Redstate

Isn't today Michael Moore Tuesday or something like that?

and I am happy to report that I meet the criteria.

http://reuters.myway.com/article/20060228/2006-02-28T155736Z_01_SEO22802... "> N.Korea: We used our own cash to make nuclear weapons

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Tuesday it made nuclear weapons with its own technology and cash, while accusing the United States of spreading far-fetched assertions Pyongyang counterfeited currency to help finance its atomic ambitions.

Six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programs have hit a snag over a U.S. crackdown on firms it suspects of helping Pyongyang in illicit activities such as counterfeiting and money laundering.

Pyongyang has demanded Washington end what it sees as sanctions aimed at toppling its leaders in order for the talks to resume.

"We manufactured nuclear weapons with our own technology, funds and raw materials from A to Z. As we are not dependent on the U.S. at all in the economic and financial fields, no U.S. sanctions would work on us," a spokesman for North Korea's said.

"As we have clarified more than once, such illegal dealings as 'money laundering' and 'counterfeit notes' have nothing in common with the policy of the DPRK and such assertion of the U.S. is nothing but a fabrication solely intended to tarnish the image of the DPRK and do harm to it," the spokesman said in response to a question by the North's KCNA news agency.

DPRK is short for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Statements from a Foreign Ministry spokesman are reserved for some of its more important communications with the outside world.

Proliferation experts say the former Soviet Union helped North Korea start its nuclear program.

U.S. officials have charged that the nuclear black market network run by disgraced scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father Pakistan's nuclear program, supplied North Korea with technology to produce highly enriched uranium for nuclear bombs.

The United States has said it suspects North Korea used money from illicit activity to help finance its nuclear programs. North Korea has denied involvement in illegal activities.

And this beauty:

http://www.modbee.com/24hour/nation/story/3204189p-11920556c.html "> Teacher to return after having sex change

To students at Eagleswood Elementary School, she used to be Mr. McBeth. Now, after undergoing a sex change, 71-year-old Lily McBeth is ready to return to teaching as Miss McBeth.

Despite criticism from parents, the school board on Monday stood by its decision to allow McBeth to resume working as a substitute teacher.

After two hours of public debate and a private meeting with McBeth and her lawyer, the board took no action on calls by several parents to bar McBeth from returning to the school where she taught for five years before becoming a woman.

"It was magnificent," McBeth said afterward. "You saw democracy in action."

McBeth, a retired sales executive who was married for 33 years and had three children, underwent gender reassignment surgery last year and re-applied for her job under her new name.

McBeth on Monday told the school board and the crowd that she loves teaching and children, and looks forward to returning to the classroom.

"This is not something I got into just as a whim," she said.

Several parents said children in the school - which consists of kindergarten through sixth grade - were not old enough to understand the concept of changing one's gender.

"I, as a parent, am appalled to have this issue brought into my child's psychology," Steve Bond said.

Vincent Mustacchio predicted "chaos" at the school when the students learned of McBeth's surgery.

Young children will be confused by the conflicting appearance of McBeth, who has a deep voice and masculine features but otherwise looks like a woman, other parents said.

"I will not allow you to put my kids in a petri dish and hope it all turns out fine," said Mark Schnepp, who had taken out an ad in a local newspaper urging parents to turn out for the meeting.

N. Korea is as expected no surprise there. But a trans-gender teacher for K-6 aged children? I don't think so... Maybe at Berkley???

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will flex more than her diplomatic muscles when she demonstrates her personal workout regime on network television this week.

In an unusual departure for such a high-profile official, Rice not only pumps some iron, but also discusses how she manages to stay fit during her continual globetrotting and reveals strategies for coping with high-calorie banquets.

<snip>

"She is amazing. The amount of weights she handles and the endurance she has ... As a person who has exercised all my life, I was very impressed," said Harrison, who joined in the workout at the State Department gym with Rice and her personal trainer.

"She looks good throughout the whole workout," Harrison added.

link

That is all.

I say Teddy, "Buy me a drink" Kennedy Tuesday.

