Month: October 2010

My earlier post about big government’s systematic elimination of large denomination currency — ostensibly to fight the war on drugs — made me wonder whether big government’s need for the war on drugs is based not so much on a realistic goal or genuine desire to eliminate illegal drugs so much as it is the…

I posted this over at Power and Control. Sort of a subtle way of saying it is my birthday. I generally don’t make a big deal of it but since Eric let the cat out of the bag…. Thanks!!!!!!!!!! and hippie hugs. Oh. Yeah. I’m 66. I still feel 19. So I’m doing the 19…

Yes, today is M. Simon’s birthday, and I won’t say which one as it just sounds too spooky (especially being that his birthday always falls on October13th, which looks Halloweenishly inverted). And I don’t want to get into numerology here. One superstition at a time. For this this special occasion, I decided to do something…

Human behavior being what it is, if we consider the sheer number of people on the planet (or even limit our considerations to the 300 million or so Americans), it should not surprise anyone that each day, a number of incidents occur which are capable of generating outrage. It used to be that local news…

I have been writing for the last week or so about how much I don’t like Paladino in the New York Governors race. You can find the articles: From The Beach Wedge Issues I think Warren Redlich is probably the best man for the job of those running. But let us be real. The odds…

Union pension plans in America are falling apart. Congress has a plan to fix that. Democrats in the Senate on Thursday held a recess hearing covering a taxpayer bailout of union pensions and a plan to seize private 401(k) plans to more “fairly” distribute taxpayer-funded pensions to everyone. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Chairman of the…

I don’t like being lied to, and while I have come expect it, what irritates me even more than being lied to is seeing other people being lied to. Especially in the name of “democracy.” A perfect example of the kind of stuff that just pisses me off is the way the Democrats have run…

An issue that has long fascinated me is high denomination currency. There used to be quite a bit of it in circulation, but it died out. In the late 1960s: The Federal Reserve began taking high-denomination bills out of circulation in 1969. As of May 30, 2009, there were only 336 known $10,000 bills in…

Watch this video. Or this one: Needless to say the videos are Not Entirely Safe For Work. I posted the above to illustrate a point. Beach wear. Now I could have done a bit with guys in Speedos but I’m partial to the ladies. And my point? I’m getting to that. There is a race…

Nate Silver over at Five-thirty-eight is clinging to hope. His latest headline reads: Incumbents Polling Below 50 Percent Often Win Re-Election, Despite Conventional Wisdom So I wrote him a little something to cheer him up. Nate, You sound like me in 2008. Every tiny spark of hope magnified into a lightning flash. Look at what…

Happy Columbus Day! As Glenn Reynolds noted earlier, Many in the West will demonstrate their fierce originality and intellectual independence today by condemning Christopher Columbus using the same shopworn cliches they used last year. Gee, ya think? How about “Christopher Columbus & His Crimes Against Humanity“? That seems as good a nomination as any for…

Krugman: Here’s what you need to know: The whole story is a myth. There never was a big expansion of government spending. Reality: That level of government spending compares unfavorably even to profligate Japan, which is at 36%. More Krugman: Consider, in particular, one fact that might surprise you: The total number of government workers…

It seems the Presidential sector is in a similar condition. Barack Obama is being politically crushed in a vise. From above, by elite opinion about his competence. From below, by mass anger and anxiety over unemployment. And it is too late for him to do anything about this predicament until after November’s elections. With the…

My friend Atlas aka Pam Geller vents at length on the story of this cartoon’s non-publication in some places. Libertarian Republican discusses a New York Times Hit piece on Atlas. And for those among you who are looking for a cheap thrill (and thrilling it is) here is Altas in a bikini – mostly –…

There are a lot of ways to drum up publicity for your own book, but I think throwing it at the president takes the cake. As I just told M. Simon in an email related to his post, it’s obvious that the authorities know the title, and equally obvious that they don’t want ordinary people…

Nolan Finley (editorial page editor of The Detroit News) is warning the Republican Party about the inherently fragile (and often seemingly fickle) nature of independent voters: The country is tilting more conservative, in reaction to the extreme liberalism in Washington, just as it leaned more liberal in 2008 in a rebuke of Bush. But there’s…

I have been meaning to write a post about wedge issues (with the usual delays and procrastinations) when commenter Fritz obliquely brought up the issue. So I went a lookin and found this. So – procrastination over. Carl Paladino, Tea Party darling and New York Republican gubernatorial candidate, went on a shocking anti-gay rant, telling…

Someone threw a book at Obama during a rally to raise morale among Democrats. Does any one know what the title of the book is? Which brings us to another question about titles. This time the titles in question are the documents that prove ownership. It seems that with the slicing and dicing of mortgages…

I didn’t know it before, but thanks to Glenn I realized that today is 10/10/10. And right now it’s 10:10 p.m. So I better get this post up quick before I turn into a pumpkin! AFTERTHOUGHT: It came and went pretty fast. I don’t think I’ll ever live to see another 1010101010. And I just…

That’s what one advocate says about an idea floated by Michael Savage (a man I can’t stand) to impose a 20% tariff on all Chinese goods: In his book that just came out today, “Trickle Up Poverty,” Conservative talk show host Michael Savage has proposed a tariff on Chinese goods in order to restore America’s…