Germany Mobilizes Forces to Respond to Terrorism

At NYT, "Fearing Terror Threat, Germany Raises Security":

Germany dispatched heavily armed police officers and bomb-sniffing dogs to train stations, airports and key landmarks on Wednesday as a new picture emerged of the terrorist threat that had already raised security levels in Britain and France.

In a hastily called news conference in Berlin, the country’s interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, said the government had “concrete indications of a series of attacks planned for the end of November,” and German, Pakistani and American officials offered similar accounts of intelligence that pointed to imminent attacks by terrorists trained in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

The officials said that American military drone strikes in those countries had killed some of the plotters and disrupted the plans, but that others were at large and might still strike.

In Washington, an American counterterrorism official detailed the intelligence behind a warning issued in October to Americans traveling in Europe. He said that about 25 fighters affiliated with Al Qaeda, organized into cells of three to five members, had been planning commando attacks in Britain, France and Germany. Since then, the official said, about 10 of the fighters have been killed or captured, most of them by drone strikes in Pakistan. He spoke on the condition of anonymity because his comments involved security matters.

A Pakistani official, who also spoke on the condition that he remain anonymous, said drone strikes in September and October were believed to have killed European recruits directly involved in various plots, possibly including attacks in Germany and Britain. But he said several such plotters were believed to be alive.

France has been on high alert for several weeks, deploying nearly 5,000 extra members of the military and the police force to patrol sites deemed vulnerable. Five people were arrested in France on terrorism charges last week. Officials said one of them had spent time in Afghanistan and the others had planned to travel to Pakistan. The officials also said one of the suspects had been involved in an assassination plot against the leader of the Great Mosque of Paris.

A high-ranking German intelligence official said reports had been streaming in for months that teams might be heading to Germany for a Mumbai-style attack or other terrorism strikes.

“The situation has developed over the past weeks and months,” the official said, also speaking anonymously. “There were new messages almost every day. The number of messages increased and concentrated on Germany.”

Army Staff Sgt. Savatore Giunta Receives Medal of Honor

He's the first living recipient from the war in Afghanistan.

At LAT, "Obama Presents Medal of Honor," and "The Gallant Story of Salvatore Giunta, America's Newest Medal of Honor Recipient."

Video c/o Legal Insurrection.

Heart of the Matter

Listened to it yesterday, on The Sound L.A.:

George Voinovich Hammers Obama's 'Political Expediency' on New START Treaty

Senator Richard Lugar's in the news tonight for rebuking the opposition among fellow Republicans to President Obama's START negotiations with Moscow.

But note that START ratification is one of the big progressive goals for the "lame duck" Congress, and to hear lefties it's like Republicans opponents of nuclear arms control are tantamount to newborn baby haters. Of course, no one --- no reasonable, sensitive person --- hates newborn babies, so it's important to move beyond progressive emotion and think hard about how U.S. interests are ill served by Obama's inept "reset" agenda with Russia. To that effect, see "Voinovich on New START: Political Expediency Should Never Be An Excuse To Rush To Judgment":

RELATED: At Weekly Standard, "Russian Opposition, Senate GOP Hammer Obama's Reset Policy."

Controversy Over Bristol Palin on 'Dancing With the Stars'

Is she getting an unfair advantage? At LAT, "'Dancing With the Stars': Blogosphere in a tizzy over Bristol Palin's advance to the finals." Plus, Erin Andrews weighs in, at ABC NEWS, "Bristol Palin Backlash: Is the Tea Party Stuffing the 'DWTS' Ballot Box?":

And Jezebel's got allegations, "How Palin Conservatives Are Cheating The DWTS Voting System."

RELATED: "Man Shoots TV Over Bristol Palin Dancing." (At Memeorandum.)

Fresno State Student Body President is Illegal Immigrant

And he refuses to step down:

Pedro Ramirez, Fresno State's student body president, is an undocumented immigrant serving in the position without pay.

Ramirez, 23, attends school on scholarships and pays in-state tuition. California is one of 10 states that permit undocumented immigrants to pay in-state tuition -- a position that was upheld by the state Supreme Court this week.

After his election last June, he told the administration he would serve without pay -- a $9,000 stipend -- because he could not lie on employment papers. On Tuesday, an anonymous tip to the college newspaper forced Ramirez to go public.

Ramirez, who came to U.S. at the age of 3, said he did not know he was not a citizen until he was a senior in high school. As long as he can remember, he said, his parents -- a maid and a restaurant worker -- have told him he must work hard and achieve the American dream. He said they did not tell him he was not born in this country until he began applying to universities.

"I knew my parents were from Mexico, but a lot of people's parents are from Mexico," he said. "I grew up American."

Other than college counselors and administrators, Ramirez told no one of his status.

"I just kept it within. One of those things you don't tell anyone," he said. "But now I'm almost relieved to have to be open. Congress is about to vote on the Dream Act, which gives college students a path to citizenship. So, you know, here I am. It's me. I am one of the thousands whose fate is in their hands."

Ramirez said he would not resign his position unless the students who elected him demanded it.

And here's this in an update:

Fresno State President John D. Welty said in a statement that Ramirez personally notified him after his election about his immigration status and volunteered to serve without pay. Welty said that Ramirez has fulfilled all the requirements of an AB 540 student and that his status does not bar his participation in student affairs.

Associated Students Inc. "requirements do not address immigration status, so Mr. Ramirez was not prohibited from running for ASI office," Welty said in his statement. "I commend Mr. Ramirez and other AB 540 students who are following state statute as they seek higher education.”

Also at the university's newspaper, The Daily Collegian. Plus, "Statement From President Welty."

I'm a graduate of Fresno State. I'll be contacting the foundation office to let folks know of my displeasure. Readers, if they're so inclined, can do so as well, at the link.

RELATED: At Michelle's, "As expected: California court upholds illegal alien student tuition discounts," and "Stop the illegal alien student bailout: DREAM Act target list; Plus: Sen. Sessions’ critical alert."

