Being ignorant is not so much a shame,
as being unwilling to learn.
Benjamin Franklin
Post Title of the Day
Will Your Bank Account Be "Cyprused" Next? - Bill Bonner's Diary
Excerpt from the post:
We maintain a small bank account in France. It is used just to make repairs and otherwise keep up our house there. The woman who handles it sent this message on Friday: "Don't put any more money in the account. We don't want to get Cyprused!"I tell you the truth,
unless you change and become like little children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven - Matthew 18:3
As we enter SCOTUS marriage lawsuit week, and I am hardly a SCOTUS analyst, I think the most likely outcome is that traditional state regulation of marriage will be upheld, and the federal government will recognize state-defined marriage. Thus,a federal definition of marriage via DOMA would not trump a state definition including gay marriage, but I think the Court will uphold California Proposition 8. (The justices may think that socially liberal California may modify marriage on their own in future elections.) More difficult is the question of state reciprocity agreements and the status of "gay married" couples moving to traditional marriage states: can a state unilaterally change its definition after an agreement? I would think not. I don't think this court will repeat the activist error of Roe v Wade.
I have made it clear I do not like socially experimental policies affecting the traditional institutions of family and marriage. From my pro-liberty perspective, there's a difference between negative vs. positive rights. For example, the State or some group of people cannot abuse my freedom to worship, to express my own opinions, to freely associate with others, etc. Thus, I don't think the State should interfere in the lives of gay people about their relationships, Positive rights compel actions to be done on my behalf--for instance, provide me with legal assistance if I have been charged with a crime and cannot afford a lawyer. Must the State confer special recognition or privileges to nontraditional relationships? I would argue 'no'.
How Petraeus et al. Prevailed Over the DoD Bureaucracy
There are some interesting points in this discussion. One involved the progressive ideologues' damning the strategy with faint praise implying that taking advantage of Sunnis' recoiling from Al Qaeda atrocities in Iraq was "obvious" (whoever says that has never served in the military: Fred Kaplan does a good job at describing Petraeus' opportunistic tactics and ability to think outside the box). Still, Obama's hope that lightning could strike twice by putting Petraeus in charge of Afghanistan was wishful thinking--as was a demand that a smaller-than-recommended surge increase could win the fight and stabilize the country over 18 months; these were soldiers not about to tell Obama what he didn't want to hear at the risk of their careers. Petraeus didn't know Afghanistan as well as Iraq, and Afghanistan had unique challenges of its own; Kaplan does a good job of showing how Petraeus was constantly reading Afghanistan in the context of his Iraq experience. In the video liner notes, there's an important point Kaplan makes: assuming successful counterinsurgency/nation building becomes part of military orthodoxy, will this lower the barrier of entry to policing global hot-spots? Oh God, I hope not...
Carbon Tax? No
Reason does a remarkably even-handed job here without telegraphing a policy preference. Most economists will talk in terms of externalities. For example, car exhausts could contribute to smog/air quality; an industrial plant might discharge its wastes in a nearby waterway. These problems impose costs on other parties; the argument is the businesses understate their true cost of goods sold, which should include minimizing adverse environmental impact. The basic idea of a carbon tax credit was to provide those within quota but able to make further carbon reductions more cheaply than, say, those over quota, an economic incentive. The problem is, among other things, even the best reductions from US self-imposed reductions on existing regulations would be negligible, more than offset by other countries lacking even existing standards: Paul C. "Chip" Knappenberger of the Cato Institute has a relevant discussion:
Based on mainstream estimates, of the approximately 3°C of global warming that is being projected to occur between now and the end of the century as a result of anthropogenic carbon (dioxide) emissions, the U.S. contribution will only be about 0.2°C, or about 7 percent of the total warming. And this is assuming that no carbon tax is put in place. Carbon dioxide emissions from the rest of the world—primarily driven by rapid emissions growth in developing countries like China and India—will be responsible for the other 93 percent of temperature rise.
More on Intellectual Property Rights
I think the very first LP I purchased was a cheap album of current hit covers; I thought I had purchased a collection of original hits. The performances, of course, lacked the quality of the originals. I learned my lesson and ensured I got the "official" songs. It's not just recordings: for many performers I liked, like Springsteen, I often purchased their next release without even reading a review or hearing a tune and I've wanted to go to their concerts. (I haven't gone to a concert in a while; the last time I tried, Bobby Goldsboro was making an appearance at Gilley's in Pasadena, TX. Some redneck in a truck was tailing me and angry at me for God knows what. He ran me off the road; his lady was pleading with him to let whatever it was go, but I was mostly looking at his dangling shotgun. I suddenly lost interest in the concert and headed home.)
Political Cartoon
More than just one bitter pill to swallow. I would also like to see some cartoonist to mock federal money to the states with strings attached. One example would be Obama the Puppeteer pulling the strings of state legislators.
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| Courtesy of Henry Payne and Townhall |
Backstreet Boys, "I Want It That Way". This is the end of my Backstreet Boys series. Next up: Earth. Wind and Fire.
