Monday, September 17, 2012
When Bill Clinton points his finger, looks you in the eye and says, "Listen to me," watch out.
This is a guest post by reader Morgan
White House press conference, January 26, 1998. Text. Video (Fast forward to 06:25):
White House press conference, January 26, 1998. Text. Video (Fast forward to 06:25):
“... I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false. And I need to go back to work for the American people. Thank you.”Democratic National Convention, September 5th, 2012. Text. Video (Fast forward to 20:00):
“... Listen to me now. No president, no president -- not me, not any of my predecessors -- no one could have fully repaired all the damage that he found in just four years. (APPLAUSE) Now -- but he has -- he has laid the foundations for a new, modern, successful economy of shared prosperity. And if you will renew the president’s contract, you will feel it. You will feel it (APPLAUSE) Folks, whether the American people believe what I just said or not may be the whole election. I just want you to know that I believe it. With all my heart, I believe it. (APPLAUSE)”
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Top 10 things to tell President Obama to get him to read Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations"
This is a guest post by reader Morgan.
After listening to President Obama’s litany of economic excuses, Michael J. Boskin, professor of economics at Stanford University and past chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, suggests that our President read Adam Smith’s masterwork.
Good luck with that. The leader of the free world is way too busy campaigning to govern, much less read a book on classical economics. Boskin would have to resort to subterfuge. Here are some suggestions:
Top 10 things to tell President Obama to get him to read Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations
10. The original title was Adam Smith's "Rules for Radicals"
9. It's mandatory reading for the Miami Heats
8. Next to your two books and possibly the Bible, Adam’s Smith’s masterpiece is the fourth best book ever written
7. "The Wealth of Nations" was secretly written by your good pal Billy Ayers
6. Reggie Love gives it A Big Thumbs Up
5. Your old buddy Rashid Khalidi, former spokesperson for the PLO, has discussed the book at his dinner table and loves it to death
4. Jimmy Carter wrote the forward
3. Rev. Wright once delivered it as a sermon
2. It's on that fake list of books Sarah Palin wanted to ban
1. It’ll improve your golf game
After listening to President Obama’s litany of economic excuses, Michael J. Boskin, professor of economics at Stanford University and past chair of the Council of Economic Advisors, suggests that our President read Adam Smith’s masterwork.
Good luck with that. The leader of the free world is way too busy campaigning to govern, much less read a book on classical economics. Boskin would have to resort to subterfuge. Here are some suggestions:
Top 10 things to tell President Obama to get him to read Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations
10. The original title was Adam Smith's "Rules for Radicals"
9. It's mandatory reading for the Miami Heats
8. Next to your two books and possibly the Bible, Adam’s Smith’s masterpiece is the fourth best book ever written
7. "The Wealth of Nations" was secretly written by your good pal Billy Ayers
6. Reggie Love gives it A Big Thumbs Up
5. Your old buddy Rashid Khalidi, former spokesperson for the PLO, has discussed the book at his dinner table and loves it to death
4. Jimmy Carter wrote the forward
3. Rev. Wright once delivered it as a sermon
2. It's on that fake list of books Sarah Palin wanted to ban
1. It’ll improve your golf game
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Charts of the Day
Remember the bogus "Hockey Stick" climate model, which predicted rapid, and seemingly irreversible, global temperature increases? At one point, Dr. Michael Mann, the model's creator-in-chief, appeared to back away from some of his model's notions. Possibly because the science underlying the model -- particularly the tree ring data used as proxies for historical temperatures -- appeared suspect.
