Thursday, January 20. 2011
In Norway, an Awakening to the Islamist Danger: Islamists have made no secret of their desire to impose sharia law on the country.
SDA always quotes "Pleasing your enemies does not turn them into friends."
Wednesday, January 19. 2011
A Brooklyn College Political Science graduate student enrolled in a Middle East course offered at Brooklyn College for this Spring. The newly hired adjunct professor for the course is Kristofer Petersen.
Dismayed after doing some online search on the newly-hired adjunct professor, the student wrote on January 12 to the Department Chair:
Mr. Kristofer Petersen is an active partisan of Palestinians in Gaza. As a recent graduate student, he has published his views in one of the most virulent pro-Palestinian forums and elsewhere, and I have found little else in his online record displaying either balance or a wider scholarly understanding of Israel and the Palestinians… His writings and associations point to an apparent one-sidedness with regards to the Middle Eastern issue of Israel and Palestinians.
Kristofer Petersen’s own description of his background includes: “Outside the academy, I worked for some time as a human rights activist in Gaza and the West Bank and I still maintain close contact with the Palestinian activist community.”
The student points out Electronic Intifada as the venue for two of Petersen’s writings and quotes a pro-Palestinian activist and journalist, Ray Hanania, Member of the National Board of the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, who wrote, “Electronic Intifada, [is] a place where hypocrisy is the norm, factual inaccuracies are common place, and anger and hatred drive their mission….And they are the first to denounce the killing of Palestinians, but never denounce the killing of Israelis.” (NGO Monitor has a Fact Sheet on Electronic Intifada. The Dutch government told an interfaith organization it funds that it may cut off funding if it continues funding Electronic Intifada.)
For that matter, the Israel-Palestinian dynamics are a relatively small part of issues in the Middle East. As the WikiLeaks revealed, the principal Arab state preoccupation is threats from Iran. (BBC Middle East editor: “Now their own people can see that in private they are saying the same things about Iran as many Israelis and neo-conservative Americans.”)
Petersen is preoccupied with the Palestinian narrative, as evident in his syllabus on the course, Politics of the Middle East: “the course is structured around the broad theme of identity and will be conducted at two levels: (1) a macro level which focuses on the Arab Middle East in general—and does not include details about Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan or Pakistan—and (2) a micro level which focuses specifically on Israel/Palestine.”
There are two required readings in Petersen’s course syllabus.. The first is The Many Faces of Political Islam: Religion and Politics in the Muslim World by Mohammed Ayoob, who concludes writing:
Above all, it is the unstinted and unquestioning American support to Israel, especially to its policy of continued occupation of and settlement within Palestinian lands conquered in 1967, that demonstrates to politically conscious Muslims that the United States is committed to treating Muslims and Arabs not only with insensitivity but with utter contempt.
Ayoob footnotes John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt and Rashid Khalidi, strident critics of Israel.
Continue reading "Gaza Defender Hired To Teach Middle East At Brooklyn College"
Tuesday, January 18. 2011
 As you probably know, we're losing our wonderful, dim-able, natural-warm-light-able incandescent bulbs over the next few years. Some states are jumping the federal gun and are already planning on banning 100-watters by the end of the year, and we'll presume 75- and 60-watters will soon follow.
Now, you could write an angry, passionate letter to your Congresscritter and that might, indeed, have a small impact. But I have a better idea. A tried and true idea used by many of the greatest thinkers and persuaders in history:
Exploitation.
One of the reasons the word hideous applies to the Environmental Protection Agency is the way they go so overboard in their 'toxic level' figures. The problem is manyfold.
First, there's the same built-in bias from the scientists testing these things that we see in the global warming industry. Their job isn't to determine if something is safe; they've been instructed to find out how safe it isn't.
And they're certainly not going to risk being wrong and facing legal repercussions, so they're going to multiply any 'fudge factor' by 10 — just to be on the safe side.
Likewise, the administrative arm of the EPA isn't going to put its legal ass on the line, so they're going to reduce the acceptable level by another factor of 10 — just to be on the safe side. After all, as they'll hurriedly tell you, children's lives are at stake.
