RANKING THE 50 STATES for freedom.
Archive for 2011
June 11, 2011
NEIL MUNRO: Tea Party Continues To Grow. “These days, Tea Party activists are focused on state and local issues, such as school choice legislation in Pennsylvania, Kibbe said. They’re not looking to mount another massive D.C. march, such as the 9/12 protest in 2009, in part because the movement has already proved its influence during the 2010 election.”
CHANGE: A Lost Generation In The Making? “The share of Americans younger than 24 neither at work nor in school has steadily increased since 2007 . . . . That disconnection creates the risk of what Harvard University labor economist Lawrence Katz calls ‘a lost generation.’”
AT AMAZON, Sale: The complete Sopranos series on DVD.
BLOG COMMENT OF THE DAY: “The Washington Post thinks it’s ‘harassment’ to request Michael Mann’s files from the University of Virginia (their Memorial Day editorial) but it’s cool with requesting and obtaining and asking for citizen-journalists to go through 24,000 of the State of Alaska’s emails involving Sarah Palin.”
GOING AFTER CRAFT BREWERS IN WISCONSIN? Plus, a political Rorschach: “It’s interesting what different types see in this story. For the free market folks at CEI this is just another example of corporate rent seeking to the advantage of larger corporations. For the folks at Think Progress, on the other hand, this is yet the latest example of Gov. Scott Walker’s craven catering to campaign contributors — even though not a single source Think Progress cites links the governor to this proposal. To the contrary, several of the stories mention this provision was slipped in by a legislative committee, and only one of the stories even mentions Gov. Walker by name — and only then to refer generally to the governor’s budget. Gov. Walker may well support this measure — and, if so, shame on him — but I see no evidence of that — certainly nothing to justify blaming him for the ‘war on craft beer.'” At ThinkProgress, they don’t need no stinkin’ evidence.
LIFE ON THE STREETS: The Other Side Of The Chinese Miracle.
MICHAEL BARONE: The latest “high-speed” (45 mph) rail project. “Oh, one other thing. Cox reports that there is already luxury bus service, with plugs for laptops and wireless Internet, from Iowa City to Chicago. It’s part of a larger trend for private companies to offer convenient and inexpensive bus service. A one-way ticket on the bus costs $18, compared to a likely train fare of more than $50. And the bus takes only three hours and 50 minutes to get from Iowa City to Chicago. That’s one hour and 10 minutes faster than the ‘high-speed’ train.”
PAUL HSIEH: Dude, Where’s My Freedom?
WELL, I WISH I COULD HEADLINE THIS AS “CHANGE,” BUT ALAS, IT’S NOT: Federal budget deficit on track to eclipse $1 trillion for third year. Still, it’s the continuation of record levels of looting.
JAMES TARANTO: God Hates Special Olympians? “It’s not uncommon for political protesters to act like bullies, but it takes a special uncouthness to bully Special Olympians. It would be like holding an angry antiwar protest at the funeral of a fallen soldier–which, come to think of it, is just what the so-called Westboro Baptist Church does. . . . How obnoxious are the zombies of Wisconsin? So obnoxious that that they could use lessons in civility from the Westboro Baptist Church.”
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD ON THE FANNIE MAE SCANDALS: When Government Jumps The Shark. “Fannie Mae represents a special problem for the Democratic Party and Democratic ideas. It is not just a vitally important institution led by prominent Democratic figures and part of a broader Democratic patronage network; Fannie Mae is one of the original New Deal institutions and the vision it was intended to serve stands at the heart of the concerns of the Democratic Party of the 20th century. The fall of Fannie Mae is bigger than just another politicos run wild scandal. It stands as one of several signs that our current way of life is reaching its limits and that big changes are on the horizon. The Fanniegate debacle tells us that the progressive ideal is in the process of jumping the shark.”
ISN’T THAT ALWAYS TRUE? It has been too long since the last beauty pageant.
June 10, 2011
ON MY EARLIER INCANDESCENT BULB POST, A READER EMAILS: “Having had much the same experience with CFL bulbs as you, I have now accumulated enough incandescent bulbs to last me through 2020. As a California resident, I can take satisfaction in giving the finger to two levels of government gone insane.”
JOHN MERLINE on tax-and-spend insanity. “Indeed, few ideas have been so thoroughly discredited as the one that says more government spending will increase jobs. As the chart above shows, government outlays climbed more than 40% between 2006 and 2011. At the same time, the employment figure has dropped by almost 5 million.”
MEANWHILE, THAT OTHER SEX SCANDAL: “In a devastating act of ultimate revenge, a dying Elizabeth Edwards recorded a bombshell secret videotape for prosecutors…”
AT AMAZON, HDTVs for $999 or less.
WHY WORRY ABOUT THIS WHEN THERE ARE SARAH PALIN EMAILS TO PARSE? Europe Hit With Huge Carbon-Credit Theft, But No One Seems To Care.
THE GREAT CANADIAN MYSTERY: Who Suffers 71 Percent of Religious Hate Crimes and Who Is Doing It? “Like the FBI’s statistics for the United States, the number one victims of hate crimes are…Jews. Indeed, 71 percent of the hate crimes in the religion category are against Jews. The Jewish proportion of Ontario’s population? Around 1.6 percent. That’s 71 percent of the hate crimes on a religious basis against 1 percent of the population. . . . So just keep repeating to yourself: The main problem of the Western world is Islam-o-phobia.”
WEINERGATE UPDATE: A 17-year-old girl?
CAN’T STOP THE SIGNAL: Twitter Gets Through When Nothing Else Does. Not for me. I never look at my Twitter account.