perfidy

Now that Australia's banned people from having guns, people are arming themselves with swords (seriously!). Guess what? They've decided to ban them, too.

One can imagine a future Australia where glass bottles, coin-filled socks, and cricket bats will all be banned. But it's all good. They'll never think to ban the single most effective weapon in a street fight: the dreaded poo stick.

(Thanks to the ubiquitous Eugene Volokh.)

Some have been complaining about the delays in the adoption of the Iraqi constitution. Der Kommissar has an interesting take on the events surrounding the adoption of another country's constitution.

Sooner or later we're going to run out of cheap oil. There's plenty of disagreement about when that's going to happen. Ingenious humans will do clever battle with oil fields to pull more out; that pattern has already repeated. Still...the US was the world's premiere oil supplier until the 1950s, when the Hubbert Peak was reached. Domestic oil production is significant, but has declined substantially. The energy profit in the US has dwindled substantially.

Oil currently supplies around 85% of the world's energy needs. That's far too high, and we need to be doing something about it. The reason we need to start now is that if we do, we'll be able to soften the blow when oil starts getting more expensive. Estimates on when oil prices will increase substantially range from 2007 to about 2020, which provides us with a rough time frame.

Energy itself is not a problem. Solar energy provides everything we could ever use; its most convenient manifestation is wind. Hydroelectric power is also derived from sunlight (water becomes vapor, is carried by wind to mountains, flows down mountains). Gravity provides tidal forces, which can be used to generate rather incredible amounts of energy.

The price of wind power has dropped dramatically in the last two decades; at the same time, the efficiency of the equipment has risen steadily. We can now seriously consider wind as a legitimate alternative to other sources on a cost basis. We're not quite there yet, but with increases in oil price we won't be that far off. A generator/tower/battery system that can easily power an entire home (or ranch, for that matter) costs about $13,000 these days. When compared to the cost of a house, this is a small cost. On certain power grids, you can even sell excess power back to the utility grid...under those situations the grid acts as your storage device. You push power back into the grid when you have too much. The grid can shift this power to where it's needed. When you don't have enough, you can pull.

Hydroelectric-capable watersheds in the US are largely exploited at this point, but are capable of delivering a pretty large amount of power. We do pay a price in environmental terms for this, but maybe that price is acceptable.

Tidal forces are particularly power, yielding an energy profit of at least 15 to 1 (for each unit of energy expended to collect, you yield back 15). Tidal is capital intensive, but incredibly clean and possesses almost unlimited capacity.

Since I'm Canadian, I'll point out that Canada's hydroelectric watershed is mostly untapped, and is capable of generating far more power than the population could ever use. Likewise, we could turn most of the northern parts of our provinces into giant wind generating farms and nobody would notice. The Bay of Fundy is the world's premiere site for tidal generation; with tides in excess of 50 feet every six hours (due to the Bay's length matching the resonant frequency of global tidal patterns) the amount of energy being generated by the bay on a continous basis could supply all energy we need on the continent, if we could collect and transmit it. So Canada is good. ;)

The thing is, let's say there's effectively no oil. We can create plenty of electricity, though. Farms will need to convert their machinery to use electric engines. In fact, just about everything is going to have to convert to be that way. Suburban sprawl is going to be more of a necessity, because homeowners will want to have their own generators. Each house might end up having two or three large generators, possibly generating around 10 kilowatts or more a day, feeding into a battery bank. This overcapacity can be used to charge up the family vehicles; we can anticipate improvements in battery technology that will greatly extend the range of electric vehicles.

We've seen market corrections at work over the past couple of years. The market corrects very harshly. Can we not use a little foresight here and soften this particular landing? Can we not use our government to guide technology development and infrastructure development in the right direction? If the economy must absorb the shock of increasing oil prices, we need to spread that shock out across the biggest stretch of time possible.

We also have a tremendous opportunity to become world leaders in all of these technologies. The long view depends on it.

Arab News, an English-language daily that covers the Arab world, discusses the new sandy action flick "Hidalgo". The movie is based around a hoss race across the desert, ca 1900, in which uber-stud Viggo Mortensen out-hosses the locals.

Apparently the film has run afoul of culturally sensitive Arabs everywhere due to portrayals of Arab characters conforming to unspecified stereotypes. Ibrahim Cooper, head of CAIR, said:

"Given the growing prejudice against Islam, Muslims and Arabs, we believe a film with this type of dialogue and imagery could have a negative impact on the lives of ordinary American Muslims and Arab-Americans", and adds, “We sincerely hope that anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry will not be added to historical inaccuracy in a film that is being marketed to families".

