Support Alternative Media: Some recommendations

The irresponsible "rush to narrative" of the Mainstream Media after the shootings in Arizona last weekend demonstrated that the majority of the "Mainstream" media falls to the left of President Obama's position concerning how news should be reported. And the big media outlets utterly failed to accurately report what was happening at the shooting site. For example, many outlets reported that Representative Giffords was dead. Too bad that journalism schools now teach that the job of reporters is to "make a difference" rather than to "report the news".

 The standards for accuracy in journalism which we relied on in the past seem to have been abandoned. There was little curiosity concerning legitimate issues surrounding the shootings.  Thankfully, there is still some input from the right side of the political spectrum on the opinion pages of major papers.  And it's important to give credit to the lefties when they do a good job.  But in terms of reporting, you will often need to go elsewhere to avoid the "rush to narrative". Local reporting was more accurate than the big national media organizations in this case, and good local reporters should be supported. But where do you go for alternative information on national stories?

If you are a committed progressive/liberal, you need to understand other points of view. Unless you want to become as ineffective in conversations with the Right as this  (Brutal satire alert). You aren't likely to find adequately-detailed alternative viewpoints unless you seek them out. Often, even conservatives have difficulty articulating the philosophical or practical bases for their positions.    If you are a moderate liberal, classical liberal, libertarian or a conservative, you need correct information.  Incorrect assertions are quickly shot down in the center-right blogosphere (and on the "classic" center-left blogs, which are sometimes linked by the sites below). Some interesting sites you could check out and browse occasionally:

If you're short on time, INSTAPUNDIT (libertarian law professor Glenn Reynolds) provides links to sites from across the political spectrum, typically with very short commentary.  Note:  don't expect him to be a conservative.  He's very libertarian on social issues.  Monday mornings are a good time to glance through the first page - he usually includes a weekend roundup.  The search function on the site is quite good. In addition to issues concerning law and politics, he often links pieces on medical and scientific advancements (including nanotechnology and "green" technologies); books and book reviews; photography, cooking, music and assorted other subjects. He rounds up tips on disaster preparedness and recently defended President Obama on the issue of civil defense. Reynolds started blogging to avoid constant worrying when his wife's life was in danger due to a heart condition. She's a clinical psychologist with expertise in violent children who blogs as Dr. Helen.

REAL CLEAR POLITICS presents a convenient overview of the issues of the day, linking mainstream media sites as well as journals and blogs from across the political spectrum without commentary. A good place to go for the text of speeches (on the day they are given or the day after). Their own commentary leans right, although they invite guest commentary from the left.

Don't believe balance is necessary?  The New York Times was probably the worst offender (outside of television) in pushing a pre-determined political narrative concerning the Arizona shootings.  They often seem to set the "narrative" for other mainstream media outlets.  Ed Driscoll posts on the question: How do you solve a problem like Paul Krugman?   He links the Ace of Spades website, where you can find  some crude language (think "South Park Conservatives" - or maybe "South Park Libertarians"). The language is not as bad as on many lefty blogs, but you might want to stick with links to ACE OF SPADES from more "work-safe" and "home-safe" sites.  Ace can be brilliant (for an agnostic, sometimes crude, epileptic attorney) and there are other good (if often snarky) writers at this site. The link here is disturbing, but because it tells the truth -- not because of gratuitous obscenity. “New York Times Tells Lie Big Enough To Earn It Another Pulitzer.” Ouch!!!!.  So mean, Ace.  Do you think you're on Comedy Central or something?  

POWERLINE BLOG (three conservative, Ivy League-type attorneys) puts in a plug for PAJAMAS MEDIA which was started after RatherGate as a loose confederation of libertarian, conservative, classical liberal and international bloggers with a plan to provide a real alternative to the Mainstream Media. Their flippant name comes from mockery of the bloggers "writing in their pajamas in the basement" who challenged the Mainstream Narrative concerning RatherGate -- and beat the "layers of fact-checkers and editors" in the mainstream media (particularly in high-budget television). They have now started producing videos like the Trifecta commentary at the link. Some of the videos are more "professional" than others. PajamasMedia has also started an entertaining and informative group blog, The Tatler, with short entries along the lines of those in the (establishment conservative) National Review's THE CORNER

BELMONT CLUB is one of my favorite sites, for unusual essays inspired by the news and written by Richard Fernandez (Wretchard) - a former Filipino revolutionary who was educated at Berkeley (and elsewhere in the U.S.) and lives in Australia. The place to go if you want to join a discussion about "black swans", "white swans" or developments in network communication. I'm also partial to CLAUDIA ROSETT, a real journalist who monitors the excesses and insanities at the United Nations and elsewhere. MICHAEL TOTTEN is an independent journalist who reports on the Middle East FROM the Middle East.

