Archive for 2012
June 1, 2012
DOESN’T SMELL LIKE TEEN SPIRIT: Is ‘old person smell’ real? Yes, but it’s not what you think. “Researchers have determined that there really is an “old person smell” — and a young person smell and a middle-aged smell — according to a study published Wednesday in PLoS ONE. . . . Older people, in fact, have less intense — and more pleasant — scents than their younger counterparts, the new research indicates.”
BILL CLINTON NOT MUCH OF A DRAW IN MILWAUKEE.
UPDATE: Walker Supporter Arrested. “Free speech, anybody? . . .Quite aside from the free speech rights, it’s stupid to arrest someone in this situation. Now, he’s the story, instead of Clinton rallying for Barrett. And the police are the story. The Milwaukee police. The Madison police didn’t treat protesters/counter-protesters this way. And you know something about Milwaukee? Its mayor is Tom Barrett.”
There’s also some sort of scandal involving the Milwaukee police, isn’t there? Oh, yes, there is: Milwaukee Police Accused Of Performing Illegal Body Cavity Searches.
Oh, and there’s the crime statistics book-cooking scandal.
Plus a policy favoring illegal assaults on gun owners.
Then there’s that whole vote-fraud business.
Nice police department you got there, Mayor Barrett. (Bumped).
“IT’S SURREAL TO THINK A FICTIONAL SPORT HAS COME THIS FAR.” Muggle Quidditch to be played at the London Olympics.
UPDATE: Regarding the site mentioned in the article, reader Bob Joyce writes: “I visited the site and ordered a Quidditch jersey for my daughters birthday. I haven’t got it as yet and am being stonewalled. No blame to you but should you warn you other readers?”
THE DANGERS OF EXERCISE: ‘I Would Rather Have Everyone Exercise. But You Can’t Ignore the Data.’
ROGER SIMON: America Gets A Wakeup Call. “What we have may be worse than Cloward–Piven. It’s accidental Cloward-Piven. Cloward-Piven out of ineptitude. I don’t need to see Obama’s hidden college grades. I know he’s a failure. . . . Who are these people that are still giving money to this charlatan? What is their motivation? Cultural suicide? Or are they simply Solyndra-style gangsters looking for a billion dollar handout?”
IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, Brian Tamanaha on what to do about the Law School Bubble.
My interview with Tamanaha is now available on YouTube.
IN THE MAIL: From Paul Clayton, Strange Worlds.
MICKEY KAUS: Shorter E.J. Dionne: The Wagner Act exists. Therefore it must always exist. “Marxists would call this ‘reification’-–the attribution of a false permanency to what are in fact only transient, man-made institutions (like the organizations created by the Wagner Act). Back in the ’60s, when Dionne went to college, leftish types fought reification. The point was to change the system, after all, not to play games within it–-by The Man’s rules! But reification has now become the routine basis for Democratic arguments against Republican reform. . . . Dionne says Walker insidiously used ‘incumbency’ to produce these changes. ‘Incumbency’ in this case means a law was passed by a democratically elected legislature (incumbents all) and signed by a democratically elected incumbent governor.”
INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: IT’S WORSE THAN YOU THINK: Core 25-54 Employment Rates Still Near Historic Lows.
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Anti-Mormonism, the Fashionable Prejudice.
CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Big donors to Democratic super PACs visited White House.
Though President Barack Obama called super PACs a “threat to democracy” before embracing them last February in his own reelection effort, he and members of his inner circle had no trouble meeting with the kind of people who contribute to them. At least 16 individuals who gave money to some of the major outside spending groups had meetings with White House officials–including Obama himself.
The group of 16 includes major Democratic donors, bundlers for Obama’s campaign and a few individuals who have official roles in the administration. Some have frequent access to both the president and his inner circle, visitor logs released by the White House show. Six of them have given to Priorities USA Action, the super PAC started by former White House officials that’s supporting the president’s reelection effort, while others have given to groups working to elect congressional Democrats.
As the money race continues in the 2012 election, big donors, fundraisers and friends of Obama are steering money to super PACs. An analysis of White House visitor logs shows the names there intersect with those on lists of contributors to major Democratic super PACs–including Priorities USA Action; Women Vote!, a super PAC working to elect Democratic women to the House and Senate; the House Majority PAC and the Majority PAC, which are focusing on supporting Democrats for the House and Senate, respectively; and American Bridge 21st Century, which was established in November 2011.
Culture of hypocrisy at the very least. Though hypocrisy and corruption are not exactly mutually exclusive.