Thanks to Steve McIntyre of Climate Audit, strike the word "appeared." With tree ring proxy models, some data likely are outliers and should be excluded. There's nothing unscientific about the process, so long as it is transparent. McIntyre now has received the complete "Yamal" dataset (through 2005), calculated temperature proxies, and compared the results to the "Climate Research Unit" 2008 supposed Hockey Stick measurements:
source: Climate Audit
Not quite the same Hockey Stick, is it? Or, if so, it's flipped, un-threateningly, sideways. Anthony Watts both explains and poses a question to Dr Hockey Stick:
Except -- whoops! -- it isn't. RealClimate -- the blog that brags to be "Climate science from climate scientists" -- just had to revise its ocean heat content graphs for prior years. It blamed the mistake on "incorrect scaling." Strange language for an error us "pseudo-debate[rs]" have known of for years. With the correction, by the way, the ocean heat rise (for 2010) looks to have flatlined a while back:
source: RealClimate
Conclusion:
Post-modernists are skeptical about everything except skepticism. I don't know whether the earth actually is cooling. But the alarmist sure haven't shown it's worth spending hundreds of trillions against the small risk the planet might be warming. All they've proved -- again -- is that greens are crazy.
Thanks to Steve McIntyre of Climate Audit, strike the word "appeared." With tree ring proxy models, some data likely are outliers and should be excluded. There's nothing unscientific about the process, so long as it is transparent. McIntyre now has received the complete "Yamal" dataset (through 2005), calculated temperature proxies, and compared the results to the "Climate Research Unit" 2008 supposed Hockey Stick measurements:
source: Climate Audit
Not quite the same Hockey Stick, is it? Or, if so, it's flipped, un-threateningly, sideways. Anthony Watts both explains and poses a question to Dr Hockey Stick:
This graph demonstrates how trees simply don’t show a hockey stick shape when all of the data is used.Of course, Dr Mann ducked the question, calling it "specious." Similarly, Myles Allen thinks it "sad for democracy that so much energy in the debate on climate change has been expended on pseudo-debates about the science, leaving no room for public debate about the policy response." Allen goes on to say that his "fear is that by keeping the public focused on irrelevancies, you are excluding them from the discussion of what we should do about climate change." In other words, the science is settled.
In MBH98, your paper Dr. Mann, has a similar problem to the Briffa data. Your solution was to not use tree core data after 1960 and to splice on the instrumental temperature record to in effect “hide the decline” of the trees after 1960.
How do you respond to the charge that the tree ring data was cherry picked to show a desired result, and that Mr. McIntyre has falsified your work by showing that the premise of a hockey stick falls apart when all of the data is used?
Except -- whoops! -- it isn't. RealClimate -- the blog that brags to be "Climate science from climate scientists" -- just had to revise its ocean heat content graphs for prior years. It blamed the mistake on "incorrect scaling." Strange language for an error us "pseudo-debate[rs]" have known of for years. With the correction, by the way, the ocean heat rise (for 2010) looks to have flatlined a while back:
source: RealClimate
Conclusion:
Post-modernists are skeptical about everything except skepticism. I don't know whether the earth actually is cooling. But the alarmist sure haven't shown it's worth spending hundreds of trillions against the small risk the planet might be warming. All they've proved -- again -- is that greens are crazy.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
QOTD
Economist Thomas Sowell in the May 22nd Townhall:
Among the biggest lies of the welfare states on both sides of the Atlantic is the notion that the government can supply the people with things they want but cannot afford. Since the government gets its resources from the people, if the people as a whole cannot afford something, neither can the government. . .
After the Constitution of the United States was amended to permit a federal income tax, in 1916, the number of people reporting taxable incomes of $300,000 a year or more fell from well over a thousand to fewer than three hundred by 1921.
Were the rich all getting poorer? Not at all. They were investing huge sums of money in tax-exempt securities. The amount of money invested in tax-exempt securities was larger than the federal budget, and nearly half as large as the national debt.
This was not unique to the United States or to that era. After the British government raised their income tax on the top income earners in 2010, they discovered that they collected less tax revenue than before. Other countries have had similar experiences. Apparently the rich are not all fools, after all.
In today's globalized world economy, the rich can simply invest their money in countries where tax rates are lower.
So, if you cannot rely on "the rich" to pick up the slack, what can you rely on? Lies.
