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Instapundit » Blog Archive » “I WANTED THE PRETTY GIRLS COMING UP TO ME AND SAYING ‘Hi, I see that you’re good at Centipede.’""

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Liberals’ Wisconsin Waterloo - The Washington Post

Liberals’ Wisconsin Waterloo - The Washington Post: "And teachers unions may no longer automatically deduct dues from members’ paychecks. After Colorado in 2001 required public employees unions to have annual votes reauthorizing collection of dues, membership in the Colorado Association of Public Employees declined 70 percent. In 2005, Indiana stopped collecting dues from unionized public employees; in 2011, there are 90 percent fewer dues-paying members. In Utah, the end of automatic dues deductions for political activities in 2001 caused teachers’ payments to fall 90 percent. After a similar law passed in 1992 in Washington state, the percentage of teachers making such contributions declined from 82 to 11."

Robert Barro: Keynesian Economics vs. Regular Economics - WSJ.com

Robert Barro: Keynesian Economics vs. Regular Economics - WSJ.com: Ironically, the administration created one informative data point by dramatically raising unemployment insurance eligibility to 99 weeks in 2009—a much bigger expansion than in previous recessions. Interestingly, the fraction of the unemployed who are long term (more than 26 weeks) has jumped since 2009—to over 44% today, whereas the previous peak had been only 26% during the 1982-83 recession. This pattern suggests that the dramatically longer unemployment-insurance eligibility period adversely affected the labor market. All we need now to get reliable estimates are a hundred more of these experiments.

Robert Barro: Keynesian Economics vs. Regular Economics - WSJ.com

Robert Barro: Keynesian Economics vs. Regular Economics - WSJ.com: If valid, this result would be truly miraculous. The recipients of food stamps get, say, $1 billion but they are not the only ones who benefit. Another $1 billion appears that can make the rest of society better off. Unlike the trade-off in regular economics, that extra $1 billion is the ultimate free lunch.

How can it be right? Where was the market failure that allowed the government to improve things just by borrowing money and giving it to people? Keynes, in his "General Theory" (1936), was not so good at explaining why this worked, and subsequent generations of Keynesian economists (including my own youthful efforts) have not been more successful.

Gov't Paying Farmers, Ranchers $112M to Protect Bird Too Numerous to be Threatened | CNSnews.com

Gov't Paying Farmers, Ranchers $112M to Protect Bird Too Numerous to be Threatened | CNSnews.com: “In the past two years, we’ve committed $112 million to this Sage Grouse Initiative in 11 states, using five separate programs.”

Global warming runs out of gas

Global warming runs out of gas: Mr. Gore is not a happy Jeremiah. You hear him on the tape near rage, repeatedly shouting "bulls--t" over the arguments of his critics. He raves about conspiracy - a rebirth of the tactics of the dreaded tobacco industry of a few decades back. He blames "media manipulation" for the refusal of people to take up his gloomy summons. He hisses at "volcanoes and sunspots" as having much or anything to do with climate. "Bulls--!" he cries over and over - perhaps it's the methane content that has him mesmerized with the word. Listen to this aria: "They pay pseudo-scientists to pretend to be scientists to put out the message: 'This climate thing, it's nonsense. Man-made CO2 doesn't trap heat. It may be volcanoes.' Bulls-t! 'It may be sun spots.' Bulls--t! 'It's not getting warmer.' Bulls--t!"

Can a person win the Nobel Peace prize twice? I surely hope so, for this is the E=mc² moment of our green time.

Interview: Samantha Bee, author of I Know I Am, But What Are You? | Memoirville

Interview: Samantha Bee, author of I Know I Am, But What Are You? | Memoirville: The website Cake Wrecks makes me laugh every time I visit it, without fail. Other peoples’ spelling errors thrill me more than I should probably ever admit (see: answer number three. I told you I was a nerd!). But spelling errors on a hideously decorated celebratory cake? I mean, that’s like heroin to me.

Bad luck? Bad faith? - The Washington Post

Bad luck? Bad faith? - The Washington Post: All but five Republican members of the House — moderate, establishment, Tea Party, freshmen alike — voted for a budget containing radical Medicare reform knowing it could very well end many of their careers. Democrats launched gleefully into Mediscare attacks, hardly believing their luck that Republicans should have proposed something so politically risky in pursuit of fiscal solvency. Yet Obama accuses Republicans of acting for nothing but partisan advantage.

That’s Government Stimulus Alright « The Enterprise Blog

That’s Government Stimulus Alright « The Enterprise Blog: So back in 2009 Fisker Automotive received half a billion dollars in government subsidized loans to develop and sell their luxury electric cars.

Courtesy of Business Insider, here’s a sneak peak at your government tax dollars at work:

High-end electric car maker Fisker is using a comically oversexed brochure to get people interested in its $100,000 car.

The tag line reads, “Designed to get you hot, not the planet.”

Government subsidizes a $100,000.00 car. Awesome.

California unemployment rises in July to 12% - latimes.com

California unemployment rises in July to 12% - latimes.com: "It was the second straight monthly increase in joblessness as measured by a federal survey of households.

California's unemployment rate was the second-highest in the nation, exceeded only by Nevada at 12.9%.

The state's employers added a modest 4,500 new jobs to payrolls, according to a separate monthly check of businesses. Last month, there were a revised 30,500 new jobs."

Here are some ideas to help California:

1. Elect all democrats

2. Pass more job-creating taxes

3. Pass more job-creating regulations

4. Pass more job-creating entitlements

Anything I'm missing?

Space Aliens Are Probably Progressive Liberals - By Daniel Foster - The Corner - National Review Online

Space Aliens Are Probably Progressive Liberals - By Daniel Foster - The Corner - National Review Online: By now you’ve probably read about the paper — authored by a NASA scientist along with two professors from Penn “Hockey Stick Graph” University — laying out various scenarios that might play out in the aftermath of first contact with an alien intelligence. The paper, published in Acta Astronautica, hilariously suggests that an otherwise benevolent alien race might nevertheless destroy us in a “preemptive” strike designed to stop us from global-warming our way to galactic domination. You read that right. Shall we call this manner of preemptive strike the Gore Doctrine?"

I know some scientists do real science every now and then. But, I pretty much resent scientists attempts to affect shape public policy in any way.

For first time, more corn used for ethanol than livestock | TheGazette

For first time, more corn used for ethanol than livestock | TheGazette: For the first time ever, more of the corn crop may go into gas tanks than into the stomachs of cattle and poultry destined for kitchen tables.

Depressing.

Bachmann Pledges Gas Will Be Less Than $2 a Gallon - By Katrina Trinko - The Corner - National Review Online

Bachmann Pledges Gas Will Be Less Than $2 a Gallon - By Katrina Trinko - The Corner - National Review Online: “Under President Bachmann you will see gasoline come down below $2 per gallon again. That will happen,” Bachmann said

That's crazy talk.

Hard-Wired Envy, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty

Hard-Wired Envy, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty: "If people envy people richer than themselves, I say we should fight envy, not inequality. A number of people have objected that 'Envy is 'hard-wired.'' They're right - but it doesn't matter."

Are Taxes on Corporations Taxes on People?, David Henderson | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty

Are Taxes on Corporations Taxes on People?, David Henderson | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty: "I remember that in addressing the issue in the 1980s, the late Herb Stein said that it's as if people think that if the government imposed a tax on cows, the tax would be paid by the cows."