Things have piled up over the past couple of days while we’ve been out playing. Here’s some of the stuff:
Morning Bell: Can We Avoid Becoming Europe?[*1] — You really need to read and understand the following paragraph before you continue to support Obama and the Democrat’s century-old progressive New Deal agenda:
The Washington Post reported on its front page that the bailout of Greece was forcing “European governments [to] rewrite a post-World War II social contract that has been generous to workers and retirees but has become increasingly unaffordable for an aging population.” And a New York Times headline blared In Greek Debt Crisis, Some See Parallels to U.S. with David Leonhardt reporting: “The numbers on our federal debt are becoming frighteningly familiar. The debt is projected to equal 140 percent of gross domestic product within two decades. Add in the budget troubles of state governments, and the true shortfall grows even larger. Greece’s debt, by comparison, equals about 115 percent of its G.D.P. today.”
The New Deal never made economic sense. It was a huge, elaborate, complicated Ponzi scheme. The Great Society just added another layer to it. Now, all the Democrats in Washington are really doing is just putting a new coat of paint over the same wrong-headed, failed policies that they’ve been pushing since before the Woodrow Wilson Presidency. That’s why Biden called it a “Big *censored*ing Deal” — his words, not mine. It is an apt name for this final chapter in the “New Deal.” The end is near for collectivist “progressivism.” The question is: what will come next? Freedom? Or fascism with a “caring face?”
Pattern of Death [*2] — . . . is what happens when you “empower individuals” and “promote tolerance of diversity” but simultaneously remove the individual’s right and ability for self-defense, while at the same time encouraging—no—demanding that certain groups engage in protected outrageous behavior to address some hypothetical past grievance. That is a bad foundation for a civil society. You can be for tolerance, OR you can be for leveling the playing field/evening the score/redressing past wrongs/making things come out fairly for everyone/equality of outcome. You can’t do both. Not possible. Human nature won’t permit it. The two are utterly incompatible moral goals. Advocating “fairness” is the polar opposite of advocating “tolerance” because what you are tolerating is precisely the unfair distribution of human knowledge, ideas, ability, industry, and property.
“An armed society is a polite society” is a much firmer foundation for a civil and stable society. There is little terrorism in Switzerland, home of one of the most heavily armed populaces on Earth.
Time Is Not On ObamaCare’s Side [*3] — It won’t get better. It will only get worse. More onerous. More expensive. More oppressive. Enjoy your dwindling freedom while it lasts. The 2010 election is your last chance to avoid the European Disease of “progressivism.” If the Democrats are not decisively turned back in November, we will continue our descent from the extraordinary American Experiment with individual freedom and liberty into the cold, gray, drab world of common, stifling social democracy. Or worse.
Half of Russians believe bribery solves “problems” [*4] — Watch for similar headlines in the next year or two from America, if the 2010 elections go badly for lovers of freedom. When power and money flow into the state, corruption is the natural and inevitable result. Corruption is why the third world remains The Third World. Corruption is why Russia will always be Russia. When bribery becomes commonplace, freedom cannot survive. From the Lone Star to Wasilla, With Love: The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You! [*5] — You’ll just have to click on the link to find out what this one’s about . . .
Breaking: Gordon Brown Resigns [*6]
Mohammad Cartoonist Lars Vilks Headbutted During Lecture [*7] — Which, if you think about it, really isn’t terribly polite. Or, dare I say . . . tolerant. Or culturally sensitive. Or engendering the paramount value of DIVERSITY. Don’t you think so?
Conservative Cameron becomes British prime minister [*8]
Cruise Ship Delayed in U.K.: What Was Found During Inspection? [*9]
Millenials Not Yet Old Enough to Know Not to Trust Their Creepy Uncle [*10] — Especially creepy uncles named Sam, who promise to take care of all of your problems–all you have to do is drink that nice tasty fruity glass of rufies-laden Red Bull . . . oh, and go ahead and hand over all of your clothes and lay down on that nice comfortable bed there, and slip on those silk and velvet restraints on your ankles and wrists . . . no, it’s all right, Uncle Sam would never, ever hurt you–that is, unless it was for your own good . . .
Governor Palin’s New Book, “America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag” Out November 23rd [*11]
Regaining My Religion: The Rise of the Cult of Obama[*12] — And, weirdly, somehow related:
How Science Fiction Found Religion [*13]
Rasmussen: Palin’s favorable rating now negative in … Alaska [*14]
Wedding Bells For Limbaugh [*15]
Diversity, Liberal style, Part Two [*16] — “Yesterday, I noted that If Elena Kagan is confirmed, all three of the Supreme Court’s female Justices will be from New York city. A reader adds that all three will also be former summer associates at the New York city law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.”
Small world, ain’t it?
A.D. Currie says K-State ready for whatever happens with conference realignment [*17]
Tone deaf or just plain stupid? You decide. Church installs registered sex offender to oversee youth and children [*18]
Kos: money doesn’t matter anymore [*19]
America by Heart at #12,400 on Amazon bestsellers list within 12 hours of being announced – UPDATE: make that #1,319 UPDATE 2: #244 and rising – fast[*20]
New interchange could drive growth: Work under way on I-90’s Marion Road exit [*21] — Sioux Falls, still growing . . .
