The Iconic Midwest

A Tale Of Two People

2012-01-19T15:52:00.003-06:00

Person A says, "Corporations are NOT people, and therefore do not have rights!"

Person B says, "Don't you dare violate the free speech rights of Google, YouTube or Wikipedia!"

The irony is, of course, that Person A and Person B are usually the same person.

I Have Zero Enthusiasm For The Republican Primaries

2012-01-15T17:14:00.002-06:00

Can you tell?

Profiles In Courage: Part 344

2011-12-05T19:48:00.005-06:00

I'll always remember the year 2011 as the time brave souls took to the streets and fought for the right to camp illegally whenever and wherever they damn well feel like it.

Power brothers and sisters.

You Heard It Here First (Or Thereabouts)

2011-11-29T15:07:00.003-06:00

Back in July I wrote:

In the aftermath of the Oslo atrocities the usual braying from conservative bashers was to be expected. After all, the chance to score political points in this country usually trumps everything else, up to and including common human decency. Still if one bothered to look at the "manifesto" published online by Anders Breivik (or even a selection of "highlights") one could get a feel for the perpetrator of these heinous acts of barbarism.

My take, for the outset, was that this man was completely delusional....

For myself, it was hard to read [Breivik's manifesto] and not think we are dealing with a situation such as was depicted in the film A Beautiful Mind about the real life struggles of mathematician John Nash. As depicted in the film Dr. Nash in the grips of a terrible mental disorder begins to believe he is part of a secret code breaking operation bent upon unmasking dangerous agents communicating by code in newspapers and magazines. In order to flesh out his "world" Nash's diseased mind invents enemies and friends to populate it.

It seemed pretty obvious reading Breivik's ravings about "Knight Templars" and the like, that we were dealing with something similar here. Breivik seems to actually believe he went to London to be part of a meeting of a new Templar order hellbent on reviving anti-muslim crusades throughout Europe. It also is becoming increasingly clear it was all in his fevered imagination.

Today comes word that my suspicion was correct:

Psychiatrists assessing self-confessed Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik have concluded that he is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.

They believe he was in a psychotic state both during and after the twin attacks on 22 July that led to the deaths of 77 people and injured 151.

Their report must still be reviewed by a panel of forensic psychiatrists.

Breivik will still be tried in April but it seems likely he will be placed in psychiatric care rather than prison.

Breivik admits carrying out the attacks but has pleaded not guilty to charges, arguing that that the attacks were atrocious but necessary for his campaign to defend Europe against a Muslim invasion.

The two psychiatrists who interviewed him on 13 occasions concluded that he lived in his "own delusional universe where all his thoughts and acts are guided by his delusions", prosecutors told reporters.

Seemingly in only people to actually believe in Breivik's delusions were Breivik himself and the lefty side of the blogosphere.

That fact is its own editorial comment.

Damn! I Always Miss My Blogoversary...

2011-11-18T15:58:00.004-06:00

Maybe its because early November is so... early Novemberish, I forgot to make a note of the anniversary of The Iconic Midwest back on the eighth. This one man dog and pony show has been annoying the good citizens of the world for seven years now.

What do you get for seven years worth of whatever the hell it is I'm doing here? Mostly disapproving stares.

I'll take it.

Here is to seven more good years! (Yes, that is a threat.)

Irony, It's Not Just For Breakfast Anymore

2011-11-17T05:48:00.002-06:00

From the "People Who Do Not Listen To Themselves" File:

Jonathan Gruber, a key intellectual architect of President Obama's overhaul of the American health care system, is a little frustrated.

"I'm frustrated that the future of the American health care system rests in the hands of one or two of these unelected people...

Amazingly, he's not talking about himself.

I myself find it particularly disturbing that all of our fates are being determined by a unelected "intellectual architect" who seemingly knows nothing about American government:

He credited Mitt Romney for not totally disavowing the Massachusetts bill during his presidential campaign, but said Romney's attempt to distinguish between Obama's bill and his own is disingenuous.

"The problem is there is no way to say that," Gruber said. "Because they're the same fucking bill. He just can't have his cake and eat it too. Basically, you know, it's the same bill. He can try to draw distinctions and stuff, but he's just lying. The only big difference is he didn't have to pay for his. Because the federal government paid for it. Where at the federal level, we have to pay for it, so we have to raise taxes."

Here is a clue for the great intellectual: they are different fucking Constitutions. What is allowable for Massachusetts under their state Constitution may not be allowable for the Federal government under the U.S. Constitution. Really, its not that hard a concept to grasp.

But, I guess trivial matters like rule of law are a matter of indifference when you are an "intellectual architect."

Why Is Paterno Being Singled Out?

2011-11-09T18:21:00.004-06:00

All I'm saying on this matter is this: Joe Paterno, by all published accounts, did not witness any wrongdoing by anyone. Merely being told of the allegation by the actual witness does not shift the burden away from the witness and onto Paterno.

That being the case I have to wonder if the outrage (if such it is) is being directed at Paterno at the behest of his enemies. And make no mistake, Paterno has enemies, alumni and boosters who have been campaigning behind the scenes for his dismissal for more than a decade.

Just saying.

UPDATE:

I see the lynch mob has been successful. Oh, happy day. After all everyone knows hounding an innocent 84 year old man out his job makes the pain of child rape go away.

Gravy Train Time

2011-11-09T09:52:00.004-06:00

From the "It's crap like this that make me want to tear my hair out" file:
Loophole lets union officials claim big teacher pensions

Last fall, Ed Geppert, then president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, co-wrote a scathing public essay that alleged some politicians and pundits in Illinois were "waging a relentless war against public employees over state pensions."

The "claim that the state pension shortfall was caused by overly generous pension benefits paid to state employees and teachers is provably false," stated the essay.

What Geppert didn't mention during that debate is that he personally was already getting an annual pension of roughly $185,000 — far more than most working teachers make in salary — through that same struggling system.

Geppert taught in the Metro East for seven low-paid years in the 1970s before leaving teaching and rising through the union ranks for three decades. Thanks to a little-noticed loophole in the system, he was allowed to apply the regular state teachers' pension formula to his much higher union salary.

The formula is based on an average of the retiree's highest four recent years of salary. For many teachers, that average may be around $50,000. For Geppert, it was more than $200,000 because of his union salary, which was six figures through most of his IFT tenure. That average was helped along by a salary spike of about 15 percent, to $260,000, just before he formally retired in 2004.

There was nothing in the law to prevent him from continuing to collect that pension after he returned to the union as its president three years later.

When asked last week about the arrangement, Geppert's combative tone from the essay had become more pragmatic. "I followed the law," he said. Using the system as it was available to him "was only the prudent thing to do."

Prudent, eh? Geppert stopped working as a public employee in the pension system in 1977, back when his average pay was only $12,100. Now he is drawing $186,000 a year from that same pension fund. That is patently absurd. If Geppert continues to draw his pension for another ten years we will have taken out over $3 million dollars out of the fund.

And Geppert is not alone:

Among former Metro East teachers who went on to boost their public pensions through union positions, the Post-Dispatch review of records found, was Terry Turley, a former East St. Louis schoolteacher. Records show Turley left teaching in 1995 to work for the IFT, making a union salary of between $90,000 and $157,000, then getting a final-year spike to $184,000 in 2005. Turley's resulting pension annuity through the Teachers' Retirement System is about $129,900.

That list also includes ex-teachers such as Andrea Baird, who taught in Carrollton for 13 years in the 1970s and 1980s, topping out at a salary of $17,300. After joining the staff of the IFT, her salary roughly doubled, then continued to climb, to $165,000 by 2003. She retired a year later, with a $32,000 final-year raise to $197,000 — setting up a $140,700-a-year pension annuity through the teachers' pension system.

Neither Turley nor Baird could be reached for comment despite messages left last week and on Tuesday.

While some pension recipients spent most of their careers as union officials, others actually did teach for most their careers, then were able to substantially boost their pensions with just a few high-paid years with a union.

That was the way it worked for Martha Bowman, who spent 33 years teaching in Marion, climbing to a salary of about $62,000, according to records. She then spent her last six years before retirement with the Illinois Education Association, the state's second major teachers union. There, her salary rose to $143,500 in five years — $24,000 of that coming in a final-year boost — setting up a retirement annuity of about $100,000 annually, more than twice what it would have been for her teaching service alone.

It's crazy. It also, it must be noted, is not a loophole. "Loophole" suggest an unintentional ambiguity in a law or regulation. This was very clearly intentional, and a legalized fleecing of Illinois taxpayers and the rank and file teachers the unions are supposed to be supporting. It amazes me liberals can bitch and moan about CEO pay for Fortune 500 companies while at the same time signing off on the pillaging of millions, if not over a billion dollars nationwide, from the pension funds of rank and file teachers.

And make no mistake, these unions officials want this "system" to carry on forever, because, they say, they work hard not like those lazy-layabout-all-summer teachers:

Bowman said she doesn't agree with the move in Springfield now to prevent union salaries from being applied to the teacher pension system. "Most teachers work nine months out of the year. When you're a union leader, you're on call 24/7. You don't have time off. There are a lot of weekends and evenings."

Geppert, the former IFT president, also is opposed to the legislation.

"I think it's a sad thing to occur," he said. He predicted it will be difficult to lure high-quality people into union service without allowing them access to teacher pensions.

That's right. What could possibly induce a teacher making $35,000 a year from taking a job making over $100,000 a year? Hmmm.... I wonder.

I'm sorry, but there is no rational reason why highly paid union officials should be in the teachers pension funds. By all means, set up your own pension fund for union officials, and even apply for a teacher's pension if you are properly vested in it. However, that pension must be based solely upon your work and salary as a teacher.

That's how it would work in the real world.

Matthew Yglesias Comes Out Forcefully Against The Enlightenment

2011-10-30T17:47:00.003-05:00

From Think"Progress" (or is that "Think""Progress"?: Let Children Vote

Sally Kohn writes about a campaign in Lowell, Massachusetts to let seventeen year-olds vote in local elections. More power to them, but I say let any American citizen vote in any American election he or she wants to.

Objections to this usually take the form of imagining a highly disciplined party of seven year-olds reliably delivering bloc votes to whichever candidate credibly promises endless kindergarten.

Uh, no. The usual objections would cite John Locke or John Stuart Mill and acknowledge children have insufficient reason to be held responsible for their actions. That Yglesias is seemingly unaware of any such fact, and instead believes children were not voting because of the difficulty in molding them into a coherent voting block - I'm not joking... he actually says that is what he believes is the rationale - really, it's impossible to have an argument with such a person. After all, Yglesias is denying reason itself as being anything other than an arbitrary notion.

I really fear for our civilization. Half of our "educated" classes are morons. I'm sorry folks but intellectual doofism will be our downfall.

A Step Into The Wayback Machine

2011-10-26T18:21:00.002-05:00

Remember all the riots that broke out in 2010 because of all those degenerate and violent and racist tea party protests? All the hundreds of arrests? All the hundreds of riot police called out into the street to re-establish public order?

Yeah, me neither.

There are those who are saying the reason for the difference is because the governments involved, like the Oakland City Council, are not just friendlier to right wing causes then to left wing causes, nay!, they are the very source of authoritarianism! (They are also overwhelmingly Democratic. Funny how that happens.)

I'm sorry lefties but the fact that hundreds of Tea Party demonstrations have happened without a single canister of tear gas being fired puts the lie to the claim that our government is simply an authoritarian Leviathan hell-bent on denying us our rights. What it does mean is there is a difference between lawful orderly protest and mob criminality.

And if they think for a second any of this crap is going to generate sympathy for their "cause" they are a lot higher then they ought to be.

Paul Krugman As Outsider

2011-10-17T13:05:00.004-05:00

LOL moment of the day:

As the Occupy Wall Street movement continues to grow, the response from the movement’s targets has gradually changed: contemptuous dismissal has been replaced by whining. (A reader of my blog suggests that we start calling our ruling class the “kvetchocracy.”)

This is one of the reasons why it is so difficult to take the Left seriously in this country. I'm sorry but in no one's theory of a ruling elite, be it Pareto or Veblen or Weber or Burnham or even Marx, is someone like Krugman not a member of said elite. In order for anything like OWS to be even remotely interesting, and not merely the mass temper tantrum it actually is, they would have to start targeting elites like Krugman. That they cannot even correctly identify him as being a member of the ruling elite says something about their lack of intellectual acumen.

It's Called A Flashback And Not A Flashforward For A Reason

2011-10-12T06:40:00.002-05:00

I've not been paying too much attention, obviously, to the various "Occupy" rallies going on hither and yon... mostly because I have a life. I did read this however and thought it worthy of a sympathetic chuckle: The 1960s radicalism of Occupy Wall Street will help elect a Republican in 2012

Photos confirm what I suspected: that most of the protesters are kids looking for their Sixties rush. Naked girls are painted in psychedelic colours. Handsome boys lounge around in cable-knit sweaters. Angry, doomed youth wave signs in the faces of frustrated policemen. Numbers are exchanged; kisses are snatched behind the barricades; disease is spread. This is what every generation of liberal has tried to recreate since 1968, be it the Watergate protests, the Battle of Seattle or the Stop the War Movement. I know this because I, too, once grasped for my 1968 moment. In 2003, I joined the sweaty ranks of the antiwar campaign. I was honestly motivated and intellectually sound, but I can’t deny the heady anticipation that a life of protest would lead inexorably to drugs and girls. I got the drugs but not the girls, and woke up several months later in a squat surrounded by Trotskyite bores who seemed far more intelligent when I was stoned....

Protest is exciting when you are young, and everyone deserves their chance to burn something down. But the political reality is that voters don’t actually want the wheels of Capitalism to stop turning. They don’t want free love or a rainbow nation of stoners. They want a job. That’s why Barack Obama, Joe Biden and the Democratic Party have made a big mistake in expressing sympathy for the Occupy Wall Street movement. They’ve endorsed a happening that is moral in principle but politically toxic. Ordinary voters – the boring, unpretty folks who get up every day and go to work and never once complain – will reject it at the polls. The silent majority will be heard eventually, just like it was back in 1968.

Bingo.

Early Onset Curmudgeondom

2011-10-03T21:06:00.002-05:00

I swear, as time goes on I find myself looking at the topics of political discussion displayed at Memeorandum and saying "Oh, go away already. I know what I feel is important in this world, and it has nothing to do with whatever the hell is occupying your tiny little minds."

And I'm not 83. I'm 43.

If I don't see some intelligence enter the fray soon I'm giving up.

What that entails exactly I have no idea. But I'll tell you one thing... this won't be a political blog anymore.

Dumb Guys Calling Other People Dumb

2011-09-25T22:12:00.003-05:00

Really, David Frum has no business calling anyone else on earth dumb... so, of course, he does:

I like walkable urban centers, so I want to take a hopeful view of this Washington Post report about the future of Tysons Corner. Unfortunately for my belief, the story ends with one of the most foolish quotes I’ve ever read about the future of the American city, from Joel Garreau, normally a smart guy.
With broadband, employees no longer need to physically be transported to work. He sees Americans moving to scenic, ideal locations such as the mountains of Montana or the hills of Santa Fe. Garreau splits his time between Fauquier County and Arizona.

“What you’re seeing now is what I call the Santa Fe-ing of the world, or the Santa Fe-ing of America,” he said. “The fastest growth you’re seeing is in small urban areas in beautiful places, because now you’ve got e-mail and Web and laptops and iPhones and all that jazz.”

Here’s one thing we know about the America of the future: It’s going to contain lots and lots and lots of poor, low-skilled people – in percentage terms, many more than the America of, say, 1995. And the America of 1995 already contained tens of millions of poor, low-skilled people. Those people won’t be telecommuting from Santa Fe. If your vision of the future of the American city does not include those people, it’s going to be missing a very large fact.

Which is why, when you look at the actual list of the actual top 10 fastest-growing US cities of 2000-2010, you see no examples of small scenic places (unless you count Orlando, Florida, which I sure wouldn’t).

Frum then gives a list of cities growth by absolute number, and not by the rate of growth, thereby insuring you would not get any smaller areas. Nice going Sherlock.

Gee, I wonder what happens if you look at the actually fastest growing urban areas by percentage growth.

#1 Palm Coast, Fla. - 92% growth
#2 St. George, Utah - 52.9% growth
#3 Las Vegas, Nevada - 41.8% growth
#4 Raleigh, N.C. - 41.8% growth
#5 Cape Coral, Fla. - 40.3% growth
#6 Provo, Utah - 39.8% growth
#7 Greeley, Colo. - 39.7% growth
#8 Austin, TX - 37.3% growth
#9 Myrtle Beach, S.C. - 37% growth
#10 Bend, Ore. - 36.7% growth

Of these only Las Vegas would be in the top ten in terms of absolute numbers. As for the rest of them, they strike me as being a hell of a lot more like Santa Fe than New York or Houston.

Really, David. How dumb can you be?

"No One But Us Non-Bigots Here"

2011-09-22T10:43:00.003-05:00

Head shaking time:

An Orange County couple has been ordered to stop holding a Bible study in their home on the grounds that the meeting violates a city ordinance as a “church” and not as a private gathering.

