Monday, February 7. 2011
We had to destroy the village to save it. As SDA says, Affirmative Action meets Wild Kingdom. Hubris never ends well.
Chart below via Pethokoukis:
Am Thinker: classroom discipline
George Soros, Enemy of the State
AOL to buy Maggie's Farm HuffPo for $315 million
EPA to Regulate Dairy Milk Spills as per Oil Spills
Follow the (green) money: Gore Launches $500M 'Green' Asian Fund
BROTHERHOOD DUMPS EL BARADEI; EL BARADEI DUMPS PEACE TREATY WITH ISRAEL
Women in the Cairo Street Scenes: a Troubling Photo Essay
Progressive Scotland: Anger as serial offenders are only sent to prison after clocking up 40 crimes
Cool: A shooting range in the West Side of Manhattan
Krauthammer brings Godzilla into the discussion
Obama invokes religious themes as 2012 campaign nears
Uncontacted peoples in Peru
James May takes a ride in a U2
What school vouchers have bought for my family
Krugman blames Egypt on global warming
Good, at Insty:
MORE ON THE FAILURE OF STATE MULTICULTURALISM. Unfortunately, a lot of people who are basically unemployable in productive fields have chosen it as their rice bowl.
But Nick Cohen writes in The Guardian that appeasement may be over. “I am not sure the prime minister understands that he is taking on a sensibility as much as a political platform. Because Britain was never invaded by the Nazis, and never suffered from any of the other versions of 20th-century tyranny, there is an unforgivable frivolity about our dealings with totalitarianism. Dilettante bureaucrats, journalists and intellectuals play with extremists and their ideas with the insouciance of men and women who know that they will never have to suffer the consequences of coping with extremists in power. The best gift the British can give the world in this moment of crisis is to imitate the crowds in North Africa and say enough of all of that. It is time to break away from a shameful past.”
Drudge amusingly juxtaposes:
White House announces Super Bowl menu: 'Bratwurst, Kielbasa, Cheeseburgers, Deep Dish Pizza, Buffalo Wings, German Potato Salad, Twice Baked Potatoes, Potato ChipS, Pretzels, Chips and Dips, Salad, Ice Cream'...
RESTAURANT NUTRITION DRAWS FOCUS OF FIRST LADY...
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Saturday, February 5. 2011
Samuelson in The Wilson Quarterly: In embracing a victims-and-villains explanation of the recession, Americans are missing important lessons about the future of the U.S. economy.
He begins:
We Americans turn every major crisis into a morality tale in which the good guys and the bad guys are identified and praised or vilified accordingly. There’s a political, journalistic, and intellectual imperative to find out who caused the crisis, who can be blamed, and who can be indicted (either in legal courts or the court of public opinion) and, if found guilty, be jailed or publicly humbled. The great economic and financial crisis that began in 2007 has been no exception...
Friday, February 4. 2011
 SEIU fights healthcare repeal after obtaining waivers from law
Like Congress, they don't want it but they want you to have it whether you want it or not.
50 Best Blogs for Humanities Scholars (h/t, Marginal Rev)
Tiger: Light rail is stupider than ethanol.
I see light rail (subways, trolleys) and even commuter rail work very well in densely-populated areas. It should not be subsidized, though (and neither should highways, but we have enough of them now anyway).
Catron at American Spectator: Obamacare Unconstitutional? Roger That!
Q&0: Bubble-headed nonsense from the left about income inequality
Why work 15hrs/day if you only make the same as an 8 hour day?
Insty: SAY IT AIN’T SO: The ever-increasing cost of education is not sustainable.
Morris: Cornerstone of Obama Presidency is Collapsing
Barone: Obama's Antique Vision of Technological Progress
Where are the new ideas? My new-old idea: unleash the genius of the people and get government out of the way.
Video: Koch protests include calls to lynch Clarence Thomas
Obama issues global warming rules in January, gives GE an exemption in February
Yet another form of waivers for friends
Dalrymple: Paul Offit’s new book chronicles the destructive impact of the anti-vaccination movement.
Arianna Huffington’s Insulting Treatment of Minorities
Separate but equal?
Via Insty, is college a public good?
I say it is not. It's a private good, or perhaps not much good at all except for the 5% who really use it. Who ever said you need a school to learn stuff? I learn all I can, every day. Every night, too. As we always say here, knowledge comes from books and from The Teaching Company, and wisdom comes from engaging life to the fullest.
