Wednesday, December 22. 2010
Stolen in full (because it is so well-said) from Never Yet Melted's Van Jones Urges Young Supporters “To Pretend” EPA Regulations Are Needed:
Leftism originally created political movements by agitating the masses through a combination of flattering their desires and exaggerating their grievances, but Capitalism baffled the Left by transforming the needy Proletariat into a prosperous Middle Class, while Socialism in the countries where it fully achieved power impoverished everyone outside the Nomenklatura. Socialism consequently collapsed while Capitalism thrived, so the Left went back to the drawing board.
Absent economic grievances, the Left with remarkable ingenuity decided to hitch its wagon to the rising Environmental Movement, and to replace obsolescent economic themes intended to inspire animosity and class division with new, entirely imaginary problems requiring the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of the State.
Van Jones, the Communist run out of his White House advisor position via the exposure of his political background by Glenn Beck, refers indiscreetly to trying “to pretend” that EPA interventions are required by market failure.
Rush has been making accusations about this for years, and so have we. It's good to hear somebody confess the scam in public. The innocent, ignorant, and sanctimonious Greenies are the useful idiots in this game.
 Stopped by my local jewelers at lunchtime today (to pick up a repaired watch - not shopping). The place was packed, and I had to wait a while despite there being 8 salespeople.
The lady who retrieved my watch showed me a $285,000 watch. Used. It doesn't look fancy or flashy at all. She told me they would sell it this week, already sold one just like it earlier in the week. I admired it, but I prefer my old Accutron that my wife gave me the first year we were married (and my Timex Explorer for banging around). She also showed me a pretty bracelet, $60,000. She said they had had five of them three weeks ago, now down to this last one.
They have an armed rent-a-cop on duty full time.
When I finally got my watch delivered from the repair and jewelry construction area upstairs, she handed it to me and said "No charge. It was a simple repair, just a cleaning and oiling. Merry Christmas."
It's money. At The American. One quote:
In the eminent domain context, the problem is that landowners are not being paid enough. The standard of “just compensation” is usually interpreted as the market value of the property as determined by dueling appraisers. This standard can be unfair, as Loyola Law School Professor Gideon Kanner has long argued. It skimps on costs of relocation and upset, and excludes consideration of damage to businesses, which can considerably outweigh the value of the real estate. Tenants, especially businesses, are often seriously short-changed.
Pay them the real value. Makes sense to me.
At Pajamas, ‘Compliance’: The Word That Sunk a Million U.S. Jobs
Costs not related to the quality of the end product — costs created entirely by overbearing government — have destroyed our manufacturing sector.
It's not just cheaper labor - it's the hassle factor.
 Have Feminists Gotten It All Wrong? Can a woman deviate from the fixed feminist-approved life path and still be a woman in full?
Obama's mystery proposal to regulate the Internet
Also, at WaPo: Hands off tomorrow's Internet:
Discouragingly, the FCC is intervening to regulate the Internet because it wants to, not because it needs to. Preserving the openness and freedom of the Internet is non-negotiable; it is a bedrock principle shared by all in the Internet economy. No government action is necessary to preserve it. Acting only on speculative concerns about network operators and contrary to a decade of industry practice, the FCC is moving forward aggressively without real evidence of systemic competitive harms to cure, markets to fix or consumers to help.
Price controls: U.S. Proposes Rules on Raising Insurance Premiums
We all know that the long game is to put them out of business
In New Maps, 'An Embarrassment of Riches' for GOP
SANDERS: Afghanistan and worldwide jihadism
Obama administration readies indefinite detention order for Guantanamo detainees
E-15 gasoline?
Do the farmers feed us, or do we feed the farmers? And another issue: Do they care what that E-10 already does to our 2-cycle engines? What will E-15 do to a chain saw?
Re farmers, you got money for "attempting to farm"
Making the case that California is doing fine
Tuesday, December 21. 2010
Our linking function has been misbehaving, hence the messy post. If some do not work, apologies.
Ziegler: Media Misinformation 2010 vs. 2008
Reason on Jail: Beyond Bars - A new project has conservatives thinking more seriously about crime.
I do not like jail for non-violent crime. That's my tax money - for what?