Homeowners Chuck and Stephanie Fromm, of San Juan Capistrano, were fined $300 earlier this month for holding what city officials called “a regular gathering of more than three people”.

That type of meeting would require a conditional use permit as defined by the city, according to Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), the couple’s legal representation.

The Fromms also reportedly face subsequent fines of $500 per meeting for any further “religious gatherings” in their home, according to PJI...

“The Fromm case further involves regular meetings on Sunday mornings and Thursday afternoons with up to 50 people, with impacts on the residential neighborhood on street access and parking,” City Attorney Omar Sandoval said.

Got that? So, if you want to hold weekly "readings" where you and 49 guests "discuss" Gary Regan's The Bartender's Bible: 1001 Mixed Drinks, well, there is nothing the city can do about it. Have fun. However, if you instead discuss the actual bible, well, then you are a "church" and can be regulated by the city as such.

Sorry folks, but this doesn't pass the smell test.

Only an anti-religious bigot would be okay with this.

Sometime I Hate Being Against The Death Penalty...

2011-09-22T10:00:00.003-05:00

...because of how freakishly stupid so many anti-death penalty advocates are. The trouble is they are so stupid they have no idea how much damage they are doing to the cause. The recent example in the case of Troy Davis proves my point.

Its depressing. It begins with an assault on the very idea of reasonable doubt. Yes, eyewitness testimony can be tricky, but the lengths people are willing to go to exonerate Davis in this case is ludicrous. The argument they are making is "sophisticated" in the same way "it depends on what your definition of 'is' is" was sophisticated, and it doesn't help.

Second, this emphasis on portraying these criminals as innocent victims has to stop. The point of being against the death penalty is that you are against it even when the person involved is guilty as sin. If you cannot make the hard argument, but instead try to only make the case that innocent people ought not to be executed (well, yeah), then you have lost the argument before it even started. This is particularly the case when in your zealousness you whitewash actual guilt, as is happening in the Davis case. No objective reading of the evidence leads to Davis' exoneration. You only look like a fool if you insist it does.

I'm sorry but the argument that says "we ought not to have the death penalty because we could make a mistake" is a dumb argument. It invites the rejoinder, "Well, what if we reserved it only for the cases we are really sure of." The response to that has been, "But, how can we ever really be sure of anything..." and BOOM!!!!!! The sound you are hearing is the sound of the minds of millions of Americans closing against you...and, if that is the best argument you can come up with, rightfully so.

The real argument is its unnecessary... its barbarous, as witnessed by the fact it is the way the Taliban does business... and its uncivilized. Actually, I'd argue it is worse than uncivilized, it is anti-civilization. In philosophical terms it is a remnant of the closed society. It appeals to our hive/pack instincts, and not to the rational parts of our being. Lots of people will disagree with me, but at least that is an argument worth having. It helps that that it also the only kind of argument we have a hope of winning. Until we are willing to have that argument we will continue to lose, and we will deserve to lose.

What? No More Free Lunch? I'm Outraged!

2011-09-20T08:32:00.002-05:00

I must say I'm finding all the hand-wringing concerning the changes to the pricing of Netflix subscriptions a little odd. (See here, here and here.)

When Netflix started offering streaming movies at no extra charge I was an early adopter, and why not? Even if I didn't use it that often it was free. I also realized that it wouldn't be free forever. Nothing is. The real question becomes then how much would I pay for it. Well, whatever that price is it is under $8 a month.

I'll admit having to get used to going to a new site to manage my, now, Qwikster queue will be a little annoying, but somehow I'll manage to cope.

James Fallows Doesn't Know What He Thinks He Knows

2011-09-06T16:02:00.004-05:00

*sigh* 'People Don't Realize How Fragile Democracy Really Is'

Two days ago I mentioned the "Goodbye to All That" essay by Mike Lofgren, a respected (including by me) veteran Congressional staffer who had worked for Republican legislators on defense and budget issues for nearly 30 years....

Among the important aspects of his essay is that it goes beyond one now-conventional point of "the worse, the better" analysis: that the GOP's main legislative goal is to thwart Obama, and if that includes blocking proposals that might revive the economy, so much the better for the Republicans next year.

More fundamentally, Lofgren argues that today's Republicans believe they are better off if government as a whole is shown to fail, not just this Democratic Administration. Republican hard-liners might seem to have "lost" the debt-ceiling showdown, in that they wound up even less popular than the Democrats are. But in the long view, Lofgren says, unpopularity for anyone in Congress, including their party's leaders, helps the Republicans: "Undermining Americans' belief in their own institutions of self-government remains a prime GOP electoral strategy," because it buildings a nihilistic suspicion of any public effort, from road-building to Medicare to schools. (Except defense.)

This is the kind of eau de garbage we readers get when writers become so partisan they cannot see or think straight. Oh, are there people out there who want all government to fail? Sure there are. On the Right various kinds of libertarians hover around the fringes, and you'll find anarchist types floating around the periphery of the Left as well. But the idea that any of these people represent the dominant political opinion of the Republican or Democratic party is nonsense. Actually, it is nonsense on stilts.

When it comes to mainstream political opinion there is no "nihilistic suspicion of any public effort" anywhere except the minds of folks like James Fallows. Sure there is plenty of suspicion about Washington, but Washington (thank God) does not have a monopoly on "public efforts." In fact, a large part of the complaint many people are making is that the Federal government has become far too overweening, and the result has been that our society has become less democratic. By definition most "public efforts" are local affairs, but increasingly we are not allowed to direct our own affairs unless we get the Feds to sign off on whatever it is we want to do, be it build a bridge or update the curriculum of our public schools.

To the degree that Fallows rejects the idea that power should be located in the people and instead embraces the idea that experts in Washington should govern all of our public affairs, Fallows can be said to be anti-democratic, if not by intent certainly by result.

The sad fact is the ruling classes, and the journalists that spend their cushy lives rubbing elbows with them, are not synonymous with "democracy" in any meaning of the word. And really this is what this all comes down to in the end. Fallows despises (and most likely hates) this tea party rabble which won't shut up and let the rulers rule already. That Fallows calls this impulse respect for democracy is the cruelest irony of all.

Dr. Krugman's Perscription: Bury Head Deeper

2011-09-03T12:30:00.004-05:00

Krugman on stuff:

Do the dismal economic numbers really reflect the turn to fiscal austerity? I keep hearing people say no, because austerity hasn’t actually happened yet in America. But they’re wrong.

The fact is that the fading out of the stimulus, and in particular of aid to state and local governments, is already and noticeably leading to substantial withdrawal of government demand.

This is, of course, lunacy. Yes, state and local governments buy services and supplies in the course of their duties and this does act as a source of demand in the economy more generally. However, by far the largest amount of spending in operating accounts is on salaries and benefits for public employees. The idea that such spending should be financed permanently by the use of Federal aid whenever state and local governments run out of money, which Krugman seems to be suggesting, is ludicrous. For starters, people move. Demographic changes and the resulting changes in things like the tax base (which could increase or shrink) or the need for services (which can also increase or decrease) mean that nothing is constant. Just because a government run out of funding for existing services doesn't mean that level of service should be maintained. Krugman believes it does because, for him, government has one big job, i.e. to get bigger.

In the real world, states and localities need to constantly evaluate the kind and level of services they provide, and what staff they need to provide those services. Additionally, those services will not be the same from locality to locality. The preferences of voters in the various locales will also play a large role in determining what is being paid for and what isn't. This is especially true when the funding for these services comes directly from the tax payers in the community. Switching the funding of these services away from local tax payers and towards federal aid has the effect of hiding the true cost of these services. This is great if you believe in the God given right of government to grow larger, but it is nonsense if you believe in democratic accountability and fiscal sanity.

The truth is if Middletown, America wants to have a library system, well, then Middletown ought to be prepared to pay for it without counting on everyone else to pick up the tab if they run a little short. No, if MIddletown runs short they need to ether A) find a local revenue stream to pay for he desired level of service, or B) do less.

What happened in localities across the country was they experienced a boom in revenues when real estate prices soared during the heights of the housing bubble. Their coffers swelled and they did what governments at all levels do when the coffers swell, they spent it. However, they often spent it in ways that created a higher baseline of spending, as would happen when you increase the numbers of employees you are paying. Unfortunately, increasing the number of public employees isn't the same thing as increasing the number of employees in a factory. Factories hire more employees because they believe there is more money to be made. This will come as a shock to many Democrats but, yes, factories can increase their payroll and at the same time increase profits. Public employees, by and large, never create profits. They are there to provide services (some vital, some not), but the money flows one way only.

Now, what happens when property taxes stop going up and in fact begin to decrease? The Krugmans of the world want to say "Nothing should happen, keep right on spending! Money grows on federal trees!"

However, it doesn't. The truth is none of the money spent on maintaining state and local spending at housing bubble rates stimulated anything. Instead all it did was allow politicians, local officials and voters/taxpayers to ignore reality.

Hurricane Hype Continued

2011-08-31T07:22:00.003-05:00

First, the idiotic statement:

I find it extraordinary that so many political leaders won’t actually talk about the relationship between climate change, fossil fuels, our continuing irrational exuberance about burning fossil fuels, in light of these storm patterns that we’ve been experiencing. Listen, since I’ve been sworn in as governor just seven months ago, I have dealt with—this is the second major disaster as a result of storms. We had storms this spring that flooded our downtowns and put us through many of the same exercises that we’re going through right now. We didn’t used to get weather patterns like this in Vermont. We didn’t get tropical storms. We didn’t get flash flooding. It wasn’t—you know, our storm patterns weren’t like Costa Rica; they were like Vermont.

That is from noted weather expert Vermont Gov. Pete Shumlin.

The only trouble is he is wrong. Way wrong. Way way way wrong. Way way way "My name is Pete Shumlin, I'm a moron and I don't know what I'm talking about" wrong.

Table 1: Tropical Remnants that Made Landfall In/Proximate to Vermont

Name Year Month, Day
[unnamed] 1927 November 3
Great New England 1938 September 21
#2 1949 August 29–30
Hurricane Baker 1952 September 1–2
Hurricane Carol 1954 August 31
Tropical Storm Brenda 1960 July 30
Hurricane Donna 1960 September 12
Tropical Storm Doria 1971 August 28
Hurricane Belle 1976 August 9–10
Hurricane David 1979 September 6–7
Hurricane Frederic 1979 September 14
Hurricane Gloria 1985 September 27
Tropical Storm Chris 1988 August 29
Hurricane Hugo 1989 September 22–23
Hurricane Bob 1991 August 19
Hurricane Opal 1995 October 5–6
Hurricane Bertha 1996 July 13
Hurricane Fran 1996 September 8–9

Shumlin was born in 1956, so Irene's remnants would be the 14th to have hit the state while Shumlin was around to see it.

"Never" sure ain't what it used to be.

"Once In A Lifetime Storm"

2011-08-27T09:04:00.003-05:00

The morons are out in force today: How Global Warming Is Making Hurricane Irene Worse

Hurricane Irene is bearing down on the Outer Banks of North Carolina as a Category Two storm, and is expected to track a path of destruction up the densely populated Atlantic coast....

Global warming pollution is far from the only reason that Hurricane Irene shouldn’t be thought of as a “natural” disaster. Much of the devastating potential of Hurricane Irene will be a consequence of past decisions about land use, construction and coastal preservation, mitigated by the brave work of public servants under attack by Tea Party conservatives. Even as we have polluted the climate to increase the threat from Atlantic storms, we have overbuilt the increasingly vulnerable coasts. Although Irene is being described as a “once in a lifetime” threat, the weight of the evidence indicates that this storm is merely a harbinger of our dangerous future.

Really, I wish the internet was a one strike and you are out kinda thing. Crap like this is so stupid on so many levels. In fact, it is too dumb to need to be fisked. It's self-fisking.

It's also anti-science. The only people working in the field of hurricanes that believe a global warming signal is detectable in the data are so far out of the mainstream that there is only one word for them: cranks. They are cranks because they will do anything to shoe-horn reality into their preferred personal ideological perspective.

As for Irene being a "once in a lifetime" storm, well, that could indeed be true... if you were a German Shepard that is. For those of us a little bit older, well, we have seen this sort of storm before. Just 15 years ago in fact:

This is Bertha, a storm from July 1996 which pretty closely follows the exact same track and intensity of Irene. If anything, Irene is a little weaker. The only difference between the two storms is the amount of "the world is ending" crapola we have to endure nowadays.

I do miss the saner days of the 90's.

It's Decided: I'm Sitting Out 2012

2011-08-14T10:58:00.003-05:00

Pawlenty Drops Out of Republican Race

Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, dropped his bid for the Republican nomination for president on Sunday morning, saying his disappointing performance in Iowa’s straw poll convinced him that his campaign had run its course.

Just hours after his third-place finish in Iowa, Mr. Pawlenty said on ABC’s “This Week” program that his message “didn’t get the kind of traction we needed and hoped for” in order to continue.

“There are a lot of other choices in the race,” he said. “The audience, so to speak, was looking for something different.”

This is too bad as Pawlenty was the only one worth looking at in this field. I've vetted the rest and came to the obvious conclusion: none of them is my cup o' tea.

I've no idea what I'll be blogging about next year, but it won't be the election.

Justice Done.

2011-08-11T16:56:00.001-05:00

This is a quick update on a case I noted here on The Iconic Midwest back in 2009: Pa. judge gets 28 years in 'kids for cash' case

A northeastern Pennsylvania judge was ordered Thursday to spend nearly three decades in prison for his role in a massive bribery scandal that prompted the state's high court to toss thousands of juvenile convictions and left lasting scars on the children who appeared in his courtroom and their hapless families.

Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison for taking a $1 million bribe from the builder of a pair of juvenile detention centers in a case that became known as "kids for cash."

Ciavarella, who denied locking up youths for money, had no reaction as the sentence was announced. From the gallery, which was crowded with family members of some of the children he incarcerated, someone shouted "Woo hoo!"

In the wake of the scandal, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned about 4,000 convictions issued by Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008, saying he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles, including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea.

Ciavarella, 61, was tried and convicted of racketeering earlier this year. His attorneys had asked for a "reasonable" sentence in court papers, saying, in effect, that he'd already been punished enough.

Convicted felon Ciavarella was an ass right up until the end:

Then, in an extraordinary turnabout, Ciavarella attacked the government's case as well as the conclusions of the state Supreme Court and the Interbranch Commission on Juvenile Justice, a state panel that investigated the scandal. Both said Ciavarella engaged in wholesale rights violations over a period of many years.

Ciavarella denied it.

"I did everything I was obligated to do protect these children's rights," he said….

Federal prosecutors accused Ciavarella and a second judge, Michael Conahan, of taking more than $2 million in bribes from Robert Mericle, the builder of the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care detention centers, and of extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from Robert Powell, the facilities' co-owner.

Ciavarella, known for his harsh and autocratic courtroom demeanor, pocketed the cash while filling the beds of the private lockups with children as young as 10, many of them first-time offenders convicted of petty theft and other minor crimes. Ciavarella often ordered youths he had found delinquent to be immediately shackled, handcuffed and taken away without giving them a chance to say goodbye to their families.

Here hoping someone “misplaces” the key to felon Ciavarella’s cell.

Wisconsin Results = No Speed Bump

2011-08-10T06:18:00.004-05:00

Well, it's all over but the shouting:

Wisconsin Democrats knocked off two GOP state senators on Tuesday night, exacting a hard-fought political price on Republican lawmakers for restricting collective bargaining rights of state and local employees. National advocacy groups funneled tens of millions of dollars into nine races, seven of which have now been decided, turning a parochial skirmish into an all-out proxy war between Tea Partying conservatives and labor-backed liberals. But the historic recall effort, launched in the wake of intense union protests in February and March, ultimately fell one seat shy of reestablishing Democratic control of the state senate.

On an usual day of high energy and high turnout, Republican state senators Robert Cowles and Sheila Harsdorf cruised to wide-margin victories over their Democratic challengers, as fellow incumbent Luther Olsen managed to squeak by on a few thousand votes. Not all their colleagues were so lucky; Democrat Jessica King narrowly beat out Randy Hopper, while senator Dan Kapanke was easily felled by Democratic assemblywoman Jennifer Shilling. At the end of the night, the fate of the senate majority rested on Alberta Darling, the highest ranking Republican under threat of recall and one of the architects of the controversial collective bargaining legislation. She prevailed in the most bitterly contested and heavily funded recall fight, declaring victory near midnight as both parties scrapped over the final ballots.

The six districts that voted on Tuesday were ground zero in Wisconsin’s labor fight; each delivered substantial support to Walker’s gubernatorial bid last November, despite being carried by Obama in 2008.

It should also be remembered that all of the GOP seats at issue last night were last contested in 2008, which means Republicans won them during an election cycle that favored Democrats substantially. It was always going to be an uphill fight for the Dems, and they came up short.

