Best of the Web Today - March 22, 2007
By JAMES TARANTO
More Cowbell!
Several readers had interesting comments about Al Gore's comment, which we noted yesterday: "The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, 'well, I read a science fiction novel that tells me it's not a problem.' " Reader Martin Shimp notes:
Clearly Gore never cared for his children while they had a fever. Fevers can be a symptom of either a bacterial or viral issue. A doctor can attempt a solution to a bacterial issue, but not a viral one. A virus has to run its course while the body fights it--and a fever is a sign of the struggle to eliminate the virus. Let's see a scientific consensus that the Earth's fever is bacteria-related.
Reader Scott Jacobson questions Gore's premise:
Some great news for Daddy Gore: Little baby Earth does not have a fever. It's been awhile since Daddy Gore had a little bundle at home so maybe he has just forgotten that an infant is not considered to have a fever until her body temperature is at or above 100.4 degrees, or 1.8 degrees above normal. In the last century, little baby Earth's temperature has only gone up "almost one degree."
Overreacting is common among parents. I remember one morning when my first child was still an infant. Imagine my horror when I discovered that her temperature had risen to 99.5 degrees, almost a whole degree in just under 12 hours. Naturally, I immediately sat down and built a computer model, which clearly projected that by age 30, her temperature was going to be a staggering 19,710 degrees!
Thankfully, with the help of a patient wife and an impatient pediatrician, I came to realize that these fluctuations were normal, and that my baby daughter would not be going supernova by the time she reached her golden years.
And Kelly Murphy puts things in perspective nicely:
So let me see if I have this right. According to Al Gore, I would have to be an idiot to decide, after reading "a science-fiction novel" (he must be referring to "State of Fear") that it's OK to go about living my life in a normal fashion. Instead, I should see one science-fiction movie (his) and run screaming out of the theater prepared to change every aspect of my life to avoid certain destruction.
Explore the space!
Mao More Than Ever
Blogger Russell Roberts has a fascinating juxtaposition, starting with the following, from an Associated Press report on Al Gore's congressional testimony:
Gore advised lawmakers to cut carbon dioxide and other warming gases 90 percent by 2050 to avoid a crisis. Doing that, he said, will require a ban on any new coal-burning power plants--a major source of industrial carbon dioxide--that lack state-of-the-art controls to capture the gases.
He said he foresees a revolution in small-scale electricity producers for replacing coal, likening the development to what the Internet has done for the exchange of information.
Sound familiar? Probably not, but check out this Wikipedia description of Red China's "Great Leap Forward":
In the August 1958 Politburo meetings, it was decided that steel production would be set to double within the year, most of the increase coming through backyard steel furnaces. Mao was shown an example of a backyard furnace in Hefei, Anhui in September 1958 by provincial first secretary Zeng Xisheng. The unit was claimed to be manufacturing high quality steel (though in fact the finished steel had probably been manufactured elsewhere). Mao encouraged the establishment of small backyard steel furnaces in every commune and in each urban neighbourhood. . . .
Huge efforts on the part of peasants and other workers were made to produce steel out of scrap metal. To fuel the furnaces the local environment was denuded of trees and wood taken from the doors and furniture of peasants' houses. Pots, pans, and other metal artifacts were requisitioned to supply the "scrap" for the furnaces so that the wildly optimistic production targets could be met. Many of the male agricultural workers were diverted from the harvest to help the iron production as were the workers at many factories, schools and even hospitals. As could have been predicted by anyone with any experience of steel production or basic knowledge of metallurgy, the output consisted of low quality lumps of pig iron which was of negligible economic worth.
As Roberts notes, "Giving up the economies of scale we currently use for energy production is going to be very expensive."
We Blame Global Warming
" 'Chilly Climate' Greets Muslim University Students: Report"--headline, CBC.ca, March 21
Excited by Edwards
"Edwards Suspends Campaign" was the title of an Andrew Sullivan post at 12:17 p.m. EDT today:
He does it because his wife has a recurrence of cancer in some degree to be further explored. It is of a piece with his character to do this; and a simple testament that he has the right priorities and values to be a president of the United States. Sorry, Ms Coulter. But this man will be remembered for a character you do not even want to possess.
