Friday Morning Ramble: The ‘Obamaware is Failware’ Edition

Pic by Bosch Fawstin

“’Barack Obama is a lying sack of garbage.’ That was the exact sentence that went through my head when I opened my mailbox and saw the following message from my health insurance company.”
ObamaCare Rage – Robert Tracinski, TRACINSKI LETTER

A record has been broken: “The so-called “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”—the showpiece of democratic welfarism in the 21st century—has made history as the largest, fastest failure in the history of State-provided welfare programs.” And that’s not an easy record to break!
 Catastrophic Plans: The largest, fastest failure in the history of welfare programs – Jeffrey Tucker, THE FREEMAN

“Obama has proved himself so inept with his "Care" law that he should resign and give the Buffoon Biden a chance to wreck the country.”
Tweets by GEORGE REISMAN

“The time is not far off when Barack Obama yearns for the days when he had a 37% approval rating.”
Obama in Free-Fall - POWER LINE

“Is there a similarity between the Court-packing scheme of President Roosevelt in the 1930s and Obamacare today? Yes there is. In both cases, we see the fatal consequences of presidential overreach.”
Presidential Overreach – BURT FOLSOM

“Here, then, is a clear example of how the Obama regime departs significantly, in its political philosophy and program, from the uniquely American framework.”
Obama’s Utilitarian Foibles – Tibor Machan, TIBOR’s SPACE

Locals are wondering whether the IRD have set up a new office in the main street of Masterton...

From the man’s-inhumanity-to-man file: “More than a thousand refugees have died trying to reach Christmas Island. But faced with unbearable conditions at home, they keep coming.” And Canberra sends out its navy to stop them.
The Dream Boat – NEW YORK TIMES

The collapse of communism spelled the end for hardcore Marxism, or should have. Has the collapse of 2008 done the same for capitalism? Two scholars debateThe collapse of communism spelled ‘the end of history’ and left the capitalist system of liberal democracies without apparent challenge.
The End of Capitalism? Eamonn Butler v David Pitt-Watson – SPEAKERS’ CORNER TRUST

He faced perhaps the hardest task of any American President, and accomplished the deed no other President wanted to face.
Lincoln was truly heroic –Kiwi Wit,  THOUGHTS FROM 40^o SOUTH

A simple way for governments to signal they’re aware of the human rights abuses of other governments: Rename streets in front of the embassies of dictatorships after their most prominent dissidents.
Issuing a Streetwise Challenge to Dictators – Garry Kasparov & David Keyes, WALL STREET JOURNAL

"Get rid of all the green crap" David Cameron has told his aides. However …
On green issues no one talks more 'crap' than David Cameron – James Delingpole, TELEGRAPH

Not everyone benefits from Quantitative Easing. “As you can see from the graphic above, the big beneficiaries of QE since the onset of the crisis are governments.” And who pays? You do. (This, by the way, is the insidious form of redistribution called The Cantillon Effect.)
Here's the evidence that QE has harmed the economy – Jeremy Warner, TELEGRAPH

It was all such fun at university, until we realised that no business really uses game theory.
You've Got Game Theory! – FAST COMPANY

“It’s not Gold 2.0,” says Peter Schiff, “It’s TulipMania 2.0.”

Radical Capitalists v Libertarians, Round CXIII
Libertarianism vs. Radical Capitalism – Craig Biddle, OBJECTIVE STANDARD

“Is being opposed to government regulations like being opposed to laws? There is some plausibility to the argument until one considers just how different laws and government regulations really are.”
Laws Versus Regulations – Tibor Machan, SOMEWHAT REASONABLE

So apparently porn sex and real sex are different. Oh, and food!

Can I say I’m a little underwhelmed?
Look Inside Apple’s Spaceship Headquarters With 24 All-New Renderings – WIRED

Please, please, start reading Mark Hubbard’s blog, before he sues me.
Of Law Revue Girls & Thorny – Privilege & the New Puritanism; Blog Inequality; Identity Politics; Quotas – Mark Hubbard, LIFE BEHIND THE IRON DRAPE

How to muddy the waters to make yourself appear deep. And get a degree doing it.
How to speak and write postmodern – PAPER THIN HYMN

A little celebration, in advertising, of technology and humanity. Make sure you click the “Captions” button bottom right. And try not to cry.

Creative passive-aggression.
The 27 Most Passive-Aggressive Messages Ever – BUZZFEED

Time for another Ashes series. And making fun of the Poms.
Fussy cricketers, or prima-donnas? – KEEPING STOCK

And the Ockers.
Memo: Ashes Day One Pessimism Alert – FOOTY ALMANAC

At least one good reason to risk encountering MPs.
Well, Well, Well, - I Never Thought I'd See the Day #1: The Backbencher Pub – Neil Miller, MALTHOUSE BLOG

If you’d like great art on your deck each month, then check out the Cordair Gallery’s 2014 desktop calendars.
Quent Cordair Fine Art Desk-Top Calendar – QUENT CORDAIR FINE ART

Neil Gaiman sings about the pain of being Joan of Arc.

Jesse Norman sings about the pain of love. (Wagner’s song title translates as “in the hothouse.”)

And Nick Cave and Barry Adamson sing about falling out of love .

[Hat tips Richard McGrath, Julian D., Sandrine L., Geek Press]

Thanks for your patience (as you see, I did manage to recover it), and thanks for reading.
Have a great weekend!
PC