Government pork programs actually hurt a congressional district's businesses and cause less investment and employment. Hotair comments.
Is the world broke? Entitlements and government job growth has gotten out of hand.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
LIBERAL FASCISM
Big brother is needed.
Woody Allen told Spain’s La Vanguardia that it would be a good idea if Barack Obama could be dictator for a “few years” to overcome obstructionist Republicans. Just a few days later, Friedman fantasized, on Meet the Press yet, that the solution to America’s problems might be to be more like China.
Woody Allen told Spain’s La Vanguardia that it would be a good idea if Barack Obama could be dictator for a “few years” to overcome obstructionist Republicans. Just a few days later, Friedman fantasized, on Meet the Press yet, that the solution to America’s problems might be to be more like China.
Monday, May 24, 2010
OBAMA ON TERRORISM
Obama has confidence in John Brennan, his homeland security advisor. I just don't see Brennan as someone who has read the Middle East well. I have never seen a Washington advisor using Al-Quds as the name for Jerusalem until last week.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
AMERICAN JEWS & ISRAEL
Another article indicating younger American Jews have no attraction to Israel. The "philanthropists" were wealthy American Jews.
The philanthropists wanted to know what Jewish students thought about Israel. Luntz found that they mostly didn’t. “Six times we have brought Jewish youth together as a group to talk about their Jewishness and connection to Israel,” he reported. “Six times the topic of Israel did not come up until it was prompted. Six times these Jewish youth used the word ‘they‘ rather than ‘us‘ to describe the situation.”
The philanthropists wanted to know what Jewish students thought about Israel. Luntz found that they mostly didn’t. “Six times we have brought Jewish youth together as a group to talk about their Jewishness and connection to Israel,” he reported. “Six times the topic of Israel did not come up until it was prompted. Six times these Jewish youth used the word ‘they‘ rather than ‘us‘ to describe the situation.”
Friday, May 21, 2010
THE CULT OF PERSONALITY
Having seen this phrase so often in reference to Stalin and Mao, I was intrigued by its use in this Tea Party video and it is applied it to Obama and Progressives today. But also the use of the images in this media along with the music is so different from much of the other tea party video I have seen.
SPAIN'S GREEN DISASTER
A failure of a Spanish "green" program that Obama has used as a model for US. Even Spanish socialists are opposed to it. I don't know the details, but I do believe Washington should spend money using models that are reasonably proven.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
ILLEGAL ALIENS
Monday, May 17, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
THE FEMINIZATION OF THE ACADEMY
Getting a degree beyond high school is increasingly a "woman" thing--the percentage of males pursuing university and post-graduate degrees is declining.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
MUHAMMAD CARTOONIST ATTACKED
A Swedish artist who caricatured Muhammad was attacked at a university symposium in Sweden. The MSNBC report does not say who attacked him, although they were shouting "God is great" in Arabic.
Monday, May 10, 2010
GREECE ECONOMY
"Money and Markets" wrote: 
The terms of the latest bailout require that Greece slash its annual deficits to just 3% of its GDP by 2014. That's like demanding that Washington slash spending by $1.2 TRILLION in just 24 months!
If these statistics are accurate the economic future of Greece, Europe, and the West looks problematic.
The terms of the latest bailout require that Greece slash its annual deficits to just 3% of its GDP by 2014. That's like demanding that Washington slash spending by $1.2 TRILLION in just 24 months!If these statistics are accurate the economic future of Greece, Europe, and the West looks problematic.
Friday, May 07, 2010
DEMOGRAPHIC PROBLEMS
Good visuals of the impact of the aging population in Greece, the US, and Japan.
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
DARWIN FAMILY INBREEDING
Widespread inbreeding between the Darwin and Wedgwood families was probably to blame for Charles Darwin's ill health, and the childhood tragedies and infertility that blighted his family.
Friday, April 30, 2010
REDRAWING THE MAP OF EUROPE
The Economist has an interesting idea--what if countries could move like people?
PEOPLE who find their neighbours tiresome can move to another neighbourhood, whereas countries can’t. But suppose they could. Rejigging the map of Europe would make life more logical and friendlier.
PEOPLE who find their neighbours tiresome can move to another neighbourhood, whereas countries can’t. But suppose they could. Rejigging the map of Europe would make life more logical and friendlier.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
2010 HEALTH CARE BILL
This report was given to Kathleen Sebelius a week before the vote but kept from the public until recently. Now that it is out, it raises troubling questions about the real cost and impact of the Obama health care program. Medicare and Medicaid costs will increase significantly. And there is the unknown -- how many companies will drop health care coverage?
The view from the WSJ.
Rationing? Obama's budget director speaks.
Small businesses have not incentives to grow and create jobs under the Obama health care plan.
The view from the WSJ.
Rationing? Obama's budget director speaks.
Small businesses have not incentives to grow and create jobs under the Obama health care plan.
Monday, April 26, 2010
STUDENT PAPER
From a paper on eugenics and the Holocaust: ". . .was done to the millions of innocent people weather Jew or Genital." Maybe Genital does work for Gentile in some weird way. . .
NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR GIVES ANTI-SEMITIC JOKE AT BRIEFING
From Yid with Lid -- they have the C-Span account. It was removed from the White House transcript.
A CALL FOR "C" STUDENTS?
So there are too many "A" students, heh?
America has made the mistake of letting the A student run things. It was A students who briefly took over the business world during the period of derivatives, credit swaps, and collateralized debt obligations. We’re still reeling from the effects. This is why good businessmen have always adhered to the maxim: “A students work for B students.” Or, as a businessman friend of mine put it, “B students work for C students—A students teach.”
America has made the mistake of letting the A student run things. It was A students who briefly took over the business world during the period of derivatives, credit swaps, and collateralized debt obligations. We’re still reeling from the effects. This is why good businessmen have always adhered to the maxim: “A students work for B students.” Or, as a businessman friend of mine put it, “B students work for C students—A students teach.”
