Archive for December, 2009
Good News Research On H1N1
Thursday, December 10th, 2009From Rice University researchers:
Researchers at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) have found what they believe is a weakness in H1N1′s method for evading detection by the immune system.
Comparing its genetic sequences going all the way back to the virus’s first known appearance in the deadly “Spanish flu” outbreak of 1918, they discovered a previously unrealized role of receptor-binding residues in host evasion, which effectively becomes a bottleneck that keeps the virus in check.
Here’s the link to the research. This has implications for all virus transmission.
Can President Obama Be Ambiguously Christian Forever?–UPDATED The Obamas Didn’t Want The Nativity Scene?
Thursday, December 10th, 2009Remember the Ambiguously Gay Duo from Saturday Night Live? Yeah, well, President Obama reminds me of them whenever he makes vague references to “divine” anything like he did in his Nobel Peace Prize speech today.
He’s so ambiguous that 39% of Israelis believe that President Obama is Muslim.
Updated:
President and Michelle Obama didn’t want the Nativity scene? Do you notice how inclusion means being nothing? Become everything to everybody and end up nothing to nobody….the danger of Barack Obama’s stance on, well, everything.
Teddy Kennedy From The Grave: Medicare As A Path To Single Payer
Thursday, December 10th, 2009
Are you starting to breath easier because it looks like the Public Option is toast? Don’t. The guys from Verum Serum explain:
Earlier today I referred to the Senate compromise plan as “RahmCare”, given a similar proposal that the President’s Chief-of-Staff made at a congressional healthcare forum in 2007. But it turns out this isn’t RahmCare – it’s Kennedy’s long sought dream for Medicare for All. Down to the last detail.
Not only did Senate Democrats adopt Kennedy’s idea for the the initial phase-in of Medicare for Americans aged 55-64, but Kennedy’s plan also included granting eligible participants access to the quasi-private plans in the Federal Employees Health Benefit program. Which is the other key element of the public option “compromise”.
IT’S THE EXACT SAME PLAN.
I’m still trying to wrap my mind around how we went from a situation only a week ago where not only was the defeat of the public option virtually inevitable, but where it’s defeat also threatened to bring the down the entire health reform effort along with it. And here we are now looking at the biggest step towards a single payer system since the inception of Medicare.
Go read the whole thing. They have a video of Teddy Kennedy laying everything out for the Democrats. It’s his plan. Still.
NYT: Black People Are Different
Thursday, December 10th, 2009A different section of the New York Times for Christmas presents for black people? Do the black people read that in the “special” section of the bus, too?
From Mary Katherine Hamm:
The gospel cruise is perhaps my favorite offering. Is Michael Scott now editing the New York Times? Actually, some of the gifts are nice, but they’d be nice for any number of New York Times readers, not just for their minority readers.
For instance, a Barack Obama children’s book could likely be enjoyed by white liberals as much as by black people. I know I may blow the New York Times’ mind, here, but there are also black conservatives who might not appreciate it. Imagine that! White folks could, and even would, buy nail polish created by people of color. The designs of Somali twins Ayaan and Idyl Mohallim look lovely for people of all hues.
And, so we reach the ironic pinnacle of the liberal sophisticate’s compulsive striving for “diversity.” I believe it was Martin Luther King Jr. who famously said we should buy each other presents, based not on the content of our character, but the color of our skin.
It’s a new color-conscious day in America!
Podcast: Climategate Made Simple
Thursday, December 10th, 2009The Climategate controversy is complex. This podcast makes it simple. Charles Martin, a scientist himself, walks me through all the parts and pieces of this story. He is also aggregating all information around the controversy for Pajamas Media. Go there to learn more.
Download MP3
To subscribe on iTunes, just click here!
When Melissa isn’t on the radio, you can find her at melissaclouthier.com and on Twitter. Her username is MelissaTweets.
Obama’s Bound To Disappoint Someone: An Ignoble Nobel
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009Headline I wrote yesterday, but didn’t have time to finish the post yesterday.
Seems I was prescient:
The Norwegians aren’t happy.
The King isn’t happy.
Any American who actually believes in achievement as a measure of success isn’t happy.
The peacenik left isn’t happy.
Is anyone happy?
The Sarah Palin Standard
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
Perfection. Anything less than perfection (definition of perfection to come later) is reputation wrecking for Sarah Palin and for any person, organization or, in this case, op-ed page of the Washington Post, who dares rub elbows with this smelly undesirable.
Matthew Continetti says this:
But that’s not the point of this post. The point is that Palin continues to be held to a ridiculous standard by the scribblers and bloggers who are outraged that she’s still around and opines from time to time on the issues of the day. This is America, folks. Best-selling authors write op-eds. That’s what they do. Moreover, Palin happens to have an extensive background in energy issues, from her time on the Alaska Oil and Natural Gas Conservation Commission, to her stint as governor of Alaska. Her opinions on the subject of energy are considered.
The reaction to her is not, however. As Palin critic Megan McArdle memorably put it: “I really wish the media wouldn’t act like, well, a bunch of elitist hooligans who are out to get her. I’ve coined a new phrase to cover the situation: Palinoia. It’s when you think people are out to get you, and then they do their best to justify your erroneous belief.”
The liberals want conservatives to shut up. They want to present things like “the science is settled” and not be questioned. They want to forward shoddy redistributive legislation and do it unencumbered by opposition.
