tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-121567062024-03-23T14:25:04.475-04:00Your Lying EyesDedicated to uncovering the truth that stands naked before your lying eyes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger850125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-29327023372623700072014-01-10T21:26:00.002-05:002014-01-10T21:26:16.774-05:00Attacking InequalityBill de Blasio's clueless quest to reduce inequality in NYC is of course laughable, unless his secret agenda is to secretly drive out all its wealthy denizens, which I seriously doubt. And Obama's harping on it is downright annoying, as he never proposes anything to actually reduce it. Both men seem to sincerely think that "universal Pre-K" is the answer, and that's rather comical.
If we as a Unknownnoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-23214730965357663942013-12-12T08:26:00.000-05:002013-12-12T08:26:05.231-05:00Chicken KievI have no idea what the hell is going on in the Ukraine, beyond the vague notion that Ukrainians are generally fearful and resentful of Russia and her past aggressions and that there is no doubt a sizable bloc of Russian-ethnic Ukrainians who feel otherwise, and that President Yanukovych is somewhat caught in the middle, trying to forge a profitable relationship with the west while maintaining a Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-53407155710655314612013-12-12T07:52:00.001-05:002013-12-12T07:52:45.116-05:00A Moment in HistoryIt will be impossible to find these photos in the future, so I just want to save the link. But what a great set of photos of Obama under the coquettish spell of the Danish Prime Minister, and Michele not one bit amused. Of course the photographer afterwards denies the story his pictures tell, but I'll believe my lying eyes, of course.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2521146/Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-87652635695704567162013-12-06T07:32:00.001-05:002013-12-06T07:32:33.891-05:00Ron Unz's $12 Minimum WageI hate it when the dogmatic-free-market side of me emerges, because I've really tried hard to repress it lately. But I'm rather skeptical of Ron Unz's proposal to raise the national minimum wage to $12.
Unz's logic is appealingly simple - if we want to raise the incomes of the poor, then let's just raise their wages! And while this would be a pretty dramatic raise for current minimum-wage Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-67940972503090794952013-11-04T08:29:00.002-05:002013-11-04T08:29:55.147-05:00The Coming de Blasio de BacleOh boy.
The Democratic mayoral candidate admitted that he overslept this morning, keeping dozens of supporters, elected officials and reporters waiting more than an hour for a get-out-the-vote rally on the Upper West side that had been scheduled for 11:30 a.m.
Now I fully admit that I'm not a morning person myself, but getting myself out of bed in time for an 11:30 event on the first morning of Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-62339192650698525712013-10-02T09:13:00.002-04:002013-10-02T09:13:49.772-04:00The Shadow ConstitutionAn article in the Wall Street Journal discusses the trouble certain wedding-service businesses are getting into by refusing to work with gay couples due to religious objections. Now it seems pretty cut-and-dry. The right to freedom of expression and religious practice is right there in the First Amendment - and that the 1st Amendment applies to state governments via the 14th amendment has been Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-42506183486526631492013-09-28T23:11:00.000-04:002013-09-28T23:14:46.072-04:00Low BandwidthThe latest meme in the rationalizing the low socio-economic status of certain segments of society (SES-cuses, let's call them) is "low bandwidth". The idea is that the poor have so damn much on their minds - just from the stress of being poor - that they make poor decisions as a result. So poverty itself keeps them poor by causing them to do self-destructive things.
Other recent SES-cuses are "Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-776215041405024202013-09-19T22:50:00.002-04:002013-09-19T22:50:38.956-04:00PredictionsFirst off, as California native Steve Sailer guessed, preliminary analysis suggests my prediction regarding California's NAEP performance is probably a losing bet...but more on that anon.
But trends can confound even the most obvious expectations. Thirty years ago, one very safe prediction I would have made would have been that bank branches would be very rare if not totally disappear. Already, Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-73583771521710917242013-09-17T16:57:00.003-04:002013-09-17T16:57:51.654-04:00Let's Charge Him Now Before They Start ProtestingSounds like the white cop in Charlotte, NC might be getting railroaded. The chief, who is black, had him arrested almost immediately with apparently very little investigation and without the blessing of prosecutors.
But from the information that is starting to come out, the poor kid who was shot seemed to be acting maniacally after his car wreck. This will be an interesting case to Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-50988060661360561572013-09-10T01:04:00.000-04:002013-09-10T08:27:48.724-04:00Predictions - Anyone Wanna Bet?In the spirit of the famous Simon/Ehrlich bet, here are some predictions for 2023. Any takers?
Real GDP growth will average less than 2.5% per year over the next decade
The Gap - as measured by NAEP 8th grade math scores among black and white students nationwide - will be greater than 0.9 standard deviations.
California's performance on the 8th grade math NAEP will not improve relative to the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-72682300954278038292013-08-30T09:23:00.000-04:002013-08-30T09:23:04.553-04:00Fast Food Workers Unite!Why are there fast-food workers? Back in the American Graffiti - Fast Times at Ridgemont High era, fast-food work provided a kind of rite of passage for teens into college/adulthood. But now, we are told, people are supposed to be making a living off this work. And isn't it interesting how the typical news report on this topic never mentions immigration?
But is there any function in Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-5425828383562196072013-08-28T23:45:00.001-04:002013-08-28T23:45:36.675-04:00Ah, the NY Times AgainThe link headline blares it out: A Coach Joins a Short List by Announcing He’s Gay.
But, then you click on the link where there's a picture and you'll never, ever in a hundred billion years guess which sport he works in. When it comes to pushing the narrative there's just no story too mundane for the Times.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-33102612730462497352013-08-13T06:56:00.001-04:002013-08-13T08:04:13.533-04:00The Perfect NY Times Op-Ed OpeningEvery Times op-ed could start this way, regardless of topic - what could be more, well, NYTimesy:
My husband and I are about the same age and build, wear the same clothes and share the same gender...
