Thursday, January 17. 2013
I bailed out of an attempt to induct me into a cult tonight.
Homeschoolers are funny.
Evil TV Network Takes Income From 11 Children
Are Gold-Plated Health Benefits Making American Workers Worse Off?
Kathryn Bigelow on Zero Dark Thirty: 'It's illogical to ignore torture'
IRS Warns Employers: Do Not Try to Avoid ObamaCare Insurance Mandate:
...if an employer has 40 full-time workers and 20 part-time workers, that employer would be considered by the government to have 50 full-time workers and would be subject to the mandate because the 20 part-time workers average to 10 full-time workers – meeting the 50 full-time-worker threshold.
In ‘fiscal cliff’ deal, a blow to Obamacare
Whole Foods CEO: ObamaCare “more like fascism”
GE: Hybrid And Electric Vehicles Make No Financial Sense
Memo to Beijing: Carbon Dioxide Doesn't Cause Smog
Illinois conservatives call for massive pension reform in wake of Democratic failure
House Passes $50 Billion In Sandy Relief (Mostly Unrelated Pork) With Democrats Providing Majority Of The Yes Votes - UPDATE: Less Than Half The Money Is Sandy Related
The Whiz Kids - They didn’t come here to cut spending:
This is the overcaffeinated game of leapfrog that’s characterized Washington for years. Policy wonks and whiz kid pundits fly to a problem, waving calculators and smacking each other with rolled-up charts in attempts to get there first. Legislation is passed that supposedly ameliorates the problem. Everyone trips over each other and gets a convenient case of amnesia. Then it’s on to the next problem. And for God’s sake, don’t look back at the previous one…or at least not for another few years when everyone can return and try to solve it all over again.
Gun rights advocates should not rely on the Second Amendment.
NY Punishes Law-Abiding Citizens: Cuomo signs Nation's Most Punitive Gun Legislation into law
The would-be murderers are shaking in their boots
Sultan on guns and the "We have to fix this" ethos:
Americans are suckers for a sob story. But a lot of them are also suckers for personal freedom. Whenever a bullseye is put on freedom for the greater good, two narratives battle it out for the soul of the country. "We have to fix this" and "Leave me alone."
Think of We have to fix this" and "Leave me alone" as the devil and angel on the shoulders of every cartoon character for the last hundred years. "We have to fix this," wears an earnest expression and her appearance is calculated to suggest nurse, teacher or PTA member, when in reality she's usually an Ivy League grad with a lot of time spent in government and political advocacy and whose kids are raised by Elena from Guatemala, whose immigration status is that of Undocumented Democrat.
Obama Regime Stalls on Lisa Jackson Emails
California: Money not set aside for retiree health benefits
Journalist Rebellion in China
Egyptian court sentences Christian family to 15 years for converting from Islam
Vatican slams breakaway group for anti-Semitism - Cardinal calls Jew hatred ‘non-Christian,’ questions validity of Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X
Egypt’s U.S.-Subsidized Politics of Hate
State Dep’t investigation: Assad used chemical weapons against Syrian rebels last month
Wednesday, January 16. 2013
That's Gov. Perry. I could not agree more.
I had been under the impression that the reason to spend big bucks for an elite education in prep schools like Andover, Exeter, Choate, Deerfield, etc. was for a very rigorous classical education, traditional and strict moral standards, and, in general, a special culture set apart from ordinary society and its fads, from factory-style public education, and from ordinary mindless and immature teen pursuits.
If these sorts of schools no longer aspire to be different, what's the point?
Heather MacDonald reports from Andover: Hey, Kids--How About Studying Oppressed Sex Workers?
So now Geoff Chaucer, the father of modern English, is voiceless and the whores have voices? Thus the culture progresses, forgetting the Wife of Bath - and the Whore of Babylon.
Tuesday, January 15. 2013
Saturday, January 12. 2013
Boring, unless you want to spend two hours looking at Jessica Chastain's quivering lips.
Argo, equally tedious.
Two movies in a row that kept me checking my watch to see how much longer I had to sit there. Much rather read a book. Why do I bother going to the movies? Well, to be a good husband.
 Our friend Pirate would say, re today's photo art, "If all you see is a rapidly rising ocean about to drown poor Kate, you must be a warmenist."
NYT closing its environmental propaganda desk
Global cooling strikes again
Classical Greek: Molon labe
From Neurotic Misery to Ordinary Human Unhappiness
Not a utopian
Why Are LEGO Sets Expensive?
Glad we have an attic full of them. Good investment.
A Dad who cannot throw a baseball
“You Quarterbacks Get All the Good-Looking Women”
Deaths increase, misery mounts as flu sweeps nation
I blame global cooling.
Bad news from NY: The Blue States Are Getting Bluer
In 2nd Look, Few Savings From Digital Health Records
Duh.
