Righties Gone Wild

The NY Times Sunday Review challenges their readers with not one but two assaults on progressive othodoxy.

Ross Douthat ruminates about work, guaranteed incomes, and the work disincentives in ObamaCare. Perhaps to spare his readers' sensibilities he does not drag in Obama's claim that income inequality is a "defining challenge of our time" on Monday through Wednesday - Thursday and Friday are devoted to waving in more unskilled workers from abroad to depress the wages of the native working class and the weekend is all about basketball and golf.

Elsewhere in the section Kay Hymowitz advances the bold notion that single motherhood is not good for kids, which suggests that Federal programs which incentivize it might be, well, boneheaded (not her word). She attempts to encourage her readers to think beyond the next election cycle with this bit:

But those same realities raise serious doubts about the accept-and-prop-up response to single-parent families. Increasing government largess could actually incentivize, or at least enable, parental choices that everyone admits are damaging to kids. The United States aside, scholars have found a connection between the size of a welfare state and rates of both nonmarital births and divorce. Even if you believe that enlarging the infrastructure of support for single-parent families shows compassion for today’s children, it’s not at all obvious that it shows much concern for tomorrow’s.

Long term consequences? Please. This is the welfare reform debate of the mid 90's all over again.

Comments

[4JackisBack!2 (On His iPhone)]

Primo? From Starbucks after mass.

[Sandy Sundaze]

On my way too Mass...

[Sandy Sundaze]

...to Mass...

[Sandy Sundaze]

...to Mass, too...

[Sandy Sundaze]

...with Mrs Daze, two to Mass, too...

[Ignatz]

A perfect storm of interests; the Dems are owned lock stock and barrel by the unions which want to work as little as possible but still want no competition from non union workers.
So the Dems don their Sybil masks and on the one hand toss every bone possible to their industrious labor financiers while providing freebies to every person who might potentially take a non union job somewhere so they'll learn to love the dole and not work.

The old American dream which even the Dems believed in is no more.
The new Dem American dream: Don't get married but have a bunch of kids, don't buy a home, but ransack a Section 8 rental and learn the satisfaction and self respect that Uncle Sugar Daddy provides in exchange for not working.

Hubert Humphrey is dead, long live King Barack.

[jimmyk]

Et tu, Sandius?

[henry]

Typhus sucks.

Do the authors realize a) the NYT money has run out and Fox is the only media firm hiring, or b) OPM famine has arrived and they need to outrun their fellows to avoid a spot on a lamp post?

[BumperStickerist]

Welfare reform?

Bill Clinton! Call your office!

-

The rhetorical gerrymandering that the left engages to kinda/sorta make their argument is impressive.

-

[guardian ally]

As for motives, well, draw your own conclusions.

http://911review.com/attack/wtc/b7.html

"Building 7 occupied a block to the north of the World Trade Center Plaza. Its 23rd floor held Mayor Giuliani's Emergency Command Center. This floor had bullet- and bomb-resistant windows, an independent air and water supply, and an unobstructed view of the north faces of both towers. 1 2

The other government agencies with offices in the building were the IRS, the EEOC, the US Secret Service, the SEC, and the CIA.

The private tenants were Salomon Smith Barney, American Express Bank International, Standard Chartered Bank, Provident Financial Management, ITT Hartford Insurance Group, First State Management Group, Inc., Federal Home Loan Bank, and NAIC Securities.

Large numbers of case files for ongoing investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) were reportedly destroyed in the collapse. The Los Angeles Times reported that "substantial files were destroyed" for 3000 to 4000 of the SEC's cases. The EEOC reported that documents for 45 active cases were destroyed. 3 Before the attack, SEC investigations of corporate fraud by companies such as Enron and Worldcom were the subject of many news reports -- reports that virtually vanished in the wake of the attack.

[BumperStickerist]

Turing Test Fail!

[narciso]

an obvious insight, one wonders why it needs to be said, or more importantly why we got involved with this event;

http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2014/02/09/house-homeland-security-committee-chair-its-highly-likely-that-something-will-detonate-in-sochi/

[narciso]

Douthat does try, but frankly they give him a wet torch, which doesn't allow for much visibility inside the Cave;

http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/02/demonomics.html

[guardian ally]

The 1993 bombing; An FBI sting gone sour?

