In a story on the tariffs the Obama admin. is imposing on tires from China in the NYT, you have to go down to the very end to find that the Commerce Department and the US Intl. Trade Commission both determined that China is providing improper subsidies to its tire manufacturers. Now, this determination is taken to be a political thing, not a factual thing. Most of the story is about what the various factions are saying.

What the newspaper explicitly does not do is attempt to answer:

1. How good is the evidence that China is providing improper subsidies? and

2. Assuming that China is indeed providing improper subsidies, is application of tariffs the proper remedy as per international agreements?

Sorry for the error.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/34680_The_Two_Million_Protester_Myth_and_the_Right_Wing_Blogosphere

or click on signature

Quote: "Brendan Nyhan has a good post on the spread of the two million protestor myth across the right wing blogosphere — one of the most embarrassing episodes I’ve witnessed among people who pride themselves on “fact checking.”"

http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/09/14/that-photo-of-the-912-march-on-washington-its-fake/

or click on signature

" “It was an impressive crowd,” Piringer said. But after marching down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol the crowd “only filled the Capitol grounds, maybe up to Third Street,” he said. Yet the photo showed the crowd sprawling far beyond that to the Washington Monument, which is bordered by 15th and and 17th Streets. There’s another big problem with the photograph: it doesn’t include the National Museum of the American Indian, a building located at the corner of Fourth St. and Independence Ave. that opened on Sept. 14, 2004… That means the picture was taken before the museum opened exactly five years ago. So clearly the photo doesn’t show the “tea party” crowd from the Sept. 12 protest.

The size of the rally is a contentious issue among many conservatives, who believe that the mainstream media has intentionally ignored so-called “tea-party” protests. “I have no doubt that Washington Democrats are well aware of how many people turned out, even as their media outlets try to downplay the event,” John Hinderaker wrote on the conservative blog Power Line. “Ultimately, those media efforts will have little effect, just like the media’s silly attempt to portray anti-big government voters as ‘racists,’ etc.”

Since Politifact weighed in on the issue, many blogs – including Power Line – have pulled the photo."

For years, via the IMF, the US has prescribed bitter medicine to other countries whose economies are in trouble, that the US would never inflict on itself.

So Paul Krugman, in The Conscience of a Liberal, was mistaken that this racism expressed in policy differences was over?

- "But another issue with Iceland, as indicated in the paper, is its particular demographic history. Iceland not only has a small population, but it has historically had a small population, and one that nearly went extinct in the medieval period."

(http://scienceblogs.com/gnxp/2009/01/genetic_variation_in_space_tim.php )

-- Should we blame this on not having a government?

-----------------------------

- The population of Iceland around 1200 was 60,000.

(Medieval Iceland: Society, Sagas, and Power

By Jesse L. Byock )

No matter how idyllic it was, even the most nincompoop libertarian should pause to think about whether what works for a sparsely populated land with 60,000 people can scale up to work for 300 million people.

------------------------------

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_Commonwealth

"At the national level, the Althing was both court and legislature; there was no king or other central executive power. Iceland was divided into numerous goðorð (plural same as singular), which were essentially clans or alliances run by chieftains called goðar (singular goði). The chieftains provided for defense and appointed judges to resolve disputes between goðorð members. The goðorð were not strictly geographical districts. Instead, membership in a goðorð was an individual's decision, and one could, at least theoretically, change goðorð at will. However, no group of lesser men could elect or declare someone a goði. The position was the property of the goði; and could be bought, sold, borrowed, and inherited."

-- Looks like Afghan society with its tribes and Loya Jirga. Not sure that is a recommendation for this system.

You will also see that the members of a clan owed military service to the chieftain. I think I'd rather pay taxes than have compulsory military service. Trust libertarians to tell you half the story only.

Somebody wrote something at reason.com accusing Obama of lying, and that became gospel:

The lies last night began in Obama's opening paragraph. "When I spoke here last winter," he began, "credit was frozen. And our financial system was on the verge of collapse." In fact, Obama spoke on Feb. 24, at least six weeks after credit markets began to thaw, and one week after he proclaimed that the passage of his $787 billion stimulus marked "the beginning of the end, the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for Americans." Obama's speech that day wasn't about staving off a collapse, it was about cleaning up the mess and tackling long-ignored issues. Such as health care. ...

a. Winter is from Dec 22 to March 21 roughly - solstice to equinox. Speaking on Feb 24 is in the winter.

b. Feb 24, 2009 the credit markets were still frozen.

In fact July 2009, the credit markets were still frozen.

e.g.,

With Credit Markets Frozen, CIT Shops for Investors

July 17, 2009, 4:58 am

http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/with-credit-markets-frozen-cit-shops-for-investors

or click on signature.

I get misinformed every day - 24 hours and I'm still not marching with the idiots!

That could be nothing more than a touch of couch-potato-itis.

:)

Has anyone read "George W. Bush, War Criminal? The Bush Administration's liability for 269 War Crimes" by Michael Haas?

It has a foreword by the Former Chief Prosector, Nuremberg Military Tribunals, Benjamin B. Ferencz.

I got hold of it in the library today, but have been distracted since by a John Grisham. Somehow imagined crimes are more entertaining than real ones.