Maggie's FarmWe are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for. |
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Friday, December 2. 2011Say cheese! Palliwood JournalismI know it's been said by many people many times, but I'll say it again: Sometimes, cameras do not record things - they create them. Reader reminded me of the Palliwood video below, which reminded me of OWS: would those people have been there without the nightly TV cameras, and all the attention from all the people walking by taking their pictures? I doubt it. Thus the thousands of mostly cheerful people who swarmed into Macy's on Thanksgiving weekend to enjoy giving up their hard-earned money to evil corporations were not a meaningful meme, but thirty scruffy malcontents still at Zuccotti Park got their daily TV notoriety, maintaining the deeply meaning meme. The former activity does not require the presence of cameras, the latter does and therefore is Palliwood. Greedy for visual content, those with the cameras create the news. Then they create the narrative to go along with it. Yes, we all know this already.
Posted by Bird Dog
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18:01
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More MSM CheerleadingGotta love those headline writers. "Jobless Rate Falls" will be standard fare for the next week as the MSM continues its cheerleading to promote Obama's campaign. I'm not opposed to cheerleading if it makes sense. But we've heard all this before! It's a broken record. More workers and lower unemployment are always good. But lying about their meaning is a huge problem. We don't have a hiring trend, let alone a trend meaningful enough to call for an economic recovery!
In other words, about 3/4 of the drop in unemployment is from people leaving the workforce, while the long term trend since January 2011 is flat (at best). In addition, the size of the job gains are still minimal, don't represent a meaningful trend, and come as we gear up for - what? - holiday season. This is a snoozer from the MSM, but if it begins to show strength into 2012 (if we see 200,000+ jobs created in December, Jan, Feb), I'll happily eat crow. But we've seen growth of 122,000 jobs before during the recession. In fact, we've seen months of more than 200,000 several times. At what point does this story get old?
Continue reading "More MSM Cheerleading"
Posted by Bulldog
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09:47
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Friday morning linksWhat will make her happier: a new Hoover vacuum or this: The Little Rooster Wakes Ladies With A “Cock”-A-Doodle-Doo Via Other McCain: Ashton Kutcher "Swarmed by Girls" Partying in Iowa Same thing happens to me every time I go to Iowa The assumption is that the parents are dysfunctional Galston: Slice the Demographics Any Way You Want, But Obama Is In Trouble Matt Miller: Europe made easy Let them eat cake. Surber: O does not like the job The term ‘Keynesianism’ as it is commonly used contains two distinct theses. One thesis is mostly true, the other is not. Therein lies the secret to understanding America’s perilous condition. How Republicans are being taught to talk about Occupy Wall Street Barbour: Obama Will Lose Most of the Country in 2012 Kirsanow: The Costs of Affirmative Action Obama's words are alarming and scary to me. I see tyranny emanating from their penumbras. New Video Proof of Media Lies About UC Davis Protests Thursday, December 1. 2011Free markets thrown on trash heap of historySo proclaims Andy Stern in the WSJ: China's Superior Economic Model - The free-market fundamentalist economic model is being thrown onto the trash heap of history. A centrally-controlled Communist economy? Brilliant idea, Andy. Quite a novel idea. You in charge, of course? You just have to laugh. I remember when the left envied the Soviet economy, the Cuban economy, the Japanese economy, the West German economy, the European economy. Now, the Chinese - until it blows up. The Left hates the idea of freedom.
