Month: August 2011

What is it with the world?  I go away for one month, and everything goes to Hell in a hand basket?!  Can’t I leave the world alone for a second without having to worry about things? Apparent not. Let me state unequivocally, though, that I had nothing to do with

It really does seem to be pointless, done for the thrill of it: http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20110807/EU.Britain.Riot/

Sadie sends this along.  I doubt there’s anything to it, but it is an interesting story, anyway:   Many people have suspected that LBJ was behind the killing of JFK. Johnson was one of the biggest scumbags in American politics. He was crooked and dirty. Plus, he despised JFK who

In California, Gov. Brown just signed a bill that would require the state’s electors to vote for whoever gets the majority in the presidential election nationally, regardless of the vote in California.  This idea has always struck me as strangely undemocratic, but nowhere more so than in California.  Consider that

Here’s DQ’s take:   I admit ignorance here, as I haven’t read the official explanation by S & P.   I’m not sure I’d believe it anyway.   One theory I heard was that S & P was happy as a clam as long as everyone understood that the debt ceiling

Here’s an interesting little tidbit from Climate Depot, a site that’s skeptical of the AGW hoax. Apparently the High Priest of Hoaxdom, Al Gore, was seen melting at a big AGW confab a few days ago. The Dorothy who was destroying his “beautiful climate change wickedness” is the growing legion of

Over at The American Interest, Walter Mead has written an interesting piece, “American Tenderbox,” on the recent spate of strong-arm robberies and attacks on whites by flash mobs of young black men: http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2011/08/07/american-tinderbox/ After succumbing to weariness over a seemingly endless attempt by one contributor on another thread to paint sociology as

Thanks again, Sadie:   In an age of visual media, a picture is no longer worth a 1,000 words. It’s a photo “shoot” and if by “shoot” your intent is to maim an image. MM asks: Who’s in charge of Newsweek cover graphics now — a Media Matters Soros Monkey?

Money Problems Cause Divorce Basically, it’s spenders vs savers plus values. Organizing your divorce Again, basically it’s create a budget, cut monthly spending, consolidate and reduce. Seems simple enough advice from Divorce.com. Isn’t it where we are now .. in the divorce court of public opinion. Alimony and child support

Question: At what age should economists stop public speaking?   “The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that. So there is zero probability of default” said Greenspan on NBC’s Meet the Press.   Answer: After checking his birth date, I’d

From Sadie:   Can’t resist an opportunity for a pun and commentary – Watts Going On? LONDON (AP) — New unrest erupted on north London’s streets late Sunday, a day after rioting and looting in a deprived area amid community anger over a fatal police shooting. Police deployed extra officers

If this happens, it will be very intereting to see how the public reacts to such a transparent move. From Sadie: The White House is also counting on the Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal big-screen version of the killing of Bin Laden to counter Obama’s growing reputation as ineffectual. The

In light of our discussion about whether sociology is really a science (hint: it’s not), Sadie has this great find about how scientifically sociology is being taught these days:   News Flash: Men and Women ARE Different by Amanda Swysgood 08/07/2011 Last semester, I had the horrible idea of taking

We’ve been discussing jj’s claim that laws change the Constitution all the time.  People have pointed to Kelo, Roe and gun laws as examples. I suspect we all know how the system works, but please allow me a short review.  The legislature may not pass a law that violates the