CASH FOR CLUNKERS?

My 1998 Dodge pickup just came out of the shop, terminally ill. It’s not immediate – cooling system leak around some of the freeze plugs in the engine block – but the cost of (eventual) repair will far exceed the value of the truck.

So what am I to do? Well, the truck clearly qualifies for the “cash for clunkers” program, so here’s a thought. Use the truck as a trade-in on a Prius or some other high-demand “green” automobile, turn it around and sell it immediately on the private market, and take the remainder of the $4500 and buy another used pickup.

I wonder haw many other potential buyers are thinking the same?

[Update] Well, it was a good idea while it lasted ... and the Cato Institute beat me to the idea.

A FEW THOUGHTS ON “HEALTHCARE”

Since I’ve been rather intimately involved in healthcare for the past couple of months (with a family member in the hospital and now in a skilled nursing facility), herewith are some observations on the state of healthcare.

Nurses, technicans, and technical staff intimately involved with the patients are, for the most part, qualified, professional, caring – and overworked.

Doctors are not engaged. This is not to be taken as that they are not qualified, or professional, or caring; simply that they are not engaged with either patient or family. Visits are sporadic, unscheduled, and short – there’s never time to sit and get to know patient or family – so process overwhelms patient/family needs.

The process stinks – and that’s being kind.

Here’s an analogy: Patient and family go to a restaurant. They pay upon entering, are given a menu - of limited choice but multiple courses, order, and the order is sent to the kitchen. The kitchen is staffed by 15 chefs, who enter and leave at random, none of whom stay for more than a few minutes. Communication, if it occurs, is by “sticky note” left on the countertop. Courses are served at random, and when “time’s up” the patrons must leave, finished or not.

That, in a nutshell, is healthcare process as practiced today.

What, if anything, will change with Obamacare? My guess is that prices will go up, menu selections will become even more limited, and the maitre d’ will tell the patient/family what they can/cannot have.

WASHINGTON DC IS A THREE-RING CIRCUS

The Daily Show via Instapundit.


If only the popcorn weren't so damned expensive ....

AGAINST OBAMACARE? IN AUSTIN?

Austin, TX, has to be the most liberal city in the state. And yet ....

The Austin American-Statesman coverage is here.

Via Instapundit.

A TEACHABLE MOMENT

But will Paul Krugman (Nobel Laureate in Economics) learn?

KATIE ARRIVES

Big sister Annie is proud to announce the birth of her new baby sister Clara Katherine (Katie) Hankamer.



Katie was born at 4:09 pm on July 28th. She weighs 8 pounds 1 ounce and is 20-1/4 inches long. Here's Annie holding sister Katie.



Daddy, Mommy, Annie, and Baby Katie are all doing great!

PAJAMAS MEDIA HEALTH CARE FORUM – THE VIDEOS

Pajamas Media TV has produced a series of short (8-10 min) videos on the healthcare debate now before Congress. In no particular order, here they are:

- How to defeat Obama’s healthcare program.

- A prescription for reform.

- What’s in the healthcare bill?

- A single-payer advocate’s view.

- Will healthcare reform impact people with rare diseases?

- Is healthcare a right?

They're well worth watching - thoughtful, and well done. In particular, I'd recommend the single-payer advocate video. Even though she starts poorly (in my view), it is much more interesting when the subject turns to overhead (administrative) costs.

RUNNING A STATE THE RIGHT WAY

Glenn Reynolds (of Instapundit) talks to Gov. Rick Perry of Texas. It's long, but worthwhile.

DO AS I SAY, NOT AS I DO

It’s much easier to raise taxes if you don’t pay them.

Taxes are for little people.

A RATIONALE FOR SMALL GOVERNMENT

Mark Steyn: [B]ig government more or less guarantees rule by creeps and misfits. It's just a question of how well they disguise it.

Government of the weird, by the weird, for the weird ...

TAKE THAT BOTTOM RUNG OFF THE LADDER

Welcome to the latest chapter of America's minimum-wage folly.

Those who press for a higher minimum wage often claim that making entry-level jobs more expensive won't reduce the number of entry-level jobs. Were the government to compel a 41 percent increase in the price of gasoline or movie tickets or steel, every rational observer would expect a drop in the demand for gasoline, movie tickets, or steel. Yet when it comes to the minimum wage, politicians and journalists somehow persuade themselves that making workers more expensive won't reduce the demand for workers.

The laws of supply and demand are not optional. Try as it might, Congress simply can't repeal them.

Minimum-wage laws don't make low- and unskilled Americans more productive, more experienced, or more desirable. They merely make them more expensive.

THE FINAL WORD ON "GATES-GATE"

Sometimes it isn't racism.

A black president, a black governor and a black mayor all agree with a black Harvard professor that he was racially profiled by a white-Latino-black police team headed by a cop who teaches courses in how to avoid racial profiling.

In the 1960s, the great English satirist Peter Simple invented the Prejudometer, which simply by being pointed at any individual could calculate degrees of racism to the nearest prejudon, "the internationally recognized scientific unit of racial prejudice."

Mr. Gates seems to go around with his Prejudometer permanently cranked up to 11.

It's arrogance - and stupidity.

THE WEST’S PROBLEM

Why poor countries won’t commit to binding emissions cuts.

[T]here is a perfectly good reason developing countries are unwilling to act on climate change: What they are being asked to do is more awful than climate change’s implications–even if one accepts all the alarmist predictions.

Rather than engage with the issues, eco-pundits are grasping for all kinds of fanciful pseudo-scientific theories to explain why the idea of binding emissions cuts are leaving the rest of the world cold. But this psychologizing only exposes the inability of climate activists to take seriously the rational case for inaction.

[T]he choice for developing countries is between mass death due to the consequences of an overheated planet sometime in the distant future, and mass suicide due to imposed instant starvation right now. Is it any surprise that they are reluctant to jump on the global-warming bandwagon?

If and when climate change promises to claim more casualties than poverty and starvation, the world will begin heeding the eco-warrior calls. Until then, global warming is eco-warrior hot air.

Via Instapundit.

DISPARATE IMPACT

Thomas Sowell on "disparate impact":

Much of the backlog of cases in our over-burdened courts has been created by the courts themselves, with adventurous judicial "interpretations" of laws that leave a large gray area of uncertainty around even the most plainly written legislation.

Nowhere is this more true than in civil rights cases.

At the heart of much of this legal complexity and moral angst is a judge-made theory that a "disparate impact" of any job requirement on different groups is evidence of discrimination.

That is why courts split along ideological fault lines in cases like the New Haven firefighters' case, where the crucial facts are not even in dispute. The only real dispute is over whether a test is automatically biased if different groups pass it at different rates. Apparently the groups themselves cannot possibly be different, according to "disparate impact" theory. Sowell again:

It is not that judges are incapable of seeing through the intellectual flaw in the "disparate impact" dogma. But that dogma is too central to efforts at social engineering to be given up for the sake of mere logic or facts.

Life isn't fair. Deal with it.

THE “GATES-GATE” AFFAIR

After a week of reporting and commenting (here and here), it seems to me that this is just another case of the liberal “elite” insisting that the rules don’t apply to themselves, and that anyone daring to think otherwise is de facto racist, homophobe, redneck, christianist, (insert your own term of approbation).

Note the posturing from Lawrence Bobo (W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University) and close friend of Henry Louis “Skip” Gates:

Skip is one of the most readily recognized black men in America .....

Well, um, let’s see. By Lawrence Bobo, perhaps ... but for me, the following come to mind more easily: Barack Obama (President), Colin Powell (retired Army general), Walter Williams (economist & columnist), Thomas Sowell (economist & columnist), Jesse Jackson (civil rights advocate), Al Sharpton (civil rights advocate), Roland Burris (Illinois senator), Juan Williams (NPR correspondent and Fox commentator), J. C. Watts (former congressman from Oklahoma), Andrew Young (former UN ambassador), Douglas Wilder (former Virginia governor), Michael Steele (RNC national chairman), Clarence Thomas (Supreme Court justice), Armstrong Williams (political commentator), Deval Patrick (governor of Massachusetts), Charles Rangel (New York congressman) ... and I’ve avoided sports, entertainment, and women.

Even before the charge were (sic) dropped Tuesday .... I knew in my bones that this situation was about the level of deference from a black male that a white cop expects. I say this even though I did not see the events themselves unfold.

In other words, “I don’t need no stinking facts.” ‘Nuff said.

It’s past time for former New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s “benign neglect”.

WEST VIRGINIA REVISITED

We took another overnight trip to West Virginia, intending to make Charleston and look around southand west. Never made it; there's just too much to see in an overnight trip. The first photo was taken just after entering WV along Interstate 64 near Lewisburg.



The next two pictures were taken at Sandstone Falls in the New River Gorge National River near Beckley. We spent several hours driving up and down the New river marveling at the sights. Sandstone falls is just one of many along the river.





This picture was taken at a dam along the Kanawha River near the campus of West Virginia University Institute of Technology. The power plant is a small, old - and still functioning - hydroelectric plant.

I didn't take pictures of the campus, which is unique to all the colleges I've ever visited. It's essentially a strip mall, with one side fronting the tracks for the coal trains that regularly pass by, and the other side backed against the mountains. In the middle sits a small community college dedicated to technology education.



This waterfall was along the Gauley River at a switchback in the road we were traveling.



West Virginia is a beautiful state, one of the prettiest I've ever visited in terms of density of scenic beauty per mile traveled. Nevertheless, it is a very poor state, as is seen in these photos. These are not campgrounds; they are peoples' homes, a mix of trailers and ramshackle cabins. The first is an area called "Boohoo Bottom" by the residents, which at least shows some sense of humor ....



"Memory Lane" - several trailers, and just down the road, a rather nice house that looked more like a medieval castle than a home.



The combination of beauty and poverty reminded me of an article I read several weeks ago. Christina Davidson of Atlantic Monthly visited Pocahontas County for a “Recession Road Trip,” and wrote, “Taking Comfort in Small Joys.”

We don't have foreclosure here because most people own their homes and have always owned their homes. Most people have jobs, and if they lose one, it probably didn't pay much anyway. We don't have much bankruptcy because most people know their limits. We don't have the expenses of people in the cities. I always sewed and made all my kids' clothes--I have five. I always cut their hair myself. We never bought what we didn't need. That's just how we live.

