Category Archives: Political Commentary

Media Criticism, Political Commentary

“US Missed Chances To Act”

25 Comments

I stand second to none in my low opinion of the competence of the federal government, and particularly of DHS (and particularly of this DHS with its current secretary). So I’m not exactly surprised that there was apparently a lot more that could have been done to prevent the oil spill from spreading early on. But I also find it interesting that a government that is clearly opposed (despite lip service) to serious proposals for off-shore drilling accidentally on purpose took an action, or inaction, that is going to make such proposals now politically difficult, if not impossible.

I don’t think that George Bush and Karl Rove steered Katrina into New Orleans and blew up the levies and then sat on their hands for days because they hate black people, though exactly those kinds of ridiculous charges were flung around (and I’m sure there are still many people who believe them). But while not necessarily endorsing the theory, I don’t find it completely implausible that the administration may have taken actions that may have been viewed as potentially politically convenient because it hates fossil fuels (particularly cheap ones) and oil rigs. If one wanted to go all black helicopter, one could even postulate sabotage. But as usual, incompetence remains the most likely explanation. I don’t think that this administration could get it together to pull something like that off, though it would be easier than steering hurricanes.

And like Glenn, I’m a little surprised that the Gray Lady has jumped on this, and not buried or ignored it. I think that the honeymoon might be over, and if so, it doesn’t portend well for the White House either this election cycle or next.

[Update a few minutes later]

A time line of presidential delay.

Economics, Political Commentary

At Some Point…

16 Comments

…you have grabbed enough power:

The Founders of the United States were deep students of politics and history, and they shared Aristotle’s concern. Up through their time, history had shown all known democracies to be “incompatible with personal security or the rights of property.” James Madison and others held that the “first object of government” was to protect the rights of property. Numerous provisions of the Constitution and Bill of Rights were incorporated to protect the property rights of citizens from the power of the government.

Whatever else might be said about him, President Obama operates on a different philosophy of government from that of the Founders. As Michelle Malkin observes, he spoke the most revealing and clarifying 10 words of his administration this week: “I think at some point you have made enough money.”

The Founders thought that at some point the government had enough power. Obama, however, is a devout believer in unlimited government. The common denominator among so-called health care reform and financial regulatory reform as well as Obama’s other big proposals is the augmented power they confer on the government in general and the executive branch in particular.

But don’t call him a socialist.

Political Commentary, War Commentary

Not United Nations

12 Comments

It’s a club of thugs, that long ago outlived its usefulness:

We are reminded once more of the truth that Solzhenitsyn uttered many years ago: The U.N. is not the united nations but the united governments or regimes. And that body at large is no better than the governments or regimes that compose it. And, though the world has gone far in democratization, there are still many regimes that are as savage as can be imagined. And they sit on such panels as human- and women’s-rights commissions. You know? Understandable — but still, as I said, hard to swallow.

We need to set up something else, with some minimum entry requirements.

Business, Economics, Political Commentary

The Entrepreneur

43 Comments

…and the minimum wage.

It’s a shame that we have economic ignorami running the country. What’s particularly stupid about a federal minimum wage is that it’s one-size-fits-all in a country with a wide disparity of living costs. And the degree to which it keeps the young and unskilled from reaching even the first rung of the career ladder is criminal, and a major reason that unemployment is so high among young people in the inner city. But they keep voting these morons in.