NATIONAL REVIEW: FEATURE ARTICLE JAY NORDLINGER ON THE RISE TO POWER OF AL SHARPTON March 20, 2000

NATIONAL REVIEW: FEATURE ARTICLE JAY NORDLINGER ON THE RISE TO POWER OF AL SHARPTON March 20, 2000: "Liberal journalists — white — patiently explain that, for a black leader, an apology is a complicated matter: a question of politics and tactics, not of right and wrong. As Sharpton himself has said, to apologize would be “all about submission.”"

NATIONAL REVIEW: FEATURE ARTICLE JAY NORDLINGER ON THE RISE TO POWER OF AL SHARPTON March 20, 2000

NATIONAL REVIEW: FEATURE ARTICLE JAY NORDLINGER ON THE RISE TO POWER OF AL SHARPTON March 20, 2000: "Acting as the Brawley family’s adviser, he urged them not to cooperate with the authorities, including the state attorney general, Robert Abrams. To cooperate with Abrams, he said, would be “to sit down with Mr. Hitler.”"

Minimum Wage

Althouse: Under the new Wisconsin budget repair, one school district goes from a $400,000 deficit to a $1.5 million surplus.

Althouse: Under the new Wisconsin budget repair, one school district goes from a $400,000 deficit to a $1.5 million surplus.: "The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:
Cost savings from worker contributions to health care and retirement, taking effect today as part of the new collective bargaining laws, will swing the Kaukauna School District from a $400,000 budget deficit to an estimated $1.5 million surplus.... The district... plans to hire teachers and reduce class size.
Let's stop and think of all the protesters who carried signs asserting that their opposition to Scott Walker was for the children."

Obama and manufacturing

Obama and manufacturing: "The manufacturing does not play a particularly critical role in the US economy. Employment in manufacturing as a percentage of total employment has been falling steadily since the end of World War II. But a lot of people think there is something special about manufacturing so the title strikes a resonant chord for many people even outside manufacturing."

Greg Mankiw's Blog

Greg Mankiw's Blog: "As any university fund-raiser can tell you, a 'naming opportunity' is a valuable resource. People are willing to pay big bucks to have buildings and other things named after them. In light of this fact, isn't it fair to say that Senator Reid received some nonpecuniary compensation from this recipient of government funding? Why should this transaction be legal when more explicit pecuniary kick-backs are not?"

Ethanol Production Wastes Corn - NYTimes.com

Ethanol Production Wastes Corn - NYTimes.com: "Here is perhaps the most incredible part: Because of the subsidy, ethanol became cheaper than gasoline, and so we sent 397 million gallons of ethanol overseas last year. America is simultaneously importing costly foreign oil and subsidizing the export of its equivalent."

Greg Mankiw's Blog: How To Waste $600 Million

Greg Mankiw's Blog: How To Waste $600 Million: "On today's Planet Money, we visit an underground vault that's full of money nobody wants.
The money — bags and bags of dollar coins — is the result of a 2005 law that requires the U.S. Mint to print a series of coins bearing the likeness of each U.S. president.
The problem is, people don't really like dollar coins. And there aren't enough people who are fired up about, say, Rutherford B. Hayes, to make much of a difference.
So more than 1 billion dollar coins are now sitting, unwanted, in Federal Reserve vaults around the country. By the time the program wraps up in 2016, the Fed will be sitting on 2 billion unwanted coins, according to the Fed's own estimates.
The total cost to manufacture those unwanted coins: $600 million."

Greg Mankiw's Blog

Greg Mankiw's Blog: "The Hamilton Project, a research group in Washington, has just finished a comparison of college with other investments. It found that college tuition in recent decades has delivered an inflation-adjusted annual return of more than 15 percent. For stocks, the historical return is 7 percent. For real estate, it’s less than 1 percent."

Waiting for Superman :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews

Waiting for Superman :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews: "Consider this: Those lotteries are truly random, as by law they must be. Yet most of the winners will succeed, and half the losers (from the same human pool) will fail. This is an indictment: Our schools do not work."

The Volokh Conspiracy » The Dangerous Effort to Delegitimate Supreme Court Justices

The Volokh Conspiracy » The Dangerous Effort to Delegitimate Supreme Court Justices: "No one is so virtuous as to be above false attacks."

