THE “NONPROFIT INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX:”

The sheer scale and rapid growth of America’s nonprofit sector make it difficult to ignore. In most of history, private not-for-profit organizations weren’t a topic of much attention because they weren’t especially important compared with the markets from which people drew their sustenance and the governments that often extracted whatever they could from them. But with the growth of our national wealth, nonprofits have been expanding relentlessly. The Independent Sector, which is basically the industry group for nonprofits, reports that the combined annual expenditures of all the not-for-profit organizations required to file Form 990 with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service had grown to nearly $1 trillion in 2004. (That’s about half what the federal government spends each year, not counting defense.) In 1977, nonprofits employed around 6 million Americans; by 2001, that was up to 12 million.

Look at this on funding, too. And don’t miss this piece on inadequate financial regulation of nonprofits from the Boston Globe. (“A Globe Spotlight Team investigation of hundreds of foundations nationwide found that oversight is virtually nonexistent, allowing excesses and abuses to go unchecked.”)

And here’s an older post on the subject that’s worth reading too, if this interests you. Plus, more from the Boston Globe.

ARE CELLPHONES killing bees? My guess is that this will turn out to be hysteria, but stay tuned.

UPDATE: Hey, somebody should look to see if bees are doing better in the National Radio Quiet Zone.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Steven Den Beste emails:

The claims in that article about cellphones and bees sound like the global warming hysteria, up to and including the predictions of apocalypse.

For instance, there was this claim: “Most of the world’s crops depend on pollination by bees.”

That’s wrong. Corn, wheat, rice, rye, barley, and all the other grain crops do not rely on insects for pollination, and they make up the majority of the calories consumed by the human race.

It’s true that there are a very large number of crops which do rely on insects, but many of those do not rely on honey bees, or at least do not have to. In many areas, they use a different kind of bee that looks a lot like a honey bee but is much different in life cycle. These bees don’t produce honey, and all the females are fertile, with each producing 5-10 grubs. They work collective laying sites with the grubs being placed in holes in wood.

In the wild they use dead trees, but the farmers that rely on them put up boards with holes drilled in them for the bees to use.

Honey bees are important, but the current problem doesn’t mean the human race is going to starve to death.

I’m not sure, but I think that this may be a picture of a carpenter bee. The article also quotes Albert Einstein on honeybees — kind of like quoting Norman Borlaug on black holes. Smart guy, but . . . .

MORE: A more skeptical take:

Many beekeepers are skeptical of the reports or at least how they’re adding up. For 100 years, beekeepers have logged periodic reports of sudden and inexplicable bee die-offs.

People refer the latest die-off by its initials “CCD,” but one Georgia beekeeper instead calls it the “SSDD” crisis for “Same Stuff, Different Day.”

“People have lost bees from the beginning of time,” Sowers said. . . .

Most empty hives have been discovered at large, commercial migrating bee farms – and that has led some beekeepers to theorize that it’s the stress of being trucked cross-country that’s killing the bees.

“The (bee’s) instinct is to go out and collect pollen and nectar, and that’s what they do. When they can’t get out of the hive, it puts them under stress. They need to go to the bathroom on a regular basis, but they won’t go in their hive,” said Ken Ograin, an Elmira beekeeper. . . .

Finally, beehives simply die. Scattered reports of large-scale mortality date from 1915, 1960 and 1987. Scientists don’t always know why.

“This may be a repeat of that situation where we simply don’t figure it out,” said Morris Ostrofsky, president of the Lane County Beekeepers Association.

In fact, some farmers say they are puzzled about the dire news stories appearing in local, state and national media in the past several weeks.

“It’s not new this year,” Williams said. “If you know what I mean.”

Media hysteria? It’s just possible that might be involved. (Via Slashdot, which also features other skeptical comments on this story.)

STILL MORE: Skepticism from an entomologist.

I’m not ready to rule out the cellphone connection, but I’d have to say that it’s far from compelling at this point. I do think people should check out the Radio Quiet Zone. Plus, via Boing Boing, a Snopes entry casting doubt on the Einstein quote. Not that it matters much one way or another — Einstein was a smart guy, but as far as I know he had no special expertise on the subject of bees.

JAMES ZUMWALT ON THE “FLYING IMAMS,” IN THE NEW YORK TIMES:

Some security experts suggest the imams’ conduct may have been intended to identify aviation security weaknesses. Their John Doe lawsuit tends to support this theory, as such a complaint can also serve to manipulate our legal system to silence those who might otherwise report suspicious activity.

Anyone in the security business knows that if a passenger exhibits suspicious behavior before takeoff, he or she cannot be allowed to board — or remain on — the plane until that behavior has been satisfactorily explained or otherwise resolved. Post-9/11, anyone entering an air terminal should be sensitive to this need and should work in a cooperative spirit to remove any suspicion.

Nothing can prevent a passenger who believes he has been wronged by the screening process from filing a lawsuit. What is outrageous is to hold good Samaritans liable simply for doing what any reasonable person observing suspicious activity should do. This is pure and simple intimidation.