So.... we all know it's just a movie right? Like, for fun?

If you read the whole article, you'll find that Disney agreed to give CAIR an advance screening. You know, to make sure it wouldn't upset people of Arab decent or Muslims in America. Seemingly they failed, but the larger point is unmistakable. And ironically the new stereotype that Hooper and other commenters on this piece perpetuate is that of the dour, literalist, humorless Arab rumor monger who sees a Jewish plot behind every "negative" portrayal of Islam or its followers, whether in real life or in make-believe.

It's interesting that the Arab press, which is largely anti-American and its reportage can be cover for terroristic propaganda, blames America for its own portrayal in modern media. Yet for a fanciful adventure story, set well over 100 years ago, and a movie to boot, THAT's bigotry.

It seems that this is the future of filmmaking. Develop an idea, wash it through the lawyers; produce a rough cut, wash it through the focus groups; edit a final cut, wash it through every ethnic, cultural, fraternal, and linguistic organization conceivable; once more through the lawyers, then to your local megaplex for you to sort of enjoy. If there's any fun left in the thing.

The Left's Anti-Semitic Chic?. Backed up by nothing in the article, of course. I wonder if Will actually wrote the headline. Onward:

Here the term intellectual is used loosely, to denote not only people who think about ideas -- about thinking -- but also people who think they do. The term anti-Semitism is used to denote people who dislike Jews. These people include those who say: We do not dislike Jews, we only dislike Zionists -- although to live in Israel is to endorse the Zionist enterprise, and all Jews are implicated, as sympathizers, in the crime that is Israel.

Today's release of Mel Gibson's movie "The Passion of the Christ" has catalyzed fears of resurgent anti-Semitism. Some critics say the movie portrays the governor of Judea -- Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect responsible for the crucifixion -- as more benign and less in control than he actually was, and ascribes too much power and malignity to Jerusalem's Jewish elite.

A few things come to mind. First, anti-semites are people who dislike Jews for being Jews. And yes, small-minded one, you can dislike Zionists without being an anti-semite. Unless you believe that all Jews are Zionists, which they're not.

Will then raises Gibson's "The Passion". Why he provides this as bolstering material in an article accusing the entire left of being anti-semitic is beyond me. He might want to do a little exit polling at theaters, where he might rapidly discover that (shocker) religious Christian types are the main audience for this film. Say, which way do the religious Christian types in this country lean, anyway?

Oh...I forgot. It's a movie, which means it is inherently part of the left wing conspiracy.

BTD links to the annual Gallup international beauty contest. The judges are the American public and according to them, Great Britain, Canada and Australia are dead sexy. Japan is looking pretty cute; and if we drink enough beer, even France and Germany might verge on doable.

The double bagger contingent is headed up by incurable hag North Korea, followed closely by the Palestinian Authority, Iran and Iraq. This snap judgement conceals the fact that Iraq was once last in our affections, but a little makeup and strategic plastic surgery has made her four times cuter than last year.

It appears that the situation in Haiti is quickly descending into sadly typical chaos. The United States is sending fifty Marines from the Fleet Anti-Terrorist Security Team to Port-au-Prince to help guard the US Embassy there, but there is no sign that the United States has any plans for large scale intervention. US Forces have libervated Haiti several times in the over 200 years since Haiti won its independence from France. The recent rebellion follows a pattern that is a hallowed tradition in Haitian politics. The rich Haitians get tired of the current government, and hire rebels to overthrow it. The rebels get money, loot and the opportunity for youthful hijinks. The former president and cronies move away to a comfortable retirement. The rich Haitians make some windfall profits, and one fo their number is elevated to the presidency. Then, he begins his year and a half to ten years of kleptocracy - until the cycle repeats itself.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when our propensity to invade other countries was higher than currently, periods of American occupation were the only relief that Haitans had from this regular cycle of theft and violence. Later, the Duvalier regime managed to avoid the cycle through brutal repression of potential rebels. For all the hopes many had for Aristide, he seems to be more than anything a throwback to the typical Haitian leaders of the past - and the current rebellion is the traditional response.

Anyone interested in the history of America's long history of military interventions and the generally positive results thereof, I highly recommend Max Boot's excellent history, The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power.

Buckethead noted this weekend that Canadians were outraged by the antics of Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog during Conan O'Brien's recent Canada trip.

