Friday, June 25. 2010
 Does he even exist?
If so, does he sleep, or is he like a shark on the prowl 24 hrs/day? Does he really have a day job as he claims? Or is he a Potemkin Reynolds, with many anonymous folks posting under his name? (Anybody can imitate his style: just be dry, wry and pithy, throw in the random link to Popular Gizmotology or some camera you don't need, or whatever, and end with the occasional "Heh.")
Enquiring minds want to know.
Sample of two fine links from the supposed "Glenn Reynolds" this morning:
and this:
MARK HEMINGWAY: House ’shreds our constitution for raw, ugly, partisan gain’ by vote of 219-206. “So unions now get nearly unrestricted, undisclosed political spending. Further, the restrictions in the DISCLOSE Act only cut one way — against business. If you took TARP funds as a business, express political advocacy is now verboten. So GM has very limited first amendment rights, but even though arguably primary beneficiary of the auto bailout was the United Auto Workers union which got government guaranteed billions directly as a result of the TARP funding — UAW can spend almost whatever it pleases, and it has a history of spending millions on Democratic campaigns. Further, under the DISCLOSE Act if a company has more than $7 million in government contracts, it has no right to political speech. But public sector unions can spend millions of recycled tax dollars campaigning for Democrats, no problem.”
Image is a cardboard cutout of "Glenn Reynolds" in his usual carefully-selected dorky salesman-for-industrial-air-conditioning-parts-business outfit, at some sort of phony staged meeting with a Bob Dylan or Elvis Costello wanna-be. No, we are never jealous or envious at all of the traffic and popularity of others. We are PURE of heart and soul! Aren't you?
"The Liberals, with their emphasis on collectivism and conformity, and their willingness to use compulsion to achieve their ends, are actually suggesting a course of action which thoughtful men have rejected throughout history. The reason man must be treated as an individual is because he has an individual immortal soul. Thus, his freedom comes from God -- as do all of his rights. In the scheme of things, government's only proper role is in the protection of man's God-given freedoms and rights." [All emphases again are -----'s own.]
Answer below the fold -
Continue reading "Who said this?"
 The Queen showed up at Wimbledon yesterday with her entourage, headed for the royal box to which the players bow or curtsy.
The immigrant security guard at the gate failed to recognize the old gal with the big hat, and asked for her entry badge.
The old lady replied:
Continue reading "The Queen"
The guy who lost to Christie in the primary goes after Gov. Christie. I don't know enough about NJ politics to form an opinion. All I know is that I like the way Christie talks.
 World's biggest dinosaur graveyard found in Canada. h/t, Reb
No trust: Sinking Ship Of State
How the Left thinks today: World Purification
McCarthy: What are we doing in Afghanistan?
Coyote: Take a look at my tax forms
High court sides with ex-Enron CEO Skilling. Related from Steyn: A SCOTUS Win For Conrad Black?
Shocker. Employers Say Dem’s Policies Are Hostile to Job Growth
MoveOn Scrubs “General Betray Us” Page From Website
How Dems view Repub refusal to pass "Tax Extender" bill
48% See Government Today As A Threat to Individual Rights. h/t Insty
Pajamas: ObamaCare: Get Ready for the Mother of All Epic Fails, More money for less value. That's the story of big government.
The problem with Harvard folks in government. Nobody can teach wisdom, but arrogance is easily conveyed.
neoneo: Harry and Nancy’s Last Stand. Think cap and trade and other unpopular bills are dead? Think again, no matter who wins at the ballot box in November.
From Rove:
A Public Policy Poll earlier this month reported that 48% said an Obama endorsement would make them less likely to vote for the candidate receiving it, while only one-third said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate endorsed by the president.
Thursday, June 24. 2010
COIN, the abbreviation for counterinsurgency operations, is hotly debated as applied in Afghanistan.
Those most blindly in favor on the Left think it a way to be nice and avoid many of the harshnesses of war. Others think it’s a way to make foes like us and avoid creating more foes.
Those most angrily critical are either conservatives, experienced in war, or those whose lives are actually at risk on the front lines.
They are all partly correct, that far. Where many go off the rails is in not understanding what COIN actually is, or in taking it to absurd or counter-productive excess, and in not confronting the quagmire of Obama and his chosen meddlers.
Let’s re-visit the US entry in large numbers into Vietnam.
Continue reading "COIN, Shmoin. Obama Is The Problem"
From The Big Picture on the last few years:
Following the 2,000 Dot Com crash, then Fed Chair Alan Greenspan brought Fed Funds rates down to ultra-low levels. Under 2% for 3 years, and 1% for more than a year.
