Baltimore Cop Saves Pooch From Ruffians, Breed Specific Legislation Called Into Question

Recently, Baltimore police officer Dan Waskiewicz responded to a vicious dog call.  Many of these go unreported in the media and usually end up in the capture of killing of the dog.  The officer did not find viciousness in the dog so much as the ruffian children chasing it down the street, pelting it with rocks and bottles.

Baltimore's CBS affiliate reported that Officer Waskiewicz called the dog over.  He meekly responded with his tail between his legs.  When the policeman bent over to examine him further, the dog responded with kisses.

Waskiewicz put the dog into his squad care where he received more thankful kisses.  A spokesman for the Baltimore Humane Society praised the officer's "astute response," adding that he certainly saved a dog's life.

The catch here is that the rescued dog inspires reactive fear at the mere mention of the type or the sight of its bricklike head.  Waskiewicz saved the life of an American Pit Bull.

Pit bulls are often targeted by "breed specific legislation" referring to statutes aimed at curbing the ownership and breeding of certain types of dogs deemed dangerous.  Two years ago, Waukesha, Wisconsin considered banning pit bulls except for commercial uses.  These would include owning them as guard dogs in junk yards.

Last April, Bluefield, West Virginia and its surrounding county of Mercer battled over the breed ban.  Bluefield banned pit bulls within city limits and ordered the dogs to be taken to the county animal shelter.  Mercer County refused to prevent owners from reclaiming their animals, saying that they "we're not on the dog containment business."  The mayor threatened to take the county to court, despite the absence of a state or countywide ban.

Organizations such as Pit Bull Rescue Central claim that the fear stems from hysteria and misinformation.  Pit bulls were bred to withstand violent attacks in dogfighting competitions.  Breed advocates claim, however, that they are no more inherently violent by nature than many other types of dogs.  They emphasize that responsibility for dog behavior lies with owners and how animals are trained and treated.

Another problem is that "pit bulls" are actually not a specific breed, but a group of breeds with similar characteristics.  They include the American Staffordshire Terrier.  This means that authorities often cannot identify what is and is not actually a pit bull.  One city's breed specific legislation was written so poorly that the councilman who proposed the ban saw his own labrador retriever seized.

Officer Waskiewicz's experience does raise questions about breed specific laws aimed at pit bulls.  An inherently violent animal in a terrifying experience usually wouldn't react with meekness in that situation.  Certainly bad owners make bad dogs.  But increasingly, education and awareness have caused many to question blanket laws banning certain breeds

What About Russian Relations? Obama's Lost Credibility

The Kremlin influenced news outlet Russia Today this week compared Obama's foreign policy stature to Vladimir Putin's using a sports metaphor from European soccer (Barcelona versus Wigan Athletic.)  It was somewhat kinder that one published earlier here, which compared Putin to the Harlem Globetrotters and Obama to the perpetually fated square losers, the Washington Generals.  The Globetrotters simile is more apt.  They dominate with panache and style while their ill matched competitors always seem confused and, well, square.

Putin, like the Globetrotters, plays a different game that Obama and those around him cannot comprehend.  This is understandable.  Putin once worked in the KGB, responsible for some of the most successful psychological operations ever seen.  His worldview developed in the context of a global conflict of perceptions with the United States.

Obama's vision has never really transcended Chicago.  His politics are Chicago.  He surrounds himself with bit machine politicians.  Secretary of State, for Obama,  is a box to keep one quiet or a reward for prior support.  Imagine if Harry Truman appointed Sam Rayburn as secretary of state and only listened to the advice of Tom Pendergast.  How many rings would Stalin have run around the Man from Missouri?

Democrats love to accuse Republicans of knee jerking back to Cold War archetypes.  And Obama has gotten sucked into the old mano y mano competitions that Nikita Khrushchev employed successfully at times against John Kennedy and unsuccessfully against Vice President Richard Nixon.

That does not mean, however, that Russia aspires to global revolution. Putin, instead, conducts himself internally and externally much in the same way as the old czars of the imperial age.

Russia, since Peter the Great in the early 1700s, has swung back and forth like a pendulum.  Peter the Great imposed Westernization onto Russia in the same way that an abusive parent would force a child to eat broccoli. Westernization was good for Russia, but it never fully developed a taste for strong relations with the West.  Out of necessity, or the affinity of the leadership, Russia does "swing" towards the West occasionally.  Catherine the Great established intellectual contacts with Voltaire and Jefferson.  Boris Yeltsin worked closely with Bill Clinton and Western experts to construct a free market Russia among the shambles of the dead Communist Soviet Union.

On the other hand, Nicholas I cut off all contact with the West and Joseph Stalin initiated the Cold War.

The anti-Western turn is a combination of a reaction against the West and a reaffirmation of traditional Russian identity.  Russia suffers from an inferiority complex that has led it in the past to assert that most of the world's great inventions, such as radio and telephones, actually came from there. With inferiority comes a craving for respect.  And Russia perceives that Western respect only comes from a show of power and force.

Russia also craves security.  And why not, after all, it experienced devastating invasions by Charles XII of Sweden, Napoleon, and Hitler.  They prefer to have their enemies far afield and rarely trust professed friends.  Russia puts its trust in territory.  Keep unfriendly states and alliances as far away as possible while dominating one's neighbors.  The Republic of Georgia a few years ago skirmished with Russia.  Now they have developed ever closer ties.  Belarus seceded from the Soviet Union to escape Great Russia dominance.  Now it has devolved into a near protectorate.

Security also comes from international stabilization.  The czars despised the idea of any revolution or upheaval against established governments.  For example, they warmly supported the United States government in its struggle against the Confederate States, even to the point of deploying warships for a visit to New York harbor.  They "helped" Austria in the 1800s by sending in troops to quell a revolt, without that country's invitation.  Russia's Syria position reflects this old commitment to what it has always seen as "legitimacy."

Russian foreign relations operate almost entirely on the basis of self-interest.  What enhances the prestige and the security of Russia will be pursued.  It serves Putin's goals that the United States be raised to the position of antagonist, regardless of what America does or does not do.

Of course the US sometimes plays into anti-Westerners' hands.  Criticizing the Chechen War in the 1990s was a terrible misstep.  Scolding Russia for its internal developments, negative as they may be, does not advance the US position.  Putin's consolidation of power does not threaten the United States, it is not entirely unpopular, and there is little that America can do about it.

Scolding Russia over gay rights and voicing threats about the Olympics does not hurt Putin.  It actually reinforces his anti-American message about international meddling.  What would really hurt the master of a nation strongly dependent on natural gas revenues is to lift all export controls and turn on as many drills as possible in the US.  When the international price of natural gas drops, Russia will be hit.  They will also understand that the US can hurt a country without bombing it.

That builds respect.  That increases credibility.

Also, make no more mention of anti-gay laws in Russia. Instead, let the gay athletes who will represent the United States compete with class.  Jesse Owens and America's Jewish athletes struck a blow against National Socialist doctrines on race and religion by winning  events and conducting themselves with honor in Berlin in 1936.  They can do the same in Sochi.

No more "resets" can happen under Obama.  He has no respect or credibility in the Kremlin.  The next president needs to bring people aboard who understand Russia.  Then the US can craft a position vis a vis that country that is productive without being subservient.

21st Century Cronyism, Same Old New Jersey

Raymond Chafin in Just Good Politics defined democracy as rewarding as much as possible those most responsible for getting you elected.

The former Logan County boss helped to expose the fact that some politicians consider their constituency to start with those who helped with the campaign, then those who cast their votes for you, then, and then only maybe, the rest of the people.  This is an underground culture of politics, lurking beneath the aboveground assertion that all politicians work for "the people."

This is why the New York Times  sounded the tocsin on Newark's Democratic mayor (and some say eventual presidential candidate) Cory Booker's techie startup called Waywire.

