MARCO THE WIZARD?
[With the passing of Dennis Turner, author of TTP's Dennis The Wizard column, last June, TTPer Mark Gilligan - known to denizens of our User Forum as "Marco" - has stepped up to the plate. For those of you who have met him at a TTP Rendezvous, you know Marco is one of those fellows for whom it is impossible not to like. We at To The Point are so appreciative of his support. Let us know what you think of his explaining the iPhone. Thanks, Marco!] This article will attempt to inform you about the relatively new device from Apple called the iPhone. Some would call it a smart phone, a Palm/Treo-like PDA phone. This is not exactly true, although the iPhone does have the capability to store different types of information, like multiple email accounts, stock data, movies, pod casts and sms messages. It also has an interactive calendar, a photo storage area, and a 2 megapixel camera. There is a weather button available and of course an alarm clock and calculator button. A web based browser called Safari is also included along with an iPod button to store digital audio and visual. An iTunes button is included for connection to Apple's iTune store.
TECHNOLOGY, FREEDOM, AND SAVING LIVES
When a super-genius tells you that you may have saved millions of lives, it really makes your day. You read about Durk Pearson last August, that he has an IQ M.I.T. was unable to measure as it was so far above the upper measurable limit of 220. And you read about my having dinner with Chief Justice John Roberts last week in The Only Issue. I was telling Durk about the dinner and how it wasn't appropriate for me to ask him substantive case questions, but that I was able to contribute to the conversation. The connection between technology and freedom was raised and I offered to give an example. The technology of gene sequencing, I said, can now, at the cost of many millions of dollars, sequence the entire genome of an individual person, identifying all the recognizable mutations and genetic defects that person has. Gene sequencing technology is improving at such a rapid rate that a Moore's Law is now kicking in regarding it.
WHY OBAMA IS A FIZZLING MILQUETOAST
The House Democrat leadership delayed a planned vote this past week on ENDA, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2007. The bill, introduced by Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, makes employment discrimination against homosexuals and bisexuals illegal. One reason that momentum on moving the legislation has stalled is because Rep. Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin wants a provision covering transsexuals and transgenders, originally in, then removed, put back in. President Bush has indicated that, if passed, he will veto this legislation. And he should. But beyond the bill's many technical constitutional difficulties, it's worth considering it in the context of the ongoing cultural war taking place in this country. It's also especially instructive as to why the presidential campaign of Barack Hussein Obama has fizzled.
RUNNING WITH RUDY
So many folks here in Washington are taking it for granted that Bill Clinton's wife has the Dem nomination sewed up that they've gone on to handicapping who her running mate will be. Her ridiculous performance in the Dem debate this week (10/30) may have given them a moment of doubt, but just a moment, for she has, they will tell you, no serious opposition. Hillary supporters can't take bat-eared neophytes like Obambi or the Breck Boy seriously. The rest of the Gang of Eight up on the debating stage with her are just there for the media spotlight. Except for one fellow who's really not running for president, but running for running-mate. That's New Mexico's Governor Bill Richardson, and he's everyone's odds-on favorite to be Hillary's pick. He's dumb as a stump (which he confirmed this week when he said the government should "come clean" over what it knows about aliens crashing their spacecraft in Roswell 60 years ago - just about nine months before Hillary was born, by the way.) Nonetheless, word is he's her #2. More interesting is who will run with Rudy.
THE PELOSICRAT PREREQUISITE FOR GOP VICTORY
Perennial presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat congressman from Ohio, told a group of bloggers last week he plans to force House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to take up his measure to impeach Vice President Dick Cheney. Ms. Pelosi "is working very quietly and very effectively behind the scenes" to gather votes to impeach President Bush, Rep. Diane Watson (D-Cal) told a town hall meeting in Los Angeles Oct. 17. Mr. Kucinich, Ms. Watson and Ms. Pelosi are three of the reasons why I think historians will regard the Democrat sweep in the 2006 midterms as the essential prerequisite to the Republican victory in the 2008 presidential election.
