Tonight, in the closest thing you’ll ever see to classical musicians dancing while they play, members of the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra swing and sway their way through J.S. Bach’s catchy Brandenburg Concerto No.2, Allegro Moderato.
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.
If you can’t watch the event live, the video is usually available on the website within a couple of days:
How to Reclaim American Prosperity
Monday, 29 November 2010
10:00 AM — 11:30 AM EST
Video of this event will be livestreamed…
In his book Seeds of Destruction: Why the Path to Economic Ruin Runs Through Washington, and How to Reclaim American Prosperity (FT Press, 2010), AEI scholar R. Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia Business School and a former chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, teams up with economics professor Peter Navarro to explain why the U.S. economy is in disarray and what can be done about it. Hubbard and Navarro identify the roots of the country’s slowing growth and chart the specific, simple policies that could take the American economy to new levels. At this AEI event, Hubbard will present his detailed path to prosperity and will be joined in the discussion by David Leonhardt of the New York Times, Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review, and economist Carmen Reinhart of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. AEI director of economic policy studies Kevin A. Hassett will moderate.
RIP Leslie Nielsen.
The classic line, delivered with surgical precision.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A5t5_O8hdA
Heard on the radio (660) today that the failure rate of “new Canadians” taking the immigration test has climbed. Apparently the new test is too tough.
Brent – Oh cr@p, Leslie Nielsen died?! Shirley not!!
Well, I miss him, but here are some funny bits (I know, O.J.’s in some of them. It’s creepy, but there you go.):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJEmtLxkEoI
BTW, one day, what happens to Leslie at 6:25 in the above clip will happen to Obama; and then there will be much rejoicing.
Extreme secret agenda aims to change our society
By Janet Albrechtsen
THE Greens are anti-free trade, anti-capitalism, anti-wealth and anti-growth.
WE have seen this before. A third party taps into voter discontent with both sides of politics, rises to become a force in Australian politics, then fades into electoral oblivion. Remember the DLP? Remember One Nation? Remember the Australian Democrats?
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/extreme-secret-agenda-aims-to-change-our-society/story-e6frg6zo-1225954629630
Brent and Black Mamba – thank-you for links to some of Leslie Nielsen’s best moments. Here is a link from Fox News to a brief biography: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/11/28/comedy-legend-leslie-nielsen-dead/
I did not know Leslie at all but he was up here in the Yukon to visit his brother, Eric, quite a few times. We all knew Eric as he was our M.P. for many years. Eric was leader of the opposition for about 6 months, just before the PCs elected Lyin Brian. Like Leslie, Eric had stage presence and charisma (he was our Danny Williams) it was great entertainment to watch Eric shred PET and his gang during Question Period. Eric had a wicked love of the ridiculous and he could turn a 10 sentence reply from PET (Turdo) into a stunning (very funny)mockery with one sentence.
RIP Leslie, you will keep Heaven in stitches! We, here on earth will miss you. Leslie made me laugh until tears ran down my face…he was a class act; he certainly has no contender in the present crop of Hollywood potty mouthed ‘comedians’.
AGW Progress Report: This Is A Record-ing.
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“More Snow Than Last Winter Already in Spokane, Wash”
“Winter has yet to officially get underway, but Spokane, Wash., has already received more snow this November than all of last winter.
Since the first accumulating snowfall of the season occurred on Nov. 13, Spokane has measured a total of 20.6 inches of snow so far this month.
This month is now Spokane’s fifth snowiest November on record. November 1955 ranks first with 24.7 inches.
A new storm system set to deliver several inches of fresh snow to Spokane Tuesday into Wednesday will put that record in jeopardy.
Spokane averages 7.1 inches of snow in November and 45.6 inches for the entire season.”
http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/42249/more-snow-than-last-winter-alr.asp
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“Snow chaos costs Scots economy £50m a day”
“THE worst November snowfalls in 17 years plunged Scotland into chaos as business leaders warned the freezing conditions would cost the country more than £50 million a day – mainly in lost Christmas trade.”