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON is our neighbor from up the road in Selma. He's a raisin farmer, Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford, and a former Professor of Classics at Fresno State. Sometimes he strays from one topic to another in blog posts, and Wretchard periodically comments on these stream-of-consciousness posts. When VDH writes an essay which sticks to a single subject, it is often brilliant. His dual experience working the land and teaching in academia gives him an unusual outlook.  And then there are his studies of ancient civilizations, languages and his familiarity with modern Greece. As one of the few scholars of ancient and modern warfare in the country, he was an advisor for the movie "300".

Outside the current Pajamas Media umbrella, there's TIGERHAWK, the CFO of a medium-sized medical device company. He's a libertarian/conservative who listens to NPR and reaches out to liberals he loves  from time to time.  He blogs on Blogspot, just like me and Professor Jacobson. I also like Ed Morrissey at HOT AIR.   He used to have an independent blog called Captain's Quarters.  He's a conservative.  His wife, Marcia, is blind and has undergone a kidney transplant.  She blogs at Patheos. TOM MAGUIRE specializes in careful reading. Something not done often enough in today's fast-paced news cycle. Sense of Events posts interesting pieces from a Christian perspective. The Anchoress is even more assertively religious (Catholic) in her writing but often has some very interesting insights into political developments.

There are many other interesting voices out there. You'll find them at links to those above.

 For sites on the Right which occasionally play as fast and loose with the facts as the New York Times regularly does, you could look into the tabloid-style Breitbart sites, Big Hollywood, Big Government, Big Journalism and Big Peace. Breitbart is an activist, like most young journalists today (but on the other side politically from most of them). He is quite confrontational, eliciting howls and venom from the Left, which is used to taking advantage of the typical meek responses from the Right to their lies, bigotry and organized mischaracterizations. Expect uneven quality at these sites - sometimes very good, sometimes with amateurish characteristis. Expect these sites to make errors, but to correct them faster than the New York Times and to give responsible critics space to respond.

I recommend that you avoid the fever-swamp, conspiracy theory-loving sites of all political persuasions, or that you be realistic about their nature when you check them out.

Reports from Eastern Europe

Eastern European governments begin seizing private pensions. Meanwhile, France and Ireland "use" the money in government-structured pensions for other purposes.

Andrew Klavan:

"Free people can treat each other justly, but they can't make life fair. To get rid of the unfairness among individuals, you have to exercise power over them. The more fairness you want, the more power you need. Thus, all dreams of fairness become dreams of tyranny in the end."

On the other hand, Romanian witches are using spells to protest new taxes. Guess you have to scare 'em somehow.

The Case Against Principles in Government

Follow the link.

Humility - Farewell to the 111th

John Boehner's speech impressed some people. Ace:

All the right notes, and I think he means them. What he's stressing is not the details of governance but the central assumption of it -- democracy, where the people rule.

Video at the link.

Roger L. Simon:

Like much of the world that doesn’t live Inside the Beltway, I was only marginally aware of John Boehner until some months ago when it was becoming clear he might be the next speaker. And even then I wasn’t impressed. The man-tan look made me assume he was just another shallow pol.


I was wrong. As of now, I have done a total about-face. In his speech today, John Boehner showed himself to be among the most impressive figures on our political landscape, and he did it by being that rarest of things in politics: a humble human being.

Compare and Contrast. Or, you might prefer to Compare and Contrast.

Boehner's big gavel kind of reminds me of Nancy's horrible "victory walk", (which she staged in order to accuse the Tea Party of being racist and/or violent) but I guess Boehner has a different meaning in mind.

Hope the new Congress can rein in some of the excesses of the 111th Congress. The great Thomas Sowell:

Runaway "stimulus" spending, high unemployment and ObamaCare are all legitimate and important issues. It is just that freedom and survival are more important.


