« April 2007 | WILLisms.com | June 2007 »

Wednesday Caption Contest: Part 106

This week's WILLisms.com Caption Contest photograph:

Here is the actual caption:

Tiger cubs play with chicks at a zoo in Wenling, Zhejian province, May 29, 2007. The chicks, who were not harmed by the cubs, were feeding at a nearby river before entering the tigers' cage. It is the first time zoo staff have witnessed such an occurrence, China Daily reported.

Ew, what a horrible caption! Give us a better one, please.

Entries will remain open until 11:59 PM, Central Standard Time, Tuesday, June 5. Submit your captions in the comments section, or email at mccracken.ken@gmail.com.

Last week's photo:

Winners from last week: 1. Poole:

Yes, they are mine - all natural. And my dentist can prove it!

2. Tim:

A post-operative Geddy Lee answers questions at a press conference promoting the 'Rush: 2007 Summer Tour'.

3. Giacomo:

"No, I don't wear a cup. I wear two."

Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to CAPTION OR DIE. Enter today!

Posted by Ken McCracken · 30 May 2007 02:16 PM · Comments (12)

Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 441 -- Teachers & Job Security.

Not Much Creative Destruction In Teaching-

Antiquated jobs are destroyed. Innovative new jobs are created. Jobs are eliminated. Jobs appear out of thin air. A net plus of jobs is created in the end. It's the circle of life in a healthy economy.

The Skeptical Optimist blog has a great discussion of this phenomenon.

In 2006, 16% of workers in America got fired or were laid off (.pdf). Nearly all of them found new jobs in relatively short order. Some did not, and it was unpleasant for them. It would have been far less pleasant, however, had there been few, if any, new jobs elsewhere.

Think: Michigan or parts of Europe, where labor laws are rigid and antiquated, and potential employers think long and hard about before creating a new job.

In the same year (2006), 12.2% of state employees in Texas were dismissed from their jobs (.pdf). So, much more job stability in government jobs. But still some churning.

In many of the school districts in Texas, fractions of fractions of a single percent of teachers lost their jobs (.pdf):

Meanwhile, it's fairly difficult for someone with real world experience (such as a retired or semi-retired scientist or engineer) to get into teaching without going through a cumbersome accreditation process. It's also difficult for 20-somethings without degrees specifically in "Education" to break into the teaching profession. The costs (both time and monetary) associated with getting certified mean that many highly qualified individuals considering teaching for the short term only become discouraged and look elsewhere for employment.

There's very little-- too little-- turnover in teaching. It's hard to get into it. It's hard to be fired. Incentive pay is non-existent. There are few, if any, other incentives for a teacher to strive to be the best.

The teaching profession in Texas looks like the employment situations in Michigan or Europe- highly unionized, static, broken, and full of problems that nobody on the inside can seem to figure out.

-------------------------------------

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Absurdly Overwhelming Media Bias on Global Warming.

Posted by Will Franklin · 30 May 2007 08:34 AM · Comments (26)

Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 440 -- Media Bias On Climate Change.

About As One-Sided As It Gets-

Some startlingly ridiculous research on those network morning shows and their coverage of climate change, from the Media Research Center:

Some more facts:

...just four stories out of 115 (just over 3%) contained any mention of dissent from Gore’s approach to global warming — and even those stories were heavily stacked in favor of his "climate crisis" position.

Just 12 stories (10%) even mentioned new regulatory proposals, and none of these dealt with the potential costs or consequences.

Out of 90 soundbites and comments in interviews, nearly all (96%) came from liberal activists or those arguing the "climate crisis" position. Three of the skeptical soundbites came in stories on ABC and CBS recounting Gore’s congressional testimony, showing Republicans Joe Barton and James Inhofe doubting Gore’s science.

One-fourth of all global warming stories focused on Gore himself, and nearly all of those (91%) contained no suggestion of disagreement with Gore’s position.

Just to keep this in perspective, these morning shows had a combined daily viewership of 13 million. Fox News is lucky to occasionally pull in 3 million on its top rated shows, with special events bringing in a couple more million on top of that.

Again, if you ever hear anyone babbling on about the "right-wing media," it's best to just avoid eye contact and carefully extract yourself from the situation. The establishment media are deeply and intractably biased in the left-wing direction. The evidence just continues to mount.

