Senator Tom Coburn on Earmarks

He's against them. Read it here.

Mirror Mirror....

For your viewing pleasure

My wife has some dried up plant doohickeys sitting in a vase on my desk. The other night I was fooling around with my camera and took some low-light pictures of them. Here's how they came out:

Lies of the Left (continued)

Lefties like to assert that the United States has a higher infant mortality rate than developed countries with national health care systems. That is a lie. The United States ranks lower than other countries because we calculate infant mortality differently than they do. Dr. Walt explains here.

And as for the assertion that life expectancy in the United States is lower than in other developed countries there is a good explanation for that, too -- one that has nothing to do with the nature of our health care system. If we factor out violent deaths due to automobile crashes and homicides Americans actually have longer life expectancy than other developed countries, and immigrants from other parts of the world [Japan for instance] often have longer life expectancies than they do in their home countries. Jonah explains here.

More On the Good President

Julian E. Zelizer, Princeton professor of history, writes in the WaPo about "Five Myths" Bush's critics, left and right, have promulgated about the good president. To wit:

1. The idea that Bush was "an uninformed Texas cowboy",
2. The charge that "compassionate conservatism" was just a campaign slogan,
3. The charge that Bush committed the United States to "nation building" in Iraq and Afghanistan,
4. That Dick Cheney ran the Bush White House, and
5. That Bush left conservatism in ruins.

Read it here.

The first draft of history, the journalistic accounts, were uniformly anti-Bush, but the second draft that is beginning to emerge is far more balanced. The rehabilitation of his reputation is already underway.

The Death of Socialism

The late Twentieth Century saw the collapse of the totalitarian version of socialism. Now in the early Twenty First Century we are seeing the disintegration of its democratic form. Janet Daley writes that in Europe:

there is now a broad understanding that the social democratic project itself is unsustainable: that it has grown wildly beyond the principles of its inception and that the consequences of this are not only unaffordable, but positively damaging to national life and character. The US, bizarrely, is running at least 10 years behind in this process, having elected a government which chose to embark on the social democratic experiment at precisely the moment when its Western European inventors were despairing of it, and desperately trying to find politically palatable ways of winding it down. 

 She points out that the transition away from the disease of socialism will not be easy and may well be very disruptive, but that dismantling the welfare state has become, outside the ruling elite, a moral imperative.

Interesting piece, read it here.

Jonah Goldberg on American Exceptionalism

Jonah takes on the lefties who are currently assaulting the idea that the United States is fundamentally different from other countries here. It's a good short read and true, so true.

The Boy Who Runs Like a Duck

That's how Barry Obama was known when he lived in Indonesia. Interesting article here.

The Good President Talks With Matt Lauer

I think he did well on this one. It will be interesting to see how different venues handle their time with him.

Most of the MSM interviews focus on the war and Katrina. The WSJ interviews him on his economic and fiscal policies here.

Alyssia Finley Has Had It With California

From the WSJ:

Listen up, California. The other 48 states—your cousin New York excluded—are sick of your bratty arrogance. You're the Lindsay Lohan of states: a prima donna who once showed some talent but is now too wasted to do anything with it.


After enjoying ephemeral highs and spending binges, you suffer crashes that culminate in brief, unsuccessful stints in rehab. This cycle repeats itself every five to 10 years, as the rest of the country looks on with a mixture of horror and amusement. We'd feel sorry for you if you didn't constantly flip us the bird.

Instead, we're making bets on how long it will be before your next meltdown. Oh, wait—you're already melting down.

 Read the whole thing here.

In the Sixties and Seventies a large part of the allure of California was its youthful orientation, its party atmosphere, its golden timelessness. It was never-never land where we could cavort on the beach forever. Today most people find that whole "scene" repulsive and silly. Could it be that the nation is growing up and repudiating their youthful enthusiasms? Let's hope so.

The Boys Explain the Significance of the Republican Blowout

Neo's Dance Class

Neo-neocon, a former dancer, has a really nice post about the qualities of tap dancing back in its heyday and as it is currently performed. The technique, if anything, has advanced, but the quality of the performance has declined. Check out her illustrated comments here. Her main complaint is one I have often made -- the current emphasis on technique as an end in itself rather than a necessary means to a greater end, the elevation of virtuosity over musicality.

Lets Not Forget

Today is the one-year anniversary of the Fort Hood Massacre. Here is a list of the victims.

Post-Mortems

Elizabeth Scalia, the Anchoress, has a nice roundup of day-after punditry [here]. I particularly like her comment regarding those figures, including the president, who are touting the Democrats' significant legislative achievements.

