UsefulGenius

A Short Ride

2006-06-28T20:26:00.000-07:00

Today I went on a ride with the local chapter of the US Military Vets MC, that is us parked in the middle of the highway. It was my first ride with a large group. We were part of the motorcycle escort for the Dignity Memorial Wall.

It was a pretty good ride, though I think I will avaid the large groups. I forgot how much the slinky effect is when you get that many people in a row trying to move as a group. Overall the ride was something like 250 miles for me, with the escort portion somewhere around 20 miles.

I am now somewhere around 2400 miles, and enjoying every mile.

Happy Birthday Update

2006-04-29T20:39:00.000-07:00

Here I am, I just got home from my initial 50 mile break-in ride. Man was that fun.

Happy Birthday to me

2006-04-16T12:14:00.000-07:00

I turned 40 earlier this year. My lovely wife completely surprised me with her gift to me. She gave me the cash to put down a sizable down payment on a new Harley Davidson.

After several weeks of looking around I have settled on this. A Dyna Low Rider.

Dragonfly Green Pearl/Vivid Black paint and the optional Chrome Profile Laced wheels.

Persistent little bastards

2006-03-07T05:36:00.000-08:00

I am noticing a few things around here I didn’t have in my old home. I mowed the lawn yesterday, and wandered around in shorts and a tank top, couldn’t do either this time of the year in Moscow.

I have a leaf cutter anthill in my back yard; they have a trail running around to the front of my house, across the front, across the neighbor’s front yard, then around to his back yard where they cross the fence line and into his neighbor’s yard where they finally reach their targeted tree. Then they retrace their steps back around to my back yard, quite a parade to watch, which I do while drinking a cold one and on occasion smoking a cigar – again not something I would have done in March in Moscow; much less January or February as I have been doing for the past couple of months.

The length they go to to get their leaves isn’t the persistence I am talking about. As they cross the front of my house, they cross the concrete walkway at my front door, each holding a piece of a leaf looking much like a sail. And a sail it is. When the wind is blowing, which it constantly does, these ants go sailing across the concrete dutifully hanging on to their little sail often ending up several yards away, where they struggle to find the track and get back on their little journey.

Persistent little bastards.

Mohammed Flap

2006-02-03T07:23:00.000-08:00

I can't be the only one who finds the irony in Muslim protests rich. Some Danish cartoonist draws mohammed (in one cartoon he is wearing a turban bomb), so to protest Muslims are running around vandalizing, threatening to kill and threatening to blow stuff up trying to claim "Islam is a peaceful religion."

Okay call Alanis I am not sure if it truly irony, but it is symbolic of why the west sees many muslims as unstable dynomite waiting to go off at the slightest jostling.

Amazingly the French have not run up the national flag, (a white cross on a white background).

I'm in Texas

2006-01-15T05:50:00.000-08:00

It took a few days but after a couple of unexpected events we arrived in Kingsville. We are almost done cleaning, unpacking and settling in.

It sure is nice to not have to shovel snow or deal with freezing rain. It is taking less time than I expected to get acclimated. During the drive down I was ready for shorts and a tank top when the tempurature hit 50 in Utah. The other noght we went to the Cactus Bowl, and left early becuase it was too cold at 65, and we were wearing sweaters. I guess I won't be tossing out all of my winter coats.

Fair Prices

2005-12-21T16:10:00.000-08:00

Inspired by a post over at Cafe Hayek

"fair prices and fair profits" can be objectively determined? How? Consensus of subjective opinions?

Any artificial construct introduces subjective definitions of "fair" price levels. Fair in and of itself is a subjective modifier.

Prices are derived from individuals acting in their own self interest. They decide what is subjectively fair to accept. Any outside entity determining "fair" is merely imposing a subjective value judgment, whether it be a single dictator or an aggregation of many it is a subjective judgment call.

The ultimate consensus of subjective judgment calls is the unfettered market, where each individual is allowed to make their own judgment on fairness in price accepted.

Any time the government "dips into profits" it is an ill effect on the person earning those profits, but denied the use of said profits. You may want to argue there is some general welfare gain between confiscated profits and re-distributed wealth, but you are making a grave error.

Utility is subjective and ordinal not cardinal. You can say this util I lost is less than that last util I enjoyed. You can say the util the recipient of my $ is more than the previous util they enjoyed. But you cannot subtract my lost util from their gained util and say that it is a greater amount of util enjoyed than the status quo would have been.

You may be able to quantify that I lost x $'s worth of util's and that this group gained x $'s of utils, but you cannot say my lost utils are of =, < or > value.

You may ask if the amount utils forgone with the payment of taxes is balanced with the utils enjoyed by the amount of government service I receive. (no, but my alternative, my utility of avoiding taxes is less than the benefit of paying taxes plus receiving government services and not being jailed for tax evasion.) In democracy I vote to bring government benefits closer to tax payment dis-utility, modified by what I think the social contract ought to be. Too bad too many voters don't seem to agree with me on what the social contract ought to be, if they did social security and Medicare would be welfare for the poor elderly rather than all the elderly - the wealthiest age group in the nation.

Irrational exuberance

2005-12-15T13:07:00.000-08:00

Alan Greenspan used the phrase to describe the over-valued stock market before it came back to earth. I like the phrase, but more and more I like it applied to the numbskulls in DC who irrationally spend your money, then exuberantly promote themselves and their doing something in order to get you to vote for them again next time around.

What are they doing now that seems to defy reason? They are going to spend (at least) $3.1 Billion to rebuild a levee system around a city that sits below sea level, is sinking and is surrounded by water and sits squarely in hurricane alley.

on second thought, who is behaving irrationally? The politicians spending our money? Or us?

A USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll taken December 9-11, showed 54 percent of Americans believed the government had not done enough to help damaged areas recover.

Seems the politicians are behaving perfectly rationally. 54% puts them comfortably back in the seat of power to spend our money. Until we tell them enough is enough they will continue to do foolish things with our money. We have a constitutionally recognized right to "petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Unless and until enough of us tell them no they will continue to do what they do.

Three wolves and a lamb...

2005-12-15T13:04:00.000-08:00

A bunch of old men get together and vote on whether on not it is a good use of your money to give old men hard-ons.

Guess how they voted?

YeeHaw!

2005-12-08T16:43:00.000-08:00

I am moving to Kingsville Texas at the end of the month. I just returned from a house hunting trip and noticed a few things I am going to have to get used to hearing.

Ya'all
Sir
Are you with the military? ... the border patrol?

Feel free to post words/sayings I ought to get used to hearing/saying once I get there.

Microsoft's CEO will have to shop for his Xbox - Yahoo! News

2005-12-08T16:40:00.000-08:00

This is what Sarbanes-Oxley accomplishes? Microsoft CEO Ballmer has to stand in line with the rest of us schmucks rather than get one with the job and disclose it as income?

Gee I am so glad congress passed that law.

Hollywood Madam to open Nevada 'stud farm' - Yahoo! News

2005-11-18T10:18:00.000-08:00

Heidi is back to her old profession. This time she is running a stud service.

Fleiss said she is taking applications from men seeking to work in what she says will be the world's first licensed brothel catering exclusively to female clients.

"The Hollywood Madam is looking for a few good men out there," she told Reuters in a telephone interview in the midst of her move from Los Angeles to Nevada. "It's going to be an oasis in the desert."

Fleiss said she is aiming for an initial stable of about 20 male prostitutes who would charge $250 an hour -- far less, she said, then the fees paid by clients of the call-girl ring she ran a decade ago.

One wonders if any of the consumer groups that routinely file lawsuits when women are charged more for a visit to the hair salon will be advocating higher rents for the studs, since it is obviously a case of gender bias leading to lower wages for the studs.

Or the rational explanation, once again supply and demand set the price.

Microsoft to remove Sony BMG malware - Yahoo! News

2005-11-15T14:44:00.000-08:00

I normally won't say Microsoft and security in the same sentence, but it appears that in this case it is ok to do so.

You may have heard that Sony BMG CD's, when played on your PC install a rootkit. (Cliff notes explanation, a method of hiding an outsider's access to your computer.) Sony has said they will quit using the tool, but what good does it do you if you already have it or Sony disks that contain it?

Microsoft's AntiSpyware tool will be able to remove it. If you have recently bought a Sony CD and played it on your PC you might want to think about using the AntiSpyware tool.

Public broadcasting ex-chief targeted in report - Yahoo! News

2005-11-15T09:10:00.000-08:00

Seems the Republicans have learned how to use the power they have earned at the box office. So instead of a leaner, smaller government they have taken every opportunity to turn the power to their own designs.

The latest in this is the political nature of the selection of the executives in PBS. In direct contrast to the rhetoric they sounded through the 90's, where they vowed to eliminate unnecessary government agencies and services, they are attempting to use one of the allegedly targeted agencies for their own purposes.

