Alarming News: I like Morgan Freeberg. A lot.
American Digest: And I like this from "The Blog That Nobody Reads", because it is -- mostly -- about me. What can I say? I'm on an ego trip today. It won't last.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: We were following a trackback and thinking "hmmm... this is a bloody excellent post!", and then we realized that it was just part III of, well, three...Damn. I wish I'd written those.
Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler: ...I just remembered that I found a new blog a short while ago, House of Eratosthenes, that I really like. I like his common sense approach and his curiosity when it comes to why people believe what they believe rather than just what they believe.
Brutally Honest: Morgan Freeberg is brilliant.
Dr. Melissa Clouthier: Morgan Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes (pftthats a mouthful) honors big boned women in skimpy clothing. The picture there is priceless--keep scrolling down.
Exile in Portales: Via Gerard: Morgan Freeberg, a guy with a lot to say. And he speaks The Truth...and it's fascinating stuff. Worth a read, or three. Or six.
Just Muttering: Two nice pieces at House of Eratosthenes, one about a perhaps unintended effect of the Enron mess, and one on the Gore-y environ-movie.
Mein Blogovault: Make "the Blog that No One Reads" one of your daily reads.
The Virginian: I know this post will offend some people, but the author makes some good points.
Poetic Justice: Cletus! Ah gots a laiv one fer yew...
The Other McCain told me all about it last night, and this morning it’s burning up the news wires. Real life continues to play out like a free-of-charge “Palin in 2012” commercial:
In one of those fiendishly stupid examples of liberal logic that will be cited in Econ 201 texts for decades to come — typing is difficult when I’m laughing so hard — “Cash for Clunkers” is broke:
The program…was supposed to expire at the end of October. But in the one week since it took effect, it appears to have run dry of the $1 billion allocated to it…
Lots more at NTCNews.com, including a post from the Cato Institute’s Chris Moody, reminding us that Cato senior fellow Alan Reynolds figured out six weeks ago how to game the system: Trade clunker for crappy new econobox, collect fed bonus, sell econobox, add that to your bonus — congratulations, you’ve got the purchase price for a classic V-8 ’67 Impala or a second-hand SUV!
I’m reminded of something P.J. O’Rourke once said, in regard to “affordable housing”: Every time the government promises to give you something for nothing, imagine the result if you tried this yourself. You’d quickly find yourself with a severe shortage of something and a whole lot of nothing.
:
Clever libertarians now hot-rodding around in their ’65 Mustangs and ’71 Camaros are no doubt very grateful to…the taxpayers who paid the tab.
Two flaws are exposed here, but few people will learn anything from this because these are flaws that have been exposed before.
One:
A crisis creates a news story. A program created to confront the crisis creates another news story. The program inevitably runs into another crisis, which creates yet another news story. The people who make money off of running news stories are supposed to be unbiased and objective with regard to everything, but nobody ever seems to ask them what their thoughts are about crises. We further presume the people who make money running news stories have little or no effect on public policy. And yet — things continue to be done this way. Crisis, program, program, crisis.
Two:
Once upon a time I was placed in proximity to a liberal who didn’t know he was a liberal. Actually this has happened to me many-a-time. This guy, however, was an interesting case study because he readily ‘fessed up, in so many words, that he didn’t believe in supply-and-demand. As in, prices go up when more people line up to purchase something, and more people line up to purchase something when the price goes down…pay people to do something you get more of it…tax them on something, you get less of it…he refused to allow such thoughts into his head. Wouldn’t even consider them. With regard to progressive income taxes, gas prices, anything.
Needless to say, he and I often failed to find agreement on what would be the wisest course of action with regard to this problem or that problem. And naturally, that was all my fault. I suppose this is to be expected: People who refuse to consider all sides of equations that involve human behavior, are never responsible for anything. Any disagreement anywhere is an unworkable conflict — another crisis — and disagreement is always the result of the other guy not doing the right things.
I don’t know if this is lack of knowledge, or a bristling ego, or both. I don’t even know if that matters. I suppose it does; we should find out why there are people who think this way, that economic consequences and rewards can be changed, and human behavior will either remain static, or flow along microscopically architected channels toward the goal desired by the bureaucrats, with no unintended consequences possible. So to me, the real story isn’t that C4C is going broke, it’s that this ignorance persists. I’m assuming it will persist, that this won’t be the lesson that will finally provide the education. No other lesson has.
We need to have a national dialogue on that, before we start talking about how you can end up handcuffed and being hauled downtown, right after showing your asshole side to a cop. That ignorance is a far more urgent societal crisis.
Hey…maybe it needs a new program.
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Let’s see, I’ll be having a few, actually many beers this weekend so I’m sure I’ll come up with all the answers.
- tim | 07/31/2009 @ 08:01Never let a good crisis go to waste:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/07/30/national/w163804D41.DTL&tsp=1
- rob | 07/31/2009 @ 11:29“Consumers have spoken with their wallets and they’ve said they like this program,” said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis.
The program requires rescuing and that proves it’s a good program.
It’s like a slogan Orwell would’ve written into one of his books:
Crisis, Program; Program, Crisis
- mkfreeberg | 07/31/2009 @ 11:45Clever libertarians now hot-rodding around in their ‘65 Mustangs and ‘71 Camaros are no doubt very grateful to…the taxpayers who paid the tab.
I find the very frickin’ thought of clue-free individuals abusing the public fisc in this manner to be supremely frickin’ offensive. REAL libertarians would buy their Camaros or SUVs with their own g*ddamned money. Rant against the Nanny State and then go out and shovel Nanny’s money into the trunk of your Camaro… yeah, THAT makes sense. Fucking hypocrites.
- bpenni | 07/31/2009 @ 12:21That’s precisely why libertarianism is inherently powerless.
There’s no unified vision of what exactly it is, and there can’t be one either.
Conservatism and liberalism also have their problems with identy…but at least those two camps adapt easily to the concept of Omerta. Reagan said the twelfth commandment was “Thou shalt not speak ill of any Republican.” And the democrats simply sidestep any deliberation about whether a new agency or program may or may not be in the public interest; if George W. Bush isn’t the guy who started it, then away we go. Those are not healthy things, but at least they are lasting, unified visions.
- mkfreeberg | 07/31/2009 @ 12:36…but at least those two camps adapt easily to the concept of Omerta.
BS. Liberals are famous for their circular firing squads (e.g, the Congressional Progressive Caucus’ slagging of the Blue Dogs yesterday), and witness our very own internecine squabbling last election season over Fred, Palin, moderates, and true (WTF?) conservatives. Omerta my ass.
Yeah… I AM in a pissy mood today… why do you ask? 😉
- bpenni | 07/31/2009 @ 16:45Ah. Well, when I see a loyal democrat grudgingly concede that Joe Biden might not be a “distinguished elder statesman” after all, then I’ll start to doubt Omerta. Meanwhile…
- mkfreeberg | 07/31/2009 @ 16:51