Bookworm Room

Conservatives deal with facts and reach conclusions; liberals have conclusions and sell them as facts.

Tuesday tidbits (and an Open Thread, of course)

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Victorian posy of pansiesDennis Prager asks a very important question:  What do you learn when you compare what Leftists and what conservatives view as the greatest evils in the world today.  Using this analysis reveals just how bereft the Left is of any moral compass.  Or rather, it has a moral compass, only it works backwards.  As for me, I’m wondering if there’s any way I can slip the ideas in this article before my Leftist friends so that they think about the concepts without become too defensive to absorb them.

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Wendy Davis got into a war of words with Bristol Palin, who pointed out that Davis’ actual life, as opposed to her imaginary life, is nothing to be proud of.  A few comments.

First, I was absolutely blown away by something Davis said in her defense, regarding her relationship with her adult daughters:  “I have always been and will always be the most important female in their lives.”  That’s a pretty monumental ego you’ve got there, Little Lady.  An ego that size much explains everything about Davis’s life choices and her lies.

Second, Palin is right, as Greg demonstrates in nice graphic form.

Third, Pat Sajak came up with the best tweets ever regarding Davis’s imaginary bio:

By the way, if you want an endless stream of humor, follow Sajak on Twitter.  He’s a gifted satirist and social observer who elegantly compresses his thoughts into 120 characters:

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NPR tries to push a minimum wage increase with a story about Henry Ford’s decision to offer high wages to get the best employees.  It doesn’t seem to occur to the geniuses at publicly supported radio that there’s a difference between a business making a strategic decision to get the best employees possible, and a government forcing all businesses to pay higher wages to everyone across the board, whether they’re yutzes or the most wonderful employees ever.  Even more disheartening than this, well, stupidity is the only word for it, is my sense that there’s no way to get those NPR drones to understand that there is a difference.  Sigh.

Tuesday tidbits

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Victorian posy of pansiesWhen I lived in England, though I neither smoked nor drank, I enjoyed hanging out in pubs.  They were congenial places where one could get a good game of darts (good for me, especially, because of that not-drinking bit).  Apparently pubs aren’t that much fun anymore, and the Brits can thank Labor for that.  Frankly, there are a lot of things that the Brits can “thank” Labour for, including the fact that the most popular boy’s name in England is Mohamed — and Mohameds aren’t known for hanging out in pubs making friends with the locals.

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I was speaking with a neighbor today about Common Core.  It’s so bad in Marin that, between the bullying (yes, peaceful Marin middle schoolers, especially those from the most liberal enclaves, are fearful bullies) and the curriculum disaster, she’s now home schooling her middle schooler.  I know she wouldn’t read what Ace wrote about the disaster that is Common Core, because she still thinks she’s a liberal, but she’d certainly agree with him if I could get her to read it.

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If you’re wondering what happens as Leftists make ever greater inroads into every facet of American culture, you need look no further than this story telling the terrible fate of a journalist who dared to point out that a transgender ex-man, current sort-of woman was also a liar.

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When I was a young lawyer, a study came out about the fact that plaintiffs in mass disasters (such as a bus or plane crash) had different outcomes depending upon the speed with which they settled (or didn’t settle).  Those who settled immediately got less money, but recovered quickly and got on with their lives.  Those who insisted on going to trial got more money, but recovered slowly and badly, and couldn’t get on with their lives.  These results were the same regardless of the relative severity of their injuries.  That is, a severely injured person who settled quickly would still do better than a less injured person who insisted on going to trial.  I thought of this study when I read about the perpetual victim status of the so-called Palestinian refugees who have been refusing to settle since 1948, and who live in abysmal conditions for that reason.

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And speaking of the perpetual Palestinian victims, the problem really isn’t Israel; it’s the Arabs (and Muslims).  Their fanatic antisemitism is a symptom of deeper dysfunctions and an excuse for refusing to confront them.

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When I took First Aid classes, I was told never to use a tourniquet.  Two recent wars have now taught us that this rule should only apply when there will be a long period between on-the-scene treatment and actual treatment.  Otherwise, why yes, tourniquets are a good thing.

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Let’s see:  Wendy Davis lies (although it’s sexist to point that out); Wendy Davis doesn’t understand the First Amendment and has a low threshold for criticism; and Wendy Davis thinks that she, whose only “hardship” was a young marriage and early divorce, understands suffering in a way that her Republican opponent doesn’t.  Or, as she says, he can’t speak about her lying and paranoia because he “hasn’t walked a day in my shoes.”  She’s right too.  Greg Abbott hasn’t walked a day in anybody’s shoes — because he’s a paraplegic.  Neo-neocon has more, much more, on what this says about Davis and modern feminism.

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Keith Koffler nails everything that’s wrong with the super-secret, star-studded, self-indulgent birthday party that Moochelle Obama threw for herself.  When I turned 50, I bought myself some chocolate Haagen Daaz and a good book, got extra kisses from my kids, and took my Mom out to lunch.  It was a good day.

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Finally, I want to introduce you to a website that you’ll like:  Election Projection, which is Scott Elliot’s baby.  He does a great job of analyzing probable election outcomes and, as he can prove, predicts them with remarkable accuracy.

Wendy Davis: typical Harvard Law School grad

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To those few of you reading this who are conservatives who managed to survive Harvard Law School, my apologies.  But I have to say, having read this, it’s obvious that Texas’s Wendy Davis is a typical Harvard Law School grad:  thin-skinned, unprincipled, arrogant, anti-constitutional, and ill-informed.  Oh, and judging by her claiming the “pro-Life” mantle for herself, appropriately Orwellian.

I know that there are good Harvard Law grads out there.  I’ve always been willing to say that Harvard Law was still producing decent lawyers as late as 1980.  Ted Cruz proves that intelligent people can still go in there and come out alive.

But in my experience, people like Obama and Wendy Davis are the typical Harvard Law grads of the past 30 or so years:  they’re undoubtedly bright going in, but after three years spent at that august institution, they’re ruined.  To them, law isn’t a matter of justice, it’s a matter of social justice.  They operate off of a sense of wounded ego and identity-based victim-hood.  Principles always give way to expediency.  And they have no professional decorum.  Barring one rather insane guy who went to Hastings, I’ve never dealt with ruder, less honest, more unreliable people across the courtroom, fax machine, telephone, email, or desk than Harvard Law Grads.  They’re like rats.

Yale grads are just as insanely ideological, but they at least acknowledge that the law creates boundaries and that professionalism exists, and they try to operate within those parameters.  Harvard Law grads don’t.

Quite possible the best thing that could happen to American politics would be for Harvard Law to suffer some sort of catastrophic financial loss and close its doors permanently.  It’s a factory for defective people who are given instant admission to America’s halls of power.