Fly Me to the Moon
British pilots Colin Prescot and Andy Elson are attempting to fly higher than ever before - about 132,000 feet, to be approximate. They envision constructing the largest ever helium balloon and soaring up to where the air is thin, and in fact almost nonexistent. It could be an important precursor to greater exploration of Mars, since according to the BBC, "The environment that Andy and Colin will encounter will be similar in terms of atmosphere, temperature and pressure to the surface of Mars."
Thanks to Megan McLaughlin for sending me the story.
Tuesday, May 07, 2002
A Role Model for TV Success
Not everyone was charmed by the Osbournes' visit to Washington, according to the wet blanket Washington Times. Vice Presidential wife Lynne Cheney was, according to Matt Drudge, fuming over the attention focused on the likes of Ozzy.
Not everyone was charmed by the Osbournes' visit to Washington, according to the wet blanket Washington Times. Vice Presidential wife Lynne Cheney was, according to Matt Drudge, fuming over the attention focused on the likes of Ozzy.
Monday, May 06, 2002
Assassination in Holland
In the wake of the Pim Fortuyn assassination, it will be important to remember just who he was. As Rod Dreher reminds us in National Review Online, Fortuyn was no a "hard-right" politician, despite reports to that effect. He was, by American standards, barely a conservative.
According to Dreher:
Pim Fortuyn is dead, and the Netherlands are in shock. I've been on the phone with Dutch friends and colleagues, and they are absolutely stricken by this violent act. It's not that they were Fortuyn supporters (though some were); it's that they cannot believe that famously tolerant and liberal Holland has become a place where a man can be shot dead for voicing his opinion. They warn not to believe the inevitable press accounts that Fortuyn is "hard-right"; he is, but only by Dutch standards ("I don't think he would have been considered on the right at all in America," said one Dutch colleague, who knows American politics). Fortuyn was not remotely a Le Pen figure, and was in fact an Andrew Sullivan-style gay libertarian. And he did much good for the moribund Dutch political system, if only by blasting away the taboo from the discussion of Holland's immigration problem.
In the wake of the Pim Fortuyn assassination, it will be important to remember just who he was. As Rod Dreher reminds us in National Review Online, Fortuyn was no a "hard-right" politician, despite reports to that effect. He was, by American standards, barely a conservative.
According to Dreher:
Pim Fortuyn is dead, and the Netherlands are in shock. I've been on the phone with Dutch friends and colleagues, and they are absolutely stricken by this violent act. It's not that they were Fortuyn supporters (though some were); it's that they cannot believe that famously tolerant and liberal Holland has become a place where a man can be shot dead for voicing his opinion. They warn not to believe the inevitable press accounts that Fortuyn is "hard-right"; he is, but only by Dutch standards ("I don't think he would have been considered on the right at all in America," said one Dutch colleague, who knows American politics). Fortuyn was not remotely a Le Pen figure, and was in fact an Andrew Sullivan-style gay libertarian. And he did much good for the moribund Dutch political system, if only by blasting away the taboo from the discussion of Holland's immigration problem.
New Frontiers in Journalistic Ethics
Peter Singer and Ingrid Newkirk have reason to celebrate - the National Zoo here in D.C. has set a new precedent in animal rights. When Washington Post reporter D'Vera Cohn asked for veterinary records pertaining to a recently deceased giraffe named Ryma, zoo officials declined. Keepers at the zoo, operated by the Smithsonian Institution, are asserting that their animals have privacy rights similar to those extended to human medical patients. This is a little surprising since zoo animals are considered property, and a privacy relationship between an institution and it's moveable property has generally gone unrecognized by U.S. courts. The Smithsonian zookeepers are standing by their rationale, however. Could the animals' handlers one day begin objecting to captive breeding programs that require artificial insemination on the basis of their rights against unlawful search and seizure?
