American Tourism to France off 40%

The EUobserver writes: '"Let's fall in love again", appeals the French tourist site, Francetourism.com, somewhat wistfully as statistics show an unprecedented decline in the country's tourists.' The French have seen a fall off from American, German, and Asian travelers. The Asian decline is attributed to SARS. The French ministry of tourism apparently attributes the decline in German tourists to a "loss of fondness" an then there are the Americans. So France tries the heavy sell in America. Good luck.

R2-D2, intellectual and super-genius

This week's poll at starwars.com asks what would you like to see R2 do in Ep III, the results are:
In Ep III, I would like to see R2-D2...
Poll Dates: 8/5/03 - 8/12/03
Fly 4%
Torment C-3PO 30%
Save the day 16%
Get a droid girlfriend 26%
Transmit an important message 24%

I think the evidence is pretty strong that R2-D2 is in fact the smartest, and indeed most consistently heroic, character in Star Wars. Hence the correct answer is "save the day". Starwars.com does not tell us the total number of voters. R2, is a cunning judge of situations and gives a great deal of evidence that he has never had a memory wipe. Only Obi-wan has as much collective memory of the events of Ep I-VI, subject to the failings of human memory. We know that Obi-wan does not recognize R2, but it is unclear whether R2 recognizes Obi-wan or not. There is a great deal more, as any avid student of the corpus will attest, but perhaps the most telling is the manner of speach of the intellectual driod. R2 is incomprehensible to non-intellectuals or droids programed for ettiquet and protocal.

Episcopal Church abandons the central premise of the Protestant Reformation

The Protestants abandon the idea that the Church tradition was a source of Truth. Only the Bible was a source of truth. This shift de-emphisized the role of the clergy, and led to a huge rise in literacy in Protestant countries. There was an assumption that the authors of the holy text was guided by the Holy Spirit, but that decisions of the church afterward was not. Early Protestants actually thought of themselves as re-establishing the early Church.

Now many Episopalians arguing that Robinson is not a problem because the ancient texts were written for a different people and the Holy Spirit has lead the ecclesia to the understanding that homosexuality is a gift from god. This is a reversal of the Protestant emphisis. The scripture can be dispensed with, because it doesn't apply to us, and we are back to church councils being able to change doctrine. This is not new. Its been creeping up on us in various forms for two hundred years. The several Great Awakenings and then later the rise of Fundamentalism are responces to this tendency. As I mentioned yesterday, this is the kind of a thing liable to produce schism.

Robinson's election and confirmation may or may not be a good thing depending on your views, but it certainly is an abandonment on this issue at this point of the primacy of scripture. As long as they refuse to admit this, they are not being honest with themselves or with the broader public.

Savage declared Schwarzenegger unqualified

On his radio show, Micheal Savage said he could never vote for Schwarzenegger because the man never held public office. He paused and added that he had not written a book either. Nice save. If Savage thinks he is any more qualified to hold public office than any other celebrity, he's off hice rocker. This should not be taken as evidence that I think he's on his rocker. He already appears to be saddled with rockerlessness.

Amusingly, Hugh Hewitt is running a promo in which he suggests to a caller that if Savage were a contender, it might drive voters to Davis. The caller suggests that given such a choice, he'd just move.

Car Bomb in Indonesia

The news in most outlets has not been much more than recounting the events. Good analysis is found here, at the Australian Financial Review. The Australian papers (who are in the neighborhood, and therefore are really the go-to source here) have made mention of how often Australian officials have used the Marriott for official purposes.

Without the internet, we'd be relying on local and major newspapers and the news networks. Go back ten years further, and the news networks numbered three. My how the world of news has changed in my lifetime.

Golden Oldies

Sometimes I think about those wacky fads that exite the kids. Hula-hoops. Doing the mashed potato. Belly shirts. Going to Iraq to be a human shield. Nose rings. Things things come and go like the fashion ripples they are, superficial and meaningless, but they get the kids all worked up while they are the hot thing only to be forgotten after the shooting starts.