How many times have you heard this story, at Prof B: “This is life" ... No, it's narcissism on a huge scale
A month ago, Brit climate models said WINTER TO BE MILD PREDICTS MET OFFICE
Related, DHS Defends Against Nonexistent Climate Crisis
Finally, a job DHS can do
Also related, A Junk Science Czar — Schwarzenegger Wants to Work in the Obama Administration Fighting Non-Existent Global Warming
Related: Hugh Hewitt: California's economic suicide now includes cap-and-trade
And more at Driscoll: ‘Global Cooling is what we must expect because of Global Warming’
It's scientific, you see
NPR's Nina Totenberg Apologizes For Saying "Christmas"
While hunting around for something else, I stumbled across this factoid: In 2008, 93% of American workplace fatalities were men even though males accounted for only 57% of the total hours worked.
I, for one, am grateful, because if women died disproportionately at work we'd never hear the end of it.
Q&O: Why you have to react to every story about government overreach
About Regulatory Capture
Interesting assumptions underlying a study about Fox viewers’ ignorance
Count me in.
Warren on the Dechristianizations of the Middle East
Insty noted the existence of a book which tells you:
How to prevent fat gain while bingeing (X-mas, holidays, weekends)
How to increase fat-loss 300% with a few bags of ice
How Tim gained 34 pounds of muscle in 28 days, without steroids, and in four hours of total gym time
How to sleep 2 hours per day and feel fully rested
How to produce 15-minute female orgasms
How to triple testosterone and double sperm count
How to go from running 5 kilometers to 50 kilometers in 12 weeks
How to reverse “permanent” injuries
How to add 150+ pounds to your lifts in 6 months
* How to pay for a beach vacation with one hospital visit
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Samuelson: Cheating Our Children (Again)
Gates: Eurabia: The Planned Islamization of Europe
Monday, December 20. 2010
"Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."
Ronald Reagan
McDowell in the WSJ re internet regulation, The FCC's Threat to Internet Freedom:
'Net neutrality' sounds nice, but the Web is working fine now. The new rules will inhibit investment, deter innovation and create a billable-hours bonanza for lawyers.
Few recent innovations have grown as quickly, organically, and freely without interference, as this thing. So how can governments resist finding some excuse to mess with it?
Sunday, December 19. 2010
I care that some friends who are gay or defend gays, as I have at corporate career risk many times, have an opposite view of the immediate congressional repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT). But, I care more about the immediate effect on the welfare of US combat troops and for US national security.
Yes, “national security” is a BIG term, and can be read as overexpansive. Yet, that is precisely what is stake, in immediate and longer-term consequences. Neither the US nor our military will fall off a cliff. However, the immediate repeal of DADT is another slip down the decline of a strong US foreign policy. Most liberals may see no problem or that as desirable. The majority of Americans and nations do not see the US policies of which this is part that way.
There is no reason to doubt, and to even applaud, that the majority of Americans and of military servicemembers do not have strong objections to, or favor, gays serving openly in the US military. It is a commendable affirmation of American fairness. Further out, a less rapid and more measured elimination of DADT may be more practical.
Some Western nations have openly gay military service, almost all in non-combat positions, but their militaries are weak and dependent upon US forces and umbrella, none of them taking the commitment and responsibility for the magnitude of the tasks the US does. Israel’s military is raised as an exception, but that ignores the different realities there which even official US reports recognize.
At the same time, it ignores or is a repudiation of the warriors who now serve in the front-lines, whose tight bonds with and complete trust and reliance upon the guy next to him determines his very survival, as the New York Times interviews of Marines makes clear. The majority of combat troops see the possible negative impacts, as clear in the Pentagon report, and some will pay with their careers or lives. The official Pentagon summary says 70% of the military see a positive or neutral effect, but that skews the actual poll result: 20% saw no and 19% positive impact, 30% negative, and 32% some of both. The majority of Marine and Army combat troops saw negative impacts. Nothing in the Pentagon report says there will be betterment of military effectiveness, which should be the key issue. Our military exists to accomplish combat missions, first and primary, above all. The major veterans organizations and the largest number of retired generals and admirals ever to publicly speak out on a military issue – 1167 – expressed their opposition to immediate repeal of DADT.
