Contributed by: filbert Saturday, February 06 2010 @ 02:35 PM CST
SECTION ONE: The Word:
I’ve gently re-formatted the Whip, the better to shine a light on the rampant epidemic of blithering idiotry amok upon the world. Yes, those of you who think you know everything are annoying those of us who do.
Other than the fact that I woke up at 11:30 this morning (yeah, sleep is good), I have no comment today.
SECTION TWO: Things That Amuse Me:
Simians and other aminals*:
Auklets and penguins: birds use feathers ‘to touch’ [*1]
China dinosaur footprints found in Zhucheng [*2]
*Yes, I know it’s “animals,” it’s just that I always found the childhood mispronunciation really, really cute . . .
Travel:
Drama On The High Seas in New Cruise Ship TV Show [*3]
Delta Museum’s Aircraft History Now Live! [*4]
Allegiant CEO talks about avoiding Southwest, international options and connecting flights [*5]
Why a Six-Hour Flight Now Takes Seven [*6]
Sports:
Jacks host UMKC in Pork Classic
Midcontinet, Mediacom to air three Jackrabbit games [*7]
The hardest working sport [*8]
Jackrabbits featured by CollegeBaseballInsider.com [*9]
Barbecue baron becomes point man on Buck O’Neil center[*10]
Science Fiction and Writing:
Maybe we should be hurting the authors [*11]
Authors Can Be Stupid: Entitlement? Really? [*12]
The 100 Greatest Books of All Time [*13]
Psychohistory: Was Hari Seldon pulling our leg? [*14]
Science, technology, and space:
Men who eat soy may have lower lung cancer risk [*15]
Shake Up On The Way [*16]
NASA webcam airs ‘reality show’ from space [*17]
Toyota’s president apologizes [*18]
Continuing Skepticism About “the Cloud” [*19]
Shuttle set for Sunday launch amid space plan shift [*20]
Miscellany (amusing things not fitting above, or below):
Surprise! Jack in the Box coming back to KC [*21]
Jessica Biel Eats A Chocolate-Covered Cricket [*22] — The girl’s a trooper, you gotta admit. Somebody call Andrew Zimmern . . .
SECTION THREE: Politics: The neverending battle against blithering idiocy:
People doing potentially good things (including sightings of politicians doing something less than totally idiotic):
The Great Peasant Revolt of 2010 [*23]
Jon Stewart tears the blogosphere a new one! [*24] — Because everyone needs someone off to the side yelling “ARE YOU NUTS?”
WaPo: Hey, a Republican budget plan actually cuts the deficit [*25]
Live From… Nashville? [*26]
Stand Up Notes From Flyover Country: Stewart Vs. O’Reilly [*27]
Boiling Tea [*28] — People are really, really, really angry out here. And they’re looking around for politicians to take that anger out on this November.
Reason.tv: Gary Johnson’s Our America—the former NM governor’s vision for a truly free country. [*29]
Consumer credit down in Nov. for record 11th month [*30] — Regular people have figured out how to fix the problem–why can’t government? Oh, yeah, we keep electing blithering idiots to run our government. Maybe we should re-think that.
Doubling down: Second Tim Tebow pro-life ad now set to run during Super Bowl [*31] — Do you perceive a difference between saying “Please be a good person” and pointing a gun at someone and saying “Be a good person, or else!”
Rasmussen: “Tea party candidate” would beat Democrat in Texas governor’s race [*32]
Tea Party Palooza, or Lilith Fair For Gadsden Flag Zealots; Got Live Stream If You Want It [*33] — And yes, I own a Gadsden flag, myself, thank you very much . . .
Palin electrifies Salina crowd [*34]
Justice Alito Dissents [*35] — Question: Aren’t Supreme Court Justices supposed to have informed “opinions?” As opposed to the Man Who Would Be King, at least . . .
Kevin Wright: “Thoughts on Salina” [*36]
Alito objected to Obama’s history claim [*37]
Tea Party’s next chapter? Answers unclear [*38]
Erick Erickson Has a Change of Heart at National Tea Party Convention [*39]
Breitbart, Farah argue Birtherism at Tea Party convention [*40] — There’s a word for the Obama birth certificate “controversy”: distraction. Don’t be distracted.
