Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Cox and Forkum on Muslim Protestations

It seems like there's never enough things to protest about in the Muslim street. Cox and Forkum capture that notion perfectly.

Looking to Buy a Corvette?

If you're in the market for a 2005 Corvette convertible, go here. It was owned by a great guy who recently passed away, and some of the proceeds of the sale will go to the Ayn Rand Institute, well worth the investment.

Here's the eBay link.
Digg Report: Today's #1 Digg, at a modest 3691 Diggs, is about the baby on Nirvana's Nevermind album turning 17.

Move along folks. Nothing to see here.

China's Pipe Dream

I find little of value in this. China will either abandon its Communist principles or follow the Soviet Union into the dustbin of history. Already there are signs of resentment of the oppressive conformity of Chinese society, and it'll get nothing but worse.

China is utterly reliant on the US for its economic health. Were we to pull any significant amount of our business from the mainland, China's economy would collapse. And I think the US economy would hardly skip a beat; we'd just reduce our consumption a bit as the cost of some goods increased. People seem to forget that the Chinese GDP is about $2 trillion, while ours is about $13 trillion. That's orders of magnitude stronger and, I image, more resilient.

Also, it's inconceivable that increasing economic freedom in China won't translate to increasing pressure for political freedom. It's already happening, only it's so heavily censored that it takes one back to the Soviet Union, where the people were always happy and the economy was always on track--right up to the collapse.

I still consider China a threat, but mainly because I fear what will happen once the transition really starts.

Ahmadinejad's Butcher

And no, I'm not talking about a member of his intelligence agency. I'm talking about his actual butcher, the guy he buys meat from and from whom he gleans information about the state of the Iranian economy.

Really, I'd consider this guy nothing but a buffoon, if it weren't for the nuclear weapons.

Russian-Chinese War Games?

This surprises me, given what I've always assumed about Russian and Chinese animosities. For exactly which enemy will they be practicing against? The story says "counter-terrorism," but I wonder if this is on the right scale.

Resurrecting Stalin

There become fewer and fewer reasons to believe that Putin's goal is anything but a rivival of the Soviet Union.

Update: More here.

Russian Population Decline - Yikes!

This is pretty dramatic. Check out the chart lower on the page. Such things are speculative, but something even half as bad would be highly significant.

Russia Still a Threat

Proof that Russia remains a formidable military enemy, in spite of Bush's apparent skepticism on the topic.

Carter and Hamas - Hand in Hand

Jimmy Carter supports Hamas. I'm shocked! Shocked, I tell you!

Ahmadinejad a Human Shield?

One can only dream.

Reducing Technology Transfers to China

I'd say this makes some sense, although it seems a little late in the game. China probably already has a lot of what it needs.

Bruce Willis on Drug Abuse?

Celebrity Report: Bruce Willis doesn't really make a great deal of sense here on the issue of drug abuse. I'm not sure, really, what he's advocating here, if it's not some sort of (necessarily massive) government mental health program. Nothing new there.

Of course, I would say to him: why does government have anything to do with drug abuse in any case? I know any number of people who abuse all sorts of substances that do just as much harm, including cigarettes (obviously), fatty foods, refined sugar, etc., etc. And, government doesn't have...

Oops, sorry. Government has plenty going on there, as well.

Cultural Reflections on War

A very good essay on the war and on our culture's reflection of it (among other things). I won't try to characterize it beyond that, because I'll just butcher it. So, go here and read it, by Edward Cline, whose stuff is always good.

Sharks Self-Reproduce?

I sometimes think (well, just now, actually) that if sharks were land animals, we'd be screwed. Those are some well-bred bastards.*

*I do recognize the subtle evolutionary irony in this post, thank you very much.

"Land Warrior" Program will Save American Lives

We must continue to invest in these sorts of technologies. Basic training remains paramount, of course; these sorts of gadgets do fail in the field. But the better our battleground awareness, the more lethal (and safe) our soldiers. If I were to take on any political cause, it would be the fight to maintain and increase funding for the "Land Warrior" program.

China + Western Trade = End of Communism

As I've mentioned before, what happens to Communism in China as its people are a exposed more and more to (the remnants of) capitalism? I'd say, first, China will reduce as an "economic powerhouse" (which I don't really believe it is, since all it does is assemble goods made elsewhere, tedious work that people will eventually reject), and then it will slowly ascend as a (semi-)free society.

If that happens, then all predictions (mine included) of China as a future enemy go out the window.*

*This post has way too many parentheticals. Sorry.