Rising star?

Via Ace.

'My heart, my choice,'

A healthcare quote goldmine.

The Canadian Press: 'My heart, my choice,' Williams says, defending decision for U.S. heart surgery

Sauce for the goose?

Senate sitting on 290 bills already passed by House; tension mounts - TheHill.com

Burn

Obviously Nevada ought to reelect the guy, just out of concern for the well-being and safety of Mrs. Reid.


Via Ace.

Fightin' words

White House: If GOP Filibusters, We’ll Pass Health Reform Via Reconciliation

How much do they spend per student in DC public schools?

Guess. Go ahead, guess. Annually per student... Yeah, you already know you're wrong, dontcha:

Correction on DC School Spending « John Stossel

Great ideas in Government

Too Non-Existent to Fail - Mark Steyn

Science and shopping

Why (most) women like to shop - msnbc.com

In a new study, researchers propose that our mall-visiting behaviors harken back to the days when men hunted and women foraged.

Modern men, for example, generally want to get into a store and get right back out — just like their hunting forefathers wanted to find and bring meat home as quickly as possible. On the other hand, women get back to their foraging roots by sorting through racks of sweaters on sale — as if scanning plants for signs of ripeness.

No comment.

White House Hints of New Health Bill

White House Hints of New Health Bill -  NYTimes.com

With the House and the Senate still at loggerheads over their health care bills, the White House hinted on Tuesday that President Obama might post his own bill on the Internet before the bipartisan health care summit he is planning for Blair House next week.

Hrmm...

It's not me - it's you

WSJ: Failure of Liberal Governance:

The political retirement of Evan Bayh, at age 54, is being portrayed by various sages as a result of too much partisanship, or the Senate's dysfunction, or even the systemic breakdown of American governance. Most of this is rationalization. The real story, of which Mr. Bayh's frustration is merely the latest sign, is the failure once again of liberal governance.

H/T: The Corner

Stossel: Education is too Important for a Government Monopoly

Education: Too Important for a Government Monopoly

Since 1980, government spending on education, adjusted for inflation, has nearly doubled. But test scores have been flat for decades.

Today we spend a stunning $11,000 a year per student...

Warning signs

"I AM DR. AMY BISHOP!"

Texas to challenge US greenhouse gas rules

Texas to challenge US greenhouse gas rules

This will be a popular move in Texas. Will it put Rick Perry over the top?

Nuclear power aids White House climate push

So Drudge has this story up: Nuclear power aids White House climate push. Good for Obama, I hope that he follows through. This NYT article has a bit more information if you can handle the typical editorializing...

Update: The Heritage Foundation is not impressed:

Expansive loan guarantee programs are wrought with problems. At a minimum, they create taxpayer liabilities, give recipients preferential treatment, and distort capital markets. Further, depending on how they are structured, they can remove incentives to decrease costs, stifle innovation, suppress private-sector financing solutions, perpetuate regulatory inefficiency, and encourage government dependence.

Still, this might be the best we can hope for from this administration. Shouldn't we take what we can get?

Texas Governor primary polls

Perry Opens Wide Lead and Medina Surges In Governor's Race, Poll Finds


More here.

A story to watch

Unionized Rhode Island Teachers Refuse To Work 25 Minutes More Per Day, So Town Fires All Of Them

Amen.

Greenpeace wants Indian people to starve

So I'm reading this story from Drudge about how people are freaking out in India over a GM (Genetically Modified) eggplant. As I'm reading the massive difficulties India is having feeding such a huge population (~1.2 bn) I start thinking to myself, "I bet Greenpeace is quoted in this article about how GM food is bad and yada yada..." Sure enough:

Expanding India's food supply is crucial in a country of one billion people, with predictions the population might reach 1.4 billion by 2025.

The United Nations' Food and Agricultural Organisation has said food production will need to double by mid-century to meet demand from a growing world population, prompting calls for a second Green Revolution.

But Greenpeace maintains GM crops are a costly distraction from tackling hunger through fighting poverty and helping small holders in developing countries sell their products.

