American Madness

Thanks to Jason Ihle for pointing us to this site: Stuff white people like.

I think, to be specific, the site’s founders are referring (based on their posts) to stuff that college educated liberal coastal-dwelling American white people like. Not just people of pale complexion globally.

Surely the Irish (for instance) would not take kindly to being so typecast just because of their skin color.

Some of their points are really dumb, but some like #62: “Knowing what’s best for poor people” hit close to home:
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After American Madness’ veer to the left yesterday, I felt a little rebalancing was in order. As the only registered Republican on the masthead (I believe), it’s nice to see how the other side is thinking. Believe it or not, when I’m not thinking about money (GREED!), and corporations, and my investments, and war, and guns and not believing in luck, and the best way to pull on my bootstraps, I like to read. I even read the New York Times sometimes, even though my vast right wing masters at Fox News say I shouldn’t. And we all know I only do what I’m told by Fox News.

Today, I read in the Financial Times that Canada is pissed off at us because a couple of Democratic gas bags believe populism and protectionism is the surest path to economic glory. Based on the loud rhetoric, trade has taken jobs from hard working Americans (read: Ohioans) and given them to not-so-hardworking foreigners. The biggest target of their wrath is the evil North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). You know, the free trade agreement signed between Mexico, the US and Canada by one head of the Billary duo.

Both Clinton and Obama have vowed to revisit and renegotiate NAFTA once the drape measuring is done and they assume their seat on the Oval Office throne. Obama has said he “would immediately call the president of Mexico and the president of Canada (hey Barack: Canada doesn’t have a president, it has a prime minister) to try and amend NAFTA, because I think that we can get labor agreements in that agreement right now.”

And to think, he is the level-headed one. “We will opt out of NAFTA unless we renegotiate it and we renegotiate on terms favorable to all Americans,” sayeth Clinton. (more…)

Last week, I accidentally spelled NYTimes book critic Michiko Kakutani’s name as “Michiko Kukutani” and became the second-highest ranked search on Google for that particular misspelling of her name.

As a result, I am interested to see what happens when I misspell Britney Speers and Jamie Lynn Speers.

This is an old strategy, but let’s see how it does. Just as an experiment. I don’t really want too many fake hits, as I’m not sure how much interest AmericanMadness will hold for people who are searching for Britney Spears and her sister.

However, we ARE called American Madness (not American Saneness) and I can think of few trends less sane in popular American culture that the popularity of Britney Spears. There are 81 million web pages devoted to her name on Google.

By contrast, Warren Buffet is referenced in only 826,000 pages. Amazing.

From energy guru Peter Fusaro:

In fact, it can be argued that the major oil companies are now in a liquidation phase of their existence. Their reserves-to-production ratio is declining, and they are now beginning to peak as they now produce and monetize their depletable assets. Investment in a new energy future is not being pursued by many energy companies yet. I see the energy companies, therefore, as the buyers of the new clean energy technology, not the innovators producing them.

Read the article here.

This newest creative endeavor by Eric Skiff is a musical number written in 8 bits. Think Super Mario Brothers by way of Chemical Brothers.

A Night of Dizzy Spells

It’s quite the catchy tune!

A bit hokey in the execution, but funny reasoning.

The changes needed in this country are straightforward enough, but there are always partisan reasons to take an easy way out. There are always special interests that will fight against any challenge to the status quo. And there are always those who will worry more about their next election than the health of our country.

These forces that prevent meaningful progress are powerful, and they exist in both parties. I believe that the candidate who recognizes that the party is over — and begins enlisting all of us to clean up the mess — will be the winner this November, and will lead our country to a great and boundless future.

– Mayor Mike Bloomberg on his decision not to seek the Presidency.

I was an Objectivist through high school and for the first year of college. At that time I was a devoted follower of Buckley’s Firing Line and read the National Review regularly.

What struck me most about Bill Buckley was that he was passionate but restrained. He was never less than polite, no matter what his adversary was saying, and, I am informed, he was often friendly with people who shared none of his life views. And truly, his views were a life view.

Bill Buckley believed that the primary source of national growth and improvement was brought about by the fulfillment of the individual and not with any societal concern with doing anything to improve the condition of the less capable or less fortunate. I believe now that those who follow his way of thinking fail to recognize the role of luck and fate in life. They believe that achievement is strictly the result of hard work, with nothing else necessary.

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[ This opinion piece appeared in the Wall Street Journal on February 20. It is reprinted here with the permission of author Betsy McCaughey Ross, a former lieutenant governor of New York, currently serving as an adjunct senior fellow at the Hudson Institute (the original "think tank"). ]

On March 4, voters in the Texas Democratic primary will choose between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The battle is shaping up to be a health-care Alamo. Twenty five percent of people living in the Lone Star state are uninsured, according to the U.S. Census. That’s the highest rate of any state.

Sen. Clinton has issued the challenge, telling Sen. Obama “I’ll see you in Texas.” She promises to provide health coverage for “every single one of the nation’s 47 million uninsured,” and she accuses Sen. Obama of offering a “band aid” solution that would leave about a third of those 47 million uncovered.

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I hear that the Justice Department is conducting an investigation of the lawyers who justified waterboarding for the Bush Administration in the bad old days following 9/11. I have a suggestion about why it is being done now.

First let us turn to the Cinema. There is an interesting scene in the last part of The Maltese Falcon, in which the conspirators meet in the detectives apartment. They need a fall guy to ward off a later investigation.

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