7-21-12 Hodgepodge

That Was Fast!

I see that the slipshod leftist media took no time to attempt to pin the blame for the recent theater mass shooting in Colorado on the Tea Party. There are several posts on this at Instapundit, but they can basically all be summarized as follows:

Fascinating that a man shouting "Allahu akbar!" as he mows down 35 people on an army base isn't motivated by Islam ... but a guy who has the same name as hundreds of others -- and says nothing as he fires -- is obviously a Tea Party zealot. [minor edits]

Upon learning of this atrocity, I vaguely considered writing a satirical mea culpa type of posting along such lines, but decided that actually doing so would be in poor taste, to say the least. I now see -- in addition to that -- that what ABC "reporter" Brian Ross actually did topped anything I could have cooked up.

Weekend Reading

"Growing up occurs at the moment you stop caring about what others think." -- Michael Hurd, in "Tell Me What I Want to Hear" at DrHurd.com

"Why would it take a whole decade to lay that initial track? I count 300 miles over 3650 days, which is less than 500 feet per day." -- Richard Salsman, in "The Bullet Train Fiasco Reminds Us That California Is Our Greece" at Forbes

"More ... consumer-reporting companies, not greater government oversight, will give consumers the information they need to make good decisions about their personal nutrition and health needs." -- Michelle Minton, in "More FDA Control Does Not Mean More Safety" at RealClear Policy

My Two Cents

Richard Salsman and Michelle Minton each do something I wish more people were in the habit of doing: applying common sense to the notion that our government can somehow guarantee prosperity -- or even safety. All it really can do is attempt to guarantee that we can pursue those things en route to happiness -- and that only if it does not attempt to do anything else.

Good Grammar as Good Business

Kyle Wiens explains why he uses grammar to screen job applicants:

Grammar signifies more than just a person's ability to remember high school English. I've found that people who make fewer mistakes on a grammar test also make fewer mistakes when they are doing something completely unrelated to writing -- like stocking shelves or labeling parts.

In other words, if someone uses poor grammar, there is a reason for it. Accordingly, Wiens accounts for extenuating circumstances (such as English not being an applicant's native language) while still exploiting what someone's use of English indicates about his mental habits or ability. As he notes, "[S]loppy is as sloppy does".

--CAV