CRONY CAPITALISM DOUBLE-FAIL: GE Is Another Big Loser On A123. “GE made seven investments in A123 before its 2009 IPO, totaling $70 million, and GE’s research head Mark Little sits on A123’s board. GE Asset Management Inc. is listed as the company’s second biggest holder, with a 4.32% stake, according to LionShares.com. GE declined to comment on the bankruptcy filing Tuesday. In April 2009, at the time of GE’s seventh investment in A123, GE CEO Jeff Immelt commended the maker for battery systems for its technical and engineering breakthroughs in adapting lithium ion technology to commercial applications.”
Archive for 2012
October 17, 2012
SEPARATE BUT EQUAL? SAME-SEX PUBLIC SCHOOLING: U.S. Senators Barbara Mikulski and Kay Bailey Hutchison have an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today, arguing the merits of same-sex public school classrooms and schools. True, segregation by gender in public schools seems to be motivated by a desire to improve test scores and minimize hormonal distractions that impede learning. But is this consistent with the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, or is the concept of “separate but equal” equally pernicious when applied to gender, as it is to race? In the words of the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education, “We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”
It’s an interesting legal question, not yet decided by the Supremes: Can government segregate based on gender if such segregation is “benign” in purpose?
HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Intel’s cautious outlook suggests the PC market still stinks.
INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: Memo To Michelle: What A ‘Huge Recovery’ Looks Like.
With an illustrative graphic.
NEAREST STAR HAS EARTH-MASS PLANET. “European astronomers have discovered a planet with about the mass of the Earth orbiting a star in the Alpha Centauri system – the nearest to Earth. It is also the lightest exoplanet ever discovered around a star like the Sun. The planet was detected using the HARPS instrument on the 3.6-meter telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. The results will appear online in the journal Nature on 17 October 2012.” Before you fire up the Jupiter 2, however (don’t forget to debug the robot, and get a new doctor) note that its orbit is closer than Mercury’s, so it’s a bit toasty there.
ROLL CALL: Mark Critz Is Fighting Barack Obama’s Ballot Drag to Keep His Seat.
Rep. Mark Critz (D) receives a few skeptical looks as he greets the hundreds of Second Amendment enthusiasts filing into Sunday’s Gun Bash at the Crowfoot Sportsman’s Club.
In most of the country, a six-hour gun raffle marks uncomfortable territory for Democrats. But this is exurban southwestern Pennsylvania, where rifles rule local politics and the Gun Bash is a local ballistic delicacy.
“I hope you win a gun or something,” Critz says as he shakes hands.
“No-Bama!” replies Brian Strohmeier, 56, a registered Republican.
Once known as the late Rep. John Murtha’s (D-Pa.) sidekick, Critz is now one of the most campaign-tested Members of Congress. Next month, he faces his fourth multimillion-dollar race in two and a half years — and it’s his toughest yet.
Remember how Obama thought things would be different for Dems, because “you’ve got me”? Well, they are. . . .
I’M TOO SEXY FOR MY . . . DATA?: The Harvard Business Review declares the Data Scientist to be the “Sexiest Job of the 21st Century.” What on earth is a data scientist, you may query? According to the HBR, “It’s a high-ranking professional with the training and curiosity to make discoveries in the world of big data.”
Uh, er, um . . . okay. Yeah, sounds real sexy– if you’re a total geek. LOL.
TELECOM IN THE AGE OF OBAMA: “AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and other major Internet service providers are set to implement a copyright alert system aimed at cutting down on illegal peer-to-peer file sharing of copyrighted material “over the next several weeks,” according to the head of the organization overseeing the new anti-piracy program.” I’m surprised they weren’t asked to wait until after the election . . . .
