Army Post Road

     For all you Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Battlestar, and so on fans out there, I came across a Starship Size Comparison Chart . I didn’t realize the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation was really sooooooooo small. See if you can find the only real ships on the entire poster. (Hint: if you aren’t using a magnifying glass, you may not find them.)

     Since it’s the last six hours of 2006, I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge and say thank you to the two blogs that linked to and mentioned me the most this year, the Johnson County Republicans blog and Dr Nicholas Johnson’s FromDC2Iowa. Thank you to JC Republicans Chair Todd Versteegh and everyone else at the JCR Blog and Dr Johnson for their links and mentions.
     The Johnson County Republicans ought to be commended for being the thorn in the side of the Johnson County Democrats as the Democrats continue to try and consolidate their power into total domination of every facet of everything in Iowa City, Johnson County, and Eastern Iowa as a whole. They’ve been doing great work the past few years and hopefully in 2008 we can do even greater things. Keep up the good work.
     Dr Johnson’s blog, FromDC2Iowa has been one of the most comprehensive, complete records of the whole imbroglio that has been the search for a new University of Iowa president. Dr Johnson’s commentary and news has been probably the best source of information about the presidential search both in the real world and in the blogosphere. Bully to Dr Johnson.

     Ok, so maybe my headline is misleading but CFO.com has a story about how the stock returns do have a noticeable, direct correlation with the lunar calendar. This, however, does not mean you need to start trading to hedge against vampirism or lycanthropy.

     I just came across the video from Gov. Tom Vilsack’s (D-Iowa) appearance on the Daily Show with John Stewart. It’s funny but I also wouldn’t mind playing whack-a-mole with their heads for some of the stuff they say. Here it is below.

     Once again, the Press-Citizen has affirmed that it is one of the most out-of-touch, irrelevant, tactless it is. Today, on Christmas Day, it published a parody of Dickens’s “‘Twas The Night Before Christmas” from the point-of-view of an incoming Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.
     At a minimum, it’s timing and content are highly distasteful.

     To go along with my below post, National Review Online has an Interview on 11 Days in December: Christmas at the Bulge, 1944

     I almost let the entire holiday go by without telling everyone out there Merry Christmas.
     I hope everyone reading this is where they want to be with whom they want to be. While you’re enjoying your festivities, camaraderie, joy, and warmth, remember all the men and women of the Army, Navy, Marine Corp, and Air Force who are at points all over the globe, safeguarding us and every other freedom-loving man, woman and child around the globe.

     Michael Arrington from TechCrunch has an entry entitled Somebody Needs To Stop This about how a bankruptcy court in California is making public all the confidential records of a now-defunct Silicon Valley law firm that represented some of the most infamous names of the Dot.Com boom. All of the companies records, all of them will be made public in some fashion. Clients can choose to “opt-out” of the deal and only have their records available at the National Archives on a limited basis. Everyone else, everyone who either chooses to “opt-in” or fails to indicate a choice, will have all of their records made fully available to the public via a University of Maryland and National Archives program.
     How on Earth does any judge anywhere in the country see this as a permissible exception to the attorney-client privilege? Why are all these records, by default, going to go on display unless these clients act to shield them? Why are privileged documents crucial to the historical record of the Dot.Com Era? Since the thing that marked the era the most distinctively was the new technology it spawned and the financial upheaval it launched, all of which are either preserved for posterity by public products or public records, why do we need to wrench judicial procedure and rules for this project?

     The Daily Iowan reprinted UI Faculty Senate President Shelly Kurtz’s comments preceding the senate’s vote on the resolution of no-confidence in the Iowa Board of Regents. Here’s the full-text of her remarks.
     Professor Kurtz’s remarks are very effective and illuminating, bringing up several points concerning the Regents or the presidential search that either I had forgotten or wasn’t even aware of. Read the remarks in their entirety, it’s a very interesting read (albeit maybe a bit long).

     An article in today’s Des Moines Register outlines how the not-yet-seated new Democrat majority in the Iowa Legislature is already hemming and hawing and being overtly noncommittal about rocking the boat in regards to the Board of Regents, which has been almost entirely appointed by outgoing governor and Democrat candidate for president Tom Vilsack.
     In an effort not to rock the boat as Gov. Vilsack spends the next year trying to move past what has been a fiasco-filled final year in office, the Democrats in the Legislature are doing their best to not to call it a Greek tragedy and say, “what a shame, too bad there’s nothing we can do about it.”
     Don’t look for any more action out of the incoming legislators on the matter other than to refer the matter to Governor-elect Culver for inaction.

     I don’t remember really weighing in on the raging immigration debate very heavily before but if I have then I’m going to either restate what I’ve said or modify it.
     There are two key things in my mind regarding immigration: 1)immigration of unskilled and semi-skilled workers is good for both the workers and our economy, and 2) we have to know who is coming into our country; every last person who steps onto our shores.
     On my first point: the types of immigrants most commonly thought of in this debate, unskilled workers and semi-skilled workers, are extremely valuable to our economy. Their presence is anti-inflationary for one. They keep down wage pressures and keep the labor market a hire-er’s market. When labor costs grow at slower rates, the flame underneath the inflation kettle is minimized. If immigrant workers will do a job for less than native-born workers or will do one natives turn their noses from, all the better. I don’t have any sympathy for workers who price themselves out of the market or feel superior to a task. They’ve chosen their own course.
     On my second point: we can’t let a single person into the country without, at a minimum, knowing who they are and where they’re going. We have to secure our borders and create immigration bottlenecks that permit us to do this. Along with that, we have to have a comprehensive database of wanted criminals and persona not grata who need to be apprehended at or be prevented from crossing the border. We don’t need any other reasons than that to prevent people from entering this country. If they want to be here and aren’t a public safety or national security risk, let’em come. Nothing should stop them.
     When the discussion comes to those people already here illegally, if their only crime is entering illegally or overstaying their visas, then it’s the old bar-closing cliche: you don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here. If they want to come back, that’s fine but they have to leave and come back through the proper channels. Let a waiting period abroad be the punishment for their crime. Don’t clog our jails and prisons with people whose only crime was trespassing.
     It’s a simple idea for the problem but in this case, the simple plan is the best.

     There’s finally been a resignation from the Iowa Board of Regents over the fallout from the failed first round of the U of I presidential search. The Daily Iowan reported on Friday that Regent Robert Bedell has resigned.
     In his letter to Governor-elect Culver, Bedell declared he was resigning “to clear the way to appoint a new regent [who] might become president of the board who could provide new leadership.” Saying also that the “controversy that is more personality- than substance-driven” surrounding the search.
     He also blasted groups on campus for their conduct in the matter, calling it disgusting and embarrassing.
     The whole situation has deteriorated far enough I’m afraid the University will get a less than top-shelf-caliber president when all is said and done and who knows what unforetold fortunes that will bring.
     I’m sure more is soon to follow.