Thursday, January 29. 2009
 A new novel about Agincourt
5000 drones busy in Iraq and Afghanistan
The wolves of the Rockies and the balance of nature
Ten sure-fire ways to be a failure (h/t, Conservative Grapevine)
The college scam. Stossel
Wednesday, January 28. 2009
 The 40-year wish list. That's exactly what I've been thinking. Every Dem in Congress has his long pent-up list, and suddenly he is the kid in the candy shop, with unlimited funds.
In the telling words of Rahm Emanuel, "Never let a serious crisis go to waste."
Who is going to pay for all of this candy?
The earth has a fever a cold! AlGore trudges through snowstorm to deliver warning to Congress. Does anybody take him seriously any more? Related: Hansen's former NASA supervisor calls Hansen an embarassment.
It's the economy, girlfriend. NYT
Who was Arthur Rimbaud? A teenage dirtbag?
Your government bureaucrats at work.
Some scummy, low-life, ungrateful guy wants to sue US Airways. Maybe he doesn't believe in Hell. He should believe: he is it, or is in it.
Texas added jobs in 2008.
Bernard Goldberg on the press' man-crush on Obama
Culinary Olympics begin in France
All sorts of good stuff to read at Powerline
Obama admin tries to destroy US auto biz. No, not rational.
Economists against the stimulus. Krauthammer on stimulus follies.
The Sarah PAC. Why not?
The Pope and Mozart's Mass in C Major. SISU. The Pope:
I understood that we experienced something other than a simple concert, that it was music at prayer, the divine office, in which we almost could touch something of the magnificence and beauty of God himself, and we were touched.
I am snowed-in today. Going nowhere past the end of my driveway with my snowplow. My road hasn't seen a plow yet this morning, and it's coming down hard and fast and blowy. Beautiful. I will light a fire, feed the birds, do some plowing, sip some sherry, catch up on some paperwork, and do some billable work too. Maybe find a new topic for a future post, if something piques my curiosity. Maybe bundle up and boot up and take a hike in the woods.
Re the Kesler post below, via the above-named essay at Politico:
“All this stimulus money is geared toward getting consumers spending and borrowing again. But spending and borrowing were the problem in the first place.”
I agree. But since when is politics rational? It's sales and marketing.
From guest poster Bruce Kesler -
I heard Rush Limbaugh on radio say that the stimulus bill being worked on in Washington should be split in proportion of the popular vote percentages for Obama and McCain between Democrat ideas of “infrastructure” and Republican ideas of “tax cuts.”
One is never sure whether Rush is joking. Regardless, I gagged. (Ed note: It was irony, BK)
Indeed, I’m gagging at the whole stimulus discussions. Whether spending or tax cuts. The concept of the stimulus bill is that by putting more money in some people’s pockets, demand for goods and services will be increased, which will stimulate business spending. There are several slips between cup and lip in this.
First, much of the demand we were accustomed to was speculation, and much else was reckless to prudent family budgets. Much home and auto buying, as well as much other consumer spending, was by those who couldn’t afford the purchases. This should not be restimulated. Those who can afford purchases will make purchases.
Second, relatively few of those who can afford purchases are rejected for credit. Loosening credit will mostly reallow those who cannot afford purchases to resume.
Third, though the stimulus bill is not based on currently increasing most taxes, unless we want to see a future major inflation tax on everyone due to this huge deficit spending we will see huge future tax increases on most to pay for the otherwise unsustainable deficit spending.
In short, the very idea of the stimulus bill is inane.
There may be grounds for some very, very limited and targeted, proven boosts to some people or businesses in real dire need, provided it does not become ongoing or contrary to their getting their affairs and operations in effective order.
The rest is sheer hooey. The politicians who support it are just trying to buy votes and contributions from their constituencies, at the expense of everyone else and of reason.
See John Cochrane's Fiscal Stimulus, Fiscal Inflation, or Fiscal Fallacies
 John Updike died. I read all of his Rabbit books, and a few others. But I like his essays best.
