NSA "Domestic Spy Program", NOT!!!

Now that the initial chest thumping and decrying the loss of liberty has washed over the electorate, it's time to think a bit more rationally about the NSA Data Mining program that has USA Today and other MSM elites p_ _ _ _ _ _ (you supply the letters here) in their pants. Heather McDonald provides a sane analysis in the Daily Standard. Among other points left out of MSM stories she highlights, are these:

1) "The Washington Post calls this numbers analysis the "most extensive . . . domestic surveillance [program] yet known involving ordinary citizens and residents." Bunk. The NSA's data mining program is not surveillance; no one is being listened to or observed."

2) "Data mining looks for mathematical patterns in computerized information; it is not a real-time spying operation. The government didn't need to go to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for a wiretap or pen register order (which governs the collection of phone numbers in real time from a single phone) because it is not listening to or recording any individual's calls. FISA is built around the notion of an individualized investigation of specific spies or terrorists; it is seriously outdated for the application of American computer know-how to ferret out terror plots before they happen and before the government has individual suspects in mind."

Hurricanes and "Global Warming"

With hurricane season almost upon us, June 1 through November 30, we will most likely be subject to a spate of articles in the popular media linking the increasing devastation inflicted by hurricanes on the U.S. with increasing Sea Surface Temperatures (SST) caused by climate change.

While our intuition and media hype might lead one to believe that increasing SST's would have the effect of increasing the intensity of hurricanes, one would apparently be incorrect. Patrick Michaels, Professor of Climatology at the University of Virginia, along with two colleagues published a data based (yes it uses empirical and verifiable data and not a computer model)in Geophysical Research Letters which finds, " that it is plausible that a future rise in sea surface temperatures (SST) in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean will lead to a greater number of major hurricanes (categories 3 through 5), but that it should not lead to an increased intensity of these storms..."

The study looked at SST's and hurricane intinsity over the peroid of 1982 through 2005. You can read a summary of the studies findings here or go here to read the full report(pdf).

Disappearing manufacturing jobs

Disappearing Manufacturing Jobs is the title to a good thought and information piece by Dr. Walter Williams, the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University. We hear those on the Liberal or Left side of the political spectrum decrying the loss of manufacturing jobs but they seldom, if ever, tell the whole story. Dr. Williams corrects that deficiency by pointing out that:

"Job loss is the trend among the top 10 manufacturing countries who produce 75 percent of the world's manufacturing output (the U.S., Japan, Germany, China, Britain, France, Italy, Korea, Canada and Mexico). Only Italy has managed not to lose factory jobs since 2000."

Moreover because of huge gains in productivity "We're making more stuff with fewer people. That means rapid economic growth doesn't translate into the kind of manufacturing job creation of earlier periods."

And then consider that,"In 1970, the telecommunications industry employed 421,000 workers in good-paying jobs as switchboard operators. Today, the telecommunications industry employs only 78,000 operators. That's a tremendous 80 percent job loss...Now 100 billion long-distance calls a year require only 78,000 switchboard operators. What's more , the cost of making a long-distance call is a fraction of what it was in 1970."

As Paul Harvey often intones, now you have heard the rest of the story. Be sure you read the whole piece.

Writers Block

When looking or thinking about something to blog about, I can always depend on Dr. Thomas Sowell to hit the bulls eye with his observations on society and get me off of the hook. His latest Random Thoughts is up and as always, he is able to say more about an idea in one sentence than any other person in the public arena today. For example:

In a democracy, we have always had to worry about the
ignorance of the uneducated. Today we have to worry about the ignorance of people with college degrees.

Some people think they have bad luck when the real problem
is that they took bad chances.

Read them all. For an archive of Sowell's writing you can go here. Your time will not be wasted.

Two Writers

A couple of "must reads" this Friday.

