Despite Reports, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Was Not Waterboarded 183 Times - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com

Despite Reports, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Was Not Waterboarded 183 Times - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com:

A U.S. official with knowledge of the interrogation program told FOX News that the much-cited figure represents the number of times water was poured onto Mohammed's face -- not the number of times the CIA applied the simulated-drowning technique on the terror suspect. According to a 2007 Red Cross report, he was subjected a total of 'five sessions of ill-treatment.'

'The water was poured 183 times -- there were 183 pours,' the official explained, adding that 'each pour was a matter of seconds.'

That sounds so much better.

The memos describe the controversial process: a detainee is strapped to a gurney with his head lowered and a cloth placed on his face. Interrogators pour water onto the cloth, which cuts off air flow to the mouth and nostrils, tripping his gag reflex, causing panic and giving him the sensation that he is drowning.

At that point the cloth would be removed, the gurney rotated upright and the detainee would be allowed to breathe. The technique could be repeated a few times during a waterboarding session; Zubaydah said it was generally used once or twice, but he said he was waterboarded three times during one session.

The Justice Department memos described the maximum allowed use of the waterboard on any detainee, based on tactical training given to U.S. troops to resist interrogations:

-- Five days of use in one month, with no more than two "sessions" in a day;
-- Up to six applications (something like a dunk) lasting more than 10 seconds but less than 40 seconds per session;
-- 12 minutes of total "water application" in a 24-hour period

Torture, according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, is: "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a male or female person for such purposes as obtaining from him, or a third person, information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in, or incidental to, lawful sanctions."

Do you think that is torture? Is that what you want the U.S. to do?

WORLD Magazine | On the road again | Marvin Olasky | May 09, 09

WORLD Magazine | On the road again | Marvin Olasky | May 09, 09: "WORLD: What would you do about Iran right now?
HUCKABEE: We need to remember that the Iranian people are not our enemies; the Iranian leadership is not at all indicative of the total attitude. You may have forgotten this, but on the night of Sept. 11, 2001, when there was dancing in the streets in Arab capitals all around the world, in Tehran they lit candles. The Iranian people do not inherently hate Americans. In fact, there is a deep sense of angst within many Iranians because they had a long-time relationship with the American people. With the takeover of radical Islamic factions, the leadership makes Americans think that that is who they are. I have nothing but contempt for Ahmadinejad—and he's the puppet, he's not the power, it's the ayatollah behind him—but there are a lot of Iranians who would like to see something other than what they live under now."

First 100 Days: Social Policy Takes a Left Turn Under Obama - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com

First 100 Days: Social Policy Takes a Left Turn Under Obama - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com: "From the conscience clause to stem cell research, President Obama has shifted social policy to the left in his first 100 days in the White House. But the reversal of several of his predecessor's regulations has garnered hardly a whimper -- leaving many to wonder how much social issues matter to Americans amid two wars and an economic crisis."

FOXNews.com - Man Brings Live Hand Grenade to Gun Buyback Event - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

FOXNews.com - Man Brings Live Hand Grenade to Gun Buyback Event - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News: "New York City police were holding a suspect Saturday who they say tried to turn in a live hand grenade to police at a gun-buyback program in the Bronx."

He was following the spirit of the program. They want to get weapons off the street and he was helping. Why arrest him?

If you want to reduce government corruption...

...then reduce the size of government.

The Death of XSLT in Web Frameworks | Javalobby

The Death of XSLT in Web Frameworks | Javalobby: "The interesting point is: how the XML-based processing works in practice? The short answer is: very poor. And the weakest link in the whole chain is XSLT."

These are my comments on his 5 problems with XSLT:
1. Conditionals are a pain but are they common enough to be big to be a deal-killer?
2. Creating an extra variable occasionally isn’t a big deal.
3. Can be a pain.
4. Functional programming is different but it is gaining utility if large systems
5. I don't have enough experience with this to comment.

Some quick benefits of XSLT over JSP:
1. Push processing to client.
2. Reduce data sent to client
3. Depending on the data and HTML that needs to be applied, XSLT may be the best fit (just like JSP may be the best fit in other situations).

Some time spent learning the different ways of XSLT may have improved the experience. XSLT doesn't work in all cases (what language does) but I think its a little bit premature to claim it is dead. Not even languages that "nobody uses" like COBOL, assembly, and Fortran are dead.

It's Earth Day so change a light bulb and pat yourself on the back

First I think it is very important to conserve the Earth that God gave us and pass it on in good condition to our children.

But it bothers me when I see people promoting changing a few light-bulbs and commending people for doing that. The reason that it bothers me is because they don't show which actions are most effective (most bang for the buck) and try to promote the most effective methods. It seems that most people just want everyone to do some token action when if they really cared about the environment they would promote the most effective actions.

For example (from Google) an LED light bulb costs about $75 while using 22% of the energy of a regular bulb. Assuming the light is used 3 hours per day after a year that would save 42.7 KWH and 22 pounds of carbon (per PGE). It costs $3.41 per annual pound of carbon saved. Could that $75 have saved more carbon a different way?

$60 could buy 24 CFL bulbs (per Home Depot) and that would save 34 pounds of carbon per year (per PGE). That would cost $1.76 per annual pound of carbon saved. That's twice as effective as the LED bulb.

I'm sure there are more options that are even more effective so those who care should care enough to do the best they can with the resources available.

If I Were a Rich Man

Some friends did a spoof of "If a Were a Rich Man" from "Fiddler on the Roof" with a theme of the government bailouts.

Study: P2P thieves buy more music | The Open Road - CNET News

Study: P2P thieves buy more music | The Open Road - CNET News: "As Ars Technica reports,
When it comes to P2P, it seems that those who wave the pirate flag are the most click-happy on services like the iTunes Store and Amazon MP3. BI said that those who said they download illegal music for 'free' bought 10 times as much legal music as those who never download music illegally."

The movie industry fought VHS because movies could be copied but who would argue that VHS was bad for the movie industry?

Innovation can breathe again: Patent filings decline | The Open Road - CNET News

Innovation can breathe again: Patent filings decline | The Open Road - CNET News: "While the PatentlyO blog suggests this is a 'crisis,' I'm with TechDirt: the only crisis is that it has taken so long for patent filings to decline:
Considering the large number of bad patents that got through over the years, and the resulting flood of applications from others hoping to strike it rich by gaining monopolies on obvious ideas, it should be seen as a good thing that applications are finally dropping.
If anything, we should be wondering why they're not dropping more. Patents were supposed to be given out in the rarest of circumstances, when other incentives weren't enough. Somewhere along the way, those who controlled the patent system seemed to forget this and lose their way."

A conservative

A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

A conservative is a man who realizes that when the government takes a step forward it often forces man to take a step back.

Obama Repeats '90 Percent' Stat for U.S. Guns Recovered in Mexico - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com

Obama Repeats '90 Percent' Stat for U.S. Guns Recovered in Mexico - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com:

'This war is being waged with guns purchased not here, but in the United States. More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that line our shared border,' the president said on the subject in his joint press conference with Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Thursday:

To some, it might sound as if Obama is saying 90 percent of all guns captured from the cartels originated in America. But that's not what the president means, senior National Security Council Spokesman Denis McDonough told FOX�News on Saturday.

"By recovered he means traceable, guns traced back to the United States," McDonough said. "These are ATF (Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms) numbers. These are the guns submitted to the ATF for tracing. That's what we mean by recovered."