Posted by The News Junkie
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12:24
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Thursday morning linksKidnapper Sues Former Hostages, Says They Broke Promise China's organ harvesting Mark Twain's Corn-pone Opinions: "He was a gay and impudent and satirical and delightful young black man" Is sex a human right? Just in time for Durban – new green technology promises big fuel savings, lower emissions The President's work day: Nice Work if You Can Get It ‘Prepare To Have That Puddle in Your Back Yard Regulated’ For The First Time In History, Fed Will Buy AND Sell Treasurys At The Same Time On Friday Watching the wheels come off the Green Machine Greens vs. Science: Ignorance Trumps Evidence In Ecology's Approach to "Toxics" Official: Panic Time in Europe Obama’s Labor Department Looks To Take The ‘Family’ Out of Family Farms Consumers Are Responsible for Income Inequality Barack Obama to Donors: “I’m Going to Need Another Term to Finish the Job” Happy Meal Ban: McDonald's Outsmarts San Francisco Prelutsky: Addressing the gay issue Reform Judaism: The Intrinsically Good Life Given the temper of our time, perhaps Cook's recent brush with oblivion was to be expected. Cook's picturesque destinations -- Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Greece -- now offer torchlit barricades and street mobs spewing "off-with-their-heads" rhetoric. It is not exactly the stuff of tourist brochures. Bring back the smoke-filled rooms?Henninger: Bring Back the Smoke-Filled Rooms? The campaign-finance laws have made the presidential selection process a self-destructive mess. Eliminate the limits on individual donations. The party elders used to select their candidates. Not any more. (More links later) Wednesday, November 30. 2011Had your daily migraine yet?
Posted by The News Junkie
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18:33
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Is the West Finished Financially?Somebody thinks the West is finished financially. What does that mean, though? Personally, I've been a supporter of switching back to a gold standard, even if only temporarily, in order to impose budgetary discipline and promote economic growth. Regardless, it was only a matter of time before Emerging Economies started to catch up. In the long run, this will benefit the United States, because at some point their workers will want to live like us, demand wages like us, and spend like us. Outsourcing will shift back to high productivity areas like the US. In the meantime, the question becomes a relatively simple one. Would you rather see the US grow at 2% a year and the rest of the world at 1% or less, or see the US grow at 3% a year and the rest of the world grow at 5% or more? The first is the situation we've been in, recently. The second is more likely over the long haul, because as other small nations grow, they will demand more from the US. So I reject the concept that we're "finished financially" and suggest we're at a turning point, and the direction we go is dependent on whether we make intelligent economic decisions, or continue to engage crony capitalism financed by fiat currency. Where we go is dependent on how we choose to manage our current state. Artificially, as we are now, or by focusing on our strengths, such as creativity, marketing, and education. We are entrepreneurs at heart. The rest of the world benefits from the vision and effort the US exhibits.
Posted by Bulldog
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15:32
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Weds. morning linksOld-timey Christmas cards and stuff Teaching teachers how to play with blocks (h/t Betsy) PJ Advice columnist Belladonna Rogers on whether a friendship forged decades ago can endure the ultra-partisan Age of Obama. Stossel: Government Blocking the Paths Out of Poverty Klavan: Cut or Tax? Are You an Adult or a Child? Mankiw: What Milton Friedman might say to the Occupy movement Megan: How Can Europe Possibly Save Itself? Irony: Penn State to lecture on “climate ethics” VDH: The Other California Chris Christie on the Super Committee: What the hell are we paying Obama for? 5th Consecutive Month Of House Price Drops As Case-Shiller Misses Expectations Again The Evolution of Moroccan Democracy The Great Global Warming Fizzle - The climate religion fades in spasms of anger and twitches of boredom. Via Theo:
Tuesday, November 29. 2011Tim Tebow and Religion in SportsI'm not a big fan of religious exhibitions in public venues. I'm not opposed to them, I'm not critical of seeing a prayer circle after a game, or a player thanking God for divine intervention. That's what the player wants to believe? Fine. My issue is really one that relates to this - if God is helping the winning team, then what's He doing for the losing team? Are they just not strong enough believers? Did they not say the right prayers or did they not make the correct sacrifices? It's not really a strong argument to say "God allowed/helped me to win" because it presumes God didn't allow or help those on the losing side. God gives each of us abilities, and how we use them is what determines how well we do at sports, work, home life, etc. Beyond that, God doesn't intervene much, in my view. If I start using drugs and begin to play poorly on the field, did "God allow/help me to use drugs"? I don't think so. It's a sword that cuts both ways, and in the end it's a personal decision relating to how you choose to use your God-given talents that determines whether you're a winner or loser. When you're playing for the championship against another believer, then it comes down to your mental toughness. Another God-given talent, one which can be developed and improved (just as any God-given talent can).
