Pragmatic American

Friday Morning Music

2011-01-21T09:47:00.000-05:00

We have lift off... just: Massive 235ft rocket carrying a secret spy satellite replacement blasts off from California coast

2011-01-21T09:45:00.001-05:00

It is the largest rocket ever launched from the U.S. West Coast.

The 235ft-tall Delta IV Heavy Launch Vehicle lifted off at 1.10pm local time yesterday with a classified U.S. government defence satellite on board.

Carrying cargo for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), the booster rose into the sky over California's central coast and arced over the Pacific Ocean, a spectacle visible from 50 miles away.

Daily Mail UK

We Should Take More Pride in Our Manufacturing Dominance; We Still Make LOTS of Stuff Here

2011-01-21T09:40:00.001-05:00

Carpe Diem

Bin Laden demands France withdraw from Afghanistan

2011-01-21T09:38:00.000-05:00

CAIRO —

Osama bin Laden demanded that France withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in exchange for the release of French hostages being held by al-Qaida affiliates, according to an audio message broadcast on an Arabic news channel Friday.

"The exit of your hostages out of the hands of our brothers depends on the exit of your troops from Afghanistan," bin Laden said in the message broadcast by Al-Jazeera.

Seattle Times

Obama Names GE CEO Immelt As Economic Adviser

2011-01-21T09:37:00.000-05:00

President Obama wants to cast some light on economic success stories in the shadows of a slow recovery. And he is looking to find some more.

On Friday, the president travels to Schenectady, N.Y., birthplace of the General Electric Co., to showcase a new GE deal with India and announce a restructured presidential advisory board to focus on increasing employment and competitiveness.

NPR

Report: Boston teachers got double-digit raises

2011-01-21T09:26:00.004-05:00

Boston —

While many workers have seen no pay increases in the last several years, some Boston public school teachers have seen their salaries go up by 44 percent since 2006, according to a report released by The Boston Foundation Tuesday.

Wicked Local

PA: So, how did we get into this financial mess again? What was that? The evil 'Pubs?

Try again.

A 44% raise? Are you freaking kidding me? Our schools are pounding out morons, with around 50% of all incoming college Freshman requiring remedial English and Math, and these people demand - and get - raises like that?

THIS is how we have ended up bankrupt. One single generation of people with their hands stuck out, treating taxpayers as an endless source of easy money.

America must brace itself for turbulence

2011-01-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

America is experiencing the hard slog of recovering from the financial crisis. Prospects have turned more positive over the past two months. But a year ago growth was picking up too – and then it stalled, at about the same time Greece’s fiscal problems infected the global economy. The question now is whether a home-grown fiscal crisis could derail this year’s rebound.

Financial Times

Path Is Sought for States to Escape Debt Burdens

2011-01-21T07:57:00.000-05:00

Policy makers are working behind the scenes to come up with a way to let states declare bankruptcy and get out from under crushing debts, including the pensions they have promised to retired public workers.

Unlike cities, the states are barred from seeking protection in federal bankruptcy court.

New York Times

Alan Johnson resignation: Labour needs to rediscover the values and virtues of England

2011-01-21T07:55:00.000-05:00

The party should not shrink from seeking to restore belief in a national identity, say Jon Cruddas and Jonathan Rutherford.

Last night Westminster was abuzz with news of Alan Johnson’s departure. Why has he gone? What does it mean for Labour? Will Ed Balls recalibrate Labour’s economic policy? But the gossip and the questions are not shared much beyond a small elite. They do not resonate in the daily lives of people. Despite the shuffling of the pack, there are deeper issues for Labour to address.

Telegraph UK

Everything starts with repeal

2011-01-21T07:52:00.000-05:00

Suppose someone - say, the president of United States - proposed the following: We are drowning in debt. More than $14 trillion right now. I've got a great idea for deficit reduction. It will yield a savings of $230 billion over the next 10 years: We increase spending by $540 billion while we increase taxes by $770 billion.

Washington Post

Anyone accusing Chávez of "bad faith" will be prosecuted

2011-01-21T07:51:00.001-05:00

In 2010, the Supreme Tribunal of Justice gave the Venezuelan president the green light to sue his accusers

Any Venezuelans who believe that President Hugo Chávez has committed a crime and resort to the Attorney General Office to seek prosecution of the Venezuelan president will go from complainant to defendant, as provided for in two judgments issued by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ).

El Universal

Thursday Evening Tunes

2011-01-20T20:26:00.001-05:00

Giffords will be flown to Houston rehabilitation hospital Friday

2011-01-20T20:24:00.002-05:00

Tucson, Arizona (CNN) -- Accompanied by a veterans' motorcycle escort, Arizona U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords will be taken Friday from a Tucson hospital to a nearby Air Force base for a flight to Texas and the beginning of her extended recovery, according to the congresswoman's office.

