Tuesday, December 14. 2010
 Muslim Suicide Bombers to go on Strike in Britain
It's about time.
Epstein: Obamacare is now on the ropes, legally. It's about the limits of the Commerce clause. He comments:
The government finds itself here in a real pickle. Virginia has drawn a clear line that accounts for all the existing cases, so that no precedent has to be overruled to strike down this legislation. On the other hand, to uphold it invites the government to force me to buy everything from exercise machines to bicycles, because there is always some good that the coercive use of state authority can advance. The ironic point is that this is not a commerce clause argument as such, for in my view any state statute would be subject to the same objection even though the state has plenary police powers.
Showdown nears on release of NYC teacher ratings
They grade students. Why not grade teachers? Oh, I see. It's about their ratings being published. They are our employees, so we should know how they're doing.
Money and politics: The O may raise $1 billion
The Boston Globe goes after SSI
The reason the seriously physically disabled aren't applying for disability these days is because they are all working now.
All Swedes are Jews now
What's the difference between massive immigration and invasion?
Reason: Why has the USDA been plumping up the food stamps program like a factory chicken?
They won't rest until every citizen is feeding on government cheese from the public trough.
WSJ: The Cancun crack-up
Jay Cost: Don't underestimate the Pres
How the O can win in 2012
FLOTUS on Deciding What Kids Eat: “We Can’t Just Leave It Up to the Parents”
Let's all live according to Scientific Socialist principles.
New Low in Support for Health Care Reform
WaPo: Memo to the left: Hands off Obama
"He's our only Hope."
Monday, December 13. 2010
A major question is, what are the effects of the Virginia federal district court ruling that the individual mandate within ObamaCare (officially titled PPACA) is unconstitutional?
For now, and even if the Virginia ruling is eventually sustained by the US Supreme Court, the effects are relatively minor. The ruling took a conservative stance on severance, allowing the rest of the law to stand. The impact of the individual mandate on the other parts of the PPACA, although arguably substantial, is actually weak.
However, revealed are, once again, several of the serious failings of the PPACA, which if implemented can mean far higher insurance premiums and, perhaps, the implosion of the private insurance industry – and individual choice -- in near the condition it is today.
The Ruling: Section 1501 of PPACA mandates that individuals purchase medical insurance or face penalties via the IRS. The Va federal judge finds this goes well beyond any previous extension of the Constitution by requiring a behavior that otherwise wouldn’t occur, commenting that the possible extensions of federal power would then be endless. Two other federal district courts did find this constitutional. Other challenges are in process of first hearing, most notably the one in Florida federal district court brought by 20 states and expected to get a favorable ruling, as well as appeals of preliminary judgments elsewhere. The Virginia judge did not grant an injunction on the individual mandate, as he expects the Supreme Court to deal with it before it becomes effective.
Severance: A severance clause in a law holds that if any part is found unlawful, the rest of the law will stand. This clause was removed from PPACA by its drafters. PPACA supporters and most lawyers didn’t think any of PPACA would be found unconstitutional. But, the Virginia judge took a conservative stance toward severance, “the time-honored rule to sever with circumspection…Accordingly, the Court will sever only Section 1501 and directly-dependent provisions which make specific reference to Section 1501.”
A pdf search of PPACA finds no other such key provisions. The Obama administration argued that many other provisions of PPACA are seriously impacted but although implicit in the crafting of PPACA such language is not in PPACA.
Continue reading "Virginia, Severance & Section 1501"
Schwartz at Am. Thinker discusses. It's a funny piece. A quote:
What gives her the right to be happy, asks Wurzel? Palin, who is "not very thoughtful, not very bright," is so darned ordinary that she doesn't understand the horrors of American life. But Wurzel does, having first attracted attention with her New York Times bestseller chronicling the depravities visited upon her by the fruits of American exceptionalism. You see, Wurzel survived the horror of being raised on Manhattan's Upper West Side, the shame of enduring the nation's best private schools, the depravity of having parents who paid for summer camps and Harvard -- small wonder she plunged into "catatonic despair, masochism, and hysterical crying." Doesn't Palin know, Wurzel cries, that...America sucks? Karl Rove knows, Keith Olbermann and Kathleen Parker and Elliot Spitzer and Barack Obama know -- that's why they're smart.
