Sunday, August 8. 2010
Do you like him any better now?
No?
Then you're not a racist.
Driscoll: The ‘Diversity Economy’ and its DC Discontents. One quote:
...you can’t successfully govern when you’re trying to regulate the bejesus out of such a diverse 21st century economy. If you’re not already in a recession, the odds are very high you will be soon. Particularly when you’re also attempting to go Barack to the Future with a 1930s through 1960s-style command and control governing style that attempts a return to corporatism, and has enough hubris to imagine that it’s possible to run a wildly decentralized, demassified economy out of Washington DC.
I agree that our ruling classes are living in the 1930s.
Well, it was another busy week in American politics.
Saturday, August 7. 2010
 From Belmont, civilian casualties in the Pacific (h/t Tiger):
Hiroshima 70,000–80,000
Battle of Manila 100,000
Nanjing 300,000
Comparing the O with Lyndon Johnson. Daily Beast
Why they are calling her Michelle Antoinette
Global Warming, R.I.P
Observing increasing CO2 levels and increasing temperatures, scientists assumed that the former must have caused the latter. How did the warmers know that it wasn't the other way around, and that higher temperatures caused higher CO2 concentrations? Or how did the warmers know that there wasn't another process, a naturally occurring one, that caused the temperature rise, with increasing CO2 just along for the ride? Answer: They didn't, because they never bothered to look.
Via Reb
Something is going very wrong in Mexico to prompt more than half a million of its citizens to cross the border illegally each year. Impoverished Mexican nationals variously cite poor economic conditions back home, government corruption, a lack of social services, and racism. In other words, it is not just the desirability of America but also the perceived undesirability of Mexico that explains one of largest mass exoduses in modern history.
But why, then, would Mexican President Felipe Calderon, whose country's conditions are forcing out its own citizens, criticize the United States, which is receiving so many of them? And why, for that matter, would many of those illegal immigrants identify, if only symbolically, with the country that made them leave, whether by waving its flag or criticizing the attitudes of the Americans who took them in?
Dino:
With 20% of prime age men without jobs, you’d think that the chief executive of the United States and his team would be all over the problem.
The list of things to do is rather obvious...
At Wizbang:
"It's not illegal" isn't a defense, it's a confession."
What Do Judge Walker and Justice Kennedy Have in Common?
A Fine Argument for Gay Marriage, but a Flawed Legal Opinion
Economy Stalls as Obama's Economic 'Dream Team' Hits the Skids
Intolerance of diversity: Attacks on black Conservatives
Governments seem to have forgotten that picking industrial winners nearly always fails
Dean: Individual Mandate Will Be Gone by 2014
Why the same-sex marriage ruling will stand.
Harsanyi:
...isn't it about time we freed marriage from the state?
Friday, August 6. 2010
The big cheerful news of today is 131,000 jobs lost, and slowing economic expansion. Says the WSJ:
"It still feels like a recession," Jay Feldman, economist at Credit Suisse, wrote in a note. He pointed out that private jobs are still down 0.3% compared with 13 months ago, when the economy started to grow again. By contrast, private jobs were up by 3.5% on average in the job market recoveries of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
I visited my dentist this afternoon, and he admitted to me that business was terrible. People are putting everything off.
 I wasn't surprised by that, but he told me something interesting: the dentists are offering Botox, lip plumping, and wrinkle injections now (Juvaderm, collagen, etc). He said they take a several-day course on weekends, take an exam, get a certificate, then have their receptionist ask "Would you like to consider some of our new services?"
"You can get a brand new smile."
He told me they do it for half of what the dermatologists charge around here for the same thing (the latter of which is around $1000 for a basic Botox routine).
Yes, "It still feels like a recession."
The only thing about this lengthy recession ( an ongoing recession for which, at this point, I blame federal government policies and plans) which brings a smile is the significant deflation in the price of good hand-made cigars.
Climategate review: Jaworski from December: Climate Gate – Global Warming The Myth: CO2 The Greatest Scientific Scandal of Our Time. Scathing.
How Chavez does it: Welcome to Censorship in the 21st Century
Morris: THE COMING CATASTROPHE: STATE GOVERNMENTS
Is this hyperbole? Google-Verizon Deal: The End of The Internet as We Know It
Q&O: Jobless claims “unexpectedly” rise
It's back: The Return of the $1,000 Down Mortgage
70% of the births at Dallas' Parkland Hospital are to illegals. Parkland makes a profit on that, via Medicaid. We are paying those bills. h/t NRO
Chicago Boyz asks:
Why does the Ruling Class, using Codevilla’s term, have such strong cultural confidence? And what can we do to undermine it?
