Murphy's Fifth Law: If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway.
Earlier One-Off Post: Ted Olson and the "Gay Marriage" Kerfuffle
Image of the Day
The Ebola Crisis: Some Reflections
Let's face it--we're roughly 3 weeks away from the mid-terms, and the Dems are in trouble. Obama has an ABC News Presidential low approval rating of 40%, the Democrats just polled at a 30-year low, If I look at the top 10 Senate races at RealClearPolitics, only 2 (NH and NC) are showing (slightly) blue--even Roberts of Kansas who everybody thought was done a couple of weeks ago has won 3 of his last 4 polls.
Still, after watching an incomprehensible mishandling of the Ebola patient tragedy in Dallas, including the contamination of two medical personnel, and ever more strident alarmist commentaries by the likes of Bill O'Reilly, I found myself in a chat session with a Texas friend who insisted that she wasn't in panic mode, but I had to talk her through a series of reasons why her concerns were overstated (easy for me to say since I don't live in Texas, she wrote). Still, wouldn't we know that politics would soon find their way into the discussion: Obama was canceling a campaign appearance to keep on top of the crisis (gee, I feel so much safer!), some Republicans were trying to the situation to use immigration policy to fear-monger on public health, while Democrats were desperately trying to blame "austerity" cuts. Both Cato Institue here and Reason here easily debunk the austerity bugaboo (in fact the GOP under Bush vastly increased federal spending in this area), pointing out the government has funds to study obesity in lesbians, but let's point out that Obama manages the federal bureaucracy, and there's very little here which creates confidence in America's handling of flights from Africa or the public health bureaucracy.
I'm Not a Fan of the Synod in Rome
Facebook Corner
(IPI). Illinois continues to pump millions of tax dollars into big business, but the fact remains that, nationwide, small businesses are responsible for two-thirds of all new jobs created in the last 20 years.
In Chicago, real jobs are staring city officials in the face, but lawmakers respond by making these opportunities illegal.
Chicago's ban on street vending is an example of the worst kind of jobs hypocrisy.
here we go again...NOT fair to the bricks and mortars who pay BIG MONEY to secure a location..they also provide TAX revenue and stability to the area and business itself
Here we go again. Restaurants don't like competition. Listen, crony businessman--street vendors typically have to get permits, inspections, collect sales taxes, etc. Brick-and-mortars can provide advantages of protection from bad weather, seating, service more customers more conveniently, book reservations and special-events, provide takeout/delivery, stock more inventory and offerings. Listen, adapt and survive--if you feel threatened by street vendors, open up your own street vendor service. But stop using the State because you don't know how to compete.
(Drudge Report). White House approving and disapproving content in news reports...
The Office of White House Propaganda
(Drudge Report). Obamacare website won't reveal insurance costs -- until after election.
How many people believe that if it was good news, they would be waiting until after a potentially disastrous midterm to reveal it?
My Greatest Hits: October 2014
This is an odd month because of the top three posts, one is from 2012, another is a few months old, and the third is a one-off post. I can only speculate over the first two: the first included a follow-up on a post involving an overseas job (that eventually fell through) requiring my passport renewal whereby I had to deal with my local post office as the intermediary for the State department; the second involved dealing with a wolf pack attack via a libertarian group thread on my exception to the "gay marriage"groupthink.
- Miscellany: 7/14/14
- Sarah Palin's Facebook ISIS Post
- Miscellany: 11/14/12
- Miscellany: 9/20/14
- Miscellany: 9/26/14
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| Courtesy of the original artist via the Independent Institute |
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| Courtesy of Dana Summers via Townhall |
Linda Ronstadt, "Desperado". Can you imagine once having the Eagles as your backing band. I don't think Ronstadt ever charted with my favorite Eagles' song, but she knocks it out of the ballpark.