Palin Says She Can Beat Obama

Background at NYT, "Palin Tells Barbara Walters She Can Beat Obama." And at ABC News, "In Interview With Barbara Walters, Palin Says She Is Seriously Considering Entering Race in 2012." I'm not posting the video, which is less than 20 seconds long (and hence shorter than the 30 second advertisement that comes with it). The interview will air December 9. All of this is completely anti-climactic, but fun nevertheless. I'm betting Palin comes out with a formal candidate announcement in early January. (And I'd be surprised if she waits longer than that.)

More at Memeorandum, and especially at NYT, "The Palin Network."

Democrats Elect Pelosi as House Minority Leader

I've blogged the Democrats' leadership fight, so might as well update with the outcome. The Hill has the story. The final vote 150-43, which was stunning, apparently, since challenger Heath Shuler did not ask colleagues for votes. And here's this from The Hill:

GOP leaders were quick to criticize Democrats for re-electing Pelosi, accusing the party of being tone-deaf to the message sent by voters in the midterms.

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele issued a statement saying Democrats "chose to ignore the elections" and empower leaders who will continue "the same reckless, job-killing agenda that was just overwhelmingly rejected."

TigerHawk's Silver Surfer Silhouette

Hey, TSA touchin' junk is totally FUBAR, but until we junk the politically correct airport security regime, I doubt we can realistically move away from agressive pre-flight screening. Some folks don't mind so much anyway:

I would happily walk through one of those things if I could keep my shoes on, carry on fluids in normal sizes, leave my belt on and my coins in my pocket, and natter on in great good humor about the C4 strapped to my love handles. That would be an awesome trade.

RELATED: "Poll: 4 in 5 Support Full-Body Airport Scanners." (At Memeorandum.) But see Noah Shachtman, "Has Airport Security Gone Too Far?"

Democrats in Chaos Over Nancy Pelosi Power

It's all about power. The leadership of the Democratic caucus --- foremost Speaker Nancy Pelosi --- cares not one wit about party fortunes leading into 2012. Especially Pelosi, but Steny Hoyer and James Clyburn as well, want power for power's sake. Think of the sports analogy: In sports, when a championship puts in a middling season after taking the title, the head coach is usually the first to go. The fans want heads to roll. Perhaps it's Pelosi's breaking of the "marble ceiling," but this lady should be out on her ass. Both parties vote today, but check out the background on the Democratic caucus at Politico:

The Democratic old guard will try to hold the line Wednesday against a rank-and-file rebellion intent on winning some concession — no matter how small — from a leadership team seeking reelection despite having presided over the loss of at least 60 Democratic seats earlier this month.

The leadership election follows on the heels of a brutally long, contentious and divisive leadership meeting Tuesday, and it will determine not only whether Speaker Nancy Pelosi remains the head of the House Democratic contingent but just how much authority she will wield in the new Congress come January.

Pelosi is in no real danger of losing her job as leader of the Democratic Caucus, but she is being challenged by a diffuse set of critics, dozens of whom believe she should step aside after her party’s defeat, others who hope to strip her power to appoint loyalists to positions of influence within the caucus and still others who simply want more time to reflect on whether endorsing the same set of leaders is the best course of action for a defeated minority.

The Democratic fissures were laid bare Tuesday as various factions engaged in open warfare with one another, both in private discussions among lawmakers and in behind-the-scenes efforts to influence the outcome of the leadership elections and related votes on how to choose the party leader’s top lieutenants.

Pelosi and the old power brokers who led Democrats back into the majority four years ago are not conceding that they might be culpable in the party’s downfall.

Behind closed doors, Pelosi argued to her troops Tuesday that she was demonized in Republican campaign ads precisely because she is the party’s political rainmaker.

“I know some of you suffered because of ads targeted to me,” she said, according to several sources in the room. “They had to take down the person who brings the resources.”

Her allies contend that she is the only one with the strategic skills, the vision, the touch with donors and the political muscle to lead the party back to the majority.

That's genuinely sad.

RELATED: "Why Democrats Don't Dump Nancy Pelosi."

Leftist Jews and the 'Dual Loyalty' Smear Against Eric Cantor

Not enough time to blog everything, obviously. Not only that, I'm cutting back a bit on the high-powered political blogging. But this controversy surrounding incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor caught my attention. Cantor's Jewish. I can't imagine he'll ever be able to make any forceful statement on the protection of Israel without being attacked as a shill for "genocide." But the GOP's still weeks from taking power in the House, so the left's out of the gate pretty quick with the smears. Think Progress slammed Cantor earlier, "In An ‘Unusual’ Meeting, Cantor Tells Netanyahu The GOP Majority ‘Will Serve As A Check’ On Obama’s Israel Policy." That was followed by a round of attacks from the usual self-hating lefist Jews, as reported by William Jacobson, "Why Do Leftist Jewish Bloggers Love The Dual Loyalty Smear?"

I left a comment earlier. I'm always blown away by Mondoweiss, and this morning's no exception:

As I've reported earlier, "Philip Weiss met with Hamas terrorists last year, at an event co-sponsored by Code Pink and Norman Finkelstein. That gives a pretty good idea how far out these people are, enemies even."

Van Halen Recording New Album

At The Sound L.A.:

Although there are few details available, the line-up is David Lee Roth (vocals), Eddie Van Halen (guitar), Wolfgang Van Halen (bass) and Alex Van Halen (drums). It will be their first new studio album with Diamond Dave since 1984.

And at Classic Rock, "Van Halen Confirm Producer."

PREVIOUSLY: "Hey, Hey, Hey!"

Why Are We Supporting Repression in Ethiopia?