Prof Bainbridge's post on Conservative style attracted much commentary. From Tom Smith's post:
...take Sarah Palin, who graduated from the University of Idaho, whose alma mater was sung at my father's funeral, so don't neg the U of I around me. She's not as well educated as Michelle Obama. She's not as well educated as a President or Vice President should be. But had she gone to Harvard Law her ideas about the constitution would be a lot less sound than they happen to be. That is what we have come to.
More on that from Insty.
And from AVI
Thursday, August 5. 2010
Without my normal, being long-winded, I say ditto to this on "gay marriage."
(HT: HotAir)
Related at Legal Ins: Deconstructing marriage
You can get almost anything at Costco
Hard Drinkers, Meet Soft Science
Home Alone
Lessons from Ma Bell
Michelle: Mad Maxine’s minority fat-cat bankers
Insty: Is higher ed a waste of money?
Driscoll: Paranoia, Short-Term Thinking, and the Ongoing Media Death Spiral
Sowell: Democrats Bite Democrats: Part II
WSJ: Liberal Piety and the Memory of 9/11
What was that movie where they handicapped everybody? Universities That Use Kindles vs. the ADA
Missouri's Prop C will be ignored. McCaskill: Message received (that the voters don't get it). Says Brewton:
If the practical effects of this conflict between state and federal law are likely to be limited, more importantly, Missouri’s vote revealed once again that the country is still aghast over President Obama’s health-care presumption. Earlier this week, the Congressional Research Service reported that the new bureaucracy the bill created is so complex and indiscriminate that its size is “currently unknowable.” Capitol Hill’s independent policy arm added that among “the dozens of new governmental organizations or advisory bodies,” it is “impossible to know how much influence they will ultimately have.”
No wonder Missourians rebelled, as with voters in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Virginia last year. There will be more such what-have-they-done ObamaCare moments. Wait until the public discovers the government is now literally determining what qualifies as “health care” in America.
Fighting the union for school innovaton
Am Thinker: The Revolt of the States. It's about time.
GOP aims for House seats in New England
Wednesday, August 4. 2010
Why is this? Why is desiring Constitutional government anti-black and anti-brown people? (toon is h/t Lucianne)
My view is that the assumption that people with more skin pigmentation cannot make a decent life in America without government hand-outs and special favors is insulting, condescending, racist - and simply untrue.
Am I a racist for saying this? America has tons more white folks on the various government doles than folks of color. I'd like to see them all get their act together, regardless of pigmentation. America is the least color-conscious nation on the planet. Nobody here cares about that, anymore (except for the race-mongers who still try to make careers out of it).
Several Republican US Senators are now supporting hearings into whether there should be a Constitutional amendment restricting birthright citizenship, anyone born on US soil is a US citizen.
There’s some electoral opportunism there as well as recognition that most Americans want more restrictions on illegal immigration.
About a fourth to a third of illegal immigrants in the US are parents of children born here. In some localities, the majority of births are to illegal immigrants, many of them coming into the US specifically for that purpose. Although by laws these parents are denied most governmental benefits, they are permitted to stay to care for their children, and many do work illegally. The children may petition for legal entry of other family members.
There is no legal doubt that the US has the complete right to govern entry and citizenship. There is doubt as to whether the post-Civil War 14th Amendment, aimed at the citizenship of former slaves, intended to allow the birthright citizenship that we see today. Advocates of restriction cite the statement of a co-sponsor of the 14th. However, the language of the 14th has been interpreted in various ways by scholars and politicians over the next years and century-and-a-half. There are some peripheral court cases but the US Supreme Court has not specifically weighed in.
At this point, it seems that only a well-drafted Constitutional amendment would be able to restrict birthright citizenship. Surely there would be majority consensus to do so, requiring at least one parent to already be a citizen.
However, there are implications that must be considered. Should such children already here be allowed to retain citizenship? I’d guess yes. Should their parents be allowed to stay? I’d guess yes, with a path to citizenship. Should the children of legal entrants who have not yet become citizens be automatically granted citizenship? I’d guess not, at least until the parents have qualified and the children too. Some may consider that rewarding past behavior, and it is, but in a grand bargain and out of compassion, I’d guess there’d be the overwhelming support required for a Constitutional amendment.
I’d suggest the language can be as simple as “Only a child born of at least one US citizen will be a US citizen. All others are subject to US laws of entry, residence and citizenship.”
Yes, there will be resistance from those who want virtually open borders and those who benefit from hiring illegals, and from politicians whose constituency is such, but they are a minority and have little or no legal basis. There are valid emotional appeals to our past and to compassionate values but they, if not a purposeful distraction, are a recipe for enlarging the problems. Our past did not have the current practical burdens upon citizens or entrants.
