In January, I suggested again that we, the US, buy up Afghan opium with all the money that we grow on our trees rather than spend it burning up farms and making enemies.
Today, Tai Chi Policy notes that Afghanistan has a new crop. Saffron! Apparently it grows well in Afghanistan.
Worldwide demand for Afghan saffron is rising, and the price has doubled in the past year to an average of $1,360 per pound – or roughly 38 times what poppy farmers in the southern part of the country earn.
Cool.
Allahpundit can see the future.
Yesterday Allapundit noted that Christopher Buckley (William’s son), an Obama supporter, seems to be starting to see the light that President Obama is not seeing the light of moderation that Mr. Buckley assumed would happen once he, Obama, was elected.
Then Allapundit predicted this:
Which of the right’s prominent Obamicans will be next to evince buyer’s remorse? Kathleen Parker’s ride on Air Force One should tide her over for a few more bailouts and The One’s speechcraft should give Peggy Noonan plenty to praise for the foreseeable future, so the smart money’s on Brooks. Welcome back, David!
From this morning’s NYTimes, David Brooks wrights:
Those of us who consider ourselves moderates — moderate-conservative, in my case — are forced to confront the reality that Barack Obama is not who we thought he was. His words are responsible; his character is inspiring. But his actions betray a transformational liberalism that should put every centrist on notice. As Clive Crook, an Obama admirer, wrote in The Financial Times, the Obama budget “contains no trace of compromise. It makes no gesture, however small, however costless to its larger agenda, of a bipartisan approach to the great questions it addresses. It is a liberal’s dream of a new New Deal.”
Yes, Welcome Back David. From the land of delusion.
