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Clayton Cramer's BLOG |
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Clayton's commentary on news and events of the day. Broadly speaking, I'm a conservative with libertarian sympathies (getting more conservative as my children get older).
 Never forget! I'm running for Idaho state senate I've written a number of history books, as well as scholarly and popular articles, (see my web page).
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Saturday, July 16, 2005
Humor & Perhaps Wisdom While walking through the supermarket today, my wife pointed to what she called a "poorly picked product name": Creole Style Injectable Marinade. Injectable? Does it leave tracks on your arm? On an older Subaru, whose contents and driver suggested that this was wisdom learned the hard way: "Condoms Are Easier To Change Than Diapers." Labels: humor So It Isn't Just The History Journals... I'm reading Gina Kolata's Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999) at the moment. My wife wasn't thrilled with the writing, but I'm generally pleased with it. Kolata is a journalist with a degree in microbiology, and where she is covering the scientific aspects of the hunt, she does a really good job of explaining the what, the how, and the why. On the other hand, chapter six, where she covers the bureaucratic processes and legal battles over the 1976 swine flu immunization program, was perilously close to a chronicle of events, and it dragged as a result. Anyway, there is one discussion on pages 216-17 of what happened when scientists at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology successfully retrieved the 1918 influenza epidemic virus from tissues samples of that time, and started mappping its genes. They submitted a paper about what was clearly a major and important scientific success to both Nature and Science, and in both cases, were basically blown off by the editors: Only after some senior scientists intervened on Taubenberger's behalf was his paper sent out for review. Then, he said, the reviewers were enthusiastic about the paper and it was accepted for publication. But Taubenberger was shaken by the experience. "It scared the hell out of us," he said. "I thought it would never get published." After all, he adds, he had no experience with high-profile science and he just assumed that if he did something really important, major journals would jump at the chance to publish it.After describing another example of a major paper that was not even sent out for review, Kolata says something that I have already learned is the norm for history journals: But Taubenberger was unaware of the games journals and reviewers--who sometimes are ignorant, sometimes are jealous, sometimes have undisclosed conflicts of interest--can play. Amusing Choice of Sponsors The History Channel has a weekly series titled The End of World War II, where they examine what was happening this week in 1945. Of course, they sell advertising slots, in this case for the U.S. Army's recruiting ads. The resulting voice over last night was singularly amusing and appropriate: "The End of World War II, brought to you by the U.S. Army." Friday, July 15, 2005
International Shipping I've been busy solving the U.S. balance of payments problem. A couple weeks ago, I shipped some of my caster assemblies to Australia. Today, one of my shipments was to Canada. I'm actually getting used to filling out customs declarations! Why Is Wesley Snipes Traveling On A Forged Passport? This is a bizarre story: JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa has declared actor Wesley Snipes an "undesirable person" after the Hollywood star was found traveling on a forged South African passport.This is what I expect a terrorist to do--not a fairly famous actor. UPDATE: A reader points me to this very bizarre part of a Wikipedia article about Snipes that suggests that there's more to this guy than just an actor: In 2000, a security / paramilitary group called the Royal Guard Of Amen-Ra, Inc.[1] (owned by Amen Ra Films) filed BATF papers in moves to set up a security training center next to the Tama-Re compound of the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors in Georgia. The Nuwaubians claimed Snipes as one of their own, though a spokeswoman for Snipes denied any connection. You Got Your Wish, Sir An Arab-American makes rap videos that praise the 9/11 terrorists, threatens to do terrorist acts himself--and is then upset that he gets fired from his job as an airport baggage screener: When Bassam Khalaf raps, he's the Arabic Assassin. His unreleased CD, "Terror Alert," includes rhymes about flying a plane into a building and descriptions of himself as a "crazy, suicidal Arabic ... equipped with bombs."But we aren't supposed to take him seriously: Khalaf... said Thursday that he is not really a terrorist and that his rhymes are