Archive for May, 2012

JOHN HINDERAKER: These Aren’t Your Father’s Republicans. “One of the most heartening aspects of the early stages of the presidential race has been the Romney campaign’s aggressiveness. Nothing discourages activists more than getting out front of a candidate who, it later turns out, isn’t willing to do what it takes to win. A number of Republicans of recent years could be said to fit that description, most recently John McCain. But not Mitt Romney.”

ARRESTED FOR BLOWING UP TOILETS IN THE WOODS? Or something. The only part that’s really clear is that the feds are apparently watching Facebook pretty closely.

RAND SIMBERG ON SPACEX: What Does the Success of the Dragon Mean? America Has Returned To Space. “The dreaded ‘gap’ caused by the shuttle retirement didn’t even last a year, thanks to the foresight of the previous administration and the vision of an entrepreneur. Now it’s up to Congress to fully fund the request for commercial crew to enable the rapid development of even safer and competitive systems.”

Give the Obama Administration some credit for not screwing it up, too.

ASIAN-AMERICANS, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, and Fisher v. Texas. “The impact of Texas’ affirmative action policy on Asian-American applicants raises serious questions about what the purpose of affirmative action actually is.”

UPDATE: Reader John Steakley writes: “By now, there should be no question ‘about what the purpose of affirmative action actually is’.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Higher Education’s Online Revolution: The substitution of technology (which is cheap) for labor (which is expensive) can vastly increase access to an elite-caliber education.

At the recent news conference announcing edX, a $60 million Harvard-MIT partnership in online education, university leaders spoke of reaching millions of new students in India, China and around the globe. They talked of the “revolutionary” potential of online learning, hailing it as the “single biggest change in education since the printing press.”

Heady talk indeed, but they are right. The nation, and the world, are in the early stages of a historic transformation in how students learn, teachers teach, and schools and school systems are organized.

If only someone, somewhere, would explain what’s going on in a short, easy-to-read book.

CORRUPT BARGAIN: Drugmakers Vowed to Campaign for ObamaCare, Memos Show.

Drugmakers led by Pfizer (PFE) Inc. agreed to run a “very significant public campaign” bankrolling political support for the 2010 health-care law, including TV ads, while the Obama administration promised to block provisions opposed by drugmakers, documents released by Republicans show.

The internal memos and e-mails for the first time unveil the industry’s plan to finance positive TV ads and supportive groups, along with providing $80 billion in discounts and taxes that were included in the law. The administration has previously denied the existence of a deal involving political support.

Pathetic.

THE TEA PARTY, TAX COMPLIANCE, AND PATRIOTISM. I’d be willing to bet that the tax-fraud rate is lower among Tea Party types than among the general public. And I think that if you want to encourage compliance-via-patriotism, maybe electing a President who doesn’t threaten opponents with IRS audits would be a good place to start.

UPDATE: Reader Arthur Barie writes: “If you want a tax compliant population, try appointing a Secretary of the Treasury who complies with his own taxes.” Hey, ya think?

PREDICTING THE FUTURE? It’s hard enough to predict the present.

YOU KNOW, I THINK I LIKE THE CUT OF THIS ROMNEY FELLOW’S JIB: Heh: Romney Holds Campaign Event Outside Solyndra HQ. “Solyndra is the failed California-based solar technology company that received more than $500 million in federal stimulus money before it went bankrupt last year. It has since become a mantle of Romney’s argument that Obama doesn’t know how to run the economy.”

Romney’s people kept the event secret for fear of Obama-administration interference.

But wait, it gets better: David Axelrod met by loud pro-Romney crowd. “The event was supposed to have been a secret. The campaign did not announce Mr. Axelrod’s appearance in Mr. Romney’s hometown until early Thursday morning, although word of it leaked out on Twitter late Wednesday.”

But wait, it gets better still: “Then the Obama goons tried to bully the Romney supporters. Epic fail. The crowd even chanted ‘Cory Booker’ at Axelrod. Hilarious.”

UPDATE: Video: Famous Chicago political organizer … outorganized? Heh. This isn’t the McCain 2008 campaign.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Byron York: Combative Romney Team Hits Obama Coast to Coast.

“The Obama campaign thought they were going to come into our own turf and launch a dishonest sneak attack on Gov. Romney’s record,” says the Romney aide. “We’re not going to allow that to happen. We are going to hold them accountable every single time.”

Punch back twice as hard.