Everyday is FAT Tuesday for the rich in the USA!

What's wrong with a transgendered teacher?

Transgendered people merely want to fit in to societal norms, unlike certain other groups of people.

As a person who spends $100,000 plus per year on Google, I watche the Company with a bit of interest and amusement. Amused because of the grossly inflated value of the stock run up by "investors" while knowing how poorly run the company really is. There are 2 simple changes that they could make that would increase their revenue 50% overnight. Will they? No. As we have seen with the dichotomy of the US porn statistics vs. the kiss China butt Syndrome, Google suffers from left wing, false purity that will be its downfall.

but I guess you mean that every day is Mardi Gras for folks like George Soros, Marc Rich, Barbara Streisand.......

So you like Dell because even though it breaks once a month their service is great? As your downward spiral into consumer hell accelerates, you will soon find that having something that breaks once a month and has lousy service will also become acceptable. Dude! You're gettin' a Jaguar!

If this computer continues to break once a month - or even much at all after this, I will cease to be so impressed. I've had Dells before, and know that this kind of trouble is not characteristic of their machines, generally.

I also have to be honest, they are competing mainly with Apple for the business of my next laptop - on the basis that their machines seem to just be better.

One more for the road, Teddy?

I own, have owned, six of them. Only one has ever been in for service and only once.

I almost choked on this one. gender reassignment surgery??? Next time my boss wants to reassign me, I'm gonna DECLINE.

AP:

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- The European Union agreed Monday to grant $145 million in urgent aid to the Palestinians before a government led by the Islamic militant group Hamas takes power, a move aimed at preventing a financial collapse that could add to the chaos in the Middle East.

But the EU kept silent on what it would do once Hamas assumes control of the Palestinian government.

Sure, sure. First they'll "only give" till Hamas takes over. Then when Hamas takes over, they'll "only give" till Hamas participates in terror.Then when Hamas participates in terror, they'll "only give" till Hamas acquires nuclear weapons. Then when Hamas acquires nukes, they'll "only give" till Hamas uses them. Then when Hamas uses them they'll give because the Jews don't mind.They aren't there anymore.

The EU is considering diverting aid from a Hamas-led government to the office of the more moderate president, Abbas. But there are fears this may trigger a backlash from voters who overwhelming rejected Abbas' Fatah movement.

Sure, and the IRS will no longer collect your money, the Treasury Dept. will.

I'm undecided if this is plain old stupidity or plain old anti-semitism.

Even if I disagree that still made me laugh :).

I've had it for around 4 months and I've been extremely happy with it. I've had a few stinkers from Dell though. However, I've always been happy with the gear I've bought from Apple.

I'm undecided if this is plain old stupidity or plain old anti-semitism.

I'm voting for both.

I'm not kidding.

Why or why not?

Discuss.

-TS

Not 100% reliable (no notebook is), but the fit and finish is very nice... much better than the competition.

Because he should be a Tennessee Titan.

Just read that the SCOTUS gave a victory to pro-life protesters, by a margin of 8-0.  Alito did not participate.  

Why was Alito sitting this one out?

Yes, the fit and finish is excellent. Solid black case presents a professional appearance; no "flash", "racing stripes", multicolor cases and things like that. And the best keyboard around for my money. Quiet, cool running and very reliable.

an HP for just over three very satisfactory years.

...but I'm stuck. I've bought only Thinkpads for nearly ten years now, but I don't want to give my business to Lenovo. It's stupid for so many reasons: it's perfectly easy for Chinese to be IBM shareholders (though it's not possible for us to buy Lenovo); I'm ignoring comparative advantage; many of IBM's Thinkpads were made in China, anyway; most of all, IBM is a company that has so lost its way that its reverting to frankly evil and obnoxious business practices.

But I still won't buy a Lenovo. My loss, they're fine machines.

Probably it was decided before Alito was on the Court.  The vote is 8-0 because SDOC's vote does not count now because she is not currently seated.

arguments in the fall, therefore he could not vote, IIRC.

didn't hear the case.