exaggerations meant to gain publicity.Hey! It worked! We believe you! This Is A Rather Unpleasant News Story But my objective is to raise an important question of what laws remain constitutional post-Lawrence: King County sheriff's detectives are investigating the owners of an Enumclaw-area farm after a Seattle man died from injuries sustained while having sex with a horse boarded on the property.Okay, just another example of how open-minded liberal Washington is. Here's the post-Lawrence question: The Humane Society of the United States intends to use the case during the next state legislative session as an example of why sex with animals should be outlawed in Washington, said Bob Reder, a Humane Society regional director in Seattle.What makes it okay for the states to prohibit private acts between an adult and his property, but not okay to prohibit private acts between two adults? I want an explanation that doesn't come down to the value judgment, "Bestiality is icky and homosexuality isn't." Thursday, July 14, 2005
Tell Me Where It Barks I had mentioned a few days ago my frustration and disappointment at how effectively impossible it was to get my next book published--with all sorts of absurd excuses from both trade publishers and university presses. Dr. Ralph Luker--who is a real historian because he has a Ph.D.--described this as a "pity party," and claimed that: The argument that academic presses won't publish controversial work is nonsense. Witness Beyond Chutzpah. My intuition is that the manuscript is a dog. I know it may be hard to admit that, but you've been shopping it around for a long time and haven't found any takers, even in the world of conservative trade publishers. Take a hint.Okay, the first five chapters are now here. I have asked Dr. Luker to tell me where this dog starts to bark. The rest of you are welcome to do likewise. Look, I have read a heck of a lot of history books published by university presses. I have read a heck of a lot of history books published by trade publishers. I have a darn good idea what they are expecting in terms of writing quality, use of primary and secondary sources, development of a theme, and logical organization. I also know that my book is certainly in the middle of the pack (the dog pack?) for books published by university presses as far as scholarship. I have put more effort into getting this book published than the previous five combined. It stands head and shoulders above the others in its use of primary sources, especially unpublished archival sources. It is about a topic which has both significant importance for current public policy, and which has a significant popular audience potential as well (gun nuts). And this book can't be published? I smell blacklisting. The Battle for the "Arab Street" A recurring claim of the Bush-haters is that his actions have alienated Muslims throughout the world. The phrase that the talking airheads used to use was "the Arab street." (Yes, yes, I know that some Arabs aren't Muslims, and many Muslims aren't Arabs. "The Arab street," however, is the expression that the idols of the left like to use, perhaps because it is easier than thinking carefully and speaking precisely.) This latest poll suggests that if Bush's actions are alienating Muslims in the war against terror, he needs to do it more: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Support for Osama bin Laden and suicide bombings have fallen sharply in much of the Muslim world, according to a multicountry poll released on Thursday.There's still a sizeable fraction in some of these countries--and in a couple, a thin majority--with a positive view of bin Laden, but overall, the level of support for bin Laden and his tactics is clearly in decline. Labels: terrorism Going To War With China This isn't the first time that China has indicated its willingness to use nuclear weapons on the U.S.: China is prepared to use nuclear weapons against the US if it is attacked by Washington during a confrontation over Taiwan, according to a senior Chinese military official.Remember that, when you buy Chinese-made goods. If the labor unions that are so hot to destroy Wal-Mart would recast their objections to it as, "You are arming a country that we are likely to go to war against," it would probably get more traction than the excuses that they use now. The problem is that the DNC (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the PRC) would probably not allow the labor unions to do so. Recovering Economy Good news: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumer prices held steady in June and retail sales jumped, according to government reports on Thursday that showed the economy on solid ground with little evidence of inflationary pressure.And as of 3:45 PM Mountain time, 30 year Treasury bonds were yielding 4.419%--the highest that they have been in some time. I'm supposed to close on the construction