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Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Miscellany: 8/26/14

Quote of the Day
All great truths begin as blasphemies.
George Bernard Shaw

Tweet of the Day
Image of the Day


Via Jeffrey Tucker:
Less Marx; more Mises!

PrincipioLibertario
Via Jason Henke
Via Bastiat Institute
Via Econlib
Courtesy of Heartland Institute

 Atlas Shrugged Promo



Spontaneous Order



Facebook Corner

(IPI). Yesterday, Gov. Pat Quinn issued a surprising blow to the taxicab lobby by vetoing the job-killing legislation in its entirety. We commend Quinn for acting against legislation that would have stifled innovation, jobs growth and competition in Illinois!
It's the law of averages; even Quinn has to get one right every now and then.

(Reason). It's the question of the week, and we want to know what you think!
Until the US abandons its obsolete, noncompetitive worldwide vs territorial tax system, not to mention its high tax brackets and regulatory drag, managers must do right by their stakeholders. This has been one of the most anti-business Administrations in American history, and the Obama regime is beginning to realize there are consequences to bad economic policies.
Screw patriotism then? If corporations want to be considered persons, then shouldn't they be bound by the same pledge of allegiance that every American is taught before they even understand what it means? Obviously some have never grasped the concept!
"Patriotism" is a term used by fascists to suggest the productive class should be grateful for being raped by the takers.

(Cato Institute). "So Burger King plans to purchase Canadian doughnut icon Tim Hortons and move company headquarters north of the border, where corporate tax rates are as much as 15 percentage points lower than in the United States. Expect politicians at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to accuse Burger King of treachery, while spewing campaign-season pledges to penalize these greedy, 'Benedict Arnold' companies."
I'm flustered most people are dancing around the real issue here, although the Cato Institute post hints at it in its discussion of double taxation: Canada and most of the OECD countries have a territorial tax system. Burger King will STILL have to pay high, globally noncompetitive taxes on its US operations, but what it gains through inversion is that the US no longer gets a tax claim against international operations--even though the US provides no services for those operations and they are subject to their own local taxes.

 It's shocking how noncompetitive the US is--years after many, if not most countries have privatized or at least relinguished monopoly controls over mail delivery, it's like pulling teeth to close down a single money-losing office. We need to relinguish the Statist strangehold on our economy.
(a separate thread)
I'm so impatient with the "progressive" trolls whom attempt to shift the discussion away from morally unjustifiable high progressive rates. Of course, some companies (e.g., Exxon) have paid these rates. But none of these hypocrites argue for low, flat taxes, never mind the economic insanity of taxing productivity in the economy. Keep in mind Democrats have been in charge of the House and/or Senate for the most part since the Great Depression, and all of these subsidies, credits, exemptions and other tax gimmicks (not to mention crony regulations) have been the government's attempt to control the private economy. We need to free the markets...

 Another pet peeve--stop blaming companies because they see other companies getting breaks and demand their "fair share": keep in mind "progressive" tax breaks shift the burden to other taxpayers. Government competes with the real economy for resources. Start blaming the political whores.


Only government has a monopoly on force.

(Economic Freedom). Now Venezuela's going to treat supermarket shoppers like criminals.
As if black market vendors require fingerprint scans. Below-market prices are an open invitation to arbitrage. 

 As Reuters notes, "Some Venezuelans sell generously-subsidized food from state outlets for handsome profits on the black market or over the border in Colombia....Critics say the card fails to tackle the roots of shortages in Venezuela: a lack of hard currency for imports, dysfunctional ports and absurdly low prices for subsidized goods....Critics note this is not the first time the government has tried to slow consumption to improve availability of products.

 "In the border region, state oil company PDVSA has required drivers to install microchips on their vehicles so it can track and limit the purchases of fuel, which is so heavily subsidized that it can be sold in neighboring Colombia at more than 50 times its purchase price. But fuel trafficking remains a problem nonetheless."