From William Easterly and Laura Freschi, at New York Review:

Foreign aid observers have often worried that Western aid to Africa is propping up autocratic regimes. Yet seldom has such a direct link from aid to political repression been demonstrated as in “Development without Freedom,” an extensively documented new report on Ethiopia by Human Rights Watch. Based on interviews with 200 people in 53 villages and cities throughout the country, the report concludes that the Ethiopian government, headed by prime minister Meles Zenawi, uses aid as a political weapon to discriminate against non-party members and punish dissenters, sending the population the draconian message that “survival depends on political loyalty to the state and the ruling party.”

Ethiopia is Africa’s largest recipient of foreign aid (at $3.3 billion in 2008 and rising), and is frequently described as a country where western assistance is providing a safety net for the poor and laying the groundwork for country-wide economic growth. Donors working in Ethiopia, citing progress on six out of the eight Millennium Development Goals, claim that aid has “had a significant impact on improving the lives of the poorest families.” A predominantly Christian country bordering two unstable Islamic states (Somalia, and Sudan), Ethiopia is also seen as a crucial ally in the “war on terror.”

Yet Human Rights Watch contends that the government abuses aid funds for political purposes—in programs intended to help Ethiopia’s most poor and vulnerable. For example, more than fifty farmers in three different regions said that village leaders withheld government-provided seeds and fertilizer, and even micro-loans because they didn’t belong to the ruling party; some were asked to renounce their views and join the party to receive assistance. Investigating one program that gives food and cash in exchange for work on public projects, the report documents farmers who have never been paid for their work and entire families who have been barred from participating because they were thought to belong to the opposition. Still more chilling, local officials have been denying emergency food aid to women, children, and the elderly as punishment for refusing to join the party.

More at the link.

I admire Easterly's work, for example: "Think Again: Debt Relief."

Saving Yemen

From Marisa Porges, at Foreign Affairs, "Is Counterterrorism Enough?":

Yemen rose to the forefront of U.S. counterterrorism efforts in December 2009, when Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was trained in Yemen by al Qaeda, attempted to bomb an airliner bound for Detroit. Since then, Washington has become concerned about the growing influence of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and its spokesman, the U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. When two bombs were sent on cargo from Yemen to the United States last month, public attention again focused on U.S. strategies to combat AQAP.

So far, however, these efforts have been complicated by the current state of Yemen itself, which faces a multitude of internal problems that are pushing it to the brink of failure. Interconnected threats from the Houthi rebellion in the north, an increasingly active secessionist movement in the south, and a host of growing socioeconomic problems make Yemen a priority for experts in both counterterrorism and development. Yemen’s potential collapse concerns U.S. officials not just because of al Qaeda but also because such an event could threaten U.S. access to Bab el-Mandab (the narrow strait into the Red Sea through which millions of barrels of oil and countless military vessels pass each day), as well as create the prospect of a vast Yemeni humanitarian crisis that could send millions of refugees into oil-rich Saudi Arabia and beyond.

As months pass with little clear progress, and as anxiety about AQAP grows, Western governments and Yemenis themselves are increasingly asking: Is it too late to save the country? Fortunately, there remains a small but rapidly closing window of opportunity to rescue Yemen and, in the process, address pressing security concerns.

RTWT at the link.

Romney Holds Slight Lead in Gallup's Post-Election Test-of-Strength Polling

I think the headline's a little misleading, "No Early Front-Runner for 2012 GOP Presidential Nomination" (via Memeorandum).

Now that the midterm elections are over, the field for the Republican presidential nomination will begin to take shape. So far, no candidate has officially announced his or her intention to seek the nomination, though the 12 candidates Gallup tested are known or thought to be seriously considering a campaign, and none has ruled out running. Many have already made appearances in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states to hold presidential nominating contests. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has ruled out a run for president in 2012, but his name is nevertheless volunteered by 1% of Republicans.

Folks should check the second table at Gallup. Romney leads Sarah Palin 18 to 16 percent among conservatives, but 21 to 14 percent among moderate/liberals. It's interesting that Romney stretches his lead, outside the margin of error, among the latter group. He's been mostly out of the limelight, but nevertheless continues to poll well. A post-election Rasmussen survey had Romney statistically tied with Palin and Mike Huckabee. It's early. Much of this is like a beauty contest. But once we see some formal candidate announcements in 2011, the poll findings, plus fundraising totals, will contribute significantly toward pre-primary momentum for 2012.

Professors Engage — and Monitor — Students with Hand-Held Devices

I came across this story by accident this morning, "More Professors Give Out Hand-Held Devices to Monitor Students and Engage Them." Just before my 9:00am class — and a lecture on Congress — I was looking for an article on Charles Rangel's ethics trial. I found that, but also this story on hand-held devices in the classroom. And it was funny because at the end of last week's 9:00am class a student stayed after to complain about some of the students in the back. They were talking so much that she couldn't hear. I apologized at the time. I mentioned that I had just dismissed a couple students from my 7:30am class, so it wasn't as though I was indifferent to disruptions. Anyway, I joked this morning that I needed some of these monitors for 9:00am to keep students on task. And as I did, two other students raised their hands to indicate that they'd actually used these devices at universities they'd attended previously. I guess I'm out of the loop, since this is the first time I'd heard of them:

If any of the 70 undergraduates in Prof. Bill White’s “Organizational Behavior” course here at Northwestern University are late for class, or not paying attention, he will know without having to scan the lecture hall.

Their “clickers” will tell him.

Every student in Mr. White’s class has been assigned a palm-size, wireless device that looks like a TV remote but has a far less entertaining purpose. With their clickers in hand, the students in Mr. White’s class automatically clock in as “present” as they walk into class.

They then use the numbered buttons on the devices to answer multiple-choice quizzes that count for nearly 20 percent of their grade, and that always begin precisely one minute into class. Later, with a click, they can signal to their teacher without raising a hand that they are confused by the day’s lesson.

But the greatest impact of such devices — which more than a half-million students are using this fall on several thousand college campuses — may be cultural: they have altered, perhaps irrevocably, the nap schedules of anyone who might have hoped to catch a few winks in the back row, and made it harder for them to respond to text messages, e-mail and other distractions.

