Archive for January, 2010

WHITE HOUSE: The New Moon Mission Is Canceled.

Plus, Rand Simberg: We Haven’t Lost The Moon. My take: Given all the money he’s pissed away, it’s ridiculous for Obama to present this as a big savings. On the other hand, the program was a mess anyway, and needed to be cancelled for non-budgetary reasons. But will Obama back other means of promoting space exploration? My own guess is that he’s actually hostile too space, regardless of budget priorities, but who knows? If the rumored shift to commercial flight becomes a reality it’ll be a step forward, not a step back.

UPDATE: More from Rand Simberg. “Short version, human spaceflight policy is one of the few things that Obama seems to be getting right, at least from a conservative standpoint.”

And from Jim Bennett in the comments: “What I fear most about the new regime is that the commercial providers will be reviewed by the same agency that has an organizational incentive to see it fail so that they can revert to being a designer and operator. This approach very much wants an organizationally separate engineering analysis capability and safety authority with no ambitions to compete with the companies it supervises.”

FACT-CHECKING THE PRESIDENT IN BALTIMORE: “That means that over twelve years of Republican rule, there was an average annual budget deficit of about $104 billion. Compare that with an average annual deficit since 2008 of $1.074 trillion — or about $90 billion per month.”

SOME FINAL WORDS FROM HOWARD ZINN: “I’ve been searching hard for a highlight. The only thing that comes close is some of Obama’s rhetoric; I don’t see any kind of a highlight in his actions and policies. . . . I think people are dazzled by Obama’s rhetoric, and that people ought to begin to understand that Obama is going to be a mediocre president–which means, in our time, a dangerous president–unless there is some national movement to push him in a better direction.”

Ann Althouse comments: “I agree that a mediocre President is dangerous. But if a non-mediocre Obama would go in the direction Howard Zinn wanted to push, I prefer a mediocre Obama.” Wish granted!

HEADLINE OF THE WEEK:

obamaheadline12910

HMM: Apple Change Quietly Makes iPhone, iPad Into Web Phones. “Apple updated the iPhone software development kit on Wednesday to allow internet telephony apps to work on the 3G network. The little-noticed move effectively unlocks the ability for the iPhone — and the upcoming iPad — to be used as web phones.” I already use my iPod Touch that way, with the Skype app. Works fine, though of course for the Touch you have to be in wi-fi coverage. But heck, that’s about as easy as being within AT&T coverage, from what I hear . . . .

UPDATE: Reader Joel Engel asks what I use for a microphone. I use those earbud/mic combo things from Apple.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The Obamarang. “All politicians fudge on their promises. But this president manages to transcend the normal political exaggeration and dissimulation. Whereas past executives shaded the truth, Barack Obama trumps that: on almost every key issue, what Obama says he will do, and what he says is true, is a clear guide to what he will not do, and what is not true. It is as if ‘truth’ is a mere problem of lesser mortals.”

And when he criticizes foreign money in American campaigns, it means he got foreign contributions to his campaign.

FROM CORNELL LAW PROF. WILLIAM JACOBSON, A CHALLENGE TO OBAMA: Request Special Counsel As To Foreign Contributions. “That the Obama campaign received foreign donations as a result of this scheme may be the only thing agreed-upon by both Pamela Geller and Charles Johnson. Indeed, Obama for America has admitted receiving foreign contributions. The fact that the Federal Election Commission is not investigating the allegations necessitates a special counsel.”

HOW TO DEAL WITH A SLOPPY, BUT VICIOUS, MAINSTREAM MEDIA: Big Journalism has a steady stream of published correction requests regarding various outlets’ botched handling of the O’Keefe story.

UPDATE: Moe Lane: “I’m sorry. ‘Retracto, the Correction Alpaca.’ If you don’t find that funny – not even a little – not only are you at the wrong site, but there might not actually be hope for you.”

SEIU AND UNIONS RUNNING A false-flag Tea Party operation? “It’s exactly this kind of big-special-interest manipulation that has given rise to the Tea Party movement — and why Big Labor is so ardently trying to kill it off.” And vice versa, of course. . . .

MEGAN MCARDLE: Dude, Where’s My Job? “I’d argue that the better measure of whether the economy has returned to health is employment–at least, that’s when the improvement starts to translate into improvements in peoples’ real lives. Prolonged unemployment is one of the most crippling things that can afflict people in the modern world. Yet despite a second consecutive quarter of growth, prolonged unemployment is what we’re stuck with. . . . That has particular implications for a skilled economy. In 1930s, when FDR was trying to combat mass long-term unemployment, all he needed to do was create a construction project; most of the men in the country did some sort of hard physical labor. It was relatively easy to create jobs that they could fill. But what kind of public works projects would absorb mortgage brokers or mid-level managers? As jobs have gotten more skilled, more human capital is specific to firms, industry, and job classifications.”

UPDATE: WaPo: Big jump in GDP may veil weakness in economy.

THE MYSTERIOUS SURGE OF APPLICATIONS TO CORNELL LAW SCHOOL. “Some things just can’t be explained. Stonehenge. Davos. What really happened to Oceanic Flight 815. The hype over indie-rock darlings Animal Collective. And there’s this: that applications to Cornell Law have jumped 52% over the number of applications filed last year. . . . But why 52%? At Cornell? We have no idea. Nor does the school’s dean, Richard Geiger, who told the University’s paper he was as mystified as anyone.”

I credit an exploding presence in the blogosphere, personally.

ANGRY OBAMA LASHES OUT AT HOUSE REPUBLICANS: “I am not an ideologue.” Or a crook!

Related: Obama Decries Divisive Rhetoric, Says Healing Can Happen if Opponents Stop Being Such Effing D-bags.

UPDATE: Tom Spaulding writes:

How can the Republicans be accused of being the Party of No, if they are in fact voting as their constituents want them to and rejecting the president’s agenda? Doesn’t that make us the People of No?

And what does that make the voters in Massachusetts?

The State Of Negativity?

WHAT THE iPAD MEANS.