"Recovered" does not seem like the correct word to describe this. "recovered in Mexico" to me covers all guns that the Mexican government has found.

"Do You Austrians Have a Better Idea?" - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Institute

"Do You Austrians Have a Better Idea?" - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Institute: "n one sense, the critics are right when they ask, 'Oh, so we should just sit back and do nothing and let the market fix itself?' Yes, that would be a perfectly good idea. The whole reason we are in a recession in the first place is that the capital structure of the economy had become unsustainable due to the Fed's massive credit expansion following the dot-com bust and 9/11 attacks. Resources — most notably, labor — are currently idle, because the economy needs to readjust. Overextended lines such as housing and finance need to shrink, while others need to expand. (And no, I don't know what those understaffed lines are; that's why we have a price system.) Because Americans lived beyond their means for so many years, they now need to live below their means, consuming less while they rebuild their checking accounts and portfolios."

Ten specific proposals are listed in the article.

Campaign For Liberty — File This Under...

Campaign For Liberty — File This Under...: "... 'You know you're in trouble when...'

The former head of the KGB warns you that you're embracing too much socialism:

Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin has said the US should take a lesson from the pages of Russian history and not exercise 'excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the state's omnipotence'....

Sounding more like Barry Goldwater than the former head of the KGB, Putin said, 'Nor should we turn a blind eye to the fact that the spirit of free enterprise, including the principle of personal responsibility of businesspeople, investors, and shareholders for their decisions, is being eroded in the last few months. There is no reason to believe that we can achieve better results by shifting responsibility onto the state.'..."

Problems with the Iowa Supreme Court Decision on Homosexual marriage

Voddie Baucham Ministries: "Right off the bat the Iowa decision jumps on the “Gay is the New Black” bandwagon."

"They do not ‘prove’ that homosexuality is a Civil Rights issue; they assume it. There is no Constitutional Right to sodomy. Moreover, homosexuals are not deprived of their Civil Rights in marriage, because they have the same rights in that regard as every American. That’s right... HOMOSEXUALS HAVE THE RIGHT TO MARRY! What they don’t have the right to is same-sex marriage."

"The Supreme Court of Iowa is basing its opinion on what is “unappealing to a gay or lesbian person.” This is not jurisprudence; this is social engineering."

"In other words, a right that you cannot enjoy is no right at all. Imagine this phrase applied to other sexual deviants. “Thus, the right of a [pedophile] under the marriage statute to enter a civil marriage only with a person [of legal age] is no right at all.”"

"How do the Justices know that the plaintiffs’ relationships were committed and loving? How does a same-sex couple raise children “just like heterosexual couples” if they do not have the same male/female makeup? Can a mother function ‘exactly’ like a father? Can a father fulfill all the roles of a mother? Is the law in the business of defining love? What legal standard did the Justices use to define commitment? If one of these couples experienced adultery, separation, or divorce, would that have change the decision? If so, then the law is purely situational and there is no longer an objective standard. If not, then the statement is superfluous and has no place in a legal decision."

Freedom or Regimentation - Mark Scheel - Mises Institute

Freedom or Regimentation - Mark Scheel - Mises Institute: "He asks the questions, does societal inequality necessarily imply victims and villains, and why do we tend to divide ourselves into 'them-versus-us' dichotomies? Carabini then warns of the pitfalls inherent in a strict system of democracy and reintroduces the old concept of "the tragedy of the commons." A consideration is offered as to how wealth is not a static monopoly but rather begets more wealth for all. A clarification is made as to what really constitutes money and how money does not equate with "prosperity." Carabini then berates the news media today for misleading us with skewed reportage and deconstructs the phenomenon of so-called "earnings gaps," explaining why any quest for "economic equality" is not only futile but harmful to the whole of society. As clearly demonstrated, redistribution of earnings and wealth quickly becomes a bane to a healthy economy, and everyone suffers the worse for it."

New Ideas for Roads - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Institute

New Ideas for Roads - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Institute: "It should go without saying that roads were originally private in the United States and were only later taken over by government, before public ownership had become an accepted convention."

"President's Preschool Emphasis Is Misdirected" by Andrew J. Coulson (Cato Institute: Commentary)

"President's Preschool Emphasis Is Misdirected" by Andrew J. Coulson (Cato Institute: Commentary): "When it comes to our children's future,' writes president Obama in his first budget, 'we cannot waste dollars on methods, programs, and initiatives that are not effective and efficient.' He's right, but his budget fails to heed his own dictum."

"In 2007, Heckman identified three small preschool programs from the 1960s and 1970s that studies suggest have more than paid for themselves in lower subsequent welfare and criminal justice costs incurred by their participants. But Heckman cautioned that "a much more careful analysis of the effects of scaling up the model programs... has to be undertaken before these estimates can be considered definitive.""

"If the president really wants effective, efficient programs, he should look at Florida's scholarship donation tax credit. Under this program, businesses can contribute to non-profit scholarship organizations that subsidize private k-12 tuition for needy families. For each dollar they donate, the businesses owe one fewer dollar in taxes. Last December, Florida's own government accountability office found that this education tax credit saves $1.49 for every dollar it reduces tax revenue. That is three times the largest return on investment for the preschool programs cited by Heckman —and it comes from a policy that is already serving 23,000 students statewide.

Giving at-risk children access to private schooling has been repeatedly shown to improve their educational attainment. Economist Derek Neal has found that Catholic schools raise the graduation rate of urban African Americans by 26 percentage points, and more than double their chances of graduating from college – even after controlling for differences in student background between the sectors. Half a dozen other scientific studies echo Neal's findings. Researchers from the U.S. and abroad also point to higher test scores for students when they attend private rather than public schools, after controlling for student and family background, as I report in a forthcoming global literature review in the Journal of School Choice."

"A Troubling Tax Day" by Chris Edwards (Cato Institute: Commentary)

"A Troubling Tax Day" by Chris Edwards (Cato Institute: Commentary): "The number of pages of tax rules skyrocketed from 40,500 in 1995 to 70,320 in 2009. Congress is increasingly micromanaging society with special tax incentives for education, energy, and other activities.
Federal tax paperwork consumes 7.6 billion hours of time annually, which is like having a full-time 'tax army' of 3.8 million people.
There are about 500 changes to the tax code every year as Congress and the Treasury churn out a never-ending stream of laws and regulations.
The share of taxpayers requiring professional help keeps rising, with 62 percent of returns completed by professionals in 2007.

Aside from the compliance burden, tax complexity creates other problems:

It complicates decision-making in the economy, for example by confusing family financial planning and generating uncertainty for businesses.
It encourages an invasion of privacy by the government. Each new tax incentive requires special documentation, which exposes people to scrutiny by the IRS.
It results in frequent errors by taxpayers and the IRS. Individuals and businesses can get locked into battles with the IRS for years because of uncertain tax rules.
It encourages tax evasion. High tax rates combined with complexity fosters aggressive tax dodging, which prompts Congress to pass even more complex tax regulations."

"All Aboard the Gravy Train" by Chris Edwards (Cato Institute: Commentary)

"All Aboard the Gravy Train" by Chris Edwards (Cato Institute: Commentary): "The CFDA was launched in the 1960s because members of Congress needed a guide to help their constituents access benefits from the hundreds of new Great Society programs. There were 1,019 federal subsidy programs by 1970; the number rose more in the late 1970s before President Reagan cut back in the early 1980s. It started growing again in the late 1980s, but leveled out in the mid-1990s as Congress briefly restrained the budget.

