SUSANNAH BRESLIN: The Problem With Obama’s Combat Zone Suicides Condolence Letters.
Archive for 2011
July 7, 2011
JOHN HINDERAKER: Say No To The Dems’ July Surprise. “A few Republicans, at least, are on to the Democrats’ game. A group of fiscal hawks in the Senate, led by Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee, has repeatedly pressed for transparency in the context of a Senate budget saga that has been nothing short of absurdist theater. The latest wrinkle is that the Democrats have a budget, but they are keeping it secret!”
Place clarity above all, and you will be rewarded.
NO DOUBT MARK POTOK WILL BE RIGHT ON THIS STORY: Top Democrat Indicted For St. Louis Bombing.
A SECOND SYMPOSIUM ON EXPANDING LIBERTY over at Broadside Books.
AFTER NEW YORK GAY MARRIAGE LAW, IRS needs to clarify tax consequences. “Ironically, at the same time the IRS is refusing to recognize same sex marriages, President Obama’s Department of Justice is arguing in court that DOMA—the law the IRS cites in refusing to recognized same sex marriage– is unconstitutional.” The government spends a lot of time at cross-purposes. On the one hand, that’s a waste. On the other hand, it may be the best real-world protection for freedom . . . .
CA-36: Yes, Janice Hahn blew it. “When Janice Hahn’s lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to KTTV Fox 11 — trying to stop the Los Angeles station from following up on its 2008 investigation of Hahn’s controversial ‘gang intervention’ progam — they probably didn’t expect this. ‘Large mistake, madame,’ says the award-winning Ace of Spades. Because KTTV and Chris Blatchford not only stood by their original coverage, they followed up with an in-depth eight-minute report that devastates Hahn’s credibility.”
UPDATE: Oops — had that as Jessica Hahn before. Sorry, wrong political scandal. . . .
GO FIGURE: JET INDUSTRY FURIOUS AT OBAMA.
While pundits and politicians haggle over whether alterations in the depreciation schedule of corporate jets will actually have an impact on the deficit, those in the general aviation trenches are furious.
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPO) President Craig Fuller told The Daily Caller that Obama’s comments have cast a pall over the industry, causing many who were considering buying a plane to back away from making a purchase.
“The industry has suffered terribly in the last two and a half years and it has just started to recover. Most of the signs were starting to look good,” said Fuller. “We are so angry as an industry and we have all come together to try to bring a more fair and balanced description to the debate.”
(Emphasis added to stress the impact of “regime uncertainty” on the market.) The economy was bad, and every time Obama opens his mouth he makes it worse.
UPDATE: Reader Bill Rickords emails:
Seems Obama is completely clueless on the aircraft industry…or his aides are. Here where I live in Wichita, KS the aircraft capital of the US we have over 44,000 employed in the aircraft industry in one city of 400,000. Located here in Wichita are the world’s leaders in aircraft building and maintenance, Boeing, Hawker-Beechcraft, EADS, Spirit, Cessna and many other parts makers, repair facilities etc. High skilled and highly paid. And then you have the attendant support industries, high tech machining, lasers, cabinet building, upholstery etc.
What foolishness on his part as a leader and President. Playing the usual Democrat ploy of envy, but this time at the expense of the US worker and possibly his own voter base. Indicates to voters here in the Midwest he knows little of working or their efforts to build such fantastic world class machines.
And guess what….most are his favorite pets, i.e.….Unions.
They are less than happy with his childish antics.
As they should be.
INSTAVISION: The Debt Solution: Tax Hollywood And Volvos? I talk with Megan McArdle of The Atlantic about taxes, spending, the debt ceiling, and default. Plus, Dave Ramsey, debt czar? (Bumped).
JAMES TARANTO: Commander In Tweet. “That’s why the World’s Greatest Orator keeps claiming that the quality of his explaining was insufficient. It diverts attention from the real problem: that his explanation was wrong because his policy was bad.”
HOW THE HARBRACE HANDBOOK OF ENGLISH changed the way Americans think about writing.
POLITICAL CENSORSHIP: “It’s one thing when someone decides that they are going to intimidate a blogger with a cease and desist order, it’s totally another for a congressional candidate in CA-36 to actually send such an order to a TV station over a story they did on her years ago.” Janice Hahn doesn’t seem to understand things very well.
