Tuesday, September 08, 2009
JUST DESSERTS
Hot Air's Ed Morrissey gives the Washington Post's E. J. Dionne a well-deserved spanking.
MARS BOUND
The Russians are going to Mars:
The US is going .... somewhere. Maybe.
Where is the next John F. Kennedy?
Not in this administration.
[Update & bump]
Well, dang!
Russian vision for manned spaceflight the latest Russian space doctrine aims for Mars first. To reach a Mars landing, RKK Energia, Russia’s premier developer of manned spacecraft, displayed a multitude of planned space vehicles, including a transport ship, a nuclear-powered space tug, and a planetary lander system. Together they would make up what the agency is calling the Interplanetary Expeditionary Complex.
The US is going .... somewhere. Maybe.
Current budget constraints confronting the National Aeronautics and Space Administration make it virtually impossible to sustain manned missions to the Moon, Mars or further into space in coming decades, a blue-ribbon study group [the Augustine Commission] is expected to tell the White House.
Where is the next John F. Kennedy?
Not in this administration.
[Update & bump]
"Going back to the moon, landing on an asteroid or planting a flag on Mars will not happen without a major investment of tax dollars and time, a member of the White House appointed panel established to develop future options for NASA told The Times this afternoon."
"'It's pretty clear NASA needs more money,' said Dr. Ed Crawley, panel member. 'We basically said human exploration beyond low Earth orbit is not obtainable within the fiscal year 2010 budget. We did not find a credible plan that would fit within the budget.'"
"The Augustine Commission has released a preliminary executive summary to the White House offering suggestions for NASA's future human exploration direction."
Well, dang!
DC LAUNCHES HIV TESTING CAMPAIGN
The District has an HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of 3 percent -- the highest of any major U.S. city. "We're encouraging all residents to ask the doctor for an HIV test when they go for a visit," [Mayor Adrian] Fenty said. "We didn't want to make the past mistake of focusing on one particular area. Everybody is at risk."
There's only two teeny-tiny little problems. One is that the District has a prevalence rate of 3 percent, so, um, lets's see now, ... 97% don't.
The second? HIV/AIDS isn't a shared risk.
Thomas Christopher explains: "Really? Everything I have learned about HIV/AIDS is that it can be avoided with some common sense. The message that we're all at risk contradicts the facts of how this disease is spread. HIV/AIDS education apparently has a long way to go. The only thing "we're all at risk" for is continuously having our tax dollars spent on programs that ignore the truth and cater to people who live a dangerous lifestyle."
There's only two teeny-tiny little problems. One is that the District has a prevalence rate of 3 percent, so, um, lets's see now, ... 97% don't.
The second? HIV/AIDS isn't a shared risk.
Thomas Christopher explains: "Really? Everything I have learned about HIV/AIDS is that it can be avoided with some common sense. The message that we're all at risk contradicts the facts of how this disease is spread. HIV/AIDS education apparently has a long way to go. The only thing "we're all at risk" for is continuously having our tax dollars spent on programs that ignore the truth and cater to people who live a dangerous lifestyle."
IS PACIFICA REAL?
Driving back to Houston a few weeks ago, I had the "pleasure" of accidentally tuning to KPFT radio, a Pacifica network radio station.
One of the last refuges [Houston; KPFT (90.1) New York, WBAI (99.5); Washington, WPFW (89.3); Berkley, KPFA ,(94.1); and Los Angeles, KPFK (90.7)] of the extreme left, I listened to the co-hosts describe their travels through the uncivilized hinterlands. Oklahoma deserved particular excoriation as, quoting exactly, "the worst state in the nation" and home of redneck biblical fundamentalists who clearly didn't have the intellectual sophistication to understand the Bible.
One has to wonder about their smug certainty and ask if they ever left their car or just peered through the window.
Many months ago, I went to the zoo and watched the gorillas watching me through the gorilla enclosure window. The Pacifica progressives remind me of the gorillas - safe, happy, and well-fed in their enclosure, watching the world go by, and smug in their belief that they're on the right side of the window.
Instapundit posted an amusing video advertising the Los Angeles county fair; it perfectly describes the depth and breadth of knowledge of the typical Pacifica progessive. Here it is:
One of the last refuges [Houston; KPFT (90.1) New York, WBAI (99.5); Washington, WPFW (89.3); Berkley, KPFA ,(94.1); and Los Angeles, KPFK (90.7)] of the extreme left, I listened to the co-hosts describe their travels through the uncivilized hinterlands. Oklahoma deserved particular excoriation as, quoting exactly, "the worst state in the nation" and home of redneck biblical fundamentalists who clearly didn't have the intellectual sophistication to understand the Bible.
