This is what happens to profligate spenders:

WEAK DEMAND: Interest rates climbed in the bond market Thursday after a government debt auction drew tepid demand. Auctions Tuesday and Wednesday also saw lower demand.

NOT THAT INTERESTED: The auction of $32 billion in seven-year notes saw demand fall from the past two months. That means the government could have to start offering higher interest rates to attract buyers.

In plain English: Investors are becoming more and more doubtful about the fiscal stability of the US Federal government—and less inclined to buy government securities. So it's becoming harder for the feds to borrow money at a time when federal spending is spiraling out of control. That's what's known as change without hope.

Posted by tmg110 at 7:59 AM EDT

Updated: Monday, 29 March 2010 8:53 AM EDT

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When chastised by our intellectual and moral superiors—I mean, of course, progressives—we proles are  supposed to cower and grovel. After all, it's for our own good. Right?

Ann Coulter didn't get the memo. After being prevented from speaking at the University of Ottawa by rioting students whose lawless behavior was both provoked and applauded by university administrators, she fired back:

The provost of the University of Ottawa, average student IQ: 0, wrote to me—widely disseminating his letter to at least a half-dozen intermediaries before it reached me—in advance of my visit in order to recommend that I familiarize myself with Canada's criminal laws regarding hate speech.

This marks the first time I've ever gotten hate mail for something I might do in the future.  

Apparently Canadian law forbids "promoting hatred against any identifiable group," which the provost, Francois A. Houle advised me, "would not only be considered inappropriate, but could in fact lead to criminal charges."  

I was given no specific examples of what words and phrases I couldn't use, but I take it I'm not supposed to say, "F----you, Francois."

She goes on from there, to hilarious effect. Read the whole thing. You'll see that it's not difficult to make progressives look like the prize idiots that most of them are. Just stop caring what they think of you, and answer them back in their own idiom. Like Ann.

Posted by tmg110 at 7:46 AM EDT

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That's the prescription from George W. Bush's sinister puppet master (as goofball progressives never tires of characterizing him). Repeal ObamaCare, that is to say, and replace it with real health care reform.

Unlike most of the jobs that poor President Obama has undertaken, this isn't really a hard assignment. The public remains highly skeptical of Obamacare. And the way the bill is structured, it's first few years will inflict a good deal of pain for very little gain. (If this seems dumb of the Dems, remember that it was also necessary to produce the illusion of a fiscally responsible bill.)

It's true that even if they make major gains in 2010, capturing the House and possibly even the Senate, Republicans won't be able to repeal ObamaCare any time soon. But the passage of this atrocious health care "reform" bill, which the American people didn't want and don't like, presents the GOP with a golden opportunity to bring the Age of Obama to a deservedly premature end. Seize the day, ladies and gentlemen—seize the day!

Posted by tmg110 at 8:45 AM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 25 March 2010 9:04 AM EDT

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Though the yellow sign on the ragged lawn

To the right of the steps is laconic,

That passers-by avert their eyes says much.

This property is now available.

One day all the offices were emptied.

Then the mail was stopped, and the phones were stilled,

And the plugs were pulled, and the potted plants

That stood in a row on the windowsill

Were taken down, and probably thrown out.

No wonder passers-by avert their eyes.

Blank windows brood upon the sidewalk now,

And no one cares to meet their glassy stare,

Or dwell upon the open doors within,

That—when trucks pass—rattle on their hinges.

Last night I dreamed about a midnight wind

That swept across the roof, reaping dead leaves,

Chasing them down to the lawn, past the sign

That reads: This property available.

Posted by tmg110 at 8:04 AM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 25 March 2010 9:27 AM EDT

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Sure, there's plenty to gripe about these days in America. But at least we're not Canada.

It's sad to reflect that a nation with Vimy Ridge and the Reichwald on its permanent record has devolved into bastion of soft fascism. Free speech? That's so…so American. Just ask Ann Coulter, who was prevented by threats of violence from giving a speech at the University of Ottawa. (Coulter's priceless comment on this: "The University of Ottawa is really easy to get into, isn’t it? I never get any trouble at the Ivy League schools. It’s always the bush league schools.")

Canada's embrace of multiculturalism has had the ironic result of bloating anti-Americanism—always a theme in Canadian history, of course—to comically gigantic proportions. Now it's reached the point where freedom of speech, a bedrock principle of free government, is deemed to "American" for Canada. Apparently, since the First Amendment is American, there must be something wrong with it…

Posted by tmg110 at 8:18 AM EDT

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The latest CNN poll shows that a majority (51%) of the American people now disapprove of the job that President Obama is doing. The poll was conducted just before the Democrats rammed their helth care "reform" bill through the House.