Word that Iraq had a dirty bomb, North Korea pursues enrichment, and now Iran

Boy the Clinton administration was asleep at the switch while the nuclear proliferation gremlins were busy at work. Good thing the Kellog-Briand pact outlawed war in 1928, because these multilateral agreements always keep the rogue states in line.

Lieberman stands up for good sense

Lieberman, "warned Democrats that abandoning the policies that helped elect Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996 would result in a terrible setback for the party." The good Senator speaks the truth. Unfortunatly, the dems are channeling the spirit of Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern. Wouldn't it make more sense for the party to try to channel Truman and Kennedy? While it is true that they were hawkish, anti-communist, and fairly conservative, they also got elected.

The Episcopal consideration of a gay Bishop runs afoul of allegations out of the blue

The WaPo has an article which includes the following:
"One of the allegations was raised in an e-mail sent to some of the bishops by David Lewis, an adult from Manchester, Vt. He alleged that he had been sexually harrassed by Robinson, whom he said repeatedly touched him inappropriately when they talked at a church convocation."

I'd very much rather that no one's career every be derailed by an e-mail unsubstantiated by something more solid. Anyone can send an e-mail saying anything. The fact that this happens at the 11th hour is suspicious to say the least. Lets hope this is resolved responsibly.

On the other hand, these kinds of things are going to divide Anglicans, and Christians more broadly, across a north-south divide. See, for example, this article in The Atlantic.

update: The Episcopalians have delayed their confirmation vote.

Talk of the next Bush Administration

Speculation has begun about who will continue in the presumed second Bush Administration. Put me down for Condi Rice as VP. She meets the qualifications for succession better than most, her policy is post on. Also hoping to see Rumsfeld as SecDef for life. The Post article suggested that Wolfowitz was under consideration for State. Again, hard to imagine a better choice.

Liz Phair

The new issue of Entertainment Weekly (the website is now only for subscribers) puts Liz Phair's new record as #9 on the "must list". They say, "Maybe you've heard the bad buzz but we've heard the actual album, and its a wippersnapper." Its been the only thing in my CD player since I got it. Admittedly I listen to a fair amount of music on-line, but I do play Liz Phair about once a day. Check out the site at http://www.lizphair.com/. There are videos and a few songs. I give it a 10.

Ann Coulter

Two things are at work here, neither one of them pretty. On the one hand, Coulter is a product of the vitriol between the partisanship we saw since the collapse of the American politican consensus (I date this consensus to 1942-1967). In this vein, put her in the tradition of other poison pills. On the other hand, the country has been attacked and is sensitive to even seeming anti-Americanism. What would have been written off as he ravings of a cook before 9/11 is now a potential source of comfort as we circle the wagons. The poison pills are bad for the political health of the country and should be shunned by responsible politicians and media. Having circled the wagons there is always the risk of shooting at anyone outside the barriade for fear that it is attacking savages. My fear is that she's not going away soon. Perhaps we should accuse her of being a fifth column for the terrorists, intending to divide us from within. Its no more absurd than some of Coulter's claims.

World Bank concerns legitimate

Instapundit links to this NYPost article on World Bank concerns about the government of Iraq. Ralph Peters oped at the Post is pure hyperbole and Reynolds' headline of hypocracy is misplaced. The question at hand isn't that the present government is seen as illegitimate, but that everyone knows that its temporary. Once the new government is in place, will they respect deals done by the current Governing Council? Contracts certainly, establishing rule of law is one of our objectives. But look at our own government. Clinton talked tough about Iraq, but limited himself to cruise missiles. Many in the world mistook Bush for more of the same, but the government had changed and it took policies the previous administration would never have taken. Why is it unreasonable to recognize that business may be desirous to wait until it sees how things will shake out before it gets in? Looking at things through the investor's lens, I would wait until the Governing Council gave way to an elected government and that new government gave some indication of its policies (tax, fiscal, regulatory) before investing. Anything else is speculatory, and very risky. Business is wise to wait until the new government is in place, and until investment begins to flood into the country, reconstruction is not happening as fast as it can. We have a political bottleneck. Its a reasonable thing to point out.

