TheDuke's Domain

Cincinnati City Council to allow deer hunting in parks I think this is a great idea. I think they should have been doing this all along to help control the number of deer in the parks instead of using police sharpshooters. More cost efficient to let private individuals kill the animals instead of paying salary and possibly over time for the work.

Labels: Cincinnati, deer, parks

In a continuation of the theme hit upon in the post below, another good blogger Tom Blumer at Bizzy Blog has hit upon more bias and sloppy reporting from AP. Tom finds AP quoting a report put out by the Pew Charitable Trusts claiming so-called renewable energy jobs outpacing economic growth of the economy in general. When Tom looked into the numbers put out by Pew, he found they didn't jibe with numbers put out by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Further digging found that Pew relied upon a third firm but didn't really disclose the relationship.

While I have no doubt that growing concern and interest in environmental issues will lead to very different jobs than ones held by our parents or grand parents, it is premature to say that the movement has created all of these new jobs ex-nihilo. This is especially the case when most environmental groups have been in favor of greater amounts of government involvement and regulation of the economy. I agree with James Taranto

This misleading framing of the data did not originate with the AP; the Pew press release is titled "Pew Finds Clean Energy Economy Generates Significant Job Growth." But this points to a way in which media bias often operates. Rarely do news reporters merely rewrite a press release touting a study that comes from a conservative or free-market group. Instead, they take a more critical approach in order to compensate for the group's bias. There's nothing wrong with that; the fault lies in journalists' failing to apply a similar skepticism to liberal groups.

This story and the one commented below point to glaring examples of certain groups getting essentially a free pass from AP while others are looked at with more skepticism if not hostility. Pew Charitable Trusts show growth in "renewable energy" jobs unbelievably outgrowing the rest of the economy? Pass the report on. Hamas sets up a dating service as part of its "community outreach"? Downplay the rockets, arms smuggling and violence perpetrated by the group. What makes these stories really offensive is knowing newspapers in most cities run them verbatim.

AP has some serious problems and this would seem to be the biggest one. Fixing the bias and laziness of journalists would go a long way towards earning the trust and dollars of the American public.

Labels: Associated Press, bias, journalism

When it comes to matters of Middle East politics, I must confess that I have a few basics down, but it really isn't a strong suit of mine. I know that groups like Hamas, Fatah and Hezbollah all try to portray (with a stunning degree of success) their jihads against Israel as fighting against a western imperialist beachhead and all they want is to pursue peace, brotherhood and good will towards all. I also recognize that these groups try very hard to stage photos and "film" of Israeli "atrocities" all of the time, especially when the shooting heats up. I also know that "recognizing" Israel's right to exist is seen as a major concession from Muslim countries in the region.

But even with the recognition of the tilted reporting field, there are pieces that are so over the top in their puffery that they shouldn't be ignored. Diaa Hadid wrote such a piece for AP on June 6. The article is about a Hamas run dating service in Gaza to assist women find suitable marriage partners. I have no problem with this service, but the tone and tenor of the article glosses over the fact that Hamas is a terrorist organization. some choice quotes from the article:

. . . Despite its fearsome reputation elsewhere, Hamas is known here for its cradle-to-grave welfare programs for the poor. It is a cornerstone of its political support in Gaza, where poverty is deepening as Israel and Egypt maintain an almost two-year blockade of the Hamas-run territory. Now, the group is branching out into matters of the heart.

"This is our vision of humanitarian work," said Wael Zard, director of the Tayseer association. "This makes people close to Hamas and makes Hamas close to the people." . . .

. . . The one other matchmaking service in Gaza is little used. The Tayseer association was originally founded to fund and organize mass weddings, a service for poor or disabled Gazans who often can't afford the costs of a ceremony. Next month, a mass wedding is planned for more than a dozen blind Palestinians.

While Hamas is considered a terrorist group in the West because of its attacks on Israel - including suicide bombings - it also provides Gaza's poor with food coupons, medical care and other services. Its social network helped make the group popular, gaining it victory over its Palestinian rival Fatah in 2006 parliament elections. The following year, Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip in clashes with Fatah . . .

