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December 17, 2007A late-to-the-dance roundupA few stories and posts from around the “internets” that you might not have seen - I hadn’t until now… Clarissa Feldman picks up on E.J. Dionne contradicting himself in a partisan manner. Krugman has been caught, too. Oh, Naaaancy! You got some s’plainin’ to do: The Most Ethical Congress In History: 10,000 Earmarks in 2007, Up From 2,658 Last Year! Iraq: The Best Story of ‘07. Perhaps that should read, “the Best Story You Didn’t Hear in ‘07.” The economy could be the second-best story you haven’t heard. Although that appears not to be so, for the folks in Michigan. On the “man-made” global warming is still hoo-ha front: Norway finds Kyoto unworkable and tries to sneak around it. Another big-carbon-using ‘true believer’. And another reason why I distrust these folks. I’ve always believed this: an ideology that decides it must compel you because it cannot convince you is an ideology to be strenuously resisted. And one that is designed to decrease human liberty, is to be mocked. And one that is incompatible with human life is poison to be kept far away from those it can harm. Bill Clinton has spent the last 7 years traveling all over the world, glad-handing and collecting money. How can Hillary ever come out from under all the people the Clintons are beholden to or who conflict their interest? Why isn’t the press more interested in that question? I didn’t see the red-face, trembling hands episode of Charlie Rose, but I wonder what Mr. Clinton would look like if someone asked him some hard questions about his CGI investors, his library donors…that story - the foreign library donors story - died very quickly, didn’t it? It is one of those stillbirth stories that died on delivery and was buried in the next news cycle…both times! Now that’s another very interesting question: Why is Bill Clinton so reluctant to tell us who his friends are? Don’t we have a right to know who may be influencing the next president? Speaking of questions, John Hawkins has 14 of them for Hillary. Kryptonite? My gut says that this sort of smarmy backhanded charge is only going to disgust people tired of the “scorched earth” campaigns. Gateway Pundit does not have high hopes for Hillary’s Likeability project. More here. Fausta says:
Well…really…it’s been 35 years to hear them tell it. Instapundit ought to join forces with an illustrator, maybe Chris Muir, and publish an illustrated illustration of just how projectory are many of the paranoid warnings about George W. Bush. Or…just go here. Unsealed Nazi Documents remind us of the scourge and evil of fascism. And there there are Saddam’s docs. Roger L. Simon looks at the fear of religion that masks itself. Classical Values expounds. Michael Barone notes a taxing problem. Bush WH must detail visits by Christian leaders? I don’t remember, did Clinton have to do that when Jesse Jackson visited? Mickey Kaus gets us warmed up for spin, distortion and voter fraud in the ‘08 primaries. I’m nauseous just thinking about it. Good parenting from a celibate. And another celibate. Ministering to someone who wants to mug you. Ed Driscoll says: They don’t make films like this anymore, in a great piece. Dirty Harry also notices that a bit of regulation made better movies. Perhaps because we filmmakers had to find ways around the restrictions and that allowed us to use our imaginations? As Harry says:
I say, the latter! I’m glad these two are writing about the deplorable state of film. I can’t remember the last time I went to a movie and loved it. And…Christmas isn’t supposed to be like this. But we can identify, right? These last two links via Five Feet of Fury. http://theanchoressonline.com/2007/12/17/a-late-to-the-dance-roundup/trackback/ 6 Responses to “A late-to-the-dance roundup” |
December 17th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
[...] A late-to-the-dance roundup [...]
December 18th, 2007 at 11:55 am
When I packed up the moving truck and pulled out onto the highway out of Ann Arbor, Michigan, I put on Springsteen’s Thunder Road precisely for the last line — “It’s a town full of losers, and I’m pulling out of here to win.”
Michigan, which should be a wonderland, is instead a near hell-hole, and it has been for quite some time. Detroit sank into the abyss, never to return, 40 years ago, when they committed societal suicide with the 1967 riots. And the rest of the state has been mired in economic distress ever since.
Part of the problem was Governor George Brainwashed Romney and other “moderate” Republicans who latched onto Michigan’s way of economics — socialism and quasi-socialism — which has led all-too-many people to be dependent and always expect and demand that “someone else” provide for them. What post-Katrina New Orleans has experienced has been a way of life for Michigan for more than 40 years.
The economy-in-the-toilet of Michigan is what you get when you combine the socialism of welfare handouts with the quasi-socialism and outright Marxism of across-the-board unionization. Unions have destroyed the auto industry and made the public schools little more than day-care centers, that is, when the teachers are not on strike, which is a yearly occurance in Michigan.
Let the nation be warned.
