Archive for 2012

SCOTT JOHNSON: “Anyone who spends time looking at crime statistics will discover the basics of race and crime before too long, but you better be careful not to talk about them in polite society. They are protected by a taboo even stronger than the Victorian taboo against public discussions of sex, but with good reason. The facts are painful. No one can take joy in publicizing them. . . . If race hustlers like Al Sharpton really had the interests of the black community at heart, they would devote themselves to doing everything in their power to have violent black criminals separated from the community of law-abiding black citizens.”

TEN YEARS AGO ON INSTAPUNDIT: “One conceit among Eurocrats has been that although the United States may carry the ball militarily, it’s the Europeans who do the dirty, behind-the-scenes work of promoting international human rights through diplomacy. But in fact what’s been demonstrated is that the same qualities of indiscipline that have made the Europeans unimportant in military affairs have carried over into the diplomatic sphere, too.”

HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): $270 Billion In Student Loans Are At Least 30 Days Delinquent.

UPDATE: Reader Jim Mullis writes:

The parallels between this and the housing crisis 4 years ago are too significant to ignore. Consider this thought experiment. The Student Loan Bubble comes to a crisis point, with or without a Black Swan Event. This happens just before the November election, making it a really big October Surprise. Which political party is better positioned to capitalize on this crisis? Which political Party can count on the narrative being shaped to its liking by major media? If promises of major government “help” or loan forgiveness are made by this political party, how do you suppose those several million student borrowers and their families are likely to vote?

And to take this a bit further, how likely is there to be a groundswell of support for “free” higher education as a result of all this? Any politician who opposes the above does so at his own risk.

Hmm.

DOES THIS MEAN THE PRESS ACTED STUPIDLY? Black friend defends shooter of Florida teen. “George Zimmerman is not a racist and cried for days after shooting dead a black Florida teenager, a black, longtime friend of Zimmerman said on Sunday in a sympathetic portrayal of a man maligned by critics as a trigger-happy bigot. Zimmerman, 28, a white Hispanic, shot Trayvon Martin, 17, in what he said was self defense during an altercation in the gated community Zimmerman was watching on February 26 in Sanford, Florida. After attracting little notice initially, the case gained widespread attention, sparking protests and renewing a national debate about race.”

Actually, it’s a national debate about press irresponsibility and political dishonesty. And the more information that comes out, the less there seems to be to debate.

Plus this:

“All these people who are threatening George, what makes them any better than the person they think he is?” Oliver said. “You’ve got all these people wanting to lynch the man and they don’t know the whole story. There are huge gaps that are being filled in and interpreted without evidence.”

Yep. The “have you no decency” crowd is once again demonstrating its utter lack of decency.

UPDATE: Blog comment of the day: “Remember Obama saying about Major Hasan [how] we shouldn’t jump to judgement?”

ANOTHER UPDATE: Ouch.

MORE: Reader John Oglesby writes: “Zimmerman is a ‘White Hispanic’? t seems they’ll use whatever fits their narrative. If a Caucasian man had shot a hooded Zimmerman, there’s no way they’d be calling him a White Hispanic.” No, then he’d be a Latino, full-stop.

JENNY ERIKSON: The Violence Against Women Act Should Help Broads, Not Frauds. “Republicans trying to stall VAWA are bound to come off looking like jerks. Why do you hate womyn, Mitch McConnell? Why won’t you help these poor battered ladies escape their abusers, Chuck Grassley? What is wrong with you guys? There’s nothing wrong with Republican Senators that don’t support VAWA, there’s something wrong with the legislation. Originally passed in 1994, the act has had bipartisan support through two 6-year reauthorizations, but this time around it contains new provisions and fails to protect against potential fraud and abuse.”

Why is violence against women worse than violence against men?

PROF. JACOBSON: Spike Lee didn’t “Do the right thing.” Nope. He tried to help incite a lynching.

UPDATE: From the comments: “All that ‘anti-bullying’ cr@p down the proverbial toilet.”

HOW TO DECLARE WAR, as of 1429 A.D.

ANTHONY RANDAZZO: No, This Is Not A Housing Recovery. “The numbers are just not adding up to recovery.”

UPDATE: Reader Stephen Johnson writes: “Just got back from a weekend on the Northern Oregon Coast. The number of ‘Home For Sale’ signs was shocking. Homes on the Oregon coast are primarily either 2nd homes or vacation rentals, and I would guess more than half had signs in their yards.”

NGOs AND NEOCOLONIALISM:

When Mrs. Goldblog and I were living in Liberia, one of the best jobs to be found in Monrovia for actual Liberians was at a makeshift car-washing center near UN headquarters, where, every day, dozens of brilliant-white SUVs — Toyota Landcruisers, mainly – belonging to the dozens of NGOs in town were scrubbed clean of mud. It was a bizarre thing to see, these $50,000 vehicles belonging to “non-profits,” flyspecked by Liberians the NGOs were ostensibly there to help.

Taking up the white car’s burden.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE Burying Our Future Under A Mountain of Debt: The Real Meaning of $1 Trillion in Student Loans.

The CFPB is currently trying to estimate the size of the private student loan market. It’s breadth, and its current rate of growth, will tell us just how onerous America’s education debt load has become. Federal student loans come with certain protections, such as low interest rates and income-based repayment plans that can cushion the impact on a borrower’s finances. Private loans don’t have that. If a college freshman naively takes out too much money from a bank, they’re stuck paying on the bank’s terms. Between 1999-2000 and 2007-2008, private borrowing grew fourfold, from $4.5 billion to $21.8 billion. One study found that one third of the class of 2008 graduated with such debt, averaging $12,800 each. The CFPB says it will have a more complete picture by this summer, but if private borrowing has continued on its dramatic upswing, it will spell more trouble ahead. Certainly, we should expect more delinquencies and defaults.**

In any event, all signs point to this situation getting worse before it gets better.

Yep.

CATS AND DOGS LIVING TOGETHER: Tom Friedman praises Victor Davis Hanson for a “brutally clear-eyed piece in The National Review, looking back at America’s different approaches to Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria, Egypt, Pakistan and Afghanistan and how, sadly, none of them could be said to have worked yet.”

Well, nobody’s tried the Ann Coulter plan. But hey, if we’ve reached the point of Friedman praising Hanson, anything’s possible. And if Obama does it, he can count on plenty of support from the media . . . .