No Way- CA?

California gets flatter?  Zero corp tax? Feinstein and Davis in favor? Next cats will be playing with dogmas.

They may be motivated by the reality that California's steeply progressive tax rates are defeating the purposes of progressive government. To wit, only a growing economy can create opportunity for the middle class and enough state revenues to finance schools and health care for the poor. A tax code that depends on 1% of taxpayers, 144,000 filers, to finance 50% of state income tax revenues has proven to be unsustainable, notwithstanding the liberal dogma that says tax rates don't matter.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574443413742032356.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

Dark humor of the day

Ponderable of the day

Grandmother Arrested for Purchasing Cold Medication

Unbelievable. No common sense or discretion built into these sweeping laws.

Last March, Sally Harpold, an Indiana grandmother of triplets, bought two boxes of cold medication in less than a week. Together, the two boxes contained 3.6 grams of pseudoephedrine, putting her in violation of the state’s methamphetamine-fighting law, which forbids the purchase of more than three grams by one person in a seven-day period.
Police came to Harpold’s home, arrested and handcuffed her, and booked her in a Vermillion County jail.

"...ignorance of the law is no excuse", the prosecutor said.


http://www.theagitator.com/2009/09/28/hoosier-grandmother-arrested-for-purchasing-cold-medication/

Don't call it "Cap & Trade"

Majority of people are opposed, so it must be respun...

"I don't know what 'cap and trade' means. I don't think the average American does," Kerry told reporters. "This is not a cap-and-trade bill, it's a pollution reduction bill."
Kerry's word choice echoes President Obama's references to "greenhouse gas pollution" and "carbon pollution" in his Tuesday address to the United Nations. Top Obama administration science officials, including Energy Secretary Steven Chu and U.S. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, have also adopted similar vocabulary in recent months (Climatewire, Sept. 23).
Despite the change in rhetoric, it does not appear Kerry and Boxer have stepped away from the basic structure for cap and trade. He said the bill would still have emissions allowances and a marketplace.


http://www.eenews.net/public/EEDaily/2009/09/25/2

Woman threatened with fines for watching neighbors' kids

Yet another way it is illegal to work for free...

http://www.wzzm13.com/news/news_story.aspx?storyid=114016&catid=14#

Buy Health Insurance or go to Jail

I wonder if folks consider that everything the Federal Government does is, in the end, forced at the point of a gun.

Violators could be charged with a misdemeanor and could face up to a year in jail or a $25,000 penalty, Barthold wrote on JCT letterhead. He signed it "Sincerely, Thomas A. Barthold."

http://www.politico.com/livepulse/0909/Ensign_receives_handwritten_confirmation__Page2.html#comments

Subsidizing Qaddafi?

Say what? Did you see this nut case at the UN? We are going to give money to his family members?

Despite the U.S. Administration's strong condemnation of Megrahi's release, the State Department notified Congress on September 15, 2009, of its intent to provide $200,000 to Saif Qaddafi's foundation (Qaddafi Development Foundation) and another $200,000 expected to go to an organization run by Muammar Qaddafi's daughter, Aisha (Wa'ettasemo) and the UNDP, where she serves as goodwill ambassador for Libya.

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2546130/

Not guilty verdict for officer in excessive force case

These types of cases just make you wonder what exactly it would take for something to qualify as excessive force. The original "crime"?- apparently, the guy ran a red light on his bicycle. They have the beating on tape!

Heaney, who was riding his bike past Coors Field on his way to see his mother in a hospice, claimed Cordova and other undercover police officers pulled him off his bike, kicked, punched and beat him, then slammed his face into the ground, breaking two front teeth. He says all this happened while he was on his stomach about to be handcuffed.