As strong border controls are essential to reducing illegal entry, so are removing incentives to illegal entry or staying. Uneducated illegal entrants are the main problem in net costs to our economy and government budgets. The US has need of some, and some are or will become or their offspring become net contributors. But, not as many as once or now or in the future. A Constitutional amendment to restrict birthright citizenship directly deals with a substantial part of the problem in a reasonable, cost-effective and widely-supported way.
UPDATE: According to the respected PEW Research Center's Hispanic Center, there are over 4-million children in the US of illegal immigrants, and they make up 8% of the US birthrate.
 Everything about dating blunders. h/t, Linkiest
More on The Higher Education Bubble
Related: Colleges Serve the People Who Work There, Not the Students
Update on Open Water At The North Pole
Brilliant: Police: Officer Baited In Altercation That Injured Him. Cop goes to black church to discuss public safety, is ambushed. Doubt he will volunteer to help those folks in future.
The folly of banning online gambling. Gambling is legal: see "stock market" and "Las Vegas" and "race tracks" and "football pools" and "Indian casinos."
With Dems in Hot Seat, the Times Undergoes a Sudden, Cynical Softening on Ethics Charges
Lowry: "If you want to find a grown-up in government, don’t look in the Oval Office or the Capitol. Look in the statehouses of New Jersey and Indiana."
Breitbart: I Got My Correction Thanks to the The New York Times — Now Who’s Next?
Princess Robin of Berkeley: My mate is sleeping with the enemy
Voegli:
(The) tactile aspect of liberalism is the one that causes so many conservatives to pound their heads on the table in frustration. I refer to the moist-eyed, quivering-voiced, morally preening affirmation of the tautology that when the government gives people stuff, the people it gives stuff to wind up with more stuff than they had before the government started giving them stuff. After they calm down, conservatives say, “Fine. Stipulated: Benefits are (or at least can be) beneficial. Now, can we please talk about how we’re going to pay for all these programs? And how we’re going to make sure that the Santa Clausification of American government does not transform us from a republic of free and equal citizens into a nursery of wardens and wards?
The 100 worst stimulus projects
Instead of arresting the guy, I'd hire him to work in the ER
Is it greedy to want to make money? Were the 80s the Decade of Envy instead?
Last I heard, envy was a deadly sin. Last I heard, wanting to make an honest living and to be productive was a basic adult responsibility. Greed, also one of the 7 deadlies, is "an insatiable desire for wealth." It's a sin because it makes an idol of wealth, replacing God.
Government cannot run something this big and important and complex: Rethinking Socialized Medicine In Canada
Related: America's first vote on Obamacare
Related: Folks with Medicare are already beginning to feel the changes. Soon, the rest of us: Wave of Health Reform Provisions Coming Next Month.
By forcing insurance to cover things we do not want and do not need, in ways that are not sensible for us, they will drive up prices with the goal of putting all of us on a one-size-fits-all government plan. And what's this about covering your kids until they are 26? That's insane. Why not until they're 40, when real adulthood begins nowadays (if it ever does)?
From Betsy:
When civil-rights groups such as the NAACP and National Urban League come out condemning charter schools, you know that they have decided to fall down on the side of the teachers rather than the students. As Paul E. Peterson and Martin R. West of Harvard point out, many charter schools serve minority populations and are increasingly popular among minorities. These organizations are ignoring the needs of the families who are crying out to get their children in the charter schools and out of the regular public schools.
The Other McCain:
“Everyone must come to grips with and make sense of their own failures. Excuse-making, blame-shifting, scapegoating — ‘It wasn’t my fault!’ — prevents us from learning the lessons of our failures. . . . Persistently attempting to externalize blame for our own failures is a recipe for moral disaster.”
Tuesday, August 3. 2010
Douglass at Am Thinker spells out the details. It is rather amusing. Krugman was once an economist, but has been a political hack for years. One quote from the piece:
Paul Krugman has spent his career as a pundit advocating that government bureaucrats and political process replace markets. He knows that there is a large literature that says that this is a bad idea. That literature is transparently relevant to Krugman's only policy proposal. And yet Krugman has not read it...and admits that he has not read it, without embarrassment.
By July, Krugman had lost his "Battle of the Blog." On July 23, Latrina commented, "Who is this Sean from Florida? He takes everything that [the] Professor [says] and shreds it, piece by piece. He shouldn't be allowed to post his comments on this blog since he seems to be winning all the debates. We progressives need to stick together and embellish our talking points without someone from the outside pointing out fallacies in our ideology."
Bingo.
