Required Reading

Required Reading

Wretchard on philosopher kings. Not to be missed.

Update -
And, the basis for it.

Taliban commanders say Pakistan intelligence helps them

Taliban Commanders Say Pakistan Intelligence Helps Them

In a no-surprise non-story, Taliban commanders have revealed, in a BBC documentary, that ISI, the Pakistani intelligence agency, provides and has been providing safe haven and weapons to Taliban fighters who kill American troops and Afghan civilians. This item appears a few days after Afghan President Hamid Karzai stated that, in any war between America and Pakistan, Afghanistan would be on the same side as Pakistan.

We know well the Islamic disdain for life on this planet, but this speaks to a desire for the Taliban commanders and Karzai to reside with Allah in heaven sooner rather than later. They may well understand Obama's desire to empower the enemies of America, but it may be that Karzai has underestimated the propensity of the American electorate to take incompetent leaders and put them out of office. We can presume that Obama's replacement will have a different take on paying billions of dollars per year to our enemies.

It has been our experience that moslems desire death with far less enthusiasm than they claim in their public pronouncements, but this time their lives may be closer to their end than they realize.

Cult of Global Warming Is Losing Influence

Cult of Global Warming Is Losing Influence

Michael Barone writes it so much better than I could-

Religious faith is a source of strength in many people’s lives. But religious faith when taken too far can prove ludicrous — or disastrous.

On Oct. 22, 1844, thousand of Millerites, having sold all their possessions, climbed to the top of hills in Upstate New York to await the return of Jesus and the end of the world. They suffered “the great disappointment” when it didn’t happen.

In 1212, or so the legends go, thousands of Children’s Crusaders set off from France and Germany expecting the sea to part so they could march peaceably and convert Muslims in the Holy Land. It didn’t, and many were shipwrecked or sold into slavery.

In 1898, the cavalrymen of the Madhi, ruler of Sudan for 13 years, went into the Battle of Omdurman armed with swords, believing that they were impervious to bullets. They weren’t, and they were mowed down by British Maxim guns.

A similar but more peaceable fate is befalling believers in what I think can be called the religion of the global warming alarmists.

It goes on, and gets better. Read the whole thing.

No Wonder the U.S. Government is Broke

If you are one of the concerned citizens who get upset at the way our government wastes money in huge bunches, you may miss the fact that our government adds layers of cost and complexity on almost every single thing supposedly "free" citizens do. We are under a storm of government control that Stalin, Mao, and Hitler could only dream of. It is death by a thousand cuts. Not only is our legal system seriously broken, but the permanent regulatory state that has grown "like Topsy" adds controls over every aspect of our lives. As Conrad Black has said,

The country has nearly 48 million people with a criminal record; it has half the lawyers and a quarter of the incarcerated people in the world, and annual legal costs almost as large as the GDP of India. Congress is stuffed with second-rate lawyers who pass grandstanding laws that clutter the courts with what other serious jurisdictions would consider frivolous and vexatious litigation, and the benches are infested with unregenerate ex-prosecutors.

So today we read about a single point of "freedom" from regulation, over potatoes in school lunches (and breakfasts!) that the USDA dismisses as trivial because it only will cost We the People 6.5 billion dollars!

This may be only a pimple on the ass of the typhoid patient, but to me, it reveals a lot. From EdWeek:

Senate Seeks to Block Limits on Spuds in School Meals

Potatoes may remain plentiful on school lunch trays after all.
Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposedlimiting servings of spuds and other starchy vegetables in school breakfasts and lunches, a pair of potato-state senators succeeded in adding a rider Tuesday to the agency’s budget that would keep the USDA from spending money to enforce limits on any vegetable served at school.

The agriculture appropriations bill has to pass Congress before the amendment takes hold, but those promoting potatoes have already declared victory.

“This means USDA cannot proceed with a rule that would impose unnecessary and expensive new requirements affecting the servings of healthy vegetables, such as white potatoes, green peas, corn, and lima beans,” said U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, who has boasted of her roots in the state’s potato-growing region and her first job, which was on a potato farm.

Sen. Collins and Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, of Colorado, another of the 36 potato-growing-states in the country, have led the effort to undo the proposed restrictions.

In January, the USDA called for limiting starchy vegetables to one cup per week at lunch and banning them from breakfast. Although boiled down to a debate about potatoes, the proposal contains many other changes to school meals, including increasing the amount of whole grains, fruit, and green and orange vegetables served, reducing the amount of sodium in meals, cutting fat from milk, and reducing calories.

