GOVERNMENT: How Does A Wine Monopoly Lose Money?
Archive for August, 2011
August 31, 2011
MICHAEL BARONE: Clarence Thomas: Liberal nightmare on Obamacare.
MISJUDGING IRENE: Nature’s toll invariably recedes wherever wealth and technology advances. “The great cliché of our age is that the march of civilization is an act of hubris that invites nature’s terrible blowback. The reality is that nature’s toll invariably recedes wherever wealth and technology advance. I feel desperately sorry for the 37 people who lost their lives in the hurricane, and for their families. It’s remarkable the numbers weren’t higher. Would that all the world were as safe from nature’s fury as New York.”
There is no way to sugarcoat this. The expectation of rotten times ahead colors purchasing and hiring decisions, leading to a further contraction of the economy. Low confidence begets low growth which in turn begets low confidence.
The president and the Democrats keep promising more spending and taxing. But that’s not a recipe to improve the outlook of investors, consumers and employers. . . The trap for many conservatives is to likewise fall into the habit of talking exclusively about budgets, debt and government spending. The missing element is growth. What should government be doing (or not doing) to promote the private sector job creation and bolster confidence? I don’t think Obama has a clue. Maybe one of the GOP presidential contenders has some ideas.
Let’s hope.
THE HILL: Perry pans Obama’s jobs policies as ‘dumb.’ “Policies from Obama that have driven the increased spending and the downgraded U.S. credit rating are what’s dumb, Perry said. He accused the president, who formerly lectured at the University of Chicago law school, of relying too much on the counsel of academics.”
Related: Politico: Perry Panic Fires Up Left. “Perry panic has spread from the conference rooms of Washington, D.C., to the coffee shops of Brooklyn, with the realization that the conservative Texan could conceivably become the 45th president of the United States, a wave of alarm centering around Perry’s drawling, small-town affect and stands on core cultural issues such as women’s rights, gun control, the death penalty, and the separation of church and state. The epidemic of lefty angst isn’t just a matter of specific Perry policies though; it goes to the heart of the liberal worldview. His smashing debut on the presidential stage suggests that the victory of an urban liberal Democrat, Barack Obama, wasn’t a step toward a more progressive nation, but just a leftward swing of an increasingly wild pendulum, now poised to rocket to the right.”
AT A.T.F., MEET THE NEW BOSS, YADA YADA. “Jones was appointed to chair the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee back in August of 2009, and was briefed in Gunwalker. According to Senator Charles Grassley’s June 15, 2011 congressional testimony attachment 4, the chair of AGAC (Jones) was a member of the Southwest Border Strategy Group and attended at least one briefing on Fast and Furious in October 2009. He appears to be complicit in the coverup, just like Melson.”
STANDING UP TO THE HATERS: Facebook phenom Stephen A. Burroughs announces Swagfest despite threats.
August 30, 2011
EVEN WITH CONTROVERSIAL COVERS, Newsweek Can’t Sell Magazines.
OBVIOUSLY, SHE’S A RACIST: Daryl Hannah Arrested at White House. “Hannah was taking part in an ongoing protest against the unbuilt Keystone XL oil pipeline.”
ROBERT FARAGO: ATF Death Watch 66: Obama Fires Acting ATF Director Melson.
AT AMAZON, Warehouse Deals.
UPDATE: Link was bad before, fixed now. Sorry!
FUNDING STACY MCCAIN’S RETIREMENT: No Honor Among Thieves, No Curiosity Among Journalists: Perez Hilton Re-Pirates Video, CBS News Repeats Smear.
FACT CHECKING YOUR ASS: Ten Years Gone—Long Gone. Indeed.
Plus, the real breaking news: “Wonkette Is Still Online?”
UTAH TEA PARTY UPDATE: Kirkham Considering 2012 Run Against Hatch.
WHEN IS IT CLIMATE, AND WHEN IS IT WEATHER? Simple. Irene was Climate, a monster storm clearly brought about by human changes in the planet. Stories like this, on the other hand, are mere randomly-varying Weather: Parts of Britain suffer coldest summer for nearly two decades. Got it?
FORTUNATELY, WE HAVE OBAMACARE: Could Being Healthy Actually Make Your Retirement Worse?
NEW YORK CITY BANS DOGS FROM BARS. “Property rights are particularly important for protecting unpopular people and groups against persecution. In this case, however, New York City has undermined property rights in a way that harms a much wider range of people for little or no benefit. Dog ownership is extremely widespread and even many non-dog owners enjoy interacting with man’s best furry friends.”
If I owned a bar in NYC, I’d post a sign that said “No dogs or mayors allowed.”
BRIAN CUNNINGHAM WRITES ON CELLPHONES AND DISASTER-PREP:
Hey, I saw your post from yesterday that mentioned using text messaging over voice during an emergency. I wanted to point out a good example of SMS being better than voice that just happened last week: The 5.8 earthquake that hit the east coast.
When the quake reached the particular area where I work in Maryland, pretty much every cell carrier’s voice service was unavailable as everyone was jamming the system trying to call their families. Texting worked fine, however, and in only a few moments I was able to text my wife to see if all was well on the home front, and check in with other friends to see if they were OK. All while people around me were still trying to use voice calls to contact family…on phones that were SMS capable. I guess it’s a generational thing.
Well, people find hearing family members’ voices reassuring in a crisis, I guess. But that instinct certainly carries costs. We should encourage people to avoid voice and use text in disasters or other situations where the system might be overwhelmed.
JACOB SULLUM ON HOW F.I.R.E. is combating sex discrimination on campus.
PHOTOS: Irene After The Storm.