Soft-pedaling George Shultz and the drug war

I've been meaning to get to this piece by the WSJ's Mary Anastasia O'Grady for some time. I'm not sure whether to be amused, dismayed or encouraged. She interviewed George Shultz, Reagan's Secretary of State, a longtime Hoover fellow and now co-chair of something called the North American Forum. Much of the column discussed the problem of violence in Mexico related to Mexican president Calderon's decisions to take the drug-war rhetoric seriously and use the military to make war on the cartels. Mary introduces Shultz's perspective:

"He has long harbored skepticism about interdiction as a solution to drug abuse in the U.S."

"Long harbored skepticism about interdiction"???!!! He has been on the record for about 20 years as opposing the drug war -- all of it, including heroin and the hard drugs -- as staunchly as Milton Friedman did (I'm sure Milton influenced him, as he did almost everyone he had even a passing acquaintance with). The drug war has failed because it tried to repeal the laws of supply and demand. It's time to end it -- perhaps gradually, accompanied by honest dissuasives about the dangers of certain drugs -- but with its utter elimination as the goal. I quizzed Shultz about some of these issues when I spent my week as a Hoover media fellow. And surely Mary Anastasia O'Grady knows this.

Yet newspaper opinion pages have their cultures, and I suspect the Journal's is not quite ready for a full-fledged denunciation of the drug war by one of their own -- a guest column, perhaps, "balanced" by a screed from a drug warrior, but not by one of their own. The tender eyes of Journal readers are presumably only ready for gentle hints regarding "skepticism about interdiction," not for being reminded that the sainted President Reagan's trusted Secretary of State, one of Reaganite conservatism's revered Wise Men, would end the drug war tomorrow (or at least institute liberalizations leading to that end.

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Mary herself is as ready to end the drug war as any rabid libertarian, but is trying to introduce the idea indirectly and obliquely, doing as much as the Journal will let her get way with. I don't know this, but I wouldn't be surprised.

The culture is shifting on this issue.

Global warming cooling off?

The big news over the weekend was that a bunch of e-mails and other material from the UK's East Anglia University's climate change department were leaked/stolen/whatever. Mark Landsbaum, who follows this issue much more closely than I do, thinks they're extremely significant, telling me today there's evidence of conspiring to make sure non-enthusiasts of warming didn't get published, and evidence of data that didn't fit the hypothesis being suppressed or simply ignored. Was AGW (anthropogenic global warming) a scam from the get-go, or did it seem true until the data stopped supporting it and other theories (sunspots?) came to seem more plausible? Pat Michaels of Cato, says it's not a smoking gun, it's a mushroom cloud.

Anyway, Mark wrote this editorial for the Register, calling for more complete analysis of the data released and a full investigation into how it came to seem all right to suppress information and the implications for the underlying science -- and for confidence in the integrity of scientists. The unraveling may be only beginning.

Interesting times indeed!

Rivalry week underway in SoCal

Somewhere I have a book on college sports rivalries that doesn't even include UCLA-USC. Whoever wrote it must not have been in Southern California during the week the two schools meet for football. Those with an actual connection to one or the other school -- I attended UCLA off and on '61-'67, didn't get a degree but learned a lot -- get a little crazy, and locals without a real tie tend to choose up sides as well. During the 1960s -- Zeno, Beban, Prothro, O.J., John McKay -- you really could throw the record away -- it was going to be a tough, hard-fought game decided at the end. Maybe it's not a "great" rivalry because it goes through periods of one-sidedness -- UCLA has won only once during the Pete Carroll era, a win that shocked everybody.

This year I'm trying not to set myself up, but I'm hardly the only one who thinks UCLA has a solid chance. At USC, losing 8 defensemen to the first two rounds of the NFL draft and having a true freshman querterback finally took their toll, most recently in those embarrassing losses to Oregon and Stanford. They had a bye week last weekend and I'm sure Carroll will have them prepared to see beating the Bruins as redemption, and they probably have the raw talent to do it, if Barkley is on.

However, after a miserable middle with 5 Pac-10 losses, the Bruins have regrouped and won their last three games. I'm still concerned that we can't seem to score a touchdown in the red zone -- the two touchdowns against Arizona State both came from defensive takeaways -- but the defense is playing very well, and Prince at least seems able to get the offense within field goal range. We're remembering the Neuheisel has built winners wherever he has coached. I'm wearing the colors all week and looking forward to a good game.

Founders Day at Freedom, Inc.

I'm pretty sure it was Cathy Taylor's idea for Freedom Communications to mark R.C. Hoiles's birthday, Nov. 24, as Founders Day (though it might have come from somebody in corporate). I can't remember when we first did it -- 5-6 years ago? Anyway, we try to highlight some aspect of R.C.'s life and ideas, and their importance to the larger freedom movement (R.C. was never quite satisfied with the term "libertarian," though I suspect he would eventually have acquiesced to using it more often. He died in 1970, just as the modern libertarian movement was starting to define itself -- having libertarians kicked out of YAF in 1969 was a key moment, leading Don Ernsberger to found Students for Individual Liberty (SIL) and marking something of a divorce from the conservative movement.

Founders Day is whyI did the piece on R.C. for Sunday, and this editorial that ran today. The little pamphlet from which I extracted quotes (intro and transitions written by D.R. Segal, I'm pretty sure -- gee, he was a fun guy yet unquestionably sharp as an executive) said that if journalism were a person R.C. was its hair shirt.

This is a bittersweet Founders Day for us, and not just because of the sorry state of the newspaper business just now. Sometime early next year Freedom Inc., family-held for so long, will be officially owned by a consortium of banks, having emerged from Chapter 11. We don't expect they'll want to change editorial policies at the Register, but will hang onto properties that are at least modestly profitable until there's a decent market for them. But we don't know. I understand why "may you live in interesting times" is a Chinese curse. But I'll continue to interpret it as at least part blessing.

Celebrating R.C. Hoiles

Here's the piece I referenced in a previous post about Phebe Adams, R.C. Hoiles's last secretary, who offered us some insights we had not had into just what kind of a person R.C. Hoiles was. I still find his personality a bit elusive. He was undoubtedly somewhat crusty; that much we get from any number of people who knew him. Yet he inspired tremendous loyalty, though he never paid worth a hoot (though he apparently also had soft spots and/or loyalty went two ways.

At any rate, as the piece argues, he was not only influential insofar as the Register and other freedon newspapers carried libertarian stuff, but he had a considerable impact on the then-tiny libertarian movement in the 1940s and 1950s and on into the 1060s (he died in 1970). I didn't iknow him, but I'm proud to be at an insitution he established.

Marijuana reform progressing

As I predicted in a Register article six months ago or more, the concept of marijuana legalization continues to gain ground. Today's Washington Post has a piece noting the AMA's recent reversal to support medical marijuana, various polls -- 44% in favor and gaining according to Gallup -- and the changed attitude of activists, who actually see light at the end of the tunnel. And here's a piece on Michael Patrick Carroll, so far the only Republican in the New Jersey legislature to support legalization of medical marijuana. Apparently his experience with sick relatives has had an impact on him. He also doesn't get apoplectic at the idea of legalization for adults. Would that there were more Republicans like him.

Peter Drucker's 100th birthday

Cathy Taylor, our opinion editor and my boss, made a point of attending classes with the great management pioneer Peter Drucker when she was the Register's business editor. Today would have been Drucker's 100th birthday. In commemoration the Register reprinted a piece Cathy did in 1992 just after completing Drucker's class. The fact that Peter Drucker taught for many year's at Claremont is an example of the cultural and intellectual resources available in Southern California that are not often appreciated when people think of the area as la-la land (which it is also, to some extent). I'm quite appreciative of New York City and much of what it has to offer, and would not want to be without the NYT. But SoCal has much to offer as well.

Obama's dud of a trip

I suspect that if in some alternative universe I were ever elected president I would take as many foreign trips as possible, as quickly as possible, just for the experience. While some of his earlier trips seemed to have objectives, or at least events that could be spun as creating a new tone (e.g., the Cairo speech), Obama's Asia trip seemed more like a get-acquainted or even a tourist excursion. He certainly didn't break any ground; if anything he reinforced longstanding U.S. policy, which is to keep an inordinate number of troops in Japan and South Korea long past their due date. Doug Bandow wrote a piece suggesting some real changes that could be made in Asian policy, starting with withdrawing troops that have little or no function with the Cold War over, and firming up economic relations with China, with which there's little or no reason to be confrontational. I linked to it in a post I did for the Register's Orange Punch blog, and we actually got some fairly thoughtful comments back and forth. Take a look.

