Tuesday, March 05, 2002

Bush steel tariffs anger allies. A trade war looms as President Bush announces tariffs of up to 30% on steel imports. [BBC News: world] It's no surprise that the US steel producers, being thoroughly uncompetitive, have once again turned to the government to protect them from the consequences of their poor decisions. What the article doesn't mention, though, is that this doesn't just affect other countries--the US government is in effect declaring a trade war against its own citizens. These tariffs won't save any American jobs, they'll just transfer the layoffs from the politically powerful (if economically incompetent) steel industry to other industries, such as construction, and everyone will suffer from artificially high steel prices. comment () trackback ()  3:06:41 PM     Welcome to gun city 2002. Danny Brown at This Is London - Welcome to gun city 2002 - it's easy to get a gun in London, laws against ownership notwithstanding. [kaba] Chris, who has agreed to be my guide to this area of the underworld, describes the terrifying efficiency of an average gun purchase in South London. 'I'm known in here so there's no problem with people trusting me. That's why it's going to be so quick. If you came here on your own as a new face, you would be under suspicion, but that just means it would take a bit more time and a few more calls. But at the end of the day, there are people out there who would much rather have the money than the gun, so they're always willing to sell. To get in touch, all you have to do is get friendly with the barmaid or a bouncer and, sooner or later, you'll been put in touch with someone,' he says cheerfully, as if he's talking about the possibility of buying a secondhand Volkswagen. [End the War on Freedom] Here's a good article for my Gun-free Britain page illustrating just how "hard" it is to buy an illegal pistol in London. comment () trackback ()  2:51:08 PM     Berkeley conservatives tell of death threats for criticism. A conservative student group at the University of California at Berkeley has become a target of death threats after the group printed a story criticizing a Hispanic campus group's call for revolutionary liberation from white people. [Washington Times] Yet another case of liberals behaving badly. It's sad--I'm not even that old, and I can still remember the days when the conservative groups were the racists. The way things are going, it wouldn't surprise me if within ten years conservatives and liberals switch positions on religious subjects (including abortion). Then the role reversal will be complete. comment () trackback ()  2:09:42 PM     Fusion controversy rekindled. A report that scientists have reproduced nuclear fusion - the energy source of the Sun - in a tabletop experiment is dividing scientific opinion. [BBC News: sci/tech] The research, to be published in Friday's issue of the journal Science but widely leaked, says that scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, and at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York have fired ultrasound at liquid acetone causing minute bubbles to collapse at temperatures of millions of degrees. I suspect this will disappear, just as "cold fusion" did. Which is a shame, because even if it's not really fusion, it's obviously something. It's worth figuring out just what is going on, even if that turns out to be something other than what these scientists think it is. comment () trackback ()  9:59:32 AM     The envelope, please? [RIP!] And we have a tie!  After SLC, What else is new?  The Co-Awards for the Best Olympic Parody Song of the Year are  "Russian in Nature" by Capcomop  and  "Blame Canada" by Trudi Marrapodi [Mary Wehmeier's Radio Weblog] I don't know enough about figure skating to get the jokes, but just the titles of the songs that tied are pretty funny, considering recent events. comment () trackback ()  6:22:30 AM

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