Competitive Enterprise Institute Won't Compete

You probably haven't heard of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), and, if I weren't so easily amused by self-important goofballs, it would probably be best to keep it that way. They're one of those "think tanks" that are simply an over-staffed group blog - a group of like-minded cranks who passionately want to think they are influential, but whose influence is measured by statements nobody paid any attention to. Their history page acknowledges that they haven't done anything noteworthy since 2006, when George Will mentioned a failed lawsuit they had used to clog up our courts.

It's attention they want, and I ought not to reward them with the bright light of instant celebrity that comes with a mention on Gone Mild.

But they issued a challenge yesterday that was so pathetic in its delusional self-importance that it truly amused me. They issued a press release (picked up by nobody but me, I'd wager) offering Al Gore $500 "together with the proceeds of a world-wide email pledge-a-dollar drive" if Gore would engage in a global-warming debate with "Lord" Monckton. "Lord" Monckton is an English guy who got his "Lordship" from his Dad, and is running around telling people that Obama is going to sign a treaty in December imposing Global Communism.

Let's face it - Al Gore is a wealthy man. You'd expect that a "think (sic) -tank" on Competitive Enterprises would come up with a more competitive enterprise than a $500 check and a pig in a poke when seeking the attention of a multi-millionaire and very busy person like Al Gore.

I responded in kind by email, and I hereby repeat my challenge on the internet. I hereby challenge "Lord" Monckton to a debate on whether gravity really exists, and I offer him $10 to come to Kansas City and debate me.

In response to my competitive challenge, I heard from the General Counsel of the CEI. He refused to take me up on my challenge, but instead attached two articles by someone other than "Lord" Monckton questioning the science of global climate change. Seemed like a pretty pathetic dodge to me.

Undeterred, I hereby challenge "Lord" Monckton care to come to Kansas City and debate those two articles with me, and I offer the same $10 as bait.

For good measure, I also offered the General Counsel of the CEI a buck to come to Kansas City and debate the intellectual integrity of "Lord" Monckton (who has previously argued for quarantine of all persons with the HIV virus, together with mandatory universal annual HIV testing). I couldn't justify offering the full $10 for that one, since. let's face it, the debate wouldn't last very long.

Will the Competitive Enterprise Institute compete?

Tea-Bagger Potty Line?

Like most observers of politics, I was amused by the tea-bag parties organized by anti-tax protesters in response to Obama's tax cuts. The sputtering outrage of the right wing provokes not fear, dread or even respect from those that pay attention. How dare right-wingers protest taxes when Obama is cutting them for 95% of us? How dare the Republicans complain about deficits when the Bush administration launched us on a disastrous path after Clinton had generated budget surpluses? How dare the tea-baggers denounce government spending after Bush created an economic crisis and launched an unnecessary war on the wrong country?

The tea-baggers were not to be taken seriously, so I basically ignored them.

But this morning, I happened across Platte Countian Ivan Foley's hyped-up coverage of the protest, and saw that it was less of a protest than a gathering. Here is a picture that Mr. Foley took of their "crowd":

Seriously. A few months ago, that would have qualified as the shortest of the porta-potty lines for Barack Obama's rally. But, whatever, if they want to count that cluster of like-minded folks as a rally, that's their right. Personally, I'm a little surprised they could find even that many people to stand with this guy without wearing a hood: