Moe Lane

There is a striking (if you’ll pardon the pun) dichotomy taking shape in the Wisconsin public school system right now, and it’s one that should hardly be surprising to anybody who was paying attention to this spring’s labor union reform struggles.  Said dichotomy is as follows:

• School districts that were able to institute Scott Walker’s & the GOP’s reforms to collective bargaining procedures have generally been able to balance their school budgets for the year without layoffs.  In fact, at least one district that was on the verge of instituting layoffs will be able to avoid that.
• School districts that were not able to institute those reforms – for whatever reasons – will not be avoiding layoffs.

The Weekly Standard article linked to above lists Milwaukee (354 teachers fired) and Kenosha (212 teachers to be laid off).  The first example is particularly noteworthy because: a), Milwaukee had had to fire an additional 482 teachers in 2010; and b), the Milwaukee school board estimates that it could rehire at least 200 of their teachers if the union simply agreed to instituting employee contributions to their own pensions (5.8%).  The union (in the form of its president Bob Peterson*) refused, of course.  They’re rather defensive about it, too – which is nice; I always like to see admissions of shame and remorse, even if it’s just being restricted to subconscious attitudes. (more…)

I guess somebody explained to him that ‘having a sexual encounter’ with the daughter of a campaign contributor – particular one one-third your age – doesn’t get magically better when you explain that the whole thing was consensual.  Whatever she might or might not be saying about the matter.  Anyway, Wu’s on his way out the door: slowly but surely, the Democratic establishment is learning that leaving a Charlie Rangel or a Pete Stark or a Jim Moran or a …Sheila Jackson Lee** in place does their party no favors.

Anyway, at this rate I am never going to get to put together a list of Democrats I Plan To Help Remove in 2012*: the best candidates keep petulantly quitting before I can compile one.

Moe Lane (more…)

(via Instapundit) He calls it crazy, but it’s not, really:

So here’s what I”m suggesting. Instead of donating to a candidate or a party, donate to a blogger or a podcaster. Make a regular habit of it. If you’d normally give $100 to a candidate, give a blogger $20 a month for five months. Heck, give $20 to five different bloggers. Let them know, in paying green fashion, that you support and appreciate what they do. Tell your friends, too and point them to the same bloggers to whom you donate. Get a little contest going among your friends and family to see who can get the first blogger to post about how their tip jar exploded because of all the cash that you all stuffed into it. Make it last at least through the end of this year and see how it works. If you can keep it up into 2012, when the new media will be even more important, do it. I know times are tough, but I think we can all come up with $10 or $20 a month somewhere.

Plenty of people out there who could use something like this, frankly.

I stopped doing this in the middle of 2010, once it became clear that the real question of 2010 was how many hits to the head with the snake the Democrats were going to take before it was all over.  As the answer was “a lot,” I feel that this was a wise prioritization of my time.

But it’s a new cycle, so let’s look at the numbers – both the latest ones, and May’s.  Short version: Republicans are scoring better in nine out of ten topics that Rasmussen charts, and there’s a ten point lead on the economy.  Which, not incidentally, is the most burning issue for Americans these days. (more…)

Ann Althouse, while scoring the dueling press conferences last night (she figures Boehner won*), observed that compromise was a favorite theme in the President’s comments last night.  In fact, President “I won” Obama was and is very upset that we’re not embracing compromise, because that’s what this country is all about**.  So Ann muses:

I had to stop and think: Is America really about compromise? I thought of the Missouri Compromise. And the Three-Fifths Compromise. Maybe compromise is a dirty word for a good reason!

The more I look at that, the more enjoyably ruder that sentence gets.  As always, context is key…

Moe Lane

*Let me address this, actually.  If you’re a netrooter, you almost certainly thought that the President did better than Boehner did last night; and if you’re a VRWCer, you almost certainly thought that Boehner did better (we will now pause for the 5% or so contrarians from both sides to chime in with their contrarianism).  And, yes, even if you thought that the representative for your side sounded better you don’t necessarily believe him.

But that’s not the issue: the issue is what the folks who aren’t us or the netroots thought.  We’ll probably know that in a week or so.