Approval for arena to house Cornhusker basketball [*22]
Microsoft updates Office, vies online with Google [*23]
Don’t leave it to Cleaver, part 17 [*24] — “I’m out mowing my lawn” is the male equivalent of the female “I’m washing my hair.” It means “I don’t want to talk to you but am too pathetically passive-aggressive to actually come out and say so.” McClatchy Newspapers would not be able to recover from this reporting debacle, if there was any justice in this ol’ world.
Project to demolish 450 houses starts in Detroit [*25] — And so, the New Deal and the Great Society enters their final phase–the Big F’ing Deal, where we start tearing down all of the good things that America has built.
Doing The Conservative Thing [*26] — Prohibition didn’t work in the 1920’s. What makes us think it will work any better now?
Why Hollywood Will Lose the Culture War [*27]
Help Wanted! Reader Advice For Luxury Family Cruiser [*28]
Now It Can Be Told: CBO Says Health Care Will Cost $115 Billion More Than They Originally Estimated [*29]
Senate unanimously passes Fed audit bill [*30]
The Evil of Economic Nationalism [*31]
This Is Your Country on Drugs [*32]
Rant: Science Fiction isn’t just dying it has crumbled to dust. Where is the new blood? [*33]
Kevin Drum’s Strangely Incomplete List [*34] — “Kevin Drum wonders:[*35] why has the media has been kinder to Obama than to Reagan in covering unemployment? Really, I think he is serious . . .”
Just remember, there is no media bias. You must believe the mass media. The mass media is your friend. They will tell you everything you need to know, and will not tell you things that you do not need to know. There Is No Bias.
By no means unlikely: C.J. Cherryh’s Inheritor [*36]
What’s with all the depressing stories? [*37] — Personally, I blame Bush . . .
Now We Know… Obamacare Includes 3.8% Tax On Home Sales For All Americans …Update: Maybe Not [*38] — Well, it’s not ALL home sales. That’s OK, then . . .
How To Be Poor [*39] — Thanks to our beneficient Government, we’re all well on the road to poverty. Thanks, Barry, Nancy, Harry, and all of you who voted Democrat in 2008! See you in the soup kitchen lines, the clinic lines, the bank lines, the . . .
Making the improbably seem familiar — a system of points [*40] — Credibility points . . . in writing speculative fiction . . .
Reality Check [*41] — “Dr. Housing Bubble[*42] is looking at the state of the real estate market. It is not good. Not good at all.”
Governor Palin in Chicago: “You Win By Letting the Middle Move to You” [*43]
Barack Obama Says that Europe Is a Country [*44] — Our President may be clever and glib, but he is not particularly intelligent, I’m afraid . . .
His Dark Materials & The Assault on Sociopathic Organizations [*45]
Eric Cantor Announces “You Cut” Website… Now You Can Choose What Programs to Cut [*46]
Original Content: World-Building in a Hot Climate, by Anil Menon [*47]
Sure, It’s Among The More Primitive Large-scale Bonding Events [*48]
Turning Voter Anger into a Republican Mandate [*49] — “Anger does not equal a mandate.”
How To Access Hidden Firefox Preferences [MacRx] [*50]
Governor Palin Takes on Highland Park High School’s Arizona Boycott [*51] — School teachers or administrators who play politics with kids’ educations (or extracurricular activities) should be forever barred from any contact with the education industry. Period.
Iowa gaming panel OKs Lyon County casino [*52] — Larchwood, Iowa. Basically, suburban Sioux Falls, SD.
It Was Brawn Over Beauty in Human Mating Competition, Anthropologist Says [*53] — From the article: “”Other animals have antlers or long canines and claws,” said Puts. “Why don’t we have them?”” A question that all of us have pondered at one time or another, I’d wager . . .
Pest munches up China fields after GM crop sprays halt [*54] — Unintended consequences. You never can change just one thing.
First birds were poor flyers [*55]
How Donald Berwick Will Run Your Health Care [*56] — A direct quote from Mr. Berwick: “Any health care funding plan that is just equitable civilized and humane must, must redistribute wealth from the richer among us to the poorer and the less fortunate. Excellent health care is by definition redistributional.”
Oh, yawn. Another Obama neo-socialist, seeking to assuage his own feelings of guilt and inadequacy by being generous with other people’s money. Yawn.
Congress Deserves Better from the CBO [*57]
Kagan’s Sexuality, the Prisoner’s Dilemma, and the Politics of Personal Destruction [*58] — I couldn’t care less who (or to some extent, what) Kagan’s personal carnal pleasures run towards. I do care that I’m afraid she doesn’t think that the Constitution means exactly what it says–no more and no less.
A Most Disturbing Moment of Clarity [*59] — “Following David Horowitz’s talk earlier this month at the University of California, San Diego, was one of the most chilling brief conversations I’ve heard in a while.”
This is what happens when people don’t even understand that what they’re asking for is genocide. Very, very disturbing, as Totten notes.
