Government Kills Economics: The Rahn Curve

Another in the series of economics lessons that progressives need to understand -- but don't and won't.

Alinsky's Rule for Radicals

We have been hearing plenty about Saul Alinsky's Rle for Radicals. Every once in a while I will see a rule cited. Well, here they are:

1. Power is not only what you have but what the enemy thinks you have.

2. Never go outside the experience of your people.

3. Whenever possible go outside the experience of the enemy.

4. Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules.

5. Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon.

6. A good tactic is one that your people enjoy.

7. A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.

8. Keep the pressure on with different tactics, and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose.

9. The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.

10. The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition.

11. If you push a negative hard and deep enough it will break through into its counterside.

12. The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.

13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.

Thanks to Alinsky Defeater's Blog.

The Right to Keep and Bear Arms Under State Constitutions

See the link for Professor Volokh's list of state constitutional provisions that purport to guarantee the right to keep and bear arms.

I have previously quoted Ohio's Constitution:

The people have the right to bear arms for their defense and security; but standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, and shall not be kept up; and the military shall be in strict subordination to the civil power.

Art. I, § 4 (enacted 1851).

Pamela Gorman in Arizona

What is not to like?



If she were running from Ohio, this ad would get my attention.

Al "Scumbag" Gore

After listening to the interview (more of a statement, really) of Al Gore's sexual assault accuser, she sounds awfully credible.


He always seemed like a dumb scumbag to me. Now, that opinion is solidified.

McDonald v. Chicago Decided By Supreme Court

Good-bye Chicago gun ban. But don't expect any reasonable right to carry there anytime soon.

Here is the opinion deciding that the Second Amendment applied to the states through the Fourteenth. This decision overturns Chicago's gun ban.

Chicago will still find a way to make gun ownership onerous or impossible.

Arizona Border Outrage

Mr. Obama is rapidly moving from being a bad president to being a horrible president.

Don't protect the borders, interfere with those who try (by suing Arizona). That is his plan for immigration.

Our immigration system needs to be fixed in so many ways, but not by turning over the border areas to illegals. DUMB.

Federal Government Impedes Clean-up

I am not a big fan of the concept that the Federal government has a role in all major disasters not of its making. Katrina, for example. However, the BP oil spill seems different for a couple of reasons. First, the Federal government licenses the drilling rights to the oil companies. Second, the Federal government seems to be actively impeding the efforts. More on that below.

President Obama has fouled up the Federal role from the beginning. It is baffling why he did not immediately call in the experts available and call in BP to ask, "What is needed to cap and clean up most quickly and effectively and how can the Federal government help?"

Not President Obama. He waits. When he finally calls in the President of BP, it is about the blame game, not efficient clean up.

NO, NO, NO. Blame comes later. Fix the problem first.

Not our Federal government. Instead of relaxing rules to bring in the folks who can clean up, the Coast Guard stops ships without enough life jackets. DUMB. Regulation uber alles. Not enough life jackets? Bring more tomorrow and get back to work cleaning up!

The Federal government is preventing a new skimming boat from operating because it is untested and they are not sure it meets regulatory standards. So far 600,000 barrels have a skimmed form the gulf. This boat is capable of $500,000 per day. So, why not test it under fire and to hell with the standards? Only the Obama-run Federal government knows for sure. Regulation is most efficient for only one thing: stifling innovation

President Obama deserves the blame for the Federal government's Keystone Cop approach to this clean up. Leadership starts at the top.

Liar! Says the Judge About Sec'y Salazar

A United States district Judge has issued a preliminary injunction against the Obama Administration's moratorium on "deep-water" oil operations. Secretary Salazar had issued the moratorium order because, he claimed that seven experts agreed that a moratorium was needed. here is what the Judge said about that claim:

Much to the government’s discomfort and this Court’s uneasiness, the Summary also states that “the recommendations contained in this report have been peer-reviewed by seven experts identified by the National Academy of Engineering.” As the plaintiffs, and the experts themselves, pointedly observe, this statement was misleading. The experts charge it was a “misrepresentation.” It was factually incorrect.

Translation: Salazar lied about what the experts were saying.

Some of President Obama's natural left-wing enviro-allies, the Florida Wildlife
Federation, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Counsel, the Sierra Club, and the Defenders of Wildlife intervened as defendants to support the government's moratorium. Their position? The government is incompetent and corrupt.

