http://reason.com/archives/2010/03/04/keep-your-laws-off-my-body
Keep Your Laws Off My Body
The case for legalizing drugs, prostitution, organ sales, and other consensual acts.
John Stossel
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Government Workers Are Earning More than You. Sucker.
There are two million civilian federal workers. 1.1 million of them have direct private sector equivalents. And they are laughing their asses off at those private sector suckers, who are doing similar jobs for less pay—often a lot less.
http://reason.com/blog/2010/03/05/government-workers-are-earning
http://reason.com/blog/2010/03/05/government-workers-are-earning
Friday, March 5, 2010
vvvv
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1607146150?ie=UTF8&tag=slatmaga-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1607146150
Vas' Mercedes
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/03/05/world/AP-EU-Russia-VIP-Crash.html?ref=aponline
How board game helped free POWs
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/12/05/mf.waropoly/index.html
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Lebowski rolls over in film
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=reilly_rick&id=4936940
Ames on Ayn Rand
http://exiledonline.com/atlas-shrieked-why-ayn-rands-right-wing-followers-are-scarier-than-the-manson-family-and-the-gruesome-story-of-the-serial-killer-who-stole-ayn-rands-heart/
Friday, February 26, 2010
How to Feed the World: Monsanto vs. Michael Pollan
http://www.aldenteblog.com/2010/02/how-to-feed-the-world-monsanto-vs-michael-pollan.html
National Journal's Vote Rankings: The Top 10....by ideology
http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/02/national_journa_17.php
Thursday, February 18, 2010
When politics actually works....
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/18/us/AP-US-Klamath-Dams.html?ref=aponline
This was a big part of the recent Cheney bio.....
This was a big part of the recent Cheney bio.....
Booking a Flight the Frugal Way
http://frugaltraveler.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/click-it-and-ticket-booking-a-flight-the-frugal-way/?em
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/travel/21Prac.html?em
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/travel/21Prac.html?em
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
In Afghanistan...... "One Tribe at a Time"
http://blog.stevenpressfield.com/2009/10/one-tribe-at-a-time-4-the-full-document-at-last/
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
How to fix NFL overtime...
From Bill Simmons Super Bowl diary:
"9:25: Two straight first-down throws. Suddenly we're on the Saints' 36. I remember thinking, "Great, they'll tie it, then whichever teams wins the coin toss will march down and score, and we'll have to hear about how to fix overtime for the next nine months. Shoot me."
(FYI: I know how to fix it. Win the toss and score a touchdown, game over. Make a field goal on the opening drive and the opponent gets one possession of its own. From there, sudden death rules. Find a hole in that idea. You can't.)
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100208&sportCat=nfl
"9:25: Two straight first-down throws. Suddenly we're on the Saints' 36. I remember thinking, "Great, they'll tie it, then whichever teams wins the coin toss will march down and score, and we'll have to hear about how to fix overtime for the next nine months. Shoot me."
(FYI: I know how to fix it. Win the toss and score a touchdown, game over. Make a field goal on the opening drive and the opponent gets one possession of its own. From there, sudden death rules. Find a hole in that idea. You can't.)
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/100208&sportCat=nfl
Monday, February 8, 2010
So they just THINK they're smarter, but not really.....
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YmE5MWYxZGMyYmU0NDE5Mjg4OGJjMWM2OWQ0OTBhOTI=
This one's for Al Dale.....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/04/AR2010020403698.html
And this one's for Katie Allen....
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YmEzOTIzOTZjNDQ4NThhMTA2ODcwZWM3NmQ2NWE0NGY=
And this one's for Katie Allen....
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=YmEzOTIzOTZjNDQ4NThhMTA2ODcwZWM3NmQ2NWE0NGY=
Does this mean we can finally forget MASH?
