The Racial Divide

Senator Webb has written a remarkable article about race in America. In "Diversity and the Myth of White Privilege" we actually hear whispers here of the post-racial society so many hoped for after the election in 2008.  Where President Obama's famous race relations speech was praised by the media, its most memorable lines were about his grandmother as "a typical white person" and about his reverend as believing white racisim is endemic in America,  Senator Webb's article holds far more hope for America and calls for the end of "government-directed diversity programs."

That, is a post-racial thought.

Brickyard 400 Loses Allstate

Allstate has dropped sponsorship of the Brickyard 400 due to bad economic times. 

Allstate thinks there's more bang for its buck in College Football.

Breitbart and Post Racial America

Perhaps you remember back to when "60 Minutes" was a perennial number one show. How those veteran newsmen used to ambush ne're-do-wells and dig until they got to the bottom of politicians or bureaucrats or businessmen who were harming society or stealing public money or misleading consumers. The trouble these days is that the "60 Minutes" newsmen in the mainstream media (or should we move-on to the new meme, and call them the ruling-class media?) won't touch stories that might put Democrats or any other sacred cows in a bad light.

Enter Andrew Breitbart. After the NAACP passed a resolution condemning the racists elements in the Tea Parties, Breitbart's new media published a speech by a bureaucrat in the Agriculture department to the NAACP "wherein she regaled the audience with tails of sticking it to poor, white farmers. The woman has since resigned.

What's the old saw? "Black's can't be racists because they do not have the power or infrastructure to support their superiority?" "60 Minutes" won't do this story, and you can bet the network news won't play it anymore than they played the Acorn story or the New Black Panther stories. But the new media, Breitbart in particular, has blown a hole in the old saw. Perhaps we are, now, a post-racial America -- an America where every race can put the boot to every other race.

The Commerce Clause, by any other name

Randy Barnett has written a nice analysis of the Obamacare use of the commerce clause to demand people buy insurance... now the Administration is backing off and claiming they are taxing people for not buying health care.

America's Ruling Class

Angelo Codevilla's "America's Ruling Class -- and the Perils of Revolution" is a long and interesting read.

Eclipse

July 11th solar eclipse as seen from Easter Island

Obama's Katrina

"So when people say "Obama's Katrina," it's a contraction, not a possessive . . . ."

Via Glenn Reynolds at Instapundant (for all you lovers of the English Language):

Modern Burda Club

I was kind of disappointed, after watching "Deadliest Warrior" the other day, to find that Amazon doesn't sell Celtic Burda Clubs. I thought it might be nice to keep one under my car seat -- one never knows when one might need a burda club.

But then I saw an add for the Razor-back Pulverizer in a magazine. I bet a Celtic warrior would rather carry the pulverizer than the burda. In addition, I don't think the burda club would be of any use prying off hubcaps.

Greenfield Warehouse Raided

Federal agents are searching a large warehouse owned by University Loft Company in Greenfield, IN, just north of I-70.

Without any fear

John Fund repeats the latest meme, that the coming lame-duck Congress will pass all the major legislation they can even if they've been voted out of office:

there have been signs in recent weeks that party leaders are planning an ambitious, lame-duck session to muscle through bills in December they don't want to defend before November. Retiring or defeated members of Congress would then be able to vote for sweeping legislation without any fear of voter retaliation.

There's a scene I remember from the movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" where a politician was ridden out of town on a rail.  There's another scene, from the HBO Series "John Adams" where a politician is tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail (see the pictures above).

I'm just saying, voter retaliation comes in many forms, some of them are quite unpleasant and have nothing to do with the voting booth.  Some forms of voter retaliation seem to have entered the dustbin of history, and that's probably a good thing, for the most part.

Obama: 15th of 43

238 presidential scholars ranked the presidents for the 5th time since 1982.  For the fifth time in a row, FDR took the top spot.  This time saw President George W. Bush fall from 23rd to 39th and President Obama entered the list at 15th.

According to the survey results, President Obama is ranked 13th out of all President's regarding his willingness to take risks while President Bush (W) is ranked 19th in that same category; President Obama is ranked 16th in his Domestic Accomplishments while President Reagan is ranked 23rd; President Obama is ranked as smarter, more imaginative and better able to communicate than President Clinton, to have better executive ability and better ability to handle the US economy than Reagan, and is ranked as having more experience and background preparation than George W. Bush.

Those items are obviously false.  W took far more risks than Obama has.  Reagan handled the economy far better than Obama has.  President Clinton was far better able to communicate both in prepared speeches and off-the-cuff than Obama, and President Bush came from a Presidential family and was Governor of Texas for 6 years while President Obama was a half-term senator from a family with no political history at all.

Apparently, being a presidential scholar doesn't mean putting aside your personal political feelings.

Not a crime

Bad parenting is not a crime, but I'm sure it's somewhere on Washington's To-Do list.

Wheat Rust

After 50 years, wheat rust (a fungal infection of wheat stems) is back... and spreading.  Wheat rust is scary stuff, but perhaps we have a better handle on it than the graphic would imply.