ON THE OTHER HAND, IT MAKES YOU LIVE LONGER: alcohol use shrinks brain with age. So you wind up older, but dumber. But maybe happier? Quick, have those researchers check out Stephen Green.
Archive for 2008
October 16, 2008
SO FAR WE’VE BAILED OUT SQUANDERERS, but Karl Okamoto says we should give savers a tax break.
THE CARNIVAL OF THE RECIPES is up!
MAE QUINN LOOKS AT legal competence in the appellate process.
MORE ON bioenergy.
MAHONEY UPDATE: The Hottest Sex Scandal You Never Heard Of.
Brian Anderson is the author of South Park Conservatives, and now he’s got a new book out with Adam Thierer entitled A Manifesto for Media Freedom. We talk to Anderson about efforts to restore the Fairness Doctrine, the prospect of media regulation via subterfuge, and the likelihood of efforts to squash the alternative media in the next Congress — as well as what to do about it.
You can listen to the podcast directly — no downloading needed — by going here and clicking on the gray Flash player. Or you can download it and listen at your leisure by clicking right here. Music is byJohn T. Baker.
I WONDER IF THE MASSACHUSETTS INCOME TAX REPEAL INITIATIVE is already causing some budget-trimming. “In addition to chopping 1,000 jobs from the state’s 45,000-strong workforce, the governor plans to ax more than $1 billion from the budget.” Of course, Patrick is trying to cut popular programs, in the usual “Washington Monument” gambit.
CONSERVATIVE CANADA: A lesson for John McCain?
BAD NEWS FOR WHOEVER WINS IN NOVEMBER: Predictions of a several-year-long pay slump.
UPDATE: But at least consumer prices stayed flat.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Brian Leone emails:
A thought hit me this morning as I drove by the Home Depot and noticed the lack of a crowd of immigrant workers who in years past would have been gathered for hire as construction laborers by the day or piece.
The thought is: Isn’t unemployment as a function of “lost jobs” really higher than we appreciate? A huge segment of the construction field was staffed with illegal immigrant labor which, reportedly, has to a significant extent matriculated back to their nation of origin with the loss of the jobs or otherwise falls outside of statistical counting for our economic reporting.
Had these all been American workers who did not depart back to their nations of origin or fail to be counted as employees in the first place, what would the official unemployment rate be right now?
Hmm. So are these illegal immigrants serving as a sort of unemployment shock absorber? Or did their cheap labor make the housing bubble possible to begin with? Or both?
TREATING PARALYSIS by routing around damaged nerves. Faster, please.
THE EXAMINER EDITORIALIZES: Use RICO on ACORN. “The Justice Department’s indictment in 2005 of the Milberg Weiss class-action securities law firm under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) did not involve charges of mob involvement. Ultimately, the firm plea bargained and several of its senior partners now reside in federal prisons. Likewise, ACORN’s repeated abuses don’t include mafia links, but the pattern matches the organized criminal conduct RICO was passed to combat. If prosecutors don’t know where to start their investigation, here are four suggestions.”
INDEED: “Politics has no ultimate victor. It has no final, decisive battle. It just goes on and on, like soap operas and Law and Order.” But with a less attractive cast.
THE PRESS RAN WITH IT, OBAMA MENTIONED IT LAST NIGHT, but it isn’t true:
The agent in charge of the Secret Service field office in Scranton said allegations that someone yelled “kill him†when presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s name was mentioned during Tuesday’s Sarah Palin rally are unfounded.
It’s as if they’re just making stuff up to make McCain and Palin look bad.
UPDATE: “Pulp Fiction.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: Look how A.P.’s spinning it. Keeping up the narrative, regardless of the facts!
MY PJTV SEGMENT ON THE ECONOMY, with Megan McArdle of The Atlantic Monthly and Andy Roth of The Club for Growth, is available online for free.
You can see it here in both HDTV and Flash versions. Watch in amazement as I turn the banking crisis into an argument for space colonization, before your very eyes.
Plus, the very latest in conspiracy theories, discussed and dismissed. And Megan McArdle on Hugo Chavez’s big problems, and the unfortunate shape his responses may wind up taking.
