Monday, November 16. 2009
Coupon codes and discounts for 40,000 online stores at RetailMeNot
Via Protein's Progressive utopia — enemy of Liberty:
If liberals are so disturbed by Congress dictating whether abortion is
a legitimate health care issue or not, it only makes sense that they
should be equally troubled by government management of other health
care decisions.
Undoubtedly, this is zealously naive thinking on my part. Reaching
such a conclusion demands a modicum of consistency. And as we’ve seen,
health care “reform” is an ideological crusade immune from logic.
"Some of the Great Goods cannot live together. That is a conceptual truth. We are doomed to choose, and every choice may entail an irreparable loss."
Isaiah Berlin, from Isaiah Berlin, Beyond the Wit at Chronicle. I would have said "does," not "may."
 Global warming: World leaders agree to hold off agreement. Related: Al Gore begins attracting protesters:
In addition to his nonprofit advocacy, Gore is a partner in a venture capital firm that finances "sustainable" and alternative energy businesses, prompting some critics to accuse Gore of promoting environmental policies that will fatten his bank account.
"Cap & Tax — Don't Be Fooled: Al Gore Will Make billions," read a sign carried by Alan Tudor, who drove from Tampa to attend Saturday's protest.
"Gore's Favorite Green Product? Your money in his pocket," said another sign.
Related: Rasmussen polls on climate hysteria and energy policy. The rationalists are winning the debate.
Is Deval Patrick an Obama leading indicator?
The bow: Japanese call it an embarrassment. I figure if "Japanese always bow," then why didn't the Emperor bow to Obama?
State Finance Directors Warn of More Trouble Ahead
New Study Says Costs Rise Under Health Bill
Althouse: Palin is dumb
On the other hand, it has often been pointed out lately that you catch the most flak when you are over the target. Via Riehl:
Amazingly, but not surprisingly, the AP somehow nabbed a copy of the
book before it was released. They're now erroneously reporting on the
book's contents and are repeating many of the same things they spewed
during the campaign and afterwards. We've heard 11 writers are engaged
in this opposition research, er, "fact checking" research! Imagine that
– 11 AP reporters dedicating time and resources to tearing up the book,
instead of using the time and resources to "fact check" what's going on
with Sheik Mohammed's trial, Pelosi's health care takeover costs, Hasan's associations, etc. Amazing.
KSM: A staggering ego, at the center of difficult issues
Res ipsa loquitur: Repubs are just complete a-holes
Again already? The decline of the Left
Wilkinson discusses income inequality: it's all due to the top .5% and not part of a large trend. Thus can stats be abused by politicans.
Soros' closed society. Insty
Columnists Who Blamed Conservative Media for 'Right-Wing' Killings Ignoring Fort Hood. It doesn't fit the narrative of the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy.
Our 'Constitutional Moment' The New York newspaperman says our founding document is especially vital today, in an age of expanding state power.
We tried McDonalds' Angus Burgers on our way into the Indian Summer woods and meadows this weekend. Surprisingly tasty. Give them a try. We bagged a few birds, too.
Here's the lawn of the rustic old Fish and Game club we visited, with clubhouse and barn on the left. It was originally an 1830's roadside inn on a stagecoach route:
The look of the areas we hunted. Many of the field edges are woodland marshes:
Sunday, November 15. 2009
Two prominent blogs raise the question of whether President Obama is an “idiot.”
John Hinderaker at PowerLine wonders, “One seriously hesitates to draw the conclusion that Barack Obama is an idiot, no matter how strongly the evidence may point in that direction. But what are we to make of a man who is ignorant of history; who is ignorant of economics; who despises his own country; and who appears to believe that awareness of his own wonderfulness is enough to guide him? Has such a fool ever played a leading role on the world stage? I think it is fair to say, no: not until now.”