Don Surber was not amused.

This romantic nonsense about becoming more like West Virginia is dangerous to America.

“Valuable recession lessons can be gleaned from the West Virginia experience: Never buy what you don’t need,” wrote Davidson.

Nice.

Romantic.

Nuts.

If poverty is so good, then why do we have anti-poverty programs? Using her logic, we should have pro-poverty programs.

Although I'm sympathetic toward the Atlantic Monthly article - we could certainly learn about life and living from West Virginia - Surber is more nearly correct.

Far from being a pleasant experience, poverty leads to depression, anxiety and misery.

Which leads to my final photo - medical care in an impoverished state.

FROM THE EMAIL

Here’s a (forwarded) email I received recently. Supposedly it recounts the experience of a senior level Chrysler employee.

Monday morning I attended a breakfast meeting where the speaker/guest was David E. Cole, Chairman of the Center for Automotive Research (CAR), an Engineer with 40+ years automotive experience, full Professor at the Univ. of Michigan.

You have all likely heard CAR quoted, or referred to in the auto industry news lately. Mr. Cole told many stories of the difficulty of working with the folks that the Obama administration has sent to save the auto industry.

There have been many meetings where this very experienced automotive expert has had to listen to a newcomer to the industry; someone with zero manufacturing experience, zero auto industry experience, zero business experience, zero finance experience, zero engineering experience, and apparently zero brains tell them how to run their business.

Mr. Cole's favorite story is as follows: There was a team of Obama people speaking to Mr. Cole. They were explaining to Mr. Cole that the auto companies needed to make a car that was electric and liquid natural gas (LNG) with enough combined fuel to go 500 miles, so we wouldn't "need" so many gas stations (A whole other topic). They were quoting BTU's of LNG and battery life they had looked up on some website.

Mr. Cole explained that to do this you would need a trunk FULL of batteries, and a LNG tank as big as a car to make that happen. And that there were problems related to the laws of physics that prevented them from...

The Obama person interrupted and said (quoting): "These laws of physics? Whose rules are those? We need to change that (while others wrote down the name of the law so they could look it up). We have the Congress, and the administration. We can repeal that law, amend it, or use an executive order to get rid of that problem. That's why we are here, to fix these sort of issues."

The contents of the email are almost certainly fabricated (I didn’t check Snopes) but given the Obama administration’s demonstrated competence, it wouldn’t surprise me if it were true.

FUN WITH NUMBERS

In a post on basic math skills and the ability to understand current events, Tom Blumer is convinced many of today's high school — and college — graduates don't have them. Here is an example from recent news:

Problem: President Obama claims that his health care plan will cost $1 trillion over 10 years while reducing the number of Americans without health insurance from 46 million to 30 million. If all of this comes to pass, how much will taxpayers shell out for the average newly insured person per year, even if the expected drop in the number of uninsured occurs immediately?

Answer: $6,250 ($1 trillion ÷ 10 ÷ the 16 million alleged reduction in the uninsured).

Blumer asks some interesting questions based on the numbers:

[H]ealth insurance costs are high, but any pre-Medicare single person without major health issues should be able to get gold-plated coverage for far less than $6,250. The result also implies that the government will be shelling out an absurd $25,000 for a family of four. Where is all that money going to go? And how in the world can the Obama plan claim to be reducing costs?

This is one example of four; taken together, they are an indictment of ... something. The Obama administration? Literacy? Math skills? Critical thinking? Journalism? Common sense? All of the above?

Read Blumer’s post (and the following comments) and decide for yourself.

BADLY WOUNDED

About two weeks ago, on July 9, I posted the Obama Approval Index showing President Obama's approval ratings since his inauguration. Here's today's index from Rasmussen Reports.



On July 9, Obama's approval index had just gone negative; today it crossed the double-digit mark. Moreover, his popularity with likely voters has gone below 50%. (49% approve; 51% disapprove).



The shift toward disapproval appears to continue with those voters strongly approving President Obama's performance becoming less approving; those who are somewhat approving becoming somewhat disapproving; and so on.

The middle, those likely voters not holding a strong opinion, remains about a third of the survey population, but is showing evidence of a slight decline as attitudes harden. Since the inauguration, strong approvals have declined from 44% to 29%, a 15 point drop, while strong disapprovals have risen from 16% to 40%, a 24 point gain.

The Obama administration is in trouble.

DUH!

As a decision-making aid, PowerPoint is a poor tool.

And the sun rises in the east ....

FIX MEDICARE FIRST

"Since 1970, spending on Medicare and Medicaid has risen eightfold versus defense spending and has tripled versus federal spending as a whole. It’s clear what’s driving the deficit bus."

"President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers issued a report earlier this month estimating that as much as 30 percent of Medicare spending is unnecessary for improving health outcomes. Given such opportunities for easy savings within government, and Medicare's weighty influence in the broader system (many private insurers set payments by adding a percentage to Medicare's rates), it would make sense to reform Medicare first, see what works and what doesn't, and then apply the lessons of that process later to any system-wide fix."