This decade, budget restraint vanished and the number of subsidy programs grew by 27 percent. The number of subsidy programs in the Department of Agriculture increased 56 percent thanks to bloated farm bills in 2002 and 2008."

"To illustrate the broad advance of the federal welfare state, here is a sample of large and small subsidy programs added since 2000 and their annual cost:

Medicare prescription-drug benefit ($62 billion)
Homeland-security state grants ($1 billion)
Local firefighter-staffing grants ($180 million)
Clean-diesel funding ($156 million)
Healthy-marriage promotion ($150 million)
Community abstinence education ($117 million)
Education-data-systems grants ($100 million)
Small-shipyards subsidies ($98 million)
Bioenergy-fuels grants ($80 million)
Anti-gang state grants ($45 million)
Laura Bush library program ($26 million)
Specialty-crop block grant ($49 million)
Seniors' farmers-market program ($22 million)
EPA community-action grants ($2.4 million)
Drug-free-workplace grants ($1 million)

All these programs cost taxpayers money, but they also generate great deals of bureaucracy. Each requires armies of federal, state, and local administrators to handle grant applications, police eligibility, calculate funding formulas, and write stacks of reports that nobody reads.

These efforts don't always work, so scam artists claim unjustified benefits. (The cost of fraud is in the tens of billions of dollars for large subsidy programs such as Medicare and Medicaid.) And each new subsidy program spurs the creation of lobby groups that set up camp near Capitol Hill to push for even higher federal spending."

Baldwin Bulletin Baldwin Wisconsin: Phoenix Bar and Grill readied for May 1 opening

Baldwin Bulletin Baldwin Wisconsin: Phoenix Bar and Grill readied for May 1 opening: "The board discussed whether the village ordinances should be amended to require that a garage be built with every home. The consensus was that should be the case and the board passed a motion to require at least a 20x20 garage with every home. The measure now needs to be published and then adopted as an ordinance."

Why in the world do they think they need to mandate that every new house have a 20x20 (2 car?) garage?

Spanish Study Sparks Skepticism About Green Jobs - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com

Spanish Study Sparks Skepticism About Green Jobs - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com: "'Will America watch as the clean energy jobs and industries of the future flourish in countries like Spain, Japan or Germany?' he asked in January.

But a new report out of Spain says if that country is any indication, Americans shouldn't be depending on green jobs to help the U.S. economy."

"Calzada says for every green job that's created with government funding, 2.2 regular jobs are lost and that only one in 10 green jobs wind up being permanent."

D.C. Families Bemoan Imminent Loss of Voucher Program - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com

D.C. Families Bemoan Imminent Loss of Voucher Program - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com: "Democrats, teachers' unions and other opponents say it is impossible to expect public schools to do better while precious public dollars are being siphoned away to private schools."

The public schools keep some of the money that they used to get for the students so if all students participated in the program the public schools would have tons of money (and no students). The root isn't isn't about losing money -- it seems to be about control.

Report: NSA tried to eavesdrop on Congress member | Politics and Law - CNET News

Report: NSA tried to eavesdrop on Congress member | Politics and Law - CNET News: "The National Security Agency tried to wiretap a member of the U.S. Congress without a warrant, and has engaged in 'significant and systemic' illegal surveillance activities in the last few months including e-mail and telephone call interceptions, according to a report this week."

With this level of abuse against someone at that high of position how safe do you feel?

Introducing Human Action Audio! - Ludwig von Mises - Mises Institute

Introducing Human Action Audio! - Ludwig von Mises - Mises Institute: "It was the ideas of the classical economists that removed the checks imposed by age-old laws, customs, and prejudices upon technological improvement and freed the genius of reformers and innovators from the straitjackets of the guilds, government tutelage, and social pressure of various kinds."

"The economists exploded the old tenets: that it is unfair and unjust to outdo a competitor by producing better and cheaper goods; that it is iniquitous to deviate from the traditional methods of production; that machines are an evil because they bring about unemployment; that it is one of the tasks of civil government to prevent efficient businessmen from getting rich and to protect the less efficient against the competition of the more efficient; that to restrict the freedom of entrepreneurs by government compulsion or by coercion on the part of other social powers is an appropriate means to promote a nation's well-being."

"The U.N.'s Global Green Raw Deal" by Patrick J. Michaels (Cato Institute: Commentary)

"The U.N.'s Global Green Raw Deal" by Patrick J. Michaels (Cato Institute: Commentary): "the United Nations has just jumped on President Obama's hybrid bandwagon, demanding yet another trillion dollars (coming mostly from you-know-who) to fund 'A Global Green New Deal for Sustainable Development.' Translation: The U.S. will provide funds to poorer nations so that they, too, can tell their private companies what to make, whom to employ, and how much to pay them."

"Resenting the Rich - Rebutting Thomas Piketty" by Chris Edwards (Cato Institute: Commentary)

"Resenting the Rich - Rebutting Thomas Piketty" by Chris Edwards (Cato Institute: Commentary): "Piketty's understanding of the nature of income is very European. He implies that there is a fixed income pie, such that any income that high earners receive must come at the expense of others. Because the share of income earned by the top 1 percent has increased, he says that there has been 'an income transfer of about 14 points of national income' to the top group. But high earners did not take that money from other people, they generated it by their own efforts.

In a market economy, there is no central pile of money that is distributed out to the citizens. Each person produces value and earns income by voluntary exchange in a decentralised fashion. Compensation follows from people producing items of value to others. Of course there are exceptions, such as those high-earning CEOs who perform poorly, but it doesn't make economic sense to impose exorbitant tax rates because of the exceptions.
Those at the top end—the entrepreneurs, doctors, and others with unique skills—often generate benefits that are greater than their reward in compensation. One reason is that there is scope for innovation in top-end jobs like heart surgery that there isn't in lower-income jobs. The trash collector's wage matches his contribution, but when the surgeon invents a new medical technique, it can create long-lasting benefits for the rest of us that will only be partly reflected in compensation."

"Piketty's work is based on income as reported on tax returns, but there have been huge changes in the American tax system since the 1970s that make measuring income over time very difficult. My colleague Alan Reynolds has tackled some of these problems with the Piketty data.1 One issue is that the top federal income tax rate fell from 70% in the late 1970s to 35% today, with the result that high-income taxpayers are avoiding and evading taxes less, and reporting more income on their returns.

If you look at Piketty's data showing the share of income received by the top 1% since the 1970s, you will see sudden upward spikes after major tax rate cuts. That suggests that a portion of the income gains at the high end are not based on structural factors, such as globalisation as Piketty suggests, but are simply expected responses to changes in tax law."

"In the United States, half of all business income is reported on individual returns, not corporate returns, and a lot of that business income is reported by people at the top end. If you raise individual income taxes at the top end, you hit a large amount of small business income. And empirical research has shown that small businesses are sensitive to income tax changes. A series of studies by economists Robert Carroll, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Mark Rider and Harvey Rosen explored, for example, the effect of marginal income tax rates on small business hiring, investment, and growth.4 They found substantial effects, such as that a five percentage point cut in marginal tax rates would cause a 10% increase in capital expenditures."

Open Letter to Mothers Against Drunk Driving - Walter Block - Mises Institute

Open Letter to Mothers Against Drunk Driving - Walter Block - Mises Institute: "with a system of private highways and streets, the various owners would compete with one another to provide service for their customers (including, preeminently, safety). Those who failed (e.g., pursued policies detrimental to the 'health of children and other living things') would be forced either to change the error of their ways or go belly up. Those who saved lives by better dealing with drunkards, speeders, etc., would earn profits and thus be enabled to expand the base of their operations.