In Professor White’s 90-minute class, as in similar classes at Harvard, the University of Arizona and Vanderbilt, barely 15 minutes pass without his asking students to “grab your clickers” to provide feedback

Though some Northwestern students say they resent the potential Big Brother aspect of all this, Jasmine Morris, a senior majoring in industrial engineering, is not one of them.

“I actually kind of like it,” Ms. Morris said after a class last week. “It does make you read. It makes you pay attention. It reinforces what you’re supposed to be doing as a student.”

More at the link.

Meet the New Small-Business Owners in Congress

This is cool, at NYT:

In the class of 2008, there were 11. Last Tuesday’s elections will send 33 small-business owners and entrepreneurs to Washington, according to The Agenda’s exhaustive (and exhausting) search. All are Republicans. Two are women.

Fourteen of them have never held elective office before. Most of the rest, though, have served in their state legislatures — and some even led their chambers ...

More here.

Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on the 'False Promise of Objectivity'

I'm with Robert Stacy McCain about Olby, "Wow. I Think I Agree With Olbermann." But in an otherwise pompous "Special Comment" (is there any other kind?), I was about to give Obermann the benefit of the doubt until he got to his rant about the "objective" reporting on the "lies" of Iraq. By now the left's "Bush lied people died" meme is so entrenched as to have practically surgically removed the critical thinking of any Democrat-Socialist partisan. Keith Olbermann's scores no points here, albeit after a good college try.

Leaked Body Scans

At Gizmodo:

At the heart of the controversy over "body scanners" is a promise: The images of our naked bodies will never be public. U.S. Marshals in a Florida Federal courthouse saved 35,000 images on their scanner. These are those images.

A Gizmodo investigation has revealed 100 of the photographs saved by the Gen 2 millimeter wave scanner from Brijot Imaging Systems, Inc., obtained by a FOIA request after it was recently revealed that U.S. Marshals operating the machine in the Orlando, Florida courthouse had improperly-perhaps illegally-saved images of the scans of public servants and private citizens.

We understand that it will be controversial to release these photographs. But identifying features have been eliminated. And fortunately for those who walked through the scanner in Florida last year, this mismanaged machine used the less embarrassing imaging technique.

More at the link, and Jawa Report, "We Look Forward To Seeing Your 'Next' Vacation Photos!" (via Memeorandum). Plus, Ann Althouse, "John Tyner, the Young Man Who Resisted the TSA's Groin-Grope, Will Now Be Probed."

PREVIOUSLY:

* "'If You Touch My Junk': Man Ejected From San Diego Airport for Refusing Security Check."

* "Janet Napolitano Defends TSA Full-Body Scans and Pat Downs."

* "Free John Tyner!"

Free John Tyner!

See the story at San Diego Union-Tribune, "TSA to Investigate Body Scan Resister." And at the video, the most compelling discussion is toward the end, with Shepard Smith and attorney Seth Berenzweig:

And previously: "Janet Napolitano Defends TSA Full-Body Scans and Pat Downs."

Greta Van Susteren's Interview with Former President George W. Bush

I'm wading my way through President Bush's memoirs, Decision Points. I know many conservatives lost faith in Bush, especially for the dramatic expansion of government during the administration. Michelle had the best post on this, "Bush Nostalgia: Let's Not Get Carried Away, OK?" I don't disagree with Michelle, although I'd add that while I'm not thrilled with the GOP's leadership in the runaway growth of government, GWB's moral leadership is his saving grace, and will never be forgotten in my case. Frankly, I came of age ideologically during the Bush years. Late bloomer, I guess, but this has been personally monumental. I've spoken so many times on my disgust with the left, and much of it had to do with the extreme toxicity of BDS. And that continues, as told by Doug Powers: "Left Greeting Bookstore Release of Bush’s ‘Decision Points’ With Level of Maturity You Might Expect."

In any case, President Bush is done with his network news interviews and has taken to Fox to finish out the book promotions. I envy Greta. I think meeting and talking with President Bush would be a real highlight. RELATED: From Kill Truck, at POWIP, "Decision Points: Quitting."

American Exceptionalism

From the letters at Los Angeles Times:

People who believe they're part of a great nation represent a problem for those who'd like to tear the house down and start over. Thus the left works tirelessly to persuade other Americans that they're nothing special — that in fact they're so bigoted, backward and selfish, only a fundamental restructuring of society can redeem them.

As a vote-getter, this proposition has obvious limitations. Obama skillfully shrouded it in gauzy platitudes during the 2008 campaign, but issues like Guantanamo, civilian trials for accused terrorists and Arizona's immigration law have since made his government's ideological distance from the mainstream unmistakable.

Most of us see a good country with flaws. The left sees a flawed country with potential — and the last two years as progress.

Michael Smith

And here's the original Jonah Goldberg essay: "The Bashing of American Exceptionalism."

The Reign of Right-Wing Primetime

I love the sound of that, at The Hollywood Reporter.

And Kathy Shaidle has more: "Two Americas -- Even When It Comes to TV Viewing."

RELATED: "Nielsen: 5 Million Watched Palin's TLC Show: 'Sarah Palin's Alaska' premiere Gets 5 Million Viewers, TLC's Best Series Premiere Ever."

Defeated House Dems Cry Me a River

Boo freakin' hoo. At The Hill, "Dejected House Dems Wipe Away Tears as GOP Celebrates Victory." (At Memeorandum.)

Always pathetic. Reminds me of crybaby Julián Tavárez bawling his eyes out after the Atlanta Braves beat the Cleveland Indians in the 1995 World Series. Disgraceful. Sometimes you gotta suck it up. Democrats. Losers.

George W. Bush on Hannity

I've got President Bush's interview with Greta Van Susteren scheduled for early morning, but this clip is short, and it's interesting to see some of the top administration advisers in the audience:

'Are IPE Journals Becoming Boring?'

