Archive for 2010

JOEL KOTKIN: Hasta La Vista, Failure. “Schwarzenegger’s fiscal street cred was undermined by his support for unessential new bond issues for such things as stem cell research and high-speed rail. He threw financial prudence out the window in order to appease his business cronies and faithful media claque, particularly those working for mainstream eastern media.”

And, I think, his wife. In retrospect, you could have predicted this just from knowing that Arnold was married to Maria Shriver. If you want to know whether a male Republican politician is likely to go squishy, it pays to know his wife’s politics. Not sure if this works the other way around. . . .

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Two Californias.

HOW TO DELIVER DRUGS INTO A CELL while doing no harm. “Drexel University in Philadelphia tells us about professors Yury Gogotsi and Gary Friedman, who use a nanotube-based device, known as a cellular endoscope, to evaluate cells and deliver fluorescent quantum dots all without the cells even knowing they’re being probed.”

A LIST OF SENATE PORKERS: You might want to call ’em — especially if you’re in their states — and ask ’em to drop the pork.

RADLEY BALKO: An honest question for lefties: “If your answer is no, that is, that the Constitution puts no real restraints on the federal government at all, why do you suppose they bothered writing and passing one in the first place?”

IN BRITAIN, devolution. “David Cameron’s assertion that this Government would be the first in a generation to leave office wielding less power than it started with was more than a rhetorical flourish. The Localism Bill published yesterday sets out in some detail the mechanisms by which the Coalition intends to divest Whitehall of power and hand it instead to local communities and local government.”

BUSTING THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AND THE HUFFINGTON POST for sexism.

CHICKS DIG BAD BOYS: “Despite his most-wanted status and allegations of sexual misconduct, the WikiLeaks founder is intriguingly attractive to many women. . . . Oddly enough, I’m reminded of the moment in the last election cycle when Obama was being hailed as a ‘pimp’ by adoring Facebook supporters. . . . On some level, Assange’s supporters may want to believe he overstepped boundaries, without thinking of him as a thug. This distinction certainly happened with Bill Clinton and his feminist fans. Pro-choice Clinton apparently exposing himself to Paula Jones was, according to Gloria Steinem, not guilty of sexual harassment, while anti-choice conservative Clarence Thomas telling dirty jokes was a serious offense. . . . If William Kristol were accused of doing any of the above during a sexual encounter, he wouldn’t inspire nearly as much sympathy among liberal women. Yet Wolf, dwelling in a ‘boys will be boys’ way on Assange’s allegedly boorish dating style, reminds us that female appetites are as unpredictable as those of men.”