Currently viewing the tag: “Better”
Fifty years ago, Africa was more and Europe and America were rich, and over the past fifty years per capita GDP has only diverged further. But Charles Kenny’s Getting Better: Why Global Development Is Succeeding-And How We Can Improve the World Even More argues that it’s a mistake to read this as implying that global development has been a failure. Not only have many poor people gotten richer in places like India and China, even in the parts of Africa where people haven’t gotten richer, quality of life has improved. Child mortality rates have plummeted, education is more widespread, political systems are freer, there’s less violence, diseases have been cured, etc.
It’s persuasive and a very pleasant short book. One section close to my heart (though somewhat distant from the core point of the argument) wonders why it is that mustering some optimism about the trajectory of human history is considered a “right-wing” view when “a century of unprecedented global improvement in quality of life was also one of unprecedented growth in the size of government.”
The key policy points (I think) are that if rich countries want to help we should permit more immigration from poor countries, stop trying to impose destructive intellectual property rules on poor countries, stop offering military assistance to repressive regimes, and bolster morale about the fact that foreign aid has been successful at promoting public health in the past and can continue to make even more progress in the future.
So much for loyalty and Sarah Palin:
Republicans would have been more successful in the 2008 presidential elections if she was at the top of the ticket, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin suggested Saturday.
Speaking at the India Today Conclave in New Delhi, Palin was asked why the GOP ticket did not defeat then-Sen. Barack Obama (D). Palin said that Obama ran a strong campaign and effectively billed himself as a change candidate.
Pressed by India Today editor Aroon Purie that she also represented change, Palin replied, “I wasn’t at the top of the ticket, remember?”
The 2008 vice presidential nominee said she was not claiming she should have been the nominee over Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), but her comments provide a glimpse of her potential appeal to voters should she choose to run for the nomination in 2012.
This is unlikely to win her any friends among the growing number of GOP conservative establisment types who oppose her.
Kentucky freshmen Terrence Jones said he received treatment on Thursday night and was feeling better on Friday as the Cats get ready to play West Virginia on Saturday.
Today, a liberal judge in a liberal Wisconsin county at the request of a liberal district attorney has issued a temporary restraining order that blocks publication — and therefore the enactment, of the law Governor Scott Walker and Republican legislators passed that limits Public Union collective bargaining rights to issues regarding wages only. This order, issued by Dane County (Madison) Court Judge Maryann Sumi is strictly based on a technical procedural issue. No one’s arguing the law passed wasn’t constitutional (yet- see #2 below), the question is whether or not Republicans violated Wisconsin’s open-meeting law during the session in which the vote took place. They didn’t.
But whatever the legal outcome, the bill will still pass. In a worst case scenario the Republicans merely need to reconvene and pass the bill again, this time making triple-pinky-sure the Left can’t hassle them in court regarding the open-meeting law. Should this happen, the big question is whether or not State Senate Democrats will repeat their shameful escapades and hot-foot it to Illinois again. But even that won’t stop the law from passing because a quorum isn’t necessary for this part of the bill.
So if this is the case, then what’s going on? If there’s no way the Left can stop the law from eventually being passed, what are they up to?
Three things:
1. The Psychological Game: Yesterday, I published a piece detailing the intensifying threats, violence, vandalism and intimidation taking place in Wisconsin against Republican legislators and their supporters in the form of Tea Party leaders and local businesses. Obviously, the idea here is to use the worst kind of thuggish mob tactics on legislators in the hopes they’ll be too afraid to vote for this bill a second time. If you remember the tension and stress we as a nation went through while the 2000 presidential election was being recounted and litigated, multiply that times 100 and mix it with the continuous threat of violence. That’s the atmosphere hanging over all of Wisconsin right now. Ratcheting that tension even higher today is the fact that there will be no final ruling from this judge for at least another two weeks, which means the tunnel of emotional hell these legislators thought they might finally be emerging from has just slammed shut.