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/08/arts/AP-US-Super-Bowl-Ratings.html?ref=aponline
pretty funny guy....
http://www.salon.com/news/race/index.html?story=/ent/tv/feature/2010/02/05/nbc_black_history
All you need to know about Salon readers
http://letters.salon.com/mwt/feature/2010/02/06/super_bowl_valentine_open2010/view/?show=all
I know a lot of women who need this book.....
http://www.salon.com/books/nonfiction/index.html?story=/mwt/feature/2010/02/07/lori_gottlieb
A truly reasonable column on the deficit
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/07/AR2010020701785.html
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Gov't workers should not be allowed to vote? Thought-provoking.
http://www.johnderbyshire.com/Opinions/USPolitics/disenfranchisepublicsector.html#banner
Groundhog Day!
http://www.nationalreview.com/flashback/goldberg200602020835.asp
When the Museum of Modern Art in New York debuted a film series on "The Hidden God: Film and Faith" two years ago, it opened with Groundhog Day. The rest of the films were drawn from the ranks of turgid and bleak intellectual cinema, including standards from Ingmar Bergman and Roberto Rossellini. According to the New York Times, curators of the series were stunned to discover that so many of the 35 leading literary and religious scholars who had been polled to pick the series entries had chosen Groundhog Day that a spat had broken out among the scholars over who would get to write about the film for the catalogue. In a wonderful essay for the Christian magazine Touchstone, theology professor Michael P. Foley wrote that Groundhog Day is "a stunning allegory of moral, intellectual, and even religious excellence in the face of postmodern decay, a sort of Christian-Aristotelian Pilgrim's Progress for those lost in the contemporary cosmos." Charles Murray, author of Human Accomplishment, has cited Groundhog Day more than once as one of the few cultural achievements of recent times that will be remembered centuries from now. He was quoted in The New Yorker declaring, "It is a brilliant moral fable offering an Aristotelian view of the world."
When the Museum of Modern Art in New York debuted a film series on "The Hidden God: Film and Faith" two years ago, it opened with Groundhog Day. The rest of the films were drawn from the ranks of turgid and bleak intellectual cinema, including standards from Ingmar Bergman and Roberto Rossellini. According to the New York Times, curators of the series were stunned to discover that so many of the 35 leading literary and religious scholars who had been polled to pick the series entries had chosen Groundhog Day that a spat had broken out among the scholars over who would get to write about the film for the catalogue. In a wonderful essay for the Christian magazine Touchstone, theology professor Michael P. Foley wrote that Groundhog Day is "a stunning allegory of moral, intellectual, and even religious excellence in the face of postmodern decay, a sort of Christian-Aristotelian Pilgrim's Progress for those lost in the contemporary cosmos." Charles Murray, author of Human Accomplishment, has cited Groundhog Day more than once as one of the few cultural achievements of recent times that will be remembered centuries from now. He was quoted in The New Yorker declaring, "It is a brilliant moral fable offering an Aristotelian view of the world."
Monday, February 1, 2010
Does the Bill of Rights apply to foreigners?
http://www.salon.com/news/susan_m_collins/index.html?story=/opinion/greenwald/2010/02/01/collins
How to set up a stage for a talk show
http://www.slate.com/id/2242937/
On Politically Incorrect, host Bill Maher sat between rival guests—a setup that emphasized his role as moderator and the importance of argument among ideological opposites.
On Politically Incorrect, host Bill Maher sat between rival guests—a setup that emphasized his role as moderator and the importance of argument among ideological opposites.
Moscow McD's
"The Pushkin Square McDonald's is still the busiest in the world, company officials said."
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/01/business/AP-EU-Russia-McDonalds.html
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/01/business/AP-EU-Russia-McDonalds.html
If corporate advertising was irresistible, after all, we’d all be drinking New Coke.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/01/31/candidates_campaigns_and_new_coke/
If corporate advertising was irresistible, after all, we’d all be drinking New Coke.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/01/31/candidates_campaigns_and_new_coke/
High Spped Rail
"Proponents also claim that high-speed rail is profitable, but this too is off the mark. Internationally, only two segments have ever broken even: Tokyo to Osaka and Paris to Lyon."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703389004575033672230734364.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703389004575033672230734364.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion
Frank Rich on Patriotism
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/NYT-John-McCain-is-the-unpatriotic-opposition-83194492.html
E
A Quote that Could Launch a Thousand Columns [Jonah Goldberg]
From the end of Aram Bakshian's review of The Politician (italics in the original):
We are reminded by Mr. Young that one of Mr. Edwards's early boosters was the late Ted Kennedy, who "saw almost unlimited potential in this young, energetic, well-spoken, good-looking Southerner." In a conversation with Mr. Young, Mr. Kennedy waxed sentimental about Washington in the early 1960s: "It used to be civilized. The media was on our side. We'd get our work done by one o'clock and by two we were at the White House chasing women. We got the job done, and the reporters focused on the issues. . . . It was civilized." We now know that Mr. Edwards's idea of civilization was much the same as Kennedy's.
From the end of Aram Bakshian's review of The Politician (italics in the original):
We are reminded by Mr. Young that one of Mr. Edwards's early boosters was the late Ted Kennedy, who "saw almost unlimited potential in this young, energetic, well-spoken, good-looking Southerner." In a conversation with Mr. Young, Mr. Kennedy waxed sentimental about Washington in the early 1960s: "It used to be civilized. The media was on our side. We'd get our work done by one o'clock and by two we were at the White House chasing women. We got the job done, and the reporters focused on the issues. . . . It was civilized." We now know that Mr. Edwards's idea of civilization was much the same as Kennedy's.
Politics in the US should be NO ONE'S "life work"........
"But Democrats in Congress are replying, as politicians are wont to do when challenged by party wingers, that their name is on the ballot. New York Times editorialists can opine that the Massachusetts result had nothing to do with opposition to health care, but their life's work is not in peril."
Politics in the US should be NO ONE'S "life work"........
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Democrats-fall-as-fast-as-Nixon-Republicans-in-1974-82731837.html#ixzz0eIEtyMBu
Politics in the US should be NO ONE'S "life work"........
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Democrats-fall-as-fast-as-Nixon-Republicans-in-1974-82731837.html#ixzz0eIEtyMBu
Hmmm.....shades of 1994?
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2010/01/pelosi-children-and-grandchildren-get.html
Friday, January 29, 2010
5 Books about Russia
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/arts_n_ideas/article/thomas-keneally-chooses-5-books-about-russia/398175.html
Thursday, January 28, 2010
RIP...Howard Zinn....but let's not use his textbook.....
"Indeed, Zinn candidly said that history was not about "understanding the past," but rather, about "changing the future." That statement alone should have disqualified anyone from referring to him as a historian."
http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2010/01/america_the_awfulhoward_zinns.html
http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/2010/01/america_the_awfulhoward_zinns.html
Campaign Finance
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/27/AR2010012703909.html
"Barack "Pitchfork" Obama, in his post-Massachusetts populist mode, called the court's ruling a victory for, among others, "big oil" and "Wall Street banks." But OpenSecrets.org reports that in 2008 lawyers gave more money than either of them, and gave 78 percent of the donations to Democrats, who also received 64 percent of contributions from the financial sector.
Even if it were Congress's business to decide that there is "too much" money in politics, that decision would be odd: In the 2007-08 election cycle, spending in all campaigns, for city council members up to the presidency, was $8.6 billion, about what Americans spend annually on potato chips."
"Barack "Pitchfork" Obama, in his post-Massachusetts populist mode, called the court's ruling a victory for, among others, "big oil" and "Wall Street banks." But OpenSecrets.org reports that in 2008 lawyers gave more money than either of them, and gave 78 percent of the donations to Democrats, who also received 64 percent of contributions from the financial sector.
Even if it were Congress's business to decide that there is "too much" money in politics, that decision would be odd: In the 2007-08 election cycle, spending in all campaigns, for city council members up to the presidency, was $8.6 billion, about what Americans spend annually on potato chips."
Email 6 Enlightened Ideas Brought to You by Evil Empires
http://www.cracked.com/article_18378_6-enlightened-ideas-brought-to-you-by-evil-empires.html
Saturday, January 23, 2010
I'd vote for this Democrat...
The Clintonian Harold Ford Jr. [Robert Costa]
Harold Ford Jr. may run in New York’s Democratic Senate primary, and if he does, it looks like he’ll run to the right of incumbent Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.). In an interview with Jason L. Riley of the Wall Street Journal, Ford outlined his thoughts on the economy and what President Obama can learn from Bill Clinton. As Riley puts it, “it’s no wonder many consider Mr. Ford too conservative to win a U.S. Senate seat in New York:”
To address the anxiety Americans are feeling, Mr. Ford thinks that the White House needs to focus squarely on the economy. "First we need to cut taxes for businesses in the country, small and large," he says. "We ought to provide a six-month exemption from the payroll tax for all firms less than five years old. We ought to extend the current capital gains and dividend tax rates through 2012. We ought to make permanent all the research and development tax credits for businesses making those investments. And we ought to lower the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25% . . . Clinton was my kind of Democrat, and is what I came to know a Democrat should stand for . . . When Bill Clinton took office, he inherited a record-size debt, yet balanced the budget in 1998 . . . We created 22 million new jobs. The country handed a surplus to his successor. This is the lesson for our current president. You can find a way to grow the economy and be fiscally disciplined. It can be done."
More here.
Harold Ford Jr. may run in New York’s Democratic Senate primary, and if he does, it looks like he’ll run to the right of incumbent Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.). In an interview with Jason L. Riley of the Wall Street Journal, Ford outlined his thoughts on the economy and what President Obama can learn from Bill Clinton. As Riley puts it, “it’s no wonder many consider Mr. Ford too conservative to win a U.S. Senate seat in New York:”
To address the anxiety Americans are feeling, Mr. Ford thinks that the White House needs to focus squarely on the economy. "First we need to cut taxes for businesses in the country, small and large," he says. "We ought to provide a six-month exemption from the payroll tax for all firms less than five years old. We ought to extend the current capital gains and dividend tax rates through 2012. We ought to make permanent all the research and development tax credits for businesses making those investments. And we ought to lower the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25% . . . Clinton was my kind of Democrat, and is what I came to know a Democrat should stand for . . . When Bill Clinton took office, he inherited a record-size debt, yet balanced the budget in 1998 . . . We created 22 million new jobs. The country handed a surplus to his successor. This is the lesson for our current president. You can find a way to grow the economy and be fiscally disciplined. It can be done."
More here.
The year in review...
http://media.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Nzc1YmUyNjNmNjY5YWNkYTMzZmYwMjJjNGM2MDFhY2E=
Obama's real problem
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MThlOTBiN2QwNDgzNTk0MDBkZjNhYzM2MWQyODUyOWY=
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Are Politicos reader mostly conservatives?
The daily poll results are always surprising....
Today's
http://dyn.politico.com/polls/poll_voterresults.cfm?uuid=4FD56AAA-18FE-70B2-A8B0AD9A70712BCB
48% give Obama an "F"?
Today's
http://dyn.politico.com/polls/poll_voterresults.cfm?uuid=4FD56AAA-18FE-70B2-A8B0AD9A70712BCB
48% give Obama an "F"?
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
More ruling class....
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/01/18/us/politics/AP-US-Domenici-Governor.html
Ask Matt Labash
http://dailycaller.com/2010/01/11/welcome-to-ask-matt-labash/
What do fly fishing and dating have in common?
–Moira
I fly fish a lot more than I date these days, on account of my wife. Still, dating and fly fishing are practically one and the same. Both involve the excitement of the chase. Both require skill and cunning. Both involve making effective presentations, so that the pursuer can get the pursued to take something firmly in its mouth before it has a chance to spit it out. Finally, being successful at either will probably require you to wash your hands afterwards. Tight lines, Moira!
What do fly fishing and dating have in common?
–Moira
I fly fish a lot more than I date these days, on account of my wife. Still, dating and fly fishing are practically one and the same. Both involve the excitement of the chase. Both require skill and cunning. Both involve making effective presentations, so that the pursuer can get the pursued to take something firmly in its mouth before it has a chance to spit it out. Finally, being successful at either will probably require you to wash your hands afterwards. Tight lines, Moira!
Good one...