Thursday, April 22, 2010
NEW IRANIAN WEAPON
Iran is not only going nuclear, but this unmanned speedboat strikes me as a potential threat to any US warship in the Persian Gulf. And it is armed with a Russian torpedo.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
2009 OBAMA TAX RETURN
The NYT lists the charitable giving of the Obamas. They gave away over $300,000 plus the Nobel Peace Prize money. Churches got very little of their charitable giving. Most of their $5.6 million income came from book royalties.
Friday, April 16, 2010
TEA PARTY VIOLENCE
I want to start bookmarking links on this issue. A liberal Democrat wanted to remind me about the horrible, angry, violent tea partiers -- "The anger of man does not achieve the righteous life that God desires." (James 1:20) This is a great verse. But what struck me so far is that most of the violence I have read that has occurred at tea parties is a result of attacks on tea party protestors by leftists or disgruntled Democrats. I have read about tea partiers being egged (recent Boston tea party from Boston Herald), faced with false charges of racism, attacked by SEIU goons, beaten up for wearing a Palin button, and the list could go on. The worse thing I have read about the tea partiers is based on the signs they have carried. . .but then there have been accusations that these people were liberal Democrat infiltrators seeking to discredit the tea partiers. So over the coming months I hope to be able to document this issue.
From Politico: New Orleans Assault
Frank Rich apology.
"Double-Standard on Rhetoric" from Commentary.
From Politico: New Orleans Assault
Frank Rich apology.
"Double-Standard on Rhetoric" from Commentary.
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
SCANDALS IN THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
Maureen Dowd on the sexual abuse scandals racking the Roman Catholic Church.
The storm within the church strikes at what every Catholic fears most. We take our religion on faith. How can we maintain that faith when our leaders are unworthy of it?”
But I am afraid much the same could be said of many Protestant churches.
The storm within the church strikes at what every Catholic fears most. We take our religion on faith. How can we maintain that faith when our leaders are unworthy of it?”
But I am afraid much the same could be said of many Protestant churches.
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
I have always wondered why the Bush administration did not cite a number of sources to support its statement that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction to rebut Democrat charges that none were ever found. I had read Sada's book and thought that you just can't dismiss his claim that Saddam had transferred weapons of mass destruction to Syria as irrelevant. It's all Rove's fault.
Why wasn't the Bush administration citing Gen. James Clapper, the Director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, who said that satellite imagery proved conclusively that shortly before the war's outbreak, Iraq had transferred its weapons of mass destruction to Syria? Why wasn't it quoting Gen. Georges Sada, deputy chief of Saddam's air force, or Gen. Moshe Ya'alon, Israel's chief-of-staff, both of whom also claimed that Saddam's weapons had been transferred to Syria? Why was it so tongue-tied, so unsure of itself, so unwilling to answer its critics? Didn't anybody in the White House realize that if the Democrats' charges went unanswered, they would fatally undermine the entire case for the war?
Why wasn't the Bush administration citing Gen. James Clapper, the Director of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, who said that satellite imagery proved conclusively that shortly before the war's outbreak, Iraq had transferred its weapons of mass destruction to Syria? Why wasn't it quoting Gen. Georges Sada, deputy chief of Saddam's air force, or Gen. Moshe Ya'alon, Israel's chief-of-staff, both of whom also claimed that Saddam's weapons had been transferred to Syria? Why was it so tongue-tied, so unsure of itself, so unwilling to answer its critics? Didn't anybody in the White House realize that if the Democrats' charges went unanswered, they would fatally undermine the entire case for the war?
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
VEGETARIANISM AND HITLER
I thought this was an interesting piece of work by dadaist John Heartfield. Its title is "Have no fear. . .he is a vegetarian." I wonder how this would be spun today in all of the political correctness wars. If Bush was a Nazi (see previous post), does this mean vegetarians are Nazis?
THE EVIL BUSH
Interesting to remember how Bush was perceived. The Tea Party members look remarkably sane after viewing this video
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
COMING BUDGET CRISIS
I thought this was an interesting column, because Robert Samuelson can't be called some right-wing Republican "scare-mongerer." His father was a famous Keynesian economist.
On March 15, Moody's Investors Service -- the bond rating agency -- published a paper warning that the exploding U.S. government debt could cause a downgrade of Treasury bonds. Just six days later, the House of Representatives passed President Obama's health-care legislation costing $900 billion or so over a decade and worsening an already-bleak budget outlook.
Should the United States someday suffer a budget crisis, it will be hard not to conclude that Obama and his allies sowed the seeds, because they ignored conspicuous warnings. A further irony will not escape historians. For two years, Obama and members of Congress have angrily blamed the shortsightedness and selfishness of bankers and rating agencies for causing the recent financial crisis. The president and his supporters, historians will note, were equally shortsighted and self-centered -- though their quest was for political glory, not financial gain.
On March 15, Moody's Investors Service -- the bond rating agency -- published a paper warning that the exploding U.S. government debt could cause a downgrade of Treasury bonds. Just six days later, the House of Representatives passed President Obama's health-care legislation costing $900 billion or so over a decade and worsening an already-bleak budget outlook.
Should the United States someday suffer a budget crisis, it will be hard not to conclude that Obama and his allies sowed the seeds, because they ignored conspicuous warnings. A further irony will not escape historians. For two years, Obama and members of Congress have angrily blamed the shortsightedness and selfishness of bankers and rating agencies for causing the recent financial crisis. The president and his supporters, historians will note, were equally shortsighted and self-centered -- though their quest was for political glory, not financial gain.
Monday, March 29, 2010
LOSS OF CONFIDENCE IN AMERICA
According to Rasmussen, only 27% of Americans believe America will still be a powerful nation by 2099. . .and this has dropped from the previous poll. A lot of pessimism exists that the media is not covering.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
AMERICAN JEWS AND ISRAEL
This Sunday I read three articles dealing with the attitude of American Jews toward Israel.