1) Thomas Sowell on basic economics, a topic most Americans unfortunately ignore. Here's a tidbit to intice you to take a look:

"Much is made of the fact that gasoline prices go up before the higher priced oil is turned into gasoline. What something cost is history, what it is worth now is economics.
Back during the first Gulf War, a speculator bought oil in Venezuela and had it shipped to the United States, in order to profit from the high oil prices brought on by the war. But, by the time his oil tanker reached the United States, the war was over and prices had fallen so much that he couldn't sell his oil for enough to cover his costs.

What his oil cost him was history. What it was worth now was economics."

2) Victor Davis Hanson on immigration. As usual and like Sowell, his observations are not obtuse or ambiguous. For example:

"Remember, citizenship is never defined by the applicant, only by the benefactor. In America, it doesn't involve racial or ethnic allegiance. Rather, U.S. citizenship asks immigrants to make linguistic, political and social concessions.

So, imagine an immigration compromise that, in exchange for strict border enforcement, allows the majority of the current 11 million resident illegal aliens to remain here to start their citizenship process. Wouldn't it then be natural to expect these future Americans to understand that U.S. citizenship carries as many responsibilities as rights?"

In following the immigration debate, it seems to me that the concept of "responsibilities" has become extinct.

Wit and Wisdom

“The soul of wit is brevity” is a pity and astute observation by that master of the pithy, William Shakespeare. At the extraordinarily great risk of offending Shakespeare aficionados, I would like to add these words, “and wisdom”. Look for here for support of my suggested change.

Iran and the UN - More UFB Stuff

Ok, this is a cliché alert in case you don’t want to keep reading. The UN hits bottom and keeps on digging!

Seem as though they have “honored” the former Vice President of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Head of the Department of Environment (1997-2005) with the title of Champion of the Earth. She as a bit of a history though because you see a bit more than 18 years ago, as an 18-year-old freshman at Polytechnic University in Tehran, Ms. Ebtekar was the official interpreter and spokeswoman of the militants who occupied the American Embassy in Tehran. Read the gory details here.

Perhaps someone could refresh my memory as to exactly why the taxpayers of this country should continue to fund an organization that has in its charter, apparently written in invisible ink, the mandate to defile, defame, attack and other wise spew filth and lies about our country. Anyone? Anyone?

Reduction in Calories might make you loose weight!

I think we can file this under the junk science folder. A group of teens, 103 to me exact, were seperated into two groups and for 25 weeks consumed different quantities of soft drinks. One slight problem in this study, whose authors suggest that maybe government intervention is appropriate, ok a couple of problems. Read the rest here.

"The Boston study is also flawed by the fact that it failed to control for, or report on, any of the other aspects of the two groups’ respective diets. We have no idea, for example, what the daily caloric intake was for any of the participants in the study. Without this information it is difficult to know, first, whether the two groups were in fact identical except for their soda pop consumption and, second, whether it was the elimination of regular soft drinks that really caused the small weight loss that was found in the most obese participants.

Given that there are dozens of supposed risk factors for obesity, it is somewhat disingenuous to claim that removing one risk factor, without controlling for the others, suggests that the one removed is a cause of obesity.What is really odd, however, about the Boston study is its simplistic assumption that there is a unique caloric effect that results from removing soft drinks from someone’s diet. Removing any source of calories — whether from soft drinks or anything else — and not replacing them will result in fewer calories and perhaps fewer pounds. Does one really need an expensive research study to confirm something so blindingly obvious?"

Immigration Thoughts

Victor Davis Hanson has some thoughts on the similarities and differences that French and U.S. cultures are having with unassimilated immigrants. He doesn't paint an altogether positive picture however unlike many of our politicians and demagogues that are ranting to hear themselves talk, VDH out lines the problem in his usual clear prose and also some actions that should be taken to move towards a solution. Here's a sample but you should read the whole essay.

