A belated Happy Birthday Mr America.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning. 

1. Cinema.
2. Bucks and babies.
3. 12 billion down the rathole.
4. “Jewish” encylopaedia, whatever that means.
5. Mr Benen and Mr Obama offer to cut down on breathing, you know, to set an example for the rest of us.
6. The judiciary.
7. Bikes, zooom … and right back at ya!
8. At the end of the fast, here and here.
9. After publicly complaining about the substance in the review process. Ms Kagan follows suit, hypocrite.
10. Truth and Ms Kagan.
11. Legal metalinks.
12. Heh.
13. Re-segregation considered.

Capitalistic greed as our problem? I’ve been hearing a lot of that lately. Especially when traversing topics such as the BP oil spill or nationalized healthcare. Add to it the bit about inequality among the masses and you’ve usually put the cherry on top. Self-deprecatory statements, such as,

Moreover, I am also enraged by the sheer amount of greed, which exists in our country today—and not just our country, but it is passing onto other nations too.

seem to make it pretty clear – it’s the fault of those greedy, capitalistic Americans.

If greed was truly the problem, then we should all become sincere communists (I know, that’s an oxymoron). But greed isn’t the problem… it’s selfishness. Selfish rich, selfish poor, selfish capitalists, selfish communists, etc.

And there’s no human way around that.

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And about those rich folk… in the Bible. Interesting thoughts at Stand to Reason.

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NOTICE – No Guns Allowed A law, in New Mexico, is going into effect which will allow concealed carry weapon (CCW) permit holders to dine in establishments which have a beer & wine license. Restaurant owners do have the prerogative, however, to not allow such permit holders to bring their weapons into the restaurant, simply by posting a notice on the premises. From the Santa Fe New Mexican,

The law, passed by the Legislature this year, will allow people with concealed-carry licenses to take their guns into restaurants with beer-and-wine licenses. However, restaurant owners have the right to keep guns out of their establishments. All they have to do is post a sign.

Wow. I had no idea it was so simple to keep guns out of an establishment! Maybe someone should start posting these types of signs at bank entrances?

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Too bad they didn’t have a “no guns allowed” sign. From the Orange County Register,

Police are looking for a male suspect in connection with an armed robbery that took place in Yorba Linda on Sunday.

The robbery occurred around 12:54 p.m. when a lone man walked into the Round Table Pizza on Yorba Linda Boulevard near Lakeview Avenue, brandished a black handgun and demanded money from the cashier, Brea Police Sgt. Bill Smyser said.

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The unengaged president. Mark Steyn provides, as always, a good read. An excerpt,

To return to Cohen’s question: “Who is this guy? What are his core beliefs?” Well, he’s a guy who was wafted ever upward – from the Harvard Law Review to state legislator to United States senator – without ever lingering long enough to accomplish anything. “Who is this guy?” Well, when a guy becomes a credible presidential candidate by his mid-40s with no accomplishments other than a couple of memoirs, he evidently has an extraordinary talent for self-promotion, if nothing else. “What are his core beliefs?” It would seem likely that his core belief is in himself. It’s the “nothing else” that the likes of Cohen are belatedly noticing.

Good morning.

1. Of COIN and Koran.
2. Boom.
3. Guns. Here and here. As a recent purchaser of firearms myself, I’d note I got two .22s because the .22LR costs about 3.5 cents a round instead of 50 … and all the books all say you need to fire thousands or rounds to get familiar and accurate. The 22 is affordable.
4. Yah think?
5. I thought Thomas was the die hard originalist not the whole court.
6. Odd crossword word.
7. How to burn your phone.
8. Why do no people wonder about the reverse that “protected” race based and gender based groups can be led by those they’d wish to exclude?
9. Love and sand.
10. Well, as an ex-protestant and non-Anglo Saxon … I suppose I should applaud (and yes, I remain white). 🙂
11. Mr Obama’s rights record.
12. Mr Krugman, here and here.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Good morning.

You can please some of the people, some of the time, but… Evidently, the city of New Haven has removed the words “in the year of our Lord” from its high school diplomas, this year (HT: First Things). From the school superintendent,

I’m surprised it took this long for someone to notice it. We certainly don’t want to offend anyone.

Well, actually, you are offending someone – me! I think what you really should say is that you don’t want to offend secularists.

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And here I thought they were communists. China is predicted, for next year, to surpass the U.S. in manufacturing output. Could there be a profit motive there?

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Who’s going where? Interactive map, from Forbes, showing the numbers of people moving to and from various counties in the U.S.

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When you outlaw guns… Over the weekend, in Chicago, 54 people were shot, with 10 of them being killed. Chicago has, since 1982, had a ban on new handgun registrations. Imagine how many people would have been shot had there been no handgun ban for almost the last 30 years. Oh no, wait – imagine how many people would have been able to defend themselves, if there had been no handgun ban at all.

Good morning.

Good morning.

A typical reason couples live together before getting married is that, supposedly, this will allow them to find out if they are compatible and thus ensure their marriage lasts longer.  But a new study says, nope, they are less likely to stay married.

Read my lips; no new taxes on those making $250,000 or less.  Well, we may soon add to the many exceptions since that promise was made, “unless you own a home”.

The revolving door between the MSM and the Democratic Party.  Oh, that liberal media.

If the Gulf oil spill had happened on Bush’s watch, do you really think the environmental groups would be as virtually silent as they are now?  (Me neither.)

Remember how the UN climate change panel was supposed to be the result of boatloads of scientists in agreement?  Turns out the boat was a dingy.

And from the “Beware of Governments Bearing Gifts” department:

Churches and other faith-based organizations that receive government funds, beware. In an agreement that will be enforced by a federal court, government agencies in New York have agreed to monitor the Salvation Army to ensure that it doesn’t impose religion on the people its serves through its tax-funded social services.

The agreement just effects the Salvation Army’s social work in New York, but it’s more than a cautionary tale for religious groups in this era of government-backed faith-based initiatives. “With this settlement, government is watching out,” co-counsel Deborah Karpatkin of the N.Y. Civil Liberties Union said in a statement. “It will not fund religious organizations to proselytize to recipients of government-funded social services.”

The Salvation Army’s social services are intended to be an expression of faith in God and love for fellow man, but if they are prevented from doing the former while performing the latter, they’re being hobbled.  My suggestion has always been to avoid government money at all costs.

Good morning.

1. Selling sin in Lebanon.
2. Stupid PC tricks.
3. Obama not making the grade. More here.
4. Islam, not at its best.
5. Heavy industry 130k years ago?
6. Upending theodicy.
7. Immigrant handbook … an eastern version.
8. The Holy Fool.
9. Mr Obama’s buddy. Class. Pure class. More evidence of inexperience in office here.
10. The Obama effect and the campaign trail.
11. Stupid politician tricks.
12. Etymology and the word for God.
13. I concur, that movie was great.
14. TARP tally.