Seen around the University of Texas:

May 16 ...

In 1770 Marie Antoinette, age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15. In 1868 the Senate failed by one vote to convict President Andrew Johnson as it took its first ballot on one of 11 articles of impeachment against him. In 1905 actor Henry Fonda was born in Grand Island, NE. In 1920 Joan of Arc was canonized in Rome. In 1955 American author and critic James Agee died in New York City at age 45. In 1960 a Big Four summit conference in Paris collapsed on its opening day as the Soviet Union leveled spy charges against the US in the wake of the U2 incident. In 1963 after 22 Earth orbits Gordon Cooper returned to Earth, in what was to be the last flight in the Mercury program. In 1969 Venera 5, a Russian spacecraft, landed on the planet Venus. In 1985 actress Margaret Hamilton died in Salisbury, CT, at age 82. Hamilton was best known for her roles of Almira Gulch and The Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of Oz. In 2001 former FBI agent Robert Hanssen was indicted on charges of spying for Moscow. (Hanssen later pleaded guilty to 15 counts of espionage and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.) In 2005 Newsweek magazine retracted its Quran abuse story that sparked deadly protests in Afghanistan that left about 15 people dead and scores injured.

Guy Sorman, in City Journal:

The 2012 presidential race will be, in part, a showdown between two different models of economic growth. President Barack Obama and his Democratic administration will defend the once-discredited and now-resurgent theory that government must act as the economy's "tutor" and use public funds to stimulate it. The Republican nominee, presumably Mitt Romney, will advance the free-market argument that the main source of new growth is the innovative energy of American entrepreneurs and that government needs to get out of the way.
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Can a Schumpeterian candidate make it to the White House in 2012? Yes, but in the current climate of economic uncertainty, he will need to be a talented rhetorician. Otherwise, America in a second Obama term will probably continue to move in a European direction, with the government playing an increasingly activist role in the economy, protecting out-of-date ways of doing business. And without the liberating fire of creative destruction, America will follow Europe down the path of slow growth, high unemployment, and decline.

Read the whole piece.

40 years ago on this date in 1972, George C. Wallace was shot by Arthur Bremer and left paralyzed while campaigning in Laurel, MD, for the Democratic presidential nomination.

May 15 ...

In 1602 Cape Cod, MA, was discovered by English navigator Bartholomew Gosnold. In 1856 L. Frank Baum, author of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was born in Chittenango, NY. In 1886 poet Emily Dickinson died in Amherst, MA. In 1911 the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Co., ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. In 1918 US airmail began service between Washington, Philadelphia and New York. In 1941 Joe DiMaggio began his record Major League baseball 56-game hitting streak, going 1 for 4 against Chicago White Sox pitcher Eddie Smith. In 1942 gasoline rationing went into effect in 17 states, limiting sales to three gallons a week for non-essential vehicles. In 1948 Israel was attacked by Transjordan, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon only hours after declaring its independence. In 1951 AT&T became the first corporation to have one million stockholders. In 1958 Sputnik III, the first space laboratory, was launched in the Soviet Union. In 1963 astronaut L. Gordon Cooper blasted off aboard Faith 7 on the final mission of the Project Mercury space program. In 1970 Phillip Lafayette Gibbs and James Earl Green, two black students at Jackson State University in Mississippi, were killed when police opened fire during student protests. In 1972 George C. Wallace was shot by Arthur Bremer and left paralyzed while campaigning in Laurel, MD, for the Democratic presidential nomination. In 1988 Soviet forces began their withdrawal from Afghanistan. Soviet forces had been there for more than eight years. In 1997 the space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on a mission to deliver urgently needed repair equipment and a fresh American astronaut to Russia's orbiting Mir space station.

Liam Halligan, in The Telegraph:

Sovereign bond chaos, already seen on the "eurozone periphery" of course, has only been averted in some larger Western European economies - the UK included - because central banks, in an unprecedented move, have expanded base money three-fold, then hoovered up reams of government debt.

This is the reality. Some may quibble with my tone. But no one, if they have the most elementary understanding of financial markets, can deny these facts. And yet, despite the fragility of our predicament, we still hear claims that extra government borrowing is the answer, that raising sovereign debt even more than it's already set to rise, will help us handle the record debts we face. Let us spend more, the Keynesians say, and our problems will be solved. Let us further expand already escalating state borrowing because "austerity" isn't working.

This is, like motherhood and apple pie, an easy message to sell. As such, there will always be craven politicians, and court jester policy-wonks who will line up in order to sell it. It falls to the grown-ups, then, to insist on the truth, however uncomfortable that truth may be.
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There is no choice between growth and austerity. This posing of this false dichotomy reflects, instead, the ideological, almost tribal nature of the Western world's policy debate. The real choice is, in fact, between two forms of crisis management - that taken by Sweden on the one hand and Japan on the other.

The reason the UK and much of the eurozone has slipped back into recession has nothing to do with a "lack of demand", as the Keynesian dinosaurs assert. A bit more government spending here, an "enterprise scheme" there, may buy off the odd interest group. But such measures are mere political parlour games, doing nothing to decide our economic trajectory and having zero impact on growth - unless, of course, the extra spending they entail tips international opinion over the edge and our bond markets totally seize, forcing us back into a deep, Lehman-style, slump.
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So forget "growth V austerity". The question is, do we follow Schumpeter or Marx, Sweden or Japan? That's the real policy dilemma we face.

May 14 ...

