Once again, the imagination of our Federal Government stuns me into an intellectual stupor. Of all the many ways the Feds - both in the Legislative and Executive Branch - could help the American people and the environment, Washington's latest proposal is the one most expedient...and thus, the most lame-brained. I, of course, would love to see vehicles be more fuel-efficient. In theory I'm not against, as the Bush Administration has proposed, requiring automakers to develop 31 mile-per-gallon vehicles. I am, however, against the fuzzy-minded thinking which led to such a well-intentioned yet nonetheless naive proposal.
After all, that 31 mpg auto fuel economy average wouldn't need to be met by automakers until 2015 at the earliest. Not raising any eyebrows, or piquing curiosity? That's to be expected, until one realizes that what Washington is telling us is that fuel prices are only going to continue to go up without much help from our hundreds of representatives in the Federal City, and the only option available doesn't involve cutting or suspending fuel taxes, but letting prices rise and just...us coping with the consequences. What good, I ask you, does a fatalistic government do its people?
What we're being reminded of is, we lack leaders of vision and courage...not to mention imagination. A new bureaucracy would surely be created in order to track and enforce compliance with Federal standards, an incremental increase in national government the relatively ignorant - or informed-yet-resigned - masses will be paying for. I don't have any doubt automakers could meet the compliance deadline...but I feel deciding what will be seven years from now, based only on information known to us now...is stupidity for expediency's sake. It's "government by assumption" - and haven't you ever heard?
"When you ASSUME, you make an ASS out of U and ME."
Far be it from me to suggest that cutting or suspending fuel taxes, so people won't have to choose between a gallon of milk and a gallon of gasoline, is a better idea - one that could conceivably be implemented in the near future and not in the middle of the next decade. No, I'm totally with the Federal Government on this. Let's waste more money, create more rules people and companies are going to find some way to get around, and exacerbate our problems rather than eliminate them. NOT! Come on, people...they're calling for an increase in miles-per-gallon, but not a decrease in gas prices.
Hey, here's an idea - why not increase fuel efficiency, cut fuel taxes, and set a cap on gas prices...so one day, people can fill up their gas tanks for cheaper, and have that gas last longer?
Nah, that makes too much sense.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
We Should Do the Sovereign Thing
Monday, April 21, 2008 brought with it the news that The United States of America and the French Republic were drafting a United Nations resolution authorizing governments to chase and arrest pirates operating off the coast of that despondently ever-failing and chaotic African entity going by the name Somalia. This development came after a rise in the frequency of incidents - including a recent one which caused the price of a barrel of oil to go up significantly - after years of piratical events being more or less tolerated by the international community, except when dumb pirates chose the wrong moment to hijack a ship and had the United States Navy suddenly - to the luck of intended victims - intervene.
One who pays little attention to news events, or gives the United Nations the benefit of the doubt, might be encouraged by a combined effort by Washington and Paris to address the issue. Even I, educated skeptic that I am, have to admit I'm slightly pleased. But only slightly.
What ever happened to sovereignty, that old fashioned principle by which nations were accorded the right to make and carry out decisions for themselves? By my observation, in our modern times the United Nations and other international entities (not to mention even certain American political parties) only see oppressive, dictatorial regimes as the rightful possessors of sovereignty; countries where representative government - in some form - exists and all citizens are theoretically equal under the law see their sovereignty no longer recognized. While dictatorships are permitted to keep in their country whomever they want, democracies can no longer be so picky when it comes to who they let in...we're just supposed to let in everybody, regardless of their respect for or understanding of domestic laws concerning our borders.
In the early 1800s, the American Republic did not need the permission of any other country or organization to go to war against the "Barbary States", whose pirates (the real kind...hardly the Johnny Depp romanticized versions) had for years afflicted international shipping and exacted tribute from supposedly strong, sovereign nations in Europe. These were the pirates, you may remember, who upon capturing non-Muslim sailors enslaved them. These were the Muslim pirates who conducted war not because there was any occupation by a "Western nation" of Muslim lands, but due to the concept of "al-jihad fil-bahr", in English "the holy war at sea" (I've written about this in a couple of previous blog postings). When going to war against Muslim terrorists 200 years ago, President Thomas Jefferson sought only the support of Congress - there was, after all, no corrupt international organization (such as the United Nations) to genuflect to at the time.
