Troubling

Obama still thinks 9/11 suspects should be tried in New York

It would be easy to say "Well, of course he does," and to pass this off as just another bad idea from our reigning Master of Bad Ideas. But I'm starting to think it's worse than that.

Rather than let the matter drop without further comment, Obama seems angry about not getting to use this trial to rub something in the face of those Americans who don't much like him and his ideas.

I think there are a lot of Americans that Obama does not like, and who he thinks deserve to be taught a lesson or two. Is that the true bottom line of his Progressive Presidency?

I'm starting to get the feeling that this guy is not just honestly mistaken about a number of things, but that as events scratch a little deeper we're going to discover that he's a pretty nasty piece of work, without much affection for this country or most of its people.

Byron

Wine: Save your money?

Blind Tasters Can't Tell Cheap Wines From Expensive


Oenophiles will never accept this as a general statement. The methodology as reported is wrong, anyway, because it assumes a high correlation between quality and price in the sample of wines tested. The question to start with is whether people can tell the difference between bad wine and good wine, as rated by taste experts. Once it's established that people can discriminate differences in quality (and I think it would be), then you can go on and investigate the correlation between taste and price.

Fact is, that correlation is far from perfect -- there are some good cheap wines, and some bad expensive wines. I've always thought the purpose of a wine club should be to ferret out the wines that are both cheap and good. It would also be useful to expose the big-name, over-priced wines that are actually pretty poor in certain vintages. (The ones that used to be shipped to Japan, maybe still are. I guess the theory is/was that if you drink saki, you'll drink anything.)

I can tell the difference between good wine and bad, so I never buy anything but good wine that's also cheap. I don't get the best wine that way, but what I get is good enough, and never bad.

Byron

Reparations

John Hawkins: Do you believe reparations should be paid for slavery?

Thomas Sowell: The people made worse off by slavery were those who were enslaved. Their descendants would have been worse off today if born in Africa instead of America. Put differently, the terrible fate of their ancestors benefitted them. If those who were enslaved were alive, they would deserve huge reparations and their captors would deserve worse punishments than our laws allow. But death has put both beyond our reach. Frustrating as that may be, creating new injustices among the living will not change that.

Just so. I've always thought that the way descendants should honor the suffering of their ancestors is to stay in school and succeed in the very society those ancestors were forced to help build. If revenge is important as a driving motivation, then it comes out the same, because success is always the most satisfying and productive form of revenge.

Byron

Too funny

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

The President Is Missing — What have they done with President Obama? What happened to the inspirational figure his supporters thought they elected? Who is this bland, timid guy who doesn't seem to stand for anything in particular?

Hey, Paul! Buddy!

C'mon, lost your impish sense of humor all of a sudden? Obama stands foursquare and firm for what he's always stood for -- Barack Obama, The One, The Anointed, Mr. Nobel Peace Prize, President Boundless Ego and Self-Regard. And all of it attired in an exquisitely tailored empty suit. Signature golf clubs coming soon!

Meanwhile, I think you should write a column about why the media are not reporting that the budget deal "includes money to restart the city’s school voucher program, the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program,WTOP reports." Five years of funding. Wonderful news! The NEA should be good for a few quotes, so maybe start by calling them.

Just trying to help,

Byron

ludicrous

California high-speed rail: The next stop is bankruptcy

The most utterly ludicrous estimates and assumptions I've ever seen for any project, ever.

Simply has to be read to be believed.

Byron