Rates this low — and for that long — were simply unprecedented. They wreaked havoc with the traditional fixed income market. Bond managers scrambled for yield, and found it in investment grade, triple A rated residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). This better interest rate was created by securitizing mortgages with an unhealthy slug of higher yielding, riskier, sub-prime mortgages.
The demand for RMBS paper was nearly insatiable. Wall Street sucked up as much sub-prime paper as could be legitimately, then illegitimately produced. Lend-to-securitize-nonbank mortgage writers responded to the demand by abdicating traditional lending standards. 30 year mortgages were given to people who in no conceivable way could afford them. The hope was a non-default over the warranty period of the mortgage, typically 90 or 180 days.
The Greenspan Fed, in charge of supervising financial lending institutions, looked the other way.
The net result of this was a credit bubble and a housing boom. (A true housing bubble formed only in a handful of places). The credit bubble allowed 10s of millions of Americans to become, albeit temporarily, home owners.
In 1992, some 4 million homes per year were being purchased. A decade later, that number had risen 25% to 5 million. A mere 3 years later, annual sales were 7 million units — a 40% increase. From 2002 to 2007, the abdication of lending standards — who cares about credit scores, incomes, debt load, assets, even job! — created millions of new homeowners. And thanks to the ultra low rates, prices had exploded. The combination of brand new, unsophisticated buyers and rapidly rising prices was a dangerous combination.
Buyers of limited financial means who en masse overpaid for their houses at ultra low rates was a recipe for disaster. The Fed began its cyclical tightening, price appreciation slowed, then reversed. Sales plummeted, and prices fell. Five million of those buyers were foreclosed upon, with another 5 million likely to come.
Which more or less brings you up to date.
 Who is surprised?
A new study by the National Association of Scholars has found that 70 percent of the summer reading books assigned to incoming college freshmen in the U.S. show a liberal bias and are not academically challenging, setting off a storm of debate in educational circles.
From our News Junkie this morning:
Dems say they need more of our money so they can give us more free shit we don't want. Hoyer on middle class tax hike
The Insurance Research Council (IRC), of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters, analyzed in Hospital Cost Shifting and Auto Injury Insurance Claims hospitals’ cost shifting from government medical programs onto auto insurance companies.
Based on over 42,000 closed claims from 22 insurers representing 58% of the private passenger auto insurance market in the US, in the 38 states analyzed over $1.2 billion of costs were shifted in 2007 due to low reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid.
That only covers part of the shifting in other states and from other medical coverages.
Add on top of that the severe restrictions on medical care provider charges that are to be imposed by ObamaCare. "It will take months, if not years, to understand the full impact of the reforms on hospital cost shifting and the auto insurance system," said Elizabeth Sprinkel of the IRC.
Pretty soon you’ll see the results in your auto insurance premiums, as ObamaCare drives us off the cliff.
Petraeus or whoever. Is this our job? Even Alexander tried, and many have tried since.
I thought it made some sense to go after an Al Qaida refuge, but building an orderly nation-state in Afghanistan? As they used to say, "You can't shine shit."
We shined a light on Al Qaida and they scattered like cockroaches in a New York kitchen. But now what?
 We're asking about dinner, not lunch. At Maggie's Farm, we are believers in a weekly date night for couples, while recognizing that in some quarters the social and business dinner whirl can be so taxing that ye olde "quiet supper at home" with radio music (or NPR, of course) can be a special treat.
So please tell us in the comments
1. How many times/week do you dine out in restaurants?
2. Does it tend to be with spouse, with friends, with family (or alone)?
3. Does it tend to be fast food burger and pizza joints, or mid-range burger and/or ethnic joints, or places with tablecloths? Or, if an overseas (from the US) reader, what?
Photo is Peter Luger's "Holy Cow." NYC's best steak house, in Williamburg, Brooklyn. A great place to dine out, and not too pricey.
Addendum: Thanks for all of the replies. A real cross-section. I think folks around where I live dine out more than the average. Got room for more responses...
You can kill fetuses, but you cannot sell them
Prager says this book is needed: When Good People Do Bad Things
Men have a tougher time with break-ups than women do
Schumpeter Creative Destruction 101
A century and a half after the first state seceded from the Union, a lively debate over what caused the Civil War continues.