A sports video production crew caught the event on tape and gave it to 9Wants to Know, which investigated the case and talked to witnesses.

http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=123710&catid=339

Sydney Dust Storms

Amazing pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/plasticbag/galleries/72157622310168099/

Mayor Hypocrit

Do as I say, not as I do. Of course he can easily afford to pay the taxes he imposes on everyone else.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has become New York City’s nutritional nag, banning the use of trans fats, forcing chain restaurants to post calorie counts and exhorting diners to consume less salt. Now he is at it again, directing his wrath at sugary drinks in a new series of arresting advertisements that ask subway riders: “Are you pouring on the pounds?”
But an examination of what enters the mayoral mouth reveals that Mr. Bloomberg is an omnivore with his own glaring indulgences, many of them at odds with his own policies. And he struggles mightily to restrain his appetite.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/23/dining/23bloom.html?_r=1&hp

Agreeing with Al Franken?

Never thought I'd see the day, but collectivism has many faces. Actually, it's refreshing to see that anyone in Congress cares about the 4th Amendment at all. After all of the clamor about the overreach of the Patriot Act while GWB was in office, the silence has since become deafening. No one want's to take executive power away from "their guy".

Al Franken Reads the 4th Amendment to Justice Department Official
Noting that he received a copy of the Constitution when he was sworn in as a senator, he proceeded to read it to Kris, emphasizing this part:  “no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
“That’s pretty explicit language,” noted Franken, asking Kris how the “roving wiretap” provision of the Patriot Act can meet that requirement if it doesn’t require the government to name its target.
Kris looked flustered and mumbled that “this is surreal,” apparently referring to having to respond to Franken’s question. “I would defer to the other branch of government,” he said, referring to the courts, prompting Franken to interject: “I know what that is.”


http://washingtonindependent.com/60611/al-franken-reads-the-4th-amendment-to-justice-department-official

Winter Babies

New Light on the Plight of Winter Babies

Researchers Stumble Upon Alternative Explanation for the Lifelong Challenges Faced by Children Born in Colder Months

"Children born in the winter months already have a few strikes against them. Study after study has shown that they test poorly, don't get as far in school, earn less, are less healthy, and don't live as long as children born at other times of year. Researchers have spent years documenting the effect and trying to understand it. "

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125356566517528879.html

Jericho, AR

First they slam him with illegal traffic tickets, then they shoot him in the back at the hearing, then the Mayor fires him, and now he's being charged with battery.  This guy was their Fire Chief! No charges against the Police, of course.
If you think your Town is dysfunctional, check out Jericho AR, now without Fire protection, no matter what the Mayor says.

http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story/Jericho-Has-No-Fire-Department-Mayor-Says-Its/pUzfp1C4mEi4fRxQ_fxStA.cspx

Inside the Clunkers Program

Fraud, waste, abuse, incompetence, bare feet, and vomit. Anyone surprised?

During a 37.5-hour work week, Willey reported actually working only 14 hours – but she was paid for more than 37 hours of work.
"Two of those nights, I had no work at all," she said. "On those two evenings, when I left, I complained to two different supervisors and I got two different responses: 'Milk it, baby!' and 'Free money!'"

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.printable&pageId=110531
(HT Sean)

Libertarians at Slate?

Then They Came for the Fresca; The growing ambitions of the food police.

http://www.slate.com/id/2229194/

Unpaid Internships are Illegal

So you want to work for free to gain valuable experience? Get your foot in the door? Grab that first rung of the ladder? It's a FEDERAL crime. I once worked for free to gain experience- there are many forms of compensation in this world!  At the same time, they have dramatically increased the minimum wage- like it wasn't already hard enough to make a new start in this miserable economy. Just goes to show how much of what is government exists to prevent voluntary exchange between people.  Mark Cuban is on the case:

