Contributed by: filbert Monday, April 11 2011 @ 07:47 AM CST
Glenn Reynolds has an absolutely brilliant proposal: [*1]
Here’s my proposal: A 50% surtax on anything earned within five years after leaving the federal government, above whatever the federal salary was. Leave a $150K job at the White House, take a $1M job with Goldman, Sachs, pay a $425K surtax. Some House Republican should add this to a bill and watch the Dems react.
Oh, yeah. I want to see this. I want to see this so bad I can taste it. I want this so bad I’m using utterly inapt metaphors. Oh, please, House Republicans, do this, do this, do this, DO THIS! CLASSICAL LIBERALISM
The way we used to beleve in. The way that works. The only way to prosperity for everybody (who wants it and is willing to work for it).
Sunday Read: If I Wanted Acceptance from Normal People I Wouldn’t Be a Libertarian [*2] — “The reason to posit free-market economic ideas is that they are useful and accurate.”
DEMOCRAT/”PROGRESSIVE” VOTE FRAUD, CORRUPTION, ABUSE, AND INTIMIDATION
Or: “The appearance of corruption is in itself corruption.”
Internal DOJ report on Black Panther dismissal leaked [*3]
Civility Watch: Democrats Can’t Help Themselves From Pushing The Murder Button [*4]
Jim Moran to Veteran: You Need To Drink An Ice Cold Glass of Shut-Up-And-Respect-Your-Superior Juice [*5]
Planned Parenthood spent more than $1 million electing Democrats last cycle [*6]
Violent SEIU Mob Arrested After Charging Troopers in WA State House [*7]
Provocateur… Revolutionary… [*8] — “Progressives” and leftists in general just think that they’re “avant-garde” and “edgy,” when really what they mainly do is make everybody around them edgy. The nervous kind of edgy.
The Times Vendetta Continues [*9] — The Koch Brothers: Guilty of being Rich Without Being “Progressive.” The punishment: Everything the “progressives” can think of to throw at them.
THE OBAMA DISASTER featuring but not limited to Obamacare, Keynesian economics, and other relics of 19th Century “Progressivism”
Why Aren’t The Rich Paying 50 Percent in Income Taxes? [*10]
Washington vs. America–D.C. doesn’t doesn’t act like there’s a deficit problem[*12]
Uncle Sam shelling out big bucks for government jobs, GOP says time to cut [*13]
Spending cuts, not policy riders, held up a deal, GOP aides say [*14]
Progressives ponder why tea party is kicking their butts [*15]
Presidential dream: long walk in the park [*16] — Oh, my God. Did the man not read the job description before applying for the position? What a putz . . . what the hell is he going to do if things actually hit the fan? Things aren’t good now, but they could get a LOT worse. If he can’t handle it, he needs to get out now and let somebody else mop up his mess.
Tense Meetings, Stalled Talks Led to ‘Painful’ Last-Minute Deal on Budget [*17] — In which you learn, definitively, that preserving federal funding for abortion clinics is more important to Democrats than keeping open national parks and getting paychecks to serving military. That’s the bottom line, and it isn’t spinnable. We now clearly understand the priorities of the Democratic Party, and those priorities do not include seeing to the interests of all of the American people–only certain, favored special interests. And they’re willing to do anything–absolutely anything–to protect those interests.
The GOP’s winning streak [*18] — IT’S A TRAP! At least, that’s what Mark Levin says:
While these Republicans are doing a victory lap and praising Boehner, and dumping on conservatives for not partying with them, the smart Democrats are plotting. They’re purposely framing this deal the same way as Ms. Rubin, et al –as a win for the GOP and Boehner. They’re agreeing that these are big cuts when they’re not. Why? Because Obama’s about to propose his own budget and deficit package and he’ll attempt to outmaneuver our celebrants. He will raise hundreds of billions in taxes (on “the rich” of course); he will slash defense spending; he will play with the numbers and claim to be cutting other areas; he’ll put out phony numbers on Obamacare again claiming it will save hundreds of billions; he’ll come up with more smoke and mirrors pretending to reform Medicare and Medicaid, and he will attempt to obscure the Ryan Plan, insisting his approach is reasonable, serious, and fair. Meanwhile, Obama will be fighting to protect trillions in spending while the GOP is proudly touting its $38.5 billion (if that) victory.
It is quite true. You can’t trust a Washington Democrat as far as you can throw him. (Or her. Mustn’t be sexist.) The Democrat Party is one big collection of mutually supporting special interests. They have by their behavior demonstrated zero interest in the country as a whole. Zero.
The Tea Party’s First Victory: Obama opposes spending cuts right up to the time he calls them historic. [*19] — I used to think Obama was a doctrinare leftist, even a Marxist. Now I’m not so sure–I wonder if he doesn’t just imprint like a newly hatched duckling on the ideas of whoever in the room seems to have the strongest persona–in the case of the shutdown pseudo-drama: Speaker Boehner and. especially, Paul Ryan.
Roth IRAs: A real ‘fiscal Frankenstein’ [*21] — The Democrats are coming after your private retirement accounts. You just watch.