Oh, please. I love Canada and Canadians. I really do. I'd fit in there. But the nation has a little bit of an inferiority thing. Any time a Canadian of any stature comes up in conversation, whether it's Mike Meyers, Neil Young, or Winnipeg mayor Glen Murray, any Canadian present in the conversation is required by law to say, "Ya know, they're Canadian."

Yes, we know. And they're probably funnier and play better guitar than Americans, too. And yes, we know about Smarties and how great fries are with gravy and cheese, and of course the Maple Leaves, the Rough Riders, and the Rough Riders are the greatest sports teams in the history of sport.

But please, Canada, grow a pair. Check out what Triumph said to Quebecois last week that caused all the fureur:

"So you're French and Canadian, yes? You're obnoxious and dull."

"I can tell you're French, you know. You have that proud expression, that superior look, and I can smell your crotch from here."

Now that's comedy. I have to say, my reaction is summed up best by Toronto Star columnist Vinay Menon: "I can't believe this country was successfully baited by a damn hand puppet."

Me neither.

Bill Clinton spoke in Qatar recently; I think you'll find the speech well worth reading. What he says resonates with me.

I've just been discussing the recent passage of the law banning muslim headscarves in France with my office mate. To be sure, the law is even handed, in that it also forbids Jews from wearing yarmulkes and Christians from wearing large crosses. But participants in a protest in Egypt believe that the law is anti-Islam. And of course they're right.

The prohibitions for Jews and Christians is just a figleaf for a spectacularly lame attempt to do something about the Muslim minority in France that now is over 14% of the population. Theodore Dalrymple wrote in the City Journal a frightening description of the cités surrounding most French cities, and inhabited by millions of poorly assimilated North African Muslims. Until now, there has been little if any attempt on the part of the French or their government to construct any sort of policy for assimilating the growing Muslim minority. This despite the fact that riots, crime and support for radical Islam is rampant in the Muslim neighborhoods.

This effort is far too little, and perhaps too late as well. It has the simultaneous disadvantages of infuriating the Muslims while doing absolutely nothing about the underlying problems. It is a symbolic bandaid on a metaphorical sucking chest wound.

While I on one level I am feeling a delicious sort of anticipatory schadenfreude contemplating the disaster that could be facing France in the not too distant future, the fact is that despite recent French obsteperousness, it would be a very bad thing for the west if la France became the battleground in the fight between civilization and radical Islam.

The FDA is enforcing a decades-old ban on the import of Chinese Peppercorns, causing the supply to dry up. A crucial ingredient in Sichuan cooking (yum!), the peppercorns come from a bush which belongs to a family of shrubbery who carry a disease that kill citrus plants (got that?).

Although the ban was put in place in 1968, the FDA did not start enforcing the ban until 2002, which is why the supply is drying up, and why there's now a fricking black market for fricking Sichuan pepper.

A note: nobody actually knows whether the peppercorns carry the citrus-killing disease, because nobody at the gubmint has bothered to test for it. As a fat, pampered decadent Western aesthete, I declare this an outrage!

Daniel Drezner points us to a fascinating feature in the Chicago Tribune on Baghdad's book bazaars and how the events of the last year have affected their business.

What are Iraqis selling and reading? Works by Shiite clerics, religious text, formerly banned books, volumes looted from libraries and private collections, and American paperbacks. The upshot for the merchants is: freedom's good; competition's a pain in the keister; and it's really nice not to get beaten or taken away for having the wrong book in sight of the authorities.

My favorite part is this:

A lifetime devotee of popular American novels, Toma's guru is Sidney Sheldon, and he has an ambitious dream for the new Iraq. He wants to open a Sidney Sheldon Institute for Modern English, where he will teach English to Iraqis and reveal to them the literary magic of the blockbuster American novelist.

Where do I send funding?

The OpinionJournal has an interesting piece up on the possible fate of Cuba once the murderous ratfink dictator Castro finally claims gets his ticket punched. The article is based on the conclusions of Mark Falcoff of the American Enterprise Institute, in his book Cuba, the Morning After.

Falcoff concludes that post-Castro Cuba will have a hard time recovering from more than four decades of communist dictatorship. "Failed states typically become--like Haiti--platforms for the export of illicit substances, centers of international criminality, and vessels leaking illegal immigrants," he says. "Perhaps, indeed, the island will somehow avoid this fate, but present indicators do not offer much encouragement."