Third, this is precisely the system — privatization — that vastly outstripped that of the U.S.S.R. in providing computers, cars, clothes, and a plethora of other products and services. Yet, instead of borrowing a leaf from our own success and applying it to highways, we have instead copied the discredited Soviet economic system and applied it to our network of roadways. That is, our highway network is governmentally owned and managed. This is why people die like flies on these roads and suffer from traffic congestion serious enough to try the patience of a saint (which also exacerbates casualties through road rage).

Fourth, the rules of the road that would minimize automobile accidents (this goes for most other valuable economic recipes) do not come to us from on high, imprinted on stone tablets. Rather, they have to be learned, ofttimes by hard and difficult experience. The time-honored and traditional capitalist way of learning is by allowing all entrepreneurs, willing to risk their own money, free rein to do exactly as they please. The ones who hit upon the best way of proceeding earn profits; those who do not either have to copy the successful or fall by the wayside. It is precisely this, the magic of the marketplace, that has brought us our world-class standard of living. But this learning process cannot possibly take place when politicians, bureaucrats, and other members of the nomenklatura class determine the rules of the road, and do not lose an iota of their personal fortunes when they err in this way, or, indeed, are guilty of any other sort of highway mismanagement."

"It is perhaps a truism that "speed kills." Yet the rate of fatalities has decreased after the elimination of the 55 mph speed limit. Some analysts have suggested that it is not the average rate of travel that is determinative but rather the variance in speed. That is, we might all be safer with a slow-lane speed requirement (both minimum and maximum) of 60 mph, a middle lane of 70 mph, and a fast lane of 80 mph than with the present minimum of 40 mph and maximum of 70, typical of many highways. I don't know the answer to this question. But I do know the best way to answer it: unleash a new breed of road entrepreneurs on it. Allow each of them to address this issue as they wish. Then, using the same system we as a society have utilized to improve the quality of cars, computers, and clothes, among other things, we shall find the answer."

FOXNews.com - Report: U.S. Considers Attacks on Somali Pirates' Land Bases - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News

FOXNews.com - Report: U.S. Considers Attacks on Somali Pirates' Land Bases - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News: "Defense officials said the U.S. military is considering attacks on Somali pirate bases on land and aid for the people there to help stop the hijacking of ships off Africa's coast, Bloomberg.com reported."

Defending ships in international waters -- Good.
Military operations in other countries -- we have seen how long, expensive, and involved that can be.

"Tax Freedom Day Today" by Doug Bandow (Cato Institute: Commentary)

"Tax Freedom Day Today" by Doug Bandow (Cato Institute: Commentary): "The Tax Foundation figures that 'Tax Freedom Day' (TFD) arrived today, April 13. ... April 13 is more than two weeks earlier than the recent record of April 30 set in 2007. In fact, TFD hasn't been so low in more than 40 years. The last time we finished paying our taxes -- local, state, and federal -- sooner was 1967, when TFD fell on April 12. The more recent record was set in 2003, after the Bush tax cuts, at April 16."

"Warns the Foundation: "For 2011, both the HR 1 tax cuts and the earlier Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 are set to expire." Unless both houses of Congress and the president agree to extend the Bush tax reductions, Americans will pay far higher taxes starting in 2011"

"Spending, whether financed by taxes or borrowing, is the best measure of government's fiscal impact. This year more than a third of government outlays are borrowed funds. Total government expenditures are at record levels. You have to go back to the last two years of World War II to beat this year's spending burden.

Reports the Tax Foundation:

Because of the federal government's ability to deficit-finance its operations, Tax Freedom Day moves somewhat independently from an alternative calculation that adds the federal budget deficit to total taxes collected. In 2009, an unprecedented budget deficit over $1.5 trillion produces a date of May 29, fully forty-five days later than Tax Freedom Day."

"CBO figures that the legislation is likely to slightly raise the GDP through 2012, have no impact for a couple years, and then reduce economic output starting in 2015. The most optimistic case envisions small increases through 2014 instead of 2012. But the reduction in GDP will be permanent, and will mostly manifest itself in lower salaries -- for workers who will be taxed much more to pay off the government's increased debt. The agency's conclusion has special credibility since CBO is subject to retaliation by the Democratic congressional majority for criticizing the party's economic centerpiece.

Runaway spending ensures that this year's TFD will be dwarfed by future TFDs. Some day someone will have to pay off the debts being run up today. The Obama administration's budget figures are bad enough, but they almost certainly rest upon unrealistic economic expectations. The CBO again offers a sobering analysis: "CBO's estimates of deficits under the President's budget exceed those anticipated by the administration by $2.3 trillion over the 2010-2019 period.""

"Moreover, "The cumulative deficit from 2010 to 2019 under the President's proposals would total $9.3 trillion, compared with a cumulative deficit of $4.4 trillion projected under the current-law assumptions embodied in CBO's baseline. Debt held by the public would rise, from 41 percent of GDP in 2008 to 57 percent in 2009 and then to 82 percent of GDP by 2019.""

"Even at today's "low" tax burden, observes the Tax Foundation, "Americans will pay more in taxes than they will spend on food, clothing and housing combined." When the rest of the government's bills come due and taxes rise accordingly most Americans won't have any money left for necessities let alone discretionary outlays after they pay their taxes."

FOXNews.com - Afghan Taliban Kill Young Couple for Trying to Elope - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News

FOXNews.com - Afghan Taliban Kill Young Couple for Trying to Elope - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News: "Taliban gunmen used a firing squad to kill a young couple in southern Afghanistan for trying to elope, shooting them with rifles in front of a crowd in a lawless, militant-controlled region, officials said Tuesday.

The woman, 19, and the man, 21, were accused by the militants of immoral acts, and a council of conservative clerics decided that the two should be killed, said Ghulam Dastagir Azad, the governor of the southwestern province of Nimroz."

White House Releases Tax Returns of Obama, Biden - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com

White House Releases Tax Returns of Obama, Biden - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com:

Total Obama income: $2.7 million
Federal Tax: $855,323 (31.7%)
Charity: $172,050 (6.4%)

It looks like the Obamas paid normal taxes for their income and the charity donations look 3 times the average (2.2%).

Total Biden income: $269,256
Federal Tax: $46,952 (17.4%)
State (Delware): $11,164 (4.1%)
Total tax: $58,116 (21.6%)
Charity: $1,885 (0.70%)

It looks like the Biden's tax was quite low and their charity was only one third of the average.

Ron Paul's plan to fend off pirates - Erika Lovley - POLITICO.com

Ron Paul's plan to fend off pirates - Erika Lovley - POLITICO.com: "A little-known congressional power could help the federal government keep the Somali pirates in check — and possibly do it for a discount price.

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and a growing number of national security experts are calling on Congress to consider using letters of marque and reprisal, a power written into the Constitution that allows the United States to hire private citizens to keep international waters safe."

"IRS: Heads I Win, Tails You Lose" by Richard W. Rahn (Cato Institute: Commentary)

"IRS: Heads I Win, Tails You Lose" by Richard W. Rahn (Cato Institute: Commentary): "Capital gains come from sales of stocks and bonds, businesses, real estate, art objects and anything else of value. The IRS capital-gains tax scam consists of two parts. First, it does not just tax real gains, but also imaginary gains resulting solely from government-caused inflation. The second part of the scam involves severely restricting the deductibility of net losses.

