Shadow's World

2012-01-28T13:22:00.000-05:00

THE DEMOCRATS love to boast about how much they care, however, when push comes to shove, they only care with other people's money.

2012-01-27T14:49:00.000-05:00

TWO MORE environmental setbacks.

2012-01-27T13:02:00.000-05:00

JONAH GOLDBERG: Obama's Vision for a Spartan America.

2012-01-27T12:39:00.000-05:00

FUEL ECONOMY is for the little people.

2012-01-27T10:25:00.000-05:00

TWO DIVAS for the price of one.

2012-01-27T10:24:00.000-05:00

OBAMA'S STATE OF THE UNION translated into English.

2012-01-27T10:03:00.000-05:00

A PERFECT STORM of planetary proportions.

2012-01-27T09:32:00.003-05:00

IT'S THE VISION THING: Gingrich vows to establish permanent base on the moon by 2020. Good for him; America needs a vision of things to come. Think of Kennedy's 'land a man on the moon by the end of the decade' and Reagan's 'shining city on a hill' visions - both came true.

More here and here.

2012-01-26T10:00:00.001-05:00

OBAMA: no more bailouts; no more handouts -- except for my lackeys.

2012-01-26T09:48:00.000-05:00

COMMENT OF THE DAY:

It is not usually a good thing when I find something green on my bread or cheese. I am thinking the same is also true of those “green jobs” that are touted so much by this administration.

From this Michelle Malkin post.

2012-01-26T07:28:00.001-05:00

THE OBAMA DOCTRINE: Do as I say, even as what I say is self-contradictory.

2012-01-25T14:00:00.000-05:00

JEFF JACOBY: Shut up, they explained. I’m somewhat sympathetic to the concept, but until someone can clearly define what constitutes a ‘negative ad’ I’ll continue to support free speech.

2012-01-25T13:17:00.000-05:00

PRESUMPTIOUS IGNORANCE:

This may be the golden age of presumptuous ignorance. The most recent demonstrations of that are the Occupy Wall Street mobs. It is doubtful how many of these semi-literate sloganizers could tell the difference between a stock and a bond.

Yet there they are, mouthing off about Wall Street on television, cheered on by politicians and the media. If this is not a golden age of presumptuous ignorance, perhaps it should be called a brass age.

[snip...]

One of the reasons for so much presumptuous ignorance flourishing in our time may be the emphasis on "self-esteem" in our schools and colleges. Children not yet a decade old have been encouraged, or even required, to write letters to public figures, sounding off on issues ranging from taxes to nuclear missiles.

Our schools begin promoting presumptuous ignorance early on. It is apparently one of the few things they teach well. The end result is people without much knowledge, but with a lot of brass.

Read it all.

2012-01-25T11:46:00.000-05:00

PENTAGON TO CUT Air Force Global Hawk drone program; Navy version will continue. A Global Hawk is a Global Hawk is a Global Hawk; this simply punts the acquisition cost down the road a bit.

2012-01-25T11:15:00.000-05:00

THE STATE OF THE ELECTION speech by the Redistributor-in-Chief was not well received. In my view Obama’s SOTU speech can easily be summarized in eight words: “obey me or I’ll tax you to death.”

2012-01-24T22:27:00.001-05:00

PRESIDENT OBAMA: 'The state of our Union is getting stronger'.

2012-01-24T22:18:00.000-05:00

THE IDEA that our universe is embedded in a broader multidimensional space has captured the imagination of scientists and the general population alike. Of course. Who wouldn’t want to ‘jump ship’ to a parallel universe that didn’t contain President Obama?

2012-01-24T21:47:00.000-05:00

CLEARLY THEY’RE NOT BEING PAID ENOUGH: Federal employees owe $1.03 billion in unpaid taxes.

2012-01-24T21:16:00.001-05:00

THOMAS SOWELL on Newt Gincrich’s candidacy: “Sometimes caution can be carried to the point where it is dangerous. When the Super Bowl is on the line, you don't go with the quarterback who is least likely to throw an interception. You go with the one most likely to throw a touchdown pass.”

2012-01-24T20:36:00.000-05:00

MYSTERY SURROUNDS Air Force's secretive X-37B space plane.

2012-01-24T20:15:00.002-05:00

“MORE AMERICAN ADULTS lacked health insurance coverage last year than in any year since Gallup and Healthways started tracking it in 2008. The uninsured rate has been increasing since 2008, climbing to 17.1% in 2011.” Isn’t that what happens when people become unemployed?

