Sunday, May 18. 2008
 Please, dear commenters, we ask that you refrain from comments which the average person would consider "rude, crude, or socially unacceptable." Mind your manners!
Obama blames FOX and email (?) for expected loss in KY. He's baaack! Osama still wants the rest of Israel's land...and Spain...and Europe...and...Oh, here's the new report Alfred E. Neuman's artist-creator died Carnival of the Insanities today UN Human Right's Council to monitor US elections. Good grief - the guy is from Somalia. Repubs forgot who they are. VDH reminds them Willisms says: Not only would socializing the remainder of non-socialized health care be terrible policy, it would feed back into the politics. It would put serious constraints on the conservative movement, creating new Democrats vested in the system and binding our hands when it comes to major tax reform, Social Security reform, and other innovative ideas.
Who is Frank Buckles?
 Megan McArdle has a crush on Bobby Jindal
Even the NYT agrees: An Atrocious Farm Bill Why not to buy Merrill Lynch right now. The neurological roots of sexual pleasure. Dr. X Pelosi snubbed by Iraq leaders Repubs have strayed from Freedom. Dem Project Obama an appeaser? Shame on you. Steyn. Related: Obama calls for his Mommy: Surber/ Related: Will Obama respond directly to the charge? Rick Moran. "If the shoe fits, whine about it": Betsy. On the other hand, Moderate Voice is impressed by the fast and unified Dem response. They obviously have a rapid response team in place. A conspiracy so lunatic only 60 Minutes could fall for it. Hinderaker Fat people cause global warming. Moonbattery PJ O'Rourke's Cato speech. A quote: It is the avowed purpose of politics to bring the policies of our nation down to a level where they are good for everyone. No matter how foolish, irresponsible, selfish, grasping, or vile everyone may be, politics seeks fairness for them all. I do not. I am here to speak in favor of unfairness.
Harkin: McCain too military to be Pres. AIG and Elliot Spitzer, in the WSJ. A quote: ...the AIG case, like so many others that Mr. Spitzer brought, was an example of prosecutorial excess. Instead of uncovering some great fraud by a titan of industry, its main result has been to damage the company, and harm innocent managers and shareholders.
Photo: You don't need camouflage if you are transparent. (You could make the same statement about human personality.) The Glasswing Butterfly of Central America. Photo from this site.
Saturday, May 17. 2008
A quote from McCain's NRA speech, via Classical Values: Senator Obama has said, if elected, he will withdraw Americans from Iraq quickly no matter what the situation on the ground is and no matter what U.S. military commanders advise. But if we withdraw prematurely from Iraq, al Qaeda in Iraq will survive, proclaim victory and continue to provoke sectarian tensions that, while they have been subdued by the success of the surge, still exist, and are ripe for provocation by al Qaeda. Civil war in Iraq could easily descend into genocide, and destabilize the entire region as neighboring powers come to the aid of their favored factions. A reckless and premature withdrawal would be a terrible defeat for our security interests and our values. Iran will view it as a victory, and the biggest state supporter of terrorists, a country with nuclear ambitions and a stated desire to destroy the Sta te of Israel, will see its influence in the Middle East grow significantly. The consequences of our defeat would threaten us for years, and those who argue for premature withdrawal, as both Senators Obama and Clinton do, are arguing for a course that would eventually draw us into a wider and more difficult war that would entail far greater dangers and sacrifices than we have suffered to date. Thanks to the counterinsurgency instigated by General Petreaus, after four years of terribly costly mistakes, we have a realistic chance to succeed in helping the forces of political reconciliation prevail in Iraq, and the democratically elected Iraqi Government, with a professional and competent Iraqi army, impose its authority throughout the country and defend its borders. We have a realistic chance of denying al Qaeda any sanctuary in Iraq. We have a realistic chance of leaving behind in Iraq a force for stability and peace in the region, and not a cause for a wider and far more dangerous war. I do not argue against withdrawal because I am indifferent to war and the suffering it inflicts on too many American families. I hold my position because I hate war, and I know very well and very personally how grievous its wages are. But I know, too, that we must sometimes pay those wages to avoid paying even higher ones later. I want our soldiers home, too, just as quickly as we can bring them back without risking everything they suffered for, and burdening them with greater sacrifices in the years ahead. That I will not do. I have spent my life in service to my country, and I will never, never, never risk her security for the sake of my own ambitions. I will defend her, and all her freedoms, so help me God. And I ask you to help me in that good cause. Thank you, and God bless you.
