“...the political class will commit collective suicide and take what remains of the European economy down with it.”

He’s talking about Europe, but I worry that the same attitude is at work here.

(Spengler via Bookworm)

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 17:29:42 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Warning: This party may be hazardous to your liberty

Fixed it for you:

Naming names: New York state senators Jeff Klein, Diane Savino, David Carlucci and David Valesky.

What they said:

Proponents of a more refined First Amendment argue that this freedom should be treated not as a right but as a privilege — a special entitlement granted by the state on a conditional basis that can be revoked if it is ever abused or maltreated.

"More refined” = "You rubes who read all that ‘shall pass no law’ stuff as absolute are way too unsophisticated for our modern, complicated world.”
"Privilege... granted... on a conditional basis” = "So if we dont like what you say, we will shut you up.”

Seems they not only want to get rid of elections, they want to make sure you don’t do any talking about it, either.


Elsewhere:
Related:

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 16:28:51 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Sins of omission

CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson:

They will tell you that I’m the only reporter--as they told me--that is not reasonable.  They say the Washington Post is reasonable, the LATimes is reasonable, the New York Times is reasonable, [that] I’m the only one who thinks this is a story, and they think I’m unfair and biased by pursuing it.

"Reasonable” as in "ignoring the gunrunner story.”

You know, Time and its buddies over at the Press Club had better hope that "the Constitution still matters.”  Because absent the Constitution, a more-loosely-construed definition of "treason” just might make several prominent members of our esteemed "fourth estate” prime candidates for prosecution.


Related:

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 22:43:18 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Answer: Nothing whatever

Kyle Smith, "What We Learned from Prohibition”:

[Ken Burns’] "Prohibition,” a three-part miniseries ... has many lessons to teach us about such antiquated, 1920s-era ideas as federal overreach, unfunded mandates to states, runaway taxation, a belief that great political leaders can accelerate human progress, crony capitalism, and of course the dire need of Washington to take steps to improve the lot of the poor and the children.

In other words, "Prohibition” is, to an almost mischievous extent, an investigative report about 2011.

And if our Political Class (and the voters who keep electing them) had learned anything from that experience, we wouldn’t be here now.

HT:  Ace sidebar.

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 16:37:30 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Clipfile - October 3, 2011

(Via:  Bookworm)

Posted by: Old Grouch in Clipfile at 14:29:15 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Hey Mr. President, are your ears burning yet?

So the President says America has "gotten a little soft”...

Larry Correia disagrees:

Maybe your golf buddies are soft, and your union thugs are soft, and your legion of academics that have never held a real job are soft, and the societal leeches that depend on the Democrats’ perpetual welfare state are soft, but most Americans are not soft.

...and he proceeds to explain, in a fine rant.  RTWT.

LATER, related:  Who’s weak?

...We’re now being treated to the spectacle of a President demanding passage of a bill his Party won’t support, peddled using the name of a billionaire who refuses to endorse it.

Only one thing left to do:  Cue the bunny rabbit.

(Correia Via Lin W’s comment at Vodkapundit.)

Posted by: Old Grouch in Linkage at 23:17:00 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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The mob moves in

Now that the government has fixed it so the numbers we get from its own departments are thoroughly cooked, it’s time to deal with the ones coming from the private sector.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has notified Standard & Poor’s that civil charges may be filed against the credit-ratings firm for its 2007 grading of a high-risk securities deal.

Bill Quick:

This is just Chicago Way style payback for S&P daring to downgrade the US thanks to Barry Obama’s socialist spending spree.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:05:07 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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If you read the WSJ on line...

...you’ll be interested their new "privacy” policy.

Posted by: Old Grouch in The Press at 23:42:58 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Wishes for a new, good year

To all my Jewish friends (even especially the ones who drive me crazy!).

Related:

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 23:51:30 GMT | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Bride of “Why government costs so much”

Associated Press:

...The Energy Department has approved two loan guarantees worth more than $1billion for solar energy projects in Nevada and Arizona..., under the same program that paid for a $535 million loan to Solyndra Inc., a now-bankrupt solar panel maker...

What could possibly go wrong?


UPDATE (110929 14:40):  Well, possibly this?

Of that $1 billion in guarantees, $737 million went to "Tonopah Solar,” a subsidiary of a California-based company named SolarReserve.  Which has an "investment partner” called PCG.  Whose number-two man just happens to be Nancy Pelosi’s brother-in-law.

Nothing like keeping it all in the family.

(Update rewritten from this report by Jim Hoft, via American Glob via the invaluable AOS sidebar.)

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 22:51:45 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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