Category Archives: Media Criticism

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Demasclerosis

4 Comments

…and the disaster of the “stimulus.”

The Empire State Building was erected in less than two years. It’s now been a decade since 911 and the site hasn’t been completed. It’s a wonder anything gets done any more. And I found this particularly interesting:

I was among the last group of engineers and surveyors laid off from my company in June and have only found one temporary job since then, with almost all the companies in my area (Nashville) treading water or downsizing since then. (In my job search, I’ve been told more than once that people are not planning on adding staff until after next year’s election.)

There’s a lot of that going around, I’ll bet. And if the election goes the wrong way, staff may not be added then, either.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Space

Orion On Delta IV

11 Comments

Clark asks a question:

No word on how to keep the public from wondering why we need a multi-ten-billion dollar SLS if an Orion can fly on existing launchers.

Well, to be fair, that’s an unmanned launch, with no escape system, for an entry test, right? The Delta might not be capable of handling the full mission. Here’s a question that I have, that perhaps one of my readers on the program knows. Are they still using the monstrosity LAS that they had designed (and tested at WSMR) for Ares I, or have they redesigned it to something less heavy and costly now that they don’t have to get away from a giant firecracker underneath them?

Of course, it still doesn’t justify SLS, which is grossly oversized for an Orion per se.

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Mad At The Market?

Turn your ire toward Washington. That’s almost always the way to bet. Sometimes a business will do something boneheaded or evil, but most of the time the problem is caused by some idiot law with unintended (or as in the case of Obamacare, at least partially intended) consequences. And of course, the same people blame it on “the market” as an excuse for further meddling.

And this is also something that the Fleabaggers, and other anarchists for big government should be aware of, but if they were, they’d be occupying Lafayette Park instead of Wall Street.

[Update a few minutes later]

Here’s an excellent example. Even amidst all of the government stupidity of the past few years, Cash for Clunkers stands out in an incandescent way, and it turned out to be a disaster on every front, including its disparate impact on the poor.

Media Criticism, Philosophy, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

The Children Of Rousseau

7 Comments

Return to a state of nature. And they’re not “noble” savages. It ain’t pretty. It’s more like Lord of the Flies.

[Monday morning update]

Everything the media accused the Tea Party of being, the Fleabaggers actually are, and yet they won’t report it.

[Update a few minutes later]

The double standard doesn’t just come from the media, but from the kleptocrats in power:

“Democratic commentator Bob Beckel recently compared the disparity between the Tea Party’s treatment by local governments and the Occupiers’ to one person getting a better deal on a car than another. Imagine an America where basic equalities and a God-given right to public self-expression are reduced to clearance-sale status, depending on the agenda and whims of the ‘bosses’ on duty at a given time.”

That example — government as used-car salesman — captures both the ethos and the performance of Beckel and his ilk. The truth is, these people get a pass because, as client groups of the Democratic Party, they’re exempt from the enforcement of the law. This may make people who aren’t so favored wonder why they should pay taxes to, or obey the commands of, a system that doesn’t follow the law itself. Well: Why should they? Where’s the legitimacy?

If they have any left, they’re rapidly losing it. Only the Constitution has legitimacy, and these creatures don’t give a damn about it.

Business, Economics, Education, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

“Change” and Marxism

3 Comments

Some thoughts:

In my other life, when I was national security adviser to Communist Romania’s President Nicolae Ceausescu, I wrote the lyrics of his ode to “change.” Ceausescu pretended that his predecessor had devastated the country, and he pledged to change that change. In those days I heard that ode to change a thousand times, and today I am stunned by its similarity with the Democratic Party’s “change.”

I’m not.