For all its sweeping and scary provisions, ObamaCare is not nearly as important as the way it was passed. If legislation can become laws passed without either the public or the Congress knowing what is in those laws, then the fundamental principle of a free, self-governing people is completely undermined.

Reducing Social Divisions and Inequality: When Liberal Pundits Fight

Do you increase social cohesion and reduce social inequality by reducing income inequality through taxation,  or by limiting cultural and racial diversity, for example, by limiting immigration?  Follow the Links  to read about some in-fighting among liberals* on this issue.  Starting off, conservative/libertarian Tom Maguire points out that the same data can lead to different conclusions if you haven't accounted for all variables:

Yesterday Nick Kristof delivered a daft column invoking income inequality as a proxy for social inequality and arguing that inequality is stressful and bad. . .

The obvious conclusion, based on the examples presented by Kristof, is that racial diversity creates undesirable social stress. An obvious public policy implication is that immigration should be discouraged. Believe it or not, Kristof did not reach those conclusions, since they don't fit his narrative. Instead, he rode the data to his preconceived destination, which is that we need to tax the rich and spread the wealth. Yeah, yeah - if you aren't going to let the data tell its story, why send it on stage? Or, if the data leads to unacceptable conclusions, maybe the premises are wrong (e.g., maybe social stress is bad but it is a necessary consequence of achieving other goods.)

Well. As if on cue, the Times has a front-pager telling us how they reduce income inequality and maintain social cohesion in laudable Japan - they kick out foreigners, thereby propping up wages. . .

OK, it looks like national suicide to me and it could never work in America (nor should it be attempted at this level, although we need stricter border control and workplace enforcement), but this is a country Nick Kristof is holding up as our goal.

Mickey Kaus notes differences between the famous New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and less famous  liberal (and libertarian/liberal) commentators on the issue of immigration. Some of whom seem to have a tendency toward name-calling.

Somewhat-related Graphs: Median income vs. incomes for the top 1% in America over time.  Update:  Tom Maguire has no mercy.

* Well, Mickey Kaus is more moderate than the rest - with some libertarian leanings. I sure wish his Democratic primary challenge to Barbara Boxer had been more successful. But he made some good points with very little money.

Southern Europe's Young See Little Benefit in Education

THE NEW YORK TIMES REPORTS on a "Doomed Generation" of highly educated young Europeans who can't find work??? Pigs fly.

Young people in Europe start to understand the looming demographic crisis.

With pensioners living longer and young people entering the work force later — and paying less in taxes because their salaries are so low — it is only a matter of time before state coffers run dry.

“What we have is a Ponzi scheme,” said Lawrence Kotlikoff, an economist at Boston University and an expert in fiscal policy.

Glenn Reynolds: "Funny how it seems to work out this way everywhere that high-tax, high-regulation schemes are tried, but young people are usually dumb enough not to realize who gets hurt the most. And what happens when a higher education bubble bursts:"

In Italy, Ms. Esposito is finishing her lawyer traineeship at a private firm in Lecce. It pays little but sits better on her conscience than her unpaid work for the government.

“I’m a repentant college graduate,” she said. “If I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t go to college and would just start working.”

John Hinderaker:"It seems to me that the Times conflates several rather distinct issues in chronicling the malaise of Europe's young. It is not obvious that accumulating "certificates" is the optimum path to gainful employment. Europe has long tended to prize credentials over actual productivity, but that is probably a secondary issue in the current crisis. . .

That is what happens when government inserts itself into every employment decision and when labor unions are given quasi-official powers and status. The result is economic disaster, a disaster first suffered by the young. What has happened in Europe, especially Southern Europe, is a flashing red alert, warning the United States not to follow the same path of government interventionism and union empowerment"

Instapundit reader concerning the demographic problems discussed in the New York Times article:

Mark Steyn  has been warning about this for years, most notably in his book America Alone. Except when he broaches the subject he’s accused of being a right-wing lunatic.

Reynolds: "Well, yes. As with the Hitler/Stalin pact, one must not only have the right opinions, one must have them at the correct time."