Booker's startup oozes with revelations common to the confluence of politics and big business.  He has strong connections with leading lights at Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, and other companies.  Many of them invested heavily in Waywire. Add to the list of investors the ubiquitous Oprah.  Although struggling now, it had been expected to perform strongly.

Even more strange, Waywire's brain trust included the 15 year old son of CNN president Jeff Zucker.

Booker certainly understands how to cover media, business, and political bases.

Columbia Journalism Review in their write up added that "Booker will still owe . . . favors even when it (Waywire) goes under."

This is a new twist on an old game.  In the 1870s, John D. Rockefeller bought out and propped up West Virginia politico Johnson Newlon Camden.  Camden served as Rockefeller's right hand man in West Virginia and rode his patronage to the United States Senate.  Doubtless, Booker had hoped that his company would provide him with enough wealth to start a run for president.

No need to worry about Booker going on relief anytime soon.  Until he announced his Senate campaign, he collected $30,000 for speeches presented at public universities. And yes, he did speak at West Virginia University.

Booker and his backers both worked hard to build this shady enterprise.  Booker expected wealth and strengthening connections with the novae of the tech world.  Certainly the tech riche expected some political help in return if Booker made it to the Senate or farther.

Another Take on Obama's EPA Attacks on Coal and Power Plants

Obama's attacks on power plants and coal mining threaten to take us back to the bad old days, as described by many state historians.

Many historians, chief among them John Alexander Williams of Appalachian State bashed the early industrial development of the state.  Most who have ever taken West Virginia history have been taught that companies extracted wealth, shipped it out, and the state never got any benefit.

First off, that assertion is wrong.  Historians and others blame the lack of sufficient taxation.  But how much could the state have raised taxes before eliminating the competitive advantage enjoyed in attracting the companies in the first place?  Benefit comes through the attraction of supporting and satellite industries that expand the ripple effect of wealth extraction.

Coal, timber, and oil companies did bring added economic value to extraction.  They employed workers and professionals.  Some satellite industries, such as paper mills, grew up in the area.  Some railroads were built to support the transport of materials in and out. Could the state's community of capital and political leaders have done a better job in enticing other industries to come in? Certainly.  But to say there was no benefit is wrong.

There are at least three stages to development of wealth in extractive industries like coal.  First comes the work to get the coal from the ground.  Second comes the processing of the material into something useful.  A hundred years ago, coke, iron, and steel production used tremendous amounts of coal.  Now, much of the coal produces electric power for this part of the nation.

The third part comes in dissemination of the final products.

Unlike our forefathers, the state has succeeded in getting companies interested in taking West Virginia coal and turning it into a useful product within the borders of the state.  That would be crucial electric power.  Huge facilities such as at Mount Storm and John Amos employ hundreds of state residents in good paying jobs.  This is the best way to make sure that the wealth derived from coal stays in the state.  Make sure that as much of the production process as is possible remains in West Virginia.

Add to that the fact that cheaper power helps to produce advantages that state officials can use when trying to woo new companies to the state.

But Obama and his EPA have looked at every way possible to shut these plants down, which will have the result of removing wealth and productivity from the state.  Whatever coal gets mined will be shipped away with minimal added value to the state and the people.

Exactly what state historians bemoaned about the early industrial period.

Hopefully. West Virginia Democrats made it clear in their EPA meetings that they will not stand for Obama kicking the legs from underneath our chair, economically speaking.

Common Core Resistance Growing More . . . Common

Underlying themes for the rambling wreck of Obama's presidency can be hard to spot.  But one looks pretty clear.  Obama and his followers believe that the federal government can take better care of Americans than state and local governments, or even the individuals themselves.  Obamacare represents one initiative designed to yank decision-making within the beltway.  Farther under the radar lies the Common Core initiative.

Common Core attempts to create national standards of student achievement in key subjects.  It relies heavily on standardized testing to quantify learning outcomes.  

But now, several states have opted out of the program.  

Last week, Georgia joined Alabama, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Oklahoma in making the decision to use their own standardized tests instead of the common national test advocated by Common Core.  With such a large defection of key populous states from different regions, Common Core backers complain that the sampling (now at 22) will be unable to give experts a handle on what national standards ought to be.

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that state education officials cited cost and efficiency in their judgment to not implement the test.  An official said “Georgia can create an equally rigorous measurement without the high costs associated with this particular test. Just as we do in all other branches of state government, we can create better value for taxpayers while maintaining the same level of quality.”

States originally signed onto the program to receive a bribery grant from the Department of Education related to the Race to the Top program.  Since receiving the money, many states have balked at certain aspects or dragged their feet.  According to a Breitbart evaluation, the tests are long, cost too much money, and assume a higher level of technology than many school systems have.

In other words, Washington education bureaucrats designed something perfect for their suburbs, but not the inner cities or backcountry districts.  

The Cato Institute accuses advocates of Common Core of purposeful silence on the issue of how deeply Washington experts were involved in establishing the standards.  They say that Common Core may be hoist by this petard.  The standards depend upon state testing participation.  If states do not participate, the system collapses.

Opposition to Common Core testing does not just come from conservative and libertarian groups.  A National Education Association delegate expressed concern over "overtesting and the diminution of instructional time."  California Teachers' Association president Dean Fogel adds his concern that "There's nobody in this room, in any town in the whole country, that doesn't understand that this high-stakes testing has raged way out of control. It's time for NEA to tell the truth and be that voice. We have to come out strong and be very clear with people that this high-stakes-testing mania has got to stop."

Why do opponents want to kill Common Core?  Besides the expense and time involved, testing in more subjective areas, such as English, could be biased against students from backgrounds different than suburban and affluent urban areas.   For example, different regions and communities have different usages of words that are still proper English, but of different usage than elsewhere.  States and local districts have a better chance of constructing a test, or different tests, fair to the students in their care

Common Core relies heavily on testing to demonstrate its effectiveness.  With opposition coming from teachers' unions and state legislatures to that very thing, national standards advocates may have to go back to the drawing board.

Or the federal government can look at its long record of failure in education  and give up its self-assumed role as guider of state and local policy.

Far East Dangers Rising On the Horizon

With all the news of China's blue water navy development in the past few years, another country's response fell under the radar.  Yesterday, however, the unveiling of Japan's newest "destroyer" raised questions.

The "destroyer" surpasses the size of any Japanese ship built since World War II.  To the uneducated (or, perhaps cynical) eye, the Izumo looks suspiciously like an aircraft carrier.  Its flat top deck, allegedly meant for helicopters, is four fifths as long as an American Nimitz class deck.  It also outstrips by about 200 feet the length of the Royal Navy's Illustrious class carriers

Izumo pointedly responds to China's purchase and reconstruction of a Soviet era carrier from Ukraine.

The bigger issue lies in the deteriorating relations between China and her neighbors, specifically Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

Territorial disputes between these nations lay dormant for years.  Recently, technological advances in identifying and extracting sea floor resources have raised the stakes in who owns what stretch of ocean bottom.  Vast natural gas and oil resources interest nations, such as China and Japan, that have little of either.
Interestingly, this issue has also separated Cold War partners Japan and the Nationalist Chinese government based in Taiwan.

Throughout the Cold War, the United States played referee to the region.  Although domestically debated later, the willingness to fight in Korea and Vietnam gave friends assurance and enemies pause.  Few doubted America's willingness to fight for Japan, South Korea, Nationalist China, or other friends.  Moreover, few believed that the US had any goals in the Far East beyond maintaining the status quo.

American power, relatively speaking, has receded in the region as China spent more on expanding and modernizing its warmaking ability.  It also has launched cyberattacks against its opponents' government and business concerns.

Unfortunately for the United States, the Chinese urge to revise the Far East balance of power echoes the shadows of a century ago.

In 1913, the British Empire managed the world power dynamic through a powerful navy and economic productive might.  The German Empire under Kaiser William II aspired to "a place in the sun."  This meant military might, colonial expansion, and international respect on par with the British.