Obama to outline plan to confront long-term debt crisis — and this time he really, really, means it [*22] — As Glenn Reynolds notes: “Ouch.”
Democrats will yield on everything but abortion [*23] — To be honest, I’m not completely happy with that but if the choice is inevitable national bankruptcy or back-burnering the abortion issue, I’ll gladly go for the latter–because to be honest, that will kill fewer people in the long run. Too utilitarian? Too cold? Too harsh? Maybe . . .
THE ECONOMY, TEETERING ON THE BRINK OF DISASTER–or WE ARE SO SCREWED
Gas Prices Reach 33 Month High In KC [*24]
The Future of a Tank of Gas [*25]
Oil Climbs Above $112 a Barrel on Libyan Armed Revolt, Weakness of Dollar [*26]
Investors Start to Worry About End of Cheap Money [*27]
Toxic Dollar: Why Nobody Seems to Want US Currency [*28]
Five Budgets for a Broke-Down and Busted Amerika [*29]
Paul Ryan: “We have a debt crisis staring us in the face, and that’s got to get fixed” [*30] — Paul Ryan seems to be the only adult in Washington, D.C.
The Razor’s Edge [*31] — California: the shape of things to come. Are you paying attention? It will not be pretty. Or comfortable–at least, it won’t be comfortable for anyone who isn’t part of the ruling elite. Will that be you? Almost certainly not. Welcome to the Dark Ages, Serf. You still have time to change things. And I mean really change things, not the touchy-feely-faux-“change” of the 2008 Obama campaign, which turns out was just more of the same 19th Century “Progressive” wishin’ and hopin’.
IT’S A DANGEROUS WORLD
Responsibility to Protect [*32] — In case you hadn’t heard, “responsibility to protect” is the shiny new rationale for the intervention in Libya. And it’s a dangerous, dangerous idea, especially in the hands of organizations controlled by thugs, totalitarians, and “progressives”–like the United Nations, NATO, and the federal government of the United States of America.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Heading for a Crash? [*33]
Peter Thiel: We’re in a Bubble and It’s Not the Internet. It’s Higher Education. [*34]
ELECTION 2012: IF NOT SARAH PALIN, THEN WHO?
Pew Poll: Obama Struggling With White Voters [*35]
Base in the hole: Even black voters slip from prez [*36]
THE COLLAPSE OF THE “ANTHROPOGENIC GLOBAL WARMING” CONJECTURE
Climate models go cold [*37] — or go read the original article (and behold the cogent counterarguments in the comments . . .)
Climate models go cold [*38]
Sunday Satire – The Skepticism Time Series [*39]
SPORT
Horstman, Jacobsen lead ‘A’ all-state team [*40] – Horstman being a South Dakota State recruit, Jacobsen planning to walk on at SDSU
Argus Leader First Five and Second Five [*42]
Will Royals owner David Glass finally field a winner? [*43]
Betemit leads balanced attack in Royals’ 9-5 win over Tigers[*44]
Royals notebook: Tejeda seeking to succeed with diminished velocity
How Royals fans can cope if things turn bad[*45] — “Who in their right mind would be a Royals fan?”
Jacks’ Kool ready to run [*46]
NEWS YOU MAY OR MAY NOT BE ABLE TO USE
Laptops and Other Electronics May Be Seized on Entry to US [*47]
Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy [*48] — “in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.”
Energy Flow in the United States – 94.6 quads in 2009 [*49] — Featuring a way cool chart of energy use in the USA . . .
13 Worst Cities for Spring Allergies [*50] — Astonishingly, Kansas City is not among the “leaders” . . .
Video: Navy Laser Sets Ship on Fire [*51]
The Tech Behind the New SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket [*52]
Scientists find way to map brain’s complexity [*53]
New gasoline engine design has 4x efficiency of pistons [*54]
SCIENCE FICTION–READIN’, WRITIN’, WATCHIN’
The General Sunday Ponderings: Pondering the Kindle and the Kindle App. [*55]
Winnie The Pooh review [*56] — A Pooh review? Who knew?
Red Dwarf: new series now 100% confirmed, due 2012 [*57]
Doctor Who series 6: new publicity pictures released [*58]
The evolution of the giant monster movie [*59]
Atlas Shrugged on the big screen [*60]
Doctor Who: Planet Of The Spiders DVD review [*61]
The Difference between Science Fiction and Fantasy [*62]
Do characters really need to be likeable? [*63]
Two Sides to a Story: Plotting For Everyone [*64]
The Question of Archetypes [*65]
The Decline of Science Fiction [*66]
A Whiff of Cold Air: The Longing for the Lost Dream of Space in Soviet and American Science Fiction. [*67]
Turkey City Lexicon [*68]
Forget space travel: it’s just a dream [*69] — “Everything that can be invented has already been invented.”–Quoted in Lemon, et al., Mark (1899). “Punch’s Almanack for 1899”, Punch (magazine) 116 (17). (from WikiQuote. [*70]
DEEP, MAN, REALLY, REALLY DEEP
The Management Myth [*71]