Peter Singer and Ingrid Newkirk have reason to celebrate - the National Zoo here in D.C. has set a new precedent in animal rights. When Washington Post reporter D'Vera Cohn asked for veterinary records pertaining to a recently deceased giraffe named Ryma, zoo officials declined. Keepers at the zoo, operated by the Smithsonian Institution, are asserting that their animals have privacy rights similar to those extended to human medical patients. This is a little surprising since zoo animals are considered property, and a privacy relationship between an institution and it's moveable property has generally gone unrecognized by U.S. courts. The Smithsonian zookeepers are standing by their rationale, however. Could the animals' handlers one day begin objecting to captive breeding programs that require artificial insemination on the basis of their rights against unlawful search and seizure?
DC Kneels at LA's Feet
The Osbournes came to Washington, and as could be expected, upstaged everyone in sight. The annual White House Correspondents' Dinner is always an occasion for entertainment celebrities to mix with journalists and powerful politicians (though the difference between the first two categories is ever waning), and this year the man of the hour just happens to be a Birmingham lad who made it big.
The Osbournes came to Washington, and as could be expected, upstaged everyone in sight. The annual White House Correspondents' Dinner is always an occasion for entertainment celebrities to mix with journalists and powerful politicians (though the difference between the first two categories is ever waning), and this year the man of the hour just happens to be a Birmingham lad who made it big.
Friday, May 03, 2002
Still Reaching for the Stars
The President's approval ratings are staying unusually high, disappointing Democrats who have been expecting his popularity to decline significantly from its post-September 11 high of over 90%. According to USA Today, only Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy have sustained approval ratings higher than 70% for longer than Bush.
The President's approval ratings are staying unusually high, disappointing Democrats who have been expecting his popularity to decline significantly from its post-September 11 high of over 90%. According to USA Today, only Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy have sustained approval ratings higher than 70% for longer than Bush.
Thursday, May 02, 2002
Congress Sows Its Subsidized Oats
The farm bill passed recently by the House and Senate is bad, bad, bad. Unfortunately, since it's not a very compelling news topic it's gotten very little coverage. Those news outlets that have taken notice, however, have managed to see it for the stinking pile that it is. The Washington Post called it "shockingly awful" and the New York Times opined that it "is a regrettable reversion to some of the worst policies of the past."
It's full of lavish and counterproductive subsidies for one. From the Times:
"The basic flaw of the bill is that the lion's share of its money goes to subsidize farm output, a policy that stimulates supply, drives down prices and hurts the farmers it is meant to help. According to the Congressional Budget Office's 10-year estimates, the bill gives producers $50 billion, a sum that supplements the $80 billion or so 'baseline' that farmers will get anyway. To put this in perspective, the bill envisages total farm handouts worth around a third more per year than the current foreign aid budget."
The farm bill passed recently by the House and Senate is bad, bad, bad. Unfortunately, since it's not a very compelling news topic it's gotten very little coverage. Those news outlets that have taken notice, however, have managed to see it for the stinking pile that it is. The Washington Post called it "shockingly awful" and the New York Times opined that it "is a regrettable reversion to some of the worst policies of the past."
It's full of lavish and counterproductive subsidies for one. From the Times:
"The basic flaw of the bill is that the lion's share of its money goes to subsidize farm output, a policy that stimulates supply, drives down prices and hurts the farmers it is meant to help. According to the Congressional Budget Office's 10-year estimates, the bill gives producers $50 billion, a sum that supplements the $80 billion or so 'baseline' that farmers will get anyway. To put this in perspective, the bill envisages total farm handouts worth around a third more per year than the current foreign aid budget."
Disciplining the Dole
Britain is considering an interesting move in welfare reform - tying benefits to what Prime Minister Tony Blair called "social behaviour." If tenants in government housing make their neighbors' lives hell or mothers receiving benefits don't keep their kids in school, they could lose their welfare privileges.
From the London Telegraph:
"Speaking in the Commons on the eve of the local elections in England, the Prime Minister confirmed that he wanted to introduce a new principle of 'conditionality' into the payments of a range of benefits.
"He said that most people would support the idea that 'if people get benefits from the state, they owe some responsibility in return'.
"Mr Blair made clear that he had no intention of backing down over the proposal to withhold child benefit payments from parents who refused to take action to stop their children playing truant."
