Contributed by: filbert Wednesday, June 02 2010 @ 03:10 PM CST
There are three things in the video that deserve special emphasis. First, bureaucrats are vastly overpaid. The government data cited in the video show that total compensation for the federal civil service is twice as high, on average, as it is for workers in the productive sector of the economy.
The bureaucratic meritocracy was the single identifying trait of Imperial China. And that eventually resulted in Mao Tse Tung, who killed more people than perhaps anyone else in history. From Wikipedia:[*2] “Mao played a personal role in organizing the mass repressions and established a system of execution quotas, which were often exceeded. Nevertheless he defended these killings as necessary for the securing of power.”
Bureaucracies are dangerous. Is this a reach? Well, consider that the same Wikipedia article refers to Mao as a “radical activist.” How large a leap is it to that from “community organizer?”
Oh. I’ve done it now.
Anita Dunn[*3] would be proud, I’m sure.
Or perhaps New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.[*4] The Worker’s Paradise is closer to you than you may think. South Korea probes war rumours ahead of elections [*5]
The Terror Finance Flotilla: The convoy of ships allegedly trying to bring aid to the Gaza Strip was organized by a group belonging to an officially designated terrorist organization. [*6] — As Michael Totten notes: Raise your hand if you’re surprised. [*7]
It’s a bee market! Worker bees swarm Wall Street on day when most traders have off [*8]
Another Ship Headed To Gaza; Israel Says It’s Ready [*9]
The Consolations of Philosophy [*10]
any moderately well informed individual knows that there is no Islamic extremism, nor even terrorism. There are only man made disasters. Everybody knows that we can borrow our way out of debt, that the welfare state is the sustainable wave of the future; that Egypt has no border with Gaza through which it can provide supplies if it wanted; that the UN has kept Hezbollah from importing hundreds of missiles into Lebanon; that the thought of a handful of Jews has kept hundreds of millions of oil-rich Muslims from attaining prosperity; and that Global Warming is the main danger facing the planet Earth. That these assertions are untrue hardly matters; that they are indisputable is what seems to count. For who shall dispute them?
Reality might. And therein lies the problem.
Here’s what is going to happen with one hundred percent certainty. All of these lies will explode with considerable force in the faces of political establishment. Nothing can prevent it. Just as reality eventually exposed the hollowness of the financial bubble and showed that nothing was “too big to fail,” eventually it will demonstrate to our extreme cost, that no lie can be maintained forever. That is the real reason anyone should really care about what happened on the “peace flotilla.” We are as corrupt as a preacher in a whorehouse. It ain’t what we don’t know that will hurt us, it’s what we know that ain’t so that will drive the dagger into our hearts.
Reality does have this annoying habit of whacking people upside the head when they start ignoring it too much. It’s not the fall that kills you, it’s that sudden stop at the bottom of the cliff.
MediaMatters Shoots Itself In The Foot Over Palin’s Fence? [*11] — “Media Matters,” meet reality.
Go to the doctor, lose the copyright to your writings [*12] — umm, yeah. That will work. Sure.
What Happened in the Mediterranean [*13] — Just in case you’re interested in, you know, the truth. If you think that matters.
Undercover Census Fraud Investigation – New Jersey [*14]
Exposing corruption requires standing up to power, because power hates sunlight. We should have known they would try and ruin the reputations of those who try and expose them.
Google phases out Microsoft Windows use: report [*15]
Web search group Google Inc is phasing out internal use of rival Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system because of security concerns following a Chinese hacking incident, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Tuesday Tidbits [*16]
Who is Ayn Rand? [*17]
11) What was the genesis of “Robot Theater?” It’s brilliant and the graphics rule. You should totally sue James Cameron. “Avatar” ripped off what is clearly “Red Eye” proprietary software.
