Obama vs Christie: even

Rasmussen: "Few expect him to run, but New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is essentially even with President Barack Obama in an early look at a hypothetical Election 2012 matchup,"

Mike Ross: "time out of the 2012 elections"

After North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue's call for suspending Congressional elections for two years, Cong. Mike Ross calls for a "time out of the 2012 elections." This is all really hard to believe. Are they serious?

They know where you've been

How cell phone companies treat your private data: They keep it.

I've seen your lab results, now the bad news

Andrew Ferguson: "Is there a more empathetic person in the world than Diane Sawyer, the top newsreader at ABC TV? I’m sure there must be—around seven billion of them, probably. But is there anyone who looks more empathetic than Diane Sawyer? Not a chance. When she peers at you through the camera she has the look of someone who’s just seen your lab results and is trying to figure out how to break the bad news. It must be terribly unnerving to see it close up, firsthand, in person—especially while she’s sitting next to you on a couch, no less."

Herman Cain's book

This is Herman Cain! My Journey to the White House.

Health-care costs going up

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Obamacare is already raising health care costs. I received my 2012 insurance information yesterday, and everything including co-pays were up.

The Kindle Fire commercial

Run, Christie, Run

Bill Kristol urges Chris Christie to run for president. No doubt there's a lot of dissatisfaction in the GOP with the current field of candidates.

self-checkout

Some supermarkets are replacing self-checkout machines with real people. That's surprising. I like the self-checkout unless I want to buy something that has to be weighed.

Tax limits exhausted

The Greeks can't pay any more new taxes.

The new Kindle Fire

Amazon will release the new Kindle Fire tablet on November 15, 2011. Movies, apps, games, music, book, all in color! All for 100 bucks. Amazon has an Appstore with tons of content. And you don't have to mess with iTunes again, lol. (I can't get iTunes to run on my computer.) Amazon gives you a two-year warranty.

For more see here. Also see Ann Althouse's post along with comments.

Gunwalker vs Watergate

A quick summary of the Gunwalker scandal with a Watergate comparison: "Watergate didn't have a body count. Gunwalker has hundreds."

Dropping off a cliff

Dick Morris: Behind the president's whining to the Black Caucus, begging them to "quit grumbling," is a decline in his personal popularity among African-American voters that could portend catastrophe for his fading reelection chances. According to a Washington Post/ABC News survey, his favorability ratings among African-Americans has dropped off a cliff, plunging from 83 percent five months ago to a mere 58 percent today -- a drop of 25 points, a bit more than a point per week. 

Facebook is watching you

Facebook watches their users even when they are logged out. I have always been concerned with my privacy on Facebook, and that's why I canceled my membership last week. I'm never going back. We are hearing more about this issue. Look for recent articles on OnStar.

Heroic fantasies

Peter Wehner: "I have written before about Obama’s deep, almost desperate, need to portray himself as the opposite of what he is, to conceive of himself in a way that is at odds with reality. We have seen it in all sorts of areas, including claiming himself to be a voice of civility, portraying himself as a champion of bi-partisanship, lecturing others about profligate spending, and saying he is the only responsible “adult” in Washington. Now we see this habit in a new arena – this time, the president as Obama the Stoic, a man so committed to “pressing on” for the cause of social justice he just doesn’t have time to feel sorry for himself. Indeed, he has now decided to sermonize to others not to complain, not to grumble, and to “stop crying.”

This is akin to John Edwards hosting a weekend seminar on the importance of marital fidelity."

Women parking

Research proves that women drivers are worse than men at parking.

Where do most people in poverty live?

It's not the inner cities or in rural America. It's the suburbs.

Did Obama make the recession worse?

The answer is yes, according to James Pethokoukis.

Disband the Cong. Black Caucus

Roger Simon: Disband the Congressional Black Caucus. "Like a Boris Karloff mummy escaped from some indestructible subterranean tomb, the Black Caucus has come back to haunt us with an ideology so outdated you can’t even find it on the Rosetta Stone.
We’re in the era of Herman Cain, people, not Maxine Waters, Jesse Jackson, the stultifying Travis Smiley, or that man who has put a generation of Harvard and Princeton students into perpetual narcoleptic sleep — Dr. Cornel West."

