MOVING BEYOND GUN REGISTRATION TO PRECIOUS-METAL REGISTRATION? Rick Santelli says, “The long and short of it is they want an audit trail to any precious metals, whether you’re talking coins or bullion.”
Registration is usually about confiscation.
Archive for 2013
January 11, 2013
UH OH: Is Barnes & Noble Next? I hope not. I love Amazon, but I think they’re better for having competition.
SHOCKER: Lawsuit Alleges Cronyism In Obama Administration “Green Energy” Loans. “The lawsuit was filed on behalf of XP Vehicles, Inc. and Limnia, Inc., companies that competed for Department of Energy loans under a Congressionally-authorized program. The owners of XP eventually realized that there was no real competition, and that the whole Department of Energy program was a scam intended to funnel money to Obama and Democratic Party campaign contributors and political allies. They allege in addition that DOE misappropriated proprietary technology that they submitted in connection with their loan applications, and gave that technology to Obama administration cronies.” (Bumped).
THE BRAIN BENEFITS OF EXERCISE fade after a period of inactivity. “This is analogous to what happens to muscle bulk or heart rate following exercise withdrawal.”
ADVICE TO BLOGGERS: “Think before you mock.” But mockery is so much fun!
FROM THE GOLDEN STATE TO THE GOLDEN-YEARS STATE: A California Drought: Not Enough Children. “In 1970, six years after the end of the baby boom, children made up more than one-third of California’s population. By 2030, they will account for just one-fifth, according to projections by lead author Dowell Myers, a USC demographer. . . . California’s demographic shift mirrors that of many Northeast and Midwest states, including New York, Massachusetts, Illinois and Michigan, where the percentage of children fell even more sharply from 2000 to 2010. But unlike those states, California has always relied on migrants from other states and abroad to fuel its economy, and the change represents a new reality for the Golden State.”
Obviously, it’s not being run in a way that makes people want to have kids, or move there.
LEGAL EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: The Continuing Free-Fall in LSAT Takers and Law School Applicants.
January 10, 2013
WHY THE BENGHAZI INVESTIGATION is going nowhere. “The growing sense that the culprits in the Sept. 11, 2012 attack might never be caught deepened this week, when Tunisian officials released the sole suspect in custody.” It’s like we don’t really care if we catch them or not.
PAUL RAHE: Toqueville In China. “If Tocqueville’s book is being read, it is because at least some of the men who rule China are wondering whether their country is near a tipping point — in which a seemingly minor event (the self-immolation of a Tunisian street vendor, for example) sets off a conflagration. Twenty-three years ago, at the time of Tiananmen Square, China very nearly came apart. Some Chinese, who know a lot more than I do about the state of affairs in their country, evidently think that it may do so again, and the very fact that are contemplating such a nightmare suggests that it may be on the horizon. If and when such a regime stops delivering the goods — even if only for a short time — there will be a fury unleashed.”
A KRUGMAN-INSPIRED PLAN TO SAVE THE ECONOMY: “What would be the value of having all 14.5 million federal government employees – starting at the top with the President – made to wear clown suits every day for, say, the next four years? Would it be worth as much as a trillion dollar coin? More? I propose we find out.”
TRADITIONALIST CASSANDRA: Women in the workplace means “disaster for the race.” “It has taken the race millions of years to produce the high salaried women of to-day, and now those qualities are allowed to perish. The spark carried through the centuries is snuffed out by a salary!”
SO WHILE PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT LIMBAUGH AND THE GUARDIAN, let me note that he doesn’t just boost capitalism, he successfully practices it. I ordered some of his iced tea on Monday night, and it showed up — free shipping — at my door on Wednesday morning, less than 36 hours later. It’s good tea, too.
It’s interesting because most talk-radio people have a side business selling books, coffee mugs, or whatever. But this is a completely different line of business, with an actual freestanding product, and it seems to be quite well run.
UPDATE: Reader Dan Parker emails:
Just a quick note to thank you for your post mentioning Rush’s Two If By Tea.
One thing you didn’t mention in your post that I’d like to highlight is that purchases of this product, in addition to supporting a capitalist in the act of practicing what he preaches, have also helped generate a significant amount of donations to the Marine Corps – Law Enforcement Foundation.
MC-LEF (disclosure – I’m on the Board of Directors) provides academic scholarships for the children of US Marines and Federal Law Enforcement (FBI, Secret Service) who are killed in action. We are operated almost entirely by volunteers, and so are able to contribute more than 99% of every donation directly to the families of the fallen. Since 1995, we have awarded more than $54 million in scholarships.
Rush describes the relationship at this link, but I thought your readers would like to know.
Thanks.
FASTER, PLEASE: Drug Enables Deafened Mice to Hear Again. “By blocking a key protein, the drug allows sound-sensing cells that are damaged by noise to regrow. The treatment isn’t anywhere near ready for use in humans, but the advance at least raises the prospect of restoring hearing to some deafened people.”