One silver lining of a “great recession” that we are now in is that there are a lot of incredibly talented people without jobs, or who have lost their jobs. I didn’t care if they were 18 years old or 73 years old.  I thought we could assemble a talented group who would enjoy the internships and could also gain valuable experience to add to their resumes.  When the economy opened up, one of two things would hopefully occur.  We were generating revenue from this effort and we could hire them, or they had just built up their resumes and improved their chances of finding a paying job.
Makes sense right ?
Wrong. Enter the US Government.
This is what our HR person, who his supersmart and really knows his stuff came back with
“The law says that interns have to be paid unless they are perfoming work that is of no value to the organization; ie., helps them in some way but we get no benefit from their work.  Thus we would have to create work that is useless to us  if we choose not to pay them.  How silly is that?


http://blogmaverick.com/2009/09/05/want-an-unpaid-internship-so-you-can-get-valuable-experience-screw-you/

Overbought!

I just cannot see what the bulls are so excited about. Maybe it's just hope springing from the gridlock in Washington.


The S&P 500 is now trading 20% higher than its 200-day average. Although there have been rare occasions this deviation has been higher, we note that this is typically an "extreme."
• During the 2002/2007 bull market, we never hit +20%.
• 1986 and 1987 saw 19%/20%, but no higher.
• 1982 saw the deviation briefly above 20%.
• 1975 saw a marginal move above 20%.
• 1943 saw the 20% deviation again prove good resistance.
• 1935 and 1936 though saw the deviation above 20%.
• 1933 saw the S&P 500 59% rich to its 200-day.
• 1929 saw the 20% deviation again prove good resistance.
 • 94% S&P 500 stocks also now above their 200-day average.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/162671-tuesday-outlook-waiting-for-the-fed-to-supply-an-exit-strategy?source=email

Traffic and Spontaneous Order

Fewer rules=Greater Safety
Left to their own devices, people make better decisions. Imagine that!
http://www.examiner.com/x-536-Civil-Liberties-Examiner~y2009m9d18-At-least-with-traffic-fewer-rules-make-for-better-behavior?cid=examiner-email

Police Tase Double-Amputee

Amputee tased, arrested, and held 6 days for "contempt-of-cop".

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/036713.html

Does Anything Exceed the Commerce Clause Nowadays?

Coyote makes the case:
"My answer is:  Nowadays (not in the original intent) is there anything the Feds can do that exceeds current interpretations of the commerce clause?  In Raich, the Supreme Court decided that a product (marijuana) that was grown in state for personal consumption, like tomatoes in your own garden, and was used legally under state law, can still be regulated under the commerce clause.    As Clarence Thomas wrote in dissent:

Diane Monson and Angel Raich use marijuana that has never been bought or sold, that has never crossed state lines, and that has had no demonstrable effect on the national market for marijuana. If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything and the Federal Government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers"

http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/09/does-anything-exceed-the-commerce-clause-nowadays.html

Peter Schiff on Lehman Collapse

Happy Anniversary of the Lehman collapse:

"In reality, Lehman's demise was simply the result of an unfolding crisis that began years before. Popular belief aside, allowing the institution to succumb to the overwhelming debts on its balance sheet was perhaps the only correct decision made by government since this crisis began. The propagandists' complete reversal of cause and effect now threatens to spur the government to compound prior mistakes and bring on the next phase of the financial crisis. Unfortunately, this chapter will likely be much more dangerous than what we saw last fall."

http://seekingalpha.com/article/162394-lehman-s-collapse-revisited?source=email

Interview with Greg Gutfeld

This guy cracks me up. The quintessential heretic, unwelcome everywhere. The Red Eye show really pushes the boundaries, which is probably why they can only show it in the middle of the night. Sort of reminds me of the old "network" days when late night viewers were rewarded with irreverent stuff you just couldn't do on television like SNL, SCTV, or early Letterman (among other). It's kind of like the "South Park" of talk shows. Decidedly the anti-View. One thing that amazes me is the guests he gets on there. Congress critters, minor celebs, mayors and such- they have to know they are going to get skewered.

