THE NEW CIGARETTES: cellphones are possibly carcinogenic.

IS THAT BIRD IN THE TREE spying on you? DARPA is having a design competition for drones “that fly to and perch in useful locations at several kilometers range for periods of several hours, and provide continuous, real-time surveillance without dedicated or specialized operators.”

MORE FOOD STAMPS, or more jobs? Neither party has anything to be proud of.

MEMORIAL DAY - a last reminder.

MEMORIAL DAY 2011

SHOCKER: ‘Public Interest’ groups only interested in advancing government’s interest. And they use tax money to do it.

OOPS! Proposed 4G [cell phone] network interferes with GPS signals. Well, considering our federal government’s expressed desire to know where we are at all times, that might not be so bad.

HUNDREDS WILLING to volunteer for one-way Mars trip. It’s a bit late for me, but ....

FAA TO REGULATE MODEL AIRPLANES? Well, they’re big model airplanes.

GO AWAY, you bother me. Our political class; too busy to be bothered by the 'little people' they serve.

CALIFORNIA WOMAN nabbed trying to sell moon rock: “NASA will conduct tests on the rock to determine it contains lunar materials. If it is a moon rock, the woman could be charged with theft. If it's a fake, she could face charges of fraud.”

PRIVACY? And you thought there was such a thing as personal privacy (subscription required)?

Related item here.

REALITY SINKS IN? Even Liberals are beginning to admit that tax hikes on the “rich” won’t solve America’s debt crisis.

ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN CUCCINELLI on Virginia’s ObamaCare lawsuit:

My Fellow Virginians and Friends,

Two weeks ago, we had our oral argument in Virginia's case against the federal health care legislation - specifically against the individual mandate. It was an interesting day, and I wanted to offer you a few reflections on the hearing.

Virginia is in the 4th Circuit of federal appellate courts. The states of Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, and North and South Carolina are the states in the 4th Circuit. Last Tuesday, we argued before a 3 judge panel of the 4th Circuit. There are 14 judges on the entire bench in the 4th Circuit. Our 3 judge panel was randomly
selected from the judges on the 4th Circuit. As you may have read, our panel was composed of: Judge Motz, appointed in 1994 by President Clinton; Judge Davis, appointed in 2009 by President Obama; and Judge Wynn, appointed in 2010 by President Obama.

Also arguing in front of the same panel was Liberty University. We are in the interesting position in Virginia of having two different cases, with different parties, not one. There are two federal districts in Virginia - the Eastern District and the Western District, and there was a separate case in each district.

In the district court, Virginia's case was in the Eastern District, where we won. Liberty's case was brought in the Western District, where they lost. So, in the 4th Circuit, the U.S. had appealed our case and Liberty appealed its case.

In the 4th Circuit, one 3 judge panel cannot overrule another 3 judge panel. Thus, to maintain consistency in rulings, both cases were put in front of the same 3 judge panel.

The 4th Circuit is known for asking a lot of questions and probing the responses thoroughly. Our hearing was no exception. The two hearings were scheduled for about an hour and a half total, but they went well over two hours - approaching two and a half hours total.

The pressure that builds up on the lawyers in such an extended set of exchanges does serve a useful purpose. The lawyer for the federal government, the Acting Solicitor General of the U.S., was pushed into a couple of very candid statements that I found fascinating - especially at the very end of the hearing.

But first, it is helpful to have a brief reminder of the basics of the case - though I know most of you have been following this case closely.

There are four elements to this case: 1) standing, 2) the individual mandate under the commerce clause, 3) the penalty under the taxing power, and 4) any remedy, particularly in light of the absence of a severance clause in the bill. The fourth item was not addressed in the hearing, so I will just address the first three.

The Hearing.

The U.S. pushed hard to knock Virginia out on standing, i.e., the idea that Virginia doesn't even have the right to bring its case. The federal government seem down right offended with the concept that Virginia could have a law and when the federal government later enacts a conflicting law, that the clash between the two would be a sufficient basis for Virginia to bring a lawsuit.

One of the judges asked us "is all a state has to do to have standing to sue the federal government is pass a law?" Our answer? "Yes."

It's worth remembering that the states' representatives wrote the constitution that established our federal government, and it was adopted by the people's representatives in constitutional conventions across America. As one of my children might say, "we were here first."

It may appear to some to be inconvenient for states to have the authority of a co-sovereign with the federal government, but it seems a small price to pay for the federal government in exchange for its very existence. It is also critical to federalism that states be able to challenge federal overreaches of power that would trample state laws. It might be nice if we didn't have so many "opportunities" to address such overreaches of federal power, but they've been keeping us pretty busy in that regard!

During the hearing, there was a discussion of a 'parade of horribles.' One of the examples was, 'well, if Virginia can sue over this, then they could pass a law saying its citizens couldn't be sent to Afghanistan to fight the war.' Well, Virginia could theoretically pass such a law and even bring a lawsuit, which the federal government would quickly win because it has the power "to raise and support Armies" under Art. I, §8 of the constitution.

As we said in the courtroom, 'yes, Virginia would have standing - standing to lose the case.' Again, there may be an element of inconvenience to the federal government, but that hardly seems a significant concern in order to provide a co-sovereign the dignity of a mere attempt to protect its own code of laws.

The concept of state sovereign standing has been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court to allow a state to defend its code of laws. Every other federal circuit court of appeals to directly address the issue has found that a state has standing to defend its code of laws from federal challenge. I am hopeful that the 4th Circuit will come to the same conclusion in our case.

The Merits.

The issue that the Court spent the most time on was, not surprisingly, the individual mandate. As I mentioned earlier, I found two of the federal government's statements during the case to be particularly interesting.

The first statement was to describe what is supposedly being regulated via the individual mandate. The feds said fairly early in the oral argument that the individual mandate is part of an attempt to "regulate the decision to self-insure." This is their way of trying to cast an individual citizen's decision in commercial terms (remember, we're mainly debating the reach of the commerce clause).

It's a very clever way of saying 'we are regulating your decision to do nothing.'

The commerce clause cases during the last 100 years have addressed regulating some sort of activity; and they have used the word "activity." The feds are trying to overcome the fact that there is no activity being regulated, so they have to come up with creative excuses for activity and say that that's what the legislation regulates. Thus, in the hearing on May 10th, they argued that the "decision to self-insure" was the activity being regulated.

A problem with this line of argument is that it logically leads to a "decision" being
equivalent to an "activity." I.e., thinking something is the same as doing something. The district court judge in the case in D.C. ruled that the individual mandate is constitutional, and she actually acknowledged and approved of the fact that the individual mandate is regulating "mental activity." George Orwell would be proud, but let's face it, that judge accurately describes what the federal government is trying to do!

