Two Minute Offense

BOzo -- World Record Bull sh**ter

2009-05-22T09:51:00.002-04:00

I just posted this as a comment at Betsy's:

BOzo is as full of it as any person I have ever seen. I know that sounds like hyperbole aimed at someone I oppose politically, but look at the last 4 months. The scope of the BS is just breathtaking. Not just in its depth, but its breadth. He bloviates unadulterated BS on everything. And the subjects he has chosen are monumental in their importance.

If there existed some way to quantify BS in terms of: 1) the importance of the subject matter discussed, 2) the power of the speaker to implement policy supported by the BS, 3) the extent to which the statements are in error, and 4) the hubris of the speaker -- BOzo would be the world record holder in a landslide.

Help wanted -- adult needed to supervise

2009-04-23T10:08:00.002-04:00

After shoving hundreds of billions of dollars out the door without even bothering to figure out how the money will be spent, Obama wants to convince us that he is serious about fiscal discipline. He wants to find a hundred million in cuts. Apparently this is his response to the tea parties.

Everett Dirksen is known for joking that "a billion here, a billion there and pretty soon it starts adding up to real money." He died forty years ago. Obama's paltry hundred million was a joke forty years ago. Today?

B.O. is well on his way to BO-zo.

Hubris

2009-04-23T10:01:00.002-04:00

I'm still trying to figure out how failing as a community organizer gives one a sufficient background to serve as chief executive of the federal government, the banking industry, Wall Street, and the auto industry. Not to mention take over the entire health care industry. Oh, and save the planet.

Hubris. (On steroids).

Unbelievable

2008-10-31T09:35:00.002-04:00

I've watched the news media get worse and worse for the last 40 years. But I never thought the bias, fraud, corruption and propaganda efforts would get this bad. Unbelievable.

Those people in the electorate who believe that our country would be better with an honest, competent news media have to face a hard truth -- we don't have one and we aren't likely to have one until the people who care decide to do something about it. Wringing hands and whining won't get it done.

Talk radio and blogging are nice, but they don't reach the critical parts of the electorate that decide elections. Those folks still get their "news" from the corrupt MSM.

Pathetic lying in the LA Times

2008-02-12T10:40:00.000-05:00

Patterico documents more libel by the LA Times. This is just pathetic.

Michael Moore's fiction

2007-05-04T15:49:00.000-04:00

The basic premise of Michael Moore's first hit, "Roger & Me", is that the GM chief wouldn't meet with Moore. In reality, Moore actually got two interviews with Roger Smith. Gosh, it turns out that everything Moore has ever done is as big a lie as his very first "documentary". Is it any wonder that liberals love him so much.

Liberals -- living the lie, loving the lie.

Dems -- use intelligence assets to study global warming

2007-05-04T15:40:00.000-04:00

Since the Democrats don't acknowledge that terrorism is a threat, they have come up with a better way to spend precious intelligence assets.

Dana Milbank really is that stupid

2007-05-04T15:33:00.000-04:00

Or that dishonest. Only in the looking glass world of the MSM can the existence of terrorists in Iraq be questioned.

People actually read Time

2007-05-04T14:23:00.000-04:00

I've never understood why, but circulation numbers indicate that people buy it. Can we assume that they also read it? But if they actually read it, then why would they continue to buy it? It's a mystery.

The Captain chronicles more lunacy from the rag. Surely they don't really think they commit journalism. Or has the definition of journalism become so debased that they still qualify?

The history of science

2007-05-04T14:12:00.000-04:00

One of the absolute best courses I ever took was the History of Economic Thought as a college senior majoring in economics. Understanding how the theory of economics evolved to its current state was a tremendous benefit in helping to tie the subject all together. It helped place economics into context with the politics and history with which it is always inextricably intertwined.

Hugh Hewitt discusses a book which sounds like it does the same thing for science. If the book is, in fact, a "history" of science, it would be a great book for students. Understanding how and why we came to learn scientific facts would go a long way to helping non-scientists put it all in context.

Liars, idiots or both?

2007-05-04T13:59:00.000-04:00

Betsy points out this column by Lawrence Kaplan which discusses the incredibly stupid comments made by Democrats about Iraq.

Rewriting History -- standard lefty tactic

2007-05-04T13:51:00.000-04:00

Krauthammer sets the record straight on another myth created by the left. Imagine American politics where the Democrats actually operated within the parameters of truth.

OK, enough with the fantasy. Imagine US politics where Democratic voters had even a passing understanding of reality.

OK. Wake up. Dream over.

NY Times confirms it can't be trusted

2007-05-04T13:38:00.000-04:00

When hiring, the Times focuses on those who bash Bush, even when they were wrong. Pushing a falsehood is a paramount concern.

Democrats love taxes

2007-05-04T13:23:00.000-04:00

Baseball Crank provides a rundown of the love affair Democratic governors have with higher taxes. One quote that really, really got my attention:

A tax on oil companies proposed by Gov. Jim Doyle could be passed through to consumers at the gas pump, according to an analysis by state tax officials cited in a conservative group's new report.
Doyle has proposed taxing oil companies an estimated $272 million over two years and pledged he'll keep the costs from being passed on to Wisconsin consumers by fining or even jailing oil company executives who try to do so.

Catch that? The governor of Wisconsin wants to monitor the prices that certain businesses charge. If he thinks the prices are too high, he wants to throw people in jail. Welcome to the Soviet State of Wisconsin.

Chris Matthews is no bozo

2007-05-04T13:13:00.000-04:00

As Beldar notes, Chris Matthews is no bozo:

To call Chris Matthews a "total bozo" is an entirely inadequate insult for him, but a vicious slur against clowns throughout world history.

How the Left bilks America

2007-05-03T15:19:00.000-04:00

Kimberley Strassel explains how the Democrats play the game to pay off their owners.

Conservatives need not apply

2007-05-01T11:37:00.000-04:00

And honesty will never be a virtue of the political left-wing. The NY Sun describes the futile search of an outstanding scholar to get a tenure-track job. He didn't think the right way.

"Indoctrinate U"

2007-05-01T11:05:00.000-04:00

I want to see this movie.

The right response to multi-culti BS

2007-05-01T09:31:00.000-04:00

Betsy has a great post on the proper interaction of cultures:

What cowardice to surrender your own culture's beliefs in protecting victims from violence simply because you want to respect the hallowed idea of multiculturalism.

I prefer the response of General Sir Charles Napier who had this response to complaints in India that he wasn't respecting local culture when the British outlawed the practice of suttee in which widows were forced to cast themselves on the funeral pyres of their husbands.

"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."

Sadly, European politicians don't have that same confidence in their own culture today.

Jim Jones -- Marxist, Democratic official, murderer

2007-04-26T06:40:00.000-04:00

This is the same colum linked in the previous post. So much interesting stuff in there, it deserved two headlines.

Remember the MSM telling you all this about Jim Jones? Nah, that would implicate marxism and the Democratic party. Better to write him off as a religious wacko.

How many blacks died at Waco assault?

2007-04-26T06:38:00.000-04:00

Jack Cashill has details the MSM will never let you know.

The law of unintended consequences

2007-04-25T16:35:00.000-04:00

.. or "there is no such thing as a free lunch."

Halberstam's folly

2007-04-25T13:18:00.000-04:00

It is sad that David Halberstam died in an auto accident the other day. It is even sadder that his reporting on Vietnam was as faulty as it was. And perhaps saddest of all is that, despite the massive evidence to the contrary, he never re-evaluated the erroneous conclusions that he had reached about the war. America is much the worse for his folly.

Mark Moyar has written a book about how wrong Halberstam's reporting was and how much damage it caused. Here is an opinion piece with a short summary of his book.

Halberstam's Vietnamese interpreter turned out to be a colonel in North Vietnam's intelligence service. When Halberstam was informed of this years later, he wasn't bothered by the news. One has to wonder how much the spy was able to use Halberstam to place misinformation in the NY Times and how much Halberstam got wrong on his own.

One of the standard talking points employed by anti-war activists was that the war in Vietnam was a war of liberation from colonialism which was supported by the South Vietnamese peasants. While the communists in the North hoped it was true, their Tet offensive, which depended on local uprisings to join them, was smashed when the people did not. Several years later, John Kerry's testimony to the Senate repeated the obviously false claim. Kerry claimed that only the elite, upper class people in South Vietnam were interested in the survival of the South and only a few thousand would be required to flee if the North conquered the country.

Kerry was wrong, of course. Millions died and even more were tortured and repressed.

Somehow, decades later, Halberstam still clung to the notion that Vietnam was really just a war of independence. How he could do so, in light of what happened following the fall of Saigon, causes one to wonder at his ability to comprehend.

There is none so blind ...

2007-04-20T14:05:00.000-04:00

as a liberal who is immune to the lessons of history and unwilling to be constrained by rational logic. Here is a good example of senseless ranting against trade.

Today, with Iraq, we hear an endless repetition of the same flawed predictions we heard before pulling out of Vietnam. It is hard to imagine anyone being more wrong, with more devastating results, than liberals like John Kerry were about Vietnam. Yet, still today they are convinced that they were right. The millions dead and millions more subjected to repression and torture that resulted because Kerry's prescription was followed are simply rendered non-people -- airbrushed out of the history taught by PC liberals.

NY Times -- "a cesspool of wrong and vicious ideas"

2007-04-20T13:58:00.000-04:00

Don Luskin links to a great job exposing the unintentional humor of the Times. A summary:

"Such is the intellectual and moral state of The New York Times, a veritable cesspool of wrong and vicious ideas serving day in and day out to poison the minds of its readers against the capitalist economic system and economic freedom."

We are all foot soldiers for civilization

2007-04-20T13:31:00.000-04:00

One great post.

ESPN on Davidson hoops

2007-04-20T11:04:00.000-04:00

ESPN's Andy Katz has now listed Davidson as likely to be ranked nationally as a top 25 team in the preseason next fall. Yesterday, ESPN's Andy Glockner had a long story explaining that major powers were making a mistake not playing teams like Davidson:

Quick: Name the best "RPI opponent" in the country last season.

Ohio State was atop the RPI at the end of the regular season, but the Buckeyes didn't provide the best bang for your RPI buck. Neither did Memphis, Florida, UCLA, Kansas, Wisconsin or North Carolina, even though all six of those elite programs also finished in the top 11 in the RPI. Why? Because all those teams were very likely to beat you, negating some of the benefit their strong win/loss records and strengths of schedule provided for your RPI.

As your own winning percentage is 25 percent of your RPI, you must add relative "beatability" into the equation. When you do, the answer probably will surprise you: It's Davidson. In addition to finishing the regular season with a 25-4 Division I record, the Wildcats' overall schedule (including games in the underrated Southern Conference, which ended up 19th of the 31 conferences in RPI) was strong enough to give the Wildcats the 10th-best combination of winning percentage and SOS in the country (measured with winning percentage being worth twice as much as SOS, per the RPI formula). Now weigh the fact that most Top 25 teams would be strongly favored over Davidson at home, and it's a no-brainer.

Of course, as the Cats showed in the NCAA tourney when we were beating Maryland by 8 in the second half, actually beating us is no easy feat.

Broadcasters proud of Katrina coverage

2007-04-19T16:29:00.000-04:00

Hugh Hewitt spoke at a broadcasters convention. Apparently, they think that their coverage of Katrina's aftermath in New Orleans was one of their finest hours. As has been pointed out before, they got just about everything wrong in their coverage. Pretty much tells you all you need to know about the MSM.

For all the media myths see the Popular Mechanics cover story of March 2006 (having trouble linking).

Just a reminder

2007-04-19T16:13:00.000-04:00

Remember how Ron Brown died:

Eleven years ago tomorrow, a United States Air Force plane carrying the body of Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and those of 32 other Americans left Croatia for Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

The 33 Americans had died, not all of them immediately, when their U.S. Air Force aircraft crashed "inexplicably" into a mountainside less than two miles from the Cilipi Airport near Dubrovnik.

An hour after the plane departed, and a day before the Air Force was to question him, Croatian Niko Jerkuic, the man responsible for the Cilipi Airport's navigation system, showed up dead with a bullet hole through his chest. Authorities claimed suicide.

The next day, Easter Sunday that year, an Armed Forces Institute of Pathology forensic photographer, U.S. Navy CPO Kathleen Janoski, mounted a stepladder at the Dover mortuary and began to shoot Ron Brown's body.

"Wow," said Janoski upon spotting a circular indentation in Brown's skull, "that looks like a bullet hole."

The pathologists who heard her cry and heeded it would soon enough wish they hadn't. It would cost them and Janoski their careers.

"Political" Science

2007-04-19T15:50:00.000-04:00

Most readers here are familiar with the extraordinary demonization of
Bjorn Lomborg by the scientific community following the publication of his book documenting the dishonesty of the environmental litany. Jack Cashill describes how a scientist has been demonized at the Smithsonian simply because he agreed to publish a paper in the magazine he edits. The article, carefully peer-reviewed, argued that evolution failed to adequately explain the origin of certain species.

One obvious reason for Sternberg's special treatment was what the House Report describes as "a general anti-religious culture existing at the Museum." Once the Meyer article was published, Coddington and others began to probe into Sternberg's background, asking around to see if he were a closeted "religious fundamentalist" or, God forbid, a "Republican."

In an e-mail of solidarity sent to Coddington, Research Associate Sue Richardson openly complained about her own unhappy tenure in the "Bible Belt." Wrote Richardson, "The most fun we had by far was when my son refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance because of the 'under dog' part."

The House report asks rhetorically, "Would similar expressions of disparagement have been tolerated by Smithsonian officials if directed at a racial minority?" That answer is obvious. A more pointed question would be whether Smithsonian officials would have tolerated comparable comments about Muslims or even Jews. That answer is obvious, too.

No room for religion or Republicans in science.

How could she write that with a straight face?

2007-04-19T15:27:00.000-04:00

Justice Ginsberg wrote this in the partial birth abortion case:

As the Court wrote in Casey, “overruling Roe’s central holding would not only reach an unjustifiable result under principles of stare decisis, but would seriously weaken the Court’s capacity to exercise the judicial power and to function as the Supreme Court of a Nation dedicated to the rule of law.” 505 U. S., at 865. “[T]he very concept of the rule of law underlying our own Constitution requires such continuity over time that a respect for precedent is, by definition, indispensable.” Id., at 854. See also id., at 867 (“[T]o overrule under fire in the absence of the most compelling reason to reexamine a watershed decision would subvert the Court’s legitimacy beyond any serious question.”).

Though today’s opinion does not go so far as to discard Roe or Casey, the Court, differently composed than it was when we last considered a restrictive abortion regulation, is hardly faithful to our earlier invocations of “the rule of law” and the “principles of stare decisis.” ... A decision so at odds with our jurisprudence should not have staying power.

You gotta be kiddin' me.

The most liberal justice on the Court, comfortable with some of the most extraordinary precedent-shattering decisions imaginable, is trying to claim that precedents shouldn't be overturned. Dan gets it perfectly, "stare decisis is treated as a one-way street."

Liberal decisions which overturn conservative legal doctrines are good. Conservative decisions which overturn liberal legal doctrines are unconscionable. Brilliant!

Mortgage defaults reach levels of Clinton years

2007-04-17T13:30:00.000-04:00

Econopundit notes that in California:

Mortgage lenders filed 46,760 notices of default from January through March, marking an increase of 23.1 percent from the previous quarter and 148 percent from the year-earlier period, according to a report by DataQuick Information Systems, a real estate information service.

The first quarter's default level was the highest for the most populous U.S. state since the second quarter of 1997.

Things are as bad as during the Clinton years.

Milton vs. Hillary

2007-04-13T13:21:00.000-04:00

Do you believe in freedom or not? One example:

"The unfettered free market has been the most radically destructive force in American life in the last generation."

-- First Lady Hillary Clinton on C-Span in 1996 stating her troubles
with the free market

"What most people really object to when they object to a free market is that it is so hard for them to shape it to their own will. The market gives people what the people want instead of what other people think they ought to want. At the bottom of many criticisms of the market economy is really lack of belief in freedom itself."

-- Milton Friedman, Wall Street Journal, May 18, 1961

History lesson, courtesy of George McGovern

2007-04-13T13:15:00.000-04:00

Thomas Lifson reminds us of what happens when we let liberals run foreign policy. Read it all.

Liberals celebrate their roles in causing death, misery and poverty

2007-04-13T13:00:00.000-04:00

Rachel Carson's birthday is being used to celebrate the impact of environmentalism around the world. I saw a flyer at my local library inviting people to come to a celebration of her life.

What will the lefties be celebrating? Thirty million dead, billions of people living lifes of suffering and abject poverty.

All over the Western World well-meaning, but misguided, souls marked that day with choruses of praise for the woman who almost singly-handed created the modern environmental movement. Her book, Silent Spring, warned us that man-made pesticides would kill our kids with cancer and eliminate our wild birds.
...

Rachel Carson’s major impact on the planet has been to discourage the use of a safe, cheap pesticide called DDT to suppress disease-bearing mosquitoes. North America and Europe used DDT to eradicate malaria. After our children were safe, we told the Third World not to use it because it might harm their bird populations.

The absence of DDT has led to the needless deaths of at least 30 million people from malaria and yellow fever in the tropics. (Five times as many as Hitler killed in his concentrations death camps, albeit inadvertently). Most of them were helpless African children. In addition, malaria has been allowed to blight the lives of perhaps 1 billion chronic malaria sufferers, who are too often unable to work and further erode economic resources by requiring family nursing care. The millions of malaria cases in the tropics may, just by themselves, explain half of the poverty and human degradation on the planet today.

"Don't feel sorry for Dukies" -- Liberal reaction

2007-04-13T12:55:00.000-04:00

Liberal attitudes in the MSM.

Reminder of the ecology tax you pay at the pump and grocery

2007-04-13T12:49:00.000-04:00

Much of the increase in higher prices is due to Congress' subsidy of ethanol. IBD explains.

Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson

2007-04-13T12:44:00.000-04:00

Lori Byrd discusses another of the bizarre consequences that result from the corruption and incompetence of the MSM -- Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson being presented as arbiters of right and wrong. It certainly has to hurt the cause of blacks in the USA that these two corrupt bozos are always trotted out by the MSM to speak on behalf of an entire race.

Nazis, Commies, Liberals

2007-04-13T12:40:00.000-04:00

Not a lot of difference. Lockstep thinking and a fervent belief in the cause above all else. Here's more.

Imus and Rutgers

2007-04-13T10:23:00.000-04:00

I could care less about Imus. If a liberal gets himself fired from his radio show, fine. I think it is a shame that the coach and athletic director at Rutgers allowed their players to make fools of themselves. Baseball Crank summarizes the situation very well. Paul at Powerline rounds up a number of similar takes on the issue.

The coming Real Estate boom in 2012

2007-04-13T10:05:00.000-04:00

Congress is about to screw up the economy big time, if Democrats succeed with plans to raise taxes on capital gains and dividends. Here is an analysis which seems right on:

Hundreds if not thousands of company's will be recapitalizing in 2009, paying out huge special dividends just before the dividend tax rate goes up. Many will lever up and many will cease dividends altogether post 2010 and use the cash flow to reduce the debt, in essence pulling profits forward in time to give their shareholders cash at the 15% rate and reduce the level of future profits that would be subject to higher rates of taxation. Imagine that, receiving your little slice of US corporate profitability for years 2011-2015 in 2010, cash money! The implications for the Treasury are that there will be a surge of revenue in 2010 and a cratering of revenue beyond. Private equity types are doing this already. When the outlook for capital gains is cloudy (or even when it is not) they sell bonds to pay themselves a fat dividend. As 2010 approaches, everybody will be getting in on this game. You've got to own stocks to get your share of the cash tsunami but massive capital losses would be in the offing. Start learning now about buying long dated puts on the market indices and/or selling calls.

Furthermore, congress will interpret the revenue surge as a permanent increase in the tax base, and they will rapidly increase spending. The post 2010 federal budget deficits could be huge when the tax receipts dry up. With guys like Max Baucus at the wheel, I say it's a safe bet. Won't be good for treasuries.

With treasuries and stocks looking bad, usually what happens is capital flows to real estate (think 2002). I think it is fair to say that 2011 is far enough away for the collective memory of where we are today with real estate to have faded by then. I predict another real estate boom circa 2012.

Remember when they wanted you to increase greenhouse gases?

2007-04-13T09:58:00.000-04:00

In the 70s, the ecology wackos were predicting that we were doomed by global cooling. But curiously, they weren't encouraging people to increase greenhouse gases as a way to heat up the atmosphere. Don Luskin points us to an interesting question:

Suppose we discovered that the earth was cooling rather than warming due to a natural cycle. Would you encourage people to drive more and use more carbon-based energy as a way of warming the earth?

Because lying and slander are standard practice

2007-04-12T09:37:00.000-04:00

Glenn noted this about liberals trying to claim that Imus is now a conservative. This isn't really that big a deal -- precisely because it is so very typical. Try to remember a Democratic political campaign that wasn't based on slander and lies. Can't do it, can you. Doesn't happen.

In big things and small, the essence of the liberal/left in America is the lie. It is their foundation. David Horowitz talks about this in one of his books. Socialism is based on a lie. It is fundamentally at odds with human nature. Liberalism is a lie about the lie -- that somehow government can control every aspect of our lives without impinging on our freedom.

Horowitz's point (which I am oversimplifying) is that lying becomes fundamental tactically because the entire political philosophy is dishonest at its core.

John Kerry -- traitor, liar, fool

2007-04-12T09:29:00.000-04:00

Beldar is too kind:

In Sen. Kerry's eyes, 'tis better to treat with, to fawn over, to snuggle up close and tight with the sworn enemies of the United States than to be seen as supporting the President of the United States (whoever, of whichever party, happens to hold that office at the time). Of course, "hand[ing] ... a dangerous victory" to the Ba'athist or Communist Parties is perfectly fine with the junior senator from Massachusetts.

As I wrote in the comments to his post:

This is the same John Kerry who sent anti-war audio tapes to the North Vietnamese to be used in the torture of American POWs. The same John who not only perjured himself in slandering the members of our military service, but also suborned the perjury of others in furtherance of his slander. The same John who was part of a group which conspired to assassinate a number of US senators in the Capitol building.

And the same John who said that our abandonment of the South Vietnamese would have little effect on the country other than having to evacuate a few thousand people.

John is now, and was then, a traitor. He is now, and was then, a liar.

And he is now, and was then, a fool whose judgment should never be allowed to affect US policy.

What the global warming nuts don't want you to know

2007-04-11T15:43:00.000-04:00

Stuart Buck points out one problem with the idea that Carbon Dioxide heats up the atmosphere. It seems that all the evidence shows that the causation is actually the opposite -- Carbon Dioxide goes up after periods of warming, not the other way around.

Yankee fans

2007-04-11T15:09:00.000-04:00

A-Rod is the greatest shortstop in baseball history. When he went to the Yankees, Derek Jeter (a mediocre defensive player with limited range) insisted that he had to continue to play short. A-Rod moved to 3d base and the Yank's defense has been weaker than it should be.

Ever since Jeter's selfishness (which continues to this day), the Yankees have failed to win a world series.

Yankee fans have responded by booing A-Rod unmercifully. Of course, the Yankee fans treated Mickey Mantle like dirt for the first 10 years of his career (the majority).

An iPod in every pocket

2007-04-10T12:06:00.000-04:00

Michael Barone can't believe the foolishness of Democrats in Michigan. Having wrecked the state's economy with high taxes, they intend to boost the economy by giving away free iPods to kids.

Amen to that

2007-04-03T00:40:00.000-04:00

Beldar explains how to resolve the British standoff with Iran.

Good luck, Tony and Coach Smith

2007-03-29T14:50:00.000-04:00

Two wonderful people with ties to Davidson have gotten some bad news lately in the cancer department. Tony Snow, Davidson '77, has been in the news after it was announced that his cancer has come back and spread. Our prayers are with Tony and his family.

Homer Smith, one of the great offensive minds in the history of college football, went off to Houston today for stem cell treatment for the cancer that was discovered in December. Our prayers are with Homer and his family, as well.

Paul Campos -- fish in a barrel

2007-03-28T08:16:00.000-04:00

I've noted before that Campos is a dishonest lefty. Here is takedown of another of his dishonest arguments.

Beldar weighs in on Megan

2007-03-18T12:54:00.000-04:00

Beldar addresses Megan:

If you genuinely have a thorough-going education in the science relevant to issues regarding claims of dangerous man-made global warming (a phrase I'm using without at all accepting its premise, mind you), then why does your being convinced depend on proponents of the theory convincing someone else, be that Mr. Bailey or anyone else? Isn't that another way of saying that you don't have the thorough-going education in the relevant science? (In Ms. McArdle's case, I reject the alternative explanation, which is laziness.)

And:

I don't have to be a climatologist, for example, to understand this two-part argument made by some well-credentialed climatologists: First, current science is still a long way from having any thorough-going understanding of the mechanisms of long-term climate change or short-term weather, and such understanding as we do have can lead to calculations that tie up the most powerful supercomputers for weeks on end. Second, the margin of error for the extrapolations being made from the very limited amount of genuinely reliable historical data on weather and climate which we do have substantially exceeds the degree of climate change being postulated as attributable to man-made causes (as opposed to climate cycles that have occurred before man could even arguably have much affected them).

What's wrong with Megan McArdle?

2007-03-16T14:25:00.000-04:00

Writing over at Instapundit, Megan McArdle writes something truly mind-boggling:

ON GLOBAL WARMING Let me clarify a little my position. I think there are a lot of questions about global warming: how much, and what, should be done. However, I regard two questions as basically no longer worth debating, at least by people with my level of science education:

1) Is AGW happening?
2) Should we do something about it?

The first is a technical question that seems to be largely settled

My understanding is that Megan doesn't have much science education. Why that removes the subject from debate is completely beyond me.

Richard Lindzen is Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT. He says global warming is a politically motivated fraud. See e.g.
this column in the Wall Street Journal:

how can a barely discernible, one-degree increase in the recorded global mean temperature since the late 19th century possibly gain public acceptance as the source of recent weather catastrophes? And how can it translate into unlikely claims about future catastrophes?

The answer has much to do with misunderstanding the science of climate, plus a willingness to debase climate science into a triangle of alarmism. Ambiguous scientific statements about climate are hyped by those with a vested interest in alarm, thus raising the political stakes for policy makers who provide funds for more science research to feed more alarm to increase the political stakes. After all, who puts money into science--whether for AIDS, or space, or climate--where there is nothing really alarming? Indeed, the success of climate alarmism can be counted in the increased federal spending on climate research from a few hundred million dollars pre-1990 to $1.7 billion today. It can also be seen in heightened spending on solar, wind, hydrogen, ethanol and clean coal technologies, as well as on other energy-investment decisions.

But there is a more sinister side to this feeding frenzy. Scientists who dissent from the alarmism have seen their grant funds disappear, their work derided, and themselves libeled as industry stooges, scientific hacks or worse. Consequently, lies about climate change gain credence even when they fly in the face of the science that supposedly is their basis.

To understand the misconceptions perpetuated about climate science and the climate of intimidation, one needs to grasp some of the complex underlying scientific issues. First, let's start where there is agreement. The public, press and policy makers have been repeatedly told that three claims have widespread scientific support: Global temperature has risen about a degree since the late 19th century; levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have increased by about 30% over the same period; and CO2 should contribute to future warming. These claims are true. However, what the public fails to grasp is that the claims neither constitute support for alarm nor establish man's responsibility for the small amount of warming that has occurred. In fact, those who make the most outlandish claims of alarm are actually demonstrating skepticism of the very science they say supports them. It isn't just that the alarmists are trumpeting model results that we know must be wrong. It is that they are trumpeting catastrophes that couldn't happen even if the models were right as justifying costly policies to try to prevent global warming.

Why Megan seems unable or unwilling to understand what Professor Lindzen writes is beyond me. And why his position isn't appropriate to add to the debate is even farther beyond me reach.

NCAA screws the Cats

2007-03-11T19:27:00.000-04:00

Davidson got a 13 seed in the dance. Just about every bracketologist had the Wildcats at a 12. Looking over the seedings, Long Beach St got a 12 despite a substantially weaker resume. Davidson's RPI was 47th, LB St was 80th. Davidson was 26th in the last coaches poll with 49 votes. LB got zero votes.

The liberal myths about Vietnam

2007-03-08T12:36:00.000-05:00

Jonah Goldberg points out the shocking ignorance by Democrats of the reality of the horrors that befell SE Asia after we pulled out:

Massachusetts' Sen. Edward Kennedy ridicules the notion that a withdrawal from Iraq would have grave humanitarian costs.

"I heard the same kinds of suggestions at the time of the end of the Vietnam War," Kennedy told NBC's Tim Russert, mocking the notion that we'd have a "great bloodbath" with more than 100,000 dead. "And for those of us that were strongly opposed to the war, (we) heard those same kinds of arguments."

Yes, but those arguments were right. Our withdrawal from Vietnam did contribute to a great bloodbath. More than a half-million Vietnamese died at sea fleeing the grand peace Kennedy and his colleagues orchestrated. And more than 1.2 million Cambodians died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, thanks to the power vacuum created by our "humanitarian" withdrawal. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., a presidential candidate, insists that a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq can't make things any worse. In 1975 he took a similar line: "The greatest gift our country can give to the Cambodian people is peace, not guns. And the best way to accomplish that goal is by ending military aid now." Someone rent Dodd a DVD of The Killing Fields.

This willful ignorance by liberals of the horrific cost of their actions is not unusual. With regard to the aftermath of Vietnam, it has been pointed out before most often by David Horowitz.

I want to focus on two other huge liberal myths about Vietnam that haven't gotten as much attention. The first myth, championed by fools like David Halberstam, is the one which says that the war was simply the Vietnamese people rising up in revolution against the colonial power that the US had become in replacing the French. We can understand why Halberstam believed this during the early 60s. He was getting all his information from a North Vietnamese agent who served him as an undercover guide during his time in Saigon. What is not understandable is why Halberstam continues to believe this nonsense long after it became obviously false. The communists from the North based their Tet offensive on this falsehood. They thought that the populace in the South would rise up and join them. When it didn't happen, the Viet Cong was wiped out and the NV suffered horrible losses.

Which leads us to the second myth, one that I have rarely ever seen mentioned. That myth contends that Tet showed us that the war was lost. Since it couldn't be won, we had no choice but to leave. Note, I'm not focusing here on the bogus claims of the liberal MSM that Tet was a great loss for the US. I'm concerned with what happened after 1968. Liberals claimed we had to get out because it couldn't be won. Yet, somehow, even after we withdrew the vast majority of our forces, Saigon didn't fall. Why is it that the South didn't fall until April 30, 1975? In fact, it didn't fall until the Democrats reneged on our promises of military aid and left the South without the arms needed to defend themselves.

Most of our casualties died while while Johnson was president. After Nixon took office, the numbers began a dramatic decline as we withdrew more and more of our troops. Yet, the South held. The military dropped the insane policies developed by McNamara's Defense Department and adopted smarter ones. The US Army did much less fighting and effectively trained and armed the South to defend itself. It was working.

The biggest of all the myths that the liberals cling to is the one that Vietnam was doomed, that the war couldn't be one.

Why did the Democrats renege on our promises? Some, as committed left-wingers, probably wanted the communists to win. But what of the rest? If the GOP president showed that the South could be defended without the horrible loss of US troops that fell under Johnson, what would that mean? Better to make sure it failed so that the myth could survive. See, the war was just not winnable from the very beginning.

Comparing memories -- Libby vs. Clinton

2007-03-07T17:13:00.000-05:00

Scooter Libby was found guilty for having a different memory than some other people. And those people had all kinds of memories that differed from each other. Compare how Scooter's memory lapse compared to Clinton's:

In the portions of President Clinton's Jan. 17 deposition that have been made public in the Paula Jones case, his memory failed him 267 times. This is a list of his answers and how many times he gave each one.

I don't remember - 71
I don't know - 62
I'm not sure - 17
I have no idea - 10
I don't believe so - 9
I don't recall - 8
I don't think so - 8
I don't have any specific recollection - 6
I have no recollection - 4
Not to my knowledge - 4
I just don't remember - 4
I don't believe - 4
I have no specific recollection - 3
I might have - 3
I don't have any recollection of that - 2 I don't have a specific memory - 2
I don't have any memory of that - 2
I just can't say - 2
I have no direct knowledge of that - 2
I don't have any idea - 2
Not that I recall - 2
I don't believe I did - 2
I can't remember - 2
I can't say - 2
I do not remember doing so - 2
Not that I remember - 2
I'm not aware - 1
I honestly don't know - 1
I don't believe that I did - 1
I'm fairly sure - 1
I have no other recollection - 1
I'm not positive - 1
I certainly don't think so - 1
I don't really remember - 1
I would have no way of remembering that - 1
That's what I believe happened - 1
To my knowledge, no - 1
To the best of my knowledge - 1
To the best of my memory - 1
I honestly don't recall - 1
I honestly don't remember - 1
That's all I know - 1
I don't have an independent recollection of that - 1
I don't actually have an independent memory of that - 1
As far as I know - 1
I don't believe I ever did that - 1
That's all I know about that - 1
I'm just not sure - 1
Nothing that I remember - 1
I simply don't know - 1
I would have no idea - 1
I don't know anything about that - 1
I don't have any direct knowledge of that - 1
I just don't know - 1
I really don't know - 1
I can't deny that, I just -- I have no memory of that at all - 1

Sometimes it's hard to remember. If a lib can't recall, it's no big deal. A conservative isn't granted the same leeway.

Where does Libby go for justice?

2007-03-07T17:09:00.000-05:00

Clarice Feldman lays out the case. Included is the highly unethical closing argument of the prosecutor:

blame the judge who let the prosecution get away with introducing into evidence prejudicial news accounts of limited relevance or probative value while denying the defense an opportunity to fully make its case? Who permitted the prosecutor to make scandalous charges on his rebuttal -- for which he had not offered a shred of evidence and which went beyond the defendant's closing statement -- the last thing the jury would be allowed to hear.

Lying about lying

2007-03-07T17:07:00.000-05:00

Big Lizards has a great piece laying out how often and how badly the Wash Post lies in the story about the Libby trial. Of course, why should the Post be any different than the rest of the MSM on this entire story?

It's all about the money

2007-03-06T21:11:00.000-05:00

Liberal editor of the New Republic, Martin Peretz, explains Bill and Hillary:

The fact is that the Clintons are all about money. There's a truly shocking story in this morning's Washington Post about how Bill earned $40 million in the last four years just in speaking fees. A lot of this was Arab money, which doesn't mean he doesn't love his rich Jews (he must) ... or Israel, for that matter. It tells you just how easy it is for him to fake his affections. Or to carry two loves in his breast at the same time.

All about money. Imagine if you are a friend of the Clintons. First of all you are rich, very rich. Simply because they don't have friends other than ones with spare and bigger than big amounts of cash. Here are the purposes for which you have been asked contributions: twice for Bill Clinton for President (and all of the skeletal extensions of the local and national Democratic Party), the 727s, the White House refurbishing fund, the Clinton Defense Fund, the Clinton Library, twice for Hillary for Senate, annual contributions to the Clinton Global Initiative, each of his and her birthdays. Was there a Chappaqua remodeling project? If you have a private jet you'd have been expected to hand it over for a day, a weekend. If you have a house in Martha's Vineyard or in East Hampton or in Aspen or in Palm Springs, why don't you visit your in-laws? And it isn't as if the Clintons are asking you directly. Some underling is doing it, and you're afraid to say "no." Or even "boo." $1 million here, $1 million there. Pretty soon, it's a heck of a lot of money. You could have named a building at your alma mater after yourself with that money.

Improper closing argument pays dividends

2007-03-06T20:51:00.000-05:00

Fitzgerald, the unethical slimeball responsible for the persecution of Scooter Libby, made a number of improper references in his closing argument asking the jury to convict on the basis of other supposed "crimes" by the adminstration. This quote by one of the jurors shows that Fitz scored:

"There was a tremendous amount of sympathy for Mr. Libby on the jury. It was said a number of times, 'What are we doing with this guy here? Where's Rove? Where are these other guys?'" Collins said. "I'm not saying we didn't think Mr. Libby was guilty of the things we found him guilty of. It seemed like he was, as Mr. Wells put it, he was the fall guy."

Story here.

Barone on Rudy vs. Hillary

2007-03-06T17:06:00.000-05:00

Interesting. Very.

The moral morass of the Left

2007-03-06T16:20:00.000-05:00

This book review is a pretty good look at the failure of morality of the Left. The reviewer is evidently an Australian liberal.

One point that I find ridiculous -- the reference to "atrocities" here:

The Left, it seems, is happy to criticise US atrocities in Abu Ghraib but not to raise its voice in support of those on the Iraqi secular Left attempting to build a workable democracy in the face of a depraved campaign of violence and intimidation.

If rogue US soldiers who put underwear on prisoners' heads and took pictures are guilty of atrocities, what adjective describes hacking someone's head off with a dull saw? Or using suicide bombers in crowds of civilians? Or the unspeakable tortures by Fidel Castro?

MSM -- working for the enemy

2007-03-06T15:46:00.000-05:00

Every day in every way. A little analysis here. Some day in the future, people will study the role of journalism in our country today and wonder why MSM editors weren't lynched.

Could anyone have less class than John Kerry?

2007-03-01T12:49:00.000-05:00

This is just pathetic.

And you have to love the AP lying for Kerry.

Davidson people

2007-02-24T10:51:00.000-05:00

... are some of the best people on earth. The Wildcat basketball team clinched the Southern Conference championship Monday evening. At a lot of schools, the team would have made a big deal of cutting down the nets in celebration at the end of the game. At Davidson, the team didn't cut the nets (that would be reserved for a tourney championship and invitation to the NCAA tournament). Instead, they immediately went up in the stands to say thank you to a special fan in a wheelchair.

Here is a picture.

Fitzgerald is a massive violation of legal ethics

2007-02-22T16:27:00.000-05:00

Clarice Feldman has an interesting post on the ugly nature of the Fitgerald witch hunt and how it began. Worth reading it all, but I want to focus on something from his closing argument that is just outrageous:

the investigation disclosed no violations of law whatsoever. Nevertheless, in his closing statement Fitzgerald made repeated references to the possibility that a covert officer's identity had been disclosed maliciously and that people might die as a result

Fitzgerald asked the jury to send a message that it won't tolerate this kind of malicious disclosure. Yet the trial was for perjury and the jury was deliberately not told that the law on disclosure had not been broken. This is as outrageous as it gets.

Tax Spenders get rich off Taxpayers

2007-02-22T16:07:00.000-05:00

Government Workers make more in pay, more in benefits, and make more in retirement than the private sector workers whose taxes pay for it all. When you realize that government workers generally also get more vacation and work fewer hours at easier jobs, it makes you wonder what would happen if the MSM actually made a big issue out of this. Give USAToday a little credit for running the story.

John Edwards is not a serious person

2007-02-22T15:31:00.000-05:00

Of course, I don't think anyone really thinks he is. Baseball Crank contrasts what the Senate's biggest fool (and isn't that saying something!!) had to say about Israel and Iran then (2004) and now. In a nutshell, when the focus was fighting Iraq, he wanted the US to focus on the danger than is Iran. Now that the focus may be including our fight with Iran, Iran is no longer a danger worth worrying about. Did you know Iran has become less threatening in the last 2 years? Me neither.

It looks like he has come upon the perfect choice of country to fret over -- Israel. Since the Israelis will never do anything to hurt the USA, they are just the ticket for demonization. Focusing on our little ally as the source of all that ails the world means never having to actually use the US military.

What if the MSM had journalists?

2007-02-22T12:12:00.000-05:00

I've always wondered how much different this country would be if the MSM actually practiced journalism. Here is a good example of why we aren't likely to find out any time soon.

The priorities of the Democrats

2007-02-22T11:53:00.000-05:00

Porkbusters points out that the Dems won't fund programs to reduce infants getting Aids. But they will use government money to teach you how to flirt.

Pay day lenders

2007-02-22T11:14:00.000-05:00

CNBC has been running an ad from a payday lender on behalf of their industry association which implores borrowers to use payday lenders responsibly and only for unexpected short term problems. Comes off much like cigarette ads telling kids not to smoke.

Question -- do they really think that the people who use such lenders are watching the financial/business channels? Or is this really just an effort to put a prettier face on payday lenders?

More reasons why the 9/11 Commission is wrong

2007-02-22T11:00:00.000-05:00

Edward Jay Epstein gives us some disturbing information that calls into question everything the 9/11 Commission concluded. Even more importantly, it reveals the commission to be a bunch of fools.

Bush's greatest legacy?

2007-02-20T17:29:00.000-05:00

An interesting article on the enormous impact of Bush's push for an ownership society and the passage last year of a law which will have immediate benefits here.

The Pension Protection Act made several key changes to defined contribution and defined benefit plans which has forced Morgan Stanley to increase their forecast for net equity defined contribution flows from $11 billion in 2008 to $30 billion. If you are keeping score this is a 172 percent increase in annual net flows. Very positive for growth, wealth creation, and retirement savings.

From 11B to 30 B. That's big, really big.

"Pseud" is short for "liberal"

2007-02-16T09:36:00.000-05:00

Andrew Ferguson explains. Well worth the read.

Because he's the only Republican

2007-02-14T21:22:00.000-05:00

At NRO, Stephen Spruiell says:

Just off the top of my head, and in no particular order:

Former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer testified that he told John Dickerson (then with TIME magazine) about Valerie Plame. Dickerson denies this.

Fleischer also testified that he told NBC’s David Gregory about Valerie Plame. NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert later denied that Gregory ever received the leak.

Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus testified that Fleischer told him about Valerie Plame. Fleischer denies this.

Bob Woodward testified that he had discussions with Pincus about Valerie Plame. Pincus denies this.

Russert first told the FBI that he couldn’t rule out the possibility that he discussed Valerie Plame with Scooter Libby. He later testified that he could.

NBC’s Andrea Mitchell has yet to testify, but she first said publicly that everyone knew about Valerie Plame prior to Robert Novak’s column. She now denies that she herself knew (and successfully resisted a subpoena).
And now, today, this:

On Tuesday, Jill Abramson, now The New York Times' managing editor, was called first by the defense [...]

Abramson was asked about former Times' reporter Judith Miller's testimony (she had claimed this for a long time) that she had asked Abramson in 2003, when the latter was Washington bureau chief, if she could write a story related to WMD and her recent talks with Libby.

Abramson, as she has done in the past, denied it.

Remind me: Why is Libby the only one on trial for perjury?

Lies, Slander and Distortion

2007-02-08T10:49:00.000-05:00

The arguments that liberals make about economics are just like the ones they make on other subjects -- once you strip away the lies, the slander and the distortions, there's nothing left. This was at opinion journal the other day to explain why so much of the garbage you hear from the left on wages, etc. is just that - garbage.

Dems -- embracing the enemy

2007-02-06T23:23:00.000-05:00

Michelle points out that the Democrats chose an enemy of the country to give their prayer.

This stuff doesn't even shock anymore.

Democrats are scum.

Thoughts of John Edwards' mouthpiece

2007-02-06T15:58:00.000-05:00

Democratic nominee for vice-president in 2004 and candidate for the presidency in 2008, John Edwards, hired Amanda Marcotte to work for him. Here are some of her views. It appears she is filled with all the hatred and venom so typical of activist Democrats. If you have the stomach for it, hit the link and read.

The assholes will never quit

2007-02-04T22:22:00.000-05:00

Tom Dahlberg is an asshole. A despicable, lying sack of dog crap. Even when Peyton Manning plays an extraordinary game in a driving rainstorm to win the Super Bowl and the MVP award, the asshole has to continue the slanders and lies which the Peyton-haters have used to assault Manning for over a decade. What a prick!

I hate to even have to link to the SOB.

A perfect sample of Peyton-hating

2007-02-03T17:07:00.000-05:00

Some people are just so consumed with hatred that it permeates their writing. For reasons that have baffled sane, normal people, Peyton Manning has been the target of some of the most intense negativity from sportswriters that one can imagine and for over 10 years. You can always spot a Peyton-hater. They use standards that are patently unfair. They make comparisons that have never been made for other athletes. They cherry pick statistics. They make Peyton the scapegoat for the failures of his coaches or teammates. And they denigrate him at every turn.

NBCSports has a good example of Peyton-hating here.

Bill Wade

2007-01-30T14:17:00.000-05:00

Bill Wade was the QB of the Chicago Bears when they won the NFL championship in 1963. He was also my Sunday School teacher when I was in high school. I was saddened to read that he is now blind.

I'm also a little confused why this sportswriter would think that a former Vanderbilt star might feel any affinity for a former Tennessee Vol in the upcoming Super Bowl.

Are we finally at war with Iran

2007-01-29T15:26:00.000-05:00

Given the way that Iran and Syria have fueled and supported attacks against Americans in Iraq, one wonders when we will go ahead and acknowledge the obvious. Will this be the tipping point?

MSM and the public's right to know

2007-01-29T14:47:00.000-05:00

It would seem that the MSM doesn't really respect your right to know. John Fund lays out all the interesting questions about Sandy Berger that the MSM has no curiousity about. Don't you feel good knowing that Bill Keller of the NY times and all the rest of the journalists of the MSM are so concerned about defending our right to know.

MSM is all fiction, all the time

2007-01-29T14:18:00.000-05:00

Why would any sane person believe a word they hear from MSM reporters. Clarice Feldman gives an extensive account of all that the MSM has butchered in their coverage of the Libby trial. Basically, everything.

There is no question that much of the bad reporting is due to bias. However, don't underestimate how much incompetence plays in this. These folks really are that stupid.

Myths about the War

2007-01-29T13:13:00.000-05:00

Instapundit had this, but I wanted to emphasize it. Just about everything you hear about the war is BS.
Here.

NBC News -- just making it up

2007-01-26T11:21:00.000-05:00

Just One Minute summarizes the quality of journalism one can expect from NBC News:

So often I find myself asking - is it true, or is that a report from David Shuster? In the brutally competitive world of television news David Shuster of NBC has hit upon a winning formula - make stuff up that appeals to his left wing audience.

He lays out an extensive case.

Rooting for defeat

2007-01-25T16:17:00.000-05:00

Beldar is right. Nancy Pelosi is desperately rooting for military defeat. And she is willing to sacrifice as many of our troops as is necessary for her to achieve her political victory.

Corrupt journalists sellout for Democrat

2007-01-19T17:13:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to point out this story at RCP. These "journalists" aren't about to engage in real journalism if it means that it could hurt a Democrat.

Aren't these related

2007-01-19T16:12:00.000-05:00

Aren't these two sides of the same coin here and here? I think there is a tendency for some of us to be critical of the amoral and immoral Democrats in the national spotlight. Perhaps we should focus more on the fact that Democratic voters have values that are incredibly destructive to our country. They don't love America and they aren't patriots.

It's their voters.

