TOM BLUMER: Nuts to Nutting: Under Obama, Real Spending Has Exploded.
TOM BLUMER: Nuts to Nutting: Under Obama, Real Spending Has Exploded.
BUT YOU CAN TRUST THEM WITH YOUR MEDICAL RECORDS: Federal employee financial information hacked. “According to the FBI, in 2011, a hacker gained access to a computer that held the financial information of 123,201 federal employees who participate in the Thrift Savings retirement program. . . . The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board sent letters on Friday to everyone whose information was in the affected files.” A bit late now, isn’t it?
MARKDOWNS: Father’s Day Gift Ideas in Computers, Office & Software.
Also, today only: Jabra CLIPPER Bluetooth Stereo Headset, $26.99.
FROM BILL WHITTLE: Afterburner: Into The Sea.
SHAMING the Guy Brain.
WELL, GOOD: The Hill: Opposition to Law of the Sea Treaty heats up.
MATT CONTINETTI: Obama Campaign Team’s Prowess Vastly Overrated.
I think Obama’s big problem for 2012 is summed up in this quote from Salena Zito:
Richard Furillo stood with his son Matthew at his son’s workplace; a lifelong Democrat, he voted for Obama in 2008 but won’t again. “I don’t know why I did it but I cannot stand any more ‘change,’” he said, referring to the president’s old campaign slogan.
I don’t know why I did it but I cannot stand any more ‘change’ may turn out to describe a lot of people who voted for Obama in 2008 and aren’t so happy now. At least, that would be my worry if I were on Team Obama.
JOHN HAWKINS INTERVIEWS STACY MCCAIN.
VOTING WITH THEIR WALLETS: With the election of the Socialist François Hollande as president this month, the wealthy in France are suddenly scrambling for places to stash their money for a while. “Well-heeled French citizens are scouring real estate opportunities in neighboring countries like Britain and Switzerland. The United States — particularly New York and Miami — is also drawing French investors looking to pick up rental properties or pieds-à-terre, brokers say. In recent months, as Mr. Hollande’s victory appeared more possible, the French stepped up their house-hunting visits to New York, several brokers said.”
Fine for them, but where do we go?
WHY ARE THE BEST COMPETITIVE EATERS SO SKINNY? Mostly so they don’t die.
Meanwhile, great book title: Horsemen of the Esophagus: Competitive Eating and the Big Fat American Dream. As I recall, the book isn’t as good as the title.
HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA? (CONT’D): Number of high-school students with jobs hits 20-year low. “Sectors that traditionally have offered teens their first paying gig — fast-food chains, movie theaters, malls and big-box retailers — have now become the last resorts for out-of-work college graduates or older Americans forced back into the labor force out of sheer financial necessity. The resulting squeeze has left students on the outside looking in. . . . Some may interpret the NCES numbers as a sign that today’s generation of young people simply has grown lazier, but analysts say that’s not necessarily the case. It’s their opportunity to work, not their desire, that has fallen off a cliff.”
JIM TREACHER: Why does Donald Trump keep saying Obama was born in Kenya, when even Obama has stopped claiming that?
JAY COST: How Patronage Ruined The Democratic Party.
An extract from his new book, Spoiled Rotten: How the Politics of Patronage Corrupted the Once Noble Democratic Party and Now Threatens the American Republic.
ANSWER: CHOOM. Question: What’s the sound of David Axelrod’s weekend getting ruined?
JOHN HAYWARD: Romney, Obama, and the 2012 preference cascade: You are not alone.
POINTING OUT BULLSHIT FROM MARKOS MOULITSAS. I remember when he sort of mattered. But it’s not surprising that he resurfaces to defend Brett Kimberlin.
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PATRICK RICHARDSON: Self-Sufficiency: Preparing For Severe Weather Season.
WHO’S MEGHAN MCCAIN? OH, RIGHT. GOProud slams Meghan McCain for calling Breitbart ‘extremist.’ “She went on a liberal network with a liberal host and demonized Andrew Breitbart. During his life, Andrew Breitbart did more for gay people, and showed more political courage on behalf of gay people, than Meghan McCain could ever dream of.”
I’m glad they did, although I can’t imagine anybody much cares what Meghan McCain thinks about anything.
AT AMAZON, Warehouse Deals in Lawn & Garden.
ANN ALTHOUSE IS Live-blogging the Scott Walker/Tom Barrett Wisconsin recall debate.
