PRIMARY COLORS: A proposal for change. “Elections still matter, and primary elections are the one place where the people can rise up and make a dramatic impact.”
Archive for 2011
November 23, 2011
THE NEW KINDLE TOUCH IS NOW SHIPPING. Note that you could buy a Touch, and a Kindle Fire, and a Kindle Keyboard, and still spend less than the price of an iPad.
WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Unable to win fair and square, Big Labor pushes ‘ambush elections.’ “Worse, in typical Obama fashion, the rule of law is being tossed out the window to facilitate this latest union power grab. The board received more than 65,000 public comments when it published the first version of this proposal in June. Federal law requires that the board explain how it will take account of such comments, then publish a proposed final version that incorporates the response. No such explanation has been offered, yet the board plans to hold a final vote on the main provisions of the proposal anyway — an apparent violation of the federal Administrative Procedures Act. Coincidentally, the recess-appointment by Obama of former SEIU lawyer Craig Becker to the board expires Dec. 31. Without Becker, the NLRB would lack the quorum necessary to vote on anything, much less a major change in union election rules. Some might conclude that Obama’s NLRB is flouting the law merely to rush enactment of yet another favor for its Big Labor allies.”
OBAMA FUNDRAISER REZKO GETS 10 1/2 YEARS: “But you’d never know that from reading the story in the Chicago Tribune. The name ‘Barack Obama’ appears nowhere in this story reporting on the sentence received by one of the key figures in Obama’s life – a man who raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for his state senate and US senate runs, who introduced him to movers and shakers in the shadowy world of big money real estate wheelers and dealers, and who befriended him on numerous occasions, including the favor he did him when he purchased the lot next door to his current home.”
HATE SPEECH VS. DECENCY at Suffolk Law. Question: Would the Dean similarly defend a professor who denounced an aid effort for African children on grounds that it wouldn’t help unless their socialist governments were removed? Possibly, but I’m guessing there’d be less vigor.
I, of course, don’t believe that “hate speech” is anything other than “speech.” But the academic world has generally comported itself differently.
SELLING NEW YORK: Spot Under Delancey Street May Be Developed Into Subterranean Paradise.
DOUBLING DOWN ON FAILURE: The Hill: Senate Democrats ready to move $400 billion in new legislation. “After failing to reach a deal to reduce the deficit, the Senate will move next month to take up legislation that could add more than $400 billion to the deficit. . . . Senate Democrats will go on offense next week by forcing Republicans to vote on extending and expanding the payroll tax cut, which accounts for $240 billion of the tab, according to Democratic and Republican aides. Lawmakers will take up the legislation after completing work on the Defense authorization bill. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has yet to announce an offset for the measure but he has discussed matching it with a tax increase for millionaires. Such a vote would be intended to hammer home the message that Republicans are out to protect the rich, though it leaves Democrats vulnerable to arguments about class warfare.”
Well, Republicans should consider attaching some of my revenue-enhancing proposals.
REPORTS THAT CIGARETTES WERE GIVEN TO UNDERAGE TEENS in exchange for Walker recall petition signatures are reportedly false: Woman who signed petition not underage.
FROM WILLIAM SHATNER, a warning to turkey fryers. “Turns out the combination of a frozen turkey and boiling hot oil can be extremely hazardous.”
November 22, 2011
THIS WHOLE “DEATH” THING SUCKS: So I was a pallbearer today at my friend Doug Weinstein’s mother’s funeral. She was a nice lady, whom I knew from age 10. She will be missed.
CHANGE: China Manufacturing Sinks To 32-Month Low. “The country’s factories recorded their weakest activity in 32 months in November, a preliminary purchasing managers’ survey showed, reviving worries that China may be skidding towards an economic hard landing.”
AT AMAZON, Black Friday deals in HDTV and Video.
WHEN AN UNREALISTIC SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT MEETS REALITY. Reader George Milonas writes: “After reading this whiny nonsense, why exactly would a business professional run out and hire one of these women?”
HANDS-ON TOYS: Several readers have written asking for a reminder on last year’s electronics recommendation for kids. It’s the Snap Circuits toys. The SC-300 is a good starter; for older/smarter kids there’s the SC-500 and the SC-750. For little kids there’s the Snap Circuits Jr. They all get excellent reviews.
UPDATE: Reader Robert Saye writes: “Last year upon your recommendation, I bought my oldest son (9 yrs) the Snap Circuit 300 kit. He absolutely loved it, he used it constantly for a month till he got through most of the schematics, than played with it off and on until recently. Living in the snow belt of MA, we were hit by the storm a few weeks back that dumped a foot of snow. All of the power went out for 3 days, the first day my son was tinkering in the play room, than came out with a working radio for us to listen to built with his Snap Circuit kit. You should have seen his face light up at the praise heaped upon him (even by the younger brother). Since than he has been on a tear re-doing all of the exercises. As a network engineer myself, it makes me happy to see him learning hands on stuff like this. I will probably buy the larger kit for him this year (although he has informed me he would like an IPad so he can ‘Facetime’ with his friends…) Next I am going to teach them how to repair a lawnmower!”
Small-engine repair is always a useful skill.
STEVE GREEN IS DRUNKBLOGGING TONIGHT’S GOP DEBATE.
IS HOLLYWOOD KILLING MONOGAMY? “Except for a certain vampire romance that opened last weekend there is a serious dearth of happy, healthy, monogamous couples who love one another on the big and small screens.”
BUT WILL IT ARRIVE WHILE THERE’S STILL SUCH A THING AS MAIL? The Autonomous Electric Mail Truck of Tomorrow.
#OCCUPYFAIL: Occupy Has More Than A Woman Problem. “What kind of movement calls female supporters ‘white bitches’? And what type of women take that to be a term of endearment?”
ANOTHER REVIEW OF THE NEW HONDA CR-V. “Like the critically-unacclaimed Honda Civic, nearly every piece of sheetmetal on the new CR-V is completely different – but not such that you’d notice.”
CLIMATEGATE 2 EMAILS: They’re real and they’re spectacular.