Quotation of the Day…

Quotation of the Day…: "“[N]atural resources are not finite in any meaningful economic sense, mind-boggling though this assertion may be. The stocks of them are not fixed but rather are expanding through human ingenuity.”"

What ‘Inside Job’ got wrong - Ezra Klein - The Washington Post

What ‘Inside Job’ got wrong - Ezra Klein - The Washington Post: "I finally watched “Inside Job” this weekend. It was an excellent documentary for people who don’t want to understand the financial crisis but want to believe they would’ve seen it coming. Watching it, you’d think that the only people who missed the meltdown were corrupt fools, and the way to spot the next one is to have fewer corrupt fools."

Two Takes on Guns

Top cop Garry McCarthy likens federal gun laws to ‘racism’ - Chicago Sun-Times: "“I want you to connect one more dot on that chain of African-American history in this country, aTwnd tell me if I’m crazy: Federal gun laws that facilitate the flow of illegal firearms into our urban centers, across this country, that are killing black and brown children,” he said according to an WMAQ-Channel 5 story that aired Thursday."

"18.362 Exemption for firearms. Every citizen of this state above the age of 16 years shall be entitled to have, hold and keep, for the own use and defense of the citizen and shall have exempt from execution one rifle or shotgun and one pistol. The combined value of all firearms claimed as exempt under this section may not exceed $1,000."

Violence erupts as U2 rocks Glastonbury

Violence erupts as U2 rocks Glastonbury: "'I love U2 but I think everyone should pay their taxes. The campaigners have a right to voice their opinion,' he said."

Online Library of Liberty - The Market Economy and the Distribution of Wealth - Capital, Expectations, and the Market Process

Online Library of Liberty - The Market Economy and the Distribution of Wealth - Capital, Expectations, and the Market Process: "Who can now doubt that, as Professor Mises pointed out thirty years ago, every intervention by a political authority entails a further intervention to prevent the inevitable economic repercussions of the first step from taking place?"

Interviewing Ann Coulter About Her New Book, “Demonic” | Right Wing News

Interviewing Ann Coulter About Her New Book, “Demonic” | Right Wing News: "Chris Christie could eat Rick Perry for breakfast — so to speak."

Q&A: Jon Huntsman | Swampland

Q&A: Jon Huntsman | Swampland: "And let me say, I’m a very spiritual person; I can’t walk into a church or synagogue without getting a little emotional…"

2 Top Lawyers Lost to Obama in Libya War Policy Debate - NYTimes.com

2 Top Lawyers Lost to Obama in Libya War Policy Debate - NYTimes.com: "WASHINGTON — President Obama rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department when he decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization, according to officials familiar with internal administration deliberations.

Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel, and Caroline D. Krass, the acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, had told the White House that they believed that the United States military’s activities in the NATO-led air war amounted to “hostilities.” Under the War Powers Resolution, that would have required Mr. Obama to terminate or scale back the mission after May 20.

But Mr. Obama decided instead to adopt the legal analysis of several other senior members of his legal team — including the White House counsel, Robert Bauer, and the State Department legal adviser, Harold H. Koh — who argued that the United States military’s activities fell short of “hostilities.” Under that view, Mr. Obama needed no permission from Congress to continue the mission unchanged."

Althouse: "We men just make bad decisions. We can't help it. We’re men."

Althouse: "We men just make bad decisions. We can't help it. We’re men.": "Remember it's okay to say one sex is superior to the other as long as you're saying women are better."

Can Heterosexuality Be Cured? - WSJ.com

Can Heterosexuality Be Cured? - WSJ.com: "Can Heterosexuality Be Cured?"

The Online Looking Glass - NYTimes.com

The Online Looking Glass - NYTimes.com: "In every time and place, people have associated new technologies with moral decline. “Men think that it is essential that the Nation have commerce,” Henry David Thoreau griped in 1854, “and export ice, and talk through a telegraph, and ride thirty miles an hour ... but whether we should live like baboons or like men, is a little uncertain.” Similar anxieties have greeted most subsequent inventions, from the automobile to the iPhone: We’re always teetering on the brink of baboondom, always one technological leap away from forfeiting our humanity."