The immediate repeal of DADT is especially dangerous to the combat units and troops, already under severe stress. Further, both Admiral Mullens testified to Congress and General Petraeus’ Command Sergeant Major clearly stated that combat troops can either stifle or get out.
If you look at the Pentagon “implementation plan” attached to its survey of attitudes, focus on the supposedly guiding “Vignettes” appendix (p.69 fwd). The New York Times comments of the implementation plan, "The plan offers few specifics on the substance of the training to be provided." In almost every case, there is no real answer to how to deal with challenges to military order or living conditions. Instead, the Vignettes repeatedly just rely upon command judiciousness, which in effect will mostly mean accommodation or acquiescence, for the sake of their own careers. There can be little doubt, under the best of circumstances, that boundaries will be constantly disputed, will take up much time and resources, and thus distract from focus on military effectiveness issues. The limit on the military’s costs and troubles of accommodating gay marriage, the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) only recognizing heterosexual legal unions, is under judicial challenge. Gay rights activists intend for DADT repeal to be the precursor to DOMA repeal. So, expect further turmoil in the ranks and defense budgets.
The actual repercussions will be less than the worst case in most cases. No one expects gay – or liberal or libertarian -- enlistments or service in combat units to surge or, even, increase by a tiny fraction of a percent. However, the efforts to accommodate that relatively tiny number will still consume much effort and resources, and will establish conditions that significantly affect the majority of combat troops. Similarly, no one expects newfound support from those opposed to our military’s missions or who ignore our troops’ safety. Meanwhile, a much larger number of those who do enlist will not or will not re-enlist or will be ushered out of the military.
Talk to combat troops and veterans, as I frequently do, and the resentment quickly comes out at the excesses of “political correctness” unrealistically imposed on them, especially when it puts their lives at increased risk. Most stay, but a great many do not. Military commands turn to alternatives, like targeted predator bombing instead of face-to-face killing. In both cases, of course, there is infrequent collateral damage (meaning of innocents or non-combatants), but predators are less personal so less protested by domestic liberals. Still, that alternative is less effective than on-the-ground eliminating or neutralizing foes and holding territory so that conditions can be created for more lasting civilian safety.
Support for our missions in Iraq and Afghanistan declined for many reasons, including the difficulties and potential futility of accomplishing even modest lasting objectives with too few troops committed and backed to do what’s necessary. Other countries see and retreat from supporting the US or from taking a stand against encroaching threats, whether from Islamist radicals or from other anti-Western states.
The world sees the Obama administration “incensed” at the UN removing explicit protection of gays from its official policy, and nowhere near this firmness in defense of US allies – or US troops -- who confront existential enemies.
I have two young sons, and like many others have serious doubts whether they should choose to follow me into military service. Major media coverage of the Congress vote to repeal DADT is laudatory, and often insulting to those (McCain a "villain"!) who opposed repeal. I won’t hold my breath for their sons or daughters enlistment.
Saturday, December 18. 2010
 Investing in lawsuits
The US needs tort reform
Brain Oddities: Spelling is Irrelevant to Comprehension
Using Seinfeld to teach economics
Maine Family Robinson: The Top 10 Steaming Heaps Of Eco-Friendly / Frugal Living Horse Dung
Katrina: "The Louisiana governor froze."
Death tax: The Roosevelts Would Be Appalled
Only the terminally envious hate people who inherit money, farms, or shops. The truly rich can afford to avoid it all. Expensive lawyers make it happen. Also, people who buy gold to hand to their kids when they get old and sick. Lots of people do that.
It's all about me: Obama reads his children's book to 2nd graders
NPR and PBS -- This Time It's the Fight of Their Lives (h/t Vanderleun)
I don't hate them. I just don't want to be forced to support them. They are government media.
Coldest December Since Records Began
But that's weather, not climate. Climate is determined by experts.
More Faulty Research on the Mental-Health Effects of Abortion
It's not about the health, it's about the morality
The New Yorker revisits Mao
Do the Obamas have that Mao ornament on their tree again this year?
