WarrenPeese

The Next Conservative Test

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by Charles Last time, it was Bush’s nomination of Harriet Miers.  Just a few short months ago, the conservative wing bristled, complained and then mounted an anti-Miers onslaught that eventually crippled the nomination.  The outcome was favorable:  A solid conservative nominee instead of a mystery date. This time, the push is against the Republican leadership … Read more

Abramoff Nailed

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by Charles Finally, Abramoff has worked a deal with federal prosecutors.  In exchange for reduced sentences, he will be a "cooperating witness" against former business associates and political colleagues.  In a riveting true-life tale by Matthew Continetti, Abramoff’s business partner comes across as a one-step-removed mobster, Representative Bob Ney looks like an Abramoff toady, Tom … Read more

Where I’d Like to See FISA Challenged

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by Charles

The Authorization to Use Military Force was tantamount to a declaration of war against al Qaeda.  In my view, signals intelligence is part and parcel of a president’s war-making arsenal and falls under category of "necessary and appropriate force".  In the interests of national security, if the NSA intercepts a communique between Zahawiri and a bloke in New Jersey, I’m not going to have kittens if it’s done without a court order.  However, I would have a litter of twelve if none of the parties involved is Zawahiri or some other known al Qaeda suspect (the NSA’s inserting of persistent cookies into the computers of those who visit the NSA website might give me a contraction).

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Delayed Reaction to NSA Wiretapping

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by Charles

After absorbing over a week of news regarding the warrantless surveillance by the NSA, I thought I’d write this down to keep it all straight.  Calls for impeachment are serious business, not to be taken lightly or quickly or without good reason, and several of those calls have been made.  From what I’ve seen so far, the person who has written the most clearly on the NSA surveillance matter has been Orrin Kerr, along with a few others such as Cass Sunstein (more from Sunstein here).  Going through the list of fundamental questions:

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China Attacks!

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by Charles

Agence France Presse reports on a little espionage, most likely by the Chinese military:

A systematic effort by hackers to penetrate US government and industry computer networks stems most likely from the Chinese military, the head of a leading security institute said. The attacks have been traced to the Chinese province of Guangdong, and the techniques used make it appear unlikely to come from any other source than the military, said Alan Paller, the director of the SANS Institute, an education and research organization focusing on cybersecurity.

"These attacks come from someone with intense discipline. No other organization could do this if they were not a military organization," Paller said in a conference call to announced a new cybersecurity education program.

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Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was…

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by Charles …structurally flawed (apologies to Don McLean).  It’s a monumental task, building levees.  You can have hundreds of miles of them, but if a 100-foot section is poorly designed and poorly built, disaster awaits.  In the case of New Orleans, poor design and poor construction and poor monitoring were all over the place, which … Read more

The Big and Still Under-reported Story

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by Charles

One word.  Productivity.  According to Reuters:

Non-farm business productivity rose a hefty 4.7% in the third quarter, fastest pace in two years and stronger than first reported, according to a government report Tuesday that could ease inflation worries.

This is on top of 3.2% and 2.1% increases in the first and second quarters, respectively.  More surprising is that this is happening in an economy that added 1,840,000 jobs in 2005.  Why is productivity growth important?  From the same article:

Productivity is a key factor that determines whether living standards are improving. Productivity gains allow companies to pay workers more from their increased production without having to increase the price of products they sell, which would fuel inflation.

It keeps inflation down and raises wages, GDP and living standards.  Brad DeLong has been observing this economic indicator for years (his March 2002 analysis is an example), and he has an interesting table that tracks productivity growth in four-year intervals, every first quarter of every presidential years since 1960 (via Arnold Kling).

Productivity Growth (% Change From 4 Prior Years)
Year % Change
1960 12.0%
1964 12.8%
1968 12.2%
1972 7.9%
1976 9.1%
1980 3.6%
1984 6.2%
1988 6.9%
1992 8.1%
1996 4.9%
2000 9.5%
2004 17.0%

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This Redstater Departs From Blanton

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by Charles In response to Blanton’s earlier post, whether McCain is a fool and charlatan is beside the point. Also irrelevant is his status as a self-aggrandizing publicity-seeking pol. I accept that the most dangerous place a person can be is between the Arizona Senator and a TV camera. I disagree with McCain’s tax policies … Read more

A Techie Bleg

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by Charles

One of my computers is driving me nuts!  Help!

I’m not sure how it happened, but my best guess is that either my wife or son clicked on an attachment they shouldn’t have.  I have a Dell 2400 Dimension PC and it runs the home version of Windows XP.   The problem is this.  I can’t open Internet Explorer, My Computer or Control Panel.  All other programs that I’ve tried work fine, including other Microsoft products.  I’ve run spyware and anti-virus programs to no avail.  I think what I need to do is initiate the system restore wizard and set the date for a week or two prior to the beginning of this sad episode, but I can’t do this because I can’t open Control Panel.  I think I can accomplish a system restore by clicking on the "run" button, but I can’t figure out how to find the file name to make this process happen.  So here I am, at my wit’s end, begging for help.  Any suggestions?

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Iraq and Vietnam: Similarities and Differences

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by Charles

I know this has been ground well trod before, but former Nixon defense secretary Melvin Laird put together an informative piece, juxtaposing the history of our past involvement in Vietnam with our present involvement in Iraq.  Several factors caused me to take a second look at Laird.  One, he was a primary architect of Vietnamization, and then this entry stands out:

In spite of Vietnam and the unfolding Watergate affair, which threatened to discredit the entire Nixon administration, Laird retired with his reputation intact.

Such is the taint of Nixon that any of those who worked under him are viewed with hard skepticism.  I knew little of Laird because I was in grade school at the time he was defense secretary, and in his own words, he has been below the radar for the last thirty years.  But when someone with integrity and reasonably good judgment decides to speak up after three decades of relative silence, it’s worthy of notice:

I have kept silent for those 30 years because I never believed that the old guard should meddle in the business of new administrations, especially during a time of war. But the renewed vilification of our role in Vietnam in light of the war in Iraq has prompted me to speak out.

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