Month: February 2010

Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, February 23 2010 @ 01:14 PM CST

SECTION ONE: The Word:
I had a chest/head cold the past couple of days, so I decided to blow off the Whip. Sorry about that. I”m better now. Coughing up a lung right now, but that’s probably TMI, isn’t it.

SECTION TWO: Things That Amuse Me:
Simians and other aminals*:
Dolphins Smart Enough To Deserve Better? [*1]
Island of dwarf dinosaurs [*2]
Thousands pay last respects to esteemed whale known in Vietnam as ‘Your Excellency’ [*3]
*Yes, I know it’s “animals,” it’s just that I always found the childhood mispronunciation really, really cute . . .

Travel:
U.S. warns about travel to two more Mexican states [*4]
India’s Kingfisher announces intent to join oneworld alliance [*5]

Sports:
Jackrabbits post sixth consecutive win [*6] — SDSU 76, IPFW 65, women’s basketball.
No. 1 Kansas beats Colorado 94-74 [*7]
UMKC loses at Western Illinois but clinches Summit League tourney spot[*8]
Samurai Zack Greinke plans to limit distractions, build on success[*9]
SDSU men’s rally falls short against IPFW [*10]
Bannister showing early signs of strong recovery from arm trouble [*11]
Jackrabbits fall at Oakland, 81-68 [*12]
Cain gets school-record 12 blocks as Lady Vols prevail [*13]
Jayhawks clinch share of Big 12 with win over OU [*14]
K-State announces cuts to athletic budget [*15]
SDSU women fall to third place [*16]
Tuesday Tidbits [*17]

Science Fiction and Writing:
Ten of the best monsters in literature [*18]
Ten rules for writing fiction [*19]

Science, technology, and space:
Head Case: Can psychiatry be a science? [*20]

Miscellany (amusing things not fitting above, or below):
NCBI ROFL: Did Gollum have schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder? [*21]
AMERICAN FOOD AND DRINK DAYS [*22] — For your future gustatory planning . . .
It’s come to this: California town to charge $300 for … 911 calls [*23] — We’re used to jaw-droppingly stupid from California, but this?
Mo. Family Says Energy Drinks Hurt Teen [*24]
Would you dump a woman for using a coupon? [*25] — Or would you marry one who used a coupon on the first date, like mine did?
Family Moves After Getting ‘Makeover’ Home: Iraq War Veteran Patrick Tutwiler Got New Home After Chapman Tornado [*26]
Are we reaching the end of Hip Hop and Rap as dominant musical genres? [*27]
My Top 10 Least Anticipated Movies for 2010 [*28]
When It Comes to Salt, No Rights or Wrongs. Yet. [*29]

SECTION THREE: Politics: The neverending battle against blithering idiocy:
IT’S A TRAP!!!:
Up Next! On Live TV! A Battle Over … Health Care? [*30]
Teaming Up with the Democrats? [*31]
House Republican Leader John Boehner: Obama’s Health Care Proposal Jeopardizes Summit [*32]
The Coming “Health Care Summit” Ambush [*33]
Mark Levin vs. Glenn Beck (And Some Other CPAC-Related Musings)

People doing potentially good things (including sightings of politicians doing something less than totally idiotic):
CNN Poll: Majority think government is broken [*34] — Identifying the problem is the first step towards solving the problem . . .
Clarence Thomas: The Pen Is Mightier Than the Microphone [*35]
Pin the Bogeyman On the Tea Party [*36]
A Real Role Model [*37]

The cure for blithering idiocy: freedom and individual liberty (yeah, I know–ooh, ick, philosophy!):
Tea-Party Power to Solve the Debt Problem [*38]
Guns: Not Just for the Home Anymore [*39] — The reason we have the Second Amendment ain’t to protect ourselves from muggers. It ain’t for duck hunting. It’s to enable the people to protect ourselves, in the extreme, from politicians who stop being representatives and start being tyrants.
Our Movement: A Time For Renewal [*40]
Plus ça change . . . [*41]
Recovery via Spending Cuts, Low Taxes, and Cheaper Government [*42]
The Politics of Giving [*43]
The Mount Vernon Statement, A Poor Man’s Manifesto… Very Poor [*44]
Do Soldiers Drink Tea? [*45] — “For now at least, many Tea Partiers seem to want a populist coalition that focuses on economic and government reform while moving more slowly on social issues.” Amen, brother.
The story of the armed community organizers [*46] — The Second Amendment is not about duck-hunting . . .