At HotAir, Allahpundit’s headline is, “Japan expert to ABC: Yes, Obama’s bow made him look like an idiot.” The post continues: “So much of an idiot, in fact, that according to Tapper’s source, at least one Japanese paper isn’t running the photo out of embarrassment. This tool actually groveled himself into a minor international incident.” Then, adds: “And yet, having said that, I’m not convinced that the “groveling” explanation for the bow is necessarily the correct one. For one thing, his protocol office is famously run by imbeciles. They may very well have simply given him bum advice: 'Be sure to hunch way the hell over and stare at the ground. They all do it that way.' ” Though, they don’t all do it that way. Jim Hoft, at GatewayPundit, brings us the video, “47 World Leaders – 46 Handshakes – 1 Bow.”
One could make a verrrry long list of President Obama’s ignorant statements and actions, and outright lies, apparently believing the MSM will continue to cover for and excuse him and the American people will continue to believe him. But, does that make him an “idiot”?
In strict definition, “idiot” is an outmoded term for someone so mentally retarded that their mental development is less than a 3-year old’s, with an IQ of 25 or less, but connotes an “uneducated, ignorant, ill-informed person.” In more common usage, Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “idiot” as “a foolish or stupid person.”
So, this jury holds that, yes, President Obama is an idiot, “a foolish or stupid person” who believes the American people are “uneducated, ignorant, ill-informed” idiots who can be gulled to believe in dangerous foolishness by he and his excusers.
The education provided by President Obama, along with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, in their versions of liberal fixes to our health care, economy, and foreign policies has been a boon to Americans, as polls demonstrate, who are now well-informed about the idiocy of Obama-Reid-Pelosi and their apologists. More and more of the Americans who voted for Obama may have been "foolish and stupid", but are no longer. President Obama is, still, an idiot. A very dangerous one.
P.S.: A professor friend at a leading university, who is learned in exegesis, just emailed me: "It's the kind of idiocy that only great arrogance and hubris can produce." So, maybe the strict definition, above, does apply to President Obama, acting like "less than a 3-year old"!
I moved this poll back up to the top tonight to see if we can squeeze out any more reader responses -
Besides work, what are the five most frequent places you go to in a normal week?
Bank, post office, minimart, a walk outdoors, hardware store, pub, gym, deli, fish market, supermarket, visit friends, visit boyfriend or girlfriend, hairdresser, church, dock, stable, theater, liquor store, places to eat or to get food, massage parlor - where do you all go most often?
My own list is dull as dishwater reflecting my ordinary life: Post office, minimart or Dunkin Donuts, supermarket, bank, places to eat. That's about it, and then there are plenty of places I go to around once a week.
A reader had good seats for Dylan in Boston last night (he did the amazing Every Grain of Sand, I am told):
From The Atlantic article The Science of Success (h/t, reader):
Most of us have genes that make us as hardy as dandelions: able to take root and survive almost anywhere. A few of us, however, are more like the orchid: fragile and fickle, but capable of blooming spectacularly if given greenhouse care. So holds a provocative new theory of genetics, which asserts that the very genes that give us the most trouble as a species, causing behaviors that are self-destructive and antisocial, also underlie humankind’s phenomenal adaptability and evolutionary success. With a bad environment and poor parenting, orchid children can end up depressed, drug-addicted, or in jail—but with the right environment and good parenting, they can grow up to be society’s most creative, successful, and happy people.
It's an interesting article about the interaction of genes and the environment in primates, but I'm not sure what's so new about it: I thought it was fairly well accepted that variation in personality and behavioral tendencies, like any genetic variations in any species, enhance the adaptability of that species.
 Erl Happ, via Icecap:
What follows is a general theory of natural climate variation supported by observation of the changing temperature of the atmosphere and the sea between 1948 and September 2009. This work suggests that strong warming after 1978 is an entirely natural phenomenon.
“Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. The sun is much too sultry and one must avoid its ultry violet rays”. Noel Coward 1932.
