Saturday, June 26. 2010
Ezra Klein’s juicebox-level of Leftist propaganda-feed group-think journalism and the defenders of General McChrystal’s crew of wisecrackers as being abused by the Rolling Stone’s reporter have something in common: Neither are willing to stand in public behind the truth that anything that passes from one’s lips is public property.
Yes, if one explicitly says to another “Private” or “Secret” or “Do not quote”, that might be respected. And, it might not. If you don't have discretion or maturity, why expect that of others who also may not or have interests other than covering up for your lackings?
And, if one says to oneself that anything I say should be properly stated and reflect my views, and I will either stand behind it or explain why and how I was wrong or off-mark, then one is acting with integrity to oneself and others.
To feel otherwise is immature and irresponsible. It is an abuse of one's public position to not be forthcoming and transparent.
This is particularly so when entrusted with the ears of millions of Americans on important public issues, or the fate of millions of Americans and allies’ lives.
In my garage, I have boxes full of literally thousands of published pieces I’ve written during and since college. That’s 46-years of comment and analyses. Many, most?, are easily available on the web. I'm also surprised at how many correspondents have archived my emails, when I haven't. If any want to publish them, have at it.
I said it. I stand behind it, or will answer for it.
But, I will not hide behind some notion that I can be allowed to deceive or excuse or cry when someone quotes me.
But, then, I am not a careerist feathering my nest by expecting tolerance for having a lack of respect for myself, for others or for my responsibilities and ethics, and thinking I have some sort of right to be deceptive or a manipulator.
Be an adult, be a professional, or get the hell off the stage, or be exposed for a child playing with other people’s lives and too self-concerned to admit it.
We need more public and private integrity, straight-talk and standing behind it, openly, not less or any more excuses for being immature kindergartners playing with other people's trust or lives.
P.S.: An earlier version had "kindergarden" and "kindergardners." Now corrected for proper, Germanic-root spelling. - Thanks Glenn.
 Regular News
The writing's on the wall:
Apple Unveils New Marketing Strategy
Apple Computer Inc. unveiled a new strategy Monday: Let customers buy their computers directly from Apple's web site.
Who needed all those pesky middlemen, anyway? Sorry, guys, and thanks for all the years of service and dedication. That's the way it goes.
The article continues:
Jim Browning, Director of Advertising, claimed the new advertising theme would be a winner with potential customers. "As you can see in the accompanying picture, we're trying for a more subliminal approach to woo new customers to the Apple fold. A few strategically-placed stickers are all that's really required with these fools, and I seriously doubt any of them will pick up on the sneaky manner in which we're delivering it. Say, this mic isn't on, is it?"
How the North Korean revolution really started:
Kim Jong-il Blamed for N.Korea's Foolish World Cup Tactics
Grab yer diary — justice prevails:
YouTube Wins Lawsuit from Greedy Asswipes at Viacom
As you may have heard, blind people are very upset that the new electric cars are so quiet and want them to emit noise so they can be heard. The car companies immediately capitulated, of course, and started designing 'noise makers' for their cars, either emitting an engine-like sound or some electronic 'futuristic' beeping sound.
But, as Grandma used to say, "What goes around, comes around..."
Anti-Noise Activists Oppose Sounds for Electric Cars
I have less sympathy for these people than anyone on the continent. Any company that voluntarily makes childrens' products in the Nanny States of America in the year 2010 thoroughly deserves whatever horrific fate befalls it. When will these idiots learn?
2 Million Cribs Recalled from 7 Manufacturers
On a couple of different levels, this is historically a major news story, yet I saw no blogger mention it, and the link I saw was only being used as a throwaway joke.
CNN Drops AP Service to Focus on Own Newsgathering
Tough question: Is this good news or bad news? On one hand, any disaffiliation with the loathsome, biased AP sounds like good news, but letting CNN decide what's "news" or not sounds even scarier than the way it was.
Now here's an intriguing headline:
"Giving Poor Kids Computers, Internet Makes Them Stupider"
Doesn't seem to make much sense, right? Assuming they're not spending all of their time reading online comic books, you'd think, in general, their overall world view would be enhanced, their scope of subjects would be broadened, and — especially if they blundered their way onto a professional news organization such as the Huffington Post — their overall vocabulary would improve. And, when they didn't understand something, they'd simply ask.
