Cato Daily Dispatch for December 22, 2003
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Terror Alert Level Raised to Orange'Skeptical Environmentalist' Cleared of Dishonesty
China Moves to Protect Private Property Rights
Terror Alert Level Raised to Orange
"Federal officials said yesterday that because fresh intelligence suggests al Qaeda is planning multiple catastrophic terrorist attacks in the United States, they were raising the national threat alert status to 'high risk,' or code orange, a step administration officials previously had said they were reluctant to take except in the most unusual circumstances," The Washington Post reports.
"Some of the worrisome new intelligence indicates al Qaeda operatives are exploring security vulnerabilities on commercial or cargo flights originating overseas and flying into U.S. airports, officials said. It suggests the terrorist network is preoccupied with repeating its Sept. 11, 2001, tactic of hijacking aircraft for use as missiles against U.S. targets, they added."
Cato's director of defense policy studies, Charles V. Peņa, recommends in "Homeland Security: Follow the Bouncing Ball" that "instead of needlessly raising anxiety levels or providing a false sense of security with the color-coded alert system, the Department of Homeland Security needs to focus its resources on more important tasks, such as preventing terrorists from entering the country. Indeed, all of the 19 hijackers of 9/11 entered the country through a legal point of entry, as do millions of other people each year."
'Skeptical Environmentalist' Cleared of Dishonesty
"The Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation has repudiated the findings by one of its own committees that Bjorn Lomborg's book 'The Skeptical Environmentalist' was 'objectively dishonest' or 'clearly contrary to the standards of good scientific practice,'" BBC News reports.
"He put forward an alternative vision, quoting the scientific 'facts' to show the environment was actually doing much better and, in many instances, had improved markedly in recent years."
Senior Fellow in Environmental Studies Patrick J. Michaels comes to similar environmental conclusions in his book, The Satanic Gases, co-authored with Robert C. Balling Jr. The book marshals an impressive array of scientific data, studies, and analyses that argue, cogently and consistently, that the initial forecasts of rapid global warming were simply wrong. But, perhaps more important, the book points out that attempts to "fix" the forecast by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are even more misguided than the original projections. The authors argue that the jury is already in on global warming, and the verdict is a modest heating over the 21st century -- very similar to what occurred during the last third of the 20th century.
China Moves to Protect Private Property Rights
"China is changing its constitution to protect private property rights for the first time since the 1949 communist revolution - a key step in making capitalism its economy's driving force," The Associated Press reports.
"A constitutional amendment endorsed by the Communist Party went before legislators on Monday and their approval seemed certain."
In "What China Badly Needs Is Market Taoism," China Specialist James A. Dorn, writes: "People have a natural propensity to trade, and trade requires private property to be legitimate. The Chinese people, when allowed to choose, favor the market over the plan and private over state ownership. In the booming coastal regions, individuals have freely opted for the non-state sector, and millions of people have voluntarily left their homes in the countryside to search for a better life.
"So the answer to the question of China's future is clear: If China adopts the principles of market liberalism and practices market taoism, its people will prosper; if it sticks with market socialism and fails to be integrated into the global economy, the Chinese people -- and those of the West -- will be poorer."
Jonathan Block, editor, jblock@cato.org