VARIETIES OF religious politics.
Related: “You know what the fastest growing religion in America is? Statism.”
Archive for 2010
May 16, 2010
GO ONLINE, be happy!
CLIMATEGATE: When Prophecy Fails.
AFTER THE FLOOD: Your House As A Superfund Site, And How To Clean It Up.
BUT REMEMBER, THE SOLUTION TO EVERY PROBLEM IS MORE REGULATION: “The federal agency responsible for ensuring that the Deepwater Horizon was operating safely before it exploded last month fell well short of its own policy that the rig be inspected at least once per month, an Associated Press investigation shows. In fact, the agency’s inspection frequency on the Deepwater Horizon fell dramatically over the past five years, according to federal Minerals Management Service records. . . . In fact, last year MMS awarded the rig an award for its safety history.”
“SMART DIPLOMACY:” Apologizing for Arizona. “This is unfreakingbelievable, even for the Obama administration.”
Related: “Do you ever get the idea that our government is a bunch of left-wing undergraduates come to power?”
RAID: “At about this time, the officer’s weapon discharged one round which, tragically, struck 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley Jones in the neck/head area.” In their defense, they were looking for a violent criminal, not — as is so often the case — serving a warrant for nonviolent drug crimes.
MARKDOWNS ON bar tools and glasses.
BELDAR ON Obama, Sunstein, and “libertarian paternalism.”
You can hear our interview of Cass Sunstein regarding his book Nudge right here.
CAN CAMERAS AND SOFTWARE replace referees?
I’M SURE THIS IS THE ISRAELIS’ FAULT SOMEHOW: Hamas destroys dozens of homes in southern Gaza:
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) – Hamas police wielding clubs beat and pushed residents out of dozens of homes in the southern Gaza town of Rafah on Sunday before knocking the buildings down with bulldozers, residents said.
Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers said the homes were built illegally on government land. Newly homeless residents were furious over Palestinians on bulldozers razing Palestinian homes.
For years, Palestinians have criticized Israel for destroying houses, mostly because they were built without permits issued by the military. Now, Rafah residents complained, their own government, run by the Islamic militant Hamas that seized power in Gaza in July 2007, has done the same.
Meet the new boss, who you only wish was the same as the old boss. . . .
JAMES ELY: Stevens, Kagan and property rights. “Little people beware – you’re beside the point.”
BOY SCOUTS in Iraq.
THIS WEEK in the future.
PJTV: LIVESTREAMING THE CHICAGO CLIMATE CONFERENCE. Starting more or less now. Astronaut and Senator Harrison Schmitt, Lord Monckton, Roger Simon, and more!
Want more of this kind of coverage? Subscribe to PJTV.
HAPPY GRADUATION!
SAYUNCLE VIDEOBLOGS. He emails that he’s using the Kodak Playsport. “Only complaint is the audio is a bit weak. But we were surrounded by 70,000 people.” Well, that’s a tough environment, though the Zi8 allows an external microphone. But with that much noise, you just have to get close, or go somewhere quieter. Fancier equipment — like the Sennheiser Evolution microphones we use for PJTV — can handle that background noise, but the microphone alone costs more than these miniature video cameras. (And don’t buy one thinking you can use it with the Zi8 — you can’t.) And SayUncle’s audio is entirely intelligible, though it could be a bit louder against the background noise.
ARNOLD CONFRONTS REALITY: Arnold Schwarzenegger calls for state welfare to be ended in California.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has compared his state’s financial crisis to that of Greece and called for scrapping the state welfare system to close a $19.1 billion budget gap. He said the US state, with an economy that ranks as the eighth largest in the world, faced the same budget deficit crisis as eurozone countries such as Greece, Spain and Ireland. . . . Democratic State Senate President Darrell Steinberg said his party, which controls both chambers of the legislature, could not support Schwarzenegger.
“The cuts are absolutely unacceptable,” Steinberg said, adding that instead of slashing spending Schwarzenegger should delay business tax breaks.
Yep, sounds like Greece all right.
UPDATE: Reader Dale Russell writes: “When can we expect to see Californians rioting, burning down buildings, etc.? It is time for the entitlement class to hit the streets.” Well, we’ve already seen a bit of that.
IGNORE DISGRACE and people will soon forget it, apparently. But what is it with Harvard and plagiarism, anyway?
HOW STUDENT LOANS helped destroy America. “Destroy” may be a bit strong, but I do think that student loans have been a very bad development, encouraging price inflation in academia while saddling graduates with enormous — and non-bankruptable — debt.
SOME PEOPLE WILL BE COMFORTED BY THIS: Being Bad at Relationships Is Good for Survival.
“LET IT BURN.” A reader emails, “These sorts of sentiments are becoming rather more widespread and openly stated.”
A SCANDAL IN FLORIDA: “Police records show that Dennis Stackhouse cultivated a cozy relationship with the mother and aide of U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek as the congressman supported the developer’s project. Meek says he didn’t know about a mortgage deal given to the aide.”