Some useful thoughts from Walter Russell Mead. It’s always interesting to note that, contra popular myth, the manufacturing sector is quite strong, just as agriculture is. They just don’t employ as many people as they used to. In both cases, this is a good thing.
Balance Of State Trade
So, Illinois is sitting pretty. It’s chasing out all of those annoying whiny greedy businesses to Wisconsin and Indiana, due to its rapacious tax and spending policies, but that’s not the best part. It’s now importing cowardly and corrupt Democrat politicians from both those states, on the off chance that its home-grown supply runs dry. It’s a win-win!
I disagree, though, that this is the right Monty Python reference. It’s this one.
Wisconsin “Liberals”
…as reactionaries. And it’s not just in Wisconsin, and they were never liberals.
[Update early afternoon]
Barack Obama, our reactionary president. And the reactionaries in Wisconsin worship Gaylord Nelson.
As a complete aside, I wonder if anyone is naming their kid “Gaylord” (“Gay Lord,” get it?) today.
A Doctor Weighs In On Wisconsin
Note, not a lot of love for the union extortionists in comments.
[Update later morning]
In Wisconsin, it’s the unions versus the people.
Christchurch
Things sound pretty bad there, from the reports I’m reading. Usually these things hit in lesser-developed countries, and in the US, we could probably take a hit that big, at least in the west, with relatively few fatalities, because we’ve long had building codes for it, but it sounds like there was a lot of unreinforced masonry in the town, and the epicenter was very close.
But people on the east coast should be aware that it could be just as bad if one hits there, and while it happens a lot less often than in California, it can still happen.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Here’s an interesting animated map showing all of the temblors today, most of which were aftershocks, and big ones. It looks like it’s on the Greendale fault.
[Update a few minutes later]
Here’s all the coverage at the New Zealand Herald.
[Update about 10 PM PST]
CNN is reporting at least sixty five dead. I suspect the toll is going to be quite a bit higher when they clear the rubble.
Next: An Institute On Marital Fidelity
Bill Clinton is going to head up an Institute on Civil Discourse.
No, really.
[Update a few minutes later]
Per comments over there, I’m not the only person appalled that this “Institute” is being based on the false narrative that what happened to Gabby Giffords had anything whatsoever to do with civility in discourse.
A Call For Papers
Sort of. I’ve set up a new section of Competitive Space for HSF myth busting, but I haven’t had time to flesh out the pages, so I’m calling for suggestions, or drafts, that can be improved over time. Ideally, it would be as a wiki, but I don’t have time to figure out how to set one up right now. Instead, I’ll incorporate comments into the pages as they come in. Credit will be provided to contributors.
[Update on Wednesday morning]
For those wondering about the 404, I’ve taken the page down, because it wasn’t getting enough input to clean things up. I’ll just have to work on it myself and then inaugurate it again.
Launch-System Reusability
…and the ongoing policy insanity of completely ignoring the issue. A good essay by Stewart Money.
[Cross-posted at Competitive Space]
Make Libya A No-Fly Zone?
The Religion Of High-Speed Rail
Joel Kotkin follows up on Robert Samuelson. When will these religious fanatics understand that this makes no economic sense? Well, if this Congress doesn’t pull the plug on this lunacy, the next one (in even more dire financial straits) surely will.