Supergirl DVD extras

Cause let's face it, the movie isn't that much of a draw. My brother has reviewed some material here. I'll say that the documentary on the making of, and the film commentary are hillarous in that unintended way that makes it all the more funny. I don't come down too hard on the last two Superman films or Supergirl. They just didn't know what they were doing. Converting comic books to film was pioneered by Superman in way that after Spiderman/X-men/Daredevil just looks hokey. Those later Superman films made the mistakes that later comic adaptors learned from. The director of the first one and three quarters of the superman films didn't have a better sence of translating comics to film, but for reasons more happy coincidence than anything, his vison worked for superman. Hence the first two Superman films are good. As an example, check out some of the extras on the first Superman disk, in which in tests, Lois identifies Clark's identity by shooting him with blanks and judges Clarks reaction to being "shot". Much more the clever reporter than the hand in the fire that the replacement director on II replaced it with. Richard Donner's removal from the Superman series seems to have doomed it. Its his work directing the first one and three quarters of the pictures that we enjoyed. I think that in part, he is a good director, and in part he was lucky that what he wanted to do worked. No one knew how to make the translation from comics to film, but Donner was a good bet to have a good idea. He had worked on four episodes of the Twilight Zone in the 60's, did much direction for the series The Fugative, and just before making Superman had made the Omen. All work that while not in the comic book venue shares some qualities and works in related genres. As a final note, twenty years later, Donner produced X-Men.

Star Wars Galaxies

Ack! Unfinished. They relased the game too soon, and did not wait to shake out the remaining problems with server stability, fixes to professions and the economy, and my personal pet peeve - the combat operations do not make combat easy. For example, changing targets is difficult and sometimes impossible. A few months more work would have been ideal. Many players of such games have argued that they all are released with a whole set of problems. My argument is that the fact that such a thing is common does not make it acceptable. When one sells a product it should be complete, not merely slouching towards completness. Patches and updates seems to make game companies all to willing to put stuff out too soon, relying on patches and fixes to make it good later.

Is Higher Education Compatible with Patriotism?

An interesting panel discussion put forward by the National Association of Scholars Forum Higher Education & Democracy in Peace & War, and broadcast on C-SPAN. Of course I watched via the web. Go to www.c-span.org and search education, the program originally aired on may 31st of 2002. What's that? Its fourteen months old? Well, the internet is asynchronous. The panel is two hours long and there are a pair of speakers from the right and a pair from the left. Gertrude Himmelfarb chairs the panel. One of the speakers drew a distinction between patriotism based on mine-ness and on goodness. He advocated the primacy of goodness.

In a related note, I have been intrigued by the catagorization of Walter Russell Mead of American policy into Jeffersonians, Wilsonians, Jacksonians, and Hamiltonians. You can read a discussion of his book and its thesis between the author and James Fallows in the Atlantic unbound. Well, I came across an artical by Mead in The National Interest. Mead argues that it is very difficult to sustain policies in America without the acceptance of the Jacksonains. And the Jacksonians have a patriotism based on mine-ness.