"There are three things that I could go off on forever. Global warming is the biggest scam ever devised. It’s created by media-savvy folks who saw that they could get on TV much easier if they create concern. They purposely ignore scientists who don’t follow the party line, so I do that story a lot. Everybody hates it because even though they agree with it, it’s boring, but the most boring things are the things that kill you.
The second issue is the way the media portray people that they disagree with. They were far behind the tea party story. They didn’t know how to catch up, so rather than try to catch up, they made a joke out of it: “They’re a bunch of tea baggers.” It’s a really funny joke. It’s like they kept saying it over and over again, but it was stupid and it was demeaning. I’m not a joiner. I didn’t go to the tea parties, but everybody I knew that went to the tea parties had jobs. They owned things. They’re not going to throw a chair through a window because they probably owned that store or they owned that chair.
The third thing is the drug war, which is a waste of human life and a waste of money. We’ve been through this with Prohibition. I don’t know why we can’t see that this thing is just killing our country. No pothead should be in jail.
They’re the nicest people on the planet. The worst thing they do is they eat all your food. That’s not against the law. Cokeheads, they talk your ear off. They tell you stories that you don’t want to hear. The next day they regret it, but that’s not a crime. Meth heads will take apart your toaster, try to put it back together. It never works, but you hide the toaster. That’s all you do. You don’t put the guy in jail!
What we’re doing is we’re putting people in jail who are following a natural human need, which is just to get out of life for a few minutes or for a few hours. I don’t think it’ll ever change because no politician that will be elected will ever have the balls to actually do something about it."

http://www.reason.com/news/show/135714.html

WSJ-The Case for an Employer Tax Break

If the problem is lack of jobs, why are we subsidizing everything but employment?
Bailouts=Wasted vast sums of money subsidizing failure so we can all continue to dig ourselves deeper into debt with cheap credit.
Stimilus=Favor factory, and even if you believe in dumping money in a hole, this is way too slow!
Seems like a more pure Keynesian move would have been to do direct and immediate stimuli such as:

• Payroll tax holiday for 1 year
• Employment tax credits (like in the article below)

These sorts of stimuli would have an immediate and direct impact on employment by making employment less expensive.
I think the answer is that these sorts of "universal" actions would not allow the politicians to hand out favors to special interest groups. I feel that the government should have done nothing (on deficit), but if you really believe in Keynes, this would seem to be the way to go. Instead, everything is being done to make employing people more expensive, from higher minimum wages, to big labor giveaways, to health insurance mandates.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204518504574416992816628538.html?mod=djemEditorialPage

Clunker Hangover- Auto sales lowest since 1981

Well duh- the "clunker" bill caused people who were thinking about buying a car anyways to buy one sooner. Guess what?  Paying people to destroy things is not the path to prosperity. Slow consumer spending is the symptom, not the cause.

"Edmunds.com reports that “September’s light-vehicle sales rate will fall to 8.8 million units . . . the lowest rate in nearly 28 years, tying the worst demand on record. After the cash-for-clunkers program boosted August sales to their first year-over-year increase since October 2007, demand has plunged. In at least the last 33 years, the U.S. seasonally adjusted annual rate has only dropped as low as 8.8 million units once — in December 1981 — with records stretching back to January 1976.”

http://planetgore.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZDYwYjIwMDMwMjFmY2YzMWVjOTdlYTI4OGI0YjhiNjA=

Parents Sue Walmart for Reporting Bath Photos

I hope they win. This "child porn" hysteria is out of control.  There are many of these bath photo cases, including more involving Walmart. If they searched my photo albums, I guess they would take my child away. and put me on the sex offender registry.


"PHOENIX  —  An Arizona couple accused of sexual abuse after taking bath-time photos of their children and then trying to have them developed at Walmart are suing the state and the retail giant.
Lisa and Anthony "A.J." Demaree's three young daughters were taken away by Arizona Child Protective Services last fall when a Walmart employee found partially nude pictures of the girls on a camera memory stick taken to the store for processing, according to the suit.
The Peoria couple's attorney said Walmart turned the photos over to police and the Demarees were not allowed to see their children for several days and didn't regain custody for a month while the state investigated."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,551760,00.html?test=latestnews

Carter WTF

What is with this guy? Didn't he do enough damage to the country in office?

