 was $2.28 cents per mile, the Hummer H3 (among most SUVs) was only $1.949 cents per mile. That figure is also lower than all currently offered hybrids and Honda Civics at $2.42 per mile.

More here.

The Buzz from Israel

Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

There’s probably a movie in this news story, though.

“The war in Lebanon proved that we need smaller weaponry. It’s illogical to send a plane worth $100 million against a suicidal terrorist. So we are building futuristic weapons,” Peres said.

Damned Either Way

Here’s something you see every day: An idiot, anti-freedom lawsuit. But here’s something you don’t see every day: A newspaper with a clue about economics.

The theory behind predatory pricing laws is that a large company will sell certain products below cost in order to drive out competitors. Once the competitors are gone, goes the hypothesis, the big company will jack up prices to a monopoly level.

The only problem is, this never happens. New competitors always move fast into markets where prices are unjustifiably high. Predatory-pricing suits are generally filed by existing companies unable or unwilling to meet competition provided by more efficient firms. Legal restrictions on cutting prices invariably work against the consumer.

Cui Bono?

Jonah Goldberg posts an email with yet another good reason to be skeptical.

It’s just that I’m instinctively suspicious of people who put forth arguments based ostensibly on rational and humanitarian grounds, when those arguments would, if accepted by all relevant parties, result in greater power being granted those making the argument. In other words, I don’t believe people who say the earth is getting hotter because, if we all decided that the earth really was getting hotter, that would just happen to imply that we should all show more willingness to grant greater power and influence to the people telling us the earth is getting hotter.

Indeed it’s an appropriate red flag.

Remember that he said this

Buttle’s World contributes to the internet’s elephantine memory, in vain hope.

“Our strong inclination would be to avoid tax hikes. That’s pretty universal. That shows the pragmatism of the Democratic Party. Even the most liberal people said ‘No, we shouldn’t go for tax hikes.’ So we are going to try to avoid it.” –Chuck Schumer

Stupid Map Tricks

So you want to dig a hole to China? You’ll need to start in South America. Try it. Now what, you may ask, might you do with this technology?

Why, make an Earth Sandwich, of course.

Eek, a Mouse

Oh for crying out loud. Some Brits are in a panic because someone found a .22 round in the street.

The bullet, of Swiss origin, was still in its brass casing, complete with enough gunpowder for it to fire itself.

And I thought our reporters were stupid.

I may have found a new one-word oxymoron

Here’s a blog entry at a “progressive” web site, pondering how Disney may be “prejudiced” because of the stereotypical casting in Cars. It’s certainly valid to criticize the film for that. It’s one of my major gripes with it. Finding malapropisms such as “prodigious” make me wonder just what sort of education is happening at “Progressive U”, but this is just a howler:

Another thing I noticed is the mayor of the town on route 66 has an old timer black voice. Which that in turn makes it seem like the black man is suppressing the town full of “white voiced” cars.

I also noticed that the classic car in that town had a black voice to it too. That is kind of telling me that the old time Cadillac is just for black people.

Who’s going to break it to “redneck_hunter2022” that the mayor has blue eyes and that the old Cadillac was a Mercury, and is also white? Perish the thought that the blogger might oh, I don’t know, read the credits.

This is funny on many levels, my favorite being the “prejudice” on the part of the blogger who heard those voices and assumed “black”. Really? Blacks have different voices? That bias speaks volumes.

They may not be teaching English at “Progressive U”, but at least they aren’t teaching critical thinking.

Progressive education. Well, it’s certainly an oxymoron when you use both words.

The Duff Curriculum

Buttle’s World celebrates the fact that my friend Tom Duff has made Language Log with a pretty cool idea.

I wonder if there’s a primary education hook here (and a way to promote general Linguistics awareness.) Unless the math is too heavyweight, it sounds like a research program that schoolkids could replicate: taking down each other’s speech, analyzing the data, discovering the grammar of the language as used by their peers. I would have been so stoked by this when I was 9 or 10.

It sounds like a complete primary education program — English, science & math all rolled together. And talking in class!

Of course, a lot of Tom’s ideas are pretty cool.

Your Tax Dollars At Work

This is undeniably cool. But one has to wonder, is it really worth the billions we’ve spent on that space station?

Shame on Him

I found this op-ed via LGF. While losing a son in Iraq doesn’t give a parent any more “moral authority” than anybody else to opine, I think this father’s opinion serves well as a final comment on this particular utterance from the wretched Mr. Kerry.

It is in my mind the height of irony that John Kerry, a Yale graduate, would make two other Yale graduates the butt of his supposed joke. One we all knew as President Bush; the other is known mostly to those who have proudly served with and under him. On the day Kyle died, this gallant warrior was to take command of Kyle’s parent unit, the 519th Military Intelligence Battalion. Kyle was on his way to the ceremony when he and his buddies were killed. Here is a man who is the epitome of intellect, character and gallantry–an individual that Mr. Kerry does not believe exists.
John Kerry stands alone, to be judged by his words. He has given us the rare opportunity to look into the soul of a politician, and he has shown himself wanting, especially in view of the fact that he asked us to allow him the honor and privilege of leading our gallant military at a time of war. It is rare in life to be able to know the consequences of both sides of a decision. Mr. Kerry has clearly demonstrated what manner of president he would have been. Fortunately the American electorate denied him that high honor.

Update:
OK, so maybe it’s not the last word after all. Who’d a thunk that John Kerry could unite our armed services, causing them to set aside rivalries?

Teddy Kennedy: Traitor

According to CNS News the senator from Mass volunteered his help to the Soviets. Working against Reagan? No.

But, in Kennedy’s estimation, the Carter administration had assumed an overly belligerent posture toward the Soviet Union after the invasion of Afghanistan, Mitrokhin wrote.

In Kennedy’s view, “the atmosphere of tension and hostility towards the whole Soviet people was being fuelled by Carter” as well as by some key advisors, the Pentagon and the U.S. military industrial complex, the Mitrokhin report states.

The Patriot Post observes

Kennedy and Tunney are likely guilty of
treason—violating Article three, Section three of the
U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Code and the Logan Act of 1799,
barring citizens from giving aid and comfort to the enemy or
from engaging in diplomacy with foreign governments in an effort
to undermine U.S. policy. The junior senator from Massachusetts,
one John F. Kerry, also remains guilty for meeting with the North
Vietnamese in 1970.

Hey. At least it’s not like he killed a woman or something.

Under-reported Story?

The Anchoress wonders about the locks at Alamo.

Voter fraud is another big concern of mine. While I’m not a tinfoil-hat conspiracy theorist about it, neither am I comfortable with the level of security and lack of paper trail offered by current systems. I can’t help but wonder if the open-source community couldn’t solve both problems if given the right opportunity and inducements.

NYT Shoots Self in Foot

Which? The left one, of course. They don’t have a right foot.

I think Hoekstra nails it in a letter posted on Michelle Malkin’s site. Especially this:

“Finally, it is disappointing but not surprising that the New York Times would continue to participate in such blatant and transparent political ploys, including what I believe are improper efforts by the IAEA to interfere with U.S. domestic affairs. The sad reality is that the New York Times has done far more damage to U.S. national security by the disclosure of vital, classified, intelligence programs than is likely to be caused by the inadvertent disclosure of decades-old information that had already been in the hands of Saddam’s regime.”

Still Waiting for an Apology

“I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform and I personally apologize to any service member, family member or American who was offended.”emphasis added

Get it? He’s sorry you were so stupid you couldn’t understand what he said.

Not only is the man a moron, he’s a coward.