UPDATE: Bottom line: “There was a glaring question that was never asked, which was what would Barrett do to solve the state’s budget problems. He’s never been specific, and he totally got away with it (unless the home viewers noticed it on their own).”
SMALLEST ARTIFICIAL HEART keeps baby alive.
JIM TREACHER: Jon Stewart, 2000: “I think I would say I’m more of a socialist.” Funny how in the Age Of Obama that’s become a dirty word.
MEMORIAL DAY: Take the Memorial Day Challenge and Watch “Honor Flight” Trailer!
IN THE PAST I’VE PRAISED BARKEEPER’S FRIEND and the other night I used it to clean out an All-Clad pan that had some nasty burned-on stuff and in 30 seconds it was like-new. It’s good for rejuvenating stoneware with knifemarks, too.
Just more of my rampant hypermasculinity.
STEPHEN L. CARTER: Hey, don’t blame faculty lounges for Obama. “If you think President Obama has bad ideas, say so. If you want to criticize his record, go ahead. All of that is politics as usual. Please don’t drag the faculty lounge into it.”
HEH: Did Salon Just Call Someone Else “Middlebrow?”
Middlebrow is essentially a derogatory label for the aspirational middle class. Who do you people think you are, learning shit on your own, watching TED videos and skimming Wikipedia on your lunch break?
Don’t you know there’s only one acceptable way to learn things? If it didn’t cost you $40K in student loan debt then it’s not real learning. You honestly think the average undergrad survey course is deeper than a TED talk?
Just shut up and pay your taxes. And read Salon, of course.
Did I really just see Salon Magazine call somebody else “middlebrow?” Let he who is without a trash can full of Starbucks cups cast the first stone.
Heh.
21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: My Boyfriend Isn’t Ready to Be My Daughter’s Dad.
TERROR IN THE TIDES: Ezra Levant interviews Matt Vadum about Brett Kimberlin.
UPDATE: Kimberlin Funders Stunned to Discover They Fund Kimberlin.
SHOCKINGLY, THIS CUNNING PLAN FAILED: Man ties himself to tree, puts on a blindfold, exposes genitals and waits for some anonymous sex.
I MENTIONED PINZGAUERS BELOW, and here’s a sighting.
POLIWOOD: “The Dictator”: Left Wing American Humor or Subtle Jab at Liberalism? And note that Rotten Tomatoes is now part of Poliwood.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Educational Quality: The Next Great Frontier? What a concept!
As I say, the problem with higher education isn’t a shortage of money, but a shortage of value.
BOB OWENS: Three Key Fast And Furious Questions Still Unanswered.
AT ABOVE THE LAW, A LAW SCHOOL SUCCESS STORY FROM A UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE ALUMN.
I mentioned before that Brian Tamanaha’s new book mentions Tennessee as one of the law schools that still offer decent value. Nice to see more evidence of that.
EUGENE VOLOKH: Rape Conviction Overturned When Supposed Victim Recanted — What About the Civil Damages Award?
ROGER SIMON: Liberalism as an ideology is in its death throes. Only the power trip remains. The power trip is the sturdiest part of any movement . . . .
RACHEL METZ: My So-Called Quantified Life. “After tracking my walking, biking, drinking, and stress levels for weeks, I’ve learned I’m more a creature of habit than I thought.”
SPACEX’S DRAGON CRAFT hooks up with space station.
RACHAEL LARIMORE ON THE TREATMENT OF NIKKI HALEY AND S.E. CUPP: The Left Is Just Fine With Misogyny, As Long As It’s Against Conservative Women.
THINGS TO DO THIS SUMMER: Take a Class on How to Design a Space Hotel.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: A 41-minute video about why the Fisker Karma infotainment system gets an F.
BARRY RUBIN: Muslim Brotherhood Claims Victory in Egypt Presidential Election.
IN THE MAIL: From Frank Wheeler Jr., The Wowzer.
WELL, WHO NEEDS JOBS ANYWAY? Bridget Johnson: Uncertainty, Lost Jobs in a Gulf Eager to Get Back to Drilling.
JEREMY LOTT IS BLOGGING AGAIN.
MICKEY KAUS: “What are the odds that the ‘Lucy’ interviewed by NPR as a Latino woman-on-the street disaffected because Romney hasn’t endorsed the DREAM Act isn’t the same ‘Lucy’ who disrupted Romney’s speech? . . . The NPR reporter gives no indication that ‘Lucy’ is a protester as opposed to a random woman encountered on the sidewalk outside the speech.”
