Entirely self-less link of the day

We have a natural Protestant aversion to self-aggrandizement so when one of our favorite bloggers confessed to a form of "post-blockage" due to over-analysis and navel-gazing, we encouraged this person that his mind was agile enough for self-editing on the fly and that he should just let'er rip. And so he has... not that we're looking to take credit or anything.

In somewhat related news, B-Daddy reminds us that while Sarah Palin remains a compelling figure, it is Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, who is the most important politician in America.

For years, that Reagan/Goldwater sagebrush brand of conservatism has been the passion and the ideological fuel for much of the movement, so it's nice to see some of our Northeastern (R)-brethren get into the act... and then some.

By the numbers

35% to 39.6% - the rise in the top income tax rate beginning Jan. 1, 2011.

15% to 39.6% - the rise in the highest federal dividend tax rate beginning Jan. 1.

15% to 20% - the rise in the capital gains tax rate beginning Jan. 1.

0% to 55% - the rise in the estate (or death) tax rate beginning Jan. 1.




Arthur Laffer, writing for the Wall St. Journal argues that some of the encouraging signs we are seeing in the economy are illusory as people and businesses are simply making rational decisions to shift income and production into this year and away from next year when the aforementioned tax rates shoot up.

Laffer makes the case that the Reagan tax cuts are the mirror opposite of the Obama economic plan. In '81, Reagan got his first series of tax cuts passed but because they didn't take effect until Jan. 1, 1983, the economy fell into recession as people deferred economic activity until the clock struck midnight on 1982. In 1983, the economy exploded in growth after 5 quarters of negative or minimal GDP growth.

Also, the prospect of rising prices, higher interest rates and more regulations next year will further entice demand and supply to be shifted from 2011 into 2010. In my view, this shift of income and demand is a major reason that the economy in 2010 has appeared as strong as it has. When we pass the tax boundary of Jan. 1, 2011, my best guess is that the train goes off the tracks and we get our worst nightmare of a severe "double dip" recession.

Awesome.

We've been biting our tongue now for a while because we do not want to seem pessimistic and/or betting against Ameica but with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts combined with the excessive regulatory regime that has been enacted already and that which is pending, we just don't see any way around double-dipping.

It's a damn shame and it just doesn't need to be this way.

Confirmed: Beer Goggles

At long last...

Scientists have finally proven what many of us have believed for years – beer goggles really do exist.

The phenomenon, where less attractive people suddenly become more appealing when the onlooker has consumed copious amounts of alcohol, is well known in pubs and clubs across Britain.
(ed.: it ain't just Britain there, champ)

Until now, though, no one really knew why. But a new study has found that drunk students were up to ten per cent more likely to fall for less attractive people than those who were sober.

The report showed the more they drank, the less likely they were to recognise the finer details on people’s face

And of course, from the comment section:

"vodka goggles exist too, beleive it"



I was drunk when I met the wife, and this would explain why I've needed to drink every day since we met.

Harry Monk, Dartford, 06/6/2010 08:23

Pretty disrespectful comment in my opinion, if you really think like that about your wife, chances are she's getting the good attention elsewhere.
- stacey, wales, 6/6/2010 10:16



"It works both ways, ugly men become attractive, I don't see the bald head, and protruding stomach and the look of desperation! But now I've given up the drink I can be more choosy!"

"Human race would have died out years ago without beer."

And on it goes.

Elton John gets $1 million dollars for playing at Rush's wedding...

... and all Paul McCartney gets is a crappy little plaque.

It's all about who you run with, Sir Paul.

But back to Elton and El Rushbo. Because of the spirit of open minds and free markets, this isn't the cats-and-dogs-living-together scenario you would think.

Left Coast Rebel has more, here.

The unwitting service of Helen Thomas

In one fell swoop, Helen Thomas reminds us that it isn't about the settlements, it isn't about blockades, it isn't about the Israelis' treatment of Palestinians and it sure isn't about this quaint notion of a two-state solution which will allegedly bring peace to the Middle East. This is all about Israel in its most existential sense. It has never been nor will it ever be anything else for the domestic and international anti-Israeli left but what they perceive as the illegitimacy of the Israeli state.