This reminds me of a lost article in one of the conservative journals in which the author dwelled upon the differences between a conservative writer for a magazine, living on the east coast, a member of the establishment, and someone who sat next to him at an event who represented the middle American conservative. This, I think is the contrast between Jacksonians and, say Hamiltonians. This distinction is the one I am most aware of, identifying with Alexander Hamilton, rather than my neighbors who are Jacksonians. Being well versed in Stoicism, and the principle of the brotherhood of man, being well educated in European history and therefore prone to cosmopolitanism, I am attracted to a patriotism of the goodness of America. We promote free societies and free markets. Our principles are very good, and even our practice, I will argue, is demonsrably good. Our less good practice is the result of neccesary comprimises in difficult circumstances and are often the result of competing goods (say victory over communism in a fourty year death struggle). The patriotism of mine-ness seems to me to lack a certain amount of reflection. Like the author I cannot cite, who acknowledged the electoral neccesity of an alliance between establishment conservatives writing for magazines in New York and the many middle American conservatives who are much more socially conservative, I as a Hamiltonian see the neccesity of the Jacksonians, even though I sometimes see their preferences as regretable. Ultimatly, my preference for democracy trumps my ideological preferences and I think that the will of the majority should be policy even when its not always the best policy. It is simply up to those with the best policy to convince the majority, not to impose their better judgement through administrative or judicial fiat.

State Budget Shell Game

There is a very good article in The New Republic by Gregg Easterbrook on state budgeting. He argues, as I have (take my word for it, I have no archives), that the current practice of states recieving additional money from Washington is good for no one. He fails, however to answer my fundamental question: what would state borrowing look like? Because the Federal government has so much more control over various levers of the economy, it is safer for them to run a permenant deficit. If states could run a deficit, they probabaly would. And permenant deficits might just result in the current state deficits on top of what ever dept they were carrying. That's not good. What mechanism would lead states to avoid deficits as a general practice, but adopt them when there was a compelling reason? This is probabaly a good place to mention Tyler Cowen's excellent daily postings on macroeconomics over at The Volokh Conspiracy . On the final post of July 29, 2003, he observes that "State budget cuts are extending our recent recession," through contraction of government spending. Some new model of state budgeting must be devised.

Why should you come out of the rain?

Josh Marshall writes this pair of paragraphs:
"It's important to note that this theory of the war actually does have a lot to do with stopping terrorism and the generalized instability of region -- but in a way that is almost infinitely more complex than the Saddam-WMD-hand -off-to-al-Qaida idea that the administration pushed in the build-up to the war.

"It's much more complicated, much more complex, and vastly more difficult to achieve. It's not that the main war-hawks didn't believe there were WMD or that rooting them out wouldn't have been a great coup for US national security. But it is almost as if administration war-hawks told the public a vastly simplified, fairy-tale version of the Iraq war's connection to stopping terrorism and justified this benign deception because the story contained a deeper truth, almost in the way we tell children similar stories because their minds aren't advanced enough to grasp or process all the factual details connected to the lessons or messages we're trying to convey. Got all that? Good. "

Well, I must ask: why do we come in out of the rain? Is it because we ought not get wet, or might catch cold? Or is it because lightning can kill you? I think we ought to regard storms as serious things because of the potential of lethal lightning, not the certainty of wet clothes. As Daniel Drezner points out in a review of this article, "States often go to war for a melange of reasons that go beyond self-defense." What we often focus on, however, are the worst case scenarios. The "Saddam-WMD-hand -off-to-al-Qaida" scenario was unlikely but scary, much like getting struck by lightning. The many other reasons Marshal mentions fall more into the certainly of getting wet catagory.

Sometimes we are willing to get wet, but few of us are willing to take the chance, even when remote, of being struck by lightning. It hurts.

The internet is often supposed to mean people reading without boundaries (such as this fare), but I actually spend as much and probabaly more time listening to talk radio via the internet and watching C-Span via the internet than I do reading. The internet, it should be remembered, doesn't just make people talking to people easier, it also makes it easier for consumers of mass media to have greater power of the chocies they make because of the internet. A station need not broadcast in my area for me to hear it, it need only stream on the web. A station that maintains archives of its shows allows me to pick and chose what I listen too with greater ease.

Not been around much. I could blame my classes, I could blame Star Wars Galaxies, but the real culprit is that so many other blogs cover the ground so well.