Perhaps Noel Coward’s observation is particularly pertinent in the southern hemisphere where there is less ozone to absorb UVB. During the warming mode, protective ice crystals evaporate, allowing the surface to warm. Most of the warming activity post 1978 has been in the southern hemisphere in late winter and spring. This warming activity is plainly driven by shifts in atmospheric pressure affecting vortex activity. There are two climate modes:
The Warming Mode:
There is a shift of the atmosphere from the poles towards mid and low latitudes under electromagnetic forcing of ionized air.
Weakening of the polar vortexes curtails the flow of ionized nitrogen into the upper stratosphere allowing the survival of oxygen ions and increased ozone formation.
Intermixing of ozone into the upper troposphere raises temperature in the ice cloud zone. Ice crystals evaporate.
More solar radiation reaches the surface which warms.
In the southern hemisphere 200hpa temperature rises much more than in the northern hemisphere exhibiting strong equinoctial maxima.
Peak anomalies in stratospheric temperature occur in September-October rather than March.
A southern spring deficit in ice cloud density promotes warming across all southern latitudes which promotes the El Nino pattern of sea surface temperature at the equator.
The Cooling Mode
Surface atmospheric pressure increases at the poles as the electromagnetic force in the ionosphere/thermosphere relaxes. This happens at solar minimum as the quantum of ionizing radiation falls to its lowest levels. It also tends to happen at solar maximum as the suns magnetic polarity reverses and magnetic fields emanating from the sun tend to be self cancelling. The manifestation in the Pacific Ocean is La Nina cooling.
Strengthening of the polar vortexes introduces ionized nitrogen into the stratosphere reducing the population of oxygen ions and ozone.
A loss of ozone in the ice cloud zone reduces temperature enhancing the formation of reflective ice crystals.
Less solar radiation reaches the surface which cools.
A generally low ozone level in the stratosphere results in high amplitude change in stratospheric temperature during the ENSO cycle. This is expressed in high amplitude variation in 20hpa temperature at the equator. At the surface the swing from El Nino warming to La Nina cooling is more violent and extreme.
Change is more extreme in the southern hemisphere where the polar vortex is generally cooler especially at the highest altitudes. In the cool mode stratospheric temperature exhibits a March maximum probably in line with enhancement of orbital rather than geomagnetic influences on stratospheric temperature. The earth is closest to the sun in January.
A cooler stratosphere and upper troposphere in southern spring promotes ice cloud formation reducing the flux of solar radiation to the surface establishing a La Nina dominant regime in the Pacific Ocean.
The pattern of change from the cool to the warm mode and back again is well expressed in figure 22 showing the pattern of change of the (Darwin ?Tahiti) Southern Oscillation Index when compartmentalized according to solar cycle time intervals. A fall in this index represents warming. A dramatic fall in the index occurred about 1978. With the end of solar cycle 23 the globe is emerging from the strongest period of warming in the period of the instrumental record. The Southern Oscillation Index, based on barometric pressure, is not affected by the distortions present in the temperature record.
The smoking gun for natural climate variation is an increase in the temperature of the southern stratosphere and troposphere increasing with latitude all the way to the southern pole with a marked variation in southern hemisphere temperature in winter/spring between cool and warm episodes. This determines the strength of El Nino warming events across the tropics.
The smoking gun for greenhouse effects should be a generalized warming at all latitudes without any marked seasonal bias. If there were to be a seasonal bias it should be present as an increase in temperature above the norm when outgoing long wave radiation is maximal in the summer season. There should be no great difference between the hemispheres. That is far from what is actually observed. The evidence suggests that natural variation rather than anthropogenic influences drives climate change.
Continue reading "The real climate engine"
That's a question She Who Must Be Obeyed asked me. Well, here's one.
I do not think it's an issue that lots of people are fired up about. The chanting part is amusing. "Communism" - "Now!" Also, "What do we want?" - "Free stuff." "When do we want it?" - "Now!"