As an interesting side note, Roe was heard two times because of the same reason. Guess they didn't think this case was as divisive for SCOTUS or worthy of another listen.

Well, let's see:

Morally - It violates the will of God, his creator.

Phycologically - It would certainly raise questions for children who knew the teacher before and after.  Is that really something we want to be exposing young children to?

Legally - for better or worse, nothing.

"Then when Hamas uses them they'll give because the Jews don't mind.They aren't there anymore."

Fortunately, Hamas will no longer be there either.  Assuming, of course, they haven't wiped the US out by then too.

Disclaimer: I would destroy their nuke program before they get WMD.  But hey, that's just me.

A capitalist such as yourself moving to a computer whos OS is based on open source technology?  Excellent.

I have to say I like my Toshiba, except that during full power mode, I only get about 25 minutes out of the battery.  But that's my fault.  I beefed up the processor and graphics card so I could play some of the latest games.

I also have an older thinkpad that has been nothing but great to me over the years.

I fail to see the connection between Mac OS and socialism, since I'd be paying plenty for the hardware, but I understand that Macism is pretty close to a substitute for religion, so...

Speaking of battery life, that's my one beef with the iPod - not enough of it.

The sale of the PC operation to Lenovo distresses me too. Lenovo has been building the ThinkPads for a number of years now so there is noting new "in fact." But I too wish they hadn't done it. Offsetting that is the fact that most, if not all (?), notebook PCs are built in Asia.

As to IBM I think they have gone into another one of those cycles where they don't know what it is they are going to be next year. No where near as bad as AT&T mind you but still they have drifted off into the woods and it'll take a few years before they come back.

I too am torn about my next notebook. The idea of buying a Lenovo leaves me cool. Maybe my T-40 will last a few more years so I can put off that decision for a while :-)

You believe it the will of this person's creator that this person should go a lifetime with a mind of one gender and the body of the other?

You have Steve McNair still.  61% completion percentage in 2005, and you want Cutler too?

-TS

but do you actually believe that stuff? There was a time we'd tell someone to get over it. Or see a psyc.

Does the fact that someone thinks he's superman mean he's living with mind of one person and the body of another? No, it means he's crazy. While I'm not saying such people are crazy, we need to help them deal with their predicament, not make it worse by legitimizing it. It would be the equivalent of giving our "superman" a cape to wear all day.

 

They DO see psychiatrists.  These people aren't allowed to have the surgery from any reputable surgeon, unless he's undergone careful psychiatric screening.  They're checked for the right diagnosis and they're forced to live as the 'new' gender before the surgery to prove that it's right for them.

Plus, they need such a doctor to prescribe the necessary  drugs to make the transition.

This isn't some game for them; it's an attempt to fit in our society, and I really think social traditionalists should support these people.  It makes sense as a matter of compassion and a matter of political advantage.

Think of Larry Summers' disputed statements about the difference between men and women.  The whole premise of a transsexuality is that there are male and female minds, and sometimes the minds don't match the body.  If transsexuality is real, then it proves Summers right and the radical left wrong.

Or look at it this way: Transsexuals undergo a great deal of personal hardship in order to fit into our traditional gender roles.  If we don't support them in that, then they'll have no choice but to continue to ally with radical feminists, radical homosexualists, and others who seek to undermine our traditional gender roles.

And also, he wants too much money for the retention of his services. McNair's got one good year left in him, two at the best. Cutler time is now.

A while back, you said thusly, and I haven't forgotten.

I was wondering, in accordance with that, whether you'd had opportunity to read this yet, and if so, what your thoughts upon it were?

I'm very sorry to hear that you're a Jets fan, if that's a correct interpretation of your interest in Cutler at pick #4. The reality is that the Jets are in salary cap purgatory right now - I believe that they are something like $28 million over the cap this year (which is very bad for a team that failed to win 5 games this year). Their needs are varied and gaping, and if I were them, rather than spending the pick on a QB and shattering his confidence when he's not surrounded with anyone for 3 years, they should stay put at 4 and take D'Brickashaw, whom they can hopefully keep around for when they actually get good again.