A Kelo postscript: from tragedy to farce

It is almost too rich. New London CT, wanted to please Pfizer, which it had induced to build a facility in town, in part through corporate welfare (not sure whether it was tax forgiveness or what), so they condemned a modest-income neighborhood after getting a fancy-schmancy proposal from a developer. Susette Kelo fought this obvious abuse of eminent domain but the Supremes said it was just fine to push people out of their homes for the promise of a public "benefit" (the Constitution says "public use") in the form of more tax revenue for the city misrulers. Well, the development plan fell through some years ago so the land is lying there unused, most of the houses torn down. And now Pfizer has announced it's closing the plant.

Why can't cities just have low taxes and reasonable regulations (not that I wouldn't prefer zero of each) and let businesses develop in response to consumer/business demand? Why the urge these petty tyrants have to micromanage and direct everything, with taxpayers money? Oh, maybe that's why. Other peoples' money, no downside risk to them. We should at least ridicule them regularly, however.

Meeting Phebe Adams

Had a marvelously fascinating day at work today. R.C. Hoiles's last secretary, who worked for him from 1966 to 1970, when he died, came in for lunch and she and Cathy and Mark and I talked extensively about the old days, giving us, I believe a more rounded picture of what R.C. was like. Phebe would be about 84 now, but she's quite spry and her mind and memories functioning well. We mentioned there was still something a little remote about R.C.'s personality or persona to those of us who had not known him (he died in 1970, I came to the Register in 1980, and had only seen him at a conference briefly before (in 1969 I think) and didn't know anything about him then.

Phebe said she thought that he was basically shy, though he was always ready to talk about freedom, and that may have given people the impression he was a little distant. But he was warm and humorous with the people he knew and felt comfortable with.

It was Cathy (Taylor's) idea to ask her in. We're writing on Founder's Day, near his birthday, when we remind people of aspects of his legacy, for Sunday. I'll link to it when it goes online.

Samuel Adams -- getting his due?

I just finished reading Ira Stoll's biography of Samuel Adams, and here's my review in the Register. I found it fascinating. I've always had the impression Samuel, John's older cousin, was a key figure, maybe even central, in the American revolutionary period. But there's been the impression that he was a bit too much of a firebrand, maybe not quite respectable, perhaps a bit fringey compared to some of the now-better-known founders. He did come early to a conviction that independence was the necessary step, but aside from not being rich, as many of the founders wwre, he was viewed as a solid citizen, being elected and reelected to positions of responsibility, fromn the Boston Meeting to the Massacusetts legislature to the Continental Congress to lt. gov. and gov. of Massachusetts. I also hadn't known how deeply religious he was -- the last of the Puritans perhaps, embodying the best of that tradition, which was fading during his lifetime.

I noticed that the book was on sale at my local Costco for about ten bucks. Highly recommended.

Bruin football better, basketball not so much

In our department at work almost everybody but me went to USC, so there were some long faces this morning. When I suggested that the USC-UCLA game just might be competitive this year, it was almost too much for them to bear. But the Trojans have obviously been operating on fumes the last few weeks while the Bruins just might be shaping up into a real team. Certainly the Washington State win was impressive -- though WSU unfortunately this year is a doormat for just about everybody. As to USC, we need to think about Arizona State first, while USC has a bye week. I suspect they'll be fired up for the UCLA game, but UCLA could be pretty fired up too.

I just watched the UCLA basketball team lose in double overtime to Cal State Fullerton, breaking a 37-game winning streak against non-conference non-ranked at Pauley (boy is that an ESPN geek type statistic). Having lost four starters and having to rely on a bunch of freshmen and sophomores, and having a bunch of injuries, which made for disjointed practices, it is perhaps to be expected that it will take a while for this team to gel. I suspect Fullerton will turn out to be pretty good from the way they played (especially if they stop blowing easy layups). I don't know what to expect from the Bruins. They did come back from a double-digit deficit to force overtime, but all those missed threes and free throws! The sportswriters say there's talent there. I hope so.

PelosiCare could lead to fewer insured

Here's the editorial the Register ran after the House passed PelosiCare last Saturday. It focuses on the likely perverse effects of an individual mandate enforced by a modest fine combined with a mandate that people with preexisting conditions be accepted without a financial penalty. Significant numbers of healthy people would choose to pay the fine and not get health insurance until they came down with something or developed a condition likely to require pricey treatment. The pool would be mostly high-risk patients so premiums would have to rise.

Other shortcomings of the bill, likely to be treated in more detail later include a virtual band on Health Savings Accounts, a hefty tax increase on capital gains, and a thoroughly phony approach to "tort reform" likely to empower trial lawyers even more. Not to mention the new flap over abortion. Whee! I'm pretty sure this version doesn't pass and there's a chance (though slim I think) that nothing will pass.

Gridlock is our friend.

Can Cannabis improve autism?

Here's a thoughtful article from the UK's The Independent centered on a woman in Rhode Island, where medical marijuana is legal whose 9-year-old kid has autism and to whom he gave a "special tea," achieving remarkably positive calming results. Not a cure, but helped the kid function more normally, with fewer side effects than the prescription drugs they had used previously. A follow-on raises thoughtful questions civilly.

How 'bout them Bruins?

I haven't exulted yet over the fact that my Bruins finally won a football game in the Pac 10, narrowly defeating Washington (which beat USC earlier!) 24-23. It wasn't a pretty game, but it had its consolations. Kevin Prince, our redshirt Freshman quarterback who has shown flashes of competence but not enough, was injured toward the end of the second quarter, suffering a concussion that has the coaches still pampering/protecting him in practice. He's expected to start this week, but given things we have learned about concussions in recent years they may be ultra-cautious.

That left the game in the hands of Kevin Craft, last year's 20-interception goat and this year's third-stringer. He wasn't brilliant, but he was good enough to get the job done. The offensive line even did a fairly good job of protecting him much of the time, though there's still plenty of room for improvement there.

So it's Washington State this weekend, now the lone cellar-dweller. The Bruins are favored by 17 or so, but bad things tend to happen to UCLA in Pullman. Washington State will be desperate to get its first win, so it's as well to take nothing for granted. Beer and guacamole are already laid in.

Iraqi election agreement not a bad sign

I've noted elsewhere the irony that just now the U.S., in the form of Ambassador Christopher Hill, has been manically trying to micromanage the parliamentary process ion Iraq to produce the agreement just reached on an election law to govern the elections scheduled for January -- to some extent trying to create or coax along a process that should lead to scheduled troop withdrawals and the eventual abandonment not just of micromanaging but managing Iraq at all. Even now, Hill is less like an overlord and more like a lobbyist; U.S. influence is still pervasive but not necessarily decisive. That's not a bad situation as the Register opined; assuming there's not massive violence during the period surrounding the election (not necessarily an entirely safe assumption) we should have "only" about 50,000 troops in Iraq by next August or so, and virtually none a year after that. I hope it works out that way.

I suspect most Americans see the Iraq war as a disaster from which we were lucky to escape without more lasting damage -- though there are still war enthusiasts out there convinced we acted wisely and are succeeding. It is difficult to understand why so much of the political class works so hard to avoid seeing that further escalation in Afghanistan is likely to be even less satisfactory than Iraq has been. It smells of an empire in decline with a sadly out-of-touch aristocracy in charge. It's just sad so many decent Americans in the military will have to be sacrificed to the delusions of old men.

Berlin Wall ironies

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I did a piece for the Register Sunday Commentary section pondering why our political culture doesn't make a bigger deal of the event that triggered perhaps the greatest episode of political liberation at least in modern history, the gradual collapse of the communist enterprise in Russia, its satellites and its disappearance as a factor in geopolitics. I argue that we haven't yet as a culture come to grips with the shortcomings of communist theory, in part because it has implications for the shortcomings of soft socialism, with which right and left seem to be contented insofar as it is in place (Medicare, etc.) though disagreeing on how quickly it should be expanded.

When I was in Berlin in 1999 we stayed in a fairly new hotel in the former eastern sector, just a few blocks from Brandenburg Gate. Sections of the wall had been kept in place as a reminder, along with Checkpoint Charlie. But the remarkable thing was the lack of any sense of division, though there were differences. A new friend and I went barhopping almost 'til dawn one night, checking out perhaps a dozen hard by Humboldt University. Walking down Unter den Linden one saw fashionable shops, embassies, restaurants, some with sidewalk service -- a pleasant promenade. Further on were Humboldt U., museums, churches, a synagogue and opera houses, and that bizarre radio/TV tower, which we explored fairly thoroughly. The joke was that the national bird was now the crane, there were so many construction cranes all over Berlin. You could still see bullet-made pockmarks on museums and Humboldt U. buildings in the eastern sector, but the atmosphere was one of building, growth and optimism.