If you go to the website, xtranormal.com, you can make them yourself. We do not create the graphics — we just write the scripts and pick the settings. Robot Theater came around as a fun way to poke fun of Media Matters chuckleheads, purely by confusing them. And it worked beautifully. We write that stuff in five minutes, while Media Matters spends days crafting press releases decrying and condemning thirty seconds from “Fox and Friends.” Compare jobs, and you see how miserable they must feel. Imagine spending your life criticizing an entity that simply works really hard every day. I think I would go mad, or at least grow a really funny beard.
Gutfield is the funniest man on TV today. Your Wellington has arrived, J. Stewart Napoleon . . . (and don’t get me started on the atrociously abysmal “Colbert” . . .)
Ship of fools [*19]
The fools are on dry land, as can be deduced from the ship-of-fools quality to the response to Israel’s encounter with the flotilla.
“Flotilla” is a term used most usually for a detachment of warships. Remember that. The “activists” used that word for a very specific reason. This was not a peace mission. It was an act of war. Do not be confused by the rhetoric and spin from the wailing chorus.
Obama: Bad For America, Great For Ayn Rand [*20]
One Important Reason Why We Are Out of Money [*21]
Spain’s Dropout Generation [*22] — Spain’s youth, enjoying the rushing of air through their hair and by their ears as they plummet towards the bottom of the cliff from which they’ve jumped. “No, really, ‘social democracy’ is right and fair and good!'”
The People Who Borrow [*23] — Hey, let’s ALL jump off the cliff! The people who decide not to will make sure everything comes out OK!
Idiots. The problem is that they’re pushing the rest of us off the cliff with them.
Obama WH now distancing itself from BP response efforts [*25]
Churchill’s Revenge [*26]
New System Using Bacterial Communities to Solve Complex Problems [*27]
Media Watchdogs Ask FCC to Track Internet Hate Speech [*28] — Damn, I hate this.
Oops.
Pelosi the Horrible: “The Word” Guides My Radical Leftist Policy Decisions (Video)[*29] — Apparently she missed the part about not coveting anything that is your neighbor’s . . .
The Marmara incident in perspective [*30]
Governor Palin Urges Governor Jindal to Ignore Obama Administration Red Tape [*31]
Change! Democrats now report higher “debt stress” levels than Republicans [*32] — Hey, what exactly is that big thing that seems to be rushing towards me?
Census Workers Blow Whistle on Hiring Fraud [*33]
Bringing a knife to a gunfight [*34]
Israeli Soldier Describes Attack By ‘Peace Activists’: “They Wanted to Kill Us… Each One With a Knife In His Hand” [*35] — It seems to me an understandable response Israel could make at this point would be to re-occupy Gaza and destroy Hamas utterly.
Sestak Job Offer Violated Federal Law? [*36]
ABC’s George Stephanopoulos: A Profile in Media Courage [*37]
Obama to Support Israel on Gaza Blockade? [*38]
McGinniss: Beware the power of the fully operational Palin machine [*39] — Oh, noes! The mean people that I’m stalking are being mean to me! The horror!
Debating the 17th Amendment [*40] — Meanwhile, back among the adults of this country . . .
Associated Press: Bias? What Bias? [*41]
Supreme Court: Suspects have to explicitly invoke right to remain silent [*42] — My kneejerk reaction: this is a dangerous decision. Rights simply exist. They exist regardless of whether or not they are “invoked.” I would have to look at the actual facts of the case—if the defendant was not merely informed of his rights but asked “do you understand your rights? Do waive your rights?” this would solve the whole problem in a reasonable and equitable way. Any answers other than “No; Yes” mean that the police “interview” is over, and any further questioning is unconstitutional harassment. When in doubt, I go to the Volokh Conspiracy[*43] lawblog web site. Sadly, nothing there yet, as of 10:10 am CDT.
Interesting New Force Postulated in Physics: Destiny [*44] — This is what happens when science detaches itself from the reality of experimental verification of hypotheses . . .
