The White House exempts its pals from Obamacare.

Popular Mechanics: 50 tools everyone should own.

Clint Eastwood is for the flat tax. Who knows whether it would be a good thing? Simpler, sure.

PC World: How to get internet when the government shuts it down. Something you may need to know.

Popular Mechanics: Who has the best and cheapest service? ATT iPhone vs Verizon iPhone? That's what you want to know, right?

Joseph Campbell takes on myths about the Bay of Pigs. Kennedy did not pressure the NYT to suppress its reporting about the January 1961 invasion. See his book Getting It Wrong: Ten of the Greatest Misreported Stories in American Journalism.

The Hill: A Senate bill to repeal Obamacare has 60 co-signers. It's bipartisan.

The 12 worst colleges for free speech. Most of them are in the northeast. What does that mean? Most politically correct?

No SOTU lesson

Robert Samuelson says that Obama had a teachable moment in the SOTU but he didn't teach anything. He should have made this point among others:

 Myth: The problem is the deficit. The real issue isn't the deficit. It's the exploding spending on the elderly -- for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- which automatically expands the size of government. If we ended deficits with tax increases, we would simply exchange one problem (high deficits) for another (high taxes). Either would weaken the economy; and sharply higher taxes would represent an undesirable transfer to retirees from younger taxpayers.

Most people get back from Social Security and Medicare far more than they put in. I think I have, though I don't have definite figures on my payroll taxes. It does not take long.

Jay Cost: Obama is stuck in the 1960s.

Correcting the King's Speech and history.

Social Security is now officially broke.

AP: Wal-Mart is dropping plans to build a Supercenter at the site of the Battle of the Wilderness in Northern Virginia.

Another name to keep an eye on: Susana Martinez, governor of New Mexico.

Paul Ryan may be a name to follow.

The Hill: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has said he will not attend the SOTU speech today. Remember what happened last year?

Should you get a Verizon iPhone 4? If I didn't already have one, I probably would.

The WSJ has a terrific article on economist Walter Williams. See his new book Up from the Projects: An Autobiography. 

"The welfare state has done to black Americans what slavery couldn't do, what Jim Crow couldn't do, what the harshest racism couldn't do," Mr. Williams says. "And that is to destroy the black family."

He adds:

"Racial discrimination is not the problem of black people that it used to be" in his youth, says Mr. Williams. "Today I doubt you could find any significant problem that blacks face that is caused by racial discrimination. The 70% illegitimacy rate is a devastating problem, but it doesn't have a damn thing to do with racism. The fact that in some areas black people are huddled in their homes at night, sometimes serving meals on the floor so they don't get hit by a stray bullet—that's not because the Klan is riding through the neighborhood."

Popular Mechanics: How to set up multiple monitors.

The Death of American Virtue: Clinton vs. Starr by Ken Gormley must contain in its 800 page all you ever wanted to know about this case but were afraid to ask. As usual, check the reviews.

How to learn? Quit studying and take a test.
This makes sense. What a test can do is focus your attention on what's important. One reason why students don't learn is that teachers do no make it clear what they want them to learn -- i.e., what will be on the test. Students are very practical -- will this be on the test?

Years ago I heard college profs argue that tests were essentially worthless. They should be avoided at all costs. Now we take the opposite viewpoint.

Charles Krauthammer: Everything begins with repeal of Obamacare.

Medicare's future

FoxNews:

"If you're under 55-years old, guess what, we've got news for you; it's not going to be there for you,” warns [Paul] Ryan. "You will have to severely and deeply ration Medicare to seniors at that time if we keep this program going as it is."
Ryan says there is one inescapable fact: the benefit-consuming generation is increasing by 100 percent while the taxpaying generation, the ones who'll have to fund Medicare, is only growing by 17 percent.
As they say in Texas, “You can’t get there from here.”

House GOP Lists $2.5 Trillion in Spending Cuts

This was Washington 50 years ago today.