"Many in the second generation lap up their parents’ bitterness, but without the consolation that things are still better in the West than back home. This is one reason that nearly four out of every ten Hispanic high school students are not graduating from high school in four years. Of those that do, only 22.9 percent meet the minimum entry requirements of the California State University system, the less competitive of the state’s two systems. Of Latinos of all statuses in California, less than 10 percent of those over 25 have bachelor’s degrees — a legacy of their parents who in many cases came to the state without English, without education, without lawful entry, and without well-paying, secure jobs."

He also surfaces a subject that many, including the President and Congress in it's entirety is ducking, and that is the fringe groups that are offering separatists and racists solutions.

"The largest Hispanic grievance association is still called the National Council of La Raza (“the Race”), a well-meaning organization that nevertheless appeals to racial solidarity and purity and therefore separatism — a clear repudiation of the idea of American multiracialism. Its nomenclature would hardly be tolerated were it not for the enormous size of the growing Hispanic community.

In a 1997 speech before this activist group, former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo bragged that “the Mexican nation extends beyond the territory enclosed by its borders” and that Mexican migrants were “an important — a very important — part of this.” A Zogby poll of Mexican citizens conducted in late May 2002 showed that 58 percent believed that “the territory of the United States’ southwest rightfully belongs to Mexico.” The national newspaper of Mexico, Excelsior, agreed: “The American Southwest seems to be slowly returning to the jurisdiction of Mexico without firing a single shot.” No wonder then that 57 percent of Mexicans in that same Zogby poll believed that they should have the right to cross the border freely and without U.S. permission."

Earnings Inequality

Here's a link to a good "thought" essay by Gary Becker, a University of Chicago Prof. and a Nobel laureate in Economics. There is a lot of noise in the news these days about income or earnings inequality and in this essay Becker put some perspective on the issue. It's about a 5 minute read, a good investment in your economic education.

"The basic facts are these. There has been a general trend toward rising gaps between the earnings of more and less skilled persons. With regard to education, real earnings (that is, earnings adjusted for changes in consumer prices) earnings of high school dropouts did not change much. Earnings of high school graduates grew somewhat more rapidly, so that the gap between dropout and graduate earnings expanded over time.

The main action came in the earnings of college graduates and those with postgraduate education. They both increased at a rapid pace, with the earnings of persons with MBA's, law degrees, and other advanced education growing the most rapidly. All these trends produced a widening of earnings inequality by education level, particularly between those with college education and persons with lesser education."

This article was also linked to by Don Luskin. If you want to stay up on economic developments, drop by his site once a week or more often.

Teaching American History

THIS IS A FAIRLY LONG POST SO STICK WITH IT. I HOPE YOU WILL FIND IT WORTH WHILE. - JOE

In May of 2004, the Washington Post ran a piece that focused on the ignorance (defined as a lack of knowledge) about World War II of students graduating from high school. The piece opened this way:

“Tiffany Charles got a B in history last year at her Montgomery County high school, but she is not sure what year World War II ended. She cannot name a single general or battle, or the man who was president during the most dramatic hours of the 20th century...Among 76 teenagers interviewed near their high schools this week in Maryland, Virginia and the District, recognition of the internment camps, a standard part of every area history curriculum, was high -- two-thirds gave the right answer when asked what happened to Japanese Americans during the war. But only one-third could name even one World War II general, and about half could name a World War II battle.”

Further on in the piece we find this:

“Mike Kirk, an American history teacher at Mount Vernon High School in Fairfax County, said he tries to combine projects and instruction in a way that helps students understand the sweep of the war. When teaching a particular battle, he sometimes tells students to pretend they are soldiers and write a letter home describing what they saw Kirk said he follows the Virginia Standards of Learning, which specifically require instruction on the battles of Midway and Stalingrad, as well as the D-Day invasion and the dropping of the atomic bomb. The same standards require discussion of the African American Tuskegee Airmen, the Holocaust and the Japanese American internments.”

