Obama Creates Jobs ... in China

President Obama and his merry band of regulators and union allies is doing great things for the economies of third world countries. By chasing United States companies' operations out of the US by excessive, confusing, conflicting and oppressive regulation, President Obama is creating a "global economy" with new job creation in China, India and all over the world.

Everywhere but here, of course.

The latest, though comes not from Obama, but from his progressive tax-and-tax compatriots in the Peoples Republic of Massachusetts (yes, the home state of its former governor, RINO Republican candidate for president Mitt Romney). The Boston Globe reports on a medical device manufacturer cutting jobs "worldwide" but creating 1000 jobs in China:

Yesterday’s move, a day after Boston Scientific disclosed it was investing $150 million and hiring 1,000 people in China, raised fears that the company will gradually shift more work to foreign sites with less government oversight and lower costs than the United States.

"Oversight." It sounds so much less evil than "over-regulation." but over-regulation, it is.

More government, fewer jobs. Like clockwork.

Moron of the Day: Energy Secretary Steven Chu

Unbelievable. In speaking about the upcoming ban of inexpensive incandescent bulbs (in favor of the environmentally dangerous CFLs), Energy Secretary Steven Chu defended the government action to remove the choice for Americans on light-bulb efficiency, saying “We are taking away a choice that continues to let people waste their own money.”

So, according to Mr. Chu, it is the job of the Federal government to keep you from spending your own money on what you want to spend it if the Federal government (in its infinite wisdom) thinks it is wasteful.

A hearty congratulations for today's Moron of the Day to Steven Chu.

Woman fined $100 for improper newspaper disposal

Has government run amok?

 Evidence abounds.

Consider that case of the 83 year old woman terrorized and fined ... by a sanitation worker.  For throwing her newspaper in the street trash can.

Read about it here.

Stupid Style, But Not Indecent Exposure

The baggy pants style is reaaly, really stupid. The style comes from prisons, where "bitches" advertised their availability, showing their underwear covered butts.

Indecent exposure? That requires a review of the statute or ordinance, but the dumb style does not normally include the exposure of actual genitalia (and probably did not in this case).

Alameda County CA: County of Cowards

Alameda county rescue workers watched for an hour while a swimmer took his time drowning.

Cowardice rules in the People's Republic of California.

Stupid Government Trick: Lottery Winner Gets Food Stamps

Here is another story from our entitlement culture:

Stupid Government Trick: DEA Seizes State of Georgia's Supply of Lethal Injection Drug

The State of Georgia apparently purchased one of its lethal injection drugs from a foreign pharmaceutical unapproved by the food and Drug Administration. apparently the feds are worried that the drug might not be safe enough to use to kill death row inmates. Really. Read it here.

As on blogger on IMAO so clearly put it under the headline, "Making Death Safer":

This is one of those things that, a few years ago, would have been a story in the Onion or some other satiric source.

In Obama America (AKA Bizarro World), it’s business as usual.

I want to make one thing clear. I favor the death penalty, but only in cases of murder where the (1) the circumstances are particularly nasty (torture and murder, serial killers etc.) and (2) the perpetrator is proven beyond any doubt. I don't want to chance the execution of a possibly innocent person, despite conviction by a jury supposedly beyond a reasonable doubt. Eyewitness testimony and even confessions are suspect. Read False Justice by for Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro and his wife Nancy Petro.

Still, demanding that a drug whose sole purpose is to kill be safe is a new low in government regulation.

Moron of the Day: the IRS

Today, I ran in into an new annoying IRS regulation. My wife and I do not have a joint bank account. However, we filed our taxes jointly and received a refund addressed to both of us. My wife duly endorsed the check and I took time from work to deposit the check into my account.

Noooooooo. I was not permitted to deposit the check. Under a new regulation, my wife has to be physically present for me the deposit the check, I guess because I might have committed fraud.

So here we are. Both us us need to take time off work merely to deposit a check.

If a commit fraud, charge me, try me, convict me.

This is simply another regulation to punish the innocent for the crimes of the few.

Congratulations to the unnamed bureaucrat behind the IRS regulation, working hard hard to make life in the United States a little less pleasant day-by-day.

Today's Moron of the Day. The IRS.

EPA Out of Control -- Regulating Milk Spills as Oil Spills

This is another ridiculous, outrageous act by a power hungry, out of control agency. The USEPA pretending that animal oils are dangerous to the environment and pretending that it therefore has authority has adopted rules regulating dairy spills. After all, milk has animal fats and oils.

The absurdity of this regulation illustrates why the US EPA should be abolished. Obviously, it does not have any real environmental hazards to go after, so it goes after milk, of all things.

If EPA has the manpower to regulate dairy spills, it desperately needs a budget cut if abolishment is politically unpalatable. Get rid of these people from our government.

Dumbest Gov't Move Ever? Ban Four Loko and then subsidize it as ethanol

Mary Katherine Hamm explains:



Just when you wonder if the government could get any dumber, something like this happens.

