Michelle Obama's Spanish vacation is evidently polling badly, so the administration decided to spin her visit by slipping the "inside story" of the vacation to a friendly journalist:
Michelle Obama and daughter Sasha returned from Spain on Sunday, a vacation at a lavish hotel on the Mediterranean coast that triggered her first controversy since becoming first lady. I'm told she made the trip because she promised one of her closest friends, a longtime Chicago pal who just lost her father, she would spend time with her. ...
A ritzy vacation in Spain while the U.S. faces tough economic times was off-message -- as was highlighting the beaches in Spain after urging Americans to head to Florida's Gulf Coast to help out the tourism industry impacted by the BP oil spill. ...
But the reason Mrs. Obama made the trip -- and other facts, not rumors about the travel -- are important in knowing the whole story and understanding why she made the call to go.
First, some numbers. Mrs. Obama did not travel with 40 friends, a number used by some news outlets. ...
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A cure for Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is coming--but when? Will the Obama administration seize the opportunity to accelerate efforts to improve the health and wealth of Americans--or are the Obamans too stuck inside their own model of shortsighted austerity to take advantage of scientific progress?
A new study out today suggests that a reliable test for AD may be available soon. A team of 13 doctors and scientists, spread across three countries--Belgium, Sweden, and the US--teamed up to write “Diagnosis-Independent Alzheimer Disease Biomarker Signature in Cognitively Normal Elderly People,” appearing in the Archives of Neurology. The study suggests that a test of spinal fluid will yield up indicators as to whether someone is suffering from the beginnings of the disease.
This would seem to be a big breakthrough in AD research. After all, you can’t cure a disease if you don’t know exactly what it is--including its biomarkers.
Yet interestingly, at least one prominent doctor didn’t seem very impressed with these new findings. On his CNN blog today, Dr. Sanjay Gupta wrote: “I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that nowadays, there aren’t great options for prevention or treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. ...
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Allahpundit has the hype:
Politico is updating with returns from all four states. Two plotlines for you tonight. One: There’s a Gingrich/Huckabee vs. Palin proxy war happening in the GOP gubernatorial primary in Georgia. Newt and Huck backed Nathan Deal, who’s narrowly ahead with 15 percent of the precincts reporting as I write this, and Sarahcuda chose Karen Handel, not only anointing her a “mama grizzly” but turning up in the state to campaign for her. If Deal wins, expect much media navel-gazing tomorrow about What It All Means vis-a-vis Palin’s brand.
The other big one, and even more fun for political junkies, is the Bennet/Romanoff showdown in the Democratic senate primary in Colorado. Remember, Romanoff was the guy whom The One tried to bribe into getting out of the race; as if that’s not sweet enough, Bill Clinton turned around and endorsed him in late June, making this a glorious Obama/Clinton proxy war. Bennet, as the incumbent, is the favorite, but Romanoff’s been creeping up and it’s now too close to call. ...
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That pesky Constitution of ours continues to hamper those who seek to advance the Liberal agenda. It can be done, and is being done, but think how much time could be saved if judges and agencies didn’t have to expend so much effort contorting words and ideas to circumvent that document’s meanings. So, in the spirit of bipartisanship and cooperation, I asked a Liberal lawyer friend of mine to suggest some changes to the Bill of Rights that might streamline this whole process. [HIS COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS ARE IN BRACKETED CAPS.]
I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof [EXCEPT WHEN SUCH EXERCISE TAKES PLACE IN PUBLIC SETTINGS IN A MANNER THAT MIGHT OFFEND OTHERS. NEED TO FIND SOME WAY TO EXEMPT OUR ISLAMIC FRIENDS]; or abridging the freedom of speech [UNLESS SUCH SPEECH--ESPECIALLY BROADCAST SPEECH--IS HATEFUL], or of the press [UNLESS IT ENGAGAGES IN HATEFUL SPEECH]; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances [AS LONG AS SUCH ASSEMBLY OR PETITION IS DONE IN A NON-HATEFUL MANNER]. ...