A common sense too far

2007-01-19T11:48:00.001-05:00

If the liberals who flogged the Duke "rape" farce had exercised a little common sense, it would have been obvious that the case was a farce. There are so many reasons why, but John Podhoretz points out another reason why the allegations were impossible -- the bathroom is far too small for 3 men to rape anyone inside it.

Of course, if liberals exercised any common sense they wouldn't be liberals.

A common sense too far

2007-01-19T11:48:00.000-05:00

Say what??!! -- more brain-dead sports media

2007-01-18T09:37:00.000-05:00

Watching Mike and Mike in the morning on ESPN. Mike Green says that the Colts look to have an advantage in talent over the Patriots.

Huh! I don't think there is a coach or scout in the NFL who would agree. Patriots are substantially better in the defensive line, at linebacker and in the secondary. Their special teams, both coverage and return, are substantially better. The Pats are better in the offensive line, at tight end and at running back.

The Colts are better at wide receiver, although New England has better depth. And while anyone with a brain knows the Colts are substantially better at QB, every Pat fan on the planet vehemently disagrees.

And of course, while Greenie was talking about players, New England does have a substantial advantage in coaching talent as well.

So what in the world is Mike Green thinking? If anyone wanted an example of sports media people being brain dead, this one would certainly join the list.

MSM: We don't need no stinkin' facts

2007-01-15T12:48:00.000-05:00

Mark Tapscott points out a couple of urban legends that the MSM believes despite their obvious falsity.

Just like a Democrat

2007-01-15T12:35:00.000-05:00

What an asshole is Dem congressman Kagen. It's bad enough to act like a classless jerk, but to brag about it after having the time to think about his behavior is just too much.

Kagen reportedly told the activists he held the door to a White House men's room closed when he was alone with Rove.

"You're in the White House and think you're safe, huh?" Kagen was said to have told Rove. "You recognize me? My name's Dr. Multimillionaire and I kicked your ass."

Rove responded by offering Kagen his congratulations, according to a story published last week in The Scene, a monthly alternative publication that circulates in the Fox Valley.

Jimmy Carter -- corrupt and a liar

2007-01-15T12:13:00.000-05:00

Wretchard points out this column by Alan Dershowitz which summarizes some of the corruption and flagrant libel of Jimmah Carter.

I want to point out that while his most recent book libels Jews, his prior book libels evangelical Christians. It appears that Carter will lie about all kinds of people in exchange for money.

Failing to meet the lowest expectations

2007-01-15T07:16:00.000-05:00

I know that commentators on ESPN are not chosen for their intelligence. I don't expect much from them. This morning, the commentary about this weekend's NFL playoff games has been so bad, it makes me wonder if I watched something else this weekend.

When I think about these people having the right to vote, it's almost enough to make me re-think my support for democracy.

More stupid media tricks

2007-01-12T11:10:00.000-05:00

I happened across this blurb from a couple weeks back while reading Mickey Kaus:

Another sneering op-ed arguing the Mexican border fence has an "effectiveness" problem because in San Diego, when 14 miles were built, people stopped crossing there! They went elsewhere to cross!

A little-noticed Congressional Research Service report issued Dec. 12 indicates that expanding the California wall makes little sense. After the San Diego wall went up, apprehensions in the area were reduced, the CRS reports. But "there is ample evidence that flow of illegal immigration ... shifted to more remote areas of the Arizona desert."

See? It won't work because where it's been tried it worked. Q.E.D.

Never underestimate the stupidity of those who run newspapers.

Exxon folds to political intimidation

2007-01-11T14:40:00.000-05:00

Two liberal senators threatened Exxon Mobil with political retribution if the company continued to provide funding to any scientists whose research questioned the global warming advocacy of environmentalists. CNBC just had a story where the company has announced that it is cutting off all such funding. CNBC doesn't point out the political threats by liberal Democrats. In fact, CNBC's entire thrust is that global warming due to greenhouse gases is a well-established fact.

How liberal judges collude with liberal politicians

2007-01-08T16:21:00.000-05:00

I know it is never surprising when liberals violate ethical responsibilities and ignore their public obligations, but this one really blew me away. Stuart Buck pointed out this really egregious case of legal collusion on the part of Michigan officials.

The voters of Michigan voted to amend the state constitution to outlaw the use of race preferences by the state government, including in university admissions. Liberal special interests sued the governor and the universities asking a Federal Judge to enjoin the enforcement of the new law. The universities, the governor and the special interests all wanted to see the law enjoined. So they signed a stipulation agreeing to the injuction. The District Court entered the injunction declaring that it was in the public interest to do so, without taking any of the evidence or requiring any of the extraordinary proof which is required to enter such an injunction.

An an extraordinarily quick fashion, the Sixth Circuit struck down the injunction.

This whole thing just stunk to high heaven. The governor has a legal obligation to defend the law of the state. She can't agree to bag the law because she doesn't like it. And the federal judge here is just a disgrace. He knew there was no way that these parties represented all sides of the debate, but he pretended that they did when he rubber-stamped the bogus stipulation.

If the NY Times told the truth ...

2007-01-08T15:53:00.000-05:00

Don Luskin points out what the Times leaves out in a story about taxes. The Rich benefit from tax relief because the poor and middle class don't pay taxes and the poor get cash from the government. What the headline should have been:

40% of all Americans -- and 100% of the Poor -- Pay No Income Taxes, Get Money Instead, says CBO
Increased revenues from middle and upper income taxes make it possible -- Bush gets credit!

How stupid do you have to be to be a sportswriter?

2007-01-07T12:59:00.000-05:00

I swear, sometimes it seems as if a low IQ, no knowledge of history and no understanding of sports must be requirements to get a job as a sportswriter. Apparently, the more stupid they are, the higher up the sportswriting chain they get. Most of the local writers I've dealt with have been reasonably competent (make that about half). Most of the national writers are dumb as a rock.

Today's example is some national AP writer named Nancy Armour. Now the fact that she works for AP may well be a good tipoff that facts and intelligence were not important in the way she does her job.

Here is my e-mail to her this afternoon:

Dear Ms. Armour,

As a national sportswriter, I would hope you have no trouble with a little quiz. However, reading your story today has caused me to wonder. Question 1 -- which QB played the greatest game ever in the NFL playoffs? Answer -- Peyton Manning vs. KC during the 2003 playoffs. Question 2 -- which QB played the 2d greatest game ever played in the NFL playoffs? Answer -- Peyton Manning vs. Denver in the 2003 playoffs.

Obviously, your statement that Manning always plays poorly in the playoffs is complete crap.

Moreover, Manning played very, very well yesterday. The yardage that KC was willing to give up in the running game is a testament to that. If, as Chris Collinsworth said during the broadcast, the two interceptions by Law were the fault of Harrison going the wrong way, Manning's performance was one of the better performances you will likely see by a QB in the playoffs.

As an old football coach, I have a little advice for you. Learn about the game before you write about it. Talk to people who actually know something about playing QB. If you are bright enough and work hard, you might find that some day you will be competent enough to write about high school football games.