perfidy

We continue our continuing series, "Meet the candidates"

The number of candidates gunning for the highest office in the land continues to grow. Governor Richardson has tossed his hat in, and there are rumors that even our first android-American candidate, Al Gore, is considering making a go of it as well. Of all the candidates, real and potential, only two interest me. One is Hillary Clinton, and the interest comes from a deep and soul-scarring fear. The other is Fred Thompson.

Over the last couple days, I’ve been talking with a new good friend, who – thanks to his position deep in the bowels of politics – shall remain unnamed. And we’ve been talking about Fred.

Fred is different than the other candidates. Romney, Guiliani and their ilk are slick, often witty. They are polished, but polished to a particularly political sameness. Thompson feels different. To be sure, that feel is carefully crafted - the result of his experience as an actor and politician. But he has crafted a persona that looks like it is rooted in his actual character, and that character looks interesting. In that, I think, he's a lot like Reagan - not that he looks or sounds or talks like Reagan - but that he is not trying to look like a "statesman" and as a result actually looks more like a statesman than anyone else on the political scene.

What he looks like is my grandfather - he even has the same cadences in his speech. I’ve watched two interweb videos of Fred recently. One was his response to Michael Moore’s debate challenge. Only 38 seconds long, this is a masterful bit of political jujitsu. Fred’s got style, presence, and a good bit of humor; and manages to slam Moore without making an ass of himself – something that most politicians have a very hard time doing. If this is any indication of how effective a Fred campaign would be, then the other candidates have much to be worried about.

I watched another video, an interview he had where he talked about not watching one of the Republican debates. I was struck by how he accurately communicated his ideas without using political catchphrases, tired metaphors - just clear communication laced with his sense of humor. Looks like he alone of the current crop actually absorbed the lessons of Orwell’s "Politics and the English Language."

Also alone of the candidates, I actually like listening to him. Listening to Bush makes me cringe, has since before he was elected. And that cringing has only gotten worse over the last seven years. Yet I voted for him, if only because the alternative was far worse. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I think Fred would have no real trouble cleaning up his Republican competition – assuming of course that there are no skeletons hiding in his closets, and that he can put together a well-run campaign and pull in the contributions.

But Bush is the albatross that any Republican candidate will have to deal with in going up against the eventual Democratic candidate. And the albatross in chief has certainly not made it easy for anyone to follow him into the White House. Bush’s stark inability to communicate, well, anything has left the impression that the Iraq war is an unmitigated disaster. It isn’t, though problems and casualties have dominated the public perception since about a month after the libervasion began. Four years of not making a sound public case for the sacrifices of our soldiers is a large obstacle for anyone who wants to become the next Republican president.

As well, Bush’s failures to get anything done on the domestic front will be a similar huge obstacle. For years, Bush had a Republican congress and yet was unable to make any progress on immigration, social security, or any number of other issues. Certainly any Democratic candidate will be able to make hay on that.

Who among the currently announced Republican candidates will be able to overcome a Democrat armed with all the weapons that Bush has inadvertently given them? Even the Republicans have grown weary of the feckless Republican leadership in the White House and the Congress. If Thompson could demonstrate that he has feck, (and his absence from elected office recently might actually help there) he stands a chance at retaining current support and winning over the independents. Independents often vote character more than issues anyway. My liberal mom would have voted McCain, for that reason.

Charisma isn't everything - but if Fred puts together an efficient campaign, I could easily see him trouncing all comers on the Republican side. And the guy has style. He’s got charasma. Could he be the second coming of Reagan? I wonder, now. He's got the instincts, it seems; and he's got the gravitas - more than Reagan, even. He's smart not to be jumping in too soon. And more than anyone else, he seems to get how new media (bloggers in particular) can help:

Since the ‘04 Howard Dean campaign, the Internet has been seen as fertile ground for presidential candidates. But the advent of a possible candidacy by former Senator Fred Thompson could take online politics to a new level. In this exclusive article for Pajamas Media, Thompson reveals a respect for the ‘net and its importance to democracy that could only come from a true web surfer. If the six-time weekly winner of the PJM Presidential Straw Poll is actually elected President, are we looking at … the First Blogger?

