Archive for August, 2007

Sign of Attacks to Come in Stock Market Options???

A potential warning that something may be afoot…
we have the same type of trading that took place in the days that preceded the 9/11 attacks – but on a larger scale. Nearly $1 billion of “put options” have been purchased, basically betting that Standard and Poor’s 500 index will fall significantly by the third Friday […]

Progress, Patience, and Hope

Austin Bay makes some good points today on what Petraeus’ report to Congress will likely entail, and why it is important.
Petraeus’ report is a creature of this instantaneous and pervasive media. For better or worse, he is responding to the condition and using the condition.
War doesn’t operate on media time or political calendars. Petraeus’ report […]

Living History

Does the blogosphere make history more relevant? Is it possible that Santayana’s famous admonishment is made less likely by bloggers routinely wielding history as a foil to those arguments favoring actions proven desultory in the past? And that’s not to mention how blogs go about correcting historical inaccuracies trotted out by our betters. […]

Bias in the Media

Jeff @ Protein Wisdom makes some good points about the received wisdom of the mainstream media…
You have to wonder, reporters are skeptical of our government and military sources of information, but hardly skeptical about each other.
McQ also has a deconstruction of the article in question…

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WWE suspends TEN superstars

Shocked I tell you, I am absolutely shocked to learn that some professional wrestlers take steroids.
OK, I’m not shocked, and this is a good move by WWE. Now if we could only get “professional” baseball, and football to go along with this. Or stop the hypocrisy and start enhanced leagues, where anything goes. […]

A Brief History of War and Medicine

Joshua brought up this little tid-bit in his last post…
There is also a rather shocking exhibit of an underreported side effect of the war: advances in medical technology now allow survivability after injuries that once were fatal. Which means a new generation of the crippled and maimed are coming home.
There have been “advances” in battlefield […]

News Brief, Good Sons Edition

Josh is taking a break from everything until Tuesday. Happy Labor Day, you Socialist pigs!.
Defense & The War

One of the men involved in the Abu Ghraib atrocity has been brought to justice: for “disobeying an official order to keep silent about the investigation. Prosecutors have asked that Jordan be fined one months pay - about […]

Some Consensus

The “reality based” ideologues often decry when politics get in the way of science, but that certainly seems what they are doing with regards to global warming. But then, hey, making overblown claims based on the scantiest of evidence, real or anecdotal, gets them in the press, and makes them seem caring.
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=b35c36a3-802a-23ad-46ec-6880767e7966
Of 528 total […]

Hi-Tech Extortion and Terrorism

When threats are phoned in, how seriously should they be considered?
At my last company, one of the buildings we had offices in would get a bomb threat called in 2 or 3 times per month. Now, the company gave us the latitude to go wait outside the building until it was cleared, or we […]

Constitutional Matters at the New York Times

So, when you spend a great deal of time touting your authority based on the unique advantages of editors, the question must be asked, who reviews the views and claims of the editors? From the editorial board of the New York Times we get this rather startling new information on our Constitution:
It is an eminently […]

News Brief, What’s A Sober Edition?

Drinking himself into a stupid over at The Conjecturer.
Defense & The War

Yes, expressing doubt about the independence of the Petraeus report and the curious information war he is fighting against America is really just liberal propaganda. That’s it exactly.
Meanwhile, the deal in Baghdad that might have offered some reconciliation looks more like it was kabuki […]

Deflating the Bubble

Winterspeak discusses, “how to undo the bubble?”
I think one inevitable requirement of unwinding the housing bubble market is that housing prices have to come down to fall in line with historic trends. In some areas this means very dramatic decreases — maybe 40%+ in real terms? I’m not sure what a “deflated housing bubble” would […]

Tiny brain no obstacle to French civil servant

That is the headline, which normally might be fodder for a joke, or something in The Onion or Scrappleface, but its the underlying story makes me uncomfortable in making it. Hat tip: Alex Tabarrok

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Communists For Clinton/Obama

Unions, Socialists, and now Castro, want a Democrat in the White House…
Hmmm, why is that unsettling??
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN2825114320070829?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&rpc=22&sp=true
Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is tipping Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to team up and win the U.S. presidential election.
Clinton leads Obama in the race to be the Democratic nominee for the November 2008 election, and Castro […]

al Sadr Suspends Militia Activities

But the Iraq war is lost, he needs to buck up and keep listening to the Democrats…
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070829/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_070828233021;_ylt=AoCk9gzhUvXd3Kl5S9qQA78E1vAI
Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has ordered a six-month suspension of activities by his Mahdi Army militia in order to reorganize the force, and it will no longer attack U.S. and coalition troops, aides said Wednesday.
The aide, Sheik Hazim al-Araji, […]