A brief history of populism in America, with reference to Tea Parties
American Scholar: Understanding the concept of geologic time and some basic science can give a new perspective on climate change and the energy future
Re the EU:
When a country — let alone a continent — lacks the bonds of a collective nationhood it is no longer a country, merely a state. Nations forged in war do not necessarily survive peace. Belgium may retain the trappings of sovereignty, a monarch, an army, a customs union and (perhaps) a football team. But taxes and cross-subsidies will only be acceptable within self-governing communities with a shared sense of co-responsibility, not across whole continents.
Ignoring this maxim is what is sorely testing the eurozone and is breaking Belgium.
Nyquist:
More than 25 years ago I attended a Communist meeting on a university campus. I was invited to the meeting by one of my professors, who merely said that if I cared about education in the state of California I should come. At this meeting the future strategy of the Communist Party USA was explained. The speaker said that they were "infiltrating the Democratic Party in order to take it over through its left wing. He spoke of electing a stealth Communist president who would exploit a severe economic downturn in order to promote the nationalization of major industries, like health care or the oil industry. Through this process, the speaker noted, the "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie" would be curtailed and everything would be run like the Post Office. It sounded quite incredible at the time, as Ronald Reagan was president.
India can become 3rd largest economy by 2012
The woman is begging to be borked
Sudden Law School grade inflation
Hennessey digs deep into Krugman's BS
Wrong direction: New-home sales “collapse” in May
Good luck with that:
The country's problems boil down to the Federal government undertaking non-Federal tasks. Disabusing Congress that it should have any interactions with private citizens concerning housing, education, health care and retirement is key to preserving the country.
They are postponing a budget until after the November elections, but Democrats' budget plan: Tax and spend more. Duh.
Related: Dems say they need more of our money so they can give us more free shit we don't want. Hoyer on middle class tax hike
Bolton on Cameron
The US needs fewer education jobs. h/t Doug Ross
George Will is tough here: Word Spill - Our Demosthenes is also Alibi Ike.
This week, with sun trying to burn through.
Wednesday, June 23. 2010
Last April I wrote about the coming explosion of Qui Tam lawsuits against medical providers, due to relaxed standards for bringing such suits making it a happy hunting ground for litigators fishing for financial payoffs.
As if the US didn’t already have enough lawsuits, and as if excess litigation isn’t one of the prime drivers of medical costs, and as if the Democrats didn’t garner 90% of tort lawyers’ contributions, ObamaCare will create a new boom in lawsuits.
At this week’s Healthcare Financial Management Association the healthcare law expert warned of a coming “storm” of lawsuits and quipped, “You'll need to look around your organization and see who looks best in orange [prison clothing color] and pick that person.”
Judge predicted an explosion of new whistle-blower lawsuits because the new law relaxes the requirements for filing such lawsuits under the federal False Claims Act. For example, the new law effectively eliminates the requirement that a plaintiff have direct knowledge of the alleged fraud in order to file suit.
The new law also converts accidental Medicare overpayments to providers into potential false claims, Judge said. She said the law considers an overpayment as fraud if the overpayment isn't identified by the provider and returned to the government within 60 days. Judge said that will require providers to beef up their internal billing systems to detect an overpayment as soon as possible and then send Medicare back its money.
Wonder why litigation reform was excluded from ObamaCare and why tort attorneys eager to make money regardless of increased medical inflation and excess CYA tests are one of Democrats’ largest donor groups?
President Obama chose General Stanley McChrystal as commander in Afghanistan. There can be little doubt that Obama knew that McChrystal voted for him.
Now, McChrystal and staff let the cat out of the bag, that everyone watching knew already: President Obama, VP Joe Biden, National Security Council head Jim Jones, Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, Obama’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, have been actively undermining the war effort through timidity, illusions and interfering with McChrystal, the only proven warrior and COIN expert in the bunch and the only one respected by the Afghanis.
General David Petraeus will now fill in, downgrading Petraeus from chief at CENTCOM with wider responsibilities for the tinderboxes in the Middle East and South Asia. That is a big hole to fill in dangerous times. Petraeus is not holding it against Obama that Obama joined in the liberal Democrats’ defeatism in Iraq when Petraeus then proceeded with President Bush’s firm and brave support to save the bacon. Petraeus is, after all, a bigger and real man.
And, once again Obama has chosen his personal agenda and ego above military effectiveness. Obama just appointed a new Commandant for the Marine Corps, seemingly largely based on the appointee’s agreement with gays openly serving, over the true proven warrior in the missions faced, General James Mattis, who with Petraeus co-authored military COIN doctrine.
