I remember watching quite a bit of the Labor Day telethon when I was a kid.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — After 45 years, Jerry Lewis is retiring as host of the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Labor Day telethon.

The 85-year-old comedian and Las Vegas resident issued a statement Monday through the Tucson, Ariz.-based Muscular Dystrophy Association calling it time for a "new telethon era."

He says he’ll make his final appearance on the six-hour primetime telethon Sept. 4 by performing his song "You’ll Never Walk Alone."

Lewis says he’ll continue as the association’s national chairman, a role he’s held since the early 1950s.

The first one was in 1966, and Lewis has really hung in there, long after I even forgot that it was still an annual event. Good on you, Jerry Lewis.

Good morning.

1. Open source money.
2. The PC and beauty.
3. Homework, not waste of time? The study showed, “not” in maths. I’d add that’s likely also true in hard sciences.
4. This man is amazing. Just two weeks after shutting down exploration and drilling in Alaska, he says he’s doing the opposite. Why isn’t he called on this crap. It’s hard to see how he could be less honest.
5. The “Wall” as you’ve never seen it.
6. No sex .. until after the divorce? Huh? That’s going to put a damper on most wedding nights.
7. Uhm, Joe pleased read Fernandez book No Way In, read accounts of the French resistance. (Note, I’m also against torture, I just think the pragmatic case against it is weak relies on ignorance of history).
8. Two points, Mr Rand is not a racist based on his suggested vote on the Civil rights act, and Ms McArdle puts the reason why succinctly. She raises also, an interesting point along side that … about markets and race and the need for the Jim Crow enforcement.
9. AGW and scientific method.
10. Putting the point to healthcare debates.
11. Christian influence on the Marvel/Cinematic Thor.
12. Two turbines, time and blood.
13. Ignorant educators. 
14. Plato’s Republic.

Good morning.

1. Fan and Fred backing up.
2. Carbon is not … 
3. Well, I tried to link this last week … but I think blogger ate it (on the linkee side). This is the essential budget problem.
4. Who to blame.
5. Passion and blogging.
6. What crime?
7. Thor, the movie, and an unusual take on the experience.
8. A look for Gandalf. Good or not?
9. 1930s pedagogy examined.
10. Humanizing the bicycle.
11. SEAL 6 and some experts consider some possibilities.

Good morning.

1. The net and democracy.
2. Rembrandt re-invention of Western iconography of Christ.
3. Predators.
4. Oil production, two states compared.
5. Speaking of which, when rich people keep harping on how it’d be such a wonderful thing to push gas prices higher … seems to me they should just stay locked in that ivory tower of theirs.
6. That GM bailout thang. 
7. Single sex dormatories in colleges.
8. Obamacare big or little change in US healthcare?
9. Somebody on the left defends Chomksy’s stupidity. 
10. An interesting programing language noted.
11. Dungeons and Dragons, as practiced in the 19th century.
12. Looking at Rand and her ontology.
13. Art, doing it right.
14. Mileage and gas prices. Oddly enough, it is knicknamed in our household “the scooter”.
15. Do you or don’t you trust the government to keep their hands of your Roth? Put me in the “don’t” category.

Before last week’s Republican debate in South Carolina, a lot of people probably hadn’t heard of Herman Cain. But he made a big splash at the debate and as a result support for his candidacy is growing. Still, not a whole lot is known about him other than he was once the CEO of Godfather’s Pizza. Over at National Review, Robert Costa has an excellent profile of Cain that is worth reading. I’m not going to venture a guess about his future prospects but I will say that I’ve been intrigued about him since the debate and this article helped shed some light on who he is and why he could be the type of candidate that we need for President.

Wait times to see a doctor are getting longer. Fewer new doctors are being added. New regulations make insurance payments slower. This is what ObamaCare will bring us.

No, it’s not a wacky prediction or wild guess. It’s exactly what’s happening in Massachusetts under RomneyCare, of which ObamaCare is a carbon copy. It’s not a prediction; it’s an observation.

Good morning.

