William F. Buckley Jr. (1925-2008)
I'm devastated to report that our dear friend, mentor, leader, and founder William F. Buckley Jr., died this morning in his study in Stamford, Connecticut.
He died while at work; if he had been given a choice on how to depart this world, I suspect that would have been exactly it. At home, still devoted to the war of ideas.
As you might expect, we'll have much more to say here and in NR in the coming days and weeks and months. For now: Thank you, Bill. God bless you, now with your dear Pat. Our deepest condolences to Christopher and the rest of the Buckley family. And our fervent prayer that we continue to do WFB's life's work justice.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
William F. Buckley Jr. RIP
Kudlow on Inflation Worries
Economist Brian Wesbury says the Fed is in denial about rising prices. I think he's right.
Here's another problem. The Fed is going to be easing interest rates in the teeth of $950 gold and $101 oil! This can't make any sense to the average Main Street Joe out there.
At the end of the day, the job of the Fed is to stabilize the level of prices, or at least to keep the increase in the price level to less than 2 percent. But the yearly changes are way, way above 2 percent.
And using the so-called core inflation rate (which excludes food and energy) simply makes no sense over longer periods of time. In other words, core prices from month to month, and quarter to quarter, may be useful guides for the Fed, but they are no longer useful over periods of 12 months or longer. The rise of inflation, measured as a 12-month change, is truly significant over the past 4 months. It's a problem.
The Fed should stop easing right now, and it should maintain that posture until commodity prices start falling.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
DailyTech - Temperature Monitors Report Widescale Global Cooling
Meteorologist Anthony Watts compiled the results of all the sources. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C -- a value large enough to erase nearly all the global warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year time. For all sources, it's the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.
Scientists quoted in a past DailyTech article link the cooling to reduced solar activity which they claim is a much larger driver of climate change than man-made greenhouse gases. The dramatic cooling seen in just 12 months time seems to bear that out. While the data doesn't itself disprove that carbon dioxide is acting to warm the planet, it does demonstrate clearly that more powerful factors are now cooling it.
Biggest brain drain from UK in 50 years - Telegraph
Britain is experiencing the worst "brain drain" of any country as highly qualified professionals settle abroad, an authoritative international study showed yesterday.
Record numbers of Britons are leaving - many of them doctors, teachers and engineers - in the biggest exodus for almost 50 years.
There are now 3.247 million British-born people living abroad, of whom more than 1.1 million are highly-skilled university graduates, say the researchers.
More than three quarters of these professionals have settled abroad for more than 10 years, according to the study by the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
No other nation is losing so many qualified people, it points out. Britain has now lost more than one in 10 of its most skilled citizens, while overall only Mexico has had more people emigrate.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Republican 'Obamacans' could be key to Obama victory
It's one of his funniest campaign jokes, getting huge laughs, but it underscores what could be absolutely crucial to Barack Obama's White House hopes: the fact that some Republicans secretly back him."There's one right there, an 'Obamacan,' that's what we call them," the Democratic senator declared last week after winning primary contests for his party's presidential nomination in Maryland, Washington DC and Virginia.
"They whisper to me. They say, 'Barack, I'm a Republican, but I support you.' And I say, 'Thank you. Why are we whispering?'"
Obama has cracked the joke in every campaign speech since his win in Iowa on January 3. He tells it with a stage whisper into the mike, and can get a stadium packed with 16,000 supporters to burst out laughing.
But the point is not just to warm up the crowd: Obama is also underscoring that he has the ability to win the presidential vote, and then to govern effectively, transcending partisan strains, unlike his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, who is reviled by conservatives.
Obamacans
The L.A. Times' natty Mark Z. Barabak has a front-pager on Republicans for Obama - what the senator calls "Obamacans": "The support has not come unbidden. Throughout his campaign, Obama has been appealing to Republicans even as he battles Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York for the Democratic nomination. Obama's first TV ad in Iowa featured a GOP lawmaker from Illinois touting Obama's ability to work with Republicans."