They made an unwise alliance with unstable Austria-Hungary, which was locked in perpetual disputes with Russia over control of southeastern Europe.  When Russia's client state of Serbia served as the base of a devastating terror attack on Austria-Hungary, the clumsy attempt to settle the score touched off World War I.

Similar dynamics are emerging now.  China is setting itself against Japan, the Philippines, and Vietnam in its territorial disputes.  It has an unstable client in North Korea whose unpredictability could touch off a war with Japan or South Korea.  It is trying, like Germany in the early 1900s, to build a fleet that can regionally challenge the first rank power.

In other words, a pattern is emerging that could unravel decades of generally peaceful relations among states that despise and fear each other.

China's bold actions mirror those of other states that fear internal discord and try to rally the people around external successes.  It built a middle class, but never allowed it political participation.  That has been the downfall of many authoritarian regimes.  Questions about its debt and actual production numbers lend uncertainty to the perception that it is an economic power fated to outstrip the United States.

This also comes at a time when the Middle East's foundations of stability are collapsing, leftist regimes have come to power in Latin America, and Europe continues to live on the precipice of debt disaster.

Events have pushed the world's nations and people towards a time where only the brilliance of a Prince Otto von Bismarck could restore the balance.  It would be in America's interest to produce such a figure because a war in the Far East would inevitably draw us in.  And like Germany in the late 1800s and early 1900s, very few possible scenarios, even in victory, leave the US better off.

Abuse of Information Database Is Too Commonplace

Last week, the nation was jarred by the news that a couple searched "backpack" and "pressure cooker," then found armed police at their door soon thereafter.  While it turned out that their internet provider actually turned in the tip, other NSA scandals have enraged and frightened many.

Defenders of information collection argue that what is collected rarely gets used.  And then, only by professionals with good reason to use it.  Unfortunately, people being who they are, abuse can always happen.

The Washington Guardian recently reported that New York City Police Department detectives have routinely abused the privilege of accessing the FBI's National Crime Information Center database.  While only authorized to use it during car stops and investigations, some officers have used it to snoop on fellow officers and even tip off criminals.  Some of the most egregious cases involve officers identifying drug criminals so that they can rob them.

Safeguards exist, but experts claim that abusers can easily circumvent them. 

This adds to worries that the National Security Agency has distributed information to agencies that investigate domestic crime and not national security.  Reuters reports that the NSA sent information to the Drug Enforcement Agency's Special Operations Division.  Although the information shared cannot be used because of Constitutional restrictions, DEA investigators are trained to backtrack and build a conventional looking investigation that does not use illegal data.

Many fear that high level politicians will always face temptations to misuse information at their disposal. The administrations of Franklin Roosevelt, Richard Nixon, and Barack Obama all misused IRS information.  Eliot Spitzer, while governor of New York, misused police documents to smear a Republican opponent. 

Information gained for law enforcement and/or national security purposes can help to protect the nation, lives, and property.  Living without it means accepting complete vulnerability.  But like any other extension of government power, the intelligence and law enforcement fields need to have strong boundaries and competent oversight.  Rule of law and natural rights principles demand no less.

The Power of Old, New, and Social Media to Right a Wrong

Jake Tapper, once of ABC, now with his own show on CNN, tweeted at about 9 PM last night at TMobile's corporate Twitter.  Apparently, they had been billing a KIA's widow for three years for an old phone that was not in her name.

She sent death certificates and pleas to stop sending her husband the bill to no avail.

So Jake Tapper called TMobile out on it.  He asked

@TMobile what does she have to do for you to stop sending her dead KIA soldier ex-husband these bills???

This morning the CEO of TMobile, John Legere sent several responses apologizing and thanking Tapper for bringing the story to light.

He also tweeted:

@jaketapper don't thank me. It's a sickening shame it happened . I am deeply sorry and have already handled it. Thank you for speaking out.

This is exactly how we want our companies to respond when something is clearly wrong.  Take responsibility, apologize, fix it.

Great job to Tapper and Legere.

The Rise of the Sports Mass Media Industrial Complex Oligolopoly

In Boston, the owner of the Red Sox threw some petty cash around and bought one of the town's major metropolitan dailies.

In Morgantown, disputes over Tier 3 broadcasting rights threw the old college town into a tizzy, hammered a wedge between two state Republican Party titans, and smashed a decades old relationship between the university and a media company.

ESPN long ago absorbed a traditional television network and an entertainment company.  Then it ran its bull through college sports' china shop, smashing conferences and forcing decisions on what defined a college sports program as "viable."  The American free market has sent two St. Georges, Fox Sports and NBC, to slay the dragon.

But that story is still developing.

These developments lead observers to ask, is the current fast inflation of the sports industry and its media handmaidens economically or ethically good for either?

Columbia Journalism Review analyzed the sharp rise in the value of sports franchises, as well as the coincidental correlation with the decline of traditional media, especially print.  It posed the question, can a hometown media outlet report fairly on a sports issue if it is linked with the franchise?

CJR answers the question by pointing out how poorly ESPN has covered stories in which it plays a central role.

Media tend to perform poorly when interests collide.  CJR speculates that the Boston Globe will have a harder time covering the team honestly when its parent company owns the Red Sox.  But this is hardly a unique situation.  When owned by General Electric, NBC tread very carefully when covering stories about its parent company.  Media outlets often face important decisions and criticism when dealing with stories involving critical advertisers.

Another problem with the sports mass media blobonomy is that there has to be a saturation point.  There are only so many sports fans.  There can be only so much interest here and abroad. Rules changes done for safety or (more often) public relations transform the games, frustrating traditional fans.

Rising prices have created an impact as well.  The cost of tickets and merchandise either now, or soon will, exceed the value of the product.  Players' and owners drives to profit as much as possible rely on a steep willingness of the market to pay.  What is the cost to the sport's profitability if children have less and less opportunity to see the games in person?

Franchises and media increasingly aim at sports followers instead of fans.  Serious differences separate the devoted latter from the fickle former.

A warning comes from the fate of American boxing.  Once one of the most popular sports in the nation, it died because the sports' foremost figures decided that it could thrive by forcing anyone interested in watching premiere events to pay through the nose.  Boxing still makes money, but how many Americans can name the heavyweight champion right now, let alone any contenders?

Anyone who thinks that bad decisions by the major sports could not reduce any of them in a generation to the status of boxing is delusional.

Sports teams' value comes entirely from the perception by their markets that an experience involving them has value.  No one needs to consume the product to survive. No one needs the product to help them understand the world better. That is why the notion of franchises worth over a billion is troubling.  At the end of the day, they don't make anything of substance.  How long can the market sustain them, especially given a seemingly never ending economic slump?

In other words, the sports media industry displays many of the classic features of an economic bubble, except for the availability of too easily obtained credit.  Nothing grows this fast forever and leisure spending is fickle.

And this is not meant to be a hand wringing, what-is-to-be-done, kind of commentary.  Making money honestly is no sin.  But, like any other industry, those invested and involved need to understand that no sure fire never fail model has ever existed.  What goes up tends to come down. And if mass media outlets tie themselves too securely to the sports industry ship, they may sink with it should market priorities change.

Was West Virginia a Victim of the Free Market?

And now a rare first person commentary!

I have wrestled with the idea of the "robber baron" theory of West Virginia economic development since I was in college.  Historians such as John Alexander Williams taught for decades that a once pristine and functional society fell victim to greedy and rapacious seizers of land and resources.  They squeezed the land and people dry of wealth, then abandoned the state for greener pastures in the 20th century.  This left the state with little to show for the sacrifices made.

Taking another look at this time is vital.  Historians and the books they write almost uniformly blame the free market for all the evils that took place.  This mainly comes from the fact that many of them fail to see that a truly competitive free market defended by rule of law is not synonymous with doing business.  Many of the abuses done by business and described by historians are the opposite of the free market.

