Month: August 2011

Of all the things that have been said so far about Rick Perry (and there will of course be many more) I think former president Clinton’s observation is the most interesting: Speaking at a fire fighter’s conference in midtown Manhattan this morning, Clinton said, “I got tickled by watching Governor Perry announce for governor, for…

So I’m having the usual discussion with a Socon and he accuses me of not liking Jesus. M. Simon, your post attacking me makes you sound like a “Christophobe.” Your logic shows your contempt for Christianity and distrust of us Christians. You got me. It was caused by me being FORCED in public school to…

Watts Up With That has the news the sceptic community has been waiting for. The CERN experiments done by Svensmark et. al. [Update: actually they were done by Kirkby but they validate the Svensmark hypothesis] show that clouds are significantly affected by cosmic rays. …it appears that a non-visible light irradiance effect on Earth’s cloud…

I was having a discussion with Eric via e-mail about blogging and decided to Google Power and Control. My blog comes out on top of course (we bloggers are a very competitive lot – Hey “M. Simon”, “M Simon”, and “MSimon” searches all have my blog, Power and Control, at the top – but I…

I had no idea that the number of babies receiving WIC food supplements was this high. a shocking 49 percent of all babies born in the U.S. are born to families receiving food supplements from the WIC program, according to Jean Daniel, spokesperson for the USDA. Doesn’t that mean half of all births are essentially…

At Reason, A. Barton Hinkle looks at the dangers of militarized law enforcement: The paramilitary approach to law enforcement flies in the face of the idea that the police and the citizens are on the same side. Officer Friendly, strolling the block in a blue uniform and playing a paradiddle with his baton on a…

While there’s supposed to be a rule against questioning people’s patriotism, Barack Obama had no problem calling Bush “unpatriotic” when he was running for office. What makes this flashback especially rich is the context. Bush, he claimed, had been “unpatriotic” because he added $4 trillion to the national debt over a period of eight years…

While few would agree with me, I think that attacking Rick Perry (there’s even an online form to help) is strategically the smartest thing Team Obama could do right now if the goal is to get Perry on the ticket. Not only is Obama’s popularity at an all time low, but among Republicans, negative attitudes towards…

I realize that Vice President Biden was trying to be “diplomatic” when he pointedly refused to second guess China’s barbaric one child policy, just as I realize that when he and his ilk talk about “reproductive rights” they are not talking about the right to reproduce. But what most gives me the creeps about Biden’s overall…

ED MORRISSEY: Biden’s Praise For China’s One-Child Policy: So Much For Being “Pro-Choice.” “Women in China have no choice over their bodies. The state enforces its policy with a totalitarian regime that requires IUDs, aborts children, and tortures and maim women who attempt to exercise choice.” Silly Ed. These are communists. It’s okay when communists…

The best version of this I ever saw was in a traveling show that passed through Rockford one year. I was hoping for a pleasant evening and was WOWed. This was brought to mind by Protecting Yourself While Divorcing Someone With Borderline or Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Of course “Kiss Me Kate” and “The Taming Of…

Some people are upset that Rick Perry apparently likened homosexuality to alcoholism in his 2008 book. Here’s what he said: “Even if an alcoholic is powerless over alcohol once it enters his body, he still makes a choice to drink,” he wrote. “And, even if someone is attracted to a person of the same sex,…

Megan asks whether welfare reform is working. First off, it has be pointed out that “poverty rate” is the most useless, contrived statistic in existence, other than perhaps “jobs created or saved.” This damned lie statistic says that no matter how well off you actually are on an absolute scale, you may be “in poverty”…

As I am tired of all things narrative, I thought I would link a few news items that don’t comfortably fit anyone’s narrative. First, Hugo Chavez has proclaimed solidarity with the embattled Muammar Gadhafi: CARACAS — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez declared Tuesday that he will continue to recognize only Moamer Kadhafi as the legitimate leader…

I was looking around the ‘net and for some Vonnegut material and came across a review of Player Piano. Here is the central theme of the book and the review. Remember the days Greenspan would trumpet productivity improvements brought on by the internet as a key factor in maintaining benign inflation during economic expansion? It…

There is a new science I have never heard of before. Cliodynamics. Interesting name though. It is about putting history on a mathematical basis. One of the practitioners of the art is Peter Turchin who along with S. A. Nefedov wrote a paper about Secular Cycles in history. It is about societies that are at…

Rather often these days the idea that CO2 is destroying the planet is touted. Well OK. This is important. Really important. I get it. So how about a War to stop China from making so much CO2? Its output is expected to be double the US output by 2020. That is a doubling every ten…

M. Simon has an interesting post commenting on Walter Russell Mead’s “Inequality Grows As Poor, Ignorant Atheists Swamp US” which Glenn linked earlier. As Mead notes, those with nothing to cling to are dropping God, who seems these days to appeal mostly to people who have it better in life: According to the American Sociological…

Walter Russel Mead is discussing the breakdown of religion in America and how it affects social outcomes. He neglects the beached whale in the room. But he does think that people can be taught religion. I’m more of the opinion that it is a cultural thing. The more chiseling you have to do to make…

We have two parties in America. One offers imaginary solutions to real problems and the other offers real solutions for imaginary problems. Some choice.