In 1643 Louis XIV became King of France at age 4 upon the death of his father, Louis XIII. In 1796 English physician Edward Jenner administered the first vaccination against smallpox to an 8-year-old boy. In 1804 the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory left St. Louis. In 1904 the first Olympic Games to be held in the US opened in St. Louis, as part of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. In 1906 German revolutionary, American politician and reformer, Civil War Union Army general, and journalist Carl Schurz died in New York City at age 77. In 1948 the independent state of Israel was proclaimed in Tel Aviv. In 1955 representatives from eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, formed the Warsaw Pact in Poland. (The Pact was dissolved in July 1991.) In 1967 New York Yankee great Mickey Mantle hit his 500th home run. In 1970 actress Billie Burke died in Los Angeles, CA, at age 84. She was best known for her role as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, in the Wizard of Oz. In 1973 the US launched Skylab 1, its first manned space station. In 1975 US forces raided the Cambodian island of Koh Tang and recaptured the American merchant ship Mayaguez. All 40 crew members were released safely by Cambodia, but some 40 US servicemen were killed in the military operation. In 1980 President Carter inaugurated the Department of Health and Human Services. In 1998 Frank Sinatra died at age 82; also on this day, the final episode of the TV series Seinfeld aired after nine years on NBC.

Jonah Goldberg gets his curmudgeon on.

May 13 ...

In 1607 the English colony at Jamestown, VA, was settled. In 1842 composer Arthur Sullivan, half of the famous Gilbert and Sullivan duo, was born in London, England. In 1846 the United States declared that a state of war already existed against Mexico. In 1884 farmer, inventor, and businessman Cyrus McCormick died in Chicago. In 1914 the longest-reigning world heavyweight champion in history, Joe Louis, was born in LaFayette, AL. In 1917 three peasant children near Fatima, Portugal, reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary. In 1940 in his first speech as prime minister, Winston Churchill told the British House of Commons, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat." In 1958 Vice President Nixon's limousine was battered by rocks thrown by anti-US demonstrators in Caracas, Venezuela. In 1981 Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter's Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.

Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia argues, "The recall battle against Walker speaks volumes about the misguided priorities of modern-day progressives."

Dalmia continues:

Those trying to oust Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in a June 5 recall election are portraying him as a wild-eyed, Koch-brothers-controlled, right-wing ideologue hell-bent on destroying unions. In reality, Walker is more like a panicked accountant trying to fix the Badger State's out-of-whack books. He's no more anti-union and right-wing than the libs' beloved FDR -- and that's his real problem.
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In short, Walker won't end forced private-sector unionism, lighten Wisconsin's hefty tax burden, or abandon government spending to stimulate economic growth. All this would have made him a Democrat in FDR's time. That modern-day progressives are branding him as a right-wing radical says far more about them than him.

80 years ago on this date in 1932, the body of the kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh was found in a wooded area of Hopewell, NJ.

Also on this date, 75 years ago in 1937, Britain's King George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey.

May 12 ...

In 1780 Charleston, SC, fell to British forces. In 1907 actress Katharine Hepburn was born in Hartford, CT. In 1932 the body of the kidnapped son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh was found in a wooded area of Hopewell, NJ. In 1937 Britain's King George VI was crowned at Westminster Abbey. In 1943 Axis forces in North Africa surrendered to the Allies. In 1949 the Soviet Union announced an end to the Berlin Blockade. In 1965 West Germany and Israel exchanged letters establishing diplomatic relations. In 1970 the Senate voted unanimously to confirm Harry A. Blackmun as a Supreme Court justice; also on this day, Chicago Cub great Ernie Banks hit his 500th home run at Wrigley Field, becoming the ninth Major League baseball player to do so. In 1975 the White House announced the new Cambodian government had seized an American merchant ship, the Mayaguez, in international waters. In 2003 fifty-four Texas Democratic Party lawmakers went into hiding in order to prevent a quorum from convening in the Texas House for a debate, and therefore a vote, on a congressional redistricting plan presented by Republicans.

Reason magazine's Nick Gillespie:

If spending is going to exceed current levels of revenue, taxes (now or in the future, to pay for borrowing) have to go up. Relying on future economic growth to pay for ongoing increases in spending is a mug's game at the state level, as Reason has shown. Whenever states get a few cents in their pocket, they don't simply spend that amount, they commit to massive new plans to keep spending more and more.

So if you're not for cutting spending, then how much should taxes be raised? That seems to be the question in Wisconsin, and elsewhere, that few people really want to answer.

May 11 ...

In 1647 Peter Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam to become governor. In 1858 Minnesota became the 32nd state of the Union. In 1888 Irving Berlin was born in Tyumen, Russia. In 1904 surrealist artist Salvador Dali was born in Figueras, Spain. In 1910 Glacier National Park in Montana was established. In 1942 William Faulkner's collections of short stories, Go Down, Moses, was published. In 1943 US forces landed on the Aleutian island of Attu, which was held by the Japanese; the Americans took the island 19 days later. In 1944 Allied forces launched a major offensive against German lines in Italy. In 1946 the first CARE packages arrived in Europe, at Le Havre, France. In 1949 Israel was admitted to the United Nations as the world body's 59th member. In 1960 Mossad agents captured Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires. In 1973 charges against Daniel Ellsberg for his role in the "Pentagon Papers" case were dismissed by Judge William M. Byrne, who cited government misconduct. In 2001 Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, died in Santa Barbara, CA, at age 49.

Michael Barone:

... what may undermine racial quotas and preferences most effectively is ridicule. For isn't the idea that the blond, blue-eyed Elizabeth Warren suffered some terrible disadvantage and is in need of special preference because she is one-thirty-second Cherokee just laugh-out-loud funny?

Read the whole piece.