Chavez Implements McCain Feingold

Taking a cue from the incumbent protection crowd in the U.S. Congress, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez plans to nix renewal of Radio Caracas television’s license – the second largest broadcaster in Venezuela. Radio Caracas had the audacity to support Hugo Chavez opponents. (h/t Captain's Quarters)

Meanwhile Feingold insists it’s a crime to say this over the airwaves:

On television, a man prepares for work as he reads the paper, shines shoes and pays bills. The voice of a narrator chimes in to explain.

"There are a lot of judicial nominees out there who can’t go to work...because a group of U.S. Senators is filibustering – blocking qualified nominees from a simple ‘yes’ or
‘no’ vote.”

“Contact Senators Feingold and Kohl and tell them to oppose the filibuster,” the narrator says.

No word yet from the Supreme Court’s Justice Kennedy on how Hugo Chavez’s announcement will influence the Justice’s “international take” on the probable appeal.

First posted at UNCoRRELATED

Thus Always to Tyrants – We Wish

Mick Stockinger beat me to the Latin rendering which still adorns Virginia’s state seal showing the Goddess Virtue standing over a defeated (and presumably dead) tyrant.
It is a phrase losing its meaning; the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein is an anomaly. In an article completely undermining its headline “Death, Exile Come with Being a Dictator” the author mentions 19 dictators, other than Saddam Hussein, but only two of these were executed (then again, we all die eventually so the headline writer is technically correct). Many twentieth century dictators never answer for their crimes:

India's independence leader Mohandas K. Gandhi said dictators "can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall." That hasn't always proven true. Russia's Josef Stalin, North Korea's Kim Il-Sung, China's Mao Zedong, Spain's Francisco Franco, Albania's Enver Hoxha and Syria's Hafez Assad all died in power. Augusto Pinochet of Chile arranged a comfortable retirement before handing over power. The global record of bringing tyrants to justice has been mixed.

Of the two executed dictators noted in the article, Nicolae Ceausescu and Samuel Doe, neither received public trials like Saddam.

One dictator, Charles Taylor (Liberia) is awaiting trial with the International Criminal Court in The Hague virtually guaranteeing no death sentence will be involved. Even arriving at a verdict seems beyond this court’s capabilities - Slobodan Milosevic died during his on-going multi-year trial.

What were the fates of some of the other deposed dictators?

Idi Amin, who as president of Uganda ordered the massacre of thousands of his countrymen and impoverished his people, managed to get away to Libya after neighboring Tanzania overthrow his regime in 1979. Amin later settled in Saudi Arabia, where he died in 2003.

Ethiopia's Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam escaped to Zimbabwe in 1991 as rebels led by ethnic minority Tigreans closed in on his capital, ending a 17-year dictatorship notorious for its bloody purges…Mengistu has a luxury villa, bodyguards and a pension - payback for having provided Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe with arms, money and training facilities during the 1972-80 war to end white rule in former Rhodesia.

Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier of Haiti used his family's longtime ties to France to escape retribution when the Haitian military ousted his regime in 1986.

First posted at UNCoRRELATED

Communication Vulnerability

An earthquake in Asia damaged undersea communications cables disrupting communications across the Pacific Rim:

The earthquakes that hit Taiwan on Tuesday rocked communications in Asia and underscored the vulnerabilities of a system where huge amounts of data speed through the region in cables laid deep beneath the sea.

An unbelievable amount of information is passed through undersea cables:

Undersea fiber-optic cables account for more than 95 percent of international telecommunications thanks to their strength, capacity and connection quality, according to South Korean provider KT Submarine Corp.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

International phone service was cut off or restricted in some regions, and Internet service slowed to a crawl in much of China after the magnitude 6.7 temblor struck late Tuesday, damaging as many as eight undersea cables. Service to BlackBerry financial-information terminals was interrupted, and currency and financial markets were disrupted.

Earthquakes aren’t the only problem afflicting undersea cables; they can be damaged by fishing nets and ship anchors.

They can also be intentionally damaged.

Back in the mid-seventies an Air Force communications specialist once told me that Soviet ships routinely would drag their anchors to damage undersea cables. I suspect terrorists are also now taking note of the situation. The best deterent is to continue to increase the number of redundant systems. For instance, from the Wall Street Journal Article:

Verizon alone has six cable routes that connect the U.S. and Europe, forming a "mesh" network that can restore multiple cable paths in milliseconds in case of a cut line. "The more cable paths you have, the more survivability you'll have," says Ihab Tarazi, vice president of global network operations and technology at Verizon of New York.

