Saturday, July 16. 2011
At Weekly Standard re debt, etc. Spend Spend, Elect Elect, Tax Tax - The White House debt strategy:
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.
Big surprise: Federal flood insurance encourages people to live in flood zones!
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.
Friday, July 15. 2011
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:
Pawlenty Blasts Bachmann's 'Nonexistent' Record
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?"
"Comin' right up!"
Taking a Look at the Flip-Flopping Governor Perry, Back When He Was a Democrat
"Outstanding! Keep up the good work!"
"You bet, boss!"
Well, I'd like to talk more but, as you can see, duty calls!
Thursday, July 14. 2011
"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?"
"Got just the thing, boss."
Pawlenty Blasts Bachmann's 'Nonexistent' Record
"Outstanding! Nothing like a little dissension among the ranks, eh? But we'll need someone to back him up."
"No sweat."
GOP Veteran Ridge Says Bachmann Not Ready
"Perfect! We'll have to print her response, of course, but let's make it sound kind of weak and insipid. Ideas? Yes, Jane?"
"Feast your eyes upon this, boss."
Bachmann: Who needs executive experience if it means more big government?
"Outstanding! 'Who needs executive experience?' That probably cost her a percentile point right there. Good work! Yes, Jim?"
"I'm thinking we should also stamp the Intolerant label on her. It would dovetail nicely with her being so unqualified."
"Good idea. Shirley, that's your department. Got anything for us?"
"Of course, mein leader!"
Report: Bachmann's Clinic Tries to Cure Gay Patients
"Wow, nice piece of misdirection! But the few people who actually read the thing will see it's her husband's clinic. Can we get any more dirt on him?"
"Boss, you're talkin' to pros!"
Bachmann Husband's Clinic: More Harm Than Good?
"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."
Michele Bachmann in 2004: Homosexuality is "Personal Enslavement"
"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."
Romney Refuses to Sign Anti-Gay Marriage Pledge
"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?"
"Boss...happy birthday!"
Cain Beats Romney in Conservative Leadership Conference Straw Poll
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Mary, whoever came up with that one gets a free dinner at Chad's, compliments of the house. And tell him or her to bring a friend."
"That would be Doc Murky, boss. Man, the dirt he can dig up on the Repubs is just mind-boggling. He says the only one he's worried about is Perry."
"Oh, yeah, speaking of him, anybody got the latest? Shirley, you've got that devilish gleam in your eye again."
"Boss, happy birthday...and Merry Christmas!"
Poll: In Presidential Matchup, Obama Would Beat Perry in Texas
"Holy crap! And in Texas? Tell Doc he needn't worry and to enjoy his dinner. This guy is toast."
"Got it, boss."
"All right, folks, you know what to do. Let's get to work!"
 Toon via NYM
I enjoyed Dr. Merc's take on hippies
Dream interpetation, for the masses
What's a "muffin top"? Laura knows what it is.
So much for the obesity epidemic
Boehner: Dealing With the White House 'Has Been Like Dealing With Jell-o'
They playin ya, dude.
Krauthammer: It's about who gets the blame
Voter photo I.D. passes — in Rhode Island
Change!… Obama’s Approval Rating Now Lower Than Bush’s 2008 Rating in Arab World
Arab world respects expressions of strength
"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."
Aussie carbon cops ignore carbon rules
America’s Ruling Class: How They Corrupted America and What We Can Do About It
Suddenly, big money is good in politics
Glenn Beck visits Israel, gets 'adoring' welcome
Greece: Where Profit Is Taboo - A shipping magnate on the fate of his country.
America’s Burgeoning Class War Could Spell Opportunity For GOP
Are Conservatives Being Fair to Barack Obama?
Media bends over for Mrs. Obama
A pol said this:
“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”.
Henninger:
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.
Claremont looks at books about Obama
WSJ: In Defense Of 'Little Boy' - Herbert Hoover warned President Truman that invading Japan would cost at least half a million American lives.
Marcus: The Black Code
Wednesday, July 13. 2011
 House turns out light on old-style bulbs - Republicans unable to overturn law on efficiency
Atlanta teacher: "Those kids were dumb as hell."
Divorce and emotional pain: Numb and Number
In my view, the government should be able to eliminate poverty, war, stress, work, worry, and emotional pain.
The unbearable smugness of Liberals: A Guide
Are the poor morally superior?
Mamet:
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.