So where have I been?

I can offer some reasons for not entering more posts on this blog, all of which make some sense and are valid, but there may be a whole greater than the sum of the parts. I followed the World Series and have been watching a lot of football. The ranks at work have thinned out, at least temporarily for various periods of time, due to Steve Greenhut leaving, having a week or so before Brian Calle came on, then some Mark Landsbaum time off and Brian's trip to India -- 10 days, expected back tomorrow. I've done the Sunday Commentary cover piece the last five weeks in a row; when the department is in sync it's more like every third week. After that much writing involved with gainful employment, I haven't necessarily had that much new to say or felt like writing at all.

Aspects of this blog vacation have been nice; I've spent more time just talking or sitting with Jen of an evening, and I think it's been good for us. We'll have a gang over for Thanksgiving (don't know how we got suckered into that) and some housecleaning/pickup/minor projects will be and has been needed. So I've not been idle.

Anyway, I'm at it tonight and expect to be so more in coming weeks.

At least they showed signs of life

I guess I'm a hopeless homer, but I choose to take a certain comfort from the fact that the Bruins were able to score two touchdowns and successfully go for two on both in the fourth quarter to tie the game. Getting into the end zone when in the red zone has been a problem all year. Nice that Kai Forbath is a terrific placekicker, but we need to score touchdowns.

Of course it's disappointing that they then let OSU score a touchdown to win. But given a bit more time I wouldn't have been surprised if they had come back and scored again. I'm still hoping for better than 4-8 this year.

Parole and Pat Nolan

This article on prisoners and parole for the Register's Sunday Commentary section came out of a certain amount of reporting and a little bit of research. Sitting in on Parole and Community PACT meetings was not exactly eye-opening -- I've had contact with parolees and the enforcement system, especially during Three Strikes campaigns. Nonetheless, some people surprised me -- not that what they did at one meeting necessarily predicts how they will handle parole or whether they will take advantage of the opportunities various volunteers offer them.

It was good to see Pat Nolan, now with Chuck Colson's Justice Fellowship. He and I go back a long way -- probably to '67 or '68 -- but I hadn't seen him in about 20 years. He seems happy, doing something he believes is worthwhile and designed to bring a bit of benefit to the world -- probably much more constructive than anything he did as an elected official.

What gets reactions

After almost 30 years in the newspaper business, I still find myself surprised at what gets reactions from readers. Last Friday I did what struck me as a fairly innocent post for the Register's Orange Punch blog on Rush Limbaugh, suggesting that he got a fairly raw deal from the NFL in response to his desire to be a minority owner of the St. Louis Lambs, while noting that while I don't think he's a racist, he does indulge in race-baiting. It got more than 100 comments and they're still coming. Of course several readers got on their own hobbyhorses instead of staying on-topic, but that's fine.

Quote of the Day

"If a thousand men were not to pay their tax-bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them and enable the state to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceful revolution, if any such is possible." -- Henry David Thoreau, Civil Disobedience

Can the Bruins bite the Bears?

It was too painful to write about last week's game with Oregon because the lapses just put it out of reach and the offense was so ineffective. I hope it was just Kevin Prince being rusty and that he'll come out of his funk on Saturday. Richard Brehaut, the true freshman, had some good sequences and showed that he has a pretty good arm, and the defense actually held Oregon's effective offense to 10 points, but they just couldn't get into the end zone.

I don't know what to make of Cal. Were they overrated early, or did they have lapses? I suspect they'll be eager for redemption after the embarrassing loss to USC. and Jahvid Best is a helluva running back, though the record shows he can be kept in check. So I just don't know how the Bruins, a 3-point underdog, will do on Saturday. I'm hoping they come into their own.

Jack Herer released from hospital

The most recent news I have of my old friend Jack Herer, the "Emperor of Hemp," who had a serious heart attack mid-September, is that he is out of the hospital in Portland, seems alert from what his eyes follow, but isn't speaking yet. He's scheduled for therapy. Will update when I find out where he is staying, whether in Portland or going home.

Bach celebrates Obama's Nobel

Courtesy of "A Tiny Revolution," here's a YouTube of Bach's BWV 13, with the text going on about "groaning and weeping" and the Bass selling the idea. There's also a nice little essay from Bernard Chazelle on the improbability of a provincial German musician turning out to be such a towering genius whose greatest music was consciously written to glorify God. Whence comes such genius? A lot of us have some talent for music, and some composers (think of Schubert) must have had melodies running through their heads pretty much all the time. But somehow Bach towers over them all, as geniuses like Mozart and Beethoven acknowledged.

ObamaCare not a done deal

Most of the media are treating Senate Finance Committee passage of the Baucus bill as a sure sign that some sort of bill Obama can sign and embrace as real hopeychange will be passed by Congress this year. Naturally the Register had to beg to differ. Our editorial suggested that some of the most divisive and contentious days are yet to come.

The most prominent (or at least numerous) holders of the "Cadillac" health insurance policies Baucus wants to tax (at 40%!), for example, are union workers, though I imagine some fatcats have them as well. Will left-Democrats actually vote against a bill that doesn't include the sacred "public option," or will they grumble and vote for something they think is a half-measure they see as a giveaway to evil insurance companies? How Blue will the Blue Dogs be with an election staring them in the face in a year or less?

Pray for gridlock. Only if the gumbo that emerges from the legislative back kitchen doesn't make it to the table (or is sent back indignantly by customers) will there be a chance for real cost-cutting or even (dare we even imagine?) consumer- and patient-oriented reform.

The degradation of the Nobel Peace Prize

Perhaps it is just as well that the Nobel Peace Prize, in the wake of the award to Obama, has become more widely perceived as a bit of a joke, a source of punchlines. Here's the Register's take, written that day and rather restrained, I thought. I don't think enough people, in all the bursts of jokes, blogs and editorials, noted the irony of receiving the Peace Prize at a time when one is considering how to ramp up an utterly unnecessary and ill-fated war in Afghanistan. Ah, well.

Can the U.S. accept a victory?

I would like to hope that this article in the WaPo represents a possible administration trial balloon or preparation for significantly reducing the military footprint of the U.S. in Afghanistan and perhaps Pakistan as well. Karen De Young and Walter Pincus (one of the people in the world I'm glad I took the initiative to meet) provide information, largely overlooked, to my knowledge, that certainly could provide a rationale for such a sensible step.

The word from the intelligence officials they interviewed is that various techniques -- "improved recruitment of spies inside the al-Qaeda network, along with the increased use of targeted airstrikes and enhanced assistance from cooperative governments, has significantly reduced the terrorists organization's effectiveness." Indeed, "Officials described Osama bin Laden and his main lieutenants as isolated and unable to coordinate high-profile attacks."

This jibes with what Stratfor.com and some other intelligence-oriented outfits (and I) have been saying for years -- that al-Qaeda Central, so to speak, has been seriously degraded. It doesn't seem to have had a hand, let alone a coordinating role, in attacks such the Madrid and London train bombings and other attacks. It no doubt has some value to the terrorist cause as an inspirer of would-be terrorists or as a label for already-existing local groups to assume. But it has little operational ability.

Well, isn't that what the U.S. has said is the central goal -- disabling al-Qaeda? It seems to have been largely accomplished (though continued vigilance is no doubt warranted), and not through conventional military means or classic counterinsurgency methods, but through a combination of intelligence, which helped to identify drone targets with increasing effectiveness, collaboration with others, and police-like work. How a classic counterinsurgency campaign that would first have to legitimize the pathetic Karzai regime, in Afghanistan would contribute to further success is unclear, to say the least. By extending the unpopular de facto U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, it might even aid terrorist recruitment.

I hate to think that the U.S. has evolved into a regime that must have constant wars, regimes designated as pariahs to justify constant hostility, and leaders inflating threats to justify its military-industrial establishment. But if we can't accept victory over al-Qaeda, or at least decide to keep doing what's working and abandon the military-centered actions that aren't, one wonders.

Private schools and the poor

It's not just Facebook, though you can waste a lot of time there, but especially busy times at work and in-laws coming for a few days that have kept me from my appointed blogging rounds. Part of it was reading the entirety of James Tooley's extraordinary book, "The Beautiful Tree," about his discoveries of private schools serving the poor throughout the Third World -- in India, Africa and even in China. I did this piece for the Register's Sunday Commentary section, and judging by the comments it stirred a certain amount of interest (although asd is often the case with commenters they addressed the article only glancingly before climbing on their personal hobbyhorses -- but better that than no response at all). I wish hundreds of thousands of people would read this remarkable book.