Ken adds: not only is the press horribly biased about global warming, they also just make stuff up, such as saying Bush 'rejected' the Kyoto Accord. Kyoto was voted down 95-0 by the Byrd-Hagel resolution in the Senate during the Clinton administration in 1997.

-------------------------------------

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Property Taxes Are Too High.

Posted by Will Franklin · 29 May 2007 11:27 AM · Comments (12)

Quote Of The Day

Long on promises, short on delivery, the Democratic Congress is a shambles and a hypocritical failure:

After 140 days, however, congressional Democrats left town with no significant accomplishments, one long-delayed bill finally enacted into law, and lots to make fun of. There was no increase in morality, no magically bipartisan era, no sweeping enactment of a coherent agenda for change, akin to what Republicans promised in their Contract With America in 1994. Instead, the 110th Congress has been a combination of "now I'll get mine" and "now you'll get yours!"

From Ronald A. Cass at RealClearPolitics.

So much for 'draining the swamp'.

Posted by Ken McCracken · 28 May 2007 11:48 PM · Comments (2)

Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 439 -- State & Local Tax Burdens.

Texas Needs Property Tax Relief-

The Texas economy is among the better state economies in the country. It has certain natural/geographic advantages that contribute to that superior economic growth (warm weather, proximity to Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico, oil and gas in the ground, the Central Standard Time zone, etc.), but Texas has benefited far more from its pro-growth policies, including no state income tax. Indeed, Texas routinely ranks among the best state/local tax climates in the country, year after year.

The competitive advantage Texas enjoys, however, is now threatened by upwardly creeping property taxes. While Texas has not seen the same kind of real estate bubble the rest of the country has experienced over the past several years, property values have-- nonetheless-- risen dramatically since the turn of the century. Property tax rates remained roughly the same, meanwhile, which has effectively led to two consequences: 1. a major middle class tax hike; 2. an overflowing surplus in government coffers.

The Tax Foundation explains (.pdf):

Property tax collections have risen significantly for several years, as local government officials apparently did not ratchet down rates enough to prevent a surge of revenue as the value of real estate soared between 2001 and 2006.

Indeed, the national trend is not pretty (.pdf):

Meanwhile, back in Texas, legislators have been hesitant to offer substantive property tax relief because many of them don't quite believe the projections of multi-billion dollar surpluses. Many of those who do believe in surplus projections simply want to spend the excess tax revenue on pet projects and a general ratcheting-up of government spending ($153 billion over the next two years).

Not only are surpluses now projected for Texas in the coming years, but those early projections almost always underestimate the amount of tax revenue that eventually comes into the Comptroller's office (.pdf):

In other words, there's really no reason not to give the people of Texas some major property tax relief, immediately and permanently. Texas' high property taxes are really the one category preventing the state from having the most competitive tax structure in the entire country. And just to reiterate, lower tax burdens almost always mean stronger economies. Stronger economies produce more tax revenue. Tax relief almost always pays for itself-- eventually.

Philosophically-speaking, rapidly rising property taxes amount to a sort of soft feudalism. You can't really ever call your home your castle, as long as you are renting the space on an increasing annual basis from the government. If the role of government is to benefit society and make the world a better place (and all of that other noble stuff), how does it make any sense to punish and disincentivize such a productive and pro-social behavior (i.e. home/property ownership)?

Today is the last day of Texas' 80th regular session. It looks like there will be no serious property tax relief in this session, and-- absent a special session-- they aren't getting back together until 2009.

-------------------------------------

Previous Trivia Tidbit: More Trade, Lower Inflation.

Posted by Will Franklin · 28 May 2007 09:04 AM · Comments (10)

Just Couldn't Resist

Via File It Under we learn about the Official Seal Generator:

An oldie, but a goodie.

Posted by Ken McCracken · 27 May 2007 04:36 PM · Comments (2)

Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 438 -- Freer Economies Have Lower Inflation.

More Trade Means Lower Inflation-

More trade = lower inflation.

The Dallas Fed says so (.pdf):

And yet, we're now seeing a retreat away from trade, from our new socialist Congressional overlords. And a retreat away from lower taxes. And a retreat away from Iraq. And a retreat away from "cleaning up corruption in Washington," as if that ever was a serious promise.

Of course, all of this probably explains why the approval ratings for Congress are in such rapid retreat.

Bad policy is bad politics.

-------------------------------------

Previous Trivia Tidbit: It Costs Too Much To Do Our Taxes.