We ought to thank Ms. Thomas for clearing up the misconceptions that have clouded the Middle East peace process for years now.

And we can't help but think that some of the outrageous outrage is due to the fact that Thomas "outed" many of those sympathetic to the Palestinian cause with her remarks.

Also, given the fact that anti-Israel and anti-semitism have gone more mainstream over the years, we're actually somewhat shocked over the backlash against Thomas.

The end of the world as we know it?

"I know the war drums are beating. This is way beyond gossip."

That from an anonymous Texas political figure on the massive athletic conference realignment that could start going down as early as this week.

The Big 12 has given Nebraska and Missouri until Friday to state their intentions of staying with that conference or bolting to the Big 10. If Nebraska and Mizzou do indeed bolt that will pretty much spell the end of the Big 12 as the Pac 10 will extend invites to Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado. Colorado may get bumped in favor of Baylor if Texas state political pressure holds sway. The Pac 10 will probably pursue those six teams regardless but the dominoes start falling far easier if Nebraska and Missouri go to the Big 10.

The irony that no one is talking about is that the biggest winner in all this, potentially, will be the Pac 10 which for years has been a thorn in the side of the BCS, refusing to let the Rose Bowl, until just a few years ago, be a BCS bowl game and resisting the conference expansion/realigning trend over the last 16 years. The Pac 10 has been in its current form since 1978 when they added Arizona and Arizona St. No other conference can come close to making this claim.

But perhaps it's not so ironic as the stability of the Pac 10 over the years set itself up to bargain from a position of strength. Running the length of the west coast and extending slightly into the desert southwest, the conference has near perfect symmetry (2 schools in each state except California which has 4 - 2 in the northern California and 2 in the southern California). Now, the Pac-10 is poised to raid teams from another conference that itself is a combination of universities from the old Southwest Conference and the old Big 8.

Alas, we don't think this bodes well for college football. At least, it doesn't bode well for our ideal of college football. College football is about tradition, traditional rivalries and geographic differences that are defined by conference affiliations. That may all go out the window by the time the week ends.

In the Midwest, we don't have damp, blustery fall days: We have Big Ten weather. We don't have mammoth land-grant universities: We have Big Ten schools. You may insult our climate, our politicians or our Miss America contestants, but not the Big Ten.

New Englanders know where New England starts and ends. Southerners have been sticking together since before the Civil War. The residents of Seattle and the people of San Diego all have the Pacific Ocean in common.

But the Midwest is harder to define. Midwesterners have a vague sense of it, which is reflected in, and validated by, the historic reach of the Big Ten.

(it should be noted that the Big 10 is potentially going after Pittsburgh and Rutgers among others, as well.)

College ball doesn't hold much sway here in San Diego but do not be mistaken, this is a big deal. In pursuit of the almighty television dollar, the landscape of college football will literally be radically altered and not for the betterment of your typical college football fan.

The psychology of this is odd as well. Two legendary football programs in Texas and Oklahoma are joining an oft-mistakenly derided football conference in the Pac 10. And forget the geographic illogic, can you imagine a Longhorn fan learning that he is about to be sharing coference affiliation with Cal-Berkeley. Besides, he is probably saying aloud, "Hell, we're Texas. We do the inviting around here!"

For obviously selfish reasons, we hope Nebraska and Missouri stay put and that the Pac 10's courting of the aforementioned 6 teams of the Big 12 proves fruitless. There is much to be said for maintaining some degree of geographic stability in this nation's amateur pastime.

bye

Since the following is a result of finding out how awesome ObamaCare is after passage of said legislation, this certainly qualifies for Nancy's Nuances: a journey of discovery.

The hotly debated healthcare reform bill signed into law in March has killed a local insurance company.

At least that’s according to a brief letter Richmond-based nHealth sent to insurance agents explaining the reason behind the shuttering of the once promising local startup.

“I wanted to share with you the decision by nHealth’s board of directors to exit the health insurance market,” wrote James Slabaugh, executive vice president of the Richmond-based insurance company that employed about 50 people. (Many of those were at an office in Ohio).

