Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
The Logo ·
Jul 8, 2010 at 2:17pm
This week we're joined by Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty and Ricochet legal gurus John Yoo and Richard Epstein on Kagan. We also shout out to some Ricochet members (you'll have to listen to find out who), discuss human behavior in parking lots, the psychology of motorcades, and offer some predictions on taxes (guess!). Discuss and ask questions here.
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Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
A few links from this week's show:
Rob's post "Allow Me To Depress You" is here.
Richard Epstein and John Yoo's posts are here, here, and here.
James Lileks defends air conditioning here and reports on San Francisco's proposal to ban pets here. Oh, and here's Fark.com.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
This is a dumb first comment, but...
START RANT:
I'm listening to the segment with Governor Pawlenty and thinking, "Hmm, another smart Republican governor." Then he does something that just makes me crazy. He said, "There's no question that big business, big unions, and big government have coalesced in ways that should be very concerning to every American."
That's not a proper use of the word "concerning," and it's driven me nuts every since I first heard it come out of the mouth of another smart Republican governor, Sarah Palin.
Concern can be a noun ("...in ways that should be of concern to every American") or a transitive verb ("...in ways that should concern every American"). Pawlenty is using it here as an intransitive verb. An educated man (or woman) should know better.
Am I the only one who is bothered by this?
END RANT.
By the way, Rob Long & Peter Robinson... I've really enjoyed the podcast, but when is Steyn coming back?
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
Another great Podcast. James Lileks is one of the amazing people who make me so eager to visit MN, and their State Fair. Thanks for adding him to Ricochet.
Also, pretty cool to hear birds chirping behind Mr. Long (I think) in the podcast!
Jun '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
In this pod cast the comment that “we gave diseased blankets to the natives” was used as a throw-away line, I think by Rob Long, but I cannot let it pass, for the simple reason that it is for all intents and purposes almost impossible to spread smallpox by way of blanket. There is no question that blankets can be contaminated, but the contamination is at best very short lived, because bacteria cannot survive for more than minutes, perhaps for only a few seconds, outside of the warm wet environment of their host. Now, I don’t want to come across as a pedant over this minor point, but my comments are aimed at battling this silly leftist myth. The significantly more important argument is that much of the native population of this continent was wiped out by disease stemming from Europeans on the occasion of the Europeans first meeting the Natives. To expand on this comment, the Europeans who discovered this continent also killed, possibly the vast majority of native North Americans, before they even knew they were a danger to them. In summary blankets had nothing to do with anything.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
Allen McPheeters: ......Concern can be a noun ("...in ways that should be of concern to every American") or a transitive verb ("...in ways that should concern every American"). Pawlenty is using it here as an intransitive verb. An educated man (or woman) should know better.
Well, he just lost my vote! .....Actually, I like analyzing that stuff, too. I think this particular mistake has its origins in confusing "concerning" with "disconcerting." (Although my Webster's says the intransitive version existed once but is now obsolete, so maybe these Republican governors just have so many Old English texts swimming around in their heads that they can't keep it all straight.)
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
As with the previous governor-guests, Tim Pawlenty was smart, reasonable, calm, pleasant. The contrast with our elected national representatives could not be more pronounced.
As an example, there could not be a starker contrast between the discussion Peter had with Pawlenty regarding school reform and the nonsensical pork trading and idiotic committee sessions that Congress is currently engaged in with respect to national education policy.
Why do we only hear from the media about Michael Steele, John Boehner, and Sarah Palin week in and week out? I think Fox needs to hit the road and start visiting and profiling the work that is being done outside of Washington. The smart, optimistic, but frank talk of these governors is what America needs to hear.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
Allen, part of the beauty of the English language is that it's so easy for someone to modify a word or use one in a new way and be perfectly understood. In fact, doing so is often, though certainly not always, a sign of wit. How many words were invented or redefined by Shakespeare?
Cas, I don't blame you for being bothered. I could never help but notice that my public school histories never mentioned how those tribal confederations were formed (hint: it wasn't barter). Nor do they mention the Christian missionaries who were tortured by the natives and yet returned to help the very people who tortured them. Missionaries were wicked, don't you know.
And now for my random podcast responses:
Poodles are unAmerican.
Obama is alien in that he is the face of a cultural shift within America which conservatives have hitherto never thought could rise so high.
I was dumb-founded by Tim's claim that seniority is "not how the world works anymore". Argue for a merit system, by all means, but let's not talk like liberals... like our ideas are a recent progression in social evolution.
Continued....
