In his 1991 book, “Monetary Mischief,” Friedman concludes from his lifelong study of monetary policy that THERE IS A PATTERN IN THE LAGS.
SIX TO NINE MONTHS AFTER AN INJECTION TO THE MONEY SUPPLY, THERE IS A SHORT-TERM INCREASE IN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY. After 24 months, inflation appears and is persistent until money growth is slowed, another recession occurs, and 24 months pass before the inflation is abated.
If these lags are superimposed on the nation’s political calendar, there is a disturbing conclusion.
A SHORT-TERM INCREASE IN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY WILL OCCUR BEFORE THE 2012 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, and a virulent inflation will occur after the votes are in.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/559759/201101131755/The-Major-Political-Implications-Of-QE2.htm
The democrats are counting on this, but are the rules the same today as they were 20 years ago? We will soon find out.
Heal thyself, Sen. Webb
My home-state senator, Jim Webb (D.-Va.), made a remarkable statement yesterday. The Virginian-Pilot reported on his appearance in Norfolk:
THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION "DID A REALLY TERRIBLE JOB HANDLING HEALTH CARE REFORM," HE SAID, BECAUSE THE PRESIDENT RELIED ON CONGRESS TO DRAFT A PLAN.
"You can't turn something that complicated loose on the United States Congress," he said, adding that the resulting debate led to great public confusion.
"People got scared. People got mad.... We lost an enormous amount of time on health care.... Both sides made bad mistakes."
Wait a second. DIDN'T HE VOTE FOR THE MONSTROUS BILL? Well, sure. He was the 60th Senator -- each Democrat was -- on the critical cloture vote. SO IS HE SAYING HE DIDN'T KNOW HOW BAD THE BILL WAS, OR IS HE SAYING HE CAST A BAD VOTE? NEITHER ANSWER IS A WINNER.
It's not clear that he is going to seek re-election, but if so, he better be able to answer those questions.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/right-turn/2011/01/heal_thyself_senator_webb.html
Webb while being a more moderate Democrat shows you the problem with voting for moderate democrats. They still vote like liberal democrats when they have to.
A Stupid Poll about the Right to Insurrection
CBS News, seizing upon the zeitgeist, one supposes, had a new poll out Tuesday night which I’ve just seen now. In it they ask respondents whether they think there is a right to violent action against the government. The question is phrased thus:
“DO YOU THINK IT IS EVER JUSTIFIED FOR CITIZENS TO TAKE VIOLENT ACTION AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT, OR IS IT NEVER JUSTIFIED?”
Then, of course, the responses are broken down by party affiliation. Surprise: while JUST ELEVEN PERCENT OF DEMOCRATS AND ELEVEN PERCENT OF INDEPENDENTS BELIEVE IT IS EVER JUSTIFIED TO TAKE VIOLENT ACTION AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT, FULLY 28 PERCENT OF REPUBLICANS DO. It doesn’t surprise me that there would be a poll trying to put the smell of blood in the water given the climate of the last week. But what does surprise me is that 76 percent of respondents, including 64 percent of Republicans, think it is never right to take up arms against the government. Ever.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/257134/stupid-poll-about-right-insurrection-daniel-foster
This is interesting. It appears Republicans are better informed than the other groups. SCOTUS has said states do not have the right to secede from the Union, but there is a right to rebel. I do believe that most of the respondents in this poll were probably assuming that with our current constitutionally limited government, we have other remedies.
The hole in the Climate of Hate logic
By Monday, THE NEW YORK TIMES’ editorial page had kicked into action. IT CONCEDED THAT, SURE, LOUGHNER OPERATED “WELL BEYOND USUAL IDEOLOGICAL CATEGORIES,” BUT, STILL, IT WAS “LEGITIMATE TO HOLD REPUBLICANS AND PARTICULARLY THEIR MOST VIRULENT SUPPORTERS IN THE MEDIA RESPONSIBLE FOR THE GALE OF ANGER that has produced the vast majority of these threats, setting the nation on edge.” THE LOS ANGELES TIMES FOLLOWED SUIT. It admitted that, sure, Loughner and “his own demons were primarily to blame,” but it still condemned the “increasingly incendiary and violent rhetoric that characterizes today's political debate,” for which “THE RIGHT BEARS THE BRUNT OF RESPONSIBILITY.” Meanwhile, dozens of opinion writers were busily adding related but equally ethereal musings to the heap. Writing in THE GUARDIAN, BLOGGER JESSICA VALENTI BLAMED A “COUNTRY THAT SEES MASCULINITY—ESPECIALLY VIOLENT MASCULINITY—AS THE IDEAL.”.
