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Can we really spend our way out of this mess? Written by Andrew Coyne on Monday, January 19, 2009 14:30

The remarkable re-embrace of deficit spending is every bit as mindless as the financial panic that preceded it

"The phrase “paradigm shift” was coined by the historian Thomas Kuhn to describe the process by which an old belief system, long entrenched and widely shared, is suddenly overthrown by a new one. But how to describe the sudden revival of an old belief system to replace the new?

How, in particular, to explain the remarkable re-embrace of deficit spending (“fiscal stimulus,” in the phrase of the moment) across much of the developed world—not only by the political class, for whom its appeal is obvious, but by much of the economics profession? How, when so little fresh evidence has been offered of its effectiveness, and so much of the original critique that first discredited it remains intact? And how, in Canada of all places, which suffered more than most from a previous generation’s experimentation with deficit finance, and where the case for Doing Something would seem less pressing than elsewhere?

Yet here we are, with a Conservative government preparing to run a string of “stimulative” deficits the likes of which we haven’t seen since the early 1990s—as high as $40 billion, according to one report—urged on by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, the Conference Board of Canada, and the editorial board of the Globe and Mail. Dissent, at least in public, has been confined to free-market think tanks, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, and the odd crankish columnist.....

.....The more fundamental objection is that fiscal stimulus does not stimulate much of anything. Journalists talk about government spending being “injected” into the economy, apparently oblivious to the fact that the money has to come from somewhere. Either it is borrowed, or it is taxed: in either case, whatever initial stimulative impact there might be is very quickly unwound....

....We all know the budget is going to be about stimulus. You know it, I know it, and God knows the interest groups know it. “Stimulus” has become the catch-all for every special pleader and crackpot schemer looking for a handout. Very well: two can play at that game. There’s much the government could be doing that would be beneficial for the economy in the long run, even if it had little to do with the present crisis: tax cuts, sales tax harmonization, a national securities regulator, health care reform, the works. Couldn’t we all just agree to call this “stimulus”?

Please, read the whole thing....http://blog.macleans.ca/2009/01/19/can-we-really-spend-our-way-out-of-this-mess/

Trust Coyne to lay out a conservative piece. Yet Decepta-Cons with 3+ years of running this place still can't bring themselves to stare down the lemmings and do the right thing.

And the bobbleheads keep on bobbling....Go Team!!! You stay there and be still, and you'll get a cheque too! Say puh-leese...and don't forget to set up a monthly donation.

You dear taxpayer/Con Party Supporter are going to be taking this one in the wrong hole for a very long time. The Liberals are writing this budget, and Harper don't have the stones to lead the nation - except by writing cheques.

A dark time.

Bitch, bitch, bitch, that's all you ever do.
You sound like a bloody broken record.

re: Billie Holiday and The Sound Of Jazz All-Stars performing My Man, He Don't Love Me (1957, 7:42). "

Awesome, except that I wouldn't class this as Jazz - it is Classical Blues through and through!
Marvellous stuff none the less.

Agreed, Angry, but we don't have a regularly scheduled blues show, so
we usually spin the blues during our jazz, vintage, & wild-card shows.

Knew a guy who had a tire shop. In his office, a huge banner covered the back wall behind his desk. The first thing us customers saw when we walked in was three huge words :

BITCH
BITCH
BITCH

Sorta set the tone :(

I'm declaring a personal Obama-free day tomorrow: no radio, no TV, and no net(that will be difficult).And no Toronto Sun.
I might peak in here, but if I see a big 'O' ...I'm outa here!
We watched a TV movie tonight and the commercials were all Obama.
Enough.

Andrew Breitbart rocks. Check out this rant against the narcissistic hollywood tools...

I Pledge to Ridicule Celebrities Who Refuse to Recognize We Are At War With People Who Want to Kill Them, Too

Sandy Rinaldo just said on CTV NEWS that "Obama is already having a positive effect on the situation in Gaza as Isreal is pulling all of its troops out of Gaza before the inauguration of Obama as POTUS."

Film @ eleven.

Nik Nanos has another poll...I'd like to see the numbers instead of the so-called analysis.
Of couse it all relates to Iggy.
I'm ready for an Iggy free day as well.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090119/poll_iggy_090119/20090119?hub=Canada

I'm with you Bluetech. I'm "down under" and the slobber fest is in high mode. Enough already with the big O. I wish that the world would just drop to its knees and perform felatio, wipe its chin and be done with it.

