Archive for 2010

Knoxville, Tennessee. Market Square. Taken with the shirtpocket Sony.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON looks at hope, and change.

ANOTHER one-day-only GPS sale. They seem to be having a lot of those; guess it’s peak summer driving season.

OBVIOUS, BUT TRUE: Tennesee Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, says his party must be more centrist.

He said the acceptance of long-term deficits reflected a cultural change that will have severe consequences for the country. Congress and the administration, he added, have been “very aggressive about spending money and I think it’s made easy by the fact that we’re so far off the norm at the moment that it’s easy to add a little more.”

Asked what the political cost to his party could be, he said, “I think it’s huge.”

Indeed.

MICHAEL BARONE: Obama Economy Sends Americans to Their Mattresses. “People seem to be following this investment strategy. Step one: Go to Mattress Discounters and buy the biggest mattress you can find. Step two: Take it home, and stuff all your money in it. Step three: Lie down, and get some rest. This hurts the economy, but it’s a rational response to the Obama Democrats’ public policies. And that’s not just the view of their political opponents.”

LOOKING FOR WAR ON TERROR NEWS? Drop by Fred Pruitt’s Rantburg. And consider hitting the tipjar — he does great service by focusing on this topic as major media increasingly ignore it.

CRISIS GOES TO WASTE: Historic oil spill fails to produce gains for U.S. environmentalists. “The story of 2010 is not that nothing happened after the BP spill, or after the coal-mine explosion that killed 29 in West Virginia on April 5. It’s that much of the reaction has focused on preventing accidents — on tighter scrutiny of rigs and mines — rather than broader changes in the use of oil and coal.”

MORE RUBES SELF-IDENTIFY: Scientists expected Obama administration to be friendlier. “A culture of politics trumping science, many say, persists despite the president’s promises. The use of potentially toxic dispersants to fight the gulf oil spill is cited as just one example.”

Plus, this shocking quote: “”Many of the frustrations scientists had with the last administration continue currently.” Do tell.

Related: “The war on science continues.”

SHOCKING SURVEY: EMPLOYEES OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT are very happy with their jobs. “In these times of high unemployment and economic uncertainty, federal workers are continuing a trend of job satisfaction, giving the Obama administration good marks for its leadership of agencies though remaining skeptical on a key point: that career advancement in the government is based on merit.”