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Lord Oxburgh, a geologist by training and the former scientific advisor to the Ministry of Defence, was appointed to lead the enquiry into the scientific aspects of the Climategate scandal on Monday. But Oxburgh is also a director of GLOBE, the Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment.

GLOBE may be too obscure to merit its own Wikipedia entry, but that belies its wealth and influence. It funds meetings for parliamentarians worldwide with an interest in climate change, and prior to the Copenhagen Summit GLOBE issued guidelines (pdf) for legislators. Little expense is spared: in one year alone, one peer – Lord Michael Jay of Ewelme – enjoyed seven club class flights and hotel accommodation, at GLOBE’s expense. There’s no greater love a Parliamentarian can give to the global warming cause. And in return, Globe lists Oxburgh as one of 23 key legislators.

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For nearly 80 years, contractors working on federally funded construction projects have been forced to pay their workers artificially inflated wages that rip off American taxpayers while lining the pockets of organized labor. The culprit is the Davis-Bacon Act of 1931, which requires all workers on federal projects worth more than $2,000 to be paid the “prevailing wage,” which typically means the local union wage.

James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation finds that repealing Davis-Bacon would save taxpayers $11.4 billion in 2010 alone. Simply suspending Davis-Bacon would allow government contractors to hire 160,000 new workers at no additional cost, according to Sherk.

Let’s get rid of these FDR-era payoffs to the Democrat base.

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Let that be a lesson to us all.

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A passer-by was reported to police for trespass on a school’s grounds after she came to the aid of a five-year-old boy who had been left on his own in a tree after playtime.

However, she said she was “surprised and angry” when she later received letters from Manor primary school, Melksham, Wilts, and the local council, reprimanding her for entering the school grounds without permission.

No good deed goes unpunished.

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Movin’ to Montana soon … Gonna be a dental floss tycoon….

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Why provide something that your employees can get from the government at a subsidized price? How many Canadian employers provide health benefits? I doubt that any do.

If preliminary summaries of Obamacare  are true, it looks like individual health insurance will soon be a better deal than employer-provided health insurance.  In the individual market, you can now wait until you’re really sick to buy insurance: “Heads I win, tails I break even.”  Firms won’t have that gimme – and it seems more valuable than premiums’ tax deductibility.  Admittedly, Obamacare imposes a small penalty on individuals who don’t buy insurance, and a moderate penalty on firms that don’t provide it.  But it still seems like it will be in the financial self-interest of many firms and their workers to get rid of insurance, and split the (cash savings minus penalties).

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Well, when governments refuse to perform their essential function, people have to take matters into their own hands. Whenever you get a proliferation of private security services, it indicates that the government is falling down on the job.

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More honest than union officials tend to be.

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Well, when have they ever had to do their own laundry?

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Why, wonders Joe Weisenthal, are we only finding out about this now? The National Restaurant Association sought the measure — which constricts the freedom of its own membership — in hopes of gaining uniformity instead of “a potential patchwork of conflicting requirements adopted by states and cities,” to quote the Times. It can be reliably predicted, though, that the ever-growing battalions of “food policy advocates” will home-made cherry pie white backgroundnot feel constrained by any supposed national deal to refrain from pushing for further piecemeal extension of state and local requirements, thus rendering any seeming uniformity but temporary.

The requirement kicks in when a restaurant chain reaches ten units, and will foreseeably make it harder for 15-unit local chains to compete with the 1,500-unit behemoths who can spread the nontrivial costs of compliance over a much larger base. Like earlier calorie-labeling laws, it will also encourage standardization by making it hazardous for owners not to prescribe and control, e.g., precisely how much topping local employees are to spread on each sandwich or pizza. Earlier here.

People just never learn.

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On the one hand, correlation does not imply causation.

On the other, it doesn’t surprise me a bit.

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Anybody who lives in an area with a Home Owner’s Association is a willing slave and ought to be traded to the Europeans.

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Ah, those hotblooded Italians….

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Teachers are proposing industrial action and a wave of protests to block an expansion of academies and the creation of new-style “free schools”.

In Brit-speak, ‘industrial action’ means strikes and ancillary union hooliganism. Obviously the ‘teachers’ are more interested in preserving their grip on educational jobs than in actually, you know, producing educated children.

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Gee, yet another thing they can sell to Red China.

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Not your father’s Britain.

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But that’s what they do best.

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Hint: Not a good thing.

In the 1980s, the popcorn button on the microwave seemed like the last word in convenience. Now, ovens ranging from countertop convection to wall models come equipped with a chicken-nugget button.

Even the manufacturers of conventional ovens realize there is no avoiding the frozen pizza. Frigidaire has a one-punch pizza button right next to the chicken-nugget button on both its wall-mount and traditional ranges.

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Not to mention being a total pain in the ass.