Continue reading "Tim Tebow and Religion in Sports"
Posted by Bulldog
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16:58
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Giving thanks to those 1%ers who enrich our livesThose greedy 1%ers (household AGI $350,000 and up) are Hollywood and Broadway actors, rock and hip-hop stars, sports stars, popular writers, entrepreneurs, TV people, fancy restaurant owners, artists, theater impresarios, prosperous small business owners, some accountants and portfolio managers, opera stars, the CEOs of big businesses, neurosurgeons, plastic surgeons, and some other high-income medical specialists, NYT columnists, college presidents, retired politicians, law partners, real estate magnates, and a few high-level investment bankers. Not exactly an evil bunch of people. I plan to join that crowd, at least for a while. How many people are permanently in that group? Very few, I suspect. Careers rise and fall, which is why people need to save a little of their money while making sure to fully enjoy and make good use of the rest. From Tamny's What You Don't Often Hear About Those 'Greedy' One Percenters:
Read it. HuffPo, working on the envy meme: U.S. Income Inequality: Top 1 Percent Take Home 24 Percent Of U.S. Income. The economic ignorance, or feigned ignorance, is astonishing. There is no set "pie:" the pie is infinitely expandable. It's is called "Growth in GDP." Wealth can be created out of thin air, out of effective, creative, and unique qualities of work and investment. The Rolling Stones, on their next final tour, do not "take" their greedy % of American income. Those old boys earn it. All the same, Krugman has it all figured out: Tax the Rich Photo: Bob Dylan, one of the 1%ers.
Posted by The News Junkie
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10:58
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Tuesday morning linksThings You Shouldn't Tell Young Parents Durban Climate Conference: The Dream Fades Air Force Academy Builds Wiccan Shrine Sheesh. We needed this story before Halloween. George Will: Privatize the nation’s mail delivery Jack Kelly's Odious Occupiers:
Boom towns: the NYT is upset with growth and prosperity. Mead's The Forgotten Look of Prosperity From Roger's The Opium of the Intellectuals:
Obama and Liberal Intelligentsia Shed Dignity Ahead of 2012 Election - While the President dithers and hides, media enablers plead for votes from his disappointed ’08 supporters. Winston Churchill's Evolving Views of Russia, 1917-1953, Reconsidered Democratic Strategy, Official and Unofficial:
Guess Which State Has The Highest Debt Per Person Arafat planned and led the Intifada: Testimonies from PA leaders and others Monday, November 28. 2011The New Tammany Hall of New York CityI am highlighting a weekend link about Fred Siegel that might have gone overlooked in the shuffle: 'The New Tammany Hall' - The historian of the American city on what Wall Street and the 'Occupy' movement have in common, and how government unions came to dominate state and local politics. One quote:
Posted by The Barrister
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14:59
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A few more Monday linksAnchoress is hating the buying season Leonardo's To Do list, translated Because It Can Be Done (Just Barely) I'm with Jonah: Linked In? No thanks What if our daughters don't want to work? The United States of EPA - Ms. Jackson's agency takes over automobile design. How’s that affordable housing working out for you? Some jobs are going begging. Main skill required? Work ethic. Derbyshire: I'm a gloomy f-er How can government help the economy? End the corn ethanol subsidy If Africans want a bourgeois culture, they need a bourgeois economy Secret Fed Loans Gave Banks Undisclosed $13B VDH: Why Not Pay Higher Taxes? The Gulf Permitoriam, and Obama’s Disregard for the Law California rail boondoggle will fail, is worse than Solyndra NYT Campaign Blog: Obama Will Explicitly Give Up on the Working Class White Vote Like No Democrat Before Him Ever Has Paying Too Much for an Unneeded Smallpox Drug that Can’t Be Tested A half-billion bucks to an Obama fund-raiser? Don't we vaccinate our military already? Back in BlackOur national fascination with holiday shopping is once again at 'all in' mode. Black Friday has passed, Cyber Monday is upon us. Cyber Monday was originally a fictional concept, with online retailers suggesting for years that the Monday after Black Friday was the heaviest online shopping day of the year. It wasn't. When it was first suggested, it was twelfth largest holiday shopping day. However, Cyber Monday is now a cultural meme and last year became the largest online shopping day for Amazon simply because that's how it was marketed. Regardless of which day is largest online, Black Friday remains the shopping holiday that resonates. Every year, we hear it used as a bellwether on the health of our animal spirits toward spending. This year, we've heard that it's indicative of great things to come! Then again, it was used that way last year, too. 2011 has proven to be substantially larger than 2010, in terms of Black Friday spending (6.6% growth versus 0.3% growth year over year). Ultimately, Black Friday of 2010 indicated nothing of importance economically, because most of the holiday spending increases were from high income folk. The large initial growth on Black Friday this year may not say much more than people are looking for bargains, and retailers are seeking to burn off inventory. Or it could say much more. One thing it definitely says is we love our debt and getting rid of it will prove difficult.