California wants to discriminate against Asians again
High-achieving Asians get no respect
Chicagoans Overwhelmingly Vote to Ban Palin, Beck & Coulter Books at Book Fair in Obama’s Home Town
Dangerous ideas for the Masses
If the Prez were a Repub, this would be bigger than Watergate
Re Krugman on the stimulus:
I can’t find the part where he says “but in two years if it doesn’t work I’ll say it just wasn’t the right kind.”
Nobody should believe anything Obama says about the budget
The O throws Dem Mediscare tactic under the bus
OBAMA: PASS MY DEBT CEILING OR I’LL STARVE GRANDMA.
Dino: Running up the debt wasn't a bug, it was a feature
Senator Marco Rubio: Everything Is Worse Under Obama
Corporate money flowing to Dems
Nothing new about that. The Dems are the party of Big Biz and Wall St; the Repubs are the party of Main St.
A Drudgeism:
GE Immelt lectures biz owners: 'Stop complaining about government'...
FLASHBACK: Company Paid NO TAXES Last Year...
Buchanan: An Establishment in Panic
Mead: An Unhappy Ending To The Drug War?
Graph below via Mankiw:
Tuesday, July 12. 2011
 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 Clinton seem 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.
 The Class-Size Debate Never Graduates High School
Norm on circumcision
Number of Legal Jobs Continue to Shrink, Number of Lawyers Continue to Rise
HUMOR IN UNIFORM: Photos Show The Funny Side Of Life On The Front Line
WSJ: A Home Is a Lousy Investment - Today's young people would be foolish to imitate their parents and view ownership as the cornerstone of personal finance.
AVI revisits Charlie on the MTA
The Coming Collectivization of American Health Care - Collectivizing American doctors will fail as badly as collectivizing Soviet farmers.
The Cultural Proficiency Journey: Moving Beyond Ethical Barriers Toward Profound School Change,”
Beyond "ethical barriers"?
Obama wants $1 trillion in taxes on top of what he's already signed - WSJ: Let’s not forget Obama’s already-imposed new taxes
Video: President Obama promises ‘massive job killing taxes’ if re-elected
I'll Gladly Cut Spending On Tuesday For a Tax Increase Today
BREAKING: NAACP and Union Thugs Harass Kenneth Gladney Outside Clayton, MO Courthouse …Update: More Than Half Jury Pool Has Union Ties
Lynching a runaway slave
Gillard puts future on the line with radical plan for Australian carbon tax . Related: Inevitable: Qantas, Virgin Airlines Passing Australia’s Carbon Tax Along to Consumers
Driscoll: Liar’s Poker Meets the Community Reinvestment Act
EU calls emergency meeting as crisis stalks Italy
The EU will have its hands full of welfare states
CURL: Mr. President, do the math: $250,000 per year isn’t rich
Flat jobs data signal weakest recovery in decades/ What recovery? Unemployment remains high and jobs scarce 2 years after Great Recession ended
France tells Libya rebels to seek peace with Gaddafi
Remind me, we are there why?
Democrats’ Incoherent Push to Cut Defense
What's wrong with Defence jobs?
Obama Regime Imposing the Same Race-Based Loans That Brought On 2008 Collapse
Brilliant!
Black economic gains reversed in Great Recession. Says Protein:
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.
Why the Dems are now stymied, at Am Thinker:
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.
Monday, July 11. 2011
Polar Bear populations have been increasing steadily since 1950. Image from a piece at Watts.
 Scrubbing your mug shot from the net is a growing business.
But at $99 per mug shot, who can afford to remove them all? I suggest government subsidies.
The UN’s plan to dominate the world of energy and to redistribute wealth? “Climate change”
What's their Plan B? They might need one if they still want to rule the world.
VDH: The Great Madness of 2004-10
The hatred, the worship, the diagnosis
Met Office supercomputer tops polluting list:
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.”
Translate that as "vital for their jobs."
Chávez Is Believed to Have Colon Cancer
Heather MacDonald responds to defenses of DSK's maid
OK, Heather - but it is still not right to stiff your sex workers
Wehner: A Jobs Report That Defies Description
Reason: The Price of Big Government - Do the benefits ever outweigh the costs?
Bookworm: Why poor people should pay taxes (not lots of taxes, but some)
We agree that every person or family should have some skin in the game, or just be parasites
View from the Left (the NYT): The Worst Time to Slow the Economy
Their plan: raise taxes and increase government spending. However, that is always their plan for everything. Their faith never wavers.
