P.J. O’ROURKE: We Blew It.
Archive for 2008
November 12, 2008
DAVID HARSANYI: Getting Out of the Republican Coma.
COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW: Was 2008 the MSM’s Last Hurrah? As I’ve mentioned before, I think the MSM thought so, which is why it was happy to squander its remaining credibility, seeing it as a wasting asset anyway.
A BIG SALE on kids’ DVDs and toys.
AT TALKLEFT, more on the boom in gun sales since the election. Hey, it’s an economic stimulus!
MORE GOOD NEWS FROM IRAQ, VIA REUTERS: Iraqi Sunni guards join Shi’ite government payroll. “It’s pay week for the patrolmen who helped flush al Qaeda militants out of their Baghdad neighborhoods. Only this time, it is the Shi’ite-led Iraqi government that is paying the mainly Sunni fighters, rather than the U.S. military.” Funny, now that the election is over the good news just keeps coming!
OBAMA ON DRUGS: Jacob Sullum looks at prospects for an end to the drug war.
Yet President-elect Barack Obama has retreated from his support for marijuana decriminalization, and his position on medical marijuana remains ambiguous. His reticence on these issues suggests he may disappoint those who hope the Obama administration will move drug policy in a less punitive, more tolerant direction.
One cause for that hope: Obama has been more candid about his own youthful drug use than any president in U.S. history. Although he portrays his pot smoking and cocaine snorting as behavior he regrets, it would be hard for him to justify harsh treatment of drug users when he himself escaped punishment for the same actions and clearly is better off than he would have been had he been arrested.
Given his experiences, it’s not surprising that during his 2004 Senate campaign Obama told students at Northwestern University, “I think we need to…decriminalize our marijuana laws.” But this year he backed away from that position. His campaign claimed he really meant “we are sending far too many first-time, nonviolent drug users to prison for very long periods of time,” and “we should rethink those laws.”
In this, as in so many things, it’s hard to figure out what his real position is, and how he’ll act once in office. Plus, Rahm Emanuel’s drug-warrior record.
I’LL BE ON PJTV tonight, talking with Virginia Postrel about Obama’s glamour, and Andy Roth and Bill Allison about Congress, scandals, and accountability. Plus, talk of an auto bailout.
A 60GHZ WIRELESS SYSTEM ON A CHIP: 100 times wifi speed for less than a dollar. Bring it on!
A 60GHZ WIRELESS SYSTEM ON A CHIP: 100 times wifi speed for less than a dollar. Bring it on!
A 60GHZ WIRELESS SYSTEM ON A CHIP: 100 times wifi speed for less than a dollar. Bring it on!
SO MUCH FOR the Republican war on science.
RAND SIMBERG on capitalism, corporatism, and free markets.
RAND SIMBERG on capitalism, corporatism, and free markets.
SOME ECONOMIC QUESTIONS: I like this one: “Is it good public policy to have your entire electorate pay taxes? If so, why? If not, why not? I’m trying to figure out how it is healthy to have 35-40% of the electorate outside of the income tax system.” I think that everyone should pay something in income tax, and that the amount they pay should go up or down with total federal spending. Otherwise nobody has any incentive to control spending, and we wind up . . . well, where we are. More questions, and an invitation to discussion, at the link.
JAKE TAPPER WILL BE ABC’S senior White House correspondent for the new Administration. That bodes well for non-in-the-tank coverage, as Tapper was more willing than most to report bad things about Obama during the campaign.
SPACE TOURISM UPDATE: A look at Virgin Galactic’s flight training.
NANOTECHNOLOGY UPDATE: The next generation of cancer treatments may be delivered by nanoparticles.
AN AUTO-INDUSTRY UPSIDE: Electric Car Start-Up, Fisker, Opens Huge Center in Michigan. The car looks cool, too.
SOME RECOMMENDED toys for 7-11 year olds.
THE MUDVILLE GAZETTE: On Iraq, the UK newspaper the Guardian has declared: “peace has come to stay”. Indeed . . . .
“GETTING WHAT WE WANTED:” Joan Didion feels unease about the election. You know what H.L. Mencken said about democracy and knowing what we want. . . .
UPDATE: You’ll take it, and you’ll like it!