Thursday, February 3. 2011
Chait: Democrats are attacking House Republicans for slashing funds for research, education and science.
Wednesday, February 2. 2011
Headlines at Drudge:
AL GORE: THE SNOWSTORMS ARE CAUSED BY THE 'WARMING'...
FLASHBACK: Dem Sens say decreased snowfall caused by warming...
So which is it? I say all weather is caused by Bush, or Palin, Glenn Beck, or the Jews. Except for the nice weather.
Such claims are termed, in the language of logic, unfalsifiable. It is entertaining to read the news and the pundits and to hunt for the unfalsifiable claims. It's like an Easter egg hunt but you don't have to look as hard.
Tuesday, February 1. 2011
Al Gore's answer to Bill O'Reilly. My first reaction was that this really was an Al Gore satire site/
WSJ: Most of the universe is made up of dark energy and dark matter, neither of which is fully understood or explained by current models and theories. In "The 4% Universe," Richard Panek describes the investigations of scientists.
Are people bypassing the movie critics?
Mankiw: The Half-Full Glass of Economic Mobility
Prelutsky: Too Bad Obama Is Only Half-White
Who is Florida Judge Roger Vinson?
Powerline: Proof the Admin doesn't think much of Obamacare
Shrinkwrapped: Psychiatry and Organized Medicine in the Special Interest State
Rubin Report: Egypt's Revolt - The economic dimension
Navy Times: Disgraced CO Honors now firing back
Good Maggie's-type stuff at Am Thinker:
Personally, I'm sick of the government trying to keep me safe and do my thinking for me. I like a little danger and excitement every once in a while to let me know I'm still alive. I want to ignore the label warnings and use a product in a manner inconsistent with the directions. I want to rip the tag off my mattress and ride my bicycle without a helmet. These trifling brushes with danger are made exciting by the fact that the elitist power set have sucked all the fun out of life with their endless rules and regulations.
Down in the South, we're used to doing things considered dangerous by most without giving them much of a thought. People hunt alligators for a living in Louisiana -- not exactly a safe occupation, as you can see on the History Channel. We don't cotton much to outsiders lecturing us on our salt intake or telling us we have to be tolerant of Muslim terrorists. We have bugs and snakes that, far from being cute and cuddly, are dangerous and best killed when encountered. We can't afford useless feel-good pesticides. Louisiana has the best food in the country, so Michelle needs to stay out of New Orleans. We believe in enjoying life because it tends to be hard and too short. We prefer to decide for ourselves rather than have someone decide for us.
Brooklyn College President Karen Gould today announced the re-hire of Kristofer Petersen. His appointment to teach a graduate course on the Politics of the Middle East had been rescinded last week, after a furor over his avid pro-Gaza writings, activism and slanted syllabus was brought to light.
In her patently ridiculous statement, Pres. Gould mouths platitudes about academic freedom, and says of her decision:
Today, the Department of Political Science and its appointments committee voted unanimously to recommend Kristofer Petersen-Overton to teach a graduate course on the Middle East. Based on information that has come to light, they are confident he has sufficient depth of knowledge and the intellectual capacity to successfully lead a graduate seminar.
It was a professor in the Political Science who initially hired Petersen. I have his letter in which he recognizes Petersen’s troubling background but expresses confidence in his teaching anyway. That professor then issued a statement along with other PoliSci faculty bemoaning the choice to rescind the appointment. So, the decision to rescind the recission of the appointment was made by the same group that first made it. Well, that’s comforting, isn’t it? Only in an academic bizarro-world.
Continue reading "Brooklyn College Capitulates To Left-Palestinian Narrative"
Monday, January 31. 2011
The federal district court in Pensacola, FL ruled today the entire ObamaCare bill is unconstitutional. The case was brought by 26 states and the major group representing small business.
Their plead had two parts: 1) The mandate to require purchase of medical insurance exceeds the federal government’s authority under the Commerce Clause or the Necessary and Proper Clause of the US Constitition; and 2) The imposition of additional Medicaid costs upon the states violates the 10th Amedment to the Constitution.
The court ruled against the second pleading, as – impractical as it may be – the states could refuse to participate in Medicaid. Actually, in reaction to the increasing costs of Medicaid, many states are already, instead, paring back on Medicaid benefits they themselves have added onto the base required by the federal government.