Dr. Benjamin J. Cohen, my former professor at UCSB, argues that the formalization of international political economy, and the field's envy with the discipline of economics, and made for increasingly rigorous and sophisticated scholarship, but boring:

Many reasons have been suggested for American IPE’s love affair with scientific method – editorial control of journals, the standards applied in tenure or promotion cases, the way we teach our graduate students. But these are more symptom than cause. Underlying them all is a deeper issue, involving us and our peers in the economics profession. To be blunt: political scientists in the United States appear to have an inferiority complex when it comes to economics – what I have elsewhere described as a case of peer-us envy (Cohen 2009). The parsimonious reductionism of mainstream economics has come to set the standard for what passes for professionalism in our field. If today the most highly rated work in the American school tends to mimic the economist’s demanding hard-science model, it seems in large part to demonstrate that the field, for all the ambiguities of the political process, is no less capable of theoretical elegance and formal rigor. IPE scholars want respect, too. A kind of “creeping economism” has come to define what constitutes the legitimate study of our subject.

Not everyone agrees that this is a problem. For many, the trend represents progress – all part of the “maturing” of the field, as David Lake (2006) puts it. The more IPE scholars agree on a common epistemology, the more their work approaches the respectability of “normal” science. In Lake’s words (2009: 49), “cacophony” yields to “Kuhnian normalcy.” But at what cost? To my mind, such a happy assessment is altogether too kind, since it ignores all that is lost as a result. The price of this kind of “progress” is measured by how much now gets left out of what we have available to read.

In effect, the creep of economism has tended to shrink the horizons of scholarship. To a significant extent, this is because of the practical requirements of empiricism. By definition, a hard science model depends on the availability of reliable data. Research, accordingly, tends to become data-driven, diverted away from issues that lack the requisite numbers. In effect, the approach plays a key role in defining what can be studied, automatically marginalizing broader questions that cannot be reduced to a manageable set of regressions or structured case-study analysis.

RTWT at the link.

iTunes Store to Carry the Beatles

At WSJ, "Apple Finally Snares Beatles" (via Memeorandum):

Steve Jobs is nearing the end of his long and winding pursuit of the Beatles catalog.

Apple Inc. is preparing to disclose that its iTunes Store will soon start carrying music by the Beatles, according to people familiar with the situation, a move that would fill a glaring gap in the collection of the world's largest music retailer.

The deal resulted from talks that were taking place as recently as last week among executives of Apple, representatives of the Beatles and their record label, EMI Group Ltd., according to these people. These people cautioned that Apple could change plans at the last minute.

Spokesmen for Apple and EMI declined to comment.

Apple on Monday posted a notice on the home page of its iTunes Store that it would make "an exciting announcement" Tuesday morning.

Terms of the deal that brought the Beatles music to iTunes couldn't be learned, and it was unclear whether other online music services would gain access to the catalog too. However, Apple maintains a roughly 90% market share in the online music business.

More at the link, and also Media Gazer.

I heard "Back in the U.S.S.R." during afternoon drive time today, on The Sound L.A. Wikipedia's entry is here.

Newsweek: Is the Presidency Too Big a Job?

Is this a Tina Brown production? I wasn't holding my breath, but sheesh. This Daily Beast merger's got to do something for Newsweek (via Glenn Reynolds):

On the spring day that Obama signed his health-care-reform law, for instance, he also had an economic briefing on unemployment, discussions about financial reform, a meeting at the Department of the Interior, a quick lunch, a meeting with senior advisers and then with Senate leaders on ratification of a new nuclear-nonproliferation treaty with Russia, and an Oval Office summit with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on devising a model for Middle East peace. On cable TV, meanwhile, pundits offered nonstop analysis of the holes in the new reform package, while Sarah Palin renewed accusations of Obama’s “government takeover” of health care. A new poll showed that, for the first time, more of the country disapproved than approved of his job performance. In an interview with 60 Minutes that week, the president joked, “If you had said to us a year ago that the least of my problems would be Iraq...I don’t think anybody would have believed it.” Then he laughed. Steve Kroft, the interviewer, asked if he was “punch-drunk.”

More often, Obama projects a demeanor of unruffled cool: he can handle the pressures and demands of the job just fine (how could he suggest otherwise?), and he didn’t run for office “to pass on our problems to the next president or the next generation.” But the issue is not Obama, it’s the office. Aides to George W. Bush make similar complaints about the demands on the executive. “It was a much different place than even during the Bush Sr. administration,” says Joe Hagin, Bush 43’s deputy chief of staff, who also worked for Reagan and Bush 41. “There was much less time [under the second Bush] to catch your breath during the day.” He recalls the constant juggling of issues—from the wars to Katrina—often all at the same time. “There’s only so much bandwidth in the organization,” he says.

Can any single person fully meet the demands of the 21st-century presidency? Obama has looked to many models of leadership, including FDR and Abraham Lincoln, two transformative presidents who governed during times of upheaval. But what’s lost in those historical comparisons is that both men ran slim bureaucracies rooted in relative simplicity. Neither had secretaries of education, transportation, health and human services, veterans’ affairs, energy, or homeland security, nor czars for pollution or drug abuse, nor televisions in the West Wing constantly tuned to yammering pundits. They had bigger issues to grapple with, but far less managing to do. “Lincoln had time to think,” says Allan Lichtman, a professor of history at American University. “That kind of downtime just doesn’t exist anymore.”

Among a handful of presidential historians NEWSWEEK contacted for this story, there was a general consensus that the modern presidency may have become too bloated. “The growth is exponential in these last 50 years, especially the number of things that are expected of the president,” says presidential biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin, who had dinner with Obama and a handful of other historians last summer. Obama aides speaking on background say that the president’s inner circle can become stretched by the constant number of things labeled “crises” that land on his desk—many of which, like the mistaken firing of Department of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod in Georgia or the intricacies of the oil cleanup in the gulf, could easily be handled by lower-level staff. “Some days around here, it can almost be hard to breathe,” says one White House official who didn’t want to go on the record portraying his boss as overwhelmed. Another senior adviser says that sometimes the only way to bring the president important news is to stake out his office and “walk and talk” through the hall.