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Europeans are beginning to suspect that an America more like Europe isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Be careful what you wish for, mes enfants – you just might get it.

Ilya Somin at the Volokh Conspiracy traces how we lose our freedom through a defective political process.

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Let that be a lesson to us all.

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Sure, these people are ready for self-government.

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‘Here, Abdul, is where we put the bombs.’

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And sues, of course.

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California, of course.

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Market solutions to poverty are very much in vogue. These solutions, which include services and products targeting consumers at the “bottom of the pyramid,” portray poor people as creative entrepreneurs and discerning consumers. Yet this rosy view of poverty-stricken people is not only wrong, but also harmful. It allows corporations, governments, and nonprofits to deny this vulnerable population the protections it needs. Romanticizing the poor also hobbles realistic interventions for alleviating poverty.

Poor people aren’t diamonds in the rough who only need a fair shake to blossom and succeed; they’re mostly worthless people with character defects that preclude them from getting ahead no matter how many ‘helping hands’ they’re extended.

Beneath these beliefs in the market readiness of poor people lies a more basic assumption: people in dire straits are well-informed and rational economic actors. Yet this view denies the fact that poor people often act against their own self-interest. Of course, wealthier people sometimes do so, too. But poor people face far worse consequences for their bad choices than do more affluent people. And so romanticized views of BOP people as value-conscious consumers and resilient entrepreneurs are not only false, but also harmful. These views lead states to build too few legal, regulatory, and social mechanisms to protect the poor, as well as to rely too heavily on market solutions to poverty.

‘The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.’

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The Dutch government condemned the comments by Gen John Sheehan, a former NATO commander and senior Marine officer, as outrageous.

Undoubtedly. But were they accurate?

“The case in point that I’m referring to is when the Dutch were required to defend Srebrenica against the Serbs,” he said, referring to the UN peacekeeping force deployed to protect Bosnian Muslim civilians.

“The battalion was understrength, poorly led, and the Serbs came into town, handcuffed the soldiers to the telephone polls, marched the Muslims off and executed them.”

Carl Levin, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, pressed him to clarify his comments.

“Did the Dutch leaders tell you it (the fall of Srebrenica) was because there were gay soldiers there?” asked an incredulous Levin.

“Yes,” Sheehan said and added: “They included that as part of the problem.”

Gen Sheehan, who retired from the military in 1997, said he had been told that by the former chief of staff of the Dutch army.

Rather an unimpeachable source, I should say.

Mr Levin vehemently rejected Sheehan’s allegation, saying that drawing a connection between the massacre at Srebrenica and gays in the Dutch military was “totally off-target.”

That’s Democrats for you: Facts that don’t fit the spin aren’t allowed.

“It is astonishing that a man of his stature can utter such complete nonsense,” the Dutch defence ministry spokesman Roger van de Wetering said. “I have never heard of a single statement by a Dutch political or military leader that drew a link between the fall of the enclave and the fact that there were Dutch homosexual soldiers.”

Uh, excuse me? Sounds like you just did.

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Slow news day.

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Abundant evidence demonstrates that money is not an Archimedean lever for moving the world of education. Inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending tripled over four decades; pupil-teacher ratios were substantially reduced as the number of teachers increased 61 percent while enrollments rose about 10 percent. Yet test scores stagnated or declined.

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More government stupidity. If the guy wants to tell everybody he’s homosexual, he ought to be allowed to do so. There’s nothing inherently offensive about saying that you’re gay.

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Don’t know why this is such a surprise.

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What would happen to the Palestinian ‘intifada’ if Israel were to adopt this policy?

How would the Chattering Classes react?

Steve Sailer isn’t afraid to ask the hard questions.

Clearly, the main reason for the tightening grip of the federal government on local education is simply that the most ambitious politicians, such as Bush and Obama, go into federal politics and they grab the most appealing issues (Fix the schools!) and try to deal with them at the federal level.

Indeed, one might ask why government, federal or otherwise, is involved in most of its activities.

Seth Godin has a beef.

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According to Verizon, the company is taking a contemplative pause to focus on marketing the service to areas that are already deployed.

But according to long-time industry analyst Dave Burstein, Verizon’s essentially cutting and running on additional deployment plans, leaving a very large chunk of their footprint on last-generation DSL and copper-based voice networks.

Burstein tells Broadband Reports that he doesn’t see Verizon expanding any further (with the exception of major cities where they’ve signed franchise agreements) unless they get money from Uncle Sam (aka, taxpayers). “They want to get on the gravy train, although I think the new, less competitive leadership is the primary explanation,” says Burstein when asked why Verizon’s shifting tactics. Seidenberg, the driving force behind the first wave of FiOS, is on his way out — and his replacements aren’t quite as bullish on angering investors for the sake of this whole “future” thing.

