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The Sixth Mainstream Melee.

It's a non-blog adventure.

I.

MSNBC (AP): "Federal lawsuit alleges mob infiltration at ports: U.S. attorney’s office charges organized crime along East Coast waterfront"

Super Succinct Synopsis-

Yep. There were several reasons the entire port controversy started with the unions.

Super Succinct Snippet-

In a civil suit filed in July, prosecutors accused the International Longshoremen’s Association, the 65,000-member union that supplies labor to ports from Florida to Maine, of being a “vehicle for organized crime” on the waterfront.

The UAE deal threatened the nice little setup the unions/mafia have going at our nation's ports. Again, the collapse of this deal makes us less, not more, safe. It empowers and emboldens the protectionist union establishment. It's bad for our economy. It's bad for national security. Thank you, once again, Congress.

II.

The Weekly Standard: "Cantankerous Conservatism"

Super Succinct Synopsis-

The old angry man thing is not a recipe for Republican electoral success, nor is it good policy.

Super Succinct Snippet-

The paleocon message is not an electoral winner--unless you believe voters are eager to hear ideas that are gloomy, negative, defeatist, isolationist, nativist, and protectionist....

On the Dubai ports deal, paleocons were leading voices of opposition. On Iraq and the campaign for democracy, they reject Bush's optimism about rolling back the dictatorships of the Middle East. Instead, they take the pessimistic view that the Middle East is unchangeable, Arab culture being what it is.

The paleocons are trying to prime the GOP, and the country, for a Buchananite type of candidate in 2008, by attacking at any perceived vulnerability.

III.

Foreign Policy: "The Politics of Sexual Frustration"

Super Succinct Synopsis-

The lack of females (Babe Theory, anyone?) is not so good for Asia.

Super Succinct Snippet-

Nearly everywhere else, women outnumber men, in Europe by 7 percent, and in North America by 3.4 percent. Concern now is shifting to the boys for whom these missing females might have provided mates as they reach the age that Shakespeare described as nothing but stealing and fighting and “getting of wenches with child.”

Now there are too few wenches. Thanks in large part to the introduction of the ultrasound machine, Mother Nature’s usual preference for about 105 males to 100 females has grown to around 120 male births for every 100 female births in China. The imbalance is even higher in some locales—136 males to 100 females on the island of Hainan, an increasingly prosperous tourist resort, and 135 males to 100 females in central China’s Hubei Province. Similar patterns can be found in Taiwan, with 119 boys to 100 girls; Singapore, 118 boys to 100 girls; South Korea, 112 boys to 100 girls; and parts of India, 120 boys to 100 girls.

Pretty much the opposite of American colleges these days.

IV.

Reason: "Absolution in Your Cup: The real meaning of Fair Trade coffee"

Super Succinct Synopsis-

Fair Trade coffee has more to do with consumers feeling good about themselves than about lifting anyone out of poverty.

Super Succinct Snippet-

Fair Trade certification, intended to raise the living standards of coffee farmers in Nicaragua and elsewhere, has grown into a complex bureaucracy and an industry in itself. Starbucks, the longtime Enemy No. 1 of the Fair Trade crusaders, agreed to purchase a limited amount of Fair Trade certified coffee days before a planned protest in 2000. The company bought 10 million pounds in 2005. In 2003 Dunkin’ Donuts agreed to make all of its espresso drinks certified. Nestle, one of the biggest coffee companies on Earth, launched a Fair Trade line in October 2005; the same month, McDonald’s agreed to test Fair Trade in 658 outlets. High-end specialty coffees are the fastest growing sector of the industry, and Fair Trade is the fastest growing specialty coffee; demand for it has ballooned by around 70 percent annually for the last five years.

Ever wonder why coffee prices have skyrocketed so much in recent years? Fair trade beans are a huge part of it.

V.

The American Enterprise: "Back to the ’60s Barricades"

Super Succinct Synopsis-

Victor Davis Hanson explains why liberals today have no chance at winning majorities.

Super Succinct Snippet-

On matters of national security, Democrats are back on their 1960s barricades. For them, the chief dangers to the United States lie not abroad but at home, within our own government—specifically unaccountable law enforcement, military, and national security establishments. This near paranoia was clear as Democratic senators grilled Samuel Alito during his confirmation hearings about wiretaps and the supposed evaporation of American freedom.

And the liberal mentality that can't get past the 1960s will allow Congressional Republicans to blunder their way through life and get away with it... for a while, at least.

The previous Mainstream Melee.

WILLisms.com and many other blogs sometimes focus too much on our fellow bloggers, while excluding well-done professional journalism from our posts.

The Mainstream Melee is a quick survey of five non-blog sources, coming atchya at completely random intervals. The stories are either underreported, particularly well-written, interesting, or otherwise important to the big picture. But generally there will be a theme of some kind in the choices.

Posted by Will Franklin · 11 March 2006 08:07 PM

Comments

Posted by: Eneils Bailey at March 12, 2006 06:22 AM

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at March 12, 2006 03:18 PM