First posted at UNCoRRELATED

Only Capitalism Can Pay for Socialism

First blogged in UNCoRRELATED.

Captain Capitalism points out that the US government, on average, spends just as much per person on public health care than your average socialist European country.

That is an unexpected chart if you get your information from congressional democrats. The facts don't square with their mindset and quest for universal heath care. If they were smart the Democrats would declare health care victory and go home. But they have a taste for golden egg laying geese.

Press Release Journalism

Originally posted at UNCoRRELATED

Yesterday my local paper, The Deseret News, proclaimed ‘Utah ranks 36th in the Conversion of Private Property in the State – but study finds that the West is making gains’. I wouldn’t be surprised one day to see a headline, ‘Utah – 36th in Homicides but Making Gains!’ if there happened to be a satanic cult issuing press releases.

Critical thinking is becoming a lost art in journalism. In my last post I noted reporters need to be aware of dubious information. I’ve noticed the DesNews does a lot of press release reporting without taking much effort on background; for instance I lambasted a reporter here for her lack of inquiry about a so-called “former Star Wars director”.

Now the information in Nicole Warburton’s article is not necessarily dubious but it is presented uncritically. The “study” cited is actually an advocacy piece from the Land Trust Alliance, a conservation group. The focus of the study is the amount of private lands set aside for conservation. That’s fine, that’s what the LTA is all about. But shouldn’t the Deseret News provide some additional context for its readers about Utah lands already set-aside as National Parks, Monuments, and Wilderness areas? Instead they leave the impression that Utah is woefully behind in matters of conservation with their “36th” place LTA study finish. The article states:

About 324,415 acres of private land in Utah have been conserved through a land trust, conservation easement, or by other means, the study showed. That accounts for only 0.62 percent of state land.

A look at Wikipedia shows that the six Utah National parks and the Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument comprise 2.74 million acres or about 5 percent of the state’s area. The state’s six National Forests, including the High Uintas Wilderness area, comprise another 9.28 million acres. Between National Parks, Monuments and Forests over 22 percent of the state of Utah is preserved. Another 40 percent of Utah is BLM managed.

So at least a whopping 62 percent of Utah is out of private hands, not .62 percent. This doesn’t count an additional 41 state parks, two national recreation areas, two large military test and training ranges, and Native American reservations. My question for DesNews is just how much private property is left in Utah to conserve and is this really an issue?

But who are the LTA’s top 10 conservation minded states in terms of land trusts?

• 
  California
  Massachusetts
  Connecticut
  Pennsylvania
  New York
  Maine
  Maryland
  Wisconsin
  Rhode Island
  Michigan

All blue states.

With the exception of California and Wisconsin, all the states are in the Eastern Time Zone. The Mountain Time Zone, with the great national parks of Yellowstone, Tetons, Grand Canyon, Glacier, etc. are missing. The amount of Utah lands I’ve already determined to be out of private hands would equate to 89 percent of the combined areas of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, and Rhode Island. DesNews could have provided some context by telling us what percentage of land in the top 10 LTA states is not in private hands. Other than California, I’m willing to bet a lot less than 62 percent.

And if you think that pile of blue states leading the LTA list is a coincidence, read this Wall Street Journal piece about Monterey County in California:

Yet amid this land of plenty, there is squalor. Virtually beside the fields, in the city of Salinas, neighborhoods rival high-rise-jammed cities in population density. Multiple families occupy small houses; others live in converted garages. Gang graffiti mars the façades of apartment complexes. A school's walls are riddled with bullet holes. Fueling Salinas's troubles, many say, is a housing market that offers few affordable dwellings for the thousands of Hispanic immigrants who pick the area's crops.

Squalor in the liberal land of Carmel-by- the Sea? But why? Here is a clue:

Monterey County is torn by competing priorities. On one side are farmers, developers and immigrant advocates, who want to see more housing built. On the other are environmentalists and residents, including those in the upscale coastal towns, who want to preserve open space and their quality of life. As the two camps fail to reach a middle ground, low-income immigrants have borne most of the fallout: limited housing, with sky-high prices.

The WSJ article provides some additional context about the impact of LTA limosene liberal goals.