The cure for blithering idiocy: freedom and individual liberty (yeah, I know–ooh, ick, philosophy!):
Transformational Leadership or Constitutional Statesmanship? [*41]
Top ten free market economists list [*42]
Beyond Hope and Change [*43] — We need Real Hope for Real Change–Change from the century-long dalliance with the idea that government can Make It All Better . . .
Our National Blind Spot [*44]
Why Was Ronald Reagan the Greatest President of the 20th Century? [*45]
The reality of President Obama as a blithering idiot (and he’s the President, so he gets credit, if that’s the word, for the entire Executive Branch):
Budget 2011: Freezing Opportunity – New Budget Means the End of School Choice for Many [*46]
Why is Obama ignoring trustees on future Medicare costs? [*47]
Mini-Bounce Gone; Three New Polls Show Obama Back Under 50 [*48]
Obama: A Wonderful, Spirited Woman Died of Breast Cancer, and, While I Don’t Recall Her Name, I Am Proud to Report She’ll Be Buried in an Obama T-Shirt [*49] — I’m continually amazed that anyone takes this blithering idiot seriously, but somehow, he got elected President . . .
Blanche Lincoln: Please Moderate Your Course So You Don’t Get Endangered Democrats Like Me Booted Out of Office; Obama: FYNQ [*50] — No, Blanche, you can’t stop being a blithering idiot . . .
President Obama Supports Net Neutrality. But Does He Understand It? [*51] — Doubtful. There’s so much that the Boy Emperor does not understand . . .
Video: Obama eulogizes woman buried in Obama t-shirt whose name he can’t remember [*52] . . . starting with simple human decency–and a dash of humility, of which he appears to be utterly devoid . . .
“Bipartisan” White House Super Bowl party to feature … one Republican [*53]
Beach head [*54] — “If the economic crisis deepens and as Obama’s foreign policy mistakes come home to roost with moderately bad consequences the incumbent is likely to be blamed the most, with the entire Washington establishment a close second scapegoat.”
This pretty much covers what we know so far about the vehicular assault on my person [*55] — More on the hit on Jim Treacher . . .
Obama: St. Louis Campaign Supporter Died of Breast Cancer – Says She Couldn’t Afford Exam – But Breast Exams Are Free to Poor in St. Louis (Video) [*56]
The reality of Washington Democrats (and Independents, and Socialists) as blithering idiots:
Landrieu to Republicans: Shut up about my Louisiana Purchase [*57]
House Promise to Start Paygo Diet RIght After It Spends This $1.5 Trillion [*58]
Does Joe Biden have trouble reading? [*59] — He certainly has comprehension problems . . .
Franken blasts Obama’s lack of leadership in meeting of Senate Democrats [*60] — Watching the Washington Democrats is a veritable all-you-can-stomach-and-then-have-another-serving-or-ten buffet of blithering idiocy . . .
The Perfect Choice to Oversee an ‘Utter Failure’ [*61] — Yeah, she’s a “Bush holdover.” Who’s running Congress these days?
Senate Diversity Police Need To Question Democrats [*62]
Senate Democrats now living in a 59-41 world on Stimulus II [*63] — The only thing about the “Jobs” bill is that it will destroy private-sector, productive, wealth-creating jobs, and create public-sector, wealth-consuming government jobs.
The United States of Fiscal Folly [*64]
The reality of Washington Republicans as blithering idiots:
“Thank God John McCain lost the election” [*65]
ManBearPig spotted in Capital? Is Global Warming Conference happening? Three feet of snow headed to D.C. [*66]
Michael Steele: “After taxes, a million dollars is not a lot of money” [*67]
Shelby’s Pork History [*68] — Somebody whap the Alabama Senator with a cluestick for me, OK?
A short note on fiscal policy during the Bush years [*69]
Other blithering idiots at large making life difficult for regular folks:
The New Castle Doctrine [*70]
Funny how these problems keep hitting non-bailout companies. [*71]
Stimulizing: Ohio Spending $1 Million of Stimulus Money on Road Signs to Inform Public They’re Spending Stimulus Money [*72]
In Restraint of Liberty [*73]
Your Neighbor Hearts Socialism [*74]
It Will Be as if the American Founding Never Happened [*75] — How to advance collectivist socialism in schools? Just don’t tell the kiddies that the American Revolution even happened! Genius, North Carolina, Genius!
