Marty Manley on economics, politics, technology, and culture

Archive for March, 2007

A Byrd in the Hand…

…and a hand from Bush. Is it me, or is this photo showing the President helping 89 year old Senator Robert Byrd, oddly touching? It captures two politicians from opposite parties in a very human moment. Only one newspaper ran the photo — probably because most Americans, like me, don’t much care for either of [...]

Perspective on Global Warming

Each day, humans pump two billion pounds of carbon into earth’s atmosphere — the industrial exhaust from activities that have dramatically improved our lives. The extent to which the earth’s climate is changing more than it would change anyway, how much warming is a valid scientific concern vs. noise in very complex models, the contribution [...]

"Iraq was not created by God. It was created by Winston Churchill"

Regular know of my fondness for Christopher Hitchens, the leftist turned realist by 9/11. My reviews of Hitchen’s books and writings appear here and here. Now, following my post of Michael Totten’s experience in Kurdistan, comes his wonderful reflection on Kurdistan as the Iraq that might have been. Hitch spent his Christmas vacation in Kurdistan [...]

Partitioning Iraq: One Province Separated, Two to Go

Michael Totten, an American blogging from Iraq, is indispensable for an accurate, reality-on-the-ground, view of the country. Check his essay today on Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan. He describes incredible progress. The first time I drove from the airport into Erbil I felt that I had arrived in a dodgy and ramshackle backwater. This time [...]

What are You Led to Believe?

What are you led to believe? The formidable Ann Althouse recently noted how the New York Times used photos to promote the widespread belief in the imminent extinction of polar bears. "How many people look at that picture and think the polar bears were living on some ice and it melted around them and now [...]

Scooter and Skilling: Fools or Felons?

Start with my prejudices, which many people share. I do not especially like Dick Cheney’s aide Scooter Libby or Enron President Jeff Skilling. Both strike me as men who chose to advance narrow and unworthy goals: the sharp-elbowed, mean-spirited, zero-sum politics of the Cheney/Bush White House or the creation of an energy trading giant built [...]

Bill Richardson — More Talent in the Wings

Since JFK was elected in 1960, how many Senators have run for President? Answer: 40. How many have been elected?: Answer: zero. Even if all three Democratic front runners and one of the Republican front runners are Senators, the United States Senate is still a place where Presidential ambitions go to die. And as I [...]

David Petraeus, Rock Star General

Throughout the ages, great countries have honored their great warriors. School children are taught the names of our nation’s war heros: John Paul Jones, Ulysses S. Grant, Clara Barton, Billy Mitchell, Alvin York, Jimmy Doolittle, Douglas MacArthur. Great warriors are celebrities — and should be. Can an army general be a celebrity these days? We [...]