CAROL MOSELEY BRAUN’S TERRIBLE MISTAKE: “The thinking was: ‘Why waste our time with African-American voters? They have no other place to go.’” But they wound up voting for a white guy who seemed, you know, kinda competent, and who was willing to ask for their votes. “Victory in every black ward went to Mr. Emanuel, who won the mayor’s office with 55 percent of the overall vote.” There’s a broader lesson here, perhaps.
Archive for 2011
March 5, 2011
BAD NEWS FOR MY BIZ: Armies Of Expensive Lawyers, Replaced By Cheaper Software. Obviously, the bar associations need to get this banned. In the public interest, of course.
DIET AND FITNESS THE REALLY OLD-FASHIONED WAY: The Paleo Rodeo is up.
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR ON THE ATF GUNRUNNING DEBACLE: Before a US border patrol agent was killed in a shootout with Mexican bandits, the agents opened fire with bean bags. Found at the scene: two guns the ATF allowed gun runners to purchase.
THE FIRST SUVs: The Willys Jeep Wagon and Jeepster.
FAREWELL, MY LOVELY: How public pensions killed progressive California.
CHEAP DIGITAL CAMERA: Canon Powershot A490 on sale for $69.95.
UPDATE: Reader Bruce MacMahon emails:
In 2001, I paid $700 for a 4.0 MP Canon PowerShot camera. If we had let the government take over the digital camera industry back then, this camera would cost twice that today.
But ownership would be mandatory . . .
NERVOUS: China Paper Blasts Middle East Protest Movements. “A Chinese Communist Party-run newspaper on Saturday attacked anti-government protest movements in the Middle East and dismissed the possibility of something similar happening in China.”
TIM CAVANAUGH: Has Anybody Seen Jimmy Carter Lately? I would snark “Look in the White House!” but as I’ve been saying, at this point a Carter rerun looks like a best-case scenario.
HMM: Injection wells in Arkansas shut down as earthquake concerns mount. Well, they’ve had some of the same concerns with geothermal power. No clear causal relationship here, but unlike some of the clearly-bogus concerns others have raised about “fracking,” this seems genuine enough to merit caution. Note that it’s only the ones in the immediate vicinity of a suddenly-shaky earthquake fault that have been stopped.
UPDATE: Reader Kent Budge comments: “Is this necessarily a good thing? Maybe it’s better to continue the injection to help the fault stresses bleed off gradually rather than in a single catastrophic slip.” Quite possibly, but at this point I don’t think we know enough to be sure.
CAREY ROBERTS: AG Holder Needs to Retract False Statement about Domestic Violence.
In ringing prose, President Barack Obama underscored his March 9, 2009, memorandum on scientific integrity with this promise: “Under my administration, the days of science taking a back seat to ideology are over….To undermine scientific integrity is to undermine our democracy.”
As luck would have it, Attorney General Eric Holder issued a statement a few months later designed to spotlight the issue of domestic violence. In Holder’s own words, “Disturbingly, intimate partner homicide is the leading cause of death for African-American women ages 15 to 45.”
Turns out this statement is not one-sided or misleading. It’s flat-out wrong.
Good luck on that retraction.
TODAY ONLY: A food scale / nutritional analyzer for $22.99. The question is, do you really want to know that much about what you’re eating? . . .
UPDATE: I guess so. The Insta-Wife just asked me to order one.
HOMEBREWER-IN-CHIEF: Obama now brewing his own beer at the White House. Well, I approve.
CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: From Baghdad To Benghazi: Everyone Is a Convert to George W. Bush’s Freedom Agenda.
Now that revolutions are sweeping the Middle East and everyone is a convert to George W. Bush’s freedom agenda, it’s not just Iraq that has slid into the memory hole. Also forgotten is the once proudly proclaimed “realism” of Years One and Two of President Obama’s foreign policy – the “smart power” antidote to Bush’s alleged misty-eyed idealism.
Read the whole thing. And that whole “smart power” / “smart diplomacy” thing has kept turning up short on the “smart” part.
Plus this: “For Libyans, the effect of the Iraq war is even more concrete. However much bloodshed they face, they have been spared the threat of genocide. Gaddafi was so terrified by what we did to Saddam & Sons that he plea-bargained away his weapons of mass destruction. For a rebel in Benghazi, that is no small matter.” Yes, and even the New York Times noted that.