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/28/nyregion/tapes-depict-proposal-to-thwart-bomb-used-in-trade-center-blast.html

[narciso]

OToh, we already figured U6 is the canary, why hasn't he;

http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2014/02/09/ignore-the-unemployment-rate/

of course, he would have to acknoeledge that certain policies have certain impact, but what fun would that be,

[narciso]

pretty soon we are talking enemy action;

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2014/02/shots-fired-at-second-nuclear-power-plant-in-april-2013/

[narciso]

One wonders what they still have over Petraeus,

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jeffrey-meyer/2014/02/09/abc-s-karl-hits-tom-cole-left-obamacare-benghazi

[Danube on iPad]

"Increasing government largess could actually incentivize, or at least enable, parental choices that everyone admits are damaging to kids."

Has this woman ever heard of Daniel Patrick Moynihan?

[peter]

I('m really disappointed the new thread isn't about Gary Taubes' article. TM always keeping me on my toes, I guess.

[Jim Eagle]

I am going to help Frederick with his Modern Woodmen Speech Contest entry: The Importance of Healthy Living.

He has one part in there on avoiding loons. It certainly helps and therefore I am now in complete loon response shutdown.

The place is overrun with them but what they do that is really annoying is give sucre to the resident Prince of Loons - the Pitzer Phaque.

Basta!

[narciso]

Goodwin is crsisper, he's got an easier task though;

http://nypost.com/2014/02/09/obama-democrats-troubling-view-on-work/

[Jim Eagle]

narc,

Watts Bar Unit 1 is the only civilian plant that is allowed to burn Tritium rods for production of triggers for our nuclear arsenal. Normally tritium triggers are produced at Savannah River but the DoD and NNSA gave the extra license to TVA.

That guy was more interested in that aspect than nuclear power generation.

[it's a tiny tail for wagging]

Time to end (way past time) the Cuban embargo. Time for the Republicans to tell that miniature band of Batistas in Flahida, to take a long walk on that short pier.

[East Bay Jay]

Rank and file Democrats are just fine with their politicians (but not enemy politicians, of course) lying to them, and the rest of us have to take the ride too, and the media sees no issue with policies that are projected to cause more than 2 million people to choose the dole over work....no, they actually see it as a plus. Is America really the best thing out there now?

[DrJ]

EBJ -- good to see you! It has been a while since you've posted.

[peter]

the Slimes should work on income inequality by paying Krugman and Dowd what they pay their freelance writers, which I understand is peanuts.

[narciso]

well that makes that more interesting, and more disturbing, JiB.

[narciso]

the fact that Metanyahu acts like he doesn't even remember the Jibreel exchange; is disturbing,

http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/02/how_kerry_can_defeat_a_once-powerful_american_jewry.html

[dusty dust-up]

" what they pay their freelance writers, which I understand is peanuts."

Nonsense. Even in 1984 LAT Guild reporters/photogs (even free-lance had to be union) the scale was $550 per week.

If that was peanuts then, what is a burger-flipper's pay at present?

[clarice]

TM and Iggie--excellent analyses.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

I posted this on the other thread -

Here's "the special watchdog council" letter that the Dems appealed to about AG J. Russell George - http://connolly.house.gov/uploads/Connolly-Cartwright%20Complaint%20-%20CIGIE%20-%2002%2005%202014.pdf

Beth F. Cobert (with OMB), Phyllis K. Fong (with USDA), & Joseph S. Campbell (with FBI)

In reference to this link - http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2014/02/dems_declare_war_on_inspector_general_uncoveri

Is there a "special watchdog council" that citizens can appeal to to get some kind of accountability for rule breaking & law breaking in federal government agencies?

So the IRS releases info to the Human Rights Campaign &...what? Was there any consequence?
The EPA released farmer & rancher info to leftist groups &....what?
Fed. employees using phony emails & what??

Corruption is uncovered & absolutely NOTHING happens.
We just talk about it & shake our heads...what is that?!

[black foot]

Affluenza worse than Bird-flu.

http://www.salon.com/2014/02/08/crybabies_of_the_1_percent_spoiled_rich_kids_tom_perkins_and_the_real_affluenza/

"Consider the case of a Texas teenager who killed four people and severely injured two others while drunk-driving in his father’s pickup truck. Prosecutors wanted to send him to prison for 20 years, but a judge decided to give him no jail time at all after an expert witness for the defense testified that the defendant was suffering from “affluenza.”

This affliction, the psychologist testified, was a product of the defendant having spent his life in the lap of luxury. Having his parents’ cash between himself and reality had left the killer of four of his neighbors unable to make the connection between his decisions – such as his decision to drive a two-ton truck down a residential street at 70 miles per hour while drunk out of his mind – and the potential consequences of those decisions.