Germany's choice: Power, or sitting cold in the dark
What Euroland is up against in recession
Mankiw on Barro on stimulus
JR Dunn on Obama's first week and the economy:
Human beings are not economic robots mindlessly following ironclad laws. They are, in Isaiah Berlin's acute formulation, "Kettles that watch themselves come to a boil". Most of the problems of today's economy aren't economic at all, but functions of mass psychology. We'd be far better off if people like Bernanke, Greenspan, and Obama himself weren't continually quoted about how bad things are and how much worse they'll get, if reporters who insist on using the verb "deteriorate" were treated the same as the Iraqi shoe guy, and if the president's entire economic staff were given copies of Canetti's Crowds and Power and Mackay's Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.
Tuesday, January 27. 2009
Stolen in toto from Insty:
 Right Wing Prof's Clown Awards for 2008. Nice job, Prof. You had lots of material from which to chose.
Why shrinks are allowed to insult you. If you want to be told that you're perfect, don't talk to one.
Dems full of denial and hypocrisy on the stimulus package. We have been sufficiently frightened by the MSM, and now we are about to get mugged.
Before radar
Hut For Sale, and other unusual real estate offerings
Those innocent Gitmo grads
Muggers advise on how to deal with muggers. Hmmm.
Is dissent still patriotic? Driscoll. Probably not.
The swindle of carbon credits. No kidding. Big-time scam.
How come Jeff Skilling is in jail and Rick Wagoner isn't? Coyote
The Obama campaign will live on as a propaganda machine
This isn't what I marched and petitioned for. Classical V
Wilmington, Ohio, and what a stimulus cannot do.
California passes the tipping point. Yes, it is called "serfdom," but the crazy thing about it is that this return to the 12th century is voluntary. I guess many voters find the role comforting: I will work for the Lord of the Manor, and he will care for me. Freedom and independence aren't for everybody, maybe.
Obama's graciousness deficit. It isn't consistent with his public Fred Astaire, metrosexual presentation.
Kristol leaving NYT after one year. I generally like to read him, but never found his NYT pieces to be all that good. They should give John Hinderaker a call.
Shut up and sing or play. Can you ever go to hear music without getting a political lecture, or at least some gratuitious political comment? Powerline. Ed: Funny, I just commented to somebody yesterday that what bugs me the most about this sort of thing is the assumption that "we're all bien pensant, sophisticated, smart people here and not knuckle-draggers or gun-clinging rednecks, and so we surely all agree that (enter name of Repub or Conservative) is a total ignorant a-hole."
Monday, January 26. 2009
Finally, nice and warm this morning for a change from VT. 16 F here in NYC. That's global warming for you. Funny how it can feel colder without any wind, and the air itself feels frozen into a lifeless stillness. That's why I never bought into that wind chill nonsense.
US Navy tries catch-and-release on Iranian rockets. Yes, let's be careful not to annoy the Iranians. Related: Iranian verbal attacks on Obama grow shriller.
The NHS: A National Disgrace
Feel sorry for wildly irresponsible people. Ben Stein
The Global Warming Scare is over. Monckton
The Afghanistan quagmire? Why does the NYT label everything difficult as a "quagmire"? As Jules notes, they are in one of their own.
A stimulus package for ACORN. Good grief. Can any organization be more discredited?
Asset prices need to fall. I agree. It's bad-tasting medicine. Related: A sensible critique of Dem spending. I think it's pure pork, and will do harm. A full-daylight raid on the treasury, and a theft from our kids.
Tax The Rich Punish the Economically Successful is on its way. Why do they bother, if their plan is to print trillions?
Caroline: Profile in Vanity
Did Medicare improve the health of those over 65? Not at all. You cannot buy health. You can only buy treatment. Related: Forecasting health care costs in 2040.
