No, This Is Retarded

retarded : adjective : slow or limited in intellectual or emotional development

– Merriam-Webster’s Medical Dictionary

So, Rahm Emanuel call a group of White House aides and liberal operatives “retarded” when they were planning to air ads attacking conservative Democrats who were balking at Mr. Obama’s health-care overhaul.  Sounds pretty accurate to me.  Only someone who was “slow or limited in intellectual or emotional development” would think that it was a good idea to attack members of one’s own party on the morning after a colossal slap down.

Now, Sara Palin goes all Jesse Jackson on his ass and insists that Emanuel resign.  What happened to all Palin’s threats of “less politically correct twitters“?

Just one more reminder that Democrats and Republicans are different sides of the same coin.  Both want to spend our money and control our lives.  They just have different plans of attack.

I bet most persons with intellectual disabilities couldn’t care less how Emanual describes the idiots* he has working for him.  Maybe that’s a lesson for the rest of us.

(* Oops, I probably shouldn’t use that word either – idiot : noun : a mentally retarded person having a mental age not exceeding three years and requiring complete custodial care.)

 

Obama on Special Interests — “You keep using that word . . .”

We need to stand up to the special interests, bring Republicans and Democrats together, and pass the farm bill immediately.

Barak Obama

This quote has already been posted by much greater bloggers than I (here, here and here, for example), but it is just such a great example of double-speak. I couldn’t pass it up.

 

“Fear the Boom and Bust” a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem

Brilliant econ-geekiness.

Brought to you by John Papola and George Mason’s Russ Roberts.  If you don’t listen to Roberts’ podcast or read his blog, you should start.

 

Audi on the Chevy Volt Hybrid

No one is going to pay a $15,000 premium for a car that competes with a Corolla. So there are not enough idiots who will buy it.

– Audi of America president Johan de Nysschen speculating on the success potential of GM’s Volt hybrid-electric car, as quoted in Car & Driver (Jan. 2010).

I don’t know what de Nysschen is on about. It’s only a 19 year return on investment. I could probably break even by the time the crown prince finishes college.

 

Why don’t you just paint a target?

If you’re a sports merchandise vendor and you’re sidling up to that line where you might be using a celebrity’s likeness without his permission, DO NOT send him a letter claiming that he is creating  “likelihood of confusion” with your products.

After O’Neal was traded to the Phoenix Suns in February 2008, he was dubbed by fans as “The Big Shaqtus.”

Soon thereafter, Mine O’Mine says defendant Michael Calmese with True Fan Logo Inc. registered shaqtus.com and began operating an online store selling items featuring “an animated character in the form of a cactus with the facial features of O’Neal wearing an orange basketball jersey bearing the name Phoenix Shaqtus and the number 32.”

In 2008 and 2009, ESPN ran a commercial that featured O’Neal running into a cactus “bearing O’Neal’s face in the Arizona desert.”

Calmese sent a letter to ESPN, claiming that the ads created a “likelihood of confusion” with his products, and offered to jointly develop an animated “Shaqtusclaus” clip for Christmas.

. . .

In December 2009, Mine O’Mine sent a letter to Calmese demanding that he stop using the Shaqtus mark to sell merchandise on his Web site, and to transfer the shaqtus.net and shaqtus.com domain names over to it.

Offering to team up for a Christmas special won’t help.

But, my favorite part is . . .

Calmese responded Jan. 4, 2010, claiming that O’Neal consented to his use of the Shaqtus mark when O’Neal agreed to take a picture with Calmese and autograph a T-shirt.

I am reminded of Monty Python’s brilliant How Not To Be Seen.

 

Wear the Pants

Great new advertising campaign from Dockers.

 

Thinking about law school? Think carefully.

If you’re considering law school, maybe you should read this take from the folks over at Big Debt, Small Law along with all those glossy law school brochures.

Consider the typical, hapless TTT[*] law school grad: First she invested 100 K in a worthless undergrad degree like English Lit or Poli-Sci, then compounded this initial mistake by piling on 120 K or more in non-dischargeable law school loans, bought hook, line and sinker the materially fraudulent salary stats of her law school, endured the BarBri blather-thons, walked the hot coal hazing ritual of the bar’zam, and now finds herself coping with $1500 a month loan payments and a total lack of job opportunities.

I commented on the bimodal nature of lawyer salaries back in the good old days (2007), and I can guarantee you that the top salary hump has gotten a lot smaller in the intervening years.

Don’t get me wrong.  I still believe that the law is (or can be) an honorable profession and that the rule of law is an absolutely necessary condition for a free and prosperous society.  I’m just reminding everyone that there is no such thing as a free lunch, no matter what the admissions office says.  I cannot comprehend how a fourth tier school like Pace University can justify $39K a year in tuition.   How would you ever pay it back when good students from top tier schools are out of work?

However, my favorite quote from the diatribe is a side note about pro bono.

Thanks to a generation of propogandist “college for everyone” drivel, there’s an acute shortage of HVAC repair techs, plumbers, electricians, and other skilled tradesman. Don’t believe us? Call a plumber and a lawyer and see who can get there first. By the way, ask the plumber if he’s willing to install your faucets “pro bono” because you have no money. After all, running water is surely as important as your legal problems (and plumbers are VERY expensive), so just tell him he should do it for free in the public interest. Try the same thing with your auto mechanic, roofer, HVAC guy, and electrician. You’ll quickly find that only the “law” is so fixated on the merits of giving expensive professional services away to deadbeats for free. Here at Big Debt we’ve long argued against any and all pro bono work. Why? Because by so doing, one reinforces in the public’s mind that the service provided is worthless. This is especially true when rendering an “intangible” product like law, one that looks to a layperson like nothing more than a stack of very boring paperwork.

Justice should be free, right?

For context, a good CNC technician can make six figures without the bar dues and malpractice insurance, and no one ever asks them to give their work away for free.

(*Note: TTT stands for third tier toilet.)

 

Merry Christmas

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

– Isaiah 9:6

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

– Luke 2:8-11

And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!  For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God.

– Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, Doctrine and Covenants 76:22-24

 

Thanksgiving

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection. . . . And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions. . . .

– George Washington, 1789

It has been a difficult year in many ways, but I fear that we often lose sight of the fact that we live in what is, without doubt, the wealthiest society in the history of the world.  We have much for which to be grateful.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. . . . Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consiousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.

Thanksgiving Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln, delivered on November 28, 1861 during the Civil War.

(Thanks James for letting me plagiarize.)

 

C.S. Lewis on the State and the Individual

Again, Christianity asserts that every individual human being is going to live for ever, and this must be either true or false.  . . .  And immortality makes this other difference, which, by the by, has a connection with the difference between totalitarianism and democracy.  If individuals live only seventy years, then a state, or a nation, or a civilisation, which may last for a thousand years, is more important than an individual.  But if Christianity is true, then the individual is not only more important but incomparably more important, for he is everlasting and the life of the state or civilisation, compared with his, is only a moment.

– C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity 74-75