Justice for the New York Times

There is some justice in this report. This is part of a general trend.

Previous - lies of 2005.

California to ban light bulbs.

This is a little reminiscent of the Council of Scholars.

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

The larger tragedy is what this case [The Duke "rape" case] revealed about the degeneration of our times and the hollowness of so many people in "responsible" positions in the media, in academia, and among those blacks so consumed by racial resentments and thirst for revenge that they are prepared to lash out at individuals who have done nothing to them and are guilty of no crime against anybody.

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Joshua Sparling

These are not Americans as far as I’m concerned.

Corporal Joshua Sparling, 82nd Airborne, amputee and Iraqi war veteran - referring to anti-war protesters in Washington on January 28, 2007

The penny, the nickel, copper and another sign of the debasement of our currency

We have become accustomed to hearing about the "consumer price index" as THE barometer of inflation. Because CPI has been tame since the Reagan administration, the American public has not been concerned. Meanwhile, the debasement of the United States dollar continues. The American voter and consumer, under the tutelage of the MSM/DNC, has misunderstood such warning signs as the stock market bubble of the late 1990's and the real estate bubble that now seems to be in the early stages of bursting.

Occasionally, we see the effects of the currency debasement in such stories as this one, which discusses the need to "rebase" the penny because the copper has become more valuable than the face amount of the coin itself:

Sharply rising prices of metals such as copper and nickel have meant the face value of pennies and nickels are worth less than the material that they are made of, increasing the risk that speculators could melt the coins and sell them for a profit.

Five year copper price - H/T Kitco.com





Metals prices rise for a number of reasons, including worldwide economic changes. But another important factor is the ongoing currency debasement that steadily percolates its way through the economy. These price increases are inevitable where the government pays its limitless bills by inflating the currency. Chicago Federal Reserve senior economist Francois Velde draws a historical parallel that would escape the attention of the general public because the events happen over the course of decades:

"These factors suggest that, sooner or later, the penny will join the farthing (one-quarter of a penny) and the hapenny (one-half of a penny) in coin museums."

The destruction of western currencies has been a long process. Except for the 1970's, it has gone on almost unnoticed. Government fine tuning of pennies (or elimination of the "hapenny") is only one signpost on the road to financial ruin.

Quote of the day - C.S. Lewis

Some people feel guilty about their anxieties and regard them as a defect of faith but they are afflictions, not sins. Like all afflictions, they are, if we can so take them, our share in the passion of Christ.

C. S. Lewis

John O'Sullivan - The President, the Pope and the Prime Minister - Yuri Andropov's funeral

I haven't read "The President, The Pope and The Prime Minister" yet, so I cannot endorse it, but Mark Steyn's column today includes an anecdote from the funeral of Yuri Andropov.

John O'Sullivan's new book The President, The Pope And The Prime Minister has a marvelous account of the funeral of Yuri Andropov. In case you've forgotten, he was one of those late-period Soviet leaders who looked like he'd been plucked in haste from the local embalmer's and propped up against the balcony for the May Day parade. When he was eventually pronounced (officially) dead in 1984, Margaret Thatcher was prevailed upon by an aide to stop at a shoe store en route to the airport and get some fleece-lined boots for the chilly February burial. She grumbled about the cost all the way to Moscow. There she met Andropov's successor, Konstantin Chernenko, whom the Politburo had anointed as the next cadaver-in-chief. And, after shaking hands with him, she stopped complaining about the cost of her Kremlin boots. "They were a prudent long-term investment," she told her aide.

I remember the news coverage from late 1982, when Andropov took power. The MSM/DNC used the power transition as an excuse to advocate "peace" overtures and to undermine Reagan's foreign policy. The American public was treated to hints that the new "leader" might be a closet reformer, even though he was strong and firmly in control. The MSM/DNC's advocacy of capitulation to a moribund Soviet dictator seem silly in light of subsequent events. But those efforts were no more silly than the MSM/DNC's current attempt to force the Americans to retreat from Al Qaeda in Iraq.