Ron Radosh at Pajamas Media writes about how liberal Jews in the Obama administration are reacting to Netanyahu's policies. Joining those who want Obama to primarily keep up the pressure on Israel is the mainstream of American liberal journalists, most of them Jewish, who evidently see a need to reinforce Obama (not that he needs it) in his decision to get tough on America’s most loyal ally in the Middle East.
Mark Davis wonders why he, as a Christian, is more loyal to Israel than most American Jews are. There is something fundamentally wrong when I care more about Israel than the American Jewish community.
Jacob Weisberg writes on why Israel and liberal American Jews are drifiting apart. If you want numbers, various polls document the disenchantment. The partisan gap in support for Israel has jumped dramatically of late, with 80 percent of Republicans expressing favorable view of Israel, according to Gallup, as compared with only 53 percent of Democrats. One recent study found that only 54 percent of Jews under 35 who aren't Orthodox are "comfortable with the idea of a Jewish state" (as compared to more than 80 percent of those over 65). Among younger Jews, only 20 percent rated as "highly attached" to Israel in another poll.
If you want examples of the shift in sentiment, read just about any Jewish columnist for a major newspaper. Thomas Friedman of The New York Times argued that Biden under-reacted to Israel's housing announcement. Richard Cohen of The Washington Post is writing a book arguing that the founding of Israel was a well-intentioned mistake.
Ron Radosh at Pajamas Media writes about how liberal Jews in the Obama administration are reacting to Netanyahu's policies. Joining those who want Obama to primarily keep up the pressure on Israel is the mainstream of American liberal journalists, most of them Jewish, who evidently see a need to reinforce Obama (not that he needs it) in his decision to get tough on America’s most loyal ally in the Middle East.
Mark Davis wonders why he, as a Christian, is more loyal to Israel than most American Jews are. There is something fundamentally wrong when I care more about Israel than the American Jewish community.
Jacob Weisberg writes on why Israel and liberal American Jews are drifiting apart. If you want numbers, various polls document the disenchantment. The partisan gap in support for Israel has jumped dramatically of late, with 80 percent of Republicans expressing favorable view of Israel, according to Gallup, as compared with only 53 percent of Democrats. One recent study found that only 54 percent of Jews under 35 who aren't Orthodox are "comfortable with the idea of a Jewish state" (as compared to more than 80 percent of those over 65). Among younger Jews, only 20 percent rated as "highly attached" to Israel in another poll.
If you want examples of the shift in sentiment, read just about any Jewish columnist for a major newspaper. Thomas Friedman of The New York Times argued that Biden under-reacted to Israel's housing announcement. Richard Cohen of The Washington Post is writing a book arguing that the founding of Israel was a well-intentioned mistake.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
FINDING JESUS AT UNIVERSITIES
Jesus shows up where one does not expect Him to be. I am hoping this article creates some discussion on campus.
OBAMA AT BAT
I have been trying to keep track of political humor/satire since the end of the Bush years. This pajamas media satire on Obama is one of the best produced I have seen.
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
POLITICAL ICONOGRAPHY
An interesting discussion of Republican and Democrat symbols. Obama's logo is also included.
Monday, March 01, 2010
HIZBALLAH THREATS TO ISRAEL
Ehud Barak states that if Hizballah attacks Israel, Israel will go after its sponsors (which includes Iran among others).
"Israeli cannot accept the artificial differentiations between the Hizballah terrorists, the state of
He responded to the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's prediction of
Friday, February 26, 2010
THE PRESIDENCY
I thought this comment by Karl Rove shed some light on the influence of the president. He was writing about the health care summit and trying to analyze what the Republicans would face as well as some of the pitfalls for the President.
It's not easy to criticize a president face to face. During my White House years, congressmen and senators would sit in my office, pound the table, and vow to tell the president he mishandled an issue. Then we'd walk the 15 steps to the Oval Office, and they would instantly turn soft. The presidency commands respect. Americans expect the president to be treated with dignity and deference, making criticizing him to his face politically risky.
And this is another good inside look at how the White House operates. While it focuses on the departure of Desiree Rogers, I liked this comment by Andrew Card from the Bush White House. One other thing Card warned those new White House workers way back in 2001: "Remember, please remember, ladies and gentlemen, that when you leave the White House, your letter of resignation will go into the National Archives forever." After a long pause, he added: "Be careful what you say."
It's not easy to criticize a president face to face. During my White House years, congressmen and senators would sit in my office, pound the table, and vow to tell the president he mishandled an issue. Then we'd walk the 15 steps to the Oval Office, and they would instantly turn soft. The presidency commands respect. Americans expect the president to be treated with dignity and deference, making criticizing him to his face politically risky.
And this is another good inside look at how the White House operates. While it focuses on the departure of Desiree Rogers, I liked this comment by Andrew Card from the Bush White House. One other thing Card warned those new White House workers way back in 2001: "Remember, please remember, ladies and gentlemen, that when you leave the White House, your letter of resignation will go into the National Archives forever." After a long pause, he added: "Be careful what you say."
AMERICAN ECONOMY
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton believes the growing national debt has become a security issue and is hurting American power and influence around the world. I haven't seen anybody this high up in government say this.
But if the debt level is a problem now, where will the Obama administration's future debt load lead the nation? Hopefully the US will be stronger than Mali.
But if the debt level is a problem now, where will the Obama administration's future debt load lead the nation? Hopefully the US will be stronger than Mali.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
NEW JOBLESS AMERICA
Atlantic Monthly. No one knows what shape the recovery will take. Not even Paul Krugman. This is not an optimistic article.
LEADERSHIP & INTUITION
Michael Barone comments on intuition and presidential leadership.
