Veteran Washington reporter Sander Vanocur.

Current ABC White House correspondent Jake Tapper is about the only one up there today who's worth the bandwidth, as far as I can tell (outside the occasional Fox News reporter--and even they're sliding). Tapper seems to be the only one up there still interested in asking consistently honest questions and pressing for real answers. The rest of them only seem to want to engage in journalistic fellatio.

What's the Law of Attraction? It's this New-Agey idea that "like attracts like." Basically, it gets reified by non-spiritual mystics (i.e. most "progressives" and similar sloppy thinkers) as a Deep Thought. Its the mystical thought that if you think about something, it will happen.

This is of course nonsense on stilts. You can sit around all day wishing to be rich, or thin, or have better hair, or more satisfying relationships, or anything, but if you don't actually do anything which will make those things happen, then they won't. So, while it's true that the thought is necessary for almost anything good to happen, it is not a sufficient condition for it to happen.

Still, a small collection of articles today brought to my mind the Law of Attraction--either as a lesson that you get what you give, or as a cautionary tale that it's probably best to follow the Golden Rule (i.e. do unto others as you would have them do unto you) which is NOT nonsense, but common sense. Of course, common sense is uncommon, which is why we have devised a term to describe it.

OK, on to the links.

The End of an Idea -- Why Affirmative Action Should Stop. Connection to the Law of Attraction: well, "affirmative action" is discrimination. There's no way around that fact, no matter how you try to spin it. And discrimination begets more discrimination. That's human nature. Hell, human beings are desperately eager to see discrimination where there isn't any, let alone where you go out and purposefully do more of it. Discrimination breeds resentment. Resentment breeds distrust. Distrust breeds discord. Discord breeds hate. Hate breeds violence. And so it goes. Where do you stop this vicious cycle? By doing more of it? Oh, yeah, that'll work.

Black Confederates Revealed. This features the wonderful quote (and the author does, from the attached picture, seem to have an enhanced melanin skin content) "I've spent much of my adult life studying various theories of race and racism, and the last few years in a rather intensive mode of study. In all of that time one inescapable conclusion has dogged me: Race is such bullshit." But if you run around wanting to see differences between people, it's guaranteed that you'll find them. That's human nature.

WI Attorney General Releases 100 PAGES of Documented Threats Against Lawmakers During the Budget "Negotiations". "Progressives" constantly project their own biases, fears, and prejudices on their political and philosophical opponents. They are so utterly convinced that their view of the world is absolutely, totally, 100% correct that they are simply unable to formulate the thought that there are others who do not share their worldview. This is why non-"progressives" watch the constant media circus going on all around them with such bemused horror. They see the "progressives'" attempt to portray them like you'd see your own image in a funhouse mirror--hopelessly distorted. This is why I find TV shows like Law and Order utterly unwatchable. Hollywood's depictions of the non-"progressive" worldview have about as much connection to reality as Doctor Who while managing to be far, far more offensive to a huge swath of the American public.

Nearly 20 percent of new Obamacare waivers are gourmet restaurants, nightclubs, fancy hotels in Nancy Pelosi's district. Well, why not? It's what the Tea Partiers would do. Right? Actually, no. The "progressives" know that Tea Party people are different than them, they just do not understand--and it seems are unable to understand--how they're different. So they keep trying to imagine that Tea Partiers are Just Like Them. We're not.

U.S. justified in killing Osama Bin Laden. One area where reciprocity is in fact recognized is armed conflict. If you recognize rules of war, you will be accorded treatment according to those rules of war. If you choose to ignore all rules of war (by, for instance, targeting totally civilian, non-military targets) then you give up any right you might have to use the rules of war in your defense.

Story via Watts Up With That:

Greenpeace in New Zealand have just lost their court appeal to retain their charitable tax status. It seems that legally they’re now viewed as a political lobby group . . .

In a sane country, there would be a lot of this happening. In fact, I'd be all for banning "non-profit, tax-exempt" status entirely. It's too easily abused.

On the other hand, the idea of taxing organizations in the first place is pretty corrupt--it's by definition double (at least) taxation.