If you take a decision alone, without more, there's no activity there - just thought - then the government is equating inactivity to activity. That is their argument.

The second statement came nearly at the end of over two hours of discussion, questions and answers. One of the judges indicated that she was not comfortable with the federal government's attempt to address our activity/inactivity distinction, and in response, the lawyer for the federal government said that even if the court found that there was no activity of any kind, that the law was constitutional anyway. This was an astonishing statement.

In other words, instead of trying to convince the court that there was some kind of activity going on that the federal government was regulating with the individual mandate, they finally broke down and said that - in their view - they didn't even need any activity anyway, they could just order you to go buy their government-approved product (in this case, health insurance).

This would convert Congress' authority to regulate interstate commerce into an unbounded power - just as I have been arguing all along.

Up until this point, the federal government has danced around this issue. But when pressed, they finally conceded the sweeping nature of their claim of power.

If the feds' position is upheld, it would essentially swallow up much of the rest of the constitution. If you don't even need to do anything to be subject to federal regulation under the commerce power, then the feds can reach vast areas of our society now thought immune from federal authority.

Oh, and by the way, federalism would be dead and liberty would be badly damaged...

That's why I always say that this case is about liberty, not health care.

What's Next?

It will likely take a couple of months for the 4th Circuit to issue its order in our
case. If we win, I suspect that the federal government will NOT appeal to the Supreme Court, rather, they would attempt to drag the case out by seeking what is called "en banc" review. That means a rehearing by the full 4th Circuit - all 13 active judges. Only then would whichever side loses at that hearing be able to appeal to the Supreme Court.

If we lose, we will likely appeal to the Supreme Court directly, in the hopes of resolving this case as quickly as possible.

As we wait for the outcome in our case, there are three others headed to appellate courts around the country.

On June 1st, the 6th Circuit will hear an appeal in Cincinnati of a case brought by the St. Thomas More Society and others.

On June 8th, the 11th Circuit will hear the appeal of 26 of our sister states in Atlanta. Their case is an appeal brought by the U.S. Government, as was the situation in our case.

Then, in September, the case in Washington, D.C. that I referenced earlier ("mental
activity") will also be argued.

As I get news of the other cases, I will pass it along to you. And of course, when we get our order, I'll let you know!

So it's not enough to regulate activity, it's time to regulate thought ....

THINK PROGRESS: Republican Jon Huntsman says idea of border fence ‘repulses’ him. That’s not quite accurate, since he also said “... the situation is such that I don’t think we have a choice.”

Read the comments to get an idea of the sheer repulsiveness of the liberals who flock to Think Progress. And these are the people who think it’s Republicans who vote against their own self-interest?

Obama White House appoints online pushback czar Director of Progressive Media & Online Response.

And guess what? His wife, Nita Chaudary, behind the “Betray Us” Ad?

SOMETIMES A PICTURE really is worth 1,000 words.

NETANYAHU ADDRESSES JOINT MEETING OF CONGRESS: “When we say never again, we mean never again.” A video is here.

JEEZ: Discrimination against military vets by a Federal agency.

OBAMA'S 2012 CAMPAIGN THEME:


The caption reads "because a time out will damage his self-esteem." Linked from the PJ Tatler.

BUMPER STICKER seen on the road in Manassas:

WAG MORE, bark less

Sensible advice.

THOMAS SOWELL: "Entitlement" is just a fancy word for dependency.

Read it all.

NOT SO. They called Barack Obama (and Al Gore).


But then it was a bad idea. The original cartoon is here.

HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER ERIC CANTOR: Home Depot wouldn’t get founded in today’s regulatory environment.



Linked from Disrupt the Narrative.

GINGRICH IMPLOSION may be good for the GOP: “[A]n ‘exceptionally broad array of conservatives—from the DC establishment to the talk radio world to the grass roots and the Tea Party’ rallied together to defend the Ryan plan. This is a huge leap forward for fiscal responsibility for the GOP. Newt has solidified the reduction of entitlement spending as the new litmus test of GOP primary politics. Other 2012 campaigns ignore this lesson at their peril.”

WHERE DOES IT END? Do doctors have a right to invade patient privacy?

Short answer. Sure, if it's for a reason the Left approves. Otherwise, no.

MARK STEYN: Yes, they Kahn! “Once in a while ... a chance encounter between the seigneurs and their subjects will go awry, but more often ... it will be understood that the Great Men of the Permanent Governing Class cannot be bound by the rules they impose on the rest of you schmucks.”

SENATE DEMOCRATS still not letting anyone see their budget. That’s because they don’t have one.

EXPECTEDLY UNEXPECTEDLY home construction continues to fall.

VIRGIN GALACTIC releases video of SpaceShip Two’s first 'feathered' test flight.

FROM MY EMAIL: "Fender Skirts."

I know some of you will not understand this message, but I bet you know someone 'of certain age' who might. I came across this phrase yesterday. 'FENDER SKIRTS.'

A term I haven't heard in a long time, and thinking about 'fender skirts' started me thinking about other words that quietly disappear from our language with hardly a notice like 'curb feelers.'

And 'steering knobs.' (AKA) 'suicide knob,' 'neckers knobs.'

Since I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally went that direction first.

Any kids will probably have to find some older person over 50 to explain some of these terms to you. Remember 'Continental kits?' They were rear bumper extenders and spare tire covers that were supposed to make any car as cool as a Lincoln Continental.

When did we quit calling them 'emergency brakes?' At some point 'parking brake' became the proper term. But I miss the hint of drama that went with 'emergency brake.'

I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks are gone who would call the accelerator the 'foot feed.' Many today do not even know what a clutch is or that the dimmer switch used to be on the floor.

Didn't you ever wait at the street for your daddy to come home, so you could ride the 'running board' up to the house?

Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth but never anymore - 'store-bought.' Of course, just about everything is store-bought these days. But once it was bragging material to have a store-bought dress or a store-bought bag of candy.

'Coast to coast' is a phrase that once held all sorts of excitement and now means almost nothing. Now we take the term 'world wide' for granted. This floors me.

On a smaller scale, 'wall-to-wall' was once a magical term in our homes. In the '50s, everyone covered his or her hardwood floors with, wow, wall-to-wall carpeting! Today, everyone replaces their wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors. Go figure.

When was the last time you heard the quaint phrase 'in a family way ?' It's hard to imagine that the word 'pregnant' was once considered a little too graphic, a little too clinical for use in polite company, so we had all that talk about stork visits and 'being in a family way' or simply 'expecting.'