The reality of President Obama and his entire Administration as blithering idiots:
Americans Believe Business Leaders Make Better Economic Decisions… Obama Disagrees [*47]
Rasmussen: Obama Sinks Again; His Healthcare Summit is Going to Flop [*48]
Everything Obama Thought He Knew About Health Cost Control Is Wrong [*49]
Wrong Again… Barack Obama Lectures America About Rising Sea Levels (Video) [*50]
Removing All Doubt: Obama the Socialist [*51]
Biggest sign that White House deficit panel is a joke: O wants to appoint Andy Stern [*52]
New Climate Agency Head Tried to Suppress Data, Critics Charge [*53]
White House Contradicts CBO, Misleads on Insurance Rate Increases [*54]

The reality of Washington Democrats (and Independents, and Socialists) as blithering idiots:
Harry Reid pretty excited about Obama’s bill despite not knowing how much it’ll cost [*55]
Harry Reid: Men, When They’re Out of Work, Tend to be Abusive [*56]
CNN Poll: Three-fourths think federal officials not honest [*57] — And I invite you to speculate on what political party most federal officials belong to . . .

The reality of Washington Republicans as blithering idiots:
McCain: I was misled into supporting TARP [*58]
Perils of Populism [*59]
Oh my: Scott Brown to vote with Dems on Obama’s jobs bill [*60] — Well, he is a Massachusetts Republican . . .

Other blithering idiots at large making life difficult for regular folks:
Colin Powell’s Endorsement of Barack Obama Will Live… in Infamy [*61]
If massive surveillance does not stop Money Laundering, why do we have it? [*62]

Opposition Research: because blithering idiocy can be dangerous, especially when organized into idiotic groups with idiotic ideologies:
“They have no right to tell me what to do.” [*63] — “An opinion enforced at gunpoint has ceased to remain merely an opinion.”
Dem Precinct Worker Admits Stealing Votes [*64]
The War on Truth [*65]
The Fraud of Progressive Nobility [*66] — It is not a virtue to be generous with somebody else’s money.
Question: Does the Left’s hatred manifest differently when aimed at a man versus a woman? [*67]
Progress Into Entropy [*68] — “Progressives” aren’t.
The Dangers Of Reactive Populism [*69]
ACORN Crime Family Shutting Down Nationwide: Launching Renaming Effort [*70]
Who Cares About Race? [*71] — People on the right, in general, don’t. People on the left, on the other hand, seem obsessed with skin melanin content . . .
Entitled to a Job [*72]
Price Controls by Any Other Name [*73] — “Now, nearly two millennia later, President Obama seems determined to demonstrate how little we’ve learned.”

The Keith Olbermann Memorial “Special Comment” on blithering idiots in the Media:
Breitbart Gets Hit, Punches Back Twice as Hard [*74]
Correction Request: Keith Olbermann, MSNBC [*75] — I’ll take the alpaca in this one . . .

SECTION FOUR: Case Studies in Blithering Idiocy
“Global warming” aka “Climate change” — or should that be “Climate Reform?”:
Where Did the Global Warming Go? The President Explains It For You… [*76]
Bringing Skillful Observation Back To Science [*77]
Fudged Fevers in the Frozen North [*78]
2009 paper confirming IPCC sea level conclusions withdrawn, mistakes cited [*79] — So, we scare the hell out of the Maldivians on the basis of incorrect science! Nice.
Obama’s Clean Energy Ploy a Sucker’s Game for GOP [*80] — It’s ANOTHER TRAP!

Health care “reform” aka health insurance “reform” — or should that be health care “change?” Perhaps “Global healthing?:
Obama Declares Legislative War [*81]
Harry Reid Says He’ll Ram Obamacare Through in 60 Days With 51 Votes [*82]
Cook: Health Care Is Obama’s Iraq [*83] — “it’s very hard to come up with a scenario where Democrats don’t lose the House. It’s very hard.”
Here come government health care price controls; Update: Obamacare 2.0$$ unveiled [*84] — Price controls are only advocated by economically illiterate people . . .
White House Promises to Ram Obamacare Through Congress Via Reconciliation Process [*85]
Obama Unveils His Health Care Plan: More Expensive, More Controlling [*86]
Meet the New Plan, Same as the Old Plan [*87]
Obama: Socialize Health Insurance [*88]
Top Dem Says House Will Pass Obamacare With More Votes the 2nd Time Around [*89]
CBO to White House: We can’t score your health care crap sandwich [*90]
ObamaCare, the Upgrade [*91]
Democrats’ Divisive Politics of Health Care “Reconciliation” [*92]
Targeting Health Insurance Companies Not the Answer to Healthcare Reform [*93]
Obama’s Plan In Two Words [*94] — “Balloon Mortgage.”
Voodoo Obamanomics: More Creepy Tales of the Undead Zombie Health Care Plan — “When the White House proposes a massive new entitlement program and then requires its spokeswoman to claim that the administration can provide no estimate of the cost because the plan hasn’t yet been scored by CBO . . . Well, my dear Doctor Watson, this could be an important clue.
41% Favor Obamacare; 56% Oppose — Dems Plan to Ram It Through Anyway [*95]