To see how much of an uphill struggle it was one need only look at where I live, the 10th District. Here the GOP incumbent, Shelia Harsdorf, easily defeated her Democratic opponent, Shelley Moore. When I say easily I mean it. Not even close. This was despite the fact that copious resources were pumped into the Moore campaign. Indeed, Moore had a vigorous ground game here, which was far more visible than the Harsdorf campaign. It mattered for nothing. Moore still got crushed. In fact, Harsdorf won by a larger margin last night then she did in 2008.

It should also be noted, for all the talk I heard about high turnout rates rivalling presidential election years, it really didn't materialize that way. Oh, more people voted than usually do in these "off-season" elections, just not at presidential election levels. A little over 64 thousand votes were cast last night. However, in 2008 almost 99 thousand ballots were cast. That's a huge difference.

In the end, the Dems statewide got close. However, as the saying goes, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. It really doesn't count here.

On The Ground In Wisconsin's 10th Senate District

2011-08-09T15:08:00.003-05:00

Turnout seemed noticeably heavy at the polls today.

I have no idea who that would favor. As usual in this election, the Democratic get-out-the-vote operation has been the more visible of the two. (My house was visited twice more yesterday.)

It's now, for me at least, wait and see time.

Welcome To Welfareland

2011-08-09T11:38:00.001-05:00

In this piece excusing the rioters across Britain, the Guardian’s Nina Power points out the following as an “explanation” for what we are seeing:

Haringey, the borough that includes Tottenham, has the fourth highest level of child poverty in London and an unemployment rate of 8.8%, double the national average

So, this one borough has an unemployment rate less than it has been nationwide in the United States for more than two years, and we are supposed to believe rioting is the appropriate response?

Oh, but there is more says Nina:

Since the coalition came to power just over a year ago, the country has seen multiple student protests, occupations of dozens of universities, several strikes, a half-a-million-strong trade union march and now unrest on the streets of the capital (preceded by clashes with Bristol police in Stokes Croft earlier in the year). Each of these events was sparked by a different cause, yet all take place against a backdrop of brutal cuts and enforced austerity measures.

I, for one, don’t care. I’m certain that even with the cuts the benefits available to the average Brit far exceeds that commonly available to people here in the States. The idea these folks are being put into a third world situation is simply ludicrous. It seems much more likely we are dealing with spoiled brats and thugs.

Of course, any given situation may have a real point of contention or grievance that demands a call for justice, but that isn’t the “cause” of this display of mass criminality. What we are seeing here is less a cry of “justice!” and more a cry of “more! more! more!” and “gimme! gimme! gimme!”

Peg O’ My Heart

2011-08-09T10:08:00.001-05:00

Last evening I made something new for the Mrs. and myself called a “Peg O’ My Heart”. It went over real well with the wife, and I liked it pretty well too.

The recipe:

2 oz. dark rum

1 oz. lime juice

1/2 oz. grenadine

Shake the ingredients in a shaker half-filled with ice. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. No garnish.

The drink is very fruit forward and more than a little sweet. This is in keeping with the time period of the drink. It pre-dates Prohibition when sweet drinks were far more common. In that it has more in common with 19th century cocktails than it does with the drinks of much of the 20th century. I personally didn’t find the sweetness cloying, but if you wanted to cut back on the sweetness making it with less grenadine (say two teaspoons) should work just fine.

I’ve seen on the net where some “Peg O’ My Heart” recipes call for 1 1/2 oz. of light rum instead of the larger amount of the dark. This is a mistake, and may date from the time when Bacardi company was suing folks for making “Bacardi Cocktails” without using Bacardi rum. It very well could be some places got around that problem by tweaking the “Peg O’ My Heart” to bring it more in line with the “Bacardi Cocktail” (which consists of 1 1/2 oz. light Bacardi rum, 1 oz. lime juice, and 1 teaspoon grenadine.) The original “Peg O’ My Heart,” as far as I’m concerned, is simply the better drink.

You Know, I Really Want To Try...

2011-08-08T14:53:00.002-05:00

...but the more I read intellectually dishonest crapola like this, the more I come to think the Left in this country is completely beyond rational discourse. That so many people find such idiocy to be compelling argumentation scares the hell out of me. I understand people will have different values and different perspectives that will inform their political beliefs...but democracy is only possible when most people are not completely blinkered.

I have no idea what the percentage is these days, but we are trending in the wrong direction.

Expectations

2011-08-08T11:06:00.003-05:00

From Politico: Wis. Dem memo: Victory predictions "dangerous"

Democrats on the ground here are increasingly confident they will pick-up two state Senate seats, but are warning that winning the third necessary for a takeover is a tenuous prospect.

Despite hype from some in the party apparatus about a "six for six" sweep Tuesday, the more realistic scenario is winning two or three seats, according to those involved in the ground game.

The most stark word of caution is included in a private memo obtained by POLITICO from the Democratic-leaning We Are Wisconsin group to its donors.

"In our final days, we remain cautiously optimistic about our chances to take back the Senate. But predictions of victory at this point are beyond premature – they’re dangerous," wrote We Are Wisconsin field director Kristen Crowell in an Aug. 3 memo obviously designed to lower expectations.

"While we have solid research suggesting there are races where we might secure a second and third potential pick-up, none of these of these races except 32 should be considered safe pick-ups (and even there we face challenges to get the ball over the goal line), and we are dealing with an unprecedented electorate that is very difficult to forecast," she continues.

After outlining the odds Democrats face in going up against the "unlimited resources" of "corporate interests, she warns the the predictions of three wins in bank are overblown.

I have no idea what will happen tomorrow, but I do know this: If the Dems don't win at least three senate seats they have lost... and lost big.

"But," one might ask, "why is that? Even if the Democrats do not take control of the Wisconsin state senate just getting close might force the Republicans to work with them a little bit."

No it won't. The things is, none of the seats tomorrow were last won by the Republicans in 2010 when conditions were just right for the GOP nationwide. They were all last contested in 2008, an election that was a mighty good one for Democrats nationwide. Wisconsin Democrats are attempting to make the case that Gov. Walker's term to date has been so unpopular the effect in the state will be greater than the positive effect the Obama candidacy had for Democratic candidates in 2008. Any way you slice it it is a ballsy argument.

However, because it is so ballsy "close but no cigar" won't cut it. Walker and Co. are much more likely to shrug their shoulders and say "That's all you got?" and continue on their desired course. Only putting an actual speed bump in the state senate will actually slow them down.

As for "the odds Democrats face in going up against the 'unlimited resources' of 'corporate interests'", all I can say is that isn't how it looks on the ground here in the Moore v. Harsdorf race. The Moore campaign has been much, much more visible in television advertising, direct mailings, and canvassing. Moore forces have knocked on our door five times in the last three weeks, while I've not seen any Harsdorf people. Moore mailings have outnumbered Harsdorf 10 or 12 to one. If the Harsdorf campaign has access to "unlimited resources" they have a funny way of showing it.

In any event, the political scientist in me is looking forward to seeing what happens tomorrow.

Moral Equivalency For Morons

2011-08-07T17:02:00.004-05:00

Steve Benan (aka the dumbest columnist in America), "informs" his readers today that Republicans wanting to reduce spending is the worst public policy choice in the history of the country, somehow beating out:

A) Support for slavery (Democratic policy)
B) Support for expansion of slavery (Democratic policy)
C) Support for Jim Crow laws (Democratic policy)
D) Entry into the Vietnam war (Democratic policy)
E) Placing of Japanese-Americans into concentration camps (Democratic policy)

That's right, advocating for a reduction of the budget from #3.9tr to $3.7tr is worse.

A Water Carrier Too Far

2011-08-05T12:35:00.001-05:00

Here is some “wisdom” for you courtesy of Jonathan Chait: What Caused The Deficit? A Reply To Megan McArdle

One of the most effective Republican themes of the last two years has been blaming President Obama for the explosive growth in the budget deficit since 2009. The accusation that "Obama's spending binge" has blown up the deficit has discredited any further fiscal stimulus, and helped encourage Republicans to use the debt ceiling as a hostage. The White House fought back with a chart showing that its policy changes contributed only a small fraction to the worsening deficit picture:

The chart the White House provides shows that, indeed, when you add up the seven years worth of deficits from the Bush years it is a larger number than the deficits Obama has racked up in three years.

OK, lets look at the deficits from 2001 to 2011.

And here are the raw numbers:

Federal Deficit
Fiscal Years 2001 to 2011
Year	GDP-US $ billion	Federal Deficit -fed $ billion
2001	10286.2	-127.89	a
2002	10642.3	158.01	a
2003	11142.1	377.81	a
2004	11867.8	412.90	a
2005	12638.4	318.59	a
2006	13398.9	248.57	a
2007	14077.6	160.96	a
2008	14369.1	458.55	a
2009	14258.2	1412.69	a
2010	14660.4	1293.49	a
2011	15079.6	1645.12	b
Legend: a - actual reported b - budgeted estimate in US fy12 budget

The average yearly deficit for this entire time period is $578bn.

The average yearly deficit for the Bush years (2001-2008) is $251bn.

The average yearly budget deficit for the Obama years (2009-2011) is $1450bn.

OK, lets try and screw over the Bush numbers. Let’s throw out 2001’s budget surplus saying that was Clinton’s doing and, while we are at it, let’s take 2009 out of the Obama column and give it to Bush (since everything bad on God’s green earth is Bush’s fault anyway.) What do the numbers look like then?

The average yearly deficits for the Bush years (2002-2009) is $433bn.

The average yearly deficits for the Obama years (2010-2011) is $1469bn.

OK, but maybe that doesn’t tell the whole story. Maybe it was all those Bush tax cuts which acted like a poison pill which is only being felt now!

Alright, the Bush tax cuts were implemented between 2001 and 2003, and the Obama administration claims it cost the country $3000bn added to the deficit, or a yearly average of $375bn between 2004-2011.

Let’s see if such a story seems likely (data here.)

From 1996-2000 (the second Clinton term, when all was right with the world and everyone ate rainbows for dinner!) the federal government’s take via income taxes increased at the average yearly rate of $73bn. Between 2001 and 2003 (when the Bush tax cuts were still in process) the average yearly tax decreased by an average of $73bn, as the recession took its toll. Between 2004 and 2008 after all of the tax cuts had been fully implemented, the average yearly take of the federal government increased by $90bn a year.

Remember, the Obama administration is claiming without the Bush tax cuts the yearly increase for the feds would have averaged not $90bn but instead $375bn. I’m sorry, but on what planet does that seem plausible?

Let’s do an experiment here. Let us pretend there are no such things as recessions, and let us further stipulate the increase in revenues of the Clinton years are a constant of economic reality. So, we will compare this fictional “Clinton number” with the real Bush numbers and see how close we can get to the $3000bn number uncritically accepted by Chait.

Before Bush tax cuts:

2001: C# - $1284bn B# - $1145bn (+139)

2002: C# - $1357bn B# - $1006bn (+351)

2003: C# - $1430bn B# - $925bn (+506)

After Bush tax cuts:

2004: C# - $1503bn B# - $998bn (+505)

2005: C# - $1576bn B# - $1205bn (+371)

2006: C# - $1649bn B# - $1397bn (+252)

2007: C# - $1722bn B# - $1533bn (+189)

2008: C# - $1795bn B# - $1450bn (+345)

Do, in this completely unrealistic scenario where recessions do not exist and revenue growth is as constant a force as gravity, Bush comes up only $2658bn short all together. The Obama administration and, evidently, the water carrying Jonathan Chait want you to believe the “realistic” number should be $3000bn.

That’s nuts.

Look, the recession has been bad and the recovery not so hot. Obama has every right to say, “Hey, we are really working under some economic constraints here.” He has the right to say it because it’s true. However, the budgets he has submitted are not examples of constraints placed upon him by George Bush, they are his policy choices. To claim otherwise is simply dishonest.

(Post written using Windows Live Writer. I’m curious to see how this works!)

Michael Isikoff: Investigative Reporter!

2011-08-04T10:33:00.003-05:00

From our intrepid Hero: Firm gives $1 million to pro-Romney group, then dissolves

NBC News
updated 8/4/2011 6:01:38 AM ET 2011-08-04T10:01:38

A mystery company that pumped $1 million into a political committee backing Mitt Romney has been dissolved just months after it was formed, leaving few clues as to who was behind one of the biggest contributions yet of the 2012 presidential campaign.

The existence of the million-dollar donation — as gleaned from campaign and corporate records obtained by NBC News — provides a vivid example of how secret campaign cash is being funneled in ever more circuitous ways into the political system.

The company, W Spann LLC, was formed in March by a Boston lawyer who specializes in estate tax planning for “high net worth individuals,” according to corporate records and the lawyer’s bio on her firm’s website.

Can't you just see it? Our hero doggedly filing FOI requests, or peeking into filing cabinets in the dead of the night, or getting behind locked doors to see what nefarious things lurk beyond... or even, and this would have been the most difficult thing of all, reading last Sunday's Washington Times: Romney campaign raises $12 million from just 90 donors

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney raised more than $12 million from just 90 donations so far this year in an unprecedented use of a fundraising account that can accept unlimited, loosely-regulated contributions in support of a presidential bid.

Disclosures filed Sunday show a supremely flush reserve for the man seeking to lead some 300 million-plus Americans, bankrolled by a few dozen in the finance industry, with some donations coming directly from corporations and others ascribed to near-anonymous addresses in Utah.

The total far overshadows that of similarly-structured funds set up to collect unlimited contributions in support of President Obama’s re-election.

Of four $1 million donations, two came from cryptically-named limited liability companies, or LLCs, sharing the same office suite in Provo, Utah. The only one with a recognizable name attached arrived from the 50th floor of a Manhattan skyscraper: The offices of John Paulson, the hedge fund manager who made millions of dollars an hour betting on the implosion of the housing market.

Illustrating the poor disclosure that accompanies the lack of monetary limits on such accounts, the final million-dollar donation was reported simply as coming from “W Spann LLC” of 590 Madison Ave. in New York, with no suite number or other identifying information. That building has housed offices for Paulson, lobbyists Akin Gump and Bain Capital, the hedge fund Mr. Romney once led.

Indeed, our hero, showing none of the investigative skills of a latter day Sherlock Holmes, has managed to discover less information than was printed in the Washington Times four days ago.

At this rate, by sometime next week Isikoff will be unable to confirm or deny the existence of this person known as Mitt Romney.

Of course there is always the possibility that Isikoff did read the Washington Times piece and this is just a garden variety example of plagiarism.

That is modern jurnalism in a nutshell: incompetence or plagiarism.

What a choice!

Alarmists Have Lost The War, But Do They Know That?

2011-08-04T07:55:00.002-05:00

You can be sure the upshot of this poll will be the demand for more complete indoctrination of the population. Too many Americans are making up their own minds! 69% Say It’s Likely Scientists Have Falsified Global Warming Research

The debate over global warming has intensified in recent weeks after a new NASA study was interpreted by skeptics to reveal that global warming is not man-made. While a majority of Americans nationwide continue to acknowledge significant disagreement about global warming in the scientific community, most go even further to say some scientists falsify data to support their own beliefs.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of American Adults shows that 69% say it’s at least somewhat likely that some scientists have falsified research data in order to support their own theories and beliefs, including 40% who say this is Very Likely. Twenty-two percent (22%) don’t think it’s likely some scientists have falsified global warming data, including just six percent (6%) say it’s Not At All Likely. Another 10% are undecided....

Republicans and adults not affiliated with either major political party feel stronger than Democrats that some scientists have falsified data to support their global warming theories, but 51% of Democrats also agree.

This is just another example of how you cannot fool all the people all the time. The very idea that Anthropogenic Global Warming alarmism was an example of disinterested science was always ludicrous. Disinterested science never demands an end to debate, and it never attempts to hide the uncertainties of what we know and what we don't now. Both of those impulses were the bread and butter of AGW alarmism, and people know it. It turns out most of the people know it.

Of course nothing will stop the true believer. After all they have too much ego, power and money wrapped up in the project to give it up now.

Me, Amused

2011-08-03T11:35:00.003-05:00

It is always fun when I see something I've done and cast upon the waves of the mighty Internet ocean pop up in an unexpected place. Today I found a discussion of The Kinks album Muswell Hillbillies that embeds a YouTube video of the song "20th Century Man" which I made several years ago for a political theory class I was team teaching.

Good times.

The Associated Press: Dumber Than A Box Of Rocks

2011-08-02T13:10:00.004-05:00

From the couldn't make this up department: Northeast braces for temps near boiling point

The extreme heat that's been roasting the eastern U.S. is only expected to get worse, and residents are bracing themselves for temperatures near and above boiling point.

Really? Some place is going to be above 212 degrees? What is amazing is this isn't just an example of a stupid headline. The story itself makes the claim. How dumb can you get?

Part of me wants to go looking for sites that are believing this AP story. Another part of me is afraid I'd be too depressed by what I'd find.

Here is the screen-shot:

David Frum Ain't No Martin Luther

2011-08-02T09:52:00.003-05:00

I agree with much of this piece by David Frum, but when he falls off the rails he really falls off the rails:

Give me a hammer and a church-house door, and I'd post these theses for modern Republicans...

5) We can collect more revenue without raising tax rates.

