AMITY SHLAES: Disasters Create Bigger, Not Better, Government.
Archive for 2012
November 1, 2012
ANDREW KLAVAN: Three Things We Can Learn From the Menendez Sex Scandal.
DRACULA HISTORY: Criminal anthropologists inspired Bram Stoker’s vampire. He did not sparkle.
I’m pretty tired of vampires, but even amid today’s glut, Fred Saberhagen’s The Dracula Tape is still fresh. It’s a retelling of Stoker’s story from Dracula’s point of view, and it turns out he was thoroughly misunderstood.
ANDREW SULLIVAN GRANTS FORGIVENESS TO OBAMA VOTERS: “If you voted for Obama in 2008 and don’t in 2012, you never really voted for him in 2008.”
Yes, it’s true. As with the amnesty given to Carter voters from 1976, most Americans are more than willing to forget the mistakes their fellow countrymen made during a year that was the electoral equivalent of tulip mania. Besides, as Sully himself said last year, inadvertently paraphrasing Pauline Kael, “I don’t know why anybody voted for Obama in the primaries.”
CAN THE GOVERNMENT TAKE YOUR BUSINESS WHEN YOU’VE DONE NOTHING WRONG?: A important trial being litigated by the superlawyers at the Institute for Justice begins this Monday in the federal court in Boston. At issue: Whether the government can seize a private business, using what’s called “civil forfeiture,” just because a third party has used the property to commit a crime.
The case is a compelling story of the Caswells, who own a mom-and-pop motel, the Motel Caswell, at which a few drug busts have occurred over the last decade or so (about .05% of the patrons of the hotel were arrested for drug crimes). The Caswells have not been accused of any wrongdoing, yet the federal and local governments have partnered up to seize the hotel–worth over $1 million dollars. If the forfeiture is successful, the Caswells will lose their business entirely and will not be compensated one dime.
Watch this video to find out more about the stakes involved in this outrageous (and growing) use of government power:
[jwplayer mediaid=”156464″]
LOOKING INSIDE THE DEAD: The Rise of the Virtual Autopsy.
BECAUSE YOU SHOULD ALWAYS DOUBLE-DOWN ON STUPID: After a Storm, You Should Love Big Brother.
IF I READ IT PROPERLY, THEY’RE PRIVATELY FUNDED, TOO: Bulgarian archeologist says team has unearthed Europe’s oldest town.
HEY, REMEMBER THAT “NEW CIVILITY” BULLSHIT? NJ Democratic Congressional Candidate Equates Opponent To Hurricane Sandy.
IF STUFF LIKE THIS KEEPS HAPPENING, PEOPLE ARE GOING TO THINK THAT HIGHER EDUCATION ISN’T ANY PURER THAN OTHER BIG BUSINESS: Penn State’s ex-president accused of perjury, endangering children in Jerry Sandusky case.
TIDE DETERGENT TACITLY BASHES OBAMA ON HIS AWFUL JOBS RECORD (VIDEO): “This might as well have been a Romney ad,” Jim Hoft writes at Gateway Pundit.
I wonder if it aired on the Tonight Show yesterday, where Jay Leno quipped, ‘Hurricane Sandy Has Already Created More Jobs Than Obama Has.’
(Which Paul Krugman considers to be a feature, incidentally.)
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Too good not to embed.
REALITY CHECK: Five Days from Election Day, Where Do Things Stand?
DIVERSITY, TOLERANCE AND CIVILITY: Gay Left-Wing Radio Host Advises Gay Romney Supporter to Commit Suicide, Says He Should Not Be Allowed to Vote.
NOT JUST ‘FORWARD’ BUT ‘FORWARD!’:FORWARD! Woman voter blown away by Obama’s slogan enhancement. Now, even more forwardy. (Link fixed now, sorry.)
IT’S NOT JUST RUSSIAN IMMIGRANTS: Why a Typical Honest Russian Immigrant Hates Obama.
AN ELECTION NOTE FROM PORTLAND, OREGON: Nobody in Portland wants to put a Romney/Ryan sign in their yard. But, hey, I haven’t seen a single Obama/Biden sign either. One holdout in my neighborhood has an old Obama sign without Biden’s name, but that’s it.
This one, however, was just spotted in Portland.
I wonder if a sign like this might be even more effective if it just said “#Benghazi” and left it at that.
IN THE MAIL: Edited by Roger Kimball, Future Tense: The Lessons of Culture in an Age of Upheaval.
FASTER PLEASE: Self-Healing Concrete and Other 21st-Century Miracles.
TWO PIERS IN ONE:
- Piers Morgan Wants CNN Anchors to Get More ‘Provocative,’ ‘Opinionated.’
- Piers Morgan Interviews Michael Moore for 48 Minutes Without Asking About His Vile Anti-Romney Video.
On the other hand, the man is a ratings machine; why mess with a winning formula?
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): On the other hand, there’s this: Piers Morgan: “Mitt Romney Might Just Save America.”
Also: Piers Morgan defends Romney on the Olympics: “Everything he said was completely true.”
SUBVERTING THE DOMINANT PARADIGM: Photo: Romney’s Name Written In Sand On Point Pleasant Beach During Obama’s New Jersey Flyover.
It’s impressive that Romney supporters found the energy and initiative to pull this off amid the devastation. Must be more of the “crawl over ground glass to vote for Romney” contingent.
WHY SHOULD RHODE ISLAND BE DIFFERENT FROM ANYPLACE ELSE? Chafee Very Unpopular in Rhode Island. “Just 18% would vote to re-elect Chafee if the election were being held today, 33% would consider another candidate and 42% would vote to replace him.”
UPDATE: From Justin Katz:
People across the United States should consider Rhode Island as a canary in the ObamaCare coal mine, whistling the tune of the President’s larger public welfare project.
When he spoke on the first night of the Democratic National Convention, RI’s Lincoln Chafee introduced himself as “the nation’s only independent governor.” That’s “independent” as in belonging to no political party. He went on to claim the mantel of “moderate” and to upend the dictionary with a new, inverted definition of “traditional conservative,” applying that label to himself, as well.
Actual moderates and conservatives should be wary of Chafee’s brand of independence. The most stunning reason is his state’s status, in July, as one of only three to have lost employment since the end of the U.S. jobs free fall in February 2010.
A more subtle, but profound, reason is the vision of health benefit exchanges toward which he is hurrying his state. The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity, a free-market think tank, has derisively dubbed the concept a “dependency portal,” linking all public subsidies, handouts, and services together.
“Dependency Portal?” Kevin Williamson, call your office!