Williams grafted a colonial-periphery theory from studies of the Third World.  In his explanation, West Virginia was a "colony" of New York based business interests.  They recruited and used a comprador class of local lawyers and other professionals to advance their interests and to get the people behind them.  This theory, advanced by many, portrays a naïve population duped, used, and left behind.  They made little intellectual contribution, so they bear little responsibility.

Others, such as West Virginia University's Ron Lewis, have described more moderate ideas that do not reduce either the businessmen nor the state's people to caricatures.  Lewis' works focus as much on the environmental sacrifices as well as the social and economic ones.

One cannot argue away the fact that West Virginia's environment was drastically changed by industrialization.  Lewis in Transformation of the Appalachian Countryside describes how practices of getting timber to market caused eroded hillsides, made vast areas more vulnerable to both floods and fire, and annihilated river life.  He also points out that the clear cutting actually worked to the economic detriment of the logging companies because the land could not renew its forests quickly.

So there was environmental sacrifice on the same lines as the rest of a country untutored in best practices.  Interestingly, the example of West Virginia and other Appalachian states (clear cutting removed almost all of the virgin forest in the region) showed the resiliency of the environment instead of the fragility.  Forests and streams rebounded fairly quickly.

And the environmental impact did not start with the Industrial Revolution, either.  Traveling writer Anne Royall described  the stripping of forests around the Kanawha Valley salt works in the first decade of the 19th century.  She talked about the ugly, stump ridden hillsides and the black smoke hanging in the air.  Before the salt industry, Indians and frontier farmers used rather wasteful methods to remove trees, farm a plot until the land wore out, then move on. 

The crux of the economic argument discussed by historians (but rebutted by economists such as Russ Sobel) is that wealth was "stolen" from West Virginia.

Did greed and hatred for humanity cause businessmen to swindle the people from their land, then force them into unhealthy jobs that paid nothing?  And did the state get nothing in return?

The record is mixed.  Some focus on the amount of money paid to landowners for their property.  Owners received a pittance compared to the value of resources removed.  In many cases, this is true.  The true market value of land isolated from centers of transportation and unsuitable for farming was very low.  Company agents looking for coal lands offered market value.  Some recognized the eagerness in the eyes of the agents and negotiated for more.  Others savored the idea of getting more cash than they had likely ever seen in their lives for what they thought was worth very little and took the offer without question or counterproposal. 

But other owners refused to sell.  Companies then brought in the lawyers.  Land claims in the mountains of what was once Virginia were a tangled mess.  People established claims with boundaries marked by trees or moss covered rocks, laid out in paces.  Different land offices granted the same land to separate people.  Residents lived on the land they thought was theirs.  Companies in Philadelphia, New York, and elsewhere bought competing claims.

So naturally many cases ended up in court.  With no clear ownership of the land established, judges had to fall back on legal principle.  Here is yet another example where government meddling in the private sector creates social problems. Before the Industrial Revolution, courts in Western Virginia used natural rights and common law principles.  The rights of the individual were more important than those of collective society.  With all else equal, a court would usually use the maxim "possession is 9/10 of the law."  The person living on the land, all else being equal, gets to keep the land. 

After industrialism took hold, courts moved to a collectivist social justice approach.  The maxim now was to advance the common good.  In any era, the common good is usually defined by entities trying to take resources from the less powerful individual for some other purpose.  Collectivism was on the side of big business.  So instead of advising the companies to make better offers or go elsewhere, courts ruled in favor of the companies "for the common good."

The common good was also supposedly advanced by a law allowing railroads to be built without permission on private land if the owners did not notice the construction of the rail line. 

Common good arguments are just as nefarious when done in favor of modern causes as they were when done to advance crony capitalist interests.  Every time used, the common good argument hurts the common individual man. They are rarely appropriate in a free society, even if the common good is advanced.

And the common good did advance.  It could have advanced just as far, if not farther, had the rights of individuals remained respected. But advance, it did.  Railroads connected most towns and county seats.  Mind you, sometimes the county seats were moved by force to the rail lines in some cases.  But it happened.

Satellite industries grew up around timber and coal extraction.  Paper mills, coke ovens, glassware, and other products were churned out of towns and cities across the state.  Trains and river traffic carried products to domestic markets and port cities.  The free public school system advanced farther and faster after the Civil War than nearly anywhere else south of the Potomac and Ohio Rivers.

At the time of the industrial revolution, dredged rivers, expanding rail networks, and establishment of free schools were all marks of progress.  West Virginia got those and a government weather station.

The argument that naïve or greedy natives sold out to big city interests falls flat.  Henry Gassaway Davis of Piedmont was a mover in politics and business, not one who was moved.  Elkins, who politically advised presidents and would-be presidents, chose to move to the state.  Johnson Camden did sell out his oil and gas interests to John Rockefeller in a Godfather-like "offer you can't refuse." But that was under pressure of riches or ruin and was the aberration instead of the rule.

Employment of the people also created a mixed result.  Abuses did happen, particularly in the southern counties.  Some companies took advantage of the isolation, using debt and low wages to create near serfdom style conditions in company towns.  The company owned the houses, stores, schools, and even churches.  Running afoul of the company meant a blacklisting from almost any job in the region.

Again, government and business worked too closely in unison in these areas.  Many sheriff's deputies worked double duty as law enforcement and company guards.  Law enforcement broke up the free association of union organizers and workers while also intimidating journalists.  The stifling hand of government allied with business perpetuated these abuses.  It is a sin of business, but not one of the free market.

On the other hand, those now working for cash money had more access to the benefits of industrialism.  Historians bemoan the move from self-sufficiency to the market economy.  But they do not consider the price of items compared to the value of the time spent in making them oneself.  Factory made clothes could be bought for cash earned in less time than it took mom or grandma to make homespun.  Food was cheaper when considered in this way. People also had access to medicine, newspapers, and other products rarely seen in some areas prior to the coming of industrialization.  Standards of living rose for most people.

Of course the downside lay in the fact that a cash paying job provided less security.  What happened to people laid off, too old, or too injured to work was a real social problem.

Overall, it is hard to see how one could find that business as a collective whole abused or stole from the state and people of West Virginia.  Then, as before and later, individual malefactors took advantage of people and the laxity of the laws.  But they do as much or more harm now by lobbying to use the power of government to eliminate competitors, or infringe on the rights of the people. 

Revisiting the interpretation of industrial history in West Virginia is necessary.  The perceived sins of the past are used against those trying to develop for the future.  We have all been raised to wrongly blame the free market system when many of the real problems stemmed from government help.  Except for the environmental destruction, which a more educated society and legal system has addressed adequately, the free market ideal is just not responsible

The lesson of West Virginia's past is not that the free market failed, it is that the failure to maintain a free market hurt the people.

How "Space Weather" Could Knock Out Services Here On Earth and What Can Be Done to Prevent It

"There is no dispute that electric grids worldwide are vulnerable to potentially catastrophic damage from solar-generated EMP."

So said former Maryland Republican congressman and Howard University professor Roscoe Bartlett in 2011.  According to Britain's Daily Mail, an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) expelled from the Sun nearly slammed into Earth.  Humanity missed calamity by a narrow two weeks.

EMPs are accelerated and highly charged streams of particles.  They can come naturally from the Sun, or artificially from nuclear weapons blasts.  Such an explosion in the atmosphere could create an electromagnetic field that could fry unprotected electronics and electrical systems. 

According to the Heritage Foundation, "effectively, the U.S. would be thrown back to the pre-industrial age following a widespread EMP attack."  Presumably a natural EMP blast could produce similar effects.  A one in eight chance exists that Earth may suffer such an event by 2020.

