Friday, December 3, 2010

A view shared by many....

What's Really Wrong with WikiLeaks:
"The actual effect of WikiLeaks is likely to be profound and precisely the opposite of what it supposedly sets out to achieve. Far from making for a more open world, it could make for a much more closed one. Secrecy, or rather the possibility of secrecy, is not the enemy but the precondition of frankness. WikiLeaks will sow distrust and fear, indeed paranoia; people will be increasingly unwilling to express themselves openly in case what they say is taken down by their interlocutor and used in evidence against them, not necessarily by the interlocutor himself. This could happen not in the official sphere alone, but also in the private sphere, which it works to destroy. An Iron Curtain could descend, not just on Eastern Europe, but over the whole world. A reign of assumed virtue would be imposed, in which people would say only what they do not think and think only what they do not say."

Oddly enough, our experience was exactly the opposite...

The Chevrolet Vega--What Went Wrong?:

The first car we ever bought as a married couple was a 1973 Vega - leather, stick shift, nice wheels, etc. - all for three grand flat. It lasted 4 solid years with never a burp, parked it on the street in Queens, and we sold it for $1000 with about 30k miles. EVERYONE told us not to buy it in the first place, even my father's genius friends in the car business.

My next car was a '77 BMW 320i. Lots of issues (for almost $10k) and it was broken into within 6 months even though I caved and paid to park in my apartment's garage! Life is cruel.....

Why worry about fools like this when you can pay 1000 government employees with borrowed money to stop him? Huh?

This has yet to be proven...

Obama & Co., Growing Up Fast:
"Old laws predicated on human nature cannot so easily be discarded — even by utopians who think they have the power to cool the planet and stop the rising seas. Borrowed money really has to be paid back. Governments cannot operate without confidentiality. Nations perish if they cannot protect themselves from existential threats. Watching a therapeutic Barack Obama grow up and learn these tragic lessons is as enlightening as it is sometimes scary."

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Obama's in over his head

Right Turn - John Bolton:
"If, as Bolton describes, the perception of Obama is now one of weakness, how does the administration get back on track? 'Once you are perceived as not being up to the job, and we're at that point, only performance can get it back.' But Bolton cautions that no one should wish for a crisis for Obama to prove his mettle -- and he adds that, given Obama's past performance, he's not optimistic about how the president would perform in such a crisis."

Pay attention:

The Danger of a Global Double Dip Recession Is Real:
"Demography is destiny."

Look at the numbers instead of listening to the bullshit....

Who Pays for Big Government?:
Progressives hope that the federal government will raise revenue mainly, if not exclusively, by levying taxes on wealthy Americans. But a comparison of France and the United States suggests that raising tax revenue will ultimately involve increasing tax rates on the poor much more than they would be increased on the wealthy.

Figure it out....

Belmont Club:
"What is driving away value in government is the bloating of government itself. The cumulative weight of all those wonderful programs, all of which the politicians touted as absolutely necessary, is now crushing itself to death, like an 800 pound obese man on a bed suffocating under his own weight. Feeding him won’t help. Things have reached the point when growth causes as much damage as it purports to help. All government expansion is now budgetary fratricide."

WikiLeaks as seen by dolphins

Roger L. Simon:
"Berlusconi likes girls.
Sarkozy likes himself.
Angela Merkel is boring.
David Cameron is more boring.
Hillary thinks Cristina needs a shrink.
Benjamin Netanyahu can’t stand Ehud Olmert.
Al Qaeda hates America.
Yemen’s president hates Al Qaeda
Ahmadinejad is Hitler
North Korea likes Iran.
Saudi Arabia hates Iran
Julian Assange is Dennis Kucinich.
PFC Manning will never see the sun again.
America needs a new president."

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

The world as it really is...

Commentary:
"It’s no small thing to note that in an age when both threats and conciliations get us nowhere, a public embrace of our foundational ideals still sends a potent message. We talk about extending an outstretched hand to theocrats and the theocrats laugh. We talk about crippling sanctions and they laugh harder. To others, we offer aid in exchange for promises of an anti-terrorism crackdown; they collect and then ignore us. For others, we strain our alliances and make demands on our friends; we end up stymied. Still, to others we offer obsequious compromises and fresh starts; they smile kindly and make their own plans. But we now know the one time in recent memory we had a regime “scared to death” was when it thought we’d mention the sanctity of human rights. Doubtless, this lesson in the fusion of ideals and interests will be lost on the great non-ideological, pragmatic leaders of our time."

Monday, November 29, 2010

I'm generally not a Cohen fan, but....

The Real Threat to America:
"What is not in doubt is an old rule: Give a bureaucrat a big stick and a big budget, allow said bureaucrat to trade in the limitless currency of human anxiety, and the masses will soon be intimidated by the Department of Fear. "

The never-ending itch to use the remote control on everyone else's lives:

George F. Will:
"Progressivism is a faith-based program. The progressives' agenda for improving everyone else varies but invariably involves the cult of expertise - an unflagging faith in the application of science to social reform. Progressivism's itch to perfect people by perfecting the social environment can produce an interesting phenomenon - the Pecksniffian progressive."

You've got to stay on your toes!

Frozen sausage as iPhone stylus