Optomism About the Middle East

With all the fuss and bluster about the Israeli fight for life going on, this sounds good.

Looking at the many countries who are, for a change, siding with Israel here I'm beginning to think that what's unfolding now is something that was prepared for, as part of the next stage in the war on terror -- isolating terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah and punishing their patrons like Syria and Iran. If I'm right, that will be very good for the Lebanese, and, eventually, for pretty much everyone in the Mideast except jihadist loonies and their backers. I hope that's true, anyway.

LA Real Estate Sizzles

Zillow.com is your source for details about your neighbor's house - or the market in general. Here they compile property values in LA from hot to cool. If you prefer San Francisco, then go here.

Counting Votes Leading to $3 Gas

Starting with Carter, and including Clinton and the current Congress, the blame for three bucks a gallon gas lies with Democrats whose energy policy has been limited to punishing those who look for more of it.

The rest at Investor's Business Daily.

Don't Be Discouraged

Thomas Sowell says we are winning.

Forget Global Warming

Here is something serious to worry about.

The Earth could be about to turn upside down. The planet's magnetic field is showing signs of wanting to make a gigantic somersault, so that magnetic north heads towards Antarctica, and magnetic south goes north. Compasses will point the wrong way, and migrating birds, fish and turtles are going to be very confused.

Some experts have stuck their necks out to predict that we can expect the next reversal some time in the next 2,000 years. The process would probably then take anything between 100 and a few thousand years - not even a blink in the history of Earth. We can only guess what life would be like during that reversal. Anyone trying to navigate with a magnetic compass is going to have a tough time, but what is going to happen to all those birds, fish and other animals that migrate vast distances using their own internal magnetic compass? Will they have time to re-draw their magnetic maps and get new bearings?

The whole story here.

Nanny State Wrong Again

It's another summer weekend, when millions of families pack up the minivan or SUV and hit the road. So this is also an apt moment to trumpet some good, and underreported, news: Driving on the highways is safer today than ever before.

This may seem non-controversial now, but at the time the debate was shrill and filled with predictions of doom. Ralph Nader claimed that "history will never forgive Congress for this assault on the sanctity of human life." Judith Stone, president of the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, predicted to Katie Couric on NBC's "Today Show" that there would be "6,400 added highway fatalities a year and millions of more injuries." Federico Pena, the Clinton Administration's Secretary of Transportation, declared: "Allowing speed limits to rise above 55 simply means that more Americans will die and be injured on our highways."

It didn't happen that way.

Free Minnesota

Whether Ed Felien is the Pulse of Minnesota or whether he is just feeling up the Pulse of Minnesota is unclear from out here in California but he proposes a new Declaration of Independence for blue states like Minnesota. After the preliminaries, he begins:

The people of Minnesota have a long list of unresolved grievances against this President and his compliant Congress and Supreme Court.

and concludes:

Therefore, be it resolved, we shall seek all peaceful and nonviolent means to disaster

You can fill in the blanks here.

At Least It's Not from Drilling

Musk oxen, the shaggy ice age relics that once vanished from Alaska, are dying in big numbers on the North Slope.

Mysterious deaths for the reintroduced musk oxen in Alaska - but only in ANWR.
Details in the Anchorage Daily News.

What Mexico Does Right

There are problems a'plenty south of the border but when it comes to elections Mexico scores a 10.

This city was voting to fill six seats, including that of the president and the mayor. Voters presented identification cards and were handed six large ballots, one for each open office. The names of candidates were also color-coded to assist the illiterate. Voting booths were small, waist-high writing tables enclosed by hanging plastic sheets printed with the reassuring words, "The vote is free and secret." Voters emerged from the booths, folded the ballots and slid each one into the box corresponding to the contested seat. To complete the process, thumbs were marked with indelible ink and ID cards were returned. Observers from each party monitored the flow.

I wonder why it's ok to show an ID to vote in Mexico but not here?

Danish Justice

Here is more evidence that the Danes take the defence of their principles seriously.

This week, for the very first time, a court in Europe sentenced nine members of the same family for the honour killing of a female relative.