Do we still need reasons why PBS should be eliminated? The educational programming is taken care of rather nicely by the market. The political tool need not be paid for by us, the taxpayers.

More specious claims

2005-11-02T08:48:00.000-08:00

The congressional staffers must be busy lately. I wrote to my delegation telling them they need to recind the pork in their recently passed transportation and energy bills, before they appropriate (borrow) another dime to fund the dubious hurricane relief spending.

Senator Crapo's people are finally getting around to sending me a form letter. In it he claims: "However, in light of the tragic events in our country, Congress is facing the need to increase spending in order to stimulate the economy and increase homeland security."

I've taken on my squeaky wheel role and responded.

Mr. Crapo,

I am getting tired of you and the "fiscally conservative" republicans’ ridiculous rationalizations for excessive spending. You claim:

"However, in light of the tragic events in our country, Congress is facing the need to increase spending in order to stimulate the economy and increase homeland security." This is bunk, pure plain and simple unadulterated garbage. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis the economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.8% for the third quarter, up from 3.3% for the 2nd.

The claim that the excessive spending is due to homeland security concerns is specious. The increases in DISCRETIONARY NON-DEFENSE SPENDING have outpaced every president since (and including) Johnson.

On top of the discretionary non-defense spending you and your cronies have added to the non-discretionary spending at such a rate that soon the ONLY THING we will be able to pay will be old age wealth transfer programs, social security and Medicare. Please explain to me how adding to the bills we must pay to the point where national defense is unaffordable makes this country safer?

The economy does not need more government stimulatory spending. The economy needs some fiscal restrain before you and your cohorts dig us into a hole so deep the only recourse will be to print money.

Thoroughly disgusted.

Justin

What the market will bear

2005-10-27T12:03:00.000-07:00

Last night I was watching the Extreme Bikes episode of Auto Maniac on the History Channel. One of the featured bikes was the Easy Rider "Captain America" chopper. Peter Fonda, in explaining the pop cultural significance of Easy Rider said the Captain America bike is worth whatever the market will bear.

My first reaction was Duh! Talk about saying nothing. Is he really saying nothing? Or is he telling a truth so simple few really get it? Look at all the claims of price gouging or charges that corporations are setting the price "too high." Or complaints that there isn't enough affordable _________.(Fill in the blank with today's pet concern.)

Fonda's statement quite simply answers all the questions at once. It (whatever it is) is worth what the market will bear. The seller does not set the price (even a monopolist does not directly set the price, they set quantity supplied). Neither does the buyer set the price (a monopsonist sets the quantity demanded). When there is a shortage of anything that really means the offered price is less than what potential sellers would accept to willingly part with their property or services.

It is the interaction between buyer and seller that determines the price. Of course Captain America is worth exactly what the market will bear. And in this case there is no intermarginal region to quibble over. There is no consumer nor producer surplus in the intermarginal region where one could make the claim that the market transaction did not capture the full value. There is but one Captain America.

Okay not quit true. There was one Captain America used for most of the movie. It was stolen just before shooting wrapped up, chopped and sold as parts. There are two Captain America's with a pedigree that indicates they are The Captain America that was blown up at the end of the movie. Dan Haggerty (yes Grizzly Adams) was a stage hand for Easy Rider. Fonda gave the pieces of the blown up Captain America to Haggerty. Haggerty then sold two Captain America's with certificates of authenticity stating they were "the only surviving Captain America."

Bush nominates Bernanke to lead US Fed - Yahoo! News

2005-10-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

While Greenspan has done a good job of controlling inflation I think he has been a bit too meddlesome. His constant tweaking of monetary tools, his 1/4 point adjustments seem to come too often too regular, but he has been succesful at keeping inflation in check.

He will go down as one of the better Fed managers.

Bernanke is an advocate of specific inflation targets. (Greenspan opposes them). The Fed should be charged with maintaining a stable currency and little else. Monetary policy is a poor performer at attaining non-monetary goals. It all depends upon the implementation. Predictability in the Fed is a good thing. Too narrow a target, too quick a hand on the monetary tools can be dangerous. Too broad a target and too slow a hand at the policy tools can also be dangerous. Here's hoping that Bernanke strikes the right balance.

Stevens (R-AK) threatened to quit the Senate

2005-10-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

The sooner the better as far as I am concerned. Too bad this will be yet another lie.

Dog (Law) Bites Man

2005-10-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

Dog Attacks Anti-Dangerous Dog Bill Author - Yahoo! News

Do you believe in karma?

How about canine karma?

With Friends Like Fidel

2005-10-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

Recently CBS did another puff piece on another brutal dictator gushing over how magnificent he is, how wonderful he is to the people he lords over.

Seems the people of Cuba don't hold the same utopian view of Castro's Cuba. They are willing (like Elian's mother was) to risk life and limb to flee. Migration to the US is at a 10 year high.

Read the fine print

2005-10-06T15:10:00.000-07:00

If you are one of the people that installs all the "free" shit available on the internet, you really ought to read the EULA.

Check out this section of the Look2Me EULA.

"I UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THE SOFTWARE PRODUCT WILL MODIFY, REMOVE, AND ADD ENTRIES TO MY COMPUTER OPERATING SYSTEM, NETWORK PARAMETERS, AND OTHER INSTALLED FILES THAT WILL CHANGE THE PRIOR DEFAULT SETTINGS, AND/OR INSTALL SOFTWARE FROM THIRD PARTIES WITHOUT USER INTERVENTION, AND/OR TO INSTALL SOFTWARE TO DISPLAY ELECTRONIC ADVERTISEMENTS AND THIRD PARTY WEB PAGES OF EVERY KIND AND NATURE AND/OR MONITOR MY ACTIONS AND REPORT THEM TO THE COMPANY AND/OR UNDISCLOSED THIRD PARTIES, WITHOUT USER INTERVENTION."

To paraphrase; We will do everything we can with your computer, screw it up in as many ways as possible. We won't tell you what we did, but we will tell whomever we want what you do, where you surf, what your accounts are, what you buy, what you look at. And there isn't a damn thing you are allowed to do about it, because you agreed to let us fuck you and your PC over.

New Orleans relaunches "repopulation" campaign - Yahoo! News

2005-09-29T14:02:00.000-07:00

Around the news world are stories of re-population efforts for New Orleans and other flood affected areas.

Yeah that makes sense. Promote moving into an area of low ground surrounded by a lake, a river and the Gulf of Mexico. As noted over here the plan that allegedly failed was actually THE plan. Abandon the sinking city as the inevitable flood waters rise. Is there really any other plan that would save New Orleans? Once the dam breaks you cannot tell the water where to go, it will go where physics dictates, the low ground: New Orleans proper.

If we are going to bail out the citizens of New Orleans because we owe them some sort of social insurance then we ought to just do what insurance companies do. Pay them a cash settlement, tell them we will not insure them again for re-building in a flood prone area and let them do what they want with the cash. If it happens that some of them "Go to Disneyland" so be it. We should be done with free (to them) insurance. They can do what I do. Buy their own.

McCain Breaks McCain-Feingold Law

2005-09-29T10:18:00.000-07:00

As they say, ignorance of the law is no excuse. Especially if you wrote the law.

Last week Sen. John McCain cut a TV ad endorsing an opponent to John Campbell, the Club for Growth PAC's endorsed candidate in the California special congressional election to replace Chris Cox.

As reported by the Orange County Register, "One thing the first airings of the ad did not include: [House Candidate Marilyn] Brewer does not state that she approved the ad. That's now required by law. Specifically, the law co-sponsored by McCain himself."

And recently PoliticalMoneyLine reported that "Talk of 2008 - Sen. John McCain's Straight Talk America" registered again as a federal PAC...The phone number on their form is also listed as the fax number on the website of the Reform Institute, a 501c3 organization supporting McCain's goals." The IRS has a strict prohibition against 501c3 organizations conducting political activity.

We're waiting for the so-called reformers to file a complaint...or McCain to turn himself in.

Yahoo! Sports - NFL - Taking on T.O.

2005-09-15T16:15:00.000-07:00

Terrell Ownes short armed passes and blamed Garcia until the 49ers caved into his ego and they sent Garcia packing. TO is back to his old tricks. He is short arming cathcable passes by McNabb, but to what ends? What team does he think will take him? Does he think he can force teh eagles into dumping McNabb? And why? What QB is available of McNabb's talent?

Perhaps TO is just so full of himself he thinks he can pull this kind of stunt just to burn those that won't negotiate with him.

What a waste

2005-09-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

I recently sent an e-mail to all my elected representatives asking that they review the recently passed trasnportation and energy bills (pork fests) and recind the wasteful spending.

The first response is in. What a joke.

Dear Justin:

Thank you for contacting me regarding wasteful government spending. I appreciate hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond.

