A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
In the News: (Registration may be required to read some stories)
Bush and Detroit - It's easy to see why Congressional Democrats and an Obama Administration would be eager to bail out Detroit auto makers in exchange for an equity stake and a chance to dictate business decisions. Democrats want Detroit to stop making big cars that run on gasoline, and they hope to protect their friends at the United Auto Workers. The mystery is why President Bush would go along for this ride. (READ MORE)
Foreclosure Follies - On Monday we published a letter from the FDIC complaining about our recent editorial on the agency's mortgage modification plan. Hours later, the Comptroller of the Currency released new data suggesting that the FDIC proposal may be as bad as we feared. (READ MORE)
The Chicago Way, on Tape - The list of crooked politicians is long, and the list of stupid politicians even longer. But if the criminal allegations made yesterday against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich are proven in court, rarely will a politician have combined the two qualities with such efflorescence. (READ MORE)
Vote on Detroit Bailout Nears - The White House and congressional Democrats yesterday reached an "agreement in concept" on a plan that would throw a government lifeline to the faltering Detroit auto industry but require the auto giants, their workers and creditors to quickly negotiate a path to profitability or face the prospect... (READ MORE)
Pakistan Detains Extremist Leader - For the second time in a decade, suspected Pakistani terrorist leader Masood Azhar was placed under house arrest yesterday after being linked to attacks in India. His detention, announced by Pakistan's Defense Ministry, was intended to show the country's resolve in hunting for the organizers of last... (READ MORE)
Continue Pressing Al-Qaeda, Bush Urges - President Bush yesterday urged President-elect Barack Obama to "stay on the offensive" against al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups and said his own administration had "laid a solid foundation" for meeting emerging threats around the world. (READ MORE)
Scores on Science Test Causing Concern in U.S. - U.S. students are doing no better on an international science exam than they were in the mid-1990s, a performance plateau that leaves educators and policymakers worried about how schools are preparing students to compete in an increasingly global economy. (READ MORE)
Bush defends policy of pre-emptive strike - President Bush Tuesday said Pakistan has been told that U.S. troops will take whatever steps they deem necessary to defend themselves, as he defended his doctrine of pre-emptive strikes as part of the war on terror. (READ MORE)
Hill report faults FCC chairman - House Democrats on Tuesday accused the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission of abusing his power and fostering a climate of fear at the media-regulating agency, creating a "blueprint of what not to do" for the next commission head. (READ MORE)
On the Web:
Lawhawk: What Did They Know and When Did They Know It - The circus that surrounds Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is only going to get worse, and the questions are going to get a whole lot more uncomfortable for far more people in a hurry. That includes Barack Obama's expected Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. In fact, Emanuel may have tipped off the feds as to Blagojevich's antics. David Axelrod stepped in it as well, claiming that Blagojevich and Obama talked about who would replace Obama in the Senate, but the Obama campaign now says that Axelrod misspoke. Where did Axelrod get the idea that the two talked? That's going to require subpoenas and phone records to see who talked to whom and what was said. There's also questions about just how close Obama and Blagojevich are. (READ MORE)
Donald Douglas: The Democrats "Phony Scandal" - It's the nature of partisan politics to defend your side when a scandal emerges, but frankly, the Chicago pay-for-play allegations are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg for a presidential administration rooted the corrupt Chicago patronage-machine cesspool. Here's Digby blowing it off as a right-wing witchhunt: “I don't know if this environment is conducive to phony scandal. There's just so much going on. But if it is, this is one of the ways they do it. Guilt by association, drip-drip-drip of vague allegations and ongoing ‘questions.’ The key to really hammering it home, of course, would be for the Republicans to win back a majority in the congress in 2010, which I think is unlikely. The Republicans were growing in strength during that earlier era and are now in retreat, at least temporarily. But keep this in the back of your mind. If there is room for scandal and the wingnuts can get traction, this is one of their tried and true methods of getting it ‘out there.’” (READ MORE)
