RANDOM THOUGHTS from the retirement lane: With respect to NYC Mayor Bloomberg's war on obesity, the best way to combat the 'obesity epidemic is to quit paying for it.

START PLANNING NOW, it's going to be a long trip: Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies to collide.

The Air Force's X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle will return from orbit sometime in June following a 15-month classified mission.

WORRIED ABOUT THE SODA BAN? Fear Not, NYC Mayor Bloomberg to Support ‘National Donut Day’ Tomorrow.

HUH? The Rise and Current Decline of the City. So what's the point? Are cities good? Bad? Ugly?

IF THE FACTS ARE AS STATED, then the law is indeed an idiot. More properly, those who apply the law are idiots.

TECHWISE CONVERSATIONS: Robots and Human Evolution.

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE: Obama stimulus may have cost as much as $4.1 million a job. I wish I could have gotten one of those $4.1M jobs rather than being retired. Hell, I would have settled for a $540K job.

MORE LUNACY FROM THE NANNY STATE: NYC proposes ban on sale of sodas and other sugary drinks over 16 ounces in an effort to combat obesity. Mayor Bloomberg should be banned from ever holding any public office again, including streetsweeper.

HOW'S THAT 'free stuff' working out for you?

FLAME: Cyberwarfare's Latest, Greatest Weapon.

THE PUBLIC UNION BUBBLE IS ABOUT TO BURST: Reality catching up to Wisconsin.

Adding insult to injury, the Amerian Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union membership dropped by half since 2011.

11:42 AM EASTERN: The Dragon returns.

JUST BECAUSE I'M PARANOID doesn't mean I don't have real enemies.

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION CREW gets Space-X Dragon ready for return to Earth.

OF COURSE: Stealing from the Poor - For Their Own Good. Sure; if we take all your money, you won't have any left for 'sinful stuff'.

MICHELLE MALKIN revokes Michelle Obama's "don't pick on me" card.

INSTAPUNDIT'S take on the Washington Post's E. J. Dionne: "News from the Clown Car." Follow the link to Powerline.

TRIFECTA: SpaceX Proves that Space Belongs to the Private Sector.

WINNING BATTLES, LOSING WARS: It's the strategic thing.

TODAY'S OUTRAGE: No Heroic Deed Goes Unpunished. I don't think I've ever read Greenberg so angry.

FIXED: "The White House ... is saddled with a bad case of spender’s denial, a rare common psychological disorder afflicting committed Keynesians facing reelection at a time of record debt.

To read the rest, click here.

THANK YOU, but I'm too busy campaigning to look at your shiny object.

SO ARE 'PROGRESSIVES' the offspring of alpha males or beta males? And does the female have any say in the matter?

WHY PLANNED PARENTHOOD gets government support is beyond me.

SIERRA NEVADA CORP. "launched initial flight tests for the Dream Chaser, a spacecraft meant to transport crew and supplies to the International Space Station."

I know this sounds cruel, but compared to the Shuttle, doesn't Dream Chaser look a bit like a Smart car?

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Bernie Madoff of Information. To read more Klavan, go here.

LAWFARE: the new domestic terrorism. Read it, then follow the links.

THE JEDI MASTER: New York Magazine posts another paean to Obama.

JOHN STOSSEL: Unions "protect" workers all the way to the unemployment line.

SO OBAMA'S GONNA LOSE? Our Imbecilic Constitution.

Long live the King!

FROM MY EMAIL: The Green Thing.

In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartass young person.

Remember: Don't make old people mad. We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off!

JOHN RANSOM on outsourcing our President. Well, he does want to be King; and Europe wants one with his 'qualifications'.

SECRET ‘KILL LIST’ proves a test of Obama’s principles and will. After reading the entire article, I think it proves Obama has no principles and an unquenchable thirst for power. You die, you live, by Obama's whim.

ELIZABETH WARREN is not a dumb blonde. True. Dumb blondes are smarter.

WHEN SKIN COLOR DOESN'T COUNT, anyone can be a minority. Elizabeth Warren is a Cherokee (great-great-great grandmother); Barack Obama is white (mother); Rita Hayworth is Hispanic (father), so given my 'Heinz 57' variety background, I can be any damned minority I want to be.

TEXAS puts Romney over the top; clinches GOP nomination.

DANIEL J. MITCHELL: Mock them. Again, again, and again.

MORNING EXAMINER: Private vs Public Equity.

THOMAS SOWELL on education and 'meaningful work'.

"Education" is a word that covers a lot of very different things, from vital, life-saving medical skills to frivolous courses to absolutely counterproductive courses that fill people with a sense of grievance and entitlement, without giving them either the skills to earn a living or a realistic understanding of the world required for a citizen in a free society.

The lack of realism among many highly educated people has been demonstrated in many ways.

When I saw signs in Yellowstone National Park warning visitors not to get too close to a buffalo, I realized that this was a warning that no illiterate farmer of a bygone century would have needed. No one would have had to tell him not to mess with a huge animal that literally weighs a ton, and can charge at you at 30 miles an hour.

The dangers that a lack of realism can bring to many educated people are completely overshadowed by the dangers to a whole society created by the unrealistic views of the world promoted in many educational institutions.

It was painful, for example, to see an internationally renowned scholar say that what low-income young people needed was "meaningful work." But this is a notion common among educated elites, regardless of how counterproductive its consequences may be for society at large, and for low-income youngsters especially.

What is "meaningful work"?

Read the rest.