Scroll down and catch up on our posts over the past few days. Some meaty stuff there.
Quite amusing: The 12 days of Winter
QUO VADIS FIDEL? WHERE ARE YOU GOING?
The Leftist World Council of Churches and the Jews:
Get used to it my fellow Jews, the World Council of Churches hate you. These empty-church clergy with their theology that turns Jesus into a mere symbol, they hate you
Sunday, December 12. 2010
 Off to NYC for the day. Will bring camera, just in case.
Warren Buffett, Robber Baron?
A very sly dude behind his folksy persona.
Lord Monckton does the simple math.
Nobody else in Cancun could do math. How did they get through college?
Ron Radosh takes a look at that Mead article we posted: TNR and the Crisis of The American Intellectual: Can the Old Liberal Stalwart Play a Role in Today’s World?
No, not really. And I grew up on TNR, The New Yorker, and the NYT. I think I have learned more, over time.
The Leftist war against doctors: Asclepius Shrugged
Why do they hate docs? They sure like them when they need them. Maybe, like children, they want love and care for free. Well, who doesn't?
Everyone Hates Ethanol Subsidies. Why Can't We Get Rid of Them?
I think the reason the O put Clinton on stage was because the O doesn't understand Econ 101 well enough to talk about it without a teleprompter. And I think the O left because he didn't want to feel upstaged by Slick Willy. Just my opinion. The O needs to learn more, study a little, get eddicated.
Gov. Awesome goes after tenure
He cracks me up, but he's too skinny to be President.
Bernie Sanders is a classic New England crank, a perennially disgruntled nut. He thinks people who make money have a "sickness of greed." I think he has a sickness of power, and maybe a sickness of envy. And a sick greed for my income, which I mainly use for tuition payments. Does Bernie want to throw my kid out of her college? Furthermore, I don't know hardly anybody who could not use a few more bucks. Hey, Bernie - the "rich" already pay almost all of the taxes in the US. That's not right. We think every citizen who benefits from living in the US should pay his dues, and all at an equal rate. That's what I said - all income, no deductions, equal rate. No death tax. Death tax destroys family farms and family businesses - and taxing cadavers just doesn't seem fair. Not fair to pick the pockets of those who cannot fight back - especially when the wealthiest cadavers have ways around it.
Amusing, at Insty:
OH, ABSOLUTELY: Democrats hurl f-bombs at Obama. Are they racist now? Racist, racist, racist. Also, racist. And there’s nothing worse than being racist, believe me. Stupid Democrat racists.
Saturday, December 11. 2010
 While the rest of the world was shopping or wrestling with fir trees or hunting, the Mrs. and I slipped in to see Dawn Treader.
All 20 theaters at our megaplex were empty this afternoon. If you haven't read this book in the Narnia series, you should. It's sort of a Christian version of Jason and the Golden Fleece tale with the theme of spiritual warfare and redemption.
It would take me an hour to write a half-decent review, so I'll just say that it is faithful to the book, and the special effects do not overwhelm the story. I passed on the 3-D glasses. There is no sex, good clean righteous violence, and neither the name of God or Christ are mentioned once. Eustace is good. Aslan seems a tamer God than usual.
You don't get to see heaven, but Reepicheep travels there at the end.
 Pic: The O walks away, leaves presser to Clinton.
WHT? Something weird
The most expensive gift at 12 American retailers
True Loves Will Have to Dig Deeper This Year
News to me: You can get high on Salvia
We have Salvia in one of our borders
Judgment Day for Climate Change Litigation
What the teachers are learning.
Good grief.