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Ann Coulter: No More Reagans
By prohibiting speech by anyone else, the campaign-finance laws have vastly magnified the power of the media -- which, by the way, are wholly exempt from speech restrictions under campaign-finance laws. The New York Times doesn't have to buy ad time to promote a politician; it just has to call McCain a "maverick" 1 billion times a year.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
John O'Sullivan on John McCain & Conservatism on National Review Online
It seems possible and even likely that a victory by Barack Obama would be the climax of this long policy of fully integrating black and minority America into the nation and putting the querulous politics of race behind us. As I have argued elsewhere, the mere fact of a President Obama would strengthen and stabilize America just as a Polish pope undermined Soviet rule in Eastern Europe. Black and minority America would be fully integrated into the nation as the British working class was fully integrated into the British political nation by George V. Americans would feel better about themselves and the world would feel very differently about America. The conservative interest, as defined above, would therefore smile upon a vote for Obama.
Notice that this analysis does not depend upon the actual policies pursued by Obama. It is the fact of an Obama presidency that would be a long step towards national cohesion. That fact is enhanced by Obama's rhetoric of one nation. But what if Obama's actual policies weaken this cohesion? Since he seems to favor more or less open immigration, multiculturalism, bilingual education, racial preferences, and other policies that emphasize and reward ethnic division, he might well obstruct and delay the overcoming of race that his presidency symbolizes and contradict the rhetoric of one nation used by Obama to such good effect with voters of all races. Obama's proposed policies therefore open a line of attack for Republicans to exploit. Unfortunately for the GOP, John McCain takes almost exactly the same position on these "National Question" issues as Obama — without having the Democrat's symbolic or rhetorical appeal.
The American Spectator on McCain rumors in the NYT
original New York Times: report
and a response:
The NRA and the ACLU both can't buy ad time in the days before an election because doing so, by virtue of the ethical senator's own philosophy, is manipulating the people and hurting democracy. But when McCain hops a flight with a campaign contributor, it ought to be obvious that he's maintaining his integrity. Why is it that associations comprised of every day citizens are suspect, but a powerful politician is not?
Sure, it's a bait and switch. But it's a very good one because it demonstrates the very problem presented by the John McCain School of Ethics. This is not a story about what happened. It's a story about what could have happened. What was feared to have happened. What, it must be assumed in good faith, did not happen. Campaign advisers were afraid that "the appearance of a close bond with a lobbyist whose clients often had business before the Senate committee Mr. McCain led threatened the story of redemption and rectitude that defined his political identity."
While it's clear that supporters and passers-by will dismiss the Times report as overblown in its importance (and, of course, heap onto theTimes for being incautious about its use of sources), the dredging up of areal ethics flap will not help a man who has made ethics a cornerstone of his campaign. But the story might have a few positive effects after all.
Conservatives will likely rally for McCain. McCain will have the opportunity to show just how comfortable he is with transparency and talk to the press in a way that Americans will appreciate. He'll have a chance to highlight his record as a reformer in Congress. And the New York Times's public editor, Clark Hoyt, will have a very entertaining column attempting to explain what happened.
I know one Conservative that will not rally for McCain. He's getting a bit of poetic justice from his friends. They endorsed him for the Republican nomination. He's their guy, not mine. He doesn't trust the public to be able to make up their own minds around election time. Unfair ads could somehow cause them to make the wrong decision. We have to limit free speech to protect the public. Except newspapers -- they serve the public good, they don't have a political agenda, they can say whatever they want, whenever they want. And the "special interests" should not have the right to respond.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
So what would it take to alarm you?
It's hard to deliver a wake-up call for a civilization so determined to smother the alarm clock in the soft fluffy pillow of multiculturalism and sleep in for another 10 years. The folks who call my book "alarmist" accept that the Western world is growing more Muslim (Canada's Muslim population has doubled in the last 10 years), but they deny that this population trend has any significant societal consequences. Sharia mortgages? Sure. Polygamy? Whatever. Honour killings? Well, okay, but only a few. The assumption that you can hop on the Sharia Express and just ride a couple of stops is one almighty leap of faith. More to the point, who are you relying on to "hold the line"? Influential figures like the Archbishop of Canterbury? The bureaucrats at Ontario Social Services? The Western world is not run by fellows noted for their line-holding: look at what they're conceding now and then try to figure out what they'll be conceding in five years' time.