No president enters office knowing everything he needs to know. His experience is limited to some greater or lesser extent; his knowledge of the people from whom he will choose appointees is incomplete; his mastery of the substance of public policy, after years on the campaign trail, is likely to be out of date. And like all of us, he does not know what the future will bring.
So presidents must rely on something else, something intangible and unquantifiable, in determining what is within the realm of possibility and what is a bridge too far: intuition.
Friday, February 19, 2010
AMY BISHOP
Probably only academics are really interested in Amy Bishop's murders of fellow faculty over an apparent tenure issue. But I do like Kissinger's supposed quote (although I am not sure it just applies to academics)--I can think of some church squabbles where it is quite appropriate.
"Academic politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small."
The Boston political culture: Instead, the political culture of Massachusetts taught her something very different: It’s not what you do, but who you are.
"Academic politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small."
The Boston political culture: Instead, the political culture of Massachusetts taught her something very different: It’s not what you do, but who you are.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
BAYH'S DECISION NOT TO RUN
I always thought he was a sensible Washington politician, but he has given up on the Senate and Obama. He recognizes Washington is not working. Reid and Pelosi share a lot of the responsibility for the failure of congress to come together to resolve serious issues. But maybe he and his wife do not have clean hands.
Five Ways to Lose the Senate Majority. Either way, the two-term senator’s departure now places 10 Democratic-held Senate seats at risk—if all are swept under by a November GOP wave, Republicans are back in control of the Senate.
Five Ways to Lose the Senate Majority. Either way, the two-term senator’s departure now places 10 Democratic-held Senate seats at risk—if all are swept under by a November GOP wave, Republicans are back in control of the Senate.
Monday, February 15, 2010
CLIMATE CHANGE SATIRE
Friday, February 12, 2010
TEA PARTY COMMERCIAL
It has been interesting to see the increased use of history motifs in so-called "tea party" commercials.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
CLIMATEGATE AGAIN
BBC interview. It's hard to take these experts seriously.
Sea levels are not rising--report retracted.
Left-wing Europeans attack IPCC. The German left wing press, one of the world’s strongest supporters of the ‘climate change movement’ is turning against the scientists and UN bureaucrats responsible for leading the movement. A round-up of German press coverage over the unexpected resignation of UN climate chief Yvo de Boer offers a perspective on the failures of the climate change movement that is both more scathing and more frank than anything the mainstream US press has yet brought itself to utter.
Sea levels are not rising--report retracted.
Left-wing Europeans attack IPCC. The German left wing press, one of the world’s strongest supporters of the ‘climate change movement’ is turning against the scientists and UN bureaucrats responsible for leading the movement. A round-up of German press coverage over the unexpected resignation of UN climate chief Yvo de Boer offers a perspective on the failures of the climate change movement that is both more scathing and more frank than anything the mainstream US press has yet brought itself to utter.
Loved this quote from Instapundit:
VICTORY HAS A THOUSAND FATHERS: Robert Gibbs Tells White House Press Corps That Obama Saved Iraq (Video).
But Obama’s about as much the father of this victory as Andrew Young was of Rielle Hunter’s baby . . . .
REDUCING THE DEFICIT
A proposal. Looks as good as anything I have seen. I can't say either party has shown any determination to end it.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
BEARDED WIFE
Oh, those niqabs: An Arab ambassador discovered his wife was cross-eyed and has a beard! He now wants a divorce.
OBAMA, THE PARTISAN
Peter Wehner discusses Obama's pleas for non-partisanship when he is acting the partisan and conducting himself so much differently from what he promised in the campaign.
What is disappointing about President Obama is that he has governed in a manner so at odds with his core campaign commitments. Mr. Obama has become the most polarizing first-year president in the history of Gallup.
He has allowed Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in particular to promote a deeply partisan agenda, shutting out Republicans at almost every conceivable point. Depending on your politics, you may think that is a wise thing or a disastrous thing. But it is not a unifying thing. And declaring war on Fox News and intentionally targeting and elevating Rush Limbaugh, in an effort to make him the "face" of the GOP, are hardly the actions of a man who has reconciliation on his mind. Neither is selecting Rahm Emanuel -- one of the most relentlessly partisan figures in Washington -- as your chief of staff.
And CBS news comments that what Obama wants is surrender.
What is disappointing about President Obama is that he has governed in a manner so at odds with his core campaign commitments. Mr. Obama has become the most polarizing first-year president in the history of Gallup.
He has allowed Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid in particular to promote a deeply partisan agenda, shutting out Republicans at almost every conceivable point. Depending on your politics, you may think that is a wise thing or a disastrous thing. But it is not a unifying thing. And declaring war on Fox News and intentionally targeting and elevating Rush Limbaugh, in an effort to make him the "face" of the GOP, are hardly the actions of a man who has reconciliation on his mind. Neither is selecting Rahm Emanuel -- one of the most relentlessly partisan figures in Washington -- as your chief of staff.
And CBS news comments that what Obama wants is surrender.
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
DOOMSDAY, FEBRUARY 11th
According to Iranian leaders something big is going to happen on Thursday. I am beginning to see more speculation on this. Michael Ledeen says Israel should be prepared, but it also could include a number of other possibilities.
Thursday, February 04, 2010
BROWN AD IN MASSACHUSETTS
I think this is a great ad, but I may be biased. History as political spin beats kissing babies and candidates standing in suits in front of the Capitol.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
CLIMATEGATE, FEBRUARY 2010
From the Guardian.
Today the Guardian reveals how Jones withheld the information requested under freedom of information laws. Subsequently a senior colleague told him he feared that Jones's collaborator, Wei-Chyung Wang of the University at Albany, had "screwed up".
The revelations on the inadequacies of the 1990 paper do not undermine the case that humans are causing climate change, and other studies have produced similar findings. But they do call into question the probity of some climate change science.
It also emerges that documents which Wang claimed would exonerate him and Jones did not exist.Monday, February 01, 2010
NEW DISCRIMINATION?