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/news/Snow-chaos-costs-Scots-economy.6642888.jp
Maz2……of course, ALL weather events of any sort are seen as proof-positive of human caused climate change. Only if it never changed would there be any possibility…….oh, wait a minute – it always changes, and everyone agrees about that. But the changes used to be so predictable…….oh, wait a minute – that’s not really true either. My head hurts…..so confused.
I’m sad that Leslie Nielsen died, too. Watching him has been a great joy.
But what great music, and what a great performance by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra! I still remember the first time that I heard the Second Brandenburg, more than forty years ago. I wanted to dance then, and I still do!
Angel Rabasa et al., Deradicalizing Islamic Extremists (RAND Corp.)
Although there has been a great deal of research on the radicalization and recruitment of Islamist extremists, until recently, there has been relatively little research on the deradicalization of those who have been recruited into Islamist extremist movements and organizations. Just as there are processes through which an individual becomes an extremist, there are also processes through which an extremist comes to renounce violence, leaves a group or movement, or even rejects a radical worldview. Moreover, there is reason to believe that deradicalization is not merely the radicalization process in reverse: Deradicalization appears to have its own distinct features—some of which are quite different from the factors associated with the initial radicalization. This project sought to identify and analyze the processes through which militants leave Islamist extremist groups, assess the effectiveness of deradicalization programs, and derive judgments about policies that could help promote and accelerate processes of deradicalization….
International Crisis Group, Afghanistan: Exit vs Engagement
U.S. plans to withdraw its forces from Afghanistan by 2014 would lead to a collapse of the government in Kabul and serious security risks for the region.
Sue C.: Harry was also confused.
Devil is not confused:
AGW/CRU, etc., “is tantamount to fraud.
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“Is it in their Nature to lie?”
“In his real life, your humble Devil is a Product Manager for a small software company. Given that it is a small software company, your humble Devil actually delves into the methods and programming of said software.
As such, I know a little about how software programming works, and what is considered acceptable and what is not—both by the programmers themselves, and by those performing the “acceptance tests”.
Having established some vague credentials, I would like to draw your attention to this article in Nature—as highlighted by His Ecclesiastical Eminence—regarding the ClimateGate data releases last year.
As most people will know, most of the forensic fury was focused upon the emails exchanged between the key players in this fraud, but a few people started delving into the data that was released alongside those communications.
In fact, your humble Devil highlighted a large part of this in my collation of comments around the HARRY_READ_ME.txt file (a post that resulted in over 24,000 absolute unique visitors in one day).
What this file displayed was not what Nature dismisses as “wonky code”, but an utter failure of any kind of systematic programming ability, plus a total lack of verification and testing.
As far as I—and, I am sure, most programmers—are concerned, the construction of models based upon such obviously inaccurate software is tantamount to fraud. Regardless, Nature does not agree…”
http://www.devilskitchen.me.uk/2010/10/is-it-in-their-nature-to-lie.html
Update from Bloomberg.
Europe’s socialist pyramid scheme/fraud is collapsing in an agonizing downward spiral.
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“EU’s Irish Rescue Fails to Stem Contagion; Spain Bonds Drop”
“European governments’ 85 billion- euro ($113 billion) bailout package for Ireland failed to quell the market turmoil menacing the euro as stocks, bonds and the currency declined.
Irish 10-year bonds slid after an early advance, European stocks and the euro declined, and the cost of insuring the debt of Spain and Portugal against default soared to record highs.
“The notion that a rescue package for Ireland would create a firewall and stop the fear of contagion is clearly discredited,” said Preston Keat, director of research at Eurasia Group, a political consultancy, in London. “Portugal and Spain are already facing pressures in the markets.”
Six months after the Greek rescue exposed flaws in the euro’s makeup and fueled doubts whether 16 countries belong in the same currency union, policy makers again found themselves meeting on Sunday in Brussels racing to calm markets.
