We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
The intentions of Democrats are only the best. They want all of the old to have lavish retirements, all of the young to have scholarships, verse-penning cowboys to have festivals funded by government, and everyone to have access to all the best health care, at no cost to himself. In the face of a huge wave of debt swamping all western nations, this is the core of their argument: They want a fair society, and their critics do not; they want to help, and their opponents like to see people suffer; they want a world filled with love and caring, and their opponents want one of callous indifference, in which the helpless must fend for themselves. (“We must reject both extremes, those who say we shouldn’t help the old and the sick and those who say that we should,” quips the New Yorker’s Hendrik Hertzberg.) But in fact, everyone thinks that we “should” do this; the problem, in the face of the debt crisis, is finding a way that we can. It is about the “can” part that the left is now in denial: daintily picking its way through canaries six deep on the floor of the coal mine, and conflating a “good” with a “right.”
Read the whole thing. America has become addicted to the Welfare State same as in Euroland. But if everybody is addicted to freebies, who is going to pay for it all? My favorite examples of Welfare, guaranteed to offend almost everybody who hates to think of it this way:
Government student loans Medicaid Medicare Social Security and Social Security Disability Government housing Home mortgage interest deductions Food stamps Federal Flood Insurance Farm subsidies and the ethanol program The entire VA medical system Federal Unemployment insurance and I did not even include ObamaCare, because I cannot understand it
With freebies - welfare - for all, you might almost think that America was a nation of incompetent leeches rather than a nation of proud, independent citizens who are capable of taking care of themselves and their own problems (unlike the Euroweenies with their serf-like approach to life). I am in one of these programs (VA - but I do not use it. Also, I paid off my mortgage already, foolishly, but think I will take a home equity line so I can get some tax deductions for these Obama years). Interestingly but not surprisingly, most of such progams increase the cost of the "good" itself via market distortion.
What are your favorite welfare programs? And what do you want the government to do for you with your own, and your neighbor's, money which it is not doing yet?
There's always the option of throwing it in the back of your truck, giving it a stick, chopping its head off and making a soup out of it. They are known to be quite tasty. That's what Chinese people do when they find a big Snapper on a road. FYI, any Snapper on a road is probably a female headed for her egg-laying site.
That must be because Americans are so darn smart. I took an Econ course in college where the Marxist prof gave everybody an A, and said he would do so on the first day. It was a popular course...
Australian Prime Minister Julia “Toast” Gillard has hit on the ingenious idea of clobbering one of the world’s most thriving – and also one of the most carbon-intensive – economies with a tax on one of its main industrial by-products, CO2, which will punish business, hamstring economic growth, boost unemployment and make life for everyone outside the enviro-rent-seeking professions more difficult and expensive. And all in order to achieve the wonderful goal of ensuring that by 2020 the world’s temperature will be altered with such refinement and subtlety that not even the most sophisticated measuring equipment yet devised is likely to notice the difference.
Everything the White House has done in the debt limit fight it has done with an eye toward the president’s reelection. As important as whether he eventually got a “grand bargain” was how the president positioned himself throughout the process in the eyes of the electorate. And while we do not know the details of a final deal, if there is to be one, we do know one thing: Obama won this round. And Republicans helped him.
Did he? I am not sure. Nobody can win this game, but everybody I know who is not a government worker thinks the economy is a disaster.
My shop is cutting staff, both professional and clerical. Not only is biz down, but our CT taxes are up. Also, we figure, assuming Obamacare stays, we'll need to let go three or four professionals, and 4-5 clericals, to cover those expenses without running into the red. We have been here, mind you, for 110 years and have an excellent reputation.
We have never cut staff since the 1930s other than normal firings of incompetents and slackers. Our people know this. Fear is a powerful motivator for effort, but it will not be enough.
Who could have anticipated that? Taxpayers bribe people to live in flood zones. Brilliant! For total stupidity, NOLA is not even a flood zone - it is permanently below sea level, and always has been. Why am I, who made the reasonable decision to live above sea level, responsible for the life choices of people who want to live underwater?