Joe Klein: Time to Ax Public Programs That Don't Yield Results
His example is Head Start
Dan Greenfield: Government of Sociopaths
Unemployment Unexpectedly Up, President Hardest Hit
Geithner tells NBC's "Meet the Press" that it's a very tough economy. He says that for a lot of people "it's going to feel very hard, harder than anything they've experienced in their lifetime now, for a long time to come."
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.
Source: Dealing with Obama: “…beyond bizarre”
Sunday, July 10. 2011
 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.
Continue reading "Diesel Opening"
 Jeter Homers for 3,000th Hit, First Yank to Do it
Perfect families and divorce: Cultural Commitments & Marriage
New Internet Top-Level Domains Coming
It's about time
Sowell said it in 1975
McArdle: Hoover Was No Budget-Cutter
Disgusting. Memphis Reporter Mocks Mitt Romney’s Mormonism
Mitt would be better off as a Muslim
Priuses: Battle Formation! The Implacable Left Reads Obama the Riot Act
Media Matters and Dem Groups Form Organization to Track GOP Candidates with Army of Videographers
Dirty tricks, basically. My theory is that Conservatives are all too busy doing or creating real jobs to do this sort of thing.
The GOP's Demographic Problem
Media Bias 101: How liberal lies seep into our pop culture and become “fact” (UPDATED)
The New York Times: Lying For The DFL
At Overcoming Bias:
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?
Friday, July 8. 2011
 From Ace: When Government Liberals Are Set Free - Nightmare In Connecticut. (Thanks, reader.)
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, abuse and abase view them with the same objectivity I always show.
Which is to say, none.
Continue reading "Election 2012: A tough row to hoe"
Giant hogweed can scar and blind you, N.Y. warns
I have seen that plant. Didn't know it was poisonous.
5 Pro-Marijuana Arguments That Aren't Helping
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.
Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel for Students
Mankiw: Housing Tax Subsidies
One more example of how government distorts markets
EPA Funds Green Groups That Sue The Agency To Expand
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.
Hinderaker: Liberals: Wrong Again. Do They Care?
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.
That's the "drive-by" media
Obama Refers To The Internet As "The Internets"
That would be a big deal if Bachmann said it
White House shows early signs of re-election panic
Klavan: Why Do Blacks Vote for the Party of Racism?
Commentary: The Obama Doctrine Defined
Mead: Beyond The Big City Blues
Health care: Ezra Klein’s public-private fetish
Yale's anti-Semitism whitewash
75% See Vital U.S. Interests As Only Reason For Committing Military Forces to Overseas Action
 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.)
The comfortable colonial (built 1936) pictured is for sale for $4 million and change, but 3 years ago it would have been 6 or 7.
Thursday, July 7. 2011
 American Front Lawn Update: Turf Wars
Related: The Case Against the American Front Lawn
Related: Setbacks, Suburbs and the American Front Lawn
Flying car gets regulatory clearance
Cosby to Christians: Man Up!
View from the Left - New Republic: Man Without a Plan: Obama’s Short-Sighted View of U.S. Politics
Investigation into APS cheating finds unethical behavior across every level.
Just like what we wrote about on Tuesday: Long-term California Cooling Trend Blamed on Global Warming
Climate change causes everything.
Malanga: The Compensation Monster Devouring Cities - The real battle over public workers’ pay is happening in city halls, not state capitols.
The vote-buying pols sold out the taxpayer everywhere
Goldberg: ‘That’s Racist’ - The accusation becomes a punch line.
Hey, Jonah. That's racist.
Rep. Duncan Hunter Jr (R., CA): Ronald Reagan Would Never Be Elected Today
Why we like Marco Rubio: “The kind of language you would expect from a leader of a third-world country, not the President of the United States”
A forceful speaker. Is it racist to say he is "articulate"?
Blame the rating companies: Portugal reels after Moody's junk rating.
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.
Driscoll: Why does the MSM Downplay the Violence at Left-Wing Protests?
The Lt. Dan Band: Trailer, For the Common Good
Why Greece is thwarting Gaza flotilla
Small Wars Journal: Killing your way to control
WSJ: Inside the Disappointing Comeback
“Fast and Furious” Blows Sky-High
Wednesday, July 6. 2011
Details at Boring Old Man.
It's depressing. Perhaps I need some Risperdal?
How Greece's Political Elite Ruined the Country
Pork for all! Greece is bankrupt, and everybody knows it. There is no way they will ever pay back what they have borrowed to sustain their vote-buying politics. Maybe they could just sell the whole country to Club Med, and change those Euros or Drachmas into drink beads.