But it turns out Edwards didn't suspend his campaign, even though his wife's cancer has recurred. Does this call Edwards's character into question? Not on your life! Here's Sullivan at 12:39 p.m.:
So, despite earlier reports, Edwards will not suspend his campaign. Good for him. . . . What I saw in this press conference was the reality of family values--not the rhetoric, not the divisiveness, not the politics, just the reality of an actual family dealing with real issues. . . .
The campaign should go on, as life goes on. The cancer should neither help nor hurt it. But I will say this: Elizabeth Edwards is a truly remarkable human being. And her marriage is an inspiration.
"He's pretty, he has flowing locks, he's young-looking," Sullivan wrote of Mr. Edwards back on March 6. Oh, but he is so much more than that! (Hat tip: Jonah Goldberg.)
Zero-Tolerance Watch
The U.S. Supreme Court this week took up the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case. At issue is whether a high school principal violated a senior's free-speech rights when she ordered him to take down a banner bearing that slogan, which he had unfurled near the school, and later suspended him. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the principal did indeed violate the First Amendment, and the high court heard oral arguments earlier this week.
To our mind, just about everyone did the wrong thing here. The kid shouldn't have unfurled the banner; the principal shouldn't have overreacted to it; and the judges should have laughed the whole case out of court. But here we are.
The federal courts have been in the business of regulating local schools in this way for almost four decades, since the 1969 case of Tinker v. Des Moines, in which the high court held that a student had the right to wear an armband at school to protest the Vietnam War. In dissent, Justice Hugo Black observed:
The Court's holding in this case ushers in what I deem to be an entirely new era in which the power to control pupils by the elected "officials of state supported public schools . . ." in the United States is in ultimate effect transferred to the Supreme Court.
Our colleague Dan Henninger urges in his column this week: "Rather than just fiddle with the dials on the school-speech contraption, the solution would be to take Tinker and throw it out the window." It's an appealing idea, although when we read stories like this one, from the Enterprise of Brockton, Mass., we wonder if school officials can be trusted with that kind of responsibility:
The [unidentified] boy, then 6, was suspended from school on Jan. 30, 2006 for three days after the principal said he had violated sexual harassment policy by touching a female classmate inside her clothing waistband during a class. . . .
The lawsuit states that on Jan. 30, 2006, teachers at the Downey School took the boy out of class, made him put his head down on a table, kept him from lunch and told him "that he was very bad and that he had sexually harassed a classmate." . . .
Gosselin, the principal, then brought the boy to her office, made him sit in the corner, and said to the boy "that he had touched the other student in (a) sexual way, and that he had sexually harassed her," the lawsuit states.
The boy also "signed a statement" at the school before his mother was contacted to come to the school to get her son, the lawsuit states.
Come to think of it, Henninger's probably right. Sexual harassment law, too, is a product of the U.S. Supreme Court. Maybe acting with common sense wouldn't be too much to ask of teachers and school administrators, but carrying out complicated and arbitrary legal doctrines is.
This Just Makes Us Cry
From USA Today:
Three months after promising to curtail spending on pet legislative projects, House Democrats have salted the Iraq emergency spending bill with $3.7 billion for farm interests that make significant donations to Democrats.
We're so disillusioned. We really thought the Democrats were going to be different!
Mellow Yellow
Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Aso says his country can help bring peace to the Middle East, the Associated Press reports:
"Japan is doing what the Americans can't do. The Japanese are trusted. It's probably no good with blue eyes and blond hair," he was quoted as saying by the papers, referring to projects in Jordan River Rift Valley initiated by Japan.
"Luckily, we have yellow faces. We have no history of exploitation there or . . . fired a machine gun for once," Aso said, according to the reports.
The Jerusalem Post's Web site illustrates the story with a photo of Aso shaking hands with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. By his standards, she is probably a dirty blonde.
Social Insecurity
China is facing a pension crisis, the New York Times reports:
Most troubling to financial experts, the government has used payroll taxes paid by the current generation of workers, who in theory are paying into their individual retirement accounts, to pay pensions for the previous generation.
