Eleanor Duckwall's Spotlight

State Dept. "gives" Arctic seabed to Russians

Foggy Bottom does it again! This doesn't sound right:

Even if Congress follows President Bush's lead in opening off-shore oil exploration, there exist over 125,000 square miles of sea bottom that won't be explored, because the State Department – amid controversy and against the will of Alaskans – has surrendered the land to Russia.

Eight islands and their surrounding sea floors were ceded to the former Soviet Union as part of the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Maritime Boundary Treaty in 1991, a treaty signed by the U.S. Senate and President George Bush but never ratified by the Soviets. Nonetheless, an executive agreement enforcing the terms of the treaty until ratification has been in place through three presidencies, meaning the State Department officially recognizes the islands as Russian territory.

Shorts now part of business attire: "Shorts Crack the Code"

Business attire has long been fairly informal in Florida and other parts of the South where suited-executives dressed to do business sweated (sometimes nearly fainting) in sweltering heat, ending the day rumpled and exhausted ... but they looked good! Now there may a reprieve with the growing trend in seasonal men's and women's attire. [Image: NYT.]
To fine-tune this image, one only has to consult with the inhabitants of Bermuda where males and females sport 'smart business attire.'

The businessmen above look incomplete without socks, and the one on the far left needs a tie. The shorts of the man in the middle are not long enough, and the attire for the man on the right isn't going to be appropriate for any many that is not in good shape: he will only look sloppy. The same could said for women.

Notice that the difference between the New York version and that of the businessman in Bermuda in the lime-colored shorts: the length of the shorts and the long socks create the more formal look that I would prefer for business.

Women's Bermuda shorts should also follow the same to-the-knee rule that should be established in a written dress code for both men and women to clarify expectations. Of course long trousers, pants suits and dresses do look smarter, but with the demands placed saving dollars in the workplace by raising thermostats to the barely comfortable level, executives and workers can be more efficient, and smartly dressed, if allowed to wear comfortable and appropriate season business attire.

I know this experience. My first teaching in the north assignments involved playground duty before the advent of the pantsuit. Playground and bus duty was a frozen nightmare. Female teachers were permitted to put on long pants under their dresses for duration of that duty. Then to the coatroom to quickly remove boots and pants while leaving the students unattended.

We were thrilled when the commandment came from above that pantsuits would be permitted as long as the tunic was long enough to cover the entire hip, which means they were as long as some of the mini-skirted dresses that were coming into fashion. (Of course we were never allowed that attire! It would have been a bad example and very impractical.)

Perhaps short will become professional dress for teachers during the Spring and Summer months. Here in Florida, that's most of the year.

Update: United Nations raises thermostat five degrees: "Suit jackets and ties will be optional."

The Jihad against Free Speech

Americans are very concerned about their Constitutional rights, as well they should be. In this day and age we see our rights being eroded on all sides. American Constitutional rights were won after a long, hard 18th-century war, and after debate in colonial state houses and in back-woods stumping as well, until the final debates among delegate in Philadelphia. Even after the document was signed, some were nervous until safeguards were added in the form of the "Bill of Rights," as these men were well aware of how easy it would be to lose what had been won. Thus, the first 10 amendments were affixed, added after further debate.

[Image: The removal of the keystone will cause the structure to collapse as demonstrated in the image above.]

It is no accident that the first of the first is Freedom of Speech, the ability to communicate, a freedom that was not permitted in 18th-century Europe, nor in most parts of world. Erosion of that freedom continues today.

The plight of contemporary Europeans already has been mentioned. The United Nations has been infected by the anti-free-speech virus in the form of declarations against "hate speech" and "defamation of religion," that are open to interpretation, as what is hateful and defamatory is in the eye of the beholder.

Free speech and free expression are the keystones of freedom and liberty. One the keystone are destroyed, the edifice comes tumbling down. Here is Patrick Poole at Front Page on the campaign to destroy the free-speech keystone of American Constitutional rights. [See also: Silencing Freedom of Speech at Congressional Hearings?]

Silencing Freedom of Speech at Congressional Hearings?