To PJM and Friends
By Fred Thompson

So, I hear you all have been talking about me.

It seems that I ought to respond, at least briefly, to all those who have expressed confidence in me — both here and in other forums. I do not take that confidence lightly.

The Pajamas Media poll is certainly good news, especially when, for a lot of politicians, encouragement to run from three relatives and an unemployed campaign consultant is considered an unstoppable groundswell. When people are saying nice things about me, I try to remember the proverb that compares flattery to a net at your feet. To be sure, the Pajamas poll results are very flattering, so let me return the favor and throw a net at your feet.

“So, I hear you all have been talking about me” Classic – and, if the other videos I linked above, and for that matter his performances in everything from The Hunt for Red October to Law and Order, are indicative then I think he’s a potential winner. If Hillary wins the Democratic nomination, the only thing that is going to beat her is the kind of humor and common-sense persona that Reagan deployed to such great effect against Carter. I wonder what the “There he goes again” moment will be in this election.

And I'd dearly love to see him destroy Hillary in a debate. I dig the guy. Barring some horrific revelation about his past, or learning that he favors something I detest, I might actually be voting for someone in 2008. And as my friend said:

It’s all about the Feck. The f*ing Feck. Fred has Feck.

[wik] More information on Fred Dalton Thompson can be found here, here and here.

Riding Rockets, Mike Mullane

I'm sure this book was all the rage on boyblogs when it first got published. Buckethead likes to tease me like he's from Planet Arrested Development, but I know he's not that bad. He's not an astronaut and lacks The Right Stuff. Being an astronaut either takes being a special kind of pig or else a really ginormous brain. Since we are neither, Buckethead and I will have to stay grounded on earth.

As for Mike Mullane, USAF Ret., he's got IT. The Right Stuff. The Goods. The cojones. That "cocky bastard something" gives him the gumption to walk up to Bo Derek on a beach and start basically hitting on her in front of her husband. Same again with putting his arm around Christie Brinkley at the Super Bowl. He's got the golden wings of an astronaut. The book is about his journey into space. THREE TIMES. That's three more times than the rest of us yahoos.

More than being an insider's take on becoming an astronaut or about NASA, I was fascinated by his perspective on the Challenger disaster and the lessons learned from it as an organization. While I would love to go to Mars and the Moon, I'm not sure how I will feel about being vaporized in space. Nor do I feel like I'd survive the space vomit syndrome that's common up there. When I was a kid, I'd throw up in the car after about 10 minutes, before my pop could even get onto the PA Turnpike. (We lived right next to an exit.) I doubt I'd pass the Vomit Comet or the 15-minute enema. (And that duration was **VOLUNTARY**)

This guy isn't some saintly man going up against The Big Organization in some David and Goliath story. Even though he's completely arrogant, he retains his humility enough to tell you that he went to see a shrink and buckled while fighting the organization and it's mercurial and cryptic managers. I could never work for guys like Young. I'm too chatty and their stony silence and inability to look you in the eye would bug the crap out of me. I must not want to go into space that badly. But I do like to blow things up and things that go boom.

One day, I will be in Florida to watch a rocket launch. I'm going to make one of my old skating buddies fulfill his promise of letting me watch a launch from his house in Cocoa Beach. He and his wife are both NASA rocket engineers. It's their life's work. How lucky they are to be a part of greatness.

If you're a guy, DON'T READ THIS BOOK. You'll find out how much of a man you ain't. (Ross, being Canadian, isn't even a contender.)

FreeMoneyFinance is going scold me for getting a pet, but I got a pet. It just sort of happened to me.

My co-workers were smoking outside when a parakeet landed on the shoulder of one of them. Apparently this little guy is trained and very social. He likes to perch on your finger. They decided to bring him inside because a hawk was circling overhead. For some reason bright turquoise parakeets make easy targets. Go figure.

I told the woman who had him on her desk, “It’s going to eat through that box in a hour. Let me know and I’ll go buy it a cage.”

Sure enough, by 10AM today we were at a pet store getting a whole rig for the damned thing. $70 bucks of little blue joy. The lady at store told me to come back in a few days once he’s stopped freaking out and she will clip his talons and wings for me.

