Monday's news and links

Let's start the day on a good note. Here is an article by a Canadian columnist who starts with this sentence: "Thank God for Ronald Reagan." With North Korea testing missiles which could reach the left coast this is a good time to remember this speech by President Reagan that was derided by the intelligentsia at the time:

"I call upon the scientific community who gave us nuclear weapons to turn their great talents to the cause of mankind and world peace: To give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete," he said.

The "experts" and the pundits instantly declared that SDI would never work and said it was needlessly provocative. No, what is provocative is the perception of weakness.

20 Hurt in Ohio Roller Coaster Mishap I like roller coasters, but like in any competitive industry they push the envelope to be able to claim to have something the other guy doesn't. Listen to this description of the ride in question and ask yourself if you're really surprised that a few folks got hurt.

The park's Web site describes the roller coaster as "the tallest, fastest and only looping wooden coaster on the planet" that hurtles down a 214-foot hill at more than 78 mph. The coaster, more than 7,000 feet long, features a 118-foot tall loop.

The Los Angeles Times was once a respected newspaper. That changed a long time ago. The latest evidence is Jonathan Chait's column on their editorial page today where he denounces President Bush as more dangerous than Osama bin Laden. Betsy's Page reminds us that Chait has a history of BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome). She has links to the other articles.

Major League Baseball will hold the annual All Star game between the National League and the American League tomorrow night. That means every half-wit with a sport radio show will complain about two things over the next day or so. First, MLB has a rule requiring each team be represented which usually results in someone being selected who otherwise would not which in turn forces a deserving player to be left off the team. This year the Kansas City Royals have no deserving player but are represented by pitcher Mark Redman sporting an ERA of 5.27 while several deserving pitchers failed to be selected. That is a valid complaint. The second thing people complain about is that the All Star game, an exhibition game, will determine home field advantage for the World Series. Personally, I'm put off by the whining about the home field advantage angle. Do these talking heads remember how home field advantage was determined previously? I'm not thrilled with this way of choosing the home field advantage, but it used to be worse when it was simply every other year for each league. Ideally, it would be based on which team had a better regular season record. However, I don't want to hear outrage about the current system from people who had no problem with it being purely arbitrary in the past.

Robert Novak has a column today "GOP misreading political leader board?" that gets its title from a golf analogy provided by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

His fellow Republicans remind him of a tournament golfer who ignores the leader board and thinks he is ahead going into the 17th and 18th holes, when he really is trailing. "It's like we think we'll get by with pars on the last two holes when we really need birdies," Graham told me. He referred to the 2006 mid-term election, where he sees a real danger of Republicans losing control of both houses in Congress for the first time since the 1992 elections.