One good part about doing a daily post like this is that it burns into my mind the fact that it’s a new year. If I ever wrote checks any more, that would be really great!
Anyway . . .
I surf the Web, so you don’t have to! (Although I really do need to cut back!)
Travel:
This Just in: Collective Ownership of the Means of Mass-Producing Consumer Air Travel Delivers Unsatisfying Results [*1] — “It’s hardly a newsflash that governments don’t run consumer businesses very well. So why do we continue tolerating government ownership in one of the most unpleasant consumer industries there is?”
Bombs Don’t Take Down Airliners — People Take Down Airliners [*2]
More after the “Read More” . . . Explaining and defending human freedom and liberty:
A role model for the GOP [*3]
Four Hundred Years of Dynamic Efficiency [*4]
Hoppe in One Lesson, Illustrated in Welfare Economics [*5]
The National Political Scene [*6] — I wasn’t sure which “blithering idiots” section this should go in, so it wound up here . . .
Atlas Shrugged II [*7]
Democratic Alligned Polling Firm: MA Senate “Has Become A Losable Race For Democrats” [*8]
Targeting the Tea Party [*9]
What Democracy Is Not [*10] — “The defense of liberty is not a romance with anarchy.”
Joy To The World [*11] — “People of the Jewish and Christian faiths are not the proprietors of our civilization, but it’s grossly unfair to deny their pivotal role in shaping it.”
That Massachusetts Senate race is a chance to take down the Death Star [*12]
Should Palin skip CPAC? [*13]
Rush: Thank god Obama didn’t visit me in the hospital [*14] — Possibly should have been in “Miscellany” . . .
A Revolution in Massachusetts [*15]
Kentucky’s Answer to Unconstitutional Federal Actions [*16] — There’s a reason this country is the United STATES of America, after all . . .
Understanding the Democrats’ Scheme [*17] — It is possible that the only thing that will save our liberty is that so many Democrats are in fact blithering idiots, and so their schemes may wind up being too clever by half . . .
A Country Boy and His Dreams [*18] — A “green shoot” peeks up out of the cold snow of this dark night for freedom . . . could a new dawn be approaching?
The Survival of the Republic: A Second Reason for Reading Montesquieu [*19]
Brown is winning the battle of the blogosphere [*20]
Are Dems this worried about losing the Massachusetts special election? [*21]
The reality of Obama and the Democrat leadership as blithering idiots:
Cook: Dems Could Lose The House [*22]
Obama: As Part of My Bold New Strategy For Combating Terror, I Hereby Order Intelligence Agencies to Do Something They Should Have Already Been Doing and Were Doing Under Bush– Following Up on Terrorist Tips [*23]
Obama’s Labor Department Ignores His Executive Order– The Ethics Pledge [*24]
45% would replace Congress with names drawn randomly from the telephone book [*25] — You’ve got the big majorities, Democrats, so it’s all your mess now . . .
Liz Cheney’s group smacks Obama: “100 Hours”; Update: Dems plot to protect Napolitano at hearings [*26]
The White House, Washington… White House, Washington… WHITEHOUSE.[*27] — They were at the White House, I guess . . . the one in Washington, it seems . . .
NEVADA U.S. SENATE POLL: Reid hits new low in poll: Rating is worst in R-J’s surveys for 2010 election [*28]
The reality of the Republican leadership as blithering idiots:
Steele: God has placed me in this role for a reason; Update: Steele fibbing about when he wrote the book? [*29] — For me, every time Steele says something good, he follows up with two utterly ridiculous statements. Therefore he’s probably an apt choice for Chairman of the Stupid Party.
Spotlighting and deconstructing (and occasionally ridiculing) Liberty’s enemies–because even blithering idiots can be dangerous:
Knocking Down The Liberal Lie About Islamic Terrorism [*30]
More Than Zero: Why won’t people who love to make zero-sum arguments about the economy apply their own lessons to government spending? [*31]
The Carnivorous Government [*32] — “Not a man or woman in the Democrat Party has the first clue how to manage the medical needs of the entire nation. No one does. . . The Obama Administration answers every question with a demand for more power, to implement nebulous plans no one is allowed to review.”
Targeting the Tea Party [*9] — “The war against the Tea Party is an extension of the long war against the American middle class.”
WSJ: IRS Takeover of the Tax Preparer Industry [*33] — Stories like this push me toward things like the Fair Tax . . .
Question of the Day: Is there a link between the caliber of TSA agents and the quality of the job they perform? [*34]
Has Anybody Seen A Lefty Pundit Praise Obama For His Performance Yesterday? [*35]
Top academic defender of ObamaCare: Oh, by the way, I’m being paid by the feds [*36]
Democrats playing with dangerous fire: admit to plan to not seat Senator Brown until after Healthcare Rationing vote [*37] — Might qualify for “blithering idiot” if this manages to lose the Massachusetts U.S. Senate seat to Brown . . . but really, they’re Democrats. If you’re surprised by this at this point, you either aren’t paying attention, or all you really care about is power. Here’s it in brief: Democrats are corrupt. All of them. Without exception. To be a Democrat is to be corrupt. If you voted for one of these weasels, then you are an accessory to political corruption on a scale that this nation has never, EVER seen before. Soviet Union, Third-World-level corruption. I hope you’re happy.