CLIMATE 'DENIERS' winning the war. But the truth will finally prevail.

MEMORIES: The Old Lady in Black.

MEMORIAL DAY 2012

Stamford, Connecticut.

THE GRADUATION SPEECH you'll never hear (but need to).

REGULATION: America's Real Climate and Environmental Crisis.

IT'S BEGINNING to look a lot like Christmas Carter.

But let's not get overconfident.

More.

U.S. EV MAKERS should adopt a cell-phone sales model. Sell a service plan and coverage area; then give the car away for free. Cute.

LATEST EXAMPLE OF LIBERAL INTOLERANCE: Columnist Calls Black Conservatives 'Animals'. Alfonzo Rachel strikes back.

THIS could happen to you. I blame liberals for allowing the functional insane out of the mental institutions.

SOMETIMES sneering is a solution.... Follow the link to Walter Russell Mead's post:

Between the American housing bubble, the European meltdown and the climate disaster, it almost begins to look as if the Establishment consists mostly of overpaid, egotistical blowhards.

Mock them.

E. J. DIONNE: Conservatives don't care about community, liberals do. Sure, as long as they're caring with other peoples' money. Powerline has more here.

SHORT ANSWER, YES. Is the Obama campaign really incompetent? As is the Obama administration.

POOR TINGLES: the thrill just won't go away.

PUBLIC POLICY QUESTION: Is it okay to steal? To me, it's the wrong question since the theft has already occurred. The right question is "What are we going to do about it?"

TRIFECTA on Memorial Day.

NOT POSSIBLE: Everybody knows global warming deniers are stupid!

SOME THOUGHTS ON MEMORIAL DAY

Remember.

ON VACATION: back Tuesday.

NO, I SUFFER from 'mophobia'.

BIOENGINEERS make DNA into a living flash drive. Does that make humans into computer accessories?

LOS ANGELES bans plastic bags. I'm guessing that stores in the cities that surround LA will see a sudden influx of customers.

MEXICO’S TWO MAJOR CRIME CARTELS now at war. That's to the good if they constrain themselves to just killing each other.

BETRAYING LILLY LEDBETTER: Senate Democrats pay female staffers less than male staffers. Rules are for Republicans, not the 99-44/100 percent pure Democrats. JUST A THOUGHT: Are female Senators paid less than male Senators?

BULLSHIT isn't always. Not even the Washington Post is buying the Obama line.

DRAGON docks at the International Space Station.

COMPARING VENTURE CAPITALISM to crony capitalism. Clearly private equity has a better track record than public equity (e.g., stimulus).

Update: Even the Washington Post agrees.

KYLE OLSEN: the real class warfare.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: there's a time to let snarling dogs lie.

ONCE BANKRUPT CITY returns to 50's; now model for fiscal responsibility.

IT’S DIFFERENT when the government bilks you.

TAX THEE, NOT ME: Progressive Democrats becoming less progressive? When their ox is gored, yes.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: back to black. The race card never goes away.

EDUCATION: the real civil rights issue.

INEPTOCRACY ...

... doesn't work.

PAUL GREENBERG: The Curious Incident of the Mud Not Thrown.

With a bonus slap at the New York Times: "the country's leading source of news that never happened...."

SPOUTING BULL: Elizabeth Warren's Cherokee name.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: I’m Not an Over-Spender. Well, yes, spending does tend to slow after hitting a brick wall at warp speed.

"MAYBE LIBERALS should listen to Rush [Limbaugh] every so often."

FROM ‘HOPE AND CHANGE’ to ‘Grin and Bear It’.

DRAGON'S mating dance begins.

ANDREW MALCOLM: 40% of Dem Primary Voters Reject Obama. Follow the link.

ANOTHER MSM OUTLET poo-poo's SpaceX. Imagine what NPR's reaction might have been to the first government contracts to deliver mail by air back in 1925.

I CALL BULLSHIT: Obama administration science advisor Dr. John Holgren claims space policy is 'too complex' to explain to the little people. So don't worry your little minds about it; let those of us capable of 'nuanced thinking' take care of it.

It's people like Holgren who give meaning to "Piled higher and Deeper" as a definition of PhD (And yes, I have an earned PhD. And yes, it shames me to have an association with such a narcissist.)

THE MOST ETHICAL ADMINISTRATION EVER: Leaked Emails Show ‘Grossly Overestimated’ Environmental Report to Back Up Mining Ban.

DEMOCRATS inadvertently challenge ObamaCare.

PALIN-MOCKERY tends to come from people with a deep — and well-founded — sense of intellectual insecurity.

SEN. JIM DEMINT'S 'Pickpocket' blog.

ALAN SIMPSON (of Simpson-Bowles fame) takes no prisoners.

CRADLE-TO-GRAVE INSECURITY: Europe's 'social market' capitalism.

HOW TO CUT THE BUDGET, $1.2 trillion at a time.

STAY INDOORS! Fresh air may be hazardous to your health. Yes, and the leading cause of death remains birth.

THE DEFINITION OF INSANITY is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome each time.

[Obama defenders] are not only still blaming Bush for the problems of the Obama administration -- they're blaming Bush for anticipated problems in Obama's second term, should he win one.

When the race card no longer works, try the Bush card.

MARYLAND INCREASES TAXES; Virginia increases jobs.

NO THANKS: Medicine in the Nanny State (subtitle: we should have killed him when we still could).

THOMAS SOWELL: A Book for Republicans. Democrats too, if they could read.

