NICO PITNEY: Continuously updated reports from Iran.
Archive for 2009
June 20, 2009
Knoxville, Tennessee. Krutch Park, downtown.
THOUGHTS ON LANGUAGE AND HEALTH CARE “REFORM:”
One of the few things I don’t miss about being in the MSM cocoon is the task of treating low-protein verbal confections like “permanent supportive care” and “real comprehensive immigration reform” as if they have bearance upon human life on planet Earth. I also suspect Luntz congratulates himself a wee mite more than strictly necessary for his clever phrasings.
But the real reason to be glad about high-profile deconstructions like Merkley’s is that Health Care Reform Part 2 will look worse the more its related texts are unpacked. Back when I was merely middle-aged and the Golden State was considering a mandated-insurance statewide health care reform proposal, I had fun trying to get Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to use the word “coercion” in describing how he was going to get hundreds of thousands of Californians who didn’t want to buy insurance to buy insurance. His response — that he was seeking to change the “mentality of people” in order to make Californians more closely resemble the Austrians he once bragged about fleeing — was instructive. Schwarzenegger’s health care overhaul failed specifically because its breezy assumptions couldn’t survive the light of day. And that was in the land of the nuts and the fruits. Imagine how much bogus language remains to be unpacked as the realities of multi-trillion-dollar state-run programs and death’s inescapable victory reveal themselves through the summer.
Indeed.
MICKEY KAUS: “What if they came out with a study showing that No Child Left Behind is working–raising test scores without hurting high- or low-achievers–and nobody paid attention? (Except Education Week).”
MICHAEL LEDEEN: A bloody Saturday in Iran? Let’s hope not. But there’s this: “Tens of thousands of Revolutionary Guards have been brought to Tehran to put down the demonstrations. These are older, well-trained and presumably loyal soldiers who will not shrink from attacking the crowds. . . . This is all the regime has left, because the demonstrations have revealed its hollowness, and the nightly chants of ‘God is great’ from the rooftops of all major cities in Iran have exposed the collapse of its central doctrine: that the theocratic fascist system is blessed by Allah. Millions of Iranians are openly rejecting that. . . . Meanwhile, there were cracks in the regime’s instruments of repression, and reports of action against the Basij thugs in the night time streets of Tehran.” Even Iranians don’t know what’s coming next, which means that speculation on our part is likely to be wrong.
UPDATE: If I were the protesters, I think I’d arrange attacks on some of the mullahs’ commercial interests. That would probably lead to a lot of regime bullyboys being detailed to protect them, and leave fewer available to go after the protesters . . . .
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Chris Dodd’s Irish Luck: The Senator Sure Knows How to Pick an Investment. “The Senate’s financial disclosure forms are supposed to be a tool of honest government, and former Senator Ted Stevens was indicted for allegedly false disclosures. Mr. Dodd’s miraculous property reappraisal is further grist for Senate and Justice investigators — and especially for voters in 2010.”
SOME MODEST CIVIL RIGHTS PROGRESS: D.C. Expands List Of Allowed Guns To Avert Lawsuit. It’s only modest, but hey, this is D.C.
IRAN WARNS OPPOSITION against staging protests.
MATT WELCH ON THE ECONOMY: “If I can wade briefly into unscientific anecdote, a recent West coast swing through Portland, Palm Springs and Los Angeles revealed a startling proliferation of ‘for lease’ signs and noticeable decraptitude since the last time setting foot in all three; meanwhile here in D.C. gentrification seems to roar on uninterrupted.”
MORE ON AMERICORPS: The Removal Of An Inspector.
RED SPILLING over green.
SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT: Terrorist watch lists are bad, and Orwellian, because they’re full of mistakes and put together without due process. But if you’re on one, you shouldn’t be allowed to buy a gun. Well, the Supreme Court says that gun ownership is a constitutional right, and you’re not normally supposed to lose a constitutional right because some bureaucrat puts you on a list without any due process. One suspects that this Eric Lichtblau story in the Times is part of a PR effort designed to gin up support for doing just that. The prominent role of Frank Lautenberg — traditional stalking-horse for the Brady Campaign, et al. — supports that suspicion.
MICHAEL MOYNIHAN: Yes, Twitter is playing an important role in Iran.
June 19, 2009
A BUNCH OF grocery markdowns at Amazon.
A ROUNDUP ON TODAY’S IRANIAN ELECTION FRAUD RIOTS, at The Berman Post.
TIGERHAWK: The Surprising Limits of President Obama’s Power: “It really is astonishing that Barack Obama is able to get virtually anything he wants out of Congress — billions for this, trillions for that — but somehow cannot extract a lousy few million clams to close Gitmo, a policy that the Democratic Party stands united behind. It’s almost as though the president is telling the public one thing, and quietly signalling Congress — perhaps using a dog whistle — to do the opposite.”
ADVICE: Go Midwest, Young Man.
AMERICA the deadbeat?
THE CREDIT BUBBLE: Before:
And after:
HEH: Culinary books I’ll never get paid to write. A lot of folks would agree with the Arby’s one, though.
ALFONZO RACHEL: Bong Hits With Bill Maher.
