STIMULUS GOES TO THE DOGS: Another broken promise.
UPDATE: Some back-and-forth in the comments as to whether the money is for the dog park or street-resurfacing or both.
Archive for 2009
November 18, 2009
JOHN STOSSEL: Worse Than Taxes: The Spending.
KIMBERLEY STRASSEL: The EPA’s Paranoid Style.
GIBSON GUITAR PLANT RAIDED over rare-wood issues.
IN RESPONSE TO THE EARLIER POST ON FEMALE VIAGRA, several readers noted this passage on the drug and Britain’s NHS:
It is not known yet how much it will cost, but is unlikely to be widely prescribed by a health service struggling to find cash to fund treatment of life-threatening illnesses.
Okay, not death panels, but . . . “booty panels?”
THAT SAME OLD CARTER FEELING AGAIN. Sorry, but as I’ve said before, I think a Carter-era rerun is a best-case scenario at this point . . . .
TEA PARTY FISTICUFFS: I don’t think that this CSM piece descends into blaming the victim, but you’d have to read it closely to figure out who was at fault. Hint: Not the Tea Party people.
MP3 RULES, MAN: Most people can’t tell the difference between lossy and lossless compression. My favorite bit: “There was no convincing evidence that those subjects who consider themselves audiophiles and have invested more in high-quality MP3 players or headphones could discern lossy from lossless audio files better than anyone else. What they could do, however, was give you more convincing arguments as to why one version sounded better than the other. In effect, they had better tools with which to convince themselves that their subjective impressions were correct, even when those impressions were entirely misleading.”
Also: “The only person to get all four tracks right is someone who listens to their headphones at pitifully low volumes and hasn’t attended any rock concerts. We can think of two explanations. One, the subject has particularly sensitive ears, so doesn’t need to turn the volume up high. Two, the subject hasn’t wrecked their hearing through years of listening to a walkman/MP3 player at high volumes and/or seeing Motorhead at the Hammersmith Odeon. Arguably, both apply.”
L.A. TIMES: Video shows Sen. Obama thought a military tribunal was once fine for Khalid Sheikh Muhammed.
Related discussion at The Hill.
CHANGE: Obama admits Guantanamo won’t close by Jan. deadline.
Score it: Weaselly politicians 1, fierce moral urgency of change 0. Okay, actually by now that score’s working out to about 700-0, but . . . .
Plus this: “So, presumably, this new announcement was timed to follow last week’s announcement that KSM would be tried in NYC. Maybe what came first was the realization that Guantanamo would need to remain open, and then something was needed to placate those who put their hope in Obama that he would close the place. Oh, what will we do? I’ve got an idea! Let’s put on a show! Let’s try KSM in NYC!”
MORE ON supercomputing at Oak Ridge.
TAXPROF: Senate to Move Forward on Lael Brainard’s Nomination Despite Tax Problem. “The tax problems are (1) twelve late payments of real estate and personal property taxes, and late payment of unemployment taxes; (2) failure to timely file employment eligibility verification forms for her household help; and (3) failure to substantiate home office deductions. Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus today annnounced that he would support the nomination and that the committee would soon vote on the nomination.” Taxes are for the little people.
CAR LUST: Reflections as the Mazda Miata turns 20.
CHANGE: DOLLAR DROPS, gold hits record.
CHOICE: Build More Nukes Or Head Back To The Dark Ages.
UPDATE: Also, do something about that uranium shortage.
THE PIED PIPER of mucus. Kinda weird that you’ll need a prescription though.
WHERE SCIENTIFIC STIMULUS FUNDING WENT. We’re getting a lot of it here in Tennessee’s 67th Congressional District!
JAY LENO does the Electric Tango.
LEAD US NOT INTO DEBT: Megan McArdle on Dave Ramsey.
His debt advice sounds good — I don’t really have any debt except a modest mortgage, so I haven’t tried it, since we’ve always favored a sort of Dave Ramsey-lite approach to finances — but his investment advice is lousy. Or, at least, I wish he’d name some names when he talks about “putting your money into a good aggressive growth-stock mutual fund with a 12% annual yield.”
UPDATE: Some related thoughts from Megan here.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Michael Kennedy writes:
I think we are in for a long and severe period of fiscal bad times. I am a high income professional but I am battening down hatches as fast as I can, including selling things I don’t need to own. Those kinds of links will be popular, not as popular as they should be, but that will change. It is heavy weather ahead and worse than we have seen since the 1930s. The fools running the country have no idea what they are doing.
It does appear that way. But perhaps we’re simply too dull to fathom their cunning plans.
EYESIGHT TO THE BLIND: 1 shot of gene therapy and children with congenital blindness can now see.
ANDY MCCARTHY ROUNDS UP some “whoppers” from Eric Holder’s Senate testimony. And Holder’s response to Andy McCarthy, and McCarthy’s riposte.
ANN ALTHOUSE: Another Obama-is-like-Nixon Moment. I’d forgotten about the Nixon/Manson pronouncement, but the similarity is eerie.
UPDATE: Reader John Marcoux writes: “I think it’s helpful to remember that everything for the Obama administration is about getting a healthcare bill passed. Quickly cave on ACORN, dump controversial administration figures, pigeon hole Cap and Trade. Now they have us all huffing and puffing over a bizarre decision about where to try KSM, a decision that could quickly be withdrawn, while Dingy Harry quietly moves his healthcare bill to a vote on Friday.” Yeah, though I don’t think all the foulups and debacles on other fronts are helping them with healthcare, even if they are distractions.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Quinnipiac: Obama Under 50 For First Time. Like I said.