Archive for 2009
October 16, 2009
DOES ALCOHOL SLOW AGING?
COMMERCIAL SPACEFLIGHT: All Systems Go. “NASA should push the frontiers. The private sector can handle the business of low Earth orbit.”
A LOOK AT humanity’s future.
ASTROTURFING: “They concocted two groups — Americans for Stable Quality Care and its predecessor, Healthy Economy Now . . . . That’s as good an example of astroturfing as you’re going to find. There’s nothing illegal about it (unless campaign-finance laws were broken, for which we have seen no evidence), but it’s fundamentally dishonest. The White House orchestrated support, played to the support, and crowed about the support.”
ANNOUNCING THE Solar Decathlon Winners.
NICK GILLESPIE: I admit it. I want my reality back. I don’t know when it went missing. But I want it back. That’s what happens when Glenn Beck suddenly starts looking sane . . . .
Plus, from the comments: “Forget Mao. Why would you hire as a communications director a person who chews her tongue and smacks her lips like Gabby Hayes?”
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Debacle in Moscow.
Yeah, that “smart diplomacy” stuff isn’t living up to the hype.
“AM I THAT DANGEROUS?” Blogger booted by Biden. When Biden’s talking, anyone with a camera and YouTube access is a threat . . . .
DIVERTING RESOURCES FROM THE TROOPS to fund the “Ted Kennedy Educational Institute.”
UH OH: Job Losses Higher Than Reported. “The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently announced that they will be making downward benchmark revisions to past monthly nonfarm employment data that casts doubt on the validity of the recent figures as well. As we will explain, it is highly likely that substantially more jobs are now being lost than is currently reported.”
THUGGISHNESS: WSJ on DeMaurice Smith, the White House, the NFL, and Rush Limbaugh.
Just remember — if football is so thoroughly politicized under this gang, why expect that liver transplants will be different?
UPDATE: CNN’s Sanchez Apologizes For Airing Fake Limbaugh Quote.
Not the most handsome apology ever, though. Two thoughts: (1) I don’t want to hear CNN slurring bloggers for insufficient fact-checking ever again; (2) Limbaugh’s got a libel suit if he wants one — and if this aired in Britain, too, an even easier one there. . . .
ANOTHER UPDATE: Good point: “I’m sure someone has made the connection between these two, but the media was fact checking the SNL Obama skit while preparing the stories on Rush. CNN is literally more interested in ‘disproving’ satire about Obama than bothering to confirm bizarre and scandalous things said by Rush. I am literally amazed.” Sadly, I’m not.
MORE: A reader emails: “I suspect the discovery process alone would be enough of a living hell for CNN and MSNBC. There is certainly lots of painful information about their internal decision processes just waiting to see the light of day. Rush does not have to win a judgment in order to prevail on this one.”
THOUGHTS ON KEITH OLBERMANN, “DIVISIVENESS,” and the NFL.
HMM: Limbaugh Targeted By Obama Official: “The plot thickens on the media’s character-lynching of Rush Limbaugh. Of the four stories run on ESPN.com about Limbaugh’s bid for the Rams (October 6, October 12, October 15, and another October 15) none of them mention that NFL Players Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith served as counsel to Attorney General Eric Holder and was a member of Barack Obama’s transition team. The October 12 article references Smith’s anti-Limbaugh email meant to garner opposition against the radio host’s bid. The report refers to Smith only as the executive director of the NFLPA. Despite the fact that Smith’s opposition was based on Limbaugh’s political commentary, the report failed to mention that Smith’s political connections (including those to whom he donated thousands of dollars) have a vested interest in Limbaugh’s discrediting.”
UPDATE: Reader C.J. Burch writes:
BTW this is a big, big deal, and something Nixon ( or maybe Gene Talmadge or George Wallace in his heyday.) would have done. The difference is the press wouldn’t have played along then. Not because it was wrong. The press could care less about that ( Go look up Walter Duranty), but because Nixon wasn’t a Democrat. It’s all about power with the press…their power. You get in between them and it, heaven help you.
Ouch.
HEY, WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL? I quote Mao all the time. Mostly the bit about power and the barrel of a gun.
BARNEY FRANK, predatory lender.
KEITH HENNESSEY LOOKS AT REGIONAL INEQUITIES IN HEALTH CARE REFORM. “In the pending health care bills, low-income individuals and families who buy health insurance outside employment will get large government subsidies. Those subsidies vary by locale. This represents a significant implicit policy decision with enormous distributional and political consequences. I don’t think most Members or their constituents have focused on this. I think they should. . . . Do Members of Congress understand the massive distributional policy choice they are making by supporting these bills? I’ll bet most of them don’t.” Plus a list of winners and losers, by locality.
TEA PARTIERS AND GOP REGULARS scuffle in New York.
As someone who has been consistently critical of Rush Limbaugh’s brand of conservatism, I nevertheless agree with former Reason intern (and current editor at the Washington City Paper) Mike Riggs: quite a few media hacks owe the right-wing talker a serious apology.
I think there may be some libel exposure here, too. You have to try hard to libel a public figure, but relying on unsourced — and “self-evidently phony” — wikiquotes without doing any checking just might count as reckless disregard. . . .
POLL: Obama Would Get 43% Today. “In what may be the ultimate job rating, 43 percent of voters say that they would vote to re-elect President Obama if the 2012 election were held today, down from 52 percent six months ago, from April 22-23, 2009.”
THE DAILY KOS: Better when it’s just Kos?