Archive for the ‘opinion/news’ Category

An honorable opinion

Posted: February 1, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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I’m pretty hard on the left at this blog so when kudos need to be given they shouldn’t be neglected:

I’ve never cared for Tom Daschle, on substance or politics, but I know so little about health care that I have hesitated to discuss whether Daschle is a good choice for HHS. But in light of this news, why in heaven’s name should President Obama lift a finger for a guy who basically did not tell him the truth:

Kudos for talk left for not letting Daschle off the hook on his taxes. This is a huge mistake on Obama’s part. Believe me when people are in the process of paying their taxes (I’ll be doing mine today or tomorrow) its bad enough that you have a treasure secretary that didn’t pay his taxes how many more are we going to see?

The Sock Puppet deserves credit on this one too.

Scrappleface via Glenn Nails it:

In the month of January alone, Mr. Obama has forced Timothy Geithner, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, to cough up $43,000 he owed the IRS, and former Sen. Tom Daschle to pay off his $128,000 tax obligation. Mr. Geithner will put his tax-paying experience to good use, overseeing the IRS as Secretary of the Treasury. Mr. Daschle hopes his recently-good behavior will garner Senate confirmation as the next Secretary of the Health and Human Services.

“With the IRS underfunded as it is,” said Mr. Gibbs, “this collection method is much more efficient than dispatching field agents. Arresting these men, or compelling them to pay penalties would take years, and make them feel bad about themselves. The president’s method not only gets more money to the government to help our economy, but provides a self-esteem boost by giving these wealthy men important-sounding titles.”

I think I’ll add a category called “honorable left” to give a thumbs up for situations like this.

I’m going to be a little unfair here…

Posted: January 31, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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…to that paragon of the left George Soros. I want to quote something from Jay Nordlinger’s Davos Journal part 2:

Lunch is with George Soros. He speaks to a group of journalists in a Davos hotel. His subject is the financial crisis, and he is very good on it: sober and analytical. I must say, I like him better on economics and finance than I do on politics and foreign policy. Obviously, in this field—finance—he knows what he’s talking about. His authority is real.

He makes the observation that, last September, “the real economy fell off a cliff”—not just a paper economy (if I have interpreted him correctly). He also says that nationalization is “politically unacceptable at the moment”—words that strike me as ominous. (Soros sounds rueful.)

Something interesting, and entertaining, happens in the Q&A. A journo asks him, “Did you see this crisis coming, and have you profited from it?” Soros answers that he did not quite predict the crisis, but he came close to doing so—he predicted aspects of it. Certainly the “super-bubble,” as he termed it, had to burst. As to the second part of the journo’s question, Soros says, “I was able to protect my capital.”

I love that sentence: “I was able to protect my capital.” Wish all of us could say that!

Now it is the job of a capitalist to protest his capital and Soros shouldn’t be blamed for it, but shouldn’t it strike people on the left a bid odd that their patron took steps to protect himself while not alerting his friends on the left to help save their fortunes? Isn’t this what the left is all about? Note the outcry as the oil companies report record profits. No outcry from those guys about Soros protecting his capital.

Of course the fact that is capital is protected and others are not makes them more dependent on his funds and more receptive to his opinions. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you.

Oh BTW Nordlinger reports from Davos every year. Part 3 of his series is here.

Yeah this will work

Posted: January 31, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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CNN seems to think that democratic attack ads featuring Rush Limbaugh are going to scare republican Senators into voting with Obama:

The commercials blast House Republicans for refusing to vote for Obama’s stimulus proposal this week, claiming that the GOP lawmakers took marching orders from conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh not to support it.

The ad, paid for by the liberal advocacy group Americans United for Change, targets Sen. John Ensign of Nevada, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, and Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio. Specter is seeking re-election in 2010, while Voinovich is retiring when his term expires at the close of that year.

Very Silly. Nevada is not a liberal state, Harry Reid is in more danger of losing election than Ensign does. Voinovich is retiring so any kind of advocacy ad is useless.

Specter is seeking re-election but he had a tough primary battle last time, what do you think will happen in the primary’s if he goes along with Obama on this one when even McCain isn’t going for it?

As for the other batch mentioned Maine and New Hampshire have become more socially liberal as Massachusetts residents migrate north, but people who have relocated due to stupid tax policies are unlikely to be supportive of Obama’s economic plan. In Alaska Palin’s popularity is still large and I suspect Murkowski isn’t anxious to appear on the side of fiscal indiscipline.

As for Iowa, I must confess I have absolutely no idea, but hey spend the dough Soros has plenty.

I wonder if they protest chemical engineers?

Posted: January 31, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
Tags: ,

You know every now and then you read something that is so mindbogglingly absurd that you can’t believe it is real.

Major PSH from a group that is, and I am not making this up, protesting that ROTC offers arms training. Two things leap out at me here. One is that they really think military training is equal to criminal activity. And two that they don’t seem to think learning about arms is educational. Familiarity with arms is a skill that can save lives, in more ways than one.

Via Glenn. I wonder if these guys protest professers who teach chemical engineers since they teach kids about dangerous chemicals or civil engineers since they build thing like oil rigs that polute, or mechanical engineers who might get you a job in a defense plant etc etc etc.

I think that Don in comments has a fine idea:

Let’s take a page from their book. Download the word doc from the link just below “WRITE, PHONE, FAX THE SCHOOL BOARD BEFORE FEB. 10″; it’s all of 2 pages. It gives the names and addresses of the Board on the first page. Write the Board and tell them you support the weapons training program within JROTC.

Even though they say email is less effective, perhaps flooding email with support will be a good thing. In fact, here’s the email addr: board@sandi.net .

Do take note that it is a group and not the city itself that is advocating this, so e-mail should be sent accordingly.

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