CNN

PA: Astounding. All of our best wishes and prayers that she fully recovers.

EU Spells Out Sanctions on Belarus

2011-01-20T20:22:00.001-05:00

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Thursday calling on the EU to impose severe sanctions on top Belarus officials, judges, and security officers involved in the crackdown against mass protests following presidential elections in late December.

Epoch Times

China: The First Mature Fascist State

2011-01-20T20:18:00.000-05:00

For nearly ten years, I have been arguing that China may well be the first example of a mature fascism in power. The highest praise imaginable has been bestowed on this theory, by the People’s Republic itself. When I published an updated version of my theory (first published in the Wall Street Journal in 2002 and reprised in different form in NRO thereafter) in the Far East Economic Review in May, 2008, the entire issue was banned in China.

Pajamas Media

Dependence Day

2011-01-20T20:12:00.000-05:00

If I am pessimistic about the future of liberty, it is because I am pessimistic about the strength of the English-speaking nations, which have, in profound ways, surrendered to forces at odds with their inheritance. “Declinism” is in the air, but some of us apocalyptic types are way beyond that. The United States is facing nothing so amiable and genteel as Continental-style “decline,” but something more like sliding off a cliff.

New Criterion

House Conservatives Offer Bold Proposal to Cut $2.5 Trillion in Federal Spending

2011-01-20T20:09:00.000-05:00

House conservatives are holding firm on their promise to cut federal spending. Speaking this morning at Heritage, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) outlined $2.5 trillion worth of cuts between now and 2021 — a bold proposal called the Spending Reduction Act (SRA).

Heritage

Good news: Study confirms that college is pretty much a total waste of time

2011-01-20T20:06:00.002-05:00

You don’t even need to read the article; just follow the link and check out the graph in the left-hand sidebar.

What’s tuition up to these days at private universities, parents? About $30-35,000?

Nearly half of the nation’s undergraduates show almost no gains in learning in their first two years of college, in large part because colleges don’t make academics a priority, a new report shows.

Hot Air

PA: "Colleges don’t make academics a priority?" Isn't that like your auto mechanic not making Cars his priority?

Tell-tale letdown: Poe visitor again a no-show

2011-01-20T17:15:00.000-05:00

Telltale hearts beat with anticipation during a rainy, midnight dreary and beyond, hoping the mysterious visitor to Edgar Allan Poe's grave would return after a one-year absence.

But once again, the unknown person who for decades has left three roses and a half-empty bottle of cognac at Poe's grave on the anniversary of the writer's birth failed to appear Wednesday, fueling speculation that he may have died.

Yahoo

Hubris heading for a fall

2011-01-20T17:08:00.000-05:00

It takes a worried man to sing a worried song, and in a recent speech that seemed like Larry Summers's swan song, the president's now-departed economic adviser warned that America is "at risk of a profound demoralization with respect to government."

Washington Post

Cost of 1,000 federal committees leaves taxpayers with skyrocketing bill

2011-01-20T17:06:00.001-05:00

Got a problem? Form a committee.

For decades, this has been Washington's go-to response for tackling an array of policy challenges big and small, national and local. But that response has added up.

Fox

The Union Threat to the Democrats' Future

2011-01-20T16:56:00.000-05:00

Unless the party confronts its allies in the public-employee unions, it will continue to lose credibility with voters around the country.

There is a crisis in state and municipal finance. That much is clear. What hasn't been fully understood is that the fate of the Democratic Party is bound up in the resolution of that crisis.

Wall Street Journal

Exclusive: Over a million immigrants land U.S. jobs in 2008-10

2011-01-20T16:51:00.001-05:00

(Reuters) - Over the past two years, as U.S. unemployment remained near double-digit levels and the economy shed jobs in the wake of the financial crisis, over a million foreign-born arrivals to America found work, many illegally.

Those are among the findings of a review of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau data conducted exclusively for Reuters by researchers at the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.

Reuters

GOP Has Tools to Force Senate Vote on Repeal

2011-01-20T16:49:00.000-05:00

While the health care repeal that the House passed Wednesday has little chance of passage in the Senate, Republicans will probably succeed in eventually forcing a vote on the measure -- albeit with at least a 60-vote threshold.

National Journal

‘Conversing’ About Afghanistan

2011-01-20T16:47:00.000-05:00

I had not previously suspected that Grover Norquist has quite the sense of humor. I had thought of him as a dour ideologue, but he shows hidden strains of mirth in responding to my blog post expressing skepticism about his attempts to rally a “center-right” coalition against the Afghan war. The Daily Caller quotes him as follows:

Commentary

States of Insolvency

2011-01-20T16:45:00.000-05:00

Paced by California and Illinois, state governments across the country continue to mimic the unsustainable fiscal excesses of the federal government – creating crushing deficits and soaring unfunded liabilities. Moreover, any state attempting to plug these holes with tax hikes or other revenue enhancements could create an exodus of businesses and taxpayers – meaning fewer jobs, lost revenue streams and diminished political clout.

