LOS ANGELES -- A savage beating by two men outside Dodger Stadium left a San Francisco Giants fan in a medically-induced coma as police on Saturday urged any witnesses to help identify the attackers.
The assault after Thursday's season opener between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the rival Giants left a 42-year-old paramedic from Santa Cruz in critical but stable condition.
Police released composite sketches of the two suspects, who were wearing Dodgers clothing.
The two suspects cursed and taunted three men in Giants gear as thousands of fans left the stadium after the 2-1 Dodger victory, Detective T.J. Moore said.
The Giants fans ran and two got away, but the assailants caught up to one in the parking lot, struck him on the back of the head and as he fell, he hit his head on the asphalt, Moore said.
Both attackers then kicked the victim, then ran, Moore said. They fled in a four-door sedan driven by a woman with a boy, Moore said.
The victim's friends returned and found him on the ground.
April 28, 2011
August 24, 2010
One of the Horsemen of the Apocolypse has Arrived
"Jersey Shore" Star Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino Set To Earn $5 Million In 2010
As the second season of MTV's hit show "Jersey Shore" continues to be the biggest ratings draw for the network in seven years, it's breakout star Sorrentino (a.k.a. The Situation) has jumped at the opportunity to capitalize on his fame. By year's end, Sorrentino stands to earn more than $5 million, according to published reports.
A source familiar with his finances told The Hollywood Reporter that by the end of the year the 29-year-old stands to earn more than $5 million.
"We are really excited about all the opportunities coming Mike's way," said Sorrentino's manager, Mike Petolino of Gotham Entertainment. "He has been able to secure many endorsement deals, business opportunities and additional television offers based on the success of the show. Our goal has always been to try to build a brand if the situation presented itself."
As the second season of MTV's hit show "Jersey Shore" continues to be the biggest ratings draw for the network in seven years, it's breakout star Sorrentino (a.k.a. The Situation) has jumped at the opportunity to capitalize on his fame. By year's end, Sorrentino stands to earn more than $5 million, according to published reports.
A source familiar with his finances told The Hollywood Reporter that by the end of the year the 29-year-old stands to earn more than $5 million.
"We are really excited about all the opportunities coming Mike's way," said Sorrentino's manager, Mike Petolino of Gotham Entertainment. "He has been able to secure many endorsement deals, business opportunities and additional television offers based on the success of the show. Our goal has always been to try to build a brand if the situation presented itself."
February 01, 2010
October 09, 2009
I never thought I would agree with terrorists...
Obama wins Noblel Peace Prize
"Very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee said in a citation."
Who new the key to peace was hope?
"Liaqat Baluch, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a conservative religious party in Pakistan, called the award an embarrassing "joke". "
I completely agree. How unfortunate for the past recipients deserving of this prize. It's just been rendered meaningless.
"Very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee said in a citation."
Who new the key to peace was hope?
"Liaqat Baluch, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a conservative religious party in Pakistan, called the award an embarrassing "joke". "
I completely agree. How unfortunate for the past recipients deserving of this prize. It's just been rendered meaningless.
September 22, 2009
Global Cooling
Scientists pull an about face on global warming
By Lorne Gunter, For The Calgary HeraldSeptember 19, 2009
Imagine if Pope Benedict gave a speech saying the Catholic Church has had it wrong all these centuries; there is no reason priests shouldn't marry. That might generate the odd headline, no?
Or Jack Layton insisted that unions are ruining the economy by distorting wages and protecting unproductive workers.
When a leading proponent for one point of view suddenly starts batting for the other side, it's usually newsworthy.
So why was a speech last week by Prof. Mojib Latif of Germany's Leibniz Institute not given more prominence?
Latif is one of the leading climate modellers in the world. He is the recipient of several international climate-study prizes and a lead author for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He has contributed significantly to the IPCC's last two five-year reports that have stated unequivocally that man-made greenhouse emissions are causing the planet to warm dangerously.
