Obama wallet

This is funny.

blog has sent you a link

blog thought you'd be interested in the following article at Reason
Magazine:

Easy Money For College Can Mess You Up, Man.
http://reason.com/blog/2010/12/27/the-higher-ed-bubble-plus-kath

Michael Moore banned in Cuba

His movie, Sicko, supposedly depicted the superior medical system available under the Communist government of Cuba as opposed to the deficiencies of the capitalist system in the United States.

So a little ironic that his movie won't be shown in Cuba.

Castro's government apparently went on to ban the film because, the leaked cable claims, it "knows the film is a myth and does not want to risk a popular backlash by showing to Cubans facilities that are clearly not available to the vast majority of them." …

The info is from Wikileaks. The story from The Guardian 

...the only way a Cuban can get access to the hospital [depicted in Moore's movie] is through a bribe or contacts inside the hospital administration. "Cubans are reportedly very resentful that the best hospital in Havana is 'off-limits' to them," the memo reveals.

Yep, that sounds like a Communist model. Politics - who you know - determines who receives the best care. 

By its fruit, the tree is known.

Great discussion of Communism vs. Nazism at Instapundit.
One excerpt:

I'll repeat: The difference between Communists and Nazis is mostly PR, and the PR is better because more journalists and academics were communists than Nazis.

And reader Michael Ravine notes what Robert Heinlein said about communism: "I regard it as Red fascism, distinguishable from black and brown fascism by differences of no importance to me nor to its victims."

Some Communist apologists appear and are rebuked.

If California is the future of the nation ...

It doesn't look good.

Here's an anecdotal analysis from a longtime Californian.

It's a longer piece but it reads well. One bit I'll excerpt (but it's worth reading all)

Fresno's California State University campus is embroiled in controversy over the student body president's announcing that he is an illegal alien, with all the requisite protests in favor of the DREAM Act. I won't comment on the legislation per se, but again only note the anomaly. I taught at CSUF for 21 years. I think it fair to say that the predominant theme of the Chicano and Latin American Studies program's sizable curriculum was a fuzzy American culpability. By that I mean that students in those classes heard of the sins of America more often than its attractions. In my home town, Mexican flag decals on car windows are far more common than their American counterparts.

I note this because hundreds of students here illegally are now terrified of being deported to Mexico. I can understand that, given the chaos in Mexico and their own long residency in the United States. But here is what still confuses me: If one were to consider the classes that deal with Mexico at the university, or the visible displays of national chauvinism, then one might conclude that Mexico is a far more attractive and moral place than the United States.

So there is a surreal nature to these protests: something like, "Please do not send me back to the culture I nostalgically praise; please let me stay in the culture that I ignore or deprecate." I think the DREAM Act protestors might have been far more successful in winning public opinion had they stopped blaming the U.S. for suggesting that they might have to leave at some point, and instead explained why, in fact, they want to stay. What it is about America that makes a youth of 21 go on a hunger strike or demonstrate to be allowed to remain in this country rather than return to the place of his birth?

Young entrepreneur help desk

Help for young adults who want to start a business. Started by a film school grad who lived it.

quote o' day

Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.

Thomas Sowell, Is Reality Optional?, 1993
(1930 - )

Trip to the USS Ronald Reagan

Interesting account of a civilian's visit to an active aircraft carrier. Lots of pictures.

Three blind mice and a picture pirate

Happy Last Week. :-)

Putting the Brakes on Bush nostalgia

Have to agree with this.

His candor, decency, self-effacement, and clear love of country stand in stark contrast to the current antagonist-in-chief at the White House

BUT (and yes, that's a BIG BUT)

The problem, of course, is that Bush nostalgia is indelibly marred by his disastrous domestic policy legacy of big government, big spending, and betrayal of core fiscal principles — the very impetus for the Tea Party movement upon which he now heaps glowing praise.

I never loved GWB, but I found him presidential and I always felt that his heart was in the right place. I know many (MANY) will disagree, but that was my impression, and I continue to feel that way.
I tried, after he was inaugurated, to like President Obama. I remember hoping as I watched the swearing in that he would govern more or less as he campaigned, that is as more of a moderate than his history suggested was his inclination. I was disappointed.
Regardless, Bush was a disaster on the domestic front and only looks at all moderate by comparison with his successor.

