Financial Perspective

Funny how the whingeing in the last few years about all the money we're spending in Iraq sort of pales in comparison to the costs of the financial bailouts. In fact, everything pales; this is the largest sum of money spent in American history. Wall Street analyst Barry Ritholtz crunches the numbers: the combined financial bailouts of the last two months are costing more than the (inflation-adjusted values of the) Louisiana Purchase, New Deal, Marshall Plan, Korean War, Vietnam War, Iraq War, and the entire history of NASA combined.

Celebrating Cultural Identity

R.R. Reno at First Things comments on the awesomely-named Afrikaner folk singer Bok van Blerk, who has become quite popular with a song celebrating a hero of the Second Boer War, causing considerable and predictable angst among liberal white South Africans. Happily, black South African leaders aren't so aggrieved:

ANC leader Jacob Zuma has asked the sensible question, “Why should Afrikaners not remember their heroes?” Apparently this song is now frequently sung spontaneously at rugby matches, complete with the waving of the old South African national flag. Nelson Mandela has called van Blerk one of his favorite singers. Another reason to put his picture in every dictionary by the entry for magnanimity.

Something New and Ugly in Bombay

Bill Roggio at the Long War Journal provides some analysis of the Bombay attacks. Interesting stuff, and worrisome. Whether or not Al-Qaeda itself was involved in this massacre, groups that are targeting the United States will see the success of this sort of attack.

True Service

One of the (many) things I love about Indian society is the vibrant sense of service, of vocation even, that has been long absent in the West. In contrast to Western workers who seem to cultivate a disinterested nonchalance, their very indifference saying "make no mistake, this job is not my career", service workers in India -- rickshaw drivers, waiters, retail salespeople and railroad ticket-takers -- take visible pride in their vocations, which expresses itself in uncommon service. Case in point: how many American bellhops do you expect would take a bullet for their guests?

Ignoble Savages

This is America? Sickening.

A Brutal Reminder

Here's something to be thankful for today: counterterrorism. If there is any real lesson for us from the attacks in Bombay which are just now ending, it is that it could have been us. There's nothing unique about Bombay that made it a good target; this sort of attack could have been successful in any American city. We know they want to, but apparently they haven't been able to. For seven years, what we considered inevitable on September 12 hasn't occurred. This is not by coincidence. For all the pointless waste and excess of the Department of Homeland Security, something is clearly working, and for that I am thankful.

Bad Bad Bad: Terrorists Attack Bombay

I hope nobody's hearing this news first from me, but today terrorists have conducted a massive series of coordinated attacks on seven locations across Bombay, including hospitals, an airport, railway station, police station, and two prominent hotels. 87 now confirmed dead according to CNN, and the Times of India is reporting over 900 injured. There are still hostages being held in two hotels. A previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahedin has claimed responsibility, but there's no way this was the work of some rabble of Indian domestic terrorists. My money's on Pakistani intelligence and/or Al-Qaeda.

UPDATE: Danger Room links to the Twittering, YouTubing, GoogleMapping, and Flickring developments.

UPDATE 1120ET: Times of India now reporting 101 dead, with 6 confirmed to be foreigners.

Food Miles, Schmood Miles

There are a lot of reasons to eat locally; preventing global warming just isn't one of them. The "Food Miles" concept of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by avoiding produce shipped long distances is a classic example of feel-good environmentalism lacking empirical rigor. As Reason Magazine explains, it makes the most environmental sense to grow food in exactly the same places where it makes the most economic sense. Any given crop has preferences in soil and climate, livestock have preferences in climate and feed, so land and agrochemical use are minimized by growing crops and raising animals in the places most suited to their growth. Then there's the basic logistical issue:

It transpires that half the food-vehicle miles associated with British food are travelled by cars driving to and from the shops. Each trip is short, but there are millions of them every day. Another surprising finding was that a shift towards a local food system, and away from a supermarket-based food system, with its central distribution depots, lean supply chains and big, full trucks, might actually increase the number of food-vehicle miles being travelled locally, because things would move around in a larger number of smaller, less efficiently packed vehicles.

