Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Lunchtime tab dump
I'm actually in LA waiting for my first meeting to start, but for many of you it is already lunch. Herewith, the best of my tabs:
The climate scientists appear to have overestimated the summer Arctic sea ice melt. All of them. Recognizing that weather is not climate and so forth, if they cannot predict it over one season, why should we believe that they can do it over a generation or a century? Or were their forecasts tweaked to achieve a media result?
In the category of stating the obvious, Jimmy Carter is a clown. A disingenuous one, at that.
Bush 41 spoke to the nation's students, and the Democrats in Congress held hearings. Two wrongs do not make a right, but the history still invites the question, is the lefty outrage at the righty objections to Obama's speech disingenuous, or ignorant?
Gary Becker thinks the recovery is going to be great! I hope so.
27 Comments:
By 
Viking Kaj, at
Tue Sep 08, 12:56:00 PM:
Those of us who can remember Jimmy Carter as president are not surprised.
He has always been a grandstanding moralizing one man traveling tent revival.
What is surprising is that the Norwegian Nobel committee actually saw fit to reward him with a peace prize. (And then compound the stupidity with Al Gore).
But then as a Swede I can tell you all Norwegians are idiots.
Did you hear the one about the smartest farmer in Norway?
He moved to Sweden and the IQ of both countries went down.
By 
, at
Tue Sep 08, 01:49:00 PM:
What do we make of the recent WaPo attitude towards President Obama?
The decision to investigate the CIA got them excited in a way no other recent issue has, and now we have an authoritative voice at the paper suggesting Obama's unclenched fist outreach to any all demogouges has been a failure. Worse, the paper seems to be calling the president "naive" in the process.
Were this BushCo being dissed, no one would be surprised, but it's the D.C. establishment talking truth to power on their own side of the ideological divide. Pretty soon the only "Obama-- right or wrong" paper left will be the NYT.
"what seems pretty clear is that the most notable foreign policy idea Obama offered during his campaign has fallen flat during his first months in office. When he was asked that question two years ago, Obama was probably thinking about George W. Bush. It might not have occurred to him that American enemies also don't see much benefit in "direct diplomacy."
By , at
Tue Sep 08, 02:12:00 PM:
Hey, let's lighten up on Carter! One day YOU will be senile and drool all over your shirt, too.
By , at
Tue Sep 08, 02:17:00 PM:
The administration seems to be ready to seek to put as much of the environmental, heath care and social changes as they can, this time without legislation and through regulatory fiat.
This plan, if that's what it is, should scare everyone, left and right, for what it says about the dangers to liberty of putting an unscrupulous ideologue in charge of the administrative branch of government.
""The goal from this White House is to have as much nonspecific language passed by Congress in policy areas like health care and the environment and then use Sunstein's office to put in place the regulatory language called for by Congress that gets us to where we want to be. It may very well be the most important job in this administration, given the lack of success we may have on Capitol Hill," says a White House source."
By Kurt, at
Tue Sep 08, 02:44:00 PM:
You asked: is the lefty outrage at the righty objections to Obama's speech disingenuous, or ignorant?
Well, obviously it is both. But that is the sort of thing that most left-wingers are very good at.
By , at
Tue Sep 08, 02:47:00 PM:
Watched the entire speech on local Los Angeles TV. A tempest in a teapot. Shame on all of you!!! No political agenda, good speech. Now, this may be the stuff we tell our children every day, from the womb I was and my daughter was programmed to go to college, work and succeed, but not all parents are like the one's who read this blog. Give the dude a frikking break.
OOOOO Subversive, OOO subliminal messages, OOOO zombies. What a crock!
By , at
Tue Sep 08, 03:01:00 PM:
Speaking of a "crock", vicki, that's a good description of your post. No one argued his speech was subversive, carried subliminal messages or had "zombies", whatever that is. Strawman arguments are stupid, and that's what you concocted just now.
By Purple Avenger, at
Tue Sep 08, 03:31:00 PM:
Shame on all of you!
Of course you will level even harsher criticism at the democrats for holding hearings about Bush v1.0's speech to school kids, right?