Posted by Bulldog
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11:30
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Monday morning climate hoax linksGlobal Warming Bubble is Popping Canada to pull out of Kyoto Protocol next month Cameron's green guru reveals his doubts over global warming UK Daily Mail: 'Climategate scientists DID collude with government officials to hide research that didn't fit their apocalyptic global warming' Climategate 2.0: Emails Show Government Collusion with Biased Scientists Climategate 2 and the Corruption of Peer Review The Recession Hits the Green Movement Delingpole: Climategate 2.0 Climategate: The Things You'll Never See At The BBC And at EU Ref:
Alarmists Isolated: IPCC Extreme Weather Report Triggers Storm Of Protest Here at Maggie's, we don't understand why people do not pray for some global warming. The Medieval Warming, and the Roman-era warming - both now reversed by historic cooling - were excellent for civilization. Mostly, we worry about the effects of the next Ice Age on our property values. A mile-deep glacier on top of my house would have a negative effect, and another Ice Age is a certainty. Sunday, November 27. 2011Debt slaveryHow much do people love credit? Politicians love it, because they can pay for votes today, and the next generation can worry about it after they have retired. I can buy a boat today, and hope I keep my job so I can pay it off over the next five years. Or I could buy a tiny 1 BR condo in NY, and pay if off over 15 years while taking an interest deduction from my crippling federal, state, and city income taxes. Businesses need it, in fact, require it, for investment purposes, in the hopes that they can grow. Banks love it, because they can lend the money and profit from the interest. Students love it: they can go to school now, and hope to pay off their loans in the future. Christmas shoppers love it, of course, because Santa is credit. In the end, using credit makes people, and governments, debt slaves, slaves to bond markets and slaves to banks who offered the loans. This is annoying to debtors, who have already enjoyed spending the money and are peeved, if not in trouble, because they owe it. The bond market now controls the global economy, not because "it" wants to, but because of governments and people willingly, freely, democratically, taking on debt to pay the bills instead of taxing the heck out of the people who work. Borrowing is all voluntary, the loans are from one's neighbors, - and it is a big house of cards. I was raised by parents who refused to ever go into debt. They viewed it as a temptation for the weak. They never even had a credit card. They saved for 15 years to buy a modest house, and never viewed it as an investment. They made it home, and live there now while the trees they had planted become enormous, dwarfing their home. They have hardly ever gone anywhere, or had much fun or adventure as I think of it, but they love their church and their little town where everybody knows them. A simple life. In my adult life, I have learned to take out loans for no reason, and to pay them back after a few months, just to have a good credit rating. A good credit rating, today, is like a grade in reality living. Someday, I might want to use some credit, but today I do not. I use credit cards as if cash, to keep my rating perfect. I might need a loan, someday. Easy money is dangerous. Living within your means, whether as a family or as a government, is just no darn fun. There's always a good excuse or rationale for taking on more debt. I fear that the world will soon see the economic consequences of excessive debt in which everybody has borrowed from his neighbor, and his neighbor from him. A bank, after all, contains nothing but one's neighbor's money, leveraged. "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today":
Sunday morning links
Good caveats there for the youth There really IS a Python sketch for everything… “Support Builds for Premium Support Plan for Medicare” Terrorist Bill Ayers to Teach on Radical Theory at #Occupy Harrisburg Meeting - All that is old is new again.
