Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Wow! This is big...

Michael Yon: A Dream That Will Not Come True:
"We must alter our expectations for Afghanistan. There are bigger problems afoot. The ice is melting, banks are melting, and the prestige of great nations that do great things is melting, because they thought they could transform a thorny bush into a tree."

That damn Bush!

Iraq Is Obama's Mideast Pillar:
"There was a time when American strategists understood the role countries could play as 'pillars' of a regional strategy. Israel has been a pillar since at least 1967; Iran was one until 1979. Turkey, too, is a pillar, but it is fast slipping away, as is Egypt.

Within the Arab world, Iraq is the only country that can now fulfill that role. For that it will need military and economic aid, and lots of it. Better it than futile causes like Palestine, or missions impossible like winning over the mullahs. With Saturday's poll, Iraq has earned a powerful claim to our friendship."

Don't know if I should "hope" or "change".....

Michael Crowley:
Although the NYT comes out against him today, no senator has yet done so. Why? I suspect it's in large part because many of Daschle's former collagues privately hope that after leaving the Hill he or she, too, will be ferried about by a free car and driver and generally make big money for light work. Opposing Daschle makes that lifestyle a little more stigmatized, especially for anyone who themselves might want to return to politics for a cabinet job some day.

You have to wonder what Darwin would think...

Lileks:
"It hasn’t taken long, but it’s taken hold: children, to some, are not bundles of joys, but bundles of sticks whose inevitable combustion harms the planet. It doesn’t matter whether reducing the population might deprive the world of another Mozart or a scientist who can cure cancer; the latter would just mean people living longer and going more harm, and it’s an act of pure cultural arrogance and classism to suggest we need another Mozart anyway. (Plus, non-political culture we cannot afford in these desperate times. It’s not that it makes people think the wrong things; it just takes up time that could be spent thinking about the right things.)"

Read it all...

Judea Pearl: Daniel Pearl and the Normalization of Evil:
"Danny's picture is hanging just in front of me, his warm smile as reassuring as ever. But I find it hard to look him straight in the eyes and say: You did not die in vain."
After you read it, then look at the comments and realize how little people are paying attention.....

Great fans at Yost....!

Yost fan behavior is just fine, thanks
"And the real reason the Athletic Department is so upset is that “F.Y.S.” was clearly audible on television and YouTube videos that have been viewed more than 300,000 times."

Monday, February 2, 2009

Wish I could state my case as well as she does....

Megan McArdle:
"...I'm more concerned by the composition of the stimulus than by its size. But Tyler's concerns are not unreasonable. Many of the concerns raised about the stimulus are not unreasonable. And the response to requests for better evidence are too often being met by enraged proponents metaphorically jumping up and down and screaming 'Concede! Concede! Concede!' This is not usually the activity of someone who has solid empirical evidence and an irrefutable model backing him up. If the evidence is so overwhelming, why not just lay it out? What, exactly, is the model we're using; what are the assumptions about things like marginal propensity to consume; and what is the empirical evidence backing up these estimates? What's the justification, other than 'it's a good way to fool the American people into supporting spending I want', for packaging so much permanent spending as stimulus, rather than debating those programs on their own merits?"

Quote of the Day:

Little Green Footballs:
"Cognitive dissonance — it’s what the left has for breakfast, lunch, and dinner."

Michael Yon asks a simple question:

How Can the World Be Blind to Israel’s Existential Threats?
It is simply astounding that many foreign governments do not see this for what it is. Good Muslims are murdered by Muslim extremists in probably dozens of countries, yet certain European governments insist that there is some sort of moral equivalence between Hamas and the democracy called Israel. At this conference, I hear incredulous Jews who are concerned that their soldiers and political leaders might be charged with war crimes and arrested if they travel to Europe. This is just one example of the racism that vexes Europe and keeps it behind where it could be. Imagine for a moment that Cuba were launching missiles at Florida. We would sink their navy, shoot down their air force, wipe out their army, and kill Castro. Yet thousands of rockets have been raining down on Israel, while many members of the international community demand that Israel do nothing. These rockets are advertised to be small and not much of a nuisance, but each one carries about 15 times more explosives than a hand grenade. Hamas favors launching the rockets when kids are going to or coming from school. Clearly they are trying to murder the children who are growing up under attack. The Israelis have proven time and again that they will choose peace if given a chance. Hamas, when given a chance, chooses war.


Unfortunately, the answer is just as simple - the "World" just wants those pesky, irritating Jews to go away and stop making our lives so complicated by forcing us to make moral choices when we have so many other "important" things to do.

Again (how many times can I say it?), read Dershowitz to find some of the answers.

That's what they want...

Little Green Footballs:
"The question they never ask: if fighting terrorists only makes more terrorists, and only makes hard-liners stronger in every case, what’s the alternative? Giving up?"

