It is just the little touches after the average man would quit that make the master's fame.
Orison Swett Marden
Congratulations, The Voice 2012 Winner
Jermaine Paul
My Former Congressman, Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL)
Stroke Recovery Progress Report: Thumbs UP!
Profiles in Dishonor: Alexi Tsipras,
Greek Leader of the Coalition for the Radical Left:
Thumbs DOWN!
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| Alexi Tsipras |
The day after I write a commentary praising Greeks for doing the tough, right things to reform an economy facing its day of reckoning:
The Greek government has responded by laying off thousands of government workers, cutting the salaries of those who are left, and cutting pensions to retirees. They’ve nullified collective bargaining agreements in an effort to get wages lower so that Greeks will be more competitive in the world economy. Additionally they’ve raised taxes and fees on everything under the Greek sun.we have this piece of work, a reactionary leftist whom is in a state of denial:
When handed the right to try and form a coalition government in Greece, [Tsipras] told the world that the Greek bailout agreement is “null and void” and should be abandoned. Besides abandoning the bailout, Tsipras said he’d like to nationalize the banks permanently, restore all salaries and pensions to their previous higher levels and bring back collective bargaining rights.Tsipras channels his inner Obama:
"I think fiscal consolidation can be achieved through other means. I think the rich should pay and not just the poor and middle class.”How do I know Obama is Tsipras' hero?
“Do you know what (Warren) Buffett said? He said come on, 'let me pay.' "
I bet Tsipras doesn't know that Warren Buffett has had a lucrative financial stake in Goldman Sachs, whose derivatives with AIG were honored at full value, that he had had a large stake in Moody's, one of those wonderfully effective credit rating agencies, that not every rich person--whom, by the way, didn't elect Buffett President of the Upper Class--pays the same lower tax rate: and most of these taxes reflect double taxation of income already taxed at the corporate level; why I bet Tsipras doesn't even realize that Buffett could, if he wanted to, show that he isn't being a blatant hypocrite by giving billions extra now on his own like he can and/or leaving all of his fortune to the US Treasury to help pay off Obama's $5T and climbing national debt
And while we're at it, let's go after the Left's favorite whipping boy:
"We have the solution: to have the banks under the state control."
The other parties will likely refuse to form a government with this piece of work, and we'll see new elections in a few weeks. If the Greek government reverses the terms of the agreement, most likely the result will be Greece dropping the euro for the drachma. Who will loan to these people knowing they have no intention of living within their means?
Most Fascinating Rumor I've Read in Decades:
Will the CCP Declare Mission Accomplished
and Open Up the Political Process?
Most of us free marketers and classical liberals/individualists have been arguing that key constraints on economic progress in China are arbitrary restrictions on political liberties and the intrinsic economic inefficiencies of government-dominated economies (to which, unfortunately, our current President and Senate Democratic leadership are tied ).
According to a high-level source in Beijing, key leaders in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Politburo have reached four points of consensus that will be announced on or around the 18th Party Congress:
1. People from all walks of life, political parties, and social organizations should send representatives to form a preparatory committee for a new constitution. They will draft a new constitution that protects the rights of citizens to freely form associations and political parties.
2. It will be announced that the Chinese Communist Party has finished its historical mission as the ruling party. Party membership will need to be re-registered, with the free choice to re-enter the Party or leave it.
3. “June 4,” Falun Gong, and all groups who have been wrongly persecuted in the process of devoting themselves to China’s realization of democracy will be redressed and receive compensation.
4. The military will be nationalized.Political Potpourri
I haven't done one of these segments in a while; Gingrich's recent withdrawal had been a moot point since all the other delegate counts exceeded 1144, the majority needed for nomination. Ron Paul had similarly been eliminated. Former contenders Michele Bachmann (last week), Rick Perry (April 25), and Rick Santorum (in an email to supporters late yesterday) have now endorsed Romney.
As expected, Romney swept Indiana, North Carolina, and West Virginia. The WSJ Delegate count has Romney topping 900, currently 919. With Gingrich and Paul's delegates, Santorum has been mathematically eliminated. Next up are Oregon and Nebraska next Tuesday. (One has to wonder how California and Texas feel about the race being decided before they had their say.... In 2008, California did play a part as McCain edged Romney there.)
Romney has to feel good about the general polls; of the 5 covered yesterday and today on RCP, Romney is leading in 3 (Rasmussen +5, Gallup +3, Politico +1) and behind in two (IBD -3, Reuters -7). The big worry for Romney has to be the battleground states; Romney should easily take back Indiana. Depending on the poll, Romney is very competitive in Florida and Ohio, but he's behind in Pennsylvania, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Nevada. The good news is that all of the states are doable; if Obama isn't a few points north of 50, they are in play. There's a lot of discussion about the enthusiasm gap, but keep in mind Romney had a contentious road in the early primaries, and anyone who thinks the enthusiasm behind the 2010 election has gone away: Obama has galvanized the conservative movement unlike any other politician in my lifetime. It's not even close. This is not to say conservatives loved Clinton and the like, but you could negotiate in good faith. We are talking about a President whom last year was ready to risk a government shutdown over the GOP trying to negotiate a token $60B in spending cuts, whom waited until less than a month before the Bush tax cuts were due to expire to make a bipartisan agreement on extending all of them, one of the very few attempts to politically bargain in good faith during his Presidency.