Town Hall

Czechs Demonstrate Against the Persecution of Christians

2011-01-20T08:40:00.000-05:00

Some 3,000 signatures were collected in a week under an appeal to the Czech government to pay attention to the persecution of Christians and consider granting asylum to at least some of the worst affected Iraqis.

Gates of Vienna

Facilitating magical thinking

2011-01-20T08:30:00.001-05:00

For different reasons, both M. Simon and Sarah have made me want to sound off about something that has long annoyed me.

Magical thinking. Seeing things that aren't. Making connections that are not there. In movies, the Michael Moore approach. (Bush swings golf club. Truckload of dead Iraqi babies. Voila! Connection made!)

Classical Values

When Democrats Were Cold Warriors

2011-01-20T08:28:00.000-05:00

Today marks the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's presidency, beginning with his historic inaugural address. Liberals remember the inaugural for the famous phrase, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." To the progressive mind, it's a call for government service, an exhortation to give back to the federal government what the federal government, in its benevolence, has given you.

American Spectator

Democratic Congressman’s comparison of Republicans with Nazis is met with deafening silence from President Obama and America's liberal elites

2011-01-20T08:21:00.000-05:00

In what has to be a leading candidate for the most inflammatory, ignorant and downright offensive political statement of the year, Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN) compared Republican opposition to President Obama’s health care reforms to the tactics of Adolf Hitler’s henchman Joseph Goebbels and the genocidal regime in Nazi Germany.

Telegraph UK

House GOP conservatives set to unveil $2.5 trillion in deep spending cuts

2011-01-20T08:20:00.001-05:00

A number of the House GOP’s leading conservative members on Thursday will announce legislation that would cut $2.5 trillion over 10 years, which will be by far the most ambitious and far-reaching proposal by the new majority to cut federal government spending.

Daily Caller

Who is Suhail Khan?

2011-01-20T08:08:00.000-05:00

Suhail Khan, a Bush administration veteran, has presented himself as a moderate, pro-American voice in the Muslim Community. But new videos cast serious doubt on that image he’s carefully groomed for himself in Washington.

Frontpage

Liberals hate free speech unless it's theirs

2011-01-20T08:06:00.000-05:00

Ever since a violent, evil lunatic decided to shoot innocent people in a public place in Tucson, Ariz., hand-wringing liberals have been vilifying everyone but the violent, evil lunatic himself. They have tried to blame Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, the tea party and the NRA. I'm sure some of them are even trying to figure out how to pin it on George W. Bush.

Tampa Bay Online

House Votes for Repeal of Health Law in Symbolic Act

2011-01-20T08:04:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON — The House voted Wednesday to repeal the Democrats’ landmark health care overhaul, marking what the new Republican majority in the chamber hailed as the fulfillment of a campaign promise and the start of an all-out effort to dismantle President Obama’s signature domestic policy achievement.

New York Times

The Robots Are Taking Our Jobs

2011-01-20T08:01:00.001-05:00

Free traders like to point out that technology likely destroys far more American jobs than globalization, and yet globalization skeptics do not complain when this happens. Furthermore, we like to add, why should individuals whose jobs are offshored be entitled to a better safety net than individuals whose jobs are made redundant by technology?

Modeled Behavior

Hungarian PM warns EU to back off, stop meddling

2011-01-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

STRASBOURG, France – The Hungarian prime minister told European Union politicians Wednesday not to meddle in Hungarian politics while his country holds the EU's presidency, warning that the entire EU would suffer.

Yahoo

Wednesday Morning Tunes

2011-01-19T08:59:00.001-05:00

WikiLeaks memo belies Hu's glossy pitch to U.S.

2011-01-19T08:55:00.000-05:00

WASHINGTON — Chinese President Hu Jintao this week restated pledges to crack down on illegal business practices and painted a rosy picture for foreign investors, but confidential U.S. diplomatic cables tell a far different story for U.S. businesses.

McClatchy

Meltdown: MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell goes into attack mode against Arizona GOP congressman

2011-01-19T08:45:00.000-05:00

Remember all the talk about turning down the volume in our political discourse? How about the idea that in the wake of the Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, there were going to be efforts to hold a more civil dialogue going forth? Perhaps those rules only apply if you hold a particular point of view.

Daily Caller

After Tunisia, Arab World Gives Up on America

2011-01-19T08:39:00.000-05:00

NEW YORK - The Arab world is jubilant over the popular uprising in Tunisia that forced President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee last week after 23 years in power.