loan today or tomorrow--and I'm locking the rate. Interest rates are more likely to rise than fall between now and September. I will probably refinance after the house is complete, because my credit union (which doesn't do construction loans) has better rates--right now. If interest rates rise enough between now and September to wipe out any advantage from refinancing, then I probably won't mind, because it means that bond yields will be up as well, and I can lock in some better returns on my portfolio. If interest rates stay steady or fall, I can still refinance and come out ahead. "The Moral Equivalent of the Minutemen" Has Michael Moore ever disavowed this statement of his about the people fighting the Coalition in Iraq? Yeah, this is the sort of action that makes Moore's statement ring true: BAGHDAD, Iraq - The attack, in a poor, predominantly Shiite neighborhood of eastern Baghdad, left a wrenching scene of bloodshed, anger and despair Wednesday.I keep waiting for the billionaires and millionaires who think so highly of Michael Moore to come out of their fog--but I don't think that's ever going to happen. Oh, This Is Sleazy I rather like what Schwarzenegger has done as governor of California (although I wouldn't want him around my wife or daughter), but this news report, if accurate (and that's always a question with a left-wing tabloid like the Los Angeles Times), isn't good. Even if legal, it sure smells back: SACRAMENTO — Two days before he was sworn into office, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger accepted a consulting job paying an estimated $8 million over five years to "further the business objectives" of a national publisher of health and bodybuilding magazines.It isn't like Schwarzenegger needs the extra money. (I do! I'm building a house! Feel free to contribute through PayPal!) Not A Misleading Article, After All This article about a bill to limit lawsuits against gun makers has what I at first considered a very misleading and perhaps false example: After Danny Guzman was shot to death outside a Worcester, Mass., nightclub six years ago, his family did what few grieving families do: They sued the gun maker.Now, I'm not a lawyer, but when I read the bill, I was pretty sure that the Guzman lawsuit for negligence in failing to prevent such an action would not be prohibited. The text of HR 800 RH from the Thomas web site says that its purpose is: To prohibit civil liability actions from being brought or continued against manufacturers, distributors, dealers, or importers of firearms or ammunition for damages or injunctive or other relief resulting from the misuse of their products by others.The text of the law specifies that "A qualified civil liability action may not be brought in any Federal or State court" but specifically exempts from this prohibition: (i) an action brought against a transferor convicted of an offense under section 924(h) of title 18, United States Code, or a comparable or identical State felony law, by a party directly harmed by the conduct of which the transferee is so convicted;What is "negligence per se"? Does this not include failure to keep employees from taking unnumbered parts out of the building, and engaging in unlawful manufacturing of guns? It seems clear that both the intention of the bill, and depending on the meaning of "negligence per se," the text of it, is to prevent lawsuits against makers, wholesalers, and dealers for criminal actions taken by subsequent possessors of those guns--not to prevent lawsuits for what would seem to be clearly negligence on the part of Kahr Firearms, if the account described above is accurate. Someone who works for the Congressional Research Service tells me that the legal requirement for "negligence per se" is that a law is broken, and this would seem to agree. It might be possible to correct the bill to handle a case such as the one described in this article, and make the bill a bit harder to vote against, because it does leave open one potential problem that seems a legitimate basis for suit: failure to prevent employees from stealing parts and assembling guns unlawfully. UPDATE: I just sent this letter to one of the sponsors of the bill--and also one of my Senators: Dear Senator Craig: Wednesday, July 13, 2005
