Does anyone know if the bill still has the angel-killer language in it?
Category Archives: Political Commentary
Comedy Central’s Cowardice
Some thoughts:
…note how entirely real radical Muslim threats and violence are treated as just part of the weather — something you have to adapt to — while nonexistent Tea Party violence is an existential threat to the Republic.
Watch out what kinds of behavior you reward, and what kinds you punish. You’re likely to get more of the former, and less of the latter.
[Update a few minutes later]
I liked this comment at Ann Althouse’s place:
Obama is reaching out to Muslims. Maybe he wants to learn the secrets of their success in shutting people up.
It sure looked like a threat to me. I’m sure the Department of Justice will get right on it.
[Update a while later]
Krikorian’s Corollary To Sullivan’s Law: “All organizations that are not actually anti-jihadist will over time become dhimmified and accommodate themselves to jihadism.”
Sounds right to me.
Coming Attractions
…and detractions. This should be an interesting blog in the next weeks and months.
Save The Planet
…some national recycling experts have begun calling for government restraint in trash recycling, which can be more costly and environmentally damaging than dumping.
“We just assume recycling is always better,” said J. Winston Porter, president of the Waste Policy Center, an environmental consulting and policy organization. “But there’s a point at which you shouldn’t just recycle for recycling’s sake.”
I think we’re well past it. It’s become the new secular state religion.
My cynicism over it peaked a few years ago when (as I related in a blog post, but don’t want to look for it right now) I watched the recycling truck come by, and unceremoniously dump the contents of my yellow paper bin and my blue plastic and cans bin into the same repository on the truck, completely negating all of my entropy reduction efforts in sorting them. I do notice now, on my return to CA after five years, they’ve at least ended that fraud, and just have one big blue recycling bin.
Either way, give it up for Earth Day.
A Quixotic Quest
Roger Simon is trying to get the LA Times to release the Khalidi birthday tape.
It’s never going to happen. I’m guessing that if it ever came to light, it would destroy the president’s support and fundraising ability in West LA. Not to mention New York, south Florida and other places. In fact, I would be completely unsurprised it it turns out that it’s already been destroyed.
Is It Dead?
…or just resting? Bill Nelson is trying to resuscitate heavy lift. As many commenters point out, it makes no sense, and is fiscal madness. And he’s probably doomed to failure.
[Update a few minutes later]
Particularly idiotic is Nelson’s attempts to tie continued Ares development to national security, for at least two reasons: the DoD has no need for solids of that diameter and if it did, there would be cheaper ways to get it. Not to mention that if it’s for national security, the money should come out of the Pentagon’s budget, not NASA.
Celebrating Earth Day
By disrupting air traffic in New York City.
Somehow, I can’t imagine George W. Bush and Dick Cheney doing this. And as Glenn says, I’ll believe there’s a climate crisis when the people telling me there is start acting like there is. But small carbon footprints, like taxes, are for the little people.
Going Galt
He’s probably not the first, and he won’t be the last:
In a subsequent interview with Bloomberg News, Wynn said much of his desire to leave Las Vegas was because of the country’s economic direction set by Obama.
“The governmental policies in the United States of America are a damper, a wet blanket,” Wynn said. “They retard investment; they retard job formation; they retard the creation of a better life for the citizens in spite of the rhetoric of the president.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, speaking at a press conference on banking reform, was asked about Wynn’ comments on Obama’s policies.
“I’m not going to get into a dispute with Mr. Wynn, somebody who has done so much for Las Vegas, but I will say that taxes are at an all-time low. The tax picture he complained about is just not there.”
Even if it were true that taxes are at an “all-time low” (does anyone really believe that?), Wynn’s not as stupid as Harry wants him to be. He, and we, can see the taxes coming down the road as a result of the insane spending.
[Update a few minutes later]
“Millions face tax increases under Dem’s budget plan.”
Simplifying The Job
I’m working on a piece along these lines for PM or PJM, but Jim Oberg beat me to the punch:
The plan to reshape the Orion spaceship as a standby rescue vehicle for station crews has profound implications for the requirements of the commercial taxi and its cost. This strategy means the taxis won’t have to last for six months “parked” in space, like Russia’s Soyuz spaceships. The simplification of the taxi’s mission will allow its hardware to be significantly less expensive to build and to validate.
The crucial systems for the taxis have mostly already been built and are available as off-the-shelf technology — which means the spaceships could be much cheaper, much smaller and much more reliable.
The FUD being spread by defenders of the status quo has been almost palpable, and it’s all unjustified.
[Update a few minutes later]
I should add that I doubt very much if the commercial contractors are going to use the Orion abort system. It’s overkill, in both weight and cost. In fact, for a much lighter vehicle, as a taxi would be, it would probably kill the occupants from the acceleration.
The President’s Golfing
I don’t understand all the criticism. My preference would be that he spend all his time on the links. Much less damage would be done the nation were he to do so.