ON LOSING THE OLYMPICS

Writing about Team Barry’s presentation was to the International Olympic Committee:

[I]t’s unpatriotic not to be heartbroken that a billion-dollar graft opportunity for Richard Daley and his slimy cronies — which even Chicagoans were evenly split on, mind you — got flushed down the toilet. The fact is, it’s only because the stakes for the country were so low and Obama’s ego so overweening that an “unforced error” this dumb can be laughed at.

Given that the president used to be a law professor, an observation routinely attributed to former Harvard professor Henry Kissinger may appropriate: "Academic politics are so vicious precisely because the stakes are so small."

THE LIBERAL'S DILEMMA

The problem with utopias is that no human being could ever live in one.

THE SORT-OF GOD THAT FAILED

Obama does not yet have a failed presidency, but he is on course to one in both domestic and foreign affairs.

Read it all.

GOING ROGUE

Sarah Palin may no longer be governor of Alaska, but she's certainly destined to become a best-selling author. HarperCollins, her publisher, has announced the print-run of her memoir will be a staggering 1.5 million copies ... such a giant run is only ordered up when there is clear evidence from booksellers and surveys of massive interest in a book.






















Yep. Palin’s book [is] number one on both [the] Amazon and Barnes & Noble bestseller list.

THE 'CENTERIST' PUBLIC OPTION

E.J. Dionne knows Americans want government-sponsored health care; but

Because opponents know from polling that the public wants the chance to choose a government plan, they move the discourse to abstract and often demagogic ground.

Reasoned opposition isn't an option, eh?

The most revealing "argument" during the Senate Finance Committee's public-option debate on Tuesday came from Sen. Chuck Grassley. "The government is not a fair competitor," [Sen. Chuck] Grassley said. "It's a predator."

So Dionne asks: "Is it predatory for government to pay health bills for the elderly?"

Well, consider the complementary question: Is it predatory for the government to not allow anyone else to pay health bills for the elderly? Because once I turn 65, I can't opt out of Medicare.

Dionne then asks: "Is Social Security, which lives side by side with private pension and savings plans, predatory?"

Oh. please. Social Security was never intended to be a retirement system. If E.J. believes that, he should read a little history. Social Security was - and still is, for the most part - a social insurance program. If E.J wants to believe Social Security is a retirement program, then it's easily provable to be far less efficient than simply saving for retirement in a 401k-like program.

47% TO PAY NO INCOME TAX IN 2009

Why not vote for bread and circuses when you’re not on the Colloseum floor?

THE NEXT FEDERAL BAILOUT

'Great' Public Universities. Now our state universities are asking to line up at the trough. Don't I already pay enough state taxes?

My God, UC Berkley is at least in part a land-grant (Morrill Act) college. Oh, the shame ....

Via Instapundit.

RIO DE JANEIRO WINS 2016 OLYMPICS

Does this mean the IOC is racist?

[Update] Nope. It's Bush's fault.

Idiot.

THE PAST IS NOT QUITE PAST

“We should remember the past these last few weeks as we watch U.S. foreign policy turned topsy-turvy.”

Victor Davis Hanson offers a history lesson to President Obama.

WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP

Bobo the talking intern is back.

BACK UP YOUR BRAIN

By 2040 you will be able to upload your mind.

I just bought a 4 GB external USB drive last week. That should leave about 3 GB to spare.

Link from Instapundit.

NAIVE AND EGOTISTICAL

"French president Nicolas Sarkozy considers Barack Obama 'incredibly naive and grossly egotistical,' [and] is convinced that 'nothing can dent [Obama's] naivete.' ”



This is news?

AN OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL AFGHANISTAN POLICY

Now that we know what General McChrystal needs to succeed in Afghanistan, the Obama administration will not look at McChrystal’s request. The Pentagon hold it until Obama officially makes an official decision about the officially official policy he wants to officially pursue in the war.
And since it’s a policy decision, there’s clearly no need for military input.

Besides, there are more important things to do than succeed in Afghanistan.

OBAMACARE OR JAIL

Senator John Ensign (R-NV) asked the [Joint Committee on Taxation]’s Chief of Staff Thomas Barthold about the penalty for not obtaining health insurance. Barthold responded:

People who fail to pay the $1,900 fee for not purchasing coverage under Obamacare would be charged with a misdemeanor, charged a penalty of up to $25,000 or face up to a year in jail.

Will they get ObamaCare while in jail? And will they be required to pay for it?

A TOUGH SELL?

Sarah Palin ... might not have an easy time on the lecture circuit. ... [A]n industry expert tells Page Six: "The big lecture buyers in the US are paralyzed with fear about booking her, basically because they think she is a blithering idiot."

I suspect the “industry expert” will be very surprised.

HEALTH WORKERS SPURN FLU SHOTS

“CDC figures ... show that just 45.4 percent of U.S. health care workers ages 19 to 64 were immunized against seasonal flu [last] year. Three British surveys released in recent weeks suggest the same pattern with the novel H1N1 virus, commonly known as the ‘swine flu’ virus.”

Do they know something we don’t?

LIBERALISM DEFINED

Liberalism: the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be responsible (cf. H.L. Mencken on Puritanism).

PRIORITIES

As if we didn't already know.

ADVICE FOR REPUBLICANS

“If you want to win, look at whom the Democrats and their media chums are so frantic to destroy: That's the better guide to what they're really worried about.”

THE BRAINY BUNCH

Thomas Sowell comments on the utility of intellect:

There is usually only a limited amount of damage that can be done by dull or stupid people. For creating a truly monumental disaster, you need people with high IQs.

In an age when facts seem to carry less weight than the visions of brilliant and charismatic leaders, it is more important than ever to look at the actual track records of those brilliant and charismatic leaders.

A case in point: Argentina

Argentina began [the 20th] century as one of the 10 richest nations in the world [but] politically brilliant and charismatic leaders, promoting reckless government spending-- of whom Juan Peron was the most prominent, but by no means alone-- managed to create an economic disaster in a country with an abundance of natural resources.

Read the rest of the article to find out where Sowell fears the U.S. might end.