LA bans new fast food restaurants in poorest area of the city
Let them eat cake.
Krauthammer says the tax deal was the O's best swindle of the year:
Obama is no fool. While getting Republicans to boost his own reelection chances, he gets them to make a mockery of their newfound, second-chance, post-Bush, Tea-Party, this-time-we're-serious persona of debt-averse fiscal responsibility.
And he gets all this in return for what? For a mere two-year postponement of a mere 4.6-point increase in marginal tax rates for upper incomes. And an estate tax rate of 35 percent - it jumps insanely from zero to 55 percent on Jan. 1 - that is somewhat lower than what the Democrats wanted.
Rope-a-dope?
Read the Mead piece that we posted last night. Please.
Dawn Treader: Potemra enjoyed the movie more than the book.
OK, I'll go see it.
Global cooling killing Manatees
Use more oil - Save a Manatee
NY Post: A recent survey finds that countless MDs will respond to ObamaCare by limiting which patients they'll see.
At Driscoll:
For 30 years the Democrats have refused to think “dynamically” about the connection between tax rates and economic behavior (or, for that matter, between regulation and business activity). It is precisely because liberal Democrats (who are particularly well represented in Congress) have rejected dynamic tax policy for so long that they are now experiencing a spasm of frustration and anger.
It’s not easy coming to grips with the 21st century, when your view of taxes, labor and the economy is permanently stuck somewhere between the years of FDR and Harry Truman.
Friday, December 10. 2010
 Need this? I need it: Pray on the Full Armor of God.
Also this one: The Spiritual Warfare Armor Of God
Prayers of comfort for Aretha Franklin. Went to see her at a benefit performace a year or so ago. Gotta love her. She has added lots of beauty to my life.
WSJ: The Grapes of Wrath Democrats: For Obama and the Democrats, the new economic royalists are anyone with a taxable income over $200,000.
Around here, those royalists could be a cop married to a grade school principal, or a middle-manager married to a nurse, or the guy who owns my dry cleaners.
Is SAC in the SEC's crosshairs?
SAC is a biggie. However, the SEC seems to be expanding the definition of insider trading to the point of good, aggressive research.
What Congresscritter Fred Upton (R - Middle America) will be up to in January
Sounds good to me.
Greg Sullivan: The Copper Thieves Are Back - The current government is not sweet, is anything but clueless
Ron Paul, Author of `End the Fed,' to Lead Panel Overseeing Central Bank
Imagine that.
Am. Thinker: Class Warriors Got What They Wished For:
A funny thing happened on the way to spreading the wealth: wealth dried up.
That caribou was organic. All natural, like at Whole Foods.
WaPo: Wasting tax dollars on ethanol. A quote:
...the policy directs cash to farm states that are rich in political influence, lawmakers are rallying to save this payoff from expiration. Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), who insisted Sunday that President Obama's fiscal commission didn't go far enough in its deficit reduction plan, has paired with Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) to press for renewal of the gratuitous corn ethanol tax credit and the ethanol tariff through 2015. Typically, the farm lobby has won out on such issues. But this year it's meeting stronger than usual opposition from a bloc of fiscal conservatives and environmentalists, backed by such strange bedfellows as Tea Party organizer FreedomWorks and ultra-liberal pressure group MoveOn.org - even Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Al Gore.
Thursday, December 9. 2010
States and government employee unions are united to hide the true extent of the cost of pension promises, and the impacts on other basic government services. Leading Republican congressmen have introduced legislation to shine light on these costs.
The Pew Center On The States reported last February that:
$1 trillion. That’s the gap at the end of fiscal year 2008 between the $2.35 trillion states had set aside to pay for employees’ retirement benefits and the $3.35 trillion price tag of those promises.
Why does it matter? Because every dollar spent to reduce the unfunded retirement liability cannot be used for education, public safety and other needs. Ultimately, taxpayers could face higher taxes or cuts in essential public services.
