![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Significantly late - 18 November 2009
Nov. 20th, 2009 09:39 amGood morning. Will you stay for a bit, please? We've got goodies!
International stuff, go! Former President Carter defending his handling of the Iranian hostage crisis, fearing that he would kill significant numbers of Iranians if he stormed the embassy, which would probably further cememnt the negative opinion and possibly invite retaliations elsewhere.
Afghanis surveyed did not see the Taliban as the enemy, but povery, government corruption, and unemployment as the main causes of war in the country. If there was anywhere that needed a mission to build schools and keep them safe and secure, this is the place.
Domestically, It is not a good idea to propose that mentally incapacitated veterans be guaranteed the right to own firearms. Unless, of course, you want more mentally incapacitated veterans with firearms using those firearms on other people. The first commentator says "Oh, no, it's really just that those declared mentally competent after treatment can get their firearms rights back, and shame on you for not saying so." Nevermind some of the stats that say military bases are not always safe places to live around...
To cast more doubts on health care programs, the government is not really good at sticking to costs, so defecit-neutral promises may be just that - promises. And it may be because stuff happens that wasn't anticipated. People might live longer, for example, so they can take the title of longest-serving Congresscritter. That means mor costs than intended. Or, going against the advice of Mr. White and others to encourage more doctors in advance of health care reform, prices might go up because there's a shortage of qualified personnel that could have been easily avoided.
Ooops. Some jobs saved or created have gone to districts that don't actually exist. At least the currency is strong enough to need reassurances that it won't collapse, right? That's a sign of strength?
In the opinions, Senators in favor fo military comission trials, which are secret, of course. It's all about the "national security" angle and the "terrorists don't deserve a fair and public trial". The columnists chrous on, with Mr. Hanson saying that we're permitting second-guessing of war actions, while also managing to work in his belief that O. J. Simpson was guilty of his alleged crime and his belief that the President is trying to make himself seem exceptional while making the country unexceptional. Mr. Mcgurn says sending KSM to trial undermines the distinction between criminals and terrorists, beleiving the latter to somehow be accorded more rights and protections than even uniformed soldiers in war zones by this trial. Mr. Fund loops back to the angle of "public trials will give terrorists valuable intelligence and information about us, so we clearly can't have public trials".
These arguments rest on the idea that terrorism are war crimes, conducted in violation of Geneva conventions, instead of ideologically-based attacks by one group on another that would normally fall under criminal statutes. The only war enemy I can think of that they want is "Islam", so they can justify otherwise separate acts as somehow having a binding thread and that the separate actors are working in some sort of concert. That is, or they're arguing to give al-Qaeda the same status as they would another nation in terms of referring to it by war conventions. Do they want to give them that kind of recognition? I doubt it, but Mr. Sowell is taking that tack, too, that federal courts are not for terrorists, that intelligence will be given to the enemies of the country, and that our allies will think twice about working with us, because we will disclose the entirety of their help and leave them open for revenge. Well, considering how much they supported the previous administrator's stance on "everything the government does should be hidden under the guise of national security, and the citizens should accept and be enthusiastic about having secrets hidden from them", they're being consistent, at least.
Or maybe it's just the possibility that a jury would find him innocent or that the methods used to collect evidence against him are outlawed and he would walk free. Better to shoot them, or, failing that, convict them where you can rig the trial than to give them a chance, I guess.
On economics, Mr. Wallison is critical of a bill that would give the government power to regulate and to bail out people they thought were too big to fail as a matter of policy, instead of an emergency. We prefer the bill that says we identify what is too big to fail, and then we break it up such that it isn't.
the WSJ is pleased that nothing will come of the Copenhagen energy summit, and are hoping similar nonfunctionality happens here in the country, so that nothing is done about carbon, claiming the economy will recover faster as a benefit of not having to pay energy taxes.
On education, said editors of the WSJ are dismissive of a $100 million USD grant to help education, because the money will be administered and used by teachers' unions, whome they consider to be the biggest impediment to real education reform, preferring charter schools, Teach For America, and employment/pay based on the success of the children to be better things to put money into. (They somehow believe that unions hate testing, because testing exposes bad teachers for what they are and might lead to them losing their jobs. I think they hate people believing simplistic things about fixing education without having to fund it sufficiently.)
In science and technology, putting hacker heads together to build and develop tools to let those in disaster areas get messages out, direct help, and maintain their connectivity even when the standard methods are out, challenging the idea that bigger brains make for bigger intelligence, and studies indicating depression is as deadly as smoking, in terms of helath detriment, so curing the blues, whether through natural or chemical methods, is soemthing worth doing.
Last for tonight, an attempt at joining the ninja club ended in failure and impalement, and a deadpan reading of Neuromancer as part of an interactive exhibit. The big hook, of course, is one of the actors hired to do a part.