Jack Herer out of intensive care

I haven't been able to get the link to work, but CannabisCulture is reporting that Jack Herer is out of intensive care now. He still isn't talking, but seems increasingly conscious and aware. Is scheduled to begin physical therapy. I hope this is an accurate report. IU'll keep checking and see what else I can find, perhaps tonight, perhaps tomorrow.

Celebrating James P. Johnson

It's encouraging to know that in the midst of living in the "interesting times" the Chinese viewed as a curse, some heartwarmingly positive things are happening as well. One of the more encouraging I have encountered recently was a concert in a West Village club celebrating and raising money for James P. Johnson (he wrote "Charleston"), the leading exponent of "stride" piano (perhaps along with Willie "The Lion" Smith), a style developed in the 1920s featuring a strong rhythmic left hand giving impetus to sometimes delicate melodies and elaborate riffs in the right hand. Stride was in many ways the transtion between ragtime and jazz as it came to be known in the 1930s and 1940s and beyond. YouTube examples here, here, here and here.

Anyway, it turns that Johnson died in 1955 and while people knew his grave was in Queens somewhere, nobody knew exactly where it was. Recently Scott Brown, a Johnson scholar, found it, and the club Smalls hosted a gathering of a dozen pianists on Sunday,playing and riffing on Johnson classics, to raise money for a headestone. Nice to see an American innovator is still remembered and celebrated.

Did U.S. bugging out really create the Taliban?

Bruce Cameron over at consortiumnews.com has an interesting piece that makes a fairly decent case that the conventional wisdom -- the U.S. losing interest in Afghanistan after the Soviets left was responsible for the Taliban coming to power (with the implication being that we can't afford to "bug out" again) -- is not quite right -- thought the presentation is a little convoluted for my taste.

Cameron does point out that far from losing interest, the U.S., thought the CIA, pursued an active intervention in Afghanistan after the Soviets left, operating mainly through the Pakistani ISI, figuring the Soviet-backed Najibullah government would fall quickly. But Najubullah held on until 1992. He was replaced by a moderate Islamist, Ahmad Shah Massoud, but Pakistan's ISI, and therefore the U.S., kept funding other contendors, notably Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. The scramble for power, aggravated by CIA-ISI funding for anti-government forces, paved the way for the ISI to groom the Taliban to take power in 1996. The U.S., far from being inattentive, worked with the ISI, hoping the Taliban would at least bring stability (and cement Pakistani influence, not necessarily the U.S. goal).

There's more to what is really a convoluted history, but in essence a case can be made that U.S. attention rather than inattention contributed to the rise of the Taliban -- which didn't come until seven years after the Soviets left.

If there's a lesson for now it is that the U.S. doesn't have a history of diagnosing Afghani politics accurately and influencing them in a democratic or even a modestly tolerant direction. Hamid Karzai, our chosen vessel (or the one we're stuck with) may have less legitimacy now than Najibullah did then, and certainly less than Massoud. Without a respected central government to defend -- which may never be in the cards for Afghanistan, which might not be a tragedy -- the kind of counterinsurgency program McChrystal is proposing has precious little chance of success.

Bruins come back to earh

It was rather painful to watch the UCLA-Stanford game Saturday. This blog post from Adam Maya at the Register tells a good bit. UCLA's defense was supposed to be its strong point, but the combination of Toby Gerhart, the stanford offensive line and some boneheaded mistakes led to Stanford dominance. It was nice to score some points in the fourth quarter, but aside from a few brief moments of hope the outcome was not really in doubt from early on.

I'm not sure what to make of the season so far. I guess SD State, Tennessee and Kansas State are rather inferior teams, but it was not nothing to beat them, especially Tennessee. The Pac 10 could be wiuld. USC has taken its annual dive to a low-ranked team, this time Washington, and Cal lost to Oregon. Then Stanford beat Washington. Kevin Prince has been out for UCLA and the coaches don't seem to trust Kevin Craft to try to stretch the field. Whether that would have made a difference against Stanford is difficult to guess.

I don't have a good feeling about playing Oregon on Saturday. I'd love for Prince and the Bruins to surprise me and everybody else. It's at least possible.

Supreme Court term could be interesting

I doubt that the presence of Sonia Sotomayor will make much difference in the way the Supremes decide things this term -- although news reports say she was active in questioning on the first day the court heard cases yesterday. Kennedy will continue to be the justice to whom lawyers direct their arguments and he will likely continue to side with the "liberal" bloc sometimes and the "conservative" bloc more often.

As this Register editorial explains in truncated form, however, it should be an intersting term. The Hillary Movie case, with the potential to disassemble a good deal of the restrictions on the practice of democracy known as "campaign finance reform," has been argued. There's a cross on federal land in the Mojave Desert likely to further confuse church-state jurisprudence. There will be a couple of terrorism-related cases, one involving designating a "humanitarian" organiuzation as providing "material support" to a terrorist organization. And perhaps most interesting, Maloney v. Chicago, which challenges Chicago's strict gun laws in the wake of Heller, which pronounced the right to bear arms an individual, not a collective, militia-conditioned right. Heller applied to the District of Columbia, a federal enclave. The question is whether that right will be "incoporated," as most of the Bill of Rights have been by the courts, to apply to states and municipalities. Don't look to me for predictions. Not yet. Maybe I'll get foolish as I read reports on oral arguments.

Bill Safire one of the best

One way or another I never did meet Bill Safire, but the Register ran his column for years and I really enjoyed his "On Language" pieces. He took such obvious delight in the written word and in playing with language, coining neologisms that it was difficult not to share his enthusiasm. Here's the Register's appreciation.

Here's an appreciation from Maureen Dowd, and another from Howell Raines (and a criticism thereof), neither of whom shared Bill's political convictions, but both of whom appreciated the man. Also some words from Rich Richman and from John Podhoretz.

No stake through the heart of the public option

The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday rejected two amendments to the Max Baucus version of health care deform, but as this Register editorial explains, that's probably not the end of the matter. Four of the five versions that have made it through various committees have the government-run insurance "company" in them, and there's little doubt it's a stalking-horse for single-payer.

If I do say so, I was rather pleased with the phrase "politicians who see the essence of progressivism as making the U.S. more like the Europe of yesteryear." It's fascinating how backward-looking most American "progressives" are. The landmark era is the Great Depression and the avatar is the cheerful rogue Roosevelt. Oh, for a return to those Glory Days! That would be progress! Wow.

Jack Herer still in hospital

The most recent news I have on Jack Herer is from Saturday. Paul Stanford says he opened his eyes and seemed to follow people in the room. But still not communicative. I will e-mail Paul tomorrow (later today I guess) to see if I can get a more recent update.

Iran: all choices bad so go for the symbolic

Although I am nowhere near so frightened about Iran eventually getting a nuclear weapon as almost everybody else feigns to be, there is little question that the Iranian regime knows how to push buttons and create tensions. The problem from the U.S./West perspective is that there are no good options. People thrust their chests out and say Israel will bomb them, but not only would Israel have to cross Iraqi airspace (which would mean explicit U.S. approval/cooperation), there's little likelihood that it would locate and damage all or even most of Iran's secret nuclear facilities. If the Iranians have any ambivalence -- several Iranian experts I talked to said it was quite possible they're enriching right up to the point of having the components of a bomb that they could then finish like a "turnkey" operation whenever they decided, but might not build it as soon as it was technologically possible, rather wait until a propitious moment to announce it. Diplomacy might work, but it's hardly guaranteed and would take a long time.

So the feel-good option of imposing economic sanctions is the fallback position. But such sanctions seldom harm the regime that inspired them; indeed, they're more likely to hurt the people who are already oppressed but reinforce the rulers' power. And besides the fact that China is likely to cast a Security Council veto and Russia is hardoly a sure thing, it shouldn't be hard for Iran to beat a sanctions regime with smuggling, probably fuirther enrichjing the Revolutionary Guard along the way.

Perhaps the best choice is to quit meddling and quit paying attention to Ahmadinejad's rants?

Foreign crises enfolding Obama

No wonder Obama wants to run to Copenhagen and talk about the Olympics and act like a Chicago wardheeler. He's discovering that giving speeches is not the same thing as actually governing, that selling policies few who are not hopeless ideologues feel any sense of urgency about (health care) is not easy, especially when your method is to repeat the same vague assurances over and over and over and over again. And now he's getting a taste of making decisions about foreign policy that are likely to have actual consequences. I pointed out some of the difficulties with the counterinsurgency idea in Afghanistan in this article for the Register's Sunday Commentary section. Aside from the smart-ass remark about military intellectuals, which alienated some readers and kept some from reading the piece dispassionately and considering its arguments, I think it holds up pretty well. And now Iran rears its ugly head with ugly promises (though I suspect not all that much progress toward a weapon). I'd run off to Copenhagen too.