China vs the US

A Coke executive says that China, a Communist country, has a more business friendly environment than the U.S. He complains about our tax rules.

Amazon Prime Videos

I've come to like Amazon Prime Instant Videos. I've watched several documentaries, namely the ones of Yellowstone.

Regime uncertainty and the Depression

Robert Higgs is a historian I've followed for a long time. Here is a brief discussion of his theory of "regime uncertainty" and the Great Depression. You will see that this is the same problem we have now.

Future demographics

The major demographic trend of the future: more old people all around the world.

Cheap sex

The price of sex has never been cheaper than it is today.

Texas Aggies to the SEC

Texas A&M will apparently join the Southeastern Conference for the 2012-13 season.

Perry's stumbling blocks

Some Republicans are saying the Rick Perry may have lost the nomination because of this statement: "If you say that we should not educate children who have come into our state for no other reason than they've been brought there by no fault of their own, I don't think you have a heart."

And then, there's Herman Cain's victory in Florida.

Global meltdown

Mark Steyn on Europe's financial meltdown.

Chris Christie watches the debates

Jenifer Rubin imagines Chris Christie watching the GOP presidential debate.

Bibi in the UN

Roger Simon on Benjamin Netanyahu, who stood in the UN and called it a "house of many lies."

Cain in Florida victory

Herman Cain won a Florida straw poll, beating Perry and Romney and the rest of the GOP field.

Greek Tea Party

Dan Mitchell:  "The fiscal turmoil in Greece is not about fiscal balance. It’s a fight between looters and moochers such as Olga Stefou, who think taxpayers should endlessly subsidize everything, and the shrinking group of productive people who are pulling the wagon and keeping Greece’s economy from total collapse.

Not surprisingly, the Greek government has tried to prop up its uncompetitive welfare state by pillaging that group of productive people. But it appears that the kleptocrats may have gone too far and triggered a Tea Party-type revolt.

Greece’s problem is not deficits and debt. Red ink and imminent default are bad, but they are symptoms of the real problem of a bloated public sector and the dependency culture created by too much government."

The same thing may happen to us.

Being rich is more expensive

Five myths about millionaires.

Morgan Freeman on the Tea Party

The actor Morgan Freeman says that Obama has made racism worse, but that it's the Tea Party that's really doing it. 

FREEMAN: Well, [the Tea Party] just shows the weak, dark, underside of America. We’re supposed to be better than that. We really are. That’s, that’s why all those people were in tears when Obama was elected president. “Ah, look at what we are. Look at how, this is America.” You know? And then it just sort of started turning because these people surfaced like stirring up muddy water.

Shovel-ready jobs

Gary Johnson, former New Mexico governor, had the best line in last night's debate: "My next-door neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this president." No doubt that's true. My dog is doing pretty well too.

Going on a cruise?

Why have 165 people mysteriously gone missing from cruise ships in recent years?

Perry on immigration

In last night's debate, Rick Perry defended the policy of giving in-state tuition to the children of illegal immigrants. We don't want them to become a drag on society.

Facebook changes

Facebook has made some recent changes and subscribers are not happy. Something similar happen with Netflix. I have had a Facebook account for some time, but I deleted it yesterday. Didn't see any point to it.

It's relative anyway

According to Einstein's special theory of relativity, nothing can go faster than the speed of light. But scientists have discovered a particle that apparently does go faster than light.

Church meeting banned in California

Jan Juan Capistrano, California, has fined a couple for holding church meetings in their home and ordered them to stop. What is going on?

Not smoking = weight gain

Americans are fatter because they are smoking less.

Government waste

Gallup: Americans believe that the Federal government wastes 51 cents of every dollar it collects in taxes. Same for state and local governments. That's enough for a tax revolt right there.

Future anarchists of America

The solid middle class are the future anarchists of America. This is a true story.