Why is the press exempt from McCain-Feingold, when they are so obviously working for the Obama team? Two examples of MSM lying - not spinning, flat-out lying - this week: The WaPo The NYT I guess I have to calm down and get used to this, or I will give myself a stroke.
Friday, May 16. 2008
 Why are Obama and the Dems freaking out about Bush's Knesset speech? Because he hit a nerve, and rightly so.
Rove: The GOP must stand for something. I suggest Patriotism, Freedom, Free Markets, Opportunity and Optimism. That would offer a dramatic contrast. Related: Hillary's lessons for McCain A $1 image stabilizer for your camera. Very cool. This "deeply unpopular war." Villainous. Nobody would be complaining if it had been quicker, and nobody expected a proxy war by Iran. Brazil update. A contemporary bust of Julius Caesar found McCain opposes the Farm Bill. Me too. It's welfare and political bribery. If you like peanut butter, an invention long overdue. Excellent essay by Prof Deneen re oil and politics. He is stuck on the Peak Oil thing, though. I am stuck on the pro-nuke power thing, and we will never need to worry about energy. A positive view of No Child Left Behind You want government medical care? Who do you trust? Tigerhawk loves Starbucks Obama not a hit in the Bluegrass State Civil servants make us all tax slaves. Copyright and the 1st Amendment. Volokh Here's what the Polar Bear story was all about - preventing oil drilling and mineral exploration Kerry, Redux. Pathetic.
From Peggy Noonan's critique of today's Repubs, Pity Party: Mr. Bush has squandered the hard-built paternity of 40 years. But so has the party, and so have its leaders. If they had pushed away for serious reasons, they could have separated the party's fortunes from the president's. This would have left a painfully broken party, but they wouldn't be left with a ruined "brand," as they all say, speaking the language of marketing. And they speak that language because they are marketers, not thinkers. Not serious about policy. Not serious about ideas. And not serious about leadership, only followership. This is and will be the great challenge for John McCain: The Democratic argument, now being market tested by Obama Inc., that a McCain victory will yield nothing more or less than George Bush's third term.
 Why socialized medicine is not insurance. RightWing Prof
Dating divorced people. Dr. Helen Marriage: Homosexuality, polygamy, and incest (h/t Lucianne) McCain having problems raising money One person's opinion on the 1001 movies you should see before you die. (h/t, Flares) What are the lessons of the W VA primary? Am Thinker Do African kids need laptops for school? Of course not. Sad but true: Wildlife populations plummeting (not because of "global warming") Krauthammer on Israel, a quote: Look at Gaza today. No Israeli occupation, no settlements, not a single Jew left. The Palestinian response? Unremitting rocket fire killing and maiming Israeli civilians. The declared casus belli of the Palestinian government in Gaza behind these rockets? The very existence of a Jewish state. Israel's crime is not its policies but its insistence on living.
A quote from Kathleen Parker: Dems offer thrills 'n chills (speculating that Edwards will be VP candidate): To succeed, they must first create a divide of resentment the size of Montana among the have-not-enoughs toward those perceived to have too much. No one has tried this more brazenly than Edwards with his "two Americas" presidential campaign, which failed twice, by the way. The question -- should this duo have their way -- isn't when will the poor be wealthy enough? But, when will the wealthy be poor enough? While we're waiting to find out, Edwards' tortured Southern shtick is supposed to help Obama with the demographic of white, rural, working-class (non-college) Americans he's been having trouble with. Green room translation: poor, ignorant racists.
 The words on this KY campaign flier read:
My faith teaches me that I can sit in church and pray all I want. But I won't be fulfilling God's will unless I go out and do the Lord's work.