But these days, for the benefit of nations that wish us more ill than health, this so-called "superpower" known officially as The United States of America willingly submits itself to the superpower kryptonite that is the United Nations...paying a hefty burden of the UN's tab for the privilege of being insulted by feted dictators before an applauding General Assembly. As if that weren't enough, New York City time and again gets cheated out of millions of dollars in unpaid traffic violation fines racked up by visiting UN delegates (ain't diplomatic immunity grand?). This means, basically, that even with the most powerful Navy in the history of mankind, the American government must first beg for permission to defend our interests - among them, maintaining the "Freedom of the Seas" - rather than do "the sovereign thing," which if you ask me, worked pretty well for us in the past.
Imagine a world in which, after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt had to first seek the permission or support of the United Nations Security Council before taking retaliatory action? Thank God such wasn't the case, though the United Nations did come into existence around that time...the difference being, it wasn't the name of an organization so much as an alliance of countries opposed to the Axis powers.
Despite the best efforts of the Arab League, European Union and Russian Federation, the State of Israel doesn't wait for UN permission to bomb rocket-launching sites in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Thank God for that, too, though Prime Minister Olmert & Co. don't instill me with confidence in their ability to defend the Jewish state.
These pirates making "mischief" off the coast of Somalia don't care one way or the other what the UN thinks - whether the organization supports or opposes them, they'll keep doing what they're doing anyway...and endangering lives in the process. If they have no qualms operating outside of the arbitrary legal strictures set in place by the United Nations, we should have no qualms circumventing the Useless Nuisance ourselves and exercising our sovereign right to...well, quite frankly, to do what we feel is right. What we know to be right. This, after all, is our sovereign right.
I understand, mind you, the current belief that the international system as it now stands provides something akin to societal and diplomatic stability in an otherwise chaotic world. But claiming that we must always go through the United Nations' diplomatic channels before military actions can gain legitimacy is a cop-out, an excuse made by those too scared to confront - or even recognize the existence of - the various Big and Small Bads out there needing to be confronted by America (who else will confront them? Remember the "Barbary Pirates" example). Not every issue facing the United States needs to be referred to a committee first...this is especially so when that "committee" has a known anti-American bias.
Sometimes you have to operate outside of the law (in this case, "international law") in order for that law to be upheld for the people and kept by those who serve them. Why is it only comic book writers and illustrators seem to be the ones who have, decade after decade, truly and consistently understood this reality? Batman consults with Commissioner Gordon - but doesn't seek permission from Gordon to act. One acts outside the system, and the other acts from within the system itself. The goal is the same - only the methods, motivations and tools differ.
In general - not just when it comes to dealing with pirates off the Somalian coast - we should "do the sovereign thing" and let the rest of the world whine about it to their heart's content. Why? Other countries will thank us later...more often than not, they'll see we acted in their interests as well as our own. Even if they do so begrudgingly, even if they do so clandestinely, they will thank us. They say they don't want the U.S. to be the world's policeman, yet they also don't want to do the job of upholding international law and order themselves. Well...
Well, I'm sorry, but someone's gotta do it - you can't just talk about doing it, and expect everything to be hunky-dory...wait, I take that back.
Actually, you can...if you're at the UN!
One who pays little attention to news events, or gives the United Nations the benefit of the doubt, might be encouraged by a combined effort by Washington and Paris to address the issue. Even I, educated skeptic that I am, have to admit I'm slightly pleased. But only slightly.
What ever happened to sovereignty, that old fashioned principle by which nations were accorded the right to make and carry out decisions for themselves? By my observation, in our modern times the United Nations and other international entities (not to mention even certain American political parties) only see oppressive, dictatorial regimes as the rightful possessors of sovereignty; countries where representative government - in some form - exists and all citizens are theoretically equal under the law see their sovereignty no longer recognized. While dictatorships are permitted to keep in their country whomever they want, democracies can no longer be so picky when it comes to who they let in...we're just supposed to let in everybody, regardless of their respect for or understanding of domestic laws concerning our borders.
In the early 1800s, the American Republic did not need the permission of any other country or organization to go to war against the "Barbary States", whose pirates (the real kind...hardly the Johnny Depp romanticized versions) had for years afflicted international shipping and exacted tribute from supposedly strong, sovereign nations in Europe. These were the pirates, you may remember, who upon capturing non-Muslim sailors enslaved them. These were the Muslim pirates who conducted war not because there was any occupation by a "Western nation" of Muslim lands, but due to the concept of "al-jihad fil-bahr", in English "the holy war at sea" (I've written about this in a couple of previous blog postings). When going to war against Muslim terrorists 200 years ago, President Thomas Jefferson sought only the support of Congress - there was, after all, no corrupt international organization (such as the United Nations) to genuflect to at the time.