Big Lizards: Get Smart - I found an article on improving brain function biochemically, instead of by, say, higher education, sexual abstinence, and ideological purity of essence -- three proven failures. "Smart pills," that is to say. Some earthbound IQs on both left and right are wringing their hands at the very idea of boosting intelligence or concentration via psychopharmacology; but as an old student of Timothy Leary and Robert Anton Wilson (I took multiple multi-day seminars from each over a number of years), it's old home week for me. The ethical questions such intervention raises are interesting; but ultimately, I don't think the neophobes (a.k.a., Luddites) have an argument to stand on: There is nothing inherently unethical about making people smarter, though I agree that smartening up alone will not solve our most pressing problems. (READ MORE)
Big Dog: Obama Says No Need To Stock Up On Guns - Barack Obama must be aware that since he was elected to the presidency the sale of guns and ammunition has gone through the roof. Many gun stores report a 50-60% increase in sales, gun shows have more people than at any time in recent memory and ammunition supply places report that they are out of ammo and most is on back order. This is all because Americans are aware of Barack Obama’s stance on gun control. But Barry says not to worry. He said that people did not need to stock up on guns because he has no intention of taking them. “I believe in common-sense gun safety laws, and I believe in the second amendment,” Obama said at a news conference. “Lawful gun owners have nothing to fear. I said that throughout the campaign. I haven’t indicated anything different during the transition. I think people can take me at my word.” (READ MORE)
Noah Shachtman: Mumbai Terror Group Trained American Jihadists - A growing chorus of intelligence officials in the U.S. and in south Asia have pinned the Mumbai attacks on the Kashmir-based militants Lashkar-e-Taiba. But there's been hardly any mention of the extremist group's deep ties to American-based jihadists. Since 2003, at least five U.S. citizens have been convicted in federal court of conspiring to provide material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba. At least nine more men, considered to be in the same larger circle, have been convicted of firearms violations and other felonies. (A partial list is here.) Several other cases are still making their way through the legal process. Islamic extremists in America have used Lashkar-e-Taiba ("LeT") as a "stepping stone" into the broader world of global terror, says Evan Kohlmann, a senior investigator at the NEFA Foundation. (READ MORE)
John Browning: Law and the Fog of War, Part 1 - With its rich wood paneling, guest gallery, and polished Olympus of a judge’s bench, Courtroom No. One in the federal courthouse in Riverside, California was unlike any battlefield on which former Marine Corps Sergeant Jose Luis Nazario, Jr. had ever found himself. But for the ex-soldier, it was still a battlefield and the stakes were just as high in that courtroom in late August of 2008 as they had been in Fallujah in November, 2004. For amidst the stern trappings of U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson’s court, Nazario was fighting for his life, on trial for alleged war crimes in connection with the killings of four Iraqi insurgents. In a historic trial, Nazario – who had already left the service and was beyond the jurisdiction of military prosecutors – became the first former soldier to be tried for wartime conduct under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act. (READ MORE)
The Foxhole: History Made in Iraq, Afghanistan - The victory and progress in Iraq will not go unnoticed, at least by us conservative bloggers. The MSM has all but abandoned reporting on Iraq and Afghanistan save for the rare, sporadic bombing by pissed off Islamic mutants who are not pleased with the outcome. Iraq has developed from a terrorist facilitating dictatorship, to taking baby steps as a fragile, chaotic legislative body, and finally to a stable, pro-U.S., representative Parliament. We sent a message to the Islamic world with this exclaimation point: attack us and we will hit back right where you live. At the very least we’ve eliminated two terrorist strongholds by stabilizing Iraq and cleansing Afghanistan of the Taliban and al Qaeda. Iraq is no longer an enemy state at the heart of the Arab world. Tehran failed in its attempt to blow up the process through its agent, Moqtada al-Sadr, who is now back Iran having been humiliated both on the battlefield and in Parliament. (READ MORE)
McQ: Markets - I once read a Reason magazine article in the early ’90s which said that environmentalism is something only rich countries can afford to indulge. When your entire life and salary are focused on getting by, it’s not a very big priority in your life. And of course, one of the reasons that the rich countries can indulge themselves is a market forms which trades on their concerns to make money. The reason it works is a) they can afford it and are willing to spend to achieve what they want and b) someone else is willing to provide the products or services they are willing to spend their money on. Everyone ends up happy. [As an aside: This isn’t to claim that environmentalism is wrong or that being a good environmental steward isn’t important, it’s just to say in the hierarchy of things, it normally doesn’t become a priority until other more pressing and necessary needs are fulfilled.] (READ MORE)