Quote from Weisberg:
Obama's vagueness about the federal role comes at a moment when clarity is especially needed. Our government is about to become bigger, more powerful and more expensive in order to deal with a sprawling economic crisis. Washington will take on responsibilities it hasn't shouldered in 75 years, such as directly alleviating unemployment and perhaps nationalizing banks. Many who would ordinarily reject such interventions on principle can justify them as misery relief, Keynesian stimulus or emergency management. But some see in the expansion something further-reaching—a redefinition of the government's relationship to markets transcending the current crisis.
Related: How it's difficult to refuse a goody-bag, from Dr Sanity, Pelosi basically confirms that.
Sunday, January 25. 2009
This is why Rush remains so good. He responds to Obama with good cheer and without rancor, while going straight to the heart of the matter. Byron York. One quote:
One more thing, Byron. Your publication and website have documented Obama's ties to the teachings of Saul Alinksy while he was community organizing in Chicago. Here is Rule 13 of Alinksy's Rules for Radicals:
"Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."
Completely related, The Audacity of Obama at Powerline. He has big plans for us, and it makes me uncomfortable.
Photo above via Moonbattery. It would be a good ad for Dunkin Donuts. (Yes, that is The Kid from Brooklyn.) Starbucks seems to be in trouble.
Went to see Slumdog last night, but both seatings were sold out.
Waxman as Boogie Man
Would a nicer NRA be more effective? Reason
Mitch Daniels, Hoosier rock star
Black preachers did not like Obama's religious references
What's up with GE? Megan. Always been one of my favorite stocks...
Obama's attack on Rush. Good for Rush. His plan is working. Says Insty:
WERE OBAMA’S ATTACKS ON LIMBAUGH AND FOX A MISTAKE? “Beyond the absurdity of a Democrat barking orders at his political opposition, he’s especially foolish to air his fear of Limbaugh and talk radio in a public setting.”
Plus this: “I’m picturing Rush delirious with glee, pacing the cavernous rooms of his mansion, booming out monologues to his kitty cat Pumpkin, as he waits for Monday noon to finally roll around. This will be good.”
Is Iran terrorism's Mother Regime?
I didn't know PBS did stuff like this: Lesson Plan on the Economy
Welcome back Carter? Anchoress
Sarkozy to rescue French newspapers.
Eric Holder on the fairness doctrine. NRO
Headline comparison:
Headlines 4 years ago:
"Republicans spending $42 million on inauguration while troops Die in unarmored Humvees"
"Bush extravagance exceeds any reason during tough economic times"
"Fat cats get their $42 million inauguration party, Ordinary Americans get the shaft"
Headlines last week:
"Historic Obama Inauguration will cost only $120 million"
"Obama Spends $120 million on inauguration; America Needs A Big Party"
"Everyman Obama shows America how to celebrate"
"Citibank executives contribute $8 million to Obama Inauguration"
Female tree below from Theo, of course.
Saturday, January 24. 2009
Amusingly pointed, from Steyn. He rightly quotes Matthew Parris:
This recession is not a failure of market economics. It is a reassertion of market economics after a decade in which we paid ourselves more than we were producing, and funded it precariously and temporarily by complicated credit instruments that it took a while for the market to rumble.
Moonbat warmist crank James Lovelock interviewed by a sexy babe named Gaia, at Jules. Lovelock predicts a "90% cull" of humans. I predict that somebody in his family will get him back on his medication.
Close Gitmo? OK. And then what? Laura Ingraham suggested sending them all to Barbra Streisand's neighborhood. The Obama transcript is an embarassment. The guy doesn't know what the heck he's talking about.
Big Lizards has good thoughts on the subject.
Friday, January 23. 2009
Remarkable photos of the Airbus salvage in the Hudson on the Manhattan shore, taken mainly by the crane crew. Jersey shore opposite. Photos are in sequence in continuation page below.
Continue reading "Salvage photos of Flight 1549"
Israel discovers huge oil reserves.