The growth of the presidency has been a sort of Catch-22. Most presidents after Roosevelt, at least until the Vietnam era, got by with only a few dozen advisers. Ted Sorensen, the Kennedy speechwriter who died last month, was actually hired as a domestic-policy counselor, one of only a handful (he wrote speeches in his spare time). Today there are more than 35 staffers devoted to domestic policy, plus more who parachute in on particular issues, like health care or energy. Yet as the president’s responsibilities have grown, the instinct has been to hire more people to help manage the work, including the flow of information. “That’s wrong; the more people you have in the White House, the more problems are sucked into it,” says James Pfiffner, a George Mason University professor of public policy whose 2007 book, The Modern Presidency, examined the enormous growth of the office. Other historians point to the changing role of cabinet secretaries. While Obama has more department leaders than ever before—15, compared with Gerald Ford’s 11 and Lincoln’s 7—many of them have less power and influence, which has required minor decisions about trade, energy, and economic strategy to be handled by White House staffers.

Political scientist Thomas Cronin once credited the period between World War II and Watergate as the “swelling of the presidency.” It was during the Eisenhower administration that historians first asked if the president simply had too many demands. But those were far less cluttered times. “We had a lot to do, and many people were asking questions, but we were never overwhelmed,” says Harry McPherson, who served as counsel, then special counsel, to Lyndon Johnson. Such memories sound quaint to current White House staffers. “There is never a day we come in and there are only a few things we need to do,” says Bill Burton, Obama’s deputy press secretary.

Interesting how the piece assumes that the crises of the '30s, '40s, '50s, and '60s were cakewalks compared to what Obama's facing today. Of course, we had a Great Depression, World War II, Korea, and the Cuban Missile Crisis in those days, and that's not counting Truman's seizure of the steel mills, Eisenhower's intervention in Little Rock, and Kennedy's promise to "pay any price, bear any burden ... in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty." I just don't think Obama's up for it, as Glenn points out, "Is the Presidency too big for one man? Nope. Just for the inexperienced guy with no management experience that we elected. As Jay Cost wrote a while back “America is not ungovernable. Her President has simply not been up to the job”..."

More at the link.

Janet Napolitano Defends TSA Full-Body Scans and Pat Downs

From Janet "The System Worked" Napolitano: "Scanners Are Safe, Pat-Downs Discreet":

Nearly a year after a thwarted terrorist attack on a Detroit-bound airliner last Christmas Day, the recent attempt by terrorists to conceal and ship explosive devices aboard aircraft bound for the United States reminds us that al-Qaeda and those inspired by its ideology are determined to strike our global aviation system and are constantly adapting their tactics for doing so.

Our best defense against such threats remains a risk-based, layered security approach that utilizes a range of measures, both seen and unseen, including law enforcement, advanced technology, intelligence, watch-list checks and international collaboration.

This layered approach to aviation security is only as strong as the partnerships upon which it is built ...

And we ask the American people to play an important part of our layered defense. We ask for cooperation, patience and a commitment to vigilance in the face of a determined enemy.

As part of our layered approach, we have expedited the deployment of new Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) units to help detect concealed metallic and non-metallic threats on passengers. These machines are now in use at airports nationwide, and the vast majority of travelers say they prefer this technology to alternative screening measures.

AIT machines are safe, efficient, and protect passenger privacy. They have been independently evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who have all affirmed their safety. And the weapons and other dangerous and prohibited items we've found during AIT screenings have illustrated their security value time and again.

Rigorous privacy safeguards are also in place to protect the traveling public ...

RTWT at the link.

Napolitano indicates that the "officer assisting the passenger never sees the image" of hot naked travellers, and those pat down techniques are "conducted by same-gender officers," heterosexual, of course.

And Secretary Napolitano stresses repeatedly that we "face a determined enemy." Right. This is the same cabinet secretary and Obama crony who claimed there was no evidence that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's bombing attempt was "part of anything larger."

That said, conservatives and libertarians are demanding what? No more pre-flight screening procedures? Yeah, I know. We're combatting the last terrorist attack. But still? Unless we start racial profiling we're gonna have these searches Or, well, maybe not. See, Art Carden, "Full Frontal Nudity Doesn’t Make Us Safer: Abolish the TSA" (at Memeorandum). And Reason.TV:

RELATED: "Hey, Hey, TSA, guess what? We won't fly."

IMAGE CREDIT: Voting Female.

VIDEO: Charlie Rangel Walks Out of Ethics Trial

The story's at Politics Daily, but see New York Times, "Ethics Hearing Goes Ahead After Rangel Walks Out" (and Memeorandum).

Paul Krugman Was Against Death Panels Before He Was For Them

The first thing I noticed was that Robert Kagan was in the house, one of my favorite writers on foreign policy. But secondly was the hilarious moment at about 1:30 minutes when George Will shakes his head at Paul Krugman's babblings. When George Will shakes his head people stand up and take notice! And that's before Krugman even got to his hypocritical blather about "death panels." Krugman-in-Wonderland has the story. And no, it's not that Krugman's way too sophisticated for "right-wingers" to comprehend. It's that Krugman's confirming that "right-wingers" were right all along. ObamaCare would contain costs by rationing services. More on this at Memeorandum.

Newly Released Intelligence Report Says Hardline Islamists Want to Build a 'Parallel Society' in Canada

At National Post, "Document: Islamist extremists and the promotion of a parallel society."

Remembrance Sunday Pictures

At London's Telegraph: "In pictures: The Queen leads tributes to Britain's war dead on Remembrance Sunday."