Most investors in the stock market or in real estate suffered major losses during the past year and are hurting. Taxpayers are allowed to deduct their losses from their gains but are restricted in deducting their net losses against ordinary income to just $3,000 per year. Yet the government taxes people on 100 percent of their gains."

"Finally, the apologists claim the tax is paid only by the rich, which is another whopper. Anyone with a farm, small business or corporate stock - which includes most Americans - almost always pays capital gains taxes at some point. A person who has spent 30 years building a small business and sells it for $300,000 in order to retire is considered "rich" that year by the political left and the IRS."

"the only way the IRS can get tax revenue from commodity trades over the long run is by taxing the inflation component and limiting loss deductions - which are both fundamentally dishonest and unjust ways to tax. In addition, the tax on commodity trading is extremely costly to administer and prevents taxpayers from protecting themselves against the government-induced inflation."

"As Bernard Madoff found out, it is a crime to tell people they have imaginary income, yet the folks at the IRS tell millions of taxpayers each year that they also have imaginary income - and worse yet, force them to pay tax on this nonexistent income. Why is Madoff in jail but the folks at the IRS and Congress who devised a similar scam still running free?"

WORLD Magazine | Iowa court ruling | Cal Thomas | Apr 07, 09

WORLD Magazine | Iowa court ruling | Cal Thomas | Apr 07, 09: "If homosexual marriage is now one of two equally valid choices, will other options be available anytime soon? On HBO, a popular series called Big Loveportrays a Mormon polygamist and his three wives (he nearly took a fourth wife this season). I wonder why this never works with a woman having three husbands? But I digress, or do I? If this man lived in Iowa and wanted three wives, how could the Iowa Supreme Court stop him?"

"o those on the political and religious right who are intent on continuing the battle to preserve “traditional marriage” in a nation that is rapidly discarding its traditions, I would ask this question: What poses a greater threat to our remaining moral underpinnings? Is it two homosexuals living together, or is it the number of heterosexuals who are divorcing and the increasing number of children born to unmarried women, now at nearly 40 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?
Most of those who are disturbed about same-sex marriage are not as exercised about preserving heterosexual marriage. That’s because it doesn’t raise money and won’t get them on TV. Some preachers would rather demonize gays than oppose heterosexuals who violate their vows by divorcing, often causing harm to their children. That’s because so many in their congregations have been divorced and preaching against divorce might cause some to leave and take their contributions with them."

Obama Vows to Reform Tax Code to Reward Working Families - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com

Obama Vows to Reform Tax Code to Reward Working Families - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com: "He noted April 15 'isn't exactly everyone's favorite date on the calendar.' But Obama said the day is a reminder to leaders in Washington that they have a responsibility to the people who elected them."

Too bad it doesn't remind them to not give taxpayer's money to bailout failing corporations.

Austrian Theory for Everyone - Wladimir Kraus - Mises Institute

Austrian Theory for Everyone - Wladimir Kraus - Mises Institute: "Woods points out that to blame 'the crisis on 'greed' is like blaming plane crashes on gravity' and that ''excessive risk-taking' simply begs the question.' It is almost self-evident that both 'greed' and 'excessive risk-taking' are extremely limited in their explanatory powers, for they cannot account for the weight of specific facts and institutional circumstances that determined the unique path the housing bubble travelled. Instead, Woods chooses a far more promising avenue by asking two crucial questions:

'What institutional factors gave rise to all the foolish lending and borrowing in the first place?'

'Why did banks have so much money available to lend in the mortgage market — so much indeed that they could throw it even at applicants who lacked jobs, income, down payment money, and good credit?'"

"It Didn't Start Here" by Alan Reynolds (Cato Institute: Commentary)

"It Didn't Start Here" by Alan Reynolds (Cato Institute: Commentary): "At the recent meeting of G-20 nations in London, officials from many nations agreed on one thing -- that the United States is to blame for the world recession."

"last year's recession was much deeper in many European and Asian countries than it was in the United States."

"The dollar value of US imports didn't start to fall until August 2008, and imports of consumer goods didn't fall until September -- many months after Japan and Europe fell into recession."

"There were no bank failures last year in Japan, Sweden, Canada or any other country on this list except Britain. And US and British banks didn't fail until September-October -- at least nine months after the Japanese and European recessions began."

"But Germany's GDP and industrial production was down 19.2 percent for the year ending in January -- versus an 11.4 percent decline in Britain and a similar US drop. Are we supposed to believe that German (and Japanese) firms are more dependent on US and UK banks than American and British firms?"

"US industrial production only started to decline from its peak after January 2008 -- long after production began to slow in Canada (July 2007), Italy (August 2007), France (October 2007) and the Euro area as a whole (November 2007). Aside from a one-month uptick in February 2008, Japan's industrial production peaked in October 2007."

"In 1983, economist James Hamilton of the University of California at San Diego showed that "all but one of the US recessions since World War Two have been preceded, typically with a lag of around three-fourths of a year, by a dramatic increase in the price of crude petroleum." The years 1946 to 2007 saw 10 dramatic spikes in the price of oil -- each of which was soon followed by recession."

Bailout Bonds? - Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. - Mises Institute

Bailout Bonds? - Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. - Mises Institute: "Are you all for Obama's economic plans? Do you think that bailing out failing companies and throwing trillions into the national money pit is just the ticket for stimulating the economy back to recovery?

Then you might get the chance to put your money where your ideological convictions are. The Obama administration is cajoling investment companies to create bailout bonds. These would be similar to the bonds that wartime presidents created to find sucker-investors for their wars. Americans were browbeaten into buying them as a patriotic duty. So too those who say 'yes, we can' to the bailouts will be asked to do their patriotic duty, and buy the debt of loser companies."

Mexican Envoy Defends Claim That Most Guns in Mexico Come From U.S. - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com

Mexican Envoy Defends Claim That Most Guns in Mexico Come From U.S. - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com:

Sarukhan isn't the only one to cite this myth. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, California Sen. Diane Feinstein and Willliam Hoover, assistant director for field operations at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have all said that 90 percent of weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the U.S.

But in fact, only 17 percent of guns found at Mexican crime scenes have been traced to the U.S.

An ATF spokeswoman told FOXNews.com earlier this month in a clarification of the statistic used by her own agency's assistant director 'that over 90 percent of the traced firearms originate from the U.S.'"

But a large percentage of the guns recovered in Mexico do not get sent back to the U.S. for tracing because it is obvious from their markings that they do not come from the U.S.

"Not every weapon seized in Mexico has a serial number on it that would make it traceable, and the U.S. effort to trace weapons really only extends to weapons that have been in the U.S. market," Matt Allen, special agent of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told FOX News earlier this month.

Sarukhan has claimed that Mexico seizes 2,000 guns a day from the United States, or 730,000 a year. But the official statistic from the Mexico attorney general's office says Mexico seized 29,000 weapons in all of 2007 and 2008.

FOXNews.com - Contractors Cash in on HUD Program, Not Poor - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

FOXNews.com - Contractors Cash in on HUD Program, Not Poor - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News:

A Los Angeles Times investigation found that the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Dollar Homes program has rarely achieved its stated intent to help struggling families put down roots.

The program was mandated by Congress in 1998 and has little oversight, the newspaper said.

A poorly run government program? Impossible!

Another reason for limited government and local control. Programs are smaller and have better oversight.