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However bad you think it might be … Surprise! It’s far worse.

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Legal counsel to some of the detainees went far beyond vigorous representation of their clients. Doesn’t the public have a right to know?

At Guantanamo, “legal mail” is strictly limited to correspondence between counsel and a detainee that is related to representation of the detainee, privileged documents and publicly filed legal documents. But even “legal mail,” according to the rules mandated by Judge Joyce Hens Green in a 2004 protective order, prohibits lawyers from giving detainees information relating to military operations, intelligence, arrests, political news and current events, and the names of U.S. government personnel. Lawyers are forbidden from discussing other detainee cases not directly related to the representation of their own client.

The Amnesty International brochure, handed out at a human rights conference in London, was a political advocacy screed in clear violation of that order, which was formulated to protect force security. Maj. Gen. Hood made a command decision. He banned the Paul, Weiss lawyers from access to Guantanamo. The DOJ notified the firm.

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A father on his way to a family skiing holiday was told by airport security officials to turn his T-shirt inside out because they feared a slogan on it could be construed as a threat.

This sort of simple-minded fascist pettifoggery is a major reason why I don’t fly.

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With two consecutive New York governors in ethical imbroglios, New Yorkers may think they’ve got the sleaziest state political culture in the country. But plenty of other states are in the running.

Wonder how much effort it took to get an angle such that the Paterson looked like Jack Webb.

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‘I know you miss the Wilsons, Bobby. But they were weak and stupid people, and that’s why we have wolves and other large predators.’

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But what I see here is a disturbing trend in this country to replace some standard with no standards.  We’re systematically inhibiting ourselves from defining our own culture by the use of our own courts.  Essentially, the ACLU’s purpose is to strike down any decision made by anyone that attempts to conform human behavior into a mold that the collective group, the “society”, has agreed upon.  If even a single person disagrees with any cultural decision that we the people make, the ACLU soars in on a white horse to sue us and force us to conform to the desires of that single person.

Preach it, brother.

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Funny how that works.

We reported in May that after passing a millionaire surtax nearly one-third of Maryland’s millionaires had gone missing, thus contributing to a decline in state revenues. The politicians in Annapolis had said they’d collect $106 million by raising its income tax rate on millionaire households to 6.25% from 4.75%. In cities like Baltimore and Bethesda, which apply add-on income taxes, the top tax rate with the surcharge now reaches as high as 9.3%—fifth highest in the nation. Liberals said this was based on incomplete data and that rich Marylanders hadn’t fled the state.

A Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysis of federal tax return data on people who migrated from one state to another found that Maryland lost $1 billion of its net tax base in 2008 by residents moving to other states. That’s income that’s now being taxed and is financing services in Virginia, South Carolina and elsewhere.

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Oddly, Ortiz seems to be raising awareness about someone else’s bill. In an interview on Fox News today, he described the bill as offering consumers the choice “to ask the waitress and chef to don’t put any additive sodium in their items.” He further explained that “the bill clearly state that the consumer will have the right to ask whether that item is being prepared with sodium and also to either minimize or maximize [and] will allow the chef and the consumer to have a conversation about what we can add or no add.”

That is not what his bill says. … That’s no salt, anywhere in the preparation of the food. Period.

No decent chef will put up with that. Salt is essential in the preparation of, among other things, pasta and bread. This guy is an idiot, and the people who vote for him are well represented.

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In a number of places around the world, it is open season on Christians. We read of Christians burned out of their homes and slaughtered in Pakistan. Most recently, at least 500 Christians were murdered in Nigeria. The attackers in all cases are Muslims, inspired by the warlike message of their Prophet.

So where is the outrage? I don’t know what denomination those Nigerian Christians were, but Lutherans are the most numerous Christian denomination in Africa. I’m a Lutheran, but I have never heard a single word from any church source, local or national, about the mass murder of African Christians. No one seems to care.

Maybe “mainstream” Christianity is dead, except as an appendage of secular liberal opinion. Maybe, as the world’s largest religion, Christianity has become so diffused that New World Christians don’t much relate to their co-religionists in Africa and Asia. I don’t know. What I do know is that it is much more dangerous to publish a cartoon of Mohammed than to slice apart a Christian with a machete.

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Public employees all say ‘Stimulus been bery bery good to me.’

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Let’s hook a generator up to Walt. I bet we could power the entire East Coast.

Steve Sailer connects the dots.

I’ve been pointing out for years that the theory and practice of disparate impact is fundamentally catastrophic to American public education, since any realistic, effective policy will have a racially disparate impact, and therefore make schools vulnerable to discrimination lawsuits. The Obama Administration today announced: Undermining public education is not a bug of disparate impact, it’s a feature!

That Obama! What a guy!

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Notice that British Princes are no longer going into the Royal Navy….