Prius derision

I have seen and heard some very derisive comments lately about owners of the Toyota Prius. And I can't understand it. See comments.

OnStar is watching you

OnStar tracks your speed and location even after drivers cancel their service. And they can sell customer data.

Learning about work

Susannah Breslin has learned some things about work now that she's self-employed.

Fact checking the Buffett Rule

What about the Buffett Rule that we heard from Obama lately? You know, that people making more than $1 million a year should not pay a smaller share of their income than their secretaries pay.

This study from the Tax Policy Center finds that 0.1 percent of the population pays more in income taxes than 80 percent of the population pays all together.

Rick Perry's new ad

The power of blogging

Lead and Gold: "Blogging was a direct attack on MSM hegemony... Blogging had the potential to break the power of the MSM guild."

War pictures

War photos from Michael Yon.

I remember the Twist

Tea Party: no secret agenda

samizdata: "The Tea Party, perhaps more than any other contemporary movement, brings out the 'Yeah, but what they're really saying…' tendency. The 'tea' stands for 'Taxed Enough Already' but, if you relied on the BBC and the Guardian for your information, you might not know it. Many Lefties pretend – or perhaps have genuinely convinced themselves – that the Tea Party is clandestinely protesting against immigration or abortion or the fact of having a mixed race president; anything, in fact, other than what it actually says it's against, viz big government. The existence of a popular and spontaneous anti-tax movement has unsettled the Establishment. They'd much rather deal with a stupid and authoritarian Right than with a libertarian one. Hence the almost desperate insistence that the Tea Partiers have some secret agenda."

A pen for the smartest

"Sometimes I think academia is a containment pen for the smartest individuals," Ann Althouse says, "so they don't interfere with the efforts of the rest of the people. But if they're so smart, why don't they step out of the pen?"

One of the commenters says they are not so smart, just credentialed. Of course, we know what the "best and the brightest" did to the country in the 1960s.

I spent years in academia. More and more I have become totally disillusioned with the whole experience. I'm not sure I even believe it's worthwhile to go to college any more.

Heads up on Thursday

A NASA satellite will hit the earth on Thursday. This is a 6-ton chunk about the size of a school bus. The largest piece that will hit the ground may be the size of a refrigerator.

Hypocrisy

Deval Patrick, the governor of Massachusetts, declared a car-free week, and was caught riding in a car. Politicians are brain-dead, aren't they?

Garfield assassination

Candice Millard's new book, Destiny of the Republic: A tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President, looks like a good read. She deals with the assassination of James A. Garfield in 1881. See this review in CSM.

How to lower the deficit

Let's not invade somebody and save money, LOL.

Fact checking Obama

AP Fact Check: The rich are not taxed less than the poor. Obama is wrong.

UPDATE: See this viewpoint. I worry when I'm told that someone must pay their "fair share." What is their fair share? Tell us!

The new Wendy's burger?

Wendy's has decided to remake its hamburgers. I think they need to because I have just about quit eating their burgers. I agree with leaving off the mustard, but my main objection to current Wendy's burgers is that they are too dry. That means they need more -- gasp -- fat.

On a side note, I don't like sentences like these: "In the same period, Wendy's share fell to 12.8 percent from 14 percent. Burger King's fell to 13.3 from 17 percent." You have to pause and re-read to realize that the sentences should read: Wendy's share fell from 14 percent to 12.8 percent....

New AT&T network

If you live in a few select cities, you can now get AT&T's new 4G LTE network, which will provide download speeds of 5 megabits to 12 megabits per second. You could download a DVD movie in 15 minutes.

Midnight in a coal mine

When Ronald Reagan ran for re-election in 1984, his slogan was "Morning in America." For Barack Obama, it's more like midnight in a coal mine.

The sputtering economy is about to stall out, unemployment is high, his jobs program may not pass, foreclosures are rampant and the poor guy can't even sneak a cigarette.
His approval rating is at its lowest level ever. His party just lost two House elections — one in a district it had held for 88 consecutive years. He's staked his future on the jobs bill, which most Americans don't think would work.
The vultures are starting to circle. Former White House spokesman Bill Burton said that unless Obama can rally the Democratic base, which is disillusioned with him, "it's going to be impossible for the president to win." Democratic consultant James Carville had one word of advice for Obama: "Panic."