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Students Don’t Need Cheaper Loans, They Need Better Educations.
APPOINTMENTS: Macfarlane is not qualified to be Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “Dr. Macfarlane is a college professor, an author and an activist. Nothing I have read about Dr. Macfarlane indicates that she has ever managed anyone, but the President has nominated her to be the executive decision maker for a federal agency with a budget of nearly $1 billion, a staff of more than 4,000 highly trained professionals and regulatory authority over an industry with a current annual output that is worth more than $100 billion. The Nuclear Regulatory Agency does not just regulate nuclear power plants; it is also responsible for regulating uranium and thorium mining, a substantial portion of nuclear medicine, and use of radioactive sources in a wide variety of industries.” Well, to be fair, the President was a professor (well, lecturer), author and activist, and he’s managing a much larger enterprise.
MICHAEL MCCONNELL ON “The Liberal Legal Meltdown Over ObamaCare.” People are certainly nervous.
NAH, THAT WOULD SPOIL ALL THE FUN: Byron York: Obama, Rubio birthers should read the law.
IT WAS “BOTCHED” LIKE FAST AND FURIOUS WAS “BOTCHED:” Report rips DOJ attorneys in botched Stevens’ case. “Two Department of Justice prosecutors have been suspended without pay and a Senate Democrat has scheduled a committee hearing following the release Thursday of a DOJ report that detailed the government’s misconduct in its botched case against former Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).”
AT AMAZON, 10% off on select Bose electronics.
Also, today only: Philips O’Neill Over-Ear Headphones, $29.99.
GUARD THAT OLD SOLVENCY! Unheeded advice for America, from the cast of Gilligan’s Island.
And by unheeded, I mean really unheeded.
IN THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER: Mark Tapscott on Brett Kimberlin: How To Kill The First Amendment.
Of course, the more they lash out at bloggers, the more people remind the world of stories like this one.
UPDATE: And this one, from Patterico.
ANOTHER UPDATE: The Tatler: Brett Kimberlin’s Day In The Sun.
Also, the National Bloggers’ Club is organizing donations to help victims.
PROF. JOSEPH CAMPBELL: Four weeks on: No answer from WaPo about empty links to Jessica Lynch stories.
Why is some of the Post’s content about the Iraq War — and Jessica Lynch — freely available online while the more embarrassing material shows up as empty links?
Is this a matter of digital scrubbing, akin to Vogue magazine’s excising of a flattering profile of the wife of the Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Asad? The Post last month described the Vogue matter as “an almost-unheard-of step for a mainstream media organization.”
Periodically over the past four weeks, I’ve asked the Post’s ombudsman, Patrick Pexton, about the digitally unavailable versions of the newspaper’s reports about Lynch.
Pexton has promised to look into my questions.
But four weeks on, he has yet to offer a substantive reply.
That’s just embarrassing.
LEGAL EDUCATION UPDATE: Cleveland-Marshall Law School Cuts Incoming Class by 30%.
WELL, YEAH: Joe The Plumber Calls Biden “Asinine.” “It was insulting … for Joe Biden to sit there and say who can be president and who not, who’s qualified and who isn’t, is just asinine, especially with the track record they left behind them.” What they’ve left behind isn’t just a “track record.”. . .
THE ULTIMATE DARK-HORSE CANDIDATE: James Taranto: Nobody is challenging Obama in the primaries–and doing surprisingly well. “We now have seen Obama held under 60% by a slate of three candidates–antiabortion extremist Randall Terry, federal prison inmate Keith Judd and Tennessee lawyer John Wolfe–not to mention Nobody. . . . And while lefty pols and pundits may take some comfort in attacking these Democratic voters as ‘racist,’ that doesn’t seem a promising way of persuading them to vote for Obama–or to return to the party in future elections.”
HMM: China Muscles Australia Over Defense And Trade.
If there were ever any doubts about China’s aggressive military intentions in the Pacific, its warning to Australia last week to choose itself a U.S. or Chinese “godfather” ought to remove all of them.
In what can only be construed as a direct threat to a top U.S. ally, Song Xiaojun, a “retired” Chinese general, told the Sydney Morning Herald that “Australia has to find a godfather sooner or later.”
“Australia always has to depend on somebody else, whether it is to be the ‘son’ of the U.S. or ‘son’ of China,” Song said, adding that Australia had best choose China because it all “depends on who is more powerful and based on the strategic environment.”