There is of course one advantage to all such lines of argument, if argument is the word for it. THEY ARE ENTIRELY FAITH-BASED, WHICH MAKES THEM PRETTY MUCH IRREFUTABLE. But faith-based punditry works in more than one direction. Seven years after the massacre at Columbine High School—in which two senior students shot and killed twelve students and a teacher—CBS News invited BRIAN ROHRBOUGH, WHO HAD LOST HIS SON DAN, to explain why he thought the shootings had happened. “The public school system has taught in a moral vacuum, EXPELLING GOD FROM THE SCHOOL AND FROM THE GOVERNMENT, REPLACING HIM WITH EVOLUTION, WHERE THE STRONG KILL THE WEAK, without moral consequences and life has no inherent value,” Rohrbough said. “And I assure you THE MURDER OF INNOCENT CHILDREN IS ALWAYS WRONG, INCLUDING BY ABORTION. Abortion has diminished the value of children.” Most liberals (myself included) would disagree with Rohrbough’s explanation for the shooting, but they’d have trouble explaining why it’s any less plausible or substantive than explanations blaming Jared Loughner on rightwing hysteria
http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/81485/how-the-media-botched-the-arizona-shooting
This is an interesting article talking about how people deal with unexpected events. It offers an explanation of what we are seeing here.
A $100,000 challenge
Said Levin, who is also a considerable lawyer in his role as head of the landmark Legal Foundation:
"I challenge Chris Matthews, I'll put $100,000 on the table, to find any example where Sarah Palin has promoted the murder of anybody," said Levin -- specifically excluding terrorists and the Taliban.
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/01/13/mark-levins-100000-challenge-t
We now have $200,000 on the table for people on the left to back up with proof two of their smears against the right. The first $100,000 is for anyone to produce a tape of Tea Party members calling congress people racial slurs last March. The second is for this slur that Levin or Palin have called for their opponents to be killed.
A RESPONSE TO THE BLOOD LIBEL OF 1860 by Abraham Lincoln:
You charge that we stir up insurrections among your slaves. We deny it; and what is your proof? Harper’s Ferry! John Brown!! John Brown was no Republican; and YOU HAVE FAILED TO IMPLICATE A SINGLE REPUBLICAN in his Harper’s Ferry enterprise. If any member of our party is guilty in that matter, you know it or you do not know it. IF YOU DO KNOW IT, YOU ARE INEXCUSABLE FOR NOT DESIGNATING THE MAN AND PROVING THE FACT. If you do not know it, you are inexcusable for asserting it. . .http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/113206/
Sounds a little like this:
To be clear, if you’re using this event to criticize the “rhetoric” of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you’re either: (A) ASSERTING A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE “RHETORIC” AND THE SHOOTING, WHICH BASED ON EVIDENCE TO DATE WOULD BE WHAT WE CALL A VICIOUS LIE; or (b) you’re not, in which case you’re just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible. WHICH IS IT?
Right now, the left appears to be standing there with egg all over their face. Keeping up this kind of rhetoric is going to let them know what the actual damage that can be done with unfounded political rhetoric as they lose credibility and more seats in the future.
Frustration on global warming deepens for supporters of climate change bill
FRUSTRATION AMONG LAWMAKERS BACKING CLIMATE CHANGE LEGISLATION IS PALPABLE IN THE WAKE OF THE LATEST EVIDENCE OF GLOBAL WARMING.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on Wednesday announced that 2010 was tied for the hottest year on record, yet Democrats in Congress said the nation is not getting any closer to taking action on greenhouse gas emissions.
“HOW MANY TIMES DO WE HAVE TO BE SMACKED IN THE FACE WITH FACTUAL EVIDENCE BEFORE WE ADDRESS GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE? Report after report keep confirming it’s getting worse every year,” an exasperated Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said in a statement Wednesday.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/137889-frustration-on-global-warming-deepens-for-supporters-of-climate-change-legislation
I could comment on why Kerry is absolutely wrong, but I suggest you go to the link and see what the comments are. AGW as a political force is dead as it should be.
Meanwhile
Bob Ward is sad. Very, very sad. “WHY WON’T ANYONE LISTEN TO US ANY MORE?” he wails at the Guardian’s Komment Macht Frei
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100071961/why-will-no-one-listen-to-us-any-more-wails-agw-propagandist/
I’m reminded of the TV commercial for Smith Barney in the 1980s when John Houseman told us SB made money the old fashion way, “They earn it.” The warmists aren’t listened to anymore because they earned our disbelief.
Red sky at night... Sicily looks on as Mount Etna erupts in spectacular fashion
After reports of mysterious mass animal deaths around the planet, photos of a fierce volcanic eruption might confirm that the end of the world is nigh.
Thankfully, THESE MAGNIFICENT PICTURES OF MOUNT ETNA'S LATEST ERUPTION ARE MERELY A CHANCE TO REVEL IN THE AWESOME POWER OF NATURE rather than a reason to start stocking up on canned goods.
The 3,329-metre (10,922-feet) volcano erupted for around an hour yesterday evening, lighting up the Sicilian sky and providing amazing scenery for the village of Milo, just 12 kilometres away.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1346685/Red-sky-night--Sicily-looks-Mount-Etna-erupts-spectacular-fashion.html#ixzz1B0WLWzCL
There are some really magnificent pictures at the link. It's definitely worth a click.
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