I share your commitment to a cost-effective federal budget and the need to eliminate wasteful spending. Since my election to Congress in 1992, I have been fighting to reduce federal spending and the public debt. I am committed to reversing the recent projected federal deficits and returning our country to its recent fiscal prosperity.

However, in light of the tragic events in our country, Congress is facing the need to increase spending in order to stimulate the economy and increase homeland security. It should do so responsibly and with restraint. These events should not serve to open the floodgates for unrelated and unnecessary spending. I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to practice the fiscal discipline necessary to
ensure that we will not be harmed economically because of wasteful spending.

Again, thank you for contacting me. Please feel free to contact me in the future on this or any other matter of concern.

Sincerely,

Mike Crapo
United States Senator

Pump prices stun gas-guzzling Americans - Yahoo! News

2005-09-01T13:07:00.000-07:00

For years, decades it seems, various people and alleged public interest groups ahve been clamoring for governmetn to "do something" to cause American people to conserve energy or oil.

Well now we have that something (higher prices) that will always and everywhere cause less usage (higher prices), and various people and special interest groups are clamoring for government to do something about it.

JFK should have stopped at "Ask Not" becase busy body politicians will try to do something, damn the real consequences, all they want is re-elected.

The Grand Old Pork Party

2005-08-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Chip Bok of Reason On-line.

Bush says $286 bln highway bill creates U.S. jobs - Yahoo! News

2005-08-10T15:03:00.000-07:00

This is an example of the broken window fallacy. The money to fund this bill has to come FROM somewhere. The jobs lost for not having that money where it was is money not spent on jobs that would have existed absent this pork barrelling president and congress.

Were the president honest he would say this bill takes jobs from some and gives them to others in favored congressional districts.

What thais really means is that he and his cohorts in congress sincerely believe they know best what jobs the country ought to have, not you who earn the money and intend on spending it to best suit your own needs, not the companies competing to earn your business and hard earned dollars for something YOU desire.

So much for "I trust the American people to make decisions, while my opponent trusts the government."

Snow Says Bush Meeting to Focus on Trade - Yahoo! News

2005-08-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

Snow Says Bush Meeting to Focus on Trade - Yahoo! News

So after a term and some change of implementing trade restrictions Bush is going to attempt to prod the participants in the Doha round towards free(r) trade? His efforts will meet more resistance and complaints had he not settled on a course of protectionism and subsidies from the day he took office. His credibility on the issue of free trade is weak, to state it mildly.

Even the hard fought CAF(M)TA agreement does little to boost his reputation as a pro-trade president. The major area of concern to the Central American countries were not significantly altered, Ag subsidies and US import restrictions. Take sugar as one telling example. A minor fiddling with the import quota tells other nations that there is no sincerity in this whitehouse.

Million and 2 monkees

2005-08-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

The author of the opposing viewpoint wrote that we must have restrictions on agricultural producst because of terrorists. My initial inclination was to write a one word reply.

BULLSHIT

But I would hazard a guess that brevity and clarity would be lost on him, as much as facts of trade are.

I have written a reply, and I am trying to get the Statesman to publish it.

So here is the sneak preview (again blogger.com seems to have lost the original posting)

Million and One Monkees Typing

2005-07-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

I never thought it would happen, but it did. Someone read and liked one of my internet postings and something has come of it. An editor of the Idaho Statesman happened across a post I had written a few years ago about protectionism and trade deficits. If you read it you will see it is a little dated. There are some references to some 'net friends I had at the time. There are going to be some typo's and I would make a few corrections were I to do it again, but I think it is a readable lesson on protectionism.

Anyway the editor at the Statesman liked it enough that he asked me to write a guest editorial for the paper (Check out July 31st's Op-Ed page) The other guest editor is Bruce Newcomb, State Speaker of the House. I worked through a couple of versions but had difficulty getting it down to the 600 word limit. I think I ended up at 610, and I think I lost some clarity in the process.

So here is a sneak preview at my "15 minutes of monkee typing fame" unedited.

Agriculture Trade Deficits

The United States may become a net importer of agricultural products, and that is a bad thing, or so we are told. The trend is occurring because we are increasing our imports of agricultural products faster than the rest of the world is increasing theirs, a sign that we are growing economically at a better rate than they are.

The argument changes when opponents of free trade are confronted with this. They now tell us, “Free trade may be good in general, but not for this product.” The contention, that importers are harmed, if followed logically implies that producers make consumers worse off. We, Idahoans, sell more agricultural products than we buy. Are we prepared to say we make consumers worse off?

To resolve this we look to Phil the Onion Farmer and his purchases.
From the proceeds of his onion sales Phil buys goods and services. He pays veterinarians, doctors, farm laborers and maybe even a computer geek like me. We benefit from Phil being a net exporter of agricultural products because he has money to spend on the rest of us.

Where there is a net exporter, there is a net importer. Joe the Grocer buys Phil¹s onions, but doesn¹t sell all that much to Phil. The farm produce in Joe¹s store is bought up by other people who produce other things. Phil benefits by having a market full of net importers buying from Joe. The importers of agricultural products benefit from running a ³trade deficit² in Ag products. We all get to do what we do best. We buy what we don¹t do so well. I take advantage of trade ³imbalances² to enjoy Phil¹s onions.

Net importers and net exporters are two sides of a mutually beneficial relationship. Protectionists now propose the total trade imbalance “horror story.” We, citizens of the United States, buy more goods and services from the rest of the world than they buy from us, and that isn’t “fair.” Yes we have a trade deficit. We have had a trade deficit every year since 1976 and have created 50 million more jobs.

So how do we continually buy things from people overseas and create jobs if they are not buying a reciprocal amount from us? They are loaning us money, buying our bonds, stocks, and other investment vehicles. We use their money to invest in factories, tractors, research facilities and the like. The constant trade deficit we run enables us to invest in our productive facilities. Investments increase productivity allowing us to earn higher wages. Higher wages mean we can buy more stuff. Without investment spending our economy stagnates, wages fall, production facilities deteriorate and new jobs are not created. The trade deficit enables borrowing and investing.

Not all borrowing is investment, some of it is consumption spending. I am not telling you that your financial priorities are wrong; I don’t know your individual situation better than you do. However, there are people making spending decisions for you, politicians. Politicians finance a significant portion of public spending with the sale of government bonds. However the bulk of public spending is not investment spending. It is consumption spending. If there is a villain in this story, it is us. We elect spendthrift politicians. We demand they borrow so we can consume more now at the expense of future generations. This excessive government spending makes up a portion of our trade deficit, and could justifiably be called harmful.

The next time someone demagogues a trade imbalance, ask how hard your life would be if you had to produce everything you want. Bananas are difficult to grow in Idaho. Think how difficult your life would be if you had to have reciprocal sales with every purchase. I like onions, but it would be inefficient for me to come down to Phil’s farm and sell him an onions worth of labor. It is inefficient and silly to require reciprocal transactions between Phil and Joe, just as it is inefficient and silly to expect reciprocal trade between any two geographic regions.

Congress Passes Far-Reaching Energy Bill - Yahoo! News

2005-07-29T12:25:00.000-07:00

1,724 pages for this?

The impact you will notice is ....!!!

Daylight savings implementation is expanded by 4 weeks.

Other than that? Your standard garden variety pork laden corporate welfare incumbant public relations ploy. Pork on 'roids, but still not much more than that.

Pentagon names new chief Guantanamo defense lawyer - Yahoo! News

2005-07-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

The treatment of the Gitmo prisoners offers a telling example of the (il)logic in the rhetoric surrounding the combat operations undertaken in the War on Terror.

On the one hand Bush and his lawyers claim that the Gitmo prisoners are unlawful combatants and are therefore not afforded the rights and protections of the (various) Geneva Conventions. So if they are not afforded Geneva Convention POW status then they must be civil prisoners, right? Not so fast. We are affording them Military tribunals, as proscribed by the 3rd Geneva Convention (in 4.6.3.3 Section III Juridicial Proceedings).

But wait, this gets better. Detractors wail that Gitmo prisoners are enemy combatants in The War on Terror, and are therefore afforded the rights and protections proscribed by the (various) Geneva Conventions. But they ought to have a civilian trial.

So which is it? Are Gitmo prisoners legally classified as POW's under the Geneva Convention(s) and therefore afforded all of the rights and protections proscribed there-in? Conventions that dictate "A prisoner of war can be validly sentenced only if the sentence has been pronounced by the same courts according to the same procedure as in the case of members of the armed forces of the Detaining Power..."

Or are they unlawful combatants and therefore relegated to the civil justice system?

Good news for dark chocolate-lovers? - Yahoo! News

2005-07-19T13:00:00.000-07:00

Great News! I love chocolate, especially dark chocolate. Put it in the same room as me and I will invariably find it and I will devour it. Now I can say I do it for my health.