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PBS Newshour hosted a live TV debate between Mark Zandi and me on the question of whether government interventions helped or hurt the economy. The show highlighted a paper by Alan Blinder and Zandi, about which I posted comments. Several people who watched the show commented on how Zandi agreed with me on two important issues:
- that the on-again off-again bailout policies in 2008 helped bring about the panic that year and
- that holding off on any tax rate increases next year would be a stimulus to economic growth.
Of course, we disagreed about other things.
One of my basic rules is, if Terry Teachout writes something, read it.
In the latest issue of Commentary, he writes about David Mamet, the ferociously profane, hilarious, electrifying playwright.
Mamet has written some spectacular stuff -- American Buffalo, Glengarry Glen Ross, Speed-the-Plow. But he also wrote the best, most compact manifesto for screenwriting I've ever read. It's here, and it's brilliant.
He also wrote an essay two years ago, for the Village Voice, entited "Why I Am No Longer a Brain Dead Liberal," in which he describes his new thinking as a result of reading works by the League of Conservative Super Heroes such as Milton Friedman, Paul Johnson, Thomas Sowell, and Shelby Steele.
Teachout isn't totally sold, of course. And the whole essay is worth reading, as always:
Mamet does not fit easily into any political pigeonhole. He appears at first glance to be less a conservative than a libertarian. ...
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As the result of severe drought, heat, and thousands of miles of forest fires, Putin has instituted a ban on Russian grain exports. I recently interviewed an American grain trader working in Eastern Europe about the implications of the ban. Below is an excerpt from the interview. Because the right to free speech is not always guaranteed in the country in which she is working, I'll refer to the interviewee as "Miss GT" (short for Miss Grain Trader) to protect her identity.
Diane Ellis: Can you give readers an idea of the magnitude of the situation? How much of the total grain supply does Russian grain represent?
Miss GT: Russia is the world's third largest producer of wheat (after the EU and the United States), so the recent export ban will have a large impact on the global supply and demand. Since Russia produces comparatively small amounts of barley and corn, the other grain supply and demand schedules will be less directly affected by the ban; however, the tightening of the global wheat situation will spillover and affect all grains and oilseeds. Currently the USDA estimates global wheat production at 344mmt (million metric tons), with Russia producing 53mmt. ...
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Jonah alerts me to this decadent news:
“They are very much a modern family. They are open-minded. They are generally adorable,” said Bill Hayes, president of North Carolina-based Figure 8 Films and co-executive producer of the show. “Their children were so well behaved and polite and healthy and happy,” he added. “Pardon the cliche, but the proof was in the pudding. I thought, ‘What a bunch of great young people, and there was nothing strange about them.’ They have an unusual lifestyle, but for them, it was their lifestyle.”
Please restrain me from asking whose lifestyle isn't theirs 'for them.' We make a mistake if we think of gay marriage simply as the pointy end of the wedge driving a full complement of Alternate Lifestyles into the heart of the culture. The slippery slope metaphor implies a single-lane ski jump. A better metaphor is a large scoop of ice cream on a tiny cone under a heat lamp. It melts in all directions. The troublesome principle is that however you live should be celebrated -- not just tolerated -- as long as you're "modern," "open-minded," and "adorable. ...
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Five Thousand Dollars, according to the German government. Or at least, that’s how much an Afghan life is worth.
In a gesture whose apparent "generosity" is undermined by its stolidity, the German government is giving $5,000 to “every family that lost a member in a German-ordered airstrike in Afghanistan,” according to the Spiegel Online.
Five thousand dollars is a settlement sum.
In 2009, a group of Afghan farmers, seeking compensation for loved ones lost as a result of German airstrikes,hired a German lawyer to take legal action against the German government. The farmers--through their lawyers--haggled with German officials over an appropriate sum. Figures from $33,000, to 200,000 Euros, to $500,000 were all tossed around and debated.
But according to a bureaucrat in the German Defense Ministry, who ended up having the final say, “$5000 is a suitable amount” for the life of a dead Afghan civilian. Apparently, America pays $2,000 for a lost soul.
There's something Kafkaesque in the legal wrangling--the negotiators' back and forth--of putting a dollar sum on a human life, don't you think?