Apparently 'brassiere' is a word no longer in usage. I said it the other day and my daughter cracked up. I guess it's just 'bra' now. 'Unmentionables' probably wouldn't be understood at all.

I always loved going to the 'picture show,' but I considered 'movie' an affectation.

Most of these words go back to the '50s, but here's a pure '60s word I came across the other day 'rat fink.' Ooh, what a nasty put-down!

Here's a word I miss - 'percolator.' That was just a fun word to say. And what was it replaced with 'Coffee maker.' How dull... Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this.

I miss those made-up marketing words that were meant to sound so modern and now sound so retro. Words like 'DynaFlow'[Buick's automatic transmission] and 'Electrolux' [vacuum cleaner] Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with 'SpectraVision!'

Food for thought. Was there a telethon that wiped out lumbago? Nobody complains of that anymore. Maybe that's what Castor oil cured, because I never hear mothers threatening kids with Castor oil anymore.

Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list. The one that grieves me most is 'supper.' Now everybody says 'dinner.' Save a great word. Invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.

I knew I was of that 'certain age' when I first saw 'antique' license plates on a car that was manufactured in my youth.

WHAT HATH AFFIRMATIVE ACTION WROUGHT?


Compliments of Chris Muir.

ULTRALIGHT AIRCRAFT now ferrying drugs across U.S.-Mexico border.

BILLIONS FOR EGYPT’S UNEMPLOYED, but what about ours?

A CHEER FOR ORBITZ: “We have a strict policy of tolerance and non-discrimination, and that means we don’t favor one political side over another. Tolerance is a two-way street.... We’re going to advertise on conservative TV stations, liberal TV stations and — if there are any out there — unbiased news broadcasts.”

Emphasis is mine.

THE WORLD’S going to end tomorrow. I wonder if it will be before or after my rabies shot.

NEWT GINGRICH, NASCAR CANDIDATE? “[O]ne who can draw big crowds as anxious to witness a shocking crash as they are in seeing who finishes first.”

THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT: does your cat have an iPad yet?

TEXAS GOV. RICK PERRY giving thought to a presidential run?

THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT and laws of physics will always win.

Well, yes, the “laws of physics” aren’t voluntary. But it would be nice if more people - like the author of this letter - understood them.

RETIREMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY: keep working until you drop. “It's a wonderful opportunity ....” Yeah.

QUOTE OF THE YEAR:

Thanking Obama for killing Bin Laden is like going into McDonalds and thanking Ronald McDonald for the hamburger. It's the guy cooking the burger that should get the credit, not the clown.

INTERESTING OBSERVATION:

1. The sport of choice for the urban poor is BASKETBALL.
2. The sport of choice for maintenance level employees is BOWLING.
3. The sport of choice for front-line workers is FOOTBALL.
4. The sport of choice for supervisors is BASEBALL
5. The sport of choice for middle management is TENNIS.

And ...

6. The sport of choice for corporate executives and officers is GOLF.

So we can conclude the higher you go in the corporate structure, the smaller your balls become. There must be a ton of people in Washington playing marbles!

Both from my email.

DEBATING SPACE: [The] National Forensic League — the national honor society that promotes debating skills for high school students ... has announced their policy topic for the 2011 – 2012 debating season.

Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its exploration and/or development of space beyond the Earth’s mesosphere.

The comments are great, but the punch line, I think, is this: “The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made the sensible economic decision that there’s no good reason to go into space–each discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational decision.”

AFTER A FOX ‘beat up’ one of our cats (she’s okay) and my wife and I having to take the precautionary rabies shots (no big deal beyond having to put up with the ER martinets), we put out a trap in the back yard. Here’s Br’er Fox:


This one’s a healthy kit, and I released it back into the forest this morning. I expect it’ll be a little more suspicious of the next “free lunch.”

SARAH PALIN on the National Labor Relations Board fiasco: "Does the President realize the real concern here is not that businesses will choose to locate in one state over another? It’s that businesses will choose to locate in other countries because thanks to the Obama administration’s job killing policies and over-reaching regulatory boards the business climate in the United States is growing toxic."

BOEING IS JUST THE BEGINNING: “The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) raised a lot of eyebrows by filing a complaint against Boeing for opening a new plant in a right-to-work state. But that action is just the beginning of the board’s aggressive new pro-union agenda.”

Under current NLRB rules, companies can make major business decisions (like relocating a plant) without negotiating with their union — as long as those changes are not primarily made to reduce labor costs. For example, a business can unilaterally merge several smaller operations into one larger facility to achieve administrative efficiencies. Companies only have to negotiate working conditions, not their business plans.

The NLRB apparently intends to change that.

Let the unions start their own businesses and compete with the rest.

WHITE HOUSE tries to shut the Boston Herald out of press pool.

Don’t I recall someone once saying words to the effect that you don’t want to start a fight with an organization that buys ink by the barrel?

MANY USES FOR PRINTED COMPONENTS AND TRANSPARENT ANTENNAS: “IEEE members at Drexel University, in Philadelphia, are developing transparent antennas that can be customized along with inkjet-printable RF components to form circuits applicable to all sorts of things. These include tracking military troop movements, monitoring health conditions, preventing shoplifting, and warning of impending car collisions.”

And, embedded in your clothing without your knowledge, tracking you. Think about it.

EXCITING FIND: possible planets without orbits.


And if as thought they’re more common than stars, then the universe is beginning to get a bit crowded.

LAWS ARE FOR LITTLE PEOPLE: Nearly 20 percent of new Obamacare waivers go to gourmet restaurants, nightclubs, fancy hotels in Nancy Pelosi’s district.

MOTHER NATURE STRIKES AGAIN: Biofuels can be dirtier than fossil fuels.

JUST GREAT: these are the people charged with developing the President’s budget.

A ‘TWO-FER’: Obama’s stimulus created/saved 450,000 government jobs and destroyed/forestalled one million private sector jobs.

Nice work, Barack ....

HEH. a true member of the Kennedy clan.

INTERNET FORECAST: cloudy, with a high probability of getting hacked. And you thought you liked cloud computing ....

ANOTHER REASON to join the Tea Party. Or at least be a fellow traveler.

THE GREAT BATTERY EXCHANGE: “[A] Silicon Valley start-up ... just completed a seven-month trial in Tokyo during which electric vehicles with depleted batteries pulled into a station and pulled out a few minutes later with a fully charged battery pack.”

Uh, huh ... to make that work with my daily commute I’d have to pull in for a battery swap every day - and with no miles to spare.

THE ROAD TO HELL IS PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS: Obama’s war on fun.