City Journal: What Social Science Does—and Doesn’t—Know. Our scientific ignorance of the human condition remains profound.
No Big Bang: A new model of the cosmos. h/t, Vanderleun
When The Government Owns GM… the other auto-makers are not going to be treated very fairly.
Challenge to Health Care Law Advances
State and Local Debt Bombs Ticking Throughout US Heartland. Beware of muni bond funds.
Via Thompson:
And then there’s the leftwing think-tank, the New Economics Foundation, whose Head of Social Policy, Anna Coote, tells us we would become “better parents, better citizens, better carers and better neighbours” if only our incomes were dramatically reduced. “We,” she says, will be “satisfied” without the “dispensable accoutrements of middle-class life,” including “cars, holidays, electronic equipment and multiple items of clothing.” The preferences of the British electorate – whose taxes fund the NEF - don’t figure in this brave new world and the NEF’s deep thinkers simply know what’s best for us. What’s best for us is “introducing measures to reduce the gradient between high and low earners,” “growing our own food,” and “mending and repairing things.”
Top Ten Most Left-Biased Working Journalists
The Secret History of Climate Alarmism. It's about German politics.
At Volokh: Philipson and Posner on the Causes of Obesity. Some of the comments there are very good.
Ace on Paul Ryan's Roadmap:
I honestly would be in favor of the conservative bait and switch in '12 and pay the price in '14 if we got anywhere near the results the Democrats have gotten in the last year and a half. Somehow though, the Republicans never seem to pull the trigger.
Rep. Pete Stark: Federal Government Can Do Most Anything:
Has this guy ever read the Constitution? Didn't he have to swear to uphold it? People like this are dangerous.
Q&O: Bush tax cuts – it’s not your money, so quit whining
David Stockman on the debt: Four Deformations of the Apocalypse. He wants a tax hike. Kudlow .takes on Stockman
Monday, August 2. 2010
Tiger takes a walk on the High Line
Women 'view modesty as sign of weakness'
The WaPo doesn't get it
Report: Connecticut No. 2 In Unfunded Pension Liability
ADA update:
In recent months a New Jersey jury ordered a rheumatologist to pay $400,000 for not providing a deaf patient with a sign language interpreter at his own expense...
Related: Jury Damage Award Could Close Calif. Healthcare Facilities
Megatool Prince Charles Declares He's Here to Save the Planet or Something
The Ruling Class Tosses Americans Overboard
Young Illegals Out Themselves, Daring To Be Deported
Americans Cut Back On Visits To Doctor
Alcohol Use Now at 25-Year High
Palin: Obama lacks 'the cojones' to tackle immigration
Michelle: Summer of Corruption: Maxine Waters/OneUnited Bank refresher course\
The yacht vs. the pickup truck - Democrats are now the party of perceived privilege, and GOP is the party of the people
Related: the story of two weddings. Also related: Dems are the party of the rich
Surber: It was not a stimulus. It was a raid on the Treasury
Powerline:
That's what happens under government medicine. Political considerations are substituted for medical judgment, and over time many doctors and nurses, government employees all, come to view their patients much as postal employees view the letters and packages they sort. With no competition, patients have no choices, and the quality of care steadily erodes even as the price--like the price of everything run by government--rises.
Gateway: It’s Back: Public Option Again Rears It’s Ugly Head
Can Rubio win?
NYT Blogger Who Knocked Fox News' Audience Diversity Has the Same Problem
Something we can learn from Cuba:
After the crash of the former Soviet bloc, Cuba's cash-strapped government in the 1990s approved a wide range of self-employment. Positions such as beauticians, dog groomers, small restaurant owners and even lighter refillers were legalized as long as workers got licenses and paid taxes.
But social resentment emerged as an issue when some workers, particularly in small private restaurants, achieved dramatic levels of success.
The government began increasing taxation and regulation, and decreasing license-granting, until the self-employed sector was largely rendered paralyzed, like the rest of the economy.
Sunday, August 1. 2010
FBI Files Reveal Historian Howard Zinn Lied to Hide CPUSA Membership. Who is surprised? This America-hater made many millions, and led a cushy life in freedom on his fashionable America-hating. The only good thing about Zinn is that he loved Wellfleet, which fortunately was never in the Soviet Union.
Malanga: Government dietary advice often proves disastrous. As we have repeatedly said here, nobody knows what an optimal diet is, and definitions of "healthy eating" change constantly. It's a field full of fads, and full of cranks with the delusion that they know what's best for you. At Maggie's Farm, we have been thriving on Thai Noodle Soup (the hot version) this summer. Eat your Bok Choy! Scientists say it's good for you!
Vanderleun on poetry. We like poems.
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