Good stuff: American Digest
Ilya: Tax Rates and Political Ignorance
CA Gov Proposes Billions In New Spending For Upcoming Year
HHS Study: Yep, Head Start doesn’t work
But it does work: It employs millions of the marginally-employable in government baby-sitting jobs.
As new fiscal crises near, Democrats seek more tax increases
Molon labe
Noonan: Time for the Repubs to act like pirates
White House Does Damage Control on NYT Gun-Control Report (h/t Insty)
From Sultan's Crime and Disarmament:
Bronx crime, like most urban crime, is driven by gangs. The Black Assassins, Majestic Warlocks and the Black Muslim Five Percenters are one of the 70 street gangs in New York's own Detroit. While civil rights activists call for fighting gang violence with peace treaties and afterschool programs, there are really only two things that work. Either a police state of the kind you will find in the Bronx where the cops monitor the Twitter and Facebook postings of gang members, and their text messages, or an armed population that is capable of defending itself against them.
Liberals invariably choose none of the above.
What goes on in the 40th isn't just a New York issue. It's nationwide.
Friday, January 11. 2013
This is entertaining, but the alert and fast-talking Ben Shapiro makes one disputative error which might seem minor, but is not. His error was in answering the question "Why does anyone need an assault rifle?"
The right answer would be "I don't know what your definition of an assault rifle is, but nobody has to justify his wants in America. It's a free country. Piers, why do you need a polluting Town Car and driver to bring you to work?"
Link to the lively TV interview here.
When white kids are killed, it's a catastrophe. When young black gangbangers die in Chicago, it's a non-story. The more I listen to all the hysteria, the more I want an AR-15 to play with even though I tend to prefer more aesthetic, old-school firearms, with wood in them. It appears that they are on back-order anyway.
Just had to repost the Hello Kitty AR-15. I would not mess with this pleasant lady:
Thursday, January 10. 2013
The Islamization of France in 2012:
As the politically active Muslim population in France continues to swell, and as most Muslims vote for Socialist and leftwing parties, conservative parties will find it increasingly difficult to win future presidential elections in France.
The Problem with John Kerry and Chuck Hagel: They Are Products of the Vietnam Generation
Israelis Lose Faith In International Guarantees
PA uses water as a political weapon
West fears Iran will try to seize Syria's uranium stockpile
 Planetary disasters: It could happen one night - Catastrophes from the past will strike again — we just do not know when.
'My Brooklyn' Tells a Story of Gentrification and Loss
Boeing Has Another Dreamliner Mishap: Fuel Leak in Boston
Too bad about the problems - I like that airplane
Richard Burton on the Cavett Show
Charisma and intelligence on parade
New data show 1 in 4 children on food stamps in FY 2011
Office Space, University Edition
When Teachers aren't Smarter than a Fifth-grader
SURPRISE SURPRISE... GLOBAL WARMING HAS STALLED, ADMITS MET OFFICE
Claims of 'Warmest Year' For Continental U.S. (Less than 2% of Earth's Surface) Ignore Flat Global Temperature Trend
Obama's Green Ethanol Bureaucrats Starve The Poor
Pure scam
VDH: The Hipster Facade
Whatever happened with Al Gore's sexual assault cases?
Obama Power Grabs on the Horizon
Biden: Obama May Use Executive Orders to Impose Gun Control
A Kennedy Shocks the Pro-Dope Liberal Media
Dino: Cons need a better presentation
Keep it simple, stupid.
A school shooting which did not happen
Wednesday, January 9. 2013
 That's the Lefty mantra this week, re firearms. So let's ban cars, which are far more deadly. Or urban gangs and urban drug gangs, who do, by far, most of the killing in the US with illegally-possessed handguns.
Tatler:
If it only saves one life, maybe we shouldn’t ban handguns because one of them was used Monday night in Ohio to save two lives and may help take a robber off the streets.
Mind you, I am entirely in favor of banning firearms, or any other weapons including baseball bats, from violent criminals and the criminally insane. However, that is already the law. Crims ignore laws, obviously, worldwide. Criminalizing the law-abiding seems one more example of A nation formed by geniuses and run by idiots.
A rational government would want the law-abiding armed, and the crims disarmed. I happen to believe that our government wants me disarmed. Me, who have been burglarized four times, held up at gunpoint once, threatened with death once, have had an armed home invader running through the area recently, and have never harmed anybody who did not deserve it - and never with a firearm but only with words.
When government and police give up guns, and government officials and celebrities and newspaper offices give up their firearm protection, and security guards begin carrying squirtguns, and the crims give up their guns and we establish the Peaceable Kingdom where the lion lies down with the lamb, then we can talk.