1. I linked to a google anti-trust discussion a while back, here’s more grist for that mill.
2. So, would you be more likely to hire a person from a vanilla liberal arts college or someone from this one?
3. Two years ago, a class (not the NSA/CIA) predicted where OBL would be found. 
4. Mr Obama backtraks on yet another stupid idea.
5. Philosophy and Islam.
6. The Obama bounce.
7. Yah! That’s my question too. Kit? That’s an interesting notion.
8. So. Question. Do they know that is wrong to say that? If not, why not? If so, isn’t that perjury?
9. Talking about the inactivity/activity thang in the Obamacare court challenge. More here.
10. Liberals apparently, can’t understand English. Yes, we know homo sapiens are in the Kingdom animalia. The question remains is whether within that kingdom “man and animal” is normally understood to mean “homo sapiens” and “not homo sapiens”. For anybody but kindergarden lawyers it is.
11. Putting to the point crux of the entitlement debate.
12. So. Imagine the reaction if Bush had said the same thing. Observe the reaction to Mr Obama’s statement. So, you can drop the pretence that the media is not biased.

Good morning. Our office area took a power hit last night. Things are partially back here at the office.

1. Libertarian? Seems to me that someone is confused by thinking anarchy is a libertarian ideal.
2. The hear/see/speak no evil crowd and an airline incedent.
3. I think it was more complicated than that (replacing ugly with beauty). I think the artistic aesthetic which judged art for its beauty got replaced by one that judged based on emotional and visceral “impact”. I think that is a mistake in approaching art, but one nevertheless which prevails in many circles today.
4. What I fail to see is the American left repudiated and rejecting this movement in any public way.
5. An anniversary.
6. Rationing of medical care.
7. Them angry cows.
8. OK then, in the view of the left racism (!) is a primary driver of thought. More seriously, I think there is some basic truth to the notion that while the right views the left as naive the left views the right as evil. 
9. Speaking of which, this is more the reality of what drives the right, the Presidents “clinging to guns, god, and yada yada” is not.
10. One of the better remarks on the dogs of war photo essay.
11. Mythbusters, and I’ll note that unsuppressed guns as sound effect in movies don’t sound like the real thing … so you shouldn’t expect suppressed ones to do so either?
12. Mythbusters of another sort.

In addition to the doctor shortage the US is going to have when us Baby-Boomers hit retirement, Obamacare is going to make the problem even worse, based on current trends, how socialized medicine "works" elsewhere, and the government’s own numbers.

In 2005, when the press was enamored with Cindy Sheehan, Chris Matthews suggested she run for Congress. Yeah, how about now? Cue the crickets chirping.

Seal Team Six was an evil, secret, assassination squad manipulated by Dick Cheney. At least, that’s what it was when a Republican was President. Today, under a Democrat, they’re heroes, and not associated with Obama or Biden in the slightest. What a difference a "D" makes.

And speaking of contrasts, we have Nancy Pelosi on bin Laden, then and now.

Michael Barone notes that, to get bin Laden, Obama relied on policies he decried.

You know that kids that had George W. Bush in their classroom on 9/11? This is a good TIME magazine article on what they were thinking at the time when Bush was given the news, and what their reaction is now.

Over half of the country pays no income tax. But "the rich" still don’t pay "their fair share", eh?

While the bin Laden story stole the front page, the Conservatives in Canada won historic victories. Later, the Liberal Democrats in England suffered their worst losses in 30 years.

The conventional wisdom on salt intake may not be right after all.

Civility Watch: "So when does Seal Unit 6, or whatever it’s called, drop in on George Bush?"

"Democrats blame Bush for high gas prices"? No, not now; back in 2006. And in 2008, Nancy Pelosi blamed the "oil men" in the White House. They’re much quieter now.

A reform to watch: Indiana lawmakers OK broadest voucher plan in US.

It’s so very sci-fi-sounding, but some physicists believe that something from emanating from the sun is now causing radioactive decay to occur faster.

Worst of all, if the decay rates of matter are being mutated then all matter on Earth is being affected including the matter that makes up life.

The mutation may go so far as to change the underlying reality of the quantum universe—and by extrapolation-the nature of life, the principles of physics, perhaps even the uniform flow of time.

In fact, some evidence of time dilation has been gleaned from close observation of the decay rate. If particles interacting with the matter are not the cause—and matter is being affected by a new force of nature-then time itself may be speeding up and there’s no way to stop it.