The Minimum Wage



Liberal Academia

I don't know if I'll ever have an opportunity to return to academia; the last time I got contacted was by a university that advertises nationally for its technical programs, but they were only soliciting me for an adjunct position. While I was in academia, I never felt free to express my emerging conservative views; I was never a big R republican but I was a fan of Buckley's "Firing Line" even during my salad days. My fusion conservative-libertarian views did not result from any political indoctrination from pursuing my 4 college degrees; in fact, I would be hard-pressed to identify any professor I've ever had with similar views. Not my parents. I think I've always been been a fiscal conservative and I started to become more skeptical of the government's initiatives, particularly in the economy. It's difficult to say, because I haven't taught a course in my first love, philosophy, or related disciplines, but I think in large part I've rarely had the authority to impose my point of view on others and I do think I have a natural knack for mentoring others. (I do realize my troll stompings can be brutal.) I do think that "progressive" academics do a disservice to their cause; I do understand the "progressive" groupthink but I never got a valid portrayal of alternative perspectives.



Choose Life



Proposals









Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Billy Joel, "The River of Dreams"

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Monday, August 25, 2014

Miscellany: 8/25/14

Quote of the Day
If you work on your mind with your mind, 
how can you avoid immense confusion?
Seng-Ts'an

Chart of the Day: Throwing Good Taxpayer Money After Bad
Courtesy of Mercatus Center
Image of the Day

Via Reason

2014-08-25-1129c761.jpg

It's Time For Me To Divorce the Tea Party

It was a simple question in FB Corner; I had never friended the Tea Party page on FB and in fact have never had any formal connection with the group. But I did identify with the core message of limited government. What has changed? Not me. I think the movement has been hijacked by social conservatives, nativists, and neocons. I was looking today at the threads on their page and I saw some anti-Obama threads, a suggestion of a US raid into Mexico to liberate certain American prisoners, multiple threads on radical Islamic groups, and Spanish-speaking schools. No threads on deregulation, spending cuts, civil liberties, etc. I generally filter out most of the anti-Obama stuff, not because I approve of him but I want to discuss policy, not personalities. I've seen a number of cartoons lampooning his vacations and golf game, but I only saw one I considered actually amusing enough to embed. As far as things like Spanish-instruction schools, just stop; given typical public education, I wouldn't be surprised if the kids forgot all their Spanish by fourth grade. Stop focusing on red meat politics and get more into scaling back government programs, regulations, etc.

Proposals









Facebook Corner

(Being Classically Liberal) M.P and I's book is approximately 400 pages and is filled with tons of valuable info. We're close to finishing it thank God. Still, please throw out some possible titles that you guys think would fit the book (it most focuses on the economics of immigration, inequality, unions, government spending, etc).
 "All I Needed To Know About the Political Economy I Didn't Learn in School"

(Being Classically Liberal). The Tea Party facebook page is incredibly annoying. (and I hope it goes without saying that Being Liberal is as well).
Several pages have 'Tea Party' in the title; I assume you are referring to the one with a DC address. That page does seem to annoy me; it seems to fixate on Latino immigration, Obama, and the War on Terror. I loathe red meat politics and fearmongering. I'm more worried about bad Obama policies than Obama personally, and the active military these guys promote is inconsistent with a small government footprint.


 I'm angry that businesses find it necessary to accommodate cranks pushing their dietary agenda on others.

Political Cartoon
Courtesy of Michael Ramirez via Townhall
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Billy Joel, "All Shook Up"

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Sunday, August 24, 2014

Miscellany: 8/24/14

Quote of the Day
I wept because I had no shoes, until I saw a man who had no feet.
Ancient Persian saying

It's Like Getting Kissed By An Ugly Girl

I got an email notification over the weekend that one of my tweets (admittedly not one on domestic policy) had been retweeted by a socialist group. Boy, talk about "you don't know me"....

Joke of the Day
(M.P.) Congratulations to Senator Ted Kennedy on five years of sobriety [Being Classically Liberal]
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009)

Image of the Day

Via Reason
Okay, did you catch the fineprint on sign 5 the first time you drove past it?
Watch out for pedestrians jaywalking across the street...
Via Jeffrey Tucker
Via Being Classically Liberal
Via Libertarian Catholic
Once Again, END EX-IM!



The Ecofascist Regime



The State and Gender

In this clip, I find myself cringing about undue deference and lip service to politically correct nonsense.