Yet last week in Geneva, at the UN's World Climate Conference--an annual gathering of the so-called "scientific consensus" on man-made climate change --Latif conceded the Earth has not warmed for nearly a decade and that we are likely entering "one or even two decades during which temperatures cool."
The global warming theory has been based all along on the idea that the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans would absorb much of the greenhouse warming caused by a rise in man-made carbon dioxide, then they would let off that heat and warm the atmosphere and the land.
But as Latif pointed out, the Atlantic, and particularly the North Atlantic, has been cooling instead. And it looks set to continue a cooling phase for 10 to 20 more years.
"How much?" he wondered before the assembled delegates. "The jury is still out."
But it is increasingly clear that global warming is on hiatus for the time being. And that is not what the UN, the alarmist scientists or environmentalists predicted. For the past dozen years, since the Kyoto accords were signed in 1997, it has been beaten into our heads with the force and repetition of the rowing drum on a slave galley that the Earth is warming and will continue to warm rapidly through this century until we reach deadly temperatures around 2100.
While they deny it now, the facts to the contrary are staring them in the face: None of the alarmist drummers ever predicted anything like a 30-year pause in their apocalyptic scenario.
Latif says he expects warming to resume in 2020 or 2030.
In the past year, two other groups of scientists--one in Germany, the second in the United States--have come to the same conclusion: Warming is on hold, likely because of a cooling of the Earth's upper oceans, but it will resume.
But how is that knowable? How can Latif and the others state with certainty that after this long and unforeseen cooling, dangerous man-made heating will resume? They failed to observe the current cooling for years after it had begun, how then can their predictions for the resumption of dangerous warming be trusted?
My point is they cannot. It's true the supercomputer models Latif and other modellers rely on for their dire predictions are becoming more accurate. But getting the future correct is far trickier. Chances are some unforeseen future changes will throw the current predictions out of whack long before the forecast resumption of warming.
By Lorne Gunter, For The Calgary HeraldSeptember 19, 2009
Imagine if Pope Benedict gave a speech saying the Catholic Church has had it wrong all these centuries; there is no reason priests shouldn't marry. That might generate the odd headline, no?
Or Jack Layton insisted that unions are ruining the economy by distorting wages and protecting unproductive workers.
When a leading proponent for one point of view suddenly starts batting for the other side, it's usually newsworthy.
So why was a speech last week by Prof. Mojib Latif of Germany's Leibniz Institute not given more prominence?
Latif is one of the leading climate modellers in the world. He is the recipient of several international climate-study prizes and a lead author for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He has contributed significantly to the IPCC's last two five-year reports that have stated unequivocally that man-made greenhouse emissions are causing the planet to warm dangerously.
Yet last week in Geneva, at the UN's World Climate Conference--an annual gathering of the so-called "scientific consensus" on man-made climate change --Latif conceded the Earth has not warmed for nearly a decade and that we are likely entering "one or even two decades during which temperatures cool."
The global warming theory has been based all along on the idea that the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans would absorb much of the greenhouse warming caused by a rise in man-made carbon dioxide, then they would let off that heat and warm the atmosphere and the land.
But as Latif pointed out, the Atlantic, and particularly the North Atlantic, has been cooling instead. And it looks set to continue a cooling phase for 10 to 20 more years.
"How much?" he wondered before the assembled delegates. "The jury is still out."
But it is increasingly clear that global warming is on hiatus for the time being. And that is not what the UN, the alarmist scientists or environmentalists predicted. For the past dozen years, since the Kyoto accords were signed in 1997, it has been beaten into our heads with the force and repetition of the rowing drum on a slave galley that the Earth is warming and will continue to warm rapidly through this century until we reach deadly temperatures around 2100.
While they deny it now, the facts to the contrary are staring them in the face: None of the alarmist drummers ever predicted anything like a 30-year pause in their apocalyptic scenario.
Latif says he expects warming to resume in 2020 or 2030.
In the past year, two other groups of scientists--one in Germany, the second in the United States--have come to the same conclusion: Warming is on hold, likely because of a cooling of the Earth's upper oceans, but it will resume.
