Month: February 2010

TNC is pleased with the First Lady not taking the Palin bait:

Remember when people thought Michelle Obama was going to hoist the Red Black and Green over the White House, sing Lift Every Voice while raising her right fist? Remember Stokely Carmichael in a dress?  Is anyone who knows the anything about African-Americans–or Americans at large, frankly–shocked that arguable the least controversial thing about the Obama White House is it's First Lady?

Steve Chapman looks at other countries that have allowed gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military:

In Canada, 45 percent of service members said they would not work with gay colleagues, and a majority of British soldiers and sailors rejected the idea. There were warnings that hordes of military personnel would quit and promising youngsters would refuse to enlist.

But when the new day arrived, it turned out to be a big, fat non-event.

The Canadian government reported "no effect." The British government observed "a marked lack of reaction." An Australian veterans group that opposed admitting gays later admitted that the services "have not had a lot of difficulty in this area."

Israel, being small, surrounded by hostile powers, and obsessed with security, can't afford to jeopardize its military strength for the sake of prissy ventures in political correctness. But its military not only accepts gays, it provides benefits to their same-sex partners, as it does with spouses. Has that policy sapped Israel's military might? Its enemies don't seem eager to test the proposition.

Ilya Somin adds:

To my mind, opponents of allowing gays to serve openly in the military need to show that the ill effects they predict have actually occurred in these other countries. If they can’t, they should support the idea of allowing the armed forces to choose the best available recruits regardless of sexual orientation.

Catherine Rampell:

While layoffs have been declining, companies are still reluctant to hire, a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows. According to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover survey, in December there were once again over six unemployed people for every one job opening in the country.

Snow doesn't disprove climate change. Au contraire:

The problem is that more severe winter weather tends to confirm rather than contradict climate change theory. Warmer overall temperatures produce moisture, which in winter tends to produce snow. Climate scientists have long predicted more turbulent winter weather as a result of climate change. And by the way, last month was the world's warmest January on record.

This won't keep conservatives from taking cheap shots at anyone who wants to deal with climate change, but it's worth knowing that this particular attack line is particularly cynical and wrong-minded.

More here.

Gareth Williams wonders why Britain doesn't have a tea party movement.

From The NYT:

Iran now has more journalists in prison than any other country in the world, with at least 65 in custody, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Andrew Exum counters Tom Friedman:

Building schools is a lovely thing, and as the great Greg Mortenson pointed out to me in Kabul once, when you teach little girls to read, you teach entire villages to read. (Because the girls teach their mothers.) And female literacy then leads to a healthy drop in birth rates and less poverty. That's all wonderful. Education transforms societies. But education only has a place in counterinsurgency — most naturally a subfield of stabilization operations — if you can prove that a lack of schools is a driver of conflict. And as far as counter-terrorism is concerned, well, the idea that more schools will lead to a drop in terrorism remains one of those things that sounds good when discussed at dinner parties but has yet to be proven and is, if we are to trust our research thus far, most likely false.

A list.