I think I've already disclosed that the first thing I do nearly every morning of my life is go to The Wall Street Journal Online looking for the Best of the Web Today column from James Taranto and his minions.

Here's a good example of their fine work.

Terrible News: Crime Is Down 
"Incarceration in America is a failure by almost any measure," according to the first sentence of the blurb for a new Graeme Wood article in The Atlantic. We're locking criminals up, and crime keeps rising anyway! Oh, wait, no, that's not true. From the article:

Even as crime has fallen, the sentences served by criminals have grown, thanks in large part to mandatory minimums and draconian three-strikes rules--politically popular measures that have shown little deterrent effect but have left the prison system overflowing with inmates.

Having read this paragraph, we decided not to bother with the rest of the piece. We'll take Wood's word for it that incarceration is a failure by almost any measure. But it's hard to imagine what measure is more important than the one by which it is a success: preventing crime!

From The Daily Record UK

Click anywhere below for a real good story

Brave Scot Bill Millin who played the pipes as bullets flew on D-Day beach dies aged 87

Aug 19 2010 By Charlie Gall

HEROIC Scot Bill Millin, who bravely played the bagpipes as British soldiers were cut down around him during the D-Day landings, has died aged 87.

Dubbed Piper Bill, he was only 21 when his regiment - 1 Special Services Brigade - surged on to Sword Beach on June 6, 1944.

Waist-deep in the water and wading to shore under fierce resistance - wearing a kilt his father had worn during World War I - Glasgow-born Bill was among the bravest of D-Day's many heroes.

His courage was so inspirational, it featured in The Longest Day, the Oscar-winning 1962 film about the landings.

By D-Day, the Army had banned pipers from playing on the front line as they were sitting ducks for snipers.

But Bill's commander, Lord Lovat, ignored the order (gee, thank you Sir) and told his personal piper to play Highland Laddie and Road To The Isles to lift morale as his comrades fell around him.

Were it me writing the headline, it would read, "Piper Bill Millin, Legendary Crazy Bastard, Dead at 87"

With nothing but my utmost, absolute and sincerest respect.

As always, Green is good, Red is bad, Purple isn't terrible, but it ain't all that helpful either.

 Either the Cardinal Cross tab or Summer of Doom tab will take you to the entire series of posts.

You're gonna be seeing this one all day.

Ferdinand jumps out of the gym.

Literally.

You go big fella!!!!!

If you recall from previous discussions .......... any of the tags below will take you to the entire series of posts.

Green is good, Red is bad, Purple isn't terrible, but it ain't all that great either.

Just one lonely little green dot where Saturn, The Moon, Venus and Mars conjunct (sharing about 6 degrees of space).

I've received well over a hundred emails on the Bradley/Cardinal Cross/Summer of Doom postings.

As usual, nobody has had the stones to comment here, not even the heretofor praised Kluck.

It has been fun to evaluate the responses with what I know about the responders.

Oh yes, you are all being evaluated ........... constantly.

Form mostly has held.

Mockers have mocked, skeptics have skepted.

Skept?

The more serious of my Christian friends at this site (a clear majority) have been a little startled by the biblical references that have been ........... ummmmm ............ referenced.

While the markets have mostly held, and maybe even strengthened some ........... so far.

The one thing that cannot be denied is that madness is everywhere, some of it mostly expected, some of it just flat out off the wall.

But madness is mostly always just around the corner, isn't it?

Of course.

The Earth itself has been behaving badly.

We've had massive fires, massive floods, mud slides, earthquakes, and oppressive heat everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere.

We've had a record freeze kill millions of tropical fish in the Southern Hemisphere.

Now we have the Sun firing up and bombarding planet Earth with "a coronal mass ejection".

I keep thinking I might like to have one of those for myself.

But,this kind of stuff is always going on, right?

Yup.

But has it ever felt this intense?

Have you ever felt the fear this thick?

Among my favorites of the several dozen platitudes I like to throw around is,

"Feelings are a lie".

