IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE MY TALE, OR THINK THIS STORY’S TRUE, GET A BOTTLE OF RUM AND AN ESKATROL AND WATCH THE SAME THING HAPPEN TO YOU: Dual effects noted for alcohol and energy drink co-ingestion. “Although consuming alcohol mixed with energy drinks (AmED) increases alertness and may negate some intoxication-related sedation effects, it can lead to negative physiological and psychological side effects associated with overstimulation.”
Archive for August, 2012
August 30, 2012
ROGER SIMON: Dateline Tampa: It’s Clint! (Is Hollywood Really Conservative??) Watch for the preference cascade. “Hollywood conservatives used to complain that, yeah, Eastwood was one of us but he never really does anything about it. This should end that. Bang. It’s the Hollywood liberals who now should be shivering in their bourgeois fuddy-duddy boots. They’re not the cool guys anymore.”
People are talking about Romney being upstaged by Ryan, and I’m sure they’ll talk about Romney being upstaged by Eastwood. But here’s the thing: Worries about being “upstaged” are for actors. Presidents shouldn’t mind sharing the spotlight, as long as the job gets done.
HUSH MONEY AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT AMONG TOP NEW YORK DEMOCRATS. But not much press coverage, surprisingly. #Waronwomen
UPDATE: A New York reader protests that it’s gotten a lot of coverage in New York. I think, though, that it would have gotten more coverage — maybe not Akin-level, but at least 500 milli-Akins — nationally had it involved Republicans. Because of the narrative, don’t you know? Maybe not.
BILL WHITTLE: AFTERBURNER: The Incredible Shrinking Man.
A VACCINE WOULD BE BETTER, BUT THIS IS GOOD: University of Cape Town Researchers Believe They Have Found a Single Dose Cure for Malaria. “Unlike conventional multidrug malaria treatments that the malaria parasite has become resistant to, Professor Kelly Chibale and his colleagues now believe that they have discovered a drug that over 18 months of trials ‘killed these resistant parasites instantly.’ Animal tests also showed that it was not only safe and effective, but there were no adverse reported side effects. Clinical tests are scheduled for the end of 2013.”
Let’s hope it pans out.
SPOTTED: An Ezra Klein Janesville “Rowback.” Boy, if you can’t count on the “fact-checkers” at national newspapers, who can you count on? Oh, right, Twitchy!
UPDATE: What, we can’t trust Salon, either? When It Comes to ‘Brazen Lies,’ Nobody Excels Joan Walsh.
You know, the Democrats’ media base has served two functions. One, of course, has been to misinform the people who don’t pay much attention. It can still do that, though with reduced efficacy. But the other was to demoralize or intimidate the opposition. That part seems to have pretty much fallen by the wayside.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Chocolate may protect the brain from stroke. Perhaps I’ll have a bit, with tonight’s glass of red wine. You can’t be too careful with your health, you know.
A LAST-DITCH TREATMENT FOR MIGRAINE. The article doesn’t mention it, but many people benefit from Coenzyme Q10, too.
IN THE MAIL: Love’s Winning Plays: A Novel.
ANDREW KLAVAN: MSNBC and The Big Narrative Lie. “MSNBC goofs cut away during every speech made by a minority. They didn’t want anyone to see that men and women of color were a cherished and honored part of the Republican party. That’s not their narrative so, by gum, they weren’t going to show it. Which raises — not a complaint — but a question: What good is a philosophy that can’t withstand even the sight of the simple facts?”
MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Seniors suffer under Obama. Where’s the outcry? “Thank goodness we have a Democrat in the White House. Otherwise, America’s seniors would be facing a serious crisis.”
ROGER KIMBALL ON RYAN’S SPEECH: “I suspect that Joe Biden is felling pretty awful this morning. For that matter, I’d wager Barack Obama has had better nights’ rest. Condi Rice’s speech was bad enough for the the Democrats — it was serious, dignified, eloquent — but Paul Ryan hit it out of the park. They both must have watched Ryan’s speech. They both must have come away with an empty feeling in the pit of the stomach. And poor Joe has to debate Paul Ryan in a little more than a month. I almost feel sorry for him. Almost.”
YEAH, THIS’LL SELL: Vote for Obama, he’s an American Tory!
Related: Blast from the past: Kerry, the right choice for conservatives! What a tool.
ANN ALTHOUSE ON JOAN WALSH AND PARANOIA.
UNEXPECTEDLY: Jobless Claims Remain At One-Month High: “More Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, a sign that progress in the labor market is faltering amid a slowing economy. . . . Jobless claims were little changed at 374,000 in the week ended Aug. 25, matching the upwardly revised figure from the prior week, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. The median forecast of 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News called for 370,000. The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure, climbed to a six-week high.” Expect this week’s numbers to be revised upward later. That seems to happen every time.
LONGEVITY UPDATE: Calorie Restriction Flops In Life Extension For Monkeys. Glad I haven’t been starving myself, then.
THE NEWEST TREND: Kulaks Raising Their Banners High!
A PATHETIC DISPLAY: Fact-checking the factcheckers on Ryan’s speech. “Clearly, the job of ‘fact checker’ in the mainstream media must not involve research skills. Nor does it take much in comprehension, because these supposed fact checks started with a misrepresentation of what Ryan actually said. Here are his actual words, emphasis mine.”
ED MORRISSEY: The Real War against Women—Waged by Democrats.
AT AMAZON, Bestsellers in Movies & TV: The Criterion Collection.
Also, today only, markdowns on PopChips and VitaCoco.
National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius: Five Takes, coauthored with Brannon Denning, is now #2 on SSRN’s Top Downloads list. Thanks to everyone who was interested enough to read it!
WHY PEOPLE DON’T TRUST BIG-MEDIA “FACT-CHECKERS:” Meet MSNBC’s fact-checker: Ezra Klein?!? Update: Klein’s blog falsely claims that Janesville auto plant closed in 2008.
UPDATE: More here.
Also: Janesville: Ryan vs. Obama.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Robert Simmons writes: “As much as it pains me, the closing of the plant did happen under Bush. The decision to close the plant was made in 2008. While I think Obamanomics has been nothing short of disastrous, it’s a stretch to pin that particular point of failure on Barry.” It’s not whether the failure is his fault — it’s that he basically promised to keep it open for 100 years.
MORE: Reader Rick Licari writes:
I wrote about this on a message board a bit earlier, but I think this is a case of the chattering class so busily getting caught up in the details of a speech (when did the plant close?!?) that they’re missing the message…and the fact that Ryan never says the plant closed under Obama.
This is what Ryan said:
“Especially in Janesville where we were about to lose a major factory. A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that G.M. plant. Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said, “I believe that if our government is there to support you, this plant will be here for another 100 years.”
That’s what he said in 2008. Well, as it turned out, that plant didn’t last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day.”
Obama spoke at Janesville in February of 2008, the plant was closed down in December of 2008 (though not shuttered until June 2009).
Three things stand out about this, first, why a private company (the largest in its field, too) needs government support. Second, Ryan is right it did shut down within a year of Obama speaking. Third, GM started requesting aid from the government in 2006 for various reasons, finally getting some cash to hold off their inevitable bankruptcy in December 2008. So, what Ryan is saying isn’t “Obama failed GM at Janesville.” But “it is ludicrous to plan your success around the whims of government, you will get screwed.”
I think they’re just trying to throw out enough chaff to obscure that point.