ADDED (10.30 pm) — State legislators from the rural, conservative eastern half of Washington state have introduced a bill to secede from their Starbucks-drinking and software-programming brethren across the Cascades in the Seattle area and establish the 51st state. After a third count in the Washington governor’s race was fixed changed the results and Democrat Christine Gregoire defeated Republican Dino Rossi, antagonism toward Seattlites in places like Yakima and Spokane has been running high. It’ll be interesting to see if this gets anywhere. Congress would have to approve the split; a new state hasn’t been carved out of another since 1820, when Maine peaceably split from Massachusetts. (There is also the tale of West Virginia, but they were technically seceding from the CSA when they joined the Union in 1863.)
This is a brilliant article about neocon foreign policy. The central premise of it all is this: Bush set a firm (and easy to meet) standard for global interventionism in his Second Inaugural. “It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world. This is not primarily the task of arms, though we will defend ourselves and our friends by force of arms when necessary.”
Response: Really?
The question is whether he really means what he says, or if that’s some sort of retroactive justification for the Iraq invasion. Last time I checked, there’s a pretty big number of dictatorships out there. The fact is that we like some of them. Always have. We often change our minds on which dictators are good and which are bad. (Recall that America supplied Iraq with weapons in its 1980-1988 war with Iran before, three years later, deciding that it needed to be invaded after Saddam’s armies conquered Kuwait.)
Suppose China finally decides that it’s going to seize its “renegade province,” Taiwan. Would Bush actually live up to his commitments and go to war with a nation of 1.4 billion people to defend democracy … or would he sell Taiwan down river? With over 150,000 troops in Iraq and numerous commitments elsewhere, it’s hard to see how we could feasibly fight a Sino-American war. On the other hand, what vanguard of democracy would sit by and let 25 million people lose its democratic self-determination and do nothing? Still, what if Europe actually allied with the Chinese? Even so, who’d really want America to be known as a liar and an appeaser?
Decisions, decisions.
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From the department of “And you need to ask why I’m a libertarian??”:
Multiple-choice question: Suppose you’re a first-grade teacher. You see one of your students (a six-year old girl) at recess handing another girl a plastic bag filled with a bunch of dirt, rocks, and clovers she picked off the ground. Your reaction would be:
(a) wry chuckling at the adorable friendly innocence of children
(b) a shrug of the shoulders, wondering what they’re thinking
(c) AAAAAH! DRUG PEDDLER! SOMEBODY CALL THE POLICE!
Well, if you answered (c), you’re qualified to teach in Sikeston, Missouri. Turns out that the teacher, and the authorities, thought it was marijuana. The girl has actually been SUSPENDED for two days — it’s against the school’s zero-tolerance policy to even look like you’re selling drugs. Apparently, it’s against state and federal law, too. “If she would have been 14, we would have arrested her and taken her to jail,” the local police chief said. Great. Now they’re gonna arrest Topher Grace for his role in Traffic.
Also, we’re coming up on hearings for a Supreme Court case that could have ramifications as big as Brown v. Board or Roe v. Wade. Seriously. It’s Kelo v. New London, which will decide the conditions under which the government can just plain steal your property. Such is the wonder of “eminent domain.” If the Supreme Court sides with the defendant, cities everywhere will have the ability to conduct massive Soviet-style operations, evicting people en masse just to build something else that would generate more tax revenue. On a side note, if every city can just kick out whomever it finds undesirable … well, if you think the inner cities are bad now, just wait!
And lastly, from the really personal outrage department: Police forces across the country are arresting people for playing Texas Hold ‘Em! Okay, now you’ve got me really pissed off, y’all. There are few things more hypocritical than a state that bans gambling but also RUNS A STATE LOTTERY. It’s illegal to spend your own money how you want … unless it’s funding the government! I’m just … wow. I’d better stop before I throw something.