Everyone is wondering whether the example set by Tunisians will spread to topple other dictatorships in the Middle East.

Real Clear World

Michael Moore: People Own Guns Because They’re Racist

2011-01-19T08:34:00.003-05:00

Breitbart

PA: What a dip-stick.

Barack Obama versus Ludwig von Mises

2011-01-19T08:31:00.001-05:00

President Obama has an Op-Ed in today's WSJ calling for a review of all government regulations. In his commentary surrounding this review, the views of the president and those of the great economist Ludwig von Mises could not be in greater contrast.

Lew Rockwell

PA: Well, here's a question for you - this guy is supposed to be managing the entire country and repairing our crappy economy. What the hell is he doing, writing farking Op-Eds for?

Report: Mullah Omar treated in Pakistan after heart attack

2011-01-19T08:28:00.000-05:00

Newspaper reports claim that Taliban leader was helped by Pakistani intelligence officials

Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was treated in hospital with the help of Pakistan's intelligence agency after suffering a heart attack earlier this month, the Washington Post reported.

MSNBC

All-Seeing Blimp Could Be Afghanistan’s Biggest Brain

2011-01-19T08:27:00.001-05:00

Come this fall, there will be a new and extremely powerful supercomputer in Afghanistan. But it won’t be in Dave Petraeus’ headquarters in Kabul or at some three-letter agency’s operations center in Kandahar. It’ll be floating 20,000 feet above the warzone, aboard a giant spy blimp that watches and listens to everything for miles around.

Wired

Tuesday Evening Jams

2011-01-18T19:19:00.000-05:00

January 18, 2011 The ‘Teabaggers Inspired Loughner’ narrative continues to crumble

2011-01-18T19:17:00.001-05:00

A team of 250 federal investigators and 130 local detectives trying to understand why Jared Lee Loughner went on his alleged killing spree has conducted more than 300 interviews with family, friends and neighbors since the shooting. But they remain stumped about what ultimately prompted the 22-year-old’s descent into violence.

Daily Caller

Schumer slams Christie for killing Hudson rail tunnel

2011-01-18T19:15:00.000-05:00

It's a Hudson tunnel border war.

New York Sen. Charles Schumer today slammed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for killing construction of a second commuter rail tunnel connecting the two states.

"I believe pulling the plug on ARC was a terrible, terrible decision," Schumer said a Craine's breakfast at the Grand Hyatt.

NY Post

The Shadow of the Sixties

2011-01-18T19:12:00.000-05:00

"The period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received ... in the superlative degree of comparison only."
-- Charles Dickens, "A Tale of Two Cities"

WASHINGTON -- We are, it's said, now living through the most wrenching period since the end of World War II. Unemployment has exceeded 9 percent for 20 months, and it's unclear when it will decisively decline. Americans' faith in the future has been shaken; a recent Gallup poll finds that only one in seven thinks it "very likely" that today's children will "have a better life than their parents."

Real Clear Politics

Caligula's tomb found after police arrest man trying to smuggle statue

2011-01-18T19:08:00.000-05:00

Police arrest tomb raider loading part of 2.5 metre statue into lorry near Lake Nemi, south of Rome, where Caligula had a villa

The lost tomb of Caligula has been found, according to Italian police, after the arrest of a man trying to smuggle abroad a statue of the notorious Roman emperor recovered from the site.

Guardian UK

Trust on Issues

2011-01-18T19:05:00.000-05:00

Voters Now Trust GOP More On All 10 Key Issues

Republicans officially assumed control of the U.S. House of Representatives this month, and voters now trust the GOP more than Democrats on all 10 of the most important issues regularly surveyed by Rasmussen Reports including the economy, health care, taxes and national security.

Rasmussen

Reports: Lieberman Expected To Announce Retirement

2011-01-18T19:02:00.000-05:00

An increasing number of reports are indicating that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who is set to announce tomorrow whether he will run again, will ultimately announce that he is retiring in 2012.

Talking Points Memo

Sargent Shriver, Peace Corps Founder and VP Candidate, Dies

2011-01-18T19:01:00.000-05:00

Shriver, 95, Ran on McGovern Ticket in 1972, Founded Peace Corps, Special Olympics

Former Democratic vice presidential candidate and Peace Corps founder Robert Sargent Shriver Jr. died today at age 95, family sources told ABC News.

Shriver had long suffered from Alzheimer's disease, a cause that his daughter, former California first lady Maria Shriver, championed in recent years.

ABC

The Great Depression II

2011-01-18T09:17:00.000-05:00

There is more to fear than fear itself.

The basis for deciding whether we are in a "recession" or a "depression" is distinguishing how recessions become depressions. With the hindsight of history, we already know.