How did he do it? It's a question John Yoo has been getting a lot lately. How did he manage to outwit Jon Stewart? ("He slipped through my fingers," Stewart recalled after Yoo's recent appearance on The Daily Show. "It was like interviewing sand.") Easy, says Yoo."I've spent my whole career learning to settle down unruly college students who have not done the reading."
http://www.slate.com/id/2241742/
http://www.slate.com/id/2241742/
Another argument for the Iowa Plan
Ed Markey: Raging Independent [Jonah Goldberg]
Lord knows I think the fetishization of the independent label can get out of hand in American politics. But Ed Markey (ADA rating: 100) has really got a lot of nerve going after Brown for not being independent enough. I mean, Markey's one of the House's most reliable, partisan, knee-jerk liberals. He makes the Kennedys look like pillars of maverick independence.
Update: From a reader:
The sign the Coakley people have no idea why they are losing is right there with Ed Markey. This is a guy who literally does not live in Mass. They carved up a district for him that is bullet proof. So, he lists his primary residence as his mother’s house, but otherwise lives in DC. I bet most people’s first thought when they saw him was, “wow, he looks a lot different since the last time we saw him.” The second thought was, “did he need GPS to find the place?”
Brown had Flutie, Schilling, Smerlas and Cliff Clavin at his event. Do you think Obama is more popular in Mass than any of those guys?
01/17 05:20 PMShare
Lord knows I think the fetishization of the independent label can get out of hand in American politics. But Ed Markey (ADA rating: 100) has really got a lot of nerve going after Brown for not being independent enough. I mean, Markey's one of the House's most reliable, partisan, knee-jerk liberals. He makes the Kennedys look like pillars of maverick independence.
Update: From a reader:
The sign the Coakley people have no idea why they are losing is right there with Ed Markey. This is a guy who literally does not live in Mass. They carved up a district for him that is bullet proof. So, he lists his primary residence as his mother’s house, but otherwise lives in DC. I bet most people’s first thought when they saw him was, “wow, he looks a lot different since the last time we saw him.” The second thought was, “did he need GPS to find the place?”
Brown had Flutie, Schilling, Smerlas and Cliff Clavin at his event. Do you think Obama is more popular in Mass than any of those guys?
01/17 05:20 PMShare
Cliff Claven built the stage at Woodstock?!
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTdiN2Y2YThiOGI1N2I1NTRiYmYyNTZiMWY3ZmI5YTk=
More of "the personal is the political"
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZjRiZTI5ZTYwNTk4MTU4NjExNTZiZWIzNmQ4ZTg3ODI=
I thought the same thing when was I reading Tom's cloumn
http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OWZjMWY4YWMzZmM2MmU4YzZiMDAzODFmOGNmNTNkNTg=
Monday, January 11, 2010
redistricting
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Blueprint-of-the-Left-81008117.html
Mudcat Saunders is a smart guy....
"Rural polling has shown that when comparing “lack of economic fairness” to “health care reform” as driving issues, Bubba could give a rat’s ass about “health care reform.”"
http://dailycaller.com/2010/01/11/obamas-promised-change-bubba-says-git-er-done/
http://dailycaller.com/2010/01/11/obamas-promised-change-bubba-says-git-er-done/
Goldman bonuses
“The move would be the latest in a series of initiatives by Goldman to soften criticism over the size of its bonuses, which are expected to be among the largest on Wall Street, bringing average pay to about $595,000 for each employee—with far higher amounts for top performers.”
http://www.thebigmoney.com/features/todays-business-press/2010/01/11/goldman-gets-ready-inevitable-bonus-backlash
http://www.thebigmoney.com/features/todays-business-press/2010/01/11/goldman-gets-ready-inevitable-bonus-backlash
Drink Like a TuscanCheap Chianti is often better than the expensive stuff.
http://www.slate.com/id/2240926/
Friday, January 8, 2010
Cato Chair on Gay Marriage
Whenever government imposes obligations or dispenses benefits, it may not "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." That provision is explicit in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, applicable to the states, and implicit in the Fifth Amendment, applicable to the federal government....
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/01/07/2010-01-07_the_moral_and_constitutional_case_for_a_right_to_gay_marriage.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/01/07/2010-01-07_the_moral_and_constitutional_case_for_a_right_to_gay_marriage.html
Monday, January 4, 2010
Training yo' brain....with some interesting political sidelights
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/education/edlife/03adult-t.html?em
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