THE ONLY ISSUE
Until a few nights ago at a small dinner at a private home in Washington, it never even occurred to me that I might someday actually call the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court by his first name. Yet for several hours as we sat next to each other, it was "John" and "Jack" for the evening. I cannot tell you what we talked about, and he of course did not say anything untoward or inappropriate. What I can tell you is that besides being seriously smart and having a funny albeit dorky sense of humor (he came up with some real groaners), he is a Great American in every sense that you and I understand it. He is one of us. I couldn't help glancing at his profile inches from me in gratitude to President Bush for placing him in his office - then shuddering to think of who his next fellow Justices will be should Bill Clintons' wife get to choose them. For a large number of voters, one issue is of overriding importance to them. Judicial appointments is a good example. National security is another. Or illegal immigration. Or abortion, homosexual marriage, cultural degradation, increasing government control of our lives and economy, the list goes on. For me, the only issue that matters is preventing the Democrat Party, the Party That Hates America, from winning the White House.
DO YOU CARE ABOUT THE DOLLAR?
Do you care about the fall of dollar against the euro? Here's why you should care and what might be done about it. The exchange rate movement implies that the whole physical stock of Europe (land, buildings, machines, art, etc.) is suddenly worth 40 percent more in dollar terms than it was six years ago - and this of course is nonsense, given there has been no drastic difference in the performance of the relative economies in the last six years. Many economic commentators argue that the dollar has fallen relative to the euro largely because of the U.S. trade deficit, and must fall further to rectify it, even though the United States has been running a trade deficit for years. In fact, it has been the desire of foreign governments, companies and individuals to buy dollar assets, such as U.S. government bonds, which has caused the trade deficit. For them to obtain dollars to invest in the U.S., they must sell us goods and services.
ANOTHER LIBERAL MEDIA BASTION BITES THE DUST
The New Republic is one of the founding bastions of American liberalism, founded in 1914. For months now, its youthful editors have been standing by a story of their "Baghdad Diarist" alleging revolting behavior by our soldiers in Iraq. The allegations were shown to be false, no witnesses were found, still the editors stood their ground. Then they had a telephone conversation with their Diarist, one Pvt. Beauchamp, who refused in the conversation to confirm his story. The phone conversation took place on Sept. 6 and was taped. When it was leaked this week, New Republic readers discovered that the editors, having never told them about the conversation, had been lying to them all along. There goes the credibility of yet another liberal bastion.
PUTIN IN IRAN
If you were Vladimir Putin, what would you think of Iran? You'd worry a lot about it, that's what. Your own Russia is losing Russians, due to the usual grim demography that characterizes most of Europe. And, like the others, you've got a Moslem problem, with surging birthrates both within Russia and all along its borders, from Chechnya to the ‘Stans. Lots of those Moslems are under Iranian sway. The Iranians want to build on that foundation to extend their power deeper into your domain. You therefore want to see this regime destroyed. The last thing in the world that you want is a gigantic Chechnya, armed with nuclear weapons, launching waves of fanatical terrorists against infidels like you. But you don't have much of an army any more, and anyway you don't want a war with the mullahs. Direct attack is not your way; you prefer cunning. You'd rather have someone else do your dirty work for you. Someone like Israel, or better yet, the United States. And best of all would be to get the Americans to do it in such a way that the whole world condemns them for it. So what you'd do is...
A COUNTERJIHAD IN SWITZERLAND?
Last Thursday (10/18), a group of 80 people from 15 European countries, plus Israel, Canada and the United States, convened in a conference room on the seventh floor of the European Parliament building in Brussels for a "Counterjihad" meeting. They listened to speakers such as the Egyptian-born scholar Bat Ye'or, author of the book Eurabia, who explained how the European Union (EU) has become a vehicle for the Islamization of Europe: "The EU has promoted massive Moslem immigration... hoping that the Euro-Arab symbiosis through economic development, soft diplomacy and multiculturalism would guarantee [Europe] peace, markets and oil." Fortunately, there is some good news as well. With the elections of October 21, a political Counterjihad may have begun in Switzerland.