Archive for 2012
September 28, 2012
LAWS ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: Obama Cabinet Flunks Disclosure Test With 19 in 20 Ignoring Law.
I also can’t afford THIS.
Where would four more years of this lead us? I have children. I can’t afford this.
RAND SIMBERG: Has Obama Lost NBC?
I TOLD YOU MY POSITION WOULD SELL: Poll: 79% Say All Americans Should Pay Income Taxes. Even 71% of Democrats agree. #Reynolds2016. Related: The Fiscal Costs of Nontaxpayers. “Aside from the revenue impact of not having 58 million Americans pay income taxes, economists worry about the social and political effects of having so many people disconnected from the cost of government—a phenomenon known as fiscal illusion. The concern is that when people perceive the cost of government to be cheaper than it really is, they will demand ever more government benefits because they either don’t feel the cost directly or believe that others will be paying those costs.”
And here’s secret video of me expounding on this theme at a high-level conclave.
Oh, also, we should make Hollywood pay its fair share! Someone should poll that, next.
What Do Propofol, Helium and Manganese Ferro Alloy Have In Common? We’re running out of all of them
HECKLER’S VETO: NYC Prohibits Controversial Subway Ads in Wake of Islamist’s Vandalism. My advice to the Religious Right: Deface anything you find offensive. That’s clearly how to get your way.
Also, why isn’t that woman veiled? Stone her! Her uncovered head is an intolerable provocation.
Related: Free Speech in Obama’s America.
And DaTechGuy weighs in.
UPDATE: Hans Bader: Scapegoating Free Speech.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Non-Intelligence.
Because this is an election year and nearing voting time, and because the media is invested in the outcome, we will not get an accurate account of the events leading to the murder of Ambassador Stevens and others. We know only that almost immediately key administration spokespeople asserted things that not only could not be true, but also that they may well have known could not be true — a fact fading from memory as various cabinet secretaries now change the narrative to a premeditated terrorist attack quite independent from a two-month old obscure video.
Perhaps most worrisome were the loud declarations of the director of natural intelligence, James Clapper, who insisted, in firing-before-aiming style, that the murders were not premeditated but were opportunistic attacks caused by the video. Clapper, remember, not long ago assured us the Muslim Brotherhood was “largely secular.” Earlier at a key juncture he had announced that Moammar Qaddafi would “prevail” over the rebels. And earlier this year, Clapper also asserted that Iran’s building a nuclear weapon within the next two years was not likely.
At some point, the director of national intelligence being wrong in assessments on most of the critical moments in the Middle East should matter.
That point will not come — if it comes at all — before November 6.
UPDATE: More on the billboards here. Reader Stuart Dean thinks the Breitbart headline above is overwrought, but read and decide for yourself.
MORE: J.P. Freire: Romney Vindicated: On Libya, Obama Shot First, Didn’t Ask Questions.
IT’S THE GAS PRICES, STUPID.
And not at all “unexpectedly.”
DO TELL: College Debt Crushing American Families.
College tuition is going up. By a lot. This Bloomberg chart shows tuition fees increasing four times faster than the Consumer Price Index over the past three decades, and nearly twice as fast as medical expenses. The recent data is even worse, with costs increasing even faster than before since the mid-2000s.
Apologists for the current higher-ed system argue that this isn’t really a problem. The tuition increases aren’t as bad as they look because few students actually pay the full sticker price. Most get some form of financial aid, whether Pell Grants or low-interest loans.
A study by the Pew Research Center demolishes that argument, however, and shows clearly that educational debt burden is crushing America’s young. The study reports that one in five American households is now saddled with student debt, 15 percent more than in 2007. And the amount of debt households are carrying has also grown: the average debt burden is now more than $26,000.
Worst of all, the debt burden is heaviest for those who can least afford to carry it.
If any other industry were doing this sort of thing, we’d see calls for boycotts and disinvestment at campuses across America. Meanwhile, some remedial reading.
VANDALISM GETS RESULTS: NYC Prohibits Controversial Subway Ads in Wake of Islamist’s Vandalism:
The New York Times reports the MTA will prohibit any advertisements that it “reasonably foresees would imminently incite or provoke violence or other immediate breach of the peace.” Those “viewpoint” ads that do not meet this criteria will be allowed, so long as a disclaimer is included saying the MTA does not endorse them. The MTA met on Thursday to discuss the rules, which were approved unanimously 8-0.
Is the Edward Tyler Nahem Gallery in New York considering a similar policy? The MTA has created an incentive system that might eventually lead them to just that.
RELATED: Western Courts Bend to Islamic Practices.
FALL STORM PREPAREDNESS: At Amazon, markdowns in Snow & Ice Removal Gear.
Also on Generators and Portable Power.
JENNIFER RUBIN: Some Debate Questions Obama Should Be Asked.
TWITTER: As wheels come off White House’s ‘blame the video’ narrative, #BenghaziGate trends.
JONAH GOLDBERG: When Islamists lecture us, it’s time to circle the wagons.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Sam Adams replaces Michelob Ultra as Republicans’ favorite beer.
UNEXPECTEDLY: Chris Matthews wins Media Research Center’s ‘Obamagasm’ award at annual gala; Katie Couric ‘worst reporter in history.’
No word yet on Chris’s thoughts on this achievement, but no doubt, they would be along the lines of “it reminds me of the 1930s in another country,” and/or comparing the MRC to the Khmer Rouge or the North Koreans. I only hope that someday, he evolves.
WHY AIRCRAFT CARRIERS STILL SAIL ON, despite having been declared obsolete seemingly every year since 1949.
WELCOME BACK CARTER, PART XXXVII: Skateboarding Community Ready To Fight Farmingdale Village Over Proposed Law.
As somebody who actually did skateboard a bit back in the Carter era, there’s certainly more than a little feeling of deja vu to the above headline.
HOUSE FISCAL CLIFF STRATEGY IN LIMBO: “It has been 126 days since the president said he would veto our plan, but he has failed to put forward an alternative.”
AND THEN THEY WONDER WHY NOBODY BELIEVES THEM! Two major stories this week that the elite media either ignored or buried – the coming death of Electric Vehicles and how liberals, including Obama, corrupted the noble cause of affordable housing for the poor.
OUR BRIEF NATIONAL BACON NIGHTMARE IS APPARENTLY OVER: “Hogwash! ‘Bacon shortage’ is a load of bull,” NBC reports — and while NBC certainly slings plenty of bull, this is one time I hope they’re right.
INTERNET TO GET PORN SEARCH ENGINE: Well, it is the 21st century, to coin a phrase.
#NARRATIVEFAIL: Democrats to join call for more information on Libya terrorist attack. “Officials initially attributed the attack to a spontaneous protest against an anti-Islam video before labeling the assault an act of terrorism several days later. The administration continues to say the attack was not planned in advance, despite Stevens’s reported concerns that he might have been on al Qaeda hit list and multiple media reports that have called the administration’s account into question. Adding to the confusion, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday appeared to draw a link between the Libya attack and al Qaeda.”
It’s clowns all the way down.