I Redstate on my circa 1999 600X Thinkpad, made in Mexico.  When I inherited it a few years ago it had already seen enough use to wear the sheen off of the most used keys on the keyboard, and I still use it daily for internet stuff.  I'm convinced it will last forever.

My question is if Vanderbilt will have another good year in the fall, or return to their traditional roll as SEC cannon-fodder.

Go take a look at Zoe Brain's blog. Zoe was, until last year, Alan E. Brain, a middle-aged software programmer with some mild idea that he would have preferred to be female. At which point his body took matters into its own hands and underwent an "idiopathic sex reversal", "idiopathic" being the medical term for "we have no idea why it did that". Anyway, go read the post he has up now, which plays very nicely into what Neil is saying.

Given that it's axiomatically impossible to jack an open thread, I'll say this about IBM: they won't come back until Sam Palmisano is history. He's committed to the primacy of services in their business mix, but services are both difficult to grow and difficult to execute with the kind of ROE that IBM needs to achieve. As a result, the whole company is drifting. Farther down the chain, they are reverting to the kind of blood-sport competitive tactics that made them villains and Microsoft heroes before Gerstner showed up nearly 15 years ago.

As regards Thinkpads, a great many of them were made in Mexico as well as China. I'm typing this on a three-year-old Chinese-made T40 with a cracked case, that already has fried two hard disks and a power fan, and won't last much longer. I won't buy anything from Dell if I can avoid it, but the purchasing guy in my company disagrees with me.

Why is it impossible to buy a laptop that was at least assembled in the US? Is it really just because of our union-driven labor costs? Or is it just too hard to convince the EPA that any plant which handles chemicals isn't going to poison Erin Brockovich's children?

Semiconductor facilities are still operational out here, but that's the high end of what is allowed these days, as far as I know. Frankly, given the chemicals and processes that go into etching a wafer, I'm amazed they're even legal.

...conservative Presidential contender would propose to solve both problems? The unions and the EPA? And apart from national security, shouldn't this be the top priority? It blows me away that we could easily be the top manufacturing country in the world by a large margin, and we've just blown it all off.

I want an American-made laptop, and I also want it to be the best in the world, hands-down, no comparison. TO BLOODY HE** with all this Chinese stuff!

My optimism on China should not be confused for optimism where we're concerned. I'm significantly less than sanguine that we're not headed down a serious Western European spiral.

I feel that the only reason Vandy is in the SEC is to get part of the revenue generated from all the bowl games the rest of the conference goes to, which gets divided among the teams. I am sick of every other team lobbying for us as their Homecoming opponent so they can be assured of a victory.

That being said, we have a relatively new coach and he seems to be making the team better, although that might just have been because of Cutler.

In all candor, I think if we could resuscitate our economy and take another step up in productivity, the geo-political threat from China would recede. I don't think the Chinese are looking for ideological domination in the world, unlike the Soviets or (pathetically) the radical Islamists. China wants to be the first among equals. The way to compete with them is to make sure we stay at least equal and stop falling behind. America generates plenty of economic final demand. If we satisfied more of it internally then we'd be far less dependent on good global behavior from China. And in a world where added-value is dominated by information-content rather than materials-content, I think we can do this without violating the law of comparative advantage. I think we must do this, or else we'll face a long decline into relative poverty.

I think a big missing piece is for someone to articulate a vision of worthwhile economic activities and goals for Americans. We don't really need bigger cars and houses, the ones we have are plenty big enough. And the Left is stuck in the Thirties, braying about social and economic justice, so there's nothing there.

As scary as it is, your comparison to Western Europe strikes me as apt. That's another set of societies that have decided to concentrate on a lot of things that contribute nothing to sustainable prosperity, just as we have been doing. (They're a lot farther down the path, of course.) Someone needs to channel Coolidge but with a much louder voice, and say "The business of America is still business!"

a competitive environment in America, one in which we strive to find ways to one-up the competition instead of complaining about unfairness.