But these days, for the benefit of nations that wish us more ill than health, this so-called "superpower" known officially as The United States of America willingly submits itself to the superpower kryptonite that is the United Nations...paying a hefty burden of the UN's tab for the privilege of being insulted by feted dictators before an applauding General Assembly. As if that weren't enough, New York City time and again gets cheated out of millions of dollars in unpaid traffic violation fines racked up by visiting UN delegates (ain't diplomatic immunity grand?). This means, basically, that even with the most powerful Navy in the history of mankind, the American government must first beg for permission to defend our interests - among them, maintaining the "Freedom of the Seas" - rather than do "the sovereign thing," which if you ask me, worked pretty well for us in the past.
Imagine a world in which, after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt had to first seek the permission or support of the United Nations Security Council before taking retaliatory action? Thank God such wasn't the case, though the United Nations did come into existence around that time...the difference being, it wasn't the name of an organization so much as an alliance of countries opposed to the Axis powers.
Despite the best efforts of the Arab League, European Union and Russian Federation, the State of Israel doesn't wait for UN permission to bomb rocket-launching sites in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Thank God for that, too, though Prime Minister Olmert & Co. don't instill me with confidence in their ability to defend the Jewish state.
These pirates making "mischief" off the coast of Somalia don't care one way or the other what the UN thinks - whether the organization supports or opposes them, they'll keep doing what they're doing anyway...and endangering lives in the process. If they have no qualms operating outside of the arbitrary legal strictures set in place by the United Nations, we should have no qualms circumventing the Useless Nuisance ourselves and exercising our sovereign right to...well, quite frankly, to do what we feel is right. What we know to be right. This, after all, is our sovereign right.
I understand, mind you, the current belief that the international system as it now stands provides something akin to societal and diplomatic stability in an otherwise chaotic world. But claiming that we must always go through the United Nations' diplomatic channels before military actions can gain legitimacy is a cop-out, an excuse made by those too scared to confront - or even recognize the existence of - the various Big and Small Bads out there needing to be confronted by America (who else will confront them? Remember the "Barbary Pirates" example). Not every issue facing the United States needs to be referred to a committee first...this is especially so when that "committee" has a known anti-American bias.
Sometimes you have to operate outside of the law (in this case, "international law") in order for that law to be upheld for the people and kept by those who serve them. Why is it only comic book writers and illustrators seem to be the ones who have, decade after decade, truly and consistently understood this reality? Batman consults with Commissioner Gordon - but doesn't seek permission from Gordon to act. One acts outside the system, and the other acts from within the system itself. The goal is the same - only the methods, motivations and tools differ.
In general - not just when it comes to dealing with pirates off the Somalian coast - we should "do the sovereign thing" and let the rest of the world whine about it to their heart's content. Why? Other countries will thank us later...more often than not, they'll see we acted in their interests as well as our own. Even if they do so begrudgingly, even if they do so clandestinely, they will thank us. They say they don't want the U.S. to be the world's policeman, yet they also don't want to do the job of upholding international law and order themselves. Well...
Well, I'm sorry, but someone's gotta do it - you can't just talk about doing it, and expect everything to be hunky-dory...wait, I take that back.
Actually, you can...if you're at the UN!
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Who's Calling the Shots Now, Eh?
Folks, I gotta tell ya...I'm feeling pretty good about myself right now.
Why?
I'll tell you.
Did you harbor any doubts I would?
And no, this isn't an April Fool's Day thing.
Take a look at this commentary, written by John R. Lott, Jr. for FoxNews.com. It's called "The 'Recession' is a Media Myth", and it was published March 31, 2008:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,343671,00.html
Now, assuming you haven't already done so, go back in time, in my own blog, and read "It's the End of the World (but it isn't)!"...written January 23, 2008:
http://therealslimslavin.blogspot.com/2008/01/its-end-of-world-but-it-isnt.html
If you haven't already gotten the point, I'll...point...it out to you.
I was ahead of the game, there. I hit the ball out of the park, and I knew where it would go. I paved the way.
Call me The Pioneer.
But that's not all, kids...
As I blogged on March 14,
"I would love to see millions upon millions of Americans purchase a hearty supply of fuel containers, fill 'em up with a month's - or even a week and a half's - worth of gasoline, and then let the oil companies squirm from lack of continued business. I'd love to see sit-in-car strikes at gas stations, where people fed up with ever-rising prices refuse to move their cars until something significant is done. Refuse to move their cars, and refuse to buy anything - anything at all from the convenience store. I'd love to see such things happen, but it likely won't."
