Heckuva job

TIMELINE: Obama golfs while Gulf burns

The lessons of Katrina apparently were entirely lost on our current president. Obysmal is either getting some spectacularly bad advice or he's too arrogant to listen to good advice. His golf clubs are about to become emblematic of his administration, as famous as Nero's fiddle. Every Dem who tries to run on Obama's coattails will be flogged deep into the rough with an Obama-signature seven iron.

The generic GOP ad writes itself: We see a golf course where the pin flags name various administration trainwrecks ("crushing deficits," "healthcare debacle," "tax increases," "high unemployment," etc.). Obie is seen striding confidently, head held high and clueless, toward the next, unnamed, disaster. Struggling and sweating along behind him is the Dem candidate as his caddy, hauling Obie's golf bag, labeled "Made in China." The caption possibilities are legion.

Byron

Incoherent column

Noonan supported Obama, for some reason, now has buyer's remorse. But the supposition in her title was wrong from the start. There was never any basis whatever for supposing that Obama would be a competent president, none at all. He was, and is proving himself to be, utterly unqualified for the presidency. His experience base was not sufficient to qualify him to be governor of Illinois, or mayor of Chicago. That he became President of the United States was a most unfortunate accident of history and electoral politics.

The possibility that power could fall into the hands of a personally attractive, silver-tongued, self-appointed savior is precisely what critics of popular democracy always worried about and warned against. It's what 'demagogue' means. Given his agenda, does Noonan really wish that Obama were more competent? As far as I can see, the best hope the country has is Obama's incompetence. Speaking just for myself, what I hope for over the next 3+ years is a neutered Obama and a gridlocked Congress, with effective power flowing back toward states, localities, and individuals as a result.

Byron

Calderon speech, oil

In "his" speech before Congress, Mexican President Calderon lied about the AZ immigration law, and he lied about assault weapons. As if on cue, Congressional Democrats leaped to their feet to give standing ovations to both lies (link). One commenter nailed it:

"This Calderon speech was an orchestrated campaign event by the White House and the Democrats in Congress. They are solidifying the Mexican and broader Hispanic vote."

I really don't have a problem with this sort of thing. It's just politics as usual, and the Dems would have been remiss not to have utilized their opportunity. Visits by foreign leaders are always useful to somebody, or they wouldn't happen.

But then BP had its accident, and that is beginning to ooze crude oil all over the playbook.

The gorgeous Gulf Coast is not Alaska. If it takes a secondary well to stop the flow, and if that can't be up and running until August at the very earliest (no way, try October), then this administration can go ahead and schedule the moving vans. Stuff like Calderon's little tap dance won't count for a thing. Unemployment stuck at 9%, enormous budget deficits, foreign policy fiascos in Iran and elsewhere are all bad enough. Now add an environmental catastrophe of unprecedented proportions. Obama's current 42% approval rating will be a shimmering, golden fantasy.

Byron

WaPo embarrasses itself

What is the matter with these people in the world of old media, that they feel compelled to lie constantly, to distort the reporting of news into dishonest editorializing? Do they still believe, in this day and age, that they can get away with this kind of nonsense? That they can control the flow of information? That no one can independently check their sources?

The traditional print journalism crowd really, really does not get it. No wonder newspapers are dead men walking, circling the drain, playing out the string in an accelerating blizzard of red ink.

To wit: If you're going to criticize the new social studies curriculum adopted by the Texas Board of Education, you'd better quote it.

Byron

Ancient wisdom

Taoism is famous for its principle of wu wei, which translates as "actionless action," or "acting by not-acting." Maybe the roots of the libertarian, free-market view go back a very long ways:

Tao Te Ching
by Lao Tzu (c. 500 BC)

Chapter 57:
If you want to be a great leader,
you must learn to follow the Tao.
Stop trying to control.
Let go of fixed plans and concepts,
and the world will govern itself.

The more prohibitions the government has,
the less virtuous people will be.
The more weapons it has,
the less secure people will be.
The more subsidies it offers,
the less self-reliant people will be.

Therefore the Master says:
I let go of the law,
and people become honest.
I let go of economics,
and people become prosperous.
I let go of all desire for the common good,
and the good becomes common as grass.

Chapter 72:
When people no longer trust themselves,
they begin to depend upon authority.

Therefore the Master steps back
so that people won't be confused.
He teaches without a teaching,
so that people will have nothing to learn.


Chapter 75:

When taxes are too high,
people go hungry.
When the government is too intrusive,
people lose their spirit.

