JAMES POULOS & RICH LOWRY ON PJTV: The Middle Class Crisis.
Archive for 2010
December 20, 2010
IS MARRIAGE BAD FOR YOUR PHYSICAL FITNESS?
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED FOR JOHN MCCAIN, WE’D SEE SOME KIND OF CREEPY TOTAL INFORMATION AWARENESS PROGRAM. And they were right! Govt ‘creating vast domestic snooping machine.’
The government is creating a vast domestic spying network to collect information about Americans in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks and subsequent terror plots, The Washington Post reported Monday.
The government is using for this purpose the FBI, local police, state homeland security offices and military criminal investigators, the daily added.
The system collects, stores and analyzes information about thousands of US citizens and residents, many of whom have not been accused of any wrongdoing, the report noted.
The government’s goal is to have every state and local law enforcement agency in the country feed information to Washington to buttress the work of the FBI, noted the paper, which has conducted its own investigation of the matter.
Luckily, this stuff is only creepy when there’s a Republican President. Otherwise I’d be worried. But as we all know, to worry about this when there’s a Democrat in the White House is merely a sign of the “paranoid strain” in American politics.
UPDATE: Here’s the full WaPo story.
THEY TOLD ME IF I VOTED REPUBLICAN, PEOPLE WOULD BE PUNISHED FOR HAVING ANTI-AUTHORITY BUMPERSTICKERS. And they were right!
IN THE ATLANTIC: In Korea, Planning for the Worst: Mass Evacuation. Perhaps they should take a lesson from the new U.S. policy and encourage people to “shelter in place.” Because evacuation looks dangerous and nearly impossible.
PEJMAN YOUSEFZADEH: “I have a deal for Joe Manchin: He can attend all of the Christmas parties–and other parties–that he wants, and we can get a Senator from West Virginia who will actually do his or her job.”
ERIC SCHEIE: My Endless Search For The Meaningful And Sane.
CARTOON: Goliath Meets The Tea Partier.
MARKDOWNS ON Makita Power Tools.
UPDATE: Reader Eric Beeby emails: “Just hit the Amazon Makita Markdown you flagged for us. $66.95 for a 18v re-circ saw – astounding and couldn’t pass it up. Keep those announcements coming!!” Okay.
THE FCC’S Threat To Internet Freedom.
IN THE MAIL: From Timothy Ferriss, The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman.
OBAMACARE ON THE ROPES? If you missed it on XM/Sirius Satellite Radio this weekend, the latest PJM Political is now online.
NEW FEDERAL GUIDELINES for “scientific integrity.”
HOW DEMOCRATS gave up on religious voters. “‘Ninety percent of people believe in some sort of God,’ Sager points out. ‘It’s mind-boggling why you would cede those voters to the Republican Party.’” Just don’t try to hire ’em as astronomers.
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Politically-Incorrect Resolutions for 2011.
YOUR SECOND AMENDMENT AT WORK.
“Intent on killing his ex-girlfriend, Sharp picked up a knife, told his older brother, Ralph, “I’m going to get her,” and stepped out of the house. …
“… police said Sharp had attacked [Mellony] Pursel and was strangling her when her niece ordered him to stop.
“When the attack continued, the girl grabbed a gun. She fatally shot Sharp as he lunged for her, said Roy Police Chief Greg Whinham. … “
When seconds count, the police are only minutes away. That’s not their fault — it’s just physics.
A ONE-DAY-ONLY SALE on Monster Turbine earphones. Having been skunked the last time they had one of these specials, this time I ordered a pair before I posted this . . . .
REASON TV: A Joe Biden (War On) Christmas.
Somewhere, John Gibson is laughing. Or maybe not . . .
CHANGE: The Hill: Members seek earmark purity ahead of hotly contested 2012 races. The goal of PorkBusters was, as a start, to change earmarks from things that politicians brag about, to things that they’re ashamed of. Mission accomplished?
THINGS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED THIS WEEKEND:
Professor not hired because “potentially Evangelical?”
Nissan Leaf range disappoints.
Remembering Captain Beefheart.
Mickey Kaus: Tea Party killed DREAM.
Will DADT repeal promote campus diversity?
Breakout publicity for Randy Barnett’s “Repeal Amendment” Proposal.
Assange accuser says he was the “worst sex ever.”
The Most Untruthful Movie of the Year.
They told me if I voted for John McCain we’d be launching furious and relentless missile attacks into Pakistan. And they were right!
Is going to an elite college worth the cost? Related: Higher education’s price-earnings ratio looks like Nevada housing circa 2007. Plus, a war on for-profit education?
IRS Agent Charged With Stealing $160,000 worth of refunds.
TSA Worker Avoids Prison After Stealing Travelers’ Laptops.
It’s good when politicians are afraid of voters.
ON C-SPAN, Randy Barnett talks about the constitutionality of the individual mandate. Or tries to, anyway. . . .
SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER charged with “unscholarly and unethical” efforts to cast doubt on Armenian genocide.
UPDATE: The Backstory:
The hidden political explanation: Armenian-Americans have historically been a Republican constituency, especially in California. By pushing this meaningless symbolic resolution, Democrats are attempting to undermine the Armenian community’s GOP allegiance, while depicting Republicans as indifferent to genocide.
Too bad their usually-reliable allies at SPLC screwed the pooch.
THE ROLE OF LAW CLERKS in the rise of the Supreme Court bar.