Thanks, Glenn.
Sandy needs to know the murder that didn't happen in my city..that's because of Obama.
And the people that did not freeze on the streets in Toronto...that's Obama's influence.
And the bank that wasn't robbed in Montreal today...you guessed it...Obama.
I bet those Taliban are being good little boys tonight in Kandahar...all because of him!

There in no accountability in journalism.

Gag me, and pass the Gravol.

One wonders why is thin not in the news.

http://www.mlive.com/opinion/flint/index.ssf/2009/01/its_time_to_pray_for_global_wa.html

It's time to pray for global warming, says Flint Journal columnist John Tomlinson

At December's U.N. Global Warming conference in Poznan, Poland, 650 of the world's top climatologists stood up and said man-made global warming is a media generated myth without basis. Said climatologist Dr. David Gee, Chairman of the International Geological Congress, "For how many years must the planet cool before we begin to understand that the planet is not warming?"

And I won't be working on my 'on line' course.
BCIT will be livestreaming the innauguration.

No thanks.

Because of his obsession with Global Warming, Al Gore may cause a child to freeze to death in Minnesota;

[ All schools in the Bloomington School District will be closed today after state-required biodiesel fuel clogged in school buses Thursday morning and left dozens of students stranded in frigid weather, the district said late Thursday.

Rick Kaufman, the district's spokesman, said elements in the biodiesel fuel that turn into a gel-like substance at temperatures below 10 degrees clogged about a dozen district buses Thursday morning. Some buses weren't able to operate at all and others experienced problems while picking up students, he said.

"We had students at bus stops longer than we think is acceptable, and that's too dangerous in these types of temperatures," Kaufman said.] star tribune

http://www.startribune.com/local/south/37689189.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUsZ

You sound like a bloody broken record.
Posted by: Vitruvius at January 19, 2009 10:46 PM

It's either fact, or it's not. It's that simple.

Canada's Kate live on the radio today @ 47:15.

Kate, your comments about Obama being just another politician accurately reflects the sentiments of many of us!

ron in kelowna - put a bottle of olive oil or vegetable oil in the fridge . It starts to thicken up pretty quickly . Of course theres no ethanol in it but it makes it easy to see how that could happn.

Bluetech,

We all might make a great nix of the 'O' by each joining their opposite index finger and thumb in arc, with two lesser digits joined, crossing the circle.

Thereby to say, whosoever carry and present this symbol are anti-O.

And therefore to say nOOOOO to the OOOOOO!

Unless you have a better outward and potentially populous manifestation?

Kate on CJOB Adler interview.

"They know that we know that they know".

Perfect !

aka, many MSM groupies are losing sleep over it. The Jig is up.

hardboiled...the fact is you are a broken record,and as such,should be thrown into a bonfire,where at least you might show some colour as your vinyl melts.

Spot on. I would include Iran & Syria as well being conduits to the mad quest for world domination.

I'm Burning mad. That a good man like Howard Rotberg is forced to quit his Blog out of despair no one is listening its a shame to us all.
I wish someone would get in touch with this guy. You will know why after I post his last paragraph. Got this from Kathy's FFF.

I have been writing about this consistently since 2002, and I am despairing for the future of Jewish children.

I will be ending my blog at the end of the month. I conclude that I have failed in my central purpose, with my blog, just as I have failed to get my novel widely distributed, but at least I have given it my best effort.

To my children and my grandchildren, I apologize that I have not been able to do more or do it better, but know that I did the best I could.

This cry of sorrow should be an embarrassment to every decent Canadian. RD
JMO

http://secondgenerationradical.b...009-01-18-0001/

Has anyone heard if there are any protests from CAIR that Obama won't be sworn in via a Koran?

Just askin'.

More importantly Vitruvius, since you don't express reaction often, except in the technical realm, maybe I should be less obtuse than in my last post.

Am I any less bitchy than, say, maz2 might be to a Librano supporter?

Am I any less offending (or screed inducing) than Charles McIntosh or Irwin Daisy is to a moderate muslim, who also finds the extreme side of their faith as repulsive - but is scared of being identified with them?

Am I any less offensive than a mindless media fawning over the political flavour of the day - only to turn back to murder and gore when ratings are needed?

Lots of analogies possible. But the point is that if this place is to be one of conservative political comment - so be it. If it is to be a comfy echo chamber for the partisans, fine.

Say so. Pick one. Repeat it. Do it again. And be proud of saying it out loud.

But don't deny the essence of fact and directly supported argument by demeaning that or dismissing it by a school yard taunt.

You can have ted, iberia, sarge, and the rest of the bozos working hard to reinforce you and SDA's 'conservative' poster's worldviews. After all, those bozos ain't one of your own. And the partisans won't have their daily reinforcement upset by contrary fact or opinion. That way, everything will be easier. And you won't have to think for yourselves. A nice glossy folder will come to your inbox every once and awhile, and do that for you. And for only $25 per month, hey - that's a steal. And the best version of Doris Day's 'Que Sera Sera' can be set on loop.

In the grandest of irony, Kate's site to me has been the place where mass media norms have been challenged. Where the 'new media' has gravitated to peddling emotion and reaction, SDA has called out that crap on what it is. Where the individual is empowered to opine. Where conservatives find a voice not within the MSM - and conservative reaction and the definition of conservatism resides.

I'm not coming back for awhile. Best to you.

Peace,
hardboiled

Pages of great quotes here. A couple of examples;

""The cost of this particular global credit binge, unfortunately, is a deep and prolonged global recession, and the concomitant de-leveraging of the debt bubble is a major deflationary force, so it’s no wonder governments are gung ho to mitigate the impact by trying to reflate the bubble. Three words: That. Won’t. Work.
It will, however, be inflationary in the extreme. I guess no one remembers how painful it was the last time inflation got out of control and had to be squelched by hard-ass central bankers like Paul Volcker. It won’t be any easier this time, either."

and

""If the DOT.COM and REAL ESTATE Bubbles were caused by the FED’s massive pump priming, why should we expect that continuing to do more of the same will produce better results? Does everyone not see that the Booming Government Bond Market Bubble, now $13 trillion and growing fast; is only within a ½% of coming to an end? When it bursts, the bubble and the resulting damage will dwarf every other bubble in history. Why is everyone rushing headlong into Treasuries, locking in negative returns for as long as 30 years? Hasn’t the Bursting Bubbles and the MADOFF fiasco taught anybody anything?"
Aubie Baltin

http://www.investmentrarities.com/greatquotes.html

Another scary quote;

January 6, 2009

"Once the government runs out of foreign and private sector bidders for new Treasurys, the Federal Reserve will be the only buyer, and the hyper-inflation cat will be completely out of the bag."

Pete Schiff

Latest polling in Canada shows 80% favourable approval rating for Obama. Our PM's success in the near future depends on the US economy getting back on track. I sure "hope" Obama gets it right.

Personally, I like watching all the lefties talk about how Obama is a uniter and in their next breath curse all up and down Harper for no other reason than he is a conservative. Just look at all the fun we are going to have making fun of them and the media when Obama keeps doing a lot of the same things Bush did, especially hwne it comes to foreign policy.

Good times ahead folks.

December 24, 2008

"Our country is now permitting government leaders to pick the winners in our economic system. Their history of picking winners is not comforting. Government chose ethanol as the winner in the alternative fuels business. It requires more than a gallon of fuel to produce a gallon of ethanol. The windfall profits for farmers gave them incentive to grow only corn. This led to rising prices for other commodities, higher feed costs which led to higher meat costs, and a frenzy of ethanol plant construction. Now that oil is $43 per barrel, ethanol makes no financial sense. Ethanol plants are closing by the hundreds."

James Quinn

------------

And our Farmers will wear it. Again.

*
strangely enough... the best line i've heard about tomorrow's obamafest
came from the jon stewart show... "obama's inaugural speech is gonna
make the gettysberg address look like a series of simian grunts."

Hardboiled, you seem to be an educated person, yet you only attack PM Harper like the alternative is better. What's up with that?
Sorry my friend, Harper is the best that this country has available at the moment, so your bitchfest is misdirected.

I Want My Bailout Money by Michael Adams the Health Ranger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnT21hmlT4o

Warning: Rap, not work safe.

When you are paying your income tax this April. you can feel good about yourself knowing you have paid the Elite’s share of taxes to help keep them in the lifestyle they wishes to stay accustomed too.

“In 2008, Mr. Birkenfeld was charged and pled guilty to conspiring with a U.S. citizen, Igor Olenicoff, to defraud the IRS of $7.2 million in taxes owed on $200 million of assets hidden in secret accounts in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. In connection with this prosecution, the United States also detained as a material witness a senior UBS private banking official from Switzerland, Martin Liechti, then traveling on business in Florida. These enforcement actions appear to represent the first time that the United States has criminally prosecuted a Swiss banker for helping a U.S. taxpayer evade U.S. taxes.”

