"A condom on a cucumber in three seconds flat"

"The sight of Lebanon's famously beautiful unveiled Arab women makes a lasting impression on men who travel here from neighboring countries," writes Michael  J. Totten, making the case in Opinion Journal for Lebanon -- not Iraq -- as the first Arab democracy. (What's Up? Lebanon cover, December 2005)

"No wonder students can barely spell, add or subtract but can put a condom on a cucumber in three seconds flat," writes Lucianne LDotter pub crawler in comments re an Opinion Journal article on new federal rules requiring large unions -- including the National Education Association -- to disclose in much more detail how they spend members' dues money. Pub crawler's prose is poetry:

They couldn't tell you who the first American president was either, but they know that Heather has two mommies and why daddy likes to hang out at the bath house.

More from Opinion Journal on why the NEA fought the new ruling -- pushed through by Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao -- tooth and nail:

Big Labor fought hard (if unsuccessfully) against the new accountability standards, and even a cursory glance at the NEA's recent filings -- the first under the new rules -- helps explain why. They expose the union as a honey pot for left-wing political causes that have nothing to do with teachers, much less students.

The new disclosure rules mark the first revisions since 1959 and took effect this year. "What wasn't clear before is how much of a part the teachers unions play in the wider liberal movement and the Democratic Party," says Mike Antonucci of the Education Intelligence Agency, a California-based watchdog group. "They're like some philanthropic organization that passes out grant money to interest groups."

"When George Soros does this sort of thing, at least he's spending his own money," notes the Journal:

The NEA is spending the mandatory dues paid by members who are told their money will be used to gain better wages, benefits and working conditions . . . The good news is that for the first time members can find out how their union chieftains did their political thinking for them, by going to www.union-reports.dol.gov, where the Labor Department has posted the details.

Meanwhile, MSM fellow travelers of the enemies of freedom -- the force multipliers that are the subject of Vietnam vet Russ Vaughan's latest poem, cited by Michelle Malkin -- are shocked, shocked that the Pentagon is spending taxpayers' money to compensate Iraqi clerics and scholars in return for help spreading the good word about the blossoming of democracy in the Middle East. As one talking head suggested on Fox News last night, NYT=Aljazeera? For your NYT/Aljazeera antidote, check out Pajamas Media's own Michael J. Totten -- on the scene in Beirut, where he says the Arab world's first democracy -- not Iraq, dismissed by many in the neighboring states as "an imperial sham" -- is taking root.

Uh, oh. This just in via Drudge:  "POLL: Support for Bush drops among military." No one ever said making the world safe for democracy was going to be easy:

"Though support both for President Bush and for the war in Iraq remains significantly higher than in the public as a whole, the drop is likely to add further fuel to the heated debate over Iraq policy," Military Times said.

Meanwhile, the unreadable Time is all agush over publication of "The Book Behind the Bombshell" -- whistleblower or traitor?  It depends upon whether or not your own party is in power. Can our heart take the pressure?  Fortunately, we walk 5 to 7 hours a week, even though Harvard Med School Prof. Harvey B. Simon (WSJ subscription only) has changed his mind and now says we're trying too hard:

[His] 1987 book "The Athlete Within" urged readers to expend at least 2,000 calories a week exercising -- that's about three to six hours a week of aerobic effort, depending on the activity. He now believes it takes only about half that amount to improve health. "We need a new way to think about exercise," he says.

Michael Crichton could have predicted it. If you haven't already, reward yourself with a delicious read of his totally awesome speech on "Fear, Complexity, & Environmental Management in the 21st Century," delivered at the Washington Center for Complexity and Public Policy last November. Choice excerpts abound, but be sure to read the whole thing. His prose style, wit and wisdom -- not to mention his uncommon common sense -- are a joy to behold:

We live in a world of complex systems. The environment is a complex system. The government is a complex system. Financial markets are complex systems. The human mind is a complex system -- most minds, at least . . .

When we interact with a complex system, we may provoke downstream consequences that emerge weeks or even years later. We must always be watchful for delayed and untoward consequences . . .

But organizations that care about the environment do not seem to notice that their ministrations are deleterious in many cases. Lawmakers do not seem to notice when their laws have unexpected consequences, or make things worse. Governors and mayors and managers may manage their complex systems well or badly, but if they manage well, it is usually because they have an instinctive understanding of how to deal with complex systems. Most managers fail.

Why? Our human predisposition treat all systems as linear when they are not.

That, plus our human predisposition to treat those who threaten our hold on power as the devil incarnate, and unexpected consequences be damned.

Update: Headline misspelling has been corrected. More here.

Technorati tags:  the book behind the bombshell, lebanon the model, force multipliers, michael crichton, harvey b. simon

Comments

[mangex]

funny, you couldnt even spell condom correctly in the headline, but you can list others who complain about spelling, blaming it on the NEA.

[Teresa]

Well, drat... Ping!!!

http://technicalities.mu.nu/archives/149179.php

I suppose mangex - you don't really understand the difference between a typo and someone who never learned to spell at all... you must be a product of our wonderful public education system with reasoning like that.

[goomp]

The abuses of power are there for all to see. The question is are enough people looking. At least we have the bloggers helping shine light where the MSM would keep it dark.

[Sissy Willis]

Touché, mangex, on cleverness, but the match still goes to me on the merits. :) Check out my latest post, here: http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu/2006/01/a_colossal_miss.html