General Mattis could have been chosen to replace McChrystal. But, he wasn’t. There’s no doubt that Petraeus will do an excellent job, but Mattis would also, and wouldn't have left a gaping hole at CENTCOM. However, Mattis is also known as a no nonsense commander, who is famous for saying in Iraq that Marines will kill if attacked (though the Left ignores that Mattis is also an advocate of “soft-power” COIN so that is less necessary).
Straight talk is not to be had when Obama’s ignorant ideology and thin ego are exposed to challenge by straight talk. Petraeus is less likely to be as blunt to Obama and the US public, whose sons and daughters’ lives are at stake on the front lines.
At least three senior members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have it straight:
The resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal should lead the Obama administration to re-evaluate their civilian Afghanistan team as well, three members of the Armed Services Committee said Wednesday.
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said the controversy surrounding the Rolling Stone profile of McChrystal revealed problems beyond the comments of McChrystal and his team.
"The civilian side, in my view, is completely dysfunctional," said Graham.
Indeed.
One can hope against experience with Obama that this fracas will lead him to get more firmly behind the – at his insistence undermanned vs the military’s recommendation – troops, and make clear that there is no deadline on our commitment. The New York Times' headline, however, reports "Obama Says Afghan Policy Won't Change."
Or, one can hope against experience that Obama will feel so boxed in and revealed by his own fecklessness, especially in expectation of the drubbing coming in November, that he will straighten up, himself and his ideological coterie who are undermining the Afghanis and Americans. I have a bridge to sell you if you believe that.
Or, one can hope that even without a worthwhile Commander in Chief that General Petraeus can perform miracles.
The lives of our troops, and of civilians here in the US, depends upon one man, and that man is not President Obama.
P.S.: Henry Kissinger says of Obama's course, "Neither the premise nor the deadline is realistic," in saying "America needs an Afghan strategy, not an alibi." Read it all.
P.P.S.: As usual with Bing West, BINGO!
I'll take a dozen, or more.
Just across Germany's northern-most border with Denmark you'll find an incredible superstore called Fleggaard. There, you can buy everything you need - tubs of gummi bears, cases of wine, industrial strength dishwashing soap - at prices 30% cheaper than you'll find in Denmark . It is Denmark's Costco, packaged as a German loophole. This is their advertisement! The 100+ women do stunts in the air - while free-falling - holding hands to spell out "Half-off on Dishwasher at Fleggaard." You'd be hard-pressed to find a man in Denmark who hasn't seen and fallen in love with that commercial. It was geared strictly to men.
The ad is real!
I was drifting around the backwaters of my site a while ago and came across this old gem. Thought it deserved another run through the grist mill.
 The US standard railroad gauge (the distance between the rails) is 4 feet, eight and a half inches.
Why?
That's an exceedingly odd number. Why is that gauge used?
Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US railroads. Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used. Why did the trams use that gauge? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.
Okay! Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts. So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in England for their legions. The roads have been used ever since. And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. The United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot.
Bureaucracies live forever.
So the next time you're handed a spec and are told "We've always done it this way", and you wonder what horse's ass came up with it, you may be exactly right. The Imperial Roman war chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the back ends of two war horses.
Now a twist to the story.
When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRBs had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains. The SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass.
Bureaucracies live forever.
Emperor, philosopher, warrior. From a review of a new bio of Marcus Aurelius which was written by an author who dislikes Stoicism:
To read the Meditations, you would not imagine them to be the writings of a man encamped in barbarian lands in the midst of war, nor of a man commanding the largest army ever assembled on the frontier of the Roman empire, nor of a man whose empire and army were in the grip of a deadly plague. The Meditations' lack of political or worldly anguish and anxiety is a mark of the philosophy they profess: Stoicism.
Guess who holds patent for carbon-trading plan- Disgraced Fannie Mae CEO set to cash in for millions:
Former Clinton and Obama budget adviser Franklin Raines owns a key carbon-emissions patent he developed as CEO of the government-sponsored mortgage giant Fannie Mae, positioning him and his partners to make millions of dollars if it is used in any carbon-capping scheme implemented by the Obama administration.
Raines and his associates led Fannie Mae and Congress to believe Fannie Mae owned the patent, despite public records to the contrary, a WND investigation has found.
Lord Acton, arguing against the 1870 promulgation of the concept of Papal Infallibility:
I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption, it is the other way, against the holders of power, increasing as the power increases. Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority: still more when you superadd the tendency or certainty of corruption by full authority. There is no worse heresy than the fact that the office sanctifies the holder of it.
Al Gore sex attack. This is sad and pathetic, and I prefer to think that this is not his MO. Nobody is perfect. So, please let's not blame it on you-know-what.
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