Yes, yes Hamas does send homicide bombers into Israel, fires rockets at Israel from civilian locations and turns Gaza into an armed camp; but noticing that is to oversee the good they do in providing for the welfare of their poor Gazan brothers and sisters (end sarc). I would also be remiss if I didn't point out Ms. Hadid's sly dig at the Israeli military when it finally hit back last year.

. . . Tahani, who spoke on condition that only her first name be used because she is using the service without her family knowing, said she turned to Tayseer a year ago. Her mother died when Tahani was young, and none of her relatives were helping her find a groom.

The young woman said she became more determined to find a husband after Israel 's three-week war on Hamas, which ended in January. Israel 's assault killed hundreds of civilians, and Gaza's residents hunkered down in homes and shelters during the shelling, not knowing where bombs would fall next.

"My brothers held their wives when they were scared. I felt lonely," said Tahani, a university graduate in social work . . .

Like I said, I'm largely ignorant of details from the region, but it's my understanding that Hamas put their rockets in the midst of civilians in preparation for conflict. Why put your weapons in the midst of the people you are ostensibly trying to help? I don't think it's for aesthetic reasons. When Hamas put weapons in the midst of civilian populations, it knew exactly what it was doing and were cool with it, even if innocent civilians had to die.

Three final items on this piece: 1. Given the violence (there's that dastardly word again) Hamas committed against members of their "political rivals" Fatah during and immediately after the Israeli assault into Gaza last year, I'm not surprised the Hamas dating service is popular compared to the competition.
2. If this is seen as community outreach on the part of palestinian authorities, did the Tayseer Association for Marriage and Development in Gaza get any of the 1 Billion in foreign aid sent by the Obama administration to the Gaza strip?
3. You know, Hamas could buy a lot more food, medical care and the like if they just stopped buying weapons of war. It's a crazy idea I know, but it just might work if given a try.

Labels: Diaa Hadid, Hamas, Israel, Middle East

When looking at the choices before the American people tomorrow, I will gladly push the button for Senator John McCain. I arrive at this conclusion easily and on two basis. First comes the indictment of Senator Barack Obama, John McCain's general election opponent. Hopefully, I will have put together a strong case FOR John McCain and have that in the next post.

On October 7, Victor Davis Hanson penned one of his regular columns for Pajamas Media. In the middle of the work, was one of the best indictments against Barack Obama this cycle.

What’s the Matter with Obama?

For all those who write in adoration of Obama’s hope and change mantra, I hope that they can at least see why others are worried about his candidacy. The problem is not an Ayers or Wright per se, but the succession of such odious figures—the bomber Ayers,the racist Pfleger, the Palestinian zealot Khalidi, the crook Rezko, the hyper-racist Wright, etc.—that in aggregate cement the notion of a young hip radical who ingratiated himself with suspect characters, all of whose ideas Obama wishes suddenly to downplay rather than publicize.

Come Clean

He did not just know a Wright or Rezko, but knew them quite well for quite a long time. And in the case of Ayers, Obama has sorely misled: he apparently still emailed and communicated with him after 9/11, when Ayers, on his Fugitive Justice book tour, grandly announced that he regretted only that he had not bombed enough. At that point any further communication was indefensible, since the New York Times had widely circulated Ayers’ views. Yet Obama was emailing him at least until 2005!

A Pattern Here?

But even that coterie of fringe figures would ipsis factis not be fatal to his candidacy, if he and his wife had not serially dropped hints that they had deep reservations about this country that only reinforced the messages we hear from Ayers and Wright (“God D—mn America”)—and therefore confirm the picture of the Obamas as products of a disturbing Chicago leftist circle.

Michelle announces that the U.S. is “downright mean” and that hitherto she had no reason to have pride in America (a logical thing to say, given whom the Obamas had associated with for years). Indeed, her assertions, “For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country,” was not only not an anomaly, but typical of her world view: “Our souls are broken in this nation, ” or “(America is) just downright mean.”

Indeed, such declarations are in line with Obama himself when he says, “And if that child should ever get the chance to travel the world and someone should ask her where is she from, we believe that she should always be able to hold her head high with pride in her voice when she answers, “I am an American.” I think most Americans, given what they’ve seen of the United Nations and the world abroad, are already proud to be Americans and don’t need Barack Obama to restore their faith. And if it were a question of being admired by those on the West Bank, or in Russia, or Iran, they’d rather be disliked.

