MICHAEL GRAHAM ON the higher education bubble.
Archive for 2011
November 9, 2011
REALLY? A new Christmas Tree tax?
TODAY ONLY: Pioneer 7.1 Home Theater Receiver for $299.
UPDATE: Reader Adam Ringenberg emails: “I bought that system last year as a Christmas present to myself. It’s awesome. I spent a lot of time researching receivers before finally settling on that one and it’s perfect for my needs. You can even rename the inputs (HDMI1, HDMI2, VCR, ect) to something useful so you don’t have to remember which input matches with which component. For example, in my setup I’ve got a cable box, Wii, Xbox, and Home Theater PC running through the VSX-1020, and the ‘real’ names show up on the display when I switch. It’s also got a neat feature that uses an included microphone to automagically tune your speakers based on placement and room acoustics.”
CHARGING IN MY GARAGE RIGHT NOW: A NISSAN LEAF. Actually, it’s fully charged this morning after about 12 hours on the 110v portable charger. No, I didn’t buy one: The Nissan folks loaned me one overnight to test-drive and blog about. I’ll post a full report later, but the short version is that it’s surprisingly roomy and quite fun to drive.
J.W. VERRET: Herman Cain, AGCO, and the Oil-for-Food Bribery Settlement. “Now, it’s clear that there is no evidence to indicate that Herman Cain had anything to do with the bribery. And, its also clear that almost all, if not in fact all, of the failure of management to catch the bribery occurred before his joining the Board or the Audit Committee. If the internal audit procedures were actually fundamentally flawed as the SEC alleged, I do think however it may be legitimate to ask what Herman Cain did to fix them during his tenure on the Audit Committee. That’s not to say it makes him complicit or liable, but it’s at least more relevant than some of stories we’ve seen in the silly season thus far in the last six months.”
JOE PAPPALARDO GOES THROUGH A Day of Intense Force-on-Force Handgun Training. “If you’re in a fair fight, your tactics suck.”
Plus, video on how to prepare for a home invasion.
LIZ PEEK: How Unions Hijacked the Ohio Economy.
THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER ON PRESIDENT GOLDMAN SACHS: President Obama walks on both sides of Wall Street.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney gets grief from a lot of conservatives for having changed his position over the years on important issues like abortion and government-run health care. But Romney is a rank amateur compared to the doubletalk coming from President Obama on the topic of Wall Street. On the one hand, there is the former community organizer Obama. This Obama has made it clear in recent weeks that he is at one with the Occupy Wall Street protesters, saying, for example, when ABC asked how he viewed the demonstrators, that “the most important thing we can do right now is those of us in leadership letting people know that we understand their struggles and we are on their side. …”
But then there is the Obama who is more than happy to accept high-dollar contributions from every Gordon Gecko on Wall Street. As the Washington Post recently reported, Obama has accepted more money — more than $15.6 million — from these people than all of the Republican presidential aspirants combined.
As I keep saying: They don’t call him President Goldman Sachs for nothing.
CONGRATULATIONS TO SCOTT OTT, whose Reform Team looks to have swept its election.
SO DOES THAT MEAN WE CAN CALL THEM “OBSTRUCTIONIST?” WaPo: Republicans Offer Tax Deal To Break Debt Impass; Democrats Dismiss It.
DEMOCRAT EVAN BAYH: Say no to more regulations! “While I support efforts that contribute to a cleaner environment, the effectiveness of a regulation must be weighed against the economic detriment it will cause through lost jobs and higher costs. This is a particularly bad time to add to the burdens of families and businesses.”
You don’t need a weatherman to see which way the wind is blowing.
BRIAN ERST: Deflating The Higher Education Bubble: “A sensible plan for reducing student debt needs to start with the loan approval process. I call it the 10/10/10 Plan.”
DAVID FREDDOSO: End The Occupation!
NOT-SO-SMART DIPLOMACY: While the West Stands By Watching, Iran Marches to Nuclear Status.
JAMES TARANTO: This Is What Anarchy Looks Like: More Stories of Violence At Obamavilles. “It sounds as though the atmosphere at New York’s Obamaville has deteriorated considerably since our visit there three weeks ago. We found it populated mostly by innocent and well-intentioned, if confused, young people. Then again, that’s how ‘Lord of the Flies’ began.”
MAYORS ZOMBIES FOR GUN CONTROL: Bloomberg Signs Dead Mayor’s Name 3 Times: “Did you know that Freeland Borough, PA’s Mayor Tim Martin died from esophageal cancer on September 2, 2010? Yet, amazingly, Mike Bloomberg’s anti-gun coalition still claims him as a member on their website as of November 8, 2011. In fact, not only do they claim him as a member, but the deceased mayor has signed his name to at least two advertisements, three letters to Congress, and one letter to the President sent by Michael Bloomberg’s office.”
YES WE CAN! Can the U.S. drill its way out of the energy and economic crisis? Well, emails Jim Bennett, “at least after January, 2013.”
#OCCUPYFAIL: Just watch the video.
November 8, 2011
#OCCUPYFAIL: Occupy Protests Get Further Out Of Hand.
MISSISSIPPI MEASURE 31 PASSES: “Mississippi Measure 31 – the important eminent domain reform initiative has passed, probably by an overwhelming margin. Although the returns are not yet completely in, the ‘yes’ side has 74% of the vote with almost 65% of precincts reporting. I outlined the case for Measure 31 here. The overwhelming support for the measure is consistent with results in previous referenda on post–Kelo reform initiatives.”
HOW TO TRACK the huge storm bearing down on Alaska.