In a way, I have no big problem with those words (although how one can even attempt to discern God's use for you without tons of prayer and a worshipful heart is beyond me). However, I thought it was a big problem that Bush was inspired by his faith. Somehow this guys' wanting to do his version of God's work to me is apparently no problem. What's up with that? Doesn't this kind of thing raise urgent Church-State concerns for the Lefties? Or is he just trying to reinforce the idea that he isn't a Moslem? In my opinion, nobody has the right to claim that they are doing God's work. That is hubris. Somebody else can say it about you, though, which is a great compliment. (h/t, Insty)
Thursday, May 15. 2008
We disagree with CT Sen. Joe Lieberman on many, if not most issues, but we give him kudos for this. Our thanks to CT for re-electing this good guy.
A review of McCain's first major speech, at Pajamas. One comment about it: McCain to social conservatives: No soup for you! "Rules have to be obeyed." Tangled. The Brits have gone insane. National Greatness Conservatism. TCS Mostly Hot Air: Global Warming Article is titled "5 Mistakes Women make at the Dr's office," but it equally applies to men, I think. Women sometimes tend to think that they are the only humans who experience what they do. Our Army marksmen plan a trip to Beijing How NYC politics works. Is class-based Affirmative Action a worse idea than Race-based?
Liberals want the US to invade Burma? Darn imperialist liberals. I say to them: No blood for Betel Nuts. The Farm Bill is a Harvest of Shame. Indeed, it consists of political pay-offs, and offers nothing to the country. Hey, GW! How about a speech like that in the US? More on the inconvenient truth that there is no recession. Not yet, anyway. That $33 million Lucien Freud. Propaganda for the 21st Century. Vanderleun ...more later
Wednesday, May 14. 2008
 Polar Bears and junk science
Over the top. Barack Obama, Fairy Tale King. Are we a nation of toddlers? Botswana and Zimbabwe: A tale of two countries Exercise may help prevent breast cancer. Exercise is good for mind, body, and spirit. But we are all going to die. Karma, Grace, and Bono. Dr. Bob Jailed witches in the UK get magic twigs. I guess they don't burn them anymore? The new translations of the Aeneid Assuming you do not live on arugula from Whole Foods like Obama does, US food spending as % of disposable income over the years Mr. Sammler's City: City Journal Repubs suffering from dry heaves. Commenter Buddy expounds on why losing the White House could be very bad news: Give 'em three house and 60 senators, and we'll never be able to vote 'em out again. We'll slog thru gun control, "industrial policy" (semi-nationalizations), wealth taxation (a new form -- search the term), "fairness doctrine" attacks on conservative media, further destruction of students in favor of teacher's union control, politicization of government agencies (use of IRS, FBI against political enemies, an element of the Clinton's governance which the Dems approved via silence), criminalization of political differences (think Libby, think Waxman), and worst of all, union-directed attack on the global trade system (toward a captive domestic market), causing a 70's style financial collapse, and leading inexorably toward depression and world war. Oh, and say farewll to Israel utterly, and Europe as we know it, and hello to radical Islam, radical anti-west takeover of OPEC, the mideast, Africa, central Asia, Latin America, a takeover of Chinese foreign policy by the chi-com military faction ("hey, here's our big chance!") and an irreversable transfer of capital from west to east. Hyperbole? I fricken wish.
OK, Buddy - but you left out the worst consequence in this bit - the Supreme Court.
 Race is obviously a factor in voting, since most blacks in the US vote Dem, and over 90% of Dem primary voters are voting for Obama (which demonstrates something you could call racism but which, I think, is better described as "tribalism").
I believe that there are plenty of good reasons not to vote for Obama in the general election, but skin color is not one of them. But is it a factor for white Dem primary voters, and for white voters in general? - Judis in TNR: The Big Race - a serious political science look at race and voting patterns - Racist Incidents. WaPo More related stuff: - If you won't join the Obamaborg, you're racist. Moonbattery - White Racist - or Right Reason? View from the Right - via Insty: TONY BLANKLEY: "Race, the yet unclosed scab that has run deep through our history, is about to be discussed as it never has been in a presidential election. . . . I would argue that the more honest the public conversation is the less virulent the private one will be, and therein lies the path to maximum civic hygiene."