What the Chinese want is hegemony in Asia (preferably all of Asia), and to be pares or primus inter pares in the rest of the world.

I have to confess to being slightly lost here. How do we improve manufacturing with "added-value [in] information-content rather than materials-content, [and so] do this without violating the law of comparative advantage"? Granted, it's Ash Wednesday, and I appear to be feeling the effects of forty days of fasting without having even reached lunch time yet, but I'm at a loss here. Maybe I'm being too linear, but I see how our manufacturing base was transformed into a service base, and I don't see any way around that.

I think a big missing piece is for someone to articulate a vision of worthwhile economic activities and goals for Americans.

Thoughts?

My concern v-a-v Western Europe is that they're the canary in the coal mine. They have arranged their societies to make themselves extremely comfortable in their decline -- so comfortable, in fact, that I see absolutely no reason why they should rationally want to change. I rather think we're along the same path, and I'm not sure there's a way to get off that path.

You don't have to keep wearing this one out :-)

Unfortunately I'm too busy creating economic value [sic] at the moment for a well-considered reply.

I think like a businessman, so I'm always trying to identify the most-leveraged and/or most valuable parts of any value-chain. And those are the parts that I want control over. It's become at least partially axiomatic that the value-chain components that add the most measurable value with the most leverage represent information-content. Speaking in the large, across multiple economic sectors, we are the nation in by far the best position to create these value-adds, and to capture the economic benefit from them. That's a very large topic; I'll be happy to schedule a day-long seminar at the venue of your choice to discuss further!

Manufacturing doesn't necessarily need to be done in America, so long as its contribution to most value-chains remains relatively small. I'm not entirely convinced that this is true. Hopefully I can write more on this later.

And I look forward to the diary, whatever.

And perhaps I'll wander over to that thread.

But one thing strikes me about such arguments -- and I have heard them often.  Whenever a pro-choicer talks about "imposing your faith on me", I have to wonder, "Do they not realize that they are imposing their faith on the pro-lifer?"

The question is so dicey, but let's just agree that there is no black/white answer written into the laws of physics or some such "objective, verifiable fact" as to When Life Begins.

That means to believe it begins at Conception is an article of faith.  But it also means that to believe it begins at some other point is also an article of faith.  Some culture might come along and say life truly begins at 100 days (ancient Koreans used to think this, as infant mortality rates were extremely high, so babies weren't even given names for the first 100 days), thereby justifying killing babies who are only 70 days old.  All of these things are articles of faith.

To claim a defense of "believe what you want, but don't impose your faith on me" is to ignore that one has a faith of one's own.

-TS

I think you are conflating the question of whether something is a "person" (which, for whatever reason, is disputed) with whether something is "alive" - which is actually a question of biology.

It's pretty well accepted that living things exhibit:

1. Organization
   
   
2. Metabolism
   
   
3. Growth
   
   
4. Adaptation
   
   
5. Response to Stimuli
   
   
6. Reproduction

All of which are exhibited by a fetus.

Now, there is some dispute about the precise definition, but the disputes as I understand them do not center around whether an organism that exhibits all six of those qualities is necessarily alive, but rather whether an organism that might exhibit less than all 6 might also be alive.

You're talking about a team in which the Starting QB, and the second-string QB went down with injuries.  A team in which the third-string QB is a joke on par with Kyle Orton.  A team that resurrected the dead in a desperate attempt to have someone resembling a QB on the field come game time.

And you're telling them to take a OT with their first pick.

Uh-huh.

You devious Titan fans. :-)

The cap purgatory is indeed a problem.  [I have decided to be a Jets fan, because, well, I need to pick a team (my Yankees went out much, much earlier than I had hoped last year) and might as well pick one in New Jersey.  Picking the Jets pretty much guarantees that I won't be seen as a fair weather fan, heh.]  But I'm hoping that the Jets front office can do some magic with Chad, with some trades, etc.  After all, they're letting go of people like Ty Law, and word is John Abraham is being considered for a trade, and so on.