True story. I went to a college where two-thirds of the students were coed. Even a geek should be able to date, given the odds. But I overanalyzed the situation and my own motives: wasn't it wrong to try to date someone for superficial factors like physical attraction and beauty? What about a girl with the right values and personality but, say, overweight or plain-looking? (In hindsight, I have to laugh at my young self: who did I think I was, God's gift to women?) I became trapped in self-imposed inertia. But I learned that attraction is rather subjective; I later tried to date a college friend of my sister; my Dad, who never really met any of the ladies I dated, later told me that he thought my sister's friend was plain-looking. As much as I respected my Dad, I didn't agree with him; the reason I had not pursued the relationship was that my sister and she had a subsequent falling out, and you don't mess with my little sister. Years later I  learned that they had reconciled; in fact, my sister didn't even remember the kerfuffle. My sister thought we were perfectly matched since each of us were crazy about the nephews and nieces.

Do people discriminate? Probably. My Mom always wished that I would marry a nice Catholic girl. Probably my biggest crush was on a woman I met in the Navy who detested organized religion. I have had little direct hiring authority in my career, although I've done some technical screenings of candidates. But as a professor I issued A's to students I personally disliked, and one of the few F's I issued was to a student very supportive of me. It's always been business, not personal. I have seen people fired for all sorts of political nonsense; the last full-time job I had in Houston, I was fired for retrieving my office chair after a branch relocation; my boss had replaced it with a chair with a broken caster. It was irrational; people with my APL skills were hard to find, and I was fixing code needed by him to book revenue. As a manager I would focus on booking the talent I needed to meet my business objectives; I wouldn't care if it was a Martian with a cranky personality wearing polka dots (never mind being in an officially recognized victim class). I don't think it's possible to regulate bad decision making. But it is obvious to me that if you don't treat talented people fairly, you can't keep them. We have had decades of politically correct nonsense shoved down my throats; I don't need to be "reeducated" on fairness to women; I have a mom, 4 sisters, and 9 nieces whom I love.

The good part of this video is that the speaker notices that the "solution" is not State meddling in business policy, which can be counterproductive and result in unintended consequences.



You're My Inspiration

The Cumberland (RI) Americans were narrowly eliminated by Chicago recently in the Little League World Series tournament. What do you say to young men who have seen their championship hopes crushed in a heartbreaking loss?


“Heads up high. Heads up high. I’ve gotta see your eyes, guys. There’s no disappointment in your effort — in the whole tournament, the whole season. It’s been an incredible journey.“We fought. Look at the score – 8-7, 12-10 in hits. We came to the last out. We didn’t quit. That’s us! Boys, that’s us!“The only reason why I’ll probably end up shedding a tear is that this is the last time I’m going to coach you guys. But I’m going to bring back with me, the coaching staff is going to bring back, you guys are going to bring back that no one other team can provide – that’s pride. Pride.“You’re going to take that for the rest of your lives, what you provided for the town of Cumberland. You had the whole place jumping, right? You had the whole state jumping. You had New England jumping. You had ESPN jumping. OK?“You want to know why? They like fighters. They like sportsmen. They like guys who don’t quit. They like guys who play the game the right way. If everyone would play baseball like the Cumberland Americans, this would be the greatest game.“The lessons you guys have learned along the journey, you’re never going to forget. We’re going to have some more fun. We have two more days of fun. When you walk around this ballpark in the next couple of days, they’re going to look at you and say: “Hey, you guys were awesome!’“Everybody has said: You guys are awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Absolutely awesome.“It’s OK to cry, because we’re not going to play baseball together anymore. But we’re going to be friends forever. Friends forever. Our Little League careers have ended on the most positive note that could ever be. OK? Ever be.“There’s only going to be one team that’s going to walk out of here as World Series champions. Only one. We got down to the nitty-gritty. We’re one of the best teams in the world. Think about that for a second. In the world! Right?“So, we need to go see our parents, because they’re so proud of you. One more thing. I want a big hug. I want everyone to come in here for one big hug. One big hug, then we’re going to go celebrate. Then we’re going to go back home to a big parade.“I love you guys. I’m gonna love you forever. You’ve given me the most precious moment in my athletic and coaching career, and I’ve been coaching a long time – a looooong time. I’m getting to be an old man. I need memories like this, I need kids like this. You’re all my boys. You’re the boys of summer.“So, for the last time, we’re going to yell Americans: One, two three – Americans!”“OK. Good job. Let’s go. Time to go.”


