Reason's Weekly Dispatch
By Jeff A. Taylor and the
Reason staff
March 8, 2005
Vol. 8 No. 9
In this
issue:
1. The Six-Million Euro Woman
2. Warren Buffett: Cranky Old Fart
3. Revolution in the Corn Belt?
4. Quick Hits
5. New at Reason Online -
Goldwater Democrats
6. News and
Events
Italian outrage over American troops in Iraq firing on the car carrying just-released ex-hostage Giuliana Sgrena is a bit over-the-top and seems designed to obscure a far more important issue. Yes, any accidental shooting in a war zone is a tragic thing, but some perspective puts the onus back on the Italians to explain what they were up to in Iraq.
The story - that U.S. troops just suddenly opened up on the one car carrying a just-released journalist and her Italian secret service driver - never made sense. In the absence of any real indication of what happened, the more likely story is that the driver was using evasive driving tactics to skirt U.S. checkpoints and troops. That sort of thing does not go unnoticed by soldiers, not after months in-country. Even less sensible is Sgrena' claim that she was somehow targeted by U.S. troops, yet made it home.
The far bigger issue is the attempt to secretly pay ransom for Sgrena' release. There is no doubt that the six million-euro ransom will soon be put to use killing more Iraqis and Americans. Further, it guarantees that more Western hostages will be taken, especially European ones, female if possible. This is not the moral high ground, and the Italian government and Sgrena know it.
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20050307-120131-5769r.htm
Reason Express is made possible by a grant from The DBT Group, manufacturers of affordable, high-performance mainframe systems and productivity software.
2. Warren Buffett: Cranky Old Fart
Boy, Americans love money so much that they are willing to actually pay attention when an eccentric billionaire who has spent the last 25 years living with his mistress tells them they are living too rich. Warren Buffett's annual lectures on the economy in the form of letters to his stockholders/cultists grew tedious years ago. Now they at least have the virtue of being bizarre.
According to Buffett, actually buying goods and services is evidence of a spending addiction among Americans. But currency speculation of the kind Buffett made a nice chunk of change on this past year? Well, that is rock-ribbed Midwestern sensibility at work. Further, the Buffett definition of a successful capitalist is so narrow as to be a parody. Evidently you are to obsessively keep score with your dollars and try to make more of them, but never, ever spend them or enjoy them.
Good thing for capitalists everywhere - those folks actually trying to sell something - that most of the human race rejects that joyless notion of success.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1432051,00.html
Something is growing in Iowa, and it isn't covered in fertilizer. The state is poised to deregulate telecom services and end up with something close to a functioning market. So-called lifeline rates for those who rarely use the phone -- a rapidly shrinking demographic, of course -- would still face price caps, but much else would slip regulatory bonds.
This would mean that long-distance services would no longer underwrite the cost of local service in the state, pushing up local rates to reflect their actual cost. When this actually happens, long about 2008, there will be heartburn and state officials better be prepared.
As it is they've crafted a grand bargain that would require the deployment of broadband services across the state before the local rate caps would come off. That certainly sounds like a good deal, but other states have taken the phones companies at their word about such services and been burned.
http://www.qctimes.com/internal.php?story_id=1046597&t=Business&c=31,1046597
Quote of the Week
"Bonking Boeing boss sacked" -- Evening Standard headline on the resignation of Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher over an "inappropriate personal relationship" with female Boeing exec. reacting to the telecast of the Oscars.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/17102061?source=Evening%20Standard&ct=5
Hello, This Is Your Web Site Calling
Fraudulent, spoofing spam has become such a problem for eBay that the company has turned to providing old-fashioned phone support for some of its best customers.
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;1141307095;fp;2;fpid;1
Play Nice or Go Home
Al Sharpton says anyone who uses violence or threats of violence to promote music should be banned from the airwaves. Sharpton's idea comes in the wake of another hip-hop related gun battle.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/gossip/story/287558p-246209c.html
I Will Follow
U2's Bono is evidently receiving serious consideration as a candidate to be the next head of the World Bank. Having never run a huge company into the ground, Bono certainly has one up on former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorina.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-mob28.html
Buy Reason T-shirts and coffee mugs!
Click here for the latest on media appearances by Reason writers.
Want even more Reason? Sign up for Reason Alert to get regular news from Reason Magazine and Reason Public Policy Instiute, as well as advance notice about media appearances and events.
We encourage you to forward Reason Express. If you received this issue from a forward, please subscribe. It's Free!
Back Issues