HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Bethany University faces financial challenges. “Though he declined to go into specifics, Shelton said possibilities include finding additional funding sources, merging with one of the other schools operated by the Assemblies of God, or, in the worst-case scenario, closing.” Plans for new building are on hold. As I suggested a while back, I think it would be wise for universities generally to put off expansive plans.
Archive for 2011
April 6, 2011
ROGER KIMBALL proclaims a cultural hero. “Listen, Jackass, it doesn’t work that way.”
FORGET THE XBOX: An Estes model rocket for under ten bucks. I had a lot of fun with these when I was a kid. Heck, I’d probably still have fun today.
UPDATE: Reader Jan Koenig notes: “Still got to have the launch system though (engines, contacts, launch pad, and controller – which costs more than the rocket.)” Yeah, I figured everybody knew that — at least, everybody in this audience. But here’s the complete setup for $21.99 — rocket, launcher, and you can click to add engines and wadding for a total of $37.01.
INSTAVISION: Atlas Shrugged Motors Presents: The Chevy Volt! I talk with Patrick Michaels of the Cato Institute about government subsidies, energy, and GM. (Bumped).
OBAMA: Get Used To High Gas Prices. “Obama needled one questioner who asked about gas prices, now averaging close to $3.70 a gallon nationwide, and suggested that the gentleman consider getting rid of his gas-guzzling vehicle.”
High gas prices aren’t a bug, they’re a feature.
UPDATE: Rapid Reaction: I got an email from Haley Barbour’s office with this reaction: “Instead of changing his policies, President Obama is trying to blame the American people for skyrocketing gas prices by saying they should trade-in their cars.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Michael Broderick writes:
“Obama needled one questioner who asked about gas prices, now averaging close to $3.70 a gallon nationwide, and suggested that the gentleman consider getting rid of his gas-guzzling vehicle.”
I was confused when I clicked the link on your page and couldn’t find this quote. So I googled the quote. It shows up in all the google hits but when I click on those articles, it’s nowhere to be found. Looks like AP scrubbed it from all copies of the article! Nothing like a compliant media, eh? Hope you got a screenshot.
In fact, I did. And a good thing, because the story’s been almost completely rewritten. But the “memory hole” doesn’t work very well any more. Here, for the sake of history, is the story as it used to be. And if anyone from the Associated Press would like to email me to explain this change, I’m all ears.
Maybe he’s just trying to sell some of those Chevy Volts.
MORE: Here’s the video. The real action is right at the end. Think we’ll see this in a campaign commercial?
FEDERAL FINANCIAL AID helps colleges, not students.
OBAMA’S ELECTION AND THE DEMOBILIZATION OF THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT:
Among Barack Obama’s distinguishing characteristics in the field of presidential hopefuls, four years ago, was his opposition to the Iraq war, which he had denounced at an antiwar rally in Chicago in October 2002, when invasion was still yet a gleam in the neocon eye. As Obama’s reelection campaign begins this week, his administration continues the military occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq, while making the down payment on a third in Libya.
This is not what people who supported Obama expected — and public opinion polls suggest that opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq remains as high as it was during Bush’s second term, or higher. But the streets no longer fill with protesters. This coming weekend there will be antiwar demonstrations in New York (April 9) and San Francisco (April 10). They won’t be on the scale that became almost routine a few years ago, however, when hundreds of thousands of people attended such events. They will be one-tenth the size, more or less.
Well, the Nobel Peace Prize winner is in the White House now, so whatever we’re doing must count as peace.
Also, “Obama is awesome.”
SHREDDING BALLOTS IN WISCONSIN? If true, this is potentially a big deal. But will anyone look into it?
Related: With 100% of vote counted, Kloppenburg clings to narrow lead; recount expected.
