Charges Dropped against ex Senator Ted Stevens

First, congrats to new Attorney General Eric Holder for following the law and dropping the charges. Of course, the fact that Stevens had already lost the election made it easier, but, still a good move. Here's another article.

One thing I've noticed is that neither Daily Kos nor NPR mentions any details (like names, who appointed them) about the prosecutors who committed the gross misconduct that almost surely lead to one more Democratic seat in the Senate. A little digging found their names here.

"The team is headed by William Welch, chief of that office, and his main deputy, Brenda Morris, who was the lead attorney in the Stevens trial. Also affected are two other lawyers in that office, Nicholas Marsh and Edward Sullivan, and two on special assignment from the U.S. attorney's office in Anchorage, Joe Bottini and James Goeke."

More details of the prosecutors and their misconduct can be found here. Welch was appointed by Roberto Gonzales, but this article says he is a registered Democrat. And Brenda Morris has served in several administractions since 1991. So sorry, looks like no devious conspiracy going on, just prosecutors forgetting their place is to enforce the law legally.

Another use for duct tape

Several sources (see list in this article) have reported another massive cyber-spying campaign, likely perpetrated by the Chinese. What I found interesting is their ability to turn on your web cam and microphone and really spy on what you are doing.

Looks like another use for duct tape, the wonder invention of the 20th century.

Daily Kos just can't be pleased

The left is calling for AIG executives to return their bonuses and resign. One guy does exactly that. Daily Kos rakes him over the coals for having a "bad attitude". Some people just can't be pleased.

When somebody at Daily Kos is hounded to give away a million dollars and resign a lucrative job I'd like to see their attitude.

Time to buy an old clunker

Congress is considering bills that will raise the value of old clunker cars. One plan by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, would offer vouchers ranging from $2000 to $4500 for an old gas guzzler. U.S. Representative Betty Sutton, D-Ohio, has a similar proposal offering between $3000 and $5000. Her's has a clever name, "Consumer Assistance to Recycle and Save (CARS)". It requires that the newer car be assembled in the USA. To nobody's surprise, her plan is backed by the big-three automakers and the UAW.

The goal sounds laudable, to get gas hogs (worse than 18MPG) off the road and increase demand for newer, more fuel-efficient cars. But there would seem to be some issues with these plans. They reward people who made environmentally harmful decisions to drive gas hogs. Just like the $40 off coupons on digital converter boxes that "ran out", scammers could buy fleets of old clunkers to sell off to those considering a new purchase, using up the money. And the whole "greeness" aspect is very debateable: as one commenter named Brn asked, "How 'green' is it to consume significant resources building a new car?"

The bills are "estimated" to cost a couple of billion dollars a year. Not too bad all things considered - a "billion" seems like chump change nowadays. Work out the kinks, and I could go for it. But I prefer a simpler, non-subsidized and "free market" solution: raise the federal gasoline tax. (And I'm generally anti-tax!) Announce that each year for the next 8 years the tax per gallon will increase by say, 20 cents a year, with some modification or "outs" available based on the price of a barrel of oil. Taxpayers will gain money, not spend it on scammers and fuel wasters, and you'll see those clunkers disappear.

South Asian Cricket News

I'm not planning to specialize in South Asian cricket, but security concerns may affect a big tournament planned for April in India. It's scheduled to overlap with the Indian elections, and security forces will be stretched thin.

The Guardian discusses financial considerations.

The New Zealand Herald is cautiously optimistic.

This article discusses more directly discusses the recent attack in Pakistan, but then, in a strangely positive note (to me at least) implies that conflicts over the TV rights may play a larger role in any possible delays.

A Time magazine article gives a good overview. Concerns about the Mumbai attack and the March 3 attack on the Sri Lankan team threaten a popular and lucrative sport in South Asia. As for whether security priority should be given to cricket or the elections, "more people will be watching cricket than will be casting their votes anyway".

Long live sport, and here's hoping it may it bring some sanity to the region. As for those pesky elections, who schedules them during a championship tournament ayway? :-) We'd never schedule elections in the USA during the World Series, Olympics, or the Superbowl!

A new blog I'm gonna follow for a while

Greg Mankiw is a conservative economist at Harvard. His blog seems to have some good, not too ranting dogmatic posts. I especially liked his comments that the government has more important things to do than give speeches on their soapboxes about AIG bonuses that were explicitly written into the final stimulus package by somebody, and another showing the true costs of high taxes.

Paranoid Conspiracy Theory #1

Who benefits from the obscene AIG bonuses? So far, the one result seems to be widespread support for confiscatory taxes on the evil executives. And one could easily predict this anger. Does this sound like a democratic or a republican goal?

Let's try to get the facts from Dodd, Geiter and Obama before following this conspiracy theory. I sure hope I'm wrong.