Quote of the day - Mark Steyn

The American left has long deplored Bush's rhetorical reliance on such vulgar conceits as "good" and "evil." But it seems even "victory" is a problematic concept, and right now the momentum is all for defeat of one kind or another. America is talking itself into willing a defeat that has not (yet) occurred on the ground, and would be fatally damaging to this nation's credibility if it did.

Mark Steyn - 1-28-07

Apollo I anniversary - Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee

Today is the 40th anniversary of the fire that destroyed Apollo I on the launchpad, killing all three crewmembers - Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. H/T Liberal Lie, Conservative Truth.

NASA's webpage includes detailed biographies of Grissom, White and Chaffee.


















This anniversary reminds me of the comment that Joe Sobran made following the destruction of the Columbia in 2003:

I couldn't get into the spirit of mourning for the
seven astronauts on the doomed space shuttle, and I
frankly doubt that most people could. Too bad, of course,
but so are plane crashes and car wrecks and heart
attacks, and you can't feel sorry for every stranger who
comes to a sad end.

Were we supposed to mourn because the space program
is a U.S. Government project? That's the very last reason
I'd feel sympathy for the dead. My philosophical friend
Butler Shaffer has written some interesting thoughts
about how the space program illustrates the insights of
chaos theory -- an extension of the law of unintended
consequences, as I understand it.

Government projects notoriously have a way of going
wrong. So do most human enterprises, but there's a
difference. In private enterprises, people gamble their
own money and try to limit their own risks prudently.
Government -- well, President Bush has just proffered a
budget of $2.23 *trillion* for the next fiscal year. Over
two centuries, U.S. Government spending has gone from the
low millions to the low *trillions.* Apparently billions
were just an intermediate phase. For that matter, so may
trillions. Let us begin to brace ourselves for
quadrillions.

This is a sign of not only limitless government, but
fantastic mismanagement. Bush's budget is expected to
mean a $300 billion deficit. I can remember when people
were alarmed at annual budgets a third that size. (Albeit
with deficits of a few billion -- cute little things, as
they now seem.) The national debt? I've heard figures
like five and seven trillion, but it may be much higher.

Is it too much to ask that the government spend less
than it takes in? Imagine a private corporation that lost
money and fell deeper into debt nearly every year. The
shareholders would be diving overboard, and the company
would soon be out of business. From this angle, the U.S.
Government appears as a stupendous corporation managed by
people who, in private life, would be bankrupts. As
"public servants," they bear no personal responsibility
for the losses they incur or the money they waste. On the
contrary, they are rewarded.

Of course this corporation has a unique resource:
the captive shareholder, also known as the taxpayer. He
can't really fire the managers and he can't pull his
money out. He is forced to keep investing, no matter how
heavy his losses. The managers face no penalty for the
most palpable incompetence. Unlike private businessmen,
they can't be sued or fined or prosecuted for fraud. They
have no incentive for restraint or prudence. They respond
only to the stockholders who demand more spending -- who
are generally the ones who have the least invested.

Think of that: the government can force us to pay as
much as it likes, yet it still can't stay in the black!
The personal income tax we've been paying for nearly a
century has left it no excuse. If it could balance the
books before that bonanza of tyranny, why not now? Even
more bafflingly, why do the taxpayers remain loyal and
submissive to this government? Why do they continue to
trust it? This confidence passeth all understanding.

After the crash, I listened to a radio debate over
whether the space program is worth the cost. The obvious
answer, given by none of the debaters, is tautological:
it's worth it to those who feel it's worth it. They
should be able to invest their own money in it -- and
nobody else should be forced to. Space exploration
thrills some people and leaves others cold. Its benefits
are felt by some and not by others. Let everyone decide
for himself by privatizing it. What has such an
enterprise, whatever its merits, to do with law and
government? Why should anyone, qua citizen, be compelled
to subsidize the passions, underwrite the profits, assume
the losses, and pay for the mistakes of others? Without a
market to measure demand in the form of prices, it's idle
to discuss whether any enterprise is "worth it."