This study was in compact, crowded Britain. The situation can only be worse in spacious America. This excerpt uses the phrase food-vehicle miles. Maybe we can come up with a better term than that, but it hinges on thinking not about total miles traveled, but on miles traveled per item of produce in a given shipment. Think of it this way: you buy a local tomato at the trendy farmers' market instead of one that's been shipped from California, thus reducing "food miles". What you fail to account for is "food-vehicle miles": the local tomato might have ridden thirty miles in the back of a pickup with maybe 50 other tomatoes. The California tomato was shipped cross-country, true, but in a semi-load of millions. The amount of fuel burned per tomato to get it from the field to your house ends up being far less for the mass-market tomato, particularly if you drive further to the farmers' market than the grocery store.

This is all such a great example of the sort of environmentalism that cares more about labels and trends than about actually accomplishing anything. Some of the political motivations are suspect as well; much of the local-food movement has an ugly strain of protectionism to it. Indeed, Kenya has been forced to defend her cut-flower industry from the "food miles" concept, with an ad campaign point out that Kenyan flowers are "Grown Under The Sun" instead of in heated greenhouses and are thus "greener" than British or Dutch cut-flowers. Again, we're back to growing things where they grow best. Crazy talk, I know.

All this is most certainly not to suggest that I'm against buying locally. I think there's a great food security argument to a more distributed agricultural production. There may be some nutritional benefits (though studies are inconclusive). For me, there is without a doubt a mental health benefit; it just feels right to be eating food grown in the community. It supports a more localized economy, a sense of civil interdependence, and a healthier, more traditional lifestyle. So in the end I'm all for local produce, or best of all, food you grow yourself. Just don't try to convince me I'm saving the world by buying it.

Obligatory Thanksgiving Post

Matthew Yglesias blogs about turkey over at the Internet Food Association, arguing (with considerably validity) that turkey just isn't that great of a meat, period, regardless of all the foodies trying to figure out ways to make it better. He argues that the reason for this is that the breeding of commercial turkeys has focused on exactly one factor: size. I buy that this might be true, but I'm not willing to accept his argument that the best response is just to give up on turkey and serve something else for Thanksgiving. There must be sources of naturally-raised turkeys from traditional breeds. I'd like to give one a try before I give up on turkey entirely.

Oh yeah, and I'm thankful for stuff. But I don't think I really need an allotted day to acknowledge that.

UPDATE 27NOV08 2352: Yepp, there are heritage turkeys out there. No word on how pricey, but they do exist.

Tonight We're Goin' Dancing

First Things links to this video from a Quebecois band. What I wouldn't give to hear this sort of unabashed tribute to our roots from the Anglo world! Of course, this sort of sentiment is generally considered borderline fascist these days. I don't care.

An Uninclusive Disease

Cystic fibrosis isn't inclusive enough. That's the determination of the student association of Ottawa's Carleton University, which has decided to drop the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation from an annual fundraiser on account of the genetic disorder's highest incidence occurring among Caucasian males (HT a facebook friend). Unbelievable.

War Vegetables!

All my friends who are currently so lucky as to have gardens or who, like me, pine wistfully for the day they will be so lucky, might enjoy a peek at the book War Vegetable Gardening, published in 1918 by the US War Garden Commission and e-published on Google Books. I'm still working on a post explaining why the push to "buy local" according to the "food miles" concept is mostly bunk, and in most circumstances produces results counter to its stated goals. That aside, however, growing food for yourself and your family is undoubtedly a Good Thing for various environmental, political, social, and health reasons, and this book is certainly a classy (and classic) background. The admonishments about seed shortages and rationing are also needed reminders of how easy we have it.