On the whole, I prefer House Speaker John Boehner's attitude. When Fox News' Chris Wallace asked the Ohio Republican, "Why don't you stop smoking?" Boehner replied, "It's a legal product. I choose to smoke. Leave me alone."

Agreed.

PERHAPS WE SHOULD require simulator training as part of the presidential primaries ....

AND EVENTUALLY, I SUPPOSE, lock your doors and drive you to the nearest police station.

RETHINKING PARENT’S WORK SCHEDULES: “[M]ore business should consider changing the way they think about their human resources.” Agreed, and I’ll believe a start has been made when the phrase “human resources” has been buried deep within the dustbin of history.

PRIVACY ON THE SMART GRID: Are smart meters spies? They don't have to be, but given our political class’s need for control, they probably will.

BAD NEWS FOR DEMOCRATS: A new Gallup poll shows American oppose raising the debt limit 47 percent to 19 percent. Among Republicans it’s 70 – 8. Among independents, 46 to 15. Only Democrats favor raising the limit and then by only a 33 to 26 margin. That’s a pretty sizeable bargaining chip for the Republicans - if they have the courage to use it.

TWO ITEMS:

The aging nuclear workforce: “One-third of the workers at the 104 nuclear power plants in the United States are eligible to take their accumulated knowledge with them into retirement within the next five years.” The bright side is that there will be plenty of jobs for new inexperienced engineers.

iPhone tracking isn't all that accurate: “Researchers ... reported that the location data can be off by kilometers and the time data by weeks.” You don’t have to be an NCIS fan to wonder if your iPhone will put you right smack in the middle of a crime scene.

Kind of makes you feel warm and fuzzy all over, doesn’t it?

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW about climate change:

Official climate science, which is funded and directed entirely by government, promotes a theory that is based on a guess about moist air that is now a known falsehood. Governments gleefully accept their advice, because the only ways to curb emissions are to impose taxes and extend government control over all energy use. And to curb emissions on a world scale might even lead to world government — how exciting for the political class!

How exciting, indeed.

WELL, THIS IS ENCOURAGING: “So I think that ultimately retirees are going to end up consuming less than they currently expect to. And given the political economy of it all, I expect the burden to fall more heavily on those who have saved than on those who haven't (emphasis added).”

WHAT COULD BE CLEARER EVIDENCE of the intellectual bankruptcy of liberalism? The label “Democrat.”

I had the misfortune to have to watch MSNBC's Hardball while waiting at the ER this evening. The label fit.

SEN. AL FRANKEN (D-MN): no one is ever forced to join a union. Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY): unless you want a job.

I understand Ronald McDonald may be out of a job soon. Perhaps he should run against Sen. Franken in the next election. Then there would be a real clown in office.

JUPITER MOON IO is “the only place other than Earth in our solar system where volcanoes occur, and scientists have found an ocean of magma beneath its surface that feed its potent eruptions.”

Obviously the Ionians are climate-change deniers.

JEFF JACOBY on “RomneyCare” and the individual (“personal responsibility”) mandate.

Let me choose the level and type of health insurance I can buy and then -and only then - will I consider a mandate.

JEEZ ... IS COMPETENT GOVERNMENT AN OXYMORON? New Jersey almost sells confidential information on thousands of residents at auction.

You can’t help but wonder.

ARE COMPACT FLUORESCENT LIGHTS really cheaper over time? According to the spreadsheet embedded at the link, yes. Yet I’m suspicious, for the simple reason that if the spreadsheet is correct, there would be no need for government intervention in the marketplace.

AND LIBERALS who live and feed on OPM (other people’s money) aren’t generous. Follow the link.

REPUBLICAN HOPEFUL Herman Cain storms Texas. Some quotes:

• Border security - “Instead of suing Arizona, they should have gotten a prize!”
• Liberals - “The problem with liberals is, they can’t handle the facts!”
• Race - “I am black, but I happen to be an American first.
• Conservatism - “I escaped the Democrat plantation and I’m not going back.”

I’ll be watching him as the debates continue.

AIR FORCE ONE aborts landing. Obama was back-seat piloting again.

GOOD RIDDANCE: Last domestic car dealership in San Francisco to close its doors. Maybe when the next earthquake occurs, San Francisco will be closer to its major supplier.

IS YOUR NOSE a scanning tunneling microscope?

YES, LOCK IN THE ‘YOUNG & STUPID’ VOTE. Should the votes of the young count more than the votes of the old?

And, yes, I read the update. Young Ezra needs to revisit his Early American history to understand why our Founders chose a bicameral legislature.

WHO'S RIGHT ON MEDICARE REFORM?



The complete post is here.

DOES THE OBAMA ADMININSTRATION have to be hit in the head with a sledgehammer in order to see the obvious?

Boeing CEO Jim McNerney: The Obama NLRB’s heavy-handed move against Boeing in South Carolina could end up hurting union states and shipping American jobs overseas.

I guess so.

WHO’S READY FOR $6 GAS? Well, we’re close. I filled up last night at $4.20 a gallon, a 25-cent increase from the last fill-up only 10 days ago (and all day the radio was assuring me that gas prices were “coming down”).

In a morbidly grim way, I almost look forward to $6/gallon gasoline, because it will assure that my cat will wipe the floor with Obama in the 2012 election.


A real “fat cat” for President.

PAUL RYAN ON MEDICARE: “Our plan is to give seniors the power to deny business to inefficient providers. Their plan is to give government the power to deny care to seniors.”

Read his whole speech.

GAIA WORSHIP: "National Histrionic, er, Geographic’s relentless litany of human-generated threats smacks of Planned Parenthood in a pith helmet."

Even though the pictures are always beautiful, I've reached the point where I won't even open the magazine for fear I might accidentally read the text.

SARAH PALIN: a grateful nation.

And not a single 'I' to be found.

WHO REALLY OWNS your Facebook and twitter identities? Not you.

FREE FROM BIN LADEN: Washington Post Eugene Robinson may have finally gotten one right.

Stopped clocks are right at least once a day.

BIZARRE? Not really; he’s a Democrat.

“WE ARE ABOUT two judges away from having the entire program of leftist conventional wisdom ruled a state church.”

And if you’ll allow me the analogy of the telephone and television being ‘doorways’ to my home, the Left does come door-to-door proselytizing. Jehovah’s Witnesses, at least, are polite (and will take 'no' for an answer).

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID: Let’s just (unconstitutionally) tax the hell out of certain oil companies.

The man is a joke - a bad joke. And his amendment failed, too.

FROM BALLISTICS TO PROGRAMMING: How some math-savvy women helped win World War II and became the first computer programmers.

