This is what GMU law professor David Bernstein has to say about big-spendin’ George W.:

George Bush, Liberal Darling: Huge increases in spending on education and other domestic programs that are not even within the federal government’s constitutional purview; a new prescription drug entitlement for the elderly; Wilsonian rhetoric and actions in foreign policy; Kennedyesque manned space mission boondoggles; clumsy protectionism; in its appointments to high-level positions, the most affirmative-action conscious administration in American history; a proposal to legalize the status of illegal aliens; and now, a huge proposed increase in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. Remind me again of why liberals are so hostile to George Bush?

The real problem with public education is not “No Child Left Behind.” Rather, I suspect, it has to do with the culture in public schools. Recently a guy was turned down for a job teaching school in Georgia because he was too smart. His rejection email read:

“Though your qualifications are quite impressive, I regret to inform you that we have selected another candidate. It was felt that your demeanor and therefore presence in the classroom would serve as an unrealistic expectation as to what high school students could strive to achieve or become. However, it is highly recommended that you seek employment at the collegiate level; there your intellectual comportment would be greatly appreciated. Good luck.”

Global Warming will bring a new Ice Age? I doubt it.

Check out this Doonesbury cartoon from 1971. Apparently John Kerry hasn’t changed in the last 23 years.

Link via Opinion Journal.

Dave Barry attended a John Edwards bowling alley photo op. He reports:

Every second, more people were cramming themselves into the already-jammed bowling alley, and the hostility between the bowlers and nonbowlers, especially the media, was getting intense. Bowlers and photographers were elbowing each other. A woman was shouting, ”WE’RE TRYING TO BOWL HERE!!” A man brandishing a bowling ball was yelling at a TV cameraman: ”GET YOUR (very bad word) DIRTY SHOES OFF THE (even worse word) LANE!!” A management person on the public-address system was announcing that the police and fire marshal had been called, and that the building had to be evacuated.

Into this festive scene surged Sen. Edwards, whose campaign theme is that he is going to bring America together. He stood on a platform and gave a speech, surrounded by a dense crowd of media and applauding supporters. About 25 feet away, outside the crowd, the bowlers offered their rebuttal. It was a weird kind of stereo: In one ear, I’d hear Sen. Edwards explaining how he would provide economic opportunity to all Americans; in the other ear, I’d hear: “OUR WHOLE NIGHT IS RUINED! YOU DON’T GIVE A (bad word) ABOUT US!”

Link via Hit and Run.

Clay Risen’s Is Outsourcing Really So Bad? is another reason why The New Republic is the best magazine on the left. Risen writes:

But, like the fears that surrounded nafta, those around offshoring are mostly baseless. While offshoring is definitely an economic trend, there is no statistical evidence pointing to the massive employment drain activists call the “coring out” of America’s best jobs. In fact, recent studies show that the opposite is true: While offshoring may displace some workers in the short term, in the medium and long terms it represents a net benefit for both domestic businesses and their workers. In fact, the greatest threat from outsourcing is that its opponents will use it to force a new wave of protectionism.
…
thanks to its combination of high job mobility and a highly educated work force, one of the U.S. economy’s greatest strengths is its ability to redeploy workers quickly without dramatic cuts in their wages. And, thanks to that flexibility, notes the McKinsey report, “Over the past 10 years, the U.S. economy has created a total of 35 million new private sector jobs.” It would be ironic if, in an effort to protect jobs, we closed off one of the most powerful means by which they are created.

File this one in the “actions speak louder than words department,” Al Franken Knocks Down Dean Heckler.

Wise-cracking funnyman Al Franken yesterday body-slammed a demonstrator to the ground after the man tried to shout down Gov. Howard Dean.
…
Franken – who seemed in a state of shock and out of breath after the incident – was helped back to his feet by several people who watched the tussle. Police arrived soon after.

“I got down low and took his legs out,” said Franken afterwards.

Franken is all for using violence to silence dissent, but not to stop Saddam. To each his own.

Link via LGF.

How did John Edwards make his millions? He earned them. The NRO reports:

For Edwards’s ability to connect with everyday people was honed by courtroom success; while Kerry amassed his fortune the old-fashioned way, by marrying

According to a TV station in California:

A Bay Area lawmaker wants to spread the ancient Chinese ritual of feng shui.

San Francisco Assemblyman Leland Yee says feng shui would create a positive work environment in all state buildings.

Here’s Donald Luskin on the myth of insider trading actually hurting investors. He writes:

WITH MARTHA STEWART going on trial this week, it’s a perfect time to take a look at insider trading. From what I can tell, Ms. Stewart is being railroaded. And whatever the merits (or lack thereof) of the case against her, investors shouldn’t be especially worried about insider trading anyway. The odds that you are going to end up getting hurt trading against someone with material inside information are probably lower than the odds of being hit by lightning on the same day you win the lottery.