This is the major reason that I can't support groups like Greenpeace. Greenpeace seems to be for these great things such as helping the poor and saving the environment but they oppose simple policies that would actually help accomplish their supposed goals such as GM food, free trade, and nuclear power. It happens so consistently on many such issues that I wonder if their publicly stated mission is truly what they are about. Their positions seem to align more closely with an anti-capitalism ethos. Trees are a great example. You know who plants most of the new trees? Logging companies. Of course if you ask your local Greenpeace-ian about this curious point you'll usually get a blank stare or a denial of this easily verifiable fact. The smarter ones will transition to a supposed lack of "biodiversity" in the newly planted forests. I'm sorry, did you want to save trees or promote biodiversity? Maybe "Save the biodiversity" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Update: The Foundry is on the same page today. Must be something in the water...

Ask the Media: What should I panic about today?

Dangerous teen trend: Snorting candy not just harmless fun.

Monkeys in your hair...

...and the meaning of.

H/T: Powerline.

The Other Side

Every so often I like to go over and see what's what on the Left's side of the universe. I find that it can be clarifying to see how the other side thinks... err, as it were.

For your viewing pleasure, today's example comes from The Nation, a bastion of liberal tolerance and understanding. Post-racial, post-gender, post-partisanship, post-conflict really. The Nation embodies the idea of what America could be if only we could all agree to just be Americans. The editors of The Nation have this to say about the Tea Party:

While the energy and outrage may be genuine and organic, we should not fool ourselves into seeing this as anything but a right-wing reactionary movement, one whose themes (jingoism, militarism and a cult of victimhood at the hands of sundry nefarious betrayers) are as old as the John Birch Society.

Err, well, ok so they're a little edgy but it's just for dramatic effect, really. The John Birch Society is one of those things leftists like to laugh about at parties to show how "in tune" they are with their peers. It's a cultural thing. Like Red Sox fans bitching about the Yankees or when people who... deal with lawyers, joke about killing all the lawyers or maybe like when Mullahs preach about wiping Israel off the map. They don't mean it literally - they are just, you know, socializing. In truth, the editors of The Nation, in that long liberal tradition of multiculturalism and acceptance want America to know that even though we don't always agree - we all truly want what's best for the country. Bring it home The Nation!

It is useful for branding purposes that the right-wing organizers and activists draping themselves in nostalgia for the founding fathers not find themselves tied in the public mind to the Republican Party, loathed by a significant minority of the electorate and distrusted by an overwhelming majority. The reason is not hard to divine: over the last decade, the GOP ran the country into the ground. While the party's rhetorical fidelity is to small government and a big military, it has for decades been operationally committed to no philosophy other than perpetual war, upward redistribution of wealth, the defense of corporate power and white Christian identity politics. But despite the tea party's arm's-length stance toward the GOP, these are precisely the values for which it stands.

Ok, really, what a bunch of f*ckhead posers. I'm probably as supportive of a "Tea Party" like movement as you'll find - and I have no idea what they are even talking about. This is Grade A+ Bullshit right here. People pay for this magazine. I think. Perpetual war? Seriously? Upward redistribution of wealth? What is that? No, really, what is that? Is that like generally advocating against the regular redistribution of wealth? I guess you got me there then. Defense of corporate power? Corporate power? Like uh, in the governmental sense of the word? The we-will-throw-you-in-jail-if-you-don't-do-what-we-say kinda power? Er, no? Something else then... Sometimes I think liberals use "Corporate" as a prefixal curse word. Throw it in front of some other word, no matter how innocuous, for a phrase that shows you're on the right side in the battle for society's soul. Non-secular, of course - you know, a metaphoric soul. And finally we have "white Christian identity politics". Boy that's somethin' ain't it. Damn those white Christians... all identifying and shit. I presume black Christian identity politics are just peachy though, eh? Wouldn't wanna be racist...

Administration may abandon civilian 9/11 trial

Administration may abandon civilian 9/11 trial.

Ok, so this is a bit of old news I wanted to say something about. I've said privately that I believe this administration really has no idea what it is doing. I see mistake after blunder and backtrack after clarification on a regular basis coming from the White House. Close Gitmo - keep Gitmo open. Leave Iraq - stay in Iraq. Surge in Afghanistan - wait 4 months to decide to surge in Afghanistan. Release torture photos - uh, oh, don't release torture photos. I vow no middle class tax hikes - I'm 'agnostic' about middle class tax hikes. Indefinite detention of terrorists is a terrible human rights violation - err, maybe it's not so bad, etc. etc.

And now maybe we don't wanna do civilian trials for the 9/11 planners in NYC. Who the hell knows, really? I get the feeling these guys are just playin' it by ear sometimes. Regardless of whether they actually do know what they are doing - this is what they project to me.

And this was an idea so ridiculously stupid it should have been laughed out of any half competent oval office. It's good that they might toss the idea but the fact that they actually put this in motion doesn't instill confidence. And really the fact that they walked it back doesn't either. If you're gonna get up to the bully pulpit and proclaim yourself the savior of America, the Free World, and even the Oceans Themselves then you shouldn't need to change your mind. You're right. Right?

A Pale Blue Dot

Pale Blue Dot: An Alien View Of Earth : NPR

LAUSD's Dance of the Lemons

The Right Coast points out this story from CA: LAUSD's Dance of the Lemons. Over the course of the years I've had many people doubt my analysis about how the public education system in America works (or doesn't). Note that this article is 7 pages long. You could fill an endless number of books with these sorts of episodes. It is only with great difficulty that I am able to convince people that it is even possible things like this could be happening. The next problem, of course, is that they accept that this could happen in somewhere-else-land, like in NYC or LA but...

People there are crazy. That could never happen here.

Corporate donations ok if you're black?

Before you groan, read this from over at Hot Air:
How Congressional Black Caucus got around McCain-Feingold.

WASHINGTON — When the Congressional Black Caucus wanted to pay off the mortgage on its foundation’s stately 1930s redbrick headquarters on Embassy Row, it turned to a familiar roster of friends: corporate backers like Wal-Mart, AT&T, General Motors, Coca-Cola and Altria, the nation’s largest tobacco company.

The original story is from the NYT by Eric Lipton and Eric Lichtblau. I know, I know. I never would have thought they would report on something like this but this is quite the bit of journalist-ing here... so credit given where it's deserved. The NYT article has to be read to be believed. So, make sure you go read it (It's four pages).

It [Congressional Black Caucus] has a traditional political fund-raising arm subject to federal rules. But it also has a network of nonprofit groups and charities that allow it to collect unlimited amounts of money from corporations and labor unions.

From 2004 to 2008, the Congressional Black Caucus’s political and charitable wings took in at least $55 million in corporate and union contributions, according to an analysis by The New York Times, an impressive amount even by the standards of a Washington awash in cash. Only $1 million of that went to the caucus’s political action committee; the rest poured into the largely unregulated nonprofit network.

The NYT included this handy graphic as well, showing who gave what (click takes you to the NYT website for a larger version):

(Larger local version of graphic)

I would be curious to know how much time "duties" for the Congressional Black Caucus soak up for these Congress-people. Consider: If I am a Hispanic, why would I vote for someone who spends a considerable amount of time working on policies, research, and handing out other 'goodies' designed, at least nominally, to specifically exclude me? If you, as a private citizen, wanna have some private club designed to help some particular group of people - knock yourself out - but should members of Congress, elected to represent entire states or districts at the federal level, be participating in race based entities that use their Congressional stature as a tool to raise money?

She [Elsie L. Scott, chief executive of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation] also acknowledged that if her charity did not have “Congressional Black Caucus” in its name, it would gather far less money. “If it were just the Institute for the Advancement of Black People — you already have the N.A.A.C.P.,” she said.

You don't say.

Some Links

All your beach are belong to us?

Women: God wants you to be silent.