"The United States knew about an abortive coup against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2002, and may even have taken part, former US president Jimmy Carter has told a Colombian newspaper. "I think there is no doubt that in 2002, the United States had at the very least full knowledge about the coup, and could even have been directly involved," Carter said in an interview with El Tiempo published Sunday.
The former US leader said it is understandable that Chavez continues to blame the United States for the failed overthrow attempt."

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.286487d63eceeb395540de83c2fe94f2.8d1&show_article=1

U.S. Authorities Probing $100 Billion of Bonds Seized in Italy

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601092&sid=afX0BWHToC1g 

HT Sean

Again!- What gives with this stuff?

And how about this shocker from the first case?

"Italian authorities seized U.S. treasuries on June 4 with a face value of more than $134 billion from two Japanese travelers attempting to cross into Switzerland. The two men later disappeared and the case is still under investigation."

I would just add that when you cross the Swiss border in northern Italy, you do not even have to stop unless you have something to declare. I stopped because there were men with machine guns there, and I didn't know any better, which only irritated them.

Healthcare- What really matters

It's the innovation, stupid.
Statists confuse cost with value.
Coyote makes the case:

http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/09/ezra-klein-there-is-a-reason-you-cant-get-an-answer-to-your-question.html

CPSIA and Yard Sales

Here we go- The CPSIA embodies everything that is wrong with the nanny state gone wild:

"In order to comply, stores, flea markets, charities and individuals selling used goods — in person or online — are expected to consult the commission's 24-page Handbook for Resale Stores and Product Resellers and its Web site for a breakdown of what they can't sell.
Violators caught selling anything on the enormous list face fines of up to $100,000 per infraction and up to $15 million for a related series of infractions.
Though the CPSC says it won't be sending enforcers to garage sales or yard sales, FOX News Legal Analyst Bob Massi says the law makes no distinction for families and small resellers."

HT- Sean
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,552021,00.html

Really bad timing on "missle defense shield"

Sort of makes you wonder if they fully understand what they are doing here.

"Coincidentally, the announcement on Thursday involved particularly bad timing, coming on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland after the Nazis attacked from the west. “The fact that the administration chose this day to announce new plans for this missile defense shield says a lot about the people in the White House who are making the decisions about central Europe,” said Slawomir Debski, director of the Institute of International Affairs in Warsaw."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/18/world/europe/18europe.html?_r=1

Taxing "Cadillac" Health Plans

"To pay for the 10-year, $856 billion bill Baucus wants to tax high-value insurance plans, those worth $21,000 for a family and $8,000 for an individual. Baucus says those are "Cadillac plans" enjoyed by a small minority of Americans. Aides said about 10 percent of plans and 8 percent of taxpayers could be affected."

"The high-value insurance plan tax, which Obama embraced in his speech to Congress last week, is a major source of revenue for Baucus' bill, bringing in an estimated $215 billion over 10 years.
If it's changed, Baucus would have to raise revenue elsewhere, which is not easy. Baucus and other supporters of the measure, including Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., say it would have the positive effect of driving down health care costs over the long term by encouraging companies to move toward cheaper health plans and workers to use less care."

I just love how politicians view groups who have luxuries as pigeons to be plucked. They also think the pigeons will just stand there and take it. The only reason these "Cadillac" plans exist at all is because they are not currently taxed! Slap a 35% tax on them, and most of these plans will evaporate overnight, along with much of the presumed tax revenue. Kent Conrad essentially admits as much by suggesting that it will "encourage companies to move toward cheaper health plans..." and there goes the revenue he covets! Also, there is no "positive effect of driving down health care costs" here. Sure, the employees whose plans are sliced back may consume less healthcare, but that will have no impact on healthcare costs for anyone else, because healthcare simply does not operate within a normal free market state of supply/demand tension.