It Begins… Feds Force Small Town Bank to Remove Christian Symbols & Christmas Buttons
Grinches are afraid of disgruntled Moslems
20 states ask judge to throw out Obama health law
Krauthammer: Obama as comeback kid
Very clever of the O to flip and now take credit for "tax cuts"
“Analysis: Fannie and Freddie Didn’t Cause the Financial Crisis” (Or, how I learned to stop worrying and blame everything on the free-market)
Is Freedom what we really want?
I think freedom is too scary for most people.
The United Nations is considering whether to set up an inter-governmental working group to harmonise global efforts by policy makers to regulate the internet.
Is there anything the UN does not aspire to control?
Pic from Theo
Friday, December 17. 2010
 Pic of frightening pedophile psycho creep came in down the chimney over the transom
Americans are more hopeful than envious
Univ of California raises faculty retirement age from 50 to 55
That's not from The Onion
The good life on 36 weeks a year of work
Anderson at Am Thinker: Middle-Class Hypocrites
NYT: Mao's Great Leap to Famine
Central planning, for the Greater Good
Google is too successful for the French
DC feeding frenzy - Lame-duck Congress gorges
Great news: California to adopt cap-and-trade
Good timing - the mountains are getting 12 feet of snow this weekend
Omnibus contains earmarks for Planned Parenthood and other abortion groups
It still escapes me how this is a government function
Head Start gets more $ too, even though proven to be useless.
Useless - except in hiring thousands of unionized government babysitters
D.C. elites pronounce Palin a "negative influence in national politics"
Obama denounces Chabahar terror bombings, stands with Iran, which blames the U.S. anyway
Makes the O look like a shlomozzle (sp?)
Who said this?
"I believe that the primary engine of America's economic success is not government, it's the dynamism of our markets. And for me, the most important question about an economic idea is... whether it will help spur businesses, jobs and growth."
Obama's polling isn't really that bad
Dept. of Experts: Saccharine, after 35 years, is now OK
Dept. of Experts: Fruits and vegetables don't effect cancer rates (h/t Englishman)
Dept. of Experts: Advice to scientists:
Basically, it goes like this. As a scientist you have to decide at some point that enough is enough. You have to put your scientific commitment to the discipline of doubt aside and “blow past” your boundaries. Say what you feel, not what you can prove.
Thursday, December 16. 2010
Mom (with a Lefty non-profit behind her) sues MacDonalds over Happy Meals.
It's obvious that parenthood is beyond her.
Remember this summer when Palin was mocked by the MSM and the Lefties for that statement? On this day, in 1773:
Wednesday, December 15. 2010
The intertubes seem to work just fine. I want no government hands stinking up my internet. I want it private. KERPEN: Silencing voices of Internet dissent.
Tuesday, December 14. 2010
Our view tends to be that "bipartisans" and "moderates" are simply those who approve of slow socialism by mistaking goo-goo nursery school sentimentality for opinion and principles.
Stacy McCain gets it: The Fierce Fury of the Angry Mob of Impassioned Bipartisan Moderates. He begins:
Few things are more predictable than this: Whenever Republicans are on the upswing — whenever conservatives are on fire with enthusiasm, proclaiming their core principles and clearly on the winning side of important issues — the mainstream media will devote enormous coverage to an alleged groundswell of discontented moderates whose demands for “bipartisanship” and “civility” are accompanied by condemnation of “divisiveness” and complaints that “extremists” are ignoring the vast majority of independent “centrist” voters.
 Muslim Suicide Bombers to go on Strike in Britain
It's about time.
Epstein: Obamacare is now on the ropes, legally. It's about the limits of the Commerce clause. He comments:
The government finds itself here in a real pickle. Virginia has drawn a clear line that accounts for all the existing cases, so that no precedent has to be overruled to strike down this legislation. On the other hand, to uphold it invites the government to force me to buy everything from exercise machines to bicycles, because there is always some good that the coercive use of state authority can advance. The ironic point is that this is not a commerce clause argument as such, for in my view any state statute would be subject to the same objection even though the state has plenary police powers.
Showdown nears on release of NYC teacher ratings
They grade students. Why not grade teachers? Oh, I see. It's about their ratings being published. They are our employees, so we should know how they're doing.
Money and politics: The O may raise $1 billion
The Boston Globe goes after SSI
The reason the seriously physically disabled aren't applying for disability these days is because they are all working now.
