MICHAEL FUMENTO REPORTS on stem cell progress that’s not getting the attention you’d expect.
Archive for 2007
February 9, 2007
February 8, 2007
TROUBLE IN PARADISE.
NANCY PELOSI takes the advice of an InstaPundit reader, and thinks about flying commercial instead of requisitioning a big government jet:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she might decline the use of Air Force planes to travel from Washington to her San Francisco district because the Pentagon won’t guarantee her an aircraft that can make the trip non-stop.
“I have said that I am happy to ride commercial if the plane they have doesn’t go coast to coast,” Pelosi said today.
It’s certainly more greenhouse friendly. But Rep. John Murtha continues his thuggish ways:
Murtha said he will hold hearings that examine the use of military planes by members of Congress and Bush administration officials for the past two fiscal years. Asked whether the hearings are payback for the decision on Pelosi’s request, he smiled and said, “Would I do something like that?”
Not if he’s smart — glass houses and all that. Which probably means that the answer is “yes.”
UPDATE: Reader Randy Dunn finds Pelosi’s claims that security is the motivation disingenuous in light of other Democratic positioning on the war:
Given this practice was initiated shortly after 9/11 for the 2nd in succession, which at the time seemed to be the thing to do, shouldn’t the whole program be reevaluated? Now that the Democrats have reaped the benefits of having most of mainstream America doubting the necessity of the war on terror, the reason for the military transport program has eroded considerably. Why perpetuate an expensive, environmentally destructive program when it has outlived its effectiveness? Actually, to retain the program, there would have to be some consensus that that it still is relevant – that Islamic terrorism is still a clear and present danger to our government leaders. And that terror attacks are imminent.
Personally, I like it that members of Congress mostly fly commercial, as it makes them aware of what the rest of us have to go through, and gives them a stake in security procedures that work.
LOADS MORE LIBBY-BLOGGING, at Tom Maguire’s.
DELL NON-HELL: Had trouble with the Inspiron laptop, and an online chat with the support guy yielded a reinstall of the wifi driver, which didn’t help. Didn’t have time to follow up for a few days, but got some time tonight. Called on the phone and the support guy had me fixed in fairly short order — it was a conflict between the wifi and the EVDO card. I hadn’t had this problem before, despite going on three years for that combination, but apparently there’s some new Windows update that creates the problem. (Thanks, Bill!) Anyway, I know that one experience, good or bad, isn’t representative, but my experiences with Dell support over the years have been pretty good. Given that people mostly go to the Internet to complain, I figure I should report when things go right, too, just to even things up a bit.
UPDATE: A reader asks how much trouble I’ve had on this Dell. Not much. It’s going on 3 years old, and this is the second time I’ve called on it — the other time was this one. It’s getting a bit worn and battered from being hauled around so much, and in fact I’m about to replace it with a tiny Sony Vaio as my main carry-around computer. But it’s been quite good, and it will continue to serve sitting on the bar in the kitchen.
BOB ZUBRIN WAXES SKEPTICAL on the Hydrogen Economy: “Hydrogen, therefore, is not a source of energy. It simply is a carrier of energy. And it is, as we shall see, an extremely poor one.”
THE IRVINE INTIFADA. Stuff like this sends an unfortunate signal about the effectiveness of violence, and its toleration.
AUSTIN BAY’S SITE is back up.
HYPERINFLATION in Zimbabwe.
THE ECONOMIST is putting letters to the editor online as they come in, with only minimal filtering. It’s an interesting experiment. (Via Megan McArdle).
MICHAEL BARONE: “If we want to curb carbon dioxide emissions, then let’s ban private jets. It’s funny seeing those Hollywood stars private-jetting into Washington to tell the rest of us that we’ve got to have a lower standard of living. Let them fly first class, and save the Earth!”
Everybody has to sacrifice. And I think this idea may be, er, taking off . . . .
HARRY REID, meet Harry Reid.
OUCH: “You can tell they are working for a political campaign now because they are apologizing just like politicians.” Thus are the netroots domesticated.
BLOOMBERG BUSTED:
The federal government will not file criminal charges against any of the 15 out-of-state gun dealers accused by Mayor Bloomberg in a federal lawsuit of selling guns illegally, the Daily News has learned.
In a stern rebuke to the city’s high-profile crusade against illegal guns, the feds warned the Bloomberg administration that it could face “potential legal liabilities” if it continues to conduct sting operations that fall within the jurisdiction of federal agents.
Bloomberg announced the filing of a federal lawsuit last May against 15 gun dealers, who he lambasted as the “worst of the worst.” The city later filed a similar lawsuit against another 12 dealers.
In both cases, the city sent private investigators to gun dealers and secretly videotaped them making what Bloomberg called illegal “straw purchases.”
A “straw purchase” refers to when an individual talks with a store clerk about purchasing a gun, but then gets another person to fill out the required federal forms and undergo the mandatory background check.
