Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Obama's scare tactics
Remember how Massachusetts transportation officials a few years ago turned off the lights on the Zakim Bridge, claiming they didn’t have enough money in their budget to keep the lights on? Everyone in Boston knew it was a transparent attempt to scare taxpayers. After a brief uproar, transportation officials – surprise, surprise! – suddenly found the money and flicked the lights back on.
Remember how Massachusetts transportation officials a few years ago turned off the lights on the Zakim Bridge, claiming they didn’t have enough money in their budget to keep the lights on? Everyone in Boston knew it was a transparent attempt to scare taxpayers. After a brief uproar, transportation officials – surprise, surprise! – suddenly found the money and flicked the lights back on.
Think about this the next time President Obama doesn’t
dispatch an aircraft carrier to a war zone or claims national parks will be
shut down, etc. etc., due to the sequester fight now under way in Washington. I
know the Republicans are acting like a bunch of lunatics these days. This showdown
shouldn’t be happening. It’s an incredibly dumb way to cut the budget, as Elizabeth Warren
has noted. But the White House is going completely overboard as well, with all the dire warnings of doom to come. It’s rinky-dink politics you normally associate with city aldermen, state legislators and even student-government types, not the president of the United States of America.
Friday, February 15, 2013
'When they outlaw drones only outlaws will have drones!'
Via Instapundit, Hub Blog stumbled upon the above fascinating video. It takes paintball to a whole new level.
I also emailed the paintball-drone video to Armchair Gen. Savin Hill, with the note: "You know you want one." His quick response: "When they outlaw drones only outlaws will have drones!"
So true.
Via Instapundit, Hub Blog stumbled upon the above fascinating video. It takes paintball to a whole new level.
I also emailed the paintball-drone video to Armchair Gen. Savin Hill, with the note: "You know you want one." His quick response: "When they outlaw drones only outlaws will have drones!"
So true.
Saturday, February 09, 2013
'Patrick does it right'
Agreed. He had no real choice but to declare a state of emergency and demand that people stay off the roads. I haven't heard anyone questioning the order, except those in the 24/7 left-right paradigm world.
Agreed. He had no real choice but to declare a state of emergency and demand that people stay off the roads. I haven't heard anyone questioning the order, except those in the 24/7 left-right paradigm world.
Thursday, February 07, 2013
'Tic tac toe ...5 in a row'
From Reader No. 1 on the Celts' fifth straight win without Rondo: "Tic tac toe ... 5 in a row. How are we doing it? Xs and Os from Zach Lowe. Next up: At Least
We're Not the Lakers, Part II. We should not get cocky against Kobe on national TV against us. Must-see-TV!"
Tuesday, February 05, 2013
‘Fifty Years of Failing America’s Mentally Ill’
After the recent Newtown shooting, the hope here was that
there would be more discussion about mental-illness issues in America, as
opposed to the standard politicized debate over gun control. We got the
predictable, largely ill-informed gun-control debate all right. But we still
haven’t heard much about the mental-illness side of the Newtown tragedy.
At least some people, like E. Fuller Torrey, are raising the
subject of society’s approach toward mental illness. Hub Blog’s no expert on
mental illness, but you may want to take Torrey’s WSJ broadside with a grain
of salt. It bashes away at the federal government’s policies on the mentally
ill over the past 50 years – and the federal government’s policies certainly
deserve some bashing. But mental-health reforms started by President Kennedy,
whose family grappled with its own mental-illness tragedy, were ultimately in
reaction to the prior 50 years of abysmal mental-health treatments often
administered by the states. One only has to read Michael D’Antonio’s
mini-classic ‘The State Boys Rebellion’ to understand this.
As ill-informed as it might sound, it seems to me that the
mental-health pendulum has swung from one extreme (institutionalization) to
another extreme (deinstitutionalization) over the past 100 years. If I had to
choose, I’d take the post-Kennedy reforms any day, knowing how horrible the
attitudes and treatments were towards and for the mentally ill before Kennedy's reforms. But that’s a false choice. It’s not an either-or case. Charles Krauthammer has touched upon this issue before. It still needs to be addressed more fully.
Monday, February 04, 2013
The poor, poor Massachusetts Republican Party!
Holly Robichaud says Scott Brown let down the decades-long dysfunctional, inept, laughable gang-that-couldn’t-shoot-straight political peewee club known as the Massachusetts Republican Party. … I guess they’re also now going to blame Scott for having no Republican congressmen, no statewide Republican office holders, and no hope whatsoever of altering the past half century of Democratic majority rule on Beacon Hill. … Bad, Scott!
Update -- Potential candidates coming off the GOP's deep bench: Weld, Tagg ... Never mind! ... Strange, the Democrats don't seem to have such problems. They already have Markey and Lynch lining up.
Holly Robichaud says Scott Brown let down the decades-long dysfunctional, inept, laughable gang-that-couldn’t-shoot-straight political peewee club known as the Massachusetts Republican Party. … I guess they’re also now going to blame Scott for having no Republican congressmen, no statewide Republican office holders, and no hope whatsoever of altering the past half century of Democratic majority rule on Beacon Hill. … Bad, Scott!
Update -- Potential candidates coming off the GOP's deep bench: Weld, Tagg ... Never mind! ... Strange, the Democrats don't seem to have such problems. They already have Markey and Lynch lining up.
Saturday, February 02, 2013
'Hey, at least we’re not the Lakers’
Despite another amazing setback for the Celts, they win another amazing game. This crippled, hobbled team is starting to intrigue. I’m more eager to watch games now than I was before Rondo and Sullinger were hurt. Clippers, tomorrow, 1 p.m., two hours before Puppy Bowl IX and five and a half hours before the Pats-less Boring Bowl. Perfect.
Despite another amazing setback for the Celts, they win another amazing game. This crippled, hobbled team is starting to intrigue. I’m more eager to watch games now than I was before Rondo and Sullinger were hurt. Clippers, tomorrow, 1 p.m., two hours before Puppy Bowl IX and five and a half hours before the Pats-less Boring Bowl. Perfect.
… Re the
season-ending injury to Jared Sullinger, Reader No. 1 responds: “Bad news! Oh
well, the Fab Melo era begins! Hey, at least we're not the Lakers this season.”
Some other
thoughts:
-- Fab needs more time in Maine. But it’s fun to see him activated at least for a few
games, if not longer. It’ll let him compare the differences between D ball and
NBA ball. It’ll also let fans see how rough of a diamond he is before he heads back
north.
-- The gutsy
post-Rondo performance by the Celts doesn’t prove something was wrong with
Rondo. It proves something was wrong with the other players when Rondo was on
the court. They weren’t moving and adjusting enough. They are now, impressively
so. The question is: Can they – and Rondo – adjust to some lessons learned when
he returns?
