Medary.com

Durable goods orders "tumble" 2.4 percent in August.

New orders were down 24.9 percent in August. That doesn't sound like a recovery to me.

Unemployment for young Americans hits 52.2 percent.

How's that hope and change working out for you?

Via Hot Air.

Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit writes:

ADVICE TO CLARK HOYT: Have the NYT editors read InstaPundit. It’s painless, and they’ll learn a lot about political stories their own reporters are ignoring. Plus, frequent nanotechnology updates!

And they’ll enjoy it more than Fox News.

If you don't know what this is about--you should. That's kinda the point. Right now the editors and reporters at the New York Times have absolutely no idea what is happening outside their comfortable little intellectual bubble. And it shows.

Michigan woman faces fines and jail time for watching over schoolchildren as they wait for their school bus.

David Boas comments at Cato@Liberty:

This is what people mean when they warn that an ever-expanding government threatens the values of neighborliness and community. When the government provides services for free, or when it erects obstacles to individuals’ providing those services, it reduces private provision and simultaneously increases the demand for government services. If you make it illegal for neighbors to watch one another’s kids, you weaken ties of neighborhood and community.

Hat tip to Q & O.

at Q and O blog, Billy Hollis writes:

Any Democratic member of Congress is caught right now between a hard-left leadership who want government control over when people go to the bathroom and the Blue Dogs who know they’ll be looking for another job if any healthcare bill with a lot of government interference is passed. Not to mention a president who can’t seem to make up his mind on what he’s willing to settle for on healthcare, and whose only strategy is to flap his gums.

But have the Republicans learned nothing from 2006-2009? Has the Tea Party movement made no impact on them? Do they not sense the rising anti-government attitude in voters? Are they so incredibly clueless that they can’t learn the lesson from Reagan’s landslide and the 1994 takeover of Congress?

Look, you idiots: You can win big when you strongly advocate smaller government principles. When you don’t, at best you tread water, and at worst you get your butts kicked.

Poetry. Sheer poetry.

with three impressive wins so far. The latest one coming against Illinois State, 38-17. Good times in Brookings.

Meanwhile, Snookums and I are getting ready to go out to the final Happy Grenke Day of the year here in Kansas City.

From the book Power in the People by Felix Morley, as linked by Gary Galles at the Ludwig von Mises Institute:

Man…is now exchanging membership in Society for servitude to the State.

"Wretchard" is the nom-de-blog of Richard Fernandez, who currently resides in Sydney, Australia. His blog, Belmont Club is one of the more thoughtful and thought-provoking corners of the Internet.

Recently, he posted--ostensibly about Obama's political manuvering regarding Iran. Then, as he often does, he whipsaws you with some insight that you can only wonder at how he made that connection.

Here's what I'm talking about:

I digress in order to make the point that the current malaise (if I can use a Carter word) won’t be solved by unelecting Obama. Somehow a large part of the country is using a dictionary of nonsense; it has to be persuaded to amend its dictionary object; to change the collections contained in its vocabulary, otherwise it will be irremediable gibberish. This crazy, politically correct dictionary has been in use for some time and many people can only think using its definitions. But persuading people to change it will be very hard. Only they can make the change for we are not going to browbeat millions into using our preferred table of definitions. Perhaps Orwell was right. The key to groupthink is to create a language in which no real thought other than obedience to fantasy can be expressed. And now Newspeak is in widespread use. Even at the UN.

The important implication of this is that the current crisis has deep political and cultural roots. There’s no quick fix and it’s useless to try for one. It will be a long slog and in the end, it may be a trudge over the cliff.

How strange it is that some of the 10 commandments had to do with dictionaries and speech: “thou shalt not bear false witness”, “though shalt not put strange gods before Me”. The ancient lawgivers know something we’ve forgotten: fantasy kills.

The British Army's Media Ops, that is:

My latest embed with British 2 Rifles, which began in July, was extended on at least two occasions. The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) had recently agreed that I would spend roughly one more month with 2 Rifles. My scheduled embeds with the United States Air Force and Marines were specifically arranged around the British schedule, and I was enjoying reporting on the excellent British troops.