Couldn't happen to a more deserving fella.

Quote of the Day

"There ought to be moments of tranquility in great works, as in life after the experience of passions, but not moments of disgust." -- Voltaire, The Piccini Notebooks

About last night . . .

If the choice was making love with a spouse with whom you're still in love or blogging, what would you do?

Just because they could (they thought)

When I think of the examples of overreach that have embarrassed the Obama administration and occasionally even led to pullbacks -- that green-jobs czar, the NEA at least blessing asking artists to be regime propagandists, and this recent one, where an obscure bureaucracy put a gag orderon the Hunmana health insurance outfit, at Sen. Baucus's instigation -- I think of an olod Jium Carrey movie I never saw but did see countless commercials advertising it. It was "Bruce Almighty" I think, and if I'm not mistaken the conceit was that he had somehow been endowed with godly powers. In the commercial he was sauntering down the street and casually zapping things, like care, I believe -- just because he could! My guess is the scene was early in the movie when he was testing to see if he really did have the powers, and so casually detsroyed things.

That just might be the case with these cheeky Obamaites. They're just getting used to the idea that they have the power, so they're bound to misuse it from time to time. It's healthy that at least some Americans have some capacity for outrage.

Jack Herer still alive but not conscious

As of today Jack Herer, author of "The Emperor Wears No Clothes" and probably the most dynamic marijuana legalization advocate of recent times, was still in the hospital in Oregon and had not regained consciousness after a heart attack and a medically-induced coma. In the link Dr. Phil Leveque talks about his long friendship with Jack.

The American Evolution

I've recently finished reading a fascinating book. "The American Evolution, " by Matt Harrison, analogizes societal evolution to biological evolution, suggesting the the same or similar mechanisms are at work. The takeaway: evolution operates through differentiation, selection and amplification and includes lots of false starts. So we need a society with lots of variety and plenty of free choices if we are to experience beneficial evolution.

I talked to Matt Harrison, who has also founded the Prometheus Institute to help refine and promote these and similar ideas. It's funded at six figures. Seems like a long-term constructive development in the midst of plenty of short-term bad news.

Quote of the Day

"There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly." -- Henry David Thoreau

I suspect Thoreau might not have shrunk from the inference that this means there will never be a free and enlightened state.

McChrystal's blueprint for nation-building

I cross-posted this to the Orange County Register's Orange Punch blog, but I thought it was important enough to put up wherever I had access. Stanley McChrystal's plan for Afghanistan is almost breathtaking in its nation-building ambition, and apparently leaked by the Pentagon it has apparently caused some consternation at the White House:

I have finished reading Afghan Gen.-in-charge Stanley McChrystal’s “assessment” on the Afghan war and am somewhat blown away by how thoroughly nation-building it is. I probably shouldn’t be surprised. McChrystal was chosen because he’s supposed to be an expert on counterinsurgency, and this assessment basically consists of plugging what can be garnered from the facts on the ground into classic counterinsurgency doctrine. The trouble is that while the doctrine is well-established among military intellectuals (if that isn’t an oxymoron) it has hardly ever worked in the real world. Basically, it involves winning the “hearts and minds” of the populace first by protecting them and offering economic development (roads, infrastructure projects, etc.) and effective, credible governance, thus neutralizing the appeal of the insurgents — as opposed to seeking out and killing the insurgents. The traditional doctrine, however, dictates force levels that would transfer to something like 500,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan (there are 68,000 now) and at least 10 years of patient nation-building.

Herewith a few key excerpts:

“To execute the strategy we must grow and improve the effectiveness of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and elevate the importance of governance.”

“Our strategy cannot be focused on seizing terrain or destroying ninsurgent forces; our objective must be the population.” [an admission that neither the government nor the coalition forces "have" the population now]

“the objective is the will of the people, our conventional warfare culture is part of the problem”

“resources will not win this war, but under-resourcing could lose it.”

“the international community must provide substantial assistance to Afghanistan until the ASfghan people make the decision to support their government and are capable of providing for their own security.”

“The second threat [the first is the existence of the insurgency] … is the crisi8s of popular confidence that springs from the weakness of GIRoA [Afghan govt.] institutions, the unpunished abuse of power by corrupt officials and power brokers, a widespread sense of political disenfranchisement, and a longstanding lack of economic opportunity.” In McChrystal’s view, the US must fix all this — good luck — for success to be achieved.

“There are no clear lines separating insurgent groups, criminal networks (including the narcotics networks) and corrupt GIRoA officials. Malign actors within GIRoA support insurgent groups directly, support criminal networks that are linked to insurgents, and support corruption that helps feed the insurgency.”“Hard-earned credibility and face-to-face relationships, rather than close combat, will achieve success. This requires enabling Afghan counterparts to meet the needs of the people at the community level thrugh dynamic partnership, engaged leadership, de-centralized decisin-making, and a fundamental shift in priorities.

“Success will be achieved when GIRoA has earned the support of the powerful Aghan people and effectively controls its own territory. This will not come easily or quickly. It is realistic to expect that Afghan and coalition casualties will increase until GIRoA and ISAF [international forces] regain the initiative.”

“GIRoA cannot fund its operations because of its inability to raise revenue, a situation made worse by the illicit economy. Poorly paid officials may resort to petty corruption, contributing to the peoples’ crisis in confidence. The international community [us taxpayers] must appropriately supplerment revenues until these problems are addressed.” The fact that foreign aid usually increases corruption rather than reduces it isn’t addressed.

And so on. It’s a heck of commitment. No wonder Obama is trying to buy time before he makes a decision. I’m guessing it will be a commitment to 2-3 years to make Obama appear serious before starting to withdrawal. If McChrystal is right, that’s just a half-hearted commitment enough to guarantee failure, with serious loss of U.S. lives and treasure.

A Twitter opera? I'd have to hear it

When it comes to classical music and opera, I'm temperamentally a traditionalist, still prefering concerts where people don't clap between movements and listen attentively and (maybe because like most men I look better in one) prefer tuxedos. But I know art forms have to reinvent themselves, so I'm fascinated by efforts to make the old music seem more relevant or to refasion old forms in the face of changing tastes.

Thus I don't know exactly what to make of the fact that the Royal Opera in London presenting the first "Twitter opera." The libretto was composed through Twitter feeds (140 characters) from 900 people. And "Twitterdamerung: The Twitter Opera," surprised some critics who found themselves rather liking it.

I'd have to hear it. But efforts to get more people involved with and interested in opera are always welcome. Most such efforts fail, of course, but you have to keep trying.

Obama shows ugly roots on trade

It is beginning to look as if the Obama of the campaign -- I will renegotiate NAFTA -- rather than the more pragmatic Obama is coming the the fore. I know the International Trade Commission (which wouldn't exist if I had my druthers, even though a close friend worked there a long time) makes recommendations, and has a bias toward recommending sanctions against other countries -- that's the reason it exists. But the president doesn't have to take its advice. In deciding to slap a tariff on Chinese tires, I'm afraid he showed his true anti-trade (actually utter ignorance on economics period, based on the rest of his record) colors. Only one party, the United Steelworkers, wanted those tariffs. The domestic tire industry didn't. But Obama preferred to throw a bone to the union.

Even though the U.S. and China are remarkably intertwined economically and have no reason to upset one another in potentially harmful ways, this could set of a trade war. Perhaps more significant, as this Register editorial notes, it sends a message to the other G-20 countries, meeting in Pittsburgh this weekend, that a few little tariffs here and there are just fine with the U.S. I think most countries understand the benefits of trade, but a bit of proetctionism here and there always seems to play well with the rubes, always the majority in any country.

Bruins: Nice victory

Well, it looks as if the offensive line, an almost fatal weakness last year, could turn out to be a strength. It has now helped two quarterbacks, Kevin Prince and Kevin Craft, win ballgames -- and believe me, no quarterback without a solid offensive line in front of him is going to look very good for very long. The defense is rounding into shape too -- bent a few times but didn't break

Jack Herer gravely ill

There was a time there Friday when almost everybody thought Jack Herer, tireless cannabis activist and author of "The Emperor Wears No Clothes," had died. He didn't, but he's an pretty serious medical condition. He had a stroke -- maybe a heart attack too, I'm still not clear and is in hospital. As of noon today, the medicines used to induce a coma were starting to wear off (as planned). His heart and body appear strong. Tomorrow they will do EEG tests to determine his brain functions.