Nothing is easier for a politician than promising government benefits that cannot be delivered. Pensions such as Social Security are perfect for this role. The promises that are made are for money to be paid many years from now -- and somebody else will be in power then, left with the job of figuring out what to say and do when the money runs out and the riots start.
There are all sorts of ways of postponing the day of reckoning. The government can refuse to pay what it costs to get things done. Cutting what doctors are paid for treating Medicare patients is one obvious example.
That of course leads some doctors to refuse to take on new Medicare patients. But this process takes time to really make its full impact felt -- and elections are held in the short run. This is another growing problem that can be left for someone else to try to cope with in future years.
Increasing amounts of paperwork for doctors in welfare states with government-run medical care, and reduced payments to those doctors, in order to stave off the day of bankruptcy, mean that the medical profession is likely to attract fewer of the brightest young people who have other occupations available to them -- paying more money and having fewer hassles. But this too is a long-run problem -- and elections are still held in the short run.
Eventually, all these long-run problems can catch up with the wonderful-sounding lies that are the lifeblood of welfare state politics. But there can be a lot of elections between now and eventually -- and those who are good at political lies can win a lot of those elections.
Monday, May 21, 2012
Liz Warren's Authentic Cherokee Gefilte Fish
This is a guest post by reader Morgan.
It looks like one of Elizabeth Warren's recipes in the book Pow Wow Chow: A Collection of Recipes from Families of the Five Civilized Tribes may have been traced all the way back to an upscale French restaurant in Manhattan circa 1979.
Well, hold on to your napkins, we’ve just discovered another tidbit of Warren-family cuisine that goes back even further -- maybe to the Lost Tribes of Israel. Enjoy!
Liz Warren's Authentic Cherokee Gefilte Fish
5 pounds red fish fillets, ground
2 large red (not white) onions
2 carrots
1 parsnip (paleface carrot)
5 domesticated (not prairie) chicken eggs, or 25 quail eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons Cherokee Kosher salt
4 teaspoons ground black (not white) pepper
3/4 cup Cherokee matzo meal
3/4 cup ice water
1/2 teaspoon Cherokee paprika
2 large red (not white) onions
2 carrots
1/2 teaspoon Cherokee paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground black (not white) pepper
2 tablespoons sugar
Preparation
Put the ground red fish in a large wooden bowl or hollowed-out gourd.
Using a food processor or a tomahawk, finely mince 2 onions, 2 carrots and the paleface carrot. Add the minced vegetables to the red fish.
Using a wooden spoon or an antler, stir one egg one at a time into the mixture (5 at a time for quail eggs). Add 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, 4 teaspoons salt, 4 teaspoons pepper, 1/2 teaspoon paprika.
Add ice water slowly as you continue to blend.
Add matzo meal and blend again. Check to see if the mixture will bind into a small ball. If it doesn’t, adjust the mixture by adding more water or matzo.
Fill a large cast iron pot half full with spring water. Start a fire with a Cherokee bow drill. If pressed for time, you can use flint and steel. Roughly chop the remaining onions and carrots, and add them to the pot. Add paprika, salt, pepper and two tablespoons of sugar. Bring to a boil for 1/4,320 of a moon (10 minutes).
Form the mixture into small balls half the size of a prairie chicken egg and gently lower them into the boiling stock with a slotted wooden spoon or crow feet tongs. Cook over a medium-low campfire for 1/360 of a moon (2 hours).
When done, let fish sit in the pot for 1/4,320 of a moon (10 minutes).
Using the slotted spoon or tongs, carefully remove the fish balls and place them in containers. Cover with strained stock. Chill and serve with Warren Family’s Famous Acorn & Pumpkin Chutney.
Warren’s Authentic Cherokee Gefilte Fish will keep in a White Man's magic cold box for up to 1/5 of a moon (6 days).
CORRECTION
The original post contained two errors.
Bring to a boil for 1/720 of a moon (10 minutes).
When done, let fish sit in the pot for 1/720 of a moon (10 minute).