Unfortunately, my mother and I become the “experimentees.” Given my current experience with Medicare, that’s not an experience to which I look forward. Especially in a political environment unwilling to consider options beyond a "one-size-fits-all" single-payer system.

ON DIVERSITY

In an editorial (Firefighters and Race), the New York Times argued that the Supreme Court decision in favor of the New Haven firemen has "dealt a blow to diversity in the American workplace." But the Times purity on diversity is in question.

It seems the "American workplace" (to use the Times description) that is the New Haven fire department has a higher percentage of minorities than the American workplace that is ... yes indeed ... the New York Times editorial board its very self. To be quite specific:

• The New Haven fire department, according to press accounts, is 43% black and Latino. Or, if you prefer the term of art, 43% of the fire department is "minority."

• The New York Times editorial board, according to the information provided by The New York Times, is -- wait for it -- 12% black and Latino. Or, again, 12 % "minority" if you prefer the term.

• The New York Times Op-Ed page team of columnists, an elite group of which Ms. Dowd is a star, is 19% black and, again according to the Times listing of its Op-Ed page columnists, 0% Latino.

That's right. At the core of the beating intellectual heart of the left-wing establishment where such things are studied with the detail of Talmudic scholars, the New Haven fire department is doing more than three times better on race than the very liberal elites who have set themselves up as its sniffy critics.

If you like verbal evisceration, read the whole thing.

Maureen Dowd is a bonus.

WHY GREEN ENERGY FLOPS

In the comments to an earlier post, William asks "Is there a way to encourage consumption of green energy without subsidies?" To which I will add "or carbon taxes?"

It's an excellent question, and one worth an extended response. Here goes.

First, let's toss out the term "green energy." It's an emotionally laden, nonsensical, worthless piece of political correctness. Generally speaking, "green" is used for "renewable energy" sources (wind, solar, tides) and the term itself is emotionally loaded. Look, coal and oil are also renewable - go to any landfill and smell the methane emitted by rotting waste. It's just that the renewal time is, shall we say, a bit too long.

Now on to alternative energy sources. Can we encourage the consumption of energy from alternative sources without taxes (e.g., cap & trade) or subsidies? The short answer is (a) no, and (b) it's foolish (read as stupid) to try. The reason is that tax or subsidy - either one - removes the incentive to further develop the technology.

Why would I, as a solar cell manufacturer, try to improve my product if I'm making a healthy (subsidized) profit and my competitors - coal and oil - are taxed (by cap & trade) away from competing with me?

No, the only possible outcome, in either event, is to further delay development - and that's the one thing we don't need.

Now, let's move on to the three other topics that really needs discussion if one is to fully understand the "green energy" dilemma: density, storage and distribution.

Density. Of the three major alternative energy sources - solar, wind, and tides, all are diffuse, meaning that the collector must be quite large for each unit of energy collected. Coal and oil are quite dense by comparison. Take solar power for an example - I don't consider it likely that west Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada will take kindly to being covered with solar collectors for the convenience of the other 43 connected states. Wind power? The same is true; wind turbines can't even be installed offshore in Massachusetts for fear of interrupting the view from Hyannisport. (I'll put a wind turbine in my back yard for personal use. Ed: Good luck at the zoning office.)

Storage. Coal, oil, and natural gas can easily be stored until needed. Solar, wind, and tides are intermittent, and storage isn't easy. Which is why the electric automobile is unlikely to ever be more than a niche machine. Battery technology today simply can't give a 300 mile range (20 mpg on a 15 gallon tank) and refueling takes a bit longer than 5 minutes at the pump. Scaling storage to megajoule and higher capacities is an engineering challenge, to say the least.

Distribution. Without a doubt, energy distribution is the most significant problem facing alternative energies. Any alternative, to be economical, will have to either have to have the source sited near the consumers (e.g., in or near the cities), or will have to take advantage of existing distribution systems; that is, transmission lines and oil/gas pipelines. Austin's GreenChoice program (referred to in the earlier post) is in trouble partly because of its distribution problems, and as I noted above, I don't think it too likely that west Texans are going to be very happy with high-voltage power lines running through their back yards to keep Austin liberals' air conditioners running on summer evenings.

All that said, none of the problems noted above are insoluble. They can - and will - be solved, just not easily or quickly, and subsidies/taxes won't speed the solution.

As a final point, let me say that in my view, there are two promising alternative energies.

The first is nuclear; put pebble-bed nuclear reactors in the center of every major city (What? Surely you're kidding. Ed: I'd suggest every college campus, starting with Harvard) and solve the electrical distribution problem. (But it's in my back yard! Ed: Yep; that's the point - if you want the energy, pay the price yourself.)

The second alternative is biomass for transportation fuel. The distribution system is already in place; as is flex-fuel technology for incorporation into new vehicles (and for that matter, retrofitting isn't hard). The only unsolved problem is that of avoiding use of existing farm land and food plants (like corn) for the biomass - and that's already being worked.

INTIMIDATION WORKS

Just ask Obama (GM and the auto industry, AIG and the financial sector, Fairness Doctrine and the media, California and the remaining 49 (56?) states).

The question is, will it work for cap-and-trade and healthcare?

TRANQUILITY BASE HERE

The Eagle has landed.


Tranquility Base shortly after the landing.