As a result, whereas 300 parts per million of Ingredient X is perfectly safe for the human body, the official EPA number ends up being something completely ridiculous like 20 parts per million.
One chemical that's been in the news recently is the mercury dust found in fluorescent light bulbs. Numerous experts agree that the minuscule 5 milligrams of mercury dust in a curly bulb poses no danger, whatsoever, to human beings should the bulb break. Haul out the vacuum cleaner, sweep things up, get on with your life.
EPA, meet the petard:
If you would be so kind, please hoist thineself upon one.
Though the amount is tiny, 5 milligrams of mercury is enough to contaminate 6,000 gallons of drinking water, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
That's right. The wise, careful scientists at the EPA have determined that mercury dust is right up there with plutonium on the toxicity chart and what amounts to five grains of pollen is enough to (here's that word) contaminate a body of water the size of a small swimming pool. By this logic, if a crate of curly bulbs ever fell off a cargo ship in Boston, they'd have to close down the Atlantic Ocean.
The article I'm quoting from goes on at length:
Low level mercury exposure can cause tremors, mood shifts, sleeplessness, muscle fatigue, and headaches. High level or extended length exposure can lead to learning disabilities, altered personality, deafness, loss of memory, chromosomal damage, and nerve, brain, and kidney damage, as stated by the EPA. There is a particular risk to the nervous systems of unborn babies and young children.
It then rambles on about the environmental dangers of mercury, the danger to animals, and every word of it 100% true when it comes to real contamination — and thus not one word of it has anything to do with curly light bulbs.
But, because of the EPA's excessive guidelines on what the toxicity level is for mercury dust, they're literally forced to write such articles. As a result, more people — who are clueless about the subject otherwise — have it drilled into them what a danger curly bulbs pose, and they'll pay a little more attention when that Republican candidate on the 2012 ticket starts talking about repealing the ban on incandescents.
In other words, articles like this should be encouraged.
After all, children's lives are at stake. Just ask anyone.
An exploitative idea on saving the aforementioned children's lives — not to mention our own sanity — is below the fold. If you want to make a stand for incandescent light bulbs, here's an effective way.
Continue reading "On thine own petard"
“I have a Glock 9 millimeter, and I’m a pretty good shot.”
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords told the New York Times last year.
Monday, January 17. 2011
The Arizona massacre highlighted the age-old issue of violence and the mentally ill. We see things like this: Lawmakers call for hearings, help for the mentally ill after Giffords shooting.
I do not wish to go over old ground here, about which I have posted at length in the remote past in the wake of other similar situations, but I can assert a few basic facts:
1. Dangerously ill people rarely seek help, want help, or cooperate with help. There is no shortage of "help" out there. Paranoid people, especially, distrust and avoid any forms of help. It is often said that those most desperately in need of help cannot recognize their need - or most fear what they might find out about themselves.
2. Just being delusional does not get you hospitalized, and getting hospitalized does not necessarily mean you will get help that you want to use. Lots of people are quietly psychotic out there in the world. At least 1% of the population, probably.
3. The ability of Psychiatrists to predict violent behavior, or self-harm, is approximately zero. That is because the incidence is so low. We usually just hedge our bets, and take our chances with the judiciary. If a court lets them go, nothing we can do. It's a free country, including free to be nuts. In Russia, Cuba, or China, they just mysteriously disappear. One of the prices of freedom is messiness. In authoritarian nations, the government provides the messes, behind the scenes.
Sunday, January 16. 2011
Image from Arcimboldo's Feast for the Eyes
IBM's Watson Machine: It's a tight race between man and machine
Maine Governor Tells NAACP to “Kiss My Butt”
Stuxnet update: No surprises here. It is a cyber-bomb.
J Post: How Hamas stays in power
Governor Awesome on political discourse
Alcohol and the Origins of the First Amendment
Legal Ins on death taxes
Wiz on Who bears the guilt of the Tucson shootings?
Prof B: How SOX Contributed to the Financial Crisis
Can Our Last International Advantage Withstand the Dodd-Frank Act?
Jeb to GOP: How to Appeal to Hispanics
Wkly Std: The Times Loses It - Sense and nonsense about Tucson.