I DON’T NEED A PET!

I’m too nice to let him get killed by a hawk or live in a cardboard box. The plan is to leave him in the office till Wednesday when I can take him back to the pet store for his grooming and then home on Wednesday night. (I HAVE PLANS FOR DINNER TONIGHT! I AM TOO SELFISH AND IRRESPONSIBLE TO KEEP AN ANIMAL WHICH IS WHY I DON’T ALREADY OWN A BUNNY!)

I have seen other parakeets. I am a sucker. I bought a large cage for it so I can get him a friend in a few weeks. Birds are social animals and I don’t want him to get too unhappy being all alone in my apartment for hours when I am out with my singleton social life.

I AM GOING AWAY THIS WEEKEND! I DON’T NEED A PET!

Thank god one of my friends is a pet sitter. She doesn’t really sit for birds, but will refer me to her friend who owns a bird.

THIS IS TERRIBLE.

But he’s kind of cute, even if he’s already pooping all over the cage.

Once he gets settled, if the pet thing doesn’t take with me, I will give it away free to a good home. I want to make sure he’s healthy before giving him away to another family. Wouldn’t want it to infect any other birds they might have.

*sigh*

I am a sucker. I think it’s tattooed on my forehead.

Oh sweet Jesus, please don’t let me turn into a pet/cat lady. I really don’t need this.

(It does not help that a family in DC on Craigslist is giving away their parakeet because its mate was “murdered” by the family cat. I’m thinking in a month, that might be a good one to rescue and keep mine company.)

[This was crossposted from MFC. FWIW, I did post lost/found ads on Craigslist, Petfinders and a specialty site called 911 Parrot Alert. I will give it a month, but the lady at the Fairfax Humane Society thinks a week is fair.]

Who knew that trail mix was cheaper than corn? Not me, at least not until this morning's WSJ article entitled "With Corn Prices Rising, Pigs Switch To Fatty Snacks".

GARLAND, N.C. -- When Alfred Smith's hogs eat trail mix, they usually shun the Brazil nuts.

"Pigs can be picky eaters," Mr. Smith says, scooping a handful of banana chips, yogurt-covered raisins, dried papaya and cashews from one of the 12 one-ton boxes in his shed. Generally, he says, "they like the sweet stuff."

Mr. Smith is just happy his pigs aren't eating him out of house and home. Growing demand for corn-based ethanol, a biofuel that has surged in popularity over the past year, has pushed up the price of corn, Mr. Smith's main feed, to near-record levels.

...

Mr. Smith says he's paying about $63 to feed a single pig for five or six months before it goes to market -- up 13% from last year. His costs would be even higher if he didn't augment his feed with trail mix, which he says helps him save on average about $8 a ton on feed.

(ellipsis mine)

The presumption that corn-based ethanol was somehow going to be a great net-positive for the US economy has always been based on the thinnest of pretense, put forward by the farm lobby in the US. As covered in an earlier post here (regarding Michael Bloomberg's energy plan), corn is just about the stupidest way to make ethanol, perhaps second only to making ethanol out of oil itself, if such a thing is even possible.

And even if it were technically wise to do so, the mad rush to corn-based ethanol, driven by government mandates and subsidies that help nobody but the farm lobby, was always going to affect the supply/demand curve for corn.

Better late than never, there appears to be a sudden realization of the problem, if recent press mentions count for anything:

• LA Times (via Truth About Trade) -
     Why ethanol backfires
• Food USA -
     Expanding US ethanol market provokes food price surge
• From the investing world, Seeking Alpha -
     Taking Stock in Ethanol: Risks, Challenges and Opportunities
• Pork Magazine (really) -
     Ethanol Industry Needs to Look Beyond Corn
• Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle -
     U.S. should buy cane-based ethanol from Brazil
• Spero News -
     Expert says Brazil could meet world's gas needs

The items above are cherry-picked from among many, many other such recent stories. The last two are of a genre that puts the lie to the entire boondoggle being foisted onto the American consumer, particularly given that cane-based ethanol actually generates far more energy than it takes to produce, unlike corn-based ethanol. Cane-based suffers, however, from the choke-hold the farm lobby continues to wield on the American legislative windpipe.