HERE MEN FROM THE PLANET EARTH
FIRST SET FOOT UPON THE MOON
JULY 1969 A.D.
WE CAME IN PEACE FOR ALL MANKIND

On July 20, 1969, my wife and I were newly married, living in Hawaii. We watched the landing in our darkened living room, sitting on the floor next to a tiny (5-1/2 inch screen), transistorized black-and-white television. To see the landing as we saw it, go here.

[Note: QuickTime required; link here.]

GREEN ENERGY FLOPS

From the Austin [TX] American-Statesman, "For the past decade, Austin's ambition to become the world's clean-energy capital has been best exemplified by one effort: GreenChoice, a program that sells electricity generated entirely from renewable sources such as wind.

Now the nationally renowned program is struggling to find buyers — the latest allotment is 99 percent unsold after seven months on the market — and Austin Energy is looking for ways to bring down the rising costs."

Instapundit comments: "See, environmentalism is mostly about posturing — it’s not actually about sacrificing."

How many members of the city council who voted for the GreenChoice program actually participate?

AFTERTHOUGHT:

I am astounded that liberals fail to understand that subsidizing green energy - wind and solar - is entirely self-defeating. While it's true that subsidies increase consumption, they do not - repeat, not - cut costs. Moreover, with a subsidy, there is absolutely no incentive for a manufacturer to reduce cost or improve efficiency in order to remain competitive.

All the city of Austin is achieving with its GreenChoice program is to delaying the time before solar and wind power become competitive.

CHANGE YOU CAN BELIEVE IN

Seen on US 15-501 near Durham, NC.

OBAMA, THE BUST

"President Barack Obama's concrete head rested peacefully on an open-bed trailer outside [a] wine bar on Guadalupe Street on Sunday evening."


"The sculpture began a 30-city tour Friday in Pearland [TX], near Houston, and will end up in Presidents Park near Deadwood, S.D., joining the 42 other giant presidential busts [82-year-old artist David] Adickes has already made. "

At least the artist used the right material for the bust - concrete.

FLAG DAY 2009

This caught my attention while I was on leave in Texas last month:

A small, neighborhood Flag Day gathering in Hyde Park on Sunday also featured the flag of another, lesser known country: Switzida.

Monika Zabcik, 9, and Paul Gold, 7, designed the flag of Switzida, an island nation the two are building on the computer.

"The stars represent the spirit of freedom, (and) the triangles represent how no matter if you're bizarre, like very different, or if you're just an average person, you're allowed to come," Monika said. "The square with the crosses, also known as the strikes in bowling, shows that even if you're not a winner, you can still be there."

Photo caption: "Fans of many flags gather for a Flag Day parade Sunday outside the Hyde Park Market Deli & Organic Grocery"

Flag Day is held every June 14 to commemorate the day that the Second Continental Congress adopted the American flag in 1777. Note the flag in the foreground and the location of the US flag at the far left.

Hyde Park is the Austin (TX) equivalent of the smugly left Takoma Park suburb outside Washington DC.

THE ILLUSION OF GOVERNMENT COMPETENCE

Here's a delightfully circular pair of posts to feed on. Start with this post from Instapundit. Follow the link to Shannon Love's post at Chicago Boyz, click back to the three Instapundit links (here, here, and here). Finish reading Love's post, and then skip to the comments for this:

I think what’s involved here is a difference in viewpoint between collectivists and individualists analagous to the former’s belief in positive rights and the latter’s emphasis on negative rights.

The US has over the years been lauded for, and criticized for, its belief in “American exceptionalsim”. I find that people dedicated to individual liberties find this exceptionalism to be derived from a systemic difference, i.e., the freedoms and progress of the American experiment are built on the foundation of the Constitution, and its accompanying intellectual and moral context. These individualists do not believe the US is immune from the mistakes of other societies, but that the structure of the state helps to prevent some of the more egregious abuses.

While collectivists are the loudest among those deriding the idea of exceptionalism, their fervent belief in the state as miracle worker is, in fact, a variation of that very concept. But, instead of an exceptional structure, the collectivist relies on a belief in exceptional people, right-thinking members of their own mythological group, who are free from the “false consciousness” that afflicts so many of those unworthy of inclusion in the mystical vanguard.

Collectivists can thus ignore everything that has happened in the past, or is happening presently right before their eyes, that might cast any doubt on their proposals to always increase the state and restrict the private, because those flawed examples are obviously the work of confused pretenders, or actual sabateurs, and would not be repeated by “the right people”.

Coupled with this view are the corollaries of self-description and intentions=achievement.

If someone describes themselves as a “peace activist” or “advocate for the poor”, and has the correct collectivist pedigree, why, then, that is what they are. It doesn’t matter, then, that they support Hamas, or volunteer to be human shields for gruesome dictators, or anything else. All that matters is that they claim to be activists for peace, then they are cleansed, as International Answer, or that British creep that used to be an MP, or crazy Cindy.

The same process cleanses anyone who claims the mantle of poverty advocate or social justice activist. The fact that they can swoon over Castro or Chavez, and defend any number of policies which empirical studies have shown to stifle economic progress and increase poverty is unimportant—they are advocating for the poor.

