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Reason Express - May 17, 2005

Reason's Weekly Dispatch
By Jeff A. Taylor and the Reason staff
 

May 10, 2005
Vol. 8 No. 19

In this issue:

1. All Your Base Are Belong to Them
2. Magazine Racked by Guilt?
3. Wholesale Changes
4. Quick Hits
5. New at Reason Online - Embarassment of Riches
6. News and Events

1. All Your Base Are Belong to Them

Not a single barracks is closed or commissary yet shuttered, but the early review of the Pentagon's base-closing list says that military necessity really did seem to be the driving force behind the re-shuffling. Politics obviously still matters, but seeing Trent Lott's (R-Miss.) personal naval base on the list, for example, indicates a step forward.

So too the proposal to close the submarine pens in Groton, part of an overall shift away from both attack subs and bases in the expensive Northeast that squeezed the Connecticut base despite the fulminations of Joe Lieberman (D-CT). Or perhaps (one secretly hopes) because of them. Likewise the B-1 base in Ellsworth, which had no purpose other than to keep South Dakota pols happy. Worse, former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) kept finding ways to force the Air Force to spend money on planes that it did not want to keep flying. Now the bombers will be located at a single base, which is the sort of obvious operational arrangement that this round of closings seems to concentrate on.

Like units are to be situated with like units where possible, and at the same time, big, disconnected HQs like Ft. McPherson in Atlanta will be shut down. In a sane world, that piece of land would be rapidly sold off to the private sector to be turned into a real revenue-producing entity. Guess we'll have to check back in a decade or so and see if that happens.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1300&dept_id=156923&newsid=14522749&PAG=461&rfi=9

Reason Express is made possible by a grant from The DBT Group, manufacturers of affordable, high-performance mainframe systems and productivity software.

2. 2. Magazine Racked by Guilt?

It's hard to figure what exactly Newsweek is trying to convey with its confusing - clarification? recantation? apology? - over its little item on alleged desecration of the Koran, which started deadly riots in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The truth is no one knows exactly what happen to prisoners at Gitmo, let alone what happened to copies of the Koran down there. A couple Newsweek reporters heard a tale that possibly, maybe, the Koran was used in some toilet play down Gitmo way, thought the story interesting, and ran with it.

The unspoken premise here seems to be that no one was supposed to take the story seriously, least of all riot over it. That seems to be telegraphed by the fact that the publication appears to only have had single source for that particular allegation. Clearly, Newsweek thought it was just cataloging examples of questionable treatment of prisoners and had no idea this particular claim would be so explosive.

It does now.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/05/16/MNGASCPQVL1.DTL

Speak a foreign language? Speak it better!

Visit the Champs-Elysées website to find out more .

3. Wholesale Changes

The Supreme Court's narrow 5-4 ruling striking down state bans on shipments of out-of-state wines directly to consumers is certainly good news for intra-national "free trade," but don't count the wholesalers out yet. Several states are sure to be blitzed by lobbying efforts aimed at re-writing state laws to comply with the ruling from the Court.

Compliance could be possible if all direct shipments to consumers were banned, not just those from out-of-state wineries. This looks like a possible line of attack in states that do not have much of a wine-making industry to hobble with shipping restrictions. Lawmakers will also listen to arguments that direct sales to consumers run the risk of too much excise tax leakage, tax collection being a primary service the wholesalers provided for the states over the years.

The ruling was also an instance of Justice Scalia and Thomas ending up on opposite sides, contrary to the notion they always vote in lock-step. Thomas took the minority view that states can more or less do what they want with regard to alcohol sales and regulation.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2005-05-16-wine-shipments_x.htm

4. Quick Hits

Quote of the Week

"I am gagged, but I am not dead. Not yet." - former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds on her ongoing court battles.

http://www.antiwar.com/edmonds/?articleid=5954

To Nuke or Not to Nuke?

More people are noticing that the U.S. has slightly shifted policy to entertain the option of pre-emptive "global strikes," possibly of the nuclear variety.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/14/AR2005051400071.html

Uzbek and a Hard Place

The death toll may hit 700 as reports continue to filter out that government troops fired on demonstrators in the remote town of Andijan.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-05-16-uzbekistan_x.htm

DVD Talks Skip a Beat

What looked like a promising chance for "peace" between the blu-ray and HD-DVD camps now may be falling apart as the battle for the next-gen DVD continues.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/05/16/technology/dvd_format/

5. New at Reason Online

6. News and Events

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