Much the same as, say, in the waste industry, where at a high enough price for landfill space, people are willing to recycle, prices for oil in the energy market can cause people to willingly overpay for alternatives. But when the costs of the alternatives, direct and indirect, become high enough, as they appear to be doing in the ethanol market, consumers are certain to rethink that entire "energy independence" thing.

Corn based ethanol is "ethanol done wrong". Add to that the fact that it's "ethanol done expensive", and you can just wait for the increased backlash, attempting to drown out the farm lobby. The question, of course, is whether our legislative overlords will be allowed to listen and undo the damage they've done over the past twenty years on this front.

A final tidbit from the WSJ piece:

Dwight Hess, a cattle feedlot operator in Marietta, Pa., is located in the heart of snack country, near Hershey and Herr Foods Inc., a maker of potato chips, pretzels and snack mixes. His cattle ration consists of about 17% "candy meal," a blend of chocolate bars and large chunks of chocolate; 3% of what he calls "party mix," a blend of popcorn, pretzels, potato chips and cheese curls; 8% corn gluten; and the remainder corn and barley he grows. He says the byproducts save him about 10% on feed costs. Still, it costs him about 65 cents to put a pound on a steer, up from 42 cents last year.

Near the Snake River in Idaho, Cevin Jones of Intermountain Beef is struggling to feed his 12,000 cattle in light of higher feed costs. Traditionally, he has used up to 30% corn or other grains in his feed mix. This year he's using 100% byproducts, including french fries, Tater Tots and potato peels.

"It's kind of funny," Mr. Jones says, "every once in a while, you can spot a couple of cattle fighting over a whole potato."

I suppose that soon, my family too will be able to eat junk food more cheaply than grains. I'm not looking forward to that, and I have something like 2% of the US population (plus 80% of the legislature) to thank for the sad fact.

See also - "Corn Too Expensive? Turn Pigs into Ethanol"

Also posted at issuesblog.com

(apropos previous story, below)

Democrats seek "no confidence" vote on Gonzales

As previously covered here, I don't see the firing of the US Attorneys, itself, as an affair worthy of even 10% of the coverage it's received over the past several months.

That said, the fact that the Senate is working to craft and pass a "no confidence vote" on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' tenure in his present office strikes me as far less silly than does the World Bank's dogged (and successful) pursuit of Paul Wolfowitz.

The initial response to the Democrats' concern over the firing of political appointees for (gasp!) political reasons was completely mishandled. Obfuscation, bluster, and confusion were the order of the day. None of this was required, and instead the response should have been to tell the Democrats to get stuffed, as it is the president's prerogative to fire any of his appointees, without regard for the sensitivities of Democrats looking to make political hay out of thin air.

However, once the AG's office acted as though they needed to explain the events, bordering on covering up the facts, it seemed clear that the AG wasn't qualified to handle his office. Subsequent events haven't been kind to his position, because each has seemed to provide yet another opportunity for him to demonstrate his cackhandedness in office.

Among those subsequent events, the May 14 resignation of Paul McNulty, Deputy AG, and the testimony on Tuesday, May 15, of James Comey, describing the attempts by Andy Card and Alberto Gonzales to get John Ashcroft, then in intensive care, to approve of an administration spying proposal.

Using only NPR as a signpost, have a look at the recent progression of this story:

• May 10, 2007 Despite Furor, Gonzales Likely to Stick Around
• May 11, 2007 Gonzales Gets Gentler Reception in House Visit
• May 14, 2007 Deputy U.S. Attorney General McNulty Resigns
• May 15, 2007 Gonzales: McNulty Played 'Central' Role in Firings

Gonzales himself has recently opined that it looked like he'd weathered the storm, even while, in a complete reversal of form for anyone in the Bush administration, he took responsibility for the firings, sort of, -ish.

I continue to believe that nothing wrong was done in the termination of the US Attorneys. Far more important, though, is the focus on how the aftermath-that-shouldn't-have-been was handled, and Gonzales has repeatedly shown himself to be a tone deaf stumbler during his defense.

