What Don DeLillo's Books Tell Him (WSJ)

Wood Toys by Anna Mezenova

Landon Donovan: First EPL goal at Everton

Labels: books, soccer, toys, weekend

(1) Obama v. the Supremes: Alito wins the oral, and factual, argument.

The President's claim about "foreign entities" bankrolling U.S. political campaigns is also false, since the Court did not overrule laws limiting such contributions. His use of "foreign" was a conscious attempt to inflame public and Congressional opinion against the Court. Coming from a President who fancies himself a citizen of the world, and who has gone so far as to foreswear American exceptionalism, this leap into talk-show nativism is certainly illuminating. What will they think of that one in the cafes of Berlin?

(2) The Obama Contradiction: Washington is sick and broken—and it can solve all our problems.

As the TV cameras panned the chamber, I saw a friendly acquaintance of the president, a Republican who bears him no animus. Why, I asked him later, did the president not move decisively to the political center?

Because he is more "intellectually honest" than that, he said. "I don't think he can do a Bill Clinton pivot, because he's not a pragmatist, he's an ideologue. He's a community organizer. He mixes the discrimination he felt as a young man with the hardship so many feel in this country, and he wants to change it and the way to change that is government programs and not opportunity."

The great issue, this friendly critic added, is debt. The public knows this; Congress and the White House do not.


(3) Don't Rejoice Over Higher GDP Yet: U.S. economy grows at 5.7% clip, but next few quarters will be a slog.

The consumer is essentially frozen, Egan added, and even those with jobs are looking over their shoulder and holding back spending. One of the results is that credit unions are seeing an increase in savings, which inched up a tenth of a point to 4.6% in the fourth quarter, as households look to strengthen their defenses against future crises.

Labels: economics, obama, weekend

Victor Davis Hanson takes a look at where we are after twelve months of Obama.

Spoiler alert: It ain't pretty.

Obama simply does not have the popularity to carry unpopular legislation forward. Indeed, he is reaching a point where he may poll more negatively than his agenda does. "Let me be perfectly clear" and "make no mistake about it" are now caricatures.

So where are we at twelve months? Obama showed the country his vision of where he wanted us to go; he had both houses of Congress, a toady media, and enormous personal popularity — and he is getting nowhere. Why? Because most Americans are vehemently opposed to taking their country in the direction that Obama, Pelosi, and Reid would prefer.

Since Obama is both inexperienced and apparently a stubborn ideologue, I think all we will be left with when the novelty wears off is rhetoric and euphemism.

Labels: obama, pelosi, reid

The Global Debt Bomb: Spending our way out of worldwide recession will take years to pay back--and create a lot of pain. (Forbes)

National governments will issue an estimated $4.5 trillion in debt this year, almost triple the average for mature economies over the preceding five years. The U.S. has allowed the total federal debt (including debt held by government agencies, like the Social Security fund) to balloon by 50% since 2006 to $12.3 trillion. The pain of repayment is not yet being felt, because interest rates are so low--close to 0% on short-term Treasury bills. Someday those rates are going to rise. Then the taxpayer will have the devil to pay.

Related
Figures on government spending and debt
News Flash: Entitlement Spending Grows Like Giant Cancer on U.S. Economy (via Instapundit)

Labels: economics, obama, pelosi, reid

The Fall of the House of Kennedy: The battle over who defines the work and institutions that make a nation thrive and grow. (WSJ)

"The central battle in our time is over political primacy. It is a competition between the public sector and the private sector over who defines the work and the institutions that make a nation thrive and grow..."

Labels: clintons, democrats, obama, pelosi, reid

Soccer
Fulham Football Club Provides Update on Clint Dempsey Knee Injury: U.S. Men's National Team midfielder Clint Dempsey will not require surgery on an injured knee, according to a statement from Fulham Football Club following an MRI evaluation.

Donovan open to staying with Everton beyond MLS opener

Baseball
A's prospect leaving baseball for call of the priesthood

You have got me walking up and down all day under those trees, saying to me over and over again, "Solitude, solitude." And You have turned around and thrown the whole world in my lap. You have told me, "Leave all things and follow me," and then You have tied half of New York to my foot like a ball and chain.

- Thomas Merton, The Seven Storey Mountain

Segway Polo, Anyone?
64 Things Every Geek Should Know

Labels: baseball, soccer, weekend

Scanned from A Picture History of Britain by Clarke Hutton.

Drawn to Plastocowell by Clarke Hutton and printed in Great Britain by W.S. Cowell LTD. at the Butter Market Ipswich

Related
School Prints 1947-51

"The spirit which pervades the published prints is of quiet celebration: they picture a world reassuring in its familiarities; a world of everyday work and occasional festivity. It is a spirit in keeping with the general optimism of the project. The best of these prints present images of perennial rural and small-town life: they are versions of pastoral."

Harlequinade (1946 England)

Labels: england, weekend

The States and the Stimulus: How a supposed boon has become a fiscal burden. (WSJ)

Keyword: Jimmy Carter II

Labels: obama, pelosi, reid

(1) The world's flags given letter grades

(2) Dr. Barber

(3) Highly Recommended: Let the Great World Spin: A Novel

Labels: books, weekend

That's all I got. That's all we get.

Labels: obama