But how is that knowable? How can Latif and the others state with certainty that after this long and unforeseen cooling, dangerous man-made heating will resume? They failed to observe the current cooling for years after it had begun, how then can their predictions for the resumption of dangerous warming be trusted?
My point is they cannot. It's true the supercomputer models Latif and other modellers rely on for their dire predictions are becoming more accurate. But getting the future correct is far trickier. Chances are some unforeseen future changes will throw the current predictions out of whack long before the forecast resumption of warming.
July 28, 2009
Bad Economists
There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: the bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen. Yet this difference is tremendous; for it almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favorable, the later consequences are disastrous, and vice versa. Whence it follows that the bad economist pursues a small present good that will be followed by a great evil to come, while the good economist pursues a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil.
-Frederic Bastiat, French economist (1801 - 1850)
-Frederic Bastiat, French economist (1801 - 1850)
July 23, 2009
BullSHIT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he realized Americans were skeptical about his healthcare overhaul, but that the country's economic recovery depended on implementing the $1 trillion plan.
March 18, 2009
World Shut Your Mouth
There is nothing that important to say that justifies you being on your cell phone while you are in a car. If you can't wait to say it, then it's probably not worth saying. I don't care that you are baking muffins right now, or that you're tired, or that you hope Duke wins, so skip the facebook or twitter post. What compulsion is it that makes people feel they have to communicate every thought that comes into their head (or that anyone really cares to hear it)? I think only 3.6% of those thoughts are probably interesting or valuable, so why won't everyone just shut up for the other 96.4% of the time?
March 16, 2009
Need some furniture?
I'd recommend furniturenc2nyc.com. There's not much out there in terms of a review of this business, so I'd thought I'd write a few comments. This is the second time I have ordered furniture from this "company". It's really a mom and pop operation (literally), who personally make the trek from the furniture warehouses in NC to the tri-state area every other weekend.
Their prices can not be beat. I purchased a dining room set, and they were about 30% below retail, and 18% below the best price I could haggle locally. Not only that, the customer service is top notch too. The local store tried to sell me on the "buy local" trend. In this case, buying local meant waiting 8 weeks for delivery, paying $700 more, and not being able to get a piece I wanted due to it being discountinued. furniturenc2nyc.com was able to deliver all the pieces (including the "discontinued" one) in two weeks for $700 less.
There was one piece that was not ready in the finish I specified, so they brought a floor model for me to use until the ordered piece was in stock. When's the last time a local shop gave you a "loaner"?
The only downside is you might have to help carry in the furniture. As I said, it's a literal mom and pop operation. The owners, Chuck and Sandra were fully prepared to do all the moving themselves. My gentlemanly upbringing wouldn't allow me to stand by and watch, so I pitched in. Well worth the $700.
Their prices can not be beat. I purchased a dining room set, and they were about 30% below retail, and 18% below the best price I could haggle locally. Not only that, the customer service is top notch too. The local store tried to sell me on the "buy local" trend. In this case, buying local meant waiting 8 weeks for delivery, paying $700 more, and not being able to get a piece I wanted due to it being discountinued. furniturenc2nyc.com was able to deliver all the pieces (including the "discontinued" one) in two weeks for $700 less.
There was one piece that was not ready in the finish I specified, so they brought a floor model for me to use until the ordered piece was in stock. When's the last time a local shop gave you a "loaner"?
The only downside is you might have to help carry in the furniture. As I said, it's a literal mom and pop operation. The owners, Chuck and Sandra were fully prepared to do all the moving themselves. My gentlemanly upbringing wouldn't allow me to stand by and watch, so I pitched in. Well worth the $700.
March 12, 2009
We've lost our minds
"Proposals to tax the flatulence of cows and other livestock have been denounced by farming groups in the Irish Republic and Denmark.
A cow tax of €13 per animal has been mooted in Ireland, while Denmark is discussing a levy as high as €80 per cow to offset the potential penalties each country faces from European Union legislation aimed at combating global warming.