Tuesday, May 13. 2008
 A bitter malcontent: The Michelle Obama suicide watch (h/t, Vanderleun)
Mark Helprin on The Challenge from China. I do not happen to see them as an enemy at all, just as a normal growing, amoral world power. Media playing by Obama's rules Never use gasoline to start your grill. Kerosene is OK. We always used to have a barrel of kerosene on the farm, with a spigot. Good for burning garbage too. A countercultural college Who do you call? Licebeaters Sowell: In politics, emotional gratification trumps truth. By the way, I am so ticked off at McCain about this global warming BS that I could spit. If it's just politics, fine, but if he really believes it... Counterjihad: Vienna 2008 The Good Old Days, when kids worked and contributed to their families instead of being lazy spoiled brats. "Members of the Mad Pride movement do not always agree on their aims and intentions." Tim Blair Irene Sendler, RIP Robert Rauschenberg, RIP. I interviewed him once, long ago, as a student. A lively fellow, full of curiosity, and as gay as a Christmas tree. Image: Rauschenberg's collage Stop, 1963
Monday, May 12. 2008
Does money buy happiness? No, but success helps - however defined. The You Cannot Make This Stuff Up Department. Tornados caused by global warming! Also, try this - Earthquakes! And that cyclone thing was over the top. This weather BS is agenda-driven, and nothing more. If you ask me, warming causes my migraines and, given what's been reported thus far, it probably does. (Nobody ever mentions the inconvenient truth that there has been cooling for 10 years, and cooling predicted for the next ten.) On the other hand, let's begin the list of everything global cooling causes, starting with jet crashes Microsoft wants to go after Google's ad revenue. Good luck, guys. It ain't gonna happen. Smarter folks than me are pricing MSFT. Book: The Post-American World. Yes, with Capitalism and freedom, the whole world is waking up. Campus rape update. Villainous. The real Presidential campaign has begun. And Riehl on Obama: Whether it's politically correct to say it, or not, additional facts are worth acknowledging. This isn't someone named Colin Powell. The candidate's full name is Barack Hussein Obama. Tell me, how many Americans do you know by the first name of Barack, let alone his middle-name? Have you ever known one? Yes, there may be some white voters who will shun Obama simply because he is black. But that strikes me as a bit simplistic in this case. Frankly, I'm not sure a white individual by the name of Barack Hussein Obama could win the presidency. Ultimately, Obama may be one too politically correct bridge too far to go given current demographics. Like it or not, along with whatever number of whites harbor concerns over Obama's color, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that an equal number have more concerns over his ancestry and given name. Frankly put, even in 2008, the name Barack Obama just doesn't sound American. He is. I am not questioning that. But appearances mean a great deal. And Obama appears to be some configuration that probably strikes a good percentage of the population as something other than mainstream American. And that, more than just his color, will likely spell his doom when it comes to a general election.
A new theory about Stonehenge. Empathy is not justice. Dr. Helen. No, it is not. We are designed to be a nation of laws, not men. The New Journalism: How to downplay an inconvenient story. Wizbang Burma and China: Perfect together
 Obama campaign: Get me more white people over here.
Re McCain's global warming foolishness, at Polipundit: In just this week alone, McCain talked about trying again for comprehensive immigration reform, (Amnesty), agreed to address the open border, pro-illegal immigration attendees at the La Raza convention and now this.
The Newsweek embarassment. Corner. More at Gateway: Repubs win by scaring voters The corporate sponsors of the Dem convention Why it will be very bad for everybody when/if the Bush tax cuts expire Obama's likeability: Am Thinker. Yes, he is the really cool black dude. The media have already begun running interference for him, as John H says: I think we are about to witness a level of partisanship in the "mainstream" media that has not been seen since the era of professional news media began a little over a century ago. In the past, when newspapers like the Times have misreported facts, people have generally assumed it was, even if the result of bias, inadvertent. No longer. We have entered an era in which leading news organs will intentionally and persistently misinform their readers in order to achieve a political objective--the election of Barack Obama.
