Shut 'er down!

Who is for a government shutdown anyway?

Arkansas government shutdown

Here in Arkansas we have our own impending government shutdown. Republicans are a minority in the House but they can block appropriation bills that require something like 75 votes to pass. This is a dispute over the state Insurance Department's appropriation which has been defeated by the House twice. At the heart of the conflict is the desire to derail $1 million that is intended for use in setting up health-care exchanges under Obamacare.

See the Tolbert Report.

Judge Judy rushed to hospital

Judge Judy (Sheindlin) has a health scare on her set and says "I need to stop, I'm not feeling well." This is big news. See the Drudge headline below.

Amazon's Cloud Drive

Amazon has a new Cloud Drive service. I've tried this and like it.

New Rules Would Label Millions of American Workers as Disabled

Are you disabled? The number of people who are disabled under the American Disability Act may increase dramatically because of new regulations from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. For example, diabetics may be covered.

Detroit's Requiem

The WSJ has an article on the decline and fall of Detroit, which has been obvious for a long time but the new census figures have caught attention. Once a city that drew people like a magnet, Detroit now repels them, at least those who can get out.

The failure of the blue social model

Walter Russell Mead on the failure of the blue social model in northern cities like Chicago and New York. Blacks are leaving these areas with the multicultural lifestyle is supposed to favor them. But in a new Great Migration they are heading for the suburbs and moving South. Here are a few good quotes:

One would think that the Blacks who choose to stay in the cold, unwelcoming North would cluster in the cities where more liberal and humane governance models mandate such generous policies as “living wage” laws and where all the beautiful features of the blue social model can be experienced at full strength.

But one would be wrong.  Blacks across the North are fleeing the urban paradises of liberal legislation and high public union membership for the benighted suburbs.  The Times interviewed a professor to get the straight scoop:

“The notion of the North and its cities as the promised land has been a powerful part of African-American life, culture and history, and now it all seems to be passing by,” said Clement Price, a professor of history at Rutgers-Newark. “The black urban experience has essentially lost its appeal with blacks in America.” [bold italics added] . . .

The Census tells us that in the eyes of those who know best, these well intentioned efforts failed.  Instead of heaven, we have hell across America’s inner cities.  Blue economic policy has cut the creation of new private sector jobs to a trickle in our great cities, while the high costs of public union urban services (and policies that favor government employees over the citizenry at large) impose crippling taxes and contribute to the ruinously high costs that blight opportunity.  All the social welfare bureaucracies, diversity counselors and minority set-asides can’t make up for the colossal failure of blue social policy to create sustainable lower middle class prosperity in our cities.

Internet pioneer Paul Baran dies

Paul Baran, described as an Internet pioneer, has died at age 84. In a 1966 paper he foresaw how by the year 2000 "people would be using online networks for shopping and news.... It was an absolute lunatic fringe idea."

Triangle Shirtwaist fire

Ron Radosh looks at how the anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York is being used today.

Arkansas' newspaper war

In today's paper, the ADG celebrates the 25th anniversary of a critical anti-trust lawsuit in Arkansas' newspaper war between the old Arkansas Gazette and the Arkansas Democrat. Reporter Jake Sandlin does a fine job in recounting the mail events (subscription required). See Wikipedia. And again.

Both papers had storied histories, but the Gazette was the oldest, going back to 1819. It claimed the Democrat was trying to put it out of business by cutting prices and giving away want-ads, but the Gazette had not lost any money and was still financially sound.

The story raises questions about the whole value of the anti-trust idea, which everyone has studied in college courses. The theory behind anti-trust charges, as one commented in the article said, makes sense to economists, but not to consumers. Everyone likes low prices. So it is a hard idea to sell. When I was in college, I recall hearing about railroad rebates and kick backs. They were supposedly bad. Well, I like rebates, discounts, and kickbacks of all types, LOL. Nobody ever pointed out how consumers felt about paying lower prices. 