The proposed levies are opposed vigorously by farming groups. The Irish Farmers' Association said that the cattle industry would move to South America to avoid EU taxes.
Livestock contribute 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases believed to cause global warming, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. The Danish Tax Commission estimates that a cow will emit four tonnes of methane a year in burps and flatulence, compared with 2.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide for an average car."
A cow tax of €13 per animal has been mooted in Ireland, while Denmark is discussing a levy as high as €80 per cow to offset the potential penalties each country faces from European Union legislation aimed at combating global warming.
The proposed levies are opposed vigorously by farming groups. The Irish Farmers' Association said that the cattle industry would move to South America to avoid EU taxes.
Livestock contribute 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases believed to cause global warming, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. The Danish Tax Commission estimates that a cow will emit four tonnes of methane a year in burps and flatulence, compared with 2.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide for an average car."
November 05, 2008
So it's "change" you want...
Well then buckle your seatbelts, because it's change you are going to get.
August 11, 2008
'Preppie killer' is headed back to prison
August 11, 2008 3:32 PM
NEW YORK (AP) – New York’s so-called “preppie killer” is headed back to prison.
Robert Chambers already served 15 years behind bars for strangling a woman in Central Park during what he said was rough sex.
On Monday, he pleaded guilty to selling drugs. The Manhattan district attorney’s office says Chambers is promised 19 years and four months in prison when he is sentenced on Sept. 2.
He and his girlfriend were charged with dealing cocaine out of their Upper East Side apartment in 2007.
Chambers became tabloid fodder in 1986 after the death of Jennifer Levin. The slaying was splashed across the headlines as the story of a handsome prep school youth gone bad. He pleaded guilty in 1988 to manslaughter and was released from prison in 2003.
Hmmm. 15 years for strangling a young girl, 19 years for dealing cocaine out of your apartment? There is something very wrong with the "system".
August 11, 2008 3:32 PM
NEW YORK (AP) – New York’s so-called “preppie killer” is headed back to prison.
Robert Chambers already served 15 years behind bars for strangling a woman in Central Park during what he said was rough sex.
On Monday, he pleaded guilty to selling drugs. The Manhattan district attorney’s office says Chambers is promised 19 years and four months in prison when he is sentenced on Sept. 2.
He and his girlfriend were charged with dealing cocaine out of their Upper East Side apartment in 2007.
Chambers became tabloid fodder in 1986 after the death of Jennifer Levin. The slaying was splashed across the headlines as the story of a handsome prep school youth gone bad. He pleaded guilty in 1988 to manslaughter and was released from prison in 2003.
Hmmm. 15 years for strangling a young girl, 19 years for dealing cocaine out of your apartment? There is something very wrong with the "system".
June 18, 2008
Now write that on the blackboard 250 times....
"Michael McDonough, 17, said he learned his lesson after the July 2007 plot that prosecutors said was masterminded by a younger boy. Authorities said the plot was timed to mark the anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre.
Police have said the teen also tried to purchase weapons and explosives online and made a video describing the attack, which they had intended to carry out on April 20 -- the ninth anniversary of the Columbine shootings.
State Supreme Court Justice Robert W. Doyle ordered McDonough to immediately begin serving 5 years of probation.
As part of the sentence, McDonough agreed to continue weekly counseling administered by his priest.
"I'm sorry about what happened," McDonough said. "It will never happen again."
WTF? "I promise that I will not plan to shoot and kill or mame any students or blow up anything ever, cross my heart." OK, then just make sure you speak with a priest once a week and we'll forget it ever happened. Now who wants some ice cream?
Police have said the teen also tried to purchase weapons and explosives online and made a video describing the attack, which they had intended to carry out on April 20 -- the ninth anniversary of the Columbine shootings.
State Supreme Court Justice Robert W. Doyle ordered McDonough to immediately begin serving 5 years of probation.
As part of the sentence, McDonough agreed to continue weekly counseling administered by his priest.
"I'm sorry about what happened," McDonough said. "It will never happen again."