In the interests of national security, Congress cannot allow this to happen. While the House has taken the initiative to insert protective language in a public transportation bill, that bill does not go far enough. Such protection needs to be comprehensive, extending to the public at large rather than just those using airplanes or other public transportation.

I doubt Zumwalt chose the title that his oped runs under, though, which is “Witnesses for the Persecution.”

ANOTHER ARGUMENT for making Randy Barnett the next Attorney General! Hey, they should have listened to me.

UPDATE: The Barnett Juggernaut gathers momentum! “Randy has my full support! He’d be a major improvement over both the incumbent AG and his recent predecessors.” Indeed.

TOM MAGUIRE is typing through the tears.

MORE PEOPLE ARE FEELING THE PINCH OF THE ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX.

Plus, Fred Thompson on taxes.

WHO WILL NANNY the nannies?

UPDATE: Related thoughts here:

How could the chief executive of a state routinely put the chief executive of his state, elected by and responsible to the voters to discharge his duties for a full term, at risk of death or injury for something so self-indulgent as not wearing a seatbelt? Not to mention that a governor has some duty to model responsible and rational behavior. If the motor pool were found to have neglected maintenance of the brakes or tires of a governor’s vehicle, heads would roll, and rightly so. Apparently he routinely doesn’t wear a belt: Corzine is not just being stupid, he’s acted recklessly and put the welfare of his state at pointless risk, just as surely as if he decided to take up bungee jumping or Russian roulette while in office. This is really, really, bad behavior.

Bungee jumping would be an improvement.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Some thoughts on why you should wear a seatbelt:

Go a little farther through the windshield, and it isn’t unexpected to leave some or all of your face behind stuck in the broken glass. You’d be surprised by how easily faces come off the facial bones.

You can also expect fractured wrists, arms, and shoulders, from folks trying to brace themselves.

A little farther through the windshield, all the way out of the vehicle (a situation we call “pre-extracted for your convenience”), and in addition to whatever damage you took on the way through, you get the damage from hitting the ground, trees, and metal poles at however-many-miles-an-hour.

Sure, you hear people talking about wanting to be “thrown clear” in the event of an accident. If you want to simulate being “thrown clear,” go to the fifth floor of a building and jump out the window.

Read the whole thing.

PREPARING FOR THE WORST: Getting ready for Internet terrorists.

HOW TO DRIVE A HYBRID without looking P.C. I should try that!

BILL WHITTLE LOOKS AT conspiracy theories.

GARY KASPAROV ARRESTED WHILE PROTESTING PUTIN: Ilya Somin has a roundup on this story. He comments: “Kasparov’s arrest is not only an outrage in its own right, it is significant as an indicator of Putin’s willingness to further tighten his authoritarianism. If Putin is able to get away with arresting even a world-famous opposition leader, less exalted opponents of the government can expect even harsher treatment. Hopefully, there will be enough of an international outcry to persuade Putin to desist and force him to tread more cautiously in the future. But it is hard to be optimistic about Russia’s immediate political future after the experience of the last several years.”

GRAPHIC EVIDENCE OF why it’s dumb to sue bloggers. Or even threaten them.

UPDATE: Try googling JL Kirk now.

ABSTINENCE-ONLY EDUCATION doesn’t do any good. I’m not surprised to hear this.

ANTI-ISLAMIST RALLIES IN TURKEY:

Chanting secularist slogans and waving Turkish flags, more than 300,000 people from all over Turkey rallied Saturday to discourage Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a conservative with an Islamist political past, from running for the presidency.

The demonstrators marched to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern secular Turkey in 1923, transforming the normally hushed venue into an unprecedented demonstration ground.

“Turkey is secular, it will remain secular”, “The presidency’s roads are closed to Sharia (Islamic law)”, “An imam cannot become a president”, they chanted, reflecting concerns that Erdogan and his Justice and Devlopment Party (AKP) are not truly committed to the mainly Muslim nation’s secular system.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE: InstaPundit’s correspondent in Turkey, Claire Berlinski, emails:

I wasn’t there, but it was definitely a state-run (i.e., nationalist, Kemalist) show. This was planned a long time ago. It doesn’t necessarily mean much about what people are really thinking. By the way, the fact that Turkish nationalists are anti-Islamists should not lead anyone to conclude that they’re Western-style democrats. Despite ErdoÄŸan’s Islamist past, one of the basic conflicts here is that he wants to open Turkish society. Here’s a good discussion of this point. The demonstrators are concerned that ErdoÄŸan isn’t committed to secularism, probably for good reason, but ErdoÄŸan’s supporters are — also for good reason — concerned that the Kemalists’ aren’t committed to democracy.

Sigh.

A VERY NICE PHOTO, from Brittney Gilbert. When the weather improves, I’ve got to get out and take some more Tennessee backroad pics myself.

IN THE MAIL: Chosen Soldier: The Making of a Special Forces Warrior, by Dick Couch. It’s got a foreword by Robert Kaplan.