The correct times are 1/4,320 of a moon (10 minutes).
The errors were corrected at 6:40 am on 4/23/12.
Thanks to reader Gringo for pointing out the errors.
It looks like one of Elizabeth Warren's recipes in the book Pow Wow Chow: A Collection of Recipes from Families of the Five Civilized Tribes may have been traced all the way back to an upscale French restaurant in Manhattan circa 1979.
Well, hold on to your napkins, we’ve just discovered another tidbit of Warren-family cuisine that goes back even further -- maybe to the Lost Tribes of Israel. Enjoy!
Liz Warren's Authentic Cherokee Gefilte Fish
5 pounds red fish fillets, ground
2 large red (not white) onions
2 carrots
1 parsnip (paleface carrot)
5 domesticated (not prairie) chicken eggs, or 25 quail eggs
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons Cherokee Kosher salt
4 teaspoons ground black (not white) pepper
3/4 cup Cherokee matzo meal
3/4 cup ice water
1/2 teaspoon Cherokee paprika
2 large red (not white) onions
2 carrots
1/2 teaspoon Cherokee paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground black (not white) pepper
2 tablespoons sugar
Preparation
Put the ground red fish in a large wooden bowl or hollowed-out gourd.
Using a food processor or a tomahawk, finely mince 2 onions, 2 carrots and the paleface carrot. Add the minced vegetables to the red fish.
Using a wooden spoon or an antler, stir one egg one at a time into the mixture (5 at a time for quail eggs). Add 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, 4 teaspoons salt, 4 teaspoons pepper, 1/2 teaspoon paprika.
Add ice water slowly as you continue to blend.
Add matzo meal and blend again. Check to see if the mixture will bind into a small ball. If it doesn’t, adjust the mixture by adding more water or matzo.
Fill a large cast iron pot half full with spring water. Start a fire with a Cherokee bow drill. If pressed for time, you can use flint and steel. Roughly chop the remaining onions and carrots, and add them to the pot. Add paprika, salt, pepper and two tablespoons of sugar. Bring to a boil for 1/4,320 of a moon (10 minutes).
Form the mixture into small balls half the size of a prairie chicken egg and gently lower them into the boiling stock with a slotted wooden spoon or crow feet tongs. Cook over a medium-low campfire for 1/360 of a moon (2 hours).
When done, let fish sit in the pot for 1/4,320 of a moon (10 minutes).
Using the slotted spoon or tongs, carefully remove the fish balls and place them in containers. Cover with strained stock. Chill and serve with Warren Family’s Famous Acorn & Pumpkin Chutney.
Warren’s Authentic Cherokee Gefilte Fish will keep in a White Man's magic cold box for up to 1/5 of a moon (6 days).
CORRECTION
The original post contained two errors.
Bring to a boil for 1/720 of a moon (10 minutes).
When done, let fish sit in the pot for 1/720 of a moon (10 minute).
The correct times are 1/4,320 of a moon (10 minutes).
The errors were corrected at 6:40 am on 4/23/12.
Thanks to reader Gringo for pointing out the errors.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Unicorns Still Don't Exist
In January, I detailed unrealistic mandates for "cellulosic biofuel" imposed by statute. Because Congressmen are lousy scientists, it turned out that "establishment costs, as well as collection, storage, and transportation costs, associated with the production of bulky biomass crops are likely to be more challenging than originally thought." Congressional Research Service, Cellulosic Biofuels: Analysis of Policy Issues for Congress at 3 (Jan. 13, 2011). Moreover, "[b]reaking down cellulose and converting it into fuel requires complex chemical processing--technology that is now rudimentary and expensive. . . [A]t the present time processing cellulose into fuels is expensive relative to other conventional and alternative fuel options." Id. at 9. (This despite a $350k grant awarded by EPA in 1997 to commercalize a "breakthrough" genetically engineered yeast that would convert cellulose to ethanol. The EPA gave a 2008 "Youth Award" to a New York state high school student for a seemingly similar project--at least it was cheaper!)