NASA - Shuttle Silhouette

Very cool pic from NASA.

Click for larger image.

Kennedy won't run for re-election in RI

Kennedy won't run for re-election in RI

Yeah, that Kennedy. The farewell message was notably un-funny but Beth Lindstrom is rumored to be laughing her ass off anyway.

Once his term ends early next year, no one from the storied Kennedy family would hold political office in Washington for the first time in more than 60 years.

I'll take things that warm the cold, shriveled conservative heart for 500, Alex.

Sometimes I am amazed at what people manage to get paid for

Up today is Paul Krugman with his op-ed America Is Not Yet Lost over at NYTimes.com. Now, Krugman is upset. He is looking out over the sad, barren fields that a year ago he thought had been seeded so well by a Progressive movement that had won control over all levels of the federal elected government. House, Senate, Presidency... all theirs. The people were with them and although you aren't really supposed to count your chickens and all that... just look - it's obviously in the bag. Finally they would be able to follow through on their vision. Health insurance 'reform', cap and trade, green energy, war... they were gonna fix it all. Yes we can. And we can because we know how. We know how things should work and so don't you worry - we're just gonna take care of it. In the process we'll drag the bitter clingers across the finish line - against their own will if we have to - because that's how awesome we are.

But nothing has panned out like it should have. And so the finger pointing ensues. Who is to blame for this travesty? Well, Krugman has the answer: Republicans, of course. You see, even though Republicans up until Scott Brown's victory have not been able to do anything, practically speaking, to stop the Obama movement - they are still to blame. This requires a singular perspective on the universe: Democrats could have passed anything without the need for a single Republican vote. It was, of course, moderate Democrats that caused the trouble - since the Democrats needed every vote, Democrats like Landrieu and Nelson could play the ol' Washington Pork Hustle and get some goodies for their states. Despite the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it rush, people took a look at what was being proposed and didn't much care for it. They started putting heat on their representatives. Elections in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusett[e]s made moderates carefully consider the new political tailwinds.

I'm not going to get into that here but suffice to say that 'the people' are not terribly thrilled with how things are going. So what does all this mean? Well, let the man earn his (considerable) paycheck:

We’ve always known that America’s reign as the world’s greatest nation would eventually end. But most of us imagined that our downfall, when it came, would be something grand and tragic.

What we’re getting instead is less a tragedy than a deadly farce. Instead of fraying under the strain of imperial overstretch, we’re paralyzed by procedure. Instead of re-enacting the decline and fall of Rome, we’re re-enacting the dissolution of 18th-century Poland.

A brief history lesson: In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Polish legislature, the Sejm, operated on the unanimity principle: any member could nullify legislation by shouting “I do not allow!” This made the nation largely ungovernable, and neighboring regimes began hacking off pieces of its territory. By 1795 Poland had disappeared, not to re-emerge for more than a century.

Well. We're doomed, apparently. Republicans have gone and killed America. By his example I guess we might have a century or so to sort this problem out... But we are simple people; what hope do we have of solving this immense problem? Help us Dr. Krugman!

Today, the U.S. Senate seems determined to make the Sejm look good by comparison.

Phew, emergency averted. Rejoice, the country is saved! Maybe you do deserve your money, Krugman. You dirty capitalist swine, you. Krugman: Saving civilization as we know it... for profit.

So, the Senate is the problem. See, the Senate has all these little pesky rules. And those rules are standing in the way of reform. Reform that will save the Empi... err, Republic. Which rules? Well, the filibuster, to be precise. And so the filibuster must go:

The truth is that given the state of American politics, the way the Senate works is no longer consistent with a functioning government. Senators themselves should recognize this fact and push through changes in those rules, including eliminating or at least limiting the filibuster. This is something they could and should do, by majority vote, on the first day of the next Senate session.

Now the obvious ploy is to point out that in 2005 Dr. Krugman had a slightly different take on the filibuster:

But the big step by extremists will be an attempt to eliminate the filibuster, so that the courts can be packed with judges less committed to upholding the law than Mr. Greer.