Republicans stand for low taxes to encourage people to work, save and invest. But how would it discourage work if we reduced the mortgage-interest deduction again?

Even if I agreed it wouldn't discourage work, what about the "save" and "invest" portions of the statement. Why did they all of a sudden disappear from the equation?

Did it hurt the economy when we reduced the maximum eligible loan to $1 million back in 1986?

I don't know. Why not link to a study confirming that it didn't. For all we know maybe it did have a negative impact. I hate it when people make rhetorical questions out of ones that are subject to empirical answers...like From does again in the very next sentence.

Do Canadians and Brits -- who lack the deduction -- work less hard than Americans?

Why, as a matter of fact they do. According to the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development Americans work 8 more work days than Canadians and 16 more days than Brits. Additionally, Americans rank 4th in productivity while the UK and Canada rank 11th and 14th respectively. Any other empirical questions you want to ask? (Please note: I am not saying this difference between American and other workers is due to the mortgage-interest deduction. I'm merely pointing out that the difference exists where Frum claims it doesn't.)

Wouldn't higher taxes on energy encourage conservation? Who decided to allow inflation to corrode federal alcohol taxes by 80% over the past 50 years?

Wait a second, how are raising taxes on energy and alcohol an example of raising revenue without raising taxes?

But even then I'm calling bullshit on the numbers Frum is using when it comes to the alcohol tax. The rate 50 years ago was first established in 1951 at $10.50 per gallon. This rate was increased from a $9 per gallon rate established during World War II. (The federal tax on distilled spirits went from $2 per gallon in 1938 to $9 per gallon in 1944.) In 2010 dollars the World War II rate would be the equivalent of $110 per gallon (or about $22 for each 750ml bottle in Federal tax alone.) The 1951 rate would work out to $87 per gallon (or about $17.40 per 750ml bottle.) Is Frum advocating we should, as a matter of course, be taxed routinely at nearly the same level as during World War II? Nonsense.

Now, if someone wanted to adjust the tax to be in line with the last time it was raised (in 1991), which would mean taking it from the present $13.50 per gallon to $21 (i.e. from $2.70 to $4.20 per 750ml bottle), I could see a rationale. This is particularly so as such a number would be in line with what we have historically taxed alcohol at when we didn't have a world war ongoing. Even during the American Civil War when the spirits tax was raised 1000% between 1862 and 1865, the resulting tax would only amount to $28 per gallon in today's dollars. It says something about the change in this country that after the Civil War ended the emergency tax rate was dropped and alcohol taxes dropped from $2 per gallon to 50 cents (about $8.09 in 2010 dollars.) After World War II the "crisis" rate was kept.

So, while I agree with Frum on many particulars, this cavalier attitude about other people's money is really grating. It is one of the main reasons so many people are distrustful of "mainstream" Republicans these days as being no different than most Democrats when it comes to big government.

Oh! Blissful Day!

2011-08-01T11:50:00.003-05:00

Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about today. I'm imagining a day in the future when we no longer have to read or hear about the hackery that is the average Paul Krugman column. I, for one, won't care if Krugman is simply put out to pasture or if he is abducted by space aliens and transported to another galaxy and installed in a zoo of outlandish creatures. (Though I'll admit the latter does hold an added appeal.)

It simply boggles the mind that anyone as contradictory in his statements as Krugman is is afforded any credibility. Let's take his account of the economy the last few years:

Act I) Economy tanks (in part because we followed a housing bubble strategy advocated by one Paul Krugman.) Krugman counsels a massive governmental intervention into the economy to forestall an economic panic. TARP and the other bailouts ensue.

Act II) Economy still reeling Krugman advises a massive increase in governmental spending to kick start the economy. Enter Stimulus. Deficits, says Krugman, are our friend.

Act III) Economy still not responding, Krugman attacks the "Wall Street bailouts" and claims there has been no increase in government spending. (The claim is patently absurd, but no one at The Times bothers to point this out. "He's rolling," they said.)

Act IV) Krugman's finger feels a different breeze and Krugman discovers two new facts: 1) deficits are problematic, and 2) entirely the fault of Republicans!

Act V) Today Krugman is claiming any alteration to the spending pattern he has previously called A) vital, B) nonexistent, C) inconsequential, or D) problematical, is the end of Democracy as we know it.

Uh, thanks Paul. Oh and Paul. if you see strange lights in the night sky feel free to run after them waving you hands in the air.

House Democrats Are The New Patty Hearst?

2011-07-29T12:32:00.003-05:00

I don't blame all liberals as it seems only liberal "journalists" are actually this stupid: The tea party's terrorist tactics

It has become commonplace to call the tea party faction in the House “hostage takers.” But they have now become full-blown terrorists.

They have joined the villains of American history who have been sufficiently craven to inflict massive harm on innocent victims to achieve their political goals. A strong America has always stood firm in the face of terrorism. That tradition is in jeopardy, as Congress and President Barack careen toward an uncertain outcome in the tea party- manufactured debt crisis.

As we stumble closer to Aug. 2, it has become clear that many in the tea party are willing to inflict massive harm on the American people to obtain their political objective of a severely shrunken federal government. Their persistence in rejecting compromise, even as the economic effects of the phony crisis they have created mount, has taken their radicalism beyond tough negotiating, beyond even hostage-taking.

Got that? Tea party types not voting for Boehner's plan equals terrorism bent on destroying the nation.

What about Demcorats not voting for Boehner's plan? If Dems in the House were to vote for the Boehner plan it would pass in the House even if the tea party caucus continued to oppose it. House Democrats were they to join with the Republicans Boehner has on board clearly have the votes to get it passed, yet they refuse to do so. They have even gone as far as to brag that "No Democrats will vote for it."

The funny thing is no journalist is calling them terrorists for not voting for the Boehner plan. No one is calling them ideological for not compromising. Plus, the upshot of House Dems not budging an inch is making Boehner throw in useless crap like a "balance budget amendment" in an effort to appease the tea partiers which does absolutely nothing to move the process forward in the long run as Democrats, last time I checked, still controlled the Senate and the White House.

The reality is "tea party Republicans" cannot do anything unless the Democrats go along with them, which is exactly what they are doing.

Not acknowledging this fact isn't responsible journalism. It is hackery of the most cynical and intellectually dishonest kind.

A Not So Beautiful Mind

2011-07-28T14:30:00.003-05:00

In the aftermath of the Oslo atrocities the usual braying from conservative bashers was to be expected. After all, the chance to score political points in this country usually trumps everything else, up to and including common human decency. Still if one bothered to look at the "manifesto" published online by Anders Breivik (or even a selection of "highlights") one could get a feel for the perpetrator of these heinous acts of barbarism.

My take, for the outset, was that this man was completely delusional.

Here is a snippet:

Q: Why haven’t we heard anything about PCCTS, Knights Templar before, considering the fact that the organization was formed in 2002?

A: That’s a good question. I am surprised why EU countries haven’t labeled our organization yet. Perhaps it is politically motivated psychological warfare, who knows? First of all, I only met 4 out of the 9 original founding members due to security precautions and I only know the identity of 5 of them (4 of them know my identity). There might be tens, even hundreds of Justiciar Knights now spread all across Western Europe as far as I know. I haven’t heard anything from the media about PCCTS, Knights Templar operations before either which indicates the following; either some of the original cells have not activated yet, which is not very likely considering the fact that the military order was formed more than 8 years ago. Or a couple of the cells may have perished or have been arrested in the planning phase before they even activated. Or perhaps they did activate and went through with their operation but did not manage to penetrate media censorship. A successful operation might have been labeled as an “accident” or otherwise censored by the media/regime. Perhaps a couple of them simply didn’t want to proceed alone or in a party with 1-2 other individuals but needed or wanted the support from a larger traditional hierarchy and joined another organisation instead. A few might have gotten cold feet and went about their usual business and abandoned our struggle and campaign altogether. It is really hard to tell.

For myself, it was hard to read this and not think we are dealing with a situation such as was depicted in the film A Beautiful Mind about the real life struggles of mathematician John Nash. As depicted in the film Dr. Nash in the grips of a terrible mental disorder begins to believe he is part of a secret code breaking operation bent upon unmasking dangerous agents communicating by code in newspapers and magazines. In order to flesh out his "world" Nash's diseased mind invents enemies and friends to populate it.

It seemed pretty obvious reading Breivik's ravings about "Knight Templars" and the like, that we were dealing with something similar here. Breivik seems to actually believe he went to London to be part of a meeting of a new Templar order hellbent on reviving anti-muslim crusades throughout Europe. It also is becoming increasingly clear it was all in his fevered imagination:

OSLO, Norway (AP) — The Norwegian right-wing extremist who killed 76 people in a bombing and youth camp massacre appears to be a lone-wolf sociopath who kept his plans to himself for more than a decade, a top security official said Thursday.

"It's a unique case. It's unique person. He is total evil," Janne Kristiansen, the director of the Norwegian Police Security Service told The Associated Press.

Anders Behring Breivik claims he carried out the July 22 attacks as part of a network of modern-day crusaders plotting a revolution against a multicultural Europe, and that there are other cells ready to strike.

But investigators have found no signs — before or after the attacks — of a larger conspiracy, though it's too early to rule it out completely, Kristiansen said.

"On the information we have so far, and I emphasize so far, we have no indication that he was part of a network or had any accomplices, or that there are other cells," Kristiansen told AP.

She said Breivik doesn't appear to have shared his plot with anyone, and lived a lawful and moderate life before carrying out the attacks with "total precision."

Breivik has admitted that he set off a car bomb in the government district of Oslo, killing at least eight people, then drove several miles (kilometers) northwest of the Norwegian capital to an island where the youth wing of the ruling Labor Party was holding its annual summer camp. He arrived at Utoya island posing as a police officer, then opened fire on scores of unsuspecting youth, executing them one after the other as they tried to flee into the water. Sixty-eight people died, many of them teenagers.

Kristiansen said that Breivik's case presents a new challenge for security services, different from a "solo terrorist" who receives training and instructions from a terror network and is then left to pick out a target and attack it on his own. Breivik appears to be a true lone wolf, who conceived and executed his plot without help or coordination from anyone.

"This is a totally different challenge," Kristiansen said. "This is all in his mind."

Judging by a manifesto he released just before the attacks, he started "preparing himself to do something big, shocking and spectacular" some 10-12 years ago, she said.

Breivik's lunacy, then, could predate even the 9/11 attacks.

Yet, still the moral degenerates among us will want to use Breivik's madness to their own advantage, which in itself is a form of evil difficult to fathom.

Another Fine Whine

2011-07-27T08:10:00.002-05:00

US eco-activist jailed for two years

An activist who became a hero to campaigners for disrupting a Bush administration auction for the oil and gas industry with $1.8m (£1.1m) in bogus bids was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday....

At a vigil outside the Salt Lake City courtroom where sentencing took place, supporters of DeChristopher's Peaceful Uprising civil disobedience movement shouted: "Justice is not found here."

As Bidder No 70, DeChristopher disrupted what was seen as a last giveaway to the oil and gas industry by the Bush administration by bidding $1.8m (£1.1m) he did not have for the right to drill in remote areas of Utah. He was convicted of defrauding the government last March.

Leftie blogs are outraged, OUTRAGED I SAY!, to discover the law applies to them. In fact, they claim, its all a corporatist plot!

Are you kidding me? If we ever saw an even playing field in the American justice system, perhaps, but it rarely works out that way. If you are part of the privileged corporate elite you can get away with anything, but not as an individual. Halliburton defrauding the US government of millions in Iraq? Slap on the wrist. Wall Street defrauding customers and driving the country and world into recession? No dessert tonight and do better next time. Environmental activist protests Bush land giveaway to Big Oil? Go to jail for two years.

So the crime by statute can lead up to a 10 year sentence and a $750,000 fine...and this nitwit gets 2 years (of which he will serve what, 10 months maybe) and a $10,000 fine and its the end of western jurisprudence.

If you cant do the time....

Here Come The Food Nazis (Again)

2011-07-24T09:55:00.003-05:00

Achtung! You must eatz your peas for de fatherland! Bad Food? Tax It, and Subsidize Vegetables

WHAT will it take to get Americans to change our eating habits? The need is indisputable, since heart disease, diabetes and cancer are all in large part caused by the Standard American Diet. (Yes, it’s SAD.)

Though experts increasingly recommend a diet high in plants and low in animal products and processed foods, ours is quite the opposite, and there’s little disagreement that changing it could improve our health and save tens of millions of lives.

So the fuck what? The whole point of a liberal democratic society is that people have the right to decide for themselves what the good is, no matter what some pencil dicked "expert" says on the matter.

There is no compelling state interest, at least in a liberal democratic society, in maximizing the longevity of every single individual. NONE. Now, a fascist society, on the other hand, does make a claim such as the writer in the New York Times does. In a fascist society the state is paramount, so if the state deems you have a duty to eat your peas, or make little blonde haired blue eyed babies, or not be Jewish, etc. then the state can demand it.

Gee, I though we fought a Second World War so we didn't have to listen to such dipshits.

For myself, I'm gonna stick with John Stuart Mill.

Cheap Moralizing (UPDATED)

2011-07-21T10:40:00.006-05:00

I suppose it is a sign of the times, but I really dislike things like the following on the normally reliable American Future: Shame on the House Republicans

A few days ago, the Economist reported on the rapid growth in the number of Americans on food stamps. Participation in the food stamp program has soared since the recession began. By this April, 45 million Americans were dependent on the government for their daily bread. The program’s cost almost doubled between 2008 ($35 billion) and 2010 ($65 billion). Last year, then, each American contributed about $200 to the program. That’s right — $200, or about 55 cents per day.

This trivial amount is too much for Republicans....

More and more people are or will soon be receiving their last unemployment checks. More and more people will need food stamps. How, in the name of our common humanity, can the House Republicans propose gutting the program? Are they the descendents of those who, during the Great Depression, believed that the poor had only themselves to blame for their plight, and that the provision of government assistance would undermine their morals and their willingness to work?

Appalling. It’s cruel and unusual punishment. Send them to the poor house. Let them eat cake.

Baloney. In 2008 we were spending roughly $6.03bn per percentage point of unemployment on food stamps programs. In 2010 we spent roughly $6.77bn per percentage point. Assuming an unemployment rate around 8% (which is EXACTLY the type of thing budget projections do), this would mean Republicans are suggesting spending $6.4bn per percentage point on food stamp programs. How this is an example of "gutting" a program or how this makes Republicans moral degenerates is beyond me, particularly since the 2015 budget will affect those currently running short on unemployment benefits not at all.

Of course, if unemployment is still close to 10% three or four years from now this could be inadequate. But guess what? It could be adjusted. (Congress voting to spend more money in the face of actual conditions? That must be crazy talk!)

Enough of the bogeymen, please.

UPDATE:

I want to emphasize something here. Yes, I've taken this post to task, but American Future should be on everyone's reading list. Marc is an old friend of this blog from its earliest days, and I couldn't be happier that American Future is back after a couple years away.

Bye Bye Anonymous?

2011-07-20T10:20:00.003-05:00

It seems an international effort is ongoing to deal with the cyber-brownshirts that call themselves "Anonymous": 14 arrested for alleged cyberattack on PayPal’s website in show of support for WikiLeaks

Fourteen people were arrested Tuesday for allegedly mounting a cyberattack on the website of PayPal in retaliation for its suspending the accounts of WikiLeaks.

Separately, FBI agents executed more than 35 search warrants around the country in an ongoing investigation into coordinated cyberattacks against major companies and organizations.

As part of the effort, there were two arrests in the United States unrelated to the attack on the PayPal payment service. Overseas, one person was arrested by Scotland Yard in Britain, and there were four arrests by the Dutch National Police Agency, all for alleged cybercrimes....

The cyberattacks on PayPal’s website by the group called Anonymous followed the release by WikiLeaks in November of thousands of classified State Department cables.

Anonymous is a loosely organized group of hackers sympathetic to WikiLeaks. It has claimed responsibility for attacks against corporate and government websites worldwide.

The group also claims credit for disrupting the websites of Visa and MasterCard in December when the credit card companies stopped processing donations to WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange.

A federal indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., says that Anonymous referred to the cyberattacks on PayPal as “Operation Avenge Assange.”

The 14 charged in the PayPal attack were arrested in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and Ohio. They ranged in age from 20 to 42. The name and age of one of the 14 was withheld by the court.

I hope the Feds throw the book at them.

Look Out Below!

2011-07-18T14:49:00.002-05:00

It's far too hot and humid here for my liking, but it could get worse: Heat wave could trigger “pavement explosions”

Among the adventures in extreme physics brought on by the white-hot temperatures is the potential for “pavement explosions,” which can happen when when moisture cannot escape through non-porous cement, causing it to blow.

As of Monday morning, Des Moines Public Works Director Bill Stowe said no pavement explosions have been discovered.

“I suspect by tomorrow, I won’t be able to answer that way,” he said. “. . .I’m surprised that we haven’t seen it yet.”

Extreme temperatures alone do not cause the problem, Stowe said, but the heat currently bearing down on the metro area is one of the key triggers. Steam pressure from trapped moisture and some kind of weakness in the pavement are the others.