This item shocked me. . .a group supported by liberals and Obama want to restrict gun-ownership for blacks because they are so violent. I am not a big one on gun-ownership, but you can't reduce gun-ownership for just one group in America.
For blacks, like all victims of homicide, guns — usually handguns — are far and away the number one murder tool. Successful efforts to reduce America’s black homicide toll must put a focus on reducing access to firearms.
For blacks, like all victims of homicide, guns — usually handguns — are far and away the number one murder tool. Successful efforts to reduce America’s black homicide toll must put a focus on reducing access to firearms.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
GEITHNER & AIG BAILOUT
Like the article, I am not a fan of conspiracy theories, but something is not right about this behind-the-scenes bailout of AIG.
The New York Fed is in the hot seat for its decision in November 2008 to buy out, for about $30 billion, insurance contracts AIG sold on toxic debt securities to banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank AG, among others. That decision, critics say, amounted to a back-door bailout for the banks, which received 100 cents on the dollar for contracts that would have been worth far less had AIG been allowed to fail.
It goes on to describe how Geithner and the New York Fed basically operated outside of any oversight or controls in its efforts to help AIG.
The New York Fed is in the hot seat for its decision in November 2008 to buy out, for about $30 billion, insurance contracts AIG sold on toxic debt securities to banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co., Societe Generale and Deutsche Bank AG, among others. That decision, critics say, amounted to a back-door bailout for the banks, which received 100 cents on the dollar for contracts that would have been worth far less had AIG been allowed to fail.
It goes on to describe how Geithner and the New York Fed basically operated outside of any oversight or controls in its efforts to help AIG.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
HATE IN THE MIDDLE EAST
An interesting interview with an author I need to check out.
Those lucky few who are fortunate enough to be able to live their political lives free of the fear of violence are largely concentrated in the capitals of contemporary Western Europe and along the east and west coasts of the United States, who not coincidentally happen to make up the primary audience I was writing for, so I wanted to explain that the inhabitants of the Arabic-speaking Middle East are not as fortunate as we are. To say that Lebanon is held at gunpoint by an armed gang, or that Lebanese journalists are assassinated for their work, Syrian intellectuals and Egyptian rights activists are typically thrown in prison and tortured, and regional minorities like the Shia, Druze, Alawi, Christians, Kurds and Jews have often been the target of purges and political violence all in the name of Arab nationalism, a corporatist ideology that seeks to erase communal as well as individual difference, is not to say that Arabs only understand force, but that violence is a central factor in Arab political life and it is impossible to understand the region without taking this into account.
Those lucky few who are fortunate enough to be able to live their political lives free of the fear of violence are largely concentrated in the capitals of contemporary Western Europe and along the east and west coasts of the United States, who not coincidentally happen to make up the primary audience I was writing for, so I wanted to explain that the inhabitants of the Arabic-speaking Middle East are not as fortunate as we are. To say that Lebanon is held at gunpoint by an armed gang, or that Lebanese journalists are assassinated for their work, Syrian intellectuals and Egyptian rights activists are typically thrown in prison and tortured, and regional minorities like the Shia, Druze, Alawi, Christians, Kurds and Jews have often been the target of purges and political violence all in the name of Arab nationalism, a corporatist ideology that seeks to erase communal as well as individual difference, is not to say that Arabs only understand force, but that violence is a central factor in Arab political life and it is impossible to understand the region without taking this into account.
Monday, January 25, 2010
MEDIA COVERAGE OF OBAMA PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
The media is admitting it did not cover Obama's negative qualities in the 2008 campaign.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
DEMOCRAT HUBRIS
This essay expresses my thinking of Democrats in power. Lord Acton's comments on power are often over used, but power is a hard think to handle when one achieves it.
The love of power got to the Democrats: the love of big-shotting it before the cameras, as if senators were resident royalty rather than servants. Come to think of it, Scott Brown put the matter with great precision in his now-famous answer to David Gergen's question about responsibility for the maintenance of "Ted Kennedy's seat." Not Kennedy's seat, "the people's seat," Brown replied in setting Gergen straight.
The love of power got to the Democrats: the love of big-shotting it before the cameras, as if senators were resident royalty rather than servants. Come to think of it, Scott Brown put the matter with great precision in his now-famous answer to David Gergen's question about responsibility for the maintenance of "Ted Kennedy's seat." Not Kennedy's seat, "the people's seat," Brown replied in setting Gergen straight.
TSARS
Love this quote for its historical allusion: "Obama has appointed more Czars in one year than the Romanov dynasty did in three centuries."
CLIMATEGATE, JANUARY 2010
A summary highlighting the major developments in the climategate controversy.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
HITLER DEALS WITH DEMOCRAT LOSS IN MASSACHUSETTS
I can't remember how many take-offs I have seen on these clips from an old Hitler movie.
DEMOCRAT TACTICS AFTER LOSS IN MASSACHUSETTS
This summarizes how the Democrats are going to handle strategy going into the November 2010 elections. I guess I don't see a difference between Republican Wall Street "fatcats" and Democrat Wall Street "fatcats." And at some time blaming Bush is just not going to sell.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Saturday, January 09, 2010
US MEDICAL CARE
The statistics used by the Obama administration that indicate the US is 37th in the world in overall performance of medical care are based on subjective WHO reports. It did not include patients who receive indigent care, for example. And the US is #1 in terms of medical responsiveness.
Thursday, January 07, 2010
TEXAS v. CALIFORNIA
Interesting. Texas is doing a better job of educating students than California in spite of spending less money!
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
VOLCKER ON THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION
Paul Volcker was interviewed by Charlie Rose in Business Week. Volcker, a Democrat noted for a crusty personality, said some very uncomplimentary things about the Obama administration.
The American political process is about as broken as the financial system. Therefore, one has to be a bit skeptical. Just to give you one little example, one unrelated to the financial crisis. Here we are on Dec. 29, almost a year after the Inauguration, and there is no Under Secretary of the Treasury. That should be an important position. How can we run a government in the middle of a financial crisis without doing the ordinary, garden-variety administrative work of filling the relevant agencies? The Treasury is an outstanding example of a broken system, but it's not the only one.
Slow is too fast a word to describe what's going on. The Administration is one quarter over, and it hasn't manned the ramparts of government yet.
I wish the Administration would pay more attention to what's needed to improve the ordinary functioning of government. We can't even fight a war with our own people any more. We've got to hire Blackwater. I think people have lost confidence in government, they've lost trust in government, and it shows. This isn't a question just of this Administration. It's been kind of a steady, downhill path.
Charlie Rose: . . .but this Administration came in and said it would change. That was the mantra of the campaign. So what happened? Volcker: It shows you it's not that easy to change [emphasis added].
The American political process is about as broken as the financial system. Therefore, one has to be a bit skeptical. Just to give you one little example, one unrelated to the financial crisis. Here we are on Dec. 29, almost a year after the Inauguration, and there is no Under Secretary of the Treasury. That should be an important position. How can we run a government in the middle of a financial crisis without doing the ordinary, garden-variety administrative work of filling the relevant agencies? The Treasury is an outstanding example of a broken system, but it's not the only one.
Slow is too fast a word to describe what's going on. The Administration is one quarter over, and it hasn't manned the ramparts of government yet.
I wish the Administration would pay more attention to what's needed to improve the ordinary functioning of government. We can't even fight a war with our own people any more. We've got to hire Blackwater. I think people have lost confidence in government, they've lost trust in government, and it shows. This isn't a question just of this Administration. It's been kind of a steady, downhill path.
Charlie Rose: . . .but this Administration came in and said it would change. That was the mantra of the campaign. So what happened? Volcker: It shows you it's not that easy to change [emphasis added].
Friday, January 01, 2010
A REVIEW OF 2009
Dave Berry --great political satire. He has so many good ones, it is hard to pick just one or two--so I picked three.
February:
Despite this heroic effort, the economy continues to stumble. General Motors, which has sold only one car in the past year -- a Buick LaCrosse mistakenly purchased by an 87-year-old man who thought he was buying a power scooter -- announces a new four-part business plan, consisting of (1) dealership closings; (2) factory shutdowns;(3) worker layoffs; and (4) traveling backward through time to 1955.
March:
. . . an angry nation learns that the giant insurance company AIG, which received $170 billion in taxpayer bailouts and posted a $61 billion loss, is paying executive bonuses totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. This news shocks and outrages President Obama and members of Congress, who happen to be the very people who passed the legislation that authorized both the bailouts and the bonuses, but of course they did that during a crisis and thus had no time to find out what the hell they were voting for.
August:
California, in a move apparently intended to evade creditors, has its name legally changed to ``South Oregon.''
February:
Despite this heroic effort, the economy continues to stumble. General Motors, which has sold only one car in the past year -- a Buick LaCrosse mistakenly purchased by an 87-year-old man who thought he was buying a power scooter -- announces a new four-part business plan, consisting of (1) dealership closings; (2) factory shutdowns;(3) worker layoffs; and (4) traveling backward through time to 1955.
March:
. . . an angry nation learns that the giant insurance company AIG, which received $170 billion in taxpayer bailouts and posted a $61 billion loss, is paying executive bonuses totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. This news shocks and outrages President Obama and members of Congress, who happen to be the very people who passed the legislation that authorized both the bailouts and the bonuses, but of course they did that during a crisis and thus had no time to find out what the hell they were voting for.
August:
California, in a move apparently intended to evade creditors, has its name legally changed to ``South Oregon.''
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
HEALTH CARE PLAN ANALYZED
Richard Epstein from Columbia (a video). Obviously he is opposed to the plan, but I believe he raises implications that I have not seen discussed.
Monday, December 28, 2009
THE NEWSPAPER INDUSTRY
There has been no dearth of items over the past six months about the crisis newspapers are facing in the blogs I follow. Some newspapers have filed for bankruptcy, a few have closed down, and others have laid off much of their staff. Even the hallowed New York Times is having problems. I am not going to rehash all of the problems and analysis I have read over the past months.
In some cases I think newspapers just don't give much news for a variety of reasons. Some of this is ideological and some of it is just bad or inefficient reporting. I have found blogs to give more in-depth analysis and are often days ahead in reporting what is happening. And you can always check opinions out quickly by looking at blogs that report and comment from a variety of perspectives.
However, as a long time subscriber to the Dallas Morning News, I have been puzzled for months about its decision-making. First, let me say that I think it is really a good newspaper (far better then those I have seen in other cities, including my beloved Chicago Tribune). I felt its news reporting was above average, its opinion paged is balanced and filled with thought-provoking comments from left and right, the business section is strong, and the sports pages are great (especially if you are a Cowboys fan).
In September our renewal rate went to over a thousand dollars for a one year subscription! As a middle class family this is entirely beyond the budget so we dropped our subscription. Who can afford a newspaper subscription, at least at the Dallas Morning News? I am sure there will be at least 10,000 people who will want to pay this rate.
The interesting thing is that I have recently received subscription letters from Fortune and now Kiplingers (and maybe Forbes) with a yearly subscription rate of less than $10. Maybe they are trying to hook me for a year and then ask for a $500 renewal rate for the next year! I assume they want to raise circulation levels and then show advertisers the value of an ad.
Recently the Dallas Morning News called to win us back with a special offer. We didn't even ask what the offer was--no thanks--don't need an umbrella or a $999 special. I wish you guys the best, but it is going to take some doing for the print media to bring us back.
In some cases I think newspapers just don't give much news for a variety of reasons. Some of this is ideological and some of it is just bad or inefficient reporting. I have found blogs to give more in-depth analysis and are often days ahead in reporting what is happening. And you can always check opinions out quickly by looking at blogs that report and comment from a variety of perspectives.
However, as a long time subscriber to the Dallas Morning News, I have been puzzled for months about its decision-making. First, let me say that I think it is really a good newspaper (far better then those I have seen in other cities, including my beloved Chicago Tribune). I felt its news reporting was above average, its opinion paged is balanced and filled with thought-provoking comments from left and right, the business section is strong, and the sports pages are great (especially if you are a Cowboys fan).
In September our renewal rate went to over a thousand dollars for a one year subscription! As a middle class family this is entirely beyond the budget so we dropped our subscription. Who can afford a newspaper subscription, at least at the Dallas Morning News? I am sure there will be at least 10,000 people who will want to pay this rate.
The interesting thing is that I have recently received subscription letters from Fortune and now Kiplingers (and maybe Forbes) with a yearly subscription rate of less than $10. Maybe they are trying to hook me for a year and then ask for a $500 renewal rate for the next year! I assume they want to raise circulation levels and then show advertisers the value of an ad.
Recently the Dallas Morning News called to win us back with a special offer. We didn't even ask what the offer was--no thanks--don't need an umbrella or a $999 special. I wish you guys the best, but it is going to take some doing for the print media to bring us back.
CAPITALISM vs. SOCIALISM
The impact of the coming debt crisis--with Greece and other countries facing national bankruptcy, 2010 will be an interesting year. I keep finding great Churchill quotes: The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
HEALTH CARE BILL QUOTES: US SENATE
I especially like those that say their vote can't be bought. And Senator Baucus reading from Wikipedia to support the bill!
Monday, December 14, 2009
MARK R. LEVIN
I was given Levin's book Liberty and Tyranny and was able to give it a quick read on the airplane. Some of his quotes:
p. 53: A discussion of the 1942 Supreme Court ruling Wickard v. Filburn that a farmer growing wheat on his own land and for his own use was still subject to federal production limits, even though none of his what ever left the state.
p. 65: Saul Alinsky and the radicals desire to eradicate the middle class.
p. 76: . . .ethanol has been around since the 1800s. If it were a vialbe alternative or additive to gasoline, which supposedly would reduce oil use, gasoline prices, and automobile emissions, the free market would have responded positively. [I am not sure Rockefeller would have allowed it, although I agree with his argument that ethanol is not a solution to the energy issue.]
p. 86: Quoting Rexford Tugwell (advisor to FDR): We didn't admit it at the time, but practically the whole New Deal was extrapolated from programs that Hoover started.
p. 89: The reason stimulus plans of this sort do not work is a fundamental reality of governance: The government does not add value to the economy. It removes value from the economy by imposing taxes on one citizen and providing cash to another. Or it borrows money that would otherwise be used by investors and redistributes it elsewhere. Or it prints money and threatens the value of the dollar. Nothing is stimulated.
p. 120: A discussion on enviro-statism and attacks Earth First for putting the earth ahead of human beings. Humans are expendable, the earth is not.
p. 127: In 1971, Dr. S.I. Rasol, a NASA scientist, insisted that "in the next 50 years, the fine dust man constantly puts into the atmosphere by fossil-fuel burning could screen out so much sunlight that the average temperature could drop by six degrees." An ice age was predicted.
p. 140: A 2 1/2 page (small print) of all the things caused by global warming--everything from acne to yellow fever. But spiders invading Scotland and a squid population explosion particularly caught my eye!
p. 53: A discussion of the 1942 Supreme Court ruling Wickard v. Filburn that a farmer growing wheat on his own land and for his own use was still subject to federal production limits, even though none of his what ever left the state.
p. 65: Saul Alinsky and the radicals desire to eradicate the middle class.
p. 76: . . .ethanol has been around since the 1800s. If it were a vialbe alternative or additive to gasoline, which supposedly would reduce oil use, gasoline prices, and automobile emissions, the free market would have responded positively. [I am not sure Rockefeller would have allowed it, although I agree with his argument that ethanol is not a solution to the energy issue.]
p. 86: Quoting Rexford Tugwell (advisor to FDR): We didn't admit it at the time, but practically the whole New Deal was extrapolated from programs that Hoover started.
p. 89: The reason stimulus plans of this sort do not work is a fundamental reality of governance: The government does not add value to the economy. It removes value from the economy by imposing taxes on one citizen and providing cash to another. Or it borrows money that would otherwise be used by investors and redistributes it elsewhere. Or it prints money and threatens the value of the dollar. Nothing is stimulated.
p. 120: A discussion on enviro-statism and attacks Earth First for putting the earth ahead of human beings. Humans are expendable, the earth is not.
p. 127: In 1971, Dr. S.I. Rasol, a NASA scientist, insisted that "in the next 50 years, the fine dust man constantly puts into the atmosphere by fossil-fuel burning could screen out so much sunlight that the average temperature could drop by six degrees." An ice age was predicted.
p. 140: A 2 1/2 page (small print) of all the things caused by global warming--everything from acne to yellow fever. But spiders invading Scotland and a squid population explosion particularly caught my eye!
Friday, December 11, 2009
NOW THE OBAMA DOCTRINE
I guess every president get's his foreign policy doctrine.
He stated clearly that war can be just, indeed, that sometimes it is the only path of justice.
"We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth: we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes," he said. "There will be times when nations -- acting individually or in concert -- will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified. As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King's life work, I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. I know there's nothing weak -- nothing passive -- nothing naive -- in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King, but as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms."
T.D. LYSENKO & GLOBAL WARMING
I had forgotten about the work of T.D. Lysenko in Stalin's Soviet Union. He is a great example of the politicization of science.
Lysenko's experiments were heralded, although the experiments were never replicated. The Soviet Union was full of botanists, biologists, geneticists, and other life scientists, and it was obvious to anyone with a free mind that Lysenko was propounding nonsense. But it was not until 1962 that the Soviet government allowed a real critique of his cartoon science
Perhaps the most egregious ghost is Trofim Lysenko, the man who ruled the life sciences of Soviet Russia from the late 1920s until the early 1960s. He had a theory which fit Marxism perfectly: acquired characteristics can be inherited. This is not true, of course, but Lysenko had the Politburo and Stalin behind him. It was science that fit the political needs of the Bolsheviks, and so it was science backed by the awful power of the party and the state.
Lysenko's experiments were heralded, although the experiments were never replicated. The Soviet Union was full of botanists, biologists, geneticists, and other life scientists, and it was obvious to anyone with a free mind that Lysenko was propounding nonsense. But it was not until 1962 that the Soviet government allowed a real critique of his cartoon science
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
AND MORE ON CLIMATEGATE
It is worse than thought. Data has been withheld by many other scientists. There should always be an ongoing debate in science about the data no matter what the issue.
In 2004, retired businessman Stephen McIntyre asked the National Science Foundation for information on various climate research that it funds. Affirming "the importance of public access to scientific research supported by U.S. federal funds," the Foundation nonetheless declined, saying "in general, we allow researchers the freedom to convey their scientific results in a manner consistent with their professional judgment."
Which leaves researchers free to withhold information selectively from critics, as when CRU director Phil Jones told Australian scientist Warwick Hughes in a 2005 email: "Why should I make the data available to you, when your aim is to try and find something wrong with it."
Volokh has a detailed analysis of the data issues.
And here is an even more complete summary of issues involved.
Monday, December 07, 2009
Sunday, December 06, 2009
OBAMA'S AFGHANISTAN POLICY
Powerline, analyzing an article in the Washington Post, shows the inconsistencies in Obama's foreign policy team's decision-making in the last few months. It appears the administration gave McChrystal orders to draw up a plan and then denied, when the plan was drawn up, that it had given him those directives.
Also it is interesting to see that Obama has flipped on the Iraq surge. Under Bush he criticized it, but now he uses it as a model.
Also it is interesting to see that Obama has flipped on the Iraq surge. Under Bush he criticized it, but now he uses it as a model.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
EVIL IN DUBAI
The city looks good on the outside with all of its magnificent buildings, but it is a moral and humanitarian sewer. This British report doesn't say much for the value system of the country. It is not an Arab Disneyland or a "Santa Claus' state. Evil abounds.
There are three different Dubais, all swirling around each other. There are the expats, like Karen; there are the Emiratis, headed by Sheikh Mohammed; and then there is the foreign underclass who built the city, and are trapped here. They are hidden in plain view. You see them everywhere, in dirt-caked blue uniforms, being shouted at by their superiors, like a chain gang – but you are trained not to look. It is like a mantra: the Sheikh built the city. The Sheikh built the city. Workers? What workers?
Every evening, the hundreds of thousands of young men who build Dubai are bussed from their sites to a vast concrete wasteland an hour out of town, where they are quarantined away. Until a few years ago they were shuttled back and forth on cattle trucks, but the expats complained this was unsightly, so now they are shunted on small metal buses that function like greenhouses in the desert heat. They sweat like sponges being slowly wrung out.
There are three different Dubais, all swirling around each other. There are the expats, like Karen; there are the Emiratis, headed by Sheikh Mohammed; and then there is the foreign underclass who built the city, and are trapped here. They are hidden in plain view. You see them everywhere, in dirt-caked blue uniforms, being shouted at by their superiors, like a chain gang – but you are trained not to look. It is like a mantra: the Sheikh built the city. The Sheikh built the city. Workers? What workers?
Every evening, the hundreds of thousands of young men who build Dubai are bussed from their sites to a vast concrete wasteland an hour out of town, where they are quarantined away. Until a few years ago they were shuttled back and forth on cattle trucks, but the expats complained this was unsightly, so now they are shunted on small metal buses that function like greenhouses in the desert heat. They sweat like sponges being slowly wrung out.
Friday, December 04, 2009
WHAT THE MEDIA IS NOT COVERING
Interesting. No mention of homelessness even though unemployment is up; references to "Christmas" shopping are declining; and no mention of the $80 billion taxpayers have already lost to keep General Motors going.
Thursday, December 03, 2009
PAYING POLITICIANS TO LIE TO US
John Stoessel has his usual insightful analysis.
When you knowingly pay someone to lie to you, we call the deceiver an illusionist or a magician. When you unwittingly pay someone to do the same thing, I call him a politician.
When you knowingly pay someone to lie to you, we call the deceiver an illusionist or a magician. When you unwittingly pay someone to do the same thing, I call him a politician.
The key to magic is misdirection, fooling the audience into looking in the wrong direction.
I happily suspend disbelief when a magician says he'll saw a woman in half. That's entertainment. But when Harry Reid says he'll give 30 million additional people health coverage while cutting the deficit, improving healthcare and reducing its cost, it's not entertaining. It's incredible.
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
GLOBAL WARMINING CRITIC
Dr. Ian Pilmer said Governments were treating the public like “fools” and using climate change to increase taxes. He said carbon dioxide has had no impact on temperature and that recent warming was part of the natural cycle of climate stretching over billions of years.
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
HUMAN BRAINS
Human brains are shrinking! This is more serious than global warming--what happens if our brains shrink to the size of a pea? Maybe it is our expanding waists that is causing it. This has been a crisis since at least 1996, but Al Gore has done or said nothing about it. Obama shouldn't be flying to Copenhagen, but instead he should call a world conference of leaders to address this issue. But wait, maybe global warming is causing our brains to shrink.
OBAMA CRITICISM
Politico is not a part of the "vast right-wing conspiracy," but its "7 Stories Barack Obama Doesn't Want Told" is quite critical of his presidency.
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