tdaxp

"Citing Foreign Law," Washington Post, 21 March 2006, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/20/AR2006032001674.html (from NRO's Bench Memos).

I've applauded Chief Justice Roberts successful attack on so-called international law. Roberts' victory is all the more encouraging because of the division of the Supreme Court on a closely related matter: foreign law.

Foreign law, which has been attacked by the Attorney General and Justice Scalia, differs from "international law" in that it is actually law, somewhere. While there was once a real international law based on the Catholic Church, in modern times "international law" means at best the socialization of states and at worst a strange morality.

"Condoleezza Rice's Commanding Clothes," by Robin Givhan, Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51640-2005Feb24.html, 25 February 2005 (from Democratic Underground).

The story is so astounding, so great, so wonderful, and so bizarre, I'm quoting it in toto

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield on Wednesday dressed all in black. She was wearing a black skirt that hit just above the knee, and it was topped with a black coat that fell to mid-calf. The coat, with its seven gold buttons running down the front and its band collar, called to mind a Marine's dress uniform or the "save humanity" ensemble worn by Keanu Reeves in "The Matrix."

As Rice walked out to greet the troops, the coat blew open in a rather swashbuckling way to reveal the top of a pair of knee-high boots. The boots had a high, slender heel that is not particularly practical. But it is a popular silhouette because it tends to elongate and flatter the leg. In short, the boots are sexy.

Rice's black high-heel boots: As a fashion statement, absolutely powerful.

Rice boldly eschewed the typical fare chosen by powerful American women on the world stage. She was not wearing a bland suit with a loose-fitting skirt and short boxy jacket with a pair of sensible pumps. She did not cloak her power in photogenic hues, a feminine brooch and a non-threatening aesthetic. Rice looked as though she was prepared to talk tough, knock heads and do a freeze-frame "Matrix" jump kick if necessary. Who wouldn't give her ensemble a double take -- all the while hoping not to rub her the wrong way?

Rice's coat and boots speak of sex and power -- such a volatile combination, and one that in political circles rarely leads to anything but scandal. When looking at the image of Rice in Wiesbaden, the mind searches for ways to put it all into context. It turns to fiction, to caricature. To shadowy daydreams. Dominatrix! It is as though sex and power can only co-exist in a fantasy. When a woman combines them in the real world, stubborn stereotypes have her power devolving into a form that is purely sexual.

Rice challenges expectations and assumptions. There is undeniable authority in her long black jacket with its severe details and menacing silhouette. The darkness lends an air of mystery and foreboding. Black is the color of intellectualism, of abstinence, of penitence. If there is any symbolism to be gleaned from Rice's stark garments, it is that she is tough and focused enough for whatever task is at hand.

Countless essays and books have been written about the erotic nature of high heels. There is no need to reiterate in detail the reasons why so many women swear by uncomfortable three-inch heels and why so many men are happy that they do. Heels change the way a woman walks, forcing her hips to sway. They alter her posture in myriad enticing ways, all of which are politically incorrect to discuss.

But the sexual frisson in Rice's look also comes from the tension of a woman dressed in vaguely masculine attire -- that is, the long, military-inspired jacket. When the designer Yves Saint Laurent first encouraged women to wear trousers more than 30 years ago, his reasons were not simply because pants are comfortable or practical. He knew that the sight of a woman draped in the accouterments of a man is sexually provocative. A woman was embracing something forbidden.

Rice's appearance at Wiesbaden -- a military base with all of its attendant images of machismo, strength and power -- was striking because she walked out draped in a banner of authority, power and toughness. She was not hiding behind matronliness, androgyny or the stereotype of the steel magnolia. Rice brought her full self to the world stage -- and that included her sexuality. It was not overt or inappropriate. If it was distracting, it is only because it is so rare.

Update: ZenPundit is not amused. Perhaps his faith in The Economist is misplaced.

Update 2: Riding Sun wonders if Rice just wanted to cosplay Neo.

Update 3: Negrophile is bitterly unimpressed, but does provide us with a technocrati blogwatch link (this and this work, too).

"Social Security Formula Weighed: Bush Plan Likely to Cut Initial Benefits," by Jonathan Weisman and Mike Allen,
Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45726-2005Jan3.html, 4 January 2005.

Currently, the social security system combines two philosophically different programs -- an insurance program to guard against poverty in old age, and a retirement program to allow retirees to live comfortably. They are seperate because higher wage-earners are better treated by the retirement program (rich people are paid richly to not work under SS), but anyone who has worked 40 quarters gets the minimum insurance benefit.

The problems with this are obvious. Why should poor current wage-earners disproportionately pay for rich retirees to earn more in retirement than they can earn working? Why are we going bankrupt as a nation to support the idle class?

President Bush sees this problem, and intends to fix it

The Bush administration has signaled that it will propose changing the formula that sets initial Social Security benefit levels, cutting promised benefits by nearly a third in the coming decades, according to several Republicans close to the White House.

Under the proposal, the first-year benefits for retirees would be calculated using inflation rates rather than the rise in wages over a worker's lifetime. Because wages tend to rise considerably faster than inflation, the new formula would stunt the growth of benefits, slowly at first but more quickly by the middle of the century. The White House hopes that some, if not all, of those benefit cuts would be made up by gains in newly created personal investment accounts that would harness returns on stocks and bonds.

But by embracing "price indexing," the president would for the first time detail the painful costs involved in closing the gap between the Social Security benefits promised to future retirees and the taxes available to fund them. In late February or March, the administration plans to produce its proposed overhaul of the system, including creation of personal investment accounts and the new benefit calculation.

Brilliant. Benefits continue to rise in nominal dollars, and the difference between nominal and real is felt by the richest Americans. While all Americans will have the right to individuall invest, it is the wealthiest (and hence the suavest) who will depend on private accounts the most.

Bravo Mr. President!