Yes, so in this regard Krugman is like the politicians; he's a bit of a hypocrite. No doubt he would claim that he meant it would be extremist to end the filibuster to appoint non Krugman-approved justices. But nixing the fili' to pass health insurance reform? Divine. Onward:

Today, by contrast, the Republican leaders refuse to offer any specific proposals. They inveigh against the deficit — and last month their senators voted in lockstep against any increase in the federal debt limit, a move that would have precipitated another government shutdown if Democrats hadn’t had 60 votes. But they also denounce anything that might actually reduce the deficit, including, ironically, any effort to spend Medicare funds more wisely.

And with the national G.O.P. having abdicated any responsibility for making things work, it’s only natural that individual senators should feel free to take the nation hostage until they get their pet projects funded.

Nevermind the embarrassing lie about Republicans not offering any specific proposals and the justification of pet pork. The key to his thinking is: Goverment "makes things work". That's all you need to know, really. It justifies everything he says. Krugman looks at American Government like it's the engine in your car. Without it we are "paralyzed". The country will simply not function without the Government doing... well, something. But most of the time it is Government action that precipitates the very problems that people such as Krugman cry out for Government intervention to fix. Health insurance is a great example. We stifle competition and don't allow insurance policies to be purchased across State lines. We have tied health insurance to employment. We mandate what insurance companies must cover. Through these and many, many other regulations we have caused the price of health insurance to go up.

All of these problems were caused by the Government. How shall we go about fixing this? More Government, obviously. We will add even more layers of bureaucratic and government regulation or incentive which will, this time, fix the problems caused by the previous layers. Prior regulatory 'setbacks' (failures) are simply evidence of the need for further reform (intervention).

If you were an overpaid New York Times columnist you would understand.

Medina, truther?

I have a special interest in this as a Texas resident. Apparently she went on Beck's radio show and well, here's the audio:



I like Beck's comment about Perry.

Ace has more.

The Fallacy of "Fairness"

Sowell - The Fallacy of "Fairness"

White farmers urged to lobby Senate ag panel

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - The head of the National White Farmers Association is urging Caucasion farmers to strongly lobby lawmakers to get them to approve a $1.15 billion discrimination settlement.

The proposal to pay claims filed by the farmers who say the U.S. Department of Agriculture discriminated against them was included in the budget President Barack Obama sent to Congress last week.

NWFA founder John Boyd Jr. told about 200 supporters at a rally in Little Rock on Saturday that supporters now need to make sure the plan gets through.

He urged them to "light a fire" under Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a Democrat and the new head of the Senate Agriculture Committee, who faces a tough re-election campaign this year.

The what kind of Farmers Association?

Entitled joke

Patrick Kennedy: Scott Brown's candidacy 'a joke'.

This is especially funny considering the multiple controversies Patches has himself been involved in:

"Sometime around 2:45 a.m., I drove the few blocks to the Capitol complex believing I needed to vote," he said. "Apparently, I was disoriented from the medication."

Yeah, we who are not entitled Congressmen - who got elected to office because of our last name - call that medication "whiskey".

In his defense though, when you're that shitfaced everything is funny.

Blog spotlight gets impersonator arrested

When I first read about this I thought for sure it was a hoax -- nobody could really be this retarded democrat.

I'm not sure what to hope for here: some guy with a mental illness or that we have people living in America that might think this would be a funny stunt.

CDR Salamander: BG McSoulpatch arrested by FBI

Latest Right Wing Conspiracy: People fleeing NJ because of.... taxes.

From the Ace sidebar:

N.J. loses $70B in wealth during five years as residents depart - - NJ.com

“This study makes it crystal clear that New Jersey’s tax policies are resulting in a significant decline in the state’s wealth,” said Dennis Bone, chairman of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce and president of Verizon New Jersey.

Only $70B?

Snooki was unavailable for comment.

Government in action

Fire Department Bills for Basic Services Horrify Residents, Insurance Companies - ABC News

Sometimes you read a story that really shocks you

Today, this is that story.