Best books on etiquette
Nyquist: Thucydides in the Underworld
How ed schools have destroyed American math skills
The teacher glut
Moon ice and spin ice
Spiro Agnew was right (h/t somebody)
Related: Time and Newsweek
The liberal Church of Medical Insurance
Krugman:
Washington is caught up in deficit phobia, and there doesn’t seem to be any chance of getting a big enough push.
That’s why, at this point, I’m turning to what I understand perfectly well to be a third-best solution: subsidizing jobs and promoting work-sharing.
Amazing: Times snarks Palin with statements that better apply to the O.
Peter Schiff:
"We're not going to solve the economic problems until we get rid of people like Chris Dodd. As long as Dodd is in there writing regulation, the economy is never going to recover, and more and more people are going to lose their jobs"
From Rick Moran's Why America needs a shrink:
Whither government in America, ask the people? How much should we allow it to do for us without losing something essential that makes us who we are? Are we really all that different of a people from everyone else on the planet? Is there an identifiable “American character” that sets us apart?
Our ancestors certainly thought so. Alexis de Tocqueville agreed. Indeed, it may be out of fashion to talk about the basis of our Constitution, but if we ever forget the idea that all power flows from the consent of the governed and not the other way around, we are doomed to suffer a significant loss of personal freedom simply because government can do pretty much whatever it chooses to do unless the people withhold their consent. There hasn’t been a lot of that these last 40 years and government’s ravenous appetite to do what all governments, once created, and regardless of who is in charge, seek to do - control - has gotten out of hand.
This despite the best of intentions of government’s major cheerleaders, and their belief that society can be perfected with the application of the principles of social science; seek out root causes of society’s problems and address them.
History began in 2009
Obamacare is looking iffy in the Senate
Mark 13:1-8
13:1 As he came out of the temple,
one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what large stones and what
large buildings!"
13:2 Then Jesus asked him, "Do you see these great
buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown
down."
13:3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the
temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately,
13:4 "Tell
us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about
to be accomplished?"
13:5 Then Jesus began to say to them, "Beware that
no one leads you astray.
13:6 Many will come in my name and say, 'I am
he!' and they will lead many astray.
13:7 When you hear of wars and
rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to
come.
13:8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines.
This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.
Saturday, November 14. 2009
From Coyote:
Over the last year the Congress and Administration have:
- Printed trillions of dollars of new money, raising the risk of future inflation
- Borrowed trillions of dollars, sucking capital out of private lending markets
- Run up deficits that pretty much guarantee future tax increases
- Toyed with health care bills that will substantially increase the cost of labor
- Toyed with climate bills that will substantially increase the cost of fuel and electricity
- Demagogued industries with average to below-average profitability
for making obscene profits that must be reduced (e.g. health insurance
companies who make 3-4% of sales)
- Taken over whole industries (autos, banks) and run them to the
benefit of favored political constituencies, even when it violates the
law (e.g. trashing for secured creditors of auto companies in favor of
the UAW).
- Demonstrated a disdain for money-making by imposing populist
compensation limits on executives of out-of-favor companies and
industries.
- Spent money in the stimulus mainly to add government jobs, every
one of which is generally focused on making my life running a business
harder. If you do not understand or believe this, you have not run a
business that employs people.
- Shown a general philosophic hostility towards markets and capitalism
 An uplifting piece about freedom at American Thinker.
Even freedom of food is easy to lose and difficult to regain.
Lots of folks around the world like to eat McD's when they are hungry. I do not care for it much (I like Subway for on-the-road fast food if there is no local seafood or redneck joint in view), but what does what I like have to do with anything - except me?
I do not give a darn what other people eat. Food has become a fetish for some people. (For the French and the Italians, I will make excuses, however.)
If you were dismayed by those photos of the O not responding to the flag on Veteran's Day, (but had no problem with bowing - which is neither proper protocol nor American, to the Saudi Prince or, yesterday, to the Emperor of Japan - see Why is this man bowing?), then figure out these photos of the O in a Mao jacket from today or yesterday.
