Brian Gongol
Notes from the "Brian Gongol Show" - July 15, 2007
Why people leave Iowa...the Presidential field shrinks...the future of energy
Iraq's prime minister says coalition troops can leave "any time they want"
What's peculiar about the statement is that, if he's rational, this means he must've weighed the chances the army there could prevent a coup against the chances that keeping US and British forces around will make him more likely to get the boot, and decided he'd rather risk a coup.
Jim Gilmore withdraws from Presidential race
Meanwhile, Fred Thompson finally has a campaign website, and Opus hits the nail on the head: Where's the candidate with the charm of Reagan? The race still doesn't contain any candidate with a great Presidential economic platform. The Medicare crisis isn't getting any better, and the current border mania seems to be getting in the way of talking about the really critical economic issues.
Brazil tries to figure out rocket science
Iowans move for job reasons more than any other
It seems to be a reason why more people move out than why people move in...which may say something about how the state beats up existing businesses with high taxes and complicated regulations while going too far to try to lure new businesses to the state
Oh, now ye've gone and done it
Ridiculous import taxes mean that a $20 bottle of scotch whiskey will cost $110 in certain parts of India. And here's the point that should be obvious to the taxing authorities: 90% of the liquor purchased in India is bootlegged. That's why it's easier to have faith in the power of innovation prizes than in higher energy taxes. Punishment gives people reasons to try to skirt the law, but rewards encourage innovation.
French president is a jogger: Quelle horreur!
Some French pundits (on the left, especially) have called Sarkozy's choice of exercise "undignified," but some English columnists are having a good time at their expense. One cracks, "I am not deterred by such jibes, nor by the accusation that jogging is Right-wing. Of course it is Right-wing, in the sense that the facts of life are generally Right-wing. The very act of forcing yourself to go for a run, every morning, is a highly conservative business."
Sweet vengeance against spammers
Two and a half years after tsunami, 390 victims remain unidentified
The world must be distracted by gossip about Paris Hilton and videos of the tallest man in the world meeting a guy who's 2'5".
45% of terrorists in Iraq are from Saudi Arabia
Why we love the First Amendment
Government officials in Nigeria use anti-littering laws to justify tear-gassing protesters. That's why "the right of the people peaceably to assemble" is a pretty good one to have written in the founding documents. On the subject of founding documents, Thailand will vote soon on whether to approve a new constitution that has been imposed in part by a military junta.
The importance of keeping terrorism in perspective
14 grocery stores in Britain were abruptly shut down for a day because police had reason to believe there was some sort of threat against the shoppers and workers there. Each of the stores was searched and nothing threatening was found. Naturally, it was assumed at first that it must've been a terrorist threat. But now police are looking into whether it was a financially-motivated hoax -- considering that there's a big cost (in terms of lost sales) involved in shutting down that many stores for that long. The best decision may very well have been to shut the stores down...but in the long run, it will be very important to ensure that fear and uncertainty don't derail the way of life that has made much of the Western world profoundly rich.
