Teachers open the door, but you must enter by yourself.
Chinese Proverb
Image of the Day
 |
| Via John Stossel |
Tweet of the Day
Senator Rand Paul First, politics in general: As a Doctor, I was trained first to do no harm. Wouldn't it be nice if politicians started from that premise?
Senator Rand Paul
But we get"politics is the art of looking 4 trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly&applying wrong remedies."
Boaz' Nominations For the Worst Congress Ever
The "progressives" in the mainstream media are lashing out at the Congress over the lack of passed bills meaning, as Boaz points out, "more mandates, bans, regulations, taxes, subsidies, boondoggles, transfer programs, and proclamations", which I agree are good to minimize. Boaz suggests that these misguided pundits lack an historical perspective: the following are examples of really bad Congresses:
The 31st Congress, which passed the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850Energy Clips
The 5th Congress, which passed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798
The 21st Congress, which passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830
The 77th Congress, which passed Public Law 503, codifying President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 authorizing the internment of Japanese, German, and Italian Americans, in 1942
The 65th Congress, which passed the Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition), the Espionage Act, and the Selective Service Act, and entered World War I, all in 1917
Follow-Up Odds and Ends
- Dupree Gets to Keep His Studio. We covered this Institute for Justice story a few months back where a prominent Philadelphia artist found his studio condemned in an eminent domain case.
I've been hinting that I've been responding more impatiently with trolls in Facebook groups. Let me just briefly one topic that has been setting me off: what I call the police apologists, particularly in two cases: the Eric Garner incident, where a man was killed by a policeman using a choke hold for the suspected offense of selling individual cigarettes, and a recent Milwaukee case I mentioned earlier this week about a mentally ill unarmed man who was shot 14 times over the man's alleged resting on a park bench. In both of these cases, the victim did not pose a threat to the officer and at most may have been involved in a victimless crime.
To me, these are textbook cases of excessive force, entirely unnecessary. But the cop apologist trolls are sort of a blue code collective. They refuse to acknowledge that there are bad cops and that bad cops undermine public trust. They allege the use of unnecessary force is justified by alleged resistance to arrest; they try to blame the victim (e.g., in Garner's case, his health condition--obesity and asthma). If you do not agree with them, you are "anti-cop". I refuse to play these games. I also think the NY drama, with cops turning their backs to the progressive mayor and saying they don't want him showing up at cop funerals, is unconscionable; I am not a fan of the mayor, but this hypersensitivity to the Garner and/or other cases is counterproductive and unprofessional.
When I wrote a pithy summary and analysis of the Milwaukee case, I got a cop apologist flaming me--but apparently impressed an airline pilot enough to send a friend request. I currently accept friend requests only from friends and family--in fact I have more friend requests than actual friends on Facebook. But out of curiosity I looked at his page and found that he was a big fan of Cherokee Lizzie Warren, Rachel Maddow, etc.--obviously a progressive. I'm somewhat amused; boy, talk about you don't know me. Although the two victims in question were men of color, I didn't see it as a race issue; it was all about individual liberties and there but for the grace of God.
Signing Santa
In the original Miracle on 34th St., the precocious young girl protagonist and Santa agnostic is charmed by the store Santa speaking Dutch to a shy non-English speaking adopted girl. In the 1994 remake (first video), this pivotal scene is replaced by a sign-language literate Santa communicating with a charming deaf girl. The subsequent videos show the same concept in real life...
Facebook Corner
 |
| Via LFC |
(Reason). CPS Threatens Dad: Let Your Kids Play Outside and We'll Take Them Away
Some fear-mongering bastard troll in this thread. They see each adult as a pervert or kidnapper. So the fascists want to keep the kids in the cage of your house and feed the Statist bureaucracy.
(IPI). Illinois government should have followed the lead of the private sector long ago by moving to 401(k)-style plans.
Self-serving public sector parasite Mike thinks that he is entitled to other people's money--a morally corrupt, irredeemable bastard. As part of the public sector and a legally-protected union monopoly, he did not contribute one service or good to the real economy, but he thinks he deserved more than the maybe 40 months or so of retirement that he and/or the state have actually contributed. He targets successful businesses he feels entitled to steal from--never mind many retirees live on related distributions. Anything more comes at the expense of future taxpayers for whom he has not contributed one goddamn minute of his overpriced labor.
As for the OP, there are differences among actuaries: many of the actuaries did not properly account for longer retirement tenures and made unrealistic rosy investment predictions, and the issue is that political whores made promises which they and employees did not adequately fund.
Musical Interlude: Christmas 2014
Jackie Evancho, "Pie Jesu"