Unbelievably, the judge who issued this ruling did so knowing she’s leaving for vacation until March 28th! So it is more likely than not that the intimidation tactics are only going to get ramped up in the coming days in an effort to change enough Republican legislators’ minds about whether or not going against public unions is worth living through a nightmare.
2. Using the Left-wing Courts: The effort to win in court what the Left couldn’t at the ballot box might move to the Wisconsin State Supreme Court. On April 5th, a state-wide State Supreme Court election takes place. This is supposed to be a non-partisan office, but everyone knows that the incumbent up for re-election, Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, is a reliably conservative vote. His opponent, however, JoAnne Kloppenburg, would be a reliably liberal vote — and local talk radio hosts have been complaining for days that she’s been none-too-subtle in letting the unions know that they can count on her to overturn the collective-bargaining bill once it passes. And she would be the crucial swing vote.
With the whole country watching and so much on the line for public unions and Democrats nationwide, you can imagine the money and volunteer muscle unions are pouring into the state to get the vote out for Kloppenburg. From the Wisconsin State Journal:
Kloppenburg’s supporters were working the crowd at last Saturday’s giant union rally in front of the Capitol, urging people to vote for her as “the next step” in the fight. Kloppenburg’s Facebook page is alive with comments from people trying to mobilize get-out-the-vote efforts for her and criticizing Walker and the GOP.
3. Wisconsin is Being Made an Example: With a wave of anti-public union sentiment washing over the entire country, the White House and unions everywhere obviously want to show the country what could happen to other states should they attempt similar measures.
Life is miserable in my home state right now, for everyone. Families have been pitted against families, neighbor against neighbor. This entire awful episode — that would not have happened had 14 Democratic State Senators not fled to Illinois — hangs over everything and everyone like a dark cloud. The White House and the unions are clearly sending a message elsewhere: This is the terrible price you and yours will pay for following Wisconsin’s example. I’m not sure how effective that message has been, but they’re determined to send it nonetheless.
—-
The stakes here for the unions, Democrats, and President Obama are huge. Public Union money is a major source of campaign cash both locally and nationally. Right now in Wisconsin (and other states), and whether they like it or not, public employees are forced to join the union. Furthermore, their union dues are automatically taken out of their paychecks by the state and guess where millions upon millions of those union-due dollars go? That’s right: to elect Democrats — including President Obama in what will be a crucial swing state in 2012.
This Public Union racket is major source of left-wing power and money in this country. Walker’s bill gives public employees the right to not join the union and stops the State from automatically garnishing union dues. If unions want their monthly dues they will have to collect the money themselves from each employee. Obviously, this is going to mean a lot less money coming in and therefore a lot less money to get Democrats into office.
Those are the stakes, and in my opinion, they couldn’t be higher.
And even then, even after all the hell listed above has run its course, there’s still the threat of recall elections.
Pray for Wisconsin. They’re gonna need it.
Today, a liberal judge in a liberal Wisconsin county at the request of a liberal district attorney has issued a temporary restraining order that blocks publication — and therefore the enactment, of the law Governor Scott Walker and Republican legislators passed that limits Public Union collective bargaining rights to issues regarding wages only. This order, issued by Dane County (Madison) Court Judge Maryann Sumi is strictly based on a technical procedural issue. No one’s arguing the law passed wasn’t constitutional (yet- see #2 below), the question is whether or not Republicans violated Wisconsin’s open-meeting law during the session in which the vote took place. They didn’t.
But whatever the legal outcome, the bill will still pass. In a worst case scenario the Republicans merely need to reconvene and pass the bill again, this time making triple-pinky-sure the Left can’t hassle them in court regarding the open-meeting law. Should this happen, the big question is whether or not State Senate Democrats will repeat their shameful escapades and hot-foot it to Illinois again. But even that won’t stop the law from passing because a quorum isn’t necessary for this part of the bill.
So if this is the case, then what’s going on? If there’s no way the Left can stop the law from eventually being passed, what are they up to?
