A series by Thomas Sowell: The Money of Fools

Dr Sowell discusses the use in our public discourse of these and other catchphrases: "social justice", "health care", "liberal", "conservative" and "disarmament".

The Money of Fools Part 1  "Warm, fuzzy words and phrases have an enormous advantage in politics. None has had such a long run of political success as "social justice." The idea cannot be refuted because it has no specific meaning."

The Money of Fools: Part II "When you are satisfied to accept words, without thinking beyond those words to the things-- the tangible realities of the world-- you are confirming what philosopher Thomas Hobbes said in the 17th century, that words are wise men's counters but they are the money of fools."
The Money of Fools: Part III "Liberals are usually willing to let people violate the traditional standards of the larger society but crack down on those who dare to violate liberals' own notions and fetishes."

The Money of Fools: Part IV "But the only country we can disarm is our own. The only countries we might be able to persuade to disarm are countries that intend no harm in the first place. Those countries that do intend to harm others— and we know all too well that they exist— would be delighted to have all their victims disarmed."

White House: Global Warming Out, 'Global Climate Disruption' In

FoxNews  "From the administration that brought you "man-caused disaster" and "overseas contingency operation," another terminology change is in the pipeline.
"The White House wants the public to start using the term "global climate disruption" in place of "global warming" -- fearing the latter term oversimplifies the problem and makes it sound less dangerous than it really is."

Expiring tax cuts hit taxpayers at every level

MSNBC  "A typical family of four with a household income of $50,000 a year would have to pay $2,900 more in taxes in 2011, according to a new analysis by Deloitte Tax LLP, a tax consulting firm. The same family making $100,000 a year would see its taxes rise by $4,500.
" ..Wealthier families face even bigger tax hikes. A family of four making $500,000 a year would pay $10,800 more in taxes. The same family making $1 million a year would get a tax increase of $52,300."

It's Tough Out There

American Thinker "Let's get the lesson right, though. This emergent seeming Sans Coulottism* of the Right is not the mirror image of the Left's politics of envy. It is merely good accounting. Having looked at the books finally we realize, and we hope not too late, that we can no longer afford incompetence; we can no longer subsidize fantasy, and indulging presumption has gotten just a bit too expensive."

 *The sans-culottes : The sans-culottes were the common people of Paris, and were so named this because they didn't wear upper class breeches or culottes. They were the working people, the shop owners, the tradespeople, the artisans, and even the factory workers. They were among the prominent losers of the first, more subtle revolution. While the middle class and wealthy classes benefitted greatly from the revolution, the sans-culottes saw their livelihoods disappearing and inflation driving them to fight for survival. Of all the groups of France, the views of the sans-culottes is what drove the radical revolution from 1792 to 1794.

Constitution Day and the Perilous Future

Heritage  "But 223 years after the formal signing of the Constitution, our country stands at a dangerous crossroads, the likes of which we have never faced before, although it is one that was certainly feared by many of our Founders. James Madison and many of the other leaders of our country who were at the Constitutional Convention were all classically educated. They were better educated about history than many of our representatives in Washington today and they were well aware of what had happened to ancient democracies in Athens and Rome." See the Abraham Lincoln quotation at the top of this blog.

History Holds the Key to Our Future’ Category  From Constituting America.

White House Insider; "The President Is Losing It"

Infidel Bloggers  "He clearly didn’t like the work of being President though, and that attitude was felt by the entire White House staff within weeks after the inauguration. Obama the tireless, hard working candidate became a very tepid personality to us. And the few News stories that did come out against him were the only things he seemed to care about. He absolutely obsesses over Fox News. For being so successful, Barack Obama is incredibly thin-skinned. He takes everything very personally..." Article here.

ABC Reporter Doug McKelway Fired for Argument Over Anti-Obama, Anti-Greenpeace Bias

Newsbusters  "WJLA is owned by Allbritton Communications, which is also the owner of the liberal Politico website (and newspaper). Aside from whatever words McKelway and Lord had, it's quite clear that McKelway was summoned for a scolding over conservative bias. Allbritton apparently expects all of its reporters to toe an Obama-friendly, Greenpeace-friendly line.
What was that about a free, unfettered press?

It’s Not About Settlements (Updated)

Jennifer Rubin "Giora Eiland isn’t impressed with the happy talk coming from the Obama team. George Mitchell may coo all he wants about getting down to “substantive issues,” but the Palestinians show no sign they are willing to accept the most basic element of a peace deal: recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. Eiland explains why this is an essential component of any accord:""...

RE: It’s Not About Settlements "As Jennifer noted yesterday in her comments on Giora Eiland’s Ynet op-ed, Palestinian unwillingness to recognize Israel as a Jewish state is the make-or-break issue of the peace process. She’s also correct that the Obama administration shows no signs of recognizing this fact. But two recent developments make this blindness particularly puzzling."

Song on Palestinian TV about conquering Israel through war. "The performance was broadcast on official Palestinian Authority TV this week, two days before the latest round of peace talks."

Palestinian cartoons depicting Israel and the US.

Sham Mideast Peace Talks: What It Really Means When They Say ‘Contiguous’ "U.S. envoy George Mitchell takes a position inimical to Israel, disguising it as neutral."

Socialized failure

Powerline  "Over the past year or two we have featured John Hinderaker's running series on socialized medicine, focused mostly on the United Kingdom. His series runs under the name "Annals of government medicine." John's annals feature the horror stories regularly produced by socialized medicine.

"Yesterday the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran an op-ed column by University of Minnesota Professor John Bryson providing a contrast with our annals."  Search results for this series here:

Annals of Government Medicine  "In the United Kingdom, decentralization of the National Health System is being planned in response to widespread revulsion with rising costs and lousy health care. The latest case in point: Babies died after junior surgeon left to cope on his own."
Here's that chart again:

What’s Behind David Frum’s Attack on Dinesh d’Souza and Mr. Newt?

Big Journalism  "Things About Newt Gingrich and Other Bad Conservatives That Only David Frum Knows

1.Anybody who disagrees with my position on anything is by nature hurting the Conservative movement.
2.Newt Gingrich was heard discussing the fact that Obama breathes air. Muslims breathe air that means Newt Gingrich believes that Barack Obama is a Muslim.
3.Sarah Palin was in the United States on 9/11/01. There were attacks on the US on 9/11/01 that means Sarah Palin believes that Barack Obama was behind the 9/11 attacks.
4.Newt Gingrich was on the Tonight Show when Conan was the host. Conan’s Tonight show was canceled, that means Newt Gingrich believes that Barack Obama is a communist.
5.Rush Limbaugh went to high school with Terry Jones. Terry Jones wanted to burn a Koran which means Rush Limbaugh believes that Barack Obama is a Muslim."

Will GOP Victories Save Obama?

 American Thinker "Ideally should they win, the Republicans should push economically sound legislation, spending cuts and tax cuts and they should also embark on a communication blitz to show the American people what is working and why. And above all, as Mark Levin has pointed out, they should work to switch the worn out Democrat premise that starts every argument with the Republican or Conservative on the defensive. And above all, we should gladly accept a robust economy under President Obama even if he had nothing to do with it."

Justice IG probing Black Panther case

Washington Times   "Christopher Coates, the veteran Justice Department voting section chief who recommended going forward on the civil complaint against the New Black Panther Party, was removed from his post and transferred to the U.S.attorney's office in South Carolina. New Black Panther Party members had disrupted a Philadelphia polling place in the November 2008 elections, one of whom intimidated would-be voters with a nightstick."