“We talked about the Citizens United case and she said she thought the court was not sufficiently deferential to Congress.” [*60]
Genes explain why Tibetans thrive in high places [*61]
New way found to boost good cholesterol in mice [*62]
Can We Quit the UN Yet? [*63] — The United Nations has long since ceased to be a force for good in this world . . .
Facebook calls all hands privacy meeting: Competition gets launched/funded quickly [*64] — “The fundamental problem Facebook, and any similar “free” service schemes have, has always been their business model.”
If you really want your privacy, be prepared to pay for it. There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.
Kagan’s thesis on socialism suddenly hot news again [*65] — OMG! The racist homophobic bitter clinging teabaggers are using the “S” word again! Aieeee!!! Of course she was a socialist in college. All Democrats were. Some of them wised up over the years. The rest of us were libertarians in college. We didn’t get invited to their parties then, and we don’t get invited to the developmentally-disabled Democrats’ parties now. We don’t miss it.
Another Libertarian Arrested, Released For Bogus Crime of Filming a Protest [*66] — Oh, yeah, libertarians also get arrested when they photograph Socialists/Authoritarians Behaving Badly–which they do with depressing regularity . . .
Video: Chris Christie destroys reporter for calling him confrontational [*67]
Behind The Scenes: Three Dog Bakery [*68]
Holder admits: No, I haven’t read the Arizona law I’ve been dumping on [*69] — Oh. My. God. This man is Attorney General?
Study: Churchill to be forgotten within 80 years; Update: Video added [*70]
Who’s Cool? [*71]
Players take the blame for Hillman’s fate [*72]
Yost has through the end of the year to make an impression [*73]
The Firing of Trey Hillman [*74]
Why science fiction matters for people who don’t read science fiction [*75]
State universities target $4.4M in program cuts [*76] — South Dakota, again staying ahead of the fiscal curve. Yes, South Dakota. Yes, ahead of the curve.
Jackrabbits catcher ‘doesn’t take days off’ [*77]
SF moribund, my arse. [*78]
Doctor Who : The Comparative Lives of the Doctor [*79]
Responding to Various Outrages [*80]
Voice Of The Fans: Which Book Series Do You Want To End? [*81]
Shuttle Atlantis fueled for its last planned launch [*82]
Wrestling the TMP [*83] — “Too Much Power,” an occupational hazard for characters created by writers and prospective writers of speculative fiction . . .
Lloyd Marcus: Media Demands, ‘Take Us To Your Leader, Sarah Palin!’ [*84]
The Nation: “Elena Kagan should be borked.” [*85]
Kagan Opposes Second Amendment Gun Rights [*86] — Any person who seeks to put restrictions on the rights retained by the people–whether or not those rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and Bill of Rights or otherwise, is not qualified to serve in any capacity in any government in the United States of America. They certainly should not hold a seat on the federal Supreme Court.
Eric Holder Is Irresponsible & Dangerous – Eric Holder Must Step Down [*87]
Soros Funded Think Progress Cries Astroturfing Wolf [*88] — Soros is the master astroturfer . . . creating dozens of phony “grass-roots” organizations, all funded with his borderline-ill-gotten fortune to promote his neo-socialist, “communitarian” ideals.
Going to the Dogs: What Can Shy Dogs Teach Us About Longevity? [*89] — “Through domestication, humans unwittingly initiated an artificial selection experiment on personality. We know that breeders selected individual dogs for reproduction based not only on physical appearance but also on specific behavioral traits — such as activity, aggressiveness, and docility — to shape each breed to a specific task.”
Eurozone Breakup Talk Increases [*90]
Climate Craziness of the Week – New Scientist: The Denial Depot Edition [*91] — Perhaps they should re-name their magazine “The New Pedant.” They’ve certainly left the scientific method (specifically, the requirement to actually test hypotheses against actual observed data) far, far behind . . .
Business prices [*92]
Cap-and-tax: The game plan to make it a reality [*93]
I love this guy [*94] — Another out-of-the-closet man-crush on New Jersey governor Christie . . .
Royals’ Moore says losses required change at manager [*95]
Kansas City Police Pick-Up Bad Drivers at License Check Point [*96] — Because, you know, it’s just too much trouble to actually identify people driving badly and stopping just them . . .
R.I.P. El Niño [*97]
What ‘Structural’ Unemployment Means [*98]
More Militarized Than the Military [*99] — “Most American police SWAT teams probably have fewer restrictions on conducting forced entry raids than do US forces in Afghanistan.”
Ladies and Gentlemen, the unintended consequences of the War on Drugs. Still think prohibition is a good idea? Ask the people who live on Arizona’s border with Mexico about drug prohibition. Much of the illegal immigration pressure is by drug cartels, using illegals as drug-carrying mules. Still think prohibition is a good idea? Legalize and regulate is a better strategy than prohibit and oppress.
Governor Palin’s SBA Speech [*100]
October Through March Was the Snowiest On Record In The Northern Hemisphere [*101] — When all possible evidence, no matter what that evidence may be, “proves” global warming–that is an enormous, flashing neon sign for objective people that the fundamental theory is wrong–or at least inadequate to describe the observed data.