Deep analysis of the current political climate

From here.

AMERICANS: "So, the economy is pretty bad and there's high employment. You think you can do something about that?"

DEMOCRATS AND OBAMA: "We can spend a trillion dollars we don't have on pork and stuff."

AMERICANS: "No … that's not what we want. We'd really like you not to do that."

DEMOCRATS: "You're stupid. We're doing it anyway."

AMERICANS: "That's not going to help us get jobs!"

DEMOCRATS: "Sure it will; millions of them … though they may be invisible. You'll have to trust us they exist. And guess what else we'll do: We'll create a giant new government program to take over health care."

AMERICANS: "That has nothing to do with jobs!"

DEMOCRATS: "We don't care about that anymore. We really want a giant new health care program. We're sure you'll love it."

AMERICANS: "Don't pass that bill. You hear me? Absolutely do not pass that bill."

DEMOCRATS: "Believe me; you'll love it. It has … well, I don't know what exactly is in the bill, but we're sure it's great."

AMERICANS: "Listen to me: DO. NOT. PASS. THAT. BILL."

DEMOCRATS: "You're not the boss of me! We're doing it anyway!"

AMERICANS: "Look what you did! Now the economy is way worse, we're even deeper in debt, and we have a bunch of new laws we don't want!"

DEMOCRATS: "You're racist."

AMERICANS: "Wha … How is that racist?"

DEMOCRATS: "Now you're getting violent! Stop being violent and racist, you ignorant hillbillies! And remember to vote Democrat in November."

Interesting analysis of Obamacare

This is old, but I hadn't seen it before. A retired constitutional lawyer read one of the early drafts of Obamacare and commented. Some of it's more than a little scary.
I'm not sure how much of what he read was in the bill that was passed, but it's scary enough that it was ever proposed.
Take a look.

What's happening to the American dream ...

One problem illustrated.

Invitation to view tom's Picasa Web Album - 2010 State Fair

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heh

Lifted straight from Instapundit:

"This week, President Obama called for the hiring of 10,000 new teachers to beef up math and science achievement. Meanwhile, in America, Earth, Sol-System, public school employment has grown 10 times faster than enrollment for 40 years (see chart), while achievement at the end of high school has stagnated in math and declined in science (see other chart).

Either the president is badly misinformed about our education system or he thinks that promising to hire another 10,000 teachers union members is politically advantageous–in which case he would seem to be badly misinformed about the present political climate. Or he lives in an alternate universe in which Kirk and Spock have facial hair and government monopolies are efficient. It's hard to say."

(original piece here.) 

Stoicism - an old idea is new again

A new book argues that some ancient Greek philosophers were onto something with their ideas about seeking

a life of "tranquility," meaning a life free of "anger, anxiety, fear, grief, and envy."

 

For everyone who complains

that Bush should have been more on the hot seat for the expansion of government under his watch: "Point taken."

On the other hand, throughout most of Bush's presidencies I just kept telling myself - "Thank heavens Gore(Kerry) didn't win."

I think that would have been worse.

And it doesn't mean that Obama should get a pass for going exponential on the path that Bush went down.

James Lileks from this date in 2003

It's worth reading ...

You'll shoot your eye out,

kid.

The facts about effective learning.

Essentially - mix it up.

For instance, many study skills courses insist that students find a specific place, a study room or a quiet corner of the library, to take their work. The research finds just the opposite.

and

Varying the type of material studied in a single sitting — alternating, for example, among vocabulary, reading and speaking in a new language — seems to leave a deeper impression on the brain than does concentrating on just one skill at a time. Musicians have known this for years, and their practice sessions often include a mix of scales, musical pieces and rhythmic work. Many athletes, too, routinely mix their workouts with strength, speed and skill drills. 

Also, different "learning styles"? False.

"Student traits and teaching styles surely interact; so do personalities and at-home rules. The trouble is, no one can predict how."

and

"The contrast between the enormous popularity of the learning-styles approach within education and the lack of credible evidence for its utility is, in our opinion, striking and disturbing," the researchers concluded.