The Economy (Can the blithering idiots bring down the most productive economy the world has ever seen? Yes, They Can! Will they?):
Are the Democrats Coming After Your Savings? [*96]
Today is The First Day of The Rest of Your Life Under The Credit CARD Act. Which Means, Get Ready For All Sorts of New Fees. [*97]
The ‘Stimulus’ Actually Raised Unemployment [*98]
Prepare for the Next Bubble…For a Made Up Commodity [*99]
This is what happens when government meddles in the market [*100]
What, Me Worry? Credit Default Swaps on US Treasuries [*101]
FDIC on its knees [*102]

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?):
What If We Won A War And No One Cared?[*103]

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?)

Contributed by: filbert Tuesday, February 23 2010 @ 07:11 AM CST

From The Road To Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek, 1944, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1994, The University of Chicago Press.

In the sphere of executive work the problem of sanctions for negligence arises in a different but no less serious form. It has been well said that, while the last resort of a competitive economy is the bailiff, the ultimate sanction of a planned economy is the hangman.

Excerpted under Fair Use for purposes of non-commercial education, discussion and comment. Any transcription or typographical errors are mine.

Contributed by: filbert Monday, February 22 2010 @ 07:10 AM CST

From The Road To Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek, 1944, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1994, The University of Chicago Press.

Certainty of a given income can, however, not be given to all if any freedom in the choice of one’s occupation is to be allowed. And, if it is provided for some, it becomes a privilege at the expense of others whose security is thereby necessarily diminished. That security of an invariable income can be provided for all only by the abolition of all freedom in the choice of one’s employment is easily shown. Yet, although such a general guaranty of legitimate expectation is often regarded as the ideal to be aimed at, it is not a thing which is seriously attempted. What is constantly being done is to grant this kind of security piecemeal, to this group and to that, with the result that for those who are left out in the cold the insecurity constantly increases. No wonder that in consequence the value attached to the privilege of security constantly increases, the demand for it becomes more and more urgent, until in the end no price, not even that of liberty, appears too high.

Excerpted under Fair Use for purposes of non-commercial education, discussion and comment. Any transcription or typographical errors are mine.

Contributed by: filbert Sunday, February 21 2010 @ 07:09 AM CST

From The Road To Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek, 1944, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1994, The University of Chicago Press.

The planning for security which has an insidious effect on liberty is that for security of a different kind. It is planning designed to protect individuals or groups against diminutions of their income, which although in no way deserved yet in a competitive society occur daily, against losses imposing severe hardships having no moral justification yet inseparable from the competitive system. This demand for security is thus another form of the demand for a just remuneration–a remuneration commensurate with the subjective merits and not with the objective results of a man’s efforts. This kind of security or justice seems irreconcilable with freedom to choose one’s employment.

Excerpted under Fair Use for purposes of non-commercial education, discussion and comment. Any transcription or typographical errors are mine.

Contributed by: filbert Saturday, February 20 2010 @ 07:09 AM CST

From The Road To Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek, 1944, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1994, The University of Chicago Press.

There is, finally, the supremely important problem of combating general fluctuations of economic activity and the recurrent waves of large-scale unemployment which accompany them. This is, of course, one of the gravest and most pressing problems of our time. But, though its solution will require much planning in the good sense, it does not–or at least need not–require that special kind of planning which according to its advocates is to replace the market. Many economists hope, indeed, that the ultimate remedy may be found in the field of monetary policy, which would involve nothing incompatible even with nineteenth-century liberalism. Others, it is true, believe that real success can be expected only from the skilful timing of public works undertaken on a very large scale. This might lead to much more serious restrictions of the competitive sphere, and, in experimenting in this direction, we shall have carefully to watch our step if we are to avoid making all economic activity progressively more dependent on the direction and volume of government expenditure. But this is neither the only nor, in my opinion, the most promising way of meeting the gravest threat to economic security. In any case, the very necessary efforts to secure protection against these fluctuations do not lead to the kind of planning which constitutes such a threat to our freedom.

Excerpted under Fair Use for purposes of non-commercial education, discussion and comment. Any transcription or typographical errors are mine.

Contributed by: filbert Saturday, February 20 2010 @ 05:06 AM CST

SECTION ONE: The Word:
This is Red Alert stuff, right here: Only 21% Say U.S. Government Has Consent of the Governed. [*1]

just 21% of voters nationwide believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 61% disagree and say the government does not have the necessary consent. Eighteen percent (18%) of voters are not sure.