The letter, obtained by BizSense, was sent June 2 to nHealth insurance agents. (You can read it here).
The letter explained that “considerable uncertainties” in the health insurance market caused by the recent federal healthcare legislation made the two year-old company’s business model unsustainable.

“Despite a product that was gaining increasing acceptance among companies throughout the Commonwealth, the uncertainties in the regulatory climate coupled with new demands imposed by national healthcare reforms have made it challenging to sustain the level of sales required to remain viable over the long run,” Slabaugh said in the letter.

According to nHealth CEO Paul Kitchen and Paul Nezi, one of the company’s original investors and former board members, regulatory changes the company believes are coming as a result of the legislation will require levels of capital beyond what nHealth’s business model can sustain.

Founded back in 2008, nHealth's model was high deductibles and utilization of health savings plans. They were able to keep costs down by making customers more vested in their own healthcare decisions. In a world where the patient/doctor relationship is front and center, this is the model we advocate. Apparently, however, this model where one pays for one's own health care is too outside the norm to be competitive under the Obama regime.

Just as well, though. Probably just another greedy insurer looking to get over on its customers.

The Eric Holder hour of healing power

The miserable hack that runs the Justice Department was at it again last week:

Attorney General Eric Holder promised the Arab-American community on Friday that the Justice Department will vigorously prosecute hate crimes and he said an ongoing dialogue between law enforcement agencies and Arab-Americans is one of the Obama administration's top priorities.

"The era of 'us versus them' that some of you have experienced must end. At long last, it is ending," Holder told the 30th anniversary conference of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

We think it's safe to assume he was talking about the Bush years. You remember them, don't you? Those us vs. them days, where our Commander-in-Chief was tripping over himself making sure everyone knew Islam was the religion of peace. Remember all that hateful us vs. them rhetoric, now?

"At long last, it's ending."

What an incompetent fool.

Not so random thought of the day

Is it time to ditch Google and go with Bing?


Related: does stuff like this really matter?

Sarah sez

One in an occasional series to highlight some of the zany and madcap things to be said by Sarah Palin.
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Coach Wooden (UPDATED)

We could not have been more than 7 or 8 years old and we were heaving a basketball at the rim bolted to the garage of the homestead in Placentia, California while Pops shagged the misses for us.

One of our hoists unintentionally banked off the backboard and through the hoop. Though inelegant, Pops thought we had immediately grasped one of the more fundamental aspects of close-range shooting and proclaimed, "Coach Wooden would approve."

Like a bolt of lightning to our young mind that affirmation by proxy from the legendary coach of the UCLA Bruins was.
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One of the enduring ironies if you are familiar with the Los Angeles sports scene is this: for a culture that is so temporal and is entirely about "the next big thing", trendiness and glamour and which lacks substance of any kind, the three most iconic sports figures, Vin Scully, Chick Hearn and John Wooden were men of faith and family and who plied their respective trades for decades and who did it in a gracious and humble fashion in a land around them where grace and humility are considered completely foreign terms.

Coach Wooden passed away last night at the age of 99.

R.I.P., Coach





(UPDATE #1): When you go to people that speak of John Wooden, your first stop is one of his former players, Bill Walton:

“John Wooden represents the conquest of substance over hype, the triumph of achievement over erratic flailing, the conquest of discipline over gambling, and the triumph of executing an organized plan over hoping that you’ll be lucky, hot or in the zone.

“John Wooden also represents the conquest of sacrifice, hard work and commitment to achievement over the pipe dream that someone will just give you something, or that you can take a pill or turn a key to get what you want.

“The joy and happiness in Coach Wooden’s life came from the success and accomplishments of others. He never let us forget what he learned from his two favorite teachers, Abraham Lincoln and Mother Theresa, “that a life not lived for others is not a life.”

“I thank John Wooden every day for all his selfless gifts, his lessons, his time, his vision and especially his faith and patience. This is why our eternal love for him will never fade away. This is why we call him ‘Coach.’”