WTF? "I promise that I will not plan to shoot and kill or mame any students or blow up anything ever, cross my heart." OK, then just make sure you speak with a priest once a week and we'll forget it ever happened. Now who wants some ice cream?
June 10, 2008
$4 Gasoline
The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) has an estimated 10 billion+ barrels of oil.
"ANWR is larger than the combined areas of five states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware), and drilling along its coastal plain would be confined to a space one-sixth the size of Washington's Dulles airport." (George Will)
Congress won't allow drilling. Our presidential candidates are opposed to drilling.
Brilliant.
"ANWR is larger than the combined areas of five states (Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware), and drilling along its coastal plain would be confined to a space one-sixth the size of Washington's Dulles airport." (George Will)
Congress won't allow drilling. Our presidential candidates are opposed to drilling.
Brilliant.
June 06, 2008
Wedding Bells
What's going on in Hollywood these days, when the only people wanting to get married are gay? It seems everyday I'm hearing about another celebrity getting pregnant or having a baby with their "boyfriend" or "girlfriend"
Not so long ago, having an illegitimate child or a gay wedding would end a career. These days, it's fashionable.
Marriage isn't worth what it used to be.
Not so long ago, having an illegitimate child or a gay wedding would end a career. These days, it's fashionable.
Marriage isn't worth what it used to be.
May 06, 2008
Great Advice
By P.J. O'Rourke, from the L.A. Times opinion page
Fairness, idealism and other atrocities
Commencement advice you're unlikely to hear elsewhere.
By P.J. O'Rourke May 4, 2008
Well, here you are at your college graduation. And I know what you're thinking: "Gimme the sheepskin and get me outta here!" But not so fast. First you have to listen to a commencement speech.
Don't moan. I'm not going to "pass the wisdom of one generation down to the next." I'm a member of the 1960s generation. We didn't have any wisdom.
We were the moron generation. We were the generation that believed we could stop the Vietnam War by growing our hair long and dressing like circus clowns. We believed drugs would change everything -- which they did, for John Belushi. We believed in free love. Yes, the love was free, but we paid a high price for the sex.
My generation spoiled everything for you. It has always been the special prerogative of young people to look and act weird and shock grown-ups. But my generation exhausted the Earth's resources of the weird. Weird clothes -- we wore them. Weird beards -- we grew them. Weird words and phrases -- we said them. So, when it came your turn to be original and look and act weird, all you had left was to tattoo your faces and pierce your tongues. Ouch. That must have hurt. I apologize.
So now, it's my job to give you advice. But I'm thinking: You're finishing 16 years of education, and you've heard all the conventional good advice you can stand. So, let me offer some relief:
1. Go out and make a bunch of money!
Here we are living in the world's most prosperous country, surrounded by all the comforts, conveniences and security that money can provide. Yet no American political, intellectual or cultural leader ever says to young people, "Go out and make a bunch of money." Instead, they tell you that money can't buy happiness. Maybe, but money can rent it.
There's nothing the matter with honest moneymaking. Wealth is not a pizza, where if I have too many slices you have to eat the Domino's box. In a free society, with the rule of law and property rights, no one loses when someone else gets rich.
2. Don't be an idealist!
Don't chain yourself to a redwood tree. Instead, be a corporate lawyer and make $500,000 a year. No matter how much you cheat the IRS, you'll still end up paying $100,000 in property, sales and excise taxes. That's $100,000 to schools, sewers, roads, firefighters and police. You'll be doing good for society. Does chaining yourself to a redwood tree do society $100,000 worth of good?
Idealists are also bullies. The idealist says, "I care more about the redwood trees than you do. I care so much I can't eat. I can't sleep. It broke up my marriage. And because I care more than you do, I'm a better person. And because I'm the better person, I have the right to boss you around."
Get a pair of bolt cutters and liberate that tree.
Who does more for the redwoods and society anyway -- the guy chained to a tree or the guy who founds the "Green Travel Redwood Tree-Hug Tour Company" and makes a million by turning redwoods into a tourist destination, a valuable resource that people will pay just to go look at?