Such a set of skills seems ill-suited to the highest levels of the Justice Department, and the Democrats (plus either 6 or 11 Republicans, depending on how you count, so far) seem likely to get their vote of no confidence passed, symbolic as it might be. Better still to hope for Gonzales' resignation as a result, though, as a friend pointed out to me yesterday, how hard might it be to get confirmation for a replacement?

[wik] For the record, all the ninnies calling for a wave of impeachments should also get stuffed. Focus on the problem at hand, rather than the problems you want to be at hand, sez me.

[alsø wik] Specter indicates that the pressure may be working. For once, I hope Specter is right. He hasn't been worth much since he created the Wall of Sound, and isn't even competent to hire a decent combination of chauffeur/murder trial witness.

...don't underestimate their ability to get it. Late last week, Paul Wolfowitz announced his resignation from the presidency of the World Bank. Having sensed the inevitability of the outcome, his Thursday started with an offer to resign on his own terms. From that morning's Financial Times, in a story entitled "Wolfowitz discusses terms of resignation":

Paul Wolfowitz yesterday began negotiating terms that could lead to his resignation as president of the World Bank. Last night the Bank board said the discussions had been adjourned and would continue today.
...
His lawyer, Robert Bennett, insisted he would not leave "under a cloud" and would rather risk the prospect of a vote on the board to dismiss him.

Given his repeated insistence, apparently supported by the facts if not by the rhetoric of his (many) enemies within the institution, that he'd done nothing wrong, neither his defense of his position nor his desire, after the defense has failed, to leave on his own terms can come as a huge surprise.

A quick summary of the case, from WSJ's OpinionJournal:

• Wolfowitz's girlfriend, Shaha Riza, was a staffer at the World Bank before he became president in 2006
• At the time he became president, he was directed by the bank's ethics committee to find a new job for her, even though he asked to recuse himself from the task.
  

  The committee suggested an "in situ promotion" to the next paygrade or an "ad hoc salary increase" as part of a "settlement of claims." The offer was intended to be generous, given that Ms. Riza--who already had been shortlisted for promotion--was being forced out of the bank, possibly for good, for a conflict she did not create and to a job she had not sought.

• She got an assignment at the State Department, with a significant increase in pay
• All hell has now broken loose, because he played a role in setting her new salary

Ms. Riza was eventually given an external assignment at the State Department with a salary (paid by the bank) of $193,000, up from the $133,000 she had previously made at the bank. To Mr. Wolfowitz's critics, this was improper and excessive, especially given that Condoleezza Rice makes about $10,000 less.

For other background, see:

• "World Bank Scholar"
• "The Real World Bank Scandal"
• "The Wolfowitz Files - Anatomy of a World Bank Smear"
• "A Tale of Two Scandals"
• "World Bank Jobbery - More evidence the Wolfowitz accusers chose to ignore"

If one chose to ignore all the facts, the affair would seem very sinister, to be certain. But of course, it's not at all. A reasonable person could look at the chain of events and come to the conclusion that Wolfowitz bent over backward to avoid both the fact and the appearance of impropriety. The near-50% increase in Ms. Riza's salary looks odd, but the fact that it's more than Dr. Rice makes is a red herring. In any event,

...this is highly selective outrage given normal procedure at the bank.

Of its roughly 10,000 employees, no fewer than 1,396 have salaries higher than the U.S. Secretary of State; clearly "fighting poverty" does not mean taking a vow of poverty at "multilateral" institutions. At the time of Ms. Riza's departure from the bank, she was a Grade "G" (senior professional) employee; the typical salary in that grade hovers around the $124,000 mark. For the next level, Grade "H"--the level to which Ms. Riza was due to be promoted--salaries average in the $170,000 range, with an upper band of $232,360. No fewer than 17% of bank employees are in this happy bracket.

So, no, it's not sinister in the least.

Sinister or not, Wolfowitz has now chosen to give up the ghost. As reported in Friday's WSJ, "Wolfowitz Quits World Bank as U.S. Relents". The mythical "reasonable person" could conclude he was railroaded. (For the record, the corrolary of the previous statement is not "Anyone who thinks he wasn't railroaded is unreasonable").

