Archive for 2013
August 7, 2013
THE LAW REVIEW SELECTION PROCESS, as experienced by Mark Tushnet and Brannon Denning.
IN THE MAIL: From John Lumpkin, The Desert of Stars (The Human Reach).
THREE MONTHS IN: TaxProf Roundup: The IRS Scandal, Day 90. Thanks again to Paul Caron, who probably didn’t realize when he started doing these that he’d still be doing it months later — with no end in sight.
WAG THE DOG? Obama’s Unprecedented Embassy Closings Smell Fishy. “For one thing, if we’re on the eve of a possible ‘9/11 junior,’ what on earth is the president of the U.S. doing going on the Tonight Show for the umpteenth time?”
Related: McClatchy: Broad U.S. terror alert mystifies experts; ‘It’s crazy pants,’ one says.”
UPDATE: Second link was bad before. Fixed now. Sorry!
CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: GreenTech courted Obama’s Solyndra aide.
I WONDER IF THESE GREENS ARE GETTING MONEY FROM PUTIN OR THE SAUDIS? Britain’s Fracking Fracas.
Much of the backlash against fracking is divorced from fact and based on emotional responses to fossil fuel extraction that don’t account for shale’s proven green credentials. Cameron’s government is wary of being caught up in this backlash. While No. 10 released a statement yesterday praising the “exciting potential” of shale gas, it was careful to note that shale gas should only be extracted if there is “no risk” to the environment.
If that’s the standard, Britain’s 1,300 trillion cubic feet of shale gas will continue to stay locked in its rock coffin indefinitely. Any kind of drilling entails risks. For that matter, every energy source carries risks, including renewables. Just ask Germany, which is finding out the hard way how risky its bet on nascent green technologies was. The idea is to minimize risks, not eliminate them. . . .
The stand-off in Balcombe could be a watershed moment for Britain’s shale gas industry. The British government shouldn’t ignore the wishes of the locals, who will have to live with the changes these wells will bring. But for the UK to sit on its hands, perhaps even indefinitely, as the FT seems to be calling for, might also be a mistake. There are strong incentives to get that gas out of the ground: cheaper energy for households and British industry, greater energy security, and half the carbon emissions that coal-burning produces. But it has to be done right. Find a more remote site, drill the wells properly, allow their cement casings to set, and find out how much gas really is down there.
I suppose we can always sell them some gas, unless the greens figure out a way to screw things up here, too.
HOW’S THAT “SMART DIPLOMACY” RESET THINGY WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Obama cancels meetings with Putin amid tensions.
LIFE AMONG THE “LESS PRIVILEGED:” “A Cadillac-driving OUI suspect — charged with running a Boston Globe delivery truck off Interstate 93 and onto the Leverett Connector — was carrying three EBT cards, mocked a cop ‘for paying for food when she gets it for free’ and threatened to put a voodoo curse on him, according to a police report.”
AT AMAZON, Warehouse Deals in Sporting Goods.
Also, today only: Save up to 70% on “Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series.”
HEY, IT’S NOT FAIR TO CALL US HATEMONGERS JUST BECAUSE WE MONGER HATE: SPLC Creep Defends ‘Hate Map’ Used By Family Research Council Attacker.
OBAMA IS BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER: FireDogLake calls out Kos: “Markos Moulitsas’ Ugly, Reverse-Racist Smear.” “Please, Mr. Moulitsas, tell us, what is the proper, non-privileged, multi-cultural view of the ‘privacy issue’? Is it one that stays within the confines of what’s allowed by the Democratic Party? Is it one that is relevant to the war on women, or voting rights, or immigration, but ignores the collapse of the rule of law and the justice system (which is far from a ‘white privileged’ issue)?”
MICHAEL WALSH: The WaPo Fire Sale. “One has to read in full the Times’s puff piece by Sheryl Gay Stolberg on one of the members of its exclusive club of family-money and bien-pensant progressivism — really rich folks, down for the struggle! — to get a sense of just how out of touch with reality these people are. They’re like the effete late–Roman Empire poets, impotent capons peeling grapes and arguing the nuances of internal rhyme as the big ugly Germans come crashing through the gates, barely bothering to look up as Alaric’s axe meets their heads.”
COLOR ME SKEPTICAL: Obama tells Leno: ‘We don’t have a domestic spying program.’
MICKEY KAUS: I Want Obamacare but You Go First. “In short, if Obamacare can’t work for those consumers like me who are stupidly paying through the nose, then what’s it good for? . . . Applying Kausfiles’ First Rule of Journalism – ‘Always generalize wildly from your own personal experience’ – leads me to wonder how many people like me there are, and whether we might pose a problem for Obama’s attempts to sign up enough healthy people to save the exchanges from an adverse selection death spiral. My guess is yes …”
This assumes, of course, that ObamaCare isn’t designed to fail.
WAIT, THEY FOUND ANOTHER GUY WITH A YOUTUBE VIDEO? Report: US files charges against Benghazi attacker.
JAMES TARANTO: Wetlands Protection: The Labor Department weighs in on workplace crying.
Imagine a profile of one of Abramson’s predecessors, Howell Raines, who like Abramson was the target of vicious criticism within the Times newsroom (and who was ousted after the Jayson Blair scandal).
Imagine Raines confessing, during the course of a generally sympathetic profile, that this was his reaction to previous backbiting: “I cried.” Does anyone really think that would yield less chatter than the Abramson quote?
To be sure, there is one thing it would not produce: a blog post from the acting director of the Labor Department Men’s Bureau. Believe it or not, there is no such office.
That is an outrageous injustice that cries out for redress. There are only two possible remedies. This column favors the fiscally responsible solution: abolishing the Women’s Bureau. The alternative would at least double our supply of comic material, but everyone has to make sacrifices.
Heh.
HOUSING: Obama plan: Rehab vacant lots; wind down Fannie and Freddie.
“Let’s put construction workers back to work repairing rundown homes and tearing down vacant properties,” Obama said in prepared remarks in Phoenix.
The speech was the latest effort by the president to align himself with middle-class economic interests ahead of pitched battles this fall with congressional Republicans over funding the government and raising the debt ceiling.
Will the feminists complain — again — about too many jobs for burly men?
PEGGY NOONAN: Why Chris Christie’s Anti-Libertarian Tirade Is Wrong. “To call growing concerns about the size, depth, history, ways and operations of our now-huge national-security operation “esoteric” or merely abstract is, simply, absurd. Our federal government is involved in massive data collection that apparently includes a database of almost every phone call made in the U.S. The adequacy of oversight for this system is at best unclear. The courts involved are shadowed in secrecy and controversy. Is it really wrong or foolhardy or unacceptably thoughtful to wonder if the surveillance apparatus is excessive, or will be abused, or will erode, or perhaps in time end, any expectation of communications privacy held by honest citizens? It is not.”
“NON-PARTISAN:” Politico: Organizing for Action pitches help for Democrats.
MONITORING SCHEMES FOR REWARDING GOOD DRIVERS: “There is a privacy concern, since government agencies may find ways to obtain the records for their own purposes. So it would be a good thing for state legislatures to pass laws assuring that the records are off-limits to law enforcement without a warrant.” Yeah. And how much do I trust, say, Progressive Insurance with my data?
WAIT, I THOUGHT THE WAR ON TERROR WAS OVER: National Journal: Al-Qaida’s Won This Round–So Far. “If the terror group’s objective was to sow fear and disrupt U.S. operations, then its threat is already a success. It may be the price the country has to pay for increased security.”