Comparing today with the past

Several professors make an attempt to compare today's political climate with that of the 1890s instead of the familiar comparison with the Great Depression of the 1930s. I don't know that it works. Our discontent today goes in the opposite direction, but we are fed up.

George Will quote of the day

Quote of the Day: George Will on Obama.

The role of character in education

The ability to do well on tests is nice, but character is the key to education. So how do you teach it?

The most critical missing piece, Randolph explained as we sat in his office last fall, is character — those essential traits of mind and habit that were drilled into him at boarding school in England and that also have deep roots in American history. “Whether it’s the pioneer in the Conestoga wagon or someone coming here in the 1920s from southern Italy, there was this idea in America that if you worked hard and you showed real grit, that you could be successful,” he said. “Strangely, we’ve now forgotten that. People who have an easy time of things, who get 800s on their SAT’s, I worry that those people get feedback that everything they’re doing is great. And I think as a result, we are actually setting them up for long-term failure. When that person suddenly has to face up to a difficult moment, then I think they’re screwed, to be honest. I don’t think they’ve grown the capacities to be able to handle that.”

Mississippi rising

I like this post by Glenn Reynolds. Hollywood has made so many bad movies about Mississippi, but they are stuck in the Mississippi of many years ago if it ever really existed. Today black people are moving back to Mississippi and to other Southern states because they find the ongcenial.

A strange coincidence

I wonder what this means: The daughters of two famous Democrat politicians died at age 51 on the same day. Ann Althouse has a post.
Kara Kennedy
Eleanor Mondale

Putting down the grandparents

This AP story about grandparents using their webcam makes them look silly.

Solyndra scandal rundown

I've been reading about the Solyndra scandal, and here's a rundown.

Feel free to talk about it

The new freedom to talk about the vagina comes as marketers spend more to get women to buy products for the area. Ad spending for feminine hygiene products, including tampons, panty liners and cleansers, was up nearly 30 percent to $218.9 million in 2010 from two years ago, according to Kantar Media.

As for Olivia Wilde's comment on the Conan show see here. And below:

Nevada airshow crash

The crash at the Nevada airshow has cooled my desire to attend that type of event.

All girl orchestra

Where can universities save money? Why, cut the administration. Everybody knows that, except the administration. Or the "all girl orchestra," as friend of mine described the financial office.

School dropouts

Why are so many successful entrepreneurs school dropouts? One example is Steve Jobs. Another if my memory serves is Bill Gates.

Toyota counts on Prius

Autoblog: Toyota, with its damaged image, plans to rely more on its hybrid technology like the Prius. They predict the Prius will be the "backbone of our powertrain philosophy going forward."

Inequality as a consequence of education?

Forbes: If you want less inequality, stop subsidizing public schools and universities.

In fact the much discussed increasing inequality in the U.S. and other Western countries may be, in part, explained exactly by the fact that governments subsidize so extensively high-schools and universities.  After all, the best and brightest benefit disproportionately from these subsidies.
If someone is not thrilled about math and the sciences, but is excited to repair cars, and would like to open a garage, the government doesn’t offer him a $50,000 to $100,000 subsidy.  Yet the bright kid gets just such subsidy – and more – when studying math, engineering, biology, or medicine.  Guess what?  Inequality will increase and the distribution of wealth becomes more skewed.  Add to this the fact that lower skilled employees and even the mediocre ones face increasing amounts of competition from the rest of the world, and the much decried inequality becomes even more pronounced.

One can easily see that education is a government monopoly, with all of the evils of both monopoly and government control.

Netflix flops

Netflix raised prices -- and lost customers.

Hayek vs Keynes

Steven Hayward: The 2012 election may be between Hayek and Keynes. You know, the economists.