As you can tell by now, I have never taken much
interest in space exploration. I didn't even bother
watching the first moon landing in 1969; I figured that
if it could be done, it would be done, eventually. I'm
even willing to be generous and call it the greatest
achievement of socialism. It accelerated the date of the
inevitable, perhaps by many years. It was, in its way, a
great feat.

Still, I wanted no part of it. I couldn't have told
you why at the time. I just felt unconnected to it. As an
American, I took no pride in it, even though (in terms of
the Cold War) it meant "we" had bested the Russians. I
couldn't feel real enthusiasm for statist "achievements."
It was indeed "one small step for man," but a giant leap
for collectivism.

Sobran has a point, but he fails to remember that the collectivists in Russia never achieved anywhere near the space success that the capitalist U.S. achieved. The Soviets never put a man on the moon. The Soviets' manned flights were always shrouded in mystery. Yes, the U.S. was injecting collectivism into the space program by funding it with government money. But only a predominantly capitalist economy could afford a successful program and provide individuals with sufficient pioneering spirit to make it work.

Quote of the day - Ayn Rand

The ladder of success is best climbed by stepping on the rungs of opportunity.

Ayn Rand

Quote of the day - Ann Coulter

Girl-power feminists who got where they are by marrying men with money or power — Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, Arianna Huffington and John Kerry — love to complain about how hard it is for a woman to be taken seriously.

It has nothing to do with their being women. It has to do with their cheap paths to power. Kevin Federline isn't taken seriously either.

Ann Coulter - 1-24-07

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

For university presidents, as for politicians at all levels, one of the most valuable talents for the success of their careers is the ability to say things that make no sense, with a straight face and a lofty tone.

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Dr. Meg Meeker

The only person who can protect your daughter from the pimp culture of modern marketing is you.

Dr. Meg Meeker, Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters, p. 113

Quote of the day - Mark Steyn (Barack Hussein Obama)

To be sure, the imams always knew young Barack was not your typical novitiate. No doubt when he was late for Friday prayers they stood around singing "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Obama?"

Mark Steyn - 1-21-07 - commenting on Barack Hussein Obama's education in a radical Islamic school in Indonesia

"Global Warming", 1994, bitter temperatures and MSM/DNC propaganda

"Global Warming" has become an article of faith for the left and the MSM/DNC. Everytime we experience warmer than normal temperatures, we are reminded that the sky is falling, the polar ice caps are melting, and that we should watch Al Gore's movie. The MSM/DNC maintains this faith even when it is proven wrong, as it was during the 2006 hurricane season. When we experience bitter cold, as we inevitably do every January, the MSM/DNC stops talking about "global warming" long enough to avoid being laughed at while the bitter cold snap runs its course. Once the bitter weather is over, the "global warming" drumbeat continues as we forget the bitter temperatures that drove the MSM/DNC into silence for a few days or weeks.

One example that most of us have forgotten occurred in 1994. Thirteen (13) years ago yesterday, record low temperatures were established throughout much of Pennsylvania. These temperatures established records not just for January 21st, but for any date since records were established. Additional records were set in New England on that date:

record cold continued across the northeastern U.S. All-time record lows were established at the following locations in Pennsylvania: Allentown (15 below), Harrisburg (22 below), Wilkes-Barre Scranton (21 below), and Williamsport (20 below). Grafton, NH and Livermore Falls, ME both reported morning lows of 40 degrees below zero. Worcester, MA had its seventh day in a row with a morning low below zero to set a new record for consecutive days below zero.

In some cases, these records broke cold records that were set only the day before. January 20, 1994 saw unique records for cold in Pennsylvania and elsewhere:

frigid conditions persisted over the northeastern U.S. Rangeley, ME reported 45 degrees below zero for a morning low for the cold spot in the nation. First Connecticut Lake, NH dropped to a frigid 44 degrees below zero. Both Pittsburgh, PA and Cleveland, OH completed their longest stretch of subzero readings on record, with 52 and 56 consecutive hours, respectively.

Other frigid events occurred later (and earlier) that month. The entire page is worth reading.

