Hey, hey, whaddaya say...

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 20:44:25 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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GOP = Grand Old Petulants

Smitty (at TOM):

The interesting question becomes whether the GOP will, petulantly, scuttle the chances of ejecting BHO rather than fall in behind a potential Palin candidacy.  In other words, will the commitment to the traditional, broken, Ruling Class way be stronger in the GOP than the desire to, you know, live up to the party’s ideals?

My hope would be that the party’s Ruling Class would go for a winner (any winner) instead of another establishment hack, but that’s not the way I’d bet.

Related:

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 20:39:44 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Academic “accountability”

Instapundit linked an Inside Higher Ed story about a freedom of expression scandal at the University of California at San Diego. Executive summary: "Professor B” does some research with which "Professor A” disagrees- noisily.  The dean intervenes, sending "Professor A” a letter, telling him to knock it off or face "formal discipline, which can include written censure, reduction in salary, demotion, suspension, or dismissal.”

The faculty, who had already examined the dispute and found that neither professor had acted unprofessionally became, unsuprisingly, upset:

"We can not avoid the conclusion that the dean’s letter contains clear and unacceptable violations of core academic freedom rights, violations that were apparently implicitly or explicitly supported by others in the university administration at the time...”

...and this week the administration responded...

"...We acknowledge the recent determination by the Committee on Academic Freedom (CAF) and agree with CAF that the administration has a fundamental responsibility to protect the rights of faculty to research and publish scholarly work, and we will jointly redouble our efforts to ensure that every member of our administration fully understands this responsibility.”

Given the endless fulmination from the academy against so-called corruption and misbehaviour in the private sector, one might wonder:  Should "clear and unacceptable violations of core academic freedom rights” possibly be sufficient cause for firing the dean involved (or at least putting him on double secret probation)?

Don’t let’s be silly...


Elsewhere:

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Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 18:56:36 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Welcome back, Carter

Glenn Reynolds:

Inflation, deflation — we seem to have arrived at the worst of both. The things I own are deflating, the things I buy are inflating.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:47:39 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Questions that don’t get asked

Megan McArdle:

I think it’s fair to say that [drug] industry researchers have a bit of a chip on their shoulder about academics.  But I also think it’s fair to say that the academics have done a lot to put (and keep) that chip there.  The op-ed or magazine piece claiming that the "real” pharmaceutical research is all done
in government and university labs, with pharma just swooping in at the end to smack a label on the thing and stack all their money in neat piles, is an evergreen.  The truth is that the human body is complicated, finding good drugs is hard, and the regulatory hurdles make it harder every year.

Question before the house:  Is a regulatory regime that makes finding new drugs and bringing them to market "harder every year” what you want from our government?

(Via:  Instapundit)

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 15:53:58 GMT | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Namespace overlap

Knowing her interests, and mine...
When I first saw this...

...could I be blamed for wondering what would lead Brigid to be writing about.Magnecords?

LATER:  And then there’s this.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 13:48:06 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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The word is: “ac•count•a•bil•i•ty”

“Mike55_Mahoney” goes after the “experts” following the latest “unexpected” economic news:

These ding-a-lings, who are so often taken by surprise, won’t hesitate to tell us they know for sure what next good program they have in mind.  Is there some way we can shame these pretenders into a field more suited to their abilities like the circus or stand up comedians?

Not for as long as we have a press and political establishment with zero memory and zero interest in anything that might contradict its agenda. And it’s not just economics, either.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 23:06:35 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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Collecting their own Danegeld

Melanie Phillips:

Lars Hedegaard, President of the Danish Free Press Society and The International Free Press Society, was yesterday found guilty of hate speech under the Danish penal code.  His crime... was to draw attention to child abuse and violence against women in Muslim culture.

Exchanging liberty for peace and quiet.

“Matenloch,” at Ace:

...In practice the law he was convicted under is used to protect one - and only one religion: Islam.  By contrast insulting (or even physically attacking) Jews and Judaism - not a problem and not prosecuted.  This is what it looks like when Islam becomes a de facto state religion.

So now the Danes can’t even talk about the Muslim immigrant problem in their midst since discussing it is now likely a hate crime.  And so sadly the Danes are now in the position of collecting the Danegeld for their own dhimmi status.

Works just about as well as exchanging liberty for safety, dunnit?

LATER (110506 21:15), related (via Michael Totten):

A Hamburg judge has filed a criminal complaint against Chancellor Angela Merkel for “endorsing a crime” after she stated she was “glad” that Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces...

In his two-page document, [Heinz] Uthmann, a judge for 21 years, cites section 140 of the German Criminal Code, which forbids the “rewarding and approving” of crimes.  In this case, Merkel endorsed a “homicide,” Uthmann claimed. - Spiegel Online

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 16:38:46 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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