And, of course, flood zones and flood plains are basically "wetlands." One might think these places should be protected from development for environmental and flood control reasons. A farm? OK, if you understand that it will periodically get flooded while being delivered a good supply of fresh, healthy silt for your next crop.
I know about flood zones. Part of our property is in one. We keep it in horse pasture, and our pool is down there. House and barns are above. People in 1786 weren't stupid, and they did not expect the government, ie their neighbors, to protect them from nature.
Furthermore, if you believe Al Gore that the water is rising, perhaps we should be bribing people to move further from water...but nobody believes Al Gore anymore.
I cannot count the number of times I have flown nationally and internationally over the past 20 years. I am a Christian, native-born, tax-paying, property-owning, passport-holding American with kids, with no criminal record (yet). If I am not a "trusted traveler," I don't know who is. True, I often fly with firearms in my checked luggage, but nobody cares much about that.
(Although I do not really mind some basic security precautions at airports, I much prefer flying privately with friends who have, or treat me to, their NetJets deals, where you just drive onto the tarmac and the co-pilot loads your gear for you and then asks you whether you want a drink while some helper takes your car to the lot. Can you have a cigar on private and charter jets? Certainly can.)
Maybe there is some hope. The bumbling, expensive, soon-to-be-unionized joke (termed by pilots "Thousands Standing Around") of the TSA to roll out ‘Trusted Traveler’ program. (I have to mention that I still think Bush's Homeland Security Dept. was a dumb and unnecessary move.)
Anyway, trust me, Uncle Sam. Sign me up for this. I do not like being treated like a criminal.
I admit I got busy and didn't read through many of the comments in my election post last week, but I presume you all came to the logical conclusion that I was right about everything.
Today, I'd like to toss out some thoughts on a small variety of subjects.
Point In Time
According to the site stats, no one's fired up a site using my new Speakup! 2012 site yet. Unsurprisingly, of course. It's early. The election's still a million miles away.
Or, is it? Here's something to ponder:
Couldn't it be argued that we didn't lose the last election during the general election — we lost it in the primary?
While it might be true that we didn't have a chance in hell last time no matter who we threw up there, this time around things are different. While Obama still has the media in his pocket, many other factions are starting to crumble around the edges (the black vote, youth vote, Jewish vote, hipness vote, etc) and this time we've got a real chance.
Except that the media is going to do everything in its power to promote this kind of behavior:
This infighting is going to cost us dearly down the road.
Burning Scott Brown's Playbook
Do you remember Scott Brown's Massachusetts senatorial win a few years ago after Senator Ted Kennedy passed away? It stunned everybody. It was, I believe, the first time in 232 years that a Republican had won that seat.
And just how did he beat his opponent, ol' whats-her-name?
He ignored her.
Instead, he used ol' whats-her-name as a proxy for Obama's failures, with a "Here's how I'll do better" approach.
That's what the media will be desperately trying to stave off. They want that sordid chapter of American history to die a quiet and natural death. The media wants it to be a knock-down, drag-out playoff between contenders, whereas the candidates should be emulating Scott Brown and telling the people Here's how I'll do better straight through the primary and all the way to the White House.
The Positions
I suggest you not give a rat's ass about some candidate's 'position' on this or that issue at this point in time. It's all going to change when the primary officially begins, it's going to change again during the general, and what eventually happens after they take office may not have any relation to their previous positions. You know all those campaign promises that Obama has broken? Rest assured, he didn't want to break them.
And then there's the bullshit of 'past indiscretions'. So what if Romney signed some AGW 'pact' three hundred years ago? One of the biggest tropes of both the left- and right-wing propaganda machines is focusing on something the opposition did a zillion years ago (Bill Ayers, please pick up the white courtesy telephone) while conveniently dismissing their own candidate's checkered past.