ARE GOVERNMENT'S 'Strategic Communications' coming to American airwaves? Honestly, I don't see the point. Isn't that the job of NPR, MSN, CNN, the Washington Post, New York Times and the rest of the mainstream media?

IN KENTUCKY, 42% voted 'uncommitted', 58% voted 'present' in Democrat primary.

OBVIOUSLY Chris Matthews has never seen a comic book.

Update: more mockery here.

TELEROBOTICS offers a third way for space exploration. It seems to me that the article is inadvertantly making the case for human exploration, for if one has to have humans in orbit to operate robots on the surface, one might as well have the humans do the exploration.

SPACE-X MAKES HISTORY with Falcon 9 launch and the New York Times poo-poo's the event:

If all goes as planned, his [Elon Musk] unmanned Dragon capsule, lifted into orbit by his Falcon 9 rocket, will berth at the International Space Station on Friday bearing a modest cargo: 162 meal packets (45 of them low-sodium), a laptop computer, a change of clothes for the station astronauts and 15 student experiments.

The Orlando Sentinel gets it right. But then, the Orlando Sentinel is a newspaper.

OBAMA’S WAR ON COAL HITS YOUR ELECTRIC BILL


Read it all; then contact your Senators.

IT'S ONLY PARTISAN if the Left says it is.

THANKS, I REALLY NEEDED THAT: Poverty Increasing Among Retirees.

WHEN YOU'RE HOLDING A HAMMER, everything looks like a nail.

IT'S ONLY PARTISAN if the Left says it is.

UPSIDE OF THE OBAMA ECONOMY: I hadn't noticed, since I've gone Galt (involuntarily retired) and no longer driving daily. I have noticed the gas prices, though.

UPSIDE OF THE OBAMA ECONOMY: I hadn't noticed, since I'm (reluctantly and forcibly) retired and no longer driving daily. I have noticed the gas prices, though.

DR. ORWELL will see you now.

A LITTLE LOVE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES: "If I ever bought it, which I don't, I'd use it as toilet paper (much as Soviet citizens used Pravda for the same purpose) except that Charmin is much softer and always contains much less s**t, even after I've used it."

From the comments at this post.

OBAMA PURSUES HIGHER TAX RATES, growth be damned. Unless it's government growth....

WHO DIDN'T SEE THIS COMING? Mainstream mediots now going after Mormons (except, of course, Harry Reid and a few others).

THE SPACE-X FALCON 9 AND DRAGON CAPSULE lift off May 22, 2012, from Cape Canaveral Air Force station in FLorida to begin a demonstration mission to the International Space Station.

DO THEY HAVE A CHOICE? Massachusetts Democrats stand by Elizabeth Warren.

THAT LITTLE? Since 2005, grade-level at which members of Congress speak has fallen by almost a full grade.

LESSON: never trust anyone who doesn’t eat cheeseburgers.

HEH. Catholic institutions file lawsuit challenging ObamaCare mandate.

BOOKER'S BUNGLE: he spoke the truth.

STILL NEEDED: a Keystone XL batch of tar for the EPA and Congress.

A LESSON ON THE FIRST AMENDMENT: NC teacher reportedly suspended after telling student not to criticize Obama.

It's funny how freedom of speech seems to only apply to those in power -- or on the Left.

ELECTION 2012 COMMENT OF THE DAY: "Friends don't let friends vote for Obama." Taken from this post.

YOUR VERY OWN cleaner, faster plane, now on Kickstarter. Some video here.

YOUNG AMERICA: How's that hope and hopeless change working out for you?

ANOTHER EXAMPLE of the need for tar and feathers. Could this be the reason for the Obama administration's adament refusal to allow the Keystone XL pipeline from the Canadian oil sands?

0 - 513: OBAMA'S BUDGET a national laughingstock. "This is the second year in a row the Democratic-controlled Senate unanimously opposed the president’s unserious budget (0-99 this year). And it was almost two months ago that his budget failed to win a single vote in the House (0-414). Altogether, 513 elected lawmakers have opposed it."

"THE THING ABOUT OBAMA IS, there’s no there there. It’s composite all the way down." Follow the link to Mark Steyn's piece.

IS OBAMA A 'BIRTHER'? Obama edited his bio many times for 17 years, but “born in Kenya” left intact until 2007.

THE 'REALITY-BASED' COMMUNITY always seems to have trouble with reality. I wouldn't have done well either, but then I'm not a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner.

"THE THING ABOUT OBAMA IS, there’s no there there. It’s composite all the way down." Follow the link to Steyn's piece.

RANDOM THOUGHT for the "99%" from the retirement lane: having 'gone Galt', I thought I'd just let you know that it's my money now -- and I don't intend to share.

OCCUPY FAIL(URES):



They can't even perform a decent "jody call." Losers.

Linked from Instapundit.

WHAT NOT TO DO on the White House web site.

PAUL GREENBERG: The $2 Billion Lesson.

SUPER. School fined $15K for selling soda. We're spending our hard-earned tax dollars for this?

WILLIAM KRISTOL: Obama should dump Biden in favor of Hillary Clinton. Kristol argues that it would be better for the Republicans to defeat the best the Democrats have to offer. I can see the point, but I'd still rather have the Democrats field a weak team than a strong one.

Still, should the Democrats win, Hillary might be able to moderate Obama's worst inclinations.

WARREN BUFFETT buys 63 endorsements for Obama. He could buy the Washington Post and New York Times ... oh, wait, they're already in the tank for Obama.

