I'm relinking the best day of the entire campaign season.

Now -- who got it right? David Brooks Brothers or "Caribou Barbie"?

more...

Posted by: Ace at 10:22 AM | Comments (90)
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I'm glad we have elites to tell us po' bumpkins the way things really are.

Malkin's annoyed enough to write of Brooks' "Ivy League ejaculations."

She links this old but apropos Iowahawk piece mocking the effete Harvard half-assed intellectuals' embrace of Obama as "conservative."

To be honest, I'm a bit exhausted by this constant Caddyshack-esque spat between the so-called elites and the grassroots. I find the elites more annoying, but I'm also getting annoyed by the excesses of the resentments-stoking on the grassroots side where every dispute mutates into an us vs. them cultural Rangnarok.*

That said, if David Brooks can be so easily gulled and his supposed intellectual and cultural inferiors on the grassroots side cannot be, what purpose does he serve, exactly? Not only does he undermine the conservative cause and advance the liberal one, but he's just plain wrong along the way as he does so.

And he does it with a certain amount of refined arrogance to boot.

* I continue to think this is destructive. Perhaps we need some catharsis and bloodletting, but at some point we have to stop focusing on what divides the conservative movement and start focusing on dividing the liberals from the Reagan Democrats.

I suppose this is the best time for the catharsis and bloodletting. But still I grow weary of the red-on-somewhat-less-red infighting.**

** Actually, now that I think of it, is it possible that the so-called elites were partly turned off to Sarah Palin not merely because she was NQOCD (Not quite our class, dear), but because she vigorously attacked a man the so-called elites were warm to precisely because he was of part of the Harvard-Princeton axis about which the world turns?

Okay, now I'm getting pissed off again.

Sarah Palin wasn't taken in by Obama's easy, Ivy charm. Does that make her smarter than David Brooks?

Yeah, that Iowahawk piece is more true than funny, as it turns out.

Posted by: Ace at 09:55 AM | Comments (152)
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After denials that any "quid pro quo" was offered, Obama admits that his letter stated, as he put it, "obviously, to the extent that we are lessening Iran's commitment to nuclear weapons, then that reduces the pressure for, or the need for, a missile defense system."

Quid pro quo? Nah, of course not.

If Russia could stop Iran from getting nukes, sure, this would be a good exchange. But they can't and won't and also, did I mention?, can't, so all Obama is doing is signaling his interest to dispose of the missile shield for any reason whatsoever.

Posted by: Ace at 09:45 AM | Comments (77)
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The cult within Islam we know as The Religion of Perpetual Outrage gets a boost.

Posted by: Ace at 09:21 AM | Comments (30)
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Have Gaffe, Will Stumble:

"To you, he's Mr. Vice President," President Obama said at the Department of Transportation this morning. "But around the White House we call him ‘The Sheriff’ because if you're misusing taxpayer money, you'll have to answer to him."

DrewM writes: "Obama does this stuff to mock Biden right? This is a big joke everyone but Joe is in on, isn't it?"

Sadly, not. We're supposed to be reassured by this.

Slublog comes through:

Posted by: Ace at 09:04 AM | Comments (87)
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If I'm doing the math right -- and I'm not at all sure I am* -- it could, and maybe likely will, fall to one-eighth to one-fifth of its peak values.

* My guess is based on the finding that at peak stocks were selling for a record 40 times their earnings, and that after a crash, they usually fall to 5-8 times their earnings.

Posted by: Ace at 07:32 AM | Comments (122)
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Check. And now, presumably, we can move on to second-order projects like cancer.

After three years of research, Georg Steinhauser, a chemist, has discovered a type of body hair that traps stray pieces of lint and draws them into the navel.

Dr Steinhauser made his discovery after studying 503 pieces of fluff from his own belly button.

Chemical analysis revealed the pieces of fluff were not made up of only cotton from clothing. Wrapped up in the lint were also flecks of dead skin, fat, sweat and dust.

Dr Steinhauser's observations showed that 'small pieces of fluff first form in the hair and then end up in the navel at the end of the day'.

Writing in the journal Medical Hypotheses, he said the scaly structure of the hair enhances the 'abrasion of minuscule fibres from the shirt' and directs the lint towards the belly button.

"The hair's scales act like a kind of barbed hooks," he said. "Abdominal hair often seems to grow in concentric circles around the navel."

Like a black hole.

Thanks to Dave in Texas. Gabriel notes this breakthrough builds upon an earlier watershed study:

An earlier, Australian study of samples from 5,000 people concluded the typical carrier of navel fluff to be 'a slightly overweight middle-aged male with a hairy abdomen'.

Posted by: Ace at 07:16 AM | Comments (55)
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Dude, where's my honeymoon rally?

The market has notably plunged since Mr. Obama introduced his budget last week, and that should be no surprise. The document was a declaration of hostility toward capitalists across the economy. Health-care stocks have dived on fears of new government mandates and price controls. Private lenders to students have been told they're no longer wanted. Anyone who uses carbon energy has been warned to expect a huge tax increase from cap and trade. And every risk-taker and investor now knows that another tax increase will slam the economy in 2011, unless Mr. Obama lets Speaker Nancy Pelosi impose one even earlier.

Meanwhile, Congress demands more bank lending even as it assails lenders and threatens to let judges rewrite mortgage contracts. The powers in Congress -- unrebuked by Mr. Obama -- are ridiculing and punishing the very capitalists who are essential to a sustainable recovery. The result has been a capital strike, and the return of the fear from last year that we could face a far deeper downturn. This is no way to nurture a wounded economy back to health.

Listening to Mr. Obama and his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, on the weekend, we couldn't help but wonder if they appreciate any of this. They seem preoccupied with going to the barricades against Republicans who wield little power, or picking a fight with Rush Limbaugh, as if this is the kind of economic leadership Americans want.

And read Tony Bankley's "Obama lied: the economy died" column as well. Obama is, in fact, lying about his supposed "$2 trillion in spending cuts" over the next ten years; when pressed, staffers admit that that $2 trillion is made up of both spending cuts and tax increases.

And Roger Kimball, too:

Many people, I believe, have been stunned by the President’s behavior in his first weeks in office. It’s been a shock and awe performance. Historians of this period will look back in wonder: how ever did a new President waltz into office and, before he had even finished unpacking, extract $800,000,000,000 from taxpayers for partisan spending programs? Partly, it was a matter of successful rebranding: the President managed to convince some important people that his spending package was really a stimulus package, i.e., something that would help the economy, not hobble it. We know better now, having just suffered the largest post-inauguration market rout in history. But those historians will note with interest how, even at the beginning of March, some reputable commentators still referred to the President’s poverty program as “stimulus package.”

Posted by: Ace at 07:09 AM | Comments (87)
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One of the more nasty partisans on CNN. Married, but not, apparently, dead.

From Rush & Molloy:

Did CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin get a little too close with the daughter of a rival? Sources claim that Toobin's friendship with Casey Greenfield, the brilliant and beautiful daughter of CBS political pundit Jeff Greenfield, crossed the line. Casey, whose 2004 marriage to screenwriter Matt Manfredi is over, stopped replying to our e-mails when we said the subject was Toobin; asked about his relationship with Casey, Toobin told us, "I don't want to discuss this."

Toobin, again, is married, and 13 years older than Casey Greenfield.

In case you're having trouble figuring out what's being implied, click the Gawker link at Moe Lane. Moe's also got old vid of Toobin ripping Sarah Palin, just so you know who he is.

Posted by: Ace at 06:31 AM | Comments (68)
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Chicken pot, chicken pot, chick-en-pot piiiiiiiiie.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:57 AM | Comments (78)
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