Obama Press Secretary and first-rate stress case Robert Gibbs can't take it anymore:
“I hear these people saying he’s like George Bush. Those people ought to be drug tested,” Gibbs said. “I mean, it’s crazy.” The press secretary dismissed the “professional left” in terms very similar to those used by their opponents on the ideological right, saying, “They will be satisfied when we have Canadian healthcare and we’ve eliminated the Pentagon. That’s not reality.” Of those who complain that Obama caved to centrists on issues such as healthcare reform, Gibbs said: “They wouldn’t be satisfied if Dennis Kucinich was president.”
The Daily Caller has more. Richard Adams flags Glenn Greenwald's reax:
one of the most petulant, self-pitying outbursts seen from a top political official in recent memory, half derived from a paranoid Richard Nixon rant and the other half from a Sean Hannity/Sarah Palin caricature of The Far Left.
Matt Yglesias ventures something of a defense:
it’s not the job of the President of the United States to stand up for a pure ideological vision—his job is to cut compromises to implement policies that improve on the status quo. ...
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Tom Sowell nails it again:
A graduating senior at Hunter College High School in New York gave a speech that brought a standing ovation from his teachers and got his picture in the New York Times. I hope it doesn’t go to his head, because what he said was so illogical that it was an indictment of the mush that is being taught at even our elite educational institutions.
Young Justin Hudson, described as “black and Hispanic,” opened by saying how much he appreciated reaching his graduation day at this very select public high school. Then he said, “I don’t deserve any of this. And neither do you.” The reason? He and his classmates were there because of “luck and circumstances.”
The issue isn't just the misguided student who blames the meritocratic admissions process for lopsided outcomes (and they are lopsided -- out of 200 kids in my daughter's class, she is one of just three blondes). ...
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There's no one funnier than the hilariously evil Greg Gutfeld, of FoxNews' Red Eye. His recent book is hilarious.
He's reached a new level of mischief. And this time, he's serious. He's raising money to buy a place close to the Ground Zero Mosque. He's going to open a business there:
So, the Muslim investors championing the construction of the new mosque near Ground Zero claim it's all about strengthening the relationship between the Muslim and non-Muslim world.
As an American, I believe they have every right to build the mosque - after all, if they buy the land and they follow the law - who can stop them?
Which is, why, in the spirit of outreach, I've decided to do the same thing.
I'm announcing tonight, that I am planning to build and open the first gay bar that caters not only to the west, but also Islamic gay men. To best express my sincere desire for dialogue, the bar will be situated next to the mosque Park51, in an available commercial space.
Which immediately spawned a huge Twitter meme of people trying to name the new place. ...
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I get a little behind in my WSJ reading, but I saw something from a few days ago about how insurance companies are helping (both with manpower and money) doctors' offices go fully electronic with records.
I am truly conflicted about this. On the one hand, I don't really want my medical life story passed around by my different doctors, not to mention the entire world if there was a breach of security. Who wants this out there?
25-year-old female arrives, certain she has "gangrene." After brief but hysterical conversation, she recalls that she had been wearing her green flats from Payless a lot lately. Led to questions about anxiety. Suggested a visit to a therapist.
Then again, when I take my four year-old to the pediatrician, the conversation starts off fine. She's doing well, yes, making progress; therapy has been great; integrated education has been great. Stomach problems? Yeah, still. Have you seen a gastroenterologist? Yes! We finally got an appointment and went. Great, who'd you see? Uhhhhhh. I think his first name was Joe, or something? Where was his office? I think it was at NYU ... no, wait, Cornell Hospital. ...
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Queers Against Israeli Apartheid will be marching in Montreal's Gay Pride Parade.
All righty then!
Leaving aside the group's apparent ignorance of the definition of "apartheid," there remain one or two questions about their perception of gay life in the Palestinian Territories versus Israel. There are, unfortunately, many instances that could be catalogued here of the persecution of homosexuals in the Territories. Rather than provide a list, I'll instead offer a quick primer on gay rights in Israel.
- Gay sex is legal.
- Same-sex partners can legally adopt children, including one another's biological children.
- Gay soldiers serve openly throughout the armed forces. Discrimination by the army against homosexuals of either gender in recruitment, placement or promotion is prohibited.