One has to wonder about their smug certainty and ask if they ever left their car or just peered through the window.
Many months ago, I went to the zoo and watched the gorillas watching me through the gorilla enclosure window. The Pacifica progressives remind me of the gorillas - safe, happy, and well-fed in their enclosure, watching the world go by, and smug in their belief that they're on the right side of the window.
Instapundit posted an amusing video advertising the Los Angeles county fair; it perfectly describes the depth and breadth of knowledge of the typical Pacifica progessive. Here it is:
AND YOU WANT TO WORK IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR?
I'm stunned. I knew public sector wages had gone up considerably, but ....
From the Business Insider via Instapundit.
From the Business Insider via Instapundit.
WHY I OPPOSE NATIONAL HEALTHCARE
For Megan McArdle at The Atlantic it comes down to the public option.
McArdle is right; based on the townhall meetings that have been reported, the basic concern expressed by the protestors is for the direction that a public option will take. Palin's 'death panels'; the possible loss of private insurance as employers try to migrate to the public option; all are symptoms of the underlying concern. And for that matter, I can't think of a single government-provided service that couldn't be done more efficently by private industry if only the government regulatory burden were removed.
Basically, for me, it all boils down to public choice theory. Once we've got a comprehensive national health care plan, what are the government's incentives? I think they're bad, for the same reason the TSA is bad. I'm afraid that instead of Security Theater, we'll get Health Care Theater, where the government goes to elaborate lengths to convince us that we're getting the best possible health care, without actually providing it.
McArdle is right; based on the townhall meetings that have been reported, the basic concern expressed by the protestors is for the direction that a public option will take. Palin's 'death panels'; the possible loss of private insurance as employers try to migrate to the public option; all are symptoms of the underlying concern. And for that matter, I can't think of a single government-provided service that couldn't be done more efficently by private industry if only the government regulatory burden were removed.
LET THE SUN SHINE IN?
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R, WA, 5th district): "As a representative of the people of eastern Washington state and a member of the House Republican leadership, I wanted to know: Where did the money go? It wasn't easy to find out, but I have put together a Web site that makes the answers easily accessible to anyone with an Internet connection."
"The site is sunshine.gop.gov, and it tries to let some sunshine and transparency into the use of TARP and stimulus funds. It details all the TARP funds paid out by the Treasury and the status of those funds to date, whether they have been repaid and whether dividends due from the banks are current. To track stimulus spending, the site has a robust and flexible search engine, allowing anyone to look at the flow of federal funds by project, vendor or geographic area."
Via the Washington Times. I've only skimmed the site, but it looks very interesting.
"The site is sunshine.gop.gov, and it tries to let some sunshine and transparency into the use of TARP and stimulus funds. It details all the TARP funds paid out by the Treasury and the status of those funds to date, whether they have been repaid and whether dividends due from the banks are current. To track stimulus spending, the site has a robust and flexible search engine, allowing anyone to look at the flow of federal funds by project, vendor or geographic area."
Via the Washington Times. I've only skimmed the site, but it looks very interesting.
Monday, September 07, 2009
DRAGNET HAS A FEW WORDS FOR OBAMA
Sgt. Friday (Jack Webb) and Officer Gannon (Harry Morgan) have a few choice words for the president.
From Breitbart TV.
In the comments, it is claimed that in the original Dragnet episode, Friday and Gannon were talking to some radical anti-war teenage thieves who wanted to start a new country and were caught stealing items they “needed” in order to get their new utopia started.
How appropriate ....
From Breitbart TV.
In the comments, it is claimed that in the original Dragnet episode, Friday and Gannon were talking to some radical anti-war teenage thieves who wanted to start a new country and were caught stealing items they “needed” in order to get their new utopia started.
How appropriate ....
ANOTHER SMUG ALERT
Weighing in on the reasons that the public has turned against health-care reform, Michael Kinsley lets his smugness show: "Some people (including me) say the voters are immature."
Translation: You're not an elite Harvard-educated Rhodes scholar. You don't know what's best for you, so we, the elite, the Harvard educated, the progressives have guide, no, compel you to follow our one true path, since you're clearly to unintelligent to follow our enlightened guidance on your own accord.
