HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Is Sallie Mae in bed with your college? Making money off student debt. “The concept is quite simple: as college get more expensive, students incur more debt. And as students incur more debt, there is less opportunity for them to get out from under it. This is precisely why the relationship between Sallie Mae and institutions of higher learning are, as the article notes, ‘a conflict of interest.'”
Archive for 2013
May 10, 2013
AMAZON WILL buy your old textbooks.
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BENGHAZI FALLOUT: Hillary’s White House Hopes Under Fire, But Don’t Count Her Out. “But don’t bet against the Clintons. Democrats are already raising questions about the whistleblowers and trying to portray the hearings as political theater. Much of the media will probably end up giving her a pass and saying Benghazi is old news by the time the campaign rolls around. And just in case Benghazi does end up costing Clinton the White House, there’s someone else ready and willing to take her place in the 2016 race. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren.”
K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: “Just a generation ago, California’s schools were the pride of American education (it’s one of the reasons my parents moved with me to California in the early 1960s). Today, tracking with the economic woes of the rest of the Golden State, California’s schools rank 30th in the country . . .and falling. Now it could get much worse – and quickly –as one of the few bright spots of California public education is at risk of disappearing.”
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Who Knew Masturbation Was So Healthy?
I’M SURE THE PICKUP-ARTIST CROWD KNOWS THIS ALREADY: The Mating Advantage of Male Musicians. “For women, it seems, there’s something about a man holding an instrument. That’s the conclusion of a just-published study from France, which found a man is more attractive to the opposite sex if there’s a guitar in his hand. Its results confirm the findings of a similar study from Israel published last year. Across cultures, the research would suggest, male musicians are viewed as promising mating material.” But there’s no such effect for women.
AT AMAZON, 50% Off On Software Downloads.
Also, deals on Groceries.
WASHINGTON POST: ‘I’m not good at math’: The IRS’ public relations disaster.
And from TaxProf, a roundup of coverage on the IRS Tea Party harassment scandal.
BRYAN PRESTON: Benghazi: A Smoking Gun. “What we have wondered over the course of eight months, is whether the US government had the same intelligence that the PJ Tatler had.”
COMPARISON: Tiffany vs. Costco: Which Diamond Ring Is Better?
I wish they’d included the obvious alternative.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Is Your State’s Highest Paid Employee A Coach? “You may have heard that the highest-paid employee in each state is usually the football coach at the largest state school. This is actually a gross mischaracterization: Sometimes it is the basketball coach.” And in New Hampshire, it’s a hockey coach.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Use These Secret NSA Google Search Tips to Become Your Own Spy Agency.
SO WHEN HE WAS NEW IN OFFICE, BARACK OBAMA JOKED ABOUT TAX AUDITS FOR PEOPLE WHO DISPLEASED HIM. Now the IRS has admitted that it targeted conservative and Tea Party groups in 2012.
This won’t exactly be news to InstaPundit readers, but now the story has broken open.
My take: The employees involved should be fired and prosecuted. The affected groups should be compensated for the additional costs they incurred in responding to this illegal harassment, and Congress should take the money out of the IRS’s travel-and-entertainment budget.
More here: “Using the IRS to target political opponents is banana-republic stuff, a clear and intolerable violation of the public trust, not to mention relevant criminal statutes. This is not the sort of offense that should get these IRS workers fired from their jobs — it is the sort of offense that should get them five years in prison.”
Also: Do you think ObamaCare will be administered with any more fairness?
And some history.
UPDATE: They’re from the IRS and they’re here to apologize. An apology is not sufficient.
We need Congressional hearings, and the individuals involved need to explain what happened under oath.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Rick Hasen: “Wow, this is not the way for the IRS to maintain credibility in a very politically sensitive area.”
Some conservative and libertarian groups have long suspected that the Internal Revenue Service has targeted right-leaning non-profits for extra scrutiny, but such allegations were always difficult to prove (and often sounded a bit conspiratorial). Now, however, the head of the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations has admitted her division targeted “tea party” and “patriot” groups — and apologized for it. In addition, the IRS apparently asked some groups for donor lists, even though such requests are usually contrary to IRS policy. (Hat tip: Rick Hasen, whose first comment was ”Wow.”) As they say, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean people aren’t out to get you.
Indeed. We do need hearings. Plus: “With IRS apology/disclosure, will Boehner/Issa know how to react to actual scandal?” Well, Benghazi is a real scandal. But the IRS scandal is a straightforward abuse of power that any voter can understand.
IS STRONG THE NEW SKINNY? I always liked a bit of muscle on a woman, myself.
IN THE MAIL: From Michael Isengerg, Full Asylum.
BILL WHITTLE’S AFTERBURNER: New Coke.
Related: In Data We Trust.
TERRY MCAULIFFE: Hey, now that I think about it, mining coal in Virginia is awesome.
Related: Terry McAuliffe Struggles to Define Himself to Virginia Voters. “At a campaign stop, the Democrat talks about a business he started when he was 14, not his more recent ventures.” Well, the statute of limitations has run on that one. . . .
GOOD NEWS: America the Independent: Oil Production Ready to Overtake Imports.
This is excellent news for the US. Greater domestic production is a boon to the economy, and fewer imports gives us more flexibility when dealing with the world’s petrostates. (But as Gal Luft and Anne Korin wrote for The American Interest last July, to speak of true “energy independence” is folly.)
Even if North America becomes completely oil self-sufficient—a possibility if you count Canada’s oil supplies in the equation as well—the continent will still be vulnerable to international oil price spikes. That’s because oil is a globally-traded commodity, and a very liquid one at that. The US has gone out of its way to break down the barriers to global oil trade over the past few decades to ensure a robust, multipolar supply chain. The result is that the price of oil drilled in the US is tied to the price of oil abroad. That’s partly why gas prices aren’t coming down as domestic production rises. It’s also why we can’t expect to be able to completely write off troubled or troubling oil-rich regions. . . .
Having said all that, this is still news to celebrate. It gives the US more flexibility in its Middle East policies and brings the country a new wave of wealth and jobs. That’s yet another reason to be optimistic about America’s future in this still-young century.
Indeed.
HOW GOVERNMENT WRECKED THE GAS CAN. “I’m pretty alert to such problems these days. Soap doesn’t work. Toilets don’t flush. Clothes washers don’t clean. Light bulbs don’t illuminate. Refrigerators break too soon. Paint discolors. Lawnmowers have to be hacked. It’s all caused by idiotic government regulations that are wrecking our lives one consumer product at a time, all in ways we hardly notice. It’s like the barbarian invasions that wrecked Rome, taking away the gains we’ve made in bettering our lives.”
NATIONAL JOURNAL: Why Benghazi is a Blow to Obama and Clinton. “The administration’s response to the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on U.S. installations in eastern Libya was inaccurate, irresponsible and shrouded by campaign-style spin. It belied President Obama’s oft-broken promise to run a transparent government. If nothing else, Benghazi is a blow to the credibility of the president and his potential successor, then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. This could be big.”
UPDATE: Politico: Report: Terror references removed from Benghazi talking points.
Related: Democrats Actively Working to Undermine Testimony of Benghazi Whistleblower. “NBC’s Lisa Myers said this morning on TV that Democrats have been calling her to attempt to undermine the testimony of Benghazi whistleblower Gregory Hicks.”