The Gazette was sold to the Gannett Co., which owns USA Today. Five years later Gannett sold the Gazette to the Democrat, forming the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. I highly recommend this article. Most of what you find to read about this story is based on the memories of old, worn out Gazette reporters.

Despite the decline of newspapers across the country, the ADG is one of the most financially successful newspapers. How could that be true when you consider that Arkansas has one of the lowest percentages of adults with college degrees? (See March 23 post.) Consider too that the Arkansas Gazette started way back in 1819 when this was a rough, frontier state. Somebody needs to explain this discrepancy.

The Professor's War

Charles Krauthammer on the Professor's War. Scathing.

Geraldine Ferraro

Geraldine Ferraro is dead at 75 years of age. She was the first woman on a presidential ticket in 1984. In case you don't remember her, see this...

GOP sets sights on AARP over its support for healthcare reform - The Hill's Healthwatch

Healthwatch reports that House Republicans are getting ready to investigate the AARP for its support of healthcare reform. Indeed. AARP supported cuts in Medicare Advantage plans because they are selling Supplemental Medicare plans, which are more expensive.

We can't let AARP keep on pretending they are an advocate group for seniors when they are really just an insurance company. Nothing wrong with that but they blur the distinction between the two.

Arizona flat tax

Arizona is seriously considering replacing the state income tax with a flat tax.

Burger King riot

A riot took place in a Burger King in Florida. Take a look:

You Need More Retirement Savings

Megan McArdle: How much do you need to live on in retirement? Good question for many or all people. My answer: About what you are living on now, or better yet, even more. This is based on personal experience.

Detroit -- like hell!

Michael Barone on Detroit, his hometown. Detroit has lost 61 percent of its population in the past 60 years. He says, "When people ask me why I moved from being a liberal to being conservative, my single-word answer is Detroit. The liberal policies which I hope would make Detroit something like heaven have made it instead something more like hell."

College’s harsh lesson - BostonHerald.com

Imagine you open your mailbox and put out a letter containing really bad news. Your kid has been accepted to an elite, big-name college. Or imagine a graph with two lines, one going up and up forever and the other line going down and down. Line one is the cost of a bachelor's degree, line two is the value of a college education.

Mike Anderson's homecoming

Mike Anderson, formerly of Missouri, is the new basketball coach at the University of Arkansas. He was Nolan Richardson's assistant coach for a long time. 

Why Trump’s Birth Certificate statement will resonate « Da Techguy's Blog

On the View, Donald Trump called for Obama to show us his birth certificate. This is getting a positive response from around the Internet.

Who killed Detroit?

Sure, a lot of the blame goes to a generation of bad management. But the main reason for Detroit's decline is the greed of the industry's main union, the UAW, which priced the Big Three out of the market.

As recently as 2008, GM, Ford and Chrysler paid their employees on average more than $73 an hour in total compensation. The 12 foreign transplants, operating in nonunion states mostly in the South and Midwest, averaged about $42 an hour.

Pig Trail Gerrymander

Jason Tolbert has a copy of the new Pig Trail Gerrymander Map that dramatically changes the congressional districts of Arkansas. The Fourth District is the key because it is losing population like crazy. To keep it safe for Dems, a long finger is run up to include Fayetteville, which, I assume, is a left-wing pond in a sea of Republicans. The map splits five counties. Unbelievable.

John Brummett gets credit for the "Pig Trail" label. As he says, "All of that is to try to produce a 2-2 split in Democratic and Republican congressmen instead of the 3-to-1 Republican advantage the voters  produced in a right-wing snit... in the existing districts last year." 

Silver Screen Legend Elizabeth Taylor Dies at Age 79 - FoxNews.com

Elizabeth Taylor is dead at age 79. She was one of the most beautiful actresses who ever lived. One of my favorite movies is Giant.

