Leadership is the art of getting someone else
to do something you want done
because he wants to do it.
Dwight Eisenhower
Tweet of the Day
Big Nana knows best: vaccines work (especially HAV, HBV, HPV). Remember to have your dog neutered. http://t.co/WhwzvJzHZb
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) February 3, 2015
Warsaw's Blinking LightsNanny of the Month: January 2015
Facebook Corner
(Reason). The latest on the wedding cake beat.
This has nothing to do with getting a wedding cake; there are gay bakers, or at worst they could decorate a standard cake (e.g., there are gay wedding toppers on eBay, etc.) This has to do with using the State for punishing people who happen to hold a more traditional perspective., which has a chilling effect on the First Amendment.
There is no reason in the world why this bakery has to justify what products it sells, say if it specializes in traditional weddings. Do I have a right to file a complaint if the local department store doesn't carry big-and tall sizes or my office supply supercenter doesn't carry left-handed scissors? How does anyone have the right to demand a business to stock an item based on the aribitrary preferences of every crackpot troublemaking fascist entering my shop? I don't have to justify why I refuse to service a fascist jerk, with or without specified reason.
I would think that gay bakeries would be more than happy to take the business; if there are barriers to entry, the state should pursue that. But in almost every case I've seen, these troublemakers find an alternative source but they want to get their pound of flesh because someone doesn't agree with their point of view. It's unconscienable and anti-liberty at its core.
I am a gay man. I hate and actively participate in boycotts against those who would discriminate against me and mine.
but why on EARTH do we need the government to make someone bake us a cake? I can understand if it's critical medical services, if it's government services, or if it's something else which the state has taken control of...
but really? we're going to force people at the barrel of a gun to take our money? WTF guys?
It is not for the State to undermine the voluntary transactions of the marketplace; I don't buy into the "public access" rationalization for Statist intervention; it's a violation of my economic liberty. If I choose to specialize in traditional wedding cakes, that's my decision to make. Now personally, even if I morally object to the gay lifestyle, I don't maximize my sales by arbitrarily turning away profitable transactions. If I turn away nontraditional cakes it's an opportunity for competitors.
I am not a fan of boycotts, which would discriminate against those acting based on their religious or moral convictions; is that any more moral than blacklists against hiring gays? I would rather see associations of vendors committed to accommodating diversity.
(Lawrence Reed). Some people claim that because Christ drove the "moneychangers" from the Temple, He was somehow and therefore opposed to wealth or even against banking. Not so. That's like saying that because a funeral is not the appropriate place to break out with "Happy Days are Here Again" on a kazoo, it's therefore never proper to play it anywhere. Whether you're a person of faith or of no faith, historical context and accuracy should be important to you:
I think once again we have to think of the duality of the earthly kingdom with the heavenly kingdom. Jesus was not condemning commerce per se but the time and the place of these transactions. The Court of the Gentiles, where this marketplace had been set up, had been built as a place of evangelization and prayer. Instead of serving God, the temple had over time become a place of business where Jews complied with external signs of compliance with the Law, e.g., ritual animal sacrifice and paying the Temple tax, but the Jews in attendance demonstrated an empty, insincere kind of faith--;like the proud Pharisee, they complied with the external signs of faith or compliance with the Covenant, but they didn't live their faith and responsibilities in everyday life. The compromising of the Court of the Gentiles symbolized the corrupt faith being practiced by contemporary Jews: God was not fooled by empty compliance with Passover rituals, financially supporting the temple, attending Temple, etc. This extreme behavior on Jesus' part was a teaching moment; the Temple without genuine, heartfelt compliance with the Law was an empty shell no longer pleasing to God.
(Cato Institute). Don’t believe minimum wage hikes hurt real people? Read on....
Isn't it amazing how many busybody "progressive" people are willing to spend the money in someone else's wallet? The crony unions, of course, always want to manipulate the numbers of workers to sustain artificially high wages through labor protectionist policies (e.g., they also oppose immigration for similar reasons). Ever wonder why the big retailers typically support increasing the minimum wage--at the expense of the smaller mom-and-pop retailers like the bookstore in this post?
Ah, Mr Cato.... But if you're making $7.25 an hour, you may not be able to go to that bookstore....
Let's make the minimum wage $0/hour, to give low-experienced/skilled workers an improved opportunity to find gainful employment. at a rate that's nobody's business except the two parties coming to a voluntary agreement.
(separate comment)
And at $15/hour, nobody is able to go to that bookstore.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Lisa Benson via Townhall |
Joe Cocker, "When the Night Comes". My favorite Cocker performance. This marks the end of my Joe Cocker retrospective. Next up: Dusty Springfield.