Posted by Will Franklin · 24 May 2007 01:59 PM · Comments (5)

John Edwards' Handsome Booty

John Edwards should work for The Onion. He recently stated that he took a job at a hedge fund to 'learn about poverty' (kinda like O.J. Simpson looking for Nicole's killers on Southern California's golf courses), and we later learned that this hedge fund, Fortress Investment Group, undewrote those horrid subprime loans that good liberals are supposed to loathe.

Now Instapundit tells us that Edwards' investments through Fortress entitles him to a share of sunken treasure!

After this, the $400 haircuts, and that monstrous house of his, can anyone take Edwards seriously as a Man of the People™? Why, yes they can! Because Edwards means well, and mouths the right homilies and liberal bromides. That is all that matters, to some.

P.S. Tigerhawk mentioned the 'Black Swan' wreck some time ago when it was merely an interesting numismatic tale. Who knew the Breck Girl would get in on this one?

Posted by Ken McCracken · 23 May 2007 03:48 PM · Comments (6)

Wednesday Caption Contest: Part 105

This week's WILLisms.com Caption Contest photograph:

Here is the actual caption:

Miss Canada Inga Skaya introduces herself in her national costume during a Miss Universe pageant in Mexico City May 20, 2007.

What an awful caption. Tell us what is really going on here, please?

Entries will remain open until 11:59 PM, Central Standard Time, Tuesday, May 29. Submit your captions in the comments section, or email at mccracken.ken@gmail.com.

Last week's photo:

Winners from last week: 1. Pudge:

Not tonight honey, I have a splitting atom bomb.

2. Bigfoot:

Allah, the Merciful, has commanded me to instruct you infidels about the nature of quantum mechanics.

3. John in IL:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threatens sanctions against Willisms.com if there are no new posts between Wednesdays. [ed. - touché!]

I came, I saw, I captioned. Enter today!

Posted by Ken McCracken · 23 May 2007 03:04 PM · Comments (87)

Why Ditching The Debates Is Dumb

From 'Don't Shut Up Paul' by John Dickerson in Slate Magazine:

The GOP is not supposed to be the party for sniveling ninnies: The recent Fox debate demonstrated that candidates look better when they face tough questions from either the moderators or other candidates. Whatever the merits of Giuliani's response to Paul, it was good political theater. Rudy looked strong and commanding. This helps him, and it helps the party. Even Nixon understood that it's the tough questions, not the softballs, that improve a candidate's standing with voters. So why would Republicans want to yank off stage the guy who is such a great foil? (A corollary: This is one of the reasons Democrats are silly to turn down debates hosted by Fox. They're missing a chance to look confident and full of conviction in front of tough questioning.)"

There is a lot of wisdom packed into that paragraph.

Democrats avoiding debates on Fox?

Weak. Very weak.

Posted by Ken McCracken · 19 May 2007 06:58 PM · Comments (9)

The Eleventh Mainstream Melee -- Bureaucracies & Change Do Not Mix.

It's a non-blog adventure.

I.

Bloomberg: "Wolfowitz's One Sin Was Waging War on Corruption"

Super Succinct Synopsis-

This whole flap over Paul Wolfowitz and his girlfriend is contrived and trumped up by people who hate reform and love the status quo.

Super Succinct Snippet-

Wolfowitz obstructed the flow of funds to countries that he viewed as corrupt, often disregarding staff judgments. This heightened the staff feeling of resentment.

In the same chat, Folsom said the fight isn't over: ``It's still a struggle, though, to be honest. There are still a small number who don't value the work of this department.''

Is it any wonder that delicious details about Wolfowitz and his girlfriend are being leaked to the press?

Yet the connection to a corruption investigation raises red flags. Why are the staff and the board so worried about Wolfowitz's anticorruption campaign?

So, Wolfowitz comes into the World Bank, which already had his girlfriend on staff. He asks the World Bank ethics committee what to do regarding that fact, they tell him, he does it, and a couple years later he gets "scandal" associated with his name because he is not playing by the status quo.

Bureaucracies are inherently inefficient, undemocratic, and anti-progress.

---------------------------

II.

OpinionJournal: "A Tale of Two Scandals"

Super Succinct Synopsis-

Evidence of a double standard and agenda behind the Wolfowitz non-scandal scandal.

Super Succinct Snippet-

magine that a top civil servant at a major multinational institution arranges a job for a fortysomething female colleague that comes with a $45,000 raise and brings her yearly salary to about $190,000, tax free. Now imagine that the couple has been photographed at a nudist beach--him wearing nothing but a baseball cap.