How can students pretend they are an American Soldier if they aren’t told the epic story and sacrifices made by the American fighting man in WWII. There is nothing wrong or incorrect about covering the Japanese interment or the racism that was prevalent in 40’s that caused our government to have a segregated military. That the Tuskegee Airmen were heroic is unquestionable, and I would argue there heroism and courage in the face of hostility at home was the greater story than there subsequent achievements in the air battles in Europe. That said, todays history classes completely ignore the sacrifice and heroism of the every day Soldier, Sailor and Marine that of the era.

While this lonely blog can’t hope to entirely correct that wrong I am going to give it my best shot. If you read this and know a teacher that is responsible for teaching American History, maybe you can pass along these tails of courage, devotion and sacrifice of Americans that understood the meaning of Duty, Honor and Country. Battles are won or lost by men in the “trenches” and it is their stories that have the potential for igniting the deserved interest this era of history should have. WWII in particular was a struggle for the future of those who inhabit this globe. The men and women who fought those battles deserve far more credit and coverage than our current history textbooks or lesson plans give them.

Let’s start with the Battle of Midway, a battle most history survey courses cover or at least mention as the turning point in the Pacific War. Does the name Torpedo Squadron Eight ring a bell? How about Lt. Cmdr. John C. Waldron, the commanding officer of this unit? Who was Ensign George Gay? The story of these men, there squadron mates and their exploits are among the most inspiring to come out of WWII, yet they never show up in Jr. High, High School or even College U.S. History text books. Are we so ashamed of these men that we can’t spend the ten or twenty minutes it would take to show how their devotion to duty effected the course of the war? We are often reminded of our heritage when it comes to slavery, child labor, women’s rights and other darker moments of our history. The courage, self sacrifice and love of country to be found in the history of our military are also a part of our heritage and culture yet our students are denied these stories. Is there a conspiracy among our educators to deny these inspiring stories from our students? Looking at classroom content, one could validly reach that conclusion. (No, I am not paranoid or a conspiracy nut, but just asking you to think about the lack of education in this area)

So what and who was Torpedo Squadron Eight? In Naval parlance, they were VT-8, a group of men (see the photograph) who flew the inaptly named Douglas Devastator or the TBD-1, the Navy's first widely used monoplane shipboard plane which first flew in April 1935. While it supposedly had a top speed of 200 MPH, in reality when it was fully loaded for combat, it was barely able to top 120 MPH. To say that this aircraft was obsolete and nothing more than a death trap is to state the obvious. It was scheduled to be replaced by the Grumman Avenger but the men of Torpedo 8 would go into battle with what they had. Despite the heavy odds against them ever returning to their carrier, these young Americans understood the phrase that was yet to be coined, Duty, Honor, and Country.

Lt. Commander John C. Waldron, was born (1900) in Fort Pierre, South Dakota. He attended the US Naval Academy, graduating in 1924 and trained to be a naval aviator, reaching that plateau in 1927. During the years prior to World War II, he served in several air units, was an instructor at the Naval Academy and at Pensacola, Florida, and performed other duties connected with aviation. In 1941, Lt. Cmdr. Waldron became Commanding Officer of Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8), which was to serve on the new aircraft carrier Hornet.

I won’t get into the details of the battle here, but suffice it to say it was fought some 200 miles northwest of Midway Island itself some 700 miles northwest of our naval base at Pearl Harbor on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu The Japanese were intent on capturing Midway to further their eastward movement. But more importantly, they were attempting to lure the last three American aircraft carriers in the Pacific Fleet, (Hornet, Enterprise and Yorktown) into battle with the intent of destroying this last obstacle to their plans for domination of the western pacific, an area they euphemistically called, The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. American intelligence had deciphered Japanese coded messages over the previous months and in general understood the Japanese plan. Using this knowledge, American commanders were able to launch their aircraft before the Japanese knew the American carriers were in a position to attack them. The Japanese plan assumed that the American carriers would not be in the neighborhood until after they had occupied Midway. This is where the story of Torpedo Squadron Eight begins.