What makes the whole thing pathetically hypocritical is that the same site that soundly castigates someone for something he or she said years and years ago will then make a post on some 18th century philosopher praising man's ability to think in the here-and-now and instantly being able to change his entire course with one new scrap of critical information. Kind of a strange juxtaposition, isn't it?
It isn't just sentience that makes us special.
Furthermore, I-
"Excuse me, Doc?"
"Yes, boss!"
"Mary said some nice things about you at the meeting yesterday. Hope you enjoyed your dinner. By the way, you got anything fresh on that Perry guy?"
"Good morning, everyone. And how are you all today?"
"Fine, chief".
"Mornin', sir."
"Wow, that Sarah Palin sure is hot!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Okay, everyone, let's get down to work. Jim, you're fired. Now, before we begin, let's all keep our main goal in mind. Just as we did in 2008, we want to make sure the winner of the Republican primary is the person least likely to win the general election. Mary, you and your people did a superb job last time. Taking some loser who got his ass shot down by the enemy and turning him into a 'war hero'? Absolutely brilliant."
"Thanks, boss. We admit they make it easy. What those idiots know about winning elections wouldn't fill a thimble."
"And lucky for us. Okay, today we're going to be focusing on the Witch. She's starting to pull ahead in the polls, so let's knock her down a peg or two. Anyone got anything? Steve?"
"And that's a video, boss, just full of heartbreaking stories from people who had barely broken free of this mad cult before the damage had been done. We made hubby come across as the reincarnation of Edgar Allen Poe; pit, pendulum, ravens and all."
"Shirley, you and your team never fail to impress. Have we got anything on the Witch, herself? Yes, Mack?"
"I've been saving this gem for months, chief. Check it out."
"Jeez, Mack, that almost makes me want to weep with joy. You got any more gems like that tucked away?"
"I ain't sayin', boss, but...yes!"
"I'll tell you, people, it's an honor working with such professionals. Now, back to wielding the Intolerant label effectively, have we snagged anyone else yet? Shirley, you've got that usual smug look about you."
"Well, guys, I was kinda saving this for next week when we focused on the Moonbeam Mormon, but here goes."
"In other words, he's secretly gay?? Excellent work! Now, as a lead-in to next week's focus on the Moonbeam, have we got anything else on him? Maybe some no-name beating him in one of those fake polls? Mary, your folks usually handle that. Got anything for us?"
"Obama once again showed the true face of a Chicago ward boss when he dangled the threat of interrupted social security and veteran benefits checks over the heads of the American people. This is thug politics."
“Government should not be involved in the bedrooms of consenting adults. I have always been a strong advocate of liberty and freedom from unnecessary government intervention into our lives. The freedoms that our forefathers fought for in this country are sacred and must be preserved. The Republican Party cannot be sidetracked into discussing these morally judgmental issues — such a discussion is simply wrongheaded. We need to maintain our position as the party of efficient government management and the watchdogs of the “public’s pocket book”.
The U.S.'s projected long-term welfare costs, including the new health-care law, are the justification the Obama economists give for pushing spending to 25% or more of GDP. The tax increase the president is fairly shrieking for this week isn't for the August debt limit. It's for the next 25 years.
"If we're going to move to a European welfare state," says Prof. Lucas, "we're going to have to pay a European price." And that price could be a permanently lower level of GDP per person. The U.S.'s amazing 100-year ride would slow.
I went to a consultant a few years back, and he said, “You want to make your life better?” I said, “Yeah, sure.” He said, “Stop drinking and don’t read the newspapers.” So I did both.
Ace thought this piece in Esquire, How Can We Not Love Obama?, was a satire, but finally concluded it isn't. One quote from the florid piece:
The turning point came that glorious week in the spring when, in the space of a few days, he released his long-form birth certificate, humiliated Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, and assassinated Osama bin Laden. The effortlessness of that political triptych — three linked masterpieces demonstrating his total command over intellectual argument, low comedy, and the spectacle of political violence — was so overwhelmingly impressive that it made political geniuses of the recent past like Reagan and Clintonseem ham-fisted. Formed in the fire of other people's wars, other people's financial crises, Obama stepped out of Bush's shadow that week, almost three years after taking over the presidency.