A UBS official admitted to a number of questionable activities such as smuggling diamonds out of the U.S. to Europe in toothpaste tubes to help American taxpayers hide money from the Internal Revenue Service. He said his behavior was not unusual within the ban.”

“UBS has an estimated 19,000 so-called `undeclared accounts’ for U.S. citizens with an estimated US$18 billion in assets that have been kept secret from the IRS.””

“There has also been an expose of LGT Group in Liechtenstein for tax evasion, with some 100 Canadians implicated.”

“So where are Canada’s politicians and regulators? Tax officials are supposedly investigating but there should be public hearings with culprits named publicly.”

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/francis/archive/2008/07/29/ubs-used-to-be-smart.aspx

Liberal MP says Amerikkka OK now that Bush gone.

The Liberal Commons member for Humber-St. Barbe-Baie Verte said Obama recognizes the relationship Canada has with the U.S. and has demonstrated that knowledge by choosing Canada as his first foreign visit as president.

“That significant trading relationship, we sometimes felt the (George W.) Bush administration never really understood or appreciated that and often conveyed the message that Canada wasn’t all that high on the Bush administration’s radar screen.”

I wonder what message the Liberals were sending from Canada when Chretien blamed America for 9-11, Carolyn Parrish stomping on the Bush doll and the coalition of idiots quote? Apparently that dumb rednick Bushitler wouldn't recognize a compliment if it bit him in the arse.

Bluetech -- you mean you haven't bought your Obama coins yet? For shame.

Glenn...I caught Iggy on CTV speculating on how Harper/Obama relations will go.According to Iggy,there might be a rocky road ahead as some con dipolmat leaked Obama's Nafta gaff,trying to undermine the O's campaign.America is our new best friend according to Iggy,but not with the cons,just the libs.

So how come when PMSH met with GWB,he was kissing America's ass,and was GWB's lap-dog,BUT now,with the "O",he should be cuddling up? Can we say leftard bullshit?And some here say the MSM isn't bias.Yeah,and I'm the next Yogi of Xanadu.

"A long-awaited investigation into the Maple Leaf Foods listeriosis outbreak that claimed 20 Canadian lives last year will be launched today. MORE..." (nnw)
...-

Deaths attributed to listeriosis = 20.

Deaths to snowmobilers this winter = 18(?).

?

Bullshit, Hardboiled. You hang around here and spray out insults to everyone who disagrees with you. "Decepta-Cons", "lemmings", "bobbleheads", "you'll get a cheque too! Say puh-leese", "Con Party" "in the wrong hole", &c. You behave as if you are the only one who knows the truth (which is a sign of insanity). Yet, indeed, it may be that I agree with you on the substance of your arguments, but you're not ever going to find out if you insist on taking that tone with me. As to other commenters who do the same thing: correct, I think they are assholes too.

So now, if you don't mind, I'm going to return to studying, anthropologically speaking, all the racists who think that it matters what the colour of the 44th president of the United States's skin is.

To me Obama's inauguration represents everything that is wrong with today's main stream media.

To me Jan 20 2009 is the day tens of millions of people over reacted to an event that has been manufactured from day one by a corrupt liberal main stream media.

Obama has NO accomplishements, yet millions of people are literaly in love with him.

Obama is only a smooth talker, a seducer, yet he is described by the media as a hero who will save us all... but he has not done anything great in the past and has not done anything great... yet.

Yesterday on Dr Phil they showed with the help of photos that a US president ages twice as fast as other people because of the stress of the job,

but Ariana Huffington who was a guest said Obama is different!

She thinks Obama will not age the same as other President!!!

She seems to believe Obama is a semi-God creature!!!

Yes today Jan 20 2009 is the day half the planet showed to the other half they were not very bright and extremely gullible.

The insane over-reaction of the millions of Obama cult followers to a man who has accomplished nothing is more historical than the event itself.

Ok , ok...I'll give Obama one thing,

he is damn good at selling snake oil.

A comprehensive history of 'Palestine' with maps showing borders and partitions that anybody interested should read:

A VERY LETHAL MYTH
This comment outlines the history of Canaan/Israel/ in maps From this brief history, we learn that it is a small country that has usually been dominated by outsiders, and that many peoples have lived here and established themselves and staked their claims here.

ibloga.blogspot.com

Vit you summed up some of the language that I also find disturbing in MS comment threads. It's not that I do not respect other people's opinions rather the language they use to do it. As far as I am concerned the argument is diminished if the language is insulting. There is no recourse other to stop reading. You do not have the right to talk to me that way unless I have the right to use a 2 x clue to re-educate you.

