When a man's knowledge is deep,
he speaks well of an enemy.
Instead of seeking revenge,
he extends unexpected generosity.
He turns insult into humor, ... and
astonishes his adversary
who finds no reason not to trust him.
Baltasar Gracian
Tweet of the Day
Chile's left-wing government is ignoring evidence that educational choice leads to narrowing educational inequality. http://t.co/4QtPbRrZCf
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) September 17, 2014
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| Via Carpe Diem |
Just a brief explanation. The Gini coefficient is an income inequality measure, ranking from zero (full equality) to 1 (full inequality). Note that Perry picked as a starting point the fabled good time economy under the Clinton regime. The trend line barely budged from the Clinton through the Obama years; where was this inequality of the Bush years? Perry shows similar related trends of the upper 5 and 20%; all data is from the US Census, and the result reveals the vacuousness of "progressive" politics.
Entertainment Potpourri
I did mention in an earlier post that I wasn't sure I would sit through Ken Burns' 7-part PBS documentary on the Roosevelts (Teddy, favorite niece Eleanor and fifth cousin Franklin). But so far I've sat through the first 3 parts (through Teddy's passing). I am not a fan of the Roosevelts, and I have not been convinced otherwise; I queried to see if Andrew Napolitano, who wrote a recent critical book on Teddy and Woodrow Wilson, had any comment on the series.
The series definitely pushes the "progressive" spin on Teddy Roosevelt's record, although George Will appears regularly as a sobering check. I will say that Roosevelt's militaristic/imperialist impulses do come off as over the top but as to the trend to centralized power grabs at the expense of the states, it's seen as the alternative to radical social revolution, Big Businesses run amok, and the slow-acting Congress is seen, not as principled but as bought-and-sold cronies of Big Business. One often-repeated quote, which I despise: " The Constitution was made for the people and not people for the Constitution." By that, Teddy, of course, saw himself as exclusively representing the people, and he disdained the Constitutional constraints via the balance of powers. Tom Woods has penned an excellent retrospective on the Teddy Roosevelt Presidency here. This is actually a balanced perspective where Woods does not attempt to refute each and every talking point, but I thought the way he discussed how the Hepburn Act (which enabled, enhanced by subsequent acts, rate regulation of the railroads), undermined the economics of railroad operations (unable to pass along higher costs), resulting in railroad failures, was telling.
The series goes extensively into the private lives of the principal characters and Teddy's colorful life, not to mention his legendary giving an hour speech after just getting shot in his ribs, barely missing his heart. There are a number of poignant moments like how one of Teddy's sons, a WWI pilot, was tragically shot down; Teddy, in fact, strongly supported our entry into WWI. I also didn't realize that Teddy and Franklin were as close as they were, and it was interesting seeing how Teddy reacted to his cousin seeking office via the Democratic Party.
I've seen enough of interest to continue watching the remaining part, but ironically I've ended up with an even more negative image of Teddy. Who knows what would have happened if Teddy's ego hadn't split the GOP vote in the 1912 election and let Wilson to take the White House?
Facebook Corner
(Voluntary Virtues Network). A friend of mine recently recounted to me, "During lunchtime last week one of my co-workers was telling about her recent 'heroic' experience regarding a drunken person. She said she was in a bank and noticed a woman who was stumbling around and 'obviously' drunk. She said the woman then entered her car and was about to pull out of her parking spot when my co-worker parked her car right behind the drunken woman's car, preventing her from leaving. Then she called the police. When the police arrived they immediately arrested the drunken woman."
Now I am quite grateful I wasn't there listening to this twisted story because I believe I would've slapped my co-worker upon seeing her contentment of what she considered to be a brave humanitarian act. Then I would've given her an extensive explanation of the monopoly on violence know as the police, an elucidation of victimless crimes, as well as pointing out that the future is both unknown and unknowable.
We cannot morally accuse anyone of a crime they have not yet committed. This woman may very well have killed someone or herself due to her drunken state but to arrest her and throw her into a cage for simply being drunk is barbaric. The fact is she did not yet do either and therefore is not guilty of any true crime.
Understand that drunk driving laws do nothing to prevent drunk driving accidents. They only exist to extort more currency out of good people because the people who choose to drink to intoxication and then drive obviously don't care about their own lives let alone laws. - DC
Spoken like someone who hasn't been personally assaulted by a drunk driver.We cannot morally accuse anyone of a crime they have not yet committed. This woman may very well have killed someone or herself due to her drunken state but to arrest her and throw her into a cage for simply being drunk is barbaric. The fact is she did not yet do either and therefore is not guilty of any true crime.
Understand that drunk driving laws do nothing to prevent drunk driving accidents. They only exist to extort more currency out of good people because the people who choose to drink to intoxication and then drive obviously don't care about their own lives let alone laws. - DC
(Lew Rockwell). The US military is used to one-sided wars where it is far more dangerous to be a civilian than a soldier. But “Operation Contagious Death,” or whatever they will call it, could lead to soldiers resisting orders. Soldiers who do so can be caged or killed, but only if the other soldiers agree. This Ebola deployment could be a fateful decision for the empire. BTW. soldiers should be free to leave their jobs like the rest of us. But given military slavery, they are not.
Simply unconstitutional. If he wants to lead a private-sector initiative, it's one thing. Defining any disaster outside the US as being in our national interest is disingenuous.
(We the Individuals). I may die again this weekend when I go out. Or something.
(Independent Institute). "What you may not have know is that some of the e-mails unrelated to that scandal have exposed another: an IRS employee who is being paid a six-figure salary for doing nothing — including the task to which they are assigned."
When you have bureaucratic parasites themselves complaining about no-nothing colleagues, you know you have a problem. If on the other hand, you have one less bureaucrat hassling productive people and businesses in the economy, there's a silver lining.
We have a Congress which hasn't done their share of work and they are getting paid for nothing. Most are Republicrits.
Idiot troll! It's a full-time job to keep the Senate and White House fascists from making the debt and economic-killing regulators from further handicapping the economy.
Spot on. We need to greatly liberalize immigration like it was before the 1920's (except for racial elements like restrictions on Asians). Immigration is win-win economics.
(separate comment)
We don't have a decent temporary work visa program, our quota systems are ridiculously obsolete and undersized, and it can take several years for family members to migrate through the legal channels. A significant number of immigrants have highly marketable professional (e.g., medical and IT) skills which could address staffing needs. But let's go beyond bumper sticker slogans like "border security first"; people work around the system because it's too restrictive. When you had alcohol prohibition, people could find it on the black market.
Proposals
Political Cartoon
Not that most readers won't understand the cartoon, but it refers to the upcoming Scottish independence vote and the Mel Gibson film "Braveheart".
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| Courtesy of Chip Bok via Townhall |
Barry Manilow, "Looks Like We Made It"