Little Rock tax vote

Today's ADG reports that, not surprisingly, affluent voters are the ones who favored a boost in the sales tax for Little Rock on Tuesday. (No free link yet.) The tax got lots of yes votes in the Heights and Hillcrest areas, while voters south of I-630 and in midtown opposed it. If you've been south of 630 you know how poor it is. In short the people with the highest levels of income voted in favor of the tax, and poorer people voted no. So the rich successfully dumped a sales tax on those who can't afford it.

I think it's interesting that at the national level increases in debt and spending are not popular right now, and it's Obama and the Dems who is pushing for higher taxes for his jobs plan. It probably won't pass.

Cherokee rights?

The Cherokee Nation asserts its right to kick black out of its tribe, and says the federal (BIA) cannot dictate to them.

This is of course an interesting conflict between the rights of groups.

That question again

Powerline has more on the key question: How much of my income do I deserve to keep? You will never get an answer to it.

College grad bankruptcy

College graduates are the fastest-growing group of consumers who have filed for bankruptcy protection in the past five years, according to a new study by a financial nonprofit, which underscores the broad reach of the Great Recession. I hope you didn't take out a student loan this fall.

Insulin and Alzheimer's

Insulin, delivered in a nasal spray, seems to improve cognitive function in Alzheimer's patients, according to research appearing in the Journal of Neurology. Nasal delivery is appropriate because the drug reaches the brain and central nervous system faster. But what is it about insulin, normally associated with diabetics, that helps memory? The researchers say insulin plays a role in the central nervous system and those who suffer from Alzheimer's experience a loss of insulin levels and activity.

Very, very interesting.

Obama vs FDR

Megan McArdle on why Obama was never going to be the next FDR.

Megan McArdle is upset

Megan McArdle: I was tentatively in favor of the jobs plan that Obama proposed last week.  But that's before I realized that he has no intention of getting it passed.

That's because it's all political theater.

... I really wish that Obama hadn't wasted my Thursday evening, and that of 31 million other Americans, listening to a jobs plan that was only designed to produce one job--a second term for Barack Obama.  I mean, I don't blame him, exactly.  But I get a little pang when I realize that I could just as well have spent that time bleaching the grout in the master bath. 

Job creation 101

Robert Samuelson explains how jobs are created.

How much can I keep?

From Ann Althouse's live blog of the Republican debate:

A young guys asks a classic question: "Out of every dollar that I earn, how much do you think I deserve to keep?"

That's the key question for me. 

They are getting some sense at last

The LA Times takes a look at the aging baby boomers. They began as hippies and Democrats but in recent years they've become more conservative and, gasp, Republican.

A wide old-boy grin

Rick Perry: “I am actually for gun control: Use both hands,” Perry shot back.  He put on a wide old-boy grin and gave thumbs-up to his listeners.

I found this video on YouTube:

Jackie Tapes 2

More on the Jackie Tapes, a la Diane Sawyer.

Economy's headwinds

Check out this cartoon.

European bankruptcy

Walter Russell Mead: "What is worrying investors worldwide is the evident intellectual and political bankruptcy of Europe.  The Europeans are not stupider than other people, but they face deep structural economic and political problems that their institutions are hopelessly inadequate to solve.  Creating a monetary union without a true federal government is looking more and more like the biggest European policy mistake since Britain and France let Hitler have the Sudetenland."

The Jackie Tapes

The NYT has an article on the Jackie Kennedy tapes. Ann Althouse is blogging about them. Sweet Diane Sawyer will have a special program in which she will ask somebody, "How do you feel about that?"

Don't forget to wear panties

Catalina Robayo, Colombia's entry in the Miss Universe contest, has been told that she must not forget to wear panties. 

Here's more. 

A Turbotax future

Schumpeter: A university degree will no longer guarantee financial security. This is similar to other structural changes that have occurred. To me this point is striking:

At the same time, the demand for educated labour is being reconfigured by technology, in much the same way that the demand for agricultural labour was reconfigured in the 19th century and that for factory labour in the 20th. Computers can not only perform repetitive mental tasks much faster than human beings. They can also empower amateurs to do what professionals once did: why hire a flesh-and-blood accountant to complete your tax return when Turbotax (a software package) will do the job at a fraction of the cost? And the variety of jobs that computers can do is multiplying as programmers teach them to deal with tone and linguistic ambiguity.

