Author: Moe_Lane

#rsrh QotD, Rhetorical Question? edition.

Reason’s Tim Cavanaugh (H/T: Instapundit), on the entire ‘Let’s revisit the Seventies!’ malaise thing – and its solution:

…belated interest in the 1980s at least suggests Americans are interested in innovation rather than repetition as a way out of the current jam. The first time around, stagflation was defeated by a combination of tight monetary policy, deregulation, market competition, and supply-side tax policy. What will it take to get America moving this time?

Is this a trick question?  Making sure that the current head of the executive branch – who is, after all, the guy who hired all of the congenital screw-ups that are currently trying to rev the economy while the car’s in neutral and the parking brake’s engaged – doesn’t get re-elected sounds like an obvious first step.  It should have been obvious even to Reason.com, although I concede that from their point of view the choice between the GOP and the Democrats isn’t as clear as it is to me (and, apparently, the Dow).  Trust me: I’m not happy between ‘bad’ and ‘worse’ – although these days it’s more of a choice between ‘They CAN be taught!’ and ‘Living definition of insanity’…

Moe Lane

New Thor Trailer.

Which makes it look less… problematical.

It might even not suck, contra my earlier reaction.  I’ve noticed this happening before: first trailer makes me think that the movie will suck, second or third trailer maybe convinces me otherwise, movie turns out fine.  You’d think that they’d just do good trailers from the start and be done with it.

Also: Ace (H/T, by the way) is infuriated with The Adjustment Bureau over its lie of a trailer, and I can’t blame him in the slightest.

No Unemployed Need Apply.

I’ll summarize this ABC article really quickly: the economy’s bad, which means that any company that’s actually hiring has a larger-than-average pool to draw from.  The economy’s so bad and the pool’s getting so large, in fact, that companies are finding that they can get away with explicitly stating that they’re not interested in hiring the unemployed (as Hot Air notes, long-term unemployed individuals are historically more of a risk than the employed).  This is upsetting a bunch of people, because it’s not actually illegal to do this.  What’s not explicitly said in the article is that the young are the ones who are really going to take it in the chin, since a lot of companies are taking a blanket “no-unemployed at all” policy in order to keep this simple.

And those are the people who I wish to address directly. Continue reading No Unemployed Need Apply.

#rsrh Cracks in the public union wall.

The WSJ notes that collective bargaining reform is not just happening in Wisconsin and Ohio:

Lawmakers in Florida, Idaho, Missouri, Tennessee and South Carolina have introduced bills to reduce union power or to make it more difficult for them to sign up workers, and there is talk of similar measures even in labor-friendly California and New York. Those efforts would build on bills already working their way through legislatures in Iowa, Kansas and the traditionally progressive state of Massachusetts.

The measures aren’t identical, but each attempts to rein in labor unions amid concerns about state budget deficits and a national debate over public-sector pay and pensions.

California’s probably a lost cause, but both New York and Massachusetts are definite possibles; apparently, the problem’s gotten too big for the local power structures to ignore.  Real shame everybody’s concentrating on Wisconsin, huh? – At least, I’m betting that’s what the public sector union leadership is thinking right now.

But if they’re worried now, then… whoops!  Almost said too much, there.

Moe Lane

#rsrh Hey, the President’s homebrewing!

Cool. (Via Hot Air)

No, really: cool.  Home-brewing beer is a fun and very useful life skill to acquire: I don’t do it myself, but I am very lucky to have a good number of friends who do so, at least two of which are at a level of skill that could do it professionally.  My wedding reception had home-brewed beers and wines that had my relatives marveling at how good they were: one of the people who crafted the wine told me later that several of my aunts and uncles had waylaid him at the hotel and asked if he had any more bottles of merlot available, as his was superior to the table wine that they were drinking at dinner*.

So I wish the Obamas good fortune and tasty beer as they continue… and may the President have many opportunities to practice it, starting in 2013.

Moe Lane

PS: twist-off caps (and the bottles that take them) will be your enemy; also, you absolutely must keep the tubes and carboys as clean as can be possibly managed.  If you have musty beer, that’s why.

*There were not, of course.  I am no fool; the leftover wine was the first thing to get packed in the car during cleanup.  Admittedly, the almost two cases somehow turned into just over a case between the kitchen and the car; but you have to expect settling in transit, and you do not bind the mouths of the kine treading the grain, or cleaning up the site.