The limits on corn, lima beans, peas, and potatoes have drawn the most controversy, however. Ms. Collins and Mr. Udall said the potato, low in calories and high in fiber and potassium, was being maligned by the federal government.

Fried vs. Baked
The recommendations were based on guidelines proposed by the Institute of Medicine, a nonprofit that advises the federal government on health matters. It suggested a reduction in servings of potatoes and other starches because 29 percent of the vegetables children eat are potatoes, mostly as fries or chips.

A USDA study from the 2004-05 school year showed that elementary schools already met the one-cup-or-less proposal. Middle schools were close, and high schools exceeded it, on average, by less than half a cup.

Mr. Udall suggested the USDA consider regulating how vegetables are prepared rather than which vegetables are served. While the potato industry pointed out that most school cafeterias don’t have fryers and that even fries and tater tots in school meals are baked, the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based advocacy group, counters that many of those potatoes are fried, even if not at school.

“Though potatoes are a good source of fiber and potassium, the majority of potatoes served in schools are fried,” said Margo G. Wootan, the director of nutrition policy for the center. “And even ‘baked’ fries are usually fried in a factory before they get to school.”

She accused Congress of bowing to industry interests instead of watching out for children. “Some members of Congress showed that they are more interested in protecting business lobbyists than children’s health,” she said.

By advancing the amendment, the senators leapfrogged the traditional regulatory process. The USDA is still sifting through the 130,000 comments about its proposed meal rules. It’s possible the limits on potatoes will have been softened by the time the final rules are issued, likely later this year.
Because those rules haven’t been set, the USDA could comment little on the action in Congress. But the agency did defend its proposal.

“Our proposed rule will improve the health and nutrition of our children based on sound science recommended by the Institute of Medicine,” said Kevin Concannon, USDA’s undersecretary for food, nutrition, and consumer services, in a statement. “We will work with Congress to ensure that the intent of this rule is not undermined and that these historic improvements are allowed to move forward so that millions of kids across the nation will receive healthier meals.”

Opening the Door
But if the pro-potato set ultimately gets its way, the door could be opened for other interest groups to push their wishes on the proposed USDA rules. For a time during the ongoing debate in the Senate over the agriculture appropriations bill, for example, there was talk of offering an amendment requiring that small amounts of tomato paste be counted as a vegetable. That raised echoes of a controversial proposal during the Reagan administration to count ketchup as a vegetable.

While Ms. Wootan and others opposed the Senate amendment, they say it’s preferable to a House proposal that would require the USDA to start the meal-regulation process over entirely. The USDA offered its changes as directed by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which Sens. Collins and Udall voted for last December.

Potato advocates seized on the cost of implementing those changes—projected to be $6.8 billion over several years—as another reason to allow inexpensive spuds to appear in unlimited quantities in school meals.

But those costs would be more than covered by required increases in the price of lunch for students who pay full price, a bigger reimbursement from the federal government for all meals served that meet the new requirements, and pricing a la carte and vending-machine items at amounts that cover their costs rather than prices that reflect subsidizing from the federal school lunch and breakfast programs.

“The Senate amendment will result in taxpayers spending billions of dollars more on school lunches that are less healthy than they should be and that will continue to contribute to the multibillion dollar obesity crisis in America,” said Chris Fitzgerald, a spokesman for Rep. Jared Polis.
Mr. Polis, a Democrat from Colorado, supports limits on potatoes.

Murders, Rapes, Falling Bridges and Phantom Jobs

Murders, Rapes, Falling Bridges and Phantom Jobs

David Limbaugh comments on Joe Biden's threat, that rape and murder would rise if congress had the temerity to fail to pass Obama's new slush fund plan.

Former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel famously said that "you never want a serious crisis to go to waste," but Obama has taken the maxim to a new level. The enhanced version is: "When all else fails to convince the electorate, fabricate a phony crisis, and fuel it with fear based on lies. Then re-present your proposal as the only antidote."

Read the whole thing.

Obama: GOP Wants "Dirtier Air, Dirtier Water, Less People With Health Insurance"

Obama: GOP Wants "Dirtier Air, Dirtier Water, Less People With Health Insurance"

The Obama Economic Record

The Obama Economic Record