American Thinker

NYT: Say, maybe we should have waited for the facts before blaming the Right

2011-01-18T09:05:00.001-05:00

Don’t worry, though, because the New York Times’ public editor (their term for ombudsman) “shares the view to an extent” (emphasis mine) that the Times and the media rushed to put the Tucson shootings in a political context. Well, that’s certainly a relief.

Hot Air

PA: Oh no, thank you for your clear demonstration of your bias and lack of professional ethics.

MICHAELS: China-style dictatorship of climatologists

2011-01-18T09:03:00.001-05:00

NASA's Hansen prefers rule by decree to fight 'global warming

November's election made it quite clear that the people of the United States do not want to radically change our society in the name of global warming. Pretty much every close House race went to the Republicans, while the Democrats won all the Senate squeakers. The difference? The House on June 26, 2009, passed a bill limiting carbon-dioxide emissions and getting into just about every aspect of our lives. The Senate did nothing of the sort.

Washington Times

PA: Listen to the little dictator strut his stuff.

Two New Obamacare Polls Have High Numbers of Democrats, Misleading Questions

2011-01-18T08:52:00.000-05:00

Two new polls show declining support for fully repealing Obamacare. Does this mean the GOP, on the verge of passing a bill repealing Obamacare in the House, should back down?

Not so, say GOP pollsters, who argue that the poll questions are poorly worded and that the demographic samples include a disproportionate number of Democrats.

National Review

PA: Lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Big Labor’s Attack on the States

2011-01-18T08:50:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced its intentions to sue four states–Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota and Utah–to overturn voter-approved amendments requiring any attempts to unionize a workplace be done with the same secret ballot system used for general elections.

Frontpage

Culture Challenge of the Week: Raising Strong Boys in a Soft Culture

2011-01-18T08:46:00.001-05:00

Parenting boys can be tough.

From sexually provocative media, to the influence of bad boy athletes and self-indulgent celebrities, to violent video games… the cultural undertow exerts a powerful pull in the wrong direction.

Town Hall

PA: I wholeheartedly agree. This reminds me of one of the beer commercials, in which the young guy is always exercising right there, to keep his weight off. In one such, a friend asks, "how is it possible that you're still single?"

Well, listening to that man's lisping, Metrosexual voice and effete mannerisms, I asked myself, "and how did you?"

Who Lost the Middle East?

2011-01-18T08:45:00.000-05:00

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, especially today in the Maghreb and Middle East.

For the ouster of Tunisia's Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has sent shock waves from Rabat to Riyadh. Autocrats, emirs and kings have to be asking themselves: If rioters can bring down Ben Ali with his ruthless security forces, what prevents this from happening here?

Human Events

Three facts House GOP cannot afford to ignore

2011-01-18T08:43:00.000-05:00

With House Republicans returning this week from their Baltimore retreat, it is time to start the serious business of doing what a decisive majority of voters demanded in last November's historic election. To be successful, Republicans must keep three facts constantly before them:

Washington Examiner

Iran: Sanctions won’t stop nuclear drive

2011-01-18T08:42:00.001-05:00

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Tehran is making steady progress in its nuclear program, and warned that not even 100,000 U.N. Security Council resolutions will derail his country’s nuclear ambitions.

Daily Caller

PA: True, sanctions won't work with Iran. But hey, how are those computers running lately?

Monday Dinnertime Jams

2011-01-17T18:04:00.000-05:00

The Region: Revolutions, walk-outs and fatwas

2011-01-17T17:48:00.000-05:00

Recent events in Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt spell a dangerous new trend in the region.

There have been major developments in Tunisia, Lebanon and Egypt, each of which is of tremendous importance.

In Tunisia, a popular uprising fueled by unemployment, economic suffering and long-term discontent has overthrown the dictator, but not necessarily the dictatorship. In 55 years of independence, the country has been governed by two dictators, the current one being Zine al-Abedin Ben Ali, who has been president for 23 years and was a key power in the regime even before that.

Jerusalem Post

Russian Journalist: ‘Violence Is the Price of Freedom.’ Statistics: ‘Uh, No.’

2011-01-17T17:45:00.000-05:00

According to the most recent available statistics, Russia has an intentional homicide rate of 14.9 per 100,000 citizens. Only 13 countries on this planet have a higher rate.

The rate in the United States, by contrast, is 5.0 per 100,000 citizens — three times lower.

So it was strange, to say the very least, to hear Andrei Sitov, the Washington bureau chief of ITAR-TASS — the government-operated Russian version of Reuters — ask White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs whether the recent murder spree by Jared Loughner in Arizona was not an indication that while freedom generally was an “American” thing, “the quote, unquote ‘freedom’ of the deranged mind to respect, to react violently to that” was not also very “American.”