Actually, the gap may be closer to $3-trillion, as this National Bureau of Economic Research study lays out. In April, the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) study reported a $3.04-trillion shortfall in funding. The AEI recommended that pensions must disclose greater detail regarding investment risk and pension plans should reform their accounting methods to include the market value of plan liabilities. Then, legislators could have a better idea of how to reform and plan.
Continue reading "Republican Pension Reform Vs The States And Unions"
Watts: More Than 1000 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims – Challenge UN IPCC & Gore. One sample - from a member of the IPCC:
We’re not scientifically there yet. Despite what you may have heard in the media, there is nothing like a consensus of scientific opinion that this is a problem. Because there is natural variability in the weather, you cannot statistically know for another 150 years.” — UN IPCC’s Tom Tripp, a member of the UN IPCC since 2004 and listed as one of the lead authors and serves as the Director of Technical Services & Development for U.S. Magnesium.
Let's have a worldwide debate. I think it's all about money and power and politics, and that science has little to do with it. The Wikileaks confirm that. Over my years here at the Farm, I have become convinced that 99% of "crises" are trumped up. Always ask "Cui bono?"
That I believe that some warming would be great for the planet and for mankind has nothing to do with it. It's too cold in NYC today, and I don't have 150 years to wait and see.
At Big Government, it's all about the Pigford scam. One quote from a CSM piece:
...critics cite several concerns with the soon-to-be-law. One is that about 33,000 black farms were in existence at the time of Pigford's original filing, yet 80,000 claimants have filed for settlement. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) of Minnesota, for one, recently called Pigford II "a complete fraud."
"This is what happens when government rings the dinner bell, and it's an indication of just how loose the rules are for vetting past injustices, real or not," Investors Business Daily wrote Tuesday in an editorial.
Jimmy Dismuke, a black hog farmer from Arkansas, claims he's seen fraud first-hand in the Pigford process. In a recent story published at Big Government.com, a conservative website, Mr. Dismuke says he has counted more than 300 fraudulent Pigford claims in Arkansas alone, including a case in which people who kept potted tomato plants claimed to be farmers and got $50,000. He also claims that private lawyers made the rounds in black churches, enticing potential claimants with easy payouts.
"Pigford is the biggest rip-off this country has ever known, and there are lots of people in positions of power that know it," Dismuke writes. "Politicians are using it to buy votes. Trial lawyers are using it to get rich."
Yup.
Heads up! Meteor showers and Lunar eclipse this month
And later in the month, heads up for Santa and reindeer.
Concerning Wikileaks, Governor Mike Huckabee said: "If we want to keep our nation's secrets 'SECRET,' store them where President Obama stores his college transcripts and birth certificate."
The American: Demography vs. Geography: Understanding the Political Future
Hot New Fashion Trend: The Femiman
Trolls, Spoiled Boys and Tired Women
Chart below via Shrinkwrapped's Misunderstanding the Tea Party Movement:
Waivers Double to 222 as More Unions ‘Opt Out’ of ObamaCare
Honey, I got trapped in the pub by the snowstorm
Yes, the Gore Effect is on track this year. Record chill for Cancun.
Also at Watts: Cancun COP16 attendees fall for the old “dihydrogen monoxide” petition as well as signing up to cripple the U.S. Economy
Harsanyi on the O:
...this is the thanks he gets?
Obama gave us health care reform. In the middle of a downward economic spiral, he turned all his political capital, all his considerable power, all his impressive popularity and his two congressional majorities into a grab bag of liberal policy schemes that, in the end, could only be passed with reconciliation.
True, some squishy Democrats wouldn't go for the entire single-payer nationalization scheme — which was, until today, considered "compromise" — but give it time. "When Medicare started, it was a small program. It grew," explained the president on Tuesday. Things grow. This thing of ours, he explained, "is a long game; this is not a short game."
There - he said it again. The long game, the long march. Pure Gramsci/Alinsky.