We Will Not Tolerate Safe, Effective Products [*76]
Readers Who See the World Through their Prejudices [*77] — If people worried more about making themselves “good people,” and less about making other people “good people” (however “good people” is defined), the world would be a far, far better place . . .
Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations [*78]
Louisiana Super Bowl principal: One reason sports fans should not be put in positions of authority [*79]
Opposition Research: because blithering idiocy can be dangerous, especially when organized into idiotic groups with idiotic ideologies:
Troll Dissection 101: Illinois Senate Race Example [*80]
Whither Private Property [*81] — If you don’t control your property, is it really your property?
Government jobs are more recession-resistant than those in the private sector[*82] — One reason why Government Is Still The Problem
The Keith Olbermann Memorial “Special Comment” on blithering idiots in the Media:
That Didn’t Take Long… ABC Reporter Attacks National Tea Party Convention Leaders During Press Conference (Video) [*83]
Daily Gut Video: Shuster Responds to Red Eye, Robot Responds to Shuster! [*84]
Weisberg: God Bless America? No, God Damn America! [*85]
AP admits Obama sounds contradictory [*86] — A brief moment when reality encroaches on the epic fantasy being lived by the Media . . .
MSNBC Palin-Hater Schultz Will Cover Palin Speech Tonight [*87]
Andrew Breitbart at National Tea Party Convention to Media: “It’s Not Your Business Model That Sucks, It’s You That Sucks” (Video) [*88]
Ron Devito: MSNBC’s Sarah Palin Investigation Reveals Nothing [*89] — Well, not strictly true, although it revealed nothing about Palin . . .
SECTION FOUR: Case Studies in Blithering Idiocy
“Global warming” aka “Climate change” — or should that be “Climate Reform?”:
An Honest IPCC Scientist Warns His Colleagues: Don’t Dismiss ‘ClimateGate’ [*90]
Flashback to 2007 – SST to plunge again? [*91]
Steyn: Glaciers Aren’t Melting. The IPCC’s Credibility Is. [*92]
Arctic climate changing faster than expected [*93] — See, the problem isn’t “climate change” because it’s changing all the time. The problem is that we don’t really understand how “climate” works in the first place. Certainly not well enough to establish that humans are “responsible for global warming.” Some people don’t like hearing that, though. These, coincidentally, happen to be the same people who think they know better than you how you should run your own life and spend your own money. I do not think that this is a coincidence.
Inconvenient truth in Britain – scepticism on the rise – only 26% believe climate change to be man-made [*94]
Climategate: For IPCC, Writing Is on the Wall … and It’s in Chinese [*95]
Deficit Of Trust – AGW Edition [*96]
Health care “reform” aka health insurance “reform” — or should that be health care “change?” Perhaps “Global healthing?:
(It still isn’t dead, you know . . .)
The Economy (Can the blithering idiots bring down the most productive economy the world has ever seen? Yes, They Can! Will they?):
(It’s still not good, you know . . .)
Foreign affairs and National Security (Will blithering idiots get us all killed, or make us all speak Spanish–or Chinese–or Arabic–or all three?):
Night of the Living Dead Idea [*97] — The main national security effect of “climate change” is distracting good people from the real, pressing problems we have–among which are terrorism and the intimately related problem of the world’s energy supply in the hands of–er–a fanatically-inclined religion; spendthrift politicians; and the collapse of the ethic of personal responsibility.
Oh, Dear: Australian Censorship Board Demands Porn Contain Only Large-Breasted Women [*98]
A Nation of Racist Dwarfs: Kim Jong-il’s regime is even weirder and more despicable than you thought. [*99]
Austraila Hates A-Cups Story Not Really True [*100]
The rain in Spain[*101]
The Iranian Revolution Devours Its Young [*102]
The Morning Whip is a (mostly) daily review of what’s out there that caught my attention, sometimes but not always posted before 11 am Central time in the U. S. of A., unless I just don’t feel like it that day, am out doing something more important or more fun, or I’ve been abducted, detained, arrested, or otherwise flummoxed by the agents of blithering idiotry.
I surf the Web, so you don’t have to! (which would be a trademark, but come on, who am I kidding?)