Dick Lugar, running for a seventh term, lost to State Treasurer Richard Mourdock; in fact, I supported Mourdock's bid, although I hadn't published it in the blog. The fact that Lugar has a pragmatic or "moderate" orientation doesn't bother me at all: it's more of a case that it's time for a change and a need for more focus on economic matters. Dick's leadership has been more in terms of defense and foreign affairs. Obviously this brings up the question of whether Republican voters have shot themselves in the foot, as was the case in 2010's Senate elections in Colorado, Nevada, Alaska, and Delaware: Lugar would have easily held onto the seat. Some have even speculated about the possibility that Lugar would try to lead a write-in campaign. I haven't seen a statement from Lugar on that, but I think it's highly unlikely. Mourdock is no fringe candidate and he has won a statewide election. Others think that this gives Democratic Congressman Donnelly a shot. My take: this election is Mourdock's to lose; he needs to distance himself from Tea Party activists, but emphasizing that he's the same guy whom Indiana twice has elected state treasurer. He won his reelection as state Treasurer with 62% of the vote; any attempts to make him out (as certain biased reports have) to be a "far right" candidate will be seen as patently absurd. Mourdock has already signaled running a campaign in line with good old-fashioned Indiana values and frugality. This is also not a case like Delaware where Mike Castle was nosed out at the wire: Murdock beat Lugar by over 20 points. It wasn't a rejection of Lugar per se; people just thought it was time for new, younger leadership.
Governor Scott Walker will face his 2010 opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, in a rematch for the recall election next month. Ironically Barrett easily defeated Big Union-supported Kathleen Falk. A Walker/Barrett election will be close, with recent polls showing a virtual tie. I expect Big Labor to kiss and make up with Barrett, and I think both sides will be highly motivated. My inclination is to believe that Walker will prevail because I think some Wisconsin voters will see the recall election an abuse of process, even if they don't like Walker. This is purely political. This is not like the recall election in California when there was a question of proper disclosure.
Finally, voters in North Carolina made traditional marriage laws off-limits to activist judges, with early returns showing 60% or more of the vote for the measure. (Thumbs UP! I've made my point clear: I'm concerned about unintended consequences Also, the Maryland alliance shows already over half the signatures necessary have been gathered to put the matter on the fall ballot after the state legislature recently approved recognition of "gay marriage". I don't have issues with relationships outside of traditional marriage couples, but marriage is a traditional institution which we should not arbitrarily tinker with.)
Profiles in Courage
Banished in the late 1950's as a "rightist" to a hard life in the countryside, at points having to eat locusts to survive, this remarkable man, Mao Yushi, has persisted in his convictions for the free market (at the same some American progressives run away from them!) and a resulting higher standard of living for over a billion people
Patriotic Art
I have to admit that I am not an expert in art; in fact, one of the biggest arguments I ever had at OLL was with my math department adviser, the late Sr. Marilyn Molloy. She wanted me to take a history of art class, and I was just as passionately insisting on taking Sr. Morkovsky's class on metaphysics (philosophy). It got so heated, I finally walked out on her.
[I think 99 readers of a 100 would think it's impossible to get worked up over having to take an art class: I think I would have been okay with taking the art class a subsequent semester, but in my dorm room I had my multi-volume copy of the Summa Theologica the priest, for whom I had been serving for daily early morning mass on base, had given me as a going-away present.]
(I won the argument, of course, still the one of the best decisions I have ever made, one of the greatest classes ever, even though other students had warned me that Sr. Morkovsky never gave A's. Not true in my case, although sometimes I was the only one.) I sheepishly apologized to Sister Molloy later, and she laughed about it, saying that she had probably gone on for another 10 minutes before she realized that I wasn't there.
I don't like what I consider unduly self-indulgent art (abstract or otherwise, especially if it looks like the results of forgetting to put the lid on my blender). Just like I work at readability of my writing, I want art to be intuitive, natural, suggestive of its meaning. [As a mathematician, I've liked some of Escher's work or, e.g., Rockwell's three in one self-portrait.] I sometimes embed pieces of religious art on posts for religious occasions.
I came across this image (all rights reserved by the American artist Stephen Scott Young), on another site (see caption link). I believe this is the portrait of a beautiful young lady of color from Haiti, set in the Bahamas. To me, the flag represents our heritage of unalienable rights, particularly freedom (in fact, the name of the painting): the painting is suggestive of each person's yearning, her undeterred, undeniable dreams of liberty and opportunity to pursue happiness. We are a nation of immigrants, and let us never take for granted the privileges of being born American, a mere dream for millions around the globe.
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| Freedom: The Art of Stephen Scott Young Courtesy of Christie’s Images Ltd. 2011 Original News Source of Image: theepochtimes |
The Rolling Stones, "Brown Sugar"
