A Successful Life.

Human Felicity is produced not so much by great Pieces of good Fortune that seldom happen, as by little Advantages that occur every Day.

- Benjamin Franklin

The Bookbeat Tapes.

If you love listening to writers talk about their craft, then WOUB's "Wired for Books" site is for you. You'll find decades of interviews by Don Swaim with prominent authors. Fascinating talk!

The People Celebrate Great Dear Leader Hillary's Birthday!

Let great joy and happiness fill us all!

Ron Paul Revealed!

Some Pork in Every Pot, and Vice Versa.

Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has successfully spearheaded an effort to divert a million-dollar earmark that was to be directed to the Woodstock Hippie Museum, aka the Museum at Bethel Woods. The Hippie Museum's champion is billionaire Alan Gerry, who coincidentally has been giving dough to Hillary Clinton's presidential bid and Chuck Schumer's Senate campaign program - and who both earmarked the million for the museum. Of course, this time it's different. Quoth Hillary: ''[the museum will] continue to promote education, the arts, culture and tourism in the region.''

If this museum is such a great idea, why can't the private sector, i.e., Mr. Gerry, cut the check? If you believe in the need for federal support for the Woodstock Hippie Museum, then you'll salivate over NY Representative Charles Rangel's Charles Rangel Center for Public Service at City College of NY, a trifling two-million dollar earmark.

Freedom Attacked in Pakistan.

No, it's not caused by Musharraf's support of the US. The Islamofascists hate - hate - the message of freedom and moderation of Benizir Bhutto.

The Promise of Socialized Medicine.

Great Britain's National Health Service can't keep dentists in their system, and so...

Falling numbers of state dentists in England has led to some people taking extreme measures, including extracting their own teeth, according to a new study released Monday. Others have used superglue to stick crowns back on, rather than stumping up for private treatment, said the study. One person spoke of carrying out 14 separate extractions on himself with pliers...

Ah, brave new world.

Progress in Iraq.

One notices the lack of news on Iraq, other than the Blackwater situation. The WaPo editors have noticed, too:

NEWS COVERAGE and debate about Iraq during the past couple of weeks have centered on the alleged abuses of private security firms like Blackwater USA. Getting such firms into a legal regime is vital, as we've said. But meanwhile, some seemingly important facts about the main subject of discussion last month -- whether there has been a decrease in violence in Iraq -- have gotten relatively little attention. A congressional study and several news stories in September questioned reports by the U.S. military that casualties were down. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton(D-N.Y.), challenging the testimony of Gen. David H. Petraeus, asserted that "civilian deaths have risen" during this year's surge of American forces.

A month later, there isn't much room for such debate, at least about the latest figures. In September, Iraqi civilian deaths were down 52 percent from August and 77 percent from September 2006, according to the Web site icasualties.org. The Iraqi Health Ministry and the Associated Press reported similar results. U.S. soldiers killed in action numbered 43 -- down 43 percent from August and 64 percent from May, which had the highest monthly figure so far this year. The American combat death total was the lowest since July 2006 and was one of the five lowest monthly counts since the insurgency in Iraq took off in April 2004...

CNN has now picked up on this, too; Anderson Cooper 360 has reported on this, as well as the significant weakening of Al Queda in Iraq (as reported by the WaPo).

The Marines Face Down the Merry Pinksters.

Zombietime documents the recent Codepink theatrics in front of the Devildogs' office in Berkeley (Berkeley! Talk about PsyOps!). The office's officer in charge, Cpt. Richard Lund, responds eloquently to Codestink's rantin' n' ravin'. We particularly admire the posting of the Mill quote in the office window. Pour it on, boys!

Perhaps this is what infuriates the Hard Left most of all: back in the '60s the mainstream culture was just too polite and traditional to react to moonbat shock attacks. Now the conservative movement has its share of smart, hip, and better-read followers, and they give it right back to the Hard Left.

Homecoming 2007.

A great day: tailgating with fellows from the dorm floor in '76 (Fire Up, Van Tyne!), and then off to the game! (You can find more great Michigan songs at the UM Glee Club)

A Truly Golden Anniversary.

50 years ago today the Soviet Union launched the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite, Sputnik. The event changed human existence forever, joining a handful of other events in the 20th Century, such as the discovery of nuclear fisson, the invention of the transistor, and the description of DNA.

A Pinch of Reform.

Kudos to Governor Granholm for approving S418, which will reform MESSA. Now let's face the unpleasant fact that we're likely to face another shortfall for the 2008-2009 state budget. Will there be another round of tax hikes to shore it up?

Michiganders React to the Tax Hike.


But remember, we didn't give up when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.

The Reforms are in the Mail.

Yeah, right: Governor Granholm and Her Flying Democrats are pledging to now make the tough choices in cuts and reforms to save $440M. Well, a big one would be cleaning up the MESSA, the MEA-controlled organization that supervises teacher's health care. Michgan Senate Bill 418, which allows competitive bidding and more pooling for educator's medical insurance is now on the Governor's desk (delivered at 2:18 am this morning) for signing. She had all day to do so, with much fanfare for reform. But the Governor's office hasn't trumpeted its signing yet. Governor - sign S418 and demonstrate that your commitment to reform is genuine. But it means crossing the MEA, who have already launched their first salvos against it.

Granholm 1, Michigan 0.

It looks like Governor Granholm and her Flying Democrats will get most of their income tax increase (probably 4.35%), as well as a 6% service tax on such luxuries as carpet cleaning. In return the GOP will get...uh....well, its not quite clear if they'll get anything. The big ticket item for reform is opening competition up for teachers health care. Unfortunately teacher health care is currently provided by a monopoly affliated with the MEA, and they will not tolerate such a notion as competition. The other tremendous GOP victory will be stopping the Dems from getting the rate all the way back to 4.4%.