ROFASix: MANPADS in Iraq - The latest MANPADS update titled, "Missile Watch #3: Black Market Missiles Still Common in Iraq" (pdf file) is a good news - bad news story. The good news is that most of the shoulder launched missiles being found are of older Soviet design systems which should be reaching the end of their useful life as sensors age, batteries lose power, and cryostats corrode. The bad news is that there are still to damn many of them - particularly if you are driving aircraft in the region. While estimates of Iraq’s pre-war shoulder-fired missile holdings vary, most agree that Saddam’s regime accumulated several thousand Soviet-designed SA-7, SA-14 and SA-16 missiles, including more than 3,000 that it looted from Kuwaiti arsenals in 1990. Thousands of these missiles disappeared from Iraqi arsenals during the looting. (READ MORE)
Edward Sisson @ Wizbang: Mike Pence's "Conservative Voice:" Who Does That Voice Care About? - On 9 December, Congressman Mike Pence of Indiana, new chairman of the House Republican Conference, published an op-ed proclaiming that the Republican party must offer a "better hope built on ... the desire of every citizen to live the American dream unfettered by high taxes and government red tape." This is an appeal to the people who are already comfortable - to people who already make enough money that the amount they pay in taxes is big enough to hurt. This is an appeal to people who see their tax bill as one of their biggest problems. We all should have such problems - but for most Americans, tax payments are not their biggest problem. Pence asserts that the Republican party must take its "vision and agenda to every American regardless of race, creed, or past political affiliations" but it is a message that recalls Anatole France's famous put-down of the supposed equality of the laws: (READ MORE)
Kevin Aylward: What Did Rahm Emanuel Know, And When Did He Know It? - President-elect Obama has denied any direct contact with Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. He hasn't denied that others may have been in contact with Blagojevich. From the criminal complaint it seems that Blagojevich knew that he wasn't going to get a deal from Obama, leading many to believe that did attempt to (either directly or indirectly) cash in by offering to appoint Obama's close friend and adviser Valerie Jarrett for the Senate seat for a price. Blagojevich indicates in the transcripts that he knows that he won't get a deal from Obama. How did he know that? One would presume that he knew that because he asked. Earlier I noted that a tipster has floated the possibility that Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, reported Blagojevich to the feds. Emanuel has reportedly denied that story. (READ MORE)
Sigmund, Carl and Alfred: At The Waterline - Every sailor knows the real danger an from iceberg comes from what you can’t see. Further, if you don’t understand how important what you can’t see is, a collision is inevitable. In trying to understand how important reform is to the Islamic world, we must examine what it is we do not see. Notwithstanding media portrayals and ‘talking heads,’ if we are to really understand Islam and Islamic reform, we must come to understand the players. Islam is no more a more a monolithic faith than is any other religion. There are violent fundamentalists, literalists (who are non violent fundamentalists. Sometimes they are referred to as Scriptutalists. A good example for the puposes of comparison are Seventh Day Adventists), conservative tradionalists, reformist traditionalists, modernists and finally, secularists. In other words, the Islamic world is not more easily defined than the Christian or Jewish world. (READ MORE)
Mensa Barbie: How Dedicated are Our Public Servants? (Conservatives Take the Lead) - In Stephanopoulos's video interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Arine explains that his Conservative Governorship stands 'first and foremost' upon what he can do for Californians... We are all in this together, and strict and inflexible "party-line" decisions place obstacles in front of the important task at hand... Conservative principals require the ability to maintain an unstoppable path. Today, Arnie has helped Obama understand how important infrastructure rebuilding will be for jobs, the economy, and the environment... And, as voters oust another Democrat ; corruption is being purged! Tipsters help flush out crooks who take bribes & pay offs. Shady deals and their thieves can't hide in today's economy. (READ MORE)
Chicago Boyz: Lost Causes, Lost Effects - Jeremiah Wright was apparently back in the pulpit Sunday, pontificating on the tragic December anniversary of the 1941 bombing of Hiroshima, followed, he told his congregation, a few days later by the bombing of Nagasaki. Apparently, Wright himself was born in 1941. Of course, as those Leno untutored-man-in-the-street questions indicate, we are losing our understanding of events within our own lifetimes. Losing that we lose an understanding that ideas have consequences, that effects follow causes, but we also lose the rather lovely sense of gratitude for those that went before - whether for the words of Shakespeare or the acts of Washington’s troops or the ideas that gave the Puritans their courage and the founders their wisdom. Not irrelevantly, Instapundit links to ”English, Redefined, at Harvard,” at Inside Higher Ed. (READ MORE)