This is why you have to be careful...

Policies Prolonged Depression

Via Instapundit...

CHRIS DODD UPDATE: Dodd’s Sweetheart Deals Still Under Cover. “While Dodd has demanded that regulators get to the bottom of any crimes by Bernard Madoff, he has played a cat and mouse game in keeping the documents about his dealing with Countrywide Financial under wraps. What is known is that he got favored treatment from the subprime mortgage company in 2003 while at the head of the Banking Committee that regulates the industry.”

Just more of the same.... how stimulating!

The Senate Carves $90 Million Out of Stimulus For Liberal Activist Group:
"LCCR operates like ACORN. And the Senate Democrats are about to give the $90 million of your money.

Under the cover of the digital television conversion delay, the Senate Democrats want to give the LCCR $90 million.

On page 38 of the Senate version of the stimulus, under the section “Digital-to-Analog Converter Program”, the Senate carves out “$90,000,000.00 . . . for education and out-reach, including grants to organizations for programs to educate vulnerable populations, including senior citizens, minority communities, people with disabilities, low-income individuals, and people living in rural areas, about the transition.”"

Sunday, February 1, 2009

A valuable, if not gruesome, lesson...

Jack Dunphy at Patterico:
"Modern liberals, as contrasted with pre-1960s liberals, often seem unable to respond to or even recognize malevolence when it presents itself. The results can be disastrous, both for individuals and for nations."

Funny, I don't hear any Presidental outrage....

It's a Recession... Congress Gives Lawmakers $93,000 More to Spend (Video):
"At the same time that President Obama is wagging his finger at Wall Street for their year end bonuses and auto executives are being harassed for flying on private jets, the Democratic-led congress just gave each lawmaker an extra $93,000 in petty cash to spend."

How well said!

Bush Hatred and Obama Euphoria Are Two Sides of the Same Coin
"In fact, Bush hatred and Obama euphoria -- which tend to reveal more about those who feel them than the men at which they are directed -- are opposite sides of the same coin. Both represent the triumph of passion over reason. Both are intolerant of dissent. Those wallowing in Bush hatred and those reveling in Obama euphoria frequently regard those who do not share their passion as contemptible and beyond the reach of civilized discussion. Bush hatred and Obama euphoria typically coexist in the same soul. And it is disproportionately members of the intellectual and political class in whose souls they flourish."

Just don't call the "pot", you know, BLACK....

WHILE POLITICIANS COMPLAIN ABOUT WALL STREET BONUSES, WHAT ABOUT THIS?
"Pot, meet kettle. But wait, there’s more:

In many cases, bureaucrats are motivated to give millions of dollars in bonuses to contractors no matter how poorly a company performs because generosity with taxpayer money may help them land better-paying jobs after they leave the government.

Contractors on dozens of jobs at federal departments collected more than $8 billion in what federal auditors said were unwarranted bonuses from 1999 to 2005.

I wonder what 2009 will look like."

Because we want a lot of shit from the government....

The Volokh Conspiracy:
"Why should we have a general presumption against government regulation of speech or religion? Why not instead support censorship when it 'works' by improving the marketplace of ideas, and oppose it when it doesn't? Think of all the misleading speech and religious charlatans that government regulation could potentially save us from! The answer, of course, is that government regulation of speech and religion has systematic dangers that are not unique to any one particular regulation. Given those systematic flaws, it makes sense to have a general presumption against it.

The same holds true for government intervention more generally, including in the economy. It too has systematic flaws that justify a presumption against it. Three of those flaws are particularly relevant to current policy debates."

What a Shocker...

Beware Of CAIR:
"According to the federal lawsuit, CAIR directed an unlicensed lawyer to handle their immigration cases. The phony lawyer shook them down for their life savings and bungled their paperwork. When the victims said they would go to the media, the suit charges, CAIR's board threatened to sue them and forced them to sign releases.

Such aggressive tactics are typical of CAIR. The group has threatened CEOs who don't kowtow to its demands to Islamize the workplace and airlines trying to protect passengers from terrorism. It's bullied, as well, scores of critics on TV and talk radio, even getting some hosts fired. Thankfully, the threats are no longer working."

What a Shocker...

Beware Of CAIR:
"According to the federal lawsuit, CAIR directed an unlicensed lawyer to handle their immigration cases. The phony lawyer shook them down for their life savings and bungled their paperwork. When the victims said they would go to the media, the suit charges, CAIR's board threatened to sue them and forced them to sign releases.

Such aggressive tactics are typical of CAIR. The group has threatened CEOs who don't kowtow to its demands to Islamize the workplace and airlines trying to protect passengers from terrorism. It's bullied, as well, scores of critics on TV and talk radio, even getting some hosts fired. Thankfully, the threats are no longer working."