Dowd on "Barry"

Maureen Dowd: "It’s still impossible to sum up what Obama’s presidency is about right now, except saving his own job."

Remembering 9/11

Let's remember 9/11.

William Faulkner: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

100 years of style

This view reviews 200 years of style. Very interesting, Watch it several times.

How secure is your credit card?

U.S. credit cards with the black stripe are outdated. The rest of the world uses "smart" chip-based cards. The latter type of cards is far more secure.

Canadian jobs

Some Americans are fleeing to Canada for jobs.

Tennessee football

Some Tennessee fans are complaining about the football experience at Neyland Stadium.

Migration fatigue

Microsoft will release Windows 8 soon, but business is already talking about taking a pass on it. Windows 7 came out not long ago and it's been a big success. Microsoft must be trying to boost their cash flow, but part of it is that it can run on a tablet and compete with the iPad.

For the first time, I'm not going to spring for it. 

U.S. Spam Service

Walter Russell Mead: "The USPS is one of the great surviving examples of the blue social model and, not surprisingly, it is going down the tubes.  Technological change has made its original mission of delivering vital information and private correspondence obsolete.  Judging by what comes in through the mail slot at the stately Mead manor these days, the primary job of the postal service appears to be the delivery of the snail mail equivalent of spam."

Market falls after jobs plan

So we know what the stock market thinks of the Obama jobs plan?

This isn't politics, LOL

Michael Barone on Obama's speech:

When Barack Obama says, “This isn’t political grandstanding,” you have a pretty good clue that that is exactly what it is. Lest anyone doubt that, consider this from the third-to-last paragraph. “You should pass it. And I intend to take that message to every corner of the country.”

Jackie Kennedy comments on MLK

Jacqueline Kennedy: "I just can't see a picture of Martin Luther King without thinking, you know, that man's terrible," Mrs. Kennedy said, as part of a series of oral history interviews released this month.

Economic Trifecta

Forbes: How Obama helped kill progressivism, capitalism, and moderation.

Social Security shock

What Social Security won't tell you.

College and financial security

A college degree no longer carries the guarantee of financial security that it once did. 
There are several reasons. For one, the number of college graduates is in oversupply. This is another reason:

At the same time, the demand for educated labour is being reconfigured by technology, in much the same way that the demand for agricultural labour was reconfigured in the 19th century and that for factory labour in the 20th. Computers can not only perform repetitive mental tasks much faster than human beings. They can also empower amateurs to do what professionals once did: why hire a flesh-and-blood accountant to complete your tax return when Turbotax (a software package) will do the job at a fraction of the cost? And the variety of jobs that computers can do is multiplying as programmers teach them to deal with tone and linguistic ambiguity.

iPad keyboards

You can buy a keyboard for your iPad, but the reviewer is not happy with any of those listed in this article.

Debate's winners and losers

Who won and lost the Republican debate?
Of course everybody will have an opinion. 

SEC expansion

The SEC has accepted Texas A&M as a member.

Please Enroll Responsibly

Amazon: Lee Doren's Please Enroll Responsibly: Avoiding Indoctrination at College looks good, and the reviewers like it.

From the Product Description:

Enrolling in a typical sociology class appears to be the most efficient way to destroy brain cells. While some people argue binge drinking is worse, one must consider that hangovers are temporary and significantly less expensive. Leftist indoctrination, on the other hand, leads to permanent brain damage along with incredible financial debt. Please enroll responsibly.

This book is your helmet for higher education. Like a helmet, it cannot guarantee to protect you, but it may mitigate the trauma. It is written for students, parents and those who want to guard their children from the potential damage college can inflict on young minds.

Students enroll in college assuming they’ll graduate smarter. What they don’t realize is that many professors spout their leftist ideology in the classroom without offering opposing opinions. Students fear their grades will suffer if they question what they are taught.