Entertainment Potpourri

I don't know how I missed the premiere of the "The Color of Rain"; it's a true love story about the surviving Rochester, MI widower and widow of cancer victims, both families with children:
It was Christmas day, 2005. Just hours after opening presents, Gina lost her husband Matt and father of her two boys to a rare form of cancer.  Six weeks later, across town, Michael’s beloved wife Kathy died of brain cancer, leaving him to raise three kids alone. Two years after attending funerals, Gina and Michael get married. In 2007 they started the New Day Foundation for Families . They walk alongside families affected by cancer, helping them financially and emotionally. 


Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Eric Allie via IPI
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Billy Joel, "And So It Goes"

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Saturday, August 23, 2014

Miscellany: 8/23/14

Quote of the Day
The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Pro-Liberty Thought of the Day
"A man's natural rights are his own, against the whole world; and any infringement of them is equally a crime, whether committed by one man, or by millions; whether committed by one man, calling himself a robber, (or by any other name indicating his true character,) or by millions, calling themselves a government" -- Lysander Spooner, 19th century entrepreneur and author of "No Treason" who was forced out of business by the U.S. government for the victimless crime of delivering letters more efficiently than the politicians' first class postal monopoly. HT: Lawrence Reed
Tweet of the Day
Chart of the Day: Wage Mandates Have a Disparate Adverse Effect on the Younger, Less Educated

Via Mercatus Center
Image of the Day

National Lampoon's Presidential Vacation


The last 2 images via Pika Chan
Via Libertarian Republic
Via Speak Liberty Now
More on Dysfunctional Minimum/"Living" Wage Policies

I have routinely recommended to my readers to suscribe to a daily digest of Cafe Hayek; it's my most eagerly anticipated email of the day. I find myself invariably on the same side of Don Boudreaux and Russ Roberts' posts and opinions (it's more the rule than the exception); Don has more patience in dealing with economically illiterate trolls than I do (e.g., in FB Corner).

Don Boudreaux has had a number of posts and links related to the minimum wage over the past week. The familiar reader knows my position: it prices less-educated/experienced, younger workers out of the labor force. The government arbitrarily bars voluntary contracts between willing participants. These starter jobs/experience are a stepping stone for higher paying opportunities.

One of the posts focuses on a study done by George Mason students printed in the Wall Street Journal. One of the things the students examined was the typical Keynesian story that minimum wage increases tend to jumpstart a stagnant economy because lower-wage earners tend to spend those increases. The students first of all note that the amount of 2% of the workforce winning modest increases cannot have a material effect on a $15T economy. They found states that increased the minimum wage the most had little, if any positive effect on job growth and overall they didn't see a significant effect in higher minimum wage states; if anything, over the baker's dozen of raised minimum wage rate this year, job growth has been more sluggish. Don Boudreaux adds even if there was a positive effect, it may have boosted employment for more skilled/experienced workers like recent retirees vs. improving prospects for the lowest skilled/experienced/young workers.

Bob Murphy adds a more cautious note about recent revisionist research (notoriously Card-Krueger, which has been endlessly promoted by leftist propagandists). Don Boudreaux challenges a "progressive" troll to put his money where his mouth is, i.e., if he thinks low-end wages are artificially low, he should be able to run a profitable business arbitraging the wage spread. In another post, Don points out research suggesting restrictive wage policies may be linked to increased crime in the disadvantaged target group. Finally, Don engages in a sort of thought experiment in discussing minimum wage minutia.

Prominent AnCap Libertarian Jeffrey Tucker Does a Do-It-Yourself ALS Bucket Challenge



My Submission to a Caption Contest

Via Mike Lotfi
The Unholy Trinity of Racial Political Opportunists

Facebook Corner

(LFC). Lyft is terrible! Just got a ride for 18 bucks that I would have easily been charged $60 for by a taxi. Those evil low prices. ‪#‎Keynesianism‬  #sarcasm
Damn the internal combustion engine! Think of all the horses that could have been....