NRO: Hail to the Chair - Reince Priebus has his work cut out for him.
Michelle: Blame Righty: A condensed history
Ace debates on Lawrence Tribe
Reb on Dr. Sanity's piece: Socialist delusion.
What I take from her piece is that socialism thrives on greed and envy as much as capitalism but it requires belief that greed and envy will disappear when the evils of capitalism are done away with. Unfortunately for socialists what they supposedly hope will appear is a version of homo sapiens that has yet to walk the earth. Socialism adores the idea of The New Man who rises or is forced or guided to rise above his former base self to take a seat in the realms of heavenly perfection. At least, that’s the theory. Believe in the perfectibility of man and it’s a trifle to believe in socialism and all the pleasures of collective life, even though it’s quickly demonstrated that this means widespread misery.
WSJ: Chris Christie's Year to Deliver - The governor has proven you can take on government unions and survive. Now he has to get real pension reforms.
NER: Food Crises are Caused by Overpopulation
Carpe: America's Ridiculously Large $15T Economy
Saturday, January 15. 2011
 Mechanical engineering: Simple animation to explain complex principles
Clean Comedy: Henry Cho
Pajamas: Once Again, Progressives Prove Willing to Politicize Everything
Mankiw posts a good video to show students while teaching about index funds and the efficient markets hypothesis
Update on Norwegian young radicals:
The radicals also have a hefty sense of entitlement. They do not request things -- they demand them. They are perpetually shocked, indignant, and concerned about something. Their shock, indignation, and concern is most frequently directed at Racism, Poverty (which they are demanding – demanding! – be Made History), War, and all the other Important Causes. These evils, they reckon, are best controlled by expanding the State, dismantling what remains of the European heritage, and empowering left-wing internationalist institutions like the EU and the UN. Like China's Maoists the Gen-Y radicals pursue a perpetual, institutionalized revolution in which all humanity is subsumed into isms, ologies, and bureaucratic duckspeak.
Roger Simon: The Sixties Were Violent, Not Today
Prelutsky: The Bloodthirsty Left
Powerline: Lincoln on the blood libel of 1860
How Al Qaeda stays in business
The Muslim Brotherhood Path to Victory
Good idea or not? Obama to ease travel restrictions to Cuba, allow more U.S. cash to island. I think it's OK. The Castro thugs will be dead soon, anyway.
Half of US states now suing to stop Obamacare
Friday, January 14. 2011
This is a bit old news, but still not widely understood. Education loans: The Sweeping Federal Takeover You May Not Know About. One quote:
...perhaps the most troubling aspect of this new federal intrusion in the higher education marketplace is its underlying assumptions about the best way to control college costs. Whether it has been efforts to increase Pell Grants, or now this student loan fix, President Obama and his allies in Congress, driven I believe by the best of intentions, have assumed that increasing federal aid will help students better afford college. And there is no doubt that college costs have skyrocketed recently, more than doubling the rate of inflation over the past twenty years. However, every time the federal government has increased aid to students, colleges have turned around and raised tuition and fees accordingly.
Thursday, January 13. 2011
From American Spectator:
Okay, folks. Listen up. There are thousands of great colleges around the nation at which you can learn any skill or profession you choose. And in none of those colleges will you be so indoctrinated in contempt for your nation, its history and values as you will be in the Ivies. Give yourself a boost in life: for all the supposed benefits you'd get in an Ivy League school, you'll learn more and gain a more realistic view of your nation and the world if you attend a college that's not among the Ivies. Learn elsewhere, and graduate without having your nose so stuck in the air that you believe America isn't a force for good in the world. And trust me, guys: chicks dig the uniform, regardless of which college you graduated from.
Read the whole thing. Irony aside, I think we should have ROTC everywhere. In my view, there are four noble (or potentially noble) professions: Medicine, Law, Clergy, and Miltary. The rest of us like me are just regular Citizens - a highly noble thing in itself in America.
Re Cultural Literacy: She asked for it..., the comments were good fun. Thanks, y'all. She enjoyed noting them very much. She watched Seven Beauties last night, That movie was too much for me delicate sensibilities, regardless of Giannini's performance.
