STANDING UP AGAINST HYSTERIA: Gov. Rick Perry speaks out against gun control hysteria, approves carrying in schools.
Archive for 2012
December 18, 2012
REBLOGGING FROM LAST YEAR: Reader Dave Crawford writes: “The Snap Circuits EC-500 set was a big hit with my 9 year old daughter. She just finished the FM radio project – with Christmas music now coming out of the speaker on the dining room table. Thanks for the recommendation – hopefully through all the machinations of jumping from instapundit to Amazon, you wound up getting the $0.02 or whatever.” Glad to be of service.
And a reader emails: “For older kids that enjoy electronics and want to move into more difficult (but equally fun) areas where software and electronics come together, may I recommend the Arduino microcontroller system. Absolutely not for beginners, but a great set of gifts for the budding robotics geek. No soldering necessary, but persistence is. My teenage son is hooked.”
TOM MAGUIRE: Hate Makes the NYT Innumerate Where Guns Are Concerned. “Interesting that the US has been getting better while France and the UK have been backsliding.”
IF CASS SUNSTEIN THINKS THAT WARREN BURGER WAS RIGHT ON THE SECOND AMENDMENT, then he also thinks that the Second Amendment protects the right to “State Armies.”
Don Kates and I explored what that might mean in the William & Mary Law Review some years ago. The consequences turn out to be rather more drastic than Burger’s Parade Magazine piece on the subject envisioned. Cass is a smart guy, but this isn’t his area, and it shows. However, ignorance aside it’s pretty much impossible to imagine him writing something like this about, say, Roe v. Wade. “Reasonable people can debate about what policies would actually work. That is a debate worth having. It is past time to stop using the Second Amendment itself as a loaded weapon, threatening elected representatives who ought to be doing their jobs.”
UNMANNED AT ANY SPEED: Bringing Drones Into Our Domestic Airspace.
IF A REPUBLICAN HAD DONE THIS, IT WOULD BE CREEPY AND BIG-BROTHERISH, AND THERE WOULD BE CALLS FOR A BAN: How Obama Wrangled Personal Data To Win His Second Term.
But somewhere, John Poindexter is smiling.
MORE WITH THE anti-gun anger issues. No wonder these people don’t want other Americans to be armed — they probably assume everyone has as many violent inclinations as they do.
NICK GILLESPIE & VERONIQUE DE RUGY: Obama and Boehner, Both Reckless Spenders.
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Modern Wisdom From Ancient Minds.
And this is a good chance to plug Anni Ultimi: A Roman Stoic Guide to Old Age, which none other than Roger Simon pronounced superb.
I’M A TRADITIONALIST, AND DEMAND A RADIOACTIVE SPIDER BITE: Raiding the Medicine Cabinet to Become Superhuman.
PLUG-IN CARS DON’T RESELL BECAUSE THEY DON’T SELL. Also, “You don’t get the $7,500 federal bribe on the used ones.”
Here’s my Nissan Leaf review. I liked it fairly well, but the Insta-Wife and Insta-Daughter responded more to the comparatively cheap and cramped interior. It’s a little bit nicer than a Nissan Versa, but not nearly as nice as a $40,000 car should be.
UPDATE: Reader Harry Shelton writes: “I leased a Leaf when my Lexus died. Of course, by leasing (the only one I’ve ever done) I have avoided the resale trap you just described, and it’s a cheap lease. The monthly payments are less than my premium gas bill was. For what I wanted, a commuter car travelling in Memphis, it’s been a lot of fun. We’ve noticed very little increase in our home electric bill, the car’s actually fun to drive, and it’s a real pleasure to visit a gas station for the sole purpose of cleaning the windshield. The Feds did give me, at no expense, a 220 volt charging station in my garage as well, which is mine even if my next car is a gas model. I wouldn’t own an EV, though, pretty much for the reasons you listed.” Yes, there are some real lease deals out there.
21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: A social network that introduces you to your actual next-door neighbors.
THE MEDIA’S TERRIBLE PERFORMANCE (CONT’D): Sandy Hook: The Corrections Begin. “In all the calls for ‘soul searching’ that have followed Adam Lanza’s rampage, I haven’t seen a single one suggesting that reporters and editors should reflect on their own conduct, either in publicizing (and thereby encouraging) mass murderers like Lanza, or in making sure they have their facts straight before going public with information.”
RICHARD EPSTEIN: The End Of Unions? “Between 1980 and 2011, overall employment levels rose by 71 percent in right-to-work states. In non-right-to-work states, they only rose by 32 percent. That differential does not come at the expense of wages, which grew four times as fast in right-to-work states: 12 percent versus 3 percent elsewhere. The explanation is clear enough. The productivity gains from escaping union work rules are shared with employees as employers bid up wages. The short-term monopoly gains to unionized workers eventually are, over time, more than offset by productivity losses. The New Deal union model is an economic mistake of major proportions.”
But it offers greater opportunity for graft and political manipulation, and will thus always find support among the political class.
IN THE MAIL: From Gregory D. Johnsen, The Last Refuge: Yemen, al-Qaeda, and America’s War in Arabia.
LAW SCHOOL: Are Quirky 3L Electives A Waste Of Time And Money? It’s hard to tell. When I was clerking on the Sixth Circuit, there were three times my judge asked me an obscure question and I had the black letter answer handy. Those three times, knowing the answer came from having taken, respectively, Law & Sexuality, International Human Rights Law, and Law, Science & Technology, all of which would be considered “soft” courses. You can, of course, teach real law in almost any course, if you want to.
FOR FICTION WRITERS: At Liberty Island, a call for submissions.
WELL, I’M CERTAINLY IN FAVOR OF CHANGING THAT: Wall Street Journal: The Current Tax Code Favors High-Tax States.
FORWARD! Canada Leaps Past Dithering US in Energy Race. “Energy companies are already focused on the shale boom in the U.S., but now they are increasingly turning to America’s neighbor to the north. Both the U.S. and Canada are sitting atop massive quantities of oil and gas that could fetch high prices on the world market. Both countries face unique sets of challenges in getting that energy to market. One columnist at the FT, Ed Crooks, is arguing that, despite America’s many advantages, Canada may be a better bet for companies looking to export LNG (liquefied natural gas) overseas. His chief concern is the U.S. political climate, which has yet to adjust to America’s new energy wealth, and its skepticism when it comes to exporting domestic energy.”
DAVE KOPEL: Guns, Mental Illness and Newtown. We have fewer shootings, but more shootings by crazed shooters. “In the mid-1960s, many of the killings would have been prevented because the severely mentally ill would have been confined and cared for in a state institution. But today, while government at most every level has bloated over the past half-century, mental-health treatment has been decimated. . . . People who are serious about preventing the next Newtown should embrace much greater funding for mental health, strong laws for civil commitment of the violently mentally ill—and stop kidding themselves that pretend gun-free zones will stop killers.”
AT SOME POINT, THE PARASITES WILL RUN OUT OF HOSTS: “I am a free being, sir.”
UPDATE: Much more at No Pasaran.
INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: Obama Exploits School Shooting Tragedy To Score Political Points.
AUDIO: Ed Driscoll talks to Roger Simon and Sheryl Longin about The Party Line. It’s all about Walter Duranty, and how he lied to establish a preferred political narrative.