(IPI). Hostess has announced that the Illinois bakery where ‪#‎Twinkies‬ were first invented will close this fall, affecting more than 400 workers.
The baked-goods company has suffered from high labor costs before. But it also had to deal with a state government that gives huge tax breaks to some confectionaries while suffocating others under a high tax and regulatory burden.
I've seen the typical union rubbish trying to scapegoat "greedy" business executives; I'll cite a Fortune article at the end of this comment that looked at Hostess' problems around the time of the last bankruptcy. It points out the prominent involvement of former Dem presidential candidate and union darling Dick Gephardt; his own son was on the Hostess board. But Hostess had a huge debt load and liabilities including $100M annually to MPP pension funds, already chronically underfunded, and absurd make-work union work rules that, e.g., required Hostess products to be delivered on separate trucks.

 Hostess is/was competing in an industry that is highly competitive with low profit margins, not to mention more lower-carb dieters, like myself, won't buy their products. Union costs and high taxes and regulations sapped capital needed to modernize its plants and become more competitive. Scapegoating managers who face more challenging circumstances and difficult decisions is counterproductive; a good executive can mean the difference between a viable business and yet another bankruptcy.

 http://fortune.com/2012/07/26/hostess-is-bankrupt-again/
Over half the people and all the government workers live off the dwindling private sector workers so this is not really news as more businesses fail or close in Illinois under the democrats Detroit initiative than are actually being publicized .....Obama,Quinn,madigan,durbin hope to completely destroy Illinois before Obama leaves office.....Clinton's nafta bill was genius at creating dependent people for democrats to mine so the next step is obvious ...drive as much industry out of Illinois as is possible before people figure out their plan....
Don't blame liberalized trade for the effects of economically illiterate "progressive" economic policies. Regulations and the parasitic nature of government spending are to blame.
It has also suffered from ridiculously high executive pay and bonuses but somehow that always fails to get mentioned.
Crony unionist economically illiterate crap as usual.

(IPI). Several of Illinois’ most influential government unions are wasting money, causing a whole lot of government workers to lose their jobs.
In fact, state employment has dropped 11% since 2006, a lot of which came about through layoffs.
Nothing wrong with government layoffs. It's been happening in the private sector for decades.
Everyone is missing the bigger point which is that public sector, being a monopoly, is not vested in productivity gains as in the private sector. This is a classic problem Mises discussed with respect to socialism. The real problem is not a smaller government footprint, but in the fact that government is parasite and steals resources needed to fund investment and correlated job growth in the real economy. Almost everything involving layoffs would be resolved by privatization.

(Rand Paul). In case you missed it- Earlier tonight, NBC Nightly News covered my medical mission trip to ‪#‎Guatemala‬. 
WATCH: http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/sen-rand-paul-heads-guatemala-n187661
God bless you, Dr. Paul, for living your Christian faith in charitable work.
Wouldn't it be nice IF he did pro-bono More often than for just a photo op
Nobody has to do pro bono. It's a blessing to those who otherwise would go untreated; stop judging people's motives.
What you doing down there. We got our own problems here.
I know he posted recently about doing local (Kentucky) pro-bono work. Stop being judgmental about charitable acts for others.

(Reason). A pint of blueberries contains more than 40g of sugar. That’s about as much sugar as you’ll find in a pint of soda.
Oh, what will Mary Poppins do without her spoonful of sugar? And the rancid aftertaste of ObamaCare?

(LFC). "By socializing a good, the demand for the product increases. However, the supply for a socialized good is still subject to scarcity. For health care, that scarcity comes largely in the form of manpower – there are simply not enough doctors in most countries with socialized healthcare to deal with everybody at once. This is why the wait time for healthcare in countries (like mine, Canada) are so high for certain services." 
\http://speaklibertynow.com/2013/08/05/high_price_of_healthcare/
EXACTLY. One of the points I've made is why other groups, other than multi-state corporations, can't self-insure, why interstate commerce authority wasn't legitimately used to bypass anti-competitive state barriers to entry.

