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Monthly Archives: December 2008
Whatever Happened to Municipal Wifi?
GMU Law Professor, and sometimes Reason contributor Thomas W. Hazlett looks at what happened to the myriad of “free municipal wifi” promises from cities a few years ago.
Calendar Girl
The 2009 Sarah Palin calendar has become the top selling office product on Amazon. Don’t bother trying to order, they’re already sold out.
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged 2009, amazon, office products, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin Calendar
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The New Republicans
Steven Lee relaunches his fine student political site The New Republicans.
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged relaunch, Republican, Steven Lee, student, The New Republicans
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The Cult of Nutritionism Suffers a Setback
(photo: gualtiero) In a fine blow to the pseudoscientific cult of nutritionism, an intensive study conducted by the National Institutes of Health applied the same laboratory standards to vitamin supplements as are routinely applied to pharmaceuticals. Unsurprisingly, the researchers found … Continue reading
Posted in Health Care, science
Tagged alternative medicine, cancer, conspiracy theories, counterknowledge, cult, Damian Thompson, disease, drugs, Edgar R. Miller, epidemiology, green tea, health, healthcare, heart disease, Johns Hopkins University, Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, medicine, modernity, National Institutes of Health, nineteenth century, Nutritionism, pharmaceuticals, placebo, pseudoscience, quackery, School of Medicine, science, snake oil sales, Technology, vitamin supplements
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Questioning Obama on Blagojevich
Hypothetically imagining he had the power to subpoena the president-elect, Michael Isikoff identifies the top five questions the public requires answers to relative to Mr. Obama’s knowledge of, or involvement with, Governor Blagojevich’s criminal misconduct.
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged Blagojevich, Michael Isikoff, Newsweek, Obama, scandal, subpoena
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Eichmann Endures
Jerry Burger at Santa Clara University, has succeeded in partially replicating Stanley Milgram’s famous social obedience experiment, whereby test subjects torture strangers with electrical shocks when told to do so. Depressingly, mankind appears to remain as obedient to evil as … Continue reading
How Fascism Happens
All it really takes to get you to ignore the concentration camps right in front you of your eyes and turn you into a robot, is to say “hey, look at this.” That certainly wasn’t the purpose of this video, … Continue reading
Words in Congress
Over the past sixty days, Harry Reid has been the most vocal person in the congressional record. The top two words he has used are “Republican” and “Republicans.” Republican Jeff Sessions has been the second most vocal person, using the … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged congress, congressional record, Harry Reid, Jeff Sessions, party politics, Republican, senate, words
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Cool Image of Venus
NASA captures this small movie of the solar wind stripping away the atmosphere of Venus. Very cool looking. (HT: Phil Plait)
John Elway for Senate
With Obama tapping Ken Salazar for the Interior Department, rumor has it conservative John Elway may step forward to run for his Senate seat in Colorado. This rumor –similar to one for Mike Ditka in Illinois– has come and gone … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics
Tagged 2004, 2006, 2008, colorado, conservative, Democrats, Department of the Interior, GOP, illinois, John Elway, Mike Ditka, Republican, rumor, senate
1 Comment
Jumping Ship
The naval nerds at Information Dissemination are unimpressed with Juan Garcia, Obama’s pick for Navy Secretary. They had been hoping for some substantial change in policy and strategic direction, and consider the relatively obscure Mr. Garcia a vote for the … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged chane, Information Dissemination, Juan Garcia, Navy, navy nerds, Obama, Secretary of the Navy, status quo
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Utter Insanity
Those are the only words I can think to describe this proposal. The Hubbard-Mayer plan calls for the government to revive the moribund housing market by providing just about everybody with access to a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with a 4.5 … Continue reading
Posted in Chris' Page, housing, regulation
Tagged Bloomberg, business reporting, housing crisis, idiotic laws, insanity
1 Comment
Penalty of Vision
One of the finer moments from Carl Sagan’s old Cosmos series, the persecution of Kepler.
How to Order a Hitchens
(image: Rational Response Squad) Here’s a tip for the uninitiated: When you order a whiskey in a hip bar, request it “Whiskey, Hitchens.” If you’re already slightly sloshed, you might merely say “Hitch me.” What is a Hitchens? It’s not … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Christopher Hitchens, cocktail, Dinesh D'Souza, drinking, hitch, Hitchens, johnny walker, Rational Response Squad, scotch whisky, whiskey, whisky
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The Abolition of Marriage
Having failed to legalize gay marriage almost everywhere by democratic means, a proposed new approach by its advocates is to revoke marriage rights for heterosexuals, in a kind of retaliatory equalization. In effect, the idea is to abolish the legal … Continue reading
Amsterdam’s Fading Red Light
In a blow to social libertarians, the prodigal country of Holland is finally taking steps to scrap legal prostitution and drug sales, citing widespred social decay and crime.