Unable to overcome charges of ethical misconduct, Paul Wolfowitz resigned as World Bank president yesterday within hours of getting a final White House signal that he should abandon a fierce battle save to his job.

So, why all the feigned outrage, and why the blatant politics involved in the ouster of Wolfowitz? At least four things, according to reports.

• Most often reported is the Bank's constitutional aversion to ensuring that it's not flushing money down various ratholes. The signature of Wolfowitz's administration at the Bank has been his anti-corruption drive. Doing so, of course, makes the jobs of the Bank's staff more difficult, and it subjects them to standards they're not used to, and unwilling to abide.
  

  Some of Mr. Wolfowitz's accusers--notably, former general counsel Roberto Danino--are angry precisely because he upset their lifetime sinecure by demanding higher performance.

  So there's that.

• Also at issue is the discomfiture of the staffers from the other countries which comprise the Bank's shareholders (of which the US is the largest) at the fact the US has named the last ten presidents of the Bank. Like many of the world's international institutions, smaller countries get chapped at the continually recognition of the US present role at the head of the table, in terms of financial heft. In addition to their successful hounding of Wolfowitz from office, the rumbles for non-American leadership at the bank are flowing, as advocated at Reuters, pseudo-reported at the Globe and Mail, and surely made part of the palaver elsewhere.
• Furthermore, there are those who trace the beginnings of this end to Wolfowitz's involvement elsewhere, to matters utterly unrelated to his actions at the World Bank. An example can be found in the Telegraph story entitled "Downfall precipitated by Iraq war"
• And of course, the generalized "Bush Explanation", from the Globe and Mail, prior to the resignation:
  

  The scandal that is likely to cost Mr. Wolfowitz his job was narrowly about favouritism toward Ms. Riza. More broadly, however, the showdown at the World Bank became a metaphor for Mr. Bush's troubled relations with the rest of the world -- and particularly Europe -- over Iraq, the broader Middle East, global warming and trade.

Oddly, without giving any of them any credence for operational worthiness, each of those four rationale for his ouster seems far more solid than the one by which he was finally forced to fall on his sword.

Whatever the actual reasoning of those wanting a head on a pike, resourceful enemies in politics, just like activists in the business world or, for that matter, a group of sixth grade girls, can find a way to introduce chum into the water. And if they're able to fool enough of the people enough of the time, they'll get their man.

Possible successors, according to the New York Times?

Speculation about Mr. Wolfowitz’s successor ranged from Paul A. Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, to Mr. Blair and Stanley Fischer, the finance minister of Israel and a former top official at the International Monetary Fund. Also mentioned have been various prominent figures on Wall Street, including Douglas A. Warner III, a former chairman of J.P. Morgan Chase and chairman of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

In addition, speculation has centered on two officials close to Mr. Bush: Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert M. Kimmitt and Robert B. Zoellick, a former deputy secretary of state.

There are some worthies in there, but I'd prefer Fischer be removed from the list, as he's no longer American (relinquished citizenship and took Israeli residency) and I see no problem with continued American stewardship of the Bank.

My favorite two choices, not on the list? John Bolton, or failing that, Dick Cheney. Because sometimes, the best response to a defeat such as the US (no, not Bush, and not Wolfowitz - the US) has had jammed down its throat by the bureaucrats at the World Bank (or the other international institutions whose design allows the pretense that each crappy little country has just as much to add as all others) is the same thing, only more so.

Addendum - Worth reading, the after-action op-ed at OpinionJournal.

Vermont, wedged between two far better states, has long been a hotbed of separatism and posturing independence. And so we turn our critical eye toward the home of overly sweet syrup:

