Miscellany: 8/18/13

Quote of the Day
If you wish to travel far and fast, travel light. 
 Take off all your 

• envies,
•  jealousies
•  unforgiveness,
•  selfishness,
•  and fears.

Glenn Clark

Images of the Day: People of Goodwill in Defense of Religious Liberty

 Egyptian Muslims Protecting a Catholic Church During Mass
Courtesy of Unvirtuous Abbey

Egyptian Christians Protecting Muslim Protesters During Prayers
Photo by Nevine Zaki Via Visual Peacemakers

Muslims Stand As Human Shield During 2011 Christmas Mass
Photo by REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih via Washpo

For Economic Freedom and Immigrant Entrepreneurs

As much as I disliked New York City before this film, I absolutely loathe it now. Hector Ricketts is my new hero, and God bless him. I despise anti-competitive monopolies and practices, government fiefdoms and empire-building with a passion; watching how the transit unions and the police zealously fend off private sector competition, arbitrarily restrict access to bus lanes (even if not occupied), passenger pickup and drop-offs, etc., just enrages me. You know, with all the discussion in the media lately about race relations, how is it that the "progressives" whom run NYC can sleep at night, harassing black entrepreneurial van operators in favor of their special interests? Ricketts found a market niche that the city monopoly didn't adequately serve--and does it better, more conveniently, faster, and cheaper than the incompetently run public sector monopoly, even with all its exclusive competitive advantages. A shout out to the Institute For Justice for their efforts on behalf of Ricketts; I've embedded their videos on multiple occasions. Charles Koch (yes, that Koch brother) backs HonestEnterpise.tv, another worthy endeavor, which produced this well-done documentary.





What is It With Time Columnists?

Deleted Tweet via Economic Policy Journal (HT Tom Woods)

Yes, populist statists like Obama  pay lip service to transparency. Where would journalism be without leaks, like the infamous Deep Throat, the Pentagon Papers, etc? Politically inconvenient revelations have a way of coming back to bite hypocritical lying politicians on the ass. Grumwald is a well-known piece of work known  to regular readers of the blog; I've written at least 3 commentaries, one of them a one-off post, on his swill. I've only read a few samples of his columns, and those were little more than reformatted Administration and/or "progressive" media talking pointts. Grunwald's willingness to propagandize on the Administration's theoretical murder of Assange without due process speaks volumes on his character and judgment.

Quote...Counter-Quote

Anyone who says that racial discrimination is no longer a problem in American elections must not be paying attention. - Hillary Clinton

Anyone who doesn't realize that Hillary Clinton is pandering for black votes is not only not paying attention but a damn fool.

Any politician trying to stoke racial tensions and paranoia for political advantage is contemptible; no doubt Clinton hopes to inherit a typical 85-90% of the captive, noncompetitive black vote. Clinton, of course, conveniently ignores the leap forward in black registration, office-holders, and voting percentages in the Old South, many of which are competitive, if not superior to other regions of the country. Now "progressives" and black "leaders" regard voter ID laws to prevent voting fraud as "racist"-motivated. (Lowry's cited piece discusses SCOTUS decisions, voter ID laws in other contexts and various studies). Naturally the racial-grievance industry has a vested interest in perpetuating a state of denial. The politically unaccomplished Clinton is more interested in reaping her fair share of gullible voters without having to answer for mediocre performance by Democrats whom have done little to improve the status quo: we have vicious circles of unemployment, poverty and government dependence; crime-ridden neighborhoods and crummy schools; and failed city management to the point of bankruptcy. It's time for voting blacks to ignore Clinton's feigned sense of outrage, which is little more than a cynical distraction from the reality of "progressive" government failed policies, and demand accountability: having a vote means nothing if it is used to elect yet more incompetent ineffectual politicians and failed leaders.

Busting Liberal Myths: Extreme Weather/Climate Change



Choose Life

Courtesy of Ron DiCianni via Jill Stanek

Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Michael Ramirez and Townhall

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups Redux

 The Beatles, "Across the Universe"

 

Example of Solar Energy Hype vs. Reality

Even with state and federal subsidies paying over 70% of the cost of this homeowner's solar implementation, he figures that he won't reach payback on his own share of the installation from lower utility bills. (HT Carpe Diem). Note to Obama: that's part of your $6T and counting contribution to the national debt that has been frittered away to crony interests and your smoke-and-mirrors crap.