All Swedes are Jews now
What's the difference between massive immigration and invasion?
Reason: Why has the USDA been plumping up the food stamps program like a factory chicken?
They won't rest until every citizen is feeding on government cheese from the public trough.
WSJ: The Cancun crack-up
Jay Cost: Don't underestimate the Pres
How the O can win in 2012
FLOTUS on Deciding What Kids Eat: “We Can’t Just Leave It Up to the Parents”
Let's all live according to Scientific Socialist principles.
New Low in Support for Health Care Reform
WaPo: Memo to the left: Hands off Obama
"He's our only Hope."
Monday, December 13. 2010
A major question is, what are the effects of the Virginia federal district court ruling that the individual mandate within ObamaCare (officially titled PPACA) is unconstitutional?
For now, and even if the Virginia ruling is eventually sustained by the US Supreme Court, the effects are relatively minor. The ruling took a conservative stance on severance, allowing the rest of the law to stand. The impact of the individual mandate on the other parts of the PPACA, although arguably substantial, is actually weak.
However, revealed are, once again, several of the serious failings of the PPACA, which if implemented can mean far higher insurance premiums and, perhaps, the implosion of the private insurance industry – and individual choice -- in near the condition it is today.
The Ruling: Section 1501 of PPACA mandates that individuals purchase medical insurance or face penalties via the IRS. The Va federal judge finds this goes well beyond any previous extension of the Constitution by requiring a behavior that otherwise wouldn’t occur, commenting that the possible extensions of federal power would then be endless. Two other federal district courts did find this constitutional. Other challenges are in process of first hearing, most notably the one in Florida federal district court brought by 20 states and expected to get a favorable ruling, as well as appeals of preliminary judgments elsewhere. The Virginia judge did not grant an injunction on the individual mandate, as he expects the Supreme Court to deal with it before it becomes effective.
Severance: A severance clause in a law holds that if any part is found unlawful, the rest of the law will stand. This clause was removed from PPACA by its drafters. PPACA supporters and most lawyers didn’t think any of PPACA would be found unconstitutional. But, the Virginia judge took a conservative stance toward severance, “the time-honored rule to sever with circumspection…Accordingly, the Court will sever only Section 1501 and directly-dependent provisions which make specific reference to Section 1501.”
A pdf search of PPACA finds no other such key provisions. The Obama administration argued that many other provisions of PPACA are seriously impacted but although implicit in the crafting of PPACA such language is not in PPACA.
Continue reading "Virginia, Severance & Section 1501"
Schwartz at Am. Thinker discusses. It's a funny piece. A quote:
What gives her the right to be happy, asks Wurzel? Palin, who is "not very thoughtful, not very bright," is so darned ordinary that she doesn't understand the horrors of American life. But Wurzel does, having first attracted attention with her New York Times bestseller chronicling the depravities visited upon her by the fruits of American exceptionalism. You see, Wurzel survived the horror of being raised on Manhattan's Upper West Side, the shame of enduring the nation's best private schools, the depravity of having parents who paid for summer camps and Harvard -- small wonder she plunged into "catatonic despair, masochism, and hysterical crying." Doesn't Palin know, Wurzel cries, that...America sucks? Karl Rove knows, Keith Olbermann and Kathleen Parker and Elliot Spitzer and Barack Obama know -- that's why they're smart.
Scroll down and catch up on our posts over the past few days. Some meaty stuff there.
Quite amusing: The 12 days of Winter
QUO VADIS FIDEL? WHERE ARE YOU GOING?
The Leftist World Council of Churches and the Jews:
Get used to it my fellow Jews, the World Council of Churches hate you. These empty-church clergy with their theology that turns Jesus into a mere symbol, they hate you
Sunday, December 12. 2010
 Off to NYC for the day. Will bring camera, just in case.
Warren Buffett, Robber Baron?
A very sly dude behind his folksy persona.
Lord Monckton does the simple math.
Nobody else in Cancun could do math. How did they get through college?
Ron Radosh takes a look at that Mead article we posted: TNR and the Crisis of The American Intellectual: Can the Old Liberal Stalwart Play a Role in Today’s World?