“Legislative success” should have some relation to the actual representation of you know, the desires of the constituency. Otherwise it is not “legislative success.” It is arrogance and tyranny.

 Exactly!

 One reaction to which she does not link, but is well worth checking out is Glenn Beck's morning after gloat [here]. He may be crazy, but he sure is funny.

The Best Comment of the Night

Came from Eliot Spitzer who observed on CNN that Democrats have had essential control of the government -- President and both houses of Congress -- two times now, in 1992 and 2008 and both times they tried to enact a progressive agenda. Both times they paid a terrible price because the American people do not want progressiveism.

Hating Capitalists, Old Men, and other Cliches

"She Who Must Not Be Named" wanted to see "The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest" yesterday, so off we went to see it. I have now sat through nearly eight hours of the Lizzy Salamander trilogy. Thank God it is over.

The premise of the films, and the novels on which they are based, is standard leftist claptrap. Women [particularly lesbians] are victims, exploited and brutally abused by evil men. Corporate executives are particularly evil. But most evil of all are elderly men of the generation that fought the Cold War and committed terrible acts in their country's service.

The State is good, but its functionaries are often clueless and ineffective, and within it can be found rogue elements, especially in the intelligence services, consisting of evil men who hide desperate secrets and are willing to commit unspeakable crimes to keep their past sins hidden. Fortunately, however, there is a new generation of enlightened, socially conscious men and women -- investigative journalists, honest police, and brave female attorneys -- willing and able to investigate, prosecute, and punish the criminals.

The main character suffers terribly at the hands of evil men, but has plenty of opportunities to wreak vengeance on those who have wronged her utilizing whatever comes to hand, fire, an axe, a conveniently placed nail gun. The films are pretty gruesome, but women in the audience -- including "She" -- seem to enjoy them.

I understand that there are plans for an American remake of these Swedish horrors and that the wonderfully named Rooney Mara is going to play the lead. I don't see the need for them. The originals display many of the most offensive features of recent Hollywood disasters. In terms of plot, characters, and themes, there's nothing you haven't seen time and time again. But the violence is very explicit and women of a certain age will find some degree of satisfaction in seeing bad men dispatched by our heroine in various gruesome ways. So I guess there is money to be made in a remake. Too bad.

Iowahawk Strikes Again

You Have 24 Unanswered Messages

*BEEP*
Hello, this is Congressman Chuck Harbinson calling to remind you to vote tomorrow, Tuesday November 2nd. As your representative from the 3rd District, I have worked hard to bring positive change through my support for the Health Care Reform Act, as well as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which created the new Turnip ethanol plant and nearly a dozen new high-paying jobs right here in the Quint Cities. I am proud to have earned the endorsement of the Claxon-Ledger, the United Turnip Workers Union, and President Obama. So when you cast that vote tomorrow, Tuesday November 2nd, won't you please pull the lever for me, Congressmen Chuck Harbinson? Thanks, and have a great evening.
*BEEP*
Hello, this is Congressman Chuck Harbinson again. Look, I just wanted to make sure you didn't get the wrong impression from that last robocall. I think I mentioned something about an endorsement from President Obama. Okay, yeah, he endorsed me, technically, but really, don't read too much into that. It's really more of a formality kinda thing. Candidly, I'm considered a pretty big independent here in DC, reaching across the aisle and all that. So pull that lever tomorrow for me, Congressman Chuck "The Maverick" Harbinson.
*BEEP*
What exactly do we know about Mike Pflugenboom? Sure, Mike Pflugenboom says he is a small businessman. But who is pulling Mike Pflugenboom's strings? The Claxon-Ledger reports that Mike Pflugenboom has taken nearly $5000 in secret donations from Big Turnip and their foreign friends. Mike Pflugenboom -- too extreme for the 3rd District, too extreme for America. I'm Chuck Harbinson and I approve this message.
*BEEP*

Read the whole thing here.

The Myth of Disinterested Science Redux

Two historians of science discuss the relationship between political ideology and evolutionary theory and in the process invoke one of my favorite themes -- the fact that there is no such thing as a disinterested authority and that includes scientific authority. Scientists, no less than other people, see in nature what they want to see there. It's an interesting discussion. Check it out.

Is Obama a Keynesian?

And these people, in their impenetrable ignorance and self-regard, consider themselves to be the informed, sane, reasonable segment of the American public.



Idiots!

Liberals

An argument between two liberals -- one sane, the other a PC bigot. You guess which is which.