"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler
This is becoming a familiar pattern for conservatives who want to waste a double buttload of cash:
Because I don’t anything about “making conservatism fun, light-hearted and accessible.”
The advocates of Hope and Change experience one of those Pogo moments — “We have met the enemy, and he is us” — as Harold Meyerson explains:
There are complex reasons why we have not built 21st-century versions of [Depression-era] job programs. . . .
The real problem . . . is that some programs that aren’t supposed to be long-range are turning out that way. . . .
“To be shovel-ready is much more complicated now than it was in 1933,” says Laura Chick, the former Los Angeles city controller (and a liberal Democrat) whom Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed as the state’s inspector general of stimulus spending. “Environmental-impact reviews, historic-preservation safeguards, unionization of government workers — these are good things, but they’ve changed the way government can operate. . . .”
She continues, “You can’t just build a new bridge. You’ve got to do environmental-impact reports, you have to open up the decision to community input, you face potential lawsuits. I’m not saying concern for environmental impacts should go away, but it makes it harder to deal with an economic crisis.”
You don’t need a Harvard diploma to figure this out, but it seems to be a revelation to Matthew Yglesias:
I think we need some more real talk about environment-impact reports and community input . . . there’s a real need to transform these processes into something more streamlined that takes a finite and knowable amount of time.
Of course, Newt Gingrich was saying this 15 years ago, and as a result liberals denounced him as a stooge for Corporate America who wanted to rape the planet.
WASHINGTON, Pa.
I’d already reported this at The American Spectator:
Pittsburgh TV station WPGH has suspended the latest ad for Democrat Mark Critz for making false claims. The ad by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee falsely claimed that Republican Tim Burns supports a 23 percent national sales tax and wants to ship jobs overseas.
It was also reported at Red State by Caleb Howe, but now the Democrats have found out and they’re pissed. Dave Weigel at The Washington Post:
Today, Pittsburgh TV station WPGH pulled the ad, prompting the Burns campaign to declare victory over the “lying” of national Democrats.
But Democrats aren’t backing down. They point out that WPGH is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting, a conservative-leaning corporation that became infamous during the 2004 campaign for an 11th-hour broadcast attacking the anti-Vietnam War activism of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.).
Well, of course, the Democrats aren’t backing down. They’ve got the MSM to cover their asses and pretend that the Fair Tax represents a “national sales tax” over and above current federal taxes. Of course, they don’t want to deal with the facts.
As Weigel’s buddy Chris Cillizza says, PA-12 is crucial for 2010. The Democrats are doing what they do best: LYING!
UPDATE: Sean Trende at Real Clear Politics:
A Democratic loss in this district tells me that Jacksonians really are abandoning the Democrats at the Congressional level, and all sorts of hell is about to break loose in November. . . .
PA-12 is, quite frankly, gravy for Republicans
“Jacksonian hell” — I like that!
WASHINGTON, Pa.
Mr. Massachusetts Miracle came to Pennsylvania’s 12th District Friday for a rally with supporters of Tim Burns, the Republican candidate in Tuesday’s special election.
Scott Brown passes the Democrat-destroyer torch to Tim Burns.
Scott Brown seemed to recognize a strangely familiar guy in the crowd.
Vote for Tim, or the dog gets it! Tim Burns’ aunt, Melanie Cowan, brought Charlie the Chihuahua to Friday’s rally.
Here’s a video clip of Tim’s speech:
Rep. Bill Shuster, from Pennsylvania’s 9th District, reminds Republicans that on Tuesday they can vote twice — legally, as opposed to the way Democrats do it.
Will update in a few minutes with more photos and video, but first . . . well, there’s a tavern two doors down Main Street from the Tim Burns for Congress campaign office, and I’m feeling kinda thirsty. Have you hit the tip jar yet?
UPDATE: OK, the cool refreshing beverages will have to wait. Why? Because Tim Burns’ outreach coordinator Angela Lash insists that I post this photo:
Republican chicks dig these two guys like teenage girls dig the Jonas Brothers, or to quote Roxeanne de Luca’s earlier comment: “Both of those men are ridiculously hot, which is just another way in which they are fundamentally different from Obama and Pelosi.”
UPDATE II: This just in!
Brad Marston, who is running for a state legislature seat in Massachusetts, came down to Pennsylvania with Scott Brown. He said, “So many Pennsylvania people came up to volunteer for Brown, we had to pay it back.” Which explains why he was in May’rz Inn two doors down from Tim Burns for Congress campaign headquarters.
OK, so after a day of extreme tension, bloggers here needed to relax. Brian O’Connor of Red Dog Report, Chris Renner, the Sexiest Guy in the Blogosphere, and John LaRosa of JSL Consulting.
by Smitty
In the attempt to be cool like the Instapundit, I was off to see the vampire today for my octofortnightly* donation on the apherisis machine.
The Inspiron Mini proves its worth yet again. With the 6-cell battery pack, it represents a great tradeoff between form factor, horsepower, and endurance. The trackpad exhibits some personality, so you may want some sort of USB device to tidy that up. I have the T-Mobile Ludicrous Data plan, and the unit survived the Tea Party test on Tax Day down on the Mall. Even in the relatively mellow case of a blood donation taking an hour, the ability to have the thing on the lap and work the Google Reader proved a good source of entertainment. Sure, I could have brought a book, but where is the nerd factor in that?
