If I Were More Self-Deprecating...

...I would have a list of "People Who Make Me Feel Stupid and Inadequate." Luckily, I'm taking enough Zoloft (joke). But seriously, a friend of mine recently linked me to this guy's blog. Matthew Rognlie is an undergrad at Duke and a triple major in economics, math, and comp sci. I spent some time this morning perusing through his blog. Actually, perusing is not the right word because it implies a kind of ease. I almost had a brain aneurysm trying to dissect his guy's posts on cap & trade, inflation, and utilitarianism. Granted, I never got past Econ 1, but this is unbelievable. Rognlie takes on and, if I may, pwns some of the biggest named bloggers out there. Maybe I'll create a list of "People Who Will Rule the World Someday." Seriously. Props.

The Moral Hazard Argument Against Bailing Out Cali

From Megan McCardle:

I'm pretty sure that the feds can afford to bail out California. I'm pretty sure they can't afford to bail out fifty states who have learned that if they are just intransigent enough about spending more money than they make, Uncle Sugar will come in and pay the bill.

Presumably, the way you avoid this is by putting harsh conditions on the money. But what harsh conditions can the Feds impose? California has the largest and most powerful Congressional delegation. And I'm struggling to think of any penalty the Feds can hand down without alienating critical constituents like the public sector labor unions.

The Obama administration will most likely bail out Cali, primarily because moral hazard has not, thus far, deterred it from bailing out everything under the sun that it deemed "too big to fail." California has one of the ten largest economies in the world. Too big to fail? Dur. I am curious to see what kind of conditions the administration would put on the bailout money.

The Holocaust Museum Shooter

Who was he? From Jeffrey Goldberg, who linked to the ADL:

The suspect, identified as James Wennecke Brunn, is a long time white supremacist and anti-Semite who often uses the name James von Brunn. Born in 1920, Brunn is a veteran of World War II and retired Naval Reserve officer. Brunn worked in advertising and other professions until he retired. He now lives in Maryland and describes himself as an "artist" and "writer;" however, his magnum opus is a self-published anti-Semitic book, Tob Shebbe Goyim Harog ("Kill the Best Gentiles"). He has written many anti-Semitic essays as well. In recent years, he also created an anti-Semitic Web site, which he called "The Holy Western Empire." The museum shooting is not the first time Brunn has exhibited a willingness to use violence with regard to targets he considered connected to Jews.

In 1981, Brunn, then living in New Hampshire, was arrested at the headquarters of the Federal Reserve Board after he tried to use a sawed-off shotgun to take board members hostage. Like many anti-Semites, Brunn believed that Jews control the nation's banking system. He was convicted of attempted armed kidnapping, second-degree burglary, assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a pistol without a license and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon. He was sentenced to four to eleven years in prison in 1983 and served over six. In 2004 Von Brunn posted on Fredrick Toben's Holocaust denial "Adelaide Institute" email group, "Time to FLUSH all "Holocaust" Memorials."

There's not really much to say about this. What can you? I've never personally paid much attention to Holocaust deniers (other than this prominent fellow) and White Supremacists. Maybe it's because I live in the bay area and I take for granted the generally liberal, tolerant, educated atmosphere that pervades here. Or maybe it's because I've always considered the notion of denying a tragedy whose horror, brutality, and unprecedented scale is so well documented so absurd that I naturally expect these kind of people to be ostracized simply because of their despicable views. This is a rather rude awakening to the reality that our country continues to be tarnished by the stain of all kinds of bigotry. As much as I would like to think that, particularly with the election of a black president, the United States has closed the racial parentheses in its history, this tragedy is a painful reminder of the opposite. Damn.

More on DADT

From The Daily Dish, a comparison between Truman and Obama. The article that he links make a point worth pondering regarding executive power:

In 1948, Truman issued an executive order integrating the armed forces. That same year Gallup found that only 13 percent of Americans supported "having Negro and white troops throughout the U.S. armed services live and work together."

Sullivan muses: Today, vast majorities of Americans support allowing gay servicemembers to serve openly. But the first black president does not have the civil rights conviction of his extraordinary predecessor.

Gay? Get Out.

Today, the Supreme Court refused to review the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, a relic of the Clinton administration (while campaigning for the 1992 election, Clinton had promised to eliminate any barriers to service for homosexuals). This really is outrageous. I had a chance to meet and talk to a gay Iraq veteran in one of my classes during fall semester. When he talked about DADT, it was visibly painful for him. Imagine putting your life on the line for your country, knowing full well that you could be dishonorably discharged at any given moment without compensation, benefits, and stripped of any merits you may have earned will serving. For the record, 14 countries have no barriers to miltary service for gays (blessed Netherlands was the first in 1974). The Obama administration seems content to let issues of equality take a back seat to running GM and our financial institutions.

Not to Steal Warderro's Thunder on the Finals Coverage

But does Orlando really think that they (or anyone else, for that matter) can stop a guy with this look on his face? I almost feel sorry for em.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

By now, probably everyone has seen this Max Blumenthal video of drunk American Jewish teenagers in Israel giving their obnoxious, profanity-laden opinions of Obama on the eve of his speech in Cairo. Two main points should be mentioned here. The first, obviously, is the disgusting and disgraceful nature of the remarks themselves.I shouldn't even have to say it, but you can never be too careful. I don't remember the last time I've been so embarrassed for my generation or for Jews everywhere. But equally disturbing, to me, is the insinuation that these punks in some way represent Jewish public opinion. The notion that they represent Israeli public opinion is even more absurd. I sincerely doubt (at least, I hope) that people who see this video aren't treating it as a groundbreaking work of serious investigative journalism. I don't even think Blumenthal is doing that. Give me any city on this planet and I'll show you a group of ignorant, tanked teenagers spouting the most offensive bile you could possibly imagine. Hell, they don't even have to be tanked...or teenagers, for that matter. No one race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, or skin color has the monopoly on bigotry and ignorance.

...but damn, these kids are dumb.