(Seems there is a study out there somewhere that links sex with good health too!)

Blog Rolling

2005-07-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

I've been wandering around cyber space. I've managed to find some blogs I like to read. And some of them aren't even churlish. Not that there is anything wrong with that. I can be as vulgar as any.

So there are a few new links waiting for bloggrolling to update. Click through my list, there are a couple you may find interesting.

Social Security Status Quo versus Reform: What's the Tradeoff?

2005-07-13T15:32:00.000-07:00

Social Security Status Quo versus Reform: What's the Tradeoff?

Social Security is often promoted/supported as a vehicle for forced domestic savings. Not so fast, each payroll tax dollar dumped into the general fund actually serves to increase government spending by more than a dollar. So this "trust fund" has served to decrease national savings rather than be a vehicle for forced savings.

Lost Liberty Hotel project

2005-07-05T12:20:00.000-07:00

Freestar Media, LLC

I wonder if Souter would work as a greeter, that would be of greater economic benefit than his rulings on the supreme court, and the court has said that your property is no longer safe from confiscation if someone else can use it for greater economic benefit. I wonder how long it will be before they decide that your labor is no longer yours to direct, if someone else can direct it to a "greater economic benefit" for a greater "public purpose."

What pisses you off?

2005-06-24T12:58:00.000-07:00

You must be pretty peeved right now then, eh?

What pisses you off?

Created by ptocheia

Supreme Disciples of Henry George

2005-06-23T13:52:00.000-07:00

The recent Eminent Domain decision, were it a new development would be shocking in its ignorance of the US Constitution. Sadly Eminent Domain has been abused by various government bodies for centuries.

The question presented is whether the city’s proposed disposition of this property qualifies as a public use within the meaning of the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.

[N]or shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. U. S. Const., Amdt. 5.

The ruling affirmed the ability of various government bodies to widely, seemingly without restriction, define public purposes as public use. In this case higher (expected) property taxes and higher (predicted) employment and all the things that can be accomplished with more government spending.

I suppose one could go on and on about how public use isn't the same as private use providing some perceived public benefit, or how insecurity in private property rights can and often does have negative economic impacts. But what I have noticed is a striking similarity between this and the ideal espoused by one Henry George (1839-1897).

Henry George advocated a single tax system, an attempt at capturing economic rents of landowners. His claim was that private rights to land violated liberty, only by instituting a tax policy directed at collecting those rents and redistributing those rents was just and fair.

This particular case attempts to codify Henry George's concept into law, at least partially, other taxes are not abolished. This is a step in that direction. The landowners, by refusing to sell, deny the benefits of the economic rents from the general population. Pfizer, by developing the land would extract the optimal rents from those particular parcels of land and if the governing agencies set the tax rates appropriately the full economic rents would be collected and redistributed in the form of public works projects.

Mozilla Update :Bork Bork Bork: Extensions

2005-06-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Mozilla Update: Bork Bork Bork by Anthony Howe

If you use Thunderbird instead of Microsoft lookOut, install this add-on.

"Luukeeng fur nut ixpenseefe-a guud perscreepshun droogs?
Ve-a meeght hefe-a joost vhet yuoo need.
Cleeck oon uny leenk beloo tu check oooot zee seete-a noo! Bork Bork Bork!"

Satire and life come together

2005-06-22T08:50:00.000-07:00

Life meet satire:

In D.C., a Round of Satire
Smoking Bill Foe Mockingly Proposes Ban on Booze

By Eric M. Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 22, 2005; Page B08

With a wink and a smirk, D.C. Council member Carol Schwartz (R-At Large) introduced legislation yesterday to ban alcohol in the District.

...

"Yes, I come to you a changed woman," Schwartz said, her voice oozing sarcasm. "It had just never occurred to me that I could simply choose to ban a legal choice for consenting adults in a private place where the public does not have to go and where workers do not have to work.

"I'm also now looking at some other legal choices to ban -- like driving or sex -- for they, too, can be dangerous to your health and the health of others."

Schwartz later withdrew the bill, saying she had made her point.

Satire meet life:

Daley Pushes Ordinance to Close Taverns
By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO -- Taverns and booze are entwined with Chicago's history and lore -- from Al Capone's bootlegging empire to the tavern owner whose curse on the Cubs is blamed for keeping them out of the World Series for a half century. But the dark, cool watering holes where for decades laborers dropped by for a belt on the way home are drying up.

The city that once boasted as many 7,600 taverns in the early 1900s has just over 1,300 today. Now Mayor Richard Daley is pushing an ordinance that would make it easier to close taverns -- the latest volley in a battle against the kinds of liquor-selling establishments that some say are magnets for everything from prostitution to littering.

...

"If it's going to be (a liquor license) for a chi chi restaurant with a celebrity chef, wonderful," said Daniel Pokaski, chairman of the Boston Licensing Board. "But if it's for a corner bar, forget it... They are deathly afraid of their own shadows in those situations."

In Chicago's days gone by, poor and blue-collar neighborhoods looked to taverns as community centers, hiring halls, and banks. Often it seemed taverns were the only places to watch a ball game or just escape the sweltering heat.

Though those days were long gone by the time Daley took office in 1989, there still were well over 3,000 taverns in the city.

Intent on making Chicago a more attractive and family-friendly city, Daley pointed to the corner tavern. Careful to say he wasn't opposed to all of them, the mayor said some were havens for crime, garbage and noise. As evidence that the mayor is not trying to impose his own kind of Prohibition, city officials point out that the number of restaurants that serve alcohol has actually climbed in recent years.

Still, in Daley's first full year on the job, the Liquor Control Commission revoked 49 liquor licenses, compared with 11 the year before he took office. Since then, about 1,000 licenses for taverns, liquor stores and other businesses that sell liquor have been revoked.

Daley also dusted off a largely unknown law that allows residents to vote their precincts dry.

Since 1990, dozens of precincts have been voted dry (a handful have been voted wet), putting many taverns, liquor stores and restaurants out of business. Today, some 430 of the city's 2,706 precincts are dry.

The city initiated an aggressive sting operation in which the police sent minors into taverns to see if they'd sell them liquor. And Daley pushed for a state law -- which ultimately passed in the mid-1990s -- that allowed voters to shut down individual liquor-serving establishments.

Many residents were receptive to Daley's efforts.

"I didn't want to send my kids to the grocery store because they'd have to walk past it," Felicia Sciascia said of a tavern with a soundtrack that routinely included shattering glass, fights and even gunfire for years until it closed last year.

Tavern owners and others say some of the loudest complaints have come not from longtime residents like Sciascia but from newcomers who are turning once blue-collar enclaves into pricey hot spots.

"These people move in, pay $1 million or $2 million for houses and they have a little bit of a feeling they are entitled to say what the neighborhood should be," said Timothy Glascott, whose father in 1937 opened a tavern that today is Glascott's Groggery.

"It's like the way people will buy a house under the flight path at O'Hare and complain about the noise," said Perry Duis, author of "The Saloon: Public Drinking in Chicago and Boston, 1880-1920," and a University of Illinois-Chicago history professor.

Alien Ant Farm

2005-06-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

Is it just my local pop music station that has Alien Ant Farm's Smooth Criminal on heavy rotation since the verdict?

TheAgitator.com: By Any Other Name...: Comments

2005-06-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

TheAgitator.com: By Any Other Name...: Comments

What smoking bans are NOT about (DC bar ban in particular):

This is not about the rights of smokers to smoke in public. They are in an establishment someone else owns. Any bar or restaurant in this city may voluntarily go smoke free, and smokers would have no claim against them, except to take their business elsewhere.

(t)his is not about non-smokers rights, either. You don't have the right to walk onto someone else's property, demand to be served food or drink someone else has bought, and demand that they serve you on your terms.

This isn't about worker's rights. The idea that the Washington, D.C. city council is banning public smoking to benefit the city's waiters, waitresses and bartenders is a canard. There are countless jobs and professions that are far more dangerous than serving food or drink in the presence of secondhand smoke. The people who choose those jobs -- cab drivers, fishermen, and police, for example -- take those jobs knowing full-well the risks. The health risks associated with secondhand smoke are debatable. But this simple fact isn't: A waiter or bartender who chooses to work for an establishment that allows smoking knows what kind of environment he'll be working in.

So what is this debate about? It's about freedom. It's about standing up to the healthists, those people who believe the state has not only the right, but the responsibility to police our personal lives for bad habits.

(Borrowed from The Agitator)

Yahoo! Sports - NBA - Spurs 84, Pistons 69

2005-06-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! Sports - NBA - Spurs 84, Pistons 69

I thought the Heat would pull it out. Detroit goes through dry spells where they cannot buy a bucket. But the Heat came up 3 minutes and an ill advised shot or two short.