Heritage in 2010 laid out suggested preparations to protect against EMPs

Step No. 1: Require the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to Produce a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) Describing Which Countries Are Capable of Launching an EMP Strike. The NIE should review not only the weapons systems themselves but the delivery systems and platforms capable of carrying the weapons. Additionally, Congress should obtain from the NIE the intelligence community’s assessment of how EMP-capable countries are incorporating those weapons into their broader military strategies.
The latter assessment would permit the President and his advisors to determine how the U.S. could respond to EMP threats as they arise. Such planning is an essential part of providing an effective defense against these threats.
Step No. 2: Press the Obama Administration to Prepare to Protect the Nation’s Cyber Infrastructure Against the Effects of EMP. Congress should direct the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to manage this effort, which should incorporate the recommendations of the commissions. For instance, the commission has determined that preparedness measures must account for the fact that the cyber infrastructure is quite dependent on the power grid. Thus, contingency planning must explore ways to keep the cyber system functioning without primary power.
Further, it recommends identifying the most critical elements of the cyber system that must survive an EMP attack. Finally, the commission recommends that preparedness planning account for the interdependency between the nation’s cyber infrastructure and other elements of the broader infrastructure. Overall, the key to preparing to counter the effects of EMP is to put barriers in place to prevent cascading failures in the nation’s infrastructure.
Step No. 3: Require the Navy to Develop a Test Program for Sea-Based Interceptors with the Capability to Intercept and Destroy Ballistic Missiles Carrying EMP Weapons Prior to Detonation. It is clear that ballistic missiles offer an ideal delivery system for an EMP weapon. For instance, an enemy of America could launch a short-range missile carrying an EMP weapon from a cargo ship off the U.S. coast. Clearly, the terminal-phase ballistic missile defense systems currently in the field or entering the field, such as the Patriot system and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, will not reliably intercept such ballistic missiles prior to the detonation of an EMP warhead. The Standard Missile-3 Block IA (SM-3 Block IA), as a midcourse defense system, may be able to do so.
What the U.S. really needs to address this threat, however, is a version of the SM-3 that will intercept these kinds of missiles in the boost or ascent phase of flight. The Independent Working Group has recommended developing and fielding what it calls an “East Coast Missile Defense” to address this emerging threat.[3]
Accordingly, Congress should require the Navy to demonstrate the capability to produce new versions of the SM-3 interceptor that are capable of destroying a short-range missile in the boost or ascent phase of flight, prior to its reaching the preferred detonation points for an EMP warhead. This will require that Congress also provide the Navy with the funds necessary to undertake this test program.
If it chooses to do so, Congress could also direct the Air Force to undertake a companion program that would permit operational use of the Airborne Laser system to defend against an attack from a short-range missile.

EMPs have caused disruption before.  In 1989 they knocked out parts of Quebec's telephone infrastructure.  130 years prior, they interfered with telegraph operations not long after the invention of the device.

Putting Too Much Trust In Flawed Science Can Bring Bad Consequences

Sometimes science based on incomplete knowledge causes no harm.  Not too long ago, the Mid-Atlantic braced for what experts predicted would be a massive and destructive storm of wind, heavy rain, hail, and dangerous lightning.  Some changed travel plans while others stocked up.  The front passed with less sound and little fury, but residents were relieved at the mistake.

Science will always suffer from errors because it springs from the mind of humanity.  Nothing worldy exists in a state of perfection and no human or collection of people cannot account for every variable.  Science at best is the most educated guess possible based upon years, decades, centuries, or even millenia of analysis, experience, and observation.  That being said, sometimes science proceeds with less tested and known ideas.

This Forbes piece describes what happens when agendas take over in science.  The pressure to not be wrong creates situations where even lives may be lost because of the reluctance to admit failure.  In this case, the head of a study on ways to protect the heart during non cardiac surgery screwed up the results and covered up the dangers.  Many lives were lost to standards and practices based on bad medicine.

Obviously the researchers had agendas above and beyond truth and patient safety.  That is the other variable in science.  People bring in worldviews and goals that have little to do with scientific fact.  Drug companies have an incentive to push pills, so their motives should always be examined.  Those benefiting from huge grants for studies have to answer for money that they get from advocacy groups.

The general public and the media optimally should examine variables and incentives for certain results that can skew science.  Also, one must look at the possible harm caused by making decisions based upon flawed studies.

In the case of the controversial research on climate change, too many scandals, agendas, and bad research have clouded the results.  Leftist politicians want people to accept new regulations that hurt jobs, productivity, and wealth production.  They want the US to accept even more economic disadvantages even while the future is threatened by accelerating debt and rising prices. 

Any war needs a solid cause, not a constant shifting of reasons.  The War on Coal was launched on the supposed certainty of global warming.  Now that the Earth has been shown to not be warming over the past 15 years, they switched to "climate change."  This absurdly ignores the fact that the main climactic constant is change, showed by the Little Ice Age of 1350-1750 (dates approximated), for example.

Science is not shamanism.  It relies on imperfect minds and sometimes imperfect motivations.  When shown to be beneficial, we should use it.  But when we have reason for skepticism, we must ask science to study further.

Is PRISM Harming America's Foreign Trade? And also, what exactly is PRISM?

Last month, Britain's The Guardian and the Washington Post, via the famous/infamous Edward Snowden, reported on a mysterious government information collection program called PRISM. 

PRISM is an ongoing government effort to collect information from the internet about both foreign and domestic targets. Concerns about the collection and use of this data have produced a backlash from people and businesses around the world.  Many fear the effects, use, and possible misuse of information.

The National Security Agency somehow (it is not known how) obtains information about certain targets (it is not known who or why or how they are selected) from major internet entities, such as Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and others. All three of these companies, among others, strongly deny that they have granted access to the federal government for any information collection.

According to a Washington Post summary of known information:

We know that PRISM is a system the NSA uses to gain access to the private communications of users of nine popular Internet services. We know that access is governed by Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which was enacted in 2008. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper tacitly admitted PRISM’s existence in a blog post last Thursday. A classified PowerPoint presentation leaked by Edward Snowden states that PRISM enables “collection directly from the servers” of Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook and other online companies.

 It goes on to say that

The (New York) Times says that major tech companies have systems that “involve access to data under individual FISA requests. And in some cases, the data is transmitted to the government electronically, using a company’s servers.”
Data is “shared after company lawyers have reviewed the FISA request according to company practice. It is not sent automatically or in bulk,” the Times reports. The scheme is “a more secure and efficient way to hand over the data.”
A source told CNet’s Declan McCullagh that PRISM is “a very formalized legal process that companies are obliged to do.” A source — perhaps the same one — says that “you can’t say everyone in Pakistan who searched for ‘X’ … It still has to be particularized.”

Additional reporting by Cato Institute writer Julian Sanchez raises more concerns.  The law which pertains to PRISM removed the constitutionally necessary provision that a warrant must be obtained if the main target was a non citizen.  However, information collected about a US citizen in the process is allowed to be stored until someone proves that it is worthless.

The NSA itself makes the determination on the worthiness of the information.

Furthermore, information under some circumstances can be obtained and kept even if the only people involved are US citizens.

The knowns, unknowns, and what is unknown that is unknown have introduced uncertainty into the equation.  As US and foreign media scurry to gain further insight on the scope and target of the program, other countries may be setting up what defenses they can.

Companies involved in data collection and security, along with their home countries, fear intrusion by American intelligence services. At a recent panel held by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a guest speaker pointed out that some countries may follow Brazil in passing laws to protect digital information and commerce.  This measure passed by countries fearful of surveillance could backfire in restricting information to places with archaic security.

Furthermore, it is difficult to estimate how many foreign nationals may try to avoid doing business with American firms because of PRISM and the lack of understanding about it.

Most agree that speculation about PRISM is driven in part by fear of the unknown, as well as the potential for abuse.  It remains to be seen what the world's reaction will be, as well as what the full scope of the program actually is.  

Is the EPA's War on Coal Distracting It From Real Public Safety Threats?