Translation: You're not an elite Harvard-educated Rhodes scholar. You don't know what's best for you, so we, the elite, the Harvard educated, the progressives have guide, no, compel you to follow our one true path, since you're clearly to unintelligent to follow our enlightened guidance on your own accord.
Sunday, September 06, 2009
TOWN HALLS AND TEA PARTIES - SOME HISTORY
Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) has some thoughts on the history of Tea Party and Town Hall protests.
CZAR STAR FLAMES OUT
Obama 'green jobs' adviser quits amid controversy.
It must be getting crowded under Obama's bus.
Via Instapundit.
It must be getting crowded under Obama's bus.
Via Instapundit.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
OH, MY
Perfect... Injured Thug Who Beat Ken Gladney Asks For Workman's Comp From the SEIU For His "Work" Injury. Follow the links to 24th State posts as well.
Talk about chutzpah ....
Talk about chutzpah ....
OBAMACARE'S PUBLIC OPTION?
President Obama wants everyone to have health insurance "as good as federal employees have." Well, here's the federal plan.
But guess what? It's (a) private insurance, the same as my current employer-provided insurance, (b) just as expensive, and (c) poses serious risks to beneficiaries if applied to Medicare (who don't get a very good deal to begin with).
But guess what? It's (a) private insurance, the same as my current employer-provided insurance, (b) just as expensive, and (c) poses serious risks to beneficiaries if applied to Medicare (who don't get a very good deal to begin with).
OBAMATURF RALLY IN DENVER
Organizing for America, the president’s perpetual campaign organization, stages a show in Denver.
MORE ENVIRONMENTAL INSANITY
Let’s see ... the wildfire in southern California has now killed two firefighters, destroyed at least 76 homes and burned nearly 242 square miles of the Angeles National Forest.
”Months before the huge blaze erupted, the U.S. Forest Service obtained permits to burn away the undergrowth and brush on more than 1,700 acres of the Angeles National Forest. But just 193 acres had been cleared by the time the fire broke out .... [C]ritics suggested that protests from environmentalists over prescribed burns contributed to the disaster, which came after the brush was allowed to build up for as much as 40 years .... Biologist Ileene Anderson with the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental organization, said burn permits should be difficult to get because of the potential damage to air quality. Clearing chaparral by hand or machine must be closely scrutinized because it can hurt native species.”
Uh, huh. Now over 200 square miles of “biological diversity” is gone. And the air quality? Well, let’s see ... 1700 acres permitted for controlled burning is bad; 155,000 acres actually burned is ....?
But not to worry, the environmentalists know what the real problem is – global warming. “[H]igher temperatures lead to both reduced snowpack in the Sierra Nevadas and an earlier melt, which in turn produces a longer and drier fire season. Result: more and bigger fires.”
Uh, guys, it’s really pretty simple: no fuel, no fires.
”Months before the huge blaze erupted, the U.S. Forest Service obtained permits to burn away the undergrowth and brush on more than 1,700 acres of the Angeles National Forest. But just 193 acres had been cleared by the time the fire broke out .... [C]ritics suggested that protests from environmentalists over prescribed burns contributed to the disaster, which came after the brush was allowed to build up for as much as 40 years .... Biologist Ileene Anderson with the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental organization, said burn permits should be difficult to get because of the potential damage to air quality. Clearing chaparral by hand or machine must be closely scrutinized because it can hurt native species.”
Uh, huh. Now over 200 square miles of “biological diversity” is gone. And the air quality? Well, let’s see ... 1700 acres permitted for controlled burning is bad; 155,000 acres actually burned is ....?
But not to worry, the environmentalists know what the real problem is – global warming. “[H]igher temperatures lead to both reduced snowpack in the Sierra Nevadas and an earlier melt, which in turn produces a longer and drier fire season. Result: more and bigger fires.”
Uh, guys, it’s really pretty simple: no fuel, no fires.
PROFESSIONAL ISSUES
Jules Crittenden, a journalist and 2003 embed with A Co., 4/64 Armor, 2nd Bge, 3rd ID in Iraq, writes on the incident in which The Associated Press decided to go against the wishes of a young Marine’s family and publish a photograph of him taken after he was mortally wounded in Afghanistan.
Crittenden’s analysis is evenhanded with respect to both sides of the “publish or not” dispute, and worth a read for his insight.