As I noted in this post (written when I though he had died), Jack Herer taught me a lot about the potentially beneficial uses of hemp, the world's strongest natural fiber. I'm praying for a full recovery, but if it was a stroke (again) recovery could take a while. I visited him shortly after his first stroke, and whiule his brain seemed to functioning quite actively, it was a struggle to get his mouth to say anything other than the most simple phrases, somewhat distorted.

I am praying hard for his recovery.

Medical marijuana: so much work left to do

It is mostly discouraging to go through daily feeds of news on medical marijuana, though there are bright notes, such as what appears to be progress in Colorado because of cooperative city governments.

In California, 13 years after the passage of Prop. 215, there are still cities openly (and perhaps illegally, given the cities are legally subdivisions of the state and obligated to follow state law) seeking ways to subvert the establishment of legal sources where patients can acquire the cannabis to which they are legally entitled. I'm ashamed to say that in Orange County, the Register's circulation area, where we have published more reliable information on medical marijuana, I daresay, than in any other newspaper circulation area, city governments, far from having absorbed the information, are using incredibly dishonest and unreliable information to close medical cannabis facilities or to prevent them from opening.

Dana Point, which at least has some existing facilities, is investigating them in response to a request from a would-be entrant to change zoning laws to cement the legality of its status. Laguna Beach, which has a reputation for being liberal and is decidely one of the most gay-friendly towns in the country, has just banned dispensary facilities in response to a school principal peddling the usual stuff about "sending the wrong message" (discredited in 1999 by the Institute of Medicine report) and fearing that children would have unlimited access to marijuana -- as if they can't get it more easily than tobacco now.

Laguna Woods, formerly Leisure World, is trying to close the 15 facilities it has now. And Fresno's city paternalists are scrambling depsperately to get a law banning medical cannbis facilities validated.

Quote of the Day

H/T to Jane Mayer at The New Yorker, who retrieved this quote from Hannah Arendt. from 1968, that seems appropriate as the Obama administration considers whether, and how, to try to hold anybody accountable for the torture and (let's use the word) criminality during the Bush administration:

"These definitions coincide with the terms which, since Greek antiquity, have been use to define the forms of government as the rule of man over man -- of one or the few in monarchy and oligarchy, of the best or the many in aristocracy or democracy, to which today we ought to add the latest and perhaps most formidable form of such dominion, bureaucracy, or the rule by an intricate system of bureaux in which no men, neither one not the best, neither the few nor the many, can be held responsible, and which could be properly called the rule by Nobody. Indeed,, if we identify tyranny as the government that is not held to give account of itself, rule by Nobody is clearly the most tyrannical of all, since there is no one left who could be asked to answer for what is being done. It is this state of affairs which isd among the most potent causes for the current world-wide rebellious arrest." -- Hannah Arendt

Or have we just become so numbed that we don't have the heart or the will or even any faint hope of success in holding government accountable?

Photo of the Day

Well, this is National Geographics' Photo of the Month: Sunset at Baker National Park

Bruins playing Kansas State tomorrow

As usual, I don't trust the oddsmakers but still hope for the best. The Bruins are now 12-1/2-point favorites over Kansas State tomorrow. With Kevin Prince out, however, it's still not known whether Neuheisel wioll start Kevin Craft or true Freshman Richard Brehaut, though he says there's a chance both will play even though Norm Chow doesn't generally like operating with two QBs in a single game. Also, Neuheisel suspended four players four undisclosed violations of team rules. I hope it's the kind of disciplinary move that reminds everybody of the seriousness of some rules rather than an action that turns out to be demoralizing. The evidence (not much of it to date) suggests the former.

Do I really have to wait until 7:15 pm tomorrow to watch it? Guess that gives me plenty of time for yardwork and cleaning the pool and filter.

Medical marijuana federal action still needed

I'm afraid that drug "czar" Gil Kerlikowske is reverting to his cop self after having been cooperative with the medical marijuana law and the hemp festival as Seattle police chief. There was his comment in Fresno and support of CAMP, and so far there's no evidence that he's interested in doing things any differently than the Bushies did, especially regarding marijuana, even medical marijuana. If he wanted to indicate a different tack, he could move to take marijuana off Schedule I under the (unconstitutional, but oh, well) Controlled Substances Act. It's been more obvious than before since the 1998 Institute of Medicine report that there's no legal (let alone medical) justification for keeping it there.

The importance of reformn at the federal level is highlighted by the case of a man in Niles, Mich. living in public housing. Now that Michigan has a medical marijuana law, his decision to grow for his personal medical use is legal under state law. But the feds oversee his public housing project and have a zero tolerance policy, so the authorities have moved to evict him. The legal brouhaha has finally led him to decide to move out. The continuing DEA participation in raids on medical cannabis facilities in California, despite federal promises to stop them, not only suggests Obama didn't take his promise very seriously, but that he has shown to date no intention to push for reform. It would certainly be more popular than his health insurance efforts.

California legalization confusion

Sometimes a little healthy competition improves the prospects for advancement of a cause. In politics, however, it might not always pan out that way. In California at present there are now four different efforts to promote marijuana legalization, one put forward by Oaksterdam University head and medical marijuana entrepreneur Rich Lee (whom I guess I should be calling again soon), one by another by a couple of lawyers who had been allied with Lee but split off from him, another by a guy in Long Beach who doesn't have much more thgan the $200 filing fee, and a legislative effort sponsored by SF Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, who told me earlier that he expects to have significant co-sponsorship and will hold hearings come January.

Rich Lee has already raised the money to gather signatures so he appears to be ahead of the game. Whether the presence of other efforts will create an inevitability effect or create confusion is just too difficult to tell just now.

On respecting politicians

You never know what will stir up a reaction from readers. After more than 25 years in the newspaper business I am still surprised fairly often -- no reaction to something I though would be of particular interest and heavy reaction to things I thought were of marginal interest. Ah, well.

The thought is prompted by a couple of blog posts I did for the Register's Orange Punch blog last week. First I quoted a letter by George Mason U economist Don Boudreaux about whether the office of the presidency inherently deserves respect. Then I did my own piece suggesting that institutionally speaking, politicians are a parasite class. Lots of reaction, most of it negative.

Nice victory, but what a price!

It was gratifying and a lot of fun to watch UCLA grab a lead and hold onto it against Tennessee in a hostile environment, with the goal-line stand by the defense indicating that what was expected to be a strength of the team may have come of age, Unfortunately part of the price was the quarterback Kevin Prince came away with a broken jaw that had to be wired shut -- can you imagine a quarterback unable to talk? -- and he will be out 3-4 weeks. Guess that means Kevin Craft, who was sometimes quite good but consistently inconsistent as the starter last year, will start. Maybe with an improved offensive line he will be less prone to throwing interceptions.

It would be nice if UCLA could rent USC third-stringer Mitch Mustain, who started as a freshman in Arkansas but is unlikely to play more than a few meaningless series, for a few weeks. I suspect he's better than any of UCLA's options. Ah well, Kansas State is next and UCLA is favored. Hope we live up to it. Could be that the setback will serve to unify the team.

DEA raids in San Diego -- another broken Obama promise?

I haven't gotten to the raids on medicinal marijuana facilities in San Diego Wednesday on this blog. but I covered them to some extent on the Register's Orange Punch blog as they happened and as I got information. Here, here, here, and here.

To be sure, SD law enforcement people say none of the 15 or so facilities busted was operating legally under the state AG guidelines. I doubt that, but maybe. Don't know yet if arrests have led to charges so maybe a court can decide, or whether the raids were sheer harassment.

Fire on the mountain -- way too close

I came home tonight to the dulcet sounds of chainsaws on the hill above our house and the acrid smell of burned chapparal, but the fire Jen had called me about while I was riding the train home was out. We live on the Ortega side of Lake Elsinore, with the first couple of Ortega Highway switchbacks as it climbs the steep hill above us just above our house. Jen said that the entire crown of the mountain burned, then the fire jumped the upper stretch of road. The firefighters attacked it with three helicopters and three planes, one the water-scooper that sits on Lake Elsinore during fire season, the other two with retardant. By the time I got home they were looking for embers or sparks and cutting -- well, I don't know exactly, guess we'll be able to see in the morning, but it went on for quite some time.

I don't know the acreage yet, but it seems to have been a relatively small one and out quickly. Still, and the height the flames were incredibly high. I remember about 15 years ago I was home when a fire came bursting over the crest of the hill and down over the upper stretch of road. It was impressive and hot and more than a little frightening. That was closer -- they sprayed retardant all over everybody's yard and remnants were around for months, but we didn't mind. All the neighbors were out wetting foliage (fortunately we have tile roofs) and we had then car loaded and ready to flee, but we didn't have to then either.

