The Last Ephor

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2005? So now everyone has a problem with PBS. Conservatives think PBS is too liberal and now liberals are up in arms b/c the Republican head of PBS is trying to bring more conservatives. His arguement is that he's trying to appeal to a wider audience. I think he's being coy and he's trying to turn the worm. Either way, nobody's happy. Here's an idea...ELMINATE IT. Sell off it's properties and assets. You could get zillions for Sesame Street alone. PBS was founded many moons ago when it was actually filling a gap in programming (that does not mitigate it's extraconsitutional existance). Today there are myriad channels that do what PBS does and without costing taxpayers a dime.

North Korea nuclear fears deepen . The posturing continues. As I pointed out the other day, China has explicitly stated they will not allow any sanctions on the Norks to pressure them to do anything. The DPRK has now showed their hand by threatening to make their arsenal even larger. Next up the US will make some sort of strong statement which will be villified by the press as "dangerous", "sabre-rattling", "rigid", "inflexible" and so on. Democrats and leftists (but I repeat myself) will be wailing, gnashing of teeth and rending of garments. After everyone sits down, the real negotiations will begin. Eventually, the US will get something, China will to and I think even the DPRK will get to stay around a while longer. IF they pull out of the talks this time, there will be trouble. Perhaps even a blockade.

TaxProf Blog: Did NY Times Publish Biased Marginal Tax Rate Table? TaxProf has the goods on Pravda's NYT's deliberately hiding the progressive scale of the marginal tax rates. File this under "Oh That Liberal Media #2,453,881."

China has begun posturing. China Rules Out Using Sanctions on North Korea - New York Times : "Liu Jianchao, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman, said Tuesday that China rejected suggestions that it should reduce oil or food shipments to North Korea, calling them part of its normal trade with its neighbor that should be separate from the nuclear problem. 'The normal trade flow should not be linked up with the nuclear issue,' he said. 'We oppose trying to address the problem through strong-arm tactics.'" This is expected and normal when it comes to diplomatic bartering. They dig in their heels and leave no apparent room to maneuver. We do the same and everybody repeats themselves until one side starts to budge. Likely the Chinese want something in return like, oh I don't know, Taiwan. We would like them to stop being Communists/Fascists. More than likely we'll meet somewhere in the middle. Look for increased Chinese pressure but not eno

Shrine of the Holy Whapping : "List five things that people in your circle of friends or peer group are wild about, but you can't really understand the fuss over. To use the words of Caesar (from History of the World Part I), 'Nice. Nice. Not thrilling . . . but nice.''" So, here's my list: 1. American Idol/desperate Housewives/Survivor. Don't like any of them, don't watch them, no interest. I suppose the first season of survivor would be interesting but now everyone knows the deal and it's denigrated into game theory meets populist entertainment. 2. Ring tones. Don't like them. I keep my phone on vibrate and wishes everyone else would do that or just make it a normal ring. Really. Having a unique ringtone doesn't make you unique. 3. iPods. I have a meager MP3 player that I won via a company contest and it's nice but I don't need to tote that much music about. 4. Vodka. For people who want to

Here's a report about the censorship of any scientists that dare to contravene the prevailing myth about the Kyoto protocols. It doesn't fit the template so it is discarded. In LiberalWorld, Kyoto is a good thing no matter whether it's based in fact or not. Sort of like gun control. If there is any evidence to the contrary (or even evidence that we don't have enough information to know for sure) it must be the stuff of fantasy or funded by Haliburton and must be buried.

Winds of Change has an excellent and incisive roundup of acts of terrorism and where they are committed. I found the results for India most distrubing. We seldom hear about the attacks there and it appears that there's far more going on there than we know. Likely the attackers are Pakistanis (or perhaps unhappy locals). I've been looking for evidence that the US has recognized this and is working on the problem in tandem with India. More than likely they are doing so, but quietly. Our alliance with Pakistan is tenuous and revealing our working with India would be fatal to any such arrangement.

Ricky Jay in top form. I've always liked him b/c I think he appreciates the history and the craft. He's the best at what he does and nobody even comes close. He's branched out into acting and sticks to roles that suit him. He usually plays a grifter of some sort. He always nails the character perfectly. Mostl likely because he understands them and can identify with them. Give it a listen

Jury in Alaska Finds Greenpeace Guilty . The very definition of being hoisted by your own petard.

The Huffington Post | Front Page : "Two years ago Arianna and I along with the Detroit Project released commercials connecting the dots between the low mileage of SUV’s and our national security. It ignited a firestorm of criticism and debate… and today neocons like James Woolsey and Frank Gaffney are all over the talk shows saying the exact same thing...and American car buyers are finally rejecting the gazillion dollars of advertising spent convincing them they should drive cars that needlessly waste gas." Sure, but when it comes to overly huge mansions and private jets these very same people become irate that you would question them. Yes, I realize I broke the ban on linking to HufPo but I figure the site will be dead shortly.

Wind Power in Rural Spain . Intersting article (excerpt) about Spanish success with wind farms. I don't have access to the whole thing so I can't comment fully but I'm skeptical about windpower in larger scales. I think there's problems with transmission loss as well as adverse affects on avian types. I think this would work quite well in some places, esp. smaller grids. Wind, nuclear, geothermal and such all need more encouragment and incentive to be deployed in larger quantities. SDB has been over energy production and problems in detail so go there for a discussion that is way beyond my meager understanding of power production, usage and attentant problems. In short, it's very complicated and getting off of oil (foreign or domestic) is very very difficult.

Arianna's Blog Blows . Brutal savaging of HufPost (no, I will not link to it). I must confess to a large dose of schadenfreud associated with it's inevitable and spectacular demise.

Wired.com is underfire for being unable to confirm dozens of alleged sources used by one of their reporters. The story on E&P contains a quote by the reporter under investigation: Probe Can't Confirm Sources in Freelancer's Stories for 'Wired News' : "'I don't understand why my credibility and career is now hanging solely on finding minor sources that contributed color quotes to stories I filed months and years ago,' she wrote. Delio said that among hundreds of articles she wrote for the organization, there 'isn't one story that contains fabricated news.'" I find this to be highly revealing. She claims the whole thing is really about "color quotes" not about the truth of the story. That is, the stories are true but the color quotes are false so everything is ok. I think she's tipped her hand. She's really saying "Ok, so I fudged the supporting quotes but the story is true." This is half a step f

The Red/Blue Divide has been the source of much speculation by both sides of the aisle. This is an interesting (albiet negative) feeling about why people gravitate to cities. It does, however, explain why small town America remains much the same. It appears that Blue staters realize they cannot connect with people in "flyover country". I doubt they'll do anything to bridge that gap. They can't. They simply cannot see the world through red state eyes. They'll make some noises about "moving to the center" but in the end, the MoveOn wing of the party is driving the bus so you'll get something akin to Dean 2.0.

The NY Sun has a story about an upcoming trial in re: campaign shenanigans for the Junior Senator from New York's last campaign. They are (IMNHO) a reputable paper and to date, I've not seen them blow a story. I believe the contents of the article but not so the impact. I think the people involved will take yet another bullet for the Clinton's as we've seen time and again. If anything she gets a small fine and issues a "had no knowledge" statement that will pass quietly away.

How's your grammar? . I scored fairly well but it wasn't easy. I realize how much I've forgotten (and in some cases, never knew) about grammar. The days are coming when my kids are going to ask me if I can help with their homework and I'll have to say, "No, not if you want to get it right."