Maybe we should give Australia nukes.
TO GET GROWTH, SHRINK THE GOVERNMENT: The Best Stimulus Is A Smaller State.
WE USED TO CLAIM CREDIT FOR BUILDING THINGS, NOW WE TALK ABOUT RECORDS FOR KNOCKING THEM DOWN: Tallest structure ever demolished: federal nuke officials claim world record. “A 1,527-foot tower, once used for studies associated with nuclear weapons testing, was demolished this week at the Nevada National Security Site (previously known as the Nevada Test Site), establishing a world record, according to info released by the federal government. The National Nuclear Security Administration said the tower — known as the BREN (Bare Reactor Experiment-Nevada) tower — was taller than the Empire State Building. The aged structure (built in 1962) was torn down in a carefully staged event because of safety concerns for workers in the vicinity and risk to aircraft flying in the area.”
AN OPEN LETTER TO GRADUATES: Seven Wrong Ways To Decide Your Life’s Career.
PRIORITIES: Orlando’s Taxpayer-funded Gun Control Czar Is Protected From Budget Cuts.
MICHAEL BARONE: Cocooned Liberals Unprepared For Political Debate. “Cocooning has an asymmetrical effect on liberals and conservatives. Even in a cocoon, conservatives cannot avoid liberal mainstream media, liberal Hollywood entertainment and, these days, the liberal Obama administration. They’re made uncomfortably aware of the arguments of those on the other side. Which gives them an advantage in fashioning their own responses.”
MISINFORMATION: Propaganda firm owner admits attacks on journalists. “The co-owner of a major Pentagon propaganda contractor publicly admitted Thursday that he was behind a series of websites used to discredit two USA TODAY journalists who had reported on the contractor.”
TRUE TO TYPE: Marion Barry commits new gaffe while apologizing to Asians.
IT WAS SMART TO SEND THEM PACKING: Obama’s America: EPA Officials Visit Man For Sending Email. “Keller asked the agents for business cards that they had previously promised him and they were miraculously out of business cards. The two agents, who had driven four hours from Raleigh, North Carolina for this encounter with Mr. Keller, left via the back staircase as quickly as they had appeared without supplying Larry Keller with their contact information.”
THIS DOESN’T BESPEAK CONFIDENCE: Wow!… Obama Campaign Holds Protest Outside Romney Stop in Philly.
IT’S LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF ATLAS SHRUGGED: Half of Detroit’s Streetlights May Go Out as City Shrinks. Key quote: “You have to identify those neighborhoods where you want to concentrate your population.”
Or maybe this: “Brown said, the city will fix broken streetlights in certain places even as it discontinues such services as street and sidewalk repairs in ‘distressed’ areas — those with a high degree of blight and little or no commercial activity.” Forget Ayn Rand, this sounds like the “Abandoned Areas” in Robert Heinlein’s I Will Fear No Evil.
NEWEST CAMPAIGN STRATEGY: Pitching Barack Obama As A Fiscal Conservative.
WELL, THAT’S DISAPPOINTING: Amazon.com gives in to Color of Change drops ALEC.
UPDATE: “A dangerous precedent.” I think the only way to remedy this is to go after lefty groups’ corporate support. Mutual Assured Destruction might bring peace. And if not, well, more lefty groups get corporate support anyway.
ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader emails:
I used to work for ALEC a few years ago and I represent my organization on one of their task forces and have for the past 5 years. I’m not sure if it’s worth pointing out because it looks like such a big deal when big companies like Amazon, Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Intuit pull their membership… but that’s all it really is. Membership money. They’ll no longer be on the roster of whichever task force they’re member of, if they even pay the few extra bucks for that added benefit.
Each company represents somewhere between $5,000-$10,000. Not a small amount of money, I admit, but its not the financial hit that the left wing is painting it as. The Gate Foundation was a big hit but they’ve already committed their money for 2012.
Either way, you can bet on the fact that those of us working for loyal, free market and individual liberty loving organizations/companies/associations are stepping up our financial backing so they can get through this mess.
Well, good.
GUESS WHAT’S BIG ON GOOGLE TRENDS: “The volume of searches for the phrase ‘Bank Run’ has just hit an all-time high – higher now than even during the peak of the Lehman Brothers ‘moment’.”
A CALL FOR client-centered law schools.