Spengler, Absolute power gets blamed absolutely

Inauguration day brings to mind the reason I don't read science fiction. It's never weird enough. Today, America will place more power than any peacetime president ever has wielded into the hands of a man nobody knows. He has convinced more incompatible constituencies that he takes their side than any politician in American history. And through no fault or merit of his own, he has stumbled into more power than the White House has had since World War II.

From the day Obama was elected to 9:30am Tokyo time on Monday morning, the S&P 500 index has lost 17% of its value, after absorbing Obama's proposed cabinet and hearing the gist of his economic stimulus plan. That can't be blamed on Bush. It counts as the "Obama crash". With the unprecedented power of his office, Obama inherits a commensurately high level of accountability. Unless he offers something radically different, the boomerang of expectations could flatten him faster and more thoroughly than the swift ascent of his star. People in power get blamed; people with absolute power get blamed absolutely. As the economy continues to deteriorate, there will be no one left standing to blame but Obama...

(Via Contentions) David Frum has a new website, New Majority, "devoted to Republican reform and renewal."

"Folly still rules the human condition.*"

Goreacle's Footprint/Effect has settled/hunkered down on Washington, D.C.

Da proof?

CNN radio reporter live from the Washington Mall via CFRA/AM reports:

"We are huddled here together trying to keep warm."
...-

Commenter:
"Mike D. (00:34:41) :
Lulo,

I too am an environmentalist, an environmental professional, a forester, and a steward of the land. Studying and stewarding the environment has been my vocation and avocation for 35 years, all my adult life. I know the weight of responsibility for large tracts of land and to the people who depend on that land for vital resources such as food, fiber, water, wildlife, recreation, public health and safety, and heritage.

I too am disaffected by academics who have never shared such responsibilities and who cling to old paradigms peppered with anomalies. How trite and removed they seem, and decidedly unscientific. The dire reports of boiling seas, the end of Creation, and other alarmist nonsense is an embarrassment, and should be rejected by serious people. The fact that it is not speaks volumes about the intellectual bankruptcy of academia today.

I don’t know what SC 24 will be, or if it will affect the climate. But as an agrarian I do know that falling temperatures present hardships, whereas rising temperatures offer bounty and productivity. Warmer is better, based on modern observation of our biosphere as well as study of paleobotany and paleozoology. Fear of warmth is misplaced, illogical, a-historical, and a-scientific, but concern about deepening cold is rational for many reasons.

The alarmism about global warming is a stunning example of human folly. We are no wiser today than we were a thousand or ten thousand years ago. *Folly still rules the human condition. In the temples of academia, where rationality should be worshiped, folly is more powerful than ever. That tragedy, the failure of reason after millennia of striving, is perhaps the thing to be feared the most."

"What the Solar Cycle 24 ramp up could look like
19 01 2009
Guest post by David Archibald"
http://tinyurl.com/8jffn8 (wattsup)
..-

*"In Praise of Folly

ERASMUS OF ROTTERDAM
INTRODUCTION

to his friend THOMAS MORE, health:

As I was coming awhile since out of Italy for England, that I might not waste all that time I was to sit on horseback in foolish and illiterate fables, I chose rather one while to revolve with myself something of our common studies, and other while to enjoy the remembrance of my friends, of whom I left here some no less learned than pleasant. Among these you, my More, came first in my mind, whose memory, though absent yourself, gives me such delight in my absence, as when present with you I ever found in your company; than which, let me perish if in all my life I ever met with anything more delectable. And therefore, being satisfied that something was to be done, and that that time was no wise proper for any serious matter, I resolved to make some sport with the praise of folly. But who the devil put that in your head? you'll say."
("delectable")
http://smith2.sewanee.edu/erasmus/pof.html

Eli Lake, Al Qaeda bungles arms experiment
Biological or chemical weapons

An al Qaeda affiliate in Algeria closed a base earlier this month after an experiment with unconventional weapons went awry, a senior U.S. intelligence official said Monday.

The official, who spoke on the condition he not be named because of the sensitive nature of the issue, said he could not confirm press reports that the accident killed at least 40 al Qaeda operatives, but he said the mishap led the militant group to shut down a base in the mountains of Tizi Ouzou province in eastern Algeria...

Kate, where be your graphic for the big 08 win?

Inquiring/voting minds wanna know ;)

Hey, Hardboiled found a Conservative to his liking(if Trudeau Conservatives are your thing).

We'll be sure to say hi when we see you over there.

Thanks for all your non-constructive assistance.