And that, of course, is the defining characteristic of those for whom intentions, not actual results, are all that matters. Pass a big new program to eliminate poverty, or raise school achievements, or save failing industries. Years later, when the program is analyzed and found to be worthless, at best, or actually harmful, as many have been, where is the fault? Is it with the idea behind the program? Oh no , never that. The failure is always due to—wait for it— not doing enough. Not enough funding, not enough power, not enough caseworkers, not enough, never enough.

The only possible answer, when everybody who matters knows that this is just, absolutely, positively, the right way to go: bigger programs with more money and more staff and more everything. After all, it just has to be good. It’s to help the poor, or feed the hungry, or (fill in the blank).

We have to do something. And you know those selfish, indifferent schmucks in the suburbs would never do anything voluntarily. The right thinking, truly enlightened, have to do it, by force if necessary.

When one has wrapped one’s mind in the warm, comforting cacoon of collectivist mythology, and therefore knows that all the open-minded, tolerant, clear thinking, truly concerned and compassionate people think just like you, and anyone who doesn’t is mean and greedy and lacks compassion and a true desire for peace and other really, really good things, the rest is easy.

As long as the right people are running things, it will be different this time. You just have to believe, and believe, and believe.

I couldn't have said it better.

ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Cap and Trade? Or Crap and Tax?

The new federal report on climate change gets a withering critique from Roger Pielke Jr., who says that it misrepresents his own research and that it wrongly concludes that climate change is already responsible for an increase in damages from natural disasters. Dr. Pielke is a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado.

Here’s his overall conclusion about the dangers of hyping the link between natural disasters and climate change: “Until the climate science community cleans up its act on this subject it will continue to give legitimate opportunities for opponents to action to criticize the climate science community.”

But ... but the science is settled. Isn't it?

HISTORY LESSON

There are two kinds of voters … those who remember what it was like when Jimmy Carter was president … and those who are starting to learn.

I remember those days - Jimmy Carter was better.

From the comment thread of a Pajamas Media post.

OH, MY! PAYOLA

Now it's the Federal Trade Commission:

Savvy consumers often go online for independent consumer reviews of products and services, scouring through comments from everyday Joes and Janes to help them find a gem or shun a lemon.

What some fail to realize, though, is that such reviews can be tainted: Many bloggers have accepted perks such as free laptops, trips to Europe, $500 gift cards or even thousands of dollars for a 200-word post. Bloggers vary in how they disclose such freebies, if they do so at all.

Heaven forbid! Advertisements may be misleading? And the average American may be too dumb to recognize it? Oh, my. What is this world coming to?

Need more proof that the government is too damned big?

Via Hot Air.

PRESCRIPTION CHEERIOS?

In a letter to manufacturer General Mills, the Food and Drug Administration wrote "Based on claims made on your product's label, we have determined (Cheerios) is promoted for conditions that cause it to be a drug because the product is intended for use in the prevention, mitigation and treatment of disease."

Do we need more proof the federal government is too big?

A FARMER'S TALE

Victor Davis Hanson has some words of wisdom for Barack Obama: "A sojourn at an elite university, you see, can sometimes become a very dangerous thing indeed."

CARS MAY BE BETTER THAN YOU THINK

Um, let's see. Today's conventional (liberal) wisdom seems to be that living in a walkable (e.g., dense) urban environment complete with mass transit and a minimal number of tiny, underpowered urban vehicles is environmental utopia: cheaper; cleaner, and healthier.

- no more car payments, gasoline bills, insurance payments;
- no more noxious fumes, less greenhouse gas;
- more room to walk, run, bike, and play.

Well and good ... except:

It costs more money to live without a car.

[A] car-free existence is more expensive. I live in Manhattan, so I can tell you how expensive it is to live here. It costs a lot less money to live in some non-walkable place in the midwest and own a car or two.

For whatever the reason, packing in people so close together that car-free life is feasible also has the effect of raising the price of everything else, and thus we can only conclude that densely populated areas are economically inefficient.

And taking public transportation may not be as environmentally-friendly as you think:

Two University of California environmental engineers, Mikhail Chester and Arpad Horvath, say seat occupancy and the underlying carbon costs can skew our understanding of emissions.

They maintain that in some circumstances, it is better to drive into a city in an SUV rather than take a train. That's because a car that is fully occupied may be responsible for less greenhouse gas per-mile traveled per-person, than a train that is only a quarter full.

I rather suspect that free enterprise is a much better mechanism for allocating resources than is conventional wisdom.

Which may be why liberals hate it.

JOURNALISTS DESERVE LOW PAY

From the Christian Science Monitor:

Journalists like to think of their work in moral or even sacred terms. With each new layoff or paper closing, they tell themselves that no business model could adequately compensate the holy work of enriching democratic society, speaking truth to power, and comforting the afflicted.

Actually, journalists deserve low pay.

Wages are compensation for value creation. And journalists simply aren't creating much value these days.

While I agree with the premise, the CSM argument that follows in the link above is baloney (or bologna, if you prefer). Journalists are deserving of low pay exactly because they are "enriching democratic society, speaking truth to power, and comforting the afflicted."

They'd deserve high(er) pay if they'd simply report the facts. [Ed. Hmm ... didn't "journalists" used to be called reporters?]