Obama, Then, When He Thought Top Kill Worked: I Own This–Obama, Now, When Top Kill Has Failed: BP Owns This[*45] — Present!
Is It Any Wonder Why We Call Them “Lame”? [*46]
Neighborhood Busybody vs. the Handicapped
Turkish FM on flotilla: This is, like, our 9/11 or something [*47]
Squirrels Show Softer Side by Adopting Orphans, Study Finds [*48]
Uncovering the Mystery of a Major Threat to Wheat [*49]
Oh baby! Wildlife officials discover abandoned weeks-old elk left on doorstep of Oregon office [*50]
TV Food Advertisements Promote Imbalanced Diets, Study Finds [*51] — In other news, TV Newscasts promote fair, unbiased understanding of national and world events. Snort. TV is all about selling things–food, ideas–few of which are actually good for you.
Neanderthals walk into frozen Britain 40, 000 years earlier than first thought [*52]
The Mavi Marmara Incident on Film [*53]
Just try to tell me these thugs are “peace activists.” Just try. “Peace activists” don’t attack commandos as soon as they reach the bottom of a rappel line, like these thugs did.
Royal Society to Re-evaluate Position on Global Warming [*54]
Preserving Liberty: The Nation’s Greatest and Most Basic Purpose [*55]
Second Half of the ‘W’? [*56] — NOT about the previous President.
Old and busted: Paying your mortgage. New hotness: Living in foreclosure without paying anything. [*57]
Evidently He Watched the Video [*58]
Gallup: GOP Now Has Biggest Lead Over Democrats on Generic Congressional Ballot in History [*59]
Two Americas [*60]
SHOCKER: Tipper to divorce ManBearPig [*61] — Mentioned only in passing.
Chocolate may cut cholesterol but only in some people: study [*62]
How the Pauls (Ron and Rand) Are Reshaping Politics [*63]
A “Fiasco” in the post-modern sense [*64]
Royals end three-game skid with 6-3 victory over Angels [*65]
Science in science fiction, or how realistic should and can we be? [*66]
Schedule Stuff [*67] — SDSU women’s basketball, that is . . .
The Grand Jihad: A word from the author [*68]
Undercover Census Fraud Investigation: Louisiana [*69]
“Peace Activists” on Gaza Flotilla Threw Stun Grenades – Beat Israeli Soldiers With Chains (Video) [*71]
Was Robert A. Heinlein a Libertarian? [*72] — not exactly . . .
Theodore Roosevelt and the Modern Presidency [*73]
12 Charts That Show The REAL State Of Unemployment In America [*74] — Or: We Are So Screwed.
Iomega Unveils Two New Mac-friendly, FireWire-Equipped Portable HDDs [*75]
Flotilla fallout – more thoughts [*76]
Gallup: GOP takes six-point lead in generic Congressional ballot [*77]
AT&T to end unlimited use mobile data plan [*78]
Russia says terrorists seeking nuclear materials [*79] — “And we might be willing to deal,” Russia continued.
Man who abandoned party, refused refunds suddenly very lonely guy; Update: Crist ally arrested [*80]
Obamacare: It’s Totally Going To Work! Trust Us! [*81]
Billionaire Entrepreneur Complains of Regime Uncertainty [*82]
Caffeine addicts get no real perk from morning cup [*83]
U.S. offers jobs grant to Florida space workers [*84] — An emergency grant. An EMERGENCY grant. What the hell is the emergency? It’s not as if people haven’t seen this coming for a long, long time . . .
Obama down to 46% in Gallup weekly poll [*85]
Outside the Beltway: Head Start Fraud [*86] — Government program; Doesn’t work; Rife with fraud. Head Start hits the trifecta.
Obama’s ‘Chicago Way’ plunders the private sector[*87]
One prime assumption of the Chicago Way is that there will always be a bounteous private sector that politicians can plunder endlessly.
When You Say Bud, You Have Not Said it All, Thank You Very Much [*88]