The New York Times recognizes MSNBC's liberal bias.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Michele Bachmann a Racist?
Another example of how comments can be edited to make a candidate say something different than he or she really did. Michele Bachmann did not ask a crowd, "Who likes white people?"
Friday, August 26, 2011
CLIMATE CHANGE
Some questions about the cause of climate change.
The first results from the lab's CLOUD ("Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets") experiment published in Nature today confirm that cosmic rays spur the formation of clouds through ion-induced nucleation. Current thinking posits that half of the Earth's clouds are formed through nucleation. The paper is entitled Role of sulphuric acid, ammonia and galactic cosmic rays in atmospheric aerosol nucleation.
This has significant implications for climate science because water vapour and clouds play a large role in determining global temperatures. Tiny changes in overall cloud cover can result in relatively large temperature changes.
Unsurprisingly, it's a politically sensitive topic, as it provides support for a "heliocentric" rather than "anthropogenic" approach to climate change: the sun plays a large role in modulating the quantity of cosmic rays reaching the upper atmosphere of the Earth.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Presidential Reading Lists
President Obama's summer reading list was published recentyl. When it comes to reading, I am a bit biased, but I think both Dubya's list (and the Stranger by Camus is not on that list) and Clinton were reading more substantial material that dealt with decision-making and policy issues.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
NBC EDITING PERRY
Example of what happens on more than on this occasion in my opinion. News-oriented programs should let people speak for themselves. And it can be done by conservatives as well. What is edited out is the big question when the news is on.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
DEMOCRATS DOUBT OBAMA
The London Telegraph has an article on Democrats doubting the wisdom of selecting Obama as a candidate. I think the following comment may have a lot of truth in it: Hillary is just a tougher person.
And Victor Davis Hanson had similar observations: One can continue to appreciate how brilliant was Obama’s selection of Hillary Clinton as secretary of State. It was not just that he diminished her status by outsourcing much of her job to regional and theater czars, or boxed her in with the “reset” diplomacy of the Susan Rice and Samantha Power sort, or even that her appointment suspended Bill Clinton’s lucrative speechmaking abroad, giving up millions in honoraria at the courts of foreign autocrats and strongmen. More clever yet, Obama seems to have anticipated his present bad stretch in polls and wanted no Teddy Kennedy-like distraction. A Senator Clinton right now would be under some pressure to weigh a divisive run for the nomination. But should Obama implode and see his ratings after three years drop to where George Bush’s were after six years — the 32-36% range — she would be under enormous pressure to declare her candidacy. And unlike Kennedy — who was both an inept candidate and had far too many character flaws and past sins—Hillary Clinton remains a skilled politician, with a brilliant political contortionist as her husband and, of course, has been thoroughly vetted and dissected.
WAPO published "Why the Center-Left is Fed up with Obama." Events keep screaming that the president is weak, weak, weak.
The left is beginning to sound like the right in its criticisms of Obama.
And Victor Davis Hanson had similar observations: One can continue to appreciate how brilliant was Obama’s selection of Hillary Clinton as secretary of State. It was not just that he diminished her status by outsourcing much of her job to regional and theater czars, or boxed her in with the “reset” diplomacy of the Susan Rice and Samantha Power sort, or even that her appointment suspended Bill Clinton’s lucrative speechmaking abroad, giving up millions in honoraria at the courts of foreign autocrats and strongmen. More clever yet, Obama seems to have anticipated his present bad stretch in polls and wanted no Teddy Kennedy-like distraction. A Senator Clinton right now would be under some pressure to weigh a divisive run for the nomination. But should Obama implode and see his ratings after three years drop to where George Bush’s were after six years — the 32-36% range — she would be under enormous pressure to declare her candidacy. And unlike Kennedy — who was both an inept candidate and had far too many character flaws and past sins—Hillary Clinton remains a skilled politician, with a brilliant political contortionist as her husband and, of course, has been thoroughly vetted and dissected.
WAPO published "Why the Center-Left is Fed up with Obama." Events keep screaming that the president is weak, weak, weak.
The left is beginning to sound like the right in its criticisms of Obama.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
From Mickey Kaus: The federal government is still hiring and he questions whether these jobs are actually needed.
Here is the official list of federal job openings. They are still hiring. Sure, big enterprises keep hiring essential employees even in tough times. But these aren’t essential jobs. Many of them seem like the sort of job a private firm, in a financial crisis like the feds are in, would consolidate with another job or leave unfilled. (The first one that jumps out is the “Associate Administrator for Administration” at the Department of Transportation, which pays $119,554 to $179,700. It seems that this person will do administrative work to maintain the layer of bureaucracy that “coordinates” the DOTs research programs. The new hire will also give “advice and assistance in directing, coordinating, controlling” etc. this little fiefdom. You don’t have to be Peter Drucker to realize that this position does not have to exist.)
Here is the official list of federal job openings. They are still hiring. Sure, big enterprises keep hiring essential employees even in tough times. But these aren’t essential jobs. Many of them seem like the sort of job a private firm, in a financial crisis like the feds are in, would consolidate with another job or leave unfilled. (The first one that jumps out is the “Associate Administrator for Administration” at the Department of Transportation, which pays $119,554 to $179,700. It seems that this person will do administrative work to maintain the layer of bureaucracy that “coordinates” the DOTs research programs. The new hire will also give “advice and assistance in directing, coordinating, controlling” etc. this little fiefdom. You don’t have to be Peter Drucker to realize that this position does not have to exist.)
Part of the problem, of course, is that since it is virtually impossible to fire an actual underperforming federal employee, conscientious administrators have to hire new people (or consultants) to actually do the work the unfireable employees aren’t doing.
Monday, August 08, 2011
GOOD SUMMARY OF DOWNGRADE
From CNBC. Santelli raises issue of a leaderless Washington. "Leaders on vacation!" But a number of different opinions raised.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR BUDGET CRISIS
I thought this was an interesting chart. It is spending on medicare (and medicaid) that would appear to be the major problem that has to be resolved. Social Security spending growth would appear to be manageable. Read the article here.
RISING URBAN VIOLENCE
A post on rising random racial violence in cities. I have been watching this rise and haven't seen the media cover it, but someone else has also noted it.
IS THE LEFT AGREEING WITH THE RIGHT ON OBAMA?
I have always enjoyed Mickey Kaus. . .he is a liberal Democrat who thinks outside of the box (of course this may get him kicked out of the Democrat establishment). He recently posted a comment on the left seemingly finally agreeing with the right on all of their criticisms of Obama as a poorly prepared candidate for President. He quotes Bryan York on a Drew Westen column from the Sunday NYT.
Perhaps Obama “is simply not up to the task” of being president. Perhaps the Democrats who were so dazzled by his campaign speeches should have noticed “some disquieting aspects of his biography.” Among those disquieting aspects: “that he had accomplished very little before he ran for president, having never run a business or a state; that he had a singularly unremarkable career as a law professor, publishing nothing in 12 years at the University of Chicago other than an autobiography; and that, before joining the United States Senate, he had voted ‘present’ (instead of ‘yea’ or ‘nay’) 130 times, sometimes dodging difficult issues.”
Perhaps Obama “is simply not up to the task” of being president. Perhaps the Democrats who were so dazzled by his campaign speeches should have noticed “some disquieting aspects of his biography.” Among those disquieting aspects: “that he had accomplished very little before he ran for president, having never run a business or a state; that he had a singularly unremarkable career as a law professor, publishing nothing in 12 years at the University of Chicago other than an autobiography; and that, before joining the United States Senate, he had voted ‘present’ (instead of ‘yea’ or ‘nay’) 130 times, sometimes dodging difficult issues.”
Thursday, August 04, 2011
PRIVATE JET TAX
I believe in a progressive income tax, but my concern over raising taxes on the rich is that it can put people out of work and not raise as much tax money as expected because unemployment benefits and other cost consequences take place.
In 1991 the Democrat congress raised the yacht tax and it just ended putting people in certain states out-of-work. This is a post from 1991 from a blogger, but a Florida congressman was also concerned.
The workers at Cessna and Lear must be in fear of losing their jobs. And one could wonder why pick on yachts and private jets. . .why not a special tax on any automobile over $20,000 or a special tax if you shop at Nordstrom's vs. Walmart?
In 1991 the Democrat congress raised the yacht tax and it just ended putting people in certain states out-of-work. This is a post from 1991 from a blogger, but a Florida congressman was also concerned.
The workers at Cessna and Lear must be in fear of losing their jobs. And one could wonder why pick on yachts and private jets. . .why not a special tax on any automobile over $20,000 or a special tax if you shop at Nordstrom's vs. Walmart?
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
IMPACT OF OBAMA & BUSH ON SPENDING
An interesting comparison by Ezra Klein. You can't deny Bush's economic policy had some impact on where we are today. His policies generated the Tea Party and Obama's policies have continued to strengthen that movement.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Thursday, July 14, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR McCAIN. . .
I have been following Glenn Reynold's Instapundit blog for a number of years now. I believe he would classify himself as a libertarian so I don't see him as highly partisan, but he does have his views.
He skewers Obama and the liberal Democrats for doing the same things they attacked McCain for in the 2008 election with his "they told me if I voted for McCain. . ." I started to collect the number of times Obama has done what he criticized McCain for possibly doing and have included some samples below (a person can do a search on Instapundit going back to 2009 if one wanted to do a statistical analysis on this subject).
All this is hypothetical because we can't say for sure what McCain would have done.
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D HAVE A PRESIDENT WHOM ARABS DESPISED MORE THAN BUSH. And they were right! “Of course, world leadership is not a popularity contest, nor should it be. But it should be deeply worrying for the White House when a genocidal tyrant like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is now viewed more favorably across many parts of the Middle East than the leader of the free world.” Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 13, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D BE BLASTING MISSILES ALL OVER THE PLACE: And they were right! “At least 45 suspected militants were killed by missiles launched by U.S. drone aircraft in Pakistan’s northwest, local intelligence officials said on Tuesday, one of the largest death tolls to date in the controversial air bombing campaign.” Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 12, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D BE BLASTING MISSILES ALL OVER THE PLACE: And they were right! “At least 45 suspected militants were killed by missiles launched by U.S. drone aircraft in Pakistan’s northwest, local intelligence officials said on Tuesday, one of the largest death tolls to date in the controversial air bombing campaign.” Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 12, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, we’d be keeping troops in Iraq indefinitely. And they were right! Guess I should voted for that Barack Obama fellow, who promised to have them all out by 2011. Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 06, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D BE HOLDING TERRORISTS WITHOUT TRIAL IN SECRET FACILITIES. AND THEY WERE RIGHT! “A Somali man suspected of assisting al Qaeda was held abroad on a U.S. Navy ship for questioning for over two months without being advised of any legal rights, an administration official said.” (Via Gateway Pundit). Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 06, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, GOVERNMENT SPYING WOULD PROCEED UNCHECKED: And they were right! Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 04, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D HAVE TROOPS IN MORE COUNTRIES THAN I COULD COUNT. AND THEY WERE RIGHT! American Boots Hit the Ground in Somalia After Drone Attacks. Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 02, 2011
UPDATE: Heh: They told me that if I voted for John McCain reporters on Morning Joe would be calling the POTUS a dick on national TV… and they were right! Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jun 30, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR MCCAIN, WE’D HAVE ONGOING WARS ALL OVER THE WORLD, AND FAT-CAT DONORS ENTERTAINED RIGHT IN THE WHITE HOUSE. And they were right! Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jun 26, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, DEMOCRATS WOULD BE COMPLAINING ABOUT A WARMONGERING IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY. AND THEY WERE RIGHT! “A House Democrat warned Friday that the U.S. president is becoming an ‘absolute monarch’ on matters related to the authority to start a war.” Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jun 24, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WHISTLEBLOWERS WOULD BE SUPPRESSED. And they were right! “Stephen J. Kim, an arms expert who immigrated from South Korea as a child, spent a decade briefing top government officials on the dangers posed by North Korea. Then last August he was charged with violating the Espionage Act — not by aiding some foreign adversary, but by revealing classified information to a Fox News reporter. Mr. Kim’s case is next in line in the Obama administration’s unprecedented crackdown on leaks.” Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jun 19, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D BE WAGING EXPENSIVE WARS AROUND THE GLOBE WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORIZATION. And they were right! “Obama’s unauthorized Libyan war costs $9,241,000 a day: Are you getting your money’s worth?” Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jun 16, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D SEE LAUGHABLE LEGAL HAIRSPLITTING IN DEFENSE OF UNDECLARED AND UNPOPULAR WARS — AND THEY WERE RIGHT! When Is a War Not a War? When President Obama Says So. Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jun 15, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, we’d be bogged down in unpopular, undeclared foreign wars. And they were right! “A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 26% of Likely U.S. Voters feel the United States should continue its military actions in Libya. Forty-two percent (42%) are opposed and 32% are undecided.” Hey, hey, Barack Hussein — how many kids did you kill today? Well, no. We won’t hear that unless they bring back the draft. Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jun 14, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR MCCAIN, we’d have a President who pursued endless war. And they were right! Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jun 13, 2011
He skewers Obama and the liberal Democrats for doing the same things they attacked McCain for in the 2008 election with his "they told me if I voted for McCain. . ." I started to collect the number of times Obama has done what he criticized McCain for possibly doing and have included some samples below (a person can do a search on Instapundit going back to 2009 if one wanted to do a statistical analysis on this subject).
All this is hypothetical because we can't say for sure what McCain would have done.
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D HAVE A PRESIDENT WHOM ARABS DESPISED MORE THAN BUSH. And they were right! “Of course, world leadership is not a popularity contest, nor should it be. But it should be deeply worrying for the White House when a genocidal tyrant like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is now viewed more favorably across many parts of the Middle East than the leader of the free world.” Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 13, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D BE BLASTING MISSILES ALL OVER THE PLACE: And they were right! “At least 45 suspected militants were killed by missiles launched by U.S. drone aircraft in Pakistan’s northwest, local intelligence officials said on Tuesday, one of the largest death tolls to date in the controversial air bombing campaign.” Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 12, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D BE BLASTING MISSILES ALL OVER THE PLACE: And they were right! “At least 45 suspected militants were killed by missiles launched by U.S. drone aircraft in Pakistan’s northwest, local intelligence officials said on Tuesday, one of the largest death tolls to date in the controversial air bombing campaign.” Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 12, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, we’d be keeping troops in Iraq indefinitely. And they were right! Guess I should voted for that Barack Obama fellow, who promised to have them all out by 2011. Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 06, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D BE HOLDING TERRORISTS WITHOUT TRIAL IN SECRET FACILITIES. AND THEY WERE RIGHT! “A Somali man suspected of assisting al Qaeda was held abroad on a U.S. Navy ship for questioning for over two months without being advised of any legal rights, an administration official said.” (Via Gateway Pundit). Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 06, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, GOVERNMENT SPYING WOULD PROCEED UNCHECKED: And they were right! Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 04, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D HAVE TROOPS IN MORE COUNTRIES THAN I COULD COUNT. AND THEY WERE RIGHT! American Boots Hit the Ground in Somalia After Drone Attacks. Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jul 02, 2011
UPDATE: Heh: They told me that if I voted for John McCain reporters on Morning Joe would be calling the POTUS a dick on national TV… and they were right! Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jun 30, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR MCCAIN, WE’D HAVE ONGOING WARS ALL OVER THE WORLD, AND FAT-CAT DONORS ENTERTAINED RIGHT IN THE WHITE HOUSE. And they were right! Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jun 26, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, DEMOCRATS WOULD BE COMPLAINING ABOUT A WARMONGERING IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY. AND THEY WERE RIGHT! “A House Democrat warned Friday that the U.S. president is becoming an ‘absolute monarch’ on matters related to the authority to start a war.” Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jun 24, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WHISTLEBLOWERS WOULD BE SUPPRESSED. And they were right! “Stephen J. Kim, an arms expert who immigrated from South Korea as a child, spent a decade briefing top government officials on the dangers posed by North Korea. Then last August he was charged with violating the Espionage Act — not by aiding some foreign adversary, but by revealing classified information to a Fox News reporter. Mr. Kim’s case is next in line in the Obama administration’s unprecedented crackdown on leaks.” Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jun 19, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D BE WAGING EXPENSIVE WARS AROUND THE GLOBE WITHOUT CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORIZATION. And they were right! “Obama’s unauthorized Libyan war costs $9,241,000 a day: Are you getting your money’s worth?” Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jun 16, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D SEE LAUGHABLE LEGAL HAIRSPLITTING IN DEFENSE OF UNDECLARED AND UNPOPULAR WARS — AND THEY WERE RIGHT! When Is a War Not a War? When President Obama Says So. Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jun 15, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, we’d be bogged down in unpopular, undeclared foreign wars. And they were right! “A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 26% of Likely U.S. Voters feel the United States should continue its military actions in Libya. Forty-two percent (42%) are opposed and 32% are undecided.” Hey, hey, Barack Hussein — how many kids did you kill today? Well, no. We won’t hear that unless they bring back the draft. Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jun 14, 2011
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR MCCAIN, we’d have a President who pursued endless war. And they were right! Posted at by Glenn Reynolds on Jun 13, 2011
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
FAILURE OF OBAMA'S ECONOMIC POLICIES
From Reuters.
Rather, that the product of all the administration’s stimulating and regulating is an economy that’s in significantly worse competitive and productive shape than when Obama took the oath in January 2009.
Rather, that the product of all the administration’s stimulating and regulating is an economy that’s in significantly worse competitive and productive shape than when Obama took the oath in January 2009.
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
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