I Couldn't Make Up A Story Like This It sounds like a French joke, or something out of a Ayn Rand novel about the evils of government run wild: Instead a group of French cleaning ladies who organised a car-sharing scheme to get to work are being taken to court by a coach company which accuses them of "an act of unfair and parasitical competition".The bus company is suing their employer as well for the cleaning ladies organizing a car pool. This is a firm with no shame--and a legal system that should have not only told the bus company where to go, but should also fined them for abuse of process. Professor Volokh pointed me to this insanity. The Iraqi/Al-Qaeda Connection The Weekly Standard has a very long article starting here that describes the connections between the Iraqi Intelligence Service and al-Qaeda: There could hardly be a clearer case--of the ongoing revelations and the ongoing denial--than in the 13 points below, reproduced verbatim from a "Summary of Evidence" prepared by the U.S. government in November 2004. This unclassified document was released by the Pentagon in late March 2005. It details the case for designating an Iraqi member of al Qaeda, currently detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as an "enemy combatant."Other parts of the article detail funding of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing--or at least of the Iraqi who mixed the chemicals: We know from these IIS documents that beginning in 1992 the former Iraqi regime regarded bin Laden as an Iraqi Intelligence asset. We know from IIS documents that the former Iraqi regime provided safe haven and financial support to an Iraqi who has admitted to mixing the chemicals for the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. Finally! It sounds like Britain might decide to actually do something about the purveyors of hatred: Blair promises to deport extremist preachersWhat has made this so difficult? Britain doesn't have a Bill of Rights that limits the power of Parliament (and only the ACLU would argue that encouraging terrorism is protected by the First Amendment). Unfortunately, the same multicultural crowd that is doing its best to destroy America is a bit farther down that road in Britain. What sort of radical clerics are these? Here's a taste: A RADICAL Muslim cleric based in London claimed more than a year ago that an Al-Qaeda cell was planning to launch “a big operation” in the capital.UPDATE: I've been reminded that encouraging terrorism is protected by the First Amendment. Only imminent acts of terrorism are not protected. I Guess That I'm Not Surprised But I don't want to hear any whining from liberals about how narrow-minded and intolerant Americans are compared to Europeans: A Muslim man has been beaten to death outside a corner shop by a gang of youths who shouted anti-Islamic abuse at him, the Guardian has learned.What? Were there any mosques attacked in the U.S. after 9/11? I know that there was at least one murder, but I wasn't aware of even one mosque attacked, much less multiple mosques. Tuesday, July 12, 2005
The House Project: A Little More Progress You may be wondering if I go up there every day to see how it is going? Not really, but when Rhonda and I were there last night, the garage looked awfully small for something that is supposed to be four cars or two SUVs. So I drove up there to see if our eyes were playing tricks on us, or perhaps someone measured wrong when laying out the house. Anyway, there's a pile of lumber up there, looking about as neat as my office.  You can see that there is a bit more done on the floor joists and the subflooring.  The garage really looks tiny, doesn't it?  But when I measure it, it matches the floor plan. Including the eight inch thick foundation walls, the garage is 28 feet long and 25 feet, two inches wide. In practice this means that we could fit the Corvette, the Malibu, and the Equinox in side by side, but there wouldn't be much room for the doors to open (a big issue for the Corvette's rather long doors). We may have to get a little creative to fit two of the cars in side by side, and the third car in the other end of the garage. (Perhaps we will end up with something where one car fits between the other two, rather like bricks.) There will at least be enough room to have a decent workshop out there. Worst comes to worst, there's no shortage of land on which to put a large storage shed where we can keep the larger power tools. Previous house entry. Labels: house project Why I Don't Take The Left Seriously (Except As Evil) I was reading a very interesting article by an antiwar activist who argued that those who insist that the London bombings were retaliation for the Iraq war are not playing straight--that instead of being concerned about high principles such as Iraqi national sovereignty, they are arguing against the Iraq war based on fear: The attempt to link the bombs in London to the war in Iraq is the anti-imperialism of fools. It simultaneously fantasises that al-Qaeda elements are engaged in a war of resistance against the West, while taking an anti-war position that is more concerned with saving ourselves from mad bombers than offering solidarity with people in the Middle East against Western intervention.More interesting is the link to arguing against British involvement in America's war--against the Taliban. This piece by John Pilger was published September 21, 2001 in the Guardian, when Iraq was not even on the radar. But already that early, the left was defending its position because of the