However, 63% of the Political Class think the government has the consent of the governed, but only six percent (6%) of those with Mainstream views agree.

Seventy-one percent (71%) of all voters now view the federal government as a special interest group, and 70% believe that the government and big business typically work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors.

. . .
Nearly half of all voters believe that people randomly selected from the phone book could do as good a job as the current Congress.

This scares the hell out of me. It ought to scare the hell out of the “political class.” They have become dangerously out of touch with the people who hold the ultimate power in the United States. They are in imminent danger of making dreadful, terrible mistakes. This is how people in power cause real, honest-to-God, bullets-in-the-air revolutions. The people don’t cause revolutions. Idiots in power cause revolutions, by pushing the people past what they’re willing to tolerate from their “leaders.” That’s basically what the Declaration of Independence is all about. We don’t have “leaders” in this country. We have “representatives.” There’s a big difference–one which I am very afraid Barack Obama, in his . . . unorthodox upbringing and subsequent education and political career, has never learned. I would be delighted if he would prove me wrong.

It might be a really, really, really good idea for every single person in the “political class” in Washington (and in the misguided “mainstream” media) to sit down, shut up, and listen to what the majority of the people in this country are saying. Listen, and understand. Before somebody (in power) does something really, really, really stupid. (As opposed to the normal, run-of-the-mill stupidity we’ve become accustomed to from our politicians since the founding of the Republic . . . )

This is not politics as usual. This is people’s lives, fortunes, and sacred honors (to recall another chilling phrase from the Declaration). The “political class” willrelent, or this could get very, very ugly indeed.

The New Deal party of “progressive” socialism is over in the United States. What comes next will either be painful, if we’re lucky and smart, or it will be horrific, if we’re not. The “political class” needs to focus on not making it worse. And “the hair of the dog” never works. SECTION TWO: Things That Amuse Me:
Simians and other aminals*:
Australian study finds cat food, meat ants powerful weapons in war against cane toads [*2]
Dog Takes Bullet to Save Family [*3]
Udderly awesome Holstein sets milk production record with 8,400 gallons of milk in one year [*4]
*Yes, I know it’s “animals,” it’s just that I always found the childhood mispronunciation really, really cute . . .

Travel:
And the world’s ‘strangest’ airports are … [*5]
Video: Top Reasons To River Cruise In Europe [*6]

Sports:
IUPUI routs UMKC 103-65 [*7]
Brewer’s double-double lifts Lady Vols past Crimson Tide [*8]
Jackrabbits shock Bison in Fargo [*9] — Wrestling . . .
This Actually Made Me Want to Defend The Winter Games! [*10]
Injury Updates, Postseason Possibilities [*11]
NASCAR > Winter Olympics [*12]
SDSU women square off against Mastodons [*13] — You gotta love Summit League team nicknames . . .
Summit Points (Feb. 19, 2010) [*14]
KC manager says outfield duty unlikely for Callaspo[*15]

Science Fiction and Writing:
He said, she said: thoughts on dialogue. [*16]
Books: Still a Load of Crap [*17]

Science, technology, and space:
Computer jargon baffles users, hinders security [*18]
Police push for warrantless searches of cell phones [*19] — This feels wrong to me . . . a disturbance in The Force, if you will . . .
The Internet will make you smarter, say experts [*20] — Experts who are all, oddly enough, on the Internet . . . hmmm . . .
Shuttle leaves station as NASA plans last flights [*21]

Straight News–Stuff sufficiently serious to deserve a serious treatment:
Pilot Deliberately Crashes Into IRS Office Building in Austin, Blames Tax Reform Act of 1986 [*22] — Ordinarily, I find surreality highly amusing. I make an exception here.

Miscellany (amusing things not fitting above, or below):
Bilingualism [*23]
The Best of British: The American’s guide to speaking British. [*24]
Romney’s Alleged Plane Attacker Was LA Rapper Sky Blu [*25]
Police: Man beaten with high-heel at Georgia Waffle House on Valentine’s Day [*26] — Speaking of surreality . . .