My question is, did global warming start only in 1995? Is it that recent a phenomenon? If not, then how does the MSM/DNC explain January 1994, which was the coldest on record for Caribou, Maine and established various other cold records in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Ohio and elsewhere? In fact, the MSM/DNC does not explain this history - it simply ignores it.

Numerous records were set also in other years throughout the beginning, middle and end of the 20th century. These records are inconsistent with the MSM/DNC's story, so it hopes we forget the past while it gins up hysteria for socialistic controls on the economy and the destruction of what is left of our basic industries. At the same time, the left threatens the careers of those in the meteoroligical industry who refuse to ignore facts and who don't follow the official MSM/DNC line.

All we can do is remember the bitter cold that we feel in our fingers as we hear the latest propaganda. Memory is one of our best weapons against the MSM/DNC.

Frankfort, Kentucky, 1994

Quote of the day - Milton Friedman

I'm in favor of legalizing drugs. According to my values system, if people want to kill themselves, they have every right to do so. Most of the harm that comes from drugs is because they are illegal.

Milton Friedman

Quote of the day - Mark Steyn (Barack Hussein Obama)

He's young, gifted and black, and white, and Hawaiian, and Kansan, and charismatic, and Congregationalist, and Muslim. He rejects the way "politics has become so bitter and partisan,'' he represents "a different kind of politics." He smokes, which is different. He was raised in an Indonesian madrassah by radical imams, which is more than John Edwards can say. And he looks totally cool when he smokes!

Mark Steyn - 1-21-07 - commenting on the qualifications of Barack Hussein Obama

Quote of the day - C.S. Lewis

Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning.

C. S. Lewis

Quote of the day - Joe Sobran

This has become a country in which Thomas Jefferson couldn't get elected mayor of a medium-sized city, let alone president, yet Bill Clinton goes right to the top -- with high approval ratings.

Joe Sobran

Quote of the day - Ann Coulter

A strange psychological compulsion compels some people to inject themselves into all historic events. On cross examination, it generally turns out they were not actually in New York City on 9-11, but had visited New York a week earlier. They did not march in Selma, but knew someone who knew someone who did. They were not near the Sbarro Pizzeria, but in the same country where it happened.

Ann Coulter - 10-6-04

Quote of the day - Ayn Rand

To achieve, you need thought. You have to know what you are doing and that's real power.

Ayn Rand

Quote of the day - Dr. Meg Meeker

True masculinity is the moral exercise of authority.

Dr. Meg Meeker, Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters, p. 47

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell - global warming

Climate statistics show that, with all the "global warming" hysteria today, our temperatures are still not as high as they were back in medieval times. Those medieval folks must have been driving a lot of cars and SUVs.

Thomas Sowell

Quote of the day - Mark Steyn

It speaks well for the Bay Area that they had to embrace the gay life to match the collapsed birth rates European cities have managed to achieve heterosexually.

Mark Steyn - 1-14-07

Quote of the day - Milton Friedman

History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition.

Milton Friedman

Quote of the day - C.S. Lewis

Part of every misery is, so to speak, the misery's shadow or reflection: the fact that you don't merely suffer but have to keep on thinking about the fact that you suffer. I not only live each endless day in grief, but live each day thinking about living each day in grief.

C. S. Lewis

Quote of the day - Ann Coulter

In lieu of a gang rape perpetrated by high-stepping white male athletes against a poor black woman, the Duke lacrosse case has turned out to be another in a long string of hoax hate crimes in which whites are falsely accused.

Ann Coulter - January 10, 2007

Quote of the day - Joe Sobran

Liberals who had seen Joe Stalin as a great humanitarian saw [Joe] McCarthy as the ultimate affront to human decency and a terrifying threat to constitutional rights.

Joe Sobran

Quote of the day - Ayn Rand

The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.

Ayn Rand

Quote of the day - Thomas Sowell

A public opinion poll back in 1964 asked if America was worth fighting for -- and 87 percent of blacks said "yes." Today, it is doubtful if any segment of the population would give that answer that often.

Thomas Sowell - 8-29-06

Quote of the day - Mark Steyn

The left carelessly assumes that the various factions in their identity-group coalition are allies in perpetuity who can be rounded up like sheep and pointed in the same direction.