The Middle East Problem in a Nutshell

Awesome clip, from Dennis Prager (via Theo Spark):

Facebook's 'Koobface' Security Challenge

At NYT, "Attacker That Sharpened Facebook’s Defenses." I've seen these a couple of times. Don't click 'em if you see 'em:

A friend on Facebook suggests that you watch an amazing or funny or sexy video. The link may seem innocuous enough. But with a few simple clicks, you could end up infecting your PC with the Koobface worm.

Koobface, whose name is an anagram for its preferred social network, is a malicious program that has plagued Facebook for more than two years, ensnaring hundreds of thousands of people and keeping the site’s security team on the defense.

The worm was Facebook’s first major security challenge and remains the most persistent threat on the site. As such, Koobface has played a big role in shaping Facebook’s approach to combating malicious software, or malware, and propelled the development of increasingly elaborate defenses.

Yet the worm continues to be a thorn in the side of Facebook’s in-house investigators, who say they are on the trail of the organized criminal group that created it but, so far, have been denied the satisfaction of arrests.

Koobface, which spreads only on social networks, appeared on Facebook in May 2008 and has hit nearly every major social network since then. While not the first or only worm to strike social sites, it is notable for the way it has relentlessly returned again and again, particularly to Facebook.

There have been 136 versions of Koobface’s main component alone, said Ryan R. Flores, a senior threat researcher at the security software company Trend Micro. By continually adapting to obstacles set up by Facebook and the security industry, “Koobface is the one that made it big,” he said.

The attacks have pushed Facebook to expand its security team, to develop a sophisticated apparatus for quickly detecting and stopping malicious activity, to create tools for talking with its users about security and to build relationships within the security industry. And the company continues to gather evidence that could help law enforcement arrest and prosecute those responsible ...

Nart Villeneuve, the report’s lead researcher, estimated that the group earned more than $2 million from June 2009 to June 2010 by delivering the victims of its worm to unscrupulous marketers and makers of fake antivirus software. He said the release of the report coincided with a multiweek effort to dismantle the group’s infrastructure and take down its “botnet,” or network of Koobface-infected PCs, though he conceded it was likely to be rebuilt.

Mt. Everest

At Michael Yon's:

How Britain and the Web Are Changing Stuffy American Journalism

From Toby Harden, at Telegraph UK:

Often caught between the two, I’ve always been fascinated by the differences between journalism in Britain and the United States. One of the most striking things is the contrast between the self-image of journalists on either side of the Pond. In Britain, journalists (who prefer the term “hacks”) mostly view themselves as grubby tradesmen, living proof of Nicholas Tomalin’s dictum that “the only qualities essential for real success in journalism are rat-like cunning, a plausible manner and a little literary ability”.

In the US, journalists have traditionally been much more self-important, viewing themselves as part of a noble profession to be venerated and respected in the same way as doctors, lawyers and accountants. They have tended to see themselves as part of the Establishment. The difference has often been on display at White House press conferences, with long-winded, respectful, often pompous American questions contrasting with short, aggressive and impertinent British questions (which sometimes elicit much better answers).

While British newspapers have always been opinionated and agenda-driven, American newspapers, on their news pages at least, have always stuck to the notion of disinterested objectivity. Articles are longer, worthier and more academic. Americans would counter that on the whole they’re more accurate and fair.

All these divisions are becoming blurred now, largely because of the web. The pithier, more sardonic and opinionated British style lend itself to the web (look at how much British stuff gets on Drudge). American readers are increasingly exposed to british reporting – a huge proportion of the Telegraph’s web traffic comes from the US.

And there’s a bit of a British expansion going on in US journalism. Tina Brown’s Daily Beast is on the up. Piers Morgan is taking over from Larry King on CNN. Emily Smith, formerly of The Sun, is Page Six editor at the New York Post. The main reporter on the National Enquirer’s John Edwards scoop was Alexander Hitchen, a Fleet Street veteran. Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post is Greek-born but she spent her formative years in Britain.

Perhaps related to the breaking down of the divide between British and American journalism is the blurring of the old distinction between print and the web. Some very big names are moving to web-only outlets. Tina Brown recently hired Howard Kurtz at the Beast while Howard Fineman and Peter Goodman have gone to the Huffington Post. The journalistic trend in the US is away from the insider, access-based American model towards the iconoclastic, reporting-with-attitude British model ...

Beyblades

My son likes Beyblades. At top is a cool extra-large stadium. We're gonna see if we can find one like that. The bottom clip is an ad originally found at the Beyblades website:

The Left's Campaign Against Christie Blatchford

How democracies perish.

From Canadian communists calling themselves the "Anti-Racist Action." Pure leftist totalitarianism:

The goal of this action was to silence Blatchford, and make it clear to her and her supporters that the people of Kitchener-Waterloo will not tolerate bigoted, ignorant analyses of our allies, and we will not stand by and watch undisturbed as Blatchford and people who share her views attempt to poison the minds of people across Turtle Island. The members of ARA who participated in this action feel this goal was clearly achieved, as she was not invited to take the stage due to our presence and did not protest at the lack of invitation. We feel it has been made evident to the community that Christie Blatchford and her like are not welcome, and that the KW ARA is alive and well, as well as energetic and well-informed. We are proud to have stopped this racist apologist from further disseminating her lies, and we firmly pledge to be present at the rescheduling of this event in order to continue our Campaign Against Christie.

Blazing Catfur has the video, "Christie Blatchford Silenced By Idiot Students At U of Waterloo."

Also, Jay Currie, "The Left Embraces Free Speech," and Russ Campbell, "Truth to Power? Apparently, Not for Christie Blatchford."

RELATED: "Blatchford’s Appearance at UW Derailed by Protesters."