Of course, as you surely remember, O Wonderful and Adoration-filled Audience O'Mine, that paragraph is from the blog entry written prior to the one you are reading now, and it was called "We're Fueling Taxation Without Representation". And while what follows is not, exactly, the same thing - and very well may be an April Fool's Day stunt - the undeniable fact is that I called for a "strike" in protest of rising gas prices before news broke of a possible strike, by truckers, sparked by painfully high gas (in this case, diesel) prices:
FoxNews: At Up to $1,200 a Fill-Up, Truckers to Strike Over Record Diesel Prices
NewsChannel 5, Nashville, Tennessee: Truck Drivers Threaten To Strike On April Fool's Day
USA Today: Truckers to protest fuel costs
I'm not, by any means, claiming to be a modern-day Nostradamus (though it is worth noting that his family had Jewish roots). Nor could I ever hope to have the sort of wisdom of שלמה המלך (King Solomon). I'm not even going to go much into how I called for Egypt to take back the Gaza Strip - at least, raised the suggestion - way back on June 15, 2007, in "Oh My, Gaza!" , half a year before noted Mideast commentator Daniel Pipes said "Give Gaza Back to Egypt" in The Jerusalem Post on January 30, 2008.
I'll just let you look on your own.
Anyway, when perusing the news on a Monday's evening, and you find that once again, you've been ahead of the game - ahead of others - in a manner most pleasing to yourself and your ego, well...as others catch up - 'cause that's what they're doing, chilluns - you can't help but feel justified in claiming that you are "Awesomeness" personified.
The word "Awesome" made flesh.
So help me - and endlessly Thank - God.
"What do you think of the nerve of that big monkey. Imagine the guy calling his shot and getting away with it." - Lou Gehrig, on Babe Ruth's famous "called shot" home run of October 1, 1932 during the 5th inning of Game 3 of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Chicago Cubs, played at Wrigley Field
Why?
I'll tell you.
Did you harbor any doubts I would?
And no, this isn't an April Fool's Day thing.
Take a look at this commentary, written by John R. Lott, Jr. for FoxNews.com. It's called "The 'Recession' is a Media Myth", and it was published March 31, 2008:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0
Now, assuming you haven't already done so, go back in time, in my own blog, and read "It's the End of the World (but it isn't)!"...written January 23, 2008:
http://therealslimslavin
If you haven't already gotten the point, I'll...point...it out to you.
I was ahead of the game, there. I hit the ball out of the park, and I knew where it would go. I paved the way.
Call me The Pioneer.
But that's not all, kids...
As I blogged on March 14,
"I would love to see millions upon millions of Americans purchase a hearty supply of fuel containers, fill 'em up with a month's - or even a week and a half's - worth of gasoline, and then let the oil companies squirm from lack of continued business. I'd love to see sit-in-car strikes at gas stations, where people fed up with ever-rising prices refuse to move their cars until something significant is done. Refuse to move their cars, and refuse to buy anything - anything at all from the convenience store. I'd love to see such things happen, but it likely won't."
Of course, as you surely remember, O Wonderful and Adoration-filled Audience O'Mine, that paragraph is from the blog entry written prior to the one you are reading now, and it was called "We're Fueling Taxation Without Representation". And while what follows is not, exactly, the same thing - and very well may be an April Fool's Day stunt - the undeniable fact is that I called for a "strike" in protest of rising gas prices before news broke of a possible strike, by truckers, sparked by painfully high gas (in this case, diesel) prices:
FoxNews: At Up to $1,200 a Fill-Up, Truckers to Strike Over Record Diesel Prices
NewsChannel 5, Nashville, Tennessee: Truck Drivers Threaten To Strike On April Fool's Day
USA Today: Truckers to protest fuel costs
I'm not, by any means, claiming to be a modern-day Nostradamus (though it is worth noting that his family had Jewish roots). Nor could I ever hope to have the sort of wisdom of שלמה המלך (King Solomon). I'm not even going to go much into how I called for Egypt to take back the Gaza Strip - at least, raised the suggestion - way back on June 15, 2007, in "Oh My, Gaza!" , half a year before noted Mideast commentator Daniel Pipes said "Give Gaza Back to Egypt" in The Jerusalem Post on January 30, 2008.
I'll just let you look on your own.
Anyway, when perusing the news on a Monday's evening, and you find that once again, you've been ahead of the game - ahead of others - in a manner most pleasing to yourself and your ego, well...as others catch up - 'cause that's what they're doing, chilluns - you can't help but feel justified in claiming that you are "Awesomeness" personified.
The word "Awesome" made flesh.
So help me - and endlessly Thank - God.
"What do you think of the nerve of that big monkey. Imagine the guy calling his shot and getting away with it." - Lou Gehrig, on Babe Ruth's famous "called shot" home run of October 1, 1932 during the 5th inning of Game 3 of the World Series between the New York Yankees and the Chicago Cubs, played at Wrigley Field
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