JOHN RANSOM: Obama's Campaign about Nothing. "Obama may go down as the first president in the history of the U.S. to run a campaign based, like Jerry Seinfeld’s comedy, on nothing."

Yes, but at least Seinfeld's comedy was entertaining.

DEMOCRATS TO JOE SIXPACK: Get lost. As someone who's just completing several 10's of thousands in home remodeling, I can assure you that the small businessmen who have been working for me have gotten the message.

THOMAS SOWELL: A Racial Revolution?

Demography is not destiny. But the history of Balkanized and polarized societies in the 20th century is a history of horrors that we dare not ignore.

We are not at that terrible point yet. But that is the direction in which we are headed, under the spell of magic words like "multiculturalism" and "diversity," which have become substitutes for thoughts, even among those who pride themselves on being "thinking people."

Our whole educational system, from the elementary schools to the universities, is permeated with ideologies of group grievances and resentments, painting each group into the corner of its own separate subculture, instead of drawing them into the mainstream of the American culture that made this the greatest nation on earth.

Unless the fashionable Balkanization is stopped, demography can become destiny -- and a tragedy for all.

Read it all.

NOW’S ‘ENOUGH RUSH’ PROTEST in DC draws massive crowd: in excess of a half dozen.

OCCUFARM: the aftermath. The Shelley quote is particularly apt.

IF THE COUNTRY WAS A CAR, the 'check President' light would be on. The repairs are God-awful expensive, and the car was sold with only a 90-day (honeymoon) warranty.

I'M AN INDIAN TOO.

2012 ENCAPSULATED: Bain v. Bane.

SPACE-X/DRAGON MISSION aborts at 1/2 second to launch.

OPERATION TUSH: if accurate, more proof that the Left never learns (cannot learn?).

IS THIS SOME KIND OF NORTH KOREA THING? Democrats disenfranchise voters after polls show Obama in close primary race.Poor Obama -- can't even win his own primaries without cheating.

If you're a Texas Democrat, vote for John Wolfe.

NEW NORMAL: Majority Of Unemployed Attended College. Draw your own conclusions.

THESE ARE THE IDIOTS who think they're smart enough to govern America.

DEMOCRATS FOR DEMOCRATS, as long as they're the right (left?) kind of democrats.

IS JERKDOM organic?

THE FACE OF GENOCIDAL ECO-FASCISM: "My suggestion for all such thinkers is that if they want to reduce the global population they should measure up to their words and go first." They won't; they'll be the first to board the lifeboat.

Linked from Instapundit.

I WAS FOR MY BUDGET before you tried to pass it.

MEDIA IN FULL ATTACK MODE in support of Obama campaign.

A FEW MORE of Obama's 23 million.

A BOOST for space industrialization and mining.

IN THE U.K., the nanny-state apocalypse is now.

Best comment: "Hope I get that instructional email soon, I really gotta go :)"

IN 2008, then-candidate Obama wanted to spread the wealth around; in 2011, now-President Obama succeeded.

CONSERVATIVE HASHTAG GAMES are ruining Twitter. For all you offended progressives, you can file your complaint here.

RALLY FOR COMMON SENSE; more diverse than MSNBC; and more productive than Occupy Wall Street.

[T]he total national taxpayer cost of policing and cleanup from last fall’s OWS stands at nearly $30 million.

By contrast, Tea Party rallies and similar events leave communities in better shape than when they arrived.

Cleaner, too. Read it all.

WHY YOU SHOULD stop attending diversity training: it makes things worse. Which is something I knew after attending the first (whining, entitlement) session.

SO THANKS TO THE DEMOCRATS, now even my Social Security is in danger. Please, don't help me any more.

LIVING FREE: "Sure, it's scary, but surrendering your fate to politicians and bureaucrats is a lot scarier."

SO THEY WILL MOVE TO VIRGINIA: Maryland passes income tax hike on six-figure earners.

RUN FOR THE HILLS: Yet another study informs us of the imminent end of life as we know it. And the solution is .... renewables! I wonder when -- if ever -- the eco-zealots will come to realize that coal and oil are 'renewable', just over a longer time period, and continue to renew themselves every day the sun continues to shine.

THIS IS GETTING OLD: Obama budget fails again.

OBAMA CALLS debt ceiling fight “not acceptable.” So now he's what ... Miss Manners?

RI-I-I-I-GHT: "this time 'reform' will accomplish everything its advocates dream of."

THE DECISION LAST YEAR to finally cancel the UK’s National Program for Information Technology effort to implement a nation-wide integrated electronic health record (EHR) system because of its spiraling cost and complexity is looking better all the time.

Lesson yet unlearned: research & development doesn't proceed according to politicians' orders.

THE WEEKLY STANDARD: The Democrats' clientelism problem. Boiled down to essentials, the bumper sticker equivalent is "VOTE FOR OBAMA and you'll get free stuff!"

More here.

DEMOCRAT FOR OPEN BORDERS: in, not out.

THE 'BIRTHER' BOMBSHELL has arrived. Well, that should clear the air of 'jobs, jobs, jobs' for a few days at least.

WHAT! He's a narcissist? Who'da thunk it?

OUTTA' HERE: How California's budget blunders led to my divorce from the Golden State. I'm waiting for Victor Davis Hanson to announce he's leaving. When that happens, we'll know California is beyond redemption.

JUST MOVE ALONG NOW; no voter fraud here.

