The Journal
Current Affairs
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The Most Important Speech Of Obama’s Presidency
And it was given by Dick Cheney. Regardless of your opinions about ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ you should read this. For good or ill (and I think good) Cheney’s speech gives clear understanding of the concerns and…
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Since Our Car Manufacturers Are Doing So Well
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has declared his intention to follow Barack Obama’s plan to impose strict limits on CO2 emissions from motor vehicles. This will increase costs, and cost jobs. CO2 is not a pollutant. It is…
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Ab Fab Gurkhas Part Two
The Telegraph reports this morning that the UK government will allow all Gurkhas with a record of honourable service to settle in the UK. All Gurkha veterans were finally granted the right to live in Britain…
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Absolutely Fabulous
I meant to say something about this a week ago, then forgot about it, and found it again today while looking at something else. It still seems worth commenting on. Britain seems to be willing to…
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Bank Blunder Makes Millionaires
A coupe who own a small business in Rotorua in New Zealand applied to the Westpac bank for a $10,000 overdraft. The bank deposited $7.8 million into their account. Not surprisingly, the couple took as much of…
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Stephen Long Doesn’t Know What Puerile Means
Otherwise this is a pretty good article about the problems with economics predictions, and the difficulty of developing policy on the basis of those predictions. Stephen seems to think puerile means pointless, because there can never be…
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Sexting – Just Say No
A couple of days ago I posted a story about a 14 year old girl who had been charged with possession of child pornography because she had some nude photos of herself on her mobile phone.…
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Minorities Affected Most By Home Foreclosures
Who would have guessed? Another non-news headline from the New York Times. In the days when banks were able to assess loan applications on merit there was little difference between various ethnic groups in the level…
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The Whole Torture Thing Part Two
I wrote a couple of weeks ago that I hoped to do some serious thinking about torture, semantics and public policy over the weekend, and to something ready to post last Monday. That didn’t happen. I…
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Pakistan Nuclear Weapons In Hands Of Taliban
I hope this is not true. The Times of India reports newly re-elected Prime Minister Singh has warned the US that Pakistan is already lost, and that some nuclear sites in the North West of Pakistan…
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Rudd Stimulates Industry
Well, one industry. Rachel Love, general manager of the Pentagon Grand brothel in Queensland says things are looking up in the sex trade. “Around Christmas time with the first government injection we got, our figures went sky-high……
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Imanutjob Welcome, Netanyahu Not
Hard to believe but true. ‘Israel should be wiped off the map, the holocaust never happened’ president of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke at Columbia University on September 24, 2007. This was an example of the free exchange…
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What If Sarah Palin Behaved Like Obama?
Also in the Times, Gail Collins weighed in on the already-tired yokelism of the new commander in chief. “What we’re getting is Wasilla chic. That’s what we’re getting. She arrives in the Oval Office, and first…
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Worthwhile Comment On The Budget, But…
Paul Kelly makes some typically clear and concise remarks about the budget, and the options now open to both Labor and Liberal leaders. Budget details often obscure the bigger picture, but Australia is heading into a serious…
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Pelosi Lied, People Died
Oh sorry. That should read, Pelosi lied, some very nasty people were made a bit uncomfortable, and even scared with caterpillars. An interesting result in a Washington Post online poll: Do you believe the CIA lied…