Lucid Links (071309, Morning)

Noteworthy Net-Worthies:

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If you thought Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s admission of previous and perhaps still-current sympathies with eugenics was bad, wait until you get a load of President Obama’s science czar John Holdren. Zombietime’s comprehensive review (HT Michelle Malkin) of a book Holdren co-authored with long since proven wrong population hysterics Paul and Anne Ehrlich. In the book, Holdren and the Ehrlich’s wrote that:

• Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not;
• The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation’s drinking water or in food;
• Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise;
• People who “contribute to social deterioration” (i.e. undesirables) “can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility” — in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized.
• A transnational “Planetary Regime” should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans’ lives — using an armed international police force.

There was actually a Senate hearing on Holdren, where he was ineffectively vetted.

I agree with Zombie that nothing short of the following would be grounds for Holdren’s continuations:

I challenge John Holdren to publicly renounce and disavow the opinions and recommendations he made in the book Ecoscience; and until he does so, I will hold him responsible for those statements.

Of course, we know Holdren won’t do that. And now, we know that President Obama doesn’t mind having a eugenics advocate as his most important “science” adviser.

I would suggest that Holdren’s presence puts some ugly context around Obama’s answer at ABC’s health care broadcast inside the White House to that woman who told the story of her 100 year-old mother who received a pacemaker because a doctor was impressed with the mother’s spirit. Obama’s response to this heartwarming story:

I don’t think that we can make judgments based on peoples’ spirit.

Translation: “Well then, die already, will ya?”

From all appearances, Barack Obama is an ideological soulmate of John Holdren.

This is the brave new world statist health care would give us, complete with people having the mindset of Obama and Holdren at the helm, no matter who happens to the President or in Congress at the time.

No thanks.

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Sonia Sotomayor’s hearings begin today. I’ve said all that needs to be said about her objective unfitness already, but part of what I wrote needs repeating:

This statement (”I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life”) justifies — no, it actually demands — an instant rejection of Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination. This woman clearly has a racist, sexist mindset drenched in a stereotype that is not and never has been true.

….. Sonia Sotomayor is objectively unfit to be a Supreme Court justice, or for that matter any kind of judge.

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A way-underestimated contributor to the rise in unemployment has been the rise in the minimum wage. Teen-aged unemployment is through the roof. The Wall Street Journal elaborates on the effects:

First, “a sizable majority of the studies give a relatively consistent (though not always statistically significant) indication of negative employment effects.” Second, “studies that focus on the least-skilled groups [i.e., teens, and welfare moms] provide relatively overwhelming evidence of stronger disemployment effects.”

Proponents argue that millions of workers will benefit from the bigger paychecks. But about two of every three full-time minimum-wage workers get a pay raise anyway within a year on the job. Meanwhile, those who lose their jobs or who never get a job in the first place get a minimum wage of $0.

….. (it’s estimated that) the 70-cent per-hour minimum wage hike this month would kill “about 300,000 jobs for those between the ages of 16-24.” Single working mothers would also be among those most hurt.

The mislabeled party of compassion strikes again.

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So predictable, from Tigerhawk (HT Instapundit):

Call me a cynic, but I am not in the least surprised that a couple of weeks after Barack Obama’s strong approval/disapproval ratings took a turn to the unfavorable and Obamacare is looking less like a lead pipe cinch it is suddenly time to investigate the Bush administration.

Of course. This is what authoritarians do when things start not going their way.

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Finally, on a sort-of lighter note:

The Chicago Cubs may become the first Major League Baseball team in 39 years to file for bankruptcy as Tribune Co. seeks to sell the franchise after months of negotiations.

Long-suffering Cubs fans, including yours truly, understand that this move is a mere formal confirmation of the reality we’ve been resigned to for over a century.