Unsurprisingly, therefore, refiners produced exactly zero gallons of cellulosic biofuel in 2011. 77 Fed. Reg. 1320, 1323 (Jan. 9, 2012). More surprisingly -- at least to those familiar with the meaning of due process -- oil companies were required to pay millions of dollars in "waivers" for failing to meet the mandates. Even the New York Times called this a euphemism for a "fine" and "penalty."
Back in 2008, the EPA predicted (link in .ppt) that "Cellulosic biomass will be the primary source for fuel ethanol." The agency still believes its press releases. Yet, according to MIT's Technology Review, "[t]he corn ethanol industry is booming, but cellulosic biofuel production is far behind schedule."
source: May 9th Technology Review
The article continues:
Plus, we're funding Congress and EPA. Meaning taxpayers pay double.
(via Instapundit)
Unsurprisingly, therefore, refiners produced exactly zero gallons of cellulosic biofuel in 2011. 77 Fed. Reg. 1320, 1323 (Jan. 9, 2012). More surprisingly -- at least to those familiar with the meaning of due process -- oil companies were required to pay millions of dollars in "waivers" for failing to meet the mandates. Even the New York Times called this a euphemism for a "fine" and "penalty."
Back in 2008, the EPA predicted (link in .ppt) that "Cellulosic biomass will be the primary source for fuel ethanol." The agency still believes its press releases. Yet, according to MIT's Technology Review, "[t]he corn ethanol industry is booming, but cellulosic biofuel production is far behind schedule."
source: May 9th Technology Review
The article continues:
In 2012, the EPA posits--based on its analysis of the six facilities scheduled to come online this year--that the fledgling industry will have the capacity to produce nearly 10.5 million gallons, compared to the original goal of 500 million. . .Not that the oil companies won't pay fines. . . I mean buy waivers. Someone has to pay for misplaced green zealotry, and it's never Congress or the EPA--it's oil companies and, thus, their customers. Which (for those now occupying some public park) means us.
Several more facilities should begin commercial production in 2013, but it's hard to believe that the industry will come even close to producing a billion gallons--the goal for that year, set by Congress in 2007. And the 2022 mandate of 36 billion total gallons of biofuel--16 of that cellulosic--is looking more unrealistic every year.
Plus, we're funding Congress and EPA. Meaning taxpayers pay double.
(via Instapundit)
Monday, May 14, 2012
QsOTD
Obama's recent changed position, explained by Glenn Thrush and Jennifer Epstein in the the May 10th Politico:
The core of their argument against Mitt Romney is that he is an untrustworthy politician with no real core of conviction. Obama’s advisers -- who are acutely conscious of the media’s criticism despite their professed contempt for the news cycle -- simply couldn’t afford to have the president appear like a coward on the front and editorial pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post, according to senior Democrats.Tim Stanley in the May 11th Telegraph (U.K.):
Here’s the problem with the press coverage of Barack Obama: the mainstream media is so overwhelmed by his charisma that they often miss the important details. Every decision, speech, policy statement or impromptu visit to the bathroom is presented as a piece of "history" -- the dawn of a new era. The Prez could go seal-clubbing and much of the media would see it as a new epoch for winter sports. "Barack Obama Becomes the First President to Kill Six Seals in Under One Minute," the New York Times would proudly report, while Twitter would be all abuzz with how hot he looks in snow shoes.(via Best of the Web, reader Doug)
Friday, May 11, 2012
QOTD
From the May 9th Weekly Standard:
President Barack Obama has won the Democratic party primary in West Virginia--but it was closer than expected. The president's only opponent in the race, Keith Judd, is an inmate at the Beaumont Federal Correctional Institution in Texas. Obama received 59.4 percent of the Democratic primary vote, Judd received 40.6 percent.It's worse than voting "none of the above"--Judd is jailed for "threats he made at the University of New Mexico in 1999." As Bloomberg Businessweek conceded, "It seems pretty obvious that many [Democrats] had never heard of him and simply checked the box for 'the other guy who is not Barack Obama' when they went to the polling booth."
