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David Mamet wants to know why the liberal left has abandoned Israel.
Since its foundation Israel has turned the other cheek. Eric Hoffer wrote that Israel is the only country the world expects to act like Christians. Some Jews say that the Arabs have a better public relations apparatus. They do not need one. For the Liberal West does not need convincing. It is thrilled merely to accept an excuse to rescind what it regards as a colossal error.
The Liberal West has, for decades, indulged itself in an orgy of self-flagellation. We have enjoyed comfort and security, but these, in the absence of gratitude and patriotism, cause insecurity. This attempted cure for insecurity can be seen in protestations of our worthlessness, and the indictment of private property.
But no one in the affluent West and no one among the various protesters of various supposed injustices is prepared to act in accordance with his protestations. The opponent of “The Corporation” is still going to use the iPhone which permits him to mass with his like. The celebrities acting out at Occupy meetings will still invest their surplus capital, and the supposed champion of the dispossessed in the Levant will not only scoff at American Indian claims to land he has come to understand as his—he will lobby the City Council to have the homeless shelter built anywhere but on his block. …
Peter Schiff gets his turn at the Kansas speech.
For most of his time as a national political figure, Barack Obama has been careful to cloak his core socialist leanings behind a veil of pro-capitalist rhetoric. This makes strategic sense, as Americans still largely identify as pro-capitalist. However, based on his recent speech in Osawatomie, Kansas, the President appears to have reassessed the political landscape in advance of the 2012 elections. Based on the growth of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the recent defeat of Republicans in special elections, he has perhaps sensed a surge of left-leaning sentiment; and, as a result, he finally dropped the pretense.
According to our President’s new view of history, capitalism is a theory that has “never worked.” He argues that its appeal can’t be justified by results, but its popularity is based on Americans’ preference for an economic ideology that “fits well on a bumper sticker.” He feels that capitalism speaks to the flaws in the American DNA, those deeply rooted creation myths that elevate the achievements of individuals and cast unwarranted skepticism on the benefits of government. He argues that this pre-disposition has been exploited by the rich to popularize policies that benefit themselves at the expense of the poor and middle class.
But Obama’s knowledge of history is limited to what is written on his teleprompter. And his selection of the same location that Teddy Roosevelt used to chart an abrupt departure into populist politics is deeply symbolic in the opposite way to that which he intended. It is not by some genetic fluke that Americans distrust government. It is an integral and essential part of our heritage. The United States was founded by people who distrusted government intensely and was subsequently settled, over successive generations, by people fleeing the ravages of government oppression. These Americans relied on capitalism to quickly build the greatest economic power the world had ever seen – from nothing. …
Joel Kotkin says you can blame Obama’s left leanings for his economic failures, but we should also look at his Chicago background.
… If the Chicago system had proven an economic success, perhaps we could excuse Obama for bringing it to the rest of us. Most of us would put up with a bit of corruption and special dealing if the results were strong economic and employment growth.
But the bare demographic and economic facts for both Chicago and Illinois reveal a stunning legacy of failure. Over the past decade, Illinois suffered the third highest loss of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math-related) jobs in the nation, barely beating out Delaware and Michigan. The rest of the job picture is also dismal: Over the past ten years, Illinois suffered the third largest loss of jobs of any state, losing over six percent of its employment.
The state’s demographic picture also is dismal. In the last decade, Illinois lost population not only to sunbelt states such as Texas and Florida but actually managed to have negative migration even with places like California and New York, net losers to virtually everywhere else. In fact, Illinois had a positive net migration with only one major state, Michigan.
Chicago and its Daley dictatorship has been much celebrated in the media – particularly after Obama’s election in everything from the liberal New Yorker to Fast Company, which named Chicago “city of the year” in 2008. The following year, the Windy City was deemed the best city for men by Askmen.com, for offering what it claimed was “the perfect balance between cosmopolitan and comfortable, combining all of the culture, entertainment and sophistication of an internationally renowned destination with an affordable lifestyle and down-to-earth work hard/play hard character.”
Well, you can make that case, unless you happen to be searching for a job. Over the past decade, “the Chicago way” has proven more adept at getting good coverage than creating employment for its residents. In Forbes’ last cities rankings greater Chicago ranked 41st out of the 51 largest metropolitan areas. Between 2001 and 2011 it actually lost jobs. Since 2007 the region has lost more jobs than Detroit, and more than twice as many as New York. It has lost about as many jobs – 250,000 – as up and comer Houston has gained. In Forbes recent survey of high-tech performance, the Chicago region stood at a dismal 47th among the nation’s 51 largest metropolitan areas. …
Turning to more pleasant pastimes, it is long past time for Pickings to note Tim Tebow’s unorthodox success. First up is Jeff Neuman.
I have accepted Tim Tebow as my personal quarterback and savior.
If faith is belief in things unseen, with or without evidence, then I have faith in Tim Tebow’s ability as a passer, a leader and a winner.
I have faith that he can, as Jimmy Johnson said on the Fox postgame show, “raise his teammates better than anyone I have ever seen.”
With their 13-10 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday, the Broncos are 7-1 since Tebow became their starting quarterback. I know of no explanation for this that excludes the supernatural.
He apparently has the power to cloud men’s minds.
How else can you explain Lovie Smith’s (Chicago Bears Coach) fourth-quarter play-calling? For three quarters, the Bears ran the ball 25 times and threw 18 (including sacks). In the fourth, Smith let Caleb Hanie drop back once in 12 offensive plays, content to rack up the three-and-outs while sitting on a 10-0 lead. His refusal to mix it up even after recovering a Tebow fumble proved costly. …
Woody Paige has more from the Denver Post.
Unbelievabow and Timplausible.
He did it one more time.
They did for the seventh time in eight games and the third time in overtime this season.
“It’s not Tebow Time. It’s Broncos time,” Tim Tebow, the Broncos’ wunderkind quarterback, said Sunday evening.
“Let every man be the master of his time,” William Shakespeare said in another time.
This time the Broncos began their comeback with 4:34 remaining in the fourth quarter and finished their flourish 6:26 into the extra period.
Duh, Bears.
When he was a kid dreaming of playing quarterback in the NFL, “I never read anything or saw anything quite like this,” Tebow told me in the hallway outside the locker room. “It’s pretty special.
. . . I think God has a plan for me.”
Good Lord!
Broncos coach John Fox entered the interview room after his team’s latest miraculous victory and said, “First, want to thank the good Lord.”
He also thanked the players. …
Andrew Malcolm has late night humor.
Fallon: Turns out that website that rents toys is really preparing kids for life. You get Barbie’s Dream House. and then a month later they foreclose.
Leno: Newt Gingrich meets with Donald Trump. Great combo—two guys, six wives, zero chance of either ever becoming president.
Leno: Charlie Sheen’s ex-wife was arrested for cocaine possession in Colorado after a bar fight. Wow, who’d have thought Charlie was the quiet stable one?