RICK SANTELLI: DON’T GET TOO EXCITED ABOUT THAT JOBS REPORT: “Upon closer scrutiny though, there is another factor contributing to the drop that is not necessarily good news: The official size of the U.S. labor force is shrinking. . . . The government’s definition of the labor force is all individuals 16 years of age and older, who are employed or seeking employment. It does not include students; retirees; anyone with unreported income, or ‘discouraged’ workers. . . . The last time the participation rate was above 66 percent — the 10-year average — was in August 2008.”
Meanwhile, Gallup has unemployment rising to 10.3%. And Gallup doesn’t think the labor force is shrinking: “The percentage of part-time workers who want full-time work worsened considerably in February, increasing to 9.6% of the workforce from 9.1% at the end of January. A larger percentage of the U.S. workforce is working part time and wanting full-time work now than was the case a year ago (9.3%).”
CHINA BUILDING massive rocket-production facility.
STUDY: Staring At Breasts Increases Heart Health. I’m pretty sure this is just the same bogus report that resurfaces every couple of years. But why take chances?
And in that vein, Stacy McCain takes a strong interest in preventive medicine. “The staff of the Collins-McCain Institute for Therapeutic Breast-Staring would like to thank Christina Hendricks and Anne Hathaway for their heroic efforts to improve America’s cardiovascular health.” Plus, from the comments: “Consensus has been reached. The science is settled.”
March 4, 2011
WELCOME TO THE ENTITLEMENT STATE: Welfare-Funded Hawaiian Vacations. I need one of those. But Milt Wolf is a traditionalist: “Only Congressmen should get sweetheart beach deals…”
MARKDOWNS on grilling tools.
HUGH HEFNER takes Playboy private.
NOW THIS IS JUST SAD: Law Students So Broke They Can’t Afford to Look Decent at Graduation?
OUR NOBLE ACADEMIC CLASS: Harvard Professors Raked in Millions from Khadafy.
UPDATE: A reader emails: “What’s the over-under on number of years till Harvard expresses contrition for taking Alwaleed’s $20 million?”
ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader emails: “At least they haven’t committed the mortal sins in academia of being registered Republicans, evangelical Christians, or vocal opponents of the welfare state! You might say taking money from dictators is a lot more acceptable than praising George Bush.” Well, yeah.
MORE: Harvard Professors say: ROTC Bad. Gaddafi money Good! “Those fastidious folks who could not bear to have their campus sullied by American servicemen apparently had their price. It’s amazing what and who you can buy if you show them the money. Remember Carville’s slur about Paula Jones and dragging a hundred dollar bill through a trailer park? It turns out that dragging hundred dollar bills through Harvard Yard will get you full professors willing to cover up dictatorship and murder.”
Well, to be fair, Harvard has now decided to let ROTC back on campus. But will the military want to be associated with people who took money to flack for Khaddafy?
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Reader Greg Gell writes: “Rick Perry’s newly appointed Chairman of the Board of Regents (University of Texas System) has confirmed that he has been charged with implementing a $10,000 four-year degree. Rick Perry is serious about bursting the bubble!”
Here’s the news story. Excerpt:
In legislative testimony, the chairman has pledged to cut costs and to do all he can to hold tuition level or even lower it. That echoes themes sounded by Perry, whose proposed budget for higher education essentially mirrors the House and Senate versions.
In contrast, UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa warned last month that proposed reductions would have “immediate and future devastating consequences for our students, patients, faculty, staff and the communities of Texas.”
Powell said his to-do list includes a bachelor’s degree program that costs no more than $10,000 for all four years, counting tuition, fees and textbooks. The governor has challenged universities to develop such programs, and Powell said he would have the UT System look into whether that could be done at one campus and replicated at others.
Using a car analogy, he said a $10,000 degree would be more like a Chevrolet Bel Air, a midlevel vehicle from a generation ago, than a Cadillac. There’s nothing wrong with a Bel Air-quality education, he said.
I’d prefer an electronics analogy, and note that my $995 Macbook Air is a much better computer than my $3200 Kaypro 4 was.