Glenn Reynolds reviews a new book co-authored by mutual friends — America 3.0
A Do-Nothing Congress
Call me crazy, but this sounds like good news. Given the vast improbability of them doing anything good, nothing seems to be preferable to me.
The New Human Spaceflight Industry
A long piece on personal space travel, over at New York Magazine. I found this interesting:
Wincer is frequently asked if customers can bring children. Several parents have attempted to give flights as sweet-sixteen birthday gifts; one customer, she said, “at the moment is desperate to let her 12-year-old fly.” The FAA had yet to address such questions, and Wincer sees it as a matter of informed consent, of which she thinks a 12-year-old is not capable. Many customers have their own private pilot’s license, and many others are scared of flying or small spaces. She had just read a profile of one client who is terrified of roller coasters: “Jesus,” she said.
One of those things is not like the other. I’m not much of a fan of roller coasters, but that wouldn’t affect my desire for (or enjoyment of) a parabolic flight at all. I’m also acrophobic, but I have no problem with flying. Being high on a structure is a completely different experience than flight, at least for me.
Of course, this isn’t really true, or at least it’s quite misleading:
The primary goal of the shuttle program was simple: to create a reusable space vehicle that could transport materials to and from the International Space Station.
There was no “International Space Station” when the Shuttle was being developed, and wouldn’t be until 1993, though it was meant to be a precursor program to some sort of space station, which was undefined at the time. Of course, ironically, the fact that they built into it the capability to be a short-term space station probably reduced the incentive to actually build one, which is why the first bit of hardware for ISS wasn’t launched until almost twenty years after the Shuttle started flying.
Benghazi And Going The “Full Nixon”
Thoughts from Roger L. Simon:
The Benghazi scandal is more disturbing than just lying about a terror attack to get reelected. And that’s pretty disturbing, considering the lies were made directly to the families of the victims. (cf. Hillary Clinton telling Charles Woods, one of the dead SEALS’ father, they were going to get the guy who made that video and revenge his son’s death.)
The Benghazi scandal, in all probability, would not have happened if the administration and/or the State Department took the War on Terror seriously or even, dare I say it, put the words terrorism and Islamic together in a sentence. But that would break a thousand narratives in the mind of Barack Obama, from his childhood with Frank Marshall Davis until now and back.
So now he is riding the whirlwind. The question is, will he carry us (and Western Civ) with him?
The biggest difference between Watergate and Obama’s crimes against the Constitution is that, unlike Republicans in 1974, there are probably no Democrats with similar integrity in today’s Senate. The House shouldn’t impeach unless and until Democrats start to call for it (and if this happens, it will be because they finally realize what a disaster a continuation of his rule will be for the “progressive” agenda). They wanted him, they got him, and he’s their problem now.
Just A Coincidence, I’m Sure
The IRS harassment formally began the day after the president met with the head of the IRS union:
In short: the very day after the president of the quite publicly anti-Tea Party labor union — the union for IRS employees — met with President Obama, the manager of the IRS “Determinations Unit Program agreed” to open a “Sensitive Case report on the Tea party cases.”
There’s a lot more to this. I suspect that last week just scratched the surface.
Feeding The Trolls
Two young climate hysterisists bravely go into the lair of a Deniar.
Lois Lerner, Liar
She maxes out on the Pinocchios. She probably can’t count them, though. By her own admission, she’s not that great at math.
Mike Hammer
Noire made hilarious. By Lileks, of course.
James Rosen
He was apparently being tracked and spied on by the Justice Department, and has been accused of crimes for simply being a reporter. But I guess it’s all right — after all, it’s not like he works for a “legitimate news operation.” As they said over at Twitchy, when you’ve lost Glenn Greenwald…
[Update a couple minutes later]
Heh.
Spoiler Alert: @presssec knows nothing about DoJ spying on @jamesrosenfnc. @barackobama only just learned of it today, while surfing the Web
— Tim Wells (@RightWingNerd) May 20, 2013
[Update mid morning]
Even though it’s that “illegitimate news organization,” Fox News, other “journalists” are taking notice:
Justice accuses @jamesrosenfnc, a v good reporter, of being “an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator” for reporting?? washingtonpost.com/local/a-rare-p…
— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) May 20, 2013
Serious idea. Instead of calling it Obama’s war on whistleblowers, let’s just call it what it is: Obama’s war on journalism.
— Eli Lake (@EliLake) May 20, 2013
Let’s hope that it’s the end of the slobbering love affair
[Update a few minutes later]
OK, one more:
These abuses of the First Amendment wouldn’t be happening if we had a constitutional law professor as president.
— jimgeraghty (@jimgeraghty) May 20, 2013
[Update a couple minutes later]
Aaaaannnd, it wasn’t just James Rosen. Megyn Kelly is hot (an evergreen statement). But now, she’s also steamed.
Apparently the War on Fox News never ended. It just went guerrilla.
IRS Abuse
It’s just the Chicago Way:
“Are you in your good senses?” said my father. “We have lives here. We have businesses. If we get involved in politics, they will ruin us.”
And no one, not the Roosevelt Democrats or the Reagan Republicans, disagreed. The socialists, the communists, the royalists, everyone nodded their heads.
This was Chicago. And for a business owner to get involved meant one thing: It would cost you money and somebody from government could destroy you.
The health inspectors would come, and the revenue department, the building inspectors, the fire inspectors, on and on. The city code books aren’t thick because politicians like to write new laws and regulations. The codes are thick because when government swings them at a citizen, they hurt.
And who swings the codes and regulations at those who’d open their mouths? A government worker. That government worker owes his or her job to the political boss. And that boss has a boss.
The worker doesn’t have to be told. The worker wants a promotion. If an irritant rises, it is erased. The hack gets a promotion. This is government.
So everybody kept their mouths shut, and Chicago was hailed by national political reporters as the city that works.
We have to take our country back from these thugs.
[Update a while later]
It wasn’t just the IRS. A Tea Party group was also harassed by the FBI, BATF and OSHA. It’s the Chicago Way.