Obama Opens The Door To Raid Social Security
Wednesday, December 8. 2010
[T]he first priority for addressing the budget deficit has to be getting the economy growing again at a rapid rate." The tax deal, he said, "offers the best prospect that was available for achieving the kind of escape velocity that we've been seeking for the past two years.
Larry Summers, as quoted in American Thinker's Larry Summers - Oh, You Don't Say? The author of that piece surely gets what this is all about.
The rump Senate may tonight try to force a vote on repeal of DADT.
One of the arguments raised for the US Congress repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is the experience of Israel’s military in allowing those openly gay to serve. Israel’s Defense Force (IDF) is generally considered one of the more able in the world and there is little reporting of major reported problems with the policy. But, prominent studies of the matter are deficient to argue from the Israeli experience.
(It well may be so that DADT should be repealed at some point. Not now. There are too many issues of fact to be determined. There are too many effects that are yet unclear. There are too many management issues to be decided and implemented. There are too many more pressing stresses on the US military today, particularly upon our combat forces who are in majority opposed.)
The DADT report from the Pentagon released November 30 offers little worthwhile information regarding Israel, or other countries’ experience with the impact on combat effectiveness.
Continue reading "Gays In Israel’s Military"
 Pic of Maggie's Farm office hours via Theo
The folks at Friends of Maine Mountains asked me to get this link right: Seems like lots of folks are getting out of the wind/solar scam market.
Some booze ads Capt. Tom liked
I like those real-time billboards.
More health care waivers
Tiger: Mortgage interest deduction may do more harm than good
Probably true. But getting rid of it, however slowly, would be like taking candy from a baby - and would lower home values since it is a de facto subsidy.
California's Parent Revolution - 'Triggering' school reform in Compton.
Great stuff.
Baby Aspirin Linked to Reduced Cancer Deaths
Some chance they reduce heart attacks too. Nothing to lose by taking one.
The Lightbulb Nazi has changed his mind
That's good. But it's a bit late. They already stopped making them in the USA.
EU Ref on Cancun:
... the really interesting issue is how scares so easily become exploited by regulators to pursue their specific interests – in what we came to call the doctrine of the "beneficial crisis" - and how slow people are to recognise the dynamic. This, with huge amusement we see in a WUWT post, where there is this observation:
What really strikes us is the fact that all this Copenhagen/Cancun stuff has nothing to do with the Climate, or saving the World. It's about political positioning, money, and plain old fascism cult promotion.
Well, you don't say! And if this is not a recognition of "Ursine subarboreal toilet activity" of the type identified by Dellers, I don't know what is.
The odd thing though is that so many of the clever little politics wonks you meet don't understand the scare dynamic either. They either ignore the scares or take the so-called scientific agenda at face value. They rarely appreciate that the "scare" or "beneficial crisis" is a means of institutional queue-jumping, a means of by-passing institutional inertia and democratic processes.
As always, look at a scare and you will find that science is only the dressing. At the heart, you will find it's the politics stoopid. It always is.
What's the next big thing? Blogging about blogging at the Other McCain's ‘A Communicational Schematic That Is Superior to Anything Else in Existence’
We are all traffic whores, cybersluts. We're disgusting.
Bill Gross on how to fix the economy
"Country Dumb":
Just finished watching the TV show Sarah Palin's Alaska. Stunned at the political brilliance of the concept.
I have lived in the South. Gotta watch out for those country dumb types.
Englishman: Thank goodness Climate Change is the number one priority for the Scottish Parliament. Related, in Scotland: Pupils banned from playing in the snow
HUD pushing low money down mortgages again
Worked out great last time. BTW, what's so great about home ownership?
Tim Blair tries to buy a used car
All the usual tricks of the trade.
Gaza growing rich on aid dollars
If they wanted to, the Palestinians could try to create a real economy like Israel did. They seem to prefer the victim role. Money for nuthin and the virgins for free.