REMEMBER WHEN THEY USED TO SAY THAT WOMEN DIDN’T LIE ABOUT RAPE? “Former high school football standout exonerated in rape case.” “According to court papers, she admitted to him she lied but later refused to tell prosecutors the same thing lest she have to give back the $1.5 million she and her family won in a civil suit against Long Beach schools.”
IN RESPONSE TO MANY READER QUESTIONS: Yes, there will be a Kindle version of my The Higher Education Bubble. There will also be an iBook version. I just tested out the Kindle version today using the Kindle App on my iPad — it looked great, and the included videos played fine. I’ll post a link when it’s on Amazon.
BRYAN PRESTON: Why I Voted For Ted Cruz In The Texas Primary.
HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Another college in trouble. More here.
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POLL: Oh my: Walker 54, Barrett 42 in Wisconsin. Don’t get cocky, kid.
ARE TARIFF EXEMPTIONS THE NEW EARMARKS? Selling favors is what politicians do. The more power they have, the more favors they can sell.
LEGAL EDUCATION UPDATE: Rutgers-Camden Dean Doubles Down on Questionable Marketing Pitch to Prospective Law Students.
DEBUNKING THE DETROIT FREE PRESS’S ANTI-GUN TWADDLE:
“More People Die from Guns Than Car Accidents in Michigan.”
So states a Detroit Free Press op-ed headline. . . . But wait: The number of accidental gun deaths in Michigan in 2009 (the most recent year reported in WISQARS) was … 12, compared to 962 accidental motor-vehicle-related deaths. 99% of the gun deaths in Michigan that year consisted of suicides (575) and homicides (495).
Now say what you will about whether some gun control laws might reduce suicides or homicides, but it’s extremely unlikely that any “safety-related changes” or “regulat[ions] … for health and safety” are going to eliminate all but a tiny fraction of those suicides and homicides, which are overwhelmingly intentional acts by people who are willing to kill and are unlikely to be stopped by “regulat[ion] by the federal government for health and safety.” Yet curiously the op-ed says nothing about how few of the gun deaths were accidental, and how few homicides or suicides could be prevented by “safety-related changes” along the lines of the safety regulations imposed on cars.
This also helps explain, I think, why gun rights supporters are so worried about “health and safety” proposals. Precisely because such proposals are so unlikely to have much of an effect, the gun rights supporters naturally assume that the backers of the proposals aren’t really after modest car-like “regulat[ions] … for health and safety,” but are actually trying to bring about much more aggressive sorts of gun restrictions.
Indeed. Especially when such proposals are advanced so dishonestly.
SUSANNAH BRESLIN: Three Ways Women Undermine Themselves At Work.
CYBERWAR: U.S. hacks Web sites of al-Qaeda affiliate in Yemen.
YEAH, THIS’LL HELP: Police urge Greeks to keep money in bank.
STACY MCCAIN IS glorying in Herman Cain’s support.
REALLY? REALLY? NJ Democrat Arrested For Hacking Recall Website. “A New Jersey mayor and his son were arrested Thursday by the FBI for allegedly hacking into an email account and website tied to a recall effort — and then intimidating those associated with the site.” There seems to be a lot of this kind of behavior going around. It doesn’t bespeak confidence.
RULES ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: Caught Violating Weekend Copter Ban, Bloomberg Will Alter Flight Plans. “An amateur video, filmed by an annoyed Manhattanite and broadcast Tuesday on WABC-TV, showed the mayor landing and taking off several times over the weekend from the East 34th Street helipad, where trips on Saturday and Sunday have been expressly banned for more than a decade.”
Kueber argues that midcentury modest homes have a lot going for them — high-quality materials, excellent craftsmanship and attractive appearances. She even loves what she calls the “’57 Chevy colors” that were common in bathrooms of the era, which she sees as cheerful.
Kueber said she’s found a following among younger homeowners, as well as middle-age people who feel nostalgic about the era. The popularity of the ’60s TV series “Mad Men” hasn’t hurt, either. Because of it, “midcentury modern has penetrated the mainstream in a big way,” she said.
That’s restoration, not renovation.
ONE EUROBOND to Rule Them All?
STUDY: Calcium Supplements May Increase Risk of Heart Attacks.
HERO, ZERO, WHATEVER: Reason “Hero of Freedom” Larry Flynt’s Latest Stunt? Photoshopping a Penis into Mouth of Conservative Pundit S.E. Cupp.
WELL, IT TAKES A LOT MORE GREEN TO BUY: New Porsche Hybrid Claims To Be Greener Than A Prius.