THE PERILS OF Citgo.
Archive for 2010
June 26, 2010
ELEANOR CLIFT: Al Gore: A Joke on Late-Night Talk Shows Once Again.
MOWERBLOGGING! Reader Eugene Dillenburg writes: “I know you blog about reel mowers sometimes. I bought a 16″ Craftsman last week, and tried it out for the first time tonight. Wonderful! Lightweight, quiet, maneuverable, and cuts like a dream — even long grass. (Grass so long it has flopped over is still problematic, but that’s true for any reel mower. Incentive to mow more often / get more exercise!) Under $100. Construction is a little lightweight, but if it holds up, it will easily be the best mower I’ve ever used.”
I have the Scotts reel mower, which works great, and which even a 9-year-old InstaDaughter could use. I still think the robot lawn mower is cool, though.
UPDATE: Reader Chris Kobus writes:
Glenn – I love my reel mower! I didn’t get it to save the environment. I got it for the exercise, and excellent exercise it is. I also have a Scotts that I bout at Amazon. I have worked mowing the lawn into my cardio. I run over to the gym and ride the elliptical for 30 minutes at a pretty good clip, burning about 470 kcals, then mow the lawn with the push reel that takes about an hour. I end up burning through 1,300 calories in a little over an hour, and it feels great. My old gas-powered push mower did about the same as the bearings had gone bad, but now I get the benefit minus the noise.
And you don’t have to mess with buying and storing gasoline.
SHOULD WE RAISE TAXES ON THE MIDDLE CLASS? We already are.
“We?”
STACY MCCAIN on why conservatives shouldn’t be congratulating themselves over the Weigel defenstration:
News organizations don’t hire conservatives. Therefore, conservatives don’t seek careers in journalism and instead become lawyers or accountants or stock brokers or whatever.
Ergo, none of the people making decisions in MSM newsrooms are conservatives. Where set A = “employees of news organizations” and set B = “conservatives,” we see that as the closer set AB approaches to zero, the more likely journalists are to view conservatives as The Other, and vice-versa.
The Journolist stuff was leaked by a lefty. Therefore, the leak was intended to serve the interests of at least one lefty, quite possibly one angling for Weigel’s job, or angry about Rand Paul stuff. (No, really). It doesn’t have much to do with people on the right, except that Weigel was supposed to cover the right.
Meanwhile, rumors of Weigel going to The Atlantic?
A KEYNESIAN DEAD END? “Spending our way to prosperity is going out of style.” Well, it’s not like it’s been working. . . .
WAS KEVIN RUDD AUSTRALIA’S OBAMA?
FROM the moment Kevin Rudd donned a ”Kevin 07” T-shirt and surrounded himself with adoring young women similarly attired, his days were numbered. There is a limit to the role for marketing hype in Australian politics, and that piece of Americana crossed the line.
It symbolised the hyperbole – the sloganeering – that would come to characterise the Rudd prime ministership. We loved it in the start, of course, because it matched the mood of 2007 – a fresh spirit of engagement with politics after a decade of disengagement, renewed interest in the big picture, a dream of a new order.
So we fell for the oldest trick in the book: over-investment in a new leader. Rudd was swept into office on a tide of euphoria that was dangerous for him, and for us. Euphoria is like a drug with powerful short-term effects. We can’t stay euphoric. We need substance to prop up our enthusiasm, and no politician could deliver a performance to match our madly exaggerated expectations of Rudd.
Interestingly, he was taken out by his own party.
MCCHRYSTAL’S PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER weighs in.
FROM THE ECONOMIST, a World Debt Map.
JOURNOLIST IS DONE, only not really.
June 25, 2010
WAPO OMBUDSMAN: Blogger loses job; Post loses standing among conservatives. “Instead of just a replacement, The Post might consider two: one conservative with a Klein-like ideological bent, and another who can cover the conservative movement in the role of a truly neutral reporter.”
ALEX LIGHTMAN ON FACEBOOK: “After researching the issue carefully and interviewing people in a position to know, I can now reveal that the current primary purpose of the United State government is to bankrupt the United States. It comes as a relief to know this. So many things now make sense.” Least hypothesis, and all that.
MY SISTER ON FACEBOOK: “Anybody need a lawn ornament that looks suspiciously like a 2008 F350? After a $4700 repair on Monday, ours is being towed into the Ford dealer in Fairfax, VA.” They’ve had a lot of trouble with that truck.
MARKDOWNS ON MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS. Hey, I still subscribe to magazines: Reason, The Economist, Popular Mechanics, and, of course, Garden and Gun. I used to take The Atlantic, but I’ve let that drop — seems like it’s just not what it used to be.
SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES’ UNION: If You Don’t Give Us 150 Percent Pensions, We’ll Kill This Child.
IRAN WIMPS OUT: Iran Cancels “Aid” Ship to Gaza. “As I told you a while back, they’re not going to take on Israel by sending ships–with or without the Revolutionary Guards–to challenge the Gaza blockade. The details are delicious.”
At your throat or at your feet. It’s not just the Germans.
COMMENT OF THE DAY: “A perfect storm of shallow stupidity.”
Or maybe it’s this one.
ANN ALTHOUSE ON THE LATEST GORE DEVELOPMENT: “What is the evidentiary weight of a contemporaneous statement like this? It was taken very seriously when aimed at a notable conservative.” Well, sure, one of them.
UPDATE: Reader Rich Reilly writes: “When will we hear from the poodle anti-defamation league?”
CAN EXERCISE replace Zoloft? Exercise that replaces a pill is fine, but what people really want is a pill that can replace exercise. . . .
TAKING BACK THE BAY: Can An Urban Republican Unseat Nancy Pelosi?
THE INSIDIOUS POWER of Mickey Kaus.
FINALLY: Dating Site Spawns Sperm Bank For Beautiful People.
UPDATE: A reader emails: “Looks like another source of income for you Glenn!” Good point!
HOW RED WINE helps the heart.