TCS Daily : March 2001 Archives
Menacing Language from China
Chinese President Jiang Zemin's increasingly confrontational stance toward the West is motivated largely by his domestic political concerns. The failure to recognize that has led the Clinton administration to adopt a conciliatory policy toward China, which has actu
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Dressing Down Environmental Fashion
Patagonia, maker of "environmentally conscious" sportswear and enemy of conventional agriculture, has issued a "chicken little" alert to its customers over genetically modified crops. Employing the usual bad science and scare tactics, the trendy clothing manufactu
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Liberate Supply
Committee on Financial Services of the United States House of Representatives At a hearing entitled "Beyond the Tax Cut: Unleashing the Economy" Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee: My name is James K. Glassman. I am a resident fellow at...
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Bush EPA Prescribes A Dose Of Reason For Poison Policy
When the subject is toxicological; One must sometimes become pedagogical; And examine the rules; And the common-sense tools; That produce a perspective that's logical. The media is abuzz over the announcement that the Bush Environmental Protection Agency will revo
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Conservation, Not Commerce, Keys Revival Of Environmental Localism
An oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara in 1969 helped trigger a volley of federal environmental statutes. Those statutes left Americans with volumes of top-down prescriptions from the nation's capital. Thirty years later, that top-down legacy is...
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Defense Central's Vision: Speedy, Simple, Straight And Smart
With our official launch taking place in the U.S. Senate this Wednesday, it's an apt time to set forth our vision for Defense Central. I say "our" since this muscular website -- which fuses knowledge and outreach -- is a...
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America Needs Competition To Advance In Space
It's unfortunate that the Iranians were unable to buy the Mir space station from the Russians and keep it in orbit. What? Iran, the country that held Americans hostage for 444 days? The country that still labels the United States...
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Where's The Profit In Biotech Future?
Larry Ellison, founder and chairman of software giant Oracle, says that he'd go into genetic engineering if he were starting out in business today. Silicon Valley venture capitalist John Doerr may have made a fortune investing in computer and Internet...
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Rumsfeld and Innovation Bring Changes for Defense
In his March 19 Defense Commentary, Ken Adelman wrote, "Watch for real innovations and dramatic changes" from Team Rumsfeld. Four days later, the front page of The Washington Post headlined, "Rumsfeld Outlines Defense Overhaul." Defense Central immediately contacte
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Grandfather Mountain: Privately Preserved For Public's Pleasure
Rising 5,964 feet above sea level, Grandfather Mountain's Calloway Peak is the highest point in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But this is not the only rarity regarding the mountain outside Linville, N.C. Grandfather Mountain is the lone privately owned preserve...
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Coast Guard Readies For 'Deepwater' Transformation
The Coast Guard needs a dramatic transformation in its equipment and operations if it is to meet national needs and maintain crewmembers' safety, Coast Guard Commandant James Loy told an audience at Andrews Air Force Base Thursday. "For nearly three...
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Pennsylvania To Verizon: Functionally Separate Or Face Break Up
In a harshly worded rebuke to Verizon Corp., the Pennsylvania Utility Commission on Thursday ordered the merged BellAtlantic-GTE-Nynex phone conglomerate to functionally separate its wholesale and retail operations or risk a full break up. The order didn't go as..
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Public Citizen's Hit And Hide Attack On Bush's Regulatory Czar
Barely moments after the Bush White House announced their decision to appoint a respected Harvard researcher to be the administration's regulatory czar at the Office of Management and Budget, the left-wing advocacy group Public Citizen produced a 130-page hit piece
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It's A Great Day For Investing
The late "Badger" Bob Johnson, beloved coach of hockey's Pittsburgh Penguins, used to greet his players by saying, "It's a great day for hockey." It was a gag, of course, since hockey's played indoors and the weather is irrelevant,...
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Stock Market: Reasons for Hope and Worry
The date was Dec. 5, 1996. The scene was the ballroom of the Washington Hilton Hotel. The speaker was Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, keeper of the nation's money. He had been droning on for...
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Tiny Machines Have A Big Future In High-Tech
Picture a million mirrors, each gingerly balanced on a pivot. Now imagine putting them in a rectangle one-inch square. Welcome to the world of micro-electricalmechanical systems, or MEMS for short, that is taking the frontier of integrated circuits and...
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To Chirac from the US army: We are staying in the Balkans
Press reports that the United States might reduce its presence in Bosnia over the next two years have produced hand-wringing among diplomats and hysterical headlines in the most unlikely places: "Bush pulls out troops as Balkans crisis deepens" is how...
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Taking Precaution Vs. Proving A Negative
When tending the garden of environmental policy, one would always prefer to be planting pretty flowers, and finding better ways to protect safety, health, and environmental quality. Sometimes, however, one is forced to stoop to pluck a weed. One...
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A Fast Answer to Energy Shortages - Supply Management
Energy issues -- nearly dormant for two decades -- are back on the minds of Americans. Last week, President George W. Bush linked his decision not to move forward with carbon dioxide (CO2) regulations to concerns about rising energy...