The Environmental Protection Agency has pushed hard against West Virginia coal companies and farmers. It has pushed miners out of work over the questionable and controversial "climate change" agenda.  Power plants are slated to shut down in many areas due to draconian new regulations.  At the same time, EPA bureaucrats have, with mixed success, launched regulatory broadsides against family farms. But in their zeal to promote certain agendas, have they neglected proven threats to the environment and public safety?

Most people do not consider what happens when they discard electronics.  E-waste, as it is often called, contains deadly materials such as mercury and cadmium that can leach into the water supply.  Because disposal can be difficult, 70 percent of the world's electronic trash has ended up in China.  There, many make a dangerous living washing off old parts in hydrochloric acid, and working directly with mercury coated components.

Press coverage has forced the United Nations and others to watch the illegal traffic more closely, meaning that growing piles of material remain in the United States for legal disposal.  A major snag, however, lies in the fact that the EPA has not established guidelines for disposal.

A Washington Guardian report shows that in 2009, the US handled 1.77 million tons of material.  It was incinerated, or otherwise disposed of.  The EPA's inspector general, however, claimed that "EPA does not have adequate information to ensure effective E-waste management and enforcement to protect public health and conserve valuable resources."

Furthermore, the EPA has very little data on how waste is stored, or what is done with it. Even the cathode ray tube guidelines implemented under the Bush Administration have not been enforced well, due to declining budgets.

The EPA does its best work when it responds capably to proven threats to public safety.  Therein, it justifies its existence and budget.  Unfortunately, it appears that its zeal to adhere to the unproven theory of climate change may be putting public health at risk.

Banks Seek Technological Solutions to Reduce the Hundreds of Billions Lost to Fraud

Last February, the FBI busted a 13 person conspiracy that planned to bilk over $200 million from credit card companies.  It included a network of complicit businesses that would access the money and wire it to one of several Asian or Eastern European countries.

Today, US investigators announced the arrest of four Russians and a Ukranian.  They had hacked databases to retrieve information on over 160 million credit card numbers.  The indictment, according to Russia Today, said that “Financial institutions, credit card companies and consumers suffered hundreds of millions in losses, including losses in excess of $300 million by just three of the corporate victims, and immeasurable losses to identity theft victims."

Mexico and the United States experience the highest rates of credit card fraud, according to a Forbes report last fall.   In both nations, over 40 percent of card holders describe having experiencing some type of credit card fraud.  Debit card fraud is more difficult, but the two aforementioned countries are near the top of that list as well.  One out of four or more debit card holders in both countries have been defrauded in some way.

Help may be on the way.

This year, US credit and debit issuing companies will start issuing EMV standard cards.  This stands for Europay, MasterCard, Visa.  These cards will start including an extra layer of security in the form of ID chips. 

The process will take years, however, because of the need to update card readers and ATMs.

Banks lose $190 billion per year to fraud, according to another Forbes report.  Industry observers hope that EMV, among other measures, will roll back the heavy losses. 

Until then, organized criminals with technical prowess will continue to plunder banks and consumers alike.

Marijuana, the Conservative Movement, Republican Politics, and the Art of Thoughtful Reconsideration

Almost ten years ago, William F. Buckley penned a powerful column that reflected on a key issue of the time and the conservative movement in general.

In it, he included a powerful indictment of ossification of thought, saying "intelligent deference to tradition and stability can evolve into intellectual sloth and moral fanaticism, as when conservatives simply decline to look up from dogma because the effort to raise their heads and reconsider is too great."

At the time, he referred to the strong resistance among conservatives and Republicans to loosening the marijuana laws.  Buckley tended to oppose all of them, but most strongly advocated for the use of cannabis  for medical purposes. 

Opponents of loosening the laws on marijuana generally agree with the writer of this CNBC piece from 2010. The laws work.  They reduce consumption while supposedly preventing higher rates of drug impaired driving.  Opponents of marijuana use for medical purposes point out that such a policy could increase the incidence of recreational use.

The state of Missouri, in association with the National Crime Prevention Council, released a PDF at some unknown point that lists points of "damage" associated with use. These include lowered testosterone for men, higher testosterone for women, frustration, isolation, increased appetite, paranoia, and "exposure to illegal drug culture."

Cato Institute in 2010 reported on peer reviewed studies on marijuana use and risks.  They found that the scientific community generally concluded that marijuana, while not risk free, brings fewer problems than most other drugs.  Even most of the risk factors disappear when pot is consumed in some other way than smoking. 

Some of the "damage" listed by occasional government warnings appear questionable.  Does marijuana make some people paranoid, frustrated, and socially averse?  Or do paranoid, frustrated, and socially averse people try to self-medicate with marijuana?  It would be impossible to prove that cannabis caused these behaviors unless studies found a large sample of non users, then illegally induced them to use over a long period of time. 

Even the idea that medical users of drugs may be tempted to use them recreationally supports legalization. People will abuse medical drugs after prescribed use, no doubt.  No one argues that marijuana use is nearly as dangerous as narcotic drugs such as Oxy Contin, which have destroyed families and lives at devastating rates.


Some question keeping marijuana illegal even for recreational purposes. Critics of recreational pot use talk about reducing motivation and raise the specter of drugged driving. People foolish enough to drive around while intoxicated won't be stopped by the fact that pot is illegal.  They will just drive drunk.  And while it is definitely true that people high on pot have reduced motivation, this actually argues for its social utility.  Drunk people are more likely to leave the house than high people.

Buckley's point was that doctrinaire conservatives must keep looking at the evidence supporting or disproving principles.  Also, does support of one principle violate a more important one.

If a conservative advocates for states' rights and smaller federal government, how do federal marijuana laws fit into this picture?

If a conservative believes in maximum property rights, how can we justify the outlawing of a plant that God saw fit to put in the ground?

If conservatives define Bloomberg's health crusade and 1920s Prohibition as excesses of Progressivism, what does that say about the costs to taxpayers, society, and freedom of choice in terms of pot laws?

A cost-benefit analysis of marijuana enforcement must include the fact that states spent  $3.6 billion on enforcement in 2010 alone.  This includes the costs of arrest, incarceration, and trial. Can this money spent on mostly non violent offenders be spent in better ways, or sliced entirely from budgets?

Another problem lies in the credibility of law.  If evidence of all kinds shows an illegal substance to be less damaging than many that are legal, the law looks absurd in the eyes of the people.  Overall respect for law drops.

Since Buckley's 2004 piece, Republicans have tended to step back from the legalization debates.  Like gay marriage, the issue has an aura of inevitability.  Unlike gay marriage,  Republicans have no constituency bothered enough by pot use to push them to fervently act to prevent legalization and/or decriminalization.

Old hippies and left-liberal college students find themselves in the odd position of having their favorite cause slapped down hard by the former chief of the choom gang.  It cannot be comfortable for them to agree more with Buckley and George Will than with their idol president. 

Good politics and good policy do not always combine.  Here, the Republican Party can take a stand that can help cut budgets, increase individual liberty, and force the hand of the establishment Democratic Party.

A Solution For Detroit

Barack Obama, the President of the United States, waxed rhapsodic about a single criminal case last Friday.  The media swirled about his words like gnats on a summer day.

This week, one of America's storied metropolises filed for bankruptcy.  Not a peep.

Since 1960, the city has imploded.  This report which, no joke, 47 percent of Detroit residents would not be able to read,details many of the problems facing the city.

These include an hour response rate for police, 40 percent of traffic lights now non-functional, 80,000 houses abandoned, many housing drug gangs as squatters.  Over a million people fled Detroit for saner pastures as city government devolved.

Detroit has no choice but to declare bankruptcy, which would free it from significantly onerous pension requirements.  Look out California and Illinois state workers, your turn is coming unless you can hit on a formula for sustainable government. Several other cities have already taken this path.

A county judge tried to halt the bankruptcy proceedings by, among other things, claiming that bankruptcy dishonored the president and violated the state constitution.  A federal court, however, has ultimate jurisdiction.  All the city's creditors will likely take an enormous hit, not just those expecting lavish pensions after making lavish salaries. 

