Evening Whip, May 29, 2010

We’re too broke to be this stupid [*1]

So the easiest “solution” to the problem is to throw public money at it. You know how it is when you’re at the mall and someone rattles a collection box under your nose and you’re not sure where it’s going but it’s probably for Darfur or Rwanda or Hoogivsastan. Whatever. You’re dropping a buck or two in the tin for the privilege of not having to think about it. For the more ideologically committed, there’s always the awareness-raising rock concert: it’s something to do with Bono and debt forgiveness, whatever that means, but let’s face it, going to the park for eight hours of celebrity caterwauling beats having to wrap your head around Afro-Marxist economics. The modern welfare state operates on the same principle: since the Second World War, the hard-working middle classes have transferred historically unprecedented amounts of money to the unproductive sector in order not to have to think about it. But so what? We were rich enough that we could afford to be stupid.

That works for a while.
. . .

By the way, where does the government get the money to fund all these immensely useful programs? According to a Fox News poll earlier this year, 65 per cent of Americans understand that the government gets its money from taxpayers, but 24 per cent think the government has “plenty of its own money without using taxpayer dollars.”

“Where did Obama get the funds?” “I have no idea!””I don’t know where he’s getting the money, but he’s giving it to us!”

There’s your problem, right there.

Comrade Hillary: “The Rich Are Not Paying Their Fair Share of Taxes in Any Nation” (Video) [*2] — A finer, more succinct statement of Marxism/”progressivism” would be difficult to find . . . “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.” — Karl Marx, co-author of The Communist Manifesto. There’s only one problem: It Doesn’t Work. Ever. Anywhere. Any time it’s tried. It always devolves into dictatorship, because somebody has to decide what the rest needs. That’s the dirty little secret of “progressivism”, Marxism, communism, socialism, call it what you will. If you let any person decide for him or herself what he or she needs, that person will always say that they need MORE. This is, in the modern phraseology, “unsustainable.” Therefore, you need the Mother of All “Death Panels” — the Government — to decide Who gets What and How Much.

And that’s tyranny. Dictatorship. Command economy. Again, call it what you will. It means that YOU won’t get to decide what you do with what you create, and YOU won’t get to decide what you need and don’t need. That will be decided for you.

So, why are you still a Democrat? Morning Bell: White House in Disarray [*3]

What they got from President Obama was a glimpse of a White House in total disarray, where one hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing and where there are more questions than answers. At 12:45 PM EDT yesterday, President Obama stood before the country and did his best to convey one clear message regarding the oil spill – the federal government is in control and that he will hold BP to account.
. . .
Unfortunately for the President, he couldn’t maintain that message for the duration of his 63-minute press conference. When it came time to questions, he admitted that the federal government just doesn’t have what it takes to keep the oil spill under control.
. . .
From total control, to lack of control, to personal responsibility – that’s heck of a mixed message. What will President Obama do with that responsibility? For one, he announced a halt to all new offshore drilling and called for the United States to move toward “investing in renewable source of energy” in order to “accelerate the competition with countries like China.” And he also warned that “easily accessible oil has already been sucked up out of the ground.”

The truth, though, is a different story. Unlike us, China is pursuing increased offshore drilling for oil, including deep-sea oil development. And for all the President’s talk about China’s alternative energy push, the reality is that China’s dependence on coal is actually growing.

Obama simply keeps spewing bullsh*t with his trademark confident voice and hypnotizing cadence, and hopes that the majority of the marks don’t catch on to the fact that he has no idea what he’s talking about. Do you actually listen to what he says, or do you let him and the Old Media mesmerize you?

Reid in virtual tie with all GOP challengers [*4]

ObamaCare: Death Panels Are a Real Concern After All [*5]

Gulf Oil Spill & the “dominant narrative of Katrina” [*6]

Obama Votes ‘Present’ on Arizona Boycott, but Not on Tea Parties [*7]

“Kagan pursued two paths on ‘don’t ask’ at Harvard” [*8]

Denver Post Embargoes Own Scoop On White House Crime [*9]

Now Writers Can Self-Publish to iBooks [*10]

Cuccinelli on Obamacare Lawsuit: ‘We Are Doing What the Founders Expected’ [*11]

Ultimately, Cuccinelli said his legal challenge to Obamacare is more than a fight over government-run health care. He said America’s first principles are at stake.

“I don’t think in my lifetime we’ve seen one statute that so erodes liberty than this health care bill,” he said. “Certainly, we view our lawsuit as being not merely about health care. That’s actually secondary to the real important aspect of the case, and that is to protect the Constitution as we essentially define the outer limits of federal power. If we lose, it’s very much the end of federalism as we’ve known it for over 220 years.”

Deep Subduction of the Indian Continental Crust Beneath Asia [*12]

Discriminating Between Discriminations — There’s a simple, handy, easy guide to understanding what discrimination is acceptable, and what isn’t: if the discrimination is acceptable to a “progressive” (i.e. discrimination against whites–especially white males–or against devout Christians, or against people with property or wealth earned through free enterprise, or against people of any race, sex, religion, or carnal inclination who actually produce more than they consume, or indeed against people who simply want to be left alone to lead their lives the best that they can without “help” from those selfsame “concerned” “progressives”) then the discrimination is not discrimination at all, but simply “making things more fair.”

White House admits pushing Sestak to drop Senate bid [*13]

An iPhone for Verizon and Sprint: Dream On [*14]

The Making of an Oil Spill [*15] — A large share of the blame needs to be laid on those who forced BP to look for oil in mile-deep sea water, rather than in more easily worked coastal waters or indeed on the dry land of northern Alaska.

4 more ebooks by Ludwig von Mises [*16]

Sestak Statement [*17]

Has Bill Clinton Broken Federal Law? [*18]

California Uber Alles and the Dead Kennedys’ Coming Revival [*19]

Woman sues airline for leaving her asleep in seat [*20]

Book publishers agree change coming; details murky [*21]

In Their Own Words: CBO Admits Obamacare Unsustainable [*22]

New Rand Paul “scandal”: We shouldn’t have birthright citizenship for illegals [*23] — Actually, I believe that the United States is one of the very few countries in the world that does allow children born within its territory of criminal entrant parents to become citizens. So, by the test of Internationalism (i.e. What Would Europe Do?) then we should certainly scrap that relic of a past age, shouldn’t we? Of course, “progressives” have never been particularly known for intellectual consistency–other than the consistent assertion of whatever policy will make them feel good about themselves at that particular time.

Tavis Smiley: Christians Are Killing People Every Single Day [*24]

Record of Previous Answers Says Sestak and White House Are Coordinating In a Lie[*25]

Sestak speaks: Hey, no biggie [*26]

The Public Education Spending Binge Must Stop [*27] — Actually, I think you can edit that to “The public spending binge must stop.” We’re driving at maximum speed off of a very high cliff, and about to see if our late model automobile called The Economy can fly.

Oh boy: Obama proposed downsizing Coast Guard crisis center three months before spill [*28] — I predict this will quickly drop down the Old Media memory hole, if indeed it ever gets widely reported in the first place. It doesn’t fit the narrative, you see.

Mitt Romney’s main strategy in the GOP primaries of 2012 is to hammer Sarah Palin as “a quitter”. Message to Mittens: it’s not going to work [*29] — I think Mitt Romney will, in the run-up to the 2012 Republican primaries, be politically torn limb from limb by a very, very, very angry pack of Tea Partiers.

Wicked good: Royals bean Boston 12-5[*30]

Bill Clinton in the limelight, Part Two [*31] — Bubba is never happier than when the spotlight is on him.

South Dakotans among kings of road when it comes to smart drivers [*32]

Jacks to play ORU for title [*33]

Gadget Patrol: iPad [*34]

Magic v. Science: Doctor Who Part III [*35]

The Asher doctrine applied [*36]

Rush is right, says … Chris Matthews? [*37]

Don’t Panic [*38]

Throwing the polar bears under the bus [*39]

Necessary Secrets: A necessary review [*40]

Is Obama the New Cheney? [*41]

Libertarian Sci Fi Anyone? [*42]

How Whales Have Changed Over 35 Million Years [*43]

King Canute is in over his head — a mile deep! [*44]

Versus America [*45]

The passage of ObamaCare dispelled the myth of the moderate Democrat. The illusion of the patriotic Democrat died in their thunderous applause for Felipe Calderon. The Democrats obviously find more in common with this shadowy foreign ally than the people of Arizona… or the wider American population, which supports Arizona’s immigration law by lopsided majorities. Any sense of unconditional loyalty to the United States is obviously not distributed evenly across all fifty of them.

Sestak not eligible for unpaid position offered? [*46]

James O’Keefe Gives His Side [*47]

Destroyed by court order: The footage of a Landrieu staffer admitting the senator’s office had no problem with their phones [*48]

Arctic Ice Volume Has Increased 25% Since May, 2008 [*49]

Noonan: Where is the competence? [*50]

White House Sestak Story Doesn’t Pass The Smell Test [*51]

Uh-Oh: “Junk Shot” Fails; “Top Kill” Halted and Being Reevaluated [*52] — Oh, man. This may cut into Wile E. Obama’s basketball and golf practices . . .

Shocker: Court Destroyed Evidence That Landrieu’s Phones Were Working Fine, Just As O’Keefe Endeavored to Establish [*53]

Hi Neighbor! — Special Guest Commentary by the Sarah Palin Homunculus that Lives Inside Liberals’ Heads [*54]

Now where were we? Oh yes, Tina Fey. Now, just the other day Tina… umm… is everything all right? I mean, you have the strangest look in your subthalamus. Oh…! Oh, this. The bikini. Funniest thing. Turns out once I’m inside a liberal’s head, It’s like poof! Off with the clothes. I tell ya, it’s gotten to the point that I really don’t even notice it anymore. No, don’t be embarrassed or ashamed, most of your friends don’t even give me the bikini.

I guess that explains why Governor Palin finds it so easy to get and stay in their heads . . .