According to a letter sent to City Hall, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and various U.S. attorneys’ offices have determined the city’s findings against the 15 dealers “do not rise to a level that would support a criminal prosecution.”
Bloomberg’s behavior, on the other hand, is under investigation by the ATF.
UPDATE: Dave Hardy isn’t surprised:
The dealers would have the defense that they didn’t realize that the gun was going to the person who didn’t sign the forms, but the buyers have no such defense — they knew exactly that that was the plan. So there’s no doubt that the buyers broke the Gun Control Act, and that those who set them to it were liable as aiders and abettors, not to mention on a conspiracy theory. I’d assume that Bloomberg and company (1) figured it was worth it for the publicity and (2) figured that the laws don’t apply to the rich and powerful. They may just have been right on both.
We’ll see.
CRAZED ASTRONAUT UPDATE: “A report issued last year that critiqued NASA’s plan for long-duration space missions for failing to deal with ‘issues of human sexuality’ now looks strikingly prophetic in the wake of Nowak’s apparent love-triangle meltdown. But trying to predict whether an astronaut will be vulnerable to psychiatric or psychosocial problems remains an inexact science, one of the report’s authors says – though that may change as research into genomic screening, brain scans and biometric monitoring continues.”
ANNA NICOLE SMITH HAS DIED, setting up “the child custody case from hell.”
CRUSHING OF DISSENT at San Francisco State University.
The SFSU Administration’s concern for civility is rich, given SFSU’s history of tolerating antisemitic violence.
MICHAEL MALONE looks at the future of media.
OKAY, I COULDN’T RESIST THE AIRPLANE REFERENCE BELOW, but I have to point out a more positive item from the same story:
The Speaker also answered an inquiry from Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) on nuclear energy by saying that while she was once opposed to nuclear energy, changing technology had made her “bring a more open mind” to the option.
“It has to be on the table,” she said.
I think that if you’re serious about global warming or energy independence — much less both — it absolutely does have to be on the table. I’m glad to see Pelosi recognize that.
I MENTIONED THE NOKIA N800 here a while back. My review at Popular Mechanics is now online.
EDWARDS IS keeping the bloggers. As I suggested earlier, that’s probably the right thing to do.
UPDATE: More here.
A PRESS BLACKOUT? “Abu Omar al-Baghdadi is Al Qaeda’s guy in Iraq, and nowadays, the Sunni insurgency is being whittled down to Al Qaeda’s activity in Iraq. It’s that simple, and he’s that important. So why isn’t the Times writing that? I think the answer has something to do with what seems, to my eyes, to be a determined campaign to keep the American people from knowing the nature of the enemy in Iraq because identifying this enemy as Al Qaeda casts the debate about the war in a whole different light.” (Via Ed Driscoll).
THE ECONOMIST: “Perhaps someone who knows polls can explain why Mr Giuliani and John McCain continue to dominate every poll of Republicans? The Fox, Time, CNN, ABC/Washington Post, Gallup and Zogby polls all say the exact same thing: these two, both famous for not exactly cuddling up to the evangelical base, are leagues ahead of the likes of Sam Brownback and Mitt Romney in the minds of Republican voters.”
Citing “a growing chorus of voices,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) called Thursday for “mandatory action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution”and said she wants legislation ready for July 4th — which she declares “Energy Independence Day.”
The Speaker’s remarks came at the beginning of a hearing of the House Committee on Science and Technology this morning. The hearing is taking testimony from four of the scientists involved in the United Nations-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Meanwhile, once again the Bush Administration is insensitive to global warming:
The White House on Thursday defended House Speaker Nancy Pelosi against Republican criticism that her desire to fly in an Air Force transport plane is an extravagance.
“This is a silly story and I think it’s been unfair to the speaker,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said. Some Republicans are taking issue with the size of the plane Pelosi has requested.
Pelosi, a Democrat, asked for access to a C-32, a military version of the Boeing 757-200, that could fly to her hometown of San Francisco without refueling.
And the planet suffers, but Bush doesn’t care . . . .
UPDATE: Still unanswered: “Did Pelosi know that the smaller C-37A was just as capable of flying non-stop to California as the lavish C-32, yet request the more expensive C-32 anyway?”
MORE: Reader Phillip Kahn emails:
Nancy Pelosi need not fret about nonstop service via military jets. I happen to work for a major airline (*cough* United *cough*) that provides just the nonstop service from Washington DC to San Francisco that Mrs. Pelosi seems to be looking for. In fact, we even have 8 flights a day each way! Surely Mrs. Pelosi’s staff will have plenty of seats to choose from. Although I must admit, I’m a little surprised that she has apparently never heard of us seeing as how we have a hub in the city she works in and another hub in the city she represents. I suppose she’s been too busy “looking out for the children” to realize these things.
How convenient! And since commercial carriers in and out of DC give members of Congress special treatment, she can be confident of getting the flights she needs.