Latest Analysis, Commentary and Opinion*
(The title of each article is linked to the complete article)

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Economic Recovery Is Flimsy, Unsustainable
   Economics piece by Offsite (1/6/10)

The U.S. economy is recovering, but at a flimsy and seemingly unsustainable pace, writes famed publisher and business columnist Steve Forbes.

A Small Touch of Kindness
   Society piece by Thomas D. Segel (1/6/10)

Harlingen, Texas, January 5, 2010:  It was only a brief news report, when it should have been a banner headline.  An eight-year-old girl used her Christmas vacation to collect 251 new and used winter coats for people who would suffer in the frigid cold of January.  Here in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, where thousands of people are impacted by living in one of the most economically disadvantaged regions of the country, there are at least 251 people who will have a warmer winter because of one little girl, the current Little Miss San Benito, eight-year-old Zaralegui Guzman.

France’s elite colleges rise up in revolt against Nicolas Sarkozy
   Elitists piece by Offsite (1/6/10)

The elite colleges that train France’s rulers and top managers were in open revolt against President Sarkozy’s Government yesterday, refusing orders to admit more students from working-class and immigrant backgrounds.

Fix for Arizona budget deficit is spending discipline
   Government piece by GoldwaterInstitute: Tom Patterson (1/6/10)

2009 was a disaster for Arizona state government. Gov. Jan Brewer and our lawmakers had two jobs. To dig out of the gaping budget hole left by Janet Napolitano and to prevent future meltdowns. Unfortunately, our leaders pulled up short on both counts.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Review: ImageSkill Magic Enhancer 2 Plug-in
   Software piece by Editor (1/5/10)

The Magic Enhancer 2 is compatible with many Windows programs that can use .8bf(PhotoShop based) plug-ins. “Using Magic Enhancer you can essentially improve your photos adjusting its lightness, contrast and color balance.“

Arizona’s education stagflation
   EdukShun piece by GoldwaterInstitute: Matthew Ladner (1/5/10)

In the latest edition of City Journal, William Voegeli’s article(1) about the public sector strangling of the California economy provided the following nugget of wisdom:

Japan Inflation Will Kill Global Rally
   Economics piece by Offsite (1/5/10)

The great bear rally of 2009 is this year going to disappear and show investors that the economy is clearly the midst of a 21st Century Depression, akin to Japan’s infamous “Lost Decade,“ writes noted financial journalist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard.

Economy Will Recover But Jobs Won’t
   Economics piece by Offsite (1/5/10)

The U.S. economy will recover without regaining all of the jobs it lost because Main Street America spent too much, saved too little while incomes failed to rise in pace, says investment guru Wilbur Ross.

Dollar Rally Is Coming to End
   Economics piece by Offsite (1/5/10)

Michael Woolfolk, senior currency strategist at Bank of New York Mellon, says the dollar’s recent rebound will peter out early this year.

Rush Limbaugh: “Kate, I think I’m having a heart attack!“
   Health piece by Offsite (1/5/10)

Alone in his Kahala Hotel suite at nap time last Wednesday, an obviously stressed out Rush Limbaugh called his longtime girlfriend and told her: “Kate, I think I’m having a heart attack!“

IRS to regulate paid tax preparation
   Taxes piece by Offsite (1/5/10)

The Internal Revenue Service plans to test, register and screen people who get paid to prepare tax returns, stepping into a virtually unregulated business on which millions of Americans depend for crucial financial services.

Rehearsed outrage
   National Security piece by Offsite (1/5/10)

Rats and mice may live in holes, but they know how to steal cheese and get into cabinets in our homes. They are able to hide and soil our homes almost at will, often evading all but the most elaborate traps. And while some may make docile pets, the majority demand constant and aggressive measures to rid us of them. We certainly don’t trap them and then release them in our backyard so they can invade our homes again.

Nonprofit colleges’ million-dollar presidents
   EdukShun piece by Offsite (1/5/10)

Les Kinsolving wants to reverse tax-exempt status of educational ‘profiteers’ - Months after the New York Times headline: “23 Private College Presidents Made $1 Million in 2008, Survey Finds.“ Another Times story had the almost electrifying news: “Pittsburgh Holds Off on a Vote to Tax Tuition.“

Intellectuals: Mostly useless to society
   Elitists piece by Offsite (1/5/10)

There has probably never been an era in history when intellectuals have played a larger role in society. When intellectuals who generate ideas are surrounded by a wide range of others who disseminate those ideas - whether as journalists, teachers, staffers to legislators or clerks to judges - the influence of intellectuals on the way a society evolves can be huge. Trying for years to understand the nature of that influence eventually led me to write the book “Intellectuals and Society,“ which has just been published.