Can Obama recover? Oh, he may gain back a few points in the weeks ahead, but don't expect a dramatic improvement. As noted above, the political capital that the President expended to get ObamaCare passed is gone forever. Pending issues (immigration reform, cap-and-trade) can only make a bad situation worse. And it's clear now that Obama is politically and psychologially incapable of changing course. Bill Clinton knew when to triangulate. Obama, the true believer (not least in his own divinely ordained mission) isn't half the politician that Clinton was. I'm not sure that's a compliment to either man. But Obama reminds me more of Jimmy Carter—and that's definitely not a compliment.

Posted by tmg110 at 8:54 AM EDT

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Having taken a couple of days to think over the implications of the passage of ObamaCare, I've come to a conclusion: This was Obama's Stalingrad. The political capital that he (and the Democrats) expended to pass that highly unpopular bill can never be recovered—certainly not by November. Moreover, the GOP has been handed a resonant, one-word issue for 2010 and beyond: REPEAL!

Obama and the Dems may be counting on the American people's short attention span. They may think that now they can "pivot" to other issues. But the health care wars are just beginning. And the Dems are about to discover that their victory was bought at a price so high as to be indistinguishable from defeat.

Posted by tmg110 at 7:31 AM EDT

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The captain had a flesh wound and it hurt.

But when he met the people of the camp,

He forgot about his arm. He stopped dead,

Just inside the gate, and could not go on.

Who are they? he asked. His voice appalled him.

It came out like sick man’s dying croak.

Juden, Juden. He didn’t know the word.

The red-haired corporal looked around and said,

I’m from Boston. We never had much use

In my neighborhood for Jews. Then he asked,

What kind of place is this? But the young girl—

If it was a girl—in the tattered stripes,

Who clutched his sleeve, had no answer to give—

No answer in her mouth, nor in her eyes.

The regimental surgeon kicked the dirt

And shrugged when someone asked him what to do.

He said, They’re starving—starving. Can’t you see?

No, don’t give them food. Too much would kill them.

He touched his pockets, hunting for a smoke,

But stilled his hand when some striped skeleton,

With a hideous smile, asked for water.

The sergeant took his helmet off. A year,

He said to no one in particular.

You know, I never even got a scratch.

The bastards couldn’t touch me. An old man

Shuffled up. Americans? he whispered.

Yeah, Americans, the sergeant answered.

We’re late. I’m sorry. Now he had his wound.

Posted by tmg110 at 8:36 AM EDT

Updated: Friday, 19 March 2010 9:16 AM EDT

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Courtesy of Andrew B. Wilson at the American Spectator, I've finally learned the answer to that burning question: Whatever happened to Barack Obama? Wilson reports that two progressive luminaries (Frank Rich, Tom Friedman) have analyzed the sorry record of the Obama Ascendancy to date, their conclusion being that the President lacks—a narrative! As Friedman puts it: "He [Obama] has not tied all his programs into a single narrative that shows the links between his health care, banking, economic, climate, energy, education and foreign policies. Such a narrative would enable each issue and each constituency to reinforce the other and evoke the kind of popular excitement that got him elected."

Ah, so everything's connected—and if only the dim-bulb American public could be brought to see it, the President's problems would evaporate! Why didn't Team Obama ever think of that?

But then again, maybe everything isn't connected. Maybe, in fact, Obama is just muddling along, doing his inadequate best to reconcile the contradictions of his candidacy as his approval ratings sink and sink and sink. Still I like the touch of paranoia in the Dynamic Duo's analysis, the delusion that it's all connected being one of the hallmarks of advanced mental illness. I always suspected that progressives have, shall we say,  issues along those lines…

Posted by tmg110 at 8:15 AM EDT

Updated: Friday, 19 March 2010 8:30 AM EDT

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As I consider nominations to my personal cinematic Hall of Shame—see here—it occurs to me that whereas some movies are indeed bad in an absolute sense, others are bad merely in relation to the money and talent that was lavished on them. An example of the first kind of badness is the Ashley Judd vehicle Bug (which I excoriated here). It just stinks, period. But then there are movies like Cleopatra.

It's sobering to reflect what it would cost today to film this lavish, star-studded epic—probably more than the GDP of many Third World nations. Certainly no expense was spared back in 1963. And that's precisely my point. You can't really call Cleopatra unwatchable. OK, so Elizabeth Taylor flops as the seductive Queen of the Nile, coming off like some flirtatious bimbo with too much eye makeup. And yes, Richard Burton gives a notably bad performance. But still, Cleopatra has its moments.

But when I reflect on the time, money, talent, etc. expended to produce this second-rate sand-and-sandal potboiler—all I can think is bad, bad, bad. That kind of waste, it seems to me, is shameful. So I'm strongly inclined to include Cleopatra in the Hall of Shame.

Posted by tmg110 at 8:23 AM EDT

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