The podcast is long, but worth listening to. The documentary, if you can find it, is Top Secret Rosies: The Female Computers of World War II.

THANKS TO ‘CASH FOR CLUNKERS’ the price of used cars has lately soared to a modern-day record.

GEORGE WILL: History 101 for Liberals. I’d be surprised at their ignorance except that I know - as Neal Boortz so succintly puts it - “they were educated in government schools.”

HAPPINESS is seeing Illinois in the rear-view mirror.

HARRY REID: but, but ... gold subsidies aren’t the same oil subsidies!

HOW TO SHUT DOWN THE INTERNET: use a shovel.

OOPS! VERIZON overbilled 15 million customers for years because of ‘software errors’. Uh-huh. The ‘error’ was in not hiding the software well enough.

THE STEALTH TAX (‘DEBT TRIGGER’) is back.

Obama administration budget director Jack Lew met with Senate Democrats to try to sell them on the need to include a debt trigger as part of the Biden talks. The debt trigger, which Obama proposed in his April deficit-reduction speech, would require spending cuts or tax increases to reduce the deficit.

Some would say that the Democrats just haven’t gotten the message about tax cuts. Personally, I doubt that. It’s all about control; they need the tax money to pay off their many syncophants.

‘TRANSFORMERS’ COME TO LIFE: little rolling robot transforms into helicopter.

WHO KNEW? Spending cuts are more effective than tax hikes at lowering deficits.

ANOTHER STEALTH TAX HIKE: Senate Democrats push to end tax breaks for big oil companies in order to cut deficit. And of course it won’t increase the price of gas ....

THE ACADEMY’S SELF-INFLICTED WOUNDS: “The conscious setting up of academia as an adversary to the larger society, something that makes the larger society less interested in footing the bill once it’s [been] noticed ....”

Not to mention the conscious devaluation of the worth of higher education.

BUT OF COURSE. The only way to make ObamaCare “work” is to ensure you can’t seek health care elsewhere.

REDISTRUBUTION OF INCOME: the average retiree couple (us) will be getting roughly a million dollars through Social Security and Medicare throughout their retirement - courtesy of you younger workers.

Read the comments. What’s interesting is to note is that (a) there is a growing realization that Social Security/Medicare are real problems that can’t be kicked down the road any longer; (b) the retirees are increasingly willing to take a hit in order to protect their heirs; and (c) there’s still way to much ignorance on the subject in the general public.

An earlier post (linked to a Power Line post) is here.

MEMPHIS, TN, before and after. Yes, the flooding was bad, but these NASA photos lend a little perspective to the hyperventilation of the television news services.

IN REMEMBRANCE: One of the forefathers of the internet has died.

“WHEN ALL THE NEW YORK TIMES can complain about is the color of buildings in Baghdad, can we officially say that the war was a success?"

The story is here.

ANOTHER 204 OBAMACARE WAIVERS; total now 1,372. As I wrote earlier, why not just list the waivers that haven't yet been granted?

Update: And rising; Fox News just reported 217 new waivers earlier this evening.

BUT IT’S NOT POLITICALLY MOTIVATED: I.R.S. Moves to Tax Gifts to Groups Active in Politics.

SCREW UP and what do you do? Produce a video to improve your image.

HAVE ANOTHER WAFFLE, BARRY. President Obama is explicitly advising Senate Democrats not to take firm positions on anything.

ANOTHER REASON to get rid of the EPA.

A RANDOM THOUGHT about the arrogance of the environmentalist movement: “I’m here; now the rest of you leave.” It’s NIMBYism at its worst - not just my back yard, but yours as well.

THE BEGINNINGS of a real nationwide health information network? I’d feel a lot better about electronic health records if I believed patient privacy meant privacy for the patient. My sense so far is that my medical records are available to the highest bidder.

WORLD ENDS; NO ONE NOTICES: Today is the day that the U.S. government is expected to hit the $14.294 trillion debt ceiling. But instead of Armageddon, the sun rose in the east and Asian markets did not disintegrate. Life in the United States, and everywhere, is proceeding normally.

THE FIRST FIVE Presidential Emergency Text Messages. And read the comments for the rest.

OH, MY: there are too many of those damned Republicans on Sunday television getting their message out.

ENDEAVOUR’S FINAL FLIGHT. I just wish they’d carried the video through tank separation.

ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION editorial writer Cynthia Tucker blames you for high gasoline prices.

Reader Thulsa Doom takes her down in the comment section (quoted in full):

I will agree and disagree with some of what you say. First of all alternative energy programs are funded as you noted by the govt for the most part because they simply aren’t economically feasible- they just aren’t competitive with oil and won’t be for the foreseeable future. Except for natural gas of which we have vast stores. We just have to build the pumps and infrastructure and fund a gradual move to natural gas over a 5-10 year time frame.

The problem is blind ideology - Obama does not want this because natural gas is a fossil fuel - regardless of the fact that its cleaner than oil.

We could go to the electric car but the batteries for the most part are going to have to be charged - with nuclear or coal fired power plants. Obama opposes both.

Oil is a finite resource? And your point? The Saudis still have hundreds of years left of reserves, we still discover oil deposits, and we now know and now have the technology to extract billions of new barrels of oil from the tar sands here in North America. And as I said we have enormous stores of natural gas to turn to. Why are we not doing that?

Obama has a clue as to what he’s talking about unlike his predecessor? Really? Bush was in the oil business. I think he has forgotten more about energy and oil in particular than Obama has or will ever learn. There is no factual basis for making a statement that Obama knows what he is talking about. Clearly the man hasn’t a clue.

Obama can’t fix 30 years of policy in 3 years? I’ll agree with you on that but exactly what has he done? He helps Brazil drill for oil off its shores but refuses to reallow drilling off our own shores, he opposes coal because he thinks it causes asthma- yes, he actually said that in a speech the other day, he also talked as a candidate about making coal obsolete via cap and trade policies that would make it too expensive to use coal, and the man opposes nuclear power.

He spoke about creating millions of green jobs. Really? Where are they? I haven’t seen one.

Does this man really think that wind and solar power can fuel our economy? Speaking of that remember that solar panel company in Mass. that the stimulus funded with 42 million of U.S taxpayer dollars? They packed up and shipped(outsourced) the jobs to China and closed the plant here. Why? Because what they are doing isn’t feasible on a mass scale.

How about wind? T. Boone Pickens - one of our great energy businessman - can’t make it work. He gave up recently on it and concluded it just isn’t going to work on a mass scale. Does Obama know more than this 60 something year old man who has spent his whole life in energy development?