The Pistons have not made a believer out of me. True they have balance (4 players average somewhere between 15 and 20 a night) and they play a stifling D. But the Spurs play D as well as anybody and I don't think the Pistons will be able to stop the Spurs as often as the Spurs will stop the Pistons

Whatever the outcome it will be nice to watch two fundamentally sound defensive teams with balanced unselfish offenses play for the title.

BTW when was the last time the #1 D met the #2 D in the finals?

What is the over/under for 'Sheed's first technical? I have him late in the third quarter of game 2 getting T'ed up.

The Payoff From Globalization

2005-06-08T09:50:00.000-07:00

The Payoff From Globalization: "Using four different methods, we estimate that the combination of shrinking distances -- thanks to container ships, telecommunications and other new technologies -- and lower political barriers to international trade and investment have generated an increase in U.S. income of roughly $1 trillion a year (measured in 2003 dollars), or about 10 percent of gross domestic product. This translates to a gain in annual income of about $10,000 per household."

Thanks to Cafe Hayek for the heads up.

Judging This Court

2005-06-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

Judging This Court

Is another Clarence Thomas or two too much to ask for?

"almost infinite elasticity to the Commerce Clause. He (Thomas) said that the women's marijuana was never bought or sold, never crossed state lines and had no "demonstrable" effect on the national market for marijuana: "If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause, then it can regulate virtually anything," including "quilting bees, clothes drives and potluck suppers." Thus "the federal government is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers." But that has been the case at least since 1942."

Mens Rea

2005-06-03T09:59:00.000-07:00

In case you missd it, the guilty verdict in the Arthur Anderson (Enron's corporate accounting firm) was tossed out with a unanimous decision by SCOTUS.

The reason? The court instructed the Jury that there need not be criminal intent for a finding of guilt of a crime.

Prosecutors and justices make a mockey of the law when they ignore it.

Now Arthur Anderson (once employing 28,000 in the US) is virtually gone. One wonders if there is some civil liability for destroying one of the big 5. Are there other verdicts waiting to be overturned, verdicts reached to "send a message" to corporate America? What message is sent? Justice is fickle?

Die Die SUVs Please Die / Sales of the bloated monster trucks are in a huge slump. Time for enviro-lovers to rejoice?

2005-06-02T12:01:00.000-07:00

Die Die SUVs Please Die / Sales of the bloated monster trucks are in a huge slump. Time for enviro-lovers to rejoice?

Isn't it amazing how the truth slaps some people in the face, and all they can do is turn and look the other direction?

Mark Morford writes that the recent slump in SUV sales is due to high gas prices. We conserve a resource when the price rises; we use more when the price falls. And this is news to him? So he is chastises green weenies for rejoicing at lower fuel usage rates, slower sales of gas hogs because the change in behavior is due to, TADA, price changes not some recently arrived at stream of consciousness.

The answer to any perceived shortage of any resources is staring you in the face, in your own words, written by your own hand - I am assuming you were awake, aware and lucid at the time. “SUV sales are down for one reason and one reason only: high gas prices.” As a resource become relatively scarcer the price mechanism causes behavioral changes that induce appropriate consumption levels. I don't need you and your band of green religious zealots to tell me how to act or what to buy. The free market economy serves that purpose. Through the price mechanism, the economy indicates what is relatively scarce and valuable. I will decide what my priorities are. Go worry about something that you should change, like your inability to comprehend what you have written.

Infant Formula Ambush by Henry I. Miller

2005-05-26T16:06:00.000-07:00

Infant Formula Ambush by Henry I. Miller

Looks like the UN and the WHO may once again bow to political pressure and implement teh scientifically proven better alternative in favor of superstition driven hysteria.

Not DDT, this time, they appear bent on trasjhing a viable alternative to mother's milk. Quality infant formula.

Pakistan Repeats Demand for Quran Probe - Yahoo! News

2005-05-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

Pakistan Repeats Demand for Quran Probe - Yahoo! News

Amid all the furor over whether or not the story is true, and demands for accoutnability by the reporters and Newsweek, I have come to the conclusion that "my give a damn is busted."

Unless and until Muslims provide a united front demanding and requiring different behavior from amongst their own ranks I really don't give a damn if the Qur'an is shit upon, spat upon, burned, flushed, used to soak up bacon grease ... I don't care.

Any number of instances of the desecration of a copy of the Qur'an pale in comparison to the insults to the religion of peace commited by the followers of Islam upon people of any faith, be they followers of Judaism, Christianity, Bhudaism, Hinduism or even the various sects of Islam.

Updated 5/15/05

Oh so it is okay to murder, maim, abuse and torture as long as the intended target is not a muslim.

Nice how they follow their own calls for respect and tolerance of others.

Ageless Mourning replaces O'Neal and shines - Yahoo! News

2005-05-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

Ageless Mourning replaces O'Neal and shines - Yahoo! News

One of my favorite sports is pro basketball. Since I don't live close enought to any major sports team I consider myself a free agent fan. I pick and chose the team I will cheer for based upon the owner/front office that tries to put together the most entertaining/most likely to win team. I have cheered the Bulls, Lakers and once upon a time the Celtics.

Mostly I am a fan of individual players. I always liked 'Zo. He may very well end up being the guy that puts the Heat over the top. His performance in limited minutes is what a pro should do. he comes in and plays hard the entire time he is on the court. Alst night wth Shaq nursing a thigh bruise 'Zo played 35 minutes. He was once again the defensive force that earned him a top 3 draft pick.

Interestringly the Heat have the top 3 from that year's draft on roster. Shaq, the guy who plays a center on TV and 'Zo.

Yahoo! Sports - NFL - Jets send in Namath to lobby for Manhattan stadium

2005-05-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! Sports - NFL - Jets send in Namath to lobby for Manhattan stadium

In the continuing story of Welfare for Billionaire sports team owners and the rest of us, the Jets and the Cowboys (and recently the Washington Nationals) are working long and hard to convince (dupe) the locals that they HAD to build a stadium for ultra rich team owners. They use threats, intimidation and false promises of economic spillovers to push through public financing of priivate places of business. The president even got into the act when he was in baseball.

Namath is out predicting a new stadium, but hopefully the courts will slow or stop the trend. There are a couple of cases that may change the manner in which the takings clause is (ab)used. Kelo v New London may halt taking private property from one private property owner and granting that property to another private owner.

Hamilton County v. Cincinnati Bengals Inc is challenging the anti-trust exemption the NFL currently (ab)uses.

Art appreciation

2005-05-05T16:39:00.000-07:00

The tax man cometh (but he doesn't taketh away).

Stripping is a tax exempt "art" show in Oslo. Perhaps our supreme court can rule in favor of the Boise strippers since SCOTUS used international opinion as one reason to overturn the death penalty for capital offenses commited by minors

Economist.com | Vietnam

2005-05-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

Economist.com | Vietnam

The Battle for Vietnam is going to the persistant forces.

No, not the communists, "(t)he forward march of entrepreneurialism ... is proving ... infectious and irrepressible ..."

Reason: Free Advice for the FDA: As safe as aspirin is safe enough

2005-05-04T09:14:00.000-07:00

Reason: Free Advice for the FDA: As safe as aspirin is safe enough

While politicians are running around decrying the costs (and rate of increase) in health care they are hard at work driving the rate of increase of healthcare. The FDA is a prime example of added costs to healthcare, through their pre-market drug screening. Now they are working on adding a post-market screening.

One wonders how long it will be until they decide aspirin isn't safe enough.

Economist.com | The world�s depleted fish stocks

2005-05-03T12:24:00.000-07:00

Economist.com | The world's depleted fish stocks

The Trajedy of The Commons strikes again.

The Grand Old Spending Party: How Republicans Became Big Spenders

2005-05-03T10:58:00.000-07:00

The Grand Old Spending Party: How Republicans Became Big Spenders

Let's recap the political rhetoric of recent times.

Republicans claim to be the party of smaller government while claiming the democrats are the party of (irresponsible) big spenders.

Democrats claim to be the party of "responsible" levels of government, while positing that republicans will slash and burn necessary programs and give tax cuts to the rich.

Well we have Republicans proposing more bailouts of irresponsible behavior and more evidence that they are the party of big spenders.

So part of the democrat claim is true, they are fiscally irresponsible, but slash and burn? Please. They have taken the mantle of LBJ and run with it.

Now the Republicans claims? Where is the evidence they are for less government? Where is any proof they are for limiting spending? Where is the evidence that they want government out of our lives? Democrats may be the party of irresponsible big government, but they play second fiddle to the republicans. At least they admit to liking government. Republicans, in a classic Orwellian sense, hate government but relish in the advancement of it. far more than democrats ever dreamed of, and they tell you they can do it while making you pay less. That is unless you happen to be "super wealthy" and fall into the AMT trap.