"Mommy, what's a baby-killing racist right-wing warmonger?"
"That would be the Tea Partiers, dear."
"Oh."
Then, when you read the real reason, it all makes sense:
The profs suggest that this is because a kid in a disadvantaged home given a computer and internet access will tend to be poorly supervised and use it mainly for gaming, social networking or other timewasting online/computer activities rather than buckling down and doing homework. Thus computered-up poor children actually become dumber than they would have been without the tech.
This syndrome was much less marked or absent in wealthier households where kids are more closely supervised, but so severe was the negative effect of technology on North Carolina that overall the state's maths and reading scores dropped by "modest but statistically significant" amounts as digital technology arrived.
What makes the following particularly impressive isn't just the age, but the quality:
Earliest Known Images of Apostles Discovered Under Rome Streets
Political News
Obama, Lady Gaga, Compete for Facebook Fan Record
Friday, June 25. 2010
 Does he even exist?
If so, does he sleep, or is he like a shark on the prowl 24 hrs/day? Does he really have a day job as he claims? Or is he a Potemkin Reynolds, with many anonymous folks posting under his name? (Anybody can imitate his style: just be dry, wry and pithy, throw in the random link to Popular Gizmotology or some camera you don't need, or whatever, and end with the occasional "Heh.")
Enquiring minds want to know.
Sample of two fine links from the supposed "Glenn Reynolds" this morning:
and this:
MARK HEMINGWAY: House ’shreds our constitution for raw, ugly, partisan gain’ by vote of 219-206. “So unions now get nearly unrestricted, undisclosed political spending. Further, the restrictions in the DISCLOSE Act only cut one way — against business. If you took TARP funds as a business, express political advocacy is now verboten. So GM has very limited first amendment rights, but even though arguably primary beneficiary of the auto bailout was the United Auto Workers union which got government guaranteed billions directly as a result of the TARP funding — UAW can spend almost whatever it pleases, and it has a history of spending millions on Democratic campaigns. Further, under the DISCLOSE Act if a company has more than $7 million in government contracts, it has no right to political speech. But public sector unions can spend millions of recycled tax dollars campaigning for Democrats, no problem.”
Image is a cardboard cutout of "Glenn Reynolds" in his usual carefully-selected dorky salesman-for-industrial-air-conditioning-parts-business outfit, at some sort of phony staged meeting with a Bob Dylan or Elvis Costello wanna-be. No, we are never jealous or envious at all of the traffic and popularity of others. We are PURE of heart and soul! Aren't you?
The guy who lost to Christie in the primary goes after Gov. Christie. I don't know enough about NJ politics to form an opinion. All I know is that I like the way Christie talks.
 World's biggest dinosaur graveyard found in Canada. h/t, Reb
No trust: Sinking Ship Of State
How the Left thinks today: World Purification
McCarthy: What are we doing in Afghanistan?
Coyote: Take a look at my tax forms
High court sides with ex-Enron CEO Skilling. Related from Steyn: A SCOTUS Win For Conrad Black?
Shocker. Employers Say Dem’s Policies Are Hostile to Job Growth
MoveOn Scrubs “General Betray Us” Page From Website
How Dems view Repub refusal to pass "Tax Extender" bill
48% See Government Today As A Threat to Individual Rights. h/t Insty
Pajamas: ObamaCare: Get Ready for the Mother of All Epic Fails, More money for less value. That's the story of big government.
The problem with Harvard folks in government. Nobody can teach wisdom, but arrogance is easily conveyed.
neoneo: Harry and Nancy’s Last Stand. Think cap and trade and other unpopular bills are dead? Think again, no matter who wins at the ballot box in November.
From Rove:
A Public Policy Poll earlier this month reported that 48% said an Obama endorsement would make them less likely to vote for the candidate receiving it, while only one-third said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate endorsed by the president.
Thursday, June 24. 2010
COIN, the abbreviation for counterinsurgency operations, is hotly debated as applied in Afghanistan.