In short, the defense team argued, their client was depraved because he wasn’t deprived.

This argument seems to have worked on the judge, who sentenced the defendant to 10 years of probation after his wealthy family offered to pay for their son’s confinement in a $450,000-per-year in-patient facility, where apparently young scions are therapeutically guided toward the insight that randomly slaughtering your fellow citizens as a predictable consequence of your own selfishness and stupidity is a bad thing to do.

[narciso]

No, Janet apparently not, and calling attention to it,

[East Bay Jay]

Hey Dr J, I still come here for the 'smart take', both from TM and folks like you, but I'm doing it much less often these days. Hope all is well in the foothills.

[Dave (in MA)]

The stupid is strong in the comments responding to a tweet from the Globe's hockey writer.
http://www.universalhub.com/2014/all-things-blame-russia#new

[narciso]

is like that french proverb 'about what a vcious animal, it dares to defend itself;

[DrJ]

EBJ, we were considering building an Ark, but it looks like the worst of the Pineapple Express is over. We need the rain, but all at once?

[narciso]

Serious level of category error, there Dave,

[narciso]

Must be students of this guy

http://twitchy.com/2014/02/08/why-does-gop-want-us-to-work-all-the-time-asks-professor-of-what/

[narciso]

Hy fishwrap never dissapoints, by that I mean always, it is moving it's only decent columnist, Glenn Garvin over to traffic reporting,

[Truthbetold]

Iggy

Who do you think put Obama in the White House.

Why do you think Fitzgerald was in Chicago?

[narciso]

Btw, the Psot profiles Sarah Shahi, Shaw from PoI, today,

[narciso]

Continuing the tradition set by the dynasty;

http://legalinsurrection.com/2014/02/ny-times-plays-sympathy-for-the-bds/#comments

[Truthbetold]

What was Patrick Fitzgerald really doing in Chicago?

[narciso]

what was that line, attributed to Lincolm?

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/02/americas-latest-heroine-fights-back.php

[peter]

I meant this LUN

[narciso]

It's confirmed he's a knave

http://theothermccain.com/2014/02/09/how-jamyerson-blamed-sarahpalinusa-for-tucson/

[Truthbetold]

Iggy

Do you know what "squad 49" was?

[narciso]

Mickey, clean up aisle 5.

[Dave (in MA)]

This ought to do it.

[narciso]

what else needs to be said;

http://therightscoop.com/judge-jeanine-takes-obama-apart-over-benghazi-phony-scandals-2/

[jimmyk]

At the risk of stating the obvious: In Firefox, some combination of narcisolator and killfile do a good job, except to the extent people of otherwise good standing respond.

[narciso]

I think you would need acid from a facehugger, Dave,

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

Who do we appeal to for charges to be brought on some of this lawlessness?
Issa's group is uncovering things...but what happens next?
Can I call the police on the employee that leaked the farmer & rancher info?

[Ignatz]

Still pouring here Doc.

[Ignatz]

Squad 49? I can never remember; is that the funny one with Fred Gwynne or the awful one with Jerry Van Dyke?

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

And if the low level IRS people in Cincinnati broke the law...then why weren't they at least fired?

[jimmyk]

Taranto and Kaus rightly fisk this, but can we hope that the Dems have fallen into the R trap of pre-ordaining the "next in line" for the nomination rather than coming up with an actual set of principles?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/obama-aides-doubt-clinton-strategy

And this:

“People are really getting worried about it,” said another former top Obama aide, who said she would like to see a woman elected but worried that Clinton “doesn’t have a compelling rationale for her candidacy.”

If only Roger Mudd could come out of retirement and ask Hillary why she's running.

[daddy]

Anonamom,

Just caught up to this:

You've brought back wonderful memories of my boys and their friends conversing in Latin here in my kitchen, as well as (correctly) guessing the meaning of words, and explaining to their ignorant mother how northern Europe was settled. It's also helped them both easily learn Italian, which allowed all of us have some wonderful, de-stressed vacations. Nothing like having your offspring function as tour guides somewhere you can't read a thing on any signs in the train station!

Yippee! Thanks for making my day! Momma and I are doing something right:)

[jimmyk]

"It's Chinatown," Janet.

Seriously, good questions, but it's really come to that.

[Miss Marple]

There's a holdup in the Bronx,
Brooklyn's broken out in fights
There's a traffic jam in Harlem that goes out to Jackson Heights,
There's a scout troop short a child,
Khruschev's due at Idlewild,
Car 54, where are you?