The Swiss have the right idea about firearms
   Guns/Self-defense piece by Offsite (1/5/10)

No crime but plenty of firearms - Switzerland is the safest country in the world to live in. It is not because it is a neutral country or anything of that sort.

Security Theater Now Playing at Your Airport
   National Security piece by Daniel Pipes (1/5/10)

As hands are wrung in the aftermath of the near-tragedy on a Northwest Airlines flight approaching Detroit, a conversation from London’s Heathrow airport in 1986 comes to mind.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Is It Over? 2009?  Really? MilesTonesTake
   Government piece by Rev. Miles (1/4/10)

Today, I finally stuck my head out of the covers to make sure. It is no longer 2009?  Phew!  What a strange year!  A family in New Bedford, Massachusetts returned a library book that they had borrowed and kept for 99 years after the due date. The title? “Facts I Ought to Know about the Government of My Country.“ So it was a book about how to understand how our government works. The borrower probably spent the whole 99 years re-reading it and still couldn’t figure out how the government works.  D.C. Congressmen and Senators seem to have the same problem…. Much more coming including a notable quip about the Tiger (obviously not made out of) Wood and the quip was made at a Senior Citizen’s Bible Class of all places!

Democrats on Rasmussen Polls: The Numbers Ain’t Right and The Question is Flawed
   Demercrats piece by Warner Todd Huston (1/4/10)

The Politico published(1) a Jan. 2 we-shoot-the-messenger styled story about lefty bloggers and Democrat activists who are upset that the Rasmussen polling group has so often found numbers trending in support of the GOP position. Not only has Rasmussen found that Obama’s approval rating is going down steadily, but it has been finding that Republicans and Republican backed ideas are in ascendance. The left, though, is crying foul.

Copenhagen Dashes 3rd World Expectations
   GreeenIsm piece by Guest: Dennis T. Avery (1/4/10)

CHURCHVILLE, VA - Once again the “rich countries” have managed to yank prosperity away from the Third World. And at Christmas too.

Pop Goes the Culture
   Society piece by Robert R. Owens (1/4/10)

Culture to a human is like water to a fish.  We move around in it constantly but we don’t notice it very much.  Though unnoticed water can have profound effects on fish.  Too cold and they freeze.  Too hot and they boil.  Not enough oxygen and they suffocate.  Too polluted and they choke to death.  In a similar fashion the culture in which we move shapes us in many subtle ways.  If it’s refined the world we perceive and the world we deal with is refined.  If it’s crude the world is crude.  If it’s toxic the world is toxic.

Abuse Shelters: Havens for Feminist Thought Reform
   Femi-Nazis piece by Carey Roberts (1/4/10)

Feminists will argue until they’re blue in the face that women are victims of the Great Satanic Patriarchy. That tenet is laughable when one considers women are leading men on almost every indicator of social welfare.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Report of 2nd man cuffed from Flight 253 confirmed
   Terrorism piece by Offsite (1/3/10)

After several days of denying eyewitness reports of a second man from Northwest Flight 253 being arrested following the attempted Christmas Day bombing of the plane by a Nigerian passenger linked to al-Qaida, the chief U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer in the Detroit area has admitted another passenger was taken into custody.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Black Education
   EdukShun piece by Offsite (1/1/10)

Detroit’s (predominantly black) public schools are the worst in the nation and it takes some doing to be worse than Washington, D.C. Only 3 percent of Detroit’s fourth-graders scored proficient on the most recent National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) test, sometimes called “The Nation’s Report Card.“ Twenty-eight percent scored basic and 69 percent below basic. “Below basic” is the NAEP category when students are unable to demonstrate even partial mastery of knowledge and skills fundamental for proficient work at their grade level. It’s the same story for Detroit’s eighth-graders. Four percent scored proficient, 18 percent basic and 77 percent below basic.

Journalists’ New Math and Lap Dancing
   MSM piece by Guest: Michael R. Shannon (1/1/10)

I was hoping my home publication would manage to avoid the madness, but unfortunately my it fell victim, too. I found the dreaded issue asking readers to pick the top ten stories of the decade on my driveway last week.