The latest sordid twist in l'affaire Wolfowitz? Not at all. This is the story of Günter Verheugen, first vice president of the European Commission in Brussels. In its contrasts and similarities with the "scandal" now absorbing the World Bank and its president, it offers timely instruction on the nature and power of modern bureaucracies.

Bureaucracies are inherently cliqueish, corrupt, and resistant to reform.

---------------------------

III.

The Wall Street Journal: "Girlfriend Salaries for Everyone at World Bank"

Super Succinct Synopsis-

The girlfriend of Paul Wolfowitz, who was a World Bank employee, was paid way too much. WAAAY too much. In other words, she was paid exactly what other World Bank employees of her status make.

Super Succinct Snippet-

Maybe the staff's salaries should come down. Maybe the quality of their work needs to improve. Maybe crooks and laggards should leave and others should be paid still more. Maybe the bank staff should start paying U.S. taxes. Maybe the whole gray area between for-profit and not-for-profit needs adjustment. In any case, the old corporate rule holds yet again: When salaries seem odd, something is out of balance -- just not always in the way you think.

This whole deal proves that a President "having a guy" at an organization is practically meaningless, if that organization is a large bureaucracy.

---------------------------

IV.

The Weekly Standard: "Crying Wolfowitz . . . while the United Nations bankrolls dictators."

Super Succinct Synopsis-

Wolfowitz being ousted is ridiculous, in the face of what is happening in other organizations.

Super Succinct Snippet-

For two of Paul Wolfowitz's most prominent critics, Mark Malloch Brown and Ad Melkert, the war over the World Bank presidency could not have come at a better time. Whatever else the ousting of Wolfowitz has achieved, it has done plenty to distract from the North Korea Cash-for-Kim scandal that just four months ago was threatening to engulf the United Nations agency piloted for the past eight years first by Malloch Brown and now largely by Melkert.

It's all media-driven, these scandals-- or lack thereof.

---------------------------

V.

The Wall Street Journal: "World Bank Scholar: Paul Wolfowitz's judges may have ethical issues of their own."

Super Succinct Synopsis-

A World Bank director (Tom Scholar), a critic of Paul Wolfowitz, has the same "girlfriend" thing going on, it's been known for a long time, but he has not faced any negative consequences whatsoever.

Super Succinct Snippet-

Since the original complaint was filed about Mr. Scholar more than a year ago, there has been no indication that any action has been taken by the board--and no way of finding out if the matter was even discussed. But a new complaint regarding Mr. Scholar was sent directly to eight members of the board this Tuesday. Signed "John Smith"--it is not clear whether the author is the same person who filed the earlier complaint--the one-page letter restates the allegation regarding Mr. Scholar's undisclosed liaison with the bank employee.

Yeah. Bizarro-world.

---------------------------

The previous Mainstream Melee.

WILLisms.com and many other blogs sometimes focus too much on our fellow bloggers, while excluding well-done professional journalism from our posts.

The Mainstream Melee is a quick survey of five non-blog sources, coming atchya at completely random intervals. The stories are either underreported, particularly well-written, interesting, or otherwise important to the big picture. But generally there will be a theme of some kind in the choices.

Posted by Will Franklin · 19 May 2007 12:05 PM · Comments (7)

Bill Frist Performed Surgery On General Petraeus

. . . and saved his life.

Who knew? Just wondering why this didn't make the rounds earlier.

(h/t Tigerhawk)

Posted by Ken McCracken · 18 May 2007 08:26 AM · Comments (0)

Rob Goes Off The Reservation

Rob Port, longtime friend of this blog, is getting traction in the MSM regarding his being banned from the Turtle Mountain indian reservation.

Apparently, with no notice, due process or regard for First Amendment rights, the tribe just decided to ban Rob from the reservation.

Rob's crime? Calling it the way he saw it.

Posted by Ken McCracken · 17 May 2007 06:05 PM · Comments (16)

Falwell Fallout

This comment from Dean's World about Jerry Falwell is not singular - I have seen versions of it at Kos and elsewhere:

And when it comes down to it, while Saddam might have directly ordered the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, his numbers pale in comparison to the millions of lives destroyed by the religious right in this and other countries - largely thanks to Falwell, who started it all.

I don't get it. Was there a secret war in which millions of gays were rounded up and exterminated? Or was Falwell somehow responsible for AIDS? Or were these millions of lives destroyed via humiliation from the microphone of a loudmouthed preacher from the hills of Virginia? I like the insinuation that somehow Falwell lit off the fundamentalist craze throughout the world, as if Falwell and the Ayatollahs were somehow in solidarity.

How can an otherwise lucid and literate commenter believe something so clearly at odds with the actual facts on the ground? Perhaps the commenter does not really mean what he says, yet nevertheless believes that Falwell is so reprehensible that no slander against him is beyond the pale. Slandering people like Falwell is simply de rigeur among the Left, all the way to the Supreme Court if possible (where Falwell lost a case to the likes of Larry Flynt). Preempting itself, the Huffington Post did not allow comments on its reporting of Falwell's death - Arianna finally learned that 'if you can't say anything nice, it is best to say nothing at all' - but if the reports of a rumored doctor's visit by Dick Cheney can elicit that kind of vitriol, just imagine what Falwell's death would have yielded. The vaunted-yet-elusive liberal tolerance would not have made an appearance, I have a feeling.

Just imagine the progress that could be made throughout the world if that caustic, venomous vitriol that the Left manufactures by the barrel was actually thrown at real enemies of liberalism rather than at a man who believed in elections, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the republican form of government. Sure, Falwell said bad things about gays, but it's not like he executed them as do his putative confederates in Tehran. He never insisted that women be forced to live under a dress code, or be stripped of the privilege of driving. The worst that can really be said about him is that he interpreted (or misinterpreted) the Bible in a literal way. The literal Bible is harsh on sin - if you have a problem with that, your beef is probably with the Bible and not Falwell.

Posted by Ken McCracken · 16 May 2007 10:38 PM · Comments (17)

Wednesday Caption Contest: Part 104

This week's WILLisms.com Caption Contest photograph:

Here is the actual caption:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, pictured April 2007. Washington will continue to press for sanctions against Iran, despite the failure of existing measures to deter Tehran's controversial nuclear program, US officials said Wednesday, as cracks began to show in international unity on the sanctions question.

Ick, what a bad caption. Give us a real good one, please.

Entries will remain open until 11:59 PM, Central Standard Time, Tuesday, May 22. Submit your captions in the comments section, or email at mccracken.ken@gmail.com.

Last week's photo:

Winners from last week: 1. Wyatt Earp :

Hundreds of naked men showed up to see the babes at the Million Can March.

2. DANEgerus:

I've heard Mexico City was Butt-Ugly...

3. ZsaZsa:

The crack problem is quite evident!...

Captioning: it's the only way to go. Enter today!

Posted by Ken McCracken · 16 May 2007 03:48 PM · Comments (17)

Wednesday Caption Contest: Part 103

This week's WILLisms.com Caption Contest photograph:

Here is the actual caption:

Thousands of naked people stand in Mexico City's main Zocalo plaza during the massive naked photo session with U.S. photographer Spencer Tunick early Sunday, May 6, 2007. According to the organizers, almost 20 thousand people took off their clothes.

Wow, what an awful caption! Give us a real one, please.

Entries will remain open until 11:59 PM, Central Standard Time, Tuesday, May 15. Submit your captions in the comments section, or email at mccracken.ken@gmail.com.

Last week's photo:

Winners from last week: 1. Pudge:

Actually, after one got past the obvious flaws, there were many strong points to Daveys' motivational speech presentation.

2. DaveD:

Prior to round 1, Davey tests the fit of the new face transplant he got a month ago while vacationing in France.

3. Cowboy Blob:

Davy could sing every song Celine Dion ever recorded.

Captioning is such sweet sorrow. Enter today!

Posted by Ken McCracken · 9 May 2007 04:47 AM · Comments (27)

A Primer On How Not To Blog

Kevin Aylward at Wizbang!, who knows a thing or two about blogging, has schooled, pawned, and punk'd one of the endless series of mediocrities posing as a 'blogger' over at the Huffington Post.

Max Blumenthal (son of Sidney Blumenthal, and yet another blogger whose only qualification is that he is the son of someone Arianna met at one of her cocktail parties) just doesn't *get* the whole blogging thing. First, he hotlinked an image from the FRC, which blew up in his face. Not bright enough to figure out that the stove is too hot to touch, he hotlinked from the FRC again, and more hilarity ensued.