John Browning: Law and the Fog of War, Part II - Although he pleaded not guilty and denied that the incident ever occurred, the charges had immediate repercussions for Nazario. Eight weeks from the end of his probation period with the Riverside Police Department, Nazario was immediately fired upon being arrested. He put up his home as collateral for his bond, and Nazario found himself unemployable with the charges hanging over him like a dark cloud. The ex-Marine and his family got by on his wife’s small paycheck and help from relatives. “At one time in your life, you’re a war hero and a breadwinner,” said the former staff sergeant. “The next day, you’re facing felony charges and you’re unemployed. It’s devastating.” Fortunately for Nazario, his legal defense team worked largely pro bono. Led by Kevin McDermott and a “dream team” of former Marines from high-powered law firm Pepper Hamilton, Nazario’s lawyers prepared for a courtroom battle that didn’t get underway for a year. (READ MORE)
Jared Polis: Let's Cut Cap-Gains Taxes on Auto Investments - The din of clattering metal echoes through the halls of our capital: panhandlers! Erstwhile captains of the automobile industry, having foregone their Learjets, now don the tattered rags of beggars as they seek congressional approval for a $34 billion bailout of the Big Three automobile companies. Our United States Congress of lawyers, doctors, diplomats, retired military officers and career politicians -- along with their staffs of intelligent young political science majors and MBAs -- now finds itself poring over "business plans" submitted this week by Ford, GM and Chrysler. People who have never before in their lives seen -- no less implemented -- a business plan are now trying to decide if these companies will succeed by means of a "capital infusion" with various imposed preconditions and negotiate what we taxpayers (investors) should be getting for our money. Something is wrong with this picture. (READ MORE)
Ezekiel J. Emanuel & Ron Wyden: Why Tie Health Insurance to a Job? - Not many people are buying cars built 60 years ago. No one is watching TV on a set manufactured in the 1940s. Patients are not lining up to see a doctor who hasn't cracked a book since before the polio vaccine was discovered. Why, then, do millions of Americans get their health care through an employer-based system from the 1940s? Employers didn't start offering health benefits roughly 60 years ago because they were experts in medical decisions. It was a way of circumventing the World War II wage and price controls. Barred from offering higher salaries to attract workers, employers offered health insurance instead. Aided by an IRS ruling that said workers who received health benefits did not have to pay income taxes on them, and by the fact that employers could write off the cost of the health benefits as a business related expense, this accidental arrangement became the primary way most Americans access health care. (READ MORE)
Thomas Frank: Rent-a-Womb Is Where Market Logic Leads - At long last, our national love affair with the rich is coming to a close. The moguls whose exploits we used to follow with such fascination, it now seems, plowed the country into the ground precisely because of the fabulous rewards that were showered on them. Massive inequality, we have learned, isn't the best way to run an economy after all. And when you think about it, it's also profoundly ugly. Some people haven't received the memo, though. Take Alex Kuczynski, author of the New York Times Magazine cover story for Nov. 30, which tells how she went about hiring another woman to bear her child. For years Ms. Kuczynski worked the plutocracy beat for the New York Times, and in her whimsical way she described the travails of the world's supermodels, the scene-making that went on at this or that high-end restaurant, and the feeling on the hard streets of Greenwich and the Hamptons. (READ MORE)
Robert Poole: Stimulus Shouldn't Be an Excuse for Pork - Dictionary.com defines infrastructure as "the fundamental facilities and systems serving a country, city, or area." The nation's mayors define it a bit differently. On Monday, the U.S. Conference of Mayors went to Capitol Hill to ask for a handout, or as they put it: "We are reporting that in 427 cities of all sizes in all regions of the country, a total of 11,391 infrastructure projects are 'ready to go.' These projects represent an infrastructure investment of $73,163,299,303 that would be capable of producing an estimated 847,641 jobs in 2009 and 2010." A wish list that is 11,391 projects strong! What vital infrastructure projects would cash-strapped taxpayers get for their $73 billion? Here's a sampling: (READ MORE)
Holman W. Jenkins, Jr.: The Bailout That Won't - Leave it to Bob Lutz, GM's voluble vice chairman, to puncture the unreality of the auto bailout he himself has been championing. In an email to Ward's Auto World, he notes an obvious flaw in Congress's rescue plan now taking shape: The fuel-efficient "green" cars GM, Ford and Chrysler profess to be thrilled to be developing at Congress's behest will be unsellable unless gas prices are much higher than today's. "Very few people will want to change what has been their 'nationality-given' right to drive big and bigger if the price of gas is $1.50 or $2.00 or even $2.50," Mr. Lutz explained. "Those prices will put the CAFE-mandated manufacturers at war with their customers -- and no one will win in that battle." Translation: To become "viable," as Congress chooses crazily to understand the term, the Big Three are setting out to squander billions on products that will have to be dumped on consumers at a loss. (READ MORE)