Iraq - A Tale of Two Wars

I’m at a loss for explaining these vastly different views. Is it mere political partisanship? Or is it something more fundamental, like having hope and optimism, or dare I say it, faith? How are these views biasing the coverage in the media?
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1352
A majority of Americans - 54% - believe the United States […]

Katrina’s Wake - A Tale of Two Cities - Part II

Thanks Michael for putting that up for me. This site (along with many of my other favorite blogs,) was on the banned list here at work for a while, and we don’t have the internet hooked up at home, having just moved.
The money quote for me is:
“We believe that when you rely on someone […]

Katrina’s Wake - A Tale of Two Cities

Two years after the devastation of New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is still rebuilding and the politicization of the storm is still raging (emphasis added):
(CNSNews.com) - In the two years since Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005, the Bush administration has failed to restore the city because of its reliance […]

Happy Fourth Blogoversary to QandO

Our big brothers at QandO begin their fifth year today. Make sure you stop by and wish them a happy blogoversary.
We here at ASHC are deeply indebted to Jon, Dale and McQ for our own start. The addition of Billy and Bryan has made a great thing even better. So, Happy 4th […]

News Brief, Pretty In Pink Edition

Digging for gold over at The Conjecturer.
Defense & The War

Kevin Drum wonders what I do about General Petraeus’ report next month: “Will everyone swoon? Or will they demand more than just anecdotal evidence and unsupported statistics?” I know of at least one guy who has already pre-swooned.
I wonder if they’ll account for the higher levels […]

Romer on long term growth

I recommend this podcast of Paul Romer with Russ Roberts talking about long-run economic growth. Hat tip: Greg Mankiw and Tyler Cowen amongst others.

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How overvalued was housing?

According to Robert Shiller, this much:

This index is already adjusted for inflation. This could mean housing has always been way undervalued, or that restrictions on building have artificially inflated prices and thus made them more sustainable. I am sympathetic to both explanations, to a point. My guess is, that point was passed long ago.

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SRV, RIP

McQ reminds us that we lost a true legend 17 years ago today. He offers a suitable paean to guitar master, but I wanted to contribute a taste of what I think may Stevie one the best of all time. From MTV’s “Unplugged” series:

and from the American Caravan, the “Oreo Cookie Blues” (with […]

News Brief, Foux Da Fa Fa Edition

Teaching your girlfriend that thing you said you like over at The Conjecturer.
Defense and the War

The reconciliation deal is of course welcome news. Lance urges proper caution (in particular because the Baath Party is none too pleased with the changes in de-Baathification), as Maliki has proven a marked ability not to hold these together. I […]

The unforseeable future

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Gonzales Finally Resigns

I, for one, am happy with this result. The man clearly had no control over his department and revelled a little too much in novel legal theories rather than hard analysis.
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales announced his resignation today, ending a controversial cabinet tenure that included clashes with Congress over the firing of nine […]

The housing contagion spreads

The American consumer is showing strain:
US consumers are defaulting on credit-card payments at a significantly higher rate than last year, raising the prospect of problems in the stricken US subprime mortgage market spreading to other types of consumer debt.
Credit-card companies were forced to write off 4.58 per cent of payments as uncollectable in the first […]

A New Foreign Policy Framework?

Taylor Owen assesses Samantha Powers attempt to construct a realistic progressive Foreign Policy. He does a credible job, and the exchange in the comments between he, David Adesnik and Patrick Porter is interesting as well. I have made this point of David’s, and only half as well, before:
The fundamental flaw you can ascribe to the […]

Beldar Throws Down the Gauntlet

John Kerry has allowed the three year window to file defamation claims against the Swift Boat Veterans to expire. Belldar claims:
The very last thing John Kerry wants is to ever give the SwiftVets the legal tools they’d need to conclusively document their claims, because truth is, of course, a complete defense to defamation claims. Kerry […]

The Ghosts of Anbar

I will be putting out a roundup of news, views and analysis of the campaign in Iraq later this evening, but with the heirs of Galula in charge I think starting with the first two parts of Michael Yon’s four part series on the application of counterinsurgency in Iraq,
“The Ghosts of Anbar,” should be a […]

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