Fifteen minutes very well spent, if you want to understand economics (and trust me, you DO want to understand economics).

The narration feels a bit high-school-film-presentation, but that's really not all bad, is it? If you don't find something in this video to disagree with, you're either not listening close enough, or you actually do believe in freedom.



The only real problem with capitalism is that it has never really been tried, anywhere in the world. The only real problem with socialism--in any of its various forms--is that it doesn't work. Ever. No matter what you call it. No matter who tries it. No matter how good your intentions are. No matter how smart you are, what school you graduated from or what degrees you hold. No matter how many votes you get.

People can't believe that a truly free society is possible. People also believed that airplanes couldn't fly. People believe lots of things that are not true. The only way to find out is to try.

Royal wedding: Duke and Duchess of Cambridge adopt penguin

Link to UK Telegraph article, complete with picture of ugly-ass newborn penguin named, inexplicably, Acorn.

Via Ace of Spades HQ

That gal's got cojones . . .

This is a Public Service Announcement. Delete without opening any e-mail you receive that looks like it is from anybody at:
nacha.org

The subject of the e-mail is usually something like:
Rejected ACH Payment
and the text of the e-mail usually goes something like this:

The ACH transfer (ID: 1234567890123), recently sent from your bank account (by you or any other person), was rejected by the other financial institution.

Rejected transfer
Transaction ID: 1234567890123

Rejection Reason See details in the report below

Transaction Report
report_1234567890123.pdf.exe (self-extracting archive, Adobe PDF)
Please click here to download report:
http://MYNACHA-REPORT-DOMAIN(rest of it screwed up so you won't go there by mistake).INFO

------------
13450 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 100 Herndon, VA 20171 (703) 561-1100
2011 NACHA - The Electronic Payments Association

Now, the NACHA is a real organization. But here's what they say about this nasty little con:

NACHA PHISHING ALERT (02/22/2011) EMAIL CLAIMING TO BE FROM NACHA

NACHA – The Electronic Payments Association has received reports that individuals and/or companies have received a fraudulent email that has the appearance of having been sent from NACHA and signed by a non-existent NACHA employee. Specifically, this email claims to be from the “Electronic Payments Association” and appears to be coming from the email address "payments@nacha.org.” See a sample of the email below.

Be aware that phishing emails frequently have attachments and/or links to Web pages that host malicious code and software. Do not open attachments or follow Web links in unsolicited emails from unknown parties or from parties with whom you do not normally communicate, or that appear to be known but are suspicious or otherwise unusual.

NACHA itself does not process nor touch the ACH transactions that flow to and from organizations and financial institutions. NACHA does not send communications to individuals or organizations about individual ACH transactions that they originate or receive.

If malicious code is detected or suspected on a computer, consult with a computer security or anti-virus specialist to remove malicious code or re-install a clean image of the computer system.

Always use anti-virus software and ensure that the virus signatures are automatically updated.

Ensure that the computer operating systems and common software applications security patches are installed and current.

Additional information and guidance on phishing is available from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

Be alert for different variations of fraudulent emails.

Don't be scammed. If you don't recognize who it's from, delete it without reading it. If you're not sure, you might take a peek, using your mail client's "view source" function, if it has it. (In Thunderbird, which I use, it's under View >> Message Source).

I don't work for NACHA or anybody else for that matter, it's just that con men piss me off.

. . . on the city streets? That's just wrong.

Over at Ace of Spades HQ, proprietor Ace has been fighting a rear-guard action against a renewed assault upon the gates by those who insist that There Is Something Going On with Obama's birth certificate.

Here's my position:

It's a snipe hunt. (Credit to AoSHQ commenter Full Moon for the first reference to "snipe hunting.")

Let's break this down to the quark level of comprehension so I can demonstrate where I'm coming from. You see, I don't know if Obama was born in Honolulu or not. By that I mean I do not have first-hand personal knowledge of the event. Therefore, I must depend on the reports of others to either confirm or deny that this event occurred.

Everybody with me so far?

And, Round One below the fold: