The Unbroken Window

The Unbroken Window: "So let’s end this year at the Unbroken Window on that happy note! We’ve destroyed a billion and a half dollars worth of valuable cars for the sake of stimulus that never really happened. We made the lives of poor used car buyers more difficult and expensive. We’ve spent over 6 times as much to reduce carbon costs as the carbon is costing society in the first place. And people like me who raise eyebrows over such absolute nonsense are painted as the nutty, man-hating, ideologues. If this sort of stuff is not fair game, then what may I ask is? Please tell, so that I can spend the 2011 year at the Unbroken Window making sure I point out only the truly egregious stuff.

Happy New Year’s everyone. I am just hoping I can stay awake to see the ball drop."

Economic Optimism? Yes, I’ll Take That Bet - Findings - NYTimes.com

Economic Optimism? Yes, I’ll Take That Bet - Findings - NYTimes.com: "The really good news is the discovery of vast quantities of natural gas. It’s now selling for less than half of what it was five years ago. There’s so much available that the Energy Department is predicting low prices for gas and electricity for the next quarter-century. Lobbyists for wind farms, once again, have been telling Washington that the “sustainable energy” industry can’t sustain itself without further subsidies."

Economic Optimism? Yes, I’ll Take That Bet - Findings - NYTimes.com

Economic Optimism? Yes, I’ll Take That Bet - Findings - NYTimes.com: "As an alternative to arguing, Julian offered to bet that the price of any natural resource chosen by a Malthusian wouldn’t rise in the future. Dr. Ehrlich accepted and formed a consortium with two colleagues at Berkeley, John P. Holdren and John Harte, who were supposed to be experts in natural resources. In 1980, they picked five metals and bet that the prices would rise during the next 10 years.

By 1990, the prices were lower, and the Malthusians paid up, although they didn’t seem to suffer any professional consequences. Dr. Ehrlich and Dr. Holdren both won MacArthur “genius awards” (Julian never did). Dr. Holdren went on to lead the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and today he serves as President Obama’s science adviser."

The Volokh Conspiracy

The Volokh Conspiracy: "Economist Alfred Kahn died this week at 93.  Kahn had a remakrable career as an academic, administrator, and government official.  A noted regulatory scholar, he served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell and Chairman of the New York Public Service Commission.  In 1977, President Carter tapped Kahn to chair the Civil Aeronautics Board where he had a profound effect on the shape of the airline industry.  Though a liberal Democrat, Kahn oversaw deregulation of the airline industry and championed reforms that eventually shuttered the CAB.

Though air travel is often no picnic, and the  industry is more turbulent than it was in the days of price regulation, it’s much cheaper thanks to Kahn’s efforts.  By some estimates, airline deregulation saves consumers as much as $20 billion per year and helped democratize air travel.  Airfares have climbed of late but, as this WSJ editorial notes, “fares are still lower today in real terms than they were in the 1970s.”"

Afghan President Hamid Karzai Longs For 'Golden Age' Of The Bush Years

Afghan President Hamid Karzai Longs For 'Golden Age' Of The Bush Years: "The cable was sent in July 2009, which would become the deadliest month for foreign troops since the 2001 invasion. The surge in casualties resulted from an offensive to oust the Taliban in opium-rich Helmand Province, as well as the increasing power of roadside bombs. On July 7, when Amb. Karl Eikenberry met with Karzai, the Afghan president was looking backward rather than forward, wistfully longing for the early days of the Bush administration, which he referred to as a 'golden age.'"

Harsanyi: Save the 'Net; abolish the FCC - The Denver Post

Harsanyi: Save the 'Net; abolish the FCC - The Denver Post: "Because there exists no area of human activity that couldn't benefit from more paternalistic attention . . . Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Federal Communications Commission to your Web browser.

Congressional Democrats could not find the votes to pass 'net neutrality.' No problem. Three un-elected officials will impose rules on hundreds of millions of satisfied online consumers. A federal appeals court stops the FCC from employing authority over the Internet. Again, not a problem. Three out of five FCC commissioners can carve out some temporary wiggle room, because as any crusading technocrat knows, the most important thing is getting in the door.

It's not that we don't need the FCC's meddling, it's that we don't need the FCC at all. Rather than expanding the powers — which always seem to grow — of this outdated bureaucracy, Congress should be finding ways to eliminate it."

Census: Fast growth in states with no income tax | Washington Examiner

Census: Fast growth in states with no income tax | Washington Examiner: "Finally, let's get to politics. The net effect of the reapportionment was to add six House seats and electoral votes to the states John McCain carried in 2008 and to subtract six House seats and electoral votes from the states Barack Obama carried that year. Similarly, the states carried by George W. Bush in 2004 gained six seats and the states carried by John Kerry lost six.

That's not an enormous change. But it's part of a long-term trend that has reshaped the nation's politics. If you go back to the 1960 election, when the electoral votes were based on the 1950 census, you will find that John Kennedy won 303 electoral votes. But the states he carried then will have only 272 electoral votes in 2012, a bare majority. And without Texas, which he narrowly carried, the Kennedy states would have only 234 electoral votes."

Census: Fast growth in states with no income tax | Washington Examiner

Census: Fast growth in states with no income tax | Washington Examiner: "Census: Fast growth in states with no income tax"

Althouse

Althouse: "Bleh. You just disagree with the call. I hate this sort of political posturing. It's not the massiveness of the congressional record that makes a statute constitutional. It's fitting within the Constitution.

Specter is acting as if the question at the confirmation hearing was: If we put a really, really huge number of words into the record, do you promise to let us do anything we want? And the answer was: Yes, of course. When I see a lot of pages, I always think, wow, that must be true."

Althouse: "That snow outside is what global warming looks like."

Althouse: "That snow outside is what global warming looks like.": "Weather is proof of global warming."

The Volokh Conspiracy

The Volokh Conspiracy: "The new [Confederate] constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution—African slavery as it exists amongst us; the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the “rock upon which the old Union would split.” He was right."

Petals and Bones › An Interview with Sara Sanger: Photographer and Bad-Ass Rock Star

Petals and Bones › An Interview with Sara Sanger: Photographer and Bad-Ass Rock Star: "Petals and Bones adores Sara’s no-nonsense approach to living a creative life without selling out or toning down her unique approach to the arts for the sake of profit."

Senate Dem leader drops nearly $1.3T spending bill

Senate Dem leader drops nearly $1.3T spending bill: "Democrats controlling the Senate have abandoned a 1,924-page catchall spending measure that's laced with homestate pet projects known as earmarks and that would have provided another $158 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Nevada Democrat Harry Reid gave up on the nearly $1.3 trillion bill after several Republicans who had been thinking of voting for the bill pulled back their support."

The Stupidity Defense - WSJ.com

The Stupidity Defense - WSJ.com: "One of the most famous books about constitutional law is called 'Taking Rights Seriously,' and I wish I had $20 for every scholarly law review article that's titled 'Taking [something in the Constitution] Seriously.' I think 'Taking X Seriously' is the biggest cliché in the history of law review articles. And what that means, Josh, is . . . Hey, I love the way [a guy] whose name means joke wants the test of the truth to be whether or not people laugh.
But I'm not joshing, Josh. The reason there are so many law articles called 'Taking X Seriously' is that we don't rule out a proposition of constitutional law simply because no one seems to taking it seriously right now. We work through the analysis, and maybe we discover that it should be taken seriously."

Virginia judge strikes down federal health care law | Washington Examiner

Virginia judge strikes down federal health care law | Washington Examiner: " A federal judge declared the Obama administration's health care law unconstitutional Monday, siding with Virginia's attorney general in a dispute that both sides agree will ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court."

Searching for Bobby Fischer :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews

Searching for Bobby Fischer :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews: "If we can operate at the genius level in a given field, does that mean we must - even if the cost is the sort of endless purgatory a Bobby Fischer has inhabited? It's an interesting question, and this movie doesn't avoid it."

Best Value Law Schools | the National Jurist

Best Value Law Schools | the National Jurist: "2010 Best Value Law Schools: The Top 20

1 Georgia State University
2 Brigham Young University , UT"

Yoo and Delahunty: The Collapse of the Guantanamo Myth - WSJ.com

Yoo and Delahunty: The Collapse of the Guantanamo Myth - WSJ.com: "This week the intelligence community reported to Congress that one-quarter of the detainees released from Guantanamo in the past eight years have returned to the fight. Though the U.S. and its allies have killed or recaptured some of these 150 terrorists, well over half remain at large. The Defense Department reports that Gitmo alumni have assumed top positions in al Qaeda and the Taliban, attacked allies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and led efforts to kill U.S. troops.

Even that 25% recidivism rate is likely too low. The intelligence community reports that it usually takes about two and a half years before a released detainee shows up on its radar. Our forces probably have yet to re-engage most of the terrorists among the 66 detainees released so far by the Obama administration."

iowahawk: Obama Names Bill Clinton to Presidential Post

iowahawk: Obama Names Bill Clinton to Presidential Post: "Ending weeks of speculation and rumors, President-Elect Barack Obama today named Bill Clinton to join his incoming administration as President of the United States, where he will head the federal government's executive branch.

'I am pleased that Bill Clinton has agreed to come out of retirement to head up this crucial post in my administration,' said Obama. 'He brings a lifetime of previous executive experience as Governor of Arkansas and President of the United States, and has worked closely with most of the members of my Cabinet.'"

California’s High-Speed Rail Off to Awful Start – Gas 2.0

California’s High-Speed Rail Off to Awful Start – Gas 2.0: "California has plans for an 800-mile high-speed rail system running the length of the Golden State, and initial estimates place the cost somewhere around $45 billion (though I wouldn’t be surprised if it cost twice that by the time it is finished). Even a 800 mile journey begins with the first step, and California has been trying to find the area most receptive to the idea of a high-speed rail line. They found that place in the Central Valley, between Borden and Bakersfield, with stations to be built in Fresno and the Hanford area of Kings County. In total, the plan calls for 65 miles of track and stations at a cost of about $4 billion.

Sounds good, right? That is, until you realize that this section will be completely un-powered and un-supported until more lines are built. No trains, no maintenance facilities, just empty tracks and stations. Que?"

Instapundit » Blog Archive » CHANGE: Why I’d rather my daughter marry a rich man than have a brilliant career….

Instapundit » Blog Archive » CHANGE: Why I’d rather my daughter marry a rich man than have a brilliant career….

I wanted to like the article, but instead I found it pretty annoying.

Simon–Ehrlich wager - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Simon–Ehrlich wager - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "More people, and increased income, cause resources to become more scarce in the short run. Heightened scarcity causes prices to rise. The higher prices present opportunity, and prompt inventors and entrepreneurs to search for solutions. Many fail in the search, at cost to themselves. But in a free society, solutions are eventually found. And in the long run the new developments leave us better off than if the problems had not arisen. That is, prices eventually become lower than before the increased scarcity occurred."

Simon–Ehrlich wager - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Simon–Ehrlich wager - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "All of [Ehrlich's] grim predictions had been decisively overturned by events. Ehrlich was wrong about higher natural resource prices, about 'famines of unbelievable proportions' occurring by 1975, about 'hundreds of millions of people starving to death' in the 1970s and '80s, about the world 'entering a genuine age of scarcity.' In 1990, for his having promoted 'greater public understanding of environmental problems,' Ehrlich received a MacArthur Foundation Genius Award.' [Simon] always found it somewhat peculiar that neither the Science piece nor his public wager with Ehrlich nor anything else that he did, said, or wrote seemed to make much of a dent on the world at large. For some reason he could never comprehend, people were inclined to believe the very worst about anything and everything; they were immune to contrary evidence just as if they'd been medically vaccinated against the force of fact. Furthermore, there seemed to be a bizarre reverse-Cassandra effect operating in the universe: whereas the mythical Cassandra spoke the awful truth and was not believed, these days 'experts' spoke awful falsehoods, and they were believed. Repeatedly being wrong actually seemed to be an advantage, conferring some sort of puzzling magic glow upon the speaker."

Simon–Ehrlich wager - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Simon–Ehrlich wager - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "It's not clear if Ehrlich consulted with economists. If he had, the flaw in using commodity prices as the best way to understand biophysical limits might have become obvious. Many economists understand the principle of substitution and the dynamic influence of technology with respect to commodity prices. For example, in the absence of any new technologies, copper prices would indeed be expected to increase as growing economies demanded more copper to meet the needs of expanding communications networks and plumbing infrastructure. Technological changes mitigated much of this expected demand as fiber optics replaced copper wire networks and various plastics replaced the once ubiquitous copper pipes throughout the construction industry."

Conservative legislators take lessons on how to subvert the feds. - By David Weigel - Slate Magazine

Conservative legislators take lessons on how to subvert the feds. - By David Weigel - Slate Magazine: "'How many of you know something about the Second Amendment?' asked Randy Barnett. This was a rhetorical question. Barnett, the Georgetown law professor who has spent the last few years researching ways for states to opt out of federal mandates, was speaking to conservative state legislators gathered in Washington for the American Legislative Exchange Council's post-election meeting, and they were spending their third consecutive day boning up on federalism.

In response to Barnett's question, every hand went up."

A rhetorical question that everyone answered.

Althouse: The high-speed rail boondoggle at its worst — in California.

Althouse: The high-speed rail boondoggle at its worst — in California.:

''Via Instapundit, Reason has the nauseating details:

The California High Speed Rail Authority is committed to breaking ground on a leg of the train that will serve passengers between the unincorporated town of Borden and the half- incarcerated town of Corcoran.

Corcoran!

Whether you call it the train from nowhere or the train to nowhere, nobody will be riding it even when it’s done. That’s not libertarian cant: The actual plan for the $4.15 billion leg is that upon completion it will sit idle until other sections of track are completed.

$4.15 billion!

Background: The CHSRA needs to break ground by September 2012 or lose $2.25 billion in federal funds. The U.S. Department of Transportation has for reasons of its own favored the sparsely populated Central Valley for this first leg of the thinly imagined high speed rail project.

Reasons of its own? Can we get an investigation?"

I'm going to be sick.

Althouse: "I know in my heart I am not going to be judged by this Congress. I’ll be judged by my life in its entirety."

Althouse: "I know in my heart I am not going to be judged by this Congress. I’ll be judged by my life in its entirety.": "I hope he enjoys hanging out with Lucifer for all eternity.

That's what he means right?"