Month: June 2013

So, I need a beard trimmer.

My barber* and I agree: the somewhat, ah, disheveled one I had that he had to work with – or more accurately, on – last weekend could use more regular attention than would be permitted by my regular haircut schedule.  Alas, he keeps his a lot shorter than I do, so no real help there: suggestions? For various reasons involving cash flow, I need something that’s on Amazon, and not insanely expensive.

Moe Lane

*Turns out my old barbershop didn’t close; the guy just didn’t feel like coming in at 10 AM. Hard to argue with him on it, given that the strip mall is dead at that time of the morning.

Sir Donald Berwick (D) to run for Governor of Massachusetts. …That’s *Massachusetts*.

You know.  That place with the hill?

Best known, of course, for his advocacy of (and eventual fall over) health care rationing, Sir Donald Berwick has modestly decided to run for Governor of Massachusetts:

“As a doctor, an educator, an innovator and someone who has dedicated his professional career to making things work better and to helping people – I am ready to lead,” the Newton Democrat said in a statement announcing his candidacy.

In other news, NSTAR announced likely lower rates for its Boston customers, thanks to new energy production estimates that take into account increased output from its new Granary Burying Ground facility.  Turns out that the kinetic energy that can be currently derived from Samuel Adams, John Hancock, James Otis, Robert Paine, and Paul Revere spinning in their graves is enough to power several turbines.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

*No, he really was knighted.

PS: MASSACHUSETTS.

PPS: I have been asked to note that “a statewide election featuring an architect of some of the most unpopular features of Obamacare ought to be a big honking signal in the sky for Scott Brown to enter this race.” …True, that: he should.

Wait. Hurricane Katrina was *BAD* for the GOP, right?

Because as near as I can tell, the most lasting long-term consequence of it was that Louisiana went from being a largely Democratic state to an unquestionably Republican one.  It’s almost as if, the closer you get to New Orleans, the more disgusted that people got with the Democratic party of Louisiana…

Moe Lane Continue reading Wait. Hurricane Katrina was *BAD* for the GOP, right?

The Guilded Age volume 2 Kickstarter.

They finally announced the Kickstarter for the second Guilded Age webcomic compilation.  I have the first, as well as a pretty sweet print up on the wall, so I’ve been waiting for this to get announced…

[pause]

Erm.

Umm.

I… hesitate to show the Kickstarter video.  I shall compromise by showing it after the fold, so as to not alarm the sensibilities of my refined and classy readers.

Continue reading The Guilded Age volume 2 Kickstarter.

Is the IRS *unduly* targeting pro-Israel groups for scrutiny?

(H/T: Instapundit) Because let me be clear about something:

Applications of pro-Israel groups for tax-exempt status are routinely routed to an antiterrorism unit within the Internal Revenue Service for additional screening, according to the testimony of a Cincinnati-based IRS agent.

[snip]

Asked by investigators whether “all pro-Israel applicants went to the terrorism unit,” Muthert responded, “Probably . . .  foreign activity, pro-Israel — if it is any type of foreign activity, it will go to the antiterrorism area.” Screeners like Muthert must consult the list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, the Treasury Department office that enforces economic and trade sanctions, and “the terrorist list . . .  because a lot of organizations will create charities to funnel the money to terrorist countries.”

Continue reading Is the IRS *unduly* targeting pro-Israel groups for scrutiny?

TNR… trying to make the case for Rand Paul in 2016.

Wait.  This stuff is bad?

OK, I don’t normally fisk, but I gotta do this one. From The New Republic’s rather alarmed profiling of Senator Rand Paul:

In the Senate, Paul gained a reputation as an eccentric. Staffers often saw him wandering alone into the cafeteria, buying his own coffee, getting his own lunch—which, they noted, was not very senatorial.

That’s a damning indictment of the Senate, frankly.

Nor was his reputation for reading every page of every bill.

So’s that. Continue reading TNR… trying to make the case for Rand Paul in 2016.

QotD, The Answer To “Who Is Obama?” Is “Disinterested[*]” Edition.

I hope I’m not giving any spoilers, here.

Five months into his second term, allies and enemies are as confounded as ever about who President Obama really is.

Barack Obama is a mildly intelligent man who has never been really pushed by anything in his life. He’s not especially intellectually curious, has never learned how to control his boredom, and thinks that the rather vicious local political culture that he – and much more importantly, his staff – was steeped in actually is how they do things Downtown. I’m sure that the man thinks that he has principles, and an organized plan to follow them; but the former are as unfinished as the rest of Barack Obama and the latter boils down to ‘make speeches until the adoring mob does all the heavy lifting.’ And, of course, he’s marking time until 2017.  That’s when the best part about being President starts for Barack Obama; all of the respect, all of the perks, nobody will expect him to do a single darn thing.

That’s who Barack Obama really is. Continue reading QotD, The Answer To “Who Is Obama?” Is “Disinterested[*]” Edition.