Just to be safe I'm gonna stay inside and drink ice cold beer.

Undercounting Hurricanes Revisited

2011-07-05T17:46:00.003-05:00

Some four years ago I posted a study I had made on the likely undercounting of tropical storms in the historical best track data. Using very rudimentary tools and good ol' fashioned logic I reached the following conclusion:

It seems very probable the Mid-Atlantic storm counts are undercounted in some fashion. It is a trickier question to determine the degree of undercounting. However, if we take the rates of Mid-Atlantic storms found during the satellite era (see Figure 2 above) and apply them to the pre-satellite era the results are startling. Broken down by decade, the percentage of Mid-Atlantic storms to all storms in the satellite era looks like:

1967-1976: 17.20%
1977-1986: 14.44%
1987-1996: 24.53%
1997-2006: 21.23%

and for the entire period:

1967-2006: 19.77%

If we look at the minimum (14.44%) and maximum (24.53%) values as defining a range for the pre-satellite number (which today sits at 40 Mid-Atlantic storms out of 495 total storms, or 8.08%,) we are left with a range of an additional 1.28 to 2.46 storms per year. That would mean a difference for the sixty year period [ed. 1907-1967] of plus 77 to 148 storms.

Recently a new study has come out looking at the same issues, though using a much more sophisticated method of estimating the undercounts. Here is their chart for the adjusted data account for the probable missing storms:

As can be seen these results match up with my own to a remarkable degree. If mine were a little larger it must be remembered the range I gave was for all tropical storms while this chart is only looking at hurricanes. In fact, their adjustment is more than the one I suggested.

Still this kind of confirmation is nice to see.

E.J. Dionne: Lightweight

2011-07-04T23:43:00.003-05:00

It is a sad commentary on the intellectual merits of pundit journalism today (or the lack thereof) that in a piece designed to show how stupid we all are for not understanding the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne expresses his belief that the terms "national government" and "federal system of government" are synonymous.

If this is the best our "betters" have to offer we are doomed.

Feel free to read the whole thing if shallow (a)historical analogy, deficient understanding of political theory, and a thorough lack of comprehension are your sort of thing.

Not Knowing Your Audience...

2011-06-10T20:00:00.003-05:00

...Can get you in trouble:

30 Rock comic Tracy Morgan is under pressure to apologise after reportedly launching a vicious homophobic tirade during his stand-up show.

The comedian allegedly said that homosexuality was ‘bullshit’ and said that if his son announced that he was gay he’ would ‘pull out a knife and stab that little nigger to death’.

Audience member Kevin Rogers described the incident on Facebook, insisting: ‘The sad thing is that none of this rant was a joke. His entire demeanour changed during that portion of the night.He was truly filled with some hate towards us.....

Morgan has not yet issued any statement about the row – despite calls for him to explain himself, led by campaign group Truth Wins Out....

The group also called on 30 Rock producer and star Tina Fey, who has long supported gay causes, to ‘forthrightly condemn any sort of anti-gay hatred’.

Yes, if you are going to talk about stabbing people make it someone who liberals would laugh about stabbing, like Catholics, or Tea Party people, or Sarah Palin, that way they would be totally cool with it.

Hmm...The Dalai Lama Doesn't Seem To Be A Very Good Buddhist

2011-06-10T15:39:00.003-05:00

Um, let's just say this is interesting:

Usually what we hear from the Dalai Lama is an insistant yet soothing voice for compassion and peace.

So Tsering Namgyal, a journalist based in Minneapolis, was jolted by the Dalai Lama's talk to 150 Chinese students this month at the University of Minnesota. Writing at Religion Dispatches, he says:

Midway through the conversation, His Holiness, much to their surprise, told them "as far as socio-political beliefs are concerned, I consider myself a Marxist ... But not a Leninist," he clarified....

Marx was not against religion or religious philosophy per se but against religious institutions that were allied, during Marx's time, with the European ruling class.

Wow. This is spectacularly wrong, and I can hardly see how this could be a matter of opinion. (This is true looking at it from either the philosophical or historical point of view.) Marx was very clearly against religion per se. You see, Marx was a materialist. He denied the very possibility of real spiritual existence. The only meaning which can exist for a Marxist is a meaning based upon the relationship of thing to thing, e.g. workers to the means of production, the individual to the superstructure of the state, the worker alienated from the product of his labor, etc.

How can such a materialism be squared with the basic tenets of Buddhism? Well, it cannot, not without making Buddhism a dead thing.

Which would be fine by the Chinese....

The Only Word That Comes To Mind Is "Gestapo" UPDATED & BUMPED

2011-06-08T22:20:00.002-05:00

Say hello to the new Federal Department of Education:

Kenneth Wright does not have a criminal record and he had no reason to believe a S.W.A.T team would be breaking down his door at 6 a.m. on Tuesday.

"I look out of my window and I see 15 police officers," Wright said.

Wright came downstairs in his boxer shorts as a S.W.A.T team barged through his front door. Wright said an officer grabbed him by the neck and led him outside on his front lawn.

"He had his knee on my back and I had no idea why they were there," Wright said.

According to Wright, officers also woke his three young children ages 3, 7, and 11 and put them in a Stockton police patrol car with him. Officers then searched his house.

As it turned out, the person law enforcement was looking for was not there - Wright's estranged wife.

"They put me in handcuffs in that hot patrol car for six hours, traumatizing my kids," Wright said.

Wright said he later went to the mayor and Stockton Police Department, but the City of Stockton had nothing to do with Wright's search warrant.

The U.S. Department of Education issued the search and called in the S.W.A.T for his wife's defaulted student loans.

That's right. The same Federal government which has brought you the worst economy since the Great Depression is now sending S.W.A.T. teams out in pursuit of student loan money.

But hey, the folks in the Department of Education are only following orders.... that makes it all better.

UPDATE:

Well, this may make things a little different:

After Wright's claim received national attention, the Department of Education issued a new statement by Deputy Press Secretary Daren Briscoe, who noted the criminal investigation. "The Inspector General's Office does not execute search warrants for late loan payments," he said.

"Because this is an ongoing criminal investigation, we can't comment on the specifics of the case," Briscoe said. "We can say that the OIG's office conducts about 30 to 35 search warrants a year on issues such as bribery, fraud, and embezzlement of federal student aid funds."

I do know there is a problem in this country with fake "students" maxing out loans for classes they never take. Some of the money goes to the university for tuition, but the rest is pocketed by the "student" who is never seen again. Our state university system in fact has a separate grade to give to those students who enroll in classes but never turn in any work. This grade alerts the university and Federal officials to this potentially fraudulent activity. Sometimes it isn't fraud involved. It's just dumb, stoned, drunk, depressed and/or confused students.

I'm still going to question the necessity of a dawn SWAT style raid, but at least this has moved into the realm of criminal activity.

Morons: English Football Division

2011-06-08T11:12:00.006-05:00

It's a weird world:

Doncaster Rovers have sacked the woman who plays mascot Donny Dog after she posed in her underwear for a Sunday newspaper.

Tracy Chandler, who appeared in the photographs posing alongside Donny Dog's head, said she has been sent an email by the Championship side telling her she has "disgraced the club".

Ms Chandler, who has volunteered in the role for three years, admits she did not tell the club what she was doing but stressed it was "tastefully done". She also said the pictures had raised money for the NSPCC – the same charity for which Doncaster's players produced a naked calender last year.

That's right. This picture disgraces the club:

While this is fine and dandy:

I particularly like the tasteful bit of some of the lads with their hands down their pants. Classy!

Me thinks the Doncaster Football club has a bit of a problem with women.

Could there be any other explanation?

Bad Judges

2011-06-08T07:34:00.004-05:00

Head shaking time again:

A New Mexico man said today he will fight to keep up a controversial billboard that suggested his ex-girlfriend had an abortion.

The billboard has a photo of Greg Fultz holding the outline of a baby with a playground in the background. The large text beside the photo reads, "This Would Have Been a Picture Of My 2-Month Old Baby If The Mother Had Decided To NOT KILL Our Child!"

The sign is on White Sands Boulevard, the main thoroughfare in Alamogordo, N.M., and has been up since mid-May. Fultz's ex-girlfriend Nani Lawrence took him to court with a petition for domestic violence and charges of harassment and invasion of privacy....

Last week, Otero County Domestic Violence Court hearing commissioner Darrell Brantley recommended an order of protection for Lawrence and that the billboard be removed by 8:14 a.m. on June 17 on the grounds of harassment.

Judge James W. Counts is expected to approve these recommendations, but his office says they cannot comment on pending cases.

If this is "approved" all it shows is Brantley and Counts are rights denying idiots. This is so clearly protected speech you really have to be stupid, and I mean truly blithering, to not recognize it. In fact, no reasonable person with even a modicum of knowledge free speech jurisprudence could reach any other conclusion.

No names are used here. No telephone numbers are used here. The topic is clearly one of public controversy, even if presented as an example of how the issue affects individuals. It's protected speech. You have to be a moron to think otherwise.

I certainly hope there is a mechanism in New Mexico to hold judges civilly liable for egregious violations of civil rights.

Please Think Things Through

2011-06-06T14:17:00.002-05:00

I've made no secret about my ambivalence about Scott Walker and his agenda here in Wisconsin, but I must say his opposition has no grasp of public relations...at all. The latest:

Madison's newest campground opened at 7 p.m. Saturday, with most choice tent spots in "Walkerville" resting on concrete. There was no fee or registration, but the rules were strict, privacy was zero and scary stories around the flashlight were likely to feature cuts, slashes and vouchers.

There were roughly three dozen tents set up by 8 p.m., but by 9 p.m. organizers estimated there were 250 campers in 75 to 100 tents. The convivial mood was infectious, with lots of friendly conversation and tents set up within inches of neighbors, as if at a rock festival.

With the requisite permission from the city and county, but with grumbling from some nearby businesses, a federation of unions, students and other groups calling itself We Are Wisconsin plans to maintain a presence by way of its tent city in opposition to Gov. Scott Walker until June 20.

The gathering is the latest act in the 2011 political drama featuring the governor's push to eliminate most collective bargaining rights for most public employees, drawing a cast of thousands to the Square to protest that law, now tied up in court, and other changes to the way government works in Wisconsin.

Protesters have responded creatively, with tractor parades, celebrity appearances, a national television presence and, Saturday night, the Wisconsin incarnation of "Hooverville."

Ah...you see the difference is the men, women and children who populated the Hoovervilles of the Great Depression had nothing; no job, no home, few possessions, fewer prospects, little food, etc.

The reason we have "Walkerville" is students and teachers have their summers off.

And everybody knows it.

It's like they are trying to alienate the general public.

A Nobel Prize Is Never Enough

2011-06-06T11:40:00.003-05:00

Whinging is reaching new heights: When a Nobel Prize Isn’t Enough

LAST October, I won the Nobel Prize in economics for my work on unemployment and the labor market. But I am unqualified to serve on the board of the Federal Reserve — at least according to the Republican senators who have blocked my nomination. How can this be?

That is stymied Federal Reserve nominee Peter Diamond talking, and all I can say is...Wow. How many spectacularly wrong-headed things could he fit into one paragraph?

For starters, winning a Nobel prize is irrelevant in deciding the fitness of someone for public service. Period. Sure, it is a nice award to win and it is sure swell to be able to drop that into your bio - Diamond mentions it four different times in this one op-ed - but should winning this award be considered enough to make the confirmation process itself redundant? The suggestion is ludicrous. Diamond obviously does not think the notion is ludicrous, which in itself marks him as someone who may not be the best fit for public service.

Generally speaking, I believe Presidents should be largely deferred to when it comes to out-and-out political appointees. Judges and Fed. Reserves members are not in that category. The Board members do not serve for life, but they have 14 year terms, which argues the need for some sort of consensus on a nominee. That consensus may not be supplied merely because a nominee has a prestigious looking CV.

In fact, Diamond seems to be a fairly partisan individual:

Sen. Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Banking Committee, called the Nobel laureate “an old-fashioned, big government Keynesian” at his nomination hearing on Tuesday. His objection: The MIT professor doesn’t have enough experience in making monetary policy.

Still, Shelby allowed that Diamond, whose nomination was re-sent by Obama to the Senate on Jan. 5, is a “very accomplished academic and economist.”

“Does Dr. Diamond have any experience in conducting monetary policy? No,” Shelby said. “Does Dr. Diamond have any experience in bank management or supervision? No. ... Does Dr. Diamond have any experience in crisis management? No.”

The Alabama senator also reminded the banking panel that Diamond had sided with some of Obama’s biggest financial decisions by supporting the stimulus package, arguing for higher taxes to fund Social Security and bailing out banks.

“Our economy is already suffering from excessive government debt and misguided regulation,” Shelby said. “Our financial regulators should be trying to take steps to strengthen our markets, rather than replace them with new layers of government.”

So, on all of the recently contentious political/economic questions Diamond has shown himself to be rather inflexible and one sided. Why should a Republican think you are a good choice? ANY nominee must try and supply that reason. Given the precarious state of the economy in the wake of the decisions Dr. Diamond has supported, one might have thought a little humility could have gone a long way.

Then again I may know more about humility than Diamond does. I haven't won a Nobel Prize.

Climate Nazis

2011-06-06T10:31:00.002-05:00

Now they are advocating that "deniers" be tattooed so they can be identified as "what they are" just as the Nazis tattooed those in the concentration camps.

Don't want to be called a Nazi? Then stop acting like one.

Liberals: So Out Of It They Don't Even Listen To Themselves

2011-06-05T16:06:00.004-05:00

Words of "wisdom" from Nicky Kristof:

With Tea Party conservatives and many Republicans balking at raising the debt ceiling, let me offer them an example of a nation that lives up to their ideals.

It has among the lowest tax burdens of any major country: fewer than 2 percent of the people pay any taxes.

Gee, since when has it been the conservatives advocating we soak the wealthiest citizens to pay for the services of everyone else?

Oh, that's right. It isn't. It's liberals who advocate that.

Someone should inform the New York Times they are employing an apostate.

Tornadoes In Massachusetts = Not Unusual

2011-06-03T21:12:00.007-05:00

The recent tornado that hit Springfield, Mass has spawned a number of stories pushing the meme that there was something "unusual" about there being a twister in the Bay State:

Tornadoes in Springfield, Mass. A tornado warning in northern Rhode Island. The highest death toll from tornadoes since the National Weather Service began tracking twisters more than 60 years ago.

It’s easy for the casual observer to connect this spring’s catastrophic weather to climate change, but local scientists caution against making that leap.

Weather is a local phenomenon, says Bradley Moran, an oceanography professor at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography. Climate refers to changes in the weather over decades, centuries, even millenniums.

Springfield’s tornadoes were unusual, yes. When you look at the unfurling history of climate, however, Moran says that these storms are little more than “a tiny spike.”

While, in one sense, I'm heartened that AGW wasn't automatically trotted out as the answer to why bad things happen to good people, I'll still note that the above is simply wrong. It's wrong because tornadoes are not unusual for Massachusetts.

Here is the NOAA data which looks at tornado incidence per 10,000 square miles:

So, there are more tornadoes in Massachusetts per 10,000 square miles then there are in North Dakota or Minnesota or Kentucky or Michigan. It has the same per 10,000 square mile incidence rate as Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin. In none of those states are tornadoes considered "unusual." In fact, if you look at the rate of large tornadoes per 10,000 square miles you'll discover that Massachusetts has the same per 10,000 square mile incidence rate as Texas. (Surprising but true.)

People are being thrown by the fact Massachusetts is such a small state and therefore the total numbers of tornadoes are relatively small. However, an apples to apples comparison shows that calling them "unusual" is simply untrue.

What A Surprise

2011-06-02T17:34:00.003-05:00

Seems anti-Semitism is thriving in San Francisco. So much so that anti-Semitic initiatives are making it onto the ballot.

Scary times.

You can read the original post in the San Francisco Chronicle where the denizens of the Golden Gate city defend the anti-Semitic depictions of a "Monster Mohel" who "gets excited" by attacking children.

Nazi propagandists in hell are smiling right now.

What The H?

2011-06-02T11:56:00.005-05:00

We now need gay friendly hamburgers?

When news came that St. Louis would be home to a Hamburger Mary’s Bar and Grille, hundreds of Sauce readers expressed their approval of the hamburger chain that markets itself as gay-friendly...

The Scoop’s initial question was what made Hamburger Mary’s GLBT friendly? Erney explained that the franchise was founded by a predominately gay ownership who offered “good food in a non-threatening atmosphere.”

As opposed to what exactly? Where are these gay threatening restaurants?

This inquiring mind would like to know.

UPDATING:

Let's call the timing of this story serendipitous.

A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by three men who claim they were disqualified from the 2008 Gay Softball World Series near Seattle for not being gay enough.

The men, members of a San Francisco softball team, say they were questioned in front of a room full of strangers about their sexual preferences after a protest was lodged alleging their team had violated a rule that limited to two the number of heterosexuals on any team.

The three men, who are bisexual, say the questioning was intrusive and allege in the lawsuit that the event's sponsor and its rule violate state anti-discrimination laws.

