Archive for 2012
September 26, 2012
HOWIE CARR punches back twice as hard.
Related item here. It’s not just that they’re thugs. It’s that they feel entitled to act that way.
MICKEY KAUS: Will MSM Guilt Start Working for Mitt? “‘Like Ali, Obama Floats Like a Butterfly’–that’s the headline Real Clear Politics gave Howard Fineman’s latest post. But even though Fineman is Editorial Director for leftish Huffington Post (and appears regularly on MSNBC) his piece isn’t what you’d expect. It’s basically a plea to the MSM to start covering Obama they way they’d cover a normal candidate. . . . An MSM veteran, Fineman, in essence, is agreeing with conservative critics of his profession: they’ve been cutting the President way too much slack, failing to take him to task in areas (the Woodward portrayal, Libya, the jobs numbers ) where they would have hammered another candidate.”
YOU HAVE A FRIEND IN ME! That’s what candidate Obama told an ACORN assembly while campaigning for president in 2007. The Washington Examiner’s Charlie Spiering has the previously unreleased video. Among the many gems is this one: “Once I was elected there wasn’t a campaign that ACORN worked on down in Springfield that I wasn’t right there with you and since I’ve been in the United States Senate, I’ve always been a partner with ACORN as well.”
BYRON YORK: Obama’s problems multiply as GOP frets over Romney. “As the candidates arrive in the Buckeye State for several days of critical campaigning, President Obama is enjoying more than just a lead in most polls. He’s also enjoying Republican insiders slamming Mitt Romney for various faults, real and perceived, while potentially huge problems for the president — the investigation into what happened at the Libyan consulate attack, a devastating blow suffered by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and Obama’s lack of a plan to deal with the coming entitlement crisis, to name just three — go largely undiscussed in much of the press.”
THE HILL: Rep. Griffin: Obama running a ‘lockout’ on foreign leaders. They don’t trust him in any setting more demanding than The View. Which, based on recent experience, is wise.
THIS IS INTERESTING: BBC apology to Queen over Abu Hamza disclosure.
The BBC has apologised for revealing the Queen raised concerns with the government about why radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri had not been arrested.
The apology comes after security correspondent Frank Gardner told BBC Radio 4 of a private conversation he had with the Queen some years ago.
The BBC said it and Gardner were sorry for the “breach of confidence”, which both “deeply regret”.
The apology is interesting, but mostly I like the idea of the Queen calling her rather feckless ministers in to ask What the hell do you think you’re doing?
FIRST-WORLD PROBLEMS: Large Breasts, Small Waist, and Looking For A Bra? Good Luck!
Two months ago I walked into Neiman Marcus’ lingerie department in San Diego and asked the saleswoman if she had any bras in my size, 28G. Like a deleted scene from Pretty Woman, she treated me as if I was a pair of Lucite platforms away from a highway strip club.
“Oh, we don’t do that here,” she said with a hint of embarrassment.
I’d refer people to the Thin and Curvy blog, but it seems to be on hiatus.
HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Household Incomes Fall In Aug., Off 8.2% Under Obama. “In another sign that the economic recovery under President Obama is not producing gains for average Americans, median household incomes fell 1.1% in August to $50,678, according to a report released Tuesday by Sentier Research. Since the economic recovery started in June 2009, household incomes are down 5.7%, the Sentier data show, and they are down more than 8% since Obama took office.”
COYOTES AREN’T DOGS, AND THEY DON’T CAT AROUND: A new study by Ohio State researchers found that urban coyotes tracked over a 6-year period were 100% monogamous, never once messing around with anyone other than their mate. The scientists surmise that the fidelity is evolutionary, “Unlike the males of polygamous species, a male coyote ‘knows that every one of those pups is his offspring’ and has a clear genetic stake in helping them survive.” Or maybe they’re just great guys.
EDUCATION REFORM: Romney: Bar teachers unions from giving to political campaigns. I’d support that, but I’d prefer a blanket ban on public-employee unions.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: How manufacturers and community colleges are teaming up, German-style, to create high-paying factory jobs.