Pitiful ranking

The ADG this morning reports that Arkansas higher ed leaders want to go along with Gov. Mike Beebe's goal to double the number of degrees awarded by the state's colleges. In December census data indicated that Arkansas ranked second from the bottom with only 18.9 percent of adults who are 25 years old or older having bachelor's degrees. That is well below the national average, which is 27.5 percent. The lowest state in this ranking is West Virginia. Even Mississippi is higher, LOL.

How many Arkansas students are ready for college-level courses? Not many, judged by the need for remediation. Sure, it will be easy to pass out more diplomas, but will they be worth anything?

Walter Williams interview

This YouTube interview with Walter Williams, professor of economics at George Mason University, is absolutely terrific. If you are not familiar with him, you will be amazed. I wish everyone could see it.

Pray and worry

Robert Samuelson: Pray for Japan, but worry about Europe.

Cavity search

Police in Pennsylvania detained a 27-year-old woman who was in a wreck and after a search found three bags on heroin in her jacket. In the police station she told them she had more in her vagina. A doctor was called in and recovered 54 bags of heroin, 31 empty bags, prescription pills, and $51.22.

The report was not clear whether she had an attorney. What she needed was a gynecologist.

The liberal professor

Inside Higher Ed cites two studies on why college and university professors tend to be more liberal than the rest of the population. It's not bias, it's self-selection, we are told. I don't buy it, bias is the reason and it goes back into graduate school.

Some fields are worse than others. Among the most liberal are sociology, social sciences in general, history, literature, speech. Business and the sciences are not so bad.

But I think the whole culture of higher education is strongly biased. It has been that way for a long time.

Sociology

If the higher education bubble ever really hits, my first recommendation would be to eliminate sociology departments. Why? See here. In fact you can throw in social science as a whole.

Local Hero (1983) - IMDb user reviews

Somehow I stumbled across an 1980s movie called Local Hero, which is highly recommended. Reviewers make it sound different from typical movies. I'd like to see it.

President Trump

Donald "You're Fired" Trump may run for president. That will be a hoot.

Stephen Goldsmith: Progressive Government Is Obsolete - WSJ.com

Stephen Goldsmith: Progressive Government Is Obsolete - WSJ.com: "Progressive Government Is Obsolete
The rule-based civil service was a step forward from Tammany Hall. But today's regulations stifle government workers at a time when getting value for tax dollars is more"

Don't call me

Pamela Paul says "Don't call me, I won't call you." The etiquette of phone calling has changed apparently. Now you don't call, you text or whatever. I certainly dislike phone calls, which are mostly from telemarketers. Nobody but close family members know my cell number. The only calls I really like are those that I initiate.

Does anybody use the word etiquette anymore? I had to spell check it.

Hillary is fed up

Reports say that SoS Hillary Clinton is fed up with a president "who can't make his mind up," and she is looking for an exit.

She's be ready for a new job in 2012, lol. 

Teenage drivers

The federal government wants to take over the licensing of teenage drivers. I'm sure all the wrecks involving teens is because the feds don't hand them their licenses. Laughable! What is next?

Netflix vying for first rights to new TV series

Netflix is bidding to become a TV channel. More people are cancelling their cable subscriptions because they find they can stream TV over their high-speed internet connection. And their cable bills are too high.

Althouse on Fox News

Ann Althouse appear on FOX News.

Your data after death

Popular Mechanics: When you die, what happens to your data?

Mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore

Fox News: Miami voters -- 88 percent of them -- voted to kick out Mayor Carlos Alvarez for raising property taxes and giving county employees raises. This was a recall election.

Walk the dog

You could get on a treadmill or take your dog for a walk. Which is better? Walking your dog.

Car Hacking: Taking Control of Cars From Afar - Technology Review

Hackers can take control of cars wirelessly. Check out what cars, lol. Well, that's technology for you.

Blacks, Democrats, and Republicans

Peter Kirsanow in National Review has an excellent article entitled "Blacks, Democrats, and Republicans." What iconic Democrat policies have hurt blacks? Affirmative action, minimum wage, public education without competition and school choice, welfare and the war on poverty.