And finally, a history lesson from Tom McMahon. (Click for the blog entry.)

Good morning all.

1. Two for history of tragic mistreatment of man, mainly here but this is not unrelated (but that will need translation).
2. Heh.
3. Four views on the assasination of Mr bin Laden.
4. Speaking of which, Mr Obama backs capital punishment.
5. Reading a budget.
6. Brandon has a smart set of links.
7. Stupid human tricks in the Middle East. Or is it just plain evil?
8. Peter and Paul and their super sneaky plan.
9. The pissing match continues. So, which is more important raising taxes on the rich and middle classes or cutting spending?
10. Suprising only the economists.
11. Yah, that’s ’cause they’ve discovered summary execution works just fine. Just make sure yah shoot ‘im dead before he can surrender.\

Good morning … and I hope everyone had a festive Mother’s day.

1. The green vision exposed, or what they want everyone’s day to mostly be consumed with doing. Actually, they don’t want this, they just don’t realize that the consequence of what they want.
2. Job growth and health care waivers. That healthcare plan is such a winner, both a drag on corporate growth and innovation in healthcare. Perhaps the only (good) thing it will do is ultimately is shorten the careers of a lot of Democrats.
3. Another “good idea” the Dems fronted and its consequences.
4. While in education, some teachers are so out of touch they haven’t noticed there’s a recession going on and government tax income took a big hit.
5. Vicious kitten fight, or something like that.
6. The cult of the body.
7. When you hear about GM profits … some background you likely won’t hear.
8. Race and movement in the US.
9. So, with what animal do you want to identify? 
10. Banal evil.
11. An interesting conjunction in liturgical and secular calendars, the Sunday of the Myrrhbearers fell on Mother’s day.
12. One liberal’s attempt to demonize the special forces noted.
13. Science and the Jesus prayer.

Good morning.

1. Russia and the EU. Speaking of Russia, a favorite film over there (and btw, I like it too … and the Japanese original).
2. Pictures from Moscow.
3. Economics parry and thrust. Point, parry, riposte. I thought the parry lacked any real substance, and mostly relied on insults. Odd that.
4. Prop 8 and Judge Walker, is the last paragraph’s argument valid or not? Why?
5. A measure of ideology.
6. OK. The left likes to dismiss Consitutionality claims regarding the individual mandate as without merit. So …. read this and tell me why they are as you claim, “without merit.”  (HT: Volokh)
7. One suggestion why the SEALS were given the kill directive when encountering Mr bin Laden.
8. A Christian responds to the event.
9. Best beer ad ever? 
10. Probe B and relativity tests.
11. Inflation and indexes.

Good morning. 

1. Aside from the hard street, the smells, the sounds and all, that looks idyllic,  … or not. My eldest slept the night on my chest her first night home from the hospital after her birth just like that (she was smaller).
2. A “faked” quote … here and here. Alas my disconnect from the mainstream/liberal left echo chamber is that I only heard of the quote from these discussions pointing out that it was faked.
3. Or far more reasonably you this should cast serious doubt on the accuracy of your cricket race. Try the following, poll 20 of your GOP friends … ask them Obama was born in the US … and report back. See if that 45% number holds any water. I bet you come back with something more akin to 1 in 20.
4. The importance of ethics, be you Christian or not. “How then shall you live?” is indeed the crux of the matter.
5. Considering the Christian response to the bin Laden assasination.
6. How many? Hmm, how many shoplifters, bigots, racists, web-footed cyclists? Why, for that matter do smart/good people turn to bad arguments? What, anything in a mudfight?
7. Beauty in the eyes of … whom? I mean besides mom.
8. Some shutup medicine for the tornado/AGW crowd.
9. Better than the final 4 … May and the Giro. On an unrelated note, I’m back to commuting to/from work by bike. I’m both way way out of shape but I’m at least moving in the right direction. Right now, it’s 8miles each way, and my sweet wife has persuaded me to try to get to work prior to the rush hour (I’m working towards leaving at 6). Next week, I’ll start stretching the return ride bit by bit towards a more respectable distance which hopefully by July is more like 30 at least a few times a week. 
10. Orthodoxy in Africa, at the Cape.

