Hot Okie Links

1. Tyler blogs Robin's book. Awesome


2. I blog my latest paper: Where is the Chinese Xzibit?


3. The Angii survived Tigernado!!


4. Sam Wilson clues you in on why this is the most glorious of all days

A stealthy welfare system, where those with minor conditions feather their nests at expense of taxpayers and truly disabled veterans

"For a sense of how the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is coping with an unprecedented number of disability claims, consider that nationwide nearly 900,000 disability claims are backlogged or sitting in the processing queue...[T]he biggest issue by far is how the current system defines 'disability.'...The reality is that the majority of veterans' disability claims are for post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or minor physical conditions, including common age-related ailments such as hearing loss, lower-back pain and arthritis...By categorizing minor conditions as disabilities, the process threatens to become a kind of stealthy welfare system, where those with minor conditions might feather their nests at the expense of both taxpayers and truly disabled veterans trapped behind them in a line that stretches over the horizon." Daniel Gade, WSJ

As someone said, it's really hard to give away money.  Why would this cluster-firetruck surprise anyone?

Nod to Kevin Lewis

Christmas at Chez Angus

As the big day approaches, I thought I'd share a video showing how we celebrate Christmas around here:

yeah, it's pretty much like that.

Necessity is the mother of stupidity

This is how I imagine Joe Biden eats his soup!

Oh Hi! Got any Fish?

Mrs. Angus and I were amazed and enchanted by the variety of colors and shapes of the harbor seals along the Monterey coastline.

Here is a link to our whale photos from Laguna San Ignacio in Baja Mexico, and here is a link to some more Monterey photos.

Mungowitz's shocking secret revealed!

People, legal newsline has broken this story wide open. I just can't believe it, but there it is in black and white.

When Mungo and I were in grad school together, I was always tagging along behind him as he worked the system, made friends, charmed the professors, and pretty much got whatever he wanted (I was basically a spiky simmering ball of resentment and sarcasm the whole time).

But apparently I actually did A LOT BETTER than he at Wash U, as the story makes clear:

"Munger earned his master's degree in economics at Washington University in St. Louis and worked as a staff economist at the Federal Trade Commission. A Libertarian who received 3 percent of the 2008 vote for governor, Munger is also the head of the political science department at Duke."

I was somehow under the impression that both of us got our PhDs from good old don't wash me, Wash U.

Mungo, you got some 'splainin' to do!

ps. maybe Avanash K. Dixit retroactively revoked your doctorate?