Quickies

A round-up of news items, columns and blog posts that caught our eye over this past week.




From Mickey Kaus's Newsweek blog regarding the bull in GM's bullishness:

Money managers say it is common for analysts who work for an IPO's underwriters to issue upbeat reports, in spite of reforms adopted in 2003 that were meant to bolster analysts' objectivity. "I would be astounded if they were anything but bullish," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at the Harris Bank unit of BMO Financial Group, which didn't underwrite the IPO or buy shares in it.

He adds:

P.P.S.: One additional risk for GM investors not mentioned by the WSJ: GM is very China-dependent. A third of its worldwide production is in China. If the Chinese market crashes, GM is in trouble ... On the other hand, GM is already starting to export Chinese-built cars. How soon before a China-built Buick comes to the U.S.? Don't tell Michael Moore ...

We know it's somewhat old news but...

The Obama administration has taken the extraordinary step of authorizing the targeted killing of an American citizen, the radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is believed to have shifted from encouraging attacks on the United States to directly participating in them, intelligence and counterterrorism officials said Tuesday.

... what's with the collective shoulder-shrugging in this apparent chucking of due process?

Meanwhile, our blog-buddy Harrison has more on predator drones, civilian deaths and double-standards, here. Hey, it's all a big joke, right?

Jonas Brothers are here, they’re out there somewhere. Sasha and Malia are huge fans, but boys, don’t get any ideas. Two words for you: predator drones. You will never see it coming. You think I’m joking?

ObamaCare by the numbers...

700: the number of references to the secretary "shall".

200: the number of references to the secretary "may".

139: the number of references to the secretary "determines".

As we now know, they left out an awful lot of definitive verbage in order to get this thing passed. And now there will be many, many rules and regulations left completely to the whim of a single person. Skeptical that this is the model of performance for a constitutional republic.



Michaeal Barone on the current defacto truce in the culture wars here in America:

Our politics in the years from 1995 to 2005 or so was like a culture war between two approximately equal-sized armies fighting it out over small bits of terrain that made the difference between victory and defeat. In that context, abortion and other cultural issues were litmus tests in the contests for both parties' presidential nominations.

I don't think that's likely to be the case in the future. You don't hear potential contenders for the 2012 Republican nomination talking about cultural issues very much. And the intramural arguments among Democrats are over things like tax cuts for the rich and the public option in the health care bill.

Even as economics is overshadowing all else, we seem to have reached a truce in the culture wars because important issues have been settled as a practical matter.

Newsweek on the history and tyranny of public debt.

Blame the Italian city-states!




Leslie at Temple of Mut has a list of 2011 Tea Party Democrat resolutions, here.



And finally, New York Times columnist somehow manages to shoehorn in George W. Bush and Sarah Palin into a feature about how we are or are not a bunch of wussies because of a postponed game or something.