Those most blindly in favor on the Left think it a way to be nice and avoid many of the harshnesses of war. Others think it’s a way to make foes like us and avoid creating more foes.
Those most angrily critical are either conservatives, experienced in war, or those whose lives are actually at risk on the front lines.
They are all partly correct, that far. Where many go off the rails is in not understanding what COIN actually is, or in taking it to absurd or counter-productive excess, and in not confronting the quagmire of Obama and his chosen meddlers.
Let’s re-visit the US entry in large numbers into Vietnam.
Continue reading "COIN, Shmoin. Obama Is The Problem"
From The Big Picture on the last few years:
Following the 2,000 Dot Com crash, then Fed Chair Alan Greenspan brought Fed Funds rates down to ultra-low levels. Under 2% for 3 years, and 1% for more than a year.
Rates this low — and for that long — were simply unprecedented. They wreaked havoc with the traditional fixed income market. Bond managers scrambled for yield, and found it in investment grade, triple A rated residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). This better interest rate was created by securitizing mortgages with an unhealthy slug of higher yielding, riskier, sub-prime mortgages.
The demand for RMBS paper was nearly insatiable. Wall Street sucked up as much sub-prime paper as could be legitimately, then illegitimately produced. Lend-to-securitize-nonbank mortgage writers responded to the demand by abdicating traditional lending standards. 30 year mortgages were given to people who in no conceivable way could afford them. The hope was a non-default over the warranty period of the mortgage, typically 90 or 180 days.
The Greenspan Fed, in charge of supervising financial lending institutions, looked the other way.
The net result of this was a credit bubble and a housing boom. (A true housing bubble formed only in a handful of places). The credit bubble allowed 10s of millions of Americans to become, albeit temporarily, home owners.
In 1992, some 4 million homes per year were being purchased. A decade later, that number had risen 25% to 5 million. A mere 3 years later, annual sales were 7 million units — a 40% increase. From 2002 to 2007, the abdication of lending standards — who cares about credit scores, incomes, debt load, assets, even job! — created millions of new homeowners. And thanks to the ultra low rates, prices had exploded. The combination of brand new, unsophisticated buyers and rapidly rising prices was a dangerous combination.
Buyers of limited financial means who en masse overpaid for their houses at ultra low rates was a recipe for disaster. The Fed began its cyclical tightening, price appreciation slowed, then reversed. Sales plummeted, and prices fell. Five million of those buyers were foreclosed upon, with another 5 million likely to come.
Which more or less brings you up to date.
From our News Junkie this morning:
Dems say they need more of our money so they can give us more free shit we don't want. Hoyer on middle class tax hike
The Insurance Research Council (IRC), of Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters, analyzed in Hospital Cost Shifting and Auto Injury Insurance Claims hospitals’ cost shifting from government medical programs onto auto insurance companies.
Based on over 42,000 closed claims from 22 insurers representing 58% of the private passenger auto insurance market in the US, in the 38 states analyzed over $1.2 billion of costs were shifted in 2007 due to low reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid.
That only covers part of the shifting in other states and from other medical coverages.
Add on top of that the severe restrictions on medical care provider charges that are to be imposed by ObamaCare. "It will take months, if not years, to understand the full impact of the reforms on hospital cost shifting and the auto insurance system," said Elizabeth Sprinkel of the IRC.
Pretty soon you’ll see the results in your auto insurance premiums, as ObamaCare drives us off the cliff.
Petraeus or whoever. Is this our job? Even Alexander tried, and many have tried since.
I thought it made some sense to go after an Al Qaida refuge, but building an orderly nation-state in Afghanistan? As they used to say, "You can't shine shit."
We shined a light on Al Qaida and they scattered like cockroaches in a New York kitchen. But now what?
You can kill fetuses, but you cannot sell them
Prager says this book is needed: When Good People Do Bad Things
Men have a tougher time with break-ups than women do
Schumpeter Creative Destruction 101
A century and a half after the first state seceded from the Union, a lively debate over what caused the Civil War continues.
