Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktIt’s going to be a brief one today….sorry.
1953 – The Iranian military, with the assistance of the CIA, overthrows Premier Mosaddeq and reinstates the Shah of Iran. The Shah, an ally of the US throughout the Cold War, will remain in power until the 1979 Iranian revolution. The 1953 coup and the US relationship with the Shah will be a primary motivating factor in the 1979 hostage crisis, when Iranian “students” storm the US embassy in Tehran and hold 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
1951 – Eddie Gaedel, at 3 foot 7 inches the smallest person ever to “play” in a MLB game, makes his first and only career plate appearance for the St Louis Browns, taking a walk on 4 straight pitches and promptly being taken out for a pinch runner. Gaedel’s appearance was orchestrated by showman and owner Bill Veeck, who was famous for his unique efforts at trying to increase fan attendance.
1942 – Amidst mounting pressure from Stalin to open a second front in the war, the Allies stage a raid on the French town of Dieppe, the first Allied attempt to attack German positions in mainland Europe. The raid, beset by all kinds of logistical and tactical problems, is a complete debacle, being turned back a mere 5 hours after it had begun, with over 60% of the troops being casualties or captured. Nevertheless, the lessons learned are held out by Churchill as being crucial to the later success of the invasion of Normandy on D-Day.
1812 – A naval battle between the USS Constitution and the Guerrière, a British frigate, breaks out off the coast of Nova Scotia. Surprisingly the Constitution gets the best of the 20-minute battle, inflicting serious damage while suffering very little itself. Witnesses to the battle later claim that the British cannon shots simply bounced off the sides of the Constitution, resulting in the eventually legendary ship being nicknamed “Old Ironsides”.
Filed under: This Day in History |
All Things in Moderation 
Looks like no MP today, so I posted the history post a little early. Slightly abbreviated version as I got tied up last night and had to throw it together quickly this morning.
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When I was in middle school, I played an Avalon Hill Game called Wooden Ships and Iron Men which was a simulation of 18th and 19th naval battles including several from the War of 1812. I’ve always considered that war a sub-theater of the larger Napoleonic Wars much as the French and Indian Wars were a sub-theater of the Seven Years War.
Anyways the game was unique in that it used paper counters to represent the ships but did not have a board, thus bridging the gap between board games and miniatures.
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I’m not a D but is this true? Are the Clinton’s still this powerful? Or, is the D party this beholden to identity politics ?
http://m.washingtonexaminer.com/byron-york-if-hillary-is-a-lock-whats-a-democrat-to-do-campaign-for-veep/article/2534421
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McWing:
I’m not a D but is this true? Are the Clinton’s still this powerful?
What struck me was that Palin jokes from 2008 are apparently still in vogue. Wonder if there were any Quayle-can’t-spell quips to regale the crowd.
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Worth a read from Steve Pearlstein.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/can-irelands-celtic-tiger-roar-again/2013/08/16/1462304c-0460-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html
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picking up on our 30-hours discussion.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/08/forever_21but_only_working_295_hours_weekly.html
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nova (from the link):
Expect to see other companies taking similar action–cutting working hours to just under 30 but piously denying Obamacare is the reason.
I don’t understand why they deny it. Why not let everyone know, especially those employees who actually voted for Obama and are therefore responsible for this mess, that Obamacare is precisely the reason they are getting their hours and their benefits cut?
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I suppose its an effort not to seem political
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BTW…anyone see Dempster drill A-Rod last night? I’m no A-Rod fan, but it’s hard to believe the ump didn’t toss Dempster. It was one of the most obvious, and repeated, attempts to hit a batter with a pitch that I have ever seen.
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Because there’s no upside to making themselves a target/martyr in the PPACA political wars.
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He who shall not be named on student loan rates
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/ripping-off-young-america-the-college-loan-scandal-20130815
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I swear to the Flying Spaghetti Monster that I thought that article was written by john/banned from PlumLine. The rate of interest is not what is making college unaffordable, it’s the retail ticket price.
While he dances around it HWSNBN never quites get into why college costs have been rising astronomically. College is a high-touch service requiring expensive highly trained practitioners (college professors) much like medicine or live orchestral music.
The only way to break the cost curve is to industrialize it which has already been done to the breaking point. Freshman classes in sporting auditoriums, TA’s in most classes, taping lectures for on-demand viewing. It’s all been done.
The truth is that colleges compete on amenities and reputation rather than price.
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“why college costs have been rising astronomically.”
it’s because we go in begging them to take our money. you can’t subsidize the cost, assume a pay-whatever-it-takes attitude, and and then not expect it to rise.
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Supply and demand?
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“While he dances around it HWSNBN never quites get into why college costs have been rising astronomically. College is a high-touch service requiring expensive highly trained practitioners (college professors) much like medicine or live orchestral music”
Yes he does, he just doesn’t agree with your conclusion:
College was “high touch” when it’s costs were much lower as well. That’s not what changed.
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jnc;
Perhaps the closest to a truthful article that I have ever seen Taibbi write. Unfortunately, he doesn’t quite grasp the fundamental problem. Yes, the problem is one of too easy credit. But whether that is due to ill-considered social engineering or lobbying from the education industry (proposition that are not, BTW, mutually exclusive), the problem is, at root, one of ideology, namely a progressive ideology that 1) embraces government created “solutions” to perceived social problems and 2) seeks to concentrate the power to implement those “solutions” in the federal government. Both social engineers and rent-seeking lobbyists thrive under a system controlled by such an ideology. And that is what we have.
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I think that has to be part of it.
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an unrealistic desire to put as many kids into college as possible that mirrors the state’s home-ownership goals that many conservatives still believe fueled the mortgage crisis.
Yet he also discusses the fact that people without college degrees have narrow paths to the middle class. That makes it much less a social good than an economic necessity.
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WaPo had a front page dead trees story today on India expanding its food giveaway program on the assumption that food is a basic human need and should be subsidized by the government.
The article does mention that the existing program is already hugely wasteful, inefficient and corrupt.
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Tweet of the day!
@TPCarney: It’s bizarre that people think it’s “political” for a company to react to incentives created by a law >> http://t.co/H1kk2VLOrc
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McWing:
It’s bizarre that people think it’s “political” for a company to react to incentives created by the law.
Very.
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It’s like accusing someone taking the Home Mortgage Deduction as being political.
Speaking of political, Kevin Drum has an awakening.
http://m.nationalreview.com/corner/356160/mother-joness-kevin-drum-notices-obamacult-charles-c-w-cooke
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eeww…
http://www.11alive.com/News/Odd/303204/186/Snail-hatches-in-knee-of-4-year-old-boy
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