Most of all, they want a conservative woman they thought they’d banished from the arena of ideas to just. go. away. And she’s not. How dare she?! How dare she oppose them? How dare anyone take her seriously?
The only way for Sarah Palin to redeem herself to these snarling jackals is to change her ideological beliefs so she can be “smart like them”. And if she ever gets smart like them, then she’ll be perfect.
Oh, No You Can’t: Kids Deprived Voucher-Supported Education Obama’s Kids Enjoy
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
Education good enough for thee, but not for me:
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan says no more low-income, mostly minority children will get taxpayer-funded scholarships to attend private or parochial schools in the District of Columbia.
Duncan told CNSNews.com that school vouchers are “not the solution” to fixing D.C.’s failing public schools.
Duncan made the comments just days after concerned parents made another trip to Capitol Hill to press U.S. lawmakers to continue funding the city’s Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP).
“I appreciate the desire of every family to have the best possible education for their child,” Duncan told CNSNews.com in a statement. “I also understand that our role is to support children, parents and educators. That is why this Administration is devoting more resources and supports more ambitious reform of our public school systems than any administration in history.”
Let’s just remember what this is all about: supporting failing teachers in failed school systems. When low-income parents choose to remove their children from public schools, they’re rejecting both the educators there and the institution.
Interestingly, Barack and Michelle Obama also reject these schools. Of course, they can afford to do something about it. The laws keeping children uneducated and bound to a failing system serve the Obamas though–gotta keep the unions happy. Gotta make decisions to solidify power–even if it makes one look like a raging hypocrite and a heartless bureaucrat.
Harry Reid, Health Care, And Being Owned
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
If an American citizen wants the comfort of guaranteed care, he will have to pay a steep price. Freedom and slavery is a continuum–with indentured servitude, heavy taxation and other crimps in economic style falling in between the absolute ideals.
One could argue that the health care legislation being proposed by Harry Reid et al. pushes the balance toward enslavement. That is, Americans will pay more in taxes. They will be forced by the government to do something (buy insurance) they may not want or need to do. They will be forced to accept government standards of care. They will have less choices both in their private financial decisions (since more money will be spent on government mandates rather than personal desires) and in their health care decisions.
In short, Americans will be less free, but ostensibly have more guarantees of safety.
Yet Harry Reid made the outrageous observation that anyone who opposes this legislation are like those (majority Democrats) who opposed civil rights legislation. That is, he analogized those who oppose government tyranny with those who defended personal tyranny. Here’s what Reid said:
Reid on Monday said Republicans were displaying the same mindset as those who defended slavery.
“If you think you’ve heard these same excuses before, you’re right,” Reid said. “When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said, ‘Slow down, it’s too early, things aren’t bad enough.’ ”
He then defended his remarks.
It seems to me that Harry Reid should be more careful with his analogies. As offensive as it is to put those who oppose this bill in the same category as those who “belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery”, it’s even more offensive to note that the exact inverse of what he said is true.
Those who fight the health care legislation fear being owned. They fear that every personal decision from cradle to grave will be manipulated by a nameless, faceless bureaucrat in Washington D.C. They fear easily accessible files, not unlike the IRS, where a government employee can know every private piece of information about the citizen’s life. They fear health care decisions made for financial expedience. In short, those who fight against this health care bill, don’t want to be owned by the government.
So, it’s rich that Harry Reid calls those opposing the health care legislation as modern slavery defenders. Incredible, really. Harry Reid needs to look in the mirror. It is he who wants to control every aspect of a person’s health care life. If he has his way, the taxpayer will be paying for more programs with less quality.
Harry Reid is all about ownership…as long as the government owns and the taxpayer is enslaved.
What Really Happened On Airtran Flight 297?
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009So what happened on this flight? Certain accounts are being called into question, but the notion that something happened on that flight is not in dispute. Rusty Shackleford says this:
If after 9/11 native Arabic speakers don’t get why the rest of us get nervous around them on an airplane then they are living in a fantasy world.
Yes, you make us nervous. Especially when you behave in ways normally considered rude. We tend to overlook rudeness to varying degrees depending on the context of the situation.
And the language you speak does add an extra layer of context.
I certainly don’t approve of racism. But I’m also quite aware that hijackers are thousands of times more likely to be Muslims than of any other religious identity. And that a great number of Muslim hijackers are also Arabs. Like, all 19 on Sept. 11th.
So, note to readers: Arabs speaking loudly and ignoring the requests of stewardesses are probably not hijackers, just assholes.
But note to native Arabic speakers: show a little self control and sensitivity. You make a lot of people very nervous when you behave rudely. Some might call this fear irrational and they may have a point. But no more irrational than, say, instructing passengers how to use the airplane cushions as a flotation device. The odds of being hijacked and surviving a crash long enough to need them probably being similar.
Yes this sucks. We don’t live in an ideal world. It could be much worse. Embrace the suck.
From the witness I spoke to, Dr. Keith Robinson, the only people comfortable on the flight were the Arabic speaking men. They engaged in questionable behavior on the flight. They yucked it up at the baggage claim, as if the whole experience was humorous. The people on the flight seemed traumatized, according to him, and his job is to intervene in crisis situations.
Certainly, airlines want to avoid lawsuits. The TSA wants to avoid hijacking situations. And Americans don’t want to be perceived as being intolerant, even when they’re nervous (which is rational).
This seems like a cocktail for disaster.