Good grief. Never thought I'd see the day that an American Pres would put on a Mao jacket. It sends a peculiar message. I would wear a tutu before I'd put on one of those - except maybe for Halloween.
(Re the bows, there was a time when gentlemen's bowing to eachother in America was a sign of respect, but it was replaced more than 100 years ago by the more dignified handshake. A bow is basically a symbol of submission.)
If somebody wants to run against the O, it would not be hard to put together a disturbing photo montage of a person who seems to respect any nation more highly than his own.
Neither Russia nor China, nor Iran, nor other hostile countries are comfortable with the dominance of world power held by the United States. They are independently and together working assiduously to neuter the US’ sway in the world. President Obama is helping them.
Russia is reasserting its influence over Eastern Europe, and over Western Europe via controlling its gas supplies. China is vigorously exercising mercantilist capitalism to rapidly build its economy and impoverish the West’s, locking up supplies of vital raw materials resources around the world, while racing ahead to build an ocean navy that includes aircraft carrier extensions of power throughout the globe. Iran is steadfast on attaining nuclear power and weaponry, which can reach Europe and will reach farther. Nuclear knowhow and development aid is shared with and by North Korea and Pakistan, purveyors to other countries. Venezuela, launch pad for subversion in Latin America, is to obtain nuclear assistance from Iran that will increase its sway and threat. Russia and China have used their veto seats on the UN Security Council to hamstring strong measures to slow or stop Iran’s imminent step into the nuclear power ring.
Arab states never really worried about Israel’s nuclear deterrence because Israel may be a convenient whipping boy but is not an aggressive power, so there was no need to build Arab nuclear counters. But, now, Arab states are seeing a need to build their own nuclear deterrence to Iran’s aggressive policies toward them. Nuclear proliferation within unstable nations that themselves may proliferate or where their technologies may fall into the hands of murderous extremists is spreading dangerously and rapidly. The ones to benefit are Russia, China and Iran, as the US’ deterrence is weakened and the US’ political and economic strength directly and relatively reduced.
Investors Daily lays out one scenario, a nuclear attack within the US: “For a superpower to be found so exposed to risk from a small group of fanatics might be too much to bear. And who would fill the vacuum? Which would become the new superpowers? Regimes that have proved unafraid to be ruthless to their own people, never mind their enemies?”
It need not even go that far. The Bush administration was not as stalwart as it could have been in facing these emerging new world orderers, but it tried. The Obama administration, by dangerous contrast, in its dithering, its weakened resolve to confront, its self-abandonment of deterrence and direct counters, is actually encouraging, in result aiding, the hastening of the new hostile, dangerous to the US, world order that will favor international thugs in Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, Pyongyang, Caracas, and a lengthening list of other capitals. Obama’s actions harming allies, while favoring or bowing before enemies, are part of this self-isolation, self-neuterization by the US within the world.
It is an interesting subject for debate whether this Obama self-defeat march comes from ideology or from incompetence or from ignorance, or their relative proportions. The consequences are the same: the neutering of the US, and possibly the day when one or more of our cities, and thus our economy, lays in ruins, topped by our bankruptcy from Obama economic policies and legislation.
Be afraid. Be very afraid. Be aware, and more determined than ever to slow and halt this self-destruction in the elections of 2010 and 2012. Start by demanding that potential Republican challengers are informed and resolute, and don’t ignore the saner Democrats. We’re all in this together.
Editor's comment: As Kudlow says, this is just one part of the administration's larger defeatist, declinist approach to everything: economics, trade, business, the military, international affairs, American values, American world leadership, etc. A deliberate attempt to downsize, if not damage, America. I think the O believes in himself - but not in us.
President Oba Mao heads to China. Do they still like Mao over there? If so, why? I thought they had evolved past authoritarian hero-worship.
