"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
by Smitty (h/t Bluegrass Pundit)
“It was easier in some capacity to handle the war and a depression than it is to handle this kind of disaster during a recession.”
In defense of Rosie O’Donnell, it should be noted that FDR’s paralysis was merely physical.
Good news for America’s favorite Democrat:
Democratic Party officials in South Carolina voted Thursday to uphold the result of their controversial Senate primary even though the winner was Alvin Greene, an unemployed political novice who stands almost no chance of defeating Republican Sen. Jim DeMint in November.
Meeting in Columbia, members of the state Democratic Party executive committee voted by a 38-7 margin to reject a protest from former state lawmaker Vic Rawl, the establishment-backed candidate who unexpectedly lost last Tuesday’s primary to Greene.
“They did the right thing,” Greene said in a brief phone interview. “I am the best candidate for the United States Senate in the state of South Carolina.”
Thanks to Kathy Shaidle for calling attention to this sophomoric effort by Princeton senior Isia Jasiewicz:
On June 8, Beck devoted an entire episode of his talk show on Fox News to The Road to Serfdom, a work of political theory written in the immediate aftermath of World War II by Friedrich von Hayek, an Austrian émigré to the U.K. and the 1974 recipient of the Nobel Prize in economics . . .
The Road to Serfdom is a treatise on libertarianism, well-known only in academic circles or among political theory wonks stalwart enough to wade through the 60-page introduction and chapters on “Planning and the Rule of Law” and “The Prospects of International Order.”
Ha. Ha. Haha. BWAAAAA-HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Just a few points:
Next assignment for Isia Jasiewicz? “The Bible, a theological treatise well-known only in religious circles or among clergy stalwart enough to wade through several pages of ‘begats’ and the books of Numbers and Deuteronomy.”
ADDENDUM: Whatever happened to young journalists learning their craft as reporters before trying their hand at punditry or criticism? I suppose it would be slumming for a Princeton grad to take a job as a staff writer for a newspaper, covering school-board meetings and such. But am I the only reader who resents being lectured to by 22-year-olds? I don’t care what your SAT score was, sweetheart. You’re not that precocious.
UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers! Remember that Professor Reynolds is a Yale Law grad, so the humiliation of Princetonians and Harvardians (e.g., Andrew Sullivan) warms the cockles of his heart.
UPDATE II: As I remarked last week, it is unfortunate that most people who read The Road to Serfdom stop there and don’t pursue Austrian economics or Hayekian philosophy further. One of the finest treatises Hayek ever wrote was The Mirage of Social Justice — which goes in-depth on a key theme briefly explored in Road — and yet it gets short shrift. Hayek famously described the errors of socialism in The Fatal Conceit.
If you want to read some excellent Hayek for free, I recommend “The Intellectuals and Socialism.” And, oh, yeah, Glenn Beck is right: Buy gold.
UPDATE III: Linked by Greg Ransom at the Hayek Center. Wouldn’t it be nice if the center were Hayekian?
Little Miss Attila has some great Hayekian video.
UPDATE IV: E-mail from a reader:
I’m a former editor at the [Reader’s] Digest. Actually, RD didn’t just do a condensed version of Road to Serfdom, they published the condensed version in the magazine, which at the time was one of, if not the most, widely read magazines in the country. One of the reasons it is so well known by a certain generation, is that it was read by millions of people who other wise might not have been aware of it.
No need to mention me, just the fact, which reinforces that this guy’s a moron. Cheers.
Thanks!
by Smitty
Via Frank J, Sour Krauthammer on the Barton apology to BP:
“I think that wins the award for the most politically stupid statement of the year. We can retire it right now, in June.”
I’ll concede that it was gratuitous, tin-eared, and inarticulate. BigFurHat has educated me on the point. But we have some really stiff competition here.
Just for starters, via Gateway Pundit, we have word of the reaction to the Secretary of State from AZ-Gov:
“This is no way to treat the people of Arizona,” said Governor Brewer. “To learn of this lawsuit through an Ecuadorean interview with the Secretary of State is just outrageous. If our own government intends to sue our state to prevent illegal immigration enforcement, the least it can do is inform us before it informs the citizens of another nation.”
Governor Brewer said, “I just visited with the President in the Oval Office about our differences over immigration policy, and the one firm understanding we had was that within two weeks he would provide details of his commitment to deploy National Guard troops to the border. While I am grateful that communications have taken place about a possible visit by Administration staff before the end of the month, there is not yet a confirmed date. More importantly, no information about additional troop and border security enhancements has been provided by the Obama Administration to the citizens of Arizona.”