However, U.S. District Judge John Coughenour found that the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Association, which sponsors the yearly event, can keep its rule. The First Amendment guarantees of freedom of expression and association allow organizations like the softball association to limit membership to individuals with like-minded beliefs in order to promote a broader agenda — in this case, ensuring gay athletes have a safe and accepting community in which to play, he ruled.
[emphasis added]

Where are these communities with roving bands of heterosexuals demanding to know the sexual preferences of gay ball teams?

I must have always lived in the most boring of places, but at least a gay guy could play the hot corner and get a double with cheese.

Quality Counts

2011-05-31T11:56:00.004-05:00

I know I am in the minority of right-leaning people in that generally support the movement to build a greatly expanded high-speed rail service in the United States. Granted, I would like such a system to be built with an eye to keeping costs reasonable and having the lines built be ones people would actually use - in other words I would prefer it wasn't being built the way the Obama administration is doing it - but, I still think it is a worthwhile endeavor.

Conservative critics, however, hate it. Many worry about the cost. (They have a point.) Many are prejudiced because Europeans have high speed rail and everything European is nasty or something. (They need to grow up.) Other simply have lousy arguments. Take this piece on Hot Air. Ed Morrissey
opines:

The private sector won’t invest in high-speed rail because there isn’t any reason for consumers to choose fixed-track transport between the proposed stops, San Francisco to Los Angeles. Several airlines already service the route and fly twice as fast between the two cities than the proposed train ride (2 hours, 40 minutes). That means that passengers have a greater selection of outbound and return flights, as well as a number of options on airports, depending on their needs.

I believe this argument is largely wrong and wrong for a very specific reason: Flying sucks.

It may be relatively affordable but the experience itself is unpleasant and time consuming. Most airports are at a distance from major urban areas making them harder to get into or out of; security concerns have in many cases doubled the amount of time one has to spend in the airport waiting around in seemingly endless queues; then there is the joy of being groped by a government employee; the planes themselves are cramped and increasingly devoid of pleasures for the average passenger.

So, I'll say this as a consumer, given a choice between flying from the Twin Cities to Chicago or taking a high speed train, I would choose the train ten times out of ten. Hell, I would actually make the trip to Chicago more often, therefore spending more money on lodging and food in the Windy City. I know I'm not alone in this. I lived in Washington DC for a number of years and it was common for people to take the train up to Baltimore or Philly for the weekend. It was convenient and cheaper than driving and having to stash your car someplace. And that was taking Amtrak. Without the train service many more people would have just stayed home.

I'm perfectly willing to believe the Democrats could screw up the execution of the thing, but that doesn't make the idea unsound.

Reason No. 1255 Why The Parties Ought To Ditch The Current Nomination System

2011-05-27T18:48:00.002-05:00

"News" from Iowa: Bachmann’s Debacle

“This is a disaster,” said one prominent Polk County Republican. An elected official called it “an embarrassment”. The embarrassing disaster was the result of Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann’s last minute cancellation of her appearance at the Polk County GOP’s Robb Kelley Dinner. Bachmann’s absence turned what should have been a very successful fundraiser into a black eye for herself, her presidential aspirations and the county party.

I'm no particular fan of Bachmann (though I've nothing against her either) but it certainly rubs me the wrong way to think of the out sized influence the people in Polk County, Iowa have in deciding who our presidential nominees are, particularly when they show themselves to be so shallow-minded and narcissistic.

"Why narcissistic?" you ask. Well, look at the reason why Bachmann cancelled:

The scheduling conflict arose because of a House vote on extending the Patriot Act. Backup plans were made for her to use a private jet. In the end, nothing worked and Bachmann was unable to make it.

That's right. She couldn't be there because she was doing her job in the U.S. House of Representatives, casting a vote on a matter of national security. And what was the reaction of Polk County Republicans?

“It’s awful,” said activist Becky Irvin. “She just shot herself in the foot. She dissed Iowa. You don’t diss Iowa.”

Oh yeah? Well I say, screw Iowa.

The over-sized role Iowa (and New Hampshire) play in presidential politics is bad for the political parties, bad for the country, and at its heart un-democratic. It should be reformed sooner rather than later.

Gee, Maybe Its Because Marx Was Wrong

2011-05-24T17:00:00.003-05:00

It amazes me how dominant an idea economic determinism is given that it is so obviously wrong: Steady Decline in Major Crime Baffles Experts

The number of violent crimes in the United States dropped significantly last year, to what appeared to be the lowest rate in nearly 40 years, a development that was considered puzzling partly because it ran counter to the prevailing expectation that crime would increase during a recession.

Someone with a scientific bent to their mind would probably reach the conclusion that the economically deterministic assumptions underlying such a belief must be faulty.

But who are you going to believe, Karl Marx or your lying eyes?

The Intellectual Bankruptcy Of Journalism

2011-05-24T15:24:00.009-05:00

The title of this post may give you the wrong idea. One might read it and believe I'll be arguing that journalism today has descended from some earlier lofty perch to a degraded position. It is true, in many ways journalism has done exactly that. However, not in the arena of the intellect where journalism has always been inherently bankrupt.

Case in point: David Brooks writes the following piece commenting upon and comparing the present political situation in the UK with the US: Britain Is Working

In 1920, Winston Churchill’s mother held a dinner for M. Paul Cambon to celebrate the end of his 20 years as the French ambassador to Britain. One of the guests asked Cambon what he had seen in his two decades in London.

“I have witnessed an English revolution more profound and searching than the French Revolution itself,” Cambon replied. “The governing class have been almost entirely deprived of political power and to a very large extent of their property and estates; and this has been accomplished almost imperceptibly and without the loss of a single life.”

Buried in that answer is a picture of how politics should work. Britain faced an enormous task: To move from an aristocratic political economy to a democratic, industrial one. This transition was made gradually, without convulsion, with both parties playing a role.

From this snippet you can get the gist of the bad analogy Brooks is working on. This represents the garden variety from of journalistic bankruptcy. To suit the needs of the op-ed writer most everything can be turned in a facile allegory, which always crumbles the second you start to pick at it.

However, the intellectual bankruptcy continues in those journalists who criticize the Brooks' of the world.

It can range from the truly stupid, such as when Glenn Greenwald opines, "David Brooks flew to London so now he's an expert on British politics...." Yeah Glenn, and your being a New York lawyer and journalist gives you the credentials of an expert. Besides, like or don't like what he wrote, Brooks makes no claim to being an expert on Britain. While I'll happily admit if we confined journalists to only expressly writing about topics about which they are demonstrable experts it would have the joyous consequence of eliminating 85% of Greenwald's writing to date, their editors may still demand more copy.

Even British journalists, who presumably know a thing or two more about their own country than a hapless American, display their own brand of intellectual bankruptcy. Take Daniel Knowles of the Telegraph for example:

[T]his column is laughably ignorant of British history and bizarrely naive about British political culture.

Let’s take a few choice bits, starting with the opening paragraph. Apparently, from 1900 to 1920:

Britain faced an enormous task: To move from an aristocratic political economy to a democratic, industrial one. This transition was made gradually, without convulsion, with both parties playing a role.

Gradually? Without convulsion? I don’t know if you’re aware of this David, but most British historians believe that the First World War was pretty convulsive. And definitely not very gradual. He seems to think that Britain cast off her aristocratic rulers by a process of “constructive competition.” In fact, what happened was that we went to war, conscripted millions of young men and sent them to France to be machine-gunned.

The intellectual dishonesty of this is, frankly, staggering. For starters, Brooks did not pull this idea out of thin air. As anyone can see from my quote of Brooks above, he was elaborating upon a comment made by Paul Cambon who was the French ambassador to England from 1898 to 1920, and intimately connected to the efforts that brought England into the Great War so he was obviously taking that into account. Indeed, Messr. Cambon's 22 years of experience working and moving in the highest levels of British political society vastly outweighs the "experience" of Assistant Comment Editor Knowles who, based upon the Harry Potter like quality of this head shot, may not have 22 months on the job as a journalist.

Obviously, Brooks and Cambon were limiting their remarks to the domestic situation in Britain during those years, particularly as it related to questions of political economy. As such Brooks' remarks are quite similar to the views put forward by the historian Barbara Tuchman in her book The Proud Tower, and by the late British MP Robert Rhodes James in his The British Revolution: 1880-1939. One could certainly take issue with such interpretations, but there is nothing "bizarre" about them.

Just as there is nothing intellectually honest about journalism.

Our Business

2011-05-22T08:49:00.004-05:00

I can remember a day when, according to Democrats, it was absolutely not the public's business whether legislators like Tip O'Neil or Ted Kennedy were alcoholics or not. What mattered was that they performed their elected duties, we were told. And nothing else.

My, how times have changed for Democrats:

Jacob Weisberg’s article on weird conservative beliefs ledes with this:

At a press conference last week, someone asked Chris Christie for his views on evolution vs. creationism. “That’s none of your business,” the New Jersey governor barked in response.

Weisberg moves on quickly to other things, just using this as an illustrative example. But it’s worth highlighting the fact that it absolutely is our business whether or not Chris Christie believes in evolution. This isn’t like asking whether Christie’s secretly a Rangers fan or something. Christie oversees education policy for the state of New Jersey and they teach biology in New Jersey schools. You can look up the state’s life science curriculum standards if you scroll down a bit here (it’s section 5.3) and it involves evolution. And rightly so! Does Christie stand by that, or doesn’t he?

The mind boggling idiocy of this should be enough to make any rational person at least cringe, and if you know anything about history it should give you even greater pause. Think about what is being claimed here. What now matters to this particularly dimwitted breed of Democrat is not what a given politician does or doesn't do. All of it can be colored by the knowledge that they may hold a politically incorrect idea or belief. For a rational person if you wanted to know what a Governor thinks about education you would look at the policies and changes he or she has actually implemented (or attempted to implement.) The idea that all of this evidence can be thrown out the window if the Governor has certain "suspect" characteristics or traits is essentially irrational and pretty damn scary.

The only analog I can think of in the history of the world is the similar belief that, for example, the race or ethnicity of an artist could make a work of art created by them "degenerate."

Talk about a weird belief.

Bernard Henri-Levy Embraces His Inner Rapist

2011-05-17T11:31:00.005-05:00

Say hello to the new Marquis St. Evremonde, Bernard Henri-Levy:

I do not know what actually happened Saturday, the day before yesterday, in the room of the now famous Hotel Sofitel in New York.

I do not know—no one knows, because there have been no leaks regarding the declarations of the man in question—if Dominique Strauss-Kahn was guilty of the acts he is accused of committing there, or if, at the time, as was stated, he was having lunch with his daughter.

I do not know—but, on the other hand, it would be nice to know, and without delay—how a chambermaid could have walked in alone, contrary to the habitual practice of most of New York’s grand hotels of sending a “cleaning brigade” of two people, into the room of one of the most closely watched figures on the planet.

I'll break in here to emphasize this piece really begins this way. Evidently this is how a French "intellectual" writes. Henri Bergson he isn't.

I'll also note how strange it is that a socialist claims knowledge of how all the "grand hotels" of New York operate. It's odd that.

What I do know is that nothing in the world can justify a man being thus thrown to the dogs.

What I know is that nothing, no suspicion whatever (for let’s remind ourselves that, as I write these lines, we are dealing only with suspicions!), permits the entire world to revel in the spectacle, this morning, of this handcuffed figure, his features blurred by 30 hours of detention and questioning, but still proud.

Oh, the horrors of celebrity, power and privilege! It can so lead to the blowing out of proportion of one's arrest on the suspicion of rape. Why, in France one could commit three sexual assaults a day and still make it to the cafe in time to get in a few hours of Israel bashing with the right sort of people.

This morning, I hold it against the American judge who, by delivering him to the crowd of photo hounds, pretended to take him for a subject of justice like any other.

Oh my! They treated him like anyone else! Do they not know who he is? He is not some peasant!

I am troubled by a system of justice modestly termed “accusatory,” meaning that anyone can come along and accuse another fellow of any crime—and it will be up to the accused to prove that the accusation is false and without basis in fact.

Yes, in America superior men are liable to be held accountable for their crimes! Even those committed by them against their obvious inferiors! It's maddening, no?

In case you cannot tell from the above, Bernard Henri-Levy is an imbecile.

UPDATED:

Just as bad as Henri-Levy's imbecility are the truly despicable efforts to paint those who believe that Strauss-Kahn should have to face potential charges without the chance to flee the country as being being against due process and the principle that everyone is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Besides I have to really wonder about the sanity of someone who would write the following:

1.) If he is such a womanizer and violent guy with women, why didn't he ever get charged until now? If he has a long history of sexual abuse, how can it have remained no more than gossip this long? France is a nation of vicious political rivalries. Why didn't his opponents get him years ago?

Hmmm... how do the rich, powerful and politically connected get away with anything?

It's a mystery!

Darn. I Don't Have My Tin Foil Hat Handy

2011-05-13T23:31:00.004-05:00

Little did any of us know, well at least those of us who live in a world where a clear sky is blue and the moon isn't made of used Mazda parts, that Al Gore was the victim of a vast media conspiracy back in 1999 and 2000.

Unreal.

The Death Of American Liberalism

2011-05-12T07:09:00.000-05:00

If you were ever wondering which gasping spasm of outrage represented the final exhalation of this dying creature, well, wonder no more:

Question: If your elected officials fail basic taxonomy, promote anti-science curriculum, and consistently attempt to undermine the fundamental unpinning of all biology, what happens when they start trying to legislate from this flawed view of reality?

The answer is this poorly-worded miasma of a law recently passed in Florida, which presumably was designed to prevent bestiality and promote animal welfare, but which has actually made it illegal, effective October 1, 2011, for anyone to have sex in Florida.

The nub, if you can call it that, is Florida legislators use the word "animal" which, to a college sophomore somewhere who between bong hits remembered human beings are also animals, means Floridians are total rubes!

Well, according to this "logic" so are the good folks in Massachusetts who have made it a crime to watch "animals" fight. (Sorry about that all you boxing and hockey fans!) Add to the list as well Rhode Island, Washington, Illinois, Minnesota, California, and basically anywhere else that is considered left of the American center.

I cannot tell if this represents simple though damn thorough ignorance of law, or if it is part of a campaign to "normalize" bestiality. I guess I could be setting up a false dichomoty here. No reason it cannot be both.

Irrefutable Evidence

2011-05-10T10:05:00.003-05:00

Just in case people missed it, or if you are unaware that Noam Chomsky is an ignorant and, frankly, evil son-of-a-bitch, you should go read Chistopher Hitchens today:Chomsky's Follies

Anybody visiting the Middle East in the last decade has had the experience: meeting the hoarse and aggressive person who first denies that Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the destruction of the World Trade Center and then proceeds to describe the attack as a justified vengeance for decades of American imperialism. This cognitive dissonance—to give it a polite designation—does not always take that precise form. Sometimes the same person who hails the bravery of al-Qaida's martyrs also believes that the Jews planned the "operation." As far as I know, only leading British "Truther" David Shayler, a former intelligence agent who also announced his own divinity, has denied that the events of Sept. 11, 2001, took place at all. (It was apparently by means of a hologram that the widespread delusion was created on television.) In his recent article for Guernica magazine, however, professor Noam Chomsky decides to leave that central question open. We have no more reason to credit Osama Bin Laden's claim of responsibility, he states, than we would have to believe Chomsky's own claim to have won the Boston Marathon.

I can't immediately decide whether or not this is an improvement on what Chomsky wrote at the time. Ten years ago, apparently sharing the consensus that 9/11 was indeed the work of al-Qaida, he wrote that it was no worse an atrocity than President Clinton's earlier use of cruise missiles against Sudan in retaliation for the bomb attacks on the centers of Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. (I haven't been back to check on whether he conceded that those embassy bombings were also al-Qaida's work to begin with.) He is still arguing loudly for moral equivalence, maintaining that the Abbottabad, Pakistan, strike would justify a contingency whereby "Iraqi commandos landed at George W. Bush's compound, assassinated him, and dumped his body in the Atlantic." (Indeed, equivalence might be a weak word here, since he maintains that, "uncontroversially, [Bush's] crimes vastly exceed bin Laden's.") So the main new element is the one of intriguing mystery. The Twin Towers came down, but it's still anyone's guess who did it. Since "April 2002, [when] the head of the FBI, Robert Mueller, informed the press that after the most intensive investigation in history, the FBI could say no more than that it 'believed' that the plot was hatched in Afghanistan," no evidence has been adduced. "Nothing serious," as Chomsky puts it, "has been provided since."

One could say Chomsky was crazy as a loon, but I truly don't think he is. Just like Martin Heidegger he has deliberately chosen to side with evil for his own perverted reasons.

Basically, he's a monster.

Krugman Lies To Everyone On Earth, Including Himself

2011-05-09T12:00:00.003-05:00

I guess it gets really difficult to remember what you've said when one is Paul Krugman and basically every word you have uttered in the last fifteen years or so has been politically premised and never tempered by an actual principle, other than "Gee ain't I swell!" perhaps. The Unwisdom of Elites

The fact is that what we’re experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. The policies that got us into this mess weren’t responses to public demand. They were, with few exceptions, policies championed by small groups of influential people — in many cases, the same people now lecturing the rest of us on the need to get serious. And by trying to shift the blame to the general populace, elites are ducking some much-needed reflection on their own catastrophic mistakes.