The State of the Union speech has always featured separate seating for the two parties, but this year the seating arrangement may be bipartisan. According to the Tolbert Report, Democrat Mike Ross has accepted an invitation to sit with Steve Womack, the newly elected Republican from Northwest Arkansas. Good going.

Ann Althouse has fun with those who object and says "Mix it up." 

This article reviews e-books that libraries are now lending. I've tried one just to see what it was like. I'm still undecided, but probably will try again. I used OverDrive, as mentioned in this review. I did not use Adobe Digital Editions.

I've read books on my iPhone, using both iBooks and the Kindle app, and that was fine.

What I'm not sure I like is to listen to someone read a book: "That looks like a clue," Jesse said...." Too many "saids." It takes too long to listen to a book as oppose to reading one.

House votes to repeal Obamacare. I know, I know.

Robert Samuelson reviews the 1960s.

Sargent Shriver, founder of the Peace Corps, is dead at age 95.  Unfortunately he had Altimeter's. 

Maria Shriver talked in 2009 to ABC News about the challenges of her father's disease.
"My kids dealt with the person that was sitting in front of them. Like, 'What are you doing, Grandpa?' And, 'What are you doing today?' And they didn't get into who my father was. They just got into who he was then. And I think that was a very valuable lesson to me," Shriver told "Good Morning America."
"Accept the person that's sitting in front of you. Stop trying to make them who they were. Let it go," she said.

Yes, absolutely. Very moving. 

Tolbert Report: Ark. Congressman Tim Griffin has spoken in Congress in favor of healthcare repeal.

Walter Russell Mead has a great post on the need for an American upgrade. Something to think hard about.

I know people who dream of taking off from work as much as possible and retiring as early as possible. But it's clear what is wrong with them: "Being fully human is about doing work that means something," Mead says. This is exactly what has been wrong with me since my retirement. Now I'm stuck in a nothing hole and can't get out of it. I don't need anything, i.e., any new "toys," but I need to make a contribution.

Let me add this: volunteering is not the answer, not for me. I tried it and it was worthless. 

Reason: House Republicans plan to vote tomorrow on the repeal of Obamacare.

Attitudes about graduate school are changing. Well, I certainly feel differently about it. I was critical of it when I was part of it but kept my mouth shut because I wanted to get out with a degree. Looking back on my experience, some of it was very good, but it had its miserable aspect too. Not the work, I was fine with that, and I loved the research.

I would not do it again if I had it to do over.

Vodkapundit has a review of Apple's history as Steve Jobs prepares to step aside for another medical leave.

Eduard Spelterini was a pioneer ballonist photographer from the 19th century.

Virginia Ironside recalls growing up in the 1960s and the sexual revolution. This is the standard kind of story, but don't believe it. People have always had sex. Hey, that's why we're here, lol.

AOL News summarizes Benjamin Franklin's life and career. Electrifying!

AP: "Baby Doc" Duvalier, former dictator, is back in Haiti after almost 25 years in exile. Holy shit!

Turkey's prime minister: "The financial crisis has laid bare Europe’s need for greater dynamism and change: European labor markets and social-security systems are comatose. European economies are stagnant. European societies are near geriatric. Can Europe retain power and credibility in the new world order without addressing these issues?"

Michael Reagan, a conservative, calls his liberal half-brother Ron an "embarrassment" to his father over the latter's statements about Ronald Reagan and Alzheimer's.

Powerline: Abraham Lincoln was perhaps the greatest person who ever walked this planet. At least right up there with Washington.

The Iomega SuperHero looks like a good idea to me.

Ron Reagan claims his dad had Alzheimer's as president. I'm not willing to believe that.

See also here. 

The Republican Party has kicked out Michael Steele and replaced him with Reince Priebus as their party chairman. Not sure how to pronounce his name, but there it is.

Cam Newton will enter the NFL draft. No surprise.

The Kennedy Library has opened the first online presidential archive. That's good news. Here's the link.