To tell the truth, I still can't tell whether it's tongue-in-cheek or written by a guy with a serious man-crush. Perhaps our readers can help me out.
...well, on further thought, reading this 'graph convinces me that the author is pulling my leg:
We love Obama — even those who claim to despise him — because deep in our hearts and all over our lives, we're the same way — both inside and outside our jobs, our races, our cities, our countries, ourselves. With great artists, often the most irritating feature of their work is the source of their talent. Obama's gift is the same as his curse: He's somehow managed to be like the rest of us, only infinitely more so.
It. Hasn’t. Worked. If by worked you mean lived up to a single of our ‘expectations’, and if by expectations you don’t mean this is really just how we grab power from the flyovers.
Where are the results, if not in the statistics? The left has destroyed black America.
They have shot their bolt with cheap money and stimulus spending and cranked up the National Debt by 40 percent. But here we are in Summer 2011 and there is still no light at the end of the tunnel.
To fix things the Obamis would have to adopt the Republican agenda and reduce the weight of government. They would have to repeal ObamaCare, reverse their green energy boondoggle, lower tax rates, and cut wasteful government spending.
You can see the problem. For the last 40 years, ever since the "unexpected" success of Reaganomics, liberals have been telling themselves and everyone else that supply-side economics is a mirage. Now they have to admit that everything they believe is wrong.
But the Met Office is less than happy with the accolade. It said in a statement: “We recognise that our DEC rating [carbon dioxide emissions] is large but it is also necessary. Our supercomputer is vital for predictions of weather and climate change.”
Apparently he has no Plan B and is plumb out of ideas. Thanks, Timmy. We understand that a government cannot control an economy, but you guys did the opposite of what Reagan did. You guys jumped on the recession as a golden opportunity to increase the size of the federal government - and for pork.
Our friend Nathan sends us this slice of pop culture from his visit to San Francisco. I never heard of Diesel, but Maggie's is light on pop culture. You might say that it's not really our beat.
Attended my first Diesel opening Friday.
OK, my first anything opening.
L., who helps Diesel, an Italian label, find possible stores and set up their design in U.S. cities, had invited me. Thursday late, she called, saying that Francis or Danieli of Diesel had called desperately saying that they needed extra props for the store: old TV sets, beat-up furniture. The theme was to be the aftermath of a tornado. We hulked a dusty tubed TV into her BMW, then over to the store on Market Street, where we were met by a cheerful helper, who opened the car door and announced, “Hi, I’m Jeremiah,” which name was also tattooed on his left neck, should a vampire be interested in the brand name of his source. But, easy to overlook Jeremiah’s name tattoo amongst the other skin art on him and others.
Branson also was helping with the design. He tops two meters and his height is enhanced by a dyed black hair wave that brings to mind Hirokawa’s tsunami prints; a flip of the wave at the top gives him a lopsided look, which he straightens with a smile. As we lugged TV, he unloaded broken branches for the window display. Tornado-esque.
1. Why such a consistent focus on the same three charity-related areas over such a long time? In general the simplest way to help folks is to give them cash. One needs other relevant factors to explain a desire to help in other ways. And to explain a consistent focus over many centuries, such factors must stay relevant over many centuries.
2. Why did charity-like spending grow from a tiny to a huge fraction of GDP? Why are we today so much more eager for charity-like spending?
...longtime anti-gun activist Sarah Brady has said that in March, the president told her “I just want you to know that we are working on [gun control] ... We have to go through a few processes, but under the radar.”
It's a vicious cycle. The more you drive enterprise away, the more you need to soak the remaining people and the remaining businesses who have any money, and thus the more you drive business away or out of business.
Plunder only works to a point, and then you end up with Detroit or Greece.
CT even just placed a stiff tax on non-profit hospitals, if you can believe that. It is bad, and getting worse. One might easily imagine that they are trying to drive all of us to Florida. Personally, I do not care for Florida very much, and snow doesn't bother me at all. Weather is what you make of it and I make the best of it.