Blumenthal then had the chutzpah to claim that the FRC hacked his post. It was Blumenthal who did the 'hacking' here, by stealing the FRC's bandwidth. Go and read the comments however, and this is where the truly amateurish and thin-skinned nature of Blumenthal's blogging skillz becomes most painfully apparent. He has deleted any and all comments that criticize him for his shoddy work.

Must . . . protect . . . the cocoon . . . at all costs!

After all, if it doesn't show up at HuffPo, it didn't happen, right?

Posted by Ken McCracken · 5 May 2007 03:35 AM · Comments (37)

Yet Another Faulty Meme Dies Hard

In our ongoing and neverending series on liberal myths, James Taranto at Best of the Web:

One persistent media myth about Guantanamo Bay is that it is a prison or a jail--that is to say, a criminal detention facility. This myth is seldom stated explicitly, but it shows up in reporters' use of police-beat jargon: describing detainees as "suspected" or "alleged" terrorists; noting that most are "held without charge," etc.

Funny how these mischaracterizations of the detainees' status seem to seep out into the public consciousness. Do the journalists not understand why the detainess are at Gitmo, or . . . do they know and not care that they spread misinformation?

There was a time when most people would have ascribed such a mistake to a lack of knowledge. That is still quite possible, given how often reporters write about things they know nothing about. But in the post-Rathergate era, the possibility that journalists wilfully disseminate deliberate untruths looms large.

Posted by Ken McCracken · 4 May 2007 01:19 PM · Comments (9)

Katana vs. Machine Gun

Well the katana eventually loses, but it doesn't go down without a fight! Watch the whole video and you will see the blade literally slice and dice bullets in half like a ginsu knife going through a soda can.

Posted by Ken McCracken · 4 May 2007 07:24 AM · Comments (11)

Wednesday Caption Contest: Part 102

This week's WILLisms.com Caption Contest photograph:

Here is the actual caption:

Former boxing champion Dave Hilton Jr. enters the ring for his boxing match against Adam Green in Montreal May 1, 2007

Oh man, what a terrible caption. Give us a real one.

Entries will remain open until 11:59 PM, Central Standard Time, Tuesday, May 8. Submit your captions in the comments section, or email at mccracken.ken@gmail.com.

Last week's photo:

Winners from last week: 1. Cory:

It's rare to see the Bush-o-tron reset in public.

2. Cowboy Blob:

Ouch! Y'all didn't tell me I'd have ta do Math!

3. Rodney Dill:

The Great Karnak says the answer is: Blood, Sweat, and Tears. (sound of ripping enveloping) And the question is -- Name the three most unpopular flavors at Baskin-Robbins.

Captioning is the answer! Uh, what was the question? Enter today!

Posted by Ken McCracken · 2 May 2007 05:47 PM · Comments (18)

Al-Masri Gets His Virgins

al-Masri

I hope they all look like Rosie O'Donnell, sound like Hillary Rodham Clinton, and have the personal hygiene of Sheryl Crow. Heaven would turn to hell on a dime - for eternity.

This doesn't appear to be a 'maybe', but a definite end of al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq, killed in a red-on-red conflict among rival insurgent groups near a bridge in the small town of al-Nibayi, north of Baghdad.

Reuters informs us that Abu Ayyub al-Masri ('the Egyptian'), a/k/a Abu Hamza al-Muhajir "has been described by the U.S. military as a former close Zarqawi associate who trained in Afghanistan and formed al Qaeda's first cell in Baghdad. The United States has a $5 million (2.5 million pound) bounty on Masri's head."

Posted by Ken McCracken · 1 May 2007 05:00 AM · Comments (7)

A League Of Democracies?

At Stanford University today, John McCain is planning to propose a 'League of Democracies' to supplant (replace?) the United Nations, which would be "the core of an international order of peace based on freedom".

Hear hear, this is a great idea. It would be an organization with real teeth (like NATO), without interference from fascist Russia or fascist China (yet including democratic Taiwan), and devoid of the sickening anti-semitism that chronically plagues the UN. McCain's proposed name isn't too great - far too close in name to the failed League of Nations - but such an organization could be an exclusive club of genuine democracies whose very existence would shame those numerous tyrannies too afraid of democracy to change their ways.

Kudos to McCain for this wonderful concept. Now, if only he would repudiate campaign finance reform . . .

(h/t Powerline)

Posted by Ken McCracken · 1 May 2007 04:59 AM · Comments (12)