Les Jones

Blogging > The One Where Les Posts a Bunch of Links

This could be a major blow to global warming theory. The computer model that generated the classic hockey stick graph showing drastic temperature increases appears to be flawed. Plugging random data into the program produces the same hockeystick graph as the original tree ring growth data. See the comments at Spoons for a good explanation of what happened.

Kevin Drum and Jim Miller look at the legal and economic reasons for the shrinking number of vaccine manufacturers. One major reason is the 1993 Vaccine for Children Act, which made the government the exclusive buyer of vaccine in the United States. (Miller helpfully explains that this situation of having one buyer is called a monopsony.)

Jeff Cooper's October commentaries are up.

Outside the Beltway looks at press mis-representations of the Annenberg military survey. Most news outlets fail to mention that the survey shows that military personnel and their families prefer Bush to Kerry by almost 3 to 1.

2004 Election

The Chicago Tribune endorses Bush. Login with username oh_no_not_again and password 123456. It's a powerful argument in favor of Bush and against Kerry.

Read that, then read the New York Times endorsement of Kerry, or more exactly, their endorsement of anybody but Bush. Michele counts 20 anti-Bush paragraphs and three pro-Kerry paragraphs. Even the Tribune, which endorsed Bush, had more good things to say about Kerry than the Times did.

From the Times article: "[Kerry] is blessedly willing to re-evaluate decisions when conditions change." Yeah, like when he sees the latest polls. "Nearly four years ago, after the Supreme Court awarded [Bush] the presidency..." This is the paper of record?

Japan's prime minister wants Bush to win, and opposes Kerry's proposal for bilateral U.S.-North Korea talks.

A Bush defeat "could lead to the spread of terrorism to other parts of the world..." Says who - Karl Rove? Nope. Russian president Vladimir Putin. And Russia's not even a member of the coalition of the bribed and coerced.

Another reason to vote Republican this year: according to a new ABC News poll, Republicans are more satisfied with their relationships and sex lives.

ScappleFace has Kerry's anti-terrorism plan: "I have a plan," said Mr. Kerry, "to create a do-not-terrorize list that Americans could sign up for on the internet. And if any terrorist would flout the law and attack someone whose name is on the list, he and his terror cell would be slammed with a $1,000 fine for each person killed and $500 for each injured survivor."

More Scrappleface: Supreme Court declares third debate a Bush victory: "In a terse one-page ruling, the court said that political pundits had overstepped their authority in declaring the match a draw."