ENTITLEMENT BANDITS -- How to curb Medicare and Medicaid fraud.

JULIA: the uninvited house guest.

I HAD POSTED on this earlier, but 'fractionated' satellites is just too good a phrase to pass up.

ISN'T THE UN built on Indian land? Give them Turtle Bay back and allow them to charge the UN rent.

IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY, Narcissus gazed into a pond and saw Obama's face.

SPACE-X cleared for launch Saturday.

OBAMA BY THE NUMBERS.

PROOF THAT THERE IS LIFE AFTER DEATH: 53,000 Dead Voters Found in Florida.

LIBERALS peer inside the conservative brain. To the average liberal, any disagreement is proof of mental illness. I'm inclined to take a contrary view.

"IF REGULATION isn’t clearly for the common good, it’s just bossiness — a deprivation of freedom for no good reason — and should be remedied by tar, feathers, and such other means as get the message across."

THE ANSWER SHOULD BE OBVIOUS: "Do [American voters]they want the high tax, high spending, government union-controlled future of California, or the low tax, low spending, government surplus future of Wisconsin?"

Too bad it isn't.

THE TEA PARTY IS DEAD? State Sen. Deb Fischer beat front-runner Attorney General Jon Bruning last night in the Republican primary for Nebraska’s U.S. Senate seat. Bruning had been the establishment favorite.

THEY'LL GO DOWN WELL-DRESSED. "[O]ur ship is sinking and Democrats are dressing themselves for dinner."

VIDEO Obama puts capitalism on trial. Watch to the end for Scott Ott's remarks on 'vulture' capitalism.

MICHELLE MALKIN: Obamacare's Patient-Dumping, Privacy-Meddling Scheme.

Electronic health records bother me; I don't want my medical records available to anyone, just because he wants them, without my explicit knowledge and permission. We've already seen just this week how personal information can turn up on unethical administration's 'enemies list'.

And at least as worrying is this: "a Congressional Research Service analysis concluded that Obamacare's Innovation Center is subject to no administrative or judicial review. The Innovation Center director is, in effect, a super-czar without any checks or balances on his grant-making decisions, methods or results."

How many times has this administration bypassed Congress in the name of 'getting things done'? Too many; too much of this administration is already unaccountable to Congress (and, by the way, we the people).

COMMENTARY‘s Seth Mandel notes that Obama has inserted himself into the White House website biographies of almost every former president. Including Jimmy Carter.

IT CAN'T BE A RACE WAR -- the attackers aren't white.

DANA MILBANK: Barack Obama, the first female president. Well, Bill Clinton was the first black president.

BILL WHITTLE: Why not do yourself a favor and become a conservative today?

THE WASHINGTON POST‘s Sarah Kliff reports that repealing Obamacare will cost health insurers $1 trillion in revenue. If so, it will be money back in my pocket, where it belongs.

MORE PROOF the 'reality-based' community lives in Fantasy Land.

OBAMA DISCOVERS coal powers the U.S.

THE OTHER SHOE DROPS: Catholic university drops all health-insurance coverage in response to HHS mandate.

KILL EAGLES for conservation.

A FEW OF THE 23 MILLION:

IF 'SIN TAXES' DISCOURAGE SIN, do income taxes discourage income?

PEA-BRAINED IDIOTS! Detroit groundskeeper fired after finding loaded gun, handing it to cops. Tar and feathers is too good for the jerks at the Wayne County Department of Public Services.

PLAYTIME OVER, Berzerkley kidz sent back to kindergarten.

WHAT HAPPENS when 'reality' meets reality? 'Reality' bombs.

GLASS CEILING? Nope, glass cellar.

PLEASE DO NOT PHOTOGRAPH Obama’s wreck at the side of the road.

ADDED: Another wreck in the making.

OBAMA PITCHES, Romney bats it over the left-field fence.

THE SAME DAY he attacked Romney for running a private equity firm, Obama hosted a $35,800-a-head fundraiser at the home of the president of the nation’s largest private equity firm.

OH, ABSOLUTELY. President Bush is to blame for all of Obama's deficits.

THE AMERICAN PROSPECT's Jamelle Bouie explains why Obama's attack on Bain are the "most important" attacks Obama will make this election.

Ri-i-i-i-ight.

NOW THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION is mandating government propaganda.

CHRIS MATTHEWS TO BLACK PASTOR: Get back on the Democrat plantation. The slaves are revolting.

SURPRISE! More are renouncing U.S. citizenship as IRS cracks down.

STUDY FINDS many households have a negative net worth. The real story is quasi-buried in the article: people who saver regularly are weathering the recession; people who don't save are not.

GOOD NEWS for the home team. SmallSat Lab nurtures spaceport opportunities for NMSU students.

SO WE NEED MORE GOVERNMENT? Public employees second only to financial pros in fraud.

RANDOM THOUGHTS on lawn care from the retirement lane.

If grass is supposed to grow there, it won't; if it isn't, it will.

Weeds grow faster than grass.

Lawn seed should be sold in packages labeled '99.7% grass-free' since only the 0.3% will grow.

Grass grows taller in places inaccessible to a lawn mower.

More thoughts are sure to come as the growing season continues.

EUROFAIL: Greek exit looking more likely. America's running down the same economic road to ruin, and no one notices.

POLITICS EXPLAINED: Our problems are too boring to solve.

Linked from Instapundit.

“HEY, LIZ! Found your Cherokee.”