2012-01-24T19:17:00.001-05:00

GOVERNMENT: protecting the consumer from competition.

2012-01-24T17:30:00.001-05:00

PREPARE YOURSELF for the State of the Union address tonight.

The GOP SOTU web site is here.

2012-01-24T17:10:00.000-05:00

WHY WOULDN’T business owners ‘go Galt’? They are ... just last night my wife and I talked to a (now part-time employee) of a small excavation business that used to be located on property a quarter-mile or so from our house. The owner closed his business, sold all his equipment, leased his home, and moved back to southern Virginia to reopen as a much smaller operation with a few part-time employees. Keeping a bigger operation simply wasn’t worth the effort.

2012-01-24T16:07:00.000-05:00

WHY SHOULD WE? Obama officials say we don’t trust government enough.

2012-01-24T14:15:00.000-05:00

ON A CLEAR DAY you can use your smartphone.

2012-01-24T14:13:00.000-05:00

HEH: “Chuck Norris is a columnist and impossible to kill.” More seriously, he endorses Newt Gingrich for President.

2012-01-24T11:50:00.001-05:00

THOMAS SOWELL: “Intellectuals have all too often promoted these envy and resentment ideologies. There are both psychic and material rewards for the intelligentsia in doing so, even when the supposed beneficiaries of these ideologies end up worse off. When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.”

2012-01-24T11:49:00.001-05:00

WHITE DRESS SHIRTS are racist -- if worn by a Republican.

2012-01-24T09:16:00.001-05:00

DEMOCRATS’ ENERGY POLICY: “reasonable profits” boards for energy companies. OK, let’s ask two questions: (1) Are “reasonable profits” the same for green energy companies as for conventional energy companies? And (2) if green energy companies fail to make “reasonable profits”, will they be subsidized so they do?

2012-01-24T09:15:00.001-05:00

CRONY CAPITALISM: gouging citizens one regulation at a time.

2012-01-24T06:39:00.000-05:00

TEN REASONS why we must vote for President Obama.

2012-01-24T06:19:00.001-05:00

DAY BY DAY on the value of the mainstream media.

2012-01-23T22:00:00.000-05:00

PRESIDENTIAL NONSENSE: Obama’s economic vision.

President Obama's vision was shared by our Pilgrim Fathers of the Plymouth Colony in modern-day Massachusetts. They established a communist system. They all farmed together, and whatever they produced was put in a common storehouse. A certain amount of food was rationed to each person regardless of his contribution to the work. Many Pilgrims complained that they were too weak from hunger to do their share of the work. As deeply religious as the Pilgrims were, they took to stealing from one another. Gov. William Bradford, writing his history of the colony in "Of Plymouth Plantation," said, "So as it well appeared that famine must still ensue, the next year also if not some way prevented."

And history tells us they damn near died that first year.

2012-01-23T21:41:00.000-05:00

CAN’T HAVE RELIGION IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE: Missing from the Martin Luther King Memorial -- God.

2012-01-23T20:39:00.000-05:00

AN IGNORED DISPARITY: credentials versus marketable skills.

[C]olleges and universities can ... turn out vast numbers of people with credentials, but with no marketable skills with which to fulfill their expectations. There is nothing magic about simply being in ivy-covered buildings for four years.

In countries around the world, people with credentials but no marketable skills have been a major source of political turmoil, social polarization and ideologically driven violence, sometimes escalating into civil war.

Read it all.

2012-01-23T20:23:00.001-05:00

THE FOOD STAMP PRESIDENT:

Read more here.

2012-01-23T19:38:00.002-05:00

THE U.S. HAS BEEN WITHOUT A BUDGET during the entire Obama administration -- and now this. Budget? We don’t need no steenkin’ budget ... we’ll just print more money.

2012-01-23T19:38:00.001-05:00

PRESIDENT OBAMA reveals who he really is -- and the picture isn't pretty.

2012-01-23T19:23:00.001-05:00

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: The 2012 Election Circus.

2012-01-23T13:21:00.001-05:00

RANDOM THOUGHTS from the retirement lane.

"The buck stops here" -- Harry Truman
"The buck punts here" -- Barack Obama

2012-01-23T09:29:00.001-05:00

AND CHURCHES SUPPORT THESE BOOBS? Sometimes charity goes too far.

2012-01-22T22:53:00.000-05:00

THE ~~SOUTH~~ PEOPLE will rise again. I’ve been arguing this since before the 2010 election. It’s good to see other people notice as well.