Unemployment among workers without a college degree is at a staggering 24 percent, but young college grads without an advanced degree are also suffering from the worst jobs crisis since World War II, with about 19 percent out of work or underemployed for their level of education. Is it fair to ask American schools to respond to the Great Recession? Great teachers and principals can help students maximize their potential, but they can’t make firms hire workers.
But the education system is not powerless in the face of high unemployment—as long as employers are partners. What’s clear is that there are a few, relatively small sectors of the economy in which there are real shortages of trained workers. Some of those sectors require an advanced degree or very high-level skills, such as in engineering or computer programming. But not all of them do. One of these sectors is mid-skill manufacturing. There is a shortage of machinists who can operate the new, computer-programmed, robotic assembly lines that build cars, turbines, generators, steel and iron plumbing products, armaments, and shipping and packing equipment. There may be as many as 600,000 unfilled manufacturing jobs of this type, but compared with their European counterparts, American companies have shown little willingness to invest in training workers to fill these positions. At last a small group of employers are importing the Northern European apprenticeship model to the United States. These programs combine classroom learning, typically at community colleges, with paid worksite training, and guarantee successful graduates a job.
All is proceeding as I have foreseen.
DIRTY JOBS’ MIKE ROWE Campaigns With Romney In Ohio.
MEETING AN INTERNET TROLL FACE TO FACE: Long-ish (for a blog post), but worth it for the twist in the last act.
RUNNING OUT THE CLOCK: Carney gets reporters talking football, not politics, during press gaggle.
Just have to keep the press distracted from the horrors of the Middle East and the economy for another month or so…
On the flipside, “Just Imagine The Mess Obama Will Inherit If He’s Reelected!”
BARONE ON OBAMA’S WAR ON YOUTH: And you thought the only electorally significant war in 2012 is the one the GOPers are allegedly waging on women. Here in the real world, the war that counts, according to The Washington Examiner’s Michael Barone (discussing Walter Russell Mead), is the one where Obama keeps imposing his choices on the Millennial Generation’s playlists of life. Next question: Does Romney understand the political lessons of the iPOD playlist?
DOES THE U.S. “OVERVALUE” FREE SPEECH? No, I think we undervalue kicking the ass of people who oppose it.
And reader Douglas Bass writes: “As long as we’re on the subject of peer pressure and shaming… why don’t we shame Americans who don’t believe in freedom of speech?”
Yes, that’s unAmerican, isn’t it?
OBAMA SNUBS WORLD LEADERS, PLAYS TRIVIAL PURSUITS, writes Liz Peek at the Fiscal Times:
Bill Clinton turned out to be an irresponsible human being, but a responsive president. While Monica Lewinsky serviced the president in the Oval Office, the president served the people. When they objected to his leftward lean, he tilted center. When Obama similarly got his knuckles rapped, he lurched even more energetically left, defying the voice of the country but clarifying his own. He believes in Big Government; Americans do not. He believes small business owners “didn’t make that”; he thinks the government is the lynchpin to everyone’s success.
Voters understand the difference. Gallup reports that nearly half of all Republicans are following the election “very closely,” compared to only one third of Democrats. Who can blame Dems? Trivial Pursuits has been around a long time.
Read the whole thing.
ELITE v. GRASSROOT REPUBLICANS: Ross Douthat has an interesting column in the New York Times exploring how the alleged dichotomy between the “elite” (0ld school) and “grassroots” (Tea Party) Republicans is real and 180 degrees from their positions during primary season. Now, it seems the old-line conservatives (elites) are criticizing Romney for various gaffes and a lackluster campaign, while the Tea Party types (grassroots) are lining up dutifully and pragmatically to defend the Republican nominee. To me, this highlights that there is still an ongoing battle for the soul of the Republican party, with the Tea Party votaries providing the energy and optimism essential to victory. Old school Republican elites are beginning to remind me of Eeyore.
THE TAX FOUNDATION: The Fiscal Costs of Nontaxpayers.
PROF. JACOBSON: Elizabeth Warren supporters should spare the sanctimony considering they covered for her ethnic fraud. By which he means, I believe, “Elizabeth Warren supporters in the press.”
MEN GETTING TIRED of seeing Dads portrayed as dopes on TV. “I was hard-pressed to find father figures who acted like grown-ups in these sitcoms.”