Yeah, Reynolds may have InstaVision, but *sniff* I got my Mini and my pride, and he can’t take that away. I should also add that this post’s title alludes to Steven Wright’s ‘self portrait of an artist writing his own autobiography’.
*Which ought to trigger a cranial ‘splosion for Little Miss Attila.
We have previously discussed the difference between “cyclical” unemployment — temporary job losses caused by a dip in the business cycle — and “structural” unemployment, which is a function of fundamental changes in the economy. That is to say, if you’re waiting for the buggy-whip industry to rebound, you’re going to be waiting a long time.
Joseph Lawler wrote a fine article on this subject, which is important to understanding the causes of long-term unemployment. A market economy must allocate workers to jobs where they are needed most, and layoffs are part of that process. Now, the mainstream media is starting to catch on to this basic concept:
Fewer construction workers will be needed. Don’t expect as many interior designers or advertising copywriters, either. Retailers will get by with leaner staffs.
The economy is strengthening. But millions of jobs lost in the recession could be gone for good.
And unlike in past recessions, jobs in the beleaguered manufacturing sector aren’t the only ones likely lost forever.
That helps explain why economists think it will take at least five years for the economy to regain the 8.2 million jobs wiped out by the recession — longer than in any other recovery since World War II. . . .
More than one-third of chief financial officers at 620 big companies surveyed in March by Duke University and CFO magazine said they didn’t expect to restore their payrolls to pre-recession levels for at least three years. . . .
“Companies have just figured out, ‘We didn’t want to fire people . . . but now that they’re gone, we’ve realized that we can get by without them,'” said John Graham, a Duke finance professor who directed the survey. . . .
The job you got laid off from? You weren’t needed. That’s not necessarily your fault. Don’t wait around for your old company to re-hire you, and don’t cling to the idea that because you were a service technician in your old job that your next job will be as a service technician. Go find a new job — any job, in whatever field is available, even if it means moving halfway across the world — and you’ll be better off.
Labor is just another product in the market. You are the supply, and your employer is the demand. Once you get that concept figured out, things make a lot more sense. For example, if you think you’re underpaid, quit your job. If you don’t immediately find a job somewhere else at higher pay, guess what? You weren’t underpaid.
Try that little thought-experiment next time you’re complaining about your job. In an economy with 10% unemployment, you can be replaced.
(Hat-tip: Instapundit.)
I’m about to leave for Pennsylvania, where Scott Brown will be the special guest at a Tim Burns for Congress rally at 1 p.m. today at the Washington County Courthouse (100 West Beau Street, Washington, PA). Here’s the basics from the Associated Press:
Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown is coming to western Pennsylvania to try to help the Republicans do what he did in January: win a special election to fill a seat vacated by the death of a powerful Democrat lawmaker.
Brown will be in Washington, Pa. Friday afternoon to stump for Republican businessman Tim Burns. Brown won a special election in January to fill the seat of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy.
Burns is running in the special May 18 election to serve the remaining term of Democrat U.S. Rep. John Murtha who died in February. . . .
Politico explains what’s on the line in PA-12:
The big-picture implications in the contest between Democrat Mark Critz and Republican Tim Burns are clear: With the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee pulling out of the May 22 Hawaii special election, the Pennsylvania race has become the only game in town — the bellwether contest for shaping perceptions about the political landscape.
Lifelong 12th District resident E.L. Core at Patriots for Freedom:
In the past week, Republicans in Utah gave their senator, Bob Bennett, his notice, and some Democrats in West Virginia did likewise to one of their Congressmen, Alan Mollohan. “Bennett represents Washington as usual,” Burns told me, “and people are tired of Washington as usual.”
That’s a very long and informative post — read the whole thing.
Meanwhile, I’m about to head out on the road to cover today’s rally. I’m grateful to readers who have contributed to the Shoe Leather Fund for my two previous trips to cover the PA-12 special election, and hope you’ll hit the tip jar again so that I can continue covering this crucial campaign.
You can get the latest updates by checking #PA12 on Twitter, and also by following @TimothyBurns or his campaign’s outreach coordinator, Angela Lash (@Lash3).
The Burns campaign is still inviting all Tea Party activists and conservatives to come volunteer in the final push to Election Day. To find out how you can help, visit TimBurnsForCongress.com, or e-mail the campaign or call 814-619-3414.
PREVIOUSLY:
The Boston Herald reports on yesterday’s raids:
Federal agents are scrambling today to determine whether a Boston cab driver and Brookline gas station attendant arrested yesterday in a massive sweep knew whether their money was provided to a suspected Times Square terror bomber.
The Pakistani natives were rounded up in raids in Watertown and Brookline and at a taxi stand in Allston. . . . A third person was arrested in Maine.
All three are being held on immigration violations and do not face any criminal charges linked to the May 1 Times Square bombing attempt, officials said yesterday . . .
Federal law enforcement officials added it is not yet clear whether those arrested realized how the money was going to be used by [Faisal] Shahzad . . .
“They’re very good men, all hard workers,” said Ser Khan of Watertown, adding that his friends did not voice any radical views or hatred toward the United States. “They got jobs. They got money. They live here. They eat here. They work here. How can someone hate America?”
Read the rest — our blog buddy Jules Crittenden is city editor at the Herald. And speaking of blog buddies, Da Tech Guy reports on how “just an average neighborhood” reacted to its sudden notoriety.