So make your contribution by getting rich. Don't be an idealist.
3. Get politically uninvolved!
All politics stink. Even democracy stinks. Imagine if our clothes were selected by the majority of shoppers, which would be teenage girls. I'd be standing here with my bellybutton exposed. Imagine deciding the dinner menu by family secret ballot. I've got three kids and three dogs in my family. We'd be eating Froot Loops and rotten meat.
But let me make a distinction between politics and politicians. Some people are under the misapprehension that all politicians stink. Impeach George W. Bush, and everything will be fine. Nab Ted Kennedy on a DUI, and the nation's problems will be solved.
But the problem isn't politicians -- it's politics. Politics won't allow for the truth. And we can't blame the politicians for that. Imagine what even a little truth would sound like on today's campaign trail:
"No, I can't fix public education. The problem isn't the teachers unions or a lack of funding for salaries, vouchers or more computer equipment The problem is your kids!"
4. Forget about fairness!
We all get confused about the contradictory messages that life and politics send.
Life sends the message, "I'd better not be poor. I'd better get rich. I'd better make more money than other people." Meanwhile, politics sends us the message, "Some people make more money than others. Some are rich while others are poor. We'd better close that 'income disparity gap.' It's not fair!"
Well, I am here to advocate for unfairness. I've got a 10-year-old at home. She's always saying, "That's not fair." When she says this, I say, "Honey, you're cute. That's not fair. Your family is pretty well off. That's not fair. You were born in America. That's not fair. Darling, you had better pray to God that things don't start getting fair for you." What we need is more income, even if it means a bigger income disparity gap.
5. Be a religious extremist!
So, avoid politics if you can. But if you absolutely cannot resist, read the Bible for political advice -- even if you're a Buddhist, atheist or whatever. Don't get me wrong, I am not one of those people who believes that God is involved in politics. On the contrary. Observe politics in this country. Observe politics around the world. Observe politics through history. Does it look like God's involved?
The Bible is very clear about one thing: Using politics to create fairness is a sin. Observe the Tenth Commandment. The first nine commandments concern theological principles and social law: Thou shalt not make graven images, steal, kill, et cetera. Fair enough. But then there's the tenth: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's."
Here are God's basic rules about how we should live, a brief list of sacred obligations and solemn moral precepts. And, right at the end of it we read, "Don't envy your buddy because he has an ox or a donkey." Why did that make the top 10? Why would God, with just 10 things to tell Moses, include jealousy about livestock?
Well, think about how important this commandment is to a community, to a nation, to a democracy. If you want a mule, if you want a pot roast, if you want a cleaning lady, don't whine about what the people across the street have. Get rich and get your own.
Now, one last thing:
6. Don't listen to your elders!
After all, if the old person standing up here actually knew anything worth telling, he'd be charging you for it.
P.J. O'Rourke, a correspondent for the Weekly Standard and the Atlantic, is the author, most recently, of "On The Wealth of Nations." A longer version of this article appears in Change magazine, which reports on trends and issues in higher education
Fairness, idealism and other atrocities
Commencement advice you're unlikely to hear elsewhere.
By P.J. O'Rourke May 4, 2008
Well, here you are at your college graduation. And I know what you're thinking: "Gimme the sheepskin and get me outta here!" But not so fast. First you have to listen to a commencement speech.
Don't moan. I'm not going to "pass the wisdom of one generation down to the next." I'm a member of the 1960s generation. We didn't have any wisdom.
We were the moron generation. We were the generation that believed we could stop the Vietnam War by growing our hair long and dressing like circus clowns. We believed drugs would change everything -- which they did, for John Belushi. We believed in free love. Yes, the love was free, but we paid a high price for the sex.
My generation spoiled everything for you. It has always been the special prerogative of young people to look and act weird and shock grown-ups. But my generation exhausted the Earth's resources of the weird. Weird clothes -- we wore them. Weird beards -- we grew them. Weird words and phrases -- we said them. So, when it came your turn to be original and look and act weird, all you had left was to tattoo your faces and pierce your tongues. Ouch. That must have hurt. I apologize.