Finance chiefs also endorsed a Franco-German compromise on post-2013 rescues that means investors won’t automatically take losses to share the cost with taxpayers as German Chancellor Angela Merkel initially proposed to the consternation of bond traders. And Greece was told it could have an extra four-and-a- half years to repay emergency loans totaling 110 billion euros to match the seven-year term under Ireland’s deal.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-29/ireland-s-eu-financial-rescue-fails-to-stem-contagion-as-spain-bonds-drop.html
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stand by for breaking news on gravity holding sh!t down…
How exactly, does…”Haiti is a violent and extremely corrupt place”…
even qualify as news?
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Sue
When we have Human Induced Climate Not Changing; THEN, we have problems.
Liberal Iggy’s O’Harvard buddy.
O’The End:
“It is the political capstone of a meltdown. Obama’s credibility — and by extension America’s — has been downgraded to junk bond status.”
JFK/O: both brought down by their own leftists.
It’s the Democratic Party Way.
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“Helplessly Hoping”
“William Jacobson of Legal Insurrection argues that the latest Wikileak has shoved President Obama into Jimmy Carter territory. The leaks have shown him to be completely impotent, unable to even protect his own secrets or preserve his allies from embarrassment. The hard Left can push him around and take his money in a political dance apache. The Asia Times makes the same observation, but dryly notes that the loss of respect — AKA the failure of political deterrence — can cause much more serious international consequences. Barack Obama’s allies may already be starting to Finlandize themselves, convinced if proof were lacking, that Obama can’t even keep the deal he won’t honor secret. It is the political capstone of a meltdown. Obama’s credibility — and by extension America’s — has been downgraded to junk bond status.
Not only has the fact of the Wikileak publication in the New York Times publicly demonstrated Obama’s weakness, their contents paint the picture of almost pitiful helplessness. The magisterial rhetoric, the grand phrases from the jut-jawed deliveries at teleprompter translate to only one idea: kick the can down the road and please don’t hit me, mister. The leaked documents, if accurate, suggest a North Korea and Iran openly testing the administration; China engaging in cyberwar against the West; American Islamic allies supporting terrorism while demanding protection and even aid. It shows a potential Iranian threat so regionally worrisome that Saudi Arabia exhorted him to “cut off the head of the snake.” It all adds up, according to the Asia Times, to extraordinary danger.”
http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2010/11/29/helplessly-hoping-2/#comments
The new Strategic Studies Quarterly is up, including:
Jacquelyn Schneider, Chinese Military Involvement in a Future Korean War
To avoid repeating the mistakes of the past (or being overly influenced by them), Chinese intentions in a future Korean war must be analyzed, first by exploring how China’s interests and capabilities have changed since 1950. Once a divergence from the past has been established, it is then necessary to define concrete actions the United States could take to not only assuage Chinese concerns but to also deter China’s entrance into the conflict. Simply put, a modern analysis of any future Korean war must attempt to define China’s perceived costs and benefits from involvement and then create solutions through which the United States can influence the values assigned by the Chinese to their political decisions. The final goal is to convince the Chinese that the cost of intervening militarily for North Korea would be greater than the benefit China could receive by abstaining from the conflict….
I’d strongly recommend you all listen to this excellent discussion between Andrew Breitbart and Adam Carolla. The interview starts around 34:00.
They touch upon several of my hot button issues:
– The lock-step nature of the Hard Left
– The rampant hypocrisy of the Hollywood Left
– How so many on the Left absolutely HATE America
There’s a definite language warning but it’s well worth listening to.
The U.N. says that discrimination is bad, but murdering gays is probably… not so bad.
(Last time I checked, they still hate Israel.)
What a wonderful institution.
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/timblair/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/bigger_issue/
Stolen from Ace of Spades HQ.
No gloating, please.
“Torontonians” are the unhappiest people in Canada.
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“Torontonians are the least happy people in Canada: study
Toronto Star”
Meet The Army’s Latest Rifle
the XM25 Counter Defilade Target Engagement System, a high-tech rifle that can be programmed so that its 25-mm. ammunition does not necessarily explode on impact. Instead, it can be set to detonate either in front of or behind a target, meaning it literally will go through a wall before it explodes and kills the enemy. It also has a range of roughly 2,300 feet
http://www.nationalreview.com/the-feed/254013/meet-armys-latest-rifle