Liberals love government -- and that's pretty much it

It is fascinating to see, some of it in the reaction to Obama's speech. Jonathan Cohn at the New Republic is grateful to Obama for saying that government is good, that fears about bigger government are strictly for yahoos. E.J. Dionne at the WaPo had a similar reaction: "By joining specifics, a powerful moral argument and an unapologetic defense of government's role in promoting social justice, the president sought to rescue the health-care debate from the mire of a congressional system that has encouraged delay and obstruction."

When I was younger self-styled liberals were not quite so tightly wedded to government and all its works (but of course those works included the Vietnam war). Few bowed mindlessly before the great god of government. Some even cherished civil liberties and dissent, had respect for independent thinkers and had a soft spot for troublemakers. But now faith in government is just about all they have, and it's fascinating to see it so consistently displayed. Sure, it's not quite as intense when there's a Republican in the White House, but even then it doesn't go away. Dozens of liberals said the only good thing to come from 9/11 was renewed faith in government, and they lamented copiously when it didn't last long. How sad to be so wedded to an institution whose only tool is the use of force.

Bruins' next test likely tougher

As pleased as I am at UCLA winning its first game, I'm a bit concerned about Tennessee on Saturday. UCLA upset Tennessee in the opener last year, and the Vols will be out for revenge. Of course it turned out last year that Tennessee wasn't as good as preaseason pickers had thought (and the Bruins didn't do much the rest of the season to validate the initial optimism that first win brought). But although the Bruins finally handled San Diego State nicely, the defense did give up two quick touchdowns and it took the offense more than a quarter to get untracked -- and after that it wasn't as consistent as you might have liked.

I know, I know, lots of young players, first-game jitters, they have a game under their belts now, they understand Tennessee will be gunning for them. But I think they'll have to play well -- not necessarily dominant but close to it -- from the outset to beat Tennessee.

Obama speech not a game-changer

It was a good speech, one in which Obama showed some emotion instead of the detached professorial manner he so often displays. But I suspect some of what some commentators viewed as anger also reflected frustration. He has to know that what he decided would be the signature achievement of his administration hangs by a thread, and that it is unlikely that the best speech in the world will, as this Register editorial noted, give him what he wants -- though Congress might pass a modified, incremental version. Probably the best development from Obama's perspective, was that South Carolina congresscritter blurting out "you lie." It made him look like a yahoo at a town hall and allowed people to tut-tut. I think some are engaging in wishful thinking about it unifying the Democrats, but it made Republicans look bad.

To be sure, the protocol is a bit arcane and more than a bit hypocritical. After all, Obama had used the word "lie" in his prepared text. But Joe Wilson blurting out like that was a stupid thing to do.

Even that doesn't change the fact that Obama's main problem -- besides wanting to impose tight rules on a process (improving health care) that should be open-ended and experimental, with all parties encourage to try different things, see what works, and all concerned try to copy or emulate what works with local/institutional variations -- is not with the Republicans but the Democrats. There are 70 Democrats from districts that McCain won in 2008 or Bush won in 2004, and most of them have heard from constituents that they don't want much to do with ObamaCare and they surely don't want a government-run "public option."

The Dems may still be able to get a majority in the House, but in the Senate 60 votes is out of the question and even 51 might not be doable with the government option in there. Obama may have jollied the Blue Dogs along, but it's far from too early for them -- especially the first-termers -- to be thinking about reelection prospects. When I worked in the House reelection was pretty much all the congressional staffs thought about, and though it was actually illegal, almost every staff worked on the next campaign a good deal of the time. I'll be amazed if this speech, even if the initial impression is positive and it's followed by a draft bill and intense White House lobbying, does much.

Another pol bites the dust

As if Obama's speech weren't enough, we had the resignation of a Family Values Republican state legislator exposed as fooling around with a couple of female lobbyists. Mike Duvall, 54, represents Brea, Yorba Linda, Placentia and parts of Anaheim, right in the Register's circulation area. And he did score 100% voting from some family-values outfit. Chennel 9 did a story after unearthing the fact that during a break during a committee hearing, Duvall was bragging to the guy next to him about the great sex he has -- including spanking, which he was coming to love -- with a female lobbyist 19 years his junior. Then bragged about doing another woman. He didn't realize the microphone was on. He resigned today.

I blogged about it here and Steve broke some news here, and Steve wrote the editorial for tomorrow's paper.

Loving my job

I feel fortunate to have the job I do at the newspaper. I like what I'm doing -- writing opinions that I hope make the case for liberty -- I think I'm pretty good at it, and every so often I think I have some minor impact on events. Then there are days like today, that push me and let me have the illusion that I've still got it.

Obama gave his speech today, of course. My assignment was to stay late and live-blog the speech for the Register's Orange Punch blog, then write an editorial for tomorrow. He started talking about 5:15, finished a few minutes after 6:00 and I had until 6:30 to get the editorial done lest I miss my train. It was a chore, but I did it, and I'm not sure the adrenaline has stopped pumping yet.

Anyway, the blog items are here, here and here, done while he was speaking. I think it's a nice combination of summary and commentary, but you be the judge. Editorial tomorrow, when they post it.

ObamaCare keeps taking hits

President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress tomorrow night -- I'll be staying late and live-blogging for Orange Punch -- is an admission of near-defeat. It's not a matter of a poor message but of a growing recognition that there's just no way to extend health insurance coverage to 47 million more people and reduce the overall cost. Ordinarily, when government gets involved in something it doesn't bring costs down but increases them, and that's the way it's been with health care since Medicare was passed in 1965. The more government involvement the higher the costs. So in a recession we want to commit to another trillion (over 10 years) that will undoubtedly turn out to be a lowball figure? A lot of Americans just aren't buying it.

To complicate matters for The One, various government entities keep coming up with quasi-realistic cost estimates that give the lie to the preposterous notion that more government will mean less cost. As this Register editorial explains, the Congressional Budget Office determined that electromic record-keeping, while not necessarily a bad idea, wouldn't save an appreciable amount of money. And now a group studying preventive care for diabetics has determined that while (again) it's not a bad idea at all, it will cost more money over 10 years, and the only patients for whom a lifetime saving can be predicted are those diagnosed between ages 24-30, and only after about 25 years.

The core problem is third-party payment, which means consumers have no incentive to look for better, lower-cost care or procedures. I know it goes against the grain, but the best approach is to re-establish the tie between paying for medical services and the consumer of services.

Laboring over Labor Day

The Register's editorial for Labor Day stressed that all kinds of labor, decidedly including intellectual labor, is worthy of honor on a day originally designed with the rather sectarian purpose of celebrating and encouraging the union movement. However Jen and I honored it by doing nothing but physical labor around the house, including putting up a shade on the outside to keep the afternoon sun off the living room window and putting up rope lights along the inside of the facia board. That and various puttering -- watering plants, pulling weeds, trimming oleanders, repairing some faucets and hoses, a little modest construction work -- was our weekend. Oh, and watching football and maybe some other games as well. Didn't go near a computer.

Jen came up with the idea and we implemented it together -- putting curtains (made of canvas dropcloth) -- on the outside of windows that get the morning sun. It's made a big difference as to the coolness of the house, and we figure it will help to insulate better come winter as well. And it actually looks rather nice. We'll probably put some up on the afternoon-sun side also.

Bruins looking . . . improved

Well, it didn't start encouragingly, with a defense touted to be maybe the best in the Pac 10 giving up two quick touchdowns, but it looks as if we have an offense this year -- largely because we seem to have an offensive line. It might not be as deep or as experienced as one might like, but at least against San Diego State -- which does have a pretty good defense -- it got the job done.

Kevin Prince at quarterback sometimes looked polished and sometimes looked like a redshirt Freshman who hadn't been in a live game in a couple of years. But he did enough. 33-14 -- right on the point spread, so somebody somewhere must have known something -- was quite satisfying.

Bruin football starts tomorrow -- er today, I guess

I don't know whether to be elated or trepidatious that the Bruins are favored by 19 points over San Diego State tomorrow. (Since both my parents went to San Diego State I want to beat them but perhaps not humiliate them.) Sure SD State was 2-10 last year and has a new coach and has no reason to be good enough to beat UCLA. But while the sports writers all say the Bruins have a great defense, we're starting freshmen on the offensive line and Kevin Prince at quarterback is essentially untested. I'll be watching with great interest.

