incredulous

Hot Air » Blog Archive » Chaos in Iran: I’m ready for martyrdom, says Mousavi; Videos: Woman murdered in cold blood; Update: Obama calls on regime to end violence; Update: Obama goes out for ice cream; Rumor: 150 dead? Report: Mousavi’s office sends letter to Obama?.

The Case for Working With Your Hands – NYTimes.com.

Like the mechanic, the manager faces the possibility of disaster at any time. But in his case these disasters feel arbitrary; they are typically a result of corporate restructurings, not of physics. A manager has to make many decisions for which he is accountable. Unlike an entrepreneur with his own business, however, his decisions can be reversed at any time by someone higher up the food chain (and there is always someone higher up the food chain). It’s important for your career that these reversals not look like defeats, and more generally you have to spend a lot of time managing what others think of you. Survival depends on a crucial insight: you can’t back down from an argument that you initially made in straightforward language, with moral conviction, without seeming to lose your integrity. So managers learn the art of provisional thinking and feeling, expressed in corporate doublespeak, and cultivate a lack of commitment to their own actions. Nothing is set in concrete the way it is when you are, for example, pouring concrete.

Fathers today are steeped in the fine points of birth coaching and Lamaze, but once upon a time they had, literally, nothing to do with the event other than participating in the kickoff nine months earlier. As late as 1938 half of American women were still giving birth at home and men were, as they had been for thousands of years, unwelcome on the premises. The mother gathered her lady friends around her; the father was sent packing. In one charming bit of correspondence from the period, reproduced by Ms. Leavitt, a letter-writer observes how the womenfolk managed the event: “Mrs. Warren, who was absolute in this season of female despotism, interposed, and the happy father was compelled, with reluctant steps, to quit the spot.”

Present at the Creation – WSJ.com.

In every trial — every single trial — judges solemnly instruct American citizens who are compelled to perform jury duty that they will have a sworn obligation to decide cases objectively — without fear or favor. If a person is unwilling or unable to do that, if the person believes he or she has a bias or prejudice, especially one based on a belief that people are inferior or superior due to such factors as race, ethnicity, or sex, the person is not qualified to be a juror. Indeed, prospective jurors are told that they are not qualified if they harbor even the slightest doubt about their ability to put such considerations aside and render an impartial verdict. If the judge or the lawyer for either side senses bias, the juror is excused “for cause” — the parties are not even required to use their discretionary (or “peremptory”) jury challenges to strike such a juror; rather the judge makes a finding that the juror is not fit to serve.

Forget Whether She Qualifies as a “Racist.” Would Judge Sotomayor Qualifiy as a Juror? – Andy McCarthy – The Corner on National Review Online.

The incident – which gained national attention when it was captured on videotape and distributed on YouTube – had prompted the government to sue the men, saying they violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by scaring would-be voters with the weapon, racial slurs and military-style uniforms.

EXCLUSIVE: Career lawyers overruled on voting case – Washington Times.

It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.

American capitalism gone with a whimper – Pravda.Ru.

Whooping cough, or pertussis, has been making a resurgence in recent years as more parents decide not to vaccinate their children, says Jason Glanz, author of a study in today’s Pediatrics. In a study of 751 children enrolled in Kaiser Permanente of Colorado, one in 20 children who skipped the vaccine developed whooping cough, compared with one in 500 vaccinated children. In all, 11% to 12% of pertussis cases were in unvaccinated children.

Though more than 90% effective, the vaccine doesn’t protect everyone, says Sean O’Leary, an infectious-disease fellow at Children’s Hospital in Denver.

That’s why vaccinating all children is crucial to creating “herd immunity” for the entire community, including newborns who are too young to be immunized, O’Leary says.

A study in the Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal in March found that 91 babies under age 1 died of whooping cough from 1999 to 2004. More than half were under 2 months old, the age at which infants get their first in a series of whooping cough shots.

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” said Judge Sotomayor, who is now considered to be near the top of President Obama’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees.

Four hours on the golf course, and less than 30 minutes speaking at Arlington, where he gave a Memorial Day speech. During the speech, which he gave just before playing his round of golf, he made this request:

So on this day of silent remembrance and solemn prayer I ask all Americans, wherever you are, whoever you’re with, whatever you’re doing, to pause in national unity at 3 o’clock this afternoon. I ask you to ring a bell, or offer a prayer, say a silent “thank you.”

The White House assured reporters that Obama complied with his own request by observing a moment of silence on — I kid you not — the golf course:

For President Obama that moment came in the middle of a round of golf at Ft. Belvoir in Virginia. … White House aides told reporters that the president paused at 3 p.m. to observe a moment of silent prayer.

Um, yeah. Or he may have observed a moment of silent contemplation of a ten-foot putt, too. Was it really too much to ask to have the President at work in the White House on a day when Kim Jong-Il tested a nuclear weapon, or at least to spend as much time honoring veterans as he did honing his short game?

Some people would rather not achieve on their own.  They want it done for them.

The expat quoted doesn’t have a problem with paying for the quality healthcare or education.  The issue, I think, is taking the responsibility for his own welfare and being self-reliant.  Whatever happenened to working in the pursuit of one’s own self-interest?  The desire to have someone take care of everything for you is foreign to me.  I’d rather take care of myself and succeed or fail on the merits of my actions.

What’s wrong with paying for you education,or paying for your own healthcare?  What’s wrong with being rich?

FTA:  Americans in Finland shared similar sentiments. But they weren’t naive about the place, and there was a reason they weren’t buying the latest toys. “I’ll never become rich in Finland,” one explained, “the taxes are just too high.” But for him it was a trade-off worth making. “Great healthcare, basically free. My kids get one of the best educations in the world, free.” By the way, that includes college, free. He had no plans to move back to the States.

FTA:  Finland doesn’t pay lip service to providing a level playing field for all its citizens. It really does give the vast majority of its citizens a fair and equal chance in life, in a way that the US just doesn’t, no matter how much Americans like to think it does.

via What Finland can teach America about true luxury.