IS THERE A ROLE FOR EMPATHY IN THE LAW?

Before selecting Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee for the Supreme Court, President Obama said "We need somebody who's got the heart to recognize -- the empathy to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it's like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old. And that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges."

Liberals often make their case for empathy based on the perceived unfairness of outcomes such as differences in income, education and wealth. If the outcome isn't fair, then the rules should be 'bent' to assure a just outcome. Doubt about the fairness of a rule is sufficient to justify disregarding it. Walter Williams argues that fairness is a matter of process, not outcome: "Fairness ... must be settled by process questions such as: Were the rules unbiased and evenly applied? If so, [the] outcome is just and actions based on empathy would make it unjust."

Chief Justice John G. Roberts appeared to agree. In the opening remarks of his own confirmation hearings in 2005: ”Judges are like umpires. Umpires don’t make the rules; they apply them. The role of an umpire and a judge is critical. They make sure everybody plays by the rules. But it is a limited role.”

When Senator Jon Kyl asked Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor about the role of empathy in judging, she also appeared to agree: "I can only explain what I think judges should do, which is [that] judges can't rely on what's in their heart. They don't determine the law. Congress makes the laws. The job of a judge is to apply the law. And so it's not the heart that compels conclusions in cases. It's the law. The judge applies the law to the facts before that judge."

I wish I believed her.

CALL ME SNOTTY ... ER, SENATOR

California Democrat US Senator Boxer scolds Army Brigadier General Michael Walsh for calling her ma’am:

Do me a favor ... Could say senator instead of Ma'am. It's just a thing, I worked so hard to get that title, so I'd appreciate it, thank you.

The video clip is here.

I've had the same thing happen to me when I worked for a defense contractor.

"A point of personal perogative, Mr. Hankamer, but my title is Dr. A__."

This from a Government lab manager during a briefing (and never mind the fact that he knew from my business card that I also have an earned PhD).

In Sen. Boxer's case, it's not just the generic snottiness of (many of) our government employees - it's the abysmal ignorance of standard military protocol (from a United States Senator, for God's sake) and the complete lack of common courtesy.

The hostility of the Left to the military is palpable.

FROM J-SCHOOL TO G-SCHOOL

Gerbilism: (n) - national media coverage of the Obama administration.

"[G]erbilism" is a pretty good word for what's been going on in the news media these days. Gerbilism is an apt term for something that's soft and warm and cuddly, safe and timid, with no sharp teeth and no bite whatsoever.

The term was apparently coined by Doug Bates, associate editor of The Oregonian, in a commencement address to future "gerbilists" at the University of Oregon.

Thanks to Instapundit for the reference.

THE RECESSION IS REAL

Intellectually, I'm well aware that the US is in recession. My daughter was laid off from her former job; my 401k has dropped through the floor into the sub-basement; and I'm on leave without pay from my job.

But - my daughter found another job that pays better than her previous one; my 401k has some time to recover before I need it; and my leave without pay is really nothing more than an extended vacation used to deny Obama administration what they wrongfully consider to be their income.

But I'm lucky; I can afford to "go Galt" - for a while, at least.

Most Americans aren't so lucky, and reality hit hard last weekend at a rare visit (shopping is a chore) to the local shopping mall. My last visit was at least 8 months ago, perhaps more. Stores were open; shoppers plentiful.

This time - on a Saturday - the store vacancy rate had to be at least 20%, maybe 30%. Shoppers were present; not plentiful. Mall kiosks were gone. The anchor stores were still open, but selection limited, and stocks appeared low. Sales signs were everywhere.

It isn't pretty. It would be useful if our Obama factotums got out of their government-owned limousines and visited the local shopping mall. A little "reality trip" as it were.

OBAMACARE?

Canada care ... what's not to like? For a visit to Canadian healthcare, the video is here. It's long, but worth viewing in full.

DAY TRIP

These pictures were taken at Leesylvania State Park, on the Potomac River about 30 miles south of Washington, DC. The park is beautiful, with a marina overlooking a protected harbor and two boat ramps, each capable of serving up to 6 trailers at a time. Here’s the Half Shell, tied up at one of the piers [commercial fishing, or tour? I don’t know.].



The area has a rich history – in the 1950’s it was envisioned as a Vegas-style entertainment park, complete with a floating casino.



Virginia was a dry state at the time, with no gambling, hence the floating casino which was moored in Maryland waters (the border is 50 feet offshore). Here’s my wife and I, standing on a fishing pier nearby, one on each side of the border.



The survey marker is embedded in the pier deck. [And yes, a Virginia fishing license is acceptable, even though you’re fishing in Maryland waters.]



During the Civil War, Freestone Point (above the fishing pier) was a Confederate outpost overlooking the Potomac.





Only one cannon is left, although the bunkers for several more are still evident at the top of the bluff.



And of course, no day trip is complete without Bambi, who was having dinner beside the road.

THE BLOOM IS OFF THE ROSE

On Fox & Friends this morning, Karl Rove indicated that the American public is trending more conservative. Here's some data.

This first graphic is the Obama Approval Index from Rasmussen Reports. I've been tracking the approval index ever since the inauguration, waiting for it to hit zero, but never quite getting around to posting. The straight line is the trend line.