Three things:
1. The Psychological Game: Yesterday, I published a piece detailing the intensifying threats, violence, vandalism and intimidation taking place in Wisconsin against Republican legislators and their supporters in the form of Tea Party leaders and local businesses. Obviously, the idea here is to use the worst kind of thuggish mob tactics on legislators in the hopes they’ll be too afraid to vote for this bill a second time. If you remember the tension and stress we as a nation went through while the 2000 presidential election was being recounted and litigated, multiply that times 100 and mix it with the continuous threat of violence. That’s the atmosphere hanging over all of Wisconsin right now. Ratcheting that tension even higher today is the fact that there will be no final ruling from this judge for at least another two weeks, which means the tunnel of emotional hell these legislators thought they might finally be emerging from has just slammed shut.
Unbelievably, the judge who issued this ruling did so knowing she’s leaving for vacation until March 28th! So it is more likely than not that the intimidation tactics are only going to get ramped up in the coming days in an effort to change enough Republican legislators’ minds about whether or not going against public unions is worth living through a nightmare.
2. Using the Left-wing Courts: The effort to win in court what the Left couldn’t at the ballot box might move to the Wisconsin State Supreme Court. On April 5th, a state-wide State Supreme Court election takes place. This is supposed to be a non-partisan office, but everyone knows that the incumbent up for re-election, Supreme Court Justice David Prosser, is a reliably conservative vote. His opponent, however, JoAnne Kloppenburg, would be a reliably liberal vote — and local talk radio hosts have been complaining for days that she’s been none-too-subtle in letting the unions know that they can count on her to overturn the collective-bargaining bill once it passes. And she would be the crucial swing vote.
With the whole country watching and so much on the line for public unions and Democrats nationwide, you can imagine the money and volunteer muscle unions are pouring into the state to get the vote out for Kloppenburg. From the Wisconsin State Journal:
Kloppenburg’s supporters were working the crowd at last Saturday’s giant union rally in front of the Capitol, urging people to vote for her as “the next step” in the fight. Kloppenburg’s Facebook page is alive with comments from people trying to mobilize get-out-the-vote efforts for her and criticizing Walker and the GOP.
3. Wisconsin is Being Made an Example: With a wave of anti-public union sentiment washing over the entire country, the White House and unions everywhere obviously want to show the country what could happen to other states should they attempt similar measures.
Life is miserable in my home state right now, for everyone. Families have been pitted against families, neighbor against neighbor. This entire awful episode — that would not have happened had 14 Democratic State Senators not fled to Illinois — hangs over everything and everyone like a dark cloud. The White House and the unions are clearly sending a message elsewhere: This is the terrible price you and yours will pay for following Wisconsin’s example. I’m not sure how effective that message has been, but they’re determined to send it nonetheless.
—-
The stakes here for the unions, Democrats, and President Obama are huge. Public Union money is a major source of campaign cash both locally and nationally. Right now in Wisconsin (and other states), and whether they like it or not, public employees are forced to join the union. Furthermore, their union dues are automatically taken out of their paychecks by the state and guess where millions upon millions of those union-due dollars go? That’s right: to elect Democrats — including President Obama in what will be a crucial swing state in 2012.
This Public Union racket is major source of left-wing power and money in this country. Walker’s bill gives public employees the right to not join the union and stops the State from automatically garnishing union dues. If unions want their monthly dues they will have to collect the money themselves from each employee. Obviously, this is going to mean a lot less money coming in and therefore a lot less money to get Democrats into office.
Those are the stakes, and in my opinion, they couldn’t be higher.
And even then, even after all the hell listed above has run its course, there’s still the threat of recall elections.
Pray for Wisconsin. They’re gonna need it.
A new Public Policy Polling survey finds there’s been a fundamental shift in the Ohio political landscape over the last three months and it looks like the biggest beneficiary of that could be Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
In December Brown looked extremely vulnerable for reelection, now his leads against six different Republicans range from 15 to 19 points.
Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire
A new Public Policy Polling survey finds there’s been a fundamental shift in the Ohio political landscape over the last three months and it looks like the biggest beneficiary of that could be Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
In December Brown looked extremely vulnerable for reelection, now his leads against six different Republicans range from 15 to 19 points.
Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire
There has been quite a bit of howling from the right over the president's continued golf outings in the midst of two international crises – in Japan and Libya. But Gene Healy gives an interesting take in a column Wednesday, noting that the more time Obama spends on the links, the less time he has to ram his misguided agenda into law. Of course, there is the entirely separate issue of the press's double standard on presidential golf outings, but is the country actually better served if Obama spends more time on the golf course? Healy writes:
…you don’t have to buy into a conspiratorial view of this administration to appreciate that presidential inactivity’s a good thing here.
There’s not much the President can do in Japan. There’s not much he should do in Libya. And given the screwy ideas this president has about how to spur economic growth, you should want him outside getting some fresh air, instead of in the Oval, pouring over briefing books.
Mark Twain once said that "No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session." You could say much the same about activist presidents.
One of our best presidents, the Great Calvin Coolidge, regularly napped in the afternoons. Instead of railing against Obama’s golfing habit, we’d do better to encourage a presidential siesta.
What do you think? And remember, this is a wholly separate issue from the press's treatment of the issue.
There has been quite a bit of howling from the right over the president's continued golf outings in the midst of two international crises – in Japan and Libya. But Gene Healy gives an interesting take in a column Wednesday, noting that the more time Obama spends on the links, the less time he has to ram his misguided agenda into law. Of course, there is the entirely separate issue of the press's double standard on presidential gold outings, but is the country actually better served if Obama spends more time on the golf course? Healy writes:
…you don’t have to buy into a conspiratorial view of this administration to appreciate that presidential inactivity’s a good thing here.
There’s not much the President can do in Japan. There’s not much he should do in Libya. And given the screwy ideas this president has about how to spur economic growth, you should want him outside getting some fresh air, instead of in the Oval, pouring over briefing books.
Mark Twain once said that "No man's life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session." You could say much the same about activist presidents.
One of our best presidents, the Great Calvin Coolidge, regularly napped in the afternoons. Instead of railing against Obama’s golfing habit, we’d do better to encourage a presidential siesta.
What do you think? And remember, this is a wholly separate issue from the press's treatment of the issue.
Rep. Mike Pence drew a line in the sand when he met with GOP leadership, according to a colleague of Pence.
Go Pence!
After admitting "we don't know yet about the situation in Japan," Josh Marshall nevertheless defends nuclear energy. Saletan is on the same page:
Even if you count all the deaths plausibly related to Chernobyl—9,000 to 33,000 over a 70-year period—that number is dwarfed by the death rate from burning fossil fuels. The OECD's 2008 Environmental Outlook calculates that fine-particle outdoor air pollution caused nearly 1 million premature deaths in the year 2000, and 30 percent of this was energy-related. You'd need 500 Chernobyls to match that level of annual carnage. But outside Chernobyl, we've had zero fatal nuclear power accidents.
Yglesias echoes:
I don’t really want to be the nuclear apologist guy. I think of myself as a clean energy guy. I’m an energy efficiency guy. But what I’m definitely not is a fossil fuel guy. And you can’t make sense of the safety concerns around electricity generation unless you put the nuclear risks in some kind of context.
I'm in favor of many, many more nuclear power plants as the only realistic way right now to get our carbon use down.
Hartford often hears bad news when it comes to comparisons around the country.
Now, the latest news says that Greater Hartford is doing comparatively well – losing fewer jobs than 93 cities.
The extremely strong areas – where unemployment is lower than 6 percent – are Honolulu, Washington, D.C., Madison, and Omaha, Nebraska.
Rasmussen has released one of the dumbest polls ever.
Ronald Reagan was the last president we had who didn’t graduate from an Ivy League school like Harvard or Yale, and the highest levels of government for much of the nation’s history have been filled with Ivy League grads. But that doesn’t seem to influence the thinking of most American Adults.