Lee Doren sets out to help students conflicted with this dilemma. He also provides advice for families wondering if college is still worth the price. He writes from personal experience detailing his own political transformation from a liberal “community organizer” to an advocate for limited government.

See this interview with Lee Doren. 

Post Office Dilemma

Megan McArdle:

Congress has given the Post Office two incompatible mandates.  It is to make money like a business . . . but it is not to have any of the freedom that businesses have to, say, close branch offices, cut its delivery area, or change delivery schedules.

This is, to put it mildly, lunatic.

It was kindasorta somewhat sustainable for a while, because Congress sweetened the deal with a very valuable monopoly over the delivery of first class mail--a fact over which conservatives used to complain bitterly.  But now that monopoly is an albatross.  The only people who really need the service are the people who it is incredibly expensive to serve: those in remote areas that are far from stores, and only spottily serviced by UPS, Fedex, and broadband.  So average cost is rising fast, while rates can't.

Congress has to decide whether universal mail service is valuable enough to subsidize, or whether it wants the post office to be set free to actually compete.  But it cannot survive much longer as neither fish, nor fowl, nor good red herring--while there's some hope of a temporary reprieve by reclaiming some past overpayments to pension funds, that extra money won't last long at this rate.

I tend to think that universal mail service isn't valuable enough to save as a government function--as Josh Barro says rather more pungently, I don't see much reason that the government should subsidize the decision to live in a remote rural area.  But that's going to be a hard sell: the post office has a special place in the American heart, being chartered in the constitution.  And it has a very special place in the hearts of a large number of Senators representing rural states.

Well, migration has been shutting down rural America over the past 50 years -- towns, schools, churches, everything except farming. But what if FedEx and UPS don't want to deliver first-class mail?

No boomer inheritance

Many baby boomers are not planning on leaving their children an inheritance. OK, I'm not a boomer, but I agree entirely.

Carol Willison has made lots of financial sacrifices for her two children over the years, including paying most of her older daughter's medical school tuition. But Willison's generosity has reached its limits.

Not only doesn't the 60-year-old Seattle woman plan to leave her daughters an inheritance when she dies, she's trying to spend every last dime on herself before she goes.

"My goal is when they carry me away in that box that my bank account is going to say zero," Willison said. "I'm going to spoil myself now."

I like this quote:  “Unlike previous generations, some baby boomers believe they’ve already given their children enough, and they plan to spend the money they’ve saved on themselves.”

Drudge's ogre

Janet ("Big Sis") Napolitano attacks Drudge

The golden state today

Newgeography: What California is really like, and it's sad.

All over already?

According to Larry Sabato, the 2012 election, still 14 months away, is already over except in seven states: Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Virginia. After all, it's the Electoral College that elects presidents, not the polls or even the popular vote.

Our favorite fast food

Five Guys is America's favorite fast food place, beating out McDonalds and Subway.

September 11 as it was

However September 11 is commemorated, the Internet Archive has assembled the TV coverage of that day. You can see it here.

A depressing Labor Day

Robert Samuelson reflects on this Labor Day and finds little good news.

On this Labor Day, there is little good news about labor. We have entered a long period of crushing unemployment and downward pressure on wages that may well transform the nation's economic and political landscape. There was no job growth in August, and the overall numbers are stupefying: 14 million unemployed; nearly 9 million part-time workers wanting full-time jobs; 6.5 million who want jobs but are so discouraged that they've given up looking and are, therefore, not counted in the official labor force. People are only gradually recognizing the magnitude of the problem.

Huntsman's tax plan

Jon Huntsman has proposed a new tax plan with no deductions, but who cares?

Mail shutdown

The U.S. Postal Service may shut down entirely this winter unless Congress takes drastic action.
One problem is of course email, but another major cost is union contracts.

Government incentives?

Government incentives won't spur much hiring, so forget that.

iPad textbooks

Many schools are dropping textbooks in favor of iPads. We'll see more of that.

iPad story

How your iPad can save you if you are stuck in a hospital.
More such stories here. 

The speech fiasco

Michael Barone:

I can't remember a more stunning rebuke of a president by a congressional leader than Speaker John Boehner's refusal to agree to Barack Obama's demand -- er, request -- that he summon a joint session of Congress to hear the president's latest speech on the economy at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 7.
Obama's request was regarded as a clever move by some wise guys in the left blogosphere since that was the exact time of a long-scheduled Republican presidential candidate debate at the Reagan Library. Take that, you guys!
But Boehner smoothly responded that, with Congress reconvening late that afternoon, the security sweep necessary for a presidential visit would be impossible, and invited the president to speak on Thursday. White House officials quickly agreed, scheduling the speech at 7 p.m. Eastern to avoid overlap with the first game of the National Football League season.
Not such a big deal, some people are saying. I disagree. I think it illustrates several of the weaknesses of this presidency.

The amazing colossal syllabus

In the old days, professors gave out minimal syllabi, if any at all. Now the tendency is to give students "the amazing colossal syllabus." What has changed? This article offers a good explanation. Students are so less capable than they used to be. So you have to try to explain the obvious to them.

The general rule is, the more we have of something the less it's worth. I'm glad I'm out of higher education. Did I say higher?

Advice for college freshmen

Timothy Dalrymple has excellent advice for college freshmen. I remember well my relationship with professors. I can count on one hand those that I trusted and really learned from -- and still have four fingers left over.

I'm ready for football

Looks like we kick off the football season today.

AP headline is misleading

The AP is helping Obama all it can with this headline: "Hiring standstill points to growing recession risk." Better headline: "The recession is BACK!" In fact it never left. No jobs is what a recession is all about, right?

Meadors cashiered at UCA

Alan C. Meadors, president of the University of Central Arkansas, has been fired by the board with a unanimous vote. This action was in response to an offer by Aramark, the school's food service, to give the school $700,000 to help renovate the president's official residence, but the offer was secretly tied to the renewal of the Aramark contract with the school.

$10 trillion in U.S. debt

On August 31, for the first time, U.S. debt topped $10 trillion. Obama added 59 percent of it. When you own that much money, you are broke.

Not a single net job

For the first time since World War II, job growth for the month of August was a big fat ZERO.

SEAARK Marine

SEAARK Marine of Monticello, Arkansas, will not take new orders for boats because of the economic slowdown. 

Back to WW2

Federal, state and local expenditures are at World War II levels as a share of GDP.

Another lost iPhone 5

Another Apple Computer employee has lost another iPhone prototype in a bar.

He doesn't know what to do

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis):

When stock prices were plunging earlier this month, President Obama strode to the teleprompter and utterly failed to calm the markets or the American people. Sadly, they saw what I saw - and have come to exactly the same conclusion: Mr. Obama does not know what to do. He never did.
Since taking office in admittedly tough economic conditions, the president has taken America 180 degrees in the wrong direction. His failed $825-billion stimulus, Obamacare, Dodd-Frank and the explosion of his administration's other job-killing regulations have combined to put a stranglehold on our economy. Until these policies are reversed, the lack of confidence that dampens consumption, business investment and job creation will be the order of the day. Unfortunately, Mr. Obama is blinded by ideology and refuses to acknowledge the harm his agenda has wreaked on America and our economic future.
Fortunately, some in Congress understand the harm his agenda is causing and are working hard to reverse course.
As a thought experiment, imagine how much uncertainty would be removed and the level of confidence that would return if the entire Obama agenda were repealed tomorrow. A pretty pleasant thought, isn't it?

Looking for a baby-siter?

Illinois is paying sex offenders to baby-sit. Your government at work.

In-car technology

Car makers are trying to build infotainment systems into their vehicles. Well, nice, but not a good idea, because technology becomes outdated so quickly. How about buying a used car with a cassette player in it? That's a thrill, huh?

No more banks

AP: An infrastructure bank could be part of Obama's jobs package. Don't we have enough banks already?

Maya Angelou on King Memorial

Maya Angelou is critical of the "Drum Major" quote on the King Memorial. It makes him sound arrogant, she says.