TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: Calling for “heads to roll” on the 9/11 security failures. Nothing much happened, of course.
Archive for 2011
December 21, 2011
LOCAVORE OF DEATH: How Kim Jong Il Starved North Korea. “Agriculture has always been a dicey proposition in North Korea, where the cold, mountainous terrain is short on high-quality farmland. A normal economy could cope by importing food. But during the 1980s, the North Korean government embarked on a policy of radical self-sufficiency known as juche. Farmers were expected to overcome mother nature and grow enough crops to feed the entire population. To do it, they relied on heaps of chemical fertilizer. But that crutch was yanked away in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed.”
ACTUALLY, THE WORST THING ABOUT THE SHOCKING DOWNWARD REVISION IN HOUSING SALES isn’t this: “it may be more difficult to trigger the rebound in housing activity necessary to clear the overhang of inventory sitting in the shadows.”
Instead, it’s correctly identified by a commenter: “It also means we can’t trust anyone’s numbers.” Yep.
UPDATE: Reader Douglas Bass writes:
When I read the post about how we can’t trust anyone’s numbers, I recalled this quote from Vaclav Havel, first seen at smalldeadanimals. He was writing about Communist regimes, but why do I feel he’s writing about us when I read it? (emphasis mine)
The post-totalitarian system touches people at every step, but it does so with its ideological gloves on. This is why life in the system is so thoroughly permeated with hypocrisy and lies: government by bureaucracy is called popular government; the working class is enslaved in the name of the working class; the complete degradation of the individual is presented as his ultimate liberation; depriving people of information is called making it available; the use of power to manipulate is called the public control of power, and the arbitrary abuse of power is called observing the legal code; the repression of culture is called its development; the expansion of imperial influence is presented as support for the oppressed; the lack of free expression becomes the highest form of freedom; farcical elections become the highest form of democracy; banning independent thought becomes the most scientific of world views; military occupation becomes fraternal assistance. Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies the future. It falsifies statistics. It pretends not to possess an omnipotent and unprincipled police apparatus. It pretends to respect human rights. It pretends to persecute no one. It pretends to fear nothing. It pretends to pretend nothing.
It’s all about preference falsification. It helps to have state-controlled media. We aren’t there, but it’s easy to spot the behavior of those who wish we were. That said, the NAR’s data aren’t wrong for the reasons Havel outlines — they’re just the patter of a salesman.
BLOGGING: When The Police Knock On Your Door.
TWO-DAY SHIPPING IS ALMOST OVER, but they’re still running new “lightning deals” all the time at Amazon.
ALAN BOYLE: 2012 Watch: The Countdown Begins. “What is it about doomsday that draws a crowd? Time after time, doomsayers have predicted the breakdown of society on a date certain, stirring up a buzz that builds to a crescendo and ends in a crash when doomsday doesn’t come. 1844 brought the Great Disappointment, 1999 brought the Y2K alarm, 2011 brought the Rapture ruckus, and exactly a year from today, we’re due for the Maya apocalypse. If the past is any indicator, we’ll be intently blogging, tweeting and indulging in black humor as the clock ticks down to Dec. 21, 2012. Then, on Dec. 22, we’ll look around for the next doomsday.” Actually, I think the world ended as predicted back in May, and everything since has been an illusion perpetrated by Satan.
Hey, admit it: It would make a lot of sense. . . .
AN EARLY TRAILER FOR Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit.
MICKEY KAUS: “For the record–before it becomes the CW–let me note that the Feiler Faster Thesis suggests that, should the economy improve, Obama can recover more rapidly than previous Presidents seeking reelection at the tail end of recessions. In other words, an unemployment drop can come later in his term than before and still be enough to reelect him. It’s not that people will quickly forget the previous 3-plus years of joblessness. But they will forget it more quickly than they did two decades ago. … The incumbent could have more time than optimistic Republicans think.” That’s clearly the Democrats’ hope.
ER, THAT’S WHY WE HAVE GUNS: What if you called 911 and nobody answered?
SMART DIPLOMACY: Jay Carney Calls For Assad’s Ouster.
HMM: Chevy Volt Costing Taxpayers Up to $250K Per Vehicle. “Each Chevy Volt sold thus far may have as much as $250,000 in state and federal dollars in incentives behind it – a total of $3 billion altogether, according to an analysis by James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Hohman looked at total state and federal assistance offered for the development and production of the Chevy Volt, General Motors’ plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Hohman included in his analysis 18 government deals that included loans, rebates, grants and tax credits. The amount of government assistance does not include the fact that General Motors is currently 26 percent owned by the federal government.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF PRACTICAL WISDOM. And the sad tale of its decline.
HOW THE OSPREY is performing in combat.
HOW OBAMACARE is destroying medical innovation.
Hey, I told you so.
TOP HOLIDAY DEALS in Kitchen, Home & Garden.
Also, a roundup of holiday gift ideas.
#DSCCFAIL: Huffington Post: “DSCC trying too hard: Distributes video of George Allen being normal/charming. Calls him an out-of-touch whiner.” Background, with video, here.
#OCCUPYFAIL: First Day of Occupy Darien Draws Small Crowd. I’ll say. Here’s the photo caption: “Trudi Goldberg delivers a speech to Cole Stangler, Richard Duffee and Bennett Weiss at Occupy Darien.” It’s an overwhelmingly white crowd, too.
But wait, it gets worse:
More than one hour into the Occupy Darien protest Wednesday at Tilley Pond Park, there were as many police officers or more on hand than there were protesters. And once 2:30 p.m. rolled around, people began clearing out of the park.
The event’s coordinator, 61-year-old town resident Margaret Rague, is hoping for a better turnout tomorrow. And she’s agreed to pay $1,000 to bring in protesters from New York City.
“It wasn’t originally my idea,” she said, but the $1,000 will buy train tickets and a meal for the demonstrators. I will lay out more than $1,000 happily if I need to.”
She added that she offered to give up to $3,000, but fellow protesters said it would be a waste of money.
Oh, I think they’re right. Pity they don’t have the same good sense about spending other people’s money.
TONIGHT’S THE LAST OF FREE TWO-DAY SHIPPING FROM AMAZON. You’ll still be able to do one-day shipping tomorrow. But not for free.
BACK IN 1988, TWO WEALTHY MEN promised middle-schoolers a free college education if they’d graduate high school. They gave them a lot of support along the way. How’d it work out? Not as well as hoped.
KARDASHIAN REFLECTIONS: Why Kris Humphries Should Serve As A Role Model For Men.
AT AMAZON, Blu-Ray players and streaming devices (think Roku) for under $100.
Plus, new “lightning deals” every few hours. (Bumped).
AN AR-15 FIELD KIT REVIEW: “Keep your AR clean on the go with this compact kit that’s easy to carry, anywhere.”