Can't Feminists Be Hypocrites? - WSJ.com

Can't Feminists Be Hypocrites? - WSJ.com: "One suspects this is merely an attempt to rationalize away the bad behavior of their political allies while reserving the right to condemn similar misbehavior in their foes. Hey, Walsh and Marcotte are only human. But what a rationalization it is! What they are claiming is that their side has no moral standards, and therefore there is no basis on which they may be held to account."

YouTube - Cara and Kara!

YouTube - Cara and Kara!: "some on[e] actually thought it was necessary to point out this is a fake??? really??"

Woman shows incredible mercy as her son's killer moves in next door | Mail Online

Woman shows incredible mercy as her son's killer moves in next door | Mail Online: "A mother whose only child was shot dead has shown the ultimate forgiveness - by inviting her son's killer to live next door.

Mary Johnson, 59, now lives in the apartment adjoining the home of 34-year-old Oshea Israel and they share a porch."

'Kill a camel' to cut pollution concept in Australia

'Kill a camel' to cut pollution concept in Australia: "Australia is considering awarding carbon credits for killing feral camels as a way to tackle climate change.

The suggestion is included in Canberra's 'Carbon Farming Initiative', a consultation paper by the Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, seen Thursday.

Adelaide-based Northwest Carbon, a commercial company, proposed culling some 1.2 million wild camels that roam the Outback, the legacy of herds introduced to help early settlers in the 19th century.

Considered a pest due to the damage they do to vegetation, a camel produces, on average, a methane equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide a year, making them collectively one of Australia's major emitters of greenhouse gases."

Behold the Face of the Modern Left - By Michael Walsh - The Corner - National Review Online

Behold the Face of the Modern Left - By Michael Walsh - The Corner - National Review Online: "In his combination of unctuousness, mendacity, mock-reasonableness, petulance, bullying, hypocrisy, overweening arrogance, brazen aggression, self-pity, victimhood, and bogus moral preening, it’s hard to beat Congressman Anthony Weiner. He’s the perfect face of the modern American Left in all its glorious pathology; why anyone takes these people seriously is utterly beyond me, so transparent are they. And yet for some, their sweet nothings continue to resonate."

Let Tweeting Dogs Lie? - By Mark Steyn - The Corner - National Review Online

Let Tweeting Dogs Lie? - By Mark Steyn - The Corner - National Review Online: "Whatever one feels about the pants on fire, the liar ought to be an issue. Why would any sentient being believe a word the right honorable Weiner says about anything ever again? The debt ceiling, Libya, Medicare, anything? Look at what this thuggish narcissist grotesque was prepared to do over the last week, and ask yourself. If Weiner is fit for “public life”, who isn’t?"

'Saint Bono' facing huge Glastonbury protest ¿ for avoiding tax | Mail Online

'Saint Bono' facing huge Glastonbury protest ¿ for avoiding tax | Mail Online: "Bono has been reluctant to explain the tax strategy, but the band's guitarist The Edge has admitted: 'Of course we want to be tax-efficient – who doesn't?'"

Heber Grant--Polygamy

Heber was determined to achieve all the goals he had set for himself. He determined that he had weak social skills and set out to improve himself. Dancing was a challenge, but eventually became one of his favorite activities. He even helped organized dances and used these opportunities to search for a wife. As he dated, he became interested in Emily Wells, the daughter of Daniel H. Wells, a prominent leader in the Church. They had much in common and it appeared that they might marry. They discovered, however, that they disagreed about the practice of plural marriage. Heber had come from a family that had practiced it and was surprised at some of the sarcastic comments Emily made about it. He asked the Lord in prayer about continuing to pursue Emily’s affections and was surprised by the negative answer he strongly received. He shed some very bitter tears because he had admired her so deeply. But then his attentions were drawn to Lucy Stringham. (See Gibbons, Heber J. Grant, 29–31.)

“Heber’s first overtures to Lucy were met with a response that could hardly be called enthusiastic. He started by walking her home from Sunday evening meetings, a frequently used courting device of the day. It was customary, however, for the young lady to invite her escort to join her in the family sitting room, where they could engage in serious or flirtatious talk and perhaps enjoy some refreshments, all under the careful scrutiny of the girl’s parents. Sunday after Sunday, however, instead of receiving a hoped-for invitation into the Stringham sitting room, Heber received a somewhat indifferent, even chilly, ‘good night’ at Stringham’s gate. That he was not deterred by this unencouraging treatment is still another evidence of Heber J. Grant’s characteristic perseverance.

“The turning point in this tepid courtship occurred one Sunday evening when Rodney C. Badger walked past the Stringham’s gate just as Heber received his customary ‘good night’ from Lucy. As these two friends walked together to the corner, Heber, instead of turning south toward his home, told Rodney, ‘I’m going down to Wells corner and visit with some of the girls there.’

“Whether Rodney planted a seed in Lucy’s mind or mere chance intervened, the very next Sunday Heber received an invitation into the Stringham sitting room, where he became almost a fixture until the time of his marriage to Lucy a few months later. It turned out that Lucy’s initial reluctance came not from a lack of feeling for the great man she was later to marry, but from the false notion that she was merely a temporary substitute for Emily Wells.“Shocked at what he interpreted as fickleness, Rodney chided Heber for leaving one girl only to go in search of other female companionship. Rodney appeared satisfied, however, when Heber explained Lucy’s distant attitude toward him.

“Once the ice was broken and Lucy realized that Heber had matrimony in view, their courtship sped toward its inevitable culmination. They were married in the St. George Temple on November 1, 1877, three weeks prior to Heber’s twenty-first birthday” (Gibbons, Heber J. Grant, 32–33).

Later, in 1884, with Lucy’s full approval, Heber married Hulda Augusta Winters and Emily Wells.

Me: 1884 is 6 years before the Manfesto on Plural Marriage

Heber J. Grant

A story. From here:

http://www.ldsces.org/inst_manuals/pres-sm/pres-ch-07-09.htm

“At the lunch table after my first short speech which lasted seven and a half minutes, President Smith said: ‘Heber, you said you believe the gospel with all your heart, and propose to live it, but you did not bear your testimony that you know it is true. Don’t you know absolutely that this gospel is true?’

“I answered: ‘I do not.’

“‘What, you! a president of a stake?’ said President Joseph F. Smith.

“‘That is what I said.’

“‘President [John] Taylor, I am in favor of undoing this afternoon what we did this morning. I do not think any man should preside over a stake who has not a perfect and abiding knowledge of the divinity of this work.’

“I said: ‘I am not going to complain.’

“Brother Taylor had a habit, when something pleased him excessively, of shaking his body and laughing. He said, ‘Joseph, Joseph, Joseph, he knows it just as well as you do. The only thing that he does not know is that he does know it. It will be but a short time until he does know it. He leans over backwards. You do not need to worry.’

Romney’s Second Primary Act - Interview - National Review Online

Romney’s Second Primary Act - Interview - National Review Online: "I love the way Governor Palin lives inside the head of the MSM 24/7. Long may she buzz in the vacant space between their collective ears."

The PJ Tatler » Liberal or conservative: Do you vote what you eat?

The PJ Tatler » Liberal or conservative: Do you vote what you eat?: "Every sane person who eats bacon knows that bacon makes everything better. And bacon cheeseburgers, whether from McDonald’s or Five Guys or wherever, are the modern food of the gods."

The PJ Tatler » Liberal or conservative: Do you vote what you eat?

The PJ Tatler » Liberal or conservative: Do you vote what you eat?: "Every sane person who eats bacon knows that bacon makes everything better. And bacon cheeseburgers, whether from McDonald’s or Five Guys or wherever, are the modern food of the gods."

Romney’s Second Primary Act - Interview - National Review Online

Romney’s Second Primary Act - Interview - National Review Online: "LOPEZ: Why did the Heritage Foundation and Governor Romney consider an individual mandate conservative or otherwise acceptable?

HEWITT: Because “mandates” at the state level have never been unacceptable and still aren’t unacceptable except to a handful of libertarian purists. We accept the mandate that children must be educated, if not in public schools then in private schools or at home. We accept vaccine mandates. We accept car-insurance mandates. We accept smog-emission mandates. States have the “police power” that the Constitution withheld from the federal government."

This is right on the constitutional question. But there's a principled distinction between mandating vaccines, smog emissions and car insurance (and arguable education). These things are mandated to eliminate negative externalities--costs imposed by an actor that he does not have to bear. In the case of health insurance (ed. note: not liability insurance), its the uninsured who suffers for his lack of coverage, unless you count costs imposed on the rest of us because of laws requiring hospitals to provide services. But the point is health insurance is not, in an of itself, a public good.

NOTE: I edited my commentary slightly for clarity.