2012-01-22T18:30:00.000-05:00

BACK TO THE ~~FUTURE~~ PAST: Brown Asks California to Cheer Rail Project.

2012-01-22T15:30:00.000-05:00

THOMAS SOWELL: Ignoring disparity.

2012-01-22T14:42:00.000-05:00

WHY LIVING IN FLORIDA might not be so bad.

2012-01-22T13:34:00.001-05:00

DON’T PET THE OWS PROTESTERS: they bite.

2012-01-22T12:46:00.008-05:00

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: three years down, one to go. Here are some charts, taken from the Rasmussen Obama Approval Index. The first is Obama's approval rating, dating back to his inauguration. For the last 2-1/2 years his approval rating has been consistently negative.

This chart is the same data, subdivided into 'Strongly Approve', 'Strongly Disapprove', and 'Mixed Reaction' -- those who either mildly approve or mildly disapprove. Note that at the end of 2010, the 'Mixed Reaction' population dramatically increased to around 35% of the population and did so by moving from the 'Strong Approval' population.

The last chart shows the data from calendar year 2011. Note that the trend lines show the 'Strong Disapprovals' and 'Mixed Reactions' still continuing to increase, again at the cost of losses in the 'Strong Approval' population.

President Obama is due for a tough election year.

2012-01-22T10:40:00.000-05:00

CIVILIZATION IS FRAGILE. "Its continuance requires respect for the law, tough-minded education, collective thrift, private investment, individual self-reliance, and common codes of behavior and civility -- and exempts no one from those rules. Such knowledge and patterns of civilized behavior, slowly accrued over centuries, can be lost in a single generation."

2012-01-22T08:44:00.002-05:00

SHADOW'S WORLD is on temporary hiatus, as the office computer is down with a severe viral infection. Blogging will be intermittent until the machine is nursed back to health.

2012-01-22T08:00:00.004-05:00

COMING SOON TO A TV NEAR YOU: This year the State of the Union address will be on January 24th. Nine days later, on February 2nd, it will be Ground Hog Day. One involves a meaningless ritual in which we look to an insignificant creature of little intelligence for prognostication. The other involves a groundhog.

ANOTHER:

I was eating breakfast with my 13-year-old granddaughter and I asked her, "What day is the 20th of February?"

She said "It's President's Day!"

She is a smart kid.

I asked "What does President's Day mean?" I was waiting for something about Washington or Lincoln ....

She replied, "President's Day is when President Obama steps out of the White House, and if he sees his shadow we have one more year of unemployment."

You know, it hurts when hot coffee spurts out your nose....

2012-01-19T07:55:00.000-05:00

"THE SMOKE coming out of those stacks is the most beautiful sight in the world. It means there is progress being made somewhere. Somewhere, some place, someone is making progress. If there is no smoke coming out, we look at it as trouble.”

2012-01-19T07:54:00.000-05:00

REINCE PRIEBUS: The Ethics of Audacity.

2012-01-18T22:28:00.000-05:00

ONE MILLION SIGNATURES; how many forgeries?

2012-01-18T21:59:00.000-05:00

MOSTLY PEACEFUL PROTESTERS toss mostly smokeless bomb over White House fence.

2012-01-18T21:37:00.000-05:00

WILL SOMEONE please teach the Left the rudiments of good tax policy?

2012-01-18T21:26:00.001-05:00

LIBERALISM: No laughing allowed.

2012-01-18T21:25:00.000-05:00

BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT TOILET TRAINED: Taxpayers on Hook for D.C. Protester's Potties.

2012-01-18T13:17:00.000-05:00

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: So Why Read Anymore? History. Repeat.

2012-01-18T12:56:00.001-05:00

OBAMACARE: reduce access and grow government.

2012-01-18T11:00:00.001-05:00

IF ELECTED PRESIDENT, will you appoint your GOP rivals as a part of your administration, to utilize their skill sets ... in order to unite and restore our republic?

2012-01-18T10:47:00.000-05:00

YOU CAN TALK, OR YOU CAN NAVIGATE, but you can't do both. It's beginning to look like LightSquared didn't donate enough to Obama's campaign. They should demand their contributions back....

2012-01-18T10:13:00.001-05:00

AN IGNORANT CONGRESSMAN. Is there another kind?

2012-01-18T10:12:00.001-05:00

DEATH BY WEALTH (TAX).

2012-01-18T06:08:00.001-05:00

LEAN BACKWARDS -- at least you won't fall flat on your face.