RAND SIMBERG’S KICKSTARTER PROJECT gets a new boost.
AT AMAZON, it’s the health & personal care outlet sale. Which includes a lot of markdowns on batteries.
Also, today only: Criminal Minds, Seasons 1-6 for $98.99.
INSTAVISION: My interview with Brian Tamanaha, author of Failing Law Schools, is now available on YouTube.
DAVID HORWICH: How About We Compare the Investment Records of Bain Capital and the Obama Administration? “This really isn’t the debate the president wants to have.”
HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Unemployment Rate Rises to 8.2%. “American employers in May added the smallest number of workers in a year and the unemployment rate unexpectedly increased as job-seekers re-entered the workforce, further evidence that the labor-market recovery is stalling.”
Unexpectedly! More: “The dismal jobs figures could fan fears that the economy is sputtering.” Ya think?
UPDATE: “This is just brutal no matter how you look at it. But how can these ‘experts’ and ‘economists’ be so far off in their forecasts? Not even half of what they expected.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: Dan Mitchell: “At best, the results are mediocre. The unemployment rate generally gets the most attention, and that was bad news since the joblessness rate jumped to 8.2 percent. What makes that number particularly painful is that the Obama Administration claimed that the unemployment rate today would be less than 6 percent if the so-called stimulus was adopted. But as you can see from the chart, squandering $800 billion on a Keynesian package hasn’t worked.”
He continues: “Sort of makes you wonder whether there’s a lesson to be learned. Maybe, just maybe, bigger government means weaker economic performance.” Ya think?
Related: “The May jobs numbers are putrid.”
NOW WHY WOULD HE DO THAT? Lamar Alexander Siding With Obama On Coal?
BYRON YORK: On Wrong Side of Issues, Obama Avoids Wisconsin.
Last year, when angry protesters filled the streets of Madison, Wis., denouncing Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to curtail some union collective bargaining powers, President Obama was eager to associate himself with the union cause. “Some of what I’ve heard coming out of Wisconsin, where they’re just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain generally, seems like more of an assault on unions,” Obama told a Milwaukee TV reporter in February 2011.
Now, it’s just days until voters decide whether to recall Walker — an effort started, maintained and financed by the unions. If the polls are correct, Walker, who is being challenged by Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, seems headed toward keeping his job. And now, the president is not only no longer talking about Wisconsin, he’s actually seeking to distance himself from next week’s likely Democratic defeat.
Turns out public-sector union members who make considerably more than the average taxpayer don’t engender as much public sympathy as they’d hoped.
JOEL KOTKIN: What’s Really Behind Europe’s Decline? It’s The Birth Rates, Stupid. “Essentially, Spain and other Mediterranean countries bought into northern Europe’s liberal values, and low birthrates, but did so without the economic wherewithal to pay for it. You can afford a Nordic welfare state, albeit increasingly precariously, if your companies and labor force are highly skilled or productive.”
WALL STREET JOURNAL: Eric Holder’s Racial Incitement.
For all of Mr. Obama’s attempts to portray Mitt Romney as out of touch, no one has suffered more in the Obama economy than minorities.
Which explains Mr. Holder’s racial incitement strategy. If Mr. Obama is going to win those swing states again, he needs another burst of minority turnout. If hope won’t get them to vote for Mr. Obama again, then how about fear?
What else have they got?
TAX-APOCALYPSE IN YOUR RETIREMENT ACCOUNT? “With the prospect of rising tax rates after the Bush tax cuts expire, some retirees could find themselves paying even more in taxes than they did when they were working.”
PRIORITIES: White House Visitor Logs Show Barack Obama Has Spent More Time With George Clooney Than DEA Chief Michele Leonhart. In light of my opinion on the Drug War I’d be inclined to favor this — except, you know, in light of my opinion of George Clooney. . . .
HOW’S THAT “SMART DIPLOMACY” STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? The Hill: Mexican official: Fast and Furious ‘poisoned’ public opinion of US.
The Mexican ambassador to the United States on Thursday said a botched gun-tracking operation by America “poisoned” public opinion of the United States for the citizens of its southern neighbor. . . . “Fast and Furious has poisoned the well-spring of public opinion in Mexico as it relates to the cooperation and engagement with the United States,” Sarukhan said.
It wasn’t “botched.” It was meant to do everything that it did — except get found out. The goal was to create a climate of opinion that favored gun control, and it’s ironic to see Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) still trying to put it to this use.