SECTION THREE: Politics: The neverending battle against blithering idiocy:
IT’S A TRAP! The Blair House Project–Obama’s Plot To Sucker-Punch the Republicans and all of America–AGAIN:

People doing potentially good things (including sightings of politicians doing something less than totally idiotic):
Republican Revivification [*27] — In order to reboot America, we first have to reboot at least one of the major political parties . . . preferably both, but you take what you can get . . .
Glenn Beck Gives To “Hippie” Charities, And Other Things You’ll Learn This Weekend [*28] — Essential to really understanding Glenn Beck is that he does things specifically intended to mess with people’s heads and by “mess” I mean “f*ck” . . .
A No-Cost Stimulus That Can Create Real Jobs for the American People [*29]
Palin Populism [*30]
Politics: Proles Have Gotten Under the Egalitarians’ Skin [*31]
Rejuvenated conservatives see good times ahead [*32]
Anti-Gay CPAC Speaker Booed Off The Stage [*33]
Video: CPAC boos speaker for condemning invite to gay conservative group [*34]
The Day Everything Changed

The cure for blithering idiocy: freedom and individual liberty (yeah, I know–ooh, ick, philosophy!):
Scientism [*35]
The System Isn’t Broken: Partisanship is par for the course [*36]
Limiting Leviathan: The States’ Role in Protecting Liberty [*37]
Does Justice Scalia Think the Second Amendment Applies Only to the Federal Government? [*38]

The reality of President Obama and his entire Administration as blithering idiots:
The Cure Is the Same as the Disease: How Convenient! [*39]
Opposite Day Obama [*40]
Mission Accomplished? [*41]
Las Vegas Mayor Fights Back and Snubs Obama [*42]
Krauthammer: Obama Failed Because The System Worked [*43]
61% in US Want Government Out of Housing Business — Obama Blows Another $1.5 Billion on Housing Business [*44]
White House Offered Joe Sestak High-Profile Administration Job — Possibly Even Secretary of the Navy — If He’d Drop Out of Primary and Let Specter Run Unopposed [*45]
Eric Holder: Okay, So Maybe Nine Justice Department Political Appointees Previously Worked for Terrorist Clients… And Your Point Is…?

The reality of Washington Democrats (and Independents, and Socialists) as blithering idiots:
Hm. Nothing today? Remarkable!

The reality of Washington Republicans as blithering idiots:
Hm. Nothing today? Remarkable!

Other blithering idiots at large making life difficult for regular folks:
Healthcare Protestors Wield Pitchforks, Torches in CT [*46]
George Will: *sigh* [*47]
Atomic Welfare [*48]

Opposition Research: because blithering idiocy can be dangerous, especially when organized into idiotic groups with idiotic ideologies:
Brain-Dead in Berkeley [*49]
Aren’t We Supposed to Win? [*50] — Oh, my, no. “From each according to their ability . . .”
Follow the Leader [*51] — Sometimes, a crazed, desperate psychopath is just a crazed, desperate psychopath . . .
What Does ‘Racial Socialism’ Sound Like to You? [*52] — That sounds a bit . . . um . . . German, don’t you think? And guess who the Juden are this time? “First they came for the bankers, and I was silent . . .”
Is Think Progress Capable of Publishing the Truth? [*53] — Well, no . . . Soros-funded web sites like Think Progress, MoveOn, Media Matters and the like are propaganda outlets–they have absolutely no interest in the truth . . . they have their agenda, and that’s what they’re going to push, come hell or high water . . . IMHO of course . . .
They Are Popping The Corks At The DNC! The Economy Is Growing!! [*54]
The Dems’ dependency agenda [*55]

The Keith Olbermann Memorial “Special Comment” on blithering idiots in the Media:
NY Democrats seek to avoid Massachusetts debacle [*56] — A better headline would have been “NY Democrats in disarray” but that would have been objective of Reuters . . . can’t have that, when there are Democrat seats at stake . . .
It’s all the Tea Party’s fault [*57]
Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey Responds To Olbermann: Where Are The People of Color? [*58]
Andrew Breitbart Slams Failed MSNBC Host Rachel Maddow (Video) [*59]
WaPo columnist: I stand by what I said about that insane pilot and some tea partiers [*60]
Breitbart to NY Times Reporter for Alleging Racial Tones at CPAC: ‘You’re a Despicable Human Being’[*61]
Breitbart to NYT reporter at CPAC: “You’re a despicable human being” [*62]
How dare these uppity people show up at Tea parties! [*63]
Daily Gut: People Died, WaPo Lied [*64]
What MSM Won’t Tell You: Doctors Are Challenging Government Health Care-and the AMA [*65] — I know that our primary care physician is pretty well terrified of what they’re trying to do to health care in this country–see The Word above . . .