NBC reprimands employee for using picture of bin Laden behind Obama story
NBC News said Tuesday it has reprimanded the employee responsible for mistakenly flashing a picture of Osama bin Laden on MSNBC as Chris Matthews talked about Barack Obama.This is sort of funny. You can expect lots of Republicans to make this sort of honest mistake. Even a real supporter like Ted Kennedy might get mixed up from time to time."This mistake was inexcusable," MSNBC spokesman Jeremy Gaines said.
It happened during the opening of "Hardball" Monday evening. Matthews was previewing a story on the controversy over Obama's use of another politician's words, and a picture of bin Laden briefly flashed on the screen beside him with the headline "Words About Words."
The Obama campaign immediately called NBC to complain, and Matthews apologized on the air a few minutes later. When "Hardball" was rerun later that night, a picture of Obama replaced the picture of theterrorist leader.
The mistake was made by someone in the network's graphics department whom MSNBC would not identify. The network did not explain exactly how the mistake was made nor detail the punishment for the employee.
Obama has upper hand
After 10 consecutive defeats — including a heartbreaker in tailor-made Wisconsin on Tuesday — Hillary Rodham Clinton can't win the nomination unless Obama makes a major mistake or her allies reveal something damaging about the Illinois senator's background. Don't count her out quite yet, but Wisconsin revealed deep and destructive fractures in the Clinton coalition.
Maybe Al Gore could have saved her, but he refused to show any support for Hillary. At this point, there's no conventional political solution for a Hillary nomination. She's lost control of the press, and the pols no longer fear the Clinton machine. Obama has the hearts and minds of the people. The silver lining for Hillary is that she doesn't need Bill anymore. Try again next time without him. Maybe she'll do better as a truly liberated woman.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Hillary and Obama: It's About to Get Real Ugly - HUMAN EVENTS
The word on the street is that the Obama campaign and New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg have already met and devised an incredible plan if Clinton wins the nominee. Mayor Bloomberg would give nearly $1 billion to Obama's campaign after which Obama would bolt from the Democratic Party and run as an Independent candidate with king-maker Bloomberg as his running mate. The Obama campaign realizes that Obama is too new at this game and doesn't have the political weight of the Clintons to bring in the true heavy-hitters of the party's hierarchy. So, according to sources it was Bloomberg himself who suggested this cunning strategy. It's mind boggling that the Clintons are willing to destroy the entire Democratic Party, and potentially in the process lose the White House and seats in Congress, for their own selfish thirst for power and glory.
That's a good rumor directed at the Democratic power brokers: you could lose everything if you support Hillary in her attempt to steal the nomination. It's just barely plausible enough that Clinton supporters might have to stop short of subverting the will of the voters. Personally, I don't think Bloomberg would want to run as a VP so the whole idea sounds preposterous. But it shows that Obama can play tough with the Clinton machine.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Yes We Can [Professor Bainbridge]
Robert Zubrin on Making Oil Compete on National Review Online
However, there is now a way to break OPEC, a surprisingly simple one. What is needed is for Congress to pass a law requiring that all new cars sold (not just made, but sold) in the U.S. be flex-fueled — that is, be able to run on any combination of gasoline or alcohol fuels. Such cars already exist — two dozen different models of flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs) are being produced by Detroit's Big Three this year — and they only cost about $100 more than identical models that can run on gasoline only. (The switch to FFV requires only two minor upgrades: in the materials used in the fuel line and in the software controlling the electronic fuel injector.)
[...]
Such a development would also create a market that would mobilize tens of billions of dollars of private investment into techniques for the production of cellulosic ethanol and other advanced alcohol fuels. Those investments will further reduce the price of alcohol fuels and will radically expand America's and our allies' potential resource base (although methanol already can be produced from any kind of biomass, without exception, as well as coal, natural gas, and urban trash).