A brief history of populism in America, with reference to Tea Parties
American Scholar: Understanding the concept of geologic time and some basic science can give a new perspective on climate change and the energy future
Re the EU:
When a country — let alone a continent — lacks the bonds of a collective nationhood it is no longer a country, merely a state. Nations forged in war do not necessarily survive peace. Belgium may retain the trappings of sovereignty, a monarch, an army, a customs union and (perhaps) a football team. But taxes and cross-subsidies will only be acceptable within self-governing communities with a shared sense of co-responsibility, not across whole continents.
Ignoring this maxim is what is sorely testing the eurozone and is breaking Belgium.
Nyquist:
More than 25 years ago I attended a Communist meeting on a university campus. I was invited to the meeting by one of my professors, who merely said that if I cared about education in the state of California I should come. At this meeting the future strategy of the Communist Party USA was explained. The speaker said that they were "infiltrating the Democratic Party in order to take it over through its left wing. He spoke of electing a stealth Communist president who would exploit a severe economic downturn in order to promote the nationalization of major industries, like health care or the oil industry. Through this process, the speaker noted, the "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie" would be curtailed and everything would be run like the Post Office. It sounded quite incredible at the time, as Ronald Reagan was president.
India can become 3rd largest economy by 2012
The woman is begging to be borked
Sudden Law School grade inflation
Hennessey digs deep into Krugman's BS
Wrong direction: New-home sales “collapse” in May
Good luck with that:
The country's problems boil down to the Federal government undertaking non-Federal tasks. Disabusing Congress that it should have any interactions with private citizens concerning housing, education, health care and retirement is key to preserving the country.
They are postponing a budget until after the November elections, but Democrats' budget plan: Tax and spend more. Duh.
Related: Dems say they need more of our money so they can give us more free shit we don't want. Hoyer on middle class tax hike
Bolton on Cameron
The US needs fewer education jobs. h/t Doug Ross
George Will is tough here: Word Spill - Our Demosthenes is also Alibi Ike.
Wednesday, June 23. 2010
Last April I wrote about the coming explosion of Qui Tam lawsuits against medical providers, due to relaxed standards for bringing such suits making it a happy hunting ground for litigators fishing for financial payoffs.
As if the US didn’t already have enough lawsuits, and as if excess litigation isn’t one of the prime drivers of medical costs, and as if the Democrats didn’t garner 90% of tort lawyers’ contributions, ObamaCare will create a new boom in lawsuits.
At this week’s Healthcare Financial Management Association the healthcare law expert warned of a coming “storm” of lawsuits and quipped, “You'll need to look around your organization and see who looks best in orange [prison clothing color] and pick that person.”
Judge predicted an explosion of new whistle-blower lawsuits because the new law relaxes the requirements for filing such lawsuits under the federal False Claims Act. For example, the new law effectively eliminates the requirement that a plaintiff have direct knowledge of the alleged fraud in order to file suit.
The new law also converts accidental Medicare overpayments to providers into potential false claims, Judge said. She said the law considers an overpayment as fraud if the overpayment isn't identified by the provider and returned to the government within 60 days. Judge said that will require providers to beef up their internal billing systems to detect an overpayment as soon as possible and then send Medicare back its money.
Wonder why litigation reform was excluded from ObamaCare and why tort attorneys eager to make money regardless of increased medical inflation and excess CYA tests are one of Democrats’ largest donor groups?
President Obama chose General Stanley McChrystal as commander in Afghanistan. There can be little doubt that Obama knew that McChrystal voted for him.
Now, McChrystal and staff let the cat out of the bag, that everyone watching knew already: President Obama, VP Joe Biden, National Security Council head Jim Jones, Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, Obama’s special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, have been actively undermining the war effort through timidity, illusions and interfering with McChrystal, the only proven warrior and COIN expert in the bunch and the only one respected by the Afghanis.
General David Petraeus will now fill in, downgrading Petraeus from chief at CENTCOM with wider responsibilities for the tinderboxes in the Middle East and South Asia. That is a big hole to fill in dangerous times. Petraeus is not holding it against Obama that Obama joined in the liberal Democrats’ defeatism in Iraq when Petraeus then proceeded with President Bush’s firm and brave support to save the bacon. Petraeus is, after all, a bigger and real man.