OKAY, LOTS OF PEOPLE LOVE THE RADIO-CONTROLLED HELICOPTER I’ve mentioned before. But here’s a caution from reader Mark Phillips: “Hi Glenn, I bought a couple of these last time you mentioned them. FYI, at my elevation (5300′) they can’t maintain altitude and drift down slowly even at max throttle. But they do make great cat toys.” Mountain-dwelling readers beware, especially if you lack cats.
UPDATE: Reader Ben Hammer emails: “I think reader Mark Phillips may have a battery issue. I live at 5367 feet. I have three of these helicopters and fly them indoors in my ‘A’ frame ceiling that is 20 feet high. I can go any where up there with ease. My first crash happened when I got to close to the ceiling and the vacuum produced by the blades sucked the helicopter to the ceiling, lost lift and came crashing to the ground! Oops. Flipped her upright and continued flying. What I have noticed it that each battery has different discharge characteristics, so each helicopter has a different amount of flight time. At the end of the discharge cycle there is not enough amperage left in the battery to lift the helicopter off the ground. Maybe he should get a new battery.”
TOP AUTOMOTIVE ENGINE FAILURES: OLDSMOBILE DIESELS. My dad had one of these. The only fun thing about it was that if someone was following too close, you could floor the accelerator — and though you wouldn’t speed up much, you’d produce a smokescreen worthy of a James Bond movie and leave their car coated with gunky residue. Otherwise, a major league bust.
GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN? No, it’s Spring Break!
EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN: Gene Sperling And A Government Shutdown.
A DRESS CODE FOR PROFESSORS? I dress more formally than I used to, but in the early days I felt that classes opened up more when I wasn’t dressed in the lawyer costume.
STEVE CHAPMAN: The Unconcealed Truth About Carrying Guns.
BRYAN PRESTON: High Energy Prices: Poor, Minorities Hardest Hit. “For once, that’s not a joke.”
NICK GILLESPIE AND VERONIQUE DE RUGY: Paul Ryan’s Budget Plan: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly.
RON BAILEY ON WHY it’s hard to make predictions, especially about the future. Well, not always. For example, I can predict that President Obama will do something that his supporters used to think was stone-cold evil and unAmerican, and most of them will be fine with it. Oh, wait, that’s already happened? Never mind, then.
WHY WEARING A BASEBALL CAP BACKWARDS is dumb.
RON BAILEY: Environmentalist George Monbiot Says Greens Have Been Lying About Nuclear Power. Well, if he’s just catching on that Helen Caldicott is a fraud, he’s behind the curve. But better late than never.
WOMEN’S SKI-JUMPING MAKES THE 2014 OLYMPICS: I just got a press release from Women’s Ski Jumping USA reporting: “For the first time in Olympic Winter Games history, women will participate in ski jumping, beginning in Sochi, Russia in 2014. The International Olympic Committee made the announcement today during the IOC Executive Board’s press conference in London, site of the 2012 Summer Games.” This is something I’ve been reporting on for quite a while, both at InstaPundit and at the PJTV Sports Desk. Glad to see it happen — and the efforts of DeeDee Coradini, Lindsay Van, and my stepcousin Karla Keck have played a big role.
UPDATE: Here’s a news story, courtesy of reader Kyle Martin.
SUSANNAH BRESLIN: How To Lose Your Job And Not Have A Nervous Breakdown.
AN OBAMACARE ALTERNATIVE: Economist Laurence Kotlikoff and a lot of Nobelists launch the Purple Health Plan. Best take so far: “We have not read it but fail to see how it can be possibly worse, especially since one Paul Krugman has not endorsed said plan.”
MORE OBAMACARE CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: “Can mainstream news organizations provide fair and objective coverage of public policy when the laws in question put federal subsidies directly into their pockets?” No, but since they’d support what Obama did regardless, it’s not really a conflict of interest. Once you’re in the tank, you’re in the tank. This is just lagniappe.
UPDATE: Subsidiaries Of The Obama Administration. “When NBC used to cover energy issues, they identified themselves as a subsidiary of General Electric. CBS and Washington Post just have to disclose that they are subsidiaries of the Obama Administration.”