Babalu:
Ever since travel restrictions to Cuba were relaxed by the Obama administration, more people from the U.S. are traveling to Cuba making the this country one of the regime's largest source of tourists and subsequently tourist dollars second only to Canada.
But...
Tuesday, December 7. 2010
For years, it was assumed that a rapidly growing economy could pay for added programs. The result was the careless use of government for almost anything that made a good slogan or could support a lobby. The underlying economic assumptions were overoptimistic. Now, an aging society and uncontrolled health costs will automatically expand the size of government well beyond today's tax base. Demographics mean government will become supersized unless we trim its responsibilities.
We need a new public philosophy that acknowledges these realities.
Seems like lots of folks are getting out of the wind/solar scam market
Watts: More on the Wikileaks Climate Cables - http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/12/04/more-on-the-wikileaks-cimate-cables/
Pushing the right to bear knives - http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/us/05knives.html Some link probs today -
Government Website Promotes "3% or Less" Down
Market Power: "Ethanol on the Run"
...the Senators dryly noted, "Historically our government has helped a product compete in one of three ways: subsidize it, protect it from competition, or require its use. We understand that ethanol may be the only product receiving all three forms of support from the U.S. government at this time."
Image on top via Washington Reb
Monday, December 6. 2010
 For Christmas, Gnomeland security
High speed rail: Trains to nowhere
Presbyterians Against Israel
Lawmakers Weigh Deal to Extend Tax Cuts for All
I still find this amazing:
41% of [US] babies were born to unmarried moms in 2008. … More than half of the unmarried parents were living together at the time their child was born and 30% of them were romantically involved (but living apart).
Nanny to nix bake sales?
I didn't know this:
Foreign banks were among the biggest beneficiaries of the $3,300bn in emergency credit provided by the Federal Reserve during the crisis, according to new data on the extraordinary efforts of the US authorities to save the global financial system.
Saturday, December 4. 2010
Maine Family Robinson's Maine Politics -- A Primer. The election's over, so it's time for me to pay attention to Maine politics, I guess. One quote from the guy who is truly not a Masshole:
All the candidates for governor said they were for education and jobs. The way they said "education and jobs" sounded like they were describing a Loch Ness monster or a Sasquatch or some other creature they'd heard of, but didn't have a current home address for. Since all the candidates vehemently pronounced their love for education and jobs, no matter what question was posed to them, I figured there must be a dastardly candidate that was for unemployment and ignorance, but I couldn't find one. My wife helpfully offered to write my name in.
Ilya asks whether there is anything the Feds cannot control via Commerce
Fun vid: Andrew Klavan: Is America Satanophobic?
Some sanity: Breaking: Japan refuses to extend Kyoto treaty at Cancun
Let no crisis go to waste: Gulf oil spill could usher in new safety agency. Related, in The Atlantic, Obama's BP Oil Spill Commission Gets It Wrong
Via Insty, Megan asks Should China Rethink High Speed Rail?
Prices are really useful. But in whole large sectors of the Chinese economy, particularly the banking sector, the government sets those prices. This means huge information loss, and the concomitant possibility that there is a vast misallocation of resources.
Don't those things happen in markets? Hell yes: witness the housing bubble. On the other hand, witness East Germany. To get a really catastrophic misallocation of resources, it seems to take a government; corporations can only screw things up on an artisinal scale. For that matter, it's worth noting that our government has spent the last seven decades trying to keep the price of housing low, and that much of that intervention, such as the creation of mortgage securitization, ultimately significantly contributed to the crisis.
Friday, December 3. 2010
 I think she is a celeb, and if she runs for office, she'll be a celeb candidate. Obama was a celeb candidate, and we see how that worked out. We live in a world of non-serious, lens-lice celebs who take themselves all too seriously, and I don't like that.
Furthermore, I refuse to get all tingly about any pol. I tend not to think very highly of pols, as a class, and I tend to be suspicious of any pol's seductive talents because it is so often a substitute for substance.