Mark Steyn - 1-7-07

Quote of the day - G.K. Chesterton

If there were no God, there would be no Atheists.

G. K. Chesterton

Quote of the day - Milton Friedman

Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned.

Milton Friedman

Quote of the day - Jim Kouri

Hillary shoots her mouth off in front of TV cameras and that's considered military experience? Perhaps it is when compared with her husband's military record -- a Draft Dodger, who protested the war under a Viet Cong flag. In the wacky world of the mainstream news media, if you're a Republican and served in the National Guard during a war, you're a shirker or worse; if you're a Democrat and attend a Memorial Day parade, you have military experience. Or if you served four months in Vietnam and get shot in the butt with a handful of uncooked rice, you're a war hero.

Jim Kouri - January 2, 2007

Gerald Ford, Puerto Rico, Mayaguez and legacies

I have said nothing about the death of President Ford. I have been watching many other commentators remark on Ford's statemenship as a result of his pardon of President Nixon in 1974. Rather than add to that chorus, I thought I would say something original.

While I agree that Ford did the right thing in pardoning Nixon, I watch with interest as various commentators get themselves stuck on the same beaten path. It becomes so easy for those [even conservatives] who were raised on the MSM/DNC to repeat the easy storyline without remembering actual events or drawing lessons from a deeper perspective.

A lot can happen in any two year period, even during the Presidency of Gerald Ford. I think we can draw historical lessons from that period without mindlessly repeating the mantra that President Ford "healed the nation."

Most commentators seem to have forgotten about Ford's attempt to create statehood for Puerto Rico at the end of his administration following Ford's electoral defeat in 1976. While this forgotten incident seems to be minor, a last minute attempt to create statehood for Puerto Rico appears to be anything but statesmanlike. It was obvious to most observers at the time that Ford needed some legacy. Being remembered as the President who achieved statehood for Puerto Rico would have been a better legacy than nothing, which is Ford's actual legacy. Statehood would have created a reason for future schoolchildren to read Ford's name in a footnote every time they read the paragraph on Puerto Rico in their geography books.

Puerto Rican statehood, whenever created, would have serious repurcussions for this country and this hemisphere. Rejecting the recomendations of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Puerto Rico during a lame duck session solely for personal vanity would serve as a preview of Bill Clinton's presidency, who would spend his last years in office implementing bad policy in the hope of being remembered for something other than scandal.

On the other hand, Ford has received little credit for something that was worthy of praise. Most commentators seem to have forgotten also about Ford's successful handling of the Mayaguez incident in 1975. Ford's decisive action stands in marked contrast to his successor's failed handling of the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979, 1980 and 1981.

Quote of the day - Joe Sobran

[L]iberal opinion has never granted victim status to Christians, despite the ferocious Communist persecution of Christianity — whereas the liberal myth of “McCarthyism” recognizes Communists themselves as victims.

Joe Sobran - December 7, 2006

2007

I really did not post much in 2006. I have no major summaries for the past year.

I enjoyed my second Insta-lanche in 2006. I reached 100,000 hits in July. Probably my favorite post from 2006 included the lengthy quotation from Will Durant's 1935 book regarding the Islamic conquest of India.

I want to focus on a few ongoing stories in 2007 - namely Venezuela, China, Islam and MSM/DNC related issues. I also want to hold the new Congress' feet to the fire as they push for surrender in the War on Terror.

I would also like to return to discussions of classic books. I stopped posting editions of "Classics of Conservatism" when Blogger zapped out much of my homepage after I placed too many book buttons in the margin.

I often don't join in the blogbursts of major stories because the larger blogs cover those stories thoroughly and a repetitive post from me would add nothing to the story and distract from the already excellent blogosphere coverage. Instead, I try to focus on a few ongoing stories that have long term consequences.

Now that I can use "labels" with the "new" Blogger, it should be easier for readers to trace progressing stories over several years. My goal this year is to add labels to all of my old posts.

Quote of the day - C.S. Lewis

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.

C. S. Lewis