The judge, however, did rule that the mandate is inextricably wound up with the complex interdependencies of ObamaCare and cannot be severed. Thus, the entire ObamaCare is ruled unconstitutional. (See my earlier post about the Virginia federal district court ruling that the mandate is unconstitutional but can be severed, and the rest of ObamaCare stand.) But, pending appeals, the Florida judge will allow ObamaCare to stay in effect.
The Republican leader in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell – an able practitioner of Senate rules – says he will use the Senate Rule 14 to force a vote in the Senate on the repeal bill passed by an overwhelming majority of the House. It would be a surprise if he can muster 60-votes, but it will force the Democrat Senators to each be on record.
The US Supreme Court is unlikely to rule for another year or two. In the meantime, however, the Obama administration will continue to issue regulations, and the insurance markets will continue to comply and adjust, making it more difficult to excise ObamaCare’s effects.
Some Democrat Senators are floating ideas to neutralize the mandate issue by other means of impelling purchase of medical insurance. Why didn’t they float and support these last year, one may ask. It will take more than these ideas to right what’s wrong with ObamaCare. I floated some in my Op-Ed in the San Diego Union-Tribune ("No GOP Ideas? Try These 10") last year during the Congressional debates. Surely the Republicans in the House and Senate can even do better than I. They better. Reform is needed in some areas, and the better ideas wouldn’t throw out the baby with the washwater as the Democrats did in federalizing control of virtually all aspects of our medical care by throwing out free choice and the freer market.
Image is Grant Wood's eery "February" (1941)
400th Anniversary of the King James Bible
Slate: The Birder - The ominous rise of amateur ornithology.
City Journal: “Nobody Gets Married Any More, Mister”- Welcome to our urban high schools, where kids have kids and learning dies.
VDH: What's the matter with Egypt?
The same thing that is the matter with most of the modern Middle East: in the post-industrial world, its hundreds of millions now are vicariously exposed to the affluence and freedom of the West via satellite television, cell phones, the Internet, DVDs, and social networks.
And they become angry that, in contrast to what they see and hear from abroad, their own lives are unusually miserable in the most elemental sense.
NY Post: Shut your mouth U (fixed)
Following the $ in Higher Ed
Re the Himalayan glaciers - it was a lie
A side effect of affluence:
BASIC "female" skills are becoming endangered with fewer young women able to iron a shirt, cook a roast chicken or hem a skirt.
Just as more modern men are unable to complete traditional male tasks, new research shows Generation Y women can't do the chores their mothers and grandmothers did daily, reported The Courier-Mail.
Sunday, January 30. 2011
It certainly looks like Egypt is heating up. Looks like the Brotherhood has been waiting for this moment.
Stratfor: Red Alert: Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood
Via Other McCain: “I have to pay 150 pounds a day to bribe police officers to let me sell on this pavement. How can I be this educated and not find proper work?” – Ramadan Mohamed, Law graduate selling sunglasses on Cairo street
But their unemployment rate is lower than that in the US
WSJ: Rebellion in the Land of the Pharaohs - A man who places himself at the helm for three decades inevitably becomes the target of all the realm's discontents.
Iconoclast has update on the near-chaos
Some friends in the know told me last night that I might think I am going to North Africa this summer - but that I'm not. Lucianne's headline: U.S. Embassy tells Americans they should consider leaving Egypt as soon as possible because of unrest, violence and ongoing demonstrations. An estimated 55,000 Americans are currently in Egypt. Flights scheduled for Monday
Related, Tunisia: The End of a 23-Year Regime. We were there in summer 2009. Cool place, exotic. Different rules. Not Kansas.
Browner Resignation, Obama Omission Could Spell the End of Global Warming Policy, Say Climate Change Analysts
Perhaps reason has prevailed, this time. When something becomes a joke in stupid DC, you know its time has passed.
But what the heck is a "climate change analyst"? Is that a paying job?
Saturday, January 29. 2011
Further to my post, China's Navy, this from the Naval War College: Underestimating China. They begin
Denigrating Chinese maritime prowess is a longstanding habit in the US naval
establishment. Officers and analysts reared during the Cold War found it
hard to shed the image of China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) as a
backward force composed of patrol boats, short-range fighters, and small
submarines that hugged the coast.
Perception chronically lagged reality even after the turn of the century,
when the PLAN started introducing a panoply of high-tech warships, aircraft,
and antiship missiles.