The Rubes in L.A. City Hall Have Swallowed Hollywood's Hard-Luck Story

2005-04-29T10:19:00.000-07:00

The Rubes in L.A. City Hall Have Swallowed Hollywood's Hard-Luck Story

The dolts in DC aren't the only ones involved in handing out subsidies to the rich. Los Angeles is getting into the act. While the city faces what it calls a "structural deficit" of $300 million Mayor Hahn is proposing a $625,000 gift to producers when they locate a production in the movie capital of the world.

Robert Novak: Senate's Dr. Pain

2005-04-28T09:45:00.000-07:00

Robert Novak: Senate's Dr. Pain

Dr. Tom Coburn, a U.S. senator from Oklahoma for less than four months, last week was up to old tricks he started playing in the House a decade ago. He was making colleagues' lives miserable by exposing wasteful, unnecessary spending that is supposed to stay hidden. The Senate establishment, like its House counterpart, has retaliated by bringing ethics charges against the obstetrician-senator for going home to Muskogee, Okla., to deliver babies.

In a legislative body whose members spend much of their time off the Senate floor begging for money, it is worthy of Kafka that the only pending ethical proceeding involves Coburn's concept of the citizen-legislator.

K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Shrub)

2005-04-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

Economist.com | Simpler taxes: "Estimates for the United States, whose tax regime, despite the best efforts of Congress, is by no means the world's most burdensome, put the costs of compliance, administration and enforcement between 10% and 20% of revenue collected. (That sum, by the way, is equivalent to between one-quarter and one-half of the government's budget deficit.)"

Simply replacing the current tax code with a flat tax and setting the rate such that the compliance and administrative costs of the current tax system are captured would erase 1/4 to 1/2 the budget deficit without actually adding to the net costs to the taxpayer. And it would spur growth such that the deficit could disappear in very short order. This of course uses the unlikely assumption that a critical mass of the dolts in DC excercise some fiscal restraint. But one can dream, can't he?

Yahoo! Sports - NBA - Half right

2005-04-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! Sports - NBA - Half right

Dan Wetzel argues that contrary to Jermaine O'Neal's opinion NBA owners aren't worried about the color of the players, they are worried about the color of their net income. They want it black not red.

The thought is that raising the age limit to 20 to enter the NBA the front office will have more time to scout and better judge prospective players before they drop a cool $10 million for the next Diop.

Front office blunders will continue to occur with or wothout an age limit (Olowokandi Langdon Parks ...). But the owners are looking for any little additional piece of information before they get jobbed out of lottery pick money on a dud of an under 20 kid.

What you won't see, if the age limit is raised, is the next Lebron or 'Melo or O'Neal that goes to college, flunks out or is injured and never gets a chance at either an NBA career or an education. Diop's $10 million will pay the tuition at any University he can get admitted to. He didn't need college to ride the pine in Cleveland. But he certainly can use that cash to get a "real" education - as opposed to the education graduates of the Jim Harrick jr. program.

Stop Digging Part II

2005-04-06T14:51:00.000-07:00

I e-mailed my representatives basically the contents of this post.

So far I have one reply. Butch Otter, who is running for governor next election cycle, basically told me it was because of national security concens ... blah, blah, blah ... that the deficit had been run up.

HOGWASH!

I've written back telling him I doubt his sincerity. And I reminded him of his last minute switch to expand medicare by "only" $400 Billion.

Mr. Otter,

Excuse me if I am skeptical, but I have good reason. Anytime a politician blames the war in Iraq, the war on terrorism or national security concerns for the run-up of the deficit I doubt their sincerity. Since Mr. Bush took office non-defense discretionary spending has grown at a rate not seen since the days of LBJ and his great society schemes. In addition to that you were one of the last lawmakers to decide to vote for the costly, and intentionally under-projected, Medicare entitlement expansion. At a time when deficits were ballooning out of control, and the twin entitlement programs Social (in)Security and Medicare are still spiraling towards bankrupting the nation you voted to increase those entitlements by "only" $400 billion. What is it now? $530 billion? More?

My skepticism of your sincerity in fiscal restraint, where in the land of spendthrifts you are among the better ones, leads me to doubt your ability to bring fiscal sanity to the State House. You are attempting to follow Mr. Kempthorne into office. He has been on his own spending spree here too. In a state where (fiscally irresponsible) Democrats are as rare as hens teeth the state budget has outpaced inflation plus population growth by a full three percentage points. He earned C grade in the annual CATO institute report card on Americas Governors with a score of 52 out of 100. (52 is a C!?) And he too claimed to be fiscally conservative.

So pardon my skepticism, but I want to see proof of fiscal restraint. Not excuses.

Internet Week > online security technology > Company Bypasses Cookie-Deleting Consumers > March 31, 2005

2005-04-01T10:09:00.000-08:00

Cookies weren't enough, now they have PIE's (Persistant Identification Element) for those of you who deny or delete your cookies because you don't like nor want to allow electronic trespassing.

Instructions for disabling PIE's are (allegedly) posted over at Macromedia.

I am still reading their instructions on how to disable PIE's.

A government of the people...

2005-03-30T09:18:00.000-08:00

by the people, for the people... requires interaction between the people and the government. Specifically YOU must tell them what to do. and when they don't do it vote for someone else.

I just e-mailed my elected representatives, and shrub. It is a simple thing to do, click here and here then find your representatives home page and use their e-mail link. And don't forget shrub.

It is a really simple message.

Stop DIGGING!.

""Once you're in a hole, stop digging," goes the old saying. The United States keeps getting further and further in a fiscal hole due to the stifling effects of the 9-million-word tax code mess, the impending insolvency of the Social Security system, (and Medicare) and the ever-growing budget deficit, but congressional leaders won't stop digging." Herman Cain

Stop spending, then simplify the tax code.

Buzz Beer Spin-offs

2005-03-29T16:20:00.000-08:00

Inspired by a t-shirt "which one keeps you up longer? Coffee? Viagra?"

If you owned Buzz Beer and were looking to expand your market, what would be your next beer?

I call mine Bump N Grind Beer. Beer with a bit of viagra and coffee so that you can "get up on the floor and dance.

How about "That's the Spot" Beer with DMAE, DHA .... so that he can concentrate long enough to find the spot.

Any other suggestions?

Yahoo! News - Social Security Outlook Unchanged: Trustees

2005-03-23T16:31:00.000-08:00

Yahoo! News - Social Security Outlook Unchanged: Trustees

AHEM! 2041 isn't the important date. That is the date the SS actuaries anticipate the "trust fund" will be exhausted. I have news for you, the "trust fund" is empty.

Here, lets do a simple example. Say you have two jobs, call one social, one general. Take your social paycheck, put it in your left pocket. Take your general paycheck and put it in your right pocket. Take 30% out of your social pocket and put it in your general pocket. Spend the money in your left pocket. (Call is social spending) Take all of the money out of your right pocket, spend it, take out a loan and spend and that too. Wait a week. Now take the money out of your right pocket and put it back in your left pocket. Oh wait there is nothing there, but loan notes. THERE IS NO TRUST FUND. Looking in the right pocket for the money that is already spent (and then some) does not mean there is money in the left pocket. There is nothing in the right pocket. You have to go find a source of revenue.

The important date isn't even the date when the pay as you go system no longer covers benefits with current taxes (@2017). The important date is when excess SS revenues being spent no longer support the level of GENERAL spending, and benefits or programs have to be cut.

As far back as 1937 the supreme court ruled that there is no difference between Social Security revenues and general tax revenues. All of this bullshit about a "trust fund" never has had any legal basis in fact. It has always been a BIG LIE. There is no trust fund. The money is gone.

Northpinellas: Suburban smackdown

2005-03-18T10:28:00.000-08:00

In this town, the rules say five animals, only. But Hulk Hogan plays host to Lilly the Rooster and up to two dozen other critters. Neighbors cry foul.

Question is, who has the right? Solve this little riddle, legally defined in a clear, concise and understandable manner and the courts can butt out. The parties can then negotiate an acceptable solution.

Does the Hulkster have the right to create (noise) pollution? Do the neighbors have the right to be (noise) pollution free? Assign the right, the negotiations occur and a mutually acceptable solution is reached.

Problem here is the right wasn't defined correctly a-priori.

Section 10-2 of the code reads: "No person shall keep or maintain upon any residential property within the town more than a total of or any combination of five domestic animals at any one time."

There are 5 people living there, that makes 5 persons * 5 animals plus one fowl permitted in 2000. A total of 26 animals. And that does not expressly define the root problem, externalities. Noise (and scent) pollution in this case. I wonder what the books is a rule defining the right to create noise pollution, up to a certain decibel level. Story doesn't mention it so I am guessing the Hulkster's activities haven't breached that level.