Jets must rebuild the franchise.  We have a new head coach and a new coaching staff.  The player you need to build a franchise around is usually the QB.

Jet's should stay at #4; I think we might get Cutler at #4.  Bush, Young, Leinart, Cutler -- that's how I'm seeing it break down right now....

-TS

And first, let me say, Norm Chow has not been very secretive about saying that he's not thrilled with fashioning the Titans offense around Vince Young. I don't think they take him at 3, I think they take Cutler instead.

Regarding the Jets, I really do think that is sound advice. When you are in salary cap purgatory, the best thing is to take your lumps quickly and get it over with. Here's what I'd ACTUALLY advise the Jets to do.

Trade away the number four pick this year to, say, the Dolphins, who are desperate for a QB, in exchange for maybe the 1st and 3rd rounders next year. Take your hits under the salary cap and cut loose of your veterans. End result, another horrible season this year. Next year, you'd have another top 5 pick in the draft, in addition to a mid 1st round pick from the Fish, and two third rounders. Additionally, after next year, you'll not only be out of cap purgatory, you'll have cap money to actually bring in some players to surround all the guys you picked up in the 2007 draft.

That's how perennial playoff contenders are built.

2007 is shaping up so far to be a no-cap season... and the Jets are a major market team.

Maybe we spend the #4 on Cutler, or if he doesn't last that long, then on Ferguson as you suggest.  And then next year, just buy every free agent on the market?

-TS

Even if you get one cap-free season, if you overspend, you'll just place yourself farther into cap purgatory in the future, when the cap inevitably returns.

Long-term thinking, that's what's key for the Jets right now.

I have had four Thinkpad 600s over time and all of them are still operating around the house for things like Intenet access; one in the kitchen for my wife to look up recipies for example; one runs the home automation software; etc.

They are getting long in the tooth but they still run Win 2000 and like the old Timex, just keep on ticking.

The intellect in me understands all this post-industrial economy stuff, but the curmudgeon in me says that you have to actually make real stuff sooner or later if you are going to continue as a viable economy.

It just seems to me that there is no substitute for hard manufacturing at some point. While we still have a vibrant manufacturing economy, it is signiifcantly smaller and more specialized that in decades past.

I think the steel industry is a good example. We have steel manufacturing, and while orders of magnitude more efficient than before, it is much, much smaller. It is involved in specialty steels rather than bulk. As a result much of the construction steel we use has to be imported. While the return on these is higher, the industry does not employ as many people. And at the end of the day it is the number of people employed and the quality of their employment (wages) that produce a vibrant economy.

Right now unemployment is almost impossibly low, consumer spending is at all time highs, real income is up, productivity is high. But I don't see how that can go on forever.

I'd live to see you opinions expressed in a diary. I think your assessment in the last paragraph is especially interesting.

I too look forward to you having the time to discuss this at greater length.

I am forced to agree.

I still think a franchise QB would be an important part of the long term plan, but I'm willing to suffer for another year or two if the team does get rebuilt in that time.

-TS

Well, I was a bit harsh in my "cannon-fodder" statement, which as you know should be reserved only for all three Mississippi teams.  I don't think that many teams pick any SEC school as their homecoming, it's generally something like "West Florida Tech."

Will Rogers supposedly said "We can't all take in each other's laundry," yet here we are with a majority service-based economy. Smith and Ricardo weren't wrong about specialization and comparative advantage. Everything depends on what is perceived as having value, and where the friction-points are, and I think infotech is fundamentally transforming these in ways that are currently far from clear.

I'll take your suggestion and try to write a diary on this. But I'll ask Pat Cleary to critique it before I post!

Wouldn't it be better if we made our own steel, and then we'd have both the jobs and the steel? But then Ricardo's ghost kicks me and I come back to reality. Perhaps part of the problem is the displacement that comes from steelworkers who really aren't equipped for any other work. I haven't given up thinking that unions and wrongheaded regulations are to blame for a lot of it as well.