Ken Salazar In Contempt

In June 2010, I reported on the preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in Lousiana that essntially called Ken Salazar a liar. Yesterday, the same federal judge held Ken Salazar, in his official capacity, in contempt of the preliminary injunction. The preliminary injunction had enjoined the government's moratorium on new drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico. In yesterday's order, the judge said,

The plaintiffs’ civil contempt claim focuses on the government’s imposition of a second blanket moratorium hurriedly on the heels of the first; plaintiffs argue that moratorium amounts to a flagrant and continuous disregard of the Court’s Order. But a finding of contempt of the preliminary injunction Order for that reason alone falls short. The plaintiffs read this Court’s preliminary injunction Order too broadly; that Order emerged from the Court’s finding that the plaintiffs were substantially likely to prove that the process leading to the first moratorium was arbitrary and capricious as a matter of law. As an answer to the plaintiffs’ quarrel with the second moratorium, the government maintains that it merely met the Court’s concerns and resolved each of the procedural deficiencies the Court found in the first. fn3 Perhaps. Under these facts alone, then, the Court could not, at least not clearly and convincingly, find the government in contempt of the preliminary injunction Order. See Singh, 428 F.3d at 582 (finding standard not satisfied when district court simply expressed doubts about the sincerity of a party’s compliance with an injunction order).

There is, however, more to the story. The plaintiffs also stress that the government did not simply reimpose a blanket moratorium; rather, each step the government took following the Court’s imposition of a preliminary injunction showcases its defiance: the government failed to seek a remand; it continually reaffirmed its intention and resolve to restore the moratorium; it even notified operators that though a preliminary injunction had issued, they could quickly expect a new moratorium. Such dismissive conduct, viewed in tandem with the reimposition of a second blanket and substantively identical moratorium and in light of the national importance of this case, provide this Court with clear and convincing evidence of the government’s contempt of this Court’s preliminary injunction Order. To the extent the plaintiffs’ motion asserts civil contempt based on the government’s determined disregard of this Court’s Order of preliminary
injunction, it is GRANTED.

------
fn3 The government’s answer, however, is diminished by the Secretary’s undisputed public statements of determination to ban deepwater drilling out of his concern for systemic dangers. These public statements were silent about addressing the Court’s Order.

Full opinion here. It would be a shame if the taxpayers had to foot this bill. In my opinion (not a legal opinion) Ken Salazar should be personally responsible for the legal fees assessed in this case. This is not a government debt, but a debt incurred by Salzar's lawless behavior. It was Salazar's willful disregard of lawful authority that caused the debt and he should pay for it.

Stop Government Abuse

I will never understand the we-need-more-government crowd. They seem to be under the constant delusion that somehow, the government will be kinder and gentler and always benevolent as it gets bigger and bigger.

It defies logic. The more government, the more government abuse.

For another tale of government abuse explaining the photo, click here.

Reason TV's Nanny of the Year Award.

Well deserved. Aren't you glad you don't live in San Fransisco?

Good News: Government May Shut Down.

This Fox News headline contains news of a great side benefit to defeating the pork-laden tax compromise bill: Government May Shut Down Amid Standoff on Pork-Filled Spending Bill

I don't see what the problem is.

Stupid Government Tricks: Anti-Money-Laundering Laws

Pigford Scandal

What are the national media ignoring the Pigford scandal, that has cost over a billion of your federal dollars?

Here are links to all you need to know about it, including murders linked to the massive federal fraud:

$1.5 Billion, although liability denied.

Justice or Fraud?

Murders to cover up fraud.

Pigford as political payoff here and here.

A USDA employee witness to fraud.

The FBI refuses to document fraudulent claims.

What it takes to make a claim here and here.

According to claims, black officials discriminated against fellow blacks on the basis of race.

Discrimination claimant alleges discrimination by non-existent office ... and gets paid.

Ex-Secretary of USDA trolls for clients to sue USDA for discrimination while he was secretary.

When government gets big and there are pots of money, fraud is the natural result.

To Err is Human

... but leave it to the government, acting with the best of intentions, to give us mega-screw-ups.



By the way, I have a pet peeve. "Err" is correctly pronounced sounding like "ur." Just in case you were wondering.

Why Progressives Love Big Government

Why do progressive love big government? So they can push the government to change things like Bristol Palin's success on Dancing With the Stars. According to The Smoking Gun, Bristol Palin's success on DWTS prompted FCC complaint that the show was fixed.

That's right. People actually wrote letters to the Federal Communications Commission demanding redress!

Let's examine this. The economy continues in the tank, with official 9.8 unemployment numbers (and much higher among minorities). The federal government is running record deficits, but the Obama administration appears poised to ignore the recommendations of its own budget commission. WikiLeaks exposed secrets with the potential to threaten world stability.

What do people write their government about? Bristol Palin's dancing.

Unbelievable.

More TSA Stupidity

Which is more dangerous, nail clippers or a military-issue assault rifle?  If you said assult rifle, you would be wrong according to the first-hand account of TSA behavior at redstate.com.  That account is a MUST READ, so I have quoted none of it here.

By the way, this is an illustration of the unintended consequence of one-size-fits-all regulations, wherever they are found.   This is why our nanny-state are so good at stifling innovation.  They are mindless and when not mindless, they are minded by government bureaucrats.  

Losing Money Equals Success ... As Defined by Gov't

From economist John Lott's latest column at Foxnews:

Only the government would consider it a success to buy stock at $43.84 a share and sell it at $33. But President Obama and those who supported his bailout of General Motors and Chrysler are claiming just that today.

Read it all here.

Mr. Lott is referring to the difference between the new IPO price and the price the US Government paid last year for GM's stock on a per share basis.