Britain is considering an interesting move in welfare reform - tying benefits to what Prime Minister Tony Blair called "social behaviour." If tenants in government housing make their neighbors' lives hell or mothers receiving benefits don't keep their kids in school, they could lose their welfare privileges.
From the London Telegraph:
"Speaking in the Commons on the eve of the local elections in England, the Prime Minister confirmed that he wanted to introduce a new principle of 'conditionality' into the payments of a range of benefits.
"He said that most people would support the idea that 'if people get benefits from the state, they owe some responsibility in return'.
"Mr Blair made clear that he had no intention of backing down over the proposal to withhold child benefit payments from parents who refused to take action to stop their children playing truant."
The Secrets of Kuwait's Abusive Step-Father
Mark Bowden has an excellent profile of Saddam Hussein in the current issue of The Atlantic Monthly. He recounts some stories that have been told many times before - such as the day when Hussein seized power in Iraq and had dozens of senior government officials dragged out of the auditorium where he was speaking. He also fills in a lot of the strange details of the dictator's paranoid private life. Most interestingly, though, he tracks Hussein's public persona from earnest young reformer and social democrat to brutal tribal autocrat. Bowden suggests that what many observers viewed as a shocking change was in fact a carefully calculated pose maintained by Hussein, followed by a dropping of the pretense once he had consolidated his power. Who knew that Hussein once received an award from UNESCO for his aggressive funding of rural literacy training?
Bowden also had an interesting prediction for interviewer Scott Cannon in yesterday's Kansas City Star:
Cannon: Having written a recent article for Atlantic Monthly on the daily life of Saddam Hussein, do you think the U.S. military could easily depose him?
Bowden: It could happen in a matter of days. The United States military force is so overpowering that Iraq wouldn't be able to put up any serious resistance. The sophistication of American weapons and tactics would cut through any Iraqi resistance with hardly a problem. There is no question about who'd come out on top. You'd encounter fighting, I suppose, but nothing that would be a serious threat. We're talking about something that's over almost before it starts.
Mark Bowden has an excellent profile of Saddam Hussein in the current issue of The Atlantic Monthly. He recounts some stories that have been told many times before - such as the day when Hussein seized power in Iraq and had dozens of senior government officials dragged out of the auditorium where he was speaking. He also fills in a lot of the strange details of the dictator's paranoid private life. Most interestingly, though, he tracks Hussein's public persona from earnest young reformer and social democrat to brutal tribal autocrat. Bowden suggests that what many observers viewed as a shocking change was in fact a carefully calculated pose maintained by Hussein, followed by a dropping of the pretense once he had consolidated his power. Who knew that Hussein once received an award from UNESCO for his aggressive funding of rural literacy training?
Bowden also had an interesting prediction for interviewer Scott Cannon in yesterday's Kansas City Star:
Cannon: Having written a recent article for Atlantic Monthly on the daily life of Saddam Hussein, do you think the U.S. military could easily depose him?
Bowden: It could happen in a matter of days. The United States military force is so overpowering that Iraq wouldn't be able to put up any serious resistance. The sophistication of American weapons and tactics would cut through any Iraqi resistance with hardly a problem. There is no question about who'd come out on top. You'd encounter fighting, I suppose, but nothing that would be a serious threat. We're talking about something that's over almost before it starts.
Wednesday, May 01, 2002
This is Your Brain.
This is Your Brain on Government Propaganda.
The Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy - the nation's "Drug Czar" - writes in the Washington Post today about the terribly harmful effects of marijuana. According to him, "Research has now established that marijuana is in fact addictive." It has? I must have missed that announcement. In an effort to get his audience to take the demon weed seriously, he informs us flatly that "Marijuana directly affects the brain." That it does, and a good thing too. Drugs that work only through the power of persuasion generally have little recreational value.
This is Your Brain on Government Propaganda.
The Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy - the nation's "Drug Czar" - writes in the Washington Post today about the terribly harmful effects of marijuana. According to him, "Research has now established that marijuana is in fact addictive." It has? I must have missed that announcement. In an effort to get his audience to take the demon weed seriously, he informs us flatly that "Marijuana directly affects the brain." That it does, and a good thing too. Drugs that work only through the power of persuasion generally have little recreational value.