It’s still a little strange doing this stuff from my basement, but I’m getting used to it. It’s actually easier and more pleasant than doing the usual satellite remote from the UT studios. If you’ve got any comments, or suggestions for future guests, drop me an email.
VIDEO: JOE THE PLUMBER weighs in on the debate. Can we vote for him?
THOUGHTS ON MARKETS, REGULATION, AND OVERREGULATION, from Megan McArdle.
October 15, 2008
MY FINAL TAKE: This was a lot better than the Brokaw debate. McCain seemed more improved than Obama over last time, but scored no knockout punches. This time McCain looked like he was having a better time than Obama; Obama’s smirking was unattractive, but his closing statement was strong.
As I said before, the big winner was Joe the Plumber.
UPDATE: Charles Austin comments.
And so does Jennifer Rubin.
Roger Simon calls the debate dull.
DEBATE REPORTING VS. THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN TALKING POINTS: A side-by-side comparison.
HMM: “First time I’ve seen Obama blushing and looking frustrated in a debate. McCain is getting under his skin.”
UPDATE: Ann Althouse comments: “On the split screen, Obama has that look that I saw him aim at Hillary Clinton months ago. I think McCain is getting to him.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader from the McCain campaign emails: “Obama looks bored and annoyed. Can’t he just be president already?”
Meanwhile, reader Rich Willis wonders if Obama just called Joe Biden a racist: “Did I just hear Senator Obama say that Joe Biden has never forgotten where he came from? Scranton Penn? Isn’t that the state John Murtha says is full of Racists? Hmmmm…..”
McCain hits Obama for never having travelled south of our border — kind of a nice subtle response to some of the anti-Palin remarks.
Another reader emails: “Obama comes off smirking nonstop or laughing and nodding to Schieffer while McCain is talking, but since only Fox is showing the split screen, most people aren’t going to pick up on that. His behavior reminds me of Al Gore in 2000. And not for nothing, but we’re near the end of the third debate, and not a single Second Amendment question or a Fairness Doctrine question in any debate.”
McCain calls Obama “Senator Government.” Was that a slip, or intentional?
Big winner so far: Joe the Plumber. And reader Daniel Moore emails: “Your reader emailed that only Fox is showing the split screen. CNN has been showing the split screen the whole time as well. And, yes, Sen. Obama is smirking nonstop.” Reader Selina Wren says they’ve got the split screen on ABC, too.
Okay, when it comes to judges, I think they’re both lying.
A reader emails: “I’m curious about Sen. Obama. If he truly does not believe in litmus tests for Supreme Court Judges, on what grounds did he oppose Justice Alito and Chief Justice Roberts?” Like I said, they’re both lying.
What’s interesting to me is how much Obama is stressing his agreement with McCain on many issues. I think his polls must show a lot of undecided voters in need of reassurance that Obama isn’t too radically leftist.
Bob Owens summarizes the debate in two sentences.
Meanwhile, I note two insider-Senators spending most of their time running against “Washington.”
MICKEY KAUS: “kf hears from a trustworthy non-Republican source (with access to actual insider information) that the Dems are getting set to pass ‘card check’ legislation fast next year, right out of the box, assuming Obama wins and the Democrats get their expected big Senate majority.”
ANN ALTHOUSE will be liveblogging the debate tonight. So will Jason Pye, and Jeralyn Merritt at TalkLeft.
Me, I’m just glad that we only got three of these, and not ten . . . .
UPDATE: More liveblogging from TigerHawk. Also ExUrban League. Also Jules Crittenden, who links to a lot of other livebloggers.
Ah, but what’s the point when the press reports on the debate are already written? I hope somebody will compare those reports with the talking-points email from the Obama campaign . . .
PENNSYLVANIA CONGRESSMAN JOHN MURTHA calls Pennsylvanians racist. Smooth!
A CHAIR DESIGNED to fit anyone. But the best thing you can do for your back is to get out of the chair regularly.
WINDOWS 7 officially introduced. Will Vista be the new Windows Millenium Edition?