OBAMACARE–A SLEDGE HAMMER TO KILL A GNAT: John Goodman’s excellent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today shows why Obamacare’s mulit-trillion dollar transformation of 16% of the US economy is extreme overkill. One of the chief problems supposedly solved by the law? Pre-existing condition exclusions, whereby those with prior health conditions can’t get new coverage. Of course, a 1996 law (HIPAA) had already severely scaled back the ability of group health insurance plans to exclude coverage for preexisting conditions— a point that almost no one ever makes (or realizes?). That aside, however, Goodman’s point is this:
The Affordable Care Act established a federally funded risk pool—the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan—that allows individuals with such disqualifying conditions to buy a policy for the same premium a healthy person would pay. About 82,000 people have signed up as of July 31, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s statehealthfacts.org.
That is not a misprint. Out of a population of more than 300 million, some 82,000 have the problem that was cited as the principal reason for spending $1.8 trillion over the next 10 years and in the process turning the entire health-care system upside down.
Goodman points out that there are many better ways to take care of these 82,000 people.
This is a perfect example of how government “solutions” rarely solve anything, and never do so efficiently.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: How the Colleges Skew U.S. History.
WHO LOST THE DEBATE? “America’s media.”
UPDATE: Video: Crowley Admits Romney Was Right on Libya.
Related: Krauthammer: Candy Crowley Was Essentially Wrong and Contaminated the Argument.
Also: Video: Candy Crowley Jumps from the Bench to Tackle Mitt as he Races for a Touchdown.
How bad is it? MSNBC Undecided Voter Panel Leans More Toward Romney After Debate.
The press has been carrying Obama since day one. But this election cycle it’s become a bit more obvious.
CNN’s John King: After Two Debates, Romney Still Has The Plus.
MORE: Michael Walsh: Don’t Worry, Be Happy. “Whatever marginal help President Obama got from Candy Crowley’s wrong-headed intervention re Libya will dissipate in the morning air, as the stenographers in the MSM contemplate the question: If Obama knew it was terrorism on Day Two, then why did his administration continue to blame the video for days afterward?”
Victor Davis Hanson: “Obama did not forfeit the debate as last time, and took his cue from Joe Biden in interrupting and muttering while Romney spoke, so his energy made it an entertaining night. Nevertheless, the same theme as in Denver emerged — Romney more often providing specific proposals and detailed critiques, and Obama preferring more often emoting and running more on hypotheticals, as if he were not an incumbent with a depressing record that he is obligated to defend. A key moment was Libya, and that is bad for the Obama cause, even if Romney let Obama slightly off the hook. Obama frowned and got defensive and then blew it by disingenuous explanations — claiming that almost immediately after the attack, he had labeled it an act of terrorism, omitting that on numerous occasions in the next two weeks he most certainly did not say that clearly at all, and declared either that it was the fault of a video or that he did not have enough information.”
David Harsanyi: Once again, Obama’s record wins it for Romney.
HOWIE CARR: Obama Running On Fumes. “Barack Obama was better than in Denver, but he’s still got this very big problem, namely, his record.”
CANDY CROWLEY, OATH-BREAKER.
MICHAEL J. TOTTEN’S DISPATCHES FROM LIBYA: I just launched a Kickstarter project to raise money for a trip to Libya in December. I’m not asking for donations this time. This time I’m asking for funding and will give something back in return. Check out the project page for all the details. There’s also a promo video and a complete project description at the link.
I need 7,500 dollars and I’ve got 30 days to raise it. The money will cover plane tickets, hotels, food, fixers, ground transportation, translators, travel insurace, and will even leave me a slight bit of padding in case of emergency—which in a country like Libya in 2012 is a real possibility. Click through to my Kickstarter project, pledge a bit of money, and let’s make this happen.
OSAMA BIN LADEN’S DRIVER’S CONVICTION TOSSED OUT: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has overturned Salim Hamdan’s conviction (by a military commission) for providing “material support” to terrorists, including his boss, Osama bin Laden, for whom Hamdan served as a driver. The court reasoned that during Hamdan’s tenure as OBL’s driver (1995-2001), providing “material support” to terrorists was not a recognized crime under the Law of War. While Congress passed a statute in 2006 (the Military Commissions Act) that made material support to terrorism a war crime, it could not have retroactive application.
