JOHN STOSSEL: Politicians Smother Cities. “Why do some cities thrive while others decay? One reason is that some politicians smother their cities with the unintended consequences of their grand visions, while others have the good sense to limit government power. . . . But the politicians haven’t learned. They still think government is the key to revitalization. While Indianapolis privatized services, Cleveland prefers state capitalism. It owns and operates a big grocery store, the West Side Market. Typical of government, it’s open only four days a week, and two of those days it closes at 4 p.m. The city doesn’t maintain the market very well. Despite those cost savings, the city manages to lose money running the market. It also loses money running golf courses.”
Archive for 2010
March 19, 2010
BARTON HINKLE: If you disagree with me, you’re mentally ill.
A BOMB-DISPOSAL ROBOT that you can carry in a backpack.
CALLING YOUR CONGRESSMAN TO COMPLAIN now counts as “harassment?” What thin-skinned lily-livered losers we have in Washington. Glad somebody stood up to this one.
TRANSPARENCY UPDATE: Federal Reserve must disclose bank bailout records. “The Federal Reserve Board must disclose documents identifying financial firms that might have collapsed without the largest U.S. government bailout ever, a federal appeals court said. The U.S. Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled today that the Fed must release records of the unprecedented $2 trillion U.S. loan program launched primarily after the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. The ruling upholds a decision of a lower-court judge, who in August ordered that the information be released.”
SHOCKER: NY Times and Wash. Post Say CBO Numbers on Obamacare Don’t Pass Smell Test.
Megan McArdle: “I think this is a fiscal disaster waiting to happen. But no one on the other side cares.”
UPDATE: They certainly don’t want to talk about it.
RED MENACE: Stop the Ug99 Fungus Before Its Spores Bring Starvation. “90 percent of the world’s wheat has little or no protection against the Ug99 race of P. graminis. If nothing is done to slow the pathogen, famines could soon become the norm — from the Red Sea to the Mongolian steppe — as Ug99 annihilates a crop that provides a third of our calories. China and India, the world’s biggest wheat consumers, will once again face the threat of mass starvation, especially among their rural poor. The situation will be particularly grim in Pakistan and Afghanistan, two nations that rely heavily on wheat for sustenance and are in no position to bear added woe. . . . The pathogen has already been detected in Iran and may now be headed for South Asia’s most important breadbasket, the Punjab, which nourishes hundreds of millions of Indians and Pakistanis. What’s more, Ug99 could easily make the transoceanic leap to the United States.”
NOVEMBER IS COMING: Protesting outside Obama’s “final” health care rally in Fairfax, Virginia today.
MAX BOOT: No way to treat a friend. “Why is the Obama administration so hard on Israel — the most liberal and pro-American country in the Middle East — when it’s so soft on its despotic neighbors?”
GOOD NEWS ON SEX AND THE OLD: It’s never been better.
OPERATION DEM RESCUE: The St. Louis Tea Party will defend Democrats who vote “no” on Obamacare.
Meanwhile, Tennessee’s Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen tells Tenn. delegation the state can’t afford ObamaCare. And here’s a target list.
UPDATE: A Tea Party reader emails:
There is going to be a video town hall tonight night in Pittsburgh from 7 to 9 with Bachmann and other brave conservatives . The NRCC is hosting and the Pittsburgh Tea party movement are coming in mass to this .Congressman Jason Altmire is on the fence between “yes and no” , there hasn’t been a ton of love between Pittsburgh Tea party and the RNC , but today they are fighting a common enemy .
Altmire is going to be under grass roots pressure all day at his offices , tonight our girl Bachmann will bring more pain . This event breaks those long standing rules of “don’t mess with my district” , small aspects like this can be the difference between a yes and a hell no vote . Lets once again help the folks on the front lines , we are hitting critical times where every single vote will count .
Stay tuned.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Dee Grant emails:
Hey there Prof. Reynolds!
FYI, I’m an Illinois resident who just tried to contact Melissa Bean to say vote “no.” Her DC line was busy; your readers in the 8th Congressional District might want to ring her home legislative office at 847-517-2927.
I asked the flunky who answered the phone (1) why anyone would believe this bill would be constitutional; (2) why she had a problem voting “no” on principle; and (3) why she wanted to make it even more expensive for me as a small business owner to employ people in her district as a consequence. He just kept robotically repeating, “she hasn’t made a decision, she still is reading the bill.”
Well, she won’t be voting at all, then, given its length . . . .
IN THE MAIL: From Lee Harris, The Next American Civil War: The Populist Revolt against the Liberal Elite.
REASON TV: Reason Saves Cleveland: The Final Episode.
DOCTOR ZERO: The Terms of the Deal. “When Barack Obama tries to convince you to accept a government takeover of the health-care industry, he is making a promise he won’t be around to keep. ObamaCare’s job-killing taxes are front-loaded, but in order to fool the Congressional Budget Office into giving it a respectable deficit score, its benefits are delayed for years. Even if Obama wins re-election, he would complete his second term long before the program was completely phased in… and no external authority exists to compel either Obama, or his successors, to honor the promises he’s been making. . . . It would be a horrible mistake to accept a deal with the creators of history’s most staggering natonal debt, based on assurances they will place your interests ahead of theirs, for decades to come. As Darth Vader memorably explained to Lando Calrissian, the State can always alter the terms of the deal, and your only recourse will be praying they don’t alter it any further.”
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Moorfield Storey!
MICHAEL SILENCE TO ABC NEWS: From “This Week” to “Last Week?” “So let me get this straight. At a time when TV viewership is moving right, (see Fox News), and interest is more focused on domestic issues like, oh, say, health care and spending, you decide to hire a liberal to focus more on international news.”
WHITE DEATH: The Sniper Who Killed 700 Soviets in 100 Days.
SLATE: Forget alpha and beta — now it’s the Omega Males. And we’re not talking Charlton Heston here, either. . . .
ARE WE HEADED FOR AN INFLATIONARY WORLD? If so, there’s no sign yet. So is it a good time to stock up?
UPDATE: Various readers say that it’s deflation we should be worried about, as the collapsing debt shrinks the money supply faster than government expansion can expand it. Oh, well, I figure shotgun shells and canned goods are always good investments . . . .
KEITH HENNESSEY: No new promises, please.
ASHEVILLE READER JONATHAN GUEST REPORTS THAT HEATH SHULER IS UNDECIDED: “No problem getting through to Shuler’s office this morning. People need to call.”