Act for the people's benefit.
Trust them; leave them alone.

Dilly Dalai

“STILL I AM A MARXIST,” says the Dalai Lama, conceding that capitalism has done China some good: “Millions of people’s living standards improved.” Marxism remains dear to him because it has “moral ethics, whereas capitalism is only how to make profits.” Only. Only improving the lives of millions.

And what fine moral ethics those are, Dalai!

Lenin: "In our opinion, morality is entirely subordinate to the interests of the class war. Everything is moral which is necessary for the annihilation of the old exploiting order and for uniting the proletariat."

That was, of course, the prescription for the endless Terror that ensued, and that is part and parcel of applied Marxism, everywhere and always. The historical debate is whether the 20th century toll of Communist dead is closer to 100 million or 150 million. The imprecision is mostly because the total number for China will never be determined, but it's no less than 60 million.

As it is, the Dalai Lama and his entourage sit in exile in Dharamsala, India. He fled Tibet in 1959, when the Marxist government of China invaded Tibet, destroyed as much of its cultural heritage as possible (temples, shrines, monks' caves, etc.), gutted Lhasa, and brought in large numbers of Han Chinese settlers to dilute Tibetan ethnicity. Marxist "moral ethics" in action.

If nothing else, The Buddha was a very deep thinker. Comparing him with his current Tibetan representative, it appears that the fig fell a long way from Bodhi tree, and rolled far downhill.

Byron

This is interesting

15 Ways to Predict Divorce

If you're in a male same-sex marriage, it's 50 percent more likely to end in divorce than a heterosexual marriage. If you're in a female same-sex marriage, this figure soars to 167 percent. [Yikes!]

A research team led by Stockholm University demography professor Gunnar Anderson based their calculations on legal partnerships in Norway and Sweden, where five out of every 1,000 new couples are same-sex.

(Source: Gunnar Andersson, "Divorce-Risk Patterns in Same-Sex Marriages in Norway and Sweden," Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, 2004)

I suppose some of the higher probability of divorce in gay and lesbian marriages, compared with heterosexual ones, is due to "staying together for the sake of the children" being much less often present as an impediment to divorce in same-sex marriages -- they are more free to dissolve. It may also be that same-sex marriages are generally subject to more stresses from families, co-workers, and the society at large.

But the divorce difference for gay vs. lesbian marriages is really striking. Controlling for various factors in their data, the authors looked at a variety of possible explanations, but came up empty. The only suggestive difference they note is that the partners in lesbian marriages tend to be very similar to each other, much more so than the partners in gay marriages. They suggest that this may make for no stable hierarchy within the marriage (no agreed and accepted dominance by one partner), perhaps making such marriages highly "dynamic." I take that to mean "competitive," perhaps resulting eventually in a pattern of conflict. It is well established that dominance hierarchies, in baboon troops on up, function as conflict avoidance mechanisms. It may even be that some women enter same-sex marriages partly to avoid being dominated by a partner, or make that a bottom line requirement. The high divorce rate may indicate that an equitable, non-competitive division of responsibilities and decision-making authority is easier to imagine than to put into actual practice. Even then it's very inefficient, with much time and effort absorbed by constant testing and negotiation; the whole idea of a stable hierarchy is to avoid having to fight it out every time.

One test would be to look at the gay marriages, and see if probability of divorce varies with degree of similarity between male partners. If it does, that would be evidence that the key explanatory variable has to do with social organization, not hormones.

Byron

Four headlines

Calderon hasn't read the AZ law, either. He also wants us to negotiate our Second Amendment.

Standing ovation from Democrats.

Tell me this is a joke. Somebody. Please.


Meddling Mexican President discussing US laws during visit...

Standing ovation from Dems...

Illegals crossings into AZ on rise...

Rape suspect had been deported 4 times...

Stimulus!

New Weekly Jobless Claims Rise 25,000 to 471,000
Associated Press

The number of people filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week by the largest amount in three months. The big surge was a setback to hopes that layoffs were declining.

"Unexpectedly"! Ha, ha. Only among the kool-aid drinkers at the AP.

Heckuva job, Obysmal.

Now taxes have to go up to pay for Obie's profligate spending that accomplished nothing but the expansion of Government. And interest rates are going up also, so Treasury can keep peddling US debt obligations to the Chinese.