Michelle Malkin: The Democratic Culture of Corruption - Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi can stop clucking now. For the last three years, Democratic leaders cheered GOP ethics woes. Dean accused Republicans of making "their culture of corruption the norm." Pelosi touted cleanliness as a liberal virtue. But with the eye-popping pay-for-play and bribery case against Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich topping a year of nationwide Democratic scandals, the corruption chickens are coming home to roost. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald called the breadth and depth of charges against Blagojevich and his Democratic Chief of Staff John Harris "staggering." That's an understatement. Anything that breathed was a potential shakedown target. It's the Chicago way. Democrat Blago's so dirty he'd hit up a children's hospital for money. Oh, wait. He's accused of doing that, too. (READ MORE)
Jonah Goldberg: O.J., Obama and Race in America - On Oct. 3, 1995, O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ronald Goldman. But few people today still defend his innocence. Even Simpson suspended his search for the "real" killer long enough to come perilously close to admitting guilt, including in his semi-confessional book, "If I Did It." But 13 years ago, the question of Simpson's guilt and the "meaning" of his trial were the most debated issues in America. According to Talkers magazine, the Simpson case was the most bandied topic of 1995 -- and of the entire first half of 1990s. Experts claimed -- and polls at the time seemed to show -- that this American Dreyfus affair illuminated a permanent and unbridgeable racial divide. Just rereading the commentary from the time is exhausting. Black intellectuals insisted that racist cops or "the system" routinely railroaded black men, so why, they asked, should white America doubt that was happening to O.J.? (READ MORE)
Thomas Sowell: The High Cost of Favoritism - O.J. Simpson has attracted less attention by being declared "guilty" in Nevada than he did by being declared "not guilty" in California. Yet his story is more than the tragedy of one man. O.J. is not the first star athlete-- or movie star, political leader or pacesetter in some other fields-- to fall from the heights to the depths. Often they are people who have taken enormous risks that were completely unnecessary and with little pay-off. Think about it: What did Richard Nixon have to gain by setting up the kinds of illegal operations that finally cost him the presidency-- and could have landed him in prison, without President Ford's pardon? Why would star quarterback Michael Vick have risked a multimillion dollar career for the sake of staging dog fights? (READ MORE)
John Stossel: Do Worry About the Deficit - President-elect Obama says don't worry about the federal budget deficit. "The consensus is this: We have to do whatever it takes to get this economy moving again -- we're going to have to spend money now to stimulate the economy. ... [W]e shouldn't worry about the deficit next year or even the year after; that short term, the most important thing is that we avoid a deepening recession." It must be music to a politician's ears when a "consensus" tells him not to worry about deficits. He can spend without limit. So Obama talks about a "stimulus package" that he says will rebuild the infrastructure and "green" the energy industry. That won't happen, of course. Government performance consistently falls far short of its goals. Forgive me for again pointing out that President Jimmy Carter's Synthetic Fuels Corporation cost taxpayers at least $19 billion without giving us an alternative to oil and coal. (READ MORE)
Walter E. Williams: Bailouts and Bankruptcy - Let's not allow Congress and members of the bailout parade panic us into allowing them to do things, as was done in the 1930s, that would convert a mild economic downturn into a true calamity. Right now the Big Three auto companies, and their unions, are asking Congress for a $25 billion bailout to avoid bankruptcy. Let's think about that a bit. What happens when a company goes bankrupt? One thing that does not happen is their productive assets go poof and disappear into thin air. In other words, if GM goes bankrupt, the assembly lines, robots, buildings and other tools don't evaporate. What bankruptcy means is the title to those assets change. People who think they can manage those assets better purchase them. Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, where the control of its business operations are subject to the oversight and jurisdiction of the court, gives companies a chance to reorganize. (READ MORE)