(LFC). "A common but incorrect view of banking in the United States is that it went through a period of unregulated “Laissez Faire” freedom in which persistent malinvestment of deposits led to a public demand for government regulations and the central bank. I intend to illustrate how banks of the United States have never been laissez faire, and in fact are a product of government interference from its onset."
http://speaklibertynow.com/2013/10/24/free-banking-era/
Exactly. Unit banking and restrictions on reserve assets (exacerbated when the feds actually repaid war debts) made US banking (vs, say, Canadian banking) much more volatile.

(LFC). Empirical evidence Walmart is evyl. They just offered to exchange me headphones for 5 bucks. That's right...5. Damn them SOBs. Almost took the bait, too. Went with the $7 pair instead.
Gotta be careful with these greedy capitalists. Never can tell what kind of tricks they have up their sleeves. That was too close for comfort.
Wait for the crony union protectionist trolls to argue that foreign headphone manufacturers are "dumping" headphones "below cost" and you should have to have to pay crony Big Headphones double the cost.... They don't understand being able to stretch one's dollars improves one's standard of living, while mercantilist policies simply defer the day of reckoning at a deadweight loss for the consumer. Mark Perry of Carpe Diem attributes the following quote to Bastiat: "Treat all economic questions from the viewpoint of the consumer, for the interests of the consumer are the interests of the human race."
I wouldn't care a bit, but 50% of their employees are subsidized. So yeah, those headphones probably should have cost you 10.
Pathetic economically illiterate "progressive" troll. Listen, retard: a subsidy would be paid to Walmart to hire low-skilled workers, including, yes, household dependents. The government CHARGES Walmart payroll taxes, unemployment compensation taxes. etc. If WalMart didn't pay competitive wages, their employees would be poached by competitors. Some 98% of jobs pay above minimum wage.

 Let us all agree the social welfare programs should be immediately ended as dysfunctional and counterproductive. The same for so-called living wage policies that basically price low-skilled/experienced people out of the labor force.

More Proposals







well, this one is somewhat laid back...


Political Cartoon
Courtesy of Nate Beeler via Townhall
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Billy Joel, "The Downeaster Alexa". A song named after his daughter, an aspiring singer herself now, this makes my short list of Joel favorites; I love a good percussion arrangement, and this is one of Joel's better vocal performances, like "Piano Man".

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Friday, August 22, 2014

Miscellany: 8/22/14

Quote of the Day
The States can best govern our home concerns and the general government our foreign ones. 
I wish, therefore ... never to see all offices transferred to Washington, 
where, further withdrawn from the eyes of the people, 
they may more secretly be bought and sold at market.
Thomas Jefferson

Tweet of the Day
Chart of the Day

Both charts via Mercatus Center
Image of the Day




Via Drudge Report

Bourgois Dignity



Back to School With the Christmas Jammies Family



More Proposals









Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Gary Varvel via Townhall
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Billy Joel, "I Go To Extremes"

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Thursday, August 21, 2014

Miscellany: 8/21/14

Quote of the Day
When you want to test the depths of a stream, don't use both feet.
Chinese Proverb

Disputed Quotation of the Day
Albert Shanker (1928-1997), former president of the American Federation of Teachers ... "When school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of school children."
Image of the Day




Tweet of the Day
Observation of the Day

I don't know how I was unaware of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge until fairly recently. Of course, as a baseball fan, I'm well aware of Lou Gehrig's disease. The first thing I thought of when I started seeing clips of challenges, including 3 of my grandnieces, is that my former students would have paid good money to douse me in ice water....
Some Tongue-in-Cheek Humor
(No, I don't support waterboarding.)
Via Libertarian Republic


McCrum vs. Rick Perry: Prosecutory Arrogance Run Amok

Karl Rove does an excellent job summarizing the case here. As always, I have an interest in my native state where I attended high school, earned all 4 college degrees and worked both in academia and professionally. The bottom line is that McCrum is trying to prosecute Perry over a budget veto in combination with his preceding relevant comments. As Rove points out, Perry did not lose his right to political speech in public office and his use of the veto is a legitimate authority under the Texas constitution; the Texas legislature has the ability to override his veto or even impeach the governor if it feels Perry has abused his authority. But trying to criminalize a governor's exercise of his veto authority? This is a court dismissal waiting to happen. In the unlikely event this would ever set a precedent, the courts could find themselves refereeing any budget cut decision.