"The 35 percent tax levied on insurance plans is a different approach, though unions and employers contend it will end up being passed along to workers. Conrad acknowledged the criticism but said it was a necessary step."

So why are unions upset? Turns out that a bunch of their members have these "Cadillac" policies! No big surprise there.

File Copy Guy

4 New Taxes in the Baucus Bill (including "Breath Tax")

"I can make a firm pledge, under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes...you will not see any of your taxes increase one single dime." Dover NH, Sept 12, 2008

Cigarette taxes are taxes. Cap & Trade is a tax. Bank/auto bailouts are simply deferred taxes. The stimulus is a deferred tax. Chinese tire tariffs are a tax. Simply letting the tax cuts expire will clobber the under $250k set with both income and capital gains taxes (certainly more than a dime). Debasing the currency is like a tax, but far worse.

This Emperor should not get involved in education, because he is propagating bad math. They could confiscate 100% of the income of everyone making more than $250k, and they still could not pay for even half of this destructive stuff.

Forcing people to buy health insurance via "individual mandate" (or face a fat penalty on your tax return) is certainly a tax. We should call it a "breath tax" because it is a new beast- unlike traditional taxes, no goods have changed hands, no service has been provided, no profit has been made. You owe this tax simply because you are still breathing. We already have this in MA, which is why a "still on campaign" Romney makes me cringe. MA now has the most expensive healthcare in the nation, and it is bankrupting the State- some model! Took a fat sales tax increase to buy just a little more time on the road to insolvency.

http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2009/09/at-least-four-new-taxes-in-baucus-bill.html

World's Reserve Currency

So what happened to the prior "world's reserve currency"?

"The US' willingness to help Britain return to a half-baked gold standard by keeping interest rates lower than they should have been led directly to the stock market boom of the late 1920's, and the subsequent depression. The downturn in world trade hit the rigid and uncompetitive British economy hard, and in 1931 Britain finally faced the reality of its disastrous monetary policy and abandoned the gold standard. The pound plummeted against gold and those countries holding pound sterling as reserves, believing it was "as good as gold," suffered massive losses. In this way the pound relinquished its role as the world's reserve currency."

See if you can spot any rhyming history in this story.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig10/canavan1.1.1.html

Probable Cause?

What a quaint notion...

"Under the "automatic license plate recognition" project, once a car enters Medina, a camera captures its license-plate number. Within seconds, the number is run through a database."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009873854_medina16m.html

Cop attempts to arrest pedestrian after crashing into him

I suppose for damaging public property- maybe the bumper on the police car.

http://www.theagitator.com/2009/09/15/ballsy-agitator-reader-stands-up-to-bully-cop/
Huzzah gallant citizen- good for you!

...and no justice to be had in this world:
http://www.theagitator.com/2009/09/15/more-from-josh-wexler/

Reminds me of a time in the fiefdom of Lexington MA when a cop blew through a stop sign on a side street, and my friend almost crashed into him (I was a passenger). It was really a close call. He berated my friend for- get this- driving too far to the right side of the street- apparently (as he explained) when in Lexington, one should drive down the very middle of the street when there is no oncoming traffic (so cops blowing through stop signs can more easily see you coming). She was issued a ticket for "reckless driving". My friend was too afraid to report the incident, and wouldn't let me report it on her behalf.

Bloggin

Do you ever have "the emperor has no clothes" moments? Do you see outlandish things going by unquestioned, or shrugged off as normal, then wonder how we could have ever gotten to this point? Kids running the candy store? Foxes guarding the henhouse? Congress running a favor factory?

Daily you say?
Well, me too! I figure it's time to write them down in one place.

A lot of people have told me I should have a blog, now we shall see if anyone follows it.