It's been explained to us here that Presidential candidates are just figureheads of vast, sprawling political parties and power and money interests. The candidate is "the talent," as they say in show biz and in the sports biz. I take that into account, and I know that in our TV and YouTube age, this applies to politicians much more than it used to.
This is not to say that I do not like Sarah. I do like her, and she's clearly a colorful figure and an exciting spokesperson for many people. I'd hunt or fish with her anytime.
My thoughts are in reference to Potemra: Rumblings of Discontent — on Palin
Barone asks that question:
In the aftermath of the Republican disaster of 2008, some conservative writers hoped that the party could gain support from elite demographics—“the educated class,” as David Brooks calls it, meaning not so much “everyone who graduated from college” but more like “the kind of people we knew at school.” The results of the 2010 election, hugely encouraging for Republicans, indicate that the party’s gains came from almost all parts of the electorate except the elite demographic. I think it is extremely risky in a period of what I call open-field politics to make straight-line extrapolations from the results of one election to the next. But I also think that those conservatives aiming their pitch at their fellow Ivy League graduates, etc., are aiming in the wrong direction.
Does this mean that, if I wish to be respected by the elites, I should switch sides?
Thursday, December 2. 2010
Most of the arguments are weak from proponents and opponents of the Pentagon study on repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Defense Secretary Gates argues that if repeal is not now then the intrusions by the courts into military discipline would be more disruptive. However, he fails to mention the failure of this administration’s Justice Department to vigorously defend DADT, the Congressionally-passed law, and that activist courts will continue to undermine many aspects of the Pentagon leadership’s supposedly well-laid plans.
Joint Chiefs Chairman Mullen argues that repeal is both the American thing to do and that better leadership within the military will make it work. Simply, the military’s essential warrior culture is different than for civilian or corporate or non-military federal employees. Yes, according to the Pentagon’s survey, there is less resistance among non-combat troops, but they are the tail, and should not, must not wag the dog. It’s the teeth that count for the military’s effectiveness. Further, it’s hard to resist recalling the Pentagon’s mistaken assumptions and severe errors in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mullen, also, suggests that the greater discipline within combat units will offset the greater, majority, resistance to repeal.
Mullens defends his attitude toward the combat troops’ resistance by saying he has led troops and cares about them deeply. No doubt he cares, but he has never been a “grunt” nor led ground combat units. Mullens’ disregard of the impact on retention of today’s warriors and recruitment of tomorrow’s is simply disgraceful, even if the actual impact is lower than the troops themselves say, and will not be offset, under any scenario, by liberals, libertarians or gays enlisting or serving in combat units. There is also the claim that the relative youth of combat troops makes their views less worthy of mature judgment. Guess what Mullens, combat troops are necessarily younger. According to the data file sent to me by the Defense Manpower Data Center, through January 31, 2010, of the 250-thousand active and reserve Marines deployed to Iraq, 66% of the active duty and 57% of the reservists were age 24 or under. They were mature enough to judge whether to enlist to risk their lives.
Opponents of repeal make some other weak arguments.
The focus of the Pentagon survey is criticized for not asking “should” repeal occur, and the methodology for relying upon a less than 30% voluntary response. The Pentagon is correct to argue that “should” is properly a Congressional issue and the survey provides useful info on the “how” and “impacts.” There are some weaknesses in the survey report, as in any, but neither crippling nor ignoring most of the impacts. The response, the Pentagon says, has been adjusted for representativeness. There’s no reason to doubt that, except the adjustments are not provided to make that conclusive. Further, analyses of voluntary responses in polling show that those with the strongest views have higher response rates, so – pro and con – there’s again little reason to believe that those with the strongest views were not represented. But, it is unknown whether the responses from combat troops were more than from non-combat, before the adjustments.