Right? Right? Right?
Yea, I didn't think so.
By , at
Tue Sep 08, 04:22:00 PM:
Not concocted, listened to those comments on TV, specifically on Fox. No strawman, real man. Read some of the comments made Friday through yesterday concerning the "content" and "meaning" of the speech and you will see some of the same words used. The zombie remark was from a commentator on Fox saying that anyone who believed what Obama said in the speech was a zombie, look up the definition. YOu are better than that, anon.
Purple, ??? You made less than no sense.
By , at
Tue Sep 08, 04:22:00 PM:
BTW, have fun in LA, tiger, weather is much cooler this week.
By , at
Tue Sep 08, 04:48:00 PM:
I'm not better than that- you're thinking of my twin brother. He's better than that.
After a long thread on the subject of the speech, in which all possible sides were exhaustively covered, I recalled nothing on any of those subjects about subliminal messaging and it's ilk. After all the talk, you raising a hobgobblin of nuttiness seemed out of bounds and unfair. Hence my "BS" call to the referees.
Citing FOX commenters as your source isn't fair, either. They include one or two loonies, unlike the cream of the internets, like (for example) TH commenters.
By , at
Tue Sep 08, 04:56:00 PM:
Got this from the WSJ today,passing you thru to Forbes.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/09/06/obama-school-speech-malkin-rick-perry-opinions-columnists-tunku-varadarajan.html
It's ok, anon, no nuttiness here.
By , at
Tue Sep 08, 04:58:00 PM:
Oh and this one too:
http://www.rpof.org/article.php?id=754
Talk about nuttiness, like a frikking fruitcake. I sure hope he is not one of you presidential hopefuls, or... do I?
By , at
Tue Sep 08, 05:03:00 PM:
We will never know what the original speech had to say and how objectionable it might have been to conservatives. Perhaps, even, this was something close to the original speech. But the combination of lesson plans for teachers and (originally) mandatory attendance made a number of people (and not just conservatives) wary of the intentions of the administration with regard to OUR kids. Mistrust is growing, and will be hard to overcome.
By Dawnfire82, at
Tue Sep 08, 05:36:00 PM:
Propagandistic lesson plans.
For instance: "Write a letter to yourself about how you can help President Obama."
That they didn't go through with it doesn't abrogate their intent to do it in the first place.
By , at
Tue Sep 08, 05:45:00 PM:
Nuttiness on the rise, sjtx, on the rise.Is there a commie under every bed, too?
By JPMcT, at
Tue Sep 08, 06:19:00 PM:
My daughter teaches a class of extremely gifted students. I taught them a seminar on sound physics last year and these kids are amazing.
They chose NOT to listen to the speech today, opting instead to stream it on their home computers if interested.
I guess there is hope for the next generation.
BTW, vickie, Obama is a Marxist...not an idiot. Do you really think he would drive yet ANOTHER nail in the coffin of his presidency by giving an edgy speech after the furor raised by the original plan?
...and I'm not worried about commies in my bed...just the one's in the White House.
Will we be seeing you in DC this weekend??? (heh, heh...)
By , at
Tue Sep 08, 07:00:00 PM:
It's Vicki, not Vickie. You sound, McT like Joe McCarthy in the 50's.
Are you and all the teabaggers going to converge on Washington DC? Have fun. The last time I was there (this will come as no surprise to you) was for the 30th anniversary of Roe V Wade, a great day for America. I wouldn't join with those people if they gave me a free plane ticket and a suite at the Marriott.
Like I said before, not all children need that type speech. They are raised by parents who care and who value education. Believe me there are plenty of children who profited from Obama's speech, both intellectually and emotionally. That is not a bad thing.
Throwing around the hate speech and posters depicting Obama as Hitler does your cause no good. It only furthers the divide, further polarize us. Instead maybe we should all meet up and see how we all together can SOLVE problems, not create more.
I know, it does sound really idealistic and rose colored glassy of me but, what the heck, can't hurt.
