Author: Moe_Lane

#rsrh Lazy Keynesians.

Do yourself a favor.  First, reacquaint yourself with this excellent Hayek vs. Keynes video.

…by the way: I consider this video to be more of a sequel to the original.

Now, read Jonathan Chait’s fairly drab attempt at push-back (via here, via here).

Notice the difference?

Yup.  What we have here… is a failure… to communicate.  Which is a definite pity, in its way: there really needs to be a good, accessible defense of current neo-Keynesian ec0nomic theory out there, if only to keep the Austrian school from running more amok than they, strictly speaking, deserve.  Unfortunately, what we get instead are dull critiques by those who are: a, less creative than the people that provided the original argument (and who are being somewhat bitter about being less creative); and b, more interested in trying to score partisan political points than they are in actually doing a good critique in the first place.  Put more simply: EconStories came up with something that people who don’t actually know much about economics can grok.  The best that TNR could come up with were some drab arguments designed to keep at least some of the Keynesian faithful from lapsing into heresy.

Guess who won?

Adult. Proms.

Ye gods and little fishes.  You’re right, Allahpundit: I don’t want to know.

Incidentally, this is my conversation with my wife on this:

Me: Hey, did you see the latest new trend?  Adult proms!

Wife: When you say ‘latest new trend,’ do you mean ‘something that the New York Times made up?’

Me: …They have pictures.

Wife: Sure!  I am willing to concede that this happened once.

Me: Hold on… Fort Wayne, Beverly, Green Bay… Decatur and Cedar Rapids.  OK, to be fair to the Times; five times in one year qualifies as a trend.

Wife: Yes, dear. (Goes back to playing with my iPad2).

(pause)

You know, I thought that I had won that one – but now I’m not so sure.

Moe Lane

Election reform bill passes WI state house.

Wisconsin’s voter ID bill passed, 60-35; it now goes to the Senate, to be worked on next week.  The bill will require that voters show picture ID before voting: what really has Democrats in a tizzy about this is that to be valid a student ID will need “current address, birth date, signature and expiration date.”  This effectively removes all Wisconsin student IDs from consideration… and if they start adding that information it will become abundantly clear, very quickly, that a lot of students are not going through the hassle of changing their legal address every year to reflect their attending college.  Which is another way of saying that a lot of students are voting in districts that they’re not actually supposed to be voting in.

This is the real issue for Democratic party bigwigs, methinks – and for all that they pretend that it’s a minority voter issue.  The reality is, people will bend over backward to make sure that the urban poor get ID to keep from being disenfranchised: this country takes voting seriously; it’s the right thing to do; and – if the first two reasons aren’t enough – the federal government will come down like a hammer from orbit on anybody trying anything different.  But students being told that they can’t vote in Madison because they actually live in Sheboygan?  Yeah, that’s going to get less sympathy. – even if the Democratic party would rather have that vote count in Madison. Continue reading Election reform bill passes WI state house.

#rsrh I roll to disbelieve these campaign ads.

Ladies and gentlemen, the bar for bizarre ads is being set early this cycle.  Meet Democrat Dan Adler.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gerq4GpHpKw&feature=player_embedded

“I’m a Korean!”

Via Talking Points Memo, and they’re just as bemused as I am.  More ads at the link; but remember.  Some things, once seen… cannot be unseen.  Particularly when they involve Patty Duke.

Moe Lane

[UPDATE]: Hot Air is not so… forgiving… as I am.

It’s a sign.

I’ve got to wrangle the eldest kid to the doctor’s this afternoon – ‘wellness check;’ there’s nothing wrong – and I’m trying to front-load some content, and getting frazzled, and then here comes this post (via Ed Driscoll/Instapundit) on blogger burnout, and I said Shoot, just take a day off if it’s so bad; those 10K readers won’t notice a day.

Which is excellent advice, so I’m going to take a couple hours off and not worry about daily free ice cream levels for a change.

#rsrh WH parceling out Osama death photos?

Huh.  Maybe Osama was shot in the back of the head.

“The bullet either went in the ear and out the eyeball or in the eyeball and out the ear,” [Senator Jim Inhofe] said.

I speculated earlier that a scenario consistent with the former bullet trajectory may have sparked the decision by the White House to keep the pictures under wraps: this suggests that I may have been right.

Moe Lane

PS: I continue to have an utter lack of outrage over the possibility, by the way.

 

QoTD, Promises, Promises edition.

NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman*, on why the federal government needs to subsidize mimes:

“The marketplace shouldn’t be the sole determinant of what is allowed to flourish,” Landesman said, adding that the renowned San Francisco Mime Troupe would likely not be able to survive solely on ticket sales.

Given that the renowned San Francisco Mime Troupe – no, I’ve never heard of them, either – apparently also can’t survive solely on private philanthropy, perhaps the marketplace is merely giving here what we in the agitprop business call a subtle hint.

Via Ace of Spades HQ Headlines.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*No, I’m not going to make fun of his name.

Jack Davis (FAKE CAND, NY-26) cuts and runs from debates.

He’s officially decided to not do any debates with the official Democratic candidate (and actual Republican/Conservative candidate Jane Corwin).  The ostensible reason is because – wait for it, wait for it! – Davis is claiming his opponents are liars who won’t play fair.  Given Davis’s likely status as a stalking horse for the Democratic party, such a comment would normally score chutzpah points with me.  It doesn’t in this case, because I can’t abide cowards running for office; but objectively speaking there’s something almost entertaining about this particular case of projection.  Particularly the ‘electronic town hall’ bit, which worked so well for his fellow Democratic cowards in 2010.  What’s the definition of insanity, again?

And if you think that I’m being mean-spirited, check out Freedomworks; they’re laying into Davis with all the fury of a successful grassroots organization that sweated blood last year getting real conservatives and Tea Partiers elected.  I quote Matt Kibbe:

“The voters in New York’s 26th Congressional District have a serious decision to make concerning who will represent them in the House of Representatives. Out of respect for this decision, the candidates have a responsibility to be honest about their positions on the issues. Considering Jack Davis’ leftist resume, his candidacy as a ‘tea party’ candidate is either a sad attempt to raise his own personal political profile or an underhanded strategy to hand the seat to the Democrat contender. Either way, it’s a slap in the face to New York 26 voters and the larger tea party movement and FreedomWorks PAC will ensure that this message is delivered throughout the district in advance of the May 24th special election.”

Continue reading Jack Davis (FAKE CAND, NY-26) cuts and runs from debates.