Saturday, May 30, 2009

Let's give 'em a health care system to run....

From a Cancer Doctor:
"Specialists, and underpaid generalists will hang it up years ahead of their planned exit from medicine in just about any system that the Obama administration is likely to devise. They'll scarcely need to ration care: there just won't be anyone around to deliver it. Government will kill the golden goose, and then blame it upon everyone and anyone else. As usual."

How predictable was this?

White House moves to restrict criticism of stimulus projects:
"This is the Camel's nose under the tent, being poked because of special circumstances. Let government restrict political expression - i.e. lobbying of government officials regarding policy - in one small, supposedly specialized area and not long after the specialized area starts expanding. Eventually, all political expression regarding all policy will become subject to government regulation."

Speak Softly and Carry a Big Teleprompter

Mark Steyn:
"There’s no point launching nukes when everyone’s barbecuing chicken or watching football."

Friday, May 29, 2009

As it is becoming nationally...

The Problem With California:
"Yet the central problem in the Golden State--the disorder that affects every aspect of state government--can be described very simply: The political class in Sacramento believes the people of California exist for the state government, not the other way around."

Again, Mussolini in action...

Obama’s Interlocking Directorate:
"The robber barons of old would marvel at the tentacles of influence of Barack Obama."

And they have a bridge you probably want to buy....

California's Silent Big Spenders:
"What, exactly, has been the return on this added investment? If spending under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger increased 6.75 percent a year during mostly good times, surely there must be, say, a 3 percent increase in the quantity or quality of...something? Crickets.

Instead of making the positive case for big government, or at least beginning to explain, let alone defend, what Sacramento does with all that money, California's political class has instead opted for a four-pronged strategy: deny, scare, attack, then call for higher taxes.

First is the denial that there is a government-growth issue in the first place. This takes some intellectual dexterity, since the facts indicate otherwise."

Ain't that the truth....

Rasmussen Reports:
"Identity politics are not good for the country or for the groups they purport to advance. This is not to undercut Sonia Sotomayor, who, as the news reports all start out, is the first Hispanic nominated to the Supreme Court and, if confirmed, would be the third female justice. From what we know about her so far, she seems qualified for the job.

But turning such appointments into political payback for an ethnic group or gender makes an unseemly spectacle. It undermines real achievements and infantilizes the candidate."

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Promises

Belmont Club:
"The contradiction in Barack Obama’s approach, which goes unnoticed in the following discussion is that by distancing himself from Israel, he is undercutting the one source of assurance that would have persuaded Israel to take the risk. Israel might have gambled its life under a President it trusted. But how much trust does it repose in Barack Obama? To some extent the President’s image in Israel is itself part of the problem."

Full of baloney, ain't he?

Obama’s European Energy Vacation:
"Turns out there really is a downside to forcing the marketplace to shift to energy sources that are less economical than those currently used. Spain, which instituted a green jobs program a decade ago, found this out the hard way. A study by researchers at King Juan Carlos University found that 2.2 jobs were destroyed for every green job created through government mechanisms, and those green jobs are rarely permanent. Obama has touted the Spanish experience as a model for the United States, but the study’s authors deem those policies “terribly economically counterproductive.” Simply put, they wrote, “the Spanish/EU-style ‘green jobs’ agenda now being promoted in the U.S. in fact destroys jobs.”"

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Quote of the Day (via Taranto)...

What exactly does "empathy" mean in the context of appellate judging, anyway? One assumes it is a euphemism for "judicial liberalism," itself a rather vague term whose exponents usually describe themselves as favoring individual liberty over authority. This description is accurate, except when it isn't.

Let me kiss your boo, boos....

Jonah Goldberg:
"Why make this complicated?

President Obama prefers Supreme Court justices who will violate their oath of office. And he hopes Sonia Sotomayor is the right Hispanic woman for the job"

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Sounds like Obama's best friend...

Forbes.com:
"Maybe I am missing something, but American business should shudder in its boots if Judge Sotomayor takes this attitude to the Supreme Court. Justice Stevens wrote that the public deliberations over a comprehensive land use plan is what saved the condemnation of Ms. Kelo's home from constitutional attack. Just that element was missing in the Village of Port Chester fiasco. Indeed, the threats that Wasser made look all too much like the 'or else' diplomacy of the Obama administration in business matters."

Time for a new look?

Wired:
"Books are the last bastion of the old business model—the only major medium that still hasn't embraced the digital age. Publishers and author advocates have generally refused to put books online for fear the content will be Napsterized. And you can understand their terror, because the publishing industry is in big financial trouble, rife with layoffs and restructurings. Literary pundits are fretting: Can books survive in this Facebooked, ADD, multichannel universe?

To which I reply: Sure they can. But only if publishers adopt Wark's perspective and provide new ways for people to encounter the written word. We need to stop thinking about the future of publishing and think instead about the future of reading."

The real world is such a pain in the ass.. read the whole thing

Obama and the Reality Bomb:
"Pres. Obama campaigned on the notion that the Bush administration alienated the rest of the world and that he would reverse this dire situation. Instead, Obama’s diplomatic overtures have been largely rejected by the European Union, NATO, Russia, North Korea, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Iran and much of Latin America. Obama’s narcissism and the New Left roots of his ideology led him to believe that it was all about US, as in the US. Now, our Citizen of the World is learning that the World has its own agenda, one that is indifferent or opposed to his, both at home and abroad."

Buyer's Remorse?

David Brooks:
"You can see the ecstasy of Washington promise-making spread joy from soul to soul. Infected by these visions, automakers vow that in three years they will have created a resurgence of enthusiasm around the Chevy Aveo. Financiers vow they will build an entirely new banking industry that doesn’t rely so much on loan repayment. Health care executives vow that in three years they’ll perform CAT scans at Kinko’s.

Some say these are just meaningless promises that ignore hard choices and that no one has any intention of keeping. But this is ungenerous. At these events, the president has taken former rivals and has joined them in the holy bonds of mutual fantasy. He has taken a divided nation and has given us photo-ops to bind us and remind us of our common humanity. Business lies down with government. Management embraces labor. You call it what you will; I call it beautiful"


Buyer's Remorse?

David Brooks:
"You can see the ecstasy of Washington promise-making spread joy from soul to soul. Infected by these visions, automakers vow that in three years they will have created a resurgence of enthusiasm around the Chevy Aveo. Financiers vow they will build an entirely new banking industry that doesn’t rely so much on loan repayment. Health care executives vow that in three years they’ll perform CAT scans at Kinko’s."