 I am heading to Killington for a weekend of skiing and general merriment in the snow and cold, and leaving these droppings behind.
Yo Yo and Itzhak faked it? Sheesh. Just like Milli Vanilli. Would have thought it beneath their dignity.
How to get your wife to screw you. (Just thought I'd throw that in the pile to surprise you.)
Too busy for the Medal of Honor Ball? A sick and sickening decision.
Your orange juice is killing the planet. Thought you would like to know. I'll have a Screwdriver, hold the OJ. (h/t, Junk Science)
Major fault in Arkansas. But when?
Are Republicans too nice? I do think they have trouble playing the dirty pool. Dems don't mind looking bad, and accept the reality that politics is the ugliest sport.
Rick Moran:
...are we to endure 4 or 8 years of this over the top, out of control, masturbatory media overkill? Everything about him his so perfect that any criticism at all seems harsh. Obama doesn’t necessarily invite this sort of thing but it seems to happen anyway. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to examine this phenomenon as the months pass and reality sets in.
First time I ever heard of Hillary's "people skills." I've heard that she is a chain-smoking, no-class, potty-mouthed, menopausal bitch on wheels butchy harridan who expects to be treated like royalty. But otherwise a very nice person. I do not think I would want to work for her sort.
Related: The new US foreign policy - Make them love us. Didn't Jimmy Carter try that? Guess what. They have their own interests, and do not give a damn about ours.
Frum's new website: New Majority
Vanderleun's personal journey with abortion
Scientists get misty-eyed over Obama
Stephanopoulis gets misty-eyed over Obama
From Bruce Kesler:
Now that the grand coronation, er inauguration, is old news, with our major media continuing in its electoral path of ignoring the troubling portents of the policies and appointments coming from now President Obama, can we look forward to the major media resurrecting its role as -- it likes to view itself, but polls showing majority distrust from its consumers -- speaking truth to power?
There are plenty of opportunities for the major media to do so, from a bloated economic recovery bill that explodes with political payoff boondoggles and catastrophically expands inflation-inducing inflation, to payoffs to unions that reduce independent worker protections and hobble efficient business management, to ignoring the desires of the 85% of Americans who don’t want their health care dictated by bureaucrats in Washington, to half-hearted defenses against worldwide terrorists.
As readership and viewership continue their sharp declines, and major newspapers shrink in content and TV networks increase their cheaper to produce unreality offerings, they might stop to reconsider the poor survival sense of being inane lackies of the reckless ideologies and pontifications that now hold power at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, and its echoing commercial failures from Hollywood.
Not likely, but one can hope for change, can’t one?
Broadway, 1894. More here. h/t, Theo
Touching it makes you want it.
The myth of the business cycle, and why Greenspan is bewildered.
The Wilders prosecution persecution. Front Page
A trillion bucks but they cannot promise a single job.
Obama to press: Kiss my ass
Do you want these interrogation centers closed?
What the Left is saying these days. Thompson. Good grief.
Mr. Free Market remembers Rorke's Drift
Still perpetuating the lie of Leftist "compassion"
Declaration of Dependence:
"We hold this truth to be self-evident, that all men are endowed by their government with the unalienable right to be taxed, subsidized, regulated, lectured, scolded, herded, harassed, and otherwise ruled in whatever ways work."
Thursday, January 22. 2009
From guest poster Bruce Kesler:
Murtha's Latest Pork - Guantanamo
Never missing an opportunity to bring pork to his congressional district, the porkmeister Congressman Jack Murtha says he’ll be pleased to relocate the prisoners at Guantanamo to his district.
The news report notes: “Murtha only has a minimum security prison in his district. But he says he'd have no reservations about holding detainees there in a maximum security prison.”