• YEEEAAARRRGGGHHH
• If it weren't for us, your pancakes would be dry
• Canadian Money Accepted Here
• Birthplace of the Insufferable Hippie
• Yep
• Live Free or, uh… something
• We're Only Cheap in Monopoly
• Green Loogie State
• Home of, well, nothing much
• Manly Deeds, Womanly Hands
• More people than Alaska!
• The best French-named state in the union
• New Connecticut
• Bet ya can't name 2 of our towns
• Frozen Rednecks
• Land of Mustaches
• Our presidents our renowned for doing nothing
• Vermont – Home of Hippies Too Stupid To Move To Oregon
• Gettin' busy with New Hampshire since 1791
• We don't care who you marry, as long as we get the license fee
• Freedom and Unity, except with those fuckos from New Hampshire
• The New Jersey of New England
• The sort of triangular state
• Vermont, preternaturally
• Sing it! I, Hate New York
• Vermont is for Losers
• Independent does not necessarily mean paranoid
• Gateway to prosperous upstate New York
• Piss on Vermont
• The only state to successfully get out of New York
• Don’t pick on us just ‘cause we talk funny
• Ethan Allen, not just mediocre furniture
• Hillbillies aren’t just from Appalachia
• Like Massachusetts, only poorer and more socialist
• The last famous person from Vermont was born in 1872
• Best skiing on the East Coast, which is like saying you’re the smartest retard
• Birthplace of creepy Mormonism
• The first state, after the first thirteen states
• If Maple syrup was as valuable as oil, we’d be Texas. Or maybe Saudi Arabia

[wik] Bonus slogans!

• United States? What's that?
• Ben & Jerry for President!
• Howard Dean! He's One of Us!!!!!!!
• Welfare mothers make better lovers
• North West Virginia
• Most of us still have teeth

In a fascinating breakthrough, scientists have determined that the lowly fruit fly, subject of the predations of generations of high school geneticists, has a tiny sliver of free will. Remarkable!

And proof that at least some in the scientist community are aware of the possible threats of continued research in this area, one said,

Future research delving further into free will could lead to more advanced robots, scientists added. The result, joked neurobiologist Björn Brembs from the Free University Berlin, could be "world robot domination."

Naturally, the reporter assumed that the Brembs was joking. We know different.

Despite the lingering threat of robot domination of our species, this research does poke at some interesting corners of the human condition. Ironically, though, the researchers noted that the behavior that caused them to suppose that the flies’ behavior was less than completely random followed another mathematical pattern, that of Levy’s distribution:

Flies use this procedure to find meals, as do albatrosses, monkeys and deer. Scientists have found similar patterns in the flow of e-mails, letters and money, and in the paintings of Jackson Pollock

Now, there must be some sort of biological process at work to create this activity, and if there is a biological basis, then it is hard to make the argument that free will is at work. The particular results might vary from fly to fly, but the process is determined. Just like a random process will be different each time, but the process is entirely random.

And comparing a fly’s behavior to that of Jackson Pollock is not a particularly strong argument for free will, either.

The NY TImes and the BBC are reporting on a late day compromise that brings America closer to an immigration reform bill that will leave everyone disappointed.

According to those sources, the crux of the bill is a two visa system. One, for esteemed gastarbeiters, has a 2 year duration but is renewable only twice, must include a year in country of origin in between renewals, and will not track applicants to permanent residency or citizenship. The other, which would put applicants on the path to citizenship, seems to go like this:

-Get out
-Pay $5,000 penalty
-Apply for new visa to work in the US
-Wait up to 13 years for final decision on permanent residency or citizenship

Neither news outlet includes mention of what the stick is here; what is the compelling factor to do all this? What happens to illegals who do not take this route and remain here and continue to work?

Because if you ask me, it's a sucker bet.

If I'm already here, paying no taxes, no auto insurance, largely immune from legal action beyond all but the grossest of criminal enterprises, why the holy *hades* would I give that up to go back to the pit I came from, pay 5 g's while I'm at it, plus fees for a new visa ($700-ish, iirc) and come back to the same job I have but now I have to pay state taxes, federal taxes, FICA, and all the other jazz now?

No thanks.

I don't see how the bill, as described, would make more than a small dent in the illegal population. Unless there are stiff penalties for the people who still choose to remain in the "underground economy", like deportation and permanent bar to return, this is all just alot of wind.

Heh, well, and a windfall to immigration lawyers.

Drunkle Hitch has, as expected, weighed in on the passing of Jerry Falwell. I'm not one to speak ill of the dead, but I do loves me a good savage rant from everyone's favorite lit'ry critic and erstwhilely leftist drunken uncle!

"The evil that he did will live after him."

Someone buy that man another Remy Martin!!