Pajamas Media

SKorea: Nuclear push could bring North's collapse

2011-01-17T17:24:00.000-05:00

SEOUL, South Korea -- Impoverished North Korea could bring its own collapse if it keeps pouring scarce national resources into its nuclear weapons program and military, a senior South Korean official warned in an interview to be broadcast Monday.

SeattlePi

Revealed: How even German civilians took part in killing concentration camp survivors

2011-01-17T17:23:00.001-05:00

A new book about the closing days of WW2 chronicles how German civilians murdered many concentration camp survivors as they moved through their towns and villages on infamous 'death marches' back into the shrinking Reich.

Daily Mail

Illinois Wakes Up

2011-01-17T17:20:00.000-05:00

For years, Illinois, like so many states, pretended that it had not fallen off a budgetary cliff. It was spending too much and taking in too little revenue, but every year it would kick its problems into the next. Unable to pay its bills, it finally accepted reality last week and raised taxes on incomes and businesses — a first step toward getting its house in order.

NY Times

State bankruptcy: The best fiscal fix?

2011-01-17T17:19:00.000-05:00

Dateline Sacramento, Jan. 5, 2012: The state of California today filed for federal bankruptcy protection, citing a worsened economy that has blown out even the most pessimistic assumptions about its long-term financial picture.

Would that be a nightmare come true — or the only logical way out of the state's deep fiscal crisis?

LA Times

Howard Stern On Sarah Palin: “You Want To Vomit From Her” (And That’s The Nicest Part)

2011-01-17T10:19:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, Howard Stern had some harsh words for Sarah Palin about the tone of her video speech from Wednesday morning. Like many of Palin’s detractors, Stern felt that the former Governor focussed too much on herself and not enough on the actual victims. However, unlike most of the other criticisms of the video we’ve heard, Stern’s aforementioned words weren’t just harsh; a couple of them were those that one doesn’t use in polite company.

Mediaite

PA: Stern is a foul-mouthed little pissant.

Steve Jobs To Take ‘Medical Leave Of Absence’, Stays On As CEO

2011-01-17T10:12:00.000-05:00

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has just announced that he is taking a medical leave of absence according to a release issued by the company today. Here’s the email memo Jobs sent to Apple employees today.

TechCrunch

I do not want civil discourse

2011-01-17T10:10:00.000-05:00

For a decade, from the election of Bush 43 forward, the Left has lied and cheated as it tried to return to power. Al Gore made a mockery out of the American electoral system by being a spoilsport over Florida, which Bush indeed won by 537 votes. Dan Rather forged a document to try to derail Bush’s re-election. Twice Democrats stole U.S. senators from the Republicans. After voting to support the war to get by the 2002 election, many Democrats quickly soured on the war. The profane protests were cheered by liberals who misattributed “dissent is the highest form of patriotism” to Thomas Jefferson; the words belong to the late historian Howard Zinn.

Charleston Daily Mail

Government Puts Halt to Rogue Couple Who Feeds Poor

2011-01-17T10:04:00.003-05:00

Big government inevitably crowds out private charity, and because government, which spends the other people’s money, is less competent than private actors allocating their own resources, that means a worse social safety net than if government just got out of the way. This outrageous story is the latest example:

Conservative Compendium

PA: What nonsense. Out governmental Masters don't want us to be charitable, they want us to be regulated.

Besides, if everything is regulated, government always gets to claim "credit" for it. Whatever "it" is.

US salutes air defense crew lost in ’61

2011-01-17T09:18:00.001-05:00

Fifty years ago this weekend, a NORAD radar platform collapsed and sank in a nor’easter more than 80 miles off the coast of New York, killing all 28 crew members aboard, most of them New Englanders stationed at Otis Air Force Base.

Soon, those men, plus four others who died in accidents on other platforms, elements of the US air defense system, will be recognized in a formal letter to their families from President Obama.

Boston Globe

PA: All of us ADA guys knew this story. It's about damned time they got recognition.

Monday Morning Tunes

2011-01-17T09:15:00.001-05:00

There isn't enough science in the world to debunk anti-vaccine quackery for some people

2011-01-17T09:14:00.000-05:00

No matter how conclusively science proves them wrong, there are those who persist in propagating the dangerous quackery of a link between childhood vaccinations and autism.

NY Daily News

Obama Is Losing in Afghanistan

2011-01-17T09:13:00.000-05:00

Republicans have two urgent tasks this week. First is learning how to spell "Reince Priebus." Second, and far more important, is to begin an intensive debate on Obama's strategy on Afghanistan.

Out of a misplaced sense of loyalty to their former president, Republicans have bound themselves to President Obama's counterinsurgency-cum-withdrawal strategy. They've done so because Obama's is an extension of George W. Bush's nation-building strategy, which we have pursued in Afghanistan since 2001 and in Iraq from 2003.