Academic mindset, quoted from Volokh via Insty: ...as much as conservatives may whine and scream to the contrary, liberalism and conservatism are not moral equivalents. Because, on the one side you have the thinkers and activists who have advanced freedom, social justice, and human rights, and on the other, you have those who have attempted to thwart all those things.
 How the Mississippi economy came to life.
The historical revisionism at Duke It's cold and stormy up here in Yankeeland today. No surprise that climate models fail in Antarctica too. And everywhere else...see ice fishing in May. Also, Brits think the warming scare is a tax-raising trick A scene from Bitter America Think you didn't get enough attention from your Mom? Here's attention-dilution Sharpton's little tax problem "The normal are not in control." Airports Is the criminal justice system racist? Heather MacDonald says no. Gloomy Repubs? Barnes. Candidates mapping their fall strategies. McCain needs "moderates" and independents to win this year. He needs to be an independent Teddy Roosevelt-style Repub - to run as "an American." I think he has a decent chance to win an election against Obama. Late, late, late-term abortions The animal research wars. Am. Scientist I suggest baiting a trap with a toddler. Policies aren't rational because they are also about values. By the way, that piece posted in yesterday's links about Confessions of a Car Salesman is lengthy but well-written and very useful.
Sunday, May 11. 2008
 No sappy Mom's Day commentary - just a virtual bouquet for my Mom, who happens to be in England at the moment with my Dad. (Still life by Juan de Arellano, c. 1650)
Confessions of a Car Salesman Blacks seem racist in their voting patterns. Riehl. For one delegate, however, it's about the green, not the brown. Obama and cap gains taxes. Already factored into the market? A global warming two-fer: Synthstuff. Related: A very cold April this year. The MLK memorial statue. Neoneo "Wellness" uber alles. Am. Thinker. Be healthy or else... Knee-pad time? Journalists ogle Obama. Michelle. Related: The Messiah and the media. Related: Caesar comes to the Capitol Al Qaida plans attacks on Nigeria. Is that chickens coming home to roost too? Bob's new tour. Right Wing Bob. He's only 67, which is no time to slow down. Big Brother Video isn't working in the UK. (h/t, Flares) How Japan continues to suffer from WW2. They lost their national meaning and purpose. Brit corporations want to flee England. The Cuban blogging revolution. Power to the People! The NYT, the Hmong, and a criticism of the right. Dem Project Time for regime change in Burma? No doubt, but not on my nickel. A book: The Dirty Dozen - How Twelve Supreme Court Cases Radically Expanded Government and Eroded Freedom The Poison Ivy League. Prelutsky MADD goes insane. Classical V. Maybe it's time for those MADD people to have a drink or two, and chill out.
Saturday, May 10. 2008
 George Schultz on Putting our Entitlements in Order
Did we misunderstand Toni Morrison re Bill Clinton? "State-sponsored kleptocracy:" MA wants to tax universities Wonderful short snip of the Tom Wolfe interview The re-Jihading of Gitmo Alumni. Jules Gastronomic totalitarianism proposed in the UK News flash: Europeans get drunk for sex My racial harassment nightmare "Let them eat arugula." Dems try populism by Chait at TNR Should teachers be responsible for their students' achievement? WSJ Vanderleun on illegal immigration. One quote: We need to stop propping up Mexican fascists by importing their excess angst. We need to initiate a policy for illegal alien deportation that involves the importation of first rate American assault weapons. Once that happens the future for the ruling families of Mexico starts to look a little more sketchy than it has been up to now.
Dem notion: "Reasonable Profits Boards" Let's try that out on politicians' investments first. Remind me. How many states in the USA? The guy is losing his bearings. Imagine if McCain said that. Free Wi-Fi, but not for all. NYT A reader nudged us towards a review of Sunstein and Thayer's "Nudge" about "libertarian paternalism, which book we discussed here. A quote from the Chronicle review: With evident glee, he (Sunstein) notes that Chicago is effectively exploiting — to society's benefit — one of the many ways in which human perception is flawed. Or, as Thaler puts it, drivers are being "nudged" toward safety. What does a peculiar pattern on the road have to do with fixing the nation's health-care woes, protecting the environment, resolving the thorny issue of gay marriage, and increasing donations to charity? Everything, according to Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, a professor of law and political science at the University of Chicago. They are authors of a new book, Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness (Yale University Press), in which they articulate an approach to designing social and economic policies that incorporates an understanding of people's cognitive limitations.