Until then, Maggie's HQ is defended with legal citizen arms just as Mayor Bloomberg and the President are. That's how honest country folk think, who cannot afford security guards and have no gendarmes for many miles. In the country, one must be one's own gendarme. That's the American way. I grew up with guns around. Just tools, like all the others. We kept a .22 revolver in the kitchen drawer with the pliers and screwdrivers. My Mom shot a roaming Copperhead with it one time, when a little one was outdoors in a basinette.
Eve should have been armed.
Tuesday, January 8. 2013
 Says Al Gore's staff. Slow learners, I guess.
From Sultan's scathingly entertaining Hollow Men:
Gore is a hollow man selling someone else's alarmist hollow earth theory so he can make it to the next stage of a career that has no meaning or purpose. Like most professional idealists, Al Gore cares for nothing except money. Having sold out so many times, his only idea is to keep doing it again and again.
The professional idealist is a hollow man. A soulless man who is tasked with convincing everyone of the existence of the thing that he does not have. The left has created an endless number of professional openings for such soulless men, for paid liars and faithless tricksters, who live only to convince the world that they believe just long enough for them to sell out one more time.
I'm not sure what is driving this movement. Unions, perhaps?
My kids have all had various internships, paid and unpaid, some very well-paid. Internships are an opportunity for the student and, in most cases, a bit of a hassle for the person offering them.
If a person thinks it worth their while to take an unpaid internship, why not? If they were paid, they might not be offered at all.
Monday, January 7. 2013
Asness:
The only way to finance a big European-style state is to have it paid for by massive taxation of everyone, mostly the middle class. Right now, we are avoiding honest debate on this fact.
There will be large tax increases on the middle class. There is no getting around it, if people want so many government benefits. Those Obamacare taxes are just the beginning. With that will come ever-slowing growth of jobs and income.
The downward creep of regular tax increases has already begin (h/t Insty): The Stealth Tax Hike -- Why the New $450,000 Income Threshold Is a Political Fiction.
I remain confused about why Europe seems like a good role model for a vigorous economy with opportunity for all.
Now Democrats Aim for a Trillion in New Taxes. It's never enough.
Sunday, January 6. 2013
 Pic: We ain't taking sides, because, for one thing, we have Alabama relatives. For another, we believe that rooting for teams is rooting for laundry - in Seinfeld's immortal words. I just liked this photo. But what the heck, it's all about money and fun and athletic talent, which are all good things. But "Brian Kelly" - sheesh. Irish enuf? Are you kidding me?
Notre Dame vs. Alabama: College Football's Epic Rivalry
Lou Holtz, the man who led the Irish to their last national title, on the health of college football amid big money, big injuries and big scandals.
Our Culture, What's Left Of It: Interview with Theodore Dalrymple
Subway Deaths Haunt Those at Trains’ Controls
Wisdom from Psychopaths? A scientist enters a high-security psychiatric hospital to extract tips and advice from a crowd without a conscience
10 Things Happy People Do Differently (h/t Insty)
Rent a Scottish Castle (or country house)
Frosties and Coco Pops today. But don’t be fooled into thinking it will end there.
The Brits: 60,000 patients put on death pathway without being told but minister still says controversial end-of-life plan is 'fantastic'
Are We All Europeans Now? We need to be honest about the size and scope of our government.
The Episcopal Church: Nothing Like Consistency (With Comedy Video Bonus)
Behind the December jobs report -- why America's unemployment rate remains so high
Do You Believe This Garbage?… Obama Resorts to Outright Lies in Weekly Address
How the world's most prominent environmentalist learned to stop worrying and love Big Oil.
Here Comes The Student Loan Bailout
Your Government Forced You to Place a Cancer Menace In Your Home
Belly up to the ATM, boys — drinks are on the taxpayers.
I’m wondering if Elizabeth will advocate for the Times to get rid of their own armed guards?
Do women want the toughest fighting jobs?
Abbas Salutes Hitler-Supporting Mufti, Terrorists in Anniversary Address
CAIR chief claims Muslims discovered America first
Overheated rhetoric on Israeli settlements
Image below via Moonbattery
Saturday, January 5. 2013
 Report: Drowsy driving is dangerous -- and common
How To Cook Steaks On Your Stovetop That Taste Better Than in a Fancy Restaurant
That's how I do ribeyes - crusty on the outside, rare inside. A grill does not do justice to good Costco ribeyes. One per person, please. A real treat.
Construction is complete on behemoth airship; first flight planned
Crime in England to Post on Facebook That “All Soldiers Should DIE & Go To HELL!”
When did the Brits give up on free speech?
We’re Saved! Concord Bans Planet Killing Water Bottles
Internet emissions are terrible for the planet
I Support President Obama’s Plan for Making Schools Safer
2012: The Year in PC
The Guardian offers some moral support for pedophilia
Heck, Bonobos do it all the time. We're just monkeys, right?
