Author: Dave

Many assumed the pit bull in lipstick’s bully pulpit would end with her resignation as Governor (she was too pretty for such a masculine title anyway), but it now appears Caribou Barbie may be donning headphones and gunning down callers. Is there a market? You betcha. The Drilla from Wasilla’s campaign appearances drew huge crowds.…

There appear to be quite a few major downsides to the health care plan currently being debated. 1) As noted in my earlier post, not having coverage will essentially become illegal. You will be fined and enrolled against your will in the government-run plan if you don’t carry coverage. This will be called “helping you.”…

Obama’s really stepped in it this time. By calling police “stupid” in the Henry Louis Gates arrest without knowing what actually happened, he put himself firmly on what turns out to be the wrong side of the issue. The cop was not only right to investigate (there had been several break-ins in the area, including…

Ace makes a great point on one of the many problems on the health care bill: On Fox & Friends, they offered another good talking point: Currently 90% of all Americans are covered by insurance. Obama’s vaunted plan will cover, theoretically, another 7%. So: We’re destroying the entire system to move from 90% to 97%…

In case you didn’t catch Glenn Reynolds’ must-read piece on health care this weekend: But there’s another cost that isn’t getting enough attention. That’s the degree to which a bureaucratized healthcare system will squash medical innovation just as we reach a point where dramatic progress is possible. To see how important that is, I don’t…

Glenn links another calorie restriction study, but I’m skeptical the benefits will extend to humans, even if we develop drugs based on these diets. These studies are all of things that live much shorter lives than we do. Most likely, the diet causes them to express genes that we express regardless of our diet, such…

Fareed Zakaria (whose Future of Freedom is a must read) has this to say about the possibility of revolution in Iran: It’s possible but unlikely. While the regime’s legitimacy has cracked — a fatal wound in the long run — for now it will probably be able to use its guns and money to consolidate…

With ABC handing over hours of primetime to Obama’s infomercial for socialism (which failed utterly to attract viewers, thus giving the lie to the notion they’ve been kowtowing to him just because he’s a draw) I shouldn’t be surprised by this little piece of enviro-propaganda (enviroganda?) from the AP, furtively titled “analysis,” which I suppose…

Via HotAir, Tom Friedman has a bold plan to end the theocratic state in Iran: put a $1 tax on U.S. gasoline! Sure, it will be a terrible burden on everyday Americans during the worst economic conditions in a generation, but surely the mullahs will embrace democratic reforms if they have slightly less money! Only…

Barack Obama finally weighs in on the Iranian protests with these weightless words: “The world is watching.” And apparently watching is all the world is going to do, if Obama has anything to say about it. “The last thing that I want to do is to have the United States be a foil for those…

Rumor has it that the IRGC will be called into to crush the Iranian protests sooner rather than later. While many see hope for revolutionary change, I’m skeptical any internal movement will displace the mullahs. It’s easy to forget the Soviet Union fell only because their leadership lacked the will to send in the tanks…

This interesting essay over at HotAir by Doctor Zero looks at various scenarios under which Iran might wreak havoc as a nuclear power, including this very real problem: The Nuclear Umbrella: The most logical, and essentially guaranteed, result of a rogue regime achieving nuclear capability is the immediate foreclosure of the Saddam Hussein option. The…

Greetings CV readers, I’m honored and blessed to be contributing at Classical Values. You may have seen my work at Dean’s World, perhaps via the odd Instalanche. I’ve always loved the idea of a blog based on the values of classical civilization (partly as a result of everything Victor Davis Hanson has written on the…

Yes. You read that right. The Boston Globe says end heroin prohibition. THE OBAMA administration is committing 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. Yet as the United States works to stabilize that country, the most important decisions don’t just involve troop and funding levels. Also vital is ending the prohibition on growing opium poppies – for…

Tired of fighting the digital revolution the music companies appear to have finally decided to join it. After years of futile efforts to stop digital pirates from copying its music, the music business has started to copy the pirates. Online and mobile Relevant Products/Services services offering listeners unlimited, “free” access to millions of songs are…

The below video is a test firing of a surplus laser. Here is a picture of the laser: And the video of the laser firing: Fire the Laser! from famulus fusion on Vimeo. It is amazing what people are doing with industrial and government surplus these days. It is amazing what we can do with…

The Drug Task Forces that ran wild under the Clinton Administration were curtailed under Bush II but are set to be revived under Obama. Why? Well it will stimulate the economy. The stimulus bill includes plenty of green for those wearing blue. The compromise bill doles out more than $3.7 billion for police programs, much…

NASA is building a new man rated launch vehicle that is going back to the tried and tested methods of the Apollo Program. You can see more pictures and read the captions at Constellation Program Gallery. If you want to learn more about the Apollo Program this DVD from 2005 might help: Apollo 11: The…

Yes. The War On Gangs is over in the US. The murder rate in the USA has been declining since 1991. We know that a real war on drug gangs (Mexico) causes an increase in dug violence. Even the FBI agrees with that point (a real drug war increases violence). So in reality drugs have…

And why not? Europe is headed for the rocks. And it appears that there is nothing that can save it. The rocks are Eastern European debt. If mishandled by the world policy establishment, this debacle is big enough to shatter the fragile banking systems of Western Europe and set off round two of our financial…