Archive for 2012

ANN ALTHOUSE: Should Obama apologize? What’s the point? It will not be believed. “So we had this respectful burial at sea, which was intended to impress/mollify/appease whomever, and now it turns out it never happened. I think messages of respect can be meaningful, even if they are lies, but they must be believed. The messenger needs a reputation for honesty. And the exposure of one lie — especially one this big — makes all your other messages suspect.”

On the other hand, that applies to Wikileaks, too . . .

A BREITBART MEMORIAL GET-TOGETHER IN BOSTON: 7 PM Wednesday night at J.J. Foley’s, 21 Kingston St. Here’s the Facebook page.

LONGEVITY UPDATE: The Billionaire Who Is Planning His 125th Birthday. “His energy, more than his appearance, makes him seem younger than he is. At his lodge he leapt from his chair every 20 minutes to grab unwieldy four-foot-long logs and hurl them into a stone fireplace two stories tall. The gesture was not only irresistible metaphor — he didn’t want the flame to die — but also showy proof of his strength. He tries to fit in weight lifting several times a week, and that, combined with brisk walks on a treadmill and his diet, helps keep his weight at about 140 pounds, though he has always been naturally slender, even when he ate what he pleased. He doesn’t count calories or believe in extreme caloric restriction as a way to extend life. But he does believe that excess weight is a sure way to abbreviate it, and reprimands friends, acquaintances and even strangers who are heavy.”

UPDATE: Closer, but still so very far away. “Living well has great worth: clearly there is much that can be done to optimize your own person life expectancy under present day medical technology. But don’t expect to live to 100 under those conditions, because the odds are that you won’t. The only thing that will bring much longer life to all of us is the advance of medical technologies into the realm of repairing the biological damage of aging.” Yes, diet and exercise are about slowing the decline, not reversing it, alas.

HATE TALK from Mike Malloy. Really, attacking tornado victims because they’re religious flyover types?

LEGAL EDUCATION UPDATE: New York Magazine: The Case Against Law School. “The hardest part about becoming a lawyer in a city like New York, if your path runs through a top-tier school such as Columbia or NYU, might be getting your application accepted. After that, it’s mostly a matter of keeping your grades up and waiting for the jobs to come to you: On-campus recruiting interviews lead to summer associateships, which often lead to jobs at the same firm after graduation. Attending a less prestigious law school, though, has always been something of a gamble, and as the recession has squeezed the profession, the math has become ­dicey indeed. Nationwide, there are two aspiring lawyers with passing bar-exam scores for every one open job; in New York State, the ratio is even more lopsided, with 9,787 passing the bar in 2009, then competing for roughly 2,100 new positions.”

STATE A.G.’S GO AFTER OBAMA.

SACRIFICED: Teacher Suspended Over Chicken Nugget Incident: School district official says substituting a preschooler’s lunch was against district policy. “It remains unclear why the teacher’s actions violated district policy. State officials responsible for monitoring homemade lunches for preschoolers have told Carolina Journal that the Jan. 30 incident that caused a nationwide uproar satisfied state policy.” So punish some higher-ups then.

IT’S ON THE SHELF WHERE THEY KEEP THE POLITICALLY INCONVENIENT STUFF: Kirsten Powers on Rush and Sandra Fluke: Where’s the outrage at misogynistic liberal men?

UPDATE: Reader Ron Shrewsbury writes: “We could put Bill Maher out of business in a month if conservatives were willing to cancel their cabal accounts until the suppliers drop HBO. But be honest, how many conservatives do you know who would give up TV for even one day for a project like this? And that’s why liberals will continue to kick our butts on this front. They do seem to be more willing to make sacrifices.” I don’t have HBO, so my boycott’s been ongoing. . . .

But yeah. Dump ’em and get a Roku box. You won’t be sorry.

TOBY HARNDEN: 10 reasons why Rick Santorum is flailing as Super Tuesday arrives. I’ve seen a few more Santorum yard signs the last few days, but he’s way behind Ron Paul and Gingrich — to say nothing of Romney — in that department around Knoxville. For whatever that’s worth.