In fact, only three percent (3%) say individuals who go to Ivy League schools are better workers than those who go to other schools.
Isn’t this a non sequitur? What does getting elected president have to do with being a good worker?
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 79% do not think Ivy League students make better workers. Eighteen percent (18%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Adults across nearly every demographic agree that an Ivy League education does not necessarily make someone a better worker.
Does the Ivy League purport to make someone a better worker? What does that even mean? And what percentage of Americans have any basis for making the assessment, anyway? The vast majority of people, I’d wager, have never worked with someone with an Ivy League degree.
But only 28% of Americans believe that people who work harder generally make more money than others anyway. Most adults (58%) disagree, while 14% are undecided.
[…]
Men are twice as likely as women to think hard workers get paid more, and men under the age of 40 believe it more than their elders. But most Americans across all demographic categories say those who work harder do not generally get paid more than others.
Hard work is generally necessary to make a good living but it’s hardly the only factor-or even the most important. But the age and gender disparities on the question are interesting.
Most American Adults think how much money an individual is paid should depend more on what they get done on the job rather than their educational background or how long they’ve worked for a company.
Aside from schoolteachers and unionized labor, few people get paid based on education or seniority. Credentials are important in getting hired and promoted but they have little bearing one on the job.
In March of last year, an overwhelming majority of Americans (81%) said that people learn more practical skills through life experiences and work after college rather than in college.
I’ve got a PhD and could have told you that before starting grad school. College is only tangentially about teaching practical skills; it’s about preparing the mind for a life of learning.
In December, just 30% of Americans said it is possible for anyone in America to work hard and get rich.
Most people lack the talent and desire required to earn massive amounts of money. And it’s very, very difficult indeed to get truly rich working for someone else.
Only 3% of Americans say that those that attended Ivy League colleges make better workers, while a resounding 79% said that they do not. Maybe Americans should remember this same poll the next time they elect a President. Maybe a better worker would have done some thing else beside playing another round of golf when the world and the United States is in turmoil. It’s time to elect a non-Ivy League entitled president.
Ronald Reagan was the last president we had who didn’t graduate from an Ivy League school like Harvard or Yale, and the highest levels of government for much of the nation’s history have been filled with Ivy League grads. But that doesn’t seem to influence the thinking of most American Adults.
In fact, only three percent (3%) say individuals who go to Ivy League schools are better workers than those who go to other schools. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 79% do not think Ivy League students make better workers. Eighteen percent (18%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
As people all over the world were grieving for the victims of Friday's earthquake and resulting tsunamis in Japan, the scriptwriter for the hit series "Family Guy" sent his 162,000 Twitter followers a truly disgraceful comment.
As reported by Bleeding Cool Saturday:
Nonetheless, when a particularly tasteless tweet started rolling around the web last night, and I found out it had been written by Family Guy scriptwriter Alec Sulkin, I wasn’t too surprised. Here’s what he said:
If you wanna feel better about this earthquake in Japan, google “Pearl Harbor death toll”.
Apparently Sulkin, aka @thesulk, took a lot of heat for this comment as he has since taken it down and offered his followers an apology: "Yesterday death toll = 200. Today = 10 thousand. I am sorry for my insensitive tweet. It's gone."
But that was followed by: "If you wanna feel better about the floods in New Jersey, google 'MTV's Jersey Shore'."
Maybe that one's funnier and less callous, but it does seem to diminish the sincerity of his apology, wouldn't you agree?
For the record, Sulkin's Wikipedia page confirms his "insensitive tweet."
It also reports that he once dated vulgarian comedienne Sarah Silverman.
Explains a lot, as Silverman herself has a history of offensive tweets.
As NewsBusters reported last year, "Standup comic and New York Times-bestselling author Sarah Silverman joked on Twitter that widows of the Sept. 11 attacks 'give the best handjobs' on Oct. 6, attributing the quote to pseudonymous 19th century author and satirist Mark Twain."
Too bad Silverman and Sulkin broke up.
They seem made for each other.