Don Surber also posted his thoughts, initially putting up the photo, then on second thought, removing it.
Ignoring whether or not the publication was in violation of the embed agreement AP signed with DoD, my feeling is that the picture of Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard should not have been published. Not so much because it added to or detracted from the story, but simply in respect to the wishes the family, whose remembrance of him will be forever affected by that single picture.
I still recall my father’s body in his casket, 30 years ago, and I still have trouble remembering him as he was before his untimely death.
Crittenden’s analysis is evenhanded with respect to both sides of the “publish or not” dispute, and worth a read for his insight.
Don Surber also posted his thoughts, initially putting up the photo, then on second thought, removing it.
Ignoring whether or not the publication was in violation of the embed agreement AP signed with DoD, my feeling is that the picture of Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard should not have been published. Not so much because it added to or detracted from the story, but simply in respect to the wishes the family, whose remembrance of him will be forever affected by that single picture.
I still recall my father’s body in his casket, 30 years ago, and I still have trouble remembering him as he was before his untimely death.
SARAH PALIN VS. DR. DEATH
Not Dr. Jack Kevorkian, but Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the president's health care czar.
Clayton Cramer thinks that the column “overstates Sarah Palin's role ... and the actual role of section 1233, but still does a cute job of reminding us that one of the big differences between Democrats and Republicans is that Democrats are elitists, convinced that their superior educations allow them to ignore issues of morality....”
I agree with Cramer and would add only that I think the column accurately and precisely describes the “progressive” view as it is taught in the colleges of liberal arts at America’s universities.
One day he was vacationing in the Italian Alps, a top-level government bureaucrat and Democrat insider enjoying the fruits of his labors on behalf of the common good. Government health care was cruising and Zeke was the guy Time magazine predicted will build the most "equitable and ethical" health care system north of Cuba. Marty Peretz, his friend and publisher of The New Republic, described him as quintessential Harvard, "very impressive" and stuffed with "gravitas."
And then he got the call: Sarah Palin had done the unthinkable. She had read the health care bill. Mainstream journalists hadn't read the bill. Congress hadn't read its own bill. But Sarah Palin did. Sarah Palin! He has a medical degree and doctorate in political philosophy from Harvard. The only Harvard she's knows is the chunk of ice off Prince William Sound, Harvard Glacier.
Then she writes something on Facebook -- Facebook, for Obama's sake! -- and suddenly the president, congress, the media, and everyone who is anyone inside the beltway is scurrying for cover. Palin wrote that she wanted nothing to do with Obama's "death panel," the collection of bureaucrats who Zeke was so proudly putting together to assess the "level of productivity" that would determine individual access to medical care.
Clayton Cramer thinks that the column “overstates Sarah Palin's role ... and the actual role of section 1233, but still does a cute job of reminding us that one of the big differences between Democrats and Republicans is that Democrats are elitists, convinced that their superior educations allow them to ignore issues of morality....”
I agree with Cramer and would add only that I think the column accurately and precisely describes the “progressive” view as it is taught in the colleges of liberal arts at America’s universities.
WRONG TURNS
How Obama's Health-Care Push Went Astray. The complete Wall Street Journal article is interesting and well worth reading, but here is the key graf:
In their infinite wisdom, the liberals have it wrong (again). The people didn’t come with talking points from from talk radio; talk radio got its talking points from them. That’s the difference between grass roots and astroturf.
Rep. Peter Welch, a liberal Democrat from Vermont, had his epiphany during a meeting in a Mini Mart parking lot in Derbyline, a small town on the Canadian border. Over 50 people crowded around a couple of Dumpsters to berate him. “It was stunning,” Rep. Welch said. “They came with talking points’ gleaned from talk radio.”
In their infinite wisdom, the liberals have it wrong (again). The people didn’t come with talking points from from talk radio; talk radio got its talking points from them. That’s the difference between grass roots and astroturf.
EXOSKELETONS ARE ON THE MARCH
An army of exoskeletons is coming. And according to their inventor, Professor Yoshiyuki Sankai of the University of Tsukuba, in Japan, they’re making a difference in the lives of disabled people.
As Glenn Reynolds likes to say when discussing technology advances in health care, “Faster, please.” With something like this, my mother, who is wheelchair bound, could possibly use a walker.
As Glenn Reynolds likes to say when discussing technology advances in health care, “Faster, please.” With something like this, my mother, who is wheelchair bound, could possibly use a walker.
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