Commentary

Category Archives for Commentary.

Two Sunday evening Reuters pieces

by Gary Leff

microsoft logo
Jun 16 2002

Two Sunday evening Reuters pieces caught my attention. First, Jacques Chirac’s center-right coalition won a huge landslide in parliamentary elections. I don’t know that anything will change — these are the French, after all — but it’s still sweet to see the socialist left trounced to such a degree that the leaders of the Green and Communist parties even lost their own seats. Second, Microsoft came out in favor of suing software companies for bugs and other defects. The story portrays Microsoft, whose balance sheets shows $39 billion in cash and cash equivalents, as the biggest target with the most to lose. It makes no attempt to reconcile this seeming contradiction, other than to suggest that Microsoft products are pretty good and they can defend themselves well in court. Shame on journalists who miss the…

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Joshua Marshall likes

by Gary Leff

american flag
Jun 16 2002

Joshua Marshall likes the Kaus piece, too, and decides to look into the origins of the term “homeland defense.” One of the earliest examples comes out of The Heritage Foundation.

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ABC News reports

by Gary Leff

american flag
Jun 15 2002

ABC News reports that even members of Congress are feeling the effects of a rule that passengers must remain seated for the first and last half hour of flights into and out of Washington-National airport. Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop, flying from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to Hartsfield Airport on Delta Flight 1717, got up to go to the bathroom after the mandatory half-hour when passengers must stay seated, but found the lavatories on the airplane occupied, his office and aviation sources said. Sanford then asked a flight attendant for a cup, and “may” have said he intended to relieve himself, his office said. He went to a section of the plane between the cockpit and first-class, then urinated into the cup, said Bishop spokesman Selby McCash, who described the congressman as “a very gracious…

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Mickey Kaus has

by Gary Leff

american flag
Jun 14 2002

Mickey Kaus has an excellent piece in Slate in which he does a very good job explaining the problems with the phrase “homeland security.” I highly recommend it.

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Wow. I’ve already had two

by Gary Leff

amazon
Jun 14 2002

Wow. I’ve already had two contributions through Amazon. THANK YOU. Amazon hasn’t told me who you are, but I appreciate it. By the way, if readers out there decide to contribute, please also drop me an e-mail. It helps lots — I’ll even acknowledge you on the site if it’s alright with you. Thanks!

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This Washington Post

by Gary Leff

american flag
Jun 14 2002

This Washington Post article speaks for itself. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights usually investigates discrimination complaints outside its offices. But in the case of its former staff solicitor, Emma Monroig, the agency could have stayed indoors. … Monroig was awarded $150,000 for back pay, mental duress and attorneys’ fees. The EEOC also ordered that she be reinstated as solicitor. … Commission employees have filed nine recent complaints with the EEOC, commission officials said. Three were filed by Hispanics, and the rest by black and white workers. Of those nine, at least three have been settled. In light of Monroig’s award, questions about the treatment of staff, performance evaluations and other personnel issues linger, officials said. Monroig’s odyssey with the EEOC began in 1994, when she filed an informal discrimination complaint. Passman said her claim…

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Fly the Concorde for $1258.95

by Gary Leff

concorde air france
Jun 13 2002

Fly the Concorde for $1258.95 First, buy 21 subscriptions to Inside Flyer magazine for a total cost of $1258.95. If you act by June 30, you’ll get 2500 Starwood points per subscription, or a total of 52500 Starwood points. (If you don’t already have a Starwood account, open one here). Second, transfer the 52500 Starwood points into a Qantas account. For every 20000 points you redeem, you also get a bonus 5000 points. 52500 points becomes 62500 points. Starwood points become Quantas points at a 1:2 ration. Thus, you now have 125,000 Qantas points. (If you don’t already have a Qantas account, open one here). Third, redeem 125,000 Qantas points for a roundtrip ticket with partner British Airways on the Concorde. Availability of Concorde awards seems not to be a problem at all. You can…

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The Los Angeles

by Gary Leff

latimes
Jun 13 2002

The Los Angeles Times covers a gaffe by The Beijing Evening News — the Chinese paper picked up and ran a story from The Onion which claimed that Congress was going to pick up and leave Washington, DC unless a new Capitol was built for them. The paper acknowledged their error, but fails to understand the humor: “Some small American newspapers frequently fabricate offbeat news to trick people into noticing them, with the aim of making money,” the paper said. “This is what the Onion does.” It cited a recent Onion article about the U.S. government issuing life jackets to all Americans for some unexplained reason. “According to congressional workers, the Onion is a publication that never ceases making up false reports,” the Evening News said. Thanks to OpinionJournal‘s “Best of the Web” for the…

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US force in the least

by Gary Leff

canada flag
Jun 13 2002

US force in the least likely of places The U.S. Senate voted to authorize military force against Denmark if a U.S. citizen is held by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The C.D. Howe Institute believes that the U.S. could invade Canada in pursuit of its war on terror. (Thanks to Free-Market.net for pointing these out.)

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Harry Truman was known to

by Gary Leff

american flag
Jun 11 2002

Harry Truman was known to complain when his fellow Democrats caved in and acted like Republicans: “In an election between a Republican and a Republican, a Republican is going to win.” In other words, what’s the point of voting for a Democrat if they’re just going to vote like a Republican? Now the flip side. CQ Daily Monitor says that House Republican ‘sponsors of a Medicare drug benefit bill plan to introduce the measure today and expect to mark it up on Thursday, a GOP aide said. In the meantime, Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce committee chairmen Bill Thomas, R-Calif., and Billy Tauzin, R-La., continue their “education campaign” to solidify GOP support for the legislation. A Dear Colleague letter is being drafted to explain the impact of a package of Medicare payment increases…

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