The court made it clear, however, that under existing Supreme Court precedent, Mr. Hamdan and other enemy combatants can be detained indefinitely, until such time as US hostilities with al Qaeda have ended.
October 16, 2012
POST-DEBATE COMMENTS: Earlier in the evening, I posted my list of prognostications about the presidential debate. Now, I’ll comment on whether, or to what extent, they came to fruition:
1. Candy Crowley hones in on abortion (Roe v. Wade, specifically) and contraception and tries to paint Romney as a threat to lady parts and a “flip flopper”
Surprisingly, there was no talk of Roe v. Wade. There was, however, a big emphasis on women’s issues generally– an overemphasis, in my opinion. Who really cares about the Lilly Ledbetter Act? There were at least three or four Obama references to Planned Parenthood, which is the Democrats’ dog whistle for the “war on women” and protecting our lady parts from the evil Republicans.
2. Crowley throws Obama a softball on Benghazi and gives him plenty of room to blame the 9/11 events on Hillary and intel
OMG was this correct! The question actually asked was inane, but Obama couldn’t even answer it, instead avoiding it for many minutes and then finishing with a generic “we’re going to look into this thoroughly” kind of response. When Romney responded by pointing out that it took many days for Obama to even call the events in Benghazi an act of terror, Obama responded that he did call it an act of terror in the Rose Garden on 9/12. Candy Crowley jumped in, interrupting Romney to support Obama’s statement. Obama did, ONCE, refer to a generic “act of terror” on 9/12, at the end of his remarks in which he repeatedly referred to the attack being a response to the Mohammed YouTube video. Specifically, Obama said, “No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for.”
Crowley’s intervention to support Obama, in my opinion, was inappropriate, unfair, and lop-sided. She acted like a cheerleader, and as a result of her unprofessional conduct, she provoked pro-Obama folks in the audience to clap, which further amplified the unprofessional, gang-bang on this important issue.
Fact checker and time will tell the story of this debacle and expose Obama’s outright lie.
3. Crowley hits Romney on Romneycare and (again) tries to paint Romney as a flipper
Didn’t happen. Very little talk about health care, though Romney tried on several occasions to talk about how its impending implementation in 2014 is frightening small business owners away from job creation.
4. Crowley asks both candidates about gay marriage, asking Romney something along the lines of “Governor, do you support the right of two adults of the same gender to obtain equal treatment in marriage?” (or some other sickeningly one-sided phraseology)
This issue didn’t come up at all. In fact, it hasn’t come up in either debate, and one wonders: will it ever? Or are both political camps afraid to touch this third rail?
5. Crowley pushes Romney to explain his tax reform plan, but doesn’t ask Obama to explain his
This happened, in my opinion. In response to a question about taxes (“Governor Romney, you have stated that if you’re elected president, you would plan to reduce the tax rates for all the tax brackets and that you would work with the Congress to eliminate some deductions in order to make up for the loss in revenue. Concerning the – these various deductions, the mortgage deductions, the charitable deductions, the child tax credit and also the – oh, what’s that other credit? I forgot. The education credits, which are important to me, because I have children in college. What would be your position on those things, which are important to the middle class?”), Romney laid out his plan in considerable detail.
Obama then responded with general platitudes about Romney’s numbers not adding up (ironic). Crowley then turned the discussion back to Romney, asking, “If somehow when you get in there, there isn’t enough tax revenue coming in. If somehow the numbers don’t add up, would you be willing to look again at a 20 percent…?” Crowley was thus suggesting that the numbers would not add up, pushing Romney for far greater detail/elaboration than Obama, who was given a free pass on this critically important question of dealing with the budget/taxes.
6. Crowley interrupts Mitt on several occasions, asks him pointed followup questions, but uses a soft touch with the President, and never interrupts him once.
Undoubtedly happened. At one point, I thought Crowley might get out her Obama pom-poms and do a little cheer: “Give me an ‘O’!”