Really. If Governor Brewer didn’t at least get an Executive Order to back up the conversation with BHO, she got less than Rep. Stupak. Which is less than zero.
Less Than Zero recalls a flick with a soundtrack featuring Slayer covering Iron Butterfly, which leads to this disturbingly appropriate bit of YouTubery, which is apparently an outtake from a horror flick I haven’t seen. Viewer discretion advised:
What would life be like if the memory spent on useless associations like that were full of something useful?
Update: via American Power, Governor Brewer has launched Keep AZ Safe. Now, if she is transparent and effective in getting citizens to pay voluntarily what their tax dollars are supposed to be doing, how silly will Obama Won Kabuki look?
by Smitty
BFH at iOwnTheWorld says:
Everyone, by now, has heard that Representative Joe Barton, from Texas, apologized to BP’s Tony Hayward for the “shakedown” they received from the Obama administration.
Geez. Talk about a tin ear. Barton, everyone but BP and their family wants BP to pay for the clean up, so, you lost everyone with your “apology” to Hayward. For style points alone you get the raspberry.
Is the ear really tin, or is Barton just dispassionate? All of the evidence thus far points to a colossal screw-up on BP’s part. And they’re not going to spend significant cash to make amends sooner than required. So it can be seen as a Not Bad Thing that BHO spared 20 minutes of golf time to offer encouragement.
But wait. Have all survivors been interviewed? Have they raised the Deepwater Horizon, to ensure we’re not remembering the Maine here?
You’ll notice, if you check out Daniel Foster’s live blog, it took the WH ~.5 hours (as opposed to 5 weeks) to hammer Barton, emphasis mine:
11:54 A.M.: The White House issued a response to the Barton statement. “What is shameful is that Joe Barton seems to have more concern for big corporations that caused the disaster,” than for its victims, the White House said. “Most Americans know that the real tragedy is what men and women of the Gulf coast are going through right now.” The statement goes on to say that both parties should “repudiate” Barton’s comments.
No, Barton was concerned with due process.
Now, granted, BP isn’t a private citizen of Louisiana destroyed by all this, and Barton isn’t the ACLU, but the Obama Administration couldn’t lead two nuns in one minute of silent prayer, to say nothing of handling the Federal end of a disaster relief operation.
The final report, after a thorough investigation, could very well show that $20B is merely an overture. However, if this incident proves as steeped in creepy as everything else from the past 18 months, we’re better off awaiting the results of that investigation. Oh, wait: Eric Holder is on the case? That knob can’t even manage a blatantly obvious election case. OK, we’re tubed.
Oh, and the BlogProf notes that the people who’re going to pay the $20B are British pensioners. Let’s here it for the “special relationship”, shall we?
Update: check Ace’s Alternate Reality Version.
Gold futures closed at a record high on Thursday, handily surpassing the mark reached just last week as investors grew more concerned about the U.S. economy and its proxy, the stock market.
Gold for August delivery, the most active contract, added $18.20, or 1.5%, to settle at $1,248.70 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. That left the June 8 record close of $1,245.60 in the rearview mirror. . . .
“Equities are in a precarious situation,” said Charles Nedoss, a senior market strategist with Olympus Futures in Chicago. Investors feel stocks may be overbought and turned to the safety of gold, he added.
Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit links this ABC News item:
With the support of Sen. Chris Dodd, D.-Conn., the federal government has awarded $54 million to Connecticut’s politically well-connected Mohegan Indian tribe, which operates one of the highest grossing casinos in the U.S.
The tribe runs the sprawling Mohegan Sun casino, halfway between New York City and Boston, which earned more than $1.3 billion in gross revenues in 2009.
Am I the only one who remembers the outrage about special deals for gaming tribes when Republicans were in charge of Congress?
Meanwhile, Dan Riehl and Doug Powers call attention to Joe Biden’s summer Stimulupalooza Tour. Maybe it will be like the Grateful Dead, with hippies selling incense and tie-dye T-shirts in the parking lot.
(Via Memeorandum.)
Guess who decided to pick a fight with Mark Steyn?
I don’t often respond to Conor Friedersdorf, usually because it would require me to read him . . .
Evidently, my old friends at The Atlantic Monthly feel differently. From that perch, Mr Friedersdorf takes issue with my observations on “honor killings,” and has written to NR’s editors demanding a “correction.” The executive honchos in turn passed his demand on to me, and suggested I take a look at it as they’d been unable to get through it. . . .
Read the whole thing. Suffice it to say that it is not Mr. Steyn who needs correcting.