sanctions against Iraq! I guess it didn't take long for Hussein to get his marching orders out to his soldiers in the West. This Is A Bit Depressing FoxNews has an interview with a counterterrorism expert about the future: Do you believe another terrorist attack is likely on American soil?I don't have any reason to think that he is wrong about this. The logical action for terrorists to take is to hit somewhere away from the coasts. You may be wondering, "Considering the way that 9/11 brought the American people together, and the way that the London bombings strengthened British resolve to win in Iraq, why would they attack us again?" At the level of persuading the U.S. to withdraw from Iraq, it is insane. There is, however, a deeper purpose to these attacks. Another terrorist attack will make Americans angry--very angry. I suspect that what al-Qaeda is hoping for is that our anger will cause us to retaliate in ways that turn Muslims everywhere--and especially American Muslims--against us. There were a few incidents of violent actions against American Muslims (and in a few cases, Sikhs--who aren't Muslims) right after 9/11. I was proud that my fellow Americans (with a couple of idiot exceptions) had enough sense to not turn their rage about 9/11 into something really ugly. There were a few cases of law enforcement officers mistreating detainees arrested in the U.S. right after 9/11. Again, it wasn't surprising that a few such incidents happened in the emotional white heat of 9/11; it says a lot about the decency and good sense of the vast majority of law enforcement officers that they did not fall into this trap. Our government passed, very quickly, the PATRIOT Act, which in spite of all the fussing and fuming from the ACLU, has resulted in effectively no violations of civil liberties. Consider (in light of the Japanese internment, or the Red Scare) what Congress might have done after the worst attack on the U.S. in our history. They might have deported all non-citizen Muslims (perhaps selecting by nation of origin, not by religion, to keep it constitutional). They might have altered the immigration laws to exclude immigrants from certain countries. They might have rounded up all non-citizen Muslims into detention camps. Instead, our government kept the focus on the small number of radicals within the Muslim community. What would al-Qaeda want us to do in response to another terrorist attack? They really aren't interested in our withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq. They really want us to engage in some sort of general anti-Muslim campaign, either as individuals or governmentally. A wave of lynchings of Muslims. Torching of mosques. Mass deportation of Muslims. Some sort of legal disability or discrimination imposed on Muslims or Islamic organizations. Any of these would accomplish al-Qaeda's goal: to create an enraged population of young Muslims in America willing to attack the U.S. Make no mistake about it: with the millions of Muslims that are already in America, if even 1% of them were driven to terrorist acts by such an overreaction, we would be in a world of hurt. It would take a full scale police state to win this battle--and that's al-Qaeda's goal. If the terrorist attacks come as this expert predicts, let's not lose our heads about this, okay? Keep the focus on the enemy, not Muslims in general. Monday, July 11, 2005
The House Project: Wood! My contractor told me that his crew went up Saturday and starting pounding nails--but when we went up Monday evening, we found a bit more than that! The contractor had been trying to get Idaho Power to commit to when they were going to run the power cable through the conduit and get the transformer running to provide temporary power.  And we could hear the buzz of electricity from inside the transformer! It also appears that the crew had been using the power, as well, although the meter still shows no use.  I don't know what they are called, but the beams that bolt to the foundation upon which the risers and floor joists attach are in place, and some of the floor joists are in place. (That gap you see is where the door from the laundry room leads to the garage.)  Some of the subflooring is in place as well.  