The construction cost of a maximum security prison is upwards of $110 million, and operating costs in US prisons run an average of almost $100 per day per prisoner, and higher for maximum security. Plus there will be all the extra costs of housing and officing the government lawyers needed. Then, there’s the boon to the local hotels and restaurants from all the defense attorneys and reporters. Murtha’s constituents might disagree with Murtha’s comment that, "They're no more dangerous in my district than in Guantanamo." But, hey, there’s jobs and profits involved. I wonder which friend or contributor of Murtha owns the site that would be sold to the government. I wonder how close the site may be to Murtha’s house.
I don’t wonder anymore at Murtha’s gumption to bring home the pork, er or whatever it might be renamed in respect to Moslem food sensitivities.
Heads up, cousins. Jonah is coming! (The author of Liberal Fascism - if they still permit you to read such radical and subversive books.)
Of course, the Brits are already experts on liberal fascism. They live it.
Gummint rules keep WH in dark ages
Docs have to treat anybody? No, they do not. They can treat who they want, when they want, and how they want.
Tax cheat to head IRS. It's "change."
Prosecuted for criticizing Islam. Good grief. Seems like everybody criticizes some religion or other these days.
What we don't know about Obama. Politico
Insty:
STEVE CHAPMAN: “We all know how we got into this economic mess. We spent too much, borrowed with abandon, and acted like the bills would never come due. So what’s the prescription for getting out? Spending more, borrowing more, and acting like the bills will never come due.”
Yeah, that’ll work.
Tiger:
... if Republicans did nothing but expose pork and keep their own noses relentlessly clean for two years -- a tall order, I admit -- they would rehabilitate their reputation as the guardian of the hardworking, taxpaying non-complainer who puts his shoulder to the wheel every day whether he likes it or not, and vastly improve their chances in 2010 and beyond.
Sad to say, I'm not holding my breath.
More good stuff later, busy today. No recession in my biz. Counter-cyclical is good.
Reality check: Your career in IT
Why major in Econ? Mankiw
Brave TV. Ex-Jihadists talk about why.
Did the dinosaurs die out quickly?
The Oprahfication of Obama. I never saw Oprah. What exactly does she do?
Remembering Fr. Neuhaus. Acton Inst.
Back to a spending orgy. Michelle
Good luck demonizing John Kasich. We love the guy. Demonization is the new political tool.
From Rick Moran:
On my radio show last night, Rich Baehr of the American Thinker pointed out that in the last decade we have freed Muslims from persecution and tyranny in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Praytell why is it the United States who should be coming hat in hand to the Muslim world? What more could we possibly do to prove our “respect?” Time for the moderate Muslims to stand up and start reciprocating. That is the true way forward with US-Muslim relations.
From Barone on Obama's speech:
...when Obama says, "We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth," he's not far away from plugging the multicultural idea, more prevalent in Western Europe than here in America, that every culture has the same moral worth—except maybe ours, which is worse. That's a very dangerous and wrongheaded way of thinking. And it's directly contrary to the way our first black president—and our first Catholic one—won their elections. Kennedy excelled and Obama excels at speaking the English language. The civic culture they mastered was our Anglo-Protestant culture, despite the fact that one went to a Catholic church and the other's father was a citizen of Kenya (and not, I think, as people tend to say, an immigrant: I presume he was in the United States on a student visa, and we know that he went home to Kenya and participated in politics there). Kennedy and Obama won because they did not fit the negative stereotypes of their ethnic groups, just as Margaret Thatcher won in Britain not because she was warm and cuddly but because she was the Iron Lady. Kennedy seemed more like an English lord than an Irish pol (one of his sisters was engaged to the marquis of Hartington), and Obama seemed more like a law professor than a ghetto protester.
Wednesday, January 21. 2009
Leonhardt, in The NYT. Makes sense to me. I was there. In my view, some folks hype the badness simply to rationalize government power and money grabs.
The Big Three car-assemblers are dead men walking, and have been for years. I do have a concern about the banks, however, because when governments end up owning them, politics ends up running them. That is even worse than having politics run medical treatment.
Maybe it's a query: Which is worse: Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, and Nancy Pelosi controlling your doctor - or controlling your bank?
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