SOME HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ON THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT, in my Washington Examiner column today. With reference to Pauline Maier’s From Resistance to Revolution, an excellent piece of historical scholarship on popular resistance to government overreaches.
Archive for 2009
September 6, 2009
CHARLES RANGEL UPDATE: “Ethics” For Sale. “Is Charlie Rangel worried that the House Ethics Committee — notorious for handing out little more than a slap on the wrist for even the most egregious congressional misconduct — might make an exception in his case? Maybe that’s why the embattled Harlem Democrat has been playing Santa Claus with his House colleagues, doling out more campaign cash from his own re-election kitty than almost any other member of Congress. . . . One member of the panel, Peter Welch of Vermont, wisely decided to return his $20,000 gift from Rangel, citing the need for ‘an abundance of caution.’ But the other two — Ben Chandler of Kentucky and G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina — are holding on to Rangel’s largesse, claiming it in no way interferes with their ability to sit in judgment on their benefactor.”
BLOGGINGHEADS TV: Captive Audience.
MICKEY KAUS on the Van Jones resignation. “I’ve been waiting for the day when a prominent pol resigns and for print MSM readers it appears to be out-of-the-blue, though everyone on the Web knows the whole story.”
Scott Johnson: “Jones was also a perfect symbol of the dereliction of the mainstream media in the Age of Obama. Those who rely on the New York Times for their news, for example, will learn of Jones’s departure some time soon, but it will come as a great surprise to them, and well after the shouting is over. Whatever Jones said is already heard indistinctly, like a distant echo, in the Times’s lame overnight report. Byron York’s tabulation of words devoted to the recent revelations about Jones in the mainstream media as of Friday and Saturday provided a notable marker.”
THINGS THAT DON’T SUCK: So when I bought my new MacBook Pro a couple of weeks back, it was obvious that there was a recession on — not only did I get a discount for being UT faculty, but they threw in a free 8GB iPod Touch. The MacBook is fine, though I kind of prefer the keyboard on the old one, but the iPod Touch has turned out to be a useful and cool gadget indeed. For music, I prefer my iPod Classic, but it’s the WiFi Internet access that makes the Touch really cool. It’s not an iPhone, but it lets me check up and make sure my scheduled posts are appearing OK on InstaPundit — I’m always afraid I’ll turn the whole page italics and won’t notice for hours — as well as check email, etc. You can even blog from it, kinda. I installed the free Kindle App and read a book — Robert Heinlein’s Double Star, which I hadn’t read in ages — and I almost prefer it to the Kindle. The screen is very bright and clear, and the page-turning seems faster and better.
It’s had me thinking a little about an iPhone (probably Apple’s goal!), but I talked to one of the computer guys at the law school and he said the lousy AT&T service made him wish he had a Touch instead of an iPhone, so now I’m not sure. But it’s a nifty gadget, especially for free . . . .
UPDATE: Oh nooooo. . . “The free iPod Touch is an annual Apple back to School promotion- not an indicator of the recession. . . . Reynolds, who is also a digital photography enthusiast, may find himself disappointed on September 9 when Apple announces the new iPod Touch that includes a camera.”
EDITORIAL: Rep. Rangel pushes the envelope of arrogance. Hoping for Charlie Rangel’s auditor?
A lot of people would like that. But I think you have to be connected or something.
NO SURPRISE: Obama’s Green Jobs Czar Resigns Amid Controversy. No surprise there, but that doesn’t address the miserable vetting problem that let him in in the first place. My guess: People knew about this stuff, but just thought it was okay . . . .
UPDATE: What does it mean? Incompetence isn’t it, says Dan Riehl. “What we are seeing is a combination of two different things – inexperience combined with a hubris that has prevented Obama from figuring out there’s a certain humility required to be an effective president.”
Plus, who to blame? According to the WaPo, it’s Gateway Pundit! Tom Maguire comments: “Not since Captain Ed brought down the Canadian government has a blogger struck so mightily.”
On Friday, I had the rare honor of appearing in the pages of the New York Times, apropos President Obama’s plans to beam himself into every schoolhouse in the land in the peculiar belief that Generation iPod will find this an enthralling technical novelty. As Times reporters James C. McKinley Jr. and Sam Dillon wrote:
“Mark Steyn, a Canadian author and political commentator, speaking on the Rush Limbaugh show on Wednesday, accused Mr. Obama of trying to create a cult of personality, comparing him to Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader.”