Wretchard has additional thoughts on the Times piece, including the phenomenon of educated Europeans moving to Latin America for job opportunities:

So for some Europeans it is Costa Rica or bust; where one of the virtues, in common with most of the Third World, is that there are almost no rules. The absence of regulation must make the non-Western world something like the frontier, where both disaster and great fortune seem to lurk right around the corner. . . .

The Hard Left's Latest Ideas for Improving Society

Honored professor of sociology and political science Frances Fox Piven, co-author of the Cloward-Piven Strategy, has some timely advice for the unemployed in America. She wants to foster again what they call over at Protein Wisdom the "blind rage of Cloward-Piven":

they have to develop a proud and angry identity and a set of claims that go with that identity. They have to go from being hurt and ashamed to being angry and indignant

You might think of it as encouraging a generalized, emotional sort of covetousness for revolutionary purposes. Ron Radosh:

What she is calling for is nothing less than the chaos and violence engulfing Europe.

The Cloward-Piven Strategy was one part of American history about which I knew very little until a couple of years ago, when people started pointing out that some of its ideas had contributed to the financial meltdown. ACORN's* agitation for home loans for high-risk borrowers helped to  crash the real estate market in the U.S., and very nearly the financial system of much of the West. Of course, they had big assists from brilliant Ivy League computer modelers on Wall Street and their friends in Government, with their slick computer models for the bundling of bad loans with good loans (and all the reckless behavior which accompanied the acceptance of those models).  Of course, you can't discount  government borrowing and fractional lending by banks. (Too bad American banks were not allowed, or even encouraged, to be as realistic as Canadian banks.) 

But the West's financial system is still limping along.  So far, the hoped-for (by Cloward-Piven types) Rise of the Proletariat Masses to build a glorious new world on the ashes after their planned collapse of the structure of Western civilization has failed to materialize. Even if they did succeed in bankrupting New York City back at the height of their influence. I remember news stories about the bankruptcy of New York City and its relationship to high welfare costs. I DON'T remember hearing that there was a deliberate movement to overload the welfare system. I wonder why the press suppressed this bit of information?

Wall Street and Government financial hotshots (in the recent financial crisis) and the Cloward-Piven bunch (in their dreams to change the world) exhibited a remarkable lack of forecasting abilities. This gives one slight pause about revolutionizing the entire world's economy based on Global Warming computer models and utopian plans for redistributing wealth. Apparently the recent Cancun Climate Conference was more about Climate Justice than about reducing greenhouse gasses.  Even though some UN bureaucrats seem to have some doubts about giving all that money to corrupt, brutal African dictators (or perhaps even to common uneducated Africans). And they may have a point, given the irresponsible reactions of Greeks to the money flowing to their government from other European counties. Although poor, Greece was not exactly a third-world country when the money started flowing in without much effort on the part of the populace.  And when the government ran out of money  --  REALLY ran out of money -- the reaction was rage.  Would not even more irresponsibility be expected if third-worlders were suddenly awash in money they didn't earn?

The trouble is that the Hard Left has always been better at taking over and/or destroying existing institutions than at building new ones.

Frances Fox Piven can look to recent models for her dream of an angry identity-formation from Americans who have been hurt financially by the economic crisis. Richard Fernandez (nom de blog: Wretchard) provides some additional education on the  rise of ANARCHY, once again, in Europe.

In fine anarchists are Red Guards of the European Left, a collection of dupes formed inside the vast and creaky infrastructure of Marxism to advance the interests of one faction against another faction. It is impossible to understand the politics of the Left without grasping that it is all about deniable intimidation. The real problem European anarchism solves is how to send bombs without seemingly sending them, or how to trash the Tory party headquarters in London without really doing it.

Just as Mao’s Red Guards were never about themselves, always about Mao, anarchists are about a larger political question: what is the correct political line? Once the Red Guards of China had resolved that in Mao’s favor they were allowed to rampage for a time to bring hatred down upon themselves and subsequently suppressed, hapless tools to the very end.

Read the whole thing. Wretchard was once part of a genuine rebellion himself (in the Philippines)  and he interacted with revolutionaries who had various ideological reasons for participating in the rebellion.  Some of these revolutionaries seemed more threatening to him than the corrupt, autocratic government against which he was rebelling.