JACOB SULLUM: Obama displays a Clintonian desire to have things both ways. “Obama wants credit for using the American military to protect civilians and compel a regime change in Libya. But he doesn’t want to admit that blowing up the government’s forces and facilities counts as ‘hostilities,’ because then he would need congressional permission under the War Powers Act.”
THERE SEEMS TO BE A LOT OF THIS ALL OF A SUDDEN: Another High-Profile Rape Case Collapsing? “Mother Jones is hardly an unsympathetic outlet for the case, so the detailed report from Stephanie Mencimer is all the more remarkable, and particularly well-written.”
KYLE-ANN SHIVER: Why The Shock Over Atlanta Teacher Cheating?
THAT’S FUNNY, I THOUGHT TENNESSEE HAD ELECTED A REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR: Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam Willing To Take Lead On Internet Sales Tax.
But then, I thought we’d elected a Republican legislature, too, so what do I know?
UPDATE: Hmm. Haslam sounds different in this report. We’ll have to see.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Moe Lane writes:
Basically, the position that Haslam is taking is that the state of Tennessee trying to impose an Amazon tax would probably wreck ongoing negotiations between the state and Amazon.com when it comes to getting a couple more job-creating distribution centers built in-state (which it probably will). Haslam also thinks that a national, standardized system for sales tax is both necessary and proper . . . .
What Haslam is clearly referring to here is the Streamlined State Tax Initiative (SSTI), which is pretty much as advertised: it’s a drive to get the federal government to create an unified, (and hopefully uncomplicated) sales tax standard. Haslam supports such an initiative… and guess what? So does Amazon.com. CEO Jeff Bezos has made it clear that his company endorses the SSTI, and that the company has done so for years. What Amazon objects to is the notion of doing it piecemeal: whether you think that this is due to legitimate constitutional concerns, or merely an unwillingness to build over fifty different set of taxation guidelines* into the software, is of course your privilege.
The point is that Haslam – and Amazon.com – are both taking a position that is a bit too nuanced for the rather simplistic, rather Manichean worldview being promulgated by the unlikely alliance of Democratic-controlled legislatures**/big-box brick-and-mortar retailers like Wal-Mart***. There are a couple of obvious reasons why conservatives may be legitimately concerned with increasing the power of the federal government with regard to this issue, or indeed any issue involving taxation… but it’s still an internally consistent position to take.
Yes, and I favor the national approach, too. It’s clearly within Congress’s proper role and — as the Supreme Court held in Quill v. North Dakota (full disclosure: I consulted for the winning side) — having to comply with vast numbers of state (and local) sales tax rates and, worse, classification schemes, is a burden on interstate commerce.
Meanwhile, reader Spencer Martin — a professor of Finance — emails:
Perhaps someone could clear up *why* States think enacting these internet tax collection mandates will raise any revenue. The biggest target, Amazon, merely sidesteps these laws by shutting down its Associates program and thereby escaping jurisdiction. That leaves only the potential net revenue *loss* from taxable income that the Associates were receiving. Are State budget authorities dumb enough (as CBO is) to score these bills as revenue-enhancing?
I guess so.
PONDERING non-monogamous marriage. Well, Anthony Weiner may become available. . . .
OBAMA WILLING TO CUT SOCIAL SECURITY?
AT AMAZON, top deals in Camera & Photo.
INSTAVISION: The Debt Solution: Tax Hollywood And Volvos? I talk with Megan McArdle of The Atlantic about taxes, spending, the debt ceiling, and default. Plus, Dave Ramsey, debt czar?
JOINING IN SUPPORT OF A BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT: Jim DeMint And Olympia Snowe. “After passing the House in 1995, balanced budget amendment votes in the Senate fell by one vote in 1995 and 1997. At the time, the national debt totaled less than $6 trillion, Snowe and DeMint noted. The current debt ceiling is set at $14.3 trillion.”
HOW WE DO THINGS IN KNOXVILLE: Police: Good Samaritan uses pepper spray to subdue fleeing hit-and-run suspect.
WHY PENSIONS ARE UNDERFUNDED: “Because people don’t understand what these obligations cost.” Whole political and financial careers are based on that. . . .