Hating people is like
burning down your own house
to get rid of a rat.
Harry Emerson Fosdick
Pro-Liberty Thought of the Day
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| Via Libertarian Republic |
On Failing Well
Facebook Corner
(Reason). The Obama administration will be imposing sanctions on 7 additional Russian officials and 17 companies amid the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
Doesn't POTUS realize this plays right into the hands of the Russian hardliners? This is a European regional issue. Enough of seat-of-the-pants unprincipled, amateurish foreign policy!
(Cato Institute). "Debates about trade liberalization often focus on identifying the winners and losers of increased openness to foreign competition...But this whole exercise is completely backwards. We should instead be talking about the winners and losers of protectionism."
Let's not forget that consumers gain from liberalized trade agreements with better selection and price competition, economic efficiencies through comparative advantage, etc.
(Drudge Report). Guv urges restaurants to serve water only if diners request...
Oh, yeah, it's those glasses of water served at restaurants responsible for the water shortage... It's not like discarded water can be recycled, that water to restaurants is free, etc. Ah, the hubris of Statist planners. Here's a hint: free up the market to satisfy demand...
(Drudge Report). Knicks great Larry Johnson calls for all-black league amid Clippers race fiasco...
By all means--give the NBA some competition... It's the American way. But don't you think you should put your money where your mouth is and resign as a Knicks executive? From the same league which offered you an $84M contract 20 years ago?
(IPI). A Chicago City Council committee will consider a new set of restrictions on pedicabs at a hearing this week. Many specifics of the proposal, introduced by 44th Ward Alderman Tom Tunney, are unexceptional, but two provisions stand out as unnecessarily harmful to the pedicab market and consumer choice.
I guess the business model isn't green enough for the political parasites...
(Cato Institute). "U.S. immigration policy currently prevents many productive foreign workers and entrepreneurs from contributing to the American economy."
I have no problem with immigrants. This country was built and made great by them. My problem is with ILLEGAL immigrants. As far as I'm concerned you're all welcome here, but please do it legally, and remember that a lot of people were turned away during the 1800's for a variety of reasons.
Which ignores the fact that the system is designed to form a black market in labor with illegal immigrants.
How do you figure that [commenter]? Standards in health and criminal background checks represent a responsible approach to the health and well-being of current citizens. Cheap labor will always exist, your beef should be with the minimum wage regulators. Immigration has a lot more facets than labor. I'd prefer not to have violent fugitives with contagious diseases in my neighborhood. I don't see it being a detriment to ask they not be violent criminals and not harbour any contagious diseases that can threaten public health. Beyond that, there shouldn't really be any barriers. I can't see how people can pay tens of thousands of dollars to sneak into the country but can't use that money to go through proper channels and legally immigrate. The US has some of the easiest citizenship requirements on the planet.
The problems include labor protectionists (primarily the crony unionists) have essentially bottlenecked legal temporary workers for decades (don't forget the bracero program was killed off by JFK/LBJ for their union bosses) and arcane quotas imposed first in the 1920's. (I won't go into earlier more racist motivated restrictions.) The above commenter is in a state of denial over existing anti-business, anti-growth corrupt immigration laws and the overwhelming evidence in favor of immigration. You obviously don't know how difficult and expensive it is to get naturalized; one of my best friends is a naturalized citizen, and I know the crap he had to put up with during his green card process. The issues are not with routine criminal and health checks and making the legal procedures transparent but with populist demagagues trying to scapegoat immigrants, which is shameful; we are a melting pot, a nation of immigrants.
(Reason). Tip to Holder and Obama: Minority men will never trust police as long as police keep putting them in jail for things that shouldn't be crimes in the first place.
We can start, as Reason suggests, by eliminating laws enforcing victimless crimes. We can provide viable alternatives to failing public schools. We can allow households their liberty for self-defense. We can get the government out of the way of unemployed teens looking for that all important starter job.
(Cato Institute). "Two Core-supporting state superintendents said pretty much what many Core opponents have long explained: Even if the standards are of outstanding quality, the Core won’t work because 'accountability' won’t be rigorously implemented."
I call it "Etch a Sketch" evaluations: if you don't like the results, you redefine the criteria. Remember Florida 2012? "Florida gave a new standardized writing test to students in various grades and the scores were worse than awful. Only 27 percent of fourth-graders had proficient scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT), which was down from last year’s 81 percent. Eighth graders and 10th graders also had dramatically lower scores than last year...the Florida Board of Education decided in a 4-3 vote that the best thing to do was to lower the passing score on this exam."
Choose Life: A Deaf Chinese Girl Hears Her Adoptive Mother's Voice
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Michael Ramirez via PatriotPost |
The Beatles, "Something"