Judd is in prison for extortion on a 210 month sentence, but he was "able to get on the state ballot by paying a $2,500 fee and filing a form known as a notarized certification of announcement," the AP reports. He is Inmate No. 11593-051.
source: AP
And Judd now should be eligible for a delegate at the national Democratic party convention: "Attracting at least 15 percent of the vote would normally qualify a candidate for a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. But state Democratic Party Executive Director Derek Scarbro said no one has filed to be a delegate for Judd. The state party also believes that Judd has failed to file paperwork required of presidential candidates, but officials continue to research the matter, Scarbro said."
It's a clear sign of how unpopular President Obama is in West Virginia--even among Democrats.
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
Chart of the Day
"RomneyCare" passed in 2006. It promised, and largely delivered, universal health insurance coverage--just as ObamaCare promises. The Massachusetts law resembles ObamaCare in another way, says the May 5th Wall Street Journal:
The 2006 Massachusetts law didn't directly take aim at health-care costs, and economists say evidence suggests that it hasn't altered the trajectory of health-care spending in the state, which has long been among the priciest for reasons including its high cost of living and prestigious medical centers. Some supporters of the law hoped expenses would naturally fall as more people became insured, and sought more preventive, and less emergency, care.In other words, ObamaCare might be worse than MassCare. Absent some limits on the scope of Congress's power to "regulate Commerce," we're doomed.
The year before it passed, Massachusetts already had the nation's second-highest health spending level, after the District of Columbia, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. In 2009, the most recent year available, it held the same ranking, with per-capita spending of $9,278, up 3.9% from the year before. The national rate rose 3.8% that year.
"If there is any lesson [for the national health care law] it is that you're not going to see a major change in your trend line," said Stuart Altman, an economist at Brandeis University. He cautioned that it's hard to compare Massachusetts to other states because the Bay State already had a high rate of insured citizens, meaning far fewer new insured people come into the system than might in other states.
Monday, May 07, 2012
Top Ten Elizabeth Warren Rejected Excuses
This is a guest post by reader Morgan.
Democratic Senatorial candidate Liz Warren’s latest excuse for claiming minority status is so risibly absurd, the mind boggles trying to imagine the ones she rejected:
10. I told Harvard I drove a Jeep Cherokee and somehow they got confused.
9. Seriously, would a person who created much of the intellectual foundation for Occupy Wall Street lie about being 1/32 Cherokee?
8. In my impressionable youth, I was brainwashed by Cher’s megahit Half Breed.
7. I'm Red, Scott's Brown. What's the problem?
6. People who doubt my Native-American heritage are the same evil conservatives who question President Obama’s divinity.
5. Ward Churchill swore I looked Cherokee-ish.
4. Cherokees are Native-Americans. Native-Americans fertilize crops with fish. Herring are fish. My maiden name is Herring. Somehow those facts got all mixed up in my young mind.
3. You’d believe me if I were a man.
2. My Pepaw, had high cheekbones like all of the Indians did. (Correction: Warren actually tried this excuse.)
2. As a child in Oklahoma, I used to play lacrosse, a Native-American game. One day, I suffered a concussion and woke up thinking I was Princess Moonbat of the Cherokee Nation.
1. I never thought I’d get caught.
Democratic Senatorial candidate Liz Warren’s latest excuse for claiming minority status is so risibly absurd, the mind boggles trying to imagine the ones she rejected:
10. I told Harvard I drove a Jeep Cherokee and somehow they got confused.
9. Seriously, would a person who created much of the intellectual foundation for Occupy Wall Street lie about being 1/32 Cherokee?
8. In my impressionable youth, I was brainwashed by Cher’s megahit Half Breed.
7. I'm Red, Scott's Brown. What's the problem?
6. People who doubt my Native-American heritage are the same evil conservatives who question President Obama’s divinity.
5. Ward Churchill swore I looked Cherokee-ish.
4. Cherokees are Native-Americans. Native-Americans fertilize crops with fish. Herring are fish. My maiden name is Herring. Somehow those facts got all mixed up in my young mind.
