NO RECESSION in D.C.
Archive for 2010
March 12, 2010
WHY WE ARE NOT LIVING in Western Civilization.
DANA CARVEY AS OBAMA on Leno.
PETER SUDERMAN: The White House Kindly Requests You Do Not Refer to Its Health Care Budget Gimmicks as “Gimmicks”. “When early drafts of health care reform rang up at around $1.6 trillion, Washington underwent a massive freakout; it became clear that passing a bill that kind of price tag was almost certainly impossible. So Obama gave Congress a target of ‘around $900 billion’ for the bill, and one of the ways the lower figure was achieved was by starting the taxes revenue mechanisms immediately but holding off on implementing the benefits. That allowed for the Senate bill’s politically convenient $850 billion score while disguising the fact that true cost of a full ten years of the bill’s programs is actually more like $1.8 trillion (and that’s not counting the trillion-plus in additional costs imposed by an individual mandate).”
EVEN WHEN IT’S YOUR MONEY, IT’S THEIR MONEY: States May Hold Tax Refunds For Months.
Residents eager to get their state tax refunds may have a long wait this year: The recession has tied up cash and caused officials in half a dozen states to consider freezing refunds, in one case for as long as five months.
States from New York to Hawaii that have been hard-hit by the economic downturn say they have either delayed refunds or are considering doing so because of budget shortfalls.
Next year, of course, people will be more likely to avoid overpayment, and states will lose the “float” entirely. Short-term thinking indeed.
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Is Tom Hanks Unhinged? “Indeed, the most disturbing phrase of all was Hanks’ suggestion that the Japanese wished to ‘kill,’ us, while we in turn wanted to ‘annihilate’ them. Had they developed the bomb or other such weapons of mass destruction (and they had all sorts of plans of creating WMDs), and won the war, I can guarantee Hanks that he would probably would not be here today, and that his Los Angeles would look nothing like a prosperous and modern Tokyo.”
Talk of racism is how the elites feel good about themselves. That’s all it means.
AGENTS OF INCOMPETENCE: Agents of Incompetence: Customs, ATF Dodging All Questions About Toy Guns (Part III).
ANDREW COULSON on National Education Standards.
WELL, THAT’S A RELIEF: “No, there is nothing cooler than Al Franken at Netroots Nation. It is absolutely the coolest thing known to mankind.” I mean, now there’s no point even trying.
RESTORING DIGNITY TO THE GOVERNMENT? More on “Naked Lobbying” by Rahm Emanuel.
POLITICO quotes pro-Obama evangelical in evangelicals-fear-Tea Party piece. Lame.
Meanwhile, reader Trey Monroe writes:
I am an Evangelical and there are LOTS of us at tea party events and we are more than happy to have non-religious folks who understand the proper place of government at our side. I have been to two Tennessee tea parties here in Nashville and the March on Washington DC. Frankly, I was surprised at how many other Christians I saw and met. So there were lots of Christians in the crowds, and lots of secular folks as well at all those events. I do not see the tea party movement as being concerned with social issues. It is about smaller, cheaper, less intrusive government and increased personal freedoms. It is about personal responsibility and removing the oligarchy to replace them with people who understand and will work toward a government that knows its limited place. While there are social issues these groups disagree on, I do not recall seeing a single sign about social issues at the events I have attended.
I see this story as part of an effort to sow division. I think Ben Smith was used here.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Geoffrey Robinson emails:
My general sense, as an evangelical, is that the tea partiers and most evangelicals would get along because of common causes. We both know the government is going crazy.
And the Tea Partiers have done a fantastic job thus far of being really smart about taking half a loaf rather than none at all (i.e., Scott Brown). There are more evangelicals with libertarian (esp. economic) leanings than the media suspects.
I think they’re afraid of this movement, and since marginalizing it hasn’t worked, they’re trying to divide it.
MORE: Bryan Preston emails:
Hey Glenn, I just read your post about Ben Smith’s Tea Parties vs evangelicals article, thought I’d give you another data point about this. Here in Texas, the Tea Parties are huge thanks a whole lot of things, from our state’s unique take on things to Katrina Pierson to Gov Perry. At Tea Party gatherings all over the state, few state leaders are more popular to have as guest speaker or what have you than Cathie Adams, who is both a well known evangelical leader and chairman of the state GOP. It’s all about common causes and common goals. Smith’s article was slippery, at best, in its use of one liberal evangelical to make the case for some kind of division between evangelicals and the Tea Parties.
Indeed.
THIS WEEKEND: Bid for the oldest flying car in existence.
GOING AFTER FEDERAL EMPLOYEES who don’t pay their taxes. “Remember when a passel of Obama appointees didn’t pay their taxes either, but then a bunch of them got to hold really important jobs anyway? Good times.”
WILL COLLIER: The Case Of The Lurking Staffer.
THE EXCITEMENT OF Sous Vide.
PJTV: Brandi Milloy interviews an Obama cousin who’s a physician, and not an ObamaCare fan.
He’s got a blog, too.
THOUGHTS ON POLITICS AND COPYRIGHT from Larry Lessig.
And, while Karl Rove is confessing his errors, let me say I told you so. And note this piece by Ken Layne, too. The failure of the Republicans to take advantage of the entertainment industries’ unpopularity during Bush’s first term was a colossal mistake.
OBAMA GOING TO CLEVELAND to be met by a Tea Party?
BUBBLE? In the comments to this post, law students are talking about crushing — $150-250K — debt loads and no jobs, and being advised to flee the country since the debt is non-bankruptable. I’m hearing more stories like this, and I wonder if it’s not a sign that the higher-education bubble is starting to burst.
ROGER KIMBALL: The “Slaughter Solution” And Other Acts Of Desperation.
IN LIGHT OF MY EARLIER POST on the Flip and Kodak Zi8 mini cams, an email from reader Darryl Musick:
I have both the Flip and the Kodak Zi8 cams. I like the external mic of the Kodak but not the jerky zoom. The Flip seems more substantial and just a bit easier to use. One big difference is that the Kodak makes files that are about 30% smaller than the Flip and seems to have better color saturation. Below are links to two videos, the first one was made with the Flip, the second with the Kodak…you can compare the differences. Both used the built-in mics. Beware, they may make you thirsty!
See for yourself.
SILENCE OF THE BLOGS: The Left’s Non-Reaction to the Jersey Jihadi. Hey if you can’t pin it on “teabaggers,” why talk about it?