Are you familiar with the McSweeny's site? Apparently lots of folks are, but it's new to me.
Verbing? I don't approve of it.
Why Paul Theroux cannot write an autobiography
How many people can the earth support?
The Idea of "Affordable Housing": Memphis
The Vegas IRA: Gambling on Wall Street v. Gambling in Las Vegas (h/t Betsy)
Dr. Sanity: FASCIST PIGS, FANATICAL IDEOLOGUES, AND DELUSIONAL ILLNESS
Insty: HAVE YOU NO DECENCY, SIR?
For EPA, climate tough in Senate
Corn asserts When It Comes to the Rhetoric of Rage, the Right Has the Edge
Twittering Why didn't they kill Palin instead
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED… Death Threats Against Sarah Palin at Unprecendented Level
My Name is Betsy. I'm a Killer
From Coyote:
We libertarians cringe when presented with a “national tragedy” like the shooting of Gabriella Giffords. Not because we are somehow more or less sensitive to vilence and loss of life, but because we begin bracing for the immediate, badly thought-out expansion of state power that nearly always follows any such tragedy, whether it be 9/11 or Columbine or Oklahoma City or even Pearl Harbor. Those looking to expand the power of the state, and of state officials, make their greatest progress in the emotional aftermath of a such a tragedy. These tragedies are the political equivilent of the power play in ice hockey, when defenders of liberty find themselves temporarily shorthanded, and those wishing to expand state power rush to take advantage.
Protein: We know who you are and we know what you’re trying to do. Morons.
Reason: Beware Bipartisan School Reform - If everybody on the Hill is happy, Americans probably shouldn't be.
Surber: Require youths to listen to Rush
Wednesday, January 12. 2011
She was the first person blamed for the Arizona massacre by angry, hate-filled, destructive Lefty fanatics who have had her in their sights for two years. She speaks out now, presidentially.
Tuesday, January 11. 2011
The propaganda issued by the Obama administration to obtain support for ObamaCare is blatant and wrong. An example is touting that ObamaCare has helped small businesses to obtain medical insurance. The federal Department of Health and Human Services cites a Democrat-front organization. The real facts say otherwise.
The federal Department of Health and Human Services website HealthCare.gov offers this “fact”: “According to a new survey from the Small Business Majority, one third of employers that don’t offer health insurance said they are more likely to do so because of the small business tax credits included in the Affordable Care Act, which help small employers afford coverage for their employees.”
But, as an expose in the New York Times says, “As far as the Agenda knows, the Small Business Majority research is the only research that has found that small businesses buy in to pay-or-play. All of the other small-business advocates claim the opposite, and by greater margins.”
What is the Small Business Majority? According to the New York Times expose:
The group has been around since 2004, founded by a tech entrepreneur named John Arensmeyer….Small Business Majority has no membership — if it did, Mr. Arensmeyer says, it could no longer objectively represent all of small business, since memberships are by definition self-selecting. Nor is it funded by small businesses; instead the organization depends almost entirely on foundation grants…. Small Business Majority is nonpartisan only in the most technical sense, in that it is not formally allied with any party. Informally, however, it is allied with the Democratic Party. Mr. Arensmeyer serves as a board member of the Bay Area Democrats, which describes itself as “a network of private citizens active in national Democratic Politics.” Since 2002, Mr. Arensmeyer has given generously, and exclusively, to Democratic candidates, according to F.E.C. records. (“I’ve voted for Republicans,” he offers.)… But when Mr. Arensmeyer insists that his organization is not ideological, he appears to mean that it is not “conservative.” The whole project, frankly, seems fundamentally ideological, and clearly liberal. It’s received a leg up from Demos, the advocacy group that counts among its objectives “a more equitable economy with widely shared prosperity and opportunity” — no initiatives to foster Ayn Rand-style self-reliance here. (Demos serves as a fiscal agent, which allows the group to raise money as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.)
In Business Week, Prof. Scott Shane, of Case Western Reserve University, lays out the reality:
Sellers of small group policies report little change in demand for employee health insurance policies among small business owners. The sellers explain that compensation limits for employees make few small businesses eligible for the credit and that the low value of the credit does little to get business owners to provide employee health insurance.