No, not really. And I grew up on TNR, The New Yorker, and the NYT. I think I have learned more, over time.
The Leftist war against doctors: Asclepius Shrugged
Why do they hate docs? They sure like them when they need them. Maybe, like children, they want love and care for free. Well, who doesn't?
Everyone Hates Ethanol Subsidies. Why Can't We Get Rid of Them?
I think the reason the O put Clinton on stage was because the O doesn't understand Econ 101 well enough to talk about it without a teleprompter. And I think the O left because he didn't want to feel upstaged by Slick Willy. Just my opinion. The O needs to learn more, study a little, get eddicated.
Gov. Awesome goes after tenure
He cracks me up, but he's too skinny to be President.
Bernie Sanders is a classic New England crank, a perennially disgruntled nut. He thinks people who make money have a "sickness of greed." I think he has a sickness of power, and maybe a sickness of envy. And a sick greed for my income, which I mainly use for tuition payments. Does Bernie want to throw my kid out of her college? Furthermore, I don't know hardly anybody who could not use a few more bucks. Hey, Bernie - the "rich" already pay almost all of the taxes in the US. That's not right. We think every citizen who benefits from living in the US should pay his dues, and all at an equal rate. That's what I said - all income, no deductions, equal rate. No death tax. Death tax destroys family farms and family businesses - and taxing cadavers just doesn't seem fair. Not fair to pick the pockets of those who cannot fight back - especially when the wealthiest cadavers have ways around it.
Amusing, at Insty:
OH, ABSOLUTELY: Democrats hurl f-bombs at Obama. Are they racist now? Racist, racist, racist. Also, racist. And there’s nothing worse than being racist, believe me. Stupid Democrat racists.
Saturday, December 11. 2010
 While the rest of the world was shopping or wrestling with fir trees or hunting, the Mrs. and I slipped in to see Dawn Treader.
All 20 theaters at our megaplex were empty this afternoon. If you haven't read this book in the Narnia series, you should. It's sort of a Christian version of Jason and the Golden Fleece tale with the theme of spiritual warfare and redemption.
It would take me an hour to write a half-decent review, so I'll just say that it is faithful to the book, and the special effects do not overwhelm the story. I passed on the 3-D glasses. There is no sex, good clean righteous violence, and neither the name of God or Christ are mentioned once. Eustace is good. Aslan seems a tamer God than usual.
You don't get to see heaven, but Reepicheep travels there at the end.
 Pic: The O walks away, leaves presser to Clinton.
WHT? Something weird
The most expensive gift at 12 American retailers
True Loves Will Have to Dig Deeper This Year
News to me: You can get high on Salvia
We have Salvia in one of our borders
Judgment Day for Climate Change Litigation
What the teachers are learning.
Good grief.
LA bans new fast food restaurants in poorest area of the city
Let them eat cake.
Krauthammer says the tax deal was the O's best swindle of the year:
Obama is no fool. While getting Republicans to boost his own reelection chances, he gets them to make a mockery of their newfound, second-chance, post-Bush, Tea-Party, this-time-we're-serious persona of debt-averse fiscal responsibility.
And he gets all this in return for what? For a mere two-year postponement of a mere 4.6-point increase in marginal tax rates for upper incomes. And an estate tax rate of 35 percent - it jumps insanely from zero to 55 percent on Jan. 1 - that is somewhat lower than what the Democrats wanted.
Rope-a-dope?
Read the Mead piece that we posted last night. Please.
Dawn Treader: Potemra enjoyed the movie more than the book.
OK, I'll go see it.
Global cooling killing Manatees
Use more oil - Save a Manatee
NY Post: A recent survey finds that countless MDs will respond to ObamaCare by limiting which patients they'll see.
At Driscoll:
For 30 years the Democrats have refused to think “dynamically” about the connection between tax rates and economic behavior (or, for that matter, between regulation and business activity). It is precisely because liberal Democrats (who are particularly well represented in Congress) have rejected dynamic tax policy for so long that they are now experiencing a spasm of frustration and anger.
It’s not easy coming to grips with the 21st century, when your view of taxes, labor and the economy is permanently stuck somewhere between the years of FDR and Harry Truman.
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Pic via 
Ancient 