So now, it's my job to give you advice. But I'm thinking: You're finishing 16 years of education, and you've heard all the conventional good advice you can stand. So, let me offer some relief:
1. Go out and make a bunch of money!
Here we are living in the world's most prosperous country, surrounded by all the comforts, conveniences and security that money can provide. Yet no American political, intellectual or cultural leader ever says to young people, "Go out and make a bunch of money." Instead, they tell you that money can't buy happiness. Maybe, but money can rent it.
There's nothing the matter with honest moneymaking. Wealth is not a pizza, where if I have too many slices you have to eat the Domino's box. In a free society, with the rule of law and property rights, no one loses when someone else gets rich.
2. Don't be an idealist!
Don't chain yourself to a redwood tree. Instead, be a corporate lawyer and make $500,000 a year. No matter how much you cheat the IRS, you'll still end up paying $100,000 in property, sales and excise taxes. That's $100,000 to schools, sewers, roads, firefighters and police. You'll be doing good for society. Does chaining yourself to a redwood tree do society $100,000 worth of good?
Idealists are also bullies. The idealist says, "I care more about the redwood trees than you do. I care so much I can't eat. I can't sleep. It broke up my marriage. And because I care more than you do, I'm a better person. And because I'm the better person, I have the right to boss you around."
Get a pair of bolt cutters and liberate that tree.
Who does more for the redwoods and society anyway -- the guy chained to a tree or the guy who founds the "Green Travel Redwood Tree-Hug Tour Company" and makes a million by turning redwoods into a tourist destination, a valuable resource that people will pay just to go look at?
So make your contribution by getting rich. Don't be an idealist.
3. Get politically uninvolved!
All politics stink. Even democracy stinks. Imagine if our clothes were selected by the majority of shoppers, which would be teenage girls. I'd be standing here with my bellybutton exposed. Imagine deciding the dinner menu by family secret ballot. I've got three kids and three dogs in my family. We'd be eating Froot Loops and rotten meat.
But let me make a distinction between politics and politicians. Some people are under the misapprehension that all politicians stink. Impeach George W. Bush, and everything will be fine. Nab Ted Kennedy on a DUI, and the nation's problems will be solved.
But the problem isn't politicians -- it's politics. Politics won't allow for the truth. And we can't blame the politicians for that. Imagine what even a little truth would sound like on today's campaign trail:
"No, I can't fix public education. The problem isn't the teachers unions or a lack of funding for salaries, vouchers or more computer equipment The problem is your kids!"
4. Forget about fairness!
We all get confused about the contradictory messages that life and politics send.
Life sends the message, "I'd better not be poor. I'd better get rich. I'd better make more money than other people." Meanwhile, politics sends us the message, "Some people make more money than others. Some are rich while others are poor. We'd better close that 'income disparity gap.' It's not fair!"
Well, I am here to advocate for unfairness. I've got a 10-year-old at home. She's always saying, "That's not fair." When she says this, I say, "Honey, you're cute. That's not fair. Your family is pretty well off. That's not fair. You were born in America. That's not fair. Darling, you had better pray to God that things don't start getting fair for you." What we need is more income, even if it means a bigger income disparity gap.
5. Be a religious extremist!
So, avoid politics if you can. But if you absolutely cannot resist, read the Bible for political advice -- even if you're a Buddhist, atheist or whatever. Don't get me wrong, I am not one of those people who believes that God is involved in politics. On the contrary. Observe politics in this country. Observe politics around the world. Observe politics through history. Does it look like God's involved?
The Bible is very clear about one thing: Using politics to create fairness is a sin. Observe the Tenth Commandment. The first nine commandments concern theological principles and social law: Thou shalt not make graven images, steal, kill, et cetera. Fair enough. But then there's the tenth: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's."