SECTION FOUR: Case Studies in Blithering Idiocy
“Global warming” aka “Climate change” — or should that be “Climate Reform?”:
Caveats Regarding Dr. Phil Jones’ Phenological Arguments for Global Warming [*66]
“Global Warming” – More Like a Snow Job [*67] — The ‘Cuda weighs in . . .
North American snow models miss the mark – observed trend opposite of the predictions [*68]
Lindzen on climate science advocacy and modeling – “at this point, the models seem to be failing” [*69]

Health care “reform” aka health insurance “reform” — or should that be health care “change?” Perhaps “Global healthing?:
Why the Healthcare Overhaul Is Almost Surely Unconstitutional [*70] — But since much of what the Federal Government currently does is quite arguably unconstitutional, why should they stop now?
Obamacare Bends the Cost Curve Up: Here Is How to Bend It Down [*71]
Obama & Dems to Ram Through Unpopular Health Care Bill With 51 Votes [*72]
Reconciliation, the public option, and Demcare revival [*73]
Health Care Nuclear Option – Liberals Ready to Launch[*74]
A Taste of Health Care Reform [*75]
Hype of Global Warming Far Scarier Than Science Shows

The Economy (Can the blithering idiots bring down the most productive economy the world has ever seen? Yes, They Can! Will they?):
Euro falls below 9-month lows at $1.3493 [*76]
A Perfect Storm of Ignorance [*77] — How the housing bubble (and subsequent crash) really happened . . .

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?):
An Attack on Israel is an Attack on Canada? [*78]
Flip-flop diplomacy with the Dalai Lama [*79]
Team Obama Will Give “Operation Iraqi Freedom” a New Name… But It Won’t Be “Victory” [*80]
Once in a Blue Moon [*81]

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?)

Contributed by: filbert Friday, February 19 2010 @ 07:08 AM CST

From The Road To Serfdom, by F. A. Hayek, 1944, Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1994, The University of Chicago Press.

Where, as in the case of sickness and accident, neither the desire to avoid such calamities nor the efforts to overcome their consequences are as a rule weakened by the provision of assistance–where, in short, we deal with genuinely insurable risks–the case for the state’s helping to organize a comprehensive system of social insurance is very strong. There are many points of detail where those wishing to preserve the competitive system and those wishing to supercede it by something different will disagree on the details of such schemes; and it is possible under the name of social insurance to introduce measures which tend to make competition more or less ineffective.

Excerpted under Fair Use for purposes of non-commercial education, discussion and comment. Any transcription or typographical errors are mine.

Contributed by: filbert Friday, February 19 2010 @ 05:31 AM CST

SECTION ONE: The Word:
Today, a number of not-totally-random comments:

It is NOT a virtue to be generous with other people’s money.

Glenn Beck has somehow, against all odds, transformed himself into that college professor that everybody in the freshman class wants to take a class from, because he’s that rare combination of informative and entertaining. In my case, that college course was “Marriage And Society,” taught by the guy who eventually became the president of the university. Everybody took that course. I’m just saying . . .

The element of Tea-Partyness that I most closely align with is the Counterattack Of The Libertarians. Thank you very much. SECTION TWO: Things That Amuse Me:
Simians and other aminals*:
Giant Panda Genome Reveals New Insights Into the Bear’s Bamboo Diet [*1]
Cuban officials kick off mule census as they tackle shortage of pack animals [*2]
Atlanta police capture zebra after escape from circus and downtown chase that ends on highway [*3]
Dolphin Cognitive Abilities Raise Ethical Questions, Says Emory Neuroscientist[*4]
*Yes, I know it’s “animals,” it’s just that I always found the childhood mispronunciation really, really cute . . .

Travel:
American Airlines to charge $50 for coach standby [*5]
Qantas drops first-class seating on ‘all but a few routes’ [*6]
Winter Cruising In The Med: Chilly But No Crowds [*7]
British Airways Rolls Out Its Updated First Class [*8]
Add ‘pilot’ to list of jobs that aren’t so great now [*9]
Your Flight to Cancun is Canceled. You’re Welcome. [*10]
United flight lands in Utah after bomb threat [*11]

Sports:
No. 20 Tennessee beats Georgia 69-60[*12]
Royals notebook: Greinke skips workout after having two teeth pulled[*13]
SDSU women face big tests this weekend[*14]
Dept. Of Awful Timing: Unfortunate Luge Ad In Globe And Mail [*15] — Oh. Wow.
Jackrabbit men fall short at Oakland [*16]

Science Fiction and Writing:
SF Fanatic: Current Science Fiction On Television [*17] — Or: Why do all the current sci-fi shows on TV suck so bad?

Science, technology, and space:
Virus has breached 75,000 computers: study [*18]
Hello, it’s m…click…Cell phone troubles jump[*19]
New drug class offers hope against “superbugs” [*20]

Straight News–Stuff sufficiently serious to deserve a serious treatment:
Freed American missionaries fly out of Haiti [*21]
Plane Crashes Into Building Next to FBI Offices in Austin, Texas (Video) …Update: Pilot Identified as Joseph Andrew Stack …Update: A Marxist Nut [*22]

Miscellany (amusing things not fitting above, or below):
KC On List Of 20 Most Miserable Cities [*23] — Fortunately, I live in the suburbs . . .
Americans are ‘most attractive’ people in the world, poll finds [*24] — Yeah. We’re hot. I’m not sure what Wales is doing at #13, though.
Cleveland deemed most miserable city in USA [*25]
Intermittent explosive disorder [*26] — Posted because they were talking about it on Red Eye and no, it has nothing to do with excretory functions . . .

