Freakonomics

It seems as though I never have time to read books any more.

I've made time, though, and have been reading "Freakonomics" by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. The book was a birthday present from my son, and has been a very entertaining read.

In it, the authors take on such wide-ranging topics as why the US crime rate fell so dramatically in the 90s, and why most drug dealers live with their moms.

In the chapter "Where Have All the Criminals Gone", the authors cite criminologists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling, and their "Broken Window Theory". Some may recall the great cleanup of New York City over the past few years. Then and there, the Police Commissioner, William Bratton employed the theory as the cleanup commenced.

Here it is. Ask yourself how much it applies to the current Islamic war:

"[The Broken Window Theory argues that] minor nuisances, if left unchecked, turn into major nuisances: that is, if someone breaks a window and sees it isn't fixed immediately, he gets the signal that it's all right to break the rest of the windows and maybe set the bulding afire too."

To me, it speaks volumes. Great book.

The Only Solution in/for Iraq?

Barking Moonbat has posted what might end up being the only realistic solution for Iraq:

(1) Appoint a military governor for the country and give him absolute power, to include public executions if necessary. (2) Send in 100,000 more troops for a six month deployment and wipe out the “insurgency” once and for all. (3) Close and seal the borders with Syria and Iran - station troops on the borders to shoot first and ask questions later. (4) Start pumping oil as fast as possible to pay for all this. (5) Divide the country into three states: Sunnistan, Shiastan and Kurdistan and appoint a regional government over each - US military at first, gradually transitioning to Iraqi civilian control as soon as they act like they really want to govern properly. (6) Send half of the already “trained” Iraqi battalions to Afghanistan to fight Al-Qaeda there and tell them they can come home as soon as they wipe out the Taliban. (7) Disband all Iraqi militias and completely destroy any who object - and that includes Al Sadr’s goons.

Distasteful? You bet. The only answer? Quite possibly.

Oh - and here's number 8: Start holding the mainstream media responsible for publishing fabrications as the truth. (Ref: Getting The News From The Enemy).

Seeing the Unseen

Bill Whittle has posted part one of an excellent new essay: Seeing the Unseen. Follow the link. (Hat Tip: LGF)

Things that leave me slack-jawed

I've written this opening line about ten times because I'm still so astounded by what's popped up on this morning's CBC website (http://www.cbc.ca). I think we're all used to seeing media reports that go out of their way to slant opinion rather than report facts (ref: The Toronto Star), but these couple of headlines take the cake:

Saddam Hussein sentenced to death A U.S.-backed Iraqi court has imposed imposed the death sentence on former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein for crimes against humanity.

What the hell does "U.S.-backed" mean? That he didn't get a fair trial? That Ramsey Clarke (the dhimmi) didn't vigorously defend him? That the whole thing was a puppet show?

Honestly. Of course, what they should have done was pull him out of that hole he was hiding in and executed him on the spot.

Here's the other:

Hundreds of protesters demand PM act on Kyoto

Hmm. Hundreds, huh? I wonder if any of them have ever read the salient points of the accord? My favourite is the section allowing nations to trade emissions limits for cash.

Oh well, if "hundreds" of people know better that the 30 million that live in this country, we'd best get right on this, right?


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Update: The CBC web page has changed its Saddam headline to remove the "U.S.-backed" portion. I wonder if they were responding to complaints, or whether they realized just how retarded it was. On the other hand, maybe they didn't want to give credit to one of the few countries in the world with enough balls to go in and take out this embarassment to the human race.