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
Teachers perform a vital role. All the same, do we mean it or not when we call it a public service? I've known plenty of teachers throughout my life. They do often struggle with money, and I sympathize. However, while they work on the taxpayers' dime in a public system, they should not expect private industry salaries or benefits.
A major cause of our current troubles in all facets of government is that public servants are no longer treated like public servants. These days, people apply to government jobs with the same motivations for which they apply to private industry jobs. That's a problem.
As I've said before, I disagree that Kagan's avoidance of the Congressman's question regarding obviously intrusive federal mandates ("Eat your broccoli.") was a sure signal that she would support such intrusions. She probably would grant Democrats most or all powers they seek. But I think she avoided the question merely because she was politcally savvy enough to know the Congressman was trying to lead her into another question which she would then have had to wriggle out of.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
True, which is how "disrespect," previously exclusively a noun, became a verb in the not-too-distant past, and more recently has morphed into simply "dis." And eventually Webster's submits, which would probably happen with the intransitive version of "concern" by the third year or so of a Pawlenty/Palin administration.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
The two quotes of the show go to Peter Robinson.
1) "Can I engage in a Hegelian synthesis?"
2) "My poodle is an originalist."
James Lileks, as ever, wins the analogy-off.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
Loved it! You guys keep hitting them out of the park! I'm so glad Lileks is participating - what a pleasure. And you know, Epstein and Yoo must be a rare breed of intellectual, because they possess an ability to communicate complex ideas in simple terms without making the listeners (like me) feel stupid. Here in the DC area, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a snooty attorney, so it is particularly enjoyable to listen to ones so brilliant and accomplished, but also so generous and hospitable. Of course, I could say that about every Ricochet contributor! Thank you again!
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
"My Poodle Is An Originalist" was a close second choice for the title of the episode.
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
Crusoe,* the originalist poodle, thanks you, Jimmie.
*That would be "Crusoe," as in "Crusoe Robinson," the opposite of "Robinson Crusoe." My kids thought this hilarious.
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
And not only conservatives...! There's a lot to say here, but one wrinkle we could add is that Obama embodies and reflects a set of cultural attitudes about politics itself which represents a significant departure, true -- but one that reaches back in large part to Woodrow Wilson's progressive vision of empathetic Presidential leadership.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
I'm still boycotting Jimmie Jr. over his "GWB was not a conservative" debate with me in 2005. That comes from the same sorts of logic as the "Tim Pawlenty is a RINO" preachment, which is a not uncommon screed among the most Right absolutists in Minnesota- those who never get elected to anything.
And I am not going to say a word about "concerning" as a verb until several other common reversed-meaning phrases are expunged from popular culture ("I could care less", the use of "infer" when "imply" is intended, etc.). At least you know here what he is getting at.
One-degree-of-separation Pawlenty story. Last month he had a barbecue at the governor's mansion as a "thank you" to his campaign workers (one of whom is a friend). Da Guv was flipping burgers in the back yard, and spent a few hours sitting at the picnic tables, until he excused himself around 10 PM. Why? He had to drive out to his house in Eagan (suburb) to put out the garbage before the trucks got there the next morning.
Contrast that with stopping Boston traffic at rush hour for a dinner motorcade.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
Doesn't etoile du nord mean north star? Literal translation: star of north
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
Duane Oyen: .....he excused himself around 10 PM. Why? He had to drive out to his house in Eagan (suburb) to put out the garbage before the trucks got there the next morning.
Very difficult to conjure an image of our current president taking out the garbage. Surely he's done it at least once, probably after donning rubber gloves and a surgical mask.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
Etoile du Nord does in fact mean, "Star of the North".
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #24: Jabba The Fed
More of Pawlenty (video from New Hampshire):
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/07/026731.php
Note that Mary doesn't have to find some cause of her own- she has been an activist and board member on behalf of Teen Challenge (faith-based chemical dependency rehab organization) since before her husband ran for even statewide office. As you can see from the video, she is a real person on her own, not a Stepford Political Wife.
The reason I like Pawlenty is because he is (refreshingly) real, in the same way as Mitch Daniels. Grew up in an all Democrat household (5 or 6 kids) near the stockyards, father a truck driver, only one in the family to ever go to college, and he went to (ahem) the University of Minnesota, not Yale. Why? No money, just as with many of the rest of us who didn't want to go into debt. He is involved in a Baptist church now (Mary came from a Baptist background), with a soft edge that is non-threatening to everyone, but he can appeal to evangelicals.
And, yes, all of his Democrat brothers and sisters vote for him now.