By Dawnfire82, at
Tue Sep 08, 07:46:00 PM:
Because nothing says idealism and reconciliation like routinely insulting others with juvenile sexual slang. Re: teabaggers.
By SR, at
Tue Sep 08, 08:05:00 PM:
Now whose law is it again which predicts a Joe McCarthy reference in most of these threads?
By , at
Tue Sep 08, 08:33:00 PM:
Press Rease of Republican Chair, Fla.
As the father of four children, I am absolutely appalled that taxpayer dollars are being used to spread President Obama's socialist ideology. The idea that school children across our nation will be forced to watch the President justify his plans for government-run health care, banks, and automobile companies, increasing taxes on those who create jobs, and racking up more debt than any other President, is not only infuriating, but goes against beliefs of the majority of Americans, while bypassing American parents through an invasive abuse of power.
"While I support educating our children to respect both the office of the American President and the value of community service, I do not support using our children as tools to spread liberal propaganda....
"Public schools can't teach children to speak out in support of the sanctity of human life or traditional marriage. President Obama and the Democrats wouldn't dream of allowing prayer in school. Christmas Parties are now Holiday Parties. But, the Democrats have no problem going against the majority of American people and usurping the rights of parents by sending Pied Piper Obama into the American classroom.
....President Obama has turned to American's children to spread his liberal lies, indoctrinating American's youngest children before they have a chance to decide for themselves."
Pssst. Did you hear? President Obama wants to get rid of Christmas, too!
By , at
Tue Sep 08, 08:40:00 PM:
sjtx :"(originally) mandatory attendance made a number of people (and not just conservatives) wary of the intentions of the administration with regard to OUR kids."
Ya got any proof for your allegation that attendance was (originally) mandatory, sjtx?
By , at
Tue Sep 08, 11:12:00 PM:
I am appalled that we spent over a trillion taxpayer dollars to fight in a war we had no business fighting.
Not spreading socialist ideology. Stay in school? This press release has to have been sent prior to the speech. It was, I think he should probably be red faced now, no subversive, liberal agenda.
Religion and religious relics have a place in church and in homes, not in public schools.
So there.
Want a capper to that, I want them to take under God out of the pledge of allegiance. It wasn't there until the mid 50's at the zenith of the communist fears and has no place in the pledge now.
My daughter went to Catholic school and they did not celebrate Halloween.
By , at
Wed Sep 09, 10:26:00 AM:
You libs are just blathering now...Christmas...the war (which is in fact necessary to save civilization, but we can argue that another day)...religion...
You guys are going over the edge. America is out of money and you want to talk religion. We're broke! We can't afford your pie in the sky pipe dream social programs.
By , at
Wed Sep 09, 06:24:00 PM:
"Believe me there are plenty of children who profited from Obama's speech, both intellectually and emotionally."
And how do you know that, Vicki?
By JPMcT, at
Wed Sep 09, 09:43:00 PM:
I enjoyed the Joe McCarthy comparison, vicki. Of course, the demonstrable fact that McCarthy was actually CORRECT in most of his allegations has never been disputed.
If you do NOT think that the President of the United States has Marxist leanings, did not teach Alinski techniques, did not hire avowed communists as advisors (one recently was "outed" and had to resign), does not favor redistribution of wealth, does not favor government control of business and does not have an anti=capitalsit agenda...then vicki, your are a dolt. Pure and simple.
Unfortunately, after years of government intervention in the educational process, you are in good company.
BTW, you may have enjoyed your trip to DC to celebrate prenatal murder, but you were not joined by the protagonist, Norma McCorvy (aka Jane Roe). She has been a staunch ANTI-abortion activist for the past 15 years. Indeed, she was recently escorted by police out of a Congressional hearing re: the Sotomayor fiasco.
Don't be so proud of being an abortion sympathizer, vicki. I've deliverd babies and I've been in ther while my wife gave birth and...news flash...they really ARE human beings.
Shame....
By Viking Kaj, at
Thu Sep 10, 11:56:00 AM:
There is no way I can lighten up on Carter. I graduated from college in 1980. Anyone else who lived through that time period will always remeber what a total f-up he was as President.