Good thing we don't do that in America!
Obama and the 'Unorthodox Sexual Device'
WorldNetDaily reports that a federal agency chose an odd way to turn down an application from a Chicago radio host. Cisco Cotto wanted to trademark the phrase "It's an Obamanation," and the office took that as an insult to the Illinois senator:
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sent a notice of refusal "because the proposed mark consists or comprises matter that may disparage or bring into contempt or disrepute Barack Obama. Consumers reasonably would understand that the 'Obama' in 'Obamanation' refers to the disparaged party. A reasonable person of ordinary sensibilities would consider this reference offensive or objectionable."
According to the correspondence, the trademark examining attorney handling the application was Karen K. Bush, who included a dictionary definition of the word "abomination"--a cause of abhorrence or disgust--and number of screenshots of websites as background material to justify her decision.
Strangely though, while Bush rejected the "Obamanation" slogan for being "offensive or objectionable," she also attached a screenshot that absolutely stunned Cotto.
"It is a Wikipedia entry for a pretty disgusting, unorthodox sexual device," said Cotto, struggling to find a way to politely describe what he received. "I was at work, and my jaw dropped open. I literally screamed for my co-workers. They freaked out just as I did."
He says the first thing that crossed his mind was, "Why in the world is this [graphic material] in here?"
Cynicism, Cisco. That's why.
A Law Unto Himself
o "Bill Gates Backs Immigration Reform on Mexico Trip"--headline, Reuters, March 21
o "Bill Offers Temporary Legal Status to Undocumented Immigrants"--headline, McClatchy Newspapers, March 21
Outside a Hearing, No Doubt
"Deaf Plan Silent Protest at Capitol"--headline, Florida Today (Melbourne, Fla.), March 21
We're Not Worthy!
"Wayne Population Skids"--headline, Detroit News, March 22
Then THEM Not Be Coming Neither
"SC Tourism Director: US Not Be Welcoming Foreign Visitors"--headline, WBT-AM Web site (Charlotte, N.C.), March 21
Waterford, Non!
"French Candidate Calls for China Boycott"--headline, Associated Press, March 21
One Really, Really, Really Small Step for Man
"Foundry Silterra Ponders 65-nm Leap"--headline, EE Times, March 20
The New Exhibit
"Man in WWII Uniform Attacks 2 at Museum"--headline, Associated Press, March 21
News You Can Use
"Auto-Safety Features Can Protect Passengers in a Crash"--headline, Daily Local News (West Chester, Pa.), March 22
Bottom Stories of the Day
o "Pampers Are Not an Invention of the Devil"--headline, Times (London), March 21
o "Lincoln County's Former Police Dog Dies"--headline, Wausau (Wis.) Daily Herald, March 22
o "Giant Lighted Map of Iowa Found, and It Can Be Saved"--headline, Des Moines Register, March 18
Cathy Seipp, RIP
"Catherine Seipp, a writer and media critic who became known in the 1990s for her pointed coverage of the Los Angeles Times in Buzz magazine, has died," the Los Angeles Times reports. She was 49 and suffered from lung cancer. We didn't know Cathy well but saw her occasionally at dinners in Los Angeles organized by our friend Eugene Volokh, most recently in February 2006.
Seipp succumbed yesterday, a week after posting her final blog entry, a lighthearted piece called "Weather Channel's Nuttiest Moments." The next entry on the blog was posted Monday by Cathy's teenage daughter, Maia:
As earlier mentioned in the comments section, my mother is in the hospital. The doctor says that right now they're just making her comfortable. She's sedated, with painkillers among other things. Lungs collapsed so right now we just want to make sure she has dignity and is not in pain. The doctor says she has a couple days left.
I want to thank all her readers for reading this blog, her friends for supporting her who made up "Team Cathy." Through you all, I learned what a true friend was. I'm at her bedside now, holding her hand. I tell her she has 292 comments on the latest blog post . . . her last but she just squeezes my hand. She was very happy with this blog.
Perhaps a fitting tribute to a fallen blogress: At Technorati.com, "Cathy Seipp" is now No. 1 on the list of "Top Searches." To help keep it there, click here.
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