That strategy has failed.

American Spectator

Christie: 'Not arrogant enough' to believe experience is enough for White House

2011-01-17T09:10:00.002-05:00

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) brushed off a Zogby poll from earlier this month that showed him leading a pack of hypothetical GOP 2012 contenders, adamantly stressing that's not in his plans.

The Hill

Progressives: Always Angry, Newly Desperate

2011-01-17T09:10:00.001-05:00

Last week, for the umpteenth time, anything resembling decency or restraint was completely abandoned in an orgy of progressive foaming at the mouth over what they were convinced—absent a shred of evidence—were the "real" motives of a madman. So convinced that, even as the facts emerged regarding Jared Loughner, facts which completely destroyed their theories, not a single one of the ranters apologized or recanted.

JWR

High Drama, Low Comedy in Illinois Tax Follies

2011-01-17T09:04:00.001-05:00

A 67% increase in personal income taxes and a whopping increase in business tax rates were rammed through by a lame duck legislature in typical entertaining fashion.

Barack Obama was wrong when he said that our problem is that we don’t treat one another with enough respect. The problem is that we don’t laugh enough at politics and politicians.

Pajamas Media

PA: The most significant part of this article is, "...the Democrats in the legislature cannot keep their grubby hands off this mountain of cash they just purloined from Illinois citizens. Four-County Quinn made a deal with black politicians to spend $1 billion of that money “for the children” (schools) over the next 5 years."

So they cannot be trusted to pay down the debt. Once our money is in their hands, well...

Sunday Dinnertime Tunes

2011-01-16T18:42:00.002-05:00

More Evidence Liberalism Is Dead

2011-01-16T18:38:00.001-05:00

WASHINGTON -- The evidence mounts that Liberalism is dead.

The Liberal wizards, working their wonders at the New York Times and its clearing houses in the major networks, cannot even dupe the American people with an absurd conspiracy theory anymore.

American Spectator

PA: Dunno if it's dead; kinda more like a Zombie, who drools, shambles, and wants to suck out all of your brains.

Iowa Legislator Seeks to Criminalize Cocktails

2011-01-16T18:33:00.001-05:00

The Food and Drug Administration can ban caffeinated alcoholic beverages such as Four Loko, but it cannot stop bartenders from mixing Red Bull with vodka, coffee with Irish whiskey, or cola with rum. Fortunately, Iowa state Sen. Brian Schoenjahn (D-Arlington) has proposed a bill that would close this dangerous gap...

Reason

Which Reagan has Alzheimer’s?

2011-01-16T18:30:00.000-05:00

What’s up with Ron Reagan Jr’s claim that his father was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease in the White House (except as a hook to sell his book)?

What has he to back this claim up?

Apparently, not much. As an aside, if Ronald Reagan had Alzheimer’s during his presidency he still outperformed the vast majority of presidents I’ve seen in my life time.

Paul Bedard of US News takes on Ron Jr’s claims:

Questions and Observations

Chris Christie: I Got Your Civility Right Here

2011-01-16T18:26:00.000-05:00

As this new age of civility washes across the land, be prepared for Republicans to be constantly asked by the civil media about civil discourse. So of course the Baddest Governor on the Planet had to be reminded what a bully he is for daring to answer questions with honest answers.

Jammie Wearing Fool

Is a Muslim Sit-Com the Answer to Our Problems?

2011-01-16T18:24:00.001-05:00

CBS anchor Katie Couric recently went on record deploring the “bigotry” and “seething hatred” that Muslims are supposed to be facing in the U.S., and proposing a “Muslim version of the Cosby Show” as a remedy to this lamentable situation. Of course, Ms. Couric’s reading of America’s ostensible anti-Muslim attitude is total nonsense of the sort associated with the political delirium of the “progressivist” class.

Frontpage

PA: My nickname for Couric if "Fluffy."

Russia warns of ‘Iranian Chernobyl'

2011-01-16T14:07:00.001-05:00

Russian nuclear officials have warned of another Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster at Iran's controversial Bushehr reactor because of the damage caused by the Stuxnet virus, according to the latest Western intelligence reports.

Russian nuclear scientists are providing technical assistance to Iran's attempts activate the country's first nuclear power plant at the Gulf port.

Telegraph UK

H/T Newsartist

Sunday Lunchtime Tunes

2011-01-16T12:41:00.000-05:00

Could 'Tunisia effect' topple more Mideast regimes?

2011-01-16T12:40:00.001-05:00

BAGHDAD _ In a historic winter of discontent in the Arab world, the uprising that forced the president of Tunisia from power has instantly reverberated across a region with no shortage of equally unpopular despots.

