You know how it is when you’re at the mall and someone rattles a collection box under your nose and you’re not sure where it’s going but it’s probably for Darfur or Rwanda or Hoogivsastan. Whatever. You’re dropping a buck or two in the tin for the privilege of not having to think about it. For the more ideologically committed, there’s always the awareness-raising rock concert: it’s something to do with Bono and debt forgiveness, whatever that means, but let’s face it, going to the park for eight hours of celebrity caterwauling beats having to wrap your head around Afro-Marxist economics. The modern welfare state operates on the same principle: since the Second World War, the hard-working middle classes have transferred historically unprecedented amounts of money to the unproductive sector in order not to have to think about it. But so what? We were rich enough that we could afford to be stupid.

Again– I love this guy. Via Allahpundit, who calls Christie videos “common sense porn.”

I don’t have anything to contribute to the discussion that hasn’t already been written more eloquently by John Podhoretz, Jim Treacher or Charlie Anders (among others). But I do have this–

DOUBLE SPOILER ALERT

Something about Jack Shephard’s son David has really been bugging me. Last night during the finale I figured out why– he looks like one of the spooky teen Hitler clones from the Nazihunting thriller “The Boys From Brazil.”

Thank God he’s only a figment of Jack’s imagination in the terribly disappointing Unitarian limbo world that was revealed to us last night.

UPDATE (5/26): Doctor Zero feels betrayed.

A Democratic senator is introducing legislation for a bailout of troubled union pension funds.  If passed, the bill could put another $165 billion in liabilities on the shoulders of American taxpayers.

The bill, which would put the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation behind struggling pensions for union workers, is being introduced by Senator Bob Casey, (D-Pa.), who says it will save jobs and help people.

This cannot be real. Seriously, he must be doing this on a dare from George Soros or something.

If this came anywhere close to passing, a zombie army of American revolutionaries would rise from the grave…

H/T Mitch P.

With all the hullabaloo surrounding Senate candidate Rand Paul’s criticism of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it seems appropriate to share (once more) this video of Barry Goldwater explaining his own principled but politically perilous opposition to the bill:

I have to live with myself and I took an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution.

SEE ALSO: Mr. Conservative

Introducing the Amphibian Pansexual Mutant Urban Cyclops, mascot of the 2012 London Olympics.

From the Guardian, via Drudge.

Contrary to the commonly held scientific conclusion that the Earth is getting warmer, a scientist who has written more than 150 peer-reviewed papers has unveiled evidence for his prediction that global cooling is coming soon.

Come on, people– we had a consensus! Damnit. Well, at a minimum this is going to be a big word processing challenge…

To get started, here are some useful tips for Al Gore et al. from the Microsoft website. This function probably works in Powerpoint, too (and with the words ”warming” and “cooling”):

How to Use Search and Replace

 You can automatically replace text — for example, you can replace “Acme” with “Apex.”

1. On the Edit menu, click Replace.
2. In the Find what box, enter the text that you want to search for.
3. In the Replace with box, enter the replacement text.
4. Select any other options that you want.
5. Click Find Next, Replace, or Replace All.

To cancel a search in progress, press ESC.

H/T Mike B.