Apparently the framing crew is getting there at 7:00 AM, and knocking off about 2:00 PM. (We are getting some pretty hot days here lately.) A September completion date is looking better and better. Now, if I could only get the lender to finish their paperwork, and start cutting checks to the builder.... If I can't get this to happen shortly, I may skip the construction loan completely, and pay cash until I can get a Certificate of Occupancy, and then finance it with my credit union. (This is less than optimal, because I would have to take out an equity loan on my current house, or sell some of my portfolio.) The garage looks way too small for four cars, but assuming that the rest of the foundation was correctly poured (28 feet wide, except around the master bedroom), this should do the job for four Corvettes/Malibus/Equinoxes. I think the eyes are playing tricks on us. Labels: house project Al-Qaeda Shows Its Fine Political (Tin) Ear The net effect of the London bombings? About what happened in America after 9/11, according to this poll conducted the day after: Not surprisingly, people's willingness to see the authorities taking whatever steps are necessary to apprehend and, if need be, detain potential terrorists has risen sharply. Disrespecting Islam You know, the Gitmo/Koran desecration accusations (which were much more severe than the reality) made by al-Qaeda and their leftist friends in America seem pretty mild compared to the incident described here: KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The police chief of Afghanistan's capital was among 19 people killed in a suicide bomb blast at a mosque on Wednesday as mourners gathered to pay respects to an assassinated anti-Taliban cleric.It is not appropriate to insult someone else's religion--but it sounds to me that even al-Qaeda (who pretends to be the most rigidly pure of Muslims) doesn't have a big problem with desecrating mosques by spattering human body parts all over the inside. Why should we get bent out of shape over what seem to have been largely minor and unintentional slights to the Koran? UPDATE: Here's an article that appeared today that says much the same thing, with a list of the many mosques that al-Qaeda and friends have blown up, with loss of Muslim life--and not a word of upset from the oh so sensitive sorts of the American left. I guess desecrating Muslim holy places is okay if you are Muslim. Clever Approach On Illegal Immigration I've always thought that the RICO statute was far too widely used, and this is perhaps a good example of that--but I do appreciate the cleverness of the public official and lawyer involved, and I appreciate their desire to improve the circumstances of lower class legal residents: Canyon County Commissioner Robert Vasquez could try to force local law enforcement to crack down on illegal immigrants, but then the county's jail costs would go up.There's a lot to be said for using (misusing?) RICO in this way. For one thing, it will increase pressure on Congress to narrow the statute down to its original purpose. If you want a bad law repealed--enforce it vigorously! Secondly, by focusing on employers, rather than the illegals themselves (who, for the most part, are just looking for a decent job), it reminds everyone that the big beneficiaries of illegal immigration are the employers. They enjoy the lower wage rates caused by an influx of cheap and hungry labor. Oh yes, obviously, Canyon County Commissioner Vasquez is another one of those fierce, anti-Hispanic bigots that the left keeps telling us are using concerns about immigration to hide a racist agenda! Clergy Abuse Scandals The Archdiocese of Spokane, Washington, is getting ready to start selling stuff off--just like other archdioceses have had to do: SPOKANE — The bankruptcy filing of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Spokane raises the prospect that some or all of the 82 parishes could be sold to pay victims of sexual abuse by priests.Unfortunately, the leadership of the Catholic Church for too many years ignored these problems--and sometimes played an active part in covering them up. I've read the excuses that the Church has used, and I find most of them terribly unconvincing. Perhaps the strongest excuse was that the leadership relied on psychiatrists who told them these pedophile priests were cured, and the leadership wanted to extend mercy. Some of the other excuses, however, just leave me going, "What?" I remember reading somewhere a quote from priest who had not been charged, saying that in the late 1950s, he could remember discussions among others in seminary about how sex with boys wasn't really violating the celibacy rule, because it didn't involve a woman. You just shake your head and wonder what was going on that priests could rationalize sex with a child because it wasn't a woman--while still insisting that God wanted them to be celibate. The problem, unfortunately, isn't just sex. One of the scandals where I used to live, in Sonoma County, involved one Catholic priest engaged in embezzlement; to keep it quiet, he had to submit sexually to the bishop. I can't remember now which one of them was having sex with children, or if both of them were. Here's another one of these disturbing stories that show that immorality in one area often couples with immorality in another: Just four days later, the Rev. Robert E. White began a two-day visit to St. John's Cathedral on behalf of Food for the Poor. The Florida interdenominational Christian charity asked if White could say Mass and raise money at St. John's.What does that mean? It sounds