Remember this: when the good people of Michigan asked for the same sacrifice from its state government that it asked from their families, that government told them to go to Hell.

Pure Michigan Pork.

Detroit's WXYZ-TV has been exposing some pork-barrel spending by the Michigan government: a new $117M State Police HQ that the troopers did not request, but does benefit a Governor Granholm supporter with a no-bid contract, replacing a dollar-a-year lease on the present HQ campus. Recall that Jennie-G touted an end on no-bid contracts in the 2007 State of the State speech.

The Phony Crisis in Lansing.

The state government of Michigan is facing a "shutdown" of services, caused by the budget impasse. This is the total failure of vision and leadership by Governor Granholm. The state is caught in a confluence of economic torrents: the loss of both manufacturing and high-tech jobs (in a state considered to be one of the most hostile to business), the preciptous decline of home prices (one of the worst markets in the U.S.), and the loss of tourism dollars caused by higher fuel prices. In the midst of this mess the state government finds itself $1.7B short in its budget - less than 4% of the total. Yet the Governor cannot find the discipline to eliminate this excess spending and instead cynically creates a phony crisis that threatens a shutdown of state services that could hurt many citizens and ruin the state credit rating. She chooses politics and infantile theatrics over leadership - refusing to force the state government to provide services more efficiently, declaring that any attempt to do so is an attack on children, the elderly, and the poor. Instead she decides to cause high-profile inconvience by closing state services to all Michiganders. If we can't find a way to cut state spending in this kind of financial crisis and instead insist on raising income taxes, then God help us - the Leviathan has swallowed us up.

To State It Succinctly...

You don't invite to one's university a representative of a government that supplies men and arms that are killing your country's soldiers. It's immoral and irresponsible.

(Note Bene: the following fantasy satire has been superceded by the truth. Remarkable! Thanks to LGF)

Coming Soon to Speak at Columbia!

From a press release issued by the Columbia Press Office:

On August 1,1939, Columbia University's School for Public and International Affairs (SIPA) is sponsoring an appearance by Dr. Joeseph Goebbels, Germany's Reichminister for Propaganda and National Elightenment, to participate in a question and answer session with university faculty and students. SIPA is initiating a year-long series of lectures and events entitled "Germany: Six Years of National Socialism", which will include academic experts as well as officials and critics of the Third Reich.

The opportunity for faculty and students to engage Dr. Goebbels came about after German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop initated contact with Columbia through SIPA faculty members who are experts on German history and politics.

Columbia University President Nicholas Murray Butler emphasized that such events must allow ample time for students and faculty to pose questions that challenge the views expressed by the speakers. President Butler will introduce the event by challenging Dr. Goebbels on a number of his controversial statements and his government's policies, including his statements regarding undue Jewish influence in the Anglo-American democracies, and his call for the segregation and containment of the Jewish people in Europe. The US government has accused the German government of supporting violence and discrimination against Jews living in Germany, including last year's alleged wide-scale violence against German Jews (the so-called "Kristallnacht") and reports of imprisonment of Jews, intellectuals and political opponents.

President Butler further stated, "I would like to add a few comments on the principles that underlie this event. Columbia, as a community dedicated to learning and scholarship, is committed to confronting ideas—to understand the world as it is and as it might be. To fulfill this mission we must respect and defend the rights of our schools, our deans and our faculty to create programming for academic purposes. Necessarily, on occasion this will bring us into contact with beliefs many, most or even all of us will find offensive and even odious. We trust our community, including our students, to be fully capable of dealing with these occasions, through the powers of dialogue and reason."

After his appearance at Columbia, Dr. Goebbels will conclude his visit to the United States with a speech to the German-American Bund in Madison Square Garden on the night of August 2, 1939.

Cutting Michigan's Throat.

The Democrat-controlled Michigan House of Representatives, along with Democrat Governor Jennifer Granholm, are insisting on an 18% increase in the state income tax in order to close the $1.7B budget deficit by $1.1B. The State Senate, headed by Republican Mike Bishop, proposed a cuts-only solution that was DOA. The Senate may now retune this proposal with a mix of cuts and a smaller income tax hike.

The total Michigan state budget is $45.2B, so the $1.7B shortfall is about 3.8% of the total. Here is the breakdown of the 2006 budget:

• Education $14.7 (Billions)


• Health Services $10.0


• Human Services $4.4


• Transportation $3.2


• Police & Prisons $2.5


• Government $2.3


• Unemployment $2.0


• Lottery Admin $1.6


• Revenue Sharing $1.1


• Regulatory $0.9


• Tax Credits $0.9


• DNR & Ag $0.7


• Business Funds $0.6


• Debt Service $0.3

The standard histrionics have been employed by the Governor in resisting cuts in the budget in favor of higher taxes to "protect education". This is a red herring: cutting the budget does not have to take a single dollar that is actually delivered as a dollar of real value to education. The state government must become more efficient in delivering value to schools, and that means jettisoning irrelevant administrative overhead and educational programs of dubious worth. See if you can find a few at the state's education website.

Education should not take a disproportionate hit, only its share, which would be 35% of the total shortfall, or about $550M. It also may be true that inefficiency is even worse in other spending areas, but the education portion of the budget is so huge that it has to be part of the budget balancing equation. Businesses routinely face the challenge of cutting overhead while maintaining the ability to grow value. Why can't it be so for the state government?

But it is truly economic suicide to hike income and other taxes while the state reels from job losses and possesses a nation-leading unemployment rate.