Here are God's basic rules about how we should live, a brief list of sacred obligations and solemn moral precepts. And, right at the end of it we read, "Don't envy your buddy because he has an ox or a donkey." Why did that make the top 10? Why would God, with just 10 things to tell Moses, include jealousy about livestock?
Well, think about how important this commandment is to a community, to a nation, to a democracy. If you want a mule, if you want a pot roast, if you want a cleaning lady, don't whine about what the people across the street have. Get rich and get your own.
Now, one last thing:
6. Don't listen to your elders!
After all, if the old person standing up here actually knew anything worth telling, he'd be charging you for it.
P.J. O'Rourke, a correspondent for the Weekly Standard and the Atlantic, is the author, most recently, of "On The Wealth of Nations." A longer version of this article appears in Change magazine, which reports on trends and issues in higher education
April 14, 2008
March 06, 2008
"Celebrities"
For some reason I enjoy celebrity gossip (or really just gossip in general I suppose). I find the majority of stories these days are about "celebrities" that I've never heard of. When was the bar lowered? What happened to earining your celebrity status? Like maybe starring in a few blockbuster movies, or having a hit TV series? Reality TV contestants are not celebrities. People with addiction problems are not celebrities. People who make sex tapes are not celebrities. Yet they seem to be these days. Why?
December 06, 2007
Omaha Mall Shooting
This woman should sit in jail for the rest of her life for this crime.
"He was a very helpful young man, but he was quiet," said Debora Maruca-Kovac, a surgical nurse whose family took in Hawkins after her 17- and 19-year-old sons befriended him.
But Maruca-Kovac said she saw nothing foreshadowing the horror Hawkins would inflict during his last moments alive. She regarded him so benignly that when he showed her an SKS semiautomatic rifle the night before his attack, she thought little of it, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
Hmmm. Let's see. A long history of depression, getting dumped by your girlfriend two weeks ago, getting fired last week, and a new semiautomatic rifle. A recipe for trouble? Nah. Just a normal teen.
"He was a very helpful young man, but he was quiet," said Debora Maruca-Kovac, a surgical nurse whose family took in Hawkins after her 17- and 19-year-old sons befriended him.
But Maruca-Kovac said she saw nothing foreshadowing the horror Hawkins would inflict during his last moments alive. She regarded him so benignly that when he showed her an SKS semiautomatic rifle the night before his attack, she thought little of it, the Omaha World-Herald reported.
Hmmm. Let's see. A long history of depression, getting dumped by your girlfriend two weeks ago, getting fired last week, and a new semiautomatic rifle. A recipe for trouble? Nah. Just a normal teen.
October 12, 2007
WTF? Friday
Today is worthy of two WTF? posts. Al Gore wins a peace prize for making a movie about global warming. An interesting example of "peacemaking", since that is what the Nobel peace prize was intended to honor. Or maybe it's "piecemaking", as in piece-of-crap making.
I think the whole world has lost it's mind over this global warming issue. Nothing has been proven scientifically. Scientists have only issued a "consensus", which basically means "we're pretty sure". Where else does any scientist get way with "pretty sure"? These are the same scientists that were predicting thirty years ago the disasters soon to be brought about by man-made global cooling. If all it takes is thirty years for a trend to completely reverse, then we've got nothing to worry about.
We also have all unconsciously accepted the premise that the current climate is ideal. Who's to say? Maybe we're all better off if the climate is 5 degrees warmer. Nobody knows. Just like no one can tell me with any certainty if it's going to be sunny next Tuesday.
I think the whole world has lost it's mind over this global warming issue. Nothing has been proven scientifically. Scientists have only issued a "consensus", which basically means "we're pretty sure". Where else does any scientist get way with "pretty sure"? These are the same scientists that were predicting thirty years ago the disasters soon to be brought about by man-made global cooling. If all it takes is thirty years for a trend to completely reverse, then we've got nothing to worry about.
We also have all unconsciously accepted the premise that the current climate is ideal. Who's to say? Maybe we're all better off if the climate is 5 degrees warmer. Nobody knows. Just like no one can tell me with any certainty if it's going to be sunny next Tuesday.
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