And, once again Obama has chosen his personal agenda and ego above military effectiveness. Obama just appointed a new Commandant for the Marine Corps, seemingly largely based on the appointee’s agreement with gays openly serving, over the true proven warrior in the missions faced, General James Mattis, who with Petraeus co-authored military COIN doctrine.
General Mattis could have been chosen to replace McChrystal. But, he wasn’t. There’s no doubt that Petraeus will do an excellent job, but Mattis would also, and wouldn't have left a gaping hole at CENTCOM. However, Mattis is also known as a no nonsense commander, who is famous for saying in Iraq that Marines will kill if attacked (though the Left ignores that Mattis is also an advocate of “soft-power” COIN so that is less necessary).
Straight talk is not to be had when Obama’s ignorant ideology and thin ego are exposed to challenge by straight talk. Petraeus is less likely to be as blunt to Obama and the US public, whose sons and daughters’ lives are at stake on the front lines.
At least three senior members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have it straight:
The resignation of Gen. Stanley McChrystal should lead the Obama administration to re-evaluate their civilian Afghanistan team as well, three members of the Armed Services Committee said Wednesday.
Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said the controversy surrounding the Rolling Stone profile of McChrystal revealed problems beyond the comments of McChrystal and his team.
"The civilian side, in my view, is completely dysfunctional," said Graham.
Indeed.
One can hope against experience with Obama that this fracas will lead him to get more firmly behind the – at his insistence undermanned vs the military’s recommendation – troops, and make clear that there is no deadline on our commitment. The New York Times' headline, however, reports "Obama Says Afghan Policy Won't Change."
Or, one can hope against experience that Obama will feel so boxed in and revealed by his own fecklessness, especially in expectation of the drubbing coming in November, that he will straighten up, himself and his ideological coterie who are undermining the Afghanis and Americans. I have a bridge to sell you if you believe that.
Or, one can hope that even without a worthwhile Commander in Chief that General Petraeus can perform miracles.
The lives of our troops, and of civilians here in the US, depends upon one man, and that man is not President Obama.
P.S.: Henry Kissinger says of Obama's course, "Neither the premise nor the deadline is realistic," in saying "America needs an Afghan strategy, not an alibi." Read it all.
P.P.S.: As usual with Bing West, BINGO!
Guess who holds patent for carbon-trading plan- Disgraced Fannie Mae CEO set to cash in for millions:
Former Clinton and Obama budget adviser Franklin Raines owns a key carbon-emissions patent he developed as CEO of the government-sponsored mortgage giant Fannie Mae, positioning him and his partners to make millions of dollars if it is used in any carbon-capping scheme implemented by the Obama administration.
Raines and his associates led Fannie Mae and Congress to believe Fannie Mae owned the patent, despite public records to the contrary, a WND investigation has found.
Al Gore sex attack. This is sad and pathetic, and I prefer to think that this is not his MO. Nobody is perfect. So, please let's not blame it on you-know-what.
 "Every Other Monday: Twenty Years of Life, Lunch, Faith and Friendship" by John Kasich
There is a climate black list
A little history of "Arbeit macht Frei"
Most millionaires are only millionaires for a year
Ouch: The Law of Supply and Demand Strikes the Law Business
Roger Simon: Does Barack Obama want to be president? We always thought he was running to be VP
 Amsterdam mayor considers using 'decoy Jews' to combat anti-semitism
Missouri: The Next Health Care Battle. These days, feels like the country is falling apart. Unemployment, Afghanistan, health care, a government war against Arizona, higher taxes on the way, etc.
A crucifixion in Saudi.
Brit nannies label cardiovascular disease "largely avoidable." Since when?
Not your grandfather's Connecticut
 Sharron Angle fights back. Lots of Conservative women out there this year. To the minds of Leftist women, Conservative women cannot be Feminists. That is the No True Scotsman Fallacy.
Is Illinois the New California?