MAYBE NOW THEY WILL GET BACK TO WORK: Report says 230,000 unemployed losing benefits over weekend.

LOOK! A SQUIRREL. Obama's views on distraction. The military typically code-names major campaigns (Operation Iraqi Freedom, etc.). The Obama administration should adopt that convention for themselves and code-name the 2012 presidential campaign 'Operation Shiny Object'.

A LESSON IN TOLERANCE…

I am truly perplexed that so many people are against a mosque being built at Ground Zero. I think it should be the goal of every American to be tolerant. Thus the Mosque should be allowed, in an effort to promote tolerance.

That is why I also propose that two nightclubs be opened next door to the mosque, thereby promoting tolerance from within the mosque. We could call one of the clubs, "The Turban Cowboy", which would be gay, and the other a topless bar called "You Mecca Me Hot."

Next door should be a butcher shop that specializes in pork, and adjacent to that an open-pit barbecue pork restaurant, called " Iraq o' Ribs." Across the street there could be a lingerie store called "Victoria Keeps Nothing Secret," with sexy mannequins with short burkas in the window modeling the goods. Next door to the lingerie shop, a liquor store called "Morehammered."

All of this would encourage the Muslims to demonstrate the tolerance they demand of us, so the mosque problem would be solved.

From my email.

MAYBE OBAMA’S too smart and sensitive to be a good president. Whatever works to get rid of him.

SO MUCH for 'smart diplomacy'.

DEMOCRAT CAMPAIGN MESSAGING:

D'Oh! The DNC and Obama campaign have their logos in sync....

UPDATE: here's another possibility.

WASHINGTON POST OMBUDSMAN gives up any pretense of credibility.

JEFF JACOBY on Obama's gay marriage evolution:

[I]t's hard to swallow the notion of Obama as a paragon of candor, genuinely conflicted on the question of same-sex marriage. The point is that he could have been -- and nothing would have changed. Obama may be a dissembler whose "evolution" was all for show, but millions of Americans really have wrestled with the question of redefining marriage. As those shifting opinion polls attest, many people who once opposed gay marriage now support it. And as the unbroken string of ballot-box victories for preserving the marriage status quo attests, many do not.

Read it all.

ZONATION: Gypsies, Tramps, & Tea.

OBAMA CAMPAIGN: Romney laid off people. And Obama hasn't?

RAINBOW WARRIOR (with apologies to Hawaii): America's first gay president.

I guess they don't mean 'happy'.

TODAY ONLY SPECIAL: political jokes.

OBAMANOMICS: Tax, regulate ... and bail out.

YOUNG PEOPLE are 'so frickin' stupid'.


Amen.

TEA PARTY EXTREMISTS: attacking the aristocracy bureaucracy.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSEN: "[A]fter a half-century in our self-created racial labyrinth, no one quite knows who qualifies as an oppressed victim or why -- only that the more one can change a name or emphasize lineage, the better the careerist edge. The real worry is that soon we will have so many recompense-seeking victims that we will run out of concession-granting oppressors."

RANDOM THOUGHTS on redistributing the wealth from the retirement lane.

I just received one of those 'It wasn't Bush's fault' chain emails that keep coming around. One data point caught my eye: on January 3, 2007, when the Democrats took control of both Houses of Congress, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 12,622. On January 3, 2011, when Republicans regained control of the House, it closed at 11,671. During the four years Democrats owned Congress, the DJIA lost 7.5%. Using the DJIA as a proxy for the 'evil rich millionaires and billionaires', I'd have to say that the Democrats did a pretty good job of destroying redistributing wealth.

On Friday, with Republicans holding only 1/2 the Congress, it closed at 12,861. The DJIA has recovered 10.2% in less than 1-1/2 years....

WHAT'S NEXT after ObamaCare? The Heritage Foundation proposal is reasonable if there is no (federal or state) mandate for a minimum level of coverage.

WHY IS A GHOST TOWN being built in New Mexico?

WHEN REALITY DOESN'T WORK FOR YOU, invent a new one. It used to be that when they had a 'different reality' we called them insane. Now we call them Democrats.

THUG LIFE: The Left's Idea of Tolerance.

DUELING MOTHER'S DAY VIDEOS: guess which one is less political....

DID THE OBAMA CAMPAIGN learn from the EPA, or conversely?

ONCE AGAIN, the Washington Post proves its liberal bona fides:

The end of the hairy, joyless feminist; The Bible made me do it; How ExxonMobil bends Washington - and everyone else - to its will; 5 myths about gay marriage; Obama's 'Julia' says 'I do' to the Hubby State; and Is Mitt Romney's love for America a Mormon thing?,

all in the Sunday Outlook section.

All the headlines are actual headlines. None have been changed from the print edition.

MOVIN' ON.

ADDED: Facebook Co-Founder Saverin Gives Up U.S. Citizenship Before IPO.

LOOK! A SQUIRREL: ObamaMedia's shiny object strategy.

USAF AIRCRAFT: 1947 to Present.

ARE BABY BOOMERS stealing jobs from the young? I doubt it, given that the 55-up workers are most likely to be those in long-established careers.

But judge for yourselves in Political Calculations' Part II and Part III posts.

PRESIDENT OBAMA announces support for square circles.

FAA CRITICIZED as slow to respond to safety concerns. Er, that's exactly the point. The leviathan we lovingly call the U.S. government was specifically designed to be slow to respond in order to dampen the whims and fads of the electorate. It's also true that that loveable levithan has also imposed upon itself duties and responsibilities far greater than the Founders ever envisioned.