SECTION THREE: Politics: The neverending battle against blithering idiocy:
Renewing the American Experiment–Tea Parties and Others:
The Re-Establishment of America [*27]
What Congress May Look Like in Three Years [*28]
An inconvenient question about the Mount Vernon Statement [*29] — We need to find the “lowest common denominator” of the majority right coalition–that’s Constitutional, fiscally responsible government that maximizes the individual freedom and liberty of each and every American citizen. Period. That’s what the collectivists don’t want the discussion to be about–they want it to be about abortion, guns, race, gay rights–ANYTHING but what’s really important.
Mutual Loathing Society [*30] — We’ll mark George Will down as “Not A Palin Fan” then . . .
VIDEO Exclusive: Marco Rubio at CPAC[*31]
Tea Party Leader on Third Parties: We Must Hang Together or We Will Surely Hang Apart [*32]
Rubio to tea partiers: The GOP should be your home [*33]

People doing potentially good things (including sightings of politicians doing something less than totally idiotic):
Yes, they ARE missing Dubya! Shopping web site reports spike in sales of Bush items[*34]
The “Constitutional Conservative” Manifesto [*35]
Conservatism, for Party Over Country [*36]
Sarah Palin then and now [*37]
with “respect” to certain definitions of “traditional values”[*38]
PPP poll: Romney now biggest threat to Obama head to head [*39]

The cure for blithering idiocy: freedom and individual liberty (yeah, I know–ooh, ick, philosophy!):
Greenspan the Libertarian [*40]
Coercion vs. Freedom [*41]
Education Is Too Important for a Government Monopoly: It’s time to let parents choose[*42]
Priceless is worthless: in health care, education, or bonds, the price is (metaphysically) right. [*43]
Arnold Kling on the Pseudo-Science of Macroeconometrics [*44]
We Are All Ignorant [*45] — Too harsh? How about “None of us is omniscient?”

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):
Figures. Michelle Obama Stocked White House Library with Books on Socialism [*46]
Democrat Caddell rips White House for obeisance to organized labor [*47]
President Incompetent [*48]
The Real Reason for Obama’s Unpopularity: Every honeymoon ends [*49] — Yeah, maybe, but why are more people more angry than any time in my adult life (and that includes the years of Bush Derangement Syndrome)?
Obama, The Director [*50]
Homeland Security reports losing guns [*51]
One Year Ago I Saved The Economy [*52]
Meet Captain Obvious: Joe Biden [*53]
The Odd Couple: 5 unfortunate similarities between Bush and Obama [*54]
What could President Barack Obama’s deficit commission do to have a strong effect on policy-makers? [*55]
Nice. Obama Meets With Dalai Lama; Makes Him Leave Through Garbage Exit [*56]

The reality of Washington Democrats (and Independents, and Socialists) as blithering idiots:
Charles Krauthammer: Mussolini Could Beat Senator Blanche Lincoln Right Now [*57] — Well, the reincarnation of Mussolini won the Presidency in 2008, so what’s new?
The New Party of “No” [*58]
One Week After Passing, Congress Set to Break PAYGO [*59]
Dems Lash Out at GOP For Taking Spendulus Cash Despite Fact That Dem Districts Were Gifted Twice As Much Stimulus As GOP Districts [*60]

IT’S A TRAP! The Blair House Project–Obama’s Plot To Sucker-Punch the Republicans and all of America–AGAIN:
Republican holds out hope on health care overhaul[*61]

The reality of Washington Republicans as blithering idiots:
Orrin Hatch: How Not To Engage The Tea Party Movement [*62]

Other blithering idiots at large making life difficult for regular folks:
King Had a Dream, but Blacks Now Face a Nightmare [*63] — Urban blacks have been lied to for so long that many of them no longer even recognize truth any more . . .
Take a Pass on Trains: Committing to Rail Plans Would Cost Too Much [*64]
The Trillion Dollar Gap: Underfunded State Retirement Systems and the Road to Reform [*65]
Latest Lefty Meme: Sarah Palin is… an Elitist [*66]
FDA staff say agency may need new device powers [*67] — FDA Super Regulatory Powers–ACTIVATE!!!
Obama for the Supreme Court? [*68]