Let me focus mainly on what happened in the United States, then say a few words about Europe.

These days Americans get constant lectures about the need to reduce the budget deficit. That focus in itself represents distorted priorities, since our immediate concern should be job creation. But suppose we restrict ourselves to talking about the deficit, and ask: What happened to the budget surplus the federal government had in 2000?

The answer is, three main things. First, there were the Bush tax cuts, which added roughly $2 trillion to the national debt over the last decade. Second, there were the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which added an additional $1.1 trillion or so. And third was the Great Recession, which led both to a collapse in revenue and to a sharp rise in spending on unemployment insurance and other safety-net programs.

Great argument, except for the fact Krugman has been arguing for years that these deficits are not a disaster at all. In fact, Krugman has been claiming the only disaster is that we haven't been producing larger deficits.

So which is it Mr. Krugman? Are the record breaking deficits you've been advocating for a disaster or not?

I'll wait for you to look outside and try to guage which way the wind is blowing.

It's all you ever do anyway.

Life Is Too Short To Refute Dipshit Salon Editors...

2011-05-07T01:05:00.004-05:00

...but you can take my word for it as a professor of political philosophy... Joan Walsh is a journalist who has no expertise in political philosophy, no understanding of political philosophy, and, evidently, only a tenuous hold on the principles that underlie her own supposed discipline. Reading her is like suffering an ignorance assault.

And I say this as someone who doesn't particularly care for David Brooks, but at least he's aware there is a world that exists outside the confines of his cozy worldview.

Ms. Walsh? Not so much.

Talk About Unconvincing

2011-05-04T20:59:00.002-05:00

Chutzpah award of the week: Justice to NCAA: Why no college football playoff

The Justice Department wants to know why the NCAA doesn't have a college football playoff system and says there are "serious questions" about whether the current format to determine a national champion complies with antitrust laws.

Critics who have urged the department to investigate the Bowl Championship Series contend it unfairly gives some schools preferential access to the title championship game and top-tier end-of-the-season bowl contents.

In a letter this week, the department's antitrust chief, Christine Varney, asked NCAA President Mark Emmert why a playoff system isn't used in football, unlike in other sports; what steps the NCAA has taken to create one; and whether Emmert thinks there are aspects of the BCS system that don't serve the interest of fans, schools and players....

Bill Hancock, the BCS executive director, was confident the current system complies with the law.

"Goodness gracious, with all that's going on in the world right now and with national and state budgets being what they are, it seems like a waste of taxpayers' money to have the government looking into how college football games are played," he said.

In other words: "The government was so busy we were confident we could get away with violating the law. Besides, why would the government care about our little football games, which only generate a few billion dollars of business every year."

Mr. Hancock you are a tone deaf idiot.

That is all.

Who Will Benefit Most From The Bin Laden Killing Politically?

2011-05-03T14:44:00.003-05:00

I respond: Who gives a crap?

The answer is no one really cares except those with a damn near total lack of perspective. A long time ago I wrote:

There is a sameness about the disputes and controversies. Pure political junkies don’t really notice this as they can always live “in the moment.” They are like the guy in Memento: everything is perpetually new. Every new issue is taken upon its face value, and analogies are just tools used to bludgeon the other side and not to remind us that we have been here before.

Issues like "How much will Obama benefit from this?" simply fall in this navel gazing category. It's the type of question that makes the political blogosphere deathly boring for me sometimes. In the long run, and here I'm talking about months not years, it simply won't matter. For example, if gasoline hits five dollars a gallon this July people will look back at the halcyon days of the Bin Laden offing and think "Wow, we were so much younger back then..." or at least it will feel that way.

So much of politics is ephemera, in truth most of it is. For that reason it often bores me to tears. And, my goodness, is this particular piece of ephemera boring.

A Near Total Lack Of Irony

2011-05-02T16:58:00.003-05:00

How fitting is it that Osama Bin Laden's last conscious action before a high velocity bullet tore through his grey matter was one of domestic abuse?

I'd say pretty damn fitting.

BREAKING NEWS: Osama Bin Laden Arrives In Hell

2011-05-01T22:33:00.002-05:00

It's about time.

Thank you God.

Returning To Shamanism

2011-04-28T17:55:00.003-05:00

So, I'm watching Brian Williams on the NBC Nightly News (I know, I know...that was my first mistake), and he's talking about the terrible tornado outbreak down South. For part of the report he brings in a meteorologist from the Weather Channel (I think it was Greg Forbes) to discuss the matter from, I presumed, a scientific point of view. Williams begins by asking the good doctor "What have we done to cause all of this?"

To the scientist's credit he attempted to remind Mr. Williams about what happens whenever cool dry air slams into warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico (you know, what we generally call here in the United States spring.) But really the question didn't seem to be seeking a scientific explanation of this rare but certainly not unprecedented outbreak. Williams' question seemed to be in search of an intermediary that could inform us of the best ways to appease the proud and angry god who had decided to smote us for our folly.

Simply put, it wasn't the sort of question an intelligent person asks of a scientist. It is the sort of beseeching with which one would expect a befuddled villager to confront a shaman.

Maybe we are entering a new dark age after all.

A Message To Everyone On Earth: With All Due Respect, Screw Your Delicate Sensibilities

2011-04-28T15:12:00.002-05:00

Meet the straw that broke this camel's back: Pub singer's 'racism' arrest over Kung Fu Fighting performance

A pub singer has been arrested on suspicion of racial harassment after singing King Fu Fighting in front of two Chinese people.

Simon Ledger says he fears he will end up with a criminal record for performing the 1974 disco classic at a seafront bar on the Isle of Wight on Sunday after two people walking past apparently took offence.

The 34-year-old, from the island, regularly features Carl Douglas’s 1974 number one hit in his set when he performs at the Driftwood Beach Bar in Sandown.

But after striking up the melody in front of customers at the weekend he noticed a man of Chinese origin walking past with his mother, making gestures at him and taking a picture on his mobile phone.

He said that he later received a telephone call from police - while he was dining in a Chinese restaurant - asking him to meet officers about the incident.

He was then arrested and questioned before being bailed.

You know what? I've had it with this bullshit. Someone say something you find offensive? Well, welcome to the real world where things are tough all over. If you don't want to be a "victim" then stop play-acting the part. If you want to confront something you find offensive then learn how to construct a logical argument and write a goddam op-ed.

What began as merely sickeningly annoying "woe is me and my kind" shtick has now become a serious threat to human freedom and dignity (well, as much dignity as one can muster singing "Kung Fu Fighting".)

So to all you "sensitive" types in the world out there, you can stick your "feelings" where the sun don't shine. Freedom is a hell of a lot more important.

Of course, you could try growing up and becoming an adult, or is that just crazy talk?

Welcome To The First And Last Mention Of Obama's Birth Certificate On The Iconic Midwest!

2011-04-27T12:45:00.003-05:00

How will we fill our days from now on?

Could There Be A Possible Justification?

2011-04-22T15:56:00.003-05:00

I'm scratching my head trying to figure out how the Federal government has the right to dictate to a private manufacturer what state they are allowed to operate a factory within. I'm practically fracturing my skull when I learn the stated rationale given by the Feds is they prefer the laws (and presumably the lawmakers writing those laws) of one state more than those in the other state.

I mean I realize this is the sort of thing Stalin could have mandated, but I thought we were not going there.

What Science Is. What It Isn't.

2011-04-16T07:53:00.002-05:00

It is a simple rule of thumb anyone can use to figure out if you are dealing with a person or organization interested in doing real science OR if they are only interested in running some sort of public relations scam: Do they own up to their mistakes? Those interested in science do, all the others do not.

So, let's say you see that some organization has made a claim that by a certain date there would be 50 million "climate refugees" around the world. Let us further say that date was 2010 and that census figures indicate the actual number of climate refugees to be, oh, right around zero. If one were interested in science would one:

A) Openly acknowledge the weakness of your prediction and seek to identify the factors which led your hypothesis to be so wildly inaccurate; OR

B) Attempt to remove any evidence of your ever having made the, now, ridiculous prediction in the first place.

See if you can guess which route the United Nations Environment Programme decided to take.

And Teachers Wonder Why People Think They Are Morons

2011-04-11T14:54:00.004-05:00

Good grief: Chicago school bans some lunches brought from home

Fernando Dominguez cut the figure of a young revolutionary leader during a recent lunch period at his elementary school.

"Who thinks the lunch is not good enough?" the seventh-grader shouted to his lunch mates in Spanish and English.

Dozens of hands flew in the air and fellow students shouted along: "We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch! We should bring our own lunch!"

Fernando waved his hand over the crowd and asked a visiting reporter: "Do you see the situation?"

At his public school, Little Village Academy on Chicago's West Side, students are not allowed to pack lunches from home. Unless they have a medical excuse, they must eat the food served in the cafeteria. Principal Elsa Carmona said her intention is to protect students from their own unhealthful food choices...

A Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman said she could not say how many schools prohibit packed lunches and that decision is left to the judgment of the principals.

"While there is no formal policy, principals use common sense judgment based on their individual school environments," Monique Bond wrote in an email. "In this case, this principal is encouraging the healthier choices and attempting to make an impact that extends beyond the classroom." [emphasis added]

The principal is not "encouraging choices" of any kind. (Only in the Orwellian world of modern education could banning everything but what the state allows be called an exercise in choice.) The principal is dictating what these children are eating pure and simple. Like every other tyrant since the beginning of time they try to disguise their dictatorial impulses as being all benevolent intentions and sunshine. In reality it is merely thuggish and masks a real contempt not only for the children but also their parents.

Sheesh.

Related: See my take on the "idea" of "Food Justice."

[irony]Oh, Thank Goodness [/irony]

2011-04-07T18:24:00.003-05:00

Conspiracy theorists of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but MY sanity! Prosser's huge gain comes after Waukesha County flub is caught

David Prosser gained 7,582 votes in Waukesha County, after a major counting error of Brookfield results was detected, County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus announced in a stunning development this afternoon. Nickolaus says the reason for the big change is that data transmitted from the City of Brookfield was imported but that she failed to save those results to the database. Brookfield cast 14,315 votes on April 5 -- 10,859 of those votes went to Prosser and 3,456 went to JoAnne Kloppenburg.

Great. What could be better than a never ending round of "stolen election!" crapola. But then again, Democrats always tell us election fraud isn't a problem. Maybe this will be accepted without a peep, right?

A Political Scientist! A Political Scientist! My Kingdom For A Political Scientist!

2011-04-06T10:23:00.003-05:00

Given we are basically a dime-a-dozen breed you would think folks would make use of us (or our work) a bit more often. Whoever Wins, WI Supreme Court Election Shows Big Labor Less Formidible [sic] Than Expected

Last night, the movement to save America and the states from corruption and insolvency may have suffered a setback in Wisconsin. Prosser has a razor-thin lead, but almost all the outstanding votes are in Kloppenburg counties, and for whatever reason, Democrats seem to usually benefit from recounts.... On paper, the reformers were severely disadvantaged. Both candidates agreed to run on only $300,000 in public financing, meaning they could not directly operate on the scale this election required. The unions’ well-established political organizations, compounded by likely-stronger recall petition teams that they were able to re-purpose, looked to be an enormous advantage... Big labor should have been far more excited and mobilized than the reformers. Non-public-safety public employee unions’ ability to function in Wisconsin is at stake if the Budget Repair Bill sticks. Special interests with tangible benefits at stake are generally far more motivated to act than taxpayers as a whole, whose losses are less direct and less apparent. In national elections, when every political machine is firing on all cylinders, there are many competing sources of excitement, but in special elections, concentrated interests usually have an advantage. In retrospect, Wisconsin, with its recall provisions and upcoming key judicial election, was an especially tough venue for a battle between the interests of the many and the interests of the few. Despite all these disadvantages, and regardless of who ultimately prevails in this election, the reformers fought big labor to a virtual draw.

This is all well and good, however, it ignores a basic component of reality. Prosser was an incumbent. Even in such unfashionable areas of modern politics as state supreme court elections incumbents have built in advantages. Indeed, state supreme court justices enjoy more of a boost from incumbency than governors (85% rate of reelection for supremes, 81% for governors.) Add that to the fact pro-Prosser forces substantially outspent pro-Kloppenburg forces on media buys (who only managed to spend 62% of what the pro-Prosser groups did), and I think it would be foolish of anyone to think this shows weakness on the part of the Democrats. Indeed, that is a big part of my problem with Walker and Company. They are acting as if the win they enjoyed in November means the Wisconsin electorate has fundamentally transformed itself. There is no indication this is the case. None. Actually, Walker is acting exactly like Obama did after the 2008 election. It was a stupid thing to do when a Democrat did it, and its still a stupid thing when a Republican does it.

Meanwhile, In The Banana Republic Of Wisconsin

2011-03-25T23:26:00.004-05:00

Hmmm...it seems Scott Walker is now taking his cues from Hugo Chavez:

A law to limit collective bargaining rights for public workers in Wisconsin was unexpectedly published by a state agency on Friday despite a temporary restraining order barring publication, sparking confusion and more animosity among legislators who have fiercely debated the issue for weeks.

State officials disagreed over whether publication of the law — a procedural requirement — would allow it to be in force on Saturday. The state’s Legislative Reference Bureau said it is required to publish all laws within 10 days after they are enacted. Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, signed the bill on March 11, but a county judge issued an order last week blocking the secretary of state from publishing it. The order did not bar the legislative bureau from publishing the law.

Democrats argued on Friday that the law would not go into effect on Saturday because it still required official publication by the secretary of state.

“This bill has been under a cloud of suspicion since Day 1,” Peter Barca, a Democrat and minority leader of the General Assembly, said in a statement. “Today’s actions and statements are only perpetuating the problem.”

But Republicans said they believed the law would take effect on Saturday. Senator Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican and the majority leader, said publishing the law was the right thing to do and the Legislature could now focus on the budget.

“I believe, as of this afternoon, it’s published, it’s law, and we can move forward,” Mr. Fitzgerald said in an interview.

Uh, yeah. We shall see how that goes. Even Hot Air isn't buying this:

Democrats are surely on their way back to court even as you’re reading this to demand that the TRO be expanded to cover the LRB, Walker, the legislature, and everyone else under the sun. The judge did, after all, enjoin “further implementation” of the law generally before specifying a particular actor, so they’ll probably win and the scope of the order will be enlarged.

Any sane reading of the court order should have been enough to reach this conclusion, but when Walker and Co. is involved you never pass up an opportunity to act thuggish.

I'll tell you something else as well... in the long run I don't think Walker will accomplish anything. If anything public service unions will be more entrenched in ten years time not less. For starters there will be more of them. University faculty across the state have been rushing to unionize. Sure, they may be curtailed in the short run, but you'd have to be kinda crazy to believe Republicans will somehow monopolize state politics in Wisconsin for very long. Eventually Democrats will get back in and undo what Walker implemented, but that won't be the status quo
because of the new union members created in direct response to Walker's agenda.

Walker has been betting from day one that this past election represented a realignment. It wasn't. All indications are Walker's term will be at best severely humbled and at worst an unmitigated disaster.

When Is Deliberately Bombing Civilians Not A Terrorist Attack?

2011-03-24T08:18:00.003-05:00

According to Reuters, when the civilians in question are Jewish everything is fair game. Because, you know, there is no such thing as an innocent Jew... or something like that.

A bomb planted in a bag exploded near a bus stop in a Jewish district of Jerusalem on Wednesday, killing a woman and injuring at least 30 people, in an attack police blamed on Palestinian militants...

Police said it was a "terrorist attack" -- Israel's term for a Palestinian strike.

Jeffrey Goldberg noticed:

Those Israelis and their crazy terms! I mean, referring to a fatal bombing of civilians as a "terrorist attack"? Who are they kidding? Everyone knows that a fatal bombing of Israeli civilians should be referred to as a "teachable moment." Or as a "venting of certain frustrations." Or as "an understandable reaction to Jewish perfidy."

...The mind reels.

It does indeed.

"I Don't Like What You Say And I'm Black, Therefore You Are Racist"

2011-03-22T16:55:00.005-05:00

Welcome to "logic" in today's America: Anti-abortion fliers spark campus outrage

It has become the talk among African American students at the prestigious Princeton Theological Seminary -- racially charged fliers and postings. All of it is apparently anti-abortion literature.

Among the fliers was one that displayed a noose and another with the words "in the new klan lynching is for amateurs."

"I was shocked and appalled that someone would place something like that up at this particular institution," seminary student Maurice Stinnett told CBS 2's Derricke Dennis.

"There was a lot of devastation for me, psychological damage, injury, because I saw this as social bullying," student Shirley Thomas said.

Student leaders at the seminary, which neighbors Princeton University but is not directly affiliated, said the fliers first appeared on campus last November then reappeared in February for Black History Month.