You could then complete the sentence as the topic requires - the possibilities are endless. This one was about stop-and-frisk, so it introduced even a more delicious twist: "...but I am far more Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-29686186047389428882013-07-09T23:46:00.001-04:002013-07-09T23:46:26.465-04:00Getting Riled up over ObamacareObamacare sure does seem to be a big mess of a law and no doubt has many annoying features, as federal laws tend to have. But I just can't seem to get myself up-in-arms over it.
I'm betting that the cost of my health care is going to go up because of it. But then again, my employer has been pretty regularly pumping up that cost over the last 30 years anyway - not sure I'm going to notice the Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-67105817248724095532013-07-03T20:42:00.001-04:002013-07-03T20:42:08.788-04:00The Obama Coalition Holds TightOne of the more fascinating aspects of the George Zimmerman brouhaha is that no Hispanic of note within the MSM has sprung to George Zimmerman's defense. Zimmerman's mom is Peruvian, as everyone should know by now, and is surely as legitimately Hispanic as any number of Hispanic advocates out there. Yet in this battle Hispanic pundits have lined up against him.
What that tells me is that among Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-43863039316298660182013-06-14T08:49:00.000-04:002013-06-14T08:49:48.200-04:00Let's Have War!It is possible, I suppose, that Obama's decision to directly arm the Syrian rebels is just simple realpolitik, a response to Russia's recent (alleged) arms shipments to Assad, and that the crossing of the "bright red line" is just an excuse. Still it's hard to see how we win in this deal - Assad will be more loyal to Russia if he survives - of that there is little doubt. But is a Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-89164661202264403032013-04-26T22:54:00.000-04:002013-04-26T22:54:14.109-04:00Hate/Fear/Xenophobia/RacismThe worst sin of our age - the display of Hate/Fear/Xenophobia/Racism - will be wiped from our souls with the enactment of Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR). Yes, that's right - eradicated, as it were. You see, right now, deporting illegal undocumented immigrants, denial of work permits to people unfortunate enough to happen to be living outside our borders, erecting border fences, and Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-76175362052954306332013-04-19T12:36:00.001-04:002013-04-19T12:36:07.468-04:00The Real TragedyAs tragic as the killing of an eight year old boy, two young women in the prime of their lives, and the horrific maiming of dozens might be, it would be an even worse tragedy if this terrorist attack derailed Comprehensive Immigration Reform. - The Gang of Eight.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-65031682138714762152013-04-19T11:31:00.002-04:002013-04-19T11:32:02.521-04:00Are Putin's Wheels Spinning?These Boston bomber knuckleheads could have been Vladinir's headache, but instead they're ours . He's got too be thinking maybe he could get rid of a lot me of them and send them over here. Why the hell, Castro did it with the Mariel boatlift, the Saudi's have been sending their troublemakers abroad for years - so why not send America some of his tired, poor Chechens?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-61338759871908691462013-04-16T08:39:00.004-04:002013-04-16T12:36:53.934-04:00The Chronically UnemployedThe plight of the chronically unemployed has been making the rounds these days, with all kinds of deep explanations. A recent study which sent out fake resumes shows that being out of work for 6 months or longer is worse than not having relevant industry experience as far as employers are concerned. When you're out of work, your skills erode, and you're no longer employable. So it's hopeless. Or Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-67745742574463228182013-04-15T22:31:00.000-04:002013-04-16T18:41:27.249-04:00Bombing Prediction
UPDATE: I guess I was wrong about Part 1 - or at least this specific individual.
Part 1: This is the easy part - the Saudi national who is currently a person of interest will in fact be found to be the guilty party, with possibly other Saudi national co-conspirators.
Part 2: This part is even easier - the fact that the bomber(s) is/are Saudi nationals will have no impact on any proposed Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-49349778793254495002013-04-09T19:37:00.000-04:002013-04-09T19:37:01.561-04:00Maggie, RIPMargaret Thatcher was the linchpin among a remarkable troika of leaders who led the West out of the wilderness of the 70's. With Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, she relentlessly rang the bell of freedom and stood firm against the Soviets and their agents in our midst to slay the beast once and for all. But Maggie had the tougher challenge. Her's was a nation that had embraced socialism afterUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-19109551280522584172013-03-05T00:34:00.000-05:002013-03-05T00:42:06.080-05:00The Boy Who Cried Wolf - A Fable of VictimhoodThere was a boy playing in the woods outside of town when he saw a wolf. At least he thought it was a wolf. It might have been a wolf. Anyway, he'd heard stories of wolves eating children in the old days, and he thought that seemed exciting, so he shouted "Wolf - Wolf!!" All the men from town came running with their guns and torches. They set up search parties and looked and looked but didn't Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-8308333227969791982013-02-20T23:30:00.000-05:002013-02-21T07:52:17.282-05:00Do Deficits Matter?Maybe not. Back when the deep 1981-82 recession along with Reagan's tax cuts combined with increased military led to big budget deficits, his apologists claimed deficits didn't matter. Now, it's the Obama supporters making this claim. The argument is that deficit spending is critical to economic growth right now, and that low interest rates prove it's not much of a problem anyway. But if we need Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12156706.post-71790857987254969362013-02-18T12:18:00.003-05:002013-02-18T12:18:47.628-05:00Democrats to Republicans: Watch What We Do, Not What We SayRepublicans have been taking advice from Democrats and New-York-Times types on how to improve their electoral prospects by embracing amnesty for illegal immigrants. Of course following this advice will positively doom the party to permanent minority status, as Latinos vote overwhelmingly Democrat. But Republicans are pretty stupid, so they anointed the lightweight Marco Rubio to lead their Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0