Headline if Bush were still Pres: "General McChrystal Speaks Truth to Power"
From VDH's Obama’s Straws And Our Tired Back:
...it might be better anyway for Obama to have a hostile “them” Congress that he can perpetually run against. That can take the place of a now stale “Bush did it.” As it is, the Democrats give Obama what he wants, and what he wants is not what we the people want, at least if polls are any indication.
But with an obdurate opposition in power, Obama can speechify and do what he does best: demagogue, soaring with we should and must do without much worry about the icky details of actual implementation that never will come due to all those right-wing Beck and Hannity types.
Tuesday, June 22. 2010
Bob Dylan, The Neighborhood Bully, lyrics below
Well, the neighborhood bully, he's just one man
His enemies say he's on their land
They got him outnumbered about a million to one
He got no place to escape to, no place to run
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully he just lives to survive
He's criticized and condemned for being alive
He's not supposed to fight back, he's supposed to have thick skin
He's supposed to lay down and die when his door is kicked in
He's the neighborhood bully.
The neighborhood bully been driven out of every land
He's wandered the earth an exiled man
Seen his family scattered, his people hounded and torn
He's always on trial for just being born
He's the neighborhood bully.
Continue reading "Singalong with Bob"
The old conundrum of how many angels fit on the head of a pin is now surpassed by how many Obama-Pals can be tossed under the bus before the bus falls over.
There’s soon departing White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who has pissed off everybody and is entangled in the former Illinois governor’s corruption trial, and White House Director of the Office of Management and Budgets Peter Orszag, who has run up $trillions of deep debts with the “stimulus” and ObamaCare.
Now, maybe to go is the Commanding General in Afghanistan Stanley McChrystal, who voted for Obama, agreed to Obama’s trimmed and late arriving mini-surge, imposed US life-threatening rules-of-engagement, and now exposes the crippling inanity of the Obama national security team meddlers.
As Jackson Diehl writes at the Washington Post:
McChrystal may be at fault for expressing his frustrations to Rolling Stone. He is not at fault for the lack of coherence in the Afghan campaign or the continued feuding over strategy. That is Obama’s responsibility.
As is the other messes that Obama has created.
It is getting crowded under the bus where Obama tries to hide his blunders. How long until the bus falls over?
Senator John McCain says,
“If McChrystal goes, McCain reiterated, "we need to have a look at the functioning of the whole team."
Fish stink from the head. That's for 2012. 2010 is for emptying Obama's smelly fish tank in Congress.
Kimball: Economic reality vs. wishful thinking: the Case of Paul Krugman
City Journal: An Independent Mind - Thomas Sowell’s prodigious intellect has long been at odds with intellectuals.
Justice, Italian-style, and the punishment of the decisive
Why does the American press love Castro?
No more cocktail party in France. It offends the Moslems. Or might.
Barnes: Running on Empty - The wheels come off the liberal juggernaut, but it’s still dangerous.
Examiner: Spending will kill, not save, our recovery
Rubio slipping in polls. Sad
Kristol: Small People Rule! The establishment hasn’t been this discredited since the mid-1960s.
Arizona law puts Democrats' seats in peril
This guy likes Connecticut's Linda McMahon
Fausta's news: Carnival of Latin America and the Caribbean
Douthat:
Liberals had hoped that Obama’s election marked the beginning of a long progressive era — a new New Deal, a greater Great Society. Instead, from the West Coast to Western Europe, the welfare state is in crisis everywhere they look. The future suddenly seems to belong to austerity and retrenchment — and even, perhaps, to conservatism.
In this environment, the rage against Obama for not doing more, now, faster, becomes at least somewhat understandable. It’s not that he hasn’t done a great deal for liberals during his 18 months in office. It’s that liberalism itself may be running out of time.
Monday, June 21. 2010
From Howie Carr via Betsy:
Criticizing Bush - the highest form of patriotism. Criticizing Obama - hate speech. Who caused Bush’s problems? - Bush. Who causes Obama’s problems? - Bush.
When Bush mispronounced a word (like nuclear) - more proof he is a complete cowboy moron.
When Obama mispronounces a word (like corpsman) - how dare you even bring this up, racist?!
Unemployment at 4.6 percent under Bush - a jobless recovery.