- Gay partners who are living together have the legal status of "unregistered cohabitation," a version of common-law marriage. They are viewed by the state as legal units for tax, real estate and financial purposes, including spousal benefits. Same-sex partners of civil service employees are entitled to survivor benefits.
- Insurance companies recognize same-sex partnerships. Surviving partners receive employment compensation.
- Same-sex marriages performed abroad are legally recognized by the state. ...
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Liberals can't seem to leave anything alone, and they soil everything they touch. In another world, you might think that liberals would celebrate a woman from a middle-class background who rose in politics through sheer talent and willpower to become the first female Prime Minister of the history of Great Britain; and who then, in that position, led a renaissance that resurrected her country as an economic and military power for a generation.Of course, that isn't the world we live in. In this world, liberals hate that sort of achievement; even more so if the hero of the story is a woman. So they are making a movie that trashes Margaret Thatcher.
The cameras have not even started rolling on a new film being made about Margaret Thatcher's life in which she is expected to be played by Meryl Streep, but already the project has been tainted by controversy over the negative way it intends to portray the former Prime Minister. ...
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Just wondering: has this little item appeared anywhere in the Stateside press? In what the Jerusalem Post is calling "a morbid show of bravado," Iran has dug mass graves for American troops in the event that the US attacks. The gesture was apparently prompted by the statement last week by Adm. Mike Mullen, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, that the US has a "contingency plan" in place to attack Iran if necessary.
Teheran has also -- once again -- openly defied the Security Council. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran activated its second centrifuge cascade yesterday. This means it is now capable of enriching uranium at up to 20%. Twenty percent enriched uranium is categorized as weapons-grade nuclear material. (Ninety-five percent enrichment is required to build an atomic bomb.)
Is the Teheran leadership's apparent desire for a showdown getting much play in the US? And should it?
| tabula rasa: Some suggestions: Would love to hear some of Claire's stories about Margaret Thatcher that didn't make it into her book.
|
Your wish is my command. And this one just happens to be at my fingertips. I was looking for the speech that I mentioned below in my notes when I came across a few handwritten scribbles from an interview with Thatcher's foreign secretary, Lord Charles Powell.
13-hour meeting between Thatcher and Gorbachev in Moscow. CP had to go to the bathroom terribly. Dying for a pee. Couldn’t figure out how to get out the door. Gorbachev finally took mercy on him, pushed a button that opened the door. "It was one of the most embarrassing moments of my life."
Claire: Didn't she have to the bathroom?
CP: No. She never did.
Claire: Never?
CP: Never.
In my notes, I've underlined never twice. Now, I don't believe this. I believe Margaret Thatcher was human. But it's fascinating that she managed to convince so many people that she wasn't, isn't it?
For those of you who have truly persuaded yourselves that all is lost, let me remind you that people were saying exactly, but exactly, the same thing about Britain in the 1970s. The decline, they said, was terminal; British values had been permanently undermined; socialism would be impossible to reverse; you might as well just move. And the grounds for this pessimism were by all objective measures substantially greater. Britain–upon whose Empire the sun once rose and set–was enduring the Winter of Discontent. Labor unrest shut down public services, paralyzing the nation for months on end. Rubbish was piled high on the street, and so were human corpses. (“Not that many corpses,” say Thatcher’s detractors, a rejoinder that speaks for itself.) Britain had recently become the first country in the OECD to supplicate for a loan from the International Monetary Fund. The Soviet trade minister told his British counterpart, “We don’t want to increase our trade with you. Your goods are unreliable, you’re always on strike, you never deliver.”
Here's Margaret Thatcher in 1978.
The coming election is a watershed election. Every General Election is important. ...
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Tomorrow morning our entire family, right down to the dog, will climb into the Chevy Suburban for the drive across California from Palo Alto to the high Sierras, where we'll hike, swim, boat, and play speed chess, a game I learned about here on Ricochet. (Scott Reusser, I bought the very chess clock you recommended.) Pictured, Rancheria Falls, in a photo I snapped two years ago. We expect to climb to the Falls again on Wednesday.
Think good thoughts of us Robinsons, if you would, make John Hinderaker feel welcome, and keep an eye, as ever, on Rob.
Back in a week.
