BYRON YORK: Justice Department steers money to favored groups. “The new Civil Rights Division tactic represents a departure from a fundamental principle of such cases, which is the pursuit of justice on behalf of actual victims.” Reward your friends. Punish your enemies. Justice? That’s for somebody else to worry about.
Archive for 2010
August 5, 2010
MICHAEL LOTUS: “Why does the Ruling Class, using Codevilla’s term, have such strong cultural confidence?”
Read the whole thing. I’ve suggested mockery before. . . .
UPDATE: Reader Kevin Rahm writes: “Love to see people all over the US mock them by bowing to them in Airports…that would be fun….Problem is though…they wouldn’t understand the humor….”
HOW NEWSWEEK blew it.
JOHN MCWHORTER IN THE NEW REPUBLIC: Is The CBC Uniquely Unethical?
Why, then, would Rangel be so, as he himself put it, “sloppy” in policing the line between serving larger interests and serving himself, or at least the appearances thereof? Here, after all is the man who came into office watching his predecessor—Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.—dragged down for ethical lapses hardly unknown among white peers.
Racism is, I suspect, part of the story here—but not in the way we’re supposed to think. Is there a part of Rangel that has supposed that the ethics are fundamentally different for him since his nonprofit is devoted to battling the legacies of institutional racism? The CBC traditionally calls itself “the conscience of Congress,” and in its public statements and activities often functions as a kind of alternate NAACP rather than as a generator of legislation. Under this frame of mind, there would be little difference between serving “myself” and serving “my people.” Surely to combat racism is a greater good than any other. My nonprofit is the fight against racism. The fight against racism is me. Me is the fight against racism. Why not improvise a little, especially if no one is looking?
This seems to be the only kind of explanation, given data in so far, on Maxine Waters’ transgression. . . . Especially if no one was looking. After all, look at what she has sometimes done even while people were looking—I will never forget her dancing on camera with L.A. gang members.
Read the whole thing. (Via Damon Root.)
THE HILL: Hillary Clinton pushes flood relief for Pakistan, donates $10.
Well, she’s probably a little strapped after Chelsea’s $2 Million “Cinderella Wedding.”
THE GREAT BAMBOOZLER.
PARSING MATT DRUDGE’S FACILITY FOR comic juxtapositions.
COMMUNICATIONS: Creating A Hybrid For The Blogosphere.
DAN MILLER ON the California Gay Marriage decision. “Now that the state’s gay marriage ban has been overturned by a federal judge, what happens next?”
LET ME SAY, VERY CLEARLY, THAT I WANT TO SEE MORE REPUBLICAN BIKINI SCANDALS. Preferably with pix like this one. That is all.
BARRY RUBIN: The West’s Absurd Claims of Israeli Racism. At this point, most public claims of racism tend to be absurd.
AN INTERVIEW with Connecticut Senate Candidate Peter Schiff.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE NOISES? Reader Peter Galamaga writes:
I’m a high school teacher and a parent and your post today re: higher ed really resonates with me.
Just two days ago my principal and I were talking about a HUGE paradigm shift we’re seeing not only in our students, but in ourselves as parents.
Just having “go to a good college” as a goal isn’t cutting it anymore. Except for the very wealthy, folks just don’t have the money and spending 100K+ for a four-year “experience” isn’t going to cut it.
A lot of students/parents are now looking at getting core classes done at the relatively inexpensive local college and then transferring to a school where one can do the remaining work towards a very specific goal.
I think the days of spending the equivalent of a mortgage on one of the many two-word degrees (the second word is usually “Studies”) are coming to a close.
That’s likely.
UPDATE: Reader Nick Gustafson writes:
Just a few thoughts about your post yesterday about the higher ed bubble. I graduated with a BA in Poli Sci about four years ago from a well-regarded, but not elite, private university in Minnesota (U. of St. Thomas). I finished up with a relatively modest load of student loans (approximately 27k at graduation). Between a few bouts of unemployment and a number of moves since college, I’ve managed to keep up with the loans, but I’ve certainly learned some lessons that I’d love to impart to my 17 or 18 year old self.
* Unless you feel some real passion, setting your sights on a professional degree is silly. I was looking at law school and am happy every day that I decided against it in the end.
* There’s absolutely nothing wrong with community colleges. By the end of my four years, I was hunting for core classes that could be fulfilled for $300 instead of $3000. A good two years of any bachelor’s program could be fulfilled at a two-year school at about half the cost of a state school and maybe 10% of a private institution.
* Reputation doesn’t matter a whole lot in the real world. Maybe this is different on the coasts, but here in the midwest no one (read: employers) really cares if you went to a local state college, a flagship state U, or a touted private school.
* College brochures lie. The salary and employment numbers they give generally don’t reflect reality. I know a few people making 60k that I graduated with, but out of my social circle I’d guess that it’s no more than five or six. Most of us are making 60-70% of that number. Again, that’s four years after graduation. Those student loans are a significant budget item for as long as 15 years.
* Look at degrees that offer multiple employment outcomes. I’ve joked since my senior year that a political science degree is good for grad school, law school and telling people that you went to college. I didn’t realize until later how true that was. We all made fun of business majors while in school. Little did we know that their degree actually meant something. I can only imagine how screwed the people that majored in Justice & Peace Studies are.
My mom uses me as a sounding board to talk her friends’ kids out of spending too much on college (Creighton U here in town would probably hate me if they knew who I was). Sorry for the long-winded email on relatively obvious facts, but the post yesterday struck a nerve with me.
Points to ponder.
August 4, 2010
SAN JOSE TO HOLD A referendum on public pensions. “Amid nationwide outrage about public employee salaries, a divided San Jose City Council on Tuesday took aim at the city’s soaring compensation costs. As a result, voters this fall will decide whether to rework the city’s pension system and clamp down on costs for police and firefighters.”
JAY COST: What Went Wrong With Obama?
JONAH GOLDBERG: Nostalgia For The William F. Buckley Era Is Misplaced.
STUDY: Women More Attracted To Men In Red. “The cherry color’s charm ultimately lies in its ability to make men appear more powerful, says lead author Andrew Elliot, professor of psychology at the University of Rochester.” Hence, I suppose, the power tie.
UPDATE: More here: “I usually wear a black fleece sweater to work and one day decided to switch to a more comfortable one which had a crimson red hue to it. Within a few hours, I must have had close to a dozen women comment on how nice it looked. It was like visual catnip. Strangely, not a single guy said a word about it.”
AND THIS IS WITHOUT THE WHEAT RUST PROBLEM: Global Wheat Shortage Feared. More on the wheat rust problem, here.
HEH: Black tea partiers to NAACP: Believe it or not, we don’t hate minorities. Video (from CNN) at the link.
WHAT’S WRONG WITH university websites. Heh. I was complaining about this just the other day.
TODAY ONLY: Kaspersky Internet Security 3-User for $19.99. I’ve never used it, but many readers have recommended Kaspersky over the years and this is certainly a low price.
A SUPERB AND INSIGHTFUL POST from Orin Kerr. Really, I couldn’t have said it better myself.