Cass Sunstein: Unfairly Maligned?

I rise in defense of Cass Sunstein, President Obama's regulatory Czar, to the latest attack on him related to his 2008 paper "Conspiracy Theories." He has been unfairly accused of arguing that argued that "the U.S. government should ban 'conspiracy theorizing.'"

Granted, Cass Sunstein is a real whack-job on animal rights. My favorite quote from his paper, "The Rights of Animals: A Very Short Primer" is,

"If rats are able to suffer—and no one really doubts that they are—then their interests are relevant to the question how, and perhaps even whether, they can be expelled from houses." [Footnote omitted which offers an exception if the rats are diseased.]

Everyone who believe rats invading your home have a right remain alive, hold up your hand.

At least, the conspiracy paper proves he is not a truther.

Mr. Sunstein's paper on conspiracy theories is professorial and highly theoretical. Nowhere does the paper propose that the government ban conspiracy theorizing. He offers that "government response" as one of the solutions the theoretician would need to consider (among a myriad of other possibilities) before coming to a conclusion. He suggests that government agents could overtly or covertly infiltrate conspiracy discussions to provide accurate information, which he calls "cognitive infiltration." He cites the use of State Department Muslims participating in chat room discussion as a successful example of the former. As to covert infiltration, I assume we do that now with groups perceived to present a danger of violence. At least, I hope so.

This theoretical paper was NOT about what could or should be done under the law and was not limited to the United States with its system of laws. The paper is pure ivory tower and basically harmless. This paper reasonably read and understood does not contribute to otherwise justified perceptions of Cass Sunstein's whackiness.

Tea Party Convention? Really?

I am a fan of the Tea Party movement, the real Tea Party movement, not that goofy convention to be held next month in Nashville.

First, I want to say that Nashville would be a great place to hold such a convention. But the magnificent Opryland Hotel is simply too grand a location. Too expensive. The $560 price tag for convention attendance is just too high. It will cost the average convention-goer over $1,500 to attend, with meals.

The Tea Party movement is not a fat cat movement. It is a movement of ordinary folks. Workers and retired people. People who are struggling in the this recession/depression. People who believe in fiscal restraint, not only by government, but in their own lives.

This Tea Party convention idea at that price tag is just dumb. It is no Tea Party.

We need a real tea party convention at a low cost venue, where there are plenty of Econo Lodges, Red Roof Inns and the like to house the real people who would want to attend.

Cafferty: Nancy Pelosi is a "Horrible Woman"

On the money.

Harry Reid: Racist?

I think Harry Reid is a very, very bad guy. He deserves the electoral defeat that is coming to him. But I do not think he is a racist per se. He is just a very bad man.

That said, he deserves all the racist accusations he receives. Not because he is a racist, but because he has been so quick to accuse other non-racists of racism.

Patterico has documented Reid's bad behavior in making unfounded accusations.

Prevent Homocide: "Buy a Gun"

This is the advice from a Buffalo, gun-unfriendly New York, gang member, as reported in the Buffalo News. I am not one to take advice from gang members. This time he is right, as confirmed by virtually all studies.

It seems to me that the Buffalo News article is really about how most gun violence is somehow related to illicit drugs, either by rival gangs or druggies trying to get money for the next fix. One thing is for certain: we have not solved the problems cause by illegal drugs by prohibiting the manufacture, importation or sale of them. We have increased the street price and the profit by limiting the supply. The result of that strategy is, of course, more crime. Druggies need to steal more money to get the next fix. Drug gangs make more money by supplying the illegal substances.

The whole war on drugs thing needs a new look and new approach. Our legislators in Congress and in the several states lack any understanding of the laws of economics.

Get this straight. Drugs are bad. But the current prohibition strategy is seriously flawed.

Global Warming Religion Takes Another Hit

Man-made global warming belief proceed on the theory that the last 150 years of industrialization has increased the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. The latest scientific research reported in Science Daily finds that carbon dioxide levels have not increased in the last 150 years:

To assess whether the airborne fraction is indeed increasing, Wolfgang Knorr of the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol reanalyzed available atmospheric carbon dioxide and emissions data since 1850 and considers the uncertainties in the data.

In contradiction to some recent studies, he finds that the airborne fraction of carbon dioxide has not increased either during the past 150 years or during the most recent five decades.

Latest News on Global Warming

Headline: Briton pulled alive from Swiss avalanche as record freezing weather grips Europe, North America and Asia

Read more: Daily Mail.

Some clown wrote a letter to the Columbus Dispatch several months ago entitled "Global Warming for Dummies." This dummy argued that, contrary to the laws for physics, our colder weather for the last eleven years results from melting polar ice caps releasing more icebergs. He did not bother to explain how the global temperatures are dropping, how the antarctic ice has been expanding, and that the reports of arctic ice decreasing resulted from a computer model error.

Global Warming is a religion.