2012-01-17T21:00:00.000-05:00

FROM HOPE & CHANGE TO HATE & FEAR: "Barack Obama came to Washington promising hope and change, but he’s worked to spread hate and fear. I can think of no greater bipartisan effort that all Americans should undertake this fall, than voting Obama and his administration out of office. For the sake of our country, and our freedom, we must do better."

2012-01-17T19:57:00.000-05:00

BREAKING THE GOP cycle of capitulation. Voters must make it absolutely clear that the 'capitulators' will be gone from Congress in 2013.

2012-01-17T19:11:00.000-05:00

WHO IS ANTI-SCIENCE? The skeptics or the believers?

2012-01-17T17:10:00.001-05:00

"WHATEVER YOU MIGHT THINK is the purpose of higher education, there is a case to be made that public funding of college-level studies should bear some relation to the requirements of the national economy. In mainland China, where most higher education is paid for by the state, the government has found this case persuasive. They have recently announced that funding of college majors will in the future be determined by the graduate employment rates. Fields in which the employment rate for graduates falls below 60 percent for two consecutive years will have their state subsidies cut back or eliminated. It pains us to find ourselves in agreement with the Chinese Communist party on anything at all, but this new policy is surely a sound one. If applied in the U.S. , it would have two highly desirable side effects: one, there would be fewer unemployable graduates available to populate the "Occupy" movement, and two, the liberal professoriate would be furious."

From the dead tree edition of National Review (Dec. 31, 2011).

2012-01-17T15:28:00.001-05:00

THE GRECIAN COLUMNS wouldn't fit in the convention center: Democrats move last night of convention to Charlotte stadium.

2012-01-17T15:21:00.000-05:00

REX MURPHY: Thou must not question Big Environment. They don't want you to know who they're blackmailing ....

Linked from Instapundit.

2012-01-17T12:57:00.001-05:00

YES, INDEED. Let's spread the wealth!

2012-01-17T12:46:00.001-05:00

HOW ABOUT we try redistributing the ability to create wealth?

2012-01-17T10:45:00.000-05:00

DIVORCE AGREEMENT. This has been floating around the interweb for a year or so now, but with the election fast approaching, it seems to get more and more relevant in describing the disconnect between liberals and conservatives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950's for the sake of the kids, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has clearly run its course.

Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right for us all, so let's just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a similar portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

We don't like redistributive taxes so you can keep them.

You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU.

Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military.

We'll take the nasty, smelly oil industry and you can go with wind, solar and biodiesel.

You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them.

We'll keep capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street.

You can have your beloved lifelong welfare dwellers, food stamps, homeless, homeboys, hippies, druggies and illegal aliens.

We'll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO's and rednecks.

We'll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us.

You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we'll help provide them security.

We'll keep our Judeo-Christian values.

You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism, political correctness and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N. but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We'll keep the SUV's, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Volt and Leaf you can find.

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors.

We'll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right.

We'll keep "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "The National Anthem."

I'm sure you'll be happy to substitute "Imagine", "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", "Kum Ba Ya" or "We Are the World".

We'll practice trickle down economics and you can continue to give trickle up poverty your best shot.

Since it often so offends you, we'll keep our history, our name and our flag.

Would you agree to this?

2012-01-17T10:14:00.001-05:00

CALIFORNIA COMMISSION approves regulations on … battery chargers. Pay $2 for the charger and save $1.19 in electricity -- makes sense to me.

2012-01-17T10:13:00.000-05:00

GOOD IDEA: Putting Medical Records Into Patients' Hands. Patients should have more than access; we should have ownership.

2012-01-17T07:09:00.000-05:00

BRIAN PRESTON summarizes the Republican debate in South Carolina.

2012-01-17T06:15:00.000-05:00

IT TAKES A VILLAGE to fund the rich.

2012-01-17T06:12:00.000-05:00

PUT 'EM ON HOLD.

2012-01-17T06:06:00.000-05:00

ONE MAN RULE: Obama thumbs his nose at the Founders.

2012-01-16T21:30:00.000-05:00

SANTORUM looks for a late surge:

Donning his trademark sweater vest to meet an after-church lunch crowd here, Santorum implored the state's evangelical voters to pick a candidate who will defend their values rather than settle for a nominee, like front-runner Mitt Romney, just because he was judged more electable.

"I hear some say we need to put these social issues aside," said Santorum, insisting Republicans need a nominee who could provide a "true contrast" with President Obama. "They don't know America. America is a moral enterprise not an economic enterprise."