Opposition Research: because blithering idiocy can be dangerous, especially when organized into idiotic groups with idiotic ideologies:
Sharing political views can muddy workplace relations [*69] — Especially if you’re not a collectivist . . .
How the Left Reveals Itself [*70]
Where Did Our Real Wealth Go? [*71]
Sarah Palin: The Horror Movie [*72] — “History shows that the boogeymen presented by the left against conservatives are always flights of fancy.”
The most convoluted Tea Party=RAAACIST smear ever [*73]
Government Against Capitalists [*74]
Great Myths of the Great Depression [*75]
And Away They Go! Leftwing Media Attempting to Paint Communist Crank as “Tea Partier” [*76]
PolitiFact Declares Century-Long Economics Debate Over [*77]
Question: Has the Democrats’ Civil War already begun? [*78]

The Keith Olbermann Memorial “Special Comment” on blithering idiots in the Media:
Hollywood Elitist Maher: Americans Not Bright Enough to Understand the Issues (Video) [*79]
CORRECTED: Obama team raises pressure on health insurers [*80] — Correcting Obama’s BS number of uninsured with another BS number of uninsured . . . it is NOT a virtue to be generous with other people’s money . . .
When Lib Reporters Attack… Far Left Crank Charles Jaco Shoves Blogger After Confrontation about “Teabagging” (Video) [*81]
Does Virtually All White NBC Bother Keith Olbermann Enough to Resign? [*82]
Dramatic Olbermann vs. Dramatic Chipmunk [*83]
This Might be Scandalous If Anyone Watched CNN [*84]
CNN Sinking – Another Fifth Place Finish In Prime Time Demo [*85] — The big problem for CNN is, of course, there are only four general news networks . . . they finished behind even CNBC–a business news network . . .
Media shocked by totally predictable “unexpected” rise in jobless claims [*86]
Correction: Biden-Stimulus story [*87]

SECTION FOUR: Case Studies in Blithering Idiocy
“Global warming” aka “Climate change” — or should that be “Climate Reform?”:
Gore on the Arctic (again) [*88]
Bill Gates, Environmental Kook [*89]
Blame it on Asia, yeah that’s the ticket [*90]
U.N. Climate Chief Resigns [*91]
Why Is Winter Snow Extent Interesting? [*92]
The Science Behind Global Warming Not So “Irrefutable” [*93]

Health care “reform” aka health insurance “reform” — or should that be health care “change?” Perhaps “Global healthing?:
Changing the Healthcare Paradigm: A Physician And Patient Centered Approach [*94]
Reconciliation and Obamacare A “Bad Mix” [*95]
Marginal Cost, Health Care, and the “Public Option” [*96]

The Economy (Can the blithering idiots bring down the most productive economy the world has ever seen? Yes, They Can! Will they?):
One Year of Failed Policies- One Year of the the $862 Billion Stimulus Bill [*97]
Democrats: Republicans are stimulus hypocrites, or something [*98]
Final Thoughts [*99] — on Taxation. It is NOT a virtue to be generous with other people’s money.
The Case for the Stimulus: Oodles and Oodles of Jobs Saved, Created [*100] — Government spending does not create jobs. It merely shifts them from the private sector to the public sector, where they become immune to market discipline–until the whole thing comes tumbling down, that is.
Defending the stimulus — the administration wastes its breath [*101]
Federal Reserve expects high U.S. jobless rate for two years[*102]
Planning to Fail [*103]
Even in Tough Economy, It’s Still Possible to Retire a Millionaire [*104]
Slower wage growth expected [*105]
Top earners averaged $345 million in 2007, IRS says [*106] — So, if we take ALL of their income in taxes, that comes out to $138 billion dollars. Obama’s proposed budget will spend that amount of money in not quite two weeks. Where do you think Obama will go to get money for the other 50 weeks of the year?
The trillion-dollar government pension bubble [*107] — We Are So Screwed. And we did it to ourselves.
Jobless claims rise unexpectedly [*108]
Jobless Claims Rise Unexpectedly [*109] — So, I guess it was unexpected, huh?
The Uncertainty Factor[*110]
Scary economic forecast prediction of the day [*111]
International Monetary Fund to sell another 191 tons of gold [*112]
Fed raises discount rate[*113]
The Sweet Smell of Inflation, or, Never Trust Anybody Who Says “Nascent” [*114]

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?):
Quarterback wannabe sent in to punt [*115]
No More Mr. Nice Guy [*116] — “IRAN: Khamenei delivers fiery message, without hint of compromise, to Obama administration”
Willful blindness: The return [*117]
IAEA fears Iran may be working to make nuclear bomb[*118] — So, Captain Obvious is now the chair of the IAEA?
U.N. agency fears Iran may be working on nuclear warhead [*119]

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?)