So back to press releases. They can offer a good start for an interesting story – provided the reporter takes some time to do a little research. As I've shown, there is more to this story then meets the eye. Otherwise, the reporter just becomes a sounding board for the latest advocacy group.

Marines from Vietnam

Originally posted at UNCoRRELATED

Press releases can be a great source for a story, such as this one from the American Forces Press Service Multi-National Corp West Public Affairs Office on a hostage rescue in Iraq. It was mostly ignored by the legacy media, though several bloggers picked up on it. Good story but I question one item:

"By rescuing this gentleman and capturing the kidnappers, it shows the Iraqi people we do care for them, their safety and their future,” said Lt. Col. William Seely, the 39-year-old battalion commander from Saigon, Vietnam.

A Marine Lt Col named William Seely from Saigon, Vietnam?

The story doesn’t have a byline here but I could of have sworn I saw elsewhere that a 2nd Lt had written it. In the military 2nd Lts are notoriously teased (think Lt Flap from Beetle Bailey). I think Col Seely probably was having fun with a young reporter.

The story was later released by the American Forces News Service but it omits Lt Col Seely’s home town information.

The End Game

Originally posted at UNCoRRELATED

There is no limit to the good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit- General George C. Marshall

Reuters is reporting the “Iraq Study Group has decided to recommend the U.S. military transition from a combat to a support role in Iraq roughly over the next year”:

"The main thing is (the group is) calling for a transition from a combat role to a support role," said the source, who spoke on condition that he not be named. "It's basically a redeployment." The source said the idea was to shift U.S. combat forces both to bases inside Iraq as well as elsewhere in the region as the military gradually moved away from combat operations, adding that this should happen over the next year or so.

Sounds like the original plan. Except it doesn’t have the twin lightning rods of Bush and Rumsfeld saying it. These two men have been more or less focused on the end game in Iraq and as long as the work is getting done they don't clamor for the credit. I believe that was the impetus for Bush accepting Rumsfeld's resignation after the Republicans lost both houses in congress. You think Rumsfeld and the administration would be able to focus on the mission with one committee after another trying to haul Rumsfeld before their kangaroo courts?

This type of principled focus is something the Congressional Republicans need to learn. When they heard of Rumsfeld’s resignation, after the election, their “me first” attitude got the better of them as they howled “If the president had decided to replace Secretary Rumsfeld he should have told us two weeks ago”. No, that would have been throwing a trusted advisor under the bus for a short term gain. Instead, Rumsfeld leaves after the election when it becomes apparent his effectiveness to achieve the goals in Iraq will be greatly diminished.

UPDATE: Greyhawk states the Iraq Study Group has done a 360 degree about face. (h/t Instapundit)

Jiminy Cricket He Ain’t

Originally posted at UNCoRRELATED

If the New York Times can’t call it right on child porn, no wonder they have no compunction compromising anti-terror measures by printing state secrets. Mitch Wagner, of InformationWeek, blogs this:

If an IT Manager Finds Kiddie Porn on President’s Computer, Should He call the Cops? That's a question posed to the New York Times's "The Ethicist" column. The columnist, Randy Cohen, has a completely insane response: The IT manager should remain silent. The questioner writes: "I am an Internet technician. While installing software on my company’s computer network, I happened on a lot of pornographic pictures in the president's personal directory, including some of young children — clearly less than 18, possibly early teens. It is probably illegal and is absolutely immoral. Must I call the police? I think so, but I need my job."

The Ethicist responds:

It is a crime to possess child pornography, and understandably: the sexual exploitation of children is reprehensible. Yet you have no legal obligation to contact the police, nor should you. The situation is too fraught with uncertainty. These photographs might depict — legally — not children but young-looking adults. The images could be digitally altered. Your boss may have acquired free (albeit illegal) images rather than bought them and provided a financial incentive to those who harm children. Someone other than your boss may have downloaded the pictures.

The link is behind the iron curtain of Times Select. Most likely to hide the column; it certainly isn’t because the advice is worth paying for.

Since when was the standard for ethical behavior, other than during the Clinton administration, drawn at whether something was legal or not? Ethical behavior is about right and wrong. I would say that Randy Cohen doesn’t have a clue but I don’t believe that. He knows. So does the questioner – he is just looking for someone to validate his wrong choice. Maybe that’s why he finds Times Select worth the price.

UPDATE: What answer would Mr. Ethics give if the question was "If an IT Manager Finds Kiddie Porn on a Republican Congressman's Computer, Should He call the Cops?