It is hard to disagree with that factually, of course, but the the judge said:

If the MMS [United States Minerals Management Service] and the Department [of the Interior] truly were incompetent and corrupt, as the intervenors insist, the Court fails to see how this conclusion supports the government’s position. Indeed, while the government makes light of the fact that several of the experts disagree with the recommendations in the Report by noting that they do not disagree with the findings, of greater concern is the misleading text in the Executive Summary that seems to assert that all the experts agree with the Secretary’s recommendation. The government’s hair-splitting explanation abuses reason, common sense, and the text at issue.

Read the decision here.

The experts in the report define "deep water" as below 1000 feet. The Obama moratorium redefined deep water as below 500 feet.

Is it any wonder that the court found the moratorium order to be irrational?

The Obama Administration, of course promises a new pack of lies to replace to old pack of lies. Not in those exact words, of course.

Moron of the Day: US Dept of Labor for the Dumbest Gov't PSA Ever!

Illegals should complain to the Department of Labor if they feel they are not fairly paid? The Government is kidding, right? Judge for yourself:



Put this together with the news that President Obama told Arizona Senator Jon Kyl that there would be no securing of the border from the administration without amnesty, here and here.

Besides, even if the PSA were aimed at legal workers, it is a bunch of crap. You have not right to be paid "fairly." You have a right to be paid in accordance with the law, which may or may not be anyone's idea of "fair." "Fair" is in the mind of the beholder and would make us a government of men, not laws.

More to dislike from the Obama administration.

Hate Monger Ed Schultz

Hate-monger, left wing lunatic Ed Schultz, who is on MSNBC and who has a radio talk show, hates Lee Greenwood's "Go Bless the USA." So here is the official God Bless the USA video:



If you can stand it, here is Ed Schultz is is mocking the song:



By the way, Ed Schultz denies that he is a hate-speaker, but here is the proof:

Obama = Frodo???

Power mad president exposed by left-wing Jon Stewart:

Respect My Authoritah

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Great Commercial

I don't normally do commercial, but I have to make an exception in this case:

,

Obama Words

The English language continually demonstrates its resilience to new words. With our first African-American president with an African style name, we now have the following:

Obamacare: An attempt to convert one of the world's finest health care systems into one of the world's worst. This is a variation on snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

Obamanation: A rejection of the free market and freedom principles that founded the United States to move it toward socialism by, among other methods, attempting to repeal the laws of economics.

Obamaton: A follower of President Obama who thinks he is so brilliant that Obama will do his or her thinking for them. Whatever Obama does is right, no analysis necessary.

Obamoron: A variation on the Obamaton, but distinct from it in that the Obamoron actually attempts to justify with emotion argument Obamanation policies, calling the emotional arguments "intellectual." The Obamoron considers himself/herself to be intellectually superior to others, while in fact being intellectually bankrupt. The Obamaton often thinks he/she is entitled to cash from the Obama stash.

Ray Stevens on Sarah Palin

Ray Stevens has a new CD out:



www.raystevens.com

We Con the World

This is hilarious.

Moron of the Day: L.A. NAACP

This is a group award to the Los Angeles NAACP. Here is a group so hypersensitive, they can't tell the difference3 between "black holes" and "black whores" (or is it ho's, I don't know). Report below:



Unimpressive. And bad race relations.

Free Trade Made Simple

As simple as this is, it is too complicated for liberals to understand apparently:

WSJ: Liberals Flunk Economics

I have always said that liberals fail to understand economics -- my series of posts about the laws of economics trumping various man-made laws, for example. Now the Wall Street Journal is reporting on a Zogby poll that tests economic understanding against political leanings.

No surprise to me. Liberals do not understand economics.

From the article linked above:

How did the six ideological groups do overall? Here they are, best to worst, with an average number of incorrect responses from 0 to 8: Very conservative, 1.30; Libertarian, 1.38; Conservative, 1.67; Moderate, 3.67; Liberal, 4.69; Progressive/very liberal, 5.26.

Americans in the first three categories do reasonably well. But the left has trouble squaring economic thinking with their political psychology, morals and aesthetics.

