February 2012
WatchCops beating a man who is in diabetic shock. More here.
Somehow, we’ve bought into a principle that, in situations like this, the safety of the officer is the most important thing. That’s pretty much the exact opposite of what you want in your officers. Their job is to protect the public first, not themselves. That’s what makes it a hard job. That’s also what makes it...
“If you’re a Republican caucusgoer or primary voter interested in beating...”
– An Open Letter to GOP Primary Voters From a Libertarian | United Liberty | Free Market - Individual Liberty - Limited Government
“In early April 2003, the Institute for American Values invited two dozen...”
– The making of gay marriage’s top foe - Gay Marriage - Salon.com
Maggie Gallagher is willing to deny hundreds of thousands of people the right to marry the person they love in order to preserve a rhetorical point for argument.
Think of how she says it: ”My concern is that marriage...
“[L]ong before Barack Obama achieved any significance on the political scene, I...”
– Glenn Greenwald on the follow the leader mentality pervasive in American politics.
(via aheram)
I’d be interested in response to this Greenwald article from Ari Kohen or Squashed, if they see this and are so inclined.
“The DEA has forcibly deputized every actor in the manufacture and distribution...”
– DEA Spots Fly, Wields Sledgehammer | The Agitator
Inappropriate Email Behavior Part II
As I mentioned a few days ago, there’s a small group of folks in North Carolina who are about to open a restaurant, and they’ve included me on their correspondence, thinking I’m someone else. I’ve offered some good suggestions, but they didn’t respond to them to. Today, they included me on more emails.
First, the property manager for the site wrote: ”I am going...
“(a)(1) “Bullying” means a single significant incident or a pattern of incidents...”
– HB 1533 in Hew Hampshire, which would make it a crime for anyone to “bully” a representatives.
Midnight in Paris
Midnight in Paris streams for $.99 today. I’m not sure I can take the heartbreak of yet another disappointing movie from a former film genius, so I might pass.
Bankrupt Argument
shortformblog:
Op-Ed Contributor (Mitt Romney) - Let Detroit Go Bankrupt - NYTimes.com
skybarn:
Go ahead, punk. Make my day.
Note to self: When arguing an unpopular opinion, imagine Clint Eastwood refuting it on the biggest TV show of the year, during the most-visible part of the show.
Those of us in favor of bankruptcy weren’t arguing that the car companies should disappear; we...
“AS an economic historian, I appreciate what manufacturing has contributed to the...”
– Christina Romer, Do Manufacturers Need Special Treatment? - Economic View - NYTimes.com
I like it when people leave an administration and return to their prior honesty and candor.
Inappropriate Email Behavior
There’s a small group of folks in North Carolina who are about to open a restaurant. They must have mistyped someone’s email address, because I was included on their correspondence by mistake. After a series of emails about promoting the restaurant to various burger blogs in the area, I responded: ”I almost feel like this burger thing has run its course. Is it too late to...
“I realize I am very fortunate, and in fact I am a member of the 1 percent,” Mr....”
– At 102%, His Tax Rate Takes the Cake - Common Sense - NYTimes.com
This Site & Free Speech are being investigated →
As Balko explains: ”Guy loses a bunch of weight, no longer diabetic. Starts a website to help others do the same. He’s now under criminal investigation for providing nutritional advice without a license. This is in North Carolina, the same state that went after a guy last year for practicing engineering without a license when he did some math for a citizens’ reports requesting a couple...
“Though I’m pro-choice, I don’t share the outrage that was roiling my...”
– Why Did Susan G. Komen Pull the Plug on Planned Parenthood? - Megan McArdle - National - The Atlantic
Those condemning the Komen decision may not be doing Planned Parenthood any favors. People and institutions may be less inclined to give money to Planned Parenthood if they know that they’ll...
“Former Sen. John Edwards stopped in the Hill District last week as part of his...”
– Edwards’ poverty fight targets marginal issue, key to strategy
In light of Romney’s remarks today, it’s good to think back to 2007, when a candidate actually did talk a lot about caring about the very poor. It wasn’t any way to win the White House, of course, although...
“I’m in this race because I care about Americans. I’m not concerned about the...”
– Mitt Romney: ‘I’m not concerned about the very poor’ - Mackenzie Weinger - POLITICO.com
Everyone is treating this as if it’s a huge gaffe. It’s not a huge gaffe. It’s not even a gaffe. It’s how the vast majority of Americans feel. This statement isn’t...
January 2012
“Judy Sanchez woke Thursday to the sound of heavy footsteps in her stairwell,...”
– Fitchburg woman and daughter ‘terrified’ as saw rips down door after getting wrong address in drug sweep - Sentinel & Enterprise
Nothing wrong with the drug war, aside from the fact that it turns our officers into the villains in a horror film.
“As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on...”
– Jourdon Anderson, Letters of Note: To My Old Master
Amazing letter from a former slave to his old master. Read the whole thing.
“The rhetoric of class and inequality is back in force, and Massachusetts Senate...”
– Elizabeth Warren Says She’s Not In The 1%
Shame on BuzzFeed for the misleading headline—Warren denied owning stock portfolios, not that she was in the 1%. But shame on Warren for trying to clarify the mess above by stating that she owned only “mutual funds” and not a...
“The other day, I called Cassandra Gero, a fashion historian at the Metropolitan...”
– Pajamas in public: The popularity of sleepwear is not a sign of America’s declining moral fiber. - Slate Magazine
“Mr. Buffett also wrote that his secretary, who makes $60,000 a year, pays over...”
– MILLER: Buffett’s rebuff - Washington Times
I can’t vouch for the analysis above. But isn’t it a little strange that progressives are up in arms about how this woman’s tax rate compares to Warren Buffett’s, yet none of them are calling for the world’s third...
“He found that even fathers in jail who had abandoned their kids were still...”
– Florida Mom Confronts Santorum Over Gay Son’s Rights | News | The Advocate
Santorum thinks it better to have a father in jail than two mothers. And somehow he is considered a serious candidate, while Gary Johnson couldn’t get into the debates.
“A man who spent two years in solitary confinement after getting arrested for DWI...”
– Man Held in Solitary Confinement 2 Years After DWI Gets $22M | NBC4 Washington
“Our tax code layers taxation of dividends and capital gains on top of a top...”
– TaxProf Blog: Mitt Romney’s True Tax Rate: 44.75%
“[F]raming the entire economic message of the speech was a strikingly retrograde,...”
– Matthew Yglesias, State of the Union: President Obama’s muddled plan to boost employment by hindering trade. - Slate Magazine
“So the discussion about shopping patters suggested something I hadn’t...”
– Can the Rise of the Internet Explain D.C. Zoning Fights? - Megan McArdle - Business - The Atlantic
“Since 2009, some economists have insisted that the stimulus was too small. White...”
– Barack Obama, Post-Partisan, Meets Washington Gridlock : The New Yorker
Although Lizza may rely too much on memoranda, the entire article is fascinating.
“[L]et us reclaim the lives of those drug offenders who have not committed a...”
– Governor Christie, giving me some hope for the future of the Republican party (The Republican Case Against The Drug War - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast)
My Seinfeld Year
Fred Stroller wrote a mini-book about the year he was a writer on Seinfeld and it’s only $2
That’s an automatic buy.
libertarians-and-stoya asked: I do see your points, and they are excellently made, but what makes my skin crawl are the ever-present crony capitalists buying our legislators. I do see your point about corporations exercising free speech, but at what point does that free speech become an implied "we scratched your back, now scratch ours". If businesses were truly free-market, Ron Paul's coffers would be...