However, on August 24th, with no warning, unseen faces of MoD discontinued my embed from 2 Rifles. The message that I was no longer embedded was emailed to me by Media Ops, just as I returned from an interesting firefight in the Green Zone. Luckily, none of our guys got hit, but I think the British soldiers may have killed some Taliban.

I do not know the reason for the embed termination. My best guess is that it relates to my sustained criticism that the British government is not properly resourcing its soldiers.

. . .

For example—without giving names so as not to tar and feather someone for his entire life when he still has a chance to change his behavior—the British Major running Media Ops at Camp Bastion has been particularly problematic. Even before my embed started with 2 Rifles, his words raised red flags among the correspondents about his priorities.

I had a specific incident with this British Media Ops Major.

The Major and I were driving in Camp Bastion around midday when it was very hot. A British soldier ran by wearing a rucksack. He was drenched in sweat under the blazing, dusty desert. I smiled because it’s great to see so many soldiers who work and train hard. Yet the Major cut fun at the soldier, saying he was dumb to be running in that heat. I nearly growled at the Major, but instead asked if he ever goes into combat. The answer was no. And, in fact, the Major does not leave the safety of Camp Bastion.

That a military officer would share a foul word about a combat soldier who was prepping for battle was offensive. Especially an officer who lives in an air-conditioned tent with a refrigerator stocked with chilled soft drinks. Just outside his tent are nice hot and cold showers. Five minutes away is a little Pizza Hut trailer, a coffee shop, stores, and a cookhouse.

This very Major had earned a foul reputation among his own kind for spending too much time on his Facebook page. I personally saw him being gratuitously rude to correspondents. Some correspondents—all were British—complained to me that when they wanted to interview senior British officers, they were told by this Major to submit written questions. The Major said they would receive videotaped answers that they could edit as if they were talking with the interviewee. (Presumably, senior British officers are avoiding the tough questions, such as, “So, when do you plan to send enough helicopters?”)

. . .

In Holland, folks were lining up to honor and pay tribute to our World War II veterans and General Petraeus. I didn’t want to distract General Petraeus with any questions while he was so busy. But on about the third day, there was a tap on my shoulder and I was told that General Petraeus had some time if I wanted to talk.

I asked the good General some tough questions on Afghanistan—the kind that would end discussions with timid people—yet, like normal, he fielded those questions with the candor that I so respect in him and have come to expect. The same has happened to me with the Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, and other top military leaders. Gates and Petraeus will field challenging, difficult questions and will take what you throw at them. Yet the British Media Ops in Afghanistan wants correspondents to submit written questions so they can provide tidy answers. That’s a sad joke and there are many correspondents, including me, who are not laughing.

. . .

The Media Ops boys are treating this like a game.

Eventually I had a meeting at the same table with a U.S. Air Force officer, a U.S. Marine officer, and the British Major from Media Ops in an attempt to work out a solution that would get me with the Air Force or Marines. The Major was docile in the presence of the two other officers. The Marine and Air Force officers said that they were willing and happy to help. Despite their goodwill, the scheduling train wreck had other moving issues stacking up, and the British Media Ops weren’t done with playing games.

In addition to the disembed, the British Media Ops were insisting that I leave RC-South at once. Let’s be clear – this was Afghanistan, not London where I can easily hail a cab or jump on The Tube. By their demands, the Media Ops folks were ignoring the obvious truth that it takes time, planning, and much coordination to move anyone, soldiers or correspondents, around Afghanistan.

Also, Media Ops knew that I was waiting for two important packages to arrive at Camp Bastion – packages that took a great amount of time and expense to send for. When I brought this up, the Major said he had checked into the packages and that because there was no FedEx in Camp Bastion, my packages must be in Kabul.

This was a flat out lie. When soldiers hear something that is patently false, they call it “bullshit.” I looked at the Major and said, “Bullshit,” to which he stomped out. He later said I had cursed him, which, if by calling him on his lie he implied that I was cursing him, then so be it; he was right. It was bullshit because there is a FedEx and a DHL in Camp Bastion. Something you would think (and hope) a Media Ops guy would know about his own camp.