Bird Dog comments: "Except their own?" More quote: They call this governing philosophy "libertarian paternalism." That is not an oxymoron, they insist in their book. Rather it is a corrective to the longstanding assumption of policy makers that the average person is capable of thinking like Albert Einstein, storing as much memory as IBM's Big Blue, and exercising the willpower of Mahatma Gandhi. That is simply not how people are, they say. In reality human beings are lazy, busy, impulsive, inert, and irrational creatures highly susceptible to predictable biases and errors. That's why they can be nudged in socially desirable directions.
Raw arrogance and condescension oozing our of their pores. My question: Who the heck do Sunstein and Thayer think they are? I think they hugely underestimate regular people - ie non-professors, and hugely overestimate the wisdom and benevolence of government. How can we ordinary folks "nudge" academics into reality? Image: Old Davis racquets. Our outdoor tennis season begins today.
Friday, May 9. 2008
 I do not think that she and her team are deluded. I think they have known for a while that they cannot win this thing without a miracle. The Clintons are hard-headed, practical, cynically calculating, and realistic when it comes to power (and money - when Dems get rich, it isn't greed).
But she is getting more than her share of time in the media sun (BTW, is a Repub also running for Pres? You would hardly know it.) It's all about power. She keeps running to firmly plant the Clinton flag in the center of a Dem party which seems to be giving her a bit of a cold shoulder, and to show her tough stuff so that she will be a major force in the Party - and maybe a Pres candidate - in the future. If Obama goes down in the November election, she will look good and will become the #1 Dem. And if he doesn't go down, she'll be the heavyweight in the Dem Senate and the de facto #2 Dem in the country (overshadowing Al Gore, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, and whoever the VP nominee is). Thus she has much to gain by not appearing to be a "quitter." She can win by losing, but the timing is key to polishing her halo. She needs to sell on an up-tick. The speech she will eventually give in support of Obama will bury the hatchet, and will be designed to make her look like a Dem angel. The Dem angel.
 Why do men die first? Mr. Free Market
One reason many on the Left do not believe in Jihad Basic questions about farm subsidies The Maoist insurgency in India "Come over here and fertilize me." Flowers wave at passing bugs. Loving violent criminals The 5 mistakes Clinton made. Time. Related: The Clinton Divorce in the WSJ, which begins: No, we don't mean Bill and Hillary. We mean the separation now under way between the Clintons and the Democratic Party. Like all divorces after lengthy unions, this one is painful and has had its moments of reconciliation, but after Tuesday a split looks inevitable. The long co-dependency is over.
Green hypocrites A fight strategy for McCain Ethnicity and nationalism Tax 'em and regulate 'em until they begin to fail. Then claim that it's a market failure and time for the govt to do it. Pharma, at EU Referendum Should I mention depression on my college application? Image borrowed from Vanderleun's comic book collection
Thursday, May 8. 2008
Mobile broadband options What do Codfish have to do with red tides? Remarkable anti-Obama video How McCain can win the base. WSJ Tons of art critics in the Maggie's Farm comments Viking trading center discovered in Ireland How did "fake but accurate" become acceptable? "...social sciences in general, and racial/gender studies departments in particular, have the lowest academic standards of any group on modern campuses." Indeed. From Salt of the Earth Democrats at Contentions: ...salt-of-the-earth Democratic politicians are increasingly hard to come by, as cultural liberalism is the core of the party’s self-identity today. But maybe Clinton’s failed effort will get some conservative Democrats thinking. It would be good for the Democrats, and good for the country, if their leaders came to see that their cultural elitism, bordering on cultural separatism, is not only obnoxious but counterproductive. Maybe next time.
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