 FOF: Why Isn't Marriage the Way I Thought It Would Be?
Cuz it's Real Life, not fairy tale.
Heavier snows may stick around, climate experts say
Let's all plan our lives around what the experts say. That's a good plan, if one is utterly lacking in common sense and "critical thinking."
Sissy: Rand Paul: "The president has been co-opted by the Tea Party"
Muslim Brotherhood Declares War on America; Will America Notice?
TNR: Five Things to Understand About the Egyptian Riots
In a way, this all makes me feel more interested in my trip to Egypt and the Middle East this summer. Danger and chaos adds a little spice to life.
Sweden is a model for American school choice options
Mostly, those gloomy Swedes are crazy-depressed, Moslem-loving, atheistic drunk and sex-addicted Socialists who hate hard or unpleasant work, but they got this one thing right.
Surber: If Obamacare is so great, why so many waivers?
Because it sucks, and takes away freedom of choice.
Politico: Republicans are terrified of the tea party
In 2006 Dems Cheered When They Blocked Social Security Reform – Now It’s Running in the Red
Will people adjust to change? VDH: The Waning of an Old Established Order:
In response to this topsy-turvy world, the traditional media, tenured professors, well-paid public employees, rigid ethnic and racial lobbies, unions, organized retirees, open-borders advocates and entrenched politicians all are understandably claiming that we live in an uncivil age.
We well may, but we also are seeing the waning of an old established order. And the resulting furor suggests that the old beneficiaries are not going quietly into that good night.
Friday, January 28. 2011
Those of you spending tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars for your children’s college education, and paying taxes to support colleges, may be interested in a current brouhaha at my alma mater, Brooklyn College.
A doctoral student, 1 ½ years into his studies, was hired by the Political Science department to teach a graduate level course on the Politics of the Middle East. I wrote about his clear and one-sided pro-Palestinian writings and radical associations, and of his slanted syllabus of readings. Subsequently, others wrote to the college administration questioning this hire, including the New York State Assemblyman for the adjoining district. The hire was rescinded, the formal reason given that the hire was insufficiently credentialed.
Predictably, the hire complains that academic freedom has been trampled. Some on campus and the hire’s ideological friends in the blogosphere agree. The NYC press has covered the incident, repeating their charges. The hire himself appears in a TV report saying, “I have very vocal views in favor of the Palestinian cause for self-determination.” At his personal website, the hire says, “Unfortunately, due to external pressure, the Brooklyn College provost has chosen to suppress academic freedom and intervened to cancel my appointment. This is a profoundly unsettling outcome and I am currently challenging it.”
Au contraire writes a retired professor at the college to the Chancellor of the City University of New York:
By now serious academics realize that the propagandists work deliberately to confuse "academic freedom" with freedom of speech per se. Academic freedom is the freedom to teach and write within the constraints and standards of one's discipline, which means paying methodic attention to the relevant sources and domains under a course heading. This is the freedom that needs defending, and has been commendably defended in this instance.
Further, it does not appear this hire has any legal grounds to demand he be hired.
So, what is at stake: academic freedom or academic license, especially when abused, completely inviolate from legitimate concerns of students, parents, or knowledgeable critics?
The hire at Brooklyn College was, most charitably, a mistake, now corrected.
If you agree, you might email the Chancellor of the City University of New York ( chancellor@cuny.edu ) and the Brooklyn College President ( klgould@brooklyn.cuny.edu ).
Was 2010 the Hottest Year Ever?
How humans are 97% the same as orangutans
Not me. I am all dog.
Are Law Schools Lying To Their Applicants?
Shrinkwrapped on vibrators, etc.
Powerline: Sputnik? Try Stalingrad:
Young Americans already face a future defined by an inescapable reckoning. They already tend to look at our grand entitlements as phantoms, as dead entitlements walking. They already know the problem isn't that we have too few college graduates, but that we -- like Tunisia and (gasp!) China, to mention a few -- have too many for the market to absorb.
Another bold social pioneer
Heck, if it's consensual...
Betsy: Dumb demagoguery
WSJ: The Great Misallocators - What Barack Obama and General Electric have in common.
The Old (Liberal) Frontier - Barack Obama is stuck in the 1960s.
That is so true. We have been saying that the Libs Progressives have been stuck in the 30s and in the 60s forever. No learning from experience.
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