International stuff, go! Former President Carter defending his handling of the Iranian hostage crisis, fearing that he would kill significant numbers of Iranians if he stormed the embassy, which would probably further cememnt the negative opinion and possibly invite retaliations elsewhere.
Afghanis surveyed did not see the Taliban as the enemy, but povery, government corruption, and unemployment as the main causes of war in the country. If there was anywhere that needed a mission to build schools and keep them safe and secure, this is the place.
Domestically, It is not a good idea to propose that mentally incapacitated veterans be guaranteed the right to own firearms. Unless, of course, you want more mentally incapacitated veterans with firearms using those firearms on other people. The first commentator says "Oh, no, it's really just that those declared mentally competent after treatment can get their firearms rights back, and shame on you for not saying so." Nevermind some of the stats that say military bases are not always safe places to live around...
To cast more doubts on health care programs, the government is not really good at sticking to costs, so defecit-neutral promises may be just that - promises. And it may be because stuff happens that wasn't anticipated. People might live longer, for example, so they can take the title of longest-serving Congresscritter. That means mor costs than intended. Or, going against the advice of Mr. White and others to encourage more doctors in advance of health care reform, prices might go up because there's a shortage of qualified personnel that could have been easily avoided.
Ooops. Some jobs saved or created have gone to districts that don't actually exist. At least the currency is strong enough to need reassurances that it won't collapse, right? That's a sign of strength?
In the opinions, Senators in favor fo military comission trials, which are secret, of course. It's all about the "national security" angle and the "terrorists don't deserve a fair and public trial". The columnists chrous on, with Mr. Hanson saying that we're permitting second-guessing of war actions, while also managing to work in his belief that O. J. Simpson was guilty of his alleged crime and his belief that the President is trying to make himself seem exceptional while making the country unexceptional. Mr. Mcgurn says sending KSM to trial undermines the distinction between criminals and terrorists, beleiving the latter to somehow be accorded more rights and protections than even uniformed soldiers in war zones by this trial. Mr. Fund loops back to the angle of "public trials will give terrorists valuable intelligence and information about us, so we clearly can't have public trials".
These arguments rest on the idea that terrorism are war crimes, conducted in violation of Geneva conventions, instead of ideologically-based attacks by one group on another that would normally fall under criminal statutes. The only war enemy I can think of that they want is "Islam", so they can justify otherwise separate acts as somehow having a binding thread and that the separate actors are working in some sort of concert. That is, or they're arguing to give al-Qaeda the same status as they would another nation in terms of referring to it by war conventions. Do they want to give them that kind of recognition? I doubt it, but Mr. Sowell is taking that tack, too, that federal courts are not for terrorists, that intelligence will be given to the enemies of the country, and that our allies will think twice about working with us, because we will disclose the entirety of their help and leave them open for revenge. Well, considering how much they supported the previous administrator's stance on "everything the government does should be hidden under the guise of national security, and the citizens should accept and be enthusiastic about having secrets hidden from them", they're being consistent, at least.
Or maybe it's just the possibility that a jury would find him innocent or that the methods used to collect evidence against him are outlawed and he would walk free. Better to shoot them, or, failing that, convict them where you can rig the trial than to give them a chance, I guess.
On economics, Mr. Wallison is critical of a bill that would give the government power to regulate and to bail out people they thought were too big to fail as a matter of policy, instead of an emergency. We prefer the bill that says we identify what is too big to fail, and then we break it up such that it isn't.
the WSJ is pleased that nothing will come of the Copenhagen energy summit, and are hoping similar nonfunctionality happens here in the country, so that nothing is done about carbon, claiming the economy will recover faster as a benefit of not having to pay energy taxes.
On education, said editors of the WSJ are dismissive of a $100 million USD grant to help education, because the money will be administered and used by teachers' unions, whome they consider to be the biggest impediment to real education reform, preferring charter schools, Teach For America, and employment/pay based on the success of the children to be better things to put money into. (They somehow believe that unions hate testing, because testing exposes bad teachers for what they are and might lead to them losing their jobs. I think they hate people believing simplistic things about fixing education without having to fund it sufficiently.)
In science and technology, putting hacker heads together to build and develop tools to let those in disaster areas get messages out, direct help, and maintain their connectivity even when the standard methods are out, challenging the idea that bigger brains make for bigger intelligence, and studies indicating depression is as deadly as smoking, in terms of helath detriment, so curing the blues, whether through natural or chemical methods, is soemthing worth doing.
Last for tonight, an attempt at joining the ninja club ended in failure and impalement, and a deadpan reading of Neuromancer as part of an interactive exhibit. The big hook, of course, is one of the actors hired to do a part.