Economist.com | American immigration

2005-03-16T11:19:00.000-08:00

Economist.com | American immigration

The Economist has a pretty good article about illegal immigration which caught my eye for a couple of reasons. My state was listed twice (Clark county is now 20% foreign born and Senator Larry Craig co sponsored a bill which is a step to another necessary amnesty program).

The highlight of the article is:

(Speaking of Bush's guest worker proposal) "...do the hardliners have a workable alternative? Deporting several million illegal aliens would be a logistical and financial nightmare, and a moral one, too, since American-born children would have the right to stay behind. Similarly, sanctions against employers of illegal aliens look like a non-starter: bosses point out that they cannot be expected to be experts on forged documents, and in any case few politicians want to alarm the very businessmen who finance their election campaigns.

Paradoxically, the best solution might well be to relax, not tighten, the restrictions on immigration. The libertarian-minded Cato Institute argues that when barriers to entry are low, migration becomes a circular process. Under the bracero (strong arm or labourer) programme that ran from 1942 to 1964, Mexican workers entered and left the American labour market almost at will (albeit under deplorable working conditions). By contrast, when barriers are high, there is every incentive to come and then stay.

Using as his example Puerto Rico, which like Mexico is poor but which, unlike Mexico, has no immigration barrier to the American mainland, Cato's Daniel Griswold notes that during the 1980s, 46% of the Puerto Ricans who moved to the mainland stayed for less than two years. By the 1990s out-migration had stopped completely, despite persistently high unemployment. Legalising Mexican migration, says Mr Griswold, would at a stroke bring a huge underground market into the open and improve working conditions for millions of the low-skilled.

Maybe so, but do not expect any politician to go that far. Instead, be grateful that Mr Bush has begun the journey. As he said in this year's state-of-the-union address, the present immigration system is unsuited to the needs of our economy and to the values of our country. We should not be content with laws that punish hardworking people who want only to provide for their families...It is time for an immigration policy that permits temporary guest-workers to fill jobs Americans will not take...and that closes the border to drug-dealers and terrorists. The assembled senators and congressmen duly applauded. Whether they will ever turn their applause into votes is another matter."

Archives | March 6-12 2005 | Yourish.com

2005-03-15T08:49:00.000-08:00

Archives | March 6-12 2005 | Yourish.com

Don't forget, it is the 3rd Annual International Eat an Animal for PETA day.

Four riders of the Apocalypse - Quizilla

2005-03-14T12:19:00.000-08:00

Four riders of the Apocalypse - Quizilla

~~Lesley~~ Jon has a "Most memorable movie quote" thing going on. I messed up and read the others before I wrote mine so I am not sure I got *my* most memorable, seems my most memorable Eastwood Movie quote.

"And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him."

Anyway for those that play these games, which horseman are you?

Me?

Yuk. You're Pestilence. Dribbling and oozing you
scatter infections wherever you go. You like to
see people suffering long and painfully.

It is spring break

2005-03-14T10:15:00.000-08:00

My customer base (students with screwed up computers - thank you Microsoft) is out of town or otherwise engaged, so I am mostly killing time.

I think I will actually read all my spam. I wonder which name of the moment will be the subject of the latest nude celebrity photos?

Maybe I should hit up Laurence Simon for a game of spam bingo. Looks like he is bored too.

Alan Reynolds: The Sarbanes-Oxley tax

2005-03-11T16:54:00.000-08:00

Alan Reynolds: The Sarbanes-Oxley tax

Is there some statute somewhere buried in the federal regulations or some obscure ammendment to the constitution that says they must enact laws with costly unintended consequenses, vastly outweighing any intended (often unrealized) intended consequence?

Donald Luskin on Social Security Personal Accounts and the Lockbox on NRO Financial

2005-03-08T11:02:00.000-08:00

Donald Luskin on Social Security Personal Accounts and the Lockbox on NRO Financial

Remember the concept from the 2000 election? the rhetorical "lockbox" that never has existed in social security?

No, I’m not kidding. The fact is that personal accounts are nothing less than a Social Security lockbox. Yes, a lockbox — what Al Gore went on and on about in the 2000 election (*And won the popular vote) . Donald Luskin

Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors: 2004

2005-03-03T16:54:00.000-08:00

Fiscal Policy Report Card on America's Governors: 2004

Only in government will a 52 get you a C - My Governor Kempthorne (R) Idaho Actually it is worse Johanns (R) Nebraska earned a C at 49. Read the report, check out wherre your state's Governor ranks.

The key finding is that when money is left in the hands of government it gets spent. When this happens during peak economic performance spending programs are created that are unsustainablre during non-peak economic performance. At that point legislatures and governors are loath to cut spending, turning instead to raising taxes to fund their creation, which in turn slows the economy even more, often worsening fiscal crisis.

Yahoo! News - Greenspan: Economy Sound, Spending Curbs Needed

2005-03-02T10:53:00.000-08:00

Yahoo! News - Greenspan: Economy Sound, Spending Curbs Needed

Greenspan continues with his penchant for stating the obvious. Too bad the obvious is so obscure to the legislators and president.

Greenspan notes that deficits, debt and interest charges on the debt pose a threat to the economy. He further notes that interest on the debt is at historically low rates, and that when interest ticks up so to will the deficit. As this problem grows there are basically two tools for covering the costs, raising taxes and lowering spending. Problem is that "fiscally conservative" republicans have been spending at such a pace that the requisite taxes to cover the costs would damage the economy and reduce the tax base, leading to lower, not higher, revenue. (The Laffer curve)

The only viable solution for reducing the deficit, eventually paying down the debt, is to reduce spending. Too bad that the big government dolts in DC haven't gotten that oh so obvious message. The "new fiscal conservative" bush budget does not cut spending, only 19% of the budget is on the table for "cuts" the other 81 % grows rapidly. And some of the "cuts" are offset by spending increases of similar amounts elsewhere.

Reason: Revolting Development: Can the Supreme Court stop the spread of blight?

2005-02-25T16:16:00.000-08:00

Reason: Revolting Development: Can the Supreme Court stop the spread of blight?

Sandra Day, often the swing vote in SCOTUS, asks an important question in the Kelo v New London case.

Can a city decide to get rid of the Motel 6 and put up a Ritz-Carlton, asked Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, because the luxury hotel would produce more taxes?

"That would be OK?" she asked.

And Scalia follows up with
"Are we saying you can take from A and give to B if B pays more taxes?"

(New London's attorney answers "If they are significantly more"

This is what the takings clause is been bastardization into. If your neighbor offers to pay more in property tax beware. Note that would be offers. Once your land is taken "for the good of society" what good will it do you if the new owner does not live up to their tax payment forecasts?

Here is hoping O'Connor comes to her senses and sees this for the egregious abuse of power that it is.

Reason: A High White Note: Hunter Thompson's writing�and politics�were one of a kind

2005-02-22T15:32:00.000-08:00

Reason: A High White Note: Hunter Thompson's writing�and politics�were one of a kind

No more fear and loathing.

I had originally thought to title this fear and loathing in the dirt. Seems I should have called it Fear and Loathing in the Air.

Call Alanis Morisette

2005-02-17T08:52:00.000-08:00

Navy to Commission Attack Submarine Jimmy Carter
You gotta be kidding.

An attack submarine to Honor Jimmy, 444 days, Carter?

FOXNews.com - Politics - Tax Panel Considers Mixing Income, Consumption Taxes

2005-02-16T16:16:00.000-08:00

FOXNews.com - Politics - Tax Panel Considers Mixing Income, Consumption Taxes

Oh Joy. They are considering a consumption tax, not to replace the income tax, but to supplement it.

Two things wrong with this. First of all they are NOT addressing the real culprit, the spending. Secondly they are not replacing one bad tax with a better (economically speaking) tax, they are adding it to the code. This is not simplifying the code, this is making it more complex, adding places for them to muddle with the code to pass special favors on to specific groups. If they want to junk the income tax (correctly stated all the forms of income tax we endure) with a consumption tax, fine. Do that. Junk income tax(es) and keep the consumption tax plainly visible, flat across product and services and ADDRESS SPENDING. Until spending is addressed the tax will be overly confiscatory.

Archives | February 13-19 2005 | Yourish.com

2005-02-15T10:37:00.000-08:00

Archives | February 13-19 2005 | Yourish.com

3rd annual Eat an Animal for PETA Day is just round the corner.

Viri Gene therapy

2005-02-14T14:26:00.000-08:00

Couple of interesting stories in the news recently.

Scientists have been able to regrow cochlea hair in guinea pigs, using a virus as a carrier in gene therapy.

Scientists are using a harmless version of the HIV virus to treat some melanoma.

Scientists have been searching for a good carrier for gene therapy and it appears they have hit upon using viri because of the ability to target specific areas and penetrate specific cells.