The fliers originate from various sources, pointing out the number of African American deaths by abortion...

"People need to understand that racism is not dead," Thomas said.

Where to start, where to start...

First, can you believe how poorly written this news "story" is? I realize there has been a general slide in literacy in this country, but this is shockingly bad even for a journalist.

Second, how dumb do you have to be to give credence to the argument that it is racist to advocate for fewer abortions in the black community?

Third, is irony such a foreign concept to students at Princeton Theological Seminary that they are unable to see that calling ideas they don't like "racist" is itself a form of intellectual "bullying"? I guess the feeling is why have an intellectual discussion when you could more easily throw a temper tantrum.

How compelling.

I Told You So

2011-03-21T17:11:00.003-05:00

Four years ago... FOUR years ago I wrote the following about the snows of Kilimanjaro:

Please remember that last year was (so we were told) the "warmest year ever" and the glacier at Kilimanjaro grew larger. Also notice that this research confirms the hypothesis that glacier retreat has nothing to do with "warming" but with moisture patterns AND that these patterns starting changing in the 19th century. (Must have been caused by those "Sport Utility Horse and Buggies.")

Today one can read:

Standing as the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro is slowly regaining its snow after several years of drought in East Africa and the effects of climate change in African continent.

The snow is slowly mounting on the top point of the mountain, giving new hopes to Mount Kilimanjaro environmental watchdogs and tourists that the mountain may not lose its beautiful ice cap as scientists predicted.

Covered in mist most of the day, Mount Kilimanjaro is the most tourist attractive site in Tanzania, pulling in tens of thousands of tourists each year. The snow, which once disappeared in some parts of the mountain is mounting slowly, giving a beautiful view of the Kibo peak.

A visit by our Tanzania eTurboNews reporter to Mount Kilimanjaro's slopes proved that there were changes on the mountain snow, which has been covering some parts of the mountain where once the ice had melted.

Lo! and behold, some "scientists" have egg on their faces:

“Unfortunately, we made the prediction. I wish we hadn’t,” says Douglas R. Hardy, a UMass geoscientist who was among 11 co-authors of the paper in the journal Science that sparked the pessimistic Kilimanjaro forecast. “None of us had much history working on that mountain, and we didn’t understand a lot of the complicated processes on the peak like we do now.”

Look, I am not a geoscientist, but I got this right and the so-called "experts" got it wrong. Am I lucky? No. I simply do not believe reality is beholden to some ideological preconception I may hold. And, let's get real here geoscientists, the problem was not that the complicated mountain tricked you, the problem was you wanted reality to conform to your will. Until you stop doing that you will continue to get things wrong, and look stupid doing it.

From My Death Bed (Pratically)

2011-03-11T17:28:00.003-06:00

I have the flu and feel like complete and utter crap, but the monsters (literally people who have no soul) are out trumpeting that earthquakes are caused by people driving SUV's. Today’s tsunami: This is what climate change looks like

So far, today's tsunami has mainly affected Japan -- there are reports of up to 300 dead in the coastal city of Sendai -- but future tsunamis could strike the U.S. and virtually any other coastal area of the world with equal or greater force, say scientists. In a little-heeded warning issued at a 2009 conference on the subject, experts outlined a range of mechanisms by which climate change could already be causing more earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic activity.

"When the ice is lost, the earth's crust bounces back up again and that triggers earthquakes, which trigger submarine landslides, which cause tsunamis," Bill McGuire, professor at University College London, told Reuters.

Yep. It's official. There is no reason anyone should ever listen to a word these despicable loons say ever again.

Not That You Should Care Really...

2011-03-08T15:02:00.003-06:00

...but I feel terrible.

Unfortunately, I iz at skool.

My Goodness. The President And I Have Something In Common

2011-03-04T17:44:00.002-06:00

Politics be damned, this is pretty cool: Obamas Make History with Homebrewed White House Honey Ale

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama made culinary history when they served homebrewed White House Honey Ale, made with a pound of honey from the White House Beehive, to guests at last month's Super Bowl party. They are the first presidential couple to ever charge their chefs with the ancient--and now wildly popular--art of homebrewing, according to White House Curator Bill Allman....

The President and First Lady purchased the brewing equipment with their own funds, a White House aide said on Super Bowl Sunday. Stephens declined to identify exactly what kind of equipment--it's a private purchase, after all--but according to Alan Talman of Karp's Homebrew, a brewing supply shop in East Northport, New York, the Obamas could have a very workable homebrewing set-up for as little as $60 dollars. A fancy rig would run between $200-$400 dollars. And the White House kitchen, though notoriously small considering the vast amount of delights that are created each week, is already in possession of some of the finest cooking equipment available.

I'll admit Honey Ale wouldn't have been my first choice, but it was honey from their own hive so you have to respect that.

Hmmm...I bet the White House has decent lagering potential.

"Someone Get This Prisoner A Pedicure!"

2011-03-04T14:12:00.004-06:00

Welcome to the hysteria: PFC Manning Stripped Naked Again

PFC Manning was forced to strip naked in his cell again last night. As with the previous evening, Quantico Brig guards required him to surrender all of his clothing. PFC Manning then walked back to his bed, and spent the next seven hours in humiliation.

The decision to require him to be stripped of all clothing was made by the Brig commander, Chief Warrant Officer-2 Denise Barnes. According to First Lieutenant Brian Villard, a Marine spokesman, the decision was "not punitive" and done in accordance with Brig rules. There can be no conceivable justification for requiring a soldier to surrender all his clothing, remain naked in his cell for seven hours, and then stand at attention the subsequent morning.

Uh, in other words the prisoner has to sleep in the nude?

Little did I realize I've been torturing myself for years.

Obviously prisoner Manning if on a suicide watch, which can involve the removal of clothing and other items which could be used to strangle/choke the prisoner if they attempted to harm themselves.

Is it pretty? Probably not, but Manning is not residing at the Ritz-Carlton for a pretty compelling reason.

Higher Education Has Just Jumped The Shark

2011-03-03T11:15:00.004-06:00

Really. Northwestern University defends after-class live sex demonstration

More than 100 Northwestern University students watched as a naked 25-year-old woman was penetrated by a sex toy wielded by her fiancee during an after-class session of the school’s popular “Human Sexuality” class.

The woman said she showed up at the Feb. 21 lecture in the Ryan Family Auditorium in Evanston expecting just to answer questions, but was game to demonstrate. The course’s professor on Wednesday acknowledged some initial hesitation, but said student feedback was “uniformly positive.”

And Northwestern defended the class and its professor.

“Northwestern University faculty members engage in teaching and research on a wide variety of topics, some of them controversial and at the leading edge of their respective disciplines,” said Alan K. Cubbage, vice president for University Relations. “The University supports the efforts of its faculty to further the advancement of knowledge.”

The optional, non-credit demo followed psychology Prof. John Michael Bailey’s sexuality class. Nearly 600 students are in Bailey’s class this quarter, and most didn’t stick around for the after-class show, which featured four members of Chicago’s fetish community describing “BDSM,” or bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism.

Oh, come on. (Poor word choice?) Even the stated reasons for this bout of exhibitionism is prurient in nature. Pretending there is actual educational value in the porn show is laughable.

And university types wonder why conservatives hold them in such ill repute. It is because of garbage like this. There are no intellectual standards any more. Yes, it is true that deviant sexual practices are a fact of human existence. It is also true that, from an intellectual point of view, they are boring as shit. Literally. Human feces is also a fact of human existence. Maybe Northwestern should sponsor a class where students can do a number two on stage and take turns pawing through it. It would be as "educationally valid" as turning a Northwestern classroom into a Tijuana sex show.

Stop The Contest...

2011-03-02T22:26:00.003-06:00

...Someone is going to get hurt.

Iowahawk not being funny:

Please pardon this brief departure from my normal folderol, but every so often a member of the chattering class issues a nugget of stupidity so egregious that no amount of mockery will suffice. Particularly when the issuer of said stupidity holds a Nobel Prize.

Case in point: Paul Krugman. The Times' staff economics blowhard recently typed, re the state of education in Texas:

And in low-tax, low-spending Texas, the kids are not all right. The high school graduation rate, at just 61.3 percent, puts Texas 43rd out of 50 in state rankings. Nationally, the state ranks fifth in child poverty; it leads in the percentage of children without health insurance. And only 78 percent of Texas children are in excellent or very good health, significantly below the national average.

Similarly, The Economist passes on what appears to be the cut-'n'-paste lefty factoid du jour:

Only 5 states do not have collective bargaining for educators and have deemed it illegal. Those states and their ranking on ACT/SAT scores are as follows:

South Carolina – 50th
North Carolina – 49th
Georgia – 48th
Texas – 47th
Virginia – 44th

If you are wondering, Wisconsin, with its collective bargaining for teachers, is ranked 2nd in the country.

The point being, I suppose, is that unionized teachers stand as a thin chalk-stained line keeping Wisconsin from descending into the dystopian non-union educational hellscape of Texas. Interesting, if it wasn't complete bullshit.

Go read the whole thing, but I'll tell you right now, he's 100% right. One would have to be morally and intellectually bankrupt to argue the reverse, which explains why Krugman does so.

I Think I Understand The Obama Admin's Approach To The Libyan Crisis

2011-03-02T17:03:00.003-06:00

They seem to be hoping it just goes away.

I simply said I understand it. I never said I didn't think it was idiotic.

Multiculturalism Explained

2011-03-01T13:45:00.002-06:00

Any questions?

What Is The Difference Between Hacker Group "Anonymous" And Fascists?

2011-02-27T23:58:00.002-06:00

Answer: Not a whole hell of a lot. 'Anonymous' takes down Americans for Prosperity website

The online activist group "anonymous," which has used coordinated denial of service attacks -- a crude but effective Internet weapon -- to temporary disable sites belonging to foes ranging from Scientology to WikiLeaks foes -- has turned its firepower on the Koch-backed conservative group Americans for Prosperity, making the group's site intermittently unavailable tonight.

From the typically immodest press release, which begins, "Dear Citizens of the United States of America":

It has come to our attention that the brothers, David and Charles Koch--the billionaire owners of Koch Industries--have long attempted to usurp American Democracy. Their actions to undermine the legitimate political process in Wisconsin are the final straw. Starting today we fight back.

The manner they chose to "fight back" is to attack the principles of free speech. Evidently free speech isn't meant for everyone, according to this collection of self appointed overmen; a collection, it must be said, who resort to a high-tech form of violence to silence their opponents instead of using rational discourse (which doesn't seem to be their forte anyway.)

All I can say is if the tactics of "Anonymous" appeal to you, you really ought to mature a little and maybe grow a conscience.

End Of The Century Blues (19th Century Edition)

2011-02-26T08:02:00.005-06:00

I saw this interesting look at what 8th graders were expected to know in 1895. I just wonder at what the acceptable answer was for this question:

2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?

Rampant horse and buggy use?

Also, look at this question:

5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan Fermandez [sic], Aspinwall and Orinoco.

Forget 8th graders, today zero percent of college graduates could answer this. I cannot answer it either - I'd never heard of Hecla (and, even after trying to look it up, I'm not sure which Hecla they are referring to, the small town on the South Dakota/North Dakota border, the small town in Montana now designated a ghost town, or the uninhabited island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.)

Thank goodness we live in an age where not knowing any, what are they called.... oh yeah, facts, is considered a sign of progress.

UPDATE:

Evidently, Hecla is Hekla, which would make it an Icelandic volcano. OK, that makes it a little more doable.

This Is A Rorschach Test

2011-02-24T15:23:00.002-06:00

First, let me quote James Madison from Federalist #10:

When a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens. To secure the public good and private rights against the danger of such a faction, and at the same time to preserve the spirit and the form of popular government, is then the great object to which our inquiries are directed.

Now, let me quote myself:

The great task Madison undertakes then, is not the enabling of the "ruling passion" which seeks to impose itself regardless of private rights and the public good, but the restraining of said passion. It is the republican form of government which Madison is advocating which, he felt, offered the solution to the problem. It is the variety of viewpoints implicit in such a system that Madison relies upon for the restraint of the small "cabal" who would seek to impose its "ruling passion" to the detriment of the public good and individual rights.

In the above, are you hearing echoes of a different Madison, a place in the Midwest perhaps?

Or maybe you are hearing an echoes of an entirely different debate.

I'd argue both echoes are legitimate.

How 'bout you?

"Sic" 'em

2011-02-22T16:36:00.007-06:00

I noticed this from Hot Air:

[quoting from Politico] Voters in Wisconsin strongly agree with the working families at the state capitol [sic] and oppose Governor Scott Walker’s anti-worker agenda. Moreover, since the protests began, Governor Walker has seen real erosion in his standing, with a majority expressing disapproval of his job performance and disagreement with his agenda. Strong majorities disagree with eliminating collective bargaining for public employees and believe that if workers agree to concessions on pensions and healthcare benefits that the Governor should drop his plan to eliminate collective bargaining.
“Working families at the state capital”; “anti-worker.” Any guess who funded this particular survey? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

I'm not sure what the "sic" was doing in there. Very obviously Politico was referencing the protests at the state capitol - i.e. the building where the legislature meets, you know Ed, the place where all of these types photos were taken:

Given the news coverage for the last week it should have been pretty difficult to miss the connection between the protests and the capitol building where the protesters spent so much time.

Difficult, but not impossible it seems.

As for the substance of the Hot Air posting, shading doings in a big labor inspired survey, there is more meat there. It's too bad Hot Air undermined their own message with pointless, and inaccurate, carping.

Stupid Media Alert

2011-02-22T12:49:00.006-06:00

Stupidity must be a disease because it seems to be pretty virulent: Census: Near-record level of US counties dying

Nestled within America's once-thriving coal country, 87-year-old Ed Shepard laments a prosperous era gone by, when shoppers lined the streets and government lent a helping hand. Now, here as in one-fourth of all U.S. counties, West Virginia's graying residents are slowly dying off.

Hit by an aging population and a poor economy, a near-record number of U.S. counties are experiencing more deaths than births in their communities, a phenomenon demographers call "natural decrease."

Years in the making, the problem is spreading amid a prolonged job slump and a push by Republicans in Congress to downsize government and federal spending.[emphasis added]

I'm sorry, but what does the Republican proposals have to do with this long standing demographic phenomenon? How are proposals causing anything to "spread"? The answers are, of course, absolutely nothing and in no way whatever.

Let's hear what the people who live in one of these areas has to say:

"There's no reason for you to come to Welch," says Shepard, wearing a Union 76 cap at a makeshift auto shop he still runs after six decades. "This is nothing but a damn ghost town in a welfare county."

That's right, because it is Republicans who are to blame for welfare dependency.

People Are Just Details I Guess

2011-02-16T16:52:00.005-06:00

You know...I understand to some degree the glee shown by commentators like Michelle Malkin (see here and here) while engaging in ritual Republican union bashing concerning the goings on here in Wisconsin. I share the mistrust of the SEIU, and I am aware that it is the intransigence of the teachers unions over the years which has contributed to the Republican way of thinking that "you simply cannot reason with these people." I get it.

However, that is not all that is going on here in Wisconsin. A lot of the people protesting down in Madison are non-unionized university employees; people who have not had a raise of any kind in 6+ years and who have had a 3% reduction in pay the last two years; and who are being threatened with a permanent 13% to 20% reduction in take home pay by Walker now. These are not "fat cats living off the public teet." These are people making less than $25,000 a year. Given that Walker wants to make real raises illegal in the future (no raise could be greater than the rise in the CPI, and you won't get even the CPI raise every year), these workers are doomed to fall ever further behind.

I personally won't be affected by Walker's proposals since I'm an adjunct and, being serf-like already, I don't get any benefits. It just seems to me Walker wants to institute a solution upon the backs of people who were not the cause of the budget problem in the first place. Sure, go after backroom union deals and shady "retirement" packages, and the like. But people making $24,000 a year? Grad students who are living on Kraft Mac & Cheese and ramen noodles?

There is such a thing as too much collateral damage. Walker's nuclear response is a pretty damn clear example of that fact.

We Need A New "Normal"

2011-02-14T14:40:00.004-06:00

Let the trumpets blow! The Obama budget has been loosed:

Long on tough choices, short on final answers, President Barack Obama’s new 2012 budget goes to Congress on Monday in what many hope is only an opening bid before he and Republicans come to the table on a bipartisan deficit reduction plan.

For the current year, the White House projects a more-than-$1.6-trillion deficit — even higher than the Congressional Budget Office forecast. But outlays would actually drop in 2012 and stabilize in the $3.7 trillion range, as deficits fall to $1.1 trillion in 2012 and $768 billion in 2013.

I guess where I come from the definition of "tough choices" is a little different. Granted, the spending increases in this budget are modest (2.8%) when compared to last year's budget (16.1%), but Federal spending increases are still rising faster than the rate of inflation.

Whatever you want to call this new budget it is not our entry point into a new era of austerity. When it comes to spending we are still the drunken sailor on leave. I don't think anyone should be applauded because this year we've only maintained our buzz.

Maybe at some point we ought to think about sobering up?