My particular favorite is the episode where Tooney and Muldoon misinterpret a new commander's statements and are convinced that he is keeping piranha in his fish tank.

They connected the dots...wrongly.

[Ignatz]

--If only Roger Mudd could come out of retirement and ask Hillary why she's running.--

What difference, at this point, does it make?

[Truthbetold]

Ignatz

Sorry, I forgot you were a LIV.

[Ooh, ooh, ooh]

Tooty and Muldoon.

[Miss Marple]

I think the Russians should quarantine Bob Costas, in order to protect athletes from infection from whatever scummy disease he has in his eye.

Russians say, "No interviews for you!"

[polly]

Two words regarding Fannie & Freddie--Jimmy Carter. That's where it started and has continued under Obama.

[jimmyk]

"What difference, at this point, does it make?"

I think that would make a great epitaph.

[Miss Marple]

Carter started a lot of trouble, and has escaped blame for almost all of his disasters.

He is the SOLE reason we are dealing with a possibly nuclear Iran to this very day.

[polly]

And to think, MM, that I actively campaigned for him in Atlanta! My husband's law firm was so involved with Jimmy Carter, and Griffin Bell was a partner, and, so, I campaigned in Ansley Park for Carter. Woe is me!!!

[jimmyk]

Yes, Polly, Jimmuh planted the seeds, but Bill Clinton was the one who really blew the whole thing up, to mix a metaphor.

[History can be inconvenient.]

Eisenhower was POTUS in 1953 during a significant time in History.

I think Carter was Governor during that episode.

http://www.coldwar.org/articles/50s/iranian_overthrow.asp

[Account Deleted]

"At the risk of stating the obvious:"

jimmyk,

I don't believe it's that obvious. I'd like to petition Hit and Run to do a PS post with a "how to" for installation of GreaseMonkey, Narcisolator and killfile with a second petition to TM to place a hot link to Hit's VIMH post at top left.

I just installed killfile and I love the ability to relegate the Pitzer Putz, regardless of today's nom de cretin to deserved obscurity by clicking 'kill' at the bottom of the comment.

I like the idea of managing the commons from within.

[History can be inconvenient.]

All you conscientious objectors deserting your posts leaves me with the run of the house. Please proceed.

[narciso]

well Polly had more then a few people fooled,
he masqueraded as a Southern Democrat but rather readily knuckled under to the McGovern wing,

[narciso]

He did start the push toward deregulation, but he was too enamored with false equivalence with
the Soviet Union, his now late foreign policy advisor, Robert Pastor took advice from David Horowitz in his SDS phase, Tony Lake, who patted himself on the back for the bravery over Cambodia, although he was quite silent after 1975, learned all the wrong lessons, and applied them in Iran and Nicaragua,

[NKonIPad]

"Righties Gone Wild?"Add TomM to that list. Is it just me or is TM becoming a bit more of a vocal and strident Righty? One day more? Are you watching regular Les Mes showings on HBO channels? (as I do)

[narciso]

Just resonating some understanding;

http://www.fireandreamitchell.com/2014/02/09/laura-ingraham-destroys-rino-george-will-amnesty/

[Danube on iPad]

Janet, there's no remedy other than the ballot box. Very disressing.

[miss Marple]

Of course it was Tooty. I could blame it on the iPad, but in fact it was my faulty memory.

I did type that song from memory, which proves that if you want to remember things, set them to music!

[jimmyk]

The deregulation was the only good thing to come out of Carter's administration. Ending regs on airlines, trucking, and Reg Q of banking (limits on interest rates) were all good moves. But the CRA was the camel's nose.

[rse]

polly-I know where your husband practiced. I used to do a lot of deals with that firm, switching back and forth on who was representing the underwriter or the company.

Back when all the big firms were centered around Five Points.

[DrJ]

Iggy, the rain has picked up again, and it looks like it will continue all night. Time to reconsider building that Ark.

[History can be inconvenient.]

"The deregulation was the only good thing to come out of Carter's administration"

Funny how naivete serves some purpose. Too bad it's all bad

[Account Deleted]

Is Obamacare Unraveling?

Robert Laszewski is a widely acknowledged expert with good insider ties to the BluGovIns fascists. This piece is as good a summary of the BOzocare failure at this point as I've seen. His assessment of the phony enrollment numbers puts the paid policy count at around 2.5 million with roughly one third being issued to the previously uninsured.