Want Out of TARP? Just Write a 'Dear John' Letter - FOXBusiness.com

Want Out of TARP? Just Write a 'Dear John' Letter - FOXBusiness.com:

Publicly and privately, industry officials have been expressing growing concern about Washington changing TARP terms, as Congress did last month on rules for executive compensation after the controversy over bonus payments at AIG. That creates uncertainty and disincentives for companies in TARP, they said.

“You have 535 backseat drivers,” the financial industry advisor said of Congress.

Scott Talbott, senior vice president for the Financial Services Roundtable, a Washington trade group that represents 100 major financial firms, said, “The government has changed the terms after the fact.” That creates “counterparty risk” in working with the government, he said.

Why is this surprising?

"Resenting the Rich" by Chris Edwards (Cato Institute: Commentary)

"Resenting the Rich" by Chris Edwards (Cato Institute: Commentary): "The Economist's proposition states: 'Inequality has risen across the rich world since the 1970s' partly as a result of lower taxes on the rich. If income inequality has risen, the CBO data suggests that taxes are not the cause. The CBO data show that the effective tax rate on the top quintile has been fairly constant since 1979, hovering between 25% and 28%."

"In a 2006 paper, Martin Feldstein at Harvard calculated that the elasticity of taxable income with respect to income tax rates is about 1, so that cutting the top rate from 40% to 30% would boost taxable income by about 16%. The result would be more work effort and less avoidance by entrepreneurs, doctors, scientists and others in the top quintile, which would greatly benefit the rest of us.

Unfortunately, President Obama wants to go in the other direction, raising the top two income tax rates, which would reduce production and increase avoidance by highly skilled people. Such economic damage from higher taxes is called deadweight loss. In the 2006 paper, Mr Feldstein argued that deadweight losses from a federal income tax rate increase would be $1.76 for every dollar of tax increase. That means that every new $1 billion spending programme in President Obama's budget will destroy about $1.76 billion of activities in the private sector."

"In America, it is not rich and productive people that create resentment. Instead, it is corrupt politicians handing out special favours, it is the bungling bureaucrats we saw after Hurricane Katrina, and it is cabinet nominees who cheat on their taxes. Americans are not upset at wealthy Steve Jobs and his amazing innovations, but they are upset when they hear that global warming advocate Al Gore lives in a mansion that consumes 15 times more electricity than the average US home. It is hypocrisy, fraud and corruption that people do not like, not hard work and high incomes."

FOXNews.com - Navy Snipers Kill 3 Pirates During Captain Rescue - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News

FOXNews.com - Navy Snipers Kill 3 Pirates During Captain Rescue - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News:

The operation, personally approved by President Barack Obama,

Kudos to Obama!

One of the pirates pointed an AK-47 at the back of Phillips, who was tied up and in "imminent danger" of being killed when the commander of the nearby USS Bainbridge made the split-second decision to order his men to shoot, Vice Adm. Bill Gortney said.

With the U.S. government doing so much that isn't their constitutional responsibility its nice to seem them protecting our citizens.

Abdullahi Lami, one of the pirates holding the Greek ship anchored in the Somali town of Gaan, said: "Every country will be treated the way it treats us. In the future, America will be the one mourning and crying," he told The Associated Press. "We will retaliate (for) the killings of our men."

Really? Which countries have been hijacking their ships and holding them hostage?

1819: America's First Housing Bubble - C.J. Maloney - Mises Institute

1819: America's First Housing Bubble - C.J. Maloney - Mises Institute:

As 1815 came to a close, the proliferation of paper bank notes and credit had the financial system of the United States in a mess — a direct result of the political establishment deliberately allowing the state banks to counterfeit with impunity. Now, seeing the orgy of speculation, stockjobbing, and pursuit of luxury imports that their policies had created, Congress stepped in to clean up the mess.
Amidst much hypocrisy, backroom dealing, bribery, threats, and displays of great oratorical skill, they proposed for themselves more money and power: another central bank, America's second go at the institution. (We are now on our fourth.) The new Bank of the United States was up and running by 1816, with the ostensible purpose of bringing the state banks' inflation to heel.

Instead, the men who ran the new central bank promised not to demand redemption of any state bank paper notes until over one year later. And they bailed out the insolvent state banks with $6 million in taxpayer money. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

When it was realized that many paper bank notes were just that, their values began to collapse, many to zero (the same amount of gold you could get for it), and the money supply contracted at a ferocious rate. From the fall of 1818 to the beginning of 1819, demand liabilities at the central bank fell from $22 million to $12 million (Dupre 2006, p. 272) and the total money supply fell about 28% (Rothbard 2007, p. 89).

Compared to now however, the state and federal politicians did basically nothing to "help" the economy recover from the Panic of 1819, yet by 1821 the economy had begun to get back on its feet, which must seem a stunning outcome to anyone burdened with a degree in economics.

In 1819 America, nobody blamed the effects for the Panic of 1819, they rightly blamed the cause; they blamed (in Caroline Baum's words) the "friendly central bank." As Professor John Dobson points out, "the [central] bank's policies fueled inflation, and it was popularly viewed as a major contributor to the Panic of 1819." After this encounter with central banks, "hard money leadership was abundant and influential" (Rothbard 2007, p. 207).

The urge to bail out debtors was fought against not only from a practical but from a moral level as well. Besides Tennessee state representative Robert Allen warning his colleagues that "if people learn that debts can be paid with petitions and fair stories, you will soon have your table crowded" (Rothbard 2007, p. 43), the pages of the influential Pennsylvania Aurora argued that any such bailouts would not only be economically unsound, but unjust, being a special privilege to the debtor (Rothbard 2007, p. 56).

The Panic of 1819 lasted about three years — the Great Depression lasted well over a decade. When looking for solutions to our current mess, we should study a winning team; instead we seem determined to channel FDR, the same arrogant fool who took an economic downturn and stretched it into a decade-plus tragedy.

Turn Down the North Korea Volume, Argues Ron Paul - Washington Wire - WSJ

Turn Down the North Korea Volume, Argues Ron Paul - Washington Wire - WSJ: "But Rep. Ron Paul, the onetime Republican presidential candidate known for his strident libertarian policies, thinks everyone’s overreacting. His main points, released in a statement accompanying a video address:

1) North Korea has a legal right to launch a rocket into space.
2) North Korea isn’t a significant threat to the U.S.
3) The White House has reacted in an “overly bellicose and provocative manner.”

In the video, he adds: “It just seems like this an excuse for the West … to have another massive buildup. … Even if [North Korea] did have a bomb [and used it] … they would be wiped off the face of the earth within minutes.”"

Capitalism benefiting the poor?

Konkin on Libertarian Strategy - Murray N. Rothbard - Mises Institute: "the emergence of wage labor was an enormous boon for many thousands of poor workers and saved them from starvation. If there is no wage labor — as there was not in most production before the Industrial Revolution — then each worker must have enough money to purchase his own capital and tools. One of the great things about the emergence of the factory system and wage labor is that poor workers did not have to purchase their own capital equipment; this could be left to the capitalists. (Thus, see F.A. Hayek's brilliant introduction in his Capitalism and the Historians.)"

The Forgotten People

The Forgotten People: "It's not in the least surprising that Iran and Hamas ardently support Sudan's Master Mortician. According to the speaker of Iran's parliament, Ali Larijani, the global arrest warrant for Gen. al-Bashir is an 'insult to all Muslims.' (Minneapolis Star Tribune, March 27).

Mr. Larijani, what do you call the starving deaths of those four black Muslim children at the Shangil Tobaya refugee camp?"

Who does the U.N. represent?