Muslims charging "islamophobia," "bigotry," and "hate mongering" are "demanding that Congress 'cancel the session' OR present 'balanced, qualified testimony'. The offending speaker is Steve Emerson. Here is Jeffry Imm:

As mentioned in Andrew Cochran's July 28 posting, the Investigative Project on Terrorism's (IPT) counterterrorism leader Steven Emerson will be testifying on Thursday July 31 at a Congressional hearing on "Foreign Aid and the Fight Against Terrorism and Proliferation: Leveraging Foreign Aid to Achieve U.S. Policy Goals." This hearing will take place at the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade this Thursday at 10:30 AM ET in room 2200 of the Rayburn House Building.

The Most Important Thing!

America rose because it got more out of its own people than other nations. That stopped in 1970. Now, other issues grab headlines and campaign attention. But this tectonic plate is still relentlessly and menacingly shifting beneath our feet.

------David Brooks, "The Biggest Issue," NYT, July 29, 2008.

What happened to stop forward progress, to create an atmosphere in which America's people have lost self-confidence, and to impair the educational achievement of America's children? James Heckman gives reasons and solutions in "Schools, Skills, and Synapses," National Bureau of Economic Research, June 2008.

UN being used to stifle free speech - globally

..."defamation of religions" is not about protecting individual believers from damage to their reputations caused by false statements — but rather about protecting a religion, or some interpretation of it, or the feelings of the followers. While a traditional defence in a defamation lawsuit is that the accused was merely telling the truth, religions by definition present competing claims on the truth, and one person's religious truth is easily another's apostasy. "Truth" is no defence in such cases. The subjective perception of insult is what matters, and what puts the whole approach on a collision course with the human rights regime — especially in countries with an official state religion.

Another report on Muslim efforts to impose their cultural and religious norms globally. Macleans.ca:

Asma Fatima, a petite, bespectacled Pakistani diplomat in Washington, sat at the front of a crowded Capitol Hill hearing room on July 18, carefully considering whether a man seated a few places to her left on the panel should be jailed. The occasion was a panel discussion convened by a group of congressmen to educate their colleagues on the issue of religious freedom, and the man was Canadian Ezra Levant, who in February 2006 republished Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in his now-defunct magazine the Western Standard, which resulted in, among other things, two complaints of “discrimination” before the Alberta human rights commission. One complaint was withdrawn, but the other continues. If it is upheld, Levant could face a large fine, a lifetime order not to talk about “radical Islam” disparagingly, and be forced to issue an apology. If Levant does not comply with these orders, he could be imprisoned for contempt of court.

No, Dorothy, We're not in Kansas any more...

Bear Stearn's death and the U.S. way of banking

Word of the Day: Mephitic:

1. Offensive to the smell; as, mephitic odors.
2. Poisonous; noxious.

Mephitic is the adjective form of mephitis, "a foul-smelling or noxious exhalation from the earth; a stench from any source," from the Latin.

In other words: something "stinks" in the way Bear Stearns bit the dust!

Al-Qaeda's sinister creep into North Africa

Al-Qaeda may be retreating from Iraq, the old-guard leadership may be dying off on the Afghan-Pakistan border, but Al-Qaeda is merely moving to other quarters. At The Times Online:

On Monday the Iraqi Army launched a large-scale offensive in Diyala north of Baghdad to wipe out al-Qaeda's last remaining hideouts in the country. Since the tide of the war turned last winter, thousands of al-Qaeda jihadists have fled Iraq.

Some returned home and resumed normal life. Others, looking for new places to pursue their holy war against “Zionists and Crusaders”, ended up in Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Thailand and helped to reignite the fires of jihad.

Florida ends voluntary green energy program

Florida Today:

Florida utility regulators on Tuesday powered down an $11.4 million program designed to promote green energy, but whose budget overwhelmingly funded marketing and administrative costs.

The program, operated by Florida Power & Light and Austin, Texas-based Green Mountain Energy Co., charged willing FPL customers a $9.75 monthly fee in addition to their regular power bills. In exchange, the parties bought energy credits and developed an extra 150 kilowatts of solar power for every 10,000 residential customers who signed on to the Sunshine Energy program.