Economist.com | George Bush�s �lean� budget

2005-02-09T13:04:00.000-08:00

Economist.com George Bush's lean budgetWhile people run around screaming like chicken little (the budget axe is falling" with Bush's propsed budget thee are a few things to keep in mind. He has never vetoed anything, ever. At each and every opportunity he has signed bad policy, excessive spending and promoted growth or creation of government agencies, then declared it a "conservative" victory.

As The Economist says "it is his deeds, not his words ... that will determine America's fiscal future."

Reason: Saving Graces: The case for private retirement accounts does not depend on Social Security's bankruptcy

2005-02-08T09:57:00.000-08:00

Reason: Saving Graces: The case for private retirement accounts does not depend on Social Security's bankruptcy

Jacob Sullum writes that Private Social Security accounts are independent of the fiscal soundness of Social Security. In this he is correct. The rational for Private Accounts is that it is an expansion of individual liberty, an increase in property rights (the right to your property and the fruits of your labor). Too bad he then spend so much time muddling around the financial state of Social Security as it is now and the transition costs to a Private Account system, and the ultimate increase in individual wealth (returns from investment increase total retirement wealth over the current wealth transfer system).

All valid points but I had hoped for a more philosophical piece about individual rights and responsibility leading to better resource decisions. I certainly trust myself far more than the Dolts in DC to take care of my retirement years.

One can hardly argue that handing over SS taxes to the dolts in DC (pay-stub noted and the intentionally mislabeled employer contribution) has led to sound financial decisions.

Bigger faster stronger

2005-02-05T17:40:00.000-08:00

I just finished setting up my new PC today.

I have so many USB connections on my new PC I think I will be looking for a USB coffee cup warmer. My TI calculator is more powerful than several previous PC's I have had. The progress in the power and speed of the PC makes me wonder what my kids will think when I tell them what I used to have to worked with. You kids have it so easy, I used to have to spend a couple of days installing and troubleshooting software ...

I hab a code

2005-02-03T08:18:00.000-08:00

That is it, I hab a code, I feel like crap today.

Caveat Emptor?

2005-01-28T15:45:00.000-08:00

Yahoo! News - Stripper Wins Damages After Tiger Attack

(I am really trying hard to avoid the obvious puns)

So if you choose to partake in a potentially dangerous entertainment how much of the risk should you assume?

If you go snorkling are you or the snorkling company for infections suffered from scrapes against coral?

If you go on a roller coaster and suffer strained muscles do you bear the responsibility or does the park opperator?

If you drive through a wild park preserve, inadvertantly roll your windows down, contrary to park rules, who has the responsibility for a mauling by a dangerous cat?

Mr. Blonde's Garage � The Real Test

2005-01-27T16:11:00.000-08:00

Mr. Blonde's Garage � The Real Test

I think I hijacked a post of at Mr. Blondes Garage. The Knicks Van Gundy basically called Phil Jackson a coward for not agreeing to coach teams without talent capable of a title chase, claimng that a "real" coach builds a poor team into a contender.

I think that criticism is missplaced. The front office makes the decisions as to who will be on the roster, the coach does what he can with the talent available. Some coaches with plenty of talent come up short. Some coaches get more than expected out of the talent they have. I think Jackson falls in the latter not the former. True, his championship teams have all had dominate players. Few championship teams are without a dominant player, if they don't have a dominant player or two they have a solid group where the sum is greater than the parts. Think the no name D of the Dolphins (as a group in the HOF, but not one individual went to the pro-bowl) Or Detroit Pistons lst year. All good athletes across the roster, but which of them is the #1 at their position?

Anyway it comes down to production from the resources available. There are two lines of reasoning. One is to assemble a group, where none of the athletes is that years top athlete at his position, but there is no glaring weakness across all positions, and the bench players are not a significant drop in talent. Jackson's approach has been to top load his triangle offense with the production he needs out of his stars, then fill in the roster with roll players of lessor talent. Note the drop from Shaq to Slobo at center last year. Or Cartwright to Perdue. In the second run Jordan to Harper.

In economic terms there is a total production the team needs to win a championship, an unknown to be sure, but there are basic things a team needs to do well to get in the hunt. In a salary capped world a team must manage it's limited resource to get the most production out of its salary pool. The trick is in what an economist would call equamarginal production. the league minimum you might pay the last man on the bench should get the same production per dollar as the superstar salary the franchise player commands.

So what am I getting at? Well there are some players out there commanding so much salary they make the team worse for having them. The salary, and roster moves required to assuage Kobe's ego made the Lakers worse. I called Kobe over-rated. In part because I don't like that prick. The economic reason he is over-rated is the salary hedemanded plus the roster/coaching changes he required made the Lakers worse off.

The Colts are about to experience this principle too. Manning and his salary are about to put them in salary cap hell. They are something like $5.7 million over the cap, have a weak D and have to sign James or a capable running back to replace him. As bad as they have it the Buccaneers are $12 million over and don't have a quality QB. The woeful Dolphins are over $17 million over the cap.

On a side note, equal salary does not even mean equal incentives. The market incentives, ads and such, in New York are vastly different from the market opportunities in Portland or Seattle.

Free Market Assumptions

2005-01-24T12:28:00.000-08:00

Yahoo! News - Lifting the Lid: Tech Seen Easing Financial Analysis

Among the valid criticisms against free markets is the assumption of perfect information or in the absence of perfect information, the condition of symmetrical information. Even the casual observer knows perfect information is not likely. The typical response is it is close enough. And in most cases it is close enough.

The second assumption poses larger problems, symmetric knowledge or the absence of asymmetric information by those involved in a market transaction.

Insider trading laws are supposed to address asymmetric information concerns. Those with inside information are not supposed to trade on that knowledge; this allegedly makes the market more efficient. Ignoring for the moment claims that insider trading makes the market more efficient (actions on inside information are a means of transmitting inside information, at least the expected impact of that information, to the market – insiders selling is a good clue that you should consider selling too.)

With the advances in technology tools for discovering information about companies is coming. The ability to scour books for specific information will lower the degree of impact of not good enough information as well as asymmetrical information.

As with the internet, data is not the same as information. Access to volumes of records does not always translate into useful information in a timely manner. More information, if used wisely, is good. More information, if it disguises good information is bad. There will be an adjustment period, likely with increased volatility in share prices while the market adjusts more information into better information.

Economist.com | George Bush�s second term

2005-01-24T11:53:00.000-08:00

Economist.com | George Bush�s second term

As The Economist notes Bush's favorite word is free. Not free government money, although he seems particulary adept a handing out "free" government money while maintaining a conservative label. We shall see if his actual policy changes course this time towards freedom.

There are implications for freedom, domestically as well as globally, in the most basic premise of capitalism.

Property rights. To be exact private property rights.

Here at home as government grows private property rights are ursurped for "the common good" which quite often ends up as yet another example of the tragedy of the commons.

As democray gains a tenuous toehold in the mid east it is important to keep in mind one of the factors keeping that reion in poverty, indeed in most 3rd world and developing nations, is a lack of a functional property rights definition and system.

As an example, Egypt has an estimated $245 billion assets in the extralegal sector. To put that in perspective that is 55 times the direct foriegn investment in Egypt up to 1996.

As Iraq and Afganistan begin their journey to democracy the likelihood of success is greatly dependent upon the private property reforms there. If the nations remain kleptocracies it doesn't matter how the kleptocrat gains power, by vote or by force, a kleptocracy will condemn the governed to economic squalor.

My typing sucks

2005-01-24T09:20:00.000-08:00

When I rule teh world I will decree that teh word "the" is changed to teh. It doesn't matter how often I type, how often I practice I always have to proofread and change all my teh's to "the."

Yahoo! News - Security Concerns Prompt Internet Explorer Defections

2005-01-24T09:06:00.000-08:00

Yahoo! News - Security Concerns Prompt Internet Explorer Defections

What a shock, IE is insecure. The flaws have become troublesome to the point of making a standard PC unusable for the computer illiterate when the are compromised by the varoius forms of malware.

Friend of mine showed me just how easy it is to exploit IE, sat down and wrote a handful of exploits in less than 5 minutes, from the simple (changing your system date - which BTW makes Windows update unusable) to the harmful (deleting directory trees and all the files in them).

If you don't know how to fix windows exploits run from IE as fast as possible.

Plum Crazy: Finance Archives

2005-01-24T08:55:00.000-08:00

Plum Crazy: Finance Archives

Riddle me this

2005-01-21T15:10:00.000-08:00

There are a couple of competing claims running around the political spheres. I'ld like someone to reconcile the mutually exclusive conditions promoted by the same people.

Wages are not keeping up with inflation.

Re-indexing Social Security Benfit increases from wages increases to price level increases will result in a drop in the rate of growth of social security benefits.

So which is growing faster? General price levels or wages?