Obama won’t fund UN climate fund Let no crisis go to waste: Germany, France plan quick new Stability Pact Will Vichy France and Germany finally win WW2? The Non-Green Jobs Boom - Forget 'clean energy.' Oil and gas are boosting U.S. employment. That's a good thing. Need lots more nuke plants, too. Everybody wants cheap energy, but they want it to come from nowhere. Occupy Brain Dead College Students We're Not Electing a Messiah Must be human nature to desire some sort of supernatural political salvation, but that is far from an American notion: it's the fantasy of a having a perfect Master or a child's fantasy of a perfect parent. New York Times on Solyndra: This Scandal Makes Republicans Look Bad, Right? MIDEAST NOTES:The Coming Oil-Shale Revolution? Venezuela Repeals the Laws of Supply and Demand Next, Chavez repeals gravity Scott Johnson loves Harry and Tonto:
Saturday, November 26. 2011Public sees politicians as fools or knavesThat's what Ed Koch says, and I think he is right. In fact, that's why we Americans want them to keep their hands off our lives and out of our business.
Posted by The News Junkie
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14:10
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Saturday morning linksSo soon? Advent begins tomorrow. “They don’t call them patients, they call them units” That's interesting, because I recently read a piece about tax policy which referred to taxpayers as "tax units." I guess that's how bureaucrats think. Are you an income unit, an expense unit, or neither? Newt’s Right: Put the Kids To Work Prepare for the retirement tax bite Chinese Solar Industry Goes Belly Up More emails: Climategate 2.0 emails – They’re real and they’re spectacular! They constantly refer to it as "the cause." That's a concern. There is no objectivity. In the UK, criminals and cyber bullies to be banned from the web Obvious question: Who is next? A Democrat Bites Union Story - In Rhode Island, liberals take the lead on pension reform. The NLRB Putsch - The labor agency tries to ram through quickie union elections. Cut a cabinet department? You must be joking - Growth of government, loss of liberty go hand in hand Reagan: "The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program." ... The OECD’s report provides shocking new data on Britain’s socialised health system but even the Conservative-led government wouldn’t have it any other way The Perfect Terrorist PBS Documentary COIN is Dead: U.S. Army Must Put Strategy Over Tactics Heather on campus diversity boondoggles How Israel turned itself into a high-tech hub Egypt Spring: Kill the Jews and the Americans Friday, November 25. 2011Protesting realityYes, Reality Sucks. Fantasy can be much more fun. Portugal is a perfect case in point: Portuguese unions launch austerity strike. Gee whiz, the banks won't lend them any more money to maintain a fake, debt-based life style. Why would they, if they know it cannot be repaid? Some of these countries have been, in effect, ripping off gullible lenders just as much as people taking mortgages or student loans who know they can never really pay them unless they get very lucky. It's close to theft, or fraud, or something. Related, and good from Anderson: The Eurozone Crisis Is Also a Governance Crisis — Isn’t It? A quote:
Posted by The News Junkie
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17:02
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Friday morning linksThe Machine Gun That Would Not Die Tim Tebow, an emerging American folk hero answering a cultural need Protesters heading home for holiday- Occupy Thanksgiving table Forced To Join a Union: SEIU Getting Money From Michigan Medicaid Checks - Parents Taking Care of Disabled Kids Made to Pay Behold The New Anschluss: ECB's Paramo - "Prepare To Give Up Significant Sovereignty" Tom Friedman still loves Obama Yes, well, the press is part of the campaign: Why Is JournOlister Ezra Klein Briefing Dem Chiefs Of Staff Behind Closed Doors? Rubin: Thanksgiving is Due to the Fact that–Up Until Recently–America Preferred Balance to Statism Sowell: Alice in Liberal Land Governor Awesome on taxing the "rich" It’s refreshing to see leftists finally admit they’re rich. Democrat pundit tries to save GOP from terrible fate of winning Obama Peddles Myths About the Great Depression America’s Public Sector Union Dilemma New study: Global warming much less than feared Toon below via Theo:
Wednesday, November 23. 2011Revkin jumps to support corrupt climate alarmistsIn the NYT: Hacked E-Mail Is New Fodder for Climate Dispute. Who cares whether it's hacked? It's government-paid science, isn't it? We paid for this crap. What their emails show is that these guys argue amongst themselves about how to twist and spin to present the data they want people to get. It is disgusting, a major scandal. Somewhat happily, some amongst the cabal actually want to be honest. I have known science majors and scientists, and they never talked like this about things they were curious about. This is money politics, not science. Sounds more like a Wall Street bond sales meeting than science, to me. "How to we unload this crap to the suckers without totally and permanently compromising our reputations?" Revkin wants to focus on the hacking, not the content. Well, Watergate was basically a pre-internet hacking, was it not? And Teapot Dome? Our thanks to the mystery hacker who cares more about the truth than these scientists do. I think there will be a third email dump in the future. Popcorn?