The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that the uptick in the share of firms offering employee health insurance is an artifact of high failure rates of the most vulnerable small businesses (which tend not to offer employee health insurance) during the economic downturn. With more of the companies not providing insurance out of the sample, the share of those providing insurance has increased for purely mathematical reasons….
Another claim is that the new law is bringing down health insurance premiums. Even if the law might, possibly, maybe, at some time in the future, bring down premiums, it hasn't done that yet. Trade publication Employee Benefit News explains that private companies' spending on health insurance is expected to have increased by 4.3 percent in 2010, a rise from the 2.5 percent expected the month before the PPACA was passed because of changes in COBRA policies….
So why am I challenging the claims of the law's cheerleaders? Because its effect so far has been a net negative. That's because many business owners have formed negative expectations of the future effects of the law. For instance, a survey of 459 businesses conducted by Fidelity Investments in June revealed that 49 percent of small employers expect the new law to increase their costs. Many small business owners are responding to these expectations by passing on health insurance costs to employees, by changing the type of insurance they offer, and by planning to drop employee health insurance coverage in the future.
As to the reduced workforce, this USA Today study points out that employment recovery from this recession is slower and less than from prior ones: “This year's hiring should lower the 9.8% jobless rate to 8.9% or so by the end of the year, Moody's Analytics says. That would still leave about 13 million Americans jobless by year's end and many economists say it will take at least five years for unemployment to return to its normal 5% to 6% rate.”
Why are firms either not hiring or limiting hiring?
The President of the US Chamber of Commerce knows the primary reason, excess regulations and taxes sapping the ability and willingness by entrepreneurs to start or stay in business, or by businesses to expand employment or to retain benefits programs. ObamaCare, for example, “creates 159 new agencies, commissions, panels, and other bodies. It grants extraordinary powers to the Department of Health and Human Services to redefine health care as we know it.” It is time to go back to the drawing board, first by wiping as much of it clean as can be gotten through this Congress and forced upon President Obama. As Obama gears up for his re-election campaign, it should be on his mind that most Americans are not buying the many exposed lies of his false claims for ObamaCare.
 The Three Media Stooges, via Legal Ins
Insty: Mental Illness and mass murder
And also, a book: Madness in the Streets : How Psychiatry and the Law Abandoned the Mentally Ill. The PW blurb at Amazon says:
Taking aim at advocacy groups who view the homeless as ordinary people down on their luck, the authors of this scorching critique cite findings that 30% to 40% of the homeless suffer from major mental illness, and that a high proportion are substance abusers. Isaac, a sociologist, and freelance journalist Armat, blame the abandonment of the homeless mentally ill on the anti-psychiatry movement (led by Thomas Szasz, Ronald Laing, among others), on civil libertarians and on psychiatrists who foster the "delusion that preventive community psychiatry could eliminate mental illness." Arguing that we have replaced the mental hospital with the 18th-century poorhouse which threw together the mentally ill, the retarded, criminals and the displaced, they warn that a humane system of care will be costly and might involve treatment of some mentally ill persons against their will. Their support for judicious use of electroshock therapy will also stir controversy.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Sunday, January 9. 2011
Well, that was easy.
The one big question after yesterday's horrific shooting was whether the mainstream media was going to blame Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, the Tea Party, Bible-thumpin' gun clingers everywhere, or simply Republicans in general.
Question asked, question answered.