In 1942, our military didn’t have GPS, satellites, or radar to provide them with an exact location of an enemy naval force so the squadron along with other dive bombing and torpedo attack squadrons took off from the carriers early on the morning of June 4th with only a “best estimate” of where the Japanese might be located. American tactics of the time dictated that each squadron was to proceed on their own to find the enemy so Waldron led only his squadron towards the assumed position of the Japanese carriers but failed to find them at the location indicated by intelligence.

Just before take off, Lt. Commander Waldron knowing the situation and having no illusions about their chances, sent the following message to his men; “Just a word to let you know that I feel we are ready. We have had a very short time to train and we have worked under the most severe difficulties. But we have truly done the best humanly possible. I actually believe that under these conditions we are the best in the world. My greatest hope is that we will encounter a favorable tactical situation, but if we don’t, and the worst comes to worst, I want each of us to do his utmost to destroy our enemies. If there is only one plane left to make a final run in, I want that man to go in and get a hit. May God be with all of us. Good luck, happy landings and GIVE ‘EM HELL.” Look here to put a human face on the organization called Torpedo 8.

Failing to find the Japanese carriers at the point scouting and intelligence had indicated Waldron made a turn to the north following his intuition and best estimate of where the Japanese might be lurking. Waldron’s intuition was correct, as he was the first of the American Naval squadrons to find the four enemy carriers. Running out of fuel and lacking any fighter cover, Waldron maneuvered his squadron of fifteen planes to attack the heart of the Japanese fleet, the four carriers. Flying at very low altitude, literally 100’s of feet above the sea and at a deadly slow speed, Japanese fighters, known to the Americans as Zeros, using their far superior speed and maneuverability, attacked and over a period of 10 minutes shot down all of the slow-moving American torpedo bombers. Only one torpedo plane was able to reach a position close enough to release his torpedo, that was Ensign George Gay, and as it turned out he was the only member of the squadron to survive the battle.

Just prior to Torpedo Eight’s attack, a number of Army Air Corps B-26 twin engine bombers carrying torpedoes and Naval Torpedobombers, four new Grumman Avengers ast it turned out, from Midway had also pressed home attacks in the face of insurmountable odds and at a high cost in lives and aircraft, another story of indomitable courage and sacrafice. These attacks over the morning of June 4 had the effect of delaying the Japanese from launching their aircraft because they were forced into evasive maneuvers to avoid torpedoes, and now their hanger and flight decks were crowded with aircraft full of fuel and bombs. It was then that American dive-bombers from the carrier Hornet and Yorktown finally found and pounced upon the Japanese fleet, sinking three of the Japanese aircraft carriers in the morning and then in the afternoon finally sinking the last one.

It is these men that won the Battle of Midway and turned the tide in the Pacific. Sure the commanders put our carriers in the right position to carry out the attacks but it was the pilots and enlisted crewmen facing the fire and fury of the enemy and knowing that the odds were against their survival that carried the day. When John C. Waldron and his squadron mates gave laid down their lives in the early morning of June 4th, we were still losing the war with Japan. One hour after he died, the tide had turned and despite three long years of blood shed and hard fighting to come, the country was finally was untracked and on the road to victory. It is often asked, “Where do we get men like this?” I would like to think that is our American culture, our belief in the dignity of the common man and our understanding of freedom and its price is the root and branch, the source of such fine human beings that would lay their life down for their fellow countrymen.

Returning to the teacher in Virginia asking his students to write a letter pretending to be an American soldier, perhaps he could have his students spend a few minutes reading about the Men of Midway. Then they can write a letter that will have some relevance.