It's getting to the point that my state is only a good deal for the very rich (who can afford to avoid taxes or who don't care what they are) and the very poor. Oh yes, I almost forgot - and for government unions. The urban, unemployed poor, the government unions, and the limo Liberals in West Hartford, Litchfield County, and Fairfield County, own my state, at the moment.
It hardly seems like rugged Yankeeland here, politically, anymore. It's Gimme-land. The people with the olde codes have died or are no longer breeding. And to think that our Conservative governor candidate lost by only 6000 votes found, several days after the election, in bags in a Bridgeport warehouse or post office or something. Maybe it was legit. I don't know, but anything in Bridgeport is dubious these days.
Well, since others are weighing in with their election predictions, I thought I'd do the same. No sense in dawdling, right?
Obama in a landslide.
Pending change in circumstance, I hastily add.
As it stands now, I just can't see a Republican win. All of the declared candidates contain major flaws which the MSM will mercilessly exploit, both overtly and covertly, blatantly and subliminally, and I find none of the candidates inspirational in the slightest.
And the poor selection is only one of our worries.
The one, basic, inherent problem here is that conservatives are conservative. I know that sounds crazy, but it's true. And, as such, by definition alone they're not very activistic, tending to sit around on their duffs while the liberals make all the moves. It's no mystery why so many institutions and the major media realms, including the tech world, are dominated by liberals. It's because they try.
My job here is to get some of you to try.
My initial leap into the upcoming election was to create SpeakUp! 2012, a how-to guide for putting together a snappy blog site and then spreading the word around. If you want to show a little gumption and have a say in the election, that's the way to do it. The free WordPress software (the stuff that Power Line just switched to) is terrific and very easy to use. The guide will walk you through the entire process from this moment on. Plus, you've got me trapped here to pester with questions if you run into a snag.
Below the fold I'll run through the candidates in my usual calm, careful, deliberate manner as I soundly castigate, shred, thrash, defile, lambaste, maul, abuseandabase view them with the same objectivity I always show.
Pot should not be illegal. It's just like Prohibition - everybody who wants pot gets it anyway. It's wrong to outlaw every dumb thing there is to do in life. Part of freedom is freedom to do dumb things - and to deal with the consequences.
There is something truly wrong about that. You might term it an implicit conspiracy against the people, similar to the conspiracies between governments and government unions.
It is a phenomenon we see over and over again: a liberal will make a wild accusation or engage in defamatory speculation about a political opponent. The accusation will then be taken up by left-wingers across the internet and, if it looks promising, it will be repeated in far-left newspapers like the New York Times. Liberals everywhere will eat it up and elaborate on it. Then, in due course, it will be proved entirely baseless.
What happens next? Do liberal web sites, columnists and reporters retract their fictitious claims and apologize? Hardly ever. By the time the truth comes out, they have moved on to some new libel or conspiracy theory.
It's an upscale village of 19,000 now, but 25 years ago it was just turning from semi-rural to suburban. The farms are all gone. Even with a train connection to NYC, it's a hike. Wiki again:
The town is one of the most affluent communities in the United States. In 2008, CNN Money ranked New Canaan first in the nation with the highest median family income.
(Prosperous, indeed, but what those stats really mean, in part, is that there are no poor neighborhoods there to drag down the average.)
In the last go-round, they accused the raters of being too lenient. I think the raters are trying to find a delicate way of opining that Greece and Portugal are technically bankrupt.
How to 
Sweden update: 
Toon via
House turns out light on old-style bulbs
Ace 
The Class-Size Debate Never Graduates High School 
Our friend Nathan sends us this slice of pop culture from his visit to San Francisco. I never heard of Diesel, but Maggie's is light on pop culture. You might say that it's not really our beat.
Jeter Homers for 3,000th Hit
The Big Apple Celebrates the King James Bible
From Ace: 
It's 
American Front Lawn Update: