Saturday, November 30, 2002 :::
 

Mexicans are complaining that NAFTA is causing them to lose jobs to the United States.

::: posted by Steven at 12:23 PM


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K-Lo at The Corner points out this article touching on autism and biological differences between men and women.

That would be differences in their brains.

::: posted by Steven at 11:24 AM


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Friday, November 29, 2002 :::
 

Colby Cosh doesn't think much of Kissinger's new gig. In an aside on Rumsfeld, he says:

I keep expecting to wake up one day and hear that Rumsfeld bedded Britney Spears on national television or something.

I think Fox tried to set that up, but Britney turned them down,
fearing she'd be perceived as "selling out".

I don't really see what's wrong with Kissinger, though. His foreign-policy advice is taken seriously by most Americans, at least when we remember that he's still alive. Besides, this is the sort of job they always give to an "elder statesman" of some kind. Who else would Bush choose? Jimmy Carter?

As long as I'm rambling, I saw a picture of Carter today from a campaign for state senate, presumably taken in the sixties. He looked exactly like Gary Shandling.

::: posted by Steven at 10:17 PM


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Wednesday, November 27, 2002 :::
 

The biggest news in this week's Cambridge Chronicle would seem to be the firing of the superintendent of Cambridge schools. My general impression has been that D'Alessandro isn't really part of the problem, and I'll note that the sole vote in her favor came from Fred Fantini, the highest incumbent on my last school committee ballot. That said, this is more impression than knowledge; I don't really know enough to have an informed opinion.

Meanwhile, the city council isn't very happy with the school committee, and there are some developments on the library project.

::: posted by Steven at 8:58 AM


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Tuesday, November 26, 2002 :::
 

Part of standard procedure for bouncing oneself off a tree is to be asked questions to which one is presumed to have known the answer. Hence, "Where are you?"

"I don't know" seemed like a bad response, but I didn't drive there, and didn't really know the name of the place, except that it was "El Dorado" with one of the syllables missing. "Colorado," I told them. "West of Boulder, somewhere."

"What's today's date?" Tell me, does anyone wander around with this in mind? "November something. It's two days before Thanksgiving." That seemed to satisfy them.

Incidentally, I think now that I acquired any facial bruising on the trip to the ground immediately preceding the one that was mediated by the tree. I'm curious as to the source of my current headache; it could have been that previous spill (in which I acquired a swollen lip) or just having my head whipped back and forth later. I don't know, but I'm going to try ice skating tomorrow. Steve, you get my stuff if I don't come back.

::: posted by dWj at 9:42 PM


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Here in Boulder, CO, there's quite a bit of excitement over the fact that the winner of the men's cross country championship is from CU. (Also that he's American.)

::: posted by dWj at 9:37 PM


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The NCAA women's cross country champion, Shalane Flanagan, is from Marblehead, MA. Second place, Kate O'Neill, is from Milton, MA. O'Neill's twin sister, they said on the channel 5 news, placed 13th.

::: posted by Steven at 6:34 PM


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Bush plans new foreign aid agency

To win a share of the resources, countries would be ranked based on 16 separate "performance indicators," from civil rights to spending on public health and education.

A country's "economic freedom" would be judged on its credit rating, inflation, budget deficits, openness to trade and quality of regulatory policies.

Bush drew the line at corruption. "Corruption is pass-fail. If you can't pass corruption you're presumed ineligible," an official said.

This is a wonderful idea. It'd be even better if we were replacing other "foreign aid" spending, rather than adding to it, but it's a good precedent to set.

::: posted by Steven at 5:12 PM


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Dean tried skiing this morning. Also a little this afternoon, before doing a Sonny Bono. One ski ended up behind a small tree stump, suggesting that that launched me into the air for the short distance to the larger, still standing tree. Seems some bruised ribs are the worst of it (the first thing I shouted was, "I can wiggle my toes!"); games of what-if related to the bruise left by the (padded) ski goggles will be eschewed.

::: posted by dWj at 4:19 PM


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Digital clock.

::: posted by dWj at 4:16 PM


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Colby Cosh has blogged about how we educate our wee ones. His proposed model doesn't sound all that different from the old one-room school-house model, except that he sees the parents launching the school rather than the state doing it.

That, of course, is a huge difference. He talks up his model as being less bureaucratic and more accountable, which it would be. But the biggest gains might well come from just forcing parents to think about their kids' education. Older kids might need more specialized teachers, but I think Colby is generally on the right track.

::: posted by Steven at 10:17 AM


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Monday, November 25, 2002 :::
 

This financial story won't interest many people; I bring it up only because the author gives a share price as "four bits." The national markets have recently gone decimal, of course, and the currency system did so some time ago.

::: posted by Steven at 8:28 PM


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Kate Malcolm comments skeptically on a suggestion from Time that the Two Towers is symptomatic of the current cultural mood. The movie was, of course, filmed several years back.

She also points to a project in San Francisco to produce electricity for 28 cents per kilowatt-hour -- but without pollution.

Then there's this Slate piece about BearingPoint's (formerly KPMG Consulting) name change and ad campaign. It reminds me of the new DaimlerChrysler ads with the tagline "Answers for questions to come." For a car company.

And China has been blocking internet connections with MIT.

She hasn't mentioned the new Red Sox general manager, who is the youngest GM ever for a major-league baseball team. I wouldn't necessarily expect her to, except that he's a Yale grad.

::: posted by Steven at 6:54 PM


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Rod Dreher recently wrote about a complaint brought to the Massachusetts bar by CAIR against Alan Dershowitz for his suggesting that Israel adopt a policy of razing Palestinian villages in response to suicide attacks. (Link from Team Volokh.)

The complaint says that Dershowitz's op-ed calls for the violation of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which states: "No protected person may be punished for an offense he or she has not personally committed," and "collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited." Because the United States is a signatory to the Geneva treaty, it has the force of U.S. law, the Islamic group says. Thus, if Dershowitz's views violate the Geneva Convention, the argument goes, they violate U.S. law, and therefore the Massachusetts Bar's rules of professional conduct.

The first, obvious point to make here is that, even if the policy would violate the Geneva Convention (which is in dispute), suggesting the policy does not violate the Geneva Convention. There's a substantial difference between doing something and bringing it up as a possibility. Dreher's article goes further into this (and, if you'll allow some more shameless name-dropping, quotes Harvey Silverglate, who supported my last city council campaign).

My other reaction to reading this passage is to wonder why this doesn't apply to asset forfeiture laws which have not only been proposed, but are on the books and enforced.

::: posted by Steven at 9:38 AM


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Forbes reports on the level of accuracy in "Bowling for Columbine". Link from Instapundit.

::: posted by Steven at 8:50 AM


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Sunday, November 24, 2002 :::
 

I've been reading "Guns, Germs and Steel". It's interesting, and so far I only have two complaints.

One is that it carries a quote on the back from the infamous Paul Ehrlich. Ehrlich seems more pleased by the conclusions the book comes to than by their accuracy ("demolishes the grounds for racist theories of history"), which is hardly a surprise. Even if I hadn't read what he said, though, his connection to the book would keep me wary while reading it.

Jared Diamond (the author) has written at least once in the part I've read that certain racist conclusions would be not only "loathsome, but also... wrong." He backs this up well, and as far as I can tell, he doesn't let his biases about what ought to be interfere with his conclusions about what is.

Aside from Ehrlich's endorsement, my only objection so far is that he has dubbed a period of widespread human advancement, about 50,000 years ago, the "Great Leap Forward". Is it possible to use that phrase without evoking Mao? It must be, for Diamond.

::: posted by Steven at 10:33 AM


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Back to the blog-journalism issue, I think the nature of the blog is, as Dean says, more opinion than journalism. People don't research things heavily so they can blog them. But a highly-connected network of thousands of people will sometimes scoop a small group of professionals, just because one of them happens to have a first- or second-person account.

I don't think we'll replace real newsies, but as our network grows, it'll happen from time to time.

::: posted by Steven at 3:58 AM


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I missed this Howie Carr piece on Daschle vs. talk radio.

As one of my listeners e-mailed, ``A guy who takes memos from Barbra Streisand says we can't differentiate between entertainment and politics?

::: posted by Steven at 3:30 AM


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Reference
U.S. Constitution
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Fahrenheight 9/11 deceits

ARCHIVES :::

Idle thoughts of a relatively libertarian Republican in Cambridge, MA, and whomever he invites. Mostly political.