Loony Left in California: Plastic Bag Ban

If there were ever any doubt that the loony left is in control in California, that doubt is now forever dispelled. Amid a serious budget crisis, the bozos in the California Assembly have passed a ban on plastic bags, prohibiting pharmacies and grocery, liquor and convenience stores from giving out plastic bags. It also calls for customers to be charged for using store-issued paper bags. No more using the bags to pick up dog waste or other recycled uses. Read more at Breitbart here.

The bill has not yet passed the California Senate, but watch that faux Republican Governor Schwartzenegger sign it if it does. He favors the ban, we are told.

Star Spangled Banner

This is cool. It is from a tea party rally. It is actually verse 4 (full lyrics here):



The speaker is Herman Cain. The singer is unidentified.

Good-Bye, Helen Thomas? Updated

Helen Thomas, veteren of the White House press corps spews her anti-semitic views in public:



Should Helen Thomas be fired for her publicly expressed anti-semitic statements?

No. Or, at least, public pressure caused by these comments should not be the reason for her firing. Free speech and all that.

She should be fired and should have been a long time ago, because she is and always has been a left-wing whack-job masquerading as a journalist. These latest comments are symptomatic of a larger problem.

And Helen Thomas is not alone. There are many more who should be gone. All the Helen Thomases should be gone. Not because of one isolated statement. Because of a pattern of biased reporting from the consistent media far left.

My 2 cents.

Is it just me, or does anyone else think Helen Thomas would look better in a burkha?

Updated: Helen Thomas "retires."

NJ Gov. Christie Explains Teachers Unions

Phil Hare, Former Moron of Day Becomes Congressional Thug of Day

One of our distinguished Moron-of-the-Day alums, Rep. Phil Hare (D-IL) has graduated from Moron to Congressional thug. Mr. Hare, you may recall, is the Moron-of-the-Day who announced that he did not care what the Constitution said, in response to a question about Obamacare.

On Monday, May 31, 2010, when the reprehensible Mr. Hare was lying about his veteran status to his constituents, he was confronted by an actual veteran who pointed out that by law, being a mere reservist did not make Mr. Hare a veteren.

What ensued?

Here are the words of the citizen Mr. Hare tried to intimidate in a letter to the Congressional Committed on Standards of Official Conduct:

June 2, 2010
Mr. Blake Chisam
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
HT 2 Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Mr. Chisam,

The purpose of this letter is to inform you of an incident which occurred between myself and Reprehensive Phil Hare, on Monday, May 31, 2010.

Congressman Phil Hare, of the 17th Congressional District of Illinois, is misrepresenting his military service during the Vietnam War to attract the votes of veterans. This is the same congressman who said "he doesn't worry about the constitution."

On Monday, May 31,2001, Mr. Hare and I were engaged in a conversation concerning the statements he is making around the district about being a veteran. After I pointed out that according to the law he is not a veteran, he became very upset and demanded to know my name. I refused to tell him my name, saying that this was about his claim of being a veteran and not about me. Mr. Hare then told one of his aids who was with him, to follow me to my car and get my license plate number so he could find out who I was. I have since been told that Mr. Hare's daughter works for the DMV.

I then asked Mr. Hare if he was going to stop telling people that he was a veteran. Mr. Hare again demanded to know my name, and again told his aide to get my name or to follow me to get my license plate number so he could find out who I was, so he could tell all the former reservist what I said. I asked Mr. Hare if he as a public official was going to use his official office to run name checks on private citizens, in order to intimidate them into not asking questions he did not want to answer.

As Mr. Hare was turning to walk away from me he paused, and turning back to my direction, he glared at me intently, and while leaning forward pointed his finger at me, and in a threating and intimidating manner said," I'll find out who you are!" given the nature of Illinois politics and Mr. Hare's reputation as a mean politician, I felt intimidated by the power of Mr. Hare's office and what he might do.

Mr. Hare never answered the question I posed to him. I reminded Mr. Hare that even his former commanding officer in the reserves, (Bill Albracht) told him that he was not a veteran according to law. Mr. Hare said, "Bill Albracht, now there's a real brain."

As I was walking away I spotted Mr. Albracht and walked over to talk to him. It should be noted that Mr. Albracht is a former Green Beret Captain who served as the commander of an A-Team in Vietnam, and is one of the most decorated soldiers in Illinois. Mr. Albracht is also a retired Secret Service Agent with twenty-five years of service.

