The Surge

Evidence is starting to dribble in that the new tactics (also called the surge) in Iraq are working. These tactics have especailly been successful in drying up support for Al Qaeda among the sunni Tribes. In Sept, 2006, Thomas Ricks reported that Al Anbar Provice was "lost." Today, Al Anbar province is "quiet." This radical change in war, however, is not unusual. In ancient times, battles would rage as a stalemate for hours with few casualties. However, the moment a section of one line collapsed the massacre would ensue and victory or defeat would come quickly.

In retrospect, we should have considered that it may take a while for places like Al Anbar to turn on the terrorists. After all, these Sunnis had been under the propaganda yoke of Saddam and the arab media for 30 years. Constantly hearing that the Americans were bad. Thus, it required actual experience (seeing with their own eyes) for these locals to change their minds. Apparently, Al Qaeda killed enough of their fellow citizens and the Americans built them enough schools for this to occur.

The press is still all negative. Today's Star Tribune reported on the front page about a successful bomb attack after a soccer game. The media will never let go an opportunity to support the Terrorsits propaganda campaign. However, politically, Al Qaeda needs to succeed in these bomb attacks now. They have everything going for them at this moment. A world media on their side. A weak U.S. President. A waivering Congress. Motivated allies in both the Democratic and Republican party. This is the moment they must launch their final offensive.... or have they been crushed by the Surge?

A Tax Proposal

I am curious if I can get this group to agree on the following proposal:

The part conservatives/libertarians will like:

1) Cut all energy subsidies to wind, solar, and especially ethanol.

2) Get rid of all ethanol requirements for gas.

3) Get rid of all fuel economy requirements on cars. This acts as a hidden tax on bigger vehicles.

The part conservatives/libertarians won't like (but combined with the next part, should)

4) Raise the federal tax on gasoline by about $1.50 per gallon.

5) Raise the federal tax on coal and natural gas so that each is taxed $1.50 per energy equivalent to a gallon of gas.

The part, along with 1-3 above, that should make conservatives be willing to swallow 4 and 5:

6) State by state, rebate all revenues from 4) and 5) to households as a general energy tax credit on a per person basis.

That is, if the Federal Government raises $X from Minnesota residents from the energy taxes, the next year all Federal tax filers would receive an $X/(number of residents of Minnesota) credit on their 1040 per household member.

So what's the point of raising a tax only to give the money back? The idea is to raise the domestic price of energy while cutting the world price. Suppose no one changes how much energy they use. Then if the Saurus family uses more energy than the average Minnesotan, they lose under this plan - the amount they get back won't cover the extra taxes. If they use less, they win. This creates an incentive for everyone to cut back on the energy they use.

So why should the government interfere? What's so special about energy? (We don't see the need for the government to try to create an incentive to cut back on our purchases on, say, wheat.)

The basic idea is that the US is a big net consumer of energy. If we enact policies to cut back our demand (which the above tax system will do) we will help drive down the world price of energy. The price of gas to us won't go up by $1.50. It will go up by $1.50 less the amount the world price drops due to this policy. This helps us a nation because

1) The loss in profits due to a lower world price is disproportionately born by foreigners.

2) Many (if not most) of these foreigners are our enemies. It's a good thing to defund your enemies.

In all seriousness, we should do this. This should be our national energy policy and cut out all the complicated subsidize this crap to alternative energy sources. Nothing acts as a better subsidy to alternatives than a high price.

UPDATE: One of my graduate school professors, Nobel prize winner Gary Becker agrees and is, perhaps more persuasive, here.

The Wisdom of Principal Skinner

"Order! Order! Do you kids want to be like the real U.N. or do you just want to squable and waste time?" - Principal Skinner addressing the students of the Springfield Mock United Nations.

Of course the U.N. doesn't just squable and waste time, it also wastes money. Like the corrupt oil-for-food program.

Our Keith Ellison

He has now made international news with his Bush = Hitler speech.

The irony is that the classic method of a totalitarian is to appeal to the emotion of a historical event but then lie about the historical event itself so it can be compared to something in the present. It's an old Orwellian trick.

In only 6 months, Ellison has not disappointed us in making mockery of our state. He is our Cynthia McKinney.

I salute all the morons who voted for him.

Operation Blowback: Des Moines

I posted this on my private blog an hour ago, and given the flurry of hits, wish to share with fellow JAS bloggers Scribbler's premier video production, Operation Blowback: Des Moines. (Scribbler acknowledges that she first cracked open Windows Movie Maker today and that this is a bit rough.)

Those pesky south Asians

When I lived in the UK, I was friends with several locals whose parents had immigrated from India. They were quick to point out to me that they were Indian and not a Muslim from Pakistan. They were also far from disenfranchised. They were doing very well in the UK - again they wanted to distinguish themselves from the Pakistanis.

They would be surprised to hear that the biased American media now dumps them in with the Muslim Pakistanis. In 200&en=00ca4bf18628872a&ei=5087%0A">this article, the NY Times cannot get itself to refer to the terrorists as Muslims, so they refer to the terrorists as "South Asian," which is a PC way to avoid calling the terrorists what they are, which is Muslim. In fact the article does not mention the word muslim at all except for a reference to Salman Rushdie, even though it talks about one of the attackers screaming Allah as he ran from the burning car.