Question of the Day: Doesn’t Paul Kirk’s interim appointment in Massachusetts expire January 19th, 2010? [*38]
Iraq confiscates arms in private security crackdown [*39]
Foreign affairs:
Bringing Down Khamenei [*40]
Looking out the window [*41]
The Economy:
Steve Forbes and Ron Paul [*42] — “When it comes to money, the mainstream media like to portray Congressman Ron Paul (R–Tex.) as a gadfly. Let Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke enjoy his Time-ly accolades, because history will judge that Paul had it right when it came to the Fed and its often misbegotten monetary policies.”
Unemployment Holds at 10.0%, But That’s Not the Whole Story [*43]
Unemployment remains at 10.0%; Update: “Unexpectedly” [*44]
STIMULUS! More “unexpected” bad economic news: Employers unexpectedly cut jobs in December [*45]
Prolonging the Recession [*46]
Target tries to attract shoppers with a warehouse-type section [*47]
2 Idaho univ. presidents decry more budget cuts [*48]
“Global warming” aka “Climate change” — or should that be “Climate Reform?”:
Climategate: Here Comes Courage! [*49]
Global Warming Shutting Down China and Britain [*50]
All of Britain covered by snow [*51] — Cold is bad, warm is good . . . got it?
Frigid U.S. Midwest could see more snow [*52]
Peer-to-Peer Review: How ‘Climategate’ Marks the Maturing of a New Science Movement, Part I [*53]
LED Stoplights Failing in Winter [*54]
Winter Storm Warnings [*55] — “The brief warm spell that lasted through most of the 80s and 90s is over.”
Global Lower Tropospheric Temperature Report: December 2009 And For The Year 2009 [*56]
Health care “reform” aka health insurance “reform” — or should that be health care “change?” Perhaps “Global healthing?:
Where U.S. Health Care Ranks Number One: Isn’t ‘responsiveness’ what medicine is all about? [*57]
Health Care Spending – The Government Is NOT The Answer, It’s The Problem [*58] — Correlary: The main problem with the free market is that politicians never, ever let it work. Government is NOT the solution. Government IS THE PROBLEM. “The government is shooting blanks, and a system that is ranked number 1 out of 191 in the world for “responsiveness to the needs and choices of the individual patient” (uh, isn’t that what good medicine is all about?) is about to be downgraded dramatically based on a collection of myths, half-truths and outright lies.”
Media bias–and incompetence:
As Climategate Becomes Pressgate, Questions for the Media [*59]
More on the Media’s Attempts to Disparage Conservatives as Racist; Updated [*60]
Unexpectedly, AP hammers Obama administration on jobless report [*61] — Wow, reporting. Where did that come from?
Looking for Corruption in All the Wrong Places: The failings of the New York Times ethics cops. [*62]
NPR Sorta Acknowledges Tea Bag Cartoon and Claims (Ha-ha) it Doesn’t Reflect Their Values [*63]
NPR: No apology for ‘Tea Bag’ attack cartoon [*64] — “Fudgepackers” in reference to NPR is of course fully in play at this point . . .
NEA, PBS, & The Artful Abuse of Taxpayer Airwaves [*65]
Sports:
Jacks begin road swing at Southern Utah [*66]
SDSU Athletics introduces Ticket Tuesdays [*67]
Baugh to sit for rest of season
Kansas and Tennessee again at a crossroads [*68]
Royals agree with outfielder Podsednik on one-year deal [*69]
A stark stat in Starkville: Zero for 30 [*70] — “Mississippi State is the only SEC program to never have beaten Tennessee.”
Upset bid fizzles against Cornell: Coyotes push Ivy League foe to the limit in 71-65 loss [*71]
Science, technology, and space:
Black Hole is Eating Our Galaxy Slower Than Previously Thought [*72] — Well, at least we don’t have to worry so much about THAT.
Feynman and the Futurists [*73]
Science Fiction and Writing:
‘Book of Eli’ Arrives Jan 15th [*74]
2009: A Year in Review [John’s Take] [*75] — The SF year in review . . .
Science fiction, religion and rationality [*76]
Our complete midseason preview of 31 hot sci-fi/fantasy shows [*77]
5 Simple Rules For Turning Your Cool Idea Into A Screenplay [*78]
Sci Fi Foods We Wish Actually Existed [*79]
Miscellany:
Anti-whaling boat left to sink in Antarctica[*80] — “Whilst I abhor whaling, it does seem that this particular set of tactics have quite a lot of flaws in them, not the least of these is the environmental risk,”
‘Lie to Me’ Lies to Me [*81]
Ready for the cooling! [*82] — Dog. Tire. Snow.
Domino’s executives: Why yes, our pizza is was terrible; Update: Domino’s reviewed! [*83]
For some, 3D movies a pain in the head[*84]