Posted by The News Junkie
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12:44
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Election 2012: CNN debate micro-wrap-up
Humph. There's nothing quite like being chewed out by the boss to act as a motivational factor. For those of you who saw my morning post, I pretty-much kissed off any further debate posts because of the lack of responses the recent posts have been getting. Worse, of the five comments left in my last debate wrap-up, all five were deprecating and derogatory of the candidates, that same ol' whiny "Can't we have somebody ELSE?" attitude I see in the comments over at Hot Air and PJ Media. As I said to Bird Dog in email, I can abide 0 comments, but I can't abide -5. Anyways, after a couple of verbal lashings from the boss and some emails drifting in from (now-former) friends calling me 'Dr. Bitchy' and 'jma' (a real long-time Farmer) piping up in the comments to another post, I figure I'm cursed with the job. Blogging isn't an easy life, let me tell you. Maybe it's just a simple matter of imposing a new comments rule: Happy thoughts only.
In the previous two debates, not a barb or bomb was hurled. As I noted at the time, the candidates were all in complete agreement that Social Security needed a major overhaul and abortion-on-demand wasn't the way to go, and they only differed on exactly how they'd approach the problem. But when it comes to things like national security, with such gems as a nuclear-armed, Islamic-driven nation like Pakistan on the table, the rules change. The question now isn't 'how to fix the problem', but where does the problem exist? Do we threaten to cut off aid to them? Do we offer them even more money? Do we handle them with kid gloves? Do we talk tough to them, threatening them with sanctions? Do we seek their permission for every drone we lob at some bad guy or do we just tell them hey, if you aren't going to handle it, then we will, and lob away to our heart's content? Is there a 'problem' with Pakistan at all, and, if so, is it with the government or the fundamentalists? So, while no bombs were hurled, there was a lot of electrically-charged "I highly disagree with..." going on as each chose to stake out their claim. I'm not sure two candidates agreed completely with one another the entire evening, in vast contrast to the amity they've shared in the last two debates. It wasn't quite cantankerous, but heading that direction quickly. I'd also note that we had a debate on national security just a few weeks ago and there was nowhere near the distance between the candidates as was displayed last night. Credit the good folk at CNN and famed game show host Wolf "Blitz" Blitzer for coming up with just the right questions to create the most division and animosity between them. As they say, professionalism always shows. Failure of the SupercommitteeThe 'mood' in the US, if we are to believe the MSM, is that nasty Republicans have undermined the political process with their adherence to outdated dogma. Nevermind that Democrats adhere to outlandish (and outdated) dogma, the discussion will revolve around how to demonize one side or the other. The MSM claim "compromise" is what's important. They also hint the Republicans cause all the problems. There is a history of compromise in Congress, but there is also a history of sticking to your guns. How you view things usually depends on what you want to believe. Personally, I think sometimes compromise is good, but at other times sticking to your beliefs is better. In the case of the deficit, I'm more dogmatic. There have to be more spending cuts before we can even discuss, let alone implement, more taxes. If we do implement more taxes, I believe having the 'rich' pay more isn't a bad idea, but a better idea is to combine that with a broader income tax base that includes the 49% who don't pay anything. The nature of the spending cuts are as fair as we could hope for, given the current political environment. Particularly if you believe, as I do, that the Supercommittee idea is an unconstitutional solution. I believe this because cuts are 'automatic' whether the committee agrees to a deal or there is no agreement at all. If they make a deal, Congress agrees to support it. If they fail, the current outcome, nobody votes for anything except to possibly stop the cuts. There is limited representation, there is limited discussion. The cuts just happen. Clearly there is an undemocratic theme here, but at least everything gets cut. Nothing is spared. It may be unconstitutional, but we're being unconstitutional together to achieve a goal. I can't believe that's good, but some think it is.
Continue reading "Failure of the Supercommittee"
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10:45
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