With all the talk about the bin Laden story yesterday, it would be understandable that Americans might have missed this story. If you felt the ground lurch to the right yesterday, it’s because Conservatives in Canada were handed a huge victory.

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada’s Conservatives stormed to a decisive victory in Monday’s federal election, winning 54 percent of the seats in Parliament and securing a stable four-year term in power after vowing to focus on the economy.

The Conservatives grabbed 167 seats in Canada’s Parliament, well above the 155 they needed to transform their minority government into a majority, according to provisional results. They won about 40 percent of the vote, beating expectations.

The victory, a relief for Canadian financial markets, left support for the separatist Bloc Quebecois in tatters and the party’s leader without a seat. Bloc Quebecois advocates independence for the province of Quebec.

The Liberals, who have ruled Canada for more years than any other party, were reduced to a dismal third place showing with their worst ever seat haul.

The global financial crisis has apparently made Canadians very tired of liberal solutions. The financial markets echoed this new-found optimism.

The market’s nightmare scenario of an unstable minority government headed by the pro-labor New Democratic Party never came to pass. Harper now has free rein to keep corporate taxes low in the nation of more than 34 million people and bring in a string of tax breaks once he balances the budget, projected within four years.

"It’s going to reinforce quite a bit of stability and confidence, and Canada is going to continue to be very attractive for foreign investors," said Youssef Zohny, portfolio manager at Van Arbor Asset Management in Vancouver.

"With a Conservative majority, you’re essentially assured a fairly business-friendly platform, low taxes, continued investment in energy and potential future energy projects. In terms of investment it’s definitely got a bullish bias."

Pro-business is pro-worker, because pro-business is pro-jobs. The liberal "solutions" have only made the problems worse by taxing the job-creators or pushing them out to look for greener pastures. Canadians have had enough of this, and it’s very possible they will beat the US out of the recession.

If they do, will Americans learn that lesson?

Good morning. Midsized remarks?

1. A not unsurprising finding, although that is not a reason not to be principled. There’s kind of a chicken/egg thing going on here, as the decision to be principled, if based on principles not consequence won’t look to the consequence. I didn’t explain that well, does any one else see the chicken/egg notion going on here?
2. Seeing as MassCare and the Federal act are quite similar, we can look to our future in Mass … and some things aren’t so good. Supply and demand, contrary to the hopes and dreams of the designers (that is the left) actually do matter.
3. Brain damage and football. So, the question then arises, can a grown man choose to ignore that and practice the profession of his choice freely?
4. Here are some reactions of bloggers (and tweeters) in Pakistan to the news of bin Laden’s death. This was an assasination. Does that have legal ramifications?
5. I’ve seen this sentiment on several left leaning blogs, that they wish there was a trial. OK. We’ve all read Ms Arendt’s book (and if you didn’t shame shame on you). Some questions arise … the points made by Ms Arendt weren’t very obvious in the trial and it’s not clear that there is a Ms Arendt who would pen a similarly impactful tome as a result of this trial. So then, what would be gained by such a trial? Is the only reason the trial makes you uncomfortable is the legal point (and the political bias noted) in the prior post?
6. One other point to make about the prior link, Mr Greenwald is uncomfortable about the pro-USA demonstrations. However, media distortion of the reality set aside (which he apprently buys hook line and sinker) … this reaction is I think far more typical. Why does that bother him? If you don’t think that is the “typical reaction” consider your reaction and that of those around you. Hmmm?
7. Some more legal roundup on drones and targeted killing.
8. So will this reopen some of the discussions on torture. Oddly enough, it  reinforces the POV I was espousing, that torture is effective but that we shouldn’t do it based on principles. There were those who argued that it doesn’t work (reasoning that the tortured will say anything to get the torture to stop), my counter was that didn’t hold up to analysis of torture used in by regimes in counter-insurgency operations (look at WWII and the Philippines and on on). 
9. Pain of two sorts and … what sort of caught my attention is the title but for a strange reason. I have several webbed toes … which was kind in the title.
10. And to wrap it up … some food p0rn. If you don’t want to call it p0rn … what would you call it?