[Captain Hate]

The deregulation was the only good thing to come out of Carter's administration. Ending regs on airlines, trucking, and Reg Q of banking (limits on interest rates) were all good moves. But the CRA was the camel's nose.

PURPA wasn't exactly the energy bonanza that Peanut Boy the Engineer thought it would be.

[maryrose]

MM;
I also remember that song and the words to it. Tooty always said...Ooh ooh ooh.
Janet: November 2014 cannot come soon enough for me. I can't wait to take over the Senate and send Reid packing to the minority. Just hope all Supreme court justices stay healthy. I want a Repub to replace Ginsberg and Stevens.
New wisdom about the Roberts decision to call it a tax. I believe he thought the whole thing would implode which is precisely what is occurring as we speak. I also think He thought Mitt Romney would win in 2012 and the whole issue would be mute.

[History can be inconvenient.]

Yeah. He did have that E blindspot, but his perspective was somewhat broader than your average myope.

[jimmyk]

That wasn't deregulation, was it? I think that was new (bone-headed) regulation, though I'm sketchy on the details.

[narciso]

It kind of struck me, how did someone under Rickover's tutelage at least for a time, turn out so daft,then again Lugar started out as and aide to Arleigh Burke, so I retire the question,

[clarice]

Good link, Rick,

[matt]

It is amazing that the Left is only now coming to grips with the correlation of single mothers and poverty. But don't worry, they'll smoke another joint and forget soon enough.

DP Moynihan was vilified when his report came out in '65 and was forced to leave the government. It has only gotten much worse.

There is an evil in the left that should be blowtorched out. Just yesterday a very liberal friend was going off anbout the talk of impeachment of Obama being raacist. He claimed that Nixon was impeached. He also made several other demonstrably false statements.

That is the leftist narrative. Lie, lie and lie until it sticks.

I saw Carter speak at the NYC Democratic Party convention in November of '75 and could not believe anyone would vote for him after that much headed junk. He scared me into becoming a Republican. Then later I got riffe'd because of his asinine policies. I will be at the head of the line waiting to piss on his grave.

[daddy]

Ending regs on airlines, trucking, and Reg Q of banking (limits on interest rates) were all good moves.

IIRC the best deregulation of that time was the deregulating of Govt mandated beer standards and production, thus ushering in the free market world of Micro-Brews that has flourished across this nation.

ObamaCare is the antithesis of that beer deregulation move.

ObamaCare is like saying "You like your Micro-brew, you can keep your Micro-brew", except that after the Law is passed and read and implemented, the Govt then takes over, and the great "equality choices" they have now given us are between Budweiser in a can, Miller in a can, or Coors in a can, with the added feature of it all being more expensive.

[henry]

Yep Daddy, he opened the door to Homebrew as well. Obamacare is more like BillyBeer in a warm can.

[jimmyk]

Hey, daddy, I didn't know about that (being underage at not too sophisticated about beer). Here's some information about that:

http://www.balloon-juice.com/2010/08/05/international-beer-day/

[jimmyk]

underage at *that time and* (I'm not underage now)

[daddy]

A new study on why The Wooly Mammoth's died is appearing all over the web. For instance:

News Scientist: Woolly mammoths died for want of a few herbs

National Geographic: Woolly Mammoths Wiped Out by Grass Invasion?

Mail on Line: Did a lack of flower power kill off the woolly mammoth? Experts say demise of protein-packed plants led to extinction

Apparently they were all cut off from the Taube's Diet between 25,000 to 10,000 years ago, and they were cut off from that Taube's Diet because (of wait for it )Climate warming after the Ice Age.

My dogs don't want me to waste time looking up the Earths warming records from the IPCC so I'll let somebody else do it and see if massive warming in Mammoth land over that time period coincides with the "Tree Ring Circus" data.

[daddy]

underage at *that time

Anyone know if there is an official underage now for smoking pot?

[daddy]

This Steyn On Line column is also worth reading today as it has much good commentary plus lets us know how we can assist Mark Steyn in his Lawsuit:

Stick of Fear

[Jane-Rebel Alliance1]

There is another approach to the single motherhood thing, that could impact the "give me free stuff" crowd.

I grew up in a single parent home, and I cannot recall one day my mother was happy. Of course she worked 3 jobs, something that no one has to do today, but still, it is a very hard life. Someone would be smart to point that out.

[MarkO]

Steyn needs a good lawyer.

Meanwhile, on the issue of consensus, he could certainly use the Earth-centered Universe of Aristotle and Ptolemy that held sway on Western thinking for almost 2000 years.