Blessed is he who carries within himself a God, an ideal, and obeys it.
Louis Pasteur
Congratulations, Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies!
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| Courtesy of CNN |
Oh, It is PAINFUL Listening to Clueless Liberals Talk About Job Creation...
It initially sounds as if Blumental is having a Miss South Carolina 2007 moment; it's not as if, given 9.6% unemployment, the question of how you create a job. Linda McMahon gives a good answer, but basically it starts with the visualization of a market opportunity; maybe it's a new product or service, an underserved market segment (say, banking services, supermarkets or discount stores in urban neighborhoods), improved business processes (e.g., Wal-Mart's vaunted logistics), etc. There are critical resource and cost issues: infrastructure (e.g., ready access to waterways, major highway interchanges, etc.), access to capital and labor, government regulations and taxes, etc. But the bottom line, as Linda McMahon explains, is a profit motive: the business owner sees a likely return for products and services over their costs on an ongoing basis. You open a new store across town or start offering products and services over the Internet, and you hire additional staff to scale up and service your customers.
How can government help? Open up more world markets for American goods and services. Lower labor cost mandates (e.g., payroll taxes) and relax barriers to hiring (e.g., an artificially high minimum wage). Stop competing unfairly against the private sector and outsource functions which are not core competencies. Lower spending, which competes for investment dollars with the private sector. Provide a more predictable environment for business decision making (e.g., eliminate uncertainty over tax policy). Get the government out of the way of expanding operations (e.g., barriers to offshore energy exploration). Streamline government approval policies (e.g., new drugs or patents). Eliminate protectionist policies (e.g., farm subsidies), which are anti-consumer. I could go on, but hopefully the reader gets the point.
Ghailani, Judge Kaplan and AG Eric Holder: Thumbs DOWN!
But the Constitution is the rock upon which our nation rests. We must follow it not only when it is convenient, but when fear and danger beckon in a different direction. To do less would diminish us and undermine the foundation upon which we stand.I don't have a problem with these concepts; people have been unjustly accused and convicted by prosecutors looking for another notch on their belt. But there are other cases where it seems that judges are willing to rule out compelling evidence of guilt because prosecutors or police made some procedural error. I've never quite understand the leap of logic of punishing the prosecutors or police by putting a criminal or terrorist back out on the street to victimize other Americans, apparently because procedure trumps evidence. If a law enforcement person goes over the line, deal with that separately; don't victimize the public a second time.
Ahmed Ghailani is charged with the 1998 bombing of East African US Embassies. Hussein Abebe sold him the TNT used to blow up at least one of the embassies. Abebe's name surfaced during Ghailani interrogations at secret CIA prisons outside of the US. Kaplan argued that Abebe will not be allowed to testify at the Ghailani trial because the prosecution has failed to establish independence of Abebe separate from the interrogations.
All of this reflects, of course, on the Obama Administration's ideological attempts to treat terrorists, including foreign terrorists, as mere criminals and to try them in civilian courts rather than military tribunals. Eric Holder may be setting himself up with a situation a terrorist gets acquitted in the civilian court. Don't apply what happened in CIA prisons with the standard operating procedures in the US.
Political Humor
According to a pool report from Tuesday’s event in Dayton, Biden was telling the crowd that Democrats know how to balance the budget. He said, “If I hear one more Republican tell me about balancing the budget, I am going to strangle them.”
[Christine O'Donnell has had to step up security now the Delaware Strangler is on the loose.... ]
"Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer, is criticizing President Obama for not properly training his dog, Bo. Apparently, Bo still doesn't respond to simple commands such as 'sit,' 'stay,' and 'fix the economy.'" –Jimmy Fallon
[Well, Bo knows that Obama gives him the same amount of food whether or not he fetches the ball and now rarely leaves the house. Bo used to get treats when he fetched the ball, but then Obama started giving some of his hard-won treats to other dogs not fetching the ball; Obama told Bo that it's good to spread the treats around.]
Musical Interlude: The "British Invasion" of the 1960's Series
The Zombies, "She's Not There"