Face it. This clown has not a clue as to what he is doing. None. Zilch. Nada. And to add insult to injury Georgia voters are going to pay an extra 3 cents per gallon tax as of May 1.

Oh but Obama has responded. He did appoint a commission to “look into” why gas prices are rising. What will result from this commission. Not a dang thing.

The Obama administration’s economic policy is to drive Americans to an urban lifestyle wholly dependent on mass transportation - except for themselves.

TEN STATES where:

• pensions are running out of money;
• people can’t afford gasoline;
• with the worst income inequality.

What is interesting about the data is that the 10 states where pension funding is worst tend to be blue (and highly unionized) while the other ’10 worst’ state lists tend to be more eclectic.

Originally linked from Instapundit.

WHEN WILL THE GOP go on offense over Obama’s Medicare Plan? Now is the time. Don’t retreat; repeal.

DON’T KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING? Shoe radar helps you find your way.

SPACE SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR is scheduled for launch at 8:56 am tomorrow. Here’s a time-lapse video of the launch process from an earlier shuttle (Discovery) mission.

BUT WHAT IF YOU LOSE IT? Terabyte USB drives possibly available soon.

ANOTHER LIBERAL sees the light. It seems to me that liberals are much like the flourescent lights they so dearly love: it takes time for the light to come on. I just wish that time wasn’t 30-plus years.

Read the full article here.

GEORGE WILL: the next President will be Obama, Pawlenty, or Daniels. I don't know about the other two, but I'm sure it won't be Obama.

“BY CONTRAST, we have never had an Establishment that was so ill-equipped to lead. It is the Establishment, not the people, that is falling down on the job.”

Linked from Instapundit. The original article is here.

FORMER PLANETARY SOCIETY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LOU FRIEDMAN: Public-Private Ventures Needed In Space. I don’t know. My thought is that private entrepeneurial development is proceeding much better that I would have expected, and so the government should stay out (other than as a customer).

CATO INSTITUTE’S DANIEL IKENSON schools Washington Post columnist:

E.J. Dionne seems perfectly comfortable with the fact that he doesn’t understand economics—as long as the Washington Post continues to allow him to interpret economic events in a manner that comports with his political predispositions. Dionne sees GM’s recent good fortune as evidence of the propriety of government “step[ping] in when the market fails.” Dionne, like others before him, stands slack-jawed, in awe, ready and willing to buy the Brooklyn Bridge, donning narrow blinders and viewing just a narrow sliver of the world, oblivious to the fact that related events are transpiring in the other 359 degrees that surround him.

Read it all.

VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN CUCCINELLI: Reasserting Federalism in Defense of Liberty.

OOPS! ANOTHER of those pesky unintended consequences: Obama restrictions on new oil exploration in Alaska put the Trans Alaska Pipeline at risk.

RIGHT TO WORK REBOUNDS: Legislation that would allow private-sector workers to opt out of joining unions is close to becoming law in both New Hampshire and Missouri.

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE for keeping kids safe on the internet? Umm, ... parents?

PROOF AND CONSEQUENCES: how to avoid 'proofiness' (fake numbers). My favorite comment: “I think there's a large group of people who are producing proofiness on an industrial scale for public consumption.”

LIBERALISM DEFINED.


Half of this Prickly City cartoon.

JEFF JACOBY: John Kerry is smarter than Barack Obama. Well, yes, but that’s still not saying very much.

FIREBIRD SPY PLANE: the pilot is optional.

FROM MY EMAIL, a reminder:

George W. Bush, after the capture of Saddam Hussein:

The success of yesterday's mission is a tribute to our men and women now serving in Iraq. The operation was based on the superb work of intelligence analysts who found the dictator's footprints in a vast country. The operation was carried out with skill and precision by a brave fighting force. Our servicemen and women and our coalition allies have faced many dangers in the hunt for members of the fallen regime, and in their effort to bring hope and freedom to the Iraqi people. Their work continues, and so do the risks. Today, on behalf of the nation, I thank the members of our Armed Forces and I congratulate 'em.

Barack Obama, after the killing of Osama bin Laden:

And so shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al Qaeda, even as we continued our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat his network. Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground. I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside of Pakistan. And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and I authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice. Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Not a hint of narcissism in that last speech, is there?

MARK STEYN ON NATIONAL HEALTH CARE: the usual oozing pustuled behemoth of drearily foreseeable unforeseen consequences.

KRAUTHAMMER on Demagoguery 101.

GREENLAND: maybe this global warming thing isn’t so bad after all.

HUCKABEE DECIDES not to run (on Fox News, moments ago). I rather suspected that would be the case. It'll be interesting to see how the other candidates, potential candidates (Palis?), and the polls respond.

HEH. THE WAGES OF (UNION) SIN: “[P]ublic employee unions in Wisconsin may just choose to decertify instead of facing the yearly recertification votes required by Gov. Scott Walker’s budget bill. The [Milwaukee] Journal-Sentinel reports: ‘Under Walker’s legislation, public employers could no longer collect membership dues on behalf of unions and workers would no longer have to pay dues to unions if they decline to do so. All that leaves little incentive for unions to keep their official status.’ Instead, government unions may reorganize as voluntary organizations that would advocate on other issues important to members."

CELLPHONES TAKE THE WITNESS STAND: you may have a Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate yourself - but your cell phone doesn’t.

RAND PAUL: Making health care a ‘right’ turns doctors into slaves.


Not quite true, as a doctor still retains the right to quit practicing medicine, but close enough for all practical purposes (that's engineering-speak for essentially correct).

“I WAS VERY ANTI-BUSH. I’m a Democrat, I’ve got the canceled checks to prove it, and suddenly I’m the enemy? Me? Me?” Heh. That light at the end of the tunnel was an oncoming train. And judging by the tax money it needs, it must have been Amtrak (the Obama Express).

Linked from Instapundit.

MORE REASON to lock the cell phone in the trunk of my car. Just how far will the nannies go?

Just a thought: if the warning were for say, Times Square, wouldn't it be faster to just grab a bullhorn and shout "Get the hell out!" (4 syllables and 16 characters, excluding the exclamation point).

Update & bump to top: Chris Muir isn't fond of the idea either.

FIRST THERE WAS THE LASER, now there’s the anti-laser.

TALKING POINTS MEMO asks if there are any pro-choice Republicans left in Congress. That’s a fair question. So is this: Are there any pro-life Democrats left in Congress?

I don’t have answers to either question.

GOOGLE’S BLOGGER OUTAGE makes the case against a cloud-only strategy. Amen to that. I’ve never been a fan of “cloud computing” since in its essence, it is nothing more than a return of the “dumb terminal” strategy that pre-dated personal computers/computing.

SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT: ban the World of Warcraft.

MITCH DANIELS FOR PRESIDENT?

[There was] no real news came out of last night’s Indiana state Republican Party dinner. Cheri Daniels gave a well-received speech, but offered no insight into which way she is leaning. If anything, Mitch threw cold water on the possibility of a run saying, “You ought not underestimate the fact that there’s not one woman involved – there’s five,” referring to Daniels four daughters.

The reason for his families hesitation has been amply demonstrated this week with the Indianapolis Star, New York Times, AP, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post, all doing profiles of the Daniels family, including his divorce and remarriage to Cheri. The Post reported that a rival campaign even offered up contact info for the other man’s ex-wife. Daniels potential rivals clearly want the Daniels family to know that the primary will be every bit as dirty as they think it could be (emphasis added).

Meanwhile, CBS News reports that if Daniels should run, he has an impressive list of endorsements lined up including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. CBS also reports that former First Lady Laura Bush has called Cheri personally with support.

My sympathies are with the Daniels family. What decent family would want to subject themselves to the vicious slander sure to come from the opposition just to run for public office? Nevertheless, I hope Daniels has the courage to to so - and the willingness to “punch back twice as hard”.

From the Washington Examiner’s daily email.

AIRSHIPS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY


Long-duration, heavy-lift designs breathe new life into the world's oldest aircraft technology.

IT HAS BEEN MORE THAN 700 DAYS since Senate Democrats have voted on a budget.

IS MICHELE BACHMANN RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT? In a word, yes. If you want to encourage her, answer ‘No’ to this poll and then contribute $50 or more to her campaign.

A FEDERAL JUDGE has refused to block a new Indiana law that cuts off public funding for Planned Parenthood.

CALL IN THE EPA: Study finds cell phones caused mysterious worldwide bee deaths.

Surely the EPA will ban cell phone usage under the auspices of the Endangered Species Act ....

Historical note. Science fiction author Robert Heinlein anticipated the ill-effects of microwave radiation 69 years ago in his short story Waldo (1942), and again in his juvenile novel Red Planet (1949).

WHAT EVER MADE YOU think cats aren’t tech savvy?

SOME CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND MYTHS just won’t go away.

SPRING FLOWERS:




My photography skills don't do justice to the beauty of our neighbor's plants.

A NEW ENTRANT INTO BROAD AREA SURVEILLANCE:

Northrop Grumman has announced the start of in-house system tests of the first development multifunction active sensor in preparation for flight tests in June. The sensor, an X-band active electronically scanned array radar, is the central intelligence-collecting component of the broad area maritime surveillance (BAMS) aircraft, based on the Global Hawk.

Unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) are coming on strong; the Navy is planning a 65-aircraft buy.

NATIONAL REVIEW looks at Obamacare.


Sorry, no link to the magazine available.

BLOGGER IS BACK: posting will resume anew.

WELL, THEY’VE ruined a lot of other perfectly good words.

ANOTHER RANDOM THOUGHT: Has it occurred to anyone that the environmental movement always emphasizes risks that support their political ambitions for more environmental regulation - and ignore those that don’t (nothing to see here; move along now)?

Following that train of thought, mightn’t it be better for the American public to have smaller, less ‘regulatory-able’ federal and state governments? With a lessened ability of activists to achieve their ambitions via regulation, we might then be privy to more realistic risk assessment of our lifestyle choices.

FLORIDA LEGISLATURE accidentally outlaws sex. I’d recommend that the legislators get real jobs, but the evidence suggests that they’re not qualified.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: 50th anniversary of the first American manned spaceflight by Alan Shepard.

“THE FUNDAMENTAL FLAW at the core of ObamaCare is the mistaken belief that the government can spend your dollars more effectively than you can. This tragically pessimistic belief views all Americans with suspicion as either incompetent or unrighteous but either way in need of big-government control.”

Read it all.

AUGMENTED REALITY: when ordinary reality just isn’t enough. Progressives' Nirvana.

THIS IS AMUSING: follow this link (www.DNCcrybabies.com).

MAYBE THIS GREEN ENERGY THINGY isn’t so great after all. It’s a lesson the environmentalists are just beginning to learn - you can never do just one thing.

JEFF JACOBY on raising the national debt ceiling: "[R]eaching the federal debt limit will not plunge the federal government into default. 'Hitting the ceiling means that we can spend only what we collect in taxes,' wrote former Assistant Treasury Secretary Emil Henry in The Wall Street Journal..... Federal tax revenue for 2011 is expected to be $2.2 trillion, while net interest on the debt will cost $225 billion. With so much money coming in, the United States will have no trouble paying its creditors."

So tighten the belt. We can live on a mere $2.2 trillion.

WHEN JIMMY CARTER IS YOUR BEST-CASE SCENARIO, you're in trouble.

UNCIVIL WAR: States’ Attorneys General Rip Into Union-Controlled NLRB in Letter.

As Attorneys General of our respective states, we call upon you ... to withdraw immediately the complaint ... against Boeing. This complaint represents an assault upon the constitutional right of free speech, and the ability of our states to create jobs and recruit industry. Your ill-conceived retaliatory action seeks to destroy our citizens’ right to work.

Unless you work for a union, of course.

I SHOULD BE HAPPY: "the principal function of our national government is to transfer wealth from the young and the middle-aged to the elderly. Such transfers currently account for around $1.159 trillion, nearly one-half trillion more than we spend for national defense, and far more than any other category of the budget."

Read the comments, especially the one by Gregory Czapanskiy.

IN SOCCER, IT'S AN "OWN GOAL": Obama's Medicare chief inadvertently makes case for Ryan plan.

CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: Storms kill over 250 Americans is states represented by climate pollution deniers. The Washington Examiner's Conn Carroll comments.

HMM. THE AIR FORCE has "issued a call for help making a miniature drone that could covertly drop a mysterious and unspecified tracking 'dust' onto people, allowing them to be tracked from a distance. The proposal says its useful for all kinds of random things, from identifying friendly forces and civilians to tracking wildlife. But the motive behind a covert drone tagger likely has less to do with sneaking up on spotted owls and more to do with painting a target on the backs of tomorrow’s terrorists."

FRANK & ERNEST solve the deficit problem. Cartoonist Bob Thaves may have gotten the idea from here.

RELEASE THE DEATH PHOTOS: an interesting pair of letters from the Washington Post. In the first, the attitude is “don’t release the photos, but I don’t trust the administration, someone should look at them” and in the second “I fail to understand why some people feel entitled to know and see everything” - which is exactly the point of those who want the photos released.

