SO AT THE BOOK PARTY LAST NIGHT, the publisher told us that the Insta-Wife’s book, Men On Strike, is already into a second printing, just two days after its official release date. Yay, Helen!
UPDATE: Going Galt: Why Men Are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood, and the American Dream.
IN THE MAIL: From David Weber, House of Steel: The Honorverse Companion.
TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 43.
THE COUNTRY’S IN THE VERY BEST OF HANDS: Here’s How Edward Snowden Got ‘Top Secret’ Clearance.
LAWYERS FOR UNIVERSITIES not happy with Obama Administration’s sexual harassment push.
THE HILL: Experts: Tough to stick perjury to Holder. “Brand also pointed to another complication: If Republicans did pursue criminal charges against Holder, the Justice Department would be responsible for prosecuting him, which it has declined to do under numerous attorneys general.”
On the other hand, that people are talking about how hard it is to make a perjury charge stick isn’t much of a reflection on his tenure as America’s chief law enforcement officer.
INVESTOR’S BUSINESS DAILY: Brazil’s Woes Are The Wages Of Socialism. “Brazil’s rulers have adopted the poor as their constituency, but have bought off big business and public employees too — creating a web of powerful interests who benefit from its rule. Those on the outside pay for it all.” Fortunately, nothing like that could happen here.
LAW ENFORCEMENT: Is the DC Police Force Hiding Crimes From The Public?
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Why India Is More Like Europe Than China.
While Indians share a strong sense of identity and common destiny, India is a much more complicated place than China. There are many more different languages and different cultures, many different political traditions, and deep divides in religious and political history. In some ways India is less like China—a large relatively homogenous nation state with some minority groups and regional differences—than it is like Europe: a society made up of many different cultures and groups. Many of the differences in politics and political outcomes between India and China have less to do with the difference between democracy and autocracy than between the decision-making process of a nation state and the decision-making processes of a multi-cultural confederation. If India were a communist country like China, its decision making would likely be slower, less effective and more corrupt than China’s. If China were a democracy, its government would likely be more effective than Indian democracy.
Modern India is truly a noble experiment. In some ways it is more audacious even than the European Union—an attempt to use democratic methods to allow people of many different histories and backgrounds to build a common future using democratic methods. India’s success, partial and sometimes disappointing as it is, is a great sign of hope to the whole world that we can perhaps one day live together reasonably well despite our cultural and social differences.
But geopolitical analysts need to keep in mind that the challenges facing both societies are formidable and they are in many respects quite different. We shouldn’t exaggerate their similarities or view them through the same lenses just because they are rapidly developing countries with more than a billion people in them.
True.
IF THE PRESS WERE PUSHING A ZIMMERMAN-VICTIMOLOGY STORY, would they be saying more about how a black/Hispanic male is being tried by a jury of (mostly white) women? Zimmerman, remember, is 1/4 black, making him blacker than Homer Plessy.
MICHAEL BARONE on Detroit’s decline.
NEWS FROM MARS: NASA and Curiosity’s Radiation Results.
MICKEY KAUS: It’s Magic Fig Leaf Day! “Seriously, if the conceptual problem with the Corker/Hoeven approach is that Democrats will start undermining the enforcement parts as soon as the legalization (which happens immediately) takes effect, the actual vision of the amendment’s proponents–an Afghan-style militarization of the border– is so absurd and burdensome that it will practically collapse of its own weight anyway.”
JACOB SULLUM: The New York Times Admits Its Reporting on the Trayvon Martin Case Has Been Fundamentally Wrong.
The Trayvon coverage was all about energizing black/liberal turnout and calling Republicans racist before the 2012 elections.
LEGAL EDUCATION UPDATE: Law Grads’ Jobs Rate Falls for Fifth Straight Year.
K-12 IMPLOSION UPDATE: We’ve already seen that fast-food places are replacing employees with iPads.
And now this: LA To Give Every Student An iPad. Hmm.
AMARTYA SEN: Why India Trails China.
LAVISH: WaPo: NPR’s new headquarters refuels funding debate.
NPR’s gleaming new headquarters building in the shadow of the Capitol in Washington has soaring ceilings, a “wellness” center, an employee gym and a gourmet cafe staffed by a resident chef.
This, as it turns out, could be a political problem. . . . “What does it say to people when [NPR and its affiliated stations] start asking for more money? Do they need a new gym?”
Indeed.
GOING AFTER THE SCIENCE-DENIALISTS ON THE LEFT:
The trouble is, it’s one thing to notice a potential danger and raise a few alarm bells to get scientists to investigate an issue — it’s a whole other to publicize and propagandize an unsubstantiated fear despite evidence against it. The former is important, as Kara suggests, and should occur. I have no problem with non-scientists raising honest concerns, if their goal is to have the concerns considered — so long as they’re actually willing to hear what the evidence has to say. The latter, on the other hand, is denialism. You see, once scientists have weighed in, you have to be willing to listen to them.
When it was first suggested that vaccines might lead to autism, is was a legitimate question to ask. Kids seemed to develop autism around the same age they got their vaccines — and can you imagine if the vaccines were to blame? That would have been huge news! We would have had to revolutionize the vaccine industry, to start from scratch and figure out if we can keep these life-saving shots without screwing up our kids’ brains. One of the core foundations of our children’s public health program would have been forever shaken. So, like they should, independent scientists investigated the concerns. They checked and double checked the safety testing. They ran and re-ran results, but they kept getting the same answer: whatever causes autism, it isn’t vaccines. A cumulative sigh of relief was uttered by doctors, nurses, scientists, parents and children around the world.
Except that some people didn’t listen to the data. . . .
Instead of listening to the evidence, campaign groups conduct unrigorous, unscientific and completely biased studies, dig in their heels, and stand their ground. Just look at the recent anti-GM rat and pig studies which have been thoroughly flayed by scientists that have nothing to gain from the GM industry. The groups that performed and published these “trials” weren’t asking whether GM foods are unsafe; they sought and executed sham research hellbent on proving their beliefs, then denied any conflict of interest. I can’t agree with Kara that such studies deserve equal voice. They don’t.
Every successful system accumulates parasites. That includes science, and do-gooderism.
WHICH IS SAD: DoJ Actions Against News Organizations Not Surprising.
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