Very good point from an Instapundit reader. After quoting a story about the Make Believe Media ready, willing, and eager to undertake its customary duty of talking up the pain of budget cuts while failing to note the just-as-real pain of inevitable fiscal disaster, ...

Reader Dave Gamble notes an inconsistency in terms of how the politico/media establishment deals with the budget crisis — certain to come — versus global warming — a possibility: “Somehow protecting future generations from possibly having to endure the hardship of an extra tenth of a degree over the next century is a high moral calling, while fighting against the certainty of mortgaging their financial future with trillions in government debt is the work of the devil. Odd."

Yes, it is odd -- the science is settled but it appears the unavoidable and simple arithmetic is infinitely mutable and open to question.

Why are those who claim that math has suddenly stopped functioning in 2010 not deemed to be "anti-math"? (Or just anti-science, as math is the handmaiden of the sciences.) Why are those who deny fiscal reality not termed Financial Catastrophe Denialists, on par with Holocaust Denialists?

I mean, unlike the Holocaust, math is real.

No but seriously, isn't it pretty obvious which defects of thinking the media is God-sworn to combat? I just watched a Sunday talk show in which the host -- David Gregory, I think -- would not stop asking Boehner to swear to a fact about which he knows nothing (Obama's citizenship). Even after Boehner said "I believe he's a citizen." That wasn't enough for Gregory; he demanded that Boehner swear to facts he knows nothing about.

Over at Hot Air, Stephanopolous similarly demanded that Bachmann swear that Obama is a Christian and a citizen.

One may feel that these subjects are beyond dispute and therefore it's fair game to ask public officials to deny or affirm them. But when did the media ever ask Democrats to explicitly deny Trutherism? Or to demand they stop calling Bush a war criminal, as he's, you know, provably not, the way they continue demanding that Republicans swear Bam-Bam is not a socialist (which is actually is)?

(By the way, Bill Maher, a lefty in good standing, just proclaimed Obama was lying about being a Christian, calling him a secularist and agnostic who just pretends to be a Christian for political reasons. I agree. But I'd be badgered about this by Stephanopolous, whereas Bill Maher would just be asked to list the ways in which Tea Partiers are Nazis.)

So here we have a genuine, provable calamity on the horizon (and by "horizon," I mean 3-5 years), and the media fails to take to task those who deny we have a serious problem, permitting them to speak in gibberish and evasions rather than commit to staving off financial Armageddon.

NBC has a Green Week. Think they'll start a Solvency Week? To similarly raise awareness?

Don't count on it. While the media is eager to expose what it believes is erroneous thinking that hurts the liberal cause, they have no desire at all to cure erroneous thinking that helps the liberal cause.

Even if it destroys the country. And not in goddamned 2115 but in 2015.

Posted by: Ace at 09:16 AM | Comments (107)
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Chris Christie gets a lot of attention for taking on public employee unions in New Jersey but newly elected Republican Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin is really going at it with his state employee unions.

Walker isn't only talking about making public employees face reality about pay, health care benefits and pensions, he's attacking their right to organize and compel workers to pay dues.

WalkerÂ’s plan would force state workers to cover half of their pension contributions and 13 percent of their own health insurance costs. Walker would strip government unions of the power to collectively bargain for higher wages unless approved by a public vote. The plan would also end compulsory dues payments for state workers.

Walker has said that if lawmakers donÂ’t agree to his plan, he will be forced to lay off 6,000 of the stateÂ’s 170,000 workers.

The reaction has been intense in Madison, which is one of the great strongholds of organized labor and liberalism in the nation. Ten thousand labor activists jammed the state capitol, chanting and screaming at lawmakers. Schools have been shut down as unionized teachers conducted an organized “sick out” and brought their students to join the march against Walker.

Last night the Governor's bill passed in the budget committee and will be considered by the state Senate today.

Government school teachers, among others, are not happy and have shut down entire school districts across the state for two days so they can protest.

I have two thoughts on this...

1. Hell yes.

2. About time.

Public employees should not be allowed to unionize or if they are, they should be forbidden to contribute to political campaigns. The current system essentially allows the employees to buy off the managers (politicians) in order to rip off the owners (the public). It's a system that is corrupt by it's very existence. The proof of this is the public pension and benefits schemes that threatens to crush the fiscal solvency of many states.

Even that well known conservative, anti-labor President Franklin Roosevelt knew this.

Obama on the other hand, is siding with the budget busting, thug tactic using unions.

In an interview Wednesday with WTMJ-TV of Milwaukee, Obama said Walker's efforts to eliminate collective bargaining rights for state employees "seems like more of an assault on unions."

Obama said everyone has to recognize "fiscal realities," but public employees are "neighbors" like teachers, firefighters, social workers and police officers. "I think it's important not to vilify them or to suggest that somehow all these budget problems are due to public employees," he said.

I think Obama is just mad that Walker turned down over 800 million dollars in funding for high speed rail projects in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (aka The Man)

Just a note...Governor Walker is on Twitter and only has about 2,400 followers (hell, I have over half that many). You might want to follow him as a show of support.

Via Gabe...behold the balanced and peaceful rhetoric of the left. more...

Posted by: DrewM at 06:12 AM | Comments (449)
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Is it the Sestak bribery probe? Stimulus mismanagement? Pigford II? The GM dealerships kerfuffle? Is it even the things reportedly on his "to-do list" like Wikileaks or Fannie/Freddie?

In a word, hellno:

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell IssaÂ’s first subpoena takes aim at Countrywide FinancialÂ’s VIP program, launching a probe that seeks to out lawmakers who got sweetheart terms on home loans.

The California Republican issued an unusually wide-ranging subpoena for documents about the defunct lenderÂ’s program, demanding names, addresses and e-mail exchanges of all those involved, a major expansion of an inquiry launched in the preceding Congress.

Rep. Issa is not just looking for members of Congress who got special treatment. He's also hoping to net any local, state, or federal officials who got deals not generally available to the public.

I guess I'm underwhelmed. This just isn't an Obama-era issue. Sure, the mortgages were ethical violations, but nobody's getting carted off to jail for this. The mortgages were made years ago and have been investigated since before the election in 2008. Chris Dodd is out of office now. Countrywide was purchased by Bank of America and its management team was promptly shuffled out the door. As a political issue, this has pretty much been played out.

So I don't see why Issa is dallying with it when there are so many issues that are both politically ripe and economically timely. Not to mention, several of the problems I listed at the top of this post might just result in officials getting frogmarched out of their offices for actual crimes. Why not go for the red meat, Issa?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 03:29 AM | Comments (155)
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Computers are like Old Testament gods: lots of rules and no mercy.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 02:41 AM | Comments (86)
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A riddle thread (since I don't feel like an art thread after painting breasts with green latex and goo three weeks ago and the current budget proposals make me equally green right now).

What would stretch from the Earth to Mars and back, nine times?

I'll edit this once someone gets it.

Art thread next week (send submissions to theoneandonlyfinn at gmaildotcom). more...

Posted by: CAC at 07:52 PM | Comments (156)
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Wholesale prices are heading up.

...Shoes, clothes, tires, plastics and other products all cost more at the wholesale level last month, putting pressure on businesses to pass the increases along to their customers...

...Drug prices rose 1.4 percent, the most in almost three years. Prices rose for products throughout the economy...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 05:59 PM | Comments (149)
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Yet another semi-half-assed hump day ONT.

It's The Best and Worst of Times For Israel

On the positive side StrategyPage points out that militarily and strategically Israel is better off than it's been in decades since its near and immediate neighbors are unwilling and/or unable to attack it:

Thus, through a mixture of diplomacy and force, Israel actually stands in a better, safer position today than it has throughout most of its history. Egypt and Jordan, for the time being, have no desire to make another war against Israel, despite the fact that both have relatively well-trained, well-led and, in Egypt's case, massive ground forces at their disposal. Syria's military is so weak and underfunded, it will take years to completely rebuild and right now a full-scale war would be not only foolish, but suicidal. Iraq is struggling with its own internal problems and, dependent as it is on the United States, would be unwilling to send even token forces to aid in an armed conflict.

Well except that Obama, who's never been a fan of the Jewish state, seems to be working up to giving Israel a tour of the bus undercarriage: U.S. to join UN Security Council statement rebuking Israel over settlements. So they're safer and yet more alone at the moment than ever. Well at least for another two years.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:24 PM | Comments (695)
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We do big things instead of political trifles.

Also saying no: Walker of Wisconsin and Kasich of Ohio.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday became the third newly elected Republican governor to reject the Obama administration's $53 billion plan to build a nationwide high-speed rail network.

Governor Scott's decision not to build a high-speed rail line between Orlando and Tampa does not yet constitute a state-level revolt against high-speed rail. Similar decisions to opt out of high-speed rail by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Ohio Gov. John Kasich do not critically damage the federal plan, experts say.

But they offer a glimpse of how the Obama rail plan might falter once it arrives at the US House of Representatives, which was recast by same tea party wave that swept the three governors into office. Moreover, the governors' actions could point to a refocusing the federal plan, which seeks to make high-speed rail accessible to 80 percent of Americans within 25 years.

Robert Samuelson goes after this stupidity with gusto.

And if you like that, then you can read Sameulson's takedown of this same fucking stupidity the last time these single-minded half-wit retards proposed it, back in August of 2009.

Posted by: Ace at 03:51 PM | Comments (269)
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Think he'd wield the veto pen on that? You betcha.

The House formally began debate, which is expected to last three days, Tuesday afternoon following some wrangling over the hundreds of amendments lawmakers want to attach to the package. More than 400 amendments were filed Monday night. Among them were a proposal from Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., to eliminate funding for the president's Teleprompter and one from Rep. Randy Neugebauer, R-Texas, to strip funding for the alteration, repair or improvement of the executive residence of the White House and instead divert that amount to deficit reduction.

Womack pulled the proposal because he couldn't determine an actual figure about how much money it would save.

It would save me some Blockbuster Video money, because the president would give me all the lulz I need. That shit would be hi-larious.

But this is serious:

The House reading clerk will begin reciting all 359 pages of the continuing resolution. Members will be allowed to offer amendments at any relevant portion of the bill, introducing each amendment at very specific points of the bill as it is being read. In other words, if they are talking about defense, it has to come at the defense portion. Each amendment has to be offered at the precise clause, sentence, comma, jot or tittle where it is relevant. If not, the amendment is not allowed.

Many Democrats have accused Republicans of going too far in their 2011 budget plan.

Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Tuesday that the GOP was using a "meat cleaver approach to budget cuts."

But Ryan said the party is trying to counteract the overspending they see out of the administration. "The president wants to lock in these really high spending levels. Twenty-four percent increase in base government spending, 84 percent on domestic agencies, when you count the stimulus. We want to pull back all those spending agreements that he's trying to lock in. There's the impasse," he said.

The Rules Committee (held by Republicans, of course) blocked Steve King's proposal to defund ObamaCare, claiming some question about whether or not that was allowed. (??? -- What? Why wouldn't it be?) I wonder if they were influenced by this bad news:

Most Americans, 55 percent, disapprove of the plan to cut off funding to the new health care reforms, and just 35 percent approve. Among Republicans, approval rises to 57 percent. Forty-nine percent of independents disapprove, and 38 percent approve.

Yeah, this is one of those times we're going to have to go ahead and ignore the hegemony of the wishy-washy ill-informed we-want-our-cake-and-eat-it-too independents. This is what we ran on, this is what we must do.

There's some good news. The freshman Tea Party class, one of their number notes, is serious -- they're not messing around.

The decision to move forward on entitlement reform wasn’t a direct reaction to the recent “revolt” over the $100 billion in spending cuts, but that fight was certainly on everyone’s mind. “The hundred-billion issue was a good reminder that putting forward a budget that fails to balance, ever, and does nothing to address the central challenges, did not have a chance in hell,” says one House aide. Of the freshmen, he adds, “These guys are serious, they don’t mess around.”

A senior GOP House aide tells NRO that the leadership is willing to move now on entitlements because the “will is there” in the conference. “We have the 218 votes needed to support entitlement reform,” he tells us. “While raising it now provides an important contrast, to be sure, we would not be bringing it up if we did not have the votes. We know the conference will back it if it’s included in the budget. The leadership knows they have to lead and there is no one better than Paul Ryan to take charge. The sense in the conference is, ‘let’s be serious.’”

The Democrats are just as serious on budgetary matters, they want you to know.

Democratic Representatives meet with cartoon aardvark,
who teaches them about colors, shapes, and don't touch the poopy.

Posted by: Ace at 02:14 PM | Comments (184)
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There's a line in Catch-22 in which Yossarian tells a fellow cadet he's sure to be found guilty at a court martial, despite the fact that he didn't do anything at all.

They can't convict me, his fellow cadet says. I'm innocent.

It doesn't matter, Yossarian says. They're anti-semites.

But I'm not Jewish, the cadet says.

That, Yossarian says, won't make any difference to them.

When it comes to Muslim psychopathic repressed perverts, we're all Jews, and we should comport ourselves accordingly.

"60 Minutes" correspondent Lara Logan was repeatedly sexually assaulted by thugs yelling, "Jew! Jew!" as she covered the chaotic fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo's main square Friday, CBS and sources said yesterday.

Of course, the idealistic youths of Egypt have terrific ideas along these lines.

Honestly, honestly, honestly: We need to build nuclear reactors like crazy, now. And the one thing I'm willing to pay more federal money for is fusion power research.

Because the day we discover sustainable net-positive-energy fusion I will call the Day of Mighty Lulz as I laugh at the backward-ass Arab world about to learn a thing or too about having to work for money.

Posted by: Ace at 01:07 PM | Comments (258)
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