PrintMay 16, 2010
The Baehr Essentials
In the movie A Civil Action, Sidney Pollak, playing the role of an older Harvard Law grad, represents a corporate polluter, and invites John Travolta, the young lawyer representing the cancer stricken residents of a town outside of Boston where the company's chemicals were dumped, to meet at the Harvard Club in New York. Travolta shows up, and immediately starts talking about settlement terms. Pollak tells him- surely , as a Harvard man, he would know that formal business is never discussed at the Club. Travolta responds- sorry for that, but I didn't go to Harvard. Pollak , surprised, asks, where did you go? Travolta answers: Cornell. Pollak looks at him, and in a voice dripping with disdain, replies: ah, Cornell, fine school.
The funniest political satirist in America is Iowahawk. Here is his second take on "the Harvard problem", as related to the nomination of Elena Kagan;
and the original on Henry Louis Gates.
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With a cap and trade bill to be introduced in the Senate, a few questions for climate alarmists:
What do we actually know about climate change? A long German magazine article on how the "science" of global warming was compromised (have no fear -- this is the English translation
Walter Russell Mead on the global green meltdown: meltdown.
David Harsany on cap and scam.
Ed Lasky on rising energy prices, who is to blame, and who is happy about it.
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As liberal economists, such as Paul Krugman, try to assure us that the largest annual federal budget deficits in history ($4.5 trillion in total over the first three years) do not matter, and that the ratio of total federal debt to GDP does not matter, and argue we should really be spending even more, there are some who disagree. For the record, in the first 4 years of the Obama administration, the total additional federal debt will be larger than the combined accumulated debt in the nation's history before he took office. But relax: Paul Krugman says it is manageable. Does it strike anyone as odd that while one European country after another announces that it is overextended financially, and has to reduce its entitlement spending, that the Obama administrations seems to be laser focused on driving our economy into a European welfare state model?
No we are not Greece (yet). But we are on track to soon be Greece times 30. The IMF gets worried about America;
John Stossel on Krugman;
The Bank of England thinks America is going the way of Greece;
It has gotten so bad, it has become too embarrassing for the Democrats in Congress to pass a budget this year;
April is normally the best month of the year for the federal budget, as taxpayers pay what is due before April 15. That is not the case this year. With the economy supposedly growing again, why were federal tax receipts substantially lower in April 2010, than in April 2009?
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The Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors held a conference with 5 prominent bloggers on Monday night in Los Angeles to discuss the rising threat to political dissent. During the Bush years, the left claimed their dissent (e.g. "Bush is Hitler") was patriotic. . Now of course, the left claims that criticism of the Administration is mainly from a bunch of racist tea party types who are an armed threat to the Republic, and that critics of the Obama assault on Israel are defending an apartheid state, and hence need to be controlled and regulated . The bloggers in the video are Rick Richman, Jim Hoft, J.E. Dyer, Omri Ceren, Daniel Greenfield (Sultan Knish) ;
Daniel Greenfield on Obama's plan to destroy Israel.
Is Obama losing Jewish support? Jimmy Carter only won 45% of the Jewish vote when he ran for re-election in 1980, a modern day low. This suggests that if a Democratic President declared war on Israel, he might only get 40% of the Jewish vote if he ran for re-election.
Jewish students at American colleges are now routinely having to navigate a climate of hatred on campus. The problem is particularly acute in California. So far, not a word has come from anyone in the Obama administration , or from Democrats in Congress, suggesting they think this is a problem. DePaul has a "mass murder event", with Arabs playing the part of Palestinians, supposedly shot by Israeli soldiers. Muslim students, on the other hand, call for roundups and mass murder of Jews at public events. Jews are called the new Nazis quite regularly. Distinguished professors (e.g. Steven Walt) attempt to limit job opportunities in government for Jewish students, claiming they will not be loyal to America, and are not to be trusted. Do the Jews all have to move to Arizona to get this widespread toxicity noticed?
Jewish students at American colleges are now routinely having to navigate a climate of hatred on campus. The problem is particularly acute in California. So far, not a word has come from anyone in the Obama administration , or from Democrats in Congress, suggesting they think this is a problem. DePaul has a "mass murder event", with Arabs playing the part of Palestinians, supposedly shot by Israeli soldiers. Muslim students, on the other hand, call for roundups and mass murder of Jews at public events. Jews are called the new Nazis quite regularly. Distinguished professors (e.g. Steven Walt) attempt to limit job opportunities in government for Jewish students, claiming they will not be loyal to America, and are not to be trusted. Do the Jews all have to move to Arizona to get this widespread toxicity noticed?
From StandWithUs:
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One can make a case that the 4 greatest liars among all U.S Presidents are: Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Charles Logan, and Barack Obama. Charles Logan? You mean you don't watch 24? George Will.
Jonathan Schanzer argues that the State Department can not be trusted with responsibility for enforcing Iran sanctions, current or new. There are better people to do it at the Treasury Department.
Jonathan Schanzer argues that the State Department can not be trusted with responsibility for enforcing Iran sanctions, current or new. There are better people to do it at the Treasury Department.
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If you want evidence of how the Obama foreign policy is "working", look to Russia, a country that he has showered with attention, and bribes. Russia is still not on board even for watered down U.N. sanctions on Iran. But it is doing everything it can to gum up the works in the Middle East in every other way. For the record, Turkey, a Muslim nation Obama has smothered with outreach, and Brazil, are also not on board for sanctions, and both are U.N. Security Council members at the moment.
Caroline Glick on the need to make Israel's case;
Barack Obama versus Jerusalem Day.
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Claire Berlinksi asks why no one seems interested in reading the Soviet archives, now available in tens of thousands of pages. In the 20th century, Communist nations-the Soviet Union, China, Viet Nam, Cambodia, among them, were responsible for more mass murder than the Nazis.
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In New Jersey, as in many other states, there are 4 major branches of government: the Governor and the Executive branch, the state legislature, the Courts ,and the public employee unions ( in particular, the teachers unions). Governor Chris Christie, facing a multi-billion dollar state deficit, is taking on the teachers' union. This is unheard of. The liberals want more federal money to keep the state spending levels where they are. They also have an alternative plan: higher taxes. In New Jersey, state and local taxes are already among the highest in the country. That is part of the reason why Christie got elected.
Imagine electing as President someone who has actually dealt with the problems he will face as President, and tackled them will courage, and success. Unfortunately, we elected in 2008 a hard core ideological leftist, groomed in academia, who had spent half of his last ten years running for higher office , never ran a business or a government body, and may not even have written his "autobiography".
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The very well paid administrators of Highland Park High School chose this week to cancel the participation by its league champion girls basketball team in a December tournament in Arizona , as a result of the new state law dealing with illegal aliens. The foot in mouth, not too bright administrators gave two reasons for the decision, made without consulting with the team, or parents of team members. The first rationale was to protect the girls from danger on the trip. I guess there was fear that state police might ring the court, with the aim of rounding up illegal alien team members to ship to Mexico. The second reason, the honest one, was that the Arizona law was inconsistent with the values of the the school administrators. Presumably, sending other school groups to China was not a concern on the values issue. Forced abortion of baby girls, the massacre in Tiannamen Square, tight restrictions on freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and religion -- all not enough of a reason to cancel the China trip. . This article takes a different tack on the protecting young girls argument.