Another criticism of the Pentagon report and the media reporting of it is that there are actually relatively few who see the problems or impacts as positive. The bulk of responses to many questions are in the category of positive-and-negative, which the report and media reports group with the positive. The report says that the analysis of cross-tabs, reactions to other questions, justifies these in-the-middle repliers being grouped with the positive. However, that analysis detail is not included in the report, and the report does not allocate to positive or negative based on such an analysis. There’s important distinctions and weightings that deserve more depth and understanding. Perhaps the report authors’ judgment is correct, but that remains to be seen. Opponents should be demanding the report’s detail data-analysis. Aside from this, an important refinement of the already published data, the critics of the report’s methodology and conclusions are on weak ground.
The move to repeal DADT right now is criticized as a political move by the President’s Democratic Party, before their Congressional numbers shrink in January. That is so, and that is what Congress is, political. Opponents of immediate repeal can and will use their means to block it being forced through now, or can reverse a repeal in January.
In short, there are too many serious issues to be better understood by and detailed to the Congress, and for all Americans, than in the report or from its supporters statements so far. A few days to digest the report and a few days of Congressional hearings are grossly inadequate.
Tomorrow we hear from the service chiefs, a little closer to operational realities, who as the New York Times reports "All have expressed reluctance about repeal." After them, there are more to hear from. Congress adjourns next week, and there simply isn't enough time for a sufficiently informed and prudently considered vote.
P.S.: Paul Mirengoff at Powerline does an excellent job of Separating Facts From Spin in the Pentagon's DADT Report. Among other things, one of the report's two chief authors never served in the military and is an active liberal and Obama supporter. Opinions abound despite empirical data to the contrary.
Update: Military Chiefs Recommend Keeping DADT For Now
 Prager: Want To Raise a Good Person? Stop Nurturing Your Child's Self-Esteem
You don't have to abuse those kids gratuitously, but let them earn a little of their own self-esteem - if they can. Nobody deserves much of it.
We ought to blogroll this site: Global Warming Policy Foundation
Italian mashed potato recipe.
We had mashed potatoes in Sicily, as a bed for Swordfish in raisin-wine sauce (with the fish stuffed with pignoli-herb butter). Near Agrigento. I will feed on mashed taters anytime, anywhere, any way.
Some good soul made a Cape Cod History and Geneology site.
Good one: Can environmentalism be saved from itself?
Happiness as a mental illness.
Related: Garlic mashed potatoes.
Happiness is garlic mashed potatoes. Extra garlic, please. Is that mentally ill? Perfect with roast chicken.
What's the carbon footprint of the big party in Cancun?
Do you know who "The Rat Man" was?
Would you like to become a Maine Professional Guide (aka Maine Guide)?
If not, why not?
Now they say driving is better for Gaia than walking.
But I like to walk. Screw those Greenies with their virtuous limos and SUVs. I'm gonna walk whenever I can.
Franco Correlli sings the Flower Aria in Carmen.
US to support EU financial stability with dollars?
I'd be opposed to this. I'd be opposed to Federal dollars to bail out California too. After all, these "Federal dollars" are all borrowed from China or someplace, plus these people have no claim on my income tax.
This topic came up the other day: Survey on physicians’ religious beliefs shows majority faithful
So did this topic: Dylan's unusual movie, Masked and Anonymous (2003)
House climate panel to be axed
First good thing to come out of the election. We are sick of posting about this BS.
Adding to our shrink blogroll: International Psychoanalysis
Obama Blocks US Companies From Drilling Off Coasts – Cuba Will Proceed With Drilling Plans
A good deal for Cuba. We'll buy our own oil from them. Who planned that?
Let's all strip for climate change...or something. H/T, Linkiest
These kids just want an excuse to take their clothes off. For extra excitement, they should try it near a schoolyard.
Report: Giant life insurance lobby key force behind estate tax
Eliminating the estate tax would put a lot of lawyers, accountants, and insurance divisions out of business.
That's a Theo pic, above. We believe in the importance of female self-defence.
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Global Warming Hysteria: Stop Face Lifts to Save the Planet!