The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Banks Failing, Taxes Increasing

The FDIC is already $20 billion in the hole and the news just keeps getting worse: Regulators on Friday shut down a bank in Washington, bringing to 82 the number of U.S. bank failures this year. Seattle-based Washington First International Bank, with $520.9 million in assets and $441.4 million in deposits, was closed by the Washington […]

Optimism, Inc.

Wall Street analysts consistently overestimate the profit potential of companies: Some economists look at the global economy and see troubles — the European debt crisis, persistently high unemployment worldwide, and housing woes in the U.S. Stock analysts as a group seem unfazed. . . . Caterpillar, a multinational that gets much of its revenue abroad, […]

Liberal Decides It’s OK to Hint Politicians May Be Hiding Their ‘True’ Religion

No, not Barack Obama. Nikki Haley: By no means am I questioning their right to convert or their sincerity. . . . I think, instead, that if Haley felt compelled to revise her campaign materials this way, it says a lot about what’s still acceptable to the voters she’s courting. Neela Bannerjee at Slate scrupulously […]

Flight Made (Grand) Junction Re-direct Adroitly

by Smitty Catching up on the usual chores. I’m in Idaho, visiting family, having been delayed due to Heap Big Winds around Denver. United Airlines did a fine job of managing safety and timeliness. We can all gripe about being herded about, but being alive to do the griping is the main feature.

America, the Abstraction

“Contrast the Republican concept of a special place called America (with The Constitution as its defining document) against the idea of America as an abstraction; a transient anomaly in a world destined for some type of elite centralization.” — Howard Towt

You Had Me at ‘Topless Pools’

Steve Bartin at NewsAlert is evil. I know this because his e-mail came into my inbox with this headline: Adult and topless pools make a splash in Las Vegas OK, it turns out to be a USA Today feature story, and about as interesting as you would expect a USA Today feature story about “topless […]

World Cup Overkill: Associated Press Writes 1,068 Words About 1-1 Tie

There ought to be some kind of special Pulitzer for this: Clint Dempsey became only the second American to score in two World Cups, getting the tying goal in the 40th minute on a blunder by goalkeeper Robert Green. Howard made six saves, withstanding a second-half barrage by Wayne Rooney and his celebrated teammates. . . […]

Ace of Spades Smacks Charles Johnson in a Post Every New* Blogger Should Read

* And by “new,” I mean if you haven’t been at it since Ace started with a Blogspot site in 2003. When trying to explain the principle of reciprocal linkage (Rule 2), I’ve often wanted to quote a post Ace of Spades wrote about three years ago, in which he explained how you link somebody so as […]

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