like fine hairsplitting to cover over something that White shouldn't have been doing with minors--and pretty clearly someone who can't be trusted with money. Labels: child sexual abuse I Bought A Lathe I found a Sherline 4000 (made in America, no less) for sale at a reasonable price on ebay.com. In theory, it is shipping today. I'm hoping to become proficient at using it in a few days--at least proficient enough that I can turn the leg inserts for the ScopeRoller 11 and ScopeRoller 700 products myself, and increase my profit margin. Besides, I've always wanted an engine lathe--and I only have to make seven sets to pay for it. Cats Can Cause Mental Illness I think I've mentioned the hazards of catching toxoplasma from cats before. I have a cat--although this picture really captures how he sees himself:  If you think I exaggerate, you should see what happens if I walk by the little terrorist after 4:30 PM--he reaches out from the kitchen counter with his claws and attempts to wrestle me to the ground to make me into dinner. He's obviously too small, but it isn't for lack of aggressiveness. Anyway, the Times of London reports on the dangers of diseases you can catch from that adorable ball of fluff: THEY may look like lovable pets but Britain’s estimated 9m domestic cats are being blamed by scientists for infecting up to half the population with a parasite that can alter people’s personalities. Hate Crime? Or Vandalism? Different River points to something that had it been done to a mosque, would have certainly received full coverage across the entire range of news media for days at an end, and probably led to Congressional action. But it wasn't done to a mosque, but a Catholic Church, so it was just vandalism. Pat Sajak--Yes, That Pat Sajak To my surprise, a prominent entertainment personality--and a patriot: I’ve recently returned from an extended European vacation which included a virtually total information blackout. I carried no computer and no cell phone, I made a concerted effort to stay away from television and newspapers, and there were no political discussions, even in France. (The people there were so nice, I had almost forgotten a friend’s advice upon my departure: “Be sure to drive on the left side in England. Do that in France, too, because you’ll run over more French.”)Thanks to Different River for the pointer. Who Not To Invite As you may be aware, former New York City Major Giuliani was in London on July 7 when the terrorist attack happened--in fact, close to one of the explosions. Different River asks if he was in Madrid in March of 2004. No, he's not suggesting that Giuliani is a conspirator--just someone with bad luck, and perhaps not someone to hang around. More interesting, Different River mentions something that I had read before: Robert Todd Lincoln, son of President Abraham Lincoln. He declined an invitation to the theater the night his father was shot, but hurried when he heard the news and was with his father when he died. Sixteen years later, he was Secretary of War in the James Garfield administration, and was in Union Station when President Garfield’s was shot. Lincoln was the first person to reach Garfield’s side, and was the one to call for a doctor. Twenty years after that, he was in the receiving line to see President McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo when McKinley was shot.And here's something that I had not heard, that Different River links to: After McKinley’s death, Lincoln let it be known that he wanted no further invitations from any US president, as three of them had invited him to be present at their assassinations.It could give you a complex, couldn't it? Sunday, July 10, 2005
Developing A Culture of Lies I pretty much destroyed any future in the academic community when I played a part in exposing Michael Bellesiles's fraud several years. Part of my mistake was that I was still suffering under the delusion that the pursuit of truth was the great unifier among historians--a goal that took precedence over political ends. There are still historians--almost certainly a majority--for whom the pursuit of truth is the goal--but it is astonishing what a zealous minority, with their controls on the levers of power (university presses and scholarly journals)--can do to prevent exposure of a fraud. I've just had one of those bizarre experiences with this. Let me explain: some publishers insist on "no simultaneous submissions." What this means is that if you submit a manuscript to them, and they invest substantial time and money into deciding whether to publish it, they don't want to suddenly discover that you have sold it to some other publisher. I can't say that I blame them for this, and consequently, if a publisher says "no simultaneous submissions," I have to wait until no one else is looking at it before I submit it to that press. Last year, a university press had asked me to revise and