The Forgotten People: "Meanwhile, the ghoulish head of that sovereign state - a member in good standing of the United Nations - is presumably a wanted man around the world after the International Criminal Court (ICC) last month issued warrants for his arrest on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity."

This shows one of the major problems with the U.N. -- it represents the rulers of nations, not necessarily the people of those nations. Many of the members of the U.N. are not even indirectly chosen by the people.

Blowing Bubbles - Doug French - Mises Institute

Blowing Bubbles - Doug French - Mises Institute: "The Austrian theory points out that it is government's increasing the supply of money that serves to lower interest rates below the natural rate or the rate that would be set by the collective time preferences of savers in the market. Entrepreneurs react to these lower interest rates by investing in 'higher order' goods in the production chain, as opposed to consumer goods.

Despite these actions by government, consumer time preferences remain the same. There is no real increase in the demand for higher order goods and instead of capital flowing into what the unfettered market would dictate — it flows into malinvestment. The greater the monetary expansion, in terms of both time and enormity, the longer the boom will be sustained.

But eventually there must be a recession or depression to liquidate not only inefficient and unprofitable businesses, but malinvestments in speculation — whether it is stocks, bonds, real estate, art, or tulip bulbs."

Greenspan's Bogus Defense - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Institute

Greenspan's Bogus Defense - Robert P. Murphy - Mises Institute: "Since the participants in the mortgage market wisely realized that rates wouldn't be held at 1% forever, they didn't foolishly drop their own yields down so far. Then in June 2004, when Greenspan began ratcheting the federal-funds rate back up, it is perfectly understandable that mortgage rates wouldn't rise with them.

To repeat, Greenspan's defense of his policies made it sound as if he tried to push up mortgage rates, but that they wouldn't budge. Yet, as the chart above makes clear, Greenspan didn't really push up very hard on rates."

"Greenspan repeats the claim that Asian savings were the real culprit. But there are two problems with this theory: first, global savings rates continued to rise throughout the housing boom and bust. So it's very difficult to explain the peak of the housing boom with reference to Asian saving. (In contrast, Greenspan's actions with short-term rates fit the fortunes of the housing market much more closely.)

But a second major problem is that even on its own terms, the influx of blind Asian saving — to the extent it existed at all — was itself partially a product of Greenspan's monetary inflation. Remember that the Chinese central bank had maintained a rigid peg to the dollar until it was pressured to drop it — right around the time the housing boom faltered.

To put it somewhat simplistically, when Greenspan flooded the world with more dollars, the dollar fell sharply against most major currencies. But in order for the Chinese to keep the renminbi (yuan) from appreciating against the dollar as well, they had to load up on dollar-denominated assets, such as US Treasuries. Thus, Greenspan's inflation in combination with the Chinese peg, on paper might have appeared as an irrational influx of Asian investment, which stubbornly refused to subside even as US indebtedness grew."

Is the Economy a Perpetual Motion Machine? - William L. Anderson - Mises Institute

Is the Economy a Perpetual Motion Machine? - William L. Anderson - Mises Institute: "Instead, the act of saving provides a means for producers to obtain capital, and capital goods are then used to produce more goods using fewer resources so that the newly freed resources can be used to produce those things that were unavailable before.

This is a viewpoint that recognizes the law of scarcity. It also recognizes that more consumption is made possible only by more production, but production that is done in line with both the spending and saving patterns of individuals in the economy. If lines of capital are created that are not compatible with saving and spending patterns set by consumers, then the capital is malinvested.

Malinvestment does not occur by accident. It happens because the government, through monetary authorities, has suppressed real interest rates and has touched off a credit-inspired boom that cannot be sustained."

Campaign For Liberty — Constitutional Tender Act testimony before the banking subcommittees of the Georgia House

Campaign For Liberty — Constitutional Tender Act testimony before the banking subcommittees of the Georgia House: "The Constitution of the United States recognizes sovereignty of the states in article ten of the Bill of Rights. However, the states are forbidden to make 'any Thing but gold or silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts' in Article I section 10. The central government is given no power to make a tender at all. Furthermore, on August 16, 1787 a motion to strike out the power of Congress to 'emit bills on the credit of the U. States' carried nine to two. All the discussion regarded 'bills of credit' to be 'paper money.' Article I section 8 of the Constitution allows Congress the power to 'Coin money' which obviously concerns coins and not paper. Indeed, why would the founders grant the Congress the power to create money that the States would be forbidden from making a tender? Despite Washington DC's ignorance and hostility to the Constitution of the United States, we in Georgia have an obligation to do our best to follow it. The Constitutional Tender Act is a good start at compliance with the Constitution."

Obama Denies Bailout Funds for U.S. Automakers, Sets Restructure Deadline - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com

Obama Denies Bailout Funds for U.S. Automakers, Sets Restructure Deadline - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com: "The Obama administration, however, has decided not to require the automakers to immediately repay government loan money they previously received, since that would force both companies into Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

A senior administration official told FOX�News, 'calling in the loans would not be a productive exercise for the American taxpayer since the companies don't have the money [to repay the loans] and it would simply put the companies into uncontrolled Chapter 11.'"

And why do they think the companies will be able to repay the loans later?

How FDR Promoted Price-Gouging

How FDR Promoted Price-Gouging: "First came FDR's National Industrial Recovery Act, considered the flagship of the New Deal. FDR signed that in June 1933, climaxing his heroic Hundred Days of legislative mania. Back then, the economic situation was considered so urgent that members of Congress didn't have time to seriously debate FDR's proposals.

The members probably didn't have time to read the bills, either, before the voting began. Possibly, the Hundred Days began the American tradition of having members of Congress vote on bills they haven't read. In any case, The National Industrial Recovery Act authorized the president to establish cartels via executive orders. He established some 500 cartels, and one of the things they did was fix prices above market levels."

"The bottom line was that the law made it illegal for big stores to cut prices. If private stores had conspired among themselves to maintain high prices, they would have invited prosecution under the antitrust laws."

"The CAB made clear its intent to suppress competition when it declared, "In the absence of particular circumstances presenting an affirmative reason for a new carrier, there appears to be no inherent desirability of increasing the present number of carriers merely for the purpose of numerically enlarging the industry." During the next 40 years, until airlines were deregulated in 1978, the CAB didn't issue a license for a single new interstate airline."

"The most famous private "monopoly," John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, lost market share despite having cut the price of its principal product 90 percent, because it wasn't backed by the force of government. Perhaps the most intriguing question is why "progressives" continue to view FDR as savior, giving him a free pass as a price-gouger."

US Cries Chinese Wolf

US Cries Chinese Wolf: "Indeed, in the Pentagon press briefing introducing the report a senior defense official said, 'China appears to be pursuing a set of enduring strategic priorities which we identify in this report as, first, perpetuating the role of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing economic development, ensuring domestic stability, protecting national sovereignty and territorial integrity and obtaining great-power status.'

With the exception of protecting the Chinese Communist Party there are the same goals the United States lists in its own annual strategy documents."

The Works of Leonard E. Read - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Institute

The Works of Leonard E. Read - Jeffrey A. Tucker - Mises Institute: "Pick up any book or publication from FEE before the 1990s. You will see a remarkable and visionary sentence on the copyright page:

Permission to reprint granted without special request.
This one sentence is what made it happen. Any newspaper could print a column. Any publisher could include an essay. Indeed, he invited any publisher to take any FEE book and publish it and sell it, owing no royalties and asking no permissions.