Democratic legislators flee… SAME-SEX MARRIAGE bill? [Fixed]

In Maryland?

Apparently.  Maryland has been trying to pass a SSM bill for years – the last time they tried, its failure was a genuine shock to SSM supporters – and it did look like the latest version (HB 55, the “Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act”) would pass once it made it through the MD Senate (barely) last week.  But before it could goes to the House it has to get through their Judiciary Committee… and on Tuesday two critical Democrats refused to show up for the meeting, thus making the vote impossible.  It will probably surprise nobody here to read that both Democrats (Tiffany Allston, Jill Carter) are African-Americans who represent African-American districts; it might surprise some to hear that both are co-sponsors of HB 55.  I called the Maryland Assembly this morning: they confirmed that the bill is still stuck in committee, which means (among other things) that possibly Rep. Allston hasn’t made up her mind yet after all.  Or is just worried that her constituents won’t change their minds anytime soon.

This is not actually funny, although I concede that people opposed to SSM may legitimately beg to differ with me on that.  Neither is it a case of ends justifying means – and I will not concede that differing on that is legitimate.  The Republic will survive the establishment or non-establishment of same-sex marriages in one or many or all states.  What it cannot survive is the establishment of the ‘principle’ that participating in the democratic process requires you to continue to participate [only when you are winning]*.  If Rep. Allston’s and Rep. Carter’s constituents don’t like HB 55, then those two legislators need to decide whether they agree with their constituents or not.  If they do, they should vote no.  If they don’t, they should vote yes.

Either way, Allston and Carter can then deal with the consequences that come from making a choice – a choice, by the way, that they implicitly volunteered to make by running for office.  These two are no different in spirit than the state Democrats from Indiana and Wisconsin who are hiding out rather than do their jobs, and they should be treated accordingly.

Moe Lane

*[I had somebody point out that I mangled this point horribly.  Corrected, and my bad.]

Good News/Bad News about SEIU going broke.

The good news is, of course, that they’re going broke: as Classical Values, Big Government, & DRScoundrels helpfully note, in 2009 SEIU was $85,000,000 in debt, with fully one-third of its assets tied up in real estate (its headquarters) and the rest not-really-offsetting the debt.  It’s been a while since I read a balance sheet, but it’s not pretty: and it explains a couple of things handily, like Andy Stern’s sudden leaving of SEIU and that bizarre incident last summer involving the Bank of America official and his kid (SEIU owes $81,000,000 to Bank of America).  The 2010 report should be due out at the end of the month (you will be able to search for it here); it should make for fascinating reading.

The bad news?  SEIU’s going broke, which means that its leadership is probably feeling like they’ve been cornered and are now beset by enemies.  As SEIU’s leadership is mostly made up of anthropomorphic rats (without any of the rat’s better qualities) , this almost ensures some sort of lashing out in April.  Which is probably going to be literal: SEIU is called the “Purple People Beaters” for a reason…

Moe Lane (crosspost)

#rsrh QotD, The Ref Should Have Stopped That Powerline/TP Fight edition.

Power Line (and Claremont fellow!*) contributor John Hinderaker, in the process of casually dismembering the latest attempt by Think Progress to justify its subsidizing by the Left** (hint: research groups should, you know, do research):

Here is the conclusion of Fang’s attack on me:

Asked about his failure to disclose his firm’s financial relationship with Koch, Hinderaker told ThinkProgress’ Scott Keyes today that he has no comment.

Sorry, kid, you better go listen to the tape. (Midway through the conversation I asked Keyes whether he was taping it. He said that he was. Keyes did not disclose that he was recording the conversation until I asked him point-blank.) What I actually said to Keyes was not “no comment.” I told him that I would be delighted to give him an interview, as long as I can also interview Lee Fang. Keyes seemed taken aback, and asked what I wanted to question Fang about. I told him that I wanted to ask Fang why he never mentions Wal-Mart, and whether it is because Wal-Mart donated $500,000 to the group that owns Think Progress. I said I had lots more questions, too. Curiously enough, Keyes wasn’t excited about the prospect of turning Lee Fang over to me for an interview. I told him that I would be happy to answer his questions, as soon as Think Progress makes Fang available to answer mine. The offer still stands.

Don’t wait up for them to take you up on it, John.

Moe Lane Continue reading #rsrh QotD, The Ref Should Have Stopped That Powerline/TP Fight edition.