Obama Supporters Hit Hardest in Latest Jobs Report – Blacks, Hispanics and Young Adults Continue to Suffer
New Hampshire Legislator: We Need to 'Restrict Freedoms' of Conservatives
New York Green Weenies Almost Out of Gas
Cruz Sworn In As Texas’ First Hispanic US Senator, Will Introduce Bill To Repeal ‘Obamacare’
Emmett Tyrrell: Liberals will learn that it's still about the economy
And now the “rich” will pay…
Why Obamacare's Health Care Cost Controls Won't Work - Our sad, failed history of technocratic cost controls.
Schumer: Dems Won’t Negotiate With GOP On Debt Ceiling
Illinois Tax Hikes, Two Years Later: A Failure - The Land of Lincoln is still aflame.
CAIR demands media drop term “Islamist”
An Appeal for Dictatorship Comes Out of the Closet at the New York Times
It's termed "Liberal fascism." They are certain that they are wiser than us humble, feckless, ignorant citizens masses who can barely tie our own shoes. Harry Reid?!?!?
Sultan:
We live in a world that has lost touch with the very idea of hard choices. That even in the richest and most prosperous country in the world, you still have to choose one or the other. That you can't have you cake and eat it too. But as the hard edges of reason have blurred into the haze of wishful thinking, the idea of mutually incompatible choices also fades away. Soon there are no choices, only options.
India and the United States: How Individuals and Corporations Have Driven Indo-U.S. Relations
Ancient manuscripts indicate Jews thrived in Afghanistan a thousand years ago
The Israelis should take it over. In five years, it would be the tech center of the world.
Al-Jazeera’s “Alternative Viewpoint” in Qatar’s Paradise
Friday, January 4. 2013
The Homeschool Diaries
A free ad for Angie's List. We use it for almost everything these days. It's a great biz concept.
Crony Capitalist Blowout - A tax increase for everyone but the favored wealthy few.
McFortress - An antigun newspaper avails itself of the Second Amendment.
Former Democratic NYC Mayoral Candidate Equates Gun Owners to Child Molesters
FBI: More People Killed with Hammers, Clubs Each Year than Rifles
$822,000 Worker Shows California Leads U.S. Pay Giveaway
So What's Next, Mr. President? Nearly every decision made during Obama's presidency has been conducted under the canopy of catastrophe.
Krauthammer: Return of the Real Obama - The president is dedicated to the expansion of the welfare state:
Now he’s won. The old Obama is back. He must not be underestimated. He has deftly leveraged his class-war-themed election victory (a) to secure a source of funding (albeit still small) for the bloated welfare state, (b) to carry out an admirably candid bit of income redistribution, and (c) to fracture the one remaining institutional obstacle to the rest of his ideological agenda.
Not bad for two months’ work.
Gloom update: America: Doomed by Scarcity, Doomed by Plenty, Doomed, Doomed!
BBB's charity ratings, seal of approval under fire
Another Pigford government fraud?
Thursday, January 3. 2013
Al Gore may not have invented the internet or Global Warming, but his name will be forever associated with both. He certainly found ways to profit from these themes.
Now he's found a way to profit from TV, which he never claimed to invent, but hoped to 're-invent' with his Current TV network. An unwatched network airing questionable programming, pursuing a bizarre agenda that was mildly anti-American to most of us. Well, now he's out of the TV business and turning the reins over to another crowd of potentially anti-American broadcasters.
I can see the conspiracy theorists lining up behind this one.
If Al-Jazeera somehow turns the U.S. into a Muslim nation, will Al Gore take credit for being the founding father of Islamic U.S.A.?
Wednesday, January 2. 2013
Tuesday, January 1. 2013
I am bird-hunting today with Gwynnie, a real dog, and some friends. 20 ga., not binoculars. Hope our readers have a fine and jolly day too. I am in fine fettle, having only indulged in one beer last night, and early to bed. With a little luck, some pheasants for a late dinner tonight and a little vino.
 US on Pace for Slowest Decade of Population Growth Since 1930s
Mead: Why did God choose the Jews?
Sentimentalizing Serial Murder - A recent book exemplifies the erosion of moral judgment in Britain.
Public Funding for Stadiums Jumps the Shark in MiamiTop 10 Food Policy Success Stories of 2012 - This year had its share of good news for supporters of food freedom. Two interesting infographics were published recently that make it so easy to see the decline of the West, even a caveman can do it.Are you ready? ObamaCare: Pain 2.0 Health costs on top of tax hikes Health care law may mean less hiring in 2013Krauthammer: Obama showed´incredible arrogance´ in´astonishing´ press conference
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I Call Them 'Bat-Chomping, Bird-Slicing Eco Crucifixes' Because 
Between the woods and frozen lake, on Tuesday
When