Still More

Even all that would be tolerable if Obama did not almost serially make the most astounding statements, from calling (before chastised) for reparations, ethnic studies charter schools, and more “Oppression Studies” to demonizing the white working class of Pennsylvania (“And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”)

More Still

But even his associates and his own admissions would not be fatal, had Obama himself not been involved in suspect organizations like ACORN, like the Woods Foundation, and like the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, that typically squandered someone else’s money to help radical organizations undermine existing institutions in service to some utopian vision of what they wish the United States someday to become.

Too Many Lacunae
And even then I would withhold judgment had Obama earned any record of success rather than played on identity politics. He had no distinguished record as an undergraduate at Columbia (so far as we can tell, given his refusal to release his transcripts) that would have won entry to Harvard Law School. Once there, he published nothing, in contrast to past editors at the Law Review. There is no record that his community organizing helped any but the career of Obama, and many of the Rezko projects are now boarded up. As a state legislator there is no record of legislative achievement, but plenty of ‘present’ votes to prepare for further career aggrandizement. As a Chicago Law Professor, there is not a single scholarly article of the sort Chicago insists on for everyone else. And as a US Senator, there is essentially a campaign for president from the day he was sworn in. So, yes, there is a pattern or rhetoric at the expense of achievement.

One sees that had Obama not been of half-African ancestry, or had he not used identity politics to accentuate that background, there is no reason to believe he would have ever left Chicago politics. Certainly he has no record comparable to a Rice or Powell, who excelled in their given areas of expertise, and while proud of their race, still felt it to be incidental to their professional personae. Again in contrast, when concerns about voter registration, Bill Ayers, or Obama’s experience are voiced, both the candidate and his appendages almost instinctively play the race card–we saw that today with the worries over Acorn and the attacks on Palin for raising the Ayers issue yesterday.

The Flip-flopping

And even then I would have withheld judgment had it not been for his (always later retracted after huddling with his advisers) revealing statements that an Iran was not much of a threat, that we needed to cut missile defense, that there was no need for further oil drilling should we just properly inflate our tires, that all U.S. troops should have left Iraq by March 2008, that we should leave NAFTA (later modified), that we should repeal the FISA accords (later modified), and a host of other disturbing contradictions on taxes, guns, abortion, capital punishment, public campaign financing, and almost every other position he took in the early primaries.

The Anoited Do as They Please

But even all that might be tolerable had Obama not engaged in questionable politics that reveal the Old Left’s doctrine of the noble ends always justifying the dirty means—suing to get an opponent off the ballot, his friends leaking, or in collusion with others leaking, sealed divorce records, not once, but twice to eliminate his primary and general election favored rivals, and now legions of Obamaniacs swarming radio shows to intimidate critics, fund raising millions of dollars illegally from foreign donors and the nonexistent, or his efforts to shut down free speech by seeking to sue or intimidate officials to stop unfavorable opposition ads.

Non Hic Porcus

So after a while, it adds up and becomes rather scary—and thus I still resist ‘we are the change we’ve been waiting for,’ vero possumus, and this is the moment when the planet ceased to warm and the seas subsided nonsense. And I have no apologies for such resistance, despite the swarm of emails one receives alleging racism, or worse for not bowing down in obeisance.

Victor Davis Hanson nails it precisely. Given what little we really know about the man, how can we, trust Senator Obama's judgement on judges, economic policy, war, peace and the like? Given what we really know about the man's past, what would indicate that he would battle, fight, irritate or seriously challenge more radical members of his party for the good of the country as a whole?

To answer the question, there is nothing that would indicate he put the needs of the country before himself, his ideological comrades or his political party. Given his track record, Barack Obama has not demonstrated strength of character needed in challenging times that are coming this country's way in the years ahead.

Senator Barack Obama has been put in the dock and found wanting. On November 4, I will be voting against Barack Obama and for John McCain (this case forthcoming). I urge all the readers of this post to do the same.

One night, not too long ago, I was surfing the website of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. I decided to try to get a feel for what's happening in business in Seattle. When I looked at the drop down menu, I noticed a link to a "Layoff Tracker" that goes back to January of 2000. The listings seemed to stop in 2006 for the non "high tech" but keep going to today for "high tech" companies.