Quantitative Easing and the Compromised Hegemony of the U.S. Dollar

An interesting piece, from Sean McEniry:

Obama has defended the Fed's use of quantitative easing to inject liquidity into the US economy1. This process involves the Fed creating money which is backed by no assets and usually using it to purchase government debt from private banks, who hopefully lend the money at low interest rates for domestic investment, creating jobs and stimulating the economy. The Fed, with a government appointed chairman and board of directors, monetizes the government's debt, and in the process the government funds its own spending with money that was created “out of thin air.” Therefore, the benefits of inflation accrue entirely in the hands of the government at the expense of the holders of the government's currency and debt, since there is an increased supply of currency in relation to the assets which back up that currency and the purchasing power of that currency goes down.

The international acceptability of the US dollar as a medium of exchange has resulted in its use as a reserve currency, an anchor currency, and even as an official currency in some countries. In addition, the US government's bonds are considered one of the most secure investments on the market. Universal holding and use of US currency and debt means that these notes are backed by foreign-owned assets as well as Americans' assets, which allows the Fed to effectively mobilize the resources of non-citizens in order to make improvements inside the country. A large portion of the loss of US purchasing power is offset onto other currencies and economies, and as a result the US economy is able to realize a net gain from inflation. The removal of the US dollar's convertibility to a commodity has thankfully allowed for flexibility and autonomy of monetary policy in dealing with temporary crises, but if the Fed continues to rely on inflation to stimulate the economy, an increasingly vigilant and adaptive financial system will reduce the benefits of this policy. *As the international use and acceptability of US currency is a result of its stable exchange rate and the US economy's capital mobility and security, the US government must surrender some of its autonomy to manipulate its currency by removing the Fed's central banking privileges and moving to a currency that is fully backed by assets if it wishes to remain market leader as the top currency. Otherwise, increased fear of inflation will drive the international market to look for inflation protected investments or even to switch to more solidly backed reserve currencies, and the US economy will cease to benefit much from inflation.

As a result of globalization, networking, and interconnectedness, competition among currencies is increasing, and the reduced transactions costs provided by computers and the internet will allow markets to flee from the dollar quickly in case of any lack of confidence in the stability of the exchange rate. In an ongoing process called currency deterritorialization, national currency systems have been unable to maintain a monopoly of money use within a territory. Typically, this takes the form of currency followership, in which a country with a weak national currency adopts a stronger, more internationally acceptable national currency, such as the dollar or the Euro. There are, however, also examples of interpenetration by complementary currencies such as elderly “caring relationship tickets” in Japan and business to business credit in Latin America, which is modeled after the Swiss Wir bank. Due to the fact that "currency choice is becoming less restricted, and cross-border competition is once again becoming the rule," the American government must maintain anti-inflationary monetary policy if it wishes to keep the international seignorage advantages that are provided by the current universal acceptability of the US dollar ...

More a the link.

This last paragraph is documented with a lot of citations to my old IPE professor, Dr. Benjamin J. Cohen, of whom I'll have more tomorrow.

RELATED: At Doug Ross, "Photos of the Quantitative Easing Krugman, Weimar Edition."

'If You Touch My Junk': Man Ejected From San Diego Airport for Refusing Security Check

I didn't even think about this when I traveled to New York for September 11th. The only incident I had at John Wayne airport was when I didn't empty the change out of my pockets. The guy kept making me go though the metal scanner. I was a little embarrassed by it actually, but once through I let it go. No doubt a full body scan would be just a bit more humiliating, although I hadn't even considered it, and wasn't sure how many airports perform those searches. And that's not all? How 'bout airport security copping a feel up my groin? That's a bit much. I read John Tyner's piece this morning: "TSA Encounter at SAN." At the second video linked, at 3:43 minutes, Tyner tells the TSA officer, "If you touch my junk, I'll have you arrested."

Plus, from San Diego Union-Tribune:

John Tyner won't be pheasant hunting in South Dakota with his father-in-law any time soon.

Tyner was simultaneously thrown out of San Diego International Airport on Saturday morning for refusing to submit to a security check and threatened with a civil suit and $10,000 fine if he left.

And he got the whole thing on his cell phone. Well, the audio at least.

The 31-year-old Oceanside software programmer was supposed to leave from Lindbergh Field on Saturday morning and until a TSA agent directed him toward one of the recently installed full-body scanners, Tyner seemed to be on his way.

Tyner balked.

He'd been reading about the scanners and didn't like them for a number of reasons, ranging from health concerns to "a huge invasion of privacy." He'd even checked the TSA website which indicated that San Diego did not have the machines, he said in a phone interview Saturday night.

"I was surprised to see them," said Tyner.

He also did something that may seem odd to some, manipulative to others but fortuitous to plenty of others for whom Tyner is becoming something of a folk hero: Tyner turned on his cell phone's video camera and placed it atop the luggage he sent through the x-ray machine.

He may not be the first traveler tossed from an airport for security reasons but he could well be the first to have the whole experience captured on his cell phone.

RTWT.

Current Status of Science Around the World: Implications For the Distribution of World Power

Via Glenn Reynolds, I'm interested in this report from The Economist, "Climbing Mount Publishable: The Old Scientific Powers Are Starting to Lose Their Grip":

TWENTY years ago North America, Europe and Japan produced almost all of the world’s science. They were the aristocrats of technical knowledge, presiding over a centuries-old regime. They spent the most, published the most and patented the most. And what they produced fed back into their industrial, military and medical complexes to push forward innovation, productivity, power, health and prosperity.

All good things, though, come to an end, and the reign of these scientific aristos is starting to look shaky. In 1990 they carried out more than 95% of the world’s research and development (R&D). By 2007 that figure was 76%.

Such, at least, is the conclusion of the latest report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO. The picture the report paints is of a waning West and a rising East and South, mirroring the economic shifts going on in the wider world. The sans culottes of science are on the march.

More food for thought in light of last night's entry, "China Challenges United States for Aerospace Leadership."

RELATED: "Chinese Plan to Buy Stake in GM."