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged Amsterdam, crime, drugs, Holland, prostitution, social decay, social libertarians
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Blagojevich’s Football
I was in no doubt that Rod Blagojevich was a troubled and exceedingly peculiar man. These past few days have seen a flood of revealing details from aides and Democratic Party insiders which cast even his sanity into question (potentially … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics
Tagged Blagojevich, Chicago, Democratic Party, football, Governor, hairbrush, illinois, obsession, Paul Mitchell, president, Rod Blagojevich
2 Comments
Kiss the Girls
Georgie Porgie, puddin’ and pie. I don’t think they were crying, but once I noticed, it just sort of stood out in this video of George Bush in Iraq, that he’s kissing the girls. Usually on the temple. h/t Instapundit.
Posted in Around the Web
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A Leftblogger Veto
After the John Brennan experience, Obama is having trouble finding qualified intelligence experts who are ideologically acceptable to liberal bloggers. Pleased to see we have our security priorities in the right place.
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged CIA, ideology, intelligence, John Brennan, liberal bloggers, Obama
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Bail or Consequences
Joseph E. Stiglitz says bail out the poor, not the rich. It’s like a parlor game for abstractions to decide who can be the noblest thief. How about no one bails anyone out, and we all sustain the material consequences … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged abstractions, bailout, consequences, economist, homeowners, investments, Joseph E. Stiglitz, revolutionary, theft
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Joe the Plumber can read and write. Amazing!
I happened upon Mark Steyn’s web page today.  (I always mean to bookmark it and check it regularly but for some reason I never do.)   While there I found out something I didn’t know.   Joe the Plumber has written a … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
2 Comments
“Worst Waste of the Year” Report
Cato looks at Senator Tom Coburn’s “Worst Waste of the Year” report that was just released (pdf report here). Tad DeHaven on how nauseating it was to read through the projects in the report, including a ” $15,000 in HUD … Continue reading
Posted in Chris' Page, Domestic Politics
Tagged cato, government waste, pork, pork busters, Tom Coburn
2 Comments
China’s Hurt Feelings
Blogger FangKC queried the archive of the People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece, and discovered that 19 countries and organizations have been officially accused of hurting the feelings of the Chinese people. You can anticipate some such as the … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged blogger, China, Chinese Communist Party, Chinese people, FangKC, hurt feelings, japan, prc, United States
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Found on Ebay
Illinois Senate seat for sale.
An Appointment with Defeat
Blagojevich’s senate appointment might not be as valuable to a political career as he seemed to believe. Nate Silver takes a systematic look at senators who were appointed to fill vacant seats by governors over the last fifty years, and … Continue reading
Less is Less
Can’t shake the impression that you’re running out of of your groceries slightly sooner than you used to? You are.
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged design, groceries, packaging, product design, trickery
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The Penalty of Touch
Your ominious police state technology news item of the day.
Day Without Pay Unpopular
Looks like the “Day Without a Gay” civil rights protest intended to send a message to the country about the importance of gay employees and consumers…had no effect whatsoever. Thus the congenitally counterproductive leadership of the gay rights movement can … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics, Society
Tagged civil rights, consumer spending, day without a gay, gay rights, jobs, protest, sexual orientation, unemployment, work
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Bend [Over] Don’t Break
McQ on Obama’s health care “reforms”: “One of our commenters here says since it is inevitable we should try to influence its implementation instead of fighting it. Reminds me a bit about some discredited advice concerning rape.”
Nixon and Kissinger in Watchmen
The newish montage for the screen version of Watchmen, has a fine scene of the Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger characters about mid way through it (video). Looks like they finally found an actor who could do the nose.
Posted in Culture
Tagged Alan Moore, alternative history, Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon, video, Watchmen
5 Comments
Stimulus: Spending vs. Tax Multipliers
Greg Mankiw has a post today look at the real world studies of spending and tax multipliers. Keynesians might be surprised to learn that the tax multiplier appears to be much larger than the spending one. Studies put the Government … Continue reading
Into the Memory Hole?