CANDY CROWLEY INSERTED HERSELF INTO THE DEBATE, OUTRAGEOUSLY, to break up Romney’s most dramatic moment, when Romney was questioning what Obama said the day after the attack in Benghazi. Obama had said he’d called the attack an “act of terror” and Romney was staring him down about it. Crowley broke up the showdown, saying “He did in fact call it an act of terror,” which took the wind out of Romney’s sails. We were advised to check the transcript, but the dramatic moment was lost. The transcript shows Romney was right, and Crowley and Obama were wrong.
ADDED: The phrase “acts of terror” does appear in the remarks: “No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for.” As Patrick Brennan says at NRO: “One could take that as a reference to acts which include the tragedy in Benghazi, obviously, but there was clearly no effort made to label it an act of terrorism. One reason why this might be: According to U.S. law, acts of terrorism are premeditated. The Obama administration’s line for days following Obama’s Rose Garden statement suggested that the attack wasn’t premeditated.”
WHEN MATH turns ugly.
AM (Not is. BAD FB HABIT) BRINGING DOWN THE TONE AT VODKAPUNDIT: … and the refined commentary at Ace’s. I love the new media. (I swear I’m not drinking yet, despite my total grammatical dysfunction here.)
OBAMA’S TALKING TOO FAST, AND SOUNDS NERVOUS. But I won’t be liveblogging, so see the people listed below.
CHANGE: THE NEW YORK OBSERVER ENDORSES ROMNEY. “The Observer endorses Mr. Romney’s candidacy and urges readers to support him. Four years ago, Barack Obama captured the imagination of many Americans with his thrilling message of change. Given the challenges confronting the president—two raging wars and an unprecedented global economic collapse—the desire for a quick fix was unrealistic. America supported that candidate (as did this newspaper), but his presidency, so filled with promise and potential, has failed to deliver the change America needs.”
Does this mean that Romney has become respectable in Manhattan? Well, probably, and this may be the key: “The president comes to town on a Monday, takes our money, shakes our hands and tells us how much he values the CEOs and innovators of New York. And then on Tuesday, he turns around and refers to business leaders as fat cat bankers whose success was created by the sweat of others. That’s not a friend. That’s not a leader. That’s a politician. . . . While we admire Mr. Obama, we believe he squandered an opportunity to bring positive change to Washington—and what change he did bring will burden future generations. We continue to rack up debt, buy services we cannot afford and allow unfunded liabilities to continue to grow. This has to end.”
THEY’LL BE LIVE-BLOGGING THE DEBATE over at the Boston Herald tonight. Also, Stephen Green will be drunkblogging.
Also, an effort at “community fact checking” at WikiProve.
UPDATE: Ann Althouse will be live-blogging, too.
MORE (From Ed): Jeff Dunetz, aka “Yid With Lid,” will be filing regular reports at the PJ Tatler from inside the debate’s spin room. If Candy Crowley stops stalking him that is…
And they’ll be liveblogging over at Ace Of Spades, too, for those interested in their characteristically sedate and restrained style. (Bumped).
DEBATE PROGNOSTICATION: Looking into the ol’ crystal ball, I see the following in tonight’s presidential debate:
1. Candy Crowley hones in on abortion (Roe v. Wade, specifically) and contraception and tries to paint Romney as a threat to lady parts and a “flip flopper”
2. Crowley throws Obama a softball on Benghazi and gives him plenty of room to blame the 9/11 events on Hillary and intel
3. Crowley hits Romney on Romneycare and (again) tries to paint Romney as a flipper
4. Crowley asks both candidates about gay marriage, asking Romney something along the lines of “Governor, do you support the right of two adults of the same gender to obtain equal treatment in marriage?” (or some other sickeningly one-sided phraseology)
5. Crowley pushes Romney to explain his tax reform plan, but doesn’t ask Obama to explain his
6. Crowley interrupts Mitt on several occasions, asks him pointed followup questions, but uses a soft touch with the President, and never interrupts him once.
I hope I’m wrong, but I’ll post again after the debate to say either “oops” or “told ya so!”
UPDATE: Yes, it’s a town hall format, but these questions will come up and Crowley will set the tone.