"To the Tunisian people: Thank you!" exclaimed an editorial Saturday in Al Quds Al Arabi, an independent pan-Arab newspaper.

McClatchy

Anti-Energy Left Comes Unglued as ‘Green Economy’ Claims Collapse

2011-01-16T12:37:00.001-05:00

The anti-energy lobby, surrogates for Big Wind and Big Solar, is now backed into a rhetorical corner in its effort to impose its agenda of protecting the world from the horrors of affordable, abundant energy. Remember, although they say their objective is to use policy to force invention of Flubber or pixie dust to satisfy our future energy abundance, this doesn’t square with their decades of saying that “If you ask me, it’d be a little short of disastrous for us to discover a source of clean, cheap, abundant energy because of what we would do with it” (green Energy guru Amory Lovins).

Big Government

Frank Rich Still Trying To Blame Right For AZ Shootings

2011-01-16T12:36:00.000-05:00

Like Rahm Emanuel, who didn't to waste a crisis, Frank Rich doesn't want to let a murderous rampage pass without trying to wring political advantage. By now, even most ardent liberals have had to admit that there was no nexus between conservatives and the manifestly psychotic AZ shooter. But there was Rich, in his New York Times column of this morning, still bitterly clinging to the accusation.

NewsBusters

Afghanistan condemns Iran fuel blockade amid protests

2011-01-16T12:33:00.000-05:00

(Reuters) - Afghan fuel protesters targeted an Iranian diplomatic mission for a second day on Sunday, as the commerce minister said Tehran had not given any reason for an export clampdown that is choking Afghan oil supplies.

Around 300 people took to the streets in western Herat city, armed with stones and eggs, and marched to the Iranian consulate carrying banners with slogans including "Death to Iran".

Reuters

China ratchets up military tension ahead of Hu visit

2011-01-16T12:31:00.000-05:00

Sneak peak at Chinese unmanned space plane is suppressed but not forgotten on eve of state visit

President Hu Jintao's two-day visit to the United States this week has been billed by the White House as the most important state visit in years. Many contentious issues are on the table - human rights, trade and currency, internet freedom.

But with Hu's arrival imminent, an even hotter issue is climbing fast up the agenda - China's challenge to America's military might in space.

First Post

Bastardi’s Wager

2011-01-16T09:30:00.000-05:00

A meteorologist has a challenge for climate scientists.

Joe Bastardi’s great love is atmospheric science. He says he’s been fascinated by it “since I was a baby. My dad’s a meteorologist, his great-grandfather was the town weatherman in Sicily, and my son wants to be a meteorologist.”

And he’s disturbed by how the science, which he values for its own sake, has been infected with politics.

National Review

The Fallacy of Progressive Thought

2011-01-16T09:28:00.000-05:00

The recent shooting in Tucson provides yet another opportunity to examine the dank, moldy recesses of the Progressive mind. In order to embark upon this counter-intuitive, frustrating journey, one must understand that Progressive belief, theory and policy is non-falsifiable. In other words, it cannot, by any means, human or Divine, be proved false.

Confederate Yankee

Half of All States Now Suing to Stop Obamacare

2011-01-16T09:21:00.000-05:00

If it is allowed to be implemented, Obamacare will eventually do deep and irreparable harm to our nation’s budget deficit. But while Obamacare is more of a long-term threat to fiscal health at the federal level, it is a clear and present danger to the states.

Heritage

Sunday Morning Tunes

2011-01-16T09:00:00.001-05:00

U.S. Satisfaction Remains Near 12-Month Low

2011-01-16T08:58:00.001-05:00

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Gallup finds 19% of Americans satisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time -- essentially on par with the lowest level of the past 12 months, 17%, registered in December.

Gallup

H/T Drudge

A Congress that reasserts its power

2011-01-16T08:35:00.000-05:00

Unlike most of the 111 that preceded it, the 112th Congress must begin the process of restoring the national regime and civic culture the Founders bequeathed. This will require reviving the rule of law, reasserting the relevance of the Constitution and affirming the reality of American exceptionalism.

Washington Post

Eisenhower's farewell address and the demise of prudentialism

2011-01-16T08:33:00.000-05:00

Monday marks the 50th anniversary of President Eisenhower's farewell address. At the time, it didn't draw nearly as much attention as John Kennedy's inaugural address delivered three days later. These days, however, Eisenhower's speech is probably considered about as noteworthy.

Powerline

Dem: Fairness doctrine needed 'as long as it's the people's airwaves'

2011-01-16T08:31:00.000-05:00

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said on Friday that the Federal Communications Commission should reinstate the fairness doctrine for broadcast television to ensure that multiple sides of controversial topics are offered to the public.

“For over the airwaves TVs, I think they should bring it back,” said Nadler on Fox Business News with Andrew Napolitano.

The Hill