'He was an evangelist spreading the news. He wanted to be pirated so that he could see that he was making a difference.'

The publisher was not even asked to acknowledge its source! So, in this sense, he was even more radical than the�Creative Commons attribution license. A FEE book was copyrighted solely so that someone else couldn't copyright it, and then maximum permissions were granted. In effect, Read was putting all of the scholarship of FEE in the public domain as soon as it was published.

This saved on the grueling bureaucratic struggle involved in granting permissions and keeping up with the permissions granted. Asking no fees or royalties meant saving on accounting bureaucracy as well."

The Flat Tax Is Not Flat and the FairTax Is Not Fair - Laurence M. Vance - Mises Institute

The Flat Tax Is Not Flat and the FairTax Is Not Fair - Laurence M. Vance - Mises Institute: "But not only is the Flat Tax not flat and the FairTax not fair, the Flat Tax is not fair and the FairTax is not flat. Let me repeat that: not only is the Flat Tax not flat and the FairTax not fair, the Flat Tax is not fair and the FairTax is not flat.

According to Hall and Rabushka, the flat-tax system they propose is both 'fair and progressive — the poor pay no tax, and the amount that a family pays rises with income.'"

Would Cleansing Banks' Balance Sheets Kick-start the US Economy? - Frank Shostak - Mises Institute

Would Cleansing Banks' Balance Sheets Kick-start the US Economy? - Frank Shostak - Mises Institute: "As a result of the unbacked credit, an additional demand for various goods emerges. This leads to an attempt at expanding the infrastructure of the economy. This attempt is bound to fail since the flow of real savings is not large enough to support the expansion of the infrastructure."

There Will Be (Hyper)Inflation - Thorsten Polleit - Mises Institute

There Will Be (Hyper)Inflation - Thorsten Polleit - Mises Institute: "as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke made unmistakably clear in a notorious speech in 2002:

[T]he U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost. By increasing the number of U.S. dollars in circulation, or even by credibly threatening to do so, the U.S. government can also reduce the value of a dollar in terms of goods and services, which is equivalent to raising the prices in dollars of those goods and services. We conclude that, under a paper-money system, a determined government can always generate higher spending and hence positive inflation.[3]"

There Will Be (Hyper)Inflation - Thorsten Polleit - Mises Institute

There Will Be (Hyper)Inflation - Thorsten Polleit - Mises Institute: "The US Federal Reserve, for instance, increased the stock of the monetary base — which includes banks' demand deposits held with the Fed, plus coins and notes in circulation — from $870.9 billion in August 2008 to $1735.3 billion in January 2009."

Old NATO Turns 60

Old NATO Turns 60: "The point is not that the U.S. was always right, but that the U.S. got little out of the trans–Atlantic alliance, whose members went their own way whenever they felt like it. During the Cold War American policymakers might tell themselves that they had no choice but to defend the feckless Europeans. However, this argument for the alliance disappeared along with the Cold War."

The Trouble with Warren Buffett - Doug French - Mises Institute

The Trouble with Warren Buffett - Doug French - Mises Institute: "a viewer asked Buffett if he believed what his father Congressman Howard Buffett believed, which was this: 'So far as I can discover, paper money systems [like John Law's] have always wound up with collapse and economic chaos.'

'Sounds like my dad, yeah,' Buffett replied, 'I heard that every night at the dinner table for a long time.' The Oracle admits that the printing of paper money is inflationary, but being a consistent proponent of expanding government, he constantly dismisses gold and proposals to return America to a gold standard.

His father Howard understood the evils of unchecked government money printing.

"The paper money disease has been a pleasant habit thus far and will not be dropped voluntarily any more than a dope user will without a struggle give up narcotics," Congressman Buffett wrote. "But in each case the end of the road is not a desirable prospect."

FOXNews.com - Swiss Clinic Plans Assisted Suicide of Healthy English Woman - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News

FOXNews.com - Swiss Clinic Plans Assisted Suicide of Healthy English Woman - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News: "Ludwig Minelli described suicide as a “marvellous opportunity” that should not be restricted to the terminally ill or people with severe disabilities."

Iowa Supreme Court: Same-Sex Marriage Ban Is Unconstitutional - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com

Iowa Supreme Court: Same-Sex Marriage Ban Is Unconstitutional - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com: "The Iowa Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling Friday finding that the state's same-sex marriage ban violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples, making Iowa the third state where marriage will be legal."

What part of the Iowa constitution?

Obama Warranty Plan Leaves Many GM, Chrysler Owners Vulnerable - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com

Obama Warranty Plan Leaves Many GM, Chrysler Owners Vulnerable - First 100 Days of Presidency - Politics FOXNews.com: "That's what President Obama is telling American car owners and buyers, making them an offer they can't refuse: If General Motors or Chrysler won't honor their warranties, he will."

Sounds like socialism to me.

FOXNews.com - Cash Strapped States Pay Millions for Basketball Coaches - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

FOXNews.com - Cash Strapped States Pay Millions for Basketball Coaches - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News: "'Coaching salaries are determined by economic forces at the individual school and market value,' Kearns wrote to FOXNews.com. 'It is important to note these same forces apply to hiring professors and other faculty members. Market-value reality means coaching compensation packets can be worth millions of dollars.'"

Maybe the same applied to the AIG bonuses.

Workers Say Obama Treated Autos Worse Than Wall Street - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com

Workers Say Obama Treated Autos Worse Than Wall Street - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com: "You have all kinds of funding available to banks that are apparently too big to fail, but they're also too big to be responsible.'

'But when it comes to auto manufacturing and middle-class jobs and people that don't matter on Wall Street, there are certainly different standards that we have to meet -- higher standards -- than the financials. That is a double standard that exists and it's unfair,' Fredline said.

Many workers -- not generally known for their affection toward executives -- even sympathized with Rick Wagoner, who was forced to step down as chief executive of General Motors Corp. He was by turns called a 'sacrificial lamb,' 'scapegoat' and 'fall guy.'"

Why The Gold Price Is Not Yet Soaring-- Page:1

Why The Gold Price Is Not Yet Soaring-- Page:1: "Put simply, in order for the gold price to go substantially higher, investment demand must offset declining jewelry demand and, in addition, absorb all the scrap supplies that are now hitting the market as individuals all over the world scramble for cash in a very, very bad economy."

The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S. - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com

The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S. - Presidential Politics | Political News - FOXNews.com: "There's just one problem with the 90 percent 'statistic' and it's a big one:

It's just not true.

In fact, it's not even close. By all accounts, it's probably around 17 percent.

What's true, an ATF spokeswoman told FOXNews.com, in a clarification of the statistic used by her own agency's assistant director, 'is that over 90 percent of the traced firearms originate from the U.S.'

But a large percentage of the guns recovered in Mexico do not get sent back to the U.S. for tracing, because it is obvious from their markings that they do not come from the U.S."

Why I Never Let Employees Negotiate a Raise, Corporate Culture Article - Inc. Article

Why I Never Let Employees Negotiate a Raise, Corporate Culture Article - Inc. Article: "Because salary information is viewed as particularly sensitive, employers often go to great lengths to keep it under wraps. Some companies even make it a fireable offense for employees to compare salaries, or they write something into the standard employment contract prohibiting workers from disclosing their pay. (In the United States, this kind of rule is unenforceable, by the way, but some bosses hope their workers won't know that.) The trouble with keeping salaries a secret is that it's usually used as a way to avoid paying people fairly. And that's not good for employees -- or the company."