Critics of Sarah Palin have already drawn a link between the shooting and the fact that the former Alaska governor put Giffords on a "target list" of lawmakers Palin wanted to see unseated in the midterm elections. - CBS News
“We’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list,” Ms. Giffords said last March. “But the thing is the way that she has it depicted has the cross hairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they’ve got to realize there’s consequences to that.” - New York Times
Ms. Giffords was also among a group of Democratic House candidates featured on the Web site of Sarah Palin’s political action committee with cross hairs over their districts, a fact that disturbed Ms. Giffords at the time. - MSNBC
Afterward, she referred to the animosity against her by conservatives, including former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's decision to list Giffords' seat as one of the top "targets" in the November midterm elections. - USA Today
As of Saturday, Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' name appeared on a website titled "take back the 20" as part of a list originally issued by Sarah Palin of vulnerable House Democrats. A map on the site showed crosshairs over the contested Democratic districts. - CNN
Linking to a map of U.S. House districts that Sarah Palin's PAC wanted to "target" during the 2010 mid-term elections -- which sadly included crosshairs over Rep. Giffords' district (among others). DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas Tweeted, "Mission accomplished, Sarah Palin." - ABC News
What went unmentioned during this rampant outbreak of PDS was:
— According to the shooter's YouTube profile, two of his favorite books were Mein Kampf and The Communist Manifesto. Now, maybe I'm just naive, but I doubt Sarah Palin has read either of those.
— And did you see the quote from Markos "Kos" Moulitsas up above? What also went unmentioned in the above articles is that Kos had a post up — now removed — referring to Giffords titled "My CongressWOMAN voted against Nancy Pelosi! And is now DEAD to me!" Giffords, a centrist, voted against Pelosi in the recent Minority Leader race and is hated far more by the hard left for that indiscretion than by Palin & Company simply because she's not a Republican.
So, let a Lefty use the word "DEAD" — in all caps, no less — in an article about Giffords and that's perfectly okay, but let a Righty put (gasp!) crosshairs over her congressional district, and you're one step removed from being the next Beltway Sniper.
In related news:
Bristol Palin Pregnancy: Is Sarah Palin’s 5th Child Really Her Daughter's?
Who is Trig Palin's Mother?
Kathy Griffin's Next Target: Willow Palin
Bird Dog did a pic dump yesterday, before the shooting, including this gem. Have you ever seen anything more timely?
Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior
Egypt's Muslims attend Coptic Christmas mass, serving as "human shields"
Krauthammer via Protein:
Americans are in the midst of a great national debate over the power, scope and reach of the government established by that document. The debate was sparked by the current administration’s bold push for government expansion – a massive fiscal stimulus, Obamacare, financial regulation and various attempts at controlling the energy economy. This engendered a popular reaction, identified with the Tea Party but in reality far more widespread, calling for a more restrictive vision of government more consistent with the Founders’ intent.
White flight from the Dems
US jobs report an ‘utter mess’
The Distraction Of Birthright Citizenship
Shrinkwrapped: Sex and War; Political Correctness and Perversion
Surber: Believe in global warming, collect $2.4 billion
Related, via If it were only about the science:
What it really shows is the extent to which the politics of global warming is driven by an already existing culture of fear. It doesn’t matter what The Science (as greens always refer to it) does or doesn’t reveal: campaigners will still let their imaginations run riot, biblically fantasising about droughts and plagues, because theirs is a fundamentally moralistic outlook rather than a scientific one. It is their disdain for mankind’s planet-altering arrogance that fuels their global-warming fantasies – and they simply seek out The Science that best seems to back up their perverted thoughts. Those predictions of a snowless future, of a parched Earth, are better understood as elite moral porn rather than sedate risk analysis….
"Moral Pron"? Cool phrase.
Why the Left Loves the Lies of Climate “Science” - Climate science's only product is political because its only patrons are politicians.
Brooks on health care: Buckle Up for Round 2
WaPo blames Israel for Palestinian barbarity (updated: NY Times too)
Reason: Defending the Right to Offend
Truth in America: Am Spectator
Best of Left-Wing Hate From 2010
Saturday, January 8. 2011
Cold up here today. Love it, love that chill, but hate that stupid green logo for a macho ski area. Anyway, this is worth posting while I take a beer break to warm my fingers and toes: House Votes to Repeal “Job-Killing” Health Care Law 236-181.
It will go nowhere, with the Senate and the O's veto gel pen. Still, a strong message.
Hey - big par-tay here tonite. Readers invited, with toga or thong or whatever. Release those inhibitions! That is your News Junkie, down in front, locked and loaded.
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Bumpersticker from Vanderleun's 
Where Did the Korean Greengrocers Go? - 
Moe Lane at RedState: