Category Archives: Politics

Politics

We Heart Government

Here is a site dedicated to praising government. Don’t read and face your computer at the same time unless you want your keyboard covered in puke.

As usual, they are confusing “small government ideology” with “anarchy”. The conservative agenda is, apparently, to abolish even the things we can all agree government should do like build roads, enforce laws, protect private property and punish wrongdoers

What gets me, however, is how craven the site is. To read it, one would think we should go to bed each night thanking God that our wonderful and glorious government is there to save us from ourselves. Without government, the site argues, all of us evil stupid greedy senseless people would be dead.

It’s a target rich environment, but I’ll take on the Day in the Life tripe, which walks you through your day and tells you how much you should get on your knees and thank God for our divine rulers.

Continue reading We Heart Government →

Politics

A Rogue State

A must-read from Sully on the torture issue. My disgust with the GOP grows with every day. They’ve betrayed America, the Constitution, the memory of Reagan and conservatism. Why should I vote for them, again?

The only hope is that John McCain can clean this party up.

Law and Order, Politics

Weekend Linkorama

  • Energy independence? Nonsense.
  • Walmart destroys mom and pop stores. Garbage.
  • Gun control? Nonsense. Money quote:

    The recent spate of killings gives a misleading impression. Since the peak years of the early 1990s, the number of murders in Chicago has fallen by more than half. In the first three months of this year, homicides were down by 1.1 percent. No one would describe the current murder rate as acceptable, but the city has made huge progress.

    It has done so despite the alleged problem cited by Weis, which is the availability of guns, and particularly one type of gun. “There are just too many weapons here,” he declared at a Sunday news conference. “Why in the world do we allow citizens to own assault rifles?”

    Actually, in Chicago “we” don’t allow citizens to own assault rifles. Elsewhere they are allowed for the same reason other firearms are permitted. The gun Weis villainized is a type of semiautomatic that has a fearsome military appearance but is functionally identical to many legal sporting arms.

    And its bark is worse than its bite. As of March 31, there had been 87 homicides in the city. When I asked the Chicago Police Department how many of the murders are known to have involved assault rifles, the answer came back: one.

  • Stupidy of the day: guys, have you read the Bible? I’m a Jew and I knew this was garbage.
  • How to get rich: beat a woman severely on a bus, then sue when they ban you.
    • Law and Order, Politics

    Thursday Linkorama

  • Note to third world leaders. It’s probably not the best idea to ask for agricultural policy advice from a man who is starvings his own people.
  • The problem in America isn’t that we aren’t manufacturing. It’s that it’s not union members doing it.
  • A wonderful counterpoint to Luddite Day Earth Day.
  • Man, are our liberties in trouble.
    • Law and Order, Politics, Science and Edumacation

    Atlanta Linkorama

    I’m visiting the folks in Atlanta. That means internet access is intermittent. So … while I’m working on some longer posts in the queue … linkorama!

  • Stephen Bainbridge has a good take on the “Worst. President. Ever.” stuff. It’s way to early to judge Bush. And I would certainly rate Buchanan and Johnson lower.
  • Hildog. Champion of the Middle Class
  • This has got to be freaky — a man is trapped in an elevator for 42 hours.
  • One of the problems with the “climate change” crowd is that they assume that whatever the climate was in, say, 1975, it was ideal. I don’t think they’ve invested enough thought into this. If higher CO2 levels mean milder seasons and better harvests, that’s not a bad thing.

    Still, this bit of logic from Indur Goklany is a bit dumb. It is a fact that human prosperity has increased in line with CO2 levels. But it’s also a fact that my weight has tracked my personal income (well, until recently). That doesn’t make being overweight good for me. I just haven’t felt the consequences yet. The question isn’t whether high CO2 levels are hurting us today. It’s all about the long term.

  • I must admit, that the gastric appendectomy story freaked me out when I first heard it. But if it means you can get over appendicitis in a matter of hours, I’m all for it.
  • Do we really need to prosecute people for looking at children? Really? You know, we already have stalking laws on the books.
  • A truly alarming account of how far cops are going to get DUI convictions. A must read.
    • 'Culture', Politics, Science and Edumacation

    Monday Linkorama

  • One can only hope
  • Two amusing sites: When photoshop goes wrong and old timey ads.
  • The unions show their concern for the education of poor people by fighting scholarships. Nice.
  • Are we really in a recession? Alan Reynolds isn’t so sure. I think we are in a recession but there is no question that the media is making it seems worse than it is. After all, the Dems could take the White House this year. Must parrot the party line. More from George Will here
  • Megan McArdle’s random thoughts on the credit crunch are better than most people’s organized thoughts. A must read.

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    Politics

    Daily Meandering

    Christ, what was wrong with The Daily Show tonight?. They go from the Olympic Torch to George Bush to Fox bashfest in which they demonstrate, again, the inability to tell the difference between a news show and an opinion show. They’ve been good lately but occasionally they diverge into biting-the-heads-off-chickens mode.

    Just to clue CNN, FAIR, the Daily Show and everyone else in the Left Wingosphere: Sean Hannity has an opinion show; Bill O’Reilly has an opinion show; Newt Gingrich is a politician not a reporter. I agree that Fox leans right, but the rest of the media leans left. When is the Daily Show going to show the clip of Dan Rather telling Bill Clinton was a big lasagna he was?

    News, Politics, Science and Edumacation

    Wednesday Morning Linkorama

  • $95,740?. For some reason, I have my doubts. This must include only tenured professor level positions, not grad students and postdocs. My salary, as of May 1, will be … let me see … carry the four … $0.
  • A hint for the enterprising criminal. If you rob a place, they are unlikely to hire you.
  • So how much are we spending on education in this country? The census bureau is fudging the numbers.
  • Only with the compliance of our stupid worthless media could the murder of a pro-free-trade union leader become a rallying cry against free trade. What the hell is the media’s job?
  • A great comment on the anti-free-trade pandering going on in the Keystone State.

    Yes, poor Pennsylvania, staggering under a 4.9% unemployment rate (February 2008). Poor Pennsylvania, with a per capita income of a mere $36,680 (2006 data), ranking only 18th in the U.S. A free-trade pact with mighty Colombia (2006 income per capita, a whopping $2,740) would surely blow a huge hole in the Keystone State’s economy.

    Hillary Clinton, Josh Marshall, and a lot of other “liberals” should hang their heads in shame at this disgraceful “Fuck the Latinos” campaign strategy.

  • Dumbass of the Day:

    American Airlines is having a bit of a problem as a good portion of their fleet is grounded while some wiring problems are corrected. And why are these wiring problems being corrected? For safety, of course. So the Fox News Channel cameras head to an airport to get the reaction of some of the passengers who were inconvenienced by the delays. In short order they stumble onto some bleached blond who says: “They’re not thinking about us at all … the passengers. I’m never going to fly American again.”

    Hey, you twit .. .these delays are for safety. Your safety. It is precisely you they are thinking about when they inspect these airplanes. Next time take the damned bus.

    Actually, I would guess a lot of Americans would rather the plane fall out of the sky than be late.

  • A must-read on the food crunch. There was as book some time ago that argued that no famine in the last thousand years has been the result of drought. All resulted from dumb or evil governments.
    • Politics

    Only Libs Need Apply

    Here’s a good point:

    The Washington Post refers to Ralph Nader’s Public Citizen as “a public-interest group” in an article on costly federal regulations that the group is defending. So I wondered: Does the Post think federal regulation is always in the public interest? Or that groups that defend regulation are really acting “in the public interest”? What about groups that work to reduce the burden of government on consumers or taxpayers? Are they “public interest groups”? Certainly, as a member of the public, I don’t really see bigger, costlier government and more expensive products as being in my interest.

    …

    But how about the National Taxpayers Union, which works to eliminate wasteful spending and reduce the burden of government? Was it a public interest group? Not in the Post. How about the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which works for competition and more choice for consumers? Not a public interest group.

    The Post seems to have a very consistent but arguably wrong-headed view about just what is in the public’s interest.

    He clearly fails to grasp that it’s in the public interest to be liberal. Anything else is not a public interest, it’s a special interest.

    Teacher’s unions crippling our public schools? Public interest.

    People trying to introduce competition into the school system? Special interest.

    Got it?

    'Culture', Politics, Science and Edumacation, Sports

    Friday Linkorama

  • Don’t you just love zero tolerance? A kid finds his new camera gives him a shock when he pushes the picture button, gives it to a friend to get shocked and is promptly suspended. Geez.
  • Listen, Pizza Hut. Just rehire the guy and apologize. Your pizza isn’t good enough for you to pull this crap off.
  • Our wonderful efficient public schools. Buying ipods for administrators.
  • Don’t you just love announcers?
    • Politics

    Wednesday Night Linkorama

  • Hillary is going to pay our healthcare bills? Hell, she can’t even pay her own bills.
  • What kind of country gives convicted felons flat panel televisions but won’t protect them from prison rape. A must read from the brilliant Ezra Klein.
  • Barack Obama won’t lower the drinking age for soldiers. I’m not surprised. The forces arrayed in support of our asinine drinking laws are powerful, motivated and have the moral high ground. The only thing wrong with them is that they’re full of crap.
  • It was bad enough when overeducated twerps were comparing prostitution to slavery. Now it’s egg donation. They really hate freedom, don’t they?