NICK GILLESPIE ON CHRYSLER’S PAST AND FUTURE: Why Not Just Bind & Whip The Secured Creditors With Soft Corinthian Leather?
Archive for 2009
June 10, 2009
DAVID LETTERMAN IN HIS DOTAGE: Yep. An old man trying to be “edgy.” Like much of the Big Media, alas. . . .
A.P. REPORTER REPRIMANDED for Facebook post. “Richard Richtmyer, a Philadelphia-based newsman, set off Tuesday’s tempest with a seemingly harmless comment posted to his Facebook profile late last month criticizing the executive management of newspaper publisher McClatchy, whose stock plummeted following a 2006 acquisition of San Jose-based Knight Ridder.”
VIRGINIA POSTREL GETS RESULTS: “I think Ezra Klein misstates OMB director Peter Orszag’s position–which Orszag presented on his blog and in a phone call responding to Virginia Postrel (who argued that if there’s so much money to be saved in health care, as demonstrated by waste in Medicare, why doesn’t the administration start by eliminating the waste in Medicare?).”
HOW TO FIX washing machine and dryer problems.
JOSH MARSHALL: Could Ahmadinejad lose? We can hope. Though as long as the mullahs run things, it’s not clear how big a difference it would make.
A LOOK AT THE “Cash for Clunkers” legislation.
MATING PATTERNS when men are scarce.
SO EXPLAIN TO ME WHY THIS ISN’T BAD NEWS: Russia May Swap Some U.S. Treasuries for IMF Debt. “Russia may switch some of its reserves from U.S. Treasuries to International Monetary Fund bonds, the central bank said today. The comment drove Treasuries and the dollar lower. . . . Treasuries fell, pushing 10-year yields toward the highest level in seven months, in response to Ulyukayev’s statement. The dollar fell against the euro on speculation that Russia will reduce its holdings of U.S. debt.”
UPDATE: Rasmussen: 45% Say Cancel Rest of Stimulus Spending. “Forty-five percent (45%) of Americans say the rest of the new government spending authorized in the $787-billion economic stimulus plan should now be canceled. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 36% disagree and 20% are not sure.”
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: “I am afraid I no longer believe that we have an inquisitive American media as we once knew it.” “Now comes a more insidious, brave new self-imposed censorship of the Orwellian mode. It is not just the perennial embarrassment Chris Matthews describing his Obama ecstasy on camera, or even Newsweek’s Evan Thomas comparing his President to God, or even CNN execs being exposed trashing the US abroad at Davos, or whitewashing Saddam, but rather a more incremental new groupspeak in which basic words and ideas—from terrorism to war itself—have been reformulated according to political dictates.”
PENSION UPDATE: Union officer pension plans remain flush as rank-and-file retirement plans deteriorate. “Pension plans for union officers remain healthy and well-funded even as rising liabilities threaten to consume the savings of their rank and file counterparts who participate in different funds within the same labor organization, according to a Hudson Institute study. This disparity became evident from a sample of the 21 largest union and staff pension plans from the same organizations.”
STIMULUS! “The $787 Billion Mistake.”
GRAND CAYMAN, BWI. For when only an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent stylist will do . . . .
“TROUBLING GAPS” in Sotomayor’s questionnaire.
PAUL JOHNSON: The Corruption of Britain. “Both ministers and MPs have become careless and insensitive to the way in which they handle the taxpayers’ money. However, during the last year the public has become aware of just how fundamentally things have changed. . . . The public is outraged, and politicians, as a class, have become unpopular, even hated. If an election were held today New Labour would be reduced to a small minority. But there’s a year to go before an election becomes mandatory, and more revelations of political corruption are expected.”
THE KINDLE DX starts shipping tomorrow, which reminds me that I promised some thoughts on travel with my regular-sized Kindle. Overall, I’m quite happy. It’s as readable as a paperback book, but more portable. Battery life is good — I took the (quite compact) charger with me, but it probably would have lasted the trip without it. It saves a lot of weight on travel, since I usually pack at least 2 or 3 fat paperbacks, and often more. With the Kindle you can take a lot more along, without a weight penalty.
Downsides: You have to turn it off when the airplane is taking off or landing, which sucks. I am, overall, disappointed with the selection of available books — it sounds like there are a lot, but when you go looking for specific things you discover that there are still a lot of books that aren’t available on the Kindle. It’s expensive — drop a paperback in the water and you’ve ruined a $6.99 book. Drop the Kindle and you’ve ruined a much more expensive gadget. That, in turn, makes me just a little bit less likely to take it along in iffy situations. And the Amazon “Whisper Net” wireless service doesn’t work outside the United States.
TEA PARTY UPDATE: “On April 15th, over 3,000 people showed up on the lawn of the Rhode Island statehouse to participate in the local Tax Day Tea Party. As a follow up to that protest, local organizers are planning another event today, June 10th.”
Other tea party plans in Montana, and Georgia:
For a growing group of Peachtree City residents, a lot has happened since the April 15 tea party held at City Hall.
Event organizer Cindy Fallon and others last month formed the non-profit Peachtree City Tea Party Patriots that last week had a mailing list that included nearly 1,300 names. The group will hold their next event July 4 at the Fredrick Brown Amphitheater.
Also South Carolina. “Nearly two months ago, more than 200 people rallied outside of the Greenwood County Court House in protest of massive government spending and excessive taxation. It was April 15, 2009, Tax Day in the United States, and at noon protesters hoisted homemade signs that decried big government during a T.E.A. -Taxed Enough Already – Party. Greenwood held only one of more than 750 estimated parties on April 15. . . . Greenwood citizens will once again gather for one of the rallies, but this time at the Greenwood County Fair Grounds. The T.E.A Party / Freedom Rally, is scheduled for June 27 and is slated to begin at 5:00PM.”
And Texas. As I’ve noted before, this stuff is popping up all over, below the national media radar.
CBS IS FOLLOWING POLITICAL BLOGS? I wonder what they’ll think about this? Or this?
CALIFORNIA LAMIN’: “The state is in fiscal collapse, so the California legislature is doing what it does best–finding new things to regulate. The latest a vegetable mandate for day care center lunches. . . . Next up: a bill to force the kids to eat those vegetables.”
“WHY AREN’T FEMINISTS UPSET WITH DAVID LETTERMAN?” Because sexist smears aimed at 14-year-old girls are fine if they’re Republicans. Duh.
UPDATE: On the other hand. . .
CONSERVATIVES NEED TO BE more entertaining?