COMMERCIAL SPACE IS MOVING FORWARD: Spaceflight Inc unveils the Sherpa in-space tug.

PAUL GREENBERG: The Power of One Free Man.

SHADOW'S WORLD: five years ago today.

THE LAFFER/LOVITZ CURVE. From Zombie at PJMedia:

Remember the Laffer Curve?

First popularized in the ’70s and ’80s, the Laffer Curve was a brilliantly simple economic graph which demonstrated that government revenue grows as taxes are increased only up to a certain point, after which revenues begin to decline as tax rates approach 100%. The high point on the curve shows the optimal tax rate for bringing in the most revenue.

The reasoning behind this is self-evident. Obviously if tax rates are 0%, then the government will collect no tax revenue; but if tax rates are 100%, then the government will almost certainly also collect no tax revenue, because there would be no motivation for anyone to work, earn or invest, since all their income would go directly to the government. A tax rate of 100% may sound tempting at first, but since it would precipitate an economic collapse, the end result would be no economic activity to tax, and thus no revenue. Therefore, the most effective tax rate is somewhere in the middle; the trick is determining exactly where.

Keep the Laffer Curve in mind as we turn our attention to the astounding recent political transformation of comedian Jon Lovitz. On April 23, a recording of a Lovitz comedy routine savagely criticizing Obama’s “bullsh*t” class warfare rhetoric went viral on the Internet, and before long Lovitz was cropping up everywhere, in great demand as the spokesman for everyone disgusted by Obama’s claims that high earners “don’t pay their fair share” in taxes. And this is coming from a self-described Democrat who voted for Obama.

The 'Lovitz Curve' is, of course, just the Laffer Curve applied to that curious subset of rich liberals who have demanded that they be taxed more when it appears to them that their demand will be accepted -- e.g., there is a tax rate beyond which even rich liberals won't pay.

What is amusing to anyone somewhat conversant with calculus is that the Laffer/Lovitz Curve is merely an application of Rolle's Theorem, which was first published in 1691:

Let the function f be defined and continuous on the closed interval a..lte..x..lte..b [..lte.. means 'less than or equal to'] and differentiable in the open interval a..lt..x..lt..b [..lt.. means 'less than']. Furthermore, let f(a) = f(b) = 0. Then there is at least one number c between a and b where
f '(x) is zero; i.e., f '(c) = 0 for some c such that a..lt..c..lt..b.

The proof is available in any number of introductory calculus textbooks; I used my old college text, Thomas' Calculus and Analytic Geometry (1962). Rolle's Theorem is an existence theorem; translated into economic-speak, it doesn't tell us what the tax rate is beyond which government income starts to drop, but it most assuredly tells us that there is one.

PRESIDENTIAL FIRSTS.

IT'S THE NARCISSIM, STUPID.

PUNCHING BACK WITH MOCKERY: "Halperin is just another cog in the progressive media machine that will stop at nothing to reelect the President. Our job is a much simpler one: Point and laugh at all of it. The contortions, the spins, the lies — they’re all so pathetically and rib-achingly funny. In three-plus decades of watching politics, I’ve never witnessed anything so desperately, hysterically funny."

GARFIELD on Television 2012.

RANDOM THOUGHTS on Election 2012: “You cannot get the water to clear up until you get the pigs out of the creek.” It's an old West Virginia hillbilly saying.

DOWN AND DIRTY: The Face of Things to Come. This time, the Republicans are punching back.

MIKE BAKER: Someone needs to be held accountable.

Unfortunately, politicians never seem to be the ones held to account.

FRANK J. FLEMING: Solving the student loan debt problem.

In a sane world, if a teenager walked into a bank and said, “I would like a $50,000 loan to major in modern dance,” the bank manager would call security, who would then pummel the stupid kid, and everyone would end up smarter for it. But what happens instead is that Uncle Sam walks by and says, “I like his moxy. Give him the loan; I’ll guarantee it. And I’ll make sure he can’t ever get out of his stupid choice through bankruptcy.” So they give this giant amount of money to a dumb kid, and then the colleges are waiting outside, saying, “Hey! They’re giving huge loans to moron teenagers; we need to get some of that money!” So we have colleges preying on these gullible saps, increasing costs while their diplomas plummet in value in a complete mockery of our capitalistic system.

Read it all for the solution.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:

The Secret Service scandal was discovered when a disagreement on how much a prostitute wanted for her services came to light.

She wanted $800.00.

The Secret Service Agent offered $30.00.

How ironic is it that the only person in Washington willing to cut spending gets fired?

From my email.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT TEXAS. If you're a Texan -- or former Texan -- you'll be familiar with many of the pictures.

GUIDED BY THE DIM LIGHT OF LIBERALISM: Obama demand ‘fairness’ - even if it bankrupts the nation. Which it will.

COERCION FAIL? The Wisconsin recall primary was a giant repudiation of big labor.

BEST QUOTE OF THE DECADE - from the Czech Republic. If only our voters were this smart.

The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting an inexperienced man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama Presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their President. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America . Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their President.

From my email.

GARFIELD on Television 2012.

"WELL, IT LOOKS LIKE IT IS ABOUT TIME to shut down the Justice Dept." Some parts of it, anyway.

OF COURSE I'LL VOTE FOR ROMNEY, but I still believe Newt Gingrich WAs the better candidate.