December 18th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Oh, I forgot to add in the race-baiting for leading to Michigan’s demise (including in those “enlightened” areas like Ann Arbor, which, if not racist, is certainly racialist, like most liberal elites) — 40 years of one side blaming the White Man for all the problems of the world, and the other side blaming Blacks for all the problems (again, all part of the “someone else is responsible” mentality), and you have a completely disfunctional society.
Thankfully, especially in this season, we still have Hope. Perhaps not hope of a man-made heaven on earth, much less Michigan, but, when this world has passed away, the ultimate hope of the One who makes all things new.
December 18th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Bender, if your main experience of Michigan was U-M, then I pity you. It would certainly explain your view that “all-too-many people … always expect and demand that ’someone else’ provide for them. What post-Katrina New Orleans has experienced has been a way of life for Michigan for more than 40 years.”
The poor work ethic you’re citing isn’t exclusive to Michigan, as I’ve seen it in several people with whom I’ve worked. It may be a generational trait or a social status trait. I’ve seen many children of so-called “shop rats” who worked in factories, children who grew up expecting to be as well-off as their parents without having to work for it. But you find the same mentality from some inheritors of family businesses. They’re a far cry from the jobbers working for lumber companies or farmers, who expect nothing from Her Jenniferness (and usually get it, plus more taxes). Laziness wasn’t rewarded where I grew up (central lower peninsula) nor where I live now (the Thumb).
Incidentally, I never attended a school in which there was a strike, not as a child and not as an adult. The only suggestion of it was attending U-M when there was a fuss because of a new requirement that (gasp!) professors and teaching assistants had to pass an English test that included speaking and listening skills. But that didn’t pan out as a strike. So which school district are you talking about? (Incidentally, my school district’s teachers have taken cuts three times in the past 10 years and at least one pay freeze. So maybe it’s just your area?)
What I DO find hilarious is the number of Michiganians with whom I went to school (in high school or college) who have done VERY well in other states. One of my classmates was head-hunted for teaching jobs in the South. She took the one that offered moving expenses, hotel expenses for several weeks, and yearly bonuses. She’s getting paid better than a union job in Michigan. Another classmate is head of her department and is flown to conferences at the school’s expense - not something she experienced in Michigan. Best of all for both of them - their states’ tests are fairly easy, not like having to prepare all their students for the ACT (which Michigan uses as the test for high school students).
Personally, I think you can find the worst in any state if you look. One of my cousins went from tending bar to managing several hotels in just a few years, even without a college education; she commented that she was shocked by how poorly-read and lazy her co-workers and neighbours are in her area of Texas, even those with college degrees. That doesn’t mean that all Texans are uneducated and lazy; she just has more drive and common sense than other people hired by her company.
December 18th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Jean –
I grew up in Ann Arbor, went to U of M for a year, hated it with a passion, dropped out, went to EMU, lived in Ann Arbor and in-between there and Ypsilanti, before graduating and getting the hell out of there.
I remember each year reading about this Detroit-area school and that Detroit-area school striking or threatening to strike, as well as Ypsi and AA schools threatening (I’m not sure if they ever did).
Every now and then I’ll go read the Detroit News or Free Press on-line, and read about what a disaster that place has become. Sky-high unemployment, long-past decayed infrastructure, increasing taxes, people leaving in droves, clueless politicians (Kathleen Blanco and Ray Nagin would fit right in), and bad attitudes all around. For anyone looking to start/expand a business, Michigan would be the last place to consider.
Other than family, the only thing Michigan has going for it are the sports teams (that and there is usually a white Christmas, unlike here in Northern Virginia where we have a brown Christmas more often than not).
December 19th, 2007 at 8:29 am
Bender, I understand now. I attended U-M for undergraduate and some of my grad studies. It was like another world. I remember in particular the students from upperclass backgrounds who saw saviours of the lower classes, even though they treated their bluecollar classmates as inferior. They’d talk about tax-funded programs for the disadvantaged and “disenfranchised” over lunch, then stiff the waitress who was working two sections by herself. (Ann Arbor consistently was ranked lowest in tipping among college towns.)
Ann Arbor and Ypsi aren’t like the rest of Michigan. I recall that a group of EMU college students decided to assault the officer who dropped by to tell them to lower their music - that was in ‘91. Not to mention all the “game riots” in Ann Arbor, Ypsi and Detroit. That’s not something you’d see in Big Rapids or Marquette.
Our family used to read the News and occasionally the Freep. If that’s what you’re basing your assessment of Michigan on, then I suggest you start reading the Port Huron and Grand Rapids papers. Or better yet, the Toledo Blade - which will convince you that Ohio is a cesspool of administrative incompetence, decrepit school buildings, and bad spelling. Or the Miami and South Beach papers, which will convince you that you’ll going to get robbed and killed on your next Florida vacation.
Anyway, I’m sorry you’ve such bad memories of Michigan. I still think it’s a good place with decent people.