Ben Shapiro: Time to Laugh at Obama and Company - How many Americans does it take to screw in a light bulb? According to President-elect Barack Obama, 2.5 million. Obama has a new plan, he says, to save or create at least 2.5 million jobs. “We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs,” Obama said. “That won’t just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.” This is inherently hilarious. The president-elect of the United States actually believes that screwing in energy-efficient light bulbs will save or create millions of jobs. Now, screwing in light bulbs isn’t exactly a full-time occupation. And those unemployed former Lehman Brothers stockbrokers, those fired writers at Time Magazine, and those Citigroup administrators might be a tad overqualified to do janitorial work. But Obama truly thinks that he can single-handedly create jobs by pushing road building and retrofitting. (READ MORE)
Michael Medved: The Costs of an Offensive Analogy - Why did 70% of California African-Americans vote against gay marriage on November 4th? While a narrow majority of white voters opposed Proposition 8 (which defined marriage as "valid and recognized" only between a man and a woman), and a small majority of Latinos supported it, the black community overwhelmingly said "no" to the top "civil rights" priority of gay activists. Liberals explain this surprising result with insulting (and occasionally racist) claims that black voters didn't understand the real nature of the fight, and suggestions that they were misled by TV advertisements or their impassioned pastors. Conservatives, on the other hand, hail the tally as a sign of powerful, sturdy black support for traditional marriage --- an odd conclusion for a community with disproportionately high rates of out-of-wedlock birth and single parent households. (READ MORE)
Tony Blankley: Liberals Leave the Watchtowers of Freedom - Last week, The Washington Post reported on President-elect Barack Obama's plan to convert his campaign's massive digital database of millions of supporters' contact and background data into a location that will permit him to use that data legally as a tool of persuasion for his governing effort. The Post accurately characterized it as the most important presidential exploitation of a new technology for political purposes since FDR used the then-new radio technology back in the 1930s to talk to, persuade and galvanize the American public. As someone who did political communications and policy work on Ronald Reagan's White House staff, I can only be admiring of the tremendous political power that these new tools place in Obama's hands. We spent our years constantly trying to get President Reagan's message to the public without having to go through the distorting lens of the Washington press corps. (READ MORE)
Jacob Sullum: Lawless Justice - In January 2007, Rep. David Price introduced a bill that would have applied American criminal law to all government contractors who commit felonies while working in areas where U.S. forces are operating. "If we do not hold contract personnel accountable for misconduct, as we do for our military," the North Carolina Democrat said, "we are undermining our nation's credibility as a country that upholds the rule of law." But in the case of the guards who killed 17 civilians in Baghdad's Nisour Square last year, holding contract personnel accountable for misconduct may be incompatible with the rule of law. That's because the law they are accused of violating does not apply to them. A federal indictment unsealed this week charges five former employees of Blackwater Worldwide, hired by the State Department to provide protection services in Baghdad, with 14 counts of voluntary manslaughter, 20 counts of attempted manslaughter and one count of discharging a firearm while committing a violent crime. (READ MORE)
Ed Feulner: Civics Class: Gimme an F - Americans are about to get a civics lesson -- and not a moment too soon. Next month hordes of visitors will flood the National Mall to watch the swearing in of President-elect Barack Obama. Millions more will watch on television. But a study by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute shows that few Americans will really understand what they’re witnessing. ISI gave more than 2,500 people a 33-question quiz about basic historical and constitutional principles. The average score: 49 percent. By any measure, that’s a flunking grade. Seven out of 10 Americans who took ISI’s test failed it. And a look inside the numbers is even more sobering. * Fewer than half can name all three branches of government (legislative, executive and judicial). (READ MORE)
Austin Bay: Nexus and Eve of Destruction: Lessons in Change - History changes -- historians make sure it does. Historians re-evaluate the past in the light of new events. That's the past reinterpreted, or history renewed. Strategists --and the best are well-grounded in history -- attempt to leverage history and an estimate of current conditions to speculate on "pending changes." In other words, the future. Two books published this year admirably reflect history renewed and history pending -- Jonathan Reed Winkler's "Nexus: Strategic Communication and American Security in WWI" (Harvard) and Thomas M. Nichols' "Eve of Destruction: The Coming Age of Preventive War" (University of Pennsylvania Press). Put both books on Barack Obama's Christmas reading lists -- put them in the stocking marked "Strategic Guidance Regarding Change." (READ MORE)
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