Nothing will ever be attempted,
if all possible objections must first be overcome.
Samuel Johnson
A Chilling Move by the Obama Administration
One of the persons, an Egyptian Copt filmmaker behind the controversial film resulting in Arab protests throughout the region, has a federal record with a no-contest computer fraud charge, is being investigated to see whether he violated the terms of his probation. Does anyone seriously believe that the investigation is a "coincidence"? That the government isn't sending a message to its Islamic critics? (HT Drudge).
Romney, Foreign Policy and a Bad Week
I"m not particularly impressed by any of the progressive columnists at the Gray Lady whom have been taking turns whacking Romney, including Kristof. Kristof and others have attempted to suggest Romney has tried to politically capitalize over the murder off the US Ambassador of Libya. At the time of the controversial memo, we knew I think of one casualty in Libya, not 3 including the Ambassador. What bothers me is why the Romney campaign is not at least fleshing out responses with more experienced resources, such as Condi Rice or even Senator McCain. Kristof is engaging in petty nonsense, e.g., the memo's common reference to the Libyan and Egyptian attacks (e.g., the former attack was on a consulate, not embassy). Romney is not going to be elected based on foreign policy but Obama's failures at leadership particularly on the economy, despite cheap shots like Kristof's mocking reference to Hillary's notorious 3AM call to--Romney, going to call forwarding. Actually if a hard decision needs to be made, I would much rather have a decisive leader like Romney whom has had to make tough business decisions about cutting costs than the Ditherer-in-Chief. The sign of a great leader, unlike the pathetic Obama, is the ability to pick the right team and delegate.
When it comes to Romney's trivial gaffes, it would be hard for him to outdo Obama, whom left a meeting with the Israeli PM to go to family supper and whom got caught on mike telling Putin that he'll be in a position to be more flexible after the election.
I do think that the Administration's intelligence and security planning in Islamic nations can be questioned in the wake of this week's attacks, along with the widening scope of drone attacks.
Does that mean I agree with Romney's harsh trade-related rhetoric with China, his provocative stance with Iran or exclusion of the Defense Department budget from cuts? Of course not. But I"m far more impressed by what a leader does than what he says.
Need for Serious Patent Reform
Remember my favorite Bastiat quote: "Treat all economic questions from the viewpoint of the consumer, for the interests of the A are the interests of the human race."
We have seen patents awarded or applied to for things like Amazon's 1-click or Priceline's "Name your own price.' Amazon's patent, for more convenient purchases, is valid in the States, not in Europe.
"The number of patent-infringement cases in the U.S. increased 23% to 2,833 in 2010, from 2,296 in 2000, according to lawsuit tracker Lex Machina Inc.""The patent office has been deluged with requests from Internet entrepreneurs since last summer [1998], when Federal Circuit US Court of Appeals ruled that software, particularly business methods, may be patented. As a result, patents for ideas related to computers and communications shot up 40 percent." Some companies collect patents from other companies for defensive purposes; others, called trolls, attempt to intimidate companies into agreements for licensing payments for things we critics think are obvious extensions of business processes. Kinsella argues:
I’d venture that even an estimate of $100 billion a year of net loss in the US economy alone due solely to patents is still conservative. That’s at least a trillion dollars of net loss in innovation and economic productivity every decade,Even in the case of Apple winning a judgment over smartphone rival Samsung, most of else in IT worry more about the chilling effect on competition. Apple co-founder Wozniak had an unexpected response to the court victory:
In an interview with Bloomberg, Woz was quite clear about his feelings on the California jury that decided Apple needed to be given money for the pain caused by Samsung.
"I hate it," he said. "I don't think the decision of California will hold. And I don't agree with it -- very small things, I don't really call that innovative."My Greatest Hits: Sept. 2012
Here are the top 5 posts by pageviews over the past 30 days:
- Miscellany: 9/03/12 Happy Capital & Labor Day. This post pageviews on some days exceeds my daily post. I had noticed a post by the Foundation for Economic Education about the fact we didn't have a Capital Day and suggested a joint holiday. I had previewed the subtitle a week earlier. But it could be the commentaries, including my take on the new book on the UBL mission.
- Miscellany: 9/01/12
- Miscellany: 9/08/12
- Miscellany: 8/24/12
- Miscellany: 8/23/10
Commodores, "Sweet Love"