The follow up statement being, "Have you ever had some feeling about a certain set of circumstances that proved to be just completely incorrect?"

Of course ...............

............. But then again.

To quote any number of the first generation Dago contractors I've known and loved,

"Ima don't know. Ya know?"

Click anywhere on the quote for a little history lesson.

An editorial from CNN Money the title of which pretty much explains it all.

Click anywhere below for the entire story.

A 30 second read, easy, small words.

Apologies for snide editorialization.

I'm starting to crack.

Raise taxes now -- the elders of the economy say so

Because, as we all know, all these guys really know what they're doing.

By Lex Haris, managing editor August 10, 2010:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- First it was Greenspan. Now one by one other elders of the economy are speaking out against deficits, and they're making the surprising argument for higher taxes.

Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan was first and has taken the most extreme position, arguing that all of the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 should be allowed to expire.

Greenspan, no fan of big government and an initial backer of the Bush tax cuts, allows that higher taxes now could lead to slower economic growth, but has said that chipping away at the deficit is more important.

Joining him -- at varying degrees -- are David Stockman, former budget director in the Reagan White House, and former Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Paul O'Neill.

From The Wall Street Journal 8/10/2010, a letter from Michael P. Fleischer, president of Bogan Communications Inc of Ramsey, New Jersey.

Click anywhere below to link up Mr. Fleischer's letter.

Not a very tough read, recommended.

Why I'm Not Hiring

When you add it all up, it costs $74,000 to put $44,000 in Sally's pocket and to give her $12,000 in benefits.

By MICHAEL P. FLEISCHER

With unemployment just under 10% and companies sitting on their cash, you would think that sooner or later job growth would take off. I think it's going to be later—much later. Here's why.

Meet Sally (not her real name; details changed to preserve privacy).

Sally is a terrific employee, and she happens to be the median person in terms of base pay among the 83 people at my little company in New Jersey, where we provide audio systems for use in educational, commercial and industrial settings.

She's been with us for over 15 years. She's a high school graduate with some specialized training.

She makes $59,000 a year—on paper. In reality, she makes only $44,000 a year because $15,000 is taken from her thanks to various deductions and taxes, all of which form the steep, sad slope between gross and net pay.

It's the arithmetic stupid. 

Thanks to Cheryl who sent this one in from Sea World via Wimp.com.

At the better part of a million four hundred thousand views, maybe you've already seen it.

We hadn't.

Forget about the crap for 3 min 28 secs.

The worst show I ever saw was Mink DeVille at some club out I-96 west of Detroit in 1978 or 79.

Willy DeVille looked strung out on something (probably heroin), Louis X. Erlanger looked disgusted, and Ruben Siguenza looked embarrassed (I might have the last two reversed).

I was ticked off about the whole thing for probably a week, and didn't play Cabretta for probably a year.

Then Rolling Stone liked Le Chat Bleu ..... a lot.

 Still crabby, I bought it.

Damn ... what a great record.

I ended up buying that record in every format ever invented.

It was worth every penny if only for Willy's collaboration with the great Doc Pomus on Just To Walk That Little Girl Home, probably my favorite ballad ever (when it's not Mixed Up Shook Up Girl, also by Willy DeVille from Cabretta).

Willy was not nearly as good at life as he was at his music.

Twenty plus years a heroin addict, he lost his second wife to suicide.

He followed that up by trying to kill himself driving off a mountain.

Damn near succeeded.

Spent the rest of his life walking with a cane, and performing on a stool.

He died at age 59 from Pancreatic Cancer, which outhustled the Hepatitus C. August 6, 2009.

There has been no one remotely like him.

I sincerely doubt that there ever will be.

One of the great voices in the history of popular music.

Willy DeVille.

Demasiado Corazon.

Featuring Louis Cortelezzi (I think) on saxophone and Tom Watson in a clumsy attempt to disguise himself with a ponytail, on drums.

Kidding.

Willy DeVille