The Major said again that Lt. Col. Nick Richardson demanded that I leave RC-South, and that Media Ops would forward my satellite and night vision gear that was in transit. Before the Major had stomped out, I said that I was not leaving Camp Bastion until those packages were in my hands. I told him to call Lt. Col. Nick Richardson at Lashkar Gah—a nearby base—and say that if Richardson wants me gone, he’d need to call the Royal Military Police (RMP). The satellite gear is crucial to the operation and the night vision gear is expensive. I was not going to leave without the gear unless under arrest. I had heard the Major arrogantly tell a correspondent how a soldier had punched another correspondent and “knocked him on his ass.” Bullying apparently had been working for him; he was still doing it.

“Go ahead,” I said, “Call the RMPs right now. Have them come down and flex cuff me and put me on an airplane out of here.” I waited for the RMP’s to arrive and arrest me. At least they would be professionals.

I don't often quote such a long passage from another article, but trust me, that's only a few of the highlights. Go read Michael Yon yourself. He is quite possibly one of the two or three best war reporters in the world today. And he works for himself. No, that's not right. Find out who he works for. Go read the article.

I'm cheating a bit with this one . . . the actual summary post was finalized on Dec. 16, 2008, but the first post overall was September 18, 2008. Oh, well. My blog, my rules.

This is the front page for our dispatches from our Grand Asia & Australia Voyage on Holland America's Amsterdam, from September 19-November 23, 2008, with bonus coverage of our pre-cruise visit to Seattle, and our post-cruise detour to Cancun.

Here are the individual posts, collected all in one handy location for your reading pleasure. As we travel, we'll be adding posts so you can follow our journeys.

Part 1, Seattle
Part 2, Seattle and the M/S Amsterdam
Part 3, the North Pacific
Part 4, the North Pacific
Part 5, the North Pacific
Part 6, At sea, and arriving Hakodate, Japan
Part 7, Hakodate, Japan
Part 8, Amori, Japan
Part 9, Miyako, Japan
Part 10, Kobe, Japan
Part 11, Kobe, Japan
Part 12, Shanghai, China
Part 13, Shanghai, China
Part 14, Shanghai, China
Part 15, Shanghai and Hong Kong, China
Part 16, Hong Kong, China
Part 17, Hong Kong, China
Part 18, Hong Kong, China
Part 19, In the South China Sea
Part 20, Da Nang, Vietnam
Part 21, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam
Part 22, At sea, and Laem Chabang/Pattaya, Thailand
Part 23, Ko Samui, Thailand
Part 24, Ko Samui, Thailand
Part 25, At sea, and Singapore
Part 26, Singapore, and out to sea
Part 27, At sea, and Padang Bai, Bali, Indonesia
Part 28, Snorkeling at Padang Bai, Bali, Indonesia
Part 29, Padang Bai, Bali, Indonesia
Part 30, Padang Bai, Bali, Indonesia
Part 31, At sea, bound for Perth, Australia
Part 32, Fremantle/Perth, Australia
Part 33, Fremantle/Perth, Australia
Part 34, Fremantle/Perth, Australia
Part 35, Melbourne, Australia
Part 36, At sea bound for Sydney, Australia
Part 37, Sydney, Australia
Part 38, Sydney, Australia
Part 39, Cruising the Coral Sea, and Noumea, New Caledonia
Part 40, Noumea, New Caledonia
Part 41, Noumea, New Caledonia
Part 42, Noumea, New Caledonia
Part 43, Suva, Fiji
Part 44, Apia, Western Samoa
Part 45, At sea bound for Honolulu
Contest photos
Part 46, At sea, crossing the Equator
Part 47, At sea bound for Honolulu
Part 48, At sea bound for Honolulu
Part 49, Honolulu, Hawaii
Part 50, Honolulu, Hawaii
Part 51, Honolulu and Lahaina, Hawaii
Part 52, Lahaina, Hawaii and bound for San Diego
Part 53, At sea, bound for San Diego
Part 54, San Diego, California
Part 55, San Diego, Dallas, and Cancun, Mexico
Part 56, Cancun, Mexico
Part 57, Cancun, Mexico
Part 58, Cancun, Mexico
Part 59, Cancun, Mexico
Part 60, Cancun, Mexico
Part 61, Home, at last!

From the book Power in the People by Felix Morley, as linked by Gary Galles at the Ludwig von Mises Institute:

The State, in short, subjects people; whereas Society associates them voluntarily.