PETER SUDERMAN BRINGS DAVID FRUM UP TO DATE.
Archive for 2010
December 27, 2010
CAROL SHEA-PORTER blames Red Chinese conspiracy for her defeat.
TALKING CARS with the Car Lust guys.
MICHAEL WALSH: Barack Obama is his own worst enemy. “No one could fake sincerity like Clinton, but Obama is a far different sort of political animal. His tax-deal press conference was a remarkable glimpse behind the Wizard of Oz curtain at a scowling man who believes his political opponents are ‘hostage-takers’ and enemies — not just of the people, but of him personally.”
AT BOWLING GREEN STATE, post-union disunion. “Carol Cartwright, the university’s president, said the changes to the charter were merely an acknowledgment that the union is now the ‘exclusive representative’ of the full-time faculty for all matters related to wages, working conditions and grievances. That necessarily means that Faculty Senate committees shouldn’t be in the business of addressing those issues, she said.” With the Faculty Senate dissolved, the last vestiges of the old Republic are gone. Plus this: “For observers of the union movement in Ohio’s colleges, the recent events at Bowling Green State evoke a sense of déjà vu. The actions taken by the trustees there are not dissimilar from the steps board members took at the University of Akron, where faculty committee powers were dramatically altered in the wake of a 2003 unionization.”
CAN ARTHUR BROOKS beat back Big Government?
THE THIRD-GENERATION KINDLE is now the best-selling product of all time on Amazon worldwide. Beating out Harry Potter!
If, as E. J. Dionne allows, “the central cause of the [Civil] war was our national disagreement over race and slavery, not states’ rights or anything else,” then there is no reason why we need to associate the defense of federalism with either slavery or racism.
Perhaps Mr. Dionne will soon come out in support of Randy Barnett’s proposed federalism amendment.
No breath-holding here.
CHANGE: All 10 states losing House seats have Democratic registration advantages. For the Democratic party, the ideal formula would be to have a Republican state government — so that population would rise due to low taxes and regulation — while sending Democrats to Washington. Alas, that’s hard to pull off. And when you have a Democratic state government, you get high taxes and heavy regulation, and people leave, costing you seats in reapportionment.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN the good guys and the bad guys.
CHANGE: Book publishers see their role as gatekeepers shrink. Somebody should write a book on this kind of thing. But Neal Stephenson and Greg Bear are following in the footsteps of C.J. Burch. Here’s Burch’s blog report on the process.
AFTER-CHRISTMAS DEALS on HDTV and Video.
BEWARE OF “Dead Butt Syndrome.”
21ST CENTURY EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY: Man quits job, makes living suing e-mail spammers.
RANDY BARNETT HAS ARRIVED: The New York Times editorialized against his “Repeal Amendment” today. That should give it a nice boost in the polls. . . .
And only the New York Times editors could call a time when federal power was limited a “mythic past.” Is limited federal power one of those long-dormant ideas from dusty bookshelves? But, really, the NYT editors seem disappointed that this economic crisis is going to waste:
In past economic crises, populist fervor has been for expanding the power of the national government to address America’s pressing needs. Pleas for making good the nation’s commitment to equality and welfare have been as loud as those for liberty. Now the many who are struggling have no progressive champion. The left have ceded the field to the Tea Party and, in doing so, allowed it to make history. It is building political power by selling the promise of a return to a mythic past.
Ignorant rubes! Don’t they know that the answer to this crisis is more of the same?
KATHERINE MANGU-WARD ON THE HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE: Easy Money For College Can Mess You Up, Man. “Oceans of federal money gush into higher education every day, and every administration promises more to come. That gush obscures the real demand for educated workers. The result is lots of cashiers and waitresses with B.A.s, and lots of people with student loan debt that’s tough for them to repay. For most students, the federal subsides geared toward nudging them to consume more education actually result in the acquisition of more education debt.”
WHAT IT COSTS to prep a Nissan dealership to sell the Leaf.
THIS IS SAD: The End Of Kodachrome. I was always more of a High Speed Ektachrome kind of guy, but I took some memorable Kodachrome photos.
WHAT WE OWE the ancient Athenians.
THE TEN BEST LEGAL SHOWS in TV history.
HOW CURIOUS GEORGE escaped the Nazis.
I WONDER WHY THEY’RE LOSING THEIR PRODUCTIVE POPULATION? California Bans 100-watt Incandescent Bulbs.