**Which factoid should come as a bit of a shock to the Confederate, Old Imperial Japanese, Nazi, and Italian Fascist governments.  Not that you can actually check with any of them, of course – but, hey, you can always get an old ex-Soviet apparatchik drunk and ask him what he thinks about America’s willingness to compromise.

Before you laugh, the two sheep were valued at fifteen grand apiece (admittedly, that’s their value as art): I have no idea how much a life-sized bronze sheep weighs*, but it was apparently enough to make it a criminal target in this marvelous economy that’s been so carefully nurtured by the current administration.  Did you know that there’s been since 2008 a statewide law enforcement program (“Stop Theft of Metal Products,” or STOMP) in Colorado dedicated to handle the specific surge of scrap-metal felonies?  Well, now you do.  And are you wondering why copper and tin are suddenly more expensive?  Well, for copper at least it’s the old story: increased demand + reduced supply (via government regulation of new mines, among other things) = more expensive copper.  And, apparently = more stolen bronze sheep. (more…)

…well, Cracked After Hours makes a convincing case:

…but my pick isn’t even on the list. Which is surprising, because it’s an incredibly puerile one.

Moe Lane

PS: No, I have no intention of saying.

…strewn around the website, in various stages of repair and construction; but it’s just Too Damned Hot out for me to really concentrate, you know what I mean?

Probably.

And on the Captain America and X-Men: First Class movies, no less.  Will wonders never cease?

…No, seriously, it’s readable (don’t agree with it all, but it’s readable).  Some interesting bits there on the entire mutant thing being a metaphor for the inability of minority groups to integrate into larger American society – and how it’s in marked contrast to the Captain America movie, which is all about how anyone can be initiated into the glories of the American Dream:

What really drives the Red Skull nuts is the idea that it’s not that Captain America is great, but the institutions that made him and the things he stands for. “Arrogance may not be a uniquely American trait, but I must say, you do it better than anyone,” he says, demanding, “What makes you so special?” expecting an answer he can laugh at or bat away. “Nothing, I’m just a kid from Brooklyn,” Rogers tells him, provoking an attack.

I can’t really argue with that (I also can’t argue that the Marvel Universe’s WWII US Army was blatantly a damn sight better-integrated than ours was, given that I was raising a pleased eyebrow at that historical revision myself).  I must not be feeling well.  Or possibly the writer (Alyssa Rosenberg) is simply essentially sound on superhero movies.

Moe Lane

Penny Arcade’s Tycho, trying to explain (back in 2009 – told you this was Retro) to his newborn why it was necessary to give her the subtle and powerful weapon that is the name “Ronia Quinn:”

I need you to be thus armed because I fear your mother and I have played a trick on you; we have brought you to a place where hidden weaponry is sometimes necessary. In our defense, and I recognize that it may be insufficient, this was the only world available to us.

That’s good.

Mike Ross is something like the fourth Blue Dog to have decided to throw in his or her cards this election cycle*; apparently, actually being opposed in an election for a change didn’t appeal to the man.  AR-04 went strongly for McCain in 2008 (56%), and redistricting will apparently improve the percentages slightly, so it’s probably not too surprising that Ross decided that he wasn’t really up for another bruising reelection fight.

And by ‘bruising’ I mean ‘contested.’ (more…)

Which is, of course, the Online Left.  The short version: NFL wide receiver Chad Ochocinco innocently tweeted the fact that he had grabbed Glenn Beck’s new book Broke: The Plan to Restore Our Trust, Truth and Treasure, presumably to read on a flight.  As the Blaze link shows, some of Ochocinco’s fans aren’t all that happy about it.  Which doesn’t seem to have stopped Ochocinco from reading the book.

I note this not because it’s significant now, but because it might be interesting later.  Judging from the guy’s Twitter feed, Ochocinco seems like the kind of person who isn’t shy about expressing his opinions; and right now it looks like all the shouting is just encouraging Ochocinco to finish the book (which he is reasonably enough finding interesting, even if he doesn’t actually agree with all of it).  Assuming that he likes Beck’s book, or even finds it interesting, Ochocinco may talk about this later in a more public forum*, and in the process probably say something about Glenn Beck that will not be semantically equivalent to “Glenn Beck is the spawn of Satan.”

That’s when the fun will really start.

Moe Lane

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