What can save Detroit?  A National Review writer suggested using Hong Kong as a model.  Create a free enterprise zone of limited taxes and regulations.  Incidentally, that was the original purpose of the modern city, as conceived in Central Europe in the Middle Ages.  Nobles controlled most of the lands while kings only directly ruled the roads.  At crossroads, kings established tax free areas where merchants could do business, while the king would derive revenue from tolls and fines.  Of course, such an arrangement would be up to the state, not the federal government, of course.

Normally the drop of land values to nearly zero would attract entrepreneurs.  Detroit's horrific school system, however, has not provided a workforce with even the rudiments of ability.  Widespread drug addiction and the inability to enforce basic rule of law also make serious businessmen hesitant to pull the trigger. Last year, the police union warned out of towners to avoid Detroit.

But there is, possibly, a solution if government can stay out of the way.

Colonization.  In a sense.

With the price of an acre somewhere below a six pack of Schlitz, a manufacturing firm could buy property for next to nothing.  Now the state or city would have to help to remove the squatters without facilitating bizarre legal challenges.

Next, government officials have to stop the green energy foolishness and draconian EPA regulations on power plants.  One of America's few remaining advantages in attracting manufacturing is cheap power.  So get out of the way of drilling and production. 

Manufacturing facilities, for a while anyway, in Detroit would have to look like their Third World counterparts.  Buildings surrounded by walls topped with razor wire, perhaps even containing dormitories where workers could live in safety.  Armed private security would have to patrol the site. Possibly such measures might make such a place too costly. 

The locals will not like it, but much of the workforce would have to come from outside.  Successful firms do not employ drug addicts or illiterate people. 

It goes without saying that Michigan would have to continue its move towards worker rights, despite union protests.

In other words, colonize Detroit with entrepreneurs and hard workers from other parts of the country.  Productivity and profit would attract satellite businesses.  Revenue from a fair tax system wisely used would help to rebuild city services.  This would be colonization in the Roman sense of the term.  Plant communities within a previously settled area to start a long term transformation. Over time, the city grows prosperous, safer, and offers a good quality of life.

It would have to happen without court battles involving environmentalists, community organizers, unions, and every other fool who thinks Detroit is currently just fine.  Business would have to be able to get quick permission to build, as opposed to conducting exhaustive studies. 

Unfortunately, nothing is easy for business in America.  Which is why Detroit and many other places like it are happening in our generation.

Private Sector Versus Pirates?

Should low intensity threats warrant an expensive high intensity response?   Perhaps the private sector can offer flexible and less expensive solutions than nation-states.

Last week, Doublethink magazine interviewed John-Clark Levin the author of Private Anti-Piracy Navies: How Warships for Hire are Changing Maritime Security.  Levin argues that small scale privately run outfits can offer better security at a lower price than national navies.

Piracy, especially in the Indian Ocean, has escaped the front page, but remains a threat to shipping and leisure cruising.  Other reports indicate that threats in other parts of the world have outstripped the danger lurking in the waters off of Somalia.  While 851 suffered attack off the coast of that quasi-country this year, nearly a thousand have been fired upon off of West Africa.

Like any other criminals, pirates take advantage of opportunity.  The worldwide global downturn left many nation-states cash strapped.  International flotillas from the West made the Indian Ocean more perilous for pirates, so they simply follow the advice of Wee Willie Keeler.  "Hit it where they ain't." 

"They ain't" in West Africa and other vulnerable areas, such as the Indonesian archipelago.

The Somali pirates themselves have become more sophisticated in choosing prey.  In the past several months, their attack to boarding ration has increased significantly.

Levin argues that western warships come with huge operational pricetags.  Warships cost hundreds of millions of dollars, using up tons of fuel, patrol sea lanes.  National taxpayers waste too much money on the maritime equivalent of an M1 Abrams patrolling a bad neighborhood.

In contrast, Levin says that a private firm could patrol the same areas and respond more flexibly and effectively for $35,000 or so per day. 

One obstacle to using private firms to police the oceans is international law.  Although this remains murky on the issue, American law is clear.  Congress has constitutional authority to issue "letters of marque and reprisal" under Article I Section 8 Clause 11.  Foreign Policy recently advocated their use against China in cyberspace.  Private anti-piracy forces would harken back to the more traditional sense of the term. 

Another option for Western forces would be to establish a more flexible command with low tech weaponry.  For the cost of deploying a handful of frigates, the Navy could build World War II type PT boats, such as the one commanded by John F. Kennedy in the Pacific.  Armed with several .50 calibre machine guns and torpedoes, they would be less expensive to run, but more numerous and deadly to pirates.  The World War II tactic of hiding small warships inside of dummy freighters to lure attacks would also be effective here.  

Stopping piracy requires executing a simple equation.  Make the cost of "doing business" higher than the rewards of success.  Along the way, American strategists need to also find solutions that are cost-effective, yet still accomplish the mission and keep professional soldiers as safe as possible. 

Student Loan Debate: What Most People Overlooked

Politics can sometimes become Bizarro world. Short term political points can be scored by one party when the other fails to live up to its rhetoric.

Republicans have Democrats on a spit over student loan rate hikes.  The interest rate doubled on July 1, despite passage of a bill in the GOP controlled House of Representatives.  A bipartisan bill in the Senate failed to pass, leaving the higher rate in place.

The GOP supports the Obama proposed plan of tying rates to the rate of 10 year Treasury notes, which will likely increase gradually over time.  Senate Democrats oppose this measure. So they went up immediately instead of later.

Hyper reactions over the rate hike drowned out those who claim that the hike will have little impact. 

Jordan Gonzalez in American Spectator argues that "the monster doesn't have teeth or talons."  He cites economists who say the increased rate will add $21 per month to the payment. 

Economists also say that the expansion of easy credit has put student solvency in jeopardy while giving colleges no incentive to restrict spending and hold tuition down.  It has created a classic price rising higher than value bubble that threatens those holding degrees that promise lower incomes.

But if you work in the bloated public sector, fear not.  You may get to keep the same old low rates.

Forbes reports that the rates will not double for many federal employees and congressional staff.  Lawmakers still labor under the delusion that federal employees make scanty livings while private sector earners live it up.  In fact a hefty percentage of federal employees take home over six figures.

Beyond that, as the Forbes writer argues, government salaries should be low.  Employees have job security unknown in the private sector.  Also, the public sector role ought to be limited.  Government does too much as it is.  And should our best and brightest be in the world of innovation and production? 

The politics of it all may be lost on some.  CampusReform reporter Kat Timpf located graduates of George Washington University who opposed what they thought were GOP attempts to raise the rates while also advocating for Republican extermination.

A sure sign that for some, investment in college education is money unwisely wasted!

Let's Hear It For Charleston, West Virginia

A few months ago, Business Insider rated Charleston as the saddest place to live.  It displaced last year's "winner" of Huntington, which is now number 2.

Charleston and Huntington topping this list likely indicates some kind of cultural skewing.  Objective judgments of "happiness" are nearly impossible because of the variation in culture from place to place.  People making up these tests can't understand the places they study.  They cannot account for variables.  Using criteria made up hundreds or thousands of miles away proves nothing.

So let's talk about what makes Charleston one of the most awesome cities.

Park Land: How many cities can boast of having two massive parks within easy driving distance?  Coonskin Park to the north and Kanawha State Forest to the south provide residents with easy access to wilderness style leisure. 

Architecture: The State Capitol building is an architectural masterpiece.  Soaring marble chambers, the tallest capitol dome in the United States, brightly colored legislative chambers, and complete access to any office. 