Obama Losing Canada's Oil to China
Saddam Hussein Torture Doctor at Work in British Hospital
Brits can't get top students to go to medical school anymore (nobody really wants to work for the NHS) - so they have to import docs from Whereisitstan.
McArdle: Why Can't the GOP Get to Yes?
She sort-of agrees with David Brooks. I don't know what I think except that the Dems cannot stop spending money they don't have to give people stuff they don't want. Plunder politics.
Stossel on The College Scam. A quote:
"There are 80,000 bartenders in the United States with bachelor's degrees," Vedder said. He says that 17 percent of baggage porters and bellhops have a college degree, 15 percent of taxi and limo drivers.
Nothing wrong with that (a bartender who can discuss Paradise Lost with you is a good thing) - unless those folks were scammed into getting those diplomas as a financial investment. I see many parallels with sub-prime mortgage sales. Most colleges these days are all about sales - warm bodies with loans in hand. It's become the Big Education industry, built on debt.
Obama’s Final Argument: Republicans Are Poopheads: A quote:
No Republican has won the presidency without significant name recognition entering primary season since Warren G. Harding in 1920. That is because Republicans have to face down Democrats’ constant attacks on their personhood, attacks are made more effective because the Republican platform is supposed to be personal responsibility and aspirational performance standards, while the Democratic platform is handouts, pure and simple. The only way for Republicans to win is to make it widely known to the American public prior to their demonization that they are good and decent human beings.
President Obama’s only hope, by contrast, is to personalize, polarize, and destroy. It’s pure Alinsky, and it will work unless Republicans nominate someone so honest and eminently kind that Obama’s criticism seems as foolish as it clearly is.
Remembering Entebbe
I am an unworthy - and grateful - American
What he said
Climate scientists predict mini Ice Age
Then catastrophic warming after that, I suppose? How long must I wait?
Coyote: More Wind Craziness
Tuesday, July 5. 2011
Feminists Against Beautiful Women
How To Plan a Fireworks Show
The best Literary Tales Of Real-Life Crimes
Via Insty: The Five Best Inventions of the Founding Fathers
The War on Lemonade Stands! Nanny of the Month (June 2011)
Carpe: How State Income Tax Rates Affect NBA Outcomes
Cory Maye is finally getting out of jail
Sowell: Politics Versus Reality:
It is hard to understand politics if you are hung up on reality. Politicians leave reality to others. What matters in politics is what you can get the voters to believe, whether it bears any resemblance to reality or not.
Am Thinker: The Education of a Compassionate Conservative
Barone: Replacing Property as a Source of Wealth Creation
Connecticut’s ‘Anti-Christie’ Malloy Plans Worker Cuts
Joe Biden Warns Teamsters: Vote Dem or ‘You’re on Your Own, Jack’
NYT freaks because CEOs make big bucks. But what about Pinch?
Re our wars: Belmont Club: The return of reality
Obama’s Economists: Each Job ‘Saved or Created’ by the Stimulus Cost $278,000 (So Far)
Obama's labor union problem
Twenty-two states (plus the District of Columbia) currently impose an estate tax or an inheritance tax (Maryland and New Jersey have both). (h/t Insty)
Re the housing bubble and Fannie Mae:
Under Johnson, an important Democratic operative, Fannie Mae became, Morgenson and Rosner say, “the largest and most powerful financial institution in the world.” Its power derived from the unstated certainty that the government would be ultimately liable for Fannie’s obligations. This assumption and other perquisites were subsidies to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac worth an estimated $7 billion a year. They retained about a third of this.
Morgenson and Rosner report that in 1998, when Fannie Mae’s lending hit $1 trillion, its top officials began manipulating the company’s results to generate bonuses for themselves. That year Johnson’s $1.9 million bonus brought his compensation to $21 million. In nine years, Johnson received $100 million.
At Driscoll:
At Big Government yesterday, Phillip Dennis asked, “What Has Happened to Liberals In the Past 50 Years?” Here’s one answer: They went from viewing America as a beacon of freedom (or a Shining City upon a Hill, to borrow a phrase popular with both liberal icon JFK and former Roosevelt liberal Ronald Wilson Reagan) worth sharing with a beleaguered world to a Show About Nothing during that time. If only they had Upped Their Game during this period, instead.
Related: “Were the Founders Democrats?” That depends on whether you spell it with a large or small-d.
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The Big Apple Celebrates the King James Bible