The View from Right Field

American Boots on the Ground in Iraq

Yes, there are American boots on the ground in Iraq.  Here is a picture:

 
Let me explain.  Spirit of America is distributing 25,000 pairs of boots to children in Iraqi Kurdistan.  This is from an e-mail from Isaac Eagan, Operations Manager for Spirit of America:

The Constitutional Rights of Protest in Ferguson, Missouri

Apparently, among the constitutional rights of protest in Ferguson, Missouri, are those of burning buildings and looting stores.  After all, how else can you ease your sense of outrage except by stealing and destroying.

[Note: I do not take credit for this idea.  I heard it originally in a play, "Do the White Thing," by Aaron Freeman and Rob Kolson.  In the play the comment referred to the riots in West Central LA.  However, I do not mean to imply that either Mr. Freeman or Mr. Kolson would agree with my application of their idea to the current situation in Ferguson, Missouri.]

Immigration: Is the Emancipation Proclamation a Precedent?

I’m not going to comment on President Obama’s decision about illegal immigration.  Enough people have commented that I don’t need to.  Plus I’d be late.  I would, however, like to comment on the comments; i.e., I would like to comment on one of the examples that some people have used as a precedent for President Obama’s action: The Emancipation Proclamation.

Let me quote from an article by Bruce Ackerman, a professor at Yale Law School:

“Before Lincoln issued his pronouncement in September 1862, congressional majorities had expressly affirmed that the war effort only aimed ‘to preserve the Union’ without ‘overthrowing … established institutions’ in the rebel states.  The proclamation was an act of executive unilateralism, and as Obama has done in his order, Lincoln limited its scope in recognition of this fact.  As a result, both proclamations serve only to initiate, rather than preempt, further democratic debate and decision. …

Particulars in Obama's proclamation may well be changed by Americans over time.  But like Lincoln's, its provisional and limited character will have a democracy-forcing effect — spurring officials and citizens to more actively engage in a constitutional dialogue.”

What Is It About President Obama and Negotiating?

A couple of weeks ago, Megan McArdle had an article asking “Does Obama Even Know How to Negotiate?”  I am not going to repeat the points of her article here since you can read it yourself.  (And you should read it; she always writes so well.  Whether you agree with her or not, her articles are a pleasure to read.)

In any case, I think the problem is not that so much that President Obama doesn’t know how to negotiate.  I think it is that he is not good at negotiating.  Negotiating, especially in person, is a special skill.  Some people are good at it.  Others aren’t.  I don’t feel I am good at negotiating in person; I certainly don’t like doing it.  On the other hand, I have seen people who are excellent at it.

I think President Obama knows that he is not good at negotiating in person, and that he doesn’t like doing it, so he doesn’t do it.  That is probably one of the reasons he was a constitutional law professor instead of a mergers and acquisitions lawyer.  I think he is worried that somebody like Mitch McConnell would get the best of him in a negotiation.  I remember a time back during the Obamacare debates when Republican Representative Paul Ryan tried to engage President Obama on the details of his plan.  President Obama wouldn’t do it.

Since President Obama is not good at/doesn’t like to negotiate, he doesn’t do it.  Instead, he give speeches, which he is good at (or so they say).  And so we had last night’s speech.

Fixing Illinois

On October 20, 2014, I said that I hoped Bruce Rauner would be elected governor because I thought he had a chance to run Illinois better than Pat Quinn and the Democrats in the legislature have done.  However, I also said this:

“Part of it will be up to him [i.e., Bruce Rauner].  Another part, at least as big, will be up to the Democrats in the legislature.”

An editorial in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune shows what Governor-elect Rauner is up against.  In April, the Illinois House passed a bill to require cities and towns to negotiate the staffing levels in their fire departments with their local firefighters union.  If they don’t reach an agreement, it goes to binding arbitration. 

While this may sound okay on its face, it’s far from it.  Once cities and towns agree to certain staffing levels, they will never be able to change it.  In fact, because of the binding arbitration provision, they may be stuck with staffing levels they have never agreed to. 

President Obama Seems To Fail Economics 101

We are just back from Berlin, where we went for the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall.  It was absolutely fantastic, but more about that, and what that event and the results that followed after it, mean for the world today, later.

Today, I need to comment on something I saw in today’s paper.  I generally try not to get carried away in these posts (I realize some people may disagree with that), but what I read today was so mind-bogglingly (assuming that is a word) dumb, that it is hard not to go overboard.

Actually, “dumb” is probably the wrong word.  It is not “dumb,” as much as lack of knowledge.  In this case, it is economics, and the following statement about the Keystone XL pipeline is amazing in its lack of knowledge about economics and in its economic illiteracy:

“Understand what this project is: It is providing the ability of Canada to pump their oil, send it through our land, down to the Gulf, where it will be sold everywhere else.  It doesn’t have an impact on U.S. gas prices.”

Berlin: The 25th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

We are in Berlin for the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Wall.  I will report on our trip when I get back.  Meanwhile, here are links to my posts from five years ago, on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall: 

• October 25, 2009: President Obama Is Not Going to Berlin - Follow-Up
• October 31, 2009: November 9, 1989: The Fall of the Berlin Wall and So Much More
• November 2, 2009: 1989: A Letter from Prague
• November 4, 2009: 1989 – What If
• November 5, 2009: 1989: The Berlin Wall, Before and After
• November 7, 2009: 1989: Views of the German Democratic Republic Today
• November 8, 2009: 1989: Berlin, November 9, 1989

Why Should the Syrian Moderates Help Us If We Won’t Help Them?

An article in the Chicago Tribune* last week ago talked about how the United States is turning to the Free Syrian Army to help on the Syrian side of the fight against the Islamic State.  I understand why the United States is turning to the FSA.  What I don’t understand is why the FSA cares about cooperating with the United States.

The FSA has two enemies.  Its original enemy, and the reason it came into existence: the government of Bashar al-Assad.  Its more recent enemy, and the only one of the two that the United States cares about, is the Islamic State.

We are willing to have them help us with respect to Islamic State.  But we won’t do anything to help them against Assad.  We want them to be our ground forces against Islamic State, but when it comes to Assad?  Don’t call us.

Why should they do that?
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* And the Los Angeles Times, where this link is from. 

If Threats Are Increasing, Defense Spending Needs to Increase, Too

While Ebola seems to be the scariest thing for some people, two articles in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal scared me more.  First, this from “Russia Buzzes Europe’s Airspace”* on the front page:

“Russian military aircraft conducted aerial maneuvers around Europe this week on a scale seldom seen since the end of the Cold War, prompting NATO jets to scramble in another sign of how raw East-West relations have grown. …

Military jets from eight nations were scrambled to meet the Russian aircraft, which a NATO spokesman said remained in international airspace and didn’t violate NATO territory.

However, NATO officials said such flights heighten the risks of military miscalculations. …

Can Americans Be Trusted With Campaign Finance Disclosures? – UPDATE

Last week I asked whether Americans “can be trusted with campaign finance disclosures.”  On Thursday, the New York Post reported that one of the parties* in New York sent out a letter to voters that said, in part:

“Who you vote for is your secret.  But whether or not you vote is public record.

We will be reviewing voting records ... to determine whether you joined your neighbors who voted in 2014. …