Someone's Still Standing Up For Civilization

Someone's still standing up against the barbarians, but sadly (and sadly predictably) it's not a traditional Western power. Rear Admiral Raja Menon of the Indian Navy has chastised NATO members for treating Somali pirates "with kid gloves", Danger Room reports. "There is an 1838 convention that permits any warship to interfere anywhere on the ‘High Seas’ to intercept pirates and try them — without handing them over to the country of origin." Dern skippy, there is. Customary law of the sea has always treated pirates as stateless actors and given captains of legitimate flagged vessels the authority to try them, at sea, under the laws of the capturing country. But the West these days is more concerned with the pirates' civil rights. An old definition of conservatism is the firm belief that civilization is but a thin and fragile veneer in need of vigilant defense: India gets it, Europe clearly doesn't, and America can't seem to make up her mind. This isn't the first time I've wondered whether, having inherited more evidently the traditional responsibilities of Western civilization, India doesn't more legitimately deserve the global eminence that the Western powers historically enjoyed.

A Touch Obscure

When one hears word about a performance of a C.S. Lewis work adapted as an opera, first thoughts run to the Chronicles of Narnia, perhaps, or maybe one of the theological allegories like The Great Divorce. I would not have guessed Perelandra.

More Recount Fun

Anthony Sacramone at Strange Herring come up with the perfect headline in the Minnesota recount: "Franken Assumes ‘Lizard People’ Means Him, Many Concur".

Recount Fun

Minnesota Public Radio shares some of the challenged ballots in the current Minnesota Senate recount (background from PowerLine). I guess it's not surprising that in such a high-stakes game both sides would be making pretty ridiculous challenges. Not surprising, but not particularly encouraging. Can we possibly come up with a voting system that doesn't leave us in this position?

I Want One: Mammoth-Wool Sweater

Science is finally getting around to seriously considering the feasibility of reconstituting extinct animals. While the Jurassic Park scenario is pure science fiction, Paleolithic Park is not. Scientists are now suggesting that the woolly mammoth, which went extinct right around the dawn of human civilization, could be brought back to life for something in the neighborhood of $10 million. I don't know exactly how long it would take commercial mammoth-ranching to take off after that, but I for one refuse to believe that mammoth wool would be anything but snuggly-soft.

The Big 3 Bailout

As far as the proposed bailout of Detroit goes, I'm inclined to go with the suggestion offered by ScrappleFace: "Here’s my proposal to rescue U.S. automakers... Memo to Detroit: Make better cars."

What worries me considerably more is the possibility floated by Todd Zywicki at The Volokh Conspiracy, that the bailout money might just tide the automakers over until "card check" empowers the UAW to get those peskily profitable foreign automakers under control.

Recruiting

I've spent the last week on a short-term recruiting gig, visiting high school classes in several cities in the western half of North Carolina, from classy Smoky Mountain resort cities to economically hopeless Appalachian towns. The full-time recruiters I worked with said that they look at a high school class with the knowledge that about 70% are already disqualified for various reasons, and of those who aren't, only about a third will get a qualifying score on the ASVAB. With that in mind, it was heartbreaking to hear teachers so enthusiastic for their students to enlist, admitting to us privately that the military was the only path they could see for their students to make anything of themselves. "Half these kids think they're going to college," one of them confided in me. "Nine out of ten of those will drop out in their first year." Interacting with high-schoolers these days isn't exactly an encouraging experience.

How Long...

... until history can take a dispassionate view of the Bush presidency and declare that it wasn't, in fact, an unmitigated disaster? How long until people can admit that the Bush administration has actually had some major accomplishments in foreign policy? It has somehow evaded mainstream media attention that Libya — a country whose government has murdered US civilians, which just six years ago had a vast arsenal of chemical weapons, was pursuing nuclear weapons, and was a listed State Sponsor of Terrorism (and one of John Bolton's "Beyond the Axis of Evil") — is now on a clear path to fully normalized relations with the US and the international community. Amazing. But never forget, Bush is a warmonger who is constitutionally incapable of even considering diplomacy.