A glum AP story this morning reports the American economy sluggish again because we private drones aren't pissing away our money fast enough. (The invisible ink warns us to get our hienies and Mastercards to Walmart quickly.)
But government shares the blame.
The GDP revision showed that the government sector is dragging on growth. Government spending fell at an annual rate of 5.1 percent. Federal and state and local governments have cut spending to battle budget deficits.
I have a little trouble wetting my pants about that. The money (assuming for the sake of argument only that it actually existed in the first place) didn't disappear. After all the micro-calculations, it remains under control of the people who earned it in the first place, giving them a tad more freedom to make that Walmart trip to buy what they think they need. The earners, of course, have to give up tthe privilege of having it spent by Obama and Co. on what the politicians think they need.
In fact, the 5.2 per cent would have been borrowed from the Chinese and others who think Barry, Ben, and Tim can keep their juggling act going.
May 26, 2011
Racist Tea Party B*st*rds
Or maybe not. Herman Cain of Georgia is a black man, and last night he swamped all comers at a western Iowa county GOP fund raiser.
Herm took 55 per cent of the Pottawatomie County straw vote, helped by being there with a give-em-Hell keynote speech. Sarah Palin wasn't, and she took 38 per cent.
It's not at all meaningful, a strawlet in a big wind. Still, it's pleasant to see that front-limper Mitt Romney and our old old old old pal Newt scored zero per cent with zero votes. It is less fun to report Ron Paul at 1 per cent.
Pottawatomie County is far west, just across the Missouri from the cosmopolitan sin center known as Omaha. Lots of Tea Party types and "values" voters in those parts.
---
Side notes:
--The Washington Post this morning is carrying one of those information-free reports saying Sarah might run. She has a shadow organization in place here.
--Big-money GOPers from Iowa are going to New Jersey to beg Christie to run.
Herm took 55 per cent of the Pottawatomie County straw vote, helped by being there with a give-em-Hell keynote speech. Sarah Palin wasn't, and she took 38 per cent.
It's not at all meaningful, a strawlet in a big wind. Still, it's pleasant to see that front-limper Mitt Romney and our old old old old pal Newt scored zero per cent with zero votes. It is less fun to report Ron Paul at 1 per cent.
Pottawatomie County is far west, just across the Missouri from the cosmopolitan sin center known as Omaha. Lots of Tea Party types and "values" voters in those parts.
---
Side notes:
--The Washington Post this morning is carrying one of those information-free reports saying Sarah might run. She has a shadow organization in place here.
--Big-money GOPers from Iowa are going to New Jersey to beg Christie to run.
May 25, 2011
Hell, I've hugged a few trees myself.
Some of my pals aren't going to like this. Off-the-grid. Sustainability. Life without Starbucks. Etc.
Some of it I probably won't like either. But in essence these three guys -- actually two plus a girl -- represent a healthy portion of me -- or of the me I occasionally wish I was.
Go read The Independent Spirit. Our old friend Joel is part of it.
Some of it I probably won't like either. But in essence these three guys -- actually two plus a girl -- represent a healthy portion of me -- or of the me I occasionally wish I was.
Go read The Independent Spirit. Our old friend Joel is part of it.
May 24, 2011
Thugs getting a little more timid, maybe?
The AP manages to get through it's ~600-word story about the continuing crime-rate decline without a mention of guns. It quotes the experts as being especially surprised that crime rates continued to fall during the 2009-2010 economic disaster. It is a statist article of faith that crime rises when the economy tanks.
The unmentioned factor is widespread relief from overbearing gun laws in the same period and the concomitant increase in the number of citizens capable of resisting criminals.
There are exceptions to the more peaceable atmosphere, New York City, for instance, where homicides rose 13 per cent. No one here needs to be reminded that law-abiding New Yorkers are subject to the Sullivan law which restricts effective gun use to criminals.
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Correlation is not causation, of course, but a reader could think it worth mentioning that goblins contemplating mayhem could have second thoughts if they knew their victims might whip out a persuasive deterrent in, preferably, caliber .38 or larger.
The unmentioned factor is widespread relief from overbearing gun laws in the same period and the concomitant increase in the number of citizens capable of resisting criminals.
There are exceptions to the more peaceable atmosphere, New York City, for instance, where homicides rose 13 per cent. No one here needs to be reminded that law-abiding New Yorkers are subject to the Sullivan law which restricts effective gun use to criminals.
---
Correlation is not causation, of course, but a reader could think it worth mentioning that goblins contemplating mayhem could have second thoughts if they knew their victims might whip out a persuasive deterrent in, preferably, caliber .38 or larger.
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