Unemployment at 9.7 percent under Obama - the new normal, “steady,” a lagging indicator of the happy days that CNBC says are here again.
Economic woes under Bush - portents of a new Depression. Economic woes under Obama - a blip on the radar screen, surprising.
Cindy Sheehan under Bush - a future recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. Sheehan under Obama - give it up already, you old bag.
Bush playing a rare round of golf - complete video coverage, showing his utter indifference to the suffering of the American people.
Obama playing one of his endless rounds of golf - only still photos allowed, yet another glowing indication of our dashing president’s youth and physical fitness.
Romantic music works
Kaplan: Saving France
Is my testosterone too low?
Reason: Ideas Having Sex - How prosperity and innovation exceeded the expectations of John Stuart Mill and Adam Smith
Review of God's Brain
Powerline:
Since his emergence as a national figure, Obama has fretted about America's lack of popularity in the world. It does not seem to have occurred to him that, though being disliked may be unpleasant, the most serious trouble begins when a nation is viewed with contempt by its enemies and with pity by its friends.
Sen. Kyl Claims Obama Told Him: “If We Secure the Border, Then You Won’t Have Any Reason to Support Comprehensive Immigration Reform”
Mead on modern nationalism:
The tragedy of modern life seems to lie in the fact that we cannot live with nationalism and we cannot live without it. The deep loyalties and affinities we fell towards those who speak our language and share our customs and our historical memories provides much of the social capital that allows modern society to develop and grow. On the other hand, the conflicts between national and ethnic groups must be overcome if we are to have any hope of peace.
Ed Lasky likes Mike Pence. So do I.
EJ Dionne: A guy who definitely would have been on England's side in the Revolution
One guy golfs, one guy sails. What's the diff?
Docs weaning themselves off Medicare patients
Sunday, June 20. 2010
 The world has 5 times as many polar bears today than it did 50 years ago. I blame climate change.
Samuelson: Why Our Poverty Measure Misleads
Ocean pH alarmism, easily debunked
Via Q&O:
Russia is eliminating the capital gains tax. Sadly, the ex-commies know something we apparently don't. http://bit.ly/cSzTOe
Was it a shakedown? Of course it was.
Is this legal to do? NYC Going After Teen 'Sexting' -- In The Home
Wouldn't an Arizona lawsuit be like suing yourself? All their law does is repeat federal law on a state basis.
Lowry: The O turns out to be mortal
Thompson on Egalitarian Superiority:
In my experience, the more egalitarian a person says he is, the more superior he wishes to be, or assumes he already is. Egalitarian sentiment is, and generally has been, a license for hypocrisy, double standards and exerting power over others. Much as a professed disdain for inequality is a way to signal one’s own moral, intellectual and social superiority.
Some pigs are more equal than others.
From Steyn:
Chris Matthews and the other leg-tinglers invented an Obama that doesn't exist. Unfortunately, they're stuck with the one that does, and it will be interesting to see whether he's capable of plugging the leak in his own support. If not, who knows what the tide might wash up?
Memo to Secretary Rodham Clinton: Do you find yourself of a quiet evening with a strange craving for chicken dinners and county fairs in Iowa and New Hampshire, maybe next summer? Need one of those relaunch books to explain why you're getting back in the game in your country's hour of need?
"It Takes A Spillage."
Father's Day image on top courtesy of Theo
Image below of the O worrying about the oil leak, via Jammie (the point is not that the guy likes golf. Lots of people like golf - most cannot afford to be delivered to the course via helicopter, however. The point is the double standard. What if Bush...):
Saturday, June 19. 2010
 Mort Zuckerman, Obama supporter: World Sees Obama as Incompetent and Amateur.
A quote:
"There are always two chess games going on. One is on the top of the table, the other is below the table. The latter is the one that counts, but the Americans don't know how to play that game."
Another:
Obama has asserted that America is not at war with the Muslim world. The problem is that parts of the Muslim world are at war with America and the West.
Shucks, who knew? I thought the real world was a college bull session.
Friday, June 18. 2010
Who'd a thunk it? Tough Moslems, too. Everybody is afraid of them, even in a place like Tennessee, the home of Davy Crockett.
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