Charter school shutdown

The Arkansas State Board of Education has revoked the charter for the Little Rock Collegiate Charter School for Young Men, shutting down the school immediately. The decision was made yesterday, and the school is closed today! The students were sent home yesterday with lists of schools they were eligible to enroll in. Two months remain in the school year. This is unprecedented, as far as I know. See the school's website.

According to the ADG, the school is almost $200,000 in debt, and had lied about its enrollment. It could not make the next payroll.

Jimmy Obama

Chris Matthews calls Obama "President Carter." LOL.

Judgment on Obama

New York Post: "He is in over his head, and he knows it."

Quiz

How to live a long life? 1. Cheer up. Stop worrying. Don't work so hard. 2. Work hard at something you like. Which is it? No. 2, damn it.

How to survive a pirate attack

FoxNews: How to survive a pirate attack. The bottom line is be informed, be well armed, and shoot first. It's not the Spanish Main anymore.

The day Reagan was shot

The WSJ has a minute by minute account of the day Reagan was shot.

The magical iPad

WSJ: The new iPad is magic.

Where Americans are moving

Forbes: Where Americans are moving. This shows a terrific interactive map by county. Based on IRS data for 2008, not census data. See, for example, this map.

A European warns America

WSJ: A European warns America: Don't follow us toward greater regulation, higher taxes and centralized power. "My guess is that, if anything, Obama would verbalize his ideology using the same vocabulary that Eurocrats do. He would say he wants a fairer America, a more tolerant America, a less arrogant America, a more engaged America. When you prize away the cliché, what these phrases amount to are higher taxes, less patriotism, a bigger role for state bureaucracies, and a transfer of sovereignty to global institutions.
He is not pursuing a set of random initiatives but a program of comprehensive Europeanization: European health care, European welfare, European carbon taxes, European day care, European college education, even a European foreign policy, based on engagement with supranational technocracies, nuclear disarmament and a reluctance to deploy forces overseas"

Penn State's budget cut

Tax Prof: Penn State faces the largest budget cut -- 52.4 percent -- in the history of higher education. Will your school be next?

iPad 2 review

The new Apple iPad 2 is getting rave reviews.

John Locke the eBook king

John Locke is a writer who holds the No. 1 place on the Amazon Top 100 and has sold more than 350,000 downloads on Kindle of his 99 cent books since the start of this year. He is making over $500,000 a year. That's the way to do it! eBooks are not worth $10 or $15! I am going to check him out. See for yourself here.

Kneecapping feminism

Barbara Kay: The day Sarah Palin kneecapped feminism

Obamacare, Prohibition, and the 55 mph speed limit

Washington Examiner: "Now, as we learn more about Obamacare, the odds are good that it will ultimately rank right down there with Prohibition and the double nickel in public esteem." The latter is the 55 mph speed limit imposed back in the 1970s.

Vivian Schiller is out at NPR

Vivian Schiller, NPR CEO, has resigned. Fired is more accurate. After a recent scandal, she was involved in the Juan Williams situation a few months ago. Now strip NPR of taxpayer money.

Hybrid sales are up

With the cost of gas climbing toward $4 a gallon, hybrid sales are up 39 percent in February compared to a year ago. I'm glad I've got a Prius.

Toyota Prius, 13,539 units
Honda Insight, 1,722 units
Ford Fusion, and Honda CR-Z

Reform-minded young golfers

John Brummett puts Lu Hardin in context. He was part of a group of reform-minded state senators who challenged the status quo in the 1980s and 1990s. Several interesting names are mentioned: Mike Beebe, Bill Gwatney, and Nick Wilson.

The left and social science

Jennifer Rubin on why the left is suddenly anti-social-science. I didn't think that was possible.

If we can't...

Jennifer Rubin: "If we can't persuade the U.N. to stop its anti-Semitic agenda, isn't it at least time to stop funding it?"