Higher taxes, higher interest rates, and massive, spiraling deficits funded by the Chinese: How's that for an economic growth package? How's that for maintaining foreign policy leverage with the Chinese? Obama kow-tows and meets the Dali Lama in a side room, the Taiwanese are being bought and paid for, the North Koreans are now sinking South Korean ships with impunity, China goes back and forth on sanctions while Iran's nuclear development continues.

Obama doesn't have the slightest idea what he's doing. He's got a Treasury Secretary who either cheated on his taxes or couldn't figure out Turbo Tax (take your pick), and who also admits that he's never held a real job. And an Attorney General who actually wanted Al Qaeda terrorists tried in Manhattan, and who offers silly critiques of laws he admits he hasn't read. And so on, and on.

This administration is a disaster, a study in clueless incompetence from top to bottom.

Byron

Shocker!

Next year's budget is sinking in deep red ink

The chance that the majority Democrats will pass a budget this year is “fading,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said Tuesday.

He is pessimistic because House Democrats don’t know whether they want to pass a resolution that would officially acknowledge the certainty of big deficits. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and other Democrats have indicated that would be a tough vote in an election year...

Never fear, the Dems have a clever plan: Pass no budget at all!

But, really, so what? Any budget they'd pass would be full hyped revenue projections, hidden off-book tricks, and delayed spending scams. And Obysmal would bust it to smithereens anyway, as he pursues his nation-sized community organizing project.

The proven way to pump the economy is by tax cuts, not through inefficient, junk programs of government spending. But Obie is all government, all the time; the only thing he knows about markets and capitalism is that he doesn't like them.

If he was merely economically clueless it wouldn't be quite so bad, because he might learn. Instead, he's got his arrogant head filled with bad ideas he's convinced are solidly (and politically) correct.

Maggie Thatcher nailed it: Socialism might work, if only it didn't eventually run out of other people's money. Maybe the White House should give Bernie Madoff a work release internship; he kept his Ponzi scheme afloat a lot longer than Obama's is going to last.

Byron

Wind energy

Wind energy is being shamelessly hyped by profit-making outfits that are being granted outrageous public subsidies. I just heard this morning a local radio commercial pumping some new juco curriculum in "wind energy technology." Wind genuinely has some limited application as a boutique power source, but beyond that it's a politically-driven boondoggle of the first order. If you want extremely expensive electricity, that is also unreliable, and requires covering the land with windmills and transmission lines, then wind is perfect. Solar is similar. Nuclear, on the other hand, is the real deal, vastly superior in every respect.

If you have any interest in this, this slide show is very good, put together by somebody with the technical expertise to know what he's talking about. It has to be viewed full screen. As it says, don't use the usual triangle symbol in the below center (the usual one that toggles between Go and Pause). Use the smaller triangle controls on each side of that to step forward and back at your own pace, or use your keyboard arrow keys.

Byron

Common sense prevails

No incidents since allowing concealed carry in 2003.

Compare that with the results of Virginia Tech's no-carry policy.

Political correctness kills.

Byron

Colorado State University board rescinds ban on licensed firearms carry

The ban at the Fort Collins and Pueblo campuses, had been scheduled to take effect on August 1. The prospective ban had been imposed last winter, by a unanimous vote of the Governing Board, and against the express vote of the Student Senate. Congratulations to Rocky Mountain Gun Owners for bringing the case.

As the CSU spokesperson explained, the Governing Board really had no choice, in light of the recent Court of Appeals ruling in Students for Concealed Carry on Campus v. Regents of the University of Colorado.

At the Fort Collins campus, firearms carry licensees (who must be 21 years or older, under Colorado law) had carried without incident ever since the enactment of the Concealed Handgun Act in 2003. The Fort Collins campus, which is the larger CSU campus, is located in north-central Colorado, in Larimer County. Sheriff James A. Alderden strongly opposed the CSU ban, said it was illegal, and announced that his deputies would not waste time arresting anyone for violating the Board’s ban on licensed carry.

May 1st commemoration

Victims of Communism Day

When it comes to piling up corpses, the Communists make the Nazis look like dilettantes. In any case, that distinction is between nationalist socialism (Nazism) and internationalist socialism (Lenin-Stalin-Trotsky), which is splitting hairs. Both expanded their internal and external empires by force of arms, state terror, and systematic slaughter of minorities.

In downtown Budapest there is a grim building that houses the museum called the House of Terror, documenting the murderous 20th century history of Hungary. The first part is Hungary under the Nazis, the rest is Hungary under its Communist "liberators." The one took over seamlessly from the other, precisely as you'd expect.

Byron