Oh, dear! “A Canadian author”: Talk about damning with faint credentialization. I don’t know what’s crueler, the “Canadian” or the indefinite article.
As to the rest of it, well, that’s one way of putting it. Here’s what I said on Wednesday re dear old Saddam and Kim:
“Obviously we’re not talking about the cult of personality on the Saddam Hussein/Kim Jong Il scale.”
Close enough for Times work.
It’s almost as if they start by deciding on a storyline, and then don’t let the facts divert them.
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: “I fear that this is the most polarizing administration we have seen in matters of race since the 1920s.”
TEA PARTY FILLS LOUISVILLE PARK: “Thousands packed Louisville’s Central Park Saturday for the “Tea Party Express,” the third such event in Jefferson County since April to serve as a forum for opponents of President Barack Obama and his plans for health care reform.”
UPDATE: Dodd Harris took this “amusingly sad” photo of the counterprotest.
MITCH DANIELS: The Coming Reset In State Government: My fellow governors and I are likely facing a permanent reduction in tax revenues. “State government finances are a wreck. The drop in tax receipts is the worst in a half century. Fewer than 10 states ended the last fiscal year with significant reserves, and three-fourths have deficits exceeding 10% of their budgets. Only an emergency infusion of printed federal funny money is keeping most state boats afloat right now. Most governors I’ve talked to are so busy bailing that they haven’t checked the long-range forecast. What the radar tells me is that we ain’t seen nothin’ yet. What we are being hit by isn’t a tropical storm that will come and go, with sunshine soon to follow. It’s much more likely that we’re facing a near permanent reduction in state tax revenues that will require us to reduce the size and scope of our state governments. And the time to prepare for this new reality is already at hand.”
September 5, 2009
JENNIFER RUBIN: Van Jones: What Are They Waiting For? “It’s not like the administration’s Cabinet-vetting process was that great either, frankly.”
INSTAPUNDIT, JULY 23, 2008: “He’s not running for President of the United States. He’s running for President of Earth.”
Sept. 5, 2009: “On September 24, the president will take the unprecedented step of presiding over a meeting of the UN Security Council.”
A PROGRAM TO share beauty fairly.
STEPHEN GREEN: The Week In Blogs.
I LINKED THIS PIECE ON THE HEALTH CARE DEBATE YESTERDAY, but several readers liked this passage enough that it’s worth highlighting:
Les Bayless, the retired treasurer of Service Employees International Union 1199, blamed poor leadership within the union community for its troubles. “We need different leaders,” he said. Of the health care protesters, he said, “I think they are out there because of TARP [the $787 billion Troubled Assets Relief Program passed by Congress]. TARP p*** me off, too. We let them own that issue.”
The group collectively lamented that the Right discovered Saul Alinsky’s “Rules for Radicals.” “It’s kind of scary! They have learned all of the tricks,” said Sue Esty, the assistant director of American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Maryland.
Scary, indeed. Meanwhile, people on the right are finding the opposition pathetic rather than scary. “24th State is reporting tonight that Elston McGowan is asking the SEIU for workman’s comp for the injury he suffered at the Carnahan rally while beating Ken Gladney’s a$$.”
HEALTH CARE AND ASYMMETRICAL INFORMATION: “People don’t know what’s in various bills, because bills are very complicated, so they just project whatever they think would be neat onto the ones authored by politicians they like–for all the policy heat about mandates during the Democratic primaries, I doubt 1% of the audience understood or cared.”
MICHAEL SILENCE: Burning Out On The Constant Online Noise.
I remember in Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age, the really rich and important people get their news via printed newspapers, and correspond via letter. Electronic media are for the lower classes.
MICKEY KAUS ON UNIONS’ PLUMMETING POLL NUMBERS: “Did the UAW kill ‘Card Check’?”
18,000 AT CINCINNATI TEA PARTY EVENT:
It was festival-like atmosphere of patriotism, with food vendors, face-painting for kids and live music for crowd that Butler County Sheriff Richard K. Jones estimated topped out at 18,000.
People of all ages were wearing patriotic clothing in hues of red, white and blue, many carrying American flags and hand-made signs with myriad slogans.
Plus, an Austin Tea Party:
The debate over President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform plan spilled onto the south steps of the State Capitol Saturday afternoon.
Thousands of people from across Texas who don’t support the president’s plan rallied with signs as several guest speakers took the stage.
One was Steve Crowder of PJTV fame.