Our task is not to rediscover nature but to remake it.
Raoul Vaneigem
Chart of the Day: Via Carpe Diem
The Idiocy of the Progressive Income Tax
Diversity and the GOP Wave
I've been pushing for Mia Love through 2 election cycles, and last night she broke through. Let's not forget Tim Scott (R-SC) who became the first black US senator to win from the Old South since Reconstruction.
Some Midterm Election Results Follow-Up
With 13 House seats undetermined at the time of this post, NBC has the House count at 243-179 (GOP advantage) and estimates that the GOP count could reach 249, give or take a few seats. If the GOP does 247 or better, it would be the best showing since the GOP won 270 seats in the 1928 election. This is already the best showing since the GOP won 246 in the 1946 election.
I believe that the Alaskan US Senate results are being held up for maybe 10-14 days as they await for votes from less accessible/coastal regions or military ballots overseas to be tabulated.
I mentioned before the election that the only Democrat I would consider voting for was Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island, who took on the public unions over long-overdue pension reform. Despite union opposition and a three-way race, Raimondo won her election. Nevertheless, despite the reelection victories of union targets Walker (R-WI) and Snyder (R-MI), public union reform measures in Phoenix and San Bernandino failed at the ballot box.
Facebook Corner
(Reason). Facts beat fear in Colorado, with voters rejecting mandatory labeling for GMOs; outcome of Oregon's egregiously unscientific Measure 92 still too close to call.
Why is it "fear" to require an information disclosure? Isn't information good?
Responding directly to the disingenuous OP troll: there are costs for information and an implicit cost-benefit tradeoff. For me, whether blueberries are produced in Maine, Michigan, a greenhouse or overseas (even North Korea!), it really doesn't make a difference from a nutritional standpoint. If I as a blueberry product producer (say, jams and jellies) choose not to advertise any combination of sources for my blueberries, there might be business reasons for that, including a dynamic market. There's nothing to "hide"; nobody is arguing for a ban on disclosure.
(separate)
Notice all the pinhead Statists going around saying "If GMO's are fine, why do you have a problem with me or other self-anointed busybody food police telling you to promote and label your products?" Why should I be subordinate to the approval of any crackpot special-interest group? Listen, you fascist jerks, if you think that non-GMO foods are worth the high costs, then you can advertise your products as such, and hire an independent company to attest that your products are as such. That's how the free market works, you Statist trolls! Billions of people eat genetically modified foods; science has provided technology to make food affordable to the masses. To raise a false issue about food safety is unconscionable.
(IPI). 17,000 students from 23 Waukegan schools finally went back to school yesterday after teachers reached an agreement, ending their month-long strike.
The teachers should not have a union, they are government workers, taxpayers pay their salaries, you work or find another job.
OP, you're spot on; my issue has to do with the idiot commenters.
The socialist parasites came out for this thread. The funniest one is from the idiot taking a pension course that she doesn't understand. Listen, lady, I am not an actuary, but I hold two math degrees as well as an MBA, I've published empirical work with applied statistics, and I'm telling you the pension crisis has to do with unrealistic expected investment returns, an aging employee workforce, excess distributions and longer retirement timespans. As for your anti-corporate (read: anti-capitalist) bullshit, find another retarded "progressive" or socialist thread--don't spam a free market group; if you knew anything about corporations, they are voluntary entities engaging in voluntary transactions; depending on their nature, you get the same income taxed twice--at the corporate and individual level. As for carryovers, this is an artifact of government policies When you have large amounts of capital gains, for example, the political whores want the money right away--but when you lose a lot of money they only allow you to deduct a limited amount. I'm still carrying forward losses from 10 years ago because I haven't made enough to offset them. We shouldn't even be taxing income--it's bad policy punishing productivity.
Another couple of pet peeves: the idea that politicians "stole" pension money. How many times are we going to hear that false propaganda talking point? As far as I'm aware, the state BORROWED from pension funds, not STOLE from them. I don't like the concept of a spendthrift legislature borrowing money, period, but look at the federal trust funds: the social security trust fund is REQUIRED to purchase federal debt--these are "investments" in past expenditures, not real assets.
Second, I am sick and tired of hearing about how you need unions to protect you from arbitrary management. (And, yes, teachers do suck at the taxpayer teat, by the way, for the benefit of the retarded troll.) First of all, every state has protections in writing for public employees, and teachers have the right to bring allegations of public manager misconduct to the public arena; second, administrator hands are often tied by various union agreements to make legitimate terminations all but impossible, a mere fraction of what is seen in the private sector. ·
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Glenn McCoy via Townhall |
Linda Ronstadt, "Adios". This was the last top 10 adult contemporary hit for Ronstadt. I'll finish this series with a couple of soundtrack hits and 3 duets with Aaron Neville. My next featured artist will be Glen Campbell; I'll bridge them with separate performances of my favorite Jimmy Webb song. Later this month, I may put the Campbell series on hold, while I do my annual holiday music series.