Quote of the Day

From "The Anatomy of Bibliomania" by Holbrook Jackson (1874-1948):

"Some have been afflicted by bibliomania through idleness, and for them there is small hope of cure; ­others, I count myself among them, from excess of ­affairs. Many, like asses that wear out their time for provender, are so buried in the minor and immediate tasks of earning a living as to get confounded promptly and permanently with the victims of commercial ­ambition, whence it comes to pass that, slily and ­insensibly perverted, nerves frayed and brains dulled, they take to books as sick souls take to drugs. They hoard at first against a time of leisure when they may perchance read, and end by hoarding for the sake of hoarding, thus allying themselves with those dizzards who wallow among possessions which they cannot use, and who die before they have lived."

Thanks to the WSJ for digging this one up, which cuts a little close to the bone for me.

Avoiding the obvious re: Afghan opium and heroin

It is amazing to me how studiously most news reports on the Afghan opium poppy trade avoid any discussion at all of the most obvious approach to minimizing the extent to which the trade subsidizes the Taliban -- and has subsidized all manner of violent political groups around the world for decades. The best way to undermine these groups is to legalize heroin. The price will plummet as the prohibition premium declines, drug problems will become easier to manage at both the individual and societal level, and lifewill be less violent, a little simpler, and a little freer.

What kind of profit? According the the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, in 2004 a kilogram of heroin no. 4 in Pakistan sold for $4,027, and in Afghanistan for $4,000. In the U.S. in 2004 the price for a kilo of No. 4 was about $66,250.

But check these stories from the NYT and the WaPo on the same office's recent report on opium in Afghanistan. One headline writer (WaPo) tried a positive spin, and it's true the report said opium production fell 10% and the amount of land used to cultivate it fell 22%. No discussion of the fact that this means cultivation has become more efficient. And deeper in the story is the news that the Taliban has enough to supply the world demand for two years hidden away. Why not reduce the value of the stockpile to next to nothing?

Freedom bankruptcy reverberations

It's been fascinating and a bit heartwarming to get an indication of how many people around the country know about Freedom Communications and the Register and have expressed concern at the news of the parent company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy. My former colleague John Seiler did a piece for LewRockwell.com, as did Butler Shaffer, who did columns for us for years and is one of the good guys, and Eric Garris at Antiwar.com asked me to write something for the Antiwar.com blog. Here it is, with some introductory remarks by Eric. And here's the latest piece from the Register. (Poor Mary Ann Milbourn who's done most of these stories, was apparently the only person in the room who didn't say no fast enough early on when they were asking which business writer would write about the company's bankruptcy. It's got to be terrible -- she's told me it's not a lot of fun -- to have to write business stories about your own company, balancing the need to serve readers with accurate information and the sensibilities of people who are your bosses' bosses. Fortunately the company has told her to write the stories honestly, and I think she's done a pretty good job.)

Evil arsonists

I am among the least punitive persons I know. I just did an editorial chiding California Republicans, who didn't provide a single vote for some modest prison reform in the face of a budget meltdown and federal judges on the verge of taking over the prison system. I have opposed California's Three Strikes law -- not necessarily a terrible idea in conception but ours is the most Draconian in the country -- from the beginning and tried to help each time there was an initiative on the ballot to modify it. And I have certainly been an active opponent of torture in the cloak of "enhanced interrogation."

Having heard on the news, however, that the Station fire, now apparently the largest wildfire in L.A. history, was deliberately set, I want that arsonist, if he (almost always a he) is ever caught, to be drawn and quartered after having his fingernails removed with a pair of rusty pliers. Can you think of anything else brutal? I'll go for it. To me, an arsonist in a Southern California tinderbox is one of the worst of creatures on the planet. The scum who do this can never repay the millions it costs to fight the fire -- let alone the agony of people who have lost their homes. In this fire, of course, two firemen lost their lives, so if caught the perp could be subject to the death penalty -- although California hardly ever actually executes people. That's too kind.

Fires and government mismagaement

It's hard sometimes --hell, almost always -- to push people out of ideological boxes and try to induce independent thinking. An example can be seen in the comments to this Register editorial on federal land management and the current Southern California Station fire. It's in a national forest, and the point of the argument was that the feds are notoriously poor stewards of the lands they have imperialistically laid claim to in the U.S. This area hadn't had underbrush cleared in at least 40 years, a clear invitation, despite wide acknowledgment that it should be done periodically for the sake of the ecosystem, which is not improved much by being reduced to ashes (though some seeds of some plants do lie dormant until heated by fire, so some fires are natural). But the comments devolved into a discussion of development, an issue on which ideologists have already developed their knee-jerk positions. Is the government a good steward of land? We've never given it much thought and don't care to, thhank you. Ah, well.

Real debate possible over Afghanistan

I think it's important that conservative columnist George Will has come out against the Afghan war, and making essentially the same recommendations I made back in December and subsequently, though I seriously doubt I had anything to do with his conclusions. I'm not sure just what kind of influence Will has anymore. The times I've met and talked with him -- a couple, we're hardly close friends -- he has been extremely cordial and interesting. But in today's rightward political world, I get the impression he's sort of a lone wolf, and would be happy to be considered such. He doesn't seem closely associated with the NR crowd any more, and he figured out long before most conservatives would admit it that the Iraq war was a huge mistake and that George W. was not very -- let's say informed or insightful to be kind. So he may not carry a lot of conservatives with him. But he's still got to have some influence.

Will's column may be, I hope, a harbinger that we just might have a serious debate about Afghanistan, perhaps even before Obama commits a lot more troops there. The polls show more Americans believing the war is not worth fighting than believing it is -- and 70 percent of Democrats ready to wind down the war. Obama may have taken office without owing much to the the Democratic establishment, but a president whose own party opposes his signature foreign-policy promise and initiative at such a level is in a ticklish position. We may see, as Congress returns, discover whether that rank-and-file opposition gets translated into a willingness among congresscritters to ask pertinent and impertinent questions.

Presidents can act almost unilaterally and without much oversight in foreign affairs, as Bush did so often, but while I can't imagine a serious threat to cut off funds, which Congress could do constitutionally if it wanted, I can imagine hearings, sharp questions to guys like Gates McChrystal and perhaps even Petraeus. After a period of dormancy the antiwar left is stirring a bit. Escalating the war could create a serious rift in the Democratic party, and it's tough to imagine, after 8 years already, that many Americans will approve of another 10 years, what McChrystal reportedly estimates it would take for Afghanistan to have a "proper" set of thugs and enforcers -- er, police and army security forces at our expense, in a country that has never had a strong central government and doesn't seem to want one.

There really ought to be a debate before another escalation, a debate that includes the serious option of ending military activity on the ground in Afghanistan. Al-Qaida isn't in Afghanistan now. Let's declare victory and get out.

Signs of the high times

The very fact that this story explaining how marijuana is going mainstream appeared in the LA Times is itself a sign of going mainstream. But it's fascinating to be reminded that Cheech and Chong are back (yes, I knew that)and to find out that Barney's New York is selling $78 "hashish" candles with a leaf in bas relief as a remembrance of Woodstock, while French designer Lucien Pellat-Finet has a pot-leaf-emblazoned watch for $49,000.

When marijuana is legal -- I'm about ready to start peddling my book outline -- it will be amazingly cheap, although certain strains will no doubt still be high-end. It will be interesting to see how much of a market there is for high-end items when the forbiddenfruit allure is gone. I suspect it will still be popular for a long time to come.

Freedom Communications files Chapter 11

Freedom Communications, the parent company of the Orange County Register, where I've worked for the last eon or so, has formally filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11, which means reorganization, not liquidation. This stems from all the money borrowed 5 or 6 years ago during the family feud, when certain members of the company-owning Hoiles family asked to put the company up for sale or be bought out because they said they had no real say in running the company. Investment bankers Providence and Blackstone were brought in and given equity to raise the money to buy them out -- and then the Perfect Storm hit and revenues went into the crapper. Now revenues aren't close to being enough to pay the debts and the banks will take ownership.

Just got back from a company meeting with Terry Horne, our publisher. He emphasized that it is a pre-agreed bankruptcy plan (after tough negotiations with the banks) and it should take 120-180 days to work through the formalities, at which point Chase, Union Bank and some bank in Atlanta will own us. Terry thinks the only way the banks get their money back is to wait until there is a history of improved revenue and profitability and a market develops for newspapers and other media companies -- a possibility if the recession turns around. At this point nobody wants to buy newspapers, so they'll just have to ride out the storm with us. At least the Register is still profitable and never did lose money, though the profits are precipitously below what they were in the salad days.

So no substantive changes for at least 6 months, and then probably nothing that will affect me or the libertarian nature of the Register editorial pages. But it's a long way from being fun.

People used to laugh at the old man, R.C. Hoiles, for his refusal to take on any debt, but to grow the company through revenues and buy new properties only when we could pay cash. If his offspring had followed that philosophy the company would not be in this position.