When Mr. Hare saw us talking to each other he rushed over and demanded that Mr. Albracht explain to me, that he, (Mr. Hare) was a veteran. Mr. Albracht told Mr. Hare that he was not a veteran according to the law, but that yes, he had served in the reserves. However, according to government regulations he was not qualified to be counted as a veteran.

At hearing the bad news from Mr. Albracht, Mr. Hare became enraged and went into a tirade about how the law was bad and it should be changed. Mr. Hare wanted to know if Mr. Albracht would support such a change in the law. Mr. Albracht said "no." Mr. Hare, now even more enraged said, "I don't care what the law is, I still consider myself a veteran." After this, with the wave of his hand Mr. Hare dismissed us both as if we were mere servants and not worth his time. The arrogance and abuse of power by Mr. Hare in threatening and attempting to intimidate me, is not only frightening and shameless, but also dangerous. The same U.S. Congressman who didn't worry about the constitution, now says he "doesn't care what the law says" and he still considers himself to be a veteran, knowing full well he is nol.

Additionally, Mr. Hare is lying to the public to garner votes from the veteran community, as well as threatening and trying to intimidate a constituent into submission, because he does not want to be challenged on his claim of being a military veteran.

Congressman Phil Hare's actions are in many ways worse than that of Congressman Mark Kirk or Connecticut Attorney General Blumenthal. I'm not aware of either of them threatening or intimidating anyone into silence in order to hide their military service from the public.

As veterans we take our service seriously. Especially those of us who served in Vietnam, and returned home to scorn and ridicule by much of the public. This public includes politicians who never served, sought deferments to avoid service or joined the reserves to avoid service in Vietnam, as Phil Hare did. These same politicians who now claim to be one of us, and hope that due to the passing of time no one will ever enquire as to their service, thereby taking them at their word that they did indeed serve.

Phil Hare is such a politician. After graduating from high school in 1967, he put his name on the list for the local reserve until instead of going into the regular Army. Once there was a slot open he joined the reserves in 1969, and was home free the draft and Vietnam. He never thought it would come back to hunt him, but it has and now he is bitter that his secret has been exposed.

The thought of a sitting congressman threatening and intimidating one of his constituents is something out of Nazi Germany. Shut up and don't make waves or I will deal with you.

Mr. Chisam, as a caution I have contacted the local field office of the FBI in Moline, Illinois, to determine if there were any criminal violations committed by Mr. Hare.

I spoke with Agent Jeff Jackson who told me that unless Mr. Hare actually attempted to get my address or follow through with his threat or further attempts of intimidations directed at me, that he did not believe there was a criminal violation.

Agent Jackson did tell me however, that it appears as though there may be a violation of congressional ethics for threatening me, and trying to intimidating a private citizen.

I would hope that the congress would take such actions seriously, and work to restore my faith and confidence in our elected officials.

Sincerely,

Ken Moffett
1925 23"' St. A
Moline, IL 61265

Thug. Moron. I suspect Mr. Hare is destined for even greater ignominy.

More Government = More Corruption

I am constantly baffled when supposedly intelligent people tell me that the solution to a problem, any problem, is another government program. The latest most egregious example, of course is President Obama telling us that he could pay for more government intervention in health care by eliminating waste and corruption.

Really?

How long has Medicare been around? Yet our wonderful government has not only failed to stop the tidal wave of fraud, the amount of fraud keeps growing.

Unfortunately, it is an immutable law of nature: more government always equals more corruption. With more government, there is more to corrupt. With more money in the hands of the government, there is more money for the corrupt to go after.

It is one of those rare things in life that really is that simple. So, why do some folks always think that their next pet government program will be different. It boggles the mind.

There is one and only one effective way to reduce corruption and other waste in government. That way is: reduce government. That is it. That is the only effective way.

Let's do it.

Dale Peterson Loses

Why was the entire country watching the Alabama GOP primary for Agriculture Commissioner? Dale Peterson, whose campaign video ad went viral.

The election was yesterday and Dale Peterson ran third in the GOP primary.

Thanks, Dale, for the memory.

New Best Political Ad?

Here is a candidate for the best political ad of the season. I can't believe this guy is a democrat. He makes too much sense.

Census Fraud Video

On March 31, 2010, I reported on census worker inefficiency. Today, it is about fraud. James O'Keefe has released a new sting video:

Too Much Federal Government

Excellent video. It shows that including fringe benefits, federal bureaucrats make nearly twice the average private sector workers' compensation including benefits.