And we especially appreciated your constant pointing out of the blaringly obvious without understanding or appreciating any semblance of reality.

Ironically enough,Coyne just happens to be looking for another Harpy.

"A Conservative Obligation: Bach’s Art of the Fugue

One need not yield to the grotesque spectacle of the 170-million dollar “Inaugural Festivity” during a time when wealth is disappearing by the hours. Other, more worthy, objects of interest offer themselves for contemplation…

A desideratum of conservatives is to recognize and fulfill certain traditional, impersonal obligations that they regard as incumbent upon them to the end that society and the civilized order might endure. The Commandments thus oblige one, as does the cultivation of mind; beauty also obliges one – to refine one’s sense of it, to learn the proper responses to it, to conform one’s demeanor to it as far as possible. I adduce, therefore, the example of Johann Sebastian Bach’s ultimate, Platonic work, The Art of the Fugue. This is a work that civilized people have a duty to know and to live with over a lifetime. The Art will repay the effort of acquaintance many times by lending its magnificent form to one’s inner existence. It would be best, of course, to tackle Bach’s Magnum Opus as a performer, but only professionals can match the requirements of its execution. I assume that, like me, a person who decides to cultivate his interest in this colossal exercise of the contrapuntal imagination, a summit of Western music, will do so by seeking familiarity through recordings. With luck, he might also be able to hear it in concert, although live performances come but rarely.

Bach (1685 – 1750) composed The Art of the Fugue in the last years of his life, while he was dying from the combination of ailments that killed him. A good deal of it was overwork and fatigue. Bach kept at The Art even while lying in his deathbed. The concluding movement, a monumental fugue that would sum up the Master’s command of this odd musical form sprung from the tensions of the religious wars, remained unfinished because its composer passed into his reward with the manuscript in his hands before he completed it. By the middle of the eighteenth century, Europe’s musical taste had turned away from Papa Bach’s “baroque manner.” Bach’s sons, for example, tended to express themselves in the new and popular Style Galante, which reduced the dense polyphonic textures of fugue and chorale, with their layers of intertwining voices, to the simpler textures of incipient sonata form, with its emphasis on harmonic progression as a means of evoking emotional responses from the audience. Bach meant The Art to sum up the earlier musical ethos, but in the age of the rococo, the divinely serious play – the spiritual mathematics – of strict imitative composition failed in its appeal. Or the new audience failed in its duty to appreciate the old art. The lovely frivolity of Bach’s sons, of the Mannheim composers, and of the early Franz Josef Haydn furnished amusement for people (aristocrats and burghers) who preferred elegance to gravity and diversion to elevation. Haydn himself and Wolfgang Mozart, at the end of his life, both became interested in Bach and began reintroducing fugal textures into their instrumental music. Ludwig van Beethoven followed their example and one result is the finale of his Ninth Symphony. Felix Mendelssohn knew The Art. The real Bach revival would not come, however, until the twentieth century.

How to describe The Art of the Fugue?"
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3752

This is great - video of the Carters and Clintons snubbing one another at the Messiah's inauguration:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2009/01/carter-snubs-cl.html

The leftard comeuppance of hugo chavez.

Hugo comes grovelling after the oil companies he kicked out cause they run companies better than communists do.

I didn't see this story in the NYT's. It must not be news...

http://www.ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=316915138121814

Energy: Low oil prices and plunging output have seen Venezuela's Hugo Chavez come groveling back to U.S. oil firms for new investment after abusing them earlier. But Big Oil, once bitten, should now be twice shy.

The only reason left to make a long-term investment in Venezuela is to bet that Hugo Chavez won't be around long enough to rip them off again.

Chevron, Shell, and France's Total have quietly been approached for investment, the New York Times reports, even as they still smart from the expropriation of their assets in 2007.

It wasn't just the billions in losses. It's also unlikely they have forgotten the fireworks, troops, banners and torch-bearing Chavista mobs seizing their property in the name of "the people."

So it's quite a humiliation for the strongman, who once boasted, "We are taking back our country," to be back begging for help.

Expropriation hasn't worked so well. Chavez's state oil company, PDVSA, had virtually nothing left in its coffers after squandering $700 billion in oil earnings on political schemes like light bulb and milk factories. It needs $20 billion to develop its Orinoco Basin projects, which could produce 1.2 million barrels a day, but it can only do it with partners who have both capital and technology.

I see the 49 songs for Obama has been posted on cbc.ca, and my nomination of 'Take Off' by Bob and Doug didn't make it....I wonder why....