Feb 3, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
Maybe the following article has mischaracterized the arguments, but if it's right it makes quite clear that egregious context-dropping as a characteristic vice of academicians is not confined to the left:
The study of 399 syphilitic black men in Tuskegee, Ala., began in 1932 and proceeded for 40 years, until an outcry spurred by an Associated Press story in 1972 caused it to be shut down. The men were never treated for syphilis, even after penicillin became available in the 1940s and 1950s.... However, an alternative view espoused by a University of Pittsburgh historian, Jonathan Erlen, and a University of Pittsburgh Medical School professor, Dr. Thomas Benedek, argues that the study was not racist, because syphilis was more prevalent in black men than in white men at the time. Another academic, who has also written about the study, University of Chicago anthropologist Richard Shweder, says the men recruited all had tertiary-stage syphilis, an incurable stage of the disease even after treatment with penicillin, and that the argument for so-called informed consent is founded on modern-day standards.
The article makes clear just how flimsy these arguments are.Feb 3, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
Steven Malanga in the New York Sun:
Jersey's floundering Republicans face a similar problem to that of their equally unsuccessful New York brethren: powerful public-sector groups that live off government money and push incessantly for ever higher taxes have seized control of the state's politics, and feckless GOP leaders have accommodated them, leaving the state party without core principles and alienating its voting base. Jersey's overburdened taxpayers--they pay the second-highest state and local taxes in the country (behind only New York's)--have nowhere to turn for a real alternative to Democratic big spenders....
The latest outrage: a legislative proposal, sprung on voters immediately after the election, to hike gasoline taxes by up to 12.5 cents a gallon,even as the local economy struggles to get out of a recession. In a state that's sixth in the nation in cars per capita,the new levy, initially backed by Democrats and some Republicans, drew opposition from more than 70% of Jersey residents. Taxhikers backed off.
Empower the People is doing more than opposing new taxes, however. It is seeking passage of state constitutional amendments limiting state government spending and rewarding municipalities that live within budget limits by distributing surplus state funds to them for property-tax relief. These "return the money" amendments, as Mr. Schundler dubs them, would prevent the state from spending recklessly when tax receipts are rolling in, as it has traditionally done.
Feb 3, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From a column by Marquis Harris in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, (by way of James Taranto and Joanne Jacobs):
Recently, I interviewed with a school in one of the metro Atlanta counties, only to receive an e-mail from the principal stating, "Though your qualifications are quite impressive, I regret to inform you that we have selected another candidate. It was felt that your demeanor and therefore presence in the classroom would serve as an unrealistic expectation as to what high school students could strive to achieve or become. However, it is highly recommended that you seek employment at the collegiate level; there your intellectual comportment would be greatly appreciated. Good luck."
Feb 3, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
Bet the environmentalists are in a tizzy about this:
Mayor Bloomberg said it came as no surprise to him that an analysis by the New York City Independent Budget Office released yesterday found recycling metal, plastic, paper, and glass to be more expense than simply throwing them out. The budget office study concluded that recycling cost the city about $35 million more in 2002 than had conventional disposal methods of landfills and incinerators been employed. "The numbers have been out there for a long time. If you've listened, I've been saying it again and again and again," Mr. Bloomberg said. "Anybody that thinks it saves money is just wrong." The study was released to coincide with the city's plan to restart weekly recycling and glass recycling this spring, after a year-long hiatus to save money. "You've got to drive two trucks with two crews down the same streets," Mr. Bloomberg said. "It's going to cost you more than if you do it once."
Feb 2, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
From coverage of the opening arguments:
[Martha Stewart's lawyer, Robert] Morvillo said Ms. Stewart had sold 51,000 shares of ImClone in the fall, leaving her with fewer than 4,000, which Mr. Bacanovic had been urging her to get rid of for about a month. He said the two had agreed about a week before, when Mr. Faneuil was away on vacation, that Ms. Stewart would consider selling the stock if it fell to $60 a share. On December 27, the stock fell below $60 for the first time since their discussion.
The defense argued that given the falling stock price and the agreement to talk about selling when the stock hit $60, it was only responsible for Mr. Bacanovic to reach out to Ms. Stewart. "How did she know Sam Waksal had decided to do the dumbest, worst, most offensive thing in the world on December 27?" Mr. Morvillo said. [NY Sun]
The whole opening argument is here.
So let's get this straight. Martha Stewart, who is worth a billion dollars, had sold 92% of her shares in ImClone months before. Now if she had lost the entire value of the remaining 4,000 shares she would have lost about a quarter of a million dollars. But instead, she supposedly sells on inside information and allegedly lies to the Feds to cover it up. This costs her a $400 million loss in the value of her company.
Furthermore, we have to believe that the broker who tipped her off was not smart enough to do it in such a way that Martha Stewart would have an airtight case against any accusationa of insider trading. And we have to believe that he's not just saying what prosecutors want to hear, to save his own skin by giving them a "big fish."
Why on Earth should anyone believe him instead of Martha Stewart?
Now we learn this:
A federal judge put Martha Stewart's trial on hold yesterday after learning that prosecutors withheld a key document from the defense until the last minute.
The document was an FBI report of a January 15, 2003, interview with the lawyer who originally represented the star prosecution witness, Douglas Faneuil,who was the assistant to Ms.Stewart's co-defendant, Peter Bacanovic....
The multipage document says Mr. Faneuil's former lawyer, Jeremiah Gutman, told investigators his client said he could not remember if it was Mr. Bacanovic or Samuel Waksal, the chief executive officer of ImClone Systems, who told him to inform Ms. Stewart that Waksal was trying to sell his Im-Clone shares the day before his company announced bad news. [NY Sun]
The following day prosecutors provided 10 more never-before-seen documents to the defense. The government deserves to lose this case, in as humiliating a way as possible. The good thing is, looks like it's happening. For more, see: http://www.marthatalks.com and http://www.savemartha.comFeb 2, 2004 | Dollars & Crosses
News from Iran:
More than a third of the Iranian parliament resigned Sunday and the speaker delivered a stinging rebuke to the hard-line Guardian Council for its disqualification of hundreds of liberal candidates in upcoming elections....On Saturday, ["reformist" President] Khatami suggested his government would call off the vote, which he called undemocratic because hard-line Islamic clerics have disqualified more than 2,400 liberal candidates. "My government will only hold competitive and free elections ... the parliament must represent the views of the majority and include all (political) tendencies," Khatami said, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency. Hours later, doctors confined Khatami to his home for treatment of what a senior presidential aide told The Associated Press was a longtime back problem exacerbated by stress.