Here's my problem with Santorum: we're not electing a preacher for President; we did that 3 years ago.

"I'm going with Romney," said Jill Williams, a stay-at-home mom from Myrtle Beach. "I could care less about who a bunch of strangers endorse out in Texas [Christian leadership conference in Houston]. I care about beating Obama. If that happens, I can deal with all the other things that might not be perfect about Romney."

I still have some hope for Gingrich or Perry, but I will vote for Romney if it comes to a choice between him and Santorum.

2012-01-16T21:10:00.000-05:00

WHY SHOULD WE? Obama Officials Say We Don't Trust the Government Enough.

2012-01-16T21:07:00.000-05:00

MORE PROOF the Nanny State needs to go.

2012-01-16T17:33:00.001-05:00

DON'T TRY TO TELL OBAMA THAT: "He's not a God.... "

2012-01-16T17:00:00.000-05:00

THE LEAF-BLOWER PARADOX and the fundamental fallacy of Obamanonics.

According to Obama, EPA regulations create jobs. “When we put in place new common-sense rules to reduce air pollution, we create new jobs building and installing all sorts of pollution-control technology.”

[This] is the equivalent of hiring thousands of men to drive steamrollers over America’s farmlands. Not only have we lowered unemployment by creating thousands of new Steamroller Driver positions, but we’ve created more jobs in the agricultural sector as well, since the farmers now have to hire workers to re-plant all their crops!

Read it all.

2012-01-16T16:19:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK: taxing it's way to prosperity. Uh, huh.

2012-01-16T16:13:00.000-05:00

SHOTGUN VS. HOME INVASION: shotgun wins.

2012-01-16T13:32:00.000-05:00

THEY'RE INBRED, AND THEY DON'T WORK: Journalists' dirty little secret.

More proof: "The media tend to assign each candidate a character flaw as a form of shorthand (John McCain was volatile, George W. Bush was dopey, Obama is all talk)."

Milbank must have taken an honesty pill recently.

2012-01-16T13:28:00.002-05:00

LARRY KUDLOW: Isn't a Bainful Turnaround What America Needs?

There's a very troubled company out there called U.S. Government Inc. It's teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. And it badly needs to be taken over and turned around. It probably even needs the services of a good private-equity firm, with plenty of experience and a reasonably good track record in downsizing, modernizing, shrinking staff and making substantial changes in management. Yes, layoffs will be a necessary part of the restructuring.

A quick look at the income statement of this troubled firm tells the story. Just in the past year (FY 2011), the firm spent $3.7 trillion, but took in only $2.2 trillion in sales revenues. Hence its deficit came to $1.5 trillion.

Just in the first three months of the new year (FY 2012), the firm's troubles continued. Outlays for all purposes came in at $874 billion, but income was only $554 billion. So the shortfall was $320 billion. No hope of a self-imposed turnaround here. Indeed, both the senior management and the board of directors show no signs of making major changes to their business strategy. Hope for future profits? That's out of the question. The firms only chance of survival is a takeover.

Maybe it is time for a venture capitalist to step in ....

2012-01-16T10:31:00.000-05:00

OBAMA'S MODEL: crony capitalism and corporate welfare. This, not Bain, is real vulture capitalism.

2012-01-16T10:30:00.000-05:00

I WOULD fly with this pilot.

2012-01-16T09:49:00.000-05:00

IT'S ONLY UNCIVIL if you do it.

2012-01-16T09:28:00.000-05:00

HOPE: Bloomberg's Law(suit).

Much more here.

2012-01-16T07:47:00.000-05:00

TWO TIMES ZERO IS STILL ZERO: What if humans could be made twice as intelligent?

2012-01-15T22:07:00.000-05:00

THE FIELD IS THINNING: Huntsman to drop out of GOP primary race. I wish he'd enter the Democratic primaries challenging Obama. He'd be an excellent Democratic candidate.

2012-01-15T20:09:00.000-05:00

BILL O'REILLY: The 'spin stops here' one brochure at a time.

2012-01-15T20:02:00.000-05:00

TECHNOLOGY'S END, and technology's promise. Watch the video here.

2012-01-15T18:31:00.000-05:00

LOST IN THE PRAYERS OF ATHEISTS: Tebow's on God's side, not vice versa.

2012-01-15T18:30:00.000-05:00

PRIVATE EQUITY EXPLAINED.

2012-01-15T14:06:00.000-05:00

WHY SHOULD Obama recognize it? He's probably never seen one before.