3. You’d believe me if I were a man.
2. As a child in Oklahoma, I used to play lacrosse, a Native-American game. One day, I suffered a concussion and woke up thinking I was Princess Moonbat of the Cherokee Nation.
1. I never thought I’d get caught.
Monday, April 30, 2012
QOTD
From the April 29th New York Times:
Some of Mr. Obama’s top advisers worried that the intelligence suggesting that Bin Laden was in the Abbottabad compound was circumstantial and much too flimsy to justify the risks involved. The deputy C.I.A. director, Michael J. Morell, had told the president that in terms of available data points, “the circumstantial evidence of Iraq having W.M.D. was actually stronger than evidence that Bin Laden was living in the Abbottabad compound.”
Monday, April 09, 2012
QOTD
P.J.O'Rourke plumping for the space program in the April 9th Weekly Standard:
[S]pace keeps the politically powerful distracted with grand, visionary projects. Otherwise they’d be tempted to meddle in our personal affairs and might--who knows?--start subjecting us to full body searches at airports or telling us which health insurance policies to buy.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Chart of the Day
From the March 3rd Economist:
The past four years have seen the worst economic crisis since the 1930s and the biggest food-price increases since the 1970s. That must surely have swollen the ranks of the poor.
Wrong. The best estimates for global poverty come from the World Bank’s Development Research Group, which has just updated from 2005 its figures for those living in absolute poverty (not be confused with the relative measure commonly used in rich countries). The new estimates show that in 2008, the first year of the finance-and-food crisis, both the number and share of the population living on less than $1.25 a day (at 2005 prices, the most commonly accepted poverty line) was falling in every part of the world. This was the first instance of declines across the board since the bank started collecting the figures in 1981.
source: Economist, March 3, 2012
The estimates for 2010 are partial but, says the bank, they show global poverty that year was half its 1990 level. The world reached the UN’s "millennium development goal" of halving world poverty between 1990 and 2015 five years early. This implies that the long-term rate of poverty reduction--slightly over one percentage point a year--continued unabated in 2008-10, despite the dual crisis. . .
The poverty data chime with other evidence. Estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organisation that the number of hungry people soared from 875m in 2005 to 1 billion in 2009 turned out to be wrong, and were quietly dropped. Derek Headey of the International Food Policy Research Institute has shown that despite the world food-price spike, people’s assessment of their own food situation in most poor and middle-income countries was better in 2008 than it had been in 2006.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Anti-Constitutional
The Supreme Court scheduled three days of oral arguments (March 26-28) on various aspects of Obamacare--an unusually long presentation of legal arguments for any case. Not content with its briefs and upcoming advocacy, a March 9th New York Times story reveals:
And you thought the President was a Constitutional law scholar. Wrong--he's a Chicago ward heeler promoted beyond his level of competence.
(via reader Doug J.)
White House Works to Shape Debate Over Health LawStripping out the weasel words, the Executive Branch is "coordinating" with outside groups to orchestrate demonstrators to intimidate the Judicial Branch as it decides a major case. So much for separation of powers! So much for speech rights being limited to human beings. So much for the most famous case in American law: Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, 177 (1803) ("It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.").
The White House has begun an aggressive campaign to use approaching Supreme Court arguments on the new health care law as a moment to build support for the measure seen as President Obama’s signature legislative achievement, hoping to shape public opinion on an issue at the center of the battle for the White House and Congress.
On Wednesday, White House officials summoned dozens of leaders of nonprofit organizations that strongly back the health law to help them coordinate plans for a prayer vigil, press conferences and other events outside the court when justices hear arguments for three days beginning March 26.
And you thought the President was a Constitutional law scholar. Wrong--he's a Chicago ward heeler promoted beyond his level of competence.
(via reader Doug J.)