Lu Hardin guilty

In breaking news the ADG reported that Lu Hardin, former president of UCA, has plead guilty of two charges, wire fraud and money laundering.

What Makes Stutterers (Like King George VI) Tick, Anyway? - Health Blog - WSJ

After seeing The King's Speech, the question naturally arises, What causes stuttering?

Higher ed critique

If you are interested in a critique of higher education, here it is.

Gallup's wellbeing rating

Gallup Poll has a wellbeing rating for states. You can see on this website what kinds of things go into "wellbeing." Hawaii ranks first, West Virginia last. Southern states tend to rank low. Arkansas is in the bottom five.

Here comes iPhone 5

If you are happy with your iPhone 4, wait until the iPhone 5 comes out this summer.

Speak our language!

Italy is requiring that foreigners who apply for a work permit prove they can speak Italian. Austria is following a similar course.

Lower education bubble

Glenn Reynolds, writing on the "lower education bubble," has some good lines:

So at the K-12 level, we've got an educational system that in many fundamental ways hasn't changed in 100 years – except, of course, by becoming much less rigorous – but that nonetheless has become vastly more expensive without producing significantly better results. . . .

When our public education system was created in the 19th century, its goal, quite explicitly, was to produce obedient and orderly factory workers to fill the new jobs being created by the industrial revolution. Those jobs are mostly gone, now, and the needs of the 21st century are not the needs of the 19th.

Having courage

British historian Paul Johnson on America's future. He's not afraid to speak his mind.

U.K. Pulls Plug on United Nations Spending, in Move That is Bound to Hearten U.S. Critics - FoxNews.com

Fox News: U.K. has made drastic cuts in its United Nations spending. We need to pull the plug ourselves. The UN is an insanity that has gone on long enough.

Let me stare, please

A study in Germany found that men who stared at women's breasts showed a lower rate of heart problems. InstaPundit: "I’m pretty sure this is just the same bogus report that resurfaces every couple of years. But why take chances?" Go ahead, if you can get away with it.

The Shelby Foote estate

AP: The Civil War writer Shelby Foote's estate is up for sale in Memphis. He was in the Ken Burns Civil War series. See Wikipedia.

To me, an estate sale is so very sad. 

Breaking: Vinson stays ruling on ObamaCare – but just for seven days « Hot Air

Judge Roger Vinson has made another ruling on Obamacare and he wants the case to move to the Supreme Court ASAP.

Earthquakes explained?

Reports this morning say that the recent earthquakes in Faulkner County, Arkansas, may have been caused by two nearby drilling-fluid disposal wells. These wells go deeper and are under more pressure than producing wells. The quake area has had 870 or more tremors since September. The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission will hold hearings today. See ADG report here (subscription required).

That's a far cry from the New Madrid fault explanation.

New iPad

Apple has come out with a new iPad 2, an evolutionary change. 

Jane Russell

Actress Jane Russell is dead at age 89.
For photos see here. 

Bob Costrell on Wisconsin teachers

ADG has an editorial on Bob Costrell's article on Wisconsin teachers and their pensions. Subscription required.

Sell signal

Charles Krauthammer: "Some people look at troop movements, others look at the freezing of assets. To me, the leading indicator here with Qaddafi is the fact that his favorite nurse — from whom he’s been inseparable — described in WikiLeaks as a buxom Ukrainian blonde, was evacuated to Kiev today. I am not an expert on this, but I would say if you are holding Qaddafi shares, that is a strong sell signal."

That would be Galyna Kolotnytska. 

Jesse Stone

I've been watching Jesse Stone movies starring Tom Selleck. What is their correct order?
See here. And Wikipedia.

The Volt

Consumer Reports: The Volt does not make economic sense.

Financial terrorism

Washington Times: "Evidence outlined in a Pentagon contractor report suggests that financial subversion carried out by unknown parties, such as terrorists or hostile nations, contributed to the 2008 economic crash by covertly using vulnerabilities in the U.S. financial system."