Photo below via Flopping, who provides the quote:
Hey, Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General
Motors. Comrade Obama! Fidel, careful or we are going to end up to his
right,”
- Venezuelan “president” Hugo
Chavez
 CUNY students can't do math. You would think the SAT would have made that clear.
Newt Gingrich: The job-killing president and Congress
Climate change bill to back burner. I think it's dead. Or frozen.
Jesus the Capitalist? I do not think that He spent a lot of time on politics. His agenda had to do with higher matters. I did learn the word eisegesis from the article.
I Really Need To Stop Watching The Main Stream Media Because My Face Will Freeze Like This h/t, Riehl
England gone mad: Jail time for turning in gun to cops
Thompson: Careful, dear readers. That’s the white heat of insight.
Why Compel Young Adults to Buy Health Insurance They Don't Need and Don't Want?
The Audacity of Extremism:
The Audacity of Obama is a
front, and it's starting to crumble. America's endurance is in our
people, the tens of millions who remember our history -- not the phony
history that the vulgar Marxists are now peddling all over the schools.
The conservative media are beginning to seize the national narrative
again. All we need to do is to tell the truth over and over, every
single chance we get.
Andy McCarthy via Michelle on the notion of giving Khalid Sheik Mohammed a civilian trial:
We are now going to have a trial that never had to happen for
defendants who have no defense. And when defendants have no defense for
their own actions, there is only one thing for their lawyers to do: put
the government on trial in hopes of getting the jury (and the media)
spun up over government errors, abuses and incompetence. That is what
is going to happen in the trial of KSM et al. It will be a soapbox for
al-Qaeda’s case against America. Since that will be their “defense,”
the defendants will demand every bit of information they can get about
interrogations, renditions, secret prisons, undercover operations
targeting Muslims and mosques, etc., and — depending on what judge
catches the case — they are likely to be given a lot of it. The
administration will be able to claim that the judge, not the
administration, is responsible for the exposure of our defense secrets.
And the circus will be played out for all to see — in the middle of the
war. It will provide endless fodder for the transnational Left to press
its case that actions taken in America’s defense are violations of
international law that must be addressed by foreign courts. And the
intelligence bounty will make our enemies more efficient at killing us.
Related, as Dino says, "As the man said, it really is impossible to caricature this administration." (That's from a cool site which is new to us: Baseball Crank)
 When you sit in the blind awaiting the flight
of the white-breasted northern sprig,
while they circle high and think to light,
and they look so close and big,
you whisper your pard, and you both crouch low,
"Now - don't wait too long!"
You shoot - too far - and off they go.
Whatever you do is wrong!
Then you curse yourself for a fool greenhorn,
your pride has had a blow:
sullen you sit and smoke and mourn
when in comes a bunch - fair low!
You watch them circle round and round
"Just let them work along!"
When off they swing, southward bound.
Whatever you do is wrong.
And so, through life, a poor wretch tries
to do what he thinks is right,
to place his funds so that when he dies
his family'll be sitting tight;
to raise the young with the best in mind
and sometimes it works like a song,
but often he finds like the man in the blind,
whatever you do is wrong.
Still I think that God who sits in His sky
and watches each man in his blind,
when it comes time for the hunter to die,
surely He'll keep in mind
that each one tried to do what he ought,
and He'll put us where we belong;
for He'll understand that fellow who thought
whatever he did was wrong.
Author unknown, as far as I know.
Image: Wood Ducks by Peter Maas
Friday, November 13. 2009
Government planning, via Marginal:
China's empty city
(of the day). YouTube. At about 1:20 you will see that a city built
for one million residents remains empty, a' la Austro-Chinese business
cycle theory. "Ordos was a government idea, an infrastructure project
taken to its limits, the motivation was likely gdp..." -- can you
get better than that? After the first minute or so the video
is stunning.
From The American, seven interesting, inexpensive market-based sorts of medical services that are in operation today. Some good tips in there, including the $4 prescriptions.
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