Ed Morrissey: 71 percent of Americans oppose raising the debt ceiling.

Both parties are willing to play chicken with it, but it's got to stop somewhere!

Important question of the day: What is the plural of Prius?

Michael Barone puts the Tucson rhetoric in perspective. It has been a sorry attempt to pin the assassinations on tea partiers.

Half of all states are now suing to stop Obamacare.

This Sarah Palin's reaction to the Arizona tragedy and the reactions to it.

LSU has announced that Wes Miles will remain as LSU's coach.

F. Lee Bailey is still claiming that O.J. Simpson is innocent.

AP: Verizon will start selling the iPhone 4 in early February.

The retirement of the first of the baby boomers may signal the beginning of the end of Medicare.

George Will on the Tucson tragedy.

Roll Call: Blue Dog Democrats are frustrated with Pelosi and they're talking about cutting deals with the Republicans. Mike Ross is mentioned.

Ann Athouse, a blogging law prof at the University of Wisconsin, has an interesting post on whether it's worth it for anyone to go to law school. It certainly does not seem like a good idea to me.

Car Lust Blog has some interesting comments on the Toyota Camry. Sure many of them are unattractive or at least unremarkable in appearance, but they are reliable. I've owned one Camry.

Verizon is planning a mystery press conference on January11. Maybe to announce they will carry the iPhone?

The Corner: If the unemployment rate is close to 8 percent in 2012, as is predicted, that more than anything else means a one-term presidency.

An interesting bio of Gypsy Rose Lee.

AP reports that a package addressed to Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security Secretary, exploded. Oh the irony!

The AP reports that three top Alabama players are heading for the NFL draft: Mark Ingram, Marcell Dareus, and Julio Jones. I believe they made the right decision -- make some money!

The House voted to repeal Obamacare in a bipartisan vote. Four Dems, including Mike Ross, joined in.

Ellen Weiss of NPR has resigned. She forced Juan Williams out for talking to FOX News and saying that people in "Muslin garb" made him nervous when he boarded an airplane. This link is from Ann Althouse's blog.

Arkansas news: Don Tyson, the chicken king, has died at age 80.
Ryan Mallett has decided to declare for the NFL draft.

Steny Hoyer, former House Majority Leader, explains it: The Tea Partiers are not motivated by tax issues, they're just people who come from unhappy families. WTF.

More red-winged blackbirds have fallen from the sky, this time in Louisiana. 

In a television report, a reporter stated that the birds in Arkansas were startled by fireworks and flew wildly in the dark and crashed into buildings and other objects. They died of internal injuries. The explanation for the same type of birds involved in both Arkansas and Louisiana is that blackbirds are very common this time of the year. They typically form large flocks. See here.

Glenn Reynolds over at Instapundit comes across some fascinating websites: One study finds a correlation between alcohol and monogamy.

Infowars on the mass wildlife deaths in Arkansas: "Electromagnetic scalar weapons that can artificially manipulate the environment could be responsible for the mass die offs. We know for a fact that over a decade ago the U.S. Military Industrial Complex was aware of and involved in the testing of such technology."

Or maybe space aliens? 

Arkansas has had two unexplained massive deaths of wildlife recently. First at Beebe as many as perhaps 5,000 red-winged blackbirds fell from the sky on Christmas eve, dead. Then a large fish kill occurred near Ozark on the Arkansas River. Disease is suspect in the latter incident, but mysteriously only drum fish were affected. No one seems to know the reason for the bird kill, but biologists point to stress from either fireworks or weather.

Must be some kind of omen or a plague.

Congress will take up the repeal of Obamacare before the State of the Union. Bring it on!

Tiger Woods earned $74.2 million last year without winning a single golf tournament. He was golf's top-earning player.

Happy New Year!

1/1/11

Somehow I like dates like that. It's almost like we are starting all over, and I guess in a sense we are starting over. I also liked 8/9/10.