Here is the Honor Roll of Torpedo Eight:
Lt. Commander John C. Waldron KIA
Lt. Raymond A. Moore KIA
Lt. James C. Owens KIA
Lt.(jg) George M. Campbell KIA
Lt.(jg) John P. Gray KIA
Lt.(jg) Jeff D. Woodson KIA
Ens. William W. Abercrombie KIA
Ens. William W. Creamer KIA
Ens. Harold J. Ellison KIA
Ens. William R. Evans KIA
Ens. George H. Gay WIA
Ens. Henry R. Kenyon KIA
Ens. Ulvert M. Moore KIA
Ens. Grant W. Teats KIA
Robert B. Miles, Aviation Pilot 1c KIA
Horace F. Dobbs, Chief Radioman KIA
Amelio Maffei, Radioman 1 KIA
Tom H. Pettry, Radioman 1 KIA
Otway D. Creasy, Jr. Radioman 2 KIA
Ross H. Bibb, Jr., Radioman 2 KIA
Darwin L. Clark, Radioman 2 KIA
Ronald J. Fisher, Radioman 2 KIA
Hollis Martin, Radioman 2 KIA
Bernerd P. Phelps Radioman 2 KIA
Aswell L. Picou, Seaman 2 KIA
Francis S. Polston, Seaman 2 KIA
Max A. Calkins, Radioman 3 KIA
George A. Field, Radioman 3 KIA
Robert K. Huntington, Radioman 3 KIA
William F. Sawhill, Radioman 3 KIA

Torpedo Eight’s lone survivor, Ensign George Gay, was plucked out of the waters of the Pacific by a Navy seaplane. Recovering from his injuries, he later participated in the air battles at Guadalcanal and then returned to the states where he was assigned to duty as a navy flight instructor. After the war, he joined TWA and enjoyed a successful career as an airline pilot. George Gay lived for 52 years after the battle, passing away on October 21, 1994. His ashes were scattered over the grid reference off Midway where his shipmates fell, forever reuniting Torpedo Eight's aviators.

More stories will be added shortly.

Some Thoughts on Tax Day

Here are a couple of links to some thoughts on "Tax Day" for you to ponder. The first is to some thoughts expressed by John Snow. And who might he be you ask. The Secretary of Treausury, thats who. Here are several excerpts. Read the whole essay.

"On the one hand are those who believe that the future of our economy is best served by a larger role for government in the economy. On the other side are those, like myself, who maintain that while the role of government is to create the conditions for prosperity, the citizens and taxpayers are the best judge of how to spend their own money, not the government. One view necessitates higher taxes, a more expansive role for government, and more government spending. The other holds that low tax rates, a reduced role for government and a vibrant private sector is the best path to prosperity for all Americans."

Memebers of former Democratic Administrations as well as those who would currently stand for election hold to the first view:

"They argued for a deceptively simple approach as an alternative, calling for both "fiscal discipline, and for increased public investment in key growth-enhancing areas." Well, if you do the math, growing the public sector--that is, making government bigger--and achieving fiscal discipline, can only lead to one thing: higher taxes. And higher taxes always mean a larger role for government and a smaller role for the private sector. Is that the way we want to go? "

Here are some interesting facts on who is paying and not paying taxes. It is constant refrain from those on the Left that the overwhelming majority of tax cuts go to the wealthy. Those who proffer that view never seem to understand that unless one pays taxes, one cannot recieve a tax cut. Here is some data that ordinarly does not get disiminated by those who have cried foul about the Presidents tax cuts and the effort to make them perminent. The following figures are for tax year 2006.

Family of 4 Poverty Level: $19,527
Family of 4 Tax Threshold Level: $37,047
(Only income above this level is subject to Federal Income Tax)
Family of 4 Income Tax at Poverty Level: -$5,114
(They receive a check form the IRS)
I am not saying life at this level of income is a bed of roses however to say those in this income bracket are burdened by taxes is a bit disengenous.

There are some 146 million individuals and families (tax units) that file tax returns. Those whose income is at or below $50,000 dollars per year recieve 22.8% of national income and pay 1.5% of Federal Income Taxes. They also are 62.9% of all tax units. Those tax units earing more than $50,000 per year conversly pay 98.5 % of all taxes.
So who should recieve tax cuts? Those paying little or no taxes or those who are paying taxes.