OBAMA'S NANNY STATE: Caution -- before you click on this link, be sure to swallow your coffee and put down any sharp objects.

Linked from Instapundit.

NEXT: chewing gum while walking.

CHIME IN: What shiny object will Obama's campaign use next week to avoid talking about the economy? My favorite: "There’s a very strong rumor going around that Mitt once changed lanes without signaling."

UPDATE: here's a 'shiny object' suggestion from Townhall.

FOR ONCE HE WAS RIGHT: Bill Clinton called Obama an 'amateur'. Even stopped clocks....

IT'S SO EASY TO DRIVE EVEN A DEMOCRAT COULD DO IT. Hyundai uses monkeys to test car.

TRUTH is what we say it is.

GUN HUMOR: Why Southern California Is Different than Real America.

RIDE ABOARD NASA'S DAWN SPACECRAFT on a virtual flyover of giant asteroid Vesta. Mission data was used to create the topography you see. Waypoints include: Divialia Fossa; Marcia crater, part of the "snowman" feature; and Aricia Tholus.

WHEW! Early Mayan Calendar Found That Extends Past 2012.

GAY MARRIAGE isn't the only issue President Obama "evolved" on this week.

THE WASHINGTON POST'S war on civility. On the bright side, though, I know that I should vote against whoever the Post endorses. (Of course, I could just as reliably vote Republican.)

DEMOCRATS' RACE TRAINING: If they're not racist, that's proof that they are racist.

NAOMI SCHAEFER RILEY: The Academic Mob Rules.

"THE [OBAMA] TEMPLE OF POSTMODERN LIBERALISM was rocked these last few weeks, as a number of supporting columns and buttresses simply crashed, leaving the entire edifice wobbling."

TEACHER INTERVIEW:

After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said:

'Let me see if I've got this right. 'You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning.

'You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride.

'You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job.

'You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the final exams.

'You also want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents in English, Spanish or any other language, by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card.

'You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps.

'You want me to do all this, and then you tell me ... I CAN'T PRAY?

From my email.

MITT ROMNEY on the Obama campaign strategy:

I think you’re going to find throughout this campaign season that the president’s team will be doing everything in their power to try and hold up various shiny objects. Many will be with regards to me, some will be with regards to the president’s policies or promises of some major new giveaway.

Linked from Fox News. Scroll down from here.

The Washington Post is doing their best for Obama by dangling this shiny object. It was in today's paper, front page above the fold (although you'd never believe it from the online edition).

I think Romney ought to adapt the Bush defense to offense: "When I was young and stupid, I was young and stupid. But I matured; President Obama has not."

IT SHOULD have been titled 'President Narcissist'. Victor Davis Hanson on Presidential Narcissism.

EVERETT DIRKDEN: A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon it adds up to real money. It has....

SPACE: the next 'Habitat for Humanity'.

NOT EVERYONE IS STUPID, just those who read, hear, listen to, and believe the media, Obama, Democrats, and other assorted varieties of socialists.

RANDOM THOUGHTS from the retirement lane. It only takes watching for a few minutes to come to the inescapable conclusion that these anchors could easily be conspiracy theorists -- if only they were a bit smarter.

DREAM CHASER planning for an orbital demonstration mission in 2016.

ELIZABETH WARREN dances with lies -- and other affirmative action stories. I have an idea: lets give affirmative action points to individuals based on blood heritage. Elizabeth Warren gets 1/32 of a point (at best); Barack Obama a half point; George Zimmerman gets at least a half point for being 'Hispanic' and perhaps a fraction of a black point as well....

MR. PRESIDENT, what are you going to do?



Much more here.

MINDING OUR OWN SAFETY is too much for the likes of us. We must let nanny mind for us.

SERIOUSLY? Flasher Exposes Self at Bookstore for the Blind.

GUNNY SAYS VOTE!



Unless you're a Democrat, then don't bother.

SURPRISED? An internal investigation at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill has uncovered academic fraud involving the department of African and Afro-American Studies.

Teaching nothing, learning nothing.

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS collecting millions from federal agencies they sue. What a deal. Government pays them to sue the government; then pays their legal expenses.

AIRPORT SECURITY: Time for a new flight plan.

ELIZABETH WARREN dances with lies -- and other affirmative action stories.

I have an idea: lets give affirmative action points to individuals based on blood heritage. Elizabeth Warren gets 1/32 of a point (at best); Barack Obama a half point; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/29/trayvon-martin-case-georg_n_1387711.htmlGeorge Zimmerman gets at least a half point for being 'Hispanic' and perhaps a fraction of a black point as well....

WHITE HOUSE PAY RAISES.



Getting while the getting is good (click to enlarge).

GAY FOR PAY: Obama reversal on same sex marriage comes just days after donors threatened to withhold funds.

BILL WHITTLE on clutter. Watch; it's worth every minute.

WITH FEW JOBS CREATED, dispirited workers simply drop out. Count me, too. I'm about to resign my 'part-time on-call' position and accept the fact that I'm really, truly retired.

FORWARD! To the future.

[T]oday’s liberals remain enthralled with green technologies like wind and solar. Though these are promoted as if they were forward-looking alternatives to fossil fuels, they’re really throwbacks to pre-industrial times. Humanity has moved past these quaint energy sources. Once upon a time, a wind-powered ship was called a sailboat. A solar-powered clock was called a sundial. Now retrograde “achievements” like powering homes with 15th century windmills is something celebrated with lavish taxpayer grant funding.

Did I write 'future'?