Hmm. It seems that media reports filed on November 5th explicitly stating that Obama met with Governor Blagojevich to discuss his Senate replacement, are suddenly disappearing from the web.
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged archival revisionism, Blagojevich, censorship, journalism, Media, media bias, Obama, senate
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A New Age of Female Masturbation
Lesbian feminist Lily Tomlin once joked that the only reason cretinous men walked upright was to free their hands for masturbation. Fair enough, but the posture of the lady might soon lack for any better purpose. According to a new … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, social science
Tagged Britain, British women, cheeseburgers, Constitution, Feminism, gender, lesbian feminist, Lily Tomlin, masturbation, Media, poll, self-restraint, sex, sexualized, social conservative, study, survey, women
2 Comments
Formula Zero
The Onion brutally satirizes Hollywood and its formulaic, politically correct, and downright cheap storytelling techniques.
Jon Henke for RNC Communications Director
A good look at how the RNC needs to restructure and how they don’t for the next generation of campaigning. Jon is mentioned as paradigm of what the RNC Communications Director needs to be, I’d agree. You need someone who … Continue reading
Posted in Chris' Page, Domestic Politics, Technology
Tagged ecampaign, Jon Henke, rebuild the party, rebuildtheparty, reorganizing, RNC
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Plumber Politics, the Finale
Joe the Plumber joins the party and throws McCain under the bus, describing him and his campaign as apalling, praising only Sarah Palin. Apparently he asked McCain some questions about his views on the federal bailouts and McCain responded like…well, … Continue reading
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged bailouts, joe the plumber, Joe Wurzelbacher, McCain, Sarah Palin
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Fill in the Blanks
The NYT has a nice little interactive diagram of Governor Blagojevich’s web of criminal influence.
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged Blagojevich, criminal, interactive, network diagram, New York Times, Rod R. Blagojevich
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Through a Kristol, Darkly
Roland has some commentary on Bill Kristol‘s recent return to advocacy for “national greatness conservatism.” You have to love Matt Welch‘s assessment of this event in title: “Big-Government Conservative, After Helping Big-Government Conservatism Fail, Advocates Big-Government Conservatism.” Roland is more … Continue reading
Rootless
Sure, it’s still only December 2008, but Wayne Allyn Root, the millionaire Republican Libertarian, is already running for president in 2012. I was seriously amused by some of the slanderous assessments posted by former Root employees Libertarian Peacenik found.
Posted in Around the Web
Tagged 200, 2008, libertarian, Libertarian Party, Republican, Wayne Allyn Root
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Leader of the Opposition
Whilst most elected Republicans are still preoccupied in pledging to work with (or for) the Obama administration, Sarah Palin isn’t having any of it. This is significant criticism, because it is vitally important that a Republican leader emerges who can … Continue reading
Posted in Domestic Politics
Tagged 1976, 2012 election, administration, Canada, leader of the opposition, leadership, Obama, Palin, pipeline, Republican, Republicans, Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin, Washington
3 Comments
Deep Political Time
When James Hutton, the father of modern geology, took his friend John Playfair to look at some stratified sedimentary rock, and Playfair realized that he was gazing into a chemical abyss recording the passage of hundreds of millions of years, … Continue reading
The West as Nuclear Proliferator
(NYT) The New York Times has a fascinating little chart today, illustrating the primary sources of nuclear weapons proliferation over time. In looking at the diagram, one cannot escape the overall impression that until recently the West has been the … Continue reading
Posted in Foreign affairs, Technology
Tagged Africa, Asia, authoritarianism, chart, China, civic culture, communications, democracy, diagram, DPRK, eastern bloc, English, espionage, former soviet republics, government, individualism, infographic, lingua franca, military intelligence, networks, New York Times, North Korea, nucelar research, nuclear proliferation, nuclear weapons, political dissent, prc, proliferation risk, rogue states, Russia, scientific community, Soviet Union, Technology, technology transfer, trade, translation services, Transportation, USSR, western democracy
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The Medicare Handgun
Medicare to Cover Prescription Handguns? (HT Professor Volokh)
Frank Miller’s Geostrategic Theory
Frank Lovece sat down with Frank Miller for Newsday to discuss his upcoming film The Spirit. Toward the end of it Lovece asked Miller about remarks he’d made in 2007 in support of the Iraq War, and offered him an … Continue reading →