The irritating thing about the compiling of layoff data is that it only presents one view of the economy. Job losses are significant for those affected by them, but any cursory reading of serious economics would hopefully tell the reporters that our capitalist system is one of creative destruction whereby jobs in one field or with one company are lost only to be replaced eventually with other jobs that are either equal to what was lost or are better. I suspect that given the population growth of the Puget Sound area, the number of jobs created would far outpace the number of jobs lost, thus being far too much work for the diligent employees at the Post-Intelligencer to handle.<*sarc*>

Labels: economics, jobs, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Tom Blumer over at Bizzyblog has posted a column he originally wrote for pajamas media, talking about the potential merger between Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines. His point was that media scaremongering about higher air fares just did not hold water when compared to fares out of single hub cities like Cincinnati. He goes on to give real examples of how much higher fares from Cincinnati are when compared to the relatively close cities of Columbus, Indianapolis, Dayton and Louisville. His point is well made and spot on.

His column got me thinking about the fares out of Cincinnati in comparison to other cities in the U.S. Tom was more right than he lets on in his column. Let's examine some recent data from the Department of Transportation Office of Aviation Analysis "Consumer Air Fare Report" (link). These quarterly reports demonstrate that residents in Cincinnati pay local premiums that are almost twice the next city's premiums. This is pretty consistent year after year since at least 2002. I also noticed that when I stepped back from the data a little bit, I noticed that other cities with "fortress hubs" were consistently near the top spots as well. Cities such as Memphis (Northwest), Dallas-Ft. Worth (American), Atlanta (Delta), Minneapolis-St. Paul (Northwest), Charlotte (U.S. Air) were consistently in the top 20 of cities when arranged by fare premiums. To examine my research go here, here, and here and scroll down to table seven in the reports and see for yourself.

I wrote not to long ago that losing Delta's hub here in Cincinnati would hardly be the end of the world if the people who run the airport took action to bring in other discount carriers or seek to expand the presence of one of the "legacy" carriers here. I also wrote here my support of a Delta/Northwest merger. I thought then that the merger made sense and I still feel that way. As a caveat, the airlines will have to be careful in their negotiations with their unions and they will have to execute precisely to make the move a true success, but I think they have a good opportunity to do it. I have my concerns about this merger, but looking at the data and reflecting on my own experience as an airline passenger, losing a fortress hub is one of the least of my concerns.

(HT: BizzyBlog)

Labels: air fares, airline industry, Delta, merger, Northwest

According to this article from the AP, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer has resigned from his office. As a conservative who considered him a demagougic bully when he was Attorney General of New York, I am relieved he is gone. I am impressed that the New York Times was as clear as it was when it called for his immediate resignation from office. This kind of moral clarity is rare from the Times, but should be applauded whenever it's found.

I am relieved that Mr. Spitzer has resigned because his recognition of his shame and his criminal activity is a sad but refreshing turn from shameless politicians who ride out scandalous storms instead of resigning. I am relieved because Mr. Spitzer can begin to repair the moral ecology around him. I am also relieved because there will be less caturwalling from those who argue that prostitution is a victimless crime.

A Final Thought

As we reflect upon this affair, let us realize that Mr. Spitzer, though he was a bully, was nevertheless an image bearer of God as we all are. Mr. Spitzer besmirched the image of God on many different levels. As governor, he was chosen by God to punish evil doers and to administer justice. Wicked kings have been used by God to dispense justice in the past, but his role and law enforcer and law maker was violated. As a man, he caused others to sin. We are all sinners before a holy and righteous God, but flouting God's moral law brings dishonor and ill repute to God's word. As a husband and head of household, his double life belied the image of Christ and His church. By doing what he did, Mr. Spitzer made God to be a cheater too, a clear lie.

I have to reflect on this mess and conclude that what Elliot Spitzer needs is the same thing that every last person needs: We need the redemption and forgiveness from our sins that can only be found in Jesus Christ's death, burial, resurrection and ascension. It is only the grace and the power of God that triumph over the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the boastful pride of life. May Mr. Spitzer find the redemption his soul desperately needs. And may we all do the same.

Labels: Elliot Spitzer, God, image of God, prostitution, redemption