The article continues, "Other obstacles abound, Mr. Falcoff argues, even if the dictatorship topples like the Berlin Wall. Cuba, once prosperous, is now desperately poor, and one of Castro's legacies is the destruction of the whole framework of civil society. Gone are the entrepreneurs of Spanish-immigrant culture. Gone are the vibrant business groups, labor federations and professional societies. Gone are the engines of wealth, like a profitable sugar industry. The regime has trashed the island's environment and badly damaged its human capital. Cuba now ranks among the world's top five nations in suicides per capita. Even psychologically healthy Cubans are burdened by years of indoctrination, with its bias against individual responsibility and risk-taking.

About the only thing that might avert this rather grim scenario is the return of Cuban-Americans who have combined Cuban culture with American entrepreneurial skills and respect for civil soceity. Cuba was once the richest country in Latin America in per capita income. Now it is by far the poorest. Hopefully, this can change back.

From the Associated Press: French lawmakers vote overwhelmingly to ban religious apparel in public school. I'm not one to wag fingers [liar!!!] but I'm afraid that France is sweeping a crucial issue under the rug. At a time when they should be taking every step to help integrate a new generation of French Muslim (and Jewish)schoolchildren into French society, they are attempting to eradicate the outward differences between groups, in the process making those difference more apparent and less bridgeable.

[wik] Yes, I know there's deeper and older issues involved. I stand by my point. Does that make me a touchy-feely hippie?

Not the ass of the world, which is Steubenville, OH. (Nitro WV being a close runner-up.) But the bottom of the world, which is to say the South Pole.

Sophie got to take a day trip to the new base being constructed at the pole, and took time to get her picture took. For more information on the South Pole, you can start here. 

The leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, had this to say in a rally back in August of last year:

"The resistance movement [against the U.S. in Iraq] may not be able to remove the U.S. from Iraq within a year, but it will be able to remove Bush, [Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld and [National Security Adviser] Condoleezza Rice, together with their Zionist friends, from the White House," [editorial notes in the original Haaretz article]

The article has a lot of detail on the relationship between Hezbollah and Syria, and both groups activities in Lebanon, Iraq and elsewhere. Read the whole thing, as they say. But this quote is interesting. At least one terror group is convinced that a new administration in Washington would lead to a more salubrious climate for their activities. That is a strong argument for voting against whoever ends up the Democratic nominee.

hat tip: Insults Unpunished

Or maybe not: 112,000 new jobs added to the economy, and the unemployment rate is down to 5.6 % - lowest in over two years.

[wik] A later version of the AP story adds this tidbit:

Some economists think hiring really is occurring in the economy, but it is not being reflected in the Labor Department's monthly survey of business payrolls. In the separate survey of households, employment jumped by 496,000 last month.

The household survey counts self-employed workers and contract workers, which are increasing. The survey of businesses does not.

Six day old blog Siberian Light lets us know what those wacky Japanese are up to. Apparently, turning entire Chinese luxury hotels into giant orgies is not enough. The kinky Japs have taken this show on the road. (The soundtrack for the video would have to be Soul Coughing's Bus to Beelzebub.)

One would think that the police crackdown would have forced other orgy organizers in the metropolitan area to go underground, but that's apparently not the case. ...one organizer decided to go public, so to speak, by offering a completely new thrill: He chartered a bus, staffed it with hookers from the pink trade, solicited male participants, and then proceeded to run two-hour circuits of the city's while the male and female passengers emulated the same rush-hour crush they undergo on the morning commuter trains --- while completely naked and horizontal.

For his 30,000 yen [ $284.38 ] tour fee, the reporter claims he exhausted his supply of condoms, having made it with four different females during the two-hour tour. "A bargain," he remarks with a grin.

Indeed.

Abdul Khan, who just the other day confessed to selling nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, has been pardoned by President Musharraf. (hat tip: National Security Blog.)

Needless to say, many people will be a little miffed that Khan is getting off so lightly. Khan is a national hero, the father of the Islamic bomb. Musharraf was likely in a tight spot with this one, but I can only hope we get some useful intelligence out of this.

The same two Cubans who tried to reach America with a floating Chevy flatbed truck are trying again with a 1959 Buick.

Marciel Basanta Lopez and Luis Gras Rodriguez, who were sent back to Cuba in July after they failed to reach Florida in a converted 1951 Chevy pickup, were allegedly at the helm of the newest vehicle-boat conversion... Relatives in Cuba told Basanta's cousin, Kiriat Lopez, who lives in Lake Worth, that they knew the men were planning a second escape attempt. "My cousin isn't crazy. He wants to be free," Lopez told the newspaper. "That's how crazy he is."