Wretchard's commenters often have some interesting ideas, too.  If you make a comment which he thinks brings something important to the conversation, he may comment on it, as well.  Glenn Reynold notes a few clarifying comments from others on various types of anarchists - some more responsible than others.  A "true anarchy" doesn't sound at all appealing.

I wonder how many generations ahead Fox Pivens was thinking when she called for this angry, indignant reaction from the unemployed in America?  Has she ever considered Thomas Sowell's perpetual question to the utopian thinker, "And then what?"

BLAST FROM THE PAST (circa 1980), Thomas Sowell takes on Frances Fox Piven in the last part of this 6-minute video. He was really feisty back then. Sowell and Fox Piven don't seem to have persuaded each other much in the intervening years.

Additional reading: Life and Death in Shanghai is the story of a remarkable woman's experiences with the Red Guard and the Maoist government after being identified as an "enemy of the people".

Wretchard  comments on VDH's latest piece comparing the behavior of the Left in Greece and California. Can the Left be brought to understand to the reality of the dire situation they are in?

So Hanson says, why not let them have it but make it clear that the state will have to pay for it? Let them see for themselves where the path leads if they won’t listen to reason. . . . .

Maybe they won’t listen to experience either, just as certain types of people keep trying the same thing while hoping for different results. They will press on despite failure, despite debacles and just press the keys harder. But under no circumstances will “sorry, we won’t loan you anything at any interest rate, so please by all means riot all you wish” get anyone else off the hook. Because other people are permanently on the hook. The whole point of socialism is precisely that it’s built on somebody else’s money. If it were built with their money it would be capitalism.

WH Auden observed that “all sins tend to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is damnation.” If the Left the world over has reached the point where they have got to have their fix, then neither reason nor experience will be persuasive. . .

The Hard Left aside, even more moderate young Social Democrats of Europe are starting to wake up to the consequences of not asking Sowell's question, "And then what?"   in their social planning. As reported by the NEW YORK TIMES?  Similar education bubble coming to a state near you.  Demographic issues may be a little different.

Video showing the lighter side of Marxism in NYC linked at the bottom of this post.

* Does ACORN really have BILLIONAIRE supporters who need to be informed of their business plans like, maybe, George Soros? Seems odd for a group focused on financial equality.  But then, Soros has justified destroying currencies in his stated quest to create more equitable governments.

UPDATE:  An old Stalinist is also delighted by the world's financial difficulties.   Even Fox-Piven had evolved beyond loving Stalin, I believe.

Predictions for 2011

Predictions are perilous things. It's usually best not to take yourself too seriously when you make them, because hubris is often followed by nemesis. But never mind, it was always about social control, anyway. "Titillated by coercion"?

The pundits at National Review seem to have a sense of this as they make their predictions. John Derbyshire's predictions about China might not be what you would expect. His wife is from China. Conflicting information here and here. Follow the link on the Instapundit posts.

YouTube University: Milton Friedman Explains Libertarianism

Although currently allied with conservatives, libertarians are not exactly like the typical conservative. The late Milton Friedman explains libertarianism in a 1999 interview with Peter Robinson. You can watch the whole thing a one time, or in shorter segments. You might want to consider where you fall on the continuum between supporting the maximum possible individual liberty on one hand OR mandating equality of outcome as well as providing safety, services, etc. through government action on the other hand.

Peter Robinson looks "inauthentic" on a motorcycle. But in this classic interview he asks Milton Friedman some tough questions about his libertarian positions. A college semester in 25 minutes.

Want shorter classes?

What is a libertarian?

What produced the dark and dirty London of Charles Dickens?

Are regulators like the FDA necessary to safeguard consumers? I could tell some stories to support either a yes or no position.

Should the government mandate that nutritional labels be placed on food packaging?

Of 14 cabinet departments, Milton Friedman says he would only keep a handful.

MORE: The kinds of interviews you don't see on TV anymore (radio interviews sometimes still provide this kind of exchange):

GREED 2 minutes. Kudos to Phil Donahue for asking good questions, then listening.

Federal Reserve and the New Deal, Chrysler bailout in 1979, automobile industry. 10 minutes.

Economics of medical care 9 minutes

Why it isn't necessary to change elected officials in order to change government. One minute.

The four ways to spend money.3 minutes

Local vs. Federal Government Spending, increasing production of goods and services (what the Greens want us to keep to a minimum). 3 minutes