Bosniaks? Grecians?

8:02 PM Mountain Time:

Did Joe Biden actually just say "Serbs, Croats, and Bosniacs?"

An understandable gaffe -- I've been on a bit of television, and there is definitely pressure felt. I'm just curious as to whether this will get anywhere near the attention of George Bush's use of "Grecians" a few years back.

UPDATE: I'm reliably informed that "Bosniak" is a term for Bosnian Muslims. Okay, fine, if a bit obscure -- more than a bit. I still think the comparison to the "Grecians" treatment stands.

Henry Hazlitt: Credit Diverts Production

Not that President Bush -- a Harvard MBA, mind you -- knows this. Nor, apparently, does Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, or Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke. And they are not alone.

Truth, however, is difficult to refute.

Henry Hazlitt begins chapter VI of his Economics In One Lesson with a simple assertion:

Government "encouragement" to business is sometimes as much to be feared as government hostility. This supposed encouragement often takes the form of a direct grant of government credit or a guarantee of government loans.

It is well worth reading Hazlitt's 1946 classic, available online here, and here.

I highly recommend buying a copy, because you'll want to highlight passages and make notes in the margins.

A lot.

But Henry Hazlitt deserves to have the last word. "The government," he writes, "never lends or gives anything to business that it does not take away from business." Ah, so true, and:

In any case, the net result of government credit has not been to increase the amount of wealth produced by the community but to reduce it, because the available real capital (consisting of actual farms, tractors, etc.) has been placed in the hands of the less efficient borrowers rather than in the hands of the more efficient and trustworthy.

Too bad we can't put fish hooks, gold coins, and canned beans and tuna in our 401(k) accounts. We're gonna need 'em.

On the need for banning certain words in polite society

We could be rational about short selling and listen to Michael Lewis, or we could just go along with SEC Chairman Chris Cox and make things difficult for short sellers. Unlike the Chinese, who now, it would appear, seem determined to allow more freedom in their capital markets than we do in ours.

I really, truly, deeply detest the idea of agreeing with John McCain about anything, but he's right about Cox: the man should be fired. Of course, being John McCain, he's right for the wrong reasons. Cox should be fired as head of the Securities and Exchange Commision because there shouldn't be an SEC in the first place. But Johnny Mac will never employ such reasoning, because Johnny Mac doesn't have much room for individual liberty in his worldview.

Of course, arguing in favor of individual liberty would probably imply agreeing with this guy, but he's an Objectivist and a successful banker so that, of course, will not do.

And check out this language from Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann: "Squabbling reached new heights this past week over President Bush's proposed $700 billion bailout — "rescue plan" the White House likes to call it — of tottering banks and financial institutions holding devalued mortgages."

Sqabbling? Over the prospect of spending at least seven hundred million dollars and essentially nationalizing the financial industry in the United States? That's "squabbling?"

You know what, Ms Riechmann? I am sick to Christ of ideological disagreement routinely disparaged as "sqabbling." I am become possessed of the need to campaign for banning the worlds "bipartisan," "extreme right wing (is there no extreme left wing detectable anywhere in American politics?), and, yes, "squabbling." Is there really no conceivable way, even among politicians, that actual disagreement over policy can occur? But no: "professionals," who "report" on political elections, who routinely ignore political philosophy and any semblance of awareness of economics, would prefer to concentrate on the horse-race aspects of each contest, and we citizens, thus, get to see all dissent referred to as "squabbling."

Thank you so very, very much, to all of the Deb Riechmanns and Associated Presses of the world. You do so much to illuminate our times.

"Creases as sharp as a knife..." How to Iron Your Trousers the Marine Corps Way

First of all, you laundered them properly, didn't you: in cold water, probably, and you turned them inside out before you put them in the washer.

Ideally, you haven't dried them yet, or not much. Dampness helps in ironing trousers, even more than in ironing shirts. But this isn't critical, because you'll be employing an ironing cloth.