GIVEN THOSE STOCKS’ EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE, IS THIS A BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY? Teachers’ retirement fund to divest from gun makers.
UPDATE: Reader John Gray writes:
The answer is “Yes”. CalSTRS is only 70% funded. They only have $0.70 for every dollar they have promised to pay retirees. And that funded ratio is falling. For the trustees and staff of the system to be doing anything other than maximizing return per unit of risk for their participants is a breach of fiduciary duty, and they could (and should) be sued. This particular breach happens to chap my hide, but CalSTRS and CalPERS have been doing this kind of dopey social engineering with their investments for a while. No wonder they’re so poorly funded.
I wonder if anyone will file a lawsuit over this? All you need is one covered California employee who likes guns. Or wants to retire. . . .
AT AMAZON, it’s the Grocery & Gourmet Food Outlet Sale.
SO IF YOU LOOK AT THIS city by city ranking of starting associate salaries in law, it appears that people working elsewhere are overpaid by New York standards if you take cost of living into account. Alternatively, you might conclude that people want to work in New York enough that firms in other cities must pay more to lure them away.
HARD TO ARGUE: Taxpayer Advocate Says Tax Code is “Unconscionable Burden,” Suggests Junking the AMT.
If there’s one word that appears over and over in National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olsen’s 2012 Annual Report to Congress, it’s “burden” and variations thereof. A quick search found 25 repetitions of “burden,” “burdens” or “burdensome” just in the executive summary (PDF), not counting the table of contents (it’s a long executive summary). Notably, she says in the chapter on the complexity of the tax code (PDF), “the existing tax code inflicts significant, even unconscionable, burden on taxpayers, and Congress could alleviate much of that burden by vastly simplifying the tax code.”
Indeed.
ENRON AND THE TRILLION DOLLAR COIN.
MICHAEL WILLIAMSON: We Need To Regulate Cars The Way We Regulate Guns.
To buy or operate a standard car, one will have to be 18 years old. Under that age, adult supervision will be mandatory. This means the adult must be in the vehicle with the underage driver.
To buy a sports car, you will have to be 21. A “Sports car” will be defined as any combination of any two of the following: 2 doors instead of 4, spoked rims not requiring hubcaps, aerodynamic effects such as spoilers or air dams, a wheelbase under 100 inches, a manual transmission, a curb weight under 3000 lbs, fiberglass or other non-metal construction, or painted logos.
For every purchase, you will have to fill out a questionnaire confirming you’re a US citizen, do not use drugs or abuse alcohol, have never had a conviction for alcohol related incidents or reckless driving. Lying on this form will be punishable by 10 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.
New cars will only be purchased from Federal Automobile Licensees who must provide fingerprints, proof of character, secure storage for all vehicles, and who must call the Federal Bureau of Motor Vehicles to verify your information before purchase. They may approve or decline or delay the sale. If they decline, you may appeal the decision in writing to a review board. If they delay, it becomes an approval automatically after 10 days. However, the dealer may decline to complete such a sale in case of later problems.
Read the whole thing. He makes a good point, which is that lots of people probably don’t appreciate just how heavily regulated guns already are.
COMPROMISE: Would You Meet Your Killer Halfway?
INSTAVISION: I talk with Prof. James Miller about his new book, Singularity Rising: Surviving and Thriving in a Smarter, Richer, and More Dangerous World. Will sexbots be the end of humanity? Or are we possibly heading for a worse fate? Will artificial intelligences be dangerous? “I think the default path is that they treat us horribly.”
JAMES WATSON: Hey, this “War On Cancer” isn’t going so well, is it?
TRAPPED IN THE 1920s: Scientists Discover Unbreakable 90-Year-Old Mobius Loop.
GREEN STARVATION: As Biofuel Demand Grows, So Do Guatemala’s Hunger Pangs.
In the tiny tortillerias of this city, people complain ceaselessly about the high price of corn. Just three years ago, one quetzal — about 15 cents — bought eight tortillas; today it buys only four. And eggs have tripled in price because chickens eat corn feed.
Meanwhile, in rural areas, subsistence farmers struggle to find a place to sow their seeds. On a recent morning, José Antonio Alvarado was harvesting his corn crop on the narrow median of Highway 2 as trucks zoomed by.
“We’re farming here because there is no other land, and I have to feed my family,” said Mr. Alvarado, pointing to his sons Alejandro and José, who are 4 and 6 but appear to be much younger, a sign of chronic malnutrition.
Recent laws in the United States and Europe that mandate the increasing use of biofuel in cars have had far-flung ripple effects, economists say, as land once devoted to growing food for humans is now sometimes more profitably used for churning out vehicle fuel.
It’s a crime against humanity! More here.