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Archive for 2014
May 18, 2014
DUDES, YOU WANTED TO BE A WORLD POWER. THIS IS HOW IT LOOKS. China evacuates thousands of citizens from Vietnam after deadly attacks.
I find it highly ironic that the rioting Vietnamese mobs spared factories flying the American flag.
OUR PARTISAN BUREAUCRACY: Emails Reveal Federal Agency Ignored Conservative Media Inquiries.
A series of emails disclosed this week indicate that officials at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) don’t particularly like conservative reporters and in at least one case told a scientist to lie in order to avoid answering questions.
The Daily Caller discovered this after being subject to one of the federal agency’s “freeze-outs.” The right-wing website was skeptical of a CDC study that purported to show obesity rates in 2- to 5-year-olds dropping by 43 percent, and of subsequent claims that First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign played a role in the decline.
We might as well abolish the civil service. What we’ve got now is a one-directional Spoils System, with tenure.
By my count, the first mention of federal farm subsidies or sugar protectionism doesn’t occur until nearly an hour into the 90-minute film. And it’s around this issue that I think Fed Up’s filmmakers commit their most grievous error—the misguided portrayal of former President Bill Clinton, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-HFCS), and USDA secretary Tom Vilsack as some sort of champions of healthy food. . . .
In 2006, Harkin bragged that “Iowa lead[s] the nation in corn and high fructose corn syrup production.”
So Tom Harkin is a hypocrite. Though that’s hardly unique here in Washington. Secretary Vilsack is equally ghastly when he talks about how he’s tried to rein in the food industry.
In 2011, for example, Matt Yglesias, then at ThinkProgress, wrote of Vilsack’s “unconvincing case for farm subsidies.” . . .
I found the parts of the movie that make the most sense and are most grounded in fact are those that lay blame at the hands of government policies and programs.
“The government is subsidizing the obesity epidemic,” says Michael Pollan partway into the movie.
But for every smart Pollan quote, there are at least a dozen absurd policy prescriptions.
Have you noticed that for every problem, we get the same prescriptions for empowering elites and raising taxes?
And somebody should sue the federal government over the Food Pyramid. Say, wasn’t Hillary Clinton involved in that?
THE HILL: As Hillary White House run looms, questions linger about Bill.
Pushing back against suggestions from Karl Rove that Hillary might have suffered brain damage in a 2012 fall, Clinton came across as fiercely defensive and a little too hot. He also took a detour into the past, invoking the Whitewater controversy as an example of what he saw as a similar politically-motivated and factually-hollow crusade by conservatives.
“I’m still waiting for them to admit that there was nothing to Whitewater,” Clinton said. In fact, 15 people were convicted of crimes relating to Whitewater, including close family friends such as Jim and Susan McDougal.
Clinton also bristled when he was pushed on his economic legacy. Once considered his crowning achievement, his record in that area has become more problematic of late, with some on the left arguing that his ardor for deregulation laid the foundation for the financial crisis.
“He looked at various points to be hesitant, bored, a little petulant,” said Southern Methodist University political science professor Cal Jillson. “I don’t think his presentation was as smooth and engaging as it usually is, which is troublesome.”
Like Hillary, he’s not as young as he used to be.
THE HILL: EPA Rushes To Finish Obama Rules.
Officials at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are racing to churn out new regulations before the clock runs out on President Obama’s term.
White House records show there have been a flurry of meetings in recent weeks between administration officials and outside groups trying to influence the final language of EPA rules under construction.
The activity is evidence that Obama’s push to combat global warming with regulation has entered a critical phase, with officials hammering out the details of rules that carry major implications for the environment and the economy.
More damage to undo in 2017, most likely.
ANGLING TO BE the MasterCard of BitCoin. Interview: “The 31-year-old CEO of Coinbase on his plan to become the world payment processor for the virtual currency. Could this be the end of credit cards?”
DAVID BOAZ on Democrats and their mansions.
I THINK I KNOW THE ANSWER TO THIS ONE: Why Is There Such High Unemployment In Illinois?
A SHOCKING DISCOVERY AT GEORGE MASON LAW SCHOOL: “Believe it or not, students and faculty can survive with only minimal trauma from the presence of a speaker on campus with whom they disagree.”
Well, it is shocking these days.
JUDICIAL WATCH’S LARRY KLAYMAN: A President Hillary Would Make Nixon Look Like A Saint.
May 17, 2014
HEH. Maybe I should post one of these.
ED DRISCOLL: Of Moose And Timesmen.
AN INTIMATE LOOK INSIDE a 1950s Tokyo Bathhouse.
AT AMAZON, Digital Deals.
WELL, THIS IS THE 21ST CENTURY, YOU KNOW: Humans are gradually becoming cyborgs—and that’s a good thing.
Hey, I’m married to a cyborg — and, you know what they say: Once you go metal, you’ll never settle!
THIS IS TRUE: Proper Death Planning Is a Final Gift to Loved Ones.
REMEMBERING OPERATION CHASTISE, the Dambusters Raid.
JOYS OF AGING: When Shingles Is Just The Beginning. “In the six months after a case of shingles, more formally known as herpes zoster, you may face a much higher risk of having a stroke.”
THIS IS KIND OF COOL: A Clever Grill Made With Chain Mail That Folds Into Your Backpack.
CATO PODCAST: Bryan Caplan: Is College Worth It?
IS THERE A CONNECTION BETWEEN solar wind and lightning? “Researchers at the University of Reading in England found that when an especially fast-moving solar wind washed over the Earth, there was a corresponding uptick in the number of lightning storms recorded on the planet.”