An ironing cloth is simply an old, non-linty towel that you're going to soak in hot water, then place atop the portion of the trousers you'll be ironing. The logic behind using the cloth is the same as in turning the garment inside out prior to laundering: you want to slow down the process of wear, which wiill show up as a shine you do not want.

Be advised, too: this method, although it doesn't take long, is not suited for those ironing in a hurry. Trousers ironed this Marine Corps way will not be ready for wear immediately, as they will still be considerably damp and in need of drying out, which will take time.

Stanley Agar recommends holding a pair of trousers by the waist and letting them hang naturally -- that way you'll find the natural crease for both legs. This is true, but I've also found that after a while, trousers, like shirt sleeves, will have a permanently ironed-in crease anyway. You do want to delay this, but it'll probably happen. So just find your crease and lay one trouser leg flat along the length of the ironing board. Wring out your ironing cloth slightly, and place it atop the trouser leg to be ironed. Press a bit, get that moisture in. Let it sit there for a minute, while you're writing out another blog post or getting a sixth cup of coffee or something. You don't need to soak the material: the dampness from the cloth is enough, and you'll be adding a touch of starch, anyway, which will also bring more dampness of its own.

Press small areas at a time with the hot iron. Home Comforts recommends doing your ironing jobs in the order of increasing heat; in other words, your wool trousers for example, would come before your cotton or dress shirts. I concur, but I'd also point out that you're using a wet towel (that ironing cloth, remember?), which should help mitigate this.

Don't forget to do the other leg. Hang your trousers upside down (that is, waist down, legs up), and you are finished, my sharp-creased, snappily-dressed friend!

Now for some questions:

(1) You don't iron both sides of the legs. Why is that?

Answer: No, I don't. I was taught to do that, at Parris Island, but I noticed over time that it didn't make a difference. When I say "over time," I mean years, because for years I just put all of my uniforms into the cleaners on a weekly basis. Later on I began caring for more and more of my own stuff, and I just dropped the habit as unnecessary. Oh, with the camouflaged utility trousers, I still ironed both sides. Stanley Agar, by the way, agrees with me on this.

(2) What about difficult areas such as cuffs, pleats, or women's pants?

Answer: Well, they're not really more difficult, just smaller. Smooth them out by hand and work on ironing that smaller area by itself. The same advice goes for irregulars you may have bought: if it doesn't bother you to buy and wear them, don't let it bother you to iron them.

(3) What about ironing jeans? I've heard they can be a special case.

Answer: Indeed they can. The classic jeans are Levi's 501s with the button fly, and the classic advice goes for them: launder them a few times, inside out, possibly with a tiny bit of bleach, perhaps possibly in hot water, and they'll shrink to fit. No need to iron them at all. But if you do, you'll probably find that that's just how jeans fit.

Now, for other jeans, all of the above bets are off. Since the 1970s we have seen the breakup of the Beatles, women's suffrage in Switzerland, the Carter presidency, and other outrages, as well as a proliferation of brands and styles of blue jeans. Many are treated these days for a certain look or feel or fit, and in many cases the materials are softer than the cotton denim of the original Levi's. Therefore, your miieage on "don't iron 'em" may vary. Use your own eyes.

(4) And my suits? What about them?

Answer: Hey, if the tag says "Dry clean only," then guess what? Dry clean only. Keep in mind that your clothes -- including your suits, will fade in time. All of them. The best advice is to dry clean your suitjacket and its attendant trousers together, so that at least as they fade (slightly, we hope) over time, they'll fade at the same rate. I try to do this myself, but it also means I resist touching a hot iron to any part of a suit.

(5) You mention a "touch" of starch. Do you use less starch on trousers than you do on your shirts?

Answer: I do. That's a personal preference, and yours may of course vary. But whether it's a suit or a Marine Corps uniform, I do not care to screech and spark and crackle as I walk. Ironing is for visual, not auditory, effect.

So that's it. Go thou and sin no more -- and wear those trousers where they rightfully belong, son, which is not two inches above the knee.