These exciting times
Bensblurb #592 Feb. 22, 2011
March Madness, anyone? It must go double for Texans lately, with the Aggies at 21-5 and the UT Teasippers at 23-4.
Otherwise, not much happening. After all, this is still February. Government shutdown and Spring Break still to come.
Of course, politics reigns out in California, as usual. In San Francisco, “Civil Rights Advocates” Back Ballot Proposition to Ban Circumcision, reports Hot Air.
Back in the real world, a “...$3.6 billion budget shortfall in Wisconsin has led to union protesters taking to the streets of Madison and the halls of the capitol...with no end in sight. With Democrat state senators in self-imposed exile and an illegal wildcat strike by teachers, Wisconsin’s state government and its citizens have essentially been taken hostage by the public employee unions. Obama and his political arm at the Democratic National Committee, Organizing for America, have been intimately involved in orchestrating the protests...Americans are seeing the true face of the “party of change.” President Obama and his union cronies will stop at nothing to preserve the failed liberal status quo.Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is not calling for an end to pensions and health care for state workers, he is just calling for them to pay their fair share...singled out President Obama when he said, “We are focused on balancing our budget. It would be wise for the government and others in Washington to focus on balancing their budgets, which they are a long way off from doing.”...The showdown in Wisconsin foreshadows what will happen and is already beginning to happen in other states over the course of the next few months. States like California, New York, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and others are all facing their own fiscal crisis because they are beholden to public employee unions and their budget-breaking benefits packages.” --David Bossie, The Daily Caller
Meanwhile, will the trains ever run on time? I guess we once cared. And might again, if the big new push for passenger rail by President Obama succeeds, unlike much of his agenda nowadays.
As Thomas Sowell writes, “Nothing more clearly illustrates the utter irresponsibility of Barack Obama than his advocacy of "high-speed rail." The man is not stupid. He knows how to use words that will sound wonderful to people who do not bother to stop and think. High-speed rail may be feasible in parts of Europe or Asia where the population density is much higher than here. But, without enough people packed into a given space, there will never be enough riders to repay the high cost of building and maintaining a high-speed rail system.
Building a high-speed rail system between Los Angeles and San Francisco may sound great to people who don't give it any serious thought. But we are a more spread-out country than England, or Japan. The distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco is greater than the distance from London to Paris-- by more than 100 miles.
In Japan, the distance between Tokyo and Osaka is comparable to the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco. But the population of Osaka alone is larger than the combined populations of Los Angeles and San Francisco-- and Tokyo has millions more people than Osaka. That is why it can make sense to have a "bullet train" running between Osaka and Tokyo, but makes no sense to build one between Los Angeles and San Francisco....However little President Obama knows or cares about economics, he knows a lot about politics-- and especially political rhetoric. "High-speed rail" is simply another set of lofty words to justify continued expansion of government spending. So are words like "investment in education" or "investment" in any number of other things, which serves the same political purpose.”
Riots abroad...Everywhere?
Surely seems like it. Now, with Libya in play and its oil wells at risk, our gasoline prices are getting mighty nervous. And talk about nervous, the week has opened with the stock market a-plunging by some 200 points on the Dow at last glance. Oh my. We are clearly doomed to live in exciting times. And I haven’t even thought of the dicey fate of Obamacare...today. Later, we'll see, or something.
--Ben Blankenship
##########
March Madness, anyone? It must go double for Texans lately, with the Aggies at 21-5 and the UT Teasippers at 23-4.
Otherwise, not much happening. After all, this is still February. Government shutdown and Spring Break still to come.
Of course, politics reigns out in California, as usual. In San Francisco, “Civil Rights Advocates” Back Ballot Proposition to Ban Circumcision, reports Hot Air.
Back in the real world, a “...$3.6 billion budget shortfall in Wisconsin has led to union protesters taking to the streets of Madison and the halls of the capitol...with no end in sight. With Democrat state senators in self-imposed exile and an illegal wildcat strike by teachers, Wisconsin’s state government and its citizens have essentially been taken hostage by the public employee unions. Obama and his political arm at the Democratic National Committee, Organizing for America, have been intimately involved in orchestrating the protests...Americans are seeing the true face of the “party of change.” President Obama and his union cronies will stop at nothing to preserve the failed liberal status quo.Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is not calling for an end to pensions and health care for state workers, he is just calling for them to pay their fair share...singled out President Obama when he said, “We are focused on balancing our budget. It would be wise for the government and others in Washington to focus on balancing their budgets, which they are a long way off from doing.”...The showdown in Wisconsin foreshadows what will happen and is already beginning to happen in other states over the course of the next few months. States like California, New York, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and others are all facing their own fiscal crisis because they are beholden to public employee unions and their budget-breaking benefits packages.” --David Bossie, The Daily Caller
Meanwhile, will the trains ever run on time? I guess we once cared. And might again, if the big new push for passenger rail by President Obama succeeds, unlike much of his agenda nowadays.
As Thomas Sowell writes, “Nothing more clearly illustrates the utter irresponsibility of Barack Obama than his advocacy of "high-speed rail." The man is not stupid. He knows how to use words that will sound wonderful to people who do not bother to stop and think. High-speed rail may be feasible in parts of Europe or Asia where the population density is much higher than here. But, without enough people packed into a given space, there will never be enough riders to repay the high cost of building and maintaining a high-speed rail system.
Building a high-speed rail system between Los Angeles and San Francisco may sound great to people who don't give it any serious thought. But we are a more spread-out country than England, or Japan. The distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco is greater than the distance from London to Paris-- by more than 100 miles.
In Japan, the distance between Tokyo and Osaka is comparable to the distance between Los Angeles and San Francisco. But the population of Osaka alone is larger than the combined populations of Los Angeles and San Francisco-- and Tokyo has millions more people than Osaka. That is why it can make sense to have a "bullet train" running between Osaka and Tokyo, but makes no sense to build one between Los Angeles and San Francisco....However little President Obama knows or cares about economics, he knows a lot about politics-- and especially political rhetoric. "High-speed rail" is simply another set of lofty words to justify continued expansion of government spending. So are words like "investment in education" or "investment" in any number of other things, which serves the same political purpose.”
Riots abroad...Everywhere?
Surely seems like it. Now, with Libya in play and its oil wells at risk, our gasoline prices are getting mighty nervous. And talk about nervous, the week has opened with the stock market a-plunging by some 200 points on the Dow at last glance. Oh my. We are clearly doomed to live in exciting times. And I haven’t even thought of the dicey fate of Obamacare...today. Later, we'll see, or something.
--Ben Blankenship
##########
posted by Ben Blankenship at
12:55 PM
