ninme

Wheat & Weeds – Oops, Sorry Poor Unemployed People

Oh, cash for clunkers. Oh, sigh.

When do we get to cite the commerce clause as giving us the authority to fire congress, eh? Anyone? Seems like a logical progression.

Categories: Politics

WSJ – Ahnuld: Public Pensions and Our Fiscal Future Few Californians in the private sector have $1 million in savings, but that’s effectively the retirement account they guarantee to many government employees.

At the same time that government-employee costs have been climbing, the private-sector workers whose taxes pay for them have been hurting. Since 2007, [...]

Categories: Politics

So, it’s quick links time!

Telegraph Blogs – Daniel Hannan: The Internet is dragging Britain away from Europe and towards the Anglosphere

Brett McS sent me this one within moments of me reading an excerpt from it in The Corner. It’s an interesting and perhaps obvious point, though I think perhaps a little optimistic. And I’m not [...]

Categories: People and Current Events

The Times – Is giving away £5m a reason for such hatred? By David Aaronovitch

Tony Blair announced he’d give the proceeds from sales of his new autobiography to a veterans charity (a quarter of his net worth, apparently), and this sparked a most incredible reaction. Yesterday a letter was published in the Guardian (natch) calling [...]

Categories: War and Peace

Those new lead paint laws meant that the cost of painting our house has gone up by $2,000. Which is, worst-case scenario (original quoted price; might have been less), increasing the cost by a third.

Which means most people simply won’t bother repainting until the paint chips off and gets eaten by local children. Because, [...]

Categories: Politics

India Knight’s column today is really incredibly sweet (and, given that my illness convinced Peter to watch half an old Miss Marple last night before going to bed spending a half hour chasing a spider the size of a bloody cockroach around the room from atop a couple of chairs with a spray can of [...]

Categories: People and Current Events

(Because we signed escrow papers today, woohoo!)

…What our Crazy Eddy! All Mortgages Must Go! interest rate is?

(This is the third escrow place I’ve been to for signings, plus I worked at an escrow outfit for a couple of weeks as a temp when we first moved here, and I’m still not entirely sure I get [...]

Categories: Wildcard

This is amazing. All the artsy Brits in my Twitter stream have been moaning about the UK Film Council getting the axe, but then the author Ian Rankin mentioned this article as a “sharp and persuasive critique”.

The Times – Good riddance to the UK Film Council, by Chris Atkins

The real scandals, however, came [...]

Categories: Entertainment

WSJ – Curse of the Greedy Copyright Holders, by Tony Woodlief (author of the memoir on fatherhood and marriage, “Somewhere More Holy”)

Further, this editor noted that one reason literary anthologies and college-course syllabi have replaced classics with less edifying sources like newspaper articles and diaries is simply that major artists in the American [...]

Categories: Art and Literature

I’ve always thought that the FBI Wanted posters for Osama bin Laden should skip the photo of the man and have a picture of what $25 million will get you.

WANTED USAMA BIN LADEN MURDER OF U.S. NATIONALS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES; CONSPIRACY TO MURDER U.S. NATIONALS OUTSIDE THE UNITED STATES; [...]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

Reprinted in full:

The Corner – April Fools, by Stephen Spruiell

More evidence that the Homebuyers Tax Credit was a dumb idea: House prices increased in April, as sellers increased prices to capitalize on the rush to buy before the tax credit expired on April 30th. Then, as soon as the tax credit expired, demand [...]

Categories: People and Current Events

Telegraph – New Zealand mountain village for sale for £470,000

Included in the deal are the hotel, fire station, town hall and 18 houses. Otira, population 44, perches at 3,445ft high in the Southern Alps of South Island. Among the town’s attractions are spectacular snowcapped mountains and a [...]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

My parents were up today and my dad was talking about this story which, naturally, I hadn’t heard of. Congress raised the minimum wage again and this time, in their wise benevolence, didn’t give American Samoa an exemption:

When Democrats in Congress increased the minimum wage in 2007, the U.S. territory of 65,000 in [...]

Categories: People and Current Events

It’s Gerry!

Spectator – Germany’s eurozone dilemma: should they stay or should they go? By Gerard Baker

As the euro continues to dance on the brink of calamity, the people responsible for the deepening debacle have finally come up with a scheme that will save it once and for all. It’s a cunning plan that [...]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

Peter and I have having a heck of a time finding a house. We’ve been looking for months and anything we like is outrageously expensive, and everything we don’t like still sells for those prices. And lord there are some dogs out there.

Journal of the American Planning Association, Volume 74, Issue 1 – Aging [...]

Categories: People and Current Events