OSLO — Arni Hole remembers the shock wave that went through Norway’s business community in 2002 when the country’s trade and industry minister, Ansgar Gabrielsen, proposed a law requiring that 40 percent of all company board members be women.

...After months of heated debate, the measure was approved by a significant majority in Parliament, giving state-owned companies until 2006 to comply and publicly listed companies until 2008.

I'll pause and let that soak in. Yes, Norway passed a law mandating the percentage of women occupying the board positions in companies. Why did they stop at 40 percent, you ask? Well, I guess they figured 50 percent would have been too fair.

So, how has this journey into enforcing social justice results turned out? Well, you can probably guess since I'm linking it... but as they say: read the whole thing.

The article also includes this quote which stuck out to me:

“Power is not something that is given, it is something that you have to take,” said Benja Stig-Fagerland, a Danish economist who in 2003 helped lead an effort by the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise, the country’s main business lobby, to find female leaders.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard a female oversell her capabilities,” she said.

Now, I really have no idea who Benja is. I have never heard of her before in my life. I would like to think that she's being a bit humorous here, you know, women are "all powerful", nudge-nudge, wink-wink -- but I doubt it. I think she's being serious and if she wasn't the author of this piece certainly misrepresented her. No, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Benja is ... well, overselling here.

Obligatory exit questions: If you are a woman put on a board recently in Norway, given the difficulty in reaching the required 40% mark, how would you view your position on the board? How does that impact your interaction with the rest of the board?

In other news, in Norway there is such a thing as the "Equality Ministry".

H/T: VC

Interactive ideology map

Over at Gallup. Pretty neat. You can see how people line up in a state by state fashion according to (self described) Party (Rep/Dem) or Ideology(Con/Lib/Mod).

More on Citizens United

From Reason:



And Ilya Shapiro over at Cato @ Liberty has more.

And the counter-point: Democrats consider constitutional amendment to combat Supreme Court decision on campaign finance.

Well that's just unfair to retards

Emanuel apologized for 'retarded' remark

Danny Williams is getting heart surgery

Instapundit points out this bit of interesting news. Danny Williams is a Canadian Premier (similar to a US Governor). But he's coming to the US for heart surgery...

Hmmmmmmmm.

What is reconciliation?

What is reconciliation? Keith Hennessey explains.

Budget round up

The Obama Administration released the FY 2011 budget. Reaction from around the tubes:

The President’s bigger budget | KeithHennessey.com

U.S. Deficit to Hit All-Time High - WSJ.com

How does Obama's 2011 projected deficit compare? - latimes.com

What Obama's budget plan may mean for California - latimes.com

Obama budget: Record spending, record deficit - Yahoo! News

Budget Would Raise Tax Rates on Wealthy, Limit Deductions - WSJ.com

The WSJ has an interesting interactive tool that lets you see details for revenue and spending here. That's where I stole the graphic below; hit the link to see more.

 

Reason has the footage of the budget actually being delivered on the Hill. It would be interesting to take a survey on how people feel watching this video. What other event does this remind you of? For me, something along the lines of a funeral. -- A famous person died and the reporters are morbidly snapping away as the casket goes by...

The rise of Private Spaceflight

Alan Boyle reports over at Cosmic Log.

No, the biggest shift had to do with who would be in charge of providing the successors to the space shuttle fleet, which is currently due for retirement by the end of this year. Instead of having its own human spaceflight program to service the space station, NASA said it would buy rides in private-sector space taxis. In Nelson's words, "the commercial boys" would be in the driver's seat.

"If the commercial boys don't work, then we are stuck for upwards of a decade relying on the Russians ... and that is not a good position to be in," the senator said.

Never fear, Senator. I'm sure Washington will ensure the proper regulation and oversight is in place so that private interests are able to compete with... the Russians.

Remember that 'War for Oil'?

How's that turning out anyway? Hitchens writes about a subject somewhat missing from MSM coverage...