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Competence, Conservatism, Commitment Mark Rumsfeld's Defense Team
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is now comfortably ensconced in office. His deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, was confirmed last week and had a gala "welcoming ceremony" with a full military parade last Friday. And other top appointees have been either...
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A National Report on America's Energy Crisis
Remarks by U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Energy I would like to congratulate the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for convening this two-day National Energy Summit and I appreciate your invitation to participate. As we...
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"Defensive" Stocks in the NASDAQ
When Wall Street analysts talk about defensive stocks, they usually mean providers of food, tobacco, consumer goods - things that people will buy no matter what the economy is doing. Since this seems to be the season for defensive...
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California emission mandates will force costly electric cars on an unwilling public.
Zero-Emission Vehicle Mandate Will Increase Pollution The California zero-emission vehicle mandate will force costly battery-run electric cars on a public that doesn't want them, leaving older polluting cars on the road, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers Presid
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Harvard's George Gray Brings Science And Sense To Chemical Risks
Environmental problems generally revolve around the concept of risk - where something, whether human, animal, or ecosystem, is held to be at risk from exposure to some potentially harmful force. Environmental policy usually focuses on risks of human origin, though.
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Time Will Show Whitman Is No Browner
New Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Christie Todd Whitman has beltway denizens perplexed. In rapid succession, she has affirmed diesel regulations advanced by her predecessor Carol Browner, applauded a Supreme Court decision upholding EPA air regulation
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Pentagon Reviewers Need To Beware The Consequences Of Complacency
The much-heralded Pentagon "strategic review" is much needed. Yet a lot of skepticism is likewise required, for it's awfully tough for anyone to predict the future - even the greatest experts. The current public attitude toward security matters ranges...
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Missiles Over Rockets; NMD Trumps NASA.
If to govern is to choose, then President Bush made a clear choice in the budget he released two weeks ago; National Missile Defense (NMD) is a big winner, while the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is a mild...
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Markets Have Lost Faith In Greenspan
Our crazy ride through the data continued last week. The market plummeted on Friday in response to whispers of softness from Intel and a surprisingly strong employment report. What's that you say? A strong employment report harmed the market? Didn't...
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New Administration Should Practice 'New Environmentalism'
"The future ain't what it used to be," Lynn Scarlett, host of TechCentralStation's New Environmentalism section and president of the Reason Foundation, told a gathering of state and local environmental leaders Thursday in Washington. At the National Environmental
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Bush Administration Must Say No To Jane And Kyoto
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill is fond of telling the story of meeting Jane Fonda a few years ago. While CEO of Alcoa, he was invited to a White House briefing on global warming and found himself seated next to...
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Tech Central Station Interviews Leading Scientist on Global Warming
Kyoto "Absurd" Says MIT Scientist Climate models exaggerate warming by failing to take into account how clouds behave, says Massachusetts Institute of Technology Dr. Richard S. Lindzen. The Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology, one of the world's foremost atmos
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Four-Part Fallacy Fuels Foolish Zero-Emissions' Mandate
Finally, General Motors has decided to take California's Air Resources Board (CARB) to court over the zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate. It's a suit long overdue, since the mandate is shockingly bad policy, particularly for those who want to clean...
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Carbon Caps Aren't The Answer To Global Warming Uncertainties
Barely a month into her role as Environmental Protection Agency administrator, Christine Todd Whitman chimed in on climate change. "The science is good on climate change. It does exist," she assured Crossfire TV show host Robert Novak. She also added...
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'Opt Out': Policymakers Should Do That On Privacy Legislation
Q: What belongs to you, but others use it more than you do? A: Your name. That old riddle captures the paradox of Internet privacy. People view personal information as "theirs," yet they realize others must know that information...
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Trust And Competition Are Keys To Slashing Waste
Spending upwards of $300 billion yearly -- $60-plus billion for the procurement of new weapons and equipment - invariably brings waste, fraud, and abuse. Yet waste is far greater than fraud or abuse, and eminently more avoidable. Acquisition has...
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FCC Foists Faulty Digital TV Standard On Consumers
In January, the National Association of Broadcasters released a study that was supposed to help jump-start the faltering transition to digital television. The report claimed to put to rest a largely sub rosa controversy over the digital TV transmission...
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Time To Buy Small Caps? Consider These Five Great Techs
Going back all the way to the 1920s, history says that small-cap stocks perform better than large-caps. Investors may feel secure investing in the power of a global mega-brand, but it's the smaller companies that tend to grow faster and...
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The Indispensable Fighter
Airpower, led by the F-22, can "kick the door down" for the other forces. Air Force leaders always have expected much from the stealthy F-22 fighter. As the Raptor stood poised to enter series production early this year, however,...
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How the F-22 Fights
The F-22 fighter's unique combination of stealth, speed, range, and sensor fusion will profoundly alter the way the Air Force conducts aerial combat. "The history of dogfighting shows us consistently that the loser never saw his opponent until it was...
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