Month: January 2011

President to doom gun control.

President Obama’s going to be starting a push for “gun control” next month, sayeth insiders – which is a statement that would worry me more if the President hasn’t been a bit of a jinx at using the bully pulpit up to this point.  I’m trying – and failing – to come up with something where his “assistance” has been a net positive: all of the Democrats’ dubious legislative successes have been on the Congressional level thus far, and when it comes to skill at advocacy Obama, well, sucks. One wonders what the man hopes to accomplish.

And no, I don’t know what the heck “gun control” has to do with the economy, either.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

QotD, Scarier Than It Looks edition

MSNBC VP Bill Wolff, in the process of denying that his entire network has a psychotic sexual obsession towards Sarah Palin:

“MSNBC does not have a political agenda.”

Here’s why it’s scary: what if this guy actually believes that? Cynical lying we can handle: heck, the media does that every day.  But this kind of lack of elementary self-awareness that’s for reals – well, it’s the sort of thing that ends… badly.

More globalwarming heading our way.

NO! MAKE THE ANGRY FROZEN WATER SKY DEMONS STOP!

Seriously: my kid’s made preschool one, two days a week the last half-month because of all the globalwarming that we’ve had so far.  And now I have ice storms to worry about?  Let me put it this way: Maryland shuts down if the state government hears the phrase “ice storms*.”  Actual ice storms usually involve the sacrifice of an unblemished ram to the aforementioned angry sky demons.

Moe Lane

*Admittedly, this means that the Maryland state government does no actual work, which is an improvement.  Hey, just because the joke is old doesn’t make it not true.

Democrat-backed bank ‘reform’ kicks poor in the face.

I thought that the title would get your attention.

If you’re upset by the title, well, my response will be tempered by your political affiliation.  If you’re a Republican or an independent, my response is “Yes, it really is that awful.  Here’s a list of some of the possible-to-plausible fallout from the CARD Act and Dodd/Frank (and its associated Durbin Amendment):

  • Credit-card rates for new card-holders range from 14.72% to 20% for the range typically associated with young people to starting at 24% (and the sky’s-the-limit) if your credit rating is bad;
  • Annual fees on debit cards;
  • Limiting debit card reward programs;
  • Creating a price cap on transactions using a debit card;
  • Raising ATM non-customer fees;
  • Increasing fees on checking accounts;
  • Increasing minimum balance requirements for debit and checking accounts;

…and those are just the most obvious possibilities.  There’s undoubtedly half a dozen that should have been listed, but weren’t.

Continue reading Democrat-backed bank ‘reform’ kicks poor in the face.

Alec Baldwin politics Senate taxes (placeholder post)

Just on the off chance that Alec Baldwin ever runs for political office in the near future… whoever is researching this, be sure to have your boss ask Alec how that residential status tax audit turned out.  Or why he fought it in the first place, seeing as Baldwin was for raising taxes on… well, people as rich as him… back in 2006.

Deceiver.com.  Doesn’t always have stuff that you can use – but when they do, it’s usually tasty.  And they have the saving grace of bipartisan finger-pointing.

#rsrh Big Hollywood’s Top 25 Leftist films.

If you have an hour or so to kill, go to the bottom of this page and start scrolling up.  John Nolte does a very good job in both analyzing not only why a movie is Left-wing, but why it’s still good in spite of that particular and lamentable character flaw.  I haven’t seen all of these films, but the ones that I did see I liked.

And I’m going to check out Dead Man Walking pretty much on Nolte’s recommendation; I liked Bob Roberts in spite of itself, and if Tim Robbins made a better film…

Moe Lane

PS: John, if I can make a guess… the reason why you hated the movie Pleasantville is possibly because you didn’t watch it as it should have been watched: as a Cthulhu Mythos-style cosmic horror film.  I’m being perfectly serious: Ken Hite worked out that interpretation, and it makes a good deal of sense.  As much as your argument that Apocalypse Now reflects a literal wandering through Hell…

#rsrh Quote of the day, You Have Been Warned edition.

Glenn Reynolds, in response to Wisconsin state legislator Jon Richards’ apparent petulance over the idea that he can be stopped from exercising his naked Will to Power by a mere set of laws:

…to politicians who dismiss the constitutional allocation of power as a “technicality,” be reminded that on tax day people pay taxes, instead of treating you like robbers, because of the constitutional allocation of powers. Without that, you’re just another bandit to be treated accordingly. Do you really want to dismiss the rule of law that way? The answer, of course, is that to politicians, the rule of law — like the taxes — is for the little people. I would recommend against pushing too hard on that front right now, though.

You know, Glenn Reynolds would not exactly be my first choice for recruitment into the New Jacobins.  It is a measure of just how badly the Democratic Beltway aristos are doing right now – worse, how little they care about how badly they’re doing – that we’re hearing more and more exasperation and anger in voices like Instapundit’s.

Moe Lane