The background to the story was a year ago tax day, Travis County District Attorney, Rosemary Lehmberg, who is in charge of  the state's Public Integrity Unit, was arrested on DWI. Perry pressed for her to resign, promising to replace her with a fellow Democrat. She refused, even when he threatened to veto the Public Integrity Unit's budget unless she stepped aside. Perry carried through on his threat. A judge appointed McCrum as a special prosecutor in response to a left-wing group complaint, and McCrum has indicted Perry on counts of  "abuse of official capacity" (veto) and "coercion of public servant" (pressure on Lehmberg to resign). As Rove points out, this is the third time in the last 20 years or so that the Dems have gone after a prominent state Republican (former Sen. Hutchinson and Congressman DeLay, both exonerated).

I think I've just found the next 2 nominees for my annual mock JOTY competition.





Facebook Corner

(continuation of a Tom Woods thread, where he took a shot at Mitt Romney while wishing Ron Paul a happy birthday; I took exception, and there were a handful of trolls determined to have the last word)
"Ad hominem abuse (also called personal abuse or personal attacks) usually involves insulting or belittling one's opponent in order to invalidate his or her argument, but can also involve pointing out factual but ostensible character flaws or actions which are irrelevant to the opponent's argument. This tactic is logically fallacious because insults and even true negative facts about the opponent's personal character have nothing to do with the logical merits of the opponent's arguments or assertions."

 Look at Woods' original statement: he called Romney a "phony".

 Yes, if you oppose liberty to migrate, it's a slippery slope. You trust in Big INS? I'm simply pointing out is Woods' devotion to Ron Paul (with whom, by the way, he has a contract to deliver, as he repeats in a self-pitying, tiresome manner, homeschooling videos) is rather hypocritical, for someone who dares to point out "phonies".

 I have many political differences with both Romney and Ron Paul. I'm also not an AnCap like Tom Woods, who is praising Ron Paul who is not an AnCap. I was defending a decent man, a brilliant executive, whom Tom Woods pathetically and without intellectual integrity used as a straw man. It was totally unnecessary.

 Ask me if I care what a bunch of Woods trolls think about me for calling out Woods on his lack of professionalism.

 One more comment here: some of the trolls are mocking my decision to drop Woods' podcast. I think Woods' pretentious self-promotion is ludicrous: "I am fascinated by the phenomenon of, "I have learned and benefited from you a great deal, but because of one social media post I am shunning you forever!" No good work, given away every day and for free, goes unpunished." Woods is using the podcast to endlessly promote his speaking tours and his and/or Paul's commercial education portals, not to mention his own books and now a reader subscription business. I have my own truly free blog, where I'm not plugging anything personal; I was promoting Woods in my blog. I don't have that wide a readership that Woods will likely ever feel losing my endorsement, but there are unintended consequences to Woods' behaving badly.

(IPI). Basic workplace representation is one of the main reasons that workers join unions. But a review of union spending reports exposed that representation made up less than half of all spending for three of Illinois’ most influential union groups.
1980 I earned $12.72 per hour, now 34 years later, you say $8.00 per hour is too much?
Union troll, ask the millions who can't find work at any price. You exploit legally sanctioned privileges as a corrupt government-protected monopoly. You benefit from fewer competing workers due to economically illiterate, perverse policies.
 Let's go back to the 1920s!!!
Let's go back to the Gilded Age, when we didn't need counterproductive public policy or unions to see high economic growth, rising wages and standard of living, lessening consumer inequality and we had a dollar that was stable, if not appreciating.

(Jeff Tucker). Writing now on the death of minarchism
Still trying to write the Great American novel?

Political Cartoon
//Courtesy of Michael Ramirez via US News
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Billy Joel, "We Didn't Start the Fire"

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