NIFONG UPDATE: Quest to convict hid a lack of evidence. This damning quote from Nifong is about the impact of the case on his campaign is, well, damning: “I’m getting a million dollars of free advertisements.”

STEPHEN F. HAYES SPENT SOME TIME WITH FRED THOMPSON and observes:

And by the end of the conversation, two unexpected realities had emerged. If he joins the race for the Republican nomination, and if he campaigns the same way he spoke to me last week, Fred Thompson, a mild-mannered, slow-talking southern gentleman, will run as the politically aggressive conservative that George W. Bush hasn’t been for four years. And the actor in the race could well be the most authentic personality in the field.

Read the whole thing, which starts here.

JL KIRK UPDATE: Here’s a TV news story from Nashville’s Channel 2.

Plus, more bad experiences with JL Kirk. I can’t say I’m surprised at this development.

UPDATE: There’s a mistake in the video, which I corrected in the comments, but apparently not everyone is scrolling down and noticing. Fernando Colina emails:

They call you a “former professor of law.” Something we don’t know? Something YOU don’t know?

I hope that it is either a mistake, or that you finally finished your new villa overlooking the reef at Grand Cayman, built from the proceeds of Instapundit Inc.

It’s a mistake. I’m still here. No villa in Grand Cayman, alas. But I like being a law professor too much to quit anyway, even in the face of something like a major Powerball hit — which InstaPundit ain’t.

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS, from Jules Crittenden.

IF YOU HAVE — or had — BlogAds and your page is loading slowly, you need to remove the old proxy.blogads.com code from your templates. More here.

MORE THOUGHTS ON ADOLESCENCE AND MATURITY, from Megan McArdle. Interesting discussion in the comments, too.

PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: A recent National Journal article (sorry, link is subscriber-only) suggests that lobbyists are worried:

But beneath the surface there was a feeling of anxiety among the lobbyists gathered at Pentagon City’s Ritz-Carlton hotel in Arlington, Va. They had their minds on a rule adopted by the House in January that toughens the process for winning — and will likely restrict — appropriations earmarks. Those are special-interest provisions, ubiquitous in recent years, in which members of Congress direct money to specific projects by inserting narrow, targeted language into spending bills.

Lobbying for earmarks has become a profitable business for many K Street firms. Weapons makers, colleges and universities, hospitals, municipalities, and many other clients pay lobbyists big fees to persuade the right lawmaker to include a pet project or favorite program in an appropriations measure.

The new rule is causing heartburn because it requires lobbyists and members to submit additional paperwork explaining and justifying their earmark requests. At the Murtha bash, said one lobbyist who attended, there was a lot of chatter about the “onerous documentation” now required of those seeking earmarks.

Beyond that, the lobbyist added, 2007 is shaping up as “a perfect storm for defense earmarks.” In addition to the tougher rule — intended to stop ethical abuses that have given earmarks a bad name — the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are forcing budget constraints that are sure to reduce the number of defense earmarks in this year’s spending bills.

This is a time of uncertainty for lobbyists who have prospered by capitalizing on the booming earmark business in defense as well as other industries and economic sectors. “We’re warning all our clients that they have to be realistic in their requests in terms of dollars,” said Stewart Van Scoyoc, who attended the Murtha event and is the founder of the 17-year-old firm whose name is often linked with earmark lobbying.

This is music to my ears. Let’s hope the “perfect storm” is as perfect as we can make it.

HEADLINE OF THE WEEK: Snow won’t dampen global-warming rallies.

UPDATE: A reader asks if this means global warming is bogus. No. Here’s a good quote from the article:

“I think that’s an easy excuse, but if we’re really reasonable about it, we’re not talking about individual weather on individual days,” Locke said. “We’re talking about something much larger, on a global scale, which science has been tracking for decades.”

But keep this in mind when they start claiming, as the press inevitably does, that unusually warm days are evidence for climate change. The truth, as I’ve noted before, is that weather is very “noisy,” and that warm (or cold) days, weeks, or even years don’t mean much. And by pointing out the cold weather now, you get people to go on the record about that . . . .

UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA LAW PROFESSOR JOSEPH KENNEDY looks at possible criminal charges against Mike Nifong:

Obstruction of justice is a felony in North Carolina if it’s committed with the intent to deceive. The state bar has accused Nifong of intentionally excluding the exculpatory DNA results from his expert’s report and of subsequently misleading the trial judge as to their existence. If Nifong really intended to deceive the judge and the defense in order to prevent the introduction of those results into evidence at trial, he committed this felony.

Read the whole thing. It’s unusual for prosecutors to be prosecuted, to say the least. There are good reasons for such reluctance — not wanting to second-guess often-difficult decisions. There are also bad reasons — self-dealing in the prosecutorial biz. But the Nifong case is also unusual, so I suppose prosecution here is possible. His behavior certainly seems to have been outrageous.

UPDATE: Some Nifong FAQs from Dean Barnett.