Political Landslide In Japan

TOKYO (AP) - Japan's ruling conservative party suffered a crushing defeat in elections Sunday as voters overwhelmingly cast their ballots in favor of a left-of-center opposition camp that has promised to rebuild the economy and breathe new life into the country after 54 years of virtual one-party rule, media projections said.

The opposition Democratic Party of Japan was set to win 300 of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament, ousting the Liberal Democrats, who have governed Japan for all but 11 months since 1955, according to projections by all major Japanese TV networks.

The vote was seen as a barometer of frustrations over Japan's worst economic slump since World War II and a loss of confidence in the ruling Liberal Democrats' ability to tackle tough problems such as the rising national debt and rapidly aging population.

Click on the title of this post to read the full AP story.

The Upcoming Term's Most Important Decision

Well, ok, the decision applying (or not) the 2nd Amendment to the States is important also but the case Citizens United is the one that is being re-argued before the Supreme Court's term properly starts in October. In non-legalese, what this means is that the Supreme Court is on the verge of over-ruling one if not two precedents concerning limitations on corporate expenditures on free speech. That blight on the Constitution known as McCain-Feingold may be removed. MC can only hope.

Click on the title of this post to read the NYTimes' remarkably even-handed article on this issue.

Stipendium Peccati Mors Est

MC doesn't care if you don't know Latin. The loss is yours.

This Meme Returns To Live Another Day

MC has followed the conservatism is dead thread for some time now. True, the idea had some passing salience on, oh, say, November 5th last year. But like all absolute statements, it was never true.

Tanenhaus is the editor of the New York Times Book Review and is a thoughtful liberal. He wrote an excellent biography of Whittaker Chambers (yes, that's a name you should know and no, in the era of Google you can, as our parents used to say of those books called dictionaries, look it up). The book is getting a lot of attention and this is to be expected given the author and the topic.

James Pierson at The New Criterion, however, makes short shrift of the book. Click on the title of this post to read his review.

We Have Nothing To Add

Click on the image to enlarge.

No. Trotsky Was A Very Bad Man Indeed!

What is wrong with people, especially historians who should know better? Lesley Chamberlain reviews a new biography of Trotsky in today's Wall Street Journal and writes:

"We are left weighing a multiple ­tragedy, of a man so loyal to an ideology he died for it; of an ideology that in one form or another killed ­millions; and of a 20th century in which political ­radicals world-wide called themselves Trotskyists and believed that Lenin was good and Stalin bad, that even if the Soviet Union was a degenerate workers' state, the real thing could be established elsewhere. Trotsky had people killed. But . . . [he] was not a bad man."

Good grief: get us rewrite!

Hat tip: The Volokh Conspiracy

RIP: Edward M. Kennedy 1932-2009

De mortuis, nihil nisi bonum.

Less Than 50% Approve Of Obama's Performance

Pollster averages various and sundry polls and viola: the moment has arrived when less than 50% of Americans approve of the job President Obama is doing. MC really thinks at this point he doesn't particularly care what Americans think: he knows best.

All we can say is: carry on in precisely the same way for another year and we'll be in fine shape to gain House and Senate seats. And no, MC never underestimates Obama. But we are amazed he continues to be tone deaf and inflict damage to his administration, the outrageous decision to investigate CIA interrogators being just the latest example.

The Fascinating View From Planet Moonbat!

Honest to God, MC watched all 4 minutes, 38 seconds of this video amazed at the idiocy of it all. Click on it to view and leave a comment as to your favorite part. Ours was either the tone of dread and evil when the narrator says insurance companies make--yes--profits! or it was when medicare is repeatedly held up as a nifty model because its adminstrative costs are low (are they kidding?) and they don't make profits! Left unmentioned is the fact that it is broke. Insolvent. Kaput. And fraud is rampant. MC also liked the mention of the post office, now 7 billion in the red.

This squish thinks essential services form the basis for a persuasive argument for single payer. Really, people just aren't that dumb. Forget the nostrum that health is an essential service (by such a stretch of meaning and words, what isn't?), the other services mentioned are locally controlled and managed. The two federal government programs? A trainwreck.

But keep repeating it: if you like the postal service, you'll love Obamacare.

The Age Of Obama Witch Hunts Begin

The decision by Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the CIA marks a new low in an administration rapidly heading downhill. MC is not assured by reports that the special prosecutor's "mandate . . . . will be relatively narrow: to look at whether there is enough evidence to launch a full-scale criminal investigation of current and former CIA personnel who may have broken the law in their dealings with detainees." It boggles the mind that we have come to this.

Click on the title of this post to read the Washington Post story.