[...]
Instead of financing terrorism, we could be funding world development. Instead of selling controlling blocks of Citibank or CNN to Saudi princes, we could be selling tractors to Africa. That is the way to win the war on terror.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
The Editors on The Right on National Review Online
Conservatives and McCain should neither pretend that we have no differences nor obsess about those differences. We should instead work on the common task of building a center-right majority in this election year and future ones, each appreciating that the other will play a different role in that task. So we ask the senator, and his conservative supporters and critics: Any takers?
Schneier on Security: Security vs. Privacy
Since 9/11, approximately three things have potentially improved airline security: reinforcing the cockpit doors, passengers realizing they have to fight back and -- possibly -- sky marshals. Everything else -- all the security measures that affect privacy -- is just security theater and a waste of effort. [...]
If you set up the false dichotomy, of course people will choose security over privacy -- especially if you scare them first. But it's still a false dichotomy. There is no security without privacy. And liberty requires both security and privacy. The famous quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin reads: "Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." It's also true that those who would give up privacy for security are likely to end up with neither.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Maine to Obama; Clinton Replaces Campaign Leader
Senator Barack Obama racked up his fourth decisive victory this weekend, winning the Maine caucuses on Sunday, as Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton replaced her campaign manager and longtime aide in the biggest shakeup of her campaign to date. [...]
Obama is cruising to victories and showing a lot of confidence. He's not afraid to take on the Clintons. It's time for Hillary to get tough, but what can she do? I don't think Maggie Williams is going to be the answer. Unless she gets Al Gore to endorse her (which seems almost impossible), she will not get the nomination. It's time for Obama to start thinking about his VP selections. He absolutely will not offer it to Hillary. He knows that she carries too much baggage and that Bill would be a huge distraction during the campaign.Meanwhile, Mr. Obama intensified his criticisms of Mrs. Clinton — and her husband — saying that when Mr. Clinton was president Democrats lost at every level of government and that Mrs. Clinton could not bridge the nation's political divide.
"Senator Clinton starts off with 47 percent of the country against her," he said in response to a question in Alexandria. "That's a hard place to start."
Mr. Obama said the Clintons had been unable to assemble a working majority in Congress in the 1990s, when Mr. Clinton was president.
"She's a smart person, she's a capable person, she would be a vast improvement over the incumbent," he said in response to a question at a rally with 3,000 people, with 1,200 more listening in an overflow room. "What is also true is, I think it's very hard for Senator Clinton to break out of the politics of the last 15 years."
Mr. Obama said the country was divided politically, with about 47 percent on each side and the rest in the middle and that Mrs. Clinton would be unable to bring people together.
"Keep in mind, we had Bill Clinton as president when, in '94, we lost the House, we lost the Senate, we lost governorships, we lost state houses," he said. "And so, regardless of what policies they wanted to promote, they didn't have a working majority to bring change about."
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Global-Warming Jujitsu - TierneyLab
Here's Dr. Goklany's summary of what different policies can accomplish:
Halting climate change would reduce cumulative mortality from various climate-sensitive threats, namely, hunger, malaria, and coastal flooding, by 4–10 percent in 2085, while increasing populations at risk from water stress and possibly worsening matters for biodiversity. But according to cost information from the U.N. Millennium Program and the I.P.C.C., measures focused specifically on reducing vulnerability to these threats would reduce cumulative mortality from these risks by 50–75 percent at a fraction of the cost of reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs). Simultaneously, such measures would reduce major hurdles to the developing world's sustainable economic development, the lack of which is why it is most vulnerable to climate change.
Bottom line: the best way to deal with the worst possible effects of global warming is to improve our technology and increase our wealth -- not to handicap our economy with draconian measures typically advocated by environmental extremists.
The American Conservative Party | The Political Party for American Conservatives
Welcome to the new and permanent home of The American Conservative Party!
It might be a bit early to start a new party. I'll need to look at the Constitution Party and other fringe groups first. Really, you need a big shot (with some big bucks) to get a new Party rolling.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