Getting Around:  Four major highways converge in Charleston, giving it excellent access by road to other parts of the state and metropolitan areas in other states.  Within the city, parallel four lane roads along the river speed traffic around and through town.  Kanawha Boulevard, a WPA project from the 1930s, runs past some of the more beautiful old neighborhoods in town.  The trees lining the thoroughfare accentuate the beauty of the river.  It's a beautiful urban drive

The River:  The Kanawha River flows serenely through town, narrow enough to allow bridges of a beautiful structure, broad enough for recreation.  It has carved out a valley of aesthetically pleasing proportions, particularly on the east side of town.

Education:  Charleston's metro area is home to West Virginia State University (a historically black college), University of Charleston, and West Virginia University Institute of Technology, as well as Marshall University Graduate College.  West Virginia University has also established a branch of their medical school in town.

Charleston is striving to transition from an industrial to a digital economy while retaining the Southern charm that it has carried since its 1790s birth.  It has attracted a handful of Hollywood types because of its pace of life and dearth of celebrity seeking media. 

Is the NSA America's Stasi?

A protester "defaced" the U. S. Embassy in Berlin last night with a debate provoking message. 

The protester/artist/rabblerouser Kit Dotcom used a projector to put an image of his face on the side of the building under the words "United Stasi of America." 

Invoking the word "Stasi" brings almost as sharp of a response from Germans as "Nazi."  Some may mistakenly assume that the East German secret police force was simply a continuation of the Gestapo under a new regime.  Far from it.

The Gestapo was the political police unit within the Reich Security Main Office, or RSHA in short.  It had a relatively small number of thugs compared to the later Communist states in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.  The Gestapo's reach remained limited due to this shortage (likely brought on by the needs of the war more than Nazi scruples) although those in its grasp felt the full measure of cruel tortures.

The Stasi, on the other hand, built an enormous agency of counterintelligence and surveillance.  Likely no East German family escaped the reach of the Stasi. Those who did not inform were often informed upon.  East Germany preached that good citizens turned in their suspicious neighbors for any number of offenses.  Each report warranted an investigation carefully filed in enormous warehouses. After the fall of the East German government and the opening of the files, it became a point of pride to have been investigated, of shame to have informed.  British historian and journalist Timothy Garton Ash wrote a book investigating the informants who helped to amass the file created on himself.

Has the NSA reached Stasi levels of interference and snooping?  Certainly their technological power to gather and hold information outstrips the clumsy files filled with cards used by the East Germans.  That being said, East Germans had no avenue to protest the widespread collection of personal information, no functional constitution protecting their rights, no legal or democratic alternative to the dictators in control.

Critics of the NSA point to the potential abuse of power.  If officials in general did not have track records going back to Nixon, Franklin Roosevelt, and beyond, of misusing such information, Americans might have trust in it.  Officials have misused information, wrongfully harming innocent individuals as a result.

Around the world, many now realize that the NSA snoops on them as well.  Few can argue that this surveillance has foiled terrorists in many nations, but it still raises questions of sovereign rights and power. 

Like other agencies who have gradually crept more into citizens' private lives, the problems remain in the potential more than the actual.  What happens if a less scrupulous administration comes to power? What if they do use the full range of information possibilities for political purposes instead of national defense.  The Internal Revenue Service back to FDR has been used politically, why not also information gathered by the NSA?

Constitutional safeguards exist because the Founders did not trust future governments to respect rights.  It would be wise to restrain all government agencies in their search for more information and weigh carefully what is done in the name of national security.

Gangs Are Associations of Weakness

Initial reports of the arrest of former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez included hints of a dark shadow life.  Certain tattoos on his body may or may not advertise gang affiliations.  The 23 year old Hernandez denies them.  Gang unit investigators have yet to confirm it one way or the other.

If true, it brings a new angle to the disturbing world of gangs.  They are supposed to be creatures of poverty.  Those who do make money in them do so as criminals, making it hard to jump to a legitimate lifestyle.  Even rappers feel the need to maintain some connection "to the streets" to keep up their "street cred", whatever that is worth to those gunned down as a consequence.

Hernandez, again, if he does have affiliations, would be a young man, educated in a highly respected university, who made his money completely free of the gang life.  Yet he still may have found living in that style preferable to finding new friends, new hangouts, and a responsible path forward.

Gang violence increased over a recent  ten year period, but decreased slightly between 2008 and 2010, according to the FBI. 

Cultural perceptions of gangs, from Italian organized crime "families" to the street variety, range from portraying them as scum of the earth to representatives of tarnished virtue.  Almost nowhere, however, does one see the people involved as inherently weak.

It's hard to blame some kids for getting involved.  Living in dangerous neighborhoods, some kids might seek out a gang to make them feel secure.  If it cannot protect them at all times, it can at least avenge any insult or assault.  But joining for that reason is a decision borne of weakness, even if one cannot blame the kid for being vulnerable in the first place. 

Most gang violence occurs when a large group from gang A finds a smaller group or an individual of a rival gang and attacks.  Sneak, or surprise attacks are common.  The tactic is to stack the odds to reduce the possibility of harm to the attackers.  These reflect modes of fighting common in guerrilla warfare, especially when the number of proven and capable fighters is limited.  Stonewall Jackson, with his usually smaller army, preferred to bring his entire force to bear on an isolated extension of his opponents' lines. 

But these tactics are a reflection of weakness, regardless of the violent results.

Criminal enterprises also confess a lack of strength.  Gangs gain revenues by combining entrepreneurial skill with enough force to create a limited geographical monopoly.

Again, this is weakness.  They fear the risk and reward process of the truly competitive free market.  Being a criminal, rather than a businessman, enables one to bring force to bear.  Being a better businessman is hard.  Killing your competition or threatening their families is relatively easier. 

But it is still, from a business standpoint, a tactic of weakness, a confession that the individual could not "hack it" in the "real world."

Purveyors of popular culture could strike a blow against violence by making sure that movies about gangs and their lifestyle teach that those involved are essentially weak individuals.  Martin Scorcese's Good Fellas portrayed gangsters as anything but good, which gives it a positive message.  How many other films (or for that matter, Bio channel documentaries) about the Mafia or street gangs even include that element? 

If guilty of his crimes, Aaron Hernandez was a thoroughly weak individual regardless of whether or not he was in a gang.  What insult to his soul was worth one or more lives?  What good did it do him to commit one of the most stupidly executed murders in some time?  Despite his physical strength and his football field prowess, Aaron Hernandez was likely a very weak man. 

Just the kind of person perfect for a gang.

West Virginia University Expanding Its Scope

Last week, West Virginia University looked to expand its footprint in widely different ways.

On July 2, Metro News reported that WVU hospitals planned to purchase Potomac Valley Hospital in Keyser from its owner Hal McBee.  It would join several other regional hospitals that recently joined the WVU Hospital system, including facilities in Martinsburg and Charles Town.  Since patients with serious conditions often get referrals from Keyser to Morgantown, this is expected to streamline the process.

It may also cut the number of patient referrals from Keyser to facilities in Cumberland.

West Virginia University also expressed an interest in buying a minority share of the Green Bank Observatory, according to a July 1 press release by Representative Nick Rahall.

The National Science Foundation communicated its possible termination of support over the next five years from the state of the art radio telescope.  While no final decision has been made, the university expressed interest in supporting its operations.

Green Bank's telescope monitors radio wave sources from across the universe.  It can discern valuable information about stars, galaxies, and other energy sources.  Should a transmission from another civilization reach earth, Green Bank, or a similar facility could receive and analyze it.

State institutions taking the place of federal in scientific research and technological advances is a welcome development.  More exciting course and work study opportunities help to make the school even more attractive to possible candidates for study.  It also improves the academic reputation without shutting the doors on many state students.

As the university expands into new fields, however, it must remain mindful to improve its standing as a steward of taxpayer money.  Administrative spending cuts must become the primary option when the university needs more revenue.  At some point the student loan bubble will explode and this will stop serving as academia's cash cow.

All the same, WVU's potential involvement in the Green Bank Observatory is exciting news.  And expanding into rural health should help communities and aspiring medical students alike.