Release the photos (they’re going to come out anyway; either officially or by leak). It’s time to quit kowtowing to the “sensibilities” of the Arab street. If they get mad and want want to “kill infidels”, that’s fine, but they really ought to consider who has the bigger guns.

AWARENESS BOY: Senator Schumer would fit right in on the R.U. Sirius.

More here.

MORE PLEASE: South Carolina taking on Fed’s light bulb ban. Why not? Fair’s fair; the federal government has been ignoring us for years, it’s time to ignore them for a change.

ON MEDICARE, President Obama and his party [have] a chance to reclaim the low ground, and they haven’t hesitated. I was unaware they ever lost the low ground.

SURE, YOU UNDERSTAND MY PROBLEMS: “What? You’re driving me back to the airport in Sao Paulo, in all that traffic? Don’t I rate a helicopter?”

YOU FLY, you die.

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) All Things Nuclear blog has an analysis of how many deaths occurred at Chernobyl based on linear no threshold view of radiation. So 0.01 milliSieverts (1 milliRem) for each of 6 billion people in the world is calculated to add 4000 deaths from cancer. 0.3 milliSieverts (30 milliRem) for 500 million people in europe is calculated to add 9000 more deaths from cancer.

Using the same analysis (NEI Nuclear Notes) found that, 79,000 and 40,000 would be reasonable estimates of the number of excess cancers and cancer deaths attributable to the flying in the past decade. The numbers increase even more over the 25 years since Chernobyl and would be 200,000 excess cancers and 100,000 excess deaths from commercial aviation over the last 25 years.

Isn’t it interesting that the only risks unacceptable to the nanny-staters are those that they can use to put themselves in control?

OBAMA GOT BIN LADEN just like Nixon reached the moon. The Obama administration’s churlish behavior has been noticed in other quarters as well.

IF YOU WANT to live with angry, intolerant, narrow-minded, mean-spirited people who act aggressive if you don’t agree with their views, move to California.

MEDICARE ISN’T THE PROBLEM, and more control is the solution. Robert Reich was born in 1946, so he will be eligible for Medicare in June. I wonder how he'll feel about 'more control' when he becomes the 'controlee'? Or will he opt out? Reich is rich enough - my bet is on the latter (that way won’t interfere with his progressive beliefs).

SIX REASONS why Latinos may stay home on election day. I think Navarette is wrong in his interpretation, for the reason that he seems to see everything through a racial lens. The fact is that wanting to control immigration is not racist, and just because Latinos are most affected does not make it so. That said, however, I do agree that Latinos do have a right to be steamed with the Obama administration. They would be well advised to work with the Republicans to close the borders to illegal immigration in order to open up the borders to legal immigration.

Read the comments, especially the one by pelao y-y.

IN THE LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT, the cream rarely rises to the top. From my experience, what Dunphy describes is common to all government-sector employment where there is no product for sale, no product to be made. It is also true in the commercial sector, but the profit incentive tends to turn the “screw-up, move-up’s” out more rapidly.

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO: Years Ago, Sarah Palin Was Recruited As A Moderate.

Then she dropped her subscription.

ANN COULTER: ”Following the Democratic playbook, Obama's overall approach to national security is to pointlessly fling our influence and military around the globe ... with no evident national security purpose.”

THE ONLY FOG IN THIS WAR is in the White House.

TORTURING TERRORISTS IS SO ABHORRENT for the Obama administration that they’d rather kill them from drones. It’s so much less messy that way.

BLOWING SMOKE? Frankly, I doubt it; "blowing smoke" presumes some minimal level of competence.

PRESIDENT PANETTA? I truly hate to write this, but this article rings true. Read it all.

THE FIRST STEP to solving a problem is identifying it.

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: the law only means what we want it to mean.

Link from Instapundit.

WASHINGTON POST READERS respond to a snooty elitist "foodie."

IT WAS all McDonald's fault. That should make the Left happy.

THE NEW YORK TIMES can't lose what it never had. Follow the link.

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY: "The raid was handled by the military. The post-raid has been handled by the usual gang of incompetents."

GUTSYCALL.COM - Not spiking the football,eh, Barack? More here.

MIRACLES HAPPEN. We've had continuing light to moderate rain for almost 10 hours now, and there hasn't been a single weather alert/watch/warning. Neither have the local traffic reporters gone ballistic with warnings of slippery roads, poor driving conditions, and mass accidents on the freeways. The silence in palpable.

It's wonderful.

WHO TO BLAME if the debt ceiling isn’t raised. Surprise - it’s Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner!

WE'RE THE GOVERNMENT - AND YOU'RE NOT.


Linked from the PJ Tatler.

WISCONSIN GOV. SCOTT WALKER is looking more prophetic every day: the imploding liberal welfare states.

AND THE DEMOCRATIC ARGUMENT that Republicans are intent on destroying Medicare is ... well, see if you can figure it out. I can’t.

SCHLOCK AND AWW: the Libyan boomerang.

STICKY NOTE CAMPAIGN: a ‘gas roots’ movement. How’s that “hope and change” working out for you?

SPACE TOURISM: only one seat left. Reminder: it was only 10 years ago that the first “space tourist” traveled to the International Space Station.

THE SCALES OF JUSTICE HAVE ONLY ONE SIDE: Atlanta law firm of King & Spalding decides that marriage and democracy are indefensible, but terrorists and murderers are fine. The Left explains why.

Here’s a list of Cocoa Cola products you can boycott.

FROM THE LEFT: Obama is looking a lot like Jimmy Carter. Unfortunately, Carter II is a best-case scenario.

WHY LINDA MCMAHON should have won in Connecticut.

WHERE’S THE OUTRAGE? Republicans just voted to end Medicare. Well, if they did, then you’d think I’d notice, being a Medicare “recipient” after all.

This column is notable only for its irrationality: the consistent theme throughout is that violent, nihilistic behavior is fine if it advances my cause, but the same behavior in the advancement of your cause is not just wrong, but vile and villianous.

To be progressive is to be able to hold (at least) two mutually contradictory thoughts in mind simultaneously.

GOT $200K? Tickets are on sale for Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip Two.

IT’S ABOUT TIME: New bill directs NASA back to the moon by 2022, with permanent habitation in mind.

I’d prefer NASA staying on the sidelines, cheering on American venture capital and making space exploration and colonization a national goal is an important first step.

Unfortunately, President Obama is dismissive of a moon mission, saying “We’ve been there before.”

The first American satellite to orbit earth, Explorer I, was launched Jan 31, 1958, three years before our current president was born. Can you imagine how poor our life would be if President Eisenhower had ditched the emerging space program then, saying essentially “Well, we’ve been there.”