The second graphic appears to support Rove's contention. Green indicates those who "strongly support" President Obama; red indicates those who "strongly disapprove"; and black indicates those in the middle who lack a strong opinion.



Looking at the trend lines, the middle has remained relatively constant at about 1/3 while the strong disapprovals have gotten significantly higher and the strong approvals have gotten significantly smaller. The trend suggests that strong approvals are moving toward approvals, approvals are moving toward to disapprovals, and disapprovals are moving toward strong disapprovals.

If Obama's poll numbers reflect policy preferences, the Rasmussen data does indeed Rove's conservative trend.

CATS, CATS, ...

Shadow (top) and Diamond enjoying the evening on the back deck.

GONE GALT

I’ve taken advantage of a business “slump” to take 6 weeks of “unpaid vacation” – leave without pay. By my estimate, that will cost the Obama administration something on the close order of $4500 in lost income taxes plus about 6 tankfulls of lost gasoline tax.

It's a pittance compared to the other “John Galts” but as my father used to say, “Every little bit helps.”

Link via Instapundit.

RANDOM THOUGHT

What percentage of the under-30 male population realize that the purpose of the bill on a baseball cap is to shield the eyes from the sun, not the back of the neck from sunburn?

HOPE 'N CHANGE: OBESITY VS. CO2

[R]researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) ... transplanted a fat-burning pathway used by bacteria and plants into mice. The genetic alterations enabled the animals to convert fat into carbon dioxide and remain lean while eating the equivalent of a fast-food diet.

Interesting. So we may soon be able to reduce obesity at the cost of increasing global warming. Rather a conundrum for the nanny-staters, eh?

Via Instapundit.

WHERE ARE THE JOBS?

[T]hanks to Barack Obama and Democrats, the US unemployment rate is worse today than if they never would have passed their stimulus package. The Obama Administration predicted the unemployment rate with and without President Obama's stimulus package, the one that is supposed to "create or save" 3 million jobs.

Unfortunately, the red line shows the actual trend since the Stimulus was passed:



From Mickey in the comments at Gateway Pundit: “We get the government we deserve as a people. It just sux for the few that have it figured out and still have to go down with the ship of fools.”

The image that comes to mind in the Titanic under Captain Obama; and those of us who are “going Galt” are beginning to man the lifeboats. It’s not a pretty picture.

IN THE "YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME" COLUMN

Couple ordered to stop holding bible study at home without permit:

Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been told that they cannot invite friends to their San Diego, Calif. home for a Bible study — unless they are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to San Diego County.

Some California bureaucrat has a little too much time on his hands.

BUT - with California fiscally bankrupt, perhaps a little "pruning" of the bureaucracy is in order.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA

These were taken at the fireworks show in Old Town Manassas Virginia. The Manassas fireworks show is always better than the show on the Mall in Washington DC -- and has the side benefit of our being able to see the Manassas Park fireworks show simultaneously on the horizon.











And now, the video ....

TWO TEA PARTY VIDEOS

"It's not about the money." Here's a young man who gets it.



If the next generation is at all like these two young men, America will do just fine.



These video clips were taken during the audience participation period at the Manassas Tea Party on July 4.

[Update] More tea party news here.

MANASSAS INDEPENDENCE DAY TEA PARTY

Here are some photos from the local tea party on Independence Day. It was held at the Prince William County administration building, about midway between Manassas and Woodbridge in Virginia

Attendance was about 500; my estimate based on the number of cars in the nearby parking lots. There were about a dozen speakers, equally divided between scheduled and walk-up. As one might expect, cap-and-tax and Obamacare were the two most-discussed issues; somewhat unexpected (to me) was the cheering of an advocate of repealing the 16th Amendment (income tax). Is the Fair tax making a comeback?

There was a decent sprinkling of local politicians, mostly Republican and mostly listening. No campaign speeches to speak of, although there were a number of oblique references to getting rid of the current crop of incumbents.

Most surprising, to me at least, was the call for continuing tea parties - for here, on September 12, the day after 9/11, and on December 16, the anniversary of the original Boston tea party.

Here are the pictures.


It should be "You're" but the sentiment was well received.


Obviously the "cap-and-trade" (Waxman-Markey climate change) bill isn't sitting too well with tea party enthusiasts. If it carries, I predict there will be some (many?) congresscritters looking for real jobs in 2011.


Listening to the speakers - the oak trees were fine spots to sit and listen.


"Socialism isn't cool" - a prepared sign. Americans for Prosperity is testing out a branding effort. It might work.


By one estimate, 30-40% of the passers-by honked or waved approval of the protest.


A common sentiment throughout.


"It's not like you earned it."





















Or live for free in the Obama Nation?


I suppose global warming will be good when we're all living outside or in tents next winter.





















Yes.





















Instapundit would be proud of this one.


Chapter 13. That's where we're headed, I'm afraid.

Some final thoughts. First, the protestors were almost exclusively middle-class; not rich, not poor. Largely white, but with a smattering of minorities represented. Second, the protestors were extremely well-behaved. There was no police presence - none - at the tea party. And finally, the protest area was immaculate when we left. Even the trash bins were removed to the dumpsters before everyone departed.