resubmit my manuscript. This was a major change that they requested, and while I grumbled a bit at the time, the criticisms were generally reasonable, and I think the manuscript came out the stronger for it. I resubmitted the manuscript to them. No one said anything about "no simultaneous submissions." In the meantime, I approached a literary agent with access to a number of the trade publishers to see if he could find someone who was interested. A new editor took over at the university press where I had submitted the revised manuscript--and I was informed that because I had an agent out looking for other publishers, he was considering that I had withdrawn my manuscript from them. I emphasized that I had not; that there was no request for exclusivity when I submitted either the original or revised manuscript; and that I was quite willing to stop all other presses from considering this while waiting for an answer. His response was that I had "poisoned the well" by trying to find other publishers. Academics to whom I have showed the emails think that more likely, the new editor didn't want this "controversial" book to be published--and this was just an excuse. Unfortunately, the problem of dishonesty isn't limited just to the social sciences: Allegations of misconduct by U.S. researchers reached record highs last year as the Department of Health and Human Services received 274 complaints — 50 percent higher than 2003 and the most since 1989 when the federal government established a program to deal with scientific misconduct.Plagiarism isn't good, but falsification of data--especially in the health sciences, where the results might be dangerous medicines or years lost as scientists chase down the wrong research path to find a cure--this is terribly serious. I know that this isn't new. There are allegations that Gregor Mendel's experiments on pea plants that led to Mendelian genetics could not have produced numbers as good as he published--that crossover would have resulted in at least some plants that didn't fit the model that Mendel was using. There are far more serious allegations about Kinsey's "research" about sexuality--that he may have actively encouraged the molestation of children, and included fairly absurd claims about the ability of infants to have orgasms, based on "experiments" done by molesters. I do still find the increasing tolerance of dishonesty by the academic community disturbing. Houses And Global Warming I don't normally give much credence to stuff from the Natural Resources Defense Council, but this is an interesting article claiming that properly measured, the building of structures (including both manufacturing of materials and continued maintenance) is a larger source of environmental damage than transportation: Hunching his 6-foot-6 frame over a laptop, Mazria points to a diagram on the screen, a pie chart he made using Department of Energy statistics that slices energy consumption in the United States into four neat wedges. The chart holds no surprises and in fact contradicts Mazria's claim: There's no slice devoted solely to architecture or buildings. But there's a fat one -- 35 percent of the pie -- for industry, which includes manufacturing, mining, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, construction, and the operation of industrial buildings.I will tell you that I do not find this hard to believe. The way that houses are built is astonishingly wasteful. Go take a careful look at a typical house building site, and you can see why building materials are one of the larger components of landfills. The wood arrives as 2x4 or 2x6; the sheetrock arrives in four by eight foot rectangles--and a lot of it is cut to fit. I saw a six foot length of copper pipe sitting in the trash receptacle at a nearby building site--I shudder to think of the energy that went into producing that. I shudder also at the wastefulness of throwing away a piece of metal that valuable. We are going to try and reuse at least some of the wood remnants from our house building for building planter boxes--but there's a lot of this stuff that just gets wasted. It is more expensive to manufacture parts exactly to fit, and this is why we continue to build houses this way. The next house I have built will be done in a little more intelligent way, I hope. UPDATE: A reader tells me: Last year while spending time at my home-away-from-home in the Cascades of Central Oregon, I recall hearing ads on a local radio station for a respected local building contractor that pointed out the mountains of wasted materials left by competitors at building sites. The contractor sponsoring the ads stated that they avoid this waste by sizing the plans for their homes to conserve material by making them more compatible with standard lengths and widths of materials, thus saving the client money.Green, in the "ka-ching" sense of the word, as well. Labels: global warming |
